20 February 2014

Falgun 8, 1420 Rabius Saani 19, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 1 No 328

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

Avenue T | THE GLORY OF OLD DHAKA

7 | WHAT’S THE WORD

20 pages plus 24-page supplement Avenue-T | Price: Tk10

8 | WHISTLEBLOWER’S CLAIM QUASHED

13 | WT20 MERCHANDISE UNVEILED

BNP-Jamaat come out on top

Stray incidents of violence in 10 districts mark the first phase of the upazila polls n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

concluded yesterday.

In a joint press conference yesterday afternoon at the office of the Meherpur district unit BNP, sadar upazila parishad chairman candidate Mahbubul Alam, vice-chairman contender Maruf Ahmed Bijon and woman vice-chairman contender Romena Ahmed announced boycotting the polls.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

UPAZILA POLLS RESULTS February 19, 2014

Candidates

BNP Awami League Jamaat-e-Islami Independent

42 35 13 2

UPDF Jatiya Party

2 1

PCJSS Total

1 96

*Unofficial Sources A H MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHIC Candidates backed by Jamaat-e-Islami, BNP’s key ally in the 19-party alliance, have secured 13 upazilas until filing of this report around 1:30am.

Among the remaining upazilas, two went to independent candidates, two to the UPDF from the hill tracts, and the rest to some of the other less known political parties.

The Ashashoni upazila of Satkhira – known as a stronghold of Jamaat – has elected an Awami League-backed candidate.

Meanwhile in Bogra – known as a BNP monopoly – Jamaat-backed chairman  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Women wait in long queues to practice their voting rights in a polling centre in Mohanpur of Rajshahi in the first phase of the upazila parishad polls yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Women outnumber men in Dohar upazila poll

Boycotting elections, they emerge victorious

Islam Shaon, back from n Ashif Dohar

Al-Masum Molla n Mohammad and Manik Miazee

their family members and the election campaigners.

A festive mood prevailed at the poll centres which brought the voters here in large numbers.

Around 2pm, a queue of women was found in front of Meghula Government Primary School. A separate line was there for male voters.

Female voters outnumbered their male counterparts in a number of polling centres in Dhaka’s Dohar, one of the 97 upazilas that saw the first phase of elections yesterday.

The enthusiastic female voters said they were encouraged to cast votes by

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

After publicly raising allegations of irregularity in voting and announcing to boycott the polls and the results, two BNP-backed and one Jamaat-backed candidates for three posts in an upazila parishad in Meherpur have emerged victorious in the first phase of the polls

n Mohammad Zakaria The Election Commission has not taken any immediate action regarding political parties’ influence on the upazila parishad polls and violence reported yesterday from a number of constituencies. The chief election commissioner said the election was free and fair.

Talking to the media yesterday evening, CEC Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad claimed that the first phase polls to 97 upazila parishads had been held in a free and fair manner despite some stray incidents as the EC had taken all-out steps to hold the elections peacefully.

He said voting had been stopped in several upazilas, including Ullapara and Sonatola in Sirajganj and Shoilakupa in Jhenaidah.

EC sources said the candidates backed by the 19-party alliance and the rebel candidates of the ruling Awami League of Lalmohan upazila in Bhola, Shoilakupa in Jhenaidah, Sujanagar in Pabna, Gouronodi and Bakerganj in Barisal, Goshaierhat in Shariatpur and Kazipur in Sirajganj had boycotted the polls alleging vote rigging by the candidates supported by the ruling party.

When his attention was drawn to these reports the CEC said the commission could take action only in case of reports from the returning officer in writing.

The BNP alleged that the ruling Awami League had influenced the polls and rigged votes.

Kazi Rakibuddin, however, said it was not a matter of any political party as the upazila parishad polls were non-partisan. Only candidates could submit allegations or complaints to the returning officer about violation of electoral code of conduct. “All allegations are equally important to us. All candidates can file allegations in writing to the returning and presiding officers and officials concerned will take action immediately,� he said.

Despite raising allegations about rigging and a number of candidates announcing boycott, the candidates affiliated with the BNP have unofficially triumphed in 42 out of the 97 upazilas that went into polls yesterday, giving the party an unbeatable lead for the time being.

On the other hand, the candidates from the ruling Awami League’s tent have clinched the chairmen’s post in 35 upazilas, according to unofficial results.

Parties

No immediate action from EC on allegations

Cobwebs grow on lifesaving medical PSCs with ConocoPhillips, Statoil on equipment worth millions 3 deep-sea blocks recommended n Moniruzzaman Uzzal A large number of lifesaving medical equipments remain unused for decades at different public medical facilities across the country, wasting millions in taxpayers’ money and denying healthcare to needy patients.

The Dhaka Tribune has been able to get hands on a draft list showing expensive unused medical instruments including intensive care unit (ICU) ventilators, x-ray machines, ultra-sonogram machines, hydraulic operation theatre (OT) tables, generators, anesthesia machines, incubators, laparoscopy machine, OT light and neuromuscular block monitor, that are lying around totally unused in various institutes.

These equipments have not been used since they were bought years ago, allegedly because of inadequate infrastructure, or because the equipments were not needed at the facilities and only purchased to fill the pockets of some government officials and contractors.

Seeking anonymity, several senior officials of the health ministry and the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the ministry issued a directive to different hospitals and institutes on the first week of December last year,

MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SHELVED FOR YEARS Tangail General Hospital

X-RAY MACHINE

Khagrachhari Adhunik District Sadar Hospital

Narayanganj civil surgeon, Hospital in Siddirganj (proposed)

27 years

HYDRAULIC OT TABLES (2)

4

years

years

Jessore General Hospital

Brahmanbaria District Sadar Hospital

3

INCUBATOR MACHINE years National Institute of Mental Health

NEUROMUSCULAR BLOCK MONITOR

11 years

years

6

ANESTHESIA MACHINE

Jessore General Hospital

Netrokona Adhunik Sadar Hospital

40KV GENERATOR

7

years

ANESTHESIA MACHINE

Khagrachhari Adhunik District Sadar Hospital

HYDRAULIC OT TABLE

6

60KV GENERATOR years

50KV GENERATOR

6 years

4 years 3

years

asking them to compile and submit a list of unused medical equipments.

They also alleged that contractors and suppliers often paid bribes in the forms of cash, foreign trips and free

OT LIGHTS

4

INCUBATORS, ANESTHESIA MACHINES, LAPAROSCOPY MACHINES AND ULTRASONOGRAM MACHINES

1-5 years

Jaipurhat Modern District Hospital

ULTRA-SONOGRAM MACHINE AND ICU VENTILATOR MACHINE

1

years treatment in foreign hospitals to ministers, high-ranking government officials and doctors, to get their orders approved.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

US diplomat meets Hefazat leaders in Chittagong n Tushar Hayat, Chittagong The political officer of the US embassy in Dhaka, Cathleen Gibilisco, met the leaders of the Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam at Hathazari Madrasa in Chittagong yesterday.

Munir Ahmed, press secretary to Hefazat chief Shah Ahmed Shafi, said

the US official wanted to know about the 13-point demands of the Hefazat, the organisation’s ideology and principals and about the Shapla Chattar incident from the Hefazat leaders. “The US official also wanted to know about the curriculum of the Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Muinul  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

n Aminur Rahman Rasel The government is likely to sign production sharing contracts (PSCs) with the US-based ConocoPhillips and Norway-based Statoil ASA for exploring oil and gas in three deep-sea blocks in the Bay of Bengal. “We recommended signing the PSCs followed by necessary approval by the cabinet committee on economic affairs,� said Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Khan, Petrobangla director for finance

and convener of an evaluation committee on bidding, yesterday.

If the contracts were signed, the international oil companies would form a joint venture to operate in blocks 12, 16 and 21, he told the Dhaka Tribune.

ConocoPhillips and Statoil recently submitted a joint tender to explore oil and gas in these blocks near the Myanmar territory of the Bay. The two companies will conduct mandatory 2D seismic surveys on 1,412 line-kilometre area of block 12; 775line-

INSIDE News

3 The project director of the high yielding jute and seed production programme, Mangal Chandra Chanda, continues to hold office a year after his deputation in the post was cancelled because of graft allegations.

5 Residents of Gulshan and Banani are annoyed by the sorry state of roads in their areas.

Nation

6 Taltoli upazila nirbahi officer in Barguna allegedly released a stalker after getting order from a local Awami League leader.

Op-Ed

11 A gentleman came down all the way from the Washington office of the World Bank to discuss and determine the possible intervention points in stateowned banks following the Hall-Mark debacle.

km of block 16; and 1,376line-km of block 21 in three years.

In the next two years, they will conduct 2,000line-km of 2D or equivalent 3D seismic surveys and drill an exploratory well each in the three blocks.

The Petrobangla director said ConocoPhillips and Statoil would spend $109m for the exploratory well and other work in each block and deposit the amount as bank guarantee as per the bidding proposal.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nawabganj upazila polls see 60% turnout n Abu Hayat Mahmud Amidst tight security of law enforcers, about 60% votes were cast in a free and fair poll in Nawabganj upazila under the capital during the first phase of upazila election yesterday, according to returning and presiding officers of different centres.

At the end of the poll, Md Abul Khaleque, presiding officer of Government Kaykobad Girls’ High School polling centre, said: “About 62% votes were cast, and the exact figure could be said after counting the ballots.”

“The casting of votes was 30-35% up to 1pm, but after midday, voters’ turnout was noticeable,” he added.

The voters, polling agents and supporters of all candidates, presiding officers and returning officers of most polling centres said they had no allegations about the casting of votes in the polls.

Visiting different polling centres at Agla Choukighata Janamongol High School, Pathkanda Government Primary School and Bardhanpara Government Primary School the Dhaka Tribune correspondent found that polls ended satisfactorily.

Women voters – Shanta Begum, Hiron, Parul, Rina Aktar at Kaykobad Girls’ High School polling centre, said they cast their votes without facing any problems.

A large number of Army, BGB, RAB, Police and Ansar personnel were patrolling the roads in Nawabganj during poll.

Despite a violence-free outlook from the polling centres in the upazila, looting of ballot paper could not be stopped yesterday.

Police said a group of supporters of

the ruling party-backed candidate came to Darikandi and Majhikandi polling centres and looted about 1,000 ballot papers.

Police and Ansar members posted at the centres failed to stop the looting.

After the incident, voting was temporarily suspended, and it resumed sometime afterwards.

The law enforcers, however, recovered 224 ballot papers with a seal of Darikandi and 100 sealed ballot papers of Majhirkandi, but failed to detain any.

Contacted, Sheikh Muhammad Habibur Rahman, assistant returning officer of Nawabganj upazila, admitted the fact. He told the Dhaka Tribune, “A gang of young thugs came to the two poll centres and looted the ballots.”

“The criminals looted 500 ballot papers from the Majhirpara centre in the afternoon. The lawmen recovered 100 ballot papers which were sealed on the motorcycle symbol of Nasir Uddin Ahmed Jhilu,” he said.

Answering to a question about the Daripara centre, Habur Rahman said, “I have just heard the allegation, but did not get information from the presiding officers of the centre.”

In 14 unions of Nawabganj upazila, there are 2,27,220 voters, of which 1,08,816 are male and 1,18404 female.

Only four candidates were contesting the polls. They were Awami Leaguebacked Nasir Uddin Ahmed Jhilu with motorcycle symbol, another AL-backed candidate Sheikh Hannan with horse symbol, BNS-backed Khandakar Abu Ashfaq with ink-pot symbol and Jatiya Party-backed Masud Khan with cup-saucer symbol vying for the election. l

News

Dhaka-Washington partnership dialogue in June n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Bangladesh and the US will hold their third partnership dialogue in mid-June in Washington.

They will also hold the third security dialogue on April 16 and the first Ticfa meeting on April 7-8 in Dhaka.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia Atul Keshap will visit Dhaka later this month to have more engagements with Bangladesh.

Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque, now in Washington, told the Dhaka Tribune that he would attend a meeting on the recent security situation in Bangladesh today.

About his meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal,

Hospital officials also reportedly make unnecessary purchases, as they choose to spend the annual allocation of funds for buying equipment, instead of returning the unspent funds to the ministry.

Asked about the large number of unused equipment, Health Secretary MM Niazuddin said all health sector officials were responsible for the practice, and admitted that sometimes equipments were bought to spend the allocated budget.

The ministry has recently formed a committee to identify the people behind the practice, he added.

Asked about the issue, Dr Mahmmod Hasan, president of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), told the Dhaka Tribune: “Ideally, all medical equipment should be bought based on demand of the concerned institute; but in most cases, there has been a huge gap between demand and supply.

There should be coordination between health ministry, health directorate and the different institutes that are users and suppliers of the equipment.”

The Dhaka Tribune has learned that an x-ray machine has remained unused for 27 years, since it was supplied by the Central Medical Stores Depot to the 250-bed Tangail General Hospital on January 21, 1987. Another incubator machine also remains unpacked there since August 2010.

The National Institute of Mental Health in Dhaka has left an anesthesia machine unused since February 2003, allegedly because of inadequate manpower and infrastructure.

The Netrokona Adhunik Sadar Hospital was yet to set up a 60kV generator it received in December 2007.

Similarly, Khagrachhari Adhunik District Sadar Hospital received a 50kV generator from the CMSD in January 2008, but had to leave it inside the box, as there was no room available to set up the machine. In 2011, two hydraulic OT tables were also supplied, but no engineer was found to operate the equipment.

A neuromuscular block monitor has stayed unpacked at the 250-bed Jessore General Hospital since January 2008, because of the lack of space and trained

BNP-Jamaat come out on top  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

contenders have come out on top in three out of the six upazilas that went into polls yesterday; the remaining three went to BNP-backed runners.

In Jessore’s Abhaynagar upazila that frequently made headlines before and after last month’s parliamentary poll for the attacks on minorities and the alleged involvement of a local Awami League leader in the attack, a BNPbacked contender has come out as the winner.

According to unofficial results, the closest fight was witnessed in Khagrachhari sadar upazila where UPDF candidate Chonchumoni Chakma upset BNP’s Kongchairi Mogh by only 162

votes.

BNP has been particularly successful in Dhaka, Manikganj and Gazipur, winning all the chairman posts in the upazila parishads that saw polls from these three districts.

The Awami League, on the other hand, clinched all the top posts in the upazila parishads in Sunamganj and Barisal.

The moderate average voter turnout of around 60% in yesterday’s elections was roughly a repetition of the 68.32% turnout the last time the upazilas went into polls five years ago.

Some stray incidents of violence marred the atmosphere of the otherwise peaceful elections despite the

he said: “Nisha told me that the US would continue to remain engaged with Bangladesh even it feels that the January 5 election had a low turnout.”

Washington showed interest in regional integration including BCIM because it would boost economic activities and address security concerns, he said.

Washington would also appoint a labour attaché at the US embassy in Dhaka to monitor the GSP-related projects and the Better Work Programme coordinated by the International Labour Organisation, he added.

Meanwhile, a press release of the foreign ministry said Shahidul and Nisha discussed the priorities of the present government, labour rights and other pertinent issues and Bangladesh’s

role in regional integration.

“Nisha Biswal emphasised that South Asia as a region is a conduit between East and West Asia and the United States expects Bangladesh to continue playing its leading role in promoting regional cooperation,” the release said.

The foreign secretary briefed the US officials about the priorities of the present government which are: law and order, economic advancement and growth in business, democracy and good governance and regional integration, security and stability.

During another meeting, Shahidul brief the US Trade Representative officials on the progress made in ensuring the rights of workers and workplace safety in the readymade garment sec-

The government is likely to rein in private car registration to control the immense pressure of vehicles in the capital.

The decision not to let a family have more than one car would come shortly, Communication Minister Obaidul Quader hinted yesterday while visiting the city’s Gulistan, a key point where traffic congestion is a major problem.

Obaidul Quader said: “Too many private cars are one of the main reasons for the city’s traffic congestion.

We have limited roads, but some use 8 to 10 cars at a time in the city which causes traffic jam. Most people suffer for transport shortage.”

According to the information of BRTA, the registration authority of the country, there are around 8,00,000 registered vehicles in Dhaka city. Of these, 1,93,000 are private passenger cars.

The BRTA registered 778 private cars and 105 Jeeps last January. l

Election officials count ballot papers at the mohila college centre in Barisal's Bakerganj upazila yesterday

Women outnumber men

doctors. The same hospital also has a 40kV generator left unused since June 2008, reportedly because they did not need it. Other unpacked equipment at the hospital includes anesthesia machine and hydraulic OT table that were supplied on 2010 and 2011 respectively.

The CMSD supplied OT lights to the Narayanganj civil surgeon in December 2010, which was supposed to be used at a proposed 20-bed hospital in Siddirganj, the site for which was yet to be selected.

During 2009 to 2013, the CMSD also supplied incubators, anesthesia machines, laparoscopy machines and ultra-sonogram machines to Brahmanbaria District Sadar Hospital, none of which has been used so far.

Between October and November of 2013, the CMSD supplied ultra-sonogram machine and ICU ventilator machine to the Jaipurhat modern district hospital but no one has so far set it up.

A former official of the CMSD said a generator could cost around Tk25-30 lakh, an anesthesia machine Tk8-10 lakh, and a laparoscopy machine Tk1015 lakh. l

“So far, over a thousand voters have exercised their franchise in this polling centre. More than half of them are women,” said Monir Hossain, the presiding officer.

He was overwhelmed by the presence of a large number of women in the queues since morning and happy that no untoward situation had taken place.

“They [women] came in small groups led by an older member of their family or neighbourhood. Some had babies on their laps,” he said.

An elderly voter Almenda Banu said she came with her two daughters, a daughter-in-law and two grand children to cast vote. The whole family was in a festive mood.

“My husband passed away a year back.

If he were alive, he would have brought us to the polling centre,” said Almenda, whose son and a son-in-law are expatriate workers in a Middle East country.

“I think the presence of male voters is thinner than that of females as almost in every family male members are either expatriates or out of the town to earn livelihood,” explained Monir.

Almost a similar picture was seen at Narisha Paschim Char Government Primary School, a few kilometres off the Meghula primary school.

Officials out there said there were two polling centres in the school of which one was designated for women.

Around 1pm, the polling centres for women witnessed a large number of

crowd in comparison with those for men.

“So far 1,097 of 2,209 votes have been cast. I hope after the lunch time many more voters will come,” said Md Kamrul Islam, presiding officer of the women’s polling centre.

Visiting at least 11 polling centres in the upazila, no large queue was noticed, but the presence of voters continued till afternoon.

“Voting ended almost peacefully. No untoward situation was created, and so voters were not in a hurry. They came in their convenient time,” said Jasim Uddin, the assistant returning officer of the upazila.

“I think 55%-57% vote has been cast. We will announce the exact figure after counting,” he told the Dhaka Tribune over phone shortly after voting concluded at 4pm.

At Dohar, 58 of 75 polling centres had been marked “important” considering the possibility of violence.

Those polling centres were situated at four unions of Muksedpur, Narisha, Bilashpur and Kusumhati, where extra security measures had been taken to avert untoward situation.

Five candidates, one from Awami League background, one independent, two BNP and its associate bodies and one from Islami Shashantantra contested the chairman post.

There were 13 contestants for the vice-chairman post and five for the woman vice-chairman post.l

“four-tier” security arrangements put in place at all the polling centres, including the deployment of one platoon of the army at each of the upazilas.

The elections this year in the upazila parishads – the semi-urban local government bodies – rose to almost equal prominence as the parliamentary poll because both ruling Awami League and the BNP – although not allowed to formally participate organisationally – took the elections very seriously, as an opportunity to reestablish the party’s command on the grassroots.

In the weeks ahead of the polling, both BNP and the Awami League put in vigorous organisational efforts to make sure that the local candidates did not

run against each other for the various posts in the upazila parishads.

However, that attempt remained largely futile with the grassroots of both the parties taking the opportunity to express their grievances at the deprivation that they suffered in the last few years from the top leaders of their respective parties.

As a result, the stage was set for a hard fought upazila parishad polls.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said in his post-polling reaction that the elections were completely free and fair.

However, at least 17 candidates – most BNP-backed – in eight upazilas announced pulling out of the polls

alleging irregularities. Interestingly, three of them, running for various posts in the same upazila in Meherpur district, have emerged victorious unofficially.

Reports of violence, clashes, snatching of ballot boxes, attacks on polling centres, bomb blasts and arrests have come from various upazilas in at least 10 districts including Bogra, Sirajganj, Gopalganj, Habiganj, Meherpur, Narsingdi, Chittagong, Jamalpur, Sylhet and Jessore.

Election Commission sources said voting had been suspended in at least 10 polling centres around the country because of various kinds of untoward incidents. l

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

Boycotting elections, they emerge victorious  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

They complained that the ruling Awami League, using the state machineries, forcefully drove their agents out of at least 30 polling centres. They also accused the ruling party men of harassing their supporters. The total number of polling centres in the upazila was 70.

However, around 9:30pm, hours after the voting was completed and immediately after the unofficial results started coming out, Bijon told the Dhaka Tribune over phone: “We are accepting the result because people have resisted the ruling party and the administration’s conspiracy. People have won.”

Earlier yesterday, at least 14 other candidates, mostly BNP-backed, in eight upazilas announced pulling out of the polls in the middle of the voting, raising allegations of rigging and accusing the ad-

ministration of being biased against them.

Some of those candidates also called hartals for today in their respective areas in protest. The eight upazilas were: Lalmohan of Bhola, Shailkupa of Jhenaidhah, Sujanagar of Pabna, Meherpur Sadar, Gouranadi and Bakerganj of Barisal, Kalia of Narail and Kazipur of Pabna.

Of them, hartals will be enforced today in Lalmohan, Shailakupa and Sujanagar upazilas and the whole of Barisal district.

The candidates who announced pulling out include at least one rebel candidate of the ruling Awami Leauge.

In a press conference at the Nayapaltan office of BNP, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the party, said: “It has been proved today that the upazila elections are just a continuation of the January 5 [national] election.

Everyone should now get an idea what

tor in Bangladesh and also exchanged views on the potential of strengthening trade and investment relations between the two countries.

In a separate meeting, the US Senior Advisor for Myanmar Judith Cefkin briefed the foreign secretary about her recent visit to the Rakhaine State of Myanmar and said the US would continue pursuing Myanmar to address the citizenship issue of the Muslim population to resolve the refugee and displacement issues which originated in Myanmar.

“The foreign secretary reiterated that the issue of displacement across the border of Myanmar Muslims has its origin in Myanmar and therefore, the solution of the issue should be designed in Myanmar.” l

Car registration to be limited n Mohosinul Karim

Cobwebs grow on lifesaving  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

Thursday, February 20, 2014

would have happened to the BNP if it took part in the January 5 poll. The fact that free and fair elections are not possible without a non-partisan government, has been proved yet again today.”

Rizvi accused ruling party men of occupying polling centres in Sujanagar of Pabna, Sonatola of Bogra and Shibloy of Shariatpur.

The ruling Awami League, however, said the first phase of the upazila elections were free and fair and BNP’s allegations about the polls were a “sheer lie.”

“We have made many complaints to the Election Commission. In some places, our activists were thrown out of the polling centres by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami men,” HT Imam, co-chairman of party’s election steering committee, told journalists at a press briefing at the party president’s Dhanmondi office af-

ter the voting had ended.

Imam alleged that BNP was trying to sell the lie and claimed that law enforcers had thrown Awami League supporters out of many polling centres. He, however, expressed satisfaction over the independent role played by the EC. Our Jhenaidah correspondent reported that voting at the Mathurapur Government Primary School centre in Mirzapur of Sailkupa upazila was postponed around 10am when miscreants snatched ballot papers from the centre.

At the sadar upazila of the district, local Awami League leader Faizuddin, also the chairman of the Dogachhi Union Parishad, was arrested by an executive magistrate for trying to influence voters.

According to our Barisal correspondent, a BNP-backed candidate and a “rebel” Awami League candidate

pulled out of the polls in Bakerganj.

In Lalmohan upazila of Bhola, a “rebel” BNP candidate boycotted the polls claiming that his agents had been barred from entering the polling centres.

Meanwhile, BNP’s ally Jamaat-e-Islami, which cannot participate in any election as a political party, yesterday accused the Awami League of occupying polling centres in a number of upazilas using the administration.

In a statement issued yesterday, Jamaat acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman said Awami League MP’s violated electoral rules by occupying polling centres and attacking the supporters of the candidates that Jamaat had backed.

“The Awami League has proved once against that they do not believe in people’s voting power and democracy,” the statement read. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

US diplomat  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

Islam [Hathazari Madrasa],” he said, adding that their ameer had responded to different queries of the US diplomat.

Munir said the Hefazat leaders asked Cathleen about the observations of the US authority regarding Hefazat, qawmi madrasas and Islamic scholars of Bangladesh; however, she refrained from answering, saying she needed permission of the authority to answer the queries.

Assistant Political Specialist of the US embassy Lubain Chowdhury Masum accompanied Cathleen during the visit.

Hafiz Akhter, superintendent of police in Chittagong, told the Dhaka Tribune that two officials of the US embassy reached Hathazari in the morning to observe the upazila election.

“They have also visited the Hathazari Madrasa,” he added.

Hefazat Secretary General Junaid Babunagari, Nayeb-e-Ameer Mahibullah Babunagari, Joint Secretary Mainuddin Ruhi, Organizing Secretary Azizul Hoque Islamabadi and Anas Madani were present among others at the meeting. l

ConocoPhillips  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

After the initial five-year period, the two companies will drill another exploratory well in each block.

Petrobangla had first put a total of 12 blocks out for international bidding on December 17, 2012 under the Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Round 2012 – nine of them were in 51,589 square kilometres of shallow sea and three in 10,041 square kilometres of deep sea.

In October last year, Petrobangla invited international tenders again, but no company showed interest.

According to the PSC, a contractor will be allowed 20 years to work on an oil field and 25 years on a gas field from the date of approval of the development plan. They cannot export oil and gas, but they can sell gas to a third party inside Bangladesh.

Petrobangla is now ready to sign PSCs for two selected shallow sea blocks – for block 7 with ConocoPhillips and for block 11 with Australia-based Santos and Singapore-based Kris Energy Limited. l

No immediate action  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The CEC said the commission would leave no stone unturned to hold the next phases of the local body elections peacefully.

On voters’ turnout, he said: “The commission will not now declare the turnout of voters on the basis of any speculation. It will be announced after getting official results.”

EC officials said before the elections many candidates backed by the 19-party alliance had submitted allegations about the ruling party candidates’ influence on the polls and attacks on them.

An official said the EC had not taken the allegations into cognisance and it would take action only against specific allegations sent by the returning officer. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Thursday, February 20, 2014

WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL

Junior lawyers to handle new cases n Udisa Islam Junior prosecutors will be handling new war crimes cases, for which the investigation process had been launched earlier. Six juniors from the prosecution team will conduct six cases individually for the first time and will help the investigation officers in this regard.

Investigation has started against nine individuals for alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. Sources said the number of suspects could increase. Besides this, the investigating agency is also probing the Jamaat-e-Islami as an organisation. The report is almost ready and would be submitted next month.

However, as prosecution office document stated, investigations are going on against Mohammad Nasir and Syed Hossain from Kishoreganj, Lahar Ali Shah from Rajshahi, Abdul Jabbar from Pirojpur, Sakhawat Hossain from Jessore, Ataur Rahman Noni from Netrakona, Ashraf Hossain from Jamalpur and Sirajul Islam Master from Bagerhat.

They allegedly acted as collaborators with the Pakistani occupation forces and were involved in different offences in 1971 at different places of the country.

The prosecution has decided to hand over the responsibility to all the juniors, except three. Those who will help the investigators are Rezia Sultana Begum, Sabina Yesmin Khan, Tapas Kanti Baul, Syed Sayedul Huq and Sheikh Mosfeque Kabir. Among the other three cases, two would be handled by Md Jahid Imam and the other by Abul Kalam Azad. Md Jahid

Imam was prosecutor for the trial against late war crime accused AKM Yusuf.

Ten persons were convicted for war crimes by the two tribunals last year. Of the convicts, seven were sentenced to death, while the others were awarded long-term imprisonment. In addition, the verdict against Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami is pending as ICT 1 has no chairman yet.

In both tribunals, trials are proceeding against seven suspects including Mir Kashem, ATM Azhar and Syed Kaiser.

The investigators who ended early probes will work with these junior prosecutors. Md Helal Uddin, Abdur Razzaque Khan, Motiur Rahman, Ataur Rahman are experienced as they had worked in the trials against Delawar Hossain Sayedee, Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed, Kamaruzzaman, Quader Molla, Ghulam Azam, and Abdul Alim.

An investigator of the probe agency said Hari Devnath would get the case against Syed Md Hossain alias Hachhen Ali as his first war crimes investigation.

Senior investigator Razzaque said field investigation has already started, adding that there would be no problem with junior prosecutors, as they would get full support from the seniors.

Junior Prosecutor Tapas Kanti Baul said the junior prosecutors were grateful for getting the opportunity from the authority, adding that they had already started coordinating with investigators.

One prosecutor has been attached to each case, as the office order asked for help with investigation; each investigator needed at least one prosecutor. l

BNP candidate arranges feast for voters n Our Correspondent, Kurigram A BNP supported candidate entertained the voters with a feast on the election day of upazila polls at Ulipur in Kurigram yesterday to draw support in favour of him.

The feast was arranged to seek votes for BNP leader Ali Hayder Miah, sources said. During a visit to the spot, it was found that the voters were provided with polau and beef.

Abdul Jalil, a voter who came to take part in the feast, said: “They [the food

providers] have asked us to cast vote for Ali Hayder after taking the meal.”

The rival candidates and their supporters informed the local administration about the incident as it was a serious violation of electoral laws.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mohammad Mansur Alam said: “We have received an allegation and we have informed it to the army camp and police.”

However, the BNP-supported candidate denied the allegation, who won the polls defeating Awami League supported candidate Abdul Mojid. l

Pedastrains cross a busy road risking their lives and avoiding the foot over bridge in front of Mascot Plaza in the capital’s Uttara yesterday

Witnesses claim Mir Kashem was a leader of al-Badr n Udisa Islam Two prosecution witnesses in the trial against Mir Kashem have claimed that the Jamaat leader was the leader of al-Badr, an auxiliary force of Pakistan army during the Liberation War. Prosecution’s witness number seven, Pradip Talukder, told the International Crime Tribunal 2 that the accused led al-Badr activists to abduct his uncle Tuntu Sen, who was later killed after being tortured at the Dalim Hotel during the war. Although Tuntu managed to escape once, he was never seen again after the al-Badr forces captured him the second time, Pradip said.

During his deposition, the witness said al-Badr members abducted Tuntu Sen from the Shib temple in Hazari Lane and took him to the nearby Dal-

im Hotel. Quoting his grandmother, he further said his uncle was tortured to death there.

Prosecution’s witness number six, Mridul Kumar Dey from Hazari Lane, also described the forced deportation of at least 250 families, most of who were forced to flee to India while others went into hiding inside the country.

After their deposition, defence counsel Mizanul Islam cross-examined them, while the tribunal also set Sunday for hearing further witnesses.

Mridul told the tribunal that his neighbours Tuntu Sen and Ranjit Das were both abducted and confined by the al-Badr before being tortured to death at the Dalim Hotel. Mridul also said he went to the hotel after the war where he met Prova Rani Das, wife of Ranjit, who could not find any trace of

Al-Qaeda clip: Rasel on 10-day remand

n

The driver and helper of a picnic bus that fell into a road side ditch and left seven students dead in Jessore on Saturday, surrendered to the police yesterday.

Joydeb Kumar Bhadra, superintendent of police in Jessore, told reporters that driver Md Israfil and helper Md Maharram had surrendered to the police.

Police produced the duo to a Jessore court, said Matiar Rahman, officer-incharge of Chougachha police station.

On February 15, a picnic bus fell into a road side ditch at Jhautola under Chougachha upazila leaving seven spot dead and 40 others injured. l

Quoting his grandmother, witness Pradip said his uncle was tortured to death Kashem, who is facing 14 charges for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War, was produced before the tribunal during the deposition.

The defence claimed that both the witnesses had given false depositions.

When asked about Mir Kashem, Mridul answered he could not recall any in-

formation that was related with Mir Kashem.

To a defence question on whether he gave his correct house address to the tribunal, Mridul said the holding number has now changed. He also admitted of flashing for the first time before the tribunal about his meeting with Prova Rani at the Dalim Hotel after victory.

Meanwhile, the ICT 2 yesterday also began hearing a petition seeking a ruling as to why a show-cause notice should not be issued against David Bergman, a journalist from a Dhaka daily, for making “derogatory” comments about the tribunal in a blog.

The tribunal adjourned the proceeding until Thursday (today), when the petitioner – High Court lawyer Abul Kalam Azad – might give his submission and the ICT 2 might decide on the issue. l

Ex-GM Mridha and five others indicted n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Students of Dhaka University decorate the central Shaheed Minar with colourful paintings yesterday ahead of February 21, International Mother Language Day RAJIB DHAR

AL leaders demand release of detainees in Parvez ‘disappearance’ case

Driver and helper of killer bus surrender n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj Our Correspondent, Jessore

her husband.

He said other detainees at the hotel informed Prova that her husband had been killed by the order of Mir Kashem.

RAILWAY RECRUITMENT SCAM

n Our Correspondent, Tangail A Tangail court has granted a 10-day remand to Rasel Bin Sattar for his involvement with the “al-Qaeda audio message” floated online.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Shahadat Hossain granted the remand order when the police sought a 15-day remand in two cases on Wednesday.

Rasel was placed to the courthouse at 3:30pm, seeking a 15-day remand.

RAB have filed two cases with the Tangail Model police station against Rasel Bin Satar.

RAB 12 Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) Kamal Hossain filed the lawsuits late on Tuesday night, Tangail model police Officer-in-Charge Nazrul Islam said.

On Tuesday, RAB detained Rasel, an admin of Basher Kella Facebook page (a front of the Islami Chhatra Shibir), from Tangail.

Officials said he was the main propagator of the so-called al-Qaeda clip online. The audio clip said to be from the al-Qaeda, called for an uprising of the Muslims in Bangladesh and urged to move against the “anti-Islamist forces.” l

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Activists of Awami League and its associate organisations in Narayanganj formed a human chain in front of the Bandar Press Club yesterday demanding the release of some local party leaders and withdrawal of cases against them.

The demonstrators demanded the immediate release of detained Jubo League leaders Ahmed Ali Reza Uzzal, Abu Sufian and Jahirul Islam Bhuiyan alias Parvez.

Parvez, a suspect in the murder of student Tanvir Mohammad Towki, was reportedly picked up by some men in plain clothes from the capital’s Gulshan area on July 5. However, law enforcers have denied arresting him and

his whereabouts are unknown. Abu Sufian, meanwhile, was arrested as a suspect in a separate case filed against Parvez’s “disappearance” by his wife, Khurshid Jahan Sohana.

The protesters yesterday alleged that the “Parvez disappearance case” was filed in order to stop them from raising their voices against the killers of Towki.

Abdul Kadir, president of district Jubo League, the ruling party’s youth wing, said a vested group was plotting against them for protesting against Towki’s killers.

Rokonuddin Ahmed, general secretary of district Krishi League, said that the Parvez disappearance case was a false case.

Rokonuddin claimed that some

suspects named in the case were roaming about freely, but police did not arrest them as they were relatives of Narayanganj city mayor Salina Hayat Ivy. On March 6, 17-year-old Towki, son of cultural activist Rafiur Rabbi, went missing after leaving his home in Narayanganj. Two days later, his body was found on the banks of Shitalakkha River at Charargop.

On March 18, Rabbi filed a complaint with police accusing several persons of complicity in his son’s murder, including AL lawmaker Shamim Osman, his son Ayan Osman, Jubo League leader Parvez, district Chhatra League vice president Rajib Das and general secretary Mizanur Rahman.l

A Chittagong court yesterday indicted six persons, including Yousuf Ali Mridha, former general manager of Bangladesh Railway (BR) East Zone, in a case regarding irregularities in recruitment of assistant chemists.

The Metropolitan Sessions Judge SM Mujibor Rahman passed the order, said Omar Fuad, bench clerk of the court.

The court had fixed March 13 for recording witness deposition, he added.

All the accused in the case are on the run, while the court earlier issued arrest warrant against them.

Apart from Mridha, the others accused are former senior social welfare officer Golam Kibria, former additional chief mechanical engineer of BR (East) Hafizur Rahman, and three job seekers Sultana Begum, Jahirul Islam and Ganesh Chandra Shil, who were allegedly involved in the corruption.

Sources said Hafizur was the convener and Kibria was member secretary of the recruitment committee.

The three job seekers allegedly tried to get employed in exchange of bribe, said Mahmudul Haque Mahmud, prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Commission in Chittagong court.

On the other hand, the three ac-

cused railway officials, in collaboration with each other, allegedly approved and recommended the failed candidates instead of the passed candidates.

SM Rashedur Reza, deputy assistant director of the ACC in Chittagong, lodged the case with Kotwali police station on September 13, 2012 accusing the six.

The charge sheet of the case was submitted before the court on August 18, 2013.

Sources at BR said the East Zone issued seven advertisements in October and November, 2010 to fill up 3,419 vacant posts in 38 categories.

The Border Guard Bangladesh personnel seized Tk70 lakh from a car of former Assistant Personal Secretary Omar Faruk of the then Railways Minister Suranjit Sen Gupta on April 9, 2012.

Two of the accused railway officials and Railway Nirapatta Bahini Dhaka Divisional Commandant Enamul Haque were in the car.

Driver of the car, Ali Azam, had been missing mysteriously as after he took the car to BGB Headquarters with the money and the officials on that day.

Suranjit Sen Gupta resigned and his APS was suspended following the incident. Mridha and Enamul were also suspended temporarily in this connection. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Replaced jute project director clinging on to his post for over a year n Mohosinul Karim The project director of the high yielding jute and seed production programme, Mangal Chandra Chanda, continues to hold office a year after his deputation in the post was cancelled because of graft allegations.

In a bid to hold onto his post, Mangal recently collected a semi-official letter from the jute minister by concealing facts about the graft allegations against him; the letter was later sent to the public administration ministry for cancelling a stand release order against the official that was issued on February 9.

When contacted, Mangal however denied the allegations against him and blamed a group of unscrupulous officials of the project and the Department of Jute for trying to remove him from

the project as he had been creating obstacles for their “corruption.”

Meanwhile, Mirza Azam, state minister for jute and textile ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune that he and the minister had no knowledge of the project director’s alleged irregularities, as they had only recently taken charge.

“The ministry will make inquiries about the allegations against Mangal.

Official steps would be taken against him if the allegations were proved.

Action would be taken against the ministry officials who are trying to save him,” the state minister added.

According to the stand release order and the allegations submitted to the ministry and the Anti-Corruption Commission, Mangal was ordered to be removed from the project director post because of his alleged involvement

with corruption, irregularities and inefficiency.

On February 13 last year, the public administration ministry appointed Rafiqul Islam, a joint secretary, to replace Mangal as the project director of the high yielding jute and seed production programme.

He, however, could not join the office as Mangal continued in his refusal to hand over responsibility of the post.

Mirza Azam however said the new jute minister did not allow Rafiqul to join the post after Mangal had informed the ministry that Rafiqul, an engineer, was an inappropriate choice for the post.

On July 3, 2012, Tofazzal Hossain, director of the Department of Jute, submitted a complaint to the ACC claiming that Mangal had abused his powers for

personal gain.

Tofazzal, in his complaint, also demanded legal action against Mangal for illegally earning Tk3 crore by recruiting 168 disqualified candidates in the posts of assistant jute development officer and office assistant/computer operator under the project.

He alleged that Mangal had taken written tests for the recruitment of 168 posts of two category officials on March 16, 2012.

At least 500 aspirants allegedly received the questions of the test the day before the exam, after the project director had leaked the question, Tofazzal claimed, adding that the exam of 200 aspirants had been taken at Mangal’s residence.

He also claimed that the project director and his trusted officials had

collected Tk3-4 lakh from each of the candidates. Mangal allegedly also took the signs of Tofazzal, a recruitment committee member, in some papers without calling any meeting of the committee.

Several other complaints were also submitted against the project director to the ministry and the ACC, but those remain stuck because of unknown reasons.

Mangal, however, snubbed the allegations against him as “fake,” “baseless,” and “intentional.”

However, he admitted there have been some mistakes, but said: “All problems have been solved with mutual understanding. The decision was informed by the public administration ministry. The problem would be solved within a short time.” l

n Tribune Report

The government should play an important role in correcting market failures and must be careful so as not to make matters worse by their interventions.

Dr. Vasant Sukhatme, Edward J. Noble Professor Emeritus of Economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA said this at a public lacture in Dhaka Wednesday.

A system based on private property but with the government playing an effective referee working in an environment with greater openness, greater predictability and lower regulation will be more likely to lead economic progress, he said, according to a press release.

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organised the lecture on “Institutions and Economic Progress” at its own campus auditorium in Dhanmondi. Professor Sukhatme is currently at ULAB as part of the university’s Fulbright award.

ULAB Vice Chancellor Professor Imran Rahman also spoke at the lecture. l

Scolded by boyfriend, she commits suicide

n Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

WEATHER

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

Night and day temperature might rise by 1-2 degree Celsius over the country, Met Office said.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:57pm and rises at 6:28am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 28.9 degree Celsius was recorded in Srimangal and Sylhet and lowest 08.2 degrees in Srimangal yesterday.

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

High

Low

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

27.4 25.2 26.2 25.8 27.0 27.0 28.9 27.3

14.2 13.6 11.4 10.5 12.0 11.2 12.0 16.0

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:12am 6:27am 12:12am 4:19pm 5:56pm 7:12pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

n Rabiul Islam

One-hundred and fifty migrant workers flew to Malaysia yesterday to work in the country’s plantation sector, said an assistant director of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

Officials at BMET recently received 715 visas for workers to travel to Malaysia. Of those, 30 workers declined to go to Malaysia for work.

A senior official at BMET said the workers who refused to go claimed that they had family members who were ill.

Several officials concerned said earlier that a number of workers refused to go to Malaysia for work and that this was embarrassing for the government.

However, an assistant director, on the condition of anonymity, said: “We have no problem with this as such thing may happen.”

In addition to these 150 workers, 140 workers flew to Malaysia on Tuesday, 84 will fly out today and 125 more will make the journey tomorrow. l

Singer Arfin Rumey gets bail n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Government should see to market failures

A college student allegedly committed suicide allegedly after being threatened and scolded by her boyfriend in Brahmanbaria yesterday. Victim Dina Akhter, 17, jumped off Adhunik Hospital at Nasirnagar upazila and died on her way to the capital for better treatment in the afternoon.

Her family members said Dina was an HSC student of Nasirnagar Degree College. They also said Dina had a love affair with a local, Rakib Chowdhury, which they did not take easily. As a result, she started to avoid Rakib, they said. Angered at this, Rakib threatened Dina several times. Yesterday he intercepted Dina on her way home from college and again threatened her, Dina’s family claimed.

Sub-Inspector Tofazzal Hossain of Nasirnagar police station said the deceased’s family did not file any complaint. l

150 workers fly to Malaysia

Working children earned a day off as human rights organisation Ain O Salish Kenro arranged a day of fun and educational activities for the kids. This picture was taken at the Shishu Park yesterday afternoon RAJIB DHAR

The Dhaka Women and Children Repression (Prevention) Tribunal 4 yesterday granted one month conditional bail to singer Arfin Rumey, in a domestic violence case filed by his first wife.

Tanzila Ismail, acting judge of the tribunal, passed the order after hearing the bail plea filed by Rumey’s Counsel Zahidul Alam Zahid.

Rumey’s first wife Lamia Islam Ananya, 22, was present during yesterday’s hearing. She, however, did not oppose the bail plea as both sides had a mutual understanding in this regard, sources said.

Earlier on February 13, Judge Arifur Rahman of the tribunal sent Rumey to jail after rejecting his bail plea.

The court, however, granted bail to Rumey’s brother on that day.

Rumey and his brother were detained in the capital’s Mohammadpur area on October 12 last year, few hours after Ananya submitted a written complaint with Mohammadpur police station.

In the complaint, Ananya alleged that Rumey and his family members had tortured her. She also alleged that they often tortured her for dowry, and added that the torture was intensified after Rumey’s second marriage.

Following the complaint, police lodged a domestic violence case in this regard. l

CTG GOLD TRADER ABDUCTION

Mridul gives statement before Chittagong court n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Rescued gold trader Mridul Chowdhury who was abducted from his residence on February 11 gave his statement before a Chittagong court yesterday evening under section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code.

Metropolitan Magistrate Syed Mashfiqul Islam recorded his statement from 4:30pm to 6:30pm, said court sources.

In his 16 page statement, Mridul said a group of five-six people introducing themselves as Rapid Action Battalion men and Detective Branch of police picked him up and took him to a black microbus from Puraton telegraph road of Chittagong town while going to his shop on February 11 morning.

The kidnappers blindfolded him and changed vehicles for four times while he understood that he was being taken near

Narayanganj or Dhaka as he assumed the expression from outside, he said.

“They kept me blindfolded tying my arms and legs all time,” he also said.

“After taking into a confined place, they gave me electric shock and later, beat me indiscriminately below the knees while they played songs in loudspeaker so that my shouts could not go out,” he also added.

“I also heard the sound of flying of airplanes that seemed to me that I was near any airport or just like place,” he further added.

He started calling the name of God. On Monday, at 2am, the kidnappers threw him in a paddy field near Kongsanagar Bazar area with hands and legs tied.

The abductors rubbed ointment on his eyes before leaving him to the field.

Later, a night guard Abdur Rashid Bhui-

yan rescued him.

He said: “I don’t have any rivalry with anyone. The kidnappers told me to make preparation for going outside on Sunday.” He thought that was his last day and the kidnappers might kill him.

According to the statement of the victim, a high official of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune the nature of torture seemed that any trained persons could do that.

Earlier, Mridul was taken to the court from the clinic, where he was under treatment, with tight security, said SubInspector Kamruzzaman of Kotwali police station, also investigation officer of the case.

Gold trader Mridul Chowdhury was rescued from Comilla on Monday early hours, a week after he was abducted from his home in the port city.

Mridul was left unconscious in Kongsanagar Bazar area of Burichang upazila in Comilla Sunday night. When he got back his sense in the morning, a night guard came to his rescue. Mridul called his family and told them about his location.

Shimul Chowdhury filed a kidnapping case with Kotowali police station against unknown people on February 11.

Mridul lodged the case before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Dhaka on December 26 in 2013 against RAB 2 Major Md Rakibul Amin, Dipu and Babul Paul, driver of the plaintiff.

According to the case statement lodged by Mridul, he sent his gold to Dhaka through train on October 3 along with his driver Babul Pal. After coming to Kamalapur Railway Station, Major Rakibul and his source Dipu forcefully picked Babul into a car,

and later threw him out of the car and fled by taking hold of the gold.

Mridul called Rakibul over phone and requested him to return his gold while Rakibul answered he would return it after investigation, but the major didn’t return the gold.

On December 3, Rakibul allegedly threatened Mirdul by saying that the latter would fall in danger if he asked him (Rakibul) to return the gold in future.

Refuting the allegation, Major Rakibul said Mridul sought help from him to recover his gold while it was not possible to find out his gold without completing the investigation. “Mridul lodged a case against me intentionally,” he said.

Fahad Chowdhury Dipu, accused in the case filed by the gold trader, who was also abducted and released later, remains missing since January 15. l

Channel S founder jailed n Tribune Report The founder of Channel S, a television station for Britain’s Bangladeshi community, has been jailed for three years over a crash-for-cash insurance scam, reported BBC. Mohammed Ferdhaus, 40, admitted to laundering money through a scam operated by his brother Mohammed Samsul Haque. Between 2005 and 2008, at least 124 claims linked to Motor Alliance, a firm run by Samsul, brought Ferdhaus £500,000 profit, Southwark Crown Court heard. Ferdhaus pleaded guilty when he appeared before the court in July.

Samsul and five other men were jailed in October 2011 for their scam, which was thought to cost the insurance industry £1.9m. Ferdhaus committed money laundering offences in 2008 while awaiting trial for conspiracy to defraud, for which he was later jailed for

18 months at Croydon Crown Court.

During sentencing Judge Anthony Pitts took his previous offence into account. “Samsul Haque was your younger brother. You owned Prestige Auto Group and there was a very close connection between Prestige and Motor Alliance,” he said. Ferdhaus “knew very well” that the money he was laundering came from the crash-for-cash fraud, it was claimed.

In mitigation, Mark Milliken-Smith QC said his client suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder after being kidnapped and beaten in May 2011.

If he was jailed “there is real risk he’ll suffer in a way which is far out of proportion with the criminality in this particular case”, the defence told the court. The judge accepted the defendant was “very well respected” in the Bangladeshi community. However, he said: “An immediate custodial sentence of some length must be passed.” l

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena talking to women voters in Mohonpur, Rajshahi, during the first phase of the fourth upazila polls that took place in 97 upazilas across the nation DHAKA TRIBUNE

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Untended roads rile Gulshan, Banani residents Locals say their woes have no bounds during the rainy season, when water accumulates on the dilapidated roads

n Abu Hayat Mahmud Residents living in Gulshan and Banani, considered posh areas of the capital, are annoyed as they are suffering due to the sorry state of roads in their local area.

Although the main thoroughfares are in a good state, most of the internal roads in the locality have been worn out by vehicular and pedestrian movement.

Hundreds of potholes have developed on various roads, making for a bumpy ride for commuters.

Locals said their woes have no bounds during the rainy season, when water accumulates on the dilapidated roads.

Residents of the area claimed that they have made several requests to the concerned authorities regarding the problems, but to no avail.

Locals said Wasa had excavated a number of roads to install sewerage pipelines and repair old lines. However, after finishing their work, the stateowned water supply authority did not take a single measure to repair the roads, they claimed.

To make matters worse, debris piled up by Wasa staff on the roadside is yet to be removed, creating difficulties for neighbouring residents.

During a recent visit to the areas in question, this Dhaka Tribune correspondent witnessed water logging in potholes on most of the internal roads.

Gulshan’s road 36 and its walkway, as well as roads 23, 24, 126, 130, 132 and 133 are all unfit for traffic, presenting a risk to pedestrians and commuters.

The same is true of Banani’s roads 7 and 8 on Block F, as well as road 5 on Block G.

The road behind the extended head office of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) near Banani Kitchen Market has also become uneven and bumpy, due to the negligence of the city authority in maintaining the road.

Nazrul Islam, a resident of Gulshan, said: “Residents in the area have been suffering to some extent for a long time, as most of the roads have remained untended for the last eight to 10 years.

“Many of the roads in these areas have become unfit due to a lack of maintenance and immediate renovation is a must to keep smooth communication,” he said.

“After only a light shower, the roads become muddy and slippery which sometimes causes accidents,” he added.

On Road 14 in Banani, drainage and sewerage lines have been repaired,

but Wasa employees are yet to remove debris from the road and footpath, impeding the movement of both pedestrians and vehicles.

Rihan Islam, a student of the University of South Asia, said: “We are facing difficulties at every moment because of road digging.”

Brigadier General Md Abul Khair, chief engineer of the DNCC, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have been informed about the dilapidated condition of a few roads in the Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara residential areas.”

“We have a plan to carry out repairs on all the bumpy roads in these areas,” he said.

“We have submitted proposals to the Local Government Division and are waiting for the Development Project Proforma (DPP) to get approval from the ministry,” he added. l

5

Cleaner held with 4.5kg gold at Dhaka airport n Kailash Sarkar A cleaner of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been arrested with 40 gold bars weighting 4.5kg at Hajarat Shahjalal International Airport in the afternoon.

Joynal Abedin, 30, the cleaner of the national flag carrying airlines, was arrested at the apron area of the airport at 12:30pm immediately after he came out of a Malaysian flight that landed here around 11:30am.

Qamrul Hasan, senior assistant commissioner of the Customs Department, said: “Cleaner Joynal Abedin was assigned to carry the smuggled gold out from the flight of Malaysian Airlines and hand over to other members of the smuggling ring active in the airport.”

The Customs Department official said they seized the gold worth around Tk2 crore after arresting the Biman cleaner as per their earlier information about the gold haul and also about the involvement of the cleaner.

“Acting on a tip-off, the customs officials were keeping eyes on the smuggling of golds,” said Qamrul Hasan add-

ing “Cleaner Joynal was carrying the gold bars hiding inside his shoes and uniform.”

Qamrul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “During the primary interrogation, Joynal claimed that he was asked to take the gold bars out of the flight for handing over to some other people at the airport in exchange of some money.”

“However, the identities of the other members of the ring and the owner of the smuggled gold are yet to be known,” he said.

According to sources, more than 60 rings are active in the smuggling of gold, currencies, precious metals, stones and other valuables through the airport in support of a section of unscrupulous officials and employees of different government, international and private agencies at the airport.

The sources said over 1200 people, who were officials and employees of different agencies, including of different airlines, customs, NSI, Ansar and Civil Aviation, were arrested at the airport in last three years for their involvement in the smuggling and other illicit activities. l

JnU students continue demo for recovery of halls n Mohammad Jamil Khan The students of Jagannath University (JnU) staged demonstration on the campus for the sixth consecutive day yesterday to press for their demand to recover residential halls of the university grabbed by local influential.

Hundreds of students, led by JnU Chhatra League President Shariful Islam, boycotted classes and exams as per previously announced programmes.

The agitated students locked the main gate of the university, barring all vehicles to enter into the campus till 1pm. The teachers of the university were, however, allowed to enter.

All staffs and students were standing in front of the main gate and demonstrated at Bahadur Shah Park intersection, setting fire on tyres that suspended all vehicular movement in the area.

The four-hour long blockade resulted in heavy traffic congestion in the

area, creating enormous sufferings to city dwellers.

Addressing the agitated students, JnU Chhatra League President Shariful said they wanted nothing but a solution to the students’ sufferings, adding that the demonstration would be continued till their demands were met.

The agitated students also organised a mass signature campaign in support of their demands.

The demonstration was called off for the day after declaring the next day programme: a sit-in in front of the university administrative building.

Harun-or-Rashid, deputy commissioner of police of Lalbagh Division, told the Dhaka Tribune that no untoward situation took place during the demonstration.

Asked, Prof Mizanur Rahman, vice-chancellor of the university, said demonstration would not produce any result.

“We are working on it and appealed to government to get the halls back. We are hopeful,” the VC said. l

The students of Jagannath University stage demonstration on the campus yesterday to press for their demand to recover residential halls

Multi-tier security plan for Feb 21 25,000 Police, Rab to keep Shaheed Minar secure with check posts, watchtowers DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed as the militant activities were Western n Kailash Sarkar yesterday said 28 barricades and 57 oriented.

Police, Rapid Action Battalion and other law enforcement agencies will be providing a multi-tier special security approach for smooth celebration of the International Mother Language Day and the National Mourning Day on February 21, keeping under consideration any threats.

Apart from the deployment of over 25,000 additional forces, beefed-up patrolling and vigilance by plain-clothes police across the country, security agencies have decided to set up a large number of check-posts, close circuit cameras (CCTVs), watchtowers and archways.

The dog squads will keep patrolling in and around the Shaheed Minar areas all over the country.

close circuit cameras will be set up in the central Shaheed Minar vicinity to monitor the movement of the participants, apart from vigilance by the plainclothes and uniformed personnel.

Sources at the Police Headquarters said over 20,000 additional police would remain deployed to provide security from the evening of February 20 to February 21.

While addressing a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre, the DMP commissioner said they had taken up security measures considering all kinds of threats, including that from the Al Qaeda although he expressed doubt over the authenticity of the tape.

He, however, claimed that Bangladesh was not a fit place for militancy

Meanwhile, Rab officials said they arranged a three-tier security approach and 4,000 additional forces would remain on duty for February 21.

Of the forces, 900 will be deployed in the central Shaheed Minar area.

Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rahman, director of Legal and Media wing of Rab, said the Shaheed Minar area had been divided into three sectors to ensure foolproof security.

At least 10 watchtowers will be installed to observe security operation.

“Besides, bomb disposal units and dog squads will remain present for security purposes,” he said, adding that to ensure foolproof security, female participants would also be searched by policewomen. l

A man installs CCTV cameras on Shaheed Minar premises in a bid to maintain security during observance of the International Mother Language Day and the National Mourning Day on February 21 RAJIB DHAR

‘Shaheed Dibosh’ committee announces programmes n Tribune Report Dhaka University’s central coordination committee, formed to organise celebrations for the ‘Shaheed Dibosh’ as well as International Mother Language day, has chalked out various programmes to mark the day in a peaceful and disciplined way.

Coordinator of the committee Professor D Farid Uddin Ahmed, also dean of the Social Science Faculty at Dhaka University (DU), announced the programmes at a press conference held at Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Auditorium yesterday.

The committee announced a route plan to keep the celebrations in order on the day, so as everyone can pay their respects to the martyrs in an organised manner. According to the route plan, all attendees will go to the Shaheed Minar from DU’s Jagannath Hall and queue to place wreaths.

Nobody will be allowed to attend the Doyel Chattar bearing festoons, placards, or floral wreaths.

The announcement also specified that people would have to reach Azimpur graveyard via Nilkhet, and access Shaheed Minar from Azimpur graveyard via SM hall road. After paying their respects, people have to leave Shaheed Minar premise through Doyel Chattar.

Meanwhile, DU Vice Chancellor Professor Arefin Siddique urged all the university’s students and officials to create an atmosphere where masses of people will be able to pay homage to the country’s greatest, who sacrificed their lives in 1952 for their mother tongue.

He also urged the students, senate members, teachers, and officials to join the silent procession to pay their respects to the language movement martyrs. The procession will begin around 6:30am from Aparajeyo Bangla and will march towards Azimpur graveyard and on to the Shaheed Minar, paying tribute to the nation’s heros. l

NASHIRUL ISLAM

Jahangirnagar University VC panel poll today n JU Correspondent The election to the Vice-Chancellor panel of Jahangirnagar University will be held at Registrar Building on the campus today.

The election has been arranged following the directives of President Abdul Hamid to eliminate JU crisis while two panels consisting three candidates in each panel will vie in the polls, campus sources said.

The sources said the acting VC Prof MA Matin, pro VC (admin) Prof Afsar Ahmad and former VC Prof Abdul Bayes would contest from a panel while the rest panel consisting Mathematics And Physical Science Faculty Dean Prof Abul Hossain, Social Science Faculty Dean Prof Amir Hossain and JU Teachers’ Association Executive Member Prof Farzana Islam loyal to former ousted VC Prof Shariff Eanamul Kabir.

Sources said the election would be held at the senate hall of the administrative building at 4pm while President Abdul Hamid will appoint one as JU VC from

the elected panel of three members.

However, a section of pro Awami League teachers along with the left leaning teachers of the university have already demanded to cancel the polls and to reform the incumbent senate body as some 63 senators in different categories from total 93 senate members have finished their tentures.

At a press conference last week they claimed the election would be immoral if the current senate body was not reformed.

But according to JU constitution, the incumbent senate members would be able to vote for VC panel election until their successors are named.

The pro-Awami League teachers loyal to Prof Shariff Enamul Kabir, along with pro BNP teachers who also ousted Prof Shariff in 2012, have compelled Prof Anwar Hossain to resin this year.

While asked about the election, acting VC Prof M A Matin told the Dhaka Tribune: “All preparations already have completed and I hope the election will be held in a peaceful way.” l

2 JU students suspended for mugging applicants n JU Correspondent The authorities of Jahangirnagar University (JU) suspended two students after they were found guilty of mugging an admission seeker on Tuesday.

The decision was taken at a disciplinary committee meeting held at the administrative building on Tuesday night, campus sources said.

The suspended students have been identified as Shaurabh Rahman, a fourth year student of the botany department, and Yasin Ahmed, a first year student of the geography department.

Meanwhile, JU authorities have issued a show cause notice to Atikur

Rahman, a second year student of the statistics department. All of them were residents of Bangabandhu Sheikh Muzibur Rahman hall.

Authorities also issued another show cause letter to Bangladesh Chhatra League JU unit Literature Secretary Md Sanwar Hossain, who resides at Mir Mosharrof Hossain hall, for demanding tolls from commuter buses running on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway.

JU Proctor Prof Md Muzibur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “The disciplinary board on Tuesday night made these decisions and permanent punishment against the culprits will be arranged after the next syndicate meeting.” l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Clockwise from left: Election officials count ballot papers at Bakerganj Mohila College polling centre in Barisal; Rapid Action Battalion members patrol Rajshahi’s Mohonpur upazila as part of upazila polls security measures; women stand in a long queue to cast their votes in the upazila polls in Sylhet’s Companyganj; Polling agent check voters’ list after voters come to cast votes at a polling centre in Nawabganj DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stalker freed after lobby n Our Correspondent, Barguna Taltoli upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) in Barguna district allegedly released a stalker yesterday after getting order from a local Awami League leader.

According to sources, police arrested Kawser, son of Kalam of Taltoli Para village red-handed while he was harassing a girl.

Later , he was produced before a mobile court led by the UNO Tofayel Ahmed.

Sources said Tofayel had released Kawser as the local AL president or-

dered him.

Students, teachers and parents in the area expressed dissatisfaction on such illegal activity of the UNO. Taltoli Degree Collage Principal Harun-ur-Rashid said; “The crime will increase if the criminals are released illegally and parents will become concerned for sending their children to educational institutions.”

Taltoli Begum Nurjahan Girls’ School Head Master Anisur Rahman Shanu said : “The criminals will be inspired if they are released without trial.”

“Female students will lose interest towards study due to lack of security,” he said.

Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Taltoli police station said; “Kawser is a notorious criminal and there are several cases against him with the police station.”

When contacted, the UNO denied the allegation.

The victim’s father said Kawser used to tease his daughter often while she was going to school.

He also gave her death threats several times as she protested. l

Polling officer beaten in Gopalganj

Four killed in Noakhali road accident

A polling officer was beaten up yesterday during the upazila election at Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj district.

The incident took place at 51 South Fukra Government Primary School polling centre under the upazila.

Followers of Md Moktar Hossain ,the upazila chairman candidate and AL general secretary allegedly beat up the officer for his support for the current chairman. “I was beaten up for false allegation,” polling officer Animesh Biswas said. Moktar alleged Animesh violated the code of conduct of election.

“One of my activists slapped the officer,” Moktar said. l

n Tribune Report

n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

Newborn stolen from hospital

n Our Correspondent, Naogaon A two-day old baby was stolen from the maternity ward of Naogaon Sadar Hospital yesterday.

At 12pm, the baby’s mother, Nazma Begum, awoke to find her baby missing.

According to sources, Nazma was asleep with her newborn son in the morning and began screaming when she realised her baby was no longer in the bed. Hospital authorities were then notified. Officer-in-charge of Sadar model police station Zahidul Islam confirmed the theft of the baby. l

Gas from shallow pipe in Natore

n Our Correspondent, Natore Farmers in Nandaraypur village under Lalpur upazila in the district were astounded to find gas coming out from a shallow pipe.

Atiyar Rahman, son of Abdul Aziz said his father had set a 100-feet pipe on their cropland on Friday to irrigate wheat. They could not collect a drop of water after a frantic effort and went home. Suddenly they heard a loud bang. Later, they went to the spot and found gas coming out from the pipe. l

At least four people have been killed and 25 others injured in a head-on collision between a pickup van and a truck at Uttar Wapda Bazar under Sadar upazila of the district in Tuesday night.

The deceased were identified as Belal Hossain, 30, of Purbarajapur village, Jahid, 28, of Ayubpur village, Md Nur Nabi, 50, and Azad, 27, of Purba charuria village under Sadar upazila here.

Officer-in-Charge of Shudharam model police station Mosharaf Hossain Tarafdar said the accident occurred when a pickup van carrying 41 labourers collided head-on with a truck at 11pm, leaving four dead on the spot and 25 oth-

ers injured. The injured were admitted to Noakhali Medical College Hospital.

Being informed, police rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies. The bodies were sent to the hospital morgue for post-mortem.

In Natore, a driver died and another was injured when two laden trucks collided head-on in Baraigram upazila, Natore in the early hours of Wednesday.

The dead was Sarwar, 55, son of late Daud Hossain from Jhenaidah. The injured was Alauddin, 20, son of Monir Hossain from Jessore.

The two trucks rammed into each other near Koinbazar area around 1:45am, Banpara highway police Seargant Mahbubur Rahman said. l

One fined for stamping ballot papers

Son of AL leader arrested in Sirajganj

n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

Son of an Awami League leader was arrested in possession of a pistol from in front of a polling centre at Ullapara in Sirajganj yesterday.

A team of police led by Additional Police Super Shuvash Chandra rushed to the spot and arrested Kamrul Islam Orange, son of Awami League President Mohonpur union unit Abul Kalam Azad with nine MM foreign pistol loaded with three rounds of bullet from in front of KMM Institute polling centre.

He was intimidating voters of that polling centre, the police official said. l

A mobile court yesterday fined a man Tk 20,000 on charge of stamping ballot papers in a vote centre under Darbasta union of Gobindaganj upazila in the district.

The convict was identified as Faruque Hossain, 28, son of Baschhu Miah, in Balua village under the union.

According to sources, Faruque, a supporter of AL backed chairman candidate Abdul Latif Prodhan, was stamping ballot papers in Balua Government Pri-

mary School centre at 2 pm.

Journalists of print and electronic media entered the centre and took the video footage of stamping papers.

Following the video footage, police arrested Faruque and produced him before the court.

The court led by Akterunnesa, executive magistrate, fined him Tk 20,000 for stamping ballot papers and released him after realising the fine instantly.

ABM Zahidul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gobindaganj police station confirmed the incident. l

Khulna farmers expect bumper mustard yield n Tribune Report Farmers of 10 districts of Khulna division are expecting a bumper production of mustard in the current rabi season.

Encouraged by good yield of the winter crop and its fair price during the last several years, hundreds of farmers of the region have cultivated the winter crop on larger areas of land.

Easy cultivation process and lower production cost is also a reason behind popularity of mustard cultivation among the farmers in the area, said DAE officials and farmers.

The farmers of Jessore, Narail, Jhenidah, Magura, Khustia, Chuadanga,

Meherpur, Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat districts have cultivated mustard on 67,440 hectares of land with the production target of 80,922 tonnes, officials said.

District wise break up of land is as follows: 16,556 hectares of land have been brought under mustard cultivation in Jessore, 5,664 hectares in Narail, 12,092 hectares in Magura, 10,013 hectares in Jhenidah, 5,408 hectares in Khustia,6,217 hectares in Meherpur, 3,184 hectares in Chuadanda, 412 hectares in Khulna, 7,196 hectares in Satkhira and 698 hectares land in Bagerhat district.

Most of the lands have been cultivated with varieties invented by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) like

BELA asks DC to stop hill cutting n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar

The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) has sent a legal notice to the deputy commissioner in Cox’s Bazar, requesting that illegal hill cutting in the district be halted.

Signed by BELA lawyer Md Iqbal Kabir, the notice was sent via the post on February 16.

According to sources, a group of unscrupulous people cut into half of a 200-foot hill in the City College area of Cox’s Bazar and constructed multi-storied buildings and a number of installments on that land, occupying an area of 73.66 acres.

The soil from the hill was also used for business purposes, threatening the environment in the district.

Earlier, BELA lodged a writ case with the High Court against the initiative to build a residential project for officials and staff of the district administration.

At the final hearing of the case, on June 8, 2011, the High Court ordered that no one cut hills or parts of hills.

Sources said the order was not followed accordingly. Hill cutting has been going on unabatedly, threatening the biodiversity of the locality.

Copies of the notice were sent to the DC of

n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

Cox’s Bazar, secretary of the Land Ministry, director general of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Environment Directorate, director of Environment Directorate Chit-

tagong, assistant director of Environment Directorate Cox’s Bazar, executive officer of Cox’s Bazar Sadar upazila, and the assistant commissioner (land) of Sadar upazila. l

BARI Sharisha-9, Tori 7 and Sampad, reports BSS. DAE tried to pursue the farmers to cultivate high yielding varieties of mustard invented by BARI to boost production.

During this correspondent’s recent visit to different areas of Jessore and Narail districts, farmers said they are hopeful to get bumper production of mustard.

AZM Momtazul Karim, additional director of Jessore Regional Department of Agriculture Extension, said necessary training, agri inputs, quality seeds, and agri-loans have been provided to the farmers to make mustard farming programme a success. l

Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Office of the Divisional Railway Manager, Bangladesh Railway Paksey, Pabna.

AMENDMENT TO INVITATION FOR TENDER. Amendment to Tender Notice No. 24/Rev/Pxc/2013-14 No.222-W/PXC/Tender Notice/13-14

Date:17/02/2014 Date:-17/02/2014

Due to unavoidable circumstances the tender invited against Tender reference No.-222-W-PXC/Tender Notice/13-14 date:- 02/02/2014 for the work “At Pxc:- Thorough repairs to DEO/Pxc’s office, chamber including boundary wall & provision of sanitary latrine.” is hereby cancelled.

Sl No.

1

Workers cut hill in City College area of Cox’s Bazar

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Invitation for original tender notice No. & date.

19/Rev/Pxc/1314 Date:-02/02/2014

Invitation for Tender Notice serial No 1 to 24

Description of works

At Pxc:- Thorough repairs to DEO/ Pxc’s office, chamber including boundary wall & provision of sanitary latrine

Divisional Engineer/II RPRD No.3726, Date:19/02/2014 For Divisional Railway Manager, GC-13/14 (5 x 2) Bangladesh Railway, Paksey.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Juris

7

Thursday, February 20, 2014

What’s the word

JURIS QUOTE

Essential law for journalists

LAW CARTOON

BIG STOCK

P

n Juris Desk

ress Council of Bangladesh was established under the Press Council Act, 1974 for the purpose of preserving the freedom of the press and maintaining and improving the standard of newspapers and news agencies in Bangladesh.

Code of Conduct, 1993 (As amended in 2002) for the newspapers, news agencies and journalists of Bangladesh was set up under Section 11(2)(b) of the Press Council Act, 1974. Here are the provisions of the Code of Conduct for newspapers, news agencies and journalists.

1

Not to publish any news or publication detrimental to national integrity, independence, sovereignty, oneness of the state and constitution of Bangladesh.

2

The war of liberation and its spirit and ideals must be upheld, and any publication repugnant to it to be stopped.

3

It is the responsibility of a journalist to keep people informed of issues which influence or attract them. News and commentaries are to be prepared and published showing full respect to the individual rights and sensitivity of the readers of the newspaper and the people in general.

4 5

6

7

8

Truth and accuracy of information received by newspapers and journalists are to be ensured as far as possible.

Information received from reliable sources may be published in public interest without fear of being penalised.

Any such news if published in public interest and in good faith and are considered trustworthy by logical consideration, a journalist is to be relieved from any adverse consequence arising out of publication of such news.

Unconfirmed reports or reports based on rumours shall be verified before publication and if found unreasonable upon verification, be withheld from publication.

News items whose contents are distorted and baseless or whose publication hinges on breach of trust not to be published.

Newspapers and journalists have the right to express their views on controversial issues and in doing so: l All events should be truthfully reported and views be neatly expressed l No report of an event be distorted to influence the readers

No news shall be distorted or slanted maliciously either in the main commentary or in the headline Views on the main news shall be presented neatly

speedily published giving equal importance of the original news. The editor, while editing the rejoinder shall not change its basic character.

The editor having the right to publish any advertisement signed by proper authorities in his/her newspaper even if it is apparently against any individual interest but not slanderous or prejudicial to public interest. If protest is made with regard to such an advertisement, the editor shall print and publish it free of cost.

18 If an aggrieved party sends a rejoinder for any damage done to him by an editorial, it shall be the obligation of the editor to publish the corrigendum on the same page and also express regrets.

10 Newspapers shall refrain from publishing news which is contemptuous or disrespectful to caste, creed, nationality and religion of any individual or the community or the country. For upholding national unity, communalism is to be strongly discouraged.

20 The editor is to take full responsibility for all publications in the newspaper.

l l

9

11 If a newspaper publishes any news which prejudices the interest and reputation of an individual, agency, institution or group of people or any special category of people, the newspaper concerned should provide opportunity to the aggrieved persons or institutions to publish their protest or rejoinder on the matter within a reasonable period of time.

12 If the news published is damaging or improper, it is to be immediately withdrawn, corrigendum or explanation be made and in special cases, apology should be tendered.

13 To increase the circulation of a newspaper no sensational, derogatory or obscene news and picture, though attractive to the people, be published.

14 Newspapers should adopt reasonable measures with a view to resisting crime and corruption.

15 Since the extent and durability of the influence of newspapers are greater than that of other media, a journalist writing for a newspaper shall particularly be cautious about the credibility and truthfulness of sources and shall also preserve his sources in order to avoid risks.

16 It is the responsibility of the newspapers to publish news relating to cases under trial and to publish the final judgment of the court to reveal the actual picture of issues relating to the trial. However, journalists shall refrain from publishing such comment or opinion which is likely to influence the decision of the judge, until the final verdict is announced.

17 Rejoinders of the aggrieved party or parties directly involved with a news published in a newspaper shall be

19 Malicious news should not be published.

21 A reporter while reporting a case of financial or other kind of irregularity shall, to the best of his ability, verify the facts in his report and shall incorporate adequate material to prove the truth of the matter reported.

22 Any irresponsible publication to which no objection was made can be a source of the news but a journalist cannot evade his responsibility on the ground that the news is a reproduction of an earlier report.

23 It is a responsibility of a journalist to highlight any news which projects degeneration of moral values in the society but it is also the moral responsibility of a journalist to maintain strict precaution in publishing news or photos involving male-female relationship or any report relating to women.

24 Any person who will join in a service of newspaper or news agency or any media of news shall be bound to take oath and sign in presence of the editor a copy of that oath.

25 Any publisher of a newspaper shall take oath under the Press Council Act, and sign a copy of that oath.

Violation of this code of conduct

If the Press Council receives any complain or has reason to believe that any newspaper or news agency has not lived up to the journalistic ethics or public taste or that an editor or a working journalist has committed any professional misconduct, or has breached the codes of journalistic ethics, the Council may, after giving both party an opportunity of being heard, hold an enquiry to find out the true facts.

If after the inquiry, the Council finds that the newspaper, news agency or journalist is at fault, it may warn, admonish or censure the concerned newspaper, news agency or journalist, as the case may be. The decision of the Council is final and shall not be called in question in any court of law. l

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Article 70: Contradiction with the spirit of the constitution n Md Ariful Islam

T

he Constitution of Bangladesh is the solemn expression of the will of the people and of course supreme law of Bangladesh. It is such a constitution where democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and conscience have been guaranteed.

If we look at the Article 11 of our constitution, it clearly states that: “The Republic shall be a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of the human person shall be guaranteed, and in which effective participation by the people through their elected representatives in administration at all levels shall be ensured.”

However, it goes without saying that, there are a few Articles in our constitution which are very controversial in nature, and are inconsistent with the basic fabric of democracy. For example, Article 39(1) talks of a fundamental right by which freedom of thought and conscience is guaranteed.

However, when we look at the Article 70 of our constitution, it says that a member of parliament will lose his membership if he votes against his party.

Article 70 says: “a person elected as a member of Parliament at an election at which he was nominated as a candidate by a political party shall vacate his seat if he resigns from that party or votes in Parliament against the party.” The statutory explanation of this Article says that a parliament member shall be deemed to have voted against that party if he/she, being present in parliament, abstains from voting, or absents himself from any sitting of parliament, ignoring the direction of the party that nominated him.

What does it actually mean? We know in the parliamentary democracy, parliament is the repository of the state and of course the place where open debate takes place so that

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

different opinions come from the members of parliament.

They have right to oppose any bill which may not serve the peoples’ interest. They have the right to abstain from voting if they desire. However, if they fail to comply with the requirement of Article 70(1) of the constitution, their memberships will be vacant. Where is the freedom of expression of members of parliament here?

In our parliament, we have seen every government bill has been passed somewhat hurriedly no matter how much democratic or unfair it was for the reason that Article 70

does not allow dissenting voice against any bill placed in the parliament to pass or amend. Moreover, Article 55 of the constitution enshrined that the cabinet shall be collectively responsible to the parliament. This provision of collective responsibility has been meaningless because of Article 70 as the cabinet knows that it is not going to be defeated by motion of no-confidence, for no member of the majority party has the right to vote against the party line.

However, one of the strategic advantages of Article 70 is the stability of a particular parliament for the reason that no

one can change or leave the political party by which he or she is nominated.

It is worthwhile to mention here that, Article 7(2) and 26 of the constitution of Bangladesh impose certain limitation on parliament in making laws. According to these Articles, no law which is inconsistent with any provision of the constitution can be enacted. Article 7(2) confirms that if any other law is inconsistent with the constitution that other law shall, to the extent of the consistency, be void. As a matter of fact, we have seen that within the constitutions, Article 70 is inconsistent with the two basic principles of the constitution, ie freedom of expression and democracy.

As far as the constitutional experts are concerned, this Article has been inserted in the constitution in 1972 because of some bad experiences in this subcontinent. But the way it has been used since 1972 which is certainly not the goal of our original constitution. To maintain and establish the basic democratic fabric and of course freedom of thought and conscience, this Article should be amended in such a way that the members of parliament have the right to oppose/ support or abstain from voting any bill brought before the parliament.

Ideally, the parliament should be a place, in Tagore’s words, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free, where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls, where words come out from the depth of truth, where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection, where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit, where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action.” We hope that our parliament will soon consider amending this provision of the constitution. l Md Ariful Islam is a postgraduate student of International Relations,

8 Former US soldier guilty of rape found hanged n Agencies A former US Army soldier, sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2006 rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her parents and sister, has been found hanged in his cell.

The Los Angeles Times report, quoting prison officials, said the death of Steven Dale Green was being investigated as suicide. Green had been found hanging in his Arizona cell last week, according to the Timesreport, which was published on Tuesday. Green, 28, was convicted in 2009 of the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the deaths of her father, mother and six-year-old sister in Mahmudiya, 32km south of Baghdad.

He was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole, after a federal jury in Kentucky could not decide whether he should be executed.

During the trial, prosecutors portrayed him as the ringleader of a gang of five soldiers that plotted to invade the home of the family of four to rape the girl, and later bragged about the crime.

Green, who was 19 when he committed the crime, was described as the triggerman in the group of soldiers, who donned black “ninja” outfits and raped the girl before killing her and her family.

Three of the four other soldiers pleaded guilty in the attack and the fourth was convicted, all in military courts. They received sentences ranging from five to 100 years. Green was tried as a civilian because he was arrested after he was discharged from the army. He was described by prosecutors as predisposed to killing Iraqis.

While his defence lawyers acknowledged that he took part in the killings, they argued he was suffering combat stress after the death of close colleagues and should be spared the death penalty. l

Man jailed for stabbing Russia diplomat, wife in Khartoum n AFP, Khartoum A man from the Central African Republic who stabbed a Russian diplomat and his wife in Khartoum has been jailed for three years, Russia’s embassy in Sudan said on Wednesday.

The couple were attacked just outside their Khartoum diplomatic mission on January 28, in a rare example of violence against foreigners in Sudan.

Police said the attacker, grieving the death of his brother in the Central African Republic which borders Sudan, asked the Russians if they were French and then knifed them.

Thousands of African and French troops have been deployed in Central African Republic on a mission to halt sectarian killings.

“Three years,” Russian embassy charge d’affaires Yury Vidakas told AFP, confirming the verdict as reported by state-linked Sudanese media.

Asked about the health of the victims, he said: “They are OK.” l

Italy PM-designate takes a battering in poll n AFP, Rome Italy’s prime minister-designate Matteo Renzi has taken a battering in opinion polls even before he takes office, with many unhappy about his grab for power.

Sixty-five percent described Renzi’s abrupt ousting of Enrico Letta at the helm of the leftist Democratic Party as a “blow to democracy,” according to a poll published Wednesday in La Stampa daily.

Only 26 percent of the 509 people questioned said it was a “normal” change in government, the poll conducted by the Institut Piepoli found.

Renzi, 39, is currently in talks to try to form a new coalition government after being nominated prime minister designate on Monday.

The current mayor of Florence, who will become the European Union’s youngest prime minister when he formally takes office, has pledged rapid reforms to get the eurozone’s third largest economy moving again.

But the poll found that 49 percent had “little or no confidence” in a Renzi government, against 46 percent who were “quite or very” confident.

Renzi’s coalition negotiations are set to wrap up on Thursday and he is expected then to submit his cabinet lineup to President Giorgio Napolitano before the government is sworn in and voted into office by parliament. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

British court quashes legal challenge by partner of Snowden leaks reporter n

Ukraine leader denounces coup bid, West weighs sanctions n Reuters, Kiev

Reuters, London

Britain’s High Court has quashed a legal challenge against the detention under anti-terrorism laws of the partner of Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who brought leaks from former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden to world attention.

David Miranda had appealed against his detention and nine-hour questioning under anti-terrorism legislation last August when he landed at London’s Heathrow Airport en route from Berlin to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

British authorities seized items from Miranda which they said included electronic media containing 58,000 documents from the US National Security Agency, Snowden’s former employer, and from its British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

The High Court ruled on Wednesday that the detention of the partner of the ex-Guardian newspaper reporter was lawful. “In my judgment the Schedule 7 (of the Terrorism Act) stop was a proportionate measure in the circumstances,” said Judge John Laws.

“Its objective was not only legitimate, but very pressing.”

The ruling also criticized Greenwald’s evidence that journalists share

David Miranda with government the responsibility to decide what should not be published to protect national security.

“Journalists have no such constitutional responsibility,” the ruling said.

“The journalist will have his own take or focus on what serves the public interest, for which he is not answerable to the public through Parliament.”

Miranda’s lawyers said they had applied for permission to appeal against the decision and that journalists were now finding alternative ways

Thursday, February 20, 2014

AFP

to protect material when travelling through Britain.

“We look forward to the Court of Appeal considering the fundamentally important legal issues raised in our appeal in due course,” said Gwendolen Morgan.

“Whilst the courts consider our appeal, we understand that journalists are making alternative travel plans to safeguard their material, sources and confidential working systems when they have to travel via the UK.” l

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich accused pro-European opposition leaders on Wednesday of trying to seize power by force after at least 26 people died in the worst violence since the former Soviet republic gained independence.

European Union leaders said they were urgently preparing targeted sanctions against those responsible for a crackdown on protesters who have been occupying central Kiev for almost three months since Yanukovich spurned a far-reaching trade deal with the EU and accepted a $15-billion Russian bailout.

The sprawling nation of 46 million people with an ailing economy and endemic corruption has become the object of a geopolitical tug-of-war between Moscow and the West. That was played out in hand-to-hand fighting through the night, lit by blazing barricades on Kiev’s Independence Square, or Maidan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman insisted the Kremlin was sticking to a policy of not intervening in Ukraine, although his point man has called for action to crush the protests.

The Kremlin said Putin and Yanukovich spoke by telephone overnight, calling the events an attempted coup.

Moscow announced the resumption of stalled aid to Kiev on Monday with a $2-million cash injection hours before the crackdown began.

After a night of petrol bombs and gunfire on Independence Square, black smoke billowed from a burned out trade union building that protest organizers had used as a headquarters.

Security forces occupied about a third of the square - the part which lies closes to government offices and parliament - with protesters pouring in to reinforce their defences on the remainder of a plaza they have dubbed “Euro-Maidan.”

In a statement posted online in the early hours, Yanukovich said he had refrained from using force since unrest began but was being pressed by “advisers” to take a harder line.

“Without any mandate from the people, illegally and in breach of the constitution of Ukraine, these politicians - if I may use that term - have resorted to pogroms, arson and murder to try to seize power,” the president said.

He declared Thursday a day of mourning for the dead.

A senior opposition leader, world champion boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko, walked out of a meeting with Yanukovich during the night, saying he could not negotiate while blood was being spilt. l

Colombia fires army chief over scandal n Agencies Colombia’s president has dismissed the country’s head of armed forces after he verbally maligned prosecutors and suggested action be taken against them in audio recordings obtained a local news magazine. General Leonardo Barrero’s phone conversation with a colonel, who was imprisoned over possible links to extrajudicial killings, was recorded by prosecutors investigating corruption by senior officers in allegedly inflated military contracts, the Semana news magazine reported. Barrero said such prosecutions were “a bunch of crap’’ and suggested that he and others “organise a mafia’’ to discredit the officials involved. President Juan Manuel Santos made it clear that Barrero was being fired for ‘disrespectful remarks’ and not for corruption, although four generals were forcibly retired on Tuesday in

connection with the contracts scandal.

Semana said hundreds of hours of audio recordings in its possession showed that senior military officers received kickbacks of up to 50 percent on deals, Reuters news agency reported.

In a statement on Tuesday, Barrero said: “After 39 years wearing the camouflage uniform with pride, serving the country, the Military Forces, and especially, the National Army, I leave with the tranquility and satisfaction of having acted according to the principles and values that govern military life.”

Santos’ defence minister later announced that General Juan Pablo Rodriguez would replace Barrero. The corruption investigation that Semana reported on grew out of an investigation into extrajudicial killings, Jorge Perdomo, the number two official in the chief prosecutor’s office, said on Monday, AP news agency reported. l

Leopoldo Lopez

AFP

S Africa arrests Pakistani Venezuela protest leader man after shooting surrenders to police n AFP, Cullinan

Police said Wednesday they had arrested a Pakistani man accused of opening fire on a crowd of protesters in a South African town east of Pretoria and injuring several people.

Township residents hurled rocks and barricaded roads protesting the murder of a boy allegedly beaten to death with a golf club by a Pakistani shop owner.

“The boy was assaulted by one of the Pakistanis allegedly because he was stealing sweets,” said the police.

“He died in hospital yesterday.”

Residents went on the rampage overnight, ransacking around 15 for-

eign-owned shops, according to police.

“One Pakistani guy was trying to get out of the protest area, and he was firing shots towards the protesters,” police spokeswoman Marissa van der Merwe told AFP. The suspect was arrested. Police said both South Africans and Pakistanis had been wounded in the clashes, but did not give specific numbers.

With poverty rife and unemployment and widespread, frustration in South Africa’s run-down neighbourhoods often boils over into anti-immigrant violence. An explosion of deadly attacks in 2008 killed more than 60 people and displaced thousands into refugee-style camps. l

n Agencies Venezuelan security forces have arrested Leopoldo Lopez, an anti-government protest leader, on charges of fomenting unrest that has killed at least four people.

On Tuesday tens of thousands of protesters stood in the way of the vehicle carrying Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, after he made a defiant speech, bid farewell to his family, and gave himself up to soldiers. The vehicle eventually reached a military base.

Opposition leaders hope Lopez’s arrest will galvanise street demonstra-

tions against President Nicolas Maduro, though there is no immediate sign the protests will remove him.

The threat of more violence hung over Tuesday’s demonstration as Maduro, 51, led a rival march to denounce what he calls a “fascist” plot to overthrow him.

But Lopez’s repeated appeals for restraint, a strong police presence and heavy rain appeared to calm emotions and there were no reports of major violence.

“I am handing myself over to an unfair justice system,” Lopez told supporters, standing on a platform next to a statue of Cuban poet and independence hero Jose Marti. “May my imprisonment serve to wake the people up.”

The crowd lifted Lopez’s wife up to give him a final embrace and hang a crucifix around his neck.

Minutes later, he surrendered to military officers, pumping his fist and then stepping into the military vehicle with a Venezuelan flag in one hand and a white flower in the other. Supporters gathered at the La Carlota airbase where he was taken, but later dispersed.

Elsewhere in Caracas, thousands of oil workers and Maduro supporters, clad in the red of the ruling Socialist Party, held their own demonstration.

In his speech, Maduro said he had sent Diosdado Cabello, vice president of the Socialist Party, to help transport Lopez. l

Twin suicide bombings target Iran centre in Beirut

Iran blames Israeli ‘agents’ for bombings

n AFP, Beirut

n AFP, Tehran

A double suicide car bombing targeted an Iranian cultural centre in Beirut on Wednesday, killing at least four people in the latest attack linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

The attack was quickly claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a jihadist group inspired by Al-Qaeda which previously claimed a double suicide bombing aimed at Iran’s embassy in Beirut.

Jihadists have carried out a string of attacks in Lebanon targeting both Iran and the Shia Hezbollah movement, which provide vital support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as it battles a Sunni-led rebellion.

Lebanon’s army confirmed the attack

was a double suicide car bombing, and Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said four people were killed and 103 wounded.

The explosions sent a large plume of smoke over the area and caused widespread damage.

Emergency teams carried wounded people away from a charred street strewn with rubble, as local residents armed with fire extinguishers helped firefighters put out blazes.

The arms of a wounded man hung limply off the sides of a yellow stretcher as he was carried from the scene.

“I was driving my car with my wife to the university when we were hit by the force of the blast and I found pieces of human flesh on my face,” Yousef al-Tawil, a professor at the Lebanese

University, told AFP. Dozens of children at a nearby orphanage witnessed the explosion, with some sustaining cuts and crying, bewildered in the chaotic aftermath.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an Al-Qaeda-inspired group, claimed the “double martyrdom operation” on its Twitter account and pledged to continue its attacks against Iran and “its party” – a reference to Hezbollah.

“We will continue... to target Iran and its party in Lebanon, in its security and political and military centres, until our demands are achieved,” the group said.

“First: that the Party of Iran withdraws its forces from Syria. Second, that our prisoners are released from Lebanese prisons.” l

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned a double suicide car bombing near an Iranian cultural centre in Beirut, blaming Israeli “agents” for the attack that left four people dead.

“There is no doubt that perpetrators of this terrorist act are the enemies of stability, security and unity of Lebanon,” ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency. “(They) are agents of the Zionist (Israeli) regime who have been frustrated by the formation of a new government that includes all parties and tribes in Lebanon,” she added.

Lebanese Prime Minister Tam-

mam Salam on Saturday unveiled a compromise government, capping 10 months of political wrangling during which the war in Syria exacerbated sectarian tensions.

Lebanon’s Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said four people were killed in Wednesday’s bombings that also wounded at least 100 others.

IRNA earlier reported that the blast took place near its office in Beirut, as well as that of the state broadcaster IRIB. The Beirut attack – linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria whose regime is fiercely supported by Tehran – was quickly claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a jihadist group inspired by Al-Qaeda. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

International

Indian court sentences three India creates new state to death for fatal gang-rape despite protests n Reuters

India’s lower house of parliament has passed a decree to create the country’s 29th state amid chaotic scenes and uproar in from opponents of the bill.

MPs on Tuesday passed the proposal to split Andhra Pradesh and create Telanganam, despite protests from Andhra Pradesh politicians who are against the plan.

Politicians from Andhra Pradesh’s prosperous coastal region have repeatedly protested in parliament over the division, with one legislator even firing pepper spray last week.

The Speaker adjourned the House three times after disruptions on Tuesday, and the parliamentary proceedings were not telecast live.

“This is a black day in the history of this country and we’re declaring a

Activists hold posters during a rally as they protest against the gangrape and murder of a teenager

n AFP, New Delhi An Indian court on Wednesday sentenced three men to death for abducting and raping a 19-year-old woman whose mutilated body was found days later, reports said. The court in New Delhi said the three men, all aged in their 20s, should receive the harshest sentence for the 2012 attack because their crimes fell into the “rarest of rare” category under Indian law. “Death to all three,” presiding judge Virender Bhat was quoted by the Press Trust of

India (PTI) news agency as saying.

The father of the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, welcomed the judgement, saying he has been so consumed with fighting for justice for his daughter that he has been unable to hold down a job. “I fought a lone battle for two years, and it has paid off,” the father, 45, who was in court to hear the sentences, told AFP. The government toughened laws on sexual violence against women in March last year, following outrage at the fatal gang-rape of a student on a

AFP

Delhi bus in December 2012.

Four adults were sentenced to death last year over that attack, a crime that sparked seething anger about the treatment of women in India.

The new laws allow for the death penalty in cases where a rape victim dies from the attack or is left in a vegetative state. The woman, who worked as an assistant with a private company in the megacity of Gurgaon on Delhi’s outskirts, was dragged into a car near her home in February 2012 before being gang-raped, PTI said. l

Taliban says ready for ceasefire if Pakistan stops killings n

AFP, Miranshah

Taliban insurgents offered Wednesday to observe a ceasefire to allow the resumption of stalled peace talks, provided Pakistani security forces stop killing and arresting them.

Government mediators suspended negotiations on Monday just weeks after they were announced following weekend claims by a Taliban faction that it killed 23 kidnapped soldiers.

The mediators set a ceasefire as a precondition for another round of talks. A total of 70 people have been killed since the reconciliation effort was launched on January 29.

“We are ready for the ceasefire if

the government assures us that bodies of our colleagues will not be found in gunny bags and they will not be killed in encounters and arrested in raids,” Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP. “The government has killed more than 60 Taliban since the start of the peace talks, in Karachi and the rest of Pakistan, under a secret operation codenamed Operation Root Out,” Shahid said.

“The killings of soldiers in Mohmand were in response to the onslaught on Taliban members by security forces during the talks between government and Taliban committees,” he added.

A faction of the insurgent group in Mohmand near the Afghan border announced on Sunday they had executed 23 soldiers who were kidnapped in June 2010.

The Taliban’s demands include the nationwide imposition of sharia law, an end to US drone strikes and the withdrawal of the army from northwestern tribal regions – conditions unlikely to be met.

Pakistani troops have for years been battling homegrown insurgents in the tribal belt, which Washington considers the main hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan. l

bandh (shutdown) tomorrow in the state of Andhra Pradesh in protest,” said Jagan Mohan Reddy, a lawmaker from coastal Andhra Pradesh.

The decision to break up the southern state was made ahead of national elections due by May. Telangana will be country’s 29th state with 17 parliamentary seats.

The state capital Hyderabad, a major hub of tech companies, will remain the common capital for the two states for a period of 10 years. Such was the mood on Tuesday that roads leading up to parliament in the heart of Delhi were blocked and paramilitary troopers deployed. In Telangana, supporters celebrated on the streets on hearing the news.

The bill will go forward to the less-powerful upper house of parliament, whose members are expected to back the lower house’s decision. l

Rajiv Gandhi killers set to go free from prison n AFP, New Delhi The chief minister of an Indian state Wednesday ordered the release of all seven people jailed for plotting the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, meaning they could walk free in days.

J Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, announced the decision one day after the country’s top court lifted the death sentences on three of those convicted over Gandhi’s killing in a 1991 suicide bomb attack.

“Considering that they have spent over 23 years in prison, the cabinet decided to immediately release Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan under the powers vested with the state government,” Jayalalithaa said, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, after a cabinet meeting.

Jayalalithaa said she would also release four others including a woman who are serving life sentences for their roles in the murder. Gandhi was killed by a female Tamil suicide bomber in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. l

Thai court warns against using emergency powers n Reuters, Bangkok A Thai court endorsed on Wednesday Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s declaration of a state of emergency, a day after five people were killed in gunbattles in Bangkok, but warned the government not to use it to disperse peaceful protesters.

The country’s police chief said the court ruling would not affect the security operation, but added that there were no plans to retake more protest sites after Tuesday’s “Peace for Bangkok Mission” saw the deadliest clashes since anti-government demonstrations began in November.

Yingluck, seen by opponents as a proxy for her brother, ousted former

9

Thursday, February 20, 2014

premier Thaksin Shinawatra, has been working from a Defence Ministry compound in north Bangkok since the protests forced her to vacate her Government House offices.

Protesters who want to drive her from office and eradicate Thaksin’s influence surrounded the building on Wednesday, but there were no clashes with troops standing guard and Yingluck and other ministers stayed away.

The Civil Court in Bangkok dismissed a case brought by protest leaders who wanted a 60-day state of emergency announced last month declared illegal, but added that the government was “not allowed to use clauses in the state of emergency to disperse the protests.” l

Leopard kills boy in second attack in India n Agencies A leopard has killed a five-year-old boy in central India in what is thought to be the beast’s second such deadly attack, police have said.

The animal attacked the boy on Monday evening while he was going to the toilet in the courtyard of his home in Mendrapara village in Chhattisgarh state, said senior district police officer Vijay Pandey on Wednesday.

His family raised the alarm after seeing the animal drag the boy away, sparking a search by villagers who discovered the body, Pandey told AFP news agency.

He said the same beast killed a 10-year-old boy last December near Ram Tekri village in the same area, and is also believed to have attacked livestock.

“The forest department has already launched a massive haunt to capture the leopard,” he said.

The area where the attacks occurred is close to the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, home to some 12 tigers as well as leopards.

About a third of Chhattisgarh is forested, but destruction of native habitat and encroaching villages result in increasing contact between wild animals and humans.

India’s leopard population was put at 1,150 in a census in 2011. But conservationists have warned it is at risk as a result of rampant poaching for leopard skins. l

Singapore teacher jailed for ‘love bites’ on boy n AFP, Singapore A Singapore court Wednesday jailed a 42-year-old female teacher for six months for committing indecent acts on a 13-year-old boy studying in the same school, including giving him “love bites.” The woman, a teacher for 11 years and a mother of four, had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual exploitation of a child or young person under Singapore’s Children and Young Persons Act. According to court documents, the woman, who cannot be named as it could lead to the identification of the victim, kissed the boy on his lips and given him love bites on his shoulder and neck on two separate occasions in 2012.

She became acquainted with the boy, a football team-mate of her son, and started to chat with him on Facebook, subsequently committing the incriminating acts when they went on outings to public parks.

The boy’s mother filed a police report after discovering a love bite on his neck. l

NHK vows impartiality after sex slave row

China says it will win West over to its view on Tibet, Xinjiang

Australian Christian missionary arrested in North Korea

n AFP, Tokyo

n Reuters, Beijing

An Australian man has been arrested while doing missionary work in North Korea, his wife told Reuters on Wednesday, making him the second foreign Christian missionary to be held by the North.

The wife of 75-year-old John Short told Reuters her husband was arrested in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Sunday and had been open about his religious work on his second trip to the isolated country.

“He won’t be intimidated by the communists,” Karen Short told Reuters from Hong Kong by telephone.

North Korea has held American missionary Kenneth Bae for more than a year and convicted him of trying to overthrow the state. A North Korean court sentenced Bae to 15 years’ hard labor and efforts by Washington to secure his release have been thwarted.

“I’m not upset, we’re Christian missionaries and we have tremendous support for what we do,” Short’s wife said of her husband’s arrest.

While North Korea espouses freedom of religion it is ranked as one of the world’s most oppressive regimes in terms of freedom of religion. A United Nations report issued on Tuesday cited lack of religious freedom in a state whose human rights abuses it likened to those of Nazi Germany.

Short was making his second trip to North Korea, according to a statement by his family, and was in possession of religious materials that had been translated into Korean. Australia, which does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, is using its embassy in Seoul, and the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, to handle the case. l

The embattled head of Japan’s public broadcaster NHK insisted Wednesday it would remain impartial, after his controversial remarks about wartime sex slavery reportedly jeopardised an interview with US ambassador Caroline Kennedy. Katsuto Momii has been under fire after saying last month that the Japanese Imperial Army’s system of forcing of women into military brothels during World War II was “common in any country at war.” The issue is a particularly sensitive one for China and South Korea, which both suffered from Tokyo’s brutal expansionism.

“The most important thing is that all NHK staff strictly adhere to the princi-

ples of freedom of expression, political neutrality and fairness,” Momii told lawmakers who were mulling NHK’s annual budget. “That I offered personal views at my inaugural press conference was inappropriate, and I will be more cautious in the future.” Momii has apologised for his statement.

But he has refused to quit or retract his remarks, stoking questions over the integrity of the organisation – amid wider concerns about the political views of Japan’s conservative government. A national Japanese journalists’ association and rights groups, as well as thousands of NHK viewers, have demanded Momii’s resignation, as Tokyo distances itself from the remarks, saying they were “comments made as individual.” l

Tokyo prosecutors raid Novartis Japan n Reuters, Zurich Prosecutors in Tokyo raided offices of Swiss drugmaker Novartis on Wednesday as part of an investigation into alleged use of manipulated data to promote its best-selling blood pressure drug Diovan. Japan’s health ministry filed a criminal complaint against Novartis’s local unit in January, saying it may have violated the law when it cited studies based on allegedly manipulated data in advertising.

Novartis said at the time that it had implemented corrective measures.

In a brief statement on Wednesday, it confirmed the Tokyo prosecutor’s office was conducting an on-site investigation at its offices in the country and said it would cooperate fully.

Anyone found guilty of exaggerated advertising of drugs in Japan can be punished with up to two years in prison or a fine of as much as two million yen (11,459.08 pounds), or both. Several Japanese hospitals have stopped offering Diovan after two universities retracted papers printed in foreign medical journals on the drug’s effectiveness in preventing strokes and heart disease. l

China has “time on its side” to win over Western opinion to its point of view on the restive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, a senior official wrote on Wednesday, vowing with unusually strong language to ignore foreign pressure on human rights.

Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the top advisory body to parliament, acknowledged this would be a difficult task but said dissenting voices were beginning to be heard in the West.

“As China becomes more involved in international affairs, and as Tibet and Xinjiang further open to the world, more and more Westerners will have an understanding of Tibet and Xinjiang that better accords with reality,” Zhu wrote in a lengthy article on the government-run website Tibet.cn.

Tibet and Xinjiang are two of China’s most sensitive areas when it

comes to foreign criticism of its human rights record. Tibet in particular is an emotive issue in the West, attracting high-profile support from politicians and celebrities.

Zhu said the West would finally “see the real face of the Dalai clique and

‘East Turkestan’,” referring to exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the militant forces China says operate in Xinjiang.

Zhu said such views in the West was still “weak and isolated” but they represented “the trend of history.” l

Aide to China’s former security chief ousted n AFP, Beijing China has placed a former close aide to the country’s ex-chief of internal security Zhou Yongkang under investigation, authorities said, heightening speculation that the net is tightening around his former patron.

Ji Wenlin, a vice governor of the southern island of Hainan, is being investigated for “suspected severe violations of disciplines and laws,” the Central Commission for Discipline In-

spection (CCDI) – the party’s internal graft watchdog – said in a one-sentence announcement on its website Tuesday.

The phrase is usually an indication of alleged corruption.

Ji, 47, was a secretary and close aide to Zhou when he was land resources minister and then party chief of Sichuan province in the southwest in 19982002, according to multiple Chinese media reports.

It is the latest sign of moves against Zhou, who amassed huge power during

his time as China’s security chief but retired from his position as a member of the Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) in late 2012.

So far 21 officials at vice-ministerial level or above have fallen since the once-in-a-decade power transition that anointed Xi Jinping as the party’s general secretary.

Among the 21, at least six are believed to have been proteges of Zhou. l

n Reuters, Seoul

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Letters to

www.dhakatribune.com

Stop subsidising electricity

the Editor

LETTER OF THE DAY

One billion rising

T

he Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission has received proposals from electricity distribution companies to increase retail tariffs for electricity by between 8.58% and 19.5% per kilowatt-hour.

As the last price change was 18 months ago, price rises are clearly necessary. However, we believe that it is also overdue to revaluate the entire structure for energy prices and subsidies.

The present policy of providing direct subsidies for fossil fuels and electricity is simply not sustainable, either economically or environmentally.

In a study last year, the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies estimated that the true cost of energy subsidies exceeded BDT 148.9 billion (US $1.7 billion) in 2012, when the low-interest rate loans that the government provides to the Power Development Board and BPC are taken into account. This was almost double the amount allocated that year in direct expenditure on energy subsidies.

The budget for the current 2013-14 financial year is BDT 155 billion (US $1.9 billion) for direct, on-budget energy subsidies alone, which BIDS estimates to be six times the figure in 2010.

Clearly, with volatile international oil prices and growing demand for coal, it can only become even more difficult for the government to sustain the current approach to energy subsidies.

The regulator must lead the way in developing a more rational approach to energy prices.

Subsidies not only use up vital funds, but encourage scarce non-renewable resources to be wasted. With most electricity generated via fossil fuels, subsidies only increase emissions and artificially discourage investment in solar and biogas.

Removing subsidies and requiring consumers to pay for the true costs of power is the best way forward to both mitigate waste and help the power sector to become more efficient.

The present policy of subsidies is not sustainable, either economically or environmentally

A step towards meeting international standards

A

Thursday, February 20, 2014

fter five years, Bangladesh has been taken off the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list of countries which need to improve their enforcement of laws on money laundering activities.

The steps taken by the government to enact and improve monitoring of financial activities under the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2009 and Anti-Terrorism Act 2009 have been duly recognised.

It is good news that the country’s regulatory framework for detection and apprehension of such illegal activities is now seen as compliant.

Bangladesh is doing better than many countries of the world – with nine major countries, including Turkey and Indonesia still on the grey list – in taking positive steps against money laundering and terrorism financing.

As a result, our export volume is likely to rise as international trade costs will be lowered, because the level of charges made by foreign banks to facilitate transactions will fall.

It remains important to keep improving implementation of laws to help smooth the flow of business and monetary transactions. This calls for vigilance and objective reviews of anti-money laundering procedures at regular intervals. To this end, the financial intelligence unit set up at Bangladesh Bank and the national task force have a vital role to play.

We must not become complacent. The economy will be ill served if Bangladesh finds its way back on the grey list, should it fail to execute and implement important anti-money laundering laws in time.

February 17 According to UN human rights reports, one in three women worldwide are raped or physically tortured during their lifetime, which accounts for nearly a billion women. To raise awareness and end violence against women, many programs are implemented every February 14, including seminars, public gatherings, rallies, and leaflet distributions. According to police reports, around 200 million women were tortured and murdered between 2011 and June 2012.

I had an opportunity to work for women’s empowerment a couple of years ago. Women could teach for a year in rural secondary schools through our project, PROMTE, and after completing a year, they were sent to Teachers Training Colleges to get their BEd degree. After completing the degree, they were capable of getting teaching jobs in rural secondary schools. Nearly 3,000 women got teaching positions in rural schools. Math and Science teachers were preferred.

I would like to request to have more projects like PROMTE for women’s empowerment, and to raise their dignity in our families, society and in the state.

Md. Tofazzel Hossain

‘Earliest possible’ election on people’s minds February 13

Shamsul Muktadir It is obscene to conduct an opinion poll on the justification of a murder. Democracy was murdered on January 5. An illegal act does not become legal or acceptable on the basis of an opinion poll.

One To me, a pretty shocking revelation of this public opinion poll is how a high percentage (42%) expressed themselves to be “satisfied/ very satisfied” with the January 5 election.

How incredible is that? That’s on par with the number of respondents saying they were “very dissatisfied” with the 5/11 poll. As for me, I’m very dissatisfied/expect a new election as soon as possible. I also lean toward the “all-party” formula for holding an election, reject blockade/wanton violence, but also reject the AL demand for BNP severing ties to Jamaat as a condition for dialogue.

Setting a dangerous standard

February 12 Hehehe! Amusing article. You haven’t written anything we don’t know! But it was nice to read such a beautiful summary of the whole mess.

Muhammad Eusha

Sagar-Runi murder: Journos call hunger strike

February 12 All murders are awful! Especially that of good and valuable public persons who are important to the country, like Sagar, Runi, SAMS Kibria, etc. And the proverbial long arm of justice can’t reach the culprits for years, altogether.

It speaks not only of the inefficiency of state functionaries, but smacks of a deep-rooted conspiracy as well. The government ought to attach utmost attention to resolving such murder cases with due urgency and bring the offenders to justice at the soonest, so that their claim to good governance doesn’t sound hollow and become mere rhetoric! :( WaliulHaqueKhondker

Ashraf: Next national election in 2019

February 13 This cavalier attitude of the AL regime seems to have all but become official policy. It should only convince countless average Bangladeshis (supporters of BNP, or not) that the only way to unseat this illegitimate, increasingly egotistical regime is not through appeals to reason, morality, justice or compromise, but through a resolute and sustained campaign of political and public resistance. The BNP chairperson couldn’t be more correct in saying that her party’s appeals for dialogue are certainly not open-ended or indefinite. Indeed, I’m actually inclined to agree with those who are starting to say that the search for dialogue with this regime is futile and is better soon ditched altogether.

Ronnie

Ershad: ‘Better if Jatiya Party did not take part in cabinet’ February 15

Nazmul Khair Nothing to say about him. Ershad can’t ever keep his word. So I can’t ever believe what he has to say.

SA If one really thinks about it, it is rather sad that Ershad has become such a laughing-stock and a sort of nonentity in Bangladeshi politics.

Then again, not much more so than some other politicians.

Bangladesh in al-Qaeda’s cross-hairs?

February 16 Can be baseless or 100% genuine, but the fact is that Hefazat and Jamaat have the same ideology and speak the same nonsense, exactly to create a distorted picture of Islam and divide the people of a secular Bangladesh!

Vikram Khan

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CALVIN AND HOBBES

It is good news that efforts to tackle money laundering framework have been recognised

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU ACROSS 1 Authoritative decree (4) 5 Mistake (5) 9 Admit to holy orders (6) 10 Copy (3) 11 Quantity of paper (4) 12 Large volumes (5) 14 Icy cold (5) 16 Playing cards suit (4) 19 Identical (4) 21 Foot lever (5) 24 Trembling poplar (5) 27 Lose colour (4) 29 Prosecute (3) 30 Vestiges (6) 31 Hidden obstacles (5) 32 Torn (4)

DOWN 1 Golfer’s warning (4) 2 Anger (3) 3 Proverbs (6) 4 Docile (4) 5 Tempted (7) 6 Force (3) 7 Open (poet) (3) 8 Reposes (5) 13 Lyric poem (3) 15 Mourns (7) 17 Comfort in distress (6) 18 School group (5) 20 Monkey (3) 22 Far away (4) 23 Finest quality (4) 25 Heavenly body (3) 26 Vegetable (3) 28 Lion’s abode (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

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Who loves social media? n Peter Ramage

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Mamun Rashid is a business professor and financial sector entrepreneur.

ections of the media have been reeling recently with the revelations that Ukrainian authorities have been using technology to identify noncompliant citizens in the riots in Kiev.

A text message has been sent to people whose phones could be located near clashes between protestors and riot police. It read: “Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.” Much has been made of the Orwellian overtones of this message. However, the most worrying thing about this development is that, at worst, it represents the next step in a long history of repressive regimes mobilising developing technologies to quash dissent.

The use of “advanced” technology to suppress dissent can be seen as far back as Britain’s Licensing of the Press Act of 1662, specifically targeted at “frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Books and Pamphlets” or German Volksempfänger radios, designed only to receive those messages pre-approved

by Goebbels.

However, since the widespread adoption of the internet, and more recently the smartphone, repressive authorities have increasingly had the means not just to control the message, but to stymie any activists trying to promote one.

One striking example of how far this power has come occurred following the 2009 election in Iran. Protests erupted after opposition leaders such as Mir Hossein Mousavi claimed that the contest had been rigged. At the time, many reports focused on protestors’ use of Twitter and Facebook to organise demonstrations.

Despite its highly visible role, it seems likely that the role of Twitter, at least, was overstated in this context. During the demonstrations foreign media was starved of traditional sources, and so it was through this new technological lens that the West gained much of its insight.

The visibility of Twitter in the media led to an overstatement of its role in a country of over 70 million, where less than 20,000 were registered on Twitter.

However, paralleling its ability to support protestors, this new suite of technology also has the ability to undermine movements for dissent.

While the Iranian government tried to fight the new technology with the blunt instrument seen so often since – a wholesale internet shutdown – they also engaged digital capabilities for their own ends.

Social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, while creating a platform for activists to mobilise, also offer unmatched opportunities for open-source intelligence gathering.

The regime could easily map out the structure of activist groups by following the patterns of friends and likes, follows and re-tweets.

This was a process which might have taken months using more traditional means. Moreover, the

Bangladesh and India have several border management instruments like Joint Working Group on Border, meetings of BDR-BSF high level officials twice a year, and government level discussions. When any unrest occurs in the border regions, especially between the non-civilians, flag meetings are often held between BGB and BSF.

river water, a ratification of the land boundary agreement, and an end to the killings of Bangladeshi nationals at the border.

We may also look at the Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) Overview of Human Rights Violations in 2013 – Bangladesh.

Since January, 26 people were killed by the BSF – 12 were shot, 14 were tortured to death. 84 people were in-

Can the sinking banks be saved?

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The curse of cronyism

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n Mamun Rashid gentleman came down all the way from the World Bank, Washington DC, to discuss and determine the possible intervention points in state-owned banks following the Hall-Mark debacle. He had all the sincere interest to streamline Bangladeshi banking, especially the stateowned banks.

I thought, even if the government had placed the best economists, civil bureaucrats, businessmen, or politicians as directors or chairmen, the state-owned banks couldn’t be fixed.

It is a structural issue. We need to hit hard at the way state-owned banks run their risk management, process and produce information or data, manage profitability or distribution channels, and more importantly, recruit and promote people. The good part was that we both agreed that the best intervention point would be IT capacity-building in state-owned banks.

Bangladesh has too many stateowned banks. However, their market share, as well as efficacy, is shrinking.

More private sector commercial banks are eating into the country’s banking space. Even after 42 years of independence, much intervention by development partners, state-owned commercial and development banks are synonymous with inefficiency, corruption, large classified loans, low profitability, poor risk management, inefficient human resources, inept delivery platforms, and failure to ensure banking services to the common people.

The Ministry of Finance is being forced to divert hard-earned tax money to pay for the inefficiency and corruption in these state-owned banks.

These days, none of the good borrowers with good business intentions go to state-owned commercial banks.

State-owned development banks have hitherto been used to attend to the delinquent but populist approach of subsequent governments. Their interest rates were lowered to ensure money flowing to the hungry streams of the economy and priority sectors.

These banks never went for optimum capacity modeling, hence remained burdened with excessive, inefficient, and corrupt manpower. None of them could play the desired role for financial inclusion, or for bringing banking services to the poor. They kept on bleeding with large non-performing loans and thereby negative net worth.

their due roles. They were forced into political cracks.

It was a tough situation here. Suggestions of corporatisation or privatisation of the select few state-owned banks would have been treated as almost anti-state by many within the policy-planning architecture. We kept mum and the national balance sheet kept on bleeding for the misdeeds of these state-owned banks. Development aid was forced into this space, depriving other priorities.

Financial sector reform almost failed to streamline the state-owned banks. The World Bank wanted to

State-owned commercial and development banks are synonymous with inefficiency, corruption, and failure to ensure services to the common people

Bangladesh Bank kept on refinancing them due to their low internal cash generation or asset and liability mismatches. The Ministry of Finance was forced to recapitalise them at frequent intervals through budgetary allocations or one-time block allocations.

Ever since independence, subsequent political rulers wanted to earn popularity by waiving agricultural loans, or granting favours to their political loyalists through disbursement of industrial loans. This did not help our agriculture or industrialisation.

On the contrary, it did help the unpopular government or corrupt members of parliament to stay in power at the cost of the national exchequer. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) or NGOs were never granted enough leeway by the governments to play

help in bringing in minimum possible efficiency in the major state-owned banks, recapitalise them, corporatise them, maybe help them take the capital market listing route for long-term sustainability.

The subsequent finance secretaries and ministers subscribed to the idea but lacked adequate energy to drive this process. They had to face unprecedented resistance from the political leadership, their cronies, and most shockingly, a part of the intelligentsia, even economists.

The interim caretaker government progressed quite a bit in that direction. Large state-owned banks were made public limited companies. The corporatisation process was put in motion. Finding out strategic investors to recapitalise these banks was being

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talked about like the China banking sector restructure model.

But everything was put on hold with the taking-over of the new government. The new board forced these banks to realign their strategies to be more pro-people, without looking at what was happening in other similar countries. In the name of being pro-people, these banks seriously compromised with their risk management, internal control, compliance, or even minimum possible governance standards.

One can rest assured that this exercise of recapitalisation of major stateowned commercial banks is likely to continue with the new government, or even future governments, unless we stand up and say – enough is enough.

The finance ministers would be forced into appointing political cronies in the state-owned bank boards, the management would be told to disburse loans to the political loyalists’ otherwise bankrupt entities, and the banks would remain low-capitalised with poor risk management and weak information technology infra-structure.

We have Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, and Rupali Bank. We have Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, and Bangladesh Development Bank. We Have Prabashi Kalyan Bank, ANSAR-VDP Bank, and Karmashangsthan Bank. We also have BASIC Bank.

All are owned and run by the state.

More are coming. There has been talk of a women’s development bank, and a freedom fighters’ bank too. Do we need so many SOBs? No. Did it help us in financial inclusion? Not really. Will it help us in the future? It won’t. We need to change our track. We need to look back and move forward. l

proliferation of camera phones, which provided such evocative pictures to the Western media, also gave authorities much greater ability to identify ringleaders and individual protestors.

They achieved this both with sophisticated facial recognition software as well as by asking members of the public to identify people whose pictures were posted in newspapers.

Social networks offer unmatched opportunities for opensource intelligence gathering

The ubiquity of camera phones, and their ability to affect surveillance, was seen even more starkly following the Boston Marathon Bombings in April 2013. Hordes of newly minted “digital detectives” rushed to forums such as reddit and 4chan to pore over thousands of images and videos taken by witnesses, in an attempt to identify the suspects.

While the anarchic, leaderless nature of this search led to misidentifications and finger-pointing, users still had the resources to assess the actions of almost everyone present.

It is easy to see the extensive surveillance applications of such new technologies.

In his book, “The Net Delusion,” Belarusian political scientist Evgeny Morozov is a strong opponent of what he calls “iPod Liberalism,” a technological-determinist notion that increased connectivity will necessarily cause dictatorships to crumble.

In fact, he sees the internet offering increasing opportunity for repressive regimes to corral opinion, rather than censor it; distract citizens, rather than engage them; and listen to their private phone calls, rather than their public discourse.

In this context, is it any surprise that Ukraine’s government has made use of the increased GPS capabilities of modern smartphones to track protestors in real-time? It is true that such actions smack of totalitarianism.

While we may condemn Ukrainian authorities, it would perhaps be remiss to overlook the tools we have embraced which enable government repression.

By adopting devices and services without thinking of the consequences, we have in part reaped a whirlwind of our own creation. When we carry a device which constantly tracks our location, stores our communication, and catalogues the minutiae of our day to day life, is it really a surprise that the power of this technology can be turned against us? l Peter Ramage established the Grafton Project, a New Zealand-based policy-focused think-tank/blog. This article was previously published in Alochonaa.

The killing fields n MH Bari

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ndia extended all out support to our freedom struggle in 1971 against the then Pakistani occupation forces for the fulfillment of the legitimate right of self-determination of the people of Bangladesh.

India gave shelter to an estimated 10 million refugees from the then East Pakistan, supplied arms to our freedom fighters, and trained them.

They sought international support for us. We must remain grateful to them for their support.

Bangladesh and India are two neighbouring countries and have a shared history, common heritage, and linguistic and cultural ties. Both countries have a common history of struggle for freedom and liberation.

But these commonalities should not conceal the prevailing problem of the border issue, which is plaguing our bilateral relations. The Bangladesh-India border relation is multi-dimensional, and shaped by the dynamics and pattern of internal politics of the two countries.

The border problem is not confined to the issue of demarcation. It also involves issues such as cross-border

smuggling, terrorist activities, border fencing, human trafficking, and illegal immigration. Above all, there is the issue of the killing of Bangladeshi people.

Bangladesh is surrounded by India on three sides. India has about 92 enclaves of Bangladesh, and 106 enclaves of India are within Bangladeshi soil. A landmark Indira-Mujib border treaty was signed between India and Bangladesh in 1972.

According to the treaty, Bangladesh had handed over the Berubari to India. But India has not handed over Tin Bigha Corridor to us to this day.

The issues of border delimitation, exchange of enclaves, torture of Bangladeshi nationals in BSF camps, infiltration, occupation of Bangladeshi lands, and border killings by the BSF stand between the two Saarc countries spark unwanted events, straining amicable relations.

Notwithstanding the friendship and cooperation, the killing of Bangladeshis in the border area has sparked huge criticism of India’s violations in Bangladesh, as well as around the world. Human rights organisations at home and abroad express deep concern about BSF’s muscle-flexing upon its neighbour.

The killing of Felani Begum on January 7, 2011 on the Bangladesh-India border at the hands of the BSF had shocked the nation as well as human rights organisations. The 15-year-old unarmed Felani was shot dead and her body was left hanging for five hours on the barbed wire fence that India had raised on the 4,100km-long border. The body was later taken down by the BSF and handed over to her relatives the next day.

After strong protests at home and abroad, India decided to try Amiyo Ghosh, for killing Felani, two-and-ahalf years after her death under the BSF Act by a special tribunal chaired by a BSF official. Habildar Amiyo Ghosh was allowed to go scot-free after standing trial for “unintentional killing.” It was nothing but a mockery.

India has been constructing a 4000km fence along the border without informing Bangladesh. The fence is electrified at some stretches. It is made of steel and concrete, packed with razor-wire, double-walled, and eight feet high. The reason for building the fence, said an Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, was to prevent illegal migration and terrorist infiltration.

We need solutions on the sharing of the Teesta river water, and an end to the killings of Bangladeshi nationals at the border

We have many pending issues with India which need serious attention.

The stalled Teesta River Agreement is an example. There are 54 shared rivers between India and Bangladesh.

India sometimes unilaterally builds dams on our rivers and deprives us of our rightful share of water. We need solutions on the sharing of the Teesta

jured, and 175 people were abducted.

49 were brought back by the BGB, but 126 went missing.

India has land borders with Pakistan, China, and Nepal as well.

But border forces there are not killing people like in the Bangladesh border. What prompted them to do such a heinous crime? It is

totally a violation of national law, international law, and above all, human rights.

The government failed to protest these atrocities vehemently in order to save nationals. Why is our government so ambivalent about these atrocities?

We have observed that issues concerning Bangladesh always get low priority from India due to the bureaucratic tangle of New Delhi. But we must not forget that the ultimate responsibility rests on the government of India to facilitate a smooth implementation of outstanding issues quickly.

The border crisis reflects the hegemonic attitude of a big neighbour to its small counterpart. It seems that India is trying to stretch its hegemony over Bangladesh, like Bhutan or Nepal. It is a fact that Bangladesh has now become a killing field of India.

India, as a big and powerful neighbour, should play a greater role in dispelling mistrust and suspicion in our bilateral relations. But we are seeing a totally different attitude from India. l MH Bari works in the global marketing of seafood from Bangladesh.

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

A bold exhibition of rural magnificence and spirituality

Ayub Bachchu brings 5 new songs n Entertainment Desk Ayub Bachchu will release his five new songs on Grameenphone today. The five songs are: Allahay Ke Kokhon Jay Chole, Kichhu Muhurto, Kemon Achho Nagorik Shokal, Joler Ki Dosh and Bashi Khabar.

Lyricist Niaz Ahmed and Rabiul Islam have written four songs of the album and another one was written

by Ayub Bachchu. He has also composed all the songs in the album.

This is the first time Ayub Bachchu is releasing his songs on the digital media.

Regarding the digital release, Bachchu said: “Nowadays piracy has become a curse for the music

Artwork by Hashem Khan

daily activities, rural object and many more. His composition displays a ceremonial simplicity and the use of symbols is undemanding. His colour compositions dovetail with the emotion of people and the beauty of nature.

Mohammad Iqbal stepped into the Bangladeshi art arena in the 1990s.

His philosophical themes and experimental paintings are recognised for their impulsive spirit. His compositions and themes took a demanding space as his works explained a powerful interplay of figures and space.

Mohammad Iqbal’s paintings are captivated with various evident and indistinct figures such as, oppressed people and spirituality. In his paintings, he emphasises on the bitter realities of society. His approach through his sensible presentation, the series of Unknown Faces is dominated by children whom he regards as neglected and mistreated.

A duet exhibition titled Two Bangals by eminent artists from two generations, Hashem Khan and Mohammad Iqbal, is going on at Gallery Twenty One at Dhanmondi.

The exhibition features Bengal’s rural magnificence, natural colour, mysticism, people, childhood, spirituality and life. Their presentation of exploring Bengal’s glory sets a different dimension through their paintings and the use of various bold oil and acrylic colours, thick brush strokes and arrangements grabs the eyesight first.

Hashem Khan has contributed to Bangladeshi art history for more than 50 years. His experimentation with relationships between life and nature portrays the realistic presentation of rural objects such as women figure, geometric shape, pastoral sight, lifestyle of rural people, their

TheatrEX starts new journey

Members of TheatrEX rehears for Kobor

Sudip Chakroborthy, a multitalented and passionate theatre activist, has recently founded an organisation titled TheatrEX with the aim to give a platform for theatre practice to the ex-students of DU theatre department.

The troupe is all set to stage its debut production Kobor by Munier Chowdhury on February 21-22 in Belonia, India and February 27-28 in Dhaka University campus.

Along with twelve former students from the department of Theatre and Performance Studies, TheatrEX has begun its journey. Sudip is the chief director.

Sudip told the Dhaka Tribune; “We have brainstormed to form the theatre troupe for around two years. After an immense effort, we are now able to debut our very first production.”

Asking what makes the troupe different from others, Sudip said; “These former students have institutional education on theatrical

industry. In this time and age, it makes sense to release an album or songs digitally rather than producing CD’s. We all need to be aware about it and awareness only among the musicians and industry people will not work. The audience should take their step forward to stop it.”

“Listeners have to dial a specific Grameenphone number and then they can listen to my new songs.

After couple of months, I will think about releasing the songs on CD’s,” he added.

Bachchu also said: “The songs are very melodious and rhythmic.

Anyone can feel these songs. The lyrics are really moving and full of emotions. I have sung all these

from the deep of my heart. Overall, the songs are excellent and the audience will hopefully find these notes in my new songs.”

LRB’s last album was Juddho.

Ayub Bachchu’s solo album titled Bolini Kokhono was released five years back. l

ON TV

Artwork by Mohammad Iqbal

n Afrose Jahan Chaity

n Shadma Malik

Thursday, February 20, 2014

performance. On the other hand, the team will be involved with extensive research, conducting seminar, developing performing at the international arena. Moreover, our plays will be focused mostly on burning issue and classic plays by international playwright.”

“Also we will welcome creative affiliation in set designing and direction from theatre activists of other campuses,” he added.

TheatrEX will participate in the upcoming Tin Forest International Theatre Festival by the National Theatre of Scotland at Glasgow which will bring together ten selected youth theatre companies from Commonwealth countries. The theatre troupe will stage an awareness based production on Sundarbans.

TheatrEX will also take part in the festival contacting the World 2014 which will take place in Manchester from July 7 to 13. They will stage the same play on Sundarbans and Kobor. l

Through the oval shaped faces, it shows their dreams and the pain on their eyes.

Bauls and sages also were also portrayed on his canvas representing the philosophy of Bauls life. Spirituality and saintliness are very apparent on his paintings. He has painted bearded faces, along with red clothing, beads, and horns of buffalo, animals, talisman and trident. He also painted middle aged figures, rivers, hills, vessels and ancient edifice.

Professors Burhanuddin Khan Jahangir, Muntassir Mamun and Syed Manzoorul Islam, along with poet Rabiul Hussain inaugurated the exhibition on February 6. The exhibition will continue till March 1.

This is a part of a two-series exhibition; one is currently taking place at Gallery Twenty One and the other will be held at Gallery Chayamachi in Osaca, Japan. l

MOVIE 7:10pm Zee Studio The Lion King

9:30pm WB

Journey to the Center of the Earth

COMEDY 10:00am Comedy Central Arrested Development

9:30pm Star World 2 And A Half Men

MISC Famed band Maqsood O’ Dhaka performs at day long Jibanananda Utsab celebrating the 115th birth anniversary of the legendary poet Jibanananda Das at the B M College, Barisal on February 17

10:00am TLC

Jamie At Home

10:00pm FTV Fashion Divas

TV drama Bangla all set to air n Entertainment Desk Marking International Mother Language Day, a TV drama titled Bangla is all set to air in this February on a private satellite channel. The drama features popular actress Tisha and Super Heroine famed Rehana Rakhi in lead roles while the drama is written by Rafiqul Islam Poltu and directed by Taslima Mukta. The story of the drama revolves around two girls, Oroni and Shirin, who are closed friends and study at the University of Dhaka in different department. Oroni played by Tisha studies Bengali literature while Shirin played by Rehana Rakhi studies Economics. The shooting for the drama is taken place at the University of Dhaka premises. Tisha said about the drama ‘’I love to work on a drama centering special days. The story of the drama is not straight and I think the audiences will accept it’’. Rehana Rakhi said; “Bangla is my first work with actress Tisha. She is cooperative and meanwhile I have learned a lot working with her.’’ l

Tollywood against dubbing Gunday in Bangla n Entertainment Desk

Rehana Rakhi and Tisha in Bangla

TODAY IN DHAKA Exhibition

3rd Kibria Print Fair Time: 3pm – 8pm, Dhaka Art Center, Dhanmondi R/A

Dance

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

By Goethe Institut Time: 7:30pm – 10:00pm, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Popular actors Anisur Rahman Milon and Shokh, will be seen together in Rahmatullah Tuhin’s single-episode drama Nagorik Bunophule written by Shetu Arif.

The shooting of the drama was completed last Monday and it will soon be broadcasted on small screen

The Tollywood (Kolkata film industry) fraternity has called for an immediate halt to dubbing Hindi films and telly soaps in Bangla.

The call by the Bangla film industry comes in the wake of dubbed versions of Yash Raj Film production Gunday releasing simultaneously in Hindi and Bangla in the state.

The film was shot extensively in the city and other parts of West Bengal and has the star cast of Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra capturing the flavour of the

state in the 1970s and 1980s.

Bangla film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee said: “We have nothing personal against any producers. In fact we have high regard for legendary producer-directors like late Yashji. But as Bangla film industry is poised for a turnaround with audiences returning to the theatres again, any cinematic work dubbed in the language and screened will create an unfair situation. Our gentle request is please stop this. I would have talked to Yashji about this had he been around. If any artiste from

Shah Rukh Khan in Karan Johar’s Shuddhi n Entertainment Desk Karan Johar’s Shuddhi has been in news for quite some time due to casting issues. Initially Hrithik Roshan was signed to play the lead role and Karan did a casting coup of sorts by pairing him with Kareena Kapoor. However, both of them quit due to personal reasons.

Now a report at filmsofindia. com says that Karan has decided to by signing on his best buddy Shah Rukh Khan in Shuddhi.

The movie is very close to the director’s heart and he is apparently not willing to wait for its shoot. He recently tweeted: “Shuddhi will release on 25th of December, 2015 and the lead cast will be announced shortly.”

It is said after Hrithik moved out of the film due to health issues, Kareena too quit the project. Though both Ranbir and Ranveer were top contenders, the film has apparently landed in Shah Rukh’s lap. Rumours also suggest that Deepika Padukone will play his lady love. l

here still wishes to be part of any such dubbing venture we will be forced to boycott him/her.”

Celebrated actor Parambrata Chatterjee of Kahaani fame said: “We are not issuing any threat to anybody. But the local industry has its stake. This is our united stand and we mean it.”

Big ticket producers Srikant Mohta of Shree Venkatesh films said: “At a time when Tollywood films are attracting good audience response due to content and quality we have to work for saving this limited market.” l

Did you know?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored 10 goals in his last five Champions League games

Sport

0 2 4 DAYS TO GO

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Thursday, February 20, 2014

DHAKA TRIBUNE

14 Barcelona,

15 Nadal makes

PSG cruise away from home

triumphant Rio return

Our focus is to get back in the series: Shamsur Following the disappointing 13-run loss in the first ODI against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh opener Shamsur Rahman, who top scored with 62 in the match, said yesterday at the Sher–e-Bangla National Stadium that the side had put the game behind them and were focusing on the upcoming matches.

“We don’t want to keep thinking about what happened in the last game.

We want to correct the errors of the first match in the next two matches,” he said.

He went on to offer the opinion that Sri Lanka would be under pressure in the next match, “I think Sri Lanka is also under pressure. We are playing well at home and we almost beat them. We just didn’t have luck on our side,” he said.

Bangladesh lost both T20 matches off the last ball and seemed to be in the driver’s seat for most of the first ODI and Shamsur thought luck played a big part in the final result of all three games.

“Luck was not on our side in the last three matches, although we played well.

We still have two matches remaining.

We have committed a lot of mistakes, which prevented us from winning. Everyone in the team is positive. Our focus is to get back in the series,” he said.

Nonetheless, the young opener was

aware of the shortcomings Bangladesh had shown. Speaking of his own dismissal and the catches the Tigers dropped, Shamsur said, “I was not casual. I slipped and the bat got stuck just before the crease mark. I would have reached the crease hundred times out of hundred. If these little things went our way, we would have won the game.

“If we had taken the catches, they would have been bowled out for 80odd. They scored an additional hundred runs, and the match slipped out of our grasp.”

Having lost the first ODI after having Sri Lanka at 67/8, the team came in for much criticism and Shamsur said the team management had talked to the players about handling pressure, “The coach and captain, and also senior players have told us how to handle tight situations and play under pressure. The Asia Cup and World T20 are coming up so we have to learn from these mistakes and look forward positively.”

Meanwhile, veterans Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe bin Mortaza who missed the first game – Tamim with a neck strain and Mashrafe due to an ankle problem – are both doing well and likely to play today, said Shamsur, though the final decision will be made after the team physio assesses their condition. l

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim (4L) juggles with the football while his teammates look on during their training session at the SBNS in Dhaka yesterday

More than just the series at stake Bangladesh will not only be looking to keep the series alive, but Mushfiqur Rahim and Co. have a lot to prove when they take the field for the second oneday international of the three-match series against Sri Lanka today.

Having lost a golden opportunity to take a lead in the series, the pressure is back on the Tigers as they must find the momentum in their favourite format, the format in which they have not lost a home series since 2011. The home side lost three close matches in the past one week that could have easily gone their way, but instead of joining the cracks they are becoming wider, putting them under severe pressure ahead of the important Asia Cup. Mushfiq can be very assured that Sri Lanka, with the batting line-up they have, won’t collapse anywhere near 67 for 8 again and the only way to turn the fortunes would be to believe in their own capabilities and have a never say die attitude.

The batsmen must take more responsibility and the coach or captain must sit to chalk out a plan regarding their approach. Bangladesh are comparatively a young side with Mominul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Anamul Haque and Arafat Sunny and it has to be the seniors Mushfiq and Shakib

al Hasan to show more urgency and calmness in the middle. Nasir Hossain’s form in the series is also a major concern and the right-handed needs to start contributing with the bat which is an unsung reason behind Bangladesh’s ODI success in the recent past.

PROBABLE XI Bangladesh Shamsur Rahman, Anamul Haque (wk), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), Shakib al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah/Naeem Islam, Sohag Gazi, Arafat Sunny, Al-Amin Hossain/Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain Sri Lanka Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Ashan Priyanjan, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Angelo Mathews (capt), Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Malinga Meanwhile, Naeem Islam was not selected for the first ODI and the middleorder batsman, who scored 163 runs at an average of 54.33 in Bangladesh’s last home series against New Zealand last year, should be considered in place of Mahmudullah who had a very quiet outing having dropped a catch and also a two-ball duck. Naeem also gives the option of an off-spinner in the side, something the home side expects from Mahmudullah.

The bowling remains unquestioned for Sohag Gazi but the 22-yearold, who has the potential to play matured innings, must also show more responsibility with the bat.

Rubel Hossain and Al Amin Hossain on debut did a fantastic job with the new ball as the pair shared three most crucial Sri Lankan wickets to set the tone. However, the partnership can be broken with Mashrafe bin Mortaza returning to the side today. The veteran fast bowler was sidelined in the previous game with an ankle injury and Al Almin, despite a satisfactory game, will have to sacrifice his place if the Narail Express is fit to play.

And the last thing the Bangladesh team needs to go against them is the fielding. After a series of brilliant catches in the T20s, the Tigers dropped dollies in daylight that came back to hunt them in the evening. Tamim Iqbal missed the first ODI with a neck strain and he is still unlikely to play today.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan camp will want to secure the ODI series and also keep their 100% winning record in the tour intact. The top three Kusal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara are mature players and they will once again carry the baton for Sri Lanka. With the series at stake, skipper Angelo Mathews is unlikely to tinker with the playing XI and given the firepower he has, he doesn’t need to. l

Models displaying the team fan shirts in the merchandising unveiling programme at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel yesterday

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Saff Congress on March 5 The annual Congress of South Asian Football Federation will be held at Dhaka on March 5, the day Bangladesh national football team plays a Fifa International Friendly against India at Goa. Bangladesh Football Federation general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag said the date was pre-decided.

“The date of the Congress was decided on November last year, the match against India was finalised last week, so the clash of the events are just a coincidence. SAFF also have to find out a time when all the representative officials of the eight federations will be available,” said Shohag.

There will also be few changes in the executive committee of Saff as the vice-president posts will be extended from two to three. As no one from the other eight Saff countries have yet expressed an interest in seeking the presidents post, Kazi Salahuddin is most likely to retain his post. However, if another contender appears by this time, the eight countries would vote.

Salahuddin was elected Saff president as an unopposed candidate in 2009. l

National football camp from February 25 Bangladesh national football team will embrace the “Fifa Friendly Day” on March 5 with a friendly against India and the national coaches Lodewijk de Kruif and Rene Koster will start their camp from February 25.

The match, which will be Bangladesh’s first international friendly of the year, will be played at the Nehru Stadium at Fatorda, in Margao. However the Dutch coaches of Bangladesh may feel the deficiency of practice as they will get merely a full day’s practice at home before their departure to India.

As Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd participated in the IFA Shield, they have four matches of the Bangladesh Premier League pending and they have to play Team BJMC, Abahani Ltd and Sheikh Russell on February 22, 25 and 28 respectively. So, most of the national players who wear the Jamal jersey will not be able to join the camp before February 28. The few players who play for Russell will join the camp the same

WT20 merchandise unveiled A diverse range of fancy products and apparels were displayed at the media launch of the ICC World T20 Bangladesh 2014’s Official Merchandising Programme held at a local hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

Dhiraj Malhotra, Tournament Director, ICC WT20 Bangladesh 2014, Rafik Hasan, Chairman of Logo Unlimited, Tanveer Qamrul Islam, Host Tournament Director, Local Organising Committee, ICC WT20 Bangladesh 2014 were present on the occasion.

All the apparels have been manufactured in Bangladesh while the other products have been imported from different countries and produced in accordance with the tournament style guides.

The product ranges from Event Cap, Event Premium T-Shirt, Event Basic Tshirt, Event Polo Shirt, Event Premium Polo Shirt, Event Ceramic Mug, Event Key Chain, Event Back Pack, Event Gym Sack, Event Pin, Event Miniature Bat, Team T-shirt, Team Polo Shirt, Team Jersey, Team Cap, Team Wrist Band, All Nation T-Shirt, All Nation Gym Sack, Face Paint, Stickers and Horn.

The merchandises will be available at all entry gates of the stadium during match days while hawkers will be available in the general galleries. Besides the venues, the products will also be available at Baily Road, Dhanmondi, Uttara, Mohammadpur, Jamuna Fu-

AFP

ture Park, Banani (Occult), Gazipur , Mauna, Narayangonj, Chittagong, Comilla, Bogra, Rangpur, Kustia, Khulna, Barisal branches of Texmart and also in Inter Sport (Elephant Road) and Buckle Up (Bashundhara City) in Dhaka.

The products will also be available online at www.logounlimited.net. The sales will start from February 25 at both retailer and online. l The ICC WT20 Bangladesh 2014’s Official Merchandising Programme held yesterday had led expectations as it didn’t highlight Bangladesh or the country’s cricket. The event had four sequences but none of it had involved Bangladesh, the host of the ICC World Twenty20 2014, in it.

The event started with an audio visual presentation showing the history of ICC World T20 and it had raised eyebrows of many it did not have even a glimpse of the Bangladesh team. The brief introduction to ICC WT20 Bangladesh 2014 merchandising products and the fashion show comprised local ramp models but again failed to highlight Bangladesh in any manner.

According to the event details, Bangladesh Cricket Board dignitaries were supposed to attend the function but none from the organization, expect for a couple of officials from.

day consequentially allowing de Kruif only a day’s practice before boarding the flight. The team will get two days to fine tune themselves at Goa. It was learnt that BFF will call 25 to 26 players for the camp and most of them will fly to Goa. The Dutch coaches will not make rapid changes in the squad. “I and Rene will sit today to finalise the squad, we will also chalk out a plan for the match” said Kruif.

The Dutch coaches reportedly are unhappy as they have not received their salaries for the last couple of months. After enjoying a month long vacation they returned to Bangladesh last around ten days back and are still waiting for the response of BFF. India and Bangladesh have played 30 international matches between them so far. India have won 17 times while Bangladesh have won five matches. Eight matches have ended in a draw. The last time the two teams met was at the 2013 SAFF Championship in Kathmandu and the match ended in a 1-1 draw. l

BNS for WT20 concert The National Sports Council (NSC) has provided the Bangabandhu National Stadium to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for one week starting from March 9 to hold the opening concert of the upcoming ICC World Twenty20.

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has one Bangladesh Premier League match scheduled during that time and the Independence Cup is starting from March 16. Sheikh Jamal are scheduled to play their last match of first phase of the league against Uttar Baridhara on March 10. That fixture has to be altered now while it has also pushed the kick-off of the Independence Cup into uncertainty as it might not be possible to get the field in shape overnight after opening ceremony.

“We had disagreement to hand over the BNS for cricket function. But NSC owns the venue and they have the right to give away the venue to anyone anytime,” said BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag yesterday.

Mid last month National Sports Council (NSC) asked BFF if they have any programmes scheduled at the venue in between March 11-15. Despite BFF’s disagreement, NSC extended it for two more days.

The BNS was used in 2011 to stage the grand opening ceremony of the ICC World Cup followed by a mega concert while the programmes also left the turf damaged in several areas. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Morrison joins QPR on loan

Sport

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Park’s World Cup hopes improve

Ravel Morrison has joined English Championship (second tier) club Queens Park Rangers on loan from West Ham United, the clubs announced on Wednesday. Midfielder Morrison, a former Manchester United trainee, has fallen out of favour at the east London club despite making a bright start to the season that had some observers touting him for a possible England call-up. However, the 21-year-old has not started a Premier League match since December, amid reports of a fallout with manager Sam Allardyce.

–Reuters

Park Chu-young is back in the frame to make the cut for South Korea’s World Cup squad after head coach Hong Myung-bo named the striker in his 24-man squad to face Greece in a friendly international next month. The 28-year-old, who has scored 23 goals in 61 international matches, has not represented his country since last February after failing to play regularly during his stint at English Premier League side Arsenal. He recently joined Championship (second tier) side Watford on loan until the end of the season.

–Reuters

Fulham have officially dismissed manager Rene Meulensteen, assistant coach Ray Wilkins and technical director Alan Curbishley only weeks after appointing them, the Premier League’s basement side club said on Tuesday. The west London club’s revolving door continued to spin with first team coaches Mick Priest and Jonathan Hill joining the exodus of backroom staff following the appointment of new manager Felix Magath on Friday. Fulham also announced immediate replacements with Tomas Oral named as first team coach.

–Reuters

Angry Pellegrini questions impartiality of referee

PSG must finish the job, insists Ibrahimovic Zlatan Ibrahimovic has urged Paris Saint-Germain to finish off Bayer Leverkusen after their 4-0 victory in Germany left them on the verge of the Champions League quarter-finals.

The Sweden star scored two goals in three first-half minutes as the French league leaders ran riot at Leverkusen’s BayArena in Tuesday’s last-16, first-leg clash. Bayer were reduced to ten men for the final half an hour when Ibrahimovic’s marker Emir Spahic was sent off for a second yellow card.

Ibrahimovic’s two goals left him as the competition’s top-scorer with 10 Champions League goals in six matches, one more than Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

This was a five-star performance from PSG, but Ibrahimovic was forthright when asked if this Parisian side was the best team he has played in.

“I’ve played in fantastic teams so difficult to say, you can have a great team, but not win trophies, we need to finish the job first,” said the 32-year-old Ibrahimovic.

Midfielder Blaise Matuidi put PSG ahead before Ibrahimovic netted a penalty, then added a second when he unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot to make it 3-0 at the break. l

Fulham sack five, hire two

Manchester City's Martin Demichelis (R) fouls Barcelona's Lionel Messi to concede a penalty during their Champions League round of 16 first leg soccer match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, northern England on Tuesday REUTERS

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini questioned the impartiality of referee Jonas Eriksson and accused the Swede of deciding the outcome of their 2-0 Champions League defeat by Barcelona on Tuesday.

City fell behind in their last-16 firstleg clash when Eriksson awarded a penalty to the visitors in the 53rd minute for a foul by Martin Demichelis on fellow Argentine Lionel Messi that appeared to take place outside the area.

To compound the punishment, Demichelis was sent off, leaving City to play the rest of the match down to 10men, with Messi firing home from the spot and Dani Alves adding a second goal in stoppage time.

Chilean Pellegrini, who normally keeps his own counsel, was highly critical of the Swedish official, who has held a FIFA badge for 12 years and has now refereed 22 Champions League and 87 UEFA matches in total.

Pellegrini, who risks a severe sanction from European soccer’s governing body, told a news conference: “I spoke to him (Eriksson) at the end and told him he should be very happy because he decided the match.

“Barcelona had no chance to score until the penalty against Demichelis.

“The referee was not impartial. He

Barcelona, PSG cruise away from home Four-time winners Barcelona and French champions Paris SaintGermain took huge strides towards the Champions League last eight on Tuesday as they both won away from home in their last-16, first-leg ties.

Barcelona prevailed 2-0 over English side Manchester City but scoring both their goals, a penalty by Lionel Messi and a late goal by Dani Alves, only after Argentinian defender Martin Demichelis was sent off eight minutes into the second half.

PSG, who were eliminated by Barcelona in the quarter-finals last season, thumped German outfit Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 in Germany but, unlike Barcelona, took the match by the scruff of the

neck early on and led 3-0 at half-time with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring two of them.

The City and Barcelona clash turned in the 53rd minute when Demichelis brought down Messi, with replays suggesting the foul happened just outside the penalty area.

However, Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson thought otherwise and not only awarded the penalty but also sent off Demichelis.

City did not wilt and had their chances to pull level but instead were hit by a sucker punch at the end as the always dangerous Alves nipped in to slot home a sweetly-taken goal.

Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas said it had been an important statement by his side in light of some remarks, especially by former Real Madrid and now Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who had

said they were the worst Barcelona team of “many years”.

“Well we are in the Spanish Cup final, top of the league and we won with a great performance tonight, so we must be doing something right,” said the 26-year-old.

RESULTS Leverkusen

0 4

Man City

0 2

Paris SG

Matuidi 3, Cabaye 88, Ibrahimovic 39-P, 42,

Barcelona

Messi 54-P, Alves 90

“Some people have been doing a lot of talking, nothing new there with one of them, and hopefully this will make them shut up for a few days.”

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini blamed Eriksson for tilting the

Spurs, Ramos reunite in Europa League last 32 Former Tottenham manager Juande Ramos will be reunited with the English Premier League side in the last 32 of the Europa League on Thursday as Spurs travel to Ukraine for their firstleg tie against Dnipro.

Ramos guided Tottenham to the League Cup title in 2008, the last time the London club won any silverware, but was unceremoniously sacked the following season after less than a year in the job.

The Spaniard, a two-time UEFA Cup winner during his reign at Sevilla, acknowledges he faces an uphill climb if he’s to repeat such success with Dnipro.

“Spurs are superior. They’re clear favourites and there’s a very good chance of us getting knocked out,” Ramos told British daily The Guardian.

“One Spurs player may be our annual budget. You can prepare players and Spurs could still score four. Why? Because they’re better.

“I can say: ‘Look out, (Aaron) Lennon’s quick on the outside.’ They know but, voom-voom and he’s gone. What are you going to do, chuck a rope round him?” lamented Ramos.

Spurs are competing for a top-four spot in the league, and despite having to travel to Norwich just three days after a 3,000-mile round trip to eastern Europe, manager Tim Sherwood insisted he would field a strong side against Dnipro.

“I love it (the Europa League). There

are a lot of games coming up but we haven’t got to worry about that.

“We are out of all the other competitions and we have got a big enough squad,” said the Spurs boss, who could also welcome back Brazilian midfielder Sandro after two months out.

FIXTURES Makachkala Juventus Esbjerg Liberec Dnipro Chornomorets Dynamo Kiev PAOK Swansea Porto Betis Maribor Viktoria Pilsen Lazio Ajax Maccabi

v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v

Genk (BEL) Trabzonspor Fiorentina AZ Alkmaar Tottenham Lyon Valencia Benfica Napoli Frankfurt Rubin Kazan Sevilla Shakhtar Ludogorets Salzburg Basel

Swansea City resume their European adventure with the visit of Serie A heavyweights Napoli to south Wales.

Swansea, who sacked manager Michael Laudrup earlier this month, were knocked out of the FA Cup at Everton over the weekend but a glamorous fixture against one of Italy’s leading clubs should make for a special evening for a club that almost tumbled out of the Football League just over a decade ago.

“It promises to be a great occasion at the Liberty, Napoli are having a good season in Italy and we’re under no illusions about how tough it is going to be,” said goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel.

“But we’ll be focussed, we’ll prepare well and we want to get a good result ahead of the second leg.”

Gonzalo Higuain’s status is uncertain with the striker struggling with a back problem, while goalkeeper Pepe Reina is also an injury concern for Napoli boss Rafael Benitez, who steered Chelsea to the title last season.

Benitez is well acquainted with English opposition having also spent seven years at Liverpool and knows the Italians cannot afford to underestimate Swansea.

“It will be extremely difficult, as Swansea play good football and won’t let us keep possession for long.”

Italian league leaders Juventus were the most notable casualty from the Champions League group stage, but Antonio Conte insists they will still take Europe’s second-tier club competition seriously.

“We’re still disappointed to have gone out of the Champions League... but after two years in which Juve have grown immensely, we now have the aim of winning something in Europe,” said Conte, who has set his side the objective of winning both Serie A and the Europa League.

Three-time winners Juve host Turkish side Trabzonspor -- unbeaten in this year’s competition -- in the first leg in Turin, while last year’s losing finalists Benfica travel to Greek outfit PAOK. l

game in Barcelona’s favour.

“I think that the referee decided the game,” he said.

“Before the penalty there was the foul on (Jesus) Navas, when he (Eriksson) was three metres from the player, so he saw it without any problem.

“From the beginning I felt that the referee was not impartial to both teams.

The penalty on Martin Demichelis was not a penalty – it was outside the box.”

- PSG untroubled in Germany While that match remained tight until the end, the other game was over as a contest by half-time as PSG overwhelmed a side that lost 10-2 on aggregate to Barcelona the last time they appeared in this stage of the competition two years ago.

Blaise Matuidi scored the opener and Ibrahimovic the other two, the second of those a scorching effort from

outside the box.

The hosts’ chances of at least getting a goal back decreased markedly when Bosnian international defender Emir Spahic – who had been responsible for conceding the penalty that Ibrahimovic scored for his first goal – was sent off for a second bookable offence.

PSG grabbed a fourth late in the game through recent signing Yohan Cabaye.

“We had a good start and when you are one goal up, it’s easier, it gives you space,” said Ibrahimovic.

“We had a good first half and continued to play our game after the break, when they played with one less, so it was a good day.”

PSG coach Laurent Blanc, who is bidding to bring France only their second ever win in the competition with Marseille having won it in 1993, was delighted with the performance. l

did not have any control of the game.

I think it was not a good idea to have a referee from Sweden in such an important match.

“He did not call for a foul on (Jesus) Navas before the penalty. On the penalty, the foul was made outside the box, but more importantly we were building up the play.

“The first mistake was not giving a foul against Navas and then deciding it was a penalty when it was not a penalty.

“But it was not the only thing, he made mistakes from the beginning. It is very difficult to analyse the game because of that.”

Asked why it was relevant that the referee was Swedish, Pellegrini replied: “More important football is played in Europe than in Sweden so a big game with two important teams - that kind of game needs a referee with more experience.”

Pellegrini was also angry that Eriksson had been chosen for Tuesday’s match after he had previously dismissed two Barcelona penalty claims in the 2012 Champions League quarterfinal against AC Milan at the San Siro.

“I think it’s a mistake to nominate a referee who has mistakes against Barcelona to have the same referee here,” he told Sky Sports. “I say once again he (the referee) decided the game.” l

It’s in the head, fumes Hyypia Coach Sami Hyypia has admitted Bayer Leverkusen have some psychological issues to tackle in the wake of their emphatic 4-0 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

Having also been dumped out of the German Cup quarter-finals by seconddivision Kaiserslautern last Wednesday with a shock 1-0 extra-time defeat, Hyypia admitted he was perplexed by his side’s poor performance against PSG. “I need to invite a few psychologists in so we can get up again for our Bundesliga match against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday,” said the 40-year-old ex-Finland international.

“We already had a head problem against Kaiserslautern.”

With his side second in the Bundesliga, Hyypia said he was again bemused by their performance. l

Laudrup slams ‘silly’ Swansea Former Swansea manager Michael Laudrup continued to hit out at his “silly” and “incredible” sacking by the Premier League club on Tuesday as he vowed to maintain his legal action against the Welsh side.

A fortnight ago the Denmark football great was dismissed by Swansea, less than a year after guiding the club to the first major trophy in its history – the English League Cup. At the time Laudrup issued a statement via England’s League Managers’ Association that he would take legal action against the south Wales side.

Since then he’d said nothing in public about his dismissal but on Tuesday he took the extremely unusual step of calling a press conference at a hotel near London’s Heathrow Airport to air his grievances.

“On one part it has been positive to see all the reaction from other clubs and commentators, saying ‘what has he done (wrong)? It can’t be last year’,” Laudrup, one of the outstanding midfielders of his generation, said. “You can argue that you can’t live in the past, but even this year we’re there in the FA Cup, there in the Europa League.

“The last two months we had a bad run, but you still have the same points as 11 teams and only three go down.

“On the other hand, it has been negative for me because I couldn’t say anything.

Laudrup said he was sacked due to “breach of contract” and, when asked if he could understand why added: “I don’t know if I have to use ‘silly’, other words or ‘incredible’. I can’t go into details.” l

Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke arrives to speak about the status of the host city Curitiba ahead of the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Santa Catarina state on Tuesday REUTERS

Fifa keeps Curitiba as World Cup venue despite delays Fifa will stick with plans to hold World Cup matches in the Brazilian city of Curitiba, officials said on Tuesday, backing down from a threat to drop the host city due to delayed work on a stadium.

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke said the decision followed signs of progress on construction, financial guarantees and commitments by local organisers. Officials said the stadium should now be ready by May 15, less than a month before the tournament starts.

“There was no other decision we

could take but to keep Curitiba in,” Valcke told a news conference in southern Brazil. “They understood the pressure we put on them.”

Even as Valcke expressed renewed confidence, the severity of his ultimatum made clear that patience is running out at soccer’s world governing body, which has warned for months that work was critically behind schedule at stadiums across Brazil.

Curitiba, where world champions Spain will play a first-round match, is the most extreme case of the myriad delays plaguing host cities. Four other stadiums, including the venue for the prestigious opening match in Sao Paulo, also missed a December deadline for completion and are racing to finish work. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

15

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Pakistan to probe fixing in domestic Twenty20

QUICK BYTES

St Gregory’s, DRMS in handball final

Saint Gregory’s High School and Dhaka Residential Model School breezed to the final of the boys’ Milk Man Mini Handball Tournament after beating their respective opponents in the semifinals yesterday. Gregory’s defeated Sunnydale by 23-19 in the day’s first semi at the M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium while Dhaka Residential beat BAF Shaheen 9-6 to book a place in the final. Meanwhile in the girls’ section, Scholastica, Viqarunnisa Noon School, Sunnydale and Green Herald reached the semi-finals after winning their respective quarterfinal matches yesterday.

–Tribune Desk

Serena Williams comes through first test since return

Women’s world number one Serena Williams eased into the third round of the WTA Dubai Open on Tuesday in her first match back since injuring her back at the Australian Open beating Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (10/8), 6-0.

The 32-year-ols American had a decent tussle in the first set having to save two set points against the world number 24 from Russia before settling into her groove to romp through the second set. Williams, who took a last moment wild card into this tournament, began gingerly and took about an hour before she hit the ball with anything like her usual authority. Once she started to do that, she prevailed more quickly, finishing the match feeling more hopeful that it might have been the right decision to compete again for the first time in four weeks. “It was really difficult at first and I was a little bit frustrated,” Williams admitted. “I have been practising and this wasn’t what I had been practising.

–AFP

Charges sought against Barca for Neymar deal

Spain’s public prosecutor sought Wednesday a criminal tax indictment against Barcelona football club over the signing of Brazilian star Neymar, a copy of the filing showed. The prosecutor believes Barca owe the taxman a total of 9.1 million euros ($12.5 million, £7.5 million) in two agreements reached, firstly in 2011 and then finally in 2013 to bring the player to the Spanish champions from Santos. Barcelona paid 10 million euros to a company controlled by the player’s parents, N&N, in 2011 with the intention of signing the player in 2014. However, they brought that plan forward by a year to complete the deal via a complicated series of contracts last May. Barcelona declined to comment on the matter until they have taken legal advice. The club’s former president Sandro Rosell resigned last month over the judicial wrangle sparked Neymar’s singing, which the club said cost 57.1 million. The process was started by a complaint being made by one of Barca’s own members Jordi Cases against Rosell for misappropriation of funds for not declaring publicly that 40 million of the 57.1 million figure quoted by Barca was paid to N&N. However, in a press conference following Rosell’s resignation, the club revealed that the entire cost of the operation including Neymar’s signing bonus, commissions, marketing deals, a donation to the player’s foundation and other collaborative agreements amounted to a total of 86.2 million euros.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Sony Six NBA 2013-14 7:00AM Minnesota v Indiana 9:30AM L.A. Lakers v Houston Star Sports 4 3:25 PM Sochi Winter Olympic Games 2014 Day 13 Ten Cricket 2:30 PM Australia Tour of South Africa 2014 2nd Test: Day 1 Ten Action Uefa Europa League 12:00 AM Leg 1: FC Dnipro v Tottenham Ten HD Uefa Europa League 12:00 AM Leg 1: Juventus v Trabzonspor Ten Sports Uefa Europa League 12:00 AM Leg 1 Swansea v Napoli

Sri Lankan cricketers attend a team training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka yesterday

AFP

Pakistan Tuesday said it would investigate allegations of match fixing in a domestic Twenty20 match last week.

Former batsman Basit Ali made the charges over the T20 Cup match between the Sialkot Stallions and Karachi Dolphins on February 11. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it had appointed a threeman committee to probe his claims.

Basit openly criticised the match in television commentary after Sialkot, who had already qualified for the knock-out stages, were bowled out for a paltry 91 in the last group match.

They then did not try to win the match against a weak Karachi side who were by then out of the knock-out stages.

“I saw that batsmen were getting out deliberately and then Sialkot did not try to defend the total by bowling non-regular bowlers,” Basit told AFP. Led by former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, Sialkot lost the match by six wickets. Sialkot protested over the allegations by playing their next match on February 12 with black armbands and successfully demanded Basit’s removal from the commentary panel.

The PCB said the fact-finding committee would submit its report to PCB chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed within a week. l

‘We have to handle the pressure’ Moin confident of Asia Sri Lanka, leading 1-0 in the threegame ODI series, will look forward to secure the series when they face Bangladesh in the second game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.

More than the performance, it is the fighting spirit of the side that the islanders will watch out in the game today informed Sri Lanka allrounder Sachithra Senanayake to the media yesterday. Sri Lanka’s win in the two Twenty20s and the first ODI never came easy. If the planning and execution at critical times not backfired, Bangladesh could have had been the one with the smile.

“They know how to fight and

bounce back in a game and over the years they have improved a lot. We have never seen them as a weaker opponent,” said Senanayake.

“We won the Test and Twenty20 series now we want to win the ODIs too and we will have to put pressure on them to make that happen,” he added.

The right-arm off-spinner took two wickets in the first ODI to break his drought of five wicketless matches.

The 29-year-old from Colombo had recently aided the Lankans to a victory against Pakistan. He said that he had attributed it to his mental strength and that he doesn’t take pressure.

“There isn’t any competition. If captain and coaches want to go with

me, I am satisfied. It is not a big issue for me. If Ajantha [Mendis] is doing well, he should play.”

Senanayake in the ongoing tour proved his worth of being picked up ahead of Ajantha Mendis. His two wickets in the same over in the first ODI had made the most damage to Bangladesh’s chase.

“We have to handle the pressure,” Senanayake said. “Pitches here are really nice so we can bat through. If I get a chance, my mission is to bat till the last over. I feel I am lucky to be there in the end. We do basic things with Marvan Atapattu. He wants the bowlers to bat every day. I think because of that the bowlers are batting really well,” he said. l

Cup title defence Newly appointed Pakistan cricket coach Moin Khan Tuesday urged his players to shrug off “the fear of failure” as they prepare to defend the Asia Cup which starts later this month.

Pakistan began a four-day training camp ahead of the competition which starts in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on February 25.

Khan, who replaced Australian Dav Whatmore under whom Pakistan won the Asia Cup in 2012, said the team was gearing up for the title defence.

“I hope we will give a good result

and defend our title which we won with the same captain, Misbah-ul Haq,” he told reporters after the first day of the camp.

Pakistan face Sri Lanka on the opening day of the tournament, which also includes India and Afghanistan.

“I think it’s important to take out the fear of failure, which I saw previously in the team,” said Khan.

He was manager of the team on the last tour to the United Arab Emirates, where Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the one-day series 3-2 and squared the three-match Test series 1-1. The team will fly to Dhaka on February 22. l

Gilchrist to join Warne in Afghans shrug Bangladesh away, again Lord’s bicentenary match Adam Gilchrist will be behind the stumps to fellow Australia great Shane Warne one more time after his involvement in the Lord’s bicentenary match was confirmed on Tuesday.

Gilchrist will be a member of the Rest of the World team captained

by Warne that will play Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of Lord’s, in a one-day match on July 5 celebrating the London ground’s 200th anniversary.

“I’m privileged to have been asked to play in this match on such an exciting occasion,” Gilchrist said in a statement issued Tuesday.

“Lord’s is a wonderful place to play cricket and I’m really looking forward

to helping celebrate its bicentenary in this match.

“There are going to be a lot of familiar faces around and it’ll be a lot of fun to play alongside a couple of old teammates too.”

Meanwhile former Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait and New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori have also been added to the line-up of leading players taking part.

India hero Sachin Tendulkar will captain a MCC side that also includes his long-time international colleague and Rahul Dravid.

Their fellow India batsman Yuvraj Singh, is also set to play in the fixture at the ‘home of cricket’ as is West Indies’ mainstay Shivnarine Chanderpaul. l

Afghanistan once again shrugged Bangladesh off in a major tournament as the emerging nation pushed the young Tigers away from reaching the Cup phase in the Under-19 World Cup. Bangladesh lost to Australia by 74 runs while the Afghans recorded a win against their opponents Namibia by four wickets in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

Bangladesh, who began their final Group B game at top, slipped to third handing the spot to Australia while Afghanistan moved to second place with a better net run-rate.

Bangladesh had earlier defeated Afghanistan and Namibia, but one defeat yesterday shattered their dreams of reaching the Cup phase, and now they will compete in the Plates.

The win took Afghanistan to four points, and the fact that they reached

their 193-run target in just 25.3 overs moved their net run-rate above that of Bangladesh.

The final equation was something that the young Tigers had experienced a month back as well in the U-19 Asia Cup. Bangladesh had beaten

GROUP B STANDINGS Teams Australia Afghanistan Bangladesh Namibia

M 3 3 3 3

W 2 2 2 0

L Pts NRR 1 4 +0.927 1 4 +0.881 1 4 +0.097 3 0 -1.920

Afghanistan and Malaysia before they lost to Sri Lanka in their final group match which resulted in their elimination to the Afghans via runrate.

Opting to bat first, the Australians found it difficult to score runs off the

Bangladeshi spinners and were 123-4 in 36 overs before Jake Doran played an unbeaten innings of 99 to carry them to a challenging 244-6.

However, even after losing Joyraz Sheikh (one) in the third over Bangladesh looked composed with the 70-run second wicket partnership between in-form batsman Shadman Islam and Liton Das. After Liton departed on 47, Shadman paired with Mosaddek Hossain to add 48 runs.

However, both batsmen were dismissed in the space of two runs leaving the youths in a shaky position of 130-4. Shadman, who scored a hundred and a fifty in the previous two matches, was unlucky to get run-out on 49 while Mosaddek made 29.

Their dismissals triggered a major collapse as Bangladesh lost their remaining wickets for 40 runs only.

They were all out for 170. l

Nadal makes triumphant Rio return South Africa seek Top-ranked Rafael Nadal, playing for the first time since losing last month’s Australian Open final, beat fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 7-5 Tuesday at the Rio Open.

Nadal skipped Buenos Aires last week due to the nagging back injury that hindered his bid for a 14th Grand Slam singles crown last month at Melbourne, where he dropped the final to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

That left his comeback for Rio’s $1.3 million ATP and WTA event, one he hopes will launch a clay-court campaign that concludes with a ninth career French Open crown.

It was the 800th match of Nadal’s career, making him the sixth active player to reach the mark.

In improving to 670-130, Nadal joined Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Tommy Haas, David Ferrer and Nikolay Davydenko with at least 800 appearances.

Nadal connected on 57 percent of his first serves and won 77 of his first-serve points and 65 percent of those on his second serve, surrendering only one break and breaking his 84th-ranked rival in the penultimate game to advance after one hour and 40 minutes.

Nadal was broken in the second

counter to Johnson

Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Daniel Gimeno Traver during the 2014 Rio Open at the Jockey Club in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Tuesday AFP game of the second set but answered by breaking back in the third game and again in the 11th, then served out for the victory, improving to 10-0 on Brazilian soil, a run that includes titles in 2005 at Costa do Sauipe and last year at Sao Paulo.

Next up for the 27-year-old lefthander

from Mallorca is another compatriot, 72nd-ranked Albert Montanes, who ousted Dutchman Robin Haase 6-1, 7-6 (7/4).

Yet another Spaniard, second seed Ferrer, could await Nadal in the final.

Ferrer launched his bid for a Rio crown by downing Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-3. l

A pitch with even bounce is expected for the second Test between South Africa and Australia at Port Elizabeth on Thursday, which may help South Africa’s batsmen combat the threat of Mitchell Johnson.

Left-arm fast bowler Johnson was the destroyer in the first Test in Centurion, with match figures of 12 for 127 as Australia romped to a 281-run win.

Uneven bounce compounded the problems caused by Johnson’s pace and hostility on a Centurion pitch which Australian captain Michael Clarke described as “nasty”.

Although Johnson will remain the biggest danger to South Africa’s hopes of getting back into the three-match series, batsmen should be able to trust the bounce in Port Elizabeth, according to Dave Emslie, chief executive of the local Warriors franchise.

“The ground staff have been working on the Test pitch for months and I expect it will be a good one for Test cricket,” said Emslie.

Although Port Elizabeth has a reputation for producing low and slow surfaces, Emslie said that was a “myth”

that had been disproved by results in first-class cricket in recent years.

“If you look at matches that have been played here in the past three or four seasons, you will see that myth has been buried years ago.

“What I do expect, though, is a pitch with some pace and bounce, which may help the seamers a little early on.”

While Australia seem certain to go in with an unchanged team, especially since it is unlikely that all-rounder Watson is unlikely to be fully fit to bowl as he recovers from a calf strain, South Africa have a dilemma regarding the number seven batting position.

All-rounder Ryan McLaren, who batted at seven in the first Test, has been ruled out with mild concussion after being struck on the head by a Johnson bouncer in Centurion.

Selection convener Andrew Hudson said on Monday that South Africa might opt for a specialist batsman to strengthen the batting, which would mean a recall for the left-handed Dean Elgar.

The other option is to include home town all-rounder, left-arm pace bowler Wayne Parnell, who would add to an attack which was disappointing in Centurion. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Government extends Aman rice procurement Open sale of rice, flour likely from March 2

n Abu Bakar Siddique The government has extended its procurement target of Aman rice by 50% this year to meet shortages in food reserves.

It also plans to start open market sale (OMS) for rice and wheat flour from March 2 until boro harvest in June.

The country’s food grain reserves currently stand at about 969,000 tonnes, which is 272,000 tonnes less than for the same period last year.

On November 27, the government announced it would procure 200,000 tonnes of Aman rice at Tk30 per kg from the local market this season, between December 1 and February 28.

“The procurement target has increased to 300,000 tonnes, which will be collected within the previously declared timeframe,” said Md Moinul Haque, additional director general of the Directorate of Food.

As of yesterday, the government already procured 233,000 tonnes of Aman.

However, millers contracted by the government said there was a shortage of coarse rice in the market as Aman harvesting ended a month and a half ago.

A food directorate official said the government could achieve the new target as it had already signed deals with suppliers for 291,000 tonnes.

“Most of the millers who have already signed contracts with the government will provide their stocks despite incurring losses to avoid being removed from the government’s list of suppliers,” said Nirod Baran Saha, president of Naogaon Rice Wholesalers Association.

As per official data, the production cost per kg rice is Tk25.42, but millers say the actual cost is about Tk33 per kg, which is Tk3 more than the government’s procurement rate.

Some millers had already had their licences cancelled, while the rest had been supplying the government with cheaper imports from India, Nirod said.

Quazi Shahabuddin, former director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said the government decision would increase food reserves.

In regards to the possible financial losses facing millers, he said they always manage to make a profit in any situation.

The rice and flour OMS from March 2 would cover all district towns, except those in Rajshahi and Rangpur where only wheat would be provided until the Aman procurement was complete, Moinul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.

The price of OMS rice has been fixed at Tk24 per kg and wheat at Tk20.

The government usually starts OMS of food essentials in all major towns and cities to the pressure on low-income groups. l

THE EXPAT SITUATION

The government has expressed concerns over the unnatural deaths of migrant workers who contribute significantly to the country’s economy by remitting foreign currency.

“To recover the high cost of migration, migrants suffer serious stress abroad. They cannot even cover the costs by working during their contractual work period,” Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said at a press briefing yesterday.

According to statistics provided by the ministry, 738 of 2,496 migrants died unnatural deaths in 2013 whose bodies were received by the Shahjalal International Airport authority.

YEAR

Bangladeshis Living Abroad

Migrant Deaths

2012

8,307,749

2,878

2011

7,699,951

2,585

2010

7,131,889

2,560

2009

6,741,187

2,315

2008

6,265,909

2,098

2007

5,390,854

1,673

2006

4,558,245

1,402

2005

4,176,729

1,248

Source: Bangladesh Government A H MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHIC

Two other airports also received bodies but did not specify whether the deaths were natural or unnatural.

A day for radicals and revolutionists 126

Unnatural death of 738 migrants concerns government n Rabiul Islam

RAJIB DHAR

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

Expressing deep concern over the deaths, the expatriates’ welfare minister said even a single death of such nature would be tragic. The average age of these ill-fated migrants was between 30 and 40.

“We will take steps to stop such deaths. We have already taken initiatives to reduce the migration cost. A migrant now goes to Malaysia at only Tk27,000, and to Saudi Arabia at Tk17,400,” the minister told journalists.

In reply to a question, the minister said: “It is unfortunate that we could not make any database of the migrants who returned, but we are trying build one now,” he said.

The government has statistics on those who have migrated, but no statistics on those who return. l

n Ahmed Zayeef Many publication houses have published books on different historical revolutionists as an initiative to inspire the new generation with the life-histories of the revolutionists.

Different publishers opined that though the revolutionists had sacrificed their lives for the emancipation of the people, people know little about their legacies. The publishers think that such books will help the new generation to determine their lifestyle for the betterment of the society.

“Biplobider Kotha Prokashoni” launched a stall in the “Amar Ekushey Book Fair” for the first time this year. They brought out a

total of 30 books on different revolutionists, such as Khudiram, Pritilota, Ila Mitro, Shurjoshen, Jotin Dash, Hugo Chavez, Nelson Mandela and Che Guevara.

Sheikh Rofique, publisher of the house, told the Dhaka Tribune: “These people [revolutionists] fought for people’s rights. They always dreamt of an egalitarian society.

With a view to spread the real story of their lives among the common people, I took the initiative.

“Most of these books are compilations of various articles or stories of the particular revolutionist, as it is very hard to get a clear concept about their lives and works from a single source.”

Apart from this publication, Shonghoti Prokashoni, Shongho Prokashon, Gono Prokashon, Prothoma, Rodela and Jatiya Shahitya Prokashoni also published books on revolutionists such as Lenin, Carl Marx, Shukanto, Shuvash Basu, Nolini Dash, Barun Roy, Anil Mukharjee and Moni singh.

Publishers said people were showing interest in these books, adding that the sales were also satisfactory.

Meanwhile, book lovers who attended the fair yesterday had to suffer a lot as Dhaka Metropolitan police withdrew the roadblock from the TSC to Doyel Chattar.

The move was taken as roads adjacent to the central Shaheed Minar were closed for the preparation of the February 21 International Mother Language Day. As there was no barricade on the road adjacent to the Bangla Academy, huge traffic congestion was created in front of the fair.

A total of 126 new books were released yesterday, including Muhammad Zafar Iqbal’s “Anyman” from Shomoy Prokashon, Syed Shamsul Haque’s “Hrithkolomer Tane” from Nandonik Prokashoni, Ahsan Habib’s “Kishor Omonibash” from Salma Book Depo, and Mohit Kamal’s “Adhare Alor Dheu” from Biddyaprokash.

Five new books were unveiled at the Nazrul Mancha of Bangla Academy.

A discussion titled “Antorjatik Porjaye Nozrul Chorcha Proshongge” was held at the central stage of the fair, where poet Mohammod Nurul Huda presented the key note paper. l

When a wedding is not only a wedding but also a message to all Chakma Sathi back n Muktasree from Mymensingh

Nineteen-year-old Parul Rani Baspore from the Harijan community never thought that her wedding could bring together people from all spheres of life. Even now, in 21st century Bangladesh, people like Parul and her family are deemed as “untouchables.”

The wedding, named Amader Paruler Biye O Jaat-Paat Boishommo Bilopon Utsab (Our Parul’s wedding and a festival for eliminating discrimination in the name of caste), was exceptional in many ways. The wedding was used as a platform to spread the message that humans are humans – regardless of their caste, class, or sex – and they should all be treated with the same respect.

The wedding drew a huge crowd.

There was an open invitation to anyone who wanted to show their support for the Parul and the Harijan.

As part of the wedding programme, a discussion regarding society’s be-

The wedding ceremony of Parul and Surya drew a huge crowd comprising university teachers, government officials and people from all walks of life DHAKA TRIBUNE haviour towards Harijan was held. Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University VC Professor Dr Mohit Ul Alam, Mymensing Deputy Commissioner Mus-

Two held with turtle eggs n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar Environmental activists held two persons with turtle eggs in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar yesterday morning while the two were collecting the eggs after killing turtles.

They also recovered 300 eggs from the possession of Banshee Kumar Shil, 35, of Deilpara in Teknaf Sadar union, and Toroni Shil, 30, son of Dhirendra.

Ali Hossain, president of Environment Critical Area (ECA) Management Committee in Poschim Moheshkhali Para, Secretary Jahed Hossain, members Kala Mia and Rubel caught the two.

On information, Hasibur Rahman, national resource management officer of the Environment Department, went to the spot and sent Banshee and Toroni to the forest department office in Teknaf along with the eggs.

The detained were later handed over to police. l

takim Billah Faruqi, and Mymensingh Municipality Mayor Iqramul Haque Titu were just some of the public figures who attended.

“I feel like I am dreaming. I am a mere sweeper at the college and rarely have contact with the students and teachers. I never dared to dream of having guests with such high profiles at my wedding.

“The best part is that these guests are not only here to attend my wedding – they are here because they believe we are human too, that we deserve respect,” Parul said, with a twinkle of happiness in her eyes.

The extraordinary event took place after Professor Afzal Rahman of the Bangla department of Ananda Mohan College, along with some students, took it upon themselves to make it happen. Afzal truly embodies the two messages inscrolled on the college’s entrance: “The kingdom where knowledge becomes the power” and “Come with knowledge, go out with power and work for the success of life and betterment of the world.”

Not only has he adopted the motto of the college but he has also inspired

students and teachers from various departments – and 10 doctors from the town – to help him fight discrimination against Harijans.

Afzal said once he heard that Parul’s father was arranging her wedding, he wanted to motivate students to take part. “I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if students joined and helped Parul as they would have done if Parul was not a Harijan?”

The Devanagari term Harijan (Child of God) was a term popularised by Mahatma Gandhi, who used it to refer to people at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. These people are still often treated as “untouchables” due to their traditional employment in cleaning jobs.

Many Harijans call themselves “Dalit.”

After some thought, Afzal brought up some of these issues with students and spoke with people outside the college. The response was remarkably positive.

“They understood my point. I think that’s because people are actually born

good. It’s the society and family which teach us to hate people who hold different ideologies and cultures,” Afzal told the Dhaka Tribune.

Ashir Brata Choudhury, associate professor of the college’s management department, said such initiatives were needed to change society in a positive way. “One single initiative will not necessarily change the world at once. But, we need to keep on taking small strides forward,” Ashir added.

Parul has spent her whole life in the 18 by 9 foot room in which she lives now. She shares the narrow accommodation- one of four such identical rooms assigned to sweeper families (Harijan)- with her mother, father, 3 siblings, and other relatives.

Parul’s wedding festivities began on February 13 with a Gaye Holud, in which the bride’s skin is enriched with turmeric. On the sunny morning of February 18, the festivities came to an end as Parul set off to begin her new life with new husband, Surya. l

Termites usher in new era of robot builders n BBC US scientists have developed small robots that behave much like termites.

The insects build impressive, metres-high structures even though they can follow only simple rules and have no knowledge of an overall plan.

The Harvard researchers’ robot brick-layers do something similar, sensing just the immediate area and taking limited cues from each other.

Nonetheless, as a report in Science magazine shows, the machines can also build large, coherent structures.

The researchers say this decentralised approach to robot programming can have some major advantages over very sophisticated systems.

The team gives the example of swarms of construction bots being sent into hazardous environments, such as in disaster zones or out into space.

In these types of settings, if one or more machines is destroyed, the others can continue to work together to complete the task.

Contrast this with a complex robot fol-

lowing high-levels commands. If it fails for some reason, the whole endeavour might be doomed.

“We’re not going to Mars anytime soon, but a more medium-term application might be to use similar robots in flood zones to build levees out of sandbags,” said lead author Dr Justin Werfel from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.

“That’s a kind of classic of robotics: you want to use them in situations that are dirty, dangerous and dull.”

Dr Werfel was summarising his research here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Commenting, Dr Judith Korb from the University of Freiburg, Germany, said it was conceivable such robots could also be used to turn the study back on living things and the mechanisms of evolution.

“It’s possible you might use this program to test whether the insects do things in an optimal way. It may be that evolution has constrained them such that they follow very good solutions but not quite the best.” l

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Continue to the Business section...

Business

B3 S&P: Bangladesh’s sovereign rating unchanged

B4 French telecom opera-

tor Orange is gradually removing phone booths

Forex reserve crosses $19bn for first time n Tribune Report The foreign currency reserves yesterday crossed $19bn mark for the first time on the back of remittance inflow, strong export performance and decline in import payments.

The reserves now stand at $19.04bn, enough to pay off six months’ imports and second highest among South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, says Bangladesh Bank in a statement.

“The reserves have reached such a new height due to remittances sent by expatriate Bangladeshis and rise in export earnings,” it said.

The other reasons behind the new milestone are fall in import of items like rice, fuel and luxurious goods, and stable taka exchange rate against the US dollar.

In the last three months, the forex reserve added $1bn and in the last four and a half year added $9bn, according to the statement.

Though the reserve is in comfortable zone, it is necessary to increase it further, as it ensures to achieve higher sovereign rating and attracts foreign investment, it said.

It said the record reserve was the result of the central bank’s various measures, including strengthening money laundering activities, giving some facilities for exporters and keeping greenback stable against taka.

Export earnings increased 15% to $17.5bn in the last seven months of the

current fiscal year.

Remittances saw a growth of 5.3% in January this year. Bangladeshi expatriates remitted $1.25bn last month against $1.32bn a year ago.

The country’s import bills for major food grains have continued to fall during the first five months of the current fiscal year because of rise in rice production.

The import bill payment for rice and wheat in July-November of the current fiscal year fell by 37.83% to $296.48m from that of same period of the last fiscal year. On December 20 last year, the forex reserves crossed the $17bn mark for the first time in the history of Bangladesh.

Economists, however, said recently the forex reserve is rising due to the sluggish capital machinery imports that would ultimately affect manufacturing growth and thus limiting scope for employment.

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association recently demanded of Finance Minister AMA Muhith to take steps so the central bank lends them from the reserve for capital machinery imports.

In response, the minister discouraged them saying the central bank would not have the capacity to do that as they would have to finance the Padma Bridge project from the reserve.

A senior Bangladesh Bank executive said the government has a demand for around $2bn for the project, which the central bank would provide in exchange for taka. l

BPC gets state guarantee for ITFC $200m loan for fuel oil import n Asif Showkat Kallol Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has secured the state-guarantee for getting a loan worth US$200m from the Islamic Trade and Finance Corporation (ITFC) to import fuel oil.

The loan is being taken in accordance with a condition International Monetary Fund imposed under its Extended Credit Facility (ECF) to Bangladesh.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on 17 February had approved the credit summary of the loan, which incorporated two IMF conditions as Bangladesh continues to get international loans under IMF’s Extended Credit Facility conditions, said an official of the finance division.

According to the credit guarantee summary, BPC’s credit from the ITFC, an associate of Islamic Development Bank, will never exceed IMF indicative target set for June 2014 under ECF arrangement. Besides, the BPC will deposit credit installment to the ITFC by the first week of every month.

BPC will get the credit from ITFC under three stages – Direct Murababa Trade Finance Operation installments $50m, $50m and $100m respectively.

The interest of ITFC credit will be 4.45% for nine months, as per the summary.

In line with complying with the condition of the IMF tagged fifth tranche releasing of total amount of $982.5m under ECF of the lender which will be due in next two months. The government has already reduced its borrowing from the ITFC. As part of it, BPC will borrow $1 billion from the ITFC during next Arabic year to comply with the IMF condition on indicative target on net suppliers’ credit and other short-term financing for oil import limit on March 31, $975m and on June 30, $775m.

BPC data has showed that outstanding credits (net suppliers’ credit and short–term finance) will be $903.93m on March 31 while on June 30, it will be $776.32m.  B3 COLUMN 6

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

CONCLUSIONS DRAWN BY ADB Pre-election unrest affected Bangladesh’s growth prospects for FY2014

Macroeconomic policies broadly remain on track though inflation edges up

1

Transition of RMGs is a major challenge

Despite improvements, performance remains low in the energy sector.

Also the sector needs major investments

Bangladesh’s growth prospects are undermined by skills shortage

General index for small-scale manufacturing rose by 5.4% during July–September 2013

5

6

8

10

3

2

4

7

9

Private consumption will partly hold up due to rise in wages and civil servants’ allowances, while subdued private investment will be partly offset by higher public investment

Restoring consumer and investor confidence is the major economic challenge

Managing unplanned urbanization emerging as a major challenge

Subdued domestic and external demand will lower industry sector growth in FY2014

A H MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHIC

ADB: Economic outlook remains subdued due to low remittance, weak demands n Tribune Report Reviving economic activities and restoring investor confidence after the national election held on January 5 is the major economic challenge for Bangladesh, says Asian Development Bank.

However, economic outlook for FY2014 remains subdued due to decline in remittances and weak domestic demand affected by prolonged unrest in the run up to the election.

Bangladesh’s short and medium-term growth prospects hinge on how the country addresses the short and medium-term risks and challenges, said the bank in its Quarterly Economic Update on Bangladesh released yesterday.

“Reviving economic activities and restoring consumer and investor confidence after the national election is the major economic challenge.”

Re-emergence of unrest will directly affect investment, growth and poverty reduction. Inflation may resurge due to supply disruptions and cost– push factors, including wage increases, it apprehended.

The ADB warned that a decrease in growth will affect employment creation for the annual incremental labor force of 18 lakh, which in turn will exacerbate economic and social problems. Fiscal space will be reduced causing higher bank borrowing to finance the fiscal deficit.

An emerging major challenge centers on the transition of the country’s

RMG industry, especially after the Savar tragedy, to meet demands for internationally accepted safety and labor standards, it said.

Following the Savar tragedy, the government increased the minimum wage, and took initiatives to improve safety standards in partnership with the international business community and development partners.

The transition will increase operating costs, which may reduce the industry’s traditional price competitiveness.

Coping with the transition process will be challenging for enterprises and the industry.

“The immediate challenge is to restore buyer confidence, which has been seriously undermined by recurrent  B3 COLUMN 1

Plastic fair begins amid export fall n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

A four-day exhibition of plastic goods to attract international buyers kicks off today in Dhaka while the sector’s export marked a 6.3% decline in the first seven-month figure of the current fiscal year.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith is expected to inaugurate the 9th International Plastic Fair 2014 at BangabandhuInternational Conference Centre.

Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA)and Chao International Co Ltd is jointly organising the fair.

The plastic goods manufacturers will participate in the fair with 300 stalls and display their goods like household items, packaging materials, moulds, toys, pharmaceutical industry

items, furniture, melamine goods, garments accessories items and polypropylene (PP)woven bag.

Plastic goods will be displayed there as a promotional campaign and an effort to attract the international buyers.

Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed the export of plastic products fell to $46m during July-January period from $49m one year earlier.

The industry insiders blamed the political unrest and generalised system of preferences (GSP) facility suspension by the United States for this decline.

In the US market, Bangladesh’s plastic goods enjoyed the facility.

During the period, PVC bags export exceptionally registered an 18% growth, standing at $21.25m. But plastic wastesexport declined by 15.37%.

According to the EPB data,Bangla-

desh earned $84.5m exporting plastic goods in the last financial year, up from $68.76m in the previous year.

For the July-January period, the target was set to export $49.64, but the export was 7.68% less than the target. The government targetsto earn $89.5mfrom plastic goods export this fiscal.

“GSP suspension in the US market has affected the export earning of the sector,” said BPGMEA general secretary KM Iqbal Hossain.

He also blamed political unrest for the export decline as the production was hampered in the factories during the months of turmoil.

“Production was hampered while buyers didn’t place orders due to the political violence, dragging us to face crisis,”KM Iqbal Hossainstated. l

BTRC slaps embargo on Blackberry service n Muhammad Zahidul Islam The Blackberry service in Bangladesh is going to stop offering their wireless solution from two mobile operators on security concerns as directed by the telecom regulator, officials said.

Market leader Grameenphone has been offering the service from July 2008 and Airtel for last three years.

Officials said, through a letter, Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission requested the two operators to take seven days to switch off the service and find some alternative arrangements to serve their customers.

The letter reads: "As there is no scope to oversee the service through the monitoring gateways, the service should be stopped in the country."

In response, senior executives from the operators said they would seek two more weeks for shifting their services.

Earlier, BTRC had taken initiatives to setup their own switch in Dhaka – initially Blackberry had agreed, but not done it. The non-compliance has facilitated the regulator to go for the decision, officials said.

Blackberry is a wireless solution cannot be overseen by any deceive in Bangladesh. Its main server is in Canada.

Currently, Grameenphone and Airtel have nearly 6,000 Blackberry subscribers, who were more than 9,000 couple of years ago. l

Accord’s factory inspection involves foreign engineers n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh yesterday started inspection of garment factories involving as many as 60 foreign engineers.

It will inspect 200 factories in first phase to assess fire and structural integrity in conformity with the international standards. Bangladesh National Building Code will also be followed in some areas.

“The inspection teams are now in the field and 200 factories will be inspected in 3-4 weeks,” Rob Wayss, executive director (Bangladesh operations) of the Accord, alliance of the European retailers, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“There are probably 60 engineers in the ground, all from international firms. The number will be increased to 70-75,” said Rob Wayss.

Twenty five Bangladeshi engineers will also be appointed, he added.

The inspection findings will be published in next two months.

“It’s good to have foreign engineers in the teams as they are highly qualified and capable (of conducting building assessment). They have experience too,” Rob Wayss said.

“If any factory needs fund regarding retrofitting or remediation in these cases, the (Accord) signatories will assess the requirement and decide,” said Rob in reply to a question.

The Accord, a platform of 150 European Union retailers, will inspect a total of 1,500 factories by September. l

World’s last passenger flight of DC-10 today Aircraft to face scrapping as no room for it in any museum! n Muhammad Zahidul Islam Biman Bangladesh Airlines is going to say good bye to the legendary workhorse DC-10 today as the airliner will operate its last flight of its kind this morning from Dhaka enroute to Birmingham in the United Kingdom via Kuwait city.

This is not only the last flight from Bangladesh but also the last operational passenger DC-10 flight all around the world. The three-engine wide-bodied Biman Douglus DC-10 aircraft, which started to spread its wing in the skies since 1971, will take its final journey at 8:20 am from Dhaka for Birmingham and will be right back by February 26.

After more than four decades of commercial operation, the world’s last DC-10 will ironically not get its last rest in any of the world’s aviation museums as no one is interested about it. As a result, the legendary DC-10 will be sold out as a scarp after its return, as like the previous DC-10 fleet.

“As no museum has so far expressed any interest to get the last DC-10 passenger flight for showcasing, our management is now thinking about other alternatives,” Debabrata Banik, Chief Engineer of the national flag carrier told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Khan Mosharaf Hosen, general manager of Biman’s public relations, said: “Biman management now plans to sale the engine and other equipments first and later on, the rest of the body will be sold out as scrap.”

However, Biman had earlier wanted to donate this historic aircraft to an aviation museum but it did not work out as per the plan. In this regard, managing director of Biman Kevin Steele also wrote a letter to the government for taking an initiative for the donation process, which finally yielded no results.

Biman had earlier sold out another DC-10 air craft with only Tk60 lakh through an open tender.

“We have sold out the earlier DC-10 aircraft, the condition of which was not

good and buyer just got the body this month after cutting it at the airport,” Biman Director (Store and Purchase) Dr Shafiqur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

As neither Biman nor the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has any larger cutter machine to cut a big aircraft like DC-10, the buyer had to struggle a lot to cut the wide-bodied aircraft, he said.

Biman has also recently sold out some other outdated aircrafts from its fleet as scraps, according to Biman sources. Some forty-three years ago, the legendary workhorse logged its maiden voyage for passengers on August 5, 1971, the year of Bangladesh’s Liberation, on an American Airlines round trip between Los Angeles and Chicago. And now the final-flight honour goes to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said the national carrier authorities.

The aircraft will make some fanfare flights in the skies of Birmingham for the following three days too as it flies nine scenic tour flights.

The first DC-10 joined Biman fleet in August 1983 and the last one (S2-ACR) was purchased new in 1989. DC-10s have been the backbone of the Biman fleet for nearly a quarter century and at onepoint the fleet numbered six aircrafts.

With the advent of 4th generation Boeing 777s, the DC-10s began phasing out gradually from the fleet and the last one, S2-ACR (DC-10) makes the final passenger flight today.

Biman will operate 3 scenic tours every day in the skies of in and around Birmingham. Every scenic tour flight will make rooms for 144 flyers (Window 72, Aisle 72).

Although the last passenger flight on Dhaka-Kuwait-Birmingham has 314 seats for sale, Biman found hardly 44 passengers so far for today’s last flight, informed Mohammad Sha Newaz, director (marketing and sales) of Biman.

“As per schedule DC-10 will depart London on February 26 for Dhaka, but there has been no booking made so far for that trip,’’ he added. l

DC-10 TAKES OFF FOR THE LAST TIME

World’s last operational DC-10 will sale out as scrap after coming back in town

TIMELINE OF THE AIRCRAFT

Aug 05, 1971

Maiden voyage for passengers

Aug, 1983

Joined Biman fleet

Feb 20, 2014 08:20am

Farewell flight today A H MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHIC

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks rebound after 4-day losses

DSE key features February 19, 2014

n Tribune Report

Number of Contract

financial and power stocks in buying radar,” said Lanka Bangla Securities in its market analysis.

Mutual funds came to spotlight on the day with rallying more than 2% ahead of annual declaration.

Market bellwether banking issues continued to shine riding on its fall in non-performing loan on relaxed rules. The banking sector rose 1.4%, extending its gaining streak for the second straight session.

All other major sectors turned positive with cement soaring over 3%, food and allied 2.7%, pharmaceuticals 2.3%, fuel and power 1.9%, engineering 1.5% and telecommunications 1.4%.

IDLC Investment said market broke its bearish spell, as optimism resurfaced. “Since, index lost 174 points from last week; investors observed lucrative price advantage.

This assisted in creating a natural re-bounce, pushing up DSEX by 78 points.” Lucrative price to NAV ratio in mutual funds knocked investors’ attention during the session.

Consequently, seven mutual funds emerged in the top ten gainers list.

Square Pharmaceuticals, the country’s top drug maker, was the most traded stocks with a turnover of Tk20 crore.

It was followed by Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Prime Bank, Grameenphone, Southeast Bank, Olympic Industries, Meghna Petroleum and Generation Next. l

Stocks rebounded yesterday after four consecutive sessions of losses on profit booking.

Buying spree mainly on banking stocks and mutual funds helped the market recover sharply.

The benchmark DSEX index gained over 77 points or 1.7% to end at 4,749. The Shariah-based DSES index was up 20 points or 2% to 994.The blue-chip comprising DS30 index ended at 1,687 with a rise of 31 points or 1.9%.

Since, index lost 174 points from last week; investors observed lucrative price advantage The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, rose 126 points to close at 9,332.

Supported by natural buying pressure, turnover increased almost 10% from previous session to Tk382 crore. Banking sector accounted for the lion’s share of total market turnover with 18.27% contribution.

“Market reclaimed 4,700-mark proudly after a weeklong correction in index. Buyers are clawing back in the market mostly keeping

DSE GAINERS Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

3,826.64

Turnover (Volume)

93,077,770 78,452

Traded Issues

291

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

244

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

41

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,296.30

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.83

Turnover (Million Taka)

372.31

Turnover (Volume)

8,416,800

Number of Contract

12,975

Traded Issues

217

DSE Broad Index :

4749.2371

(+) 1.66%

▲

168

DSE Shariah Index :

993.92634

(+) 2.09%

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

▲

44

DSE - 30 Index :

1687.0173

(+) 1.89%

▲

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

CSE All Share Index:

14735.4518

(+) 1.48%

CSE - 30 Index :

12481.4891

(+) 1.74%

CSE Selected Index :

9332.7347

DSE LOSERS Company Samata LeatheR -Z Zeal Bangla Sugar -Z GeminiSeaFood-Z Libra Infusions-A 1st ICB M F -A ACI Formulations-A Monno Stafllers -A Midas Financing-Z Union Capital -A

Meghna Con. Milk -B

Closing (% change) -6.08 -3.53 -3.25 -3.18 -2.85 -2.78 -2.56 -2.30 -2.03

-2.00

CSE LOSERS Company Prime Islami Life -A Prime Insur -A Usmania Glass -Z Aziz PipesZ Meghna Life Ins. -A Rupali Life Insur.-A AFC AgroBiotech-N 6th ICB M F-A R. N. Spinning-Z

Envoy Textiles Ltd-N

Closing (% change) -8.17 -3.31 -2.28 -2.27 -1.82 -1.82 -1.71 -1.61 -1.30

-1.14

Average (% change) -6.79 -1.54 -7.59 -3.22 -2.86 -2.28 -2.57 -2.00 -1.28

-3.05

Average (% change) -7.80 -3.23 -2.28 -2.27 -1.79 -1.81 -0.71 -1.61 -1.68

-0.67

(+) 1.37%

Closing average 24.70 8.33 180.00 466.15 850.00 87.71 311.67 29.89 29.27

9.86

Closing average 110.64 35.00 150.00 21.50 134.60 102.61 69.69 61.00 30.50

51.91

Closing

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,196.29

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.62

Daily high

24.70 8.20 181.70 466.30 850.10 87.30 311.70 29.80 28.90

24.70 8.20 178.00 460.00 850.00 85.00 304.10 29.30 27.60

10.10

Daily high

110.20 35.00 150.00 21.50 134.60 102.60 69.00 61.00 30.40

9.60

53.00

0.025 0.120 0.711 1.212 0.595 3.872 0.187 0.284 2.450

0.350

Turnover in million

Daily low

120.00 35.00 150.00 21.50 134.60 103.00 71.20 61.00 30.90

52.00

Turnover in million

Daily low

24.70 8.50 185.00 475.00 852.00 90.00 315.00 30.40 30.00

9.80

Closing

5

▲

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

▲

110.00 35.00 150.00 21.50 134.60 102.50 68.10 61.00 30.10

47.50

Latest EPS

Latest PE

-0.04 -25.08 6.44 3.04 30.36 2.13 5.25 -5.96 0.28

-ve -ve 28.0 153.3 28.0 41.2 59.4 -ve 104.5

-4.58

Latest EPS

0.116 0.018 0.015 0.002 0.013 0.263 14.914 0.006 1.723

CSE GAINERS Company AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A BSC-A MBL 1st M. F.-A LafargeS Cement-Z PrimeFin. 1st MF-A ICB Emp. PMF-A Dhaka Bank -A Fareast Islami Life -A CVO PetroChem RL-Z ICB AMCL3rd NRB MF-A

Sector 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

DSE Million Taka 680.79 191.20 195.01 243.94 212.01 400.31 0.96 340.37 469.88 0.37 14.55 40.49 138.56 154.08 61.82 53.44 180.06 314.71 36.45 97.44 0.21

% change 17.79 5.00 5.10 6.37 5.54 10.46 0.03 8.89 12.28 0.01 0.38 1.06 3.62 4.03 1.62 1.40 4.71 8.22 0.95 2.55 0.01

Million Taka 51.94 15.96 8.81 53.98 12.85 23.46 35.32 43.77 2.48 3.56 3.62 10.10 11.88 2.06 5.24 50.83 8.41 28.00 0.02

CSE

% change 13.95 4.29 2.37 14.50 3.45 6.30 0.00 9.49 11.76 0.00 0.67 0.96 0.97 2.71 3.19 0.55 1.41 13.65 2.26 7.52 0.01

Million Taka 732.72 207.16 203.82 297.92 224.85 423.77 0.96 375.70 513.65 0.37 17.03 44.05 142.18 164.18 73.69 55.50 185.30 365.54 44.86 125.45 0.23

1.12

Total

8.97 8.00 7.50 6.49 6.37 6.25 6.16 5.64 5.35 5.26

Average (% change) 7.31 5.67 8.94 4.95 7.19 4.36 5.46 5.25 5.06 3.65

Closing average 20.00 189.90 495.97 8.28 8.46 21.70 843.96 33.63 40.37 17.95

Closing average 8.37 496.82 8.65 40.32 21.91 6.70 22.20 117.94 850.96 5.97

Closing 20.00 189.90 505.75 8.30 8.50 21.80 858.90 34.20 41.10 18.10

Closing 8.50 506.50 8.60 41.00 21.70 6.80 22.40 118.00 853.30 6.00

Daily high 20.00 189.90 505.75 8.40 8.60 22.20 860.00 34.90 41.40 18.40

Daily high 8.50 506.50 8.80 41.00 22.20 6.80 22.50 120.00 860.00 6.00

Daily low 20.00 189.90 468.00 8.00 8.00 20.50 800.00 29.00 39.00 16.00

Daily low 8.10 466.00 7.90 39.50 21.70 6.40 21.90 110.00 849.00 5.80

Turnover in million 0.020 0.038 67.489 9.641 31.968 12.122 29.607 18.640 68.634 13.686

Turnover in million 0.435 22.464 1.125 5.968 0.252 0.238 0.185 0.028 0.711 0.329

Latest EPS -0.89 21.32 24.00 1.24 1.48 1.00 -4.06 1.70 1.63 1.70

Latest EPS 1.24 24.00 1.48 1.63 1.00 0.52 1.04 4.60 -4.06 0.42

Latest PE -ve 8.9 20.7 6.7 5.7 21.7 -ve 19.8 24.8 10.6

Latest PE 6.8 20.7 5.8 24.7 21.9 12.9 21.3 25.6 -ve 14.2

BDCOM: The Company has informed that "BDCOM Online Limited has decided to investigate with mutual interest the possibilities and conditions to establish a joint venture entity to create and operate a mobile financial services hub in Bangladesh with eServGlobal SAS, a Company duly organized and existing under the laws of France, having its registered office at 244, avenue Pierre Brossolette, 92245 Malakaoff Cedex, France in accordance with the approval of the Board of Directors of the

Company. In this regard a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed today (19th Feb 2014) between BDCOM online Limited and eServGlobal SAS." NAVANACNG: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has decided to convert one of its fully owned subsidiary companies "Navana Engineering Limited" from private limited company to public limited company after meeting legal formalities therefore.

IDLC: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on February 22, 2014 at 11:30 AM to consider, among others, audited financial st From BIASL Desk: KAY & KUE: With negative EPS in all three quarters of 2013 as well as in 2012, price increased by 9.28% with transaction of only 1000 share at close price on taka 20, trades at Z Catagory. No dividend in 2012, audited

EPS= Taka -3.89, NAV per share = Taka 5.45 of face value of taka 10, latest 9 months EPS= Taka –0.67.

RIGHT SHARE: ARAMITCEM: Subscription 23.03.2014 to 17.04.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 09.01.2014.

RUPALILIFE- Subscription 06.04.2014 to 05.05.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 16.01.2014. BRACBANK: Subscription 20.04.2014 to 15.05.2014.

Record date for entitlement of rights share: 10.02.2014. GENNEXT: Subscription 18.03.2014 to 09.04.2014, Record date: 25.02.2014.

IPO Subscription: Matin Spinning Mills Limited subscription date 26-30 January 2014, NRB upto 08 Feburay 2014. @ Tk. 37/-, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Hwa Well Textiles (BD) Limited subscription date 17-23 February 2014, NRB upto 04 March 2014. At per, face value taka 10 and market lot 500.

Latest PE 22.4 13.7 29.4 36.4 20.9 19.3 45.5 9.3 5.0

46.3

Market reclaimed 4,700-mark proudly after a weeklong correction in index. Buyers are clawing back in the market mostly keeping financial and power stocks in buying radar

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

Closing (% change)

BSC: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 31.12.2013 (July' 13 to Dec' 13), the Company has reported profit/(loss) after tax of Tk. 165.95 million with EPS of Tk. 12.00 as against Tk. (208.75) million and Tk. (25.23) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Accumulated profit/ (loss) of the Company was Tk. (2,046.31) million as on 31.12.2013. atements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

ANALYST

9.29 8.51 8.01 7.79 7.59 7.39 7.26 6.21 6.20 5.85

Average (% change) 9.29 8.51 5.62 6.84 8.46 5.24 3.73 4.18 4.91 4.12

-ve

4.95 2.56 5.10 0.59 6.45 5.33 1.53 6.54 6.11

0.957

Kay & Que (BD) -Z 5th ICB M F-A BSC-A AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A MBL 1st M. F.-A PrimeFin. 1st MF-A CVO PetroChem RL-Z BDCOM Online-A LafargeS Cement-Z Grameen1:Scheme2 -A

Closing (% change)

News from trade server

CSE key features February 19, 2014

Daily capital market highlights

Thursday, February 20, 2014

% change 17.45 4.93 4.85 7.10 5.36 10.09 0.02 8.95 12.23 0.01 0.41 1.05 3.39 3.91 1.76 1.32 4.41 8.71 1.07 2.99 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

Square Pharma -A BD Submarine Cable-A Prime Bank-A Grameenphone-A RAK Ceramics-A Southeast Bank-A Olympic Ind. -A

Meghna Petroleum -A G Next Fashions-A AFC AgroBiotech-N

Delta Life Insu. -A Mercantile Bank -A Jamuna Oil -A LafargeS Cement-Z BSC-A LankaBangla Fin. -A Titas Gas TDCLA Padma Oil Co. -A UCBL - A Delta SpinnersA

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BD Submarine Cable-A

Eastern Cables-Z BSC-A Grameenphone-A AFC AgroBiotech-N Square Pharma -A UCBL - A aamra technologies-A LankaBangla Fin. -A Appollo Ispat CL -N Mercantile Bank -A Paramount Textile Ltd.-A UNITED AIR-A Delta SpinnersA Southeast Bank-A LafargeS Cement-Z Olympic Ind. -A

Volume shares 785,972 791,246 6,456,757 682,417 2,563,768 5,128,906 572,558 324,379 2,740,610 1,231,500

321,050 4,256,290 313,626 1,700,000 136,075 978,983 801,938 137,937 1,519,327 1,011,700

Volume shares

152,179 250,200 45,215 84,600 214,000 49,337 404,251 202,545 109,550 240,600 357,655 130,960 397,668 144,200 253,584 148,000 29,500

Value in million 203.18 172.94 157.45 141.77 127.21 122.42 113.91 91.91 87.41 85.79

84.86 83.15 73.05 68.63 67.49 67.47 66.46 45.55 44.40 42.79

Value in million

33.28 26.27 22.46 17.54 14.91 12.76 11.77 8.27 7.60 7.56 7.00 6.35 6.26 6.12 6.06 5.97 5.89

% of total turnover 5.31 4.52 4.11 3.70 3.32 3.20 2.98 2.40 2.28 2.24

2.22 2.17 1.91 1.79 1.76 1.76 1.74 1.19 1.16 1.12

% of total turnover

8.94 7.06 6.03 4.71 4.01 3.43 3.16 2.22 2.04 2.03 1.88 1.71 1.68 1.65 1.63 1.60 1.58

Daily closing 261.40 219.80 24.30 208.30 51.40 23.80 202.70 285.50 31.80 69.00

264.10 19.80 234.60 41.10 505.75 68.40 82.80 331.60 29.30 42.60

Daily closing

220.00 106.80 506.50 207.60 69.00 261.40 29.20 40.60 68.70 31.50 19.70 49.50 15.70 42.70 23.90 41.00 202.70

Price change 3.73 2.85 -0.41 1.21 1.18 1.28 4.38 2.66 1.27 -1.85

Daily opening 252.00 213.70 24.40 205.80 50.80 23.50 194.20 278.10 31.40 70.30

Price change

Daily opening

0.53 4.76 2.31 6.20 8.01 -0.58 1.72 1.19 2.45 3.65

2.80 1.91 8.00 0.53 -1.71 3.57 2.46 1.75 -0.72 1.61 3.68 4.43 0.00 3.89 1.27 6.49 4.43

262.70 18.90 229.30 38.70 468.25 68.80 81.40 327.70 28.60 41.10

214.00 104.80 469.00 206.50 70.20 252.40 28.50 39.90 69.20 31.00 19.00 47.40 15.70 41.10 23.60 38.50 194.10

Daily high 263.00 225.00 25.00 209.00 52.50 24.10 204.90 295.00 32.40 71.40

266.90 20.00 245.00 41.40 505.75 70.20 83.60 345.00 29.60 42.80

Daily low 234.00 195.10 22.00 195.00 46.00 21.50 179.00 260.00 28.30 67.80

263.00 17.10 209.50 39.00 468.00 63.00 74.00 318.00 26.00 40.00

Daily average 258.51 218.57 24.39 207.75 49.62 23.87 198.94 283.34 31.89 69.67

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

221.60 107.50 506.50 208.00 71.20 262.50 29.50 41.30 70.20 31.90 19.80 50.00 15.90 42.90 24.00 41.00 204.00

211.10 106.00 466.00 206.00 68.10 253.00 28.60 40.40 68.50 31.00 19.10 47.40 15.60 41.70 23.50 39.50 190.10

264.30 19.54 232.91 40.37 495.97 68.92 82.88 330.24 29.23 42.29

218.72 105.00 496.82 207.35 69.69 258.53 29.11 40.81 69.33 31.43 19.56 48.52 15.73 42.47 23.88 40.32 199.56

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

S&P: Bangladesh’s sovereign rating unchanged

BDCOM stock soars on better business prospect

Return of political unrest may cause damage to the economy, it warns

BDCOM Online Ltd, an internet service provider saw an increase of 6.21% in its stock price at Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday on an agreement signed with eServGlobal SAS to establish a joint venture entity to create and operate a mobile financial services hub in the country.

The stocks closed at Tk32.2 each at the end of the last trading session registering a gain of over 20% since last month.

The public company headquartered in France, eServGlobal offers mobile money solutions which put featurerich mobile financial services at the fingertips of users worldwide, covering the full spectrum of mobile wallet, mobile commerce, recharge, promotions and agent management features in over 50 countries.

SM Golam Faruk Alamgir, the company’s managing director, said since its first launch in 2011, the number of mobile money financial service subscrib-

n Tribune Report The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has continued to keep Bangladesh’s credit ratings unchanged with a stable outlook, but warned of any incident of returning political unrest that might cause damage to the economy.

The US-based global rating agency assigned the country ‘BB-’ long-term and ‘B’ short-term sovereign credit ratings in the last four years, according to a statement issued yesterday. Bangladesh is rated the second highest in South Asia behind India and ahead of Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The stable outlook balances strong growth prospects and a relatively good external profile against political pressures and development needs. Bangladesh’s BB- rating is a non-investment grade, which indicates that the country is less efficient in paying off its debts. “”The political unrest before the national election raises risk but did not undermine the sovereign ratings,” S&P said. These factors are balanced against lingering fiscal and inflation risks, and the impact that rising political disturbances related to the coming elections could have on the real economy, it said.

In the report titled “Election woes in Bangladesh and Thailand raise risk

but don’t yet undermine sovereign ratings”, the rating agency reviewed the impact of election related political unrest in Bangladesh and Thailand”.

It believes like in Thailand, “political uncertainties will stay elevated” in Bangladesh “for sometime and they could hurt investor confidence and weaken economic activity”, but the sovereign ratings of the government would remain unchanged over the next two years.

The S&P, however, cautioned about any prolonged and widespread violence that could intensify political instability and cause damage to economy, which have been resilient to past political turmoil.

“We estimate government revenues at 13.8% of GDP this year, inclusive of grants, among the lowest of similarly rated sovereigns. On the expenditure side, various subsidies totaling about 3.5% of GDP further limit fiscal flexibility, despite some progress in curtailing fuel and electricity subsidies,” it said.

It said years of under-investment have resulted in pervasive energy and infrastructure deficiencies. These factors, combined with administrative and bureaucratic weaknesses, prevent Bangladesh from achieving higher growth. The country’s low ranking in international surveys and its limited attractiveness for foreign direct invest-

ADB: Economic outlook remains subdued  PAGE B1 COLUMN 3

industrial accidents during the past two years, causing a shift of some buyers to invest in comparator countries like Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam.” Notwithstanding the limited effects of the United States withdrawal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) facility, the withdrawal of the EU will significantly affect exports from the RMG industry and impact Bangladesh’s macroeconomic stability, economic growth, and poverty reduction.

Restrained monetary policy stance since late 2011 is succeeding in decreasing the inflation rate About growth prospect, the ADB said in FY2014 economic growth will mostly rely on exports and domestic absorption. For the sectors, agriculture growth is expected to rise because of the lower base in the past two years.

The brisk industry sector growth in the fiscal year is expected to moderate because of work stoppages and supply disruptions caused by political unrest.

This decrease in industrial activity

will likely slow service sector growth.

Domestic absorption will mostly rely on private consumption and investment performance. Consumers and investors have adopted a cautious approach given the unrest during the past months.

Notwithstanding the decline in remittance inflows, consumption will be partly stabilised by higher minimum wages for industrial workers announced in November 2013 and a 20% rise in civil servants’ allowances.

Private investment is expected to stagnate due to confidence effect stemmed from pre-election unrest.

The slowdown in private sector credit, decrease in industrial term loans, lower import of capital machinery, and rise in excess liquidity in the banking system points to lower private investment performance in FY2014.

The donor agencies, however, termed macroeconomic policies broadly prudent and said the restrained monetary policy stance since late 2011 is succeeding in decreasing the inflation rate, which rose in recent months due to the wage push and supply disruptions.

Notwithstanding the elevated target

by Bangladesh Bank for private credit growth in its latest monetary policy statement, excess liquidity in the banking system has increased because of lower investment demand created by pre-election unrest. l

ment reflects its difficult investment environment.

“We expect the main pillars of the economy--agriculture, remittances, and the garment export sector--to continue growing strongly in 2013-2016 as global demand recovers,” it said.

Substantial bilateral and multilateral donor support improves policy formulation and provides direct budgetary assistance. This donor support, together with foreign-sponsored education and health services to the general population, eases the burden on the Bangladesh government, it said.

“We project gross financing needs as a percentage of current account receipts plus usable reserves to average 82% over 2013-2016. That level indicates a comfortable external liquidity position as long as remittances and official transfers remain strong enough to outweigh the rising trade deficit,” it said. Foreign exchange reserves have remained at about three months of current account payments, after the government’s policy measures to counter the effects of weaker global demand. Growth in exports and remittance inflows also supported the reserves. We estimate Bangladesh’s narrow net external debt to edge lower toward 25% of current account receipts in 2013 from more than 30% last year. l

n Tribune Business Desk

ers in Bangladesh has already crossed 1.3 crore and still showing a significant growth potential.

“We are scouting for a potential technology partner with mature features and a rich, resilient platform. It is very pleasing to be able to initiate a discussion with eServGlobal to take advantage of their global expertise and experience in the technology world, particularly in the field of Mobile Commerce.”

Previously, the company in its half yearly-unaudited report shows over 20% increase in its net profits after tax. In the second half of 2013, the management reported an unaudited profit of Tk2.8 crore after tax against a profit of Tk2.3 crore during the same period of 2012.

The “A” category share has shown consistent growth in profits for last couple of years thanks to growth in sales and services like sales of hardware, data connectivity, IT enable and educational institutions. l

Japan says prices ‘rising moderately’ for first time in more than five years n Reuters Japan’s government described consumer prices as “rising moderately”, using that wording for the first time since October 2008, a sign that the economy is making steady progress towards exiting 15 years of stubborn deflation.

The government, in its monthly economic report on Wednesday, stopped short of declaring victory in its battle against deflation. But officials said signs that price rises are spreading justified the more upbeat description.

The assessment, following a similar view on Tuesday by the Bank of Japan, comes even as the world’s third-biggest economy grows less than expected and faces headwinds from a looming salestax increase.

Growth stagnated in the fourth quarter at an annualized 1% rate, a tick slower than the third quarter and well below forecasts of 2.8%, weighed by weak exports, private consumption and capital spending.

This followed a big monthly drop in machinery orders, a leading gauge for business investment.

One of Japan’s key trading partners and closest political allies, the United States, expressed concerned about the outlook.

“Japan’s economy has been largely

B3

Thursday, February 20, 2014

driven by domestic demand over the last two years, but the outlook for domestic demand has clouded,” Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a letter, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, to the Group of 20 big industrial and developing powers.

Nonetheless, Japan’s Cabinet Office said in the monthly report that the economy is “recovering moderately,” backed by private consumption and pickup in capital spending.

“The fourth quarter growth undershot the market forecast but it still exceeded Japan’s potential growth rate, so it’s appropriate to describe the recovery as moderate,” said an official in charge of compiling the report.

Analysts say the success of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strategy, which has got the economy motoring on a cocktail of hefty fiscal spending and monetary expansion, will depend on companies sustainably raising wages and spurring consumption and business investment.

In last month’s report, the government described prices as holding firm.

In December, the report dropped the word “deflation” for the first time in four years.

The last time it said consumer prices were rising moderately was in 2008, when Japan faced commodity-driven inflation.

In Wednesday’s report, the government said the economy is expected to remain on a recovery trend, while citing risks from overseas economies and any decline in demand after the increase in the national sales tax.

The government raised its view on exports - reflecting rising car shipments to Russia and the Middle East saying they are “flat”.

Last month, it described shipments as “weakening”.

The text reiterates a statement from previous reports that the government expects the BOJ to achieve its 2% inflation target at the earliest possible time.

Many private economists are skeptical that the central bank can hit that target.

The BOJ maintained its expansionary monetary policy on Tuesday and extended special loan programs to help buoy economic growth. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the recovery remains on track.

Core consumer prices, excluding fresh food but including energy costs, rose 1.3% in December from a year earlier, posting its fastest annual gain in more than five years.

In a further sign of broadening price increases, the “core-core” inflation index, which excludes food and energy prices and is similar to the core index used in the United States, rose 0.7%, matching a high last hit in August 1998. l

RMG stakeholders urged to work together n Tribune Report Readymade garment owners and workers have been urged to work together with utmost sincerity and honesty to bridge the gap between them for the sake of ensuring an atmosphere congenial for facing any sort of crisis in the days ahead.

Speakers came up with the plea in the city yesterday while addressing the inaugural session of the two-day training programme titled “Promoting Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in Bangladesh.”

The two-day programme, which is being funded by the US department of Labour, is organized by International Labour Organisation (ILO) Bangladesh and Department of Labor of Bangladesh government.

The objective of the raining programme is to train 30 officials from the labour department more about the amended labour law that would facilitate the formation of trade unions and strengthen workers’ rights.

Speaking as chief guest, state minister for labour and employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu urged the officers of the labour department to discharge their duties properly and responsively.

“Let us become a bit good and sincere to reap the maximum benefits under any challenging situation,’’ said Mujibul.

Pointing at the workers’ negligence in their duties, he said, “Excuse of manpower shortage is nothing but a pretext. We have very good acts but there has been no implementation of those laws.’’

Stressing on regular factory inspection, the minister said, “After giving the approval of Rana Plaza building construction, no inspector visited the factory to check the procedures even in four years. If the proper inspection was done on regular basis it could be never happened,” “As we are now under the global scanner, we have to work hard to enrich the law of lands to ensure workers’ rights as it is a constitutional right for them,” said Mikail Shipar, secretary of labour and employment ministry. l

BPC gets state guarantee  PAGE B1 COLUMN 1

The corporation had imported over 7m tones of fuel oil in the last year to run 49 mostly fuel-run power plants to generate an additional 5,319 megawatt of electricity by the end of 2013.

The BPC buys petroleum oil at higher prices from the international market than the sales price at domestic market.

As a result, the state-run company has to incur huge amount of financial losses every year.

BPC had earlier signed a credit deal worth $855m with ITFC in April 2012 for importing the fuel oil to meet the local demands.

The BPC had received $1.48bn loans from the ITFC in 2011 and the lender had also increased the loan amount by $0.52bn this year.l

PVM launches Stop Not snacks in Bangladesh n Tribune Business Desk

To support the population and family planning activities of the government, RMG industry owners and protector of labour interest organisation, BGMEA and EngenderHealth Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a project, Mayer Hashi Family Planning in Bangladesh (MH-II), funded by USAID. Reaz-bin-Mahmud, BGMEA’s vice president (finance) and Dr Abu Jamil Faisel, country representative/executive director of EngenderHealth Bangladesh have signed the MoU on behalf of their organisations

Pubali Bank Limited yesterday announced the launch of VISA Debit Card. The launch signifies an increase in convenience and value generated by expanding on acceptance and advancement by the implementation of technology based modern banking. Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, the bank’s managing director and CEO, launched the VISA Debit Card as chief guest

Masala.

Ramesh Jayaraman, chairperson of PVM Bangladesh said: “Stop Not will certainly set new standards in taste, quality and hygiene amongst the Bangladeshi snacks consumers.

Bangladesh is a focus market for us which is well demonstrated by the fact that it is only the second country to foray into the snacks category, and by the large investment we have made on this project.” l

BD Finance Capital Holdings Limited signed a brokerage service agreement with IDLC Securities Limited on Tuesday. Mohd Ahsan Ullah, managing director and CEO of BD Capital and Md Saifuddin, managing director of IDLC Securities Ltd signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies

Perfetti Van Melle (PVM) Bangladesh Pvt Ltd has launched its “Stop Not” brand of snacks in Bangladesh recently. Stop Not is a snack product, commonly known as chips amongst Bangladeshi consumers, with fun shapes and a great taste, said a press release.

At launch it will be available in two tastes – Tomato Toofan with the taste of real tomatoes, and a spicy Markute

Lotto, a world-renowned brand, opened a brand new flagship outlet at the Bashundhara City yesteday. Filippo Pellizzari, area manager, Lotto Sports Italia and Badrudduza Choudhury, deputy managing director and head of branch banking of The City Bank Limited graced the ribbon-cutting occasion

MM Ispahani Limited and British Council jointly inaugurated a forum named “Professionals’ Connect” yesterday. The forum will be a platform to develop and research on new ideas or add values to existing one with qualitative analysis and approach to develop a unique solution to every problem. Former adviser of the caretaker government Rokia Afzal Rahman has inaugurated the forum at the premises of 3D, a learning initiative of Ispahani

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ADB chief urges Asia to tackle reform to cope with Fed tapering n Reuters Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao urged emerging Asian economies on Wednesday to promote sound macroeconomic policies and structural reform to cope with any impact of the withdrawal of US monetary stimulus.

Nakao, former Japanese vice finance minister for international affairs, told Reuters in an interview that despite a recent emerging market rout, Asian economies will not fall back into the kind of financial crisis they experienced in the late 1990s because they have firmer fundamentals.

“The most important thing is to enhance investment environment in the way that will encourage long-term capital inflow from outside,” Nakao told Reuters in an interview.

“They must continue efforts to implement structural and sound macroeconomic policies.”

The ADB chief also said the Japanese central bank’s quantitative easing was having a positive impact on the region’s economies as it helped spur direct investment from Japan into the region.

Japan logged a weaker-than-expected 0.3% growth in the fourth quarter with disappointing exports, private consumption and capital spending.

But Nakao said Japanese domes-

Google asks Internet eyewear fans not to be “Glassholes” n AFP, San Francisco Google on Tuesday gave early adopters of its Internet-connected eyewear a bit of advice: don’t be “Glassholes.”

It was the final suggestion in a recommended code of conduct posted online for software developers and others taking part in an Explorer program providing early access to Google Glass.

The California-based Internet titan appeared intent on avoiding the kinds of caustic run-ins that have seen some Glass wearers tossed from eateries, pubs or other establishments due to concerns over camera capabilities built into devices.

Don’t be “creepy or rude (aka, a “Glasshole”),” Google said in a guide posted online for Explorer program members.

“Respect others and if they have questions about Glass don’t get snappy.”

Google suggest Glass wearers be polite and offer demonstrations to possibly win over the wary. Glass fans were advised it is proper to follow the same rules set down for smartphone use in businesses.

“If you’re asked to turn your phone off, turn Glass off as well,” Google said.

“Breaking the rules or being rude will not get businesses excited about Glass and will ruin it for other Explorers.”

Don’t ‘Glass-out’ In the wake of one early adopter claiming Glass gave him headaches, Google told users not to “Glass-out” by starring into the inset prism screen for long periods at a time. Glass was designed to deliver helpful bursts of information conveniently to let wearers get back to doing things in the real world, according to the technology firm.

“If you find yourself staring off into the prism for long periods of time you’re probably looking pretty weird to the people around you,” Google said.

“So don’t read War and Peace on Glass. Things like that are better done on bigger screens.”

Google also advised against wearing Glass while playing impact sports; or being foolish enough to think the eyewear won’t draw attention.

The “do” list included venturing about, using voice commands, asking permission to take pictures, and employing screen locks to prevent use if Glass is lost or stolen.

Google last month unveiled a partnership with US vision insurer VSP to make prescription Glass and to reimburse some of the costs under health benefits.

That does not include the $1,500 price for Google Glass, which is in a test phase with a small number of “explorers” ahead of a wider release sometime this year. l

tic demand was still growing and that would help Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines who highly rely on exports to Japan.

“For those countries, Japan’s domestic demand-led recovery is positive and the Bank of Japan’s monetary easing is probably encouraging Japanese direct investment in Asia,” he said, while declining to comment on any further monetary easing by the Bank of Japan (BO).

The BOJ stuck to its expansionary monetary policy on Tuesday and extended special loan programs to help buoy growth. While the bank is in no mood to act soon, market pressure for further stimulus may increase if there is more evidence that growth is losing momentum.

On China, Nakao said the world’s second biggest economy could sustain growth above 7% for the time being, and he believed Chinese authorities would prevent shadow banking problems from causing default or systemic risk.

“Chinese authorities are leaning not to rely on fiscal measures too much,” Nakao said.

When he was vice finance minister for international affairs from August 2011 to March 2013, Chinese officials told him that they should not readily resort to fiscal stimulus as it would leave debt burden and inefficiency in the economy, Nakao said. l

Thursday, February 20, 2014

LOST TO TECHNOLOGY

A truck removes a phone booth recently in Bethune, northern France. French telecom operator Orange is gradually removing phone booths as the increasing use of mobile phones has led to a decreased in the use of the booths in France AFP

US-EU trade talks ‘on track’ but tough hurdles ahead n AFP, Washington US-EU talks on a transatlantic free trade zone are moving ahead but still face their toughest challenge, cutting back regulatory differences, Europe’s top negotiator Karel de Gucht said Tuesday.

Eight months into negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), de Gucht, the European Union commissioner for trade, said he and his US counterpart agreed that “things are on track.”

“The consequence is that the next phase is going to be harder going. This is where real negotiations begin,” he said.

“If we want to finish on the nowproverbial single tank of gas, our message to our negotiators now is that we need to step up a gear.”

De Gucht spent Monday and Tuesday in discussions with US Trade Representative Michael Froman in Washington to take stock of the TTIP talks, aimed at creating what could be the world’s largest and richest free-trade zone.

Teams of experts from both sides have met three times since last year, and de Gucht said the two sides had identified areas of agreement, but more so marked out their differences.

“Certainly, the marked-out areas are still larger than the common ground.

But we now have a clear picture of the whole field,” he said.

A key challenge will be the haggling over issues on labour and the environment, where the sides have markedly different standards that could be tested.

“We need to make absolutely sure that transatlantic trade and investment supports, rather than undermines, our high standards on these sustainable development issues. We will not sacrifice them for commercial gain,” said de Gucht.

Most difficult though will be harmonizing regulatory differences that hamper trade, which go well beyond

Greens alarmed as floodgates open for Indian industrialists n AFP, New Delhi India’s environment ministry, run by the oil and gas minister since late December, has issued approvals for industrial projects worth $40 billion in the last eight weeks in a pre-election bonanza that has alarmed green campaigners.

Tension between the environment ministry and pro-business colleagues has been a feature of India’s left-leaning government, in power for the last decade, but it has dissipated since a cabinet change on December 24.

M Veerappa Moily, a troubleshooter from the ruling Congress party who has been petroleum and gas minister since late 2012, took charge of the environment and forest portfolio with a clear mandate.

Once decried as a roadblock to economic growth, the ministry under him has been transformed, issuing green flags for major industrial projects at a rate that has struck fear into environmentalists.

“I do not like to keep files pending in my ministry and after I took charge, nearly 170 pending files with an implication of 2.5 lakh crore ($40.1bn) were cleared,” he told The Hindu newspaper last week.

“There was no mala fide in clearing these files,” he added.

One of the major beneficiaries has been South Korea’s Posco, whose longdelayed $12bn steel plant in eastern Indian was approved days before the visit of South Korean President Park GeunHye last month.

The scheme, India’s biggest foreign investment project, had been held up for almost decade due to disputes over its impact on a forested area of the state of Orissa populated by vulnerable tribal groups Other industrial groups and public sector companies operating in coal mining, hydropower, shipping, nuclear energy, and construction also have rea-

son to cheer.

Faced with the dizzying speed of approvals, environmentalists say they are struggling to keep track amid fears that that safeguards to protect forests, rivers and local livelihoods are being flouted.

An alliance of 212 anguished civil society groups released an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in early February, condemning “shoddy” practices which amounted to “appeasing” corporations.

Amitendu Palit, a senior fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore who tracks investments, commented that “the pendulum has been swinging rather wildly”.

From a logjam under the previous environment ministers of this government, Jairam Ramesh and then Jayanti Natarajan, “now we have moved to the other end of the spectrum,” he told AFP.

The wrong signal?

Economic growth has halved to around 5% in India since 2009, the second term of the Congress party. Many economists, as well as Finance Minister P Chidambaram, see red tape as partly to blame.

As a result, India’s biggest corporate groups have flocked behind businessfriendly opposition leader Narendra Modi, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to beat Congress in national elections to be held by May. Campaign group Greenpeace views the combination of the oil, gas, environment and forests portfolio as a naked attempt to woo industrialists and political donations - from a cabinet besieged by corruption allegations.

“They should have known that it would send the wrong signal. Unless of course they want to send the right signal to the corporates?” said Nandikesh Sivalingam from the Indian branch of the organisation.

He says the environment ministry has long failed in its mission, giving too much power to companies to assess the impact of their own projects and failing to monitor compliance once investments begin.

Under Moily, the situation is worse because commissions inside the ministry like the National Board of Wildlife or the Forest Advisory Committee have been defanged, according to Greenpeace.

“They’ve become rubber-stamp bodies,” Sivalingam told AFP.

Praise from business

The dispute goes to the heart of India’s development dilemma and governance challenge.

As it seeks economic growth to help its millions of poor, it is encouraging infrastructure building, manufacturing jobs and urbanisation.

Yet these often entail environmental degradation and the acquisition of land belonging to often illiterate and mostly unskilled rural communities built around farming or foraging.

Many see Moily as simply cutting through red tape that has forced economic growth to its lowest rate in a decade and damaged the investment climate.

Bhaskar Chatterjee, head of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, told AFP the changes under Moily were “welcome”, while business lobbies have hailed the politician from southern Karnataka as a decisive decisionmaker.

The secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, A. Didar Singh, commended “the energy and vigour” that the 74-year-old has brought to the job.

Palit, from the Institute of South Asian Studies, argues that long-term predictability and transparency in government are preferable to a “rather uncomfortable degree of oscillation”. l

traditional trade issues like tariffs to environmental and health protection and involve issues of biology and chemistry.

De Gucht underlined examples of where tensions have already arisen between the two sides, apart from the TTIP talks, and where he said EU officials would not modify their stance: EU restrictions on imports of US beef raised with growth hormones, and on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) increasingly common in US food and food products.

“Let me be very clear again: we do not even discuss hormone beef in TTIP and we will not at any point in our dis-

cussions,” de Gucht said.

“Why? Because hormone beef is prohibited in Europe, and we do not intend to change this. And our American partners know this very well.”

As for GMO foods, he said, Europe’s extremely tight legislative restrictions on the products “will have to be observed, and nothing less.”

Both de Gucht and Froman said they are committed to fashioning a deal despite the political challenges any pact will face on both sides of the Atlantic.

“Our resolve and the political will to reach an ambitious, comprehensive agreement remain strong,” said Froman, in a separate statement. l

Australia urges G20 to commit to faster growth targets n AFP, Sydney Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said Wednesday it was “hugely important” that G20 leaders agree to faster global growth targets when they meet in Sydney this weekend.

Hockey is chairing a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers, and wants not only a commitment for growth targets, but also endorsement for reforms to labour markets, tax rules and infrastructure spending.

“It is hugely important for the world that the finance ministers have an aspiration to grow beyond the current IMF (International Monetary Fund) forecasts of around 3.7 to 4% growth year on year,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Hockey said that if this was achieved “then we’re going to create the jobs that will get global trade going at the level that we need in order to help to increase prosperity and ultimately help us to pay down our deficits and our debt”.

But the treasurer, who plans bilateral meetings with virtually every finance minister attending to get his message across, would not say what the target should be, although Australian media reports said five percent was the goal.

Hockey was determined to ensure the meetings did not descend into a

DILBERT

“talkfest”, and urged decisive action on reforms to help spur growth.

“The message to Australia and the message to the rest of the world is exactly the same: complacency will not deliver growth,” he said in a separate interview with The Australian newspaper.

“Only substantial domestic reform - delivering freedom in the marketplace, delivering less regulation, less tax, more transparent markets, greater competition - only those things will be the drivers of growth.”

While Hockey wants to keep the talks focused on growth, the capital flows and exchange rate volatility impacting emerging economies since the US central bank’s exit from its stimulus package promise to take centre stage.

Hockey admitted Janet Yellen, making her international debut as the new US Federal Reserve chief, may not be the most popular person in Sydney.

“Well that’s right. There’ll be a number of countries that’ll express that view and the G20 is a hugely important forum for developing nations in particular that are very exposed to tapering to express a view,” he told ABC. “My view is that the United States Federal Reserve has to do what is in the best interest of the United States, just as we would expect the Reserve Bank to do the heavy lifting for the Australian economy first.” l