25 February 2014

Falgun 14, 1420 Rabius Saani 24, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 1 No 333

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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7 | AN APPEAL TO OUR SENSES

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8 | EGYPT GOVERNMENT RESIGNS

13 | ASIA CUP: PAKISTAN, SRI LANKA

JMB leaders used Real cause of BDR mutiny still a mystery n cellphones in jail Julfikar Ali Manik

Roles of police and jail staff suspicious n Kailash Sarkar The three top JMB leaders who had been whisked off a prison van on Sunday on their way to Mymensingh from the jail in Gazipur had mobile phones inside their prison to communicate with other JMB men outside, sources said.

The JMB men masterminded their escape while being in jail by keeping a regular connection with their cohorts that took part in the operation.

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FIND MILITANT FINANCERS

A section of policemen are suspected to be involved in the operation and planning while questions have also been raised on the poor security measures as the hardened JMB cadres were being taken to Mymensingh from Gazipur.

Police, Rab and Jail sources said the cadres, who took part in operation, were the JMB operatives and two of the three microbuses used in the operation

were purchased recently at Tk21 lakh from the capital.

Three members of Majlish-e-Sura, the highest decision making body of JMB – Salauddin Salehin, Rakib Hasan Rasel and Saidul Islam, alias Boma Mizan – were taken away from the prison van on their way to a Mymensingh court, killing a policeman Sunday morning.

Within six hours of whisking away of the JMB men, Rakib had been re-arrested in Shafipur. He also died in a reported gunfight between police and a gang of criminals early yesterday.

Besides, two of the microbuses used in the operation were recovered by arresting three other JMB men, including a driver of one of the microbuses, Zakariya Himel, his wife Swapna Begum and another JMB man Anwar Hossain, alias Rasel.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Hasibul Alam, acting superintendent of police (SP) of Tangail district, admitted

Recaptured JMB Rakib killed in ‘gunfight’ n Tribune Report Death row convict Jama’atul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) leader Rakib Hasan, alias Hafez Mahmud Rasel, 35, was killed in a ‘gunfight’ at Beltoil Ceramic area under Mirjapur upazila in Tangail early yesterday. He was recaptured by law enforcers after being snatched away by fellow JMB men from a police van earlier on Sunday.

Police claimed the gunfight took place at around 4:00am, when they went to arrest two other JMB leaders snatched from their custody, and other JMB activists who took part in the police van attack.

On Sunday, JMB members killed a policeman and snatched three of their top detained operatives from a prison van in Trishal of Mymensingh on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway, while they were being taken to Mymensingh from jails in Gazipur. The snatched JMB men were death row convict Rakib Hasan, Salauddin Salehin and Saidul Islam alias Boma Mizan, who had been awarded lifetime imprisonment.

Hasibul Alam, acting superintendent of Tangail district police, told the Dhaka Tribune that Rakib Hasan Rasel

Family members of the victims of the BDR mutiny hold a candlelight vigil in front of the National Press Club on Monday

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

was killed during a gunfight between police and a gang of criminals, who attacked the police members in a bid to snatch Rasel again.

“Police went to the place along with Rasel as per his information about the presence of two other JMB leaders, Salehin and Boma Mizan,” said Hasibul Alam adding: “To free Rasel, the criminals opened fired on the police members, who retaliated with gunshots leading to the gun battle.”

He said: “It was a fierce gunfight that lasted for more than half an hour.

At one point, Rasel tried to escape and sustained bullet injuries to his chest and throat.”

He said three police members also sustained injuries in the gun battle and a shutter gun was also recovered on the spot.

Although Hasibul could not give details on the injured policemen, he said they were admitted to Tangail Hospital.

The drive was conducted by a joint team of police comprising of members from Mirzapur and Shafipur police stations in Tangail, additional forces from Mymensingh and the detective branch.

Police later handed over the body  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

INSIDE Business

B1 Representation from the Ministry of Commerce to the third BIMSTEC Summit early next month has been ignored – even Minister Tofail Ahmed is not aware about the disappointment.

News

5 The Moghbazar-Mouchak road in the capital has virturally turned impassable due to the ongoing construction of the flyover on the road. Commuters of different vehicles have to wait for hours on the road. Vehicles are often stuck in potholes in the dilapidated road.

Op-Ed

11 February 25 could be like any other day, but now it is marked as a red-letter day because on this day we lost 57 of our men who had to give their lives in the most barbarous manner possible.

Entertainment

12 A biography on ace filmmaker Tareque Masud has been uncovered at the Amor Ekushey Book Fair-2014 recently. The book is published by Bangladesh Film Archive. The writer Rubayet Ahmed assumes that the book will stand as a reference to all who want to know and study the life and works of the late filmmaker.

visit our e-paper @ www.dhakatribune.com/epaper

Five years have passed, several probes have been completed and verdict has been delivered in a carnage case, but the mystery behind the BDR mutiny and the brutal killings inside Pilkhana is yet to be unearthed.

The judge of a trial court that delivered verdict in the carnage case, said in his judgment that the killing of so many army officials was not a rational consequence of the grievances that had piled up among the BDR soldiers.

During the bloody mutiny in the force’s Pilkhana headquarters on February 25-26, 2009, BDR (now BGB) rebels killed 57 army officers and 17 civilians.

The mutineers tried to hide the dead bodies by burying them in mass graves inside Pilkhana and throwing some others in the sewerage lines.

They also brutally tortured army officers and their families and ransacked their houses and properties. Those murdered included the force’s the then director general and this wife.

According to a home ministry probe committee formed after the mutiny, further investigation was required  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

BDR CARNAGE

February 25-26, 2009 Casualties: Army 57 + Jawans 10 + Civilians 7 = Total 74 Carnage Case filed 28 February, 2009 Charge sheet submitted 12 July, 2010 Indictment 10 August, 2011 Verdict 5 November, 2013 Accused 846 Death 152 Life 161 Jail term 256 Acquitted 277 Witness 1,350

Mutiny Cases filed 57 Special courts 11 in Dhaka 6 out of Dhaka 5 Jail term 5,926

(Min 4 months, max 7 years)

Acquitted 115

Explosive Accused 834 Prosecution witnesses examined 26 Next hearing

3 March, 2014

Political position, age save them from gallows kar Ali Manik and Ashif n Julfi Islam Shaon The gravity of offences committed by former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and Awami League ward-level leader Torab Ali in the BDR carnage warranted death penalty.

But the court awarded both of them life-term jail sentences considering Pintu’s political status and Torab’s old age.

The Third Additional Judge’s Court of Dhaka found the duo guilty of being involved with the killing of 74 people including 57 army officers during the bloody mutiny at Pilkhana in 2009.

Pintu, a former president of BNP’s

student front Chhatra Dal, was also convicted for instigating the massacre while Torab for conspiring.

Torab Ali came to know about the mutiny conspiracy on the night of Feb-

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MORE ON BDR MUTINY

ruary 24 from Zakir Hossain, owner of Prime Coaching Centre. The BDR soldiers published their leaflets from that tuition home.

But despite the knowledge, Torab did not inform the law enforcers or the authorities concerned. Instead, the next day – that is the first day of the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Shibir a top non-state armed group: IHS Jane’s n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The US-based defence think-tank IHS Jane’s has termed Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, as one of the most active nonstate armed groups in 2013. In its latest Global Terrorism and Insurgency Attack Index in February,it revealed the

top 10 non-state armed groups in 2013.

“In 2009, a worldwide total of 7,217 attacks were recorded from open sources. In 2013, that number increased by more than 150% to 18,524,” said Matthew Henman, manager of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC), which carried out the study.

A total of 492 attacks were reported

in Bangladesh in 2013, while it was only 28 in the previous year.

It said the epicenter of activities was in the Middle East, with significant pockets of violence radiating out to neighbouring regions in Africa and South Asia. The six most active Middle Eastern states – Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Lebanon – accounted

for 52% of all global attacks in 2013 and 71% of all fatalities.

The six Middle East states and South Asia’s Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh – numbers three, four, five and seven on the IHS list of most active states in 2013 – constituted 73% of all attacks and 86% of all fatalities incurred in 2013. l

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Government agencies to outsource vacant positions n Asif Showkat Kallol The ministries and divisions are likely to analyse the existing posts that are empty, and carry out recruitments under the new outsourcing policy to meet the shortage of human resources. Private firms would be given the task to find suitable candidates for the positions.

The identified posts however would not be turned into permanent or semi-permanent posts in the near future, sources said.

Finance minister AMA Muhith approved the Outsourcing Policy 2014 last week to meet the shortage of human resources at government agencies, said a senior official of the Finance Division, adding that the government would send it to the secretaries’ committee to enact the policy.

As per the new outsourcing policy, third and fourth-class staffs would be recruited in the ministries and divisions under the revenue sector through outsourcing.

However, the ministries and divisions that are sensitive to exposing state secrets would not recruit people through outsourcing.

The ministries, divisions and semi-government organsations would be able to recruit 18 to 60 fourth-class employees each year to meet the workforce shortage.

According to the approved outsourcing guidelines, candidates would need to have passed at least class eight or the JSC examination. Guidelines however would be relaxed for recruiting vehicle drivers in ministry and divisions.

Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain said outsourcing the workforce would largely depend on the finance ministry. The draft policy aims at regulating appointment, salaries, service charges, duration and performance, the secretary added.

Ministries and divisions would not sign contracts with private organsations or a person without the clearance of the finance ministry, while agree-

PM: Find out militant financers, take action n Mohosinul Karim Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked the ministers and officials concerned to take tough actions to prevent the rise of militant groups and to stop terrorism financing from inside or outside the country.

The cabinet meeting yesterday discussed the issues of rising militancy, terror financing in the country and the ruling party’s dismal performance in the first phase of upazila polls.

A minister, seeking anonymity, said some of the ministers informed the premier that a section of police officials who were involved with the security of the Jama’atul Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB) convicts, were involved in the JMB snatching incident.

The minister also said the miscreants talked to the police officials over mobile phone to be confirmed about the location. The convicted criminals also talked to the snatchers during the incident from the prison van, he added.

While addressing the meeting, the premier said: “It is being investigated whether the incident happened due to lack of security measures.”

Expressing her content over the immediate arrest of one of the JMB members, the premier said the other convicted JMB members who fled away would be arrested soon.

Expressing her dissatisfaction over the performance of her party candidates in the first phase of upazila parishad polls, the premier ordered the ministers and the party’s seven teams, which were given the responsibility to oversee issues related to upazila polls, to ensure single candidate in the upcoming polls. She also ordered to take steps against rebel candidates if necessary.

Communication Minister Obaidul Quader was given charge to monitor and look after the issue seriously. The action would be taken considering the report of Obaidul Quader, another minister confirmed the Dhaka Tribune.

Regarding the participation of Kader Siddique in the by-polls of Tangail 8 constituency, several ministers commented that though he boycotted the January 5 polls supporting the BNPled 19-party alliance, he was willing to participate in the by-polls because he realised that it was a mistake to boycott general elections. l

ments would also not be penned with private firms that do not have public recognition.

The private firms that would sign agreements with the government would determine the service charge, security performance, leave of absence and discipline of the appointed workforces.

Private firms would also confirm the nationality, age, education qualification and police verification of the persons who would be recruited to the ministries and divisions through outsourcing.

The ministries and divisions concerned would have to ensure that the whole process is carried out under the outsourcing policy.

Salaries or remuneration would be fixed in line with the national pay scale of the government, and if necessary, the service charge would also be fixed according to the directive of the authorities concerned, according to the new outsourcing policy. l

136 foreign students selected for MBBS and BDS n Moniruzzaman Uzzal The health ministry has declared the names of 136 selected foreign students for admission into the first year-MBBS and BDS courses for 2013-2014 in government medical and dental colleges.

Of the total selected students, 67 for the MBBS and six for the BDS course have been selected from Saarc countries India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

On the other hand, 48 others have been selected for the MBBS and 15 for the BDS course from non-Saarc countries including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Palestine and Malaysia.

This year, there were 341 foreign applicants (291 from Saarc and 51 from non-Saarc countries) for the MBBS course and 22 applicants (seven from Saarc and 15 from non-Saarc countries) for the BDS course.

Dr ABM Abdul Hannan, director of medical education and manpower development at the Directorate General of Health Services, said all applicants had submitted applications through the Bangladeshi Embassy at their countries.

The ministry has issued a circular for the selected students to get admitted by March 11.l

Rana Plaza victims urge to publish complete list of dead and missing n Adil Sakhawat Relatives of those who died or were injured in the Rana Plaza collapse gathered in front of the tragic site yesterday, demanding their compensations and urged the government to publish the complete list of dead and missing workers as soon as possible.

They also warned that they would go for tough movement if their demands were not met.

Over 200 workers and relatives of the victims demonstrated at the site under the banner of Bangladesh Garments Workers Solidarity.

Many workers complained that though 10 months had passed, they did not get any compensation yet.

Lovely, a victim, said: “Every month we come here but the government is yet to give us any compensation.”

When asked, many survivors said they lost everything and they would demonstrate till they get their actual compensation.

“We did not want to work on that day. We only worked as the owners forced us. Some of us lost their limbs; some have lost capability to work again. So, the government should assume our responsibility,” Arzina, a survivor, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Taslima Akhter, coordinator of Bangladesh Garments Workers Solidarity, said: “The government should take immediate action to publish a list of dead and missing workers and find out their

JMB leaders used cellphones in jail  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

that the JMB militants had their own mobile phones inside their prison cells and prison van for keeping communication with the other JMB men.

The acting SP, however, said: “So far we have come to know that those three JMB cadres had been supplied with a mini-size cellphone of a company for keeping regular contact with their fellows.”

Asked, the acting SP said the mobile phone had been supplied to them when they were taken to a Dhaka court in connection with their court appearance for one of the cases, but he failed to specify when the cellphones were supplied.

“During primary interrogation Zakaria Himel disclosed their plan to carry out the operation and the ways of how they maintained communication,” said Hasibul Alam.

He said: “Zakariya hails from Chapainawabganj and he is an active JMB operative, who played key role in the operation.”

“Zakariya helped purchase the two of three microbuses used in the op-

eration at Tk21 lakh from ‘Car Hut’ in front of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, he said, adding that one of the microbuses was purchased only four days before the operation and another around two weeks ago.”

Replying to a query, SP Hasibul Alam said those who launched the operation to whisk off the three JMB leaders and carried out attack in Mirjapur where Rakib Hasan Rasel was killed were also JMB cadres.

Col Ziaul Ahsan, additional director general of Rab, agreed with the Tangail SP, saying, “We suspect that the attackers were JMB cadres.”

However, officials of the High Security Jail and Kashimpur 1 prison denied the claim of SP Hasibul Alam and they traded blame between each other.

They said police were trying to cover up their failure by shifting blame on the jail authorities.

“There is no scope of keeping any mobile phone inside the jail. We keep a close watch so that nobody can use mobile phone,” said Abdur Razzak, se-

actual relatives and provide them compensation.”

Many relatives claimed that they were the actual relatives of some missing or dead workers, but DNA authorities told them that the DNA sample provided by them did not match with unidentified bodies.

Taslima also said: “A committee has already been formed according to high court order to provide compensation to survivors and victims of Rana Plaza, but the government and the BGMEA are yet to take initiatives to provide compensation.

“As far as we know, the government has got $40 million as compensation from many foreign retailers, but yet the victims are compelled to demonstrate for their legal compensation.” l

nior superintendent of the High Security Jail.

Jamil Ahmed Chowdhury, senior superintendent of Kashimpur 1 Jail, added: “It was a foul mouthed tirade that the JMB leaders had their own phone inside the jail.”

Meanwhile, the committees formed to probe the role of police in connection with the fleeing of three JMB cadres started their activities yesterday.

Additional Deputy Inspector General of Police (Dhaka Range) Faruq Hossain, chief of one of the probe committees, told the Dhaka Tribune they already started investigation into the incident.

Asked why only three policemen were assigned for escorting such hardened JMB cadres, the police officer said: “We are carrying out investigation, paying highest attention to the question.”

“We are verifying whether police in Gazipur had negligence or had their involvement in the fleeing of those prisoners.” l

Constable Sohel Rana receives treatment after being injured in the JMB prison van ambush in Mymensingh on Sunday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Khaleda bashes DU Chhatra Dal leaders n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla Terming the party’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal a failure in waging street movements, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday said a new committee of the allied body would soon be formed comprising regular students.

“Madam [Khaleda] lambasted us and said a new committee would be formed soon as we had failed to wage any movement on the streets. Regular

students will get priority in the new committee,” a Chhatra Dal leader told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity.

The leader said Khaleda had bashed the president and general secretary of the present committee for completely failing to wage movement and thus would now face the music.

Khaleda held a meeting with the Dhaka University Chhatra Dal leaders at her Gulshan office yesterday, where they blamed the top leaders of the stu-

Political position, age save them from gallows  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

mutiny – he organised and brought out processions at gates no 1 and 5 of the Pilkhana headquarters.

The processions chanted slogans such as “BDR, Janata bhai bhai,” (the BDR soldiers and the people are brothers), said the court that handed down death sentences to 151 former members of the paramilitary border security force for killing 57 army officers and 17 civilians during the two-day mutiny.

“One of his [Torab’s] associates said the BDR men held clandestine meetings at his residence. The BDR men also contacted Pintu before the mutiny. He instigated the rebel soldiers to bring out processions inside the BDR headquarters,” the court said in its judgment.

The prosecution proved that both of them were involved with the conspiracy.

But considering their political profile and old age, they had been given life term sentences instead death, the court said.

The court in its judgment on November 5, however, ordered for punitive departmental actions to be taken against CID Special Superintendent Abdul Kahar Akhand, investigation officer in the BDR carnage case, for conduct-

ing incomplete probe.

Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court also linked chief public prosecutor Anisul Huq and his deputy Mosharraf Hossain Kajal with the incomplete investigation.

Anisul Huq is now the law minister of the Awami League-led government.

Kajal was one of the prosecutors of the Bangabandhu murder case as well.

“The investigator could not extract [any other] information from Torab apart from the confessional statement [that Torab had given]. He also told the court that none of the witnesses gave deposition against him. If nobody gave deposition, then why did he charge him [Torab]?” the judgment said.

The court suspected that the investigator did not record any witness account against Torab out of bias. The judgment against Torab was delivered on the basis of the confessional statement.

Meanwhile, for Pintu, the court took two witness accounts into consideration. The court also said Pintu was a feared person, especially among witnesses, because of his power and influence in his area. l

dent organisation, alleging that most of the committee posts were sold.

Khaleda said there was no problem with Chhatra Dal, but the problem began after Sultan Salahuddin Tuku and Amirul Islam Alim had assumed the top positions.

“Chhatra Dal was active until Tuku and Alim took the helm of the organisation. They will face dire consequences,” the Chhatra Dal leader quoted Khaleda as saying. l

JMB Rakib killed  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

of Rakib Hasan to his family members yesterday afternoon, said Mirzapur police station Officer-in-Charge Golam Mostafa.

“The body was handed over to Rakib’s father Abdus Sobahan around 5.20pm,” he informed.

Bounty amount increased Police yesterday increased the bounty from Tk 2 lakh to Tk 5 lakh each for the capture of the JMB men, who were snatched away by fellow activists from a police van.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Qamrul Ahsan, senior information officer at the Police Headquarters, confirmed the matter and said: “Tk5 lakh will be rewarded to anyone who will be able to capture or help in the arrest of any of the two convicted JMB leaders.”

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Dhaka Range Police Mahfujul Huq Nuruzzaman, earlier on Sunday evening, announced a Tk2 lakh as bounty on the heads of three convicted JMB men.

Meanwhile, the driver of one of the microbus used in the JMB operation, Zakariya Himel, and another JMB suspect Anwar Hossain Rasel were placed on a 20-day remand in two separate cases. l

Real cause of BDR mutiny still a mystery  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

because the “real cause and motive behind the barbaric incident could not be established beyond doubt.”

However, the report that the committee placed identified “the negative attitude of the general BDR members towards the army officers and their discontent over unfulfilled demands” as the primary causes of the mutiny.

“An analysis of the demands gives the impression that such small demands cannot be the main cause of such a heinous incident. These points have been used to influence the general BDR soldiers. The main conspirators may have used these causes to instigate the incident; they themselves worked from behind the curtains to destabilise the nation,” the report said.

However, no initiative to “unearth the real reason behind the killing” has been visible since that report came out

in 2009.

When contacted, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan, who took over last month, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that he could not comment on the matter because he was yet to examine the reports filed in connection with the mutiny.

On November 5 last year, a Dhaka court handed down death sentences to 152 people, including a civilian, and various jail terms to hundreds of BDR personnel in the carnage case.

Although Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka discussed many possible reasons behind the mutiny and the killings, he could not come to any conclusion in this regard.

The judgment said: “Some grievances piled up among the BDR soldiers based on some logical/illogical allegations and demands. But killing of so

many army officers did not match with their grievances.”

“It seems that a quarter took the opportunity to serve their narrow interests by destroying the overall security and stability of the country using the demands of BDR rebels,” the judge observed.

According to the judgment, there were five possible reasons that could have led to the mutiny: those were military and security, diplomacy, economy, politics and society.

Just like the judge and the probe committee, the families of the victims are also still in the dark about the reasons behind the bloody mutiny.

After the pronouncement of verdict in the carnage case, some family members, including the widows, of the slain army officers expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the verdict failed to throw any light on the “real cause.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

FIVE YEARS AFTER THE BDR MUTINY

Resentment, insecurity led to BDR anger n Ashif Islam Shaon The failure of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles’ authorities to realise the depth and seriousness of the grievances – both long-term and short-term – among soldiers and address those were one of the reasons that led to the bloody mutiny in February 2009.

In 1991, members of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles revolted at a border outpost, placing a list of 19 demands.

They distributed leaflets with their demands, and threatened to oust army officers from the force. The situation was resolved by sentencing the mutineers with light punishment.

In 2009, authorities at the BDR’s Pilkhana headquarters had come to learn about the jawans’ demands as they distributed leaflets, but they did not take the matter seriously.

The lessons from recent history were forgotten, resulting in the deaths of 74 people, including 57 army officers, in the mutiny at Pilkhana on February 2526, 2009, a court has observed recently.

The court handed down death sentences to 151 former BDR personnel and a civilian on November 5 last year for murder and torture.

It said the prime intelligence agencies of the country – the Special Branch of police, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and BDR’s own Rifles Security Unit – had shown negligence in dealing with the conspiracy and conspirators before the mutiny broke out. A few RSU members had links with the rebels and the officers failed to keep them under watch.

After the RSU members had found a leaflet in Pilkhana on February 21, they informed the officer concerned about it who in turn informed the BDR Director General. The DG ordered them to prepare counter-leaflets within a day and distribute them.

The prime minister’s life was at risk and the erstwhile BDR authority was liable for this as the premier had visited Pilkhana a day before the mutiny to attend the annual parade, and the rebellion had already been planned by that time.

The rebels were in the final stage to implement their plans – they held a series of secret meetings, even on the day Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit.

A court observed that analysing the Pilkhana tragedy and its brutality, it could not be claimed that the prime minister’s security had been tight and she had been safe there.

It questioned the necessity of holding the extravagant annual parade for

distributed before the 2009 mutiny contained clear threats to the officers.

The authority failed to realise and evaluate the depth of those threats.”

The BDR authority also did not let other intelligence forces know about the leaflets and the threats. Some RSU members had connections with the rebellions.

The court said the paramilitary force had been commanded by army officers for 218 years and there had been a gap between the officers and soldiers since

the very beginning. It was clear that the commanding officers did not trust their divisional BDR officers. A vested interest group used the dissatisfaction and mistrust to spread anger against the officers.

The court also identified some loopholes which had helped the rebels revolt. It said the BDR authority had acted unprofessionally in containing the mutiny and the rescue process.

The BDR and the home ministry had lacked coordination, supervision and accountability.

a paramilitary force like the BDR (now BGB) as it also takes part in the Victory Day parade.

“In history there are some examples that the head of state was assassinated while visiting parades,” it said.

It said the Rifles Security Unit (RSU), the intelligence wing of the now defunct Bangladesh Rifles, had been aware of some development towards the February 25-26, 2009 mutiny in which 74 people, including 57 army officials, were killed. But despite such suspicions, the BDR authority still invited the premier to attend the annual parade.

“Either the RSU chief and his subordinates failed to realise the depth of the grievances among the BDR rank and file, or they knew [about the griev-

ances] but did not inform the authority [of it] willingly,” the court that held the trial of BDR carnage case has observed in the verdict recently.

It also underlined the indifference of the BDR authorities as a failure. It said the authorities concerned had been aware of the grievances but chose to conceal the information fearing that once revealed, it would result in the cancellation of the PM’s visit.

“Lt Col Atiquzzaman, commanding officer of the RSU, had told the court that the rebels spread a leaflet against the army officers, addressing the prime minister, and they got a copy of that on February 21. They were supposed to identify the accused persons and take departmental actions against them.

But they did not,” it said.

“The language of the leaflet proved that the BDR men together had made plans and they were trying to gain sympathy from different persons and authorities by spreading the leaflets so that the grievance can be spread among people,” it said.

In the leaflets they highlighted the BDR’s “Operation Dal Bhat” and urged the premier to investigate DG Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, his wife, and sector commander’s bank accounts to find out what they had achieved from the programme.

They also expressed discontents about the facilities of army officers, running the BDR fair price outlets, delays in getting payments of dearness allowances for duty during the national election, and control of tenders inside

the BDR Pilkhana headquarters.

The rebels also said BDR chief Shakil Ahmed, his wife Naznin Shakil and Dhaka Sector Commander Col Mujibul Haque had been involved in tender manipulation and irregularities in children’s admission to schools and the governance of an English medium school in Pilkhana.

They said if the army officers were not withdrawn, they would remove them through a movement.

“Grievance among the BDR rank and file against the army officers deputed there was increasing day by day. They [jawans] were waiting for a chance to bite the army officers. I do not understand why the authority invited the premier on February 24 even after all this,” the court said. l

The case filed under the Explosives Act in connection with the 2009 BDR mutiny has been transferred from the court of Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman to that of Metropolitan Sessions Judge Jahurul Haque because the former felt embarrassed to conduct the trial.

On February 6, Jahurul Haque issued an order stating that the case had been withdrawn from Md Akhtaruzzaman’s court and placed in his file “for the sake of justice;” but did not mention why the judge felt embarrassed.

However, sources at the law ministry said Akhteruzzaman would be transferred to the Judicial Administration Training Institute in Dhaka soon.

Supreme Court Registrar AKM Shamsul Islam said a proposal for a government order to transfer him to the training institute had been sent to the law ministry.

“The proposal includes the names of some other officials as well. As far as I know, Akhtaruzzaman will be transferred to the Judicial Administration Training Institute,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

In the explosives case filed with the New Market Police Station, a total of 834 BDR (now BGB) members have been made accused and 26 prosecution witnesses have been examined so far. March 3 had been fixed for further hearing.

Apart from the explosives case, a murder case was filed with the same police station in connection with the killing of 74 people including 57 army officials inside Pilkhana on February 25-26 in 2009.

Trial of both the cases began at Jahurul Haque’s court; but on September 15, 2013, the cases were transferred to Akhtaruzzaman’s court. On November 5 last year, Akhteruzzaman handed down death sentences to 151 former BDR personnel and one civilian in the carnage case. In the meantime, the explosives case remained pending.

In the verdict, Akhtaruzzaman observed that Additional Chief Prosecutor Musharraf Hossain Kajol had not cooperated with the court since the case had been transferred. The court also put the same blame on Chief Prosecutor Anisul Huq, now the Law Minister in the Awami League-led government.

Recently, the law minister was asked if there was a connection between the transfer of the case and the observations the judge had made. In reply, he said: “It’s [the case transfer] only because the judge felt embarrassed.

He also said trying the explosives case in a different court would be a good idea because Akhtaruzaman had already delivered judgment in another case filed in connection with the same incident. l

of what had happened on those two fateful days inside Pilkhana some of which the judge had cited in his judgment.

Some of the accused confessed that they had violated some female army officers, the wives of the male officers and some female domestic helps. Some of them they released and others they had killed.

Two of the rape victims, who were gang raped, also narrated their predicaments and experiences from that time.

Some other survivors narrated how their family members were physically and psychologically brutalised.

According to witness accounts, Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed, the then chief of the force, was killed moments after the mutiny broke out. A group of BDR rebels rushed to his house inside Pilkhana soon after. Sensing danger, Skhakil’s wife Naznin Ahmed took refuge in the kitchen but to no avail as the soldiers tracked her down, dragged her out, tortured and eventually shot her to death.

A BDR soldier told this to the court in his confessional statement given under section 164 of the penal code.

Some rogue soldiers violated a 12-year-old domestic help of an army officer and shot her dead.

she narrated.

“They [BDR men] stopped us at the gate, beat me up with rifles and rammed me with boots. Half an hour later, we were confined to the Quarter Guard where many other families were kept,” she recounted.

Officers hunted and killed Immediately after the mutiny started, some army officials took shelter in the toilet of the Darbal Hall. At one stage, they broke open a window and slid to a shade behind the hall. The killers hunted them down and killed them by brushfire.

These brutal murders came out in

confessional statements given by the accused and the witness depositions.

What the court said “They ripped the skin off and cut limbs from the dead bodies of some officers using knives and other sharp tools. The faces of the dead bodies were smashed beyond recognition... [mutineers] killed some officers by shoving rifle barrels and firing right into their mouths. The faces of some officers, who were already dead by then, were burnt with acid.” That was how the trial court described the brutality witnessed by the Pilkhana headquarters of the then BDR, now BGB. l

File photos show glimpses after the February 25-26 BDR massacre at the paramilitary force’s Pilkhana headquarters in 2009. A total of 74 people, including 57 army officers, were killed in the carnage SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN However, no such leaflets were ever made.

In its observation, the court said: “The BDR members had both rational and irrational demands. This court does not understand what made the authorities think that merely distributing counter-leaflets would resolve the problem.”

“Spreading leaflets was not a new technique for soldiers to air their grievances, especially before the annual parade. But it is true that the leaflets

Court accounts brought back a realm of horror n Ashif Islam Shaon

The Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka of the then Bangladesh Rifles turned into a realm of horror during the 33-hour nerve-wrecking mutiny which saw indiscriminate use of firearms and sharp weapons by the soldiers of the country’s border security force.

Prosecution witnesses of the carnage case concluded in November last year, comprised mostly family members of the slain army officers; those officers who survived the onslaught; and a number of soldiers of the paramilitary force.

During the trial, they gave accounts

Prosecution witness in SQ Chowdhury case dies n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong A prosecution witness in the crimes against humanity case against BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury died at a private clinic in Chittagong early yesterday.

Nazim Uddin, 60, died from cardiac arrest at Medical Centre in the port city around 12:30am, said his son Shamsuddin Rokon, adding that his father was buried at his village home of Hathazari upazila.

Nazim Uddin was the 34th prosecution witness in the case.

Nazim, who used to carry arms and ammunition for the freedom fighters during liberation, in his deposition told the court that he had witnessed SQ Chowdhury and his followers detain freedom fighters from different areas of Chittagong and torture them brutally. l

Explosives case transferred as judge felt embarrassed

Some jawans also tried to give their demands a political twist, while some former BDR members in the neighbourhood, their relatives and businessmen also helped the mutineers.

The court recommended that the authority should bring changes to its recruitment and promotion system.

A grade III employee, who is a soldier with an educational qualification including SSC, gets the chance to become a grade I officer as deputy assistant director but their educational background remains the same. They cannot cope up with a Captain who comes from the army on deputation. As a result, they suffer from psychological insecurity. Their salary structures also do not match.

The court recommended opportunity of higher education for soldiers and a probationary period for becoming a grade I officer. There should also be posts of second class officers.

The court also suggested 100% ration for the members of the Border Guard Bangladesh similar to what the army gets, and keeping the BGB members away from any monetary work like the Dal Bhat programme. To upgrade their mentality, the jawans should be trained properly and all BGB members should be provided housing inside Pilkhana.

“The practice of contacting with the force members by political leaders before elections should be banned. Thus political leaders cannot use them, and they cannot use political leaders. Their demands should be placed through proper channels, not through the political leaders.”

The retirement age should be refined and the yearly parade should be stopped. The army officers should be trained before they were posted in the BGB,” it said.

The government should check if there is any deep dissatisfaction in any force like the BDR. l

Hasina’s life was at risk n Ashif Islam Shaon

3

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The mutineers ransacked the houses and looted belongings of many other army officers.

Many army officers’ wives and children, who were spared death, were dealt with abusive words and merciless beating.

“Two soldiers broke into our house.

They dragged me out of the bedroom and kicked my nine-year-old child. He fell on the staircase and dropped to the ground floor,” a victim’s wife told the court.

After looting ornaments from the cabinet, the BDR men left and she, along with her son, rushed to one of the gates of the headquarters to escape,

WAR CRIMES TRIAL

Islam Shaon and n Ashif Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

UPAZILA POLLS

Witnesses : Mir Kashem threatened BNP wins in Hasina’s seat n to chop us into pieces UNB, Rangpur

n Udisa Islam Two new prosecution witnesses against Jamaat leader Mir Kashem Ali have said the accused had threatened to chop them into pieces and dump them in Karnaphuli River during the Liberation War. During their testimonies, the witnesses also accused Kashem of forcing them to disclose information about the plans and positions of freedom fighters.

Sixty-year-old Salauddin, who is the nephew of eighth prosecution witness Eskander Alam Chowdhury, submitted his deposition at the ICT 2 yesterday and corroborated the deposition of his uncle.

“Mir Kashem grilled me at Dalim Hotel and repeatedly asked about the Freedom Fighters. When he failed to get any information, he told me, ‘If you

do not tell me, I will cut you in pieces and dump those in the river Karnaphuli.’ Mir Kashem then asked al-Badr men to beat me more,” said Salauddin alias Chuttu Miah.

Salauddin said his uncles, Eskender and Jakaria, and cousins, Nazim and Jafar, were abducted by al-Badr men on November 30, 1971. All of them were confined and tortured at the Dalim Hotel, before they managed to free themselves with the help of family members.

Following Salauddin’s deposition, his uncle Jakaria, 72, also testified at the court and gave similar description of events as his nephew.

He said armed al-Badr men captured them from their home just four or five days after the Eid-ul-Fitr in 1971. The abducted men were first taken to the MMC Model School in Chandgaon, while all

the confined people were later moved to the Dalim Hotel, Jakaria added.

The witness told the tribunal that some al-Badr men came and flooded the room with water to prevent them from sleeping on the floor.

After their brief depositions, defence counsel Advocate Mizanul Islam cross-examined the witnesses, suggesting that both of them were giving deposition under the instructions of the prosecution. Both witness disagreed with the defence counsel.

Following the cross-examination, the two-member ICT 2 adjourned the hearing until Tuesday.

Kashem, who is facing 14 charges for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971, was produced at the tribunal during the deposition. l

BNP-backed candidate Nur Mohammad Mondal was elected chairman of Pirganj upazila in the upazila parishad poll yesterday.

Nur Mohammad bagged 74,992 votes against Awami League-backed Chhayadat Hossain Bakul’s 70,877

votes and Awami League’s rebel candidate Habib Mukit’s 13,872 votes.

The results of the election to the upazila, which is in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s constituency, were announced around 11:45pm.

Voting in the upazila ended peacefully amid tight security. There were 262,735 registered voters in the upazila. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Tk60lakh snatched from bKash agents n Our correspondent, Barisal Masked miscreants hijacked Tk60lakh from agents of bKash, a mobile banking service provider company, from near one of its transaction points in Hospital Road area in Barisal around 1:30pm yesterday.

They fired four rounds of bullets and hurled five crude bombs injuring four people, three bKash agents and one pedestrian.

Shahinur Rahman, a bKash agent and manager of a shop, Wave Enterprise in the area, lodged a case with Kotwali police station in this connection He said Monir Hossain and Md Ibrahim, two sales executives of bKash were on their way to office on a rickshaw after collecting Tk5lakh from sub-agents and withdrawing Tk54.5lakh from IFIC bank which was situated about half a kilometer away from the office.

“As they reached near the office, a group of masked miscreants came on a private car and fired gunshots. They punctured the tires of the rickshaw and snatched away the two bags filled with the money from the two officials,” he said.

They also blast cocktails on the spot that created panic in the area and injured a pedestrian Chanbaru, 60, said police.

“Local youths chased the hijackers on motorcycle and stopped it at Boidyapara area, about two kilometers from the spot, They caught the driver Shahidul Islam, 35, and gave him a good beating, however, the other miscreants managed to flee,” said Shahinur Rahman.

The car and the driver were handed over to police. The three injured bKash agents are Monir Hossain, 26, Md Ibrahim, 28, and Reaz, 25.

Nineteen crude bombs were recovered from the car and two sharp

Health Services get new DG n Moniruzzaman Uzzal Prof Din Md Nurul Hoque, director of National Institute of Ophthalmology Hospital, has been appointed as the new Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

On the other hand, the incumbent DG of the DGHS Prof Khondokar Md Sifayetullah was made the OSD (Officer on Special Duty).

A circular was issued yesterday in this regard.

Asked about the transfer, MM Niazuddin, health secretary, said he did not know about this change, adding that the health minister knew the reason well. At one stage of public job, transfer was a regular process, he also said.

One of the high officials of the health ministry, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that current DG was not “physically fit” to run such a big administration.

Despite several attempts over mobile phone, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim could not be reached for his comments in this regard.

Sources said a few more transfer orders of high officials of the DGHS would be issued within a short time. l

A local brings out crude bombs from a bag and disposes them in a bucket full of water is Barisal yesterday weapons from adjacent areas, said Shakhawat Hossain, officer-incharge of Kotwali police station.

The arrested driver Shahidul claimed to be innocent and told that the three

dacoits had rented him from capital’s Mirpur-2 area on Friday.

“They first went to Subidpur village under Patuakhali district and stayed there. After getting assurance from their

sources, they headed for Barisal in the morning when another man had joined them,” said police quoting the detainee.

After visiting the spot, ATM Mujahidul Islam, deputy commissioner (south)

HC: Sue alleged rapist within 48 hours

n Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday ordered police to file cases against the accused in the rape case of a college girl within 48 hours, in response to a writ petition of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.

The writ was lodged on Sunday following a local media report published on February 16 that a college girl in Baroikhali of Srinagar upazila of Munsiganj district had been raped by her neighbour Salam Sheikh, 52, on February 12.

The report said Union Parisad members Jaher Morol and Kalam had fined

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday canceled the High Court verdict that granted a six-week anticipatory bail to BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in a money laundering case.

The five-member top court bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain yesterday came up with the ruling in response to an appeal lodged on February 16 by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

ACC Counsel Khurshid Alam Khan said: “As a result of the Appellate Division verdict, the commission if necessary can arrest Mosharraf.”

Khurshid told the court Mosharraf could not be granted anticipatory bail as there was specific allegation against him relating to money laundering, a financial crime. Moudud Ahmed and AJ Mohammad Ali argued for the BNP leader.

On February 10, the High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed gave the anticipatory bail to the BNP leader. l

n Nazmus Sakib

City

High

Low

28.8 30.2 28.5 27.8 29.5 29.4 31.2 31.0

18.7 17.4 15.8 16.4 17.0 16.2 15.9 18.8

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:08am 6:23am 12:12am 4:22pm 5:59pm 7:15pm

Source: IslamicFinder.org

Salam Sheikh with Tk3lakh and exempted him. On February 13, the son of the alleged, with the help of Kalam, threatened father of the victim to leave the area. Two days later, the victim committed suicide.

It was alleged that Srinagar Police Officer-in-Charge Mahbubur Rahman refrained from filing a case in exchange of bribe, according to the report.

The bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Md Habibul Gani passed the order.

Manzill Murshid, the lawyer of the petitioner, said the HC had ordered the police to take legal action against the

responsible persons “in accordance with the provision of law.”

Therefore, two cases should be lodged – one for rape and another for suicide, he said.

Yesterday the High Court also ordered Srinagar OC to appear before the court on April 2 and submit an updated report in the case within 10 days following the court order.

The HC also directed the home secretary to form a committee of civilians within seven days for investigating into the allegation of taking bribe against the OC and submit a report in this regard within 30 days. l

Witness: Attack was pre-planned to occupy property n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Weather to remain dry n UNB

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

of Barisal Metropolitan Police, said a nine-member team of police and Rapid Action Battalion had started conducting drives to nab the absconding miscreants and recover the money. l

Members of Detective Branch of police in a special raid arrested two persons early yesterday on charges of killing Swechchasebok League leader Mahbubur Rahan Rana on January 23.

The two are Kamran, 20, and Saddam, 21, close associates of Roni, the city’s Mogbazar-based godfather.

The DB said the duo confessed to them about the murder.

The lawmen also recovered a firearm and two rounds of bullets from their possession.

Addressing a press briefing yesterday morning at media and community centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB, mentioned that Roni and his cohorts killed the leader in a preplanned way to establish supremacy over cable business in Mogbazar area.

The killers used sharp weapons and firearms for killing the leader, Monirul said, adding that they also blasted crude bombs and fired gunshots while leaving the murder spot.

He added that they found the pistol and bullets recovered from the arrestees’ possession matched with those recovered from the killing spot.

Acting on a tip-off, a DB team made the arrest of the two from Shibchar police station under Madaripur district, said Monirul.

“The arrestees would be produced before the court for a 10-day remand to know the details of the incident and we are looking for other criminals who are still hiding,” he added. l

Supreme Court cancels Mosharraf’s bail

WEATHER

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

Night and day temperatures might remain nearly unchanged over the country, Met Office said.

The sun sets in the capital at 5:59pm today and rises at 6:24am tomorrow.

Country’s highest temperature 31.6 degree Celsius was recorded in Sitakunda and lowest 12.9 degrees in Srimangal yesterday.

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

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Two arrested for killing Swechchasebok League leader n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Workers use a staff bus as a ladder to renovate the entrance of the National Museum at the capital's Shahbagh yesterday. The National Museum will celebrate its 100th anneversary this year RAJIB DHAR

Ruhal Haque sorry for ‘mistake’ in affidavit n Syed Samiul Basher Anik Former health minister AFM Ruhal Haque yesterday apologised through the media for making an unintentional mistake on wealth information while filing the affidavit for vying for the 10th parliamentary poll.

He said: “While filing the affidavit for participating in the poll in 2014, I unintentionally and accidentally mentioned my wife’s bank balance as Tk75,311,240, while the actual figure would be Tk4,517,092, as of June 30, 2013.

“Later, I have submitted the amendment to the district returning officer through affidavit, and as per my knowledge, the Election Commission has received the amendment. I apologise to the activists of Bangladesh Awami League, doctors and physicians society for the unintentional mistake,” the for-

mer minister added. Ruhal Haque, who was elected an MP in the 10th parliament uncontested, was addressing reporters after the Anti-Corruption Commission questioned him yesterday at its Segunbagicha headquarters on charges of accumulating illegal wealth and assets.

In response to other queries on appointment irregularities and accumulation of illegal wealth, the AL leader said he has given statements to the ACC in these regards.

An ACC team, which included Deputy Director Mirja Zahidul Alam, interrogated the Awami League leader from 11am to 1:45pm regarding the allegations of illegally acquired wealth and property and the phenomenal rise of wealth by the former minister.

Ruhal Haque had Tk88 lakh in his bank account in 2008, but the amount jumped to Tk2.63 crore in 2013. l

Fifth prosecution witness Nirmal Shil of the Banshkhali carnage case yesterday said the attackers set his house on fire in a pre-planned manner to occupy his property.

In his witness deposition before a Chittagong court, Nirmal also said: “Amin Chairman and his cadres attacked our house and torched it, leaving 11 family members including an infant burnt alive.”

Third Additional District and Sessions Judge Hla Mong, after recording the deposition, adjourned the case proceedings till March 2.

In his deposition, Nirmal described what he had listened from his elder brother Bimal Shil, the lone survivor of the attack. He said being informed by Bimal

Rajshahi city mayor, former mayor sent to jail n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi A Rajshahi court yesterday sent City Corporation Mayor Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul and BNP Joint Secretary GeneralMizanur Rahman Minu to jail along with 34 other BNP-led alliance activists in connection with police constable Siddhartha Sarker murder case.

Judge Sheikh Merina Sultana of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court passed the order, rejecting their bail pleas after they surrendered before the court in the afternoon.

Bulbul and Minu were, however, enjoying bail granted by the High Court.

Among the accused that were sent to prison are 15 BNP-backed candidates of Rajshahi City Corporation. They were councillors Mahbub Sayed Tuku of ward 2, Habibur Rahman of ward

3, Ruhul Amin Tulu of ward 4, Sohrab Hossain Sheikh of ward 7, Iqbal Hossain Dildar of ward 12, Robiul Islam Milu of ward 13, Mohammod Tutul of ward 14, Belal Ahmed of ward 16, Monir Hossain of ward 18, Nuruzzaman Tito of ward 19, Tarikul AlomPoltu of ward 25, Nu rMohammod Mollah of ward 26, Anowarul Alom Azom of ward 27 and Shahjahan Ali of ward number 29.

On 26 December 2013, at least nine policemen were injured as miscreants hurled several crude bombs at a police pick-up van at Rajarhata in Rajshahi.

The BNP-led alliance was holding a procession at that time. The team of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police came under attack when a convoy of police was patrolling in front of Loknath High School in the city. l

over phone around 3:30am, he reached his residence around 6am and found 11 of his family members burnt alive.

A group of miscreants on November 18, 2003 set the house of Tejendra Shil at Shilpara in Banshkhali of Chittagong on fire, killing 11 members of the family, including a child.

Tejendra’s son Bimal Shil filed a case the next day against 30-35 unidentified people on charges of murder, looting and arson attack.

Investigation Officer Hla Ching Pru on January 9, 2011 submitted a supplementary charge sheet against 39 people including Aminur, chairman of Kalipur union, also the president of Kalipur union BNP. On September 12, 2011, the court framed charges against 38 accused including Amin Chairman. l

ARNAB MURDER CASE

5 asked to surrender to lower court n Tribune Report The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday ordered five accused in Arnab murder case to surrender before the lower court.

The four-member top court bench led by Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana passed the order after permitting the prosecution to lodge an appeal against a High Court verdict that acquitted the five accused.

Moreover, the bench also directed the lower court to grant bail to the accused after their surrender, Khurshid Alam Khan, the lawyer of the petitioner told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the case statement, Arnob Das, 8, of Kaliganj upazila’s Saihati village was found dead on June 21, 2000 after Mukul Gazi had taken the child in the name of giving a parrot. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Moghbazar-Mouchak road turns impassable People face unbearable miseries travelling through the road for the construction works of Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover management of the contactors of the n Abu Hayat Mahmud flyover project.

The Moghbazar-Mouchak road in the capital has virturally turned impassable due to the ongoing construction of the flyover on the road.

The commuters have to face unbearable miseries travelling through the roads in Moghbazar, Mouchak, Malibagh, Shantinagar Eskaton, Dilu Road, Siddeswari, FDC intersection, Shatrasta and Rampura due to ongoing construction works of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover project.

Commuters of different vehicles have to wait for hours on the road.

Vehicles are often stuck in potholes in the dilapidated road.

Locals, commuters and pedestrians said the roads went out of order as the contractor and the authorities concerned for the under-construction flyover did not take necessary steps.

Anwar Hossain, a resident of Moghbazar, said: “Due to potholes in the roads, vehicles cannot move easily.”

“Paddled rickshaw and CNG-run auto-rickshaws get stuck up in the potholes and also topple down leaving the commuters injured,” he said.

“Not only rickshaws but also buses topple down, causing accidents,” he added.

Anwar also said it has become very difficult to come out of home as the roads have turned dilapidated.

Jahanara Begum, standing at the Moghbazar intersection, said: “I have been waiting for Skyline bus service for half an hour. But the bus failed to reach the station due to traffic jam, which is a daily hassle in the area.”

She said the road narrowed for mis-

“The contactors have put construction materials on the road making it very narrow and they have not taken steps to fill up the potholes in the rest parts of the road which are used for vehicular movements,” she said.

While visiting the Moghbazar-Mouchak road yesterday, it was found that a passenger bus of Sky Line toppled on a bus of Ajmeri Paribahan, while the wheels had become stuck into the potholes.

Glasses of both buses had broken down and many passengers were injured critically due to accident.

The Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover project is being implemented by the local government engineering department under the ministry of local government and rural development and cooperatives. The estimated cost of the four-lane flyover is around Tk 7.73 billion.

The Danish and Bangladesh joint venture firms M/S Simplex-Navana JV and Bangladesh-India joint venture firm, MCCC-4 ACL-ODC will complete the construction of the flyover. Toma Construction carries out construction works on sub-contract.

Sanjay Kumar, project manager of Toma Constructions told the Dhaka Tribune: “We continuously fill up the potholes. But it is only a temporary solution.” Sanjay attributed the delay to an unplanned and faulty installation of utility lines.

He, however, hoped the flyover construction will be completed by December, 2015. l

The ongoing construction of the Moghbazar-Malibagh flyover forces buses line up along the capital’s Malibagh area yesterday

Scuffle at DMCH over patient’s death

AL-backed panel sweeps RUTA polls

n Mohammad Jamil Khan

The Awami League-backed yellow panel teachers won all 15 executive committee posts in the Rajshahi University Teachers’ Association (RUTA) polls yesterday.

The election was held at Zubeeri building from 8am to 2pm. Chief Election Commissioner Professor Saiful Islam declared the result of the polls at 6:45pm. He said a total of 969 votes out 1,183 was recorded to be cast.

Yellow panel Professor Kamrul Hasan Majumdar of Geology and Mining Department was elected as the president receiving 507 votes. Professor Pranab Kumar Pandey of Public Administration Department was elected as the general secretary with 459 votes.

Professor Morttuja Khaled of History, Professor M Habibur Rahman of Chemistry and Professor Moshihur Rahman of Mass Communication and Journalism Department were also elected as vice-president, treasurer and joint secretary respectively. l

A scuffle broke out between doctor and relatives of a patient who died at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) yesterday.

According to sources, Jahanara Begum, 53, wife of Mohammad Islmail, hailed from Bakerganj of Barisal was admitted to medicine ward at the DMCH on February 21 for cardiac related disease.

As her condition deteriorated, doctors transferred her to the nephrology department where she died at 5.00pm.

Sohid , son of Jahanara, became upset at the incident and became violent inside the hospital.

Noticing such incidents, Dr Ayesha Begum of the department tried to run away from the spot and fell down on the stairs, hurting her nose.

Later, she made a complaint with on duty police officials against Sohid and Ma-

sud Rana, son-in-law of victim. Following the complaint, the police arrested them.

Contacted, Dr Ayesha Begum said: “The patient died as she had been suffering from different diseases including cardiac problems and we had nothing to do about it.”

“But her relatives attacked me,” she said.

Dr Khaja Abdur Gafur, assistant director at the DMCH said the patient’s relatives confirmed the attack on the doctor.

Asma Khatun, sister of victim, told the Dhaka Tribune that the hospital was almost out of doctors, and her mother died due to irresponsibility of doctors.

“Despite all of this, they illegally filed case against my husband and brother,” she said.

“We already lost my mother and are now facing new harassment,” Asma said with tears. l

n RU Correspondent

FOCUS BANGLA

Two illegal ship-breaking yards evicted after five years n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong A joint team of district administration and forest department yesterday evicted two shipyards which were set up by destroying coastal forest at Maddha Sonaichhari of Sitakunda upazila five years back.

After the eviction drive, the Forest Department has already started planting about 17,500 different varieties of plants on about 15 acres of recovered land, said RSM Munirul Islam, deputy conservator of forests in Chittagong.

Abdullah Arif Mohammad, assistant commissioner of Chittagong, who led the drive, said they had evicted SK Steel and SK Shipyard, owned by AKM Aminul Islam following a direction of the Supreme Court.

He said a bench of the appellate division of the court led by the chief justice on October 6, 2013 had ordered to evict

the shipyards built in 2009 while the bench gave a timeframe to complete the eviction by February 27.

“The court also ordered the district administration not to lease the land in future,” said the assistant commissioner, adding that the court also asked to submit report after re-foresting on the land.

In 2009, the illegal occupiers destroyed the forest under Banshbaria beat of Sitakunda range of Forest department and then the forest department filed a case against the grabbers.

The defence received a short-term stay order from the Supreme Court after filing a writ petition with a claim that they have taken the land on lease from the district administration, however, the forest department obstructed them in setting up their establishments.

After visiting the spot, the Dhaka Tribune found that the local people are happy with the eviction.

Officials and employees of the forest department were found busy to plant different trees on the land.

Kamal Uddin, one of the relatives of owner AKM Aminul Islam, said they had not get any notice from court.

The drive started around 10am and continued till 6pm.

One Selim, a local resident, said an influential quarter felled all trees in 2009 and set up the ship-breaking yards which are causing environment pollution in the areas.

The deputy forests conservator Munirul said about 400 acres land of forest department were occupied by 22 ship-breaking yards.

“We lodged cases against the illegally occupiers who destroyed the forest,” he said; adding that the forest department built the mangrove and non-mangrove forest in 1991-92 to protect the coastal belt. l

JnU students besiege VC office n Mohammad Jamil Khan On the ninth day of the continuous movement by the students of Jagannath University to retrieve one of their grabbed residential halls, the agitated students besieged the office of their vice-chancellor yesterday.

The university authorities, in an emergency syndicate meeting, yester-

day formed a five-member probe body led by Prof Habibur Rahman, university syndicate member and pro-VC of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

JnU Vice-Chancellor Mizanur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that the committee would submit a report on the irregularities and untoward incident surrounding the students’ move-

ment that happened on Sunday within seven working days.

The agitated students and teachers of JnU as part of their demonstration besieged the VC office at 2pm for around 20 minutes to press home their demand.

Earlier around 9am, the students and teachers brought out separate protest rallies from the campus and staged

Students of Jagannath University stage a demonstation in front of the National Press Club area in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

demonstration near the National Press Club by blocking the road around 11:30am.

The agitated members of JnU Teachers’ Association also wore black badges as part of their demonstration.

During the demonstration, agitated students set fire on tires, suspending all vehicular movement in the area.

Later, they withdrew the blockade and formed a human chain in the area.

Shibli Noman, assistant commissioner of Raman division, said the vehicular movement remained suspended for an hour and was restored after the students withdrew the barricade around 1:30pm.

During the human chain, the teachers’ association protested Sunday’s police attack on the demonstrating students and teachers.

The teachers claimed that police attacked the innocent students while they were holding demonstration peacefully for their legal demand.

The ninth day demonstration ended with declaration of today’s programme – the teachers will hold human chain on the campus, and agitation and protest rally by the students.

Meanwhile, JnU Journalist Association expressed their concern over the police attack and demanded a fare investigation.

Earlier on Sunday, at least 200 hundred students were injured during a clash with police.

The students had been agitating to retrieve Tibbet Hall and nine other halls that were grabbed by influential quarters.

The students declared that they would continue agitation till their demands were met. l

Students of East West University take part in the 13th convocation of the university in the city yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Nahid for legal action against errant private universities n Tribune Report The government will take legal action against the universities which are not being operated as per law.

Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid said yesterday at the 13th convocation of East West University, held at its campus .

“Some private universities could not fulfill conditions of temporary certificate. We have given them time. Some of them have failed to accomplish conditions even after giving time,” Nahid said.

Nahid presided over the function as a representative of President Abdul Hamid, chancellor of the university.

Mentioning the EWU one of well performing private universities, he said: “Some private universities are doing well.”

He urged the new graduates of the university to use their knowledge for the development of the country.

A total of 1341 students received their certificates this year-convocation.

Of them, four students got gold medal for their outstanding performance.

Eminent writer Selina Hossain delivered the convocation speech. She urged the students to be a complete human beings by cultivating human values along with achieving academic degrees.

President of the Board of Trustees of the EWU and former Governor of Bangladesh Bank Mohammed Farashuddin said: “Most of the graduates of the university are employed and in good position in different national and international organizations. He said Tk40 crore was given to the students in the last 17 years. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Noakhali residents reel from gas crisis Consumers get only one-fourth of their demanded gas as production at Sundalpur field falls sharply n Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur Thousands of people in Lakshmipur have been suffering for the last two months because of a serious shortage of gas at Sundalpur field at Shahjadpur, but the authorities are yet to tackle the situation.

Apart from hampering household activities, the ongoing gas crisis is also encumbering trading at different business establishments, especially in hotels and restaurants, as well as filling stations.

Sources at Bakhrabad Gas Company Ltd, Lakshmipur office, said there are a total of 4,874 household gas lines in different residential areas in the district. Moreover, the numbers of commercial gas lines are 65. Two CNG filling stations and two captive power plants also running with gas, but un-

fortunately most of them have almost stopped running since the gas scarcity.

Deputy Assistant Engineer Md Borhan Uddin of Bakhrabad Gas Company Ltd, Lakshmipur office acknowledged the gas crisis. He said: “The problem will be solved immediately.”

Around 2.25 MMSCFD (million standard cubic feet per day) gas is needed to meet the demand of the consumers of the district and the amount of gas are supplied from Sundalpur gas field at Shahjadpur in Noakhali.

Consumers of the district is now getting only one-fourth of their demanded gas as gas supply from the field is being hampered because of saline water and sand.

A visit to different areas of the district, including Lamchori, Modin Ullah Housing, Mobarak Colony, Shilpy

Colony and Banchan Nagar, the correspondent found that many people cannot cook for lack of gas.

Housewives have to wait till midnight to cook food, but then they also get very minimum gas as industrialists run their factories at that time.

Many of consumers, finding no alternatives, have already bought stoves to cook food.

People, who do not have ability, have made earthen ovens to cook food by using firewood.

“We are compelled to adopt a changed lifestyle for the ongoing gas crisis,” said a housewife, who lives in Lamchori area.

A consumer, expressing irritation, said: “We have not stopped paying bill in the last two months, why they do not provide gas most of the time of a day?”

He said there were no gas supply in the district from 7am to 11am every day which is pick time for consumers.

Besides, the correspondent has also found that over 200 CNG-run auto rickshaws and microbuses were waiting in queue gas in front of Green Life Filling Station located in Police Line area beside the Dhaka-Raipur Highway for refueling their vehicles.

A truck driver said they started standing in queue every day from 7am and got gas around 1pm.

Manager of the filling station Md Abdus Salam said every day around 3,000 vehicles came to the filling station to refuel their vehicles.

“For the last two months, they have been suffering much as gas production has drastically reduced at the local gas field. l

2ND PHASE OF UPAZILA POLLS

‘Recurrence of violence to be stopped’ n Tribune Report The Election Commissioner yesterday asked the returning officers and presiding officers to take stern actions against those who will violate electoral code during the 2nd phase of upazila poll.

“Some stray incidents of violence occurred in the first phase of upazila polls. The commission has directed the returning officers and law enforcers to take stern actions so that no incidents of violence take place again during the upazila elections,” said Election Commissioner Mohammad Shah Nawaz while talking reporters at the EC secretariat.

The second phase elections to 116 upazila parishads is scheduled to be held on February 27.

The EC said Army, Rab, police, Border Guard Bangladesh and Ansar mem-

bers will be deployed at the upazilas on today.

The EC has asked all concerned to finish campaign by the midnight today.

The commission has also appointed 464 executive and 116 judicial magistrates for the second phases of upazila poll, the commissioner said.

In the phase, 1,376 candidates are contesting. Of the total candidates, 515 will vie for chairmen posts, 521 for vicechairmen and 340 for reserved women vice-chairmen posts.

Of total, 1, 98, 51, 176 would apply their voting rights where 99, 37, 741 are male and 99, 13, 435 are female. The commission has setup 8, 136 polling centres and 54, 436 polling booths for holding the polls.

EC officials also said the EC has appointed 8136 presiding officers and 1,08, 872 polling officers in these polls. l

Broom rally protests pollution n Our Correspondent, Natore

Three houses looted in Satkhira n Tribune Desk

Local people brought out a broom procession in Natore yesterday, protesting throwing of chemical-mixed wastage into the Narod River from Jamuna Distillery.

Hundreds of people from all strata of life started the procession in Kanaikhali area of the district town and gathered in front the Natrote Press Club after parading different thoroughfares of the town.

Narod Banchau Andolon District Committee President Monjurul Morshed Lulu, Secretary Abdul Kaiyum and Organising Secretary Jakir Hussein, among others, spoke at the rally.

Speakers at the protest rally urged the Jamuna distillery authorities to stop throwing of chemical-mixed wastage into the river to save the river from pollution.

They also demanded the government arrest Chairman of Jamuna Group Nurul Islam Babul immediately for the offence.

After the meeting, the participants burned a few pieces of Jamuna group’s daily newspaper the daily Jugantor. l

Robbers looted cash money, gold ornaments and other valuables from three houses at Thalna village in Kaliganj upazila early yesterday.

Police and locals said a gang of armed robbers, numbering 12-14, entered the house of one Shashan Bairagi at about 1:30am breaking open grill and door.

The hoodlums took the family members hostage at gunpoint and looted five tolas of gold ornaments, Tk 18, 000 in cash and other valuables from the house, reports UNB. Later, the criminals looted valuables and gold ornaments from two other people of the minority community – Keshob Kumar Sarkar and Haran Mandal--from a house adjacent to Shashan’s in the same way.

They also attacked the fish enclosure of Dulal Bairagi of the village and chopped him with sharp weapons, leaving him injured.

Critically injured, Dulal was admitted to Kaliganj Health Complex.

Officer-in-charge of Kaliganj Police Station Ghulam Rahman said on information, police visited the spot and they were trying to arrest the robbers. l

One stabbed to death in Bogra n Our Correspondent, Bogra A person has been stabbed to death by miscreants in the Atgram Kalitoli area under Dupchanchia upazila in Bogra on Sunday night.

The deceased was identified as Binchher Ali. Dupchanchia police station Officer-in-Charge Riaz Uddin Ahmed said: “He was called out of his house over the cell phone at night.”

“Later his body was found near the house on Monday morning,” he added.

The OC said the reason behind the murder could not be known. l

Student council poll held in Panchagarh n Tribune Report The elections to the Student Council in all 653 Government Primary Schools in five upazilas of Panchagarh were held yesterday.

The primary school students conducted the elections on their school premises successfully at their own, practiced their franchise and elected a seven-member executive committee of their SC in each of the schools through the successful voting process.

After the elections, the elected children leaders, their teachers and parents hoped that the process that began from their early childhood would help them creating leadership, democratic norms and values by exhibiting tolerance to the opinions of others.

The students of class three, four and five cast their votes from 9am to 1pm and elected the seven-member SC among the competing candidates in each of the 653 Government Primary Schools in the district.

Officials of the Upazila Primary Education Department, teachers and school managing committee members, guardians and commoners of all ages enjoyed the elections. The students conducted the duties as the executive magistrates, presiding officers and assistant presiding officers, polling officers, security officers and law enforcers under the supervisions of their teachers.

Panchagarh District Primary Education Officer Nasir Uddin Ahmed said the main objectives of SC elections are to create democratic mentality and attitude among the child students and flourish their vision and virtues for future leadership to lead the nation. l

Passengers ride a shallow-engine run vehicle, commonly known as Nosimon-Korimon or Votvoti, in Jhenaidah yesterday, even though there is a direct prohibition from the High Court over such vehicles FOCUS BANGLA

BCL men mutilate two Chhatra Dal activists n Our Correspondent, Noakhali Chhatra League activists allegedly amputated body parts of two Chhatra Dal activists in Gangchil village of Companiganj upazila in Noakhali district on Sunday.

The victims are two brothers – Aminul Hoque Masud and Serajul Hoque Babul – sons of Haji Sayedul Hoque of the same village and activ-

ists of the local unit of Chhatra Dal. Witnesses said a group of Chhatra League activists had arrived at the Gangchil market area on motorbikes and attacked the Chhatra Dal men around 10pm.

First they cut off Masud’s hand from the wrist and when his brother Babul tried to protest they cut off his fingers.

They vandalised the local BNP of-

fice for half an hour and left the spot.

Locals and relatives of the victims admitted them to the Noakhali Medical College Hospital.

Sajedur Rahaman Sajid, officerin-charge of Companiganj police station, said upon information police had gone to the spot and taken the situation under control.

Three suspects had been arrested in this connection, he said. l

Executive Engineer, Laxmipur O&M Division Bangladesh Water Development Board S.R. Road, Laxmipur

INVITATION FOR E-TENDER Invitation Reference No.

T-1/631 Date: 19-02-2014

Tender ID (form e-GP portal)

6626

Name of the Work

Temporary protective work at Chandragonj from km. 38.605 to km.

38.650 & km 37.710 to 38.755, Total = 90 m in connection with Non-Development Revenue Budget under Laxmipur O&M Division, BWDB, Laxmipur during the year 2013-2014

Tender ID (form e-GP portal)

6632

Name of the Work

Repair & maintenance work of existing pipe sluice & brech closing from km.

5.500 to km. 5.537 at Polder 59/2 (Tie embankment) in connection with Non-Development Revenue Budget under Laxmipur O&M Division, BWDB, Laxmipur during the year 2013-2014.

Tender ID (form e-GP portal)

6634

Name of the Work

Re-sectioning of Embankment from km.

167.500 to km. 167.800=0.300 km. of Polder 59/2 at Upazilla Kamalnagar, District-Laxmipur in connection with Non-Development Revenue Budget under Laxmipur O&M Division, BWDB, Laxmipur during the year 2013-2014.

Tender ID (form e-GP portal)

6637

Name of the Work

Re-sectioning of Embankment in connection with Polder 59/2 (extension) at Balurchar from km. 4.000 to km. 4.350 in connection with Non-Development Revenue Budget under Laxmipur O&M Division, BWDB, Laxmipur during the year 2013-2014.

Database formed to curb child migration n Our correspondent, Barisal Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) issued identity cards to children under risk of migration in Barisal yesterday.

They introduced a unique online registration system for children to contain child migration and promote migrated children’s rights.

The programme held at Barisal Circuit House is a part of BNWLA’s Rural Urban Child Migration Project.

The organisers called up to implement the system countrywide.

“Under this system, registra-

tion cells have been set up at the local government unit offices. The cells will issue registration cards containing photo and detail of the child and his family, to the children marked as vulnerable in the locality,” said Advocate Salma Ali, executive director BNWLA. “A copy of the card would be preserved by the employer of the child and another would be preserved by the child itself. The children’s data would remain saved on the computer network. The data would be provided upon request with due monitoring,” she said.

Referring to a statistics, the project officials said 2,183 children aged in between 5-17 years were under the risk of migration in Chandramohon, Tungibaria, Charkawa and Charbaria unions under Barisal while 777 children from ward 9 and 10 under Barisal City Corporation had already been registered on the database.

A total of 2250 children would be issued with identity cards under the programme within the current month. European Union and Save the Children International provided technical and financial assistance to the project. l

This is an online Tender, where only e-Tender will be accepted in the National e-GP portal and no offline/hard copies will be accepted. To submit e-Tender, registration in the National e-GP System Portal (http://www.eprocure.gov. bd) is required. The fees for downloading the e-Tender Documents from the National e-GP System portal have to be deposited online through any registered Bank’s branches up to Banking hours on 19.03.2014.

Further information and guidelines are available in the National e-GP System Portal and from e-GP help desk (helpdesk@eprocure.gov.bd) (0176262552831). (http://www.eprocure.gov.bd/).

Students vote at a student council election at a primary school in Rajshahi yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Pani-553/13-14 DG-36/14 (9"×3)

(A.T.M Khalequzzaman) Executive Engineer Laxmipur O&M Division BWDB, Laxmipur.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

7

Tuesday, February 25, 2013

An appeal to our senses

No wall around the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex, please!

O

n Moin Ghani ur Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex (parliament building), designed by the renowned architect Louis Kahn, is recognised globally as one of the greatest architectural monuments of the 20th century. Today it may be considered as part of our cultural heritage.

However, the sanctity of the design of this majestic building complex could not be protected due to lack of artistic sensibilities on the part of government officials, the greed for land, and paranoia about security of public servants.

All these factors have led to the creeping disfigurement of this national monument; the latest being the mindless construction of a metal bar fence around the main building of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban.

The unplanned urban expansion of Dhaka city over the last few decades has meant that today the fields surrounding the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex are one of the handful of open spaces where the citizens can go for recreation.

The current wall construction project will effectively cage the parliament building and fence off the citizens from the surrounding fields.

This will mean that yet another open green space will be taken away from the citizens.

History of the construction Louis Kahn, the famous and well-respected American architect based in Philadelphia, was commissioned to design a national assembly complex in the 1950s by the Pakistan Government.

Apparently, the Pakistan Government wanted to create a monument, which would rival and surpass the Chandigarh Legislative Assembly Building in India designed by another leading architect of the time, Le Corbusier.

Kahn was thus commissioned to design what was to become the “second capital” of Pakistan in Dhaka.

When Kahn provided the initial Master Plan it contained a blueprint for the future construction of the entire city.

The Master Plan envisaged a planned urban city with the national assembly building as the focal star at its centre.

The construction of our Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex began in 1961, almost a decade before the birth of Bangladesh. Louis Kahn himself visited Dhaka and supervised some of the initial works. During his visit he inspected the site and got a feel for the country and this was reflected in his designs.

He ensured that the materials used for the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban could be obtained from local sources. He went as far as to train the local masons and the construction workers how to create the rough concrete blocks which are inlaid with bands of white marble. He supervised the creation and production of the red bricks which were to be used in the surrounding buildings.

The construction of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban took over two decades and was completed in 1982.

Since its completion it has come to be recognised as not just the most significant building in Bangladesh but, architecturally, one of the most significant works of the 20th century in the world.

The parliament complex have suffered periodic defacement at the hands of the authority which have been insensitive to its architectural beauty umn of light, and each brick has significance and contributes to the overall ascetic beauty of the entire complex.

Deviations and changes in the composition and structure of the individual buildings, without any thought as to the overall composition and beauty of the complex, only diminished the value of the entire monument.

When one gets a bird’s eye of the entire complex one realizes that the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban is actually meant to be a star in the middle of a crescent, signified by the crescent lake. This was symbolic of the star and crescent that existed in the Pakistan flag at the time the project was commissioned.

The core of the building that houses the legislative assembly is a domed amphitheatre that also allows natural light to enter the premises. These spaces and corridors surrounding the amphitheatre in the centre are meant to be surrounded by what has been described as “light and air courts.”

Kahn’s aim was to create a modern building while utilizing the local heritage and culture. To this end the water bodies on the three sides of the core of the building portray the rivers of Bangladesh. The steps from these water bodies leading to the main complex are meant to represent the riverbanks of Bangladesh.

The open green lawns surrounding the main building complex obviously represent the greenery of Bangladesh.

However, there is a deeper symbolic

The lawns and open spaces were never meant to be restricted areas. The legislative assembly of lawmakers inside the house was meant to complement the assembly of citizens on the lawns

Significance of the compositionof the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex Louis Kahn designed the entire complex and designated appropriate spaces for the buildings, lawns, water bodies, stairs, and columns. The geometric patterns of the buildings of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex has been designed, laid out, and built after careful and thorough consideration by one of the greatest architectural minds of the last century.

Each segment, each space, each col-

meaning to the lawns. The lawns were designed in such a manner so as to be open and accessible to the citizens of the state.

It was envisaged that citizens, young and old, would be able to visit the areas surrounding their national legislative building, which would house the members elected by them.

The purpose of this openness was to make the people realise that the elected legislature in a democratic polity belongs to them, the people.

The lawns and open spaces were never

meant to be restricted areas. The legislative assembly of lawmakers inside the house was meant to complement the assembly of citizens on the lawns.

This was designed to reflect the deep-rooted notion that in a democratic society the people were the ultimate source of power. They were never meant to be marginalised. In a philosophical sense, the institution of democracy was meant to emerge from the light, columns, and open spaces of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex.

Attacks on the design envisaged in the Master Plan by Louis Kahn Much like the state of democracy in Bangladesh, the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex has suffered periodic attacks and defacements in violation of the Master Plan envisaged by Louis Kahn. The scars borne by the building today are testaments of the authorities, who have been insensitive to the architectural beauty of the majestic complex.

At present the grave of Ziaur Rahman lies at the base of the crescent lake, which was symbolic of the crescent of the Pakistan flag. This place was never designated as a shrine.

The bridge over the crescent lake was never meant to dissect the crescent of the Pakistan flag. The space where the grave is was designed in Louis Kahn’s Master Plan for the Secretariat of the Government in order to facilitate the smooth functioning of the bureaucracy at the door-step of the national parliament.

The palm trees around the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex were planted during General Ershad’s time apparently to decrease the visibility of the National Assembly Building and increase security. Symbolically, today it probably also represents a time when the state went through a process of Islamisation with the palm trees imported from the Middle East by a military dictator paranoid about the power of the people. In a sense the palm trees are remnants of the paranoia and lack of transparency that epitomised that military regime.

Even during democratic rules of both the BNP and Awami League the design and composition of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex was not immune from attacks. In yet another violation of the Master Plan by Louis Kahn, the NAM (Non-Alligned Movement) flats were built for the Members of Parliament in the 1990s.

And to top all these, the most egregious violations were the grabbing of a huge segment of the open lawns, meant for the citizens, by the public authorities to build houses of the speaker and the deputy speaker. The

projects were initiated at the insistence of the then honourable speaker of the parliament.

This action of the authorities to build the houses for the speaker and the deputy speaker were challenged before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court and buildings were declared to have been constructed illegally by the High Court.

Unfortunately, in the face of opposition by the State, spearheaded by the then Attorney General himself, that judgment was overturned on appeal, in unusual circumstances, at the end of the last BNP regime.

Duty to protect the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex The significance of the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex as a masterpiece of architectural beauty is often not appreciated by us. The public authorities responsible for preserving and protecting this monument are often the very people with the least respect for the cultural and architectural significance of the complex.

On numerous instances, over the years, mindless constructions and alterations have been made to the complex. In most occasions the duty of making these changes is handed over to constructors, civil engineers, or bureaucrats involved in public housing works.

These individuals, more often than not, have little or no sense of the architectural significance of the complex, which is considered the magnum opus of Louis Kahn.

When dealing with the constructions in and around the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex, the public authorities in Bangladesh have not only been insensitive to the aesthetic significance of the monument but have been acting in violation of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Article 24 of the Bangladesh Constitution states: “The State shall adopt measures for the protection against disfigurement, damage, or removal of all monuments, objects, or places of special artistic or historic importance or interest.”

Public officials have also ignored the fact that they are not free to deal with public property in any manner they please. The Constitution of Bangladesh does not give unfettered power to the public authorities to deal with public property in any whimsical manner they please. Iconic cultural heritage monuments have not been bestowed upon the public authorities so that they can be dealt as their private property.

The Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex can be compared to the Taj Mahal in Agra, St Paul’s Cathedral in London,

or the Washington Monument in Washington DC. In each of those countries there are building codes and laws which are effectively implemented to protect the respective national monuments.

These landmark buildings are seen to represent the heritage and culture of the states that house them, and the public authorities are bestowed with

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

is another of the series of measures aimed to take away from the public what should be rightfully theirs.

Conclusion Regrettably, no attempt has been made to explain why such a measure of fencing off the main building was required or how it was proportionate

If military generals could run their parliaments keeping the adjacent fields open to the public, why would a democratic parliament need to fence off the lawns?

a special duty to preserve and protect them. In India, the courts have held that factories resulting in air pollution causing damage to the Taj Mahal are to be removed from the vicinity of the monument.

In Washington DC there are building restrictions which ensure that none of the buildings are built higher than the Washington Monument.

Similarly, the authorities in London ensure that the views of St Paul’s Cathedral from various prominent locations around the city are not obstructed by construction.

Unfortunately, in Bangladesh neither laws nor the public authorities have been active in preserving and protecting our Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex.

The present fencing of the complex It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that one has to see the start of another mindless project to ring fence the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex with metal barriers. All this is being done in the name of security even though there has not been any security breach or incident which would merit such a draconian measure.

The current plans would not only destroy the architectural beauty of the complex, but would also make inaccessible to the public a large portion of the open spaces around the main building. In addition it would be a violation of Article 24 of the Constitution of Bangladesh.

These open spaces had always been open to the public. In this city of ours, with ever-shrinking open space for the citizens, this latest fencing off attempt

to the so-called security threat to the National Legislature.

As far as security is concerned, while the parliament is in session, the area around the parliament can been guarded or patrolled without having to fence off the entire area.

It may be pertinent to consider whether we want a democracy where the citizens have to be cordoned off from even the lawns and steps outside of the parliament, which is meant to reflect the hopes and aspirations of the people.

If military generals could run their parliaments keeping the adjacent fields open to the public, why would a democratic parliament need to fence off the lawns? Why should we be so insensitive to the architectural value of the only globally recognised building that we have in Bangladesh? Is this the price of security?

We, the citizens, appeal to the Speaker of the parliament, under whose Secretariat the construction is taking place, to take necessary steps to halt construction of the wall or fence.

Madam Hon’ble Speaker, you have taken an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.

Please help us prevent the disfigurement and damage to our Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban complex in violation of Article 24 of the Constitution.

Please explore alternative means of ensuring security, which would not destroy the artistic and architectural beauty of the complex. Please do not deny the citizens the open lawns which they have always enjoyed. l Moin Ghani is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Egypt government resigns suddenly Sisi, resigned from the duties of defence minister, can now run for presidency

n Reuters The military-backed government of Egypt has resigned, said the prime minister yesterday, paving the way for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president of a strategic US ally gripped by political strife. “(The government) made every effort to get Egypt out of the narrow tunnel in terms of security, economic pressures and political confusion,” Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a live nationwide speech.

Beblawi, who was tasked by interim President Adly Mansour with running the government’s affairs until the election, did not give a clear reason for the decision.

For Sisi to run for president he would first need to leave his post as defense minister. “This (government resignation) was done as a step that was needed ahead of Sisi’s announcement that he will run for president,” an Egyptian official said.

He told Reuters that the cabinet had resigned en masse as Sisi did not want to appear to be acting alone.

The top military commander has unveiled a political roadmap meant to

Yanukovich arrest warrant ‘issued’ by police n Agencies Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich is wanted by police for the “mass murder of peaceful civilians,” according to a statement posted on the Facebook page of the country’s acting interior minister.

Arsen Avakov said on Monday that an arrest warrant had been issued for Yanukovich, who fled the capital Kiev on Saturday following months of bloodshed and political upheaval.

“A criminal case has been launched over the mass murder of peaceful civilians. Yanukovich and a number of oth-

The warrant was yet to be finalised by the attorney general

Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi lead to elections after toppling Islamist President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July following mass protests against his rule.

The vote is expected within months in Egypt, which has great geo-strategic importance due to its peace treaty with Israel and control over the Suez Canal, a vital global

shipping lane that is the shortest between Asia and Europe.

Egypt’s stock market rose 0.26% after news of the government’s departure to 8029.37 points, reversing losses from earlier in the day.

Mursi’s removal triggered the bloodiest political crisis in Egypt’s modern history, with security forces killing

n Reuters, Berlin The National Security Agency (NSA) has stepped up its surveillance of senior German government officials since being ordered by Barack Obama to halt its spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bild am Sonntag paper reported on Sunday.

Revelations last year about mass US surveillance in Germany, in particular of Merkel’s mobile phone, shocked Germans and sparked the most serious dispute between the transatlantic allies in a decade.

Bild am Sonntag said its information stemmed from a high-ranking NSA employee in Germany and that those being spied on included Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, a close confidant of Merkel.

“We have had the order not to miss out on any information now that we are no longer able to monitor the chancellor’s communication directly,” it quoted the NSA employee as saying.

A spokesman for the German Interior Ministry said it would not comment on the “allegations of unnamed individuals.”

European integration ‘priority’ for Ukraine n Agencies Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine’s acting president, has said that his country is ready for talks with Russia to try to improve relations, but made clear that Kiev’s European integration would be a priority.

Turchinov said that Ukraine’s new leadership was ready to put Kiev-Moscow relations on a “new, equal and good-neighbourly footing that recognises and takes into account Ukraine’s European choice.”

“Another priority ... is the return to the path of European integration,” he said, in an address to the nation on Sunday, one day after the removal of Viktor Yanukovich from the presidency.

Hours later, Russia recalled its ambassador in Ukraine to Moscow for consultations on the “deteriorat-

ing situation” in Kiev.

“Due to the deteriorating situation in Ukraine and the need for a comprehensive analysis of the situation, the decision was made to recall the Russian ambassador to Ukraine for consultations in Moscow,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

In a phone call on Sunday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry “underscored the United States’ expectation that Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and democratic freedom of choice will be respected by all states.”

According to a senior State Department official, Kerry also expressed Washington’s “strong support” for the Ukrainian parliament’s move to name an acting president and acting prime minister, the AFP news agency reported.

These actions “offer the best and

most promising path forward to restore peace and stability to Ukraine quickly, and to address Ukraine’s pressing financial challenges in the coming weeks and months,” Kerry said, according to the official.

Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s parliament voted to temporarily hand over the duties of president to Turchinov, the speaker of the assembly, who told deputies to agree on the formation of a national unity government by Tuesday.

The development comes one day after parliament voted to oust Yanukovich from the presidency, setting May 25 as the date for new presidential elections, and two days after an agreement was reached with Yanukovich on the need to form a national unity government.

Turchinov is a close ally of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the

president’s main rival.

Parliament also voted to oust the foreign minister and was told by the country’s acting prosecutor that an order had been given to detain the former incomes minister and the former prosecutor-general.

The whereabouts of Yanukovich remained unclear on Sunday, a day after he left the capital and rival Tymoshenko was freed from prison, returning to Kiev to address a massive, adoring crowd.

The centre of Kiev, meanwhile, was calm on Sunday.

Protesters on Saturday took control of the presidential administration building, and thousands of Ukrainiansroamed the suddenly open grounds of the lavish compound outside Kiev, where Yanukovich was believed to live. l

The threat of Israel boycotts more bark than bite n Reuters, Jerusalem

er officials have been put on a wanted list,” Avakov said in a statement posted on his Facebook account. Later on Monday, the interior minister’s personal assistant confirmed that the statement had come from Avakov, but that the warrant had yet to be finalised by the attorney general. The personal assistant also said that legal proceedings were underway.

Reuters news agency said that the former leader was last seen in a private residence in Balaclava, Crimea. Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Kiev, said there was confusion over the arrest warrant and of Yanukovich’s precise whereabouts. l

AFP

hundreds of Brotherhood supporters, jailing thousands and putting top leaders on trial.

The Muslim Brotherhood accused Sisi of plotting a coup, and human rights groups say that abuses under his watch are growing by the day, allegations the army-backed government denies.

The government has also cracked down on some secular activists who were instrumental in unrest that overthrew autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and who supported Mursi’s removal.

They are languishing in prisons and face trial.

Compounding the instability in the Arab world’s largest country, Islamist militants based in the widely lawless Sinai Peninsula have intensified attacks on police and soldiers, killing hundreds.

The Sinai-based group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing which killed two South Koreans last week, inflicting yet more harm on a tourism industry already gutted by political turmoil and protests.

Ansar also said that it was behind high-profile assassinations of top Interior Ministry officials. l

US now bugging German ministers in place of Merkel

Though voices are getting louder inside and outside Israel about the threat of economic boycotts for its continued occupation of Palestinian territories, there seems little prospect of it facing measures with real bite.

With a number of European firms already withdrawing some funds, Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid has warned that every household in Israel will feel the pinch if ongoing peace talks with the Palestinians collapse.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has also warned that Israel risks a financial hit if it is blamed for the failure, but investors and diplomats say they are unconvinced. It is true that some foreign

firms have started to shun Israeli business concerns operating in East Jerusalem and the West Bank - land seized in the 1967 war - and the European Union is increasingly angered by relentless Jewish settlement expansion.

But the bulk of Israeli business is clustered on the Mediterranean coast, a world away from the roadblocks and watchtowers of the West Bank, and not even the Palestinian leadership is demanding a total economic boycott.

“The boycott is being used like a bogeyman, a scary story you tell a child at night,” said Jonathan Medved, CEO of OurCrowd, a crowd funding platform looking to provide venture capital to Israeli companies.

“The truth is that Israel is a world

leader in water technology, next-generation agriculture, cyber-security, healthcare innovation and start-ups.

What sane person is going to walk away from that?” he said, speaking by telephone during a visit to South Africa to seek out potential partners.

Europe stirs

Embargoes, sanctions and boycotts, along with internal resistance, helped bring about the isolation and eventually the end of apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s.

Pro-Palestinian, or anti-Israeli, activists hope to use the same tactics to force Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign a deal to create an independent Palestine based on the

1967 borders. They believe recent action by a handful of European firms to distance themselves from Israel might be the start of something big.

Bycott from european firms sent a jolt through the Israeli government.

The finance minister supports the need to pull back from much of the occupied territories in an effort to secure an elusive peace accord. Lapid said failure to strike a deal could lead to a 20% drop in exports to the European Union and a halt in EU direct investment.

The European Union matters because it is Israel’s largest trading partner and it is the only place where murmurings of sanctions have so far been raised outside the Arab world, where only Egypt and Jordan have formal ties with Israel. l

To calm the uproar over US surveillance abroad, President Obama in January banned US eavesdropping on the leaders of close friends and allies of Washington.

Germans are especially sensitive about snooping due to their experiences in the Nazi era and in Communist East Germany, when the Stasi secret police built up a massive surveillance network.

Berlin has been pushing, so far in vain, for a “no-spy” deal with Washington. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to visit the United States on Thursday but he has said he doubts such a deal would have much effect.

Bild am Sonntag quoted a security adviser to Obama, Caitlin Hayden, as saying: “The United States has made clear it gathers intelligence in exactly the same way as any other states.”

The mass-circulation paper said the NSA was monitoring 320 people in Germany - mostly politicians but also business leaders. Hayden said Washington did not spy on corporations in order to help US firms gain competitive advantage. l

Pentagon to propose shrinking army

n Reuters, Washington Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will propose on Monday a reduction in the size of the US Army to its smallest size since before World War Two and scrapping a class of Air Force attack jets, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The plans, which the paper said were outlined by several Pentagon officials on condition of anonymity, would be aimed at reducing defence spending in the face of government austerity after a pledge by President Barack Obama to end US involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It would leave the military capable of defeating any enemy but too small for long foreign occupations, and would involve greater risk if US forces were asked to carry out two large-scale military actions at the same time.

“You have to always keep your institution prepared, but you can’t carry a large land-war Defence Department when there is no large land war,” the Times quoted a senior Pentagon official as saying.

It added that some of the plans may face political opposition in Congress, but quoted the officials as saying that they had the endorsement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. l

Obama climate change agenda faces first Supreme Court test

Maduro to meet opposition leader

n Reuters, Washington

n Reuters, Caracas

The US Supreme Court considers on Monday whether President Barack Obama’s administration overstepped its authority by imposing new regulations to reduce pollution in response to climate change.

In a 90-minute oral argument, extended from 60 minutes because many parties are involved, the justices will examine a relatively narrow challenge by industry groups and Republican-leaning states to one aspect of a suite of regulations issued by Obama’s Democratic administration in 2009 and 2010. The regulations represent the first major federal effort to tackle greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are the driving force behind climate change. Obama has been going it alone on climate change, largely because of opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress. The Clean Air Act has been the Environmental Protection Agency’s main tool for addressing emissions since the US Senate rejected a cap-and-trade bill in 2010.

The nine justices will weigh whether the agency has authority to regulate greenhouse gases under a program for issuing permits for stationary sources of pollution, such as power plants and oil refineries. A decision is expected by the end of June.

When it agreed to hear the case in October, the court declined to consider several broader questions that would have more Cattle roam on brown-dirt fields of a ranch on the outskirts of Delano, in California’s Central Valley, on February 3. At this time of the year normally, the fields would be covered in lush directly attacked the authority of the EPA in green grass but the western US states’s worst drought in decades has reduced the land to a parched moonscape. California rancher Nathan Carver whose family has owned a ranch its regulation of greenhouse gases. l nearby for five generations, remembers tales his grandparents told of the Dust Bowl years in the 1930s, but this is as bad as he has ever seen it in his lifetime, he said AFP

A meeting between a top Venezuelan opposition leader and President Nicolas Maduro on Monday may help ease nearly two weeks of violent anti-government protests that have killed at least eight people. State governor Henrique Capriles will meet Maduro at a routine gathering of governors and mayors and will likely get a chance to present the opposition’s grievances.

The daily unrest has sharpened the bitter divide between critics and supporters of the ruling Socialist Party, although even Maduro’s rivals appear to be growing weary of blocked streets and constant clashes between students and police.

“Dialogue is not about listening to what the government wants to say, it’s about making sure the demonstrators’ voices are heard,” Capriles, a two-time opposition presidential candidate, wrote on Sunday in his weekly column.

Five people have died from gunshot wounds in the unrest that began on February 12 with the death of a student protestor and was later fuelled by the arrest of hard-line opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Maduro, who has vowed to nurture the self-styled socialist revolution he inherited from late president Hugo Chavez, calls the demonstrations acts of terrorism by “fascists” seeking a coup similar to the one that briefly ousted Chavez in 2002. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Pakistan Taliban figurehead killed n AFP, Miranshah

Unknown gunmen on Monday killed a senior commander of the Pakistani Taliban who had a government bounty on his head, officials and family said, in what is seen as a case of internal rivalry.

Asmatullah Shaheen, who was believed to be in his mid-40s and a former interim chief of the militant group, had a 10-million-rupee ($95,000) bounty on his head. He was ambushed in Dargah Mandi village near Miransha, the main town of the troubled North Waziristan tribal district.

Despite his seniority, Shaheen was also seen as a highly controversial figure within the Pakistani Taliban and observers do not believe his death will have a major impact on the future of stalled peace talks with the government that began earlier this month.

“Unknown attackers opened fire on Asmatullah Shaheen’s car. He along with three associates died on the spot,” a security official in Miranshah told AFP. A close relative of Shaheen told AFP that in addition to those killed, two other people travelling in the car were critically wounded.

The attackers fled the scene in a separate vehicle, the security official said.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the killing, but a local security

official blamed a rival militant group.

Shaheen was leader of the Bhittani tribe and also chairman of the Taliban’s supreme council for more than two years. But a militant source close to Shaheen told AFP he was removed from the post in December after developing several differences with some militant commanders.

Shaheen gained notoriety after claiming responsibility for a suicide attack on a Shiite procession in Pakistan’s largest Karachi city which killed at least 43 people and wounding more than 100 in December 2009.

He was responsible for storming a paramilitary outpost in the northwestern district of Tank in 2011, killing one troop during the fighting and kidnapping 15. Eleven of the detainees were later executed while the rest escaped.

An intelligence official in Peshawar said Shaheen was also wanted for mastermind other attacks on Pakistan troops that included suicide attacks.

Imtiaz Gul, an security analyst and author of “The Most Dangerous Place ?

Pakistan’s Lawless Frontier” told AFP that the killing was the result of Shaheen’s several enmities.

“Militant groups have fought against each other in past and killing of Asmatullah Shaheen is apparently because of those internal differences.”

Earlier this month, Pakistan entered

This video grab taken on November 7, 2013, shows Asmatullah Shaheen (R), caretaker chief Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), announcing the new leader of TTP AFP into talks with the Taliban aimed at ending their seven-year insurgency.

But the militant group continued carrying out attacks on a near-daily basis, and the dialogue was suspended last week after the insurgents claimed they had executed 23 kidnapped soldiers in a northwestern tribal region.

13 MLAs quit party, 6 ‘return’ In a major jolt to Lalu Prasad, 13 Bihar MLAs of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have submitted their resignation from the party to the speaker of the state’s assembly on Monday. However, according to TV reports, 6 of them have returned to the party.

RJD has 22 MLAs in the Bihar assembly. The rebel MLAs are likely to join hands with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) for the coming Lok Sabha elections according to reports.

Earlier on Sunday, there had been reports that Lalu’s long-time ally Ram Vilas Paswan decided to join hands with archrival BJP. A senior leader from Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party had said that his party has decided to go with

BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls.

After a meeting of LJP leaders at Paswan’s residence, former MP and party leader Surajbhan Singh told reporters,”Alliance between LJP and BJP has been finalized.”

However, LJP secretary general Abdul Khalik told PTI that no final decision has been taken, and only parliamentary board of LJP can decide it.

In a recent interview with Times Now’s Arnab Goswami, Lalu Prasadhad said that he would “one day” become Prime Minister as he refused to accept that conviction in the fodder scam was the end of the road to his prime ministerial ambition. He said he was confident that the higher courts would overturn his conviction and his party workers would fight the elections till he is acquitted. l

Kejriwal’s four questions for Rahul n Tribune Desk

Kicking off the Aam Aadmi Party’s Lok Sabha campaign in Haryana on Sunday, Arvind Kejriwal launched a blistering attack on both the BJP and Congress, calling Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi agents of Mukesh Ambani.

“Mukesh Ambani has Modi in one pocket and Rahul in the other ... whoever is in power, Modi or Rahul, it’s Ambani who will run this country.

We have to stop the rule of Ambani,

which is like the East India Company,” he said.

Raking up the gas pricing controversy, the AAP chief said, “I have written to both (Modi and Rahul) and asked them how much they will pay Ambani if their government comes to power, but they have not replied.”

Here are four questions Kejriwal posed to Gandhi in his letter: 1) Do you support the decision to pay Mukesh Ambani’s company $8 per unit for gas? If not, will you tell the gov-

Thai PM rules out resigning as bombs, gunfire punctuate unrest n Reuters, Bangkok

Revolt in Lalu Prasad’s RJD n Agencies

ernment to scrap this deal?

2) What relation do you and your party have with (Mukesh) Ambani?

3) How much money is being spent on your election campaign and what is the source of the money?

4) Will you give (M Veerappa) Moily a Lok Sabha ticket? Several Congress ministers such as Salman Khurshid, Kamal Nath, Sharad Pawar, P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, etc., have faced charges of corruption in the past. Will you give tickets to all of them? l

Since then the Pakistan Air Force has been carrying out air strikes in the volatile tribal regions which border Afghanistan, killing dozens.

Gul, the analyst, said he was sceptical the process could resume.

“The future of these talks is bleak,” he said. l

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the target of anti-government protests in Bangkok, has been staying outside the city and on Monday ruled out resigning despite a series of deadly attacks heaping pressure on her administration.

Yingluck, who attended a trade show in Saraburi province, 100 km (60 miles) north of Bangkok, called for dialogue to resolve a crisis that has dragged on for months, with key intersections in the capital blocked by protest camps.

“It’s time all sides turned to talk to each other,” Yingluck told reporters. “Many people have asked me to resign but I ask: is resignation the answer? What if it creates a power vacuum?”

The protests have been punctuated by gunfire and bomb blasts, including one on Sunday that killed a woman and a young brother and sister.

They are aimed at unseating Yingluck and erasing the influence of her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is seen by many as the power behind the government.

Yingluck’s office would not confirm how many days Yingluck had been

India has dropped a plan to prosecute two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen under a tough anti-piracy law, a government lawyer said on Monday, offering a chance to end a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Italy had strongly opposed India invoking the law, arguing that it would amount to treating the men as “terrorists” and last week it recalled its ambassador to New Delhi in protest against the delay in the two-year-old case.

The sailors, part of a military security team protecting a privately-owned cargo ship, say they mistook the fishermen for pirates and fired warning shots into the water during the incident in February 2012, off the coast of Kerala state. l

China on Monday rejected remarks

by Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi that it has an “expansionist mindset,” saying it has never grabbed the territory of another nation. “I believe all of you can see that China has never waged a war of aggression to occupy any inch of land of other countries,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing.

Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and favourite to win this year’s polls, was speaking during an election rally on Saturday.

He warned China to shed its “expansionist mindset” as he toured the remote northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, an eastern stretch of the Himalayas that China claims as its own.

“The world has changed. An expansionist mindset will not be accepted.

China will also have to do away with such a mindset,” Modi said.

“Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and will always remain so. No power can snatch it away from us.”

China and India fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962 over Arunachal Pradesh and now share a de facto frontier known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which has never been formally demarcated.

The unresolved border dispute has

Human rights groups say China tramples on the rights of Tibetans and employs brutal methods to enforce its rule. More than 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 in protest against China. Most have died.

Communist Chinese troops took control of Tibet in 1950. China says it “peacefully liberated” the remote region that it says was mired in poverty, exploitation and economic stagnation. l

dragged into the dispute between China and Japan, and dislikes China constantly bringing up Germany’s painful past.

A second diplomatic source with knowledge of the trip said China had proposed Xi visit the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. When that was immediately rejected by Germany, Beijing suggested Xi go to Berlin’s Neue Wache Memorial, which honours war dead but not recognized war criminals.

General view of the Berlin holocaust

n Reuters, New Delhi

soured relations which are often prickly and marked by mutual distrust.

Hua said the dispute was one “left over from history,” adding it was “very sensitive and complicated.”

She added that while it cannot be immediately resolved, both countries were committed to doing so peacefully.

“There have never been any armed clashes in border areas over the years, so there is very strong evidence that we have the capability to maintain peace there.”

The border dispute with India flared again last April, with New Delhi accusing Chinese troops of intruding deep into Indian-held territory. A threeweek stand-off was only resolved when troops from both sides pulled back.

The two countries have since signed accords and held meetings to maintain peace on the border.

At an annual defence and security dialogue in New Delhi on Monday, the two countries agreed to hold a high-level military meeting in India this year to discuss “practical measures for management of border issues,” a statement said.

The talks, led by Indian defence secretary RK Mathur and China’s deputy chief of general staff Wang Guanzhong, also decided that their next joint army exercise would be in India in 2014 after a “successful” one in China last year.

China has been embroiled in a series of territorial and other disputes with its neighbours over the years, which on occasion have led to armed conflict. l

China wants to make World War Two a key part of a trip by President Xi Jinping to Germany next month, much to Berlin’s discomfort, diplomatic sources said, as Beijing tries to use German atonement for its wartime past to embarrass Japan.

China has increasingly contrasted Germany and its public contrition for the Nazi regime to Japan, where repeated official apologies for wartime suffering are sometimes undercut by contradictory comments by conservative politicians.

Ties between the two Asian rivals worsened when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine on December 26, which China sees as a symbol of Tokyo’s past militarism because it honours wartime leaders along with millions of war dead.

Xi will visit Germany in late March, as well as France, the Netherlands and Belgium, Beijing-based diplomats said.

China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Xi’s agenda as the trip has yet to be formally announced.

“China wants a strong focus on World War Two when Xi visits Germany and Germany is not happy,” said one diplomatic source who has been briefed on China’s plans for the Xi trip.

The German government declined to comment. But the diplomatic sources said Germany did not want to get

‘China has never and will never recognize the US’ so-called special envoy for the Tibet problem’

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said Yingluck would hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

“It is highly likely that we will hold the cabinet meeting outside of Bangkok,” Surapong told reporters.

The political crisis, which pits the mainly middle-class anti-government demonstrators from Bangkok and the south against supporters of Yingluck from the populous rural north and northeast, shows no sign of ending soon. l

n AFP, Beijing

n Reuters, Beijing China will never recognize the United States’ appointment of a special coordinator for Tibetan issues, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday, saying it opposes any foreign intervention in its internal affairs.

President Barack Obama held lowkey talks with the Dalai Lama on Friday, prompting condemnation and warnings from the Chinese government that the meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would damage ties.

Washington urged the Chinese government on Friday to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives without pre-conditions as a means to reduce tensions.

To encourage those talks, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday he had named one of his officials, Sarah Sewall, as a special coordinator for Tibetan Issues.

“The Chinese government resolutely opposes any foreign country using the so-called Tibet problem to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing.

“China has never and will never recognize the US’ so-called special envoy for the Tibet problem.”

China calls the Dalai Lama, who fled

‘Is resignation the answer? What if it creates a power vacuum?’

India drops piracy charges against Italian marines

China, eyeing Japan, seeks WW2 focus for Xi during Germany visit n Reuters, Beijing

working outside the capital.

She was last seen in public in Bangkok nearly a week ago, last Tuesday, when both anti-government protesters and farmers angry about not being paid under a rice subsidy scheme were trailing her and some of her ministers. She is due to attend a corruption hearing in Bangkok on Thursday.

China rejects Modi’s expansionism charge

China denounces appointment of US special coordinator on Tibet to India after a failed uprising in 1959, a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent Tibet.

The Dalai Lama says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet and denies advocating violence.

9

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

“The Holocaust is a no go area,” the source said, adding it was unclear if the Neue Wache Memorial visit would go ahead.

Germany does not want the negative legacy of the war to dominate or take centre stage during a state visit, the source added, explaining the objection to the Holocaust Memorial visit.

China wanted German officials to go to Japan and tell them how to cope with history, the source added. l

AFP

TTP negotiators awaiting govt contact: Ibrahim n Reuters, Peshawar Professor Ibrahim Khan of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) on Monday said no communication had been made by the negotiators representing the government towards those representing the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), adding that the TTP side was awaiting contact, DawnNews reported.

Khan, who is a member of the committee representing the TTP in the peace talks, said a deadlock currently existed on the issue. He said the TTP committee was waiting for government negotiators to establish contact which the latter hadn’t done so far.

Khan said the matter could not move forward without the two sides sitting together, adding that after reluctance from the government’s side, talks were now being carried on and analysed via television programs. l

Scores killed in Pakistan air raid and blast n Agencies Pakistani air strikes on hideouts of armed groups have killed at least 38 people, while a bomb planted near a bus stop killed 14 people in two separate incidents in the northwest of the country, officials say.

The Sunday morning strikes on the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal district were Pakistan’s third military operation on the hideouts since February 20, retaliating to attacks by Pakistani Taliban and its linked groups that have derailed peace talks.

They follow the claimed execution of 23 Pakistani soldiers by a faction of Taliban last week, which cast doubts over dialogue initiated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on January 29.

“There are confirmed reports that 38 terrorists including some important commanders were killed,” a military statement quoted by AFP news agency said, adding that “six hideouts were completely destroyed.” l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Letters to

www.dhakatribune.com

the Editor

LETTER OF THE DAY

Apprehend Chhatra League accused

I

t is concerning that four of the six Chhatra League activists accused for the murder of Zubair Ahmed, a student of Jahanginagar University, were able to escape from the dock soon after their bail had been cancelled.

We are disappointed that authorities were not able to take better precautions to prevent such a gross lack of respect, not only to our justice system, but to the deceased and his family.

Why the accused in a murder trial were granted bail in the first place is difficult enough to comprehend. That four people charged with the murder of their fellow student were not detained but allowed to return home on bail was a failure itself.

However, in view of the recent actions and behaviour of the accused, it seems inexcusable that there were hardly any police deployed in the court premises, which allowed the culprits to flee.

Considering that these offenders had also been threatening the victim’s friends recently, and especially since the investigation report filed in this regard found the allegations to be true, steps should have been taken earlier to secure them.

Law enforcement is entrusted with making sure that defendants do not skip bail or escape justice. When offenders can skip bail and trials are left unfinished, it weakens public confidence in our justice system.

The entire bail process has to be administered more effectively, and police must do everything necessary to catch those who absconded.

When offenders can skip bail and trials are left unfinished, it weakens public confidence in our justice system

Our duty to protect language diversity

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Medical college in Sunamganj

The ICT and our politics

February 22 Sunamganj is a new district in Sylhet. It is far away from the main city in Sylhet, where there is a public medical college, but there aren’t any in Sunamganj town, which is a good location for one.

The college could be set up as an attachment to the Sunamganj government hospital, with an expansion of departments and increasing the number of beds. No doubt, it will increase the availability of health services for the locals as well as open up opportunities for thousands of higher secondary level students who are interested in studying medicine. Bangladesh needs thousands of physicians to provide medical care services to its citizens. We urge the government to look into this.

Md Ashraf Hossain

February 18

Getting Bangladesh wrong for 40 years February 18

Sam The author says: “BNP asserted that a fair election could not be conducted without a caretaker government without stating why.” Actually, had he taken his blinders off he would have not only known why the BNP (or any other real party) refuse to take part but have seen the reports in this very paper as well as others of people openly stuffing ballot boxes even in an uncontested election. Why on earth would a party want to be a sacrificial lamb in such an election? nds Sam: But do you honestly think that BNP has absolute faith and confidence in a caretaker government and is sincere about a free and fair election? If they hold such confidence, then why has its leader, Khaleda Zia, accused the CTG, when led by Fakruddin, of its partisan role in influencing the 2008 election and thereby causing defeat of her party? It appears she will accept a government to run the election if and only if she is given a guarantee that her party will come out the winner.

Just recall that her choice for CTG chief was Professor Eiasuddin, a time-tested BNP devotee. She believes in democracy so long as it caters to her interests. Of course I don’t believe that the January 5 election conformed to any democratic norms, but it was definitely thrust upon Hasina by BNP, not out of her own choice.

Sam nds: You have no quarrel from me on this: Begum Zia is not much more of a democrat at heart than the PM is.

Ronnie Sam: But Begum Zia remains “more” inclined to rudimentary principles and democracy, and certainly plain old-fashioned decency.

WaliulHaqueKhondker Brian, my hats off to you! You gave words to my thoughts by coming up with a full-fledged response to Milam’s piece of February 14.

If Milam sees the emergence of an authoritarian regime now in Bangladesh, my suggestion would be for USA to remain patient and let the people of Bangladesh chart their own course for the future.

Bengalis have a historical record of launching inclusive popular movements and bringing down tyrannical regimes to its knees, both in recent history and in earlier periods.

Had the liberation war in 1971 not started, preceded by a popular and inclusive popular movement and then a landslide election victory under a martial law regime, there was all likelihood that the liberation war would have been reduced to a separatist war like the one fought and lost by LTTE. Secular forces in Bangladesh have got their last chance to get organised and get the better of non-secular forces in all future political encounters.

Let’s not forget that Talibans have been knocking at our door for quite a while!

Bangladesh was created as a sovereign, secular and nationalist state, it is good for all of us to try and stay as such.

Haritha Avani It seems to me that Bangladesh ICT is being used to carry out the judicial murder of opposition leaders.

Shah Ali Farhad Haritha Avani: It is not the ICT’s fault that most major war criminals (from amongst the local collaborators) belonged to Jamaat-e-Islami in 1971 or later on joined BNP after Mujib was assassinated. Hence, you cannot hold that as a deficiency of the tribunal. It is however, a clear indication of how even after 42 years of independence, both Jamaat and BNP have failed to instill the spirit of 1971 in their ideology and activities. That is a matter of shame not only for them, but us too, because they also happen to be Bangladesh’s main opposition parties. So, before making the comment you made, perhaps you should have asked Jamaat and BNP why they harboured such notorious war criminals for so long in such major party positions.

Tribunal asks Bergman to explain February 20 This is insidious harassment of a journalist that makes the ICT look even more contemptible.

The government should guard itself against self-defeating acts of vengeance.

Fugstar

Be Heard Write to us at: Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207

Ethiopian plane hijacked to Geneva by co-pilot

W

ith language day just behind us, it is an apt time to reflect on the fact that Bangladesh is a nation that is enormously proud of its linguistic heritage. Our struggle to preserve the rights to our mother tongue has even resonated at the global level anda few years ago UNESCO adopted February 21st as international mother language day. In this context, it is right to ask the question of how we ourselves are treating the language rights of minorities and indigenous people.

Currently there are more than 45 indigenous groups in Bangladesh, most of whom do not use the Bengali script and are struggling to preserve their language from extinction. Not only are these languages not taught in schools, communities even lack the facilities to print these books in Bangladesh which would help in teaching the next generation.

While some language centres have been set up by international NGOs, these are too few in number to have a meaningful impact and more systemic help is needed from the government.

Recognition of local languages will help indigenous and minority communities make their voices heard and it will allow us to learn from their cultural heritage, which will in turn enrich Bangladeshi culture as a whole. It will also go a long way towards enabling better dialogue and harmonious coexistence between Bengalis and minority communities.

As a nation with a history of struggle for its language it is only appropriate that we take a more inclusive stance towards therights of minority communities to their linguistic heritage.

February 17

Hijacked by the co-pilot?!? Haha … there’s a first time for everything!

Joi Bangla

Mushfiq: We went down due to mistakes as a team

February 18 While Mushfiq is right, I would venture to say that what we need are good batsmen. That’s where we fall short.

Md Phk

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CALVIN AND HOBBES

Recognition of local languages will help indigenous and minority communities make their voices heard and allow us to learn from their cultural heritage

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU ACROSS 1 Suffering (4) 3 Permits (4) 7 Golf mound (3) 8 Authoritative command (5) 11 Talk wildly (4) 12 Unwelcome task (5) 13 Brilliance of success (5) 15 Place of trade (4) 18 Regrets (4) 19 Puzzling question (5) 20 Make effort (5) 21 Church service (4) 23 Cautions (5) 24 Consumed (3) 25 Stagger (4) 26 Kill (4)

DOWN 1 Like better (6) 2 Frozen formation (6) 4 Greek letter (3) 5 Time of holding (6) 6 Become firm (3) 9 Pursues (6) 10 Toddler (3) 11 Sucking fish (6) 14 Clergyman (6) 16 Starry (6) 17 Reliable (6) 19 Church seat (3) 21 Spoil (3)

22 Bishop’s territory (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

Op-Ed

DHAKA TRIBUNE

11

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

It wasn’t cricket n Mohammad Ali Sattar

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It is difficult to find words of consolation

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

For those who died

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n Lt Col Waliullah

ebruary 25 could be like any other day, but now it is marked as a red-letter day because on this day we lost 57 of our men who had to give their lives in the most barbarous manner possible.

History cannot bear testimony to a war when the country lost 57 of their men on a single day. The previous day, the smartly turned out contingent did salute the head of the state.

An impressively colourful parade was presented after the soldiers were drenched in sweat.

The day after, the soldiers expected thanks from the leader who led them in the march. What could have been a day full of merriment turned out to be a day when the sky turned gloomy – a day when the blessings of the seniors were to be showering on the juniors turned into one of hatred.

Bangladesh Rifles had a golden legacy of being the torchbearer of the national standard. The role of the East Pakistan Rifles men in the glorious Liberation War can never be forgotten. It

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was during the onset of the Liberation War that the BDR men did show their courage, and the grateful nation still remembers that.

The carnage that took place tarnished the image of the disciplined force, blood was spilt over the grass so green, within no time the killing started. The led killed their leaders, and they were so cruel that they did not even show their kindness to the dead ones.

the men receive to treat the prisoners if otherwise apprehended?

They were men who were comrades both in war and peace, all of them were supposed to fight the enemy and defend the sovereignty of their motherland. The green flag with the red circle was what was dear to all of those who inspired them to use their guns and fire at the leaders who prepared them to fight the enemy. The friend turned out to be their enemy.

The carnage that took place tarnished the image of the disciplined force, blood spilt over the grass so green, within no time the killing started

What kind of Muslims were they, who burnt the bodies and mutilated them, and left them uncared for without observing the rituals? Did the men who led them deserve the barbaric manner they were put into? What training did

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The BDR tragedy is one which makes us confident to believe that we have made ourselves insecure. People who were destined to make us secure have become insecure.

After almost five years, can we believe

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that we have taken enough measures to battle against insecurity for ensuring security? The BDR men did fall in a conspiracy.

The pertinent question is what we did for the families of the men who were said to have killed and conspired.

Nobody can replace the sorrow of the dead ones; nobody can bring them back to God’s earth.

Nobody can wipe the tears of their loved ones. We can only pray that the departed ones rest in heaven. They have earned an untimely departure in the most barbaric manner. On this day, we would urge upon all to view the matter of those who fell prey to this conspiracy in the most humane way, and help the lives of the families come out of distress. The ones behind this heinous act should have received exemplary punishment. It is difficult to find words to console the families of the departed ones. We can only say God is sure to give you strength, and the dear ones are sure to rest in peace. l Lt Col Waliullah (retired) is a columnist and has earned a Diploma on Public Affairs from DINFOS, USA.

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midst the hullabaloo of the ongoing local government elections and the continuing political diatribe, a cricket contest has just finished.

If not the whole nation, a large chunk of cricket fans were in high spirits to see the Sri Lankan team visit Dhaka to watch our boys for a fairly long series that included two tests, two T20s and three ODIs. It has been a happy break from recent political turmoil. Hapless fans and followers of the game would have been happier if our boys fared better. It was a remorseful affair.

The outcome of the tour was dismal and disgracing to say the least. I say disgracing simply because I am one of the ardent followers of cricket, have been since my childhood. Having played cricket up to a significant level, I can’t ignore or not be drawn in the proceedings of each game.

The joy and hope know no bounds when we have our team in the contest.

However hard we try to downplay our team and their efforts and performances, deep down in our hearts, we want them to shine and win, or show the best they can to make us proud.

We have been struggling for some time to get our stature right. We are not being offered test matches by countries that matter. The recent crisis in the ICC (brought on by the socalled Big Three) regarding amending the ICC regulations and country status also nearly put us out of the regular test rank. However, this has been tackled with our support and conviction.

At home, we have had the BPL match-fixing scams. One time great Ashraful comes out of the closet and admits his association with the fixing nexus and loses his reputation and career, and Bangladesh loses a prized wicket.

Add to it the recent shameful act by none other than the top ranking cricketer Shakib al Hasan, who has been handed a three match ban and a fine. His penalty should have been harsher. He has several times in the past created such nuisances, and many expect he will do it in the future as well.

The last couple of series played against the West Indies and New Zealand were simply outstanding. All thought that the boys had at last come of age.

Nobody imagined what awaited the team and the nation in the series against Sri Lanka.

The first test was miserably lost. We did not find the boys who beat New Zealand comprehensively. Our boys, in the first test match, did not have any clue what was going on out in the middle. It was an innings defeat by a huge margin, and a very big humiliation.

The second test was a drawn affair.

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When this match was drawn and a few of our boys fared well, it was rightfully expected that the following series of shorter versions would be much better performed. And we thought rightfully that we stood a fair chance of winning a match or two of the series altogether.

That dream was also dashed. In both T20s, we lost, although the matches went down to the wire and both were decided in the final delivery of the final over of the innings. In the first match, our batsman could not connect the final ball suitably and got out, losing the match by a mere two runs.

Deep down in our hearts, we want them to shine and win, or show the best they can to make us proud

The second T20 was a further tragedy.

Our bowler could not contain the Sri Lankan batsmen from scoring 9 runs off the final over. Farhad Reza bowled a sweet rising delivery to be hit for a boundary, giving away the match.

This was unquestionably a wrong pick by our skipper to have invited Farhad Reza to bowl the final over.

If the T20s were a tragedy, the ODIs were catastrophe. When you allow a team with 67 for 8 to score a formidable 180, you are already at the receiving end. Then our boys could not get to 180 in 50 overs, thanks to some senseless batting and lousy fielding!

In the second ODI, again some mindless and rash batting and display of overconfidence in Shakib and others let us down.

Let’s not talk about the third one.

We lost all and that too in a manner quite unacceptable. Our boys need not only vigourous physical training out in the middle, they also require serious psychological counseling, for cricket is a game of mind and nerves.

Our boys should learn how not to play unnecessary shots, how to leave balls outside off stumps, when to go for big hits, and so on. They should shun the habit of premeditated actions.

The players should keep in mind that if the bugs of overconfidence eat you, you will perish, and so will the team. When you are brimming with false confidence, you lack commitment. Clean up your mind and body, and think hard next time. The Asia Cup tourney is knocking on the door. l Mohammad Ali Sattar is a journalist and DT columnist.

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More qi than Sochi

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n Ikhtisad Ahmed

ix hundred and forty-two miles from the bloodstained streets of a capital that has been the scene of a people’s movement set the stage for professional athletes to showcase their talents on snow and ice. Their achievements and celebrations were witnessed by crowds unaffected by the upheaval across the border that will hopefully bear fruit to see the populace be the only victors.

It was supposed to have been very different. The masses were supposed to have been outraged by Putin’s draconian anti-equality laws, not jubilant cheerleaders either ignorant of or indifferent towards injustices.

Secretly, American politicians support Putin’s stance of deftly turning a social and human issue into a political one. The US, the duplicitous country of Defence of Marriage Act and SB 1062 fame, is notorious for the ambivalence of its policymakers towards rights of sexual minorities, and culpability in creating a bigger problem by refusing to execute the most sacred doctrines of human rights, the very same ones they purport to champion the world over.

The UK’s polite castigation has been less sincere. David Cameron passed the bipartisan Gay Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 despite his party’s efforts to sabotage it – 136 opposed the Bill, 35 did not vote and 5 abstained – because, while he courted voters, MPs on the other side of the aisle and from

The masses were supposed to have been outraged

by Putin’s draconian anti-equality laws, not jubilant cheerleaders either ignorant or indifferent

The most vocal opponent of the Sochi games, owing to Russia’s oppression of sexual minorities, was the USA. As with all things American, however, the shock, horror, and denunciation of what Putin did reeks of hypocrisy.

Hidden behind the verbosity of saying the right thing is a staunch, uncompromising refusal to do the right thing.

their coalition partners were decidedly humane.

Nevertheless, the Conservative Party abandoned its leader during one of his rare attempts at humanity. The prime minister tried to force the Tories to be more palatable, have a larger appeal by being more equal. Instead, his leaders ran to the right in a manner reminis-

cent of the Republicans, whose soul has been lost to the Tea Party.

The civil society, human rights organisations, and NGOs have their part to play in enforcing human rights.

In a world where the great tragedy is that rights need to be enforced rather than unconditionally protected and preserved, these institutions are, sadly, limited.

Their agendas are dictated by their funds and the sources of the money.

This makes them beholden to special interest groups and lobbies that may be directly opposed to the work they are trying to do, but still find the best policy to be to fund these projects in order to dictate terms. This being the pathetic reality, the only way in which anything concrete can happen is if governments serve their people. The US and Russia have repeatedly failed.

The UK has dithered and floundered.

India has been no better. In 2009, the High Court repealed section 377 of the Penal Code, which, of course, was enforced by the epitome of equality, the antiquated British Raj. Homosexuality was decriminalised, sending ripples of hope throughout the region.

The quiet murmurs of campaigning for such equality were silenced by the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse this decision last year, thereby preserving the status quo of inequality in India.

One concrete step taken by a government recently to ensure rights for gender and sexual minorities has come in the shape of hijras being given legal standing as a separate gender in Bangladesh. Supposedly a conserva-

The jubilation remains unaffected by the chaos across the border tive country, this could not have been a popular decision, especially outside of the bourgeois circles.

A nationwide poll, conducted in line with the recent trend of asserting everything for the people, will prove that a plebiscite on the subject would not have been favourable. It was passed nonetheless, and it was a significant step in the right direction.

The counter argument is that equality, mandated by the Constitution, is absolute, and should not need specific laws to reaffirm or enforce.

Unfortunately, inequality is rife in Bangladesh, and even the passage of laws intended to counter it is rarely

enough. Otherwise, the government would certainly have risked the wrath of the upper and middle classes by enacting laws to wrestle wealth and power away from them and afford protection to the masses who barely qualify as belonging to the lower class.

The only surprise is that more of the equal rights warriors locally and internationally have not rallied behind the hijra laws, and pushed for the same benevolent luxuries to be extended to other minorities. Perhaps they have been polling. l Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer. He can be contacted on Twitter via @ Ikhtisad.

AFP

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Jazz-funk fusion band The Mahaphon Clang enthralls audience n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Inauguration moment of the War and Colonies exhibition

QUAMRUL ABEDIN

Dhaka audience gets to see 35 rare photographs of WWI n Entertainment Desk On the occasion of the commemoration of the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, the Alliance Française de Dhaka has organised an exhibition and an international conference on the theme of War and Colonies. The exhibition showing 35 rare photographs of colonial troops in the Great War was inaugurated by H E Mr Michel TRINQUIER, ambassador of France in Bangladesh, yesterday. Dr Ferdinand von Weyhe, deputy head of mission, German Embassy Dhaka, KH Masud Siddiqui, secretary, ministry of Liberation War affairs and world famous mime artiste Partha Pratim Majumder were also present as distinguished guests among others.

The exhibition will continue till March 8 and will remain open on Monday to Thursday from 3pm to 9pm and Friday from 9am to 12 noon and Saturday from 5pm to 8pm.

This exhibition will also be shown at the Liberation War Museum from March 11 to 18.

The two-day conference will begin today at the Senate Building of the University of Dhaka. It will bring together French, German, Irish, American, Indian and Bangladeshi historians who will present papers related to the chosen theme. Besides presenting relationship between WWI and the colonies from diverse angles, this two-day seminar will offer an exceptional focus on Bengal during the period, with no less than five papers devoted to it. l

The musical supergroup Mahaphon Clang, consisting of the emergent Germany-based band Lautstark!4 and internationally renowned percussionist Ramesh Shotham performed at the Goethe-Institut Berlin Hall on February 23, as a part of their Mela Thing-2014 tour.

The jazz-funk fusion band surprised the crowd with their rendition of instru-vocal, funk guitar work and a variety of percussion instruments with dexterity. All the musical pieces presented at the concert reflects real life experiences of the performers, such as Ramesh Shotham’s experience of getting lost in the busy push and pull of the city, the band members’ six to seven hour long journey from Chennai to Bangalore and many more. Thus, the music of Mahaphon Clang can be best described as multi-folklore, urban improvised music and is determined by contin-

uously changing influences from the exterior.

The Mahaphon Clang is electrifying and enthralling the audiences in every concert and every session, by shifting to a different direction caused by any newly gained inspiration. And finally, it is about the courage of both the musicians and the audience to enter a stage or a concert without really knowing what might happen.

Jan Friedrich Kurth, frontman of the supergroup revealed the philosophy of their kinetic music to Dhaka Tribune: “We are not representing German music here, it is just one of the aspect of the German music scene. Our music is the eccentric sound which lies underneath every human’s mind or soul. We try to render that sound by sudden improvisation onstage.”

The jazz-funk band is highly inspired by New York based trio Medeski Martin & Wood and additionally by the rock music from the 70s, free

jazz, contemporary improvised music, classical south Indian, European avant garde, bhangra, Tamil pop, dubstep, funk, cacophony in streets and the different languages they heard in foreign lands.

The name Mahaohon Clang is derived from the Sanskrit word “maha” meaning great, from the Greek Expression “phon,” which refers to the physical of the perceived volume and from the English word “clang,” which means rattling or crashing. Thus, even the band-name alone promises a unique experience of various musical encounters.

The ensemble includes Jan Friedrich Kurth (vocals), Matthias Kurth (electric guitar), Lutz Streum (saxophone and clarinets) and Ramesh Shotham (percussions, vocals). At present, the band is managing postproduction works of their first record with the German label Jazz Werkstatt and plans on releasing it on September 1, 2014. l

A biography on ace filmmaker Tareque Masud has been uncovered at the Amor Ekushey Book Fair-2014 recently. The book is published by Bangladesh Film Archive. The writer Rubayet Ahmed assumes that the book will stand as a reference to all who want to know and study the life and works of the late filmmaker.

The cover is illustrated by Masuk Helal.

The book is available at the Bangladesh Film Archive’s stall number-507.

Tareque Masud is the most internationally acclaimed filmmaker from Bangladesh, who is also renowned as a film producer, screenwriter and lyricist. His film Matir Moyna was Bangladesh’s first to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was also awarded at Cannes Film Festival. He died in a dreadful road accident on 13 August 2011 while returning to Dhaka after visiting a filming location. In 2012, he received Ekushey Padak, the highest civilian award of Bangladesh posthumously. l

TODAY IN DHAKA Film

Jibon Dhuli

By Tanvir Mokammel Time: 3pm – 11pm, Shawkat Osman Auditorium Public Library 47 Ronin (3D), Aakash

Koto Dure, Thor: The Dark World 3D, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 3D, Frozen in 3D, Shunte Ki Pao, Agnee Time: 10am - 10pm Star Cineplex, Bashundhara City

Tareq Masud’s bio at Amor Ekushey Book Fair n Entertainment Desk

Exhibition

Duet Art Exhibition

By Hashem Khan and Mohammad Iqbal Time: 12pm – 8pm Gallery Twenty One, 751 Satmasjid Road

Babla Seeth displays exotic metal sculptures Prachyanat to stage Koinya today n Entertainment Desk Prachyanat will stage its acclaimed play Koinya at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy today at 6:30pm.

Scripted by Murad Khan and directed by Azad Abul Kalam, Koinya is based on a mythical story of Koinya Peer (holy lady) of the greater Sylhet region. The Koiya Peer transforms herself into a fish and lives in a pond as a fish in a village. The head of the community, Naior, is able to communicate with her while the religious leader of the village challenges him. Finally they get involved in a conflict and Naior finally wins by an apparent act of selfannihilation that convinces the orthodox group to believe Naior.

The play carefully deals with the debate between Shariah, the fundamental religious concept of Islam, and Marefat, seeking God through love. l

Aamir Khan is back on TV with Satyamev Jayate 2 n Entertainment Desk In the first season of Satyamev Jayate Bollywood actor and philanthropist Aamir Khan touched upon sensitive issues in India like female foeticide, child sexual abuse, dowry related issues, Khap Panchayat, among others.

The issues were aptly addressed in the show and now Aamir Khan is back with the second season of the show

which unnerved India like never before.

According to reports the season’s first episode is dedicated to Dasrath Manjhi, who single-handedly carved out a road by cutting through a hill in Bihar. His son Bhagirath Manjhi and daughter-in-law Basanti Devi are living in abject poverty in Dasrathnagar and now hope that Aamir Khan will tell the world the real story of their lives through Satyamev Jayate.

Other issues that Aamir Khan may address in the second season is about the growing farmer suicides, education for girls, the youth of India and many others. Looks like Aamir Khan has a lot to say this time and this time he expects his audience to really ponder on the subjects he is about to discuss.

The first episode of Satyamev Jayate is set for telecast on March 2 and will telecasted for five consecutive Sundays and will then return after a break. l

n Shadma Malik The third series of metal artworks Metal-Metaphorsis-II by Babla Seeth was held on February 23 at his Gulshan residence. The metal installation was once again based on his series of recycling art. Babla has mastered the art of recycling industrial wastes such as nails, old chains, nut, bolts, washers, old wires and many other materials through creating beautiful pieces of art with them.

Like every year, the visual artist made an attempt to produce incredible art and artifacts. His artworks include faces, statues, masks and lanterns that are vibrant and attractive to look at.

The artist’s mastery of using metals to turns into unique sculptures and decorative wall pieces is quite noticeable and each and every of his work has originality that emanates talent.

His work itself is open to interpretation but his unique style and curious material choice certainly sets him apart in the contemporary and visual art arena. His first metal art exhibition was on love and then, on the faces of freedom fighters. This time, his statues represent working class people.

Using wire, brass, copper and nuts, the statuary are extensively powerful to look upon.

Distortion and mutation of the human body is portrayed through sculptures. His sculpture Drummer has a folk essence in its form. His one-of-akind statue of Jesus is a magnificent piece of art and will surely get critics appreciation. All the masks displayed at the exhibit were made with precision and detail.

On his artwork Lantern Chimney, the artist said: “When I went to the glass factory, the idea popped in my mind to produce a lantern with glass.”

To blend in the digital era, Babla has used a waste hard disk and turned it into a table lamp. About the artifact, he said: “These hard disks were thrown out. I made an attempt to give them an aesthetic view and sell it to art lovers.

“I am an eco-conscious person. It is always my attempt to convey the message to people to go for recycling,” said Babla.

Babla Seeth is an American of Indian origin who is currently living in Bangladesh. He loves to design furniture, paint, stitch, and weld among other works. l

COURTESY: ANIL ADVANI

ON TV

Highway earns Rs139.7m and mixed response n Entertainment Desk Despite rave reviews from critics, Imtiaz Ali’s H i g h w a y made a meagre Rs34.2m on Friday. However, the Alia Bhatt, Randeep Hooda-starrer film picked up over the weekend. The movie collected Rs48m on Day Two and the collections further rose on Sunday to Rs57.5m.

Highway has grossed a total of Rs137.5m over the first weekend.

Alia Bhatt plays a rich, city girl who gets kidnapped by Randeep Hooda and then finds her inner freedom during her abduction. Despite a bad show at the ticket windows, the filmmakers seem to have got a pretty de-

cent feedback on the film. Sajid Nadiadwala, who has shared distribution for Highway with UTV Motion Pictures, said: “The film was profitable even before release but the way Highway has been winning hearts since Friday is really very encouraging.

Hope the love for the movie

keeps pouring in.”

Director-writer of the film Imtiaz Ali said: “I have not received such warmth from the theatre audience before. Will always remember this time.”

As for the mixed reponse, Imtiaz said: “At least there are opinions. It is actually dangerous when people just say, it’s good.” l

MOVIES 6:00pmStar Movies Schindler’s List

9:30pmHBO 10,000 B.C.

DRAMA 9:00pm Sony

Ek Nayi Pehchaan

10:00pm Star Plus

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain

MISC 11:00am TLC

Fast Food Mania

7:30pm AXN

So You Think You Can Dance

Did you know?

In 1990 Diego Maradona was fouled 50 times making him the most fouled player for the third World Cup finals in a row

Sport

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

0 1 9

14 Man United

15 ‘We want to

narrow focus for Olympiakos trip

DAYS TO GO

13

DHAKA TRIBUNE

show our talent to the world’

Pakistan, Sri Lanka open Asia Cup n

After all the uncertainty of hosting the Asia Cup in Bangladesh for security reasons, finally the stage is set as the curtain rises for the 12th Asia Cup cricket when defending champions Pakistan facing an enthusiastic Sri Lanka side at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah today.

It was uncertain if Bangladesh would host the mega event after Pakistan expressed concerns about the security situation in the country but all is clear now.

Misbah-ul-Haq and his side will be confident today facing Sri Lanka after they recently won the five match ODI series 3-2 in UAE with Junaid Khan, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal leading their bowling attack.

New coach Moin Khan earlier informed that they are looking to retain their title before coming to Bangladesh, but Pakistan will have to fight hard against the spirited Lankans, who had a great time against in the ODI series against Bangladesh, which they won 3-0.

Sri Lanka, who have been in Bangladesh for over a month now, will surely have the advantage in terms of having adapted to the conditions. However, Pakistan are used to playing on the type of pitches they will encounter in Bangladesh.

The Lankans will be looking to the senior pair of Mahela Jayawardene and

BFF declare 28-man prelim squad n

Bangladesh Football Federation yesterday declared a 28-member preliminary squad for the Fifa International Friendly against India scheduled to be played at Goa on March 5.

Head coach Lodewijk de Kruif however thought he has very little time to prepare his team for the match and said, “It’s a tough situation but we have to proceed with what we have.

“I am not getting the full squad before February 28 as Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russell players have their league commitments, so it’s a tough situation,” Kruif said.

Four new faces - midfielders Hemanta Vincent, Jewel Rana, Rubel Mia and defender Tutul Hossain Badsha - got their first national call up and the Dutch head coach stated it as a regular process. Among them it is a new horizon for Under-19 defender Tutul Hossain Badsha as he is yet to play any Bangladesh Premier League match for Abahani Ltd. “There are a few new faces in the squad as apprentices are required for grooming the future players, we will see whether they are ready to take the senior’s responsibility,” said Kruif.

Defenders Waly Faisal, Ariful Islam, midfielder Omar Faruk Babu, forwards Sakhawat Hossain Rony and Wahed Ahmed were the unlucky ones as they were omitted from the squad that played in the Saff Championship in Nepal in September.

The coach revealed that Denmark expatriate Jamal Bhuiyan will fly directly to Mumbai on Feb 3 to join the squad. “I will also see the injuries as Mishu is sick for last five days, the tour party will consist 18 players,” added the Dutch. l

PRELIM SQUAD GoalKeepers- Biplob Bhattyacharya, Shahidul Alam Sohel, Mazharul Islam Himel, Mamun Khan Defenders- Raihan Hasan, Md. Linkon, Tapu Barman, Nasir Uddin Chowdhry, Didarul Haque, Yeasin Khan, Atikur Rahman Meshu, Yamin Ahmed Chowdhury, Tutul Hossain Badsha Midfielders- Jamal Bhuiyan, Mobarak Hossain, Zahid Hossain, Rubel Mia, Mamunul Islam, Sohel Rana, Shahedul Alam, Imon Mahmud, Hemanta Vincent, Jewel Rana, Towhidul Alam Forwards- Toklis Ahmed, Jahid Hasan Emily, Aminur Rahaman, Mithun Chowdhury

Kumar Sangakkara - both of whom have been in superb form in Bangladesh – but will miss hard hitting opener Tillakaratne Dilshan,who has been ruled out of the tournament due to a hand injury.

Mahela Jayawrdene may open the innings, as he has done before with great success, along with Kusal Perera – whose aggressive style has earned him a reputation for being the next Sanath Jayasuriya – a status he demonstrated in smashing a century against Bangladesh in the last ODI. It will be test for both Pakistan and Sri Lanka as both the side will be looking to start the tournament on a high note to gain the confidence for the rest of the tournament. l

PROBABLE XI n Pakistan: Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed She-

hzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood, Misbah-Ul-Haq (capt.), Umar Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Bilawal Bhatti/Anwar Ali, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan n Sri Lanka: Kusal Perera, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Dinesh Chandimal, Ashan Priyanjan, Angelo Mathews (capt.), Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Suranga Lakmal Form guide (last five matches, most recent first) Pakistan: L W W L W Sri Lanka: W W W W L

The respective captains of the Asia Cup teams pose for an official photograph during the trophy unveiling ceremony at a local hotel yesterday

MUMIT M

We need to start fresh, says Mathews Faruk annoyed with n Mushfiq remarks Angelo Mathews walking in at the press conference yesterday pretty much suggested how used to he has become to the path in the last one month in Bangladesh. The 26-year-old Sri Lankan captain walked in without his manager or the ACC media manager, sat on the chair and looked at all the familiar faces of the Bangladeshi journalists before he wore a smile and said “start”.

Having completed a successful full series against Bangladesh three days ago, the Sri Lankans will take the field at Fatullah today for the Asia Cup opener against defending champions Pakistan.

However, no matter how familiar he and his troop got with the conditions here, Mathews said they need to start fresh as he expects a tough contest from all the sides.

“We have been here for the past month and played some good cricket.

But that’s not going to win us games and we need to start fresh. This is a new tournament and sides are new as well,” said Mathews. “It’s going to be an even

contest and we need to play consistent cricket and better cricket to win against our oppositions.”

Playing away from home can be a difficult task, especially when it is in only one place. The Sri Lankans have two major tournaments in the line-up, Asia Cup and World Twenty20, so the question is whether the monotony of staying at the same place, Bangladesh, will get to the players. “This couple of tournament, the Asia Cup and the World Cup, is going to be important for all of us. It’s about man management and keeping yourself fit, because day in day out you have to wake up and perform consistently. That’s the challenge we have to face as players and I think we are up for it,” Mathews replied.

“The physios and trainers are doing good and the support from the support staff has been excellent. We look forward to play better cricket,” added the captain.

The all-rounder admitted of playing India and Pakistan often in the recent past, but did not agree that it will give them the advantage over their opponents.

“We played a lot against Pakistan

Nazmul out to straighten team n The recent performance and some off the field issues already raised many questions about the current national cricket team and it was observed by the BCB boss Nazmul Hasan, who said that they side had lost some rhythm as a result and that the board would take corrective action after the T20 World Championship at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

Nazmul said, “I am watching there is some sort of rhythm-loss in the team for a long time, there are certain things that should not have happened. If you ask me, I am noticing this from the Zimbabwe tour.

“We are hearing a lot of things that

we expected not to have happened and we were quite bemused hearing it.”

Nazmul added that he wanted to take action immediately but refrained as his co-members in the BCB believed that it was not the right time.

“Everyone wants some time. Let the world cup get finished and we will sort out everything in the next six month,” he added. However he informed that whatever is happening was unacceptable, particularly the lack of discipline in the side.

“I believe that even if we do badly in Asia Cup and World Cup there should be discipline. Nobody is indispensable,” he said, going on to point out the board’s decision to suspend Shakib al Hasan for three games to illustrate his point. l

and India in the recent past. We know about their strengths and weaknesses, and they know about ours too. It will be about who makes less mistakes because it is going to be an even contest as all the sides are evenly balanced. We look forward to play positive cricket and win,” he said.

Mathews also did not agree with the fact that beating Bangladesh fair and square in the full series will help them win the Asia Cup as it will be a tough contest. “As a team there is always room for improvement in all aspect of the game.

We need to go from strength to strength and we are not going to think that beating Bangladesh 3-0 will win us the Asia Cup.” The Sri Lankan skipper also said that the spinners will play a vital role in these pitches where “the ball might turn a little bit” or “get slower”.

“Spinners will be the main challenge in these wickets and all teams have good spinners. It’s going to be tough for the batters too and since all teams have good batters it’s going to be tough for the spinners as well. Like I said it will be an even contest,” said Mathews. l

BCB turns down Mushfiq appeal n BCB turned down national skipper Mushfiqur Rahim’s pledge to reconsider the ban on all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

Shakib’s inappropriate gesture during the second ODI against Sri Lanka last week got him suspended for three ODIs and was fined Tk300,000.

“There is no scope of dipping his punishment. The BCB will stick to the decision,” said the BCB media committee chairman Jalal Younus yesterday.

Mushfiq along with teammates requested the BCB to reduce Shakib’s suspension so that he doesn’t miss the first two games of the Asia Cup. l

Tamim to seek treatment in Singapore n

National opener Tamim Iqbal will fly to Singapore on Thursday for treatment to his injured neck. It was learnt the southpaw failed to get a concrete answer on his injury from the panel of the Bangladesh Cricket Board physiotherapists and thus after getting permission from the board president Nazmul Hasan, Tamim will see a doctor in Singapore.

“The MRI reports revealed that I am suffering from disc bulge and muscle strain. No one in Dhaka is being able to give a tentative time of the recovery.

This is why I am going to Singapore. I have applied for the visa and will leave on Thursday,” Tamim told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Tamim sustained the neck injury ahead of the second Twenty20 against Sri Lanka earlier this month in Chittagong. However he appeared in the second T20 game but the increasing trouble due to the injury kept him out of the three match ODI series which Bangladesh lost 3-0. Later he was also kept out of the Asia Cup squad.

The hard-hitting batsman wished Bangladesh the best of luck for the tour-

nament. “The series against Sri Lanka was not a good one for us for which it is important for us to regroup and gain the confidence. I will request the fans and the media to keep less pressure on the team,” said Tamim.

Tamim thinks that the weight of expectation caused the Tigers to perform badly against Sri Lanka and added, “Everyone wants Bangladesh to perform and we also want to play well. I believe Bangladesh will perform well in the Asia Cup. This is important as there is another big event (ICC World Twenty20) after this.” l

n Faruk Ahmed, the 48-year-old chief selector of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) doesn’t believe that he erred by not consulting the national captain Mushfiqur Rahim before announcing the squad for the Asia Cup. The captain has expressed his shock at not being consulted by the chief selector and said that certain inclusions and exclusions have been made in the team without his knowledge.

Faruk, with other national selector Habibul Bashar, is in India for two reasons - firstly to see his ailing sister and secondly to play for Dhaka Club against CCFC (Calcutta Cricket and Football Club).

Speaking exclusively over telephone from his hotel room, Faruk said, “Yes, the captain was not consulted for the composition of the team but we had already discussed the team with head coach (Shane Jurgensen) and

physio (Vibhav Singh) before announcing the 15 members.

“Even the coach was present in the selection committee meeting,” he said.

“When we discussed the team with the head-coach it was assumed that the coach has brought the feedback from the captain. It is not mandatory for us, rather me, as a chairman of the National Selection Panel, to discuss separately with the coach and captain,” he further added.

“Mushfiqur Rahim is a good captain and we have retained him till next year’s World Cup. On my return to Bangladesh today, I shall certainly speak to him about his so-called outburst but there is no question of compromise.

The BCB has no policy to make captain the part of the selection committee meeting though we do speak to him on a regular basis,” said Faruk.

Faruk Ahmed and Bashar were scheduled to leave for Bangladesh yesterday evening. l

ASIA CUP 2014 Date February 25 February 26 February 27 February 28 March 1 March 2 March 3 March 4 March 5 March 6 March 8

Match Pakistan v Sri Lanka Bangladesh v India Afghanistan v Pakistan India v Sri Lanka Bangladesh v Afghanistan India v Pakistan Afghanistan v Sri Lanka Bangladesh v Pakistan Afghanistan v India Bangladesh v Sri Lanka Final

Venue Fatullah Fatullah Fatullah Fatullah Fatullah Mirpur Mirpur Mirpur Mirpur Mirpur Mirpur

Time (BDT) 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM 2:00PM

Pakistan ‘more than happy’ with security n The pre-national election tension and political turmoil in Bangladesh had the Pakistan Cricket Board most concerned among the teams participating in the Asia Cup, but the security arrangement in Bangladesh has made the tourists more than happy, informed the Pakistan team manager Zakir Khan yesterday.

“We are more than happy with the arrangement here (in Dhaka). All seems to be on track and we are thinking of the games ahead,” said Zakir to the media.

Off the 11 editions of the Asia Cup, Pakistan took the title home twice

–2000 and 2012, and in both occasions Bangladesh was the host. As the reigning champions, Zakir informed that Pakistan will fight to defend the title.

“The competition in the tournament will be tough but we don’t want to take the pressure as the defending champions. The players look forward to perform which is the key to the positive results,” said the former Pakistan national cricketer.

Zakir also showed faith in the team’s new coach Moin Khan and said, “He (Moin) knows how to keep the players happy and he himself is a spirited person. Hope the team will perform well under his supervision.” l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Van Gaal open to Spurs approach

Sport

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Pakistan offers Taliban cricket match

Louis van Gaal has said he would consider joining Tottenham Hotspur once his contract with the Dutch national team finishes after this year’s World Cup in Brazil. The 62-year-old, who has coached Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, was linked to the Premier League club when Andre Villas-Boas was sacked in December. Spurs eventually appointed youth development manager Tim Sherwood on an 18-month contract, but the Dutchman said he was still interested in the job.

–Reuters

A top Pakistani minister provoked derision on social media Monday after he suggested the Taliban could swap their guns for cricket bats and offered to host a match with the militants to revive stalled peace talks. Pakistan’s government entered into a formal dialogue with the Taliban earlier this month, but the process faltered after the militants executed 23 kidnapped soldiers. The military has retaliated with a series of air strikes in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan and are home to the Taliban’s top leadership, killing dozens.

–AFP

Balotelli denies reported scuffles AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli on Sunday denied being involved in an altercation with a photographer following media reports of an alleged assault outside a nightclub. Domestic news agency ANSA said Balotelli, who was ruled out of his side’s trip to Sampdoria on Sunday due to injury, had travelled to Liguria, on Italy’s north-west coast, to watch his brother play in a football match. The report said Balotelli later refused a photographer’s request for a photo when he showed up at a restaurant with his fiancee Fanny Neguesha and some friends.

–AFP

Man United narrow focus for Olympiakos trip n AFP, London With hopes of a top-four finish in the Premier League fading, Manchester United approach Tuesday’s Champions League last 16 first-leg match at Greek champions Olympiakos desperate for a positive result.

Not only does the competition represent United’s last realistic hope of silverware this season, but David Moyes’s side may need to win the Champions League just to qualify for next season’s tournament.

United are currently 11 points below Liverpool, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League place, and with only 11 games of the season remaining, qualification via the league may already be beyond them.

United have won only four of their 11 matches since the turn of the year, but the Champions League provided a respite from their domestic woes during the European autumn.

The three-time continental champions qualified comfortably as Group A winners, winning four and drawing two of their six matches and enjoying handsome 4-2 and 5-0 victories over last year’s runners-up Bayer Leverkusen.

Nevertheless, with Arsenal and Manchester City having already lost their own last 16 first-leg matches, to

Bayern Munich and Barcelona respectively, the tournament final in Lisbon on May 24 remains a long way off.

United warmed up for Tuesday’s game at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus by winning 2-0 at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, with Van Persie opening the scoring from the penalty spot.

Wayne Rooney doubled United’s lead to mark his 300th league appearance for the club with a goal and celebrate his new five-and-a-half-year contract, which is reportedly worth £300,000 ($500,000, 360,000 euros) a week.

United are unbeaten against Greek teams and Olympiakos have not reached the Champions League quarter-finals since 1999, although they have won at home to Arsenal twice in the last two seasons.

The Greek giants can nonetheless take heart from their breathtaking domestic form, having won 24 and drawn two of their opening 26 league games and reached the semi-finals in the Greek Cup. With top scorer Kostas Mitroglou having left for Fulham last month, Nigerian forward Michael Olaitan is expected to lead the line on Tuesday.

Olympiakos coach Michel, the former Real Madrid midfielder, believes that his side’s performance against OFI proves that they are ready for the challenge of tackling United. l

Dortmund jet to Zenit with injury, form worries n AFP, Saint Petersburg

Manchester United's Dutch striker Robin van Persie (R) and midfielders Marouane Fellaini (C) and midfielder Ryan Giggs (L) take part in a training session at their Carrington complex in Manchester, north west England, yesterday ahead of the UEFA Champions League football match against Olympiakos today AFP

Borussia Dortmund head to Zenit Saint Petersburg for Tuesday’s Champions League last 16, first-leg clash on the back of a shock Bundesliga defeat and injury worries.

Last year’s Champions League finalists Dortmund slumped to a shock 3-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Hamburg on Saturday and lost defensive midfielder Sven Bender for the next 10 weeks with an inflamed pelvis.

Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has promised improvements in Saint Petersburg. Zenit certainly have the squad to trouble Dortmund with the likes of Brazilian striker Hulk and ex-Arsenal attacking midfielder Andrei Arshavin.

Zenit’s director of sport Dietmar Beiersdorf was at Hamburg’s Imtech Arena to witness Dortmund’s debacle.

Bender’s injury does not help Klopp, who is already without centreback Neven Subotic and winger Jakub Blaszczykowski who both miss the rest of the season with torn knee ligaments.

Dortmund’s Germany defensive midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has not played since August after suffering from a back injury and virus. Mats Hummels did not train on Sunday and is struggling with an ankle injury.

Likewise, Poland striker Robert Lewandowski missed training with illness, but will fly to Russia.

Zenit qualified for the last 16 despite winning just one of their Group G matches, but Beiersdorf said Dortmund will run out into a volatile atmosphere. l

Atletico defeat leaves Real clear

Pardew compares Tevez gives Juve derby win Remy to Cruyff and Sampdoria were also fuming after n Reuters, Rome n Reuters, Madrid losing 2-0 at home to AC Milan and InBergkamp Carlos Tevez scored a stun- ter Milan coach Walter Mazzarri joined Atletico Madrid’s La Liga the chorus of discontent after his team ning goal as Serie A leaders title challenge took a noseReuters n were held 1-1 at home by lowly Cagliari.

Juventus beat Torino 1-0 dive when they slumped to Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew compared striker Loic Remy to Dutch greats Johan Cruyff and Dennis Bergkamp after his injury-time winner earned a much-needed 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday.

The 27-year-old, who is on loan from Queens Park Rangers, took his Premier League tally this season to 12 goals on his return from a three-match ban.

“Somebody just said to me the game seemed a little bit slower when he was on the ball and I think when you get a quality player that’s what they can do,” Pardew told reporters.

“Players like Cruyff and Bergkamp, they can slow the game down and he can do that. He’s going to be hot property, he’s going to get a lot of press tomorrow.”

“I was a little happier after Loic’s goal went in than I was before,” he added. “It was a strange game and I was beginning to wonder.

“I think we’ve had a decent season.

The recent bad run has put pressure on my staff and my team. I don’t feel comfortable with that, my staff being under pressure,” said Pardew.

“You can be very resilient as a manager but I was desperate to get a result for my team and our fans who have had to be very patient. We’ve not been very good at home since beating Stoke on Boxing Day but the win will settle us down.” l

on Sunday to continue an extraordinary dominance of their neighbours.

Torino, who have not scored in the last 10 meetings with Juventus and have failed to beat their rivals since 1995, were furious at having a late penalty appeal turned down while the hosts notched their 13th straight home win in the league this season.

RESULTS Juventus Tevez 30

Lazio

Radu 36, 83, Klose 74

1 0 3 2

Torino Sassuolo

Floccari 72, Floro Flores 79

Juve’s win kept them nine points clear of AS Roma, who won 1-0 at Bologna on Saturday, and on course for a third successive title.

Juve have 66 points with Roma on 57 and Napoli a further seven back in third.

Tevez scored the only goal on the half hour when the Argentine brilliantly controlled Kwadwo Asamoah’s pass and fired a low shot into the net on the turn.

Torino were by no means outplayed and believed they should have had a penalty when Omar El Kaddouri appeared to be tripped by Andrea Pirlo 10 minutes from time. l

Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 loss at Norwich City on Sunday was a major blow to their hopes of Champions League soccer next season, manager Tim Sherwood said.

Sherwood refused, however, to blame Spurs’ midweek trip to Ukraine in the Europa League for the defeat.

Robert Snodgrass’s calm finish early in the second half was the difference between the two sides, and despite a flurry of chances for Tottenham the result could have been worse had the Scot’s long-range free kick not hit the crossbar late on.

Spurs are fifth in the Premier League

RESULTS Rayo Vallecano

0 1

Real Betis

0 2

Athletic Bilbao

Valencia

2 1

Granada

Osasuna

3 0

Atletico Madrid

Alcacer 63, Vezo 90

Sevilla

Coke 57 Muniain 34-pen, Guillermo 81 Piti 47

Cejudo 6, Armenteros 21, Torres 42

Porto suffer first home league defeat in five years n Reuters

Juventus' Argentine forward Carlos Tevez celebrates after scoring against Torino during the Italian Serie A match at Juventus Stadium in Turin on Sunday AFP

Defeat will harm CL hopes: Sherwood n Reuters, Norwich

a shock 3-0 defeat at Osasuna on Sunday, leaving Real Madrid three points clear at the top.

Champions Barcelona and Real were held to draws at Osasuna’s El Sadar sta-

dium earlier in the season and Atletico fell behind in the sixth minute when Alvaro Cejudo arrived unmarked at the back post to volley a corner into the net.

An error by fullback Juanfran allowed Emiliano Armenteros space to score with a long-range drive in the 21st minute and Roberto Torres nodded a third goal three minutes before the break.

It was the first time Atletico conceded three goals in the first half since Argentine coach Diego Simeone took over at the end of 2011.

Simeone left several regulars out of his starting lineup before bringing on playmakers Koke and Arda Turan and attacking midfielder Raul Garcia in the second half.

Barca, chasing a fifth title in six years, and Atletico have 60 points with the Catalan giants ahead on goal difference. l

standings, six points behind Liverpool who occupy the final Champions League qualification spot after they defeated Swansea City 4-3 in a thrilling match at Anfield.

“That’s the first really major setback that I’ve had (since taking the job) and we need to be spirited and show what we’re made of,” Sherwood, who took over from Andre Villas-Boas in December, told reporters.

Asked about the six-point gap to Liverpool, he said: “It looks big. It’s a real blow to us but we’ve got to bounce back and we need characters in the dressing room to be able to do that.”

Spurs have lost five of the nine matches they have played after a Europa League outing, the latest on Thursday

against Dnipropetrovsk, but he did not use it as an excuse for Sunday’s defeat.

“The result was very disappointing,” he said. “The first half performance was disappointing, the second half wasn’t but too late and if you don’t take the chances which we clearly had you aren’t going to win many football matches unfortunately.

“We were stronger in the second period so you can’t use (tiredness) as an excuse. Second half we looked like we were the far better side.”

“We took a real blow early on in the second half going behind to a sloppy goal and then we started playing from there and created a few chances and unfortunately we couldn’t take them,” Sherwood added. l

Porto lost a league match at home for the first time in more than five years on Sunday when they were beaten 1-0

by Estoril at the usually impregnable Dragao Stadium.

A 78th-minute penalty won and converted by Evandro ended an incredible 81-match run that stretched back to October 2008 when Porto lost 3-2 to Leixoes.

EPL POINTS TABLE Team

P

W

D

L

GD

PTS

1 Chelsea

27

18

6

3

28

60

2 Arsenal

27

18

5

4

25

59

3 Man City

26 18

3

5

42

57

4 Liverpool

27

17

5

5

35

56

5 Tottenham

27

15

5

7

3

50

6Man United

27

13

6

8

12

45

7 Everton

26

12

9

5

10

45

8 Newcastle

27

12

4

11

-5

40

9 Southampton 27 10

9

8

6

39

10 West Ham

27

8

7

12

-3

31

11 Hull City

27

8

6

13

-2

30

12 Swansea City 27

7

7

13

-4

28

13 Aston Villa

27

7

7

13 -10

28

14 Norwich City 27

7

7

13 -19

28

15 Stoke City

27

6

9

12 -15

27

16 Crystal Palace 26

8

2

16 -18

26

17 West Brom

27

4

13

10

-8

25

18 Sunderland

26

6

6

14 -16

24

19 Cardiff City

27

5

7

15 -29

22

20 Fulham

27

6

3

18 -32

21

The Portuguese champions, who squandered a 2-0 lead when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday, were jeered off the field by furious fans and coach Paulo Fonseca said he would now ponder his future.

It is the first season in charge for Fonseca.

To add to Porto’s misery, defender Eliaquim Mangala was sent off for the foul which caused the penalty. l

LA LIGA POINTS TABLE

Team 1 Real Madrid 2 Barcelona 3 Atlético Madrid 4 Athletic 5 Real Sociedad 6 Villarreal 7 Valencia 8 Sevilla 9 Levante 10 Espanyol 11 Celta Vigo 12 Osasuna 13 Granada 14Elche 15 Getafe CF 16 Almería 17 Málaga 18 Valladolid 19 Rayo 20 Real Betis

P 25 25 25 25 25 24 25 25 25 24 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25

W 20 19 19 14 12 12 10 9 8 9 8 8 8 6 7 7 6 4 6 3

D 3 3 3 5 7 4 5 8 9 5 6 5 3 8 5 5 7 10 2 5

L 2 3 3 6 6 8 10 8 8 10 11 12 14 11 13 13 12 11 17 17

GD PTS 47 63 50 60 40 60 15 47 11 43 15 40 2 35 2 35 -7 33 -2 32 -4 30 -13 29 -10 27 -15 26 -17 26 -18 26 -11 25 -16 22 -34 20 -35 14

Robben frustrates Schweinsteiger

n Reuters

Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger was briefly upset with Bayern Munich team mate Arjen Robben when the Dutch winger failed to pass to him during Sunday’s 4-0 win at Hanover 96.

“When I went off I was upset Robben didn’t give me the ball when I ran behind him,” Schweinsteiger told Sky Sports Deutschland, laughing off the incident. “At this age I don’t run as much but I’m not the first not to get the ball when chasing Arjen.” l

Bayern win 14th in a row n Reuters Runaway leaders Bayern Munich appeared to barely break sweat in a 4-0 win at Hanover 96 to chalk up their 14th Bundesliga win in a row on Sunday, leaving them a huge 19 points clear at the top.

The defending champions, unbeaten in their last 47 league matches, look well-placed to beat last season’s record when they wrapped up the title with six matches to spare.

Thomas Mueller scored twice while Thiago Alcantara and Mario Mandzukic helped themselves to one piece in an embarrassingly one-sided affair watched in near silence by a demor-

alised 49,000 crowd.

Bayern, who have 62 points from a possible 66 and a goal difference of 52, went ahead with their first clearcut chance when Rafinha broke free on the right and crossed for an unmarked Mueller to head in at the near post.

Nine minutes later, Bastian Schweinsteiger chipped a diagonal ball over the Hanover defence and Alcantara fired past Ron-Robert Zieler.

Mandzukic cleverly set up the third for Mueller in the 59th minute with a neat backheel and the Croatia forward headed the fourth himself from another Rafinha cross seven minutes later.

Bayern kept a clean sheet for the sixth consecutive match in all competitions. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

QUICK BYTES BFF picks five for the national award

Bangladesh Football Federation nominated five football personalities for the National Sports Award 2013 from their part in an Emergency Committee meeting at the BFF House yesterday.

The names will be sent to the National Sports Council who will pick the winner.

BFF selected Shamsul Haque Chowdhury, the BFF executive committee member and football organiser, former national footballers Elias Hossain and Jewel Rana, organisers Fazlur Rahman Babul and Monjur Kader for the highest sports award of the country.

–RM

Nadal proves his form with masterful Rio win World number one Rafael Nadal shrugged off the injury concerns that wrecked his Australian Open bid as he dismantled Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6 to win the Rio Open on Sunday. The 13-time Grand Slam winner showed no evidence of the back injury that hampered him in Melbourne as he wrapped up his 48th ATP title against an opponent with no answer to the relentless pressure exerted by the Spanish clay-court legend. And by winning a 43rd career clay court title, the 27-year-old threw down a gauntlet to pretenders to his French Open crowd which he defends in Paris in May. Nadal went into the match with a 4-0 winning record against Dolgopolov with the Ukrainian never having even broken the world number one’s service.

And the Spaniard was on top quickly in the first set, breaking Dolgopolov’s second service game to love as the Ukrainian made a succession of unforced errors. Dolgopolov could find no rhythm against Nadal’s trademark topspins on the Rio clay and made little inroads into the world number one’s service games as he raced into a 4-1 lead in less than 20 minutes.

–AFP

Red-hot Cilic downs Anderson for Delray crown Croatia’s Marin Cilic defeated former champion Kevin Anderson of South Africa in three sets on Sunday to win the ATP Delray Beach Open and notch his second title in three weeks. Cilic, seeded seventh, defeated fourth-seeded Anderson 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (7/9), 6-4 to notch his ATP Tour leading 18th match victory of the year. He added another title to the Zagreb trophy he claimed earlier this month. He also reached the final in Rotterdam last week.

Cilic needed three hours and eight minutes to claim the victory, which was especially sweet after Saturday’s rain delay saw him start late and labor until the early hours to beat second-seeded John Isner in the semi-finals. “It feels awesome, especially after waiting for a long time last night and finishing after 1 am,” the 29th-ranked Cilic said.

“Then, today to come back and win it, I’m really happy with this victory.” Cilic needed seven match points to snatch the title, firing 16 aces and benefiting from 12 double faults by Anderson. He converted four of his 14 break points and saved 10 of the 13 faced. After claiming the first set in a tie-break, Cilic was poised to raise the trophy soon after. However, he was broken while serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, and dropped his first match point when Anderson belted a backhand winner cross-court a game later. Anderson would fight back again in the ensuing tie-break, surviving a 4-1 deficit and three more match points to level the match at a set apiece.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Sony Six 7:00AM NBA 2013-14 New Orleans v LA Clippers Channel 9 & Star Sports 1 2:00PM Arise Asia Cup 2014 Pakistan v Sri Lanka

Sport

Moustache, you beauty! n Reazur Rahman Rohan

The moustache has a long and storied history in cricket with Australia leading the way. Merv Hughes, David Boon, Dennis Lille and a host of others are famous for their moustaches aside from their breathtaking performances on the field. In the modern era, one does not get to upper lip hairstyles as much as before, until last year.

It was the Indian Shikhar Dhawan who made an incredible debut against Australia and continued to impress with his each approach last year while Ravindra Jadeja, of course with a moustache, also played a vital role with the ball for the Indians.

After being said to be “not good enough” for the Australian team, Mitchell Johnson came back with a new face,and the new face had a moustache. Though Johnson initially grew a moustache to raise money for men’s health charity “Movember” last year, his comeback can be called as one of the greatest as he rattled the English batsmen during the Ashes to help his country regain the glory.

Cricketers have always tried out different styles with their moustaches and beards. Be it Kevin Pietersen or David Warner or even Rahul Dravid, they have all tried it out at some point.

There are new members in the moustache club, as Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi and Pakistan all-rounder Fawad Alam have also decided to fancy their chances with the Asia Cup starting today. To many the moustache had elevated their performance and though Nabi said it is “just the fashion,” maybe he too believes the success that comes along with the fashion.

During the 80s when Bangladesh rose as an international side, they had their own Lillees and Bothams. Dipu Roy Chowdhury, Samiur Rahman, Ashraful Haq, Doulat uz Zaman, Yousuf Rahman along with few others carried the moustache with boldness.

Having experienced a nightmare of a time on home soil recently, some of the Bangladeshi players might consider going for the stylish look.

Who knows, it might turn the tables around! l

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi (R) and his teammates walk during their practice session at the SBNS yesterday

stan is the best team among Associate members,” said Nabi during a press conference at their team hotel yesterday.

Afghanistan has been a talking point for most captains, especially from Bangladesh as both teams hold the capability of beating each other.

The other day Mushfiqur Rahim, during their press conference, did say that he was concerned about their game against the Afghans.

Nabi was very honest in admitting the praise and said, “They know how we play, that’s why they talk about us.It’sgood news that other team captains are talking about Afghanistan team. We will try our best to play good cricket in this tournament.”

In the recent Dhaka Premier League, there were a few Afghanistan

players recruited by the clubs which certainly proves about their ability to play in foreign leagues. Nabi, among the others, played five matches for Mohammedan Sporting Club and scored 223 runs at an average of 44.6.

His best score was in the form of a match winning 146 off 90 balls against Prime Doleshwar on his Dhaka league debut.

“Yes I have played in BPL and the Dhaka Premier League. In both tournaments I performed very well and I know the grounds and pitches in Bangladesh. It’s good for me and we will try our best to perform.

“Rahmat Shah, Asghar Stanikzai, Gulbadan Naib, Shahzad and Shapoor, maybe half of team played in Bangladesh and this is good experience for them and also good for Afghanistan,”

MUMIT M

‘We want to show our talent to the world’ n Reazur Rahman Rohan Afghanistan will make their maiden Asia Cup appearance when they face defending champions of the tournament Pakistan on Thursday. The team, known all over for their die hard approach, did very well in the past two years and they can surely consider the Asia Cup as their reward.

Appearing for the first time and playing against some top teams in a tournament will be a tough task and Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi said they just want to stage their ability in front of the world.

“It’s a tough tournament and we are playing for the first time in Asia Cup. Our challenge is to prove how we can play against full members and show our talent to the world that Afghani-

said Nabi.

The Afghans have been in Sri Lanka for the last month for a conditioning camp as part of their build up to the Asia Cup and the World T20. It is very much possible for them to pull an upset against the hosts and Nabi said though they are not targeting any team in particular but Shakib al Hasan missing from the Bangladesh line-up will be an advantage.

“We will try our best against every team. There is no target. We will play good cricket and when time comes, we will win. I hear about Shakib al Hasan banned for three matches. This is a good chance as he is a key player for Bangladesh. We will take it as a priority and look forward to it,” said Nabi.

It doesn’t often happen that Afghanistan plays top ranked teams and

with very little experience against the Asian teams, Nabi hoped to give them a tough time and also look for a win when possible.

“It’s a very good feeling to play against big teams. We played against India and Pakistan in big events like World Cup and against Pakistan we played T20 and ODI in Sharjah. That was a very good experience at that time, may be they know how Afghanistan plays and we hope to give them a tough time,” he said.

The 29-year-old was confident of his teammates and also indicated youngster Najeeb Zadran as their rising star.

“We have a new talent from U-19, Najeeb Zadran. A good talent and a young guy andhe already performed against Pakistan in T20.I hope he will perform here as well,” said the skipper. l

Premier Bank renews BCL tie n Raihan Mahmood

National cricketers Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim flanked by GP officials share a light moment during the brand ambassador signing ceremony yesterday COURTESY

Grameenphone rope in star trio n Minhaz Uddin Khan Grameenphone, one of the leading mobile network providers of the country, declared three of the leading national cricketers of the country – Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal and Nasir Hossain as the brand ambassadors of the company.

In a press conference held at a local hotel in Dhaka yesterday, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, Mahmud Hossain informed that the three cricketers will promote Grameenphone’s “internet for all” campaign.

Grameenphone played the role of a pioneer in revolution of mobile phone use Bangladesh and now in order to take the country to next step, the company has decided to make internet reach all people in the country.

Bangladesh national captain Mushfiqur Rahim informed that he is proud of being part of Grameenphone that also

holds the track of contributing in Bangladesh cricket. “They (Grameenphone) have always been there for cricket as far as I remember and it is an honor for being able to be a part of the corporate house. I hope I will be able to contribute in their mission which I personally believe will have a positive impact in the society,” said Mushfiq.

While another ambassador, Tamim said that company are the leaders. “I think it was Grameenphone that introduced mobile phone to the common people and that every other network providers are followers to it,” said Tamim.

“Sea without water, city without people and Grameenphone without Bangladesh – that’s how important they have become to the country,” Tamim added.

The third ambassador, Nasir Hossain failed to join the ceremony due to unavoidable reasons. l

Star Sports 4 AFC Champions League 1:30PM Shandong Luneng v Buriram United 4:00PM Sanfrecce Hiroshima v Beijing Guoan Ten Sports 4:00PM Dubai Tennis Championships Ten Action Uefa Champions League, R16-Leg1 10:00PM Zenit St Petersburg v Dortmund 1:00AM Olympiakos v Man United

15

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

High Commissioner of United Kingdom HE Robert, W Gibson, ABM Ruhul Azad, director (Training), BKSP, Shamima Sattar Mimu, deputy director (Training), BKSP, Bayzid Zubair Alam Nipu, technical director of Bangladesh Football Federation, Faridur Reza Sagor, managing director Channel i, Rajnish Kaul, chief operating officer, Airtel Bangladesh Limited, and Mir Nawbut Ali, head of marketing, pose with the Rising Stars at BKSP yesterday COURTESY

The Premier Bank continued its involvement with the Bangladesh Championship League, the second tier league of professional football circuit in the country, for the third consecutive year. The tournament is scheduled to kick-off at the Shahid Sipahi Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium, Kamalapur tomorrow.

Premier Bank, one of the leading banks of the private sector continued their sponsorship with a purse of Tk2.5m. Victoria Sporitng Club, Wari Club, Badda Jagoroni, Arambagh, Rahmatganj, Farashganj and Agrani Bank are the seven teams who will vie for the two promotional slots to the Bangladesh Premier League while one will be relegated to the first division.

The three-phase league will see the champion team bag Tk500000 while the runners-up will be provided a purse of Tk300000. Bangladesh Football Federation also plans to host some matches at the Manikganj stadium.

In a press conference held at the BFF House yesterday Abdus Salam

BFF SVP Abdus Salam Murshedy speaks in the press conference of the Premier Bank BCL at the BFF House yesterday COURTESY Murshedy, the senior vice president of BFF, lauded Premier Bank for the sponsorship and said, “Premier Bank’s assistance will definitely add pace in the development process of the game in the country, we are thankful to them.”

Dewan Anwarul Latif, the DMD of the Premier Bank hoped football will proceed by meeting the demand of time

and Bangladesh will enjoy a better future in the football arena.

BFF general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag, executive committee member Harunur Rashid, professional league committee member Abdur Rahim, Premier Bank officials Md Imtiazuddin and Syed Nawsher Ali were also present on the occasion. l

Airtel ‘Rising Stars’ finalised n Raihan Mahmood Airtel Bangladesh Limited completed the final selection of the Airtel Rising Stars second season at the event’s closing ceremony in BKSP. The top 12 players selected from 120 participants will travel to Manchester United for a training programme at the Old Trafford.

The selected final 12 young footballers are Md Mustajik Khan BKSP, Savar, Dhaka, Md. Mahadud Hossain Fahim - BKSP -Savar, Dhaka, Md. Anik Hossain- Isdaeer Rabia Hossain High School Narayanganj, Md. Nayeem Islam- Shitolai Alim Madrasa, Rajshahi, Md. Emon BiswasBKSP, Dinajpur, Mahbubur RahmanVictoria High School, Moulivibazar, Srimangal, Md. Hafizur RahmanBadshah Faisal Islami Institute, Jessore, Md. Solaiman Haque Chandrabaj Rashida Begum School and College, Jamalpur, Md. Mashiur Rahman- Chai Moria Bohumukhi High School, Gaibandha, Md.Khokon MiyaChandrabaj Rashida Begum School and College, Jamalpur, Md. Sabbir HossainTorun Sangha Taka Para High School, Rajshahi, Md. Sohanur Rahman- BKSP, Khulna. l

Walton additional director AFM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn hands over the sponsorship money to BWF general secretary Wing Com. Mohiuddin Ahmed yesterday COURTESY

Walton Club and Inter Service Weightlifting starts tomorrow n Raihan Mahmood The Walton Smartphone National Club Weightlifting Championship and the 1st Inter Service Weightlifting starts at the National Sports Council gymnasium tomorrow.

The three-day meet will see the male and female weightlifters of 21 clubs across the country and the lifters of the seven services teams vie for 45 medals in 15 weight categories.

In a press conference held at the conference room of the Bangaband-

hu National Stadium yesterday Wing Commander (rtd) Mohiuddin Ahmed, the general secretary of weightlifting federation said the meet is virtually a qualifier for the lifters as four best lifters will be selected for the Commonwealth Games.

Walton additional director A.F.M. Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn handed over the sponsorship money of Tk250,000 to Mohiuddin. Federation officials Kazi Golam Quddus Nabi, Rafiquzzman, Mariam Mina and Mojibur Rahman were also present on the occasion. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Dhaka and Pentagon discuss security issues n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque held a meeting with official from the Pentagon of the United States last week to discuss security-related issues.

“The foreign secretary of Bangladesh visited Washington last week, where we had a very robust set of engagement for him across all of the various agencies, including our ministry of defence, the Pentagon, and the state department,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia Atul Keshap said at a press briefing yesterday.

When contacted, the foreign secretary said overarching security issues were discussed with the US officials.

“We discussed about the agenda of the third security dialogue with Penta-

gon officials,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Anti-terrorism, natural disaster, climate change and other security issues were discussed during the meeting, he added.

Shahidul met Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asia Vikram J Singh at the Pentagon.

Bangladesh and the US will have its third defence dialogue on April 22, while the third security dialogue will be held on April 16. The third partnership dialogue between the two countries will be held in mid-June.

“All aspects, including defence and security issues, are discussed in partnership dialogue which the foreign secretary leads from Bangladesh side and that’s why I wanted to meet all the US interlocutors,” he said.

The foreign secretary also discussed anti-terrorism issues with the State Department Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller.

“Anti-terrorism issue is coordinated by the State Department and I had a meeting with the under secretary and discussed the issues,” Shahidul said.

Atul Keshap at a press briefing, said there are many different areas in defence where Bangladesh and US cooperate.

“We have robust cooperation with the military here and we will continue to do so,” he said.

“It is dedicated very much to working together in ways that are to our mutual benefit and particularly for the benefit of our people,” he added. l RAJIB DHAR

ICT WAR CRIMES TRIAL

Campaigners unhappy at hints of dissolving one tribunal n Udisa Islam Those seeking justice against the alleged war criminals, along with the activists who have been vocal on the issue, have expressed their disappointment following hints from government officials on the possible dissolution of one of the International Crimes Tribunal.

Blaming the government of going slow with the trials by ignoring calls to increase the number of tribunals, activists also urged the government to be more serious about the ICT. Earlier, Law Minister Anisul Huq, after assuming office, had commented that one tribunal would be enough if there were only a few cases to be tried; a comment which contrasts claims by the investigation agency that it had more than 500 complaints to investigate.

The minister, however, said he was not ready to talk about plans on limiting the number of tribunals, but ensured that the trial of war criminals would continue until the last criminal was alive.

Sources concerned with the trial process said the government had plans to close down one tribunal after the trials of the top-level war criminals ended.

Speaking about the possible move of reducing the number of tribunals, Shahriar Kabir, leader of Ekattorer Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee, said media reports on the potential dissolution of a tribunal was disappointing, as it comes at a time when activists were raising voice for more tribunals to expedite the whole trial process.

He also criticised the government for not yet being able to pass any witness protection law, adding that the government should end the trials of local-level collaborators soon, as only the top war crimes suspects have been tried so far.

Referring to the women victims of

the Liberation War, Shahriar Kabir said the government had no right to deprive any victim of their justice.

Prosecution sources said the appointment of the new tribunal chairman, M Enayetur Rahim, makes it apparent that the government has backtracked from its earlier decision of reducing the number of tribunals. The trial process may run even faster now, they added.

Prosecutor AKM Saiful Islam said any decision regarding dissolving the tribunal, when several war crimes cases were ongoing and nine more cases were being prepared to go to the tribunal, may hurt the sentiment of the people who have eagerly been waiting for justice.

Seeking anonymity, a top-level official of the related ministry also said the government had already backed from its previous plan.

Prosecution office documents state that 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 in the country.

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 imprisonments. In addition, the verdict against Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami is pending at the ICT 1.

In both tribunals, war crime trials are proceeding against seven top suspects including Mir Kashem, ATM Azhar, Syed Kaiser, Mobarak hossain, Jahidul Islam alias Khokon razakar and Abdus Subhan. l

ROAD DEVELOPMENT

Government allows felling trees in Bhawal forest n Mohosinul Karim The cabinet has given nod to felling 498 Shal trees in Bhawal reserve forest on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway for road development work. It is basically the relaxation of a ban imposed on tree felling in the area.

The approval came at a regular meeting of the cabinet yesterday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

In October 2012, the government gave permission to cut over 5,000 for development of the same highway.

After the meeting cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told media that the authorities would plant same number of trees in the area.

The cabinet secretary said the engineering core of Bangladesh Army was implementing half of the development project. l

Let the buying begin 38

new books published AMAR EKUSHEY BOOK FAIR 2014

n Ahmed Zayeef As this year’s Amar Ekushey Book Fair is nearing its end, book lovers seem to be in a rush to grab as many books as possible.

Like in previous days, yesterday also saw the fair packed with visitors. This time however, more readers were actually making purchases, as opposed to merely browsing through their favourite titles.

Many of the bibliophiles came to the fair solely to buy books, on the 24th day of the fair, after spending previous visits browsing through the book and price lists.

“Although I had visited the fair many

n Ahmed Zayeef

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Ruling Awami League’s student front Chhatra League has recently published two posters that depicted history wrongly about the death of three of its leaders 1980s and 1990s.

The posters, depicting late student leaders Md Delwar Hossain and HM Ibrahim, could be seen on the walls of the Modhur Canteen, TSC, Arts building , Social Science Faculty and Karjon Hall inside the campus.

The posters show they died on 28 February, 1948, during the movement for education policy. But on the same poster say it was 30th death anniversary.

In the other poster, tribute was paid to former Shohidul Haque Chunnu, who died on February 25, 1990 in a clash between Chhatra League and Chhatra Dal. The poster wrongly claimed that BNP was in power at that time.

According to the Daily Ittefaq, Md Delwer and Ibrahim died on February 28, 1984 while they were attending a

The Bharatiya Janata Party has strongly opposed any move to settle border disputes with Bangladesh “hurriedly.”

“The BJP is firmly opposed to any hurried border dispute settlement with Bangladesh and it must be a part of comprehensive solution of all issues, including the most important issue of infiltration,” said a political resolution passed in a BJP national council meeting in New Delhi last month.

Bangladesh and India signed the land boundary agreement to resolve border disputes in 1974. Dhaka ratified the agreement the same year, but New Delhi is yet to ratify it.

After repeated attempts, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid placed the bill in Rajyasabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, last year – amid strong resistance from different stakeholders – to amend the constitution to pave the way for the ratification.

In response to a question on BJP’s resistance on the issue at a press briefing last year, Salman said: “We are moving forward with full consultations and full involvement of all stakeholders and it will be of course my duty to ensure that it gets passed in the parliament with cooperation of all parties, including the main opposition, the BJP.” The BJP resolution blamed that massive Bangladeshi infiltration was the main reason behind recurring violence in Assam.

“The BJP firmly believes that Congress collusion in massive Bangladeshi infiltration is the root cause of recurring violence in Assam.”

The party viewed that Assam problem should be treated as Indian versus foreigner issue, not as Hindu versus Muslim.

“However, those Hindus who are forced to leave both Pakistan and Bangladesh because of religious persecution must be given due safety and security and refugee status.”

BJP prime minister candidate Norendra Modi at a meeting in Assam a few days ago reiterated the same view.

About the relationship with neighbours, the resolution said: “Today relationship with practically all the neighbouring countries is at an all-time low.

There has been a repeated incursion by China into our territory.”

BJP President Rajnath Singh at the

n Muktasree Chakma Sathi

Three acid survivors attend a conference organised by Acid Survivors Foundation at BICC in the capital yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN 0.05% of the total budget in this regard.

“Psychosocial and mental health are vital requiring proper care that must be provided for the sufferers along with other care.”

Pointing out that most acid survivors are faced with social stigma which works against their life and live-

instructing two children carrying sacks of books.

He said: “I have bought books worth around Tk12,000 for a social library. I usually do it every year, after deciding on which books would match the interest of my readers. I prefer to buy books during the last days as it helps me to get all the information sorted on newly published books.”

A total of 98 new books arrived at the fair yesterday.

Syed Shamsul Haque’s “Chompaboti” and “Golposhomogro 4” from Charulipi Prokashon, Gaji Azizur Rahman’s “Shahitte Shomaj Bastobotar Dhara” from Merit Fair Prokashon, Binoy Mojumdar’s “Dhushor Jibonanondo” from Kobi Prokashoni are mention worthy.

A total of 38 new books were unveiled at Nazrul mancha.

A discussion titled “Bankim Chandra: Pinjorer Boyan” was held at the central stage where Professor Masuduzzaman presented the key note paper. l

Chhatra League posters BJP strongly opposes convey wrong history LBA with Bangladesh

procession near Fulbaria Bus Terminal.

Shohidul Haque Chunnu died on 25 February, 1990 when General H M Ershad was in the state-power.

Shahrukh Miraj, publicity secretary of central BCL agreed that wrong information in the posters triggered controversy. l

‘Government, not NGOs, should see to acid survivors’ The acid attack survivors want the government come forward to effectively ensure their rehabilitation and inclusion in the society and take care of their mental health, according to a study.

It said the survivors’ reliance on the NGOs was comparatively low.

The research also found the acid survivors believed that only the government could help them as they suffered a lifelong trauma which needed support.

The study findings were presented at an international conference titled “Setting standard for psychosocial and mental health service provision for victims of acid and burn violence” organised by the Acid Survivors Foundation at the Bangabandhu International Convention Centre.

At the programme, Professor Diana Harcourt of the University of the West of England revealed the findings of study.

Diana said although 16% population of Bangladesh suffered mental health problem, the government only spent

times during the first three weeks, I did not buy that many books. After going through the newspapers and collecting pamphlets of different publishing houses, I made a list of my own. That is how I usually buy books,” said Natasha Abedin, faculty member of a private university.

Another visitor, Giasuddin Mahmud, was also seen checking through his own personal list. He said: “After going through a number of pamphlets distributed by publishers, I have made own personal list of 17 books. I am now simply going to buy them all.”

“It is difficult to carry all the books in one go, so I’ve come to the fair multiple times, which makes it all the more fun for me,” he added.

Publishers opined that readers thronging the fair during the last days and making bigger purchases has become a common phenomenon.

Tofazzol Hossain, another reader who was visiting for the fifth time, was found

lihood, Runa Liala, an acid survivor, said: “We are not allowed to go to any social programme like wedding ceremony because everybody looks down upon us, not the acid throwers.”

“Despite being a victim of acid violence we are treated as ominous, but not those who threw acid on us,” she

said.

Runa Liala added that they (acid survivors) could have lived in peace even with such social stigma if the perpetrators had been punished.

State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Ministry Meher Afroze Chumki admitted that the rate of punishment and implementation of laws remained low despite several laws on violence against women including acid violence.

According to the government Acid Crime Case Monitoring Cell, more than 3,500 victims and a total of 1,812 cases have been filed accusing 4,682 people.

Participants from across the world and acid survivors – male, female and children – came up with their several recommendations regarding their inclusion in the society and promotion of mental health.

The recommendations include ensuring exemplary punishment to the perpetrators, lifelong mental help to the survivors, inclusion of acid survivors in social activities and household work, providing the survivors with financial help and rehabilitation. l

national council meeting alleged that China was trying to create an anti-India atmosphere in the neighbourhood.

“And it’s not just Pakistan that is under China’s influence, but anti-India elements have become active in countries like Bhutan,” he said. He also alleged that Washington ignored New Delhi’s view on Bangladesh issue.

“The US has sought Pakistan’s views on Bangladesh while completely ignoring India’s interest. This is highly objectionable,” Rajnath said.

In an interview with the Hindu newspaper last December, Salman Khurshid said: “There were obviously some differences of perception [with

The BJP resolution blamed that massive Bangladeshi infiltration was the main reason behind recurring violence in Assam respect to Bangladesh] that I noticed last time I was there [Washington], particularly in the dealing of the present government with some of their own internal institutions.”

Salman said: “While the US is at some distance from Bangladesh, we are right next to it. So, our understanding of the region and understanding of sentiments of the people in the region should be helpful in the positions they want to take.”

The BJP president at the council meeting congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on again forming the government. “[He] expects her to display the same promptness in protecting minority communities and their places of worship that she showed in dealing with the extremist elements.”

However, BJP leader of the opposition in Rajyasabha Arun Jaitly in a statement just after the January 5 election said: “India, which has thousands of kilometres of borders with Bangladesh, would like to see a peaceful poll accompanied by continuation or transfer of power. It has not happened. We hope that the political process in Bangladesh stabilises and important political parties are in a position to settle their domestic political issues.” l

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Commerce ministry left out from BIMSTEC team n Asif Showkat Kallol Representation from the Ministry of Commerce to the third BIMSTEC Summit early next month has been ignored – even Minister Tofail Ahmed is not aware about the disappointment.

A high official of the ministry expressed surprise at the decision that they have been left out from a big 40-member delegation, expected to be led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to the summit scheduled to be held in the Myanmar Capital city of Nay Pyi Taw during March 1-4.

The minister inquired two days ago about the reason why the ministry has been excluded from the activities of the seven-nation Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) with trade and commerce having major stake, said the official, requesting anonymity.

An inter-ministerial meeting held last week at the foreign ministry discussed the impediments to the way of making the next BIMSTEC summit a success, a senior official at the foreign ministry said.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam presided over the meeting that, however, failed to take any decision ahead of the summit, other than stocktaking of progress and failures of BIMSTEC after it was launched in 1997.

Meeting sources said there is no progress on cooperation in technology, energy, transportation and communication, tourism, fisheries, agriculture and culture since its last meeting in 2011.

Officials at the commerce ministry said the summit is highly significant for the country as it would take decision on holding the 20th meeting of the trade negotiation committee, which is also essential for making progress on signing trade related agreements.

The trade negotiation committee meeting is expected to sign agreements on trade in goods of the BIMSTEC free trade area, protocol to amend the framework agreement on the BIMSTEC free trade area, agreement on dispute settlement procedures and mechanism of the framework agreement on BIMSTEC free trade area and agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters for BIMSTEC free trade area.

Both Bangladesh and India are the members of BIMSTEC. The other members are Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.

A row between Dhaka and Colombo over hosting the secretariat of BIMSTEC held back the ministerial meeting and stalled the process of endorsing the draft agreements, sources in the commerce ministry said.

Sri Lanka, one of the founding members of the group, has been showing zero interest over going ahead with the four negotiated agreements as the country was denied to host the BIMSTEC secretariat at the second summit of the block in 2008.

The summit approved Dhaka to host the secretariat that resulted in the non-cooperation from Colombo to forge ahead with trade and economic cooperation, officials said. l

Expo on Fire Safety concludes n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety in cooperation with the Accord, IFC, C &A Foundation and Elevate jointly organised the first ever expo of its kind.

Untrained management and supervisors, wrong attitude of management

International Trade Expo on Building and Fire Safety concluded yesterday in the city with a positive note as a huge number of apparel makers thronged the fair on the last day to learn more about the latest fire safety technologies and their usages.

The two-day show was organised

by C&A Foundation in association with BGMEA, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the Alliance and Accord for Bangladesh Workers’ Safety and International Finance Corporation.

A total of 52 stalls displayed products including fire and electrical safety at the show, first of its kind in the country, aimed at making RMG factory owners aware about the latest fire, building and electrical safety equipments.

“After visiting the expo, a large number of factory owners have shown their keen interest to install the latest fire safety equipments at their factories,” Md. Khausarul Hakim, Managing Director of Bangladesh Techno Rise Limited, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“However, most of the potential visitors wanted to know about the quality of the latest products as well as their certification.”

A visitor Sadek Ahmed said, “It will be useful for the RMG owners if they can install the latest fire safety equipments at their factories as the exhibitors have not only exhibited the products but also explained the benefits of those products.”

“Although setting of those type machineries will costs a bit more but it would be really essential for every factory to ensure full-proof fire safety to workers and properties,” he added.

In recent past, the country’s apparel

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SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

A figure dressed as fire fighter stands while a man looks on at a stall in the fire and bilding safety fair in Dhaka yesterday

BUILDING AND FIRE SAFETY EXPO SURVEY

42% participants view standard good, but hard to implement n Tribune Report More than 42% participants of a building and fire safety show viewed the standards exhibited were good, but hard to implement, according to a survey that also found 35.5% think the standards should be implemented from now.

Around 11%, however, opined that the standards are too stringent to im-

plement, said the survey conducted on 467 participants of the two-day show concluded in Dhaka yesterday.

The organisers of the international trade expo for building and fire safety conducted the survey among the participants – 64% of them were from factory representatives, 18.1% brands, 4.7% consultants and 2.8% from NGOs and unions.

Start setting up CETP in a week

Freight forwarders Mobile World Congress calls for bringing allowed to open FC all services under one platform account in the GSMA’14, which proves that the dominate the other areas.’’

Muhammad Zahidul Islam n Tribune Report “But, voice is dying day by day,’’ industry has the hunger for further adAmu asks agencies at tannery relocation meeting n from Barcelona, Spain said Abdul Karim sharing a data which vancement,’’ he added.

Shipping lines, air lines and multiEarlier, mobile congress organisers in- showed that an user with a Smartallocated fund of Tk250 crore as com- The GSMA Mobile World Congress, the modal transport operators licenced n Abu Bakar Siddique pensation after starting the relocation. as freight forwarders by customs aubiggest annual telecom event of the formed that a world-class thought-lead- phone uses data of 25 minutes roughly thorities can now open and maintain foreign currency accounts to facilitate their payments related to transportation of cargo to and from Bangladesh.

The accounts can be opened in US dollar or other freely convertible currencies with the authorised dealer banks in Bangladesh, in which their receipts in foreign currency against their handling of FOB (freight on board) export cargos from Bangladesh to be credited.

Funds from these accounts will be usable in foreign currency for payments abroad towards costs and charges relating to their handling of FOB imports into Bangladesh, according to a circular Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday. The new decision takes immediate effect.

For FOB imports the AD banks may, at request of their importer clients, make payments of freight charges in Taka or in equivalent foreign exchange to shipping lines, air lines and eligible licensed freight forwarders out of the total value of the LCAF issued for the import covering costs of goods and freight.

The receipts in foreign exchange will be used through the foreign currency accounts maintained by the  B3 COLUMN 5

The government has directed the related agencies, including the contractor firm, to begin work within a week on setting up the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) at the Savar leather estate to ensure the relocation of the much-talked tannery industries.

“Nobody will be spared if dilly-dally is noticed in complying the order,” Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu told a meeting on tannery relocation at the ministry yesterday.

He urged the tanners to gear up activities for relocating the factories from Hazaribagh in the city to its outskirt Savar, some 15-kilometer away from the existing site.

Regarding the delay of setting up the CETP at the leather zone, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder said they would approve the design by next two days which was a major concern of the contractor company JLEPCL-DCL, a Chinese venture.

A total of 82 factory owners submitted their layout plan and of them, 35 received approval so far.

The meeting also called upon the tanners to start their factory relocation in line with the priority list. The tanners were assured of releasing the

HSBC’s global head of trade and receivables finance visits Bangladesh n Tribune Business Desk James Emmett, global head of trade and receivables finance in HSBC, is visiting Bangladesh from February 24 to 27.

During his stay, James will meet his colleagues in the country, a number of key HSBC clients and stakeholders.

James is responsible for HSBC’s global trade and receivables finance business, which provides customers, from SMEs to multinationals, with the financing and risk mitigation solutions to meet their international and domestic trade requirements.

These encompass products, which finance the supply chain end-to-end, from raw materials – to manufacturing and

shipment – to discounting and collecting invoices, across more than 60 countries.

James is focused on ensuring that HSBC’s trade and receivables experts work with colleagues across the world, to help customers to make the most of opportunities across both established and emerging trade corridors. l

After remaining suspended for a decade due to disagreements between the authorities and tannery owners over bearing the cost of the tannery relocation, the BSCIC, Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) and Bangladesh Finished Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLGFEA) recently signed an agreement to expedite the work.

The tanners said they would start factory relocation works within one month. Of them, primarily 25% of the total factories will be shifted and the rest will shifted gradually.

Owing to the long delay, the tannery relocation cost now doubled to stand at Tk1,079 crore, a sharp increase from the first revised project proposal worth more than Tk550 crore taken in October 2007.

The government, which initiated the tannery relocation move in 2003, deviated from its original plan and imposed the relocation expense on the owners under a loan agreement over 15 years, after the CETP is installed.

The government signed an agreement with the CETP provider company in 2012 which was supposed to finish the work by September 17 of 2013 and  B3 COLUMN 5

globe, kicked off in Barcelona, Spain yesterday with a call for bringing the service and the telecommunication sector under a same platform for the sake of their mutual interest.

“The collaboration of the service and the communication sectors will be the key for the overall advancement in the coming days, which the industry people should put their effort for,” said aid GSMA Chairman Jon Fredrik Baksaas while inaugurating the GSMA Mobile Congress 2014.

“Billions of people are now availing the internet facilities across the world and the number is increasing exponentially.

At this point, we need to join hands together to create an atmosphere congenial for harmonising the service and the communication sectors,” said Baksas, who is also the Presidnet of Telenor, parent company of the Bangladesh’s leading mobile operator Grameenphone.

“Collaboration is required between the mobile operators, handsets providers, system providers and different service providers in the entire eco-system that will drive us for reaching our common goal.”

“80,000 participants are attending

ership conference featuring visionary keynotes and panel discussions will also take place during the event.

'The collaboration of the service and the communication sectors will be the key for the overall advancement in the coming days, which the industry people should put their effort for' Addressing the opening ceremony, the GSMA Director General Anne Bouverot said, “The mobile companies, vendors and other businesses across the globe are attending the event, which will help them in networking in the coming days.”

CEO of Etisalat Ahmad Abdul Karim Julfar, said, “Voice service of our network is currently holding the fifth position while internet, entertainments

every day against the voice uses of only 12 minutes.

Daniel Hajj, chief executive officer of America Movil, a leading mobile operator in South America, has opined that it is a must to have a proper eco-system to deliver proper services to the customers.

Panelists of the session said, facebook can offer free services but it would be harmful for them if facebook and Whatsapp jointly offered such a free service.

Recently facebook authority has bought whatsapp at a cost of US$19bn.

Both Mark Zuckerburg, the founder and CEO of Facebook and WhatsApp boss are participating the event.

Telecommunication and ICT minister Abdul Latif Siddique is leading a seven-member delegation from Bangladesh to the annual gala event.

Among others, the delegation includes Post and Telecommunication division secretary Md Abubakar Siddique, ICT division secretary Md Nazrul Islam Khan and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose.

Nazrul Islam Khan and Sunil Kanti Bose will participate at two different sessions as panelists. l

Campaign launched to raise $40m for Rana Plaza victims n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi An international campaign has been launched to raise $40m for the Rana Plaza victims by April 24 when first anniversary of the catastrophe will be observed.

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) along with trade unions and workers – both local and international – has urged to donate the amount to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund.

In a statement yesterday, the CCC urged major international brands “to make significant contributions” so payments could begin to the victims.

It particularly mentioned the names of Benetton, KiK and Children’s Place who all had orders at one of the five

factories in Rana Plaza at the time of or just before the collapse.

According to the global union, $40m is required to fairly compensate the injured and the families of the workers killed in the incident for medical expenses and loss of their incomes.

To date, the clothing brands El Corte Ingles, Mascot, Mango, Inditex and Loblaw have all publicly committed to the Donor Trust Fund, CCC said.

The campaign comes just two months before the first anniversary of the catastrophic collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed over 1,100 people and injured over 2,500.

The Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund which is collecting voluntary donations on behalf of the Rana Plaza Ar-

rangement is overseen by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The fund is open to all companies, donors and individuals who wish to express their solidarity and compassion.

Compensation efforts to date have been completely haphazard, unequal, unpredictable and non-transparent, and have left large groups of victims with nothing.

The Arrangement has set up the entire operational structure, which will put an end to this unpredictability quickly and completely, said Ineke Zeldenrust of CCC. “All that is needed is for companies to pay up and we encourage the entire industry to make generous contribu-

tions,” Zeldenrust said.

Hameeda Hossein of Bangladesh Worker’s Safety Forum said: “Now is the time for all of us to act and ensure $40m is donated before April 24, 2014.”

Roy Ramesh Chandra, secretary general of IndustriALL Bangladesh Council, labelled the effort as “unprecedented” and said it allowed brands, government, employers’ organisations and unions to work together for the Rana Plaza victims.

“Ten months after the worst industrial disaster to hit the garment industry, there can be no further excuses.

Brands can show that they can be part of the solution if they pay up now,” Roy said. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSE GAINERS

Stocks back to black with higher turnover

DSE key features February 24, 2014

Traded Issues

292

n Tribune Report

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

117

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

169

97,593,878 112,437

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,302.68

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.91

Turnover (Million Taka)

472.26

Turnover (Volume)

10,193,023

Number of Contract

18,013

Traded Issues

321

4751.58408

(+) 0.51%

▲

102

991.75068

(+) 0.67%

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

▲

125

DSE - 30 Index :

1686.29033

(+) 1.14%

▲

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

CSE All Share Index:

14733.1814

(+) 0.50%

DSE Shariah Index :

CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS Company 5th ICB M F-A LafargeS Cement-Z Aziz PipesZ Rahima Food -Z Sinobangla Indu.-A Kohinoor Chem -A Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A H.R. Textile -A AFC AgroBiotech-N

Peoples Insur -A

Closing (% change) -6.21 -5.81 -5.12 -4.44 -3.75 -3.56 -3.23 -3.10 -2.90

-2.80

CSE LOSERS Company Kay & Que (BD) -Z LafargeS Cement-Z Rupali Life Insur.-A Rahima Food -Z I P D C -A Northern G Insur-A AFC AgroBiotech-N Samata LeatheR -Z IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A

S. Alam CR Steel -A

Closing (% change) -9.05 -5.11 -4.29 -3.76 -3.64 -3.53 -3.18 -2.95 -2.94

-2.74

2,197.17

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.63

▲

9333.5304

(+) 0.65%

▲

Average (% change) -6.61 -4.91 -5.70 -1.62 -3.62 -3.41 -1.13 -3.31 -4.31

-2.01

Average (% change) -9.30 -4.38 -4.29 -0.45 -3.64 -3.65 -4.32 -2.95 -4.18

-1.87

Closing average 175.10 39.35 20.52 66.72 28.51 313.86 6.14 34.78 67.71

35.08

Closing average 18.05 39.33 100.50 66.20 21.20 49.14 67.59 23.00 6.65

39.35

Closing

DSE Million Taka 508.57 502.02 121.20 547.22 573.28 474.42 9.37 565.07 696.88 0.77 30.56 74.96 15.31 185.13 42.05 77.37 208.39 279.28 51.56 309.86 0.39

Daily high

175.10 38.90 20.40 64.60 28.20 314.00 6.00 34.40 67.00

Closing

175.10 38.50 20.10 63.00 28.00 305.00 6.00 34.40 66.10

36.00

Daily high

18.10 39.00 100.50 64.00 21.20 49.20 67.00 23.00 6.60

33.00

39.70

18.00 38.60 100.50 64.00 21.10 48.30 66.50 23.00 6.60

39.00

Latest EPS

0.070 88.862 0.196 6.438 6.985 1.275 1.056 5.287 72.378

21.32 1.63 0.59 -1.00 0.64 7.88 0.60 1.56 1.53

2.214

Turnover in million

Daily low

18.10 41.10 100.50 68.50 21.30 49.50 69.80 23.00 6.80

39.00

Turnover in million

Daily low

175.10 41.50 21.60 69.40 29.40 320.00 6.30 36.20 69.50

34.70

0.018 7.590 0.050 0.166 0.170 0.123 12.032 0.023 0.123

0.944

2.20

Latest EPS -0.89 1.63 5.33 -1.00 0.91 3.04 1.53 -0.04 0.88

1.16

Latest PE

% change 9.64 9.52 2.30 10.38 10.87 9.00 0.18 10.71 13.21 0.01 0.58 1.42 0.29 3.51 0.80 1.47 3.95 5.30 0.98 5.88 0.01

Million Taka 51.59 54.12 6.39 42.16 38.83 32.47 42.94 41.07 0.13 1.88 7.46 3.83 13.58 6.67 2.67 7.51 53.19 6.24 59.51 0.03

CSE

% change 10.92 11.46 1.35 8.93 8.22 6.87 0.00 9.09 8.70 0.03 0.40 1.58 0.81 2.87 1.41 0.56 1.59 11.26 1.32 12.60 0.01

Million Taka 560.16 556.14 127.59 589.37 612.11 506.89 9.37 608.01 737.95 0.90 32.44 82.43 19.14 198.70 48.72 80.03 215.90 332.47 57.80 369.37 0.42

Total

9.91 9.59 9.39 8.52 7.67 7.45 7.22 6.44 6.16 6.05

CSE GAINERS Company Eastern Cables-Z Mithun Knitting -A Popular Life Insu. -A Beach Hatchery -A BSC-A GPH Ispat Ltd-A Prime Finance-A ACI ZERO Bond-A Bay Leasing.-A Miracle Industries -B

Closing (% change) 9.96 9.43 8.74 8.27 7.44 7.37 6.90 4.85 4.84 4.63

Average (% change) 11.18 7.25 5.03 8.46 5.94 4.69 4.83 4.20 3.79 2.41 Average (% change) 9.94 7.51 8.74 4.50 5.09 4.57 6.07 4.88 2.82 2.89

Closing average 109.77 90.11 29.66 123.99 30.68 607.73 347.00 55.36 93.67 22.49

Closing average 124.66 91.17 250.10 29.52 609.96 55.35 30.77 930.13 38.65 22.42

Closing 110.90 92.60 30.30 124.80 30.90 627.50 354.90 56.20 94.80 22.80

Closing 124.70 92.80 250.10 30.10 628.50 56.80 31.00 930.00 39.00 22.60

Daily high 110.90 92.90 30.40 126.20 31.10 627.75 356.20 56.60 95.00 23.00

Daily high 124.70 93.20 250.10 30.30 628.80 57.40 31.30 935.00 39.00 23.10

Daily low 91.00 78.00 25.00 108.00 27.00 570.00 339.90 47.60 88.00 20.00

Daily low 123.00 85.40 250.10 27.60 573.00 54.00 29.50 920.50 38.00 22.00

Turnover in million 18.058 111.027 56.811 5.920 70.748 240.185 1.388 68.393 10.132 5.039

Turnover in million 0.748 4.537 0.125 19.279 49.654 5.234 12.292 0.007 1.433 0.649

Latest EPS 2.06 2.42 0.79 1.40 0.75 24.00 6.02 2.42 2.74 0.22

Latest EPS 1.40 2.42 17.00 0.79 24.00 2.42 0.75 0.00 1.56 0.22

Latest PE 53.3 37.2 37.5 88.6 40.9 25.3 57.6 22.9 34.2 102.2

Latest PE 89.0 37.7 14.7 37.4 25.4 22.9 41.0 24.8 101.9

RELIANCINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 15% cash dividend and 15% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 30.03.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: La-Vita Hall, Lake Shore Hotel, House # 46, Road # 41, Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212. Record date: 05.03.2014. The Company has also reported net profit after tax of Tk. 277.06 million, EPS of Tk. 5.33, NAV per share of Tk. 64.89 and NOCFPS of Tk. 5.04 for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

TRUSTBANK: The Company has further informed that due to unavoidable circumstances, the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will now be held on February 25, 2014 at 8:00 PM instead of February 24, 2014 to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

LANKABAFIN: With reference to their ear-

lier news (disseminated by DSE on February 17, 2014) regarding issuance of Zero Coupon Bond of Tk. 3,000.00 million, the Company has further informed that the 7th EGM of the Company will be held on March 31, 2014 at 10:00 AM at Spectra Convention Center, House # 19, Road # 07, Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212. Record date for EGM: 06.03.2014.

Board of Directors’ Meeting: SINOBANGLA on February 25, 2014 at 3:00 PM. ISLAMIBANK on March 22, 2014 at 3:00 PM. ALARABANK on February 27, 2014 at 3:00 PM. SINOBANGLA on February 25, 2014 at 3:00 PM. ISLAMIBANK on March 22, 2014 at 3:00 PM. ALARABANK on February 27, 2014 at 3:00 PM. BSRMSTEEL on February 25, 2014 at 5:00 PM. UCBL on February 27, 2014 at 3:00 PM. From BIASL Desk: Price slides after declaration: Despite

36% increase of EPS and 5% increased stock dividend, price of Relience Insurance fall by 1.36% yesterday after such declaration. 15% Cash and 15% Stock Dividend was declared for the year 2013.

Eps was taka 5.33 and NAV per share was taka 64.89. Yesterday’s closing price was taka 79.60, PE ratio 14.93 whereas PE of General Insurance sector at DSE was 18.59.

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.

8.2 24.1 34.8 -ve 44.5 39.8 10.2 22.3 44.3

15.9

Latest PE -ve 24.1 18.9 -ve 23.3 16.2 44.2 -ve 7.6

33.9

Currently, market has been tightly trading between a strong support and resistance which is signaled by a sideways movement of index

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY 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

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

(+) 0.66%

ANALYST

Sector

4

▲

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

12418.4574

Al-Haj Textile -A Mithun Knitting -A Beach Hatchery -A Eastern Cables-Z Prime Finance-A BSC-A Eastern Lubricants -A GPH Ispat Ltd-A Samorita Hospital -A Miracle Industries -B

Closing (% change)

News from trade server

CSE key features February 24, 2014

Daily capital market highlights DSE Broad Index :

5,273.63

Number of Contract

ed the highest gain of 2.3%, led by heavy weight Grameenphone.

Among the major sectors, pharmaceuticals, engineering, financial institutions were the best performers.

IDLC Investment said having a correction in previous session, bargain hunters snuck in, pushing market back on track.

Volatility remained vigilant, especially in micro cap and large cap scrips, it said.

It said 32 scrips posted more than 4% movements, demonstrating scrip-wise swings and surge in fresh funds pulled up turnover above Tk500 crore after six sessions.

Zenith Investment said buyers seem to be back in control, after previous session’s shallow pullback of the index.

“The market continues acting well with high turnover volume.

Despite some mixed performance in the middle of the trading day, the buying pressure from traders weighed heavily which ultimately lifted the sectors.”

Olympic Industries was the most traded stocks worth Tk37 crore, followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Lanka Bangla Finance, Singer BD, Generation Next and Meghan Petroleum. l

Stocks closed higher yesterday, after a day of profit-booking, driven by telecommunications, financials and mutual funds.

The benchmark DSEX index gained 24 points or 0.6% to end at 4,751. Shariah DSES index rose 6 points or 0.7% to 991.The blue-chip comprising DS30 index ended at 1,686 with a rise of 19 points or 1%.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, soared 78 points to close at 9,351.

Participation in trading improved as the total market turnover stood at Tk527 crore, which was 25% higher over the previous session.

“Currently, market has been tightly trading between a strong support and resistance which is signaled by a sideways movement of index,” said Lanka Bangla Securities in its market analysis.

Rise in market turnover indicates that investors are herding on the DSE making higher turnover value, it said.

Financial stocks and mutual funds were mostly in buyers’ interest. All other sectors closed positive except power and cement which ended flat.

Telecommunication was the market mover as the sector post-

Company

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Square Pharma -A Olympic Ind. -A BSC-A BD Submarine Cable-A LankaBangla Fin. -A Singer BD -A Prime Bank-A

G Next Fashions-A Meghna Petroleum -A IDLC Finance -A

% change 9.75 9.68 2.22 10.26 10.65 8.82 0.16 10.58 12.84 0.02 0.56 1.43 0.33 3.46 0.85 1.39 3.76 5.79 1.01 6.43 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

Mithun Knitting -A Grameenphone-A LafargeS Cement-Z Jamuna Oil -A AFC AgroBiotech-N Prime Finance-A GPH Ispat Ltd-A Delta Life Insu. -A Beach Hatchery -A Active Fine Chem.-A

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BSC-A

BD Submarine Cable-A Beach Hatchery -A UCBL - A LankaBangla Fin. -A G Next Fashions-A Grameenphone-A Prime Finance-A AFC AgroBiotech-N Square Pharma -A IDLC Finance -A Olympic Ind. -A Singer BD -A Appollo Ispat CL -N LafargeS Cement-Z aamra technologies-A GPH Ispat Ltd-A UNITED AIR-A Padma Oil Co. -A Meghna Petroleum -A

Volume shares 1,434,683 1,772,393 395,215 851,789 2,277,502 643,934 6,197,094 5,074,860 488,566 1,403,590

1,232,061 462,200 2,258,000 351,978 1,069,000 2,305,851 1,235,430 222,800 1,915,450 570,661 Volume shares

81,405 186,155 653,056 615,455 196,500 444,720 61,800 399,484 178,000 45,247 122,577 45,635 37,162 280,800 193,000 140,125 94,560 325,860 15,400 17,060

Value in million 372.17 371.83 240.19 183.88 166.02 152.65 151.84 151.10 137.66 113.67

111.03 95.40 88.86 80.97 72.38 70.75 68.39 59.46 56.81 53.01

Value in million

49.65 40.44 19.28 17.36 14.34 13.24 12.75 12.29 12.03 11.70 10.08 9.61 8.81 8.79 7.59 5.59 5.23 5.09 5.06 4.81

% of total turnover 7.06 7.05 4.55 3.49 3.15 2.89 2.88 2.87 2.61 2.16

2.11 1.81 1.69 1.54 1.37 1.34 1.30 1.13 1.08 1.01

% of total turnover

10.51 8.56 4.08 3.68 3.04 2.80 2.70 2.60 2.55 2.48 2.13 2.04 1.87 1.86 1.61 1.18 1.11 1.08 1.07 1.02

Daily closing 263.10 213.70 627.50 219.70 73.90 239.60 24.60 29.60 282.20 80.80

92.60 207.90 38.90 231.10 67.00 30.90 56.20 266.30 30.30 93.00

Daily closing

628.50 219.70 30.10 28.40 73.60 29.60 207.30 31.00 67.00 263.30 82.30 213.40 239.80 31.20 39.00 40.00 56.80 15.60 331.40 282.00

Price change 3.18 4.19 7.45 2.90 3.21 1.14 0.82 -1.33 0.89 0.25

Daily opening 255.00 205.10 584.00 213.50 71.60 236.90 24.40 30.00 279.70 80.60

Price change

Daily opening

9.59 2.21 -5.81 0.87 -2.90 7.67 6.44 0.11 9.39 -0.43

7.44 2.66 8.27 1.43 2.79 -1.33 2.37 6.90 -3.18 3.13 0.24 4.00 0.33 -1.27 -5.11 0.00 7.37 -0.64 0.98 0.79

84.50 203.40 41.30 229.10 69.00 28.70 52.80 266.00 27.70 93.40

585.00 214.00 27.80 28.00 71.60 30.00 202.50 29.00 69.20 255.30 82.10 205.20 239.00 31.60 41.10 40.00 52.90 15.70 328.20 279.80

Daily high 265.00 214.90 627.75 229.00 74.60 240.40 24.70 30.30 285.00 83.70

92.90 208.50 41.50 231.90 69.50 31.10 56.60 268.80 30.40 94.00

Daily low 235.00 188.00 570.00 196.00 65.00 224.00 22.00 27.00 270.00 73.00

78.00 203.80 38.50 215.00 66.10 27.00 47.60 265.50 25.00 85.00

Daily average 259.41 209.79 607.73 215.87 72.90 237.06 24.50 29.77 281.75 80.98

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

628.80 221.00 30.30 29.00 74.30 30.20 208.00 31.30 69.80 264.20 84.40 215.00 240.00 31.90 41.10 40.50 57.40 15.80 333.00 283.00

573.00 211.50 27.60 26.00 71.60 29.30 203.00 29.50 66.50 253.00 80.30 205.00 233.70 31.10 38.60 36.00 54.00 14.50 326.00 279.10

90.11 206.41 39.35 230.05 67.71 30.68 55.36 266.89 29.66 92.88

609.96 217.25 29.52 28.21 72.98 29.78 206.24 30.77 67.59 258.65 82.19 210.59 237.04 31.31 39.33 39.90 55.35 15.61 328.80 281.71

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

IBFB members to get Bajaj to launch four-wheel vehicle but it’s not a car n US visa preference

35% increase a year earlier.

Exports of motorbikes and autorickshaws account for more than a third of Bajaj’s sales. The company counts Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, TVS Motor Company Ltd and Italy’s Piaggio as competitors in the three-wheeler segment.

Reuters, Mumbai

n Tribune Report The members of International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) will get some preferences and facilities to apply for and to obtain the US visa.

“The US Consul General in Bangladesh Jemmy B. Fouss has disclosed that the IBFB members will get some preferences and facilities to apply for and obtain the US visa,’’ says a IBFB press statement released yesterday.

According to the statement, the US Consul also declared that IBFB members, who applied through proper channel, will get appointment for visa from the US Embassy within 2 days of their submission of application.

In addition, any IBFB member having US visa from January 2008 and onward will get special facilities to renew their visas within 3 days, reads the statement.

The US Consul General was addressing a seminar titled “How to apply and obtain US Visa” organised by IBFB Chittagong Chapter on 20th February 2014 at Hotel Agrabad in Chittagong.

Speaking as chief guest, Jemmy B.

Fouss put emphasis on increased bilateral relations especially in the areas of development partnership, trade and business between the two countries.

He also noted that the US exports to Bangladesh has increased 44% in 2013 compared to the previous year, and application for non-immigrant US visa has also remarkably been increased over the years.

Regarding the visa procedures, he clarified that if a non-immigrant visa applicant can guarantee to return home from USA, it becomes easier for them to obtain the US visa.

In this context, he further said the US government has made the US visa process much easier than before. A consular officer from the US Embassy in Dhaka briefed the participants on different types of US visa, application procedures, required documentations and related issues.

The seminar presided over by the Engr.

Sakhawat Hossain, was addressed, among others, by chairperson of IBFB Chittagong Chapter and Managing Director of Western Marine Services Ltd. Dr Md Omar Shafayat Kausar, and IBFB Vice-President Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury. l

It’s got four wheels and seatbelts, but Bajaj Auto, the creator of India’s first quadricycle, would rather you didn’t call it a car. Bajaj Auto is marketing the RE60 as a more stable and comfortable alternative to the three-wheeled autorickshaws ubiquitous on India’s roads even though it looks like a small hatchback car and is expected to cost less.

Weight, top speed and other specifications, including safety standards, mean the RE60 will not be classified as a car. But that didn’t stop executives from top automakers such as Tata Motors from comparing it to a car and finding its safety features come up short.

Rajiv Bajaj, the company’s managing director, insists the RE60 is neither a car nor an autorickshaw. The government is even creating a new classification category for the vehicle, which is expected to be launched within months.

“In every market that a three-wheeler is available the quadricycle should be relevant,” Bajaj told Reuters in a phone interview.

“Because at the end of the day it provides a very logical upgrade from a three-wheeler for people who want to pay a little more and want to have the

Safer, but not cheaper

comfort and safety of four wheels, four doors, a roof and seatbelts,” he said.

In India, autorickshaws typically have no doors and a soft roof. The vehicles are usually turned into taxis and known in many countries as tuk-tuks.

The RE60 is part of a long-term expansion strategy by Bajaj to boost sales growth at home and abroad.

The company is the world’s largest autorickshaw maker and India’s second

G20 growth pledge easier in the making than the execution

BWCCI demands trouble-free credits for women entrepreneurs n Reuters, Sydney n Tribune report The Group of 20’s proposal to lift ecoThe leaders of Bangladesh Woman’s Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BWCCI) have demanded trouble-free credit flow for the women entrepreneurs across the country.

Accusing the commercial banks for not providing necessary credits to the women entrepreneurs, the BWCCI leaders yesterday came up with the demand at a meeting with the state minister for finance MA Mannan held at finance division auditorium.

Among others, BWCCI president Sangita Ahmed, former president of BWCCI Selina Hossain, and owner of Shama shops Shafia Shama attended the meeting.

“Some of the commercial banks are reluctant to give loans to the real women entrepreneurs soon after they provide loans only two or three entrepreneurs,” Shama Shafia alleged to the state minister. l

Google team calls on BASIS leaders n Tribune Business Desk Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) has urged the internet search engine Google to approve the use of Bangla contents in its programmes AdSense and AdWords.

It made the call as a Google delegation met BASIS leaders in Dhaka yesterday, said a BASIS press release.

BASIS also requested to give the opportunity to upload the Bangladeshi paid apps in the Google play store.

The Google team assured of introducing the services very soon.

Google’s country consultant (Bangladesh) Kazi Monirul Kabir, country lead, policy and governance affairs Alexander Long and country lead, policy and governance affairs for Asia Pacific region Mike Orgill were in the team. l

nomic activity by 2% over the next five years has so many holes in it, there’s no wonder it was the first official target that all members felt happy to agree on.

Each country has until November to come up with its own supposedly “concrete” plans, but there is nothing to enforce their implementation except the moral suasion of other members. The International Monetary Fund has said it will be watching for progress on the plans, but it has no power to compel or punish.

The target is also a moving one, as it is based on beating an estimate for growth which itself is just a best guess.

Forecasting is by its nature a highly imprecise art and the IMF is forever revising its forecasts up or down. Predicting growth for the next quarter is tough enough, no matter over five years.

“We’re not even sure where we are now on growth. How will we be able to judge if these targets are being met?” said Michael Blythe, chief economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Indeed, the Germans were reluctant to sign up to any hard target at the G20, but accepted the growth goal because it was not binding. Others also stressed it was an aspiration, not a locked-in promise.

“The results of this process can not be guaranteed from politicians,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said after the deal was signed on Sunday.

And financial markets took little notice of the agreement, instead focusing on Monday on the same concerns they had on Friday - the impact of the US Federal Reserve’s taper of its stimulus and uncertainty over China’s economic performance.

Long list

For the G20, the prospect of higher

growth is an incentive to help sell the need for structural reforms around the globe - take some hard decisions now, and end up wealthier and stronger in five years.

The IMF does have a laundry list of reforms that it says will boost growth and productivity. It includes everything from liberalising domestic service industries, to spending more on infrastructure, to attracting more women into the workforce.

Some are country specific, such as boosting private savings in the United States to improving healthcare and the social safety net in China.

'The results of this process can not be guaranteed from politicians' But all are politically or fiscally difficult.

“Some of the reforms potentially have a big payoff but they tend to be unpopular and entail hard grind,” says Blythe.

“Take the aging of populations that so many countries are struggling with.

There’s no way they can meet future pension obligations, but dealing with that is a politician’s nightmare.”

One theme running through many of the proposals was making it harder for workers to retire early. Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey who hosted the G20 meeting in Sydney, has started a “national conversation” about raising the retirement age toward 70, from the current 65.

Japan: the bad example

Lowering barriers to trade is another much-touted reform, but the seemingly never-ending talks on the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) show how

intractable that can be.

Twelve countries are pursuing a trade deal that optimists have estimated could add nearly $300bn a year to global income, but the talks are bogged down in disputes over everything from tariffs to patent rights to environmental protection.

Japan has become a particular sticking point as it tries to protect its rice, wheat, beef and pork, dairy and sugar sectors, all of which wield great political influence at home.

The world’s third-largest economy is a perfect example of how hard it will be to meet the G20 goals. Prime Minster’s Shinzo Abe’s so-called third arrow of reforms are exactly the kind of change recommended by the IMF, but they are yet to be launched and are meeting fierce opposition at every turn.

There has been scant progress on breaking the divide between well-protected regular workers and a growing army of temporary staff, while significant immigration remains a social taboo.

“In short, if there is a nice free lunch with plus-2% growth out there, why haven’t policymakers found it?” wondered Mark Crosby, an associate professor of economics at the Melbourne Business School. “It’s just not credible.”

Indeed, he argued that there was a good chunk of the world economy where the reforms being suggested would likely to lead to slower, not faster growth.

“How is China going to meet the target, particularly if it is able to achieve the switch from investment-driven to domestic-demand-driven growth which will lead to slower, not faster growth?” asked Crosby.

Still, he saw the aim of increasing infrastructure spending as admirable and said there could be ways to find new financing mechanisms that would be a modest spur to growth. l

largest motorcycle maker, and sales of both these vehicles have decelerated over the last two years, hit by falling demand in a slowing economy.

Bajaj’s three-wheeler sales fell 6% in the 2012/13 financial year compared to a 17% increase in the previous year and a 28% rise in 2010/11.

Motorcycle sales also showed a similar trend: they fell 2% in 2012/13 compared to a 13.2% gain in 2011/12 and a

The RE60 weighs 400 kilograms (880 pounds), about 100 kg more than Bajaj’s smallest autorickshaw and half as much as a small hatchback. The engine, which can run on gasoline or compressed natural gas, goes up to 70 kilometres per hour (about 40 miles per hour).

The vehicle is likely to be priced between an autorickshaw and a small car. Analysts expect the RE60 to cost 200,000 rupees, more than the roughly 150,000 rupees for the most basic Bajaj three-wheeler but less than the 270,000 rupees for India’s bestselling car, the Maruti Alto hatchback.

Bajaj spent 5.5bn rupees developing the vehicle, according to media reports. The company can initially make up to 5,000 vehicles a month and has been waiting for two years to get them on India’s roads. l

Freight forwarders allowed  B1 COLUMN 1

shipping lines, air lines and eligible licenced freight forwarders.

Shipping lines and air lines may accept freight charges on FOB exports in foreign currencies from the eligible licenced freight forwarders. In such cases, the shipping lines and air lines will themselves submit necessary encashment certificates with routine monthly returns to Bangladesh Bank.

The banks will inform Foreign Exchange Operation Department (FEOD) at head office, or relevant area office of Bangladesh Bank immediately (by the next business day) as and when each such foreign currency account is opened.

All receipts and payments transac-

tions through these accounts will have to be included in the monthly collection and disbursement statements routinely submitted to Bangladesh Bank by shipping lines/air lines through their banks.

Eligible licenced freight forwarders shall, through banks, also submit monthly statements to Bangladesh Bank of collections and disbursements against the handling of FOB exports and imports.

Transaction statements of these foreign currency accounts will also have to be submitted to Bangladesh Bank on a quarterly basis for post facto checking to satisfy that reasonable amounts from the foreign currency accounts have been encashed to Taka towards defraying of local costs and tax liabilities. l

Start setting up CETP  B1 COLUMN 3

it has also received another time extension for the work till January 06 of the year.

SN Paul, deputy general manager of the leather estate said they would extend the time frame for CETP establishment and tannery relocation within a few days for the last time.

More than 200 factories in Hazaribagh release several thousand liters of untreated and highly toxic liquid waste into the Buriganga River, posing a serious threat to the public health.

The Department of Environment reported that some 22,000 cubic meters of raw and liquid waste from tannery units in Hazaribagh flow into the Buriganga, where the oxygen level is zero instead of the minimum six required for aquatic species.

In addition to environmental hazards, Environment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Manju reminded the tanners that export of leather goods might be stopped in the Europe Union market from December this year unless the environment issue is not taken into account. l

42% participants view  B1 COLUMN 5

and untrained workers are the top three challenges behind ensuring the safety in the country’s readymade garment sector, according to the survey.

The survey suggested three remedial measures.

“To train the managers and workers, and increase external monitoring are on top of the remedial measures identified by the survey,” M Rabin, managing director of the Alliance told a post-expo press briefing at a city hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

Protecting the safety of Bangladesh factory workers means “we all have a role to play,” he said. “That is why we are pleased to be working so closely with our partners on the ground to ensure factory safety improvements will be swift, integrated and sustainable over the long-term.”

The participants expected the expo

would find solutions for the fire and building safety challenges to contribute to improve safety in RMG factories, the survey found.

Replying to a question, the Accord Executive Director Rob Wayss said they have got some complains over the withdrawal of orders by some big buyers from the factories located at shared or rented buildings. He assured that the Accord will look into the issue.

Regarding the standards, the Accord ED said the standards are set in a harmonised way with consultation with the Alliance and law of the land, but there are some additional requirements like sprinkler.

BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said the expo measure of success included its ability to provide safe conditions for workers, and it is our hope that this expo will help achieve that. l

Expo on Fire Safety concludes  B1 COLUMN 6

Super Fresh Drinking Water is sponsoring in the Asia Cup 2013 as the official drinking partner. A signing ceremony on this regard was held last Sunday among Meghna Group of Industries and Techfront International FZE at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel. Mostafa Kamal, chairperson and managing director of Meghna Group of Industries and high officials of Techfront International FZE were present at the ceremony

Jamuna Bank Foundation recently organised a seminar on “International Mother Language Day” at its bank branch in Comilla. Kanutosh Majumder, chairperson of Jamuna Bank Limited was present in the seminar as chief guest

Delta Brac Housing and Finance Corporation Ltd. (DBH) has been rated ‘AAA’ (Triple A), topmost of the rating scale for long term and ST-1 for short term for the eighth consecutive year. Hamidul Huq, managing director of Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh (CRAB) recently handed over the Credit Rating Report of DBH to QM Shariful Ala, managing director and CEO of DBH at a function recently

BD Finance Capital Holdings Limited, a full-fledged merchant bank, has signed a brokerage service agreement with Multi Securities and Services Ltd on Thursday. Mohd Ahsan Ullah, managing director and CEO of BD Capital and Abdul Awal, managing director of Multi Securities and Services Ltd signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies

sector had witnessed several fire incidents, which created question about the fire safety in the RMG work place.

Fire safety equipment sales has seen a sharp rise in the recent time as the factory owners are now installing fire equipments to meet the buyer’s condition as well as to save the life of the workers and properties, said M Azharul Islam Khan, chief executive officer of Vega Trading.

The main aim of the expo was to educate the factory owners about the latest fire safety technologies and it has already achieved a great success as the numbers of visitors were remarkable, he added.

“The fair has been a great success to the organisers as the factory owners have got a clear idea about the latest fire safety equipments, said BGMEA president Atiqul Islam.

The seminars, aimed at presenting advantages of installing fire safety equipments, also witnessed an over-

whelming presence by the factory owners, which also clearly indicates that entrepreneurs are now keen to make their factory safer, although it will take some time, he added.

Energy efficient products also got huge response from the factory owners as it could help save the cost by reduced power consumption.

Renowned groups have shown keen their interest to introduce energy efficient and eco-friendly technologies including energy lights, fire proof emergency lights and automated fire extinguishers, said Mustaeem Billah Chowdhury, managing director of ReGreen Bangla Industries Limited.

But, still a good number of apparel makers are not ready to invest in fire safety equipments as they are facing trouble in getting fresh orders from the buyers, and also the prices of the products did not increase as per expectation, said a BGMEA director on condition of anonymity. l

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Nokia succumbs to Android appeal in low-cost phone battle n Reuters, Barcelona Nokia, soon to be acquired by Microsoft Corp, is turning to software created by arch-rival Google for a new line of phones it hopes will make it a late contender in the dynamic low-cost smartphone market.

Its first models, Nokia X, X+ and XL, rely upon an open version of the Android mobile software system created

by Google that has become the world’s most popular software used in smartphones.

The release of the phones just days before Nokia sells its handset business to Microsoft in a $7.2bn deal, is an attempt to stay relevant in emerging markets, where low-cost Android phones are being snapped up by hundreds of millions of buyers.

'We see the X family being complementary to (Windows Phone) Lumia at lower price points' Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop said the market had “shifted dramatically”, and the group needed to address a sub-$100 segment that is set to grow four times faster than more expensive phones.

He told a crowded press conference at the Mobile World Congress trade fair in Barcelona that rather than being an 180-degree turn in its strategy of using Microsoft’s Windows Phone for smartphones, it was a move that introduces the “next billion” users to Nokia’s hardware and Microsoft’s services.

“We see the X family being complementary to (Windows Phone) Lumia at lower price points,” he said. “Even as you see Lumia push lower and lower, you will see us push lower with Nokia X below that.”

But the strategy shift underlines

the many missteps made by the Finnish company since Apple launched its ground-breaking iPhone in 2007.

Nokia was caught between a rock and a hard place - committed to using Microsoft’s Windows Phone software but needing Android software to reach more cost-sensitive customers, CCS Insight’s head of research Ben Wood said.

“That a company soon-to-be owned

by Microsoft, the creator of the original operating system, is moving to Android is almost an “admission of failure”, he said.

Global smartphone shipments grew 41% annually to reach nearly 1 billion units in 2013, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics. Android phones from dozens of handset makers accounted for almost four out of every five smartphones sold, or 781.2 million units.

In the past year, Apple shipped 153.4 million smartphones worldwide for a 15% share of the market, making it the second largest smartphone platform after Android.

Microsoft was a distant third in market-share terms, shipping 35.7 million units worldwide with its Windows mobile software platform, but still struggling to gain traction in the low-tier and premium-tier smartphone categories, Strategy Analytics said.

Windows shut out

In February 2011, Elop famously compared Nokia’s failing smartphone strategy - based on multiple software platforms of its own making - to a man on a burning platform.

He chose to jump into the arms of Microsoft, producing high-end Lumiabranded smartphones that have been well received by critics, but less popular with customers and app developers, the people who make the software that turns phones into multi-purpose tools.

Elop said on Monday he had not jumped the wrong way.

“There’s quite a lot of vendors ... who made the Android decision but couldn’t differentiate,” he said. “We wanted to build with Microsoft a third

LG Electronics aims for smartphone growth double the market rate n Reuters, Seoul LG Electronics Inc aims to broaden its range of smartphones so sales this year grow at double the rate of the market, as the South Korean company seeks to retake the position of world’s third-biggest maker.

LG, who slipped behind Huawei Technologies Co last year with a market share of just under 5%, also plans to sell a smartwatch capable of connecting with rivals’ phones, mobile division president Park Jong-seok told reporters ahead of a Barcelona trade fair this week.

LG shipped a record 47.7 million smartphones last year, 81% more than a year earlier.

But its mobile unit needs more growth to return to profit, after spending heavily on marketing to narrow the gap with leaders Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc. The company aims to increase sales through more models appealing to a wider consumer group, with the Barcelona launch of the G2 Mini - a lower-priced version of the flagship G2 - coming just weeks after unveiling a larger-screen G Pro2.

“I expect competition among tier-2 manufacturers for more market share to become tougher this year, and price competition will also naturally intensify,” Park said.

LG’s mobile unit may take a while to become profitable after swinging to a loss in the three months ended December, as it will continue to spend heavily this year to promote its high-end models, Park said.

Growth of high-end sales in advanced economies is slowing as smartphones become more widespread, likely bringing overall sales growth to the market consensus of 10 to 15% this year, Park said.

Overall sales grew 38% last year to 1 billion smartphones, showed data from researcher IDC. Park also said LG plans to continue reducing its reliance on local retailers in China where competitors include Lenovo Group, whose $2.9bn offer for Google Inc’s Motorola handset division could see it leapfrog LG to global No 3 from No 5.

LG also has to contend with the low-priced phones of other local makers Huawei, ZTE Corp and Xiaomi. l

The Samsung Gear smartwatch is presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday ecosystem, and that’s what we are doing while others fall by the wayside.”

But the Microsoft technology does not work on the chip sets found in cheaper smartphones, the fast-growing market crowding out Nokia’s Asha feature phones, which lack the full Internet capabilities of smartphones.

The company rejected Android three years ago, when it tied its fortunes to Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

But Monday’s announcement shows it has quietly been working on an open Android device for months.

Product Marketing Vice President Jussi Nevanlinna told Reuters the number one requirement from customers was access to Android apps.

“Our fans oftentimes tell us ‘We love your hardware, we love your products, but we also love our Android apps’,” he said. “Can you make something happen so the Android apps magically run here?’”

IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said Nokia had a made a “rational move” that allowed it to address a much bigger market, but it should have been made three years ago. “It would have given Nokia a complete different position from where it stands today, under Microsoft’s control,” he said.

CCS Insight’s Wood also said Nokia needed to do something dramatic in low-cost smartphones: “Asha has failed to deliver the volumes they needed to be competitive in the low-cost smart-

phone space, while Android remains completely rampant.”

The Nokia X family uses the open source version of Android, which runs most apps without the right to customize Google’s basic software.

For Nokia, it was a question of making this humiliating reversal in its strategy or facing irrelevance in this category of phones, Wood said.

Nokia services

The open version of Android software means that the new Nokia phone does not have rely on Google’s services and access to the Google Play app store. Instead, Nokia is bundling it with its own music and map offers, and Microsoft’s email,

Smartphone giants scramble for profits in tough market n AFP, Barcelona Smartphone giants released eyecatching new devices as the world’s biggest mobile fair opened yesterday, fighting for new ways to profit in a tougher market.

Besides a slew of sleek, new premier smartphones, the world’s biggest smartphone maker Samsung and its rivals unveiled an array of smart watches and bracelets to unlock new revenues.

The four-day Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, opens after a deceptively buoyant 2013, when sales s u rge d

42.3% to 968 million units.

The growth was powered almost entirely by developing markets, however, disguising a slowdown in mature markets such as Western Europe and the United States, which are the most profitable.

The big buzz at the conference was Samsung’s launch Monday of its flagship device, almost certainly a Galaxy S5 smartphone rumoured to be equipped with a fingerprint scanner and larger screen.

The South Korean giant made about 30% of all smartphones sold in the world last year, about twice the share of archrival Apple, which traditionally skips the annual industry fair.

But Samsung is nevertheless scrambling for new revenue sources as competition in mature markets intensifies.

Samsung thus launched an updated smart watch, the Gear 2, on the eve of the gathering, adding new features and ditching Google’s Android in favour of its own operating system.

Featuring sports tracking software and a heart rate monitor, the Gear 2 marks an important and widely anticipated step towards independence from Android.

But Samsung faces other significant challengers for potential customers’ wrists both at home and abroad.

Hours after Samsung launched the Gear 2, rising Chinese smartphone maker Huawei revealed a connected watch of its own.

Huawei, already a major force in building mobile networks and the world number three smartphone maker in 2013, showed off its TalkBand, to

be sold for 99 euros ($136).

South Korean manufacturer LG said on the same day that it would launch its first smartwatch in 2014.

Sony revealed its Xperia Z2 smartphone yesterday, the first new edition of its flagship device since it announced this month the sale of its stagnant PC business to focus instead on smartphones and tablets.

The waterproof phone, available from March, has a full high definition 5.2-inch screen and a 20.7 megapixel camera that can take ultra-high resolution 4K video, along with noise-cancelling audio.

The struggling Japanese group revealed, too, an Xperia Z2 Tablet, also waterproof, and a more affordable Xperia M2 smartphone.

But Sony Mobile also entered the fray for wearable devices, releasing the SmartBand SWR10, a bracelet that comes with an application allowing users to log events and photographs taken during the day as well as tracking how far they walk and checking their sleep cycle.

“Our SmartWear experience goes far beyond health and fitness,” Sony Mobile chief executive Kunisama Suzuki boasted.

Zuckerberg is star speaker

At the same time, the online world is elbowing its way into the mobile market.

Facebook’s 29-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg is the star speaker on the opening day of the fair in Barcelona, fresh from his $19bn (14bn euro) takeover of smartphone messenger WhatsApp. l

AFP

cloud, messaging and search services.

Apps will be available in Nokia’s own app store, as well as a host of other app stores, Elop said.

The look of the Nokia X devices is starkly different from the usual Android phone, with nods to Lumia and Asha interfaces.

Elop said rather than confusing customers, Nokia X - where X indicates a cross between Nokia hardware, Android apps and Microsoft services - will be a stepping stone to Lumia, and will share the same cloud services.

“Lumia continues to be our primary smartphone strategy,” Elop said. “Lumia is where we will continue to introduce the greatest innovation. l

Microsoft resets Windows Phone to reach lower cost markets n Reuters, Barcelona Microsoft Corp is pushing to reach a far wider audience for smartphones running its Windows Phone software by turning to cheaper chipsets and easing restrictions on how phone makers use its software to encourage them to drive down costs.

Nick Parker, Microsoft’s senior vice president for handset makers, said the changes have attracted a range of new handset makers to build Windows Phones, including South Korea’s LG Electronics, India’s Xola and Karbonn, and ZTE, Foxconn, Lenovo, Gionee and Longcheer.

“We are open for business on Windows Phone to anyone who wants to build a Windows phone,” Parker said at the Mobile World Congress trade fair on Sunday.

Windows Phones typically sell for several hundred dollars a piece, although Nokia’s Lumia 520 handset has an unsubsidized price of about 139 euros ($190) in Europe.

The sub-$100 smartphone market, however, is dominated by Google’s Android operating system, which has lower licensing costs, is more adaptable by device makers, and runs on more, and cheaper, chip sets that run radio and other functions.

Android phones from dozens of handset makers accounted for almost four out of every five smartphones sold, or 781.2 million units, last year, according to Strategy Analytics. l

Age of transient advantage n Zahedul Amin The notion of sustainable competitive advantage is dead. Sounds outrageous, sacrilegious, but this probably is nearer to the reality. Let me explain why.

A closer look into the global competitive landscape reveals many interesting case studies of companies’ falling from grace – be it Nokia, which recently had to sell its phone unit to Microsoft and IBM which divested their personal computer division to Lenovo at a dirt cheap price. With the rapidly changing market scenario, fueled by technological advancement, the notion of striving for long-term competitive advantage remains, at best, wishful thinking.

Many with business backgrounds can relate to the age old theory of competitive advantage. The main proponent Harvard Busi-

ness School Professor Michael Porter asserted is that companies should endeavor to identify and establish their unique core competences, while looking to restrict competitors from acquiring resources to nullify the advantage.

With democratisation of the competitive scenario, it is proving increasingly difficult to retain core competence, as others are simply building on existing products at little or no cost. For example, though Apple created the tablet market with their iPad, the market is currently flooded with cheaper alternatives, like Kindle (Amazon), Galaxy Tab (Samsung) and Nexus (Google).

Technology has reduced the barrier to entry to such an extent that tech startups are entering the market armed with a small army of developers. For example, popular app maker, WhatsApp Inc, starting out just four years back, was bought off by Facebook

for a staggering USD 19bn. The founder was reportedly filtered out of Twitter and Facebook’s recruitment process.

Amazon, a first generation e-commerce company is giving a run for their money to traditional “brick and mortar” bookstores like Barnes & Nobles and retail powerhouses like Walmart. Amazon’s success has prompted both companies to rethink their business models by focusing on e-commerce front ends.

Rita Gunther, Columbia University Professor, addressed this issue in her newly published book – “End of Competitive Advantage” – which identified the fallacy of the long held assumption of sustained competitive advantage. She boldly asserts that strategy is stuck and virtually all strategy frameworks and tools in use today are based on a single dominant idea: That the purpose of strategy is to achieve a sustain-

able competitive advantage. This idea is the status quo of a strategy’s most fundamental concept. It’s every company’s Holy Grail.

And it’s no longer relevant.

For further analysing the scenario of transient advantage, another concept needs to be introduced, the idea of Disruptive Innovation. Clayton Christenson, Professor of Harvard Business School, coined the term to describe the process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and relentlessly moving up the market, eventually displacing established competitors. Disruptive innovation is usually known to be brought in by new entrants, in many cases by newly established start-ups.

Innovation remains the core of disruptive innovation, as new companies find ways to solve customers’ problems in cheaper ways.

But why is disruptive innovation inevitable in all industries?

Many established companies face the “mouse trap” problem. They look to make a better products, in this case a better mouse drop. But the consumers want a better solution, and new comers are usually in a position to upend the market by infusing innovation-driven customer solutions. For example, Apple entered the consumer electronics market in 2001 and permanently disrupted the market by marrying consumer electronics with computing expertise.

Hence, smartphones and tablets were eventually born. While companies like Apple and Samsung forged ahead, traditional mobile phone manufacturers like Motorola, Ericsson, and Nokia stumbled and lost their way.

Summing up, transient competitive advantage is here to stay. And no company

in any industry is immune to the onslaught of potential competitors, be it from start-ups or companies coming from other industries. As Schumpeter had stated in his works on creative destruction, no company, however big, powerful, cash-rich, is immune from the cusp of destruction. In order to survive, companies must constantly look for ways to consolidate position, while at the same time looking for “blue ocean markets.” The race for survival and supremacy is perennial and all players must find ways to keep providing innovative solutions to customers in order to stay relevant.

Like they say, evolve or die. l Zahedul Amin is the director of finance at LightCastle Partners, an emerging market specialized business planning and intelligence firm. The article was originally published in the LCP Blog