January 10, 2014

Poush 27, 1420 Rabiul Awal 8, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 1 No 287

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Swearing-in of MPs sparks off legal debate Ashraf says a new government is needed soon to curb violence n Kamran Reza Chowdhury Lawmakers-elect yesterday took parliamentary oaths, triggering a legal debate about whether such swearing-in, before the tenure of the ninth parliament finishes, is a violation of the constitution.

The tenure of the ninth parliament will end on January 24.

Publication of the gazette on Wednesday put Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury under a constitutional obligation to administer the swearing-in ceremony by Saturday.

‘This is a matter of legal interpretation whether the oath taking was violation of constitution’ On Thursday 284 out of the total 289 newly-elected lawmakers of the 10th Jatiya Shangsad, took their oaths of office in the parliament building around 10:15am.

Article 123 (3) of the charter says the MPs elected by a general election “must not” assume office as members of parliament before the expiry of the preceding parliament.

Again article 148 makes it clear that

INSIDE News

4 The government plans to conduct a census to identify and prepare a database on the status of factories and workers.

Heritage

7 There could surely be a few more appropriate metaphors to describe the extraordinarily rich history of coinage in Bangladesh.

as soon as lawmakers are sworn in they are considered to have assumed office.

Chief Whip Abdus Shahid said, however, that oath taking without dissolving the ninth parliament is not a violation of the constitution.

He also said the BNP chairperson would soon be stripped of the post of the leader of the opposition, after the gazette confirms Rawshan Ershad as her successor.

“We need a fully-fledged new government as soon as possible, to curb the ongoing violence across the country. The interim government is weak in nature. Conspiracy is on,” said Syed Ashraful Islam, the Awami League general secretary, said after taking his oath and attending a parliamentary party meeting.

He said the present interim government headed by Sheikh Hasina was not taking any policy decisions during the transition period.

Asked about the two constitutional provisions, the Awami League general secretary said Bangladesh, for the first time in its history, witnessed the handover of power to a new government in line with the new constitutional provision.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

With her child on her back, a woman looks in despair at the rubble of her house in Kornai village of Dinajpur Sadar upazila yesterday

Attacks on Hindu communities continue n Tribune Report Attacks on Hindu communities, allegedly by BNP-Jamaat activists, continued in different parts of the country yesterday. Various human rights, cultural and social organisations voiced protests at the attacks.

In Jhargaon village under Thakurgaon’s sadar upazila, BNP-Jamaat activists torched a temple and vandalized an idol in the early hours of yesterday, our Thakurgaon correspondent reports.

Locals told the Dhaka Tribune that the

attack was carried out at a temple adjacent to the house of one Mahindra Nath.

Asaduzzaman, officer-in-charge of Ruhiya police station, said the police were working to arrest the perpetrators.

On the other hand, police in Mymensingh arrested two Jubo Dal activists yesterday for their alleged attempt to torch a temple at Kanihari in Trishal upazila, our correspondent in the district reported.

The arrestees were Bhulu Miah, 35 and Sarwar Hossain Millat, 22.

Early on Wednesday, miscreants

tried to torch a temple at Kanihari Tirki Tarafderbari in Trishal, but fled the scene when locals rushed to the spot, said Firoj Talukder, the Trishal police station OC. Anti-polls activists have been attacking Hindu communities since the January 5 general elections.

Human rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, in a statement issued yesterday, protested against the attacks and called for immediate relief and rehabilitation.

The authority of Bhomra Land Port in Satkhira started imports and exports through the port on a limited scale yesterday. The port had been idle since November 26, because of the opposition’s continuous blockades and hartals in protest at the then planned January 5 polls.

Several hundred goods-laden trucks left the port for their destinations in the country, while 502 trucks reached the port from India with goods, Assistant Commissioner of Customs Uttam Kumar Biswas told our correspondent.

Meanwhile, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver lost the battle for his life today, five days after he was burned when his vehicle was set alight in Feni.

Sahabuddin, 28, a resident of Jatrashiddhi, succumbed to his injuries at the burn unit of Chittagong Medical College  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

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Blockade break for today and tomorrow

Karim and Rabiul n Mohosinul Islam

n Tribune Report

The new cabinet will be sworn in on Sunday afternoon. President Abdul Hamid is expected to administer the oath at Bangabhaban, the official residence of the president.

Cabinet Division officials concerned confirmed that they had already finalised the timings of oaths and sent for invitation cards to be printed.

Cabinet Division Joint Secretary M Moyeen Uddin yesterday said: “The oaths will be held at 3:30pm on Sunday at Bangabhaban. We have already finalised the lists of guests.”

Meanwhile officials of the Department of Public Transport have started preparing transport for the new ministers.

“We have decided to ready at least

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Another slack day in the BNP-led 18-party alliance’s countrywide rail, road and waterway blockade passed yesterday, with heavy traffic on Dhaka’s streets and vehicle movement on the highways.

There were no major incidents except in a few places where blockaders tried to block roads, hurled petrol bombs at a bus and at a train compartment. From a number of districts, longroute buses started coming to Dhaka, while in the capital roads were jampacked with vehicles.

BNP suspended the blockade for Friday and Saturday, according to the party chairperson’s Adviser Osman Faruk.

The party will enforce the blockade again from Sunday, he said yesterday.

Government mulls special tribunal for post-poll violence Karim and n Mohosinul Rabiul Islam The government has decided to form a special tribunal to deal with the post-election violence, especially that inflicted upon religious minorities in various districts.

The home ministry made the decision in a meeting yesterday, with Home Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed in the chair.

Following the meeting, the home ministry sent a letter to the law ministry asking for arrangements to be made for the constitution of a special tribunal, to be named “the special tribunal to check crimes committed on the minorities.”

The home ministry also ordered the authorities concerned, at the divisional and district headquarters, to urgently send certified copies of the first information reports (FIR), charge sheets and other documents relating to the attacks on minorities – which have included killings, rapes, torture, arson, lootings and land thefts.

These documents will be scrutinised first, and then used to consider whether some of the cases filed in connection with the attacks can be transferred to the Speedy Trial Tribunals.

The cases filed in connection with the 2012 attacks on Buddhists and Hindus in Ramu under Cox’s Bazar, may also be shifted to the Speedy Trial Tribunals.

The home ministry’s letter, seeking information about cases, was directed

New cabinet takes oath on Sunday 50 cars and the same number of efficient drivers,” said Abul Khayer Mallick, assistant director of the transport pool.

The number of new cabinet members may range between 45 and 50.

Yesterday President Abdul Hamid invited Sheikh Hasina, president of Awami League that won 232 parliamentary seats in Sunday’s violence-marred elections to form the new government.

The president made the offer as per the constitutional provision. Hasina met him at the Bangabhaban, Ehsanul Karim, press secretary to the president, told reporters.

The premier along with her party Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam entered Bangabhaban at 6:20pm and left at 7:30pm.

Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan also attended the meeting.

BANGLAR CHOKH

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Rawshan Ershad and members of JaPa take oaths yesterday

PMO

Friday, January 10, 2014

Sheikh Hasina speaks at a meeting of the Awami League parliamentary party after taking oaths yesterday

PMO

Reporters invited but Khaleda does not meet them EU, China and Korea condemn n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla Khaleda Zia yesterday cancelled her view-exchange meeting with journalists who went to her upmarket residence in Gulshan.

Earlier, BNP chairperson’s press wing invited journalists to join the view-exchange meeting through SMS and over phone.

Responding to the call from the press wing of the BNP more than 200 journalists gathered in front of her residence.

Around 9pm, Shamsuddin Didar, an official of chairperson’s press wing, told journalists that the programme was postponed and Khaleda Zia would not hold the view-exchange meeting.

He, however, declined to explain as to why the meeting had been cancelled.

10-year-old boy chokes while playing

n Kailash Sarkar

Meanwhile, the BNP on Thursday alleged that the swearing-in of new parliament members was in violation of the constitution.

The party also claimed that Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury violated the constitution by conducting the oath-taking ceremony.

“Today’s [Thursday] swearing-in is a clear violation of the constitution.

If President Abdul Hamid invites the parliament leader to form government, it will also violate the constitution,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting secretary general of the party, said in a statement.

The spokesperson of the party alleged that everything was done to cling to the state power.

Issuing a note of warning, Fakhrul also said: “It is to be remembered that

those who violated the constitution today once inserted a provision of punishment in the constitution through 15th amendment for violating the constitution.”

The BNP leader cited article 123 of the constitution to justify his statement saying the article says elected parliament members cannot take over offices until the term of previous government ends – which is January 24.

The BNP leader warned that all concerned will have to be “indicted one day” for such offense.

Mirza Fakhrul also slammed the “farcical” January 5 elections: “Time will come and the people will answer to this farce,” he said at the end of the statement.

After Fakhrul’s statement, adviser to BNP Chairperson Osman Farruk called

Police assault cricketer Sohag Gazi

off their indefinite blockade for Friday and Saturday. “But the blockade will continue from Sunday,” he said.

“We have called off blockades for Friday and Saturday considering people’s sufferings and will resume again from Sunday across the country demanding the cancelation of January 5 farcical polls,” he said through a video message.

Farruk, who usually briefs the media from his residence, came up with the announcement from a hideout.

The party will offer special doa in mosques across the country and will stage demonstration across the country on January 11.

The opposition combine enforced indefinite transportation blockade from January 1 simultaneously with two hartal in two spells. l

ATTACKS ON HINDUS

Jamaat demands UN investigation n Tribune Report

violence, call for talks n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

European Union has regretted that the people of Bangladesh were not given an opportunity to express fully their democratic choice in the 10th parliamentary election on January 5.

“The EU has repeatedly called on all parties to create favourable conditions for transparent, inclusive and credible elections. The High Representative, therefore, regrets the fact that such conditions did not materialise and that the people of Bangladesh were not given an opportunity to express fully their democratic choice,” EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said through a statement.

The 10th parliamentary election was held on January 5 and the US, the UK, the United Nations, the Commonwealth, France, Germany and Canada have expressed discontent over the polls where candidates were elected unopposed in more than half of the 300 seats and voter turnout on Sunday was low.

The High Representative has taken note of the preliminary results and of reports of low turnout for the 10th Parliamentary elections held in Bangladesh on 5 January, said the statement.

Ashton strongly condemns the acts of violence which occurred in the runup to and during the elections and particularly attacks on the most vulnerable populations.

“The EU urges all parties to refrain from violence and to engage in genuine dialogue to agree on a mutually acceptable way forward to strengthen democratic accountability and to hold transparent, inclusive and credible elections, putting the interests of the

people of Bangladesh first.”

On December 20, European Union said that it would not deploy any election observers.

On November 30, it issued the statement which stated: “The EU remains concerned that there is still confrontation between the major political groups in the country on the composition of the government during the electoral period.”

“The EU calls on the leaders of all political parties to agree on a mutually acceptable formula so as to facilitate the holding of elections which fully reflect the wishes of the people. It welcomes the efforts of those who have been working to achieve this.”

Meanwhile, China yesterday said it hoped that parties in Bangladesh can realise political stability through talks and negotiation after its parliamentary election, reported Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a press briefing said: “We noted that Bangladesh’s parliamentary election had been completed on Jan 5. As a friendly neighbour of Bangladesh, China is concerned about the country’s national situation.”

China hopes political forces in Bangladesh can give priority to national long-term and fundamental interests, and hold talks and consultation in efforts to realize political and social stability, as well as economic development, he said.

Meanwhile, South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Yun-young said his country hoped for an inclusive political process to overcome the current situation and restore peace and stability.l

A 10-year-old boy was choked to death while playing with a rope inside a shanty in the capital’s Pallabi area yesterday.

Deceased Ajoy Das’s mother Josna Das said Ajoy had been playing with a rope hung from a wooden structure inside the shanty and got entangled.

She said: “I had gone to collect wood and no one was at home. My younger son Sanjoy was also playing outside.”

Hearing chaos, Josna came back to her shanty and found neighbours taking care of her son. Ajoy was admitted to a nearby hospital in a critical condition.

He was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead. l

n Kailash Sarkar

New cabinet

Government mulls special tribunal Swearing-in of MPs sparks off legal debate

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After the meeting president’s Press Secretary Ehsanul Karim Hellal said the president congratulated Hasina on her being re-elected as the president of the Awami League parliamentary party.

Awami League and Jatiya Party sources said almost all cabinet members of the interim government were likely to be included in the new cabinet.

Some new faces such as Mohammad Nasim, Sheikh Fazrul Karim Selim, Anwar Hossain Manju of Jatiya Party (JP), Mossarraf Hossain, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Asaduzzaman Noor might be incorporated into the new government.

AMA Muhith, Matia Chowdhury, Syed Ashraful Islam, Abdul Latif Siddique, Khandokar Mosarraf Hossain, Advocate Shahara Khatun, Obaidul Quader, Mujibul Haque, Nurul Islam Nahid, Shahjahan Khan, Hasan, and Hasanul Haque Inu may get the same ministries.

Sheikh Selim may be given the health ministry while Mohammad Nasim the home ministry.

If Safiq Ahmed becomes adviser to the prime minister then Suranjit Sen may get the law ministry while Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir the planning ministry.

If AMA Muhith is not interested, former Bangladesh Bank governor Farash Uddin Ahmed is like to become finance minister.

Jatiya Party’s Anisul Islam Mahmud, Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, Salma Islam and Mujibul Haque Chunnu are reported to be included in the new government.

Earlier in the day, 284 MPs, elected in the 10th parliamentary poll, took oaths.

Yesterday Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury administered the oaths for the newly elected MPs. Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad did not join the oath-taking ceremony.

The new MPs from his party joined the programme under Rawshan Ershad who is set to be the leader of the opposition in parliament.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has lost state protocol soon after the lawmakers were sworn in. l

National team cricketer Sohag Gazi was allegedly assaulted by a policeman in front of his residence at Rupnagar in the city yesterday.

Witnesses said a microbus carrying a patrol team from the Rupnagar police station got obstructed by the car of the cricketer parked on Road 7 adjacent to his house around 4pm.

The policemen got angered as the driver of Sohag’s car delayed in freeing the road.

As Sohag got out of his car the policemen led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Md

to the inspector general of police, the divisional commissioners, police commissioners, deputy inspector generals, district magistrates and superintendents of police. Deputy Home Secretary Md Mizanur Rahman signed the letter.

A senior ministry official said five incidents, including of rape and killing, were now being tried under the Speedy Trial Tribunal system.

The home ministry would consider whether the cases, filed in connection

Wahidul Islam locked in an altercation and at one stage the ASI slapped Sohag.

The law enforcers also attempted to pick the cricketer and his chauffer.

The policemen calmed down when locals revealed Sohag’s identity.

When contacted, Mirpur division Deputy Commissioner Imtiyaz Ahmmed said there had been a misunderstanding.

“The driver of Sohag Gazi’s car did not move the vehicle even after the policemen blew the horn repeatedly. The patrol team could not move as the car was parked blocking the road,” he said.

The DC said he had not received any complaint about the incident as of 11pm. l

with the attacks, could be brought to the Speedy Trial Tribunal.

The official also said, if the attackers could be given punishments under the Speedy Trial Tribunal, the incidents could be prevented.

Meanwhile, the home secretary, along with some other high-ranking officials of the ministry, cancelled their visit to Jessore and Dinajpur scheduled for yesterday, where some of the recent attacks on minorities took place, because of inclement weather. l

Attacks on Hindu communities  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

Signed by its executive director, Mohammad Nur Khan, the organisation’s statement said the affected people were leaving their houses due to the lack of security.

The organization also demanded the investigation of the incidents by a judicial commission and punishment for the perpetrators.

The Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) also formed a human chain yesterday, demanding immediate punishment for the miscreants who have been killing innocent people, attacking minorities, and destroying educational institutions and government property during the recent blockades and shutdowns.

Speaking at the human chain, DUTA president Farid Uddin Ahmed said: “We have to protest against evil forces from now on, as they want to make Bangladesh like Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Although being held under the banner of the DUTA, teachers from the BNP-backed white panel did not join the human chain.

Meanwhile at Rajshahi University yesterday, 351 pro-BNP and Jamaat-backed teachers condemned the attacks on minority communities, and demanded an impartial and independent investigation under the supervision of the United Nations.

In Barisal, the city and district units of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad and Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, formed a human chain and brought out a procession, demanding the punishment of the perpetrators and calling for security to be ensured for members of the Hindu community.

In Dinajpur and Karmojibi Nari, an NGO for women, formed a human chain demanding security for the Hindu communities and exemplary punishment for the people behind the recent attacks.

In Rangamati, Sanatan Jubo Parishad and Puja Udjapon Committee, demanded the immediate arrest and exemplary punishment for the attackers.

In Sherpur, Bangladesh Garo Students Association formed a human chain, demanding punishment for the people who attacked the Hindu communities, as well as calling for security to be ensured for all minority groups.

Bangladesh Islami Andolon Chairman Syed Mohammad Rezaul Karim also expressed concern and anger over the recent attacks on the Hindu community members.

Criticising the government for not “taking action against the perpetrators,” he said: “The government’s silence is mysterious.” l

Jamaat-e-Islami, which is alleged to have attacked Hindus, has blamed the government for the attacks.

It demanded a UN-supervised inquiry into the incidents of violence.

“We are observing...that the government is carrying out attacks on minority in a pre-planned way to create anarchy,” said Jamaat acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman in a statement yesterday.

He said: “We call for an independent commission, comprised of HR bodies from around the world under UN's direct supervision to reveal the truth.” l

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“This is a matter of legal interpretation as to whether the oath taking was a violation of constitution; I am not the person to give the interpretation.

I was under constitutional obligation to administer the swearing-in within three days, as the EC published the gazette on Wednesday,” Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said.

She declined to comment on whether two parliaments were in existence after the 10th Jatiya Shangsad MPs took their oaths.

The EC, which the main opposition called subservient to the government, is yet to come up with explanation for publishing the gazette.

According to the new provision, the 10th parliamentary polls took place under the supervision of an interim government comprising of elected MPs with Sheikh Hasina as its chief.

All elections since 1990, except for the sixth parliamentary polls, have been held under a non-party caretaker government – a system which was incorporated into the constitution in 1996 following the Awami League’s vigorous campaign against the then BNP government.

Before 1990, the four parliaments after 1973 (first parliament), had either been abolished or dissolved before completing their five-year terms, as a result of military coups or mass uprisings.

The non-party caretaker government provision says such a government can take office after the completion of a five-year term of an elected regime. The caretaker government holds elections within 90 days of the day it takes office.

But the last non-party caretaker government stayed in power for about two years beyond its constitutional mandate.

The parliamentary records show 226 Awami League MPs and 31 from Jatiya

Party (JaPa) took oaths on Thursday.

The parties that took oaths on Thursday included: Workers’ Party (six), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (four out of five), Jatiya Party-JP (one), BNF (one) and Tariquat Federation (one).

Jatiya Party’s HM Ershad, Awami League’s Saber Hossain Chowdhury, and Nazmul Hassan and Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal of the JSD did not take oaths.

Since morning the newly elected MPs and their assistants filled the oath room of the Jatiya Shangsad, as the first oath was supposed to be administered at 10am. The Awami League first took its oaths. Shirin Sharmin Chadhury then administered oaths to other MPs. The Awmai League MPs then attended the first meeting of the parliamentary party, held on the ninth floor of the Jatiya Shangsad. The MPs unanimously elected Sheikh Hasina as the Leader of the House. l

Blockade break for today and tomorrow  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

and Hospital at around 6am, the victim’s brother Abu Bakkar said.

Our Laxmipur correspondent reported that army troops gave chase to a group of Jamaat-Shibir men when they blocked a road in the town during the morning. The pickets however, vandalised five auto-rickshaws before the army could arrive.

Later in separate drives, joint forces detained 11 picketers.

In Sirajganj around 9pm on Wednesday, pickets hurled a petrol bomb at a compartment of the Silk City Express which was heading to Rajshahi, at Kamarkhand Rail Station. No was hurt in the incident, GRP Officer-in-Charge Akbar Hossain said.

Buses plied the roads to the capital from Bogra, Jessore, Khulna, Gopalganj and some other districts.

The joint forces arrested 15 blockaders from Feni, 31 from Comilla and two opposition men from Kishoreganj, for their alleged involvement in sabotaging trains, and 72 men from Thakurgaon for

involvement in post-polls violence.

Transport workers and commuters, who have been suffering for around one-and-half months because of the opposition blockades and hartals, were back on the capital’s streets yesterday.

Numbers of public and private vehicles was almost as would be expected on a normal day. At many bus stops, office goers and students were standing in queues.

“Bus driving or assisting is not a permanent job. We get money for every trip. If buses do not leave the stands, the money stops coming,” said Abdul Latif, a driver of Bahan Paribahan.

His bus was picking up passengers at the Science Laboratory intersection. In the last month, he did not make a single trip, as the bus owner did not dare to bring out the buses.

“The bus owner said he would operate the bus today. I am so happy that I am back to work,” said another driver of Meghna Paribahan, an inter-district bus plying the route from Sayedabad to Dashmina of Patuakhali.

At Gabtoli bus terminal many counters

were open. The staff, however, said they will not run the buses on all routes, and the number of buses would be limited.

Pickets burnt a bus used for carrying staffers of Sonali Bank, behind the bank’s head office at Dilkusha last night.

Passengers at Kamalapur Railway Station increased dramatically yesterday but the train schedule, which has almost collapsed in the last month, was still to return to normal. Some trains were six to ten hours late.

Chittagong-bound Mohanagar Probhati was supposed to leave the station at 7:40am, but it had not reached the station by 4pm. The Dinajpur-bound Ekota Express was supposed to leave the station at 10am, but PA announcers said it would not reach the station before 3pm.

Khairul Bashir, the station manager, said they had been trying to maintain the schedule, but could not do so because of the subversive activities targeting rail lines and trains.

“The situation will change soon. We need at least a month to do so,” he said. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Friday, January 10, 2014

AL to initiate talks with BNP: Ashraf n Kamran Reza Chowdhury Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said yesterday the government would initiate talks with BNP, which had boycotted the 10th parliamentary polls.

He also said the government would provide necessary protocol and protection to Khaleda Zia despite the fact that she was set to lose the post of the opposition leader very soon.

“The door of negotiation is always open. It is the government that will take the initiative of talks (with the BNP),” Syed Ashraf told the Dhaka Tribune at the parliament building after taking oath as an MP and a meeting of the Awami League parliamentary party meeting.

In an interview with BBC Bangla service, Khaleda Zia hinted that she was interested in having talks with Awami League to hold an inclusive

election as soon as possible.

The Awami League general secretary and his BNP counterpart Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, under the mediation of the UN secretary-general’s envoy Oscar Fernandez Taranco, had agreed to continue the dialogue for an amicable solution to the political stalemate over the restoration of the non-party caretaker government in the constitution.

Top ranking leaders of BNP and Awami League met at least three times to hold an inclusive election, but could not reach an outcome.

BNP at first demanded scraping the 10th general elections. HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party emerged as the largest opposition group as BNP and its allies boycotted the polls that took place under the interim government headed

by Sheikh Hasina.

“After the publication of gazette confirming Rawshan Ershad as the

opposition leader, she will no longer hold the position,” said Ashraful Islam.

“But as the former leader of the opposition, three-time prime minister and the chief of a party, the government

The government would provide necessary protocol and protection to Khaleda Zia despite the fact that she was set to lose the post of the opposition leader will provide her with the proper protocol and protection,” he said.

Jatiya Party, which got 33 seats in the January 5 polls, had a meeting yesterday confirming Rawshan Ershad as the opposition leader.

Parliament secretariat sources said they would publish the gazette as soon as the authorities instruct. l

A worker sets up CCTV camera in front of the residence of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday

New MPs cannot make law before Jan 25: AG n Nazmus Sakib

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam has said the newly elected lawmakers who took oaths yesterday could not lay down any laws before January 24, the last day of ninth parliament, as per the constitution.

However, their oath taking before the expiration of the previous parliament was not a breach but rather was in accordance with the constitution, he said.

According to article 123(3) of the con-

stitution, elected MPs shall not assume office as they were elected before the expiration of the ninth parliament. Some legal experts said taking the oath meant assuming office.

Article 148 (3) of the constitution says: “Where under this constitution a person is required to make an oath before he enters upon an office, he shall be deemed to have entered upon the office immediately after he makes the oath.”

The attorney general said: “There is no decision to hold sessions before

January 24. So the new MPs cannot take part in enacting laws in this period, which means they are not assuming their offices. So the constitution is not being violated in any way. Thus the notion that there are two parliaments in existence at the same time is absurd.”

Mahbubey Alam spoke to journalists at his office, as the debate raged about whether it was a violation of the constitution to have two parliaments active simultaneously.

Earlier yesterday 283 MPs, who were

elected in the 10th parliamentary polls, took oaths at the parliament premises under Speaker of the ninth parliament Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

The attorney general also said the oath taking ceremony was held yesterday because there was a constitutional obligation that the MPs must be sworn in within three days of the issuance of the gazette notification of the national polls results by the Election Commission. The EC issued the notification on Wednesday. l

Hasina: Face arrest for calling hartal n Kamran Reza Chowdhury and Emran Hossain Shaikh

Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina yesterday warned that anyone who would call hartal or blockade would be arrested.

“If anyone calls hartal and blockade, he/she will be arrested then and there,” Hasina said, apparently directing the warning at the BNP and its alliance.

Quoting the party chief, Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that the new government would be “more oppressive” to contain the BNP-Jamaat alliance’s destructive activities in the name of anti-government movement.

Speaking at a meeting of the Awami League parliamentary party after yesterday’s taking-oath ceremony, she asked the lawmakers of her party to form committees at the grassroots and help the law enforcers to counter opposition violence.

Hasina urged her party colleagues to pick one of their fellow lawmakers as the leader of the House for the 10th parliament instead of her, prompting the MPs to reject her call unanimously.

“I have discharged the duties of the leader of the House twice. I am no more interested in doing it again. Please select someone from you for the job,” senior Awami League MP Rahmat Ali quoted Hasina as saying.

The MPs said “no” in chorus, making Hasina emotional, Rahmat said.

Syed Ashraf then proposed Hasina’s name as the leader of the House and Chief Whip of the ninth parliament Abdus Shahid seconded the proposal, amid cheers.

Sheikh Hasina is set to become the prime minister for the third time since 1996. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is the only leader to become prime minister thrice.

She said the new government would take office as soon as possible for bringing normalcy in the country. l

Several social organisations form human chains in front of the National Press Club yesterday, condemning the communal violence and demanding exemplary punishment to the responsible people RAJIB DHAR

Yusuf ordered Salam’s killing: Witness n Udisa Islam

AKM Yusuf was responsible for killings, looting and arson at Shoronkhola, a new witness for prosecution has told the International Crimes Tribunal 2.

The witness described a meeting of the peace committee where war crimes accused AKM Yusuf was present to deliver a speech and instigated the collaborators to commit crimes against humanity. He also claimed Yusuf attended a series of meetings at that time.

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Yusuf is facing trial on 13 counts of crimes against humanity including genocide, murder, arson attacks, abduction, torture in confinement, forced conversion of

Hindu people to Islam and deportation committed at different places in Bagerhat during the Liberation War of 1971.

The 19th prosecution witness, Abdul Latif Hawlader, testified yesterday against Yusuf. He said in his deposition he was living with his grandmother during the Liberation War. On July 29, 1971 he learned that AKM Yusuf would come to a meeting at Shoronkhola. He also heard that that day Yusuf took part in a meeting that was held at Shoronkhola police station.

On the same day, he saw some Razakars dragging a man named Abdus Salam from the riverside. The witness claimed he and his fellows hid themselves. They saw Yusuf order the

Razakars, who then took the man to the riverside again and then they heard gunshots.

Witness said in his deposition villagers found the dead body of Salam after three days.

Following the testimony, junior defence counsel Sifur Rahman began cross-examining the witness. ICT 2 fixed January 12 for further proceedings.

On December 11, prosecution’s 18th witness gave his deposition against war crimes accused Yusuf. After that, tribunal heard incomplete cross-examinations of some witnesses, as the conducting lawyer was dismissed by the tribunal and a new defence counsel was appointed by Yusuf. l

Road accidents kill 2, hurt 1 n Tribune Report Road accidents killed two persons and hurt one in separate incidents in Dhaka and Chittagong yesterday.

The deceased were Tariqul Islam, 28, an assistant manager of Meghna Filling Station, who died in the city’s Shahbagh area, and Md Juwel, 30, a truck driver, who died in a head-on collision between two trucks on DhakaChittagong Highway at Sitakunda upazila.

The injured person Nabir Uddin, 28, the helper of the truck, was admitted to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

The Dhaka Tribune’s correspondent

reports, witnesses of the Shahbagh accident described that a speedy bus hit the filling station employee from his back around 100 yards away from his working place near Ruposi Bangla Hotel while was getting down from another bus around 7:30am.

Our Chittagong correspondent reports, the accident took place yesterday in the morning.

Zillur Rahim, sergeant of Kumira Highway police outpost, said a Dhaka-bound rice-laden truck, collided head-on with a limestone-laden truck coming from opposite direction at Nunachara area of the upazila around 8am, leaving the driver dead on the spot. l

The detained leaders of BNP are produced before the CMM Court yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

DHAKA TRIBUNE

BNP leaders’ bail and remand pleas rejected once again n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday rejected the bail and remand petitions of six senior BNP leaders including MK Anwar, Barrister Moudud Ahmed and Rafiqul Islam Mia and sent them to jail in three cases filed over the Hefazat-e-Islam violence in the city on May 5 last year.

The other accused in the cases are Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokan, Abdul Awal Mintoo and Shimul Biswas.

Moudud, Anwar and Rafiqul are the BNP standing committee members while Abdul Awal Mintoo is an adviser to party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Shimul Biswas her special assistant, and Mahbub Uddin Khokan its joint secretary general.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mizanur Rahman passed the order when the investigation officers of the cases produced the BNP leaders before the court seeking a 27-day remand for each of the accused.

The defence lawyers filed separate bail petitions of the leaders.

After hearing, the court rejected the bail pleas. The court, however, permitted the investigation officers to grill the accused at the jail gate within seven working days.

Of the three cases, one was filed with Motijheel police station in connection with death of sub-inspector Md Shahjahan during a clash between law enforcers and Hefazat men in the capital on May 5 last year.

Later, police filed two other cases, one for vandalism and another for ar-

son, with the same police station.

Moudud, Anwar and Rafiqul were detained from in front of Sonargaon Hotel on November 8 last year while Abdul Awal Mintoo and Shimul Biswas were detained from outside the Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan residence a few hours later on the same day.

On December 26 evening, Mahbub Uddin Khokan was detained from in front of Matsya Bhaban in the capital.

In another case filed with Mohammadpur police station on October 26 last year, a Dhaka court also rejected the bail and remand pleas for BNP leader and former Dhaka City Corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka and sent him to jail.

Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Kumar Dey passed the order while the investigation officer sought a 10-day remand.

After hearing, the court issued an order that the investigation officer quiz him within 10 working days in front of jail gate.

Another Dhaka court sent BNP Vice-Chairman major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed to jail as the bail and remand hearing against the leader was not held yesterday for lack of documents of the case filed with Motijheel police station.

The chief metropolitan magistrate court fixed January 21 for hearing on the two petitions.

Earlier on December 29, Hafiz was detained while he came out of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital after announcing an agitation programme on behalf of the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance. l

NHRC chief visits victims of Malopara village n Our Correspondent, Jessore National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman yesterday asked the government to explain why the people of this country have become expatriates in their own land.

He raised the question while briefing journalists after a visit to where Hindu residents were violently attacked by suspected Jamaat-Shibir activists on Sunday night for voting in the parliamentary elections held that day.

Rahman said it was the duty of the government and the state to provide security to every citizen of the country.

Dulal Biswas, one of the victims of Sunday’s attack, told Rahman that he did not know the attackers as they wore masks.

“The attackers should be brought to justice whatever their political identities are,” he said. The NHRC chief also urged the government to rehabilitate the af-

fected villagers.

“They should be given daily necessities until the situation returns to normal,” he said.

Border Guard Bangladesh and different organisations and individuals have been distributing relief goods among the affected villagers.

Meanwhile, Jessore district administration yesterday formed a three-member probe body, headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner ANM Mainul Islam to investigate the attack on the residents of Malopara village. The committee is expected to submit its report in three working days.

According to media reports, armed activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, torched and looted dozens of homes belonging to the Hindu community in the village under Jessore’s Obhoynagar upazila. Local police have detained at least 23 suspects since the attack. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Friday, January 10, 2014

Labour ministry has no database on workers Government to conduct census on country’s labour situation the Dhaka Tribune recently. “However, n Asif Showkat Kallol workers in the formal sector are not losThe government plans to conduct a census to identify and prepare a database on the status of factories and workers, especially those affected by political turmoil, labour ministry sources said.

A senior official said the labour ministry was unable to take major policy decisions due to lack of information and data on the country’s labour situation.

“We are facing a lot of difficulties in making major policy decisions related to regaining GSP (generalised system of preferences) facilities for Bangladeshi products in the US market,” the official said, citing an example.

The US suspended GSP facilities for Bangladesh in June last year.

The ministry sources also said formal sectors like readymade garments (RMG) and jute were hit hard by extra and internal shocks brought on by prolonged political unrest. But the informal sector was the worst hit, they added.

“We have no authority to lend a hand to the informal sector, but they are the most vulnerable to political unrest,” Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar told

ing jobs in large numbers,” he added.

The secretary said the government was satisfied with the formal sector where workers did not lose jobs. He also claimed that there was no labour unrest in the RMG industry, thanks to the announcement of the new minimum wage in November.

However, apparel manufacturers and exporters said a total of 11 RMG factories closed down in the past three months as a result of the blockades and hartals enforced by the opposition.

Production also declined by 15% over the last couple of months, they added.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, about 3.24 crore, or about 60%, out of the country’s 5.41 crore employed labourers work in the formal sector. The rest are engaged in the informal sector.

But the labour ministry has no database on the number of workers or their incomes.

“We want to start a factory census this year. If necessary, the labour ministry will talk to the Bureau of Statistics, and it may be a foreign-funded project or programme,” Shipar said. l

EC to compensate victims

Special measures to check HRW calls for an end to stop arbitrary violence in re-election arrests of opposition members

n Mohammad Zakaria

The Election Commission yesterday decided to give compensation to the officials who were killed and injured during the 10th parliamentary polls.

The commission asked the returning officers, regional election officers and district election officers to send a list of the victims. The commission also sent letters to them, EC officials said.

Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Hafiz said the commission would give compensation to those who were killed and injured during the poll.

Tk 5 lakh would be given to the families those died, Tk 2 lakh for the critically injured and Tk 1 lakh for the less severely injured.

The commission will give the compensation from its own funds. During the polls, two officials were killed and many were injured due to violence. l

WEATHER

Weather likely to remain dry n UNB Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy sky over the country until 6pm today.

Moderate to thick fog might occur over Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dhaka, Barisal and Sylhet divisions and light to moderate fog might occur elsewhere over the country during midnight till morning, Met Office said.

Moderate cold wave is sweeping over the regions of Sitakunda, Srimangal, Rajshahi, Pabna, Jessore and Chuadanga and mild cold wave is sweeping over Rangpur and Barisal divisions and the regions of Tangail, Faridpur, Madaripur, Rangamati, Hatiya and Sathkira and it may continue. Night and day temperature may rise slightly over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:29pm today and rises at 6:44am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 27.6 degree Celsius was recorded at Teknaf and lowest 06.1 degrees at Chuadanga yesterday. Highest and lowest temperatures recorded in some major cities yesterday were: City

High

Low

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

20.1 23.9 21.7 20.8 22.6 22.6 23.9 27.9

10.3 13.8 07.0 09.4 10.5 08.5 09.8 14.0

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Jumma Asr Magrib Esha

5:23am 6:42am 12:06am 3:53pm 5:29pm 6:49pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

n Mohammad Zakaria The Election Commission has decided to take special security measures to check violent incidents ahead of the reelection scheduled for January 16.

The Election Commission considers all the polling centres vulnerable, said Election Commission Mohammad Abu Hafiz, adding the EC would deploy sufficient number of army, Border Guards Bangladesh, RAB, police, Ansar and Battalion Ansar personnel for maintaining law and order during the polls.

The re-voting will be held at 392 polling centres in eight constituencies of six districts.

The voting at the polling stations was postponed because of widespread violence, including arson attacks, attacks on election officials and snatching of ballot papers, in the January 5 parliamentary elections.

Of the 392 polling centres, 57 are in Dinajpur 4, two in Kurigram-4, 54 in

CPB organises a lathi rally at the city’s Shahbagh yesterday condemning communal violence

Gaibandha 1, 80 in Gaibandha 3, 72 in Gaibandha 4, 46 in Bogra 7, 60 in Jessore 5 and 21 centres in Lakshmipur 1 constituencies.

The commission is also appointing additional judicial and executive magistrates to hold the polls in a free and fair way.

The commission will hold meeting with returning officers, district election officers and chief of law enforcing agencies on Saturday about the overall situation of these constituencies, a senior EC official yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune.

Army would be deployed in six districts till January 18, the official said.

Voting at 597 polling centres in 36 districts were postponed on the day of election. .

The Election Commission will not hold re-elections at 205 polling centres where the winner candidates of the constituencies won with big margins, which is higher than the voters of the suspended centres. l

n UNB Human Rights Watch, a New Yorkbased rights body, said the Bangladesh authorities should immediately end arbitrary arrests of the opposition party members.

“The ruling party keeps saying it welcomes dialogue with the oppositions, but in the light of ongoing crackdowns, it’s impossible to take that statement seriously,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at the Human Rights Watch.

“To resolve the current political deadlock, all parties have to make commitments to end political violence, while the international community needs to ramp up pressure for a political settlement that involves a credible election.”

Arrests have continued even after the ruling Awami League and its allies won the largely uncontested elections held on January 5, 2014, it said in a report released on January 8.

NASHIRUL ISLAM

“Dozens, and perhaps, hundreds of opposition leaders and members were taken into custody before the election, which was boycotted by the main opposition alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP),” the report said.

“BNP leader and two-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia was placed under de facto house arrest, with security force surrounding her residence and blocking people from entering and leaving. Many opposition leaders and activists have gone into hiding,” the report added.

“While in some cases the government has acted appropriately to stop violence by some opposition forces, this spate of arrests is part of a pattern of weakening critics, limiting dissent, and consolidating the ruling party power,” said Brad Adams.

According to the report, as many as 150 people have been killed in political violence in recent months, much of it carried out by the opposition activists.

The Election Commission said nearly 500 voting centres had to be closed because of the violence, including arson attack.

Awami League activists have also engaged in attacks on the opposition supporters.

Attacks on members of the Hindu community, allegedly by supporters of the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami, have been reported in the media.

Many Hindus, Bangladesh’s largest religious minority, traditionally vote for Awami League, the report added.

It mentioned that many senior opposition leaders from the BNP and thousands of its activists were arrested in the run-up to the election.

Ahead of a December 29 BNP “March for Democracy,” hundreds were arrested, the report said.

Leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party report being threatened with arrest.

Many of its members were arrested while others went into hiding, it added. l

HC stays remand of Khandker Mahbub n Nazmus Sakib The High Court has stayed for seven days a Dhaka court order that landed Khandker Mahbub Hossain, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser, on a twoday police remand.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Mohammad Ullah passed the order yesterday, following a plea from the Bar Council vice-chairman.

On Wednesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Amirul Hoque granted police two days remand to question the BNP leader in connection with a case involving bomb blasts near the Dhaka

RAB 3 officials detain a fake army captain from the city’s Khilgao yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Jubo League man Fake captain, bomb maker held Imam and also the Khatib of Tilpapara killed in Chittagong n Kailash Sarkar Jam-e-Mosque,” said Major Khademul, Rapid Action Battalion arrested a man and added: “Arif is a professional fraud. n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong at the capital’s Khilgaon yesterday on He was earlier arrested by Ramna poA Jubo League activist was slaughtered to death by unidentified people in Chittagong yesterday following a feud over the ownership of a fish hatchery.

Enamul Haque, officer-in-charge of Raozan police station, said the deceased Nasir was killed near his residence at Haldia village of Raozan upazila around 6pm.

Police said they were looking into the incident. l

charges of impersonating an Army captain and cheating people.

Arif Khan, 35, was arrested near Khilgaon Flyover around 9am with the uniforms of the Bangladesh Army, a toy pistol, a walky-talky set and Tk17,000 cash, said Major Khademul Bashar of RAB 3.

“Arif was arrested red handed while he had been collecting money as extortion from Moulana Md Yunus, the

lice and after getting out of imprisonment he resumed his fraudulence.”

Meanwhile, police arrested a youth with three bottles of petrol in Rampura area yesterday.

Alauddin was held with three bottles of petrol from an under construction building at Wapda Road around 7pm.

Kripa Sindhu Bala, officer-in-charge of Rampura police station, said the youth used to make bombs with petrol. l

Metropolitan Police’s Ramna offices on Saturday.

Khandker Mahbub was picked up by police from the National Press Club area on Tuesday afternoon.

The HC bench also sought arguments from the police as to why the remand order should be upheld. The deputy commissioner of Dhaka and officer in charge of Ramna police station have two weeks to respond.

Gulam Mohammad Chowdhury Alal made the case for Khandker Mahbub, while Assistant Attorney General Gazi Mamunur Rashid represented the government. l

Mysterious Salah Uddin Shoaib gets 7-year jail n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of “anti-Jihadist” tabloid The Weekly Blitz, to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for carrying documents provoking interreligious friction.

Metropolitan Session Judge Md Jahurul Haque passed the order in the morning.

In the order, the court said: “Although he was facing sedition charges, Shoaib was awarded seven years’ rigorous imprisonment under section 505(A) of the penal code for having inflammatory materials.”

Shoaib was out on bail in the case but facing jail term in another case.

Police arrested him on November 29, 2003 from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport under section 54 of the criminal procedure code while he was going to attend a seminar in Tel Aviv, and filed a case against him on sedition charges on January 24, 2004.

Mohammad Abdul Hanif, the then officer-in-charge of the airport police station, alleged in the case that Shoaib was involved in “anti-state activities” such as smuggling information out the country.

Allegations against him also include promoting intercommunity tensions and publishing provocative articles in the USA Today. The CID submitted a charge-sheet against him before the court on January 9, 2005. He was remanded twice before the trial began. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Friday, January 10, 2014

Four Chittagong rail stations yield to gambling dens Correspondent from n Our Mirsharai, Chittagong At least four of six railway stations in Mirsharai upazila under the district have remained shut for a long time and given way to dens of gamblers and thieves.

The four are Mirsharai Sadar, Nijampur, Mohasthannagar and Dhumghat stations shut off in the wake of the rail authorities’ negligence, sources said.

The very useful pieces of expensive equipment at the stations have gone out of service because of the shutdown and lack of maintenance.

Taking advantage of the situation, the young thugs steal pieces of machinery of the rail stations and make a large sum, ultimately causing the rail authorities to count a big loss of rail property.

Sources said a total of six railway stations used to be fully functional a decade ago which was crowded with a large number of passengers.

Currently, rail services are available in two stations – Chinki Ashtana and Borotakia, with only local trains halting there.

During a recent visit to Nijampur, Borotakia, Mirsharai and Dhumghat stations, it was observed that equipment were decaying while the staff rooms remaining under lock and key.

A group of animals were seen tied up in the passengers’ waiting rooms.

Only a handful tea stalls set up a decade ago were still running in Mirsharai Rail Station and bearing testimony to its golden past.

Tea stall owners said different goods used to be transported to different parts of the country through this station via rail service.

Especially, Hilsa Fish of Chandpur district used to be taken to the port city through Mirsharai.

They added that local markets like Mithachara and Mirsharai bazars were set up for the rail passengers.

More than 30 staff members including porters worked at Mirsharai.

Besides, other rail stations – Kumira, Barbaku, Bhatiyari and Faujdarhat – in Sitakunda upazila suffered the same fate because of the authorities’ negligence. Locals said rail authorities were to blame for the worst situation of railways.

Because of the authorities’ lack of concern, trains arrived late all time, but they never tried to fix the problem, they said, adding that as a result, passengers began to rely on bus journey.

Besides, these stations have also turned dens for gamblers and thieves stealing expensive equipment like point motor, signal posts, signal cables, bridge cables and many such things.

Contacted, signal Engineer Shibananda Chakrabarti of Chittagong Railway Station said: “I will talk to higher officials in this regard.” l

Upazila chairman faces graft case n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

Temperature likely to go AL leader’s murder sparks protests up from today in Khagrachhari

Katiadi upazila chairman Lion Ali Akbar was accused in a graft case filed against him in connection with embezzlement of money from different government projects.

At least nine union parishad chairmen of the upazila and municipality mayor Tofazzal Hossain Khan Dilip yesterday at a press conference made the allegation.

Akbar was alleged to have misappropriated money from different projects including Test Relief (TR), Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) and Vulnerable Group Development (VGD).

They urged the government to take steps in connection with the graft. Earlier, they filed a case with the Katiadi police station in this connection. l

n Abu Bakar Siddique

Plan Bangladesh gets new country director n Tribune Report Senait Gebregziabher has been made the country director of Plan International Bangladesh, according to a press statement.

The organisation is a branch of Plan International, a non-profit organisation working for child rights and development globally.

Gebregziabher has served in a number of senior positions with Save the Children in Ethiopia, Uganda, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka she has led the humanitarian response to the 2005 tsunami and the escalation of conflict in Sri Lanka in 2006-2009. She has also worked for the World Bank on gender and land rights issues as a consultant.

An Ethiopian national, Gebregziabher has had a career in development and humanitarian field spanning over two decades. She has extensive experience of managing complex and largescale programmes in Africa and Asia.

Her recent assignment was with Oxfam in Somalia as country director. l

The average temperature in the country yesterday was similar to that of the previous day, but it may rise today and continue to do so over the next three or four days, the met office has said.

The highest temperature yesterday was recorded in Cox’s Bazar at 27.6 degrees Celsius, while in the capital it was 10.3 degrees Celsius. The lowest was 6.1 degrees Celsius recorded in Chuadanga, one point up from Wednesday’s lowest in Ishwardi.

The ongoing cold spell with chilly winds and dense fog sweeping across the country has wrought havoc on the lives of ordinary people, especially those of limited means in the Northern districts.

Outbreaks of cold-related diseases including pneumonia, asthma and re-

Locals collect tomatoes from a burnt truck in Rajshahi city yesterday. Blockade supporters set fire to the truck in the city’s Dingadoba area on Wednesday

spiratory complications were reported in districts including Kurigram, Dinajpur, Pabna, Shariatpur and Jessore.

According to sources, the dense fog disrupted road and water transportation yesterday, causing late arrivals and departures of vehicles and contributing to commuters’ sufferings.

The ferry service on the Mawa-Keurakandi and Paturia-Dawlatdia routes was suspended for about 12 hours due to the heavy fog, triggering a long tailback at both ends of the river.

Shekhar Chandra Roy, assistant manager of BIWTC, said several ferries could not leave in time because of the heavy fog. “It was dangerous to run the ferries.

The passengers had to suffer as a result.”

Officials at the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation said water transport and ferry services were suspended to avoid accidents. l

n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari Murder of Awami League leader Nobo Ranjan Tripura in Khagrachhari has triggered protests at different spots across the hill district.

Leaders of Bangladesh Tripura Kalyan Sangsad (BTKS) formed a human chain in the Shapla Chattar area of the town in the afternoon yesterday.

The BTKS leaders hold United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF), a regional organisation, responsible for killing Nobo Ranjan Tripura and urged the administration to take action against the killers.

They announced to retaliate if any BTKS leaders were further attacked by the “criminals of UPDF.” Following the human chain, a meeting was held at the same spot with BTKS Advisor and former Khagrachhari

2ND ANNIVERSARY OF ZUBAIR’S KILLING

Killers roam freely on JU campus n Mahadi Al Hasnat Zubair Ahmed, an honours final year student at the English Department of Jahangirnagar University, was stabbed to death on January 9, 2012 by a section of the JU unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League.

Zubair had left politics sometime before the incident, and was concentrating on his studies. He was preparing to attend the BCS examination, hoping to help his family have a better life.

On January 8, 2012, Zubair attended his last examination of his final year.

After finishing the test, Zubair told one of his friends he was very happy to be a graduate, and that getting a BCS job was his new target.

The next day, some Chhatra League men stabbed Zubair to death on the campus, over some old political rivalry.

After two years, the killers of Zubair

are yet to be punished. Some of the identified culprits have continued with their academic lives and are roaming the campus freely.

University teachers and students marked the second death anniversary of this meritorious student with different events: displaying Zubair’s photo and a news-cutting exhibition, and organising a protest and cultural programmes on the campus.

Several hundred students and teachers arranged a demo at the Shaheed Minar premises of the university at 12pm, demanding a quick verdict in Zubair murder case. The programmes were arranged under the banner: “Shontrasher Biruddhe Jahangirnagar” [Jahangirnagar against terrorism]. Different political and cultural organisations of the university expressed solidarity with the initiative.

“Shontrasher Biruddhe Jahangirnagar” placed a four-point demand with the authorities. The demands were: quick punishment of the killers, republishing the pictures and posters of the killers so that new students can identify them, naming a road after Zubair on the campus and building a fully-fledged medical centre.

JU Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Afsar Ahmed said, “The demands of Shontrasher Biruddhe Jahangirnagar will be considered by the authorities, and I hope Zubair’s murderers will be brought to book very soon.” Many staff members of the university expressed solidarity with the movement.

JU VC Anwar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune: “We discussed the students’ demands at our last syndicate meeting, and we have decided to publish the probe report into Zubair’s murder. l

Production closed at Jamuna fertiliser factory n Our Correspondent, Jamalpur The production at Jamuna Fertiliser Factory, the country’s largest urea producing company, was stopped on Wednesday because of mechanical fault.

Zahidul Bari, general manager of operations of the factory, said “The mechanical problem was found on Tuesday midnight in the control bulb.”

He added that the production will resume within two to three days.

The factory has the capacity of producing 1700 metric tonnes of fertiliser in a day. l

Students of Jahangirnagar University bring out a procession on the campus yesterday, demanding arrest and punishment of the killers of Zubair DHAKA TRIBUNE

Hill District Council Chairman Monindra Lal Tripura in the chair.

Awami League Khagrachhari district unit brought out a rally around 3pm led by its Joint Secretary SM Shafi who also the asked administration to arrest the killers of Tripura.

Panchhari upazila Awami League unit also brought out a rally in Panchhari Bazar around 4.30pm towards the upazila headquarters led by its President Md Bahar Mia. Senior Vice President of Logung union parishad unit of Awami Legue Naba Ranjan Tripura, 42, was gunned down by unidentified miscreants at Karbaripara under Panchhari upazila in Khagrachhari district on Wednesday.

A gang of 10-15 miscreants, equipped with firearms, attacked him after entering his Karbaripara village home under

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Logang union around 9pm, leaving him dead on the spot, Assistant Superintendent of Police of Khagrachhari sadar circle Sarwar Hossain said quoting locals.

“He might have been killed because he was acting in support of AL candidate Kujendra Lal Tripura in the general election,” he added.

Joint force including the army went to Bidya Mohon Karbary area to recover his body and sent it to the Khagrachhari Adhunik Sadar Hospital around 11am yesterday.

UPDF Press Secretary Riko Chakma denied their involvement with the killing of Nobo Ranjan.

Paromita Bala Tripura, wife of the deceased, filed a case with the Panchhari police station accusing 11 unidentified criminals. She sought justice and security for her four children. l

Ganajagaran Mancha launches road march today n Arif Ahmed Activists of Ganajagaran Mancha will launch road march to Jessore’s Malopara today, protesting recent atrocities on the local Hindus centring the 10th parliamentary elections.

The road march would start at 7:30am from Shahbagh Projonmo Chattar in the capital and the Mancha will stage several street rallies in different districts including Manikganj, Faridpur, and Magura, before reaching Jessore at 7pm.

They are scheduled to start for

Malopara and other vulnerable places in Jessore tomorrow, and would held a mass rally at Jessore “Chittra-Mor” around 3pm.

Mancha spokesman Imran H Sarkar announced the programme at a press conference in front of National Museum yesterday.

Earlier on January 7, the platform also placed three-point demand — separate laws to ensure stern actions against communal attackers, bringing the miscreants of under trial and ensuring adequate compensation for the victim families. l

4 people found dead n Tribune Report

Police recovered four dead bodies in Pabna, Satkhira, Bogra and Kurigram yesterday. One was arrested in connection with one of the incidents.

Police recovered the body of Md Abdul Munnaf, 50, a local trader, from a field in Vuipara village under Bera upazila in Pabna on Wednesday. The victim has been missing from his residence since January 5, said family members.

Locals spotted the body in the evening and informed police. Police rushed to the spot and recovered the body.

Police said the victim was strangled to death. Police sent the body to Pabna Medical College Hospital morgue yesterday. A case was filed in this regard.

In Satkhira, an unidentified body was recovered from Duronda canal in Tala upazila. Locals found the body around 10am and informed police, said Officer-in-Charge Shimul Das of

Tala police station. A youth named alAmin was hacked to death in Sherpur upazila in Bogra on Wednesday. Officer-in-Charge Ali Ahmed Hashmi of Sherpur police station said the body was found near Ronbirbala Bridge. The victim was a former activist of Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the BNP, he said.

In Kurigram, the body of a missing person was recovered from the septic tank of medicine trader Abdul Latif on Wednesday. The victim was Omar Farukh, a representative of Sina Pharmaceutical Company.

Police sources said Farukh went to Latif’s place in Baghmara village under Rumari upazila to demand Tk 14,000 on behalf of the company he worked for. Latif refused to give the money and they got into an altercation. Latif’s son Abdul Kaiyum hit Farukh with a stick and leaving him dead. Later, police recovered the body and victim’s motorcycle in the middle of the night on Wednesday. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Friday, January 10, 2014

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Heritage

Friday, January 10, 2014

Launched in the mid-19th century, and originally named ‘Ophia,‘ which changed to ‘Trade Winds‘ when Captain Pierre Blampied Le Patourel (1878-1953) became Master in the late 19th century, this barque held the coveted Blue Ribbon for the tea trip from Calcutta to London WIKIMEDIA

7

Coins of the kingdom of Harikela in Eastern Bengal, excavated in Chittagong district WIKIMEDIA

When our ship comes in

T

n Tim Steel here could surely be a few more appropriate metaphors to describe the extraordinarily rich history of coinage in Bangladesh.

And it is a very rich history – another appropriate adjective, under the circumstances – with accumulating evidence, not widely disseminated, that Bangladesh is amongst the earliest places in the world that such tokens of trade were used. All of which offers further evidence that the heritage hunters of the tourism world are missing something when they ignore Bangladesh.

time routes across the world.

And this is a world that continues to beat a path to the lands that are the gateway to so much of Asia, still buying cloths and clothes.

We know for certain that the world has beaten that path for at least two and a half millennia. Maps created in Asia Minor in about 500 BCE clearly mark a river originating in a long mountain range, before flowing a long course in front of that range to reach the seas. That river could really only be the Ganges. And the information to prepare that map, thousands of miles away, can only have come from traders.

prerequisite of financial success. They are also usually more environmentally and culturally sensitive and aware of the places they visit. And what we also know is that heritage rates up there with cuisine and with shopping as the prime attraction when booking destinations.

Of course Bangladesh has a great heritage as a place to shop. History is littered with references to such trade, from perhaps Magesthenes to Daniel Defoe, the literary references are legion. And the craft-based businesses of Bangladesh today can still offer many of the treasures long sought here, from fine silks and muslins,

Silver rupee of the Bengal Presidency, in the name of the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, was minted at Banaras in AH 1198 It also seems an appropriate metaphor because, amongst other pieces of accumulating evidence of the history, the diversity of watercraft, of rivers and sea, are identified by experts as deriving design traditions from across the ancient world.

Over 150 types of rivercraft alone have been identified, with influences deriving from China, Arabia and Europe.

Bangladesh, a land of rivers, is after all, at its heart, the delta of three of Asia’s great rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, all originating in the great Himalayan mountain range. In these lands, the waters of those great rivers meet the waters of the Indian Ocean, with mari-

Coinage of course is the currency of trade, and Bangladesh is amongst the few nations with a claim to earliest development of such tokens betokens, not only trade, but expertise also in valuable minerals, gold and silver!

The ships that such history, properly disseminated, might well bring today to Bangladesh, as well as the great container ships collecting readymade garments, are the Jahaj, the ships of both sea and air that could bring those heritage hunters.

We know from plentiful research into the still growing international market for tourism that the heritage hunters are amongst the most valuable.

They are valuable because they are often amongst the best educated around the world, generally the

wealth. Bangladesh lags far behind the international average, as a contribution of tourism to GDP and employment, not merely of the world in general but especially every one of its neighbours, and other South Asian nations.

Shang Dynasty in China contains what may be the earliest copper cast coin, but it is far from clear if, in fact, it is a trade token that might be so classified.

But the rich 2,500 or so years of the history of coinage in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is amongst the few nations with a claim to earliest development of coins as tokens of trade Experts calculate that if Bangladesh could reach at least the international average, which many South Asian countries well exceed, it could generate about $10bn of income in foreign exchange, and in the process create about 4 million new skilled or semi-skilled jobs. And by far the greatest number of those jobs, experience shows, do not require urban migration; in fact, quite the reverse. The jobs in transport service and information would be where the many heritage attractions can be visited all over the country.

The recent Standard Chartered-sponsored publication, “Coins from Bangladesh,” may be a somewhat academic work with strong, specialist, numismatist appeal, but in its academic way it outlines a history of coinage that can only have developed alongside the heritage.

In its somewhat downscale way, the

tells its own story of kingdoms and empires, down the centuries that are the heritage of these lands that are Bangladesh.

A small display of some of these early coins can be seen in the National Museum. If you blink, you may miss them, and since they mark a tangible beginning of the extraordinary history of these lands, like the recent, magnificent publication on the subject, the failure to share both the fact and the significance of these treasures is missing a trick.

Of course such tiny exhibits, easy to miss, cannot compare with the ancient cities still emerging from the ground.

Cities like that, still unconfirmed in its historic identification, in Wari Bateshwar, Mahasthangarh, Vikrampur, Bagerhat, and probably in Egarasindur.

Or the ancient temples, the estimated 400 sites of historic Buddhism, the

WIKIMEDIA

through pearls and silver and gold jewelry, to wooden crafts and terracotta.

As far as cuisine is concerned, of course the Bangladeshi restaurant experience, so often miscalled Indian, is already well-known, but such as the 50 or so deshi pastries, on offer at the countless teashops across the country, are still one of Bangladesh’s best-kept secrets, and overdue for revealing to the world. From nimki and rash puri to samosas and piyajus, the experience is an extraordinary one, and rash puri is a doughnut to beat the texture and flavour of any in the world!

The potential for those ships of the air to fly in hordes of sophisticated travellers would certainly identify them as the metaphorical ships, bringing enormous Old coin from Arakan, known today as Rakhine, Myanmar. Minted by Shams al-din Muhammad Ghazi, Sultan of Bengal. Dated AH962 (= 1554/5 AD) WIKIMEDIA

A copper coin of Nusrat (Delhi sultanate) from my personal collection

WIKIMEDIA

publication observes: “Bangladesh has a glorious numismatic heritage.”

Whilst it opens with an illustration of silver coins from Wari Bateshwar, dating from 6th to 3rd century BCE, there is, in fact, some reason to believe that some such finds in that extraordinary archaeological site on the banks of the old Brahmaputra could even prove to be earlier.

There is in fact considerable disagreement about the source of the world’s earliest coins, although Bangladesh is certainly in contention.

Coins of the 7th century BCE have certainly been identified in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and the Greek islands, and give or take a few decades Bangladesh is clearly in contention there.

A tomb of the 11th century BCE

100 fine Hindu and Jain sites, and even Islam from its earliest years.

Certainly, the 120 palaces have already been identified, even if many are already ruinous, and the visible, tangible remains of Mughal and British empires have more immediate appeal in their sheer number and scale, but to neglect the vital importance of such as the history of coinage is to miss a great opportunity. The opportunity to offer a beacon of attraction to those invaluable heritage hunters, the gifts that they arrive with, carrying in their wallets, of nearly incalculable economic and social benefit to a developing nation like Bangladesh. l Tim Steel is a communications, marketing and tourism consultant.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

Central African Republic leader preparing to step down

Soldiers stand guard next to a plane transporting the Central African Republic President Michel Djotodia

n Agencies The president of the Central African Republic, where more than a thousand people have died in recent violence, is preparing to step down.

Michel Djotodia, who deposed Francois Bozize in a coup last March, is due to meet regional leaders in Chad on Thursday to resolve the turmoil sweeping the country.

Reporting from Bangui, CAR’s capital, on Wednesday, Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Phillips said: “We know the president has left the country and is on his way to the summit. There is a consensus that President Djotodia is not part of the solution to the country’s terrible problems.

“His short spell in power has been nothing short of disastrous. The French want him out; they are very important players and always have been.

“There is a lot of disillusionment across the region and not much patience out there.”

In an interview with Al Jazeera, J. Peter Pham, Africa Centre director of the Atlantic Council, said Djotodia had lost “whatever minimal base” he had in the country.

“Now, he has no constituency,” Pham said. “He is actually an obstacle to any progress toward a new transition to a possibility of reconciliation in the country.”

CAR has been plunged into chaos as the country’s Christian majority seeks revenge against Muslim rebels, with the fighting between religious groups intensifying in December. UN officials have told the Security Council that the country is on the brink of a catastrophe, with half the population made homeless since ethnic warfare broke out.

AFP

Jeffrey Feltman, UN political affairs chief, told the world body on Monday that about 2.2m people - about half the total population - throughout the country need assistance.

About half the people in Bangui - a total of about 513,000 - have been driven from their homes, he said.

An estimated 100,000 people have sought shelter at a makeshift camp at the airport near the city.

A report in late December by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, reported 600 deaths in Bangui in those attacks, and Feltman put the current total at “750 casualties.”

“The death toll outside Bangui is likely to be substantial,” he said.

“Killings in Bangui and the rest of the country continue every day, and the population remains divided along religious affiliation.” l

Friday, January 10, 2014

Iraq PM faces major crisis just months ahead of polls n AFP, Baghdad Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is facing one of the biggest challenges of his eight-year rule, with key areas on Baghdad’s doorstep outside government control just months before general elections.

He is also often accused of marginalising and targeting Iraq’s Sunni Arab minority, many members of which oppose his government, and has presided over a sharp increase in violence in the country to levels not seen in five years.

The city of Fallujah, just 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of Baghdad, has been out of government hands for days, while parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, farther west, are also under the control of militants.

But analysts believe that if the 64-year-old Maliki is able to obtain some type of security victory, he may yet be able to emerge relatively unscathed and focus attention away from other failings, as he has done in the past.

“Maliki faces the biggest challenge since 2006,” said Ihsan al-Shammari, a political science professor at Baghdad University.

“The issue of Fallujah is related to the issue of terrorism, and its impor-

tance exceeds other files such as services,” which Maliki’s government has also failed to improve, Shammari said.

“The biggest challenge is ISIL,” he said, referring to al-Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has been active in the fighting in both Fallujah and Ramadi.

But “if Maliki succeeds in containing the situation” in Anbar, it will be a major boost for the premier ahead of parliamentary polls scheduled for April 30.

Fighting erupted near Ramadi on December 30, when security forces cleared a year-old Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp.

The violence spread to Fallujah, and militants moved in and seized the city and parts of Ramadi after security forces withdrew.

The loss of Fallujah is strategically important due to its proximity to the capital, and symbolically significant because it was the target of two major assaults by American forces in which they saw some of the heaviest fighting since the Vietnam War. More generally, Iraq has suffered a surge in violence to levels not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings that left tens of thousands dead. l

Syrian Jihadists fight back n AFP, Beirut Jihadists battling rebels in northern Syria fought Thursday to recover lost turf nearly a week after a new front opened in the deadly conflict gripping the country, a watchdog said.

Thursday’s fighting comes a day after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was expelled from Aleppo city by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The rebels last week launched an all-out attack on the jihadist group.

While jihadists were initially welcomed in Syria by rebels battling Assad’s forces, ISIL became hated be-

cause of its systematic abuses and its bid to dominate areas that have fallen out of regime control. In a counterattack, ISIL launched car bomb assaults late Wednesday targeting opposition checkpoints, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“At least nine people were killed in a car bomb attack by ISIL on a rebel checkpoint... in Al-Bab town” in Aleppo province, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. Early Thursday, the focus of the fighting was on Raqa, Idlib and Aleppo, the three main provinces of conflict between ISIL and rebels, the Observatory said.l

Five bodies found in Russia region near Olympics host Sochi n AFP, Moscow

Russia on Thursday launched a counter-terror operation after five bodies riddled with bullets were found in a southern region bordering the Winter Olympics host Sochi, less than a month before the start of the games.

Two districts in the Stavropol region were placed on high alert after the bodies were found in four cars, one of them apparently booby-trapped, in the area on Wednesday, the Interfax news agency quoted the FSB security service as saying.

As police examined one of the cars, which contained the body of a local resident who had been shot in the head, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in a nearby ditch, causing no injuries. Officers then defused another device nearby, the FSB said.

A security source told Interfax the two devices were packed with small metal elements such as screws to cause maximum injury and resembled those previously used by insurgents in southern Russia.

Two other bodies were identified as local taxi drivers and were found in the back seat and in the boot of their Lada cars. The remaining two bodies were found close to a parked car, Interfax cited the FSB as saying.

The Investigative Committee, which probes major criminal cases in Russia, opened investigations into murder, arms trafficking and attempts on the lives of law enforcement officials.

The Stavropol region borders the Krasnodar region where the Black Sea resort of Sochi is located.

Russia on Tuesday launched the largest security operation in Olympic history, a month before the Winter Games kick off on February 6.

Russia particularly fears attacks by Islamist militants from the North Caucasus during the Sochi games, after two suicide bombings at a rail station and in a trolleybus last month in the southern city of Volgograd.

Security measures around Sochi include special permits for cars to enter the city or access Olympic venues, as well as drones monitoring the region and patrols by army troops. l

A Russian soldier patrols the air defence missile military base stationed near the Olympic park in Sochi

AFP

European Parliament Obama meets intelligence officials to approves Snowden hearing discuss NSA reforms n AFP, Brussels

A European Parliament committee approved plans Thursday to hear US intelligence whistle blower Edward Snowden, whose revelations about US snooping on EU leaders has sparked uproar against Washington.

Parliament’s Civil Liberties committee voted 36 in favour, two against, to hear Snowden by video-link from Russia where he has found temporary asylum.

Reports based on Snowden’s leaked files have shown Washington running a global system, backed up by allies such as Britain, to listen in on Internet and telephone systems.

This included revelations that the US National Security Agency had even tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The full parliament will vote on the committee’s recommendation in February, with the Snowden hearing possible in April if it wins full house approval. l

n AFP, Washington US President Barack Obama met top spy chiefs Wednesday as he finalized a decision on how to rein in National Security Agency spying sweeps following revelations by Edward Snowden.

Obama met the heads of the NSA, CIA, FBI and the director of national intelligence as part of a string of meetings with advocates on both sides of the debate on balancing privacy and national security.

“This was an important chance for the president to hear directly from his team as he begins to make final decisions about how we move forward with key intelligence collection programs,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

The meeting included CIA chief John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, NSA head General Keith Alexander and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey.

Obama was joined in the talks by

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder.

The president also held a meeting with members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a watchdog body set up by Congress after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Obama promised that a report the board is preparing will be factored into the administration’s deliberations on how to move forward, the White House said.

On Thursday, Obama plans to meet top lawmakers with responsibilities overseeing the intelligence community – including some critics of NSA mass phone data capture programs – to discuss how to reform the intelligence community.

Aides say that Obama spent considerable time during his recent vacation in Hawaii mulling new constraints on US security agencies in the wake of revelations of mass snooping by fugitive intelligence agency contractor Snowden.

The president will deliver his con-

clusions in a speech within weeks, and definitely before his annual State of the Union Address, which is scheduled for January 28.

A review panel tasked by Obama with looking at reforms of the intelligence community came up with 46 recommendations in a report issued in December, among them scaling back NSA activities to restore public trust.

The report included calls to end the agency’s power to collect and store Americans’ phone records. The group also called for curbs on the NSA’s ability to ask technology firms to insert back doors to software that allow it to access encrypted communications.

The panel also said the NSA should do more to inform the public and lawmakers about the extent of its surveillance.

Obama has hinted that he may be in favour of continuing the mass collection of phone data – but that thebns of items should be held by communications firms or a third party and not the NSA. l

Blast kills Iraqi army recruits in Baghdad n Agencies A suicide bomber killed 13 Iraqi army recruits and wounded more than 30 in Baghdad, police said.

A man with an explosive vest had blown himself up on Thursday amid the recruits at the small Muthanna airfield used by the army in the Iraqi capital.

The attack came a day after gunmen killed 12 soldiers and wounded four more at a military site in Al-Adhim, north of the capital.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Fighters opposed to the Iraqi government frequently target security forces with bombings and shootings.

The blast came day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to eradicate al-Qaeda in the country, who have taken over parts of the western Anbar province.

In a televised address on Wednesday, Maliki predicted victory as his army prepared to launch an offensive against the fighters.

Fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is also active across the border in Syria, overran police stations in Falluja and Ramadi last week.

The government had asked last week for volunteers to join the military effort against al-Qaeda.

Violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings.

It took just five days for this month’s death toll to top 246, the figure for all of January last year, according to AFP news agency figures based on security and medical sources. l

Bahrain suspendeds national dialogue n AFP, Dubai Bahrain has suspended a national dialogue that began last February but was boycotted months ago by the main Shiite opposition, a government statement said on Thursday.

It gave no indication that the process aimed at ending the political impasse in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom with a Shiite majority could resume.

The decision came after eight Sunni associations announced that they too would suspend their participation in the talks.

They said in a joint statement this was due to “the absence of a party that was invited to take part in the dialogue and its withdrawal” from the talks.

It was also because of “government stances that show their lack of will to discuss matters on the agenda” leading to “unfruitful sessions” of the dialogue.

On September 18, five groups including the main opposition Shiite movement Al-Wefaq pulled out of the national reconciliation talks after prominent Shiite ex-MP Khalil Marzooq was arrested on charges of inciting terrorism.

He was released after the trial opened but was banned from leaving the country, which has been hit by a sporadic Shiite-led uprising since February 2011.

Making Thursday’s announcement, the government blamed the suspension of the national dialogue on “the five (Shiite) associations” for repeatedly failing to join the talks. l

Obama invites Merkel to Washington after phone-tap row

n AFP, Washington President Barack Obama invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Washington on Wednesday, hoping to mend fences after a row provoked by revelations of US eavesdropping on her cell phone.

Obama called Merkel to wish her a speedy recovery after her recent skiing injury and invited her to visit at a “mutually agreeable time in the coming months,” the White House said in a statement.

Merkel last year reacted furiously to claims the National Security Agency had been listening in on her mobile, telling Obama in October that this would be a “breach of trust” between two allies.

Media reports of American snooping based on documents leaked by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden have damaged US relations with key allies and were a political and personal embarrassment for Obama. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

Japan chemical plant blast kills five

Workers gather near an explosion site at a plant of the Japanese chemical company Mitsubishi Materials

n AFP, Tokyo An explosion at a Japanese factory that had previously attracted the attention of safety inspectors killed at least five people and injured a dozen more Thursday.

The blast happened in the early afternoon at the plant in the central city of Yokkaichi, when maintenance crews were working on a heat exchanger used in the production of silicon products, a plant spokesman told AFP. Initial reports put the death toll at two, but they were quickly revised upwards.

“Five people are dead. 12 people have been injured, of whom nine sustained only minor injuries,” said a spokeswoman at Mie prefectural police.

A separate police spokesman told AFP the plant, run by Mitsubishi Materials, makes parts for solar panels and automobiles, using polymers made from silicon, hydrogen and chlorine. “An explosion occurred but there is no fire. We received an emergency call at 2:09 pm (0509 GMT)...and at 2:21 pm the incident appeared to have calmed down,” he said.

Television footage showed around a

dozen fire-fighters setting out stretchers for victims at the site, where a pipe appeared to have fallen to the ground and other machinery parts were scattered nearby.

“I heard a boom and saw white smoke rising from the plant,” a 56-yearold worker at a nearby plant was quoted by the Sankei Shimbun as saying. “I don’t remember there ever being such a serious accident in Yokkaichi before.”

‘I heard a boom and saw white smoke rising from the plant’ A separate police spokeswoman said detailed inspections to determine the cause of the accident had not yet begun because of the danger of secondary explosions, although she added that there was no known risk of a toxic chemical leak. Hiroki Morofuji, an official at the plant, said the blast had involved maintenance workers at the premises, which are sited in a heavily industrialised region.

Mitsubishi Materials, headquar-

N Korea rejects family reunions proposal n AFP, Seoul

AFP

tered in the Japanese capital, makes a range of products including auto parts, silicon wafers for memory chips used in consumer electronics, and cement for road and bridge construction.

“Some 170 people were working at the plant,” a Tokyo-based spokesman said. “Operation at the plant has been suspended. We still don’t know the cause of the explosion.”

He confirmed a report by Dow Jones Newswires that the Yokkaichi factory was ordered by local officials to shut down for several months in 2010 after an on-site inspection discovered it was generating high-pressure gas without necessary permits.

The company, which reported sales of about $12.2bn in its latest fiscal year, has more than 22,000 employees and operations across the globe including in the United States, Brazil, Germany and India, according to its website.

The death toll is the largest in an industrial accident in Japan since an undersea tunnel collapsed at an oil refinery in February 2012, trapping five people.l

North Korea Thursday rejected a South Korean proposal for resuming reunions for families separated by the Korean War, citing planned South-US military exercises as a major barrier. The North’s main body for inter-Korean affairs said it would like to get the reunions going again, but questioned the South’s sincerity.

“How could separated families comfortably meet for a reunion in the face of ceaseless war practices staged in the South?” the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) was quoted as saying by the North’s official KCNA news agency.

South Korea and the United States conduct a series of joint military exercises of varying magnitude every year.

The drills are routinely condemned by the North as rehearsals for invasion.

Earlier this week South Korean President Park Geun-Hye had called for a family reunion event to be held around the time of the Lunar New Year on January 31.

In a press conference, Park said the reunion programme would provide new momentum to improving ties fol-

Workers building a massive Samsung factory in Vietnam battled police and torched motorbikes, in a rare outbreak of labour violence in the tightly controlled country.

On Thursday, eleven people were injured in the incident, which Samsung said occurred after a disagreement between workers and security guards took place over safety protocols at the site.

Samsung and other tech companies such as Intel and Nokia are increasingly moving production to Vietnam, where labour costs are cheaper than in neighbouring China.

Vietnam’s Communist rulers are encouraging them with tax breaks, eager to move away from traditional exports

Officials sacked over China mosque stampede

Catholics parade in Philippines

n Agencies

Millions of barefoot devotees packed the Philippine capital’s streets Thursday for one of the world’s biggest Catholic parades, honouring an ancient statue of Jesus Christ they believe has miraculous powers. Chanting “Viva, Viva Senor Nazareno! (Long Live Mister Nazarene),” frenzied pilgrims climbed over one another in the suffocating heat to touch the Black Nazarene during the ebony-hued wooden statue’s slow procession.

“This has been a family tradition for years, and the Nazarene has given us many blessings over the years,” housewife Josephine Manalastas told AFP after she and her 80-year-old mother

A county chief and three other officials have been dismissed over a stampede at a mosque in China’s northwest that left 14 people dead. Those sacked included Xiji county head Ren Lixin, along with the county’s director of religious affairs, deputy police chief, and a township head, Xinhua News Agency said on Thursday.

The mosque’s administrator has already been detained on suspicion of criminal negligence. The stampede, which also left ten injured happened in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region on Sunday, was blamed on poor crowd control. l

n AFP, Manila

were pulled out by medics from beneath the surging crowd.

They were taken to an ambulance for treatment after a section of the crowd stampeded over a steel barrier protecting the statue’s carriage, shortly before the parade began at Manila’s largest park in the morning.

Medics said the two were uninjured.

But by mid-afternoon police said 879 people had been treated for various injuries as the life-sized, 406-year-old icon was borne towards its home in a central Manila church. Church organisers said one person suffered a stroke.

Large numbers of police were mustered to help maintain order along the six-kilometre (four-mile) route, but the

BIG CAT NEWS India tiger kills four people in 12 days

A wild tiger is believed to have killed four villagers in northern India in 12 days, prompting searches for the big cat and protests from villagers, an official said Thursday. The beast attacked and killed a 40-year-old woman on Wednesday in a village in the state of Uttar Pradesh, its fourth victim since it is thought to have strayed from a tiger reserve, the official said. State forest officials and police, aided by two elephants, have been searching for the tiger in Moradabad district in the hope of driving it back to the Jim Corbett National Park, popular with tourists. “We have identified four bodies that were killed by the tiger as they bore teeth and claw marks,” senior Moradabad administrative official O.P. Narain Singh told AFP. “We have launched a thorough search and hope it will go back to its natural habitat.” The state government has also “began a process to declare the animal a man-eater as soon as possible” which means the protected tiger can be killed, Singh said. Frightened villagers have been protesting against the failure to capture the animal since the first death was reported on December 29. Officials suspect it strayed from the Jim Corbett National Park – home to some 200 tigers – although the boundary is about 110 kilometres (68 miles) from Moradabad district. India is home to some 1,700 tigers – half of the world’s rapidly shrinking wild tiger population – but has been struggling to halt the big cat’s decline in the face of poachers, international smuggling networks and loss of habitat.

Lion found hanging in cage at Indonesia ‘death zoo’

A young African lion has died after getting its head caught in cables in its cage at an Indonesian zoo notorious for hundreds of animal deaths in recent years, it was announced Thursday. The 18-month-old lion named Michael was found early Tuesday at the zoo in Surabaya, in the east of the main island of Java, said zoo spokesman Agus Supangkat. “The lion was found hanging from the roof of his cage. He was very young and got his head stuck in cables that keepers use to open and close the cage,” Supangkat told AFP. Supangkat insisted that the death was an accident and not due to negligence. Police were investigating its death, he added. The incident came just two days after a wildebeest was found dead in its cage at the zoo, which has been dubbed the “death zoo” because so many animals have died there prematurely in recent years due to neglect. Among them have been endangered orangutans, a tiger whose food was laced with formaldehyde and a giraffe found dead with a beach ball-sized lump of plastic in its stomach, after eating food wrappers thrown into its pen over the years. The wildebeest died on Sunday evening of intestinal complications.

Supangkat insisted the wildebeest had been properly fed and said it became sick after days of intense rain and humidity. The management of the zoo – Indonesia’s biggest – has been taken over by the Surabaya city administration, but the deaths have not stopped and animal welfare groups continue to call for its closure.

Chinese man detained after dead tiger found in SUV

Police in China have detained a man over the death of a rare Siberian tiger discovered in the back of an SUV, a report said Thursday. Pictures showing officers pulling the black-streaked tiger, wrapped in a plastic bag, out of a white vehicle went viral on China’s Internet after they were posted online. Police in the eastern city of Wenzhou are holding a suspect identified as a former chef in connection with the tiger’s death, the local Youth Times newspaper said. The tiger was seized by police after they spotted the bag and found its shape suspicious, the report said. Trade in Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, is outlawed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Hundreds of the animals, known scientifically as Panthera tigris altaica, once roamed the lush pine and oak forests of north-eastern China. As recently as the 1970s China and Russia each had about 150 Siberian tigers, but now only around 20 are estimated still to survive in the wild in China. Conservationists cite increased logging as well as poaching of the species for use in traditional Chinese medicine as among reasons for the dramatic fall in their numbers. The body of the seized tiger is being stored in a local zoo, the report said, adding that experts judged it to be a male between five and six years old but had not yet determined the cause of its death.

lowing years of high tensions.

A reunion had been scheduled for September last year but Pyongyang cancelled it at the last minute, blaming “hostility” from South Korea.

“In contrast to our genuine efforts, press experts and even government officials in the South made rude comments and displayed bad behaviour,” the CPRK recalled in its message Thursday to the South’s Unification Ministry.

Seoul responded by expressing “regret” that Pyongyang had sought to link a humanitarian issue with the regular joint military exercises it conducts with the United States.

“The North should show sincerity through its actions, instead of talking about improving ties only with words,” the Unification Ministry said.

Millions of Koreans were left separated by the Korean War, which sealed the peninsula’s division. Most have died without having the chance to reunite with family members last seen six decades ago.

The reunion programme began in earnest in 2000 following an historic inter-Korean summit. l

Workers clash with police in Vietnam n AP

procession was crawling so slowly that just over a third of the distance had been covered as dusk fell.

As of midday organisers said this year’s crowd outnumbered the estimated ninem who attended last year, although the number could not be independently verified.

Devotees climbed on each other’s shoulders to kiss the statue or wipe it with white towels and handkerchiefs.

Others fought over a pair of thick lengths of rope that the pilgrims used to pull the carriage. In scenes reminiscent of a rock concert mosh pit, one determined woman surfed the crowd to reach the icon, only to fall back and sink into the sea of humanity afterwards. l

9

Friday, January 10, 2014

of clothes, shoes and shrimps to higher value products.

Bystanders took video footage of the riot at the complex under construction in Thai Nguyen province and quickly posted it on YouTube.

Motorbikes and containers housing security guards were set alight, sending thick smoke over the complex.

People threw rocks at police in riot gear who huddled together.

Local official Duong Ngoc Long said police restored order after three hours.

One police officer was among the injured, according to a doctor from a nearby military hospital.

“We will do our utmost to prevent any such incidents from recurring in the future,’’ Samsung said in a statement. It said construction was unaffected. l

14% want Gandhi to be Indian PM n AFP, New Delhi Only 14% of voters believe Rahul Gandhi would make the best prime minister for India, a survey found Thursday, just days after his endorsement by outgoing Congress premier Manmohan Singh.

The survey for The Times of India found 58% of respondents want Narendra Modi, the candidate of the main nationalist opposition party in this year’s general election, to be the next prime minister while 25% opted for the anti-corruption champion Arvind Kejriwal.

The poll makes grim reading for the ruling Congress party, which had been hoping that the youthful Gandhi would significantly increase its apparently slim chances of victory in the election due by May. Gandhi, 43, is expected to be named at a party meeting on January 17 as Congress’s candidate for premier after the 81-year-old Singh confirmed last Friday that he would step down after the polls. l

Indian court orders security for family of gang-rape victim n AFP, New Delhi An Indian court Thursday ordered protection for the family of a schoolgirl who was gang-raped twice and then burned to death in the country’s east, the father said. The family sought protection from the High Court in the eastern city of Kolkata after vowing to fight for justice for their 16-year-old daughter, who died on New Year’s Eve after being set ablaze.

The father says his family has been threatened by members of the gang which raped his daughter on October 26 and then again the next day.

The second rape occurred as she was returning home in the town of Madhyagram, 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Kolkata, after reporting the first attack at a police station. The family moved house but gang members tracked them down, before allegedly setting their daughter on fire on December 23 at their home. She later died in hospital.

“I am satisfied and confident that we will get justice for our daughter,” the father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told AFP by phone from Kolkata after the court’s order. l

Millions of devotees pack the streets of the Philippine capital Manila

AFP

Malaysia in Malaysia probes priest for ‘disturbing assault’ on rights: Amnesty sedition in ‘Allah’ row tor for sedition. n AFP, Kuala Lumpur n AFP, Kuala Lumpur He could not say whether Andrew

Amnesty International accused Malaysia’s government on Thursday of a “disturbing assault” on freedoms by banning a leading coalition of human rights groups. Malaysia’s Home Ministry issued a statement on Wednesday declaring the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs (COMANGO) illegal because the group and 39 of its 54 components were not registered with the government.

Ministry secretary-general Mohamad Khalid Shariff accused COMANGO of pursuing “rights that run contrary to Islam” including gay, lesbian and transgender issues.

The coalition angered authorities last year when it submitted a report to the United Nations condemning the Muslim-majority nation’s human rights record ahead of a UN rights review.

Amnesty, whose Malaysian arm is under COMANGO, denounced the move. “Outlawing COMANGO is a deeply disturbing action aimed at silencing important critical voices that have advocated on the world stage for Malaysia to uphold international human rights law and standards,” Hazel Galang-Folli, Malaysia researcher at Amnesty International, said in a statement.

It remains unclear how the ministry’s ban will affect COMANGO activities or those of its members. l

Authorities in Muslim-majority Malaysia are investigating a Catholic priest for sedition in an escalating religious row over the use of the word “Allah,” an official said Thursday.

A court in October barred the Malaysian Catholic newspaper Herald from using “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in its Malay-language edition. The verdict was welcomed by Muslim conservatives but raised concerns among Christians, a minority in the multi-faith country who say the practice of their religion is increasingly under threat.

A court barred the Malaysian Catholic newspaper Herald from using ‘Allah’ to refer to the Christian God On Tuesday police questioned Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew for sedition after he told news portal The Malaysian Insider last month that churches would continue to use “Allah” in their Malay-language services.

Majid Hamzah, head of the prosecution division in the Attorney General’s Chambers, Thursday confirmed that authorities were investigating the edi-

would face charges.

Andrew’s lawyer Francis Pereira told AFP his client’s comments were “clearly not in any way seditious.”

“I don’t see any reason why he should be investigated for sedition,” Pereira said.

The dispute over the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims first erupted in 2007 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the Herald’s publishing permit for using the word.

Authorities said using “Allah” in non-Muslim literature could confuse Muslims and entice them to convert.

The church argues “Allah” has been used for over a century in the Malay language to refer to “God” outside of Islam.

The ban’s initial removal by a lower court in late 2009 triggered a series of attacks with Molotov cocktails, rocks and paint on churches and other places of worship, sparking fears of wider religious conflict.

But a higher court overturned that ruling in October, reinstating the ban.

Last week, Islamic authorities seized more than 300 Malay-language Bibles using the word “Allah” from the Bible Society of Malaysia and questioned two of its officers.

Rights groups and some opposition leaders have condemned the seizure. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Friday, January 10, 2014

Letters to

www.dhakatribune.com

BNP arrests undermine dialogue

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he nature and timing of the recent arrest of three senior BNP leaders as well as the denial of bail and remand pleas of six others gives us cause for disquiet.

There is a case to be made that calling hartals and blockades makes one complicit in the violence that ensues. There has been enough carnage over the past year during virtually every program of hartal and blockade that the link to violence is now quite hard to treat as coincidental.

However, the government may need to explicitly change the law before such strict measures against hartal and blockades can be enforced. And any such change must still be consistent with the basic rights enshrined in the constitution. It must indeed also safeguard freedoms essential for democratic politics.

Given existing laws and practice though, it is hard not to see the charges filed as anything but tendentious. The connection of the three arrested to the violence seems tenuous, at best.

Further, given the age and health of the persons involved, it would be reasonable in these cases to expect bail to be granted.

The fact that the arrests occurred after the accused spoke out on behalf of their party makes it seem as if the government is using these kinds of charges to silence the opposition, and the denial of bail and removal to remand supports this inference.

Similarly the rejection of bail and remand pleas of the six senior BNP leaders, five of whom have already been behind bars for two months, appears excessive and unnecessarily punitive.

At a time when constructive dialogue is still the public expectation, and possibly the best way to a durable solution, arresting and detaining key figures in this manner, in addition to others already held, does not strike us as helpful to creating a conducive climate for talks. The opposition too is not helping that climate by persisting with the most destructive forms of political protest.

The government must find a way to either start a new dialogue or apprehend real perpetrators of violence. But it must not be seen to be seeking to apply state power to weaken the opposition.

The connection of the three arrested to the violence seems tenuous, at best.

Detaining key figures in this manner does not strike us as helpful

Shipbuilder safety initiative a good example

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estern Marine, one of the country’s largest shipyards in Chittagong, has achieved a 99% reduction in workplace accidents through a public-private partnership with the German development organisation GIZ and the ministry of health and family welfare.

This is a welcome breakthrough for the company’s workforce of 3,500. The massive improvement in injury rates has been attained largely via simple measures to embed good practices into the company’s working conditions. An improved health and safety policy and training program was provided for managers and workers, together with investments in protective clothing and equipment.

Strict reporting procedures were established and enforced to ensure that every incident or accident was recorded and investigated, so that preventive measures could be properly implemented.

The three year program included the goal of ensuring a fit and healthy workforce via better access to health services. The company agreed to build a health clinic and pay for a doctor with the health ministry paying for a nurse to attend to the workers and their local community.

It is a good example for the growing ship construction industry, which achieved over $46m in export earnings in 2010-11 and has scope to grow much further. This initiative is already paying for itself by cutting time lost in small accidents and improving productivity rates.

Effective occupational health and safety measures are vital for all workers and help economic development. Other industries should use the programme’s initiatives as a model.

the Editor

LETTER OF THE DAY

Our unsung heroes January 6 Our pride, are the people, especially those who have achieved fame, as reported in your special “New Year’s” supplement. These people have done the nation proud, though we may not have been aware about them, till today. Nevertheless, they are the “real unsung heroes” of Bangladesh, who have succeeded in their fields of study, research and social activity.

There is Ayesha Arefin Thumpa, who invented the artificial human lung! She is now doing doctoral research at the University of New Mexico in USA. Then there is Maqsudul Alam, who has achieved four milestones in genomics – sequencing the genomes of papaya, rubber, jute and fungus! All this can be beneficial to Bangladesh, where these plants are grown, in the coming days.

Another remarkable scientist, in the field of organ replacement, is Professor Shuvo Roy, who led a team of scientists in developing the first-ever artificial kidney, to be powered by the human body’s circulatory system. In addition, we also have the Bangladeshi child rights activist, Keshab Roy, from Nilphamari, who was awarded the “Youth Courage Award” by the UN, for his persistent struggle against child marriage, and preventing school dropouts in his area. Salute to these brave young men and women!

SA Mansoor

Khaleda killing democracy, PM to The Times January 4 PA Now Hasina is giving credit to Khaleda for her own misdoings?

Shanta Islam I just wonder in which world she is living in.

Umme Hani Meem Uh, more jokes for us!

Shaila Khaled Aha, it’s a joint venture dear PM. Mohsin Mia We have a rustic government.

A citizen’s call to both sides January 2

Nrb Simply holding war crimes trials does not make them above reproach, and give them the right to do whatever they please. We want accountability for all crimes, not just war crimes, including all the deaths that all of the political parties have caused, since we had “democracy.”

Marzuq Extremely well written, especially the paragraph: “More importantly, the generation which never saw either Sheikh Mujib or Ziaur Rahman is growing rapidly in size. Both of your parties will have to find fresh identities and stop basking under the shadows of those two leaders.” This is so very true.

Nrb I do agree with you on the demographic shift but current political parties don’t give a damn about that. They don’t rule to fulfill citizens’ demands but for their own pockets based on their own whims. Anyone who is fool enough to think the political parties actually care about their well-being is a fool, but still doesn’t deserve what’s being done to them in the name of democracy.

Bangladesh Election 2014

January 5 If those who won by default had any decency, they would not take oath as MPs. Parveen

Happy New Year?

January 2 You wrote that teachers and lawyers were out on the streets protesting. But my question is: Where are the human rights activists, after a female lawyer was being brutally attacked by AL goons in broad daylight? This is not only anti-democratic but downright unethical to be punished for her beliefs. She may be pro BNP but what right did the AL have to assault her just for joining a procession? Police work for the government, so I am not surprised that they did not come to her rescue.

Where are our eminent citizens from civil society who usually protest such anarchy?

The general public has become disinterested in raising their voices because they are afraid of speaking out. Most people have seen that democracy is not being practiced in BD, at least not for now. Why would they risk their lives and the safety of their families just to get arrested or killed? There is no respect for freedom of opinion and people’s right to assemble in a peaceful manner.

In what civilised country is an opposition leader barricaded in her own house because of the fear of a march that she had called for? Needless to say, the government is very fearful and has lost confidence, and at this point is not worried about what is right or wrong. At any cost, their only goal is to stay in power. What kind of message are the political leaders sending to the future generation? a citizen

EC fears poor voter turnout January 5 Parveen Ahmed Why wouldn’t people vote in the farcical polls risking their lives?

Saquib Elahi Rahman Really! That’s surprising. I certainly see no reason to.

Bangladesh okay to host Asia Cup January 4

We’re hosting the Asia cup, but what about this political turmoil?!?

MD Easir Arafat Siddik

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CALVIN AND HOBBES

Effective occupational health and safety measures are vital for all workers and help economic development. Others should follow this initiative as a model

CROSSWORD

PEANUTS

CODE-CRACKER ACROSS 1 Garden tools (4) 5 Domesticates (5) 9 Animosity (6) 10 Consumed (3) 11 Encounter (4) 12 Tracking system (5) 14 Kingly (5) 16 Afresh (4) 19 Prepare for publication (4) 21 Attack (5) 24 Chess pieces (5) 27 Fruit (4) 29 Self (3) 30 Reluctant (6) 31 Poor (5) 32 Catch sight of (4)

DOWN 1 Marijuana (4) 2 United (3) 3 Come forth (6) 4 Location (4) 5 Unjust rulers (7) 6 Insane (3) 7 Greek letter (3) 8 Watery part of blood (5) 13 Alcoholic drink (3) 15 Deny (7) 17 Irrigates (6) 18 Trembling poplar (5) 20 Spanish title (3) 22 Fencing sword (4) 23 Hunted animal (4) 25 Mature (3) 26 Misery (3) 28 Snake (3)

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS Crossword

Sudoku

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

Friday, January 10, 2014

11

Washington gets a policy brief on Bangladesh n Tamim Choudhury

A

PMO

Time to talk about solutions

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n Syed Ishtiaque Reza he much talked about 10th parliamentary election was held amidst unprecedented violence and one of the lowest voter turnouts in memory. As expected, the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, is once again in the driving seat to run the country.

It is obvious that Sheikh Hasina is about to face the toughest challenges in implementing whatever visions she has in her mind. Holding the election amidst a boycott by the main parties has left her party alienated at home as well as beyond Bangladesh’s boundary.

Now, she has no scope to dwell on problems instead of talking about solutions. Her first task will be to come up with a clear and decisive policy to address terrorism.

Sheikh Hasina and her government are squeezed in the television talk shows and newspaper editorials. Some of the criticisms were unwarranted and unnecessary. However, the area in which more should have been said is the making of a good strategy to bring the opposition to the dialogue table in order to make her path to governance smooth.

It has to be commended that despite Sheikh Hasina’s deep concern about the havoc wreaked by terrorists,

a sense of urgency has been missing since the beginning of the violence unleashed by Jamaat-Shibir men in different pockets of the country such as Rajshahi, Bogra, Satkhira, Sitakunda and Gaibandha.

There has actually been an increase in the number of terrorist activities immediately after the verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal against Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee.

about without fear or anxiety.

At the very outset, the government has to create a general impression that it is moving fast enough to bring peace and stability. Terrorists and anti-social elements have to be dealt with. This should be done with greater commitment, not with arrogance.

Surely, it is a daunting situation, and it is not easy to settle things quickly. But delays in catching the bull by the horns will only make the problem

Both the AL and BNP should understand that Bangladesh cannot achieve any target without strengthening the economy While the home minister has talked about taking effective measures by law enforcers, we have seen Jamaat-Shibir violently attack not only AL activists, minorities, and common people, but also police personnel.

The time has come to establish an effective system and an institutional framework to eliminate terrorists, and to ensure peace and stability, so that businesses are operated, educational institutions can continue to run, and people feel the confidence to move

all the more difficult to handle.

Bangladesh, despite huge development achievements during the last five years, will face formidable challenges domestically while more difficulties are to be faced from the international community too.

Sheikh Hasina needs to be careful in her strategy to go with the international community’s efforts for peace and reconciliation in the country. There is little space to overlook the regional powers too.

While the friendship needs to be maintained, Bangladesh should also continue to seek dialogue and resolutions for all outstanding issues with India.

As for talks with BNP, the dialogue, according to Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, will take place only when BNP announces that it is no longer with the Jamaat-e-Islami. The government has to understand that the imposition of too many conditions will put the peace effort at risk.

Both the AL and BNP should understand that Bangladesh cannot achieve any target without strengthening the economy. Electricity and other infrastructural issues should be at the top of all priority issues for development.

Sheikh Hasina, her party, and above all, Bangladesh has had to pay a huge price for this election, which according to the ruling coalition was “to maintain constitutional process to continue democracy.”

Now, she has to motivate the people to help the government in its great task to overcome the country’s formidable economic, security, and administrative problems. This is the time to show leadership. This is the time to talk about a new Bangladesh. l Syed Ishtiaque Reza is Director of News, Ekattor Television.

s the US Senate has cleared the way for a congressional hearing on Bangladesh’s political reform, a prominent Washington DCbased think-tank has issued a backgrounder that supplies senators with the analytical dimension on America’s strategy for Bangladesh. This policy brief will almost certainly be a reference point for the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Combating Islamism in South Asia: Keeping Bangladesh on the Democratic Path” was published by the Heritage Foundation. The backgrounder comes at a critical juncture in Bangladesh’s relations with the US. Prime Minister Hasina’s forced retirement of Professor Yunus from his Grameen Bank, the $1.2 bn World Bank loan cancellation due to corruption among project-involved Bangladeshi officials, and deficiencies of the International Crimes Tribunal are all featured in the backgrounder. These issues have been repeatedly expressed by US officials as their frustrations grow with the Awami League government.

The report states that the removal of the caretaker government has caused opposition BNP to boycott the election, thereby sacrificing the polling process credibility, leading to political destabilisation that undermines democracy, and causing Islamist ideology to gain ground among Bangladeshis. The summarising point is that political chaos is a breeding ground for domestic and international extremism.

Despite giving Hasina’s government credit for successfully dismantling Islamist extremists like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, enacting legislations such as the Anti Terrorism Act of 2009, and the handover of terror suspects to India, the policy brief reasons that the government’s deviation from democracy will usher in Islamist extremism, the international bogeyman of the West.

The backgrounder also details how the war crimes tribunal verdicts and the execution of Islamist leader Abdul Quader Molla led to over 150 deaths from riots, unleashed furor among Islamists, and basically caused severe destabilisation in the nation.

It also warns that the impressive economic gains made over the years will be difficult to maintain, and Islamists will certainly exploit the political chaos.

It is quite ironic when the party that presents itself as the secular vanguard against Islamists is depicted as the reason behind Islamists’ resurgence.

The policy brief plays off the Obama administration’s pivot toward Asia, which realigns US military and diplomatic strength to this region. China is cited as Bangladesh’s top military equipment supplier and largest trading partner, with an over $8bn trade in 2012. China’s buildup of ties to Bangladesh is illustrated, with its pledge to develop a deep-seaport at Sonadia Island and interest in establishing a transport link from Chittagong to Kunming, China.

The US is recommended to enhance maritime security with joint naval exercises and port calls to contain

Chinese maritime power. Also, the superpower is asked to enlarge economic engagement to balance off Chinese investment, and even consider trilateral cooperation with India to lessen Chinese regional influence.

This issue paper has multiple recommendations for the US government: Hasina should be pressed to negotiate with the BNP on elections, encourage an all-party government with a neutral technocratic leader to conduct elections, and urge for a permanent, independent election commission that supervises/adjudicates future elections.

The brief reasons that the government’s deviation from democracy will usher in Islamist extremism Furthermore, there should be increased scrutiny of the war crimes court to monitor if individual civil liberties are protected and due process is carried out. The US should also reinstate Bangladesh’s Generalised System of Preferences, as its removal is not influencing readymade garments sector, but rather harming rural farmers’ access to US markets.

Moreover, it should be clearly stated that whichever party comes to power will cooperate on counterterrorism. The report points out that lethal blasts conducted by Islamists during BNP’s tenure are unacceptable, and the threat should not be allowed to resurface. This is America’s most important national security issue, and the message is likely to be strongly addressed to BNP. The policy brief makes no hesitation in suggesting that the US get more involved in modifying the war crimes court, an institution established to remedy national scars left from the Liberation War. It also advocates that the US retain its global hegemony by limiting Chinese influence. Ultimately, the backgrounder boldly promotes US leadership in the international order, with Bangladesh following its instructions.

Established in 1973, the Heritage Foundation is ranked number 10 for having the most significant impact on public policy. Global Go To Think Tank 2012 also ranked it number 18 among global think tanks after contacting 6,603 institutions around the world.

Simple Resolution 318 condemns Bangladesh’s political violence and urges the nation’s leaders to engage in substantive dialogue for free, fair, and credible elections. Heritage Foundation’s backgrounder provides the analytical framework on disapproving the AL’s actions, and a path for America’s future relations with Bangladesh. l Tamim Choudhury is a greater Washington, DC-based communications analyst.

Land, like language, is inherited n Rehnuma Sazzad

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ince the heinous attacks on some of the followers of the Hindu religion in Bangladesh, I have been thinking of a protest that would bring the shamelessness to an end.

Despite my comfortable religious identity, my overwhelming experience as a Bangladeshi remains that of being a non-belonger.

Something is always amiss about my background or position, which disallows me to be part of privileged categories of any sort in Bangladesh.

We fought a Liberation War against Pakistan because the society was run by a system of privilege (it still is, as far as I am concerned). If you were Urdu-speaking, Muslim-looking, and rich in Pakistan, you could live a reasonably trouble-free life in the Muslim majority state.

Ironically, we have also changed the humanistic narrative on the basis of which Bangladesh came into existence. The narrative established all natural inhabitants of the historical land of (East) Bengal as its claimants.

However, soon after independence, we became successful in manipulating the narrative by encouraging the mushrooming of privileges.

Simply put, you have to be a Bengali-speaking, wealthy, and preferably

Muslim-looking citizen of the country to get by easily. We can congratulate ourselves on the newest level of achievement, which asks us to take out the concealed preference for Muslims.

Since we have minoritised anybody whose vernacular is not Bengali and whose religion does not happen to be Islam, it is apparently suitable now to drive these people out of the land.

It is perhaps useless to remind us that all our ancestors, despite our different languages and religions, shared the same land. We have all lived here for thousands of years. Therefore, we must accept the equal right of every natural inhabitant of the country.

But we do not do so, of course.

Hence, we have allowed the arson, looting, torture, and killing of Hindus unopposed. They are especially vulnerable due to being seen as a vote bank of a specific party. I appreciate that the government has announced its zero tolerance on crimes like the above.

However, they must instruct their local MPs and party members to follow this through. Some of the reports of the attacks specifically mention that the MPs were not responding to the SOSs coming their way.Even more disastrous is the fact that the law and order authorities werefruitlessly called upon in some cases, as per the reports of the brazen incidents of January 6.

I understand that law enforcing agencies are overstretched to control the situation. Even so, it is unacceptable that the police will fail to ensure their timely presence in an attacked area to intervene against communal violence. As for the other political groups and their supporters, they are busy discussing the flawed election.

The cries of the persecuted people do not enter their ears.

We Bangladeshis prefer to think in terms of filiation (blood connection, religious fraternity, ethnic similarity).

Therefore, people who are suffering most abominably due to their supposed sympathy for a specific political party and their religious identity, share exactly the same ethnic origin with their Muslim brothers and sisters.

I am often told by ambitious Bengali Muslims that they do not have time to spare for other people. Hence, it is high time we realised that the villages burned and the people humiliated are our own. Let us have a look at the list of places at Chehelgazi Union in Dinajpur for example, where hundreds of houses, shops, and business outlets were broken down and looted.

Shahapara, Pritompara, Profullapara, Telipara, Boidyapara, Hajipara, and Ajyapara belong to none other than our brothers and sisters. We share the same culture. These people have

always co-existed with their Muslim friends.

We must understand that the trauma suffered by the children of the attacked during the hooliganism undermines the unbreakable bond that the Muslims share with them. Both the muffled cries and the wailing of the victims mock the fundamental values of the country.

The hopelessness and pain of the children and women who have taken shelter in schools and temples point out the failure of the rest of us to protect them. We are simply fortunate enough not to have been born in their locality. The fact that 700 people had to cross a big river in the chilly winter should numb anyone’s senses. Fear still rules the day in the areas where the Hindus live.

It is time to note that the cold-blooded violence shown with the stabbing of one’s own neighbour at Obhoynagar in Jessore will not stop until our mindless inattention incidents like this is shaken off.

We may choose to ignore the intimidation experienced by the dwellers of Monirampur in Jessore, but there is no denying that the forces that are making the areas unliveable for the Hindu villagers are not far away from any of us. We must stop them rightaway.

Why our Hindu brothers and

sisters are targeted and dehumanised needs no explanation. We have allowed attacks on them to continue unrestrained. Time has come to speak up against the miscreants from whose clutches we have to rescue even our betel leaf trees. We have to join our voices the attacks carried out by Jamaat-Shibir, the terrorist organisation that has no right to operate inside the country.

The trauma suffered by the children of the attacked during the hooliganism undermines the unbreakable bond that the Muslims share with them ICSF (International Crimes Strategy Forum) has correctly asserted that the existing situation “is no longer a law and order issue, but rapidly culminating into a grave human rights crisis which the government must immediately address as a matter of highest priority.” We should all express our solidarity with the demand, and do our best to materialise a religious fanatic-free country. l Rehnuma Sazzad is an activist and researcher.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Friday, January 10, 2014

13th Dhaka International Film Festival begins today n Entertainment Desk The 13th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) will be held from today to January 18, 2014. The slogan of the festival is “Better Film, Better Audience, Better Society,” and the event is organised by Rainbow Film Society, which is dedicated to the promotion of a healthy cine culture in Bangladesh, and also celebrates global cinema.

The festival aims to attract a number of important film personalities to Dhaka, and thereby adds to the prestige and fame of the city as a cosmopolitan. It also offers Bangladeshi filmmakers, producers and artistes an opportunity to interact and create networks with the international film community. The festival has also created space for young and aspiring filmmakers in Bangladesh and larger South Asia to connect with global artistic trends and to strengthen the parallel development of Bangladeshi cinema.

During the 13th DIFF, organisers expect to screen approximately 150 films, with partici-

pation from approximately 50 countries. The festival will have a competition section for the Asian and Australian cinema and segment categories for: “Retrospective,” “Cinema of the World,” “Children’s Film, “Women Filmmakers,” “Short and Independent Films Section,” and “Spiritual Films Section.”

The Bag of Flour directed by Kadija Leclere will be screened at 4pm in the opening ceremony as opening film of the festival at the National Museum auditorium. Then, a 96 minutes Indonesian film The Mirror Never Lies directed

by Kamila Andini will be showcased at 7:30pm.

At the auditorium of the Public Library, five films will be screened every day from 10am to 9pm. Today, the first film of the day will be Lost In The City from children’s section. The film is directed by Lu Yunfei and will be screened at the venue at 10am. From the Australasian competition category, Catriona Mc Kenzie’s Satellite Boy will be showcased at 1pm, Miss Zombie directed by Sabu at 3pm, Constructors

by Adikhan Erzhanov at 5:30pm and Kil by Nik Amir Mustapha at 7:30pm.

At the Sufia Kamal Auditorium of National Museum, five films will be screened today, Legacy Of A Nobody directed by Matt Erickson at 3pm, Kayan directed by Maryam Najapi at 5:30pm, Refugio 115 directed by Ivan Villamel at 7:30pm, Alexander Zavin’s Slowly Up and will wrap up with the showing of Lien Chien Hung’s A-Way respectively.

Parallel to the event, the festival committee has also organised an “International Conference on Women in Cinema” in cooperation with the Department of Women and Gender Studies, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and Department of Television & Film Studies of the University of Dhaka.

From today, the two day-long conference will be held at the Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Hall of the University of Dhaka.

Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor of University of Dhaka will grace the occasion as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony to be held today at 9:30 am at the Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Hall of the University of Dhaka. l

To celebrate their third founding anniversary, theatre troupe Punyobhumi held a programme at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on December 8. With the slogan Mukto Koro Bhoy Apona Majhe Shokti Dhoro Nijeke Koro Joy, the festival was addressed by media personality Jayanta Chattopadyay and senior members of the troupe. They staged their acclaimed play Tomake Pabar Jonno Hey Shadhinota at the event

Pherari Ekdin airs tonight n Entertainment Desk

The Bag of Flour

Single-episode play Pherari Ekdin featuring Mim and Sajal in the lead roles will be aired tonight 9:10pm on Channel 9.

The play depicts an interesting story set against the backdrop of a village where Sajal plays the role of a dumb young man named Robin and Mim as a beautiful young woman named Kumkum.

After Robin fails his BA exam for the third time, he and his girlfriend Kumkum realise that her family will not accept their relation. Hence they decide to elope the next morning from a

Satellite Boy

certain place. As planned, Robin comes to the place next day but Kumkum does not show up.

Robin assumes that she might have changed her mind and heads home with a broken and heavy heart.

On the way back, he comes to know that Kumkum was killed last night and the police is looking for him, as they have singled him out to be the main suspect.

A terrified Robin then tries to escape from the village and takes shelter at an abandoned house. But he finds the house haunted and begins to see some very unnatural things. The story takes a turn towards a new dimension. l

TODAY IN DHAKA Exhibition

Shilpacharya and his Outer World of Art Time: 12pm-8pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts House 42 Road 16 (New) / 27 (old) Dhanmondi City of Rhythm Second phase of Kazi Salahuddin

Ahmed Time: 12-8pm Shilpangan House 7, Road 13 (New) Dhanmondi Zainul Quamrul Exhibition Time: 10am – 8pm Nalini Kanta Bhattasali Gallery National Museum Shahbagh

Theatre

Khona

By Bot-Tola Studio Theatre Hall Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm Experimental Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Shegun Bagicha

Film

Pacific Rim in 3D

Escape Plan The Conjuring The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Star Cineplex Bashundhara City Gravity Blockbuster Cinemas Jamuna Future Park Ka-244, Kuril Pragati Avenue, Dhaka

Salma and Sajed Akbar to perform at IGCC today n Entertainment Desk

Telefilm Kaliganj-er Odbhut Bari will air today on Channel-i at 2:40pm. The thriller features Mou, Agun, Chhanda and Sazzad in the lead roles

Eminent singers Salma and Sajed Akbar will perform melodious Tagore songs at IGCC today at 6:30pm. The event is open for all and requires no ticket or pass for entry. Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in association with Asian Paints, IRCON and Marico Bangladesh is organising the event.

Born in Barisal, Salma Akbar studied at Chayyanaut and received her initial training in classical music from Ustad Narayan Chandra Basak and Ustad Azad Rahman.

She trained in Rabindra sangeet under legends such as Late Karim Sharafi, Sanjida Khatun, Sadi Mohammad, Rezwana Chowdhury Banna in Bangladesh and under late Konika Bandopadyay, Nilima Sen, Sanghamitra Gupta in India.

She has been a part of several visiting Bangladeshi cul-

tural delegations to India in events such as the 125th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in Kolkata in 1988, Victory Day celebrations of Bangladesh in Kolkata in 1990 and the first International Mother Language Day in the year 2000. In 1996, on the invitation of the Florida North American Bangladesh Association, Mrs. Akbar presented Rabindra sangeet in the US. Sajed Akbar was born in Chittagong to renowned politician and Muktijoddha parents, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury and Gholam Akbar Chowdhury. Inspired by his parents, Akbar received initial training in Hindustani Classical Vocal Music from Ustad Fazlul Hoque in 1969.

Subsequently, he trained in Rabindra Sangeet under Morhum Atikul Islam at the Bulbul Lalitkala Academy, Abdul Ahaad, Kalim Sharafi, Ajit Roy, Sadi Mohammad etc. He was thereafter appointed as a trainer at the Bulbul Lalitkala Academy. l

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8:30pm Z Cafe Being Erica

Madhuri returns to silver screen after seven years today n Entertainment Desk

Censor board asks Devvrat to change title of movie n Entertainment Desk Mrityunjay Devvrat, the director of The Bastard Child, is unhappy since the censor board has asked him to change the film’s title to Children of War. “The censor board didn’t approve of the title. But no scene had to be cut.

I went by their decision, as I want to complete all formalities and release the film as soon as possible. It will release as Children of War, with a tagline Nine months to freedom, in India and Bangladesh, but the original title will stay intact abroad,” he said.

Children of War is based on the Bangla-

desh genocide where thousands of women were raped and the resulting illegitimate children during the war for the liberation of Bangladesh.

The film depicts the 9 months of inhuman attacks of the Pakistani army during the genocide that took place in East Pakistan in 1971 and the struggle of the Bangladeshis to attain independence from these atrocities.

Directed by Mrityunjay Devvrat and produced by Soumya Devvrat, the film has notable stars like Raima Sen, Indraneil Sengupta, Farooq Sheikh, Tillotama Shome and Victor Banerjee, among others. l

Madhuri Dixit-Nene is all set to return to the silver screen after seven years in a never-seen-before avatar in Dedh Ishqiya, a thriller-drama based in the hinterlands, which is set to release today.

Expectations were sky high from Abhishek Chaubey’s second directorial venture Dedh Ishqiya (first one was Ishqiya) because the first part of the franchise was critically acclaimed.

Chaubey couldn’t afford to go wrong with this one, and he did not.”

Dedh Ishqiya’s success can be attributed to the taut story of Darab Farooqui which is aided by Chaubey’s fine screenplay, Vishal Bhardwaj’s rib-tickling, naughty dialogues and Bashir Badr’s lovely Urdu poems.

Chaubey conjures a quaint, lyrical and extravagant world, which he uses to highlight the waning wealth

of feudal society,” writes Suhani Singh, India Today.

The director who has written screenplays for films like Omkara and Kaminey deserves a round of applause for making this sequel better than the original.

“Dedh Ishqiya is in many respects appreciably more enthralling than Ishqiya,” says Saibal Chatterjee, NDTV. In fact, Dedh Ishqiya offers a different flavour that the viewers might like to savour.

“Ishqiya was sharp, spicy and volatile, with impulsive characters and a storyline taking a somersault every few minutes. Dedh Ishqiya is no different. It transports viewers to a diverse world, but like the first part, this one focuses on love and deceit as well. Also, it’s far more complex this time around... and the truth hits like a ton of bricks!” writes Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama. l

Did you know?

Melbourne Stars recorded the largest win in terms of balls remaining (75) in Australian domestic T20 history against Adelaide Strikers yesterday

Sport

Friday, January 10, 2014

0 6 5 DAYS TO GO

14 Pain-free Messi ready for the challenge in 2014

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Jayawardene gives Sri Lanka upper hand

Parmoslemi knocks refereeing, Sise satisfied with result n Shishir Hoque

Abahani’s Ghanaian forward Osie Morrison expresses frustration after squandering a scoring chance against Feni Soccer at the BNS yesterday

SL series on track n Minhaz Uddin Khan The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed the home series against Sri Lanka later this month to be on track.

The security concern raised by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) due to the political unrest in the country had earlier put the series in doubt; however, the BCB yesterday through a media release confirmed that the tour is on course as scheduled.

The BCB informed that SLC has confirmed that their national team’s tour of Bangladesh would take place as per the schedule. The Sri Lanka team is due to arrive in Dhaka on 24 January 2014 to play two Tests, three ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals against the Tigers.

“The SLC representatives have confirmed here today that the Sri Lanka team will tour Bangladesh as planned.

The standard security inspections and monitoring in regards to arrangements will continue side by side,” said the BCB president Nazmul Hassan, who was in Dubai for a meeting of ICC full member countries, to the media yesterday.

However the SLC, according to a leading cricket website, did not explicitly confirm it would send a team and

said its final decision would depend on the visit, from January 13, of a security delegation to Bangladesh.

“We have said we are touring and we have taken the FTP [into consideration], so the assurance is there,” said SLC president Jayantha Dharmadasa to the media yesterday.

“At the present time we can’t say we’re not going, and that’s what I told them [BCB]. We have two people going to assess the situation, because it’s changing day by day,” Jayantha informed.

Alongside the Sri Lanka tour, Pakistan Cricket Board were also skeptical of coming to Bangladesh due to the growing anti-Pakistan sentiment.

The BCB’s assurance to the PCB of enhanced security measures for the national cricket team during the tournament is being said to have convinced the worried board.

“We have had a positive discussion.

The PCB has requested additional security measures for the Pakistan team which will be incorporated in our security plan. We have assured the PCB that their requirements will be fulfilled,” said BCB acting CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury. l

Misfiring Abahani held by Feni Soccer n Shishir Hoque A misfiring Abahani Limited side were held to a goalless draw by Soccer Club Feni in their second Bangladesh Premier League match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Sacking Australian coach Nathan Hall before the Federation Cup and then reappointing Iranian coach Ali Akbar Parmoslemi just five days before the league kicked off did not change Abahani’s fortune as their midfield was disorganized and the attacking line were ineffective.

Soccer Club might have claimed that the pressure they put on their opponents forced the Sky Blues not to have enough shots on target, but it was noticeable that the Abahani forwards fell flat in front of the Feni defence. Osei Morrison, the Ghanaian striker who was the top scorer in last season’s Bangladesh Premier League, missed three chances, while Awudu Ibrahim and

Towhidul Alam missed one each as well.

Abahani right-back Nasirul Islam Nasir returned to the squad after 19 months in place of the injured Atiqur Rahman Meshu. Ali Akbar made two more changes in his squad -bringing in veteran Awudu Ibrahim and Shahedul Alam Shahed in place of De Souza and Arman Aziz respectively.

The Sky Blues had to toil hard to initiate their first attack, which came in the 23rd minute but Ghanaian striker Osei Morrison spoiled it by volleying the ball over the bar from the middle of the box after an Awudu Ibrahim cross from the right flank. Two minutes later, Morrison missed another chance as he fired Shariful’s cross wide. Awhile later, Towhidul Alam’s diving header off Shariful Islam’s cross from the right flank hit the outside net.

A quick counter attack resulted in Gambian midfielder Mamodou Lamin Faye firing off a shot from the middle of the box, only for Abahani skipper Yoko

TICKET PRICES

Matches Cat-1 ($) Cat-2 ($) Cat-3 ($) Match 1 545 365 245 Match 2-48 195 150 100 Round of 16 245 185 125 Quarterfinals 365 245 185 3rd place dec.

365 245 185

Samnick to block.

The four-time professional league champions continued to in the same vein in the second half and Ghanaian forward Awudu Ibrahim missed a golden opportunity to take the lead. Receiving a through ball from Yoko Samnick, Awudu broke into the penalty area and tried his luck at the far post but his shot went just wide.

Abahani’s best chance came in the 69th minute. A cutback pass from Awudu Ibrahim set up Towhidul, who took a shot from the six-yard box. What Towhidul was trying to do was unclear, but his effort was collected by Morrison a yard away from the goalpost but he in turn shot straight to the goalkeeper.

A minute later, Wassiou Okalawon failed to control a long ball in the sixyard box.

Abahani had their very last chance in injury time when substitute forward Md Rajon Miah smashed the ball over the bar following a long cross from Nasir. l

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS Feni Soccer

0-0

Abahani

volleyed the ball over 23”Morrison the bar from the middle of the

box after an Awudu Ibrahim cross from the right flank.

Morrison missed yet another chance, firing Shariful’s cross wide of the goal.

Shariful’s cross from the right flank found Towhidul in the box but the midfielder’s diving header hit the side net.

Gambian midfielder Mamodou Lamin Faye’s shot from the middle of the box was blocked by Yoko Samnick.

Receiving a through pass from Yoko Samnick, Awudu broke into the penalty area and tried his luck at the far post but his shot went just wide.

Awudu’s cutback, Towhidul’s shot on target and Morrison shot straight to the keeper.

Wassiou Okalawon failed to take control of a long ball inside the six-yard box. ” Md Rajon Miah smashed the ball over the bar following a long cross of Nasir.

25”

33”

34”

58”

69” 70”

90+

BCL by-laws altered

BFF to sell Brazil World Cup tickets n Raihan Mahmood The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) will sell Fifa World Cup match tickets. The federation informed yesterday that they will sell 10 tickets of each match of the mega event scheduled to kick-off from June 12 in Brazil.

Interested persons were requested to contact BFF with the copy of passport that has at least six months expiry date, a copy of national identity card, the match or matches the person wants to see and the respective category before February 2.

BFF also categorically stated that it will not take any responsibility regarding the attainment of visa of Brazil and its decision regarding any dispute of the selling process would be final.

However, the 10 tickets of each semifinal and the final will only be available for the buys selected by the BFF. Prospective buyers are requested to contact at the BFF House at Motijheel and send an e-mail to info@bff.com.bd. l

MUMIT M

Abahani Limited’s Iranian coach Ali Akbar Parmoslemi blamed lack of preparation and poor refereeing for the draw against Soccer Club Feni yesterday.

Abahani, who defeated the same opponents twice in last season’s league, were held to a draw and Parmoslemi claimed Feni’s style was “negative”.

“When a team plays for a draw, it is difficult to open their defence, that is what happened today. We also didn’t play well and we made some individual mistakes today. The referee was not fair today as well.

“We have few problems with positional play. When we built attacks from the flanks, we couldn’t go further due to their dangerous play,” he said.

Feni’s Gambian coach Omar K Sise said his strategies worked out and credited his players for the draw. “My tactics worked out. I know against a team like Abahani or Shiekh Jamal, we are underdogs. I’m happy to get one point from this game.

“It was not luck. I give the credit to my players, especially the goalkeeper for our performance today. We put them under pressure that’s why they missed their chances,” he said. l

n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Azad players explore Ajax defence in the UCB Club Cup Hockey yesterday

Sonali Bank secure semi slot n Raihan Mahmood Sonali Bank started their UCB Club Cup Hockey with a 4-1 win over Dhaka Wanderers, while Azad Sporting and Ajax played out a 1-1 draw at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Sonali’s win saw them secure a last four berth from Group B, as Wander-

ers - who earlier lost 1-8 to Abahani Ltd in their first match - were eliminated.

Enamul Kabir Turjo scored two goals for Sonali Bank -in the 5thand 19th minutes - while Masum and Manik added the other two in the 29th and 55th minutes respectively. The consolation for Wanderers was netted by Taher Ali in the 44th minute. Sonali Bank will play against Abahani in their last

MUMIT M

match, which will determine the group championship.

In the other game, Rajib Das put Azad ahead in the 24th minute but Nurunnabi Rupom restored the parity in the 51st minute. Ajax will face Usha – who earlier defeated Azad 13-1 - in the last group match and the second team from this group will be decided on goal difference. l

The second season of the Bangladesh Cricket League from January 12 will see few changes in the by-laws from the inaugural edition last year. In order to make the tournament more competitive the Bangladesh Cricket Board tournament committee sat with the four franchises of the tournament and brought the changes.

The major changes were made in the points and bonus system and it was learnt that the amendments will be unique in Bangladesh’s first-class circuit though it is a common practice among the first-class leagues of most of the leading cricket playing nations.

The first innings of the game will be pivotal for both sides regardless of the fact they are batting or bowling as good performance will avail them bonus points.

A side will get 16 points for a win compared to the six in the first season.

A draw will fetch both the team eight points each. First innings lead will provide one bonus point while there are also batting points available. One bonus point is entitled for the side scoring 200 to 249 runs in 110 overs, two points for 250 to 299 runs, three points for 300 to 349 runs, four points for 250 to 299 runs and a score of 400 plus runs will

give five bonus points.

Meanwhile, three to five wickets within 110 overs will give the bowling side one point, two points for six to eight wickets and three points for nine or 10 wickets. In case of an abandoned match three points will be given to each of the teams.

Unlike the first season there will be no pink ball used in the tournament nor the final game of the tournament will be played under lights. The first three rounds of the single league will be four-day affairs while the title deciding match between the top two teams will be played over five days.

“We have prepared the by-laws after discussing with the franchises and soon it will be handed over to them.

The amendments are made to gear up the competition between the teams.

Hope the tournament will be interesting,” said BCB game development chairman Khaled Mahmud to the media yesterday.

A lot of controversy was created in the last BCL as apparently there were two different printed version of the by-laws handed out to the teams. However, the tournament committee is taking extra measures this time and BCB will hold a meeting all the four teams at BKSP tomorrow to explain the by-laws and the code of conduct. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Friday, January 10, 2014

Leading trio back to business as Ligue 1 resumes

Pain-free Messi ready for the challenge in 2014

Ligue 1 action resumes today as Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco and Lille pursue their quest to become 2014 French champions following the winter break.

Monaco get things started on Friday when they travel to struggling 2012 champions Montpellier looking to erase their three point deficit to PSG, who are in action on Saturday in Corsica at rock bottom Ajaccio.

Lille have somehow managed to stay in touch with their financially stronger rivals, after former Montpellier titlewinning coach Rene Girard fashioned a first half of the season that saw them lose just three times in 19 outings.

The northern outfit, who last won the French title in 2011 under current Roma boss Rudi Garcia, come into the weekend four points off top spot as they await eighth-placed Reims in the final match on Sunday evening. l

Lionel Messi said he is looking forward to another big year in 2014 after scoring twice in his comeback from injury as Barcelona swept aside Getafe 4-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last 16 tie on Wednesday.

The four-time World Player of the Year made his first appearance since early November as a substitute just after the hour mark with Barca leading 2-0 thanks to a Cesc Fabregas double.

And it didn’t take long for the Argentine to make his mark as he slotted home from close range before registering his 16th goal of the season with a trademark solo run and finish in stoppage time.

“I had a lot of time out and I felt very good in the training sessions that I had, but playing in a competitive game in completely different,” he told Barca TV. “More than the goals, I feel very good physically and I have been able to play without any pain so I am obviously very happy.”

After undergoing the first period of his recovery process in Barcelona, Messi travelled to Argentina to continue his recuperation in December.

There will be high expectations placed upon the 26-year-old over the next seven months as he spearheads Barca’s campaign to win trophies on three fronts before leading his country at the World Cup in Brazil.

But after a significant period on the sidelines, he insisted he is just happy to be back playing again.

“I am very happy. I was able to spend a lot of time in my country with my family and friends and to get away

n AFP, Paris

n AFP, Madrid

FIXTURES Montpellier

v

Monaco

v v v v v v

PSG Sochaux Toulouse Bastia Saint-Etienne Nice

v v v

Lorient Marseille Reims

SATURDAY

Ajaccio Lyon Bordeaux Valenciennes Guingamp Rennes SUNDAY

Nantes Evian Lille

Ibra hat-trick fires PSG rout n Reuters, Paris

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a hat- trick as Paris St Germain strolled into the French Cup last 32 with a 5-2 demolition of Ligue 2 side Stade Brest on Wednesday.

The game, postponed on Sunday because of bad weather in Brittany, quickly turned PSG’s way as the visitors opened a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes thanks to Sweden striker Ibrahimovic and Italy midfieler Thiago Motta.

After Benoit Lesommier had reduced the arrears, Ibrahimovic, who was replaced shortly after the hour by Brazil forward Lucas, added two more before the break, including a delicate chip past goalkeeper Joan Hartock.

Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi added a fifth early in the second half before Jonathan Ayite eased Brest’s pain with a late consolation. l

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi celebrates his goal during the Spanish Copa del Rey football match against Getafe at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on Wednesday

Messi back with a bang n AFP, Madrid Lionel Messi scored twice on his first appearance in 59 days as Barcelona cruised towards the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey with a 4-0 win over Getafe in the first leg of their last 16 tie.

The four-time World Player of the Year replaced Andres Iniesta after 63 minutes with Barcelona leading 2-0 thanks to a Cesc Fabregas double.

Messi then put the tie to bed a minute from time when he slotted home a loose ball inside the area.

And he added his 16th goal of the season with a stunning run and finish to round off the scoring in stoppage time.

“I had a lot of time out and I felt very good in the training sessions that I had, but playing in a competitive game in completely different,” Messi told Barca TV. “More than just the goals, I feel very good physically and I have been able to play without any pain so I am obviously very happy.”

Barcelona boss Gerardo Martino also had Saturday’s upcoming top of the table clash away to Atletico Madrid in mind as he made had made six changes to the side that started last weekend’s 4-0 win over Elche.

However, with Messi and Neymar, ruled out by a stomach bug, again not in the starting line-up, Martino maintained the front three of Alexis Sanchez, Pedro Rodriguez and Fabregas.

And despite such a stunning return, Messi said he isn’t convinced he will start at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday.

“I will speak with Tata and he is the one that will decide, but right now I don’t know,” he said.

“No one is irreplaceable. I watched the games at home and they were very impressive. Whoever plays in this squad they always respond to the challenge.”

Martino’s selection proved inspired as Pedro’s lobbed cross was expertly headed into the far corner by Fabregas after just eight minutes.

However, Getafe then managed to stifle Barca from creating too many clear-cut chances before the break and indeed the hosts were grateful to

AFP

a great save from Jose Manuel Pinto to turn away Juan Rodriguez’s header to go in ahead at half-time.

Barca did finally have the breathing space they craved when Juan Valera upended Pedro inside the area and Fabregas blasted the resulting penalty into the top corner.

That set the scene for Messi’s arrival and he didn’t disappoint as he calmly slotted home a loose ball inside the area with his trusted left-foot after Martin Montoya had burst into the Getafe box.

The best was still to come, though, as Messi embarked on a trademark run through the Getafe defence before slamming high past Jordi Codina to leave next week’s second leg in Madrid a formality. l

RESULTS Real Betis

1-0

Athletic Bilbao

Alcorcon

1-0

Espanyol

Barcelona

4-0

Getafe

Ruben Castro 42 Pacheco 71 Fabregas 8, 63-P, Messi 89, 90+3

Racing Santander Concha 65

1-1

Almeria

Corona 27

from everything.

“But now I am back I am excited and desperate to have a great year.

“I want to keep achieving things, to contribute to our play, help my teammates and hopefully we can achieve our objectives.

“They will be five very tough months, but we will fight to win everything, as we always do at this club, and then I can think about the national team.”

Next up for Barcelona is a crucial top of the table clash with Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday. l

City hammer hapless Hammers n Reuters, London Alvaro Negredo grabbed a hat-trick as Manchester City crushed West Ham United 6-0 in their League Cup semi-final first leg on Wednesday in another body blow for the beleaguered London club.

City effectively sealed their place in the final at Wembley with another onesided demonstration of their attacking potency, Edin Dzeko with two and Yaya Toure joining Negredo on the scoresheet.

It was the second time in four days that West Ham have conceded more than five goals after they were knocked out of the FA Cup 5-0 by second tier Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

While City can now relax ahead of the return leg on Jan. 21, the result ratcheted up the pressure on West Ham manager Sam Allardyce, whose side are 19th in the Premier League.

Providing City safely negotiate the

second leg, they will face Sunderland or Manchester United in the final on March 2. The omens were stacked in City’s favour with the match pitching the Premier League’s highest scorers against a defence which had conceded 13 goals in four games since Christmas.

RESULT Man City

6-0

Negredo 12, 26, 49, Toure 40, Dzeko 60, 89

West Ham

It was eight years since West Ham had last won at City and few predicted that their injury-ravaged squad could get a positive result.

Bookmakers were offering better odds on City winning 5-0 than any West Ham victory and even Allardyce pre-empted the clash by saying a draw would be a great result. It did not take long for the gulf in class to emerge.

West Ham’s defensive fragility was exposed after 12 minutes as Negredo

was allowed to run unchecked between central defenders to latch on to a long ball forward from Toure, which the striker dispatched into the bottom corner on the volley.

The Spaniard doubled the lead after 25 minutes, starting the move with a tidy flick to strike partner Dzeko before running on to the Bosnian’s return pass and finishing off with a perfect first touch and precise finish into the top corner.

The tie was effectively made safe on 39 minutes when Toure picked up possession in his own half, changed gears and strode 40 metres into opposition territory. West Ham’s defenders backed off into their own box, allowing the hulking Ivorian time to pick his spot and drill home a low finish.

The interval was a brief respite for the visitors who fell further behind three minutes after the break when Negredo completed his hat-trick with a fizzing side-foot effort with the game having settled into training-ground tempo. l

Defoe to leave Spurs for Toronto n Reuters, London

Yaya Toure poised for CAF award hat-trick

Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe is poised to sign for Major League Soccer side Toronto FC, British and Canadian media reported on Wednesday.

The MLS club posted messages on their website and Twitter warning fans to expect “a bloody big deal” on Monday.

British newspaper the Guardian and Canada’s Toronto Star said the 31-yearold Defoe would be loaned back to Tottenham until March 1 before the start of the MLS season on March 15.

Defoe, whose former Tottenham team mate Ryan Nelsen is head coach at Toronto, has made few Premier League starts this season, despite the north London club’s goal-scoring problems. l

n AFP, Abuja Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure will be the favourite to win a third straight Confederation of African Football (CAF) Footballer of the Year Award on Thursday.

The Ivory Coast international, who picked up the BBC African Footballer of the Year title in December for the first time, has won the previous two editions of the award, in 2011 and 2012.

Compatriot Didier Drogba, of Galatasaray, and Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel are the other two players in the reckoning for the award, which will be announced in Nigeria’s financial

capital, Lagos.

Toure, 31 in May, may not have won a major trophy for club and country last year but his class has shone through at both domestic level and for the Elephants of Ivory Coast.

His closest rival will be Mikel, 26, who helped Nigeria win the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa and also featured in Chelsea’s UEFA Europa League win.

Former Arsenal striker Nwankwo Kanu was the last Nigerian star to win the prestigious award in 1999.

Ex-Stamford Bridge favourite Drogba, 35, was runner-up in 2012 but won the CAF award in 2006 and 2009. l

Manchester City's Spanish striker Alvaro Negredo (R) scores his second goal during the English League Cup semi-final first leg football match against West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Wednesday AFP

Smalling sorry for Alex in homophobia row ‘terrorist’ costume n AFP, Paris backlash against Alex on social media.

“Here we have the reason why playn AFP, London Paris Saint-Germain’s former Chelsea ers find it so difficult to come out,”

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling apologised yesterday after a picture emerged of him wearing a suicide bomber costume at a fancy dress party.

The front page of Thursday’s edition of British tabloid The Sun showed the 24-year-old England international clad in Arab dress, including a head scarf, and with a circuit board and wires strapped to his body.

Smalling claimed that the outfit was an “attempted comedy play” on a drink known as a ‘Jagerbomb’, which is a mix of the liqueur Jagermeister and the energy drink Red Bull. l

defender Alex has provoked accusations of homophobia by claiming: “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Yves”.

The Brazilian international, a bornagain Christian, reveals his faith-based disapproval of homosexuality in a documentary on evangelical believers in football by French pay TV company Canal+.

The programme was due to be broadcast on Wednesday evening, just hours after Thomas Hitzlsperger became the first German international, and one of only a handful of top footballers worldwide, to come out as gay.

The coincidence exacerbated the

wrote @gillypea1978 in one of many tweets on a similar theme.

The Canal+ programme also features former PSG defender Marcos Ceara, now an evangelical preacher, who declares: “I’m not really for homosexuality. For me that is a little out with God’s plan.”

Alex then delivers his quip about Adam and Eve, according to excerpts from the programme published by French daily Le Parisien.

Paris Foot Gay, an organisation which campaigns against homophobia in French football and has a partnership agreement with PSG, played down the significance of Alex’s comments. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Mahela gives SL upper hand

QUICK BYTES

Wins in 14/U Asian Championships Md Reday Hasan of Bangladesh beat Gansukh Erdnetod of Mongolia 6-0, 6-0, in the consolation round of the ITF 14/U Asian Championships at the Asian Tennis Center, Bangkok yesterday. Two other Bangladeshi players also secured easy wins over their Laos opponents.

Naimul Islam Amiyo defeated Polo Phengprom 6-0, 6-1 and Zubin Omar beat Kenta Chanthavonk by the same margin. In the girls section, Bangladeshi Afrana Islam Prity beat Batuyanga Batbaatar of Mongolai 6-0, 6-1 in the second round while Popy Akther lost to Anne Mathema of Nepal 2-6, 2-6.

–RM

Fiorentina into Italian Cup quarter-finals Fiorentina joined Juventus in the Italian Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday with a 2-0 home win over Chievo. Spain’s Joaquin opened the scoring in the 29th minute with Croatia’s Ante Rebic heading in the second on the brink of half-time. Fiorentina will tackle either Catania or Sienna for a place in the semi-finals. Juventus had made the last eight in December with a 3-0 win over second division Avellino.

–AFP

Brazil airlines want 1,500 more flights for World Cup Brazilian airlines, including heavyweights TAM and Gol, have asked the country’s aviation authorities to allow some 1,500 additional flights to meet demand during the World Cup, officials said on Wednesday. A statement from the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) said the airlines’ requests were being considered and “will be approved based on the capacity of each airport” in terms of runways and parking space.

ANAC said it would publish its final decision on January 15. Brazil hopes to welcome 600,000 foreign visitors during the World Cup, which is also expected to draw three million Brazilians.

–AFP

Portugal announce Cameroon friendly Portugal will play Cameroon in a friendly in Lille, France on March 5, the country’s football federation (FPF) said Wednesday. With both sides qualified for the World Cup in Brazil in June and July, the match will form part of their build-up to the global showpiece. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal have been paired with Germany, Ghana and United States in Group G while Samuel Eto’o’s Cameroon will play hosts Brazil, Mexico and Croatia in Group A. The two sides met in a friendly ahead of the last World Cup in South Africa, when Portugal triumphed 3-1 on June 1, 2010.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Sony Six NBA 2013-14 7:00AM New York v Miami 9:90AM Denver v Oklahoma City 12:00PM Pakistan v Sri Lanka 2nd Test, Day 3 Star Sports 1 2:40PM Big Bash T20 Sydney Sixers v Perth Scorchers Ten Sports Hero Hockey World League Final 2:30PM Australia v Belgium 4:30PM Netherlands v Argentina 6:30PM Germany v New Zealand 8:30PM England v India 01:45AM Sky Bet C’ship 2013/14 Leicester City v Derby County Ten Golf

Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene celebrates after scoring a century (100 runs) during the second day of their second Test against Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai yesterday AFP

Mahela Jayawardene defied a left-hand webbing injury to notch his 32nd century and Kaushal Silva missed his by five runs as Sri Lanka gained an upper hand over Pakistan in the second Test in Dubai on Thursday.

Jayawardene, who received three stitches after he dropped a catch on Wednesday, scored 106 not out and shared an invaluable 139-run partnership with Silva (95) to guide Sri Lanka to 318-4 at close on the second day.

Sri Lanka have gained an important 153 runs lead over Pakistan’s first innings score of 165 and a chance to take a lead in the three-Test series after the first match ended in a draw in Abu Dhabi last week.

Jayawardene, grimacing while playing strokes, toiled his way to a remarkable knock, hit paceman Bilawal Bhatti for his 12th boundary to reach three figure mark off 215 balls, raising his bat in delight before he was embraced by skipper Mathews.

Mathews, 42 not out, has so far added 91 for the unbroken fifth wicket stand with his illustrious partner to consolidate Sri Lanka’s position.

Jayawardene, the 36-year-old former captain, has so far batted for 330 minutes for only his second century against Pakistan and his first in 21

Del Potro reaches Sydney semis, all over for Kvitova Ashes man-of-the-series Mitchell Johnson will be rested from the opening one-day international against England to freshen up for the rest of the series, Australia coach Darren Lehmann said on Thursday.

The lethal left-arm paceman was the star of Australia’s 5-0 Ashes clean sweep of the tourists with his express bowling, finishing with 37 wickets at 13.97.

Johnson will miss Sunday’s opening one-dayer in Melbourne but will return for the second match at the Gabba on January 17.

“It’s obviously been a big summer for him so we will just give him a short break,” Lehmann told reporters. l

Juan Martin del Potro continued his encouraging buildup to the Australian Open by reaching the semi-finals of the Sydney International on Thursday, but women’s contender Petra Kvitova was stunned by a Bulgarian qualifier in the last four.

World number five Del Potro was dragged into a scrap by Radek Stepanek and needed to recover from a mid-match meltdown before fending off the Czech veteran 6-4 3-6 6-3 to set up a clash with 2008 champion Dmitry Tursunov.

Mixing patchy phases with occasional flashes of brilliance, the 2009 U.S. Open champion appeared close to losing his cool at times and joked that only his shortage of racquets had prevented

Hodge, Lee in PM’s XI to play England SQUAD

Veteran batsman Brad Hodge was Thursday named in a strong Prime Minister’s XI led by speedster Brett Lee to play England in Canberra next week.

Hodge has not played an international for almost six years but his form for the Melbourne Stars in the domestic Big Bash League has him in line for a call-up to the Australian squad for the World T20 in Bangladesh in March.

Hodge, at 39, is the oldest player in the Prime Minister’s squad to play the 50-over day-night match at Manuka Oval on January 14.

Former Test quick Lee, 37, features in a strong bowling attack which also includes Jackson Bird and Ben Cutting.

Explosive batsmen Chris Lynn and Luke Pomersbach were also chosen.

Hodge averaged 55.88 in six Test appearances for Australia but in his latter years he has shown in the shorter form

PM’s XI Brett Lee (capt), Jackson Bird, Ben Cutting, Peter Handscomb, Brad Hodge, Chris Lynn, Alister McDermott, James Muirhead, Luke Pomersbach, Clive Rose, Michael Spaseski. 12th man Shane Devoy. he can hit a ball as cleanly as anyone.

National selector John Inverarity said Hodge and Lee had plenty still to offer Australian cricket.

“This match is a special fixture on the Australian cricketing calendar. Brett Lee and Brad Hodge bring leadership and experience to the team and will be great drawcards,” Inverarity said.

“Chris Lynn has been in excellent form this season in all forms of the game. Jackson Bird is recovering well from injury and we are keen to increase his workload.” l

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15

Friday, January 10, 2014

Tennis player Sabine Lisicki of Germany holds a python during a publicity event for the upcoming Australian Open tennis at Melbourne Park yesterday. The Australian Open tennis tournament begins on January 13 REUTERS

him from slamming one into the hardcourt in frustration. Del Potro has stuck to his older-generation Wilson racquets religiously but has only two left, and is

RESULTS

Women’s singles (Semi-finals) Pironkova bt Kvitova 6-4, 6-3 Kerber bt Keys 6-4, 6-2 Men’s singles (Quarter-finals) Del Potro bt Stepanek 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 Tursunov bt Istomin 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 reluctant to change to a new one before the year’s first grand slam.

Fiery Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis famously destroyed four of his racquets during a loss against Swiss Stanislas Waw-

rinka at the 2012 Australian Open, and Del Potro said he had been similarly tempted when struggling against Stepanek.

Defending champion Bernard Tomic strolled past Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4 6-3 and will meet another Ukrainian in Sergiy Stakhovsky in the other semi-final.

Despite crashing out of the semi-finals to 107th ranked Tsvetana Pironkova, second seed and former Wimbledon champion Kvitova was relaxed about her 6-4 6-3 loss three days ahead of the start at Melbourne Park.

Pironkova, a one-time Wimbledon semi-finalist, is the first qualifier to reach the Sydney final and will battle German Angelique Kerber, who swatted aside Madison Keys in straight sets, for the title. l

months since his hundred against England in Colombo in April 2012.

Jayawardene-Silva ensured Sri Lanka overcome a disappointing start to the day after they lost Kumar Sangakkara (26) and Dinesh Chandimal (12) in the space of 13 runs.

Silva was finally dismissed leg-before by Mohammad Hafeez soon after tea. He hit ten boundaries during his defiant 330-minute stay at the crease. l

SCORECARD, DAY 2 Pakistan 1st innings 165 Khurram Manzoor 73; N. Pradeep 3-62, R. Herath 3-26 Sri Lanka Ist innings (overnight 57-1) D. Karunaratne lbw b Junaid 32 K. Silva lbw b Hafeez 95 K. Sangakkara lbw b Ali 26 D. Chandimal c Ali b Junaid 12 M. Jayawardene not out 106 A. Mathews not out 42 Extras: (b1, lb2, nb1, w1) 5 Total: (for four wkts; 106 overs) 318 Fall of wickets 1-40 (Karunaratne), 2-75 (Sangakkara), 3-88 (Chandimal), 4-227 (Silva).

Bowling Junaid 26-5-75-2, Ali 26-5-109-1, Ajmal 27-9-45-0, Bhatti 21-2-75-0 (1nb, 1w), Hafeez 6-1-11-1

Federer feels in good shape to revive career Roger Federer says he feels a return to top form could be months away but he is in good shape for a tilt at next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne.

For the first time in 11 years the 17time Grand Slam title winner failed to reach the final of any of the four majors in 2013. His streak of reaching at least the quarter-finals of 36 consecutive Grand Slam events also ended last year and he fell out of the top five in the rankings for the first time in more than a decade.

But rather than contemplate retirement, the Swiss 32-year-old’s response has been to train harder in the off-season, hire Stefan Edberg as his new coach and experiment with a new larger racquet. l

Dismal outing for Shakib and Strikers Shakib al Hasan and his side Adelaide Strikers were outplayed by the starstudded Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League yesterday. The Bangladeshi all-rounder, who made a promising start to his BBL career in the last match, made only two runs as the Strikers were thrashed by eight wickets.

The decision to bat first went horribly wrong as the Strikers raced to 21 in two overs before the wickets tumbled like a house of cards. Opener Michael Klinger (42) stood at one end and saw six of his team-mates coming in and getting out for single digits with Tim

BRIEF SCORE Adelaide Strikers 90/9 in 20 over Micheal Klinger 42, Kane Richardson 21, Shakib al Hasan 2 James Faulkner 9/3, Lasith Malinga 8/2 Melbourne Stars 91/2 in 7.3 over Luke Wright 49, Glenn Maxwell 25* Shakib al Hasan 10/0 Melboure Stars won by eight wickets Ludeman making the highest of six runs among them.

Shakib, who came in with the Strikers reeling at 41-4, was lucky not to return with a duck as the left-handed lofted a full and wide Lasith Malinga delivery to mid-on region but Hastings’ diving effort saw the catch went down. However, he didn’t survive much longer as he came down the track to Luke Wright in the next over only to hit straight to the man at deep backward point.

The Strikers eventually posted only 90 runs losing nine wickets which the Melbourne Stars achieved in just 7.3 overs after English Wright played a blistering 20-ball 49 at the top. Shakib bowled only one over and gave away 10 runs.

Adelaide Strikers will face Perth Scorchers on January 16 and Shakib is expected to return to Bangladesh after the match to join the national team for the home series against Sri Lanka from January 27. l

World Number 1 Serena Williams (L) and sister Venus (R) of the US play cricket on the rooftop of a city hotel during a media event for the upcoming Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne yesterday AFP

Dominant Serena guns for 18th major title Serena Williams is gunning to match Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova by winning an 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, with her blistering form suggesting she can reach the milestone.

The world number one cemented her dominance of the sport with 11 titles last year, including the US and French Opens.

And she picked up where she left off by winning the Brisbane International on Saturday, beating reigning Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka in the final, with her powerful serve proving the difference.

Williams also beat world number three Maria Sharapova en route to the title - the 58th of her remarkable career - to ensure she enters the season-opening Grand Slam as red-hot favourite.

Despite her rich vein of form, Williams, 32, is not taking an 18th Grand Slam title and sixth Australian Open crown for granted, knowing she needs to start from scratch at

Melbourne Park next week.

Last year, an injury-hit campaign ended with defeat to young fellow American Sloane Stephens in the quarter-finals.

But Czech-American great Navratilova believes Williams is not only poised to equal her career Grand Slam haul, but could even catch Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22. l

Australian Open

Women’s singles champions 2013

Victoria Azarenka

BLR

2012

V Azarenka

BLR

2011

K Clijsters

BEL

2010

S Williams

USA

2009

S Williams

USA

2008

M Sharapova

RUS

2007

S Williams

USA

2006

A Mauresmo

FRA

2005

S Williams

USA

2004

J Henin

BEL

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Friday, January 10, 2014

RANA PLAZA COLLAPSE

Dead worker’s wife finally sees ray of hope n Muktasree Chakma Sathi Asha Akhter, 18, who was abandoned by her in-laws when her husband died in the Rana Plaza collapse back in April, 2013, has finally seen a ray of hope; her new-born baby, delivered December 2.

She named the boy Ananta which means infinite. Asha and her husband Abu Zafar Sentu thought of the name together before the deadly collapse that claimed Sentu’s life.

Asha doesn’t let anyone touch her child, said Asha’s mother Aleya: “Either she is overjoyed or she is still traumatised and thinks her son will leave her too, as soon as he is out of sight.”

“My husband and I were celebrating my pregnancy. Then the day of April 24 broke with the news of collapse and later 16 horrible days when I didn’t even know whether he was alive or not. This kid is the only memory of my husband now. How could I let him out of my sight?” Asha who got married in 2012 responded to her mother’s observations.

Aleya found 21-year-old Sentu’s totally decomposed body in the Adhar Chandra High School field 16 days after the collapse. The school grounds were used to keep the bodies recovered from the wreckage of the Rana Plaza.

Asha claimed that none of her inlaws came to see after she was sent to live with her mother at Bakhtarpur, Sa-

var. Her in-laws live in a different area of Savar.

“They [the in-laws] earlier told me they would take my kid away if it was a boy,” said a terrified Asha who believes her in-laws could take away the child any moment.

They received Tk20, 000 that was given to them as compensation. They received a rickshaw donated by a NGO. I don’t want to whine about these things anymore. I just hope they will let me hold on to my kid,” said Asha, who has so far received only two packets of biscuits and eggs worth of Tk300 till date.

Asha’s step father-in-law, Habib, confirmed he had received 20,000 and later also some other donations, along with Tk30, 000 through bKash – given by Irish clothing retailer Primark as short-term aid.

Habib also claimed that they were in touch with Asha, but refused to clarify why their daughter in-law was abandoned by them just after his son’s death.

The collapse of the eight-storey Rana Plaza, where five garment factories were housed, claimed at least 1,134 lives on April 24.

The rescue went on for 20 days, with 2,438 people being rescued from the debris, but relatives of the victims claim that hundreds of people are still missing. l

Members of over a hundred families in Khatriyapara of Sundarganj upazila, Gaibandha, guard the area in groups in the wake of recent attacks by Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists. The photo was taken late on Wednesday night FOCUS BANGLA

Reborn like a phoenix: 2 arson victims leave DMCH 1,727 killed in workplace n accidents in 2013 Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Two arson attack victims who left Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday after completing their treatment, have compared their recovery with being reborn, and called for a stop to all petrol bomb attacks.

“It feels like a rebirth to me. It was beyond my imagination that I would survive. By the grace of God I have got a new life,” said Gita Sen, who fell victim to an arson attack on November 28 last year.

Before leaving the burns and plastic surgery unit yesterday, she said: “We build veterinary hospitals to save animals’ lives, but some of us [humans] try to kill other humans in the name of politics.

“Please do not throw petrol bombs to kill us. We do not do any politics,” said Gita, who was burnt along with

her daughter while riding on a bus near Shahbagh.

Recollecting her experience, Gita said: “Within a few seconds I saw my skin get burnt. I was in so much pain throughout my whole body. No one could imagine how much pain I’ve had to suffer over the last month.”

Gita Sen was praised by the media and citizens for her comments to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, where she said: “We people elect you prime minister, but you do not create us.”

On the other hand, Md Abu Mia, a truck driver who fell victim to an arson attack at Chittagong on December 24, was also released from the burn unit yesterday. He echoed Gita and called for a stop to the practice of throwing life-threatening petrol bombs.

Abu Mia told the Dhaka Tribune: “Although it was the blockade, I had to drive the truck to earn money for my

family. I have no connection with anybody’s politics; so why was I the victim of such violence?”

Gita and Abu Mia expressed their views at a meet-the-press programme, organised by the DMCH authority on the eve of their returning home.

Prof Dr Md Sazzad Khondokar, a plastic surgeon, said 298 people had been burnt during blockades and hartals since October 26; among whom 98 were admitted as in-patients of the burn unit, while 22 had died.

Until January 9, 46 people had returned home after receiving treatment, 30 more remained admitted at the hospital, while all except two are out of danger.

Dr Samanta Lal Sen, adviser to the burns unit, said: “In my 40 years’ experience with burn patients I had never seen such types of victims.”

He said most of the petrol bomb victims suffered inhalation damage,

which was 50 to 60 times riskier than the conditions of normal burn patients.

Brigadier General Mustafizur Rahman, director of the DMCH, said the burn unit is trying to provide the best possible treatment to burn patients despite all the limitations, he added.

The director also claimed that the hospital was providing the arson victims with all-out support, including the provision of medicine and other things free of cost.

Zulfikar Ali Lenin, director of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), told journalists that the prime minister was aware about the need to ensure proper treatment for the arson attack victims.

Lenin said he had been directed by the premier to communicate regularly with the burn unit, and to provide the best help he could, adding that the PMO has a plan to reintegrate the arson attack victims back into society. l

Female worker killed, 20 injured in factory clash n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A female worker was killed and 20 others, including five police officers, were injured in a clash between law enforcers and the workers at the Korean Export Processing Zone in Chittagong yesterday afternoon.

The agitated workers of Karnaphuli Sportswear Industries (KSI), part of Youngone Group which owns the Korean EPZ, also set a factory warehouse on fire and vandalised machines, demanding proper implementation of the newly announced wage board for workers.

Inspector Arifur Rahman Arif of the Industrial Police in Chittagong told the Dhaka Tribune that the workers got into an altercation with factory officials around 1pm while receiving payment under the new pay scale, they claimed were getting less than their due payments.

Later, the agitated workers confined the officials and staged demos inside the factory, he said. They went on a rampage when the factory authorities called police to control the situation.

The workers hurled brick chips at the police leaving five policemen injured, said Mostak Ahmed, additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police Port Zone.

“Police fired tear gas and bullets during the incident to calm the situation,” he said.

“A female worker was killed and several others injured during the clash,” he said, adding that additional police, industrial police, Armed Police Battalion and Rab had brought the situation under control at around 4:30pm.

Jahirul Islam, a sub-inspector at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Police Outpost, said the deceased, Parvin Akhter, 20, who hailed

n Tribune Report At least 1,727 workers were killed, and 2,307 injured, in workplace accidents that took place during the year 2013, said a press release issued by the Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE).

Among the deceased, 1,401 workers were killed in accidents in the formal sector, while the remaining 326 killed were working in informal sector at the time.

The information was gathered in a survey of the OSHE that was accumulated from “monitoring fifteen leading national daily newspapers of the country and reports of [OSHE] field offices in

VESTED PROPERTY RETURN ACT

Eminent citizens call for quick implementation n Tribune Report

A view of broken window glass in a factory after a clash between the workers of Korean EPZ and police in Chittagong yesterday. A female worker died during the clash DHAKA TRIBUNE from Anwara upazila, had a severe injury to her head.

Twelve other workers – Kajol Das, 28, Ruzi Akhter, 18, Monjur, 18, Tania, 17, Morshed, 22, Joni, 22, Nobi Hossain, 22, Tipu, 19, Md Sohel, 22, Roksana, 22, Md Jasim, 28, Jahangir, 25, three policemen, Constable Chandmoni, Raton Dewan and Abdul Matin and a security guard, Tajibur Rahman, 38, were admitted to CMCH. Din Mohammad, a worker at the KSI factory who was also injured during the clash, told the Dhaka Tribune at CMCH that they were given about Tk1,000Tk1,200 less than their salary under the new pay scale.

“In addition to paying less, the authorities have also increased our lunch bill from Tk52 to Tk650 per month,” said Jahedul Islam, a cutting helper of the factory. The lunch bull is deducted from their salary.

Sohel, another worker of the factory, said their transport allowance had been reduced from Tk450 to Tk200, and the company was implementing the new wage board by reducing other facilities.

No official from Youngone or KSI could be reached to comment on the issue, even after repeated attempts by phone. Nasir Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, the first vice-president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Ex-

porters Association (BGMEA), told the Dhaka Tribune that they were instructing the garment factory owners to pay the workers under new wage board.

“The owners have been facing various problems including the political unrest,” he said, but added that they were optimistic about overcoming the situation within a short time.

Earlier, at least 38 persons, including eight policemen, were injured in a clash between the RMG workers and police at Chittagong Export Processing Zone area in the city on January 4, when the workers staged a demo demanding implementation of the new wage board. l

different parts of the country,” said the press release.

However, workplace accidents shot up in garments, construction, agricultural and ship breaking industries, it added.

In formal sectors, casualties are high in the garment sector, which experienced 1,170 deaths and 1,748 injuries. The Rana Plaza building collapse alone saw death of 1,135 and injury of 1,248 workers. More than 26 workers were killed in accidents in the ship-breaking sector, while 40 sustained injuries.

In informal sectors, the agricultural sector saw the death of 100, and injury of 27. Lightning killed most of agricultural workers who died. l

Eminent citizens and representatives of different organisations have called for a hassle-free swift implementation of the Vested Property Return Act and urged the government to punish the troublemakers.

In a joint statement under the banner of “National Coordination Cell for Implementing the Vested Property Act,” they expressed their concern about the hurdles that have to be cleared before the law is implemented.

The statement said the controversial “schedule Kha,” and different district and divisional committees related to the schedule, were scrapped by the passing of the Vested Property Return Act (second amendment) 2013.

To implement this act, the land ministry, on November 20 last year, issued a circular related to the scrapped schedule Kha, while another circular was published the following day that asked for the annulment the previous circular and the start of activities related to updating the taxes on properties and the cancellation of names.

However, some land administration officials have misinterpreted the circular and suspended the activities mentioned in the act, resulting in hundreds of victims being denied any benefit from the law.

The vested property that was not under the control of the government was in the “Schedule Kha.” The statement added that the law was not implemented in the capital.

Earlier in a revenue related meeting

of the Dhaka district administration, on December 18 last year, it was stated that the circulars were contradictory to the main law; so, the assistant commissioner’s (land) office suspended all implementation of the law.

There have also been allegations that land ministry officials are “intentionally” creating the problem (Source: the Kaler Kantho, January 3, 2013).

The vested property that was not under the control of the government was under ‘Schedule Kha.’ The law was not implemented in the capital.

The signatories to the statement included Executive Director of Ain o Salish Kendro Sultana Kamal, Coordinator of Aso Nijera Kori Khushi Kabir, President of Vested Property Act Protest Movement Kamal Lohani and its General Secretary Advocate Subrata Chowdhury, General Secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad Advocate Rana Dasgupta, Honorary Director of Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust Sara Hossain, Prof Abul Barakat of Dhaka University, Executive Director of Association for Land Reform and Development Shamsul Huda, General Secretary of Sommilito Samajik Andolon Advocate Tobarok Hossain and General Secretary of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad Manindra Kumar Nath. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

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Business

B3 3D printing poised to

B4 Though boasting, did

shake up shopping

the government do enough?

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Defaulters may discover GP bills at door steps

Subscribers who abandoned connections owe Tk100cr as due bills since 1997 call details information and try to conn Muhammad Zahidul Islam tact with those subscribers who have Grameenphone has failed to recover unpaid bills worth around Tk100 crore from its 575,000 post-paid subscribers since its inception in 1997.

The country’s leading mobile phone operator, which is now having around five crore customers across the country, is now trying to recover the outstanding bills by appointing a third-party.

The operator has already requested Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulator Commission (BTRC) to allow it to appoint a firm for collecting the bills.

The regulator has not yet given necessary approval, according to a letter the company sent to the BTRC recently.

“We hope BTRC to approve the request soon so we can go for collecting the dues,” a senior executive told the Dhaka Tribune. Apart from Grameenphone, some other operators were claimed to have appointed agents to realise due bills without having prior permission from the regulator.

“From 1997 till date Grameenphone has debt amount of Tk1 billion (approx) from about 575,000 debt accounts,” reads the letter.

“Grameenphone currently recovers post-paid bad debt using its internal resources. However, with the given resources the total customer-base could not be reached and thus a significant number of the customers remain untouched for collecting such debt while the numbers are piling up.”

Meanwhile, GP has uploaded a Request for Proposal (RFP) while waiting for BTRC’s approval to appoint such an agent to recover the unpaid bills from the debt accounts.

As per GP’s plan, an appointed agent will go through the subscriber’s forms,

dues.

If the agent failed to collect any information of his or her details or not able to detect them, then they will try to find out that subscribers using information from the related FnF numbers and later on it will try to contact directly with the original subscribers, said the sources. But it is learnt the regulator has already raised a question on the issue of confidentiality of subscriber’s personal information.

To address this issue, GP has already assured the telecom watchdog of signing a non-discloser agreement with the agent to make sure that there would be no misuse or leakage of information by the agent.

According to GP’s proposal, if needed to collect the outstanding bills the third party will be allowed to perform duties such as visiting the customer physically, phone follow up, SMS and letter through E-mail follow up with that particular customer.

As soon as GP got approval from BTRC, subscribers who have outstanding bills will also get a notice from GP within a short time. One the other hand, lots of subscribers have deposited thousands of taka as security money for every connection although the connections are not active currently.

BTRC has already reportedly questioned the GP to know the whereabouts of such huge amount of money which has long been remained with GP as security money.

BTRC is going to issue a letter to all the operators asking them to inform it about the figure of the deposited security money and also to take necessary steps to refund the money back to the respective subscribers. l

Entry deadline for SME business plan competition extended n Tribune Report

Exports rise 17% despite DITF BEGINS TOMORROW Exhibitors fear poor turnout political unrest n

Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Foundation has extended the deadline to February 15 for submission of business plans to participate in the National SME Business Plan Competition 2013.

The Foundation had announced the competition on September 25 to encourage the young people to get engaged with entrepreneurial activities.

The deadline that expired on December 31 last has been extended following appeal from the intended competitors, said a statement yesterday.

The interested participants could download the application forms from the Foundation’s website (www.smef. org.bd) or collect it from the Foundation office and submit the proposals by February 15.

Applications could be submitted individually or in group consisting of not more than four members.

There will be a selection committee which, after scrutiny and assessment of the applications, will pick up 150 competitors. l

n

Tribune Report

The country’s export earnings rose 16.6% to US$14.68bn in the first half of the current fiscal year, despite growing political turmoil and continuous RMG labour unrest over their wage hike.

The earnings were $12.6bn in the July-December period of last year.

In December, exports rose to $2.72bn, which is 10.5% higher compared to $2.46bn for the same month last year, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) statistics. But the growth in December went down compared to the 25.34% growth in November last year.

The figure is 4% higher than the target of $2.6bn set for the month. RMG export posted over 20% growth to nearly $12bn in the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of last year’s value of $10bn.

The knitwear and woven garments, the two largest export earners, posted 19.5% and 20% growth respectively, followed by frozen foods 30%, shrimps 34%, Vegetables 35%, footwear 35% and leather 44% in July-December period compared to same period of the last year.

Jute and jute products marked over

As the DITF begins tomorrow, a participating company making hectic efforts to complete construction of its stall. The photo was taken yesterday from the fair venue at Sher-e-Bangla MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU Nagar, Dhaka

17% fall, which was followed by home textiles 6%, ships, boats and floating structures 93%. Among the major sectors, knitwear earned the highest amount of over $5.9bn, followed by woven garments nearly $6bn in the first half of the current fiscal. Footwear exports fetched $285m, frozen foods $377m and leather $239m during the period.

The export growth is good but the cost of doing business has been increased due to the political unrest, which cast bad impact on profit margin, said Mustasfizur Rahman, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue.

“We are yet to face the adverse impact of the latest RMG factory disaster and the political unrest. But if it continues further, Bangladesh will have to face the consequence,” he warned.

Although the earnings went up, the RMG sector is now facing a critical situation, said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB). Export earnings in December do not reflect the real scenario of the RMG sector as these orders were placed in June, from which, the country earned foreign exchange during last month, he added. l

Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The 19th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) begins tomorrow amid fears of low turnout of visitors and poor sales as the country has hit hard by the ongoing political unrest that already battered the entire economy.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to formally inaugurate the month-long fair at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital on Saturday.

The annual regular event popularly known as DIFT was scheduled to start from January 1, as usual, but the commerce ministry had to differ it to January 11, following a request from 100 participants in the wake of the political unrest.

Now, starting on January 11, the fair will continue up to February 11.

In the fair, there will have 462 stalls and pavilions, where local and foreign manufacturers will display their products to attract buyers.

A total of 32 foreign participants will join to display their products to Bangladesh people and global buyers who visit the fair.

The schedule of first election after demutualisation of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) has been announced yesterday.

The nomination papers should be collected from January 16 to 22 and nomination withdrawal is on January 30, DSE officials said.

The election commission will publish the list of eligible candidate on the same day of nomination withdrawal. The election is being held under the regulation of DSE shareholder

director election regulation – 2014.

On Tuesday, the board of DSE fixed the date of holding election on February 12 to elect four directors to form its first board after the demutualisation of stock exchanges two months back.

Chairman of the DSE will be elected at the annual general meeting scheduled for February 13. The 250 members of DSE turned into shareholders after the demutualisation.

The new board will be comprised of 13 members, four from its existing shareholders, seven from indepen-

dent directors, DSE chief executive officer and one from strategic investors, according to the Demutualisation Act 2013.

The independent directors will be selected based on the “fit and proper” criteria as mentioned in the demutualisation scheme, which was approved by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on September 26 last year.

Prior to holding the AGM, the DSE would have to send a list of independent directors to the BSEC for regulatory approval.

Humayun Kabir, Executive Director of Walton.

But the escalating political turmoil has already been poised as a big problem for us but we have to march forward keeping aside all the odds to achieve our economic goals, he added.

We are very much optimistic about the presence of the visitors but again the visitor’s turnout might face a setback this year as visitors from outside Dhaka won’t be able to join the fair due to the ongoing blockade being enforced by the opposition political parties, said Kabir.

“We are hopeful about the success of the fair as alike as the previous years as we have already taken all the necessary steps to avert any untoward incidents and to provide full-fledge security to the visitors, said EPB vice chairman, Shubhashish Bose.

As like as the previous years, Pakistan will join DIFT this year too, as there has been no direction from the commerce ministry to ask them to refrain from participating the fair, said Bose when asked about the demand of the Ganajagran Mancha for putting a ban on Pakistani stalls in the trade fair. l

STOCKS

DSE announces polls schedule n Tribune Report

“We are going to deploy Bangladesh Boarder Guard (BGB) along with police, RAB and Ansar battalion to ensure security to the visitors of the fair, AFM Manjur Kadir, secretary of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), told the Dhaka Tribune.

All the preparations have been done to begin the biggest show to display products to buyers from home and abroad, he added.

“Earlier, we were confused about the turnout of visitors under the previous political turmoil situation but now we are confident about a positive turnout as the political situation is gradually improving,’’ said Manjur Kadir. He, however, hinted that there might have little impact of political unrest on the fair.

“We are worried about the sale volume as the visitor’s turnout may go down due to the political unrest, said Mohammad Delwar Hossain, Senior Manager Marketing of Beximco. We are also fearing poor selling this year as the overall financial condition of the country are not healthy, he added.

The main aim of our participation is just to display and promote our products to customers and not to sale, said

The tenure of each director and the chief executive officer will be for three years.

A law on demutualisation was passed in parliament on April 29 last year with a promise to bring transparency to the stock market.

The law requires the stock exchange to form its first board within 90 days from the date of demutualisation. The stock exchange was demutualised on November 21, 2013.

On December 16, Chittagomg Stock Exchange has decided to hold its election on February 15. l

DSEX DS30

4407.83

0.38%

1555.61

0.79%

▲ ▲

CSEX

8663.45

0.55%

▲

EXCHANGE RATES Average selling rates to public in BDT Banks Rupali Bank Currencies SELL BUY USD 77.4 78.4

Sonali Bank SELL BUY 77.4

78.4

EURO

104.5782

107.7893

104.5837

107.0074

INR

1.1738

1.3301

1.17

1.27

SAR

20.5372

21.0044

20.5335

21.0095

B2

‘Investors stood watchful pondering about future movements as a new government is setting in’ breaking through the near term ren Kayes Sohel sistance level of 4,440 points.

DSE LOSERS

Modern Dyeing -Z

4th ICB M F-A Kohinoor Chem -A Dulamia CottonZ Imam Button -Z Rahim Textile -A Samata LeatheR -Z BDCOM Online-A 5th ICB M F-A 1st ICB M F -A

Closing (% change)

-7.60 -6.32 -3.97 -3.45 -3.45 -3.10 -3.10 -2.33 -2.32 -2.22

CSE LOSERS Company I P D C -A Aramit -A AB Bank 1st Mutual Fund-A Imam Button -Z ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A Rupali Life Insur.-A BDCOM Online-A Hakkani P& Paper -B Fine Foods A S.B. 1st M. F.-A

Closing (% change) -4.90 -4.44 -4.11 -3.23 -3.03 -2.99 -2.96 -2.60 -2.50 -2.47

ANALYST

(+) 0.38%

1543.47009

(+) 0.79%

13663.19430

(+) 0.55%

11285.42390

(+) 0.80%

8663.44560

(+) 0.55%

-8.85 -6.99 -3.98 -4.37 -1.72 -2.57 -3.67 -1.40 -0.99 -2.22

Average (% change) -4.80 -4.17 -4.11 -3.01 -1.93 -0.92 -0.77 -1.66 -2.04 -1.00

Closing average

79.00 190.00 350.89 8.31 8.55 232.06 28.06 29.58 173.33 880.00 Closing average 19.42 341.07 7.00 9.01 9.66 118.95 29.46 33.70 23.54 7.93

Closing

79.00 191.10 351.00 8.40 8.40 231.10 28.10 29.40 172.50 880.00

Closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

Traded Issues

291

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

173

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

110

Daily high

8

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,126.15

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

25.77

% change 7.31 9.42 1.67 18.79 4.84 16.19 0.03 13.58 9.72 0.01 0.80 1.66 0.77 2.82 0.69 1.46 2.38 2.49 2.37 3.02 0.00

Million Taka 33.14 46.47 8.46 127.59 28.44 59.39

Turnover (Volume)

74.84 36.49 0.05 4.91 3.75 7.81 13.49 8.04 3.84 13.13 10.10 20.81 29.40 0.01

Apex SpinningA Paramount Textile Ltd.-N Meghna Petroleum -A BD Building Systems -A Olympic Ind. -A Padma Oil Co. -A Usmania Glass -Z Delta Brac HFCL-A Jamuna Oil -A Safko Spinning-A

Closing (% change) 8.55 6.12 5.86 5.58 4.68 4.43 3.86 3.42 3.02 3.00

9.32 2.10 7.38 5.66 4.32 3.71 4.67 5.46 4.22 4.35

Average (% change) 7.20 3.71 4.78 5.72 4.11 3.82 3.90 3.45 2.64 2.47

Closing average

12.90 8.75 9.46 140.00 54.30 75.19 26.45 73.55 65.00 234.38

Closing average 74.85 54.44 235.48 73.57 160.15 294.86 140.00 59.38 208.14 30.74

Closing

12.90 8.70 9.40 140.60 55.10 76.00 26.40 73.80 65.50 236.80

Closing 74.90 55.50 238.30 73.80 161.20 294.40 140.00 60.40 208.00 30.90

Daily high

12.90 8.90 9.60 142.00 55.90 76.40 26.50 75.00 68.60 238.50

Daily high 74.90 56.00 239.00 75.00 164.90 299.50 140.00 61.00 210.00 31.40

Daily low

12.90 8.40 9.10 137.00 52.40 72.60 26.00 64.00 62.40 220.00

Daily low 74.80 52.80 228.90 71.20 155.80 288.80 140.00 57.10 205.00 30.00

Turnover in million

1.600 0.056 1.258 0.350 95.183 0.797 0.582 143.060 0.026 205.075

Turnover in million 0.030 22.537 7.681 14.646 4.324 9.465 0.007 0.564 3.218 0.476

Latest EPS

-4.60 -5.64 -0.52 -15.39 3.00 1.72 6.44 3.28 -10.24 25.08

Latest EPS 1.72 3.00 25.08 3.28 6.32 27.28 5.68 4.72 20.40 1.12

Latest PE

-ve -ve -ve -ve 18.1 43.7 4.1 22.4 -ve 9.3

Latest PE 43.5 18.1 9.4 22.4 25.3 10.8 24.6 12.6 10.2 27.4

13,257,927

Number of Contract

19,805

Traded Issues

226

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

128

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

93

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,037.25

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

24.69

Turnover in million

Daily low

79.00 191.10 338.00 8.00 8.40 230.00 27.60 27.10 172.50 880.00

0.016 0.038 0.790 0.064 0.355 2.251 1.319 4.097 0.104 0.044 Turnover in million

Daily low

19.60 345.00 7.00 9.70 9.80 120.60 29.70 34.20 24.10 8.00

CSE

Company

Average (% change)

530.15

19.20 335.00 6.90 8.60 9.60 116.50 29.20 33.10 23.40 7.90

Latest EPS

1.44 35.20 9.80 -1.90 -2.20 1.52 -0.08 1.68 16.96 60.76 Latest EPS

0.175 0.171 0.318 0.072 0.048 1.725 0.354 0.051 1.686 0.203

0.91 11.53 0.60 -2.20 2.00 5.33 1.68 0.44 0.05 0.84

Latest PE

54.9 5.4 35.8 -ve -ve 152.7 -ve 17.6 10.2 14.5

% change 6.25 8.77 1.60 24.07 5.36 11.20 0.00 14.12 6.88 0.01 0.93 0.71 1.47 2.54 1.52 0.72 2.48 1.91 3.93 5.54 0.00

Million Taka 411.62 534.01 94.69 1100.00 278.88 897.32 1.44 777.86 539.38 0.44 46.16 89.55 47.59 159.41 43.91 79.52 136.19 138.75 143.39 185.65 0.23

Total

News from trade server ULC: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has decided to change the name from United Leasing Company Limited to United Finance Limited. The execution of the name change of the Company shall be subject to the approval of shareholders in the General Meeting and all concerned Regulatory Authority.

ULC: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has decided to purchase 9,503 sft. commercial space at the 9th floor of SEL Rose-N-Dale, 116 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Dhaka at a total cost of Tk. 140.04 million (approximately) excluding the cost of registration, VAT, AIT and any other admissible cost subject to approval of Bangladesh Bank.

BENGALWTL: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus

shares for the year ended on June 30, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on January 07, 2014.

RIGHT SHARE: ARAMITCEM: Subscription 23.03.2014 to 17.04.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 09.01.2014. RUPALILIFE- Subscription 06.04.2014 to 05.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 16.01.2014.

IPO Subscription: Emerald Oil Industries Limited subscription date 06-12 January 2014, NRB upto 21 Januray 2014. At per, face value taka 10 and market lot 500.

Matin Spinning Mills Limited subscription date 26-30 January 2014, NRB upto 08 Feburay 2014. @ Tk. 37/-, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGM

ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 01.03.2014, RD: 29.12.2013.

USMANIAGL: 11% Cash & 10% Stock, AGM: postponed, RD: 07.11.2013.

DESCO: 10% Cash & 15% Stock, AGM: 04.01.2014, RD: 05.11.2013.

ANWARGALV: 7% Case for general shareholders, AGM: 13.01.2014, RD: 11.11.2013.

MPETROLEUM: 70% Cash & 20% Stock, AGM: 17.01.2014, RD: 28.11.2013.

POWERGRID: 15% Cash, AGM: 25.01.2014, Time: 10:00 AM. RD: 01.12.2013.

EASTRNLUB: 30% Cash, AGM: 25.01.2014, RD: 04.12.2013.

JAMUNAOIL: 90% Cash & 10% Stock, AGM: 25.01.2014, RD: 04.12.2013.

SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 30.01.2014, RD: 19.12.2013.

PADMAOIL: 90% Cash, 10% Stock, AGM: 15.02.2014, RD: 23.12.2013.

SAMORITA: 30% Stock, AGM: 11.01.2014, RD: 25.11.2013.

Latest PE 21.3 29.6 11.7 -ve 4.8 22.3 17.5 76.6 470.8 9.4

While the 10th national parliament took oath, initially vibrant market sentiment sedated to a flat mode. Investors stood watchful pondering about future movements as a new government is setting in

DSE Million Taka 378.48 487.54 86.23 972.40 250.44 837.93 1.44 703.03 502.90 0.39 41.25 85.80 39.78 145.93 35.87 75.69 123.06 128.65 122.58 156.25 0.22

9.32 7.41 6.82 6.43 6.37 5.26 5.18 5.13 4.97 4.87

CSE GAINERS

Turnover (Million Taka)

79.00 191.20 365.00 8.50 8.80 238.00 28.30 30.40 172.60 880.00

Daily high

Meghna Con. Milk -B

Zeal Bangla Sugar -Z Meghna PET Ind. -Z GeminiSeaFood-Z Paramount Textile Ltd.-N Apex SpinningA ICB AMCL 1st NRB -A BD Building Systems -A Northern Jute -Z Meghna Petroleum -A

Closing (% change)

CSE key features January 9, 2014

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

19.40 340.10 7.00 9.00 9.60 116.80 29.50 33.70 23.40 7.90

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

116,570

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4407.82597

Average (% change)

110,326,138

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

Daily capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DS - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index :

5,175.86

Number of Contract

Currently, declining inert-bank rates, increasing investment in the government savings instruments are stemming the private sector investment and indicating lower demand for credit, it said.

“BB’s consideration of expansionary and balanced monetary policy statement for H2 FY2014 is the most important trigger point for capital market.”

Pharmaceuticals sector was the next most gaining sector, keeping its seven-day gaining streak. Other major sectors ended in green, excepting banks and telecommunications that edged lower.

The engineering sector continued to dominate the trading driven by Bangladesh Building, Bengal Windsor and Thermoplastics, and Olympic Industries, as it accounted for more than 19% of the total market turnover.

The market breadth remained positive as out of 280 issues traded, 167 advanced, 85 declined and 38 remained unchanged.

Golden Son was the most traded stock of the session with a turnover of Tk20 crore. It was followed by Meghan Petroleum, Lanka Bangla Finance, Summit Purbanchol Power Company, Bangladesh Building, Bengal Windsor and Thermoplastics and Square Pharmaceuticals. l

Stocks edged higher amid volatility yesterday, extending the gaining streak for the third consecutive sessions.

The market was in the positive territory but intra-day market volatility was 37 points.

The benchmark DSEX closed at 4,407 with a marginal rise of 16 points or 0.4%, hitting highest 4,428 in the morning and lowest 4,391 in the mid-session. The DS30 Index comprising blue chips gained 12 points or 0.8% to 1,555.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, rose 53 points to 8,668. Investor participation in trading declined slightly to just over Tk500 crore, which was 4.1% lower from previous session.

“While the 10th national parliament took oath, initially vibrant market sentiment sedated to a flat mode. Investors stood watchful pondering about future movements as a new government is setting in,” said IDLC Investment in its market analysis.

Nevertheless, investors remained buoyant over fuel and power sector for the third straight days and pushed it to be the top gaining sector.

Lanka Bangla Securities said market remained in bull grip for the third consecutive trading session

Company

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Friday, January 10, 2014

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features January 9, 2014

Stocks edge higher amid volatility

Company

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

% change 7.21 9.36 1.66 19.28 4.89 15.73 0.03 13.63 9.45 0.01 0.81 1.57 0.83 2.79 0.77 1.39 2.39 2.43 2.51 3.25 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Golden Son -A

Meghna Petroleum -A LankaBangla Fin. -A S Purbanchol Power-N BD Building Systems -A Bengal Windsor-N Square Pharma -A Generation Next-A UCBL - A Olympic Ind. -A Appollo Ispat CL -N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Padma Oil Co. -A Paramount Textile Ltd.-N BATBCL -A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

Appollo Ispat CL -N Golden Son -A Paramount Textile Ltd.-N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A LankaBangla Fin. -A UNITED AIR-A Bengal Windsor-N S Purbanchol Power-N Generation Next-A BD Building Systems -A UCBL - A Beach Hatchery -A Padma Oil Co. -A BSRM Steels-A

Volume shares

3,054,307 874,978 2,678,869 2,631,620 1,945,150 1,991,224 617,100 3,129,360 4,339,139 673,500 2,873,600 2,791,052 325,317 1,753,000 50,450

Volume shares

942,800 463,060 414,000 532,194 225,500 960,495 237,288 215,090 409,820 199,075 408,837 305,000 32,100 115,050

Value in million

207.43 205.08 201.96 188.05 143.06 131.90 124.55 116.20 112.29 107.35 105.51 101.65 95.84 95.18 88.24

Value in million

34.67 31.51 22.54 19.36 17.03 16.42 15.74 15.37 15.26 14.65 10.57 9.55 9.47 8.61

% of total turnover

4.01 3.96 3.90 3.63 2.76 2.55 2.41 2.25 2.17 2.07 2.04 1.96 1.85 1.84 1.70

% of total turnover

6.54 5.94 4.25 3.65 3.21 3.10 2.97 2.90 2.88 2.76 1.99 1.80 1.79 1.61

Daily closing

68.20 236.80 75.80 71.00 73.80 65.70 202.40 36.80 25.90 160.30 36.60 36.40 295.00 55.10 1651.90

Daily closing

36.60 68.10 55.50 36.40 76.00 17.10 66.30 70.90 37.00 73.80 25.90 30.90 294.40 75.20

Price change

Daily opening

Price change

Daily opening

0.74 4.87 -0.13 2.90 5.13 1.55 1.30 -0.54 1.17 3.75 0.00 1.11 4.17 6.37 -0.58

0.00 0.29 6.12 1.11 -0.26 0.59 2.47 2.75 -0.27 5.58 1.17 -2.22 4.43 3.72

67.70 225.80 75.90 69.00 70.20 64.70 199.80 37.00 25.60 154.50 36.60 36.00 283.20 51.80 1661.60

36.60 67.90 52.30 36.00 76.20 17.00 64.70 69.00 37.10 69.90 25.60 31.60 281.90 72.50

Daily high

68.80 238.50 76.80 73.00 75.00 67.10 203.00 37.70 26.50 164.80 37.30 37.50 298.00 55.90 1750.00

Daily low

61.00 220.00 70.00 65.00 64.00 58.40 185.00 34.00 23.50 147.00 36.50 33.00 280.00 52.40 1632.10

Daily average

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

37.20 68.80 56.00 37.00 77.90 17.30 67.50 72.70 37.90 75.00 26.00 32.50 299.50 75.50

36.50 67.00 52.80 36.00 74.60 17.00 65.00 70.30 36.90 71.20 25.60 30.70 288.80 74.00

67.91 234.38 75.39 71.46 73.55 66.24 201.84 37.13 25.88 159.40 36.72 36.42 294.60 54.30 1749.12

36.77 68.04 54.44 36.38 75.54 17.10 66.34 71.45 37.24 73.57 25.86 31.30 294.86 74.83

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Friday, January 10, 2014

3D printing poised to shake up shopping

Junk stock top gainer

n AFP, Las Vegas

n Tribune Business Desk

A 3D printing trend playing out at the Consumer Electronics Show bodes a future in which shoes, eyeglass frames, toys and more are printed at home as easily as documents.

Music star will.i.am even made a debut here as creative officer for 3D Systems, predicting that the technology will do for many basic items what iTunes did to the way people get songs.

He predicted that within a decade, 3D printers will be common in homes and people will print out things like shoes, belts, eyeglasses and accessories instead of dashing to a shop to buy the items.

“3D printers will be in your house like refrigerators, TVs and microwaves,” will.i.am said.

3D printing has been around for about 25 years but has seen a surge in popularity as the technology improves and costs drop to a point accessible for hobbyists, artists and entrepreneurs.

Printers aimed at the home market typically use corn-based, biodegradable plastic layered and shaped using lasers and heated plates.

A 3D printer is displayed in the " 3D Print Show" exhibition in Paris “Think of it as laying microscopic bricks; layers and layers of these bricks,” said Roger Chang, chief executive of Singapore-based Pirate 3D, which makes a Buccaneer home printer that sells for $497.

“Eventually, if you put enough bricks you get a building.”

Brooklyn-based MakerBot was the

AFP

only 3D printer company at CES five years ago. Now, it is surrounded by rivals on a large section of show floor devoted to the trend.

“We feel like this is the year of 3D printing,” MakerBot spokeswoman Jenifer Howard told AFP. “Now, entrepreneurs without major financial backing can create proto-

types themselves and even do smallscale manufacturing. It changes the whole picture.”

Along with objects such as figurines, chess pieces and appliance handles, printers can pump out ball bearings, gears and components for creations with moving parts. “3D printing really is limitless,” Howard said.

She noted that aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin used MakerBot printers to make a part for a telescope set to launch into space in about four years.

MakerBot printers have been used in Africa to make prosthetic hands at a fraction of what they might typically cost, according to Howard.

Digital plans for the “robo-hand” have been downloaded 55,000 times, according to MakerBot, which makes a vast library of digital blueprints available free at its website.

Fifth-generation Makerbot printers range from $1,375 to $6,500.

“Once you start 3D printing, you actually look at the world differently,” Howard said. “Instead of thinking of going to the store, you say you can make it yourself.”

3D printing has gone from languishing to being an attention-getting trend, but it will take “killer use cases” to get them into homes, according to NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker.

“Most people aren’t printing their own cellphone cases or backpacks,” Baker said. “You can make an argument that 3D printing was languishing and now there is energy in a category that was pretty dull. We are probably a ways away from disrupting manufacturing.”

3D Pirate’s Chang thinks independent toymakers will be among those leading to making 3D printing mainstream.

“The same way iTunes allowed independent musicians to flourish by posting digital songs, indie toy designers can let their customers just print out the toys without worrying about economies of scale or distribution deals,” Chang said.

Andrew Boggeri of Las Vegas-based Full Spectrum Laser cited a study indicating that the average US home could save up to $2,000 annually by printing their own replacement for 27 commonly broken household items.

“The US is a hotbed of 3D printing right now,” Boggeri said. l

Meghna Condensed Milk Industries Limited was the highest gainer at the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday, despite poor fundamentals.

Its shares registered gain of 9.3% to Tk12.9 each. The offer value of the Z-category share is Tk10 each.

Its turnover stood more than Tk15 lakh, making up 0.03% of the total DSE turnover.

According to its first quarter unaudited statement (July to Sept 2013), the company incurred a loss of Tk1.84 crore from Tk1.27 crore in the same period a year ago.

The figure shows its losses increased by 45% due to high administrative and financing costs, according to the company’s balance sheet.

The excessive administrative costs are due to higher depreciation costs as stated in the annual report for the year 2012.

The company’s accumulated losses stood at Tk102.6 crore as on September 30, 2013.

The stock registered 61.25% rise in prices in last two weeks. l

Golden Son market leader

Modern Dyeing worst loser at DSE

Yahoo CEO unveils handful of new products to big CES crowd

Golden Son Limited (GSL) yesterday emerged as the top market leader at the Dhaka Stock Exchange as the stocks closed at its two-year high of Tk68.2 each.

The shares valued more than Tk20.7 crore changed hands, making up 4% of the total DSE turnover.

On the day, the share price rose 0.7% to Tk68.2 each, before rising as high as Tk68.8 and falling as low as Tk66.9 during the trading hour.

It is its highest price in two years.

The company’s face value is Tk10 each. The stocks registered a gain of more than 28.9% in the last 30 days.

Stockbrokers say the company’s recent announcement on building a toy-manufacturing factory and strong fundamentals attracted the investors.

Earlier, the company has obtained a positive credit rating from Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited. l

n Tribune Business Desk

n Reuters

n Tribune Business Desk

Correction A report titled “Gemini worst loser as it turns junk stock” published in the Dhaka Tribune on January 7 had a mistake about the company’s holding AGM. The report wrongly mentioned that the company was placed in “Z” category from “A” category because the management has failed to hold its annual general meeting (AGM) in the year 2013.

In fact, the company’s AGM was held on December 30, 2013, the Gemini Sea Food Ltd said in a rejoinder yesterday.

We regret the inadvertent mistake. l

Modern Dyeing & Screen Printing Limited was the worst loser with a fall of 7.6% to Tk79 each on Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.

The shares, however, were traded for an insignificant amount of Tk15,800 yesterday. On December 18, DSE placed the company in “Z” category from “B” category as the company failed to continue operations for more than last six months. The decision was taken in accordance with securities laws.

Previously, a team of DSE visited the factory premises and head office of Modern Dyeing & Screen Printing Limited for inspection, according to the DSE. The team in September last year

reported the company’s production remained closed since January 31, 2010 and all the machineries have been sold out during the time of lay-off, beginning from January 31, 2010.

Moreover, the factory premises have been leased out on rental basis to third party as per the resolution passed in EGM held on August 03, 2010.

On the contrary, the company has been paying cash dividend to its shareholders ranging from 4% to 8% in the past 13 years, except for 2010 and 2011, according to DSE. In a recent disclosure, the company announced its first quarter profit in the current fiscal year of Tk4.9 lakh nearly 23.4% lower than Tk6.4 lakh in the same period last fiscal. l

Canon to bring production home as yen continues slide n Reuters Japan’s Canon Inc, the world’s largest camera maker, is looking to ramp up capacity at home as it anticipates a further slide in the yen to make domestic manufacturing cheaper.

Canon shifted camera and photocopier production abroad as the yen soared in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis making Japan-made goods expensive overseas. But is now set to reverse that move as it banks on the prime minister’s economic stimulus

plan, known as Abenomics, to push the yen below pre-crisis levels.

The company, which derives around 80% of revenue from overseas, will raise the proportion of products made in Japan to 50% within the next three years from 42%, Chief Executive Fujio Mitarai told Reuters in an interview yesterday.

Mitarai said he was “looking forward” to seeing the yen extend its slide further this year after it fell more than 20% in 2013, and that he hoped that will help boost revenue and profit growth by more than 5% in 2014. l

Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Marissa Mayer unveiled a handful of new products, including a competitor to Google Inc’s predictive search technology for smartphones, in a debut appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show that drew a big crowd.

The former Google executive who took the reins at Yahoo in the summer of 2012, has moved aggressively to revamp the struggling Internet company’s business with product makeovers, acquisitions and a renewed focus on its media offerings. Yahoo’s services attracted more than 400 million monthly mobile users for the first time last fall, Mayer said, surpassing the 390 million mobile users it announced in October.

Speaking in a keynote at the annual technology industry gathering in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Mayer announced Yahoo’s acquisition of Aviate, a company which makes a smartphone app that automatically brings up relevant information or other apps to suit a user’s activity.

“Imagine if your phone can deliver the right experience to you at the right time instead of you having to search for it,” Mayer said. “What if your phone suggested music and map apps when you got in your car or fitness apps when you got into the gym?”

The technology, which Mayer said will be rolled out under the Yahoo banner this year, appears similar to Google Now, which the search giant introduced in 2012.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer (right) greets journalist Katie Couric on stage during Mayer's keynote speech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas REUTERS While Yahoo’s revenue growth has yet to pick up under Mayer’s leadership, the 38-year-old CEO has brought pizzazz back to an Internet brand considered by many to be past its prime.

More than an hour before she appeared onstage, a long queue for Mayer snaked through several continuous hallways into a nearby showfloor at the Las Vegas Hilton, where Mayer and other keynote speakers were slated to speak. During her talk, Mayer was joined onstage by celebrity news anchor Katie Couric, a recent Yahoo hire who will provide original video pro-

MTB presents winter blankets to Bangladesh Bank

SBL signs an agreement with ICB Standard Bank Ltd (SBL) signed an agreement with ICB for issuance of Tier-II Subordinated Debt Bond at the bank’s head office. SBL Managing Director Md Nazmus Salehin and ICB Managing Director Md Fayekuzzaman signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

SBL Board of Directors Chairman Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, Vice Chairman Gulzar Ahmed, Directors Kamal Mostafa

Chowdhury, Ashok Kumar Saha, Ferozur Rahman, S A M Hossain, Mohammed Abdul Aziz, Alhaj Mohammad Shamsul Alam, Md Zahidul Haque, Sahazada Syed Nizamuddin Ahmed, DMD and Group Company Secretary A F M Nizamul Islam Chowdhury, Asst Company Secretary Md Touhidul Huq, ICB GM Abdur Rouf, AGM Asit Kumar Chakravorty and senior officials of both the organisations were also present in the signing ceremony. l

Mutual Trust Bank Ltd (MTB) Group Chief Communications Officer Sami Al Hafiz is seen handing over blankets to Bangladesh Bank Governor’s Secretariat General Manager AFM Asaduzzaman, senior officials of both the organisations are also seen in the photo.

Simultaneously, as part of its annual winter clothes distribution programme, MTB is going to distribute 600 pieces of blankets to the people at Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Naogaon and Gaibandha.

In addition, around 2,500 pieces of winter clothes will also be distributed from all MTB branches across the country. l

Oil prices buoyed by falling US crude stocks n AFP, London

Grameenphone (GP) signed an agreement with Meghna Bank (MB) to provide complete communications solutions under its Business Solutions package recently. MB Managing Director Kaiser A Chowdhury and GP CMO Allan Bonke signed the aggrement on behalf of their respective organisations. MB VP and Head of GSD Syed Fazle Imam and GP HoDS Sajjad Alam were also present on the occassion.

FSIBL signs agreement with GHAIL First Security Islami Bank Limited (FSIBL) signed a corporate agreement with Golden Harvest Agro Industries Limited (GHAIL) regarding Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network

Trust Bank Limited (TBL) Deputy Managing Director Abu Zafar Hedaytul Islam and ARS – Bangladesh Executive Director Shamsul Alam signed an agreement on “Renewable Energy Financing in Rural Areas” recently. Among others, TBL EVP and Head of CRM, T I M Syed Mansur Mostofa, Head of SME and Green Banking Rawshan Zadeed and other senior officials of both the organisations were present.

grams on the website.

Yahoo also unveiled new “digital magazines” focused on technology and on food on Tuesday, as well as a mobile app that provides short, summarized versions of the day’s news.

Yahoo also said it was rolling out improvements to its advertising business, to make it easier for marketers to buy ads and to target different portions of Yahoo’s audience.

Shares of Yahoo, which have gained more than 160% since Mayer took over in 2012, were up 19 cents at $41.11 in extended trading on Tuesday. l

(BEFTN) recently. FSIBL Deputy Managing Director Syed Habib Hasnat is seen exchanging corporate agreement with GHAIL Director and Chief Operating Officer Mohius Samad Choudhury. l

Global oil prices rose yesterday after US inventory data showed falling crude supplies, while a severe North American winter provided strong support for energy demand.

New York’s main contract West Texas Intermediate for February delivery added 38 cents to $92.71 a barrel.

Brent North crude gained 64 cents to stand at $107.79 a barrel in early afternoon London deals.

The US government’s Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that crude reserves sank by 2.7 million barrels, much bigger than the 600,000 forecast. However, gasoline or petrol stockpiles rose by 6.2 million barrels, well above the 2.0 million consensus estimate of analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal.

Tan Chee Tat, investment analyst at Phillip Futures, believes that the supply glut in gasoline “will not have too much of an impact towards market sentiments”.

The Singapore-based analyst told AFP: “It is normal during (the) winter season for gasoline demand to fall whereas crude oil demand rises.”

He said: “Heating oil demand is likely to scale higher because of the cold snap in the US and this is likely to lead to higher demand for crude oil.”

US stockpile levels are keenly monitored by investors as they are an indicator of demand in the world’s biggest economy and the biggest oil consuming nation. l

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Friday, January 10, 2014

TELECOM SECTOR

Though boasting, did the government do enough?

'Mobile service has improved vertically, not horizontally' Increase in internet users (in lakh)

Although there were many lapses in the telecom sector, the country witnessed a boom in the number of mobile users in five years since 2009 DHAKA TRIBUNE

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam As the Awami League-led government assumed office five years back, development of telecom sector was one of its first priorities. The ruling party’s Vision 2021 also drew much popular attention, which announced building a “Digital Bangladesh.”

But how much the government actually did during its tenure to develop the country’s ICT and telecom sector should be evaluated.

The launch of third generation mobile broadband, most popularly known as 3G, just came at the end of the government though the auction was sup-

posed to be held in January 2009.

The caretaker government, from which the AL-led grand alliance took office after a landslide victory in 2008, initiated the 3G efforts. But BTRC’s subsequent dilly-dallying for 3G left the country far behind compared to others including neighbouring India.

“We don’t know why there was a delay of five years,” said a top BTRC official.

Yet, the country witnessed a boom in mobile and internet users during these five years, taking the number of active mobile subscribers from 4.46 crore to 11.17 crore. During the period, the internet users also increased from

few lakhs to 4 crore.

But the experts say the service has improved only vertically, not horizontally. While India and Pakistan launched its own satellite in 1980 and 1990, Bangladesh still lacks such a one and counts on foreign satellites.

As per the last caretaker government’s plan, the country was supposed to have its own satellite by 2013. But the AL-led grand alliance government could not even place development project proposal in its five years and failed to find a financier.

After the care taker government applied for orbital slot to International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the

elected AL-led government only appointed a consultation firm and could do nothing else.

Now there is no possibility of own satellite in the next couple of years though the government plans, official sources said, to make it by June 2016.

Launching of own satellite is a part of the government’s ICT Policy 2009, which will cost more than Tk3,000 crore.

“Except for the appointment of consultation firm and changing the name to ‘Bangabandhu Satellite’, the government could do nothing else in five years,” said a high official of BTRC. However, the government made a substantial progress to connect the country to a second submarine cable SEA-ME-WE 5. This is expected to be launched by January 2015, according to officials.

Meanwhile, providing Wi-max licence to Bangladesh Internet Exchange Ltd (BIEL) raised controversies as the operator was given mobile spectrum instead of Wi-max spectrum. BTRC is facing a legal suit in this regard.

The licence was given with 20 megahertz mobile spectrum at Tk246 crore although the market price is nearly Tk3,500 crore.

Recently, in a write-up, Telecom

Minister Rashed Khan Menon claimed that AL-led grand alliance government gave first licence to Wi-max operators.

But the fact is that the last caretaker government held Wi-max auction on September 24, 2008 and gave licence to Banglalion and Qubee.

The government awarded gateway licences to 85 operators, while most of licencees were politically linked with the ruling party.

Seven of them recently closed their

Asian currencies seen withstanding Fed taper, rising slightly in 2014 n Reuters

Facebook to buy Android app monitoring tool maker n Reuters

Facebook Inc is buying India-based Little Eye Labs, a startup that builds performance analysis and monitoring tools for mobile Android apps, to help boost its technology as it focuses on growing revenue from its mobile business.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but media reports suggest the price was less than $15m. A Facebook spokesman said the company would not comment on the terms of the deal.

Emerging Asian currencies will likely stabilise against the dollar this year on the back of improved economic activity and despite the US Federal Reserve reducing its stimulus, a Reuters poll showed.

Still, any gains will likely be muted compared with the steep falls these currencies had last year.

The poll of more than 50 foreign exchange analysts conducted this week showed the Indonesian rupiah is expected to gain the most, about 3%, followed by a 2% rise in the Taiwan dollar.

The Chinese yuan, which rose 2.9% last year, will likely gain another 1.7% in 2014 on expectations the country’s

central bank will widen the trading band.

“Asian markets weathered the Fed tapering announcement well at the end of 2013,” said Tiina Helenius, economist at Handelsbanken.

While emerging market currencies will stay soft for some time, she expects stronger economic growth and reduced fear about the Fed’s stimulus-tapering to limit the downside.

However, the poll showed Asian currencies will perform better in the second half of the year, coinciding with expectations of a pick-up in the region’s economic activity.

The Fed announced in December it would reduce its monthly stimulus by $10bn in January. Markets expect it to

gradually reduce cut its asset-buying by a similar amount at each meeting shutting the programme by the end of this year.

While that is expected to support the dollar, analysts said central banks and governments in emerging markets are better prepared to handle any outflow of money this time around.

In 2013, most emerging markets from Brazil to Turkey to India and Indonesia were caught off-guard as investors dumped assets there after the Fed signalled in May it would begin cutting bank on its $85bn a month bond purchases.

Leading 2013 losers

The Indonesian rupiah last year led the

'The Little Eye Labs technology will help us to continue improving our Android codebase to make more efficient, higherperforming apps' “The Little Eye Labs technology will help us to continue improving our Android codebase to make more efficient, higher-performing apps,” Subbu Subramanian, Facebook’s engineering manager said.

The deal, the social networking giant’s first in India, could likely boost interest in the country’s startups.

Bangalore-based Little Eye Labs’ team will move to Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, the company said in a statement on its website.

“We released our official version of Little Eye for Android in early April of this year, and since then we have had many Android developers and testers using Little Eye Labs to measure, analyze, and optimize their app’s performance,” the company said.

The one-year old company is backed

by GSF and VenturEast Tenet Fund. l

An employee counts Chinese yuan notes inside a bank in Taipei

REUTERS

losses with a fall of 21% against the US dollar while the Indian rupee weakened slightly more than 11%. Both countries were hurt by concerns they are highly dependent on foreign money to fund their high current account deficits.

Indonesia and India will have elections in the first half of this year and analysts said the outcomes will likely affect their currencies.

The developed world still matters for the region’s external demand, hence the firming trend in the imports of G3 countries is a clear positive sign for Asian exports this year

When the rupee fell at 68.85 to the dollar in August, it had “probably reached the nadir in real effective exchange rate terms,” wrote analysts at BTMU in a note to clients last week on the FX outlook for 2014.

The poll showed the rupee will likely trade at 62.40 in one month, 63.00 in six months and 62.00 by December, roughly near Thursday’s spot rate, on account of an improvement in the government’s finances.

The South Korean won is expected to gain in the next three months but will likely lose 0.6% by the end of the year, as a weaker Japanese yen hampers prospects for Korean exports.

The Thai baht, after losing about 7% in 2013, is seen gaining some 0.8% in 2014.

While weak currencies exacerbated import costs for regional countries during a time of tepid domestic demand, analysts now expect these to help boost exports in 2014 on the back of a stronger recovery in the US. “The export-driven Asian economies are showing some response to firming global activity and stabilising Chinese growth,” said Helenius of Handelsbanken.

“The developed world still matters for the region’s external demand, hence the firming trend in the imports of G3 countries is a clear positive sign for Asian exports this year,” she said. l

operation without paying Tk600 crore to the telecom regulator BTRC which now goes to file legal suits.

“Many opportunities have been lost to build a digital Bangladesh,” said Abu Saeed Khan, a senior policy fellow of the Colombo-based regulatory think tank LIRNEasia and a former secretary of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (Amtob).

“Mobile service has improved vertically, not horizontally.”

He criticised the government that it changed the land’s telecom law in the name of amendment and made BTRC almost powerless.

“The government captured many regulatory powers and made the commission a weak body.”

However, the government reduced internet bandwidth prices, though still much higher than many western countries. Abu Saeed said the government in its tenure cancelled five private land phones licence and could not control illegal international call terminations. It also awarded 885 VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) licences even though there was a shortage of space for that business. l

NEWS IN BRIEF China inflation hits 7-month low, eases tightening fears China’s annual consumer inflation slowed more sharply than expected to a seven-month low of 2.5% in December, easing market fears of monetary policy tightening although the central bank is tapping the brakes on bank liquidity.

– Reuters

China 2013 vehicle sales up 13.9% Vehicle sales in China rose 13.9% last year from a year earlier, beating expectations and capped off by a 17.9% surge in December, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said yesterday.

– Reuters

Apple, Samsung CEOs agree to mediation in US patent fight Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics have agreed to attend a mediation session to be held on or before February 19, as they prepare to clash in court in March over smartphone patents. Apple and Samsung are embroiled in a legal battle over smartphone patents across several countries that mirrors their global battle for supremacy in the mobile device market.

- Reuters

Microsoft succession speculation focuses on internal candidates Speculation over Microsoft Corp’s succession plans refocused on internal choices on Wednesday, a day after the leading outside candidate, Ford Motor Co CEO Alan Mulally, took himself off the list of potential CEOs at the world’s largest software maker. – Reuters

India to seek foreign investment in giant, creaking rail network India will soon invite foreign businesses to help expand its once-mighty but now outdated railways, government sources said, in a move that would mark the opening up of one of the country’s last great state-controlled industries. Foreign investors will be allowed to fully own new services in suburban areas, high speed tracks, and connections to ports, mines and power installations, said two senior officials involved in the deliberations. – Reuters