11 Jan 2014

Poush 28, 1420 Rabiul Awal 9, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 1 No 288

SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

6 | MOZUMDER: KING OF DHAKA

7 | SOVALDI, A HOPE FOR HEPATITIS C

16 pages | Price: Tk10

9 | INDIA, US TO END FEUD

14 | REAL EASE PAST OSASUNA

Two Hindu women raped in Jessore Cases filed as masked men swooped on the community in a Monirampur village late Tuesday

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People of all ages in Hrishipara unite, demanding life of dignity, in front of the media on Thursday, two days after two housewives were violated

Jamaat toned up by AL in Satkhira Hossain, back from n Emran Satkhira

Conflicts within the ruling Awami League coupled with links between its lawmakers and the Jamaat-eIslami has made it easy for the latter to re-establish political supremacy in Satkhira and unleash a reign of terror persistent for months.

Now fear is all-pervasive among the Awami League grassroots, sending many of leaders and activists out of home – even the country – although the ruling party lawmakers hold all the four constituencies in the district.

Jamaat candidates had won in every

election since 1986 until 2008 when it lost in all Satkhira seats.

In the past 10 months, as many as 16 Awami League activists were killed in Jamaat attacks apparently for supporting the war crimes trials without being able to put up the least resistance.

Hindus had to leave the district’s Jamaat-dominated areas in thousands, seeking refuge at relatives’ houses in India.

The casualties could have been reduced, if not completely prevented, had the lawmakers played their role, say Satkhira politicians. Most families affected in Jamaat attacks complained that the MPs took months to visit them.

The lawmakers, who mostly stay in Dhaka, get updates from the district-level leaders while staying at the Circuit House or in their houses in the town. It is apparent from their comments made to this reporter – despite their claim to have visited their constituencies frequently, with one of them even giving a specific number of his visits.

“I visited the town 166 times and you can find it in the guest book at the Circuit House. I kept the record for this day,” said Shaikh Muzibur Rahman, former MP from Satkhira 1.

Former health minister AFM Ruhal Haque, who has been elected for a  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A by-product of AL’s unethical politics n

It may sound unbelievable but it is true that Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir established their political muscle in Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj with support from Awami League leaders and lawmakers.

A Dhaka Tribune investigation found Jamaat-Shibir had been able to establish their supremacy in Shibganj as a section of Awami League leaders, particularly district unit kingpins and its lawmakers had maintained a closed liaison with them.

District unit Awami League President retired Brigadier Enamul Haque, Vice-President Abdul Wadud, Secretary Mynuddin Mandal, Chapainawabganj 2 lawmaker Abdul Wadud and Chapainawabganj-3 lawmaker Golam Rabbani are alleged to be involved in pampering Jamaat-Shibir.

During the Awami League tenure over the last five years Awami League President Enamul Haque certified

INSIDE News

5 Dense fogs continued to disrupt road and water transportation yesterday.

International

Party supporters gather at Suhrawardy Udyan to join Awami League’s first post-election rally yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

PM: Khaleda must pay for mistakes n Emran Hossain Shaikh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said BNP Chairperson and former premier Khaleda Zia would have to pay the price for boycotting the 10th parliamentary election.

“You made a mistake by not contesting the poll. So, why will the people pay the price? Rather you will have to...” Hasina, also the Awami League

president, said while addressing a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.

The AL organised the programme marking the homecoming day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on January 10, 1972.

“Khaleda Zia has unleashed her party’s criminals and militants of the Jamaat-Shibir on the minorities and innocent people of the country as  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

JAMAAT SUPREMACY IN SHIBGANJ

Mohammad Jamil Khan, back from Shibganj

8 Nearly 500 people, among them 85 civilians, have been killed in a week of fighting pitting Syrian rebels against the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a monitoring group said yesterday.

Op-Ed

11 The 10th parliamentary election was held amidst a lot of confusion, obstructions, and violence. During the period preceding the election, many substantive issues were discussed widely in the media.

Reza Chowdhury and n Kamran Manik Miazee The Jatiya Party that first put into practice the culture of placing a “subservient opposition” in parliament more than 25 years ago is itself now going to play the role of an opposition of similar nature.

Before that the Jatiya Party, in the first instance, held a one-sided poll in the country.

Now apprehending a public image of a “domestic’ opposition” former military dictator HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party wants to be both in the opposition and the treasury benches for power sharing.

In absence of the BNP and its allies, the Jatiya Party has emerged as the largest party with 33 seats after the Awami League that has won 232 seats.

According to the parliamentary rules, the Jatiya Party is supposed to be in the opposition bench.

Soon after taking oath on January 9, the parliamentary group of the Jatiya Party picked Ershad’s wife, Raushan Ershad, as the leader of the opposition in the 10th Jatiya Sangsad. At the same time, the party MPs concluded that they would be in the cabinet too.

HM Ershad, elected from the Rangpur-3 seat despite his previous poll boycott decision, is now in the combined military hospital for his “purported sickness”, has snubbed the post of the opposition leader as he was the president of the republic, party leaders say.

“We instituted a domestic opposition in 1988. Even if we now try to play the role of a real opposition, we will be branded as domestic opposition of the Awami League,” Mujibul Haque, a presidium member and state minister for youth and sports, told the Dhaka Tribune.

n Tribune Report Two rape victims from Jamaat-dominated Hazrail area in Jessore’s Monirampur filed cases with local police yesterday, two days after they had been tortured in front of family members by some masked men, allegedly activists of Jamaat-Shibir, at their Hrishipara houses.

Jessore ASP Reshma Sharmin told the Dhaka Tribune that they had received two complaints lodged by the victims themselves, who are also relatives, against unnamed people.

The incident remained beyond anyone’s knowledge until the victims filed the cases with Monirampur police station yesterday, reports our correspondent in Jessore. It took place at a time when attacks on Hindus and Awami League supporters in the area continued since the 10th parliamentary election on January 5.

On the election day, an entire Hindu locality of Malopara village in Obhoynagar upazila of the same district was driven away from their homes by the activists of Jamaat-Shibir.

Panicked as well as enraged, locals are now guarding the village at night together to resist any further attack.

Police suspect that the Jamaat-Shibir men had been behind the rapes.

Hazrail is known as one of the strongholds of opposition ally Jamaat-e-Islami in the district. During an election campaign last month, the activists of Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir torched the private car of former MP from the area

History repeats for Jatiya Party

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AL leaders oppose JaPa’s cabinet dream n Emran Hossain Shaikh

Besides, Enamul’s Private Secretary Mahbubur Rahman Babu who completed his education from Rasulpur Madrassa is also involved in Jamaat politics.

On request of anonymity, an Awami League leader said the district unit leaders rehabilitated Jamaat-Shibir men in Shibganj thus giving them a platform to establish supremacy in the area.

The Dhaka Tribune tried to contact Enamul but his cell phone was switched off.

Several Awami League leaders have reacted strongly to the proposition that the HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party (JaPa) be a part of government by joining the cabinet.

Awami League sources said most of the party’s policymakers are discouraging party President Sheikh Hasina from including JaPa in the cabinet.

According to the sources, they have told Hasina it would be controversial and many people including BNP and Jamaat would get a weapon to criticise the government.

They also told her that such a form of government would be rare in the democracy and it might lead to bad practices.

On Thursday a delegation of JaPa, led

by Rawshan Ershad, met Sheikh Hasina and according to sources discussed the formation of a government under mutual agreement. Sources said JaPa had requested Hasina to include seven MPs of their party in the government.

A senior Awami League Leader who attended the meeting tried to dissuade Hasina from including JaPa in the

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Chhatra Shibir men in Shibganj as Chhatra League activists. Islami Chhatra Shibir President Faruk of Rajshahi University was certified as Chhatra League activist.

His Brother-in-Law Fazlur Rahman who is mainly a Jamaat leader dealt in legal affairs in the upazila.

19 killed in nine months; nobody dares file cases in fear of reprisal

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Saturday, January 11, 2014

RAB 'locks up' Narayanganj BNP office Correspondent, n Our Narayanganj District BNP leaders alleged that members of RAB 11 Narayanganj camp had locked up the district BNP office yesterday morning.

They alleged that RAB members came into the office and locked it down while a maulana and some madrasa students were reciting the Qur’an for those who were killed during the 18-party Alliance’s hartals and blockades.

Kamal alleged that RAB members locked up the office and walked the maulana and the students out. The peon was warned not to reopen the office Lt Col Tareq Sayeed Mohammad, the commanding officer of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB 11), rejected the allegation outright and told the Dhaka Tribune: “RAB personnel neither conducted any operation in Narayanganj yesterday nor shut down any of the offices of BNP.” He further said if anybody had raised such an allegation, they were not right.

City BNP General Secretary ATM

Kamal opened the BNP office on Thursday morning after two months, returning with some other BNP leaders after imprisonment.

Kamal said a RAB vehicle came in front of the office yesterday morning.

Later two more vehicles also came there and RAB members from the vehicles entered the office, he alleged.

“Seeing the RAB members coming towards the office, city BNP Joint General Secretary Nurul Haq Chowdhury Dipu and Office Secretary Akter Hossain Khokon Shah fled by scaling the boundary wall at the back,” he said.

A RAB member who was present in one of the vehicles said they did not enter the BNP office though they were in front of the office.

Kamal alleged that RAB members locked up the office and walked the maulana and the students out. The peon was warned not to reopen the office.

“Whoever opens the office will be arrested, they said,” Kamal said.

Condemning the government, Naraynaganj district unit BNP President Advocate Taimur Alam Khandaker said, “BY locking up the BNP office, the government has locked up democracy. The government has also proved that it is anti-religious by stopping the recitation of the Qur’an.” l

AL leaders oppose  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

government. Another leader told the prime minister not to sacrifice more than two ministries for them, sources said.

AL Presidium member and newly-elected MP Mohammad Nasim told the Dhaka Tribune that the premier would like to form a government based on mutual agreement with the participation of all parties represented in parliament. “This is why, JaPa may have a token participation in the government.

“Their representation might be in one or two posts, but how is it possible if they demand more than five?” he said suggesting that the JaPa should not join the government. It should play the role of a “real opposition” which would help increase its popularity.

“And they will also get the anti-Awami League votes that were supposed to go to BNP who rejected them for being allies with Jamaat,” he explained.

Party Adviser Suranjit Sengupta said at an event yesterday: “The opposition desires to be a part of the cabinet as well.

It means they want all the benefits for themselves. We hope it will not be something absurd in the name of a consensus government,” he said.

AL leader Amir Hossain Amu said there was no scope for any party to be a part of the government and the opposition at the same time. l

Vehicles, mostly goods-laden trucks, stuck in a 15km-long jam from Paturia towards Dhaka after they started operating yesterday when there was no blockade of the opposition. The photo was taken at Rajbari DHAKA TRIBUNE

History repeats for Jatiya Party  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

“So, we want to be in the cabinet and in the opposition bench. It is better to share power with the government when the blame of domestic opposition is a must,” he said, justifying the Jatiya Party’s decision to be in the cabinet.

Raushan Ershad Thursday night saw the prime minister Sheikh Hasina and conveyed her party’s desire to join the cabinet besides holding the post of opposition leader.

Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on Thursday just smiled in reply to the Dhaka Tribune question whether it was possible for a party to be in the opposition having representation in the cabinet.

In the face of boycott by the Awami League and the BNP, HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party formed the fourth parliament

in 1988. A faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rob) joined the polls and its leader ASM Abdur Rob became the opposition leader.

The political parties then called Rob a “domestic” opposition leader.

Kazi Feroz Rashid, another presidium member, told reporters that the Jatiya Party did not want to only fight with the government.

“This is possible to be in the cabinet and the opposition simultaneously,” he said.

Academicians and experts vehemently oppose the Jatiya Party’s “opportunistic” attitude.

“There is no instance of such eccentric nature that a party can be in the cabinet and the opposition simultaneously. They consider people to be foolish,” Prof Nizam Uddin Ahmed, a

ter Sheikh Hasina and handed over the names of the seven JaPa MPs for induction in the cabinet.

They are: Anisul Islam Mahmud, Ziauddin Ahmed, Kazi Firoz Rashid, Mujibul Haque (Chunnu), Salma Islam, Moshur Rahman Ranga and ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader.

Moshiur Rahman Ranga, who accompanied Raushan Ershad for meeting with Sheikh Hasina, told the Dhaka Tribune that the seven lawmakers are likely to become ministers in the “government of consensus”.

Fakhrul Imam MP, also a presidium member, told the Dhaka Tribune: “If the government is thinking of forming a government of consensus, at best one can be minister from our party.

But if we have seven ministers, we will actually lose our status as the

opposition party”.

Out of the total 33 MPs, three JaPa MPs talked to the Dhaka Tribune and opposed the idea of joining the cabinet besides playing the role of opposition in parliament.

At the Thursday’s parliamentary party meeting, a JaPa MP said joining the cabinet would demonstrate our party as a “domestic opposition”. So, the JaPa should not join the cabinet.

But the other members opposed him. He finally agreed with the other members who were in favour of joining the cabinet.

The Dhaka Tribune asked four JaPa members – Ruhul Amin Howlader, Kazi Firoz Rashid, Salma Islam and Moshiur Rahman Ranga – whether they got any call from the cabinet division for induction in the cabinet. l

looking after the party issues in that area.

“Our district unit president is tasked to do the job in Shibganj and moreover it is the area of Golam Rabbani who is an MP-elect,” he said.

Contacted, Chapainawabganj-3 lawmaker said the party activities were somewhat laid-back there because of poor organisational structure.

“We are working hard and hope that we would be able to rein in the situation very shortly,” he added.

District unit Awami League Secretary Mynuddin Mandal also dodged the question that their leaders were pampering Jamaat-Shibir.

He said: “I have heard something like that, but I do not know the details about it.”

As many as 19 political killings have

been recorded in Shibganj over the past nine months. It is irony of fate that five of them were Awami League men who were killed in Jamaat-Shibir attacks, police said.

All the cases and complaints were recorded by the police as the victims’ families dared not file any complaints against the attackers.

Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Shibganj police station, said: “We wait for the victims’ families to approach us and file cases, but they do not respond.”

Most Awami League leaders in Shibganj and its surrounding areas spend nights away from home in fear of Jamaat-Shibir attack.

This correspondent met Awami League activist Mostafizur Rahman in

front of the district super market who said he went home once a week fearing attack.

Recently, the Jamaat men attacked Mohammad Selim, 28, in Ranihata area on his way home, he said.

In the latest killing a group of Jamaat-Shibir activists allegedly set fire to the shop of upazila Awami League Adviser Enamul Haque who was burned to death inside his shop.

When asked why no case was filed and no action taken Awami League district unit Health Secretary Shahjalal Shahin attributed the failure to the organisational flaw while its Join Secretary Faruk Masum laid blame on their leaders.

Faruk said the district unit leaders were unconcerned about the problems of leaders and activists in the upazila. l

ing the party’s pitiable” condition. He blamed the party’s district-level leaders for non-cooperation as they did not even respond to his calls to meet him to find a solution. “I have tried to reform Satkhira politics in the past three years, but failed,” Ruhal said.

Regarding party leaders having familial relations with Jamaat, Ruhal’s opinion is: “Jamaat men can be relatives, but the relation should not overshadow political ideology.”

At the same time, he mentioned that there were numerous occasions in the past when influential district AL leaders pressured police for releasing arrested Jamaat leaders. But the story takes an interesting turn if the volley of allegations made by local leaders against Ruhul is taken into consideration.

AL’s Kaliganj upazila unit President Sheikh Waheduzzaman alleged that 80% appointment made in the district during the last five years were Jamaat-Shibir activists.

Kaliganj falls in Ruhal’s own constituency and Waheduzaman alleged that the appointments had been made in exchange of money.

Newspaper reports quoting the minister’s declaration disclosed to the Election Commission ahead of the polls reveal that his wife’s property grew at a stunning rate of 782% when her husband was a minister. His son turned into a businessman from a service holder.

Ruhal claimed that there must be a typo in registering his wife’s wealth information. On the appointments, he said there were only three to four

Jamaat-Shibir activists who had been recommended by the AL leaders.

Local leaders alleged that said Ruhal had prioritised the Jamaat and the BNP men because of his APS Moshayet Ali Khokon, who was general secretary of Kaliganj College unit Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the BNP’s student wing. The former health minister dismissed the allegation.

“The [former] minister always overlooked our recommendations and demands. He rather worked for the Jamaat for money,” claimed district AL unit Organising Secretary Sarder Firoz Ahmed.

Rivalry between Ruhal and Muzibur over supremacy in the party’s leadership is a common topic of discussion in the district. People said they rarely saw these two political figures on the same stage in the last five years.

Party insiders allege that the two leaders lacked moral strength to stand by the side of the people affected by the recent attacks perpetrated by the Jamaat-Shibir.

Muzibur visited Deyara union unit Swechchhasebak League President Rabiul Islam’s family first time on December 26, a month after the leader was hacked to death in broad daylight.

And then, he, guarded by 10-12 youths looked like his body guard, stayed there less than 10 minutes and hurriedly left the area apparently in fear since the village is known as a Jamaat den.

Muzibur said it was not “politically” safe for him to visit the victims for a number of reasons, including his safety concern centring intra-party feud.

“The election has created division among the party men. And I had a concern for my safety too.”

Ruhal said the blockades put by Jamaat supporters had prevented him from visiting the victims’ families. He wondered how he could visit the places when even the law enforcers could not take him.

On the other hand, Jamaat leaders, even the ones wanted by police, attended janaza of their activists killed in the firing of law enforcers. They arranged the funerals and reportedly gave every family of a deceased Tk5 lakh.

Satkhira did not see violence only in 2013. Former Jatiya Party lawmaker HM Golam Reza’s Satkhira 4 constituency saw one of the most significant Hindu repressions in 2012, allegedly fuelled further by the lawmaker.

Another former JaPa lawmaker MA Jabbar from Satkhira 2 seat is said to have spent most of the government aid – distributed under Test Relief and Kabikha (food for work) programmes – to Agardari Aminia Kamil Madrasa.

“The present crisis in the area is not all about Jamaat. The Awami League is also equally responsible for all of these,” aggrieved, said a district AL leader preferring anonymity.

“Jamaat found a golden opportunity to do what it has done in absence of a competent leadership in Satkhira.

And the grand alliance leaders were never seen talking anything about secular politics,” said Abul Kalam Azad, acting editor of local newspaper the daily Patradut. l

Chittagong University teacher who has several books on parliamentary politics in Bangladesh to his credit, told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the parliamentary lexicon, he said, a party having single cabinet member cannot be in the opposition.

“The Jatiya Party basically shows an unprecedented sign of opportunistic politics for their gains,” he said.

However, a section of the Jatiya Party MPs, who have no possibility of being selected in the cabinet the Awami League is set to form on Sunday, opposed the party decision to select seven leaders for induction in government.

Raushan Ershad, who was unanimously selected as the opposition leader at the parliamentary party meeting on Thursday, saw the prime minis-

A by-product of AL's unethical politics  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

Contacted, Enamul’s Private Secretary Mahbubur Rahman Babu refused to make any comment and at one stage disconnected his cell phone call.

District unit Vice-President Abdul Wadud is an incumbent lawmaker from Chapainawabganj-2.

It was alleged that the lawmaker picked Jamaat district Amir Latifur Rahman and nominated him as an academic committee president of the City College and executive committee president of Fulkuri Islamic Foundation in the district town.

Asked about Awami League organisational activities, Abdul Wadud, who was earlier a BNP leader, told the Dhaka Tribune that the responsibility of the entire party activities did not rest with him.

The lawmaker’s nephew Harun-orRashid is an organising secretary of Rajshahi unit BNP. Wadud blamed district unit President brigadier Enamul Haque and its Secretary Mynuddin Mandal for the weakness of the party.

Asked about their forging links with Jamaat-Shibir, he said the country was going through a political stalemate and it required cooperation of all to continue political activities.

He, however, refused to have established any link with Jamaat-e-Islami and claimed he always tried to work for the party welfare.

Why not any protest even after Jamaat-Shibir attack on AL leaders, he said it was Shibganj where the incident took place and he was not entrusted with

Jamaat toned up by AL in Satkhira  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

second time from Satkhira 3 uncontested in the 10th parliamentary election, claimed that he had visited the constituency at least twice a month.

“People can build resistance against any atrocities, but they cannot do it when the leadership fails,” said Mustofa Lutfullah, who has been elected MP from Satkhira 3 in the January 5 poll from the Workers’ Party.

He believes Satkhira situation will remain the same until a strong political intervention is made against Jamaat.

“Our leadership has failed us. I do not see any hope at the end of the tunnel and I believe this is high time I quit,” said an AL union-level leader.

He does not even dare talk on record and requested that his identity be concealed by all means.

Rivalry between Ruhal and Muzibur, president of the district unit, is evident from the statement they made to this reporter.

Ruhal categorically blamed the party’s district leadership for its current deplorable condition.

Better known as Engineer Muzibur Rahman, the district unit chief, however, accused the administration of patronising Jamaat violence, when it is believed that the former minister had a hand behind designing the administration.

Muzibur is also facing allegations of corruption and misappropriation. He allegedly took over three years to build the Satkhira-Khulna road, raising its cost from Tk7 crore to Tk16 crore. Con-

tractors alleged that Muzibur even prevented them from dropping tenders to ensure that he gets the contract himself.

On the other hand, masterminds behind the atrocious 10 months since Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee was sentenced to death on February 28 for war crimes have remained out of the law enforcers’ dragnet.

Habibur Rahman, Jamaat’s Satkhira upazila Nayeb-e-Ameer, who led the February 28 attack on Satkhira Circuit House that resulted in the deaths of seven Jamaat-Shibir activists, is the brother of Satkhira Awami League General Secretary Nazrul Islam and is still at large.

Abdul Khaleque, the husband of Nazrul’s cousin, is Jamaat’s district nayeb-e-ameer and the principal of Agardari Aminia Kamil Madrasa, which is widely said as a Jamaat-Shibir “cantonment” for giving shelter to cadres.

Khaleque is still out of the law enforcers’ reach.

Jamaat was so successful in winning public faith through constant political campaigns that it had been able to manipulate general people to believe that Sayedee and Abdul Quader Molla were innocent and victims of the “Awami League’s politics against Islam.”

Thousands of villagers joined Jamaat demonstrations, proving their impression of the government.

The Awami League leadership has failed to counter Jamaat’s propaganda politically and save general people from abuse in the name of Islam.

Even Ruhal is not hopeful of “end-

Two Hindu women  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

Khan Tipu Sultan’s son. They even prevented Tipu Sultan from putting up posters in the area ahead of the election.

Election officials had to postpone voting in 60 polling centres in Monirampur upazila alone as the Jamaat-Shibir activists wreaked havoc in the area to foil the poll. The number is highest in a single upazila where polling was postponed across the country.

Family members of the rape victims said 10-12 masked men equipped with firearms had gone to one of the houses at Rishipara around 10pm on Tuesday and asked for drinking water. Seeing firearms with them, the dwellers thought they might be law enforcers.

Then the criminals entered the house, tied the family members and raped a woman at gunpoint until midnight.

The family members said the rapists then went to an adjacent house – both situated at a corner of the Hrishipara village – and raped another woman until 3am on Wednesday, holding the family members hostages at gunpoint.

The victims were taken to Jessore General Hospital yesterday morning for medical tests, said police.

UNB quotes Officer-in-Charge of Monirampur police station Mir Rezaul Hossain: “Those who are on the run following the ongoing drives of the joint forces are behind the incident.” l

PM: Khaleda must  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

they cast votes in favour of the Awami League ignoring their call to boycott the poll,” Hasina said.

Threatening the opposition BNP-Jamaat for “criminal activities,” the premier said: “You wanted to resist the poll, but failed. Now stop killing innocent people in the name of hartal and blockade. Otherwise...the Awami League knows how to prevent it.”

She said the BNP chief and some war criminals and terrorists would not be able to stop the progress of Bangladesh.

“So, I request you to stop violent activities and come to a negotiation table... Let us resolve the crisis through talks,” the premier said.

She also asked the people to assist the government in preventing the criminal activities of BNP-Jamaat.

The AL chief again thanked the people for not responding to the call of the BNP chairperson who had urged them to foil the 10th parliamentary poll. She thanked the 40% voters for casting their rights in favour of the AL braving all sorts of obstacles.

The premier said a vested quarter had been hatching conspiracy to foil the poll to take benefit from an unconstitutional government. “But the people cast votes to establish democracy in the country,” she said adding that the countrymen would not want to see any “terrorist” party in power anymore.

Informing the people about her meeting with the president on Thursday, the premier said: “I met with the President as leader of majority party. We will form the next government and take oath on January 12 [tomorrow].”

AL leaders including Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Matia Chowdhury and Syed Ashraful Islam also addressed the rally with Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury in the chair.

There was a huge crowd during the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan where Bangabandhu had given his historic speech on March 7, 1971. Controversial lawmaker Shamim Osman and former state ministers Quamrul Islam and Jahangir Kabir Nanak joined the programme along with a large number of activists. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Saturday, January 11, 2014

BNP: AL men attack minority and blame opposition for it n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla The BNP yesterday alleged Awami League activists of attacking the minorities and trying to put the blame on the opposition party, and added that it was a “usual part of Awami League’s falsehood.”

“People of Bangladesh are very much conscious. Also, people from the Hindu community blamed the Awami League for attacking the Hindus and demanded punishment of the culprits after identifying them,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP acting secretary general, alleged in a press release.

Fakhrul, on behalf of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, also called upon the party leaders and activists of all tiers to stand beside the Hindu community and to extend support as per their capacity.

Condemning the attacks, the spokesperson of the party demanded exemplary punishment for the “real” criminals.

Minority communities came under attack in different places across the country following the January 5 election, forcing many to flee their houses and seek shelter elsewhere.

In most of the incidents, Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir were blamed for attacking the Hindus with the help of local BNP men.

Fakhrul alleged that the incumbent “illegal government” has pushed the country into extreme chaos and uncertainty as it was implementing a plan to eradicate the opposition from the country using law enforcers.

Fakhrul claimed that the government’s conspiracy, propaganda and ill-strategy would not be able to stop the ongoing movement.

“If Awami League does not stop misusing power and repressing the opposition leaders and activists, it has to face the same consequences faced by previous autocratic governments,” he said. l

1,200 guests to attend new cabinet’s swearing-in n Rabiul Islam The cabinet division started inviting guests for attending the oath talking ceremony of new cabinet of 10th parliament at Bangabhaban on Sunday.

Officials at the cabinet division at Bangladesh Secretariat said around 1,200 guests including the newly elected law makers would be invited.

The newly elected law makers took oaths on Thursday.

Despite weekly holiday (Friday), the cabinet division remained open and was busy sending invitations to the designated persons that include president, prime minister, speaker, chief justice, former presidents, prime ministers, speakers, and chief justices, leaders of different political parties, cultural personalities and diplomats.

“We have yet to decide whether to invite the BNP high-ups, and the decision in this regard will be finalised on Saturday,” a senior official of the cabinet

division told the Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity.

“We are getting the list of guests and sending them invitation accordingly,” the official added.

About inviting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune, “I will not disclose the decision as it is a confidential matter. The list of guests is approved by the prime minister.”

With reference to the Indian bureaucracy, he said the invitation of guests is not also disclosed there. “I can only tell you the oath taking ceremony will be held at 3:30pm on Sunday,” he added.

Talking to this correspondent, an official at the cabinet division said there was no question of inviting Jamaat.

The Jamaat-e-Islami, an ally of the BNP-led alliance, faces the fury of government which is bringing the war criminals to justice while the islamist organisation is opposing the government move. l

Activists of Ganajagaran Mancha bring out a procession at Shahbagh yesterday before starting for the road march to Malopara of Jessore. The Mancha called out for the march to protest communal violence by the oppositions DHAKA TRIBUNE

Attacks on minorities trigger protest, immediate trial of perpetrators demanded n Tribune Report Various human rights, cultural and civil society organisations yesterday raised their voices against the attacks on minority people across the country and demanded an immediate trial of the perpetrators.

Ganajagaran Mancha observed a rally yesterday protesting the attacks on minorities and urged people to resist such attacks.

“For the last 43 years, it had only been limited to protest programmes, but it is high time we actually took steps to resist such heinous acts, not just being content with mere protests,” Imran H Sarker, spokesperson of Ganajagaran Mancha, said while reacting to the attacks on minorities.

Imran was addressing a rally in front of the main gate of Jahangirnagar University as part of their two-day “Road March” to Jessore.

Human Right’s Forum Bangladesh also condemned the attacks on the Hindus in a statement yesterday.

Meanwhile, civil society platform Nagarik Sanghati yesterday urged the government to constitute a tribunal for bringing perpetrators involved in communal attack on minorities to justice.

The victims of such attacks always seek justice, but a vested quarter is carrying out attacks on minorities because of impunity, and the situation is worsening gradually, the speakers said, addressing the rally in front of the National Museum in the capital.

They also urged the government to bring the attackers under trial immediately apart from providing compensation to the victims living a miserable life after the attacks.

Meanwhile, 10 civil society organisations observed a human chain and silent procession in Habiganj city, protesting the violence against minority

14-month-old baby rescued after 7 days of abduction n Kailash Sarkar A 14-month-old baby girl was rescued from a house in capital’s Mirpur area after seven days of abduction.

Rapid Action Battalion-2 arrested the alleged abductor Nasir Uddin alias Nesar, 32, from his village Atakora under Chouddagram in Comilla on Thursday night.

Following his statement, the child named Anika, was rescued from the house yesterday afternoon.

Nesar had been demanding Tk1.5lakh as ransom from the child’s parents Rumana Akhter, an employee at a restaurant in Adabar, and

rickshaw-puller Abul Hossain, said Lt Col SM Azad, commanding officer of Rab 2 while addressing a press briefing at Rab-2 office in capital’s Agargaon yesterday.

Being informed by the parents, we started searching.

With technological support, we were able to detect the location of the abductor and detained him from his village “Nesar was one of my co-workers at the restaurant. He took my child from

my lap on January 3 in the evening and went out for a walk outside the restaurant. He did not get back until it was 11:30pm and then he made a phone call demanding Tk1.5lakh as ransom,” said Rumana.

“Nesar threatened that if we did not pay the money, we would see dead body of our child lying in front of our house,” added Rumana.

A day after the incident, Abul Hossain filed a general diary with Adabar police station and informed the matter to Rab-2 personnel.

“Being informed by the parents, we started searching. With technological support, we were able to detect the

location of the abductor and detained him from his village. He confessed that he had left the child at a house in the capital’s Dakkhin Peererbagh area in Mirpur. The Rab men returned Dhaka with him and rescued the child around 3:00pm,” said the commanding officer.

He said Nesar had left the child to one of his friends who fled away from the house sensing danger.

“The friend of the abductor left the house leaving the infant inside it on January 6. Hearing crying of the baby the locals rescued it and since then they had been taking care of it,” said the Rab official. l

people. They called upon the government for immediate arrest of perpetrators and take measures to secure every people of the country.

Civil society leaders of Khagrachari organised a discussion that criticised the role of law enforcement agencies during the attack and urged the government to enact a tougher law to ensure rights of minority community in the country.

They also demanded proper compensation and rehabilitation for the victims, apart from taking steps to secure their life and properties.

Communist Party Bangladesh observed a human chain and demonstration at Narayanganj.

It said BNP and Awami League were blaming one another for the attack on minorities. Such blame game helped the perpetrators to hide out, added the party.

The speakers of the party laid blame

on Police, RAB and local Awami League leaders, saying these people were at the places where such attacks took place, but they did not take any action against the attackers.

Human chain and rally were observed at Feni, Kurigram Madaripur, Gopalganj, and Sirajganj districts protesting the attacks.

Meanwhile, a team of police arrested Akkas Ali, a local leader of Jamaat-e-Islami from Kochubunia village in Morelganj upazila, suspecting his involvement in arson attack on two temples on Wednesday night.

Earlier, law enforcers arrested three BNP activists – Mintu, Isahaq and Halim on the same charges.

Just after the 10th parliamentary poll, attacks on the minority people have taken place in the villages of Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Bogra, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Jessore districts. l

50 metres of Jamuna embankment collapsed n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj About 50 metres of an embankment of the Jamuna River in Sirajganj got caved in yesterday morning despite a steady flow in the river.

The Tk350cr embankment called Sirajganaj Town Protection Embankment was constructed by the Bangladesh Water Development Board in 2000.

Though eroded several times in last four years, this is the first time an erosion occurred during winter.

Md Rafiqul Islam, the executive engineer of the local Water Development Board, told the Dhaka Tribune that the

lower part adjacent to the slope of the embankment got eroded suddenly.

He added that it got eroded because of scouring during the last flood.

Deputy Commissioner Md Billal Hossain and the sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mohammad Salauddin went to visit the spot after the erosion had occured.

Locals complained to them that irresponsible attitude and corruption of the local WDB engineers and their contractors were responsible for the situation.

The deputy commissioner assured the locals that necessary measures would be taken after proper investigation. l

Highways, city roads witness long queue Potiya madrasa headmaster n killed, two injured Tribune Report

Major highways and city roads yesterday witnessed long tailbacks as people came out in large numbers after getting a reprieve from the back-to-back hartal and communication blockade of the BNP-led 18-party alliance.

The streets were affected by a triple whammy of dense fogs, swarming vehicles and haphazard parking in the morning, but there were little signs of easing up even after the fogs lifted later in the day.

There were long queues of vehicles packed with passengers around almost every intersections in the capital, while its entry points were clogged by inbound and out-bound long-route busses and trucks.

Comilla witnessed a 36-kilometre tailback on both sides of the highway between Chandina and Daudkandi toll plaza, caused by heavy fogs and high concentration of vehicles, especially goods-laden trucks, reports our Comilla correspondent.

The passengers of a Dhaka-bound bus from Chandina said they had started for the capital around 6am but couldn’t get past the upazila periphery even after four hours.

Mohammad Sohel, driver of a covered van, said it had taken him over five hours to drive the 27 kilometres from

Chandina to Gouripur. “It was not totally unexpected. People got a two-day break before another spell of blockade begins on Sunday; naturally, they will try to make the most of it.”

A 60-kilometre tailback was witnessed on the road between Comilla’s Iliotganj to Narayanganj’s Meghna Bridge.

The situation was no better on the waterways as ferry operations on the MawaKeurakandi route were suspended because of dense fog on Thursday night “The jam ensued after some vehicles got stuck in the foggy weather early in the morning, and by 10am it stretched over 60 kilometres,” said Sargent Md Saiful Islam of Bhoberchar Highway police camp.

Meanwhile, a slow traffic movement was reported at the Hatikumrul Highway of Sirajganj, on both sides of Bangabandhu Bridge, early in the day. “It got worse as the day wore on,” said Ali Farid Ahmed, officer in charge of Hitikumrul Highway police station.

The situation was no better on the waterways. Ferry operations on the Mawa-Keurakandi route were suspended because of dense fog on Thursday night, leading to long queues of vehicles

waiting to cross the Padma.

Ferry crossing at the integral point to South from Dhaka resumed after 11 hours around 10am, but there was already a long jam with buses and trucks from 21 districts stuck on both sides of the river.

Passengers on launches, speed boats and trawlers had to suffer similar delays because of the fog and resultant tailbacks.

City’s Situation Traffic pressure in the capital was higher compared with the past few days. Commuters had to wait for long hours to get into their desired vehicles and reach their destinations.

“I have been waiting for more than 20 minutes for a bus from Sukrabad to Azimpur. I tried several times to get into one but failed each time,” said Nahid Jahan, a Master’s student of Eden Mahila College.

A similar situation was seen around important intersections like the Sonargaon, Farmgate, Bijoynagar, Shahbagh, and Gulistan.

A traffic sergeant posted at the Panthapath intersection, seeking anonymity, said jams in these points were in part contributed to by the Awami League rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan, which was organised to observe the homecoming day of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. l

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong A dead body was recovered from a septic tank of a madrasa in Khorna union of Chittagong’s Potiya upazila yesterday morning.

The dead was identified as Abdul Aziz, 50, hailing from Satkania of the district. He was the headmaster of Shahjahan Awlia Etimkhana and Hefjkhana and member of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Officer-in-Charge Mafiz Uddin of Potiya police station said.

Police said a teacher and a student of the madrasa had been detained for interrogation but their names were not disclosed for the sake of the investigation.

OC Mafiz Uddin said they had recovered the body from the tank around 8am after they received information from the madrasa authorities. The body had some bruises on the hands, head and the face, he added.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Shamim Hossain of Potiya circle in Chittagong said in initial investigation, it was found that a number of unknown miscreants had called the headmaster out of the madrasa around 11pm on Thursday and hacked him indiscrim-

inately. The miscreants later dumped the body in the tank, he added.

He said the miscreants had also slashed at the madrasa’s domestic help, Rowshan Ara Begum, 55, and a student, Abdu Rahman Tipu, 15, when they came out of their rooms hearing the headmaster shout. Rowshan received injuries on her head and Tipu on his leg, he added.

The ASP said the domestic help was currently undergoing treatment in Chittagong Medical College Hospital and the body of Abdul Aziz was sent to the morgue for autopsy.

OC Mafiz said they were investigating the matter and a case was lodged with Potiya police station in this regard.

SUM Abdus Samad, presidium member of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, alleged that Jamaat-Shibir men had killed the headmaster. However, Mohammad Ullah, publicity secretary of the city unit of Jamaat-e-Islami, denied the allegation.

The ASP said they were looking into the matter to see whether the killing was political or it was related to any previous local dispute. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Fog continues to disrupt communication

CLASH AT KOREAN EPZ IN CHITTAGONG

Victims to get compensation, 6,000 workers sued

There may be drizzles across the country except for Chittagong region today The ongoing moderate cold wave for 12 hours at night for the last two have been prevailing on all routes n Abu Bakar Siddique n Tarek Mahmudd, Chittagong with chill wind and dense fog that is weeks due to heavy fog, causing a few including the Dhaka-Chandpur and Dense fogs continued to disrupt road and water transportation yesterday.

Water transports were particularly hampered, with several hours of delays in reaching destinations.

There may be drizzles across the country except for Chittagong region today, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said in a regular forecast.

The Met Office also said the temperature tonight will rise slightly due to the drizzle.

“The temperature may fall by 2 to 3 degrees from Sunday, thus turning the ongoing mild to moderate cold wave into a severe cold wave across the country,” said Forecasting Officer Abul Kalam Mollik yesterday adding that it was normal as January was the coldest month in the country.

sweeping over the country is causing difficulties in everyday life, especially for low-income people in the northern districts.

The cold spell has triggered cold-related diseases including pneumonia, asthma and respiratory complications in northern districts like Kurigram, Gopalganj and Chuadanga.

Seven children were reported to have died of cold-related diseases over the last 10 days, Chuadanga Sadar Hospital authorities said.

On an average, 150-200 patients with cold-related diseases were receiving treatment at the outdoor section of the hospital every day, they said.

The ferry service at the Mawa-Keurakandi and Paturia-Dawlatdia landing stations has been suspended

kilometres of tailback on both the sides of the river leading.

The ongoing moderate cold wave with chill wind and dense fog that is sweeping over the country is causing difficulties in everyday life, especially for low-income people in the northern districts Sirajul Islam, a manager of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation at Mawa, said water transports and ferry services remained suspended to avoid accidents, resuming at 9.30am every day after the fog disappears.

Communication problems

5

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Dhaka-Barisal water route due to dense fogs.

Ali Asgar Sarker, a launch owner, told the Dhaka Tribune that the plying of water vessels on almost all routes of the Southern region had stopped because of poor visibility.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation authorities said all vessels on these routes were asked to be careful while moving in mid-river.

On Wednesday, the country experienced a record temperature drop of 6 degrees Celsius in Ishawrdi, according to the Met Office.

The lowest temperature yesterday, at 7.6 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Dinajpur while the highest temperature was recorded in Teknaf at 27.6 degrees Celsius. l

The authorities of Korean Export Processing Zone will give compensation to family members of the workers of Karnaphuli Sportswear Industries who, was killed and were injured during Thursday’s clash.

The EPZ authorities announced closure of the factory for indefinite period.

The police filed a case with Karnaphuli police station accusing about 5,000-6,000 unknown workers in connection with the clash.

Saifee Anwarul Azim, public relation officer of Korean EPZ, told the Dhaka Tribune that the EPZ authorities would provide Tk six lakh to family members of each deceased worker while the injured officials, employees and workers would get Tk one lakh.

Mohammed Mohiuddin, offi-

cer-in-charge of Karnaphuli police station, said Sub-Inspector Md Saifuzzaman had lodged a case with the police station accusing about 5000-6000 unidentified workers in connection with the incident.

The workers of Karnaphuli Sportswear Industries of Youngone Group, which own the Korean EPZ, locked in a clash with the law enforcers during demonstration demanding proper implementation of newly announced wage board for garment workers.

A female worker Parvin Akhter was killed and 20 others, including five police officers, were injured in the clash between law enforcers and the workers in the afternoon.

The agitated workers of the factory also set a warehouse of the factory on fire and vandalised machines during the clash. l

‘10th parliamentary poll not free and fair’ n Mushfique Wadud Election observer group Brotee yesterday said the 10th parliamentary election held on January 5 was not free and 100% fair, but it recognised the poll in a bid to overcome the political crisis centring election.

The organisation also said the Election Commission failed to ensure security and create an environment for a free, fair and credible election.

Based on its monitoring of 234 polling centres under 16 constituencies by mobile observers and analysis of media reports, Brotee found 37% votes were cast in their observing centres.

It estimated that vote casting was 26% in Dhaka.

The organisation, however, did not give any estimate on the percentage of vote casting in all constituencies.

“The 10th parliamentary election was not free and 100% fair,” Sharmeen Murshid, chief executive officer of Brotee, said at a press briefing yesterday.

“We want to overcome the political crisis centring election, and so we have accepted the election,” she added.

“Though the parliamentary election was legally correct, it was not as fair as the previous one,” she further said.

The observation report said 30 peo-

WEATHER

Light drizzle likely n UNB Light rain or drizzle is likely to occur at one or two places over Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions and the region of Comilla until 6pm today.

Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country.

Moderate to thick fog may occur over the country during midnight till morning, Met Office sources said.

A moderate cold wave that is sweeping over the regions of Srimangal and Dinajpur and a mild cold wave sweeping over Rajshahi and the rest parts of Rangpur division and the regions of Sitakunda, Rangamati, Khulna, Madaripur, Khepupara, Jessore and Kushtia may continue as mild cold wave.

Night temperature may rise slightly and day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:30pm today and rises at 6:44am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 28.0 degree Celsius was recorded yesterday in Cox’s Bazar and lowest 7.6 degrees in Dinajpur.

Highest and lowest temperature in some major cities yesterday were: City

High

Low

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

23.1 24.2 23.5 23.2 23.2 24.3 25.0 28.0

11.0 11.8 09.0 09.0 10.0 10.5 12.1 13.2

ple were killed and 671 injured on the poll’s day and in post-poll violence.

Of the victims, 21 were killed and 587 injured on January 5 and nine killed and 84 injured in post-election violence.

It also estimated that 180 people were killed in violence since the announcement of election schedule on November 25.

According to the report, violence took place in 445 polling centres under 32 districts and polls in 539 centres under 36 constituencies were postponed.

It said 152 schools were burnt by the 18-party alliance activists.

In 29 constituencies, the rival candidates boycotted the election alleging vote rigging.

The report said participation of women and non-muslim voters were at its lowest.

In the post-election violence, 422 houses, temples and shops of Hindu community were vandalised, torched and looted, added the report.

About the reasons of low turnout, the report mentioned lack of preparation and campaign of candidates.

The observation report said it found anti-election activists threatened voters not to cast votes, and crude bombs were blasted surrounding the polling centres. l

Bloomberg Philanthropies organises a street show in the city’s Shahbagh yesterday to raise awareness against tobacco usage

Most footbridges remain unused in Chittagong Townsfolk avoid the bridges to avoid any untoward incidents n FM Mizanur Rahaman Most of the footbridges in the port city have been lying unused as they are under the grips of snatchers, sex workers, beggars and vendors, thanks to indifference of authorities concerned for not properly monitoring and maintaining the infrastructures.

Pedestrians rarely choose the footbridge which have been constructed for saving life of pedestrians and keeping the traffic movement smooth on the roads, to sidestep unwanted incidences, especially snatching.

Local sources said a section of advertisement companies had set up billboards on the both sides of the footbridges that keeps bridges invisible from pedestrians as well as encourages anti-socials activities such as snatching, prostitution and drug abuse, on them.

Consequently, people avoid over bridges and cross roads amid life risk, local sources said, adding that it had also been causing traffic jam on the roads during the pick hours, making life of city people more difficult.

According to Chittagong City Corporation sources, there are a total of 10 footbridges in the city and those are located in New Market, Chittagong Railway Station, BAWA School and College, CPA Girls’ High School and College, Free Port, Chittagong Export Processing Zone, Fakirhat, Customs intersection, Port Officers Colony and Navy Gate areas.

During a recent visit to the over bridges, this correspondent witnessed that pedestrians were using only three bridges in which two are located in EPZ area and one in BAWA School and College area while rest of the bridges were seen in abandoned condition.

People are not interest to use the footbridges as they have been lying in dilapidated conditions.

The foot over bridges in front of Municipal High School of New Market, Railway Station and Fakirhat areas were found almost wrapping with billboards while human wastes and dirt were littering on the bridges. The street people were also found dwelling on several bridges.

“The miscreants snatch valuable if they found any pedestrian on the footover bridge taking the opportunity of invisibility caused by the billboards,” said Sanjoy Nath, a shopkeeper at Shah Amanat Market, adding that he never used foot over bridges for the cause.

Alamgir Hossain, another pedestrian in Fakirhat area, said he faced risk while crossing road, however, had no alternative as the foot over bridges re-

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

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Army to remain deployed in eight constituencies till January 17

n Tribune Desk

Members of the Army will remain deployed in eight constituencies till January 17 as there will be re-polling in 392 centres on January 16. ”Armed forces will remain deployed as a striking force in the eight constituencies along with the law enforcers,” said an ISPR media release.

The eight constituencies are Dinajpur-4, Kurigram-4, Gaibandha-1, 3 and 4, Bogra-7, Jessore-5 and Laxmipur-1.

The Election Commission has taken the decision of keeping the army personnel deployed for free and fair re-polling in the centres, reports UNB. On Sunday (Jan 5), elections were held in 147 constituencies. The voting in the 392 polling stations was suspended due to widespread violence during the elections. l

Truck-train collision kills two in Tangail n Tribune Report

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

mained unusable and unsafe.

Sources at the Chittagong Development Authority said they had constructed nine bridges while rest one had been constructed by CCC, adding that they had handed over the bridges to the city corporation after construction.

The city corporation is entrusted with the task of looking after the foot over bridges.

Ahmadul Haque, chief revenue officer of CCC, told the Dhaka Tribune that he was not sure about the setting up of billboards on the foot over bridges adding that there was no scope to rent the foot over bridges for advertisement.

“We have recently started drive to evict illegal billboards, however, the drive came to a halt due to political turmoil in the recent period,” added the official. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Members of Amra Obhoynagar Bashi form a human chain in front of the National Museum yesterday, protesting communal violence in Jessore SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Two people were killed and 12 others injured as a Dhaka-bound train hit a sand-laden truck in Tenguria Para rail-crossing under Basail upazila in the morning.

The deceased were truck driver Sujat Ali, 32, of Ulla Para upazila and Helper Nijamuddin, 30, of Raigonj upazila in Sirajganj.

Police said a sand laden truck fell into a roadside water-filled ditch after being hit by a Dhaka-bound train of the Rangpur Express at Tenguriapara around 9am, leaving two dead on the spot and injuring 12 others.

Four people were killed in two separate road accidents in Chittagong.

Highway Police found dead bodies of

three youths with a smashed motorbike from the Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Boro Darogarhat area of Mirsarai upazila.

The deceased were Arafatullah, 35, Kafil Uddin, 36, and Forkan, 22, of Banshkhali upazila.

Police suspect that their motorbike might have been hit by any heavy vehicles leaving them dead on the spot, he added.

In another incident, a housewife, Popi Begum, 18, was killed as a truck rammed her at the port city’s Majhirgaht area under Sadarghat police station around 8am.

Popy was rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where she was pronounced dead by the on-duty doctors, said police. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Feature

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Shahzaman Mozumder: King of Dhaka A dapper blogger reigns in cyberspace ‘What I am wearing today’

November 7, 2013: If you look closely you will notice that a button is missing from the front of the jacket (I am trying to hide the missing button by folding my hands where the first button should be)

December 17, 2013: With a pink and blue striped silk bow-tie

December 2, 2013: White linen doublebreasted suit with patch pockets COURTESY

I

n James Saville

had not been in Dhaka long before I heard rumours of a wonderful local eccentric, a man who goes by the nickname “The King of Dhaka.”

Who could this pretender be? Some long-lost heir to the sultanate of Bengal? Or a scion of an old Nawab perhaps?

Eventually I was told that His Majesty’s kingdom is, alas, in cyberspace. But anyone who heads to kingofdhaka.com will find all the regal splendour they could ever want.

The man behind the site is Shahzaman Mozumder, and it is the most unique fashion blog I have ever seen.

The site’s homepage consists of a series of daily photo-posts bearing the title “What I am wearing today,” with pictures of Zaman in his immaculate, and often flamboyant, ensembles.

Smart English-style tailoring is very much the order of the day. There is a menu with clickable links for sartorial advice, all organised under helpful headings such as “Suit jacket buttoning rules” and “Pocket square folds.”

The website is aimed at young professionals who find themselves wearing suits and ties for the first time, and seeks to provide guidance to those navigating the minefield that is men’s tailoring.

This need comes from personal experience.

Zaman tells me: “In 1980-83 I actually didn’t know what to do. I wish there had been a resource that I could have consulted, just to learn a little bit about what colours go with what,” he says.

“For example, what should be the colour of my first suit? ... I purchased a suit in a very funny colour.”

“What colour did you buy?” I ask.

“It was blue, but not the blue I would buy these days.”

“Was it a light blue?”

“Not exactly light. It was… funny.”

Zaman tells me that kingofdhaka.com has had more than 110,000 hits since its inception a year ago, proving that he may be onto something.

He fervently believes that the purpose of style is to present oneself, al-

most as if for sale, something young people need to be able to do when in search of their first job.

He asks me: “Do you know: What’s the point of a necktie?”

“Erm…” “It is like a ribbon – you wrap yourself up in a ribbon to present yourself like a gift.

Zaman is hugely enjoyable company, self-effacing and witty. He’s not remotely bothered that some people might think he looks like a stuffy anglophile. In fact he is totally self-aware, and seems to acknowledge the prospect that formal clothes can be a source of comedy.

When I mischievously suggest his already dandy-like appearance could be improved further with the addition of a trilby, he doesn’t take the bait.

Giggling, he says: “I think wandering around Dhaka in a hat would be totally ridiculous!”

In spite of his congeniality, the reality of Zaman’s life has been much tougher than one would expect from someone so fond of fine clothes.

Born in Dinjapur as the youngest of six siblings, his family struggled to make ends meet after the early death of his father left them in semi-poverty.

As a student at Dhaka University in 1971 when the war broke out, he joined the Mukhtibahini at a very early stage, seeing extensive combat and later being awarded the Bir Protik for his efforts.

These days he works in IT, and pursues his interests in men’s style – he hates the word “fashion” – whenever he can.

The next phase is his quest to re-educate people’s dress-sense is to set up his own tailor shop here in Dhaka. “The problem is when the British left, the flow of technology stopped.”

Not one to be put off, Zaman has been training a set of local tailors over the last 4 years, and is soon to open a tailoring service that will

operate from inside Sonargaon Hotel.

Products will include made-tomeasure suits for $100 plus material costs, and also fully bespoke suits, the cost of which will depend on how extravagant the customer wants them to be.

After more than an hour of enthusiastic discussion on the benefits of different styles – double-breasted would be a good look for me, he confirms – we part ways.

I leave slightly ashamed of my ill-fitting t-shirt and slightly torn trousers. l

‘A necktie is like a ribbon – you wrap yourself up with a ribbon to present yourself like a gift’

Flying high in Cox’s Bazar Fun Fest brings parasailing to our local paradise

I

n Tasnuva Amin Nova

nspired after a disappointing trip to Cox’s Bazar, cousins Ishnad Chowdhury and Tadib Muqtada decided to introduce an adventurous new water sport to Bangladesh’s growing tourist destination: parasailing.

“As beautiful as the place was, we found that there was absolutely nothing to do,” Tadib said in an interview with the Dhaka Tribune.

Cox’s Bazar, despite its natural advantages as the world’s longest natural sand beach and its surrounding lush greenery, is still developing as a beach resort area.

It did not take long for these two enterprising young men to figure out a solution. They took a second trip to Panowa (the local name for the seaside town) and scoped out the possibility of offering parasailing and other beach activities.

In September 2012, they decided to launch Fun Fest.

Within a month, they convinced the Cox’s Bazar Beach Management Committee that this would be beneficial for tourism,and by November that year, they bought the necessary equipment and started training the workforce.

They officially went into operation a month later.

“We faced many constraints from

people, but my only concerns were the wind, water and waves. Thisis what makes parasailing either possible or impossible.”

Fun Fest is located in Himchari Beach, not far from the main beach.

They offer regular parasailing, where the adventurer wears a parachute to catch the wind and fly up like a kite while being towed by a boat. There is also“super fun” parasailing, a longer, more thrilling ride that makes one drop into the middle of the sea until the feet touch water. Additionally, visitors to Fun Fest have the opportunity to do other activities such as land sailing, zorbing and banana boating.

“Safety is our #1 priority,” the Fun Fest website reads. “Parasailing is safe because we make it safe.”

“There are only a few things that could go wrong. Worst cases: either you fall into the sea [while] wearing lifejackets; or you fall on the ground, which is soft sand.”

Ishnad said: “We acquired all our equipment from different parts of the world which specialise in their manufacture. For example, our boats and engines are from Japan because they are the best suppliers of these.

“We train our staff according to international standards. One of our trainers is the only person in town who has had eight years of experience in parasailing in different countries, including Malaysia. “ The dynamic duo behind Fun Fest is just getting started.

“The entertainment sector here is in its infancy.” Tadib said. “It needs a big push to start off. The government has

been very cooperative with us so far.”

Tadib left his job in Switzerland in search of interesting ventures in Bangladesh. Ishnad, who was educated abroad and has a degree in finance, also has big dreams for the local entertainment industry.

He and his business partner have opened Fun Fest Urban Activities, a recreation zone in the capital’s Jamuna Future Park. They share a common vision, which is to introduce new sorts of entertainment to Bangladeshis, more than just eating out.

“However, entertainment and tourism are particularly vulnerable to the recent political unrest.” Tadib remarked.

“When the roads are not safe enough for people to go to work, you cannot expect people to go out for leisure. Sadly this [situation] is worse in Cox’s Bazar, the main tourist hub, where violence reaches its peak during hartals and blockades.”

Ishnad said: “The perks of being in this industry are not just monetary. The ability to bring smiles to the faces of other people is priceless. And that’s one of the things that keeps us going.” l

Landsailing: Cruising the beach with wind power COURTESY

‘Safety is our #1 priority’

COURTESY

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Prescription

7

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Keeping asthma symptoms at bay Asthma symptoms, which include coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness, are common in an asthma attack. Sometimes reffered to as bronchial asthma or reactive airway disease, asthma can be controlled with proper treatment. In severe cases, an untreated asthma attack can be life-threatening n Dr Kazi Saifuddin Benoor

Avoiding triggers

The first step in controlling asthma is to identify and avoid your triggers. The most effective way to fight allergens in the home is to remove the source, which may include pets, carpets, and upholstered furniture. Dust regularly and use a vacuum cleaner.

Long-term medication

Symptoms of an asthma attack include:

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Wheezing, a whistling sound when exhaling Coughing that won’t stop are worsened by a respiratory virus, such as a cold or the flu Shortness of breath and tightness in the chest

Children and older people are advised to use the inhaler with a device called a spacer, which helps them take the medicine properly

Asthma trigger

For some people, asthma symptoms flare up in certain situations:  Exercise-induced asthma, which may be worse when the air is cold and dry  Occupational asthma, triggered by workplace irritants such as chemi-

BIGSTOCK

Who gets asthma?

It isn’t clear why some people get asthma and others don’t, but it’s probably due to a combination of environmental and genetic (inherited) factors.

Asthma can appear at any age, but it typically develops during childhood.

Those most at risk include people with allergies or a family history of asthma.

Having a parent with asthma makes children three to six times more likely to develop the condition.

A first-aid kit at your home and office

tisation (often called allergy vaccination) is unhelpful for most people.

Asthma is a disease of the airways in the lungs. Its symptoms are caused by inflammation, which makes the airways red, swolHEALTH len, narrower and FLASH extra-sensitive to irritants. Asthma symptoms range from minor to severe and vary from person to person.

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QUICK TIPS

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cal fumes, gases or dust Allergy-induced asthma triggered by particular allergens, such as mold, dust mites, pet dander, cockroaches or pollen.

If pollen is one of your triggers, you’ll probably notice your asthma symptoms are worse at certain times of the year.

Diagnosing asthma

If you have symptoms of asthma, your doctor will want to check how well

your lungs are working. A lung function test, also called spirometry, measures how much air you can breathe in and out.

The results will help determine whether you have asthma and how severe the condition is. Your doctor may also recommend allergy testing to pinpoint some of your asthma triggers.

Managing asthma

While there is no cure, there are highly effective strategies for keeping asthma symptoms at bay.

Sometimes children with asthma can grow out of their symptoms, or many years of regular treatment with anti-inflammatory asthma medication may make the disease disappear. It is tempting to think that your asthma has been cured if you have not had symptoms for a long time, but you will usually still have a tendency to develop asthma if you are exposed to the appropriate triggers in the future. Most people with asthma are able to keep the conditions under control.

Allergy treatment using hyposensi-

It is virtually impossible for people with asthma to avoid all their triggers all the time. For this reason, many people need to take daily medication to prevent asthma attacks. Inhaled corticosteroids are the most common medication for the long-term control of asthma.

Quick relief for asthma attacks

Even with the use of long-term medication, asthma symptoms sometimes flare up. When this happens, you’ll need another type of inhaler to provide quick relief. Short-acting beta2agonists are the most common choice.

These rescue inhalers quickly relax the tightened muscles around the airways, restoring the flow of air to the lungs. It is better to take asthma medications through an inhaler or nebuliser, which assures efficacy, prompt relief and fewer side effects.

Children and older people are advised to use the inhaler with a device called spacer, which helps them take the medicine properly. Some asthma attacks require emergency treatment in the hospital. l

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A first-aid kit is a collection of supplies and equipment for use in giving first aid. A well-stocked first-aid kit can help you respond effectively to common injuries and emergencies. Keep at least one first-aid kit in your home, your office and one in your car.

Store your kits in easy-to-retrieve locations that are out of the reach of young children. You can purchase firstaid kits at many drugstores or assemble your own. Contents of a first-aid kit should include:

Basic supplies             

Dr Kazi Saifuddin Benoor is Assistant Professor of Chest Medicine in National Institute of Chest Diseases and Hospital.

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Sovaldi, a hope for chronic hepatitis C

The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) to treat chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Sovaldi is the first drug that has demonstrated safety and efficacy to treat certain types of HCV infection without the need for co-administration of interferon. Sovaldi is to be used as a

component of a combination antiviral treatment regimen for chronic HCV infection.

Hepatitis C is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the liver that can lead to diminished liver function or liver failure. Like hepatitis B, hepatitis C has got no vaccine. l

Fat dads make fat kids Fathers-to-be need to get in shape before their children are conceived to

avoid passing on fat genes, new research suggests. Recently a study showed that if fathers and grandfathers have a high

fat diet and were obese, their grandsons are more likely to be overweight. While the effects of a mother’s diet during and even before pregnancy are known, the new research is a wake-up call for prospective dads.

It is thought that a father could contribute his genes and that’s about it, but this research suggests both parents’ lifestyles may contribute to their babies’ genes.

The findings have also sparked demand for further studies on the impacts of both parents’ behaviours on children during pregnancy. l

Microchip helps in dieting Dieters who are struggling in losing weight could be implanted with a computer chip that alerts them when they’ve eaten enough and then releases a hormone to make them feel full.

Scientists in Switzerland are developing the pioneering technology and believe it could be available worldwide within five to 10 years. The coin-sized chip would be inserted under the skin of a slimmer’s arm where it would constantly check for fat in the blood and release a hunger-sating compound when enough was consumed. Subject to funding, the first human tests could

take place in around three years. The device’s inventor, Professor Martin Fussenegger, said: “The chip could

provide an alternative to expensive and invasive weight loss surgery with no major side-effects.” l

| Dr Mohammad Sayem

Difference between fresh milk and UHT milk

Brown eggs vs white eggs

Fresh milk, often referred to as homogenised and Brown eggs are often thought as a healthier alternapasteurised milk, is sold in the chilled foods section tive to white eggs. You might be surprised to learn of the supermarket. It has a short shelf life and must that nutritionally, both brown and white eggs are be kept below 4°C to maintain freshness. Ultra heat almost identical in content. The only measurable treated (UHT) milk, which is sometimes called longdifferences come from the color and breed of the life milk, is slightly different. It has had extra treatchickens producing the eggs.

DID YOU ment which enables it to be stored at room temperaThe colour of an eggshell is determined by the coKNOW? ture (as long as it is unopened) for extended periods. lour of the hen laying the egg. This is very similar to Both fresh milk and UHT milk have undergone pasteurihow your eye color and hair colour are determined by genetsation and homogenisation before packaging and sale to ics. Brown eggs come from brown hens and white eggs come consumers. Pasteurifrom white hens. The sation involves heating color of the yolk inside the milk to 72°C for 15 the shell and the egg seconds to kill harmwhite is the same for ful bacteria that may both brown and white be present. The milk is eggs. The nutritional rapidly chilled, before value of brown and homogenisation comwhite eggs are almost mences. This involves identical. passing the milk On average, brown through a fine nozzle eggs are more expento create a smooth, sive than white eggs. creamy taste and texThe higher price tag ture. on brown eggs does not necessarily reflect better quality, Fresh milk is then packaged and refrigerated, while UHT rather it is a result of specific breeds of brown hens being milk is exposed to a more powerful heat treatment to inachigher maintenance than white hens. This occurs betivate harmful bacteria. This allows the milk to be stored cause brown hens are larger than white hens and therefore out of the fridge while it is unopened. It is important to chill require more food, which translates into a higher cost for UHT milk once it has been opened. l consumers. l | Prescription Desk

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BIGSTOCK

HEALTH NEWS

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Adhesive tape Antibiotic ointment Antiseptic solution Bandages, including a roll of elastic wrap and bandage strip Instant cold packs Cotton balls and cotton-tipped swabs Disposable latex or synthetic gloves, at least two pairs Duct tape Gauze pads and roller gauze First-aid manual Petroleum jelly or other lubricant Plastic bags for the disposal of contaminated materials Safety pins Scissors and tweezers Soap or instant hand sanitiser Sterile eyewash, such as a saline solution Thermometer Triangular bandage Blood pressure measuring machine and stethoscope

Medications   

   

Anti-diarrheal medication Over-the-counter oral antihistamine Aspirin and nonaspirin pain relievers (never give aspirin to children) Calamine lotion Over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream Syringe, medicine cup or spoon Oral saline

Give your kit a checkup. Check your first-aid kits regularly, at least every three months, to be sure the flashlight batteries work and to replace supplies that have expired.

| Compiled by: Shirsho Saaeadat

How to donate blood n Dr Sajol Ashfaq

leaving. Altogether, it will take about an hour.

The blood you donate gives someone another chance at life.

Giving blood is one of the most worthwhile things you can do. PaHEALTH tients require blood for NEWS a range of reasons from cancer to surgery and many more; with some patients needing blood regularly.

How long do I have to wait before my next donation?

For a whole blood donation, you need to wait 12 weeks before your next donation.

Does giving blood affect your energy?

You should avoid exerting yourself for 12 hours after donating as a precaution, but your energy levels won’t be affected. It only takes 1 to 2 days for your blood volume to be back to normal, but make sure you drink lots of water to help the recovery process.

Who can donate?

To give blood you need neither extra strength nor extra food, and you will save a life. Most people between the ages of 17 and 65, who weigh over 50kg (7st 12lb) and have a good level of general health will be able to donate blood. If you’ve had a cold or other illness within a week of donating, you need to wait for 7 days before you can donate. You must also be over 45 kilograms to ensure the blood loss won’t affect you.

Where to donate?

Various organisations such as Shand-

hani, Red Crescent, and Quantum are operating blood banks that help in voluntary blood donation. Most hospitals have a blood bank that can arrange the donation.

What happens on the day you donate?

The actual process only takes about 5-10 minutes. Before donation, you

have to fill out a confidential questionnaire and have an interview with a staff member to make sure you’re healthy and fit for a donation.

If you’re in good shape to make a donation, they’ll then start the process. After donating blood you’ll be given something to eat and drink and shown somewhere you can rest for the recommended 15 minutes before

Will it hurt?

There’s nothing to worry about, you won’t feel more than a tiny pinprick.

Does the Blood Service pay for donations?

No. All blood donations are voluntary, following World Health Organization and Red Cross and Crescent policies. l

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Nearly 500 killed in Syria rebel-jihadist fighting

C African president resigns after deadly unrest

n AFP, Beirut

Central African Republic President Michel Djotodia has resigned under intense pressure over his failure to stem the sectarian unrest ripping his country apart, a regional grouping announced yesterday.

African leaders meeting in neighbouring Chad to seek a solution to the crisis said they had “noted the resignation” of Djotodia and Prime Minister Nicolas Tiengaye, whose notoriously fractious relationship with the president had led to political paralysis.

Djotodia was under intense pressure from his peers, who gathered in Chad Thursday in a bid to end the violence that has seen more than 1,000 people killed in the last month alone.

All 135 lawmakers from the landlocked Central African Republic (CAR) had flown to Chad on Thursday at the behest of Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno to try to resolve the crisis as it threatened to spill over into neighbouring countries.

Djotodia has come under fire for failing to stem the spiralling violence between the mainly Muslim former rebels who brought him to power last year and militias formed by the Christian majority.

Earlier Friday, thousands of residents in the Central African capital Bangui took to the streets demanding Djotodia’s departure.

“We want Djotodia to stand down.

We need someone new to lead the country,” said one protester, while another said Djotodia should “stay in N’Djamena,” accusing him of responsibility for a “massacre.”

Although he was already due to step down when a transition period expires in a year’s time, his inability to rein in chaos across the country prompted calls for a swifter change in leadership.

Deby, Central Africa’s perennial kingmaker, had opened the Economic Com-

Nearly 500 people, among them 85 civilians, have been killed in a week of fighting pitting Syrian rebels against the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a monitoring group said yesterday.

“We have documented the killing of 482 people in the fighting – 85 civilians, 240 members of the rebel brigades and 157 members of ISIL,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Among the civilians and rebels killed were 42 hostages who were executed in Aleppo by ISIL. Rebels also executed 47 ISIL members, mainly in Idlib province in north-western Syria, Abdel Rahman said.

“The rest of the deaths came during the fighting. It is likely dozens more people have lost their lives, but it is impossible to accurately document all the killings,” he added.

He called for “crimes being committed in Syria to be brought before an international court.”

Jihadist-rebel fighting has raged for a week, mainly in Aleppo, Idlib and Raqa provinces. On yesterday, rebels continued to advance in much of Aleppo and Idlib, where ISIL’s presence was relatively weak, while the jihadists had the upper hand in Raqa, which has been under their control for several months.

Several rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime opened a new front against ISIL last week, accusing the jihadists of seeking control and committing horrific abuses in opposition-held areas. l

Rebel fighters carry the body of a dead man at the Aleppo headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq

80% of Israelis say peace talks will fail n AFP, Jerusalem The vast majority of Israelis believe US-brokered negotiations with the Palestinians will fail to bring any peace agreement, an opinion poll published on yesterday showed.

About 80% of 507 Jewish and Arab Israeli respondents told Maariv newspaper that they believed the talks would not succeed.

The poll came a week after a visit

by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who kick-started the talks in July after a three-year hiatus and is pushing the two sides to accept a framework agreement for final status negotiations.

The Maariv survey showed that 73% rejected a total withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank under any peace accord. Israeli and Palestinian leaders appear increasingly at odds over irreconcilable demands, including over the borders of a future Palestinian state and an Israeli military presence in the Jordan Valley, where the West Bank borders Jordan.

Israelis insist the army must remain there in the long term to guarantee the Jewish state’s security, but the Palestinians insist they must leave and make way for an international military force.

A separate opinion poll by pro-government Israel Hayom said 70% of 500 Jewish respondents rejected a withdrawal from the Jordan Valley. l

n AFP, N’djamena

AFP

n

A top French court has upheld the ban of a show by a comedian whom the government accuses of anti-Jew sentiments and insulting the memory of Holocaust victims.

The United States has strongly objected to a plan by the government of Afghanistan to release 72 prisoners that the US considers dangerous criminals linked to “terror-related crimes.”

Relations between the two nations plunged on Thursday when Afghan President Hamid Karzai said there was insufficient evidence to continue holding the men at Bagram prison, a former US site now controlled by the Afghan government.

“We cannot allow innocent Afghan citizens to be kept in detention for months and years without a trial for no reason at all,” Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi, told the Reuters news agency. “We know that unfortunately this has been happening at Bagram, but it is illegal and a violation of Afghan sovereignty.”

The United States objected to the decision, with State Department Jen Psaki saying: “These 72 detainees are dangerous criminals against whom there is strong evidence linking them to terror-related crimes, including the use of improvised explosive devices, the largest killer of Afghan civilians.”

She said “time will tell” if the release of the men would affect the signing of a pact that will ensure a US presence in the country after it pulls its main forces out later this year. Joseph Dunford, the US General in command of NATO forces in Afghanistan, made an official objection to the plan. He said it was against an agreement signed when Bagram was handed over in March last year. It included assurances that inmates who posed a danger to Afghans and international forces would continue to be held under Afghan law.

Following a meeting on Thursday between Karzai and the head of the Afghan spy agency, it was decided that there was only sufficient evidence to hold 16 of 88 men the US considered to be dangerous criminals. l

United State warns both sides in South Sudan over conflict

Snowden leaks may be ‘lethal’ for troops

n Agencies

n AFP, Washington

Government forces pressed with an offensive to wrestle back South Sudan’s main oil hub from rebel forces as the White House urged both sides in the deadly conflict to sign an agreement to cease hostilities immediately.

The worst fighting on yesterday centred around Bentiu, where forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar have been holding off the army of President Salva Kiir, leaving the town ransacked and emptied of its civilian population.

South Sudanese rebels rejected a government plan on Wednesday to end a dispute over detainees and unblock peace talks aimed at halting the conflict that has killed at least 1,000 people.

Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, said in a statement it was the responsibility of both leaders to make sure their country was not marred by more violence.

“Mr. Machar, in particular, must commit to a cessation of hostilities without precondition,” Rice said adding that the US was “disappointed” senior politician detainees in government custody have not yet been released.

Fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden’s theft of 1.7m secret documents could potentially put US military forces in “lethal” danger worldwide, American lawmakers warned Thursday, citing a confidential Pentagon report.

The Defence Department prepared and sent on Monday to prominent members of Congress a classified paper analysing the potential impact of revelations by the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor.

Defence Intelligence Agency chief Lieutenant General Michael Flynn formed a Pentagon task force dubbed the “Information Review Task Force-2” shortly after Snowden’s theft of classified files was discovered, a DIA spokesman told AFP. The DIA-led taskforce worked in coordination with other members of the intelligence community, the military services and the combatant commands.

“The goal was to assess the potential impact to the Department of Defence from the compromise of this information,” the spokesman added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Only an initial assessment was provided to lawmakers and the task force “continues its work as additional information

US National Security Advisor Susan Rice “The United States reiterates its call upon President Salva Kiir to release the detainees immediately to the custody of IGAD so that they can participate in the political negotiations.”

On Wednesday, the government proposed to shift the peace talks to the United Nations compound in Juba, enabling the 11 detainees to attend the negotiations during the day and return to custody in the evening.

South Sudan’s presidential spokes-

French upholds ban on ‘anti-Jew’ comedian Agencies

munity of Central African States (ECCAS) summit Thursday with stark words seen as a push to remove Djotodia.

“The CAR is suffering deeply from the actions of its own sons, who are dragging their country down into a war that jeopardises its future,” he said.

Deby called for “concrete and decisive action” to halt the violence pitting Muslims against Christian self-defence militias that has killed more than 1,000 people in the past month.

Looming humanitarian crisis Regional leaders are anxious to stem the crisis as there are fears that the unrest is extending beyond the mineral-rich Central African Republic.

The United Nations has warned that both ex-Seleka rebels and CAR former soldiers have crossed into the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo, causing local residents to flee.

Many troops fled their home country when the Seleka rebels launched their coup. The rebels in turn were pushed out when French and African peacekeepers arrived in the country in December.

Although mass slaughters have mostly ceased in Bangui itself amid frequent patrols by the peacekeepers, sporadic killings carry on almost every night.

A humanitarian disaster is also looming with almost a million people having fled their homes in a nation of about 4.6 million people.

Some 100,000 of them have set up camp in one tent city alone near Bangui airport, close to the peacekeepers’ bases.

UNICEF has warned of a potential disaster in overcrowded camps in and around the capital, where there have been several cases of measles, which could be deadly. Relief agencies have joined in a vaccination campaign.

EU nations are considering whether to join in the French and African peacekeeping operations in the country, with a meeting on the issue scheduled for yesterday. l

US objects to freeing of Taliban suspects n Agencies

The Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, issued its last-minute decision just an hour before the show by Dieudonne M’bala M’bala was to begin in the western city of Nantes.

The top court’s ruling came after Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who has

French controversial humorist Dieudonne Míbala Míbala arrives for a trial at the Paris courthouse AFP

been leading the effort to stop Dieudonne’s national tour, appealed against a decision by a lower administrative court that rejected local authorities’ efforts to ban the show. In its ruling, the Council of State - which has previously ruled against bans on Dieudonne performances - cited the risk to public order were the show to proceed.

There were angry scenes on Thursday as crowds of supporters protested against the decision. One of Dieudonne’s lawyers, Jacques Verdier, has argued that a ban on his client would breach his freedom of speech. Dieudonne, 46, has been repeatedly fined for hate speech and local authorities in Nantes had barred the show following the lead of other cities that did the same on the grounds of risk to public order.

The comedian’s supporters say he is anti-establishment and anti-Zionist, not anti-Jew. The appeals court’s decision validated the efforts of Valls and President Francois Hollande, who had argued for regional prefects to remain “on alert and inflexible” in determining whether or not to ban the shows. l

AFP

man said the rebels appeared to reject that.

The UN, which shelters more than 8,000 people at its Bentiu compound, said its mission in South Sudan had cut off military links with the government and was ready to fend off any attack.

Farhan Haq, UN deputy spokesman, said the outcome of the battle for Bentiu, capital of Unity state, was “unclear and fluid.” l

is reviewed,” according to the spokesman.

Snowden has disclosed details of US intelligence-gathering operations, but lawmakers warned that the leaker’s illegal haul includes a large amount of classified military data.

“This report confirms my greatest fears – Snowden’s real acts of betrayal place America’s military men and women at greater risk,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said in a joint statement with the panel’s top Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger.

The actions by Snowden, who is currently in Moscow under temporary asylum, “are likely to have lethal consequences for our troops in the field,” Rogers added.

Snowden and his supporters argue that his revelation of details of secret US programs that hoover up vast amounts of telephone and Internet data on virtually every American was merely a mission to defend civil liberties.

The disclosures have triggered a monumental debate in the United States over the balance between personal freedoms and fighting terrorism, but have also sparked uproar against Washington amid revelations the NSA had tapped mobile phones of world leaders including that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. l

OTHER NEWS Two drunk Russians cut off own ears for a bet

Two inebriated Russians in a Siberian mining region both cut off their own left ears after betting on the result of an arm-wrestling contest, police said yesterday. The men were drinking to celebrate Orthodox Christmas and held an arm-wrestling contest, agreeing that the loser had to cut off his ear, police reported in the southern Siberian Kemerovo region. One of the men won the first bout, but his opponent insisted on a second round, which he won. The two men then decided that according to their rules, both must cut off their ears, police said. “The men voluntarily cut off their left ears. One completely, and the other half off. They were hospitalised with these injuries,” police said. The men’s drunken escapade echoed Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh, who also cut off part of his left ear.

Three severed heads found in Mexico in drug violence

The decapitated heads of three suspected members of the Zetas drug cartel were found on the trunk of a car in eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, authorities said Thursday.

With them authorities found a note in which another cartel, Jalisco Nueva Generacion, apparently claimed responsibility. The grisly discovery came in the state capital, the port city also called Veracruz, said a police official.

The note said: “This is going to happen to any filthy Z that goes around kidnapping and robbing innocent people,” according to the police official. The heads, with signs of torture, were found Wednesday night after police were advised by local people.

In late December five people were found decapitated in the western state of Michoacan, also along with a note from the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel, which is fighting for control of the state with rival drug gangs called the Knights Templar and La Familia Michoacana. Veracruz is one of the Mexican states hardest hit by drug-related violence by cartels such as the Zetas, which resorts to abductions and extortion, as well as robbery and trafficking of undocumented migrants trying to reach the United States. Also in December the remains of three women and four men were found in several clandestine graves on a beach in Veracruz. The state lies on the Gulf of Mexico and boasts Mexico’s biggest commercial port.

Man’s cockroach-in-the-ear agony Down Under A man in Australia endured a painful hospital visit after a large cockroach burrowed into his ear and his efforts to suck it out with a vacuum cleaner failed. Darwin-based Hendrik Helmer’s ordeal began in the early hours of Wednesday morning when he was woken by a sharp pain in his right ear, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said. “I was hoping it was not a poisonous spider... I was hoping it didn’t bite me,” he said, adding that as the pain got worse he tried to suck the insect out with a vacuum cleaner before squirting water in his ear. “Whatever was in my ear didn’t like it at all,” he told the broadcaster yesterday. With the pain becoming excruciating, his flatmate rushed him to hospital where a doctor put oil down the ear canal.

This only forced the two centimetre (0.8 inch) roach to crawl in deeper, before it eventually began to die. “Near the 10 minute mark ... somewhere about there, he started to stop burrowing but he was still in the throes of death twitching,” said Helmer.

At that point the doctor put forceps into his ear and pulled out the cockroach.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

India, US reach deal to end feud, count cost of damage

Cambodia opposition warn of ‘final’ push against PM n AFP, Phnom Penh

n AFP, New Delhi The United States and India ended a month-long feud over a diplomat who was arrested, strip-searched and charged in New York for visa fraud with a deal yesterday allowing the envoy to fly home.

The row began on December 12 when consulate official Devyani Khobragade was arrested on suspicion of filing false documents to obtain a visa for her domestic servant and then underpaying her.

Her arrest outside her children’s school and treatment in custody, when the mother-of-two said she was subjected to a cavity search, outraged India which claimed she benefited from diplomatic immunity.

US prosecutors disputed this because she was a consular official, leading New Delhi to request Washington to grant her a G1 visa given to diplomats at India’s UN mission which is also in New York.

“Devyani given G1 visa by USA according her full diplomatic immunity.

India transfers her back. She is now flying home,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said in a tweet that confirmed the deal. Just hours earlier, prosecutors had filed charges against her in a New York court.

The deal ends the dispute, but the two countries which had embraced each other as strategic partners must now count the cost of weeks of feisty exchanges which have left resentment on both sides.

India has removed extra security barriers at the US embassy in New Del-

Devyani Khobragade hi, has demanded contract details for domestic staff employed by American diplomats and even stopped the mission importing duty-free alcohol.

On Wednesday, it ordered an embassy leisure centre popular with American expatriates in the capital to stop admitting non-diplomatic members, while scheduled visits by US officials to India have been cancelled.

The United States through presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama has invested heavily in improving ties with India which it has embraced as part of its “pivot” to Asia, designed to check Chinese influence.

The row exposed a gulf in perceptions and values between the two countries.

Khobragade, a wealthy 39-yearold, was seen at home as the victim of heavy-handed policing and her treat-

Saturday, January 11, 2014

AFP

ment was viewed as a humiliation of India by the world’s superpower.

Domestic servants are routine for the middle classes in India where few employees have contracts, many are abused, and none make even a fraction of the US minimum wage.

In the United States, there was little public sympathy for a woman allegedly exploiting a vulnerable employee who had lied to bring her to the country.

“We are proud Indians. We may be a poor country but we don’t compromise the sovereignty of the country,” Khobragade’s father, Uttam, told a press conference on yesterday.

“We as a family would not like to touch the soil of a country that treats a human being in such a way,” he added, saying that Khobragade’s children and American husband would follow her to India. l

Cambodia’s opposition warned strongman premier Hun Sen of a “final campaign” against him unless fresh elections are held, as it rallied yesterday in the country’s northwest despite recent bloody crackdowns on protesters.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his deputy Kem Sokha met hundreds of supporters in Siem Reap province after authorities banned anti-government rallies in the capital and renewed calls for Hun Sen to resign over alleged vote fraud in July 2013 polls.

“If he does not agree to a new election, we will start the final campaign. That will be to make him step down,” Kem Sokha told a cheering crowd, according to a live stream from the rally on his Cambodia National Rescue Party website.

Authorities chased opposition protesters from their rally site in the capital Phnom Penh on Saturday and banned all anti-government demonstrations indefinitely after bloody clashes between striking garment workers and security forces that saw police shoot several people dead.

In the face of growing international alarm, the government has defended the crackdown, denouncing the rallies against Hun Sen as violent and illegal.

Rainsy and Kem Sokha, who have been summoned to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on January 14 for questioning in connection with the recent unrest, are planning similar rallies in two more provinces over the weekend.

“We are not scared, brothers. We did not commit any wrongdoing,” Sam Rainsy told supporters as they chanted “Step down, Hun Sen.”

The rally was peaceful, local witnesses told AFP, although a few security officers were deployed nearby.

Rainsy’s CNRP has boycotted parliament since last year’s election, alleging that Hun Sen was returned to power because of widespread vote-rigging.

The Cambodian premier, who has ruled for 28 years, has faced mounting criticism over his rights record as well as accusations of excessive force against demonstrators.

Last Friday police opened fire on striking garment factory employees demanding a minimum wage of $160 per month for their work in an industry which supplies brands including Gap, Nike and H&M. Rights activists said at least four civilians were shot dead in what they described as the country’s worst state violence against its citizens in 15 years.

In the face of growing international alarm, the government has defended the crackdown, denouncing the rallies against Hun Sen as violent and illegal The strike has since been called off and most of the garment workers have returned to work.

In the clearance of the long-standing opposition rally site in a Phnom Penh park on Saturday, activists said dozens of security personnel armed with shields and batons chased away hundreds of protesters – including monks, women and children.

Hun Sen, 61, has vowed to stay in power until he is 74. l

Sri Lanka protests US war crimes remarks n

AFP, Colombo

Sri Lanka said yesterday it would protest to the United States over its allegations that army shelling killed hundreds of families during the final days of the island’s ethnic civil war.

A senior foreign ministry official said the allegation, made in a US embassy tweet Thursday, would be discussed with visiting Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice Stephen Rapp.

“Our minister (G. L. Peiris) will take it up face-to-face with ambassador Rapp,” the official told AFP, asking not to be named.

Rapp arrived in Sri Lanka Monday on a five-day visit to meet officials and politicians to discuss Sri Lanka’s rights record and attempts at reconciliation five years after the end of war.

The US embassy posted on Twitter a photo of Rapp and its ambassador Michele Sison from the island’s former battle zone with the caption: “St Antha-

ny’s Ground - site of Jan 2009 killing of hundreds of families by army shelling.”

US diplomats in Colombo told AFP the tweet reflected Washington’s toughening human rights policy towards Sri Lanka.

“This tweet reflects official government stance,” an embassy official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Sri Lanka has denied charges that up to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed by the army during the final push that crushed Tamil rebels fighting for a separate homeland. Sri Lanka maintains that not a single civilian was killed by troops and in November ordered a census of war casualties.

The country’s main Tamil political party has rejected the count as a sham and says it will collate its own figures.

The UN estimates that the conflict for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the Sinhalese-majority nation cost at least 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009. l

9 Pakistan teen dies stopping suicide bomber n Reuters A Pakistani schoolboy who died stopping a suicide bomber from attacking his school has been recommended for the country’s highest civilian award, a provincial police chief said.

On yesterday, Nasir Khan Durrani recommended Aitezaz for Pakistan’s top civilian award - Sitara-e-Imtiaz.

Aitezaz Hassan, 15, tackled the bomber as he tried to enter a government school in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Hassan and the bomber died, but no other students or staff were hurt, police said.

“Though I lost my sweet son I have no regret for what he has done. He has done a heroic job and I am proud of his bravery,” Mujahid Ali, Aitezaz’s father, told Reuters news agency. The bomber approached the school with explosives hidden under a school uniform on Monday, but students noticed and started shouting out warnings to stop him.

Aitezaz tackled him head on, but the bomb detonated and Aitezaz died of his injuries, said head teacher Azmat Ali. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim sectarian group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The school is in Hangu, a predominantly Shia Muslim area.

The boy’s parents said no government official or politician had contacted them. Aitezaz’s father said authorities could rename the school after him and officially declare him a martyr, a designation that would bring some financial relief to his family.

His mother, brother, and two sisters were mourning Aitezaz, but took some comfort in knowing that he had saved many others, the father said. l

Karachi blast kills Pakistani Taliban foe n Agencies

Lightning streaks across the sky of Montevideo, over the Legislative Palace – seat of the Uruguayan Government – during a thunderstorm early on January 10 AFP

A senior Pakistani police officer famous for taking on the Pakistani Taliban has been killed by a car bomb in Karachi.

Chaudhry Aslam, who had survived previous assassination attempts, died on Thursday when the convoy he was travelling in was attacked. Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said it carried out the explosion and warned other security officials that they were also targets.

“Yes, we have killed Chaudhry Aslam and claim the responsibility of his killing,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, TTP’s spokesman, told AFP news agency over the phone.

“We attacked him earlier also but he survived. He has killed, tortured and wounded our mujahideen friends ... finally, we have sent him towards his end.

“We warn other police and security officials who are brutal to and torture the mujahideen that their fate will be no different.” The Pakistani Taliban had previously tried to kill Aslam in September 2011, with a huge explosion tearing off the front of his home in Karachi and killing eight people. l

Australian PM likens people-smuggling Tibetan Buddhist institute engulfed in flames crackdown to war

Malaysia court throws out charge against opposition’s Anwar n AFP, Sydney

n AFP, Kuala Lumpur

A Malaysian court on yesterday threw out illegal-assembly charges against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim over his part in a 2012 rally that could have barred him from standing for election, his lawyer said.

Anwar, 66, and two other members of his party were charged in 2012 with violating newly enacted restrictions on public gatherings as well as a court order banning the rally from the centre of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

But the charges were dismissed after a separate court ruled on Monday that the ban on the gathering was invalid, Anwar’s lawyer Ram Karpal said. Tens of thousands had gathered April 28, 2012 to demand reform of an electoral system that critics say is biased toward the ruling coalition that has controlled Malaysia since independence in 1957.

Azmin Ali, the deputy president of Anwar’s People’s Justice Party and a co-defendant, called the latest developments a “moral victory” for the opposition.

“The rulings show that the authorities have to respect the right of citizens enshrined in the constitution to assemble peacefully,” he told AFP. A former deputy prime minister and rising ruling-party star, Anwar was sacked in a 1998 falling-out with his boss, then-premier Mahathir Mohamad, and jailed on sodomy and corruption charges in an episode that rocked Malaysian politics. l

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on yesterday likened the fight against people-smugglers to war, while defending the detention centres asylum-seekers are held in as effective and humanely run.

Indonesian officials say the Australian navy has turned back at least one boat carrying asylum-seekers to its shores, although The Australian newspaper said as many as five have been secretly returned.

Abbott’s conservative government has refused to reveal details of the incidents or other “operational matters,”

sparking claims from the Labour opposition that it is overseeing a “Stalinist”-style media blackout.

“In the end, we are in a fierce contest with these people-smugglers,” he told a breakfast television programme.

“And if we were at war, we wouldn’t be giving out information that is of use to the enemy just because we might have an idle curiosity about it ourselves.”

Abbott said he would not release information which would be exploited by people-smugglers to the peril of their customers “and to the tremendous disadvantage of our country.”

The conservative Liberal Party

leader, who won power in September polls after campaigning to “stop the boats,” has introduced the military-led Operation Sovereign Borders to crack down on asylum-seekers coming by boat.

Under the policy, Australia will turn back boats to Indonesia when it is safe to do so, while those who reach Australian territory will be processed within 48 hours and quickly sent to Pacific island camps on Nauru or Papua New Guinea.

Australia’s tough policies have irked Jakarta, which has warned that turning boats back could breach Indonesian territorial sovereignty. l

Karzai unlikely to meet US security deadline n AFP, Washington The top US negotiator in talks to secure a long-term security deal with Afghanistan has warned that President Hamid Karzai is unlikely to sign the agreement on time, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The assessment was made in recent days by US Ambassador James Cunningham in a classified cable, after President Barack Obama’s administration repeatedly extended the deadline for the agreement, originally due to be signed early last fall.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said this week that the deal must be signed within “weeks and not months.”

“The clock is ticking,” he said.

But Cunningham said he did not expect Karzai to agree to sign the document before presidential elections set to be held in April.

US-Afghan ties hit a new low in recent months after Karzai made a surprise decision not to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement promptly, despite having vowed to do so.

The BSA would see several thousand US troops remain in Afghanistan to provide training and assistance after the NATO combat mission ends in December.

Signing the BSA is a precondition for the delivery ofbns of dollars in Western aid for Afghanistan.

“We continue to urge President Kar-

zai to sign the BSA promptly,” a senior State Department official told the Post when asked about Cunningham’s cable.

President Barack Obama’s deputies have warned that unless Karzai relents on the security deal soon, there will be no option but to prepare for a full US troop exit – the so-called “zero option.”

“If we cannot conclude a bilateral security agreement promptly, then we will be forced to initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no US, nor NATO troop presence in Afghanistan,” Carney warned Monday.

“That’s not the future we’re seeking,” he added. “But the further this slips into 2014, the more likely that outcome will come to pass.” l

n AFP, Beijing A remote Tibetan Buddhist institute thought to be among the largest in the world has been seriously damaged in a huge fire, reports said yesterday, while the cause of the inferno remains a mystery.

The fire at the Serthar, or Larung Gar, Institute in Sichuan province in southwest China started on Thursday evening, according to a China News Network report.

The blaze destroyed at least 10 structures but no casualties had been reported, the report said.

More than 450 rescuers, police and fire-fighters carried out relief efforts at the scene and an investigation was underway, it added.

Pictures posted on Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, showed throngs of onlookers standing in a street, gazing upward as bright yellow flames consumed a huge portion of the sprawling institute and smoke wafted into the night sky.

The blaze destroyed at least 10 structures but no casualties had been reported, the report said In one of the images rescue workers appeared to be moving debris and aiding several shaven-headed monks in long scarlet robes.

Serthar, known as Seda in Chinese, is in a Tibetan area more than 4,000 metres above sea level and hundreds

of kilometres from the nearest city.

The institute was founded in 1980 in an uninhabited valley and has since grown to become one of the world’s most important centres of Tibetan Buddhism, with an estimated population of 10,000 monks, nuns and students living in small wooden homes on the hillsides surrounding the complex.

Its founder, Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, who died in 2004, was known for keeping a strict focus on Buddhism rather than politics at the institute.

He maintained a close relationship with both Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader and Nobel peace laureate who Beijing condemns as a separatist.

But the Buddhist academy’s survival was threatened in 2001 when armed police forced hundreds of nuns and monks to leave the site, destroying more than 1,000 homes to prevent them returning.

Police demanded that nuns sign documents denouncing the Dalai Lama and pledging not to return, according to overseas campaign groups, and Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok was detained for a year after the incident.

In early 2012, Serthar was rocked by violence when police fired tear gas and began shooting into a crowd of hundreds of peaceful Tibetan protesters, exile groups said.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said that the incident, in which one person was killed, was triggered when “rioters” attacked police with knives, bottles of petrol and guns. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Letters to

www.dhakatribune.com

Time for the BNP to cut Jamaat loose

the Editor

LETTER OF THE DAY

A cruel joke from the EC

I

n a recent interview with the New York Times, Khaleda Zia gave hints that the BNP might consider cutting its long-standing ties with Jamaat-e-Islami.

That she is giving this move any thought at all is a good sign, and might work to the advantage of her party. But it might be time for BNP not to think of this only in terms of strategy or tactics, but in terms of the party’s long-term platform.

Between the elections of 2008 and the more recent Shahbagh movement, and most crucially with the abiding support for war crimes, it has become clear as day that there is little tolerance in this country for the kind of politics represented by Jamaat.

While Jamaat has served as a good tactical ally in electoral seat sharing in the past, the war crimes baggage and now the horrors of more recent violence make them too toxic an association for anyone seeking broad-based support.

Jamaat-Shibir activists were already infamous for their brutal violence against other activists and law enforcement, but they have gone so far as to target the general public in the past year.

The sickening violence on and after election day serve as further reminders of the costs to the BNP of maintaining such an alliance.

From the time Jamaat joined the 18-party alliance, there have been internal disagreements with some party policymakers showing discomfort with having Jamaat in the fold.

Khaleda Zia has rightly said that her party’s internal decisions are theirs. We understand this, and it is to her and her party’s best interests that we appeal.

There was always notable support for BNP’s demands for a free and fair election. Free of Jamaat, BNP might have succeeded in building a more successful movement for that demand through peaceful means.

The murky coupling with Jamaat and its agenda of foiling war crimes trials through violence has hurt BNP’s legitimate demands badly.

Cutting Jamaat loose would also put the government on the spot as Sheikh Hasina has said on more than one occasion that she would welcome dialogue with BNP if it put an end to violence and dropped its alliance with Jamaat.

It is clearer than ever before that BNP stands to gain by cutting Jamaat loose, sooner rather than later.

The war crimes baggage and now the horrors of more recent violence make Jamaat too toxic an association for anyone seeking broad-based support

January 6 On January 3, I received a message in my mobile phone. It was a government information text issued by the election commission.

It said: “Apnar vote apnar gonotantrik odhikar, apnar vote, apnar pochondo. Dayittoshil vabe pochonder prarthike, dekhe shuney, bujhe apnar vote din – election commission.”

I just cannot believe my eyes. How could the Election Commission send such a message? It is audacious, and reflects a total disregard for people’s feelings and their rights.

153 candidates have already been elected uncontested, and 47 candidates are going to be elected in a rigging process. In the one-sided January 5 election, the government is depriving people of their basic rights. For its autocratic decision, the country is falling to pieces.

Nur Jahan

Children are used to carry out political agenda January 7

The other day during hartal, I was going to GPO from the Motijheel Commercial Area for work. When crossing the road in front of BDBL Bhaban, all of a sudden I saw a minor boy being escorted by the police force, and some people making a hue and cry. I approached the mob and wanted to know what was going on. I was flabbergasted. The minor boy, aged 12, was caught red-handed by the police, about to set a CNG ablaze, then taken in to police custody.

At this age, he should be in school, instead of being engaged in a political party’s agenda. But this is not new in our country, where many children remain below the poverty line, and beyond the light of education.

Children are used implement political agenda by being offered money. They never dare to carry out any order since they have nothing to lose. Political parties have to commit to not using children in their political programmes, and strictly follow through. Here, civil society and NGOs can play a significant role to create pressure on political parties.

Md Zonaed Emran

Be Heard Write to us at: Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Email us at: letters@dhakatribune.com Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion@dhakatribune.com Visit our website: www.dhakatribune.com Come join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

Storm in a teacup

T

he swearing in of 289 MPs has taken place, albeit amid some controversy. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury conducted the oath-taking ceremony a few days ago, though the 10th parliament does not go into effect until January 24.

Many people, including some of our legal and constitutional experts, have raised a hue and cry about this legal debate, with BNP’s acting secretary general going so far as dubbing it a violation of the constitution.

Under our reading, the procedure being followed is both constitutional and logical. But, more to the point, we do not think specious arguments on this issue are either helpful or enlightening.

Arguing about whether the swearing-in is unconstitutional or not is a non-issue, in our opinion.

This is hardly where the focus should be. We have much bigger problems that need to be dealt with.

Over the past months, Bangladesh has been combating a crisis of democracy, with numerous arson attacks, crude bomb attacks, as well as atrocities on minority communities across the nation. On top of that, the blockades have dealt a crippling blow to our economy.

This is where the focus should be, on finding a workable solution to the crisis, on holding those behind the attacks accountable, on repairing the damage that’s done to the economy, and making the nation safe for the public.

While we congratulate the MPs on taking their oaths, we hope that they understand their constitutional obligations, and act accordingly for the public good.

Legal nit-picking about when they take office and what happens until then is neither here nor there. There is far more serious business to attend to.

Rich got richer, poor poorer in 2013 January 5

P Bidhan This is very normal for a country with a large number of corrupt politicians and civil servants, and a dishonest, educated society.

Shakerul Tazu Oh, really? Somebody finally speaks out about it. Thanks!

Ban on 11 types of vehicles Hasina: We tried best for BNP January 3

Aleef Khan RIP democracy in Bangladesh! My voting right is denied.

If she has any grace left, she would stop this staged and one-sided election to prevent the country from going into a deep crisis.

Dear PM, when the people rise up, you will not only endanger yourself, your party and fellow supporters, but will also face the threat of extinction. To save yourself and the country, reach a consensus with the opposition for a poll-time govt. There is nothing to lose in compromise, rather you may gain for your magnanimity.

Akhtar Shah AL is completely faultless I presume!

Low voter turnout logical, says CEC January 5

There should be re-elections in the 154 seats, where about 50 million voters were deprived of exercising their voting right, especially in constituencies where candidates were forced to withdraw by their own parties.

Parveen

Shibir man dead in Chittagong clash January 5

Are police permitted to open fire?

Zahirul Islam Shawon

January 5 Arafat Rahman What type of vehicles are allowed then??

P Ahmed This is worse than a hartal or blockade. And imposed by the government, supposedly defending democracy!

LETTER OF THE WEEK

Democracy at a crossroads January 5

Ifty Islam’s full page essay on the above subject succinctly portrays the total decline and downfall of democracy in Bangladesh today. All political, civic and moral principles have been battered by our self-centred politicians.

This writer feels that for us democracy has reached a dead end. Maybe we should forget it, and the alternative of “autocracy” or even “dictatorship” may be a better option. At least it will ensure peace and law and order for the common man, which is their prime need, instead of this “bent and broken” governance by democracy.

When all is said and done, democracy is dead, and our future smeared in uncertainty of lawlessness and destruction, fights and endless rowdiness.

The way we are going, it is an invitation for total destruction of the country due to the unmanageable infighting between the political parties. That is the irony of our fate!

SA Mansoor

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Our focus should be on finding a workable solution to the crisis, on repairing the damage that’s done to the economy, and making the nation safe for the public PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU ACROSS 1 Effective power (5) 4 Inflamed swelling (4) 7 Land measure (3) 8 Make brown (3) 9 Practical intelligence (5) 12 Incline (4) 13 Showed contempt (7) 15 Pale (3) 16 Secret agent (3) 18 Top card (3) 19 Used a chair (3) 21 Regain health (7) 24 Faithful (4) 26 On two occasions (5) 27 Tool (3) 28 Transgression (3) 29 Judge (4) 30 Explosion (5)

DOWN 1 Church service (4) 2 Peaceful (6) 3 Inherited character unit (4) 4 Hairless (4) 5 Numeral (3) 6 Rangy (5) 10 Ply the needle (3) 11 Efface (5) 14 Make into a statute (5) 17 Abstract (6) 18 Performed (5) 20 Pull along (3) 21 Quantity of paper (4) 22 Passport endorsement (4) 23 Payment for property use (4) 25 Employ (3)

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS Crossword

How to solve Sudoku: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

Code-Cracker

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

Decentralise to move forward

Time to move the power around?

T

n M Shamsul Haque he 10th parliamentary election was held amidst a lot of confusion, obstructions, and violence. During the period preceding the election, many substantive issues were raised and discussed widely in the media. Issues such as there being too much of a concentration of power in the hands of the prime minister, restrictions on floor-crossing by the elected members from one party to another, and frequent boycotting of parliament sessions by the opposition were raised.

All these made the government of the country seem unaccountable and authoritarian. In this regard, Afsan Chowdhury said the 15th amendment was passed to make elections difficult for everyone except the ruling party.

The enormous phase of violence was a joint product of the AL and the BNP. There was no need to pass this when no compulsion existed. The reaction of the BNP supported by Jamaat showed

how deeply callous our politicians can be. But together, it showed, after 42 years we hadn’t yet found out a constitutional way to rule and transfer power through elections.”

Too much authority given to parliament members made the local government institutions virtually ineffective. The powerful position of MPs allowed them to accumulate vast amounts of wealth at the cost of good local governance, as it is revealed in their submission to the election commission.

Dr Kamal Hossain, in this connection, expressed that parliament and its members could be more effective if the functioning of parties could be brought into conformity with the mandates of the constitution.

He said Article 70 of the constitution appeared to have made members apprehensive of speaking out on issues for fear of incurring their party’s displeasure.

Reforms needed to be carefully considered to strengthen parliamentary democracy. If the

strategic goals set for 2021 were to succeed, meaningful change had to be made in our institutions and our political behavior.

the constitution of the country before another election is held under the existing constitution.

It may be mentioned that when Bangladesh became independent in 1971, it had a population of only 75 million. The current population is about 160 million.

To deliver public services to this vast growing population requires effective legislative and executive decentralisation.

There are many countries such as Sri Lanka and Malaysia with less than one third of our population that have provincial legislature and governments under federal systems. Professor Rehman Sobhan opined that 2013 had brought into full public view the weaknesses of our democratic system.

Can Bangladesh adopt a federal system similar to Malaysia or Sri Lanka, with Dhaka city being like New Delhi?

It may be mentioned that former president HM Ershad, during his regime in the 1980s, proposed the creation of 4-5 provinces, and devolved government. But his move was stopped by the High Court as it was against the unitary form of governance laid out in our constitution.

Perhaps it is time that we take his idea seriously, and establish a high-powered constitutional commission to study and propose necessary legislation in the 10th parliament.

This has become essential now, given the dysfunctional state of governance under the existing unitary system.

While these legislative and administrative changes are being deliberated, it would be appropriate of the current AL government to make the upazilla system more active and effective.

There is going to be a new round of elections in the upazilas soon.

Before these elections are held, the government must curtail all the powers and positions given to the MPs as they have been, by and large, misused and caused quite some dissatisfaction among the people.

To deliver public services to this vast growing population requires effective legislative and executive decentralisation Too much centralisation of power at the headquarters of the government in Dhaka has hindered expected growth some of the regions, especially the northwestern parts of the country such as North Bengal, as well as some southern districts.

As a result of this deprivation, people in these areas clearly showed their disliking of the Awami League government at the centre. These revealed preferences of the people need to be recognised through changes in

11

Saturday, January 11, 2014

They should, especially, be withdrawn from their chairmanships of schools and colleges.

Headmasters and principals should be made ex officio chairs of managing committees with all powers. In addition, administrative and financial control of educational institutions should be placed under district education offices. l M Shamsul Haque is Vice-Chancellor, Northern University Bangladesh.

The death penalty dilemma n MH Bari

D

oes society need the death penalty? It is the million dollar question now, as voices in favour of certain universal human rights are getting stronger day by day.

The EU countries, Australia, Canada, and some US states have abolished capital punishment. The UN opposes the imposition of the death penalty under any circumstance, even for the most serious crimes. However, Bangladesh has retained the practice of death penalty as punishment.

Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, that it deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment.

They argue that retribution, or “an eye for an eye,” honours the victim, helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have the opportunity to cause future tragedy.

Those who support capital punishment argue that all guilty people deserve to be punished in proportion to the severity of their crime. It is argued that death penalty provides closure for victims’ families. Some proponents of capital punishment argue it is beneficial for society overall. It is undeniable that those who have been executed cannot commit further crimes.

On the other hand, opponents of capital punishment say it has no deterrent effect on crime, that it wrongly gives governments the power to take human life, and it perpetuates social injustices by being racist and classist, disproportionately handing out punishment to minorities or the underprivileged. They say lifetime jail sentences are a more severe and less expensive punishment than death.

Everyone thinks human life is valuable. Opponents say everyone, even those who commit murder, have an inalienable right to their own life.

Sentencing a person to death and executing them violates that right. Those against capital punishment believe that human life is so valuable that even the worst murderers should not be deprived of their right to live.

Those who are against capital punishment also argue that death penalty is wrong because it lowers the dignity of people, that it is a surrender to the worst that is in human beings, that it uses a sort of power – the official power to kill by execution – that has never elevated a society, never brought back a life, and never inspired anything but hate.

The most common and most cogent argument against capital punishment is that innocent people may also get killed because of mistakes or flaws in the justice system. Witnesses, (when they are part of the process), prosecutors, and jurors can all make mistakes.

When this is coupled with flaws in the system, it is inevitable that sometimes innocent people will be convicted of crimes.

Where capital punishment is used, such mistakes cannot be set right. Another important and crucial argument against retribution is that it is immoral.

In addition to all these issues surrounding capital punishment, some argue that all ways of executing people cause so much suffering to the condemned person that they amount to torture, and are therefore wrong. Many methods of execution are quite likely to cause enormous suffering, such as beheading, execution by lethal gas, electrocution and so on.

A number of points can be made to logically argue against the death penalty. There is a better alternative: life without parole. The death penalty puts innocent lives at risk. Race and place determine who lives and who dies. Poor legal defence leaves many sentenced to death. Capital punishment does not deter crimes. There is a better way to help the families of murder victims. No civilian’s job description should include killing another person.

Why should we go for punishments that cannot deter or stop crime?

It may be noted that people are not born criminals. Rather, it is society that makes them criminals. Two of the main causes for crimes are fear and want. We know that human rights are freedom from fear and want. If we can enforce human rights effectively, then society will be automatically peaceful.

Why should we go for punishments that cannot deter or stop crime? It would be good if the state could use them in better ways, keeping criminals in custody for life.

We are a developing steadily, our rate of education is increasing and our illiteracy rate is decreasing. The poverty level is going down and our per capita income has crossed $1000. More importantly, we are practicing the most sophisticated system of governance, democracy, which is supposed to protect human rights.

Bangladesh is a signatory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Bill of Rights. So, Bangladesh might want to consider scrapping the death penalty from its penal code.

The death penalty might someday become unlawful in Bangladesh. It will, at that point, be a reflection of the larger social consensus that capital punishment is inhumane. l MH Bari works in the global marketing of seafood from Bangladesh.

What kind of a nation do we want? n Shazia Omar

E

very day, we as a nation, open the papers and look with horror and sadness at the meaningless violence taking place in our country.

While our politicians play games for power, it is our poorest people that suffer most. Day labourers are unable to work or earn without risking their lives, and as a result, their families go without meals, sometimes go into debt, and are thrown into such depths of poverty, that they may never be able to climb out of their nightmare.

Little boys taking lunch to their fathers and mothers who cannot afford to stay home are hit by bullets and lie bloody on our roads, as we wonder how our “leaders” will get over their differences and let democracy play itself out. We want our leaders to stop nurturing personal bank accounts and instead, do what we are voting them into power for – and that is – serve the people.

In our beloved country, 17.6% of the population lives below the lower poverty line. That is approximately 25 million extremely poor people or 6 million extremely poor families.

Jui is an extremely poor girl I met in Rajshahi. She is chronically underfed, malnourished and frequently ill. She faces social, economic and gender exclusion. Her father left her mother, as is common among extremely poor families. Her mother owns no assets,

savings or land. She has no skills or education. They will remain in abject poverty throughout their lives and from one generation to the next.

Our success is considered a paradox and has made us the global poster child of development

well on several social indicators. We have achieved significant reductions in poverty, including, extreme poverty, over the past 10 years. Women’s participation in economic activity has increased from 8% to 57% between 1983 and 2011, putting Bangladesh ahead of neighbours such as India (29%), Pakistan (22%), and Sri Lanka (35%). Our success is considered a paradox and has made us the global poster child of development. The world looks to us to lead the way in poverty-reducing innovations.

National challenges Is this the sort of country we want?

What is your vision of our country in ten years? What sort of country do we dream of? Let us dare to dream big. Let us dare to dream of a nation where young single mothers are not left without support to raise beautiful daughters like Jui, where children can eat, learn to read and write, find safe jobs, and live with dignity.

National successes

Bangladesh, despite its huge population, political instability and climatic vulnerability, has had remarkable achievements in development. We invented Micro Finance and ORS. We have had great results against MDG indicators. We have reduced maternal mortality, improved family planning and scored

Economic growth is high but the benefits don’t trickle down to the poorest. We are still a nation with high inequality, governance challenges, lack of justice, especially for the poorest, rights and entitlements are not always upheld, political instability, poor infrastructure, not enough jobs, vulnerability to climate change.

What can we do?

We will be judged as a nation by the way we treat our poorest. How can we answer to our own conscience and to our children if we do not move to eliminate this poverty?

Transforming extreme poverty into economic capacity

These conditions need not continue.

Evidence shows that with adequate support, families can climb out

of extreme poverty. Bangladesh has several successful programs (CLP, BRAC-CFPR, shiree, REOPA, FSUP, Nobo Jibon, UPPR) that have transformed the lives of the extreme poor through asset transfers or vocational skills training. Let’s scale up our efforts.

for rapid eradication of poverty, now it’s a matter of setting a target and working towards this clear objective.

Yes, 2022 is an ambitious target, but why not be ambitious? 2021/2022 is a significant year for Bangladesh symbolically – our 50th anniversary. If we eradicate extreme poverty by 2022,

Benefits of eradicating extreme poverty

Some of the benefits are obvious – the elimination of severe hardship and suffering of 25 million fellow citizens, national solidarity and pride. Also, this will mean enhanced economic benefit for all of us. As the extreme poor join the economy, they will consume, produce and buy more.

Our labour force will be stronger (well nourished, skilled, capable) and there will be a multiplier effect, increasing economic growth. Internationally we will also be better respected.

Manifesto for the Extreme Poor

The Manifesto for the Extreme Poor is a civil society document that has received great national support from private sector companies, civil society organizations, donors, NGOs, think tanks and academics.

One demand

The Manifesto has one demand: the complete eradication of extreme poverty from Bangladesh by 2022. All the pieces of the jigsaw already exist

We will be judged as a nation by the way we treat our poorest. How can we answer to our own conscience if we do not move to eliminate this poverty? the nation will truly have come of age.

Once we establish a healthy, democratically elected government, let us start to tackle issues of real relevance. Let only those who love to serve their people come into power and then, let us work together, those of us who can, to mobilise the resources and actions necessary to relieve 25 million people of their pain and suffering. We can be a country where girls like Jui will have a fair chance at a good life. Let us honour our nation and our independence and build the beautiful Bangladesh we are meant to be. l Shazia Omar is Head of Advocacy at Shiree.

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Saturday, January 11, 2014

13TH DHAKA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Mahfuz Ahmed brings yet another mega series 26 films to be screened at Dhaka

n Punny Kabir After bringing out one after another successful mega serials, eminent TV actor and director Mahfuz Ahmed is all set to entertain the audience of small screen with a remarkable record in maintaining quality. Directed and scripted by Mahfuz Ahmed, new mega serial Amader Chhoto Nodi Chole Bake Bake will begin airing today on Channel i at 7:50pm.

to everyone who loves the beauty and serenity of the villages of our country. But, ironically our rural community is no more a sweet place. Corruption has engulfed the villages. From educational institutes to government organisations to NGOs— corruption is everywhere. The series portrays the sad reality of the villages.

What are the other features of the serial?

I grew up in a village and know what a real village looks like. So I am shooting the serial in different locations of greater Noakhali belt which depict the diverse landscape of our rural life. Most of other TV plays featuring rural storyline are shot in Gazipur and Pubail which do not represent the wide variety of our rural landscape.

Why do you prefer rural stories for your serials?

I have a deep connection with village since I grew up there. As the new generation directors are less interested in narrating stories of village people I feel that I should keep on presenting such tales.

International Film Festival today n Entertainment Desk

Twenty-six films including six Bangladeshi films will be screened on the second day of the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) at different venues across the capital today.

The films cover six categories- “Retrospective,” “Cinema of the World,” “Children’s Film, “Women Filmmakers,” “Short and Independent Films Section,” and “Spiritual Films Section.”

The festival features a competition in three categories- Asian and Australian and those of the six segments.

Five films will be screened today at the National Museum auditorium from 10am to 9pm in the “Cinema of the World” category. Antaral, directed by Nepali film maker Dipa Basnet will be screened at

10:30am, Beauty by Argentinian director Daniela Seggiaro at 1pm, Polvo by Julio Hemandez Cordon at 3pm, Ghetu Putra Komola directed by Humayun Ahmed at 5:30pm and Chorabali directed by Redoan Rony at 7:30.

Sixteen films will be screened including four Bangladeshi films short films will be screened at the Sufia Kamal Auditorium.

In the Independent and Spiritual Section, Folk Faith by Shahiduzzaman Badal, 36-24-36 by Bratto Amin, Bish Kabya (The Poison Teller) and Shohor Kabya (The City Song) by Shabnam Ferdousi will be screened from 1pm to 3pm.

Foreign films- Irrompibles by Luis Grajera from Spain, Solo by Mina Yonezawa from Japan, Long Days by Simin Fallahzadeh Tehrani from Iran, The Red Soil by Arash Yazdani from Iran will be screened

from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. T’ Adhib by Raquel from Spain and Okul Nodi (Endless River) by Tuni Chatterji, Clay Dean from USA will be screened from 7:30pm to 9pm.

For competing in the three sections, five films will be screened at the Public Library auditorium-- Bardou by Seyed Hadi Mohaghegh at 10am, The Blindfold by Garin Nugroho at 1pm, Eve Donus Sarikamiş 1915 (The Long Way Home) by Alphan Eseli at 3pm, Udhao (Escape is not an Opinion) by Amit Ashraf at 5:30pm and Steppe Man (Colcu Cholchu) by Shamil Aliyev at 7:30pm.

Finance Minister AMA Muhit graced the first day of the festival as the chief guest while Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Hasanul Haq Inu was present as the special guest.

Director of the festival Ahmed Mustafa Jamal delivered a speech. l

The serial presents the mighty villain of Dhallywood film, Misha Saudagar, for the first time in TV. What made you cast him?

In this serial I have chosen such actors who are not very regular faces in TV. I feel that the TV audience is tired of seeing some common faces in repetitive manner. Misha Saudagar has never worked in TV before and this time he is enacting a role fully opposite what he is used to doing in films. It was a great challenge for me and a director always looks for challenges.

The drama features a rural storyline and the cast includes Misha Saudagar, Raunak Hasan, Punam Hasan Jui, Nader Chowdhury and others.

Dhaka Tribune managed to have a conversation with Mahfuz Ahmed who, besides being a popular actor, has gained huge acclaims as a director for the serials such as Tomar Doyay Bhalo Achhi Ma, Buno Chaltar Gaye, Choita Pagol and more.

Tell us the concept and story of the new production.

The title Amader Chhoto Nodi Chole Bake Bake is taken from Tagore’s poem which is a loved poem

Are you playing any character in the serial?

No. Though I have acted in Choita Pagol, I prefer not to appear in productions I direct. It hampers my concentration.

Are you acting in any other projects right now?

I have signed for Animesh Aich’s upcoming film Zero Degree, and this is the only project I have in my hands right now.

Chorabali

Why are you not regular on TV screen?

These days the industry has a sheer lack of new stories and experimental directors. The repetitive stories and common narrations made me very tired. So I’m taking a break. l

The Blindfold

Int’l Conference on Women in Cinema n Hasan Mansoor Chatak Graceful presence of a number of seasoned film makers, academicians, and development activists marked the inauguration of the two-day international conference on “Women in Cinema”–part of the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival yesterday.

Organised by the Rainbow Film Society, the programme took place at the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban at the University of Dhaka.

Renowned human rights activist Khushi Kabir presided over the session and presented a keynote paper on “Filmmakers who are civil rights activists.

A number of foreign film makers attended the conference including Afghanistani filmmaker and lecturer Sahraa Karimi, Clementine Ederveen, a Dutch film producer, writer and director.

While addressing, Ederveen focused on the roles played by women in the world of cinema.

Robyn Hugan, an Australian filmmaker exhibited her two short films. The films highlighted Malaysian and Indonesian refugees seeking refuge in Australia because of their vulnerable social and economic state.

In the following session Prof Kaberi Gayen of depart-

ment of Journalism and Mass Communication, DU, presented a key note paper on “War, Women and Cinema.”

The session was inaugurated by Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, vice-chancellor of DU while country director of Action aid Farah Kabir was the convener. Mofidul Haque, trustee of Bangladesh Liberation War Museum was also present at the session. Women and Gender Studies department organised a cultural programme.

The conference was held in cooperation with Department of Women and Gender Studies, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and Department of Television and Film Studies of University f Dhaka, supported

by Actionaid and Manusher Jonno Foundation.

Today’s discussion will be held on “Bangladeshi Women Filmmakers: Challenges and Realities” by Shamim Akhtar.

A keynote papers will be presented on “Women and New Trends in Cinema” by Nurkurniati Aisyah Dewi-Nia Dinata, an Indonesian Filmmaker and activist while Giti Ara Nasreen, Prof of Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, DU will discuss on “Gender Representation in Bangladeshi Cinema.”

Around 40 films directed by national and international women filmmakers will be screened at the American Centre in Dhanmondi in the capital as a part of the 13th DIFF. l

A scene form Mahfuz Ahmed’s new mega serial Amader Chhoto Nodi Chole Bake Bake

7:20pmHBO

2:30pm Comedy Central

‘Item girl’ tag derogatory and silly: Malaika Arora Khan

8:30pmStar Movies Action

10:30pm Star World

n Entertainment Desk

ON TV MOVIE Miss Congeniality Death Race

DRAMA

COMEDY Up All Night

2 And A Half Men

MISC

8:30pm Star Plus

10:30am TLC

11:30pm Colors

7:30pm AXN

Meri Bhabi

Balika Vadhu

Rude Boy Food The Millionaire Matchmaker

Thor comes to Dhaka n Entertainment Desk Star Cineplex brings the 2011 American superhero film Thor based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics.

The film is directed by Kenneth Branagh, written by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz and Don Payne, and stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins and many more.

The powerful but arrogant god Thor is cast out of the fantastic

realm of Asgard by his father Odin (Hopkins) for his arrogance and is ordered to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth). He soon becomes one of the finest defenders of earth.

While there, he forms a relationship with Jane Foster (Portman) who teaches him much-needed lessons, and his new-found strength comes into play as a villain from his homeland sends dark forces toward Earth. However, Thor must stop his adopted brother Loki, who intends to become the new king of Asgard. l

Tanjina Toma performs today at IGCC n Entertainment Desk Tagore singer Tanjina Toma will perform today at Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Gulshan today at 6:30pm at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre.

Tanjina Toma has trained in Rabindra Sangeet at the prestigious Chhayanaut and has also trained under renowned gurus such as late Wahidul Haque and Dr Sanjida Khatun. She is serving as a teacher of Rabindra Sangeet in Chhayanaut for the last 10 years.

A gifted artist, Toma rendered her voice in Balmiki Prathibha, a joint Bangladesh-India production in 2010, and also in a documentary titled Bangladeshey Rabindranath, produced on the occasion of Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations and screened in Bangladesh, India, UK and Australia.

Toma is a senior grade artist and regular performer for Bangladesh TV and Bangladesh Betar. She has so far released has released two solo albums: Modhu Jamini from Bangladesh in 2011 and Jibon Kotha from Kolkata in May, 2013. l

An “item song,” in Indian cinema, is a musical performance that has little to do with the film in which it appears, but is presented to showcase beautiful dancing women in revealing clothes, to lend support to the marketability of the film. The dancer who appears in an item number is known as an item girl.

Bollywood actor Malaika Arora Khan, whose popular item numbers like Chaiyya Chaiyya and Munni Badnam Hui have raised the bar for her contemporaries to match her style, finds the “item girl” tag “derogatory and silly.”

“I don’t like the term ‘item girl’. Why not look at it (item song) as a special song? I find it derogatory and silly,” Malaika told in an interview.

Unlike in the past, currently mainstream actresses like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif and others are appearing such songs in different films.

Though Malaika has proved herself as a dancer on screen, but one format she wants to learn is belly dancing.

“I would love to learn popping, locking and robotics, gymnastics and acrobatics, it is amazing to learn these things. I know basic thing about belly dancing but not the technicalities, I want to learn it. I want to learn belly dancing. I wish to learn more of dancing. I have been associated with dance since long time but yet there is so much more to learn about it,” she said.

Malaika says the space of belly dancing is largely unexplored in Bollywood movies.

“We have done a few steps here and there in films, whether Deepika Padukone or Katrina Kaif they all have done it but not the real part. There is no one who has actually done belly dancing on screen.

Besides belly dancing, the 40-year-old actress would like to do some bike stunts and acrobatics, which she says fascinate her. 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

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

Did you know?

Man United legend Eric Cantona averaged a goal assist every 2.78 matches, the best rate in Premier League history

INCREDIBLE

Sport

Saturday, January 11, 2014

0 6 4 DAYS TO GO

14 Yaya Toure named African Footballer of Year

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Younis, Misbah fight for Pakistan in second Test

(L-R) Muktijoddha’s Nigerian defender Eleta Benjamin controls the ball and executes a perfect right-footed propeller kick to score against BJMC during their Bangladesh Premier League match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

Sensational bicycle highlights Muktis win n Shishir Hoque Nigerian defender Eleta Benjamin scored one of the finest goals in Bangladesh football history as Muktijoddha SKC registered their first victory in the Bangladesh Premier League with a 2-1 win over Team BJMC at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

With great control and technique, Eleta Benjamin doubled Muktijoddha’s lead with an outstanding bicycle kick on the stroke of half-time after, midfielder Shafiqul Islam Bipul put the All Reds ahead at the beginning of the game. Nigerian midfielder Samson Iliasu scored a screamer at the hour mark to give BJMC the consolation.

The game was a delight to watch, with both sides unleashing a number of attacking plays from the very beginning.

It was Muktijoddha who took the lead just four minutes into the cgame when midfielder Shafikul Islam Bipul netted his first goal in the league with a fierce angular shot from the right edge of the box, that slipped out of the gloves of diving BJMC goalkeeper Ariful Islam and rolled into the far post.

BJMC had a chance to equalize in the 19th minute when Abdullah al

Parvez’s cross from the right flank was powerfully headed by Nigerian midfielder Samsom Iliasu just wide of the goal. Five minutes before half-time, Aminur Rahman Shojib hit the woodwork with a header inside the box from a free kick from Abdullah Al Parvez.

Eleta Benjamin scored one of the best goals in recent years in the 45th minute – his first in Bangladesh.

Following a corner taken by Maruf Ahmed from the left flag, Benjamin showed great skill and technique to control o the ball, pop it into the air and execute a perfect right-footed propeller kick from the box t past BJMC keeper Ariful Islam.

Muktijoddha could have extended the lead to 3-0 10 minutes into the second half when Nkwocha Kingsley broke into the penalty area but his shot went over the bar.

Six minutes later, Samson Iliasu pulled one back for BJMC with a stunning goal from 20 yards out. Receiving a lobbed pass from Omar Faruk Babu, the Nigerian midfielder’s powerful volley hit the back of the net.

Eleta Benjamin had another brilliant effort in the 86th minute. Moving forward from his natural position, the defender took a powerful strike from the edge of the box that was brilliantly fisted away by the keeper for a corner. l

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS Muktijoddha Shafikul 3, Eleta 45

2-1

BJMC

Samson 60

Shafikul Islam Bipul 3” GOAL! put Muktijoddha ahead after

his fierce angular shot from the right edge of the box slipped from the gloves of diving BJMC goalkeeper Ariful Islam and rolled into the far post.

Abdullah al Parvez’s cross from the right flank found BJMC’s Nigerian midfielder Samsom Iliasu inside the box who headed the ball wide.

Aminur Rahman Shojib’s header inside the box hit the woodwork, following a free kick from Abdullah Al Parvez. ” GOAL! Nigerian defender Eleta Benjamin took Maruf Ahmed’s corner and showed great control and technique to back-volley past BJMC keeper Ariful Islam from right of the box.

GOAL! Nigerian midfielder Samson Iliasu scored an absolute screamer from 20 yards out, after a lobbed pass from Omar Faruk Babu.

Eleta Benjamin’s powerful strike from the edge of the box saved brilliantly by the keeper.

21”

40” 45+

60” 86”

BCB promises extra security for Pakistan

Mahmudullah eyes comeback

n Mazhar Uddin

The second edition of the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) will hit the field tomorrow in BKSP as defending champions Walton Central Zone face East Zone.

“We have a very good side but we have to perform as we have a very strong top order - some handy allrounders with the spin and fast bowling department very strong. We have Shahdat Hossain, along with two young fast bowlers Sohid and Dewan Sabbir and I think it’s a balanced side but we have to perform well,” said Central Zone captain Mahmudullah yesterday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

He added, “We are the defending champions but we are planning to take it match by match. We will now play two matches and if we can play well, we can get the same result as last season,” he said.

The 27-year old added that the BCL will help the cricketers prepare for the home series against Sri Lanka later this month, “We have been waiting for Sri Lanka to come and we have been preparing ourselves according to that.”

The right hander has had a poor run recently in the Test arena, scoring only 36 runs in his last six matches and was excluded from the recent New Zealand series. Nonetheless, he remained optimistic.

“My place in the Test side is still under some doubt but I am working hard to make a comeback,” he said. l

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan returned from a successful International Cricket Council meeting in Dubai yesterday, where it was confirmed that Bangladesh will host the Asia Cup and the previously announced home series against Sri Lanka will go on as planned. The BCB boss added that Pakistan were interested in coming to Bangladesh and that they would have additional security during the Asia Cup tournament if needed.

“Pakistan has now said they want to come. But they are worried about their security. They asked me if we can give them additional security. I told them that we will give all the teams the topmost security. If your security personnel ask us to increase the security, we will provide that. Till yesterday, their appearance in Bangladesh was uncertain.

After talking to them in Dubai, it seems they will try to come,” said Nazmul.

The PCB has also confirmed sending their representative for the security briefing in Dhaka on January 2014 and the BCB president is confident after the ICC meeting that Pakistan are likely to come. “I basically think that we have done what we needed to do till now. We needed to make them understand that they should come here to play. This was our major challenge. To be honest, the situation was such that there was a possibility of them not coming,” he said.

However Nazmul Hasan warned about such incidents like the bomb

blast near the team hotel of the West Indies U-19 side and urged the political parties, government, media and the general public to see that such incidents should not occur again.

“We have done our part but now it is the political parties. The government, media and the general public have to take the responsibility. We have discussed yesterday how this is the biggest World Cup, with 26 teams. There are so many tournaments lined up.

This is a very important time in Bangladesh. If a small incident occurs, causing teams to avoid playing here, our cricket will be set back by 15-20 years and destroy our cricket,” said Nazmul.

“SLC have asked whether it is possible to skip Sylhet, because it is a lot of travel for one ODI. You must have read it in Cricinfo, but it has not been finalized,” he said.

Nazmul Hasan also confessed that the Sri Lanka series was a vital one for the BCB and if the Sri Lanka side declined to participate in the Asia Cup, the World T20 might be moved to another country. “If the Asia Cup isn’t held here, the World Twenty20 wouldn’t take place. If Sri Lanka didn’t come here, there was a big chance for the Asia Cup to be moved. All of these tournaments are connected. The biggest challenge was Asia Cup because Pakistan had an objection,” he explained.

However, Nazmul informed that Bangladesh hosting the Asia Cup has been confirmed and as a result, there was no possibility of shifting the World T20. l

n Mazhar Uddin

Glory goal delights Eleta

Usha confirm Indian recruitments n Raihan Mahmood n Raihan Mahmood Usha Krira Chakra confirmed the arrival of their four Indian recruits for the upcoming premier division hockey league yesterday.

The players are forwards Ajitesh Rai and Roshan Minz, defender Shivakar Ram and goalkeeper Sukhjit Singh. All the players have represented the Indian national team at some time in their career. Rafikul Islam Kamal, the coach of Usha, said as per their latest communication, the players are scheduled to arrive on January 14. “We hope to receive them on January 14th. I don’t think they will be able to take the field in the semifinal of the ongoing club cup hockey, but they will be ready for the final billed to take place on January 15,” he said.

Meanwhile Abahani, the other title contender, will not bring in any foreign players for their club cup commitments. l

Nigerian defender Eleta Benjamin scored one of finest goals in Bangladesh Premier League history when his bicycled effort fooled the Team BJMC defence and the goalkeeper at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

In the 60th minute of the match with Muktijoddha leading 1-0 skipper, Maruf Ahmed whipped a low corner from the left hand flag that landed on the edge of the box to Eleta on the left edge, who toe-pocked the ball in the air, turned his body and fired a back volley into the near post. Team BJMC defence and the goalkeeper was left stunned.

Muktijoddha coach Shafikul Islam Manik said he had seen Sheikh Md. Aslam score such a goal about twenty years ago. Such was the beauty of Eleta Benajmin’s goal that it will surely remain in the minds of all those who

were fortunate enough to see it.

Eleta himself was ecstatic. “I am a defender but I know where to put the ball. I saw the goal post, took the sudden decision of trying it and I am lucky that I scored a goal with the effort. I am very happy to score a goal in this style,” he said.

Eleta said coach Manik’s instruction was to for him to attack the opposition defence zone only when there was a corner, free kicks or throw-in. It is worth mentioning that Eleta Benjamin also takes power packed long throw-ins that create trouble for the opposition defence.

Eleta Benajmin said he has practiced hard to use his attacking instincts. “I practice scoring goals in the practice and my coach encourages it. It is extremely satisfying to see the hard work providing the rewards, I look forward to scoring more goals,” said Eleta.

The defender said in the Nigerian second division he has scored a goal from the midfield just after the kick-off. “I like scoring goals though I am a defender, and this goal is the best among the few goals that I have scored, I see Wayne Rooney score in similar fashion in the English Premier League.”

Meanwhile coach Shafikul Islam Manik said his team was the worthy winner. “We dominated the scenario and scored two goals. We would have scored more but could not finish, Team BJMC played well and we had to work hard to finish as the winner.”

Team BJMC coach Ali Asgar Nasir did not want to disclose the causes his off the field problems. Two of his reliable players - Cameroonian Jean Jules Ikanga and Guinean attacking mainstay Ismael Bangoura – have been absent from practice in the last few days. l

Current Australian Open tennis champions Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (R) and Victoria Azarenka from Belarus pose with the championship trophies to the official draw ceremony at Melbourne yesterday. The Australian Open begins on Monday REUTERS

14

Sport

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Real ease past Osasuna n AFP, Madrid Real Madrid took a huge step towards the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey with a 2-0 win over Osasuna in the first leg of their last 16 tie on Thursday.

Karim Benzema got the hosts off to the perfect start when he headed in Luka Modric’s cross after 19 minutes. Jese Rodriguez then gave Madrid breathing space in the tie when he chipped home Cristiano Ronaldo’s pass after half-time.

And Madrid were only denied a third in comic circumstances moments later as Ronaldo deflected Gareth Bale’s goalbound effort behind.

Ancelotti named a strong side with Bale returning to the starting line-up for the first time in four games following a calf injury. Despite failing to find the net, the Welshman showed flashes of his best form in the second-half and Ancelotti is confident he will go from strength to strength having completed the 90 minutes.

However, after originally pointing to the spot, referee Jesus Perez Montero reversed his decision and harshly booked Jese for diving.

Minutes later Madrid were in front as Benzema flicked home Modric’s free-

kick to register his 99th goal for the club.

Ronaldo passed up a great chance to double the advantage when he fired straight at Riesgo after a lovely scooped pass from Bale as Madrid began the second-half with more purpose than they ended the first.

And the hosts took advantage of some woeful Osasuna defending to make it 2-0 just before the hour mark as Benzema and Ronaldo combined to tee up Jese to loft the ball over Riesgo.

RESULTS

Villarreal

Real Madrid

0-0 2-0

Rayo Vallecano

0-0

Levante

Real Sociedad Benzema 19, Jese 59

Osasuna

That was to be the Spanish international’s last major involvement as he pulled up injured shortly afterwards and was replaced by Isco.

Bale should then have had his first goal since November as his goalbound shot from Benzema’s cut-back was deflected behind by Ronaldo.

But despite failing to add to their tally Madrid will be strong favourites to set up a quarter-final meeting with Alcorcon or Espanyol when they travel to Pamplona for the second leg next Wednesday. l

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after a missed scoring opportunity against Osasuna during their Spanish King's Cup match at Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid on Thursday

Chelsea eye top spot in EPL n AFP, London Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea will attempt to increase the pressure on their Premier League title rivals by moving to the head of the table with victory at Hull City today.

Three points at the KC Stadium will take the Blues ahead of second-placed Manchester City who travel to Newcastle 24 hours later, while current leaders Arsenal visit struggling Aston Villa on Monday.

So Chelsea’s time, if any, at the summit may be brief but victory on Humberside would maintain a pleasing run.

Last weekend’s FA Cup win at Derby County marked a fourth successive success for a side who’ve conceded just one goal in their last five outings.

And while Mourinho continues to have concerns about the lack of goals

from his forwards, the contribution from midfield has masked the deficiencies up front.

The Portuguese manager has claimed the club will not bring in a new striker during the January transfer window to supplement his current trio of Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba. But with Ba’s Chelsea future looking increasingly uncertain -- his last appearance came in the League Cup quarter-final defeat by Sunderland -the Senegal forward’s departure would almost certainly trigger a move for a replacement.

Wayne Rooney has called on Manchester United’s fans to remain behind the team as they look to end a threegame losing streak against Swansea on Saturday.

United now lie 11 points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal heading into this weekend’s fixtures, with their hopes of finishing in the top four and

so qualifying for next season’s Champions League under severe threat.

But Rooney, battling to be fit to face Swansea after missing the last two games with an abductor problem,

FIXTURES Cardiff City Everton Fulham Hull City Man United Southampton Tottenham

v v v v v v v

West Ham Norwich City Sunderland Chelsea Swansea City West Brom Crystal Palace

urged fans to remain loyal to both the team and Moyes.

West Ham have conceded 11 goals in two games, having previously lost 5-0 at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, and find themselves second from bottom in the league table ahead of Satur-

day’s trip to Cardiff City.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be taking charge of his first home game as Cardiff manager, after masterminding a 2-1 win at Newcastle in the FA Cup last weekend in his first match at the helm.

Buoyed by the mid-week success over Manchester United in their League Cup semi-final first leg, bottom club Sunderland will hope to bridge the four-point gap that separates them from safety when they visit fifth-bottom Fulham on Saturday.

Third-bottom Crystal Palace, meanwhile, face Tottenham, who have climbed to sixth on the back of a fourgame unbeaten run under rookie manager Tim Sherwood.

Another club with a new boss are West Bromwich Albion, who have appointed Spaniard Pepe Mel as head coach, although caretaker Keith Downing will remain in charge for Saturday’s trip to Southampton. l

Udinese shock Inter in Italian Cup as Roma also advance n Reuters, Rome A goal from Brazilian Maicosuel gave Udinese a surprise 1-0 Italian Cup win over Inter Milan on Thursday while AS Roma also reached the quarter-finals with a 1-0 victory over Sampdoria.

Maicosuel finished off an incisive passing move with a first-time shot from close range just after the half-hour mark to deny visiting Inter a likely derby tie with AC Milan in the last eight.

Massimiliano Allegri’s Milan take on Serie B side Spezia at the San Siro on Wednesday.

Udinese’s win is a boost for Francesco Guidolin’s side who are 13th in Serie A having lost 10 of their 18 matches.

Inter, sixth in the league, dominated the tie but struggled to create chances.

Coach Rudi Garcia’s Roma, chasing a 10th Italian Cup trophy, will face Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico later

Yaya Toure named African Footballer of Year again n AFP, Lagos

Bayern Munich's Claudio Pizarro (L) shoots to score next to Al-Merrikh's Ali Jaffar during their friendly match in Doha on Thursday REUTERS

Ronaldinho Walcott injury forces extends deal with Wenger’s hand Atletico Mineiro “We have (Alex) Oxlade-Chamn AFP, Rio De Janeiro n AFP, London berlain back and we have many other Former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho has signed an extension to his contract with Atletico Mineiro, the Brazilian side’s president announced on Thursday.

The 33-year-old Ronaldinho, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002 and a winner of the Copa Libertadores with Atletico last year, was due to be a free agent at the end of this year and had been a target for Turkish side Besiktas.

Brazilian press reports claimed that the Istanbul outfit had offered the former Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and AC Milan player an annual salary of 6 million euros ($8.2m) to sign for them.

Ronaldinho moved to Atletico, from the city of Belo Horizonte, from Flamengo in June 2012, and has scored 35 goals in 70 games for them. l

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted on Thursday that he has had to reassess his plans for the January transfer window after Theo Walcott succumbed to injury.

England winger Walcott has been ruled out for six months, forcing him out of the World Cup in Brazil, after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Wenger is a notoriously cautious operator in the transfer market, but with his side seeking to defend their position at the top of the Premier League table, he could now move for attacking reinforcements. “(Walcott’s injury) has accelerated speculation first and of course my desire as well, but let’s not forget about Serge Gnabry, who can play in the first team,” Wenger told the Arsenal website.

players who can play on the flanks, so to find better solutions than what we have internally will not be easy.

“Up front we lose Theo as a potential central forward and that’s maybe where we have to look outside. But we hopefully have (Nicklas) Bendtner back (from injury) in three weeks.

“We are there for the opportunities but it’s very difficult at the moment.”

Wenger said that Walcott, 24, had the requisite mental strength to make a full recovery from his injury, which he sustained during Arsenal’s 2-0 victory at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup last weekend.

“Theo is handling it as well as you can when you have had such a shock because he’s mentally strong, he’s very balanced as a person and he can put it into perspective,” the Frenchman said. l

REUTERS

in the month after Vasileios Torosidis tapped the ball into the net for the hosts in the sixth minute.

It was an impressive team performance by Roma on new signing Radja Nainggolan’s debut.

They would have managed a more

RESULTS Roma

1-0

Sampdoria

Udinese

1-0

Inter Milan

Torosidis 6 Maicosuel 32

comfortable margin of victory but for a sterling display from visiting goalkeeper Vincenzo Fiorillo who among a series of saves pulled off an incredible double stop to deny Alessandro Florenzi.

The tie with Juve will be a chance for revenge for Roma after their 3-0 defeat by the Serie A champions on Sunday. l

LIST OF WINNERS African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure Best African-based Player Mohamed Aboutrika Coach of the Year Stephen Keshi Most promising Talent Kelechi Iheanacho National team of the Year Nigeria National Youth Team of the Year Nigeria Under-17 Club of the Year Al Ahly of Egypt Referee of the Year Haimoudi Djamel Legends of the Year Bruno Metsu, Jose Faria Africa XI Vincent Enyeama - Ahmed Fathi, Mehdi Benatia, Kevin Constant - John Obi Mikel, Yaya Toure, Mohamed Aboutrika, Jonathan Pitroipa - Emmanuel Emnike, Asamoah Gyan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Coach Stephen Keshi

Manchester City star Yaya Toure on Thursday won a third straight African Footballer of the year award.

The 31-year-old Ivory Coast international also won in 2011 and 2012. Nigeria’s John Obi Mikel was second and Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast finished third.

“I thank my family for their support and also congratulate John Obi Mikel, who also deserved this award,” said Toure, who was a key player for both club and country last year.

Egyptian legend Mohamed Aboutrika beat compatriot Ahmed Fathy and Sunday Mba from Nigeria to win the best Player based in Africa.

It was a fitting send-off gift for the 35-year-old Al Ahly star, who has announced his retirement from the game.

Ahly were also rewarded as the Club of the Year ahead of CS Sfaxien of Tunisia and South Africa’s Orlando Pirates

after they won an eighth CAF Champions League trophy.

Nigeria scooped several awards to underline a very successful year with coach Stephen Keshi voted Africa’s best coach, while the Super Eagles were the best national team after they won a third Africa cup of Nations in February and qualified for a fifth World Cup. The country’s Under-17 team were picked as the National Youth Team and Kelechi Iheanacho, who was voted the MVP of the 2013 Under-17 FIFA World Cup, received the Most Promising Talent award. l

West Brom name Pepe Mel as new coach

Can’t get Messi? Sign his cousins instead

n AFP, London

n AFP, Rio De Janeiro

West Bromwich Albion appointed former Real Betis boss Pepe Mel as their new head coach on Thursday, the English Premier League club announced.

The 50-year-old Spaniard replaced Steve Clarke, sacked last month after a 1-0 defeat by Cardiff City left Albion two points off the relegation places.

But, under caretaker manager Keith Downing, the Baggies are currently four points above the bottom three.

Mel himself was sacked by Betis last month, with a 4-0 defeat by local rivals Sevilla helping seal his fate as the club failed to make good on last season’s seventh-placed La Liga finish which took them into the Europa League.

Previously in charge of Rayo Vallecano, Mel was appointed by Albion on a relatively short 18-month contract. l

World footballer of the year Lionel Messi may be out of reach for Bahia, but the Brazilian top-flight side have signed two of his cousins instead.

Argentine forward Lionel Messi (C) posing with cousins Maximiliano (L) and Emanuel Biancucchi AFP

On Thursday, the club from Salvador de Bahia paraded new recruits, Argentine brothers Maxi and Emanuel Biancucchi, their website carrying a picture of the duo standing alongside Messi.

Midfielder Emanuel, 25, spent last season with Paraguayan club Olimpia, with whom he reached the final of the Libertadores Cup, losing to Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro.

Formerly with German outfit 1860 Munich, he is described by Bahia as “outstanding at dead balls” and has agreed a one-year deal.

His elder brother Maxi, 29, has signed a three-year contract and should have few problems adapting to his new surroundings having previously played for Bahia’s local rivals Vitoria, with whom he netted a total of 17 goals last year.

He has also played for Rio de Janeiro giants Flamengo, as well as enjoying spells in Paraguay and Mexico. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

15

Saturday, January 11, 2014

QUICK BYTES

SCORECARD, DAY 3

Training camp set to start

Pakistan 1st innings 165 Khurram Manzoor 73; N. Pradeep 3-62, R. Herath 3-26 Sri Lanka 1st innings (overnight 318-4) 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 b Ajmal 129 A. Mathews c Ahmed b Ali 42 P. Jayawardene b Junaid 9 R. Herath run out 6 S. Eranga b Bhatti 14 S. Lakmal not out 10 N. Pradeep lbw b Ajmal 3 Extras: (b1, lb7, nb1, w1) 10 Total: (all out; 134 overs) 388

The long-awaited preparation camp for the Bangladesh athletes in preparation for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2014 along with the Asian Youth Games, began at the residential camp of the Dhaka Cantonment yesterday. A total of 26 athletes from four disciplines are attending the camp. The disciplines are shooting, archery, taekwondo and boxing. Along with 12 shooters, there are seven archers, three boxers and three from taekwondo in the training program.

Ukrainian boxing coach Oleksandre Ghurenko was scheduled to arrive in Dhaka yesterday night to take over the boxing discipline. The other foreign coaches for the other three disciplines are expected to arrive soon.

–SH

Bowling Junaid 36-7-102-3, Ali 36-6-131-2, Ajmal 34-11-56-2, Bhatti 22-3-80-1 (1nb, 1w), Hafeez 6-1-11-1 Pakistan 2nd innings Khurram c Prasanna b Pradeep 6 Ahmed Shehzad c Prasanna b Herath 9 Hafeez c Prasanna b Pradeep 1 Younis Khan not out 62 Misbah-ul Haq not out 53 Extras: (lb1) 1 Total: (for three wkts; 49 overs) 132

Roma agree $10m Bradley deal Roma agreed to sell US international midfielder Michael Bradley to Major League Soccer club Toronto for $10million on Thursday. A club statement said that a deal for the 26-year-old had been completed. Bradley has played in the MLS before with a spell at New York Red Bulls in 2006. He has also played for Heerenveen in Holland, Germany’s Borussia Monchengladbach, Aston Villa in England and both Chievo and Roma in Serie A. –AFP

Ferrer flops, Taiwan’s Lu sets up Isner final Defending champion David Ferrer crashed out of the Auckland Open semi-finals Friday when Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun staged a stunning upset to set up a tournament decider against American John Isner. Lu defeated the world number three and top seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), shattering the Spaniard’s dream of winning a record-breaking fifth Auckland title and denting his confidence ahead of next week’s Australian Open Grand Slam.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Sony Six NBA 2013-14 7:00AM Brooklyn v Miami 9:30AM La Clippers v LA Lakers 12:00PM Pakistan v Sri Lanka 2nd Test, Day 4 Star Sports HD1 Big Bash T20 8:40AM Hobart Hurricanes v Sydney Thunder 2:15PM Brisbane Heat v Melbourne Stars La Liga 9:00Pm Athletic Bilbao v Almeria 11:00PM Celta Vigo v Valencia Star Sports HD2 Italian Serie A 1:45AM Bologna v Lazio Ten Action Hero Hockey World League Final 2:30PM Belgium v Argentina 4:30PM Netherlands v Australia 6:30PM England v Germany 8:30PM New Zealand v India French Ligue 1 10:00PM AC Ajaccio v PSG 1:00AM Bordeaux v Toulouse FC Ten Golf 4:30PM Volvo Golf Champions Durban, SA - Day 3 Star Sports 4 English Premier League 6:45PM Hull City v Chelsea 9:00PM Tottenham v Crystal Palace 11:30PM Man United v Swansea La Liga 1:00AM At Madrid v Barcelona 3:00AM Elche v Sevilla Ten HD 6:10PM Sky Bet Championship Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United 10:00PM Ram Slam T20 Challenge Warriors v Cobras

Bowling Lakmal 6-1-19-0, Pradeep 10-2-28-2, Herath 21-3-58-1, Eranga 12-3-26-0 Pakistan cricketers Younis Khan (R) and Misbah-ul-Haq (L) look on at the drinks break during the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai yesterday AFP

Younis, Misbah fight for Pakistan in second Test n AFP, Dubai Seasoned batsmen Younis Khan and Misbah-ul Haq hit resolute half-centuries to take the fight to Sri Lanka in the second Test in Dubai on Friday.

Younis was unbeaten on 62 and Misbah scored 52 not out to help Pakistan reach 132-2 at close on the third day at the Dubai stadium pitch which is likely to help spinners on the last two days.

Pakistan still need another 93 runs to avoid an innings defeat and go 1-0 down in the three Test series after the first Test ended in a draw in Abu Dhabi.

Younis and Misbah -- who both hit hundreds in Abu Dhabi last week, came together with Pakistan in dire straits at 19-3. They held the batting together

during their unfinished 113-run fourth wicket stand.

Sri Lanka earlier gained a big 223run lead by scoring 388 in their first knock. Pakistan had made 165 in the first innings.

It was paceman Nuwan Pradeep (228) who gave Pakistan early wobbles.

Pradeep, who took a career best 3-62 in the first innings, had Mohammad Hafeez (one) caught behind in his second over and in his fourth swung one across Manzoor (six) for wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene to take his seventh catch of the match.

Pakistan had lost opener Ahmed Shehzad in the last over before lunch, caught behind for nine off spinner Rangana Herath.

It was left to Younis and Misbah to fight one more time for Pakistan.

Younis was more cautious, reaching his 28th half-century with a single off Herath and continued to bat solidly during his 142-ball stay, hitting four boundaries.

Misbah completed his 3,000 Test runs when on 10, becoming Pakistan’s 15th batsmen to achieve the milestone.

The Pakistan captain survived one legbefore referral on one and twice on close catches behind the wicket, once off a miscued hook which went to the boundary.

But in another responsible batting display he reached his fifty with a double off Herath. He has so far hit five fours and a six during his 119-ball stay. l

Devil in detail for England’s Prior n AFP, London England wicketkeeper Matt Prior has laid the blame for a 5-0 Ashes thumping in Australia on the team letting their standards slip.

In his column for Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper Prior -- dropped following the third Test in Perth after poor displays with both gloves and bat – said players had shown a lack of respect for both captain Alastair Cook and coach Andy Flower.

The 31-year-old Sussex wicketkeeper-batsman said seemingly minor issues such as being late for team meetings and not wearing the correct kit were symptomatic of deeper problems, even allowing for the fact Australia played by far the better cricket during the series.

MI, CSK and RCB use full retention quota KKR retain Gambhir, Narine as DDR make bold move Kolkata Knight Riders retained their ented batsman Ambati Rayudu. n Agencies Aussie pace spearhead Mitchell John- skipper Gautam Gambhir along with

mystery spinner Sunil Narine for the next edition of the cash-rich league.

Delhi Daredevils unanimously decided against retention of their existing player going into the Indian Premier League (IPL7) auction.

The team management explaining the decision said “it was the unanimous decision of the management with the focus of building a fresh team that the fans would be proud of”.

Mumbai Indians expectedly retained five players including skipper Rohit Sharma. Australian speedster Mitchell Johnson will now be favourite to be obtained through `Right to Match` cards that the franchise can exercise during the twoday auction on February 12 and 13.

The Shah Rukh Khan co-owned Kolkata Knight Riders have retained their captain Gautam Gambhir and mystery spinner Sunil Narine. l

RETENTION QUOTA Chennai Super Kings Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind), Dwayne Bravo (WI), MS Dhoni (Ind), Ravindra Jadeja (Ind), Suresh Raina (Ind)

Defending champions Mumbai Indians, the formidable Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals are three teams who have exhausted all their five retentions available for the seventh edition of the cash-rich IPL as the franchises on Friday submitted their list to the Governing Council.

Almost all the established India players have been retained by their respective franchises. CSK predictably retained skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina and West Indies` Dwayne Bravo.

Mumbai Indians went with their champion skipper Rohit Sharma, senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard, Sri Lankan slinger Lasith Malinga and tal-

son will in all likelihood be picked up with `Right to Match` card while Dinesh Karthik has also got the boot.

Royal Challengers Bangalore had retained their captain Virat Kohli, Jamaican Game-Changer Chris Gayle and explosive South African ODI and T20 skipper AB de Villiers.

Rajasthan Royals retained Australian Shane Watson, who will lead the side in IPL-VII along with left-arm seamer James Faulkner along with India internationals Ajinkya Rahane and Stuart Binny. The franchise also retained talented India colts wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson, who did well for the franchise in the Champions League T20.

Kings XI Punjab retained hard-hitting South African left-hander David Miller and talented Ranji team opener Manan Vohra. Vohra is another uncapped player to be retained.

Roma, Coma thrive in Dakar’s Argentine heat n AFP, San Miguel De Tucuman

Pironkova beats Kerber for Sydney title

Spanish driver Nani Roma reclaimed the Dakar Rally lead Thursday as compatriot Marc Coma soared to the top of the motorcycling standings after a brutal fifth stage which saw temperatures nudge the 40-degree mark.

Roma, behind the wheel of a Mini, had led after three stages and he reasserted his authority on the gruelling 912km run from Chilecito to San Miguel de Tucuman. Roma clocked 4hr 27min 01sec on the 527km timed section of the stage with South Africa’s Giniel De Villiers, in a Toyota, in second spot, and America’s Robby Gordon, driving a Hummer, in third place. l

n AFP, Sydney Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova crowned a stunning week of top ten scalps with a straight sets victory over

Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria holds the women's singles trophy at the Sydney International yesterday REUTERS

fifth seed Angelique Kerber in the final of the Sydney International Friday.

Pironkova, the world number 107, defeated her third top-ten ranked opponent of the week with a 6-4, 6-4 win in 96 minutes. Pironkova became the first women’s qualifier to win the Sydney International, one of the oldest tournaments in the world, for her maiden WTA title.

She reached her debut WTA final with a last four win over second seed Petra Kvitova after beating Italian third seed Sara Errani in the quarter-finals.

“Where do I start? Mum, dad, I have a trophy,” the 27-year-old said in an emotional victory speech.

“When I know what I’ve been through, not only last season but throughout my career, it hasn’t been easy for me,” Pironkova said at her post-match media conference.

Kings XI Punjab David Miller (SA), Manan Vohra (Ind)

Kolkata Knight Riders Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Sunil Narine (WI)

Mumbai Indians Lasith Malinga (SL), Kieron Pollard (WI), Ambati Rayudu (Ind), Rohit Sharma (Ind), Harbhajan Singh (Ind)

Rajasthan Royals Stuart Binny (Ind), James Faulkner (Aus), Ajinkya Rahane (Ind), Sanju Samson (Ind), Shane Watson (Aus)

Royal Challengers Bangalore AB De Villiers (SA), Chris Gayle (WI), Virat Kohli (Ind)

Sunrisers Hyderabad Shikhar Dhawan (Ind), Dale Steyn (SA)

“This is something that I’ve been waiting for for so long and something that I’ve missed so much. Now that I finally have it, it’s all surreal. I still cannot believe it, honestly. My mum and dad are the people that have always been with me. My dad is also my coach, so obviously he’s very excited too.”

The Bulgarian’s powerful backhand constantly had the German left-hander under pressure and she finished the stronger despite playing her eighth match in eight days. Pironkova broke Kerber’s service six times and lost her serve four times in a physical contest between two big hitters on the women’s circuit.

It was a draining week for the Bulgarian, who had her right thigh strapped and showing the effects of her heavy schedule as she heads to next week’s Australian Open. l

“There are obvious straightforward cricketing reasons why we lost the Ashes in Australia but when assessing this defeat you have to look deeper,” Prior wrote.

“It all goes back to the dressing room and making sure that environment is right and on this tour I think we let it slip a bit. We let a few things slide.

They appear trivial issues to those on the outside but they are important when building a team environment.

“Little things like wearing the right kit, turning up to meetings on time, not five minutes late. It is about the respect you have for your team-mates, coach and captain.”

Meanwhile Prior, for so long one of the pillars of the England Test side, was severely self-critical of his own performance in Australia. l

Del Potro to play Tomic in Sydney final n AFP, Sydney

World number five Juan Martin del Potro powered his way into his first Sydney International final with a straight sets demolition of Dmitry Tursunov on Friday.

Del Potro had his big serve firing as he rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 win over the Russian fourth seed in 64 minutes.

Del Potro, the top seed, will face Australian defending champion Bernard Tomic, who wore down Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in the other semi, 6/7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-3 in 2 hours and 13 minutes.

The first Argentine to reach the Sydney final since David Nalbandian in 2009, del Potro broke Tursunov’s serve three times and was formidable on his own service.

He thundered down nine aces, making it 38 aces in his three wins so far in Sydney.

It will be his 25th career final and he is looking to step up for his second major title since downing Roger Federer to win the 2009 US Open in New York.

“It is one of my biggest challenges for this season,” he said. l

Del Potro celebrates his win yesterday

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Saturday, January 11, 2014

One lakh Wi-Fi hotspots for rural areas n Muhammad Zahidul Islam The government has planned to establish one lakh Wi-Fi hotspots in different rural areas to provide people internet connectivity free of cost with an aim to diminish the information and communication gap between city and rural areas.

The establishment of the service would be focused especially at market places and other developing areas, according to a high official of Information and Communication Technology ministry.

Md Nazrul Islam Khan, secretary of ICT ministry, yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are planning to expand our ICT development work to the remotest areas in the country and provide free internet to people who cannot afford the service.”

He said they would establish the infrastructure gradually and try to provide all kinds of technical support from the rural areas.

About the initiative, Nazrul Islam said: “Through this process we can reduce the ‘digital divide’ between the city and rural areas.”

According to sources, the ICT ministry is currently planning the project and would establish it within the next fiscal.

Nazrul also said the cost of the project could not be estimated yet but estimations would be completed before pre-budget meetings.

The establishment of the service would be focused especially at market places and other developing areas, according to a high ICT ministry official He said he was optimistic about the project and hoped that the facilities would create employment in the rural areas as well reduce unnecessary hazards.

The ICT official said the government has already established more than five thousands Union Information Centres, adding that “We will create new centres at haats and bazars.”

The ICT ministry is currently working on a project of apps development which it expects will enable people to use modern services more easily. l

Labourers covered in dust work in a brick kiln at Kharkhari in Rajshahi yesterday. Most brick kilns in Kharkhari and Godagari in the district are illegally established. A lack of protective measures for the labourers working in such hazardous environment puts them at serious risk of respiratory ailments DHAKA TRIBUNE

Bones and skulls still being found in Rana Plaza debris Calls raised for renewed search, police claim remains are ‘cow bones’ Samiul Basher Anik and n Syed Muktasree Chakma Sathi Some form of closure has finally arrived for the family of Obaidul Haque, who had been missing since the deadly Rana Plaza disaster, after the garment worker’s skeletal remains were recently recovered from under the debris of the building.

Obaidul, who worked at the New Wave Bottoms factory and hailed from Mymensingh, was the first among the missing workers whose full skeleton had been found since the rescue operation was called off.

Although eight and a half months had passed since the tragedy occurred, human bones and skulls are still being found at the Rana Plaza site, as relatives of many missing people continue their wait to be able to bury their loved ones.

The long wait for Obaidul’s family ended when his skeleton was found along with an identity card and a mobile phone, during a series of search drives.

Locals said the first human skull was recovered on December 13 last year by street children, who were trying to collect iron rods and pieces from the debris.

Following the incident, garment workers, street children and voluntary organisations conducted more drives

and found at least 310 pieces of human skeletal remains, including four skulls from the debris, said Emdadul Islam, president of Rana Plaza Garments Workers Union.

He added that street children carried out searches on four occasions at the site, while other organisations carried out five drives.

The highest number of bones recovered during a single drive was 110 different skeletal pieces from eight separate places at the Rana Plaza site, Emdadul said.

“On our last drive on January 3, we recovered 28 pieces of human bones including a skull from the debris. We wanted to continue the drives, but police barred us, saying the bones were cow bones and threatened us with arrest,” said Emdadul, who worked at Rana Plaza’s Phantom Garments as an iron man and was rescued after 24 hours of the deadly collapse.

The locals who were involved in the searches said they had seen many bone parts lying neglected in three water-reservoirs at the site.

“We just want to conduct a drive at the three places, and we are sure that we could recover some bodies of the unlucky workers from there,” said Emdadul.

Labour rights leaders also urged authorities concerned to launch renewed search efforts, saying it was now clear

that not all bodies had been found during the initial rescue drive.

Rafiqul Islam Sujan, president of Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation, told the Dhaka Tribune that another search in the debris was very much needed.

Labour leader Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, also the assistant executive director at Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, said: “A search is immediately needed and the government cannot neglect the issue now, just because it is no longer a burning issue.”

While visiting the site on Thursday afternoon, many relatives of the missing workers were found to be waiting there for updates about searches for their loved ones.

Shapla, who was injured in the Rana Plaza collapse, said her brother Solaimen Hossain Sentu – who also worked with her on the third floor of the building – remains missing since the incident.

“I provided DNA in Dhaka, but so far, none of the found bodies are my brother’s. So I come here often hoping one day, my brother’s body parts would be found,” she said.

When contacted, Savar model police station Officer-in-Charge Mostafa Kamal claimed that some people were staging a drama to embarrass the government, adding that the bones were not “human,” rather they were “cow

bones” or had been collected from outside.

The bones have been sent to the National Forensic DNA Profiling Lab in Dhaka to verify the true identity of the bones, he added.

Savar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Kamrul Hasan Molla, who was now in charge of the debris site, admitted that he had received pieces of recovered human bodies and had already sent them to the DNA lab at Dhaka Medical Collage and Hospital.

“After getting results from the lab, we would have an indication that whether these bones belong to Rana Plaza workers or not; and then, we will decide whether it is necessary to run a fresh search,” he said.

Kamrul also said his office had already sent a report to the higher authority in this regard, but did not clarify who the higher authority was.

At least 1,134 people were killed and thousands more injured when the nine-storied Rana Plaza collapsed on April 24 last year.

The Ninth Infantry Division of army, which led the rescue, abandoned the search for survivors on May 13.

According to a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations Directorate, 261 people remained untraced at the site. The army identified those 261 out of 329 people who were reportedly missing after the collapse. l

DITF begins today n Tribune Report

Black hole to have its ‘big meal’

The 19th Dhaka International Trade Fair is all set to begin today despite little improvement in security situation that pushed back its usual starting time.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the month-long fair at 11am at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, said Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed at a press briefing yesterday.

The DITF was originally scheduled for January 1 but was rescheduled following a request from participating enterprises on security grounds.

The fair will remain open from 10am to 10pm until February 11. The entry fee for adults is Tk30 and Tk20 for children.

“The ministry has completed all necessary preparations despite the existing political deadlock,” Mahbub told reporters. “We are expecting a huge turnout of visitors.”

Despite organisers’ claim to have completed preparations, however, most of the 471 stalls and pavilions at the fair venue were found under construction yesterday. The arched gateway leading to the venue was also incomplete.

A total of 12 countries are taking part in the fair.

Last year, Bangladesh bagged spot orders worth Tk157cr; we are expecting more this year,” Mahbub said.

On security arrangement, he said the venue would be kept under surveillance by the members of BGB as well as regular security officers. l

n BBC Online Astronomers are getting ready for their best ever glimpse of the mysterious black hole at the heart of our galaxy.

“Fireworks” will flare if it gobbles up a giant gas cloud which is drifting perilously close.

A collision is now likely in spring, according to scientists at the American Astronomical Society meeting. Stargazers will be able to see the climax on a new public monitoring website.

“This could be our black hole’s biggest meal in hundreds of years,” said Leo Meyer, of the University of California, Los Angeles. “It might bring spectacular fireworks - and we want everybody to watch.”

The collision could give astronomers a unique window on one of the universe’s great enigmas.

Black holes are so dense that not even light can escape them, once it passes their event horizon (point of no return). They can only be observed indirectly – from brief flashes of radiation released by matter falling in.

The giant gas cloud G2 is three times the mass of Earth. It was first spotted in 2011 hurtling towards Sagittarius A* – the black hole in our galactic core.

Impact is now just a few months away. If the gas drifts close enough it will heat up, releasing great flares of

X-rays, which shed light on the black hole’s properties.

Astronomers have already secured front row seats. Dr Meyer’s team is tracking the cloud’s approach using the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. They can see it “stretching like spaghetti” as the black hole tugs at its head, now moving much faster than its tail.

And while Keck watches the cloud, Swift is watching the black hole. Nasa’s X-Ray space telescope is poised and primed to catch the first glimmers of an encounter.

“Everyone wants to see the event happening because it’s so rare,” said Nathalie Degenaar, Swift’s principal investigator.

Sagittarius A* lurks 26,000 light years away in the Milky Way’s innermost region.

Viewed from Earth, it is in the

Another arson victim dies n Tribune Report The driver of a human hauler who was burnt in a petrol bomb attack during the BNP-led 18-party alliance’s latest two-day hartal lost the battle for his life yesterday in Chittagong city.

Md Mitul, 22, suffered 80% burn injuries when miscreants hurled the bomb on his vehicle, locally known as a Laguna, at Technical intersection in the port city on Monday. He was undergoing treatment at the ICU of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) and died around 4am, our Chittagong correspondent reported.

The BNP-led 18-party alliance was observing the hartal demanding cancellation of the results of the 10th parliamentary election held on January 5.

In another development, police in separate drives nabbed 16 Jamaat-Shibir men from Fatikchhari upazila yesterday for their alleged connection with sabotage during the recent political unrest.

Md Shahjahan Bhuiyan, the officer-in-charge (OC) of Fatikchhari police station, said they had conducted an overnight drive at different areas to make the arrest.

Meanwhile in Pirojpur, ruling Awami League activists set fire to a BNP office six hours after an Awami League office was torched yesterday.

Fire service sources said a fire erupted at the Awami League office at about 3:40 am and soon engulfed the entire office and the adjoining Grameenphone customer care centre. Firefighting units rushed in and doused the flame after three hours of frantic efforts, reported UNB. Local Awami League President

Alauddin Khan blamed BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men for the attack.

Afterwards, a group of Awami League activists took to the streets, brought out a procession and vandalised the district unit BNP office on Post Office Road around 9:30 am.

Later they also set fire to the office.

A fire service unit rushed in and but the activists obstructed and vandalised it as well. Later the fire service unit managed to reach the spot under police protection and doused the fire after an hour of frantic effort.

Additional police, Rab and army personnel were patrolling the area to avert further trouble. A tense situation was prevailing in the town following the incident.

Our Dinajpur correspondent reported that yesterday four presiding officers who discharged duties in different polling centres in Birganj upazila filed separate cases accusing 1,950 unidentified men of the 18-party alliance for their involvement with incidents like clashes, attacks on polling centres and hijacking and torching polling materials on the election day.

In Sherpur, two Jamaat activists were arrested from Poragarh area of Sribardi upazila on Thursday and yesterday afternoon under the charges of attacking local Awami League leader Billal.

In Bagerhat, police arrested a local leader of Jamaat from Kachubunia village in Morelganj upazila early yesterday for his suspected involvement in torching two Hindu temples on Wednesday night.

In Sylhet, police arrested Anhar Ahmed, 40, the secretary of Osmaninagar thana unit of Jamaat from Goalabazar area yesterday afternoon, UNB reported. l

southern summer sky near the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius.

Even for a black hole it is dim about a billion times fainter than others of its “supermassive” type. And this makes it something of a mystery.

“Currently it’s not easy to see at all.

But if the gas cloud suddenly feeds it with much more mass, you might get fireworks. And with that, you can test all sorts of theories,” said Dr Meyer.

Black holes are thought to play a crucial role in the life cycles of galaxies.

They eat matter from their surroundings and blow matter back. This influences how stars are formed, how the galaxy grows, and how it interacts with other galaxies.

To get a sense of the typical feeding habits of Sagittarius A*, the Swift team has been making regular observations since 2006. l

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