11 April, 2014

Chaitra 28, 1420 Jamadius Sani 10, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 13

FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

WT | THE SIMPLE PLEASURES OF BAISHAKH

7 | THE ‘MODI SARKAR’ IN PERSPECTIVE

20 pages plus 32-page weekend supplement | Price: Tk10

8 | RUSSIAN MPS WANT GORBACHEV PROBED 12 | SUSHMITA DEBUTS IN BANGLA CINEMA

2001 POST-POLL VIOLENCE

HC for quick action against perpetrators n Nazmus Sakib The High Court has directed the government to immediately take legal action against the persons responsible, as per the judicial probe report, for the incidents including murder and rape carried out on the Hindus and then opposition members shortly after the October 1, 2001 election.

The court also ordered the government to inform it on May 11 regarding the measures taken against the perpetrators.

The bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and ABM Altaf Hossain passed the order yesterday after Deputy Attorney General Biswojit Roy placed the gazette notification of the judicial investigation report.

The commission in its probe report held a number of ministers of the then ruling BNP-Jamaat government responsible for instigating the incidents. The leaders include BNP’s Salauddin Quader

Chowdhury (convicted for war crimes), Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed, Tariqul Islam, Zainal Abedin (VP Zainal), Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu, Abdul Hafiz, AMH Selim (Silver Selim), Selim Reza Habib, and Jamaat-e-Islami’s Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed and Delawar Hossain Sayedee, both convicted for war crimes.

The gazette was published in April following the directives of the bench.

“It is historic as no other probe report was made public earlier through gazette notification,” Biswojit told the Dhaka Tribune.

In response to a question by the court during the hearing, the deputy attorney general said no effective measure could be taken against the perpetrators after the violence. “As the probe report has turned into a gazette, which has legal value, actions will now be taken against the perpetrators,” he said.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Children of the locality make the stagnant drain water adjacent to Hatirjheel bridge a ‘water world’ of their own as they play in there to ward off daytime heat yesterday. They are absolutely oblivious of the fact that the water is polluted and harmful for their health MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

India votes in crucial 3rd phase n AP, Patna, India Indians voted in the crucial third phase of national elections yesterday, with millions going to the polls in the heartland states that are essential to the main opposition Hindu nationalist party’s bid to end the 10-year rule of Congress party.

Suspected Maoist rebels, who have urged a boycott, briefly disrupted voting in their strongholds in eastern Bihar state and neighboring Chhattisgarh, carrying out acts of violence despite thousands of security forces fanning out in the area.

Nearly 110 million people were eligible to vote in the third phase of the elections in 92 constituencies in 11 of India’s 28 states and three federally administered union territories. The multiphase voting across the country runs until May 12, with results for the 543-seat lower house of Parliament announced May 16.

INSIDE Business

B1 The country’s foreign exchange reserve has crossed US$20bn – a buildup equivalent to six months of import payments.

Nation

6 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s pledge for promoting Mymensingh Municipality into a full-fledged city corporation has not been implemented although it has been a year.

Op-Ed

11 When there is conflict, democracy is the solution. Conflict and political hostility not only result in devastating direct violence, they also impede growth, threaten public health, and aggravate poverty.

Sport

13 The rumours of Sheikh Jamal DC’s Sony Norde leaving Bangladesh for a club in India has taken a new turn as it was learnt yesterday that the Haitian international capped footballer is expected to leave Dhaka today for a trial at a Belgium club.

Parts of sprawling Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra states were among the places holding balloting on Thursday.

Hours before the voting began, Maoist insurgents blew up a jeep carrying paramilitary soldiers, killing two and wounding three others and causing a

P9 MORE STORIES suspension in voting in some parts of eastern Bihar state, police said.

The soldiers were patrolling a forest in a rebel stronghold in Munger district when their jeep hit a land mine nearly 225 kilometers (145 miles) southeast of Patna, the state capital, police officer Jitendra Rana said.

Voting was suspended at 20 nearby polling stations because of the safety threat, Rana said, but started as scheduled in other parts of Bihar state. Election authorities are expected to hold

voting in the area targeted by the rebels on another day.

The insurgents struck again hours later and briefly disrupted voting in neighboring Chhattisgarh state by firing at security forces guarding 10 polling stations in Bastar district, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

There were no casualties and the rebels fled after security forces returned fire, PTI said. The voting resumed after security forces combed the area.

The main Hindu opposition, with strong momentum on promises of a surge in economic growth, appears to be leading the race to end the Congress party’s 10 years in power.

Sonia Gandhi, the governing Congress party chief, and her son Rahul Gandhi, the party’s vice president, voted in the Indian capital where their party was routed in a regional election in December.

Besides the Congress party and the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

‘Bachelor’ Modi now admits he is married n AFP, Ahmedabad India’s election frontrunner Narendra Modi has acknowledged for the first time that he is married, solving one of the biggest mysteries about the private life of the man tipped to be prime minister.

The 63-year-old is routinely described as a bachelor and is thought to have lived alone in his adult life, having risen through the ranks of a grassroots Hindu nationalist organisation in which celibacy is expected.

Media reports have described how he walked away from a marriage arranged by his parents when he was a child, but this has never been confirmed by the man himself who has portrayed his single status as a virtue while campaigning.

In an affidavit on Wednesday as he

Diarrhoea patients increasing At least 15 fatalities in the past five weeks in the capital n Moniruzzaman Uzzal The number of diarrhoea patients in Dhaka has seen a huge spike in recent days, with at least fifteen people reportedly dying from diarrhoeal diseases during the past five weeks alone.

The Dhaka Tribune has learned that 10 patients died in March, while five more died during the first nine days of April. Sources said all these diarrhoea patients had already died when they were brought to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research Bangladesh (ICDDRB).

The lack of awareness among the patients’ relatives allegedly failed to ensure timely treatment, which could have saved lives, health officials said.

Dr Azharul Islam Khan, chief physician and head of diarrhoeal diseases unit of the ICDDRB Hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune that no patient had died at the hospital, but admitted that some patients had been brought to the ICDDRB after they had already died on the way to the hospital.

At least fifteen patients were brought in dead in the last 40 days, he added.

As a precaution, Dr Azharul recommended people to take oral saline as soon as identifying diarrhoeal symptoms. If saline fails to improve the patient’s condition, they must be taken to the nearest hospital without wasting any time, he added.

ICDDRB sources said the number

filed his papers to stand as a member of parliament from the Vadadora constituency in the western state of Gujarat, he acknowledged that he had a wife.

In the column of the affidavit to mention spouses, Modi – who is chief minister of Gujarat – wrote the name “Jashodaben”, but he states elsewhere in the filing that he had “no information” about her.

Modi’s brother confirmed in a statement that Narendra was betrothed to the now 62-year-old retired schoolteacher, who gave an interview in February in which she said she didn’t “feel bad” about not being part of Modi’s life.

The marriage, formalised when Modi was 17, is believed never to have been consummated.

“Our parents considered Narendra to be a normal child and under this  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

children. Around 25% the diarrhoeal disease patients suffered from cholera.

Professor Dr Mahmudur Rahman, director of Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told the Dhaka Tribune that the number of cholera patients was increasing for various reasons including climate change, water contamination, lack of personal hygiene and awareness.

According to the national crisis management centre of the health directorate,  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

A debate erupted during a discussion in the capital yesterday when senior BNP leaders disagreed with pro-BNP citizens’ view that the party might cease to exist if it did not change its political strategy.

Taking part in the discussion organised by pro-BNP professionals at the National Press Club, Farhad Mazhar said: “Many died in the democratic movement, but the fascists grabbed power. People’s basic rights and freedom of speech are in shackles. That is why, many people say if BNP fails to change its strategy and uphold people’s expectations, it might cease to exist.”

Gonoshasthya Kendra founder Zafarullah Chowdhury, who a few days ago criticised BNP for not having democratic practices within the party, echoed Mazhar.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Hawlader removed, Bablu new JaPa secretary general n Manik Miazee

of diarrhoea patients has suddenly increased in the capital, while there were concerns that the number might rise.

Although the average number of patients receiving daily treatment at the ICDDRB stood at around 400 last month, the hospital had 722 patients admitted on April 9 – the highest recorded so far this year.

In 2013, the highest number of daily admitted patients was 587.

Among the total patients this year, around 55% were adult and the rest were

Question of BNP’s existence ignites debate! n Mohammad Al-MasumMolla

Prime minister’s adviser Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu has been made the secretary general of main opposition in parliament Jatiya Party.

Bablu replaces ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, who has served as the secretary general of the party for 12 years.

JaPa Chairman HM Ershad had made the new appointment as per the party charter, said party chief’s Press and Political Secretary Sunil Shuvo Roy. Ruhul however told the Dhaka Tribune that he did not know anything about the replacement.

“The party chief issues the order considering Ziauddin’s contribution to the party,” Sunil said.

“It is a great responsibility for me,” the new secretary general told the Dhaka Tribune as immediate reaction.

Party sources said there had been conflicts between Rawshan Ershad, leader of the opposition in parliament and senior presidium member of JaPa, and ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader centring the January 5 parliamentary election.

The conflicts centred issues such as whether to participate in the election, forming committees, under-probe cor-

ruption allegation against party leaders, and so on.

Ruhul, who is known for being close to HM Ershad, belonged to a faction of JaPa that did not want to take part in the national poll. Ershad’s wife Rawshan, on the hand, eventually contested the poll as part of the ruling Awami League-led alliance.

There has been conflicts between Rawshan Ershad and Ruhul Amin Howlader centring January 5 poll Sources said the matter of bringing a change to the top post had been discussed within the party for months.

Eventually, following special recommendation from Rawshan Ershad, Bablu is being made the new secretary general.

Rawshan however refused to make any comment on the issue.

Ruhul told the Dhaka Tribune that he had met Ershad yesterday afternoon and had very little idea about the development then. “I learnt about the change through media,” he said. l

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Friday, April 11, 2014

JaPa regular, Rawshan irregular in first House session n Kamran Reza Chowdhury The main opposition JaPa (Jatiya Party) was regular in the first session of the tenth parliament that ended yesterday but Leader of the Opposition Rawshan Ershad had been absent for 62% of the working days since January 29.

Out of a total of 36 sittings of the tenth parliament, Rawshan, also JaPa presidium member, showed up to only 14 sittings, including the opening and closing days, according to parliament records.

While delivering her wind-up speech, Rawshan assured the House that her MPs would not boycott the parliament and would extend all-out support to the ruling party, though different quarters were suspicious of them.

In the Westminster form of govern-

ment, the ruling party and the opposition were complementary toward each other, she said.

“Why will you not accept this if you believe in the Westminster form of government?” Rawshan said.

The opposition leader attended the first, third, sixth, eighth, ninth, 11th, 12th, 16th, 19th, 25th, 28th, 33rd and 36th days of the current session. She attended the whole session yesterday from 3pm to around 8:57pm.

Apart from the opening and closing days, she frequently turned up before Maghreb prayers and left after the prayer break.

“We will attend parliament sessions. We will not boycott. We’re here to speak in favour of people, not for us,” the JaPa presidium member said in her almost 50-minute speech yesterday.

She said her party took part in the January 5 polls to prevent any unconstitutional force from assuming power and to contribute toward institutionalisation.

Rawshan said participating in the polls was an exclusive decision of the parties but there are no alternatives in democratic elections.

“We will not use offensive words in the parliament,” she said, condemning acts of previous opposition parties.

“We want to help the government, but the BNP is skeptical of it because they have not seen this before,” she observed.

“JaPa walked out of parliament only once among the 36 sittings and extended its full support in passing two bills in the first session.”

The opposition leader said the previous parliaments only focused on dis-

cussions on the declaration of the 1971 War of Liberation and the war itself.

She termed those as “settled issues.”

“There shouldn’t be any controversy over these issues,” she said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her concluding address, thanked Rawshan for her cooperative attitude towards the government.

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in her concluding remarks said the opposition party could create a unique example of cooperation by simply refraining from opposing everything.

Shirin said the opposition party and the independent lawmakers had participated in all parliamentary affairs, including the prime minister’s question-and-answer sessions.

This has strengthened the democratic system, she observed. l

ASSAULT ON MUNSHIGANJ UNO

Police super flouts deadline to reply to show cause notice n Rabiul Islam The Munshiganj police super did not reply within the deadline of the Home Ministry’s show cause notice served to him on March 31 for not cooperating to file a case against an assistant sub-inspector in the district for assaulting an upazila nirbahi officer.

The notice also mentioned why departmental action would not be taken against Habibur for defying the ministry’s order, and asked the police official to reply in seven working days.

The notice was served to SP Habibur Rahman who missed the deadline yesterday.

During the elections on March 23 Louhojang police station ASI Md Em-

dad reportedly assaulted UNO ATM Mahabubul Karim of Gajaria upazila in Munshiganj.

On March 27, the Home Ministry sent a letter asking Habibur Rahman to cooperate in filing the case against the ASI. “We have not got any reply, and action will be taken as per the rules,” CQK Mustaq Ahmed, senior secretary of the ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune over the phone yesterday.

A few days back, Habibur Rahman was withdrawn from Munshiganj for negligence in carrying out his duty to contain violence during the upazila poll in Gazaria upazila.

He had been attached to the Police Headquarters in Dhaka. l

ABM Musa laid to rest n Tribune Report Veteran journalist ABM Musa who passed away in the capital on Wednesday was laid to eternal rest yesterday night.

He was buried at his family graveyard at Kutubpur village in Fulgazi upazila around 9:30pm following fourth namaz-e-janaza.

Earlier, his body was taken to his home district from the capital in the afternoon.

The body was kept at Feni Press Club for some time where people from all walks of life paid their last respects to the senior journalist, reports UNB. Later, his 3rd namaz-e-janaza was held at Mizan Maidan in the district town after Maghrib prayers.

His first janaza was held at Iqbal Road in Mohammadpur on Wednesday and the second one at the National Press Club yesterday.

A large number of people, including journalists, politicians and civil society

members, paid their last tribute to the veteran journalist at the National Press Club.

They flocked in their hundreds on the Jatiya Press Club premises when his body was taken there around 12:30 pm. They placed wreaths at his coffin and took part in his second namaz-ejanaza held on the club premises.

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Press Club president Kamaluddin Sabuj, general secretary Syed Abdal Ahmed, Dhaka University vice-chancellor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, Prof Anisuzzamn, journalist Kamal Lohani and BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, among others, joined the janaza.

ABM Musa, a close aide of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, passed away at a city hospital on Wednesday at the age of 83.

Born at Dharmapur village in Feni in 1931, Musa was the founder member of the National Press Club.

He contributed to different fields

Hasina praises JaPa’s opposition role n Emran Hossain Shaikh Hailing the Jatiya Party for its role as the main opposition in parliament, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the opposition’s duty was to assist the government.

“If the government does anything wrong, the opposition must criticise it.

But it is the duty of the opposition to cooperate with the government. The incumbent opposition is doing this and they are attending parliament sessions,” Hasina told the House.

She thanked Leader of the Opposition Rawshan Ershad for her role and expressed hope that the opposition would play its due role in parliament.

The premier said some countries were interfering in the country’s internal affairs and were trying to treat BNP as the opposition.

“The opposition will come to parliament following elections. Why are the foreign countries talking about a party that has no representation in the House? The party came to parliament [during the previous term] only to receive facilities like salaries, foreign tours and tax-free cars,” she said.

‘BNP pleasing Pakistan’

Hasina also criticised BNP Chairperson

Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman for claiming that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the first “illegal” prime minister and Ziaur Rahman the first president of Bangladesh.

She said: “They are arousing controversy for making Pakistan happy.

“What is their motive for creating controversy over a historical truth?

They are spreading lies to hide the misdeeds, including genocide, rape and arson during the country’s War of Independence perpetrated by the Pakistani occupation forces,” she said.

“They are now busy flattering the defeated forces.”

Urging people not to get confused, Hasina said it was high time to resist those who killed people through arson attacks, tried to foil war crimes trials, rehabilitated the killers of Bangabandhu and distorted the country’s history.

“Khandaker Moshtaq was a traitor and killer. He declared himself the president. He also made Ziaur Rahman chief of the armed forces. Why was Zia made the army chief following Bangabandhu’s killing? It can surely be said he [Zia] had a connection with the killing,” she claimed.

“People say Ziaur Rahman used to sign death penalties while having breakfast and he did not hesitate to do so,” Hasina said. l

RAB nabs 5 for journo’s murder in Narayanganj n Kailash Sarkar RAB detained five men in connection with the murder of a local journalist that took place on March 28 in Sonargaon upazila, Narayanganj, RAB officials disclosed at a press briefing in Kurmitola, Dhaka yesterday.

The vicitm, Delwar Hossain, 40, was a correspondent of Dainik Somachar and Bhorer Barta. He also owned a land business and a workshop in Sonargaon.

The detainees are: Ibrahim Khalil, 32, Mohammad Jahangir, 32, Mohammad Kalam, 45, Monir Hossain, 26, and Abbas Ali, 44.

Arrested from different places in Siddhirganj, the accused admitted to the crime and described why and how

they killed Delwar.

“Khalil had a feud with Delwar over a piece of vested property, Kalam had a feud with him over land business, and Jahangir, Abbas and Monir were in conflict with him over gas line connections,” said Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rahman, director of RAB’s legal and media wing.

“The three different parties banded together to get revenge and killed Delwar, swooping in on him on his way home at night,” he said.

RAB officials said Ibrahim was the mastermind behind the murder, while the others assisted him.

Originally from Dohar upazila in Dhaka, Delwar had moved to Bailor, Sonargaon 15 years ago. l

of journalism during his 64 years of professional life. ABM Musa received many awards, including the Ekushey Padak.

A life member of the National Press Club, ABM Musa was elected president of the club for four times while general secretary thrice.

He was elected a Member of Parliament in the first national election of the country in 1973.

He started his career in journalism with now-defunct The Insaf in 1950.

Later, he joined the Pakistan Observer and served it in various capacities.

Musa had played an important role in the country’s Liberation War through his reports in the BBC and various dailies, including The Sunday Times.

He served as the Director General of the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB) from 1981-85. He also served as the managing director and chief editor of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) from 1985-87. l

People from all walks of life pay their respects to renowned journalist ABM Musa yesterday at the National Press Club

India votes in crucial phase

HC for quick action against

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

The report was prepared by a three-member commission headed by former district judge M Shahabuddin Chuppu, now a commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission. The probe body was formed on December 27, 2009 and it submitted the report to the Home Ministry on April 24, 2011.

According to the report, as many as 3,625 incidents of violence took place across the country between October 1, 2001 and December 31, 2002. During that time, 355 political murders occurred while the other 3,270 incidents are related to rape, gang rape, arson, looting and other serious crimes.

But only 221 cases were lodged, in which police submitted final report in 27 cases but discharged the accused.

The law enforcers pressed charge sheets in rest of the cases, says the report.

The commission suggested that as there is no timeframe for filing of cases for crimes, the authorities can lodge cases against the perpetrators now.

If an accused is acquitted, appeals should be lodged against them, while if anyone is discharged, then revision cases should be filed, says the report.

The commission also said between 2003 and 2006, more than 14,000 incidents of violence including political murders took place.

Deputy Attorney General Biswojit said the report did not cover all the

opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the vote is also crucial for the future of India’s anti-corruption party, led by Arvind Kejriwal.

The Aam Admi Party, or Common Man’s Party, scored a stunning upset in the New Delhi election, launching Kejriwal to the national stage.

He has led protests and hunger strikes to highlight his fight against government corruption over the past two years. The party is contesting nearly 400 parliamentary seats.

The threat of insurgent attacks is always a shadow over Indian elections, although voting in the northeast on Monday and Wednesday was mainly peaceful.

On Wednesday, Maoist rebels killed three soldiers in a gunbattle in Chhattisgarh state a day before voting started.

In March, rebels killed 15 government soldiers and one civilian in their deadliest raid in Chhattisgarh in almost a year, ambushing dozens of troops and police guarding construction workers.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called the rebels India’s biggest internal security threat. They operate in 20 of India’s 28 states and have thousands of fighters, according to the Home Ministry. l

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

horrific incidents of violence as many people did not appear before the commission fearing further attacks.

Barisal was the worst-affected division where a total of 2,189 incidents of serious crimes including rape, gang rape, arson and loot were committed just after the election.

Almost all the women, from child to age-old, of three Hindu villages in Lalmohan Upazila of Bhola were raped.

Even a physically-handicapped woman, whose two legs were cut, and another 70-year-old woman were not spared.

As many as 38 political murders took place during the same period. But only 39 cases were registered on the incidents and the accused of four cases were discharged, says the report.

Death row war criminal Salauddin Quader’s men killed 12 persons at a house in Chittagong by setting fire. In the district, 97 political murders and 360 incidents of gang rape, arson, loot and other serious crimes took place. On the incidents, only 49 cases were lodged while the accused in eight cases were discharged.

Priya Saha, general secretary of Bangladesh Women Unity Council, told the Dhaka Tribune that war criminal Sayedee’s men had forcefully taken the possession of land more than 200 acres owned by her father and other relatives in Pirojpur. She did not file any complaint or give statement before the commission out of fear. l

‘Bachelor’ Modi now admits he is married  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

circumstance got him married at a very young age,” his elder brother Somabhai Damodardas said in a statement yesterday.

“But for Narendra, service to the nation was foremost so he left home,” he added, recalling his parents’ modest means to bring up six children and “how there was little education in our family”.

Modi, a hardline Hindu nationalist consistently ahead in the polls, told a biographer recently that he “actually enjoys loneliness” and has said that because he has no children he is more likely to be a clean politician.

“I’ve no familial ties. Who would I ever try to benefit through corruption?” he told a recent rally.

He has four times contested seats in Gujarat’s regional assembly but has never given his marital status on the affidavits.

Political opponents criticised the prime ministerial candidate for the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who rarely speaks to the media, for failing to be candid about his personal life.

“I believe that Modi should first seek an apology from the people of Gujarat for misleading them,” said Arjun Modhwadia, head of the Congress party in Gujarat.

In New Delhi, Congress party spokesman Rashid Alvi queried why he had neither divorced nor cared for his wife.

“If a man can’t take care of his wife, how can he take care of the country?” he told AFP. India’s mammoth national election, which entered the third of nine phases on Thursday with almost a fifth of the 543 seats in the parliament up for grabs, has been described as a “battle of the bachelors”.

Modi’s main opponent Rahul Gandhi is single. He is the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that runs the ruling Congress party, which has been in power nationally since 2004.

Unlike in many other democracies,

being unmarried is not seen as a handicap in India because Hinduism has a strong tradition of asceticism in which followers renounce worldly pleasures.

Other parts of Modi’s personal story remain unclear, particularly a period as a young man when he is believed to have wandered in the Himalayas on a journey of spiritual discovery.

Modi’s personal life hit headlines last November in a scandal dubbed “Stalkergate” in which alleged transcripts of conversations between Gujarat’s thenhome minister and policemen were released by an investigative news portal.

In them the minister purportedly orders officers to trail a woman at the behest of “saheb”, a Hindi term for boss, ordering them to report every movement of the young architect, particularly if and when she met any male friends.

The BJP dismissed the tapes as a conspiracy to malign Modi by the Congress party, which polls show faces its heaviest ever defeat in the elections. l

RAJIB DHAR

Diarrhoea  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

the average number of patients at the ICDDRB during the first nine days of the month was 581. There are claims that the health directorate had failed to take necessary initiatives to create mass awareness, as well as failing to hold a regular joint meeting with Dhaka Wasa this year.

Visiting the ICDDRB hospital yesterday, the Dhaka Tribune found that hospital authority were providing treatment to patients in extended tents to cope up with the added pressure of patients.

Dr Azharul said the number of diarrhoea patients suddenly increased this year, after experiencing downward trends in the past couple of years.

The government should look into the quality of drinking water, he added. l

Question of BNP’s  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

“Everybody knows the situation in the judiciary. People are not getting justice. They are harassed. In order to overcome such predicaments, movement strategy [of BNP] should be changed,” Zafarullah said.

A little later, BNP Standing Committee Member Rafiqul Islam Miah strongly shot back at Farhad Mazhar.

“We want to say that BNP is a pro-people party and its movements are for the people. So, this party will never cease to exist... After the assassination of Ziaur Rahman, everybody said BNP will [die]...

Khaleda Zia took over the helm and the party moved forward. Under the leadership of Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, BNP will never cease to exist,” Rafiqul said.

At this point, Mazhar stood up in protest and interrupted Rafiqul.

“You [Rafiqul] are talking from a political point of view. We are professionals.

You have to understand my sentiment and my perspective. We are not involved in active politics. If you talk like this then why do you call us [to these discussions]?

I just gave my advice,” Mazhar said.

Holding him by his hands, the other leaders then tried to calm Mazhar down. BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir then tried to pacify the heated situation.

He said: “In a democratic movement, there will always be ups and downs. There is no reason to believe that we are falling behind. Nobody should be frustrated...

BNP leaders and activists have made the biggest of sacrifices for the movement and they are still doing so. I believe BNP will never cease to exist.” When Fakhrul was talking, Farhad Mazhar and Rafiqul Islam Miah were sitting beside each other and talking with smiling faces. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Childhood tuberculosis cases startlingly go undiagnosed

Speakers at the programme titled Debriefing Session of 6th Joint Monitoring Mission 2014 organised by the Bangladesh National Tuberculosis Control Programme yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

n Tazlina Zamila Khan A survey has revealed that about 9.5% childhood tuberculosis cases are still undiagnosed in Bangladesh, getting in the way of reducing morbidity, mortality and transmission of the disease.

This was brought to light at a programme organised by the Bangladesh National Tuberculosis Control Programme, titled “Debriefing Session of 6th Joint Monitoring Mission 2014” held at Dhaka’s Radisson Blu Water

Garden Hotel yesterday.

“Childhood TB is a neglected problem in Bangladesh. We have recognised it as an important issue [to deal with],” said Leopold Blance, team leader of Joint Monitoring Mission. “Skilled personnel are needed to expand the diagnosis programme to solve the problem.”

Bangladesh is among 27 priority countries for MDR (Multi-drug-resistant) TB and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB).

According to the summary report,

MDR TB in new cases is 1.4% while it is 29% in retreatment cases.

However, the MDR TB was 14.7% in retreatment cases.

“A total of 180,000 patients were detected with TB in 2013, of whom 2761 were in the MDR-TB category and enrolled for treatment from 2008 to 31 December 2013,’’ said NTP MDR-TB Adviser MA Hamid Salim. ‘’Thirty GeneXpert machines have been installed in different places of the country to enhance diagnosis of MDR TB and there is a plan to install 64 machines

3

Friday, April 11, 2014

Awami League MPs slam Tarique n Emran Hossain Shaikh

for all districts within 2014,” he said.

Salim feels that diagnosis and control of MDR TB, Smear Negative & Extrapulmonary TB and Childhood TB are major challenges.

The smear-negative TB and Extrapulmonary TB also remain undetected at the national level, according to Dr Md Ashaque Husain, director, MBDC and Line Director TB-leprosy under the NTP. There are around 869 Directly Observed Treatment Short-Course (DOTS) centres and 1,089 microscopy labs under NTP, he said.

Bangladesh National Tuberculosis Control Programme conducted surveys in Rangpur, Naogaon, Tangail, Dhaka, Khulna and Cox’s Bazar districts from March 30 to April 10 this year. l

Awami League lawmakers yesterday slammed BNP leader Tarique Rahman for his remark that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was first illegal prime minister of Bangladesh.

They urged the government to take legal action against Tarique, the BNP senior vice-chairman, as early as possible for the sake of the country’s liberty and sovereignty.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed termed BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman an idiot.

Training his gun on Tarique, Tofail said seething with anger: “What a foolish…Was your father an elected representative? Did he see the election?

Your father used to spew spit calling us sir.”

Tarique at a rally in London on April 8 said Bangabandhu was first illegal prime minister of Bangladesh. Earlier, at another program he claimed that Ziaur Rahman was the first president of Bangladesh.

Slating Tarique Zia’s remark, Tofail Ahmed, also an advisory council member of the Awami League, urged the prime minister and the law minister to end the grenade attack case as early as possible.

Tarique is an accused in the case of grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004.

Senior AL lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta said BNP was working as part of a political conspiracy. “Tarique Zia is talking in a way that he appeared to

have been taught by the ISI [Pakistan’s intelligence agency].”

Suranjit urged the law minister to take legal action against Tarique on charge of sedition and for destroying the history of the country.

He said those who do not recognise the history of Bangladesh have no right to live in the country.

‘Was your father an elected representative?

Did he see the election?

Your father used to spew spit calling us sir’ “If anyone want to live in the county must show respect to the constitution and liberation of the country,” he said.

Health Minister Mohammad Nasim claimed that BNP was distorting the history of Bangladesh as part of a plot.

He urged the government to be stern against those who are destroying the history of Bangladesh.

Nasim, also the presidium member of Awami League, admitted the fact of violence in the upazila election saying that some incidents were seen during the election.

Railway Minister Mujibul Haque said the countrymen were surprised at the remark of Tarique Rahman on Bangabandhu.

“Tarique Zia is betraying with the country taking money from the ISI,” he said. l

Eyewitness tes- AG: Sayedee’s crimes more dreadful than Molla’s Suspected robber beaten to tifies against n death in Feni ATM Azhar Nazmus Sakib

n Udisa Islam Another eyewitness in the trial against Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam yesterday claimed that the accused had been involved with the abduction and killing of Carmichael College teachers during the 1971 Liberation War. Tenth witness Ratan Chandra Das, 61, corroborated with the deposition of previous witness Shobha Kar. Ratan was a cook in the house of Sunil Baran Chakrabarty and Ram Krishna Adhikari, teachers of Carmichael College.

After his deposition, the International Crimes Tribunal 1 adjourned trial of the al-Badr leader from Rangpur until Sunday keeping the cross-examination incomplete.

The witness said he had been present at the scene when Carmichael College teacher Kala Chand, his wife Manjushree and Sunil were abducted on 15th Baishakh, the first month of Bengali calendar. The Pakistani Army freed him as he had identified himself to be a Muslim.

“That night, some army personnel along with ATM Azhar came to Kala Chand’s house and took them away blindfolded. I identified Azhar then.

Manjushree prayed to them not to take her husband. Then they took her with them as well.”

The witness said the next day he had gone to the house of Chityaranjan Roy. “His sister told me that Azhar and some Pakistani Army men took two teachers from their house in that night. Later we came to know that all of them were killed at Damdam Bridge in the town.”

Before that, the defence counsel cross examined ninth witness Shobha, sister of Chityaranjan Roy. Meanwhile, New York-based Human Rights Watch yesterday submitted its reply to the notice issued by the same tribunal for commenting on the trial of former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam.

After the submission of the correspondence by Md Asaduzzaman Khan, a lawyer representing the HRW, the tribunal set May 12 for hearing on the answer.

The tribunal yesterday also allowed adjournment of the hearing on contempt notice against Supreme Court lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain until April 29.

The tribunal on October 6 last year issued the notice asking Mahbub as to why contempt proceedings would not be initiated against him for his comments that he passed on the verdict in Salauddin Quader Chowdhury case on October 1.

An adviser to the BNP chief, Mahbub threatened to try all the persons involved in the war crimes trials process if his party came to power. l

At the end of government’s arguments yesterday, attorney general Mahbubey Alam pleaded for upholding the capital punishment of war criminal Delawar Hossain Sayedee for the sake of justice.

He said the Jamaat-e-Islami leader had committed more monstrous crimes than war criminal Abdul Quader Molla, who was executed on December 12.

Molla had to walk to gallows for a deposition from Momena. Similarly, reliable witnesses like Momena gave testimonies in the case against Sayedee.

“As per their depositions, Sayedee’s crimes are more despicable and terrible than Molla’s,” he said.

Mahbubey said that no other punishment is appropriate for the heinous

crimes Sayedee had committed during the 1971 Liberation War in Pirojpur.

He pleaded for upholding the death penalty in two charges – killing Ibrahim Kutti and Bisabali, and sought punishment for the six other charges which were proved at the tribunal but no sentence was given.

The attorney general admitted that the government should have appealed for the other 12 charges where Sayedee was acquitted.

The five-member apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain fixed Sunday for the defence to rebut the government side’s arguments.

In his submission, Mahbubey said Sayedee had also committed crime by forcefully converting Hindus to Islam.

“It is more horrible than murder. If I am

forced to convert to another religion, my soul will die. It is more shocking than physical death.”

He pleaded for upholding death penalty in two charges and sought punishment for the six other charges which were proved at the tribunal but no sentence was given The top law officer of the country argued that Sayedee had aided the Pakistani Army in committing all kinds of crimes against humanity for which the

tribunal had rightly handed down the death sentence to him.

Mahbubey on Wednesday told the court that the defence had submitted a fake document to the tribunal to save Sayedee.

Additional attorney general MK Rahman, deputy attorney general Ekramul Hoque and assistant attorney general Bashir Ahmed assisted Mahbubey Alam while SM Shahjahan represented Sayedee during the hearing.

The international Crimes Tribunal 1 awarded death sentence to Sayedee on February 28 last year. Both the sides appealed against the tribunal verdict on March 28 last year. The hearing for the case began on September 24 last year and the argument stage on January 28 this year. l

n Our Correspondent, Feni

An alleged robber was killed in a mass beating at Karimullahpur village under Daganbhuiyan upazila in Feni yesterday.

The deceased was identified as Bacchu Mian, 45, son of Shamsul Haque of the upazila.

Police said the robbers had stormed into the village and were preparing to commit robbery.

As the news of robbery spread, neighbours gathered in the area and beat up them, leaving Bacchu and two others critically injured.

The injured were sent to Feni Sadar Hospital where Bacchu died. l

BNP grassroots vent IO testifies on al-Badr leader Mir Kashem’s involvement in war crimes anger on central leaders n Udisa Islam The investigation officer in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Kashem Ali, an alleged commander of notorious al-Badr force in Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War, testified at the war crimes tribunal yesterday.

Nurul Islam is the 24th and last prosecution witness in the case. After his submission, defence lawyer Nazibur Rahman began questioning him.

The International Crimes Tribunal 2 adjourned the proceedings until April 15 keeping the cross-examination incomplete.

The IO said as a leader of Islami Chhatra Sangha, then Jamaat’s student wing, the accused had created armed group al-Bad. He led the abduction and persecution of many pro-liberation people at three torture cells in the city.

Nurul identified Dost Mohammad Panjabi building, Salma Manjil and Daleem Hotel as the torture cells of al-Badr force. Hundreds of people had been killed by the al-Badr members upon order of Mir Kashem.

Mir Kashem, now the Jamaat trea-

surer and also key financier of the party, had been directly involved in committing crimes against humanity with the help of the Pakistani occupation forces, the IO said.

The accused created al-Badr in Chittagong and led the abduction and killing of many pro-liberation people at three torture cells Nurul Islam was also the investigation officer in the case against death row convict Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a former BNP lawmaker from Chittagong.

In his deposition, the IO said he had begun the investigation on July 26, 2010 and submitted report to the chief prosecutor on May 2 last year.

Nurul said he had been informed about the crimes of Mir Kashem from freedom fighters, victims and the vic-

tims’ family. Upon specific complaints, he started the investigation and pleaded to the chief prosecutor for the arrest of the accused.

The tribunal issued the arrest warrant on June 17, 2012 and the accused was arrested the same day.

Chairman of Diganta Media Corporation that owns Diganta TV and the daily Naya Diganta, Mir Kashem is facing 14 charges of crimes against humanity.

According to the defence, Mir Kashem is the founding trustee and also a member responsible for administration of the Ibn Sina Trust and director (marketing) of Ibn Sina Pharmaceutical Industries.

He was also the member secretary of Islami Bank Foundation, a sister concern of Islami Bank. Additionally, he is the chairman of Agro Industrial Trust, and chairman and director of Keari Limited, which is involved in real estate and tourism business.

The government claims that Mir Kashem paid a US lobbyist firm $25m to make the trial of war criminals “controversial.” l

Two more AL MPS under ACC scanner n Syed Samiul Basher Anik The Anti-Corruption Commission has initiated an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of government money and amassing “illegal” wealth by two more lawmakers of the ruling Awami League.

The lawmakers are BM Muzammel Haque of Shariatpur 1 constituency and Abu Sayeed Al-Mahmud Swapon of Joypurhat-2.

BM Muzammel Haque allegedly misappropriated government money while Abu Sayeed Al-Mahmud Swapon amassed illegal wealth beyond his

known sources of income, ACC officials said.

The anti-graft body has appointed its Deputy Director Moloy Kumar Saha of its Faridpur district office to conduct the inquiry.

When contacted Moloy Kumar said he was informed about the responsibility but yet to get the official order.

BM Muzammel in association with some other people, mostly union parishad chairmen, has misused money from government’s fisheries development projects at Shariatpur by distributing nine ponds and lowland at a cost of around Tk31.5 lakh to their near ones.

While the issue was brought to the notice of lawmaker Muzammel Haque he said the allegation against him surfaced four years back and he is confident that the Anti-Corruption Commission will not find any evidence for its claim.

Lawmaker Abu Sayeed, who was elected for the first time as an MP, has allegedly accumulated illegal wealth, according to the allegation.

The annual income of the MP has witnessed a 12 times rise in the last five years and his wife Mehbuba Alam earns over Tk1crore annually now, which was zero in 2008. l

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla Grassroots leaders of the BNP expressed bitter resentment at the central leaders and Jamaat-e-Islami for their role during the January 5 election resist movement.

As part of reorganising the party, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and the central leaders have started to sit with the grassroots leaders and activists to listen to them and give them directives.

In the first phase, the leaders of 13 districts, thanas and municipalities will meet the chairperson. This phase will end on April 20.

Panchagarh, Nilphamari and Syedpur district BNP leaders held a meeting with the secretary generals and organising secretaries of the party yesterday at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters.

Then the district leaders held another meeting with the BNP chairperson at her Gulshan office at night.

Party sources said at the meeting, Khaleda formed the convening committees of Panchagarh and Syedpur district units and asked the leaders to form the Nilphamari district unit within the next one and a half months.

“I sought relief from the district committee. I just want to work as a member of the party. We have raised question about the role of the Jamaat and our central leaders at the meeting,” Mohajar Ali

Prodhan, president of Panchagarh district unit, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Pointing finger to the central leaders, K Hasan, vice-president of the same unit, said: “If anyone becomes convener of a district unit, he cannot be president or general secretary of the district committee. If so, intra-party feud can never be eliminated.”

Mohammad Shamsuzzaman, member secretary of the Nilphamari district BNP, said they would hold council to form the full-pledged committee soon.

“The long-march towards Teesta Barrage will begin on April 23 under the leadership of acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Later we will hold our council,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Asked about the district leaders’ grievances against the Jamaat, Zaman said: “First we should organise our party and when we are strong enough we can focus on the alliance partners. If there is no rice in my house now, how can I entertain others?”

Abdul Gafur Sarkar, president of the Syedpur district unit, said the district committee would be dissolved and a convening committee be formed soon to inject new blood in the movement.

“We said the grassroots leaders are all right, but the central leaders should now be active to launch a successful movement,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Friday, April 11, 2014

Divisional commissioners lose authority over transfer of AC land n Mohosinul Karim The government has curtailed the authority of the divisional commissioners over transfer and posting of the assistant commissioners (land) in the metropolitan and city corporation areas.

The land ministry will directly look after the issues of transfer and posting of the AC (land) in these areas from now onwards. The order regarding handover of the authority to handle the AC (land) under the divisional commissioners has been cancelled, according to an official order issued by the ministry on Wednesday.

The official order signed by Deputy Secretary ATM Mostafa Kamal also said the ministry will exercise power since the issuance of the order. As a result, the divisional commissioners have lost their authority over transfer and post-

3 fake DB police arrested while abducting a youth n Our correspondent, Magura Three people pretending to be DB police were arrested in Sreepur upazila of Magura district yesterday.

The arrested were identified as Mejba Hossen, 20, son of Badruzzman of Gopalganj district, Shaddam Hossen, 22, son of Shahajan Talukder of Kaukhali village in Madaripur district, and Ahmed Goni Shahin, 24, son of Ajibar Rahman of Vanga upazila in Faridpur district.

Akhteruzzman, officer-in-charge of Sreepur police station explained that Khalid Hasan Rubel, son of Rafiqul Islam of Mazhar village under Sreepur upazilla of Magura, was returning home from Nakol village of the same upazilla. Five men dressed as DB police and riding on two motorbikes intercepted him at that time. They then attempted to forcibly kidnap Rubel.

Locals rushed to the spot hearing Rubel’s shouts. At one stage, the locals challenged them and they confessed that they were fake DB police. Locals handed three of them over to the police after a mass beating. The other two managed to escape. l

Three JMB convicts held on heels of bail n Our Correspondent, Kurigram Detective Branch of Police arrested three members of Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) yesterday as they were ‘planning an act of sabotage’ during the Pahela Baishakh festivities set to be celebrated on Thursday.

The arrested are Anwar Hossain (30), Javed Ali alias Zubair (24) and Monwar Hossain Biplob (34). Anwar’s father late Shoriot Ullah, second-in-command of Kurigram’s JMB, was a convict.

Hossain, Zubair and Biplob were jailed for 20 years and fined Tk10,000 each in a case back in 2011. They had been in Rangpur jail. On Wednesday, they were released on bail.

Police say they arrested the trio at Kathalbari of Kurigram Sadar Upazila with possession of seven handmade bombs and two machetes.

A sub-inspector at Kurigram Sadar police station, Ruhani, said, ‘’We arrested them on the assumption that they were planning subversive activities for the Pahela Baishakh.’’

The police have filed a case against them. l

Sayedee’s son takes oath as upazila chairman n Our Correspondent, Barisal The oath taking ceremony of elected representatives from eight upazilas of three districts was held at the Barisal divisional commissioner’s office yesterday.

Md Gaus, the divisional commissioner, administered the oaths of eight chairmen, eight vice-chairmen and eight vice-chairwomen from upazilas under Pirojpur, Barisal and Bhola districts, said Dulal Talukdar, the district election officer.

Jamaat-backed Masud Bin Sayedee, second son of war crimes convict Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, took oath as the chairman of Zianagar Upazila Parishad in Pirojpur having won the election defeating his nearest rival from the Awami League, Abdul Khaleque Gazi, on March 23. l

ing of the AC (land) in the metropolitan and city corporation areas.

Mostafa Kamal told the Dhaka Tribune that the order was issued on the

The decision was taken in a bid to curb any kind of irregularities in the appointment of AC (land) in the metropolitan and city corporation areas instructions of the land minister, state minister and senior secretary of the ministry. “I am not aware of the reason for curtailing the authority,” he said.

Mohammad Safiul Alam, senior

secretary of the land ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune that it was done on the government’s orders. “The land minister and state minister want to know as to how transfer and posting of AC (land) are being done.”

He added: “They also want to look after transfer and posting of AC (land) in city corporation and metropolitan areas as they can immediately remove them or take action against them if found guilty.”

But some ministry officials said the decision was taken in a bid to curb any kind of irregularities regarding the appointment of AC (land) in the metropolitan and city corporation areas.

AC (land) is the most attractive post for the civil servants as most of the revenues are collected by them. There are some allegations of irregularities in the postings of AC (land).

BNP slams government for Teesta ‘failure’ n Mohammad Al-MasumMolla

The order said the ministry will directly look after the issues of transfer and posting of AC (land) in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal, Rangpur, Narayanganj, Comilla and Gazipur and monitor their activities.

But the divisional commissioners will retain the authority over transfer and postings of the AC (land) outside the metropolitan and city corporation areas.

According to the order, only the officials who have experience of serving as AC (land) for minimum one year would be considered to be an AC (land) in any metropolitan or city corporation area.

They will be appointed as AC (land) in a workplace for only two years. None will be allowed to stay in any workplace for more than two years in the areas where they will be posted. l

The BNP has alleged that the government has failed to protect country’s interests because Bangladesh is continuously being deprived of its rightful share of Teesta water, jeopardising crores of lives.

A press release, signed by BNP’s Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed, read: “Because India has been holding back water one-sidedly, the northern region of the country [Bangladesh] has been suffering severely.

Agriculture and the environment are under serious threat.”

The release detailed the highlights of Wednesday night’s meeting of the BNP Standing Committee, the highest policymaking body of the party.

It said the party strongly condemned the government’s failure to preserve the country’s interest surrounding the Teesta issue.

From the meeting, the party also issued an urgent call for the government to take immediate steps to ensure the country’s rightful share to the water of Teesta and all the other shared rivers.

The release also accused the administration of being “biased” and the Election Commission “inactive” during the recently concluded upazilaparishad polls, especially with reference to what the party said was widespread “rigging” and “vote robbery” by the ruling party.

“The government, the Election Commission and the role of administration have proved that free and fair election is not possible under the Awami League,” the release said.

According to the release, the meeting urged the government to scrap the decision to hike power tariff, saying blanket corruption in the sector and frequent tariff hikes had led to immense suffering for people. l

Hanif: Tarique Rahman a Pakistani agent n Tribune Report Yesterday, the ruling AL joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif termed BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman “an agent of Pakistan.”

“Many of Tarique’s collusions against the country were foiled before.

Now he is trying to push the Pakistani agenda by distorting the history of Bangladesh as well as its liberation war,” said Hanif while addressing a party programme at the Sylhet circuit house.

“Tarique is a liar and a moron and his propaganda against Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and our glorious liberation war has already crossed all limits,” continued Hanif, who is also a sitting MP, adding: “He (Tarique) has engaged in distorting our history to confuse the new generation and provide a platform for the 1971 defeated force Jamaat-e-Islami.”

Hanif also feels that very little education can be a dangerous thing, as is evidenced by Tarique’s remarks, mentioning that it took Tarique four tries to pass his SSC exams.

Our Pabna correspondent reports that a sedition case was filed against Tarique in Pabna sadar police station for making derogatory remarks about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Kha Mo Hassan Kabir Arif, vice secretary of subcommittee of central AL, filed the case around 11am, states Kazi Haniful Islam, OC of Pabna sadar police station.

According to the case statement, Tarique called Bangabandhu an “illegal prime minister” in a meeting in London on April 8. This was a violation of the constitution, in which the Bangabandhu is stated as the first prime minister of Bangladesh. l

Activists of Gonotantric Baam Morcha gather at Nilphamari’s Teesta Doyani Bazar yesterday following a long march demanding equitable share of Teesta River water FOCUS BANGLA

Hindu schoolgirl abducted in Lalmonirhat Five murdered in Gazipur n Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat A Hindu schoolgirl was kidnapped from Durakuti village of Mogholhat union in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila as she was on route to attend the Ashtamisnan (religious bathing) festival on Monday.

The girl, Maloti Rani, 13, is the daughter of Jagadish Chandra Ram, a resident of the village. She is a seventh grader at the Bisbari Ebatonnesa Girls’ High School.

Jagadish lodged a case with Lalmonirhat Sadar police station against four people on Wednesday night, three

of whom were unnamed.

Police said Ismail Hossain and his cohorts abducted the girl as she was on her way to the festival held on the bank of Ratnai river in the village on Monday morning.

Maloti Rani’s younger sister Jaymoni Rani, 11, was with her when she was picked up and she immediately informed her parents of the incident.

The abductors, however, left the spot fast.

Jagadish said Ismail, son of Abdul Hamid of Shalmara village of Aditmari upazila, had been harassing his daughter for the past one year.

“My wife and I protested against Ismail’s actions several times but it didn’t stop,” he said, adding that he didn’t go for legal action for fear of losing his family’s dignity.

“In the last two weeks, Ismail threatened me twice that he would kidnap my daughter,” said the girl’s mother Jayanti Rani.

“Ismail is a notorious man in the village. He can do anything to my daughter,” she spoke worriedly.

Officer-in-charge of Lalmonirhat Sadar police station Mansur Ali said police would take necessary action in this regard. l

n Our Correspondent, Gazipur Police recovered six bodies from separate areas in Gazipur district yesterday.

Of them, five were murdered and one was killed under the wheels of a running train, said police sources.

The police recovered the body of a student from Barmi Bus Stand at Sreepur upazila.

The deceased was identified as Mehedi Hasan Sayem, 11 son of Rafiqul Islam in Barmi Bazar area. He was a student of Al-Madina Kindergarten.

The criminals killed him over previous enmity, said family sources.

SI Farid Hossen of Sreepur police station said Sayem had gone missing on Wednesday and did not return home.

The miscreants slaughtered him with a sharp knife, said the SI. On the other hand, housewife Maksuda Akter Eva,20, was beaten to death by her husband Khorshed Alam in Kodma village under Proholadpur union of the upazila.

The police recovered the body and arrested Alam.

The police sources said Alam killed his wife as she tried to prevent him from taking drugs.

Police also recovered the body of an unidentified woman from a forest at Patultia village of the upazila.

The miscreants might have killed the woman at any place three days ago and dumped it there, said police sources.

In another incident, the police had recovered a body of a woman named Alimunnesa, 60, wife of Fazir Uddin in Deshipara area under Gazipur City Corporation, SM Karuzzaman, officer-In-charge of Joudebpur police station said She went missing on Wednesday night. She was the first wife of Fazir.

Relatives of Alimunnesa said the second wife of Fazir including her relatives murdered Alimunnesa over family feud.

Another body of a woman named Khaleda Akter, 30, wife of Makbul Hossen, was recovered hanging from a branch of jackfruit tree at Dinekani village in Kaliakoir upazila.

Khaleda might have been killed over family feud, said family sources. l

Teen stabbed to death in Turag n Tribune Report

Parents of the abducted school girl Maloti

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Police found a dead body with multiple stab wounds in Turag, Dhaka yesterday morning.

The body, identified as Md Sabbir Talukder, 15, was discovered in a field at 8:45am, said Ashraful Alam, sub-inspector at Turag police station. The victim was a resident of Rajabajar.

Ashraful said the body, first discovered by the locals, had stab wounds in several

places. There was bruising around the neck suggesting strangulation.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for post-mortem in the afternoon.

According to the victim’s family, Sabbir received a call around 1am and went out, not having notified anyone in his household. His mobile phone was switched off for the rest of the night, police said. However, police did not find the phone on the body. l

NSDC approves gender equity strategy in technical education n Rabiul Islam

The National Skill Development Council (NSDC) has approved a national strategy to bring gender equity into technical education along with a time bound action plan.

The proposals placed by the NSDC secretariat were approved at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office yesterday.

However, a proposed NSDC logo was not accepted.

Ministers, government secretaries and leading business leaders were also present at the meeting, the third to be

held in six years.

“A timebound action plan and a national strategy to bring gender equity in training and technical education were approved in the meeting,” Shamsun Nahar, additional secretary and director general of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, told the Dhaka Tribune over a phone conversation.

At present, 24 percent of women, on average, receive technical education, and under the new strategy, the percentage should increase to 40, officials said.

Of them, nine to 10 percent receive

technical education under the government’s arrangements, while 33 percent get training through the private sector, they added.

The time bound action plan, proposed for January 2014 to December 2015, mentioned how many people would be trained and sent abroad for jobs.

“We will recognise people who have achieved certain skills and give them certificates,” said Jibon Kumar, chief executive officer of the NSDC secretariat.

The CEO also said teachers would be trained and training materials would be

modernised under the plan.

An executive committee has been formed to implement the decisions, he added.

The NSDC was formed in 2008 to formulate policies for skill development and training in a bid to create skilled human resources.The council constitutes a 36-member high powered committee, headed by the prime minister.

The NSDC is mandated to provide guidelines for optimum use of existing training centres and update the curricula, as well as ensure coordination in training among different ministries.

The council will also monitor the implementation of adopted policies.

There is a great demand for skilled people at home and abroad, and the council was formed with this in view, but very few people know of its existence.

Although the council is supposed to meet at least once a year, previously, only two other meetings were held back in 2008 and 2011.

Officials concerned said the council could not meet as the prime minister was not available. There was also a delay in preparing the timebound action plan. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Passengers say ‘no’ to water bus service n Abu Hayat Mahmud The water bus service of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation counts a financial loss of almost Tk40,000 per day, failing to retain its popularity among passengers to journey between Gabtali and Badamtali.

The authority’s indecision and repeated changes to plans are attributed to the decline in popularity of the service on the 29-kilometre circular river route around the capital.

The BIWTC authority changed its plan twice regarding where to start the water bus service since its inception in July last year.

A section of the BIWTC officials said the high-ups of the corporation were not strict about their decision.

At first, they started the service from Gabtali to Badamtali ghat adjoining Babu Bazar Bridge over Buriganga which drew a lot of passengers, but after construction of the road on Dhaka protection embankment from Babu Bazar to Gabali was complete, passengers ceased to get on board the water vehicles, officials said.

The commuters preferred taking

No easybike in Khagrachhari from October n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari The district administration of Khagrachhari has decided to withdraw Easybikes – battery-run auto-rickshaws - from the streets of its municipality in October, aiming to ease traffic movement.

The decision was finalised yesterday at a special meeting held at the district administration conference hall, chaired by Deputy Commissioner Md Masud Karim.

Additional law enforcers will also be deployed to ensure security during the Boishabi celebration Pointing out the hazards of letting Easybikes and unfit vehicles ply the roads, the top law and order body urged the rickshaw owners to lift their vehicles by October or face legal action.

The government body also decided to deploy personnel of four law enforcement agencies to ensure security during the Boishabi celebration, the biggest socio-cultural festival in the region that began yesterday and will continue until April 16.

Superintendent of Police SK Mizanur Rahman, Khagrachhari Municipality Mayor Md Rafiqul Alam, Additional District Magistrate Anar Koli, District Civil Surgeon Dr Narayan Chandra Das, General Secretary of Khagrachhari Press Club Abu Daud Muhammad, all upazila nirbahi officers (UNO), OCs and many civil society leaders were also present in the meeting. l

WEATHER

SUNNY FRIDAY, APRIL 11 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:19PM SUN RISES 5:40AM

A BIWTC water bus sits idle at Badamtali ghat as there is no passenger ABU HAYAT MAHMUD

journey by bus and human haulers to getting on board the water buses which go on a few trips throughout the day after a long interval, added the officials.

The BIWTC officials alleged that the

higher authority leased the water bus to one private firm – Nabila Navigation – in order to eke out profit, but to no avail.

In February, the leaseholder intro-

duced a new water route that stretched from Babu Bazar to Kathpatti.

The leaseholder, however, was forced to return the water buses to the BIWTC next month in the face of protest by launch owners and staff.

Md Harun, a small trader in Badamtali Bazar, said, “Neglecting the Sadarghat terminal, selection of Badamtoli ghat as the final stoppage for the water bus was a wrong decision.”

He said if the final destination of the water buses had been Sadarghat or its adjoining areas, a large number Mirpur residents hailing from Barisal could avail themselves of the journey.

Babu Bazar ghat leaseholder Md Dulu Miah echoed the same as Harun.

He termed the Badamtoli ghat a backward location for which commuters looked for an alternative bus journey to go to their destinations.

Besides, a small number of water buses were also reasons for not drawing passengers’ attention, added Dulu.

During a recent visit to the area the correspondent found that the 12pm water bus left Babu Bazar station for Gabtali without any passengers on board.

36

25

Chittagong

33

24

Rajshahi

40

19

Rangpur

38

21

Khulna

37

23

Barisal

36

24

Sylhet

35

19

Cox’s Bazar

33

26

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong The employees of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) yesterday announced a one-hour work abstention from tomorrow demanding immediate withdrawal of the upgrading decision of (CMCH) into university.

Several hundred employees of CMCH, under the banner of CMCH Karmakorta-Karmochari Oikya Parishad, called the programme against the upgrading decision at a protest rally held in the hospital premises.

They held the rally from 11am to 12:30pm where Romena Akhter, president of CMCH Karmakorta-Karmochari Oikya

Parishad, presided over the programmes.

Speakers said if CMCH were upgraded into university it would be run by an autonomous body which would affect about five crore people in this region.

As a result, those who are dependent on the hospital will be deprived of getting treatment at a low expense due to increase of different fees.

“We also want a medical university but it should be established in another place,” they added. Ratan Ali Mia, member secretary, Rukhma Chowdhury, joint secretary of the organisation, and Ratan Kumar Nath, general secretary of Diploma Nurse Association, spoke among others. l

Central leaders slam CU BCL men n FM Mizanur Rahaman Central leaders of the Bangladesh Chhatra League yesterday slammed CU unit BCL men for attacking an Awami League leader.

They said zero tolerance would be showed if any leader or activist of the BCL was found responsible in creating disorder using the name of the organisation.

“Stern measure will be taken if any of the leaders and activists are found violating the rules and regulations of the organisation as well as the educational institution”, said HM Bodiuzzaman Sohag, president of central BCL. He was addressing as the chief guest at an activist conference at Social Science auditorium on Chittagong University (CU) campus. The CU BCL has organised the event.

With HM Sohag in the chair the programme was addressed by Vice-President Abdul Kader Mohiuddin Mahi, Joint Secretary Hasanuzaman Tarek and Information and Research Affairs Secretary Arshadur Rahman.

Terming the recent attack on Nasir Hydar Babul, assistant secretary of Awami League sub-committee, the organisation president said none would be allowed to stay at the organisation who could not obey the senior leaders.

It is mentionable that a group of BCL activists attacked Nasir Hydar Babul on Saturday.

Talking to reporters over the attack on Awami League leader, Sohag said they had looked into the matter and punitive action must be taken against those who were involved in this connection.

Yesterday, the university authorities took additional security measures on the campus centering the conference that caused immense sufferings for the students.

On Monday, a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League activists loyal to Nasir attacked a bus carrying teachers at Nandirhat in Hathazari upazila protesting the attack on Nasir.

Five people, including Mallika Roy, lecturer at Economics Department of the university, were injured in the attack. l

Scores of people gather at Barisal’s Bangabandhu Udyan yesterday to receive the dead body of Awami League lawmaker Alhaj Shawkat Hossain Hiron DHAKA TRIBUNE

Suspected robber killed in ‘gunfight’ with police in Badda n Tribune Report

Hiron’s body arrives in Barisal, Pahela Baishakh programmes curtailed

A suspected robber was killed in a “gunfight” with police in the capital’s Badda area early yesterday morning.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided the Badda post office area when a group of criminals were allegedly trying to rob the shop of an agent of bKash, a mobile banking service, said Abdul Jalil, officer in charge of Badda police station.

Sensing the presence of police, the robbers opened fire, forcing the law enforcers to fire back, Jalil added.

One of the suspected robbers was hit by a bullet in the ensuing gunfight, while the others fled the scene.

The injured man, identified as Badsha, 28, was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries around 1:30am yesterday.

Meanwhile, police recovered a pistol, eight rounds of bullets and two magazines from the spot.

Police were looking for the other members of the gang, Jalil said. l

n Our Correspondent, Barisal

n Tribune Report

19.7ºC Srimangal

PRAYER TIMES 4:27am 5:41am 12:00am 3:28pm 6:17pm 7:33pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

The body of Shawkat Hossain Hiron arrived in Barisal from Dhaka yesterday afternoon.

The body of the Awami League lawmaker and former mayor of Barisal City Corporation arrived in the city via a Bangladesh Air Force helicopter at around 3:30pm.

As soon as the body reached, hundreds of people rushed to Bangabandhu Udyan to receive, see and pay tribute to Hiron.

The body was preserved at home till this morning. Later, the body will be brought to the party office and then to Bangabandhu Udyan so that people can pay tribute and the Namaj-e-Janaza can be performed after Juma, party sources said.

Hiron will be buried at Barisal Muslim Gorosthan in the afternoon.

Hiron was declared dead after being taken off of life support at Apollo Hos-

pital in Dhaka on Wednesday morning.

He was suffering from heart disease.

Meanwhile, different organisations curtailed Pahela Baishak programmes out of respect for the deceased veteran leader.

Syed Dulal, president of Barisal Sangskritik Sangathan Samanya Parishad, an alliance of 26 cultural organisations, said they had taken a decision that they would celebrate first day of the Bangla year in a brief manner in order to pay respects to the departed leader.

In accordance with this decision, Charukala Barisal cancelled Mangal Shovajatra, a traditional rally.

Besides, Udichi, Barisal Natak, Khelaghar, Gano Shilpi Sangstha, Anirban Shilpi Goshthi, Prantik Sangeet Bidyaloy, Kheyali, Shabdaboli Group Theatres, Barisal Press Club also cancelled their cultural programmes.

However, Baishakhi Mela will be held at different places of the city. l

Four killed in separate train accidents in city

Source: Accuweather/UNB

Fajar Sunrise Jumma Asr Magrib Esha

Workers of APS Pearl staged demonstration at Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) yesterday morning in demand of arrears.

The agitated workers also vandalised the factory building during the demonstration that started around 10am.

On receiving information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control after dispersing the agitators at about 11am, said Sub-Inspector of EPZ police stationAlamgir Hossain.

Later, representatives from workers, authorities of the factory and police sat in a meeting over the demand of the workers.

At the meeting, authorities of the factory assured that they would take measures to fulfill the demands of workers as soon as possible, he said.

Workers of the factory said the authorities had earlier assured them to give them arrears. But they did not keep their words. l

Employees to go on work abstention

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

37.6ºC Jessore

Preferring anonymity, a BIWTC official said due to miss management and absence of commuters, the government had been incurring a loss of Tk40,000 every day.

Mujibur Rahman, chairman of the BIWTC, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have applied different policies and made plans to promote the water bus services, but are yet to get any positive result.”

“We will sit in a meeting on Sunday to formulate a new plan for the service,” he added.

Following a repeated failure to draw commuters’ attention through water bus service since 2004, the BIWTC inaugurated six water buses in last July.

Besides, another six water buses at a total cost of Tk5 crore will be added to the fleet by December next year, sources in the BIWTC said.

The planned 29-kilometre circular river route for the water bus service covers Sadarghat-Gabtali-Aminbazar-Ashulia-Tongi-Purbachal Demra-Kanchpur-Mir Kadeem-Fatulla across the embankment area of Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakshya rivers. l

RMG workers stage demo for arrears at CEPZ n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

UPGRADE DECISION OF CMCH INTO UNIVERSITY

FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

5

Friday, April 11, 2014

Visitors look at photographs displayed in an exhibition of photographer Abir Abdullah in the capital’s Alliance Française yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

At least four people, including a newborn baby, were killed in separate train accidents in different areas of the capital.

Police said a one-day-old boy had been found dead in 11no rail gate area of Khilgaon around 11:30am.

Mohammad Jahidul Islam, assistant sub-inspector of Government Railway Police (GRP), said the baby was wrapped inside a blue-checked lungi.

He suspected that the baby might have been dumped by someone on the rail track in the early hours of yesterday and has subsequently been crushed under the wheels of a train.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) morgue, he added.

In a separate incident, the police recovered the body of an unidentified

boy of about age 14 from Tejgaon rail station area around 1:30am.

Mohammad Rajib Hossain, sub-inspector of GRP, said the boy might have been killed in a train accident. The body was sent to the DMCH morgue.

Quoting witnesses, the police said an unidentified young girl had committed suicide by jumping in front of a Dhaka-Narayanganj train in Chasara area around 2:15pm.

Mohammad Kuddus Fakir, assistant sub-inspector of the GRP, said the identity of the deceased remains unknown.

Following this series of unfortunate deaths, the body of an unidentified boy aged around 12 years was found on the tracks of a rail line in the Mohakhali Chairman Baria area around 11:45pm on Wednesday.

Separate general diaries were registered. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Friday, April 11, 2014

UPGRADING OF MYMENSINGH TO CITY CORPORATION

Slow pace in implementing PM’s pledge n Our Correspondent, Mymensingh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s pledge for promoting Mymensingh Municipality into a full-fledged city corporation has not been implemented although it has been a year.

In a public rally at the Mymensingh Circuit House ground in January last year, Hasina made the pledge. However, much to the discontent of local residents from various walks of life, there has been very little visible progress made in this regard.

Sources in the local administration have said there are eight conditions that a municipality must meet before it is promoted to a city corporation.

Madrasa student stabbed to death n Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah A madrasa student, who was stabbed severely by unidentified miscreants on March 25, succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday night.

Police said a gang of unidentified miscreants had kidnapped Jihad Hossain, 16, son of Abdur Rashid Mia of Baliadanga village under Sailkupa upazila in the district, from near a fuel pump at Arappur village in Jhenaidah. Jihad was a class X student at Aminia Alim Madrasa in Jessore town.

Later, local people rescued him in a critical condition and took him to Jhenaidah General Hospital. He was referred to Queens Hospital in Jessore town. But the on duty physicians had referred him to Ayesha Foundation Hospital and then to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as his condition was deteriorating. l

Teachers, students and guardians put up barricade on the Chaumuhani-Sanapur road for an hour protesting the death of a student.

Police said Tanzina Sultana 11, daughter of Md Shah Alam and also students of class V at a primary school had been hit by an easy bike. She was taken to Noakhali Medical College Hospital where he died.

Hearing the news of her death, students, teachers and guardians took to the street, demanding measures to stop plying of easy bike on road and arrest of bike driver immediately.

Later, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

The body was sent to Noakhali Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Meanwhile, a class V student of Sabdarpur Alim Madrasa was crushed to death under the wheels of a sugarcane carrying trolley at Sabdarpur bus stand on the Kotchandpur-Chuadanga Highway in the morning.

The deceased was identified as Mahbubur Rahman, 12, son of Osman Ali of Manikdihi village under Kotchandpur upazila in Jhenaidah. l

‘At present we are awaiting a gazette copy of a no-objection letter from the Local Government Division of the government’ ple have settled in the outskirts of the town just like any other major city.

For the past two weeks, local Hindu people at Dashpara village of Khuniyagachh union in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila have refrained themselves from praying in a Kali Mandir (Kali temple) as a tobacco processing facility has been built on its premises.

Fearing harassment, they are not protesting against it as the facility is owned by Abu Bakar Siddique, a BNP leader and president of Khuniyagachh union’s ward no 3 unit.

Local Hindus say they offer prayers in the temple every day in the morning and evening but have been unable to do so for the last ten days because of the tobacco processing booth.

“We don’t dare to protest against Abu Bakar as he is an influential figure in the village,” they said.

The locals said Abu Bakar is a tobacco trader in the village and he was assisted by a tobacco firm to build the facility on the temple premises.

“He owns numerous land properties. Yet he built the facility there illegally,” they said.

Krishan Chandra Das, a resident of Dashpara village, said: “Seeing the tobacco processing facility on the temple premises, we are now very upset It is an obstacle to our daily prayers. Women and children can’t stay inside the temple for long as the facility produces a foul odour.”

Abu Bakar told the Dhaka Tribune that he built the facility on the temple premises as he had found the place suitable and that it had lain vacant for long.

“I told local Hindu leaders that I will be making donations during their religious programmes,” he said, adding

that he would free up the space by this month following completion of tobacco leaf processing.

President of the temple Ananda Kumar Das said: “Before building the facility, Abu Bakar informed only one

Invitation Ref No Date Procurement Method

Package-2: At PHT (South Ambagan): Repairs to road leading from Quarter No. T/524 to T/525 & T/520 to T/523 including guidewall & Protection wall.

Package-3: At CTG(Tigerpass): Repairs to Sq. 213 type Quarter No. E/24 (A, B), E/25 (A, B), E/26 (A, B) & E/27 (A, B) total 8 units including roof treatment.

CE/E/Rev-155/2013-2014/W(1) 25-03-2014 Open Tendering Method(OTM)

FUNDING INFORMATION

9

Budget and Source of Funds Tender Publication Date Tender Last Selling Date Tender Closing Date & Time Tender Opening Date & Time Tender Validity Period Name & Address of the Office(s) -Selling Tender Document (Principal) -Selling Tender Document (Others) -Receiving Tender Document -Opening Tender Document

01-04-2014 28-04-2014 Date: 29-04-2014Time: 12.00 Hrs Date: 29-04-2014Time: 12.30 Hrs 120 (One hundred twenty) days.

Address Office of the Chief Engineer/East, Bangladesh Railway, CRB, Chittagong. (i) Office of the Divisional Engineer/3, Bangladesh Railway, Kamalapur, Dhaka. (ii) Office of the Divisional Engineer/2, Bangladesh Rialway, Pahartali, Chittagong.

Chamber of the Executive Engineer/P&D/East, Office of the Chief Engineer/Esat, Bangladesh Railway, CRB, Chittagong.

Chamber of the Executive Engineer/P&D/East, Office of the Chief Engineer/Esat, Bangladesh Railway, CRB, Chittagong.

INFORMATION FOR TENDER

16 Eligibility of Tenderer 17 Brief Description of works

18 Price of Tender Document 19 Tender Security

20 Time for Completion of the works

As Stated in the Tender Document.

Package-1: At PHT (New Jhautala): Repairs to Multi storied block No. 5 (18 units) for class III staff.

Package-2: At PHT (South Ambagan): Repairs to road leading from Quarter No. T/524 to T/525 & T/520 to T/523 including guidewall & Protection wall.

Package-3: At CTG(Tigerpass): Repairs to Sq. 213 type Quarter No. E/24 (A, B), E/25 (A, B), E/26 (A, B) & E/27 (A, B) total 8 units including roof treatment.

Tk. 1000/-(One Thousand) only, for each package (Non refundable) Package-1: Tk=50,000/- (Fifty thousand) only.

In the form of Pay order/ Bank draft with MICR shall Package-2: Tk=45,000/- (Forty five thousand) be submitted in favour of only Package-3: tk= 20,000/- (Twenty thousand only) FA&CAO/East, Bangladesh, Railway, Chittagong.

60(Sixty) days for each package from the date of start of the work.

PROCURING ENTITY DETAILS

Name of Official Inviting Tender A.K.M Mahbubul Alam Designation of Official Inviting Tender Chief Engineer (East), Bangladesh, Railway.

Address of Official Inviting Tender Central Railway Building (CRB), Chittagong.

Contact details of Official Inviting Tel. No-031-2863162, email: cee@railway.gov.bd Tender 25 The Procuring Entity Reserves the right to reject all the Tenders or annual the Tender proceedings.

21 22 23 24

S(14) (181) GC-48/14 (8″×3)

Date: 09/04/2014

Tender Notice Number: 20/2013-14 National Open Tendering Method (NOTM)

Sealed tenders are hereby invited from the eligible tenderers as defined in the tender documents for the under mentioned works as per terms and conditions stated below: Package No

(A.K.M) Mahbubul Alam) Chief Engineer (East) Bangladesh, Railway CRB, Chittagong.

Name of Scheme

LGED/SSWRDP-JIC Construction of Hydraulic Structures and A/BD-P57/2013-14/3 Related Works Bairakhali Khal Sub-project 5218-Structures (SP ID-35218) under Upazila: Melandah, District: Jamalpur (FY: 2013-14).

Tender security (Tk.)

Time for completion (days)

Price of tender documents (Tk.)

7,00,000.00

180

4000.00

1 Name of Project

Small Scale Water Resources Development Project in Greater Mymensingh, Sylhet and Faridpur Areas (SSWRDP-JICA).

2 Source of Funds

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) & GoB Funded.

GoB(Revenue)

PARTICULAR INFORMATION

10 11 12 13 14 15

Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

INVITATION FOR TENDER (WORKS)

Ministry of Railways.

Bangladesh Railway.

Chief Engineer/East, Bangladesh Railway.

Chittagong.

Package-1: At PHT (New Jhautala): Repairs to Multi storied block No. 5 (18 units) for class III staff.

KEY INFORMATION

8

said: “The firm provides funds for farmers to build tobacco processing facilities but we never suggest any location. Regarding the facility built on the temple premises, we will look into it.” l

An activist of Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir died yesterday during a clash with ruling Awami League supporters at Belkuchi Upazila in Sirajganj.

The deceased was identified as Alamgir Hossain, 30, son of Jamaat supporter Jasim Uddin of the Upazila’s Chardhulghagrakhali village.

Jamaat-Shibir have called half-a-day strike on Sunday protesting the killing in the district.

Quoting locals and witnesses, Belkuchi police station officer-incharge Abdul Hye Sarcar said that over 100 Jamaat-Shibir men from Kalyanpur and the surrounding villages held a showdown at Chardhulghagrakhali village, where people mainly support the Awami League, around 11am on Wednesday.

They were armed with sticks and home-made weapons, he said, adding that as the news spread to the Awami League men, they attacked several Jamaat-Shibir activists in the same village.

Jamaat-Shibir men later informed their fellows of the attack through mics and then the Jamaat-Shibir men of Kalyanpur and surrounding villages tried to enter the Chardhulghagrakhali village and attack the Awami League men in the village.

The Awami League men blocked them, triggering a violent clash, leaving one critically injured.

Shibir activist Hossain was critically injured and died on the way to the Upazila health complex around 2am on Thursday.

The body was then taken to Sirajganj General Hospital for autopsy.

Sirajganj Jamaat secretary Shahidul Islam said they called a half-day strike on Sunday, protesting against the killing and the attack on them by the ruling party men.

Meanwhile yesterday, Shibir men attacked police with cocktails as the police tried to abort a sabotage staged

by Jamaat’s student wing beside Sakhipur KBA College playground in Satkhira’s Debhata Upazila, forcing them to fire at the attacking Shibir men.

KBA College Shibir leader Milon Hossain Sohagh received bullet injuries and two police constables – Akbar Ali and Hafiz Uddin – were injured during the clash.

The two police constables and Sohagh, under police guard, were treated at the Satkhira General Hospital, said Debhata police station officer-incharge Kazi Jalal Uddin Ahmed.

Police have been deployed to avoid any untoward incidents in the Sirajganj area. l

Memo No-LGED/EE/B-205/2013/658

INVITATION FOR TENDERS Ministry/Division Agency Procuring Entity Name Procuring Entity District Invitation for

person of this and the person was me.

I, however, didn’t respond positively.”

“We are in trouble but we can do nothing,” he added.

Contacted, field supervisor of the tobacco company Asadul Islam

n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj

Local Government Engineering Department Office of the Executive Engineer Jamalpur

Office of the Chief Engineer/East Bangladesh Railway CRB, Chittagong.

6 7

division, however snubbed out the allegation of a lack of administrative urgency. He claimed that the work for taking the town to the next level had already progressed quite a bit.

“At present we are awaiting a gazette copy of a no-objection letter from the Local Government Division of the government. That would propel the administrative initiatives,” Lokman said.

He also said the process for turning the town into a city began in May and the primary paperwork detailing all the required information was completed in September last year.

Although he expressed hopes about finishing the work soon but could not give any specific timeframe. l

A boy stands in front of tobacco processing unit. A local influential person builds it on the temple premises at Daspara village of Khuniyagachh union in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila. The photo was taken recently DHAKA TRIBUNE

Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

1 2 3 4 5

College student Nasrin Akter said if Mymensingh became a city corporation, the historical MA College would get the status of a university and many new educational institutions would be established.

Businessman Azharul Islam believes that the town’s trade scene will get a much needed boost if it becomes a city.

In that case, with better administrative activities, people will be benefited by the presence of better facilities.

Anisur Rahman Khan, president of a local citizen movement, blamed administrative tailbacks for the delay in Mymensingh’s status change.

AHM Lokman, deputy director of the Mymensingh local government

n Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat

A day-long “Lathi Khela” festival will be held in Tangail on Sunday, the day before Pahela Boishakh.

Around 250 players in 11 teams from across the district would take part in the show to be held at village Singna of Kalihati Upazilla in the district, said a press release yesterday.

Singna Samajkolyan Jubo Sangha organised the traditional event, which would start at 8 am and continue to 5:30 pm. The rural youth club organises different traditional sports events like boat racing and kabadi round the year.

They introduced the festival of playing with sticks this year. l

Noakhali

also fulfill the criteria of having at least four lakh residents because many peo-

Tobacco facility hampers daily Hindu rituals

‘Lathi Khela’ festival in Tangail n Tribune Report

Roadblock in Noakhali protesting student’s death n Our Correspondent,

For becoming a city corporation, a municipality must have a minimum area of 50sq-km. At present, the area of Mymensingh is 21sq-km.

The second most important criterion is that a municipality must have a population of at least four lakh. According to the last census, Mymensingh is a town of two lakh people.

However, sources said the first criteria could be fulfilled by acquiring lands outside the existing boundaries of the city to turn it into a 55sq-km place. They said the bustling town has already expanded beyond those borders.

They also said if the boundaries of the town was expanded, it would easily

Shibir man dies in clash with AL

3 Date, Time and Place of pre- Date: 17 April 2014, Time: 12.00 pm and tender meeting Place: Office of the undersigned.

4 Last date, Time and Places of selling tender documents.

Date: 11 May 2014, Time: During office Hours; and Places of Selling Tender Documents: 1. The Superintending Engineer, LGED, Mymensingh Region, Mymensingh.

2. Project Director, SSWRDP-JICA, RDEC Building Level-6, Agargaon, Sheer-E-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207.

3. Deputy Commissioner, Jamalpur, District.

4. Superintendent of Police, Jamalpur, District.

5. Office of the undersigned.

6. Executive Engineer, LGED, Sherpur, District 7. Upazila Engineer, Melandah Upazila, Jamalpur, District.

5 Date Time and Place of Receiving of Tender

Date: 12 May 2014, Time: 12.00 noon and Places of Receiving Tender: 1. The Superintending Engineer, LGED, Mymensingh Region, Mymensingh.

2. Deputy Commissioner, Jamalpur, District.

3. Superintendent of Police, Jamalpur, District.

4. Office of the undersigned.

5. Executive Engineer, LGED, Sherpur, District 6. Upazila Engineer, Melandah Upazila, Jamalpur, District.

6 Date, Time and places of opening of tender.

Date: 12 May 2014, Time: 3.00 pm and Place of Opening Tender Office of the undersigned.

7 Tender shall be valid for a period of ninety (90) days after tender opening and must be accompanied by the tender security specified above. Interested tenderers may obtain further information from the office of the undersigned and purchase the Tender documents in cash/treasury chalan (Code No: 1-3731-5135-2366)/bank draft from the place(s) mentioned above. The tenderer or their authorised representatives are allowed to attend the opening of tenders. The authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all the tenders without assigning any reasons whatsoever.

This invitation for tender is available on the website www.lged.gov.bd and www.cptu.gov.bd

GC-47/14 (8″×4)

(Md. Anisul Wahab Khan) Executive Engineer Local Govt. Engineering Department Jamalpur.

Tel. No: 0981-63698 Fax No: 0981-62569

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

7

Friday, April 11, 2014

The ‘Modi Sarkar’ in perspective The significance of a probable BJP victory in the Indian Loksabha elections

A BJP supporter wearing a Modi mask in an election rally. BJP supporters have been boyant and bullish in the anticipation of a Modi-led victory

E

n Samrat Choudhury lections for a new government in India have begun, and all opinion polls are unanimous in their expectations of the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, emerging as the largest party. The Congress, it is expected, will fare badly, with several polls having predicted its worst performance ever.

Whether the BJP’s numbers will be sufficient for it to form a government is still in some doubt, but the polls suggest that it will get enough seats to be able to find allies, and form a coalition.

A year ago, this would have appeared unlikely. The party was going through an open leadership tussle between Modi and his erstwhile mentor LK Advani. It was also facing the challenge of expanding its areas of influence.

In the last parliamentary polls in 2009, the BJP got 116 seats to the Congress’ 206. In several of the biggest states, it drew a blank, which was not unexpected, as it had no real presence in those places to start with. So, for example, it got zero in the following:

Andhra Pradesh, which has 42 seats, Tamil Nadu, which has 39 seats, and Kerala, which has 20 seats. It got one seat in West Bengal out of 42. In the electoral heartland of India, the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which together have 120 seats, it got only 22.

The Congress, in contrast, managed to pick up seats from around the country. Its total for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was only 23, but it pulled ahead thanks to good performances in Rajasthan, Kerala, and especially, Andhra Pradesh.

This time around, the tables are expected to turn in Rajasthan. Kerala continues to remain a battle between the Congress and the Left. However, Andhra Pradesh, which gave Congress 33 seats last time, is expected to be a disaster for the party this time. The state has been divided into two smaller states, Seemandhra and Telangana, and the division has decimated the Congress party there.

What will make the real difference, though, is if either of the major national parties can make a comeback in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Both of these states have been dominated since the 1990s by regional parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati, and

Chief Minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi (L) greets a former Congress Party member who joined the BJP AFP

the Janata Dal and its offshoots, the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad Yadav, and the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar.

The opinion polls say, the BJP is about to steal a march over these regional leaders in their own fortresses in the coming elections. This is remarkable; and if it happens, it may ensure a Modi government as the party has plenty of headroom to grow in these states.

With anything over 200 seats for the BJP in the house of 545, a Modi government is almost certain. However, if the party emerges as the single largest party but falls short of majority by a wide margin, its search for allies will have to go further. If Modi’s hardline image becomes a hurdle at that point, the party will have to choose between putting forward a more moderate face, and sitting in opposition.

communities alongside their social and economic empowerment.” It includes a promise of madrasa modernisation, which is being met with suspicion. However, there is already an existing madrasa modernisation scheme under the current government, and it was part of Manmohan Singh’s programme for the welfare of minorities.

It also reiterates two old BJP promises that have been contentious. One is a single line saying: “BJP reiterates its stand to explore all possibilities within the framework of the constitution to facilitate the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.” The construction of a Ram Temple at Ayodhya has been a routine part of every BJP manifesto since 1998, when the BJP came to power under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

REUTERS

Instability in Afghanistan will rub off on Pakistan, where extremists are already gaining ground. The relations of Pakistan’s “deep state” with such extremists are old and well known.

That India has long been a target of attacks from Pakistani extremist groups is also old hat.

It is impossible to predict what might happen if there is a major terrorist attack on India with Narendra Modi at the helm.

If this scary eventuality is avoided, it should be business as usual. Modi has shown himself to be very keen on trade and investment and it is likely to extend to his foreign relations as well.

The BJP in general is friendly towards business, and has major support from traders and industrialists.

The party’s manifesto promises: “Equations will be mended through

What would a Modi government mean?

The country, and the world, is already eager about what a Modi government might mean. The BJP is typically described as “Hindu-nationalists” in most dispatches by foreign correspondents, and Modi himself is generally referred to as the man who was the chief minister of Gujarat when thousands of Muslims died in the 2002 riots.

Both of these statements are true, yet inadequate to explain the complex realities. In brief, the descriptor of “Hindu-nationalism” perhaps conceals more than it reveals in the present context. Modi has denied having any role in the 2002 riots, and consistently claimed he did his best to stop them. The truth of this remains contested and uncertain. He has been cleared by an investigation ordered

by India’s Supreme Court, but there are allegations that the process had serious loopholes.

In the years since 2002, Modi has made sustained efforts to project himself as the man for development, and gradually played down his Hindu-nationalist image. What he has done, though, is reposition himself as a nationalist Hindu.

The party’s manifesto, which bears Modi’s image, was released belatedly on April 7. It starts and ends, on the first and last pages, with a promise of “sabka saath, sabka vikas,” which means, “with everyone, development for all.” It states clearly: “the only philosophy and religion of a government should be India first. The only epic of a government should be India’s constitution.”

In the last line, it explains that, “India First simply means nurturing and protecting all the elements which India is made of. It does not exclude anyone or anything.”

The manifesto includes a section titled “Minorities: Equal Opportunity,” that says “BJP is committed to the preservation of the rich culture and heritage of India’s minority

that target India. Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh could also cast a shadow.

Mamata is politely described as a maverick here. She may prove to be beyond even Modi’s capacity to tackle, though he is a lot more assertive than Manmohan Singh, who she famously ditched on a trip to Dhaka.

Alleged illegal immigration from Bangladesh has long been a political issue in north-eastern India, and this is unlikely to change. The BJP president in Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal, is among those who cut their teeth in the “foreigners’ issue” agitation which was aimed at turfing out illegal migrants into that state.

The realities and myths of migration are something credible that Bangladeshi and Indian scholars ought to study jointly, to establish once and for all whether there is any illegal migration or not, and if yes, what the numbers are like.

The end of a dynasty?

‘I will never be found wanting on hard work, I will not do anything for myself and I will not do anything with bad intent’

The second is a commitment towards a uniform civil code. This is one of the directive principles enshrined in the Constitution of India, but it has never been implemented, except in Goa, where it has long been in force.

Narendra Modi presented the manifesto saying: “I want to make three promises personally – I will never be found wanting on hard work, I will not do anything for myself and I will not do anything with bad intent.”

This may well be true, but his intent is not the only factor to consider.

In Modi’s case, how he reacts has been more important to how he acts.

Foreign policy: The great mystery The Indian subcontinent is a troubled space, and is currently awaiting a major transition in Afghanistan. The good news is that Afghans voted enthusiastically, and there are prospects of a stable government being formed under a capable leader. The bad news is that independent assessments predict growing Taliban attacks, including one by a US based think tank working for the Pentagon.

The study by CNA, a non-profit research and analysis organisation, which was presented to the US Congress in February, says: “We conclude that the security environment in Afghanistan will become more challenging after the drawdown of most international forces in 2014, and that the Taliban insurgency will become a greater threat to Afghanistan’s stability in the 2015–2018 timeframe than it is now.”

pragmatism and a doctrine of mutually beneficial and interlocking relationships, based on enlightened national interest.” It adds: “Instead of being led by big power interests, we will engage proactively on our own with countries in the neighbourhood and beyond. In our neighbourhood, we will pursue friendly relations. However, where required we will not hesitate from taking strong stands and steps. We will work towards strengthening regional forums like the Saarc and the Asean.”

It is likely that any BJP foreign policy will be based on pragmatism and realism. It will also be shaped by a suspicion of the United States, at least initially. Modi has never visited the US, which had denied him a visa in 2005. He has however been to China and Japan, and is likely to expand ties with both of those countries, apart from other rising powers such as Brazil and South Africa.

Foreign policy in places where a domestic political angle exists is likely to be more complicated. This is the case with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In the case of Sri Lanka, Seshadri Chari, the head of BJP’s external affairs cell, recently expressed support for the Indian government’s move to abstain from a UN vote sponsored by the US condemning human rights violations against Tamils. However, the party’s state unit condemned the move.

In the case of Bangladesh, the complicating factors are West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and migration from Bangladesh into India, apart from the possibility of Bangladesh territory being used by terrorist groups

In case Narendra Modi does come to power, Bangladesh and India’s minorities will have far less to worry about compared to his political rivals.

The Congress is fighting these polls under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the son of Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi. If it hits a historic low, the Gandhi family’s grip on the party may loosen. There could be substantial defections. Rahul is keen to bring in his own people and methods, but is up against an entrenched old guard that bows low before him even as it quietly trips him. A bad defeat would probably bring some of this hidden opposition out into the open. It could potentially change Indian politics.

The rise of the Aam Aadmi Party as a national alternative is currently a work in progress. The party is unlikely to make too much of an electoral dent this time around, but it is establishing a nation-wide presence very rapidly.

If the BJP becomes the natural party of power, it will be left to the AAP and Congress to fight for the opposition space at the national level.

Another set of people who would fear an outright Modi victory are the old guard in the BJP itself. Jaswant Singh, a former foreign minister and a senior party leader, has already been expelled. LK Advani and former party chief MM Joshi have been sidelined.

Even the extremist fringes of the Sangh Parivar would have cause for concern. In Gujarat, Modi has successfully marginalised the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its leaders such as Pravin Togadia and Ashok Singhal. He is said to hold more influence on the RSS there than vice versa.

The Left liberal elites and the minorities are probably not the only ones hoping Modi falls short of his aspirational target of a simple majority for the BJP. A Modi sarkar would mess with established power equations in more ways than one. l

The writer is a senior journalist and author based in Mumbai.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Friday, April 11, 2014

Ukraine offers amnesty to proRussian militants n AFP, Donetsk The embattled acting president of Ukraine promised yesterday not to prosecute pro-Russian militants occupying government buildings in the east of the country if they laid down their arms and halted a four-day standoff.

The olive branch came as the clock ticked down to a Friday morning deadline for the separatists to walk out of the state security building in the eastern city of Lugansk and the seat of government in nearby Donetsk or face the possible use of force.

The armed assailants want the heavily Russified east of the culturally splintered ex-Soviet nation to hold independence referendums like the one that led to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea last month.

Their demands have added extra urgency to the first round of direct talks that EU and US diplomats have managed to convince both Moscow and Kiev to join at the end of next week.

Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov, in power since the February 22 ouster of a pro-Russian leader but deemed illegitimate by the Kremlin, told lawmakers that Ukraine’s latest secessionist crisis could be resolved peacefully.

“If people lay down their arms and free the administration buildings... we guarantee that we will not launch any criminal proceedings against them,” he promised.

The Donetsk separatists had earlier proclaimed the creation of their own “people’s republic” and called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to push

the tens of thousands of troops now massed along the border into Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.

Many in Ukraine’s southeast – a region with a much longer history of Russian control that stretches back to tsarist times – are wary of the more nationalist leaders who rose to power in Kiev. They have been looking to Putin for help.

But the two building occupations have drawn only small rallies of supporters. Some polls show that the region’s majority would actually prefer avoiding joining the Russian Federation.

Football boss joins talks

The negotiations in Donetsk – a blue-collar coal mining region where ousted president Viktor Yanukovych made his political career – have involved some of Ukraine’s most powerful security officers as well as its richest tycoon.

Officials said businessman and Shakhtar football club owner Rinat Akhmetov and the region’s governor have both joined Kiev’s efforts to tone down the militants’ demands.

“They are working on a peaceful solution, and this fills us with optimism,” said First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema.

Akhmetov – his wealth estimated by Forbes magazine at $11.4 billion (8.2 billion euros) – was a key financial backer of Yanukovych who is thought to wield tremendous influence throughout Donetsk.

But he is believed to be trying to establish closer relations with the new pro-Western leaders who are likely to prevail in snap May 25 presidential polls. l

Israeli minister urges Netanyahu to annex settlements n Reuters, Jerusalem A senior Israeli minister has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex a swathe of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying peace talks with the Palestinians were dead.

The US-backed negotiations came close to collapse last week amidst mutual recrimination and although the two sides are seeking to overcome the crisis, Netanyahu has already started to impose punitive sanctions on the Palestinians.

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, who is head of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party, wrote to the prime minister late on Wednesday saying Israel should extend its sovereign territory to a number of major settlement blocs.

Mega settlements, such as Ma’ale Adumin, are built on land seized in the 1967 war - territory the Palestinians want for their future state. Successive governments have said the blocs, deemed illegal under international law, should remain part of Israel in any negotiated deal with the Palestinians.

“It is clear that the current process has exhausted itself and that we are en-

Russia: Nato is using Ukraine crisis to boost appeal n Reuters, Moscow

tering a new era,” said Bennett, urging Netanyahu to annex a number of large settlements.

“These are areas which enjoy a wide national consensus, have security implications and have historical significance for the State of Israel.”

A high-tech entrepreneur and a former settler leader, Bennett has called in the past for annexing a much larger part of the West Bank and is a longtime opponent of any deal that would grant the Palestinians a state.

Netanyahu made no comment on Bennett’s request, but is likely to face strident calls from within his own rightist Likud party to annex the blocs, home to an estimated 350,000 Israelis, if the latest peace talks implode.

However, such a move would almost certainly set off a storm of international condemnation, and Israel’s chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni, said Bennett was acting like a “provocative child” who needed parental restraint.

“If you want to go totally crazy, keep it up until we can no longer make a deal and lose everything we hold dear,” Livni, who serves as justice minister, wrote on her Facebook page. l

Pro-Russian protesters stand next to a barricade in front of the seized office of the SBU state security service in Luhansk

Russian MPs want Gorbachev probed for treason over USSR breakup n AFP, Moscow

Bashar al-Assad’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah said his Western foes must now accept he will go on ruling Syria after fighting rebels to a standstill – a “reality” to which his foreign enemies seem increasingly resigned.

Echoing recent bullish talk coming out of Damascus, Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of the Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia which is supporting Assad in combat, told Reuters that the president retained popular support among many of Syria’s diverse religious communities and would shortly be re-elected.

“There is a practical Syrian reality that the West should deal with - not with its wishes and dreams, which proved to be false,” Qassem said during a meeting with Reuters journalists at a Hezbollah office in the group’s southern Beirut stronghold.

He said the United States and its Western allies were in disarray and lacked a coherent policy on Syria - reflecting the quandary that Western officials acknowledge they face since the pro-democracy protests they supported in 2011 became

a war that has drawn al Qaeda and other militants to the rebel cause.

Syria’s fractious opposition - made up of guerrillas inside the country and a largely impotent political coalition in exile - had, he said, proved incapable of providing an alternative to four decades of rule by Assad and his late father before him.

With Russia blocking a UN mandate, Western governments held back from the kind of military engagement that could have toppled the Syrian leader “This is why the option is clear. Either to have an understanding with Assad, to reach a result, or to keep the crisis open with President Assad having the upper hand in running the

we have seen” in former Soviet countries over the past two decades “and today, in Ukraine,” Nikitchuk said. “What is happening in Ukraine can happen in Russia, too,” said Nikitchuk. “This pushed us to write to the Prosecutor General, so that professional lawyers rather than historians investigate the events of 1991.”

There have been previous attempts by the Communist party to have Gorbachev prosecuted but they have led nowhere. Unlike the previous cases, the current request is backed by two lawmakers from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruling party United Russia. l

A group of Russian lawmakers have formally requested prosecutors to probe former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for treason over the breakup of the Soviet Union, one lawmaker said yesterday.

Ivan Nikitchuk, a lawmaker with the Communist party, said that recent events and the crisis in Ukraine in particular have led several MPs, including some from the ruling party, to ask Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to probe Gorbachev, 83.

“We asked to prosecute him and those who helped him destroy the Soviet Union for treason of national interests,” Nikitchuk told AFP, adding that Soviet citizens in 1991 were against the country’s breakup.

Seeking to create a more open and prosperous Soviet Union through glasnost and perestroika, Gorbachev ended up inadvertently unleashing forces that swept the country he had sought to preserve from the map and himself from power.

“The consequences of that destruction can be felt today in the conflicts that

Israel launches new spy satellite n AP, Jerusalem

World murders down, most serious in Africa, Americas

Israel’s Defense Ministry said yesterday that it has successfully launched a new observation satellite into orbit, one which is expected to be used to observe Iran and hostile militant groups in the Middle East.

According to the announcement, the Israeli-made “Ofek 10” satellite was launched late Wednesday in cooperation with state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries. The satellite has already begun transmitting data and visual material. It is expected to be operational within months.

Israel is expected to use the satellite to keep tabs on Iran and the region. It believes Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon — a charge Iran denies — and accuses it of arming militants across the region.

The Ofek 10 is the latest in a line of spy satellites built by Israel Aerospace Industries for the government. It is a lightweight satellite that is expected to improve Israel’s reconnaissance abilities by providing sharp images at any time of day, and in any weather condition, said Ofer Doron of Israel Aerospace Industries.

“The Ofek 10 satellite should improve Israel’s intelligence capability and allow the defense establishment to better deal with threats near and far,” said Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon in a statement. l

n AFP, Vienna Murders have gone down worldwide but half of them still occur in countries with just 11% of the global population, in the Americas and Africa, a new UN report found yesterday.

The UN office on drugs and crime said 437,000 people were murdered in 2012, compared to 468,000 in 2010, the first year its global study on homicide was conducted.

Central America and southern Africa had rates of 26 and 30 people killed

country,” said the turbaned cleric.

Qassem’s comments follow an account from another Assad ally, Russian former prime minister Sergei Stepashin, who said after meeting him last week that the Syrian leader felt secure and expected heavy fighting to end this year.

Officials said this week that preparations would begin this month for the presidential election - a move that seems to reflect a degree of optimism in the capital and which may well end with Assad claiming a popular mandate that he would use to resist UN-backed efforts to negotiate a transition of power.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah also said this week that Assad is no longer at risk and that military gains mean the danger of Syria fragmenting was also receding.

Western resignation It is a view of Assad that - quietly - seems to be gaining ground in Western capitals. Calling it bad news for Syrians, the French foreign ministry said this week: “Maybe he will be the sole survivor of this policy of mass crimes.”

France, which last year was preparing to

for every 100,000, more than four times the world average.

Half of all victims were under 30, 80% were men as were 95% of perpetrators, UNODC said.

“There is an urgent need to understand how violent crime is plaguing countries around the world, particularly affecting young men but also taking a heavy toll on women,” said UNODC policy analysis director Jean-Luc Lemahieu.

While men tended to be killed by an unknown assailant, women were most often murdered by somebody close to

them, the report noted.

“Home can be the most dangerous place for a woman,” said Lemahieu.

In North and Latin America, gang-related homicides made up 30% of the total, compared to less than one% in Asia, Europe and Oceania, where the share of murders from domestic violence was higher.

Firearms were the weapon of choice in four out of 10 murders.

UNODC also found that only 43% of murders resulted in a conviction. l

Egypt moves to control mosques n Reuters, Cairo

The Egyptian government has stepped up a campaign to curb Muslim Brotherhood influence over mosques, saying it has licensed more than 17,000 state-approved clerics to give Friday sermons to stop places of worship falling “into the hands of extremists.”

The military-backed authorities have been trying to bring mosques under tighter control since the army toppled Mohamed Mursi of the Islamist

Muslim Brotherhood last July after mass protests against his rule.

All of the newly-approved clerics had been trained at Al-Azhar University, which is a respected center of Sunni Islamic learning, and institutions run by the ministry of religious endowments, according to a statement issued by the prime minister’s office on Thursday.

“That is to strengthen the ministry’s supervision over all Egypt’s mosques so that they do not fall into the hands of extremists and the unqualified” and

to prevent mosques being used for “party or sectarian” purposes, it said.

Last September, the religious endowments minister said unlicensed clerics would be barred from delivering sermons at mosques - long a recruiting ground for Islamist parties.

The government statement said the ministry of religious endowments had taken “a big step” towards addressing a shortfall in “qualified preachers.” Around 12,000 preachers not approved by the state had been removed from service. l

Turkey keeps YouTube block despite court rulings

Hezbollah confident in Assad, West resigned to Syria stalemate n Reuters, Beirut

REUTERS

Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Nato yesterday of using the crisis in Ukraine to boost its appeal to members and justify its existence by rallying them against an imaginary threat.

Russia and the West are locked in a Cold War-style stand-off over Ukraine and Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Moscow to pull back troops from the Ukrainian border or face consequences if they intervene.

The ministry said Rasmussen’s remarks were confrontational and that in recent months he had not offered “any constructive agenda” for Ukraine, adding that it was adding to instability in the region.

“The constant accusations against us by the secretary general convince us that the alliance is trying to use the crisis in Ukraine to rally its ranks in the face of an imaginary external threat to Nato members and to strengthen demand for the alliance ... in the 21st century,” it said.

Nato has suspended all practical military and civilian cooperation with Russia, although it said political dialogue could continue at ambassador level or higher, since Russia incorporated Ukraine’s Crimea region last month.

The Western military alliance has also limited access for Russian diplomat’s to its headquarters and is reviewing a 1997 co-operation agreement with Russia and subsequent Rome declaration of 2002 that prevented it from setting up bases in eastern and central Europe.

Russia has responded by accusing Nato of having a Cold War mentality and has expressed concern over the possibility of deploying the alliance’s troops in eastern Europe permanently. l

join US military action that was eventually aborted, now rules out force and called the stalled talks on “transition” the “only plan” - a view US officials say is shared in Washington, notably among military chiefs who see Assad as preferable to sectarian chaos.

While rebels do not admit defeat, leaders like Badr Jamous of the Syrian National Coalition accept that without foreign intervention “this stalemate will go on.” A US official, asked about a deadlock that would leave Assad in control of much of Syria, conceded: “This has become a drawn-out conflict.”

Assad, 48, has weathered an armed insurgency which started with protests in 2011 and descended into a civil war that has sucked in regional powers, including Shi’ite Iran and Hezbollah who back the Alawite president and Sunni states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar behind the rebels.

With Russia blocking a UN mandate, and voters showing no appetite for war after losses in Afghanistan and Iraq, Western governments have held back from the kind of military engagement that could have toppled the well-armed Syrian leader. l

n Reuters, Istanbul Turkish authorities defied court orders and reaffirmed a ban on YouTube imposed after the posting of illicit recordings of top secret security talks that was cited by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as part of a “dirty campaign” to topple him.

Authorities imposed the ban on Google’s video-sharing site on March 27 in the build-up to local elections, after weeks of leaked wiretaps which had emerged online, allegedly uncovering corruption in Erdogan’s inner circle.

Erdogan emerged from the polls with his popularity largely intact.

Turkey’s telecoms regulator said yesterday it would not end a block on YouTube, despite court rulings lifting the ban.

“The measure blocking access to the youtube.com internet site remains in place,” the Information and Communications Technologies Authority (BTK) said in a statement on its website.

Access to Twitter had also been barred until the Constitutional Court ruled last

week that this violated the law.

Erdogan accuses a US-based Islamic cleric of using a network of supporters to orchestrate an internet campaign and a police corruption investigation to undermine him. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, denies any involvement and criticizes Erdogan over a purge of his followers from state bodies.

Last Friday a lower court in Ankara ruled that the YouTube ban violated human rights and ordered most of the restrictions be lifted, citing the constitutional court ruling, and instead specifically blocked access to 15 videos.

Despite a prosecutor’s challenge to lifting the ban, imposed on grounds of state security, a higher Ankara court also ruled on Wednesday in favor of removing the general block on YouTube.

However, the BTK said that while some of the offending links had been removed, access to others had only been blocked in Turkey and they could be viewed abroad.

It said the ban would remain place “because some of the said content continues to be available on the internet site.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Hunt for MH370 closes in on ‘final resting place’ n Agencies The hunt for the missing Malaysian jet was narrowed down drastically to a targeted patch in the Indian Ocean after fresh underwater signals possibly from the plane’s black box were picked up this week.

Thursday’s search zone was the smallest yet in the month-long hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, narrowed down to 57,923 sq km from yesterday’s 75,000 sq km.

The centre of the search area lies approximately 2280 kilometres northwest of Perth.

Up to 10 military aircraft, four civil aircraft and 13 ships were searching for missing plane in the narrowed search zone.

Australian ship Ocean Shield towing a pinger locater in the southern Indian Ocean on Tuesday reacquired two signals after earlier detecting two on Saturday.

All of the four “pings,” heard possibly from the black box of the ill-fated plane, have been recorded within approximately 27 kilometres of one another.

“I’m now optimistic. We’ll find the aircraft or what’s left of the aircraft in the not too distant future. Hopefully in a matter of days, we will be able to find something on the bottom that might confirm that this is the last resting place of MH370,” Angus Houston, head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) which is leading the search, said yesterday.

Aircraft and ships reported spotting

Taiwan protesters end parliament occupation n AFP, Taipei Taiwanese protesters ended their occupation of parliament yesterday, three weeks after taking over the main chamber to protest a contentious trade pact with China.

“We came here with ideals, now we leave with more burden,” student leader Lin Fei-fan said at a press briefing shortly before dozens of demonstrators clad in black t-shirts walked out of the building at around 1000 GMT. Holding sunflowers, the symbol of the movement, the protesters – mostly young students – were surrounded and warmly greeted by thousands of supporters as they moved out of the building.

“The departure does not mean we are giving up,” Lin said, while pledging to press on with the protest against the controversial trade pact.

The demonstrators occupied the main chamber of parliament on March 18 in the island’s first-ever such protest.

The sit-in came to an end after parliament’s Speaker Wang Jin-pyng pledged not to preside over further debate on the trade pact until a law has been introduced to monitor such agreements with China – a key demand of the protesters.

But they have vowed to push on with their campaign to force the ruling Kuomintang party to retract the trade deal, a demand which President Ma Yingjeou has flatly rejected. l

a large number of objects during yesterday’s search, but only a small number were able to be recovered, the JACC said. However, none of the recovered items were believed to be associated with MH370.

In another major development on Wednesday Australian authorities analyzed the signals picked up on Saturday and determined that they were not natural occurrences, but likely came from specific electronic equipment. Some marine life make similar sounds.

No more signals had been picked up overnight, the search coordination centre said today.

The Ocean Shield continued its hunt towing the US navy pinger locater through the ocean’s depths.

The underwater search continued today, with Ocean Shield at the northern end of the defined search area, and Chinese ship Haixun 01 and HMS Echo at the southern end, hoping to find the signal again and get a more specific fix on its location.

Finding the black box is crucial for knowing what happened on March 8 when the Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flight MH370 with 239 people, including five Indians, disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

The batteries powering the black box are certified to be working for 30 days. Stored in a plane’s tail, they are designed to begin sending off distinct, high-pitched pings or signals as soon as they come in contact with water. l

World

Friday, April 11, 2014

In riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, religious divide favours Modi n Reuters, Muzaffarnagar Manoj Balyan wants Narendra Modi to become India’s next prime minister when results of a general election are released next month, and not because of the pro-business opposition leader’s record as a credible economic manager.

Instead, the property broker and village chieftain is drawn to the Hindu nationalist side of Modi, 63, who he believes will strip privileges from India’s minority Muslim population.

“With Modi taking office, Muslims will automatically feel the pressure.

They will not dare to raise their voice,” said Balyan, 42, to nods of approval from a group of friends.

Such views are common in settlements around the sugarcane belt of Muzaffarnagar in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which was hit by deadly religious strife last year.

The election is spread out over five weeks, with voting ending on May 12.

It was the turn of voters in Delhi, the capital, on Thursday and many parts of Uttar Pradesh, including Muzaffarnagar, where Modi’s popularity is running high and Muslims are worried about their future.

For many of the 815 million registered to vote, Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) represent a promise of better governance, industrial growth and job creation.

But Modi is tainted by accusations that he encouraged or turned a blind eye to Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 in Gujarat, the state he has governed for 13 years. He has denied the charges and the Supreme Court has said there is not enough evidence to prosecute.

The BJP’s contention that other parties help Muslims at the expense of the Hindu majority has become an increasingly prominent part of its campaign in recent weeks - notably in areas where

BJP supporters wear masks of PM candidate Narendra Modi during campaign in Darjeeling yesterday. Indians have begun voting in the world’s biggest election AFP religious tensions run high.

The fighting in Muzaffarnagar left some 65 dead, including four in Balyan’s village 118 km (73 miles) northeast of Delhi.

Like many others voting in the redbrick villages, Balyan blames Muslim neighbours for starting the violence and the state government for refusing to keep the perpetrators locked up.

“People have been attracted towards BJP because of the riots,” said Balyan, who belongs to the same Hindu caste as - and shares a surname with - the BJP parliamentary candidate in

Sri Lanka police arrest 60 over fears of renewed conflict n AFP, Colombo Sri Lankan police have arrested 60 people accused of trying to revive a separatist group behind a civil war that left tens of thousands dead, a spokesman said yesaterday.

The suspects, including 10 women, were detained in a crackdown over the past month and were being questioned about attempts to reorganise the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), police spokesman Ajith Rohana said.

“We are questioning them with a

view to ensure that there is no resumption of war in this country and to prevent communal violence breaking out,” Rohana told reporters in Colombo.

The arrests announced yesterday are the largest in number since Sri Lanka lifted a state of emergency in August 2011.

Government forces declared an end to 37 years of war in 2009 after crushing the LTTE leadership which was fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils.

Since then, no attacks have been carried out by the rebels, but author-

ities have issued warnings that they may try to regroup.

Rohana said the 60 suspects were being held at a detention centre in the southern town of Boossa and another in Vavuniya, just outside the former northern war zone. No other details were available about their arrest or what specifically they were accused of doing.

Announcement of the arrests came just two weeks after the UN ordered an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed by both sides in the final stages of the war. l

Myanmar wraps up census n AFP, Yangon

Myanmar census takers made their final rounds yesterday in the country’s first population tally in three decades, which triggered international concern over a refusal to recognise the stateless Rohingya.

More than 10 million households have taken part in the survey, according to official figures for the first 10 days of the 12-day exercise, which is designed to plug widespread information gaps in the poverty-stricken nation.

But the census has come under criticism from its own backers in the United Nations and Western governments after

9

authorities decided not to allow minority Muslims to register their ethnicity as Rohingya following a fresh wave of unrest in the western state of Rakhine.

This has meant potentially tens of thousands of Rohingya have gone unrecorded, while thousands more in conflict-torn northern Kachin were also missed out after ethnic minority rebels refused to allow enumerators into their territory.

Myanmar views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite many being able to trace their family back for generations in Myanmar.

The country’s first census since 1983

THE BEEKEEPER

has largely been carried out by an army of teachers and its 41 questions were designed to give policymakers a full picture of the country as it emerges from decades of direct military rule, which ended in 2011.

Critics warned the UN and donors in the run-up to the census that the tally had the potential to spark unrest, pointing out controversy over questions of ethnicity and religion in the survey. They accused the organisers of focussing exclusively on technical issues and ignoring the political problems it could raise in the country formerly known as Burma. l

Appeal to hindus

India’s 1.2 billion people include about 150 million Muslims and they form a significant minority in Uttar Pradesh.

By adding religious and caste issues to its broader national appeal based on good governance, the BJP is making a last-minute push for support in the electorally vital state, analysts said.

“This would help them mobilise votes at the last moment. That could be the calculation to harvest votes in

Uttar Pradesh,” said E. Sridharan, of the Pennsylvania Center for Advanced Study of India.

The party’s manifesto, published this week, kept in place several issues dear to the party’s Hindu nationalist core, including doing away with laws applying only to Muslims that it sees as favouritism.

Almost all the victims of last year’s riots were Muslims, including about 12,000 people who were made homeless and now shelter under tents on plots of land bought with compensation money. l

In India, show the finger after voting, get cheaper gas and food n Reuters, New Delhi Showing the finger can get you a punch in the face in many parts of the world.

In India, during this general election at least, it can earn discounts at gas stations, restaurants, spas, stores and hospitals after voting.

India’s polling stations mark each voter’s left forefinger with an indelible dot of a silver nitrate solution after casting the ballot to guard against voter fraud.

In a move to increase political involvement, Young Indians, a group linked to Confederation of Indian Industry trade association, launched the “Show the ink, See prices sink” campaign, which gives discounts and other incentives to people who vote.

“Among youngsters it’s become a cool thing to flaunt their fingers after they’ve cast their vote,” said DNV Kumara Guru, national chairman of the group, saying more than 100 businesses had signed up for the campaign. “There is a lot of momentum across the country.”

At the last general election, only about 58% of the electorate voted, with many urban Indians in particular apathetic.

During this year’s election, which began on Monday and runs until May 12, 815 million voters will be eligible to partic-

ipate. Besides the discounts, the Election Commission has issued newspaper advertisements using celebrities like ViratKohli, the cricket star heartthrob of millions, to exhort people to vote.

In the capital, New Delhi, which went to the polls yesterday, people who show the marked forefinger can get a discount of about 0.7% on petrol at any one of 67 pumps in and around the city during the day.

“It’s our moral and social duty to motivate citizens of India. After a long freedom struggle we got this right,” said Ajay Bansal, general secretary of the Federation of All India Petroleum Traders.

Gas station owners wanted to share the cost of travelling to a poll booth by offering this measure, Bansal said. They also wanted to encourage youngsters because in India people can start to vote at the same age they can begin to drive a car.

In the southern tech capital of Bangalore, the Sakra World Hospital is offering a 10% discount on outpatient services such as health check-ups and consultations between April 18 and May 1 to people with an ink-marked finger.

Virgin Atlantic Airways, known for its unusual promotions, announced voters have the chance to win cabin upgrades, lounge access and goodie hampers in a lucky draw. l

Pakistan denies Baluch group’s claim of market blast

Philippines using ‘moral suasion’ vs China

Pakistan’s interior ministry yesterday rejected claims by a Baluch separatist group that it carried out a bombing at a market in Islamabad that killed 24 people.

The United Baluch Army (UBA), one of a number of militant separatist outfits from the southwestern province of Baluchistan, said it staged the attack – the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since 2008. But a spokesman for the ministry dismissed the claim. “Initial investigations have revealed that the United Baluch Army has no links with yesterday’s attack,” the spokesman said in a statement.

A bomb tore through the bustling wholesale fruit and vegetable market on the edge of the capital at around 8:00 am on Wednesday as hundreds of traders gathered to do business.

The UBA statement was the first time a Baluch group had claimed an attack in Islamabad, parts of which are heavily guarded. Various Baluch groups have waged a bloody insurgency for at least a decade to demand more autonomy. l

n AFP, Manila

n AFP, Islamabad

This picture taken on Wednesday shows She Ping, a 34 year-old local beekeeper, covered with a swarm of bees on a small hill in southwest China’s Chongqing. She Ping released more than 460,000 bees, attracted them to his body, and made himself a suit of bees that weighs 45.65kg within 40 minutes AFP

Muzaffarnagar. He openly admits to joining the frenzy of violence.

The Philippines is using “moral suasion” in its conflict with Asian giant China over their claims to parts of the South China Sea, a government spokesman said yesterday.

This was why the Philippines filed a case to a UN tribunal, asking it to declare Beijing’s claims of undisputed sovereignty over most of the sea as illegal, said Foreign Department spokesman Charles Jose.

“Through moral suasion, we hope the international community will help make China realise that it is also in their best interest to respect and comply with the decision of the tribunal,” he said on ABS-CBN television.

“If China wants to be seen as a responsible member of the international community, then it is better for them to work, to operate within the established international order rather than outside of it.”

Last month the Philippines presented an appeal before the UN tri-

bunal, prompting China to warn that this action had “seriously damaged” bilateral ties. It said it held Manila responsible for the “consequences” of the UN move.

Jose said the Philippines was aware it could face retaliation through trade or travel sanctions.

But he defended Manila’s tactics, saying “economically speaking, militarily speaking, we have nothing to match China so our recourse is international law which is the great equaliser.”

Speaking at the presidential palace, President Benigno Aquino’s spokesman Herminio Coloma said the Philippines’ objective was to show its claim over parts of the South China Sea were based on international law.

He stressed that it was not just a Philippine issue but included “even other countries with maritime entitlements under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.” China claims almost all of the South China Sea, even up to the coasts of many of its neighbours. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Letters to

www.dhakatribune.com

Support the roaring startups

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he StartUp Cup is the first ever business model competition for Bangladesh. It is a competition to help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality. The StartUp Cup is an exciting opportunity for entrepreneurs who have ideas, but not much by way of startup money. An explosion of entrepreneurial initiative is taking place in Bangladesh right now, and we should be doing all we can to nurture these risktakers.

The nature of the way startups come about is changing rapidly. Gone are the days when energetic young people with powerful ideas had to wait around for the perfect environment to come along. Nowadays they are acting fast.

They are going to the market fast, finding their customer-base, and aggressively making revenue and profit. It is not easy, but it is being done and should be encouraged.

The StartUp Cup is a great way to help entrepreneurs with this process. It is a remarkable fact that a mere 2% of startups have the sort of business model or experienced team that can secure large-scale funding from investors. This means that the other 98% of entrepreneurs – many of them with terrific ideas and growth potential – are not getting the resources and financing they need for their businesses to flourish.

The Bangladesh StartUp Cup is a bold and exciting contest.

Entrepreneurs are modern-day heroes. They take risks and brave tremendous obstacles in their journey. With an initiative like StartUp Cup, some in this 98% might start to get the attention they deserve.

We should be doing all we can to nurture risk-takers and entrepreneurs

Government should mentor more women to top positions

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onsidering that Bangladesh has had women as prime ministers for over two decades, their representation in the policy and decision-making processes of the country still remains abysmal. The extremely small number of female members in the advisory and executive committees of our political parties should be more upsetting to a parliament with a female speaker, prime minister, and opposition leader.

Only four of the 70 government secretary positions and 18 of the 290 additional secretary positions are currently filled by women. Reserved seats for women in parliament seem to achieve simply an ornamental purpose in a male-dominated political system.

This unevenly gendered approach to politics will not change until more women are chosen to represent the people by the people, rather than being handpicked by party leaders to serve their party’s interest. Besides giving women an equal opportunity in civil service, the government needs to create an environment that encourages more women to take part in polls.

We have come a long way in empowering women as a nation, considering their access to education and employment compared to previous decades, but there is still much progress to be made in gender equality, and it requires the women’s voice in the country’s policy-making. It is a democratic government’s job to ensure its citizens have equal opportunities in governing as well as non-governing institutions.

Friday, April 11, 2014

the Editor

LETTER OF THE DAY

Make CNG auto-rickshaws affordable April 9

Affordable transport service for middle-income and low-income people in Dhaka is almost non-existent.

Most city dwellers have to depend on rented vehicles, which are extremely expensive. As rickshaws are not allowed to ply on all the streets, and taxi-cabs are rarely available, auto-rickshaws are necessary. Most people do not have the financial ability to afford a private car.

In recent years, the government introduced a few hundred public buses through BRTC. This service does help, but it does not cover all areas in Dhaka. In addition, women and children find it extremely difficult to travel by bus owing to over-crowdedness and the uncivilised behaviour of most passengers.

This is why it is necessary for the government to reduce the import duty on CNG-run auto rickshaws and withdraw all administrative restrictions to increase their availability. It is necessary to withdraw the supplementary duty and VAT on import of CNG-run-auto rickshaws as well. We urge the ministers of Finance, Commerce and Communication to make CNG-run auto rickshaws readily available and affordable for the public.

Md Ashraf Hossain

Those most vulnerable Conspiracy theories and self-inflicted wounds April 2

Sam Great. Now that you have criticised your benefactors (no matter how mildly) don’t be surprised at being called a “razakar.”

Ronnie Yes, I reckon you’re right Mr Zeitlin. Sheikh Mujib would have very likely disapproved of your getting this award. Assuming, of course, that he truly recognised you as “dangerous,” ie somebody who spoke truth to power, at that time. At any rate, your mostly benign (but correct) criticisms in this article of those dark days of Baksal rule will certainly estrange you from Sheikh Mujib’s heirs in the ruling party today. Glad you referred to Mr Moudud’s message. Sadly, his bleak plight is only a snapshot of the prevailing predicament of several other leaders of BNP. Sam Ronnie: Unless they demand payment by credit card, because in “Digital Bangladesh,” the Bangladeshi mission cannot accept credit cards or Paypal (or anything except USPS money orders).

Ronnie Sam: Just an obscure overseas personal account will do, perhaps. :) Better still, receipt of cash by hand will rule out any undue fuss over the matter.

April 4 It is a huge failure of our country that the authorities fail to provide legal protection and justice to the victims of sexual abuse, as discussed in the article. Sexual abuse and violence against children is the worst kind of crime one can commit. I wonder how the state could be so indifferent about this and let the disgusting perpetrators run free.

Liza

Too early to criticise a bold move

April 4 As a member of the gay community, I thought the previous write up – the March 21 review of Roopban magazine, “A missed opportunity to address LGBT issues” – was quite a balanced piece. While the most common argument is that it’s a magazine and not a book, it is also not just a magazine. It’s a look into the lifestyle of a minority that many are not familiar with and while sexuality is definitely a large part of the community, a much larger part of this community is loneliness and lack of sympathy.

The magazine doesn’t depict that feeling of helplessness much and also shuns other harder hitting topics like homophobia. Yes, a magazine has the need to be entertaining but for this particular magazine, that need also required to be complemented with some serious discussions which this magazine was lacking.

ABCD

The Beautiful Bride is on display

April 4 Such an amazing photography exhibition! clair estelle

An obvious conflict April 5 It takes a special brand of stupid to think that a move like this will go unnoticed.

Zero-Agenda

Police charge truncheons on human hauler drivers

April 4 The police could have managed this situation far more easily without resorting to over-thetop violence.

Shafikul Islam Liton

Be Heard

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Progress in gender equality requires the women’s voice in the country’s policy-making

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU ACROSS 1 Make fast a vessel (4) 6 Vigour (3) 7 Fashion (4) 9 Require (4) 10 Diminished by (5) 11 Allude (5) 12 Strange (3) 14 Held principle (5) 17 Henhouse (5) 20 Tree (3) 21 Flier (5) 23 Mohammedan Scriptures (5) 25 Stubborn animal (4) 26 Golf club (4) 27 Melody (3) 28 Biblical quotation (4)

DOWN 1 Wise counselor (6) 2 Carry too far (6) 3 Be carried (4) 4 Vast age (3) 5 Word of acceptance (3) 7 Deep mud (4) 8 Low sand hills (5) 10 Encountered (3) 13 Giver (5) 15 Inherent character (6) 16 Menace (6) 18 Bridge (4) 19 Metal (3) 22 Leave out (4) 23 Outfit (3) 24 Fish eggs (3)

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS Crossword

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

Sudoku

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Friday, April 11, 2014

A doctrine misunderstood n Shafiqur Rahman

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Though not infallible, Shakib is Bangladesh’s first truly world class athlete

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In defense of Shakib Al Hasan

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n Zafar Sobhan ere we go again.

Once again, Bangladesh has disappointed on the cricket field, and once again the national team’s legions of fair-weather fans are trying to salve their battered pride by lashing out and pouring scorn and derision on the players who they feel let them down by performing so tamely.

This ugly chorus of recrimination that invariable greets any kind of a loss is the flip-side of the misplaced pride in someone else’s achievement that is the most distasteful aspect of spectator sports, and one that has regrettably become a durable mainstay of the Bangladeshi cricket world.

Don’t get me wrong. It is fine to feel proud and happy when your team wins. But too many people strut about with their chests puffed out when their team wins, as though they personally scored the winning run or took the crucial wicket.

Newsflash: You didn’t win. Your team did. You achieved nothing. The achievement and the accomplishment was that of the players. It’s a crucial distinction that is lost on far too many.

By the same token, when the team loses, they have not personally let you down, they have not betrayed you, they have not hurt you in any way. In fact, they have done nothing to you.

You don’t own them and they owe you nothing.

Fair-weather sports fans not only

pat themselves on the back when their team wins, but they are the ones who screech the loudest in their criticism of the players when the team loses. They act as though a loss is a personal affront and the losing team has committed some kind of offense against them.

Win or lose, therefore, the one constant is the smug superiority they clearly feel to the poor saps sweating out there in the field, who exist apparently as nothing more than instruments if not accessories to the ambitions and self-worth of their socalled fans.

How is this in any way controversial? It is a truism that holds not just for cricket and not just for Bangladesh, but all over the world.

If you think that the kind of pressure that the team faces is nothing special, then you should try holding the hopes of the nation on your shoulders, facing down 90 miles per hour deliveries in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans. I would imagine that it is pretty nerve-wracking.

Yes, the team played poorly at the T20 World Cup. It happens. Get over it.

And please note that while the team

You don’t get to bask in the reflected glory of his achievements all these years and then get to turn around and call him a cry-baby

This sense of superiority has come through loud and clear in the hysterical response to Shakib Al Hasan’s perfectly reasonable and defensible statements in the wake of Bangladesh’s poor performance at the T20 World Cup. What did he say that was so wrong?

He had the temerity to suggest that the nation has outsize and unrealistic expectations of the national cricket team, and that the enormous pressure under which they operate contributes to their chronic under-performance.

played poorly overall, Shakib himself performed creditably, averaging over 37 with the bat, and taking 8 wickets with an economy rate of 5.68, not outstanding, perhaps, but nothing to sneeze at, either.

The latest outburst of vitriol against Shakib is especially galling. All the haters out there gleefully bashing him and sneering about how he has lost their respect need to get one thing straight: Neither you (nor I) are fit to lace Shakib’s cricket boots.

Shakib has more talent in his little finger than you and I have in our entire bodies. He is Bangladesh’s first truly world class athlete, a national pride and a national treasure, and don’t you ever forget it.

He has done more to make the nation proud and thus done more for the nation than you or I could hope to do in ten lifetimes.

Let’s start with that understanding.

All criticism needs to be tempered by this realisation.

Does it mean he is infallible? No. Does it mean that he is above criticism?

Of course not.

But everything he has achieved should afford him some minimum measure of respect and some minimum goodwill and support.

You don’t get to bask in the reflected glory of his achievements all these years and then get to turn around and call him a cry-baby or whiner the minute he doesn’t live up to your expectations and his frustrations get the better of him.

That’s what being a true fan means.

It means standing up for your team through thick and thin. It means cheering their victories, but not jeering their losses. It means celebrating the good times and commiserating the bad. It means taking the rough with the smooth.

It means thinking of and treating the players as the heroes they are, not just when they win, but when they lose, as well. l Zafar Sobhan is the Editor, Dhaka Tribune.

An EC that works n Syed Ishtiaque Reza

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hen there is conflict, democracy is the solution. Conflict and political hostility not only result in devastating direct violence, they also impede growth, threaten public health, and aggravate poverty. Democracy largely depends on the functions of a number of institutions. Democratic values prevail essentially on the efficiency and integrity of these institutions.

From the centre to the periphery, everywhere, democracy flourishes if the people who are to take the responsibility of ruling, are elected through free and fair elections. Elections are the foundation stone of any democracy as the democracies are mainly representative in character. Free and fair elections are the strongest way to shape democracy.

The conduct of free, fair, and impartial elections depends much upon the performance of the three elements which form a triangle. They are the independent and impartial electoral machinery, the political parties and candidates, and the electorate. The entire election system is supposed to function under the Bangladesh Election Commission, which has been granted the freedom of functioning from the administration under the constitution.

Holding regular elections is not a small and easy task. The role of the EC has always been under critical scrutiny in every election, be it parliamentary polls, or any other local government election.

The recently held upazila election displayed the EC before the people very badly. It is perceived that the election system has been pushed behind to the 80s, when rigging through violence and administrative support was widespread.

Bangladesh has been in political turmoil for a long time. The country faces issues of long-term sustainability, not only in the context of global recession, but also due to domestic political uncertainties.

Holding regular elections is not an easy task. The role of the EC has always been under critical scrutiny

If a constitutional body like the EC succumbs to the pressures of hoodlums of the ruling party, can anyone expect that democracy has a future in Bangladesh?

The credit and discredit, both for elections in the “Bangladesh-style” democracy, goes to the institution of the EC. Now, this is up to the EC to decide, to credit or discredit.

The upazila election was a non-partisan one. There was no party symbol for the candidates. But Bangladesh

saw how brutally the ruling party could exert its influence in a local government election, and the most pathetic one was the role of the EC. The first and second phases of the upazila election were reasonably peaceful, but from the second phase, the show was fully taken over by ruling party men with the help of local administrations.

The role of the EC is to provide a level playing field for all parties and candidates. In the just-held upazila elections, the day-long coverage of the TV channels, as well as the stories in the newspapers and online news sites, suggest that the EC kept the field only for the ruling party-backed candidates.

Even in some places like the Laxmipur Sadar, it was seen that the on-duty officials (polling officers, assistant presiding officers, etc) were on their desks with sealed (with the symbols of particular candidates) ballot papers.

The entire election system was seen to be messed up, and the EC had no way to avoid its responsibility.

Here comes the process of appointment to the commission. The civil society has been crying for an impartial selection committee for the EC for a long time. But the reality is too different. The present method of appointment is through an executive decision, where the president approves the appointment based on the proposal given by the government.

BNP bitterly criticised the EC’s “partisan” activities. But there is public perception that it will do the same thing after coming to power. Instead

of just criticising, the civil society and political parties can sit together to draw up a concrete proposal for appointing election commissioners in an acceptable and neutral process.

There is also a strong suggestion for granting financial autonomy to the EC. This would avert any potential conflict of interest, and ensure that the EC works in a transparent and impartial manner.

The EC is not adequately equipped to regulate the political parties. It can think of its role in enforcing inner-party democracy, and the regulation of party finances.

Everyone wants to see that the EC becomes the final trend-setter of the electoral activities of political parties.

There is also an expectation from the commission that it would go for fixing policies regarding finalisation of electoral roles, government sponsored advertisements prior to election, restriction on the movement of ministers, MPs, and other political hi-ups in the poll areas, effective prohibition of campaigning during the last 48 hours, transfers and appointments of officers identified with election machinery, etc.

The upazila election frustrated common citizens. The EC itself earned a bad name. It is only fair to the citizens of our country that the EC plays a proactive role and uses its constitutional powers effectively, and the judiciary ensures the legitimacy of this power in the future. l Syed Ishtiaque Reza is Director of News, Ekattor Television.

n the Bangladesh foreign affairs discussions, the historical term “Monroe Doctrine” appears quite frequently. The term has special significance in our foreign policy community because our small country is placed snugly in the lap of an aspiring global power. Monroe Doctrine has a wholly negative connotation to its users and readers in our country. It is known as an early 19th century American imperialistic proclamation that declared the western hemisphere, North and South America, as America’s own backyard and warned European powers to desist from any interference in the countries of that part of the globe. With perceived emphasis on “backyard,” the doctrine and its architects are regarded as an epitome of US imperialism and arrogance.

As there is a wide perception that India has assertively influenced the political course of Bangladesh in 201314, and has thwarted the interference of western powers, the term Monroe Doctrine is going to be invoked with increased frequency in the coming days. But contemporary users of this geopolitical term greatly misunderstand the context, the formulation, and evolution of this doctrine. The doctrine, famously proclaimed in 1823 by the fifth president of US, James Monroe, was actually a ringing declaration of anti-colonialism and freedom for the then newly independent countries of Latin America. A short lesson in its history may be illuminating to foreign affair enthusiasts.

Students of colonial history know that the most important factor that precipitated the great decolonisation wave in the second half of the 20th century, creating all these independent countries in Asia and Africa, was the two World Wars. World Wars I and II so greatly weakened the already declining colonial powers, such as Britain, France, Holland, etc, to such an extent that they had no means to hold on to their colonial possessions. A similar decolonisation wave occurred in the Americas when the great war of 19th century, the Napoleonic wars, fatally weakened declining empires of that time Spanish and Portuguese empires.

Inspired by American Independence (1775-83) and the French Revolution (1789-99), the politically restive people of various Latin colonies were already thirsting for freedom from their distant European overlords.

While Europe was gripped with the imperial ambitions of Napoleon Bonaparte, Latin American leaders and their people seized the chance and began their struggle for independence.

The island country of Haiti was the first to revolt, and after a long war, gained independence from France in 1804. Uprisings spread from country to country, and by 1810, revolution had spread throughout South America.

Historically known as the Latin American Wars of Independence, these freedom struggles were long, hard, and full of twists and turns. By 1820, most of the countries were independent or were in the process of gaining freedom.

After the defeat of Napoleon, the Spanish monarchy was restored and the old European powers conspired to get the rebel American colonies back into the empire’s fold. The counter-revolution to squelch independence movements began. Russia, a big victor in the Napoleonic Wars, claimed the whole Pacific seaboard of North America as its exclusive area.

United States was quite wary of European colonial powers re-exerting in the Western hemisphere. An ex-colony itself, US popular sentiment was very much against them. Also, the US wanted to develop trade and business relationships with newly independent

countries, a relationship previously hard to build because of protectionist colonial policies.

First enunciated in December, 1923, the Monroe doctrine is basically a very progressive and benevolent declaration. Its basic principles were that the US would not interfere in the internal affairs of, or the wars between, European powers. The Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonisation and any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States.

The progressive origin of the Monroe Doctrine doesn’t mean the negative reputation is wholly undeserved

The declaration said: “With the governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.”

It is essential to know that the new nations of South America welcomed the Monroe declaration wholeheartedly. Revolutionary leaders like Simon Bolivar openly embraced this offer of protective shelter by US. But both US and Latin American leaders knew that in the 1820s America did not have sufficient naval and military power to enforce such a doctrine. It was closer to a bluff than an assertion. Fortunately, Britain, the world’s premier naval power, also wanted South America free from protectionist colonial powers so that it can trade freely. British navy was the instrument that helped enforce the doctrine in 19th century.

The progressive origin of the Monroe Doctrine doesn’t mean that the current negative reputation is wholly undeserved. By the end of 19th century, the US was a world power and its big companies were dominating trade throughout the Americas.

The US intervened in various Latin American countries many times with different pretexts. Reflecting the new American mood, Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, asserting that the United States had the right to intervene in Latin America in cases of “flagrant and chronic wrongdoing by a Latin American Nation.” The Roosevelt Corollary essentially turned the Monroe Doctrine on its head. In place of seeking to stop the imperial design of European powers in Latin America, it declared America’s intention to take their place.

However much the Monroe Doctrine was later tarnished by US imperialism in South America, we should remember that originally the doctrine and its namesake had very wholesome motives. The newly independent countries heartily welcomed the protective umbrella that the doctrine provided. Before using the term “Monroe Doctrine” liberally to describe current geopolitical situations both in near and far neighborhoods, the users should ponder awhile whether subject countries now welcome any forced protective custodianship. l Shafiqur Rahman is a freelance contributor.

What would James Monroe make of his doctrine?

WIKIMEDIA

12

Entertainment

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Friday, April 11, 2014

Sajal: I am director's actor n Afrose Jahan Chaity

I have done huge homeworks about working on the silver screen. I learnt how to be a dancer, co-ordinate as action hero and also did a lot of work to improve my acting. From the very begging of my career, everyone helped me a lot.

Sajal is one of the most popular and busy actors of this time who stepped in media as a host and a model. He made his debut as an anchor in a magazine show Tak Dum Tak Dum, which gave him mass popularity. He has been picked as a model by celebrated actor Afzal Hossain for a TV commercial of Quite Shampoo. Since then, the talented model-actor has occupied a strong position in the showbiz.

Currently, Sajal is all set to debut on the silver screen with an action romantic film Run Out, directed by Tonmoy Tansen. Run Out is also the debut film of Tonmoy Tansen.

In an interview with the Dhaka Tribune Sajal talked about his recent ventures:

Who inspired you?

First I thought it’s not cup of my tea. Being a host was enough for me. But, Afzal Hossain just played the lead role in launching my career and he is my mentor. He taught me every small detail of the trade. I have learned so many things from him. Celebrated and noted actor Asaduzzaman Noor also inspired me.

Do you have any plan to stick to modeling?

I won’t stop modeling. In my entire career I have done only eight advertisements and every single one succeeded in the market.

What are you up to nowadays?

I am working on Tonmoy Tansen’s first film Run Out. As it is my silver screen debut, I am giving my all concentration towards the film.

Why you have been chosen this film as your debut to the silver screen?

I found this film to be appropriate for my debut. I also love the story and every details of the role. I am lucky that I am starting my journey on silver screen with same director whose telefilm was my first acting debut.

I have good understanding with Tonmoy Tansen. I started my career with his telefilm Prema. We also have a strong connection, I was always confident about Tonmoy's ability to deliver good entertainment pieces to

What is your current goal?

I don’t have any plan right now except for this film. A movie reel keeps a performance alive for years with repeated views by the audience. I want my performance to leave a good impression. the audience. Another point is, I trust that he is introducing this role specifically with for me, because it feels that this role is tailor-made to suit my abilities.

How did you get yourself ready for the silver screen debut?

Incursion Music launches three new labels

Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Ten years from now, I want my works to leave a lasting impression on the audience.

According to Sajal, hardwork and determination never goes unrewarded and he believes that he is director's actor. l

Nisho and Shokh struggle to save their marriage n Entertainment Desk A telefilm Bhalobashar Kacche Phera will be aired tonight at11pm on ATN Bangla. Written by Rudro Mahfuz and directed by BU Shubho, the telefilm features Nisho, Shokh, Rashed, Chompa and many others.

The story revolves around some common conflicts in a marital life. It talks about a couple who faces emotional turmoil like extramarital affairs, allegations and later realising their mistakes and resettle the marriage.

Nila and Anik are married for five years. Anik is a busy person who spends most of his time in his workplace and the rest of his idol time

Tareen dedicates second solo album to her father

Electro, QuickSand and Ozone Records are the three new labels launched under the banner of Incursion Music on April 9 at the Incursion Headquarters situated at Banglamotor.

Electro is a label for the local and international electronic music artists. Starting with popular artistes like Fuad Almuqtadir and K Sarfaraz Latifullah, Electro is now signing a host of other local artistes. Electro is working with house music. The label is promoting and marketing electronic music, to play at clubs and parties.

QuickSand and Ozone Records have been launched to cover different genres such as house and trance. The genre covered under QuickSand are grrovy, funky and deep music and Ozone is for more airy music.

The songs will be available in iTunes, Beats Music, Spotify and Amazon. l

Theatre workshop in Dhaka designed n Entertainment Desk Speed Youth and Target Theatre Company are launching a youth theatre workshop this summer in the capital. The two-week long intense workshop is designed for individuals who have been or are an excellent drama artist at school or university and are seeking more to learn in this area.

The workshop will create opportunity to experience how the theatre world works and expand skills. With experienced trainers from the UK, out-of-thebox scripts and a variety of ways to express emotions, this theatre programme is aimed at making the participants more than stage performers.

Classes will be conducted 5 days a week for 2 weeks with a commitment of 6 hours a day.

The program is designed for youth aged between 14-22 years.

Details can be acquired at samia_ mallik@speed-bd.com. l

TODAY IN DHAKA Film

Jibondhuli, Shongram, Frozen in 3D, Boishomyo, Avatar in 3D Star Cineplex, Bashundhara City Panthapath

Exhibition

n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk

with other women. On the other hand, Nila is a housewife by her husband’s choice. She craves for a child while Anik seems to be completely reluctant about the matter. Anik believes life is to discover new things every day. Knowing the fact that Anik is cheating on Nila, she still tries to save their marriage.

A loner, Nila goes for shopping in a mall where she meets Asif. Nila and Asif starts complementing each other develop a relationship.

At a point Anik comes to know about Nila’s extra marital affair and starts accusing her.

When Nila leaves her husband, Asif starts to aviod her and in the meantime, her husband misses her. l

After the success of her first solo album, Tareen's second solo album hits the market on her birthday, July 26. The multi-talented star will dedicate this album to her father. In the competitive media industry of Bangladesh, Tareen has made her place through her skills of acting and singing.

Last year, Tareen released her first album titled Akash Debo Kake which received critics' appreciation and won the heart of thousands of listeners. One of the song from her previous album was dedicated to her mother as the starlet believes that she owes a lot to her mother for her success today. She showed her appreciation and respect to her mother through the gesture.

Last Sunday, she met with lyricist Zulfiqer Russell to pen down a song for her father. Her intention is to show love and respect to her father by dedicating

Serenading Suchitra Time: 12pm – 8pm Shilpangan Gallery, House-7, Road-13, Dhanmondi Crossing Through Time: 3pm – 8pm Dhaka Art Center (DAC) House-60, Road-7A Dhanmondi R/A

Music

Jazz and Pop, Red Shift Coffee Lounge Time: 7:00pm – 9:30pm Red Shift Coffee Lounge, Radius Centre, 5th fl, Bay’s Galleria , 57 Gulshan Avenue, Gulshan

the song in his honour. The lyric of the song includes the lines: Amar Dekha Prothom Nayok Amar Kachhe Sera, Baba Tomar Hridoyte Je Ador Snehe Ghera. The composition of the song is

by Ibrar Tipu.

About the song, Tareen said: “My mother is my mentor and my first guru. I have grown up watching her sing. I dedicated a song in my first album to her. This

Katherine Heigl sues US pharmacy for $6m n Entertainment Desk

Actress Katherine Heigl has sued a chain of US pharmacies for $6m in damages. The Grey’s Anatomy star has accused Duane Reade Inc of using a picture of her leaving one of its shops in promotional material.

The case was filed in a court in Manhattan, New York, on Wednesday.

Heigl is famous for her roles in films including Knocked Up and 27 Dresses and also won an Emmy for playing the character of Izzie Stevens in medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.

Duane Reade Inc is yet to give a statement in response.

In documents submitted to the court, Heigl says she was recently photographed by paparazzi in New York City as she left a Duane Reade pharmacy.

She says the company is exploiting her image for commercial gain despite her objection. Heigl’s complaint also says she plans to donate any damages she may receive to a charity that helps animals. Last year Heigl was named one of Hollywood’s most overpaid stars, second only to Adam Sandler. l

time I thought I should dedicate something to my beloved father. Releasing my second solo is not my main aspiration.

Singing a beautiful song for my beloved father holds more appeal to me.”

Tareen's last song was for the drama series titled Sopnogulo Jonaki Pokar Moton. She will lent her voice on a new drama series titled Kalo Mokhmol, which will be directed by Niaz Mahbub. l

Sushmita Sen debuts in Bangla cinema n Entertainment Desk Sushmita Sen will soon be seen in a Bangla film. A source told the Times of India: “The actress has signed a Bangla film that will be directed by Basu Chatterjee’s daughter, Rupali Guha. The rest of the cast is yet to be finalised but Sushmita has signed below the dotted line.”

The source adds that Sushmita is kicked about this project and she wants to co-produce the Bengali film. “She is also looking at getting the rights for its Hindi remake.”

She made her debut in Bollywood after winning the coveted title of Miss Universe, and now, after taking a sabbatical from acting for about 3 years, Sushmita Sen is all set to do her first film in her mother tongue Bengali.

The film, titled Jodi Emon Hoto (What If It Had Happened), talks about the equation between a man and a woman. l

The music launching ceremony of upcoming film Tarkata featuring Arifin Shuvoo, Moushumi and Mim in the lead roles has been held on Wednesday.

Did you know?

This is the first time Barcelona haven’t reached at least the CL semi-finals since 2007

Sport

Friday, April 11, 2014

14 Atletico stun

Barcelona, holders Bayern progress

14 Champion League

wilderness looms for United

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Latif turns down

Pakistan cricket selector role

Isaac praises Bangladesh for successful WT20

Fifa ambassador and former French player Christian Karembeu (2R) and Japan Football Association honorary chairman Junji Ogura (R), along with former Japanese soccer player Masashi Nakayama (L) unveil the trophy during the Fifa World Cup Trophy Tour event to promote this year’s World Cup in Brazil, at Haneda airport in Tokyo yesterday AP

Associates to taste Test The approval of ‘Meritocratic pathway for Test cricket’ by the ICC (International Cricket Council) in their board meeting yesterday opened doors for the Associate sides to try out their luck in the Test circuit.

But at the same time it also meant Bangladesh, the bottom ranked Test team in 10th place, will have to improve their ranking in next two years to avoid any odds of losing the status they obtained 14 years back.

The ICC approved the introduction of an ICC Test Challenge which will take place every four years between the lowest ranked Test team and the winner of the ICC Intercontinental Cup. According to the proposal the 10th team on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings on 31 December 2017, or at the conclusion of any series in progress at that time, will play four five-day matches, home and away basis, against the winner of the upcoming ICC Intercontinental Cup, with the inaugural Challenge scheduled to take place in 2018.

In the next eight years, two ICC Intercontinental Cup tournaments are

planned with the first to run from 2015 to 2017 and the second to be held between 2019 and 2021. The second ICC Test Challenge is scheduled for 2022.

“The ICC Test Challenge now opens the door for Associate Members to play Test cricket and in doing so gives even greater context to the ICC Intercontinental Cup which will now be a pathway to Test cricket,” said the ICC chief executive David Richardson in a media release yesterday.

Bangladesh lost the 9th position in the Test rankings after Zimbabwe hopped over them in September 2013.

Zimbabwe had returned to the Test arena after five years to draw twomatch Test series against Pakistan, which had also cost Pakistan’s rating points. They went down from fourth to sixth position.

The most recent International Cup, played between June 2011 and December 2013, featured eight associate members - Ireland, Afghanistan, Scotland, United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Canada, Kenya and Netherlands.

Ireland have won four of the five tournaments held since 2004 while Afghanistan won it in 2010. l

Football players of Abahani Ltd have sought efficient security from the club after the unwanted incident following the loss to Mohammedan in the semifinal of the Modhumoti Bank Independence Cup on last Thursday.

The football team was left confined at the stadium with the clubs supporters laying siege to the exit of the venue which delayed the players’ departure from the venue by one and a half hours. Meanwhile, the players and officials were reportedly locked in fighting after the match. Goalkeeper Shahidul Alam Sohel, defender Mofazzal Hossain Shaikat, defender Shaikat Bhowmik were reportedly injured after attacks from angry Abahani supporters.

Omar K Sisse carries a huge chunk of credit behind Feni Soccer Club’s triumphant run in recent times as it is under the Gambian’s guidance that the small club has made it to their first ever final in a professional football tournament.

Feni reached the final in the Independence Cup, to be held tomorrow, beating giants like defending champions Sheikh Russell and Brothers Union and it was the changes brought by Sisse which turned the side’s fortune.

Sisse’s coaching career in Bangladesh began as the head coach for Sheikh Jamal Academy before he served the club’s senior team as an interim coach in a professional tournament. He joined Feni Scocer Club as head coach this season.

Feni’s position in the Bangladesh Premier League is however not sweet as they are lurking at the bottom with zero win after the end of first leg, but Sisse roped in players from his country during the second transfer window to which the result is in front of everyone.

“The difference between the team

supporters to the gate number two. No player was injured.” However, it seemed that the relationship between the supporters’ forum and the manager is not good. “The manager seems to control all. He does not provide the tickets to the supporters. The previous coach has criticized the manager’s role,” said Zulu.

Rupu denied any such act. “I am doing my duty as per the instruction of the club authority. I don’t cross my limit,” said Rupu.

Abahani is currently in the second position with 19 points, two points adrift of the leader Sheikh Jamal in the Bangladesh Premier League. The team in their traditional sky-blue outfits bowed out of the semifinals of the Federation Cup before Bangladesh Premier League began. l

Norde to Belgium?

The rumours of Sheikh Jamal DC’s Sony Norde leaving Bangladesh for a club in India has taken a new turn as it was learnt yesterday that the Haitian international capped footballer is expected to leave Dhaka today for a trial at a Belgium club.

Norde, who had earlier expressed his desire to play in Europe, drew attention of big I-League clubs including Mohun Bagan and East Bengal during the IFA Shield with his dazzling skills.

He played a major role behind Jamal’s road to the final in the 118th edition of the tournament where he was also adjudged as the best player.

“He (Sony) is not going to join Mohun Bagan, it is a rumour. Sony is interested to go for a trial for a club in

helped Bangladesh enhance its infrastructure in Dhaka and Chittagong and develop a new international venue in Sylhet. Sri Lanka’s triumph means the event has produced five different men’s champions in as many editions.

The encouraging performances of the Associate Members and their successes over the Full Members clearly reflect that the ICC World Twenty20 is the most open tournament on the ICC calendar.”

The meeting also approved the existing format to be retained for the ICC World Twenty20 in 2016 scheduled in India. According to the format the top eight ranked T20 sides will automatically qualify for the second round while the ninth and 10th ranked full members will play in the first round along with six qualified ICC Associate Nations. l

Change in Feni’s ‘kismet’

All is not well in Abahani Team Manager Satyajit Das Rupu admitted to the incident. “The angry supporters entered through the gate number two but no player was seriously hurt. The players have urged the club authority to ensure their security.

Otherwise, they will not play further. I have informed the matter to the club authority. They will look into the matter,” said Rupu.

Shaikat, however, said that he was hit by the unruly supporters. “The supporters attacked us. It is very unfortunate. We want full security to play football. All the players are thinking the same,” said the defender.

Meanwhile, Enam-e-Khoda Zulu, the leading official of the supporters’ forum denied reports of any player getting injured. “The manager chased the

International Cricket Council (ICC) president Alan Isaac praised the Bangladesh government, security agencies and the general public for their contributions and support in making the World Twenty20 successful.

This was the first time Bangladesh, a co-host in the 2011 World Cup, hosted a full major tournament and despite several obligations in the initial stage the multi-nation event was completed with great success. Chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board media committee Jalal Yunus was relieved and said, “It was a huge challenge for us (to hold the tournament) as there were some questions regarding the security for the political unrest existing at that time in our country.”

“But the security agencies,

along with Bangladesh Army, the government’s support and all the BCB staffs who worked day and night and most importantly the fans are who made the event successful. We also had to provide all sorts of facilities to the participating 26 international teams at different venues of Bangladesh,” said Jalal to Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Earlier during ICC’s executive board meeting on April 9 and 10 in Dubai, Isaac praised the efforts made by the country and said, “The ICC World Twenty20 Bangladesh 2014 was an extremely successful event which was thoroughly enjoyed by the players, officials, spectators and media. A lot of credit must be given to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the ICC team for putting up a memorable show.”

He further added, “The event

Belgium. He also took leave from the club,” said Sheikh Jamal club member Abu Hasan Chowdhury Prince yesterday. The club’s president Manjur Kader also confirmed the news and said Sony asked for a three-day leave which was granted.

While contacted over phone Norde said he was not leaving Sheikh Jamal, but hung up when asked if he was going to Belgium for a trial Big-budgeted Sheikh Jamal spent around Tk7m to sign the Haitian from Sheikh Russell in this season. Norde also played a chief role in Russell’s treble winning last season.

The 24-year-old forward is unarguably the best player in the Bangladesh Premier League at present for his pace, power, dribbling skills and goal scoring ability. l

against Brothers in the semifinal.

Feni failed to win a single game out of nine league matches, but inclusion of Gambians Mathew Mendy, Landing Darboe and Kabba Jobe just took the team spirit to a new level.

Club captain Akbar Hossain Ridon echoed the coach and admitted the positive changes brought in the side by Sisse.

“The team has actually changed after the arrival of Gambian players. The coach spent his own money to bring the players. Feni never gave importance in recruiting foreign players in past. This is the first time six players registered for the club,” said Ridon. “The coach took it as a challenge while bringing the players. He personally told me that we will go to final with this team,” he added.

“The people of Feni are motivating us for the final. The local MP also called and congratulated us,” the skipper added.

Ridon admitted to have immensely improved attacking options at his disposal and they have nothing to lose when they face big name Mohammedan SC in the final tomorrow. l

we now have and the team we had at the beginning of the season is big; we had a very weak team. Now I bring in players to reinforce the team and we got results,” said the Gambian coach.

Sisse however has a bitter experience from his previous encounter against Mohammedan and said, “Mo-

hammedan is going to be tough one.

The referee cheated me last game I played with them and they won. Unnecessarily he showed red card.

“So I’m coming with all kind of forces I have. I know they are better team and they can beat us but I want to beat them.” Sisse said after their victory

Clemon Indoor University cricket begins

Metropolitan School TT after 12 years

Clemon Indoor University Cricket comprising 40 universities of the country commenced at the Mirpur Sohrawardi Indoor Stadium yesterday.

Eight games were held on the opening day with star studded AIUB kicking off their title defence with a 30-run win over Manarat International University followed by Jahangirnagar University’s 65-run win against Eastern University.

East West University won against South Asia University by six wickets while Sylhet Metropolitan University won against Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology by 24 runs.

In the remaining matches, Asian University beat Stamford University Bangladesh by four wickets, Islamic University Kushtia defeated IUBAT by 26 runs, United International University beat Southern University Bangladesh by six wickets while Dhaka University convincingly beat City University by seven wickets.

Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid inaugurated the eight-day long tournament organized by the 3 Crics run by former Bangladesh cricketers Akram Khan, Khaled Masud Pilot and Ather Ali Khan. Sponsored by Akiz Food and Beverages Ltd the tournament will end on April 17.

The champions of the tournament will receive a purse of Tk500,000 while the runners-up team will receive Tk200,000. l

Dhaka Metropolitan School Table Tennis returns to surface after a span of 12 years with the competition, organised by the Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation (BTTF) and sponsored by Walton Smart TV, set to begin at the Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Stadium from tomorrow.

Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid will inaugurate the tournament as the chief guest.

The BTTF president was elated with the resumption of the event which was held back in 2002.

“We want to see more players in the table tennis arena and we hope that the meet will insert the new enthusiasm among the budding players,” said Abdul Karim, the president of the BTTF in a press conference held at the conference room of the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Zobera Rahman Linu, the general secretary of the federation, said it was hard to assemble all the schools in a specified time but the federation has succeeded to get 26 schools and hoped

the number to increase in the future.

AFM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, the additional director of Walton, also echoed the BTTF officials and wished the tournament to produce future stars.

The participating schools are - Armanitola High School, Ahmed Bawani Academy School and College, Lalbagh Model School and College, DPS (Red) DPS (Green), St. Joseph Higher Secondary School (Red), St. Joseph Higher Secondary High School (Green), Scholastica (Mirpur Branch) (Red and Green), West End High School, Sunbeams, Summerfield International School, Baridhara Scholars Institution, Turkish Hope International School, Sunnydale, Dhanmondi Tutorial, European Standard School, Swede School for Intellectually Challenged, Prayash, Dhaka Cantonment, Azimpur High School and College, Australian International School, Rahmatullah High School, Ideal School, Oxford International School, Wille’s Little Flower School and College, Motijheel Ideal School and College, AG Church School and College, South Point School and College Uttara Model School. l

Abdul Karim, the president of Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation speaks at the press conference of school TT yesterday COURTESY

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Two killed watching CL in Nigeria Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram Islamists stormed a packed viewing centre in Nigeria’s restive northeast and shot dead two people watching Champions League matches, police said Thursday. The centre was showing the two quarter-final matches between defending champions Bayern Munich and Manchester United, and Atletico Madrid-Barcelona, on Wednesday when it was attacked. “The gunmen came in a car and opened fire outside the viewing centre and sped off,” Yobe State police commissioner Sanusi Rufa’i told AFP. –AFP

Sport

Friday, April 11, 2014

Hamilton tops Bahrain practice times Great Britain’s 2008 Fomula One world champion Lewis Hamilton clocked the fastest time during the second day of testing Wednesday at the Sakhir circuit where he won the Bahrain Grand Prix at the weekend. Three of the five world champions still competing – England’s Jenson Button (McLaren), Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Germany’s Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) – did not take part in the testing which allowed certain stables to use their reserve drivers and Pirelli to test their new tyres.

–AFP

Pacers’ reserves topple Bucks The Indiana Pacers defeated the lowly Milwaukee Bucks 104-102 despite coach Frank Vogel’s decision to bench all of his starters for the entire National Basketball Association game on Wednesday. Chris Copeland’s go-ahead basket with one second left gave the win to the struggling Pacers who had lost eight of their last 11 games. Vogel announced during the Pacers’ morning workout that he would sit his starting crew against the Bucks, who have the worst record in the league.

–AFP

Atletico stun Barcelona, holders Bayern progress Atletico Madrid’s resurgence continued on Wednesday just a year after they were forced to sell leading scorer Radamel Falcao to reduce their huge debts as they eliminated Barcelona to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 40 years.

A goal by Koke – who has been with the club since he was eight years old – saw them deservedly beat Barcelona 1-0 on the night and progress 2-1 on aggregate and perhaps also register a changing of the guard at the top of Spanish and European football.

Bayern Munich – bidding to become the first team to successfully defend their title – also reached the last four

RESULTS

Atletico Madrid Koke 5

1 0

Barcelona

Atletico qualify 2-1 on aggregate

Bayern Munich

3 1

Man United

Mandzukic 59, Mueller 68, Evra 57 Robben 76 Bayern qualify 4-2 on aggregate

beating Manchester United 3-1, to go through 4-2 on aggregate.

They join United’s Premier League rivals Chelsea – who beat Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday – and Atletico’s city rivals Real, victors over last season’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund, in Friday’s draw.

Atletico – who last beat Barcelona four years ago – came roaring out of the blocks and got the only goal of the game through Koke, his first in this season’s tournament, in the fifth minute.

Atletico, who are also top of La Liga in a three way battle with Barca and Real, could have been 3-0 up after fifteen minutes as former Barcelona striker David Villa hit the woodwork on two occasions.

Barcelona were largely contained by Atletico and star player Lionel Messi had an especially torrid night as he

failed to score against Atletico for the sixth successive game.

For Atletico coach Diego Simeone – who last year was forced to sell Falcao for 60 million euros ($83 million) when their debt was officially estimated at 170 million euros but some experts said it was up to 300 million euros – it was another significant victory.

“We maintain the same humility.

We understand that the other teams (in the semi-finals) have been there far more than Atletico Madrid,” said the 43-year-old, who was a bundle of energy on the touchline urging the crowd to raise the noise level and continually making the sign of the cross.

“We are there 40 years later and we believe in what we are doing.”

It is the second time that Atletico and Real have reached the semi-finals of European club football’s most prestigious tournament in the same season – 1959 being the previous occasion, and is is only the fourth time clubs from the same city have reached the last four.

AC Milan and Inter Milan in 2003 and London duo Arsenal and Chelsea in 2009 being the others. For 22-yearold Koke, who made his senior debut aged just 17, it was an especially emotional night.

“The team were spectacular in this game,” said Koke.

“This team has no limits and we must keep on making the fans dream.”

Defeat will heap the pressure on Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino, but Simeone’s compatriot was not focussing on that.

“Of course we feel bad about this defeat,” he said.

“However, while we can’t win three trophies I don’t think this defeat will affect us on the other two fronts. We still have the league, we have a match against Granada on Saturday, and the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid next Wednesday.”

While Bayern dominated possession it was United who took the lead through a spectacular long range effort from an unlikely source French fullback Patrice Evra. l

Atletico Madrid players react after winning their Champions League quarter-final second leg match against Barcelona, in Madrid on Wednesday

Simeone wins in tactical battle with Martino Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone got his tactics spot on in the battle with Barcelona counterpart and Argentine compatriot Gerardo Martino as his unfancied side dumped their wealthier rivals out of Europe on Wednesday.

Barca were unable to cope with a fired-up Atletico in the opening 20 minutes of the Champions League quarter-final, second leg at the Calderon, when Koke scored the only goal of the game in the fifth minute to secure a 2-1 aggregate success.

Although Barca improved in the second half, Atletico turned in a brilliant defensive display, almost scoring several times on the counter-attack, to claim their place in the last four of

CL wilderness looms for United As Manchester United’s players trudged from the pitch at Bayern Munich, it was with the knowledge that they will not experience the Champions League again for at least 17 months.

United are seven points below the top four in the Premier League, and with only 15 points still to play for, next season is almost certain to be their first without Champions League football since 1995-96.

The 20-time domestic champions remain the richest and most globally popular club in England, but there are recent precedents that will make both

their players and supporters shudder.

Leeds United have not graced the Champions League since reaching the semi-finals in 2001, while current league leaders Liverpool last played in the tournament in December 2009.

Once banished from Europe’s top table, clubs can struggle to return.

“It’s hugely important we get back in it as soon as possible,” said defender Phil Jones, after Tuesday’s 3-1 loss at Bayern completed a 4-2 aggregate quarter-final defeat.

“Manchester United need to be in the Champions League. Nights like these do not come around too often.

They are the ones you look back on and think, ‘What a time that was’.

“You want to play against the best

and you want to test yourself against the best.”

While Jones, at 22, can reasonably hope that he has not played his last Champions League game in a United shirt, the same cannot be said for some of his older colleagues.

Captain Nemanja Vidic has already agreed to join Inter Milan, while fellow defenders Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra – scorer of a stunning opening goal in Munich – are also expected to leave in the close season.

Ryan Giggs, meanwhile, is yet to announce whether he will extend his contract, which expires in June, and at 40, the Welshman may be destined to fall one game short of Raul’s record of 142 Champions League appearances. l

Ronaldo a doubt for King’s Cup final

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney (C) reacts after their Champions League quarter-final second leg match against Bayern Munich in Munich on Wednesday REUTERS

Cristiano Ronaldo has sustained a muscle injury in his left thigh, Real Madrid announced Thursday, making the Portuguese striker a doubt for next week’s King’s Cup final against Barcelona.

“Tests which Cristiano Ronaldo underwent have shown up a muscular injury to his left biceps femoris,” Real said, adding that his return to action was dependent on his reaction to rehabilitation.

According to the As newspaper website, Ronaldo could be out for two weeks, which would mean him missing the King’s Cup final in Valencia on Wednesday as well as the Champions League semi-final, first leg match on April 22-23.

Real, third in La Liga behind city rivals Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, host Almeria on Saturday in league action. l

Europe’s elite competition for the first time in four decades.

It was a classic smash and grab raid and Atletico’s gutsy performance was typical of a side who take inspiration from a coach who as a combative and never-say-die midfielder was said to play “with a knife between his teeth”.

“I think the first half, those opening 20 minutes, were very good due to our aggression, our speed, our focus, our commitment,” Simeone said.

“Later on, obviously Barcelona started to grow into the game, above all they had more of the ball,” added the 43-year-old, who has transformed Atletico into genuine contenders in Spain and Europe since taking over at the end of 2011.

“I don’t know if they had many chances but the crosses coming over quickly from (Daniel) Alves on the right were causing us a few problems.

“Later in the second half it was a matter of winding down the clock and waiting for a chance to counter attack and look for the second goal to calm things down.” l

REUTERS

Guardiola hails ‘best’ hour at Bayern Pep Guardiola has hailed his “best” hour at Bayern Munich after steering the holders to the Champions League’s semi-finals as they bid to reach their fourth final in five years.

Holders Bayern had to come from behind before romping to a 3-1 victory at home to Manchester United at Munich’s Allianz Arena in Wednesday’s quarter-final, second-leg to win the tie 4-2 on aggregate.

“We are in the semi finals, so I’m very, very proud of my team,” said Guardiola after goals by Mario Mandzukic, Thomas Mueller and Arjen Robben cancelled out Patrice Evra’s superb second-half strike for United. l

FIVE REASONS ATLETICO MADRID BEAT BARCA 1. Solid defence Atletico’s organisation and defensive resolve has been the bedrock of the club’s revival since Simeone took charge twoand-a-half years ago.

They have conceded just five times in 10 Champions League games on their return to the competition for the first time in four years and, even more impressively, just twice in five encounters with Barcelona this season.

2. Missing Messi

The key to Atletico’s defensive job had been crowding out four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi.

Prior to May last year Messi had scored 20 times in 15 games against Atletico. He has been held scoreless in the six matches between the two since.

Indeed, Atletico’s marshalling of the Argentine has been so good that Barca boss Gerardo Martino moved his compatriot out of his favoured role as a false nine at the Vicente Calderon in an unsuccessful attempt to offer his star man more space out on the right.

3. Koke outshines Spanish teammates The only goal of the second leg came after just five minutes as midfielder Koke timed his run into the box perfectly to volley home Adrian Lopez’s knock-down.

The 22-year-old seems certain to be included in Vicente del Bosque’s World Cup squad and made his case for a starting place as he excelled against many of his more illustrious international teammates in the Barcelona midfield over both legs.

Mourinho fined, warned for Villa Park conduct Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been fined £8,000 ($13,400, 9,700 euros) and warned about his future conduct after being sent off at Aston Villa last month, the Football Association announced on Thursday.

A statement on the FA website said: “Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been fined £8,000 and warned as to his future conduct following an independent regulatory commission hearing.”

Mourinho requested a personal hearing with the FA after he was charged with improper conduct for being sent to the stands by referee Chris Foy during the dying stages of a 1-0 loss at Villa Park in the

Premier League.

“Mourinho denied a breach of FA rule E3 in that his behaviour in re-entering the field of play and approaching the match referee in an attempt to speak to him ... amounted to improper conduct,” the FA said.

“However, the charge was found proven at a personal hearing on Wednesday, April 9.”

Mourinho was sent off following a touchline melee sparked by an ugly foul on Karim El Ahmadi by Ramires that earned the Chelsea midfielder a red card. His team-mate Willian was also sent off during the game.

The Chelsea manager claimed that he had only gone onto the pitch to act as a peacemaker, but he was promptly sent to the stands by Foy. l

4. The roar of the Calderon Atletico fans haven’t had it this good for years and they played their part with spectacular backing throughout the whole 90 minutes to drag their side towards the finish line.

“The atmosphere was amazing. It didn’t affect Barca because they are used to those atmospheres, but it did influence our players. It gave us great positive energy,” said Simeone.

5. Atletico’s depth of squad

What made Atletico’s triumph even more remarkable was that it was done without their talisman Diego Costa for the vast majority of the tie. The Spanish international, who has scored 33 goals this season, limped off after just half an hour of the first leg with a hamstring injury. l –AFP

Portugal into third as Argentina slip Portugal, without even playing, moved into third spot of the FIFA rankings released on Thursday, as Argentina slipped to sixth.

It means Europe now occupies the top three places in the rankings, with Portugal sitting behind leaders Spain and Germany. l

FIFA RANKINGS 1.

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Spain Germany Portugal (+1 place) Colombia (+1) Uruguay (+1) Argentina (-3) Brazil (+3) Switzerland (-1) Italy (-1) Greece (+3)

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England (+1) Belgium (-2) United States (+1) Chile (+1) Netherlands (-4) France (+1) Ukraine (+1) Russia (+1) Mexico (+1) Croatia (-4)

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Friday, April 11, 2014

KP still hoping for Test return

QUICK BYTES

Australia return to Zimbabwe for ODIs Australia will return to Zimbabwe for the first time in a decade later this year to take part in a triangular one-day international tournament, Zimbabwe Cricket said on Thursday. The Australians have not toured the country since May 2004, but will open the triangular tournament - which also includes South Africa - on Aug. 25 against the host nation at Harare Sports Club. All six round-robin matches will be played in Harare, as well as the final on Sept.

7. South Africa will play one test match and three ODIs before the arrival of Australia. The test between Zimbabwe and the Proteas will be played in Harare from August 9-13, followed by three 50-over matches to be staged in Bulawayo.

–Reuters

Scott defends as Masters starts without Tiger

The 78th Masters got underway under blue skies at Augusta National early Thursday morning with living legends Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player hitting the first balls as honorary starters. Another legend of the game, though, was missing as, for the first time since he made his debut as a willowy amateur in 1995, Tiger Woods was absent. The world number one and four time Masters winner announced on April 1 he would not be competing following surgery to repair a pinched nerve in his back that had been troubling him for months. It was a huge blow for a tournament he has come to symbolize over the last 17 years since his first win in 1997, but players and fans agree that the Masters will always work its magic no matter what.

–AFP

Germany’s Brown ousts top seed Isner in Houston

Germany’s Dustin Brown upset top seeded American John Isner in three sets to reach the quarter-finals of the US men’s clay court championships on Wednesday. The world number 101 Brown outlasted the hard-hitting defending champ Isner 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/4) on the clay courts at the River Oaks Country Club. Isner forced a deciding set by winning an extended tiebreaker in the second, but Brown rebounded to claim the final tiebreak. It was his first-ever victory over a top-10 opponent. Isner, who is ranked ninth in the world, beat Nicolas Almargo in the 2013 final.

–AFP

IOC sanction Austrian, Pole for failed Sochi dope tests

Austrian cross country skier Johannes Duerr and Polish bobsleigher Daniel Zalewski were on Wednesday sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for failing drug controls at the Sochi Olympics. Duerr, 27, has been disqualified from the men’s skiathlon in which he finished eighth after testing positive on February 22 for the banned substance recombinant erythropoietin (EPO).

–AFP

US college player reveals he is gay University of Massachusetts player Derrick Gordon has come out as the first openly gay player in American collegiate basketball. “I just didn’t want to hide anymore, in any way,” division one men’s player Gordon said Wednesday on ESPN sports television. “I didn’t want to have to lie or sneak. I’ve been waiting and watching for the last few months, wondering when a division one player would come out, and finally I just said, ‘Why not me?’”

Gordon said he came out to his family, coaches and teammates earlier this month. Gordon was inspired by Brooklyn Nets centre Jason Collins, who last year publicly acknowledged his sexuality. On February 23, Collins became the first openly gay player in National Basketball Association history when he played against the Los Angeles Lakers.

–AFP

15

Serbia's tennis player Jelena Jankovic returns the ball to France's Mathilde Johansson, during their Bogota Open match in Bogota on Wednesday. Jankovic won 7-5, 7-5 AFP

Zakir Khan named West Ham ambassador Zakir Khan, the chief advisor of Canary Wharf UK Bangladesh Football Academy and the chairman of Bangladesh caucus of Conservative Party, has been appointed as the ambassador of West Ham United Football Club recently. He is the first Asian to receive such an honor from the English club.

Zakir Khan, a Bangladeshi by origin, established the Canary Wharf Football Academy in Bangladesh in 2006.

After completing a four year long course from his academy, a total of 15 players have made their way to the professional league so far and five of them have earned national team calls.

The players have also been to the West Ham Academy and the David Beckham Academy for a month-long trial.

All the players and the officials of the Canary Wharf UK Bangladesh Football Academy congratulated Zakir Khan for this achievement. l

Pistorius admits ‘no reason’ to fire fatal shots Under pummelling cross-examination, Oscar Pistorius admitted Thursday that he had “no reason” to fire the shots that killed Reeva Steenkamp, as prosecutors began to zero in on apparent inconsistencies in key parts of his account.

During the second day of gruelling questioning, prosecutor Gerrie Nel began to pick at Pistorius’s explanation of why he fired four times through his toilet door on Valentine’s Day 2013.

Pistorius has been charged with murdering his 29-year-old model girlfriend and faces a life sentence if convicted.

The Olympian has said he fired the shots accidentally and did not mean to kill anyone. He testified that he feared someone was coming through the toilet door and that his life was in danger.

This seemingly contradictory account was probed at length by Nel, who drew a concession from Pistorius that the shots should not have been fired at all.

“We know for a fact there were no intruders in your house that night, we

Afghan cricketers to train in Pakistan Afghanistan’s fast-rising cricket team will train in Pakistan under the guidance of two former international captains as they prepare for their maiden World Cup appearance next year, their coach said Thursday.

Aamir Sohail will help the batsmen while Rashid Latif will help the wicketkeepers as the minnows begin tuning up for the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

“We have a full year of events starting with the Asian Cricket Council Trophy next month and the excitement will reach the highest point with the World Cup, and we have planned a two-week camp in Karachi from April 15,” Afghan coach Kabir Khan told AFP. Afghanistan have taken big strides at the international level since gaining one-day status in 2009.

They have featured in three World Twenty20 (2010, 2012 and 2014) tournaments and qualified for next year’s World Cup. The International Cricket Council

Sacked batting star Kevin Pietersen still hopes to return to international cricket and become the first England player to score 10,000 Test runs, according to an interview published Thursday.

The 33-year-old Pietersen also insisted that former England skipper Andrew Strauss was a “good friend” despite their fallout over a text scandal, saying the episode was the biggest regret of his career.

Pietersen, who was axed in February after England’s disastrous tour to Australia, told the Indian Express newspaper that he had not given up hope of an international comeback.

“Yes, maybe I’ll still get to 10,000 (Test runs),” said the batsman, who scored 8,181 runs in 104 Tests after making his debut against Australia in 2005.

Pietersen is the fourth highest run scorer in England’s history and tops the list among current players.

Since Pietersen’s unceremonious dumping, England captain Alistair Cook has given his public backing to the decision by the England board which he called “a brave call”.

While his relationship with Cook appears to be beyond repair, Pietersen claimed to have patched up things with Strauss after sending disparaging texts about his then captain to the touring South Africans in 2012.

“Andrew Strauss is a great friend. I was just in a bad space,” said the South Africa-born star, who was speaking on a promotional visit to New Delhi.

“We were not having a great relationship at that time. It should never have come out, all that nonsense. That wasn’t a special time at all.”

In an interview earlier this week, Pietersen denied he had a bad relationship with team-mates, saying he was the first to help Jonathan Trott over his stress-related illness on the ill-fated Ashes tour. l

has announced $1 million for each of the four World Cup qualifiers -- Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Ireland and Scotland -- and have also arranged their camps in Australia and New Zealand in September-October this year.

“We had a few good results in the Asia Cup where we beat the hosts Bangladesh,” said Khan of his team’s success in the event held in March this year.

“But our batsmen did not handle pressure well in the World Twenty20.”

Afghanistan lost to Bangladesh and Nepal in the qualifying stages and failed to reach the Super-10 group stage of the World Twenty20 held in Bangladesh.

Afghanistan are in Group A of the World Cup 2015 along with hosts Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Bangladesh, England and Sri Lanka.

They open their World Cup campaign with a match against Bangladesh in Canberra on February 18.

Sohail said he was looking forward to coaching Afghanistan. l

know for a fact there was no ladder against the wall,” Nel said.

“We know for a fact that you had no reason to shoot, objectively speaking.”

Pistorius responded: “That’s correct my lady.”

Regardless of who Pistorius believed was behind the door, he could face a stiff sentence if Judge Thokozile Masipa believes he purposely used lethal force without reasonable cause.

Pistorius’s cross-examination is a key point in his trial, and a stern test of both his version of events and of his resolve.

During the five-week trial the worldfamous athlete has appeared fragile, frequently crying in court and becoming physically sick when the gruesome details of Steenkamp’s injuries were discussed.

Nel spent most the first part of his cross-examination accusing Pistorius of being a selfish, controlling boyfriend and caring more about himself than the death of his girlfriend.

Nel tore into the 27-year-old’s account of his relationship with Steenkamp.

“It’s all about ‘I’. It’s all about Mr Pistorius,” Nel said, reading cell phone messages in which Steenkamp said she was upset and “scared” of Pistorius’s behaviour.

“She’s scared of the feelings that she has for me and the way that I brushed

her off,” the athlete explained the message his girlfriend sent over social messenger WhatsApp. Nel also accused Pistorius of making a public apology to Steenkamp’s parents just to make himself feel better. l

South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius (2nd R) leaves the North Gauteng High Court during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria yesterday AFP

Latif turns down PCB selector role Pakistan cricket turmoil Wednesday took a new turn as former captain Rashid Latif turned down the job of chief selector following an alleged disagreement over his working conditions.

Pakistan cricket has been hit hard by a series of off-the-field controversies in the past year, particularly a legal row over the job of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman.

Last week the team failed to reach the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, prompting captain Mohammad Hafeez to step down.

Latif’s refusal to take over as chief selector, a role he was due to begin in April after being appointed two months ago, is the latest blow to the Pakistan cricket set-up.

“The PCB considered me for the important slot and I, after thorough consideration, politely turned it down,” Latif said in a statement.

Latif, known as a strict disciplinarian in his efforts to promote cricket, had demanded he report only to the board chairman Najam Sethi or chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed.

But sources said the PCB wanted him to report to the director of game development Haroon Rasheed, and as a result he turned the job down.

“No hard feelings for both parties. I don’t want to get into controversy and I hope Pakistan cricket will flourish under the chairman and board,” said Latif.

“I will not make any further statement. There has been too many (specu-

lations) in the media.”

Sethi had offered Latif the role after being reappointed as PCB chairman by prime minister Nawaz Sharif in February.

Latif also refused the additional responsibility of helping as an adviser on anti-corruption matters, a role offered to him for his services in the fight against corruption during his cricketplaying days.

Latif blew the whistle on his teammates in 1994, resulting in the Pakistan government initiating a judicial enquiry which led to life bans on former captain Salim Malik and bowler Ata-ur Rehman, and fines on six other players including bowling greats Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

Sources in the PCB said Latif has been summoned by Sethi next week.

Latif played 37 Tests and 166 oneday matches for Pakistan and also coached the Afghanistan cricket team, leading them to a silver medal finish in the Asian Games in China in 2010.

He also runs cricket academies for young people in various cities across Pakistan, a role which many believed would have helped him in the selector post. l

Racing days over for ailing Thorpe: manager

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 4 1:00AM Osasuna v Real Valladolid Star Sports HD1 1:00AM Masters Tournament Sony Six NBA 2013-14 6:00AM Dallas v San Antonio 8:30AM Golden State v Denver Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid inaugurates the Clemon Indoor University Cricket at the Mirpur indoor stadium yesterday

COURTESY

Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe was battling serious infections Wednesday in a Sydney hospital following shoulder surgery, his manager said, adding he would likely never swim competitively again.

James Erskine said Thorpe was unlucky to have fallen ill after shoulder surgery in Australia, but dismissed reports the 31-year-old, five-time Olympic gold medallist would lose the use of his left arm.

“That’s just conjecture by press. At the end of the day he’s got an infection and like all these things, they have to be treated seriously,” Erskine told the ABC, adding that Thorpe was not in intensive care.

“Although it’s serious, no one’s talked to him about possibly not being able to use his arm or whatever.”

Erskine said Thorpe had broken his shoulder in a fall in Australia some months ago and the swimmer known as the “thorpedo” would not be resuming his career in the pool. l

16

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Friday, April 11, 2014

1 die, 10 burnt in fire at Tejgaon Four others suffer burns in shoe factory fire at Kamrangirchar n Mohammad Jamil Khan At least one person died and 10 others including a teenage boy suffered severe burns as a fire broke out at a shop in the capital’s Tejgaon area yesterday.

Of them, six were injured critically as their respiratory tracts were badly burnt in the fire, Prof Dr Mohammad Sazzad Khondokar of burn unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune. “We are trying our best to provide the fire victims with proper treatment,” he said.

The deceased is van driver Abdul Latif, 55, who was waiting outside the building on the vehicle during the fire. He received Abdul Latif 96% burn injuries.

The injured were identified as shop owner Mahmudul Hasan, 38, his friend Ibrahim Khalil, 35, shop employee Motaleb, 14, van driver Jahirul Islam, 60, World University students Shammi Akter Jhilik, 19, and Rifat Ara Yasmin, 19, and Saiful Alam, 48, Mohammad Maksud, 36, Uzzal, 24, and Jakir Hossain, 38, a security guard of Alauddin garments housed in the building.

Majharul Islam, officer-in-charge of Tejgaon police station, said the fire broke out at Mahfuz Sewing and Service in Tejkunipara bazar area around 2:15pm. On information, three fire fighting units rushed to the spot and put out the flames around 3:30pm, he said.

Kamruzzaman Manik, manager of the shop, told the Dhaka Tribune that a drum loaded with 200 litres of phenyle reached their shop at 2pm and he

Tazreen Fashions chairman Mahmuda Akhter granted bail n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday granted bail to Tazreen Fashions Chairman Mahmuda Akhter in a homicide case .

The case was filed in connection with the devastating fire in the garment factory that killed at least 112 workers in 2012.

Dhaka’s District and Sessions Judge Md Abdul Majid granted the bail on a Tk20,000 bond after hearing the bail petition filed by Mahmuda’s lawyer Md Golam Gaus.

The defence counsel told the Dhaka Tribune: “Now that the court has granted bail, there is no bar to releasing Mahmuda from prison.”

Mahmuda secured bail on February 10 but it was cancelled on April 3 upon a prosecution plea.

Her husband Delwar Hossain, the managing director of the Tazreen, is currently in jail.

The case was filed in connection with the fire that broke out at Tazreen Fashions in Ashulia on the outskirts of the capital on November 25, 2012.

The couple and 11 other officials of the factory have been facing the same lawsuit for their negligence in ensuring adequate safety measures at the factory.

According to the charge sheet, submitted by the police to the court they have been shown guilty for constructing the building in blatant violation of the commercial building code.

It is the first-ever move in the country to prosecute garment factory owners for a factory fire. l

3 government agencies, DCs asked to identify vulnerable buildings n Asif Showkat Kallol

A victim of Tejgaon fire receiving treatment at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday opened the lid of the drum. Later, some chemicals came out of the drum and scattered on the shop floor.

“I went to wash my body. A fire broke out before I had come back to the shop, leaving the owner and staff injured,” he added.

Of the injured, Ibrahim Khalil re-

ceived 91% burn injuries while Motaleb 75%, Saiful Alam 95%, Mohammad Maksud 25%, Uzzal 20% and Jakir Hossain 25% burn injuries.

Meanwhile, four other people suffered burn injuries as a fire broke out at Shohag Shoe Factory in Alinagar area of Kamrangirchar around 6pm. Victims

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Mantu Sheikh, 40, Abdur Rashid, 21, Alamgir, 14, and Rubel, 21, were admitted to the DMCH burn unit.

Rashid said the fire broke out from sparking of a shoe finishing machine while they were working there. The local people later put out the fire after half an hour hectic effort, he added. l

The government has directed three agencies and the deputy commissioners of Dhaka and its surrounding districts concerned to identify vulnerable buildings within the DAP area and prevent their use within two weeks.

In an executive order, the Prime Minister’s Office assigned the Cabinet Division, the ministries of public works and local government, and the DCs with the task at a recent meeting on development of buildings in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster.

Principal Secretary at the PMO Abdus Sobhan Sikder presided over the meeting with different stakeholders on April 3.

An official of the Public Works Ministrytold the Dhaka Tribune that the Detailed Area Plan (DAP)had recommended reclamation of more than 2,500 acres of flood zones and agriculture land from illegal housing schemesof developers.

The official said the PMO directive would help stop further disaster like that of Rana Plaza in areas in and around Dhaka under the DAP. The nine-storey Rana Plaza at Savar, on the outskirts of the capital, collapsed on April 24 lastyear, killing 1,135 people, mostly garment workers. The building had been built without the approval required under the building construction law.

The meeting at the PMO decided that a team consisting representatives of development partners, commerce, labour and public works ministries and Bangladesh Bank will inspect and supervise retrofitting work ofexisting factory buildings.

Labour and Employment Secretary MikailShipar yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that they were already heavily burdenedwith the inspection of garment factories under pressure from international buyers’ platforms– Accordand Alliance.

He saidthe ministries and divisions, which had been tasked with identifying vulnerable buildings, had no technical know-how for inspecting factories.

“Rajuk should have been included in the process,” he said, adding that garment factory owners would file cases if the inspections were not proper.

The PMO meeting also decided that the DCs would update the data onthe Rana Plaza victims.

The government agencies, the Armed Forces Division and district administration would publicise rescue efforts, grant and relief activities, and medical attention given to the victims of Rana Plaza disaster.

The meeting asked the Disaster Management Ministryto publish a book onthe money spent by the NGOs and speed up activities to identify dead bodies through DNA test and prepare the final list of missing people. l

Spectrum factory collapse Biman starts search for a new CEO n slides into oblivion Muhammad Zahidul Islam

n Udisa Islam The 70-death collapse of the Spectrum garment in April 2005 could have been the wakeup call for the country’s policymakers, that could have prevented the over 1,000-death Rana Plaza collapse.

But over a span of nine years, everything about the deadly collapse have virtually sled into oblivion, let alone the victims getting justice.

This now can be another wakeup call itself for the victims and their relatives of the Rana Plaza disaster, especially for those who have been waiting for justice.

On April 11, 2005, the nine-storey factory building of Spectrum Garments in Palashbari of Savar crashed, killing around 70 people On April 11, 2005, the nine-storey factory building of Spectrum Garments in Palashbari of Savar crashed, killing around 70 people and injuring at least a hundred.

A boiler explosion and also faulty construction have been blamed for the collapse. The building, erected on a marshland, had several unapproved floors.

On May 24, 2005, about a month after the collapse, the High Court granted bail to Shahriar alias Sayeed Hossain, managing director of the collapse sweater factory building, and Abul Hasem Fakir, a director of the factory.

The two accused were later discharged from a trial court on consideration that the case was filed by police and not by any of the victims’ families.

On the same day, following a writ petition, filed by four injured workers in association with several rights bodies, the High Court issued a rule asking the government why it should not be directed to form a commission headed by a sitting or a retired Supreme Court judge to inquire into the collapse, find the culprits and suggest ways to prevent recurrence.

The High Court is yet to settle that petition, with only BGMEA and Rajuk among the respondents answering the ruling. But the hearing on the petition never quite gained any pace with files containing BGMEA and Rajuk’s replies going mysteriously missing.

Insiders said the “lost” file containing BGMEA’s reply actually admitted, following a probe by a 14-member team, that the Spectrum building had several additional floors on top of the approved ones.

Rajuk, in its reply, said just like the collapsed building, many other structures in the area had been built on filled marshlands.

Garment Workers’ Unity Forum President Moshrefa Mishu said: “Justice delayed is justice denied. The state will have to bring the culprits to justice after such incidents and must recognise an obligation about providing sufficient compensation for the victims. If that does not happen, such incidents cannot be prevented.”

Anthropologist Saydia Gulrukh, whose organisation is dealing with case against the owner of Tazreen Fashions, said: “If everyone responsible for the faulty construction of the Spectrum Factory [building] could be brought to book, the Rana Plaza collapse could have been prevented... By everyone, I mean all the government officials from the factory inspection department and the local administration.” l

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has begun searching for a new managing director and chief executive officer, as the incumbent MD and CEO, Kevin Steele, is set to leave his office on April 19.

An invitation of applications for the Biman leadership position has already been published on the national flag carrier’s website, while advertisements in this regard will also be published in newspapers within a couple of days, said Biman’s general manager (public relations) Mosharaf Hosen Khan.

Interested candidates have been requested to send their applications along with other required documents to the authorities concerned by May 16.

In its online advertisement, Biman

sought applications from both Bangladeshi and foreign nationals for the positions of MD and CEO. The advertisement also said the salary for the position is negotiable. Earlier, there was much controversy surrounding Steel’s remuneration, which included Tk18.3 lakh as a monthly salary, along with a flat in an expensive neighbourhood in Dhaka, transport facilities and 12 business class air tickets annually. However, no previous MD of the organisation had ever received more than Tk3 lakh for their services.

Steele joined Biman in March 2013 on a two-year contract as the airline’s first foreign MD and CEO; but just 13 months in, he is set to leave, citing health reasons.

“I am leaving on the 19th of this month, and everything has been decid-

ed and made final. If Biman wants, we can maintain a very close contact after my departure,” Steele, who submitted his resignation in December last year, told the Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday.

Biman’s board of directors was free to accept or reject his suggestions as they saw fit, Steel said, adding that he was willing to help Biman until a successor was found. The outgoing CEO also denied claims that he had any dispute with the airlines’ board members.

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon formed a four-member sub-committee, headed

by Civil Aviation Secretary Khurshed Alam Chowdhury, to find a new MD. This sub-committee requested Steele to stay with the flag carrier until Biman found his successor. l

Now, enjoy free internet as you move!

Buses equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity introduced in capital vehicle tracking system to track such services for the loads of people who n Muhammad Zahidul Islam buses from a distant location if they travel by bus every day and the digital With a view to keeping up with the times, the government has introduced special buses equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity in the capital to let passengers enjoy free wireless Internet facilities as they travel to their destinations.

The buses, called ‘digital bus’, were unveiled following a public meeting in the capital’s Farmgate yesterday. Communications Minister Obaidul Quader and State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak inaugurated the service.

Passengers taking a digital bus will have the opportunity to browse the Internet free of charge with Wi-Fienabled devices like smartphones, laptops or tablet computers.

Simultaneously, they can utilise the

want to catch a specific one, sources said.

Under the Access to Information (a2i) programme of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Wi-Fi connectivity will be installed in 20 buses of the state-owned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) running from Motijheel to Uttara. Of the 20, 10 were put into operation yesterday.

At least 8,000 passengers can avail themselves of the free Internet connectivity every day while travelling on the Motijheel-Uttara route.

The communications minister said more digital buses would be introduced in the capital soon.

“We are trying to introduce different

bus is one of those. Very soon, we’ll cover other routes with such modern services,” he said.

Palak said buses could also help make the country digital and could reduce travel woes of passengers.

Sources said that at least four wireless 3G routers of state-owned mobile phone operator Teletalk were installed in each of the buses, enabling around 40 passengers to use the service simultaneously.

“Even if the buses travel at 55 to 60 kilometres per hour, there will be no disruption in the service,” Naimuzzaman Mukta, people’s perspective specialist of the a2i programme, told the Dhaka Tribune. l

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B3 BlackBerry may consider

B4 Japan, US trade talks

exiting handsets, eyes investments

fail to close gap over Trans-Pacific Partnership

FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Sluggish investment Three more furnace oil-based power drives forex reserve plants under PDB evaluation If these plants approved, total generation from the costly fuel will exceed 5000MW to $20bn n Tribune Report The country’s foreign exchange reserve has crossed US$20bn – a buildup equivalent to six months of import payments.

In accordance with the international standards, a country remains comfortable enough with having only a reserve equivalent to three months of import payments. The reserve yesterday stood at $20.03bn, 41% higher than on the same day last year, according to a Bangladesh Bank release yesterday.

It attributed the record rise to the steady inflow of remittance, constant export growth and stable exchange rates.

It took only one and half month to reach the new high from $19bn in February. The reserve was $18bn in December last. The central bank measures to maintain a stable exchange rate of taka against US dollars and stimulus to exporters, including expansion of the export development fund, have helped the reserve to this level.

Besides, the bumper crop production helped reduce the import cost, contributing to the international reserve – second largest among SAARC countries after India.

“The foreign direct investment and private borrowing from external sources were also among the major factors,” said the release. It said the reserve is well enough to face any internal or external economic shock.

“This is a good cushion to have

against the possibility of yet another round of political instability,” the World Bank said, however, in its latest update on Bangladesh development released on Wednesday. “The high level of reserves helped Bangladesh’s sovereign rating needed to catalyse higher foreign direct investment.”

The World Bank said the combination of a sizable current account surplus and a moderate surplus in the financial and capital account contributed to maintaining a still large, though smaller relative to last year, surplus in the overall balance of payment position and a consequent build-up of external foreign exchange reserves.

“If you look at the capital machinery import trend, investment situation is not good right now,” said economist MA Taslim. The investors, both local and foreign, still feel shy to go for investment due to number of reasons including persisting political uncertainty, infrastructure constraints and fragile banking sector.

“Sluggish imports contribute to build up the reserve. This is good as it cushions for import,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. “Considering the overall investment situation, we are actually stepping back.”

A senior executive of Bangladesh Bank said remittance inflow started rising in the recent months as the business activities began to move slowly after the national election. It was almost stuck up for last one year. l

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

Three local private companies have proposed to set up five power projects of total 2300 megawatt in Chittagong, nearly half of which will be generated from costly furnace oil.

Summit Power Limited, United Power Generation and Distribution Co. Ltd and a joint-venture consortium of Bangla Trac Communication and Acron Infrastructure Services Ltd submitted the proposals to Power Division recently.

Furnace oil-based plants cost Tk16 for a unit of electricity while the coalbased plants cost Tk6 and the gasbased plants cost Tk2 for a unit.

Power Development Board (PDB) officials said as the government has extended the tenures of nine rental power plants, there is no need of heavy fuel oil (HFO)-based power plants. HFO is known as furnace oil.

“We have received proposals from three companies to build five power plants in Chittagong. They can be considered,” Power Secretary Monowar Islam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

But the government’s possible consideration has greatly astonished the PDB high officials as they see no necessity of any new costly plant now.

Three HFO-based and two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)-based plants have been proposed by the companies.

Of them, Summit wants to construct 500MW HFO-based and 700MW LNGbased plants, United proposes to set

Bank pay scales not discussed in pay commission meeting

BFFEA urges tax cut to face global competition

n Asif Showkat Kallol Finance Ministry dropped the issue of bank pay scales from discussion in the third meeting of pay and services commission.

So, the matter has been stuck again though the minister recently directed the banking division to expedite the implementation process.

The meeting sources said when the matter was raised by a commission member, finance minister stopped him saying “It is not right place to discuss about bank pay scales.”

n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) has urged the government to lower the tax at source to 0.25% from existing 0.80% as the cost of fish production increased due to the scarcity of raw materials.

The leaders of BFFEA would also seek withdrawal of 5% advanced income tax on the cash incentives when they will place a proposal soon in a pre-budget meeting with the officials of the National Bureau of Revenue (NBR).

Urging the government to reduce the interest rates to 7% from 15%, senior vice-president of BFFEA Kazi Belayet Hossain said: As the production cost has been increased due to the shortage of raw materials, the country’s frozen food sector has lost its competitiveness in the global market.

“As higher tax at source pushes the production cost of fishes and shrimps to a higher level, we are urging the government to reduce it to 0.25% for the sake of maintaining our competitiveness in the global market,” Belayet Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.

Former BFFEA President Golam Mostafa said: The government provides 10% cash incentives to the exporters to catch the markets but it cuts 5% tax at source on incentives, which is conflicting with the essence of any incentive. Bangladesh is unable to compete in the global markets as our competitors including India, Thailand and Vietnam are exporting

up 500MW HFO-based and 500MW LNG-based plants and the joint venture seeks permission for 100MW HFObased plant.

“All the proposals have been sent to the PDB for evaluation. If PDB is positive about the projects, the proposals will be sent to the cabinet committee on public purchase for approval,” he said.

PDB sources said the country already has such plants with a total of 1963MW generation capacity and this capacity is 19.17% of the country’s total power generation capacity.

More 15 HFO-based power projects are under construction now in public and private sectors and the total capacity of these plants is around 1400MW. Besides, tenders are under process for more six furnace oil-based projects with 900MW capacity.

If all these plants come to operation, the furnace oil-based generation will exceed 5000MW. Further, the country has diesel-run power plants with a generation capacity of 683MW which is 6.67% of total capacity.

Power Division initially decided not to extend tenure of any expensive rental and quick rental plants.

But as commencement of the less costly based-load power projects were delayed, the division extended the tenures of nine rental and quick rental plants.

According to the proposals, the five projects will be run as independent power producers (IPPs) on build, own

'It is not right place to discuss about bank pay scales'

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

shrimps at cheaper prices.

Currently, only shrimp exporters are enjoying 10% cash incentives against the export-value.

BFFEA leaders also demanded 100% withdrawal of electricity and gas tariffs in line with other agrobased industries as they call it an agricultural industry.

In the first eight month of the current financial year, Bangladeshi frozen foods earned US$458m, which is 24.23% higher than the same period of last fiscal year’s value of $369m due to the increased price.

Of the total export value, shrimp

has earned $396m, frozen foods $36m and the rest from others.

The government has set a target of $543.84m for the FY2013-14.

In 2012-13 fiscal year, frozen foods exports recorded 9% fall to $544m as fish production fell due to detected disease in prawn.

According to statistic of BFFEA, around 1.5 crore people are involved in the sector either directly or indirectly. Bangladesh exports around 60,000 metric tonnes shrimps to the world market against its production capacity of nearly 1.5 lakh metric tonnes. l

Finance Minister is now in Washington DC to attend the spring meetings of World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

He is expected to return on April 23.

The government’s pay and services commission will give recommendation about pay scales of Bangladesh Bank and four state-owned commercial banks to prevent any clash.

Finance Secretary Fazle Kabir said he wanted to sit with the chairman pay and services commission Mohammad Farashuddin to avoid any legal complexity and any sort of clash between the different pay scales.

He also said after receiving opinion from the commission the finance division would soon hand over the matter to the authorities concerned for further steps.

On 24 November last year, the government constituted the eighth pay and services commission to formulate a new pay structure for public servants. l

Samsung S5 launched in Dhaka before global launching n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Market leader of the mobile device producer Samsung has unveiled the latest flagship device Galaxy S5 in Bangladesh partnered by one of the leading telecom operators in the country, Robi.

Announcing the launching of its latest flagship device at a ceremony held yesterday in the capital, the official of Samsung also disclosed that Galaxy S5 will be kicked off in 150 countries across the world today.

Samsung Electronics Bangladesh and Robi jointly inaugurated the handset at the ceremony.

The latest innovation of Samsung will be avail-

able in the Bangladesh market from today and for the first time Samsung launched any device in Bangladesh along with countries.

Only 1,000 customers, who have booked earlier through Robi can have this device from today at a price Tk60,000, which also available with EMI of 12 months.

Earlier, Robi and Samsung had signed a strategic partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and that’s empowered their customers for pre-book Galaxy S5 smartphones.

The device will be available in four colours -- charcoal Black, shimmery White, electric Blue and copper Gold.

Galaxy S5 is equipped with some special features like kids mode, water proof and professional photography option to make more easy the people`s lives, said the officials at the launching programme.

Mobile phone operator Robi is the official partner of the device and offers some facilities like internet using benefit for six months to the users of the device.

Samsung official informed the media that the customers could buy the product through 12 installments by using the channel of Brac Bank, Standard Bank, Bank Asia and MS card holders of City Bank. l

Photo shows Orion Group's heavy fuel oil based power plant and operate (BOO) basis. The companies will import fuel at their own arrangement to operate the plants.

The government earlier cancelled deal to install Summit’s Bibiyana-1 341MW combined-cycle power project because of the company’s failure to complete the plant within deadline.

Summit’s Bibiyana-2 341MW combined-cycle power project also missed its previous deadline which was August, 2013.

The deadline for Bibiyana-2 project has been reset for December, 2014.

Besides, the 335MW Meghnaghat

combined-cycle power project of Summit was scheduled to begin generation also in August 2013, but missed the deadline. Now the Summit officials are expecting to start the plant’s generation by April, 2014.

Summit Power is a company under Summit Group and United Power Generation belongs to United Group.

Summit Group operates a total of 11 power plants currently having 573.55MW power generation capacity while the United Group has two power plants with a total of 170MW capacity.

Acron has one power plant of 100MW. l

RMG makes progress, still long way to go, says Cruden n Tribune Report

Bangladesh has so far made a significant progress in improving overall working conditions in the ready-made garment sector, but still there are lot of things to do for further advancement.

Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden came up with the observation while talking to the reporters yesterday after attending a views-sharing meeting with her fellow colleagues from different countries stationed in Dhaka.

The meeting titled “Post Rana Plaza Initiatives and the Current Scenario of RMG sector” was organised by the BGMEA at its office to update the ambassadors, the high commissioners and donor agencies about the progress so far made in the country’s RMG sector.

Ambassadors and high commissioner from 14 countries including the European Union and the US attended the views sharing meeting.

“Although a lot of things have been achieved over the years in RMG sector, it is fair to say that progress may not be happened quickly while the exceptions are unrealistic. However, it is important for all the parties that are engaged to continue and maintain the pressure and commitments with the ongoing momentum,” said the Canadian envoy.

She said: “RMG sector in Bangladesh created a lot of employment and empowered its women but we cannot be complacent as we continue to move forward to progress further in some complicated areas like factory inspection, remediation, compensation, database, workers being paid, trade union, work place safety.”

Country Director of International

Labour Organisation (ILO) Srinivas B Reddy said freedom of association in the RMG sector was getting shape as a total of 134 trade unions got registration in recent times.

During last fifteen month, a total of 134 trade unions got registered with the government, which is very much significant in terms of freedom of association in collective bargaining, said Reddy.

Commenting on the buyers’attitude to the Trust Fund contribution for the compensation of Rana Plaza victims, Reddy said, “It is unprecedented as they are not paying any heed to the demand of the rights bodies to raise the fund. Every worker will be paid Tk50,000 before the first anniversary of the factory disaster and we have already started receiving complaints from the victims.

The Primark would provide US$9m to compensate 580 workers, who worked for New Weave garment housed at Rana Plaza, while it would donate $1m to the trust fund.

“We have briefed them about what we have done for improving RMG sector till today since the Rana Plaza collapse with a specific message that we want to build the RMG sector as a safe and secured industry,” said BGMEA President Atiqul Islam.

He claimed that the percentage of trade union was increasing day by day as saying, “We are giving training to garment workers and the mid-level officers about their own rights and responsibilities.”

“We have lots of issues need to be improved and hope to work together to reach a new height with all the stakeholders,” Islam, however, said. l

B2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks continue to end flat n Tribune Report

'Despite finishing positively, market likely to remain cautious as index wrapped the week red and it has been consolidating at the level of 4,600 points' The benchmark DSEX was down 1.6 points to close at 4,593, after hitting highest 4,634 in the morning.

However, the blue chips index DS30 saw fractional gain of 0.4 points to 1,020. The Shariah index DSES also witnessed fractional gain of 0.9 points to 1,675.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange’s Selective Category Index, CSCX, dropped 28 points to 8,900. Trading activities continued to decline as DSE turnover stood at Tk420 crore, down 22% over the previous session.

Among the large cap sectors, tele-

Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

4,208.13

Turnover (Volume)

70,989,112

Number of Contract

86,400

Traded Issues

294

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

131

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

158

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,342.39

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.39

Turnover (Million Taka)

390.73

Turnover (Volume)

7,782,444

Number of Contract

13,876

DSE Broad Index :

4592.73414

(-) 0.03%

▼

Traded Issues

226

DSE Shariah Index :

1020.21946

(+) 0.03%

▲

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

101

DSE - 30 Index :

1675.63449

(+) 0.05%

▲

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

117

CSE All Share Index:

14185.6313

(+) 0.15%

▲

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

CSE - 30 Index :

11920.0626

(+) 0.29%

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,245.62

8900.7070

(+) 0.32%

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.22

CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS

Mercantile Bank -A Northern Jute -Z Brac B.C. Bond-A Midas Financing-Z Reckitt Benckiser -A The Ibn SinaA LafargeS Cement-Z Usmania Glass -A

-10.17 -9.09 -5.69 -5.58 -5.53 -5.49 -5.21 -4.84

Average (% change) -15.27 -9.09 -5.77 -5.32 -5.12 -2.88 -6.80 -4.66

BSC-A Rahima Food -Z

-4.14 -4.09

-1.58 -3.50

Company

Closing (% change)

CSE LOSERS

Mercantile Bank -A Rupali Life Insur.-A Peoples Insur -A SonarBangla Insu. -A Reckitt Benckiser -A Rahima Food -Z ISN Ltd. -A Samorita Hospital -A

-10.61 -9.91 -7.79 -7.26 -6.20 -5.35 -5.06 -4.90

Average (% change) -11.49 -9.91 -8.15 -7.07 -6.20 -3.89 -4.67 -5.75

Standard Ceramic -A LafargeS Cement-Z

-4.76 -4.59

-4.88 -5.58

Company

Closing (% change)

ANALYST

Closing average

Closing

Daily high

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

Latest PE

16.20 90.00 1002.00 25.46 1266.46 126.68 57.26 195.88

15.90 90.00 1002.00 25.40 1249.40 123.90 56.40 192.60

16.70 90.00 1002.00 25.50 1399.00 131.80 60.00 204.10

14.30 90.00 1002.00 25.40 1243.00 121.20 55.60 185.00

24.982 0.018 0.005 0.331 14.121 11.794 338.903 29.824

3.00 -10.24 0.00 -5.96 41.12 3.12 2.19 5.10

5.4 -ve -ve 30.8 40.6 26.1 38.4

641.78 40.48

624.50 39.90

665.00 43.00

622.00 39.60

166.154 1.599

23.48 -1.00

27.3 -ve

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

Closing

16.18 110.00 28.27 23.00 1,302.00 40.80 16.94 102.03

16.00 110.00 28.40 23.00 1,302.00 40.70 16.90 101.00

16.50 110.00 28.40 23.00 1,302.00 41.00 17.00 103.10

14.40 110.00 28.20 23.00 1,302.00 40.20 16.80 100.50

3.455 0.055 0.017 0.035 0.065 0.082 0.119 0.306

3.00 5.33 2.20 1.85 41.12 -1.00 -0.36 2.74

5.4 20.6 12.9 12.4 31.7 -ve -ve 37.2

39.95 58.18

40.00 58.20

40.00 60.10

39.90 57.00

0.160 19.955

1.06 2.19

37.7 26.6

Daily low

Investors’ enthusiasm in capitalising on fundamentally sound stocks, profit taking and large cap wise swings are what kept the market alive with high turnover volume

CSE GAINERS Company Salvo Chemicals-B 8th ICB M F-A AB Bank - A Samata LeatheR -Z Eastern Housing -A Trust Bank-A Summit Power -A Bay Leasing.-A IFIC Bank - A Federal Insu.-A

Sector Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 502.87 109.66 51.19 269.01 290.05 426.66 2.51 251.13 347.46 0.68 52.07 74.42 18.77 673.54 19.47 46.53 104.09 711.87 25.91 224.23 6.03

% change 11.95 2.61 1.22 6.39 6.89 10.14 0.06 5.97 8.26 0.02 1.24 1.77 0.45 16.01 0.46 1.11 2.47 16.92 0.62 5.33 0.14

Million Taka 63.31 6.83 3.40 25.12 27.20 37.31 44.50 26.06 26.42 3.00 29.94 3.13 53.87 3.53 1.94 7.47 54.65 4.89 46.83 0.01

CSE

% change 13.49 1.46 0.72 5.35 5.79 7.95 0.00 9.48 5.55 5.63 0.64 6.38 0.67 11.48 0.75 0.41 1.59 11.64 1.04 9.98 0.00

Million Taka 566.18 116.50 54.59 294.14 317.25 463.97 2.51 295.63 373.52 27.10 55.06 104.35 21.90 727.42 23.00 48.47 111.56 766.52 30.79 271.06 6.04

Total

Closing (% change) 9.84 9.15 8.42 8.36 6.33 5.33 4.63 3.92 3.89 3.82

Average (% change) 8.73 9.15 10.34 9.00 2.72 8.87 3.05 5.26 4.13 4.52

BSC: (Q3): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 3rd quarter ended on 31st March 2014 (Jan'14 to March'14), the Company has reported profit after tax of Tk. 73.92 million with EPS of Tk. 5.43 as against Tk. 73.62 million and Tk. 8.90 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Whereas profit/(loss) after tax was Tk. 239.86 million with EPS of Tk. 17.61 for the period of nine months (July'13 to March'14) ended on 31.03.2014 as against Tk. (135.12) million and Tk. (16.33) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Accumulated profit/(loss) of the Company was Tk. (1,971.01) million as on 31.03.2014.

BANKASIA: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on April 09, 2014.

STANDBANKL: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on April 12, 2014 at 2:30 PM to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

DUTCHBANGL: The Company has informed that Mr. Sayem Ahmed has been

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Grameenphone-A LafargeS Cement-Z HeidelbergCement -A Olympic Ind. -A BSC-A Meghna Petroleum -A

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

9.79 8.03 7.71 7.31 5.65 5.56 5.25 5.19 4.97 4.21

Average (% change) 8.33 8.44 2.71 2.21 3.26 3.99 3.17 3.79 5.30 5.61

Closing average 20.93 29.30 55.67 571.00 536.91 9.38 47.57 38.10 371.32 22.58

Closing average 21.04 70.40 29.24 35.24 55.86 15.83 37.89 31.80 29.72 30.09

Closing 21.30 29.60 57.30 589.00 550.10 9.50 48.10 38.50 369.90 22.30

Closing

Daily high 21.30 30.00 58.30 590.00 555.00 9.80 49.20 39.40 381.90 23.50

Daily high

21.20 70.40 29.60 35.00 57.10 15.80 38.40 31.80 29.40 29.90

21.20 70.40 29.90 35.50 58.50 15.90 38.70 31.80 30.80 30.50

elected Chairman of the Company with immediate effect.

From BIASL Desk: New Listing Movement: MATINSPINN started trade on 8th April with 13.24% price hike. On second day price was up by 2.15%.

In 1st Two days 7772200 shares were traded, which was 22.79% of IPO IPO size (3.41 crore share), avarage price was taka 42.80 .

Closing price was taka 42.80 with PE 16.59 (EPS=2.58). On 3rd day closing price was Taka 41.80 with trade volume of 1073800 shares with average of taka 42.

RIGHT SHARE: ARAMITCEM: Subscription 23.03.2014 to 17.04.2014. RD for 6entitlement of rights share: 09.01.2014. RUPALILIFE- Subscription 06.04.2014 to 05.05.2014.

RD for entitlement of rights share: 16.01.2014.

BRACBANK: Subscription 20.04.2014 to 15.05.2014. RD for entitlement of rights share: 10.02.2014. GENNEXT: Subscription 18.03.2014 to 09.04.2014, RD: 25.02.2014.

IPO Subscription: The Peninsula Chittagong Limited subscription date 30 March-03 April 2014, NRB upto 12 April 2014. @ taka 30, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shahjibazar Power Co. Limited subscription date 06-04 April

Daily low 17.50 24.70 50.00 540.00 515.00 9.20 45.20 34.00 366.50 21.30

Daily low 19.20 70.40 27.80 35.00 53.00 15.60 36.70 31.80 29.00 29.60

Turnover in million 12.530 93.058 43.276 295.188 4.000 0.015 46.045 15.990 0.984 3.782

Turnover in million 1.358 0.035 8.984 0.194 2.022 0.253 0.956 0.016 1.254 1.318

Latest EPS 0.93 2.06 1.56 26.09 6.02 -25.08 1.40 3.59 5.25 2.56

Latest EPS 0.93 8.32 2.06 -0.04 1.56 0.76 3.59 1.56 3.60 1.79

Latest PE 22.5 14.2 35.7 21.9 89.2 -ve 34.0 10.6 70.7 8.8

Latest PE 22.6 8.5 14.2 -ve 35.8 20.8 10.6 20.4 8.3 16.8

2014, NRB upto 19 April 2014. @ taka 25, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGM NITOLINS: 5% cash & 12% stock, AGM: 09.06.2014, Record Date: 27.04.2014.

FASFIN: 5.20% cash, AGM: 22.05.2014, Record Date: 22.04.2014.

RECKITTBEN: 400%, AGM: 06.05.2014, Record Date: 20.04.2014.

PHOENIXFIN: 20% cash, AGM: 29.05.2014, Record Date: 17.04.2014.

NORTHRNINS: 10% stock, AGM: 08.06.2014, Record Date: 16.04.2014.

BDLAMPS: 20% cash, AGM: 20.05.2014, Record Date: 17.04.2014.

ARGONDENIM: 6% cash & 15% stock, AGM: 24.04.2014, Record date: 10.04.2014.

HEIDELBCEM: 380% cash, AGM: 22.05.2014, Record Date: 17.04.2014.

FAMILYTEX: 100% stock, AGM: 15.05.2014, Record Date: 22.04.2014.

SIBL: 12% cash, AGM: 31.05.2014, Record Date: 24.04.2014.

RUPALIINS: 10% cash & 10% stock, AGM: 28.04.2014, Record Date: 10.04.2014.

BEACHHATCH: 15% stock, EGM and AGM: 14.05.2014, Record Date for EGM and AGM: 17.04.2014.

Latest PE

Closing average

Daily high

Salvo Chemicals-B AB Bank - A Eastern Housing -A HeidelbergCement -A Eastern Lubricants -A Zeal Bangla Sugar -Z Emerald Oil Ind. -N Summit Power -A Monno Stafllers -A ICB AMCL IslamicMF-A

Closing (% change)

News from trade server

CSE key features April 10, 2014

Daily capital market highlights

Friday, April 11, 2014

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features April 10, 2014

communications continued to rally registering highest rise of about 3%.

Pharmaceuticals and banks edged higher after healthy rally in the previous session.

All other major sectors inched down with food and allied, non-banking financial institutions and power shedding 0.6%, 0.3% and 0.03% respectively.

IDLC Investments said maintaining frontline, large cap fought against the offbeat sentiment and subsequently neutralised each other at market level. Resultantly, the bourse ended flat, it said.

Lanka Bangla Securities said despite finishing positively, market likely to remain cautious as index wrapped the week red and it has been consolidating at the level of 4,600 points.

Zenith Investments said market index, performed quite opposite from last trading day as the main index was overshadowed by the Shariah based index and the blue-chip index.

“Investors’ enthusiasm in capitalising on fundamentally sound stocks, profit taking and large cap wise swings are what kept the market alive with high turnover volume.”

Grameenphone was the most traded stocks with shares worth Tk50 crore, followed by Lafarge Surma Cement, Heidelberg Cement, Olympic Industries, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Meghna Petroleum, Square Pharmaceuticals and Padma Oil. l

Stocks finished flat for the second consecutive session yesterday with low volume of trade.

The market was in positive territory almost the entire session, but selling pressure in the final minutes mainly on energy and financial institutions has sent the market into the negative zone.

Stock

% change 12.10 2.49 1.17 6.29 6.78 9.92 0.05 6.32 7.99 0.58 1.18 2.23 0.47 15.55 0.49 1.04 2.39 16.39 0.66 5.79 0.13

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Square Pharma -A Padma Oil Co. -A AB Bank - A

BD Submarine Cable-A UCBL - A Delta Life Insu. -A Singer BD -A Golden Son -A Emerald Oil Ind. -N CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BSC-A

Grameenphone-A HeidelbergCement -A LafargeS Cement-Z BD Submarine Cable-A UCBL - A Square Pharma -A Matin Spinning-N Padma Oil Co. -A AB Bank - A Delta Life Insu. -A Emerald Oil Ind. -N Appollo Ispat CL -N Golden Son -A Meghna Petroleum -A

Volume shares 2,472,995 5,919,000 516,970 816,687 258,895 538,181 529,147 348,852 3,175,521

405,944 2,984,766 301,615 228,462 856,060 968,000

Volume shares

62,145 150,200 54,900 343,000 78,100 654,991 51,201 324,600 28,450 307,231 27,600 27,000 222,600 87,132 15,900

Value in million 626.77 338.90 295.19 184.19 166.15 152.39 149.15 123.60 93.06

85.10 72.92 66.83 52.46 51.56 46.05

Value in million

40.29 38.22 31.07 19.95 16.43 16.00 14.43 13.61 10.09 8.98 6.14 6.11 5.83 5.26 4.52

% of total turnover 14.89 8.05 7.01 4.38 3.95 3.62 3.54 2.94 2.21

2.02 1.73 1.59 1.25 1.23 1.09

% of total turnover

10.67 10.12 8.23 5.28 4.35 4.24 3.82 3.61 2.67 2.38 1.63 1.62 1.54 1.39 1.20

Daily closing 256.00 56.40 589.00 226.90 624.50 283.10 280.30 353.80 29.60

208.20 24.00 219.80 226.70 59.70 48.10

Daily closing

626.80 255.50 589.90 58.20 209.30 24.10 279.70 41.80 353.60 29.60 220.50 48.10 26.10 60.10 283.70

Price change 3.27 -5.21 7.31 1.16 -4.14 -0.39 0.39 -0.14 8.03

Daily opening 247.90 59.50 548.90 224.30 651.50 284.20 279.20 354.30 27.40

Price change

Daily opening

-1.79 1.27 -3.51 -2.12 -2.77 5.25

-3.72 3.19 7.37 -4.59 -1.32 1.69 0.11 -2.56 -0.31 8.42 -3.16 5.71 -1.14 -2.12 -0.35

212.00 23.70 227.80 231.60 61.40 45.70

651.00 247.60 549.40 61.00 212.10 23.70 279.40 42.90 354.70 27.30 227.70 45.50 26.40 61.40 284.70

Daily high 260.00 60.00 590.00 228.00 665.00 290.00 285.00 360.10 30.00

214.30 25.10 228.40 233.90 65.00 49.20

Daily low 235.00 55.60 540.00 223.60 622.00 260.00 270.00 340.00 24.70

193.50 21.80 218.00 225.00 55.40 45.20

Daily average 253.44 57.26 571.00 225.53 641.78 283.15 281.87 354.30 29.30

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

680.00 257.00 590.60 60.10 214.90 25.10 285.00 43.00 363.50 29.90 230.00 49.40 26.70 62.00 288.70

625.00 244.10 549.00 57.00 208.50 23.80 279.00 41.50 352.10 27.80 218.30 45.20 25.90 59.40 282.30

209.64 24.43 221.56 229.62 60.23 47.57

648.27 254.48 565.95 58.18 210.36 24.43 281.92 41.94 354.59 29.24 222.50 226.19 26.18 60.35 284.02

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

BlackBerry may consider exiting handsets, eyes investments n Reuters, New York BlackBerry Ltd would consider exiting its handset business if it remains unprofitable, its chief executive officer said on Wednesday, as the technology company looks to expand its corporate reach with investments, acquisitions and partnerships.

“If I cannot make money on handsets, I will not be in the handset business,” John Chen said in an interview, adding that the time frame for such a decision was short. He would not be more specific, but said it should be possible to make money off shipments of as few as 10 million a year.

At its peak, BlackBerry shipped 52.3 million devices in fiscal 2011, while it recorded revenue on less than 2 million last quarter.

Chen, who took the helm of the struggling company in November, said BlackBerry was also looking to invest in or team up with other companies in regulated industries such as healthcare, and financial and legal services, all of which require highly secure communications.

The chief executive said small acquisitions to strengthen BlackBerry’s network security offerings were also possible.

“We are building an engineering team on the service side that is focused on security. We are building an engineering team on the device side that is focused on security. We will do some partnerships and we will probably, potentially do an M&A on security.”

He said security had become more important to businesses and government since the revelations about U.S. surveillance made by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

In a wide-ranging interview in New York, Chen acknowledged past management mistakes and said he had a long-term strategy to complement the short-term goals of staying afloat and stemming customer defections.

“You have to live short term. Maybe the prior management had the luxury to bet the world would come to it. I don’t have the luxury at all. I’m losing money and burning cash.”

In March, the embattled smartphone maker reported a quarterly net loss of $423m and a 645 drop in its revenues, underscoring the magnitude

of the challenge Chen faces in turning around the company.

Chen said BlackBerry remained on track to be cash-flow positive by the end of the current fiscal year, which runs to the end of February 2015, and to return to profit some time in the fiscal year after that.

Chen said his long-term plans for BlackBerry included competing in the burgeoning business of connecting all manner of devices, from kitchen appliances to automotive consoles to smartphones.

Chen said he was not sure how long it would take for the “machine-tomachine” or “M2M” world to become a mainstream business, but he said he was sure that was coming.

“We are not only interested in managing BlackBerry devices. We are interested in managing all devices that you would like to speak to each other,” he said. “To achieve our dream of being a major player in M2M requires more partnerships with others,” including telecom companies eager to participate.

Focus on enterprise business

Chen, viewed by tech industry insiders as a turnaround artist, wants BlackBerry to zero in on its core base of corporate and government clients, and on its services arm, which secures mobile devices on the internal networks of big clients.

Chen was credited with turning around Sybase Inc in the late 1990s.

Sybase, an enterprise software company, was eventually acquired by SAP AG in 2010.

Canada’s BlackBerry, which has lost most of the smartphone market to Apple Inc’s iPhone and gadgets powered by Google Inc’s Android operating system, has laid off about 9,500 employees, or more than half its work force over the last three years, as it has rushed to cut costs in the face of mounting losses.

The company, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone arena, has seen its fortunes fade dramatically within a span of less than five years. BlackBerry, which boasted a global smartphone

REUTERS

market share of roughly 20% back in 2009, has since seen that share shrink to less than 2% as of the end of 2013.

Chen, who joined BlackBerry after it was unable to find a buyer in a sale process last year, said he was not fazed by recent acquisitions of companies offering similar services, such as Facebook Inc’s $19bn purchase of mobile messaging service Whatsapp.

“We are not going to go up against Whatsapp. We are going to be more focused on secure communications, secure messaging,” he said of BlackBerry’s BBM platform.

Chen said he was determined not to lose focus on the corporate and other customers that helped it build its global reach in the first place, and would not be tempted back into the much larger but more fickle consumer smartphone race.

“We are not going to spend any more money to maintain the latest version of Angry Birds,” Chen said, referring to a wildly popular consumer mobile videogame. l

Dollar under pressure in Asia after Fed minutes n AFP, Tokyo

The dollar edged down against the yen on Asia yesterday after minutes from the US Federal Reserve showed its policymakers are broadly against hiking interest rates too soon.

The greenback bought 101.81 yen in Tokyo midday trade, compared with 101.97 yen in New York Wednesday.

The euro fetched $1.3849 and 141.02 yen, against $1.3852 and 141.26 yen in US trade.

Facebook to require separate mobile app for messages n Reuters, Washington

Blackberry CEO John Chen poses for a portrait in Toronto

Minutes released Wednesday of the Fed’s latest policy meeting showed the policy board was in favour of continuing a steady reduction in its stimulus programme.

“Investors interpreted the...minutes on the dovish side, easing worries of an early rate hike,” Credit Agricole said.

Last month the dollar and global stocks sank after Fed chief Janet Yellen suggested rates could go up in early 2015, earlier than most analysts had expected.

“So back around we go,” National Australia Bank said. “The only thing that is going to solve this debate (over the tapering timeline), and support the US dollar, is the economic data.”

The yen also won some support after a Bank of Japan (BoJ) board member long seen as relatively pessimistic over the country’s prospects struck an optimistic note on the economy.

Ryuzo Miyao told a business leaders’ that “risks are largely balanced”, after the bank held fire on additional

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Friday, April 11, 2014

easing measures Tuesday, following a two-day meeting.

In China data said Thursday that imports slumped 11.3% year-on-year and exports fell 6.6%. Expectations had been for imports to rise 2.8% and exports to jump 4.2%.

The news adds to increasing uncertainty about the Asian economic giant and key driver of global and regional growth following a string of weak indicators including on investment and industrial output. l

Facebook Inc will no longer let users send and receive private messages within its main smartphone app, and will require that users install a separate messaging app, the Internet company said on Wednesday.

Facebook began notifying users in France, England and several other European countries on Wednesday that beginning in a couple of weeks they will need to install the company’s standalone Messenger app in order to send and receive messages.

Facebook plans to eventually require that users in all countries install the Messenger app, spokesman Derick Mains said, though he could not provide a specific timeframe for the change.

The move is intended to ensure that users have a consistent and high-quality experience, a Facebook spokesman told Reuters. The free, standalone Messenger app is faster than the messaging service that’s currently built into Facebook’s primary mobile app. Facebook users can also access more features in the Messenger app, such as the ability to make voice phone calls.

“We have built a fast and reliable messaging experience through Messenger and now it makes sense for us to focus all our energy and resources on that experience,” the company said

in a statement.

Facebook faces increasing competition from a new crop of fast-growing mobile messaging apps, such as Snapchat and Line. It stunned observers by announcing plans in February to buy the popular WhatsApp messaging app for $19bn.

Forcing users to install a separate messaging app on their phones could help boost the popularity of Facebook Messenger, but could also cause a backlash if consumers view Facebook’s move as heavy-handed. A post on the technology blog Mashable on Wednesday was titled “11 Reasons why Pulling Messenger From Facebook Mobile is a Terrible Idea,” and many people took to Twitter to post critical comments about the change.

Facebook, the world’s No.1 social networking service with 1.2 billion users, has increasingly moved to develop a catalog of standalone apps to complement its main app. In January, Facebook launched Paper, a photo-heavy news-reading app that has earned positive reviews.

Facebook also acquired photosharing app Instagram in 2012 and announced plans to buy WhatsApp, which has more than 450 million users. News of the change in Facebook’s messaging service was first reported by the technology blog TechCrunch on Wednesday. l

Oil prices drop after weak Chinese data n AFP, London Oil prices fell yesterday after weak Chinese trada data, but losses were curbed by upbeat US demand and lingering doubts about the full resumption of Libyan exports, analysts said.

New York’s main contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery dipped nine cents to $103.51 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for May slid 42 cents to stand at $107.56 a barrel in London late morning trade.

Government data on Thursday showed Chinese imports slumped 11.3% year-on-year to $162.4bn in March while exports fell 6.6% to $170.1bn, resulting in a trade surplus of $7.7bn.

The numbers may raise further concerns about the health of China’s economy, which has shown signs of weakness recently with a string of disappointing indicators, including on industrial production and consumer spending.

“The weak exports highlighted a possible further contraction in the nation’s manufacturing sector ... thereby trimming demand prospects for crude oil,” said Tan Chee Tat, investment analyst at Phillip Futures.

“Decline in imports offered more confirmation on China’s decreasing

economic activities, denoting lower demand for raw materials and intermediate products,” he said.

Sanjeev Gupta, the head of the AsiaPacific oil and gas practice at consultancy firm EY, said oil prices retained upside pressure from signs of robust gasoline demand in the United States, the world’s biggest economy.

The latest official US supply report showed a drop of 5.2 million barrels of gasoline supplies, much more than the 700,000 barrel decline that had been projected.

Gupta said that “delays in the revival of supply from Libya” also supported oil prices.

Investors remain cautious over a weekend deal between rebels in eastern Libya and the central government to resolve a nine-month oil blockade.

On Wednesday, rebels handed over to the Libyan army the first of two terminals currently under their control, enabling exports to be resumed as early as Sunday.

Tripoli says the blockade since July has cost Libya more than $14bn in lost revenues, slashing exports from 1.5 million barrels per day to 250,000 bpd.

Analysts said oil prices remained propped up also by the heightened tensions in eastern Europe. l

Aramit Cement approves 10% cash dividend n Tribune Report, Chittagong Aramit Cement Limited has approved 10% cash dividend for the year 2013.

It was approved at the 18th annual general meeting of the company held in Chittagong yesterday.

In 2013, the company sold 138,784

City Bank recently signed a strategic partnership agreement with Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel Dhaka at City Bank Centre. The agreement was signed by City Bank’s DMD and COO, Mashrur Arefin and Radission Blu, Dhaka’s EAM and director (sales & marketing), Saeed Ahmed

NRBCB (NRB Commercial Bank Limited) inaugurated its 12th branch at Agnagar, Keranigonj in Dhaka. Thbe bank’s director, Mohammed Manjurul Islam inaugurated the branch yesterday

HM Jahangir Alam Rana, executive director of Partex Plastics Ltd seen handing over a gold ornament to the winner of lottery contest - Partex Leo Water Pump Rimzim Offer, Md Akhter Mridha at the award giving ceremony held on April 8

An agreement has been recently signed between the paper manufacturing company, Double A and M & U Distribution, a sister concern of Meghna Group. The deal was signed

by Nadim Adnan Shams, country manager of Double A Pulp & Paper Company Ltd and Sadiq Mahmood, managing director of M & U Distribution

tonnes of cement worth around Tk87 crore and earned after tax profit of Tk4.3 crore while the company has exported 25,895 tonnes of cement to Tripura, India.

The company contributed an amount of Tk18 crore to the national exchequer in the form of taxes, said a press-release. l

Mutual Trust Bank Limited held its 15th annual general meeting yesterday at Bashundhara Convention Center 2 in the city. The shareholders attending the meeting approved 10% stock dividend for 2013 on its face value of each share outstanding. The meeting was presided over by the bank’s chair, Rashed A Chowdhury

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IMF still worried about global fiscal and financial risks n AFP, Washington Six years after a wave of financial destruction crashed through the United States and then Europe, risks, some old and some new, still challenge the global economy, the IMF says.

In reviews of global fiscal and financial sector stability released Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund said gains had been made to repair budgets in advanced economies, and to shore up banking systems.

But governments remain highly in debt, and emerging economies are starting to pile up risky deficits.

Banks in Europe are still weak. And new risks are cropping up in finance due to the long period of easy-money from the US and European central banks.

“Global financial stability is improving - we have begun to turn the corner.

But it is too early to declare victory,” said Jose Vinals, IMF financial counselor and director of its Monetary and Capital Markets Department.

Vinals said that, generally speaking, good policies have placed the United States, Europe and emerging economies in the right direction.

But each faces its own challenges that need close monitoring and management, he said.

In the United States, the pullback from a half-decade of ultra-easy money policies needs to take place smoothly and enhance the current sluggish pace of growth, Vinals said.

At the same time, he warned, a bumpy exit from the crisis policies could expose a new set of problems in US finance: rising risk-taking on the back of cheap funding.

“We continue to track growing hotspots in the US financial system,” he said, pointing to rising levels of highyield bond issuance, leveraged loans, and falling underwriting standards.

“Supervisory measures, while now more intense, have not yet sufficiently

restrained some of these excesses.”

In Europe, the IMF said, banks and businesses are still weak, the banks holding large non-performing loans and still-inadequate capital levels, and companies laden with debt.

Together that is stalling the recovery of the region and especially the periphery economies.

On a different point in the economic cycle, China is just beginning to deal with its little-regulated non-bank financiers, who now lend as much as 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), much of it feared to be for speculative investment.

“Achieving an orderly deleveraging of the shadow banking system is a key challenge,” Vinals said.

On the fiscal side, meanwhile, the advanced economies have nearly halved their deficits since the peak of the crisis, to a level of about 3.5% of GDP. But the same group still carries a huge debt burden, which on average will still top 100% of GDP in 2019, said IMF Fiscal Affairs Department acting director Sanjeev Gupta.

“Fiscal consolidation must continue at a steady and gradual pace to lower debt ratios to prudent levels,” he said.

The IMF wants these countries to lay out and implement clear plans to bring budgets into line. However, Gupta pointed out, both Japan and the United States have yet to do this.

Meanwhile emerging-market economies are facing pressure as the US tightens policy, draining investment and raising debt costs.

“The environment faced by emerging economies has turned more challenging,” said Gupta.

“Those emerging market economies with large debt and deficits and most vulnerable to market volatility should start to rein in deficits now. In other emerging-market economies, fiscal reforms are still needed, even if with less urgency.” l

Japan's smartphone based social networking service (SNS) "Line" president Akira Morikawa speaks at the New Economy Summit 2014 in Tokyo on April 10, the Line has 400 million users over the world. More than 1,000 business leaders, entrepreneurs, businessmen and students took part in the two-day forum AFP

Dropbox out to be a home in the Internet ‘cloud’ n AFP, San Francisco

Dropbox is out to be the hip home in the cloud for photos, documents, video and other digital possessions amassed

by Internet-age lifestyles.

Dropbox on Wednesday ramped up services for sharing and collaborating on virtual belongings ranging from Excel spreadsheets to family photos.

“This is a little glimpse into our new home; a home for life,” Dropbox co-founder and chief executive Drew Houston said during an unveiling for press at a gallery in San Francisco.

He billed the improvements and new features as ways to go beyond simply storing files in the Internet cloud to “bringing it to life” by making it easy to share or collaborate, particularly using smartphones.

Along with launching Dropbox for Business; Carousel photo and video sharing service, and a version of email organizing application Mailbox for Android-powered devices, the company announced that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has joined its board of directors.

“We’re honored to be adding someone as brilliant and accomplished as Dr. Rice to our team,” Houston said in a blog post.

Carousel was billed as a place for “precious memories” captured as pictures or video with Apple or Androidpowered smartphones.

Tools built into Carousel allow for instant sharing of batches of images, which are stored on Dropbox servers and can also be accessed from desktop computers.

Dropbox for Business takes aim at companies with ways to safely store files in the cloud while making it simple for co-workers to collaborate on Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations.

Also introduced was a version of Mailbox email organizing software tailored for smartphones powered by Googlebacked Android operating systems.

Online storage firm Dropbox a year ago bought Mailbox, a hot startup devoted to making it simpler to deal with email overloads.

Mailbox for organizing and managing Gmail on Apple iPhone or iPod Touch devices became an instant hit after it was made available early last year.

San Francisco-based Dropbox has become a preferred online location to store digital photos, documents, or

videos in the Internet ‘cloud’ with the ability to access online from any computers.

It has reportedly attracted more than a half-billion dollars in venture capital funding, with some putting its valuation in the vicinity of $10bn.

There is heavy speculation that Dropbox could debut on the stock market next year.

Dropbox makes applications along with limited amounts of online storage space available free, then charges for added capacity.

The firm competes with online storage and sharing services by such technology titans as Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

Carousel also steps up as a challenger to Yahoo photo service Flickr as well as Google’s Picasa. l

PC sales see modest drop amid Windows XP replacements n AFP, New York

CSRC: Hong Kong, Shanghai to begin cross-market trading

Global personal computer sales saw a modest dip in the first quarter of 2014, as the pace of decline was eased by replacements of older PCs using Windows XP. Figures released Wednesday by Gartner showed global sales down 1.7% year-over-year at 76.6 million units in the first quarter of 2014.

A separate survey by IDC showed a 4.4% drop to 73.4 million.

Analysts said the PC market is still ailing amid a shift to mobile devices such as tablets but saw a brief respite with the replacement of machines using Windows XP, for which Microsoft ended its technical support this week.

“The end of XP support by Microsoft on April 8 has played a role in the easing decline of PC shipments,” said Mikako Kitagawa, analyst at Gartner.

“All regions indicated a positive effect since the end of XP support stimulated the PC refresh of XP systems.

Professional desktops, in particular, showed strength in the quarter.”

Japan saw a stunning 35% year-onyear jump in PC sales, helped by the replacement of Windows XP machines and a sales tax change, the analyst noted.

“While the PC market remains weak, it is showing signs of improvement compared to last year,” she said.

“The PC professional market generally improved in regions such as EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). The US saw the gradual recovery of PC spending as the impact of tablets faded.”

Loren Loverde at IDC said that the woes of traditional PCs are not over, and pointed to eight consecutive quarterly declines.

“The transition to more mobile devices and usage modes is unlikely to stop, although the short term impact on PC shipments may slow as tablet penetration rises - as we’ve begun to see in some mature regions,” he said. l

n AFP, Hong Kong

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (left) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) during a meeting

AFP

Japan, US trade talks fail to close gap over Trans-Pacific Partnership n AFP, Tokyo Intensive talks between Japan and the United States aimed at breaking the deadlock over a huge pan-Pacific trade deal ended yesterday without agreement, as hopes faded of progress before Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo this month.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman and his Japanese counterpart Akira Amari said 18 hours of discussions had done little to reduce the “distance” between them, especially on farm and auto products.

“We made some progress over the last two days but still considerable differences in positions and key issues” remain, Froman told reporters.

“We agreed today that our negotiators will continue until the end of the week (with) the discussion on agriculture and autos,” he said.

Amari separately told reporters the two sides, already major trade partners, had made “some progress” but added:

“We still don’t see where we will find common ground on each sector.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an ambitious plan for a free trade agreement among 12 countries which, if realised, could cover 40% of global GDP. It is a key plank in President Obama’s foreign policy, and an effort to anchor the US firmly to a region that is increasingly feeling the pull of Beijing’s mighty economy.

But huge sticking points remain, with the US and Japan - the world’s first and third largest economies - fighting to protect important domestic industries.

Washington and many of the other parties to the talks - which also involve Chile, Mexico, Canada and several Asian countries - say Japan’s unwillingness to open its lucrative agricultural market is a deal-breaker.

Putative suitors have long complained that sky-high tariffs - on rice they are nearly 800% - and non-tariff barriers, like overly-strict safety requirements, are naked protectionism.

Negotiators missed the end-of-2013 deadline they had set themselves -- a target that always looked ambitious but became much more so when Japan got involved in the talks during the year, and no new end-date has been set.

Tokyo was hoping that a free trade agreement agreed with Canberra this week, which will see tariffs on Australian beef slashed, would help bounce Washington into compromises, but US diplomats appear to have stood firm.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed Amari to accelerate the negotiations ahead of Obama’s arrival in Japan on April 23 or 24 for a state visit that had at one point been expected to crown the TPP. But Amari acknowledged Thursday that substantial progress looks unlikely ahead of that.

“The Japan-US summit scheduled later this month is one occasion, but it’s not necessarily the deadline to settle the talks.” l

China has unveiled a plan yesterday allowing cross-market trading between Hong Kong and Shanghai in the latest move by mainland leaders to open up the country’s capital markets and promote the yuan as an international unit.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a joint statement with the Securities & Futures Commission of Hong Kong the trial will begin within six months and include enable dealers to invest in designated shares.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said at the Boao Forum for Asia that the plan “will enable us to expand market access, foster a better business environment to unleash greater dividends of reform, spark social creativity and stabilise market expectations”.

He added: “We will carry out a new round of opening-up at a high level.”

Plans for a similar tie-up in 2007 sparked a surge in share prices in both cities in 2007 but they were eventually scrapped as the global financial crisis unfolded.

Under the scheme announced Thursday mainland investors will be able to trade up to 13bn yuan daily in Hong Kong stocks, while Hong Kong dealers can buy and sell up to 10.5bn yuan ($1.69bn) a day, according to the statement.

DILBERT

Market-watchers said the deal would provide a much-needed boost to the Shanghai stock market, which was one of the world’s worst performers last year as the Chinese economy shows signs of slowing.

It can also provide a new investment channel for Chinese investors, they said.

“The trial programme will help domestically listed, blue-chip stocks restore their valuations and increase overall market activity,” Zheshang Securities analyst Zhang Yanbing told AFP. Peter Wong, deputy chairman of HSBC bank, said in a statement: “The landmark agreement gives global investors greater access to China’s extraordinary growth story, and allows Chinese savers to diversify their holdings.

“This is further confirmation of China’s commitment to financial reform, and reaffirms Hong Kong’s role as the fulcrum of China’s broader economic integration with the global economy,” he said.

And Hong Kong Exchange chairman CK Chow said: “The programme is not only a major breakthrough for the opening up of China’s capital markets but also a great milestone for the development of Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

“Hong Kong will again act as a bridge connecting the Chinese economy and the rest of the world.” l