09 February 2014

Magh 27, 1420 Rabius Saani 8, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 1 No 316

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Congested slums death-trap for the poorest

Child burnt alive in city slum fire

Several thousand people in Jheelpar slum were living in ‘inhuman’ conditions

Sarkar, Ashif Islam Shaon n Kailash and Mohammad Jamil Khan

Islam Shaon and n Ashif Mohammad Jamil Khan

A child was burnt alive yesterday morning when a devastating fire broke out at a slum in the capital’s Modhubagh area, gutting over 600 shanties and leaving thousands homeless.

The fire broke out at the Jheelpar Slum along the Hatirjheel Lake on Rampura Mohanahar Abasik Project around 8:30pm, when almost of its dwellers, who were mainly garment factory workers and rickshaw pullers, were already out of their shanties for work.

The 3-year-old child, Sabuj, was killed in the blaze after his mother Madina Khatun, a housemaid, and father Hasmat Miah, a rickshaw-puller, went out to work keeping Sabuj asleep and leaving their 11-year-old daughter Sathi to take care of the child. However, Sathi soon went out of the house to play as her younger brother was sound asleep.

Hailing from Shimulkochi village under Haluaghat in Mymensingh district, Madina and Hasmat had been living in the slum with their two children Sabuj and Sathi for several years.

It took two hours for 14 units from the Fire Service to douse the fire; however, almost everything in the slum was burnt to ashes in the blaze in the meantime.

The slum, which spreads across an area of three bighas, had around 900 shanties.

“We tried to douse the fire soon after it broke out, but it went beyond control. The fire fighters were informed too late,” said a resident Runjina.

The exact cause of the fire could not be confirmed, although many suspect

Eleven years ago, Madhubagh Jheelpar slum had only five one-storey houses on a wetland. The poorest of the poor, who could not even afford a room at those slums on dry land, chose to live in that slum in Maghbazar eke out a meagre living. But the scenario has changed in the last five years.

Now, to rent a 10-feet by 8-feet room, the dwellers have to pay Tk3,300, which comes down to Tk41 per square feet, as the slum owners have filled up the whole wetland, added an extra floor on the shanties, and gave the tenants gas and electricity connections. The number of shanties has also been increased to around 900 after the earth-filing. The rent of 10feet by 8-feet room was Tk300 earlier.

However, there are still only three narrow entrances for thousands of dwellers, making them vulnerable to emergency situations like fires.

Yesterday, a sleeping child was burnt to death when a devastating fire broke out in the slum. More than 600 shanties were gutted in the fire that has left several thousand people under the open sky. The tenants said fearing a rush for the narrow exits, they had no time to think of saving their valuables. Beside, the fire spread fast as the houses were built with no space between each other.

The three-year-old child identified as Sabuj died when his mother Madina Khatun, a housemaid, was at her workplace. She left her daughter  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

A slum dweller looks on as others scavenge the remains after a devastating fire broke out at Jheelpar Slum of the capital’s Modhubagh area yesterday morning

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Business

Rebels, Jamaat leaders major hurdles BCB supports as BIG 3’s ICC revamp gets approval for BNP in upazila polls

Op-Ed

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

News

BNP’s plans for making a strong comeback to the political scenario may suffer a huge blow if it fails to make sure that its rebel grassroots leaders and those backed by its ally Jamaat do not run against each other in the upcoming upazila parishad polls.

The party is already finding it difficult to convince the Jamaat-e-Islami and the rebel BNP leaders to not run against the candidates that it has backed for the local body polls, due in about 10 days’ time.

In a number of upazilas around the country, the build-up to the upazila polls have been marred by skirmishes among the supporters of the BNP-

INSIDE B1 Bangladesh’s RMG sector has stepped into making factories eco-friendly

11 We mix up wrongdoings with righteous causes. This practice continues with no end in sight. Our student politics is an issue in which we have invested a lot of effort, only without getting any proper solution.

One short-cut ‘solution’ has been floated time and again.

4 The prosecution in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack cases hoped to complete the trial soon as it got pace with the delivery of verdict in 10-truck arms haul cases in Chittagong.

5 Uzzal Sikder, a psychology student of Jagannath University, recently received an email saying that he won a huge sum of money from Western Union Money Transfer Lottery.

backed candidates, the rebel leaders and the Jamaat leaders.

A number of central BNP leaders, seeking anonymity, have expressed anxiety over the rift that has recently developed between BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami surrounding upazila polls.

In more than a dozen upazilas, the BNP-backed candidates are being challenged by both local Jamaat and rebel BNP leaders, in defiance of the alliance decision to ensure single runner for every upazila.

In nearly half of the 98 upazilas, where the first phase elections will take place on February 19, rebel BNP candidates are challenging the party-backed aspirants.

“BNP’s rebel candidates in many upazilas are already a problem for the party. In addition, the Jamaat aspirants in some places are really making things tough for us,” a standing committee member of BNP told the Dhaka Tribune.

However, BNP chairperson’s adviser Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said these were only stray incidents and “no big deals.”

“Local leaders, along with the alliance leaders, are trying to sort out the problems and finalise single candidates,” Khosru told the Dhaka Tribune.

BNP’s Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi echoed Khosru adding that a monitoring cell had already been formed to keep things under control.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

n Minhaz Uddin Khan

The ICC (International Cricket Council) approved extensive changes to its structure yesterday proposed by the ‘Big Three’ – BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), CA (Cricket Australia) and ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board). Eight of the 10 test nations, including Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) voted for proposals which have now put India, England and Australia in control of the global game and most of revenue.

It was reported that only PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) and SLC (Sri Lanka) had partially countered the proposal by refraining to vote in the ICC board meeting held in Singapore.

Bangladesh and South Africa had initially indicated to oppose the con-

troversial modifications but ultimately voted in favour. This allowed the big three obtain the eight votes which is ‘extra ordinary majority’ that they needed to pass the special amendments.

The approved revamp has cleared path for high-performing associate nations to gain Test status. The winner of the next ICC Intercontinental Cup will be entitled to take part in a play-off against the bottom-ranked full member and, if successful, obtain Test status.

Thus, Bangladesh, the lowest Test ranked nation, may face the champions from the Intercontinental Cup if doesn’t improve in future. But as the relegation is no more in place, the Tigers are safe even if they come across defeats in the play-offs.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

PDB set to build a 400MW plant at Bibiyana South with own fund n Aminur Rahman Rasel The Power Development Board has decided to construct the Bibiyana South, a 400MW gas-based combined cycle power plant project, in Habiganj with its own fund as a private company apparently “failed” to build a power plant there due to fund crunch.

PDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhulla said: “The land for construction of the power plant was acquired earlier and the private enterprise,

Summit Group, failed to work on the project. So, we are thinking of constructing another plant on the land instead.”

Alongside the Bibiyana south, another plant named Bibiyana 3 with 399MW gas-based power plant will be built under the PDB. The PDB’s Energy Development and Maintenance funds worth Tk1,800crore will be used for the Bibiyana South power plant.

A power plant of this capacity re-

quires at least Tk2500-Tk3000crore while every year nearly Tk700crore are deposited to the fund.

The gas-based power plant project was planned considering the availability of gas.

The PDB has already invited international tender for the new power plant project. The last date for tender submission is April 1.

This time, the tenders will only be considered from internationally reputed firms or consortium.

The eligible firms must have minimum Engineering, Procurement and Construction experiences of at least two combined cycle power plants, each having minimum 300MW capacity regarding engineering, supply, erection, installation, testing and commissioning on turnkey basis over the last 15 years.

Those power plants should be in continuous commercial operation for minimum two years.

The eligible company has to provide $3m in the form of an irrevocable and

unconditional bank guarantee issued by any scheduled bank of Bangladesh or by a foreign bank duly endorsed by a scheduled bank in Bangladesh payable in favor of the secretary as tender security of PDB. The government had signed agreements with the Summit Power under the Independent Power Producer guideline in May 2011 to install three power plants - the gas-fired Bibiyana 1 and the 341MW Bibiyana 2 in Habiganj,  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Chief whip prefers cash to crests n Tribune Report Newly-appointed Chief Whip of 10th parliament ASM Feroz has publicly asked for money instead of crests from those who wanted to felicitate him during a reception programme at his constituency Bauphal in Patuakhali.

Feroz on Friday visited the constituency, from where he won uncontested, and attended a public programme when he had to receive dozens of crests.

At that time, he said: “Why so many crests! I will be at my political office from 9am to 3pm tomorrow [Saturday].

If anyone wants to give something to the party fund, [please] come then.

“Not more crests. I want cash. Cash is what I want,” Feroz announced through a loudspeaker. In his brief speech, he used the word “cash” thrice.

Local Awami League and its associate bodies arranged the event on a playground in Bauphal sadar upazila.

Feroz was also elected an MP from the constituency in the previous parliament and made whip. His speech, broadcasted through the local cable networks, stunned his supporters.

In his speech, Feroz said: “Do not you understand? A lot of money is required to contest an election. So, felicitate me with cash. It will be very useful for me. What is the use of this [crest]?”

3 more held over Pabna mayhem n Tribune Report

When contacted, Feroz yesterday evening told the Dhaka Tribune over phone that it had been a joke with the party colleagues and others.

“People like me never attend any underhand dealing. Why will I ask my people to do so? I was joking then and it was a foolish language. But the media took it [seriously],” Feroz said.

'A lot of money is required to contest an election. So, felicitate me with cash. It will be very useful for me. What is the use of this [crest]?'

“I know people who are giving me crests and taking pictures will use those to take advantage in their areas. That is why I asked for money from them.”

The chief whip also blamed two newspapers for spreading propaganda and that they ran reports intentionally.

Sources said after publishing report on the issue, Feroz’s men had publicly threatened a reporter of harassing him physically and filing cases against him.

But Feroz claimed that there was no question of harassing any journalist. “But the journalists are frequently harassing me through their reports,” he said. l

Thousands of visitors gather at the Dhaka International Trade Fair at the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar yesterday as the one-month long fair ends tomorrow DHAKA TRIBUNE

MUHURI CHAR DISPUTE

'Permanent boundary to be set up soon' n UNB

Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi yesterday said the temporary boundary pillars installed on the 67-year-old disputed Muhuri Char between Bangladesh and India would remain unchanged.

He said the permanent boundary pillars, demarcating the long-disputed Char in Parshuram upazila of Feni district, would soon be installed once the Indian parliament clears the Land Boundary Agreement.

“This boundary is finalised. As per the

Anti-communal march reaches Satkhira

n

Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The anti-communal long march organised by the Chittagong city north and south units AL, reached Satkhira yesterday.

ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, president of the city unit of AL, led the longmarch.

He said; “We do not want brutal attacks and we want to develop our country beyond religion and ideology.”

“I am urging the Jamaat-Shibir men to walk on the way to peace,” said the AL leader, also a former mayor of Chittagong City Corporation. l

agreement, permanent boundary pillars will be installed,” Gowher Rizvi said.

The adviser made the remark while visiting Muhuri Char which had triggered a dispute between Bangladesh and India over the control of more than 92.14 acres of land since 1979 as the issue remained unsettled even after 1974.

The deal was signed between then Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi in 1974.

Border Guard Bangladesh, Battalion 4 Captain Lt Col Mahmudunnabi described the dispute over Muhuri Char and subse-

quent achievements at that time.

On January 15, temporary boundary pillars were erected on Muhuri Char bringing relief and joy among the locals.

However, the locals have been demanding permanent boundary pillars soon after the installation of the temporary ones.

If the temporary pillars remain unchanged, Bangladesh will have control over 70 acres of land out of total 92.14 acres of land.

Deputy Commissioner of Feni M Humayun Kabir Khondkar, acting Police Super Saiful Haque and other government officials were present at the visit. l

“The BNP is a huge political party and there is a competition of leadership.

So, some [untoward] incidents surrounding an election are not entirely abnormal. Our leaders are working on it and everything will be settled before the [upazila] polls,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

When asked about the Jamaat contenders, Rizvi said: “The local leaders are also talking to them and hopefully everything will be fine soon.”

In the first phase, 12 upazilas in Sylhet division will see voting. In Jaintapur upazila under Sylhet district, Jamaat leader Jainal Abedin has got the support of the BNP-led 19-party alliance.

In Biswanath upazila of Sylhet, Jamaat chose one its leader Nizam Uddin Chowdhury as the candidate, while BNP had been mulling over picking one from its local leaders, thus leading to a chaos within the local alliance ranks.

In Jokiganj upazila, BNP’s central

n Tribune Report

Islam teaches people about peace and it does not support terrorism. Religion is a personal choice but state belongs to all.

Speakers at the second day of the 90th Islamic discussion meeting of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Bangladesh said this.

Prominent people of the country and representatives from abroad were present at the meeting.

Standing committee member of BNP and former minister Dr Abdul Main said; “Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat

passed around 100 years in Bangladesh.”

“Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat has been working to establish peace in the society,” he said.

Kajol Debnath, presidium member of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad and vice-president of Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad said people of different religions should live in the country peacefully.

Human rights activist Kazi Rahman Sobhan and professor of history department of Dhaka University Mesbah Kamal also spoke at the meeting. l

command selected former municipality mayor Iqbal Ahmed; but the party’s local chapter opposed the decision and had been electioneering in favour of “rebel” Saifuddin Ahmed.

The same thing has been happening in the Companyganj upazila of the district.

Abdul Gaffar, general secretary of Sylhet district unit BNP, said they would hold a meeting and finalise the candidate by Sunday.

Without mentioning any name, he explained: “Because of some BNP leaders, there have been some problems in selecting lone candidates to be backed by the BNP-led 19-party combine in Sylhet. This has also given rise to a misunderstanding with Jamaat.”

Fakhrul Islam, acting secretary general of Sylhet city unit Jamaat, said the 19-party alliance had been finding it difficult to finalise the candidates because of a lack of unity among the BNP leaders.

“The BNP has not yet managed to

bring the rebel candidates under control in some upazilas. That has given rise to a chaotic situation,” Fakhrul told the Dhaka Tribune.

At least ten activists and leaders of BNP sustained injuries in a clash between two factions of the party which erupted surrounding the nomination issue in Isshorganj of Mymensingh yesterday. A local BNP office was also torched in the clash.

At Nikli upazila in Kishergonj on Friday, local administration imposed section 144 in the Dampara area after two factions of local BNP convened separate programmes at the same venue and time.

On Thursday, a faction of Nikli upazila unit BNP declared Fazlur Rahman, president of Kishoreganj district unit BNP, unwanted in their area. They burnt his effigy accusing him of bypassing local leaders’ opinions and nominating incompetent people for the upazila chairman’s post. l

PDB set to build a 400MW plant at Bibiyana South  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

and the 337MW dual-fuel Megnaghat in Narayanganj with a combined production capacity of 1019MW. Meanwhile, the Summit Group has claimed $45m in compensation from the government and asked it to return $3m the company deposited as security as PDB it letter for cancelling the agreement of 341MW Bibiyana 1 power plant.

The compensation issue is to be settled by the High Court.

The simple cycle of the plant was scheduled to start in August last year while the combined cycle production

1.29 lakh more students to sit for SSC this year; results on May 20 n Mushfique Wadud More than one lakh students will be taking the Secondary School Certificate examinations this year, compared to last year. The exams start today.

A total of 1,29,554 more students will sit for the exams this year, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said at a press briefing yesterday.

Last year the total number of students were 13,03,203, and this year, a total of 14, 32,727 students are taking

the examinations.

Nahid said the number of centres were also increased. There were 2,758 examination centres last year while it would be 2,942 this year.

The minister said all preparations had been made for holding the examinations successfully.

Mentioning that last year examinees of all public examinations had faced problems due to violent political programmes, Nahid urged the political parties not to announce such programmes.

About the question paper leakage in recent public examinations, he said strict measures had been taken and the law enforcement officials asked to take action if any such things happened.

Except for Bangla second paper, English first and second paper and mathematics, all examinations will be held on creative question system. Students with disability will get 20 minutes more to finish their examinations.

Nahid said results would be published by May 20. l

'Terrorism has no place in Islam' BCB supports as BIG 3’s ICC revamp gets approval

Rebels, Jamaat leaders major hurdles for BNP  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

Pabna police yesterday arrested three people in connection with attacks on Hindus at Bonogram Bazar in Pabna on November 2.

The arrestees – Md Akkas Ali, Md Eunus Ali and Md Saidul Islam – were sent to jail. Additional Superintendent of Police Md Mostain Hossain said a total of 33 had been held at different times in this connection.

In another development, the Pabna police arrested two cadres including the son of a local Awami League leader on Friday and recovered a foreign-made revolver, 30 rounds of bullets and a magazine from their possessions. They are Ripon Mahamud, 32, president of Maligachha unit of Awami League, and Abdul Malek, 30.

Police also arrested Abdul Malek, an alleged arms trader, from Kashipur area on Friday morning.

On the other hand, miscreants set fire to a business establishment of a Hindu man in Kamalnagar Bazar area of Satkhira town early yesterday. Torun Kumar Das, owner of the shop and godown, lodged a case with Satkhira police station.

Meanwhile, two including a Jamaat man were arrested from two different spots in Jhenidah on Friday night. Police said Kotchandpur upazila Jamaat member Abdul Alim was arrested for looting arms from the law enforcers. l

next August.

However, the local power company could neither collect any funds nor start the groundwork at Bibiyana 1, officials said.

Meanwhile, work at Bibiyana 2 is still at primary stages and so far only earth filling on the project site has been completed.

Though Meghnaghat was expected to go into production this month, almost six months behind schedule, it would burn furnace oil instead of natural gas, which would significantly increase the production cost, Summit

officials said.

However, the PDB signed a deal with Marubeni Corporation of Japan last June and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co of South Korea to build a 399MW power plant at Bibiyana 3 and its full operation would commence in September, 2015.

The funds for the Bibiyana 3 power plant will come through foreign currency loan.

On June 4 last year, the government approved the construction of 399MW Bibiyana 3 combined cycle power plant project. l

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The ICC also announced the introduction of a Test Cricket Fund in order to ensure all the Test playing teams will be able to sustain a home programme of Test cricket through to 2023.The fund will be available to all Test nations except the ‘Big Three’ The ICC called the end of the FTP in its current form, with future schedules being dependent on “contractually binding” negotiations between the boards.

There was also confirmation that all full members will enter into a series of contractually binding bilateral agree-

ments to a comprehensive FTP that is extended to 2023.

Other key elements of the resolution are the founding of an Executive Committee (ExCo) and Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) to provide leadership at an operational level, with five members, including BCCI, CA and ECB representatives.

As per the motion passed, current BCCI president N Srinivasan will head the ICC Board from mid-2014. The initial chair of the ExCo will be Wally Edwards from Cricket Australia to lead the ExCo and F&CA will be lead by Giles Clarke of ECB. These roles will be for

Child burnt alive in city slum fire  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

the blaze originated from a burner, while many others believe it came out from a nearby rickshaw garage.

“The fire originated from Mahiuddin Babul’s kitchen. The fire caught the gas and electricity lines and spread fast,” said Sabiha Islam, the next-door neighbor of Mahiuddin.

“Within 15 minutes, four adjacent houses made with bamboo and tin, collapsed,” she added.

However, Babul claimed that the fire originated from a nearby rickshaw garage.

“On information, four units of firefighters first rushed to the spot, but as the fire spread around violently within a short time, 10 more units joined the efforts and brought the fire under control,” said Abdus Salam, director for

administration at Fire Service and Civil Defense, told the Dhaka Tribune.

He also said although the cause of the fire is yet to be confirmed, the fire is believed to have originated from a cooking burner. He said firefighters also recovered the body of the three-year-old child.

“We also rescued two children from the first-floor of a shanty. They were also asleep and their parents went out for work,” he said.

Like Madina and Hasmat, who lost their three year-old child, rickshaw puller Atiyar Rahman and garments worker Momena Begum of Lalmonirhat district, had also left their shanty for their workplaces. After being informed over the phone, they rushed to the spot and found everything they had was already in ashes.

an initial two year transitional period to 2016 only.

At the end of the transitional period, the Chair of the ICC Board will be elected from within the ICC Board with all full member directors entitled to stand for election. BCCI, CA and ECB - will be represented on both sub-committees, along with two representatives of the other full members (who will be elected by the Board).

Meanwhile the revamp scrapped the World Test Championship and replaced with the Champions Trophy in 2017 and 2021 to strengthen ICC’s commercial property. l

“We had Tk3,500 in cash and other valuables at our house. But everything has been burnt to ashes,” said Momena Behum.

Meanwhile, the Dhaka District administration gave Tk20,000 to Hasmat and Madina as compensation for the death of their child in the fire.

Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka District Shaikh Yusuf Harun said the district administration has decided to provide Tk3,000 and 20kg of rice to each of the victim families.

“As today is weekly holiday, the money will be handed over to the victims tomorrow (Sunday) during office hours. We are now preparing a list of the victims,” added DC Harun.

Besides, police and Red Crescent Society and local Awami League leaders also donated dry foods for the victims. l

Congested slums death-trap for the poorest  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

Sathi, 11, to take care of Sabuj. She was in a fix when the fire broke out and ran to inform her mother about the fire.

Madina rushed to her shanty and saw her only son burnt to ashes along with the house.

According to the locals, seven people own the whole land and the shanties.

They are Babul, Aklima, Dudu Miah, Rakib, Nurul Amin, Mofiz Uddin and Dulal Sheikh. They all have “utilised” every inch of the land by raising the shanties, keeping no space in between.

Babul claimed that he had bought a plot and built the shanties on holding number 357, 14C, some 10 years back.

During that time he had 48 rooms rented to 40 families. His elder brother Mofiz and sister Aklima owned more than 80 shanties.

Nurul Amin owned 88 shanties set up on several kathas of land. But he does not live in the slum. He lives in

an adjacent apartment. Asked why he had not built a building for him in the slum, he first said he did not have the required money. However, he later said he could not think of living in the slum, as he found it very unsafe. Nurul claimed that the fire had caused him a loss of Tk40 lakh.

He said they could have died in the fire being stuck in any of the entrances had they been living in the slum.

Locals said the gas connection was provided at the slum houses a couple of months back. Some of the dwellers, however, depended on firewood for cooking.

It is suspected that the fire first originated from a burner and then spread through electricity and gas connections. Not a single family could save their household items or valuables from the blaze. Most of the men and women were not home, except for a few who were preparing to go to work.

Now, thousands of dwellers are living

under the open sky.

Some volunteers and fire fighters said the whole slum area was unplanned and the houses were built haphazardly. The electric wires too were here and there.

“I was preparing [son] Mehedi for school and my husband went outside for a bath. Suddenly, we heard people shouting ‘fire, fire.’ We ran for life,” said Nasima, a housemaid, whose son is an eighth grader of Ucef School there. She came out of the house only with a polythene packet having three SIM cards in it.

Asked why she had picked up the SIM cards at that moment, Nasima with a blank look said she just grabbed whatever was near her.

Another resident, Rahima Begum, said her television and utensils were all burnt down. “We had nothing when we came to the city and now after seven years we have got nothing left again,” Rahima said. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Punishment demanded for attack on teachers in JU

n JU Correspondent

The students of Jahangirnagar University yesterday staged demonstration protesting the attack on Botany department teachers and students at Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur on Thursday.

The protestors launched a silent procession at 11am from zoology department which ended in front of ‘Amor Ekushe’ sculpture parading the campus.

They also staged a demo to press their demands including the quick punishment of the attackers.

Several hundred students of different departments and institutes expressed solidarity to the movement and asked the university authorities to take legal actions against the culprits.

The agitators also demanded to cancel the current lease of the park, installing a police outpost around the park for proper security and bearing the treatment costs of the victims of the incident.

They also declared their next course of actions regarding the movement while today they would form a human chain, a sit in programme in front of JU administrative office tomorrow, forming human chain at Dhaka-Aricha highway on Tuesday and symbolic hunger strike on Shaheed Minar premises on Wednesday. l

News

3

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Hasina calls for unity against ‘evil forces’ BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami are counting dead bodies to show their success in movement tion” as she said the BNP chief did not n Tribune Report know any other politics except for dePrime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged the countrymen to forge unity against the evil forces that are involved in the incidents of killing, arson and bombing.

“The BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami are counting dead bodies to show their success in movement, which reflects their perverted mentality. It is misfortune for the nation that the BNP, one of the country’s main political parties, is indulging in terrorism in the name of movement,” said Hasina, according to state news agency BSS. The premier said this while delivering her speech at the Sardah Police Academy in Rajshahi after taking salute at a training-completion parade of the trainee assistant superintendents of police of the 31st BCS. Hasina also distributed cheques from the Prime Minister’s Fund for the rehabilitation and treatment of families of 98 people who were subjected to “atrocities” committed by the Jamaat-Shibir over the last year in different parts of Rajshahi.

Hasina dubbed BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia as the “queen of destruc-

struction, according to a separate report of the BSS. “Begum Zia is a queen of destruction. She knows only destruction.

She can only take but cannot give anything,” the premier said adding that BNP’s coming to power only meant the return of terrorism and militancy in the country. “She cannot give anything positive for the country except for terrorism and militancy,” Hasina said.

While addressing a public meeting at Charghat High School Ground this afternoon, Hasina said the BNP took a beastly revenge on the countrymen by burning the people to death for not responding to its movement. They killed 135 people, 26 bus passengers, 55 bus drivers and 18 members of the police, the BGB and the army by enforcing blockades for 34 days.

The prime minister said the BNP had orchestrated a reign of terror when it was in power from 2001 to 2006. “They created a dreadful Bangla Bhai along with widespread militancy in the country during their five-year misrule,” Hasina said.

She said the character of the BNP had always been the same since its

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina waves at supporters after arriving at a mass rally at Charghat Sharda Pilot School ground in Rajshahi yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE birth. “The traditional saying ‘black will take no other hue’ only goes with the character of the BNP.” Hasina said Khaleda had cursed her party with a humiliating failure by enforcing a hollow movement with no response from the people. “This is yet

another failure in her life after dozens of the same including the first failure she experienced in her matriculation examination,” the premier added.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, former food minister Abdur Razzaque, former state minister

and AL Joint Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak, former state minister Omar Faruq Chowdhury and former Rajshahi city mayor Khairuzzaman Liton also addressed the rally. Charghat upazila AL arranged the rally with its President Anwar Hossain in the chair. l

Report finds authorities’ involvement in RU attack n Arif Ahmed

A senior police official confronts an activist of Shadharan Chhatra Parisad, who have been demonstrating in front of the National Press Club in the capital yesterday to press home their demand to increase the maximum age ceiling for government jobs RAJIB DHAR

Four bodies found in three districts n Tribune Desk

At least four bodies were found in Chittagong, Barisal and Sylhet districts in last two days.

Our Chittagong correspondent reports: A Jubo Dal activist was found dead in Pashchim Muradpur Area of Sitakunda upazila in the district on Friday night.

On information, police had recovered the bullet-hit body of Nijamul Karim Sajib, 27, son of Aminul Islam, of Pashchim Muradpur, said Iftekher Hassan, officer in charge (OC) of Sitakunda police station.

Nijamul was killed by unidentified miscreants in front of his house while he was returning home from local market.

The body was handed over to the victim’s family members after an autopsy.

A case was lodged with Sitakunda police station in this connection.

The local unit of BNP alleged that Nijamul was killed by local activists of Awami League (AL) while local body of AL refuted the allegation.

Barisal correspondent says: The body of a Jatiya Party leader was recovered from the Sandhya River in Chatal Bari area under Barakotha union of Ujirpur upazila in the district on Saturday.

The deceased was identified as Kamal Hossain Talukdar, 55, senior vice-president of Babuganj upazila JaPa (Ershad) and elder brother of Israt Jahan Kochi, Babuganj upazila BNP president.

Russell Talukdar, son of the victim, said his father had been missing since February 3.

Anwar Hossain, officer-in-charge of Ujirpur police station said locals had found the body floating in the river and informed the police.

Later, the police recovered the body.

The body was sent to Barisal Sher

E Bangla Medical College Hospital for autopsy.

Sylhet correspondent reports: Two female tea labourers were found dead in Komolgonj upazila under Moulvibazar district on Saturday noon.

The deceased were identified as JagoniGour, 18, daughter of RajaramGour and Vim Sari Urang, 16, daughter of BijuGurang.

According to sources, they had allegedly committed suicide Nehar Ranjan Das, officer-in-charge of Komolgonj police station said on information, police had recovered the bodies and sent those to Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital for autopsy.

Locals said the duo had committed suicide hanging from a tree.

The reason behind the suicide could not be known immediately.

However, local police said they are looking into the matter and promised that answers will be found soon with the cooperation of residents. l

AL plans to keep BNP busy in electoral race n Tribune Report The Awami League is planning to keep the BNP-led alliance busy in local-level polls so that it could not wage street agitation, a policy which could give the Sheikh Hasina’s government a breathing space in consolidating its authority to stabilise the economy.

As part of the plan the elections to 64 district councils will follow the upazila polls, the AL policymakers have decided. The local government ministry has already initiated procedures for asking the EC to hold the district council polls, ministry officials said.

With a view to luring the grassroots leaders of the BNP-Jamaat into electoral politics, the government has requested the Election Commission to hold the polls to 487 upazilas, to be held between February 19 and March 31, in five phases.

Soon after the EC’s announcement, the BNP-led alliance declared that they

Govt illegal, to be ousted thru’ mass movement: BNP n UNB Claiming that the government’s public support has hit the zero level, the BNP yesterday said the current “illegal” regime would be ousted through a mass movement.

“The present government came to power through the January 5 farcical election. It’s an illegal and unconstitutional administration having no public

support,” said BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

The BNP spokesman also warned that this “unpopular” government cannot stay in office for a long time. “Their fall is certain.”

Fakhrul came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after placing wreath at the grave of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city with BNP Chairperson’s Adviser

Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, and BNP Chairperson’s Special Assistant Shimul Biswas marking the recent release of the trio from jail on bail.

Mentioning that the current regime is still in office with the power of gun, not with people’s support, the BNP leader alleged that the ruling party had restored one-party Baksal rule in the country to annihilate the opposition.

A fact finding report released by former students’ platform of Rajshahi University revealed that the attack on the agitating students on February 2 was jointly carried out by the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the law enforcers, and the university authorities.

According to the report, some 28 students were injured, of whom 12 sustained bullet injuries while staging demonstrations against fee hike and move to introduce evening courses on “commercial” basis at the Rajshahi University.

The report said the university authorities remained silent during the attack as the proctors were present at the scene but they did not bar the Chhatra League men from attacking general students.

The report accused four proctors of RU alleging that they had directed the Chhatra League leaders to attack.

“The vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University has held Shibir as responsible for the violence although no Shibir men were found on the spot. The VC is just trying to influence the general students’ movement as a Shibir act,” the report said.

The role played by police was also biased as police indiscriminately opened fire on the general students but did not try to thwart the BCL members who

were seen with arms. Police did not pay any heed to that, the report claimed.

The report highlighted that JamatShibir were not directly involved in the attack as no leaders or activists of the two organisations were spotted in photographs and video footages captured by different media present there.

However, some Shibir men might have vandalised properties inside the educational institution after the attack as the general students did not vandalise anything, the report said.

The eight-member fact findings committee released the report at Dhaka University’s Madhur Canteen on Saturday afternoon.

The committee members are Arafat Siddik (writer and journalist), Arif Reza Noor (journalist and researcher), Udisa Islam( journalist), Ferdosi Ahmed Uzzal (researcher), Jahid Jon (journalist), Badhon Adikhari (journalist), Salauddin Sumon (journalist), Sorrawar Sumon (journalist and cultural activists).

The report also said although the Chhatra League members were seen with firearms in several media coverage, the university authorities and police did not file any case against them; rather they filed cases against general students who were attacked.

The committee would publish the final report on February 18. l

“Awami League had killed democracy once in 1975 through establishing Baksal and they again killed it through the January 5 voter-less and lopsided elections,” he added.

Fakhrul said people of Bangladesh had never accepted autocrats and dictators. “People will also not let this regime implement its blueprint to hang onto power against their will this time, too.” l

would contest the upazila elections.

After AL’s assuming office, the EC arranged the upazila elections in 2009 – for the first time after 1990 – that cemented its position at the grassroots.

The BNP-led alliance had boycotted the polls giving the AL leaders a walkover.

According to the law, the local government ministry will have to ask the EC to hold elections to the expired upazila councils, providing necessary information.

Without the ministry’s letter, the commission cannot hold the upazila polls with its own initiative. The tenure of the upazila council is five years.

“Elections to the expired local government bodies will take place [in time]; the Election Commission will hold the polls,” Matia Chowdhury, an AL Presidium Member and agriculture minister, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, an organising secretary of the ruling party, told the Dhaka Tribune that the BNPled alliance had come to “realise that

violence could in no way bring them political benefits.”

“So, they will be in the electoral race instead of so-called agitation and violence on the street,” he said.

The BNP, he said, came to realise that the trend of “totally boycotting the polls” in future would further aggravate the frustration of its grassroots leaders.

Another presidium member, Kazi Zafarullah, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The main challenge we confronted is to hold the national elections; we have overcome it.

“They [BNP] have come to the upazila polls and will contest the other [local government] polls in future.

In that case, they will have no option left other than participating in the elections,” he observed.

The first phase of polls to 98 upazilas will take place on February 19 and 24; the second phase (117 upazila councils) on February 27 and the third phase (83) on March 15. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, February 9, 2014

10-truck arms verdict expedites Aug-21 grenade attack trial n BSS The prosecution expressed hope to complete the trial in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack cases in shortest possible time as it got pace with the delivery of verdict in the 10-truck arms haul case of Chittagong.

“We wanted to complete the trial in the August 21 grenade attack cases as soon as possible without hampering justice,” said Chief Prosecutor Advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman.

He hoped that the trial process in the grenade attack case would be expedited as the verdict in the 10-truck arms haul case had already been pronounced clearing the way to produce the four common accused in both the grenade and arms haul cases before the court. The next hearing on the case will be held on February 11.

The prosecution is thinking to hold the trial proceeding in three or four days a week instead of two days.

The grenade attack was carried out on an anti-terrorism rally of Awami League at the Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital aimed at killing its front ranking leaders to make the party leaderless.

A total of 24 Awami League leaders and activists including Ivy Rahman, the then Mohila Awami League president and also wife of late president M Zillur Rahman, were killed.

Awami League President and the then leader of the opposition Sheikh Hasina narrowly survived the attack, but suffered critical ear injuries while some of her senior party colleagues including late mayor of Dhaka City Corporation Mohammad Hanif sustained serious splinter injuries.

A total of 52 accused including BNP

Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman and the then state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar are now facing trial in the August 21 grenade attack case.

During the BNP-Jamaat rule till October 2006, the investigators were out to divert the investigation to a wrong direction to save the real culprits.

The CID failed to submit charge sheets though leaders in the then government claimed several times that the probe was about to be completed and everything would be revealed.

The then BNP-Jamaat government tried to divert the investigation into another direction. The visible attempt to frustrate the case by the then BNPled regime prompted the subsequent caretaker government to order a fresh investigation.

In 2007, the caretaker government started fresh investigation into the matter while the AL-led grand alliance government conducted reinvestigation after assuming power in 2008.

Defence lawyers have so far crossexamined 73 of 491 witnesses of the cases.

“A long period of time has already passed and now the defence lawyers are killing time by arguing on unnecessary legal points,” Chief Prosecutor Advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman said.

Replying to another query on curtailing witnesses’ list, he said, “The case is very important. It will take deposition of the witnesses as much as necessary to prove the allegation and ensure justice.”

The defence lawyer, however, said it would take much more time to complete the trial as many witnesses were yet to give their depositions. l

Fire rages an RMG storehouse at Mawna intersection of Sreepur upazila in Gazipur yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Bringing bodies back from the UAE to be delayed

RMG storehouse caught fire

n Rabiul Islam

A store house of garment wastage was burnt yesterday at Mawna intersection under Sreepur upazila of the district.

Abdus Sattar, senior station officer of Sreepur fire service and civil defense, said the fire had originated at the garment wastage shop of Abu Hanif and engulfed the adjacent soon.

On information, firefighters went to the spot and doused the fire.

The reason behind the fire and the amount of the loss could not be known immediately. l

Bringing bodies of two Bangladeshis, killed in the UAE, will be delayed due to technical reasons.

According to sources, without necessary documents including death certificates, police reports, Bangladesh labour wing in United Arab Emirates (UAE) cannot do anything for sending the dead bodies.

“If the owner of the company under which the workers work submits the

necessary documents to us, it is a matter of an hour to do our jobs,” AKM Mizanur Rahman, first secretary of the Bangladesh labour wing in the UAE told the Dhaka Tribune over the phone yesterday.

On January 31, two Bangladeshi migrant workers were stabbed to death and three were seriously injured as they argued with fellow workers over the ownership of a pair of shoes at a labour camp in the Sharjah industrial area.

All of them were construction workers hailing from Comilla.

“The owner, a Bangladeshi who supplies workers, came to me but did not submit the documents,” Mizanur said adding the owner is reluctant to contact police, fearing arrest.

The first secretary, however, could not tell the name of the Bangladeshi owner.

According to the labour law in the UAE, the owner of the company is compelled to send the bodies back.

The UAE authorities arrested seven Bangladeshi migrant workers for their alleged involvement in the killing. l

n Our correspondent, Gazipur

Hold dialogue for political stability, say politicians at BBC discussion n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Participants at the BBC Bangladesh Sanglap yesterday stressed on the need for holding dialogue between the ruling Awami League and one of the major political parties BNP for the sake of political stability in the country.

BBC Bangladesh Sanglap is a weekly debate programme held by BBC Bangladesh, encouraging dialogue between people, politicians and policymakers.

The panelists termed Bangladesh

WEATHER

Dry weather likely n UNB Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy sky over the country, having chances of rain or thundershowers at one or two places over Sylhet division and the regions of Comilla and Noakhali in next 24 hours till 6pm tomorrow (Sunday).

Light to moderate fog may occur over the river basins of the country during midnight till morning, Met Office said.

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

The sun sets in the capital tomorrow at 5:50pm and rises on Monday at 6:35am. Country’s highest temperature 30.7 degree Celsius was recorded today in Patuakhali and lowest 11.3 degrees in Srimangal.

Highest and lowest temperatures recorded in some major cities yesterday were: City

High

Low

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

30.4 27.0 30.2 26.6 28.4 27.2 19.4 29.0

17.6 15.6 11.2 14.0 16.8 16.4 14.5 15.4

Chhatra League (BCL), student wing of the ruling AL, as a burden on the party for its unruly activities in recent times.

BNP Vice-Chairman Abdullah Al Noman said if the government did not initiate the dialogue with BNP immediately, political situation might deteriorate.

“The ruling AL formed the government with support of only 5% voters.

Most of the people had not been supporting the present government,” he said.

A participant asked if BNP would

sit for dialogue by giving recognition to the present government which they had been terming as “illegal,” to which the BNP leader replied that dialogue had many forms and there were examples of dialogues being held between two sides even during wars.

State Minister for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Zaved asked: “They [BNP] participated in the City Corporation Elections and have been participating in the upazila elections, then why they did not participate in national elections?”

No dialogue would be held excluding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said.

Regarding the activities of BCL, Zaved said Awami League was embarrassed by the unruly activities of Chhatra League; however, it did not shoulder any responsibility of the activities.

Police were already searching for the armed cadres who were involved with the attacks in RU, added the Awami League lawmaker from Chittagong-13 constituency.

Panelist Sadaf Noor-E-Islam, chair-

Dharla Bridge under threat Our Correspondent, n Lalmonirhat

A 133 metre-long bridge over the Dharla River in Islampur village under Sree Rampur union of Patgram upazila in Lalmonirhat district may collapse anytime due to stone lifting from the river bed.

According to locals, a group of proruling party men, managing dishonest government officials from the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), have been lifting stones from the river right beside the bridge.

The organised gang members are lifting stones using 8 to 10 double drag-

ger machines day and night.

If the bridge collapses, over 15,000 villagers in 12 villages will face difficulties to communicate with the upazila headquarters and other parts of the district.

According to sources, local people do not dare protest the gang as the upazila administration and police are scared to take action against the gang due to unknown reasons.

“Some villagers were harassed physically by the gang members as they protested the lifting illegally,” said local Mozammel Haque at Islampur village of the upazila.

“The LGED Bridge might collapse

anytime if lifting stones continue for the next few months, as many big holes have already developed besides the bridge’s spans,” he added.

“The stone lifters are very strong as they are connected with the ruling party,” said Hashem Ali of Awliarhat village of Patgram upazila.

“If the bridge collapses, we the local people will face manifold problems as the bridge helps us in communication and livelihood,” he added.

According to Patgram upazila LGED official sources, the bridge was constructed over the river in the village spending Tk5 crore about 10 years ago. l

n Mohammad Zakaria The Election Commission will start updating the voter list from April, at the end of upazila parishad polls.

Commissioner Mohammad Abu Hafiz yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that the EC was also preparing the guideline for the voter list update.

Earlier, the commission had planned to hold the last phase of upazila polls

by May 3 and update the voter list from May to December.

“The date of updating the voter list will be fixed at a full commission meeting. The work could not be launched

because of the 10th parliamentary poll and the upazila polls,” Hafiz said.

According to existing laws, it is mandatory to update the voter list between January 2 and 31 every year. The country currently has 91,965,977 registered voters.

The commission also plans to provide “smart cards,” which are digitally enhanced ID cards, a senior official told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

During the update, the names of voters who have died would be excluded from the list, while those seeking to change their voting areas would be able to do so. The commission would also scrutinise the addresses of the voters. l

Bangladeshi author releases debut memoir n Tribune Report

5:21am 6:37am 12:12am 4:11pm 5:47pm 7:04pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

trying to develop it step by step.

Arifur Rahman, chief executive of Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), a non-government organisation said there was a lack of coordination among the government offices in the port city.

Chittagong faced discrimination in terms of getting power and gas from the national grid, claimed one participant.

The 45-minute debate was recorded at the Central Railway Building in Chittagong. l

Voter list update from April

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

man of anthropology department at Chittagong University, said Awami League has to play a role to run BCL according to its organogram.

She said presence of armed student bodies in educational institutions is not favourable to educational atmosphere. “Every student body, backed by different political parties, does the same thing,” she said.

Regarding the development of Chittagong, the panelists said the port city was yet to be developed to the standard; however, the government was

Bangladeshi writer Maria Chaudhuri speaks at the launcing ceremony of her debut memoir – Beloved Strangers

FILE PHOTO

Bangladeshi writer Maria Chaudhuri has recently released her debut memoir, Beloved Strangers, chronicling her experiences of growing up in Dhaka and then returning to live here after many years.

“Beloved Strangers: A Memoir is a candid and moving account of growing up and a meditation on why people leave their homes and why they sometimes find it difficult to return,” said a press release.

Chaudhuri’s experiences would resonate with anyone carving out a place for herself in the world, straddling two cultures while trying to find a place to belong, it said.

Maria Chaudhuri grew up in Bangladesh and completed her higher studies in the United States. She has had essays, features and short stories pub-

lished in various journals and literary magazines and first caught the eye of international publishers with her entry in the Bangladeshi literary journal Bengal Lights.

Released by Bloomsbury Circus, an international publishing agency with its offices in London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney, Beloved Strangers is priced at BDT665 and is being distributed in Bangladesh by Bengal Lights Books.

The book can be found in major bookstores around Dhaka, including The Bookworm, Omni Books and Boi Bichitra, as well as other outlets including Meena Bazar, Jatra, Aranya and Red Shift Coffee Lounge.

A lot of Maria’s writings focus on personal experience, especially drawn from the perspectives of being a Bengali woman living in both Bangladesh and abroad and as a person who has never been able to call one place ‘‘home.’’ l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Cybercrime gives new platform to criminals Authorities still not doing enough to tackle the problem n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Uzzal Sikder, a psychology student at the capital’s Jagannath University, recently received an email saying he had won a huge sum of money from Western Union Money Transfer Lottery.

The email, which included all sorts of information that are generally provided in regular money transactions, further added that he will be able to check his status through the website but only be able to withdraw the money after paying a $100 fee.

Overwhelmed with such delightful news, Uzzal was set to pay the fee to claim his prize money. However, he decided to check the claim and shared the email with one of his friends, who happened to be an IT expert. Following a thorough investigation, his friend confirmed that mail was a fraud.

Although Uzzal was lucky to have a friend to check the authenticity of such an information, many others like Uzzal have not been so fortunate. Many people daily fall prey to various kinds of cybercrime, right under the nose of the ministry concerned.

Incidents relating to cybercrime have been on the rise across the country, where such acts of fraudulences have broken up families and destroyed many young lives.

Underworld godfathers, including local criminals, are now using new means of technology to commit crimes.

Recently, the Rapid Action Battalion arrested six cybercriminal from the capital’s Mirpur area, who used hacking techniques to collect information on missing persons complains filed with local police stations and later contact the victims’ families and demand money in the guise of law enforcers.

Besides, two more cybercriminals were also arrested by the elite force from Mohammadpur area only a week ago. The law enforcers also recovered a huge cache of cellphones, SIM cards, laptops, monitors, cell phone dialing software and internet modems from their procession.

Contacted, ATM Habibur Rahman, director of legal and media wing of Rab, said the members of the elite force have always been alert of such criminal offences and has already solved several

important cases related to cybercrime.

Schools, colleges and university students, homemakers, teenagers, and senior citizens in the society are now becoming victims of cybercrime.

Requesting anonymity, a female university student has told the Dhaka Tribune that she recently met a boy via Facebook and developed a relation with him.

After she ended up spending some private moments with the boy at his friend’s residence, the boy has forced her to pay a huge sum, threating to release a video of their intimate moments, which was captured with a hidden camera, on the internet.

“I told everything to my family members and finally agreed to give him the money,” she said.

Like her, many girls are now becoming victims to such cybercrimes, which are mostly left unreported.

Facebook, a social networking site, has become a major ground for criminals to carry out their activities. These days, many hackers open up fake accounts on Facebook and spread offensive pictures and fraudulent information to other users. They also steal personal information, pictures and contact information of other users.

Cybercriminals also hack into secured networks, such as online banking systems, and use malicious software to extract classified information. They sometimes gain illegal access to a secured network and release malicious software, commonly known as viruses, which once installed on a computer will send a detailed log of everything typed using the keyboard, including details and passwords, back to the hacker.

Although the cybercrimes have increased, no special initiatives were taken by the law enforcement agencies. A committee was earlier form at Criminal Investigation Department to investigate on cybercrime but no effective result came out.

Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Benazir Ahmed acknowledged the rise in cybercrimes across the country and said the police force is now being upgraded technologically to enable them to fight cybercrimes and arrest the culprits. l

Residents of Elenbari colony take part in an evacuation drill together with the members of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, at the PWD training academy yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Quake risks continue to be ignored

Awareness poor amongst most, experts for more training exercises The drill aimed at teaching the par- methods of retrofitting, of which only International Corporation, said it was n Tazlina Zamila Khan necessary to build awareness among ticipants the techniques of handling a five are applicable for Bangladesh.”

Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to powerful earthquakes, with most residents yet to know how to take precautions during a massive tremor, experts said at a seminar yesterday.

They said the young generation of the country did not experience a massive earthquake, which last occurred a century ago, and so a big earthquake would catch most totally unprepared.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) team of experts came up with their views at a seminar titled “Community-based disaster management activities” held at the PWD training academy in the capital’s Elenbari.

Mahbub Reza, a member of JICA expert team and senior manager of OYO

people before the occurrence of a massive disaster.

Most of the recent earthquakes measured 5.1-5.4 on the Richter scale, he added.

Fumio KANEKO, team leader of the JICA expert team and chief engineer of OYO International Corporation, said: “This is the first trial in Dhaka, engaging local people and teaching them techniques of handling disaster. If this event becomes successful we will continue activities throughout Bangladesh.”

Participants were provided with a guide book on earthquake handling at the end of the programme.

After the seminar, an evacuation drill was conducted with the Elenbari colony people and Fire Service and Civil Defence members.

disaster properly such as evacuation, use of fire extinguisher and providing first aid to the injured.

‘The young generation did not experience a big earthquake, and so a big earthquake would catch us unprepared’ Md Sohel Rahman, executive engineer of PWD, said retrofitting would prevent the vulnerable buildings from collapsing during a catastrophic earthquake.

He added: “There are around 12

SBMCH interns call indefinite strike over assault n Anisur Rahman Swapan, Barisal

Paying no heed to traffic rules, several cars, CNG-run auto-rickshaws and motorcycles jam up at the Bijoy Sarani intersection in the capital yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Bapa: Most river encroachers are politically influential n Mohammad Atiqur Rahman The encroachment of rivers are carried out by politically influential people, while religious sentiments are often exploited to grab land by setting up mosques on the encroached spaces of the Buriganga River, leaders of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa) have said.

They made the observations yesterday at a press conference on the latest condition of Buriganga River, organised jointly by Bapa and Buriganga Riverkeeper at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.

Bapa General Secretary Abdul Matin termed encroachment and pollution as the main problems of the river, adding that: “90% pollution in Buriganga River happens by chemical pollution and rest of the 10% happens for biological pollution.”

Findings by the Bapa showed that waste materials from tanneries and industries contributed to 60% of the pollution, while Dhaka Wasa and Dhaka City Corporation contributed a further 30%.

Without disclosing any names, Matin claimed that Bapa had a list of the encroachers and was ready to provide it to the government.

Demanding that the government clarifies whether it would close the second channel of Buriganga, Matin, however, said even an active river-saving government task force would not be able to do anything as the local administration was not sincere enough.

Bapa’s Joint Secretary Sharif Jamil said the encroachers were using religious sentiment by establishing mosques on grabbed lands to encroach the Buriganga River.

He also illustrated comparisons of river encroachment during recent years, which showed that the trend was increasing unabatedly.

Jamil also pointed out that the relocation of the tanneries has not been carried out yet.

Speakers at the programme blamed the authorities concerned for failing to take necessary steps for saving the river, adding that the government was paving a way for the encroachers by setting up demarcating pillars on the river.

Urging the government to keep its promise of saving Buriganga, Bapa also placed a twelve-point demand to save the river.

Among others, Bapa Vice-President Prof M Feroze Ahmed and Buriganga Bachao Andolon Coordinator Mihir Biswas spoke at the programme. l

Intern doctors at Barisal’s Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) yesterday called an indefinite strike after some of their colleagues were assaulted by a canteen staff of the hospital.

The SBMCH Intern Doctors’ Association, backed by the SBMC’s Bangladesh Chhatra League unit, also submitted a written letter to the hospital director, demanding punishment of the culprits and immediate steps to separate canteens for doctors, students, staffs and visitors.

The incident took place after a heated debate erupted between a group of BCL leaders, led by Dr Abu Talib Md Abdullah Maruf, president of SBMCH intern doctors association, with canteen manager Sabuj, when they went to the canteen at around 2:30am early Friday.

The BCL leaders also alleged that Sabuj, who is also the son of Awami League leader and a BCC Ward Commissioner Mujibur Rahman, misbehaved with them and used foul language during the quarrel.

At one point, Sabuj reportedly assaulted Maruf, BCL-led student welfare association general secretary Anisur

Rahman, and another BCL leader Abdur Rahman Rizvi.

Following the incident, Ziaur Rahman Zia, a former city BCL convener and brother of AL councillor Mojibor, arrived at the spot in the morning and apologised for Sabuj’s behaviour.

However, Sabuj refused to apologise to the intern doctors over the incident.

On the other hand, Mizanur Rahman, a canteen staff, claimed the intern doctors assaulted Sabuj and other canteen staff when they demanded arrear bills from the interns.

Following the strike, students of the medical college have decided to boycott classes in protest of the attack.

Meanwhile, SBMCH acting director Dr. Qamrul Hasan Selim has confirmed that he has received the letter and a 3-member probe committee, led by deputy director Dr. Shahidul Islam, has already been formed to investigate into the incident.

“The probe committee has been asked to submit its report within the next 24-hours and action will be taken as per the report,” he added while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

He also urged the interns to call off their strike considering the sufferings of the patients. l

The five are Reinstate Cement column jacketing, Reinstate Cement Concrete share wall insertion, steel framed bracing, carbon fiber wrapping and Reinstate Cement Concrete wing wall, said the engineer.

The project titled “Capacity development on natural disaster resistance techniques of construction and retrofitting for public buildings” started two years ago and would continue up to June 2015.

Five working teams each with a leader have been working under the project.

A pilot project will be conducted in June 2015 that will retrofit the vulnerable Tejgaon fire station building.

The government allotted around Tk30,00000 for the pilot project. l

‘Shift tests for government jobs to div headquarters’ n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi Students of different educational institutions in Rajshahi yesterday demanded recruitment tests of all government jobs to be held in divisional headquarters instead of the capital Dhaka.

A human chain was formed in this concern by students under the banner of “Consciousness Students Society” in the city’s Shaheeb Bazar Zero Point around noon.

Speakers at the programme said since recruitment tests of important government and non-government jobs were held only in the capital, it becomes difficult for job seekers from different regions of the country to attend them.

They also urged the authorities concerned to set the maximum age-limit for entrance in jobs at 35, hold recruitment tests without fees and to take other necessary steps to remove barriers in the way of getting employment.

The group’s convener Shamsul Arefin Don, Forhad Hossain, Atikur Rahman, Aminul Islam, Mohaiminul Islam, Dulal Uddin, Shamsul Abedin, Shamim Hossain and Sharmin Sultana also addressed the programme on behalf of the students. l

Rajpunna ends with colour and gaiety Correspondent, n Our Khagrachhari Rajpunna, a traditional function of Khagrachhari Mong Kingdom in Chittagong Hill Tracts, ended yesterday.

A discussion was held at the resident of Mong Raja Saching Prue Chowdhury Modh’s resident in the hill town on the occasion.

Chief Implementing Officer of CHTDF-UNDP Robert Stallman, Khagrachhari Sadar Army Zone Commander Lt colonel Ali Reza,

Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Kazi Muhammad Mozammel Hoque, Khagrachhari Hill District Council acting Chairman Chai Tow Aung Marma, Additional Superintendent of Police Md Joynal Abedin, Karbari Association President Ronek Tripura spoke among others.

To celebrate Rajpunna, ethnic community people including men, women, girls, boys and children woke up early in the morning and joined in the function wearing colourful dresses.

Most of them celebrated Rajpunna with tree leaves and flowers in hands, when played drums, carried bows and arrows, and performed their typical dances and songs of the hills.

The day’s programme began when concerned circle chief, locally known as Mong Raja, entered into the function with sword of honor and was escorted by his personal security forces.

Mong Raja urged the government to take initiatives to fulfill the demand of traditional leaders aiming to strengthen local government of CHT. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Feature

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Dhaka’s storied roads Slave bazars and unruly elephants lie behind the names of our roads and neighbourhoods n Promiti Prova Chowdhury

T

here was a time when Dhaka was called a city of “Bahanno Bazar ar Teppano goli” (52 markets and 53 alleys).

Of course, with the passage of time the number of roads and bazars has increased exponentially, so unearthing the history of these areas was intriguing and challenging.

According to the publications of his-

eral myths on the origin of its name. In the history books used in school, I was taught that in 1610, the Mughal custodian Islam Khan came to Dhaka to remove the powerful kings and zaminders of Bengal. He decided to establish the capital in Dhaka.

He ordered his court drummer to beat his “Dhak.” The area of Dhaka was demarcated as the distance one could hear the beating of the drums. This is how Dhaka became one of the three capitals of Mughal era. Islam Khan named it Jahangirnagar, after Emperor Jahangir.

Alur Bazar

Elephants in Pilkhana, 1895-1900

Literally, it means “potato market.” But contrary to what most people assume, the origin of the name has nothing to do with potatoes.

During the era of Emperor Aurangzeb, Zafar Khan came to live in Dhaka.

He lived in the Lalbagh fort area, and used to own the area today known as Alur Bazaar.

His son’s name was Allayaar Khan.

It was during Allayaar’s time that the bazar was running in full swing. According to Mughal Emperor Azimushhan, originally the bazar was named as “Allayaar Khaner Bazar” which, with the passage of time, became shorter and people started calling it Alur bazaar.

BANGLADESH OLD PHOTO ARCHIVE

Eskaton

Eskaton is a distorted version of the word Scotland. During the period of British East India Company, a church was established there by some Scottish preachers. It was from there that this name originated.

Kakrail

During the last decade of the 19th century, the British commissioner for Dhaka was named Mr Cockerell. Historian Professor Muntassir Mamun surmises that, since it used to be a trend to name streets of Dhaka after diplomats, there was probably a road named after him, and later the whole area became known by that name. People eventually started to pronounce Cockrell as Kakrail.

Kakrail, 1960s

BANGLADESH OLD PHOTO ARCHIVE

torians, behind the names of streets and establishments are countless stories of secrets, conquests and possessions by the Mughals, French, British and Nawabs of Bengal.

Dhaka, a city 400 years old, has sev-

Chawkbazar

The place where we buy scrumptious kebabs and iftar items during Ramadan used to be a place to buy and sale slaves.

In 1809, Charles Dale described Chawkbazar in these words: “Chawk

Chawkbazar, 1885

BANGLADESH OLD PHOTO ARCHIVE

is known by the name ‘nakhas.’ It is a square area of 200ft. During sunset the place gets crowded.” In Arabic, “nakhas” mean slave-sellers.

During the Mughal period, the area was a hub of the slave trade, as well as a place to chat and hang out. Today’s gluttonous inclinations in the area can be traced back to the Mughal period. It is merely the continuation of bustling food and entertainments that were present here during their time.

Reminiscing about Chawkbazar, Abu Zoha Nur Mohammad wrote during the 1930s: “On the first day of Ramadan, despite having a range of items cooked at home, people used to rush towards Chawkbazar. On Ashura in Muharram, the wrestlers would perform sword fights. They used to come from villages and engage in manifold games the whole night. Where are those valorous games now?”

Dhanmondi

An Eidgah was present here during the Mughal era, as well as the Shat Gambuj Mosque, so it can be assumed that there were a few residences in this area then

too. A huge “haat” used to take place here, where rice and all other kinds of grain were sold. The name Dhanmondi (literally “rice bazar”) originated from there.

Becharam Deuri

Becharam’s name was listed in data from 1790. However, it could not be known what he used to do. There is speculation that he may have been an influential trader or a top brass employee who used to live in the area, which was then named after him.

Begumbazar

The popular belief behind naming of this area is that during 1939-40, Sarfaraz Khan was the Nayeb-i-Nazim of Dhaka. His daughter’s name was Ladli Begum.

According to many, the name Begumbazar originated from her name.

She was the owner of a fish market constructed nearby the Begumbazar Mosque as well. The market was gutted in fire in 1777.

The government then took over the market from Ladli Begum’s daughters

Punni Begum and Haji Begum in exchange for some increased allowance.

Elephant Road

Once upon a time, elephants were abundant in Dhaka. There was no specific place for bathing or grazing the elephants. Azimusshan writes, in 1864, before the formation of the town-council, the Lieutenant Governor came to visit Dhaka when the elephants created “serious nuisance” in the city, according to a complaint made by the members of Dhaka Committee.

The Ramna area was allocated for grazing the elephants. Some canals around Ramna were used for bathing the elephants. The road which was used to walk the elephants from Pilkhana to Ramna became known as Elephant Road over time. l

Those interested in learning more should consult these thoroughly researched books: “Dhaka: Smriti Bismritir Nagar”

by Muntassir Mamun, “Dhakar Rajpother Itihash” by Syeda Nazmun Nahar, and a compilation “Dhakar Oitijjho, Shongshkriti o Nogorbinnash.”

Bangladesh in focus n Feature Desk

The World Photography Organisation revealed the shortlist for the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards on Tuesday, which included two Bangladeshi photographers: Suvra Kanti Das and KM Asad.

Suvra Kanti Das’s photograph of a puja during the Rakher Upobash in Narayangonj was one of the 8 submissions shortlisted in the Arts and Culture section.

KM Asad’s image of Rana Plaza was one of the 10 shortlisted for the Current Events category.

Photographers from 166 countries submitted nearly 140,000 images, the highest number of entries in the awards’ seven year history.

From the submissions, the judges selected an eclectic shortlist representing “the very finest in international contemporary photography from the past 12 months,” the organisation said in a press release.

WM Hunt, the chair of the honorary jury, said that the shortlist is “a healthy and diverse representation of contemporary photography by an international range of practitioners.”

The judges said the submissions told many stories which contained the viewer to find something surprising within the everyday.

Well-documented scenes were approached with fresh and groundbreaking photography styles, and are set to inspire other photographers

around the world.

He added that the judges were a “soulful and hardworking group” who have given both emerging and established photographers a global platform on which they could be highlighted and celebrated.

Astrid Merget, the creative director of the World Photography Organisation, added: “We are fortunate enough to receive thousands of entries across each category of our awards, making the process of discovery an invigorat-

Photographers from 166 countries submitted nearly 140,000 images, the highest number of entries in the awards’ seven year history ing experience. This year is no exception, and the awards have once again provided us with an impressive collection of photographs, spanning dozens of genres, styles, locations and subject

matters.”

All the shortlisted images will go on show at Somerset House in London from May 1-18, as part of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition. l

Hindu worshippers in front of Shri Shri Lokanath Brahmachar Ashram temple during the Rakher Upobash in Narayanganj

Rescue workers take part in the rescue of the eight-story building Rana Plaza which collapsed at Savar

SUVRA KANTI DAS

KM ASAD

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Career

Breaking into Bangladesh’s non-profits Insights for joining and succeeding at the fast growing development sector n Nakibul Hoq and Naiian Yazdani Meet Areef. Electrical Engineering major, age 23 and fresh out of a renowned university in Dhaka.

While most of his peers from his undergraduate class went on to work in traditional fields such as banking, research, academia, high school teaching, or even entrepreneurship, Areef felt a burning passion inside himself to give something concrete back to the community. Thus, he began his career as a teacher at Jaago. He now plans to pursue the fellowship, for at least the next two years, and is confident that he will be able to make a difference to society.

The experience in a non-profit is unmatched. While we all plough through our daily lives, it is not often that we set out to make a difference in a world, which we may actually know little about. It can be a rewarding experience and can transform your outlook as you raise your head out of the world of materialism.

So, what characteristics do you need if you are considering a career in the non-profit sector? Like any career in which you are successful, it is important for you to be passionate.

In particular, the drive is nothing but your own desire to change the lives of others and to work on rectifying the societal ills. Your work can take many avenues; sometimes it will be about implementing a programme and making sure it is running as it should, while at other times you will have the opportunity to innovate to find effective solutions.

The Hunger Project, for instance, is a countrywide empowerment programme that aims to improve the standard of living by initiating a bottom-up approach to change through community and union action. The project aims to mitigate poverty in the poorest of areas in the country by securing the basic human rights of food, clothing and shelter and to create a self-subservient community with active, educated citizens.

Your tasks will be wide ranging, whether it is understanding the infrastructure needs of a particular community or developing your technical knowledge about Union Parishad legislation and millennium development goals.

In a country where around 26% of the people live below the poverty line, resources for a project like this are

bound to be limited and obstacles will arise, so be prepared to think and make decisions on your feet.

Although a career in this sector is challenging, once you begin working you will be humbled, and realise that what you have is sometimes more than others could have wished for. There is a bigger picture involved and when you know you have made a difference, you may just look in the mirror and give yourself a wry smile.

This is why employees in the non-profit sector hardly complain; there is a satisfaction that can hardly be accounted for in monetary terms.

While life is not all about making money, the reality is that you will need to support yourself and your family. The popular myth that a work in this area is solely for the rich kids is only that: a myth. You can get paid in non-profit organisations, NGOs or any other institutions that might be characterised as giving something back to the community in return. While you can volunteer your time or money in these organisations, you can also work fulltime and earn enough to make a living.

In the long run, the non-profit experience may in fact help you gain a lot more than wealth. MBA schools abroad often view applicants with non-profit sector jobs in a very positive limelight.

When you know you have made a difference, you may just look in the mirror and give yourself a wry smile Renowned business schools even award scholarships and grants based on the guarantee that the candidate will graduate to give something back with their education. Remember, non-profit organisations are still businesses and as such, they require business majors.

These organisations also want effective managers to control costs, formulate and implement effective ideas, and build relationships with external parties, skills that you can take into any corporation.

There is also a lot of upward mobility in this field. Think about Sir Fazle Abed and Dr Yunus.

Through their non-profit activities, they have left a significant mark on the world and have been able to achieve it not only as philanthropists but also as effective professionals. They have had to engage with all the different types of people, from the “poorest of the poor”

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Sunday, February 9, 2014

(Muhammad Yunus) to the heads of states and other political leaders.

How did they do it? They had the soft skills and insights that are required to be successful. They were proactive in absorbing the core issues and finding solutions, and in constantly learning, adapting, and innovating.

Just as importantly they ensured their ideas were implemented.

Success on a large scale in the non-profit sector is not only about having a great idea or a great invention, but also about getting them initiated. You will need the networking and presentation skills to convey your beliefs and products in order to garner support.

You will also need business nous to make sure that you are organised and all is in order so that you can pounce on an opportunity when it arises.

This industry provides you the opportunity to help, to learn and to make a difference to the lives of not only others but also yourself. This is what makes a career in this sector extremely rewarding. l Nakibul Hoq is a Research Analyst and Naiian Yazdani is the Director of Strategy at GradConnect, an international career information and advisory firm. You can email them at hello@grad-connect.com, and learn more about GradConnect on www.gradconnect.com

Understanding stock market lingo n Career Desk Bid – The price a buyer is willing to offer for shares in a company.

Blue Chip Stocks – Stocks of leading companies with a BIZ reputation for stable VOCAB growth and earnings.

Bond – Certificate issued by companies and governments to their lenders.

Capital – Money and other property of companies used in transacting the business.

Capital stock – All shares representing ownership of a company.

Commodities – Products such as agricultural products and natural resources (wood, oil and metals) that are traded on a separate, authorised commodities exchange.

Dividend – A portion of a company’s earnings that is paid to the shareholders/stockholders on a quarterly or annual basis.

Equity – The value of stocks and shares; the net value of mortgaged property.

Equities – Stocks and shares that represent a portion of the capital of a company.

Futures – Contracts to buy or sell securities at a future date.

Insider – All those who have access to inside information concerning the company.

Insider dealing/trading – Buying or selling with the help of information known only to those connected with the business.

IPO – Initial Public Offering – selling part of a company on the stock market.

Issue – Put into circulation a number of a company’s shares for sale.

Liabilities – The debts and obligations of a company or an individual.

Mortgage – Agreement by which a bank or building society lends money for the purchase of property, such as a house or apartment. The property is the security for the loan.

Mutual fund – Savings fund that uses cash from a pool of savers to buy securities such as stock, bonds or real estate.

Option – The right to buy and sell certain securities at a specified price and period of time.

Par value – Nominal face value.

Penny stock – Shares selling at less than $1 a share.

Portfolio – Various types of securities held by an individual or institution.

Securities – Transferable certificates showing ownership of stocks, bonds, shares, options, etc.

Share – The capital of a company is divided into shares which entitle the owner, or shareholder, to a proportion of the profits.

Share certificate – Certificate representing the number of shares owned by an investor.

Shareholder – Owner of shares.

Speculator – Someone who buys and sells stocks and shares in the hope of making a profit through changes in their value.

Stock – Shares (portion of the capital of a business company) held by an investor.

Stockbroker – A licensed professional who buys and sells stocks and shares for clients in exchange for a fee called a “commission.”

Stockholder – Person who owns stocks and shares.

Trader – Investor who holds stocks and securities for a short time (minutes, hours or days) with the objective of making profit from short–term gains in the market. Investment is generally based on stock price rather than on an evaluation of the company.

Trading session – Period during which the Stock Exchange is open for trading.

Venture capital – Money raised by companies to finance new ventures in exchange for percentage ownership.

Yield – Return on investment shown as a percentage. l

WORDS OF WISDOM

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.

– George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and cofounder of London School of Economics

Whatever you do, do not picture them in their underwear n Ahsan Sajid If one were to do a survey of people’s biggest fears, the list would undoubtedly be topped by death, getting dumped or never meeting somebody, losing a pet among other fears and irritations that any one of us would list off the top of our heads. However, one fear we often overlook is the fear of public speaking.

Some are naturally good at it, while others get better at it through practice and experience. In Bangladesh, a common belief, which starts in schools and is carried to university where public speaking engagements become frequent, is that extroverts are natural public speakers. However, there are many extroverts in reality who suffer from the same crippling fear when push comes to shove – no matter how talkative they are among friends.

This starts to become a real problem at work where public speaking may be called for in a number of ways – presenting weekly updates at a meeting, pitching an idea to seniors, making a sales call at a company, updating stakeholders – the list becomes endless.

Fear of public speaking is not fear of speaking in front of a large group of people. Fear of public speaking is really the fear of being ridiculed, rejected and publicly humiliated. This fear stems from a number of factors such as lack of confidence in self, lack of belief in what one is speaking for, unfamiliarity with the topic in question etc.

If you have any real interest in what you have to speak about, and have done your homework, there is little reason why you cannot overcome your fear. Following are a number of suggestions that will further help you relax and deliver a winning presentation at work.

Take a [figurative] bow. You should consider it an honour to be speaking in front of people who took time out of their day simply to listen to you. Start by thanking them for their time.

2. Be prepared. Maybe you have gone through university “winging it” for every presentation. Even if you are great at improvising or adlibbing, prepare for your speech. Going with the flow and being permeable to 1.

Fear of public speaking is really the fear of being ridiculed, rejected and publicly humiliated change is a great strength, but even professional speakers don’t trust themselves to be brilliant without preparation. Practice your speech and carry written key points.

3. Know your audience. Are you speaking to a hall full of engineering students? Underprivileged mothers? Business investors? Tailor your speech to your audience to captivate them. Even if your speech is essentially about the same thing, when talking at different engagements, it is best to fit the speech accordingly. If you know of particular personalities likely to be present during your speech, Google them beforehand and try throwing in an anecdote or joke they can relate to. There is no shame in such measures to win an audience.

4. Lead with a bang. Whether your public speaking engagement is only for ten minutes, or an hour, open your speech with your big idea. Building up to your best point simply for effect is a bad idea – you will do yourself great service by

grabbing the audience from the get go.

5. Respect your audience. You are not always going to be so lucky as to speak to people you personally like or find worthwhile to talk to. It is your job not to allow this fact to become apparent in your speech.

Find at least a few things you can relate to with your audience and stick to those.

Back in university, we had a live skit once about women’s rights and a fervent speaker constantly referred to “men” in such a sardonic and confrontational tone that it resulted in a number of audience members leaving, and others becoming completely reluctant to speak during the following Q&A session.

6. Visualise your success. You have delivered the most winning speech.

You are getting your first standing ovation. The audience members are throwing rose petals at your feet. Instead, if you constantly dwell on all the ways you are likely to fail your speech, you most likely will.

It is important to believe you will be great, and to know that everyone present wants you to be great.

The audience wants to be amazed, entertained, and come off having learned something new, they are on your side. They are rooting for you, because they do not want to be bored.

7. Do not announce failure. It is such a common trend to start a speech

If you constantly dwell on all the ways you are likely to fail your speech, you most likely will

by announcing how nervous one is. You immediately lose any weight you may have carried with the audience when you announce that you are nervous. Even if you don’t feel like you’re in control, let the audience believe that you are. Audiences will excuse nervous speakers if they believe that the

speaker is at least passionate about what he is speaking. Do not ruin that belief with admission of doubt.

8. Do not be overly apologetic. Are there technical/PowerPoint related problems with your presentation? Is your speech starting later than it was slated for? Rather than apologising, it is best to just carry on. Chances are the audience has not even noticed what you are apologising for till you point it out.

However, certain cases do call for a quick apology, such as mispronunciation.

9. Maintain pace and eye contact.

Practicing your speech beforehand gives you an idea of how to pace your speech – where to speed up, where to slow down and emphasise. Pacing is important to draw the audience in during an important point and breeze through unimportant ones. Lightning fast speeches are a clear indication of the speaker’s nervousness while slow ones are boring.

While maintaining pace, it is also important to maintain eye contact.

One of my instructors in school once told me to avoid eye contact during a debate, as it would make me nervous. Bad advice!

People will not trust you if you do not look them in the eye. Look at your audience while you are talking to them. There is nothing interesting happening on the floor or the ceiling so stop looking there.

10. Be the best you that you can be.

A five o’clock shadow and dishevelled hair might look sexy under an Instagram filter but it will win you no points under harsh light in front of a large group. Groom yourself for a speaking engagement, dress well and look the best version of yourself that you can possibly look, but do not get carried away playing dress up. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Is Syria now a direct threat to the US? n David Rohde, Reuters

Anti-government protesters display banners and set fire to a mock cake carrying an image of Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who is celebrating his 54th birthday, during a protest near Malacanang presidential palace in Manila AFP

With billboards, tweets, Philippines thanks world for typhoon aid n

AFP, Tacloban

The Philippines said “Thank you” on billboards around the world Saturday in gratitude for the massive outpouring of international help after a typhoon that killed about 8,000 people three months ago.

Electronic billboards lit up with “Thank you” signs at New York’s Times Square, Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing, London’s Piccadilly Circus and five other cities at 2040 GMT Friday, exactly three months after Super Typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines.

“The number of lives lost and affected is unprecedented. But ever since then, the world has been one with the Philippines in helping rebuild the nation,” the tourism ministry behind the ad and social media campaign said on its website.

“The Philippines wants to say a big thank you to everyone who are helping us rebuild after Typhoon Haiyan,” the ministry said on its official Twitter page, where it later posted the billboard pictures.

Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever to hit land, smashed across 171 towns and cities in the central islands with a combined land area the

At least 30 Tuaregs killed in northern Mali

size of Portugal, wrecking the homes of more than four million people.

The government is still collecting corpses and looking for nearly 2,000 missing people with 6,201 deaths already confirmed, many of them swept away by giant, tsunami-like waves unleashed by Haiyan on coastal communities.

Amid the continuing difficulties, the tourism ministry urged the world’s 100 million Filipinos on Saturday to join its “#PHthankyou” campaign on social media.

It suggested they download some of the ministry’s “The Philippines says thank you” notes from its website and adorned with pictures of the country’s top tourist draws, and post them on Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social networking sites.

Russell Geekie, spokesman for the UN disaster agency in the Philippines, told AFP the government-led relief effort has addressed many of the survivors’ most acute emergency needs.

However, anti-government protesters on Saturday demonstrated and set fire to a mock cake with an image of Philippine President Benigno Aquino in Manila, claiming the government’s response to bringing aid to the survivors had been slow. l

Over the last two weeks, Obama administration officials have signalled – sometimes intentionally, sometimes not - that a worst-case scenario is emerging in Syria.

Peace talks are at a virtual standstill. An emboldened President Bashar al-Assad has missed two deadlines to turn over his deadliest chemical weapons. And radical extremists who have fought in Syria are carrying out attacks in Egypt and allegedly aspire to strike the United States as well.

Director of National Intelligence James R Clapper told members of Congress last week that Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda aligned group in Syria, “does have aspirations for attacks on the homeland.” American and Egyptian officials expressed alarm this week at signs that Egyptians who fought in Syria have returned home to mount an insurgency.

Critics of Obama administration policy in Syria argue that none of this should come as a surprise. For years, they have predicted that Assad and his Iranian and Russian backers would fight tenaciously; militants would flock to Syria; and the region would be destabilised by refugee flows, rising sectarianism and radicalised fighters returning home.

“A lot of things that the pro-interventionist crowd had argued two years ago have come to pass,” said Shadi Hamid, a Brookings Institution expert who called for military intervention in 2012. “The argument was that radicalism will rise.”

It is impossible to know whether a Libya-like intervention would have ended the conflict in Syria or exacerbated it. But citing recent statements

from administration officials, Hamid argued that the current American approach is not working.

In his testimony last week, Clapper said that American intelligence agencies had picked up indications of “training complexes” within Syria “to train people to go back to their countries and conduct terrorist acts, so this is a huge concern.”

The retired Air Force general estimated that more than 7,000 foreigners from 50 countries - “many of them from Europe and the Mideast” - are fighting in Syria. He compared rebel-controlled parts of northern Syria to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, or FATA, where foreign and local militants have sheltered since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

“What’s going on there may be in some respects a new FATA,” Clapper said. “And the attraction of these foreign fighters is very, very worrisome.”

In the past, Clapper has been accused of exaggerating terrorist threats and making misleading statements about the scope of American surveillance activities. But Clapper is not the only senior official expressing concern about the rising militant presence in Syria.

At a private meeting with members of Congress at the Munich Security Conference last week, Secretary of State John Kerry said that “the al-Qaeda threat is real, it is getting out of hand,” Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham later told reporters. “He openly talked about supporting arming the rebels. He openly talked about forming a coalition against al-Qaeda because it’s a direct threat.”

State Department officials said that Graham and other members of Congress who disclosed the private meet-

ing distorted Kerry’s statements. They denied that Kerry raised arming the rebels or described the current policy as a failure.

Noah Bonsey, a Beirut-based Senior Analyst for the International Crisis Group, called Kerry’s reported statements “an acknowledgement of the facts.” On the rebel side of the conflict, al-Qaeda aligned militants have badly damaged the international reputation of the Syrian opposition. On the government side, Assad and his backers in Iran and Russia are increasingly confident.

“Geneva made abundantly clear that the regime is not prepared to compromise on anything at all, no matter how small,” Bonsey said in a telephone interview, referring to the peace talks. “They believe themselves to be winning and they perceive themselves as seeing no real pressure, certainly not from Iran and probably not from Russia.”

Steven A Cook, a Mideast expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, agreed that Assad and the militants are both growing stronger. But he defended the administration’s decision to not intervene in what he called “someone else’s civil war.” Cook said the best way for Washington to respond to rising militancy in Syria was through regional allies, not direct American action.

“The question is how we go about countering them,” Cook said in an email. “I suspect that we are already doing things with friendly countries - Turkey, Jordan, others - to counter Nusra without a full-blown intervention in Syria.”

Bonsey said he too opposed direct American intervention but pointed out that for the last two years the United States has been trying unsuccessfully to work through regional allies. Despite

Hard rockers demand $666,000 after Guantanamo claims

Cyprus rivals to meet Tuesday for peace talks relaunch: UN

n AFP, Montreal

Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders are to meet on Tuesday to relaunch talks on ending the island’s four-decade division after a nearly two-year break, UN mediators announced.

“Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu will meet in the United Nations Protected Area of Nicosia at the Good Offices Mission on Tuesday,” a statement said on Saturday.

The two leaders will unveil a roadmap for the renewed talks, which was finally agreed on Friday after protracted haggling over the text delayed a relaunch originally earmarked for November.

The last round of talks was suspended in 2012 when Cyprus assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union.

A resumption was further delayed by the eurozone debt crisis, which forced the Greek Cypriot government to secure a bailout from international creditors last March, plunging the island into deep recession. l

A Canadian hard-rock band says it sent the Pentagon a $666,000 bill after a former Guantanamo Bay guard alleged that the US military used their music to torture detainees.

Skinny Puppy found out their music was blasted out at the detention center in southern Cuba from a former guard who is a fan of the band, keyboardist Cevin Key told Canada’s CTV Television.

Rights groups say that prison officials subjected Guantanamo’s terror suspects to “deafening loud music,” often featuring violent lyrics, during interrogation.

Several other bands, including REM, Rage Against the Machine and Metallica, have denounced the use of their music at Guantanamo.

“We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an

actual weapon against somebody,” Key told CTV. The amount they requested may be a reference to 666, known as “the devil’s number,” in light of the band’s Gothic themes.

But the Pentagon said it had not received any invoice from the band.

“One wonders how such a bill might reasonably be generated and lawfully delivered, based on an unsubstantiated claim by some random, nameless fan, as one member of the band alleges, or via ‘grapevine,’ as another member of the band alleges,” spokesman Colonel Todd Breasseale told AFP. And he suggested the claim was a ploy by Skinny Puppy to garner free publicity.

“Kudos to them though, for garnering this much free press and circular reporting around the time of what one news source says is the launch of a new album and another says is the launch of a tour,” the spokesman added.

The group, which has a cult following, has performed live with band members smeared in fake blood, sporting machetes, animal skins and heavy black and white makeup. They have even included mock executions in their performances.

Key said band members were “offended” to learn the claims that their music was played at Guantanamo to “inflict damage” on detainees.

“I wouldn’t want to be subjected to any overly loud music for six to 12 hours at a time without a break,” he said, acknowledging that Skinny Puppy’s music could be a “terrible nightmare” for some listeners.

Breasseale, the Pentagon spokesman, stressed that the use of sleep deprivation and sensory manipulation was not authorized by the Army Field Manual, and prohibited by law.

“The futility approach in Army Field Manual 2-22.3 does not authorize the use of loud music. We simply do not use it,” he added. l

SCARS OF SOUTH SUDAN

n AFP, Bamako Armed men from the ethnic Peul community have massacred at least 30 Tuaregs in a revenge attack in northern Mali, officials said Friday.

The attack occurred Thursday in Tamkoutat, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the city of Gao, according to a local elected lawmaker who said it was “to retaliate against the kidnapping” of one of the Peul.

The Malian government denounced what it called “terrorist acts.”

“A dozen armed individuals cold-bloodedly slaughtered around 30 merchants on board two vehicles, one of which was torched and the other taken away by the bandits,” the security ministry said in a statement.

Security Minister Sada Samake went to Gao to investigate the killings with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice, the statement said.

The UN mission to Mali, MINUSMA, issued its own statement saying it sent peacekeepers to the area. They counted 24 deaths and four people wounded, it said, adding that an unspecified number of suspects were arrested by Malian security forces.

“Our relatives were killed in cold blood, at least 30 people are dead,” former regional lawmaker Assarid Ag Imbarcaouane said. A source in the security forces said those slain included a woman and child. The Tuaregs had been on their way back from a market in two vehicles when they were stopped and attacked by the Peul, the security source said. l

scores of joint declarations, the United States, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey all continue to back different rebel groups, a practice that further atomises an already fractured Syrian opposition.

“The first step remains working with the opposition’s regional allies,” he said. “Providing carrots and sticks that can encourage a move toward pragmatism which can make them a more effective force.”

Bonsey said this week’s announcement that Obama will visit Saudi Arabia in March could be a step toward a more unified effort. But Hamid said the Obama administration has little credibility after drawing “red lines” for Assad but failing to enforce them.

A central question - the central question - regarding Syria remains in dispute in Washington, experts said.

Does Syria now represent a direct national security threat to the United States? Hamid, who called for intervention in the past, said it does.

“They’re saying now that fighters are going to be trained in Syria and come back to the US,” he said. “We can’t pretend that it doesn’t have an impact on American national security interests.”

Cook and Bonsey agree the threat is rising but say the administration must first develop a coherent approach to Syria with its regional allies. Public opinion polls in the United States continue to show sweeping opposition to greater American involvement, including arming more moderate rebels.

Experts say only one scenario could change Washington’s stance: Syria-based militants somehow strike the American homeland. Until that occurs, no level of carnage in Syria, Egypt or the Middle East is likely to change Washington’s political calculus. l

A patient being treated for multiple gunshot wounds to the face, chest and throat sits in a wheelchair in South Sudan’s Malakal teaching hospital on Wednesday. Recent fighting in the country has seen waves of brutal revenge attacks, as fighters and ethnic militia use the violence to loot and settle old scores, with the United Nations and rights workers reporting that horrific atrocities have been committed by both sides. Many fear the conflict has slid out of the control of political leaders, with ethnic violence and revenge attacks between the Dinka people of Kiir and the Nuer of Machar, the country’s two largest groups AFP

n AFP, Nicosia

South Africa mine union steward killed in police clash n Reuters A union steward was killed in a clash with police at an Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) mine in South Africa, where workers were holding a strike to press for higher wages, the company said on Saturday.

The world’s biggest platinum producer said the worker, a member of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), was killed in a “violent outbreak” when police tried to clear a barricaded road leading to the company’s Union mine in the northern Limpopo province.

It did not provide further details and Limpopo police could not be reached for comment.

The death of the AMCU steward is likely to keep tensions high in the platinum mines, many of which have been at a standstill for more than two weeks because of an AMCU-led strike to demand a steep increase in wages.

Amplats said the strike was becoming violent, with more than 14 vehicles damaged by protesters since it started and one worker in a critical condition in hospital after being assaulted at the company’s Khuseleka mine this week.

In August 2012, police shot dead 34 striking AMCU miners at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, South Africa’s bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid nearly two decades ago. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

Israeli forces raid al-Aqsa mosque

Spain princess in court for historic fraud hearing n AFP, Palma Smiling under the gaze of the world’s media, Spanish King Juan Carlos’s daughter Cristina faced a judge on Saturday as a corruption suspect, in an unprecedented blow to the royals.

A judge started questioning her over accusations that she was complicit in tax-dodging and laundering allegedly embezzled money – claims that have plunged the monarchy into crisis.

The blonde 48-year-old princess stepped out of a dark car and walked into a court in Palma on the holiday island of Majorca, nodding to television crews, photographers and reporters crowded near the door.

Dressed in a white shirt and black jacket, the princess appeared relaxed as she headed into the closed-door hearing with a judge who suspects her of tax fraud and money-laundering.

“She is calm,” one of her lawyers, Jesus Maria Silva, told reporters.

Scores of pro-republican protesters rallied nearby, held back by police barriers.

They brandished red, yellow and purple republican flags and banners with slogans such as “Royal blood = unreal justice” or “Heads of state by the ballot, not the cradle.”

The hearing follows more than two years of mounting anger against the elite in a Spain battered by recession.

“It seems the privileges they have aren’t enough for them – they have to do something that really annoys the people,” said Mateo Castellanos, 61, who travelled hundreds of miles from the mainland to protest.

“A large part of the country is suffering hardship and a lot people don’t have enough to feed their children,” he said.

The spectacle unfolded on a warm winter’s day under sunny skies, on an island where for decades Cristina’s family sunbathed and sailed yachts in carefree summers.

Now the island is the centre of an embarrassing scandal that has turned much of the public against the royals and raised doubts over the very future of the monarchy.

Minutes after Cristina’s arrival, investigating judge Jose Castro began questioning her in a courtroom overlooked by a portrait of her own father, Juan Carlos, 76. l

US: American moved from N.Korea hospital to labor camp n AFP, Washington North Korea has moved imprisoned US citizen Kenneth Bae from hospital and back to a labour camp, a US official said Friday, which could further complicate efforts to win his release.

In an interview on Friday with a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan, the Chosun Sinbo, Bae confirmed he had been transferred back to the “special correctional facility” in Pyongyang on January 20.

Bae, a tour operator described by a North Korean court as a militant Christian evangelist, was arrested in November 2012 and later sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour on charges of seeking to topple the government.

“The Department of State has learned that the DPRK (North Korea) transferred Mr. Bae from a hospital to a labour camp, a development with which we are deeply concerned,” said spokeswoman Jen Psaki. l

Truck smashes into bus in Argentina killing 18 n AFP, Buenos Aires At least 18 people were killed on an Argentine highway Friday when a truck driving on the wrong side of the road crashed head-on into a bus, local authorities said.

Both vehicles immediately burst into flames, leaving twisted metal remains, television images showed. Firefighters were still working on retrieving the charred bodies for identification.

The collision, which early reports indicated left 15 people wounded, occurred in western Mendoza province, on a highway that links Buenos Aires with Santiago in neighbouring Chile.

“The bus was hit head-on by a truck with apparently stolen plates of Brazilian origin,” Mendoza’s health minister, Matias Roby, told a local news channel, calling the incident “heartbreaking.”

There were 32 people on the bus, he told the station, including two drivers who were both killed. l

9

Sunday, February 9, 2014

n Agencies

An Afghan policeman stands guard on the roof of a shop damaged in a suicide attack in Kabul

REUTERS

Afghan civilian deaths up in 2013 as war intensifies 19 of 54 aerial operations that resulted in civilian casualties were by unmanned aerial vehicles

n Reuters, Kabul War took an increasing toll on Afghanistan’s civilians in 2013 as fighting intensified between the government and insurgents, the United Nations said in a report on Saturday, with total casualties rising 14%.

The gradual withdrawal of foreign troops has left Afghan government forces more vulnerable to attack by insurgents, and the resulting battles helped account for last year’s rise in casualties, according to the report.

“The new trend in 2013 of increased civilian casualties from ground engagements, including the alarming increase in women and children casualties, reflected the changing dynamics of the conflict over the year,” the United Nations said.

Last year was the worst for women and children since 2009, with the number killed or injured by the conflict increasing by more than one-third from 2012. About 27% of all 2013 casualties stemmed from fighting between the government and

insurgents, and most of these could not be attributed to one side.

“This ‘fog of war’ dynamic reflects the changed nature of the conflict in Afghanistan in 2013 which was increasingly being waged in civilian communities and populated areas,” the United Nations said. The biggest single killer remained improvised explosive devices (IEDs), or bombs, detonated by insurgents in public areas such as markets, roads and government buildings. Bombs accounted for about one-third of the total civilian toll, which the United Nations put at 2,959 deaths and 5,656 injured.

While both sides in the conflict were responsible for the increase in casualties last year, the United Nations attributed about three-quarters of the toll to the Taliban.

“Statements on protecting civilians by the Taliban leadership are not nearly enough to end the killing and injuring of innocent Afghan civilians,” said UN Special Representative Ján Kubiš in a statement.

International forces, who have

handed over responsibility for security to the Afghans in preparation for their withdrawal by the end of this year, and say they participate only in joint operations, caused about 3% of casualties, according to the report.

While these make up only a fraction of the total casualties, air strikes causing civilian deaths or injuries are a major source of tension between President Hamid Karzai and the United States.

The UN report said that in 2013, there were 54 aerial operations that resulted in civilian casualties. While this was a 10% drop from the number of such cases in 2012, women and children accounted for nearly half of casualties. Of the 54 cases, 19 were by unmanned aerial vehicles. The number of civilian victims from these so-called drone strikes more than tripled from 2012, the United Nations said.

The United Nations said there was a sharp increase in incidents perpetrated by a security force known as the Afghan Local Police (ALP), set up in 2010 to operate in remote, insecure areas. l

Clashes have erupted between Israeli forces and worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem after noon prayers.

Israeli forces raided the mosque compound and fired stun grenades on Friday, while dozens of worshipers threw stones and chanted: “We sacrifice our blood and souls for you Aqsa.”

One man was wounded and treated inside the mosque compound.

The imam of the mosque, Mohamed Hussian, condemned the violence at one of Islam’s holiest sites - known to Jews as Temple Mount.

“It is a clear violation which is rejected by all the religions and the international laws,” he said.

“It is a violation against al-Aqsa mosque and the Israeli authorities are responsible, because they order their soldiers to raid the mosque violently, they are responsible for all what is happening in Al-Aqsa mosque.”

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said police had responded after stones were thrown at them.

“After the Friday prayers on the Temple Mount there were stones that were thrown by number of asked Palestinians toward police officers that were located at the Mughrabi area which is just outside the Temple Mount,” he said “Israeli police units responded by using stun grenades and entering inside the Temple Mount area, immediately we made sure that we dispersed all the rioters.”

Rosenfeld said police had arrested seven people during the two-hour operation.

Also on Friday, Israeli troops cleared a Palestinian protest camp in the Jordan Valley near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, ending a weeklong demonstration against Israel’s refusal to pull out of the area in any future peace deal.

Soldiers, border guards and police asked the protesters to leave before forcefully evicting them, a statement from the army said.

“The agitators were evacuated due to rock hurling earlier this week at the main Jordan Valley route, and other legal considerations,” it said.

But protesters said the army had not given them any warning.

Last Friday, about 300 Palestinians together with Israeli and foreign activists set up the camp in abandoned houses in the village of Ain Hijleh near Jericho in the West Bank to protest against Israel’s refusal to withdraw from the valley in the event of a peace deal.

In US-brokered peace talks, Israel has insisted on maintaining a longterm military presence in the Jordan Valley, where the occupied West Bank borders Jordan.

Palestinian leaders want a full withdrawal to make way for an international security force.

The UN last week slammed Israel’s ongoing policy of house demolitions, saying that more than 1,000 people had been displaced last year in the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem by demolitions on the grounds that homes had been built without Israeli permits, “which are virtually impossible to obtain.” l

Ukraine leader consults Putin amid crisis n AFP, Kiev Ukraine’s embattled President Viktor Yanukovych returned to protest-hit Kiev on Saturday after holding talks with his Russian counterpart and ally Vladimir Putin about a suspended Moscow bailout loan.

The chat late Friday on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi came amid intensifying pressure from the opposition on Yanukovych to cede some of his broad powers and appoint a new pro-Western government.

Neither Russian nor Ukrainian officials disclosed the details of the two leaders’ conversation except to say that it was brief and held at Sochi’s Fisht stadium where the Games’ opening ceremony was held.

Yanukovych had been expected to discuss with Putin the fate of a $15-billion Russian bailout whose delivery has been effectively frozen pending his decision on a new government.

The ex-Soviet nation of 46 million was thrown into its worst crisis since independence in November when Yanukovych ditched an historic EU pact under Russian pressure in a stunning reversal that sparked violent protests that have claimed several lives.

The sustained protests that followed have since then played out as a titanic struggle for the country’s future between Russia and the West.

Yanukovych must now decide whether to submit to protesters’ demands by taking a more conciliatory approach toward a new agreement with the European Union – a possibility that prompted Russia to sus-

pend its loan payments after issuing just one instalment of $3 billion in December.

But Ukraine’s tattered economy is in ever-growing need of assistance amid sliding domestic production and dwindling foreign reserves that can barely afford foreign payments of about $10 billion this year.

The protracted crisis has seen Ukraine’s borrowing costs spike and the currency lose nearly 10% of its value amid a rush by frightened consumers to cut their losses by stocking up on dollars and euros.

Several banks have reported hard currency shortages and the central bank on Friday was forced to impose capital controls while moving the Ukrainian hryvnia’s official rate to 8.7 from 7.9 per dollar – its first shift of the peg since July 2012. l

A member of the Israeli security froces stand outside the Dome of the Rock mosque during clashes with Palestinian stone-throwers (unseen) following Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound AFP

Iran, UN agency resume nuclear talks in Tehran n Reuters, Dubai

Iran resumed talks on its nuclear programme with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency said, in discussions expected to broach sensitive military-related issues.

The UN atomic agency hopes to persuade Iran to finally start addressing long-held suspicions that it may have researched how to build atomic bombs.

Tehran has rejected the accusations of weaponisation-related work as baseless and said it will cooperate with the IAEA to clear up any “ambiguities.”

Iran was represented in the discussions by Reza Najafi, its envoy to the IAEA, while the team from the UN nuclear watchdog was led by deputy IAEA director general Tero Varjoranta, IRNA said.

Saturday’s meeting comes 10 days before Tehran and world powers, building on a landmark interim deal that took effect last month, start talks on a long-term accord on Iran’s nuclear aspirations that would avert the threat of a Middle East war.

The spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, was reported on Friday as saying that Iran’s aim was “to answer the IAEA’s questions” at the talks.

Western diplomats hope an accord will lead to Iran scaling back its nuclear program sufficiently to deny it the capability to assemble a nuclear weapon anytime soon.

Diplomats are cautiously optimistic that after Saturday’s talks in Tehran the team of senior IAEA inspectors will be able to show at least some progress in gaining Iran’s cooperation Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi attends a news conference at the headquarters of the IAEA in Vienna REUTERS Diplomats are cautiously optimistic that after Saturday’s talks in Tehran the team of senior IAEA inspectors will be able to show at least some progress in gaining Iran’s cooperation.

Iran-IAEA ties have improved since last year’s election of a relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, as president of Iran on a platform to ease the country’s international isolation.

Under an agreement signed in November, the IAEA has already visited

a heavy water production plant and a uranium mine in Iran. However, those first steps did not go to the heart of its investigation and Western diplomats will watch Saturday’s meeting closely to see whether the next phase achieves that.

The IAEA wants Iran to clarify its activities in a range of areas of potential application to developing bombs, including various experiments and computer calculations.

The IAEA’s investigation is focused on the question of whether Iran sought atomic bomb technology in the past and, if it did, to determine whether such work has since stopped.

Although separate, the IAEA’s inquiry is still closely aligned with the wider-ranging diplomacy between Tehran and the six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and that it is Israel’s assumed atomic arsenal that threatens peace. l

New militant group claims Cairo bombings n Reuters A new militant group has claimed responsibility for two bombings that targeted the Egyptian police on Friday and has vowed to carry out more attacks, according to a statement posted on a Facebook page set up in its name.

The group called Ajnad Misr, or Soldiers of Egypt, emerged last month, claiming responsibility for six attacks at the end of January, according to SITE Intelligence group, which monitors websites used by militant Islamist groups.

Six people were wounded in Friday’s two bomb blasts near a police checkpoint in Cairo.

In the Facebook statement, which was also reported by SITE, Ajnad Misr said: “(The security forces) are not safe from retaliation which is pursuing them.”

“Our attacks on them will continue all the while their crimes continue.”

Lethal shootings and bomb attacks targeting the Egyptian security forces have become commonplace since last July, when the army deposed president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood following mass protests against his rule. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Letters to

www.dhakatribune.com

India should enable on-arrival visas at all points of entry

the Editor

LETTER OF THE DAY

ICT – a deathly addiction February 5

ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has become a very controversial topic nowadays especially for parents. The big question is, is it a blessing or a curse? We all know every good thing has its dark side and ICT is no different. As we can see, the youth have gotten excessively involved and even addicted to things like Facebook and Twitter. This poses a threat to their private lives and other relationships as well, in the form of cyber relationship addiction, which refers to addiction to social networking sites to a point where online friends become more important than real friends or even families.

Unsolicited e-mails, or spam, can be deadly because often they contain suggestive or blatantly obscene content to draw unsuspecting people. Cyber-crimes, teen gambling and online games can lure young people and their impact can even destroy the careers of these youth. Academic work is also affected to a great extent because it can distract a person from studying, as he or she is engaged in online pursuits.

So, although ICT is a blessing for us, it can be a curse as well because ICT is just a powerful tool and the consequences depend on how we use it.

Wahid, Sadia, Preety, Amit East West University

I

ndia is reported to be considering initiatives to spread visa on arrival and electronic travel authorisation facilities to tourists at airports from a large number of countries, including Bangladesh.

While such a move would be welcome if implemented, there is unfortunately to date no clarification on the past bilateral discussions for a special travel agreement arrangement between Bangladesh and India.

There is still a strong case for implementing such an agreement, as any new visa facilities in India are only likely to be initially implemented at a few airports and only apply to tourists.

Given that Bangladesh shares a large land border with India, and our citizens frequently visit the country for a variety of purposes ranging from business to medical visits, mutual trade and relations would be increased further by facilitating the same ease of visa facilities for other purposes and at all crossing points.

The agreement proposed in 2012 would have initially been restricted to certain categories of travelers, with Bangladesh also allowing Indian nationals to get similar visas. It would for example have greatly eased the process of obtaining an Indian visa in advance for medical patients facing time pressures. A mutually deregulated visa treaty can still serve these aims and reduce costs and time spent by border officials and travelers alike.

A special travel agreement treaty between Bangladesh and India would still provide a meaningful gesture of goodwill and be beneficial to the peoples of both our two countries.

A mutually deregulated visa treaty can reduce costs and time spent by border officials and travelers alike

The other law February 2

What can be done about Jamaat?

Sam Whether it is the code of life for Muslims is largely irrelevant from the point of view of our republic.

The only supreme law is the Constitution as far as the country is concerned; what people do in their private lives is their concern. There really is no “issue” here to solve: Sharia or Many Smriti or the Catholic Catechism has no business in the courts of Bangladesh, period.

January 30

nds The basic mistake the author has made is he has arrogated to himself the responsibility to give the genuine explanation of the teachings of Islam. But he has possibly forgotten that God has designated that responsibility solely to Jamaat-e-Islam, or so the latter believes.

Osmania Scholars have been trying to educate everyone on the correct interpretation of religion forever. Good luck to anyone who tries. But it should not be the government’s job.

SY You forgot to add that Jamaat are not Muslims; they are the followers of the Moududi religion.

They don’t care what Islam says.

Dr Kamal: Fresh poll a must February 2

Stop fraudsters exploiting Rana Plaza victims

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t is shameful that survivors of the Rana Plaza tragedy are being targeted by unscrupulous individuals, under the guise of helping them to get compensation.

Victims report being asked to give money along with their personal details and identity card numbers under various false pretences. These include instances where people purportedly representing labour organisations have demanded money from victims for putting their names onto lists for compensation and free medical treatment.

These cases are clearly forms of extortion and fraud as monies paid are reported going directly into individuals’ pockets and have not been required by the official compensation procedures.

In other instances, labour groups and individual organisers have been demanding one off membership fees from victims or have co-erced them into attending meetings and marches. While legitimate worker organisations are fully entitled to seek membership fees for their work, it is apparent from recent reports that desperate victims of the disaster have been fraudulently targeted for unnecessary payments.

Such unconscionable actions are unfortunately widespread and must be stopped. Victims who have been cheated of money by fraudulent individuals should be helped by the police and law enforcers to recover their funds.

The government and BGMEA should work with unions and stakeholders to ensure awareness of all the formal compensation procedures and programmes which are underway, so that there is less scope for victims to be exploited in this unforgiveable manner.

Sam With all due to respect to Dr Kamal Hossain, he was the one who wrote the Constitution without any awareness for the venality of our people: Did he really think that without iron-clad safeguards, a party chief will not, upon becoming prime minister, aspire to be a dynastic dictator? Did he really think that just saying an “independent” election commission was going to make sure that incumbent governments will kindly appoint independent people to the commission? Dr Kamal Hossain made the classic mistake of writing a Westminster constitution under the assumption that Bengalis were simply nice, tolerant, and pluralist. And now that he has brought this up, it will be just a few hours before he is accused as an enemy.

Ronnie I reckon several AL ministers’ recent haughty insistence on the incumbent illegitimate regime having a supposed “mandate” for a “five-year term” is, among other things, also plain political posturing to seemingly exert added psychological pressure on the BNP – a party the AL imagines they have on the mat.

Sam Ronnie: Thanks. I concur with your take on the sudden chorus of “five-year term” – a chorus that has a lot to do with the fact that the BNP has failed to come across as having any serious heft, at least in Dhaka.

Grace under fire February 2

WaliulHaqueKhondker I recollect this story. Rumana Monzur’s husband, Hasan Syed, was an engineer and was jealous of her doing better than him in life! He appeared to be mentally imbalanced and subsequently committed suicide, while in police custody! :( Subbi It’s impossible to not applaud and salute Rumana for her courage, given the heinous situation she endured. There’s no doubt in my mind that her ex-husband is a pathetic coward – good riddance to bad rubbish.

50,000 Bangladeshi SIM cards in Myanmar

February 5 As there are no rules and regulations on using SIM cards, and moreover the government doesn’t think to collect the data from the operators, the criminals take the chance and pave the way for themselves.

If the law isn’t established and the punishment isn’t given, criminals must continue to commit crimes. That’s expected. And the government has to take up that responsibility.

Zia Uddin

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Stakeholders should raise awareness of formal procedures so there is less scope for fraud

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU ACROSS 1 Suitable (6) 5 Limb (3) 7 Marry (3) 8 Sport (6) 11 School of whales (3) 12 Raised platform (5) 14 Maori charm (4) 16 Microbes (5) 18 Living (5) 20 Tidy (4) 21 Durable cloth (5) 23 Tree (3) 24 Pleasant place (6) 27 Month (3) 28 Make lace (3) 29 Pick out (6)

DOWN 1 Favourite (3) 2 Possess (3) 3 Deeply thoughtful (7) 4 Prepare for publication (4) 5 Electrical unit (6) 6 Unassuming (6) 9 Wicked (4) 10 Droop (3) 13 Army rank (7) 14 Natural gift (6) 15 Fate (6) 17 Labyrinth (4) 19 Work unit (3) 22 Fighting spirit (4) 25 Stain (3) 26 Fastener (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.

Sudoku

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Mancha that went astray n Sujit Sarker

G

Cutting off the head is not always the best solution

BIGSTOCK

Curing a headache

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n Khawaza Main Uddin e mix up wrongdoings with righteous causes. This practice continues with no end in sight. Our student politics is an issue in which we have invested a lot of effort, only without getting any proper solution.

Yes, one short-cut “solution” has been floated time and again – the imposition of a complete ban on it.

This is where we observe the tendency among many of us to, if I may use a cliché, “cut off the head to cure the headache.”

We have shown the world that we can cut off the head, sometimes for our betterment, and sometimes for the worse. We broke up Pakistan to form Bangladesh as an independent country. In the formative years of the nation, we cut off many heads of human beings who happened to be riding on the wrong horses of history.

The government once nationalised industrial units, and when it was disillusioned with state capitalism, it started disinvesting enterprises. The nation witnessed a seesaw between presidential and parliamentary systems of governance, and between electoral processes and dictatorial rule in the 70s and 80s.

One morning in 1990, we broke the curfew that was imposed by General HM Ershad to stop a students’ demonstration. That ultimately led to the fall of the man who had ruled the country for nine years.

The elected government of the

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BNP dissolved the upazila parishad, a system which was introduced to devolve power, largely because Ershad did it. The Awami League-led 14-party government made the Anti-Corruption Commission a toothless tiger because the government the 2007-2008 period empowered the anti-graft body.

Of course, there are other objectives and justifications as well as vested interests behind the taking of extreme steps by successive governments. But, one reason behind such a tendency was the reactive negation of a perceived negation. A more powerful factor, as I understand, is our obsession with history – we want to make or break something.

sentiment has shown.

We have also glorified ourselves by means of protest. We are a proud nation that has fought to uphold our mother tongue in 1952. But in the process of showing hatred to the Urdu language, most of us turned away from learning foreign languages.

In a letter to a newspaper editor following independence, a man from a district town had asked the government to abolish the English department at Dhaka University and other institutions. Because, he argued, Bangladesh became independent in order to establish the Bangla language everywhere.

When Sirajul Islam Chowdhury,

We need elections to student unions to build future leaders. We cannot afford to shut every door of democratic politics When there is greater likelihood of the rise of a mob to counteract the culture of impunity, it is very difficult for more civil people to not choose the path of isolation.

So, the mediocre want to become number one in all institutions. This is the effect of the colonial hangover followed by the centralisation of power and authority at the head, which is the prime minister in the present setup. Every criticism, too, is targeted at the head, as our anti-incumbency

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professor of English, was asked for his comment, he reportedly said, “The gentleman is not aware that the world is slightly bigger than his hometown.”

Nowadays, we feel that we need to learn a number of foreign languages for higher studies, business transactions, and searching for jobs abroad.

We are driven mostly by our whims, not by convictions. The constitution is an example of our failure to pursue prudent policies. Amended 15 times, the constitution has been a major

source of crisis in politics.

Our opposition parties since the 90s have felt the necessity of a polls-time interim administration, given the flaws in the electoral system. The stopgap arrangement of a caretaker government was inserted into, and then removed from, the constitution. Both steps were ad hoc.

The case in point is student politics.

General Ershad wanted to put an end to it, but it put an end to him, or his regime at least. A ban on student politics is being discussed even today, when there is no student politics as there used to be. When genuine and good students are not involved in politics, and when the politics is not meant for students, how can we term it student politics?

There are college and university units of the AL or the BNP, and mostly the musclemen are their leaders and activists. After the 1990 students’ upsurge, the dissenting voice remains absent on campus. I doubt if we really mean we want to ban student politics in its actual shape.

If the on-campus debates, the grooming of leadership, and raising voices on greater national issues are considered student politics, we need a resumption of those activities. We need elections to student unions to build future leaders of various sectors and professions, not a pool of unproductive people devoid of any profession.

We cannot afford to shut every door of democratic politics. l Khawaza Main Uddin is a journalist.

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S

anajagaran Mancha, which could have been the positive change in society everyone was looking for, fell short of expectations.

This was almost certain, given its course of evolution.

The Mancha had gained popularity mainly among middle-income people for the sentimental wave it had begun.

It had swept along with it a mass of youths who had been taught to value the Liberation War in the way they had seen on television and read in popular books. For the majority in the lower-income group, popularity had always hinged on what earned a full meal at least twice a day.

It was mostly youths who had gathered under the banner of Ganajagaran Mancha, believing they were a part of something that might bring about a revolutionary change in the course of the history of Bangladesh.

The birth of Ganajagaran Mancha happened at a time when the previous government of the Awami League was toiling towards an election stained with the disgrace of the Bishwajit killing, the Padma Bridge scam, quick rental power scheme, a bad relationship with India who had promised the BNP of a renewed bond, and other troubling issues.

Ganajagaran Mancha, it seemed later, wiped clean the image of the AL and helped Sheikh Hasina climb back to the peak of middle-income popularity.

The second verdict of the International Crimes Tribunal was indeed shocking – how could Quader Molla, a man proven to have brutally killed so many people, get lighter punishment?

A protest to the verdict was justified, and rightly done.

But eventually, the agenda was primarily steered towards hatred for the Jamaat-e-Islami. It tried to create the sense that Jamaat was the main problem for Bangladesh.

It is absolutely right to destroy the politics of a party that goes against the fundamental values of a country – in this case the Jamaat, which opposed the formation of Bangladesh.

Eventually, the agenda was primarily steered towards hatred for the Jamaat-e-Islami

But the most essential issue that the Ganajagaran Mancha missed was the raising of the question as to why Jamaat was still a political party after 42 years, and how it dug its roots so deep.

When Jamaat is a legal political party, therefore inside the bounds of law, and the law can take actions against it anytime, why not question the hand

A

that governs the law as to how Quader Molla got away? The right agenda would have been to steer Ganajagaran Mancha to strike at that governing hand.

Many youths who were once very much a part of Ganajagaran Mancha have now turned away

But no, the AL was spared from having to give such explanations, and was presented with an opportunity to manipulate things for its own agenda – an agenda they are still putting to use today. Thus, the Mancha was allowed peaceful demonstrations with protection and perhaps with patronisation of the state.

As for the BNP, Ganajagaran Mancha dealt a fatal blow to the party that was already scavenging for support, struggling to become the number one opposition. With Jamaat on a rampage, there were speculations of an election with Jamaat as the main opposition – which effectively meant an absence of the BNP in the elections.

They too tried to usher Ganajagaran Mancha to their side, though without much success. The final blow was served when the Mancha convinced India to give wholehearted support to the AL – Delhi believed the Mancha could stir passions in favour of the AL. Given Imran H Sarker’s Prajanma Blog’s affiliation with the Embassy of the United States, speculations arose as to the Mancha’s affiliations with American interests. Even if there was such an affiliation, it did not bear fruit.

The Mancha, though it claimed to be non-political at the time, seemed to silently become quite divisive – dividing those for the Liberation War from those against it, and that too based on the version provided by the AL. They managed to nurture middle-income feelings to make it look like it was only possible for the AL to bring Razakars to justice.

Many youths who were once very much a part of Ganajagaran Mancha have now turned away. They now feel toyed with.

This was not supposed to happen.

The spirit of the Liberation War was not just to free the country from Jamaat, rather it called for economic and social freedom for all – which has not yet been achieved.

Bangladesh still stands on the administrative and economic foundations of British and Pakistani rule.

These systems have to be rebuilt with the interest of Bangladeshi people in mind. Feudalistic structures have to be broken down – there is a whole lot of unfinished business. l Sujit Sarker is a Sub-Editor at the Dhaka Tribune.

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Fur is in, humanity is out n Mohammad N Miraly

O

n Super Bowl night, we witnessed a great victory for an old underdog – the fur industry.

When ex-quarterback Joe Namath stole the show in his full-length mink, he brought out the best of furs, and the worst in us.

Remember when Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, and Elle Macpherson said they’d “rather go naked than wear fur” in that iconic PETA advert?

Remember when top designers like Giorgio Armani said they’d never use fur?

But, she’s not the only one who loves fur. We all do. Global fur sales jumped 70% from 2000 to 2010. In 2011 alone, sales of fur pelts were close to $15bn.

Fur is back, baby.

It’s not because we’re treating animals less cruelly, though. No, nothing’s changed there. Little minks are still raised in cages on fur farms. They’re still gassed, beaten, and electrocuted.

They’re still so psychologically damaged that they mutilate themselves and cannibalise each other.

So, why the sudden 180 degrees?

It’s not so sudden, actually. It’s the

Did we really believe in what we were doing 20 years ago when we bared down for fur and threw red paint on each other?

Well, that was 1994.

Come 2014, Naomi is front and centre applauding the appearance of a white mink coat trimmed with fox fur at Donatella Versace’s Paris show.

outcome of steady, tireless work by the fur industry over the last 20 years to change popular perception. Jezebel wrote in 2012 that fur’s resurgence is the result of a calculated campaign

to “re-legitimise and de-stigmatise the product” to designers as “sustainable, natural, and luxurious.”

A 2004 Independent article quipped: “Just as Peta managed to ‘out-glamorise’ the image of fur in 1994, the fur trade is now trying to ‘out-ethicise’ the animal rights world,” by claiming that the manufacture of fake fur involves chemicals that are dangerous for the environment as well as the factory workers who make them.

Well, it worked. We love fur again.

But, what does that say about us? It says that we allowed ourselves to be manipulated. We allowed our opinions to be formed by the campaign with the most money. At best, it says that we lack the courage of our convictions, and at worst, that we don’t know ourselves well enough to have any convictions of our own.

Did we really believe in what we were doing 20 years ago when we bared down for fur and threw red paint on each other? Were we thinking for ourselves when we stopped wearing fur? Or were we just pretending because that was the fashion of the times?

The evidence suggests the latter.

Because here we are, loving our fur,

Slaves to fashion? grateful that no one is bombarding us again and again with videos and photos about the poor little caged animals shaking in their little fur boots.

So we turn a blind eye because animal rights is yesterday’s cause du jour.

And we ask, willing to be outraged for the required amount of time, what’s

AFP

fashionable today? We plead, tell us what to believe in next! We will believe what you say, cuz we’re all slaves to fashion, anyway. l Mohammad N Miraly holds a PhD from McGill University in Religion, Ethics, and Public Policy.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Sunday, February 9, 2014

DHAKA ART SUMMIT

The second edition of Dhaka Art Summit is in full swing at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

With vibrant and experimental artworks in an array of genres, the Summit has become the gathering point for art lovers in the city. The event focuses on the South Asian region and highlights its happening contemporary art scene. DAS features five exhibitions curated by local and international curators, 14 solo art projects, a city-wide public art project by internationally acclaimed Raqs Media Collective, screenings of experimental films, performances, and presentations by 33 local and international galleries including over 250 artists from across the South Asian Region.

Several collateral exhibitions are also taking place around the city during the summit SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Experimental films at Dhaka Art Summit n Entertainment Desk The Experimental Film Screening by South Asian artist is one of the most exclusive segments of the ongoing Dhaka Art Summit. A total of thirteen experimental films are being showcased throughout the biennial. Films addressing contemporary issues with different perspectives in narration by young film makers are featured in the biennial which is unique in promoting experimental art.

All the nine films will have repeat showcase today from 11am to 5:30pm at the auditorium of National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

state-run jute-mills during successive governments since early 2000.

Filmed between 2007 and 2008 at Khalishpur in Khulna, the documentary portrays portraits of the poor faces and their hunger, which forced many of them to commit suicide or to take prostitution as profession.

Anika’s Home

Anika’s Home is a short experimental film by Bangladeshi filmmaker Saiful Wadud Helal.

The eight minutes long film is narrated from

How Can I Become Bengali!

How Can I Become Bengali! is a documentary by filmmaker Ittukgulo Changma. The eleven minutes long film involves a story of ethnic tribes in Bangladesh, where people are divided into small communities and fight to retain their identity. The film criticises the 15th edition of the National Constitution, which negates the identity of many tribal groups of people in the country.

From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf

The film is directed by CAMP, a collaborative studio based in Mumbai, which shows a result of four years of dialogue, friendship and exchange between CAMP and a group of sailors from the Gulf of Kutch who cross the Arabian Sea from the Gulf of Kutch between India and Pakistan to the Persian Gulf and back. It is a long-term, large-scale project.

There is Something in the Air

There is Something in the Air is a film by Indian director Iram Gufran. The film having the length of half an hour is a series of dream narratives, and accounts of spiritual possession as experienced by women (petitioners) at the shrine of a Sufi saint in North India.

Siren

Unknown

Siren by Bangladeshi filmmaker Molla Sagar is a documentary on the miserable condition of workers of the closed jute mills in the country.

The film is about the consequences for families of the workers and raises questions about taking such the decision of closing down the

Unknown, is a film by Pakistani filmmaker Akifa Mian. The five minutes long psychological thriller film revolves around Ayesha - a woman who lives with her mother and suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. She keeps herself locked up in her room and talks to her alter ego, Ali.

Rockstrata returns with a blast Rockstrata is back again in the market with the album Notun Shadher Khoje after 22 years.

A pioneering rock metal band in the country that started its journey in the late 80s released their selftitled album in 1992. In 1986, Rockstrata made its debut at a concert at the Institution of Engineers, Dhaka.

Notun Shadher Khoje features 11 tracks all blending the flavor of metal from the 80’s with the contemporary rock music of the country.

With the presence of celebrated musicians Maksood Hossain Mac,

Myanmar based filmmaker Aung Min’s film On Hteedan Road is a story of a road, which existed for over 100 years in the Yangon Capital since the British colonial days. The documentary portrays the tragic existence of street-side dwellers living in a place that was taken over by dictators’ owned cooking oil tanks.

Delete is an experimental film by the Maldives based director Shamim Nizam. The thirteen minutes long film is a series of events that haunt a young man involving scenes that could unfold in a person’s mind once an idea has been planted.

Gonodabi, a documentary by Bangladeshi filmmaker Saiful Islam Jarnal which looks at the after effects of the war in 1971, is a strong voice in urging for the trial of the war criminals of the Liberation War. The twelve minutes long film starts with images of some Bironganas from Sirajganj, who were raped and seized by the Pakistani Army and local collaborators during the war. Next, Indian eminent musician Kabir Sumon’s song titled Gonodabi is a background scores with images of the Shahbag protests.

The film is an initiative of the Moviana Film Society and Joloj Movie Production.

n Shadma Malik

On Hteedan Road

Delete

Gonodabi

Ayub Bachchu, and Shumon, Rockstrata unveiled the band at the Institution of Engineers on Friday at an event titled The Return of Rockstrata.

The event also screened music videos of two songs from the albumEi Amar Jibon and Dui. The members of the 80s’ rock band expressed delight as most of them are settled abroad, and this was an opportunity for them to reconnect after a long time.

Arshad, bass guitarist of the band, said: “We are releasing the album after 22 years. It was tough on my part to release it alone in the country. But it has been possible because of the

presents the story of a political leader Irom Sharmila, a woman who has been on 13-year hunger strike demanding justice for her people and to promote the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in India.

the point of view of a young woman named Anika and explores the perception of political marriage and cultural marriage.

immense support that we received from the young rock musicians.”

The event ended with a conjuring performance by Arshad, Komol and Shakib Chowdhury, who played a few tracks from the self titled album.

In 1987, Rockstrata participated in the Bamba concert. Later it toured around the country and introduced the heavy rock music to the people of Bangladesh.

The lineup of the band is Mushfiq Ahmed (vocal), Shoeb Rahman (vocal), Imran Hussain (lead rhythm guitars), Mainul Islam (lead and rhythm guitars), Arshad Amin (bass), and Mahbubur Rashid (drum). l

You Do Not Belong to This Land

Afghan filmmaker Kaveh Ayreek’s film You Do Not Belong to This Land is a story of a young Afghan refugee named Sardar in Iran, who gets fired because he does not have legal resident documentation. The film further deals with his struggles with and how he reached his fiancé who is waiting for him at the border.

My Body My Weapon

New Delhi based independent filmmaker Kavita Joshi’ film My Body My Weapon is a part of a cross-media project on women, where she

Life

Afghan filmmaker Mohammad Khadem Haidari’s film Life explores how Kabul is as a place not only for war and suicide attacks, but also a beautiful and dramatic city, along with its kindness and diligent people. l

Film

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Thor: The Dark World, Pacific Rim in 3D, The Conjuring, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Escape Plan Time: 10am – 10pm Star Cineplex, Level 8 Bashundhara City, Panthapath

Exhibition

2nd Dhaka Art Summit Time: 11am – 7pm Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Shegun Bagicha Ways of Seeing Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Art Lounge 60 Gulshan Avenue, Gulshan 1

Bhager Manush Somoy Time: 6:30pm Experimental Theatre Hall Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

ON TV MOVIE 7:30pm Star Movies Ratatouille

9:30pmHBO

Jack Reacher

DRAMA 10:30pm Star World Almost Human QUAMRUL ABEDIN

Afghan filmmaker Rahraw Omarzad’s work looks critically at the Afghan education system and its relationship with a new generation, and how it has failed to improve the power of analyzing and logic in its students.

TODAY IN DHAKA

Theatre

Noted personalities of country’s rock music arena at the launching moment of Rockstrata’s latest album

The Third One

11:00pm Zee Café Vampire Diaries

Shuvo and Mahiya Mahi pair up for action thriller again n Afrose Jahan Chaity As soon the sizzling on-screen chemistry between Mahiya Mahi and Arefin Shuvo in the upcoming film Agnee became a hot item for the cinemagoers, the new heartthrobs have signed again for another action thriller Warning.

Shamim Ahmed Roni’s debut directorial project Warning features Arefin Shuvo as a kidnaper and Mahiya Mahi as a journalist. An excited Mahi, who has never done such a role before, shares with Dhaka tribune: “I found my role in the film very challenging.

It will be my second film with Arefin Shuvo where I will be seen in action avatar again.”

The 135-minute digital film features a thrilling story that is bound to hold the interest of the audience with its striking star-cast and unique script, claims the director. About the film and cast, Shamim Ahmed Roni says: “The story features many thrilling twists. I found Shuvo and Mahi best suited for the characters. Even, Misha Showdagor will be seen in police officer’s character.”

The plot of the story revolves around a kidnaper who becomes a threat for the police department. With the help of the media, the entire police department tries hard to track him, but they fail several times.

The duo’s Agnee will be released this Valentine’s Day. l

Did you know?

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch is the first to travel in space - one leg of the relay involved a spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts

Sport

Bangladesh batsman Mominul Haque celebrates his century against Sri Lanka in the final day of the 2nd Test at ZACS yesterday MUMIT M

14 India chase

DAYS TO GO

Survival was the order of the final day for Bangladesh and the home side rode on a calm century from Mominul Haque to accomplish the feat and draw the second Test against Sri Lanka yesterday. However, the result hardly mattered as the visitors, who won the first match, strolled to a 1-0 win in the twomatch Test series.

467 to win on the final day at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium was practically out of the question and in return many feared Bangladesh, given their poor run with the bat, could lose all 10 wickets trying to save the game.

But the little man, Mominul, impressed again. After match saving hundreds in consecutive Tests against New Zealand last year, the left-handed middle-order produced another 100 yesterday which ruined any plans the Sri Lankans had of winning the match.

Bangladesh had 151 on the scorecard when the third wicket, Imrul Kayes, fell and with approximately 40 over left in the day and the batting debacles the Tigers have been experiencing lately, drawing the match looked tricky.

But Mominul paired with the country’s leading all-rounder Shakib al Hasan to add an unbeaten 120 runs for the fourth wicket which killed all the doubts.

The defensive approach was clear from the home side which prompted Angelo Mathews to set an attacking field and also lure the batsmen into

The Three Musketeers Bangladesh batsmen needed to showcase their character to hold the Sri Lankans from running away with another win in the second Test and despite having the big names like Tamim Iqbal, Shakib al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim in the side it was the other three – Shamsur Rahman, Imrul Kayes and Mominul Haque – that made the headlines.

While it was the first hundred for Shamsur and Imrul, it was Mominul’s third in his seven-match career. Mominul, who averages 75.50 at the moment, however rated the unbeaten 100 higher than the two back-to-back Test centuries last year against New Zealand.

“I will rate this century ahead. Today’s (yesterday’s) century I had to work

Jamal edge Mohun Bagan Dhaka giants Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd rode on the lone strike from their Haitian forward Sony Norde along with a touch of luck to go past Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan FC 1-0 and reach the semifinals of the IFA Shield at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata yesterday.

Jamal making their maiden appearance in the 4th oldest football tournament of the world will face another Kolkata giant East Bengal on February 11.

Sony Norde curved a free-kick in the far post of the Mohun Bagan net in the first-half that turned as the golden goal for the Dhanmondi outfits. Mohun Bagan was clueless about what went wrong as Sabeeth, Pankaj and Ichezama saw their efforts denied by the woodwork.

Jamal, who was in a must win situation, started lively with their three pronged attack of Sony Norde, his compatriot Wedson and Nigerian Emeka Darlington operating upfront. In the midfield skipper Mamunul Islam took the playmakers’ role and his crosses and through passes kept the opponent defence busy.

The first-half was played in a considerable pace with Jamal showing some sublime passing skills. Mohun Bagan piled up pressure after conceding the goal, but lacked the ideal finishing that would have saved them from the elimination.

Sabeeth, the Mohun Bagan forward curved a neat cross in the 5th minute

0 3 5

formidable target

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Liverpool 5-1

Arsenal

Mominul rise in drawn Test, SL take series

They could have gone for the win: Mathews It was a big target to get for the home side that also on the final day of the Test match. However, Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews was surprised to see the home side not going for the win at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday.

“Not really, if they wanted to chase, they could have, they didn’t show any intent, we actually could have bowled more overs,” said Mathews. “We were one nil up in the series and they had to make the move, but they didn’t show any intent. We declared yesterday and we were going all out for the win,” he added.

The visitors took control of the match from the very first innings and despite a huge lead on the card they batted long on the fourth day. If that had any impact on the draw Mathews said, “No not at all, because we know that we could get them all out if they were going for runs. You can block and survive but you can’t actually go for big shots, because the wicket was a very slow one, we had different kind of bowlers, Dilruwan, Mendis, Lakmal if they wanted to go for it we were up for the challenge.

“You’d rather lose 2-0 or you square the series, that’s what Pakistan did in Sharjah, if they wanted to make it 1-1 they could have gone for it but the wicket wasn’t looking good,” he added.

However, the 26-year-old was not satisfied with the wicket they played on and said, “We can start another Test match tomorrow on the same wicket because it won’t assist the bowlers at all. it was not a sporty wicket but I thought it was a batsman’s paradise and good for batting once the seam got soft the bowlers didn’t stand a chance.”

Mathews hailed his spinners Ajantha Mendis and Dilruwan Perera while he also termed Kithuruwan Vithanage as a “great find”.

“Except for the four bowlers if you have one more spinner it will help a lot in the longer formats because we have got the variation in the one dayers and T20s, but we needed someone like Kithuruwan in Tests. He bowled very well in the overs we bowled. He is a great find for us,” he informed.

The youngest ever Lankan captain also admitted that Bangladesh will come hard in the shorter formats of the game, starting with the two-match Twenty20 from February 12. “Yeah definitely, they are strong especially in the shorter format and they will come back hard in the T20s and one dayers. We played some pretty good cricket here especially in the Test matches.” l

Sunday, February 9, 2014

but Preetam’s head whiskered past the Jamal side post.

Sony Norde, who made some impressive runs into the opposition defence, put Jamal ahead in the 23rd minute.

Taking his position at the left edge of the box Sony curved the ball towards the far post and it dipped to hit the top of the side post and crashed inside the net.

Sabeeth, the Mohunbagan forward stormed in the Jamal box in the 33rd minute but his cracking left footer rebounded off the right hand post of Jamal goalkeeper Zia. Four minutes after the resumption Mohun Bagan was denied by the woodwork again. Midfielder Pankaj’s glancing header on a cross of Aibor rocked the crosspiece. Jamal adopted a counter attacking strategy and Sony again broke free in the 65th minute but his grounder was dealt well by Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Shilton.

Mohun Bagan was cursing the lady luck in the 83rd minute when their Nigerian defender Echezama, who was brought upfront by their Moroccan coach Karim Bencharifa, stopped a goal kick of Zia and ran a few steps before placing the ball past the onrushing goalie, before the ball hit the sidepost and defender Nasir shot it to safety.

Jamal earlier lost to Kolkata Mohammedan 2-1 and beat Sikkim United 3-1.

Mohammedan Sporting Club of Dhaka remains the only Bangladesh club to appear in the final of the tournament in 1995. l

hard right from the very beginning. Because they bowled in very good areas and we were under pressure from the start,” he said.

A soft spoken person by nature, Mominul revealed that he always tries to play according to the team plan and yesterday it was to “pass the time, play session by session.”

The left-handed admitted of the pressure situation on the last day and said, “To survive on the last day of the Test match is very difficult. The wicket is a little rough. And they try to use that against u, so obviously there is pressure.

“Wicket was good for spinners, the ball kept low, after the pressure went off then it went well,” said the 22-year-old who has the score of 13, 50 and eight in his previous three innings.

Mominul survived on four when Kaushal Silva dropped him off Dilruwan Perera while he also escaped a tough chance at slips on 87. He said it was part of the game while admitting the nervousness in the 90s.

“Maybe I was lucky. And because I was lucky the century took place. Yes there was a bit of pressure, all big players have a hard time in their 90s and so I had pressure as well,” said Mominul.

Meanwhile Shamsur said it was dream come true for him as he registered his maiden ton early in his career.

His 106 along with Imrul’s 115 set the tone of the Bangladesh first innings where the duo added 232 for the second wicket.

“It was dream start for my career, getting a hundred in my second Test is

playing shots. Mominul, who took time and settled in, soon opened up and played some exclusive drives on the off side and he was well past his fifty when the teams took tea.

Shakib also put on an attacking mask after the break as he showed no hesitation in using his feet against the luring deliveries from the Sri Lankan spinners, especially part time leggie Kithuruwan Vithanage. Suddenly the runs were coming easily while the wicket looked a batting paradise. However, Mominul’s century was the only reason from calling the match off as a draw and young prodigy spent few nervy moments in his 90s.

Batting on 98, Mominul took 15 balls, 10 for the last run, before he landed the three figure mark with a glance down to the square leg. The run also made both captains call the match, with an hour left, as a draw, second between the sides, with Bangladesh on 271 for three.

Earlier, the hosts resumed the day with Tamim Iqbal and Shamsur Rahman batting on seven and four respectively and the pair remained cautious in the first hour of the day. Tamim looked focus on staying in the middle, but playing against the turn of leg spinner Vithanage cost him his wicket.

Trying to force a drive on the off-side the ball pierced the bat and pad gap to clean up the local boy on 31 and hand the part timer his maiden Test wicket.

Bangladesh hoped for another big partnership from Shamsur and Imrul, the two centurions from the first innings, but an inside edge rolled on to

something every cricketer would have wished and more importantly it helped my team to draw the match,” said Shamsur who followed up with a well played 45 in the second innings.

Imrul returned to the Tigers fold after a gap of over two years and more than that he returned to bat at a position, No 3, he never batted in the national team before. Imrul, who usually opens the batting, had a very good domestic season which made the selectors call him back.

“I worked hard after I was left out from the national team and the National Cricket League and Bangladesh Cricket League was the only platform for me to make a mark. Scoring heavily in the domestic cricket gained my confidence when I came on to the Test side after two years,” said Imrul. l

Tanima stuns Liza Former national champion WFM Tanima Parveen beat the highest rated player of the country WIM Shamima Akter Liza in the 2nd round of the Sultana Kamal 14th National Women’s Chess Championship at the Chess Federation hall room yesterday.

Tanima playing with white pieces against the Modern Defence of Liza capitalised a mistake at the 23rd move to take the advantage and finally won in 46 moves. In the other matches of the day, reigning champion Sharmin Sultana Shirin beat Mahmuda Hoque Chowdhury Moly, WIM Rani Hamid beat Samiha Sharmin Shimmi, WFM Zakia Sultana outplayed Hamida Rahman and Jahanara Haque Runu routed Dilara Jahan Nupur of Kushtia. l

SCORECARD, DAY 5 Sri Lanka 1st innings: 587 angakkara 319, Jayawardene 72, Mendis 47, Shakib 5-148 Bangladesh 1st innings: 426 Shamsur 106, Imrul 115, Shakib 50, A. Mendis 6-99 Sri Lanka 2nd innings 305-4 declared Sangakkara 105, Chandimal 100* Bangladesh 2nd innings (Overnight 12-0): Tamim Iqbal b Vithanage Shamsur Rahman b Perera Imrul Kayes lbw b Perera Mominul Haque not out Shakib al Hasan not out Extras: (b12, lb2, nb13)

31 45 25 100 43 27

Total (for three wickets, 84.4 overs) 271 Fall of wickets 1-71 (Tamim), 2-81 (Shamsur), 3-151 (Imrul) Bowling Lakmal 13-5-30-0 (nb3), Perera 28-755-2, Mendis 16-0-61-0 (nb3), Pradeep 9.4-1-33-0 (nb4), Vithanage 16-0-73-1 (nb3), Karunaratne 2-0-5-0 Match drawn Sri Lanka win series 1-0

Mashrafe returns as T20 captain Veteran fast bowler Mashrafe bin Mortaza has been named as the captain for the two-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka in Chittagong in the absence of Mushfiqur Rahim. The matches are scheduled on February 12 and 14. BCB selected Mashrafe after regular captain Mushfiqur was ruled out with a hairline fracture on his left hand little finger.

Squad: Mashrafe bin Mortaza (Capt), Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Md Mithun, Mominul Haque, Shakib al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Sohag Gazi, Arafat Sunny, Farhad Reza, Rubel Hossain, Al-Amin Hossain l

Norde catches I-League attention

Imrul Kayes (R) takes some batting tips from Sri Lankan maestro Kumar Sangakkara after the end of the second Test at ZACS yesterday MUMIT M

Emily on target again as MSC move 2nd The fairy tale run continued for Zahid Hasan Emily as the national striker netted in four consecutive matches in the Bangladesh Premier League as Mohammedan registered a comfortable 3-1 win over Feni Soccer Club at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Emily converted from the spot in the

the stumps to end Shamsur’s run on 45.

The danger was seen off as Mominul joined Imrul to put on 71 runs before the latter was trapped plumb in front off Dilruwan Perera. Sri Lankan batting maestro Kumar Sangakkara without any doubt was adjudged as the man of the match while 499 runs in two Tests also saw him bag the series award. l

16th minute, scoring in his fourth consecutive appearance, after Feni defender Mowdud Ahmed brought down Jahid Hossain inside the box. The penalty decision left the Feni coach Omar K Sisse furious and his reaction, the coach kicked a water bottle from the sidelines on to the field, cost him his place from the dugout.

The Black and Whites doubled the lead in the 25th minute when Egyptian Mostafa Md Seddik scored his debut goal meeting a Jahid Hossain cross from the right flank.

Just three minutes into the secondhalf, substitute striker Wahed Ahmed extended the lead to 3-0 with a close range tap in. He is now the highest scorer of the league with five goals.

Substitute midfielder Motiur Rahman made immediate impact and pulled one back for the Feni outfits in the 65th minute Mohammedan moved to second place with 14 points from nine matches while Feni are still lurking at the bottom with four points. l

Haitian international forward Sony Norde could be on his way out of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club and Bangladesh football after several ILeague clubs showed interest in him following his sparkling display in the ongoing IFA Shield in Kolkata.

The former Sheikh Russell star admitted to an Indian media that he wants to play in India next season after two Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting Club team officials reportedly visited the Haitian in his team hotel. Sony also quoted that two other I-League clubs Dempo and Sporting Goa contacted him over phone.

The 24-year-old winger, who can also play as striker and playmaker, showed why he is worth all the hustle It was Sony’s spectacular free-kick that gave Sheikh Jamal a crucial victory over the Kolkata outfits Mohun bagan and confirmed the last-four spot.

Big-budgeted Sheikh Jamal spent Tk6m on Sony Norde to snatch him from treble winners Sheikh Russell.

Adding bonuses and other benefits Jamal is paying the Haitian around Tk10m. Mohun Bagan’s Nigerian Odafe Okolie, who also played for Bangladesh premier league side Muktijoddha SKC in 2004-05, is paid more than Tk20m, the highest in India at the moment.

However it will be of no surprise if Mohun Bagan spends more on Sony. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Maicon Pereira dies in car crash

Mineiro settle player debts

Bolt waits on Glasgow decision

Brazilian striker Maicon Pereira, currently playing on loan at Ukrainian league side Mariupol, has died in a car crash, local media reported on Saturday. The R-Sport news agency reported that Maicon, who joined Ukraine champions Shakhtar Donetsk in 2012, died in an accident, which happened in Donetsk early on Saturday. “It’s a terrible and heavy loss for all of us. He will remain a man of blessed memory for all of us,” Shakhtar said.

–AFP

Atletico Mineiro have settled their outstanding debts with players after Ronaldinho stepped in to lobby on behalf of his team mates, Lance newspaper said on Friday. Ronaldinho signed a new one-year deal with Atletico last month but told the club it was conditional on them paying past salaries they owed to other players. The club settled their debts soon after, the sports paper said on its website (www.lancenet.com.br).

–Reuters

World record-holder Usain Bolt will not decide until the Jamaican championships in June whether or not he will compete in the Commonwealth Games a month later, his coach Glen Mills said. The Kingston meet from June 19 to 22 will determine the athletics squad for the Commonwealth showdown in Glasgow, Scotland, where the athletics events will be staged from July 27-August 2.

–AFP

Worker dies in Manaus World Cup stadium accident A worker died in an accident while working outside the World Cup stadium in the Brazilian city of Manaus on Friday, local authorities and the Sports Ministry said.

“Worker Antonio Jose Pita Martins, 55, died after an accident happened when he was dismantling a crane in the area outside the Amazonia Arena,” the Sports Ministry said.

It added in a statement that the accident took place at 8am local time (1200 GMT) and Martins, a Portuguese national, was rushed to hospital. A hospital statement said Martins had died as a result of multiple head and chest injuries.

He was the third person to die while working on or near the ground and the sixth to perish while preparing the 12 stadiums for this year’s tournament which starts in June.

“FIFA deeply regret the death of the worker who was disassembling a crane used in the construction of the roof of the Arena Amazonia,” Jerome Valcke, the secretary general of soccer’s world governing body FIFA, wrote on Twitter.

“With great sadness we send our sincere condolences to the family, on behalf of both FIFA and the Local Organising Committee tonight.”

The Amazonia Arena, which should have been completed in December according to FIFA’s original deadline, is behind schedule and workers were rushing to get the job finished.

Amazonas state governor Omar Aziz cancelled a planned visit to the stadium because of the accident, an official statement said. l

Pellegrini hits back at Mourinho Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini on Friday took aim at Jose Mourinho as he ridiculed the Chelsea manager’s claim that the London club are the “little horse” in the title race.

Mourinho’s side drew level with second-placed City thanks to a 1-0 victory at Eastlands on Monday, but afterwards the Portuguese coach said Chelsea were still third favourites for the Premier League crown behind Pellegrini’s men and leaders Arsenal.

Pellegrini has rarely engaged in verbal jousting since moving to City in the close-season, but the Chilean was quick to poke fun at Mourinho’s mind games, while pointing out that Chelsea have been one of the one of heaviest spenders of recent times so should accept the pressure of having to win trophies.

“Maybe it is a small horse if the manager thinks like that. It can be a little horse, but very rich,” Pellegrini said.

“This is the team that has spent most money in the last 10 years, is the team that spent most money this year and the team that spent the most money in the transfer window. So, little - but rich.” l

India chase formidable target

India's Mohammed Shami celebrates dismissing New Zealand's Cory Anderson (unseen) on day three of their first Test at Eden Park in Auckland yesterday REUTERS

Rooney admits title probably beyond United Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has admitted that a top-four Premier League finish may be the most that his side can hope to salvage from their desperate season.

A run of three losses in five games has seen the defending champions fall 15 points off the pace in the league, taking their tally of defeats to eight from 24 games.

United also face a fight to qualify for next season’s Champions League, having slipped to seven points below the top four, and Rooney says that the time may have arrived to forget about the title.

“We know it’s going to be extremely difficult to win the title,” he told the BBC’s Football Focus television programme, broadcast on Saturday.

“Realistically, top four has got to be our aim. Although we always want to win the league title, maybe it’s a bit too far.”

It has been a chastening start to life at Old Trafford for United manager David Moyes, but Rooney spoke out in defence of the Scot, who launched the England striker’s career at previous club Everton.

“David Moyes is a fantastic manager,” Rooney said.

“I worked with him at Everton and for a number of months at United.

FIXTURES Tottenham v Everton Man United v Fulham He’s done everything he can, but it’s the players that have to do better and hopefully we can do that.”

Rooney’s contract is due to expire at the end of next season, but despite recent media reports that he is in talks over a new deal, the 28-year-old was reluctant to discuss his future.

“I’ve said all along I’m focusing on the football and will try to do as well as I can for the team and help the team be successful,” he said. l

New Zealand seized control of the first Test against India and then proceeded to let go in a frenetic third day Saturday which saw 17 wickets fall.

India, who started the day at 1304 in their first innings, were 87-1 at stumps in their second innings as they chased a formidable 407 to win on a flat Eden Park track.

They require a further 320 runs for victory with nine wickets in hand and two days remaining.

Only two teams have scored more in the fourth innings to win a Test -- the West Indies’ 418-7 against Australia in 2003 and South Africa’s 414-4 against Australia in 2008.

Murali Vijay (13) was the wicket to fall in India’s second innings when he feathered a Tim Southee delivery heading down the leg side and wicketkeeper BJ Watling was quickly across to take the catch.

Shikhar Dhawan, who was dropped on seven, will resume Sunday on 49 with Cheteshwar Pujara on 22.

“The momentum is with us and we will look to capitalise on that. It was important that we have a good start (to the second innings) which we got,” veteran bowler Zaheer Khan said.

New Zealand bowler Neil Wagner described it as a “bittersweet day” as they won then lost the initiative and said the outcome would hinge on the first session Sunday.

“It all depends how we start. If we put a lot of pressure on India and get a couple of quick wickets it will set the game up nicely for us,” he said.

New Zealand felt they had a firm

grip on the match after bundling out India for 202 in reply to their first innings 503.

But any elation at holding a 301-run lead against the second-ranked side in the world turned to despair after McCullum decided not to enforce the follow on and New Zealand self-destructed in their second innings.

They were rolled for 105 and only a last wicket stand of 25 by Wagner and Trent Boult avoided the ignominy of being the first side to score more than 500 in the first innings and less than 100 in the second.

A rejuvenated Indian attack seduced the New Zealanders into a series of rash shots, and sharp catches were held by an invigorated fielding effort.

Out-of-form openers Peter Fulton (five) and Hamish Rutherford (duck) were gone within three overs, and first innings centurions Kane Williamson (three) and McCullum (one) quickly followed.

Williamson went to an exceptional one-handed catch by Ravindra Jadeja at midwicket while McCullum was run out taking an unnecessary single in the last over before lunch. From 15-4 at lunch, New Zealand’s troubles worsened to 25-5 after the break with the removal of Corey Anderson for two.

Ross Taylor negotiated his way to 41, but when he slashed at a short, wide delivery from Khan and was well caught one-handed by Ajinkya Rahane in the gully New Zealand’s last recognised batsman was gone.

Pacemen Mohammed Shami with three for 37 and Ishant Sharma with three for 28 were the leading wicket takers for India.l

Olympic athletes were on Saturday competing for the first medals of the Sochi Winter Games after Russia staged a thrilling opening ceremony that impressed even foreign sceptics.

President Vladimir Putin late Friday declared open the 22nd Winter Olympics in a ceremony that took 40,000 people packed into the Fisht stadium and TV viewers around the world on a lightning tour through Russian history.

Thousands of fireworks exploded above the venue on the Black Sea coast during a ceremony that won gushing global praise despite an early glitch when one of the Olympic rings failed to appear.

After a build-up dogged by controversies on issues ranging from Russia’s gay rights record to security, the successful ceremony took some pressure off the organisers, who have been un-

five illuminated artificial snowflakes that were supposed to morph into the Olympic rings failed to open, leaving just four rings.

But organisers brushed off the mishap, admitting that they covered up the glitch on Russian state television by quickly inserting footage of the segment they had recorded days earlier.

The unflappable Ernst drew on Buddhist philosophy. “There is a saying that you have to kick out the uneven part of a perfectly polished ball to understand how perfect it is,” he said.

Thereafter the show charmed and stunned in equal measure, taking viewers on a lightning tour through Russian history and culture guided by a young girl named Lyubov (Love).

In a nod towards Russia’s proud sporting past, the Olympic cauldron was lit by two triple gold-winning Soviet winter sports icons -- figure skater Irina Rodnina and ice hockey legend Vladislav Tretyak. l

New Zealand 1st innings 503 McCullum 224, Williamson 113, Anderson 77; Sharma 6-134, Khan 2-132

India 1st innings (overnight 130-4) R Sharma b Boult A Rahane c Taylor b Southee M Dhoni c Watling b Wagner R Jadeja not out Z Khan c Watling b Wagner I Sharma c Boult b Southee M Shami c Fulton b Wagner Extras: (b5, lb6, w3, nb3) Total: (10 wickets, 60 overs)

72 26 10 30 14 0 2 17 202

Fall of wickets 1-1, 2-3, 3-10, 4-51, 5-138, 6-138, 7-167, 8-188 , 9-189, 10-202 Bowling Boult 17-2-38-3, Southee 19-6-38-3, Anderson 5-0-29-0, Wagner 11-0-64-4, Sodhi 6-0-13-0, Williamson 2-0-9-0

New Zealand 2nd innings P Fulton c Jadeja b Shami 5 H Rutherford lbw Shami 0 K Williamson c Jadeja b Khan 3 R Taylor c Rahane b Khan 41 B McCullum runout (Jadeja/Sharma) 1 C Anderson b Shami 2 B Watling b I Sharma 11 T Southee c Pujara b Jadeja 14 I Sodhi c R. Sharma b I Sharma 0 N Wagner c Jadeja b Sharma 14 T Boult not out 7 Extras: (b4, w1, nb2) 7 Total: (all out; 41.2 overs) 105 Fall of wickets 1-1, 2-9, 3-11, 4-15, 5-25, 6-63, 7-78, 8-78, 9-80, 10-105 Bowling Shami 12-1-37-3, Khan 9-2-23-2, I. Sharma 10.2-3-28-3, Jadeja 9-4-10-1, R. Sharma 1-0-3-0

India 2nd Innings M Vijay c Watling b Southee 13 S Dhawan not out 49 C Pujara not out 22 Extras (w1, nb2) 3 Total (one wicket; 25 overs) 87 Fall of wickets 1-36 (Vijay) Bowling Boult 6-0-28-0, Southee 5-0-18-1, Wagner 6-2-11-0, Anderson 3-0-8-0, Sodhi 4-1-17-0, Williamson 1-0-5-0 India need 320 runs to win

Barcelona missing Messi’s goals as they prepare for Sevilla Barcelona need Lionel Messi to rediscover his scoring touch at Sevilla on Sunday (2000 GMT) as coach Gerardo Martino admits their failure to take their chances recently has cost them top spot in La Liga.

The Catalan side have only won one of their last four games in the league while Atletico Madrid have moved three points ahead of them on 57, and Real Madrid are now only below them on goal difference.

Last weekend Barca crashed 3-2 at home to Valencia with Messi scoring from the penalty spot, his only goal in the four league matches he has played since returning from a hamstring injury that kept him sidelined for almost two months. In midweek they beat Real Sociedad 2-0 at home in the first leg of their King’s Cup semi-final when Messi, who has sent records tumbling in recent seasons with his scoring feats, again

drew a blank.

“In the games with Real and with Valencia, the team had chances to widen the scoreline and it is true that there are a lot of problems with scoring,” Martino said.

“I’m not talking about it being difficult to create chances, we have openings

FIXTURES Osasuna Valladolid Real Sociedad Sevilla Celta Vigo

v v v v v

Getafe Elche Levante Barcelona Athletic Bilbao

but we aren’t taking them,” Martino told a news conference on Saturday.

“It happened against Levante, Valencia and Real. We create six or seven chances and don’t take them.”

“I don’t think it is something to talk about like that. There is too much talk about whether he is playing well or badly,” he said.

“He should be left alone for a couple of days. He is the best player in the world

First medals up for grabs after dazzling opening ceremony der unprecedented scrutiny.

In Games that are among the most politically charged of recent times, the focus moves to the sporting action Saturday at sea-level and in the mountains above Sochi. Five gold medals are up for grabs.

The first gold will likely come in the women’s cross-country skiathlon, while Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, 40, will become the joint highest medal winner in Winter Olympics history if he makes the podium in the sprint.

Women will seek gold in the spectacular moguls freestyle event, the men’s snowboard slopestyle will be decided after a succession of spectacular crashes while the endurance kings of speed skating will face off in the lungbusting men’s 5,000 metres.

The high-octane ceremony, devised by the powerful boss of Russia’s Channel One television Konstantin Ernst, got off to a rocky start when one of

SCORECARD, DAY 3

and we should just enjoy watching the way he plays.”

Neymar has also had a difficult first season at the Camp Nou where he has been unable to reproduce the prolific form that brought him from Brazil. He has missed the last three league games with an ankle injury and will not be ready to face Sevilla.

“All the players that are here have a lot of quality but they need time to adapt.

Obviously not the home grown players but those who come from abroad,” said Martino.

“Some take three or four months and some a year but there is no doubting his ability. Barcelona is a very big club and it is necessary to have a period of adaption.”

Barca face a tough match against Sevilla with Martino concerned about the threat they pose from set pieces.

“I told the players that this is probably one of the most difficult away games that we have left. They are solid, hard working and strong at home,” the Argentine said. l

Peru want Bielsa as coach, says federation official

Russian Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva (L), tennis player Maria Sharapova (C) and Olympic champion wrestler Aleksandr Karelin run with the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics on Friday REUTERS

Peru, who have failed to reach the World Cup finals since 1982, have set their sights on Marcelo Bielsa as their coach after the Argentine’s success in reviving neighbouring Chile’s fortunes.

Bielsa took charge of Chile in 2007 and steered them to the second round at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, their first since 1998, before fellow Argentine Jorge Sampaoli secured their ticket to this year’s tournament in Brazil.

The Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) is planning to approach Bielsa, who has been out of a job since leaving Athletic Bilbao last June, in time for Peru’s friendly against England at Wembley on May 30, local media reported on Friday.

Peru have been without a coach since Uruguayan Sergio Markarian quit after his team failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup finals in Brazil. England have set up two other warm-up friendlies against fellow World Cup finalists Ecuador and Honduras in Miami in early June. The finals begin on June 12. l

Sport

DHAKA TRIBUNE

15

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Mushfiq hails team effort

QUICK BYTES

More swimmers called up Bangladesh Swimming Federation is likely to include six or seven more names in the ongoing camp for Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

The main target for adding more swimmers is also to prepare the team for the upcoming SA Games and Indo-Bangla Championship. It was proposed in the 4th executive committee meeting yesterday to increase the number of trainees and training development committee will pick the names soon.

Asif Reza, Anik Islam, Titu Mia and Rubel Rana are expected to make the list. Meanwhile, the committee also dismissed new proposal to pay SwimeSafe coaches in monthly basis. The coaches will get their payment by previous system which is 50 percent of the money provided by CIPRB. –Tribune Desk

Australia all-rounder Watson out of first Test Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has been ruled out of the first test against South Africa starting on Wednesday after a slow recovery from a calf injury.

Watson did not bowl in an inter-squad practice match at The Wanderers in Johannesburg on Friday, but did bat, making 34. However, team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said he would be fit enough to face the Proteas after he picked up the injury at the team’s training camp in Potchefstroom a week ago.

“He batted yesterday and was fine, and we’ve been building up his intensity.

Today we were trying to get him up to match level ... and he struggled with that today. He could feel it,” Kountouris told reporters on Saturday. “We just don’t think he he’s going to be right for the first test. We need a few more days now to let him recover and start up again. “It’s not a tear, but he has got an injury there. We’ve had a scan and it showed he’s got a low-grade muscle injury that we’ve been managing.

We were hopeful he’d recover, but it needed to be a little bit more advanced than what it is at the moment.”

–Reuters

Pietersen England’s scapegoat: Flintoff Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff believes that Kevin Pietersen has been made a scapegoat for England’s Ashes whitewash after having his international career brought to an end. The England and Wales Cricket Broad (ECB) announced the end of Pietersen’s association with England earlier this week, citing a need for a new “team ethic and philosophy” after the 5-0 Test series defeat in Australia.

However, Flintoff feels that it is wrong to single out individuals and has questioned the team spirit within the England squad. “The group doesn’t seem to be a group any more,” he told British newspaper the Daily Mail. “They’ve got one player who can take the blame and the rest of them want to go about their business and let him take the fall.

“It’s not that we couldn’t bowl them out, not that we couldn’t score runs, not that we got outplayed – it’s Kevin Pietersen’s fault.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Sony Six 3:30AM (Monday) India’s Tour of New Zealand 1st Test, Day 5 Star Sports 4 1:00PM Sochi Winter Olympic English Premier League 7:30PM Tottenham v Everton 10:00PM Man United v Fulham Star Sports HD1 3:30PM & 8:30PM Hockey India League La Liga 12:00AM Real Sociedad v Levante 2:00AM Sevilla v Barcelona Star Sports HD2 1:45AM Serie A Inter Milan v Sassuolo Ten Cricket 6:30PM Ram Slam T20 Final: Cape Cobras v Dolphins Ten Action French Ligue 1 2013/14 7:00PM FC Nantes v Olympique Lyon 10:00PM Bordeaux v FC 56

Liverpool's Martin Skrtel (C) celebrates scoring against Arsenal during their English Premier League match at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, northern England yesterday

REUTERS

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, who had earlier expressed frustration over the side’s performance in the first Test, praised his troop for the character they displayed in the second Test that concluded in Chittagong yesterday.

“The way we lost our wickets in Mirpur (during first Test) is never right in a Test match. So I think we have improved and I think this was the first time I saw the batsmen play so responsibly,” said Mushfiq to the media at ZACS. “We lost the first game due to awful batting. We played some bad shots in this game too. But being able to overcome that pressure and draw the game really great and good sign for the team,” added the wicketkeeper-batsman.

He praised Mominul Haque’s approach and said, “I had faith on him (Mominul) and knew that he will be in the middle as long as the team needs him to save the game. I didn’t need to tell him what he needs to do.”

Mushfiq revealed that he was worried after losing the openers in the morning, but never lost hope as he knew only one partnership was enough to help save the game and "Mominul did that with Imrul and Shakib.” l

Hazard fires Chelsea top after Arsenal crash n AFP, London Eden Hazard scored a hat-trick as Chelsea capitalised on Arsenal’s crushing defeat at Liverpool by beating Newcastle United 3-0 to claim top spot in the Premier League on Saturday.

Arsenal’s 5-1 demolition at Anfield earlier in the day handed their nearest rivals an opportunity to leapfrog them at the top of the table and Chelsea took full advantage at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester City were unable to follow suit, however, drawing 0-0 at Norwich City and slipping to third place in the process.

Chelsea had served notice of their title credentials with an impressive 1-0 win at City on Monday and they were quick to take control against Newcastle despite captain John Terry missing out

with a muscular strain.

Hazard broke the deadlock in the 27th minute with a first-time finish from a Branislav Ivanovic pass and the Belgian added a second seven minutes later following a neat back-heel by Samuel Eto’o.

A foul on Eto’o by Mapou YangaMbiwa presented Hazard with an opportunity to complete his first Chelsea hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute and he duly obliged by sending Tim Krul the wrong way.

Victory took Chelsea a point above Arsenal and two points clear of City, who were unable to repeat their 7-0 annihilation of Norwich from earlier in the season.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side dominated proceedings at Carrow Road, but in the continued absence of top scorer Sergio Aguero they came no closer to scoring than a first-half Alvaro Negredo header

that hit the crossbar.

Liverpool are now only six points off the summit after re-energising their title challenge with a clinical victory over Arsenal. Martin Skrtel scored twice in 10 minutes to spark the rout, before Luis Suarez crossed for Raheem Sterling to make it 3-0 and Philippe Coutinho released Daniel Sturridge to score Liverpool’s fourth.

Sterling completed his brace early in the second half, with Mikel Arteta replying from the penalty spot for Arsenal in the 69th minute after Steven Gerrard was penalised for felling Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The one-sided victory lifted fourthplace Liverpool to within five points of Arsenal, a week before the sides are due to meet again at the Emirates Stadium in the fifth round of the FA Cup. West Ham United leapt out of the relegation zone after captain Kevin No-

lan took his tally of goals to four in two games with a brace in a 2-0 success at Aston Villa.

West Bromwich Albion slid into the space vacated by West Ham after going down 3-1 at Crystal Palace. January signings Tom Ince and Joe Ledley marked their Palace debuts with goals, only for West Brom debutant Thievy Bifouma to hit back, but Marouane Chamakh sealed victory with a penalty mid-way through the second half.

Sunderland fell to within one place of the drop zone after losing 2-0 at home to Hull City.

The visitors prevailed through goals from new signings Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic after Wes Brown had been sent off for the hosts in the third minute for a last-man foul on Long.

Stoke City twice came from behind to force a 2-2 draw at Southampton, while the late game sees Swansea City

tackle local rivals Cardiff City in their first match since Michael Laudrup was sacked as manager. l

RESULTS Aston Villa

0-2

Chelsea

3-0

Newcastle

Crystal Palace

3-1

West Brom

Liverpool

5-1

Norwich Southampton

0-0 2-2

Sunderland

0-2

Hazard 27, 34, 63-P Ince 15, Ledley 27, Chamakh 69-P

Skrtel 1, 10, Sterling 16, 52, Sturridge 20

Lambert 6, Davis 41

West Ham

Nolan 46, 48

Thievy 46

Arsenal

Arteta 69-P

Man City Stoke

Odemwingie 38, Crouch 44

Hull

Long 16, Jelavic 62

Sri Lanka players and officials pose with the trophy after winning the Test series against Bangladesh at he ZACS yesterday MUMIT M

Bayern extend record runs Dhaka division thump Chittagong n AFP, Berlin European champions Bayern Munich extended both their unbeaten league records with a 2-0 win at Nuremberg on Saturday as the Bavarian giants remained 13 points clear in the Bundesliga.

The 39-point gulf between the two teams in the league table was clear as run-away leaders Bayern have now collected 56 of a possible 60 points this season.

This was Bayern’s 45th unbeaten Bundesliga match, dating back to October 2012, and their 29th unbeaten away game to add to their league records.

Third-placed Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a 5-1 win at Werder Bremen

with Poland striker Robert Lewandowski and attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan both scoring twice. l

RESULTS VfL Wolfsburg

3-0

Mainz 05

Werder Bremen

1-5

Dortmund

Nuremberg

0-2

Bayern Munich

Freiburg

1-1

Hoffenheim

Frankfurt

3-0

Braunschweig

Rodriguez 59-P, Dost 66, Luiz Gustavo 75 Aycicek 89

Schmid 68 Flum 7, Maier 43, Aigner 44

Lewandowski 26, 85, Mkhitaryan 41, 62, Friedrich 48

Mandzukic 18, Lahm 49 Modeste 85

Pakistan feel ‘cheated’ over ICC vote Pakistan cricket chief Zaka Ashraf Saturday said he felt “cheated” after South Africa abandoned their opposition to controversial reforms of the sport’s world body, allowing the proposals to be approved.

The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman said South Africa had opposed the International Cricket Council (ICC) reforms, seen as favouring the “Big Three” of India, England and Australia, as recently as Friday.

But South Africa supported the proposals at an ICC board meeting in Singapore on Saturday, giving them the extra vote they needed to pass.

Of the 10 full ICC members, eight were in favour with only Pakistan and Sri Lanka abstaining.

“I think South Africa cheated us,” Ashraf told AFP by phone from Singapore.

“Just last night (Friday) they told us that they have changed their stance and told us that it was the decision of their board (CSA). It disappointed us.” l

Dhaka division picked their second win of the season defeating Chittagong inside three days in their second round game of the 15th National Cricket League yesterday. In the other three games of the round – Khulna, Dhaka Metro and defending champions Rajshahi are in strong position against their respective opponents.

Dhaka division v Chittagong

A dominant bowling performance from Dhaka saw them defeat Chittagong by an innings and 99 runs at Rangpur Cricket Garden.

Chittagong were asked to follow-on after being dismissed for 124 in the first innings. The second innings also was not any different as they were bundled out for 156 runs. Opening batsman Nafees Iqbal’s 42 was the highest in the innings. Earlier Dhaka posted 379 in their first innings on the back of Shuvagata Hom’s 108. Nazmul Apu led Dhaka’s charge with a five-wicket haul

in the second innings. He clinched the man of the match award for picking nine wickets in the game.

Khulna v Rangpur

Khulna leads the game with 377 runs against Rangpur after the end of third day at Bogra’s Shaheed Chandu Stadium.

Rangpur resumed their second innings on 167 for five and eventually made 283. Saymon Ahmed made 83 while Ahamadul Kabir scored 59 for Rangpur. Ziaur Rahman and Nahidul Islam picked three wickets each for Khulna.

Khulna were 252 for eight at stumps of day three. Fast bowler Dollar Mahmud scored 63 after opening batsman Soumya Sarkar made 60 and Tushar Imran scored 54. Left-arm spinner Sohrawardi Shuvo picked four wickets for Rangpur.

Sylhet v Dhaka Metro

Riding on Saikat Ali’s unbeaten 68 runs, Dhaka Metro is leading the game by 150 runs against Sylhet at BKSP. Sylhet

resumed their 1st innings on the day which ended with 284 runs before getting all out. Alok Kapali’s 110 runs had set a platform for the side to lengthen the innings but the other batsmen of the side failed to capitalize. Sharif Ullah picked three wickets for Dhaka Metro.

Later Metro batted 40 overs in the second innings and scored 119 runs losing two wickets. Asif Ahmed was not out along with Saikat on 31 runs.

Nabil Samad and Abu Zayed picked one wicket each for Sylhet.

Rajshahi v Barisal

Barisal trailed by 321 runs against Rajshahi at stumps on day three at Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium. Rajshahi resumed their second innings yesterday with an overnight score of 21 for no loss. They went onto declare their second innings on 279 for nine. Junaed Siddique (83) and Jubayer Ahmed (58) score fifties to help them take the 369-run lead. Monir Hossain picked four wickets while Kamrul Islam Rabbi took three for Barisal.

Barisal ended the day on 48 for two. l

BRIEF SCORES Chittagong v Dhaka Division Rangpur v Khulna

Sylhet v Dhaka Metro

Barisal v Rajshahi

Dhaka (1st innings) 379 all out in 105 overs Chittagong (1st innings) 124 all out in 37.2 overs Chittagong (2nd innings) 156 all out in 52.2 overs (Nafees 42, Nazmul Apu 5/21) Dhaka won by an Innings and 99 runs

Metro (1st innings) 315 all out in 110.1 overs Sylhet (1 st innings) 284 all out in 115 overs Metro (2nd innings) 119/2 in 40 overs (Saykat 68*, Asif 31*, Zayed 1/36) Metro lead by 150 runs

Rajshahi (1st innings) 330 all out in 97.2 overs Barisal (1st innings) 231 all out in 67 overs Rajshahi (2nd innings) 270/9 declare in 73.3 overs Barisal (2nd innings) 48/2 in 20 overs (Zakaria 14*, Taijul 1/7) Barisal trail by 321 runs

Khulna (1st innings) 408 all out in 118.3 overs Rangpur (1st innings) 283 all out in 85.3 overs Khulna (2nd innings) 252/8 in 63 overs (Dollar 63, Soumya 60, Tushar 54, Sohrawardi 4/54) Khulna lead by 377 runs

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Mostly people close to families abduct children RAB sources point finger at family friends and relatives Islam Shaon and n Ashif Mohammad Jamil Khan Seven-year-old Shakin Alam was the dearest to his parents as he was the youngest among three children. His father Shamsul Alam, a private company employee from Sonargaon, had always been anxious of Shakin as the third grader was a bit restless.

Last Tuesday Shakin did not come back home from his school and the family members could not find him anywhere. In the evening someone called Shamsul over his cell phone and said Shakin had been abducted.

“You have to pay Tk20 lakh if you want your son back unhurt. No tricks.

If police know you will get back only the dead body,” threatened the caller.

After six days police recovered Shakin’s body from Mograkul area.

‘Sometimes abductors take away children for trafficking or engaging them in begging. These are different issues’ On the same day, Omar Ali High School’s seven grader Jahidul Islam, 13, was abducted in the same style. The abductors demanded Tk10 lakh from the victim’s family over phone and the next day his body was found wrapped in sack near Bhargaon Beribadh. The abductor beheaded him.

The family members of the victims alleged they did not get back their children as they contacted law enforcers.

The law enforcers could not do anything. It would have been better if they had given the ransom without informing police.

In the last few days incidents of child abduction for ransom have increased.

Sometimes, money could not save them. Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) however said the possibilities of

rescuing abductees are high if law enforcers help the victims’ families.

But the situation gets complicated when people known to the family of victim are involved in abduction.

Shakin’s father Shamsul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune over phone that he was ready to give the ransom.

“After the first call around 7pm the abductor switched the phone off.

Though, later they called several times.

According to the abductors’ instruction we went to Narayanganj Bus Stand and Gudaraghat area with the money. But they were not there,” he said.

“We went to police and the RAB. They said they would help rescue my son. We have provided police with all information. But nothing happened,” said raw material trader Rahmat Ali, father of the other victim Jahidul.

However, police do not think that they are responsible for the murders of those two kids or they were killed due to their failure.

“Shakin’s body was decomposed. We think, they had killed both the kids before the family members informed us,” said Sub-Inspector Abdul Haque Sikder, the investigation officer (IO) of the case.

Contacted, Narayanganj Police Superintendent Nurul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune over phone that they were almost confirmed that the victims’ relatives or closely known persons were involved in the abduction and killings.

“We have appointed sources in the area. The killers will be arrested soon,” he said.

In most cases abductors are close to victims’ families RAB sources said last year a total of 119 abducted people including 20 children were rescued by them in the country. More than 200 abductors have been arrested in 83 cases filed in this connection.

“It’s true that that most of the abductors were known to the families,” claimed RAB Media Wing Director Habibur Rahman.

He admitted that many incidents had remained unreported as those family members contacted the abductor and paid the ransom in secret. They do not take the risk.

“Sometimes abductors take away children for trafficking or engaging them in begging. These are different issues,” he said.

Police recovered the decomposed body of a 14-year-old boy from under a sand mound at Yakubdandi village of Patiya upazila in Chittagong early Monday, eight days after he was abducted.

Deceased Ashraful Alam Opu, son of a pharmacy owner Md Idris of South Hulain village under Habilash Dwip union of the upazila, was a student of class-VIII at Patiya Model High School.

Police have so far arrested two neighbours of Opu – Sagor, 19, and Sajjad, 20 – in connection with the abduction and killing.

Last year the much-talked-about abduction took place on November 11 at Keraniganj when schoolboy Parag was taken away from his mother in front of their residence. The mother was shot.

On January 30, an eighth grader of Kurigram Government High School Rayhan, 13, was found dead after five days of the abduction. A tenant of their house abducted him and demanded Tk50 lakh.

At Mirpur in the capital RAB rescued a kid named Anika on January 9 seven days into her abduction. Abductor Nesar Udidin used to work with Anika’s mother at a restaurant. Nesar demanded Tk2 lakh as ransom.

Contacted, Hassan Mahmood Khandker, inspector general of police, said police had given highest priority to the abduction cases. Sometimes it becomes impossible to rescue them alive as the abductors kill them shortly after abduction or before demanding the money.

“But, no abductors were spared.

We arrested them in most of cases,” he claimed. l

A young reader choosing a book from one of the 25 stalls containing only children’s books in this year’s book fair

Young readers light up book fair 142

new books published A M A R E K U S H E Y B O O K FA I R 2 0 1 4

n Ahmed Zayeef The Amar Ekushey Book Fair hosted an elevated festive mood yesterday, as a large number of children visited the venue with their parents as part of special children’s hours.

The “Shishu Prohor,” a special time dedicated to children by the Bangla Academy authority, was observed between 11am and 3pm at the book fair yesterday. Similar children’s hours would also be observed on February 15 and 22.

For the first time, 25 stalls – containing only children’s books – have been distributed at the Bangla Academy premises, while a corner has also been dedicated for the children.

Dipro Saha, a student of class one, was looking through books at a stall. Dipro, who had “Amar Ekushey Boi Mela” painted on both his cheeks, said: “I love books with picture. I watched on television that children are buying books here. I asked my father to bring me here.”.

Suman Saha, Dipro’s father, said he was happy to be at the fair with his son, after getting some time off from work on the weekend.

Many of the children at the fair also fashioned face-paintings like Dipro and were seen enthusiastically roaming around and looking through children’s books.

Manik Mia, a garment worker, brought his children Rafi and Tutul to the fair for buying them books. He said: “I was not able to study as much as I wanted, but I want to educate them [the children]. I brought them here to grow their interest about books. I bought colourful books on liberation war for them.”

Shahriar Ahmed, who had brought his nephew to the book fair, however, said: “I did not find a good number of quality books here. Publishers brought few attrac-

Maharashtra fails to use ATIA MOSQUE IN TANGAIL Bangladesh-refugee fund Historical site under tug-of-war n Tribune Report The Maharashtra government has failed to use Rs388.96 crore accumulated by collecting 15 paisa surcharge on bus fares since 1971 for the Bangladeshi refugees of Liberation War, reports PTI. On Friday, the Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra government to explain how it would use the amount when it was levied to mop up funds to provide relief to Bangladesh refugees.

A bench headed by Justice SJ Vajifdar also asked the government to declare whether it would continue the surcharge, which is being collected by state-run transport bodies for more than four decades. Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), the judges asked the state government to file an affidavit on the aforementioned issues by February 21. The respondents to the petition include Thane Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra State Road Transport Cor-

poration and other transport bodies.

The Indian government reported that in 1971 around 80-90 lakh migrants had taken shelter in 829 refugee camps and that they provided necessary support including food, cloth, medicine to them.

According to the PIL, filed by social worker Vikram Tawade, through a Right to Information query it was learnt that one of the reasons for increase in crime rate in Mumbai was that the refugees had been indulging in such activities. No relief was being given to the refugees. The PIL demanded that the authorities either stop collecting the surcharge or use the amount for noble causes like tackling drought, malnutrition and security of women.

Neha Bhide, the state counsel, said the surcharge was being levied because the ordinance enforcing it was still in force and the amount thus collected was with the government. l

Government claims area for its own; locals smell a conspiracy But he was not sure whether the Locals think there is a conspiracy n Tazlina Zamila Khan to grab the land of the 400-year old regional office had any plans to take The government claims 95 decimals of land surrounding a historical site as its own, but locals claim it actually belongs to the Atia Mosque at Atia village under Delduar in Tangail. Locals alleged that the land was acquired with an intention to lease it to local leaders who were politically empowered.

The historical mosque that had been standing on 12 decimals of land was registered as Waqf land in the record book of Delduar Assistant Commissioner’s (Land) office. But the government claims that the canal in front of the mosque on around 80 decimals of land, and another 15 decimals of land including ablution space, room for Imam and the roads surrounding the mosque is actually ‘khas’ or government-owned land.

RAJIB DHAR

mosque.

Maksudur Rahman Imran, secretary of Atia Mosque Committee, said that it has been only two months since he came to know that the 95 decimals of land were listed as khas land.

Mir Moshrraf Hossain, chairman of the committee, said they will file a case with Delduar AC (land) office.

Nasrin Alam Sathi, assistant commissioner of Delduar land office, said: “Land belonging to Waqf estate cannot be enlisted as khas land. In this case, committee members have to file a case with our office.”

Md Mokbul Hossain, deputy Secretary of Department of Archeology, said “Usually we take legal actions through Regional Officer if any Waqf land is mistakenly recorded as khas land.”

any legal actions, as the Regional Officer Atatur Rahman had been out of the capital for training. He added that the regional officer will take the decision after coming back to office.

The renovation work of the mosque started once in 1988 but the work was undone, and since then the mosque was never renovated again.

Afroza Khan Mita, Assistant Director of Epigraphy and Numismatics department, said: “We have shortage of fund and manpower, and no officers were recruited in last 20 years. So, it will take time to renovate the mosque.”

Zamindar Syed Khan Panni, who received the then Atia Pargana as a gift from Mughal Emperor Jahangir in early 17th century had built the mosque in 1609. l

tive books, but these are not able to enrich a child’s mind,” Shahriar told the Dhaka Tribune.

Although yesterday was a public holiday, the number of visitors was slimmer than the previous day. Many publishers of children’s books expressed discontent as sales were not as high as expected.

Mostak Royhan, publisher of Adigonto publisher, said: “Most of the schools are open on Saturday. That is why the presence of children was not that much.” It would have been more relevant if the authority announced Friday as “Shishu Prohor,” he added.

A total of 142 new books were published yesterday, the eighth day of the fair.

The new publications included Imdadul Hoque Milon’s “Priojon Niye Pach Uponyash” and Syed Shamsul Haque’s “Ogni Jole Kobita Komol.”

A discussion titled “Wahidul Haque: Bangladesh e Rabindra Shongit er Prochar o Proshar” was held at the central stage of the fair. Presided over by Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman, the discussion saw its keynote paper being presented by Dipa Bondopadhdhay. l

WB-funded education project extended n Tribune Report The World Bank agreed to extend the University Grants Commission (UGC) implementing Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) till 2018.

UGC Chairman AK Azad Chowdhury said this at a press programme yesterday. A total of Tk2058.32 crore will be spent in this projects to improve capacity of universities on research, innovation and infrastructure developments.

The UGC has been implementing the project since 2009. The project was supposed to end in 2013 but now extended to 2018.

Azad said the contract with the World Bank would be signed tomorrow. In the first phase, Tk752.66 crore was spent.

Main components of the project are Academic Innovation Fund, giving fund for research and building institutional capacity of tertiary education sector. l

Biogas charges mobile phones n Abu Bakar Siddique

A young girl charges her mobile phone using a ‘biogas socket’ that converts biogas into electricity

DHAKA TRIBUNE

On the surface, it looks like a regular water filter that people have at homes.

But on a closer look, the flame coming out of the lower chamber is bound to shock everyone.

The lower chamber is actually a generator that produces heat. The upper chamber is a plastic jar containing water for cooling the system.

A USB port at the bottom of the structure will come as an even bigger surprise with mobile phone sets attached to it.

The flame in the lower chamber hits the generator that produces electricity.

The power generated is in turn transferred to the mobile phone battery through the USB port.

Interestingly, the entire system, known as the “Biogas Socket,” runs on biogas – absolutely suitable for a country like Bangladesh that is facing an uncertain future in terms of sustainable energy.

The innovation that may eventually turn out to be a groundbreaking one

in future, was developed by the Rahman Renewable Energy Company, with support from four Dutch organisations including the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation.

The Biogas Socket has been installed in two households on a pilot basis in the Gorpara village in Manikganj district.

The technology is rather simple – the lower chamber contains a thermo electric generator (TEG) that produces up to 3-5 watts of power that serves small-scale household power needs.

“This is a really nice thing for my family because our area is still not connected with the national electricity grid. But we all have mobile phones,” said Sharmin Akhter Lipi, the lady of one of those two households from the Gorpara village.

“Over the last two months, we did not go to our neighbors’ houses [who can afford generators of their own] or to the marketplaces [where there is electricity] for charging the batteries in our mobile phones,” Lipi said gleefully.

Radwanoor Rahman, managing director of Rahman Renewable Energy

Company, said his company was yet to decide on the price of the system. But he said it might be somewhere in the vicinity of Tk10,000.

Rajeev Munankami, senior advisor of SNV Netherlands, told the Dhaka tribune that the technology was still at the research and development stage.

He, however, hoped to keep the final price below Tk2,000 because they had been using only locally produced materials for the device.

He also said the SNV, along with three other Dutch companies, had been trying to develop the technology with a view to using the extra biogas that was left in the households after cooking.

Apart from the Garpara village, Biogas Sockets were also installed in four other households in the Nolam and Bathuli villages in the same district.

In addition to Bangladesh, the unique technology is being currently tested in Rwanda and Tanzania as well.

Rajeev also said they had plans to initially spread the technology among 30,000 existing residential biogas users in Bangladesh. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

Continue to the Business section...

Business

B3 India cuts growth forecast to less than 5% before polls

B4 Interview with Khalid Quadir of Brummer & Partners

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Bangladesh’s RMG going green to retain competitiveness n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Bangladesh’s readymade garment (RMG) sector has stepped into making factories eco-friendly as demand for green products has been on the rise from the global buyers.

Three manufacturers - ABA Group, Viyellatex and Envoy Textile – have so far introduced green factories reducing harmful emissions, improving energy efficiency, recycling byproducts and bettering waste management.

Some are also on the way to bring the green efforts to their factories, according to the respective factory officials. The sector insiders said the initiative will enhance competitiveness of the Bangladeshi products in the global market.

The renowned brands place high importance on the factory environment and working condition, they said. The Western consumers would also prefer buying products manufactured in factories sensitive to the environment.

“The vision of going green is to develop the RMG sector with a certain target to achieve an internationally-recognised standard that would not only help improve the overall environmental and working conditions in RMG factories, but also help brand Bangladesh across the globe,’’ said Syed Akbar Ali, a director of ABA Group, which has already established a green factory in 2012.

Among others, water and energy savings through the increased uses of solar power and the daylight are the main features of eco-friendly factories.

“Our factory has already established all these facilities by setting up a 123kw solar panel and using daylight instead of electric lights during day-time,” said Syed Akbar Ali. “As sustainable practices and eco-friendly operations are emerging as a global standard in the developed countries, we are now compelled to set up the green factories to cope up with

n Asif Showkat Kallol

Artist’s impression of Classic Fashion Concept's RMG factory to be built in Gazipur with green technology the world standards, ushering in a new era,” Shahidullah Azim, managing director of Classic Fashion Concept, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Classic is currently setting up a platinum green factory, creating jobs for around 4,000 workers at Ragendrapur in Gazipur.

Global retailers in their advertisements now claim that their products are collected from the green factories with improved hygienic conditions, said Shahidullah Azim.

Echoing with Azim, former Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury said: “It has now become a necessity for us to make our factories eco-friendly as the buyers want us to pay us more only if we can meet their demand of produc-

Share of telcos’ revenue with BTRC (in crore Taka)

Unrest dents GP and Robi’s revenue Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has received less revenue from the country’s two big mobile phone operators – Grameenphone and Robi – during the fourth quarter of 2013.

The operators said their revenue earnings were affected due to the months of political turmoil when business activities got disrupted severely.

According to them, the 3G network expansion plans were also largely hampered during the period, slowing their business growth.

But the other two operators – Banglalink and Airtel - sharing increased compared to the previous three months, the regulator said, though Airtel unofficially refuted its revenue hike.

“The time was tough as the country faced a turbulent situation in its politics, which has dented our revenue earning,” said Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, chief financial officer of Robi.

He said the mobile operators usually register 4-6% growth in revenues every quarter, but this time they suffered falls.

For the October-December period Grameenphone has paid Tk135 crore to the BTRC under 5.5% revenue sharing deal. In the third quarter, it shared Tk137 crore.

The revenue dropped to Tk2,455 crore from over Tk2,500 crore.

Robi’s sharing declined to Tk56 crore from Tk58 crore in third quarter.

However, Banglalink posted slight gain in its revenue earning during the fourth quarter, sharing Tk53 crore from Tk52 crore in the third quarter.

But the operator could register “much higher growth in revenue if the political situation was positive,” said a senior executive of Banglalink.

He explained: “The customers could not make a top up as business activities were disrupted, reducing the amount of call time. All these affected our revenue earning.”

But Airtel revenue made a quick jump as its revenue sharing with BTRC increased to Tk19.19 crore from Tk16.15 crore in the third quarter.

The operator however unofficially told the Dhaka Tribune that its revenue had not increased and BTRC’s claim was wrong.

Meanwhile, the mobile phone companies said their 3G network expansion plans were disrupted during the continuous hartals and blockades.

“Telecom sector is a significant part of Bangladesh’s economy. When other sectors are affected, telecom cannot remain immune,” said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (Amtob).

He added: “Operators have continued to invest money in network expansion, but were hardly successful during the last two quarters.” l

COURTESY

The government has given Tk47 crore to Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) as interest-free loan to acquire land and develop site for the Mongla Port Economic Zone.

The money was given from the current budget as non-development expenditure.

The budget amounts to Tk16,911 crore is traditionally used to give credits to Bangladesh Power Development Board, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and the government employees.

However, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has discouraged the interestfree loan to BEZA which, according to him, would earn through leasing out of its lands and infrastructure, and so be able to repay the loan with interest.

As BEZA will do business, “It’s illogical to give the loan interest-free,” said the minister as quoted in the Finance Division’s loan summary.

Mongla, the south-eastern part of the country, is expected to be an economically vibrant area if the proposed Padma Bridge is constructed.

The zone will be developed on a 205-acre land of Mongla Port Authority.

Meanwhile, BEZA decided to continue the development works of Mongla port economic zone taken under a World Bank project as the global lender recently cancelled a grant.

The World Bank withdrew the US$80m grant from the Bangladesh Private Sector Development Support Project due to a wrong detailed project plan (DPP).

The Bangladesh Economic Zones Act 2010 provides for private investments in developing economic zones in Bangladesh.

Mongla Port economic zone is the

first venture after the BEZA was constituted through a parliamentary law in 2010.

The formation of BEZA was the result of a decision in 2010 by the Prime Minister’s Office to develop five economic zones within the cost of about Tk1,400 crore during 2012-13 and 201314 fiscal years.

A BEZA official said the success of its first venture would be a breakthrough in utilizing the unused land of both government and private owners.

'The success of its first venture would be a breakthrough in utilizing the unused land of both government and private owners'

ing the products in an environmentally sound atmosphere.”

To be certified as “green,” a factory must be purely compliant, and all the elements used in the factory have to be tested by the US-based Green Building Concept (GBC).

“Our factory is platinum one as it has been constructed following US GBC standards. There are three types of green factory on the basis of the standards,” said Akbar of ABA group.

“Though setting up a green factory definitely costs more than regular one, it saves money in the long run as it help reduces the cost of utility services such as power and water,” said Shahidullah Azim.

It also helps a factory owner to enhanced reputation as a socially responsible businessman committed to pro-

tecting the environment and people as a whole, he said.

If the government provides lands and utility services through economic zones, it would help increase the number of green factories across the country, said Abdus Slam Murshedy, managing director of Envoy Textile, certified as green. The Envoy Group has also started another green project for the garment sector.

Shahidullah Azim: “If the government allows us the duty-free import of equipments for setting up export-oriented green factories, investors would be encouraged to establish more eco-friendly factories.”

“We are planning to set up our Bausia Industrial Park as an eco-friendly industrial zone to be built in Munshiganj,” he added. l

NBR starts FY15 pre-budget process

BTRC to intensify monitoring on illegal VoIP calls soon

n Syed Samiul Basher Anik

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

BEZA borrows Tk47 crore for Mongla Port economic zone

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) would start holding pre-budget discussions for the fiscal 2014-15 at the beginning of March.

They have already started inviting opinions and proposals from the stakeholders as part of the preparation, which they usually start from March.

“We are taking preparation for the meetings from January to make the budget participatory and business-friendly as well as revenue-friendly,” said a senior official at the revenue body.

The Value Added Tax and Customs wing also served notices to their field offices asking their experiences or problems they might face while dealing with the revenue collection within February 27. The income tax wing will soon serve letters to the field offices.

Letters were also served to the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) and some other trade bodies, inviting proposals for the revenue budget for the next fiscal year.

To simplify the process, NBR would soon appoint a chief budget coordinator to deal with the stakeholders, said the official.

Usually, the trade bodies and business organisations forward their proposals to the apex trade body, which submits the proposals to the revenue authorities in a compiled form.

The organisations having no affiliation with any chamber or association will directly submit their proposals to the chief budget coordinator of NBR. After appointment of chief budget coordinator, the NBR will ask the stakeholders to directly submit their proposals in pre-budget meetings which will be held round the month at the NBR headquarters.

Meanwhile, FBCCI Director Abdul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune that the federation chamber has already instructed all its member bodies, affiliated chambers and associations to send their respective proposals by the end of this month. l

n Tribune Report

The telecom regulator is going to set up a monitoring system in next three weeks to intensify its surveillance particularly on international bandwidth, which is allegedly being used for illegal call termination.

“We’re going to introduce a new technology to bring the gateways (IGW, ICX and IIG) under surveillance,” Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose told a seminar in Dhaka yesterday.

“In addition, cellular phone operators will be brought under the surveillance through introducing new technologies.”

The chief of the watchdog body spoke about the imminent measures in response to criticism over illegal call termination through VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) due to lack of time befitting policy. He said unhappy politics and dishonest employees of the government were also contributing to furnish the illegal use of VoIP. Telecom Reporters’ Network, Bangladesh (TRNB) organised the seminar titled “Illegal Call Termination, Current Situation and Way Out” at a local hotel.

Bose said the operators would soon

get access to the National ID database (NID) of the Election Commission to verify customers’ identity during SIM registration. “Surveillance would also be easier after introduction of the verification system.”

He said the commission is considering to halve the revenue of international call termination to 1.5 US cents from the exiting 3 cents, and all the initiatives could help them increase the legal international calls up to 8 crore minute per day from roughly 4.5 crore minutes per day at present.

Taking part in the discussion, Mir Nasir Hossain, managing director of Mir Telecom, an IGW operator, said the gateways will be effective when the new regime will be activated. The regulator should rather intensify the monitoring system to control the illegal call termination.

Mir Masud Kabir, managing director of Mango Teleservices, said at least 90% of the illegal calls could be curtailed through proper monitoring.

“It may not be possible for the regulator to control the illegal calls through monitoring or deploying technology.

Political will is necessary,” said Sumon Ahmed Sabir, chief strategy officer of Fiber@Home, a telecom transmission system provider.

Apart from it, the authorities also selected land at Anowara and Mirersarai in Chittagong and in Sirajganj and Sherpur to be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) initiative.

But it has so far failed to acquire a single part of land because of the lack of fund.

In 2010, former country director of World Bank in Bangladesh, Ellen Goldstein said the global lender would help set up 15 to 20 new private economic zones in Bangladesh with a total capacity to accommodate 500 to 700 new companies or expanded units of existing ones by 2021. l

Abu Saeed Khan, senior fellow of LIRNEasia, a Colombo-based ICT think tank, said the government should not regulate the telecom sector especially the call rates.

Muzibor Rahaman, managing director of the state-owned mobile operator teletalk, urged to establish a taskforce relating to VoIP to ensure the earnings for the national exchequer.

Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, alleged his company could not collect Tk87 crore from the IGWs while Tk120 crore hangs in disputes with state-run Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd due to illegal call business.

Zakiul Islam, senior director of Banglalink, said the cellular operators are incurring loss of Tk0.30 per illegal call termination. So, the operators want legal call to run business without loss, he added.

Mobile phone operators claimed they have so far disconnected 71 lakh SIMs, for which they had to deposit a total tax of around TK430 crore in last couple of years. Banglalink, the second largest operator in terms of subscribers, blocked 21 lakh SIMs, Grameenphone and Robi 14 lakh each, Airtel 13 lakh, state-owned operator Teletalk 8 lakh and Citycell blocked only 9,000 SIMs. l

Dhaka to send missions to explore new export markets n Asif Showkat Kallol The government has undertaken a fresh move to explore the untapped non-traditional markets in the region of North Africa, Latin Africa, middle-East and East Asia.

In a bid to promote the country’s overall exports, the government has decided to send high-level delegations to those four regions in 2014 under its market and export diversification project, said an high official.

“Although we are yet to select the countries of the four prospective re-

gions in the world, we have already decided to send high-level delegations in the four regions to explore the opportunities for our local exporters,” commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He also said commerce ministry would also take further initiatives to enhance regional trades as UNCTAD report had revealed that the prevailing economic recessions in the developed countries would not be over shortly.

Terming China and India, a potential export-market, commerce secretary said, “Local export will be boost-

ed up if the Bangladeshi products can enter into the gigantic market of China just because of its huge population”.

In the 2013-14 fiscal, from July to December period, amount of export to the African region stood US $102m, Asian region $1581m, American region $3,556m and Middle East region $300m.

Regarding the outcome of previous visits, commerce secretary said there had been a very good results from the visits made in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia as some exportable products have already entered into those markets. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks rise for 6th straight week

DSE key features February 02-06, 2014

DSE GAINERS

Turnover (Million Taka)

n Tribune Report

Number of Contract

Al-Haj Textile -A Desh Garments -B BDCOM Online-A Linde (BD) Ltd. -A Bata Shoe Ltd. -A Renata Ltd. -A Eastern Bank - A Dhaka Bank -A BD Submarine Cable-A Padma Islami Life*-N

lowed by fuel and power (14%).

Large and mid-cap managed to gain significantly, outperforming smaller cap classes.

“Investors are absorbing the selling pressure as they are accelerating their buying spree whenever they see cheaper prices,” said Lanka Bangla Securities in its weekly market analysis.

“Some investors may feel market has become overbought and market price earning (PE) is quite high. Other investors may feel that market PE is overstated as it is not a normal one,” it said.

As financial organisations performed very poorly for last two years, the market PE will go down if they come back to normal earnings environment, it said.

“Market reflected strength and closed gracefully with the week, leaving investors in a jolly mood.

Pressures intensified from both buying and selling sides, culminating in high volume turnover,” said Zenith Investments.

Among the major sectors, top gaining sectors of the week were food and allied that rose 6.3%, tannery 6%, pharmaceuticals 5.7%, banks 2.82% and fuel and power 0.5%.

Conversely, top losing sectors were mutual fund that shed 13%, textile 2.6%, engineering 2.5%, financial institutions 0.35% and telecommunications 0.13%. The gainers took a modest lead over the losers as out of 298 issues traded during the week, 149 advanced, 138 declined and 11 remained unchanged on the DSE floor. l

Stocks continued to rise for the sixth straight week – the longest winning streak in recent months.

During the week ended Thursday, the benchmark DSEX crossed 4,800-mark and closed at 4,845 with a gain of 92 points or 2%. It is the highest level of DSEX since its inception on January 28, last year.

The blue chip index DS30 rose 21 points or 1.3% to 1,681. The Shariah Index DSES gained 22 points or 2.3% to 996. The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, gained 156 points or 1.7% to close the week at 9,523.

The average daily turnover stood at Tk732 crore, registering 1.6% increase over the previous week’s average of Tk721 crore.

“Post-election bullish vibe continued in the past week as well, finding stimulus from quarterly earnings declarations,” said IDLC Investments in its weekly market analysis.

Investors reshuffled their priority lists in the past week, trying to positioning themselves to benefit from future direction and trend of the market, it said, adding that earning declarations played strong role in pricing of securities in the maiden part of the week.

“Mixed earnings came as surprise in perspective of extreme political turmoil in last few months of 2013.”

Investors were watchful over banks as corporate declarations from the sectors to arrive shortly.

Resultantly, the sector captured 17% of the week’s total turnover, fol-

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS Company GSP Finance-A Meghna Con. Milk -B Argon Denims Limited-A Appollo Ispat CL -N Alltex Industries -Z S. Alam CR Steel -A G Next Fashions-A Miracle Industries -B Kohinoor Chem -A GPH Ispat Ltd-A

Closing (% change) -17.13 -11.63 -11.22 -10.90 -10.59 -10.53 -8.29 -8.24 -8.12 -7.97

CSE LOSERS Company 7th ICB M F-A GSP Finance-A Brac B.C. Bond-A Appollo Ispat CL -N Argon Denims Limited-A S. Alam CR Steel -A G Next Fashions-A Miracle Industries -B Central Pharm-A Zahintex Ind.-N

Closing (% change) -27.31 -17.13 -11.82 -11.41 -10.70 -9.85 -8.27 -8.20 -8.20 -7.50

ANALYST

4845.08962

(+) 1.93%

1681.91129

(+) 1.30%

15026.9404

(+) 1.63%

12656.9792

(+) 2.93%

9523.0557

(+) 1.67%

Average (% change) -16.51 -9.93 -9.77 -10.73 -9.81 -10.73 -6.71 -7.28 -8.04 -6.72 Average (% change) -27.29 -15.77 -11.82 -11.12 -9.41 -9.65 -6.28 -6.77 -7.33 -7.79

Closing average 29.74 11.43 70.30 32.86 7.72 42.51 34.50 23.81 354.67 53.55

Closing average 73.20 29.85 970.00 32.77 70.91 42.71 34.65 23.81 46.30 25.82

Weekly closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

Weekly high

29.50 11.40 69.60 32.70 7.60 42.50 34.30 23.40 354.40 53.10

Weekly closing 73.20 29.50 970.00 32.60 70.10 43.00 34.40 23.50 45.90 25.90

37.00 13.20 78.50 36.00 8.60 45.50 38.20 26.20 370.00 58.70

Weekly high 73.20 36.40 1,031.50 36.70 77.00 46.00 38.10 26.30 52.00 27.00

36,645.55

Turnover (Volume)

870,590,233 748,265

Traded Issues

298

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

155

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

141

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,315.74

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.07

CSE key features February 02-06, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

3,178.24

Turnover (Volume)

95,636,278

Number of Contract

119,025

Traded Issues

249

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

130

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

117

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

1

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,192.39

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.57

Weekly low

Turnover in million

28.00 11.20 65.00 32.00 7.60 40.00 32.00 21.80 353.20 50.20

Weekly low

Latest EPS

169.074 2.830 193.779 568.338 7.596 167.394 540.804 45.884 1.449 128.128

1.34 -4.58 3.33 1.52 -1.08 1.16 2.25 0.22 7.88 2.42

Turnover in million

73.20 29.50 970.00 32.10 69.80 41.70 34.20 23.40 42.60 25.50

Latest EPS

0.037 9.241 0.015 163.643 8.535 14.612 59.500 5.325 12.207 12.182

13.84 1.34 0.00 1.52 3.33 1.16 2.25 0.22 1.74 0.76

Latest PE 22.2 -ve 21.1 21.6 -ve 36.6 15.3 108.2 45.0 22.1

Latest PE 5.3 22.3 21.6 21.3 36.8 15.4 108.2 26.6 34.0

Closing (% change) 18.37 17.76 12.94 12.17 11.95 11.25 11.18 10.85 10.72 10.61

CSE GAINERS Company Progressive Life-A Bata Shoe Ltd. -A Pioneer Insur -A Peoples Insur -A BDCOM Online-A Eastern Bank - A BATBCL -A Dhaka Bank -A AMCL (Pran) -A Padma Islami Life*-N

Closing (% change) 25.00 13.61 13.43 13.33 13.23 11.54 11.26 10.90 10.81 10.11

Average (% change) 18.91 17.57 13.55 11.68 10.71 9.06 10.99 10.15 7.60 8.77 Average (% change) 25.00 13.60 13.39 12.49 11.60 10.54 11.13 9.87 9.25 7.47

Closing average 85.57 84.11 34.77 785.88 832.54 897.74 34.63 23.45 181.98 91.76

Closing average 150.00 808.65 75.97 38.83 34.55 34.51 2068.89 23.27 231.37 90.65

Weekly closing 84.40 82.90 34.90 792.00 841.50 908.80 34.80 23.50 186.90 92.80

Weekly closing 150.00 808.70 76.00 39.10 35.10 34.80 2071.40 23.40 232.60 91.50

Weekly high 88.30 89.00 35.80 797.00 850.00 908.80 35.00 24.00 189.20 95.00

Weekly high 150.00 811.60 76.00 39.80 35.80 35.00 2071.40 24.90 236.00 95.00

Weekly low 70.00 72.00 29.00 680.00 750.00 800.00 29.00 19.90 149.40 78.00

Weekly low 150.00 755.00 73.70 34.00 31.00 31.70 1900.00 21.00 210.00 82.50

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

107.521 40.427 308.535 82.273 46.025 248.424 90.133 89.265 615.729 212.307

Turnover in million

2.06 1.18 1.70 43.13 52.75 41.39 2.27 1.04 3.28 1.10

Latest EPS

0.075 0.399 0.151 4.167 14.958 5.625 4.753 3.184 11.358 10.107

2.30 52.75 5.75 2.20 1.70 2.27 76.51 1.04 6.06 1.10

Latest PE 41.5 71.3 20.5 18.2 15.8 21.7 15.3 22.5 55.5 83.4

Latest PE 65.2 15.3 13.2 17.7 20.3 15.2 27.0 22.4 38.2 82.4

Weekly news from trade server Dividend/AGM

SALAMCRST: The Board of Directors has recommended 13% cash dividend for the year ended on September 30, 2013. Date of AGM: 29.03.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Safa Arcade, 94, Nawab Sirajuddowla Road, Chandanpura, Chittagong. Record date: 11.02.2014. The Company has also reported consolidated net profit after tax of Tk. 196.09 million, consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.94, consolidated NAV per share of Tk. 20.44 and consolidated NOCFPS of Tk. 0.82 for the year ended on September 30, 2013 as against Tk. 335.14 million, Tk. 3.31, Tk. 20.00 and Tk. 6.63 respectively for the year ended on September 30, 2012.

RAKCERAMIC: The Board of Directors has recommended 15% cash dividend and 10% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 02.04.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Center, Block # C, Umme Kulsum Road, Bashundhara R/A, Dhaka-1229. Record date: 13.02.2014. The Company has also reported net profit after tax of Tk. 682.41 million, EPS of Tk. 2.23, NAV per share of Tk. 18.99 and NOCFPS of Tk. 2.92 for the year ended on December 31, 2013 as against Tk. 608.12 million, Tk. 1.99 (restated), Tk. 19.94 and Tk. 2.38 (restated) respectively for the year ended on December 31, 2012.

GREENDELT: The Board of Directors has recommended 15% cash dividend and 15% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 15.03.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Hotel Purbani International Ltd., 1, Dilkusha C/A, Dhaka-1000. Record Date: 17.02.2014. The Company has also reported net profit after tax of Tk. 235.47 million, EPS of Tk. 3.69,

NAV per share of Tk. 70.22 and NOCFPS of Tk. 0.76 for the year ended on December 31, 2013 as against Tk. 237.68 million, Tk. 3.73 (restated), Tk. 60.49 (restated) and Tk. 8.30 (restated) respectively for the year ended on December 31, 2012.

Audited/unaudited Financial Reports:

SAIHAMTEX: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 113.65 million with EPS of Tk. 1.52 as against Tk. 112.66 million and Tk. 1.50 respectively**.

PRIMETEX: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 21.43 million with EPS of Tk. 0.56 as against Tk. 19.09 million and Tk. 0.50 respectively**.

MALEKSPIN: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 213.89 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.10 as against Tk. 171.88 million and Tk. 0.89 respectively**.

DAFODILCOM: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 14.89 million with EPS of Tk. 0.30 as against Tk. 26.46 million and Tk. 0.53 respectively**.

CENTRALPHL: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 61.71 million with EPS of Tk. 0.87 as against Tk. 21.90 million and Tk. 0.38 (restated) respectively**.

FUWANGCER: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 24.02 million with EPS of Tk. 0.28 as against Tk. 28.09 million and Tk. 0.33 respectively**.

ZAHINTEX: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 21.79 million with EPS of Tk. 0.38 as against Tk. 59.83 million and Tk. 1.05 respectively**.

KOHINOOR: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 32.05 million with EPS of Tk. 3.94 as against Tk. 25.19 million and Tk. 3.10 (restated) respectively**.

AGNISYSL: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 28.68 million with EPS of Tk. 0.55 as against Tk. 22.39 million and Tk. 0.43 respectively**.

ORIONINFU: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 17.99 million with EPS of Tk. 0.89 as against Tk. 24.03 million and Tk. 1.18 respectively**.

DESCO: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 191.94 million

with EPS of Tk. 0.56 as against Tk. 719.82 million and Tk. 2.09 respectively**.

PHARMAID: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 6.63 million with EPS of Tk. 2.13 as against Tk. 4.99 million and Tk. 1.60 respectively**.

HAKKANIPUL: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 2.66 million with EPS of Tk. 0.14 as against Tk. 4.74 million and Tk. 0.25 respectively**.

IMAMBUTTON: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. (9.96) million with EPS of Tk. (1.29) as against Tk. (12.83) million and Tk. (1.67) respectively**.

RAHIMAFOOD: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. (10.04) million with EPS of Tk. (0.50) as against Tk. 7.16 million and Tk. 0.36 respectively**.

SAMATALETH: NPAT= Tk. (0.19) million with EPS of Tk. (0.02) as against Tk. (0.36) million and Tk. (0.03) respectively**.

UNITEDAIR: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 277.59 million with EPS of Tk. 0.49 as against Tk. 700.58 million and Tk. 1.23 (restated) respectively**.

FINEFOODS: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. (6.38) million with EPS of Tk. (0.49) as against Tk. 2.71 million and Tk. 0.21 (restated) respectively**.

MHSML: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 41.78 million with EPS of Tk. 1.08 as against Tk. 25.34 million and Tk. 0.72 respectively**.

ALLTEX: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. (26.12) million with EPS of Tk. (0.54) as against Tk. 2.99 million and Tk. 0.06 respectively**.

BDAUTOCA: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 0.06 million with EPS of Tk. 0.02 as against Tk. 0.21 million and Tk. 0.06 respectively**.

OLYMPIC: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 405.79 million with EPS of Tk. 3.45 as against Tk. 286.15 million and Tk. 2.43 respectively**.

PREMIERCEM: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 182.38 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.73 as against Tk. 190.93 million and Tk. 2.04 respectively**.

Investors are absorbing the selling pressure as they are accelerating their buying spree whenever they see cheaper prices

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

Company

Sunday, February 9, 2014

DSE Million Taka 6201.72 2586.59 869.28 2985.80 2318.88 4911.90 12.29 3675.78 3404.80 5.49 320.71 408.61 442.30 1380.57 992.32 1642.38 1683.67 1235.08 1028.59 535.04 3.74

% change 16.92 7.06 2.37 8.15 6.33 13.40 0.03 10.03 9.29 0.01 0.88 1.12 1.21 3.77 2.71 4.48 4.59 3.37 2.81 1.46 0.01

Million Taka 667.51 259.73 48.07 425.17 114.86 239.53 0.00 339.72 239.43 9.77 32.15 36.45 47.56 75.54 111.00 71.40 84.15 140.08 157.46 87.29 0.19

CSE

% change 20.94 8.15 1.51 13.34 3.60 7.52 0.00 10.66 7.51 0.31 1.01 1.14 1.49 2.37 3.48 2.24 2.64 4.40 4.94 2.74 0.01

Million Taka 6869.23 2846.32 917.35 3410.97 2433.73 5151.44 12.29 4015.50 3644.23 15.25 352.86 445.06 489.86 1456.11 1103.31 1713.78 1767.82 1375.16 1186.05 622.33 3.93

Total

% change 17.25 7.15 2.30 8.56 6.11 12.93 0.03 10.08 9.15 0.04 0.89 1.12 1.23 3.66 2.77 4.30 4.44 3.45 2.98 1.56 0.01

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Meghna Petroleum -A Square Pharma -A BATBCL -A Jamuna Oil -A Mercantile Bank -A UNITED AIR-A Olympic Ind. -A Grameenphone-A BD Submarine Cable-A LankaBangla Fin. -A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Appollo Ispat CL -N UNITED AIR-A UCBL - A aamra technologies-A BD Submarine Cable-A Mercantile Bank -A National Bank - B G Next Fashions-A Square Pharma -A LankaBangla Fin. -A

Volume shares 5,034,152 4,044,828 402,385 3,701,796 35,354,369 42,670,554 3,568,320 2,953,352 3,494,552 7,673,904

Volume shares 4,817,200 8,643,721 2,693,015 1,884,650 423,360 3,381,460 4,250,605 1,648,240 238,904 683,120

Value in million 1379.18 972.30 837.46 831.79 720.79 702.52 650.56 619.35 615.73 586.43

Value in million 163.64 142.73 82.98 79.38 74.58 69.12 61.20 59.50 57.42 52.19

% of total turnover 3.76 2.65 2.29 2.27 1.97 1.92 1.78 1.69 1.68 1.60

% of total turnover 5.15 4.49 2.61 2.50 2.35 2.18 1.93 1.87 1.81 1.64

Weekly closing 278.30 248.10 2100.80 230.80 20.70 16.30 185.60 210.00 186.90 73.20

Weekly closing 32.60 16.30 29.70 43.00 187.00 20.60 14.40 34.40 248.40 73.70

Price change 4.62 8.63 8.91 6.46 8.38 -6.86 2.77 -1.08 10.72 -7.22

Weekly opening 266.00 228.40 1929.00 216.80 19.10 17.50 180.60 212.30 168.80 78.90

Weekly high 284.30 249.90 2164.30 235.00 22.20 19.20 198.00 214.50 189.20 79.70

Weekly low 243.00 220.00 1841.00 202.00 17.20 14.50 168.00 195.00 149.40 69.10

Weekly average 278.75 245.33 2106.88 230.57 21.09 16.16 183.99 208.68 181.98 73.89

Price change -11.41 -7.39 -4.50 4.88 10.00 7.29 1.41 -8.27 8.61 -6.59

Weekly opening 36.80 17.60 31.10 41.00 170.00 19.20 14.20 37.50 228.70 78.90

Weekly high 36.70 17.80 34.00 43.80 189.90 21.50 14.90 38.10 249.90 80.80

Weekly low 32.10 15.10 28.00 40.00 165.30 19.10 13.90 34.20 230.10 73.00

Weekly average 32.77 16.17 30.00 42.79 181.20 21.16 14.46 34.65 245.64 73.84

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

India cuts growth forecast to less than 5% before polls n Reuters India on Friday cut its estimate of annual growth for the fiscal year to 4.9% from 5% because of a contraction in the manufacturing and mining sectors.

The revision down will do little to help the Congress party-led ruling alliance, which faces an uphill battle in a general election due by May amid allegations of economic mismanagement, corruption scams and high inflation.

Last week, the Statistics Ministry revised down economic growth for the previous fiscal year to 4.5% - the slowest pace during the decade Manmohan Singh has been prime minister - from an earlier estimate of 5%.

Farm output is expected to grow 4.6% in the fiscal year to March 31, against 1.4% growth a year ago, while the manufacturing sector is seen contracting by 0.2% compared with 1.1% growth in 2012/13, the Statistics Ministry said in a statement.

Last year, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had projected gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.1-6.7% in 2013/14 in his annual budget, but lately lowered the estimates to about 5%.

Chidambaram is widely expected to announce measures, including a cut

in factory gate duties on some products, to push up manufacturing output when he presents an interim budget for the coming fiscal year in parliament on February 17. The full-year budget will, however, be presented by the next finance minister after the elections.

Asia’s third-largest economy grew at 4.6% annually in the first half of the current fiscal year, down from 5.3% in the corresponding period a year ago.

The services sector, which contributes about 60% to gross domestic product, is likely to grow at 6.9% in the current fiscal year, compared with 7% growth a year ago, the data showed.

The construction sector, contributing nearly 8% to GDP, is estimated to grow at 1.7% from 1.1% a year ago.

“The data shows that there is an overall slowdown in the economy with construction being very weak together with manufacturing,” said Saugata Bhattacharya, chief economist at Axis Bank.

“Going ahead, we expect GDP growth to definitely pick up to around 5.2-5.3% depending on the policies of the next government,” he said.

Increases in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India to rein in near-double digit retail inflation - three times

Labourers work at the construction site of a shopping complex in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi REUTERS since Raghuram Rajan took charge in September - have also dampened chances of early economic recovery.

“Notwithstanding a favourable monsoon in 2013 and healthy agricultural performance, the pickup in rural demand has been uneven and weaker than expected,” said Aditi Nayar, an

More US pressure on India sought over patent issue

Dollar range-bound ahead of key jobs data n AFP, Tokyo

n Reuters

The dollar moved narrowly in cautious trade in Asia on Friday, ahead of US jobs data that dealers hope will shed light on the health of the world’s biggest economy.

In early exchanges the greenback bought 102.08 yen, hardly changed from 102.10 yen in New York Thursday afternoon.

The euro bought $1.3588 against $1.3591 while slipping to 138.70 yen from 138.79 yen.

The common European currency scored broad gains Thursday after the European Central Bank held its key interest rates steady and downplayed risks of damaging deflation in the eurozone.

The US Labour Department is to release January payrolls data later Friday.

Robust figures could staunch fears of an economic slowdown as the Federal Reserve reduces its stimulus programme.

Praevidentia Strategy market strategist Masafumi Yamamoto said the dollar should rise towards 103.00 yen if the data meet or beat market expectations.

“If the reading is strong, investors will be confident that the Fed will keep tapering its bond-buying programme leading to gains in the US Treasury yields,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.

At a policy meeting in late January, the Bank of Japan decided to stand pat on its own bond-buying scheme, saying its monetary-easing blitz was winning the war on deflation.

Hiromichi Shirakawa, research analyst at Credit Suisse, warned that the stances of developed countries’ central banks - either withholding new easing measures or scaling stimulus back - could negatively affect the global economy. l

The US Chamber of Commerce on Friday called on the government to ratchet up pressure on India over intellectual property rights, in a move that could help prevent Indian companies from producing cheap generic versions of medicines still under patent protection.

In a submission to the Office of US Trade Representative (USTR), the Chamber of Commerce requested that India be classified as a Priority Foreign Country, a tag given to the worst offenders when it comes to protecting intellectual property and one that could trigger trade sanctions.

Other trade groups, including those representing the pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries, echoed the call for a tougher stance on India.

The recommendations, which were due by Friday, were for a document known as a Special 301 Report prepared annually by the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

India is on the US government’s Priority Watch List for countries whose practices on protecting intellectual property Washington believes should be monitored closely.

Deteriorating environment

In its new submission, the Global Intellectual Property Centre (GIPC) of the Chamber of Commerce said: “We highlight India as a country with particular challenges with respect to intellectual property protections.”

“Because India has not shown a record of engagement on these issues and the environment has deteriorated significantly since last year, we are now

recommending that India be designated a Priority Foreign Country,” it said.

India received the lowest score in the trade group’s IP Index released last week, performing poorly in all six rating categories: patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and market access, enforcement, and membership and ratification of international treaties.

The perspective from India is that many patented drugs are too costly for most of its people. The government in New Delhi is pushing to increase access to life-saving treatments in a country where only 15% of 1.2 billion people have health insurance.

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the US industry trade group for drugmakers, acknowledged in its submission “the challenges India faces in extending healthcare access to its large and growing population.”

But the trade group also is calling for India’s classification downgraded, “to encourage increased examination of India’s actions and to foster enhanced bilateral engagement,” Mark Grayson, the group’s spokesman for international issues, said in an emailed statement.

“The situation in India continues to deteriorate for the US research-based biopharmaceutical industry and other innovative US industries,” Grayson said. The National Association of Manufacturers joined the chorus of calls to reclassify India, writing in its submission: “India’s egregious acts, policies and practices, as well as its failure to enter into good faith negotiations to address them, support such a designation.” l

B3

Sunday, February 9, 2014

economist at ICRA, the Indian arm of rating agency Moody’s.

The economy grew at more than 9% annually for three straight years during the 2005/06 to 2007/08 period, before being hit by the global financial crisis and high interest rates amid a slower global recovery. l

US Export-Import Bank opens to Myanmar n AFP, Washington The US Export-Import Bank said Thursday it would start offering credit for trade with Myanmar, hoping to support businesses against competitors in a market that has boomed since democratic reforms.

Officials said they hoped to boost US exports and jobs by providing similar terms as credit agencies from European and Asian nations, whose governments have gone even further in ending barriers to trade with the once pariah state.

“Hopefully with this announcement, we can level the playing field and we can compete on the basis of price and quality, not terms,” said an official from the Export-Import Bank, who requested anonymity in line with agency policy.

Myanmar, earlier known as Burma, has undertaken sweeping reforms since former general Thein Sein became president in 2011, with the release of political prisoners, easing of censorship and a revamp of an antiquated exchange rate system.

President Barack Obama’s administration has heralded Myanmar’s changes as a success for diplomatic outreach, but critics say the United States has overlooked human rights violations.

Several outbreaks of inter-communal violence between Buddhist and Muslim

communities in Rakhine state since 2012 have left scores of people dead and about 140,000 people displaced, mainly from the Rohingya minority. Another official said that the United States was raising concerns over Rakhine state but believed that Myanmar was overall “changing in a positive way.”

'Hopefully with this announcement, we can level the playing field and we can compete on the basis of price and quality, not terms' The Export-Import Bank’s decision “is very much a reflection of Burma’s creditworthiness and it’s not connected to any particular event,” she said.

Foreign investors have been flocking to Myanmar, which has a large untapped consumer market, ample natural resources including gas and oil, and a strategic location bordering China and India.

The Export-Import Bank is no stranger to the country. One of its first projects after its creation in 1934 was to provide $22m to build the Burma Road to supply China during its war with Japan. l

REUTERS

Maruti halts Indian car that led to road revolution n AFP, New Delhi India’s Maruti Suzuki said yesterday it had halted production of its iconic first small car, the Maruti 800, which revolutionised road transport for millions of Indians.

The boxy, four-seater hatchback - the first car ever owned by many Indian middle class families - was first manufactured in 1983 and more than 2.4 million have been sold since.

“We have stopped the M-800 (Maruti 800) production completely,” CV Raman, executive director Maruti Suzuki told reporters at India’s premier auto fair in the New Delhi suburb of Greater Noida that winds up Sunday.

The decision to phase out the Maruti 800, hailed as a triumph of small-car engineering at the time, was taken in 2010 to meet new auto emission standards aimed at cutting pollution on In-

dia’s increasingly congested roads.

The no-frills car has been eclipsed by newer, fancier models.

But even as the car drives into history, spare parts will be available for customers for eight to 10 years, a company spokesman said.

The car, costing 50,000 rupees ($803) when launched, is now priced at 235,000 rupees, according to a company website.

In 1981, when Maruti Udyog was formed as a state-run company, Indian drivers had just two options if they wanted to buy locally made cars - and often a five-year wait to get the keys.

Premier Automobiles produced cars with help from Italy’s Fiat, while Hindustan Motors made the bulky Ambassador. Both were private companies.

Prime minister Indira Gandhi gave Japan’s Suzuki the green light to pick up a stake in Maruti Udyog - an unprec-

edented move at a time when India’s economy was largely closed.

Suzuki’s stake has since grown from 26% to over 50%.

Since the Maruti 800, India’s car revolution has gathered pace, with total car sales running at close to two million units a year.

India is expected to become the world’s third-largest car market by 2020, according to industry estimates.

Maruti now produces a range of cars from hatchbacks to sedans.

Liberalisation policies since the early 1990s spawned a rising middle class with higher incomes who also have become targets of foreign car companies which have driven into the country to propel global sales.

But Maruti still maintains its dominance of the Indian market, accounting for nearly one out of two new cars sold in India. l

Hason Raja Loko Utshob ends in Shunamganj

Bangladesh Bank will provide Tk8.17 crore to NCC Bank for financing a Central Water Treatment Plant at Comilla EPZ. In this connection NCC Bank has signed a facility access agreement with Investment Promotion and Financing Facility (IPFF) Project Cell of Bangladesh Bank for availing IPFF fund under IDA Credit of World Bank on Thursday. Atiur Rahman, governor of the central bank attended the signing ceremony as chief guest

Bank Asia held its annual business conference for the year 2014 yesterday at a hotel in the capital. The conference was inaugurated by the bank’s chairperson A Rouf Chowdhury

EXIM Bank has set a new record in Asia by forming the largest human corporate logo recently at the Army Stadium in Dhaka yesterday in its annual picnic programme

Global Brand Private Limited, the authorized distributor of Lenovo in Bangladesh, has officially launched ‘Lenovo Brand Shop’ on Thurday at Multiplan Center (Level-7), Elephant Road in Dhaka

City Bank on Friday launched its new online branch at Alfadanga in Faridpur. Rubel Aziz, the bank’s chairperson inaugurated the branch as chief guest

Banglalink recently held a three-day event to celebrate the life and the creative works of Hason Raja in Shunamganj that has ended yesterday.

Dewan Hason Raja (1854 – 1922) a mystic poet and a philosopher of this Sub-continent was born on December 21, 1854 (bangla 7 Poush 1261) at Tegoria, Lakkansree inSunamganj.

Solaiman Alam, director marketing from Banglalink said, “The event is considered as a tribute to his legendary music which has touched and inspired many lives. In continuation to our social commitment through promoting the culture and heritage of Bangladesh we always try to make the countrymen feel the difference and bring local national culture to the mass”. l

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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Bangladesh’s good news Interview with Khalid Quadir of Brummer & Partners

W n Jon Springer

ith most of the news from Bangladesh that reaches the international news cycle focusing on a host of negative issues, this interview with Mr Quadir takes a look at the underlying growth in the economy of Bangladesh and the prospects for investment there.

When news from Bangladesh reaches the international media, it usually is not good. The common terms are political unrest, factory protest, cyclones, tornadoes, floods or Islamist plus a negative adjective. Setting aside the recent elections, what are the positive things happening for the economy of Bangladesh’s 160 million people that those outside the country should know about?

The interesting story which most people in the international investment community may not know, is that, over the last 20 years, Bangladesh’s economy has been growing 5 to 6% per year.

We never grow 20%. We never have zero growth. This is the predictable and consistent growth that all investors want. Part of the business of investing in Bangladesh is this predictable growth that the country has shown over the last 20 plus years.

Where is this growth coming from?

First is our export growth. There is a case for labor arbitrage. Bangladesh is a populous country where labor is less costly than elsewhere. Exports grew approximately 15% every year for the last several years. Even despite some political turmoil, exports grew around 17% in 2013.

Second, as a land mass, we are a very small country, as small as Wisconsin, one of the smaller states of the US However, our land is extremely fertile with a full six seasons of crop growing, which allows us to feed our whole population of 160 million people, more than 50% of the US population.

Third is our huge remittance flow from other countries. It was about $15 billion in 2013. Bangladeshis work in the Middle East, Far East, Europe, the United States. Wherever there are opportunities for labor, Bangladeshis are penetrating that market.

women’s education and women’s empowerment. If you look at the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, Bangladesh has actually been at the forefront; and is heading towards becoming a middle-income country within the next decade.

In Bangladesh, the poor have been disproportionately elevated as compared to its growth. The Economist even noted this [as the magazine wrote in 2012 “over the past 20 years, Bangladesh has made some of the biggest gains in the basic condition of people’s lives ever seen anywhere”].

When we launched our fund in 2008, GDP per capita was about $650 in today’s dollars. In 2013 it was $1050.

Within 5 years it grew by 62%. That’s very impressive growth!

Regarding the macroeconomic economy being stable regardless of which party is in power, is this because of the Central Bank of Bangladesh or why is this so?

The Central Bank is independent of politics and has managed monetary policy well regardless of which party is in power. The real drivers of our economy are the private entrepreneurs.

Today exports are around $29 billion and 80% of those exports are from the garment industry. Garment factories started by entrepreneurs dominate the whole sector.

The economy is driven by the initiatives of private enterprise. Individuals drive both the export rate and the remittances from abroad. I think that the laborers who go abroad to unknown places to work do exhibit an entrepreneurial spirit.

Many of the large garment manufacturers of today were started by first time entrepreneurs without much prior business experience, yet they built extremely successful ventures. While the economy is being driven by the private sector, without the government’s strong complementary efforts, growth could not have occurred.

Regarding Bangladesh’s politics, the year began a few weeks ago with the re-election of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party.

She was prime minister from 1996 to 2001 and has held the post again since

with people in Vietnam and Myanmar, there is a lot of talk in the frontier market community about low-end factory work rotating away from China to markets with cheaper labor.

Is Bangladesh seeing job growth and what are Bangladesh’s competitive advantages?

We have a large pool of workers. 70% of the population is in the workforce. Only 11% of the workforce is currently in the industrial sector, so there are a vast number of people remaining that can be employed in the industrial sector.

Of course, both low cost labor and the availability of labor are important.

Compared to other countries where labor is not that expensive, but the availability of labor is in question, Bangladesh offers a better situation with a larger skilled low-cost labor pool.

Another important thing is that Bangladesh is a very homogenous society.

The business language here is English, so there is no language barrier. Any high school educated person from Bangladesh can communicate in English. We also have the strategic advantage of being near many of the largest countries and important commercial hubs in Asia like India, China, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

Khalid Quadir is cofounder and managing partner of Brummer & Partners Asset Management Bangladesh, which manages Frontier Fund, the first and only private equity fund operating KEN CLAY/CDC

Bank of America.

Prior to managing Brummer Bangladesh, Mr. Quadir had an extensive resumé of work in Bangladesh. He helped his brother Iqbal Quadir set up Grameenphone, Bangladesh’s first and largest mobile phone company, which they launched in 1997 and exited their stakes from in

I think Bangladesh has the chance to become a mini-China when it comes to manufacturing industrial, low-tech and household products, as well as garments and textiles

2004. He also founded bracNet, one of the largest Internet service providers in Bangladesh, alongside U.S investors and BRAC, the world’s largest NGO, from which the service gets its name. Mr. Quadir remains a stakeholder in bracNet alongside principal owners KDDI of Japan, BRAC and bracNet’s consortium of international investors he put together.

Mr. Quadir and Patrik Brummer, the eponymous founding Chairman of Brummer & Partners AB, first met in 2005. When Mr. Quadir returned to live in the U.S. in 2007 after spending two years running bracNet in Bangladesh, he and Mr. Brummer discussed further the idea of launching Bangladesh’s first private equity fund. Launched in 2008, they expect to launch their second Bangladesh fund this year.

There is a growing middle class, and the consumption power of the Bangladeshi people has been increasing steadily. This increases the stability of the domestic economy.

If I look at our own portfolio, we have an investment in a garments company that is doing very well. We have also invested in: a supermarket chain, a home appliance distribution and manufacturing company, a generic pharmaceutical producer, a motorcycle manufacturer.

The cash cow for Bangladesh is the RMG sector and every stakeholder has realised that safety and security compliance cannot be neglected anymore SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

2009. There have been well-publicized issues with the opposition Bangladesh National Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, a partial boycotting of the recent election and the opposition leader Khaleda Zia – herself formerly prime minister from 1991 to 1996 and 2001 to 2006 – under house arrest. Investors like stability. What is the outlook for a stable environment for investors in Bangladesh?

Except the one garment investment, the rest of the investments are focused on Bangladesh’s domestic economy.

The vibrant consumer base has its own force. We are not solely dependent on our cheap labor and exports. The growing middle class is an important part of our economy today. That’s why we see that Bangladesh has possibilities for investors with both a cheap labor base and a growing consumer base.

At the end of the day, Bangladesh is a democracy. It has its ups and downs.

We are going through a growing phase or process towards a more hospitable and mature system of democracy. Bangladesh is the second largest Muslim country with a vibrant democracy.

Our democracy is not perfect, but nevertheless, it is a democracy. We are not ruled by some artificially implanted force, but by an electoral process.

For anyone looking for stable, predictable and consistent growth, I do think, we offer a fantastic destination, despite the problems we have.

The Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013 left 1,129 dead and about 2,500 people injured. The collapse and subsequent protests made headlines. What has been the reaction by the government and heads of industry to this incident?

As discussed in recent interviews I did

studies at Middlebury College in the United States. A Fellow at Stanford Business School, Mr. Quadir worked early in his career on Wall Street in private equity for CIBC, Hambros Bank and

ments sector in Bangladesh, with 5 million people working in it, I think there has been a broad understanding that the situation must improve. The factory owners have realized that they have a problem. The government has realized that they have to be a bigger watchdog.

The big buyers have realized, whether it is GAP, H&M or others, that they have to ensure they enforce compliance.

I think all of them understand the problem and since this crisis, steps have been taken to improve the situation. The problem did not start in one night and will not go away in one night. It will take some time, but what is important is that this crisis did trigger awareness about the problem, and I think it is now being addressed.

Bangladesh is best known for exporting textiles. However there is a range of products exported from batteries to ballpoint pens. What export sectors are growing the fastest for Bangladesh?

Lastly, the management of the macro economy by the government, irrespective of political parties, has been sound. Though small, we do have a balance of payments surplus; a reasonable size of foreign exchange reserves that will cover 6 months of imports; and our local currency, the Taka, has been reasonably stable.

Amidst this textbook growth, the remittances and the stable management of the economy, there is a growing middle class amongst our 160 million people that is the ultimate engine of our economy. This is the story we understand. This is why we took the preemptive approach of coming to Bangladesh and investing here.

I think more will follow suit. I think international investors and the international media are beginning to understand and see Bangladesh in a different light than in the 1970s and 1980s.

Bangladesh has been a model country for inclusive growth as measured by social indicators. We have done very well to reduce our mortality rate and reduce child labor while improving longevity, general access to education,

in Bangladesh. After finishing high school in Bangladesh, Mr. Quadir, age 48, continued his

Work safety is an important issue. I’m not saying all the factories in Bangladesh today are compliant with government and industry standards, but most are. The crisis created by this collapse was a reflection of a problem in this sector. It casts a light on the responsibility of the buyers, of the factory owners and of the regulators.

Given the importance of the gar-

One of the important sectors Bangladesh can grow is low-tech manufacturing. If I look at our own portfolio, we have invested in a company that manufactures refrigerators and assembles televisions.

We have invested in another company that exports automotive batteries in many countries. There is a generic pharmaceutical maker in our portfolio.

Bangladesh has done quite well with pharmaceutical production.

We export pharmaceuticals to both very regulated markets, as well as unregulated markets, and this is a growing sector. We also have invested in a motorcycle company. If I look at our neighboring countries, the motorcycle usage is high compared to Bangladesh.

So in Bangladesh, as the spending power of the middle class increases there is the opportunity that more and more people will be using motorcycles as it is a first step before buying a car.

These are all industrial products though not the high tech type, like making the iPhone. I think Bangladesh has the chance to become a mini-China when it comes to manufacturing industrial, low-tech and household products, as well as garments and textiles. I see these as the current growing trends among entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.

Since peaking in November 2010, the Dhaka Stock Exchange index is down about 50%. What have been the causes of this drop in the stock market in the underlying economy and are the capital markets on the mend?

In Bangladesh, the stock market is driven by retail investors, mom and pop type investors. We do not have large institutional investors to guide the market. The market went up and down based on the rumors of retail investors. There were some imperfections in the system and in the regulations when we had a balloon-

ing of the market through 2010.

Since then, the government cracked down quite hard and the regulators became more involved. More interestingly, there was a law enacted in 2013 to make the Dhaka Stock Exchange a demutualized stock exchange. The Dhaka Stock Exchange now is a company instead of a clubhouse of brokers.

This demutualization was essential to have a transparent, healthy and vibrant stock market. The Dhaka Stock Exchange is now in conversations with global technology providers to install a modern trading platform. When this takes place, it could become a good year for Bangladesh’s capital markets.

economy, increasing exports and the entrepreneurial and resilient spirit of the people.

To start a private equity fund, you cannot just start from nowhere. It is a very relationship based business, especially in a country where there is no tradition of private equity. Private equity requires local knowledge and the perseverance to work with companies.

It is not about just deploying some money. We are very involved in each of the companies. We take a minority stake, we don’t run any of the companies, but we are very involved in the business. We play a role at the strategic level through active board participation.

You had about $90 million to work with in 2009. What is the status of your private equity fund?

Lastly, in the past you have suggested there is the opportunity for Bangladesh to grow into a mini-China if infrastructure and power supply issues can be resolved. How far along is this progress and what positive developments do you see on the horizon?

We are very close to deploying all our money from our first fund, and we are working to launch a second fund in 2014. We have not had any exits yet. We are in the business of investing in the right people, and the right opportunities with excellent growth stories. Our portfolio companies are doing quite

There are ongoing projects in the power sector, as well as for highways, bridges, roads, ports and railways. The

For anyone looking for stable, predictable and consistent growth, I do think, we offer a fantastic destination, despite the problems we have

well. The limited partners in our current fund have shown their willingness to come back and invest in our next Bangladesh fund.

Patrik Brummer, founder of Brummer & Partners said in 2009, “If you believe in labor arbitrage as a true trend, that will benefit Bangladesh.” Were there other mediating circumstances in Brummer & Partners decision to open their first single country Asian fund in Bangladesh?

I was introduced to Patrik Brummer in 2005 through a mutual friend after which he became involved in a personal capacity in the bracNet venture and came to Bangladesh to see the country.

Brummer & Partners likes to be the first mover. They were the first hedge fund in Sweden; now one of the top ten in Europe with $16 billion under management.

Patrik Brummer is someone who has a vision and can take a bold step before others. When he came to Bangladesh in 2005, he really liked what he saw.

Of course, Bangladesh is a poor country, no one can deny that. What Patrik saw are the opportunities, that almost every sector is growing, a vibrant local

country needs a lot of new infrastructure and many such projects have been planned. Power has been a problem for us for many years.

Over the last 5 years, our capacity has almost been doubled. It is not resolved yet, but it has become dramatically better than what we formerly had by going from 5,000 megawatts to 10,000 megawatts of supply.

Bangladesh has a public relations problem. The international media tends to focus on poverty, natural calamities, the Rana Plaza accident and politics. Those definitely are facts. But, I also want to bring out the other side of the coin, the good things that have been happening in the country since its independence: especially the ongoing consistent GDP growth for the last 20 years, the export growth, the stability factors, improvement in social indicators.

Underneath all of these, there are tremendous growth prospects that will take Bangladesh to middle-income country status in the coming decade.

That is the story the world should also get to know. l Jon Springer writes about emerging and frontier markets in Asia. Republished under special arrangement with Forbes.