01 June 2014

Joishthya 18, 1421 Shaaban 2, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 62

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Please, no hullabaloo about Jamaat trial Mid-term poll will not happen Dissolving RAB not possible n Emran Hossain Shaikh Echoing Law Minister Anisul Huq’s statement that Jamaat-e-Islami cannot be tried now under the tribunal law as it lacks a provision, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said yesterday that her cabinet colleague was correct on legal grounds.

“Our minister has said the right thing. A writ [on Jamaat’s registration] is pending with the higher court. And the government has nothing to do until judgement of the case is delivered. Two similar cases cannot run simultaneously,” Hasina said, adding that there was no reason to create a hullabaloo over the matter.

The premier also criticised the campaigners who were demanding a ban on Jamaat’s politics for its anti-liberation role, stating: “...now they are loud about banning Jamaat politics. What role did they play when Jamaat was allowed to do politics after the killing of the father of the nation? Why are you

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asking me, rather than finding out who allowed Jamaat to do politics?”

She said this in reply to reporters’ questions during a press conference at her official residence, Ganabhaban, yesterday. The press conference was organised to brief reporters about her visit to Japan last week.

At the press meet held for around one and a half hours, Hasina elaborated the achievements of her government and answered the reporters’ questions on contemporary issues of the country as well as abroad.

Hasina, who is also the chief of ruling party Awami League, indirectly rejected the BNP’s demand for a midterm election, saying that the government would continue the ongoing development projects.

“The government has taken some major projects including the Padma bridge...I want to complete the development projects,” she said.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Separatists’ camps on Bangladesh land blamed n Our Correspondent, Bandarban The alleged reluctance of Bangladesh authorities to prevent the assembling of several Myanmar Muslim separatist groups along the zero point of the Bangladesh-Myanmar-India borders, triggered the recent gunfights, say sources.

These Rohingya-led rebel groups and the Border Guard Police (BGP) of Myan-

P3 DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks at a press conference at her official residence Gonobhohon yesterday on her return from a state tour to the Japanese capital Tokyo BSS

mar exchanged several thousand rounds of bullets between May 6 and 18 in an area opposite to bordering Ashartali in the district’s Naikhyongchhari upazila, raising concerns among the local people.

Several BGP personnel were also reportedly killed in the gunfights.

The Border Guard Bangladesh got engaged in the matter after the BGP had opened fire on a BGB patrol team in Rejupara area of Dhunghum union of the upazila on May 21.

High officials of the two frontiers sat in a flag meeting the following day. At the meet, the BGP threatened to break  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

One killed in Dhaka, 3 in Myanmar’s Border Guard Police Pabna, 2 in Madaripur hands over BGB member’s body n Tribune Report A gang of armed men shot three persons to death in Pushpopara Bazar under Ataikula upazila in the district yesterday evening.

The dead were identified as Sultan Mahmud, Fazlur Rahman and Shamim.

Akram Hossain, officer-in-charge of Ataikula police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that the gang stabbed the three indiscriminately and shot them afterwards around 8:45pm leaving them dead on the spot.

Rashed Ali Masum, organising secretary of Pabna Sadar upazila Awami League, claimed that the three individ-

uals were ruling party activists.

However, the OC could not confirm the political identity of the victims.

In another incident, a schoolboy was stabbed to death last night in the city’s Rayerbag area.

The deceased was identified as Shafique, 16. He was a student of grade 9 in Iznagar High School in the area.

The victim’s friend Akash said centring an old feud, Afzal and Rakib hit Shafique in the left side of his chest with a knife.

Later, Akash and some of his friends rescued Shafique from the road in Miraznagar madrassa area in Rayerbag,  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Sarkar and n Kailash Ashif Islam Shaon Myanmar’s Border Guard Police at last handed over the body of slain Border Guard Bangladesh member yesterday evening, three days after the killing by the Myanmar forces in an onslaught on May 28 on the Paanchhari frontier in Bandarban.

But tension runs high along the frontiers of both countries as both Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Border Guard Police (BGP) intensified patrolling through the deployment of additional forces.

Naik Mizanur Rahman of the BGB

was killed during a gunfight on May 28 and the Myanmar BGP took away his body along with the arms and ammunitions he had been possessing.

Tension runs high following troops build-up along frontiers Talking to the Dhaka Tribune immediately after the handover of the body, BGB Director General Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed said: “BGB members received Mizanur’s body around 5:45pm at Paanchhari in Dochhari of Bandarban.”

Asked about Mizanur’s belongings including a sub-machine gun and bullets, the BGB chief said: “We had discussions on it, but the Myanmar authorities did not respond.”

The BGB chief also expressed frustration over the recent tensions with Myanmar.

He said: “We did not get any positive response from the Myanmar Border Guard Police despite repeated call for talks.

“The relations with the Myanmar border authority are not so developed.

We try to contact them after every small incident, but they do not respond.”  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Gang rape as weapon of revenge on rise n Udisa Islam In April, a 17-year-old garments worker was raped by several men in the capital’s Mohammadpur area as she was returning home after work.

While undergoing treatment at the ones top crisis centre of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, she claimed that her alleged rapists had been stalking her for several months. When she threatened to go to the police, they attacked her. She later filed a case with Mohammadpur police station, accusing the men of rape.

After the general elections in January, two Hindu women were gang raped in Jamaat-e-Islami dominated Hazrail village of Jessore’s Monirampur upazila. The victims told police that several masked men entered their homes and assaulted them in front of their family members.

Seema (not real name) had slapped a man who had tried to marry her against her will. Later, she was raped by three unidentified men, who, Seema claimed, were hired by her jilted suitor. But as she cannot identify her attackers, her case may never get to court.

According to legal and human rights experts, rape has become a weapon of revenge in recent times, and gang rapes

are occurring more frequently. However, the perpetrators of such crimes are hardly punished.

According to statistics up to April 2014, one-stop crisis centres at eight state-run hospitals have provided treatment to about 4,700victims of sexual assault. Of the victims, 1,653were treated at the DMCH alone.

Hospital sources said when they record rape incidents, they find that revenge is the main motive in most cases,and the rapists are known to the victims. In some cases, the crime is politically-motivated.

Often, the victims do not file cases for fear of retaliation by the rapists. Sometimes, they are forced to withdraw their cases because of threats made by socially or politically influential people.

According to latest figures from Bangladesh Police headquarters, cases of violence against women increased between October 2013 and March this year.

According to Ain o Salish Kendra, at least868 women were raped in the country last year. Of the victims, 102 were minors, while 207 were gang raped. Only 482 cases were filed.

Women rights activist Khushi Kabir said the actual number of sexual assaults would be much higher, as human rights organisations compile their data based on cases reported in newspapers.

She also said gang rape had become a weapon of revenge, and such crimes were on the rise. Court sources, meanwhile, said almost 96 percent of cases that make it to trial are thrown out of court, mostly due to lack of evidence or negligence in handling of the cases.

Meanwhile, not a single rapist has been given the death penalty for rape under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000, according to legal experts.

“If rape victims do not get justice, it will hinder the rule of law and the situation cannot be changed,” an activist said.

On the other hand, some activists believe that rights groups themselves are not active enough against sexual crimes.

Khushi Kabir criticised the women rights movement, saying,“Now-a-days, we are not active at field level,and the field is now open for violence against women.” l

BGB jawans on high alert yesterday on the Naikkhangchhari border in Bandarban to check any untoward incident over the recent tensions with Myanmar

Law minister labels Tarique ‘ill-mannered’ n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Haque slammed BNP Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman yesterday for his comments about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“Tarique Rahman is ill-mannered in expression and he should be ignored because he is frequently making imprudent and absurd comments about the father of the nation,” the minister said at a program of pro-Awami League lawyers in the capital yesterday.

“Tarique was expelled from the Saint Joseph Higher Secondary School for his bad manners. Only god knows what his educational qualification is,” he said.

Myanmar’s Border Guard Police hands over  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The Foreign Ministry yesterday again summoned Myanmar Ambassador to Dhaka Myo Myint Than for the second time in three days in order to “strongly protest” the unwanted incidents on Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

Bangladesh asked Myanmar to “withdraw BGP troops from the Bangladesh-Myanmar international border”.

Meanwhile, the BGB chief yesterday at a press briefing at the BGB headquarters in Pilkhana briefed reporters on the killing of the BGB man, handover his body and the latest situation on Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

At the briefing, the BGB director general said the body of BGB man was handed yesterday when a 10-member BGB team led by an officer of Major rank went to the Myanmar side in response to a call from the Myanmar Border Guard Police.

“The team then brought back the body after completing formalities. The body will be handed over to the family members,” he said, adding that but the firearms and ammunitions belonging

to the slain BGB man could not be recovered.”

Description on the killing of nayek Mizanur and return of his body.

Describing the background of the firing and killing of the BGB man on May 28, the BGB chief said since the Rohingyas entered Bangladesh in large numbers through Panchhari, the BGB set up six new Border Outposts recently there.

While the BGB men were on patrol at Panchhari, the Myanmar BGP men surprisingly opened fire that prompted the BGB men to retaliate, the BGB DG said.

But Nayek Mizanur was found missing, he added.

Later, BGB troops went back to the spot for searching Mizanur and found his blood-stained mobile phone. There was also sign of blood that suggested that the BGP dragged the body to the Myanmar border.

“We sent message via sources to the BGP officials seeking Mizanur’s whereabouts, but the BGP asked for a formal letter. When we offered a flag meeting, they said they would talk with the higher authority.”

After bilateral contact with Myan-

mar by the Foreign Ministry, on Thursday night via messenger they asked the BGB men to go to BOP 52 for Mizanur’s body the next day, but after troops went there, they opened fire prompting us to retaliate.

The BGP then fired motor shell and the BGB retaliated accordingly. Four BGB men went missing during the firing. Of them, two were rescued at night and the rest on Saturday morning.

On Friday night, the BGP said they would return the body yesterday morning around 11:30am, but they did not do so.

After the body was handed over yesterday evening, the BGB offered a flag meeting on June 3, and also a DG level conference on May 10 in Myanmar.

Reinforcements along border heightening tension “We have information that Myanmar has deployed Army to their BOP’s. We have sent protest letter, the BGB chief said, adding that we have also reinforced along the border areas.”

“We will observe the situation. Actions will be taken if necessary,” he vowed. l

Please, no hullabaloo about Jamaat trial  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

When a reporter asked about the midterm elections, Hasina posed counter questions. “Do you want mid-term elections? Do you want to go back to that regime full of violence, corruption and killings? Do you want to see a corrupt person in power? If yes, then I do not have any problem with arranging a mid-term election,” she said.

“If you want it, we will arrange an election. But who will be benefited for this? Those killers and corrupts will come to power,” Hasina said. “Is there any guarantee that all parties will participate if a mid-term election is arranged?”

The premier said: “I know there is no one who can work for the country’s development with sincerity like me, because I was born in Bangladesh.”

Criticising BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s stand not to join the January 5 general election, Hasina questioned the person who had advised her that the election would not be held.

Answering another question that referred to a recent statement Khaleda made, terming the January 5 election

as well as the government “illegal,” the prime minister questioned whether the BNP’s formation had been legitimate.

Bringing up the history of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s assuming of office during the post-1975 period, Hasina said: “Who is questioning the government’s legitimacy? What legitimacy do they have? The legitimacy of their birth is questionable.”

She also said the constitution had provisions for uncontested elections.

In another recent comment, Khaleda said: “The present government has gone all rotten. Let it rot a little more, and then our movement to uproot it will begin.”

When the premier’s attention was drawn to this comment, she said: “The BNP itself has become rotten by not participating in the January 5 election.

Now we have kept the party fresh by using formalin.”

On the death of a BGB member and gunfire at the Myanmar border, the premier said they had taken the necessary action and the problem would be solved soon.

Replying to another question relating to her previous statement that the Jamaat-Shibir men were carrying out mayhem by intruding in her party, Hasina said there were some people who always belonged to the government party. “After a government takes office, they become the government’s party by changing their banners,” she said.

Some members of her party had picked them in order to strengthen their own groups, Hasina said adding that now the government had to pay for their misdeeds.

Referring to the Narayanganj seven-murder accused Nur Hossain’s political identity, the premier said Nur belonged to Jatiya Party at the time of HM Ershad. In 1991, when the BNP came to power, he had joined the BNP, and after 1996, he joined the Awami League.

Mentioning her strong stance against the killers, Hasina said she would not spare the culprits, no matter what their political identity.

“We are taking action against the criminals. But had the BNP been in

Describing Tarique’s recent comments as unrealistic, he urged the media to question whether they wanted to reestablish Bangladesh as Pakistan by laying credence to such falsehoods.

Tarique was expelled from the Saint Joseph Higher Secondary School for his bad manners Speaking as the chief guest, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu said Ziaur Rahman had introduced the culture of election engineering. He robbed mandates to win a two-thirds majority. “If Khaleda does not participate in the

polls, nobody will take the liability,” the veteran Awami League leader said.

Amu also said Jamaat-e-Islami’s trial was not possible under the existing laws.

So, the government needed to amend laws before it could start the trial. “It will prevent Jamaat from getting a chance to use the loopholes in the law,” he said.

“Every force may have some bad people. If they commit any crime, they will be punished. A force does not need to be disbanded for that,” said Food Minister Quamrul Islam.

Criticising the journalists and questioning their ethics, Kamrul said: “A fugitive [Tarique Rahman] is saying whatever he wants and the journalists are publishing that. Publishing a fugitive’s speech unethical.” l

Separatists’ camps off relations with Bangladesh if the latter did not take any steps against the terrorists who had been conducting violent attacks in Myanmar using the remote areas of Naikhyongchhari.

The meeting held in Bahirmath area of Lembuchhari border was attended

by BGB’s Cox’s Bazar unit Sector Commander Col Khandaker Farid Hossain and BGP’s Col Ting Coco, the Mongdu sector commander.

On May 28, BGB official Mizanur Rahman was killed when the border forces of Myanmar fired at another patrol team in Panchhari. The two frontiers engaged in a gunfight for around two hours on May 30 over the recovery of Mizanur’s body.

Sources say several separatist groups including Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (SRO), Arakan Movement, Arakan People’s Freedom Party, Arakan Rohingya National Organisation and Bangladesh’s banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ulJihad-al Islami (Huji) have been working together for the last three months.

Members of the groups have taken up positions in the forest areas of Myanmar’s border and reportedly the main camp is set up at the nearby zero point – situated in a remote forest on the east of

Thanchi, the triangle of three borders.

Sources say the groups have established 10 temporary camps and are carrying out attacks on the BGP men from those establishments.

Following allegations that the separatists, being stationed in Bandarban, were committing crimes in both the countries, the BGB decided in April that they would set up five camps in the bordering Panchhari, Dochhari, Bhalukhaiya, Jarulchhari and Nikuchhari areas.

Of the five, construction of two camps has already been completed while three others will be ready by June, BGB sources said.

Naikhyongchhari BGB 31 Battalion Zone Commander Shafiqur Rahman, however, refutes the allegation of rebels’ positioning themselves along the border. All the bordering camps have been on alert, he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

At a briefing yesterday, BGB chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed said there was no scope for terrorists to use Bangladesh’s land to launch an attack on a neighbouring country. “We have asked the Myanmar government to give us information on the RSO camps. [Then] we will sweep them away,” he added. l

power now, they would not have done so,” she said.

Defying Khaleda’s demand to dissolve the elite force Rapid Action battalion (RAB) for its alleged involvement in extra-judicial killings, abduction and forced disappearance, the prime minister said it was not possible.

“Now RAB is a reality and it is not possible to dissolve the force all of a sudden since the battalion has been in operation for a long time,” said Hasina said.

Hasina, who opposed RAB’s formation in 2004 and publicly condemned its extra-judicial killings while in opposition, said no one made a point when she had protested its activities, especially the killing of opposition activists.

“You have lauded the battalion’s role when I raised my voice after the killing of more than 1,000 people after its formation,” the prime minister said adding that her government had taken measures to bring the RAB members involved in criminal activities to the book.

Mentioning her firm stance in try-

ing the war criminals, the premier said she had received many phone calls from various quarters, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and US’s John Kerry to stop the execution of war criminal Abdul Quader Molla’s death penalty.

“Who dared ignore the phone calls?

It is I, the daughter of Bangabandhu [Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]. I work for the country and will do whatever is good for the country,” she said adding that the trials would continue.

Describing her achievements in the Japan visit, the premier said her major success in the visit was to get a promise of $6bn for Bangladesh’s development within the next five years.

She said her government had already chalked out few projects to be implemented by the promised fund.

Hasina was also hopeful about more Japanese investment in Bangladesh.

Local Government Minister and Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam and Deputy Leader in Parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury were present at the press conference, among others. l

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

BANGLAR CHOKH

No arrest in MP nephew murder n Our Correspondent, Comilla Three days have passed, but until yesterday evening, police were unable to make any arrests in the case filed for the murder of Comilla sadar MP AKM Bahauddin Bahar’s nephew, Ahsan Habib Sumu.

A police source said the law enforcers were initially in a dilemma as the accused are followers of the MP and since most of them had fled to India.

Forty local leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) were accused in the murder case filed with Kotwali police station by Habebush Saherin, Sumu’s brother.

On Thursday, Sumu was gunned down in a factional clash of Government Victoria College unit BCL activists when supporters of the unit’s leaders Rintu and Russell started shooting at each other over establishing supremacy there. l

Khaleda absent in scheduled programme n Tribune Report BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia did not attend yesterday’s programme to distribute food among poor because she was feeling fatigued.

In the absence of the former premier, senior leaders, headed by acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, distributed food among the poor to mark the death anniversary of Ziaur Rahman, the founder of the party.

“Madam [Khaleda] has been feeling tired and pain in her legs since last night. That is why she could not attend today’s programme,” Maruf Kamal Khan, press secretary to the BNP chairperson, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Khan also said she had taken part in Friday’s programme despite the pain and fatigue.

On Friday, she distributed food among poor after placing wreaths and offering prayers at Zia’s grave in the capital. l

One killed in Dhaka, 3 in Pabna, 2 in Madaripur  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

and took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the on-duty doctors declared him dead.

In Madaripur, a gang of criminals shot and slaughtered two individuals including a madrassa teacher in Tekerhat under the district yesterday night.

Of the two, one was identified as Maulana Abul Basar, 50, assistant professor of an Alia Madrassa while the identity of another deceased could not be discovered.

Officer-in-Charge Moniruzzaman of Rajoir police station confirmed the matter to banglanews.

The law enforcers recovered a pipe gun, machetes from the spot. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

BORDER RELATED DISPUTES WITH MYANMAR

‘Bangladesh for resolution through dialogues’

Myanmar envoy was summoned for the second time over the recent tensions at the border As per proposal made by the Myanployment of Myanmar military forces time in three days to strongly protest his counterpart. n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman “We consider this meeting is very alongside the Bangladesh-Myanmar in- mar side, a BGB team was waiting near the untoward incidents along the borBangladesh wants to solve all border related disputes with Myanmar through mutual discussion and more engaged manner, the foreign secretary says.

“We want to settle all disputes peacefully as stability in the area is extremely crucial for development in future,” Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.

Bangladesh does not want Myanmar to allow any action which might disrupt bilateral relationship and evil elements take advantage of it, he added.

Tension ran high on the Bangladesh-Myanmar frontier when the border guards of the two countries traded gunfire on May 28 and again on May 30.

BGB’s Naik Md Mizanur Rahman was killed on May 28 and two other members went missing on May 30, but later they were found alive on Saturday morning.

The Foreign Ministry yesterday summoned Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka Myo Myint Than for the second

der. Secretary (Bilateral) Mustafa Kamal handed over a note verbale, a formal communication from Bangladesh to Myanmar.

“We have summoned him and handed over a verbal note protesting the incidents and we want to solve any problem through mutual discussion,” the foreign secretary said.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Myanmar Anup Chakma also discussed the issue with Myanmar foreign ministry yesterday, he said.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar ambassador, who was summoned on Thursday once before and handed over a note verbale in protest of the firing and detention of a member of a BGB patrol team by Myanmar Border Guard Police along the Bangladesh-Myanmar international border, was called for the second time yesterday.

The foreign secretary said the director general of Border Guard Bangladesh will go to Myanmar on a five-day visit to discuss border security issue with

important and we hope that we can achieve some breakthroughs in the meeting,” he added.

The two countries will have foreign secretary level talks on June 18 and the security issues along with other bilateral matters will be also discussed in the meeting, Shahidul said.

About fencing the border, he said: “There is no such plan as the terrain is very difficult there.”

The foreign secretary at a programme recently said the main problem between the two countries was lack of trust and the most important thing was to change the mindset.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh has urged Myanmar to withdraw troops, if deployed along the international border.

Dhaka formally communicated the message to Naypyidaw while Myanmar envoy in Dhaka Myo Myint Than was again summoned to the Foreign Ministry yesterday morning.

“While referring to reported de-

ternational border, which is a violation of the Boundary Agreement of 1980, Bangladesh side urged Myanmar for immediate and total withdrawal of the Myanmar military, if deployed,” said a press release of the Foreign Ministry.

Secretary (Bilateral) of the Foreign Ministry Mustafa Kamal handed over a note verbale to the Myanmar envoy protesting unprovoked eruption of gunfire from the Myanmar border force in the afternoon on May 30 along the Bangladesh-Myanmar international border.

He asked the ambassador to stop firing by Myanmar border forces and take immediate measures for identification of the body that could be of Naik Md Mizanur Rahman who remained missing since May 28.

Bangladesh side also demanded a thorough investigation into the unprovoked recurrence of gunfire about 3:15 pm on Friday and abstaining from the same in future.

border pillar no 52 to identify the body.

“All of a sudden the Myanmar border forces started firing on the waiting BGB team without any provocation,” said the press release.

The Myanmar ambassador assured that the matter would be duly conveyed to the authorities concerned in Myanmar immediately.

Bangladesh embassy in Myanmar also lodged a strong protest with the Myanmar Foreign Ministry on Friday demanding an immediate investigation into the matter and requested the Myanmar government not to allow any action that may affect the friendly bilateral relations that exist between the two neighbouring countries.

Kamal told the envoy that despite the recent border incidences, Bangladesh government in the spirit of good neighbourly relations has strongly encouraged the visit of the director general of BGB and his delegation to Myanmar from June 9-14. l

COAL-BASED POWER PLANT

Government interested to take loan from China n Aminur Rahman Rasel The government is showing interest in taking out a loan from China at a lower rate to build mega coal-based power plants in the country.

“We are interested in China as it has invested a lot in coal power plant construction. If other countries come forward we will welcome them,” State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid told the Dhaka Tribune.

The government has already signed two deals to build 1,320 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plants through the latest ultra-supercritical technology at a cost of $4 billion while another state-run power generation company has started contacting a Chinese company to that end.

China will continue facilitating Bangladesh’s three fast-track high-profile projects including the deep-sea port, Padma Bridge and metro rail for communications.

Nasrul Hamid said: “China is technologically advanced and we hope standard work from them. Bangladesh can tremendously benefit from the Chinese experience in power sector.”

“I do not think the bad experience of 250MW Barapukuria coal-based power plant will repeat in the new projects,” he added.

But a section of insiders in the power sector warned that in many cases the performance of Chinese companies was below average and in future, the country might encounter trouble with the power plants.

They suggested that the government should choose other countries rather than China.

Northwest Power Generation Company Managing Director AM Khurshedul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune, “China is providing us with fast loan and we have visited their power plants which meet standards.”

“Eighty five percent of the expenditure on the power plant will come from the loan and 15% from equity,” he added.

Khurshedul said China would provide the loan at a rate of 3% interest and without Libor.

China had constructed many power plants before as contractor, the power company official said, adding that this was the first time it would work as an investor.

Normally, an investor never wanted to build a below average power plant, he maintained.

Managing Director Mostafa Kamal of Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh Ltd told the Dhaka Tribune, “We have already started contact with some firms in China and other countries and feasibility study to build an 800MW coal-based power plant in Munshiganj.

Md Nurul Alam, managing director, Ashuganj Power Station Company Limited, admitted that experience in coalbased power plant construction is not long. We have just started searching for land in Barguna and after feasibility study, we will go for construction of a 1,320MW power plant there,” said.

Bangladesh and China signed two MoUs to set up two 1,320 megawatt coal-fired power plants in Moheshkhali Island in Cox’s Bazar and Patuakhali.

The first one was signed between China’s state-owned China Huadian Hong Kong Company Limited and Bangladesh Power Development Board and the second one between the stateowned Northwest Power Generation Company and China National Machinery Import Export Corporation.

The government has prepared a road map to generation of around 20,000MW of electricity from the coalbased power plants by 2030.

Of the total power generation target, 11,250MW would be produced by using local coal while the rest by imported coal. l

The Dhaka North City Corporation authorities evict illegal structures in front of the Shishu Hospital in the capital yesterday. However, the local office of the ruling Awami League was spared SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Husband kills wife and daughter in Shiddhirganj n Our Correspondent, Narayanganj A man killed his wife and daughter over a family feud early yesterday at Hirajheel in Shiddhirganj, Narayanganj.

Beauty Begum, the murderer’s sister-in-law, said Yasin Ali Shumon, the accused, had been sharing rent and living in her house with his wife, her sister Moyna Begum, their 12-year-old daughter Nur Jahan Akhter Swapna and their five-year-old son Emon. Shumon had been jobless for the past four months due to his drug addiction and could not pay the rent. The household costs were paid by Moyna’s sisters.

‘I begged him not to kill Emon and promised I would take care of him’ The family’s financial condition had caused a rift between the husband and wife, said Beauty, adding that they often fought. On the night of the incident, Shumon was having an altercation with Moyna and, at one stage, he started hacking her with a kitchen knife.

Renu Begum, a neighbour, said Swapna started screaming when she saw her father attacking her mother.

“When we heard Swapna’s screams, we went and peeked through their window. Swapna came to us and pleaded to rescue her, saying her father had hacked her mother to death,” she said.

“She was talking to us when Shumon came and killed her too,” she added.

Renu said Shumon was going to kill his son too, but stopped when she requested him not to. “I begged him not to kill Emon and promised I would take care of him,” she said. “I told him that the neighbours were going to kill him if he did not stop, but they would only hand him over to police if he spared Emon.”

Locals locked Shumon inside the house and informed police, who then went to the scene and arrested him.

They also recovered the bodies and the murder weapon from the scene.

Sub-Inspector Jahirul Haque, OC of Shiddhirganj police station, said the bodies had been sent to Narayanganj General Hospital for a post-mortem.

The filing of a case was in progress, he added. l

No regulatory body for physiotherapy graduates n Moniruzzaman Uzzal Over a thousand physiotherapists across the country have been practicing in the healthcare sector without valid certification from any legal authority.

In 1973, Professor RJ Garst, an American Orthopaedic Surgeon, introduced the BSc in Physiotherapy programme at the National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation. No regulatory body, however, has yet been formed to provide registration for the graduates.

According to statistics of Bangladesh Physiotherapy Association (BPA), more than 1,300 graduate physiotherapists have gone through the five-year graduation studies (four-year academic study and one-year internship) at

World No Tobacco Day observed n UNB The World No Tobacco Day was observed in the country yesterday as elsewhere across the globe.

The theme of this year was “Raise taxes on tobacco.”

The government, different anti-tobacco, socio-cultural, health and other organisations observed the day with elaborate programmes.

The national programme was held at the Institution of Engineers in the capital in the morning.

Besides, the ADHUNIK, the nation’s first and leading anti-tobacco organisation founded by National Professor Dr Nurul Islam, organised a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club on Friday afternoon in this regard.

The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 6 lakh are non-smokers dying from passive smoking, according to the World Health Organisation.

Unless any step is taken, the epidemic will kill more than 80 lakh people every year by 2030. More than 80% of these preventable deaths will be among the people living in low and middle income countries. l

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

different public universities so far but none of them has any certificate to practice as professional physiotherapists.

The course is run under the Medicine Faculty (of Dhaka University and Rajshahi University) at the Institute of Health Technology of the Health Directorate, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, Bangladesh Medical College, State College of Health Science, and National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation.

Although physiotherapists are not doctors, they are allegedly introducing themselves as doctors, causing confusion among patients.

Besides, as there is no regulatory body to check the educational attainments of physiotherapists, members of an unscrupulous

group are taking the opportunity to claim themselves as qualified physiotherapists and doctors without having any relevant degree.

ZH Basunia, registrar of Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC), told the Dhaka Tribune that according to the BMDC Act 2010, nobody can introduce himself as a doctor, except those holding MBBS or BDS degree from any public or private medical college and obtaining valid BMDC registration.

Obaidul Haque, president of Bangladesh Physiotherapy Association, told the Dhaka Tribune that physiotherapy had become an important treatment tool for thousands of patients but the degree had not been recognised by any authorised public council.

All the health professionals, includ-

ing doctors, nurses, medical assistants, have councils to recognise them as professionals but physiotherapists have no individual authority to certify them, he said.

“For years, we have called on the government to form a separate council to provide professional registrations for qualified physiotherapists. We are not asking for pity but want professional identity and dignity from the government,” Obaidul added.

Sources say the Ministry of Health is going to form an individual accreditation council to award professional registration to physiotherapy graduates.

A 10-member committee, headed by the director of alternative medical care of the Health Directorate, was formed on May 27 and it was asked to formulate a draft of the council soon. l

RESERVED POSTS FOR WOMEN MEMBERS

EC to announce polls schedule this month n Mohammad Zakaria

Dhaka district administration officials remove a cigarette box holder in a fast food shop in the capital’s Paltan area yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

The Election Commission is set to announce this month the schedule for the first phase of polls to reserved posts for women members in 127 upazilas.

The Local Government and Rural Development Ministry has already completed the demarcation of these upazilas.

The commission will send a letter to the ministry this week, asking it to demarcate the boundaries in the rest of 360 upazilas as soon as possible, a senior assistant secretary told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The election process will start after the commission gives its approval in a meeting scheduled to be held on Monday, he added.

However, the commission is yet to hold the polls to reserved posts for women members in just-concluded 471 upazilas across the country. Over 1,500 women will be elected from all upazila parishads. In the first phase of polls, 300 women will be elected as members in 127 upazila parishads.

Earlier, the tenure of the third upazila parishad expired without having women members as the commission did not

hold the polls due to legal complexity.

An amendment to Upazila Parishad Act was passed in parliament in March 2013.

Meanwhile, the commission had held polls to the posts for chairman, vice-chairman and women vice-chairman in 471 upazilas in six phases.

EC officials said the commission sent the letter to the ministry in May last year to delimit the areas in 487 upazilas. The ministry informed the EC that it had completed the demarcation of 127 upazilas.

Recently, Election Commissioner

Abdul Mobarak sent a note to Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad for holding the polls to the reserved posts.

According to Upazila Parishad Act 1998, the number of reserved posts for women members in a given upazila will be equal to the number of unions and municipalities in that upazila.

The members or councillors elected in reserved posts for women in union parishads or municipalities will contest the elections for reserved posts in upazila parishads. l

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News

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Unauthorised travel agencies to face music n Mohosinul Karim Unauthorised travel agencies operating without renewed licences would face action, warned officials.

Owners of around 50% of the travel agencies across the country did not submit applications and pay the required fees by May 28 which was the last date of submission for the renewal of licences as per a new law enacted last year, according to the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry officials.

Travel operators, however, claimed that they had already submitted applications to the ministry and had paid the fees to continue running their businesses.

The ministry will cancel licences of the travel agencies which did not apply to have theirs renewed Ministry officials said they would take steps against the travel agencies that did not apply for renewal as their activities would be considered unauthorised from the last date of submission onwards.

Additional Secretary of the ministry Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem told the Dhaka Tribune: “The ministry will cancel licences of the travel agencies which did not apply to have theirs renewed as the government will not allow anyone to operate travel business illegally. They will then have to obtain new licences if their existing licences are cancelled.”

The government enacted the Bangladesh Travel Agencies (Registration and Control) Act last year and a gazette notification was issued on November 13 in the same year to implement the law.

The law was implemented from November 28 but the authorities did not take the initiative to enforce it from the date as the Bangladesh Travel Agencies (Registration and Control) Rules could

4 gold bars seized n Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) detained a Myanmar national, with four gold bars in her possession, from Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar yesterday.

The arrested Sanjida Begum, 30, is the wife of late Salu Mia of Haripara upazila under Mongdu district in Myanmar.

Lt Col Abu Jar Al Zahid told the Dhaka Tribune that the woman was detained in a drive conducted by a BGB team in Transit Ghat area around 3:30pm yesterday.

The 664g gold bars are worth Tk2,335,000. The filing of a case is underway, added the official. l

Mozena visits JIMCH

n Tribune Report

not be prepared by then.

Finally, the ministry took initiative to enforce the law after formulating and publishing the rules on May 19 this year.

The ministry’s Senior Assistant Secretary Nilufar Jesmin Khan issued a notification requesting the travel agencies to submit their application for renewal of the existing licences by May 28.

According to the law and rules, it is mandatory for the existing travel agencies to renew their licenses upon payment of the new fees and charges.

Otherwise, the government will have the authority to cancel the licences.

The Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) also issued letters to all their members in order to remind them of the requirement.

ATAB Deputy Secretary General Abdus Salam Aref told the Dhaka Tribune: “All of our members have submitted applications to the government for renewal of their licences as they want to run business legally and without any hassle. The applications were submitted at the outset of this year. They also paid the additional fees later.”

Ministry officials said they had received around 1,500 applications till May 28 and the rest had not yet applied because of their reluctance to pay the additional charges.

At present, there are around 4,000 travel operators in the country while ATAB has around 3,000 members.

According to the new law and rules, the travel operators have to apply for licence after paying Tk5,000 which is the application fee. In addition, to apply for the new licence for three years, an operator must have a bank balance amounting to Tk10 lakh.

The operator will have to pay Tk50,000 to the government treasury as licence fees after getting approval from the authorities concerned. They will also require to pay the government Tk25,000 in renewal fees every year.

In case of renewal, an operator must show an annual transaction worth Tk50 lakh. l

BNP LEADER MURDER

Prime suspect held n Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah The prime accused in the Kaliganj upazila BNP leader Ismail Hossain murder case was arrested yesterday in Jessore town.

The arrested, Shahjahan Ali, is the president of Kaliganj municipality unit of BNP, said Anwar Hossain, Kaliganj police station officer-in-charge, adding that Ali was sent to jail.

On May 13, Shahjahan allegedly murdered Ismail, an ex-panel mayor of Kaliganj municipality in Jhenidah district. A case was then filed, naming him as the prime accused. l

‘Zero tolerance to question papers leak’ n Mushfique Wadud Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday said the ministry would show zero tolerance to the recent incidents of question papers leak, which drew widespread criticism from all walks of life.

“We have already taken tougher steps against question leak that leaves us in an image crisis. We must bring the culprits to book who are responsible for the misdeed,” Nahid said while addressing a programme in the Teachers and Students Centre of Dhaka University.

He also said the ministry would stop the examination process forthwith

on certain information of question leak.

“We have formed a high-power committee for the leakage and will take immediate action after getting its report,” the minister continued.

Nahid made the remarks one day after noted educationist and author Muhammad Zafar Iqbal observed a sit-in programme on the premises of Jatiya Shaheed Minar protesting the recent question papers leak. Different university teachers, writers and students also joined the sit-in.

During the programme, Zafar Iqbal said the higher authorities might have been involved in the leaks.

There were rumours of question pa-

per leak in this year’s HSC examination, for each of the subjects. The leaked question papers were also found on the social media.

The Dhaka Tribune collected the leaked HSC Mathematics First Paper question paper from facebook on May 24 - the examination was supposed to be held on the following day. And it later found 95 percent similarity with the original question paper.

However, the Education Minister and Board officials denied the leak although the Dhaka Education Board earlier had to postpone the examination of HSC English Second Paper for the same allegation. l

Patuakhali coal-based power plant protested n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Coastal people of Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali yesterday formed a human chain and held a rally protesting construction of a coal-based thermal power plant in the area.

The programme was held at village Madhupara under Dhankhali union of the upazila and participated by a large number of people from Madhupara, Char Nishanbaria, Nishanbaria areas in the district.

The speakers said the government approved a project to construct a coal-

based 1320 MegaWatt thermal power generation plant at the cost of two billion dollars.

The project was approved without any feasibility studies and considerations regarding pollution of the air, land and water of the delta of Tiakhali, Ramnabad, Andharmanik estuary, possible threats against the environment, disaster management and biodiversity of the coastal area and the people, the speakers alleged.

The decision to evict homes and crop lands of twenty thousand residents of the area with 8 educational in-

stitutions, 12 mosques, 1 madrasah for the power plant came at a crucial time when the coastal people are fighting natural disasters like Sidr and Aila, the participants said.

They called upon the prime minister to select the construction site of the proposed power plant on a barren shoal land instead of the populated areas after visiting the region.

The government recently took steps for acquisition of 1002 acres of land in those three villages for the plant, which generated eviction panic and concern for biodiversity damage

Conference on renewable energy held at UIU n Tribune Report

US Ambassador Dan W Mozena visited Jahurul Islam Medical College Hospital located in Bhagalpur village of Bajitpur upazila in Kishoreganj on May 25 and was impressed by the hospital’s discipline and management. At the hospital, he visited the children ward and attended a general discussion at the college auditorium.

He addressed the students of the hospital and said: “I have visited places in this country from Teknaf to Tetulia and my firm believe is that you can make this country a beautiful sonar Bangla.” l

A rickshaw-puller waits under the hood of his rickshaw for the rain to stop in front of the High Court yesterday

The third International Conference on Developments in Renewable Energy Technology (ICDRET) organised by United International University (UIU) concluded yesterday.

The three-day long programme started on May 29 at the university campus.

At the inaugural ceremony of the conference, University Grants Commission Chairman Prof AK Azad Chowdhury was present as the chief guest. UIU Vice-Chancellor Prof. M Rezwan Khan presided over the programme and Prof AKM Sadrul Islam and Prof Md Fayyaz Khan spoke on the occasion.

More than 150 papers of researchers from around ten different countries were submitted for presentation at the conference, out of which 92 were accepted. A significant response was also received from local researchers.

Speakers said the ICDRET has become a forum for the exchange of ideas and research outcomes at home and abroad.

The conference provided a platform for the implementation agencies working at the grass root level to share their experiences with the researchers and academicians, the speakers added.

They said the level of interest in renewable energy was very clearly indicated by the participation

of 12 national and international companies.

The conference, along with its previous partners Oldenburg University Germany, Kathmandu University Nepal, Centre for Energy and Global Environment, VPISU USA, accumulated new partners in organising the event, extending the international dimensions of the conference.

The new partners were Micro Energy Germany, TERI India, BERG and OREL from USA. The conference also had new sponsors like IFC and Sun Edison from USA. Local renewable energy players including IDCOL, Rahim Afrooze, Electro Solar and UPGD also contributed to the event. l

among the local residents and green activists.

The programme was addressed among others by Advocate Jalaluddin Talukdar, convenor of Kalapara Nagorik Committee; Ismail Talukdar, former UP member, Md Ali Mia, a madrasah teacher and a local resident.

However, Kalapara upazila administration said the government selected the site considering probable pollution challenges and would provide justified compensations and rehabilitations against the acquisitioned lands. l

RAJIB DHAR

Gonojagoron Ghore Ghore campaign begins n Tribune Report Gonojagoron Moncho, a youth platform, carried out its “Gonojagoron Ghore Ghore,” a month long programme to raise mass awareness, for the fifth day yesterday, in the capital’s Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi 27, Shankar, Asad Gate and Lalmatiya areas.

The Moncho had started the programme with a six-point demand, including speeding up the war crimes trials, placing a ban on Jamaat-Shibir politics, starting special drives against terrorism across the country and forming an independent probe commission to look into the financial organisations controlled by war criminals.

The campaign also urges people to protest post-verdict violence that might follow the upcoming war crimes verdicts. The campaign will continue till June 27. During yesterday’s campaign, the Moncho activists provided contact numbers for emergency cells formed to tackle violence.

Moncho spokesperson Imran H Sarker criticised the law minister’s recent statement that the Jamaat-e-Islami could not be tried as an organisation under the existing laws of the tribunal.

The Moncho’s publicity group informed that they would hold the campaign in Shyamoli, Adabor, Kolyanpur and Gabtoli areas today. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

Taxicab service in Chittagong on the wane n CU Correspondent The taxicab service in Chittagong, which was introduced 12 years ago because of public demand, is in a sorry state as the number of vehicles has fallen dramatically.

Over 200 air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned taxicabs, which came in both black and yellow, were put into operation when the service was introduced in 2002.

At present, however, only 40-50 of those are functional, said Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) sources. BRTA officials said the service was introduced to provide city dwellers with the best transport experience possible.

The vehicles were issued route permits for ten years and most of those have already had their permits expired, said Jamal Uddin, assistant director of BRTA Chittagong division.

The service is operated through Navana Taxicab Service, Uttara Finance and Cosmo Cab Service, said Mohammed Arju, former general secretary of

Chittagong businessman remains missing for eight days n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Police are yet to track down the whereabouts of a local businessman who went missing from Khatunganj area of the port city eight days ago.

The victim was identified as Abul Hasnat Shamim, 35, owner of a shop situated in Karnaphuli Market in Chowmuhoni area.

The ill-fated trader’s family members said Shamim went out of his residence on May 24 to deposit Tk20,000 to his bank account and since then has been missing while his cell phone was found switched off.

Later, the family members lodged a General Dairy with Double Mooring police station on following evening. However, police could not give any leads about his whereabouts until yesterday.

Double Mooring police station SI Shafiul Islam, also the investigation officer of the GD, told Dhaka Tribune that they were initially trying best to spot the victim’s mobile phone location using sophisticated technology.

“The incident may have occurred as sequel to family or business feud,” the SI suspected.

Abu Naser, younger brother of the victim, said police and Rapid Action Battalion have yet to make any remarkable development in finding his brother. l

the Light Motor Vehicle Owners’ and Workers’ Union.

Cab drivers said they were distressed to see the service gradually declining day by day. Leaders of the union said they were facing numerous difficulties as the cab owners had lost their interest in investing in the sector.

Many drivers took ownership of the cabs from the investors and have been paying bank installments, they added.

Abu Fayez, general secretary of the union, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have urged BRTA to renew the permits for another five years as bank installments are still being paid.”

Cab driver Md Iqbal said these days, the drivers were getting fewer passengers, adding that only people belonging to the affluent class rent cabs to reach airport or rail station.

Kamal Hossain, sales and marketing official of The Peninsula Chittagong Hotel, said they hire cabs only when the customers ask for it but the quality of service is questionable.

Jamal Uddin said BRTA has no plan to renew permits for the existing vehicles. l

Mangoes are stockpiled on a road at Jhikaragachha village under Charghat upazila in Rajshahi. The mangoes will be sent to different parts of the country. Growers and traders in the district are passing busy time as the fruit markets in the districts are abuzz with a huge variety of mangoes, including Gopalbhog, Mohonbog, Khersapat and Himsagar DHAKA TRIBUNE

Scalper held with train tickets in Chittagong

MPs, UZ chairmen get more time to submit projects

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

n Mohosinul Karim

Detective Branch (DB) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) arrested an alleged scalper with train tickets yesterday from New Market area in Chittagong city.

The arrested, Mohammad Shawon, 27, is the son of Mohammad Badal and is from Panir Kol area under Halishahar police station in the city.

He was handed over to Kotwali police station and a case was lodged in this regard, said DB sources.

On a tip-off, a DB team led by Sub-Inspector Mohammad Ali conducted a drive in Data Bazar of New Market area at 2:30pm and detained Shawon, said Anwar Hossain, assistant commissioner (AC) of DB Port

Zone of CMP. The DB men recovered 48 train tickets for 70 seats on different inter-city trains heading from the port city to other parts of the country, from his possession, the AC said.

During interrogation, Shawon said he used to pay four or five men Tk20 to Tk30 each to stand in the ticket booth lines at the Chittagong railway station every day in order to collect the train tickets.

He would then sell the tickets to common commuters at double the price, said the DB official.

“We are trying to arrest Shawon’s cohorts and are continuing our drives to detain others who are involved similar crimes,” added the AC. l

The Disaster Management and Relief Ministry has given an extension to parliament members and upazila chairmen for submitting project proposals to be funded from special allocations given to them.

MPs from both general and reserved seats and upazila chairmen will now get until June 10 for submitting project proposals.

The special allocation was given to them in two phases in April and May to continue infrastructural development in their areas under the Food for Works (FFW) programme.

Letters from the ministry, signed by Senior Assistant Secretary Mohammad Monirul Islam, were sent to the district

n Our Correspondent, Barisal

THUNDERSHOWER

SUNDAY, JUNE 1 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:42PM SUN RISES 5:11AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 35

28

Chittagong

33

26

Rajshahi

35

26

Rangpur

36

25

Khulna

33

26

Barisal

33

27

Sylhet

35

24

Cox’s Bazar

33

27

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

34.5ºC Cox’s Bazar

21.6ºC Tangail

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

3:46am 5:11am 11:56am 3:16pm 6:41pm 8:07pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

within the due period.

Earlier, the ministry released special cash allotment against 334 parliament members and 487 upazila parishad chairmen. Each of the MPs from the general seats received the price of 300 tonnes rice and the those from the reserved women seats received the price of 100 tonnes of rice.

At the same time, over Tk53.7 crore was given as special allotment to the 487 upazila parishad chairmen from around the country. The money was to be given to them in accordance with their demands and the size and population of their respcective areas.

The funds for special allotment would be spent in the “food for money” programme under the FFW programme of the ministry. l

BU students boycott class and exam

WEATHER

Dhaka

and upazila level administrations asking them to take steps in implementing the projects in consultation with the local public representatives.

According to the letter, the MPs and upazila chairmen will have to submit their projects to the district steering committees led by local deputy commissioners.

The projects that would be approved by the district steering committee, must be implemented within June 20. The authority will release allotted funds for the projects until June 30, the letter said.

It also said projects submitted after June 10 would not be accepted.

The ministry asked the deputy commissioner and upazila nirbahi officers to communicate with the MPs and upazila chairmen and collect the projects

A wrecker rescues a bus from a ditch after the vehicle skids into the lake at Ichhladi in Wazirpur upazila in Barisal, killing a policeman and injuring 10 others DHAKA TRIBUNE

1 killed, 10 injured as bus falls into a ditch n Our Correspondent, Barisal A police member was killed and 10 others injured when Dhaka-bound bus of Eagle Paribahan lost control and skidded into a ditch beside the Dhaka-Barisal highway at Ichhladi in Wazirpur Upazila, Barisal around 8:20am yesterday.

AKM Ehsanullah, district police superintendent, said Habildar Mokhlesur Rahman, 49, of Range Reserve Force Camp, was on his way to his workplace in Batajor on the bus.

He died instantly when the accident took place near the toll plaza of Major MA Jalil Birdge in Ichhladi. His body was sent to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) for post-mortem, said Ehsanullah. l

Students of Barisal University yesterday started boycotting classes and exams to bring attention to their six-point demand.

Their demands include punishment of the road transport workers and leaders for attacking BU students on May 29, immediate construction of the student halls and boundary walls on the BU permanent campus, construction of a passenger shed at the bus stop and speed breakers in front of the permanent campus, fixation of session fees with all other charges at Tk3,000 per student, announcement of the date of BU Student Union election, withdrawal of the resignations of five assistant proctors and empowering them with logistic and financial supports.

After visiting the BU temporary campus at Barisal Zila School premises, it was found that agitated students locked the administrative building in front of the vice-chancellor’s office,

boycotting classes and exams.

Later, BU VC Md Harunor Rashid Khan held a meeting with the agitating student leaders and requested them to return to class, assuring them that the administration would consider their legitimate demands.

He said demands of the student were legitimate and resignations of the assistant proctors were yet not accepted.

However, as a new university authority had some temporary limitations, demands of the students would be fulfilled step by step, the VC assured. He also criticised the role of law enforcement for their failure in protecting students from the attackers on May 29 and hoped to solve the problems as soon as possible.

On other hand, agitated students rejected the VC’s request and vowed to continue their agitation programmes. They also warned of tougher programmes, if their demands were not met within Monday evening, said BU General Students’ Forum Convener HM Zahirul. l

Aiming to eradicate poverty by 2015 n Tazlina Zamila Khan

Sharmin, 15, was the class topper in Class IX. During the 2011 flood, she contracted high fever and visited a quack who prescribed medication worth Tk8,000, which failed to cure her.

When her condition deteriorated, she visited a kabiraj who performed an exorcism on her, leaving her mentally unstable, depressed and suicidal.

In August, she visited another quack who performed another exorcism, which led to new symptoms of illness: her limbs went weak and now she cannot stand properly.

“If my hands and legs were steady, I would be able to return to school,” she said.

Sharmin is one among countless Bangladeshis who cannot afford medical help due to the rising health costs –

one of the many problems faced by the extreme poor in the country.

Sharmin’s story came up during the observation of Eradicate Extreme Poverty Day 2014, a part of a project that is working to eradicate hunger and poverty in the country.

The event was organised by Stimulating Household Improvement Resulting in Economic Empowerment (Shiree), World Food Programme and Manusher Jonno Foundation yesterday in the capital’s Bashundhara area.

The project aims to support the government in achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

Around 100 organisations participated in the event to display their projects.

Marufa Haque, administration manager of Shiree, said: “The project was launched in 2008 and is funded by

the Department for International Development (DFID), UKAID and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SADC). We are currently running 39 projects, of which 12 are finished.

Around 46 organisations are working with us. We are working under the Ministry of LGRD and have reached thousands of poor people in 27 districts and more than 80 upazilas.”

A baseline survey on 73,000 extreme poor household found that 79% of the respondents eat less than three meals a day, and 75% of the female population do not get required nourishment, compared to 63% of the male population.

Around 84.5% of the children under the age of five are stunted, the survey revealed.

Shah Md Nazmul Hoque, project manager of Handicap International, said: “We are working with 653 hand-

icapped people in Sitakunda. We train them on capacity building and skill enhancing. Besides, we also provide aids and create employment for them.”

Under the project, many disabled people have been provided with small businesses like grocery shops so that they can earn their own livelihoods.

Md Mahbubul Hoque Bhuiyan, coordinator of Charity Right – Mercy Mission Bangladesh, said: “We are providing one meal a day to around 300 people at two slums in Mirpur and Uttara. We provide khichuri and eggs at 3 o’clock every day.

The reason behind providing the meal is to ensure that the children do not beg in order to collect money for food.”

Ali Reza, commercial and business development manager of the organisation, said they aimed to provide 1,000 meals per day by this year in order to reduce hunger. l

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

College lake being grabbed in Gopalganj n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj Two people are claiming ownership of a college lake in Gopalganj’s Kashiani upazila, almost 69 years after their ancestors had allegedly donated it to the college.

They have already demarcated a bigger part of one-and-a-half-acre lake of Ramdia Government SK College.

Loacals say the Water and Power Development Authority was digging a canal just past the college in 1945, when its course was detoured to save the education institute from erosion, leading to the creation of the L-Shape Lake there.

The local Union Parishd firstly used to maintain the lake, but later the lake was handed over to the college authority, taking in view its utility for the college that it earns at least Tk 1lakh by leasing it out each year.

The college authority has decided to

lease out this lake on June 3, but getting in its way, influentials Hamidullah Al Bablu and Tutul Mia are now claiming the ownership of the lake by demarcating it with bamboos and pillars.

They have never before claimed the ownership of this lake. Even this property was not in their possession.

But now they are trying to grab it, the locals say.

They say the college has just 68 decimals of the lake land recorded in its name. Taking advantange of this, Hamid and Tutul have had the rest of the lake recorded in their names.

They add that the land had also never been owned by any individual before this lake came up there. Besides this, many people have built their houses and other installations filling up parts of the lake.

Hamidullah, claiming that the college authority tried to record it in its

name but failed, says “This lake is ours, but we have not lived off it since it was created in 1940s. Besides this, we have had this lake recorded during Bangladesh Survey (BS) in 1994.

We have now come to take it in our possession because we want to fill it up but there has been a dispute about. To resolve this, we will sit in a meeting with the college authorities and local elders.”

Environment activist Bidhan Chandra Tikadar said, “The rivers, canals, lakes and ponds are the sources of water. Water crisis will emerge if they are filled up. So, grabbing and filling-up of water bodies have to be stopped.”

Ramdia Government SK College Balai Chand Dey said, “We have notified the upazila nirbahi officer and assistant commissioner (land) about it. Besides this, we will sit in a meeting about this on June 9, when they will also be present.” l

Biogas use gains momentum n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

Biogas, a low-cost alternative fuel produced from perishable wastage, which is used for cooking, has become popular among people in different areas of Gaibandha district.

Sources said the people of the area who had never had gas to cook with, can now use the gas for all domestic purposes.

Currently, around 30 rural families use biogas instead of firewood for cooking.

The Gaibandha Municipality, Practical Action, Bangladesh (PA,B) and Chhinnomul Mahila Samity have been jointly implementing the long-term project since 2011.

The plant has been set up by spend-

ing Tk17,00,000. Some 17 workers collect 1,500 kg of wastage from the people in the municipality area and 30 cubic gas is produced daily from that waste.

Though many of the people are unaware of the production of biogas from waste, it proved effective when it was made operational in the municipality.

Housewife Roksana Begum of Baniarjan in Gaibandha municipality area has been using a biogas-run stove for cooking for the last two years.

Roksana said her husband Farid Mondal, a local high school teacher, took the biogas connection from the samity that is providing the service.

“We have been getting a supply of biogas that lasts for five hours per day

A woman cooks with biogas in Baniarjaan area of Gaibandha town yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

and have been paying Tk600 per month as a service fee to the service provider.”

“Cooking with a biogas-run stove is better than a wood-run stove as smoke and soot are not emitted by the biogasrun stove. It is also cheaper than woodrun stove. “It costs more than Tk600 to cook using a wood-run stove. Hence, we feel better in using the biogas-run stove”, said the housewife.

Morsheda Begum, Jahanara, Shamim Ara and Azhar in the area echoed Roksana’s views. Mayor Mohammad Shamsul Alam lauded the initiative to produce biogas from waste and provide it to people to cook with.

He assured that, on behalf of his institution, he would provide all the support that he could.

“We have a double advantage. The collection of wastage is helping to keep our environment clean, and the biogas, produced from the wastage, is meeting our cooking needs. So it is definitely better for us,” said Shamsul Alam.

The mayor hoped that the government and other non-government and private organisations will come forward to produce biogas and expand the service countrywide.

Mursidur Rahman Khan, executive director of the samity, said: “Biogas production through a combined waste management system is a momentous initiative taken by the organisations working for the improvement of the urban and rural environments.”

“We plan to expand the business,” he said. l

Lightning kills six in 4 districts n Tribune Desk

At least six people were killed in a lightning strike in Chuadanga, Gaibandha, Chapainawbganj and Bagerhat districts yesterday.

In Chuadanga, two people were killed and 10 others injured as lightning struck them in Jibonnagar and Damurhuda upazilas.

The deceased were identified as Sadek Ali, 22, son of Hashem Ali, of Jibonnagar upazila and Saidur Rahman, 23, son of Ali Kadar, of Kushadanga village under the upazila.

Jibonnagar police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Dulal Uddin Azad said: “Lighten-

ing struck Sadek and Saidur, killing them on the spot around 8:30am.”

“The injured were taken to Jibonnagar Health Complex for receiving treatment,” said the SI. In Gaibandha, a house wife was killed by a lightning strike in West Gidari village in the morning.

The deceased was identified as Amena Begum, 35, wife of Abdur Rashid of West Gidari village under Gidari union.

Gidari union parishad Chairman Golam Sadek Lebu said: “Amena died on the spot as lightning struck her while she was working in the courtyard around 9am.”

In Bagerhat, a man was killed as light-

ning struck him at Chitalmari upazila.

The deceased was identified as Akram Sheikh, 60.

Chitalmari police station Officerin-Charge Dilip Kumar Sarker said: “Akram died on the spot as lightning struck him while he was working in the field around 11:30am.”

In Chapainawbganj, two people were killed in lightning strike at Azgubi village in Sibganj upazila.

The deceased were identified as Anisur Rahman,55, son of Giasuddin and Munir Hossain,35, son of Ataur Rahman.

Police sources said the duo died on the spot in a lightning strike while they were collecting mangoes in the orchard. l

High taxes on tobacco demanded Gamblers snatch n Our Correspondent, Mymensingh SERAC-Bangladesh formed a human chain at the Mymensingh railway station yesterday to mark ‘World No Tobacco Day’.

Speakers at the program called upon the government to impose high taxes on tobacco products so that tobacco becomes expensive.

They claimed that the prices of to-

bacco products have remained almost stagnant in recent years, even though prices of regular commodities have increased a lot over the last few years.

Referring to the World Bank and World Health Organization’s study, speakers said a 10% tax increase on tobacco and tobacco products would help to decrease death rates at an anticipatory level in both high and low income countries. l

three from police custody n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj Gamblers, led by a union parishad chairman, attacked Kashiyani police on Friday night and snatched three detainees whom police had nabbed while they were gambling in Kashiyani upazila, Gopalganj.

Police said Farid Uddin Ahmed, a local influential person, organised a month long “Baishakhi Fair” at Mukundopur village without taking permission from the administration. Police put a ban on the fair when some people started gambling at the fair.

However, they started gambling at the fair spot again after some days of the ban.

Upon receiving information, Kashiyani police station Officer-in-Charge Monirul Islam conducted a drive at the fair on Friday night and arrested three people for gambling.

Later, Farid Uddin Ahmed, Narail’s Lohagora union parishad chairman Md Badar Uddin and some gamblers attacked the police team and snatched the three detainees. l

The photo taken recently shows that some local influential people have set up bamboos in a canal which is a property of Ramdia Government SK College at Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj in a bid to grab it DHAKA TRIBUNE

Work abstention at Thakurgaon hospital n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon The doctors, nurses, officers and staff of a diabetic hospital in Thakurgaon started an indefinite work abstention yesterday.

Sources said they were abstaining from work because the salaries of 113 employees of the Thakurgaon Healthcare Hospital had been suspended for the last nine months.

Hundreds of diabetic and eye patients have suffered tremendously, alleged the patients who came to receive treatment at the hospital.

The hospital was previously known as the Thakurgaon Diabetic

Hospital but was renamed Thakurgaon Healthcare Hospital in 2006 since it was included in a joint health care project of Bangladesh and Netherland.

Hospital sources said a total of 113 employees had been appointed in the hospital so far, but their salaries had been stopped for the last nine months.

The employees have urged the authority concerned to pay their dues but their demands is yet to met.

Ekramul Haque Swapan, the executive director of the hospital, said he came to his office in the morning but services are temporarily suspended due to the abstention. “Nine months’ worth of my salary is due as well.” l

Girl’s body recovered in Narsingdi

n Our Correspondent, Narsingdi Police recovered a girl’s body yesterday from the Basail flyover on the DhakaSylhet highway in Narsingdi.

Sub-Inspector Pradip Kumar Saha told the Dhaka Tribune that locals found the body beside the flyover yesterday morning and informed police.

Later police recovered the body from the spot. The girl is yet to be identified, said the SI. It is suspected that the body might have been dumped by the killers some time during the night.

The body was sent to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital for an autopsy, added the SI. l

Long Form A taxing approach DHAKA TRIBUNE

7

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Heavier taxation on tobacco products ca be an effective strategy to reduce consumption and save lives

PHOTO: SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

T

n MA Jabbar he member states of the World Health Organization created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and the preventable death and disease it causes. In 1988, Resolution WHA42.19 was passed, calling for the celebration of World No Tobacco Day every year on May 31. Since then, every year the day is observed by the member states with a specific theme.

The day provides an opportunity

More than five million deaths per year are the result of direct tobacco use, while more than 600,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke

for governments, non-government organisations and individuals in every community to get involved in activities that can lead to a tobacco-free environment and thus ensure better health. The theme of the World No Tobacco Day for 2014 is to raise taxes on tobacco.

Smoking is a health problem, the costs of which include sickness, pain, grief and misery. But tobacco use also imposes a significant economic burden on society. In addition to the direct medical costs of treating tobacco-related illnesses, there are other indirect costs including loss of productivity, fire damage and environmental harm from cigarette litter, and destructive farming practices. The total burden imposed by tobacco products more than outweighs any economic benefit from their manufacture and sale.

WHO key facts on tobacco Facts reveal that tobacco kills nearly six million people each year. More than five million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use, while more than 600,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than eight million by 2030.

Nearly 80% of the world’s one

billion smokers live in low and middle-income countries. The fact further shows that consumption of tobacco products is increasing globally, though it is decreasing in some high-income and upper middle-income countries.

Tobacco users who die prematurely deprive their families of income, raise the cost of healthcare and hinder economic development. In some countries, children from poor households are frequently employed in tobacco farming to provide family income.

These children are especially vulnerable to “green tobacco sickness,” which is caused by the nicotine that is absorbed through the skin from the handling of wet tobacco leaves. There are more than 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.

You cannot be safe so long as there are smokers around It is now well accepted globally that you cannot be safe so long as there are smokers around. For whatever reason, if you inhale the air polluted by tobacco smoker you run the same risk as the smoker. In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. Among infants, it causes sudden death and among pregnant women, it causes low birth weight. In public places, almost half of all children regularly breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke.

The poor consume the most It is the poorer and the poorest who tend to smoke the most. Globally, 84% of smokers live in developing and traditional economy countries. At the country level, tobacco consumption varies by socio-economic group. In many countries, at all levels of development and income, it is the poor who smoke the most and who bear most of the economic and disease burden of tobacco use. A study of smoking prevalence among men in Chennai (India) in 1997 shows that the highest rate is found among the illiterate population (64%).

This prevalence decreases by number of years of schooling, and it decreases to about 150 (21%) among those with more than 12 years of schooling. A study in the United Kingdom shows that only 10% of women and 12% of men in the highest socio-economic group are smokers while 35% of women and 40% of men in the lowest socio-economic group smoke.

Tobacco increases the poverty of individuals and families: WHO facts reveal that tobacco and poverty create a vicious circle. In most countries, tobacco use tends to be higher among the poor. Poor families, in turn spend a larger proportion of their income on tobacco. Money spent on tobacco cannot be spent on basic human needs such as food, shelter, education and health care.

Tobacco can also worsen poverty among users and their families since tobacco users are at much higher risk of falling ill and dying prematurely of cancers, heart attacks, respiratory diseases or other tobacco-induced diseases, depriving families of much needed income and imposing additional costs for health care.

Specific goals of the World No Tobacco Day 2014 As mentioned above, a specific theme for the day is determined every year, which provides an opportunity for governments, non-government organisations and individuals in every community to get involved in activities that can lead to a tobacco-free environment and thus ensure better health.

This year’s theme is that governments should increase taxes on tobacco to levels that help reduce tobacco consumption; on the other end, individuals and civil society organisations should also work together to encourage their governments to increase taxes on tobacco to levels that reduce consumption. This is because tax on tobacco is an effective strategy to reduce consumption and thus save lives of millions.

of income spent on tobacco, increasing opportunity costs on families’ immediate needs such as education and health expenditures. When evaluated from a broader perspective, tobacco control is not only effective but also has positive impacts on the poor, the society and the economy.

That is because a substantial portion of the world’s tobacco consumers are poor, and the poor suffer more from the burden of tobacco-attributable diseases and deaths. Given the higher price sensitivity among the poor, as taxes increase, it is more likely that the poor will quit or reduce the quantity of tobacco consumption.

Moreover, reducing tobacco consumption will help to create a long term benefit. In the mid to long run, as smokers gain their health, better health will improve the social and economic development of countries.

Tobacco Control Act As a member state of the WHO and for the health and welfare of the people, the government of Bangladesh is cordial towards control of tobacco and smoking. It passed smoking and tobacco products usage control law in 2005

MA Jabbar is executive secretary of Adhunik, national anti-tobacco organization of Bangladesh.

A substantial portion of the world’s tobacco consumers are poor, and the poor suffer more from the burden of tobaccoattributable diseases and deaths

Taxes discourage tobacco use WHO fact on tobacco shows that tobacco taxes are the most cost-effective way to reduce tobacco use, especially among young and poor people. A tax increase that raises tobacco prices by 10% decreases tobacco consumption by about 4% in high-income countries and up to 8% in low-and middle-income countries.

Comprehensive tobacco control measures, especially those demand-reduction measures such as higher taxes, advertising and promotion bans, smoking bans in public places and helping those who wish to quit, are effective in reducing tobacco usage and consequently tobacco attributable deaths and diseases.

From the income perspective, higher taxes will likely increase the share

We urge upon the members of the parliament to work together for tobacco taxation on various categories of tobacco products in a higher and proportionate rate, so that tobacco users, particularly the young and the poorer sections of the society are compelled to quit or at least reduce tobacco consumption.

As we know the industry is a powerful giant, only individual efforts will not suffice. We must work together for a tobacco-free society; we have the strength of law. Along with the government and WHO efforts; health personnel, public representatives, social workers, NGOs, health workers, religious leaders, school teachers and individuals may work to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco and smoking.

The theme of World No Tobacco Day this year is very timely and appropriate and should be utilised in a befitting manner. Working together, we will certainly win over the tobacco industry and thus keep our environment free from tobacco hazards for the health and welfare of the people. l

and made it effective in the same year.

Subsequently, an amendment was made in 2013 to make the law more effective. The amended law banned smoking in public places including transport and kept provision of a fine of Tk300 which was Tk50 earlier.

According to the new law, leaves, roots, branches and other parts of tobacco or such plants would be treated as intoxicants. Moreover, cigarettes and bidi, tobacco powder (gul), aromatic tobacco (jorda) processed tobacco (khoyni) and white leaves of tobacco will be considered as tobacco products. Amended law bans sales to minors, and use of “light,” “mild,” “slim” and use of misconceptions on the pack is banned.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Sunday, June 1, 2014

W Africa seeks East Ukraine quiet raises regional effort against Boko Haram leadership questions plies starting Tuesday if no payment n AFP, Accra n AP , Donetsk is made.

Supporters of Egyptian ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi flash the sign of victory during a rally to celebrate after Sisi scored a crushing presidential election triumph, in the coastal city of Alexandria AFP

Egypt’s Sabahi contests presidential elections results n Reuters, Cairo The defeated candidate in Egypt’s presidential election, Hamdeen Sabahi, appealed against results that gave former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi victory, saying election rules had been broken.

Leftist politician Sabahi won 3 percent of votes in the election against more than 93 percent of votes cast for Sisi, judicial sources said. Official results have yet to be announced.

The election took place against the background of a crackdown against

supporters of Mohamed Mursi, deposed as president by the army last July, which has seen his Muslim Brotherhood outlawed, hundreds killed and thousands arrested.

On Thursday, Sabahi conceded defeat but said the official turnout figures was too high and were “an insult to the intelligence of Egyptians.”

Sabahi’s campaign said in a statement it had made a legal complaint to the elections committee objecting to “the existence of campaigning inside polling stations” by Sisi supporters,

among other abuses. It also appealed to the committee to nullify all votes cast on the third day of polling.

Authorities extended voting by one day at the last minute on Tuesday, an extraordinary measure that observer missions said raised questions about the integrity of the electoral process although it was not an illegal move.

Sisi led the overthrow of Mursi after mass protests against his rule. Sabahi came third in 2012 elections that brought Mursi to power as Egypt’s first freely elected leader. l

The West African bloc announced plans yesterday to increase cooperation with Central African states in the battle against “terrorism,” amid fears of Boko Haram’s insurgency spreading across the region.

Nigeria has repeatedly said it needs more help from its central African neighbours – including Chad, Cameroon and Niger – to end the brutal five-year insurgency being waged by the Islamists.

In the final communique of an extraordinary security summit, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it would “establish a high level partnership with Central African States to effectively combat terrorism.”

Nigeria insists that Boko Haram fighters escape military pursuit by fleeing across the porous borders of its northeastern neighbours and some analysts believe senior Boko Haram commanders are in fact based in Cameroon.

Nigeria’s presidency has accused Cameroon of not doing enough to help defeat Boko Haram.

The call at the West Africa summit follows a joint declaration of war against Islamist insurgents by Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger at a meeting in Paris.

On Mali, ECOWAS urged the United Nations to strengthen its peacekeeping force deployed in the country, which is known as MINUSMA. It also asked the UN Security Council to consider imposing “targeted sanctions against the armed groups or individuals who impede the peace process” in Mali.

The Security Council had earlier this week urged Mali to implement fully a ceasefire between the government and armed rebel groups following fresh fighting in the northern desert town of Kidal. l

SYDNEY ON A RECORD-BREAKING SPREE

Rotary members and friends climb Sydney Harbour Bridge in an attempt to break the World Record for the most people on the bridge at one time and also the most flags on the bridge at one time in Sydney. Rotary broke the Guinness World Record for the number of people on the bridge with 340 beating the previous record of 316 organised in 2008. Also the record was broken for the number of different international flags flown with 219 flown beating the previous record of 143 to raise funds for Rotary’s End Polio Now Campaign AFP

Fears for Libya reserves as rival cabinets lay claim n AFP, Tripoli

Row brews over new EU president

Rival interim governments are disputing power in Tripoli less than four weeks before a general election, claiming control of Libya’s huge currency reserves from oil and gas.

The power struggle is creating a quandary for foreign diplomats as the competing claimants trumpet their meetings as a vindication of their legitimacy.

Prime minister Abdullah al-Thani had announced his intention to step down earlier this year after an armed attack on his family but he is insisting that his successor should be chosen by a new parliament rather than its contested predecessor.

Prime minister Ahmed Miitig insists his election by the outgoing Islamist-led parliament, largely boycotted by liberals for months, was valid and he has formed a rival administration which met Thursday in a Tripoli luxury hotel.

“We have got ourselves in a real bind,” said analyst Salem al-Zarrouk.

“Which of the two governments is the central bank going to deal with, who is going to hold the chequebook and who is going to sign the deals with foreign and domestic firms?” he asked. l

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she wants former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker to become the next EU Commission president. But some European leaders have voiced opposition to the move, BBC reported.

According to reports, the UK government sees Juncker as too much of an EU federalist. It pointed to the need for “a lengthy process to find consensus.”

Mr Juncker belongs to the European People’s Party, which won the most seats in the European polls last week.

The centre-right party, which also includes Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democrat party, won 213 out of 751 seats in the European Parliament and chose Mr Juncker as its candidate for the presidency succeeding Portugal’s Jose Manuel Barroso.

Mr Juncker’s main rival is the Socialist candidate Martin Schulz.

EU leaders traditionally choose the Commission head on their own, but under new rules have to “take into account” the results of the European parliamentary elections.

Chancellor Merkel said on Friday that the EPP “with its top candidate Jean-Claude Juncker has become the

n Agencies

strongest political power which is why I am now conducting all talks exactly in this spirit, that Jean-Claude Juncker should become president of the European Commission.”

It is seen as her clearest statement of support for the veteran politician, who once chaired the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers that had to make tough decisions about struggling debt-laden countries.

Correspondents say the announcement came despite UK Prime Minister David Cameron making his views clear, at a Brussels meeting earlier this week, that he wanted a reformer to take charge of the EU executive.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson says Mr Cameron was pleased when Angela Merkel sounded at least lukewarm in her support for Mr Juncker’s nomination, when she said anything was possible.

But Chancellor Merkel drew criticism from politicians and media in Germany when she indicated that Mr Juncker might not end up leading the Commission, after some member states expressed reservations about him.

The German tabloid Bild said not choosing Mr Juncker would “turn democracy into a farce.” l

The scruffy rebels who normally wander about the headquarters of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic were mostly out of view on Friday, replaced by a disciplined new faction who showed up a day earlier with an armored personnel carrier and anti-aircraft gun.

The separatists’ so-called prime minister said nothing has changed — but something has clearly shifted in Ukraine’s troubled east.

The balance of power in the region has teetered wildly last week. After Ukrainians elected Petro Poroshenko as the country’s president and Russia said it would respect the vote, hopes rose for a resolution to the conflict between the central government and the insurgents who want Donetsk to be part of Russia.

But a day later, the rebels launched an exceptionally bold assault, seizing Donetsk’s airport. Ukraine’s military responded with previously unseen ferocity, launching airstrikes and sending in paratroopers to retake the airport.

To some, the rebel operation looked like a desperate last stand. But on Thursday, insurgents shot down a Ukrainian military helicopter, killing 12 soldiers, including a general. The same day, the murky Vostok Battalion militiamen took over rebel headquarters in the 11-story Donetsk regional administration building, demanding it be evacuated because of what they said was the presence of looters.

The Vostok Battalion’s wrath was ostensibly about the ransacking of a supermarket during the battle for the airport, but some interpreted their move as a power grab.

The battalion is believed to consist largely of Russians, bolstering fears that Russia is either directing the unrest in the east or supporting it in order to destabilize the country and seize regions bordering Russia.

Donetsk insurgency leaders were at pains to stress that the takeover of their building did not signify a change of guard.

“No coup has taken place. The whole terrible panic that was whipped up over this, what you might call a police operation, is a panic that has been instigated by our so-called friends in Kiev,” said Alexander Borodai, the selfstyled prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

The heavy contingent of Vostok Battalion militiamen had disappeared by Friday morning, as had the armored personnel carrier and vintage anti-aircraft gun. Inside, however, many members of the militia group were spotted in civilian clothing.

Meanwhile, there were mixed signals Friday on whether Moscow and Kiev were moving toward improving relations, a key element in resolving the conflict.

At talks in Berlin, Ukraine said it ordered a $786 million payment to Russia in a first step toward paying off its gas debts, and another round of talks aimed at resolving the two countries’ gas price dispute was set for Monday.

Russia has stepped up pressure on Ukraine over gas, demanding payment up front for deliveries starting in June. It has threatened to restrict sup-

Moscow has put Kiev’s gas debt since November at $3.5 billion, and the CEO of Russian gas company Gazprom said this week that gas delivered in May could raise that to $5.2 billion. Ukraine, which saw gas discounts granted by Russia eliminated following the February ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, has sought a price agreement before paying up.

Moscow, meanwhile, fired a new legal salvo at Kiev. A spokesman for Russia’s top investigative body, Vladimir Markin, said a criminal case had been opened on whether to charge Ukrainian authorities and servicemen with war crimes for the government’s offensive against insurgents throughout the east. Russia has repeatedly denounced the operation as a war against Ukraine’s own people and demanded that forces be withdrawn from the east.

After Ukrainians elected Petro Poroshenko as the country’s president and Russia said it would respect the vote, hopes rose for a resolution to the conflict between the central government and the insurgents In Washington, the White House announced that President Barack Obama plans to meet Wednesday in Poland with Poroshenko, Ukraine’s president-elect. Obama’s European trip includes a stop in Normandy to attend events marking the 70th anniversary of the Allied landing. Russian President Vladimir Putin also plans to be in Normandy, but the White House said Obama has no plans for any formal or one-on-one meeting with the Russian leader, even though they will be at the same events.

Also Friday, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it lost contact with a five-member observer team in eastern Ukraine, where four members of another OSCE mission are still being held by pro-Russian rebels.

The OSCE said in a statement that it lost contact with the team, which includes four international workers and a Ukrainian translator, in the Luhansk region late Thursday. The OSCE has been out of contact with another four-member team in the neighboring region of Donetsk since Monday.

An insurgent leader in Donetsk confirmed Thursday that the four-member team was in rebel custody. The rebels told journalists they would “deal with this and then release them,” but didn’t elaborate or give a specific time frame.

The OSCE’s teams are in Ukraine to monitor the security situation following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the rise of the pro-Russia separatist insurgency in the east. l

Florida turns to smartphone app to track invasive lionfish n Reuters, US

species, while encouraging people to report sightings so the fish can be removed from the state’s waterways, says Amanda Nalley of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The first 250 successful users of the app will get a free Lionfish Control Team T-shirt with an inter-active logo which, via the free Aurasma app, can display a lionfish video.

Those who have no smart devices can

report lionfish at MyFWC.com/fishing. Officials warn the lionfish spikes can deliver a painful, though non-fatal, sting to humans.

State wildlife officials have also invited public participation in the fight against other invasive species. A state-sponsored Burmese python hunt in the Florida Everglades in January 2013 helped collect data, raise awareness and remove some of the giant snakes there. l

Florida has a new phone app to help cull the invasion of its waters by the spiked lionfish, a venomous species that is devouring other fish and harming reef ecosystems.

The state is home to more than 500 non-native species, but few as rampant in the wild as the marauding lionfish, which is fast-reproducing and has a voracious appetite. It preys on native fish such as yellowtail snapper, Nassau grouper and banded coral shrimp, and other crustaceans.

“The lionfish has no known natural predators in the Atlantic ... and the ability to spawn year-round,” according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

With zebra-like stripes of red, brown and cream, they are native to the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Since their first sighting off Florida’s Atlantic coast 25 years ago, the banded lionfish population has increased rapidly, according to the wildlife agency.

Popular aquarium fish, they have spread from Florida to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and to the Bahamas.

The Report Florida Lionfish app is designed to help the state collect data and raise awareness of the danger of invasive A lionfish swims in a fish tank at a pet shop in Caracas on September 7, 2010

REUTERS

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

China warned by US in unusually strong language n

Reuters, Singapore

The United States warned China yesterday to halt destabilising actions in Asia, as Washington and its allies sought to boost defence cooperation in the face of what Japan called an “increasingly severe” security environment.

Using unusually strong language, US defense secretary Chuck Hagel told an Asia-Pacific security forum that the United States was committed to its geopolitical rebalance to the region and “will not look the other way when fundamental principles of the international order are being challenged.”

“In recent months, China has undertaken destabilizing, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea,” he said in the speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Hagel said the United States took no position on the merits of rival territorial claims in the region, but added: “We firmly oppose any nation’s use of intimidation, coercion, or the threat of force to assert these claims.”

Hagel later held a bilateral meeting with the deputy chief of staff of the Chinese army, Lieutenant-General Wang Guanzhong, who expressed surprise at his comments.

“You were very candid this morning, and to be frank, more than our

expectations,” Wang said at the start of the meeting. “Although I do think those criticisms are groundless, I do appreciate your candour, likewise we will also share our candour.”

In Beijing, President Xi Jinping said China would not initiate aggressive action in the South China Sea but would respond if others did, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

‘We will not look the other way when fundamental principles of the international order are being challenged’ “We will never stir up trouble, but will react in the necessary way to the provocations of countries involved,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying in a meeting on Friday with Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia.

Japanese defence minister Itsunori Onodera said Tokyo perceived an “increasingly severe regional security environment.”

“It is unfortunate that there are se-

curity concerns in the East and South China Seas,” he said. “Japan as well as all concerned parties must uphold the rule of law and never attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force.”

China claims almost the entire oiland gas-rich South China Seas, and dismisses competing claims from Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Japan has its own territorial row with China over islands in the East China Sea. Tensions have surged in recent weeks after China placed an oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam, and the Philippines said Beijing could be building an airstrip on a disputed island.

Japan’s defence ministry said Chinese SU-27 fighters came as close as 50 metres (170 feet) to a Japanese OP-3C surveillance plane near disputed islets last week and within 30 metres of a YS11EB electronic intelligence aircraft.

On Friday, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Singapore forum that Tokyo would offer its “utmost support” to Southeast Asian countries in their efforts to protect their seas and airspace, as he pitched his plan for Japan to take on a bigger international security role.

In a pointed dig at China, he said Japan would provide coast guard patrol boats to the Philippines and Vietnam. l

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

Withdraw our airport privileges, Priyanka says

n Agencies Priyanka Gandhi has urged the government of India to withdraw her family’s security exemptions at airports, a day after reports that the government may take her husband Robert Vadra off the no-frisk protocol that he enjoys as part of the Gandhi family.

In a letter to the chief of Special Protection Group, Priyanka said, “Since the government is now reportedly considering the removal of his (Vadra) name, I would like to inform you that I

do not feel it will be correct for my children and me to avail of the facility of exemption of these checks while entering or exiting the airport when we are all travelling together.”

The issue pertains to Vadra being exempt from frisking because of his association with the Gandhi family which is a SPG protectee. However, the privilege is only when he is travelling with the family and has to undergo normal checks when he travels alone.

Priyanka’s letter suggests that she has sought withdrawal of exemption when the family is travelling together.

“It is only right for us to go through the normal channel at the airport and be frisked, etc... as you will appreciate that it makes no sense for a family travelling together to fall under different categories of exemption,” she said.

In a bid to underline that the exemption to her husband was not part of any privilege the family had sought but imposed on them on security grounds, Priyanka said, “His inclusion on that list came about at the instance of your predecessors in the SPG/Delhi Police and not upon any request by either of us who were informed after the fact.”

The stress appears designed to quell the BJP’s campaign to make an example of the Gandhi family’s son-in-law as a privileged individual under the Congress government. l

India arrests all suspects in gang-rape case n Agencies Indian police have arrested five people, including two policemen, over the alleged gang-rape and murder of two teenage cousins, officials said yesterday.

The three suspects, detained for the attack in Uttar Pradesh state, are cousins in their 20s from an extended family. They face charges of rape and murder, crimes punishable by the death penalty, police officer N Malik said.

Officials in Uttar Pradesh, which has a reputation for lawlessness, also arrested two police officers and sacked two others on Friday for failing to investigate reports of the girls’ disappearance earlier in the week. News of the gangrape was accompanied by TV footage of the corpses of the teenage girls swaying as they hung from a mango tree, causing outrage across the nation.

Sohan Lal, the father who reported the girls missing, has demanded a federal investigation. “I don’t expect justice from the state government as state police officers shielded the suspects,” said Lal, who refused to accept a payment for 500,000 rupees ($8,500) offered by the state government as financial help.

Official statistics say about 25,000 rapes are committed every year in India, a nation of 1.2 billion people. The girls in question were Dalits, from the community once known as “untouchables” in India. l

Thai forces out to stifle unrest after army chief sets election plan n Reuters, Bangkok Thai police and soldiers flooded downtown Bangkok yesterday to preempt further protests against a May 22 coup after the army chief said a return to democracy would take more than a year.

In a televised address late on Friday, General Prayuth Chan-ocha said the military would need time to reconcile Thailand’s antagonistic political forces and to engineer reforms.

Prayuth, who ousted the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra after months of sometimes violent protests, appealed for patience from Thailand’s international allies after outlining his reform plan to the Southeast Asian nation.

But the response from foreign governments was to keep up the pressure on the ruling junta to call elections quickly.

At a conference in Singapore on Saturday, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel urged the Thai armed forces to release detainees, end censorship and “move immediately to restore power to the people of Thailand, through free and fair elections.”

Australia scaled back relations with the Thai military on Saturday and banned coup leaders from travelling there.

“We understand that we are living in a democratic world. All we are asking for is give us time to reform,” Prayuth said in his address on Friday, seated at a table with flowers in front of him and portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit on a wall behind him.

“We believe that you will choose our kingdom before a flawed democratic system.”

At the heart of nearly a decade of political turmoil in Southeast Asia’s second biggest economy is conflict between the Bangkok-based royalist establishment dominated by the military, old-money families and the bureaucracy, and an upstart clique led by former telecommunication mogul Thaksin Shinawatra which draws much of its strength from the provinces.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and has lived in self-exile since a 2008 corruption conviction, was the real power behind the deposed government of his sister, Yingluck.

Prayuth, in his speech of about 40 minutes on Friday, outlined a threephase process beginning with reconciliation which would take up to three months. A temporary constitution would be drawn up and an interim prime minister and cabinet chosen in a second phase, taking about a year, he said.

An election would be the third and final phase.

He did not elaborate on reforms but Thaksin’s opponents want changes to the electoral system to end his influence. Thaksin’s appeal among poorer voters, especially in the populous, rural northeast and north, has ensured that he or his allies have won every election since 2001. l

(Left) City workers carrying brooms and baskets walk past the Thai Koo Fah building inside the Government House compound in Bangkok, which is to officially open for work on June 2. (Right) A boy, center, plays with Thai soldiers guarding the square at Victory Monument to prevent anti-coup demonstration in Bangkok AP

Thailand’s coup: Your questions answered n AP, Bangkok

Thailand’s army seized power in a May 22 coup, the Southeast Asian nation’s second in eight years. Here, four Associated Press correspondents who have been covering the crisis and the political turmoil leading up to it offer their insight into recent events:

Q: Thailand is known as the ‘land of smiles.’ Why is there so much political turmoil?

Thai society is undergoing major change, and politics over the past decade has in part been a battle between the old royalist ruling class and an ascendant majority based in the north and northeast that has benefited from development and has begun to see itself as a political force.

Much of that struggle has played

out around one man — former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire tycoon deposed by a 2006 coup who now lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a prison sentence on a corruption conviction. The issue of whether to support or oppose Thaksin and his powerful political machine has divided friends, families and the nation.

Thaksin won a landslide election in 2001, and once in office he cemented his popularity among Thailand’s rural and urban poor majority with unprecedented populist policies. The 2006 coup might have ended the story, but monarchists and their allies sought to punish Thaksin and froze part of his fortune.

Q: Is Thailand still safe to visit?

When the outside world hears the words “military coup,” it imagines tanks in the streets and a country un-

der lockdown. That is not the scene in Thailand, where most things have remained the same. The military is trying to keep a low profile, and some people have noted that they’ve seen troops only on TV. Some tourists say they are barely aware of the coup.

Many have tweeted pictures from the country’s pristine resorts to show images of unaffected, peaceful beach paradises.

Schools across the country closed after the coup was announced, but have since reopened. People have been going to work as normal, and stores and restaurants, like everything else, are open. That said, the nation’s political crisis remains unresolved and there is still a potential for protests, which have been small so far, to turn violent. More than 40 countries have consequently issued travel alerts.

N Korea sentences S Korean ‘spy’ to hard labour for life n

AFP, Seoul

North Korea sentenced a South Korean missionary to hard labour for life after accusing him of espionage and setting up an underground church, state media said yesterday, the latest Christian preacher to run into trouble in the secretive state.

Prosecutors had sought a death sentence for Kim Jeong-Wook, identified by the North’s official news agency KCNA as Kim Jong Uk, during Friday’s trial.

However, according to KCNA, Kim confessed his guilt – including state subversion, espionage, anti-state propaganda and agitation, and illegal entry into the country – and “sincerely repented.”

“The accused admitted to all his crimes,” KCNA said in its report on

the trial. “He committed anti-DPRK religious acts, malignantly hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK (North Korea) overseas and tried to infiltrate into Pyongyang ... for the purpose of setting up underground church and gathering information about the internal affairs of the DPRK while luring its inhabitants into South Korea and spying on the DPRK.” Although religious freedom is enshrined in the North Korean constitution, it does not exist in practice and religious activity is severely restricted to officially-recognised groups linked to the government.

Pyongyang views foreign missionaries as seditious elements intent on fomenting unrest and those who are caught engaging in any unauthorised

activities in the North are subject to immediate arrest.

Instead of facing execution, Kim was sentenced to hard labour for life by the North’s Supreme Court, the report said.

North Korea in February refused to accept a written demand for his immediate release from the South’s Unification Ministry.

Fellow activists and missionaries said Kim had been providing shelter and food for seven years to North Korean refugees living in China’s northeastern border city of Dandong.

They said he had crossed the Yalu border river in October last year to establish the whereabouts of some North Korean refugees who had been arrested in Dandong by Chinese authorities and repatriated. l

Q: How have the restrictions issued by the military affected human rights and the right of people to speak freely?

The junta has made clear it will tolerate no dissent and issued warnings that it will crack down on any acts deemed “provocative.” Under the current circumstances, that has included the brief detention of people holding signs that say things like “Elections Now” or “Peace Please.” The junta, however, insists that individual rights are being upheld, no detainees have been abused and it is only trying to restore calm.

The edicts it imposed under century-old martial law provisions have had a considerable impact, though, especially for Thais who want to express or organize opposition to the military administration. Some activists have fled the country. Human Rights Watch says the rights situation in Thailand is in a “free fall.”

Q: The junta is vowing to organise elections next year and restore democracy. Wasn’t Thailand already democratic?

The short answer is yes, it was. But the army always retained real power, and the deep political rifts that have long polarized the country have also made it unstable.

The junta that now rules Thailand claims that the democracy practiced here has led to “losses” — a reference to the prolonged political deadlock and protests that have left 28 people dead and about 800 injured since November.

Coup leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha says that the army had to intervene to restore order, and that the nation now needs time to change its “attitudes, values and several other things” before it is ready for a democracy that meets international standards. l

Malaysian girl ‘raped by 38 men’ n Agencies Malaysian police have detained 13 men and are looking for other suspects following allegations that a 15-year-old girl was raped by 38 men in the country’s northern region, Aljazeera reported yesterday.

Astro Awani television and The Star newspaper reported that the assault took place in the northern state of Kelantan on May 20, when the girl was lured to an empty hut reported to be a local drug haunt.

The men took turns to rape her for hours. Police are also investigating whether her 17-year-old friend was also raped.

Media accounts, quoting information from district police chief Azham Otham, said 38 men were involved. Several of those detained had tested positive for amphetamine, the reports said. The New Straits Times said a man and his two teenage sons were among those detained. Police said action could

have been taken had villagers reported the addicts’ presence, Reuters news agency said.

“It is very disturbing to me that no one in the village was even suspicious when the closest neighbour was a mere 20 metres away,” Otham told The Star newspaper.

The alleged attack, one of several brutal cases this week underscoring the violence to which women are being subjected across Asia, sparked outrage among women’s groups. Politicians from a Muslim party running the region said their proposal to introduce Islamic hudud law, with harsh penalties, would deter offenders.

Suri Kempe, an official with women’s rights group Sisters in Islam, told Reuters that the frequent number of rape cases being reported was “extremely worrying.”

Almost 3,000 rapes were reported to the police in Malaysia in 2012, of which 52 percent involved girls aged 16 and below, according to police statistics. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Sunday, June 1, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Restore border peace

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he unprovoked attacks on BGB personnel by Myanmar’s Border Guards Police (BGP) came as a shock to relations between our two countries.

Both our countries have a common interest in ensuring a safe and peaceful border and in improving our bilateral ties.

It is clearly unacceptable that a routine patrol on the Bangladeshi side should have come under fire for no apparent reason, and that the BGP crossed over from Myanmar to abduct a BGB officer, Naik Mizanur Rahman, who was later killed.

The BGB came under further fire when they were ambushed after being asked to come to an agreed upon point to retrieve Mizanur’s body.

We hope that today’s return of his body will help resolve the serious breach of human rights and international norms and to bring about normality along our border with Myanmar.

It is right that the Foreign Ministry summoned Myanmar’s Ambassador twice in three days in order to strongly protest these unwanted incidents on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

We expect our government to demonstrate firmness in upholding Bangladesh’s sovereignty when dealing with the authorities in Myanmar.

The government acted appropriately by sending two Note Verbale protests to Myanmar.

As neighbours with growing economies that are reaching out for foreign investment, Bangladesh and Myanmar have much in common.

We should be working together to build our trading links and to improve relations.

Our governments should keep working together to ensure there is no repeat of this week’s incidents.

Keep working together to ensure no repeat of this week’s incidents

Prevention is the best policy

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orld No Tobacco Day saw several events call on the government to strengthen initiatives to discourage smoking.

Anti-Tobacco groups estimate that the mortality rate due to tobacco related diseases is now around 100,000 deaths in Bangladesh annually. This is nearly twice the figure of 57,000 deaths officially reported in 2005, when the government introduced the current tobacco products usage control law.

Clearly there is still a strong need to support programs to help people give up smoking in the interests of their health.

Laws to curb smoking in public places have had a noticeable positive effect in encouraging more people to resist their addiction to cigarettes.

However large numbers of young people in the country are still continuing to take up the habit and overall consumption rates have risen in the last decade.

In view of our youthful population profile, it is most important to prioritise efforts to discourage people from starting to smoke. The targeting of young people by companies giving incentives to cafe owners to open up smoking areas and to sell cigarettes in their food establishments seems to be a particularly prevalent and pernicious practice.

Such branding and marketing efforts by large tobacco companies would appear to breach the spirit of laws against tobacco advertising and should be curbed.

There is also a strong case for the government to increase taxes on tobacco. WHO studies show a clear correlation between raising the price of tobacco and reducing both consumption and death rates. The government should support such measures to reduce the harm caused by tobacco.

Prioritise efforts to discourage people from starting to smoke

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

The most persecuted minority in the world May 26

Vikram Khan I absolutely do not agree with the author of this article; Rohingyas are not the most persecuted minority in the world, and are absolutely not the only persecuted minority in Burma (Myanmar). What about the persecution of the Karen and the Kachin in Burma? What about the discrimination of the several tribal minorities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts?

What about the persecution of the Christians in the Middle East?

I do not wish to minimise the situation of the Rohingyas, but the problem with the Rohingyas is pushed in the wrong direction by the international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) cashing in on the suffering of refugees worldwide. The Rohingyas are no saints; they are a severe threat for the security situation in the southern region of Bangladesh and have a serious influence on local politics (resulting in a strong Jamaat presence in the Cox’s Bazar area). They are allegedly involved in illegal activities like drug traffic and robbery. These are facts the writer should not avoid to mention if he wishes to help to solve the cause of the Rohingyas.

Kmak Vikram Khan: Funny how you shed crocodile tears for the plight of gays and kidnapped Nigerian school girls, but when it comes to the Rohingyas, you downplay their misery, blame them for their own suffering and then have the nerve to say that you do not wish to minimise their situation. You even managed to link them with Jamaat!

Let me ask you this: of all the persecuted groups you mentioned, which ones are as devious as the Rohingyas in your opinion?

Press for freedom

May 26 TJ The amount of courage that is needed to be completely unbiased is very rare among journalists, considering that it is almost impossible not to be intimidated by the political parties and influential but corrupt individuals in our country. If somehow their safety can be ensured, then there might be more freedom for them to tell the truth.

Neighbours with benefits

May 26

Jay Co-operation between the South-Asian countries will surely lead to more development in economic, industrial, and many other sectors of this region. Modi’s Saarc-first approach is a very appreciable initiative.

Leaked question paper matches the original May 26 Vihan When asked, how and from where the Facebook groups were collecting the leaked questions, she stated: “Only Allah knows where they were getting those questions from.” This is outrageous!

The comment of the Secondary Education Board Chairman is not acceptable at all! She should be ashamed of her reply and sacked because of her total lack of interest in this matter.

Zainul Abedin With regards, Mr Vikram needs to have proof of his allegations against Rohingyas. We need to be more compassionate about problems of the refugees (especially who are persecuted, and they are persecuted) all over the world.

Being forced to be rootless is the most miserable and vulnerable matter, if it is Rohingyas or Karens.

Karens have taken arms against the Myanmar government (right or wrong, I am not going into it), but Rohingyas have not.

What’s the problem if Jamaat comes up with humanitarian help? If Mr Vikram does not (or even I do not) like Jamaat, then we should come forward with help to deter Jamaat. What “security” reason did the Rohingyas create for Burma (Myanmar)?

The Middle East is a different case. If Christians are persecuted (practically one group persecuting another group in a different way over there), I am sympathetic to them too. But, should we jumble up the things together this way, as Mr Vikram did?

Rohingyas are not responsible for the Middle East situation.

In 1996, I met one Rohingya refugee/student (who came from Norway) at a UK training course for journalists/students. He had a Burmese/Buddhist name. As we got to know one another, he said he is/ was a Muslim, but was compelled by the Burmese government to take the government agency imposed name. So, he has no Muslim name. This is the situation and there are so many such types of situations all over the world. The NGOs’ mishandling (if they have indeed done that) cannot minimise or compromise the terrible situation anyone faces.

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 15 represents B so fill B every time the figure 15 appears.

You have two letters in the control grid to start you off. Enter them in appropriate squares in the main grid, then use your knowledge of words to work out which letters go in the missing squares.

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

As you get the letters, fill in the other squares with the same number in the main grid, and the control grid. Check off the list of alphabetical letters as you identify them.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

SUDOKU How to solve: 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.

Waste not, want not

May 25 SA Mansoor We have a tendency to waste resources, be it food or materials, even for show in social and other gatherings. To curb this tendency, we should enact a law and act on it. In Germany, wastage of any resource is penalised. We all should pause, and reflect on our many wasteful habits, which cost the nation. We must see to it that we cut out all unnecessary pomp and ceremony so that our resources, in one form or another, are conserved.

In our lives, we, the educated and better off in society, spend money lavishly. We compete with one another to waste money on lavish and excessive lighting and decorations for social gatherings, solely to see who puts up the best show.

This leads to waste of electricity and, thus, in turn, our finite natural gas resources, or imported coal power plants generating electricity. An utter waste of electric power!

It is indeed a callous and pathetic attitude, with no one bothering about the age-old saying: “Waste not, want not.” It is time that the government passes a law to limit all sorts of waste of our scarce national resources. Will the authorities care for such a humble but effective suggestion?

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 All the time (6) 4 Heavenly body (3) 7 Hackneyed (5) 8 Tempt (6) 11 Jurisprudence (3) 12 Writer of verse (4) 13 Traditional story (4) 15 Walk (5) 16 Jokes (5) 20 Snow vehicle (4) 23 Fertile soil (4) 24 Dove’s call (3) 25 Suffer (6) 26 Customary (5) 27 Decay (3) 28 Book of accounts (6)

DOWN 1 Highly skilled (5) 2 Stir violently (7) 3 Slender support (4) 4 Fine sediment (4) 5 American state (4) 6 Fresh (3) 9 And not (3) 10 Golf mound (3) 14 Surrendered (7) 17 Former French coin (3) 18 Sailor (3) 19 Daub (5) 20 Tolerable (4) 21 Uncouth young man (4) 22 Small valley (4) 24 Worthless dog (3)

Today’s prices May 25

Ash Thank you Dhaka Tribune for creating this section.

It is extremely helpful for us urbanites.

Increasing opportunities for mango exporters

CALVIN AND HOBBES

May 24 Wahid Choudhury I have lived in the USA for the last 34 years. I have eaten mangoes in Pakistan (where I grew up as a child), tasted Bangladeshi mangoes (since it is my home country), mangoes in Thailand and Malaysia, and mangoes of South America (including Mexican). Other than Thailand and Malaysia, the mangoes from Bangladesh are the best!

Daughters gang raped with parents tied up

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

May 26

PEANUTS

VK In one news report, it was mentioned that the OC refused to take the case and arrest the criminals. Hope they get the severest punishment possible!

Are we in Jinnah’s realm?

May 21 ZA

This is an utterly dumbfounding decision. What could possibly be achieved with something like this?

Imzy I support this decision. There must be Bangla script in advertisements. Add the English if you want to.

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Sunday, June 1, 2014

A way out of extreme poverty n Sabah Sheesh Ahmed

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Casualties mount as a helicopter is shot down in Slovyansk

REUTERS

Ukraine hopes

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n Yuliya Zoricheva

aidan taught Ukraine to become more active and civilly engaged.

People learned to care about the country and to take responsibility. Once you see people die for a free Ukraine, you start questioning your own role in life.

I decided to observe the elections on behalf of a civil society organisation. The polling station was located inside a male correctional facility.

There were around 200 voters. The morning began with a police officer prohibiting me from photographing the voting process. Despite bad expectations, voting came as a nice surprise, and I did not observe any grave violations.

Typically, prisons and correctional facilities unanimously vote for one candidate. One may think that such voters have a strong team spirit and share political preferences, but an observer looks for evidence of abuse of administrative resources. These elections were unique for Ukraine. For the first time in the history of Ukraine, no acting president or prime minister was running for presidency. Maybe this explains the plurality of votes cast at the polling station – 9 candidates, with two strong favourites. I did not witness any violation of the secrecy of the vote.

What concerns elections in Donbas is that only 2 out of 12 districts operated in Luhansk Oblast and 7 out of 22 districts in Donetsk Oblast, because of the conflict there. I heard two stories from credible sources about voting

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in that area. At one polling station, Ukrainian military personnel came to vote at a polling station. They were wearing not only uniform, but were visibly packing ammunition. Election commissioners all disappeared in a minute.

It took a while to bring them back, and explain that no threat was imminent. In another story, election officials had to use an ambulance car to transport ballots to the relevant higher authority. For security reasons, they were all wearing hospital garments and some pretended to be patients when passing militarised checkpoints controlled by separatists.

response to Russia’s accusations of fascism.

Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s billionaire businessman, known as the “chocolate king,” was in opposition to the previous regime. In his program, he promised to preserve Ukraine as a unitary state, to give more power to the regions as part of decentralisation, to hold early parliamentary elections with open party lists, to strengthen Ukraine’s army and defence capacities with a strong focus on re-industrialisation, to create conditions for economic development through innovations, deregulation, and reduction of tax burdens for

One could think Ukrainians could be happy, but things are developing so fast that one has neither the time to celebrate, nor to mourn

At large, international observers made a statement about the high voter turnout and the “clear resolve of the authorities to hold what was a genuine election largely in line with international commitments and with a respect for fundamental freedoms in the vast majority of the country” (OSCE ODIHR). On May 25, 2014, Ukraine elected its president. Petro Poroshenko won 54.7% of the votes. Two far-right candidates jointly gained less than 2% of the votes. This was Ukraine’s clear

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small and medium-sized business, to maintain the status quo with Ukrainian as the national language, to promote Ukraine’s accession into the European Union, to restore economic co-operation with Russia, to prevent a war and restore peace, to return Crimea with the help of political and diplomatic instruments, to protect the rights of Crimean Tatars, etc.

His campaign appealed to people to elect a president in the first round of elections. He won the majority of votes

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cast in all regions of Ukraine, thus breaking the myth of a regional divide along the border of the Dnieper River in Ukraine.

One could think Ukrainians could be happy, but things are developing so fast that one has neither the time to celebrate, nor to mourn.

As an anti-terrorism operation develops in the East, there is news about new casualties. Rumour has it that road access to Donetsk is now cut off.

Local residents hear planes roar over their heads and witness gunfights.

The city mayor made a statement that there are some Russian citizens among the casualties, the numbers vary depending on who you talk to.

A Russian journalist shows a photo of an injured child, claiming the shot was made in Donetsk airport. Refutations follow in Ukraine. Ukrainians say the tragic photo was taken in Syria.

The photo disappears immediately.

Still, locals say city morgues are full of corpses. And there is not much information on casualties among civilians.

Looting and robberies are common.

Fear and hatred thrive in Donbas.

As a Ukrainian helicopter was shot down in a small town of Slovyansk, 14 people were reported dead. Ukrainian army soldiers were heading to get some rest after the helicopter had dropped supplies. Things really do happen too fast to process. The sense of grief is overwhelming.

Ukraine mourns and awaits resolute action from the newly-elected president, hoping for peace and stability. l Yuliya Zoricheva works for an international organisation. She writes from Kiev.

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angladesh is steadily moving towards becoming a middle income country. The consistent rise in GDP growth is just an indicator. RMG factories have the credit in adding substantial numbers to the GDP and this sector also is the avenue of employment for 4.2 million people.

Despite the compliance issues, the sector is growing and creating jobs in the formal sector. On the other hand, there is a growing skilled labour shortage as well.

Bangladesh is also the country where 26 million people are living below the lower poverty line. These unfortunate citizens are living and fighting with the fierce conditions of poverty. They suffer from being excluded from the public services, lack of economic opportunities, gender inequalities, and marginalisation in different forms. These people are the first to be affected by the external shocks like natural calamities, political upheavals, or slum evictions. They are also exposed to the health and nutrition vulnerabilities which affect their physical and psychological capacities to take part in income-generating activities.

The general education system cannot equip them with skills that can earn them a livelihood in the short run and naturally they are reluctant to pursue that path. The economic advancements of the country can hardly trickle down to their lives. Bangladesh cannot leave these people behind in its march toward economic development.

Specialised interventions are needed to help these people out of their unfortunate conditions.

Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK), a local NGO in Gaibandha, came up with the idea of establishing a training centre that will provide training in vocational RMG factory skills to the extreme poor people living in the adjacent areas. Many people in this area suffer from seasonal unemployment and regular natural calamities. EEP/ Shiree, a challenge fund program in cooperation with UK Aid, the Bangladesh government, and Swiss Development Cooperation, funded the GUK’s innovative project.

A training centre equipped with modern RMG factory machinery was set up in Gaibandha in 2010. 1,160 households were selected and one capable member from each household was enrolled in the training program with a daily allowance. Professional trainers were hired to train the beneficiaries in RMG vocational skills.

Beneficiaries received one month’s paid skills training. They were also oriented to the workplace environment of garments factories so that they could better adjust with the formal settings of the new job.

Functional training alone was not enough for them to get jobs since they lived in remote villages and did not know how or whom to apply to.

The project built partnerships with the different RMG companies to place the trained beneficiaries into paid internships, and within a short period of two months, the beneficiaries were absorbed in the regular workforce.

This social innovation brought out amazing results in the community.

Once a member of the household is

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economically empowered, it literally brings multifaceted results. With the surplus income sent back to their families in their villages, the family members could purchase income-generating assets. It is also evident that the school enrolment rate increased in these households as the siblings of the beneficiaries could attend schools due to less economic pressure on them. Around half of the trained beneficiaries were women. Being the bread-earners in the family, their positions in family decision-making were re-adjusted, making them more empowered.

GUK’s model is just one of the many examples.

Meaningful partnership can change the poverty scenario in Bangladesh

However, bringing social changes through innovation is not always a smooth path. A project might face difficulties coming from social, political, cultural, and economic dimensions.

GUK’s project had to overcome several social barriers. In the beginning of the project, the local people were suspicious about the motive of the project.

A rumour spread that the beneficiaries were being trafficked to other countries whereas they were being placed in internships in garments factories in Dhaka. Besides, there were high dropout rates because many of the beneficiaries were having a hard time in coping with the new urban living and working conditions. They were coming back to their villages, abandoning jobs. It is not always easy to cope with the changes, especially when it involves migrating and living in harsh conditions.

This barrier was overcome by assisting in finding accommodation in the cities and giving proper ideas about the living and working conditions in the cities during enrolment in the project and training sessions. Sustainability of these kinds of innovative projects is also a major challenge.

These projects empower people, but when the funding is over, all the project activities are shut down. Support from government or private sector organisations could help in sustaining effective and efficient projects.

Poverty is a construction of the social system. Social innovations can bring out sustainable solutions to weed out the problems in the society. Extreme poor people can take off from their state of poverty to economic and social empowerment if they are given a little support and opportunities.

GUK’s model is just one of the many examples. Meaningful partnership and collaboration between private sector organisations, NGOs, donors, and the government, with the spark of innovative ideas, can change the poverty scenario in Bangladesh. l Sabah Sheesh Ahmed is a Young Professional-Analyst at EEP/Shiree, a joint program of DFID, SDC and GoB to lift one million people out of extreme poverty.

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Keeping up with the Abdullahs n Iffat Nawaz

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used to think I was very lazy. I still think that. I found shortcuts to everything possible. And somehow, in most things there are shortcuts.

Especially here in Bangladesh. So with my lazy yet ambitious mind, I went for everything that Dhaka had to offer.

tricky breed. You never know what they are doing next, often very obvious things … but still. Chasing trends, breaking boundaries, obliging to tradition. The new and the old.

The unpredictable opinions of the Abdullahs throw me off at times. The half-exposed souls, semi-expressed taste, and quarter-step-progressive-

The Abdullahs throw me off at times. The halfexposed souls, semi-expressed taste, and quarterstep-progressiveness of it all And in this offering, I eventually started running, getting busy with Dhaka, and that is when I discovered the Abdullahs, and it has been a constant chase to keep up with the mighty ones.

The Abdullahs are, however, a

ness of it all. How do I figure out if I am adding up the Abdullahs equation close to proximity?

Often the Abdullahs scare me a bit.

Sometimes I lock myself in for days, afraid of being compared to the Ab-

dullahs. All these eyes looking. There are so many people to look at here in Bangladesh, yet we still look at just a few. The game of being special, easy and hard successes of Dhaka, and easier gain of name. And money, always money. Money can buy you everything and the Abdullahs always have ample of it, if not in the bank then in different pockets, collectively strong.

Sometimes the Abdullahs start protests for human rights, they stand up against inhumanity. Other times they are away doing their own things as some crisis hits the rest of us and the ones they once tried to save become victims. But the Abdullahs don’t find out these things on time, cell phones don’t ring the same way in the Abdullah household.

And then again, the Abdullahs surprise me with acts of kindness, giving opportunities to the ones looking to them, the ones wanting to be them.

The privileged Abdullahs! So much to learn from them. We must all run

to them if they invite us to hear their thoughts, give us a present or two.

I am not poor and I am not rich. I am in the middle, my life represents poverty in some cases, and in other cases indulgence. Where do I fall, I want to ask the Abdullahs. But the Abdullahs do not give direct feedback. They just claim standards, the ever evolving standards.

I wonder who is advising the Abdullahs. If my Abdullahs have a different set of Abdullahs, they need to be kept up with as well. How many steps to the top or to the bottom? How many alterations of thoughts, sharing of ideas will get you that ticket to be one of the Abdullahs?

And do I want to be part of that family? Will things be easier or harder?

I do not know, but at least I have found the Abdullahs. Now keeping up with the Abdullahs will remain the real challenge. Shortcuts anyone? l Iffat Nawaz is Acting Editor, Arts & Letters, Dhaka Tribune.

Appearances matter

BIGSTOCK

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Into deeper water

Patalpurer Gaan releases today

n Entertainment Desk

Women-centric telefilm “Chhayabrikkher Rajkonya” is a story that is aimed towards motivating the rape victims of the society. It urges people to help and provide aid to the sexually abused females as they have to fight for survival in a society that treats them like the untouchables.

The telefilm is written and directed by Sumon Anowar and features popular actors including Tisha, Riaz, Rawnak Hassan, Aysha Monica and many others. Tisha and Riaz will be seen as the protagonists of the story.

The plot of the telefilm revolves around a number of crimes in a tea garden. After the death of the owner, his son Orko returns from abroad in the hope of finding his father's essence in the

garden. He keeps on residing there as a tourist and with the help of a worker named Rani, he stumbles upon a series of crimes taking place in the area. A few of his informers get killed trying to help him. When the culprits get hold of the fact that Rani is also working as an informant, she becomes the victim of rape. Although she is rescued by her family and the villagers, they shun her because of the incident. Her lover Shadhon leaves her and decides to be with Shikha, a woman, who on many occasions tried to create problems between the couple as she was in love with Shadhon. Helpless in the face of adversity, Rani is forced out of the community as she tries to pull herself together. Eventually, she recovers from the trauma and goes on with her life.

The telefilm will be aired on Banglavision during Eid. l

Band Joler Gaan

n Punny Kabir “Patalpur” sounds like a place we find only in fairy tales, a place far away from the land where we belong in reality. The musicians of Joler Gaan dream of such a land where there is no King, no Queen, no law, no discrimination and no money flow. People are living there in harmony and celebrating life by simple living and practising different forms of art and culture. This is the theme behind the latest album of Joler Gaan, one of the most happening bands in the country's music scenario now-a-days.

The much anticipated album will be launched today through a live studio concert on Channel i at 2:30pm. Later at 11pm, the band will perform live at Radio Shadhin marking the occasion. “We dedicate the album to all the mothers of the world,” said Rahul Anand who composed all the 11 songs of the album. “Each song has an individual story. We tried to uphold the essence with the overall musical arrangement,” he added.

The band by and large use acoustic instruments, most of which are made by themselves, in their compositions, that reflect the

essence of our soil, our folk music.

After the success of their first album “Otol Joler Gaan,” this time the band feels that they are more responsible in meeting the expectations of the listeners. “For last five years, we

have participated in numerous live concerts and TV and radio shows. The love and enthusiasm we received from the music lovers have made us even more committed to mu-

Piprabidya selected for Best Film award n Entertainment Desk Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s new flick “Piprabidya” has been selected for the best award of Shanghai International Film Festival.

The Shanghai International Film Festival will run from June 14 to 21.

The film “Piprabidya” has also been selected in the Dallas International Film Festival’s competition section which will open on the forthcoming

September. The film “Piprabidya,” an Impress Telefilm Limited production, is about unemployed young people who live in Dhaka, which they think of as a “big pie” and become desperate to have their share.

Farooki’s fifth feature film starring Noor Imran Mithu, Sabbir Ahmed and Indian actress Shina Chouhan in the leading roles is set to release in August/September in home. l

sic. We tried to leave no stone unturned in bringing out the album,” said band member Kanak Aditya.

The first album released last year featured Anusheh Anadil as a special appearance. This time Waqeel Ahad lent his voice to the song “Ghum Paraniya Gaan” for the album as the guest artist.

Another special attraction of the album is the inclusion of the track “Ar Nai Keu,” based on an unpublished poem of Jibanananda Das. The composer Rahul said: “Jibanananda is very special to me. This poem narrates the journey of a human being-- who is born like a drop of water and by the end of his life, he becomes like an ocean. Such a narration suits in describing only someone as great as Das. The music arrangement here is totally different from the other numbers of ours.”

The album features some fresh tracks along with a few popular songs such as “Baula Batash” “Ekaki Ashor” and “Andhar Raite” which the band performed in many live concerts.

Joler Gaan has set the price for each album at Tk40 only, the amount that is spent solely for stamping and packaging the CDs. l

Riaz and Tisha in ‘Chhayabrikkher Rajkonya’

TODAY IN DHAKA Exhibition

Of Man and Earth II Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Art Lounge, Gulshan Avenue, Rd-131, Circle -1, Ultramarine

By Sultan Ishtiaque Time: 3pm – 8pm Alliance Française de Dhaka Lost in the Urban World Group art exhibition Dhaka Art Center Dhanmondi 7/A

Theatre

Roktakto Prantor Time: 7pm – 9pm Experimental Theatre Hall Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Film

300 Rise of an Empire The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Children of War Pompeii (3D) The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3D) Level 8, Bashundhara City 13/3 Ka, Panthapath

Katrina to be Salman’s item girl

Tanmoy’s political cartoon show kicks off at EMK

n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk

It has been two years since Bollywood stars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif shared screen in movie “Ek Tha Tiger.”

Both of them will be seen together on the big screen once again in the upcoming film “Kick,” an online media reported.

The Sajid Nadiadwala’s directorial debut film actually features Jacqueline Fernandez in the female lead opposite Salman and there is undoubtedly no change in the film’s cast.

But Katrina could step in for a special item song, which will also have the 48-year-old actor.

The song will reportedly be shot in mid-June and a formal announcement on it will be made accordingly.

Previously too, Katrina had appeared for a similar promotional song in the superstar’s film “Bodyguard.”

The film starred Kareena Kapoor Khan in the lead, but the title track featuring Kaif had become quite popular.

As per the sources this promotional song will be picturised only on the two actors and Sajid is waiting for Salman’s nod about bringing Katrina on board. l

The Dhaka Tribune has organised a political cartoon exhibition titled “Can You Handle The Truth?” by cartoonist Syed Rashad Imam Tanmoy marking it’s first anniversary kicked off on May 31 at the EMK Center, Dhanmondi in the capital.

A total of twenty five cartoons displayed in the exclusive exhibition have been published in Dhaka Tribune during its first year of publication.

Eminent writer and cartoonist Ahsan Habib graced the event as the chief guest while renowned political cartoonist Asiful Huda attended as the special guest.

Artwork by Tanmoy Syed Rashad Imam Tanmoy, a young promising cartoonist, whose strokes of brushes reveals humour beneath every political incident and make the reader concerned and conscious as well. Different na-

tional and political issues including the disputed elections, debates about the national identity, the failures of politicians to reach consensus on important national issues – are reflected in the

cartoonist’s canvas showcased presented in the exhibition.

The exhibition will continue from 9:30am to 8:00pm every day till June 7. l

Marilyn Monroe was killed! n Entertainment Desk On the verge of Marilyn Monroe’s 88th birthday, the authors of a book titled “Murder of Marilyn Monroe: Case Closed” have claimed that the actress did not committed suicide, in fact she was a murdered.

The authors, Jay Margolis and Richard Buskin, allege that Robert Kennedy, Ralph Greenson and Peter Lawford pre-planned 36-year-old actress’ murder in order to shut her up. The book also asserts that the “Some Like It Hot” star had been having a secret affair with John F Kennedy, and then his brother Bobby, while also bedding Dr Greenson, and had threatened to expose them.

However, Monroe was also suffering through depression as she struggled with the failure of three marriages, and she also feared being typecast as a “sex kitten” in Hollywood. Margolis said that Monroe’s death will be argued even over 100 years after the incidence but the reality is that the case is closed and many people refuse to believe that it was murder or suicide but consider it as an accidental overdose. Nevertheless, complete description of the incident has been provided in the book. l

Narayanganj-based theatre troupe Aikik Theatre staged three shows of its new production Drop Out last weekend at Natmandal at Dhaka University. Written and directed by Anwarul Haq, the play satires the urbanisation which makes us dispassionate toward the human relations SAIDA MARIUM

Did you know?

England have scored two of the three 120th minute goals in World Cup history.

(Hurst 66, Platt 90, Del Piero 06)

Sport

Sunday, June 1, 2014

11 DAYS TO GO

14 Spain name Costa, Torres, Villa in squad

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Brilliant Nadal powers on at French Open

We are hungry to win, says Mahmudullah All-rounder Mahmudullah commented yesterday that the Bangladesh cricket team will focus on their own performance rather than worry too much about the opponents ahead of the India series this month. The former vice captain gave his views at a time when the majority of the cricketing fraternity in Bangladesh criticised India’s decision to send an under-strength side for the three-match ODI series set to begin on June 15 in Dhaka.

“It is beyond our control as to which team they send. Their main players have been rested but I think we should not think too much about them. We should think only about us and play our best cricket to erase the disappointment of the last two tournaments,” Mahmudullah told the media at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Bangladesh’s poor displays in the past few months is in stark contrast to how the side performed in the last two years.

“Expectation was high on us in the last few tournaments but we failed to live up to it. Now we have to ensure that we deliver our best performance against India,” said Mahmudullah.

“We are very much hungry to win.

We have to prove it on the field, not by uttering words only. We have been

BD U-17 TOUR OF INDIA

Shafiul guides young Tigers

An unbeaten knock of 84 from Shafiul Hayet propelled the Bangladesh Under-17 cricket team to a good position against Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) U-17 following the conclusion of the first day’s play in the three-day match in Indore yesterday.

Electing to take first strike after winning the toss, Bangladesh U-17 finished the opening day’s play on 233 for the loss of four wickets. Openers Rabbi Hassan (33) and Pinak Ghosh (30) provided the visitors with a solid start as they added 61 runs for the opening wicket stand.

After the departures of the openers and one-down batter Afif Hossain Dhrubo (23), Shafiul put on 109 runs for the fourth wicket alongside Mohammad Saif Hassan (40).

Shafiul smote 16 boundaries and will resume the second day’s play along with undefeated batsman Rayan Rafsan Rahman (19 not out).

Nikhil Sikarwar scalped 2/71 for MPCA U-17. l

working hard for it and hopefully we will reap the rewards.

“We played well in the past few years especially in the ODI format. We will give our best effort in the upcoming series so that we can go back to our past shape,” he added.

Mahmudullah’s poor run with the bat led to him being dropped from the side on several occasions and subsequently lost his post as the vice captain. The 28-year old’s patchy form started since Bangladesh’s tour of Zimbabwe last year.

“Being a batsman who bats at the number seven position, it was not always an easy situation for me. In some situations, hitting was compulsory. But I am not a power-hitter. I take some time to settle in the wicket,” said Mahmudullah.

“Actually I was unable to do it (power-hitting) in the last few months.

But I always try to give my best service to the team. In bowling too I try to do my best.

“I am now doing some extra work in order to improve my performance.

I played in the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) where I got some good scores. It will inspire me and give me confidence to move ahead. Hopefully I can do well,” said the part-time off-spinner. l

Former Brazil captain Cafu speaks during an interview with AFP at his home in Barueri, metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, Brazil on Thursday

Complications delay BPL tribunal verdict The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) tribunal will need a few more days to pass its judgment over the match fixing allegations which disgraced the second edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) last year.

Chief of the tribunal, former justice Khademul Islam referred to complications behind the delay of the judgment.

“We have already submitted the papers of the entire proceedings to those involved with the case. The judgment will be made soon,” said Khademul to the media yesterday.

However, Khademul informed that the activities of the tribunal will not cease immediately after the verdict.

“We came across international issues while sorting out the BPL issues. There one only three of us handling the whole matter. We will have to sit with the other issues once the verdict is made,” Khademul further added.

Earlier this week, BCB president Namzul Hasan told the media of his intention to write to the tribunal if the

tribunal failed to pass a judgment by May 31. The deadline ended yesterday but BCB is yet to make a move. “We haven’t received anything from the tribunal yet,” said BCB acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury yesterday. “We

We have already submitted the papers of the entire proceedings to those involved with the case. The judgment will be made soon will wait for a day or two more and then write to the tribunal if nothing comes up,” he added.

On February 26, the BPL tribunal acquitted six players and officials of match-fixing related offenses but did not order any punishment for three players including former national captain Mohammad Ashraful who pleaded guilty. l

A win of relief for Sheikh Russel Montenegrin coach Dragan Djukanovic tasted his maiden victory in Bangladesh as reigning champions Sheikh Russel earned a comfortable 3-1 victory over Feni Soccer Club in the Nitol Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Former national striker Anwar Hossain, Md. Sumon and Haitian Pascal Millien were all on target to give Russel their second win in the second phase of the league and first victory after five matches under their new Montenegrin trainer. The last season’s treble winners, however, could only manage to leapfrog Team BJMC to sixth place in the table with 20 points from 16 matches.

Djukanovic started with a different playing eleven with no foreigners that paved the way for players like Fazle Rabbi and Md. Sumon to get into the side. Anwar repaid the faith of the coach by putting Russel ahead with a brilliant strike with just eight minutes into the clock. Shakil Ahmed picked him out at the back post with a neat pass from midfield and Anwar volleyed into the top corner from a rebound giving Soccer Club goalkeeper Md. Nehal no chance.

Gregory, Sajib set up 49kg title duel

BKSP’s Monayebur Rahman Khan (R) tries in vain to throw a punch at Bangladesh Army’s Sohel Chakma in the 56kg category of the Walton National Boxing Championship at the Muhammad Ali Boxing Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

AFP

Gregory Hazda of Bangladesh Army and Sajib Hossain of Bangladesh Ansar moved into the final of the 49kg category in the Walton National Boxing Championship. The final will be held today at the Muhammad Ali Boxing Stadium.

Moshiur Rahman Kajol of Bangladesh Ansar and Anwar Hossain of Bangladesh Army set up a title duel in the 52kg category while Sohel Chakma and Riyad Hossain, both from Bangladesh Army, will fight for the gold in the 56kg category.

Meanwhile in the ladies section, Sahara Yasmin of Bangladesh Ansar, Rajshahi Matin Boxing Club’s Lovely Akhter and Mitu Khatun of Chapainawabganj cruised into the finals of the 46kg, 55kg and 60kg categories respectively. l

In the 23rd minute, as the Soccer Club defence were caught napping, Russel midfielder Shakil was left completely unmarked but squandered the opportunity by shooting wide.

Russel midfielder Md. Sumon doubled the lead in the 28th minute by being the first to react in the the box and flicked home a Fazle Rabbi cross from the right flank. Nehal produced a decent save at his near post to deny Pascal Millien’s shot from the middle of the box in the 42nd minute.

Soccer Club on the other hand tried to stage a comeback as their Gambian forward Mathew Mendy pulled one back in the 78th minute. Receiving a forward pass from Kabba Jobe, Mendy broke into the penalty area and sent the ball over Russel custodian Biplob with a tricky chip towards the far post.

Haitian forward Pascal Millien sealed victory in injury time to score his third goal of the season as his left-footed shot deflected off Soccer Club keeper Nehal and into the box. l

Sheikh Russel midfielder Md Sumon embraces his coach, Montenegrin Dragan Djukanovic, after scoring their second goal against Feni Soccer Club at BNS yesterday MUMIT M

Bagerhat, Army win TT titles Ridoy and Mahi lifted the titles of the boy’s and girl’s singles by winning their respective finals of the South Bangla Bank 2nd National Junior Table Tennis at the Shahid Tajuddin Indoor Stadium yesterday.

Ridoy, who hails from Bagerhat, beat his teammate Jubair by 4-1 games

Winners of the South Bangla Bank National Junior TT pose for a photo yesterday

to win the boy’s title while Mahi, playing for Bangladesh Army, beat Mou of Dhaka by 4-1 games in the girl’s final.

Both Mahi and Ridoy received awards from Walton as the best players.

Bagerhat and BKSP were the champions and the runner-up respectively in the boys’ team event while Bangladesh Army and Dhaka were the champions and the runner-up in the girls’ team event. Sajib and Anoj of Chittagong emerged as the boys’ doubles champions while Sabbir and Swahdhin finished runners-up. Oishee and Juthi became girls’ doubles champions while Tushi and Shumona of Narail finished runners-up.

Jahid Ahsan Russell, the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee for sports and youth ministry, distributed the prizes as the chief guest. Rafikul Islam, the managing director of South Bangla Bank and A.F.M. Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, the additional director of Walton were the special guests. BTTF general secretary Zobera Rahman Linu presided over the prize-giving ceremony. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

‘No concerns over Ribery injury’ French playmaker Franck Ribery will be fit to play in the World Cup, French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet said Saturday. The 31-year-old Bayern Munich star, a veteran of the 2006 final when France lost to Italy on penalties, has been unable to train with the rest of the squad since joining them last week because of back pain. However, Le Graet said that Ribery had been given the all clear after he underwent tests in a hospital in Paris on Saturday and is due to travel to Nice.

–AFP

Sport

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Kolo Toure has malaria

Germany without key stars Germany host Cameroon in their penultimate World Cup warm-up on Sunday with head coach Joachim Loew missing several first-choice stars. Germany captain Phlipp Lahm, who is nursing an ankle knock, and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who has a shoulder injury, both sit out the Moenchengladbach match. The Bayern Munich pair have both only been able to take a limited part in the pre-World Cup camp since picking up knocks in the German Cup final a fortnight ago.

–AFP

Ivorian team doctor Cyrille Dah said Liverpool defender Toure had contracted malaria on a trip home to Abidjan at the end of the English Premier League season and was undergoing treatment. “He just needs rest and so he won’t play against Bosnia but he will be OK to return to training next week,” Dah told the Ivorian Football Federation website www.fif-ci.com.

Toure’s younger brother Yaya is due to join the Ivorian squad on Saturday after surgery on an unspecified muscle injury in Qatar.

–Reuters

Spain name Costa, Torres, Villa in squad Experienced strikers Fernando Torres and David Villa were both included in Spain coach Vicente del Bosque’s final 23man World Cup squad on Saturday as he sought to provide cover for Diego Costa’s injured hamstring.

Costa was the third highest goal scorer in La Liga last season with 27 convinced Del Bosque to take a calculated risk, backed up the presence of Chelsea hitman Torres, 30, and Costa’s Atletico teammate Villa, 32.

Del Bosque also left strikers Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Fernando Llorente, midfielder Ander Iturraspe, and defenders Alberto Moreno and Dani Carvajal out of his squad, the six having been named in his initial 30man list, along with Thiago Alcantara, earlier ruled out with a knee injury.

Manchester City winger Navas has been sidelined with an ankle injury since mid-April and failed to find the favour Del Bosque granted Costa.

But it was heartbreak for Llorente, world champion in 2010 and European

champion in 2012, after scoring 16 goals in his debut season for Juventus in Serie A, and Manchester City’s Negredo, who has seemingly paid for his lack of game time with the English champions.l

SQUAD

Goalkeepers Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Manuel Reina (Napoli/ITA), David De Gea (Manchester United/ENG) Defenders Sergio Ramos (Barcelona), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich/GER), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea/ENG), Raul Albiol (Napoli/ITA), Juanfran Torres (Atletico Madrid) Midfielders Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), David Silva (Manchester City/ENG), Koke Resurreccion (Atletico Madrid), Santiago Cazorla (Arsenal/ENG), Juan Mata (Manchester United/ENG) Forwards Pedro Rodriguez (Barcelona), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), David Villa (Atletico Madrid), Fernando Torres (Chelsea/ENG)

Spain’s forward Fernando Torres (C) celebrates after scoring during their international friendly against Bolivia at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Sevilla on Friday

England sink Peru, Spain down Bolivia Van Gaal springs no surprises in WC squad England will head to the Americas with optimism intact after overcoming Peru 3-0 in their final pre-World Cup friendly game on home soil at Wembley Stadium on Friday.

In the first of his side’s three warmup matches, manager Roy Hodgson saw man-of-the-match Daniel Sturridge put England ahead with a sweet 20-yard strike midway through the first half.

Centre-backs Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka got on the scoresheet in the second period to complete a straightforward evening for England, who travel to Miami for a pre-tournament training camp on Sunday.

They will face Ecuador and Honduras there next week before opening their World Cup campaign against Group D rivals Italy in the Brazilian city of Manaus on June 14.

Hodgson opted to select Danny Welbeck instead of in-form Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling, with the Manchester United man lining up on the left

flank in a conventional 4-2-3-1 system.

It was the teams’ first meeting since 1962 and Peru threatened first, with Joe Hart leaping to field a deflected shot from Montpellier youngster Jean Reza,

RESULTS Iran Ansarifard 56

Qatar New Zealand Austria Sabitzer 28

Switzerland Drmic 84

England

1 1

Angola

0 0 0 0 1 1

Macedonia

Silva 42

South Africa Iceland Sigthorsson 47

1 0

Jamaica

3 0

Peru

2 0

Bolivia

Sturridge 32, Cahill 65, Jagielka 70

Spain

Torres 51-P, Iniesta 84

but England cranked into gear in the last 20 minutes of the first half.

Reigning world champions Spain barely had to break sweat as they coasted to a 2-0 win over Bolivia in Seville on Friday night.

Fernando Torres opened the scoring

with a penalty on 51 minutes before Andres Iniesta wrapped up victory six minutes from time with a stunning goal. Torres, on the other hand, proved a constant menace to the Bolivian backline in his first start for “La Rioja” since the Confederations Cup final almost a year ago.

He had his reward when the referee awarded a penalty for a foul on Javi Martinez, which Torres cooly stroked home. Substitute Iniesta hit a sublime second in off the post with a sumptuous cross-shot.

Striker Edin Dzeko scored a double to lead Bosnia to a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast in an international friendly in Missouri on Friday.

Dzeko scored once each half to give Bosnia a 2-0 lead before Didier Drogba scored a late consolation goal for Ivory Coast, Africa’s highest ranked national team. Bosnia, who are heading to the World Cup for the first time, dominated the match but squandered a series of opportunities to score.

Barcelona striker Alexis Sanchez set up all three goals as Chile fought back from 2-0 down to beat Egypt 3-2 on Friday l

GREAT WORLD CUP SHOCKS Algeria 2 West Germany 1 (1982) The North Africans were appearing in their first World Cup finals and were given little chance against the reigning European champions in the clash in Spain. The German players thought it was done and dusted. “One player even said that he would play against us with a cigar in his mouth,” Algeria’s full-back Chaabane Merzekane told The Guardian later. The over confidence of the Germans came back to haunt them as the Algerians prevailed 2-1 with Rabah Madjer opening the scoring nine minutes into the second-half. The Germans pulled level through Karl-Heinz Rummenigge only for a stunning move by the Algerians to culminate in the decisive goal by Lakhdar Belloumi. German coach Jupp Derwall had said he would go home if they were beaten by their opponents but he stayed and it all came down to the final group game against Austria. If Germany won they progressed, but if it was a draw the Algerians would as they had beaten Chile the day before. The Germans won 1-0 with an early goal which then saw the rest of the match played as if it was a friendly, neither side taking chances as they knew both would qualify at Algeria’s expense. Not surprisingly it became known as the ‘Disgrace of Gijon’ and forced a change in that final group games would from then on be played at the same time. West Germany went on to lose 3-1 in the final to Italy.

–AFP

AFP

World Cup kick-off venue not ready for final test

SQUAD Dutch coach Louis van Gaal will be looking to his experienced trio of Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie to engineer a second successive appearance in the World Cup final after he named his definitive 23-man squad on Saturday.

Van Gaal, who will take over at English Premier League giants Manchester United after the tournament, has also included other veterans such as striker Dirk Kuyt and Klaas van Huntelaar, who normally plays second fiddle to van Persie.

Van Gaal’s squad, though, has been weakened by the absence through injury to another veteran, Rafael van der Vaart, defender Gregory van der Wiel and AS Roma playmaker Kevin Strootman, who was considered by van Gaal as one of the three indispensable players in his World Cup plans. l

Episode

5

Goalkeepers Jasper Cillessen (Ajax), Tim Krul (Newcaste United/ENG), Michel Vorm (Swansea/ENG) Defenders Daley Blind (Ajax), Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Joel Veltman (Ajax), Paul Verhaegh (FC Augsburg/GER), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa/GER), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord) Midfielders Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Leroy Fer (Norwich City/ENG), Jonathan De Guzman (Swansea/ENG), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan/ ITA), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray/TUR), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV Eindhoven) Forwards Memphis Depay (PSV Eindhoven), KlaasJan Huntelaar (Schalke 04/GER), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahce/TUR), Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kiev/UKR), Robin van Persie (Manchester United/ENG), Arjen Robben (Bayern Münich/GER)

The stadium hosting the opening match of the World Cup on June 12 will not be finished in time for its final test event, its owners said Friday.

Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena had to schedule a last-minute test for Sunday, 11 days from the World Cup kickoff, after its first official match revealed a host of problems despite only filling the stadium to half capacity.

But Corinthians football club, the stadium’s owners, said safety officials had only authorized them to sell 40,000 tickets for the second test event, still short of the 65,000 fans expected for the World Cup opener between Brazil and Croatia.

That will likely create new friction with FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who wrote in a dismayed tweet after visiting the stadium on May 21 that it is “vital for us that all facilities will be tested under full match conditions.” l

Kick-boxer knocks Sneijder into World Cup shape Wesley Sneijder is back from the World Cup wilderness and he may have to thank world heavyweight kick-boxing champion Gokhan Saki for rescuing him.

Less than a year ago, Sneijder was dropped by Dutch coach Louis van Gaal. A few weeks ago doubts were being raised whether the temperamental but brilliant midfielder would be on the plane to Brazil.

But the 29-year-old member of the team that reached the 2010 World Cup final is back in fighting shape and back in van Gaal’s good books.

Sneijder, who plays for Galatasaray in Turkey, was depressed and out of shape when he turned to Saki to get back to World Cup fitness.

The 103 kilogramme (227 pound) Dutch-Turkish fighter imposed a near military training routine in between his fights on kickboxing’s Glory World Series.

Saki dwarfs his illustrious pupil who was in the front row of at least one of the fighter’s Istanbul bouts this year.

“Thanks to him, I got back to my optimal weight, like when I was 22-yearsold,” said former Ajax, Real Madrid and Inter Milan star Sneijder.

“In terms of footwork and agility, I am back to my old level.”

The difference was noted at the Netherlands World Cup training camp in Portugal this week.

Van Gaal has been a frequent critic of Sneijder.

When he returned for a second spell as national coach in 2012, van Gaal took away the captain’s armband from Sneijder and handed it to van Persie and Robben.

Sneijder was outraged. Van Gaal said it was a because the player had moved to Turkey, away from Western Europe’s star leagues.

Sneijder’s performances for Galatasaray were also unpredictable and in mid-2013, van Gaal dropped him from the national squad for a series of friendlies.

Even one month ago, some Dutch media were questioning whether Sneijder -- who in 2010 was in the team that reached the World Cup final and won the Champions League with Inter Milan -- would make the World Cup squad.

But Sneijder had already started with Saki by then. “I had got back to work,” he said recently.

“With hindsight I can see that Louis van Gaal was right. I was not working enough. My level had gone down.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

QUICK BYTES BD U-19 v MPCA U-19

Draw looms in four-day game

Only 57.4 overs of play was possible during the third and penultimate day of the four-day match between the Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team and Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) U-19 at Fatullah yesterday.

Resuming the third day on 60 for the loss of three wickets, Bangladesh U-19 ended the day’s play on 192 without further damage in 85 overs in their first innings. Overnight batsmen Zakir Hasan (64 not out) and skipper Mehedi Hasan Miraz (75 not out) made sure the hosts were in a strong position going into the final day’s play. The undefeated fourth-wicket pair of Zakir and Mehedi added 145 runs to trim down the visitors’ lead to 129 runs. MPCA U-19 were earlier all out for 321.

–Tribune Desk

BD B beat India A in S Asian Unified Cricket Bangladesh B defeated India A in the South Asian Unified Cricket organised by Special Olympics, Bangladesh at BKSP yesterday. Asked to bat first, Bangladesh B scored 140/2 (Average 70) in the stipulated 20 overs. In reply, India A managed 93/4 (Average 23.25) in 20 overs. Rasel of Bangladesh B scored the highest 25 while Majedul grabbed two wickets for five runs for the home side.

In the other match of the day, India B team beat Bangladesh A. Batting first, India A put on 71/2 (Average 35.5) on the board. Later, Bangladesh A scored 110/4 (Average 27.50) to concede the game.

–RM

Blatter vows to plough on at Fifa helm FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Friday that he intends to win a fifth term at the head of the world football governing body. “My mission is still going on, a mission is never finished, and I am available to go on with this mission and I will announce it to the congress that I am available,” Blatter said in an interview with FIFA.com. But the 78-year-old football chief said it would be for the 209 FIFA member bodies to decide the future leadership. And he added that he was not yet a candidate but “it is to the congress to act to say yes or no.”

Blatter, who has been president for nearly 16 years, is widely expected to announce that he will stand for a new four-year term at the FIFA congress in Sao Paulo from June 9-12.

–AFP

Sport

World Cup city gripped by dengue fever The Brazilian city where Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Nigeria’s John Mikel Obi will train for the World Cup is in the grip of a crippling dengue fever epidemic.

Workers in Campinas have embarked on a huge operation to eradicate mosquitos, which spread the disease, before the Portuguese and Nigerian teams arrive.

Some 32,384 people have been infected by dengue this year in the southeastern city about one hour from Sao Paulo. At least three people have died.

“It’s a record epidemic. It’s bigger than the 11,500 cases registered in all of 2007,” said Andrea Von Zuben, who coordinates the Campinas dengue control program.

Dengue is a viral infection carried by the aedes aegypti mosquito.

The fever is like chronic influenza with severe headaches, muscle and joint pain, vomiting and a rash.

Severe cases can be deadly. Three people have died of dengue this year in Campinas, women aged 27, 69 and 81.

Three other deaths are being investigated to see if they were caused by the disease.

There is no cure for dengue, so prevention is the best medicine.

The World Health Organization recommends people in infected areas prevent

mosquito bites with window screens, insect repellant and mosquito coils.

It also suggests covering up exposed skin – advice that may cramp Portuguese captain Ronaldo’s bare-chested style, a topic of much commentary after his pectoral-flexing goal celebration at this year’s Champions League final.

Brazil has been hit harder by dengue than any other country so far this century, with seven million cases reported between 2000 and 2013.

Von Zuben said the Campinas outbreak was being driven by a heatwave at the beginning of the year, the prevalence of a particularly virulent dengue strain and poor sanitation that leaves pools of standing water where mosquitos breed.

But she said the areas where the Nigerian and Portuguese squads will be are a mosquito-control priority for health officials.

“We put larvicides and anti-mosquito poisons at the airport, in the training centers and in the hotels, so the teams will run a much smaller risk than the local population,” she told AFP. The authorities have been in touch with the teams’ doctors, who were “concerned,” Von Zuben said.

She said her staff had recommended insect repellant.

“We’ve been guaranteed that the situation has been identified and is under control. There shouldn’t be any reason for alarm,” said the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). l

Rafa Nadal put down an attempted coup at the French Open as the eighttimes champion saw off Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-2 7-5 6-2 to reach the fourth round in commanding fashion on Saturday.

Mayer went for his shots in a tense second set and broke the world No.1 back for 4-4, only for the Spaniard to show

Smith has no plans to retire from cricket Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith has no immediate plans to retire despite suffering another serious injury and sending what seemed a farewell message earlier this week. Smith, who is set for surgery in Cape Town after fracturing his knee playing for English county side Surrey, told South Africa’s Eye Witness News on Friday he hoped to continue his career. “I have unfortunately gone there two years in a row and picked up two pretty serious injuries, which curtailed my time at the club. It has been disappointing. The club wants me back. If I can get back this season, that would be good,” he said.

–Reuters

Parma president quits after club denied Europa League place

Parma president Tommaso Ghirardi has put the club up for sale and is quitting the sport after his team were denied a place in the Europa League following a tax dispute, he said on Friday. Parma qualified for Europe for the first time since 2006 after pipping Torino to sixth place in Serie A on the final day of the season. Yet the Italian Olympic Committee stripped them of their place on Friday and handed it Torino due to an unpaid tax bill of 300,000 euros ($408,500).

–Reuters

Sri Lanka clinch thriller to level series England and Sri Lanka’s one-day series will go to a deciding fifth game after Sri Lanka recorded a seven-run win at Lord’s despite a scintillating innings from Jos Buttler.

After scoring just 67 and suffering a demoralising 10-wicket defeat in Manchester on Wednesday, Sri Lanka fought back in the fourth ODI today.

They were put into bat by England and notched exactly 300 from their 50 overs, with Kumar Sangakkara top-scoring with 112.

England’s reply didn’t get off to a good start as openers Alastair Cook (1) and Ian Bell (7) were both gone inside four overs. Gary Ballance (42) and Joe Root (43) then put on an 84-run partnership, but it was slow going and England were well behind the required run rate.

Eoin Morgan could only add 12 to the total before Ravi Bopara (51) and Buttler took over. The pair scored 133 together at the crease off just 98 balls to get England back in contention.

Buttler’s 121, which came off just 74 balls and included 11 fours and six sixes, wouldn’t quite be enough as he was run out by bowler Lasith Malinga when trying to hit the winning runs in the final over. l

4TH ODI, BRIEF SCORE

Sri Lankaís Kumar Sangakkara acknowledges the crowd after scoring century during their fourth One-Day International (ODI) against England at Lord’s cricket ground in London yesterday. Sri Lanka scored 300 for 9 in their stipulated 50 overs AFP

Nadal powers on at French Open why he is still the man to beat in Paris.

“It is for me very emotional thing when I am on (court Philippe) Chatrier, a lot of memories come to my mind,” said Nadal, who made only 10 unforced errors with just two coming in a masterful opening set.

Nadal next faces Serbian Dusan Lajovic, who beat American Jack Sock 6-4 7-5 6-3 and also has yet to drop a set.

The fifth-seeded Ferrer continued his

Rafael Nadal celebrates his victory over Leonardo Mayer at the end of their French Open third round match at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris yesterday AFP

Narine to miss NZ Test series after putting Windies second West Indies spinner Sunil Narine will miss next month’s three-test series against New Zealand after opting to stay with his Indian Premier League team, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has said.

The “Windies First Policy” of the WICB required the 26-year-old spinner to join the training camp by Sunday, also the day when his Twenty20 team plays the final.

“The onus of the WICB is to protect

the integrity of international cricket at all times,” the board’s Director of Cricket Richard Pybus said in a statement.

“International cricket, and specifically test cricket, is priority and requires dedicated preparation which is integral to team success.

“The WICB policy requires players to commit to sufficient preparation leading in to a series as part of a culture of excellence,” Pybus added.

Narine has played six tests claiming 21 wickets, 18 of them coming against New Zealand. l

stroll through the draw with a 6-2 7-6(2) 6-3 win against Italian Andreas Seppi.

Earlier, Simona Halep had too many tricks up her sleeve for Spaniard Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor as the fourth seed glided into the fourth round with a 6-3 6-0 win.

Stephens was in less devastating form than in her first two matches but she was still too strong for Ekaterina Makarova in a 6-3 6-4 win over the Russian left-hander.

Roland Garros has not been a happy hunting ground for Ana Ivanovic since she won the title in 2008 and the popular Serbian failed to break that jinx on Saturday as she lost 6-3 6-3 to Czech Lucie Safarova.

Safarova will face another champion in 2009 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova after the Russian 27th seed beat Czech fifth seed Petra Kvitova 6-7(3) 6-1 9-7 in three hours 13 minutes on court Philippe Chatrier.

Italian 10th seed Sara Errani, runner-up in 2012, won 20 points in succession during her 6-0 6-1 demolition of Israel’s Julia Glushko. She set up a meeting with Serbian sixth seed Jelena Jankovic who demolished Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-2. l

Sri Lanka: 300/9 (50.0 ov) Sangakkara 112, Dilshan 71, Mathews 30, Gurney 4/55, Anderson 2/60 England: 293/8 (50.0 ov) Buttler 121, Bopara 51, Root 43, Malinga 3/52, Mendis 2/60 Sri Lanka won by 7 runs 5-match series level at 2-2

MCC ‘snub’ sparked Flintoff return Andrew Flintoff has revealed how being overlooked for the upcoming Lord’s Bicentenary match between Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Rest of the World spurred him on to make a Twenty20 comeback with Lancashire.

The Red Rose county confirmed Friday that Flintoff, one of their favourite sons, had been included in the squad for the county’s domestic Twenty20 campaign.

Former England captain Flintoff, in injury-induced retirement for five years, wasn’t selected to play in the team that faced Warwickshire on Friday but is in line to return at home to Lancashire’s arch-rivals Yorkshire at Old Trafford a week on Friday.

Before announcing his comeback, the 36-year-old said he’d hoped to have been chosen for the star-studded match marking the 200th anniversary of Lord’s in July.

But pace bowling all-rounder Flintoff said the effect on his children of being told he wasn’t wanted for the

fixture had fuelled his desire to return to the middle.

“John Stephenson from the MCC phoned me up and I thought the call was to tell me where to turn up and who was in the side,” Flintoff told BBC Radio Five in an interview broadcast Friday.

“The kids were in the car and he told me they didn’t want me. He said they’ve got Brian Lara and all these other people.

“I saw my kids’ faces and that’s the first time they’d seen their dad told he can’t do something. They said: ‘Never mind, there will be other games’. And I thought: ‘There will be actually.’”

Concerns have been expressed that, after such a long time out of the game, Flintoff risks tarnishing his reputation by not being able to perform at his best.

However, he said: “I’d sooner try and have it not come off than sit at home for the rest of my days thinking I should have tried this, I should have had a go.”

“I feel young, I behave like I’m young,” Flintoff added. “It’s the easiest decision I’ve made in my career. l

Iannone sets Moto GP top speed record Italian Andrea Iannone, riding a 1000cc Ducati GP14 for Pramac Racing, set a new official top speed record for the MotoGP World Championship during practice on Saturday, clocking 349.6km/h (217.2 mph).

Iannone just eclipsed the previous record for the championship (349.288km/h) which was also set at Mugello, by Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa in 2009. The Italian finished 10th fastest in Saturday’s practice, which was topped by Pedrosa with a lap best of 1min 47.754sec.l

Shahin and Raihan, the captains of Araf Sporting and Narinda Junior Lions hold the Pioneer League trophy while Bijon Borua and AFM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn watches in the presser at the BFF House yesterday COURTESY

Pioneer Football League final tomorrow

DAY’S WATCH Sony Six 8:30PM IPL 7: Final Punjab v Kolkata 05:59 AM NBA Play Off 2013-14, Conf Final Oklahoma City v San An Star Sports 4 3:00PM Moto GP: Italy 7:30PM Natwest T20 Blast Leicestershire v Birmingham Neo Sports 3:00PM French Open

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

Team BJMC players in all smiles after being awarded the trophy of the Cute Open Women’s Volleyball at the volleyball stadium yesterday.

Monju Ara Begum, the principal of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College handed over the trophy as the chief guest. Kazi Razivuddin Ahmed Chapal, the BOA treasurer and director of Mousumi Industries, the sponsors was also present COURTESY

The final of the Dhaka North and South City Corporation Pioneer Football League between Araf Sporting Club and Narinda Junior Lions will be held at 4:30 pm at the Bangabandhu National Stadium tomorrow.

The champions will be receiving a purse of Tk. 100000.00 while the runner-up will collect Tk. 50000.00.

In a press conference held at the Bangladesh Football Federation yesterday, Araf Sporting Club’s coach Akbar Babul said he would rely heavily on the

teamwork to reach the final as his team consists of a number of exciting players who are eager to lift the title. His counterpart Md. Rafik, however, believes attack is his team’s best weapon and his attackers will make the difference.

BFF’s executive committee member and the deputy chairman of the Pioneer Football League Committee Bijon Borua and Walton’s additional director A.F.M. Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn were also present on the occasion. Walton will provide 10 prizes for the spectators of the stands which will remain open during the final. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

‘Illegal’ structures still on playground Green activists slam Dhanmondi Club authorities for ‘abusing’ the public space n Abu Hayat Mahmud A section of green activists lashed out at the Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club authorities and Local Government Engineering Department again yesterday for the “illegal” establishments occupying the Dhanmondi playground.

They protested against the powerful group of vested interests that had erected the structures using the name of Bangabandhu’s family and without Rajuk’s approval.

The activists blamed the officials of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd, who they said were “abusing” the playground.

They made these remarks at a press conference in front of the National Press Club yesterday.

A large group of individuals from 50 environmental and social organizations and many locals attended the press conference and expressed their concerns about the future of the public playground.

They called upon the prime minister to intervene and free the playing field from the clutches of Dhanmondi club authorities.

The press briefing was chaired by Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed, the founder president of Bishwa Sahitya Kendra.

Addressing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Abu Sayeed said: “We know you are a great environmentalist and have issued directives at different times to the authorities concerned to free the water bodies and open space in and around the capital.

“We call upon you to take immediate steps to remove all establishments from the public playground and reserve the open space for the city dwellers.”

He called Dhaka a city of only concrete structures, lacking open space for the city inhabitants to move about freely and breathe fresh, clean air.

Prof Abu Sayeed said it was unacceptable that a group of vested interests would occupy the public playground using Bangabandhu’s family name.

He said a number of peaceful pro-

The photo shows a representation of illegal structures built by the club authorities on the Dhanmondi playground although the place is open to public grammes were carried out in order to free the playground, but to no avail.

“Now there is no alternative but to seek out the PM’s interference to remove all illegal structures from the field,” he continued.

Back in September 2010, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to recover all the children parks and playgrounds in the capital from illegal occupants.

Recently, the PM issued directives to protect rivers around Dhaka, but there has yet to be any directive from the premier to free the Dhanmondi public playground.

Architect Mubasshar Hussain, former president of the Institute of Architects (IAB) Bangladesh, said: “To build

any structure in Dhaka city, even to build a small, three-foot diameter safety tank, Rajuk’s approval must be acquired. However, the Sheikh Jamal Club authority did not ask for any permission from the city development authority.”

“The city corporation made it clear that the playground had not been allocated to the Sheikh Jamal Club, but the club authorities constructed structures inside it,” he explained.

Mubasshar said the Sheikh Jamal Club governing body chairman was the incumbent Dhaka Metropolitan police commissioner.

The press conference was moderated by Architect Iqbal Habib, joint secretary to the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon.

Iqbal Habib said: “The club author-

ity has tactfully built all structures while the LGED is now constructing a total of five courts – two for tennis, two for badminton and one for basketball.”

He added that the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) demolished only two establishments from the playground which were used as labour sheds.

All establishments were erected in 2011, ignoring the High Court directives on demolition of all structures from inside the playground.

In reply to a question, Iqbal Habib said they would appeal to the HC under the Right to Information Act to find out why the court was repeatedly embarrassed about the issue.

Back in 2004, following a petition filed by the Bapa and the IAB, the HC directed the city corporation to free

COURTESY

the playground from the illegal occupation.

On April 24 this year, after almost two years, the DSCC authorities reopened the public playground following a demonstration staged by the green activists, locals and sports personalities.

Later on May 18, the city corporation conducted a drive at the Dhanmondi playground and demolished only two illegal establishments in compliance with the HC order of 2011.

Earlier, a High Court bench dropped a petition filed by six green activists, seeking the court directives to remove illegal structures built on the Dhanmondi playground, from its cause list.

The petition was later accepted and sent to another bench, which felt “embarrassed” to hear it. l

Wild elephants the bane of humans in Mymensingh region Bakar Siddique n Abu back from northeast

Migratory herons rest on a tree in their colony on the Rajshahi University campus. A zoologist says their number has been increasing DHAKA TRIBUNE

Heron colony at Rajshahi University n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi There is a small patch of greenery with tall trees on the west side of Rajshahi University, between two dormitories for female students – Khaleda Zia Hall and Taposhi Rabeya Hall. The setting is soothing, but never really quiet, thanks to the “colony” of herons that has grown there over the years.

Several species of herons – cattle egrets, night herons, black-crowned night herons, and many others – have made the small woods their home, building around 500 nests in more than 50 trees in the area.

Not just the herons, but the trees house birds like pankouris (little cormorants), shaliks (Indian mynas) and parrots as well.

To protect these birds, the university authority declared the site “heron colony” in 2007, the initiative taken by Nasima Akhter, provost of Taposhi Rabeya Hall.

The sight of the birds busy nesting and gathering food is quite extraordinary. Most of the heron nests are near the Khaleda Zia Hall end of the woods. The herons are bigger than the usual size, which is why at first glance it seems like a settlement of migratory birds.

Selina Parvin, a bird expert who teaches at the zoology department of the university, said the population in the colony has been growing every year.

“Everyone here likes these birds.

Outsiders do not bother them either,” she

said, adding that having a bird sanctuary in a university is a good thing for academic purposes.

However, a storm last month destroyed around 200 nests and killed more than 500 herons and pankouris, she told the Dhaka Tribune.

Nasima Akhter confirmed the damage, adding that most of the birds that died were babies.

“Many shaliks and parrots died too,” she said, “and a number of adult birds abandoned their nests.”

The rest of the bird population is re-building the nests, she added.

Tweeting neighbours for the dorm residents With little complaints on the students’ part, the human and avian inhabitants in the area seem to be cohabiting rather well.

Jilia and Rahima, residents of Taposhi Rabeya Hall, said the smell compelled them to keep the windows shut.

“But living amid our tweeting neighbours is also a pleasant experience,” they said.

The students hoped that the university authorities would take necessary measures to conserve the colony.

Selina Parvin said: “We are helpless when it comes to natural calamities. But we must ensure that the animals do not suffer because to humans.”

It is necessary that everyone is conscious about protecting birds, and biodiversity as a whole, she said. l

Mandira Marak was killed on July 6 last year by a herd of wild elephants near her house in Chhoto Ghajini village of Sherpur. Her infant son remained unhurt as she had left him inside the house.

The elephants came into the village in search of food and ended up vandalising homes, destroying crops and attacking anyone who was in their path.

Such attacks on human beings by elephants have been commonplace in the region ever since the people began living close to the forest, which the wildlife experts think is the habitat of these elephants.

According to the Forest Department’s statistics, at least 29 people were killed by wild elephants over the last 13 years in the Mymensingh region, comprised of Mymensingh, Tangail, Jamalpur, Sherpur and Netrokona districts. The killings happened when the animals would enter localities in search of food. Of the 29, a total of 24 were from Sherpur.

Last year, the Forest Department gave Tk100,000 as compensation to Marnat Marak, Mandira’s husband, said Mandira’s father-in-law Majendra Marak.

The elephants weren’t the only ones doing the killing, however. At least five elephants were also killed by human beings. Of those, four died in Sherpur and the other in Netrokona.

In the past 10 years, 823 homes were destroyed in Rangtia range, followed

by Balijuri range where 19 homes were demolished, said Sherpur Forest Department sources.

“Rapid depletion of forestland and also human intervention are resulting in such unexpected deaths,” Dr Reza Khan, a wildlife expert currently working as a curator of Dubai Zoo, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Loss of habitat and food sources have forced elephants to move to adjacent villages where they are intercepted by human beings, he added.

Destruction of crops has been one of the worst consequences of having these elephants roaming around in these areas. Around 3,000 acres of

The photo shows an earthen house left in ruins by an elephant attack

At least 29 people were killed by wild elephant attacks over the last 13 years in the districts of the greater Mymensingh region cropland, mostly rice paddies, were destroyed by elephants in the previous decade.

Every year during paddy season, large numbers of elephants entered Rangtia range from India.

A herd containing 60-70 elephants can finish an acre of paddy field in just a few hours, said Mohamad Ali, a farmer of Jhinaigati upazila in Sherpur, adding that many people had abandoned their fields fearing elephant attacks.

According to Sherpur district administration office, 20-30 wild elephants entered the Garo Hills, which is close to the border, from India’s Meghalaya back in 1997 and have been living there. These elephants have bred over

COURTESY

the years, increasing their numbers exponentially.

Many other elephants have entered Bangladesh by crossing the border during the summer, said Jamil Mohammad Khan, ranger of Rangtia Sal forest.

Jakir Hossain, deputy commissioner of Sherpur, said the administration has been working to find a way to ensure the peaceful coexistence of elephants and humans.

Both the lives of human beings and of elephants are valuable, said Dr Reza, adding that the government has to be careful when taking action in order to save both.

Meanwhile, various organisations have been conducting awareness campaigns to teach people how they can save their lives and croplands without harming the animals. l

Union parishads get allocation for village courts n Mohosinul Karim The government has decided to allocateTk6 crore for 500 union parishads (UP) to set up village courts across the country.

According to an order promulgated by the local government division, each union parishad will get Tk1.2 lakh to construct court rooms inside the UP buildings and purchase office supplies.

As per the government order, each union parishad will get Tk90,000 to construct and furnish court rooms, Tk20,000 to buy forms and registers and Tk10,000 for miscellaneous expenses.

“The initiative to activate village courts was taken because the local justice system was unable to function properly due to a lack of infrastructure and working environment,” the order said.

Village courts were established through an act of parliament in 2006.

The government amended the act in 2013, making the village courts more compatible to offer justice at the local level in an efficient and timely manner.

The amendment included increasing the financial jurisdiction of the courts to Tk75,000 from Tk25,000, with a provision for a Tk2,000 fine for filing false cases and Tk1,000 for contempt of court.

One of the salient features of the amendment was the mandatory inclusion of a woman representative in a five-member panel of judges.

The amendment created a buzz among the elected UP chairmen and other stakeholders as it had been a demand from all quarters.

The government, meanwhile, has already started training programmes for village courts to improve knowledge and skills on trial processes, as well as to change attitudes on gender and women’s empowerment to ensure a gender-friendly and responsive local justice system.

The wait for justice in this country can be a long one. According to a report, there are 23 lakh cases pending in the courts, creating a backlog of 10 to 15 years.

Since 2010, more than 32,000 cases, 2,000 of them referred from district courts, have appeared before village courts in 338 UPs. Of them, 25,000 cases were resolved, thereby reducing the burden on the higher courts. l

2kg gold seized, 9 expats held at Dhaka airport n Kailash Sarkar Armed Police Battalion (APBn) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport seized 15 gold bars, weighing around two kilograms, and detained nine Bangladeshi expatriates as they arrived in Dhaka from Saudi Arabia early yesterday.

The detainees were Ataur Rahman, Atowar Hossain, Zakir Hossain, Ali Hossain, Rafiqul Shah, Kamrul Islam, Md Baha Uddin, Delwar Hossain and Md Liton. The nine arrived in Dhaka on two separate flights that landed at Dhaka airport between 12am and 2am.

Of the nine, seven arrived on a flight of SV Airlines and the rest two on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight, said Alamgir Hossain Shimul, additional superintendent of APBn at the airport.

He said the expatriates were detained as they were leaving the airport without paying taxes and duties against the gold bars.

“They smuggled the gold worth around Tk90 lakh as part of their tendency towards illegal gold trading,” he added.

Earlier on Friday morning, Customs officials seized gold weighing 3kg while APBn officials seized another 1100 grams of gold the previous night.

Gold smuggling intensified at the airports in the country since the Indian government imposed some restrictions on the import of gold last year.

In two separate incidents, 124kg and 109kg of gold were seized at Dhaka airport in the past. l

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B3 Fed: Rates should not be used to fight bubbles

B4 Headache for Modi as

India posts 4.7% growth

SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

NBR may face revenue setback again n Syed Samiul Basher Anik The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is apprehended to fail for the second consecutive year to achieve even the revised revenue target.

The revenue fell short of the target

by Tk3,644 crore in FY2012-13. In the previous three fiscal years, it exceeded the targets.

The revenue fell Tk34,296 crore short of the Tk125,000 crore revised target as in April this fiscal year, leaving only May and June to mobilise the resource for the fiscal year 2013-14, according to latest data from the revenue authorities.

During the last 10 months up to April, the NBR collected Tk90,704 crore – monthly average of little over Tk9,000 crore. That means, the revenue authorities would have to mobilise almost double the amount in the remaining two months than what they collected in one month.

The government had earlier revised down the revenue target from original allocation of Tk136,090 crore on apprehension that the target would not be achieved as the collection faced setback due to the political turmoil ahead of the national election held on January 5.

NBR officials consider it difficult to achieve the target despite they made strong efforts in the last month, which would turn desperate this month.

“We may come close to the target, yet it would fall short if not too much,” a senior official told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The collection in May was not available as of yesterday, but the officials said it would be much higher than the average of previous 10 months and it would be even more this month.

NBR Chairman Md. Ghulam Hussain earlier on many occasions expressed confidence that the target would be achieved. He already put pressure on the field offices to expedite collection.

The NBR is now eyeing on unexplored avenues such as expanding the tax net, finding unexplored sectors, preventing loopholes in tax collection, finding tax evasion cases to reach the target.

“The shortfall would range between Tk7,000 crore and Tk8,000 crore eventually despite all usual last minute efforts by the NBR,” former NBR Chairman Mohammad Abdul Majid told the Dhaka Tribune, however.

According to the NBR data, the NBR lags behind Tk6,229 crore in customs duties up to April as it collected Tk26,641 crore against the target of Tk32,870 crore.

The Value Added Tax wing collected Tk34,388 crore against its target of Tk46,850crore and the income tax wing collected Tk29,182 crore against its target of Tk44,360 crore.

In the recent few months, the NBR has taken up initiatives to strictly monitor revenue collection drive for meeting the revenue target.

The NBR chairman earlier claimed the NBR would be able to achieve the target as the last two months of the fiscal (May and June) are the prime time for collection. “I, along with other NBR officials, have been running across the country to ensure revenue collection, and we will surely be able to achieve the target.”

For the current fiscal year, the revised revenue collection target is set at Tk32,870 crore as customs duties, Tk46,850 crore as VAT, Tk44,360 crore as income tax and Tk920 crore as other taxes. l

Businesses want more PPP projects n Tribune Report

Businessmen called for strengthening public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives to develop infrastructures and attract investments to the productive sectors.

They also laid emphasis on formulating PPP policy soon, saying PPP is the best option to remove the country’s infrastructural bottlenecks.

The urge was made at a seminar titled “Round Table Discussion on PPP in Bangladesh” jointly organised by PPP Office under Prime Minister’s Office, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) at the DCCI office in the city yesterday.

DCCI President Mohammad Shahjahan Khan chaired the seminar, attended by Senior Secretary to the Prime Minister Md Abul Kalam Azad was present as chief guest and BUILD Chairman Asif Ibrahim as special guest.

“Development of infrastructure is a must for the fast growing development of economy and PPP can be the best

option for attracting local and foreign investments,” said DCCI President Mohammad Shahjahan Khan.

“Formulation of PPP policy within shortest possible time and a business-friendly environment is important. Investment policy should also be made easier,” he added.

Khan sought more active PPP projects for building sea ports, railway development, waste management and tourism sector.

In his keynote presentation, Chief Executive Officer of PPP Office Syed Afsor H Uddin said the main focus of PPP is to open up investment opportunities and to deliver public services through the private sector.

Senior Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad stated PPP projects are taken in a transparent way under the direct supervision of PMO and can play a vital role in future projects.

He cited Dhaka-Chittagong fourlane project, Joydebpur-Mymensing four-lane project and different projects in the energy sector as “successful PPP projects.” l

Bangladesh to be ‘$100bn trade economy soon’ n Tribune Report Bangladesh is going to be a $100bn trade economy in near future as it is growing up despite the unstable situation in 2013, a trade body leader said yesterday.

It is not too distant future, ICCB President Mahbubur Rahman said, inaugurating ICC Knowledge Centre Workshop on Incoterms 2010 & Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees (URDG) at a local Hotel in Dhaka.

“I must congratulate our private sector, in particular the export industries, namely readymade garments, leather, pharmaceuticals and also the shipbuilding industry,” he said. “I must also thank our hard working migrant workers whose regular remittances of around $14bn have helped in meeting our much needed foreign exchange.”

The business leader also appreciated Bangladesh Bank for making a foreign exchange reserve of over $20bn and stressed the need for creating congenial environment to attract both domestic and foreign direct investment for setting up basic industries, without which Bangladesh cannot sustain its growth momentum and achieve our aim of becoming middle country within next few years.

ICC Knowledge Centre is a joint initiative of International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh (ICCB) and HSBC Bangladesh. It is a first ever unique learning, networking and knowledge facilitation platform for the professionals of the local trade community, engaged with international trade in Bangladesh. l

REHAB fair in Chittagong begins June 18 n Tribune Report, Chittagong A four-day real estate and housing fair will begin in Chittagong on June 18.

Real Estate and Housing Association Bangladesh (REHAB) will organise the fair at the Table Tennis Complex of Chittagong Club.

Around 100 exhibitors will take part in the fair, REHAB Chittagong chapter told a logo unveiling programme at the Chittagong Club yesterday.

Taslim Uddin Chowdhury, editor of daily Purbokone, and Wahid Malek, managing editor of daily Azadi, jointly unveiled the logo of the fair.

There will be workshops, seminars and roundtables with the participation of engineers and architects during the fair.

Zonal standing committee chairman of REHAB Abdul Qaiyum Chowdhury, Co-chairman Engineer SM Abu Sufian, 8th Rehab Fair Committee Convener Engineer Iftekhar Hossain and Joint Convener Abdul Quader Jilani were present. l

A man working at a fashion manikin factory in Dhaka yesterday. As the month of Ramadan approaches, the workers are busy producing manikins for clothing stores to be displayed during the Eid shopping spree when the Muslims throng the city malls in their largest numbers RAJIB DHAR

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman speaks at the inaugural function of banking service for street children at Bangla Academy premises in Dhaka yesterday

Street children included into banking service n Tribune Report Bangladesh Bank yesterday launched banking service for street children to bring them under institutional financial support.

Governor Dr Atiur Rahman formally inaugurated the service in the city’s Bangla Academy premises.

On 10 March, the central bank issued a circular directing all banks to allow street children and child workers to open bank accounts by taking a deposit of Tk10, similar to that of farmers and others who cannot afford normal banking services.

Initially, 10 banks have opened the service in association with the non-government organisation “Save the Children.”

The initiative is aimed at offering banking facility to the destitute children who have no option than to live and work in railway stations, slums, footpaths, bus stations and ferry terminals.

The 10 banks are Rupali Bank, Agrani Bank, Pubali Bank, One Bank, National Bank, Southeast Bank, Bank Asia, City Bank, NCC Bank and Bangladesh Krishi Bank.

In accordance with guideline set by the central bank, all the accounts should be operated by the non-government organisations (NGOs) and the central bank will nominate the NGOs. In his speech at the inaugural function, Governor Dr Atiur Rahman described the launching of service as opening of “new horizon” in the banking sector.

He hoped it would be able to

help children cultivate the habit of savings and would also eventually help them step towards a better future.

On the initiative, Dr Atiur said they had focused since last several years to transfer Bangladesh Bank into a participatory, publicly benevolent and humanity-based institution. “As part of these activities we have started financial inclusion programmes to bring people under banking services.”

The central bank said the concerned NGOs will nominate at least two of their staff for doing the job of street children accounts. Among the two employees, one should be from accounting department and the other will be from field level officers.

However, the NGOs should take the overall responsibility of operating the accounts until the children reach the age of 18 years. The NGOs and the banks concerned will sign agreements to operate the accounts, Bangladesh

Bank added.

There will be no fees for these accounts, it said. The account holders will not get online transaction facility, meaning no debit or credit cards would be issued by the banks. Withdrawal should be done by using cheques or other physical debit instructions.

Dr Atiur Rahman made reference to such previous initiatives and said the central bank already introduced various types of banking services for farmers, sharecroppers and other underprivileged people.

He mentioned 10 taka accounts for marginal farmers, formation of refinance scheme of Tk200 crore to mobilise these accounts and bank accounts for school children and garments workers.

Governor said the corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure of the banking sector increased to Tk447 crore, eight times higher than Tk55 crore five years ago. l

B2

Stocks pass flat week with high volatility n Tribune Report

DSE LOSERS

Rupali Life Insur.-A Ambee Pharma -A Standard Insurance-A BD Fixed Income MF-A Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A GSP Finance-A Malek Spinning-A DBH 1st MF-A Beximco Pharma -A Argon Denims Limited-A

Closing (% change) -15.87 -10.93 -10.42 -9.52 -6.88 -6.63 -6.48 -6.25 -6.24 -6.22

CSE LOSERS Company Rupali Life Insur.-A Islami Ins.BD-A Ambee Pharma -A Standard Insurance-A GSP Finance-A Argon Denims Limited-A Bangladesh Welding -Z Eastland Insur -A IDLC Finance -A MBL 1st M. F.-A

Closing (% change) -14.41 -13.29 -11.43 -8.31 -7.61 -6.90 -6.78 -6.44 -6.29 -6.25

4430.47759

(+) 1.06%

1609.26775

(+) 1.24%

13668.8078

(+) 0.85%

11206.3802

(+) 0.76%

8468.9981

(+) 0.40%

Average (% change) -16.49 -10.08 -10.77 -8.69 -6.06 -6.37 -5.99 -4.43 -6.08 -5.61 Average (% change) -14.41 -14.47 -8.65 -8.94 -7.87 -8.86 -5.85 -6.44 -4.16 -6.10

ANALYST

Closing average 75.31 319.71 31.80 7.67 25.58 18.37 23.39 6.04 39.21 54.70

Closing average 79.60 24.82 320.04 31.76 18.15 52.86 11.11 37.80 45.61 6.00

Weekly closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 1472.23 334.96 214.23 1422.64 930.03 939.75 4.77 1796.43 1779.21 1.95 334.41 190.68 34.57 1890.69 64.26 180.59 348.69 692.30 105.63 295.63 2.05

Weekly high 95.00 371.00 35.90 8.30 28.90 19.90 25.00 6.40 43.50 58.60

Weekly high

79.60 24.80 320.00 32.00 18.20 54.00 11.00 37.80 44.70 6.00

296,410,476

87.00 24.90 369.70 32.00 19.50 57.00 12.00 39.80 47.70 6.30

311,230

Traded Issues

303

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

118

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

180 5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,272.73

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.55

CSE key features May 25-29, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

920.52

Turnover (Volume)

25,300,252

Number of Contract

37,665

Traded Issues

241

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

83

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

153

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,178.50

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.41

Turnover in million

68.60 302.10 31.80 7.50 25.30 17.10 21.50 5.90 36.00 51.00

Weekly low 75.20 23.30 314.50 31.50 16.90 50.20 11.00 37.80 42.50 6.00

Latest EPS

93.588 50.498 2.760 0.512 315.733 5.509 48.257 7.435 80.043 39.059

Turnover in million 11.089 0.089 4.626 0.031 0.207 0.530 0.758 0.140 2.819 1.591

18.49 13.28 11.60 10.33 9.94 9.93 9.03 8.25 7.96 7.81

CSE GAINERS

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

Weekly low

ACI Limited- A LafargeS Cement-Z Eastern Lubricants -A Apex Foods -A Al-Haj Textile -A Wata Chemicals -A Takaful Islami Insu-A 7th ICB M F-A MeghnaCement -A Rahima Food -Z

Closing (% change)

Latest PE

5.33 3.20 2.88 0.56 4.64 1.56 2.24 0.81 3.60 4.04

Latest EPS 5.33 1.92 3.20 2.88 1.56 4.04 0.48 4.24 -0.88 1.44

14.1 99.9 11.0 13.7 5.5 11.8 10.4 7.5 10.9 13.5

Latest PE 14.9 12.9 100.0 11.0 11.6 13.1 23.1 8.9 -ve 4.2

Company ACI Limited- A LafargeS Cement-Z Apex Foods -A MeghnaCement -A Bangladesh Lamps -A Takaful Islami Insu-A Bangas -A Delta Brac HFCL-A City G Insu.-A Mercantile Bank -A

Closing (% change) 19.59 13.77 10.56 8.32 8.29 7.89 7.24 6.97 6.73 6.51

Average (% change) 16.37 9.99 8.76 8.55 9.85 9.93 7.83 18.56 6.21 5.35 Average (% change) 15.37 10.31 10.95 7.87 7.83 7.89 7.77 6.89 7.35 7.09

Closing average 237.74 77.04 503.03 110.95 126.37 59.80 29.90 115.00 135.03 58.33

Closing average 235.18 77.28 112.39 135.05 120.98 30.08 504.36 64.50 22.20 18.12

Weekly closing 240.30 78.50 513.90 112.10 126.10 59.80 30.20 105.00 135.70 58.00

Weekly closing 239.90 78.50 112.00 135.40 121.50 30.10 501.90 64.50 22.20 18.00

Weekly high 245.00 80.90 514.00 113.00 127.60 59.80 30.80 115.00 137.90 61.00

Weekly high 243.00 80.00 115.00 138.50 122.30 30.40 520.00 66.50 22.20 18.70

Weekly low 194.50 63.30 450.00 98.50 105.90 59.80 26.00 105.00 122.60 51.90

Weekly low 202.50 68.00 101.70 123.00 111.10 27.90 480.00 62.50 21.00 15.30

Turnover in million 239.890 1247.116 9.407 29.312 106.309 0.311 12.740 0.062 84.195 25.112

Turnover in million 8.025 87.675 0.586 1.403 0.204 0.249 3.616 0.097 0.172 18.279

Latest EPS 5.28 2.16 6.95 3.01 2.00 9.80 1.76 12.01 7.00 -1.01

Latest EPS 5.28 2.16 3.01 7.00 0.92 1.76 5.87 5.05 1.84 1.16

Latest PE 45.0 35.7 72.4 36.9 63.2 6.1 17.0 9.6 19.3 -ve

Latest PE 44.5 35.8 37.3 19.3 131.5 17.1 85.9 12.8 12.1 15.6

Weekly news from trade server Audited/unaudited Financial Reports: EHL: (Q3): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 3rd quarter ended on 30th April 2014 (Feb'14 to Apr'14), the Company has reported net profit after tax of Tk. 121.16 million with EPS of Tk. 1.50 as against Tk. 78.50 million and Tk. 0.97 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Whereas net profit after tax was Tk. 192.49 million with EPS of Tk. 2.39 for the period of nine months (Aug'13 to Apr'14) ended on 30.04.2014 as against Tk. 179.08 million and Tk. 2.22 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Fixed Assets/Right/Investment: EHL: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has approved the investment of Tk. 3.00 million in IG Health Care Limited, a healthcare project of Islam Group against 300,000 shares of Tk. 10.00 each out of total 5,000,000 shares.

SAIHAMCOT: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has taken the following resolutions: 1. has decided to go for commercial production of Saiham Cotton Mills Ltd. (Unit-2) from May 31, 2014, the proceeds of which were mainly received from Initial Public Offering, 2. The total cost of setting up of the additional unit is Tk. 1,12,17,48,482.00 and 3. The additional unit will generate approximately extra revenue of Tk. 170.00 crore to the existing turnover.

Credit Rating: ICB: ARGUS Credit Rating Services Limited

(ACRSL) has rated the Corporation as "AAA" for long term and "ST-1" for short term in consideration of financials of the Corporation up to 30 June 2013 (audited), Q3FY14 (unaudited) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

NBL: Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL) has rated the Company as "AA-" in the long term and "ST-2" in the short term in consideration of financials of the Company up to 31st December 2013 (audited) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

UNIQUEHRL: Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL) has rated the Company as "AA+" in the long term and "ST-1" in the short term in consideration of financials of the Company up to 31st December 2013 (audited) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

AMCL(PRAN): Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL) has rated the Company as "AA-" in the long term and "ST3" in the short term in consideration of financials of the Company up to 30th June 2013 (audited) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

RANFOUNDRY: Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL) has rated the Company as "AA-" in the long term and

"ST-3" in the short term in consideration of financials of the Company up to 31st December 2013 (audited) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

BSRMSTEEL: Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL) has rated the Company as "AA" in the long term and "ST-2" in the short term in consideration of financials of the Company up to 31st December 2013 (audited) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

Miscellaneous ARGONDENIM: 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.

Cash Dividend for the year 2013 has been credited through BEFTN. FAMILYTEX: 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. Thus will be placed in ''A'' category from existing ''Z'' category with effect from 26 May 2014 BIFC: 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 May 22, 2014.

GLOBALINS: The Company has informed that Ar. Mubasshar Hussain has been elected as the Chairman of the Company with immediate effect.

The market turnover is still low, which shows investors’ cautious stance about fresh investment

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

75.80 321.90 31.80 7.60 25.70 18.30 23.10 6.00 39.10 54.30

Weekly closing

13,035.67

Number of Contract

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index :

Company

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Sunday, June 1, 2014

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features May 25-29, 2014

IDLC said back and forth, usual reversion and profit booking took place infrequently. Lanka Bangla Securities said though the markets close marginally higher, the market is yet to confirm its direction.

It said investors are eagerly waiting for the upcoming budget to be announced next month to sense the government’s mentality whether they will help spur growth.

“The market turnover is still low, which shows investors’ cautious stance about fresh investment.”

Cement sector was up by over 8%, fuelled by news of government’s allocation Tk8,100 crore for Padma Bridge.

The losers, however, took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 303 issues traded during the week, 168 advanced, 112 declined and 23 issues remained unchanged.

Throughout the week, large cap segment was the centre of investors’ preference and gained by over 3%.

Sectoral performance was mixed in the past week. Food and allied was the biggest gainer as it posted a rise of over 5.6%, followed by telecommunications and pharmaceuticals which advanced almost 4% and 3% respectively. Non-banking financial institutions, fuel and power, and bank closed lower.

Lafarge Surma Cement dominated the week’s top turnover chart with shares worth Tk124 crore changing hands in the past week followed by Grameenphone, Square Pharmaceuticals, BSRM Steels and Mercantile Bank. l

Stocks passed a flat week with high volatility after four straight weeks of falling.

Profit booking on some stocks took place in the past week that ended Thursday, as investors switched off their holdings one sector to the other.

The benchmark index DSEX crossed the threshold of 4,400-mark and settled at 4,430, gaining 46 points or 1%.

Shariah Index DSES rose 20 points or 2% to close at 993. The blue-chip comprising DS30 soared 1% to 1,609.

Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, rallied 34 points or 0.4% to close the week at 8,469. However, trading activities still remained sluggish. The week’s average daily turnover for the week stood at Tk260 crore, registering an increase of more than 11% over the previous week.

“Budgetary expectations continued to energise investors throughout the week,” said IDLC Investments, in its weekly market analysis.

Throughout the week, it said, investors preferred shuffling across sectors and, stocks and portfolio re-balancing was prominent on the basis of investors’ preference to large cap stocks.

With supportive news of foreign fund release of annual development programme and few developments in the Padma bridge construction, cement and engineering sectors were at the centre of investors’ attention in the past week.

Company

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

% change 11.29 2.57 1.64 10.91 7.13 7.21 0.04 13.78 13.65 0.01 2.57 1.46 0.27 14.50 0.49 1.39 2.67 5.31 0.81 2.27 0.02

Million Taka 123.08 25.32 10.41 118.78 55.14 83.74 0.00 152.60 107.63 62.92 11.22 72.18 4.44 133.35 6.12 3.61 23.36 56.75 20.83 36.41 0.11

CSE

% change 11.11 2.29 0.94 10.72 4.98 7.56 0.00 13.77 9.71 5.68 1.01 6.51 0.40 12.03 0.55 0.33 2.11 5.12 1.88 3.29 0.01

Million Taka 1595.30 360.28 224.64 1541.42 985.17 1023.48 4.77 1949.03 1886.83 64.88 345.63 262.86 39.01 2024.03 70.38 184.20 372.05 749.05 126.46 332.04 2.15

Total

% change 11.28 2.55 1.59 10.90 6.97 7.24 0.03 13.78 13.34 0.46 2.44 1.86 0.28 14.31 0.50 1.30 2.63 5.30 0.89 2.35 0.02

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company LafargeS Cement-Z Grameenphone-A Square Pharma -A BSRM Steels-A Mercantile Bank -A HeidelbergCement -A Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A Eastern Housing -A Meghna Petroleum -A Olympic Ind. -A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company LafargeS Cement-Z Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A BSRM Steels-A Square Pharma -A Appollo Ispat CL -N Grameenphone-A Hwa Well Textiles-N BD Submarine Cable-A HeidelbergCement -A Meghna Petroleum -A

Volume shares 17,016,850 1,935,955 1,818,898 4,954,690 19,230,956 632,670 11,612,000 5,059,275 1,062,396 1,244,473

Volume shares 1,189,000 1,303,500 441,374 121,711 1,169,000 121,000 589,000 137,137 43,500 70,587

Value in million 1247.12 513.81 484.82 370.33 347.96 332.16 315.73 306.68 298.90 285.43

Value in million 87.68 35.32 33.10 32.39 32.36 32.01 24.76 24.75 22.51 19.92

% of total turnover 9.57 3.94 3.72 2.84 2.67 2.55 2.42 2.35 2.29 2.19

% of total turnover 9.86 3.97 3.72 3.64 3.64 3.60 2.78 2.78 2.53 2.24

Weekly closing 78.50 266.30 270.00 74.50 18.00 522.80 25.70 62.00 282.80 229.30

Weekly closing 78.50 25.80 74.20 270.00 27.50 265.60 41.00 179.50 523.90 282.40

Price change 13.28 4.31 5.88 5.67 5.88 1.83 -6.88 4.91 0.18 0.00

Weekly opening 69.30 255.30 255.00 70.50 17.00 513.40 27.60 59.10 282.30 229.30

Weekly high 80.90 270.50 272.90 77.40 18.80 539.80 28.90 64.00 286.50 239.90

Weekly low 63.30 250.00 243.00 65.00 15.50 500.00 25.30 52.10 255.00 205.00

Weekly average 77.04 267.36 270.14 75.15 18.14 524.56 25.58 61.32 283.78 230.92

Price change 13.77 -5.15 4.51 5.26 1.48 3.87 -2.84 -0.33 2.24 0.07

Weekly opening 69.00 27.20 71.00 256.50 27.10 255.70 42.20 180.10 512.40 282.20

Weekly high 80.00 29.10 77.60 272.70 28.20 270.70 43.20 183.70 540.00 291.50

Weekly low 68.00 25.30 67.00 255.00 26.80 252.00 40.80 177.00 507.00 278.50

Weekly average 77.28 25.66 75.26 269.69 27.58 266.86 41.13 179.83 525.13 283.53

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Fed: Rates should not be used to fight bubbles n Reuters A trio of Federal Reserve officials who disagree deeply with one another over the appropriate stance of monetary policy on Friday expressed a shared distrust for using interest rates to head off asset bubbles and other forms of financial instability.

Both Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, a policy hawk, and San Francisco Fed President John Williams, a centrist, told reporters after a policy conference here that they would not want to risk unmooring the public’s expectation that inflation will rise back to the Fed’s 2% goal in the next few years.

That, Williams said, is what appears to have happened in Sweden and Norway after those countries raised rates to address financial stability risks. Fed economist Andrew Levin had shown a slide making that point earlier at a presentation that both policymakers attended.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, one of the Fed’s most ardent doves, echoed those sentiments.

“Degrading monetary policy tools to mitigate financial instability risks would lead to inflation below target and additional resource slack,” Evans said in slides released Friday for a talk he is set to give in Istanbul on Monday.

The role financial instability concerns should play in Fed policymaking has long been a subject of debate at the U.S. central bank. Over the past year,

Fed Governor Jeremy Stein has argued strongly that there may be times when the Fed should raise rates to stamp out potential bubbles.

Stein left the Fed earlier this week to return to his post at Harvard University, leaving the Fed without a forceful public advocate of that idea.

Philadelphia Fed’s Charles Plosser told reporters on Friday he was “kind of on the same page” as Williams and Lacker, in terms of rejecting a financial stability mandate for the Fed. But he added that he is worried about the risk that the Fed’s extraordinarily easy policies over the past five years themselves could stoke financial instability.

Williams, Lacker and Plosser were in Palo Alto attending a central banking conference put on by Stanford University’s Hoover Institution that also featured Kansas City Fed President Esther George.

On Friday, Williams reiterated his view that rates, near zero since December 2008, should not rise until next year and should do so only slowly.

That’s the view also of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who has said rates will stay low for a “considerable time” after the Fed winds down its bond-buying program this coming fall.

Lacker said he would support an immediate tightening of monetary policy by selling the Fed’s holdings of mortgage-backed securities, but added that the size of the Fed’s balance sheet will

Atiur wins ‘Regulator with Human Face’ award n Tribune Report

John Williams, president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, takes part in a panel discussion in California REUTERS

not prevent it from carrying out proper monetary policy.

Plosser said he would be open to

varying approaches toward trimming the Fed’s massive balance sheet, which now tops $4 trillion after years of

stimulative bond-buying, but said his preference is for an eventual return to a smaller balance sheet. l

IMF frees $4.6bn in aid for Greece n AFP, Washington

City Bank stakeholders approve 20% stock dividend n Tribune Business Desk The shareholders of City Bank has approved the recommended 20% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013 at the bank’s annual general meeting held on Thursday. The bank’s chair Rubel Aziz presided over the meeting held at a local hotel in Cox’s Bazar, said a press release. The shareholders placed a

few questions regarding performance of the bank and its future prospect.

We have continued to deliver consistent financial performance despite several challenges like excessive liquidity, growth of NPL and subdued economic activities, said Rubel Aziz. Vice chair Meherun Haque and directors along with a large number of shareholders attended the meeting. l

The International Monetary Fund released $4.6bn in aid to Greece Friday, after a yearlong delay to ensure Athens was meeting targets set by bailout lenders.

The Fund said the Greek government had surpassed targets on closing its budget gap, but warned of a number of challenges still facing the country in fully stabilizing its finances and returning to sustainable growth.

“The Greek authorities have made significant progress in consolidating the fiscal position and rebalancing the economy,” said Naoyuki Shinohara, IMF deputy managing director.

“The primary fiscal position is in surplus ahead of schedule, and Greece has gone from having the weakest to the strongest cyclically-adjusted primary fiscal balance in the euro area in just four years.”

But Shinohara said the country needs to further improve tax collection, toughen controls on spending, and move faster on privatizing state assets.

He also pointed to the still-weak banking sector and a “very high” level of non-performing loans.

“While there is no acute stability

risk, it is critical for the economic recovery that banks be adequately capitalized upfront to recognize losses” based on realistic recovery expectations, he said.

The disbursement followed the release at the end of April by the Eurogroup of 6.3bn euros ($8.6bn) in rescue program support to Greece, in a firm nod to its progress in cleaning up its finances and narrowing its budget deficit.

The IMF funds are part of a four-year joint package with the European Union set in March 2012 and worth a total of $235bn (173bn euros) to rescue the sinking Greek economy.

The package has required extensive reforms and painful austerity budgeting by the government.

Two IMF disbursements were delayed over the past year - lumped into Friday’s single payout - amid questions over whether Athens was sticking to its promises on structural and financial reforms.

The Greek government though has fought to limit the austere demands of lenders, as it remained stuck in a grinding recession dating back to 2008.

The economy remained in recession in the first quarter of 2014, contracting at a 1.1% annual pace, but is expected to achieve overall growth of 0.6% this year.

Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited, American International School Dhaka and Bangladesh BancNet Limited have signed an agreement on Wednesday on providing facility of fees e-payment to the students through the bank’s Internet payment gateway by using its Nexus Debit Card, MasterCard or Visa card. The agreement was signed by Richard Boerner, superintendent of AISD, Md Kamruzzaman, head of personal banking division of DBBL and Engr Rafel Kabir, MD of Bangladesh BancNet Limited on behalf of their respective organisations

IDLC yesterday signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Lamudi.com.bd and Carmudi.com.bd on providing loan facilities to the customers who will buy property and auto products from their website. Irteza A Khan, head of consumer division at IDLC Finance Ltd, David Zwagemaker, MD of lamudi.com.bd and Jakob Gillmann, MD of Carmudi.com.bd were present at the signing ceremony

Employees of Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation Ltd recently took part in the volunteers-sponsorship home building activities launched by Habitat for Humanity International Bangladesh (HFHIB) at Savar-Rajashon in Dhaka on Saturday

A Siemens outlet of home appliances has recently been inaugurated at Begum Rokeya Shawrani in Mirpur, Dhaka. Managing director of the Edison Group, Jakaria Shahid was present on the occasion

In April, the European Commission confirmed that Greece achieved an underlying budget surplus of 1.5bn euros last year, beating its bailout program target of just balancing its accounts.

That achievement opened the door for the Eurogroup disbursement, as well as the government’s successful return to commercial debt markets that month, raising $4.2bn.

'The Greek authorities have made significant progress in consolidating the fiscal position and rebalancing the economy' “The recent return of the Hellenic Republic and of Greek banks to the international capital markets is an encouraging sign of increasing market confidence and is an important first step towards regaining broader market access,” the Eurogroup said in early May. However, it added, “fully implementing the reforms of the program will be crucial to that end.” l

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman won “Regulator with Human Face” award from the University of Dhaka.

The central bank governor was nominated by the university authorities for the award in recognition to his outstanding contributions to expand banking facility to the marginal low income people who usually do not have access to that facility.

Atiur Rahman has made it possible by strengthening financial inclusion programmes in the country.

Financial inclusion of the poorest — particularly their access to small-sized credit for income-generating self-employment activities — is a major tool in Bangladesh for combating poverty, said the central bank.

Bangladesh Bank is now promoting targeted financial inclusion in areas of agriculture, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and exports facilitations, upholding domestic demand with over 6% stable annual average real economic growth for more than a decade. l

Dollar sinks deeper in Asia on low US bond yields n AFP, Tokyo The dollar fell further in Asia on Friday with investors discouraged by low yields on US bonds and caution ahead of market-moving events set for next week.

Dealers were unfazed by Japanese economic data released early Friday, saying drops in spending and industrial output had been well expected.

The dollar fetched 101.55 yen in Tokyo afternoon from 101.78 yen in New York Thursday afternoon.

The euro bought $1.3604 against $1.3601 in US trade while falling to 138.21 yen from 138.44 yen.

“The dollar can hardly catch upward momentum given that US rates have fallen to the 2.4 percent level,” said Daisuke Karakama, head of spot forex trading at Mizuho Bank.

“There are few reasons for pushing with dollar buying ahead of market events next week” such as a policy meeting of the European Central Bank and US employment data, he said. l

Standard Bank Limited recently held the 115th meeting of its board’s executive committee.

The committee chair, Mohammad Shamsul Alam presided over the meeting

Capt Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury, chairperson and MD of United Airways Ltd and Israt Ali Farooqui, CEO of Airbiz Aviation Services signed an agreement for being a general sales agent of United Airways in Pakistan

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

Headache for Modi as India posts 4.7% growth n AFP, New Delhi India reported Friday a second straight year of sub-five percent growth, underscoring the challenges facing new rightwing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revive Asia’s third-largest economy.

The economy grew by 4.7% in the financial year to March 2014, below the 4.9 estimate of the previous left-leaning Congress booted out in elections earlier this month by voters angry over economic slowdown, soaring consumer inflation and widespread corruption.

“India’s economy is devoid of momentum as Modi takes charge,” said Capital Economics analyst Miguel Chanco.

The figures from the Central Statistical Office are “a reminder of the economic headwinds that will make a sudden shift” in economic performance unlikely, Chanco said.

The market consensus forecast for economic growth in the coming year to March 2015 is 5.3 percent.

Growth has crumbled from nearly double-digit rates just three years ago - a level analysts say India must reach again to generate jobs for its vast young population.

The economy expanded by a decade low of 4.5% in the previous year.

“A lot of work needs to be done in the economy before growth can pick up again,” Nomura Asia interest strategist Vivek Rajpal said.

The economy grew by 4.6% in the final fourth quarter to March 31 from the same period a year earlier.

Persistent tightening of both monetary and fiscal policy to curb wageeroding inflation has fuelled downward growth pressure.

In one piece of good news, India’s fiscal deficit for the last fiscal year was 4.5% of gross domestic product, slightly below an earlier official estimate of 4.6%, and down from the previous year’s 4.9% level.

A general view of India's capital New Delhi Indians are looking to Modi, sworn in Monday as India’s premier and known for his fast decision-making during more than a dozen years as chief minister of prosperous western Gujarat state, to live up to his post election promise that the “good days are coming”.

Business leaders want Modi to dismantle an array of bureaucratic controls that have stalled more than $200bn worth of investment projects, overhaul creaking infrastructure that impedes productivity, simplify tax levies and ease cumbersome landbuying rules.

AFP

Even if Modi proves to be the reformer that many hope, “the bureaucratic inefficiencies that make life so hard for businesses will not be swept away overnight”, said Capital Economics’ Chanco.

“The scale of the backlog of stalled investment projects will be a key yardstick of progress,” Chanco said.

‘Challenging time’

India’s new Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said earlier in the week he was taking over at a “challenging time”.

“We have to restore the pace of

growth, contain inflation, and obviously concentrate on fiscal consolidation itself,” said Jaitley, who presents his first budget in July.

But international investors already seem confident of a return to better times, betting on a government with the strongest mandate in 30 years after the BJP won the first majority since 1984.

Still, with consumer price inflation nudging 10%, central bank governor Raghuram Rajan was expected to keep benchmark lending rates on hold at a monetary policy meeting next week.

Rajan, a former World Bank econo-

mist and a strong market reformer, says tackling inflation must be a priority for sustained growth, putting him in the firing line of the BJP which had been clamouring before the election for lower borrowing costs to spur investment.

Economists said the election has not shifted the difficult economic ground realities.

“Consumer price inflation has risen again recently and remains stubbornly high. This will keep the central bank from loosening monetary policy any time soon,” Capital Economics’ Chanco said. l

China signals policy easing as economy falters n AFP, Shanghai China has signalled it will further ease monetary policy to kick-start the world’s second largest economy by cutting the amount of funds that some banks must hold in reserve, according to a government statement.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, announced after a meeting on Friday that it would trim reserve requirements for banks which lend to the agricultural sector and small enterprises, said the statement posted on the central government website.

It gave no details of the timing or sum involved.

China launched a similar, targeted reserve cut for banks in rural areas just over a month ago as worries mount that its economy - a key driver of world growth - is slowing more sharply than expected.

“Currently, the movement of the economy is stable, but downward pressure is still relatively large,” the State Council said, adding the government would “fine-tune” policy at an appropriate time.

China’s economy grew an annual 7.4% in the first quarter of this year, weaker than the 7.7% in the OctoberDecember period and the worst since a similar 7.4% expansion in the third quarter of 2012.

Premier Li Keqiang in March announced an economic growth target of “around 7.5%” for this year.

“It is clear that the government has become more concerned about the continued economic slowdown and wants to further increase the strength of policy support,” Wang Tao, a Hong Kong-based economist for bank UBS, said in a research note.

“Policy support will strengthen as the economy weakens further, so as to defend the growth target for 2014,” she said. l

World Bank sounds alarm on rising global food prices

Indonesia testing Cadbury products after Malaysia halal uproar

n AFP, Washington

n AFP, Kuala Lumpur

World food prices rose in the first quarter of the year for the first time since their all-time high in August 2012, driven by rising demand in China, drought in the United States and unrest in Ukraine.

According to the World Bank, internationally traded food prices increased by a sharp 4%. The leap was led by wheat and maize, up 18% and 12%, respectively.

As a result, international food prices in April were only 2% lower than a year ago and 16% below their record level in August 2012, the bank’s quarterly food price report said.

“Increasing weather concerns and import demand - and, arguably, to a lesser extent, uncertainty associated with the Ukraine situation - explain most of the price increases,” the report said.

World Bank economists said prices increased despite bumper crops in 2013 and continued projections of record grain harvests and stronger stocks expected for 2014.

Persistently dry conditions in the United States and strong global demand, particularly from China, partly explained the price rises.

Ukraine has role

But Ukraine, the breadbasket of eastern Europe, played a part, posting the larg-

est domestic price increases for wheat and maize.

Ukraine, the world’s sixth-largest wheat exporter, saw domestic wheat prices jump by 37 percent, driven in part by currency depreciation.

Overall, international wheat prices soared by 18% quarter-over-quarter.

“Such a steep price increase had not occurred since the months leading to the historical peak in the summer of 2012,” the report said.

International maize prices rose by 12%, with Ukraine, the third-largest exporter of maize, experiencing a 73% rise in domestic prices because of delayed plantings and increasing costs.

“Geopolitical tensions in Ukraine have not disrupted exports so far, but might have effects on future production and trade if uncertainty increases,” the report said.

Other countries in the grip of political and economic stresses also saw prices shoot higher. In Argentina, for example, wheat prices were up 70% from a year ago. Sugar prices rose 13% and soybean oil prices gained 6% quarter-over-quarter.

The first-quarter price increases were offset by a 12% decline in rice prices and a 7% drop in fertilizer prices.

The average price of crude oil rose 3% to $104 a barrel.

The United Nations reported last

month that world food prices reached their highest level for 10 months in March due to poor weather in major producing countries and the crisis in Ukraine.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said its monthly food price index in March rose by 2.3% from February to the highest level since May last year.

Experts are concerned that rising prices will hurt the world’s most vulnerable and could foment food riots and other social unrest.

“Over the next few months, we must watch these prices carefully, making sure that any further increases do not put additional pressure on the least well-off around the world,” senior World Bank official Ana Revenga said.

In 2007 and 2008, soaring food prices had sparked dozens of riots across the globe, including in Haiti, Cameroon and India.

According to the lender, 51 food riots have occurred in 37 countries since 2007, most of them linked to a jump in food prices and aimed at local authorities.

This was the case in the crises in Tunisia in 2011 and in South Africa in 2012, the bank said.

“Food price shocks can both spark and exacerbate conflict and political instability, and it is vital to promote policies that work to mitigate these effects,” the report warned. l

Indonesian authorities said on Friday they were testing products made by British confectioner Cadbury to check they complied with Islamic standards after two chocolate varieties in neighboring Malaysia were found to be contaminated with pork DNA. The scandal over the ingredient banned under Islamic dietary laws has sparked outrage among some Muslim groups in Malaysia, who have called for a boycott on all products made by Cadbury and its parent Mondelez International Inc. Concerns over halal food standards could jeopardize Mondelez’s sales in Muslim markets that are larger than Malaysia, such as Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, and the Middle East.

“After such an incident, it is prudent to do a test on the other variants to see if they also have traces of the pig DNA. We may have the result in a few days,” Roy Alexander Sparingga, head of Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, told Reuters.

Sparingga said the tests would be done on the 10 varieties of Cadbury products that are certified in Indonesia as halal - or permissible according to Islamic law. Those products did not include the two types of Dairy Milk chocolate that Cadbury Malaysia recalled this week after finding pork traces.

Malaysian Islamic authorities tried to cool anger against Cadbury by saying it remained unclear if the contamination was the company’s fault.

“People need to understand that we can’t immediately take action against Cadbury when there’s no solid evidence yet or if contamination occurred in the factory itself or if it was external factors,” said Othman Mustapha, the director general of Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development, or JAKIM. “What’s happening to Cadbury now is akin to a person who’s remanded and placed in lockup. They have not been

DILBERT

This handout photo released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde (R) being greeted by local singers as she attends the opening session of the Africa Rising Conference, on May 29 at the Chissano Conference Center in Maputo.

Lagarde attends on May 29 a two-day major conference in Maputo that will bring together policymakers from across the region AFP

An employee shows a box containing Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut and Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond, to be return tomorrow in a shop in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur REUTERS found guilty so this is just a suspension,” he added.

JAKIM, which is responsible for awarding halal certification in Malaysia, is conducting further tests on the suspect Cadbury products to confirm the initial findings by the health ministry.

Malaysia authorities dampen concerns

Cadbury Malaysia said in a statement that it had withdrawn the two products as a precaution and that it had no reason to believe there was pork-related content in its other foods.

“We stand by our halal certification and we have the highest levels of product labeling standards,” it said.

Products in Muslim nations are regularly checked to ensure they are halal. Besides pork, items considered non-halal by Muslims include alcohol and the meat of animals and birds that have not been slaughtered according to Islamic rites.

Non-halal food scandals have erupted in Southeast Asia before. In 2001, Japanese food giant Ajinomoto Co Inc became embroiled in a similar case after the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, the highest Islamic authority, accused the company of using pig enzymes in the

production process of the widely used seasoning monosodium glutamate.

The then Indonesian president stepped in to try to defuse the row which had hit the company’s share price. Ajinomoto’s local company subsequently publicly apologized and withdrew some products from the Indonesian market.

On Thursday, a Malaysian Muslim retail group said it would ask the 800 stores it represents to stop selling all products made by Cadbury, Mondelez and US food giant Kraft, which acquired Cadbury in 2010 in a $19bn deal.

Together with a Muslim consumer group, it called on Malaysians to boycott all those companies’ products.

Mondelez is the name of what remains of Kraft Foods Inc after it spun off its North American grocery business as Kraft Foods Group. Its brands include Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers.

Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council, which issues official guidance on Islamic issues, said on Friday it supported the withholding of halal status on the two Cadbury products but that the company should not be punished unless the breach was proven to be intentional. l