16 June 2014

Ashar 2, 1421 Shaaban 17, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 76

MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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8 | BLAIR: ‘WE DIDN’T CAUSE IRAQ CRISIS’

11 | IT’S NOT JUST FORMALIN

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Nur Hossain arrested for illegal entry He and two accomplices placed on 8-day remand in Kolkata; Bangladesh yet to be informed officially n Tribune Report Police in India on Saturday arrested three people for illegally entering the country; but without having prior knowledge that one of the arrestees was Nur Hossain, the prime accused in the Narayanganj seven-murder case.

Nur, along with the two other arrestees - Asif and Shamim – were placed on an eight-day remand each after police had produced them before court and petitioned for a four-day remand.

Edwin Lepcha, the Second Judicial Magistrate of the North 24 Parganas District Court in Barasat, gave the order.

The three were taken to the court around 11am, according to BBC Bangla.

They were charged with intruding into India and staying there illegally.

Kolkata police on Saturday night arrested the three from an apartment on the fifth floor of Indraprastha apartment complex owned by one Seema Singh who lives in Mumbai.

They were under watch in India.

Confirming the arrest, the Bidhannagar police commissioner said officerin-charge of Baguihati police station Debbrata Ojha led the arrest drive.

Narayanganj Police Superintendent Khandakar Mohid Uddin also confirmed yesterday that the three had been arrested and produced before court.

“National Investigation Unit and Anti-Terrorism Unit conducted the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Biharis demand trial of MP Elias

n Ashif Islam Shaon and Abid Azad Thousands of Biharis from the Kurmitola Bihari Camp in the capital’s Mirpur area yesterday took to the streets, demanding arrest and trial of lawmaker Elias Uddin Mollah and his cohorts for allegedly orchestrating Saturday’s violence.

Chanting slogans, Biharis of all ages blocked the Kalshi road around 10am and vandalised some vehicles in protest of the killings of at least nine Biharis on Saturday. The blockade was lifted in the evening.

The demonstrations were also joined by the residents of other Bihari camps in Mirpur and the Mohammadpur Geneva Camp.

They also burnt an effigy of MP Elias during the agitation.

“First, we want the prime minister’s intervention in this case; second, arrest of all criminals involved with the killing, arson attack, vandalism and violence in the area and exemplary punishment to the criminals, including their political godfather MP Elias and his cohorts,” said Jobbar Khan, president of the Kurmitola Bihari Camp Committee.

“Police have to release our detained brothers immediately,” he added.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Mirpur Deputy Commissioner Imtiaz Ahmed said 14 platoons of police had been deployed in the area to avert any untoward situation.

“We have been observing the situation and we will not bar them if  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

15

Left: Symbolic execution of Nur Hossain and Moti on posters put up on walls by locals in Narayanganj. Full-page advertisements of Nur’s and Moti’s business establishment with their photographs in a very special magazine on the occasion of the Police Week 2014, published just a month before the seven murders took place DHAKA TRIBUNE

Friends and foes of law enforcers kar Ali Manik and Ahmed n Julfi Zayeef, back from Narayanganj

Kolkata police take Nur Hossain, one of the accused in Narayanganj seven-murder case, to the court yesterday. He was placed on eight days’ remand for illegal entry into the country.

Police had arrested him early yesterday Photo Courtesy

Once both of them were listed criminals of Narayanganj police department but later a mutually beneficial relationship developed between the duo and a section of members of law enforcement agencies; much to the surprise of many.

One of them is a much-talked-about

name Nur Hossain, the prime accused of Narayanganj seven murders.

The other is Md Motiur Rahman Moti who is not accused in the chilling murders but in a widely circulated poster in the port city Narayanganj prominently publicised him as a killer of seven murders along with Nur and demanded their execution.

Earlier, they went into hiding when

the BNP-Jamaat alliance came to power in October 2001 and remained a fugitive until the army-backed caretaker government relinquished power in 2008.

Both Nur and Moti left Bangladesh at that time to evade arrest as they were accused in many cases and most wanted criminals on the list of police.

Even the police department sought  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Benzema breaks 10-man Honduras Messi begins journey towards immortality n AFP, Porto Alegre

France beat 10-man Honduras 3-0 in a bruising World Cup clash early today where goal-line technology awarded the first international goal in history, causing mayhem in the process.

Three minutes into the second period, the German-manufactured Goal Control system was called into action when a volley from Karim Benzema, who ended the night with two goals, came back off the post. It bounced back into the area before hitting Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares with the ball then diverted back towards the goal.

The keeper tried to scoop the ball to safety, but Brazilian referee Sandro Ricci awarded the goal – classed as an own-goal – after consulting the instant technology.

France, whose 2010 World Cup was a footballing and public relations disaster, dominated the Group E match, twice hitting the woodwork in the first half.

First, Blaise Matuidi fired the ball towards the target but Valladares saved well and pushed the ball on to the crossbar.

Then, on the 23 minute mark, An-

from Rio de Janeiro

France’s Karim Benzema (L) celebrates his goal with teammates during today’s match against Honduras at the Beira-Rio Stadium in Porto Alegre AFP toine Griezmann, selected ahead of Olivier Giroud, climbed above the defence but headed on to the bar.

Stoke City midfielder Winston Palacios was yellow-carded for a brutal stamp on Pogba with the Frenchman also booked for a retaliatory kick.

Palacios was then red-carded in the dying moments of the half for another

foul on Pogba inside the box.

Benzema converted the resulting penalty for his seventh goal in his last seven internationals.

The Real Madrid striker then played the crucial role in his team’s historic second goal before striking his second of the night from a tight angle in the 72nd minute. l

Argentine icon Lionel Messi is definitely feeling the pressure of delivering the very best as he skipped the pre-match presser ahead of his side’s World Cup opener against Bosnia at the magnificent Estadio do Maracana yesterday. The nearly 500-capacity conference room was brimming and waiting to catch a glimpse of the prince who is yet to ascend the throne of the World Cup but the expectations did not meet the reality.

Coach Alejandro Sabella and firstchoice goalkeeper Sergio Romero instead took the seats in the press conference, much to the dismay of the journalists present.

Messi has remained tight-lipped since arriving in Brazil and is yet to face the media. Media people were eager to hear some words from him but the

Argentine captain preferred to stay behind the curtains. Isn’t it the truest of indications that “the Messiah” does not want any unwanted distractions this time around and is fully focused on the job at hand?

Following the presser, the Argentine team management declared that their practice session will be open to the press for 15 minutes. The press wasted little time and flocked to the media tribune to have a glimpse of the fourtime world footballer of the year. Clad in a black jacket, Messi was seen sharing a light moment with fellow teammate Sergio “Kun” Aguero before the Argentine trainer initiated the stretching session. Messi was quick to react to instructions, pulled off the black jacket and started to sweat it out.

As usual, Messi was extremely quick and showed tremendous flexibility while balancing his body. The magical control was often evident when he tapped the ball, sometimes with the outside and sometimes with the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Rescued Malaysia-bound passengers ready to travel again n Adil Sakhawat, from Teknaf

After the rescue of 312 passengers from a Malaysia-bound ship waiting on Myanmar border near the Saint Martin’s Island only two days ago, even then many new faces have been found on small fishing trawlers at different points of Teknaf and Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar.

Many traffickers are operating in Teknaf by managing the police and the administration, they claimed to the Dhaka Tribune.

Interestingly, it is also found that

three of the rescued passengers are now ready to travel on a fishing boat which will leave for Malaysia shortly.

Imtiaz, coming from Moheshkhali, was rescued on June 12 along with 230 passengers. He has already reached “Kochubunia” sea point under Sabrang union in the Bay of Bengal which is popularly known as an airport to Malaysia.

Broker Jashim rescued him from Teknaf Degree College the same day in exchange of Tk2,000. The money was received by Sub-Inspector Gobinda of Teknaf police station, said Jashim who

comes from Sonarpara area of Ukhiya.

When this correspondent informed the police immediately about the move, the law enforcers said they had no such information.

Like Jashim, many traffickers coming from different districts are now staying in Teknaf area to send the recently rescued passengers again to Malaysia.

Alim Laskar, a broker from Jhenaidah, is now staying in Teknaf to convince his previous passengers again to travel to Malaysia.

This correspondent met these brokers identifying as a trafficker from Dhaka having five people on hand who were willing to go to Malaysia.

Alim said: “My passengers whom I managed from my district are eager to go to Malaysia by using this sea point of Bay of Bengal. For this purpose, I arrived here a day ago. I have already managed my three passengers by giving the police money and now they are under my control.”

He said the passengers too wanted to go to Malaysia this way.

“Except for one passenger named Mithun Sheikh from my district, I have managed three others to send to Malaysia again. To manage the three, I had to pay the Teknaf police Tk6,000,” he claimed.

When asked accepting the money, SI Gobinda declined to talk about it. He, however, told the Dhaka Tribune that the police members had arranged the money personally so that the rescued passengers could reach their families.

It is learnt from Alim that his brother  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

INSIDE 4 | News

15 | Sport

Bangladesh has detected its first confirmed case of the often-fatal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, with the 53-year-old patient currently receiving special treatment at the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital in Dhaka.

5 | News

A widespread indiscipline in the city’s transportation and traffic management is seen as the primary reason for public sufferings during their daily commute.

Japanese football fans erupted in joy – then dropped their heads in dismay, cursing Didier Drogba as the Blue Samurai went down 2-1 to Ivory Coast in their World Cup opener.

6 | Nation

The headmaster of a school in Kashiani of Gopalganj is allegedly erecting a building on a canal after illegally occupying and filling it.

9 | World

Just days into her job running a police station in Pakistan’s largest city, Syeda Ghazala had to put her training to the test, firing at a man who shot at police

14 | Sport

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said his team desperately needs star striker Luis Suarez back on the field after being stunned by Costa Rica on Saturday.

16 | Sport

Germany kick-off their World Cup campaign on Monday aiming to continue their domination of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal at recent major tournaments. The Germans enjoyed wins over Portugal at the 2006 World Cup.

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Monday, June 16, 2014

CEC: Narayanganj 5 by-poll area sensitive but no army deployment n Mohammad Zakaria Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad has described Narayanganj as a sensitive area in the run-up to the Narayanganj 5 by-poll scheduled for June 26.

He, however, said military would not be deployed during the election.

“The area is sensitive and the commission will keep an eye on the poll but as it is a by-poll, the commission has decided not to deploy army,” he said while talking to reporters after a meeting with Narayanganj administration officials and law enforcement agencies at the EC Secretariat yesterday.

Narayanganj 5 constituency is going to by-poll following the death of Jatiya

Party lawmaker Nasim Osman but a tense situation prevails in the district over the sensational seven murders.

“The commission will deploy additional law enforcers to ensure that the election is held in a free and fair environment,” the CEC said.

Rakibuddin said the commission did not fear any violence during the poll considering the report submitted by the intelligence agencies and local administration.

But the authorities concerned had been asked to be on alert when voting was held, he said.

“Members of the law enforcement agencies have already begun operations to seize illegal arms and arrest criminals in the polling area. The

commission has also asked them to take immediate action if there is a violation of electoral code of conduct,” he added.

A senior EC official, however, told the Dhaka Tribune that police report had hinted at probable violence considering infighting within the ruling party.

But the law and order situation was normal so far, said the official who attended yesterday’s meeting.

He added that intelligence officials had urged the EC to take special measures for maintaining law and order in the area before and after the poll.

The CEC said the commission would deploy 17 law enforcers each at the general polling centres and 18 at the vulnerable ones.

Nur Hossain arrested for illegal entry  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

arrest operation. Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Police Commissioner of Kolkata confirmed us,” he told the Dhaka Tribune over phone.

Mohid said: “Interpol had issued red notice against Nur Hossain and the authorities concerned as well as Kolkata Police were aware of that.”

“During the arrest, police seized the arrestees’ mobile phones but found no arms with them. As the three had no legal documents, they were arrested and produced before court,” he added.

However, India is yet to inform Bangladesh officially about the arrests. Confirming this, Home Secretary CKQ Mustaq Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune last night

that his ministry had told the Foreign Ministry and police to look into the matter.

The West Bengal government has not yet informed the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata of the arrests either, Deputy High Commissioner Abida Islam told the Dhaka Tribune over phone.

“It is a normal practice that the state government informs the Bangladesh mission in Kolkata whenever it arrests somebody who they believe is a Bangladeshi national,” she said.

The authorities provide the mission with names and addresses, which are then sent to both Foreign Ministry and Home Ministry for verification, said Abida.

“But so far we have not received any

such notification,” she said at 8:30pm, adding that the Bangladesh mission tried to reach Indian officials but failed because it was a weekly holiday.

Meanwhile, the government in Bangladesh initiated the process to bring Nur and the two back.

“The procedure to bring them back is on,” State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters at his office at the Secretariat yesterday.

He, however, said identities of the three had to be reconfirmed.

“We are examining all options including extradition treaty to bring them back,” Mohid Uddin said, adding: “We earlier sought Interpol’s assistance in arresting Nur.”

EC officials said the commission would deploy members of the Border Guard Bangladesh, Rapid Action Battalion, Armed Police Battalion and Ansar in the polling areas.

They said the EC would deploy three platoons of Coast Guard and four platoons of BGB. Besides, 10 executive magistrates and two judicial magistrates would be appointed to punish offenders right away.

Meanwhile, independent candidate SM Akram got the symbol pineapple, Jatiya Party candidate Selim Osman got the plough, Krishak Sramik Janata League’s Shafiqul Islam Delowar got the towel and independent candidate advocate Mamun Sirajul Majid got the shrimp to contest in the election. l

A senior Home Ministry official said Bangladesh has not brought back any of its citizens under extradition treaty with India.

According to the extradition treaty between the two countries, the government can make a formal request to the Indian authorities to send Nur back, he said, adding that the process would be much easier.

On January 28 last year, the then home minister MK Alamgir and his Indian counterpart Sushil Shinde signed the extradition treaty. On October 9, the cabinet endorsed it and India also ratified it.

Officials said neither Bangladesh nor India has made any request to each other in the past for bringing or send-

Messi begins journey towards immortality  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

inner part of the boot. For a while he juggled the ball with his toe. And the subsequently quick delivery of the ball and the faintest of touches were there for all to witness.

Despite a glittering career with Barcelona, Messi has yet to transform his club success to a World Cup and silence those who claim that he will never rank alongside the likes of Diego Maradona, Pele or Zinedine Zidane. Messi’s international goal-scoring record of 38 goals in 86 outings also provides a case in point as it pales in comparison with the 327 goals in 395 games for the Catalan club.

In two previous World Cups in South Africa and Germany, Messi managed to score just one goal and he will be eagerly waiting to double his tally against the Bosnians. Messi recently grabbed his 38th international goal in last week’s warmup win over Slovenia with the opponent chosen due to their resemblance

with neighbouring Balkan nation Bosnia.

A lethal attacking triumvirate of Messi, Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain and supported in midfield by the tireless Angel Di Maria, Argentina boast, on paper at least, the best forward lineup in the World Cup. The quartet are known as Los Cuatro Fantasticos – the Fantastic Four.

Since being appointed the captain of the side in 2011 by Sabella, Messi has been in inspirational touch notching 10 goals in 12 World Cup Qualifiers. Suffice to say the armband gave him extra motivation as he had went on a run of 16 competitive matches without scoring before being chosen as the leader of the side.

Let’s see if Messi is able to inspire the Albiceleste to their third title in the 20th edition of the World Cup. If he is successful in his pursuit, forget the word legend, he will forever be remembered as one of the greatest players to have ever graced a football pitch. l

ing back any citizen on behalf of the respective countries.

On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and six others were abducted and their bodies were recovered from Shitalaykha river on April 30.

Nazrul’s wife filed an abduction case against Nur on April 28.

Meanwhile, a lawyer introducing himself as Arun Kumar Debnath talked to an Indian private TV channel and a Bangladeshi satellite channel on the court premises after the court had placed the trio on remand yesterday.

He was not a lawyer in the case but saw the remand forwarding. The video of his interview was uploaded on several websites.

“The forwarding read that the three Bangladeshis were arrested from Indraprastha Complex block A flat number 503 on the fifth floor. Baguihati police had information that three Bangladeshis were hiding in the building and had entered India illegally,” he said.

“The raid was conducted to nab those intruders. During the raid they could not show any valid documents.

This is why police arrested them and produced them before court under the 14 Foreign Act,” said the lawyer.

Police found many mobile phones, SIM cards, Indian currencies and Bangladeshi currency in their possessions, he said, adding that no defence lawyer represented them in the court. l

Rescued Malaysia-bound passengers ready to travel again

Biharis demand trial of MP Elias

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

Mukul Laskar is living in Malaysia. For every passenger, Alim charges Tk2-3 lakh to send them to Malaysia.

He does not take money from the passengers until they reach Thailand’s border. Even the fare of fishing trawler has to be paid by the traffickers – Tk2,000 for each passenger. After reaching there, the passenger’s family has to pay him the full amount. Later he informs the Thailand-based traffickers to send those passengers to the Malaysian border at which point his brother manages the Malaysian authorities to receive those infiltrators, says Alim.

Jashim told the Dhaka Tribune that there had been many traffickers active throughout the country who they never met before. They contact each other via mobile phones.

The migrant workers who reach Malaysia in the illegal way inform their families to manage some new people from villages and provide them the mobile number of Teknaf-based main broker.

When the new people contact with the brokers, they tell them to come to Teknaf with Tk10,000. If the people are

poor, the brokers offer to send them to Malaysia without any money. But when those passengers reach the Thailand border, the traffickers and the crew of the trawlers torture them brutally and force them to ask their families to pay the money to the Teknaf-based broker.

If they fail to do so, the passengers are sometimes killed, Jashim said.

Traffickers operate freely When confirmed by an influential ruling party leader, who wished to be anonymous, said some passengers were ready to travel to Malaysia from Kocubunia point of Sabrang union, this correspondent rushed to the spot – some 17 kilometres from Teknaf Sadar area - on June 13 and found nine passengers waiting in a shanty for boarding on a fishing trawler.

Those people confirmed that they were going to Malaysia using the illegal way. Each of them had water bottles filled with two gallons of water and a small backpack with them.

Among them was Abu Bakar who came from Netrokona. He said: “The broker told me that if we go to Malaysia we can earn Tk70,000-80,000 per month. There is no way to earn this

amount here in Bangladesh.”

A mark on his right hand means that he is the passenger of a certain broker.

All the nine people had similar seal on their hands.

“Now we have nothing to do as we have already spent some cash to come here and we are from very poor families. So we have to start now [for Malaysia],” Bakar said.

Many of them agreed that it was an illegal way, but suggested that the legal way would cost them more.

“Many young people of my village who went to Malaysia this way are now earning lucrative amounts of money there,” he said.

When asked about these new passengers, Teknaf police station Second Officer Kamrul Azam said: “We have no such information. We will investigate this and if found, we will arrest all of the traffickers active there.”

Teknaf Coast Guard Station Commander Quazi Harunur Rashid said: “There are some remote points used for human trafficking where the force members cannot reach without information. Even the BGB and the police

Nur and Moti: Friends and foes of law enforcers  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

help from the Interpol, world’s largest international police organisation, to nab Nur Hossain and accordingly the Interpol issued red alerts around the world to help Bangladesh police but to no avail.

This time too they both went into hiding. Moti feared he might be arrested too as posters were put up in the district in which he was branded as a killer of seven people including panel mayor Nazrul.

Nur Hossain has already been arrested by Indian police but there is no similar move to capture Moti. However, Narayanganj police and district criminal investigation department (CID) men went to his home and office in Siddhirganj area of Narayanganj to look for him.

Until the abductions and murders of the seven people on April 27 Nur and Moti had been enjoying all kinds of supports from the local civil and police administration since the ruling Awami League assumed power in 2009 as both of them belong to the ruling party with the blessings of influential local Awami League leader and lawmaker Shamim Osman.

The friendship between the duo and local administration reached such a personal level that the police department did not even feel hesitant to take money publicly from Nur and Moti to publicise advertisement of their business establishment with their photographs in a very special magazine on the occasion of the Police Week 2014.

The Police Service Association published the magazine in March, the month before the seven murders. The same publication also carried the messages from the president, prime minister, advisers to the PM, minister, secretary and high police officials.

Interestingly, the editor of the publication was Syed Nurul Islam, who was withdrawn from the post of Narayanganj Superintendent of Police (SP) after

the seven murders.

Nur and Moti gave a full-page advertisement with their own photographs in that memorabilia and wished all the success of Police Week which the force observes every year to accelerate its drive against crimes in a particular week.

“If someone is harmful to the public I will not take any monetary support from him such as money for advertisement for any publication of the police department. If I do so this will ruin the sanctity of my institution,” said incumbent SP of Narayanganj Dr Kh Mahid Uddin, who has been appointed after the withdrawal of Syed Nurul Islam.

“This (police force) is a 150-yeal-old institution. Taking help from a person who has a criminal profile will destroy the sanctity of this ancient force.

“I personally, being a police official, should not mingle with a person having criminal record while others may do so as long as they are not the part of their crimes.

Months after their advertisement on the police magazine Nur and Moti, Narayanganj police began to hunt them down led by their new SP. Meantime, thousands of printed posters with photographs of the six accused with symbolic nooses around their necks were put up on the walls across Narayanganj demanding their trial and execution.

Of those, one large coloured poster prominently put Nur and Moti’s photographs in similar fashion of others branded them as killers of Narayanganj City Corporation councillor and panel Mayor Nazrul, advocate Chandan Sarker and five others.

Nur, after the seven murders, has already been exposed as the newly emerged “godfather” of Narayanganj who once was actively involved in Jatiya Party and BNP politics but in late 90s joined the

Awami League. For the first time Nur’s underworld has widely been exposed by media after the seven murders.

Moti was not accused in the seven-murder case but as his picture appeared on the posters along with Nur he naturally came up in the discussion of the locals.

Moti was also involved in the Jatiya Party politics in late 80s as a labour leader of now-defunct Adamjee Jute Mills in Narayanganj, which is now Adamjee Export Processing Zone (AEPZ).

In 1990s Moti joined the Awami League politics and now he is the president of Siddhirganj Thana Jubo League, the youth wing of the Awami League.

A group of plainclothes officials of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police went to Moti’s luxurious home and office at Siddhirganj weeks ago to look for him.

Though Moti’s wife Rokeya Rahman, 43, told the Dhaka Tribune police did not go inside their home and they only went past their house.

When on June 10 afternoon these correspondents arrived at Moti’s house Rokeya initially was unwilling to talk but at one point she agreed to speak out and asked the newsmen to be seated in her house.

Rokeya said she performed Hajj thrice and her husband Moti too performed it several times.

In praise of her husband and to authenticate her claim that the goodness of her husband, she told this correspondent that Moti sponsored many locals to perform Hajj in Saudia Arabia on different times.

“Currently there is no case against my husband” and as for the previous cases, she said, they had all been quashed.”

Claiming her husband as an innocent person, Rokey said it was a conspiracy of a group of local rivals of Moti in the

have no check posts there.

“The traffickers are very cautious when sending passengers to Malaysia.

They keep their men at every entry point of those remote areas. If they can sense our presence, they will just disappear.”

Many teenagers even those of class IX or X are leaving school to go to Malaysia on fishing trawlers, said Mohammed Ismail Hossain, headmaster of Malka Banu High School in Teknaf.

Australia lucrative destination Many local people said now the brokers were sending many people to Australia using the waterways.

About one month ago, 40 people in a group went to Australia from Shyamlapur point of Teknaf. Those people were from Teknaf and Ukhiya.

Rehana Begum, wife of one of them Ajgar Ali, said: “My husband went to Australia one month ago by using the borders of Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and East Timor. For this, we paid the brokers Tk6 lakh in several phases.

She said the local traffickers had strong connection with brokers in other countries that help the passengers reach their destination. l

BNP and Awami League who are putting the blame of seven murders on him.

Moti’s wife said, when the BNP came to power in 2001 Moti left the country and returned in 2009 with the Awami League coming to power.

Between 2001 and 2009 Moti stayed in Africa, Dubai and Kolkata. Two of her three children also studied in Kolkata at that time and she used to visit Kolkata along with her youngest child to meet her husband and other children.

She blamed a former BNP lawmaker’s men for looting almost everything even ceiling fans from their house between 2001 and 2006 when she used to live in her parents’ house which is only a stone’s throw from her house.

However, the correspondent of the Dhaka Tribune found her house decorated with expensive luxurious furniture.

Moti’s office in rural area of Siddhirganj looks more like a luxurious corporate office from the capital’s posh area.

Rokeya said, Moti only does some business with the under-construction project of Orion Pharmaceuticals and in a 110-megawatt power plant. Both the business projects are within close proximity of Moti’s house and office.

But many locals who have well knowledge of the rise of Moti said, Moti had become a millionaire within a very short period.

Moti was merely a worker and a CBA (collective bargaining agent) leader in Adamjee Jute Mill at the end of military dictator HM Ershad’s regime in 1990.

Not only the locals but also police know Moti as a close associate of Nur and they are partner of many underworld activities. After their return Moti and Nur established their control over Adamjee EPZ. In February Nur and Moti’s men grabbed six of eight truck-loaded Jhut (scrapped textile of garment factories in

Sub-Inspector Yasin of Pallabi police station said six cases, including one for killing and another for assaulting police, were filed against 1,200 unnamed people in connection with the violence at Kalshi and its surrounding areas.

“We think more cases will be filed in this connection,” he said, adding that names of some individuals had been added in the cases. He declined to disclose the names.

However, family members of the victims of the violence did not lodge any case.

SI Mominul filed the murder case while SI Zahid filed the case for assault on police. A local named Mobarak filed another case against some unidentified people for vandalising a local mosque.

Another person, Faruk, filed a case against 800 people for stabbing him at Baunia Bandh and looting his shop during the violence.

Parvez, a resident of Mirpur 11, filed the fifth case against 200-300 people for attacking him during the violence, while Apu, a resident of Paris Road of Mirpur 11, filed the last one for an attack on him the same day.

Forensic doctors had conducted autopsy of the 10 victims and their DNA samples had been collected for ensuring their identities, said AKHM Shafiuzzaman, an assistant professor Dhaka Medical College. l

the EPZ) of slain Nazrul in the EPZ. Nazrul complained about this to local police and a conflict over the issue was going on between Nazrul, Nur and Moti.

Ehsan Uddin Chowdhury, an assistant superintendent of police of CID in Narayanganj, told the Dhaka Tribune, they raided Moti’s house to arrest him in the afternoon of May 15.

The CID official told the Dhaka Tribune they went to arrest Moti from his home with an aim to rid the Adamzee EPZ of his control and ensure a proper working environment there. But the CID failed to arrest Moti.

Rokeya, wife of Moti, however denied any police raid at their home but said she and other family members advised Moti to leave home as a conspiracy was going on against him.

“Now I don’t know his (Moti) whereabouts, his mobile remains switched off and once in a while he calls me,” Roheya said. When these correspondent reached Moti’s luxurious office nearby his home they found few local Awami League and Jubo League leaders there.

Kalipada Mallick, 60, introduced him as acting general secretary of Siddhirganj Thana Awami League as they expelled their general secretary Yasin Molla from the committee after his name came up as an accused in the seven-murder case.

Nur Hossain was the vice-president of the same Awami League committee. He was also expelled on the same ground.

Kalipada and a local Jubo League leader Malek Khandakar spoke highly about Moti and said it was a conspiracy of the BNP and Jamaat against Moti to destroy the Awami League in Siddhirganj as Moti is very popular there.

Moti could not win the election as a councillor in Narayanganj City Corporation polls in 2011.

Kalipada and Malek said Shamim Osman brought Moti into the politics of the Awami League after the fall of Ershad. They did not agree that Shamim Osman also brought Nur into the Awami League politics in late 90s but it was to the best knowledge of the locals.

Kalipada and Malek were critical of Nur. Malek repeatedly said Moti was a very good soul. “Moti along with 24 others helped me go to Saudi Arabia to perform Omra Hajj. Moti was also planning to organise some Islamic programmes in our locality.” They said Moti was a follower of Shamim Osman.

“You will never find any poster of Moti without Shamim Osman’s photograph but you can see posters of Nur Hossain without Shamim.”

When asked why they had never raised their voices against Nur they said: “No journalist had written anything against Nur before the seven murders; they did not raise any question about him, rather the journalists including some from Dhaka used to come to Nur’s house to take money from him.”

After the seven murders many people in Narayanganj including some influential people in local administration said many officials in the district administration and law enforcement agencies used to receive bribe daily or monthly basis from Nur. Interestingly, when these correspondents along with a Dhaka Tribune photojournalist was about to leave Moti’s house after a long interview with his wife Rokeya, she suddenly offered a bunch of new notes of Tk1000 to the correspondents.

She repeatedly requested the correspondents to take the money and tried to stuff those forcibly into their hands.

“You are my brothers; take this money as your food and transport expenses,” she pleaded. l

they stay peaceful,” he said yesterday evening.

Earlier in the day, the inhabitants of the Mohammadpur camp staged a demonstration by blocking a road in the area.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the victims of Saturday’s violence were handed over to their families at 9:15pm.

At least nine members of a family were burnt alive when eight homes at the Kurmitola camp were set ablaze following a clash between Biharis and law enforcers, who were allegedly accompanied by locals early yesterday.

Another person with rubber-bullet pellet injuries, reportedly from police firing, succumbed to his injuries at hospital.

Six cases filed

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Perilous passage to Malaysia

Consultants for metro rail company appointed

Over 150 illegal migrants dead, 2,000 held in the past two years n Tribune Report sources, they detained a total of 1,129 Southeast Asian countries, mainly Ma- sion with political leaders of Cox’s Ban Kailash Sarkar people from 2013 to June 11 this year. laysia, in the 1990s. Recently Bangla- zar and usually reside in Bangladesh, The government yesterday appointed a Over 150 people reportedly died in the last two years while law enforcers and security officials detained more than 2,000 others who were heading towards Malaysia illegally on the Bay of Bengal.

In addition to the six people, who were shot dead by traffickers on June 11, at least 60 people died after a trawler capsized at the sea on November 7, 2012. In April this year, another 27 people died from starvation while making the illegal journey.

Commander AKA Maruf Hassan of the Coast Guard told the Dhaka Tribune unless awareness could be raised among people, such illegal journeys would continue to be made, causing sufferings as well as deaths.

“We often detained the traffickers but not the people who play key roles behind the scenes,” he said.

According to Coast Guard official

Of them, 361 were arrested last year, 57 in January this year, 211 in February, 73 in March, 46 in April, 66 in May and 315 till June 11.

Besides, BGB and RAB arrested around 1,000 during the same period and Bangladesh Navy arrested over 50 others.

According to UNHCR, an estimated 13,000 people, including Bangladeshis and the Rohingyas, left for Malaysia through the Bay of Bengal on traffickers’ boats in 2012.

Some 485 people are reported to have drowned in four boat accidents on the Bay of Bengal that year, though the real death toll is believed to be much higher, a recent UN report observed.

The UN estimates that nearly 50 to 150 Bangladeshis travel to Malaysia every week by paying traffickers who operate on these illegal sea routes.

The Rohingyas first began making such precarious boat journeys to reach

deshi youths have begun joining them in such dangerous voyages.

A large number of trafficking victims are even languishing in Malaysian jails on charges of illegal immigration Sources in the Coast Guard, BGB, Bangladesh Navy and RAB said traffickers prefer the Bay of Bengal for trafficking people to Malaysia. At least 25 syndicates, with several thousand agents, are engaged in this illegal act and they use false promises of work with better pay to entice people into making such journeys.

According to sources, masterminds of such syndicates operate in collu-

3

Monday, June 16, 2014

Myanmar and Malaysia.

The sources said trafficking agents generally search for poor and unemployed people in Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka and several other northern districts who could be trapped by the dream of better life abroad. They usually demand Tk2-3 lakh from each of the people intending to go to Malaysia through the sea route.

With such glorious promises and a temptation too hard to resist, many poor people embarked on the journey but ended up losing their valuables. A large number of trafficking victims are even languishing in Malaysian jails on charges of illegal immigration.

According to BGB sources, traffickers usually carry their clients on motorboats and trawlers in the sea. Apart from frequent accidents, these water carriages are often caught by BGB or Nasaka of Myanmar or the Thai Navy. l

joint venture of three Japanese and one Australian companies as consultants for enhancing the organisational capacity of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited under which the much-talkedabout metro rail will be constructed.

The cabinet committee on public purchase yesterday approved the Communication Ministry’s proposal for assigning the task to the Oriental Consultant Company, Katahira Engineering International, and Metro Development Company of Japan, and the SMEC of Australia.

After a meeting of the committee, Additional Secretary Nurul Karim told reporters that the firms had been appointed for Tk26.47 crore under package 1.

On January 28, the cabinet committee approved the draft of the metro rail act in order to constitute a company for the operation and management of the metro rail network in the capital, keeping special provision for land accusation.

Under the act, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line 6 will be constructed from Uttara to Bangladesh Bank via Pallabi, Farmgate and Shahbagh with 16 stations on the route.

The construction of the 20km metro rail network from north of Uttara Model Town to Bangladesh Bank at Motijheel was expected to complete by 2019. Residents of Dhaka, world’s ninth densely populated city with 44,000 people living in every square-kilometre area, will be able to travel by metro rail in six years.

An official of the Communication

Ministry claims that Dhaka will be free of its terrible traffic jams in six years with the opening of the first 20km metro rail services.

The proposal says the service would drastically reduce the number of private cars on Dhaka roads and thus decrease traffic congestion and environment pollution.

A survey by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) says the metro rail network will save Bangladesh an annual loss of Tk200 billion, equivalent to the country’s 1.5% GDP and 17% of the total tax revenue.

The metro rail will carry an estimated 60,000 passengers an hour to and from Uttara and Motijheel, significantly reducing the travel time from one end to the other to 36 minutes from at least two hours at present, it says.

Jica has provided Tk16,594 crore of the estimated Tk21,985 crore project cost as the government bears the rest.

In November last year, the government appointed a consortium led by Nippon Koei Company as consultant for the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project to complete the project for Tk928.17 crore by 2024.

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader, who attended the cabinet committee meeting yesterday, told the Dhaka Tribune that the metro rail project had progressed as per the plan and its construction would start in time.

“The appointment of the consultants for the Dhaka Mass Transit Company is another step ahead towards the construction of the metro rail,” he said. l

DHAKA-CHITTAGONG EXPRESSWAY

Joint venture picked as consultant n Tribune Report

A family member of a Kalshi violence victim bursts into tears during a demonstration at the capital’s Mirpur yesterday

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

The cabinet committee on public purchase has approved the proposal for appointing Bangladesh Army for the task of protecting a 1,300m stretch of bank of the Padma River in Mawa-Kandirpara-Jashaldhia areas.

A meeting of the cabinet presided over

by Finance Minister AMA Muhith also approved appointment of an Australia-New Zealand-Japan-Bangladesh joint venture as the consultant to provide technical assistance for the detailed study and design for the Dhaka-Chittagong expressway.

The army had already completed 75% of the work assigned to the Water Resources Ministry, Additional Secretary Nurul Karim told reporters

IO: Azhar responsible for Martyrs’ relatives testify against Qaisar crimes against humanity n Udisa Islam

n

Udisa Islam

The investigation officer against war crimes accused Jamaat leader ATM Azharul Islam yesterday concluded his testimony before the International Crimes Tribunal 1, claiming that he has found evidence of Azhar’s crimes against humanity committed at Rangpur during the Liberation War. Submitting deposition as the 19th prosecution witness, the investigator, SM Idris Ali, said he began his investigation against Azhar on April 15, 2012, and visited different places where Azhar had allegedly committed crimes against humanity in 1971.

Idris also exhibited some documents before the tribunal as evidence, which included the admit card of Azhar for SSC and HSC examinations, and tabulation sheets.

The probe officer said he had reviewed many books and magazines as part of his investigation, as well as collecting newspaper clippings from 1971 and different government reports and contemporary writings.

Idris also said he had found through his investigation that the Pakistani Army and Jamaat-e-Islami, Nezam-e-Islami and Pakistan Democratic Party formed many auxiliary

forces like peace committee, Razakar, al-Badr and al-Shams during the Liberation War. The IO also described when and how many time he had visited the places in Rangpur Sadar and Badarganj upazilas where the crimes had allegedly taken place.

According to documented evidences, prosecution witnesses’ statements and other evidences, Azhar was guilty of committing crimes against humanity, Idris told the tribunal.

He also exhibited a statement of a witness, Abdur Jabbar Sarker, who had died; and also submitted a video of statement of the seventh prosecution witness, Aminul Islam, who had been declared hostile by prosecution.

When defence counsel Abdus Sobhan Tarafder objected to the exhibit, the tribunal told him that he would later get his chance to cross-examine the witness on this matter.

At the end of the deposition, Tarafder cross-examined him with only one question before the tribunal adjourned the session until June 22, allowing a time plea from the defence.

Azhar, the incumbent assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, faces six charges of crimes against humanity. l

The relatives of two martyrs yesterday testified against Syed Md Qaisar at the International Crimes Tribunal 2, accusing the former state minister of orchestrating the murders of their family members.

Ambia Khatun, 63, daughter of martyr Abdus Shaheed, and Anwara Begum, 70, widow of martyr Askar Ali, submitted their depositions against Qaisar as the 23rd and 24th prosecution witnesses, claiming that Qaisar along with the Pakistan Army had abducted and tortured to death their relatives from the same place and the same time.

The ladies, both from the Madhyam Noropoti village in Habiganj, corroborated each other’s depositions.

Both of them described to the tribunal how their family members were tortured by the associates of Qaisar and that both of them had witnessed Qaisar present at the torture site.

They said Hamdu Mia, also a raza-

kar, had told them that Qaisar – who allegedly raised an auxiliary force to assist Pakistani Army during the Liberation War – gave the order to shoot Askar and Shaheed.

Anwara told the tribunal that the day after her husband Askar was abducted, Hamdu informed them that her husband had been killed at Nalua tea estate following the order of Qaisar and the body was thrown into a well. Hamdu, who was a neighbour of both the women at the time, also said he could not follow Qaisar’s and it was Firoz Mia and Ishad Haji who fired the shots and dumped the body.

Both witnesses said Qaisar had planned and coordinated the abduction, torture, and deaths of their family members as both the victims had refrained from joining Razakar Bahini.

The other witness, Ambia, told the tribunal that Firoz Mia, Ishad Ali, Muslim chairman, Hurai and Khalek choukidar came to their house and ordered her father Abdus Shaheed and three of

his friends to join Razakar Bahini at the end of Bangla month of Ashar in 1971.

The men refused to join the Razakar Bahini, with Shaheed fleeing to India with Jahir Hossain, Askar Ali and Mohibullah, Ambia said; adding that this was the reason why Qaisar killed them when they returned to the village.

When the men returned on the Bangla month of Bhadra, Razakars surrounded Shaheed’s home and told him that he had to go to the house of Lichu Podder where Qaisar was waiting. The witness said she saw her father and Askar Ali being tortured at that house.

Based on an order form Qaisar, the detained men were taken to the southern part of an army camp in Kalarpur, the witness claimed.

Following the deposition of the two women, the tribunal adjourned the hearing until today, keeping the cross-examination incomplete.

On February 2, the ICT 2 framed 16 charges of crimes against humanity against Qaisar. l

Further hearing on Bergman’s reply to be held on July 8 n Udisa Islam The International Crimes Tribunal has set July 8 for further hearing on the contempt of court case against British journalist and blogger David Bergman.

The ICT 2 set the date after Bergman submitted his written reply to a previous tribunal order and the petitioner pleaded for more time to prepare.

On April 17, the tribunal initiated contempt proceedings against Bergman for his “criticism” of the trial process, after it was not satisfied with an earlier explanation by him. The tribunal in its order had asked Bergman to reply as to why he would not be accountable for committing contempt of court and be punished for his contemp-

tuous comments about the order and the judgment of the tribunal.

On February 18, High Court lawyer Abul Kalam Azad filed a petition seeking the tribunal’s rule on why contempt proceeding would not be initiated against Bergman for his comments related to war crimes trials and judgments on his blog.

According to the petitioner, the journalist made the comments in his two blog posts uploaded on November 11, 2011 and January 28, 2013 following the indictment of Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee and death penalty awarded to Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar.

On February 20, the three-member ICT 2, led by Justice Obaidul Hassan,

asked Bergman to explain his “criticism” of the trial process by appearing before it or through his counsel.

Bergman submitted his reply on March 18 through his counsel Barrister Mustafizur Rahman Khan saying the criticism was a fair one and it was to assist the tribunal. Bergman prayed that considering the facts, circumstances and submissions, the tribunal may be pleased to dispose of the matter upon an acceptance of the explanation.

However, in its order on April 17, the ICT 2 said the tribunal was not convinced with the explanation and asked him to reply why he should not be punished for contempt of court. Following the order, Bergman submitted his reply yesterday through his counsel. l

after the meeting.

He said the appointment of the army would not increase the cost of the project assigned to the ministry which is Tk124.17 crore.

The Roads and Highways Division selected Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation International Pty Ltd of Australia in the joint venture with the Oriental Consultants of Japan in association with the Association Consulting Engineers Consultants Ltd of Bangladesh and Castalia Ltd of New Zealand for the expressway project for Tk83.22 crore.

The government has planned to build the expressway exclusively for local exporters and importers carrying goods at high toll to earn large amount of revenues. l

ARSON, VANDALISM CASE AGAINST SQ CHY

Hearing on charge framing on Aug 3 n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday fixed August 3 for hearing on charge framing in two cases against war criminal Salauddin Quader Chowdhury in connection with arson and vandalism on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in the district’s Sitakunda upazila in 2010.

Accepting the time petition of the defence, acting district and sessions judge Hla Mong passed the order yesterday in the presence of SQ Chowdhury, said sources in the court.

Chittagong district Public Prosecutor Abul Hashem said the defence had pleaded for the release of SQ Chowdhury from the case under section 241 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

“The prosecution also submitted a discontent petition in 2011 over the charge sheet while the defence sought time for hearing on the discontent petition,” he said.

SQ Chowdhury, who was awarded death penalty on October 1 last year for war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War, was brought to Chittagong Central Jail on June 12 night from Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur.

He was brought to the court under tight security while additional police forces were also deployed on the court building complex yesterday.

On November 7, 2010, miscreants vandalised and set fire to vehicles on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Banshbaria and Salimpur areas of Sitakunda, hearing the rumour of SQ Chowdhury’s arrest and protesting the government-imposed restriction on BNP’s holding rally at Paltan in Dhaka.

Sub-Inspector Golam Faruk Bhuiyan of Sitakunda police station lodged two cases centring the violence on that day when four persons were arrested.

Later, two arrestees confessed that they had conducted the violence on SQ Chowdhury’s order. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Monday, June 16, 2014

First MERS case detected in Bangladesh Patient recently returned to the country from the US via Abu Dhabi Although the IEDCR had been closen Moniruzzaman Uzzal ly monitoring the MERS situation since Bangladesh has detected its first confirmed case of the often-fatal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Coronavirus, with the 53-year-old patient currently receiving special treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a private hospital in Dhaka.

Sources said the patient had returned to the country from the US via Abu Dhabi on June 4, and started developing a fever from June 6. He was admitted to the hospital on June 9 with pneumonia and respiratory ailments.

The condition of the patient was reportedly improving, with doctors expecting to shift him to a cabin from the ICU soon.

IEDCR sources also said they were now monitoring 52 people who came in contact with the MERS patient since he contracted the disease

last Hajj, the tests of 39 previous suspected patients had come out negative.

The IEDCR director said MERS was a highly infectious disease, with family members and health workers with close contact with the patient running the risk of being infected with the virus. Doctors of public and private hospitals have been trained to treat MERS patients, Dr Mahmudur claimed.

IEDCR sources also said they were now monitoring 52 people who came in contact with the MERS patient since he contracted the disease.

Precaution and symptoms

The IEDCR director advised expatriates who had developed fever, respiratory illness or pneumonia within 14 days of their return from abroad, especially from Middle East countries, to go to a doctor for diagnosis.

Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, director of communicable disease control (CDC) of health directorate, told the Dhaka Tribune they were taking precautionary measures ahead of upcoming Hajj, including creating awareness among the pilgrims about the disease.

He said every haji, during their pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, should a wear mask, regularly wash hands with soap, and stay away from people who are sneezing or coughing.

According to the WHO, most MERS patients suffered from severe acute respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath.

Some patients also had gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhoea and nausea or vomiting. For many people with MERS, have more severe complications following, such as pneumonia and kidney failure.

About 30% of the people with MERS have died, with most of the fatalities suffering from an underlying medical condition. l

A classical dancer performs at the monsoon festival of the Institute of Fine Arts of Dhaka University in the capital yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Tk10 crores incentive fund for Aman producers n Mohosinul Karim

and Bagerhat districts will get assistance for growing hi-breed Aman.

According to the ministry, Tk 26,275,520 will be spent in procuring seeds while Tk50,861,000 will be spent for DAP and Tk13,223,860 for MOP fertilizer.

Anwar Faruq also said farmers, who will be enlisted by the block sub-assistant agriculture officer, an official of upazila agriculture implementation committee and local chairmen or members, will get the assistance. The list must be approved by the upazila agriculture rehabilitation implementation committee earlier, he added.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the production of Aman came down to 12,897,210 metric tonnes in last fiscal year, which was 13,023,312 metric tonnes the previous year. l

bursed directly among root-level farmers,” Director General of Seeds Wing and Additional Secretary to the Agriculture Minister Anwar Faruq told the Dhaka Tribune.

Saying that the government wants to help farmers directly as they have shown their interest in producing more so that the country becomes food sufficient, he also added: “The money for the incentives will be distributed starting this week.”

According to the ministry order issued last week, around 50,000 farmers from 31 districts will get assistance for cultivating Nerica Aman rice. Each of the farmers will get 10 kilograms of seeds, 20 kilograms of DAP and 10 kilograms of MOP fertilizers, worth Tk990 in total.

The farmers of Narsingdi, Tangail, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Netrokona,

Kishoreganj, Brahmanbaria, Sylhet, Habiganj, Sunamganj, Comilla, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Naogaon, Natore, Nababganj, Bogra, Joypurhat, Pabna, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Jhenaidah, Magura, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Barisal and Bhola districts will get assistance for growing Nerica Aman variety.

Similarly, some 51,722 farmers from 21 districts will get support for cultivating hi-breed Aman rice. Each of the farmers will get 5 kilograms of seeds, 20 kilograms of DAP and 10 kilograms of MOP fertilizers, worth Tk790 in total.

The farmers of Narsingdi, Tangail, Sherpur, Netrokona, Kishoreganj, Brahmanbaria, Habiganj, Sunamganj, Comilla, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Naogaon, Natore, Nababganj, Joypurhat, Pabna, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Jhenaidah

Tariqul: Unite to start a movement against the government n Tribune Report

Obaidul: Weeds should be removed from Chhatra League

Family drugged and robbed of in Dhaka city

BNP Standing Committee member Tariqul Islam yesterday called upon the party leaders and activists to unite for a movement and disregard all sorts of divisions and intra-party feud.

“All sorts of division should have to be forgotten to get rid of killing, abduction and forced disappearance and to restore democracy in the country. To oust the government, everybody has to be united and take to the streets,” he said.

Addressing the launching programme of a book, edited by party’s Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, at Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, Tariqul said, “This book has unveiled the mask of Awami League.”

The BNP leader said the country had been going through a critical juncture.

“To conceal Awami League government’s failure, they have been propagating against Ziaur Rahman.”

Tariqul said Tarique Rahman would be brought back home after ousting the government. l

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said the BCL activists who are involved in illegal activities must be removed from the associate body of the ruling Awami League.

“Some BCL activists are involved in extortion, abduction, killing and violence in the name of the organisation. Which is destroying the clean image of AL, continuously. The scoundrels must be wiped out from the BCL to hold its glorious prestige”, he said.

The minister made the remarks yesterday while addressing a Dhaka University Unit BCL-arranged discussion program in TSC auditorium on Bangabandhu’s autobiography titled Asamapta Atmajibanee, the Unfinished Memories in English.

Obaidul opined that the activists who use arms in political activities and run their livelihood by extortion will not be a good leaders in the future and he urged upon the BCL men to be honest imbued with the ideology of the father of nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“Only reading Asamapta Atmajibanee is not enough. It is essential to practise its real message in life”, he continued. l

Dr Mahmudur Rahman, director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control Research (IEDCR), confirmed the news about the first case of MERS Coronavirus in Bangladesh and told the Dhaka Tribune that they had collected several samples of throat swab, nasopharyngeal and sputum between June 10 and 14.

The disease was confirmed on Saturday through repeated tests of Polymer Change Reaction (PCR) process in the IEDCR’s laboratory, while the news was officially disclosed yesterday.

According to International Health Regulation rules, the IEDCR has informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) about the first MERS case in the country.

HC judge assigned to dispose of Khaleda’s writ petitions

n Nazmus Sakib

A High Court judge was assigned yesterday to dispose of two writ petitions filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia challenging the legality of framing charges against her in two graft cases.

Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain assigned Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque for the job, 13 days after a bench of two High Court (HC) judges issued a split order on her petitions.

Earlier on March 19, Dhaka’s Special Judge Basudev Roy charged Khaleda in Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases.

Later on May 12, Khaleda filed the petitions challenging the legality of framing charges against her in the cases and claiming that the judge, who has charged her, was not appointed legally. l

The government is planning to give incentives worth Tk10 crores to some 101,722 farmers in 31 districts to boost Aman production in the country during the next season.

The allocation of incentives will be distributed by the Ministry of Agriculture to provide Aman seeds, DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) and MOP (Muriate of Potash) fertilisers to farmers, who has earlier accrued losses during the last season due to natural calamities.

The government plans to add some 40,000 metric tonnes of paddy to the total harvest in the upcoming season using the incentives. The Agriculture Ministry already issued an order to allot the money as incentives for the farmers.

“The fund for incentives will be dis-

n DU Correspondent

Thieves continue to steal terracotta tiles from a century-old Hindu temple at Puthia in Rajshahi AZAHAR UDDIN

Government approves Tk2.5m tariff discount for two rental plants n Tribune Report The government yesterday approved a tariff discount of $2.5 million for two gas-based rental power plants and is also considering to increase the plants’ capacity by 30MW. The Power Division yesterday submitted a proposal for increasing the capacity of the plants of Aggreko International, the tenures of which were recently extended for four years, to the

cabinet committee on public purchase.

A meeting of the committee yesterday approved the tariff discount, Additional Secretary Nurul Karim told reporters.

As per the Power Ministry proposal, the capacity of the 80MW plant at Ashuganj and 70MW plant at Brahmanbaria will be increased by 15MW each for four years under the main contract.

The Aggreko International will give

the government the discount amount as traffic cost.

The extension of rental and quick rental power projects would increase power subsidy to Tk7,000 crore in the next fiscal year from the present Tk6,000 crore.

The government in February extended the tenures of two rental power projects having a capacity to generate 128.5MW of electricity by five years each. l

n Tribune Report A five-member family was drugged and robbed of valuables at a house of Notunbazar in the capital’s Badda in the early hours of yesterday.

Sekander Ali, his wife Momena Begum, daughters Shilpi Akhter and Simi Akhter, son Abdul Mumin, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

A neighbor named Neighbour Motiar Rahman said he along with his wife had discovered the family at their house in the morning in an unconscious state, when they went to visit them.

He said: “Besides them, we found broken utensils and furniture and some boxes of gold ornaments lying on the floor, scattered. We rushed the victims to DMCH with the help of others.”

After regaining consciousness, the daughter Simi told reporters that there was a boy named Sagar from Bogra with whom her father Sekander had met at a city shopping mall around a month ago.

Introducing himself as an orphan, the boy managed to build a good relationship with their family. He used to address her father as father and her mother as mother, she said.

She said, “Last night he came to visit us with sweets, biscuits and soft drinks. We had dinner together and after taking the soft drinks, we fell asleep.

I can’t remember anything further.”

Victim Simi said the boy had remained missing since morning. His bag of clothes was not found at home either.

Taking for granted that they boy was truthful and good-natured, the family however did not try to verify the boy’s identity.

Simi however could not say much about the details of the valuables robbed from the house until she could verify what is missing when she is able to go home from the hospital.

Badda police said they had not been filed with any complaint in this connection. l

BARISAL 5 BY-POLL

Hiron’s widow Jebunnessa unofficially elected n Our Correspondent, Barisal The Awami League-nominated candidate Jebunnessa Afroz, widow of late lawmaker Shawkat Hossain Hiron, came out as a winner in Barisal 5 constituency by-poll that witnessed a low turnout of voters.

Barisal Deputy Commissioner Md Shohidul Alam, retuning officer of the by-poll, declared Jebunnessa Afroj winner in the election.

Jebunnessa received 1,83,629 votes while her rival Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF)-nominated candidate Saiful Islam Liton only 6,136 votes.

The 810 polling booths under 159 vote centres in the district witnessed a thin presence of voters.

Awami League candidate Jebunnessa cast her vote at Nuria School 1 centre at 8:30am.

While talking to journalists, she expressed her satisfaction in the way the election was being conducted.

However, no polling agents of BNF candidate Saiful Islam Liton and campaign in his favour were spotted.

The returning officer of Barisal 5 by-election said voting was held peacefully and there was a congenial polling atmosphere. There were 3,42,228 voters and 159 vote centres in Barisal 5 constituency within the purview of Barisal City Corporation and Sadar upazila.

However, the constituency fell vacant after the death of Awami League lawmaker Shawkat Hossain Hiron on April 9.

The Election Commission on April 29 declared the schedule for by-poll and fixed June 12 as polling date.

Later it was rescheduled June 15 for election date considering the ongoing madrasa examination. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

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Monday, June 16, 2014

Traffic indiscipline adds to commuters’ woes City residents spend around 11 minutes at every major intersection n Abu Hayat Mahmud A widespread indiscipline in the city’s transportation and traffic management is seen as the primary reason for public sufferings during their daily commute.

The city people waste on an average around 11 minutes at every major intersection and bus corridors around the capital, according to a study by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).

The Rajuk study titled Regional Development Planning (RDP) came up with its report, saying there was no discipline in transportation and traffic management system.

The survey observed that the city lacked adequate sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, foot over-bridges, parking facilities, bus stations, passenger sheds and public vehicles alongside the traffic mismanagement.

Rajuk conducted the survey last year for updating its database for the RDP which was implemented with the financial assistance from Asian Development Bank.

Korean companies Saman Corporation and Han-A Urban Research Institute and Bangladeshi companies Dev Consultants Ltd and Sheltech (Pvt) Ltd carried out the survey in a joint venture.

The study finds that the negligence of the authorities concerned and lack of proper maintenance and monitoring system are the key factors in throwing the transportation system into disarray.

The RDP covers an area of 1,528 square kilometres, which includes two Dhaka city corporations, Narayanganj and Gazipur city corporations, four municipalities, 72 union parishads in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur.

According to the findings, a conspicuous lack of adequate parking facilities put on an average 332 vehicles

One held for rape of 9-year-old girl in Chittagong n CU Correspondent Police yesterday arrested a person for raping a nine years old girl who studies at a madrasah in Jorarganj area of Mirsari upazila in Chittagong.

The arrested, Abdul Kader, 24, son of late Nur Ahmed, is a day labourer by profession and resident of Chuttaruya area of Jorarganj, said police sources.

Sub-Inspector Ariful Islam of Jorargaj police station said Abdul forcibly picked up the girl, a grade III student of Chuttoruya Kindergarten Madrasah, near a hill in the area on her way to the madrasah yesterday morning and raped her.

Hearing her cry for help, locals caught the rapist red-handed and handed him over to the police around 10am after he was lynched, said SI Ariful.

A case was filed with the police station and the girl would be sent to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital for medical tests, added the SI. l

of various modes in a haphazard fashion in the city’s busy hotspots, including Gulshan 1, Gulshan 2, Karwan Bazar and Elephant road.

Rajuk and Dhaka South City Corporation own parking facilities for only a total of 1,474 vehicles at different places within their purview.

The report says there are only five bus terminals under two Dhaka city corporations and no specific layover for the city buses, auto rickshaws and

taxi cabs. It adds that passengers’ sufferings are on a par with those of the pedestrians.

The sidewalks meant for the passersby only are used by the transport workers to get the passengers in and out of their vehicles, finds the study.

Rajuk finds that the five terminals go on manual loading system and most of the time trucks are parked on adjacent low capacity roadsides.

In rail sector, the report says the

availability of train tickets is a major concern for passengers.

The parking facilities in all railway stations in and around the capital are non-standard and some parking grounds are occupied by temporary vendors.

The survey finds the circular waterways for water buses and their terminals being in poor condition that have lost public interest.

Lack of adequate services and land-

Condition imposed on formalin import

Roadblock in Savar demanding arrest of Azad killers

n Tribune Report

n Our Correspondent, Savar

The Ministry of Commerce yesterday imposed tougher conditions on the import and use of formalin.

As per the conditions, the importers must apply with recommendations from respective ministries. Retailers must keep registered records of the formalin buyers and they must show register when the commerce ministry or any government authorities want to check, said a statement of the ministry.

The conditions have been imposed through a gazette notification issued on 14 March last year.

After imposing the conditions, the ministry has not permitted any company or person to import formalin, the statement added.

In recent time, the ministry has received allegation that a group of unscrupulous businessmen are using formalin in perishable goods including fruits, vegetable, fish, meat and others foods to protect it from rotting.

These formalin contaminated foods are very dangerous for health even can cause cancer and death.

The government was working to enact a law and the cabinet already approved draft in principle, the ministry said. l

Locals and family members of Azad Rashid, a local businessman who was murdered by unidentified miscreants last month, put a blockade on the Dhaka-Aricha highway in Thanastand area in Savar yesterday demanding the arrest of the alleged killers.

Consequently hundreds of vehicles got stuck on both sides of the highway that lasted for around one hour, creating immense suffering to the commuters in the heat of the summer.

Sources said Azad’s family as well

n Our Correspondent, Barisal

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

MONDAY, JUNE 16 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:48PM SUN RISES 5:11AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 38°

28°

Chittagong

33°

28°

Rajshahi

39°

30°

Rangpur

38°

27°

Khulna

38°

28°

Barisal

36°

28°

Sylhet

37°

26°

Cox’s Bazar

33°

28°

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

38.6ºC Khulna

24.0ºC Chuadanga

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

as local people brought out a procession from the local police station area at noon protesting the delay in arresting the killers and then they placed a memorandum in this regard to Savar upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Kamrul Hasan Mollah.

Afterwards, they put a blockade on the highway around 1:30pm, halting all types of vehicular movement there.

Being informed, police rushed to the spot and drove away the protesters from the scene.

Azad’s son Asaduzzaman alleged that police took a big amount of bribe from the accused, because of

3:44am 5:11am 12:00am 3:18pm 6:47pm 8:15pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

which they were reluctant to arrest the killers.

He also threatened to declare tougher protests unless the accused are arrested forthwith.

Denying allegation brought against police, Savar model police station OC Mostofa Kamal said they were trying best to arrest the killers involved in the Azad murder.

On May 11, some unidentified miscreants gunned down Azad while he was on his way home.

Later in the incident, his son Asaduzzaman filed a case accusing 11 people. l

Youth killed by drug addicts in Gournadi

WEATHER

Dhaka

ing station facilities are attributed to the fall of passengers’ attraction of water bus services.

The urban planners stressed concerned efforts of Rajuk, city corporation authorities, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, Dhaka Metropolitan Police and respective ministries to rein in the city’s traffic congestion.

Although the government implemented a few mega projects, including construction of a number of flyovers

across the city, townsfolk are still struggling with traffic congestion every day.

Besides, traffic lights and countdown timers in the city are proving worthless as traffic police are regularly seen controlling traffic manually.

The manual traffic control is encouraging drivers and commuters to disobey rules.

Traffic police department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has seemingly failed to cope with the messy situation which is largely responsible for deadly road crashes and tailbacks.

Moreover, the BRTA data shows a total of 87,795 unfit motor vehicles plying across the roads of Dhaka, posing threat to road safety and contributing to traffic congestion.

Prof Nazrul Islam, chairman of the Centre for Urban Studies, said: “There is no decrease in traffic congestion because of unplanned urbanisation and traffic mismanagement system.”

“It may intensify in future if the government does not take fitting steps for decentralisation.”

He blamed illegal parking of cars and plying of rickshaws and auto-rickshaws in thoroughfares for traffic jam.

Prof Nazrul suggested that the authorities should introduce separate lanes for buses as most townsfolk ride the mode of vehicle for commute.

Prof Dr Sarwar Jahan, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Buet, echoed the same sentiment as Prof Nazrul.

He said: “The capital has become unfit for living because of a large influx of migrating people to the capital.”

“If the government does not take appropriate measures for decentralisation, no efforts to promote the city’s traffic system will work,” he added. l

A row of CNG-run auto rickshaws is seen parked on the Babubazar bridge in the capital illegally. The photo was taken recently MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

A youth was killed allegedly by a group addicts at Badurtala in Gournadi of Barisal yesterday afternoon.

Quoting family police said drug addicts – Monir Khan, 18, Sumon Sardar, 18, Masum Haoladar, 17 - had an altercation with Belal Chowkidar, 20, son of Moktar Chowkidar over stealing coconut in the early hours of Saturday.

At one stage of the altercation, Sumon, Masum, Monir indiscriminately hit Belal with sticks and rods.

Relatives of Belal rushed him to Kalkini Upazila Health Complex in critical condition.

Belal succumbed to his injuries at the health complex yesterday morning.

Moktar Chowkidar as complainant lodged a murder case against trio yesterday afternoon.

AKM Ehsan Ullah, district police superintendent and Md Qamruzzaman, assistant police superintendent of Gournadi circle visited the spot.

Police sent the body to Barisal Sher e Bangla Medical College Hospital for autopsy and started drives to arrest the accused, said Abul Kalam, officer in charge of Gournadi police station.

Protesting the death, local people held a rally at the upazila headquarters yesterday afternoon.

They said the local goons had been creating nuisance in the locality for long, but police did not take any step against them for unknown reason.

They demanded exemplary punishment to killers of Belal with out any delay. The agitators also brought out a procession in the district town that paraded different roads of the district town. l

RMG worker commits suicide Beloved’s sibling hacked to death in Savar n CU Correspondent Police yesterday recovered a body of a female readymade garment (RMG) worker from her residence at Colonelhaat under Akbar Shah police station in Chittagong city.

The deceased, Selina Aktar, 27, wife of Md Yusuf, comes from Noakhali district, said police sources.

However, they could not trace the victim’s workplace.

Victim’s husband, Yusuf is on the run after the incident, said Md Jaker Hossen, sub-inspector of Akbar Shah police station.

He said the neighbours found Selina’s body hanging from the ceiling fan with her scarf at her rented residence at Shahjahan Colony and called the police.

Receiving information, police recovered the body and sent it to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) morgue for autopsy, added the SI. Locals said the RMG worker and Yusuf married three months ago and rented the house after their marriage, also said the SI; adding that they are suspecting the incident as a suicidal case while they are looking into the matter as the husband is a fugitive. l

n Our Correspondent, Savar A boyfriend allegedly hacked his girlfriend’s sibling to death for prying into their love affair in Savar yesterday.

Victim, Shanto Lal, 18, son of Mintu Lal of Kutubali area in Mymensingh, worked as a sweeper staying at his grandfather’s house in Kathgara area under Ashulia in Savar. Police recovered the body inside a bamboo grove at Kathgara in Ashulia around 11am yesterday.

Police, locals and family sources said Shanto left home around 8pm on Friday and his family members started to look for him as he didn’t return

home that night.

Locals found a body inside the bamboo grove yesterday morning and informed his family. His father, Mintu Lal rushed to the spot and identified the body. Later police recovered the body from the spot after receiving information.

Mintu told the Dhaka Tribune that his daughter, Sharathi Rani Lal, fell in love with a local Muslim youth named Raj Sheikh, son of Mahbub Sheikh.

When Shanto came to know about their relationship, he asked Sharathi to discontinue her relationship with the youth leading to an altercation be-

tween the siblings.

After the incident, Raj Sheikh and his sibling, Taj Sheikh threatened Shanto to kill him if he does not change his disapproving stance. Mintu alleged that Taj is behind the murder.

Assistant Superintendent Russel Sheikh of Ashulia circle police said primarily it is suspected that the murder might be linked with the love affair. However, no one has been arrested so far.

The body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy and victim’s father lodged a case with Ashulia police station in this regard, added the officer. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Monday, June 16, 2014

Blockade ends with sporadic clashes in Khagrachhari n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

The half day road blockade enforced by four organisations of indigenous people in Khagrachhari ended with sporadic clashes yesterday.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (Sadar circle) Sarwar Alam said the UPDF pickets clashed with police in Swanirbor, Khabongpuriya, Bus Stand and Collegiate School areas in the hill town with brickbats, stones and logs.

The pickets also blocked the roads of Swanirbhor, Shatinagar and Mohila College road areas of the district town.

Police also fired at least 28-30 rounds of tear-shell and rubber bullets to disperse the angry pickets. The pickets also vandalised five vehicles at different spots in the district, ASP Sarwar added.

United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF), Pahari Chhatra Sangram Parishad, Gonatantrik Jubo Forum and Hill Women’s Federation called the strike protesting attack on indigenous people by members of Bangladesh Border Gourds and land grabbing by newly established BGB members.

Lieutenant Colonel of 51-BGB Battalion Md Abul Kalam Azad said they had established the battalion on May

15, this year aiming to protect at least 47 kilometres unprotected border areas of the country.

But in a mysterious way, some ethnic people under the banner of a regional political forum UPDF, protested the establishment of BGB since the very beginning that resulted in Tuesday’s attack, he alleged.

Meanwhile, police Super Mizanur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that additional forces had been deployed in sensitive areas to avoid any untoward incident.

At least 23 people were injured in a clash between law enforcers and indigenous villagers over setting up of a new BGB battalion office at Babuchhara of Dighinala upazila in the district on Tuesday afternoon.

Local sources said a group of indigenous women and BGB personnel locked into an altercation when the latter put a flag in the proposed helipad area for BGB 51 battalion.

At one stage of altercation, both the groups engaged in a clash that lasted for more than an hour.

Indigenous people claimed they owned the place and that it was beyond the BGB’s jurisdiction. l

Labourers load sand, which have been illegally lifted from the River Padma, on a truck in Court area of Rajshahi yesterday. Although district administration conducts drives frequently, vested interests group continues sand lifting from Godagari to Lalpur in Natore DHAKA TRIBUNE

Youth stabbed to death in Nilphamari

Traders, transport workers’ clash leaves 15 hurt in Sreemangal

n Our Correspondent, Nilphamari

At least 15 people, including police and businessmen, were injured in a clash between businessmen and transport workers at Sreemangal upazila in Moulvibazar on Saturday night.

Quoting locals, police said the clash had taken place over a truck parking in front of a shop in Central road area of the upazila headquarters.

When shop owner resisted the truck driver from parking the vehicle there, the transport workers unitedly attacked the shop, local traders alleged.

As the news of attack spread, traders swooped on the transport workers at several points of the district town ensuing clashes in which 15 people from both sides were injured.

The injured are Jogendra Paul 50, Krishna Paul 33, Abu Paul 26, Kanu Paul 36, Biplob Dev 33, Tazul Islam 33, Kamal Hossen Cherag 49, Shawn Hossen 22, Iusuf Miah 45, Shudhu Kor 33,

Unknown miscreants yesterday night stabbed a youth to death at village Singergari Hajir Haat under Kishoreganj upazila in Nilphamari district.

The victim, Md Mithu Mia, 23, son of Ahmed Hossain, hails from the same area in the district.

Witnesses said: ”Mithu was walking back to his home at village Hazir Haat yesterday night on the Kishoreganj-Rangpur highway. Some unknown miscreants stabbed him around 11pm yesterday and he died on the spot.”

Shah Alam, officer-in-charge of Kishoreganj police station confirmed the news.

He said:”The victim’s familly filed a murder case with the police station and investigation is going on to trace the killers.” l

NEWS IN BRIEF Contraband items seized

Bangladesh Border Guard yesterday recovered 1567 pieces of sharee, 927 metre clothes and a covered van including drug in Chandina Bazar area on the Dhaka-Comilla highway in Comilla district.

On the otherhand the BGB recoveed 10 kg hemp, 56 bottles of whisky in Mathurapur area. Lt Cornel Sahidur Rahaman said the contraband valued at Tk1.66 crore.

– Our Correspondent

Paddy seeds distributed

Free paddy seeds were distributed among 400 farmers in Kurigram district yesterday. Solidarity, a local NGO organised the distribution programme in Sadar upazila. The organisation executive director Harunur-or-Rashid Lal, agriculturist Abdulla-al-Razi and Bhudeb Sarker were present among others during the distribution. The organisation has taken the programme to distribute highbred variety of seeds among the farmers i. – Our Correspondent

n Our Correspondent, Moulvibazar

Md. Kala Miah 55, Dulal Miah 44.

Meanwhile, Sub-Inspector Omor Faruque, 38, and constable Alom, 45, were admitted to Sreemangal Upazila Health Complex and Srimongal Municipal Councilor Md Jhinu Mia was admitted to Moulvibazar 250-bed hospital.

During the clash, many shops and business establishments were vandalised and looted. After the clash, Sreemangal Traders’ Association went on a strike for an indefinite period of time.

M Kodor Ali, general secretary of Sreemangal Traders’ Association, alleged that transport workers had attacked businessmen over a trivial matter.

Sheikh Lutfur Rahman, president of Srimangal Traders’ Association, as police and upazila administration assured them of protecting their shops from further attack and local traders opened their shops yesterday morning.

Md Shajan Miah, secretary of Truck Labour Union, Sreemangal unit, said they did not damage or loot any shop. l

Class III employees stage demo across country for salary hike n Tribune Report 3rd class employees yesterday in Magura, Jamalpur, Pirojpur, Kurigram and Sirajganj districts staged a demonstration and observed daylong work abstention for promotion and upgrade of their payscale.

Our Magura correspondent said the employees under the banner of Bangladesh Collectorate Sahakari Samiti, Magura district unit observed the daylong work abstention.

They also arranged a discussion at the deputy commissioner office premises.

Ashaduzzaman and Nabiruzzaman, president and general secretary of the organisation, spoke at the meeting.

They demanded rename of the post ‘office assistant’ in divisional, district and upazila collector offices as ‘deputy assistant administrative officer’ and ‘upper division assistant’ as ‘assistant ad-

ministrative officer’ and ‘chief assistant’ as ‘administrative officer.’

Our Jamalpur correspondent said the employees in several upazilas of the district observed daylong work abstention and staged demonstration demanding promotion and upgrade of pay scale.

Jamalpur Collectorate Shahakari Samity President Rafiqul Islam said they would continue the programme till 5pm every day.

He also said they would form human chain in front of the National press club on 21 June.

Our Pirojpur correspondent said the employees in the district observed daylong work abstention demanding promotion and upgrade of payscales.

The district unit of the samiti president Humayun Kabir said that the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered to fulfill the demand in 2000. But it has not been fulfilled yet.

Our Kurigram correspondent said the employees staged a demonstration in front of the deputy commissioner’s office and observed a daylong work abstention over the issue.

Among others, the district unit samiti president Wares Ali, its general secretary Reazul Rafi, Nasimuddin, Mizanur Rahman and Mamataz spoke on the occasion.

Our Sirajganj correspondent said the employees observed daylong work abstention programme and held a discussion demanding promotion and upgrade of payscales.

Among others, the district unit president of the samiti Ansarul Alam, its general secretary Akbar Hossain and organising secretary Nur Alam spoke on the occasion.

The employees said they would continue their movements until the demands were fulfilled. l

Headmaster builds structure illegally occupying canal in Gopalganj

Abductors kill baby girl in Rajbari

n Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

Rajbari Sadar police recovered body of an 11 months old baby girl on Saturday after 26 hours of her abduction in Sadar upazila of Rajbari district.

The victim is Masura Begum, daughter of Abdur Razzaque of village South Bhabanipur under Alipur Union in Sadar upazila of the district.

The victim’s father Abdur Razzaque said on Friday, her daughter was asleep in their bedroom around 12pm while his wife was cooking. After she was finished, she could not find the baby when she came back to the room.

He also said: “We found our baby’s body lying down in a small bush just behind our room at 2pm next day (Saturday).”

Sub-Inspector Md Kamrul Islam of Rajbari Sadar police station said the locals found the body and informed the police.

Later, the police recovered the body and sent it to the Rajbari Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy, he said.

A case was filed with the Rajbari Sadar police station in this regard, he added. l

The headmaster of a school in Kashiani of Gopalganj is allegedly erecting a building on a canal after illegally occupying and filling it.

Md Ilius Akter, headmaster of Sajail Gopi Mohon High School, claimed ownership of 60 decimals of Sajail canal, filled it with sand and recently began constructing a building there, completely blocking transportation on the water body.

Acting deputy assistant land officer of Sajail Land Office Nityananda Paul has served a notice to Ilius asking him to stop the construction while Ilius has filed a case with Gopalganj court claiming ownership of the land.

Locals said boats carrying people and goods run on the canal, which flow beside the school, during the rainy season but Il-

ius had forcefully occupied it, filled it across with sand, and was erecting a building there.

Acting deputy assistant land officer of Sajail Land Office Nityananda Paul has served a notice to Ilius asking him to stop the construction while Ilius has filed a case with Gopalganj court claiming ownership of the land Besides, with the help of the management committee of the school, he occupied another one acre of land by showing it to be under the ownership of the school, they said.

Youth electrocuted

A youth was electrocuted in Biharpur area of Rangamati town on Saturday.

The deceased was identified as Promith Chakma, 30, son of Shushantu Chakma of Biharpur. Locals said Promith Chakma was seriously injured when he came in contact with a live wire while repairing a water-lifting pump at his house at about 3pm. – Our Correspondent

Listed criminal held

Police arrested a top terrorist from Dhanmondi area under Joypurhat Sadar upazila Jaipur Saturday night. The arrestee was identified as Nur-e-Alam alias Ghutu Alam, 35, son of late Moziruddin of Dhanmondi area of the town. Officer-incharge (OC) of Joypurhat Thana Abdur Rashid said acting on a tip-off, a team of Joypurhat Sadar Thana police conducted a raid at his house and arrested him.

– Our Correspondent A building being constructed on a canal at Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj district

DHAKA TRIBUNE

A year ago, the school authorities and locals evicted a local influential man who had set up a shop by illegally occupying the same land. Ilius was said to have occupied not only the land but also a portion of the school’s playground.

The locals demanded the canal be recovered from the clutches of the occupier.

Green activist Bidhan Chandra Tikadar said according to the environment act of 2000, no building could be erected by filling a canal and construction of any building would require approval from the authorities concerned and clearance certificate from the Department of Environment.

“Besides, the building code has to be followed. What the headmaster is doing is a clear violation of the law and is responsible for environmental degradation.

Nityananda Paul said they obstructed when the canal was being filled but Ilius defied that and went on with filling the water body.

“We issued a notice on May 29 and have asked to suspend the construction. At present, construction is halted,” he said.

Claiming ownership of land of the canal, Ilius said the SA record contained no canal in the place and we were the owner of it.

“But the canal was mentioned in the Hal BRS record. There can be no canal in a place that is under my ownership which is why I have filled the place to erect a building,” he said.

“I received a notice from the land office but I filed a case claiming ownership of the land. The canal is next to the school playground and the school also owns a part of the place. That is why the school authorities occupied and filled that portion,” said Ilius.

The headmaster, however, admitted that he had taken no permission from the government to fill the canal or no clearance certificate from the Department of Environment.

President of the school’s management committee Enamul Haque said they occupied part of the canal as it was under the ownership of the educational institution. l

n Our Correspondent, Rajbari

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Career

7

Monday, June 16, 2014

Troubleshooting through undetected knots

W n Career Desk

hat can you do when you are facing a seemingly undetectable problem at work? You do not even know the cause of this great problem – just that you have a problem on your hands.

(Maybe your team is not meeting the mandatory sales quota despite their best effort, and you are trying to get to the root of the problem).

The obvious first step is to brainstorm for possible causes and trying to apply lessons learned from previous experiences to the situation. However such directionless brainstorming is more prone to derail you and your team from the problem at hand rather than offer a way out. No matter how needlessly remedial and self-deprecating checklists seem they can be surprisingly useful when used appropriately to stimulate open thought.

In the 1960s, a systems engineering professor, Peter Checkland, had the novel idea of developing a problem solving method that would apply systems principles to business problems and other such “soft” problems. This Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) conceptualises the activities of the business under scrutiny as a system, a part of which is the CATWOE checklist for problem solving.

CATWOE is a simple checklist for troubleshooting and one of the generic techniques business analysts use to identify a business’ bottlenecks, problem areas and how potential solutions may affect the business and the people involved in it. The CATWOE has six elements: clients, actors, transformation, worldview, owner and environmental constraints.

What kind of situation calls for CATWOE?

The CATWOE checklist may be used to identify a problem, to prompt thinking about what you are really trying to achieve and to implement the solution and help consider the impact of the business and people involved.

Use the following elements of the CATWOE checklist to stimulate think-

No matter how needlessly remedial and self-deprecating checklists seem they can be surprisingly useful when used appropriately to stimulate open thought

ing about the problem and solution during your brainstorming.

Clients: The clients are the stakeholders who use the system, or rather the business. These are the people who will be directly affected by any change in the system and benefit or suffer from its outcome. The first step to a CATWOE checklist is to identify this group and understand how the system affects them.

For example: Maybe your sales team is not meeting its quota because of an outdated processing system and you think introducing an automated system will expedite the process. A few questions to ask yourself are: Who is on the receiving end? What problem do they have now? How will they react to your proposal?

In this case, your employees are on the receiving end and are thus the clients. They will be directly affected by this change. Their problem is slow processing time due to a manual system. Their reactions may be mixed, as the more tech-savvy will welcome the change but older employees in the company may resist such a big change.

Actors: The actors in a CATWOE checklist refers to the people involved in the implementation of the changes to the system, or business.

A few questions to ask yourself are: Who are the actors who will be carrying out the changes to the system? What will its impact be on them? How will they react to the change?

In the aforementioned example, this role would be of the automated system

development team, the IT department, and to an extent the HR department.

Transformation: The transformation is the total number of changes that the system or business undergoes. Questions to ask yourself are: What are the inputs and where do they come from?

What are the outputs and where do they go? What steps are in between the transformation?

In our example, the transformation would be the shift from a manual processing system to an automated one.

Worldview: The worldview is the big picture and the impact at large of the transformed system or business. The entire system is analysed in this step to come up with the positive and negative impact of the change. This is the

most crucial step in CATWOE analysis as different stakeholders may have different approaches to the same issue.

The worldview defines why we want to implement the change to the system.

The primary differences in the overall analysis will lie in this particular step, if each individual “client” were asked to do a CATWOE. Questions to ask yourself about the different worldviews are: What is the real problem you are working on? What is the wide scale impact of any solution?

In our example, the impact at large to the system would be that the automation of the processing system increases the efficiency of the sales team, leading them to making more sales, and reducing time spent manually processing all sales.

Owner: The owner or the decision maker is the one with authority to make and

Ready, set, unemployment! n Career Desk Animals can sense danger coming – strange behaviour in the animal kingdom before impending doom is something we have all heard of – dogs bark themselves hoarse before a big earthquake; birds act strangely out of pattern before a big hurricane; earthworms dig out of the ground before big floods. Human beings do not have such finely tuned sensors to detect impending doom, but certain things such as the end of a relationship or an imminent sacking often becomes obvious to one before it has happened.

If you have been noticing warning signals and think you may be about to get laid off, it is prudent to start preparing for it right now, whether it comes to pass or not. Preparing for unemployment is difficult enough for a single person; if you have people depending on your pay check, then you are heading for troubled waters. Consider the following suggestions on how to get ready for joblessness.

Save

The most important step to preparing for unemployment is to have a negligible rainy day fund. Negligible in this instance means enough money to last you three to six months without a job.

There is no such thing as unemployment benefits in Bangladesh, so unless you already have emergency money set aside, there is no time like right now to start saving. You do not want to lose your job and find yourself without a safety net.

Stay within means

Being thrifty is not a process, it is a way of life, which makes it difficult to attain unless you are used to living within your means. If you know you are heading towards unemployment, stop spending money on things unless you absolutely need them, and cut corners at every available opportunity.

“Exploit” your contract

Fringe benefits such as medical insurance or coverage are often the last things on one’s mind before losing a job. However, if you know your dismissal is imminent, now may be the time to schedule any medical or dental appointments you have been putting off all these years. You do not want to be jobless and have to cover huge medical expenses!

Stop charging on your cards

Unless you absolutely need to, stop using your credit card now. If you lose your job today, it is just one more extra payment to deal with tomorrow. If you can tell that your job is in danger, stop charging anything on your credit cards.

Create a portfolio

Once you get laid off, you will no longer have access to your workstation or work email; start collecting samples of your work (such as written pieces, proposal drafts, presentations) on a pen drive or email the files to your personal account. When you look for a new

Unemployment is a difficult and emotionally stressful time, not just for you but everyone who cares about you. If you are looking at an upcoming removal, have a talk with anyone who will be impacted by the loss of your job

job, they will want to look at samples of your previous work, and you do not want to find yourself without access to them.

Do not forget networking

Networking is not a one-off activity but a constant development. However, unless the job expressly requires it, it is common to fall out of the practice.

When you are heading towards unemployment, you need to scurry towards your closest acquaintances and be on the lookout for opportunities. Keep an eye open for potential opportunities at all times, whether you are at a work event or a friend’s child’s birthday party.

Study your contract

Go through your employment contract

thoroughly and figure out if you have any unused leaves left. It may be a good time to use them up before it is too late.

Also look through the sections regarding dismissal and how long a notice your employer will have to provide, so you know how best to prepare for it.

Have the talk

Unemployment is a difficult and emotionally stressful time, not just for you but everyone who cares about you. If you are looking at an upcoming removal, have a talk with anyone who will be impacted by the loss of your job, such as your spouse, parents, children etc.

Make sure you are on the same page, and most importantly, can start prioritising and setting financial goals together. l

implement the changes to the system, stop the process or decide on whether to look at alternate solutions.

A few questions to ask yourself about the owner are: Who is the real owner of the system you are trying to change? Will they assist you or get in your way? How can you get their help?

In our example, the system owner would be the head of the sales team, while other key owners will also be involved, such as the HR and IT heads.

Environmental constraints: Environmental constraints are external limitations that affect the success of the solution. These can range from budgetary limitations, regulations, ethical constraints, limits set by owners etc.

A few questions to ask yourself about this step are: What are the broader constraints imposed on the situation? What are the more specific constraints and limitations? How can you get around them?

In our example, some environmental constraints may be the expense of running an automated system, maintenance of the system leading to a higher strain on the IT department, lack of integration with current aspects of the system etc.

The CATWOE model is used to identify and categorise all stakeholders of the system, or business, being analysed to come up with the root definition.

The root definition is a structured definition of the system – a clear statement of activities that take place in the system being studied. l

Insure your vocabulary now! n Career Desk Actuary - a person who calculates risks for insurance companies BIZ VOCAB

Assessor - a person who calculates the value of something

Claim - an application for payment under an insurance policy; to make a claim Comprehensive - (of an insurance policy) all-inclusive; providing complete protection Consequential loss - a loss that happens as a consequence of or as a result of another Cover - the protection given by an insurance policy Employer’s liability - liability or responsibility of a firm for damage caused to one of its employees Goods in transit - property, merchandise or any goods in the process of being transported Insurance broker - agent who arranges insurance; middleman between insurer and policyholder Liability - the state of being liable; anything for which a person is liable Liable - legally obliged to pay for damage, injury etc; responsible Loss - death, injury, damage etc that is the basis for a claim Loss adjuster - a person who assesses the amount of compensation arising from a claim Policy - a contract of insurance Policyholder - the person to whom an insurance policy is issued Premium - a payment, usually monthly, yearly etc, for an insurance policy Product liability - liability or responsibility of a firm for damage caused by one of its products Public liability - responsibility of a firm for damage caused to a member of the public Reinsurance - the insuring of a risk by one insurance company with another Risk - chance or possibility of injury, loss etc; person or thing causing risk l

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Monday, June 16, 2014

Ships move into gulf as US lays out goals for Iraq

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel

n AP, Washington The United States ordered an aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf and laid out specific ways for Iraq to show it is forging the national unity necessary to gain assistance in its fight against Islamic insurgents.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday ordered the USS George HW Bush from the northern Arabian Sea as President Barack Obama considered possible military options for Iraq. Hagel’s press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said the move will give Obama additional flexibility if military action were required to protect American citizens and interests in Iraq.

Accompanying the carrier will be the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea and the guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun. The ships, which

carry Tomahawk missiles that could reach Iraq, were expected to complete their move into the Persian Gulf by the end of the day. The Bush’s fighter jets also could easily reach Iraq.

Islamic militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, have captured large swaths of territory north of Baghdad. Their advance on the capital was sending food prices dramatically higher and prompting tighter security in the city of 7 million people.

In a phone call Saturday with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Secretary of State John Kerry said US assistance “would only be successful if Iraqi leaders were willing to put aside differences and implement a coordinated and effective approach to forge the national unity necessary to move the country forward and confront the threat of ISIL,” according to a statement by the State Department.

Kerry pointed to the importance of the Iraqi government ratifying election results without delay, adhering to its constitutionally mandated timeframe for forming a new government and respecting the rights of all citizens as it fights against terrorism, the State Department said.

Amid sectarian strife between Sunni and Shiite citizens, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for unity of all Iraqis. A Shiite, al-Maliki is widely resented by Sunnis for his perceived sectarian policies.

Kerry told Zebari that the US was emphasizing with the international community as well as those in the region the threat posed by ISIL and the importance of coming to the aid of Iraq. l

This image posted on a militant website on Saturday, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, appears to show militants from the al-Qaida-inspired ISIL leading captured Iraqi soldiers wearing plain clothes to an open field moments before shooting them in Tikrit, Iraq AP

Tony Blair: ‘We didn’t cause Iraq crisis’

Iran warns against military intervention in Iraq n AFP, Tehran n Agencies Iran warned yesterday that “any foreign military intervention in Iraq” would only complicate the crisis, after the US said it was deploying a warship in the Gulf. “Iraq has the capacity and necessary preparations for the fight against terrorism and extremism,” foreign ministry spokesman Marzieh Afkham was quoted as saying by ISNA. “Any action that complicates the situation in Iraq is not in the interests of the country nor of the region,” Afkham said, adding, “The people and government of Iraq will be able to neutralise this conspiracy.”

Afkham’s comments come as the United States ordered an aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf to help Iraqi soldiers fight the militants. l

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has accused critics of the war in Iraq of trying to “wilfully” claim the current crisis in the country is a result of the original invasion. In a 3,000word essay, Blair rejected claims that he was to blame, saying that if the West had not rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the crisis in the Middle East would be worse. “We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that ‘we’ have caused this. We haven’t. We can argue as to whether our policies at points have helped or not; and whether action or inaction is the best policy and there is a lot to be said on both sides.

“But the fundamental cause of the crisis lies within the region not outside it,” he wrote. Blair added that it is a “bi-

The Islamic militant group that seized much of northern Iraq has posted photos that appear to show its fighters shooting dead dozens of captured Iraqi soldiers in a province north of the capital Baghdad. The pictures on a militant website appear to show masked fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, loading the captives onto flatbed trucks before forcing them to lie face-down in a shallow ditch with their arms tied behind their backs.

The final images appear to show the bodies of the captives soaked in blood after being shot. Iraq’s top military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, confirmed the photos’ authenticity yesterday and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers. l

Israel: Hamas kidnapped missing teens

Ukraine vows to punish rebels who downed plane n AP, Novohannivka, Ukraine Ukraine’s new president declared yesterday a day of mourning and vowed to punish those responsible after pro-Russia separatists shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane, killing all 49 crew and troops aboard.

It was a bitter setback for the Ukrainian forces — the deadliest single incident yet in their escalating battle against an armed insurgency that the government, backed by the US, insists is supported by Russia.

The downing of the plane drew condemnation and concern from the White House, European leaders and UN chief Ban Ki-moon. Analysts said it could bring a renewed emphasis on increasing sanctions against Russia. “(This) will refocus attention on the fact that Russia does not seem to be doing very much to moderate the insurgency (or) the cross-border resupply of separatists,” said Timothy Ash, an analyst at Standard Bank PLC. “I would expect the focus to return to sanctions next week.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke firmly to glum-faced security officials at a televised emergency meeting Saturday, scolding the head of the country’s SBU security service for “omissions” in measures to protect military aircraft.

Poroshenko called for “a detailed analysis of the reasons” for the lapse and hinted that personnel changes were imminent. His office said he vowed to punish “those responsible for the tragedy in Luhansk.”

In a conversation with French President Francois Hollande, Poroshenko expressed hope that the European Union would decide on further sanctions against Russia if what he called the illegal border crossings and the supply of weapons did not cease.

Nine crew and 40 troops were aboard the Il-76 troop transport when it went down early Saturday as it approached the airport at Luhansk, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said.

The plane’s tail section and other pieces of scorched wreckage lay in a field near the village of Novohannivka, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Luhansk. An Associated Press reporter saw a dozen or more armed separatists inspecting the crash site.

Defense Ministry spokesman Bohdan Senyk said the rebels used anti-aircraft guns and a heavy machine gun to down the plane, while the prosecutor general’s office said rebels used an anti-aircraft missile. l

zarre reading of the cauldron that is the Middle East today, to claim that but for the removal of Saddam, we would not have a crisis.”

“Is it seriously being said that the revolution sweeping the Arab world would have hit Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, to say nothing of the smaller upheavals all over the region, but miraculously Iraq, under the most brutal and tyrannical of all the regimes, would have been an oasis of calm?”

Blair, who said he was not calling for allied troops to return to Iraq but all measures short of that, including air strikes, said the major cause of the current conflict was the civil war in Syria, together with the “sectarianism of the Maliki Government” which had “led to the alienation of the Sunni community.” l

Militants post images of mass killing in Iraq n AP, Baghdad

n AP, Jerusalem

Israeli soldiers patrol during a military operation to search for three missing teenagers near the West Bank city of Hebron, June 15. A terror group abducted three teens, including an American, who disappeared in the West Bank, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, as soldiers searched the territory to find them AP

Israeli troops yesterday arrested some 80 Palestinians, including dozens of Hamas members, in an overnight raid in the West Bank as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Islamic militant group of kidnapping three teenagers who went missing nearly four days ago.

The crisis escalated already heightened tensions between Israel and the new Palestinian government, which is headed by Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas but backed by Hamas.

Netanyahu has condemned Abbas’ agreement with the militant group, and said he would hold him responsible for the safety of the youths, who disappeared apparently while hitchhiking in the West Bank late Thursday. The three, one of whom holds American citizenship, have not been heard from since then.

Palestinian officials condemned the overnight crackdown and rejected Netanyahu’s contention that they are responsible. Hamas, meanwhile, praised

the apparent kidnapping but stopped short of accepting responsibility.

Speaking to his Cabinet Sunday, Netanyahu said there was no doubt who was responsible.

“Those who perpetrated the abduction of our youths were members of Hamas, the same Hamas that Abu Mazen made a unity government with.

This has severe repercussions,” he said.

Abbas is also known as Abu Mazen.

Netanyahu did not say how Israel determined Hamas was responsible.

Palestinian militants have repeatedly threatened to kidnap Israelis, hoping to use them as bargaining chips to win the release of prisoners held by Israel.

This would be the first time three civilians have been taken at the same time.

The overnight raid was concentrated in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, in the area where the youths disappeared. A Hamas website said more than 60 of those arrested were members, including senior figures in the movement. The Israeli military also detained supporters of Islamic Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group. l

Australian natural wonders under Unesco spotlight

Spain readies legal shield for King Carlos

n AFP, Sydney

n AFP, Madrid

Australia is home to some of the most pristine environment on Earth, but two of its most high-profile protected areas face threats to their status as World Heritage Sites at a Unesco meeting starting Sunday in Doha.

In such a vast country that boasts large tracts of desert, rainforest and coast, many of Australia’s natural wonders have won Unesco World Heritage listings.

They include Fraser Island, Shark Bay, the Wet Tropics of Queensland, the Greater Blue Mountains, Kakadu National Park and Uluru.

Perhaps its best-known masterpiece is the Great Barrier Reef, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet that sprawls across an area roughly the size of Japan.

But all is not well on the reef, which is considered to be in “poor” health.

It is under growing pressure not just from climate change and the destructive coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, but agricultural runoff and rampant coastal development linked to mining.

For these reasons, Unesco is considering downgrading its status to “World Heritage in Danger” at its annual meeting, in the absence of Australia showing “substantial” progress in dealing with the problems.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt insists Australia has thrown millions of dollars at protecting the reef, bolstering its resilience to the major threats of extreme weather events and climate change.

Working to reduce outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish was also being tackled, as was reducing nutrient and sediment run-off from land-clearing and agriculture, he said.

Queensland state Environment Minister Andrew Powell, who released a report Thursday on water quality that he will take to the Doha meeting, said he was confident a downgrade would be avoided.

“The reef is now on the pathway to longterm improvement,” he said, pointing to improved land management practices that had reduced pesticide loads by 28 percent since 2009. “In terms of nitrogen – that’s what causes those crown-of-thorn starfish outbreaks – we’ve reduced it by 16 percent overall,” he added.

Reef a ‘dumping ground’ While improvements to water quality had been achieved, Powell conceded that the overall health of the reef still needed more work.

The report did not deal with port developments linked to mining, which conservationists have warned could hasten the

A bleached section of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef demise of the reef.

There has been particular concern from Unesco about the approval in December of a massive coal port expansion in the region, and allowing the dumping of millions of tonnes of dredge waste within the marine park waters.

The Australian Marine Conservation

AFP

Society said while a reduction in sediment from farming was good news, dredging was ruining the reef.

“The mining industry, backed by the state government and the state-owned ports corporations, are treating the reef as a dumping ground,” said spokeswoman Felicity Wishart. l

Spain’s government is crafting a new legal shield for King Juan Carlos after he steps off the throne and loses the absolute royal immunity that has protected him for 39 years.

The 76-year-old king, hurt by royal scandals in the twilight of a reign that steered Spain from dictatorship to democracy, is handing the crown to his son Felipe who will be sworn in on Thursday. But when King Felipe VI is crowned, his father Juan Carlos will cease to be covered by Spain’s 1978 constitution, which states that the person of the king “is inviolable and shall not be held accountable.”

In October 2012, that immunity thwarted two legal suits demanding that Juan Carlos undergo paternity tests to show whether he was the father of two extramarital children.

It is a status that is increasingly being questioned, however, as Spain grapples with the first royal succession since the restoration of the monarchy after the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975. Juan Carlos himself declared in a televised address in December 2012 that “justice is equal for all” as he distanced himself from a corruption scandal swirling around his son-in-law. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Monday, June 16, 2014

curfew: Thailand’s nightlife is back Pakistan: Dozens No n killed in retaliatory strikes on militants AP, Bangkok

n AP, Islamabad Pakistani jets pounded insurgent hideouts in the country’s northwest early yesterday, killing dozens of militants in an aggressive response targeting those believed responsible for a five-hour siege of the Karachi airport a week ago, officials said.

The Pakistani government has been under pressure to combat the resilient insurgency that has plagued the country for years after the shocking attack June 8 on its busiest airport, which left 26 people and 10 assailants dead. Government efforts that started months ago to negotiate with the militants appeared to be going nowhere, and the airport violence has made the talks even less likely to succeed.

There were conflicting accounts of how many people were killed in the airstrikes in the North Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan. The military said in a statement that over 50 militants were killed, although intelligence officials earlier put the toll as high as 100.

“There were confirmed reports of presence of foreign and local terrorists in these hideouts who were linked in planning the Karachi airport attack,” the military said.

The area where the strikes occurred is remote and dangerous for journalists,

making it impossible to independently verify the accounts.

Residents in North Waziristan said they were woken up after midnight to the sound of jets roaring overhead but said the strikes happened in a remote mountainous area.

“All the family members gathered in the yard in fear,” said one local resident, Tawab Khan, from the village of Boyapul, about eight kilometers (five miles) from where the airstrikes hit. “We could hear big bangs but they didn’t come from very close to our area.”

The military said most of the dead were Uzbeks. Uzbek militants have long based themselves in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas as do a plethora of other armed groups such as al-Qaida, the Pakistani Taliban and the Haqqani network — a Taliban affiliated group.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, along with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the airport attack in what was a rare instance of the group striking within Pakistan. The militant group was formed in 1991 to overthrow the Uzbek government and install an Islamic caliphate there but later expanded that goal to include all of Central Asia. The organization has attacked US and Nato targets in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani airstrikes targeted eight militant hideouts, two intelligence officials said. l

The generals who seized power in Thailand disrupted one of the country’s most lucrative industries — the go-go bars that were forced to close early because of a curfew.

Now the junta has lifted the curfew, giving a green light for Bangkok’s redlight districts and other evening activities to roar back to life. For the first time in a month, Saturday night freedom returned to the Thai capital.

“This is a party city, that’s why we’re here,” said Dan Moore, a 40-year-old visitor from England who had arrived Saturday morning and planned to stay up all night to celebrate a friend’s bachelor party. He had flown in, just like the 1980s pop song says, for “One Night in Bangkok.”

Moore’s group started the night on one of the capital’s most infamous redlight streets, Soi Cowboy, where they toasted the curfew being lifted.

“As for what happens the rest of the night? Who knows. This is Bangkok,” said the groom-to-be, another Englishman, who asked to be identified just by his first name, Darren, to save his future marriage.

Bars featuring pole dancers are by no stretch the only nightlife in Bangkok, but they are the most notorious. The lifting of the curfew on Friday was part of a more general campaign by the junta to “return happiness to the people” of this politically polarized country.

When the army staged the May 22 coup, saying it acted to end increasingly violent political turmoil, the generals’ first order of business was to impose the curfew. Initially set at 10 p.m., it gradually was eased to midnight,

Akha hilltribe women selling souvenir wait for customers in Bangkok’s Khaosan road. The generals who seized power in Thailand have lifted a nationwide curfew, giving a green light for the capital’s red-light districts, nightclubs and pubs to roar back to life AP and already had been lifted in several of Thailand’s popular resort areas after complaints from the tourism industry.

Then the generals withdrew the curfew all over the country.

Bangkok’s backpacker haven, Khao San Road, was packed Saturday night with many soccer fans saying they

planned to celebrate the end of the curfew by pulling an all-nighter. One of them was English tourist Marc Ward, 31, who said: “We are so lucky the curfew’s been lifted,” nursing a 3-liter beer tower as he watched the passing parade on Khao San Road, a street lined with music-blaring bars, tattoo parlors

India: Army capable of giving a fitting reply to Pakistan

Roadside bomb kills 11 after Afghan vote

n Agencies

n AP, Kabul

Two days after ceasefire violations were reported along the Line of Control (LoC) from Pakistan, Indian defence minister Arun Jaitley yesterday said that the Indian Army is capable of giving a fitting reply to Pakistan.

Jaitley, during a two-day visit to Srinagar, said that violations along the LoC must stop which in itself is a “confidence building measure.”

Any decision on revoking Armed

Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in J&K will depend on the progress in the situation in the state over a period of time, Arun Jaitley said.

“As far as today the situation is concerned, our armed forces and local security forces have been handling the situation. Over the period of time, we have to watch how the situation progresses,” Jaitley told reporters at the end of his two-day visit to the state.

He was responding to a question on

whether the Centre will consider revoking the controversial AFSPA in the state in view of the improved security scenario. “As far as your question is concerned, today I am not in a position to make any comment on this,” he said.

“There are forces which are inimical to India, which would not like peace to continue,” Arun Jaitley said. “Talks and aggression can’t go together. For the situation to normalize, it is important for the ceasefire violations to stop.” l

Al-Qaida video calls for jihad in Kashmir n Agencies A new video from al-Qaida has asked Muslims in Kashmir to emulate “brothers” in Syria and Iraq, and wage a violent jihad against India.

The video, which includes a statement read by Maulana Asim Umar, a senior leader of al-Qaida’s Pakistan cell, promises a “caravan of jihadists coming from Afghanistan to liberate Kashmir.”

Titled “The War Continues: A Statement on Kashmir’s Muslims,” the vid-

eo features an audio sermon by Umar and runs footages dating back to 2010 of protests on the roads of Srinagar, in which civilians were killed during a standoff with India’s security forces.

Interestingly, the video addresses Muslims on both sides of the line of control — both on the Indian and Pakistani side as well as to the broader Muslim populations of both countries.

In the video, Kashmiri Muslims are urged to join the global jihadi movement. It says, “Now Muslims all over the world have picked up arms, are

marching in the field of jihad. Even those who rejected armed jihad are now joining this path after being disillusioned with democratic ways of peaceful protests.”

The video mentions Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Algeria and other parts of the world where Islamic extremism has been rife. It also calls for attacks in Europe and for a repeat of the Lee Rigby incident in London last year. The soldier was almost beheaded by two men of Nigerian origin in broad daylight outside a military barrack. l

A roadside bomb killed 11 people in Afghanistan, including four election workers, and the Taliban cut off the fingers of nearly a dozen people to punish them for voting in this weekend’s presidential runoff, officials said yesterday.

The Taliban had warned people not to participate in Saturday’s vote. The two candidates, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, have both vowed to improve ties with the West and sign a long-delayed security pact allowing nearly 10,000 US troops to remain in the country for two more years.

The voting was relatively peaceful despite a series of rocket barrages and other scattered attacks that Interior Minister Mohammad Umar Daudzai said killed 47 people, including 20 civilians and an election commission worker. He said 60 militants were killed.

Later on Saturday a minibus hit an improvised explosive device in the northern Samangan province, with the blast killing six women, one child and four men in the provincial capital Aybak, said Sediq Azizi, spokesman

for the provincial governor.

Azizi said four of the victims were employees of the election commission, which organized Saturday’s vote. It was not immediately clear if they were the target of the explosion.

In a separate incident, the Taliban cut off the fingers of 11 civilians on Saturday in western Herat province to punish them for voting, police spokesman Raoud Ahamdi said.

In the southern Kandahar province police said they raided a building on Sunday that had been occupied by the Taliban the day before, setting off clashes in which police shot dead two would-be suicide bombers but were unable to prevent another two from blowing themselves up, killing three policemen and wounding another two.

Gen. Abdul Razeq Achakzai, Kandahar’s provincial police chief, said his forces had surrounded the building on Saturday but waited to move in until after the voting ended.

Afghans braved threats of violence and searing heat Saturday to vote in the presidential runoff, which likely will mark the country’s first peaceful transfer of authority, an important step toward democracy as foreign combat troops leave. l

Woman heads police post in Pakistan’s largest city n AP, Karachi Just days into her job running a police station in Pakistan’s largest city, Syeda Ghazala had to put her training to the test: she opened fire with her .22-caliber pistol at a man who shot at police when they tried to pull him over during a routine traffic stop.

It’s not clear whether it was Ghazala’s shots that wounded the man before he was arrested, but as the first woman to run a police station in Pakistan’s often violent port city of Karachi, she’ll likely have many more chances to hit her mark.

When Ghazala joined the police force two decades ago, she never dreamed that one day she would head a police station staffed by roughly 100 police officers — all men. Her recent promotion is part of efforts by the local police to increase the number of women in the force and in positions of authority. Shortly after she assumed her new job the city appointed a second woman to head another police station.

In a country where women have traditionally not worked outside the home and face widespread discrimination, the appointments represent a significant step for women’s empowerment.

“The mindset of people is changing gradually, and now they (have) started to consider women in leading roles. My husband opposed my decision to join the police force 20 years ago,” said the 44-year-old mother of four. But by the time this job rolled around, he had come full circle and encouraged her to go for it. “It was a big challenge. I was a little bit hesitant to accept it.”

In this May 7 photo, a Pakistani police commando participates in a training session in Karachi, Pakistan. In a country where women have traditionally not worked outside the home and widespread huge discrimination, the appointments represent a significant step for women’s empowerment AP The station house is in Clifton, a posh area home to the elite of this sprawling metropolis of more than 18 million people.

But in a city prone to family feuds, political unrest and jihadist violence — where 166 officers were killed in the line of duty last year — it’s by no means an easy assignment.

Crimes ranging from petty theft and muggings to terrorism or murder are all part of a day’s work, Ghazala says.

Running a station is a high-profile job in the Pakistani police, one that requires the officer to constantly interact with the public and fellow officers. It’s also a key path to

advancement. Senior police officer Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, said he and others in the top brass hope Ghazala’s appointment leads to more women joining the force.

“Our society accepts only stereotype roles for women. There is a perception that women are suitable only for particular

professions like teaching,” he said.

The police force is also training the first batch of female commandos, a group of 44 women going through a physically intensive course involving rappelling from towers or helicopters and shooting an assortment of weapons.

Currently, the two in Karachi are the only women running police stations in Pakistan.

In the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where women make up less than one percent of the roughly 75,000-member police force, women only run stations specifically designed to help female crime victims.

In the southeastern Baluchistan province, there are only 90 women on the police force and no women station heads. In Punjab province, only one woman has ever run a station house, back in 2005, but currently no women hold the position.

Ghazala said most people she has encountered in her new job have been supportive, and she’s become a bit of a celebrity in the neighborhood. She said during her career she’s only had a few instances where she’s felt discrimination. When she got the highest marks in a training course required for promotion, some of the men objected, saying that in Islam women couldn’t lead men.

But she said the commander simply told the men they should have gotten better grades.

“It was the only moment somebody objected to me as a woman,” she said.

“Otherwise, all my career, fellow and senior officers encouraged me a lot.” l

and cheap guesthouses.

Critics, however, point out that the return of Bangkok’s nightlife — and the generals’ feel-good happiness project — is being carried out alongside an entirely different campaign. The junta has banned political protests and any criticism of the coup. l

Thai cyber police step up royal slur patrols n AFP, Bangkok Thailand’s military is bolstering its self-designated role as protector of the monarchy with increased “cyber patrols” to root out critics of the king following last month’s coup.

The junta has clamped down on any opposition to its overthrow of an elected government, with a crackdown on perceived slurs against the royals at the heart of its online surveillance operations.

“Lese majeste is our priority,” Police Major General Phisit Pao-in, head of the Technology Crime Suppression Division, told AFP. Twenty police officials were recently sent to reinforce Phisit’s cyber patrol team of 15 civil servants, who trawl the Internet for royal insults.

“Since the coup, we were asked to intensify our surveillance and to focus on threats to national security,” said Phisit. Under controversial lese majeste rules, anyone convicted of insulting King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.

Phisit said his team wanted to talk to suspects to “change their attitude,” while “headstrong” campaigners would face charges.

At their Bangkok offices, the owl mascot of the cyber patrol unit stands opposite a gilt-framed portrait of Bhumibol, whose picture hangs in offices and homes across the country.

For many Thais, respect for the king, patriotism and religious devotion are closely intertwined, giving him an almost divine status.

The military takeover comes as the kingdom quietly braces for the eventual end of the 86-year-old monarch’s more than six-decade reign.

Open discussion of the succession is not possible in Thailand because of the lese majeste laws. But the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has yet to attain the same level of popular support as his revered father, who is the world’s longest-reigning sovereign.

‘Above conflict’

Some observers see the kingdom’s long-running political crisis as a struggle to determine who will be in power to oversee the transition.

Since the coup, Thailand has blocked access to more than 200 Internet pages deemed a “threat to national security,” including the website of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper after it posted a video about the crown prince.

“The monarchy is above any conflict,” said junta spokesman Winthai Suvaree, relaying army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha’s message to foreign diplomats in Bangkok last week. Laws are needed to protect the royals “because the monarchy cannot answer questions like normal people,” Winthai added.

The coup makers have set out to purge Thai politics of the dominance of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Monday, June 16, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

We are all Bangladeshis

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

I

t is outrageous that 10 people from what is known colloquially as the Bihari community were allowed to burn to death in Saturday’s arson attacks at the Bihari Camp in Mirpur. In effect, they were reportedly trapped in their homes, which were locked from the outside.

Attacks of violence, vandalism, and senseless killings such as this are uncalled for, and perpetrators must not be allowed to go unpunished.

The main reason why the Bihari community was targeted, and has been for years, is because they are treated as second-class citizens by the government, and thereby seen as helpless by all else who want to take advantage of them. In fact, allegations have been made that the attack was a ploy to grab the Bihari Camp’s land.

The so-called Biharis have been living in this nation for years. The vast majority alive today were born here, and know no other home.

And despite allegations to the contrary, they have put down roots here and almost all want to stay here.

They are full citizens of this nation, and should be treated as such. Their rights must be recognised and acknowledged by all.

As long as the government continues to treat them as second-class citizens, as long as it continues to ignore their concerns and disregard their safety, they will remain vulnerable. They will continue to be harassed and attacked.

The Bihari community are full citizens of this nation, and should be treated as such

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Goodbye, sir required! Very apt observation by late M Alam! RIP. Breadbitten The poignancy in this piece is off the charts!

Excellently written.

Wali Indeed! Your headlines are still longer than

NCTF for review children allocation in budget June 9

Asaduzzaman Asad Thanks a lot for publishing this news.

Alleged Muslim takeover plot in UK schools June 10

vihan “Alleged”?! Your article is clearly doubting the good intentions of the British government. Just imagine, a non-Islamic ideology trying to infiltrate all schools in Bangladesh.

Make accreditation a priority

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n a recent seminar to mark World Accreditation Day, the industries minister focused on the necessary role accreditation plays in the provision of energy, especially green energy, as well as in the production of energy-efficient technology.

It is imperative to back up these words with appropriate actions that incorporate accreditation into every process of the green industry.

At a time when the energy needs of the public have increased, green technology, such as solar energy, can be a crucial factor – as we have editorialised before – but every step in the process must be accredited to ensure that the end product is reliable and environmentally safe.

The process must also be wholly free of the pervasive corruption we see in other industries.

The performance of all devices and technology used in the manufacturing and testing of green technology must be laboratory tested – the laboratory itself must be certified as well – facility inspections must be carried out regularly, and the inspection bodies themselves must be accredited, as well as the certification bodies.

This will assure consumers that the technology has been made in a safe environment, is reliable and functional, and its level of performance and energy-efficiency made transparent.

The government must take the lead in ensuring accreditation for green technology. Indeed, if we are to be recognised as a credible player in the global market, we cannot afford not to make it a priority.

Accreditation ensures the end product is reliable and environmentally safe

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

June 10

Faceless Man Good read.

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 10 represents I so fill I every time the figure 10 appears.

You have two letters in the control grid to start you off. Enter them in the 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.

Increase free income tax limit June 10

Md Ashraf Hossain The finance minister placed the proposed national budget before the Bangladesh Parliament on June 5 for the 2014-15 financial year. In the last financial year, the free income tax limit wasTk220,000. It has not been increased in the proposed budget.

I would like to draw the attention of the finance minister, as well as members of parliament, to the fact that the real income of fixed-income groups, particularly service holders, in Bangladesh have been reduced significantly in the last few years, as more than 10% inflation (price increase of services and products) are affected each year. But the fixed-income groups are helpless. They have to bear the whole burden, as their salaries do not increase instantly in relation to the inflation.

Consequently, their purchasing power has gone down significantly.

The fixed income groups are very unhappy in having to confront the gradual and continuous price increase of all items, including essential products and services.

To reduce their suffering, especially that of the lower middle-class, the free income tax limit should be re-fixed at Tk300,000 per annum.

This limit is very conservative, as it is very difficult to run a standard-sized five-member family on a Tk25,000 monthly salary. I would like to urge the government to increase the free tax limit to Tk300,000 per annum for individuals in the 2014-2015 budget.

Extortion behind Touhid murder, confesses Soumen June 10 googbro College boy murdered yesterday in Dhaka, and then this in Sylhet? Our universities and colleges are becoming training camps for the making and delivering of goons to society.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

11 injured in Brazil-Argentina supporters’ clash June 10

Rodders I just have to say: What a bunch of losers. nahiyan_dhaka1 Disgraceful.

5 bizarre ‘rape’ comments from India

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.

June 9

Vikram Khan I’m afraid that many so-called politicians in Bangladesh have the same “views,” and would make the same comments concerning rape.

Man jailed for raping Rana Plaza victim June 9

VK Can it be more sick than this?!

Tiananmen mattered June 9

Stone Age This is an amazing piece. Not many of us are and weren’t aware of how the Tiananmen incident had indeed had a somewhat positive effect on China. Not only that, other countries such as Vietnam are also following their example.

As Towheed Feroze puts it: “A glamorous hub of consumer luxuries with the hammer and sickle intact on top.”

BTRC favour lets Banglaphone dodge crores June 9

SM Tahidul Islam “Md Giasuddin Ahmed, vice-chairman of BTRC, told the Dhaka Tribune: ‘Actually I do not have any idea about the present situation of the Banglaphone issue. I heard that there were some problems but I do not know why we are not carrying out the government’s orders.’”

Dear vice-chairman of BTRC: What do you know actually?

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Fruit (6) 5 Obscure (3) 7 Waterway (5) 8 Talisman (6) 10 Fly trap (3) 12 Agreeable (4) 13 Obtain (3) 14 Petty quarrel (4) 16 Prosecutes (4) 17 Sailor (3) 18 Inherited character unit (4) 20 School of whales (3) 23 Marijuana cigarette (6) 24 Prejudiced person (5) 25 Large (3) 26 Spins rapidly (6)

DOWN 1 Partly open (4) 2 Immerse (6) 3 Upright (5) 4 Location (4) 5 Early freshness (3) 6 Choler (3) 9 Falsehoods (4) 11 Sporting item (3) 14 Of sound mind (4) 15 Like better (6) 16 Plant juice (3) 17 Dentures (5) 18 Get bigger (4) 19 Part of the eye (4) 21 Kimono sash (3) 22 Excavate (3)

Militants attack Karachi airport, 27 dead June 9

Hafeejul Alam I believe, Premier Nawaz Sharif is wise enough to understand that the terrorists understand only the language of weapons, not that of dialogue.

Defense allocation secrecy June 10

PEANUTS

SAM This illogical and uncalled-for secrecy should no longer be practiced. What is so secret about the heads under which the defence department plans to spend the money? Is it to hide the ineffectiveness of the defence department? Back in the 1970s, when I was an employee at a multinational, we used to supply medical plant and equipment to them. Funnily enough, all supplies had to be made through the enlisted defence suppliers, who always told us to add a 25%-30% mark-up for them.

Regarding military hardware, all our neighbours, with whom we may have an armed conflict, if ever, know the exact number of our air force inventory of aircraft and helicopters, all the vessels in the navy, and all the armour (tanks etc) and heavy artillery pieces we have! So what is there to hide?

This is indeed a feudal and colonial practice that should be done away with immediately. Our “shongshod” should pass a law to this effect, the sooner the better.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

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Monday, June 16, 2014

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Flag euphoria hides the pain within

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n Towheed Feroze he fever has gripped everyone. So much so that I only found out that Bangladesh is playing India in a threematch cricket series while scouring the sports section of the newspaper for World Cup titbits. Under the passion of football, everything else becomes secondary.

At least for the time being, but if Bangladesh, free from the usual pressure to win against higher-ranked cricket teams, manages to beat its formidable neighbour in one match, then perhaps for a few days cricket will come back in the scene.

On the contrary, if the cricket team does not pull off any magic, galleries will remain empty. After the late night World Cup matches, plus the nerve-racking tension, sleep is the most desired option.

Football is king still. Even in the age of satellite TV, when we get to see top class league matches live, the allure of the World Cup hasn’t faded that much.

It has taken some blows, but the charm remains intact.

ently: “I understand the legal issues of flying the flags of other nations, but when the authority underlined the rule they didn’t show an alternative path in which people can show support and we can make some honest earnings.” He stressed on the word honest.

I did some thinking. Yes, the flag-seller had a point. In a country where the black money whitening scheme is offered under astutely crafted methods, surely an alternative way to flaunt support for our favourite teams could be thought of. On top of everything – it’s just love for the game.

Or isn’t it?

From the surface, it seems that intense addiction to football fuels the World Cup mania manifested in the almost pathological Brazil-Argentina animosity. However, this massive polarisation of the country into two major sides, Brazil and Argentina, is but an indication of a deeper psychological agony emanating from the realisation that we, as a country, won’t be able to play in the World Cup. In no rational calculation do I see Bangladesh making it to the finals in

Depriving fans from displaying their love for the game is tantamount to robbing them of their right to enjoy a sporting event There would not be so many flags on rooftops, otherwise. Coming to flying the colours of other nations, the flag rule of our country was recently invoked and to adhere to the law of the land, a lot of them were eventually taken down. Certainly bad news for the flag vendors who patiently wait for the World Cup to make a quick profit.

One flag-seller reflected despond-

the next 50 years. Sports gurus of our country may brazenly fly the balloon of hope, but one can’t go to the Cup riding on dreams alone.

Here are the unsavoury facts: Bangladesh is not even the undisputed king of South Asia anymore, and cannot guarantee the regional crown for the next three SAFF football meets.

Once a team goes beyond the

Does this mean we lack patriotism? region, it has to cross the hurdle of the third tier of Asian football, the Southeast region, featuring Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. A year ago, we were drubbed 5-0 by Thailand.

After that, there was the lower-second tier presenting central Asian countries – Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikstan. When domination in this section is ensured, there are the second layer Arab teams like Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, UAE, and Syria. The first layer of Asia has Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Japan, Australia, Iraq, Qatar, North Korea … shall I continue? Better leave it here.

So, when the World Cup comes around, and small teams with one fraction of the population of Bangla-

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

desh make it to the finals, the intolerable pain of not seeing our flag in the meet comes back to haunt us.

Today, Abahani-Mohammedan matches do not trigger frenzied debate all over the country. The city skyline is not adorned by the colours of the once famous clubs. But deep within our psyche, the indelible memories of the Dhaka derby remain. Would I be wrong in saying that the subdued, but not forgotten, intensity of the past erupts once World Cup arrives? In our subconscious minds, we fervently want to relive that passion of the bygone days.

Cricket has given us a lot – prestige, fame, recognition, and a place among the elites. Today the Bangladesh team is never taken lightly by anyone, and

in that we find our pride.

Coming back to reality once more – cricket has become a semi-global game, not a global one. It’s football that touches a chord everywhere; hence the worldwide focus on the four yearly meet of the best. If the law of the country states that flags cannot be flown, then bring them down; but the law does not ban the plastering of posters or the placing of banners on the wall.

Let the fans do the latter, because depriving them from displaying their love for the game is tantamount to robbing someone of his/her right to enjoy a sporting event that truly unites the globe. Also good to keep in mind – at least for a month, the priority will be football, not political shenanigans.

Agreed, sometimes our support goes beyond the logical. What can be done … we are an emotional people.

Having said that, there is always something to keep in mind – supporting a team with single-minded devotion can be tolerated, violence in the name of a team cannot.

Show the colours, have spirited debates over who is best, enjoy the games, forget the drudgery of life for a while, and in the moments of retrospection, try to understand that the pervasive craze stems from a deep-rooted feeling of non-fulfillment from our own football team. l Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

It’s not just formalin

Black money and red herrings

n Quazi Salimuddin

Ahamed and n Syeed Pushpita Prithwee

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he present anti-formalin drive in the capital can be termed as being “not enough.” The drive is limited to checking formalin-tainted fish, fruits, and vegetables entering the capital, but those contaminated with other chemicals will remain undetected because they can only check for the presence of formalin.

This drive may create a false sense of security in consumers regarding their food. Consumers are not getting safe foods. Almost all food items are unsafe because they contain highly toxic chemicals. Toxic chemicals are present in all vegetables and fruits, at least 20 times higher than the safety limit.

This drive is nothing but a cruel practical joke on hapless people. Had the government been serious about at least containing this slow poisoning of the people, they would have taken definite measures long ago.

higher than the safe limit, (h) no real government initiative to implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in agriculture and promote organic cultivation, (i) this anti-formalin drive is limited to the capital, when it is the whole country that is being poisoned.

It is common perception that our food items are poisoned with formalin only. This is only a fraction of the problem – pesticides are the main culprit. Each year, 50,000 tonnes of pesticides are making their way into the air, the water, and our bodies. In other countries, people are indirectly affected by environmental pollution.

In Bangladesh, poisons in very high doses are directly going in to our

bodies. The public health situation will grow direr each passing day. This will also adversely affect our productivity and GDP. Chemical terror has gripped the nation. We are finding it impossible to get any safe foods, even for our children.

Poison in our foods is presently the number one problem facing our nation. It needs to be addressed as such by the government. Access to safe foods is a basic human right. We demand our rights – give us poison-free, safe foods. Please start an all-out drive before it becomes too late. l Quazi Salimuddin is Convener, Bish Mukto Bangladesh.

Formalin is only a fraction of the problem – pesticides are the main culprit

The government’s dillydallying approach to fighting this very grave hazard to public health is apparent when we see: (a) The Safe Food Law 2013 not yet being enforced, (b) the highest punishment as per this law being a maximum of five years’ jail-time and a fine of Tk5 lakh, (c) the High Court’s direction of establishing one Safe Food court in every district being overlooked, (d) Safe Food Rules 2014 still in draft form, (e) Bangladesh Safe Food Authority not yet functional, (f) formalin, carbide, etc available in plenty everywhere in the country, (g) the Ministry of Agriculture apathetic about spraying 50,000 tonnes of chemical pesticides costing Tk50bn per year – even highly hazardous banned pesticides are being used in abundance and pesticide residue levels in agri-products are 20 times

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

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ooking at the history of black money whitening, it’s quite hard to feel assured that the provision for it is finally over. Irrespective of political regimes, there has been a trend of financial ministers flipping decisions regarding black money, which usually starts with a determined position on “no more money whitening.” Then some chamber or association would plead for keeping the scope and finally the finance minister will give in.

It is also evident from public debate that most analysts and stakeholders oppose any scope for whitening black money. Yet it continues. Apparently, when all sweat over the merits and morals of whitening black money, the actual negotiation takes place behind curtains.

Owing to the finance minister’s frequent change of position regarding black money, coupled with the postbudget call by Bangladesh Economic Association to allow black money whitening, we can’t be assured unless clear steps are taken.

This time, the finance minister at least admitted something that has been shouted out for years – that black money whitening provision does not have much impact on the economy.

For instance, crores collected as tax from money whitening provision was only 0.03% of the total revenue (only 0.1% of total direct tax) earned by the government during FY2012-13. That is because under such a provision, only a small amount of black money gets whitened through paying a small amount of tax. Black money simply doesn’t want to become white.

The question is – if the whitening provision is really not that popular among people with black money, and if its contribution to revenue and investment really is that miniscule, then why do some quarters always demand for its continuation in one way or another?

Is it because, under existing black money whitening provisions, one can “legalise” money that is obtained through criminal means of extortion, bribery, or smuggling?

Bangladesh’s Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012 considers any activity as “money laundering” if it’s used to hide an illegal source of money. The Income Tax Ordinance

that allows black money whitening also states that this provision is not applicable for money acquired through criminal or illegal means. However, that ordinance has a loophole. It also reads, “notwithstanding anything contained in this Ordinance, source of any sum invested by any person, in the construction or purchase of any residential building apartment, shall be deemed to have been explained” if the assessee pays the required tax. If the source of money can be “deemed to have been explained” without question, how can that stop legalising money that is acquired through criminal or illegal means?

Simply put – one can get away by whitening their criminally-acquired money if they invest in real estate, under the existing provision.

Moreover, if criminals are allowed to use that money in construction or to buy apartments in residential buildings, they can legalise a large amount of money by under-invoicing the actual transaction for construction or purchase. That way, properties worth billions can be legalised by paying a fraction of the original tax.

This may explain the pressure to keep the provision while official record continues to show very insignificant amounts of money-whitening on paper.

Hence the argument for keeping the provisions only for legally-earned, untaxed, and undisclosed money is a complete red herring to distract people from the criminal aspects of moneylaundering.

Black money whitening provisions may work when the law and order situation is strengthened to make illegal earnings difficult, and only a limited period is allowed to channel the black money to the real economy.

In such cases, black money holders invest that illegally accumulated capital in industries to continue their earnings.

However, just like stealing or hijacking money can be more profitable than working for a salary, illegal or criminal sources of income will always remain more profitable than running a business. Thus, continuous black money whitening provisions only encourage illegal earnings and will never contribute to actual investment. Arguments made by the Bangladesh Economic Association to “recover” the vast sum of black money through stringent

conditions also make little sense.

When black money holders couldn’t be encouraged to invest on property under lenient conditions, why on earth would they be encouraged to invest in an industry with strict conditions?

The argument for black money whitening to stop capital flight is another red herring. Capital flight will only stop if returns from investment can be made more lucrative than keeping idle money in foreign banks.

Black money whitening provisions encourage illegal earnings and never contribute to investment

Until then, strict measures need to be taken to address the channels of capital flights. Our neighbouring country India is trying to address this issue by taking a coordinated set of actions which include signing and revising money laundering treaties with other countries, and deploying the Special Investigative Team – consisting of CBI, RAW, and other partners – to unearth the black money sent abroad. Then again, we don’t need to look outside for encouragement. We have seen in the recent past that when there is political will, the government can bring back laundered money from abroad.

Stopping the source of black money will not be easy. But it can be made less difficult if we can avoid those red herrings and start focusing on the real issue at hand. Instead of applying stern rules and providing scope to legalise criminal proceeds over and over again, the government needs to ensure that people do not get the scope to earn money through criminal means to begin with. As they say, prevention is better than cure.

We thus hope that the finance minister will stand by his words, finally putting an end to this futile provision. l Syeed Ahamed and Pushpita Prithwee are policy analysts at the Institute of Informatics and Development (www.iid.org.bd).

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Monday, June 16, 2014

Beyond the heritage of Sundarbans '18' marks Kalpana

A scene from Dokkhina Sundori

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak Theatre enthusiasts will get the opportunity to watch the second successful production of the TheatrEX Bangladesh titled “Dokkhina Sundori” today at the Natmondol, University of Dhaka at 7:30pm. The play is an awareness-based theatre crouched within a musical. The combination of music, dialogues and dance pieces in perfect harmony will surely capture the audience interest, not to mention the stage which delves into the audience seating area for a more profound effect.

Folk-tale and history are shaped into the plot of the play which opens with a song praising the beauty and livelihood of the Sundarbans which was alternatively called Chandraban during the ancient period.

The antediluvian folk-tale of the Chandrabande race is portrayed through two main characters, Chandre and Bona, and the legendary tiger-haunter Pochabdi Gazi is an ineluctable character depicting the story. The plot moves forward with a series of dispersed incidents showing the fight for survival of these ignored minorities against the maleficent

deeds of the antagonists, who systematically destroy the balance of life in the name of rescuing the forest.

The entire play has been divided into six acts including the praise of the forest, the dark moon, the full moon, the deluge, the lower tide and the dream of Bona. The continuous shift of language from the colloquial dialect to formal Bangla was a bit confusing but the overall effect created through the ambiance makes it worthwhile for the audience.

Written by Shahman Maishan and directed

by Sudip Chakroborthy, the production is supported by the British Council. Nusrat Sharmin played Chandre and Atiqur Rahman played Bona while Mahjabeen Islam, Syeda Iffat Ara, S M Jumman Sadik were other prominent characters of the production.

About the play, diSADIA MARIUM rector Sudip said: “It’s an awareness-based production with emphasis on protecting the Sundarbans. The team of TheatrEX conducted extensive research by visiting the heritage site. We also went through a sea of documents to improve our knowledge about the forest.”

According to Sudip, the performance includes the lifestyle of people whose livelihood depends on the Sundarbans. It is enriched with the regional poetry, dance and music in a unique form. “It explores the theatrical aesthetics by fusing local myths, legends, fairy tales and parables with contemporary style of theatre performance.”l

When Nicole Kidman said no to Uday Chopra

Chakma's abduction n Entertainment Desk

Kalpana Chakma, a young leader of the Hill Women’s Federation, was abducted 18 years back, from her home by military personnel and civilian law-enforcers on 12 June, 1996 at gunpoint. She remains missing.

Bangladesh’s one of the most renowned photographers, Shahidul Alam's solo exhibition “18” is the continuation of his “Searching for Kalpana Chakma,” that took place last year marking the same occasion at the same venue, Drik Gallery. “18” continues to question the impunity of state machineries

Exhibition ‘18’ will continue until 8pm on 18 June at Drik

I am like my father in some ways: Saif

networking and meetings.

I believe I am a very sensitive, impulsive and emotional person and during my interaction with the young directors, I found that we all had those features in common.

Kamar Ahmed Simon at the Red Carpet with ten other directors selected for Cinema du Monde

n Shadma Malik When Embassy of France in Bangladesh hosted a celebration party at the residence of France post Kamar Ahmed’s success at the 67th Cannes Film Festival, Dhaka Tribune in hearing the experience from the aspiring director.

The red carpet experience...

It was a privilege for me and Sara to be invited to the red carpet segment. When we got the invitation to walk the “glamour walk,” of the red carpet, I found out that all the attending male guests were asked

Street magic in India n Entertainment Desk Magic Asia follows the celebrity magicians JB Benn & Chris Korn as they incorporate into their act, a Bollywood’s menagerie of top stars, conjoined twins and dancing divas. Watch them perform at a vibrant street festival complete with snake charmers, acrobats and Indian magicians.

Just as the pair stirs the city with their out-of-thisworld antics and illusions, they too get a taste of bewilderment as they are thrown into a crash course in India culture 101. Not only are they taught salsa dancing with a Bollywood twist, they get invited to an Indian wedding, thrust into a gaggle of Indian school kids, and are even placed up against a real traveling Indian circus.

The show will be aired on AXN today at 7:30pm l

n Entertainment Desk Actor Saif Ali Khan, who is planning to make a film on late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, says his father was like a prince and he is like him in some ways.

“He is a very special person. We have a memory of an amasing role model. He never told us what to do, he had expectations and we tried to lead by it. He had a funny sense of humour.

He was like a prince, dignified and very down to earth person, who respected money and people,” Saif said.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was former captain of the Indian cricket team.

He was the titular Nawab of Pataudi from 1952, until 1971.

On making film on Pataudi, Saif said, “I am still working on it (the film).

We are trying to find as much footage as we can, as there was not much footage available in those days. There are things but I haven’t found much. Once we get it we will make it,” Saif said.

Saif would like to highlight the 60s phase of his father`s life in the film.

“I think he liked the 60s phase. He thought it the best phase as he was playing his best cricket. I think his life was cricket and I think, he was little unhappy when he couldn’t play. He was not attached to things,” he added.

Like father, like son, the `Agent Vinod` actor does thinks he is like his father in some ways. l

SADIA MARIUM

‘I was adamant to wear punjabi at Cannes red carpet’

n Entertainment Desk A date clash is keeping Hollywood starlet Nicole Kidman from visiting India this month. Actor-producer Uday Chopra had invited her for the premiere (in Mumbai) of his maiden international co-production that stars her in the lead role. But, Nicole had to decline the offer, as she’s travelling to China during the time.

While talking to Uday, the Oscar-winning actor had told him that she loves India. “Since we were talking a lot about India, I asked her to come for the première of the movie. She asked me, ‘When are you launching it?’ When I told her it’s June 13, she said, ‘I am going for the Shanghai Film Festival’ (around the same time). So, things didn’t work out, but she really wanted to come,” he says.

Uday hopes to make another film with Nicole and “bring her back to India.” “Nicole, in fact, mentioned to me that she has been to India a couple of times and loves Goa,” adds Uday. l

and the complicity of the establishment.

It presents not only a visually engaging exhibition but also a detailed examination and a re-enactment of an issue that has been conveniently obscured by successive Bangladeshi governments.

The exhibition is a powerful and poignant essay that uses found objects, newspaper clippings, extracts from her diary and her personal belongings to produce a haunting but lyrical rendering of the deeply disturbing story.

The exhibition, part of Drik’s public awareness campaign “No More,” was inaugurated by Nurul Kabir, editor of New Age, on Thursday. l

to wear a tuxedo. I didn’t stand by these rules. I wanted to wear my traditional black punjabi and don a black shawl with Bangla texts. I was adamant about my choice of attire and faced obstacles at the security check during the event. When my name was announced, I walked down the red carpet in my black punjabi, with my head held high. Sara attended the event in a traditional white Jamdani saree.

Did you get to interact with the other directors?

We had very little time to spend with one another. All the directors were busy with

Do you think you were able to represent Bangladesh?

I don’t know whether I am worthy of the claim, but it was my utmost effort to showcase Bangladesh through my lens.

How was the response to “Shunte Ki Pao”(Are You Listening?)?

When directors of l’Institut Français and Cinémas du Monde said: “I saw your movie,” it was all the reward I could hope for.

Your present projects...

I am planning to make a feature film titled “Shonkhodhoni.” I started writing this film when “Shunte Ki Pao” was in the production phase. “Shonkhodhoni” is a very personal film for me. It is based on my own childhood when I lost one of my best friends. I will only make it, if I think I can make it in my own way...otherwise I think, I should not. l

When will Vidya Balan work with SRK? n Entertainment Desk Actor Vidya Balan, who has always expressed her desire to work with superstar Shah Rukh Khan, says she would love to work with Shah Rukh provided both the actors’ presence in the film is justified.

“If any good script comes where the presence of both the actors (Shah Rukh and I) is justified, then definitely I would love to do,” Vidya said at the launch of the blog for her upcoming film “Bobby Jasoos”.

“If the script will be such where I won’t have much to do, then I will not do it,” she added.

The 36-year-old is currently busy promoting her soon to release “Bobby Jasoos”, where she is in the lead role.

Asked if there is anything left for actresses to do in films starring Bollywood’s Khans, the National Award winning actress said: “Not always...but most of the times there is nothing much to do.”

Directed by Samar Sheikh, produced by Dia Mirza and her fiancé Sahil Sangha, “Bobby Jasoos” also features Ali Fazal. It will hit the theatres July 4. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

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Monday, June 16, 2014

SCORECARD Bangladesh Tamim Iqbal c Saha b Yadav Anamul Haque c Rayudu b Rasool Mominul Haque c Saha b Yadav Mushfiqur Rahim c Rahane b Rasool Shakib Al Hasan c and b Raina Mahmudullah b Mishra Nasir Hossain c Rahane b Mishra Ziaur Rahman c Raina b Yadav Mashrafe Mortaza b Patel Abdur Razzaq not out Al-Amin Hossain not out Extras: (lb3, w8) Total: (for 9 wickets, 50 overs)

0 44 6 59 52 41 22 2 18 16 1 11 272

Fall of wickets 1-5 (Tamim), 2-35 (Mominul), 3-87 (Anamul), 4-134 (Mushfiqur), 5-199 (Shakib), 6-229 (Mahmudullah), 7-234 (Ziaur), 8-235 (Nasir), 9-267 (Mortaza).

Bowling M. Sharma 5.4-1-23-0, U. Yadav 9-0-483 (6w), R. Uthappa 0.2-0-0-0, A. Patel 10-0-59-1, A. Mishra 10-0-55-2 (1w), P. Rasool 10-0-60-2 (1w), Raina 5-0-24-1 India: R. Uthappa lbw b Shakib 50 A. Rahane c Ziaur Rahman b Mortaza 64 C. Pujara lbw b Shakib 0 A. Rayudu not out 16 S. Raina not out 15 Extras (w8) 8 Total (for 3 wickets, 24.5 overs) 153 Fall of wickets 1-99 (Uthappa), 2-100 (Pujara), 3-135 (Rahane) Bowling Mortaza 5-0-25-1, Al-Amin Hossain 5-0-32--0 (w2), Shakib 6-0-27-2 (w1), Razzak 5-0-34-0 (w2), Ziaur 1-0-9-0, Mahmudullah 2.5-0-26-0 (w3)

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal (L) trudges back to the pavilion following his dismissal while Indian seamer Umesh Yadav celebrates during the first ODI between the two sides at Mirpur yesterday

Rain, Robin and Rahane down sorry Bangladesh Ajinkya Rahane and Robin Uthappa’s patient fifties guided India to a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the rain interrupted first ODI of the three-match series yesterday.

The hosts put up a challenging 272 batting first and India were equally up to the mark in their reply as they were cruising along having reached 100 for 1 in 16.2 overs before thunderstorm and heavy rainfall threatened to wash away the game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

India resumed their chase after a break of 2 hors 44 minutes with the

revised target set at 150 needed from 26 overs, which meant the visitors required another fifty runs from 56 balls.

Shakib trapped Cheteshwar Pujara LBW for a duck just after resumtion but that hardly put any pressure on the visitors as Rahane continued keep the scorecard ticking. The right-handed struck five fours and two sixes in his 64 before being brilliantly caught by Ziaur Rahman off Mashrafe bin Mortaza, but by then the game was almost in the bag as India needed fifteen more from four overs.

The new captain Suresh Raina safely carried them home as India cashed in mainly from the opening stand of 99 between Rahane and Uthappa. Returning to the side after six years, Uthappa landed his 50 in just 43 balls.

Earlier, opting to bat on a flat track the Tigers lost two quick wickets, Tamim Iqbal and Mominul Haque, before Mushfiqur Rahim and Anamul

MOST DUCKS BY A BANGLADESHI IN ODIs Habibul Bashar (111 matches)

18

Mohammad Rafique (125 matches) 15 Tamim Iqbal (125 matches)

13

Haque repaired the damage with a 52run partnership.

As often seen, Anamul got settled in and stroked well for 44 runs before throwing away his wicket tring to force off-spinner Parvez Rasool out of the

park. The same mistake was committed by the skipper Mushfiq (59) but not before he added 47 runs with Shakib.

Shakib continued from where he left in the IPL and played sensibly to gather his 25th half century. He was caught and bowled off Raina after making 52 off 58 balls with the help of four boundaries and a six.

Mahmudullah, promoted up the batting order, made 41 while Nasir Hossain (22), Mashrafe (18) and Abdur Razzak (16*) added 43 runs in the last five overs to take the home side to 272 for 9 in 50 overs.

Fast bowler Umesh Yadav bagged three wickets while leg-spinner Amit Mishra and debutant Parvez Rasool grabbed two each for the visitors. l

MUMIT M

Luck continues to desert Tamim Call it hard luck or a nervous start, Tamim Iqbal has once again disappointed with the bat as the 25-year old started off the three-match ODI series against India at home with a 11-ball duck yesterday at Mirpur. After a string of poor outings this year, Tamim had earlier expressed his desire of bouncing back and what could have been a potential turnaround for the dashing southpaw only ended in misery with a bad call from the umpire.

It will be interesting to see how long the selectors keep faith on the Chittagong opener who has been out-of-sorts for a long time now.

Imrul Kayes had a good domestic season while Shamsur Rahman is always a viable option for the opening slot and the duo are constantly knocking at the door of the selectors

‘We were 20 runs short’ Shameful Shakib beats spectator!

Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim thought they were 20 runs short plus they failed to get the things right inside the first 10 overs which cost them the opening ODI against India yesterday.

“We were short by 20 runs. When we bowled, our first ten overs didn’t go to plan. If they were 70-75 at the rain break, they would have needed a lot afterwards which could have made a difference,” said Mushfiqur during the post-match conference.

“The set batsmen should have stayed, and that would have got us to another 20 runs. We were 30-odd in the first ten overs so we had to play catch up with the run-rate. We needed

285-290 in this good wicket, but unfortunately when the set batsmen got out, runs were less,” the wicketkeeperbatsman added.

Meanwhile man of the match, India’s Ajinkya Rahane said, “We’ve got that momentum now and we just want to continue with it. We just want to play this series and later on think about the other series,” said Ajinkya.

The India squad for the three-match series in Dhaka was termed as an under-strength side but Rahane said, “Many players in our side did well in the IPL and everyone is really talented.

It’s a good platform for each and every young player to just express yourself, enjoy yourself and become a better cricketer.” l

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan plunged himself into yet another controversy, this time by raising hands upon a spectator during an international game.

According to one and many who witnessed the incident, including two influential directors of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), the incident took place at the Grand Stand of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday during the first ODI between Bangladesh and India.

The sources informed Dhaka Tribune that the incident started to unfold when the game was stopped due to rain while India were chasing Bangladesh’s total.

male spectator. Officer-in-charge of Mirpur Model Thana, Salauddin, informed the members of the media that the spectator was not arrested.

A couple of BCB directors confirmed that the board came to know about the incident and assured that it will be dealt with seriously.

“The board have learnt about it and is likely to look into the matter,” said the BCB director.

The BCB director went on to say that the incident was in itself unfortunate but at the same time admitted that Shakib has committed a serious offence and said this is not how an international cricketer should conduct himself. l

Five-star Mithun lifts Sheikh Russel

Schweinsteiger takes flight to hospital Bastian Schweinsteiger will be available for Monday’s World Cup clash against Portugal after taking a 60km helicopter flight to hospital to treat a foot injury, the German FA said.

Brazilian media reported that the 29-year-old was flown from the team’s base near Porto Seguro to a clinic in Eunapolis on Saturday with the helicopter option preferred to a trip across the region’s uneven roads. A local Brazilian website – Radar64 – claimed Schweinsteiger was flown to hospital after taking a knock to his left foot in training on Friday.

But the German FA (DFB) insist the hospital visit was for a routine MRI scan, because of his recent knee injury, and he later rejoined the team in Salvador to prepare for Monday’s Group G match at the Arena Fonte Nova. l

Shakib’s wife, Ummey Ahmed Shishir, along with a few of his friends were standing at the Grand Stand when they overheard one spectator talking ill about Shakib and Shishir.

Shakib’s friends reacted promptly to this and charged towards the spectator while in the mean-time Shakib, who was in the dressing room, was informed about the issue.

As per the sources, Shakib rushed to the spot and started beating up the spectator first with his bare hands and then with his footwear. The spectator – a male – was begging for mercy but Shakib did not stop.

Later onwards, police and BCB’s security personnel intervened and took away the

Swiss tennis player Roger Federer holds his trophy after winning his final against Alejandro Falla from Columbia at the ATP Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany yesterday AFP

National forward Mithun Chowdhury netted five times in Sheikh Russel’s massive 7-1 victory over Uttar Baridhara while Abahani returned to winning ways with a comfortable 3-0 win over Brothers Union in the Nitol Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League yesterday.

On the same day, Mohammedan fell to their second consecutive defeat with Sunday Chizoba’s brace guiding Muktijoddha to a hard-fought 3-2 win at the Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni Stadium in Gopalganj.

Nkwocha Kingsley put the home side ahead in the very first

India won by seven wickets (D/L method)

minute before Sunday scored in the 30th and 54th minutes. MSC’s in-form striker Wahed Ahmed pulled back two goals in the 52nd and 57th minutes, but the Muktis made sure they hang on to the lead.

At the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Mithun slammed a sensational hat-trick in the opening half (4th, 29th and 32nd minutes) before adding two more in the 67th and 81st minutes. Sabuj also netted twice inside the last six minutes of the firsthalf. Collins scored the consolation goal for Uttar Baridhara in the 52nd minute.

Meanwhile, the Sky Blues cruised along with the strikes from Morrison and Meshu inside the half hour mark before Jamal Hossain netted in the injury time to hand Brothers a comprehensive defeat. l

with consistent performances.

Yesterday’s duck was his second in his last six international innings which extended his nightmare with the bat.

Recent scores of 0, 5, 16, 6, 5 and 0 is a sheer contrast from the Tamim who made a mockery of the famed English pace-bowling battery at their own backyard or the fearless 17-year old who announced his grand arrival in the cricketing arena by dancing down the wicket to Zaheer Khan in the 2007 ICC World Cup in the Caribbean.

Tamim started cautiously when Bangladesh went in to bat first after winning the toss and initially took his time. Following 10 run-less deliveries, he was beaten by an angular delivery from paceman Umesh Yadav and although at first instance it seemed that he nicked it, replays showed that the bat actually came in contact with the flap of the pad, not the ball. l

Imrul flays Sagicor in T20 win A quickfire 50 off 21 balls from Imrul Kayes finally helped Bangladesh A to a win in their tour of the West Indies as the visitors won the first of two Twenty20s by six wickets against Sagicor High Performance Centre in Barbados on Saturday.

In pursuit of the target of 152, the Bangladesh A openers Imrul and Nurul Hasan (18) gave their side a flying start by adding 50 runs inside the fifth over.

Despite Nurul’s dismissal with the scoreboard reading 54, the second-string national side faced little trouble chasing down the tally as the in-form Imrul was in imperious form, smashing five boundaries and four sixes.

BRIEF SCORE SHPC 151/7 Andre Fletcher 57, Andre Russell 48 Shafiul Islam 3/22, Robiul Islam 2/33 Bangladesh A 152/4 Imrul Kayes 50, Sabbir Rahman 41* Ashley Nurse 2/32 Bangladesh A won by six wickets Middle-order batsman Sabbir Rahman guided the chase from the other end, remaining unbeaten on 41 from 34 balls. Earlier a three-wicket haul from paceman Shafiul Islam restricted Sagicor to 151/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

Sagicor opening batsman Andre Fletcher scored the highest 57 off 43 balls while West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell smashed a breezy 48 off 26 balls to take the hosts past the 150-run mark.

This was Bangladesh A’s first victory in the tour after a barren run in the two four-day matches and the three-match one-day series. The second-string national side lost the four-day series 1-0 while the visitors also conceded the one-day series 3-0. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Monday, June 16, 2014

Super Mario sinks England

REUTERS

Italy delivered a reminder of their qualities of organisation and patience in their 2-1 World Cup victory over England on Saturday but opposing manager Roy Hodgson was encouraged by a display which confirmed the potential of his young talents.

After Uruguay struggled in their 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica earlier in Group D’s opening game both Italy and England will still feel confident that they can make it to the second round.

The game in steamy Manaus may not have had the entertainment value that Costa Rica produced in their surprise win but there was plenty to suggest that the two European teams have more than enough in their arsenal to deal with the bouyant Central Americans.

Italy have a long established habit of winning games they do not dominate and Cesare Prandelli’s 2014 version are evidently no different in that respect.

Inevitably, Italy’s possession play was controlled by the sublime Andrea Pirlo, who despite being a 35-year-old playing in extreme heat and humidity, once again dictated play and almost crowned his performance when he struck the bar with a late free-kick.

In Mario Balotelli, Italy also have a striker who has the invaluable knack of emerging from a largely anonymous performance to grab the decisive goal.

“It was difficult, the climate was tough and England are strong...Italy suffer, they always suffer but the important thing is to win,” said Balotelli.

The Italians took the lead through a well-executed, well-rehearsed setpiece, with Claudio Marchisio driving home after a clever dummy from Pirlo.

After England fought back to level with a Daniel Sturridge goal, Italy restored their advantage with Balotelli’s 50th minute header from a superb Antonio Candreva cross.

For both goals, England’s defending could be questioned - Marchisio was given far too much space and time for his sweetly struck drive and Gary Cahill

Futsal propels Oscar to stardom Brazilian midfielder Oscar credits the skills picked up playing indoor football for his virtuoso World Cup debut.

The Chelsea star played superbly in Brazil’s 3-1 win against Croatia, helping to create two goals before adding an opportunistic late strike.

The 22-year-old said his inspirational performance at Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena had its origins in ‘futsal’, the increasingly popular brand of indoor football which emphasises skill.

The futsal factor could be seen in Oscar’s delightful toe-poked finish for Brazil’s final goal.

“I can’t explain it. I just shot and scored,” Oscar said when asked about his strike.

“It was like something you might do in futsal. A lot of the squad started out playing futsal.

“When you get the chance you shoot, but I was just lucky that the ball went in.”

The goal and the performance marked the coming of age of the slightly-built playmaker, just a week after he became a father for the first time following the birth of his daughter Julia.

Oscar says fatherhood has inspired him to perform.

“Becoming a father gave me extra strength so close to the opening game,” he said.

In the run-up to the game, some observers had called for Oscar, who made his international debut at the age of 20 in 2011 after breaking through with Sao Paulo and then Internacional of Porto Alegre to be replaced.

But coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has given Oscar’s critics, who called for him to be replaced by Chelsea team-mate Willian, short shrift.

A look at Scolari’s team selections since he returned to the helm of the Selecao at the end of 2012 confirms as much.

Only Neymar has played more games for Brazil over the last 18 months and only Neymar and Fred have scored more goals than Oscar, who has six in 20 matches in that time. “’Felipao’ has shown faith in me for a long time,” admits Oscar, before adding: “We have a great team. Nobody is an automatic starter. There is so much competition. Willian, Ramires and Hernanes have shown what they can do. We need to prove ourselves in every game.” l

allowed Balotelli to pull away from him too easily.

But Hodgson was rightly encouraged by the positive play his team produced with the ball, particularly in the second half where they spent large

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

England 1 18 8 9 1 8 1 0 47%

Italy 2 12 5 2 7 12 0 0 53%

swathes of the game in the Italian half.

“I think it was undoubtedly the best I have seen the team play, as a team, during my time with them and it is very good to know that we have so many players who I think will help us become a much better team going forward,” said Hodgson.

“I thought Raheem Sterling was very dangerous throughout the game.

Sterling provided an unpredictable element that English teams of the recent past have lacked - his pace and directness posing the Italian defence questions they struggled to answer, particularly in the first half.

But Italy also offered up some surprises - Matteo Darmian, the Torino rightback, making only his second international appearance offering a double threat with Candreva down England’s left.

Hodgson was disappointed with England’s final pass in the second half as they failed to turn their pressure into real scoring opportunities and that is something his team will need to address when they face a smarting Uruguay in Sao Paulo on Thursday.

England have so often been overhyped at home that it is a strange situation for them to lose an opening World Cup game and leave the impression of encouraging progress.

But for Italy, it was business as usual and the tournament’s favourites will have taken note. l

Hodgson shields Rooney England manager Roy Hodgson defended Wayne Rooney after the Manchester United striker was unable to prevent his team from losing 2-1 to Italy in their opening World Cup match.

Rooney began Saturday’s game in Manaus on the left flank to accommodate Raheem Sterling, and although he teed up Daniel Sturridge for England’s equaliser, he occasionally left left-back Leighton Baines exposed.

The 28-year-old also endured a frustrating night in front of goal, notably lashing one chance wide as England chased the game in the second half.

Hodgson however said that he had performed admirably.

“We wanted to get Raheem Sterling around (Andrea) Pirlo because of his agility and that meant moving Wayne Rooney, and I thought he did well,” Hodgson said after the Group D encounter at a humid Amazonia Arena.

“He set up the goal for us and worked hard, and did well when we moved him into the centre.

“There’s always going to be one player with a big debate around him, but I think it’s harsh for people to criticise his performance, because for me he played well.”

Sturridge’s goal, in the 37th minute, gave England parity after Claudio Marchisio had fired Italy in front two minutes earlier. But Mario Balotelli’s header early in the second period proved decisive.

Sterling played a key role in the equaliser, freeing Rooney with an incisive pass to the left flank, and was a constant source of invention in the number 10 role.

The 19-year-old Liverpool forward’s willingness to run at defenders sowed disarray in the Italian back-line at regular intervals, but Hodgson was reluctant to single him out for praise.

“We thought all the young players did well,” he said. l

Tabarez says Suarez return urgent Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said his team desperately needs star striker Luis Suarez back on the field after being stunned by Costa Rica

on Saturday.

The South American champions slumped to a 3-1 defeat that could kill their hopes of getting through the tough World Cup Group D. And ahead of their clash with England in Sao Paulo on June 19, Tabarez said he needs Suarez to be fully fit.

The 27-year-old Liverpool forward was kitted up on the bench on Saturday, even warming up at one stage but Tabarez deemed he was not fit enough to throw into the fray.

“Suarez is not injured anymore, otherwise he couldn’t have been on the substitutes’ bench,” said Tabarez.

“We’ll see when we can take him into consideration, for us he’s a fundamental player.

“He has the potential to bring a lot to the team he plays for.

“There are four days before the game with England, we’ll see whether or not he can play but the most important thing is the person.”

Uruguay led Costa Rica 1-0 at halftime thanks to an Edinson Cavani pen-

REUTERS

alty. But Tabarez said his team were outfought tactically.

Second half goals from Joel Campbell, Oscar Duarte and Marcos Urena gave Costa Rica a stunning World Cup upset.

“They’re a team with a lot of virtues,” said Tabarez.

“I don’t know what is the best of Costa Rica but today (Saturday) they played really well, they dominated tactically and deserved to win.”

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Tabarez, who insisted his team could bounce back against England and rescue their World Cup hopes.

“The odds have shortened and against England we have to get back on track against a great team that will be very difficult. With what we’ve got and the weapons we have, we have to get back on track and try to redeem ourselves against England.”

Despite starting the group as rank outsiders, Campbell, who played on loan at Olympiakos from Arsenal this last season, believes his side can reach the knock-out rounds.

“The whole team was the star, the whole team played well,” he said.

“Right from the start we knew we could win. We have a very strong mentality and even when we were losing our heads didn’t drop. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

15

Monday, June 16, 2014

Defeated Japan curse Drogba Japanese football fans erupted in joy – then dropped their heads in dismay, cursing Didier Drogba as the Blue Samurai went down 2-1 to Ivory Coast in their World Cup opener.

Thousands of people gathered at sports bars and stadiums across the Land of the Rising Sun to watch the match in Recife live on television on a late Sunday morning in Japan.

“It seemed Drogba did us in all by himself,” former Japan coach Takeshi Okada, who guided the Asian champions to the last-16 round at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, commented in the Brazilian city on public broadcaster NHK. “Now it will take a tremendous amount of energy to carry on our tough job,” said the scholarly 57-year-old.

“We must accept the result as something which Japanese football needed.

We must take it as a trial which must be overcome.”

AC Milan midfielder Keisuke Honda, who scored twice at South Africa 2010, opened the account in the 16th minute.

But the Elephants roared to life after Drogba was sent in at the 62nd minute, with Wilfried Bony and Gervinho scoring in the 64th and 66th minutes.

“Drogba’s arrival turned the tide,” an NHK announcer said.

“Two nightmare minutes!” tweeted the SKyPerfect TV network as social networks were swamped with thou-

sands of messages lamenting the Samurai’s defeat.

“What a devastating way to lose! It really hurts to lose a World Cup opener.

We must forget all about it and keep on attacking,” tweeted one Yosuke Miyake.

At the Tokyo Dome ballpark, some 35,000 people watching the match on huge stadium screens cheered their team on. Japan will face Greece on June 19 in Natal, and Colombia on June 24 in Cuiaba.

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Ivory Coast Japan 2 1 19 7 9 4 8 5 3 1 12 13 2 2 0 0 58% 42%

At the Saitama Stadium in Tokyo’s northern suburbs, home to the J-League side Urawa Reds, one young woman told HNK: “We will be alright next time. I believe, so ‘gambare’ (hang in there)!”

About 800 police guarded a zebra crossing in front of the main station in Shibuya, one of Tokyo’s shopping and entertainment hubs, as football fans bundled out of sports bars.

Many fans, clad in replica Blue Samurai shirts, were seen exchanging high-fives despite Japan’s loss. l

Ivory Coast’s Gervinho (L) and Didier Drogba celebrate their goal against Japan during their 2014 World Cup Group C match at the Pernambuco arena in Recife on Saturday REUTERS

Last-gasp Swiss knife Ecuador Haris Seferovic scored in the last minute of injury time to grab Switzerland a dramatic 2-1 win over Ecuador in their Group E game at the World Cup finals in Brasilia on Sunday.

Seferovic’s winner capped a remarkable comeback by the top seeds in the group as fellow substitute Admer Mehmidi had taken just 121 seconds to make his mark as he levelled the game in the 48th minute.

Enner Valencia had given Ecuador the lead midway through the first-half as he scored for the fifth successive game for his country.

Both teams were not content to settle for a draw even as the match entered time added on and it was Ecuador who looked like they had grabbed the three points when Michael Arroyo was shaping up to shoot inside the area only for a superb tackle by Valon Behrami to dispossess him.

Behrami showing the hard-headed

Swiss Seferovic (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring during their World Cup Group E match against Ecuador at the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia yesterday AFP

experience of a man appearing in his third World Cup finals, then pushed forward and although he was subject to a crunching tackle in the middle of the pitch the referee played a brilliant advantage in waving play on.

The ball was worked out to the left flank and when it was whipped in Seferovic was on hand to tuck the ball inside the near post and send the Swiss contingent wild.

“I really thought this move was delightful,” said the 68-year-old German, who will be mindful that in 2010 the Swiss opened with a win over eventual champions Spain but ended up going out in the first round.

“We reacted intuitively and knew how to take advantage of the Ecuadorean mistake. It is marvellous to win in the last minute as it releases positive energy and is very good for the morale of the team.”

Ecuador coach Reinaldo Rueda said he had been in the game for long enough to not be shocked by losing in that manner.

“Football is like that, you can lose in the last minute. We lost our heads a bit in the final minute but we know that.

Of course it is a tough hit to our morale but my boys have a lot of guts and are able to bounce back. It isn’t as if the Swiss thrashed us.” l

Ghana tipped for USA win FACT BOX Probable teams: Ghana:

12-Adam Kwarasey, 23-Harrison Afful, 20-Kwadwo Asamoah, 21-John Boye, 19-Jonathan Mensah, 5-Michael Essien, 9-Kevin-Prince Boateng, 11-Sulley Muntari, 3-Asamoah Gyan, 13-Jordan Ayew, 10-Andre Ayew.

United States:

1-Tim Howard; 23-Fabian Johnson; 5-Matt Besler; 20-Geoff Cameron; 7-DaMarcus Beasley; 15-Kyle Beckerman; 4-Michael Bradley; 13-Jermaine Jones; 11-Alejandro Bedoya; 8-Clint Dempsey; 17-Jozy Altidore Key Stats:

It is the 30th World Cup game for the United States and Ghana’s 10th.

The U.S. are facing African opponents for the third straight match in the World Cup. Natal is the closest of the World Cup venues to Africa and hosted a huge U.S. military airbase during World War II. Previous Meetings:

The teams have played twice, at the last two World Cups, with Ghana winning both matches 2-1.

Ballance ton turns Test in England’s favour Gary Ballance came to England’s rescue with a maiden Test hundred after Sri Lanka threatened to seize control at Lord’s on Sunday.

England were 267 for eight in their second innings at stumps on the fourth day of the first Test, a lead of 389 runs.

The 24-year-old Ballance, entrusted with the key number three position in only his second Test, was 104 not out

DAY’S WATCH BTV, Gazi TV, Maasranga TV

after going to his century in the last over of the day with a six off spinner Rangana Herath.

Ballance had earlier added 78 for the seventh wicket with debutant Chris Jordan after a top-order collapse.

Sri Lanka now needed to surpass the highest fourth innings total to win a Test at Lord’s.

Things looked very different as England slumped to 121 for six after Shaminda Eranga took three quick wickets

and left-armer Herath followed up with a double strike of his own on the way to figures of four for 95 in 23 overs.

It was a collapse witnessed by Kevin Pietersen, watching from a sponsor’s box at Lord’s, with the South Africa-born batsman, England’s all-time leading run-scorer across all formats, ditched after the 5-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia.

Sri Lanka resumed Sunday on 415 for seven, having avoided the follow-on

thanks mainly to Kumar Sangakkara’s 147 on Saturday.

Mathews, 79 not out overnight, went to a well-deserved century when he cover-drove a James Anderson fulltoss for four.

But one ball after reaching three figures, Mathews was lbw to Liam Plunkett for 102.

Sri Lanka were eventually all out for 453 to give England a first-innings lead of 122. l

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Ghana will kick off their World Cup campaign in Natal tipped to beat the United States on Monday, but their bid for a coveted semi-final place could prove a much harder task.

Ghana eliminated the USA in the knockout round four years ago to make it to the quarter-finals before bowing out to eventual fourth-place finishers Uruguay.

In South Africa, Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac, with Kwesi Appiah as assistant, steered the Black Stars into the last eight.

But they were cruelly denied a place in the last four when Asamoah Gyan failed to convert from the spot following a handball on the goal-line by Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, with Uruguay going on to win the penalty shoot-out.

Four years on and the aim of Appiah, the first Ghanaian to coach the Black Stars at a World Cup, is to take the Africans a stage further.

But with Group G rivals Germany and Portugal widely expected to grab the top two qualifying places, a healthy dose of realism may be required.

Appiah’s side features a host of big

names who ply their trade in Europe, from Juventus wingback Kwadwo Asamoah to AC Milan midfield pair Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari, Schalke forward Kevin-Prince Boateng and striker Jordan Ayew, who plays for Marseille.

Ghana have also recently welcomed back striker Abdul Majeed Waris, who scored nine goals in 16 Ligue 1 appearances for Valenciennes during a sixmonth loan spell from Russian side

V GHANA

USA

Estadio das Dunas, Natal 16 JUN 2014 - 19:00 Local (4:00AM BST) Spartak Moscow, after he returned from injury quicker than expected.

The United States, coached by former German great Jurgen Klinsmann, face atougher task to impress their critics.

Veteran midfielder Kyle Beckerman watched Ghana in a recent 4-0 friendly win over South Korea, in which Ayew struck a hat-trick and where Majeed Waris picked up his knock, and was impressed: “They looked really good.

They’re strong, fast...technically good. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13 Rain, Robin and Rahane down Tigers

Monday, June 16, 2014

14 Tabarez says Suarez return urgent

15 Last-gasp Swiss knife Ecuador

Sport

Germany out to put a leash on Ronaldo FACT BOX Probable teams: Germany:

1-Manuel Neuer, 20-Jerome Boateng, 5-Mats Hummels, 17-Per Mertesacker, 4-Benedikt Hoewedes; 6-Sami Khedira, 16-Philip Lahm; 18-Toni Kroos, 8-Mesut Ozil, 10-Lukas Podolski; 13-Thomas Mueller.

Portugal:

12-Rui Patricio; 21-Joao Pereira, 2-Pepe, 3-Bruno Alves, 5-Fabio Coentrao; 4-Miguel Veloso, 8-Joao Moutinho, 16-Ricardo Meireles; 7-Cristiano Ronaldo, 9-Hugo Almeida, 18-Silvestre Varela.

Key Stats:

Germany have won their opening match in every World Cup since 1990.

In the group round of the last two World Cups, Portugal conceded just once in six matches.

Germany striker Miroslav Klose is one strike away from equaling a tournament record of 15 goals held

by Brazilian striker Ronaldo.

With 19 World Cup match appearances, Klose could move closer to Lothar Matthaeus’ record of 25, or even pass it if Germany reach the last four and he plays every game.

This is the 100th World Cup match contested by Germany, who are the first team to reach this milestone.

Previous meetings:

The sides square up for the 18th time and it is Germany who have fared better historically with 9 wins to Portugal’s 3.

Last meeting:

June 9, 2012, Lviv, Ukraine, Euro group stage - Germany 1 Portugal 0

Germany kick-off their World Cup campaign on Monday aiming to continue their domination of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal at recent major

tournaments.

The Germans enjoyed wins over Portugal at the 2006 World Cup, plus both of the last two European championships and want to get their Group G campaign off to a flying start with a fourth consecutive win.

The pre-match build-up in Salvador has focused on whether or not Ronal-

THE BIG MATCH

V GERMANY

PORTUGAL

Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador 16 JUN 2014 - 13:00 Local (10:00PM BST) do will be fit to play at the Arena Fonte Nova after a knee and thigh injury.

The 29-year-old took a full part in Portugal’s training session on Saturday with team-mates William Carvalho and goalkeeper Eduardo both saying he will play.

Eduardo insists the Portugal squad are highly motivated to erase memories of a “disastrous” 2010 campaign which ended in the last 16 at the hands of eventual winners Spain. But all eyes have been on the world player of the year’s recovery, despite Ronaldo’s return to play 65 minutes of Portugal’s final warm-up in their 5-1 drubbing of Ireland.

The Real Madrid forward, whose form and fitness will be vital to Portugal’s chances, has had a heavy strapping on his knee in training. But as Germany defender Benedikt Hoewedes pointed out: “This isn’t Germany against Ronaldo, but Germany against Portugal”.

Germany midfielder Sami Khedira claims his Real Madrid team-mate has told him this is Portugal’s time to break their German bogey.

Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski says the Germans respect dead-ball specialist Ronaldo, but there is no fear.

“He is certainly extremely dangerous and can decide games, but we also have players capable of doing that. If we produce a good performance, then it doesn’t matter what he does.”

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is set to play, but has laboured with injury to his right shoulder while vice-captain Bastian Schweinsteiger is struggling for fitness after tendinitis of the knee.

Coach Joachim Loew only has one striker in his squad with 36-year-old Miroslav Klose just one short of equalling Ronaldo’s all-time record of 15 goals at World Cup finals.

Arsenal’s attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil is set to be pushed up front as a ‘False Nine’ with Bayern Munich’s Toni Kroos taking over in central midfield.

One factor which could play into the hands of Paulo Bento’s fleet-footed Portuguese is Loew’s decision to move captain Philipp Lahm from right-back into midfield.

Loew is set to play four centre-backs with Mats Hummels partnering Per Mertesacker with Jerome Boateng and Hoewedes used as wing-backs. l

Alejandro Sabella - a sound tactician, on and off the field him in the presser.

The press queried nearly ten times regarding what system Sabella would deploy. “I don’t know. I still have 24 hours to decide,” was the reply.

What do you mean? the Argentine coach does not know what will be his system on the eve of his World Cup opener?

from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Argentine coach Alejandro Sabella, regarded as a sound tactician in the field, is no different off the field also. It was evident in the pre-match presser of Argentina as Sabella appeared as a fierce defender against all the attacking intentions of the press and stood solid till it concluded. He categorically stated that he does not like the favorite tag labeled on Argentina.

After a successful stint as the manager of Estudiantes in his homeland, he took over the reins of the national team in August 2011 and achieved World Cup qualification while suffering only two defeats. His first move as Argentina manager was to make Messi captain – a responsibility the Barcelona genius has thrived on since. He has tried to build the team around his star and has been reaping fruits.

While at Estudiantes, Sabella, a disciple of Carlos Bilardo favored a robust 5-3-2 format with its defensive options while deploying a deep lying play-maker and hitting on the counter. And he has tried to incorporate the same with Messi lying deep. No wonder it was the most asked question thrown towards

“I don’t know does not mean that I don’t know what will be my system. I have a number of options and am still to decide what to implement. I will talk with my players before taking the final decision. I think Messi also have something to say,” was the answer this time.

You have used a couple of formations in the build-up to the World Cup. What will be there against Bosnia?

“We beat Bosnia 2-0 in a friendly and now it’s the World Cup. So it’s a different level and it should not be compared.

As it’s a match of top level, the strategy would be different. I can’t tell you what I am going to do as it is in the future. I am not a predictor,” said Sabella.

Argentina is the favorite to win the World Cup.

“You can think it but I don’t like the words. It really means nothing. After all, nobody knows what is going to happen in the field. You can’t foresee a

Portugal’s forward Cristiano Ronaldo takes part in a training session at the team’s base camp in Campinas on Saturday

Thank god for a fully clothed Andrea

result. I want to focus on Bosnia match.

I am not focused on the trophy right now,” answered Sabella.

People say you will adopt a defensive tactic even though you have all the attacking flairs.

“Football depends on both attack and defense. You can’t attack without defending well and without good defending, you can’t attack also. The fitness, attack, defense as a whole are important,” he replied.

What about Messi?

“He is a player to be protected for the best of the team. He is the player who can lift the team. He is a very important player,” said Sabella.

Do you think refereeing was poor in the Brazil-Croatia match?

“Referees are the men who do not have any supporter in the field. They are human also and have to absorb enormous pressure. Only humans make mistake. I expect referees to be positive,” said Sabella.

Asked to comment on Spain’s 5-1 humiliation, Sabella said they had to start their trip to Rio for the Bosnia game and could see just two goals of the match.

“It would not be respectful to comment on something I don’t know and have not seen,” concluded Sabella. l

I was belching halwa, particularly boot er halwa (someone please get the joke), boot world cup halwa? Thanks so much.

Some newspaper journalist mistaking me as a football expert, much like the Tribune editor, called me for my predictions for the night. I confidently told her that playing Uruguay was going to costa rica some pride. I also said that Greece was too disciplined to be beguiled by the Columbian circus. Had she called me the night before I would have told her that Spain was going to cleverly make the Dutch dance to their tiki taka flamenco. How delightfully I have been proved a fool so far.

The results of the first four days have confounded all of us. The abundance of clothing in the stadiums has too. What is with fully clothed people filling the stands.

Are we in Qatar already?? Seriously, one of the many reasons why some of us have made it a point to watch each and every second of this tournament is to witness the wonder of how little clothing people, and particularly women, can get by with.

No one performs such sartorial miracles better than the Brazilians. So my question again is, what the frog is up with all the clothes. To make matters worse, Puma has designed a good portion of the teams’ jerseys. Brilliantly fitting stuff. You can see every sinew and every muscle of the players, which I am sure is pleasing to those who

have the taste for it. I personally don’t care one way or the other when Samuel Eto’o takes the field in what looks like yellow undergarments. What I do have an issue with is the fans wearing the same jerseys. The problem you see is that most of these fans are built more like Iresh Zaker than Samuel Eto’o. So what we have the pleasure of seeing is a bunch of middle aged men dancing away while each and every ounce of their adipose count is in full view. A far cry from the carnivalesque aesthetics that I was expecting.

Still I don’t complain, at least not too much. The games have been brilliant.

The players have been brilliant, though Xavi looks like he has lost his car keys.

Speaking of brilliance, I would be remiss if I did not write something about a certain Andrea Pirlo. I swear when the camera is not on him he quickly changes into an expensive stuff, pours a glass of very expensive wine, and listens to Mahler on his ipod. It is not humanly possible for a person to be that classy while running around in shorts and t-shirts for 90+ minutes. And he hardly sweats, or runs for that matter. Yet almost everything he does just reeks of class. The last free-kick against England. Thirty yards out. He did not spread his legs like Ronaldo, nor did he make the face of death like Messrs Suarez or Rohaldinho do. He just looked up, with lazy eyes, at a point that resides some place between the 16th and 19th dimensions of parallel existence. Then he stepped up and casually took the shot that bumfuzzled the ghost of Lev Yashin. After missing by an inch, he calmly resumed his usual business. This paean his hard for me to write because I am an English fan, and the Italian wine and playmaker has caused me abundant grief.

But Andrea is really that good. This is his last world cup, and when the 21 is passed on to the melancholy hallways of history, the lazy eyes and graceful mien will be sorely missed. l

AFP

Super Eagles ready to soar over Iran Planet Football looked altogether different the last time Nigeria or Iran, who kick off their Group F adventure at Curitiba’s box-like Baixada Arena on Monday, won a match at a World Cup. Back then, in another millennium, Brazil were the reigning champions while Spain wondered whether their long record of failure would ever end.

Since France 1998, when Nigeria were a power to be reckoned with after beating Spain and Bulgaria to top their group, the Super Eagles have struggled to get off the ground in the tournament proper.

Monday’s is a match both sides will see as a must-win if they are to have any

V IRAN

NIGERIA

Arena da Baixada, Curitiba 16 JUN 2014 - 16:00 Local (1:00AM BST) chance of progressing from a group that includes Messi’s heavily-fancied Argentina and exciting debutants Bosnia.

Coach Stephen ‘Big Boss’ Keshi, who captained the 1994 Nigerian side that reached the second round as winners of a group that also included former champions Argentina, is hoping to rekindle some of that magic.

Then, as now, Nigeria arrive as the African champions and even if their current squad is unpredictable and lacking the charisma and firepower of old, they will still start as favourites.

Nigeria’s finals record since that last victory in France stands at two draws and six defeats, even if they won the African Nations Cup in 2013.

Iran’s resume makes no better reading.

Since they beat political foes the United States 2-1 in a memorable 1998 night in Lyon, a win sandwiched between two defeats, ‘Team Melli’ have been no more than World Cup makeweights. l

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B3 Citi awards small entrepreneurs

B4 G77 summit seeks new development pledges

MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Invest more in infrastructures

PERCENTAGE SHARE OF ECONOMIC UNITS BY LOCALITY

ADB President says 3% of GDP expenditure on infrastructure not enough

Takehiko Nakao addressing a press conferemce in Dhaka yesterday

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Asian Development Bank President Takehiko Nakao has urged Bangladesh to invest more in infrastructure development to become a middle income country – a vision of Bangladesh.

It spends only 3% of GDP on infrastructure, which is not enough as compared to 15% in China, he told a press conference at ADB’s Bangladesh Resident Mission in Dhaka yesterday, following his meetings with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

He discussed with government officials about reform in value added tax and stronger enforcement administra-

NASHIRUL ISLAM

tion of tax collection.

Nakao arrived in the city Saturday on a two-day official visit to Bangladesh. He is scheduled to visit some ADB projects here today.

He stressed on increasing investment in infrastructure through mobilising increased revenue, which is still very low as percentage of GDP. He also emphasised on the need for skills development and business climate improvement as the country targets middle-income status.

The ADB president raised the issue at a time when local economists and businessmen were taking up the issue, besides calling for political stability, with the government to help attract

private investment for becoming a middle income country.

“Bangladesh is changing very fast and it has potentiality to become middle income country,” he said. “Actually it [Bangladesh] is changing very fast and growth rate has been very strong.”

He said Bangladesh enjoys stability for long compare to other neighbouring countries. “Security condition is stable and there is no threat of terrorist attack.” Pakistan has been facing consistent terrorist attacks while Sri Lanka concluded its decades-old civil war two years back.

“In the world, some people still regard Bangladesh as very prone to cyclone and other natural disasters like

flooding and also people might regard Bangladesh as a poor country. But actually it is changing,” he said.

Investment climate is improving, growth rate is stable at 6% level and inflation rate has been contained, he added. He, however, said people empowerment, education quality improvement and lack of investment in infrastructure are three major challenges.

Earlier, Nakao assured officials that ADB will continue to assist Bangladesh’s efforts to address infrastructure needs, including power, gas, roads, railways and urban services; and secondary education and vocational training.

ADB will also strengthen support to regional connectivity and energy trade, while continuing investments to enhance agriculture and rural productivity for higher income and more jobs, he said. Since 1973, ADB provided 241 loans worth over $15 billion to Bangladesh.

In his meeting with the PM, the ADB president assured of continued support to infrastructure development of Bangladesh and disaster management, saccording to a BSS report.

Hasina thanked him and said the support would contribute accelerating the development efforts of the country. She also called for ADB support to food processing and labour intensive industries.

Meanwhile, following a meeting with Finance Minister Muhith, Nakao urged the government to enhance its project implementation capacity as the ADB is increasing its capacity here too.

“ADB is also trying to improve its own internal process to accelerate procurement and project management, as well as delegating more authority to resident missions including the one in Dhaka,” he told reporters. l

Rural economy expands faster in last decade n Tribune Report The country’s rural economy has expanded remarkably in a decade, contributing to help cut the rate of poverty, says a study of national statistics agency.

Economic units in the rural areas grew 72% in 2013 compared to 62.61% in 2003 and, during the period, economic units in the urban areas declined to 27.96% from 37.39%, according to preliminary data on the Economic Census 2013 of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

Non-farm economic unit grew over more than 10% year-on-year, it said.

The final reports will be published by June 2015. The survey covered temporary and permanent establishments and economic households.

An economic unit is any player that contributes to the country’s gross domestic product, starting from rickshaw-pullers to large garment factories. Agriculture has been excluded from the survey as the statistical agency conducts a separate census for it.

The report was presented at a workshop on Preliminary Report and Proposed Tabulation Plan at the BBS auditorium in the city yesterday. Some of statistics of the report was also pub-

lished in November last year.

Conducted by the BBS between March 31 and May 31 last year, the survey found the number of economic units to be 80.75 lakh, up 118% from the previous edition of the survey published in 2003.

The total number of economic units in 2003 was 37.08 lakh, an increase of 71% from 1986, when the first edition of the survey came out.

Of the total economic units, the number of permanent establishments accounted for over 56% to 45.35 lakh in 2013, while the number of temporary establishments made up over 6% to 5 lakh and households 37.6% to 30 lakh, implying that the Bangladesh economy is getting sustainable and moving towards industrialisation, according to the report.

The highest number of economic units was set up in Dhaka, followed by Chittagong, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet. Dhaka has been persistently the house of the highest number of economic units with strong upward trend as the number increased to nearly 26 lakh in 2013 from 12 lakh in 2003.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Economic Affairs Dr Mashiur Rahman  B3 COLUMN 4

Economists emphasise Exports reach $27.37bn in July-May period political stability to attract n private investment Tribune Report

n Tribune Report Former finance advisor to the caretaker government ABM Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday observed that achieving GDP growth in the next financial year would not be possible without boosting private sector investment in the country.

“Apart from now, continuation of political stability in the next 5 to 10 years is a must for attracting the private investment in various sectors,” said Azizul Islam while addressing a discussion titled “Budget 2014-15: Views of Business Community.”

Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Policy Research Institute (PRI) have jointly orgainsed the programme at the MCCI office in the city to hear from the economists and businessmen from various sectors on the proposed budget.

In the new budget, the government has set 7.3% GDP growth, while it also has a target to achieve 8% GDP growth by 2015 and 10% by 2021.

To attract private investments, Azizul Islam suggested improving efficiency of the government officials, reducing corruption, creating skilled manpower, ensuring security to life and wealth, providing utility enough services including gas and electricity.

Private investments would not be increased until and unless the bank’s interest rate is not reduced and availability of the bank loans is ensured.

The people don’t get any benefit from the development projects because of the lengthy implementation process, he added.

M.A Mannan, state minister for fi-

nance and planning, also blamed the political instability for the failure in achieving GDP target.

He, however, noted that the proposed GDP in the budget was achievable as the government is trying its best to ensure investment-friendly environment in the country.

In response to a quarry, the minister replied: The government will consider the fixing the tax on lands and house rents on the basis of the location.

“Last year’s growth target was not achieved due to the political volatility but we sincerely hope that the government will find the means to implement the budget successfully to achieve the target,” said MCCI president Rokia Afzal Rahman.

She also said: The proposed budget reflects the government’s planning for the next five years with a plan to ensure stability and policy continuity, which is much needed for the business community in Bangladesh as well as foreign investors to bring back the confidence.

She also urged to the government to fix a cap on its bank borrowing limit as the high state borrowing might put negative impact on the country’s private sector investment.

“The budget will need to have a cushion to cut the spending. One the way to that would be to withhold allocation for controversial projects like Rupur Nuclear Power Project and Rampal Coal-based Power plant and making maximum allocations for the non-controversial projects,” said executive director of Policy Research Institute Ahsan H Mansur, in his key note paper. l

Bangladesh earnings from the export sector reached $27.37bn in first 11 months of the current fiscal year, posting 12.56% growth from a year earlier, showed Export Promotion Bureau data.

The amount was $24.32bn during June-May period last year.

As usual, the garment sector has made the highest contribution to the earnings.

The apparel exports registered

14.83% rise to $22.17bn, according to the data released yesterday. But the apparel exporters expected better performance as the country supplied jerseys worth $1bn for FIFA World Cup 2014.

“The RMG export growth is less than our expectation. As we supplied World Cup jerseys this year, the growth should have been better,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Exporters Association (BEA).

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufactur-

A four-day housing fair will begin on Wednesday in the port city.

Real Estate Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) is organising the fair at Table Tennis Complex at Chittagong Club premises.

State Minister for Land Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed is expected to inaugurate the fair featuring

quality and safety.

Chittagong Development Authority Chairman Abdus Salam and Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam will also be present as special guests, said a statement at a press conference yesterday.

REHAB General Secretary Md Wahiduzzaman, Zonal Standing Committee Chairman Engineer

slightly lower than the strategic target.

In May, Bangladesh earned $2.72bn compared to $2.53bn one year ago.

In July-May, Bangladesh exported knitwear and woven products of $10.91bn and $11.25bn respectively. l During the period, frozen food earned $578.44m, tea $3.38m, pharmaceuticals $64m, leather and leather goods $468.63m and footwear $493.76m. They all rose in figures compared to the previous year. l

Samsung seeks handset tax reduction

Banks asked to help import Ramadan n Muhammad Zahidul Islam essentials Legal supply of high and medium-end mobile phone handsets may be affectn Tribune Report ed by at least 30% if the government Bangladesh Bank (BB) has asked the commercial banks to facilitate opening LCs (letter of credit) to import essential commodities ahead of the holy month of Ramadan to help keep the prices at tolerable level.

Banks have been advised to provide all kinds of assistances to the importers, so they can open LCs easily, taking necessary loan facilities, said a BB circular issued yesterday. As the central bank continued its effort to keep the inflation at tolerable rate, it has asked the banks to facilitate LC openings to ensure uninterrupted import of the essential commodities just ahead of Ramadan, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

“As the demand of essential commodities will be increased during Ramadan, we need to support the importers to further enhance the supply chain to meet the growing demand,” he said.

The value of LC opening increased by 14% to US$1.37bn in the first two weeks of May compared to $1.2bn in the same period of previous month, according to the data of BB. l

continues the proposed tax hike on the products, said Samsung quoting from a global study.

The handset maker presented the study report to Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday who assured of considering the demand of withdrawal of the tax increase.

The proposed budget for FY2014-15 increased value added tax (Vat) to 15% and imposed 5% advance income tax (AIT) on handset imports.

Samsung, one of the top global highend handset brands, sees it would have a negative impact in terms of 3G Internet penetration if the proposed taxes are not withdrawn.

The company also sought three-year exemption from customs duties on smartphones.

Bangladesh has been with the third generation mobile broadband for stateowned operator Teletalk since October 2012 while for private operators the service was made available only in September last year.

However, AMA Muhith told the

REHAB fair begins Wednesday in port city n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

ers and Exporters Association provided the jersey export data. But according to the EPB officials, the export growth is quite satisfactory as the sector defied all odds it faced during the period.

“It’s a good news for the country that the RMG has been able to maintain export growth despite persisting political instability and the country’s biggest factory disaster.”

The data provided by the Bureau showed the 11-month exports figure is

SM Abu Sufian, Fair Committee Convener Engineer Iftekhar Hossain and Joint Convener Abdul Quader Jilani were present at the presser.

The fair will continue till Saturday.

A total of 67 stalls will be set up in the fair, of them, REHAB members will open 47, construction materials firms 16 and financial organi-

sations four stalls.

A seminar will also be held on the sidelines of the fair on construction issues.

There will be a “Kids Day” on June 20 and other amusement programmes for children as an effort to attract visitors.

The fair are co-sponsored by six business firms and seven others organisations. l

Samsung officials that he would talk to the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry and stakeholders.

“We tried to make him (finance minister) understand the situation. It seems he is going to consider our demands,” Hasan Mehdi, head of mobile

The price hike will result in the value proposition for an individual to the leap downward. The Mid-end consumers will shift to low-end handsets phone section of Samsung Electronics in Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting with AMA Muhith.

Choon Soo Moon, managing director of Samsung Electronics Bangladesh, along with some of senior executives also attended the meeting.

Local handsets brand Symphony and leaders of Association of Mobile

Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) are also scheduled to meet with the finance minister in a day or two regarding the same issue, said finance ministry sources.

On 5 June, finance minister proposed 15% Vat on handsets import increasing from the existing 10%. He also proposed 5% AIT. If the taxes are implemented, a handset of Tk5,000 will become of Tk7,637, Samsung officials told the finance minister.

The officials also shared a price sensitivity study with the finance minister. The study, run by a leading global research agency Millward Brown, said the demand of smartphones could be hampered by approximately 35%.

“Due to the price hike, the consumers will opt the handset that best meets their affordability. This will result in the value proposition for an individual to the leap downward. The Mid-end consumers will shift to low-end handsets,” said a Samsung statement.

It said the proposed tax structure will also affect the government’s income from the sector by 18%.

Around 20% of nearly 3 crore handsets imported annually the country are smart phones. l

B2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stock

Stocks start the week on back foot

DSE key features June 15, 2014

n Tribune Report

Number of Contract

to Tk36.7 on its offer price of Tk30 a share. The stock also featured second in the liquidity chart with Tk32.6 crore, making up over 10% of the total turnover.

Lanka Bangla Securities said investors have continued their cautious mood amid concern over lower private investment and the sluggish pace of job creation.

IDLC Investments said lately investors seemed focusing on market level dynamics.

In absence of any significant issues, waves of profit booking flooded the market, it said, adding that eventually, support level of 4,400 points had to give away, losing 47 points, succumbing to the large selling pressure.

“After neutralising budget-specific issues, investors started thinking about upcoming half-yearly and yearly earnings or corporate declarations. Besides, their persistent follow of ‘wait and see’ approach caused activity to freeze.”

Grameenphone (GP) that continued to rally ahead of its interim dividend decelerations was the most traded stock with turnover of over Tk30 crore changing hands.

After GP and Peninsula, other top turnover leaders included BSRM Steel, Lafarge Surma Cement, Meghna Petroleum, Delta Life Insurance and Mobil Jamuna Bangladesh Ltd. l

Stocks fell yesterday with low volume of trade as investors continued to adopt cautious mood on concern of sluggish private investment.

From the morning session, market quickly slipped away on strong selling pressure mainly on textile, pharmaceuticals and fuel stocks.

The benchmark index DSEX dropped over 47 points or 1% to settle at 4,361, extending its losing streak for the second consecutive session.

The comprising blue chips DS30 was down 20 points or 1% to 1,618.

The Shariah Index DSES closed at 1,007, shedding nearly over 10 points or 1%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, lost 100 points to 8,309.

The volume of trade in value continued to drop as the turnover at DSE dipped to Tk314 crore, down almost 15% over the previous session.

All the major sectors ended lower except telecommunications, which gained 2.48%.

Power was the biggest loser as it edged down by 2.7%, followed by pharmaceuticals 1.7%, non-banking financial institutions 1.6%, food and allied 1.27%, and banks 0.4%.

Peninsula Hotel Chittagong in its first trading day gained over 22%

DSE GAINERS Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

3,141.61

Turnover (Volume)

65,609,271 104,785

Traded Issues

291

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

54

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

230

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,283.64

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.68

CSE key features June 15, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

233.18

Turnover (Volume)

Daily capital market highlights

6,237,080

Number of Contract

16,280

DSE Broad Index :

4361.58647

(-) 1.07%

▼

Traded Issues

197

DSE Shariah Index :

1007.71728

(-) 1.03%

▼

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

36

DSE - 30 Index :

1618.20573

(-) 1.21%

▼

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

158

CSE All Share Index:

13473.17420

(-) 1.10%

▼

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

CSE - 30 Index :

10983.73750

(-) 1.28%

▼

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,198.64

8309.74620

(-) 1.20%

▼

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.65

CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS

Jute SpinnersA Wata Chemicals -A Progressive Life-A Grameen1:Scheme2 -A G Next Fashions-A Unique Hotel RL - A National Housing Fin.-B AIMS First -A

-7.56 -7.17 -6.94 -5.52 -5.41 -5.35 -5.26 -4.98

Average (% change) -7.56 0.10 -6.81 -3.09 -4.04 -4.39 -2.25 -2.56

BD Building Systems -A S Purbanchol Power-N

-4.86 -4.73

-2.91 -3.11

Company

Closing (% change)

CSE LOSERS

Wata Chemicals -A Fareast Finance-Z Federal Insu.-A MBL 1st M. F.-A Pioneer Insur -A AIMS First -A Bangladesh Welding -Z Eastern Cables-A

-18.60 -5.75 -5.45 -5.36 -5.00 -4.99 -4.96 -4.91

Average (% change) -18.63 -4.70 -5.26 -4.51 -5.00 -3.87 -5.42 -4.11

G Next Fashions-A Hwa Well Textiles-N

-4.89 -4.88

-3.40 -5.39

Company

Closing (% change)

ANALYST

Closing average

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 225.06 52.32 49.39 342.17 135.48 318.67 1.81 342.57 275.65 0.17 56.62 40.26 11.05 180.17 14.95 25.54 106.15 461.99 378.84 122.29 0.49

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

Latest PE

55.00 301.42 122.00 15.69 17.83 70.40 27.80 38.88

55.00 279.80 122.00 15.40 17.50 69.00 27.00 38.20

55.20 327.70 133.80 16.40 18.50 72.90 28.50 40.20

55.00 0.00 118.00 15.40 0.00 0.00 0.00 38.10

0.055 34.422 1.220 6.627 50.113 34.901 1.917 3.655

-43.81 6.24 2.30 1.70 2.28 2.84 2.32 5.00

-ve 48.3 53.0 9.2 7.8 24.8 12.0 7.8

56.15 43.00

54.80 42.30

57.20 44.30

0.00 42.10

12.791 10.097

3.01 4.24

18.7 10.1

Closing average

Closing

Daily high

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A Mithun Knitting -A Al-Haj Textile -A Kohinoor Chem -A Desh Garments -B Rahim Textile -A Shinepukur Cera-Z Samata LeatheR -Z 8th ICB M F-A

297.10 8.20 19.10 5.30 49.40 38.10 11.50 137.60

298.00 8.40 19.10 5.30 49.40 38.40 11.60 140.50

297.00 8.10 19.10 5.20 49.40 37.20 11.50 137.20

0.238 0.179 0.023 0.024 0.025 0.076 0.081 0.069

6.24 0.12 1.36 1.44 5.16 5.00 0.48 2.03

47.6 69.3 14.0 3.7 9.6 7.6 24.0 68.3

17.88 39.50

17.50 39.00

18.40 41.20

17.40 38.90

4.889 1.402

2.28 3.99

7.8 9.9

After neutralising budget-specific issues, investors started thinking about upcoming half-yearly and yearly earnings or corporate declarations

% change 7.16 1.67 1.57 10.89 4.31 10.14 0.06 10.90 8.77 0.01 1.80 1.28 0.35 5.73 0.48 0.81 3.38 14.71 12.06 3.89 0.02

Million Taka 12.72 4.34 2.01 24.48 8.78 18.84 26.79 13.18 12.08 1.91 13.66 0.92 7.34 1.37 0.46 6.23 27.21 72.53 14.46 0.01

% change 4.72 1.61 0.75 9.09 3.26 7.00 0.00 9.95 4.89 4.49 0.71 5.07 0.34 2.73 0.51 0.17 2.31 10.10 26.93 5.37 0.00

Million Taka 237.79 56.66 51.40 366.65 144.26 337.51 1.81 369.36 288.83 12.25 58.53 53.92 11.97 187.51 16.32 26.00 112.37 489.20 451.38 136.75 0.50

Total

5.15 5.08 5.06 4.60 4.14 4.00 3.76 3.64 3.30 3.01

CSE GAINERS Company Samata LeatheR -Z Mithun Knitting -A Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z Apex SpinningA NLI 1st M F-A Grameenphone-A Imam Button -Z Beximco Syn.-Z BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Shinepukur Cera-Z

Closing (% change) 7.41 4.66 4.41 3.94 3.33 2.88 2.74 2.04 2.04 1.82

Average (% change) 4.09 5.85 3.92 0.90 2.43 2.17 2.76 3.28 3.66 2.26 Average (% change) 7.41 5.24 3.59 3.50 3.33 1.73 3.02 3.80 6.14 3.33

Closing average 14.25 6.15 109.90 184.26 393.00 118.23 348.41 11.32 28.33 68.00

Closing average 29.00 111.40 14.15 84.50 9.30 303.90 7.50 10.11 25.42 11.18

Closing 14.30 6.20 112.20 186.30 399.50 119.70 348.10 11.40 28.20 68.40

Closing 29.00 112.20 14.20 84.50 9.30 307.60 7.50 10.00 25.00 11.20

Daily high 14.50 6.40 113.70 188.20 404.00 121.00 355.00 11.50 28.70 69.90

Daily high 29.00 113.30 14.30 84.50 9.30 308.90 7.50 9.90 26.30 11.20

Daily low 5.70 114.10 336.00 27.30 66.90

Daily low 29.00 109.50 14.00 84.50 9.30 297.10 7.50 10.00 23.30 10.90

Turnover in million 6.774 3.051 58.484 40.863 0.505 10.002 5.052 2.778 0.085 0.068

Turnover in million 0.435 1.938 0.750 0.017 0.009 22.550 0.011 1.096 11.600 0.125

Latest EPS 0.04 1.49 2.69 2.00 9.37 0.96 11.16 0.64 0.09 7.96

Latest EPS 0.09 2.69 0.04 1.85 1.36 15.28 -1.85 0.76 0.59 0.64

Latest PE 356.3 4.1 40.9 92.1 41.9 123.2 31.2 17.7 314.8 8.5

Latest PE 322.2 41.4 353.8 45.7 6.8 19.9 -ve 13.3 43.1 17.5

News from trade server DELTALIFE: The Board of Directors has recommended 11% cash dividend and 25% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The board has also decided to amend certain clauses of the Articles of Association of the Company to conform to the Insurance Act, 2010, Insurance Rules and the judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh dated 20.06.2013 and other relevant laws subject to the approval of the shareholders in EGM. Date of AGM and EGM: 20.07.2014, Time for AGM and EGM: 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM respectively, Venue: Delta Life Tower, Plot# 37, Road# 45 (south) & 90 (north), Gulshan Circle-2, Dhaka-1212. Record date for AGM and EGM: 25.06.2014.

PENINSULA: (Q3): The Company has reported its profit after tax Tk. 45.29 million and basic EPS Tk. 0.78 for the 3 (three) months ended on 31 March 2014 (Jan 2014 - March 2014) as against profit after tax of Tk. 38.65 million and basic EPS of Tk. 0.67 for the same period of the previous year. It is to be noted that basic EPS has been calculated based on

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Grameenphone-A The Peninsula CTG.-N BSRM Steels-A LafargeS Cement-Z Meghna Petroleum -A Delta Life Insu. -A MJL BD Ltd.-A

CSE

Closing (% change)

weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number of shares i.e. 58,016,000 shares both for 2014 and 2013. However, considering Post-IPO 113,016,000 number of shares the Company's basic EPS for the 3 (three) months ended on 31 March 2014 would be Tk. 0.40. For the period of 9 (nine) months (July 2013 to March 2014) ended on 31 March 2014 profit after tax was Tk. 112.40 million and basic EPS was Tk. 1.94 as against profit after tax of Tk. 107.63 million and basic EPS of Tk. 1.86 for the same period of the previous year. It is to be noted that the said EPS has been calculated based on weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number shares i.e. 58,016,000 both for 2014 and 2013. However, considering Post-IPO 113,016,000 number of shares, Company's basic EPS would be Tk. 0.99 for 9 (nine) months ended on 31 March 2014 (July 2013 to March 2014) and NAV per share would be Tk. 32.37 as on 31 March 2014.

EMERALDOIL: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the entity rating of the Company as "BB1" based on audited financial

statements of the Company up to 2013, bank liability (30 June 2013) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

BANKASIA: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the surveillance rating of the Company as "AA3" in the long term and "ST-2" in the short term based on audited financial statements of the Company up to 31 December 2013 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

STANDBANKL: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the surveillance rating of the Company as "AA3" in the long term and "ST-2" in the short term based on audited financial statements of the Company up to 31 December 2013 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

ACI: 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.

Latest PE

297.28 8.31 19.10 5.29 49.40 38.03 11.51 138.68

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

Daily high

Monday, June 16, 2014

% change 6.97 1.66 1.51 10.75 4.23 9.89 0.05 10.83 8.47 0.36 1.72 1.58 0.35 5.50 0.48 0.76 3.29 14.34 13.23 4.01 0.01

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Olympic Ind. -A Square Pharma -A

Mithun Knitting -A Eastern Housing -A G Next Fashions-A BD Submarine Cable-A Appollo Ispat CL -N CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company The Peninsula CTG.-N

Grameenphone-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A BSRM Steels-A Delta Life Insu. -A Appollo Ispat CL -N G Next Fashions-A BD Submarine Cable-A Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A Square Pharma -A Meghna Petroleum -A UNITED AIR-A LafargeS Cement-Z Aftab Auto.-A MJL BD Ltd.-A

Volume shares 1,359,618 8,485,600 1,170,094 1,196,500 305,543 409,400 853,122 2,884,411 294,475 228,545

532,150 799,780 2,810,089 268,648 1,569,000

Volume shares

1,809,800 74,200 456,247 118,605 30,950 186,200 273,500 25,500 193,500 15,596 15,603 309,584 39,500 32,620 29,750

Value in million 412.87 325.41 106.30 100.38 81.67 79.11 75.78 73.31 64.59 64.03

58.48 51.22 50.11 49.12 44.43

Value in million

68.26 22.55 11.60 10.77 5.95 5.24 4.89 4.66 4.66 4.36 4.17 3.47 3.31 2.76 2.63

% of total turnover 13.14 10.36 3.38 3.20 2.60 2.52 2.41 2.33 2.06 2.04

1.86 1.63 1.60 1.56 1.41

% of total turnover

30.05 9.93 5.11 4.74 2.62 2.31 2.15 2.05 2.05 1.92 1.84 1.53 1.46 1.22 1.16

Daily closing 307.90 36.70 90.00 84.10 266.30 187.40 87.10 25.00 218.40 279.80

112.20 62.90 17.50 181.10 27.80

Daily closing

36.60 307.60 25.00 90.10 188.50 27.80 17.50 181.90 23.80 279.60 266.30 11.10 83.80 83.80 87.10

Price change 2.87 0.00 -0.66 1.94 -1.52 -3.35 -4.07 1.63 -2.54 -1.31

Daily opening 299.30 0.00 90.60 82.50 270.40 193.90 90.80 24.60 224.10 283.50

Daily high 308.70 45.00 92.50 85.40 270.80 199.50 90.80 26.40 225.00 283.00

Daily low 0.00 36.50 0.00 82.00 0.00 186.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Daily average 303.67 38.35 90.85 83.89 267.30 193.23 88.83 25.42 219.35 280.17

Price change

Daily opening

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

5.06 -4.41 -5.41 -3.21 -3.47

0.00 2.88 2.04 -0.66 -2.99 -3.47 -4.89 -2.73 -3.25 -1.17 -1.30 -4.31 0.48 -3.12 -3.76

106.80 65.80 18.50 187.10 28.80

0.00 299.00 24.50 90.70 194.30 28.80 18.40 187.00 24.60 282.90 269.80 11.60 83.40 86.50 90.50

113.70 66.00 18.50 187.20 29.00

45.00 308.90 26.30 92.90 200.10 28.80 18.40 185.00 24.50 281.90 268.10 11.50 85.10 86.50 90.20

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 27.70

36.50 297.10 23.30 89.50 187.00 27.70 17.40 181.20 23.70 277.60 265.70 11.00 82.10 82.60 86.20

109.90 64.05 17.83 182.84 28.32

37.71 303.90 25.42 90.83 192.10 28.15 17.88 182.75 24.07 279.86 267.36 11.20 83.82 84.69 88.49

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Citi awards small entrepreneurs n Tribune Report Six Micro Entrepreneurs and two Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) were awarded the 9th Citi Micro Entrepreneurship Awards in recognition of their leadership, entrepreneurial skills and best practices of the individual entrepreneurs in the country.

Being the chief guest, state minister for finance and planning M Abdul Mannan handed over the awards among the winners on Saturday at a ceremony held at a hotel in the capital.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman distributed the prize money among the winners while Rashed Maqsood, country officer of Citibank NA Bangladesh, handed the certificates.

Terming the proposed budget an implementable one, the state minister: We are getting very positive response from all the sectors although a handful of people are still criticising the proposed budget,” The proposed budget kept enough opportunities for the micro entrepreneurships as most of the people in the country still live in the rural areas and it is not possible for them to set-up big enterprises there, the minister added.

He also urged the banks and financial institutions to come forward for helping out Micro Entrepreneurships in the rural areas.

“It is very important having self-esteem to start a microenterprise against all odds. We have to work to remove the barriers that stand in the way of micro-enterprises from thriving,” said Atiur Rahman.

Some 170 microcredit organisations have so far lent Tk15,000 crore only in the year 2013 to help the micro-borrowers to be graduated to micro enterprises. Of the loans, over Tk9,000 crore are outstanding. Under this initiative, about 2.2m micro-borrowers have graduated to micro entrepreneurs

from micro-borrowers, he added.

Richard Tesvich, managing director and regional head of corporate affairs of Citi for Asia Pacific region, said: Citi takes great pride in having been able to successfully continue the award.

“The contribution of microcredit in developing as well as developed economies is widely accepted today.

Bangladesh being the birthplace of micro-finance has always been at the forefront to bringing innovation in this sector,” he added.

Samsad Akter, who hailed from Baliadangi in Thakurgaon became Best Micro entrepreneur of the Year, received Tk4,50,000 as prize money while runner up of the same category Samirunnahar Begum was awarded Tk100,000. She hailed from Shaymnagar of Satkhira.

Under the Best Woman Micro Entrepreneur of the Year, Roksana Begum from Valuka of Mymesingh received Tk3,50,000 while Zahira Begum from Mela Kochukata of Nilphamari became the runner-up in the same category,

and got Tk100,000 as prize money.

Md Somed Fakir from Taltoli of Borguna was honoured as the Best Micro Entrepreneur of the Year in Agriculture while Anju Sarker from Keshobpur in Jessore received the award as the runner-up in the same category. They respectively received Tk3,50,000 and Tk1,00,000.

Manabik Shahajya Sangstha won the award in the Best Microfinance Institution of the Year category and received Tk3,00,000 as prize money.

Sajida Foundation won the award as the Most Innovative Microfinance Institution of the Year and received Tk4,00,000.

Citi Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Citigroup, has launched the Citi Micro Entrepreneurship Awards to promote micro enterprises and increase awareness of the financial service needs of micro entrepreneurs in the country. The award is being supported by Citi Foundation and implemented by Citibank NA and Credit Development Forum. l

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Monday, June 16, 2014

Dubai faces moment of truth over looming property bubble n Reuters, Dubai “Keep calm. There’s no bubble”, proclaimed a giant poster on a 40-storey building overlooking a Dubai highway, advertising a property finding portal late last year. That may have been true at the time, but the risks are rising.

A leap in bank lending to the construction industry indicates financial institutions have resumed pouring money into real estate projects in the last few months, after cutting back sharply in the wake of Dubai’s 2008 crash.

At the same time, property prices have been soaring on the back of Dubai’s economic boom, increasing the chance of the market rising to unsustainable levels.

Surging supply and unsustainable demand are a risky mix - the same combination that got Dubai into trouble six years ago, forcing state firms to reschedule tens of billions of dollars of debt and jolting financial markets around the world.

This time, authorities say they are aware of the dangers, and they have taken regulatory steps to slow demand growth. But the steps are still modest

compared to those by other global cities facing the same problem, such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

“It’s too early to be calling top, but credit growth of that pace tells you that the cycle is accelerating rapidly,” said Simon Williams, HSBC’s chief economist for the region.

“Such a huge increase in lending is simply not consistent with economic order and stable asset prices. The time for policy action is now, before bubbles really get going, not when they are already in place.”

Dubai house prices posted the fastest year-on-year rise of any of the world’s major markets in JanuaryMarch for the fourth straight quarter, soaring 27.7%, consultants Knight Frank said. Rents rose about 30 percent on average in the same period.

The value of real estate deals in Dubai, with a population of 2.3 million, jumped 38 percent in the first quarter to some 61bn dirhams ($16.6bn), the Land Department said.

There are good reasons for property prices to rise, including annual economic growth around 5% and inflows of money from Arab investors seeking safety in a turbulent region. l

Rural economy expands faster in last decade  B1 COLUMN 6

inaugurated the workshop and said the report will help identify the nature of structural change and economic trend that has occurred in the economy over the last decade.

It will also provide comprehensive statistical information for economic and social development planning as well as policy making, he said.

“Poverty in the rural area, particularly north, has noticeably fell due to increased economic activities in the area,” he said.

FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed said the data will help make

future plan for taking investment decision. “It is also important to take the country further forward,” he said.

Secretary of the Statistics and Informatics Division Md Nojibur Rahman, BBS Director General Golam Mostafa Kamal and also others spoke.

In Bangladesh, the economic census is supposed to be conducted every 10 years on a local to national level to provide data concerning products, sales, industries, economic activities, investment, employers, and employees. The BBS conducted the first census in 1986 and the second one was done in two phases in 2001 and 2003. l

Dacca Dyeing goes into producing knit dyeing n Tahmidur Rahman The Dacca Dyeing and Manufacturing Company Limited has said it began commercial production of its knit dyeing from yesterday to produce 2 lakh kilograms per year.

The home textile maker also decided to install high quality yarn dyeing plant with a capacity of 20 lakh kg per year with its own fund like knit dyeing, said the company in a statement yesterday.

However, the disclosure failed to attract the investors, as its share prices fell 2% at the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.

The yearly net asset value as of June 2013 stood at Tk25.86 per share with an earning of Tk0.92 per share.

In the first first nine months of FY14, the company made net profit of Tk11.2 crore, a drop of more than 4% a year earleir.

Its revenue income fell drastically in the calender year 2013, according to its annual reports.

The company, however, showed impressive performance in the third quarter ended on March 31 this year by making a profit of Tk4.7 crore, a sharp rise of over 261% in the same period last year.

The quarterly report showed that fluctuations in its sales have resulted in decreasing profitability.

The export sales in FY14 to date make up 5.7% of the total revenue of the company.

Presently, the company produces bed sheet, bed cover, napkin, table cloth, shirting fabrics, towels, bath linen, kitchen linen and all sorts of home textile products for marketing in Europe and North America.

To some extent the company’s products penetrate into the local marker as well.

The company is by far the largest supplier of linens to the major institution of Bangladesh like Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka Sheraton Hotel, Radisson Water Garden Hotel, Apollo Hospital, Square Hospital, United Hospital and ICDDRB etc. l

Ukraine expects gas talks with Russia as deadline looms

China seeks spending fix as economy wobbles

n Reuters, Kiev

China is unlikely to resort to the kind of spending splurge that saw it through the 2008 financial crisis to deal with its slowing economy, analysts say, but recent moves to ramp up state support suggest it cannot wean itself completely off the stimulus drug.

Policymakers are seeking more tools to keep growth from dipping below the key 7.5% level; worried job losses could spark social unrest. The central bank announced Monday it will slash the amount of funds some lenders, including rural banks, must hold in reserve to pump more money into the economy the second such move in two months.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday gave details on plans announced in March to transform China’s longest river, the Yangtze, into an “economic belt” by building transport infrastructure to link the country’s west and east.

Speaking to academics in the past week, Li called for more attention towards a “targeted” adjustment of the economy, using the phrase for the first

Ukraine said it expected to resume talks with Russia on a gas-pricing dispute on Sunday evening, with a deadline looming for Kiev to pay a $1.95bn debt by today or have its gas supplies cut off.

Halting Russian deliveries to Kiev could disrupt the gas flow to the EU, which gets some of its imports via Ukraine, but prospects for a breakthrough have been hit by clashes between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine.

Ukraine’s energy minister had said after talks in Kiev on Saturday that discussions would continue on Sunday morning, but no meeting took place.

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry later said it hoped the talks, being mediated by the European Union’s energy commissioner, would resume in Kiev on Sunday evening and Ukrainian state gas company Naftogaz said it expected talks at 8 pm (1700 GMT). Russian officials did not immediately confirm

this.

Ukrainian and Russian officials failed to end the long-running dispute at talks in Kiev on Saturday but Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said after leaving the meeting that the discussions would continue on Sunday.

Russia and Ukraine disagree how much Kiev should pay for the natural gas it receives from Russia and Russian state-owned natural gas producer Gazprom plans to switch to an advance payment system if Kiev does not start paying its bills.

Ukraine has accepted a European Commission compromise proposal of $326 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas for an interim period. Moscow has offered Kiev a $100 reduction to $385, around the average amount paid by Russia’s European clients.

Resolving the dispute and averting supply cuts could help ease tension over the separatist rising in east Ukraine, which Kiev blames on Moscow despite Russian denials that it is arming the rebellion. l

n AFP, Shanghai

time, though he added “fine-tuning” was needed to keep growth on track.

But analysts said the basket of measures accumulated so far this year had moved beyond their original label of small-scale pump-priming.

“It’s certainly past the so-called ‘mini-stimulus’ and the scope of ‘finetuning’... but it’s not a big stimulus either,” Liu Li-Gang, a Hong Kong-based economist for ANZ Bank, told AFP. “It might speed up China’s investment growth a little but it’s not comparable to the 4-trillion-yuan package during the financial crisis,” he said.

In March, Premier Li announced an economic growth target of “around 7.5%” for this year and has repeated that China can meet that goal.

China’s economy grew an annual 7.7% in 2013, the same level as 2012, which was the worst pace since 1999.

The binge of 4tn yuan - $656bn at current exchange rates - on infrastructure in 2008 and 2009 still reverberates with a deflating property market bubble and a multi-trillion dollar “shadow banking” sector which grew out of loose credit.

Little appetite for big stimulus

This time around the government is reluctant to match those levels of spending.

“The new leadership has ruled out a repeat of the big stimulus in 2008-09,” said Jian Chang, China economist at Barclays Capital in Hong Kong.

“A highly leveraged economy with mounting financial and fiscal risks related to surging shadow bank lending and ballooning local government debt will constrain policy options,” she added.

Other measures this year include speeding up infrastructure investment especially for railways, building affordable urban housing and accelerating spending of already-budgeted funds.

The economy found some relief on Friday with indicators like industrial production and fixed-asset investment -- a key measure of spending on infrastructure -- remaining steady in May compared with April, which could take some pressure off the government.

“The property sector is still putting downwards pressure on the economy but this appears to have been largely

offset by infrastructure spending and other targeted measures, which have shored up other areas of the economy,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China Economist for Capital Economics.

Still, the government will have to do more if it wants to stabilise the economy, also a key driver for the world.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew an annual 7.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, weaker than the 7.7 percent in the previous quarter and the worst since a matching 7.4 percent expansion in the third quarter of 2012.

“If economic growth for the second quarter comes in lower-than-expected, then it’s likely to see the government taking further measures,” Wendy Chen, Shanghai-based economist for Nomura International, told AFP. China will announce GDP for the second quarter on July 16.

“We expect further stimulus policies in the second and third quarters, on both the monetary and fiscal sides,” she said, adding this could include an across-the-board cut in reserve requirements for banks. l

National Bank Limited yesterday held its 31st annual general meeting at a hotel in Dhaka.

The bank’s chair Zainul Haque Sikder presided over the meeting Modhumoti Bank limited has arranged an award-giving programme titled “Freedom Campaign” to honour freedom fighters at its head office. The bank’s managing director and CEO Md Mizanur Rahman attended the programme as chief guest

Shariah Supervisory Committee of Union Bank Ltd recently held its 5th meeting at its head office. The committee’s chair Prof Dr Abu Reza Mohammed Nezamuddin Nadvi presided over the meeting

Mercantile Bank gets its new chair n Tribune Business Desk

Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited and Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) have recently signed an agreement for e-payment of membership fees and other charges through DBBL Nexus Payment Gateway using DBBL Nexus debit card, MasterCard and Visa card of any bank. The agreement was signed by Eng Miah Muhammad Quayyum, general secretary of IEB and the bank’s deputy managing director Eng Abul Kashem Md Shirin

BRAC Bank Limited has signed an agreement with The Westin Dhaka, which will let the premium banking customers and Platinum credit cardholders to enjoy free dining offer at the Seasonal Taste restaurant for Sehri & Iftaar during Ramadan. Daniel Muhor, general manager of The Westin Dhaka and Firoz Ahmed Khan, the bank’s head of retail banking division signed the agreement

Morshed Alam has been recently elected as the chair at the Mercantile Bank Limited’s board of directors, said a press release.

Morshed Alam is the founder chair of the Bengal Group of Industries.

He has also been awarded National Export Trophy (silver) for the year FY1998 and (gold) trophy in the fiscal years 2000, 2007 and silver in 2010 while bronze in 2011. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Monday, June 16, 2014

Stay honest Honesty is hard. When business is challenging, it is tempting to sugarcoat the situation or be silent. Don’t. It’s the safest way to lose your best people

n Sigve Brekke Building and running a company can be a rollercoaster ride regardless of what market or industry you’re in. Customer preferences, tastes and trends change, new technology disrupts established business models, new rules and regulations shake up your sector or your company. As a leader, it is your job to keep people motivated and excited about the journey you are on together – when you are doing well, but especially when you are struggling.

Telling people the hard truths during tough times to motivate them? Sounds counterintuitive and difficult to follow, but it works.

When I took them helm at dtac together with Vichai, my co-CEO, we knew we had an uphill task. Not only did we have to build a new culture and change the strategy of the company, but our network was widely perceived as lagging behind competition.

We had to do something both about with the perception of our network, and we had to do something with the network itself. So we invited 1,500 people – employees, partners and 200-300 journalists to an event where Vichai and I were the only ones on stage. We talked about our ambition to become the best quality service provider in the ten biggest cities in Thailand. Doing so would require not only our commitment, but some concrete action. Our network needed to become stronger. We promised to roll out four new base stations every single day for 76 months. That’s more than 6,500 base stations in six years.

Then, we did something that upset the marketing department. We followed up on our promise by going on TV. We did commercials that were running on nationwide TV 20 times a day. The ads were all the same: Vichai and I in front of a map of Thailand, indicating the new base stations dtac had rolled out. We reported on the commitment we had made. It was nothing fancy, just the two of us talking, but it worked – our ads had higher recall than most other TV ads, and within a few months, dtac was recognized as a leader in service quality. Our honesty and our willingness to put ourselves out there worked.

Fast forward to India, February 2012.

I was at the helm of Telenor’s local operation, in India known as Uninor. We had entered the market two and a half years earlier, and we were building momentum as the fastest-growing newcomer in the market, adding 1-2 million subscriptions every month. Then on February 2, the Supreme Court of India cancelled all telecoms licenses issued in 2008, including all of Uninor’s, due to alleged irregularities in the allocation of those licenses. The verdict addressed events prior to our entry into the company and the market, and it was clear all along that we were not at fault. Still, the consequences hit us hard. The Government was given four months to conduct a new spectrum auction. Two-thousand five hundred Uninor employees, a workforce of 15,000+ people as well as hundreds of thousands retailers were thrown into a situation of insecurity: nobody knew if we would be able to get our licenses back to be able to stay in business.

Facing our employees on February 3 of that year was perhaps the most grueling thing I did during my time in India. How do you “spin” a message to employees who know they might be out of work in four months? The simple answer – you don’t. People are not interested in hearing fairytales. They do not want to hear that everything is going to be OK when nobody knows if it is. Staying honest is hard, but it is the only decent, constructive, viable thing to do.

So I told them, “We have lost our licenses.

We will do everything we can to be able to win them back. But I cannot guarantee you that you will have a job in four months. If that means you have to look for opportunities elsewhere, you have my understanding.”

I told the employees I wanted them to focus 100% on winning in the market, and that I along with a small dedicated team would handle the license issue. Every week I updated them through townhall meetings, blog posts and conference calls on how we were doing – in the market and with government, regulators and courts.

Imagine being an employee at Uninor at this time: your foreign owners relatively

new to India and its draconian legal and executive system. With licenses in question, you do not know if your job will be there in a few months. Your family read about your employer in the news every day – asking questions and second-guessing your professional choices. The pressure to move on to greener and safer pastures was mounting in the homes of many of our people.

In the end, we were without a license not just for four months, but for more than a year. We fought for a fair and transparent auction with reasonable spectrum pricing.

Our people came together under the slogan “We Love Uninor” and worked harder in the market than ever before. We actually performed better after the licenses were cancelled. Most importantly: All of our key people – those who could have gotten plum positions in a safe company in a heartbeat – they stayed.

Why? Because they had signed up to be part of changing telecoms in India, and we were on the way to making it when the crisis hit us. We were accustomed to being underdogs, and the license issue became another hurdle to pass. We treated each other with the respect of staying open, honest and transparent. We didn’t spin feelgood stories. We took every opportunity to tell the truth, correct misconceptions and explain our positions, not just to our employees, but all our partners – vendors, distributors, retailers and their families.

People are stronger than we think.

People can handle the truth. They want to know how they are doing in their job, and they want to see how their work contributes to the company. Double messages and half-truths breed mistrust and insecurity.

Transparency breeds performance, loyalty and engagement. So my clear advice is: show people the respect of always being honest. Your people can take it, and they will reward you.

Have you been in a situation where you had to guide and motivation people through testing times? Have you experienced the power of telling the truth? Share your experiences in the comments field below. l Sigve Brekke is Head of Telenor Asia

Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor engineer Kenji Tsuji displays the concept model of a three-seater electric vehicle with a roadster body 'Camatte 57S Sport' at the annual Tokyo Toy Show in Tokyo on June 12. Some 160,000 poeple are expecting to visit Asia's largest fourday toy trade show AFP

US producer prices fall n Reuters US producer prices fell in May after two month of solid gains, but the decline was not enough to change perceptions that inflation pressures are steadily creeping up.

The Labour Department said on Friday its producer price index for final demand slipped 0.2% after advancing in April by 0.6%, which was the largest gain in 1-1/2 years.

Economists, who had expected producer prices to edge up, saw the decline as a correction after gains in March and April, and said it did not change their view that prices were firming.

“The net result is a pick-up. The net strengthening makes the modest acceleration in the more important consumer inflation measures more credible,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York.

The government revamped the PPI series at the start of the year to include services and construction. l

G77 summit seeks new development pledges n AFP, Santa Cruz De La Sierra Leaders of developing nations plus China meet here Saturday to draft a global anti-poverty agenda at a summit that also showcases Latin America’s burgeoning relationship with the Asian giant.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Bolivia’s President Evo Morales were scheduled to inaugurate the G77 summit, which marks the 50th anniversary of the group’s founding.

It has grown from 77 developing countries in 1964 to 133 member states, encompassing two thirds of the world’s countries.

“This summit is not purely commemorative, it will propose new social policies,” said Morales, a leader of Latin America’s radical left and the group’s current president.

The summit closes Sunday with a document that Bolivia’s Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera described as “the first draft of the post Millennium Development Goals,” a set of UN goals that are approaching their 2015 expiration date.

Hammered out in previous meetings, the G77 document sets forth ambitious new commitments to reduce poverty and inequality, foster sustainable development, protect sovereignty over natural resources and promote fair trade and technology transfers.

The world is still well short of fulfilling the original eight Millennium goals, which include a call to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty.

Other goals include guaranteed access to primary education, equality for women and girls, reduction of infant and maternal mortality and diseases like AIDS and malaria, and facilitating access to potable water.

Growing trade with China

China, which is not a G77 member, is participating in the summit, partly in a nod to its expanding trade ties in Latin America, although President Xi Jinping will not attend.

Beijing will be represented by Chen Zhu, a vice chairman of China’s National People’s Congress.

Chen met with Morales ahead of the summit opening, and pledged an $80m loan to modernize Bolivian airline BOA

The President of Bolivia and President pro tempore of the G77 + China, Evo Morales (left) and Iran's Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri during the G77+China Summit in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on June 14 AFP

The world is still well short of fulfilling the original eight Millennium goals, which include a call to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty

and purchase four new aircraft, Bolivia said.

With massive purchases of commodities and exports of its manufactured goods to the region, China in recent years has emerged as a main

trade partner of many Latin American countries.

Beijing now seeks a new model of cooperation that would marshal large investments for infrastructure projects needed to sustain growth in Latin America.

During a tour of the region in May, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing intends to invest more in Latin America and raise relations to a new level.

Iran’s Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri pledged during a separate meeting with Morales a $200m line of credit for “health, the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture.”

Cuban President Raul Castro was among leaders who have already arrived.

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, who has her hands full as host of a World Cup that has sparked street pro-

tests, is not attending.

Neither are Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, whose country is at odds with Bolivia over a maritime dispute, and Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos, who faces tough elections Sunday.

Before formally opening the summit, Morales will attend a session here with leftist social activists.

Maduro, whose own leftist government faces mounting public discontent, was expected to attend along with his counterparts from Cuba and Ecuador.

Santa Cruz, the richest and second largest city in Bolivia, has pulled out all the stops for the summit, the G77’s first in Latin America.

It has repaved roads and upgraded infrastructure in record time, but the preparations have been dampened by torrential rains. l

US Fed in focus as investors seek reassurance n Reuters, Madrid Investors will look to the Federal Reserve for reassurance in the coming week, with little economic data to assuage their concerns over the strength of the global recovery, amid signs Iraq may be sliding into civil war.

The Fed, which wraps up a policy meeting on Wednesday, is expected to keep steadily reducing its massive bond-buying stimulus by $10bn per month.

Financial markets will be listening out for any hints on when the US central bank might begin raising interest rates.

“The Federal Reserve is preparing to move to the second step of the monetary policy exit. With the tapering of asset purchases virtually on auto pilot – QE3 is projected to end in late summer or early autumn – the focus is gradually shifting towards actual rate hikes,” Unicredit said in an investor note.

It said the notion that US monetary policy has reached a turning point could be strengthened if the Fed policymakers’ median rate forecast for the end of 2016 stays at 2.25%, where it stood in March, up from 1.75% in December.

The matrix of dots for when each rate-setter expects policy to begin tightening - and how quickly - will be keenly scrutinised, as will any comments about rate hikes or slack in the economy from Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who speaks after the results of the meeting are released.

While the world’s largest economy got off to a weaker than expected start this year, many analysts believe the underlying trend for growth remains solid.

Global stocks are likely to stay on the back foot due to concerns over a growing radical Islamist insurgency in Iraq.

U.S. President Barrack Obama said he didn’t rule out air strikes to help Iraq counter the insurgency, but later said he needed several days to determine how the United States would react.

The escalating violence in Iraq drove oil prices to a nine-month high on Friday.

The monetary policy outlook will also be in focus in Britain after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney stunned the markets by saying rates could rise sooner than financial markets expect.

His comments, which put the British central bank out ahead of the world’s other major policy guardians on the monetary tightening front, pushed sterling to near five-year highs against the dollar on Friday.

The Bank publishes the minutes of its June policy meeting on Wednesday, which will be closely watched for signs of any further division among its members on rates, and several of its policymakers will be speaking during the week.

DILBERT

The Bank’s new Financial Policy Committee, which has the power to rein in an overheating housing market, meets on Tuesday, although the meeting minutes will not be published for a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the ECB’s fight against deflation via interest rate cuts and measures aimed at stimulating lending to crisis-hit companies, means few expect further action from it for now.

“The ECB has bought itself some quiet time, maybe for the remainder of this year. It doesn’t want to be pushed in to any additional movements before then,” economist at Deutsche Bank Gilles Moec said.

There will be few key economic indicators from the euro zone, with the German Zew index for June in focus after better-than-expected industrial output data and rising confidence in the bloc suggesting growth is accelerating in the second quarter.

The ECB has bought itself some quiet time, maybe for the remainder of this year.

It doesn’t want to be pushed in to any additional movements before then Bond markets will look to absorb debt supply from Spain, Germany and France after a heavy issuance last week including 9bn euros of a new 10year bond from Spain and paper from France, Italy, Germany and Portugal.

Yield-hungry investors will be watching for news of a possible debt sale by Cyprus just a year after it bailed in bank depositors and imposed capital controls. That would make it the last euro zone member that took financial aid to make a market comeback.

The Bank of Japan publishes the minutes of its monthly policy meeting on Friday but is not expected to have moved from an optimistic viewpoint that the country is in the midst of a virtuous cycle of employment and output growth, analysts say.

“There is some support to this theory. The unemployment rate remains very low and job offers to applicants ratios are moving steadily higher. Add to this the slight improvement in cash wages, and the firmer backdrop to the Japanese economy than that prevailing back in 1997,” said ING in an investors note.

China will issue foreign direct investment data on Tuesday and house price figures on Wednesday. A slowdown in property inflation is likely to stoke fears about a deepening downturn in the sector. l