24 June 2014

Ashar 10, 1421 Shaaban 25, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 84

TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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10pmItaly vs Uruguay 10pmCosta Rica vs England Jun 25, 2014

TMAG | WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE?

Jun 26, 2014

2am Honduras vs Switzerland 2am Ecuador vs France 10pmUSA vs Germany 10pmPortugal vs Ghana

2am Japan vs Colombia 2am Greece vs Côte d’Ivoire 10pmNigeria vs Argentina Jun 27, 2014 10pmBosnia-Herzegovina vs Iran 2am Korea Republic vs Belgium 2am Algeria vs Russia

7 | THE STATE OF DEMOCRACY IN BANGLADESH 11 | TEACH, DON’T PREACH

WC MATCHES

8 Huji men to die for Ramna Batamul killings CONVICTS AND SENTENCES

Navy chief: India maritime dispute verdict on July 2 Shahariar Zaman in n Sheikh Dhaka and Tushar Hayat in Chittagong The verdict in the maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and India would be delivered on July 2, said Naval chief Vice-Admiral M Farid Habib yesterday.

“The dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar is over and I hope the dispute with India will also be resolved in July,” he told reporters after attending a parade at the Patenga Naval Academy in Chittagong.

“After the verdict, our initiative to explore gas and oil in the Bay of Bengal will be expedited,” he said.

When contacted, Khurshed Alam, secretary to the Maritime Affairs Unit at the Foreign Ministry, however, said: “We are yet to get any official date for the verdict from the court.”

Bangladesh instituted the arbitral proceedings concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and India on October 8, 2009 where the Permanent Court of Arbitration acts as Registry in the arbitration.

Meanwhile, a press release of the Inter-Services Public Relations said it was just a matter of time that submarines would be added to the Bangladesh Navy fleet.

“According to the long-term vision of the government to ensure maritime security, it is a just a matter of time

Hosts Brazil stormed into the second round of the Fifa World Cup after powering past a spirited Cameroon in a 4-1 win at the National Stadium in Brasilia yesterday.

Both Brazil and Mexico ended their Group A campaign with seven points after the final round of games but a better goal difference saw the Selecao top the group. Brazil had a goal difference of +5 while Mexico had +3 following their 3-1 victory over Croatia at Recife yesterday.

Brazil will now square off against Chile in the round of 16 at Belo Horizonte on Saturday while Group A runners-up Mexico are all set to face

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Hafiz Jahangir Alam Badr

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early pace-setters the Netherlands at Fortaleza a day later.

The Indomitable Lions made life hard for the hosts who had to toil hard till the last minute to ensure their superiority. Cheered on by a capacity crowd, Neymar and Co gradually grew in confidence.

Brazil, in their 100th World Cup game, took the lead in the 17th minute through a flowing passage of play as holding midfielder Luiz Gustavo won the ball in the left flank, rolled a low cross past two opposition defenders and towards the path of the onrushing Neymar who completed the task with a cool angular flick in the far post of Charles Itandje. Neymar’s strike was also this World Cup’s 100th goal.

However, Cameroon refused to go down without a fight. The Indomitable Lions pressed forward, cornered the Brazilian defence and duly received

GROUP A

Standings 1 Brazil 2 Mexico 3 Croatia 4 Cameroon

P 3 3 3 3

W D 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 0

L 0 0 2 3

F 7 4 6 1

A 2 1 6 9

Pts 7 7 3 0

rewards for their brave attacking approach in the 26th minute when Schalke 04 centre-back Joel Matip tapped in a simple finish after brilliant work down the right edge of the box by teammate Allan Nyom, who produced superb footwork to go past Dani Alves before unleashing the pass.

A shell-shocked Brazil were yearning for a saviour to rescue them and Neymar rose to the occasion once again. Ten minutes before the conclusion of the first half, Marcelo controlled a long ball brilliantly and ran past his

DT INFOGRAPHIC

Maulana Tajuddin

n Mushfique Wadud The war crimes tribunal is set to deliver its verdict today in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for his role during the 1971 Liberation War. The three-member International Crimes Tribunal 1 led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim set the date yesterday.

Nizami was indicted on May 28, 2012 on 16 counts of crimes against humanity including rape, murder, abduction and inciting violence committed in Dhaka and Pabna. The accused allegedly played a key role in setting up Peace Committee and razakar forces, meant to oppress the pro-liberation Bangalees.

Brazilian star Neymar celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the Group A World Cup match against Cameroon at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia, Brazil today AP

B1 | Business

Commuters in Dhaka suffered throughout the day yesterday, as the waterlogged streets, coupled with traffic diversions prompted by an Awami League rally, resulted in long tailbacks on the busiest roads in the capital.

The traffic congestions started early in the morning after incessant rain caused key roads in the city to go under water. The situation worsened when many vehicles broke down in the middle of the road and blocked traffic movement.

“On other days, we get some space to reach our destination, but today it was difficult as no space was found on

12 | Entertainment

Bangladesh Bank has raised the cash reserve requirement (CRR) by 0.5% as the money market is awash with huge liquidity.

Aamir Khan, known for shunning award shows, received a packet of sweets instead of a trophy at the Star Parivaar award show for his TV programme ‘Satyamev Jayate.’

4 | News

Removing the waterlogging problem was a pledge that M Manjur Alam had made when he was elected mayor of the Chittagong city.

6 | Nation

A long traffic jam on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway early yesterday brought passengers misery as it was taking too much time to cross the fairly large distance.

According to the formal charges, Nizami had been the chief of Islami Chhatra Sangha, then Jamaat’s student wing, prior to October in 1971. Later he became the chief of All Pakistan Chhatra Sangha. Militia group al-Badr, which was responsible for the systematic killings of intellectuals, was formed with Chhatra Sangha members.

This will be the 10th verdict in war crimes cases to be announced by the two tribunals.

Nizami, a former industries minister during the BNP-Jamaat’s 2001-06 term, already faces death sentence in the sensational 10-truck arms haul case.

However, the verdict against Nizami,  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Rain, rally increase woes of Dhaka commuters Jamil Khan n Mohammad and Abid Azad

5 | News

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War crimes verdict in Nizami case today

INSIDE

The government has disbursed Tk1,171.72 crore credits for April and May to the Power Development Board for purchasing electricity from independent, rental and quick rental power plants, of which above 80% was for quick rental plants.

Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji), the country’s first openly-emerged Islamist militant outfit, sometimes carried out terror attacks as per their own jihad (to establish self-interpreted Islamic rule) agenda and sometimes were used as a mercenary force.

Groups belonging to secular spirits in political and socio-cultural arenas had always been Huji’s target since its emergence through an open declaration of its jihad agenda at a press conference at the National Press Club in early 1992.

The bomb attack on Chhayanaut’s Bangla New Year celebrations at the Ramna Batamul on April 14, 2001 (an age-old festivity at the capital’s Ramna Park) was its own agenda, according to the case documents.

Mufti Abdul Hannan, one of the top convicted Huji leaders in this case, said in his judicial statement that they had launched the attack since the programme was “anti-Islamic.”

According to his statement, Huji wanted to stop the arranging of the programme every year by spreading panic among the countrymen.

It was not the first terrorist attack carried out by the Huji B – the Bangladesh chapter of international Islamist terrorist outfit Huji. It was one of many attacks committed by Huji since January 1998.

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20-25 people sustained injuries. Later three persons died at hospitals while undergoing treatment.

“The attackers did not target any certain person, object or group. The [organiser] Chhayanaut is also a non-political organisation,” the judge said.

“The motive of the attacks was to create political turmoil and panic, to pollute the cultural arena and stop cultural activities in the country. What the attackers and the planners did that day was heinous, barbaric and cruel. There is no scope to show sympathy or favour them,” the court observed.

According to the accounts of the

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people of different religions, castes, groups, sexes and ages gathered at the venue.

The judge said from the confessional statements of the accused and depositions of witnesses, the court learned that two powerful bombs had been planted technically in the spot early in the morning, hours before the programme began.

According to bomb experts, two remote control devices were used to detonate the bombs.

The first bomb exploded around 8:05am and the other 10-15 minutes later. Seven innocent people died on the spot during the first explosion and

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Judge Ruhul Amin of the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka read out the verdict in a jam-packed courtroom amid tight security measures yesterday morning.

The court also fined the 14 convicts Tk50,000 each.

Before reading out the sentences, the judge, in his observation, said the incident had no political link, and that the case was not a political one. Those who had died had gone to the place with their family members, kith and kin and children to celebrate the Bangla New Year. They were common people.

This celebration is not meant for any particular party, class, ideology, group or religion. That day, several thousand

Mufti Abdul Hannan

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Chief of banned militant outfit Harkatul-Jihad-al Islami Mufti Abdul Hannan and seven of his aides have to walk the gallows for killing 10 people in a bomb blast incident during the traditional celebrations of the Bangla New Year at the capital’s Ramna Batamul in 2001.

For the same offence, six other Huji members were sentenced to life term imprisonment for conspiracy, plotting and carrying out the attack on commoners who were visiting the place to observe the day, 13 years back, on April 14.

Jihadist Huji also worked for others n Julfikar Ali Manik

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Islam Shaon and n Ashif Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

RAMNA BATAMUL CARNAGE

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Motive of the attack was to create political tension and stop cultural activities in the country, says the judgement

8 | World

John Kerry met Iraq’s PM to push for a more inclusive government, abandoned the border with Jordan, leaving the entire Western frontier outside government control.

15 | Sport

Italy must find a way to shut down Uruguay striker Luis Suarez when the teams clash at the Dunas arena on Tuesday in a World Cup showdown which will decide who goes through to the last 16.

the road because of the water and the huge traffic jam,” said Ali Hasan, a student of Dhaka University who uses a motorbike to commute.

Sources said roads had become waterlogged in Shantinagar, Motijheel, Fakirapool, Nilkhet, Bailey Road and Chankharpool, soon after the rain started.

Later in the afternoon, the traffic congestion crisis intensified when the police started diverting traffic at Matsya Bhaban and Ruposhi Bangla intersections because of a rally by Awami League at the city’s Engineers Institute to mark its founding anniversary.

As a result, the roads at Shahbagh, Katabon, Science Laboratory,  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

MPs warned about objectionable comments in JS n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Court sends Dr Azam to jail n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

For the first time in 10th parliament, the speaker yesterday reminded the lawmakers not to violate the Rules of Procedure that debars the MPs from using unparliamentary and objectionable words and comments in the legislature.

Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah, who was chairing the sitting when Awami League MP Yunus Ali Sarker was speaking, alerted the MPs about the Rules of Procedure since they frequently used such words.

Yunus Ali Sarker in his budget speech said: “Tarique Rahman’s gene is the gene of an autocratic ruler while Sajeeb Wazed Joy’s was that of Bangabandhu [Sheikh Mujibur Rahman].”

As he finished his speech, Fazle Rabbi said: “Honourable members, I earnestly request you to follow rules 267 and 268 of the Rules of Procedure.”

The rules 267-270 have the guidelines for the MPs to talk in the House, restricting them from using unparliamentary words.

According to parliamentary rules, the chair is considered as the speaker.

Over the last 49 days’ sittings in two sessions of the current parliament, the legislature saw frequent comments on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, her elder son and party’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman and its founder Gen Ziaur Rahman.

But neither Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury nor the deputy speaker reminded the MPs about avoiding unparliamentary words.

Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury said the Awami League-led government could not

achieve desired growth due to the “violent politics” of the BNP-Jamaat.

“Those, who are not eager to see development, talk against the country abroad. We had to resist them all the year round,” she added.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sayedul Haque told the House that Bangladesh too could come out as a strong economy like India and China – the two emerging powers in global politics.

“Bangladesh’s geographic location is very important,” he said. “India for the sake of its security interests will maintain good relations with Bangladesh.”

Another former minister, Motahar Hossain, told the House: “The civil society members have been talking rubbish and the BNP-Jamaat has joined them.”

Without mentioning the name of the BNP, Kazi Nabil Ahmed of Jessore 3 said: “Not taking part in the poll [on January 5] without any valid ground, a big political party resorted to the path of violence. They have been threatening [the government] with agitation.

“They will be defeated; [they will be] defeated repeatedly,” he said.

Kazi Nabil also urged the government to give the freedom fighters festival bonus in two Eids.

Ziaul Haque Mridha MP in his speech said the government must check bureaucratic hassles to implement the budget. He said the Jatiya Party was the real opposition in parliament, though it had representatives in the cabinet.

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury chaired the sitting as the House resumed around 11:15am. The deputy speaker took over the sitting before it was adjourned around 5pm. The House started again around 5:20pm. l

India maritime

Rain, rally increase woes

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to induct submarine with base,” said Navy chief Farid Habib at the Naval Academy parade. On March 1, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said two submarines would be inducted in Bangladesh Navy by 2015 to build it as a three-dimensional force.

Two new frigates procured from China were commissioned on the same day.

Two large patrol crafts with missiles, two frigates and a Coast Guard cutter were inducted in the force. Farid said: “Five patrol craft were made for the first time at the Khulna Shipyard and a process is ongoing to build two LPCs.” l

Kalabagan, Banglamotor and Matsya Bhaban witnessed long tailbacks.

Afzal Hossain, an employee of a private company, got in a bus in front of the National Press Club at 3:30pm to go to his home at Sukrabad. However, the bus was diverted near the Matsya Bhaban as the Shahbagh area was closed off because of the Awami League programme.

Using a detour, the bus managed to reach Science Laboratory intersection at 5:30pm; but seeing the Mirpur Road jammed up ahead of him, Afzal decid-

Left: Long tailbacks form on major roads of the capital as leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League took out several rallies to celebrating the part’s 65th founding anniversary. Right: An ambulance faces difficulties in transporting a patient due to an Awami League rally DHAKA TRIBUNE

Security heightened as Jamaat mulls hartal after Nizami verdict n Tribune Report

Security has been beefed up across the country as the International Crimes Tribunal is set to pronounce its verdict in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami today.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Rapid Action Battalion have already taken special security measures and deployed additional forces at key points in the capital to fend off any kind of untoward incident. People’s movement in the tribunal area was also restricted.

Alongside the regular forces, the members of DB police, SWAT teams and APC would be on duty.

Twenty platoons of the BGB were deployed in the capital at 7pm. “They will be on duty until 8am today. If necessary, it will be extended further,” Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed, director general of the BGB, told the Dhaka Tribune.

ed to walk home instead.

He was finally able to reach his destination after 6pm, needing two and a half hours to travel only around 5km.

Exhausted from the experience, Afzal told the Dhaka Tribune that it was one of the worst traffic-related troubles of his entire life.

Seeking anonymity, a traffic control room operator of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said the capital witnessed traffic jams for almost four hours because of the rainfall and the programme by the Awami League.

Jihadist Huji also worked for others  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Since its inception in 1992, during the first regime of the Khaleda Zia-led BNP, Huji was nourished and almost unchallenged for years until the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government started chasing its operatives following the attack on poet Shamsur Rahman.

Later, the extremist outfit carried out several terrorist attacks during 1996-2001 and also during Khaleda’s 2001-06 reign. The incidents include bomb attacks on left cultural organisation Udichi’s programme in Jessore, the Communist Party of Bangladesh’s public meeting in Paltan, an assassination attempt on Hasina in 2000 by a bomb planted in Gopalganj.

During Khaleda’s 2001-06 tenure, Huji was blamed for killing Awami League’s former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria in a grenade attack in Habiganj. They also conducted a grenade attack on British High Commissioner in Dhaka Anwar Choudhury in 2004 at the Shahjalal Shrine in Sylhet.

The case linked with the attack on the UK envoy has been resolved in a trial court in Sylhet where Mufti Hannan

was convicted along with some other accused Huji men.

Many other attacks were made by Huji to serve their own agenda.

Huji was used as a mercenary group during the sensational grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 24, 2004 at Bangabandhu Avenue to assassinate Hasina, then opposition leader in parliament.

According to police investigations and documents of the ongoing trial proceedings, Huji had carried out the grisly attack masterminded by the leaders, ministers and lawmakers of the then ruling BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.

The meeting of the plotters was held at Hawa Bhaban – then an alternative powerhouse run by Khaleda’s elder son Tarique Rahman who had left Bangladesh in 2008 for London and has not returned since.

Huji was hired to execute the plan to assassinate Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina.

The outlawed group spread its radical network through Qawmi madrasas (unrecognised private Islamic schools).

Their leaders set up many Qawmi ma-

A Dhaka court yesterday cancelled the High Court bail order for Dr Saiful Azam and ordered that he be sent to jail in connection with the case regarding the assault on a journalist.

On May 15, Dr Azam of the capital's Shikder Medical College and Hospital reportedly assaulted Shishir Morol, a special correspondent of the daily Prothom Alo, when he had met with the doctor to gather information.

Later, Shishir filed a case with Hazaribagh police station in this regard.

Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) had formed a probe committee to investigate the allegation and found Dr Azam guilty, sources said. l

drasas across the country to expand the Huji network.

It was reportedly funded by other Islamist militant and terrorist groups abroad, mainly in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Huji also has links with Myanmar’s Rohingya insurgent groups. It has trained many militants to provide them training on arms in many camps – situated in the forest areas of greater Chittagong. They got support from Rohingya insurgent groups to operate those camps, said some sources who were with Huji from 1990s.

Many Bangladeshi Huji organisers and founders had close links with terrorist group al-Qaeda and its former leader Osama bin Laden and present leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Many of them fought for the Talibans in Afghanistan, according to the militants’ documents.

Abdur Rouf, one of the convicted Huji leaders in the Ramna Batamul blast case, was trying to reorganise Huji and other militant groups together from jail, according to police sources.

During the BNP-Jamaat rule from

Meer Rezaul Alam, joint commissioner (crime) of the DMP, told the Dhaka Tribune that special measures had been taken to ensure security of the city people.

ATM Habibur Rahman, director of legal and media wing of RAB, said the elite force was put on alert to avert any kind of unwanted incident.

A press release said around 8,000 RAB personnel would be on duty to tackle violence. Besides the regular force, dog squad and bomb disposal unit would conduct special drives.

Sources say the Jamaat-Shibir supporters have plans to carry out subversive activities following the verdict.

The law enforcers held several meetings and asked all the police stations under the DMP to take special measures to ward off untoward incidents.

Our Chittagong correspondent reported that the local police had taken strict measures ahead of the verdict.

It was not possible for the traffic department to do anything in situations where vehicles were breaking down on waterlogged roads while processions were also being brought out by political activists, the official added.

When asked about the issue, Mohammad Mosleh Uddin, joint commissioner (traffic) of the DMP, admitted that the traffic problem was caused by incessant rainfall and the Awami League rally. However, he claimed that traffic movements regained normalcy after sunset. l

Banaj Kumar Mazumder, additional commissioner (crime and operation) of the CMP, said additional 2,000 policemen were deployed at 80 points of the port city and the highways.

The CMP began drives in Jamaat-Shibir-dominated areas, student messes and hostels from last night.

After the verdict against Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee last year, violence flared up in Satkania, Lohagara, Banshkhali and Sitakunda upazilas of the district when several people, including policemen, were killed.

On January 30, Nizami and 13 others were sentenced to death in the sensational 10-truck arms haul cases.

Jamaat plans hartal

Key ally of the BNP, Jamaat has plans to announce a two-day nationwide shutdown or violent demonstration if Nizami is convicted by the tribunal.

Several party leaders told the Dhaka Tribune that the Jamaat central committee had already directed its activists across the country to be prepared for any sort of tough movement.

The instructions are – if Nizami gets death penalty, the party will stage violent demonstration, braving police action; and if it is life term jail, then Jamaay will merely observe processions.

A central committee member said the party had planned to call a hartal for today, but later retreated from the decision, considering “weather and political situation.”

Central Committee member Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have faith in the rule of law and believe that Nizami was not involved in any type of crimes against humanity. Our party activists will not tolerate any wrong judgement against him.” l

War crimes verdict in Nizami case today  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

2001 to 2006, Huji founders tried to form a political party named Islamic Democratic Party. But the Election Commission turned down its application for registration in 2008. It is alleged that a group of the army’s intelligence wing DGFI had helped in IDP’s formation at that time.

Many of the top leaders of Huji were reportedly behind the formation of Islami Oikya Jote, a key ally of the BNP-Jamaat.

Hefazat leader Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury, founder of Jamiatul Ulum Al Islamia Madrasa – otherwise known as Lalkhan Bazar Madrasa – played a significant role in spreading the Huji network across the country since the early 1990s with the ultimate goal of launching a jihad.

The Qawmi madrasa in Chittagong, which came under spotlight after an explosion of locally-made hand grenades on its premises last year, has long been known as a Huji den.

The madrasa even trained Huji members in operating arms so they could fight in the battlefield as trained jihadis. l

allegedly a top collaborator of the Pakistani occupation forces, has been delayed for a long time.

On November 13 last year, the tribunal 1 announced that the verdict in the case might be delivered any day. However, the closing arguments were heard once again since the former chairman went on retirement on December 31, before the verdict was delivered.

On February 23 this year, the Law Ministry appointed High Court Division Judge M Enayetur Rahim as the chairman of tribunal 1.

A fresh hearing of the closing arguments began on March 10 and the trial ended on March 24.

On that day, prosecutor Tureen Afroz sought capital punishment for Nizami, and conducting prosecutor Mohammad Ali claimed that they had proved all the charges, and that death penalty was the only punishment for such an accused.

In their arguments, the defence, however, termed Nizami “innocent,” and said he had not been involved in any of the crimes stated in the charge sheet.

The defence said Nizami had not directed to kill or destroy in whole or part any of the racial, religious, ethnic or national group that are components of a genocide charge.

Since he had not targeted any of those groups, it could not be genocide, claimed the defence.

Despite admitting that Nizami was the chief of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the defence claimed that the prosecution had been unable to produce any evidence to prove that the accused was also the chief of al-Badr.

On July 24 last year, Aminul Is-

office, which was situated in the capital’s Mohammadpur between the Shia Mosque and the Rahmania Madrasa. After a discussion among myself, Maulana Abdur Rouf, Yahiya Sabbir, Jahangir Badar, Abu Bakar and some others, Sheikh Farid asked Taher to launch the bomb attack,” Hannan said.

But at one stage of the discussion, the leaders at the meeting decided to consult the matter with Huji chief Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, for approval.

Farid, Abu Bakar and Jahangir went to Shafiqur’s place to finalise the plan.

“After they came back, Farid told me that the chief had given his approval but had asked all to carry out the attack in a way so that no one was harmed.”

The Huji chief had instructed Sabbir and Jahangir to make the bombs. They were ordered to hand those over to Taher. The duo followed the instructions.

On the day of the incident, several Huji men including Hasan and Omar Faruque (who used to introduce themselves as students of Dhaka College) planted the bombs.

Two cases – one for the killing and the other under the Explosive Substances Act – were filed with the Ramna police station.

On December 30, 2008, the Criminal Investigation Department pressed the charges against the 14 accused in both the cases. Earlier, the court recorded statements of 61 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case.

The case involving explosive substances has remained stuck till now.

In 2009, the Speedy Trial Tribunal 1 of Dhaka sought the Supreme Court registrar’s opinion on whether both the cases could be tried together. The registrar has yet to respond on the matter.

lam Dablew, a prosecution witness testifying against Nizami, told the tribunal that razakars and al-Badr members had killed his freedom fighter father and tortured his brother on Nizami’s orders.

On August 29 last year, Zahurul Huq, a freedom fighter, told the tribunal that some Pakistani army personnel along with local razakars and al-Badr members had committed a massacre in Ruposhi Bausgari village of Pabna’s Santhia during the Liberation War. He said upon Nizami’s order, at least 400 people, mostly from the Hindu communities, had been killed in an operation in that village. l

Neymar sizzles  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

marker before sidefooting a forward pass to the mercurial Brazilian striker.

Neymar deceived two defenders before shooting between the legs of Cameroon skipper Nicolas Nkoulou and Itandje had nothing to do apart from falling down helplessly.

Brazil started the second half firing from all cylinders as forward Fred scored the third four minutes after resumption. David Luiz’s efforts on the left side of the box paved the way for Fred whose glancing header landed in the near post.

Fernandinho, coming on as a substitute, completed the rout in the 84th minute as Oscar’s intelligent through pass found the Manchester City midfielder in the right flank and he made no mistake firing an angular drive in the far post to send the stadium into a frenzy. l

8 Huji men to die for Ramna Batamul killings  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

accused, there was no religious or social clash between the attackers and the victims. It was an attack on Bengali culture so that the people refrained from celebrating the day.

“It is one of the most heinous, barbaric and shameful attacks on general people since the country’s War of Independence,” the court said.

During the trial proceedings, six of the injured gave their depositions while eight more people who were present on the spot described the incident before the court. The other witnesses included eight relatives of the victims.

The court said the prosecution had succeeded in proving the charges against the accused based on the witness accounts and documents. Confessional statements of three accused, especially Huji chief Mufti Hannan’s

statement, had helped the court to draw its conclusion. In his statement made on November 19, 2006, Hannan said they had carried out the attack since the programme was “anti-Islamic.”

The death row convicts are Mufti Abdul Hannan Munshi alias Abul Kalam alias Abdul Mannan, Arif Hasan alias Suman alias Abdur Razzak, Maulana Akbar Hossain alias Helal Uddin, Alhaj Maulana Md Tajuddin (absconding), Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar (absconding), Maulana Abu Bakar alias Hafez Selim Hawlader (absconding), Mufti Shafiqur Rahman (Absconding) and Mufti Abdul Hye (absconding). Of them, Hannan, Akbar and Arif Hasan admitted their involvement in the incident. Later they submitted petitions to withdraw the statements, but those were rejected.

The lifers are Hafez Maulana Yahiya, Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh

Farid, Maulana Sabbir alias Abdul Hannan, Maulana Abu Taher, Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel and Maulana Abdur Rouf. Hannan is facing 24 other cases.

The judge started reading out the verdict around 11:45am.

Nine Huji men including Hannan were produced before the court around 10:50am. In the courtroom, they looked tensed and pale. Lifer Maulana Abu Taher cried after hearing the verdict.

‘Huji chief wanted no bloodshed’

In his confessional statement, Hannan said Hafej Abu Taher, who was the president of Ranangan Shilpi Gosthi, a cultural wing of Huji, had met Huji’s former secretary Maulana Sheikh Farid in Dhaka. He proposed to Farid that they should launch a bomb attack on the Bangla New Year ceremony to stop the programme.

“Sheikh Farid came to our city unit

Hannan claims himself innocent

After the judge delivered the verdict, death row convict Hannan, who had appointed no lawyers to defend him, immediately told reporters that he had not received justice. “I was a prey of political vengeance. The prosecution failed to prove the charges against me.

I am innocent,” he stated.

Abu Taher claimed that he had known nothing about the incident.

“God will decide my fate on the day of final judgement,” he said.

Additional public prosecutor SM Jahid Hossain said they were somewhat happy, mentioning, “The state will file an appeal with the High Court seeking death penalty for the six Huji men who have been awarded life sentences.” On the other hand, one of the defence lawyers Jasim Uddin said they would also appeal against the judgement. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Four Huji men were tasked with planting bombs

Survivor: It still haunts me n Afrose Jahan Chaity

Maulana Tajuddin engaged three youths with death row convict Suman to plant the bombs before the celebrations began Islam Shaon and Md n Ashif Sanaul Islam Tipu The two bombs that went off at the Ramna Batamul during Pahela Baishakh celebrations in 2001 had been planted early in the morning, dodging the eyes of the law enforcers, the court in its verdict said yesterday.

The Bangla New Year celebrations

When the policemen had been checking body of one, others reached the spot with a car and planted the bombs around 4:30am began at sunrise, and as per the confessional statements of the convicts, the bombs were planted around 4:30am.

The bombs were detonated by remote controls or other timed devices. One of the bombs went off around 8:05am while the other went off after 10-15 minutes.

The attackers did not have any particular target person or group. It was only carried out to attack the Bengali culture, to pollute the cultural arena and stop cultural activities in the country, the judge observed.

The court made this observation after perusal of the confessional statements of three convicts – Maulana Akbar Hossain alias Helal Uddin, Mufti

Abdul Hannan and Arif Hasan Suman – who are among the eight Huji men awarded death sentences yesterday.

In his confessional statement, Suman said Tajuddin (the brother of BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu) had called him to his residence at Ali and Noor Estate in the capital’s Mohammadpur a day before Pahela Baishakh. Tajuddin was a tenant at Suman’s house.

“He introduced me to three youths who were with him and asked me to take them to the Ramna Batamul to inspect the place. We went there and observed the place,” Suman said.

According to the plan, the next day Suman and the youths named Johnny, Jewel and Sujan, hired a taxi and went to the Shahbagh area around 4am.

They were carrying a locally-made time bomb and a remote-controlled bomb in the car.

“After getting out of the car, three of us, excepting Johnny, walked to the nearby Ramna Batamul. Police members checked our body during that time,” Suman said.

Johnny was in the car, watching the bombs and the car soon reached the programme spot. He got out of the car with the bombs and other materials.

Suman continued talking to the police who were checking his body, keeping them busy. “By that time, Johnny and Sujan had planted the bombs beneath the ground,” said Suman.

After the blasts, even though Jewel and Johnny had returned, Sujan could not be traced, Suman said in his confessional statement. l

Top Huji leaders arrive at the court on a prison van yesterday ahead of the verdict in Ramna Batamul killing case

Sanjida Khatun: It was against the country’s cultural practices n Syed Samiul Bashar Expressing satisfaction over the Ramna Batamul case verdict, Chhayanaut President Sanjida Khatun said yesterday that the bomb blasts during the Pahela Baishakh celebration had actually been an attack against the cultural practices of the country.

“We did not realise that there could be an attack against the traditional cultural festivities of the country. We were shocked by the deaths,” she told reporters at the capital’s Chhayanaut office yesterday.

On the same day, a Dhaka court ordered death sentences for eight members of the outlawed Islamist outfit Huji and lifeterm imprisonment for the six others accused in the case.

“A long period has already passed.

Yet we are satisfied that a verdict has been given, no matter what it is.

“We have to comply with the judgement. The investigation was a police matter and the judgement a matter of the court. We do not have anything to

say regarding the trial.

“Our comfort is that a judgement has come through legal ways. There is a rule of law in the country and the people going against the law will have to face legal actions. We will comply with that,” she stated.

“Chhayanaut does not have any reaction over the judgement,” she added.

Sanjida said the people’s spontaneous participation in the Bangla New Year celebration programme has not decreased, rather it had increased.

n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina, who is also the president of the Bangladesh Awami League, releases peigons to inaugurate the celebrations of the party’s 65th founding anniversary in the capital yesterday BSS

AL observes founding anniversary n Emran Hossain Shaikh

With a pledge to sustain the progression of the country’s prosperity, the ruling Awami League celebrated its 65th founding anniversary yesterday.

To mark the day, Awami League President, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, placed a wreath on the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in front of the Bangabandhu Bhaban in the capital.

The cabinet members, party senior leaders and lawmakers including Tofail Ahmed, Syed Ashraful Islam, Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Abdul Latif Siddique, Sahara Khatun, Satish Chandra Roy, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Dipu Moni, Ahmed Hossain, AFM Bahauddin Nasim and Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury accompanied the premier, among others.

As part of the observance of the day, thousands of party leaders and activists carrying banners and placards con-

verged on the Bangabandhu Bhaban premises after sunrise, braving the heavy rainfall.

Later, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the anniversary programmes by hoisting the national flag and releasing pigeons and balloons while its General Secretary Syed Ashraful raised the party flag.

The National Anthem was also sung on the occasion.

Speaking to journalists after placing a wreath on the portrait of Bangabandhu, Syed Ashraful Islam said the Awami League has achieved a lot for the country and its people in its 65 years.

“The party will continue achieving development and progress in the days to come,” he said.

Syed Ashraful said there were many political parties in the country, but few of them would be able to run the country properly.

“Our expectations from the new generation are high because they are

the ones who might be able to take the Awami League to a new height,” he stated.

The ruling party also brought out a colourful procession, moving from Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday afternoon to Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi, parading through different city streets while party activists chanted various slogans like “Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu,” “Shuvo Shuvo Shuvo Din, Awami League er Janmo Din,” “Jamaat-Shibir-Razakar, Ei Muhurte Bangla Chhar,” “Hatao Rajakar Bachao Desh, Sheikh Hasinar Nirdesh.”

A number of central leaders also took part in the procession.

Earlier, the Awami League held a rally in front of the Engineers Institute.

In his address at the rally, Awami League Presidium Member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim warned BNP that it would learn a good lesson if it committed acts of sabotage in the name of movements. l

Limon’s hearing deferred for the 8th time in one year n Our Correspondent, Barisal Charges against Limon Hossain, in a case lodged by elite force RAB after allegedly maiming him, have not been withdrawn yet, even though 12 months have passed since a Home Ministry order to that effect was sent.

The hearing was deferred for the eighth time yesterday until August 18 since the chief judicial magistrate of Jhalakathi had been transferred in Au-

“After the incident, people are coming out in greater numbers to celebrate Pahela Baishakh. Their interest and outburst have not tamed. We cannot agree with the statement that the celebration is being hindered after the bomb blasts,” she said in reply to a query.

The increasing participation is a test of courage and humanity among the Bangalees. “This is a significant step towards the cultural movement of the country,” she said.

When asked about the quick implementation of the verdict, Sanjida said, “There are matters involving investigation and the government’s inclination is also important in executing the verdict as early as possible. There are so many cases pending with the courts which have been delaying the process.

So there is nothing to say.”

In response to another question on the government’s inclination, the Chhayanaut chief said, “The judgement has been delivered and it is a positive move.” l

Govt launches world’s largest web portal

Vaccines for meningitis, influenza must for pilgrims The Ministry of Religious Affairs has made meningitis and influenza vaccines compulsory for each pilgrim intending to fly to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj this year.

The Religious Affairs Ministry and the Health Ministry will jointly run mass-awareness campaigns to encourage Hajj pilgrims to take the vaccines and they will also be advised to take precautions in order to protect themselves against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

This decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday which was chaired by Religious Affairs Ministry Secretary Chowdhury Md Babul Hasan.

Md Jahangir Alam, deputy secretary (Hajj), told the Dhaka Tribune that both meningitis and influenza vaccines are a must for every pilgrim.

We are also seriously looking into the spread of MERS-CoV as it has become a threat to Hajj pilgrims, he said.

“The World Health Organisation has also cautioned against MERS. At present, there is no vaccine against MERS infection,” he added.

Professor Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, director of Communicable Disease Control (CDC) of the Health Directorate, told the Dhaka Tribune that a number of decisions were taken at the meeting to raise awareness among pilgrims.

As part of the awareness campaign, pilgrims will be advised to wear masks in Saudi Arabia when they are outside and to avoid coming into contact with fellow pilgrims who are suffering from colds.

Besides, they should wash their hands and faces after returning from outside.

More than one lakh pilgrims from Bangladesh will be performing this year’s Hajj. l

RAJIB DHAR

The bomb attack at Ramna Batamul during Chhayanaut’s 2001 Pahela Baishakh celebrations gripped many people with panic, including Nasima Shaheen who was performing on stage when the bombs exploded only a few yards away.

After witnessing the horrific incident that killed 10 people and injured over 50, Nasima went into shock and could not talk to anyone for days.

“It still haunts me. The scenes comes to my mind again and again. There were many people including women and children at the programme. I later heard that the criminals had plans to launch attacks on the stage as well,” said Nasima, who has also been a teacher at Chhayanaut since 1991.

Top leaders of Huji, a banned Islamist militant outfit, said in confessional statements that they had attacked the programme since it was “anti-Islamic.”

Nasima, along with other performers, was singing “Eki Oporup Rupe Maa Tomar Herinu Polli Jononi” at the moment of the blasts. “That day, my performance was set toward almost the end of the programme. When I was almost done with my performance, I heard a huge bang that stunned me for some time.

“I could not see anything but a massive amount of smoke around the place. First, I thought it was from an electric short circuit, but later I realised that it was a massive disaster,” she said.

Nasima saw some bodies piled up in front of the stage and people were saying that many more blasts might take place. “Everyone was running haphazardly, looking for a safe place. I could not believe my eyes. I had never seen such a horrific attack before,” she recalled. Nasima cannot remember how she returned home that day. l

gust last year. Moreover, the acting CJM, Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Arifuzzaman, has no jurisdiction to hear such appeals, said M Alam Khan Kalam, additional public prosecutor of Jhalakathi.

Limon was shot in his leg allegedly by some members of Rapid Action Battalion who had gone to Jamaddarhat village in Rajapur upazila in a drive to arrest members of local Mizan-Morshed gang on March 23, 2011. RAB the same day filed two cases against the teenager

and seven others of the notorious gang – one under the Arms Act and another for obstructing government duty, making attempts to murder and injuring RAB personnel. Charges in the cases were submitted on April 24 and July 1 of 2012.

On July 9 last year, the Home Ministry ordered a withdrawal of the charges, only against Limon, in both the cases. After a hearing, the judge of Special Tribunal 2 accepted the appeal of the prosecution on July 30 and

ordered the dropping of the charges against Limon in the arms case.

On the other hand, Limon’s mother Henoara Begum lodged a no-objection petition against the police report submitted in her case. It did not state involvement of RAB men in maiming her son. After the petition had been rejected by a Jhalakathi court, she filed another petition to review the order. Hearing on the revision petition was deferred for the eighth time on April 28 until today. l

The government has launched a national portal for around 25,000 of its websites, claiming it the largest web portal in the world.

The idea behind “bangladesh.gov. bd” is to reduce confusion and protect the sites from being hacked.

The Prime Minister’s Information and Communication Technology Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy formally inaugurated the portal in a programme at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) yesterday.

In August 2011, A2I began the journey of readying the national portal from Comilla “We have information that it is the largest web portal [in the world] and there is no confusion over it,” Sajeeb Wazed Joy said.

He also said: “The country is now half way to becoming Digital Bangladesh and we can travel the rest of the way before 2021… Not only a middle-income country, we want to be a modern and developed country and it will be possible in our lifetime.”

Joy, also son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said: “We are not only building a ‘digital Bangladesh,’ we are actually on the way towards staging a digital revolution and only the Awami League can do this.”

The portal will give a common design and layout to all the government websites that are currently hosted and maintained individually by the respective departments.

The PMO’s Access to Information (A2I) program has developed the site that will centrally maintain the websites of the respective ministries, divisions and wings of government offices.

A total of 50,000 officials have already been trained up for maintaining the portal.

According to A2I, it is an exemplary programme where the websites of 4,550 union offices, 14,640 upazila offices, 4,032 district offices, 455 divisional offices, 64 district council offices, 488 upazila parishad offices, 55 ministries and divisions, 345 departments and 414 city or municipal corporations are being covered.

The sites contains 20 lakh contents, more than 40,000 pictures, information on all the educational institutions, government offices and their contact persons, government gadgets, freedom fighters’ lists and descriptions of historical and tourist attractions.

The A2I also hopes to uphold citizens’ right to information through this portal.

In August 2011, A2I began the journey of readying the national portal from Comilla.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy held a video conference with the local authority in Comilla yesterday.

At yesterday’s programme, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said: “Bangladesh has created an information revolution over the last couple of years and more than 25,000 websites under a single platform is a proof of that.”

Speakers said the government had been observing the Public Service Week and there could not be a better example of how people could be served than “providing people with information before they ask for it.” l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Burden of quick rental still above 80% of disbursement n Asif Showkat Kallol The government has disbursed Tk1,171.72 crore credits for April and May to the Power Development Board for purchasing electricity from independent, rental and quick rental power plants, of which above 80% was for quick rental plants.

The bills for quick rental plants in these two months stood at Tk949.57 crore, which officials at the Finance Division said definitely put pressure on the exchequer.

Some contracts have been renewed on a ‘no power, no payment’ basis, while some rental prices have come down The Finance Division issued a letter to Power Division Secretary Monowar Islam yesterday, disbursing the loan to the PDB with a 3% interest rate.

As per the letter, the Finance Division disbursed Tk667.04 crore for the bill of April, of which Tk621.13 crore was for quick rental plants. For May, it paid Tk378.35 crore with Tk328.44 crore for these plants.

In fiscal year 2009, the average production cost of electricity was Tk2.55 per kilowatt, which rose to Tk6.7 in FY2013 because of the payment to rental power plants. The average produc-

tion cost of power at quick rental plants in 2013 was Tk11 per unit, according to the PDB. The PDB purchases 1,405MW electricity from rental and quick rental power projects and 1,066MW from independent power plants. Two months ago, the government raised the subsidy allocation for rental power in the revised budget for this fiscal year by Tk500 crore from Tk5,000 crore.

The 9% increase in subsidy was revealed at a recent inter-ministerial meeting of the Finance Division.

Power subsidy has been increased by around 15% to Tk7,000 crore, while fuel subsidy has been slashed by 67.35% to Tk2,400 crore in FY2014-15 as the government pledged to the International Monetary Fund.

In April, the World Bank recommended phasing out quick rental power plants and stopping payment to firms that are out of production to ease the government’s subsidy burden as it has started renewing the contracts.

To date some contracts have been renewed on a ‘no power, no payment’ basis, while some rental prices have come down. More should be done to reduce the cost of rental power and eventually phase it out, said the World Bank in its Bangladesh Development Update.

It also suggested hiking the prices of gas, electricity and petroleum products to cut the huge amount of subsidy, which was 0.1% of the GDP in FY2009 compared to 1.7% in FY2013. l

Passengers on boats rush to cover themselves from a sudden downpour near the capital’s Sadarghat yesterday

MUMIT M

DNA to get a full directorate n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

The government has initiated a draft law to set up an entire directorate dedicated to the formation of a national DNA database that will help detect crimes such as rapes and murders.

State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroz mentioned this to the House yesterday while defending the DNA bill 2014.

In many cases, criminals go unpunished because of the cumbersome nature of investigations. The idea behind

the bill is that the DNA test results will be accepted at the court.

The parliamentary standing committee on women and children affairs ministry was asked to scrutinise the draft law and refer back to the legislature in one month.

The bill, if passed, will set up the Directorate of DNA Laboratory Management, headed by a director general.

According to the draft law, the existing National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory will be considered a laboratory under the government.

Besides, any dispute relating to the determination of relations between persons can be detected by DNA profiling.

Police or the assigned investigation agencies can collect DNA samples from the suspects in line with guidelines written in the prescribed forms. Anyone declining to give samples for DNA profiling in three hours will be considered reluctant to give samples.

In case of denials, police must turn to the court to order the collection of the DNA samples from the suspects after hearing both sides.

Carrying out DNA tests without authorisation is an offence, says the proposed law stipulating a maximum five years and minimum three years of imprisonment or a fine of Tk3 lakh or both.

Every director, manager, secretary, partner, official and staff will be deemed to have committed crime if any company has direct involvement with the offences. They can get immunity from the charges if they can prove that the crimes were committed without their knowledge or they tried their best to stop the offence. l

Housewife killed, eight injured in separate fires n Abid Azad

Eden College BCL fights NARAYANGANJ 5 BY-ELECTION over watching World Cup Intelligence report cites 17 polling

A housewife was killed and eight others sustained injuries in three different fire incidents in the capital yesterday.

The injured are receiving treatment at the burn unit, said Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) Residential Surgeon Partha Sankar Pal. The deceased was Rozi Begum, 25, a housewife from the capital’s Mohammadpur Geneva camp.

According to the victim’s brother, Rozi received burn injuries when the oven in her kitchen exploded on Sunday around midnight. Later, doctors at DMCH pronounced her dead around 5.30am yesterday.

Rozi lived with her husband Sohel Rana and their daughter and two sons, he added.

In another incident, five members of a family received burn injuries when their residence caught fire after a ceiling fan short-circuited.

The injured were Joynal Abedin, 40, his wife Peyara Begum, 35, their sons Robiul Hasan, 12, and Rabbi, 18, and Khadiza, 18.

Meanwhile, three persons received burn injuries when a fire broke out at a factory in the capital’s Kayettuli area following an electric short-circuit.

The injured were Sattar, 38, the owner of the factory, and two of his workers Saidul, 35, and Faruk, 37. l

At least seven activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League of Eden College unit were injured in a factional clash yesterday regarding watching the football World Cup on television.

According to general students, the clash broke out for the second time among the group led by President Jesmin Akthar Nipa and General Secretary Israt Jahan Orchi, around 11am yesterday centering a previous fight.

During the clash, the two rival groups fought each other with iron rods and wooden sticks and general secretary Israt Jahan Orchi received an injury.

The other injured were BCL activists Taslima, Beauty, Bristy, Shurma, Eity and Urmi. The injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.

On Saturday night around 11pm, a fight took place at Ayesha Siddiqua Hall

n DU Correspondent

when one group of students wanted to watch the football World Cup on a big screen TV but another wanted to watch a drama serial.

At least two students were injured in that clash including BCL Eden College unit president Jesmin Akther Nipa.

According to sources at Eden College BCL, the rivalry began over the sharing of the sponsorship money which a company had given the party highups to buy two separate big screens for Ayesha Siddiqua Hostel to watch the football World Cup. However, Israt Jahan Orchi declined to call the incident a clash with her rival.

She rather termed it a misunderstanding among general students.

When contacted, Eden College Principal Professor Hosne Ara said the students were involved in a quarrel over watching television.

“It was not a big problem. We have the situation under control,” she added. l

centres as vulnerable n Mohammad Zakaria An intelligence report cites seventeen polling centres as vulnerable in the Narayanganj 5 by-election to be held on June 26.

It also views 23 persons, accused of various cases, as potential saboteurs of the election, an Election Commission officer told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity.

The report fears that BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami men might, posing as supporters of any of the four election candidates, try to enter polling centres and to create problems to ensure the deterioration of law and order during the election.

It has asked for increased vigilance on BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists, particularly so that they cannot cause

inspector general of police, Narayanganj deputy commissioner, returning officer and superintendent of police to enable them to take action.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad said the Narayanganj 5 by-polls area was sensitive and so the relevant authorities had been asked to take special steps to maintain law and order during the election.

The Narayanganj 5 constituency accounts for 3, 42, 405 voters, of whom 1, 74, 311 are male and 1, 68, 094 female.

They will cast their votes from 141 polling centres.

Voters, according to an Election Commission press release, will be informed of their voter serial numbers and polling centre names through mobile SMS and the Election Commission’s website. l

Bangladesh, Kuwait deal on military hardware display n Mohosinul Karim

Sazeda Haque Jolly dies n Tribune Report Alhaj Sazeda Haque Jolly, 68, wife of former tax commissioner and advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court Md Nurul Haque Mia, died at her Banani residence on June 21 around 11pm. A special prayer has been arranged to be held on June 27 after the Asr prayer.

Her relatives and close associate are requested to attend the prayer at House 30, Road 18, Block J, Banani, Dhaka. l

violence during the election.

Independent candidate SM Akram, Jatiya Party candidate Salim Osman, Krishak Sramik Janata League candidate Shafiqul Islam Delowar and independent candidate advocate Mamun Sirajul Majid are contesting in the by-election.

However, the BNP, the Jamaat-e-Islami and even the Awami League, the ruling party, have not fielded any candidate in the election.

The Election Commission official said the report had also suggested that concerned authorities take actions such as arresting the potential poll saboteurs and increasing number of law enforcers at the vulnerable polling centres.

Senior Assistant Secretary Farhad Hossain sent the intelligence report to the senior secretary of home ministry,

Pedestrians and rickshaws brace knee-deep water on Nazimuddin Road in the capital’s old town area yesterday

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

The governments of Bangladesh and Kuwait have agreed to exchange and display military hardware at museums in their respective countries.

The cabinet yesterday approved a draft of the agreement, which is expected to be signed soon between the Bangladesh Military Museum and the Kuwait House of National Works, popularly known as the Kuwait Liberation War Museum, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters.

Under the agreement, the two countries will establish separate sections in their respective museums to display each others’ military equipment.

The two sides will also exchange information and experiences in the sec-

tor as part of an initiative to enhance cooperation.

Meanwhile, the cabinet also approved a draft agreement on air services that will be signed with the European Union.

According to the agreement, Bangladesh will get special benefits for air services in all EU countries, the cabinet secretary said.

At present, Bangladesh has separate deals with eight EU countries, including the UK, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Slovakia and Poland.

However, it is hard to maintain and renew eight separate accords, Musharraf said. So, the government has decided to sign a comprehensive agreement with the EU, he added. l

bring dropouts and those children who were above 18, back into the education system. It would also spread non-formal education across the country and raise its standards.

He said non-formal primary education is a huge issue in the country, especially in terms of ensuring minimum literacy for the elderly and dropouts.

The cabinet secretary also said the department of non-formal education had been looking after its activities.

But, there was no law and so it was necessary to enact this law to continue the activities of non-formal education.

Bhuiyan said, “Minimum literacy and also the provision of creating educated manpower with technical education has been kept in the law as it will accommodate any kind of employment.”

“If there is anything conflicting with other laws, that will be removed from the draft,” he stated. l

Non-formal education act cleared by the cabinet n Mohosinul Karim

The cabinet has finally approved the draft of the Non-Formal Education Act, 2014 to bring the non-formal education sector, which is now being run under a non-formal education policy, under a legal framework.

The approval was given yesterday at the regular cabinet meeting in the cabinet room of the parliament building with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in

the chair.

Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan later briefed reporters about the approval at the Secretariat.

Bhuiyan said the government had enacted the new act considering its necessity to strengthen the non-formal education system in order to eliminate illiteracy in the country.

According to the new act, a non-formal education board will be formed which will evaluate the non-formal

education examinations, prepare curricula and form improvement plans for the sector.

The Director General of the existing Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE) will be its chairman. The bureau will look after the administrative issues of the sector.

Cabinet Secretary Musharraf said the new act provides a punishment of six months in jail and a maximum of Tk50,000 as a fine for violating the law.

Earlier in February, the cabinet sent back the proposed draft to place it as a new law titled “Non-Formal Education Act, 2014’ for further improvement of the proposed law after consultation with the stakeholder ministries.

It had also asked the primary education minister to improve the draft in such a way so that it would not conflict with other laws.

Bhuiyan said it was important for the government to enact the new law to

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Top pledge of Chittagong mayor remains unfulfilled Waterlogging could not be solved because of 'corruption' during the project's implementation

n Tushar Hayat, Chittagong Removing the waterlogging problem was a pledge that M Manjur Alam had made when he was elected mayor of the Chittagong city. However, four years after the 2010 election, the city dwellers have yet to witness implementation of that pledge.

According to the Chittagong City Corporation sources, projects worth Tk147.82 crore were undertaken with the aim to eradicate waterlogging in the city. However, the problem could not be solved due to widespread corruption during the projects’ implementation.

Advocate Anwarul Islam Chowdhury, convener of Shocheton Nagorik Forum, said the mayor had put forward a 56-point pledge ahead of the city corporation election.

Of the pledges, 17 were short-term, 10 mid-term and 29 long-term, he added.

“Two of the mayor’s top pledges were to eradicate waterlogging and to have a clean city. But the pledges remain unfulfilled,” he said, adding that most of the other pledges were also unfulfilled.

Sharif Chawhan, convener of Peoples’ Voice, said no proper studies were conducted before these projects were undertaken, which is why their implementation could do little to eliminate waterlogging.

“Also, the projects could not be accomplished properly due to corruption,” he said, claiming that a vested quarter had made quick money in the guise of implementing the projects.

The photo which was taken on Sunday from Sholoshahar area in the port city shows that rickshaw pullers with their vehicles wade through chest-deep water DHAKA TRIBUNE Mayor Manjur Alam, however, refuted the allegation that he had failed to eradicate waterlogging, saying the problem had been reduced significantly over the past four years due to the implementation of a number of projects.

“Now, water pools in some areas after heavy rainfall, but it recedes within

several hours after the rain stops,” he said.

The permanent eradication of waterlogging depended on the implementation of the Drainage Master Plan, he added.

He said they had undertaken a project worth Tk297 crore to dredge a big canal, and the project had been await-

ing the nod of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council.

He also said a lack of an adequate number of sluice gates at the entrance of different canals was a major reason behind the waterlogging.

He said he had been urging the Water Development Board to set up the sluice gates and expand the existing ones.

Fruit merchants resume business

Three killed in road accidents in Savar n Abu Hayat Mahmud n Our Correspondent, Savar Fruit traders across the country jointly Three people died in two road crashes yesterday at Savar and Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka city.

Of the deceased, one was Mosharraf Hossain, 30, a worker of Rahimafrooz Batteries Ltd. The other two could not be identified immediately.

Police said Mosharraf was riding on the back of a motorcycle along the Chandra-Nabinagar highway around 6:45am to go to his office in Zirani area.

As they reached Kabirpur Bus Stand area, the driver lost control. Mosharraf was thrown on the road and was run over by a bus from behind. He died on the spot.

In protest, locals blocked the highway for an hour. Ashulia police rushed there, brought the situation under control and recovered the body.

Police also recovered the bodies of two other persons, who are believed to have died in road crashes in the wee hours of yesterday.

They recovered one body from from beside the Dhaka-Aricha highway next to Salihpur bridge in Savar’s Aminbazar and another from beside the Chandra-Nabinagar highway in Ashulia’s Zirani. l

WEATHER THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

TUESDAY, JUNE 24 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:50PM SUN RISES 5:12AM FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

34°

28°

Chittagong

32°

27°

Rajshahi

37°

28°

Rangpur

34°

26°

Khulna

36°

28°

Barisal

34°

28°

Sylhet

33°

25°

Cox’s Bazar

32°

27°

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

34.8ºC Jessore

22.6ºC Sandwip

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

3:46am 5:12am 12:01am 4:42pm 6:49pm 8:17pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

decided to resume their businesses yesterday after the government ensured then that traders would not be harassed in the name of anti-formalin drives.

They also announced that they would not call further strikes or demonstrations in this regard.

“We have taken the decision to resume business after authorities concerned assured us that traders would not be ‘harassed’ and their fruits would not be destroyed,” Md Sirajul Islam, general secretary of Dhaka Metropolitan Fruits Import-Export and Merchants’ Multiple Cooperative Society, told the Dhaka Tribune after attending a meeting with the leaders of fruit traders’ associations and fruit growers at the capital’s Badamtali Wholesale Fruit Market.

He said the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries Vice-President Helal Uddin and Haji Mohammad Selim MP, president of the Badamtali Fruit Market,

assured that they had discussed the issue with high officials of governmental bodies and confirmed that the mobile courts would not go and destroy fruits without laboratory tests.

“Our leaders (Helal and Selim) have informed us that the government will immediately form an expert committee to test formalin limits and adulterated fruits,” Sirajul added.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Helal Uddin said: “We asked government high-ups to ensure that the fruits be tested at the country’s Science Laboratory, BSTI or the Institute of Public Health, if police find traces of formalin at check posts.”

“Following our request, police officials assured us that they would consider our proposal,” he added.

On Friday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police held a meeting with the leaders of fruit traders’ association in a bid to convince them to withdraw the strike.

The meeting, held at the DMP headquarters, discussed the current situation and the DMP officials asked the

5

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

traders to resume their business.

Earlier, on June 11, DMP launched an anti-formalin drive in the capital, armed with the electronic Formaldehyde Meter Z-300 device, which has reportedly been made to test the concentration level of formaldehyde in air.

Later, fruit traders claimed the drive was a form of harassment and questioned the dependability of the Formaldehyde Meter Z-300 used by the mobile courts to detect formalin.

They also called a strike and formed a human chain as a protest against the ongoing anti-formalin drive as they urged the government to put an end to the controversial move.

According to several research institutes in the country, such as the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, and agriculturalists, the Formaldehyde Meter Z-300 is an instrument to measure the concentration of chemicals or gases in the air, not in food items, and it is not used on food items in the US where it is manufactured. l

According to the city corporation sources, the Drainage Master Plan – estimated to cost Tk88 crore – included the dredging of three giant canals with 30 branches, re-dredging of the existing canals and their branches, setting up of embankments on both the sides of Karnaphuli River from Patenga to Dry Dock, setting up of tidal regulators at different canals, and the construction of navigation gates at Chaktain and Rajakhali canals.

Around Tk1,000 crore was spent during the past three tenures of former mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury to eradicate water-logging, but there has been little improvement, said the sources.

Many areas of the city, including Agrabad, Halishahar, Bakalia, Sholoshahar, Muradpur, Bahaddarhat, Panchlaish, Chawk Bazar and Chandgaon go under knee to waist-deep water, even during moderate rain, and it worsens during torrential rainfall.

The low-lying areas of the city have been submerged in water for the past four days due to the heavy rainfall, causing the city dwellers immense suffering.

Jerina Hossain, a city planner, said people were paying the price as the projects to eradicate waterlogging were not being implemented in a coordinated way.

She said each government organisation was spending its budget in its own way.

She stressed on the necessity of immediate coordination among the concerned organisations, saying the city dwellers would have to suffer more if the ongoing situation continued. l

Four killed in separate incidents n FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong

At least four people, including a female and a teenager, were killed in separate incidents yesterday in Chittagong city’s Sulokbahar, Muradpur Bakalia and Kotowali areas.

Nayek Abul Basar of Chittagong Medical College Hospital police outpost said Jalal Uddin, 45, the son of Abdus Sattar Shikdar from Borguna, was hit by a train at the rail crossing gate in Hamjarbag area of Muradpur around 5:30pm, leaving him critically injured.

He was taken to CMCH where on duty doctors declared him dead, he added.

Md Asinur, a rickshaw puller from Cox’s Bazar, came in contact with a live electric wire in Bakalia area around 9:30pm on Sunday night, said Nayek Bashar. He was pronounced dead by on duty doctors after he was taken to CMCH. Roni Chakrabarti, 16, the son of Haradhan Chakrabarti from Ranguniya upazila, allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan at his residence in Amanat Manson under Panchlish police station around 5:30pm yesterday. He was rushed to the CMCH in a critical condition and on duty doctors pronounced him dead.

Sarmin Akhter, 20, the daughter of Abu Taher from the same upazila, also allegedly hanged herself from a ceiling fan at her home under Kotowali Police Station, said Nayek Bashar, adding that her family members rushed her to CMCH where she was declared dead.

The reasons behind the suicides could not be known immediately. l

Robbers kill security guard during robbery in the city n Adil Sakhawat A security guard was killed yesterday by unidentified robbers while they were robbing a house in the city’s New Eskaton area.

The deceased was Abdur Rahim (40) from Muladir Char of Barisal.

According to the family living in house no 33 in New Eskaton, 13 robbers, around 30-40 years of age, entered the house from the second floor, early yesterday morning.

“The robbers confined four members of my family and stole around Tk5 lakh (US$ 4000) and gold worth Tk80 lakh,” said Laikue Ali Chowdhury.

The robbers had sharp knives with them during the robbery.

“It seemed like they were not professional robbers, but knew a lot about my family,” he added.

The deceased security guard, Rahim, had worked in that house for four years.

Sub-inspector Alam Mia of Ramna police station told Dhaka Tribune, “After being informed by the family members, police rushed to the spot and recovered the body of the security guard. A murder and robbery case was filed with our police station and though no one has been arrested yet, we have questioned the housemaids and are trying to arrest the culprits.”

“It seems the robbers murdered the security guard because had he spotted them and had tried to inform people outside the house. They strangled him with a towel,” he added.

In another incident, the unidentified body of a young girl, aged approximately 20, was recovered from a lane beside Robbani Hotel in Mirpur 10 area early in the morning yesterday when police were informed by the locals, confirmed Sub- inspector Rashidul Islam of Mirpur Police station.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for an autopsy. l

Police disperse student rally in Barisal, 5 injured n Our Correspondent, Barisal Police put forward baton charges in an attempt to disperse a rally by the fourth-year students of BM College in Barisal city yesterday, which left at least five people injured, including two journalists.

Students from 18 departments of the college came together to join the rally to protest the increase of examination fees.

The injured – economics students Uzzal Kumar and Palash Khan, English student Avijit Roy, and photo journalists Fuad Islam and Tanmoy Das of local dailies Barisal Protidin and Kalomer Kantho, respectively – were given first aid treatment at different pharmacies in the city.

Condemning the police attack, the agitated students threatened to lock all the departments in the college today.

The students alleged that the college authority increased the fees to Tk4,500 from Tk3,300 without giving a reason or a prior notice.

Sharmin Jahan Popy, one of the protesting students, said they had cordoned off the principal’s office yesterday morning to press home their demands.

The college authority then sat down with the students and agreed to subtract Tk200 from the portion due for the college.

However the principal said they did not have the authority to reduce the portion fixed by National University.

Coming out of the meeting, the students blocked the road in front of the

college campus.

Upon receiving information, police went to the scene and dispersed the demonstrating students by chasing them away and charging at them with batons, and cleared the road for traffic movement after about an hour of blockage, said witness A B Siddik, a student of the college.

Professor Fazlul Huq, the principal, said National University had increased Tk50 for each paper, so the amount of total examination fees increased by Tk500-800 per subject.

However, the college authority decided to decrease at least Tk200 from the fees for the college, but could not assure that the portion of the fees fixed

by National University would be reduced, he added.

The university authority had been informed about the students’ agitation, and form fill-up will be held from June 23 to 26, the principal said.

Shakhawat Hossain, OC of Kotwali police station, said any student movements on academic issues should be confined to the campus without hampering life outside.

Police interfered only after the students blocked the road, stopping vehicular movement on the busy roads and refused to go back inside the campus area, the OC told the Dhaka Tribune.

When asked about the beating of the two photo journalists, the police officer said they were students of the college and had participated in the movement without identifying themselves as journalists. l

Commuters wait for transport at Farmgate in the capital yesterday afternoon. People had to surfer a lot because of traffic congestion caused by waterlogging and rally of the Awami Legue SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Unusual vacation at CU to shun BCL infighting n CU Correspondent The Chittagong University (CU) authorities have allegedly forced the start of their summer vacation from today till August 7, four days before the usual date, in order to avert possible clashes between two groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League.

The CU authorities, however, stated that the adverse weather conditions which have been hampering the smooth movement of the university’s shuttle train was the cause behind the decision to change the vacation date.

The decision was made yesterday afternoon at a meeting presided by Vice

Chancellor Professor Anwarul Azim Arif, at his office.

CU proctor Siraj Ud Dowla told the Dhaka Tribune that considering the students’ immense sufferings, classes have been suspended from June 24 till August 07, but the scheduled examinations will be held during this period.

According to the academic calendar, the vacation was supposed to start from June 28.

Meanwhile, the locals spotted an abandoned bag stuffed with a lighter gun and several sharp weapons beside Safi Tower in Gate No 2 area at 11:45am and informed police who recovered the arms, said Hathazari police station OC

Ismail Hossain. In another incident, around 12:30pm, police dispersed the gathering of the two BCL factions – Varsity Expresses (VX) led by Ariful Islam and another led by Suman Mamun – before the VC’s office. Both groups are under city AL president ABM Mohiuddin.

Moin Uddin, in-charge of CU police outpost, said they dispersed the gathering because there is a ban on political activities on the campus.

Campus sources said, Nazrul Islam, Suman Mamun’s follower and a second year student of the Marketing Studies Department, was beaten up by his rivals on Saturday evening, triggering a tense situation.. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Road subsidence causes tailback in Gazipur Vehicles took eight hours to cross 20km could not do that because she failed to n Our Correspondent, Gazipur reach her destination on time.

Students of Mymensingh Medical College call off strike n Our Correspondent, Mymensingh

A long traffic jam on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway early yesterday brought passengers misery as it was taking too much time to cross the fairly large distance.

The congestion, stretching from Salna to Mawna intersection, was said to be the result of different parts of the road subsiding due to the downpour over the last several days. The highway is being elevated to four lanes. Seasonal fruit traders also ran into difficulties while transporting their goods for export.

Trucker Abul Hasan said he set off from Chandana intersection with goods at 4am but got stuck in traffic on the Salna bridge at 10am.

“I reached Mawna intersection at 12 noon. It took me eight hours to cross 20 kilometres,” he said.

Another trucker Sabuj Mia started for Mymensingh from the capital’s Tejgaon at 2:30am but was caught in the congestion at Masterbari of Gazipur at 4am. He reached Mawna intersection at 12:30pm, after driving for eight and a half hours to cross nearly 15km.

Ripon Mia, Ena Paribahan driver, said he had started from Mohakhali at 6am and faced the jam at Hotapara at 7:30am, and reached Mawna intersection at 12:30pm. A passenger of Hasnahena bus said she was supposed to register a piece of land in Mymensingh yesterday but

Mozammel Haque, the supervisor of Prabhati-Banasri Paribahan in Sreepur, said buses had left for Dhaka, starting from dawn till 7am, and those that had started after 7am could not cross Sreepur.

Those buses had to return, he said.

Masud Parvez Manju, a lessee in Jaina Bazar of Sreepur, said several parts of the highway, which was being elevated to four lanes, subsided because of the torrential rainfall over the past few days.

“A jackfruit-laden truck overturned after falling into a pothole in Nayanpur around 11:30pm on Sunday. It took three hours to pull up the vehicle and the fruits. However, it could not cross Gazipur even after 3am,” he said.

Officer-in-charge of Mawna intersection highway police station Sanwar Hossain said since an upgrade of the highway was underway, different parts of it, where bitumen had been applied, had subsided because of the heavy rain.

“The tailback was actually a result of this. Vehicles got stuck in Salna, Hotapara, Masterbari, Mawna intersection since the early hours yesterday,” he said.

“We have been trying to fix the subsided parts since morning by placing bricks to even out the road. Some of the vehicles tried to move after 1pm but the number of passenger vehicles taking this road is declining,” he added. l

Feni gas cylinder blast victim dies at DMCH n Our Correspondent, Feni

41 schools run without headmasters in 4 killed in Jessore, Cox’s Comilla, education office keeps mum Bazar and Narsingdi

A gas distribution company technician, who was injured in a gas cylinder explosion at a CNG Gas Filling Station of Chhagalnaiya municipal town in Feni, died yesterday.

Rafiqul Islam, 45, died at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in the morning, Sayeedul Islam, manager of Bakharabad Gas, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Earlier on Sunday, Rafiq, who was a technician with the Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Limited’s Feni office, and eight others were injured in the gas explosion.

Manager Sayeed said the eight others were undergoing treatment at DMCH burn unit and at Feni General Hospital. l

Seven suspected robbers held in Bagerhat n Tribune Desk Police arrested seven suspected members of an inter-district robbers’ gang, including its ringleader, in separate drives at different parts of Pirojpur and Khulna districts on Sunday night.

On June 2, a group of muggers, posing as police, looted Tk 13.5 lakh from two employees of a rice mill at KB Bazar in the town, said Bagerhat Police Super Mohammad Nizamul Haque Mollah while briefing reporters yesterday.

Madhusudhan Dam, the owner of the rice mill, filed a case in this connection.

On a tip-off, a team of Bagerhat police conducted a drive at Bhekutia Ferryghat in Pirojpur and arrested three members of the gang on Sunday night. l

Six missing in Bogra boat capsize n Our Correspondent, Bogra At least six persons, including three children, have gone missing since their boat sank in the Jumuna River on Sunday afternoon.

They missing people are Mamuni, 3, Bulbuli, 3, Ruposhi, 5, Johurul Islam, 50, Nayeb Ali, 18 and Arju Khatun, 25.

Locals said the boat was going to Charghagua char of Kajla Union Parishad from Dhonirpara Char of Hatsherpur Union Parishad of Sariakandi upazila.

On the way, it got caught in a storm and sank. Until Monday afternoon, no dead bodies of the missing people had been found.

Sariakandi police station Officerin-Charge AHM Waheduzzaman confirmed the occurrence of the incident to the Dhaka Tribune.

He said: “We know, however, that five persons, including the children went missing when the boat capsized.” l

n Our Correspondent, Comilla The headmaster posts of at least 41 out of 102 government primary schools have been lying vacant in Monohorganj upazila of Comilla for a long time, hampering the administrative, managerial and educational activities of those schools.

Assistant headmasters at these schools have been performing the duties of the headmaster, and this has sometimes caused trouble for the entire school. Moreover, about 70 posts of assistant teachers have remained vacant for the last few months.

Sources at the schools said it was difficult to run the schools smoothly in the absence of headmasters, as existing teachers have to do extra work to fulfill the different terms and conditions of the government.

The schools without headmasters are Burprista, Hawra, Udais, Mandargaon, Borochandpur, Sorospur, Sahapur, Bhaopur, Monipur, Norpaiya, Baduara, Daiyara, Pomgaon, Moishatua, Hazipura, Somsherpur, Khorkhoria, Kandirpar, Lakshanpur, Taherpur, Borola, Fenua, Poranpur, Dumuria, Noagaon, Janota Bazar, Sahapur Paschim,

The photo taken from Salna in Gazipur shows that a good number of vehicles get stuck on a road as many parts of the district were submerged because of heavy downpour DHAKA TRIBUNE

Bhaopur Purbo, Sripur, Mirjapur, Norohoripur, Dakhshin Narayanpur, Banghar, Hatiamuri Paschim, Thangarbam, Ulupara, Dakshin Fonua, Boro Uttar Haola, Nararpar, Batachow and Kachi Uttar Government Primary School.

In such a circumstance, if a teacher has to do the duty of a headmaster,

Upazila education office knows everything, but they did not take any steps to solve the issue carry out administrative and other managerial work, he or she has to face lots of hurdles since other teachers, who are of the same rank as them, are sometimes reluctant to help them.

A teacher of Baduara Government Primary School, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had to take on extra loads as they did not have any headmaster.

“It will be difficult to keep doing this job, if this situation continues,” he said.

Another teacher, who preferred not to disclose his name as well as the

school’s name, said, “Although I have been doing the job of the headmaster for a couple months now, the school authority is not paying me extra for my additional duties.”

He said the upazila education office knows everything, but they did not take any steps to solve the issue.

According to the upazila education office, a total of 20 government primary schools are in dilapidated conditions and teachers and students have been attending school amid a lot of risk.

Last week, five students of Bashoiya Taltola Government Primary School were severely injured when a portion of their classroom’s roof fell on them.

Sources said they had wanted to renovate these educational institutions but could not do it for a lack of governmental allocation.

Arzun Kumar Mondol, upazila primary education officer, told the Dhaka Tribune that the number of vacant headmaster posts were increasing every month because of transfers, retirements and deaths of headmasters.

He said they had informed the higher authority about these various crises, including the shortage of teachers and the rundown state of the schools. l

Growers stockpile pineapples on roadside which will be taken to different parts across the country. The photo was taken from Farukpara in Bandarban yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Bandarban hills see bumper production of pineapple correspondent, n Our Bandarban The hill district of Bandarban witnessed a bumper production of pineapples this year, with farmers making good profits from their crops.

Favourable weather has led to the bumper prodution of the juicy fruits in the region. The Department of Agriculture Extension in the district says about seven lakh metric tonnes of pineapple was produced in 4,525 hectares of land this fiscal,

while over six lakh metric tonnes were produced in 2012-13 and nearly two lakh metric tonnes in 2010-11.

Giant Key and Honey Queen are the two varieties of pineapples largely grown in the district.

Sources said the tasty and succulent fruits were exported to different parts of the country including Dhaka and Chittagong, after meeting the local demand.

The ethnic people living in the hilly regions of Farukpara, Layemipara, Satmayel and Egaromayel

cultivate pineapples. A pineapple grower Pasen Bom from Farukpara said, “We are earning much better profits from the sale of pineapples this year than in the previous years.”

He said he had cultivated on three acres of land and reaped around 5,000 pineapples which he sold for Tk20-Tk25 per piece.

Bandarban Agriculture Department Deputy Director Abul Kalam said pineapple cultivation was gaining momentum in the district because of its for-profit nature. l

n Tribune Report At least four people were murdered in Jessore, Cox’s Bazar and Narsingdi districts yesterday.

According to our Jessore correspondent, two people had been killed in the district.

Assailants killed a jute mill worker near Jessore Jute Industry at Noapara under Abhaynagar upazila of the district.

Locals said the assailants had attacked Ariful Islam Nishan, 36, who was a jute mill worker from the area and the son of Sujauddin of Moallemtola village.

Locals rescued him and had him admitted to Abhaynagar Upazila Health Complex where the on duty doctor declared him dead.

Abhaynagar police station Assistant Sub-Inspector Afzal confirmed the incident.

Meanwhile, police recovered the body of a housewife which had been stuffed into a sack and left on the Arpara-Syedpur field in Chaugachha upazila.

Police sources said Rahima Khatun, the second wife of Johurul Islam, had been a resident of Tirerhat village of

Students of Mymensingh Medical College called off their hartal yesterday after police arrested the main accused of the attack on Reza Hasan Toki.

Officer-in-Charge of Kotwali Model police station said a team of police had arrested Limon from Chowrasta area in Gazipur around 9pm on Sunday.

Dr Matiur Rahman, general secretary of BMA Mymensingh unit, said the students of the college had called off the movement since police managed to arrest the main culprit. He demanded punishment for Toki’s attackers.

According to campus sources, a group of 5-6 miscreants attacked Toki, a fourth year student of the medical college, when he was on his way to the college library from his Bhatikashar residence around 8am on June 14.

The miscreants hacked him indiscriminately with sharp weapons, leaving him critically injured.

Toki was first admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and later sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital via a helicopter.

Since then the students of the college have been observing agitation programmes, including boycotting classes and examinations. Teachers of the medical college also joined the movement, expressing solidarity with the students. l

the upazila.

Upon receiving information, police recovered the body from the sack on the Arpara-Syedpur field and sent it to Jessore Sadar Hospital morgue for an autopsy.

Police arrested Fatima-Tuz-Zohora, who is Johurul Islam’s first wife, Fatima’s younger brother Rezwan Hossain and driver Shahidul Islam in connection with the killing.

Our Cox’s Bazar correspondent said a youth had been shot dead by some unidentified miscreants at Mathabhanga area in Teknaf upazila.

Baharchhara Union Parishad member Gias Uddin, said the miscreants had shot Jalal Uddin, 27, who was the son of Azam Uddin, while he was sleeping in his house.

OC Md Mokter Hossain said upon receiving information, the police recovered the body.

In Narsingdi, a youth had been killed at Dattapara area of the town.

Abul Kashem, officer-in-charge of Narsigdi Model police station said assailants had hacked Rahim Badsha to death in the morning.

He was a listed criminal of the area, said the OC. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

7

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The state of democracy in Bangladesh again witnessed a democratically elected government follow many strategies of election-engineering which have been practised by the military regimes.

A majority in parliament was ensured through uncontested elections, and an opposition party was fabricated.

The second of a three-part series on the current state of democracy, the challenges it faces, and the future

State-sponsored party building The third feature of military rule was state-sponsored party-building. When the military dictators decided to civilise themselves and face elections, they floated their own political parties. Members from both left-wing and right-wing parties joined these sarkari (official) parties sponsored by the military dictators. State patronage, and not ideology, was the main attraction of these parties.

Thus in 1977, Ziaur Rahman founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) by recruiting members from both the right leaning Muslim League (ML), which had collaborated with the Pakistan Army in 1971, and the left leaning National Awami Party (NAP). In 1986, HM Ershad founded the Jatiya Party (JP), by getting supporters from the ML, NAP as well as from a sizeable rump of the BNP. As the BNP and the JP began their journey as sarkari parties, people who joined these parties could aspire to draw on state patronage to immediately become members of the cabinet, or the parliament, or local councils.

These parties mobilised popular support mainly though their control of public goods and services.

Again this legacy of using state patronage to build and maintain support for political parties did not end with military rule. Indeed, the practice was exacerbated during the subsequent years of electoral democracy when all institutions became increasingly influenced, and the winning political party or alliance held monopoly control on all state patronage.

Indeed, during the electoral democratic era, the distribution of patronage became increasingly exclusionary as a “winner-takes-all” culture took root.

Before the 10th parliamentary elections, we also saw the democratically elected Grand Alliance Government pursue the strategy of breaking existing parties/alliance through a carrot and stick policy, a strategy which was followed by the two military rulers when they built the BNP and the JP, by fragmenting existing parties.

SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

n Rounaq Jahan

T

Election engineering he second legacy of military rule is election engineering. The two military dictators, Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad, organised a series of elections to establish their legitimacy. However, all these elections lacked credibility as the state machinery was used to gain outcomes that were favourable to the regime. The intelligence agencies, civil administration, and the police were the three key instruments used for engineering election results.

The first military dictator, Ziaur Rahman, organised three elections.

In 1977, he held a referendum and claimed 87% voter turnout with 99% “yes” vote. He, then, organised a presidential election in 1978 claiming 76% of the vote. In 1979, parliamen-

an opposition made up of once unelectable candidates, was fabricated and “ensured” a few seats in the parliament.

The repeated fraudulent elections, organised by the two military regimes, established certain patterns and practices which were unfortunately carried over even during the years of our electoral democracy.

Democratically elected governments also attempted to use state agencies to influence election results.

The Election Commission (EC) was never empowered to act independently and hold the government accountable for violations of election guidelines.

For example, several by-elections held under the BNP government in the early 1990s were grossly rigged. This led the AL-led political opposition to demand organisation of parliamentary elections under a non-partisan “caretaker” government (NCG) which was an innovative idea not usually practised in parliamentary democracies.

During the electoral democratic era, the distribution of patronage became increasingly exclusionary as a ‘winner-takes-all’ culture took root tary elections were held where it was alleged that the government pre-determined not only the seats that would go to the state-sponsored party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which Ziaur Rahman floated, but seats were also allocated to some state-sponsored opposition candidates to create an image of multi-party competitive elections.

The second military dictator, HM Ershad, also organised three elections: a presidential election in 1986, and two parliamentary elections, one in 1986 and another in 1988.

He was, however, less successful than Zia in “persuading” all opposition parties to contest the elections. Zia’s party, BNP, boycotted both the 1986 and 1988 parliamentary elections. The Awami League, which participated in the 1986 parliamentary elections, but subsequently resigned from the parliament within two years, also boycotted the 1988 parliamentary elections. In the 1988 elections

The BNP initially rejected the idea of NCG, and went through the motions of a voter-less election in February 1996, but was eventually compelled to frame and pass the 13th amendment of the constitution institutionalising the NCG in 1996.

Two relatively free and fair elections were organised under the NCG in June, 1996 and October, 2001. However, the scheduled January, 2007 elections could not be held as the incumbent BNP-led four party government attempted to influence the EC as well as the NCG, and the political opposition led by the AL refused to participate in the scheduled 2007 elections.

As discussed earlier, failure to organise a peaceful election participated by all major parties led to a military intervention in 2007, but the military backed government did organise a free and credible election in 2008 and handed over power to an elected political government. However, in 2014, we

Political use of religion The final legacy of military rule, that I shall focus, on is the use of religion to recruit political support. The Bangladesh Constitution, adopted in 1972, enshrined secularism as one of the four fundamental principles of state policy, and religion-based parties and politics were banned.

But soon after assuming power, Ziaur Rahman brought back Islam as a tool of political mobilisation. In 1977, through a Martial Law Ordinance, he made significant changes to the constitution. Secularism was deleted as a fundamental principle; and in its place a phrase “Trust and faith in Almighty Allah” was inserted. The preamble of the constitution invoked another Islamist phrase: “Bismillah-ar-Rahman-ar-Rahim.” The second military dictator, HM Ershad went one step further. In 1988, he introduced the eighth amendment of the constitution which made Islam the state religion.

As the BNP and the JP, started portraying secularism as anti-Islamic, the AL was put on a defensive mode, and after the restoration of electoral democracy in 1991, the AL also started to use Islamist symbols. The 15th amendment of the constitution illustrates the contradictory position of the AL. The 15th amendment has kept Islam as the state religion, but at the same time, in the fundamental principles of the constitution, secularism was restored.

The Islamist parties were first rehabilitated during military rule.

Ziaur Rahman withdrew the ban on religion-based parties. The Muslim League and the Jaamt-e-Islami were revived. Many of the Islamist politicians and alleged collaborators with the Pakistani military junta in its genocide committed on the Bengalis in 1971, joined the BNP. Their political revival continued through the Ershad-era.

The Jamaat-i-Islami followed a shrewd strategy of political alliance building.

The Jamaat participated in the 1986 parliamentary elections. They also later joined the anti-Ersahad movement.

The Jamaat’s strategy of electoral participation as well as participation in mass movement through shifting alliance building with the AL and the BNP yielded rich dividends for the party.

Though Jamaat had a small share of the popular vote, it could exert a much bigger political influence as the deciding arbiter because parliamentary elections

were closely contested between the AL and the BNP. Thus, in 1991, the BNP was able to form the government with the support of the Jamaat. In 1996, the AL was successful in winning the election when it managed to keep the Jamaat away from an electoral alliance with the BNP. Again in 2001, BNP won the elections when it formed an electoral alliance with Jamaat. This alliance was carried over in the 2008 elections, but proved less fruitful for the BNP. However, during the last few years, Jamaat has emerged as an invaluable partner of the BNP as only the Jamaat cadres have demonstrated street fighting power to continue agitation against the AL-led regime.

Let’s now discuss about the undemocratic practices introduced by our elected political governments which have hindered our transition from electoral to a more consolidated democracy.

Undemocratic patterns and practices under elected political governments While the democratically elected governments perpetuated many of the undemocratic practices of military rule, we witnessed the emergence of several additional undemocratic patterns during the tenure of elected political governments. Despite the restoration of the parliamentary form of government in 1991, through the adoption of the 12th amendment of the constitution, the parliament hardly functioned.

The parliamentary opposition, claiming lack of voice, persistently boycotted the sittings of parliament, and instead chose to agitate on the streets demanding either resignation of the elected government, or threatening to overthrow the elected government. In the absence of a functioning opposition in the parliament, we could not develop a system of checks and balances within the government which is very critical for sustaining democratic governance.

they pledged to eliminate, or at least reduce extra-judicial killings. But the media reports indicate many instances of extra-judicial killing over the last five years. Goom (enforced disappearance) has became another instrument of partisan use of law enforcement.

Overall, the country’s performance in establishing rule of law was rated poorly by both the Freedom House and the World Bank in their successive global assessments.

Pervasive corruption was another indicator of weak rule of law. Allegations of corruption, particularly by politicians, were given wide publicity in the media, but these allegations were rarely investigated or prosecuted without prejudice.

Indeed, successive elected governments increasingly used anti-corruption laws to pursue partisan interests.

High profile corruption cases were lodged against leaders of the political opposition, but the government rarely moved to file anti-corruption cases against high-ranking members of the ruling party. Again, Bangladesh scored poorly in all global surveys with regard to her efforts to control corruption.

The current government has recently sent signals that it will take action against members of the ruling party in corruption cases. We still have to wait and see the outcomes of this intention of the government.

Lack of accountability Though during the era of electoral democracy, some of the institutions tried to ensure what we call in political science jargon “vertical accountability” such as the media, civil society, and the electorate became stronger which resulted in Bangladesh consistently scoring high on “voice” indicator in the World Bank’s assessment of democratic governance, we still had problems with what is called “horizontal accountability” institutions such as the parliament, judiciary,

The parliamentary opposition, claiming lack of voice, persistently boycotted the sittings of parliament

The parliament is the constitutionally empowered body to scrutinise the activities of the executive, and hold it to account. In the absence of parliamentary scrutiny, the executive branch became increasingly more powerful under democratically elected political governments. Civil administration, police, and lower judiciary came under partisan political pressure which eroded the rule of law. The political competition between the two major parties, the AL and the BNP, instead of ensuring a peaceful transfer of power between the two parties, escalated into an enduring political confrontation. Bangladesh consistently scored low in various assessments of the quality of democracy conducted by different organisations such as the Freedom House and the World Bank.

Weak rule of law, lack of accountability, and confrontational style of politics can safely be identified as three persistent undemocratic patterns that have marked Bangladesh’s electoral democracy.

Weak rule of law After the restoration of democracy in 1991, successive elected political governments attempted to politicise the civil and police administration and lower judiciary by using the government’s power of appointment, transfer, and promotion. Supporters of the ruling party or parties were rewarded while those deemed loyal to the outgoing government or who were not conspicuously loyal to the incumbent government were ignored or punished. Law enforcement became partisan and arbitrary.

The country was also plagued by pervasive political as well as non-political violence. Inter-party and intra-party contestations were often settled through violent means.

To improve the law and order situation, the BNP-led alliance government from 2002 onwards, began a series of anti-crime drives using the military and the paramilitary forces, eventually setting up a specially equipped quasi-military body, known as the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). These drives were marked by incidents of extra-judicial killing and torture by law enforcement agencies, which drew widespread criticism from the human rights organisations inside and outside Bangladesh.

When the AL-led grand alliance government came to power in 2009,

election commission (EC), anti-corruption commission (ACC) etc which continued to remain weak.

As pointed out earlier, the parliament which is the most important horizontal accountability institution to hold the executive accountable, became dysfunctional as the main opposition party started to boycott parliamentary sittings and chose street agitations to register their protest and destabilise elected governments. Nearly half of the parliamentary sittings were boycotted by the opposition - 75% of the fifth parliament, the eighth parliament, and over 80% sittings of the ninth parliament.

In the absence of the opposition, the ruling party members also lost interest in attending parliament, which frequently faced a quorum crisis, and mostly tended to rubber-stamp the decisions and actions of the government.

The parliament not only failed to discharge its scrutiny and oversight functions, members of parliament also refused to bring themselves under a parliamentary code of conduct to ensure their continuing accountability to their electorate. The media reported many cases of misconduct and corruption of MPs, but they never faced investigation or punishments. As a result, media reports had little impact in changing the conduct of the MPs. Other horizontal accountability institutions such as the judiciary, the Election Commission (EC) and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) were not empowered to check the misbehaviour of the government.

The judiciary, particularly the lower judiciary, remained under the control of the executive branch of the government and was often used to further the partisan interests of the party/parties in power. The EC was not empowered to challenge the government’s electoral malpractices.

The ACC also remained weak and could not move against anybody independently without the green signal from the government.

This article is based on the second Mozaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Memorial Lecture by Rounaq Jahan, delivered on February 3, 2014. A former faculty of Dhaka University, Professor Jahan teaches and researches at Columbia University.

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Kerry pushes Maliki for reform

Gordon Brown enters the battle for Scotland

Iraq loses control of Syrian, Jordanian border crossings

n Reuters, Baghdad

n Reuters, Dundee

US Secretary of State John Kerry met Iraq’s prime minister in Baghdad yesterday to push for a more inclusive government, even as Baghdad’s forces abandoned the border with Jordan, leaving the entire Western frontier outside government control.

Sunni tribes took the Turaibil border crossing, the only legal crossing point between Iraq and Jordan, after Iraqi security forces fled, Iraqi and Jordanian security sources said.

The tribes were negotiating to hand the post over to insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant who took control of two main crossings with Syria over the weekend.

Kurdish forces control a third border post with Syria in the north, leaving central government troops with no presence along the entire Western frontier which includes some of the most important east-west trade routes in the Middle East.

For the insurgents, capturing the frontier is a dramatic step towards the goal of erasing the modern border altogether and building a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.

Washington, which withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2011 after an occupation that followed the 2003 invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, has been struggling to help Iraq contain a Sunni insurgency led by ISIL, an al Qaeda offshoot which seized northern towns this month.

US President Barack Obama agreed last week to send up to 300 special forces troops as advisers, but has held off from providing air strikes and ruled out redeploying ground troops.

Washington is worried that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government has worsened the insur-

Gordon Brown, once ranked Britain’s most unpopular prime minister in half a century, may yet emerge as the man who convinces Scots to reject independence.

For many English, Scotsman Brown is an unlikely hero. Often brooding and awkward in front of the camera, the former prime minister led his Labour party to its worst electoral defeat in a generation in 2010.

But in the industrial towns of Scotland where the fate of the United Kingdom will be set by 1 million as yet undecided voters in a September 18 referendum, few rival Brown’s influence. In speeches in towns and cities across Scotland Brown makes a passionate case to stay within the United Kingdom - a G8 power with a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Brown and an increasing number of others are fearful Britain may be sleepwalking towards a break up.

“Countries can be lost by mistake,” Brown, who still speaks with the accent of his native land, told reporters over lunch in London’s Westminster parliament.

“Don’t allow it to become British politicians versus Scotland, which is how too easily this has been caricatured, because that simply plays into the hands of the nationalists. That’s a losing ticket.”

Less than 100 days before Scotland’s independence vote, Brown’s is a sobering intervention for many English. Polls show Scots are still unlikely to vote for independence but they also show the Better Together campaign’s lead has narrowed.

The head of that campaign, Alistair Darling, has said the vote will be close.

Supported by Britain’s three main political parties, the Better Together message has veered from warnings over the perils of secession to emotional appeals for unity.

Israeli air raids kill 10 Syrian troops n AP, Beirut Israeli air raids on several Syrian military facilities overnight killed at least 10 troops and destroyed an army command center, an activist group said yesterday.

The Syrian government has not commented on the airstrikes, which the Israeli military said hit nine targets inside Syria before dawn. The raids were in response to a cross-border attack the previous day that killed an Israeli civilian.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said the Israeli strikes destroyed two tanks, two artillery batteries and the headquarters of Syria’s 90th brigade. The Observatory collects its information through a network of activists inside Syria.

The Israeli military said “direct hits were confirmed” on the targets, which were located near the site of Sunday’s violence in the Golan Heights and included a regional military command center and unspecified “launching positions.”

Israel has kept a close eye on the Syrian uprising since it began in March 2011, although it has avoided backing either side in the conflict. On several occasions, artillery rounds have landed on the Israeli side of the de facto border, drawing limited Israeli reprisals. l

An Iraqi refugee stands outside of her tent at a camp for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in northern Iraq gency by alienating moderate Sunnis who once fought al Qaeda but have now joined the ISIL revolt. While Washington has been careful not to say publicly it wants Maliki to relinquish power, Iraqi officials say such a message has been delivered behind the scenes.

There was little small talk when Kerry met Maliki, the two men seated in chairs in a room with other officials. At one point Kerry looked at an Iraqi official and said, “How are you?”

The meeting lasted one hour and 40 minutes, after which Kerry was escorted to his car by Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari. As Kerry got in, he said: “That was good.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday accused Washington of trying to regain control of the country it once occupied - a charge Kerry denied. Iraqis are due to form a new government after an election in April.

Maliki’s list won the most seats in parliament but would still require allies to win a majority.

Kerry said on Sunday the United States would not choose who rules in Baghdad, but added that Washington had noted the dissatisfaction among Kurds, Sunnis and some Shi’ites with Maliki’s leadership. He emphasised that the United States wanted Iraqis to “find a leadership that was prepared to

Al-Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt n Agencies Two Al Jazeera English journalists have been sentenced to seven years in jail and one to 10 years by an Egyptian court on charges including aiding the Muslim Brotherhood and reporting false news, Al Jazeera reported.

The guilty verdicts were announced by a judge yesterday against Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed. Greste and Fahmy were sentenced to seven years in prison, while Baher Mohamed was sentenced to an additional three years for possession of ammunition.

Mohamed was in possession of a spent bullet casing he had found on the ground during a protest.

Other Al Jazeera journalists being tried in absentia were sentenced to 10 years. Their names are Alaa Bayoumi, Anas Abdel-Wahab Khalawi Hasan, Khaleel Aly Khaleel Bahnasy, Mohamed Fawzi, Dominic Kane, and Sue Turton.

Greste, Fahmy, and Mohamed were arrested in December in Cairo as they covered the aftermath of the army’s removal of Mohamed Morsi

from the presidency in July.

The prosecution said Greste, Al Jazeera’s East Africa correspondent, and his Egypt bureau colleagues aided the Brotherhood and produced false news reports of the situation in Egypt. The Brotherhood, which supported Morsi, was listed as a “terrorist” organisation by the interim Egyptian government shortly before the accused were arrested.

The prosecution produced a number of items as evidence including a BBC podcast, a news report made while none of the accused were in Egypt, a pop video by the Australian singer Gotye, and several recordings on non-Egyptian issues.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera slammed as “unjust” the court decision to jail three of its journalists. “We condemn... this kind of unjust verdict,” the network’s chief Mustafa Sawaq told the satellite news channel after a Cairo court jailed the three in a case that has caused international outrage.

“We are shocked,” he said, charging that evidence provided by the prosecution “was not enough to jail someone for a single day.” l

‘DONETSK PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC’

AP

be inclusive and share power.”

Senior Iraqi politicians, including at least one member of Maliki’s own ruling list, have told Reuters that the message that Washington would be open to Maliki leaving power has been delivered in diplomatic language to Iraqi leaders.

Recent meetings between Maliki and American officials have been described as tense. According to a Western diplomat briefed on the conversations by someone attending the meetings, US diplomats have informed Maliki he should accept leaving if he cannot gather a majority in parliament for a third term. US officials have contested that such a message was delivered. l

Prime Minister David Cameron, whose Conservative party has just one of Scotland’s 59 seats in the London parliament, has conceded that his privileged English background and centre-right politics mean he isn’t the best person to win over Scots.

That has left the Better Together campaign largely in the hands of opposition Labour, winner of 41 Scottish seats in 2010 and the only party with the local organisation and support capable of checking the secessionist Scottish National Party.

Labour strategists said many of the undecided voters are Labour party supporters who dislike being lectured by English Conservatives. Enter Gordon Brown, one of very few British politicians Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond is said to fear.

“As a patriotic Scot I cannot opt out of a debate and decision that affects children whom I love and people whom I respect and represent, all the more so since we are being asked to make an irreversible decision that will have consequences for generations,” Brown said in his treatise ‘My Scotland, Our Britain: A Future Worth Sharing’. l

UNESCO adds French cave art to world heritage list n AP, Paris Drawings of mammoths, human footprints and other art carved on cave walls in southern France about 30,000 years ago have been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The UN cultural agency says that the Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc contains the best preserved figurative drawings in the world.

The agency’s World Heritage Committee said in a statement that it added the cave and other sites at a meeting Sunday in Doha.

Experts have recorded more than 1,000 images from the walls of the cave, also known as the Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc. The drawings, among the oldest known human drawings, were unexpectedly discovered in 1994 by researcher Jean-Marie Chauvet in the Ardeche region. l

Ukraine seeks Western help to end pro-Russia revolt n AFP, Izvarino

Ad billboards are displayed in front of a construction site in the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ in Donetsk. Donetsk and the neighbouring heavily Russified region of Lugansk declared independence in disputed May 11 referenda, the legitimacy of which was rejected by Kiev and the West AFP

Better together?

Ukraine pressed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other Western allies yesterday to help end a pro-Russian uprising that has continued to rage in the industrial east despite Kiev’s unilateral ceasefire.

President Petro Poroshenko conducted another furious round of telephone diplomacy while his top diplomat prepared to outline the details of Kiev’s new peace plan to EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

Poroshenko will also sign an historic EU trade pact on Friday that crowns his May 25 election promise to make the decisive move westward – a move that is strongly opposed by Russia and lies at the heart of the current crisis.

The new president’s high-stakes peace push envisions talks with eastern representatives but not rebel leaders – a condition that Russian President Vladimir Putin says will not help end the 11-week revolt.

Putin threw his weight behind Poroshenko’s plan over the weekend provided it also leads to constitutional changes granting better protections to ethnic Russians who remain wary of

the new government Kiev. Russia further insisted yesterday that the weeklong ceasefire Poroshenko ordered last week be extended over the long term.

Ceasefire ignored

Insurgent commanders have ignored Poroshenko’s overtures and continued waging their campaign to gain independence and eventually join Russia – a drive thus fur resisted by the Kremlin.

AFP reporters near the Russian border saw rebels push back and in some cases encircle government soldiers dispatched by Poroshenko to stem the flow of weapons and gunmen into the conflict zone.

“Their forces tried to blitz us (on Friday) but things turned out very differently,” a 54-year-old rebel commander named Oleksandr said in Izvarini, a small town about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of the separatist stronghold of Lugansk.

“They are surrounded,” he claimed.

“They have no food and water... and no chance to escape.”

Poroshenko told Merkel by telephone that the rebels had attacked government positions “more than 20 times” over the weekend in an apparent rejection of Putin’s

call for both sides to halt fire.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said on Monday that six Ukrainian soldiers were wounded overnight.

Poroshenko told the German chancellor in a telephone exchange on Sunday that her involvement and that of other world leaders is “critically important to a settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” his office said.

Both Washington and its European allies have threatened Russia with biting sanctions against entire sectors of its economy should Putin fail to take substantial steps to de-escalate a crisis that has plunged East-West relations to a post-Cold War low.

US Vice-President Joe Biden told Poroshenko that Washington was “working closely with its G7 partners to prepare further economic sanctions against Russia if Moscow did not... stop the flow of arms and militants across the border and use its influence to publicly call on the separatists to lay down their arms,” the White House said.

And British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on his arrival for the EU meeting that Russia should be left in “no doubt” that it faced the threat of more punitive steps. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

India to open civilian Malaysia’s top court: ‘Allah’ for Muslims only n nuclear program to greater scrutiny Agencies

n Reuters, New Delhi India said yesterday it was ratifying an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to expand oversight of its civilian nuclear program, in a move aimed at unblocking a major nuclear partnership with the United States.

India is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, meaning its military nuclear program is not subject to inspections by the United Nations nuclear watchdog The ratification sends a strong signal that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected by a landslide last month, wants to bolster strategic and trade ties with the United States when he meets President Barack Obama in Washington in September. “I can confirm that we are ratifying the Additional Protocol to the IAEA Safeguards Agreement,” said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs.

The move signals India’s commitment “to the responsible use of nuclear power,” Akbaruddin added, confirming earlier domestic reports. No comment was available from the IAEA.

Pak anti-govt cleric returns home, police clash with supporters

Yet critics say the pact fails to address concerns that India could as a result get its foot in the door of a club of countries that trade in nuclear materials, without first signing a treaty that seeks to curb the spread of nuclear weapons. There would be “no gain for non-proliferation” said Tariq Rauf, a former senior IAEA official.

India, which first tested a nuclear weapon in 1974, is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. That means its military nuclear program is not subject to inspections by the IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

Both India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in 1998, setting off an arms race between neighbors that have fought three wars since independence. That in turn has raised tensions with Asian superpower China, Pakistan’s patron.

In a report last week, a defense research group said one Indian enrichment facility was undergoing an expansion and could be capable of producing a large surplus of weapons-grade uranium from mid-2015. [ID:nL4N0P11HQ] The plant would be able to produce an estimated 160 kg of weapons grade uranium a year - enough for five atom bombs - in excess of the needs of India’s planned fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, IHS Jane’s said.

Indian officials have shown displeasure over the report, with a newspaper quoting one saying it was “mischievously” timed to influence a meeting this week of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. l

Muslim women sit in front of a banner reading ‘Allah’ during a protest outside the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 23 AP

Malaysia’s highest court has rejected a challenge to the ban on Christians using the word “Allah” to refer to God, in a highly divisive legal case in the Muslim-majority nation, BBC reported.

The case was brought by the Catholic Church, which sought to overturn a ban first put in place in 2007. But the Federal Court said an earlier ruling backing the ban was correct.

The case began over the use of “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in the Catholic Church’s Malay-language paper. People of all faiths use the word Allah in Malay to refer to their deities.

Christians argue they have used the word, which entered Malay from Arabic, to refer to their God for centuries and that the ruling violates their rights.

Malaysian authorities say its use by Christians could confuse Muslims and lead some to convert to Christianity. Ma-

China: 32 terror groups broken up in crackdown n AP, Beijing

Chinese authorities said Monday they broke up 32 terror groups and arrested more than 380 suspects in the far west in the first month of a crackdown aimed at demonstrating the Communist Party’s resolve to maintain order in a borderland hit by recent unrest. Many suspects received rapid trials and stiff sentences, including death penalties.

Security forces also seized several hundred explosive devices, a few tons of explosive material and computers and books about terrorism and religious extremism, officials from the Xinjiang region told reporters.

The crackdown follows a string of

high-profile attacks on civilians since late October that have handed Communist Party leader Xi Jinping a major security challenge during his first year and a half in office. Last month, a market bombing killed 43 people in the region’s capital, Urumqi.

Authorities have responded to the attacks by taking an even harder line toward the already tightly controlled region, overshadowing the government’s promises of creating more jobs and educational opportunities for the region.

Officials have made a flurry of announcements of prosecutions, arresting scores of suspects and putting them through swift trials resulting in heavy sentences. In some cases of unrest,

police have fatally shot alleged assailants, including 13 people who authorities said tried to ram a police station in Kashgar prefecture on Saturday.

The high-intensity campaign has raised concerns among rights groups that the authorities’ rapid prosecutions may come at the expense of judicial procedure and the protection of citizens’ legal rights.

Human Rights Watch researcher Maya Wang said perpetrators of violent attacks in the region should be held accountable but that the authorities’ current “strike hard” campaign might prove counterproductive.

“Usually in these types of high-level crime crackdowns there’s a political

Internally displaced Pakistanis gather to receive food aid at a distribution centre in Bannu on June 23. The World Food Programme yesterday began distributing aid for hundreds of thousands of people who have fled a military operation in Pakistan, as refugees clashed with authorities over delays AFP

Japan’s holiest shrine opens door to foreigners after 2,000 years n Paul Vallely

Inner Shrine, Ise Jingu

WIKI

Under the double-barred gateposts, by the entrance to the bow-backed bridge, a solitary figure was waiting. He was white-robed and bare-headed. He was about to make history.

The Shinto priest bowed deeply to the group of men and women who approached the most venerated shrine in Japan. They, too, were enrobed – in the rich gold-embroidered red and blue of Chinese Taoism, in glorious Hindu saris, in simple white Islamic tunics and shifts, in bright yellow Sikh scarves and turbans, in the austere cassocks of Scandinavian Lutherans, the cream vestments of African Catholics and the black and red academic robes of American Baptists.

At any time in the past 2,000 years, the job of the Shinto guardian of the Hiyokebashi bridge would have been to prevent such aliens from entering this holiest of Japan’s sacred places. But now he bowed deeply, twice, and welcomed them to enter.

History was made at Ise Jingu in many ways this month. The ancient shrine has been completely rebuilt from new wood, as it has been every 20 years since the seventh century. The rebuilding has attracted a record 14 million visitors. Yet that is only part of a remarkable resurgence of Japan’s

ancient religion of Shintoism, which, in the decades after the Second World War, had reached a low point unprecedented in its 3,000-year history. That revival has produced a new Japanese openness to the wider world. It has welcomed in representatives of the faiths of foreigners including even the Confucians and Taoists of the two great religious traditions of Japan’s historical enemy, China. Shintoism this month also hosted the first international conference in its entire history. And it has developed a new attitude to a world threatened by climate change and environmental degradation.

So much so that the United Nations chose the conference as a forum to invite the world’s religions to help to shape the global debate on the social, political and economic yardsticks that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they run out next year. The conference was named “Tradition for the Future” and its brief was to discover “culture, faith and values for a sustainable planet.” The rebuilding of the Ise shrine is a potent symbol of that – for a paradox lies at its heart. Every 20 years, the shrine buildings are totally demolished and replaced with entirely new ones. It is thus a symbol of both change and continuity. The 20-year cycle allows ancient traditions in for-

pressure to focus on these kinds of crimes and find the perpetrators quickly and there are a lot of risks for coerced confessions and the lifting of basic procedural protections,” Wang said. This might result in officials rounding up people to take the blame for various crimes, while the true perpetrators go free, she said.

Beijing says the attackers are religious extremists with ties to overseas Islamic terror groups, but has publicly shown little evidence to support that.

Uighur rights advocates say tensions are fueled by an influx of settlers from China’s Han ethnic majority and official discrimination that indigenous groups complain has marginalized them. l

Rogue South Korea soldier shoots himself, ending long stand-off n Reuters, Seoul

A I D S U P P LY FO R I N T E R N A L LY D I S P L AC E D PA K I STA N I S

n Reuters, Lahore

A prominent cleric returned to Pakistan yesterday to lead what he calls a peaceful revolution against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as his supporters fought pitched battles with police firing tear gas in the capital Islamabad. Tahirul Qadri, a Pakistani preacher turned political activist who lives in Canada, is a divisive figure in Pakistan, where he made headlines last year by leading mass rallies against the previous government.

As a plane carrying Qadri approached Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, violence broke out on the ground as police fired tear gas at 2,000 of his supporters in chaotic scenes rarely seen in the orderly capital. The authorities, fearing an escalation of unrest, diverted the commercial flight to the eastern city of Lahore.

“We want no corruption, we want no terrorism in our country,” Qadri told Reuters aboard the plane. “We want total transparency of institutions.”

Qadri’s sudden ascent to prominence has prompted speculation that the army, which ruled Pakistan for decades, may be using him as a proxy in efforts to sideline the civilian government. His comeback comes at an uneasy time for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose civilian government has failed to engage Taliban militants in peace talks, prompting the army to launch a major offensive against the militants. l

lay Muslims make up almost two-thirds of the country’s population, but there are large Hindu and Christian communities. The long-running case has proved very controversial, sparking impassioned debate and leading to occasional attacks on mosques and churches.

The Catholic Church’s newspaper, The Herald, appealed against the initial ban and in 2009 a court ruled in its favour, but that judgement was later overturned by the Court of Appeal.

This ruling was handed down by a seven-member panel, which voted by 4-3 to dismiss the challenge.

Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew said he was “greatly disappointed” by the judgement which “didn’t touch on the fundamental rights of minorities.” However, Muslim activists outside the court welcomed the decision. S Selvarajah, one of the lawyers for the Church, said the ruling marked the end of legal proceedings. l

estry and carpentry, thatching and weaving, metalwork and leather skills to be passed on from one generation to the next in an unbroken line. This is not a mere ritual. It is a practical necessity. Over two decades, 100 million people will cross the bridge, wearing it away to half its 6in thickness in the course of its lifespan. Those rebuilding the bridge have inherited the skills of boat carpenters practised in fitting together the floor of the bridge so that it is resistant to rain.

Shintoism is an unusual religion. It has no creeds or dogmas, no doctrines or scriptures.

It is rooted in an animist belief that spirits or deities, kami, reside in objects throughout the natural world – rocks, rivers, waterfalls, mountains – as well as in animals and people, and that the spirits of the ancestors live on in the places in which they once dwelt. There are 80,000 shrines to such spirits throughout Japan. But Ise Jingu is special. This is the shrine in which it is believed the spirits of the Japanese imperial family’s ancestors are enshrined, dating back to the sun goddess Amaterasu, from whom the emperors claimed descent. After each rebuilding, these imperial deities are transferred to a new dwelling. l The report was first published by The Independent.

A stand-off between South Korean troops and a conscript soldier who killed five comrades ended yesterday when the young recruit shot himself in an incident that has raised fresh questions over the country’s rules on compulsory military service.

Troops cornered the 22-year-old soldier in a densely forested area near a small town in Goseong county, a mountainous region on the eastern coast of the peninsula near the border with North Korea.

After a 24-hour stand-off and despite pleas by his father to give himself up, the conscript shot himself in the side, and was taken to a military hospital.

Late on Saturday night the soldier threw a grenade and opened fire, killing five members of his unit and wounding seven at a base outpost in Goseong county.

The conscript then fled carrying a firearm, ammunition and a grenade and exchanged gunfire with troops.

The soldier, identified as Sergeant Lim, was described by an official as an “introvert” and said there had been earlier concerns over his psychological health, but he was deemed fit to be deployed to the outpost after passing a test in November.

The military has been criticised before for lax discipline in some units and failure to prevent previous cases where soldiers, suffering personal problems, have shot fellow soldiers. In a similar incident in 2011, a South Korean marine went on a shooting spree at a base near the tense maritime border with North Korea, killing four fellow soldiers. l

Afghan Taliban free 33 professors n AP, Kabul An Afghan official says the Taliban have released 33 university professors and students abducted nearly two weeks ago in the country’s east.

Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Ghazni province, says the hostages were released overnight and early yesterday, following mediation by tribal elders in the region and the staff from the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ghazni.

Ahmadi says the 33, most of whom are professors at the Kandahar university, were on their way to the Afghan capital, Kabul, earlier this month when their bus was stopped by the Taliban in the province’s Qarabagh district.

The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed the release of the 33 in a statement to media. He didn’t say if a ransom was involved or provide details. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

No more agitation, please

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

B

NP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has threatened a return to hartals and blockades after the Eid-ul-Fitr this year, should the government keep refusing to hold fresh elections under a neutral government.

The party would do well to remember that the violence unleashed during the hartals and blockades of 2013 cost many lives and crippled the country’s economy. The BNP lost a lot of public sympathy because of the suffering their agitation caused to the common people.

BNP leaders should ask themselves: Why has the public simply accepted the January election, which was held without the participation of the BNP? It was probably because the public had grown weary of the BNP’s campaign of hartals and blockades, during which innocent citizens, sometimes even children, were horribly burned to death.

An opposition party needs the goodwill and support of the public to win elections. There is no doubt that last year’s senseless bloodshed cost the BNP the goodwill of the public.

Khaleda Zia should realise that recent murders and abductions have increased the BNP’s political capital. With Awami Leaguers being charged with serious crimes, the AL is making the BNP look good. The BNP should try to continue to look good until the next election. This means making a commitment to avoiding hartals, blockades, and eschewing violence of any kind.

There is no doubt that last year’s senseless bloodshed cost the BNP the goodwill of the public

Whitening money should not be focus

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t looks as though the government is once again bowing down to pressure in support of holders of black money. The budget for FY2014-15 will likely include a provision that allows for undisclosed funds to be whitened with payment of different taxes including a 10% penalty tax, and investment in any productive sector.

However, data compiled by the National Board of Revenue seem to indicate that such approaches may not have the impact that this nation needs.

The past year saw very little investment being made, with only Tk234 crore being whitened in different incomegenerating sectors between July 2013 and April 2014 of the current fiscal year, and only Tk279 crore being received in taxes in the last fiscal year.

These amounts are small, compared to the amount of illicit financial flow from Bangladesh.

As we have editorialised before, the best way to end the problems caused by large amount of undisclosed money in our economy is to simplify taxation and currency exchange rules, so there is no incentive to hide capital and income.

In order to operate efficiently, a modern economy requires people to be able to spend their own legally-earned money as they see fit, without being constrained by onerous conditions.

Outdated restrictive rules only worsen the problems of corruption and money laundering while holding back investment in the economy.

We should move towards deregulating currency controls completely as a means to ending perverse incentives and attracting more capital for investment.

Outdated restrictive rules only worsen the problems of corruption and money laundering

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No need for a war on English

June 19 I have no reason to have any kind of class envy.

Imzy That is your gross misunderstanding of my The ruling is not even asking for English to be comment. removed entirely. It is stating everything must be in Bangla, which makes sense, as it is Bangladesh Sammy (in China, it will be in Mandarin/Chinese), and Very well argued and practical. The HC move is little people are free to add English on too, for business more than the cheap appeal to mob mentality that purposes.

Basically, there are loads of “upper-class” people is found in the peddlers of “culture” and “religion” who cannot even speak proper Bangla anymore, in abundance in Bangladesh. Ultimately, both are and this article is asking for the country to backpedal matters of individual choice. Using the force of government to promote a religion or language rarefor them. ly works, and even less so in 2014 when the very backbone of information technology is in English. I riazo can bet you my last dollar that some of the children Imzy: Upper class and middle class, from what I of the very judges who pronounced this insane have seen. The only exception to this rule is that verdict are safely ensconced in English-speaking section of the middle class that is immersed in countries, enjoying English language ads, and Bangla cultural activities. When I come to Dhaka English language communication. (from London), I usually stun most of my relatives because I speak better Bangla than most of them. riazo The way some of them speak gives me allergies.

Sammy: No. The government has a role to play in ensuring the practice and survival of indigenous goodbro123 languages, especially in the age of globalisation I believe people living in West Bengal love the Bangla language more than we do, but still they like which is spreading English like wildfire (not that I and prefer most official and formal conversations to have a problem with that or anything). It is only appropriate that the language of choice in all governbe in English. ment, media (except English ones), and many other spheres of life in Bangladesh be in Bangla. English Sammy goodbro123: Very apt comparison, and anyone who has a place as a second language in academia, IT, communication with the outside world etc. The has been a regular visitor to West Bengal knows two have their distinct places and should be kept in that you’re right. Next, expect the HC to declare those places appropriately.

West Bengalis to be non-Bengalis. Lol riazo goodbro123: “West Bengal loves the Bangla language more than we do.” Really? Seriously? They don’t even celebrate Ekushey February. If they prefer to have official and formal conversations in English then that’s their choice. It has no relevance for Bangladesh.

Many ads are untranslatable? I disagree. That’s just laziness. It takes a little effort, the kind that many middle and upper-class people in Dhaka fail to make when speaking Bangla.

Sammy riazo: That may be; it is their choice what they speak. If their customers don’t like it, they would go out of business. Problem solved. Your class envy is largely unnecessary to your irrelevant argument. riazo Sammy: What are you referring to as customers or business? All I was referring to, by my last comment, was the laziness of so many people while speaking Bangla. Speaking flawless Bangla takes effort. I am not against English at all. I live in London. But I believe in speaking Bangla while speaking Bangla, and English when speaking English. That shouldn’t be too hard to understand.

Mushfiq apologises to nation for pathetic show June 18

Shaukat Oh, please! After apologising, you will simply go back home. What about focusing on improving your game?!

Sammy riazo: “Language of choice.” Hmmm, a “choice” you want enforced by the government?? The lack of intellectual integrity in that statement is rather telling. Though, perhaps not as telling as someone sitting in England under the linguistic freedom provided by English laws wanting people in Bangladesh to be subject to laws that control what language they will use in their businesses. Yours resembles the hypocrisy of the judges I mentioned in my earlier comment to the proverbial “T.” Typical of the “I should live in freedom but you should not” mentality of Bengali chauvinists of the cultural and religious kind. riazo Sammy: Language of choice by the government.

Nothing of integrity there. That is a pure choice plain and simple. And a correct choice by the current government.

In England, there is every dimension stating that all government services provided to its citizens must be provided in English, though there have been many instances where they have been provided to many citizens in other languages as well, Bangla included, something that causes resentment among native English people.

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 22 represents K so fill K every time the figure 22 appears.

You have one letter in the control grid to start you off. Enter it 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.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

SUDOKU How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 American state (5) 4 Agreement (4) 7 Annex (3) 8 Early freshness (3) 9 Old sailors (5) 12 Singer (4) 13 Lecturer (7) 15 Kitchen utensil (3) 16 Spanish nobleman (3) 18 Tree (3) 19 Make brown (3) 21 Regain health (7) 24 Foundation (4) 26 Strong thread (5) 27 Conclusion (3) 28 Observe (3) 29 Ugly amphibian (4) 30 Presentation (5)

DOWN 1 Church service (4) 2 Makes suitable (6) 3 Not working (4) 4 Fruit (4) 5 Boring tool (3) 6 Prickle (5) 10 Faucet (3) 11 Kind of ray (5) 14 Make into a decree (5) 17 Key (6) 18 Boundary (5) 20 Today (3) 21 Tear (4) 22 Passport endorsement (4) 23 Water grass (4) 25 The Briny (3)

Wife kills man in Natore June 18

Akhtar Shah No killing can be condoned.

Without being able to verify the facts of this “murder,” I guess she had had enough!

CALVIN AND HOBBES Daughter still unaware of family members’ killing June 18 vihan This is such a shameful, horrible, and tragic story!

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

PEANUTS

Bangladesh-born American arrested on terror charges June 20 Anon What a waste of life!

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The elephant in the room n Shusmita Hossain Khan

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Knowledge, or thought control?

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Teach, don’t preach

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n Ikhtisad Ahmed he recent actions of the British Education Secretary Michael Gove, and his public fallout with fellow conservative leadership pretender Theresa May, provide a microcosm of ailments in Bangladesh. A hailstorm of jingoism drowns constructive discussion in the former colony; thus, a closer inspection of the comedy of errors on the shores of the once imperial overlords better serves the purpose.

One of the hallmarks of the predominantly British-instructed English medium education in Bangladesh has been the study of British texts, particularly for English lessons. Shakespeare’s plays are a mainstay, supplemented almost exclusively by Dickens and Austen.

The forward-thinking Gove has taken his inspiration to redesign the British curriculum from this overt attempt at subliminal imperialism. While the rest of the backward world, including the Commonwealth countries, looks to expand its horizons with a broader understanding of the language and its rich literature, he has exerted isolationism by culling non-British writers from the syllabus.

Before this ludicrous authoritarianism could be properly ridiculed, before even the state opening of parliament, the news cycle had moved on to the battle between Gove and May. An alleged plot by Islamists to infiltrate schools and their governing bodies to disseminate fundamentalism that is said to have been in motion for years,

came to light due to an anonymous letter that is widely thought to be a fake.

May’s ministry pounced on the opportunity to make political hay due to Gove’s culpability for allowing schools to operate without satisfactory oversight. Further, he has recklessly allowed schools to set themselves up as academies and free schools outside local authority, and free to depart from the national curriculum.

private sector, things can be expected to go horribly wrong.

Gove’s solution to the latter problem is derived from the thinking that caused the former. The government will require all schools to “actively promote British values,” he says. These include democracy, rule of law, liberty, tolerance, and respect. Mislabelling such universal values as British is to dangerously practice a false, and

Educational institutions are about dispensing knowledge, not judgment or faith

Should the problem be seen as one in which ultra-conservative religious thought is exerting influence over education, the current government can only be blamed for having compounded it by expanding faith schools, in which such an influence is undoubtedly at work through Christianity.

This gross misappropriation of the increased funds made available to the Department of Education should serve as a warning to Bangladesh, which sees a rise of 12% for education in the annual budget.

In a country where the contributions of governments in this sector have historically been erroneous, thereby making education one of the chief success stories of NGOs and the

lethal, nationalism. Improvement through education and hard work is made a mockery of by an antiquated education system that is regressing, and a broken political establishment that dictates society in its entirety, replacing the ability to make any kind of change through self-improvement with self-debasing cronyism.

The most undeserving rise to the top, to rule principled, educated citizens who have no worth in this world.

Instead of this, it is better to extend the principle of separation of religion and governance to separation of religion and education, with the former not being trusted with the latter (aside from Sunday schools and their alternative versions, which should be opt-in

rather than mandatory).

In Bangladesh, laws allowing equality of religion or religious freedoms are weakened by blasphemy laws (an imperial construct to spread disharmony and discontent in order to better rule with an iron hand), rendering them meaningless and spreading competitive intolerance.

If the law allows limits to be set on what is acceptable, the law effectively endorses ever-worsening dogmatism and bigotry. Treading this road irreversibly and irrevocably removes all obstacles to controlling thought, speech, and beliefs. Adopting humanism as the overriding principle, on the other hand, harbours respect and tolerance, and allows people to be in charge of their beliefs, thoughts, and destinies.

While governments seem unwilling to, and incapable of, empowering people for fear of losing control over them, the palatial temples of education need to, for empowerment with knowledge is the only purpose of their existence.

If all people are equal, as they are said to be in the eyes of the laws and gods of every land and creed, then none has the right to impose oneself or one’s thoughts on another. Educational institutions are about dispensing knowledge, not judgment or faith, and governments are about representing their people by being their servants.

In the words of philosopher Roger Waters: “We don’t need no thought control.” l Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer. He can be contacted on Twitter via @ Ikhtisad.

kay, we agree, it was a bad analogy to begin with. Nevertheless, when you are living in a world where one in every three people are either overweight or obese, we think it’s rather an appropriate one.

Based on a global study, the prevalence of obesity is on the rise. Doesn’t matter if you are a boy or a girl, man or woman, living in the developed or developing part of the world – it’s true for everyone. Therefore, the assumption that only rich and lazy people are obese is becoming a myth everyday.

The study that we are talking about was published in The Lancet and used data from 1,769 individual studies from 183 countries. So, where does the world stand? Globally, in the last three decades – 1980 to 2013 – the proportion of overweight or obese people has increased considerably. For men, the corresponding numbers are a little lower than women (28.8% to 36.9% versus 29.8% to 38.0%).

So, who are getting fat? Interestingly, more men were overweight and obese than women in developed countries, whereas the opposite was true in developing countries. Unfortunately, adults weren’t the only ones putting on the pounds – rates of excess weight in children and adolescents also increased. Between 1980 and 2013, in developed countries, the prevalence of weight problems and obesity had increased from 16.9% to 23.8% among boys and from 16.2% to 22.6% among girls.

Let’s look into Bangladesh. Don’t be content thinking that this is not our problem and we have far more people who are hungry and malnourished. In 1980, one in every 14 adults was overweight or obese, and in 2013, this had gone up to one in every six adults. Look around you, one in every six adult you see will be obese or overweight. For children the numbers didn’t go up so drastically, but it’s still good news for a developing country.

The first thing is to agree that obesity has become an issue in Bangladesh. Then comes a strong political commitment The specific causes of obesity are beyond the scope of this article. However, some believe that as the economies of developing countries continue to improve, the risk of becoming obese increases. In addition, it has been found that although urbanisation and related dietary changes improve health to a certain extent, they place a city dweller at risk of certain health problems, including obesity.

So, what are the consequences?

Like tobacco, obesity causes, or is closely linked with, a large number

of health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, unhealthy levels of cholesterol, asthma, sleep apnea, gallstones, kidney stones, infertility, and as many as 11 types of cancers, including leukemia, breast, and colon cancer. No less real are the social and emotional effects of obesity, including discrimination, lower wages, lower quality of life, and a likely susceptibility to depression.

Let’s look into Bangladesh. Don’t be content thinking that this is not our problem

Studies from the developing world demonstrate quite unequivocally that obesity is negatively associated with a person’s productivity and work performance. An obese person reportedly experiences a 50% increase in lost productivity and visits the doctor 88% more times than a healthy person.

Studies have also reported that obese people were up to two times more likely to take a large number of sick days in a year compared to lean people, either through absence from illness or for a doctor’s appointment.

Little research on the economic impact of obesity in developing countries has been undertaken, making it difficult to assess the impact accurately. In this regard, we have to keep in mind that, the ability or willingness of a country to increase healthcare expenditure is influenced primarily by the amount of public money available.

Given that the GDPs of developing countries like Bangladesh are reliant less on technical and service-oriented work and more on industrial and labour-intensive work, a loss of this workforce will contribute to a slowing of overall growth and a reduction in GDP. Parallel with the economic effects will be a greater need for public money for health care expenditure. This demand may impede the repayment of external debts, essentially creating a need for continued external borrowing and a slowing of the development process.

What could be the way out? As we always say – the first thing is to agree that obesity has become an issue in Bangladesh. Then comes a strong political commitment. The reason why we are saying political commitment is important is because of the examples from US First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign. This campaign has brought a lot of attention towards the obesity epidemic in the US. If we can have something like this in Bangladesh, the elephant in the room will not be ignored anymore. l Shusmita Hossain Khan is Coordinator of Eminence.

The people’s right to know n Shamsul Bari

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his is usually the time of the year when some attention is given to the RTI Act 2009, which was hailed by many as the most revolutionary law of the land when it was formally adopted five years ago.

As July 1, 2014 marks the completion of five years since the law entered into force, this year the anniversary is perhaps witnessing a little more focus than it did in the past.

Already a number of meetings, seminars, TV talk shows have been held on the subject while some articles have also appeared in the press. Some successes under the act have been highlighted, though, in general, pronouncements on the results obtained so far have not been very positive. It is important therefore to identify the reasons why.

It is not the objective of this note to go into a detailed analysis of the reasons here, but in order to set the context of the point I wish to make, I think it will be useful to draw attention on some key factors. Clearly, the most important impediment to progress has been the failure of all concerned to bring awareness about the tremendous reach of the law to people in general.

Five years since the law was enacted, very few people know that the act empowers all citizens, irrespective of their position in society, to monitor the work of the government and check its abuse of power. It can be used to ensure that public officials do their jobs in a transparent manner and in accordance with established laws, rules, and regulations. It can be used as a tool to make all public officials, including those working for many NGOs using public funds, accountable to citizens.

Even for those who are aware about the existence of the law, there is either distrust about its efficacy or disbelief that the public authorities would ever give up their age-old habit of keeping all official acts hidden from the people, except those that they want the people to know. There is still a general feeling that the term “information” in the act has more to do with news that media provides to the people and hence should be of main interest to the media.

Very few people realise that information in the context of the act has to do with the work of government offices and refers to the contents of all files, documents, agreements, decisions, papers, etc, at the disposal of

government offices, in whatever form, be it printed, hand-written, electronic, digital, or physical. That people have a right to inspect all these as rightful owners of all powers in the land, as enshrined in the constitution, has hardly been explained to them.

ical parties, the media, and the civil society in general, have stayed away from resorting to the law so far. If this state of affairs is allowed to continue, the law will only stay on paper, unable to contribute to the realisation of the revolutionary objectives for which it

The most important impediment to progress has been the failure of all concerned to bring awareness about the tremendous reach of the law to people

The only people who have made use of the law so far and benefitted from it a great deal, it seems, are the most marginalised sections of the society. They have been helped in this regard by a few committed NGOs and RTI activists determined to make use of the law to help them realise their rightful claims under the law of the land.

However, as stated above, the overwhelming majority of the population, including the upper, middle, and educated classes, the professional groups including lawyers, the polit-

was enacted, namely, transparent and accountable governance.

But this should not be allowed to happen. The situation can improve if particular attention is given, among other things, to the proper functioning of the Information Commission, which is the main body under the act to oversee its implementation. First of all, the commission should be helped by the government to function as an impartial and neutral body without any pressure or influence from the government or from anybody else.

Such a commission would send a strong message to all concerned that the government is genuinely committed to seeing the full flowering of the law. It will encourage the citizens to make proper use of the law without fear of retribution from public officials for daring to seek awkward information from them. At the same time, it will warn public officials that the days of keeping citizens in the dark about the work of the government are over, and it is time they change their traditional secretive mindset and open up to public scrutiny for the sake of good governance.

For this to happen, particular attention must also be given to the selection of information commissioners. Unfortunately the RTI Act 2009 does not provide much guidance on the qualification and background of persons who could/should be chosen for the job. It only provides for a selection committee for this purpose and how it would be composed. The focus here is more on representation from the three branches of the government, which is fine, but there is very little representation of ordinary citizens for whose benefit the law was enacted in the first place.

To redress the lacunae in the law,

a good practice would be for the selection committee to ask citizens to suggest names to it so that it has a good list/range of persons to choose from. Such persons could be anybody, within the age limit, from any walk of life, known for their commitment, inter alia, to public cause, objectivity, wide-ranging knowledge and experience, social values, and a good sense of equity and justice.

Asking people to send SMS messages, or otherwise, to the secretary of the selection committee may be a quick and easy way out, from which the committee may select names which receive highest mention. Such a process may also help in view of the paucity of time left for replacement of two of the three commissioners who are going to retire this month after completion of their five-year term.

There may, of course, be other mechanisms that the committee may wish to consider, but whatever method is chosen, it must demonstratively be transparent to uphold the value of transparency in the work of all public authorities that the RTI Act 2009 seeks to promote. l Shamsul Bari is the Chairman of Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB).

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

When Dhaka beau meets Kolkata beauty n Entertainment Desk Shakib Khan will be romancing Tollywood actor Nusrat Jahan in P A Kajol's upcoming film “Dhakar Chele Kolkatar Meye.”

As the title suggests, it is a romantic story between a guy from Dhaka and a girl from Kolkata. Childhood friends, the duo were separated when Nusrat's family move and they fall out of touch. After a decade or so, Shakib goes to Kolkata on business and by the hand of fate, he bumps into his childhood sweetheart among the sea of strangers in the mega city. At first they fail to recognise each other but as soon as they discover their true identity, they fall in love.

“Shakib and Nusrat gave vocal confirmation for working in the movie and both are excited to be a part of a film that covers both the Bengals,” said P A Kajol to Dhaka Tribune.

The director said that the film will be a co-production and an Indian production house is in the midst of signing a contract with Bangladeshi “Ma Cholochitro” for producing the movie. l

Band Mohakaal split n Entertainment Desk

Band breakups are nothing new and after ten long years together, band Mohakaal has decided to part ways.

Founding member, Khayam Sanu Sandhi (vocal and guitarist) started the band which was later joined by Sandhi's older sister Swagata and younger sister Shovvota. Early this year they started having problems and some of the members decided to form a new

band titled “Project Neon.”

The lineup of the newly formed group is Sandhi, Polock and Maruf.

Sandhi said: “We will be experimenting a lot and for that reason, we have named our new band 'Project Neon.' For expansion and variation, we will be inviting artistes to perform with us occasionally. Our very first song has been released in 'Shopnochura 4' and we are currently working on a solo album.” l

Pop Culture Expo gets bigger n Entertainment Desk

“Dhaka Pop Culture Expo 2014” will start today at 2pm and will continue till tomorrow at the National Shooting Federation Hall, Gulshan 1. The convention is a gathering of fans of comic books, films, TV, anime, and video games. They will get together and celebrate the popular (and obscure) media they love. The event is being arranged by the same group who organised the “Dhaka Pop Expo” in August and many of the ele-

Aamir Khan accepts sweets for Satyamev Jayate n Entertainment Desk

Poetry and music with Syed Shamsul Haque n Entertainment Desk Syed Shamsul Haque will recite modern poetry today at 6pm at the Daily Star-Bengal Arts Precinct. Poet and littérateur Syed Shamsul Haq's energetic and entertaining performance will be accompanied by a musician playing the esraj. This cultural event is an extension of “Second Sight,” an exhibition of selected paintings and drawings by S M Sultan from the private collection of Abul Khair. The recitation will take place in the gallery itself, surrounded by significant artworks of S M Sultan.

Haque writes poetry, fiction, plays— mostly in verse and essays. His literary works are included in the educational curriculum of the Bangladesh. He received the prestigious “Bangla Academy Award” at the age of 29 and was the youngest writer to achieve this honour. On May 1951, Fazle Lohahi published Haque’s first story “Udoyasto” in his literary magazine, “Ogotta.” Haque got admitted in the English department of the University of Dhaka in 1954 and left in 1956 without completing the degree. Later that year, his first novel “Deyaler Desh” was published. l

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, known for shunning award shows, received a packet of sweets instead of a trophy at the Star Parivaar award show for his TV programme “Satyamev Jayate.” The 49-year-old actor was honoured for his contribution to society through his show which deals with social problems like rape, injustice to women, corruption and education issues.

“I am happy to be accepting this honour. But I don’t think you should be giving me sweets because post “Dhoom 3” I have put on a lot of weight. I think the success of the film has been too much for me,” joked Aamir, who was accompanied by wife Kiran Rao for the ceremony last night.

Reflecting on his 25-year-old career, Aamir Khan said he has been very lucky to get opportunities to work with great directors.

“I think the credit goes to the great stories written and the directors who got me on board. One of my favourite films is 'Andaaz Apna Apna,'” said Aamir.

The actor broke into an impromptu jig onstage and shook his leg to the beats of his superhit song “Aye Kya Bolti Tu” from 1998 film “Ghulam.” l

TODAY IN DHAKA Exhibition:

Spinning Tales of Shadowist and Others

By Ashikur Rahman Turja Time: 3pm – 8pm Dhaka Art Centre, Time Line Time: 11am – 8pm Galleri Kaya

Jamming with stars Honoured to work with rape victims: Angelina Jolie n Entertainment Desk Angelina Jolie claims working with the survivors of rape was an honour as part of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI).

The “Maleficent” actor, who is a special envoy for the UN Refugee Agency said she is determined to help end sexual violence as an act of war.

“Working on the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) and with survivors of rape is an honour in itself. I know that succeeding in our goals will take a lifetime and I am dedicated to it for all of mine. We all know how hard it is to secure convictions for rape, even in stable democratic countries. So we have to work even harder to make justice possible in fragile countries. And that is the purpose of this protocol. It is an essential document and I am so grateful to the hundreds of experts and survivors who have played their part in drafting it,” she said.

Angelina Jolie, 39, who has six children with fiancé Brad Pitt said her humanitarian work has helped her in her own life.

“It was my work with the UN that made me feel ready to have a family.

But as a mother I do often think of how I would feel when I see children and other women in those terrible situations.” l

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ments from the previous expo will dominate this event as well. Winners of the costume competition will get attractive prizes and it is rumoured that many participants are forming large groups to go as characters from “Naruto,” “Bleach,” “Fairytale” and “One Piece.” Anyone interested in going as part of a group can search their Facebook page for empty character slots. Registration isn't required for the competition.

The entry fee is Tk100 for each day and tickets are available only at the venue. l

Entertainment Desk Canadian International School in partnership with Perception has organised an open jamming session from today, 3pm onwards. All proceeds from the event will go towards helping underprivileged children. The sessions will be an opportunity for the audience to perform with their favourite underground bands on stage. The Crowd, Circus Police, MiNERVA, Blunderware, ARBOVIRUS and Indalo will be participating in the event.

Fans will be randomly selected from the crowd by the bands and they may bring along guitars, basses or drum sticks.

It is an open air event and will be held at the Canadian International School premises in Gulshan with an entry fee of Tk200. l

Akshay-Sonakshi's Holiday makes it big at box office n Entertainment Desk “Holiday: A Soldier is Never off Duty” capped a fabulous two-week run at the box office with Rs1bn in its kitty this weekend.

Released on June 6, the film starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha also got good reviews. Directed by AR Murugadoss, the film is a remake of his Southern hit “Thupakki.” Salman Khan-starrer “Jai Ho” (Rs1.16bn) and Alia-Arjun-starrer “2 States” (Rs 1.02bn) are the other films which entered “Rs100 Crore Club” in 2014.

This is Akshay’s third film in the hallowed club after “Rowdy Rathore” and “Housefull 2.” “Holiday” is the 29th movie to join the club. “Dhoom 3,” “Chennai Express,” and “Krrish 3” are on top of the list. l

Film

X-Men: Days of Future Past The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (3D) Pompeii 300 Rise of an Empire Tarkata Time: 10am – 10pm Star Cineplex, Level 8 Bashundhara City 13/3 Ka Panthopath

Artistic Musings of Great Collector Nasir Ali Mamun Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Road No 16 Dhanmondi Print & Art Exhibition Time: 10am – 8pm Gallery Chitrok Road No 4 Dhanmondi

Delve into the bizarre with Taboo n Entertainment Desk Every culture has its rituals and codes of living. Delve into the bizarre or confronting practices of cultures around the world with the TV show “Taboo,” which will be aired on the National Geographic Channel today at 2pm.

Discover what drives someone to insert stainless steel fishing hooks into another person’s back so they can hang from the ceiling by their flesh. How the practice of thrusting hands into gloves filled with stinging giant bullet ants and enduring the pain over and over acceptable within a culture.

In some societies around the world, practices like these reflect deeply held traditional beliefs or deliberate lifestyle choices. But to others outside the culture, they may seem grotesque, dangerous or.. Taboo.

The show cuts beyond the comfort zone of individuals and across cultural borders to explore rituals and customs that are acceptable in some cultures but forbidden, illegal or reviled in others. Crossing the boundary between modern practices and ancient beliefs, this series showcases a mosaic of human lifestyles and values. Each episode will examine one issue from a variety of perspectives, often venturing into rarely seen societies. The journey includes six continents and 19 countries, featuring 25 indigenous cultures.

Hear from some of the world’s most renowned and respected anthropologists and sociologists, who examine a diverse range of cultures. Explore rites of passage, unique lifestyle choices, body modification, gender decisions, nudity and spiritual quests that test the limits of the human body. l

Sp rt DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Animated Big Phil all heated up

Selecao coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is known for his strict discipline and instant reactions and it was evident in the pre-match press conference of Brazil’s final Group A game against Cameroon at the Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia on Sunday.

Before the presser, a 15-minute open practice session for the media people took place in the lush green pitch and Scolari was the first to enter the field.

He looked at the pitch and its surroundings and observed that the pitch was relatively small in comparison with Sao

Paulo or the Maracana with the stands quite close to the pitch. Felipao was seen talking with Neymar and Marcelo before the Brazilian players gathered around the mid-circle and stared their training playing first-touch passing. The open training session was followed by the closed-door session after which Scolari came to the presser.

Big Phil visibly got angry after a reporter asked him to choose between the Netherlands and Chile as his preferred second-round opponents. Brazil would have the advantage of knowing who they would meet in the round of 16 if they finish group champions or runners-up as the Group B clash between the Netherlands and Chile was scheduled to take place four hours before Brazil’s game. The Dutch and the Chileans have already sealed their place in the second round, all that was left to be decided was who would top the group.

Dutch coach Louis van Gaal has told the media that Fifa handed the advantage to Brazil as the hosts were in a position of knowing or choosing who they would potentially face in the second round. Scolari though outrightly swatted away the future Manchester United manager’s comments. “Some people expressed a view that we are go-

13

Russel continue to stumble n Sheikh Russel lost points once again in the Nitol-Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League as the title holders were held to a 2-2 draw by 10-man Brothers Union at the Bangabandhu National Sta-

ing to choose who we are going to play.

Those sort of comments are either stupid or ill-intentioned. I repeat stupid or ill-intentioned,” said an adamant Scolari whilst also raising his finger.

“We have to play to qualify, not pick and choose our opponents. It was Fifa who chose the kick-off time,” added Scolari.

When another journalist asked him the same question Scolari once again minced no words. “You are putting emphasis on somebody (Van Gaal) who is talking nonsense,” said an animated Scolari.

The 65-year old tactician took some time to contain his anger before returning to his normal mood a few seconds later and showed respect towards Cameroon. “Cameroon supposedly have nothing to lose but they have their honour to protect. They have the opportunity to fight and do their country proud,” said Scolari.

Scolari concluded by saying he kept faith in teamwork. “We are a group and are in this together. I will continue with the line-up that I started with in the first game. I am satisfied with our performances so far. We are not at the same level yet as during the Confederations Cup last year but this is a World Cup, it’s different,” opined the 2002 World Cup winner. l

dium yesterday.

Brothers goalkeeper Sabuj received a straight red card with just eight minutes into the clock after he came out of his box to foul Mithun Chowdhury.

The Oranges, however, took the lead in the 38th minute despite playing with one man short. Augustine Walson placed home a Kester Akon cross from the sixyard box.

Sumon restored parity for Russel in the 65th minute tapping in a low cross from Mithun from the right flank. Nigerian forward Simon again put Brothers ahead in the 71st minute after his low drive from the edge of the box beat four defenders. Sabuj Kumar equalised three minutes later with a chip from the far post.

Brothers remained at fifth position with 33 points from 21 matches while Russel are a spot behind in sixth with 28 points from the same number of games. l

On your Marx, Ready set BRAY!

Top scorer of cellular operator Robi’s Fifa World Cup quiz contest, Shariful Islam (3rd R), receives a match ticket from the organisation’s vice president Mohammad Sameer Zoha at the Robi corporate office yesterday

I thought about Richard Marx quite a bit last night. Given that “right here waiting” still plays in most of our restaurants, I like to think about Richard Marx as little as possible. It takes a desperate situation for me to spare more than the scantiest thought for the man. The Russia Belgium game was one such situation. In the absence of any meaningful action on the pitch, I was looking any old thing to concentrate on. Watching Eden Hazard run around aimlessly for many minutes led me to Mr. Marx who has a song by the same surname. As the game continued

threatening to undo all the good work done by its predecessors, I really felt like I needed to make it to the river. Marx appeared like a wise man. You know it really is a crap game when Richard Marx presents himself to your thoughts as a source of wisdom. I am convinced that Belgium scored in the 89th minute just so that the match would meet the minimum standards required for it to be considered an official part of the 2014 World Cup. I desperately hope that I won’t have to think about Richard Marx again for the duration of the tournament.

Things got much better as the night progressed and footballers from other countries remembered that they are playing in a very special tournament. I am not sure what the Algerian pre-game meal was but the only thing that could compete with its effectiveness was whatever bulgogi the Koreans had during half time.

Speaking of Algeria this is an interesting

anecdote. In 2007, the Algerian lower courts, having failed to arbitrate a case, sent it to the supreme legal body. No that is not the interesting part of this story.

The interesting part is the case itself. It involved a donkey and two men. One man was selling the donkey and two men. One man was buying the donkey and the other was selling it. While they were negotiating the price the prospective buyer set the money next to the beast of burden who, presumably bored by the haggling, ate the cash. The supreme court had to decide who the money and the donkey belonged to. I have not yet found a solution to the legal and moral dilemma, and thankfully did not get much time to think about it given the frenetic action on tv, but I do hope the Supreme Court of Algeria did. I would hate to think that the poor donkey is still being held in some corner of the Algerian legal system as case evidence.

You stumble upon wonderful stuff when you think that the games won’t be good enough to write about, and need more fodder for an engaging piece. I thank Belgium and Russia for creating the panic that led to my introduction with the Algerian donkey. But I don’t think I can forgive Kompany and co. for making me think of Richard Marx for a good part of twenty-four hours.

The excitement of the remaining matches ensured that I can afford to forget some parts of these endless summer nights. Seriously, who leaves it till 3.5 seconds from the end to equalize? Such deadline busting is my province. I have said it before and I will say it again, Ronaldo should get some more dandruff in his hair so that he has a greater sense of urgency in future encounters. He was this close to looking like one who can bray with Algeria’s finest. l

Wimbledon stars feel World Cup fever n Tennis’s top stars should be concentrating on Wimbledon, which got under way Monday, but the big-name players can’t help keeping an eye on the World Cup football action in Brazil.

The Championships are a football-free zone: the All England Club refuses to show matches on the big screens. Nonetheless, the World Cup is the talk of the locker room, according to defending champion Andy Murray.

With England crashing out of the World Cup early, Britain’s hopes of sporting success now rest with the Scot.

Indeed, the very first press conference question Murray faced at Wimbledon this year was: “How does it feel to

Angelo Mathews celebrates his century against England in Leeds yesterday AFP

have the hopes of a despondent nation on your shoulders?”

Murray replied simply: “Wow.” “I enjoy it when the World Cup is on. It gives me something to do in the evenings. I don’t have to listen to people talking about me playing at Wimbledon,” the champion said.

“When you walk into the locker room most mornings, that’s what almost all of the players are talking about,” he said of the World Cup. Rafael Nadal said Spain’s shock slump did not make him more motivated to restore national sporting pride by winning a third Wimbledon crown.

“I am sad. Everybody in Spain is sad for what happened in the World Cup,” the Mallorcan said.

“But my mentality, my motivation

was going to be always at the top to play here at Wimbledon.”

For Victoria Azarenka, the World Cup is all about peace and love -- but mostly love, for Argentina star Lionel Messi.

“I’ve been a supporter of Argentina for last three World Cups,” the Belarusian said.

“I love Messi. I think he’s one of the greatest players of all time. He’s so little, so cute.”

What goes through Azarenka’s mind when watching the Barcelona forward?

“You don’t want to know!,” the world number eight said.

“The World Cup is one of those events like the Olympic Games. It brings all nations, all people together just glued to the TV or glued in the stadium,

that moment of celebration. That moment of peace, that moment of love for the sport.

“It’s just absolutely amazing to me.”

Serena Williams said she was watching at least one or two games per day.

“Excited for the US. Obviously I’m rooting for the US,” the five-times Wimbledon winner said. Compatriot Sloane Stevens said the World Cup had not been keeping her awake.

However, Maria Sharapova said she had been tucked up in bed before Russia’s opening match kicked off, and it was not worth asking her opinion on Russia’s players.

“I’m no expert in football. I’ll tell you that straight off,” the 2004 champion said. l

Victoria Azarenka poses with Argentina jersey

INTERNET

Mathews, Prasad stun England

Murray cruises through

Dhammika Prasad’s dramatic four-wicket burst following a hundred from skipper Angelo Mathews left Sri Lanka on the brink of victory in the second Test against England at Headingley on Monday.

England were 57 for five at stumps on the fourth day, needing a further 293 runs to reach their imposing victory target of 350.

The most England have previously made in the fourth innings to win a Test is 332 for seven against Australia at Melbourne in 1928/29.

And only one team have made more in the fourth innings to win a Test at Headingley -- Australia’s 404 for three against England in 1948.

Sri Lanka have won just two Tests in England and never claimed a series on English soil of more than one match.

But, having held out for a draw in the

Defending champion Andy Murray breezed through his Wimbledon opener on Monday with a confident 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 win over baby-faced Belgian David Goffin.

Third-seeded Murray, bidding to become the first British man to successfully defend a Wimbledon title since Fred Perry in 1936, hit eight aces and 28 winners.

Murray, who has made at least the semi-finals on his last five appearances at the All England Club, goes on to face Slovenia’s Blaz Rola.

The Scot was joined in the second round by Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up, who came from a set down to beat Romania’s Victor Hanescu, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.

Latvian 12th seed Ernests Gulbis, who made the French Open semi-fi-

first Test at Lord’s with just one wicket standing, Mathews’s men were now on course for a memorable victory.

Earlier in the day, England bowled too short and Prasad, recalled in place of the dropped Nuwan Kulasekara, showed them the value of pitching the ball up.

England were making steady progress at 39 without loss when Prasad, the fifth bowler used by Mathews, struck twice in his first over.

With his third ball he induced England captain Alastair Cook to bottom edge a pull onto his stumps.

That meant the left-handed opener’s run without a Test century since he scored the last of his England record 25 hundreds against New Zealand at Headingley last year now extended to 24 innings.

And next ball Prasad’s excellent full-length delivery had Gary Ballance plumb lbw for a duck.

Ian Bell prevented a hat-trick but

Prasad was in the wickets again when Australia-born opener Sam Robson, who in the first innings had made a maiden Test century, drove loosely outside off stump and was caught by second slip Mahela Jayawardene for 24.

Prasad then surpassed his previous Test-best of three for 82 against Pakistan in Colombo six years ago when he squared up Bell with a fine delivery that clipped the top of off-stump.

England were now 52 for four, with Prasad having taken four for 10 in 24 balls.

And the 31-year-old would have had two more wickets had not both nightwatchman Liam Plunkett and Joe Root successfully challenged caught behind decisions given by New Zealand umpire Billy Bowden.

But to what became the last ball of the day, Plunkett fell for nought when he chipped a gentle catch to cover off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. l

n

nals, also went into the second round by defeating Estonia’s Jurgen Zopp 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, 7-6 (12/10).

Former women’s world number one Victoria Azarenka won her first match since January on the same court where she suffered a knee injury which ended her 2013 hopes.

Azarenka, the eighth seed, won 6-3, 7-5 against Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who was a semi-finalist back in 1999, on Court One. US 18th seed Sloane Stephens, a quarter-finalist in 2013, was defeated by Russian former top 10 player Maria Kirilenko, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).

Australian 17th seed Samantha Stosur fired 13 aces but still suffered another Wimbledon nightmare when she slumped to a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.

Japanese 43-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm who made her debut 25 years ago, went down 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to Russian 22nd seed, Ekaterina Makarova. l

14

Sp rt DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, June 24, 2014

n AFP, Manaus

CR7

delivers cold dose of reality

Portugal are not good enough to win the World Cup their world footballer of the year Cristiano Ronaldo admitted after Sunday’s thrilling 2-2 draw with the United States.

The 29-year-old Real Madrid superstar -- whose fitness has been a hot source of debate -- kept his country’s slim hopes of reaching the second round alive with a sublime cross which was headed home by Silvestre Varela in the dying seconds of time added on.

The Portuguese, who were hammered 4-0 by Germany in their opening game, must beat Ghana and hope there is a winner from the other match between Germany and the Americans -- who both have four points -- on Thursday to leave the second qualifying spot down to goal difference.

However, Ronaldo -- who looks doomed to prolong the curse of the world footballer of the year never winning the World Cup the year he wins the award -- said even reaching the second round will not presage a revival that will see them lift the World Cup trophy for the first time.

“Portugal were never a favourite,” said Ronaldo.

“Even qualifying for the finals was problematic (he almost singlehandedly got Portugal to the finals with a hat-trick in the second leg of the play-off with Sweden in Stockholm in a 3-2 win, and a 4-2 victory on aggregate).

“I never thought we would be world champions. We have to be humble and recognise our limitations. There are things we cannot do, like running faster or having more quality.

“At the moment there are better teams and better players than our own.

“Also with the setbacks we have had here, with the suspension of Pepe and the injury to Fabio Coentrao.”

Ronaldo, who had an outstanding season for Real which culminated with the ‘meringues’ 10th Champions League trophy, said he could have taken the easy way out and not come to the finals given his fitness concerns.

“It could have been a lot easier for me, I could have not come to the World Cup and

I would have sat at home as a Champions League winner.

“Instead I answered my country’s call as always,” said Ronaldo, who inspired the Portuguese to a surprise run to the Euro 2012 semi-finals.

Portugal coach Paulo Bento also sprang to his captain’s defence denying it was his patchy form which has been responsible for them clinging on to hopes of qualifying only by their fingernails.

“He was fit and he played 90 minutes,” said Bento, who prior to the finals signed an extension to his contract taking him up to 2016.

“I don’t think the problem with the displays lies with him. What happened has more to do with other players.

“The match has to be analysed from a broader perspective. I do not want to talk about individual cases and on one performance in particular.

“This is not the time to separate individual performances and the level of the team. There was not one player worse than the others. They are sad at the moment and it is not the time to criticise them.

“If there is somebody you want to criticise then it is me the coach.” l

MATCH STATS

United States Portugal Goals scored 2 2 Total shots 15 20 Shots on target 10 9 Corners 6 4 Offsides 1 4 Fouls committed 11 14 Yellow cards 1 0 Red cards 0 0 Ball possession 48 pct 52 pct

GROUP G

Standings Germany United States Ghana Portugal

P 2 2 2 2

W 1 1 0 0

D 1 1 1 1

L 0 0 1 1

F 6 4 3 2

A Pts 2 4 3 4 4 1 6 1

Ugly or with flair? Belgium fuel debate n AFP, Rio De Janeiro

Relieved at securing qualification for the second phase of the World Cup finals with a late winner against Russia, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots ventured to embark upon an age-old debate.

Is it enough to win, or must success be achieved in aesthetically pleasing fashion?

Brazil fans have asked the question for decades, demanding not just success -- of which they have had plenty down the years -- but glory embellished with style.

Any deviance from the path of O Jogo Bonito (the beautiful game) has been met with popular irritation and a nagging sense of unfulfilment.

Wilmots says he and other coaches will be judged above all by results, leading him to an inescapable conclusion liable to dismay the romantic.

“It’s not about being beautiful – but about being effective. Belgium are through to the next round and that is what counts,” said the 45-year-old, who appeared for the Red Devils at four

World Cups including their last appearance at a major finals in 2002.

“We are tactically very disciplined and we needed to be patient,” added Wilmots, who famously had a goal unfairly chalked off against eventual champions Brazil in the round of 16 in 2002.

GROUP H

Standings Belgium* Algeria Russia South Korea

P W D 2 2 0 2 1 0 2 0 1 2 0 1

L 0 1 1 1

F A Pts 3 1 6 5 4 3 1 2 1 3 5 1

With so much at stake, flair was barely the order of the day until Eden Hazard jinked his way to the byline before finding teenage substitute Divock Origi for the only goal right at the death.

Wilmots is by no means alone in musing on whether teams should concentrate on winning with flair-filled football or in more functional fashion.

Ahead of the tournament, Brazil starlet Neymar insisted winning is what ultimately counts with style a dis-

tant second concern.

“Beautiful football is the last thing we are concerned about -- what we want to do is to win,” insisted the Barcelona man.

“Our team’s mentality is always the same – always beat any adversary, whoever they are.”

It was therefore ironic that the hosts’ goalless draw against Mexico fueled loud grumbles from home fans when, had it not been for inspired goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, Brazil would have won by a hatful.

Thereby hangs a tale -- plenty of chances and attractive approach play.

Style aplenty; substance of result lacking, suggesting when it comes to a straight fight, even the home fans concede it’s really all about winning.

Despite some outbreaks of cagey behavior, this World Cup has seen attacking football flourish at least in terms of the goalscoring benchmark.

After 32 of the 64 games, 94 goals has been scored for an average of 2.94 per game. The tournament average in 2010 was 2.27, the second all-time lowest after 1990. l

Algeria’s forward Islam Slimani (C) celebrates scoring during their Group H match against South Korea at the Beira-Rio Stadium in Porto Alegre on Sunday AFP

Halilhodzic hails ‘heroic’ Algeria n AFP, Porto Alegre

Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic told his players before Sunday’s clash with South Korea that now was not the time to start crying with yet another first round knock-out a depressing possibility after an opening loss to Belgium.

There were tears alright on an idyllic sunny afternoon in Porto Alegre, but of joy, after a pulsating “heroic” 4-2 win over the 2002 semi-finalists pushed the North Africans to the brink of an historic passage to the second round.

The Desert Foxes were celebrating their first World Cup win since beating Chile in the 1982 finals shortly after a remarkable victory over football superpower, the former West Germany.

And their canny Bosnian-born coach remarked: “I dedicate this victory to all the Algerian supporters who have waited for this for 32 years.

“This was a victory for pride.

“Now we play a third match, a playoff against Russia and anything is possible.”

The Koreans were trailing by three goals by the time they sought refuge in the dressing room at the interval as a slick quick intelligent Algeria had them rattled with goals from man of the match Islam Slimani, Raficki Halliche and Abdelmoumene Djabou.

In the second half goals from Korea’s Song Heung-Min and Koo Ja-Cheol sandwiched Algeria’s fourth from Yacine Brahimi.

Algeria are the first side from Africa to rack up that number of goals in a World Cup match.

Slimani was one of five changes from the opening line-up with Halilihodzic observing: “This was a well prepared tactic, we closely analysed the Korean way of play.

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

South Korea Algeria 2 4 9 15 6 8 7 5 1 1 13 16 2 1 0 0 54 pct 46 pct

“In the first half we were great in every area. In the second, we let up a little against a well organised rival, there were a couple of hot moments in defence but we were prepared for that.”

This outcome, as spectacular as it was unexpected, sees Algeria go into their Group H closer on three points as opposed to Russia’s one point, with Korea, also stuck on one point, facing already qualified Belgium.

Somewhat disingenuously perhaps Halilhodzic suggested to the postmatch press conference that it was Fabio Capello’s Russians rather than Algeria that were in pole to qualify.

“Russia are favourites,but we cant’t hide, we have to go in search of this qualification with even more audacity and suffering.”

That game is scheduled for Thursday in Curitiba. l

Singapore cracks down on illegal bets during World Cup n AFP, Singapore Singapore police Monday said they have arrested 15 people in a crackdown on illegal betting during intense World Cup fever in the city-state, which has become notorious for football-linked crime.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects are believed to have received illegal bets amounting to about Sg$800,000 ($641,000) in the past two weeks,” the Singapore Police Force said in a statement posted on its website Monday.

The suspects, 14 men and one women aged between 23 and 70, were detained in raids on Saturday, police said.

It did not reveal their nationalities and a police spokeswoman declined to specifically link them to betting on matches during the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off on June 12 in Brazil.

Cash totalling Sg$350,000, as well as computers, mobile phones and documents detailing betting and bank transaction records were seized during the raid, police said.

The crackdown is the second against illegal football betting the police have publicly announced in the past month.

On May 19, the police said 18 people were arrested for being part of an illegal football betting ring that received over Sg$8.0 million in bets.

Under Singapore’s Betting Act, suspects found guilty of illegal bookmaking can face fines of between Sg$20,000 and Sg$200,000 and up to five years in jail. l

Sp rt DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Italy look to shackle Suarez n

Italy must find a way to shut down Uruguay striker Luis Suarez when the teams clash at the Dunas arena on Tuesday in a World Cup showdown which will decide who goes through to the last 16.

Uruguay, semi-finalists four years ago, will arrive in Natal on an almighty high after Suarez’s double strike beat England and eased the pain of their opening 3-1 loss to Costa Rica - a match their totemic striker missed as he recovered his fitness.

Italy also lost to Costa Rica by 1-0 but their opening victory over England means the four-times World Cup winners need a point from the fixture, while twice champions Uruguay must win because of their inferior goal difference.

If there was any team you would back to shackle a goalscoring phenomenon, it would probably be Italy but they will need to be at their miserly best at the back to deny Suarez and his strike partner Edinson Cavani.

“They are a very strong combination in attack,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon told reporters on Sunday.

“This is not something we’re discovering now. They’ve established their reputation as a duo for Uruguay and on their own for their clubs.”

Italy’s coach Cesare Prandelli will almost certainly have to change his team with defensive midfielder Daniele De Rossi highly unlikely to play because of

England play for pride n England’s wounded ‘Three Lions’ play for pride only in their final World Cup game on Tuesday against Costa Rica who want another scalp to seal top spot in Group D after shocking Uruguay and Italy.

In a thrilling tournament with no pushover teams, the Central Americans have perhaps proved the biggest surprise, fully deserving wins over two former world champions that have taken them beyond the group stage for the fist time since 1990.

Having beaten Uruguay 3-1 in their opener, then marked Italy’s Andrea Pirlo and Mario Balotelli out of the second game in a 1-0 win, the ‘Ticos’ are bouncing and will have no fear of England who they have never played before.

Even a draw would guarantee Costa Rica top spot and a last-16 match against the runners-up in Group C. “Surprise is for the non-believers!” said midfielder Celso Borges of his team’s remarkable World Cup so far. l

V Costa Rica

England

a leg injury.

Praised for his positive 4-1-4-1 system after the victory over England, and then pilloried for the same tactics after the Costa Rica defeat, Prandelli might switch to a 3-5-2 formation for the Uruguay clash.

Mario Balotelli would retain his place up front with the in-form Ciro Immobile joining him in a gamble on an untested strike partnership.

Standings Costa Rica Italy Uruguay England

GROUP D P 2 2 2 2

W 2 1 1 0

D L 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2

F 4 2 3 2

A Pts 1 6 2 3 4 3 4 0

“It would be a novelty, with all the benefits and risks that are associated with that,” said Buffon. If this choice is made, what happens on the field will tell us if it was the right decision.”

With Suarez already confirmed as fit to play by the Uruguay team doctor despite pre-tournament knee surgery, and captain Diego Lugano still an injury doubt, coach Oscar Tabarez could stick with the same lineup that beat England.

He will be looking for another energetic performance from midfielders Alvaro Gonzalez and Nicolas Lodeiro, who he brought into the side after the lacklustre display against Costa Rica.

Italy and Uruguay played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the Confederations Cup in Brazil last year with the Italians claiming a third-place playoff win by 3-2

V Italy

The sun could rise again for Japan at the World Cup if they upset Colombia at the Pantanal arena on Tuesday although they will also need the result of the other match on the last day of Group C to go their way.

Colombia have already qualified for the round of 16 with six points after stringing together two wins for the first time in five visits to the finals.

They will be joined in the next round

by Ivory Coast, who have three points, if the African nation defeat Greece in other Group C match in Fortaleza.

Japan, who have just one point from their first two matches, can expect to find the going tough in the hot conditions in Cuiaba which will better suit the Colombians, used to playing their home games in the qualifiers at steamy Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast.

They also face a side that iconic 1990s playmaker Carlos “Pibe” Valderrama said had recovered his country’s footballing identity under the guidance

V Japan

Colombia

Arena Pantanal - Cuiaba (BRA) 24 Jun 2014, 16:00 Local (2:00AM BST)

KEY STATS Colombia top Group C with six points after winning two matches for the first time at a World Cup - A draw will be enough to ensure Colombia go through to the last 16 as group winners Japan, with one point from a 0-0 draw against Greece, can still hope to qualify with a win if the Ivory Coast either lose or draw against Greece. In either scenario, qualification is likely to be decided by goal difference Previous meetings

The teams have met twice with a win for Colombia and a draw

WORLD CUP IN BANGLADESH PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

Send us your photographs to WorldCupBD@dhakatribune.com

KEY STATS England’s defeats by Uruguay and Italy in Group D means they are eliminated in the first phase of a World Cup for the first time since the 1958 tournament in Sweden.

Costa Rica’s two wins against those same two teams have taken them out of the group stage for only the second time in their World Cup history.

In 1990, they went through thanks to wins over Scotland and Sweden in the first round.

DAY’S WATCH 2014 World Cup 10:00PM Maasranga TV Italy v Uruguay Gazi TV Costa Rica v England 2:00AM Maasranga TV & BTV Japan v Colombia Gazi TV Ivory Coast v Greece

MOST LIKED PHOTO OF JUNE 23 FAHIM KHAN Dhaka

For more info visit our FB event page ‘World Cup in Bangladesh’ Photography Contest

Uruguay

Estadio das Dunas - Natal (BRA) 24 Jun 2014, 13:00 Local (10:00PM BST)

FACT BOX Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico) Probable teams Italy

1-Gianluigi Buffon; 7-Ignazio Abate, 4-Matteo Darmian, 15-Andrea Barzagli, 3-Giorgio Chiellini; 5-Thiago Motta, 18-Marco Parolo, 6-Antonio Candreva, 21-Andrea Pirlo, 8-Claudio Marchisio; 9-Mario Balotelli Uruguay

1-Fernando Muslera; 6-Alvaro Pereira, 3-Diego Godin, 13-Jose Maria Gimenez, 22-Martin Caceres; 20-Alvaro Gonzalez, 17-Egidio Arevalo Rios, 7-Cristian Rodriguez, 14-Nicolas Lodeiro; 9-Luis Suarez, 21-Edinson Cavani Key Stats

The first World Cup meeting between Italy and Uruguay took place in the group round in 1970 and ended in a 0-0 draw In both of their two prior meetings in the World Cup, Uruguay failed to score This is Uruguay’s 50th game in the World Cup. Their first was a 1-0 win over Peru played on July, 18 1930 in Montevideo.

Previous meetings

This is the 10th meeting between the teams. Uruguay lead three wins to two with the remaining matches ending in draws Last meeting

June 30, 2013, Salvador, Brazil (Confederations Cup) - Italy beat Uruguay 3-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the third-place playoff.

Japan face daunting odds

Estadio Mineirao - Belo Horizonte (BRA) 24 Jun 2014, 13:00 Local (10:00PM BST)

Star Sports 1 Sri Lanka tour of England 2nd Test, Day 5

THE BIG MATCH

in a penalty shootout.

Buffon, who saved three penalties in that shootout, believes how well Italy recover from their disappointing defeat by the Costa Ricans will go a long way to deciding whether the Azzurri progress.

“When you come from a defeat like that,” the 36-year-old said. “You’ve got to find the energy over the next few days to put things right.

“When we’re facing a challenge, that’s when we respond best.”

Meanwhile, former Uruguay international Alvaro Recoba has warned his former colleagues that “loose cannon” Mario Balotelli has the potential to deal the fatal blow to la Celeste’s World Cup hope.

Uruguay must beat Cesare Prandelli’s side on Tuesday to progress from Group D along with Costa Rica, with a draw or Azzurri win eliminating them.

And Recoba, who spent almost 10 years in Italy with Inter, has warned his countrymen that while the 23-year-old is inconsistent he could well send them packing in an instant.

“There is a loose cannon in Balotelli,” the 38-year-old told La Gazzetta dello Sport. They tell me that he never maintains a whole season at a high level, but the problem is that everything is decided for us in 90 minutes and, if Balotelli steps out there on the right foot, in a single game he can send anyone into a tailspin.” l

n

15

of coach Jose Pekerman and will be looking for a third win.

“I think these lads are making history...I feel admiration and respect for the professor (Pekerman) with all he has done, he recovered the identity of Colombian football,” Valderrama told reporters.

Cristian Zapata, who has fitted into a good central defensive partnership with captain Mario Yepes after Luis Perea failed to make it to Brazil due to injury, said that despite having qualified Colombia were not even thinking about the second round.

“From the start we’ve gone match by match, the next is against Japan, a difficult match in which we want to improve and also win,” Zapata told reporters. l

Standings Colombia Ivory Coast Japan Greece

GROUP C

P W D L F A Pts 2 2 0 0 5 1 6 2 1 0 1 3 3 3 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 2 0 1 1 0 3 1

Controversy over picture of disabled Brazil fan standing n A picture of a Brazilian fan standing in front of her wheelchair and clapping at a World Cup stadium has sparked controversy over the alleged “miracle.”

FIFA has not confirmed the authenticity of the picture and similar ones circulating on social media, but the football governing body condemned any bid to fraudulently acquire seats for the handicapped. The most controversial picture shows the back of a fan wearing Brazil’s yellow team jersey at the Castelao Stadium in the northeastern city of Fortaleza, standing and applauding in front of the wheelchair.

The photo was apparently taken during Brazil’s 0-0 draw with Mexico on June 17. But the two teams had played at the same venue during last year’s Confederations Cup tournament, when Brazil won 2-0.

The picture sparked a debate on Twitter, with one Brazilian user sarcastically questioning the “great miracle,” while others noted that some disabled people can stand up some times.

Brazilian law has set aside at least one percent of World Cup tickets for people with disabilities. FIFA said that people buying handicapped seats must show a medical certificate when picking up their tickets. More checks are conducted on game day. l

Mourning Toure seeks to lead Elephants n

Yaya and Kolo Toure will have to shake off their grief over the death of their brother against Greece on Tuesday as they try to take Ivory Coast into the World Cup knock-out stages.

The Premier League pair were dealt a terrible blow with the news that their 28-year-old brother Ibrahim died of cancer in Manchester last week.

Just days later, Ivory Coast will take to the field with their World Cup hopes on the line in their final Group C game against former European champions Greece. In what will be one of Yaya Toure’s final memories of his brother, Ibrahim was at Manchester City’s stadium last month when he collected the Premier League trophy.

Now the captain will have to contend with his emotions as well as the magnitude of the occasion as Ivory Coast seek to progress from Group C in Fortaleza.

Last week’s 2-1 loss to Colombia means Ivory Coast’s progress is far from assured and they will need a win to make

sure of reaching the knock-out stages for the first time. The Elephants trailed Japan in their opening game before the introduction of benched ex-Chelsea star Didier Drogba was credited with inspiring their 2-1 comeback win. l

V Ivory Coast

Greece

Estadio Castelao - Fortaleza (BRA) 24 Jun 2014, 17:00 Local (2:00AM BST)

KEY STATS Greece conceded almost as many goals in their Group C opener against Colombia (three) as in their entire World Cup qualifying campaign (four in 10 matches).

In their eight World Cup matches to date Greece have scored just two goals and conceded 18.

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, June 24, 2014 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, June 16, 2014

13 Animated Big Phil all heated up

14 Ronaldo delivers cold dose of reality

Sport

15 Italy look to shackle Suarez

Double Dutch strike sinks Chile

GROUP B

Standings P Netherlands 3 Chile 3 Spain 3 Australia 3

W 3 2 1 0

D 0 0 0 0

L F A Pts 0 10 3 9 1 5 3 6 2 4 7 3 3 3 9 0

Leroy Fer (L) of the Netherlands scores a goal with a header during their 2014 World Cup Group B match against Chile at the Corinthians arena in Sao Paulo yesterday

Asian football lagging behind

from Brasilia, Brazil The standard of Asian football has been exposed terribly as the continent’s representatives continue to stumble and put in below-par displays in the ongoing World Cup in Brazil.

All the Asian sides - South Korea, Japan, Iran and Australia - have played two matches so far and only two performances among the accumulated eight matches were commendable. Iran fought bravely against Argentina before conceding a narrow 1-0 defeat courtesy some magic from the nimble feet of Lionel Messi while Australia, more famous for their cricket heroics, went

WORLD CUP STATS The last World Cup goal to be scored later in normal time (94:35) was Daniel Amokachi’s strike for Nigeria v Greece on 30/06/1994 No Portuguese player has more caps (12) than Ronaldo in World Cup history USA have faced 42 shots at the 2014 WC, eight more than any other team There have been 94 goals scored after two rounds of group matches at the 2014 World Cup; 27 more than in 2010 at this stage (67) USA have not won consecutive WC games since their first 2 matches in 1930 USA have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 15 World Cup games against European opposition Portugal have only won one of their last eight games at the World Cup (7-0 v North Korea in 2010), drawing three and losing four Algeria are the first African team to score four goals in a World Cup game

neck-and-neck with the Netherlands in a fighting 3-2 loss for the Socceroos.

South Korea, who reached the semifinals in the 2002 World Cup as the co-hosts, was awfully outplayed by Algeria in a 4-2 rout on Sunday. A lack of cohesion in defence, an apparent lack of failure to match the pace of the opponents and a dearth of skills in attack appeared to be the common glitches of the Asian teams. The Taeguk Warriors were held 1-1 by Russia in their Group H opener but the Russians are not the team they used to be.

Japan have also failed to rise to the occasion with two mediocre performances - a 2-1 loss to Ivory Coast and a goalless stalemate against 10-man Greece. The Blue Samurai also lacked the killer edge upfront and their overall performance lacked consistency.

Iran, also known as Team Melli, battled hard against the Argentinians and almost grabbed a point against the two-time champions but a splash of magic from Messi in the second minute of injury time broke their hearts following a goalless draw against Nigeria in their Group C opener. The 1-0 defeat against the Argentines was a superb effort from the Iranians and can be dubbed as a thriller.

Australia were beaten 3-1 by Chile in their opening Group B game but the Socceroos can hold their heads high for the performance against the Netherlands as they once led before going down to a 3-2 defeat.

The Asian teams still lack the cutting edge in the final third of the field and a lack of consistency whilst whipping in crosses and free-kicks was clearly evident. Overall pace and tempo of the Asian sides were also inconsistent, team chemistry is lagging behind in comparison to the other competing nations while mental solidity in the crunch situations was often missing.

Ezequiel Fernandez Moores, an Argentine sports journalist who has covered seven World Cups, stressed that the Asian standard was obviously inferior to that of their African and South American counterparts.

“Overall the standard is good but at the very top they lack the required penetration.

It’s not so easy as the African and Latin American players now ply their trade in the top leagues of the world. That’s where the Asian players are behind. Remaining in the top-class professional circuit makes all the difference,” said the veteran football reporter and writer. l

REUTERS

The Netherlands defeated Chile 2-0 on Monday to win their group and likely avoid a World Cup showdown with Brazil.

Super-subs Leroy Fer and Memphis Depay grabbed the late goals to settle a hard-fought clash in Sao Paulo.

The victory gave Holland a 100 percent record at the top of Group B after earlier wins against Spain and Australia.

More importantly the win is expected to see Louis van Gaal’s side steer clear of Brazil in the last 16, and play either Croatia or Mexico instead.

The identity of the Netherlands’ opponents will only be confirmed after the final matches in Group A later Monday.

Brazil face Cameroon in Brasilia while Croatia take on Mexico.

The Netherlands, missing suspended captain Robin van Persie, finally broke through Chile’s defence on 77 minutes.

Daryl Janmaat whipped in a cross and Fer rose high to thunder home a header.

In the dying minutes, Arjen Robben burst clear down the left flank and crossed for Depay to stab home from close range.

Spain defeated Australia 3-0 in Group B’s dead rubber, with David Villa, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata scoring.

Villa, 32, took his Spanish record goals tally to 59 in his 97th appearance with a clever backheeled finish on 36 minutes, in his last international appearance.

But Villa’s goalscoring finale was scant consolation for Spain after a disastrous World Cup campaign which saw the 2010 champions knocked out

Villa, Torres help give Spain a winning farewell Strikers David Villa and Fernando Torres scored on Monday to help give deposed champions Spain a comfortable consolation win after a miserable World Cup when they beat Australia 3-0.

Villa neatly backheeled the opener in the 36th minute after Spain carved open the Australian defence. Torres slid home in the 69th minute when set clear in the penalty box.

Substitute Juan Mata rolled a third goal between the legs of goalkeeper Mat Ryan in the 82nd minute as Australia ran out of steam.

Spain had nothing but pride to play for after losing their first two games.

Australia were also on their way home after defeats to Chile and the Netherlands.

Coach Vicente del Bosque made seven changes from the Spanish team that started the 2-0 defeat by Chile.

Midfielder Andres Iniesta kept his place and won his 100th cap.

Iniesta, scorer of the winner in the 2010 final, showed his craft by helping to create Villa’s goal with a superb pass

that sent defender Juanfran clear in space on the right wing.

Villa, Spain’s record goalscorer, claimed his 59th goal in 97 games for his country when he turned in the cross. It was probably his last appearance for Spain as he prepares to play in MLS soccer next year.

Australia almost hit back immediately, goalkeeper Pepe Reina hacking the ball clear in a goalmouth scramble.

That was a rare threat from an inexperienced Australian team who missed the presence of suspended leading scorer Tim Cahill up front.

“It was a dignified way to end our participation here. We took control of the match and we were the better team,” Del Bosque said in an interview with Spanish television.

Australia coach Ange Postecoglou said his team had faded after performing well in the first 10 to 15 minutes.

“We just looked a little bit tired.

We’ve faced three world class opponents and today we really struggled,” he said. l

after their first two matches.

Villa, who will concentrate on a new club football career in Australia and the United States, was substituted early in the second half, shedding tears as he left the field to applause.

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Netherlands Chile 2 0 13 7 8 1 2 7 1 2 25 14 1 1 0 0 36% 64%

Torres added Spain’s second on 69 minutes, latching onto Andres Iniesta’s through ball and slotting past Maty Ryan.

Manchester United midfielder Mata completed the scoring.

Australia meanwhile exited with heads held high with another battling performance after running Chile and Holland close earlier in the tournament.

Later Monday, Brazil will look to book their second round berth with victory over Cameroon in Group A. Brazil have failed to convince in their opening matches, grinding out a 3-1 win over Croatia before toiling to a 0-0 draw with Mexico.

However, a big win over an eliminated Cameroon could give them useful momentum heading into the last 16, where they would face Chile if they top the group. l

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Australia Spain 0 3 4 11 0 8 2 6 1 6 14 9 2 1 0 0 44% 56%

David Villa (R) is comforted by teammate Iker Casillas as he leaves the pitch against Australia yesterday AP

Klinsmann makes US a high-tempo threat n A last gasp equaliser from Portugal stopped the United States from qualifying for the last 16 of the World Cup with a game to spare but the way in which Juergen Klinsmann’s team performed should give them real hope of progressing.

With four points, the U.S. need a win or draw against Germany in their final Group G game to be sure of a place in the second round and while that is a tough task against one of the favourites, there was plenty in the 2-2 draw on Sunday to give cause for optimism for American fans.

Klinsmann, who now faces the team he won a World Cup with as a player in 1990 and coached to the semi-finals in 2006, has spent his three years in

charge of the United States attempting to push the team to a new level.

Under previous coaches Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena, the U.S. earned respect for their discipline, aggression and determination but the German has succeeded in producing a team that keeps all those qualities while playing a high-tempo passing game.

Klinsmann drew criticism for his squad selection for the tournament, particularly leaving out his team’s record scorer Landon Donovan, but his focus on picking players who are quick and have great stamina, has paid off.

The German has been relentless in repeating his mantra about tempo throughout the team’s training camp, where he focused heavily on physical conditioning, and throughout the early stages of the tournament. l

Spain’s Juan Mata (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring his side’s third goal during the Group B match against Australia at the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil yesterday AP

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TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Banks compelled to keep more reserve with BB It is to prevent unproductive investment from huge surplus liquidity and reduce inflation pressure; unlikely to affect stock investment n Tribune Report Bangladesh Bank has raised the cash reserve requirement (CRR) by 0.5% as the money market is awash with huge liquidity.

It would help mitigate the money flow to the unproductive sectors and thus reducing the inflationary pressure on the economy, senior bankers said.

A senior central bank executive said the measure would also help Bangladesh Bank to contribute more to the national exchequer as the interest expense on the money it mop up from the market to maintain a liquidity balance.

‘The private sector credit growth figures show there is sufficient space for banks to lend to their customers if they wish to. So, raising the CRR will not affect investment’ The amount of CRR is set to 6.5% with effect from today, increasing from 6% for all the scheduled banks, including shariah-based ones, said a circular Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday.

According to the circular, the banks will have to maintain the new CRR with the central bank from their total demand and time liabilities on a bi-weekly basis and 6% daily from existing 6% and 5.5% respectively.

Earlier on December 15 in 2010, Bangladesh Bank increased the CRR to 6% from 5.5% in accordance with the monetary policy.

The banks would have to deposit an

Stella Kaendera may join as new IMF resident representative n Asif Showkat Kallol Stella Kaendera is likely to join as new IMF resident representative in Bangladesh for next two years, beginning any day this month.

The appointment, however, needs to be endorsed by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, who left Dhaka for Jeddah yesterday to attend the general meeting of Islamic Development Bank, said an official of the finance division.

He said the endorsement would be given upon return of the minister scheduled on Thursday.

Present IMF resident representative EteriKvintradze left Bangladesh on May 30 last although her tenure was extended by one more year.

Stella, an expert on the African countries and also an economist on exchange rate and fiscal policy, has served the IMF headquarters in Washington DC as a researcher.

The government wanted EteriKvintradze to keep her as the IMF resident representative in Bangladesh for at least one more year just to facilitate the disbursement of the rest of the instalments of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF).

The IMF has so far disbursed fifth out of the seven-tranche loan of about US$1bn. l

India’s FM: We have not received information on Swiss ‘black money’ n Reuters, New Delhi The government has not received any communication from Switzerland about “black money” suspected to be stashed in Swiss banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said yesterday.

Jaitley’s comments followed media reports that Switzerland has prepared a list of names of Indian account holders who they suspect of not paying taxes.

Jaitley said he was writing to the Swiss authorities for more information. l

additional amount of Tk3,200 crore, as a result, according to an estimate by an executive of the central bank.

As of now, the banks have to provision around Tk33,000 crore against the CRR. He said the central bank has to maintain a liquidity balance in the money market so the excess liquidity does not go to the unproductive sector, putting pressure on the inflation.

The central bank has to mop up money from the market through interest bearing reverse repo that costs the central bank, reducing its capacity to contribute to the national exchequer.

The money market was maintaining an excess liquidity of around Tk1,02,000 crore in May, including an idle money of Tk2,785 crore. ‘’We have increased the CRR as the market is going through high reserve and surplus liquidity situation, which may divert the fund for other purposes,” said Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury.

He said the excess liquidity would put pressure on the inflation. The capital market would not be affected as the market would remain liquid enough to invest in the market even after increasing the CRR, he added.

Bankers said Bangladesh Bank had taken several initiatives to increase the CRR in recent years amid excess liquidity and poor investment scenario, but stepped back due to opposition by the stock market stakeholders. They argue that it would affect the stock market investment.

The market players allege that the central bank decision to raise the CRR in 2010 had caused, among other reasons, the market crash.

Banks though liquid enough due to lack of investment opportunity amid political unrest, but they could not invest in the share market due to their

A cashier is seen counting notes at a local bank in Dhaka capital market exposure limit (25% of equity), said a senior executive of a private bank.

He said the share market though going through a lack of institutional investors, the banks still in the process of withdrawing their earlier investment instead of further investment to comply with the new limit.

Bangladesh Bank’s Chief Economist Hassan Zaman explained a number of reasons why the central bank raised the threshold.

Recently, he said, the Ministry

of Finance decided to temporarily suspend Treasury auctions and as a result the banks have rushed to the central bank to park their excess liquidity through our interest bearing reverse repo facility.

“This has sharply increased the cost of this facility to the central bank and by extension to the taxpayer since this implies that BB can contribute less to government revenue,” he said. “By raising the CRR we save a portion of these costs.”

Zaman said the private sector credit

DHAKA TRIBUNE

growth figures show there is sufficient space for banks to lend to their customers if they wish to. “So, raising the CRR will not affect investment.”

Moreover, he said, this move also helps us keeping to our reserve money targets, which will help in bringing non-food inflation down further.

“So, overall, there are lots of advantages to this as entrepreneurs won’t suffer from a fund shortage, it has inflation benefits and lowers the interest burden on the public,” said the economist. l

Tax-free capital gain limit may be raised to Tk20 lakh n Syed Samiul Basher Anik The government is likely to finalise the ceiling for the tax-free capital gain at Tk20 lakh instead of the proposed Tk10 lakh to protect the interest of the investors and maintain investment flow to the stock market.

To encourage the investors to invest more in the stock market and to protect their interests, the government is now planning not to impose any capital gain tax on profits up to Tk20 lakh as this change will not have that much negative impact on the revenue earnings, a high official of National Board of Revenue (NBR) said yesterday.

The government had earlier proposed imposing 3% tax for gaining over Tk10 lakh profits and 5% tax for gaining above Tk20 lakh profits to collect more revenue to meet its ambitious revenue target of Tk1,49,000 crore set for the upcoming fiscal year.

“There are around 30 lakh beneficiary owner (BO) account holders in the country, who do not pay any taxes on their capital gains, as there had been no such provisions earlier for imposing taxes on capital gains,” said an official.

As the move, which proposed to boost the revenue collection, expanding tax net, has received some criticisms from various quarters and is also feared to have negative impacts on the investors, the finance minister is now considering making some changes in the provision, he said.

The minister is now planning to impose taxes on capital gain over Tk20 lakh although the tax rate is yet to be fixed and the changes are likely to be adjusted in the finance bill just before the parliament passes the bill, he also added.

Different associations including Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association, Bangladesh Securities Exchange Commission have been pressing the government to withdraw the proposed provision. l

Anti-money laundering BGMEA boss seeks punishment for team to arrive in November spreading falsehood n Asif Showkat Kallol A team of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering will visit Dhaka at the end of November this year to oversee execution of 40 APG recommendations including upgrading anti-money laundering and terrorist financing law.

The group under the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) outlined the recommendations including 11 for immediate implementation in February when Bangladesh was excluded from FATF grey list.

The exclusion was a recognition to the progress Bangladesh made against the money-laundering and terrorist financing.

FATF is an anti-money laundering international campaign organisation strictly monitoring the governments’ anti-money laundering activities imposing time-bound conditions.

APG is a regional organisation of the Asia-Pacific region under FATF for cooperation in development among the member states and preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. Besides, a FATF team will also arrive in Bangladesh in January 2015 to see the progress in the implementation of the Mutual Evaluation law.

The team will submit report on the visit to the FATF authority.

Under the Mutual Evaluation law, the two countries will exchange money laundering information and the persons involved in the crime.

The government will have to look into the nine issues under the FATF for

prevention of the money laundering activities.

They include evaluation of existing legal review, anti-money laundering law, investigation and judicial process, terrorist financing law, investigation and judicial process, implementation of UN resolution, international cooperation and mutual legal assistance, supervision and monitoring, NGO-related matters, cross border issues and matter related with formation of companies and beneficiary owners.

Recently, Bank and Financial Institutions Division Secretary M Aslam Alam expressed concerns over the possibility of money laundering in the share market.

He came up with the concerns at a post-budget meeting between Finance Minister AMA Muhith and the stock exchanges at the secretariat.

He said they had worked hard for five years to pull the country out of the FATF grey list and was successful in February. Aslam Alam said the FATF advised the stock exchanges to look into the suspected transactions and know the details about clients.

Bangladesh’s coming out of the FATF grey list means there would be a great reduction in the cost and time of financial transactions with the rest of the world which would benefit businessmen in the country.

The FATF plenary meeting held in French capital Paris in February gave unanimous recognition to Bangladesh’s actions for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing as reaching international standards. l

n Tribune Report BGMEA president Atiqul Islam has demanded punishment of some leaders of the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) affiliated with IndustriAll Bangladesh Council is tarnishing the image of the country’s apparel industry through providing baseless information to the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

He came up with the demand yesterday while addressing an award giving ceremony titled “BGMEA-BUFT Journalism Fellowship 2014 Award” held at BGMEA Complex in the capital.

“We are demanding exemplary punishment for them as they, being the leader of the federation, are harming the country’s image abroad, raising false allegations on the harassment of trade union leaders in RMG sector,” said Islam.

“As this type of act is subversive to the state, we are demanding punishment for those who sent the letter to the US Senators and they should be brought under trial as per the law of the land.”

The letter sent to the US senator, claimed that labour leaders are brutally assaulted by musclemen for their attempt to organise union.

“It is very unfortunate for us! When we are working from every corner for the development of the RMG sector, a vested quarter is engaged in negative campaign against Bangladesh apparel industry,” said commerce minister Tofail Ahmed while addressing the cere-

Banking hours set for Ramadan n Tribune Report Banking transactions will continue from 9.30 am to 2.30 pm during the holy month of Ramadan.

However, the banks will remain open from 9:30 to 4 pm with a 15-minute break from 1.15 pm to 1.30pm, according to a circular Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday.

During the prayer break, transactions will be done through internal

coordination as was done before Ramadan.

After the Ramadan the office and transactions time will be renewed.

Normally the bank office hour is from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

DSE shortens trading hours for Ramadan

Meanwhile, share trading at Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) will be held for only three hours during the holy

month of Ramadan.

The trading will begin at 10:30 am and will close at 1:30 pm, instead of the regular four hours trading period from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm.

The DSE office will remain open from 9:30 am to 4 pm during the month.

DSE trading and office will get back to normal trading hours after the month and the holiday for Eidul- Fitr.l

mony as chief gust.

“Bangladesh RMG sector has been developed remarkably, it’s a miracle,” said Tofail quoting George Miller, a senior democratic member of the US. The minister also brought the same allegation that a group had been hatching a conspiracy home and abroad just to hinder the development of this sector, being jealous by the progress so far made in the RMG industry.

Tofail showed a copy of the letter, which was sent to the USTR written on a letter head pad bearing logo of IndustriAll, and the letter was signed by

Amirul Islam Amin, president of NGWF. Speaking as special guest, vice chancellor of Dhaka University AAMS Arefin Siddique urged the apparel makers to provide all sort of information to the journalists as mass media, being power full tools, can also help develop the RMG sector as well the country.

The BGMEA and BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) jointly awarded the fellowship to six journalists from print, online and electronic media, for their outstanding work and contribution in the apparel sector. l

B2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stock DSE GAINERS

Stocks regain after 3-day losses

DSE key features June 23, 2014

Traded Issues

297

n Tribune Report

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

167

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

123

Stocks regained yesterday, breaking three days of losses as investors took advantage of lower prices.

The market opened higher and the momentum continued till close of the trade, lifted by mainly heavyweights – telecommunications and banks that gained more than 2% each.

The benchmark DSEX rose 45 points or 1% to end at 4,368. It was its steepest single-day gain in last ten trading sessions.

The Shariah Index DSES rallied over 9 points or 1% to 998. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,610 with a rise of 17 points or 1%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rallied 112 points to 8,346.

Trading activities improved but still remained below Tk300 crore, indicating investors continued to adopt cautious mood in trading.

Turnover at DSE stood at more than Tk293 crore, which is 32% higher over the previous session.

Investors focused sector-wise positioning such as pharmaceuticals, bank and telecommunications, making up 43% of the total trade.

Gainers took a strong lead over the losers, as out of 296 issues traded, 173 advanced, 87 declined and

2,930.59

Turnover (Volume)

67,590,385

Number of Contract

69,120

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,270.27

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.52

CSE key features June 23, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

245.82

Turnover (Volume)

Daily capital market highlights DSE Broad Index :

Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

36 remained unchanged.

Power, pharmaceuticals and non-banking financial institutions edged higher while life insurance and food and allied declined marginally on price correction.

IDLC Investments said remaining dip in few sessions, a natural rebounce floated the market rhythm.

“Since, the indices lost substantially in last couple of days, a handsome number of scrips came at lucrative range. Backed by this, investors re-assessed and took position in selective preferred stocks,” it said.

Lanka Bangla Securities said at the third day of this week, market rebounded and ended in positive territory as value investors perceived the market to be in an oversold situation.

Much of the gain can be attributed to surge in banking and telco stocks, it said. Moreover, two big caps, namely Grameenphone and Lafarge Surma Cement surged by 2.8% and 2% respectively.

Grameenphone, the country’s top mobile phone operator, was the most traded stock with shares worth Tk16 crore changing hands.

It was followed by Lafarge Surma Cement, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd, ACI, Beximco Ltd, Square Pharmaceuticals and BSRM Steel. l

6,102,693

Number of Contract

9,430

4367.89798

(+) 1.06%

▼

Traded Issues

204

998.39342

(+) 0.97%

▼

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

113

1610.67161

(+) 1.05%

▼

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

87

CSE All Share Index:

13524.52420

(+) 1.39%

▼

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

CSE - 30 Index :

11092.53090

(+) 1.60%

▼

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,195.85

8346.52010

(+) 1.36%

▼

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.62

DSE Shariah Index : DSE - 30 Index :

CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS

3rd ICB M F-A Al-Haj Textile -A Libra Infusions-A Wata Chemicals -A Rangpur Foundry -A National Life I -A Karnaphuli Insur -A Renwick Jajneswar-A

-8.36 -4.65 -4.30 -3.92 -3.50 -3.20 -3.13 -2.86

Average (% change) -9.20 -3.78 -4.14 -3.98 -2.80 -2.31 -3.60 -1.98

Linde (BD) Ltd. -A PragatiLife Insu. -A

-2.75 -2.51

-2.43 -2.44

Company

Closing (% change)

CSE LOSERS Company

Closing (% change)

Wata Chemicals -A Paramount Insur-A ISN Ltd. -Z B I F C -A Prime Islami Life -A Rahima Food -Z Metro Spinning -A National Life I -A

-8.73 -8.72 -6.73 -4.76 -4.28 -4.12 -2.98 -2.80

Average (% change) -8.69 -8.56 -6.73 -4.76 -5.08 -4.12 -3.92 -1.79

Standard Insurance-A BGIC -A

-2.76 -2.38

-2.66 -2.01

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 427.34 82.41 39.85 260.64 118.82 240.55 0.88 233.91 434.33 0.26 32.82 20.89 10.51 288.30 11.39 27.90 75.95 413.41 73.44 136.40 0.58

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

Latest PE

227.00 160.85 401.67 253.63 102.09 342.01 18.77 255.52

227.00 158.00 401.00 250.00 102.00 338.60 18.60 254.80

227.00 167.20 401.10 261.10 103.30 348.00 19.30 261.00

227.00 150.00 401.00 248.10 101.80 335.00 17.30 254.00

0.045 29.396 0.241 8.522 1.123 3.364 1.064 2.338

22.19 2.00 4.20 6.24 3.08 12.46 1.40 3.92

10.2 80.4 95.6 40.6 33.1 27.4 13.4 65.2

847.83 139.71

845.30 139.70

865.00 142.50

842.00 138.00

1.950 1.721

36.20 2.38

23.4 58.7

Closing average

Closing

Daily high

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A Beximco Syn.-Z Quasem Drycells -A Shinepukur Cera-Z Savar Refractories-Z Kay & Que (BD) -Z Standard Bank -A Golden Son -A Dulamia CottonZ Pragati Gen. I -A

257.30 17.80 9.70 12.00 87.20 46.50 16.30 340.20

257.50 17.90 9.70 12.00 87.20 46.50 16.30 345.00

257.30 17.80 9.70 12.00 87.20 46.50 15.30 340.00

0.103 0.027 0.015 0.008 0.004 0.047 0.091 0.603

6.24 1.64 0.20 0.24 4.95 -1.01 0.92 12.46

41.3 10.9 48.5 50.0 17.6 -ve 17.6 27.6

28.20 20.48

28.20 20.50

28.20 21.00

28.20 20.40

0.014 0.127

2.88 1.36

9.8 15.1

Since, the indices lost substantially in last couple of days, a handsome number of scrips came at lucrative range. Backed by this, investors re-assessed and took position in selective preferred stocks

% change 14.58 2.81 1.36 8.89 4.05 8.21 0.03 7.98 14.82 0.01 1.12 0.71 0.36 9.84 0.39 0.95 2.59 14.11 2.51 4.65 0.02

Million Taka 31.55 4.39 2.00 24.87 11.20 16.96 21.78 39.11 7.81 1.40 11.73 1.66 21.24 0.94 1.45 3.75 36.45 13.37 17.51 0.02

% change 11.72 1.63 0.74 9.24 4.16 6.30 0.00 8.09 14.53 2.90 0.52 4.36 0.62 7.89 0.35 0.54 1.39 13.54 4.97 6.50 0.01

Million Taka 458.89 86.80 41.85 285.51 130.02 257.51 0.88 255.68 473.44 8.08 34.22 32.62 12.17 309.54 12.33 29.35 79.69 449.86 86.81 153.91 0.60

Total

6.56 6.25 5.49 5.41 5.26 4.76 4.67 4.43 4.35 4.18

CSE GAINERS Company Sandhani Life -A Northern G Insur-A Quasem Drycells -A Shinepukur Cera-Z Beximco Syn.-Z Power Grid Co. -A Standard Ceramic -A Takaful Islami Insu-A Beximco Pharma -A FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B

Closing (% change) 8.80 8.16 7.76 7.41 6.32 6.25 6.04 5.26 4.46 4.35

Average (% change) 6.92 4.65 4.31 3.22 5.26 1.96 3.16 3.30 4.35 1.92 Average (% change) 7.94 8.16 7.37 5.84 5.81 4.75 5.35 5.60 3.66 4.79

Closing average 6.49 10.12 38.03 11.53 60.00 13.00 11.10 44.43 7.20 39.31

Closing average 89.59 35.80 38.76 11.42 10.01 41.93 40.16 30.00 39.66 16.86

Closing 6.50 10.20 38.40 11.70 60.00 13.20 11.20 44.80 7.20 39.90

Closing 90.30 35.80 38.90 11.60 10.10 42.50 40.40 30.00 39.80 16.80

Daily high 6.60 10.40 38.70 11.90 60.00 13.50 11.40 45.20 7.20 40.20

Daily high 90.90 35.80 39.50 11.80 9.90 42.50 41.00 30.00 40.00 17.00

Daily low 6.40 9.90 34.00 10.00 60.00 13.00 9.90 40.00 7.20 34.50

Daily low 87.00 35.80 37.40 10.90 10.00 41.50 39.90 30.00 38.30 16.80

Turnover in million 2.796 4.472 13.516 3.969 0.045 0.013 7.767 49.153 0.001 0.730

Turnover in million 0.421 0.072 0.795 0.424 0.653 0.503 0.462 0.735 0.566 0.084

Latest EPS 1.49 0.76 1.79 0.64 0.52 -0.92 0.96 4.08 -4.13 2.52

Latest EPS 2.39 6.40 1.79 0.64 0.76 2.13 1.32 1.76 3.60 0.48

Latest PE 4.4 13.3 21.2 18.0 115.4 -ve 11.6 10.9 -ve 15.6

Latest PE 37.5 5.6 21.7 17.8 13.2 19.7 30.4 17.0 11.0 35.1

News, analysis and recent disclosers BDSERVICE: The Company has further informed that due to unavoidable circumstances, the meeting which was scheduled to be held on June 22, 2014 to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2013, has been postponed. The next date for the above meeting will be communicated soon.

ISLAMICFIN: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on June 09, 2014. Cash Dividend has been disbursed to the shareholders' bank account on June 22, 2014.TRADING & OFFICE HOURS OF DSE: During the month of holy "Ramadan" of Hijri 1435, the trading of DSE will start at 10:30 AM and continue till 1:30 PM. DSE office will remain open from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM. QSMDRYCELL: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has approved the signing of Marketing and Distribution Agreement with Bhutan Agro Industries Ltd. As per agreement Quasem Drycells Ltd. is ap-

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Grameenphone-A LafargeS Cement-Z Square Pharma -A BD Submarine Cable-A ACI Limited- A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A UCBL - A

CSE

Closing (% change)

pointed as Sole Marketing and Distribution Agent in Bangladesh for their "Royal Bhutan" brand various products like Fruit Juice, Fruit Drinks, Jam and Marmalades, Canned Fruits/vegetables & Juice, Fruit Squashes and Cordial, Mountain Spring Water etc.

IPO Subscription: Far East Knitting & Dyeing Industries Limited subscription date 15-19 June 2014, NRB upto 28 June 2014. @ taka 27, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shurwid Industries Limited subscription date 08-12 June 2014, NRB upto 21 June 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. Saif Powertec Limited subscription date 06-10 July 2014, NRB upto 19 July 2014. @ taka 30, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Ratanpur Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 13-17 July 2014, NRB upto 26 July 2014. @ taka 40, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGM

MEGHNALIFE: 20% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 17.07.2014, Record Date: 30.06.2014.

DELTALIFE: 11% cash and 25% stock, AGM

and EGM: 20.07.2014, Record date for AGM and EGM: 25.06.2014.

LAFSURCEML: 5% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 30.06.2014.

ASIAINS: 15% cash and 5% stock, AGM: 16.07.2014, Record Date: 19.06.2014.

WATACHEM: 30% stock, AGM: 27.06.2014, Record Date: 11.06.2014.

MBL1STMF: 3% cash, Record date: 02.06.2014.

AIBL1STIMF: 5.5% cash, Record date: 02.06.2014.

PURABIGEN: 15% stock, AGM: 29.06.2014, Record date: 21.05.2014.

SALVOCHEM: 10% stock, AGM: 27.08.2014, Record date: 25.06.2014.

CMCKAMAL: 12.50% stock, AGM: 30.06.2014. Record Date: 29.05.2014.

RUPALIBANK: 15% stock, AGM: 31.05.2014, Record date: 14.05.2014.

MEGHNACEM: 15% cash, AGM: 29.05.2014, Record Date: 14.05.2014.

MONNOSTAF: 10% cash, AGM: 26.06.2014, Record Date: 19.05.2014.

INTECH: 10% stock, AGM: 23.06.2014, Record Date: 15.05.2014.

Latest PE

257.40 17.83 9.70 12.00 87.20 46.50 16.19 344.31

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

Daily high

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

% change 14.34 2.71 1.31 8.92 4.06 8.05 0.03 7.99 14.80 0.25 1.07 1.02 0.38 9.67 0.39 0.92 2.49 14.06 2.71 4.81 0.02

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

BSRM Steels-A Southeast Bank-A Meghna Petroleum -A

Golden Son -A HeidelbergCement -A Olympic Ind. -A Padma Oil Co. -A The Peninsula CTG.-N CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Square Pharma -A

BD Submarine Cable-A Grameenphone-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A LafargeS Cement-Z UCBL - A The Peninsula CTG.-N Golden Son -A Appollo Ispat CL -N AramitCementA UNITED AIR-A Generation Next-A Meghna Petroleum -A Mithun Knitting -A Aftab Auto.-A

Volume shares 883,237 2,577,000 585,978 792,091 470,857 4,075,168 3,975,024 765,155 2,705,213 187,014

1,106,334 89,910 188,800 127,694 1,097,600

Volume shares

106,886 107,770 54,200 557,333 166,000 440,361 239,600 153,500 188,400 106,000 361,990 241,333 15,300 37,472 48,912

Value in million 265.63 215.06 161.05 147.79 126.63 112.67 109.00 65.64 53.64 49.31

49.15 44.77 41.70 39.04 38.25

Value in million

29.50 20.10 16.35 15.42 13.82 12.05 8.34 6.81 5.01 4.52 4.15 4.11 4.03 3.99 3.71

% of total turnover 9.06 7.34 5.50 5.04 4.32 3.84 3.72 2.24 1.83 1.68

1.68 1.53 1.42 1.33 1.31

% of total turnover

12.19 8.31 6.76 6.37 5.71 4.98 3.45 2.82 2.07 1.87 1.72 1.70 1.67 1.65 1.53

Daily closing 304.70 83.70 274.70 187.00 270.00 27.70 27.50 85.70 20.00 265.50

44.80 496.20 221.70 308.90 34.40

Daily closing

276.20 186.50 305.10 27.80 83.60 27.60 34.50 44.90 26.50 43.00 11.40 16.90 265.50 108.80 76.10

Price change 2.77 2.07 -0.25 2.80 3.09 3.75 3.00 1.78 4.17 2.31

Daily opening 296.50 82.00 275.40 181.90 261.90 26.70 26.70 84.20 19.20 259.50

Price change

Daily opening

4.43 -0.32 0.86 2.73 -1.99

0.29 2.64 2.18 4.12 2.83 3.37 -1.99 3.94 -0.38 1.18 -0.87 -1.74 2.31 -0.55 1.47

42.90 497.80 219.80 300.70 35.10

275.40 181.70 298.60 26.70 81.30 26.70 35.20 43.20 26.60 42.50 11.50 17.20 259.50 109.40 75.00

Daily high 305.60 84.50 277.30 188.00 275.00 28.00 27.80 86.90 20.20 267.00

45.20 507.00 223.00 311.60 35.70

Daily low 285.00 82.20 260.00 164.50 239.00 24.10 24.20 78.00 17.30 237.10

40.00 493.00 210.00 292.00 34.30

Daily average 300.74 83.45 274.84 186.58 268.92 27.65 27.42 85.78 19.83 263.69

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

277.10 188.40 306.00 28.00 84.70 27.80 35.60 45.00 27.00 43.40 11.70 17.20 267.00 110.50 76.80

274.70 183.00 297.20 26.80 82.20 26.90 34.30 43.00 26.40 42.20 11.30 16.80 261.60 106.10 74.70

44.43 497.95 220.86 305.75 34.85

276.01 186.47 301.68 27.67 83.28 27.36 34.81 44.37 26.60 42.62 11.47 17.04 263.39 106.58 75.89

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Apple, Google, Samsung vie to bring health apps to wearables n Reuters, San Francisco For decades, medical technology firms have searched for ways to let diabetics check blood sugar easily, with scant success. Now, the world‘s largest mobile technology firms are getting in on the act.

Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and Google Inc, searching for applications that could turn nascent wearable technology like smartwatches and bracelets from curiosities into musthave items, have all set their sites on monitoring blood sugar, several people familiar with the plans say.

These firms are variously hiring medical scientists and engineers, asking U.S. regulators about oversight and developing glucose-measuring features in future wearable devices, the sources said.

The first round of technology may be limited, but eventually the companies could compete in a global bloodsugar tracking market worth over $12bn by 2017, according to research firm GlobalData.

Diabetes afflicts 29 million Americans and costs the economy some $245bn in 2012, a 41% rise in five years.

Many diabetics prick their fingers as much as 10 times daily in order to check levels of a type of sugar called glucose.

Non-invasive technology could take many forms. Electricity or ultrasound could pull glucose through the skin for measurement, for instance, or a light could be shined through the skin so that a spectroscope could measure for indications of glucose.

“All the biggies want glucose on their phone,” said John Smith, former chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson‘s LifeScan, which makes blood glucose monitoring supplies. “Get it right, and there‘s an enormous payoff.”

Apple, Google and Samsung declined to comment, but Courtney Lias, director at the US Food and Drug Administration‘s chemistry and toxicology devices division, told Reuters a marriage between mobile devices and glucose-sensing is “made in heaven.”

In a December meeting with Apple executives, the FDA described how it may regulate a glucometer that measures blood sugar, according to an FDA summary of the discussion.

Such a device could avoid regulation

A model presents a Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch after its launch at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin if used for nutrition, but if marketed to diabetics, it likely would be regulated as a medical device, according to the summary, first reported by the Apple Toolbox blog.

The tech companies are likely to start off focusing on non-medical applications, such as fitness and education.

Even an educational device would need a breakthrough from current technology, though, and some in the medical industry say the tech firms, new to the medical world, don‘t understand the core challenges.

“There is a cemetery full of efforts” to measure glucose in a non-invasive way, said DexCom chief executive Terrance Gregg, whose firm is known for minimally invasive techniques. To succeed would require „several hundred

million dollars or even a billion dollars,“ he said.

Poaching

Silicon Valley is already opening its vast wallet.

Medtronic Inc Senior Vice President of Medicine and Technology Stephen Oesterle recently said he now considers Google to be the medical device firm‘s next great rival, thanks to its funding for research and development, or R&D. “We spend $1.5bn a year on R&D at Medtronic – and it’s mostly D,” he told the audience at a recent conference.

“Google is spending $8bn a year on R&D and, as far as I can tell, it’s mostly R.” Google has been public about some of its plans: it has developed a „smart“ contact lens that measures glucose. In a blog post detailing plans for its smart

contact lens, Google described an LED system that could warn of high or low blood sugar by flashing tiny lights. It has recently said it is looking for partners to bring the lens to market.

The device, which uses tiny chips and sensors that resemble bits of glitter to measure glucose levels in tears, is expected to be years away from commercial development, and skeptics wonder if it will ever be ready.

Previous attempts at accurate noninvasive measurement have been foiled by body movement, and fluctuations in hydration and temperature.

Tears also have lower concentrations of glucose, which are harder to track.

But the Life Sciences team in charge of the lens and other related research is housed at the Google X facility, where it works on major breakthroughs such

REUTERS

as the self-driving car, a former employee who requested anonymity said.

Apple‘s efforts center on its iWatch, which is on track to ship in October, three sources at leading supply chain firms told Reuters. It is not clear whether the initial release will incorporate glucose-tracking sensors.

Still, Apple has poached executives and bio-sensor engineers from such medical technology firms as Masimo Corp, Vital Connect, and the now-defunct glucose monitoring startup C8 Medisensors.

“It has scooped up many of the most talented people with glucose-sensing expertise,” said George Palikaras, CEO of Mediwise, a startup that hopes to measure blood sugar levels beneath the skin‘s surface by transmitting radio waves through a section of the human body.

The tech companies are also drawing mainstream interest to the field, he said. “When Google announced its smart contact lens, that was one of the best days of my career. We started getting a ton of emails,” Palikaras said.

Samsung was among the first tech companies to produce a smartwatch, which failed to catch on widely. It since has introduced a platform for mobile health, called Simband, which could be used on smart wrist bands and other mobile devices.

Samsung is looking for partners and will allow developers to try out different sensors and software. One Samsung employee, who declined to be named, said the company expects to foster noninvasive glucose monitoring.

Sources said Samsung is working with startups to implement a “traffic light” system in future Galaxy Gear smartwatches that flashes blood-sugar warnings.

Samsung Ventures has made a number of investments in the field, including in Glooko, a startup that helps physicians access their patients‘ glucose readings, and in an Israeli glucose monitoring startup through its $50m Digital Health Fund.

Ted Driscoll, a health investor with Claremont Creek Ventures, told Reuters he‘s heard pitches from potentially promising glucose monitoring startups, over a dozen in recent memory.

Software developers say they hope to incorporate blood glucose data into health apps, which is of particular interest to athletes and health-conscious users.

“We‘re paying close attention to research around how sugar impacts weight loss,” said Mike Lee, cofounder of MyFitnessPal. After decades of false starts, many medical scientists are confident about a breakthrough on glucose monitoring.

Processing power allows quick testing of complex ideas, and the miniaturization of sensors, the low cost of electronics, and the rapid proliferation of mobile devices have given rise to new opportunities.

One optimist is Jay Subhash, a recently-departed senior product manager for Samsung Electronics. “I wouldn‘t be at all surprised to see it one of these days,” he said. l

Dollar stays firm on Oil prices firm on Iraq tensions Citi regional head of US optimism, but "We see prices remaining relatively FIs due today tants who have surged through Iraq in a n AFP, Singapore risks loom lightning offensive could destabilise oth- stable at current levels as long as the crisis does not spread to Iraq‘s south Institutions Group (FIG).

Oil prices edged higher in Asia yester- er countries in the volatile Middle East. n Tribune Business Desk n AFP, Tokyo The militants were continuing an where most of its exports are coming He is also a member of the day on continued violence in Iraq, but The dollar maintained its strength during Asian trade yesterday, buoyed by optimism about the pace of the US recovery, analysts said.

The greenback bought 102.03 yen, holding on to gains it made at the end of last week, when it stood at 102.06 yen in New York on Friday. The euro was also little moved, buying $1.3593 and 138.69 yen, against $1.3597 and 138.79 yen in New York.

Dealers were still buoyed by the US Federal Reserve‘s decision last week decided to keep the nation‘s ultra lowinterest rate policy, while its head indicated they would remain low well into next year. l

gains were capped as the risk premium associated with the crisis in the key crude producer is already factored in, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 31 cents to $107.14, while Brent crude gained 35 cents to $115.16 in mid-morning trade.

“We see oil retaining support from the violence in Iraq, but markets have already priced in a significant risk premium in the last few weeks,” David Lennox, resource analyst with Fat Prophets in Sydney, told AFP. In an interview with US television network CBS that aired Sunday, US President Barack Obama warned that the mili-

Executive Motors Ltd recently inaugurated its new showroom at Tejgaon industrial area in Dhaka, occupying approximately 4,000 sqft of floor space to put six BMW cars on display. The photo shows (left to right) Moshiur Rahman Bhuiyan, director of Executive Motors Ltd along with its chair Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan and managing director Moklasur Rahman Bhuiyan at the launching ceremony

Bangladesh Development Bank Ltd (BDBL) recently held its 4th annual general meeting at the bank’s head office in Dhaka. The meeting was presided over by the bank’s chairman Prof Santi Narayan Ghosh

advance in western Iraq Sunday, killing

It has more than 11% of the world‘s proved resources and produces 3.4m barrels a day 21 people after security forces left several towns.

The militants have captured swathes of the country‘s north but have yet to directly threaten the key oil-producing region in the south, the main source of exports.

from," Lennox said.

"The market has already been quite used to patchy output from the north where the fighting is currently going on, and it must also be noted that Iraq has been extremely volatile in terms of output for many years now," he added.

The violence in Iraq has a direct bearing on global crude prices because the country is the second-biggest oil exporter in the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Saudi Arabia.

It has more than 11% of the world‘s proved resources and produces 3.4 million barrels a day. l

Pubali Bank Narayanganj Regional Office recently held an open discussion on SME financing at its regional office in Narayanganj. Executive director of Bangladesh Bank Nirmal Chandra Bhakta was present as chief guest while managing director and CEO of Pubali Bank Ltd, Helal Ahmed Chowdhury attended the event as a guest of honour

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd recently inaugurated its 114th branch at Kadamtali in Chittagong.

Chairperson of KDS Group and president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce & Industries, Alhajj Khalilur Rahman inaugurated the branch as chief guest while the bank’s managing director Md Habibur Rahman presided over the launching ceremony

Valentin Garger, managing director and regional head of financial institutions APAC (ex-Japan), corporate banking, arrives in Dhaka today on a two-day visit.

He is scheduled to meet senior Citi officials, key clients, and review the bank’s potential for further business growth in Bangladesh, says a press release yesterday.

Based in Hong Kong, Garger is a senior credit officer and responsible for business strategy, coverage and performance of the portfolio as well as the capital and credit deployed in Financial

Corporate Banking Operating Committee and the Global FIG Capital Committee.

He has expertise in topics such as capital management, treasury/ liquidity, debt capital markets, transaction services, markets trading as well as portfolio optimisation.

He joined Citi in Vienna, Austria in 1990 where he worked in various functions, which included credit/risk management, operations, relationship manager for Corporate and Financial Institution clients as well as Corporate Bank Head before moving to Belgium. l

Dettol Shera Ami Shonge Ma, a reality show by Dettol, flagship brand of Reckitt Benckiser Bangladesh has been launched recently where a mother and her child will be paired. The inauguration of the show’s third season was made at a press conference held on June 22, where the marketing director of Reckitt Benckiser Bangladesh, Mahbub Baset was present among others

United Commercial Bank Limited (UCB) recently launched the Core Banking Systems (CBS) namely Flex Cube Universal Banking System (FCUBS) at the bank’s corporate branch. The bank’s vice chair Sharif Zahir was present at the launching ceremony among others

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Global infrastructure, capital spending to hit $9tn by 2025 n Reuters, Washington Global spending on capital projects and infrastructure will shift from West to East, and jump to more than $9tn a year by 2025, according to a forecast released yesterday by accounting firm Price water house Coopers.

The growth will be driven by China, which overtook the United States as the top spender on capital and infrastructure in 2009, Price water house said.

Globally, this investment spending stood at just $4tn in 2012.

"Emerging markets, especially China and other countries in Asia, without the burden of recovering from a financial crisis, will see much faster growth in infrastructure spending," Richard Abadie, global capital projects and infrastructure leader at Price water house, said in a prepared statement.

About $78tn is expected to be spent on capital projects and infrastructure globally between now and 2025, according to the study.

Availability of funding and government finances, demographic factors, urbanization and natural resource endowments will all drive future infrastructure spending, Price water house said.

In the United States, capital projects

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Japanese automakers recall 3m vehicles globally for airbag n AFP, Tokyo

Workers spray chemical into a river to prevent the spread of algae, in front of residential buildings under construction, in Taiyuan, Shanxi province REUTERS and infrastructure spending is expected to reach $1tn annually by 2025, growing an average of 3.5% a year, according

to the firm. US infrastructure spending will face constraints from relatively tight government finances, but capital

spending elsewhere will get a lift from the nation's shale oil boom and investment in telecommunications, it said. l

Japanese automakers yesterday recalled nearly three million vehicles worldwide over an airbag defect that could pose a fire risk.

Honda said it recalled about 2,033,000 vehicles which were produced between August 2000 and December 2005, including more than one million in North America and 668,000 in Japan.

Two other automakers – Mazda and Nissan – also recalled hundreds of thousands of vehicles over the same problem, which was also responsible for earlier recalls by Toyota.

Japan’s Takata Corp., which made the airbag, noted its US subsidiary had manufactured the airbag, apologising for the problem and vowing to make its utmost efforts to prevent a recurrence.

“We apologise deeply for causing tremendous trouble and worries to client companies, users of our products and other people concerned,” the company said in a statement.

Nissan recalled a combined 755,000 vehicles, including 128,000 in Japan and 627,000 overseas.

“In North America, 228,000 are on

the recall list, with 7,000 in China,” a Nissan spokesman said.

A Mazda spokeswoman said: “The recall will cover 11,832 vehicles at home and 147,975 units overseas, mainly in Europe and China.”

Subject to Honda’s recall are a total of 13 types of vehicles in Japan including popular Fit and Accord models.

Front passenger airbag inflators could have been assembled with an improperly manufactured propellant component, Japan’s third largest automaker said.

That could cause the container of the inflator to rupture in the event of a crash, posing a fire risk or injuring passengers, it added.

The same problem has also caused top automaker Toyota to recall millions of vehicles globally.

Toyota has earlier said it acted as it received a complaint from a Japanese customer who said his passenger seat was burned from the defect.

Honda said the company had received no complaint or reports of injuries on its own.

Honda shares closed down 0.63% at 3,602 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange while Takata soared 2.87% to 2,111 yen. l

China, Japan manufacturing returns to growth n Reuters, Tokyo Manufacturing in China and Japan shrugged off months of decline and returned to growth in June as Beijing’s targeted stimulus measures and Japan’s improving labour market supported domestic demand in Asia’s two largest economies.

External demand, however, remained weak for the two export powerhouses in a worrying sign that the United States and Europe may not be recovering as strongly as anticipated, meaning it could be difficult to rely on exports for growth.

The stakes are high for China, which may need more stimulus to offset a cooling housing market and avoid a hard landing. Japan’s weak exports also take the gloss off the government’s efforts to breathe new life into its economic reform agenda.

“This month’s improvement is consistent with data suggesting that the authorities’ mini-stimulus is filtering through to the real economy,” said Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, referring to a series of measures announced by the government in recent months to spur activity.

“We expect policymakers to continue their current path of accommodative policy stance until the recovery is sustained,” he added. The HSBC/Markit Flash China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose more than expected to 50.8 in June from May’s final reading of 49.4, beating a Reuters poll forecast of 49.7 and creeping above the 50-point level that separates growth in activity from contraction.

It was the first time since December that the PMI was in growth territory, and the highest reading since Novem-

ber, when it was also 50.8.

The flash PMI data is the earliest indicator in a month to help gauge the economic momentum and thus is closely watched by investors.

Asian stock markets and the Australian dollar firmed on the news.

China’s preliminary factory reading for June indicates sequential growth could pick up to 1.8% in the second quarter from 1.4% in the first, Ting Lu, an economist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, said in a note to clients.

“We expect Beijing to continue rolling out more measures to stabilize growth,” Lu added.

The sub-index for new orders, a proxy to measure domestic and foreign demand, rose to 51.8, the fastest pace in 15 months. Much of the increase appeared due to stronger domestic consumption, as growth in new export or-

Australia: G20 lagging on growth targets n AFP, Sydney Reforms proposed to lift global growth in line with a target set by the world’s biggest economies earlier this year are so far falling short, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said yesterday.

In February, the G20 economies vowed to boost global growth by more than US$2 trillion over five years, shifting their focus away from austerity as a fragile recovery takes hold.

But as Australia prepares to host the G20 summit in Brisbane in November, Hockey told The Australian newspaper that more work needed to be done.

“The submissions are not meeting our ambitious target at the moment and I expect that a number of jurisdictions will improve their effort,” Hockey told the broadsheet.

“I’ll be speaking to individual fi-

nance ministers over the next few weeks, around the world, to encourage them to be more proactive.”

G20 finance ministers and central bank governors said in February they aimed to lift their collective gross domestic product by more than two percentage points over the next five years.

In a communique following their meeting in Sydney, the world’s top economies said the “realistic” target could be achieved by increasing investment, lifting employment and enhancing trade.

But a report in The Australian Financial Review said modelling showed member countries had committed to reforms that would not go even halfway towards the growth target.

Hockey expressed confidence yesterday that the reforms could be achieved, particularly given support for the agenda from the economic

powerhouses Germany, China, and the United States.

“It comes down to the goodwill around the table,” he told The Australian.

“There was, in the end, no disagreement in February and in fact our friends in Germany were, by the time of the Washington finance ministers meeting in April, (German Finance Minister) Wolf Schauble was among the most emphatic supporters of the target.”

In April, G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs pledged to follow up on reforms but there was little firm action on how to stimulate world growth further.

At the time, Hockey said that when the G20 made the commitment to enhance growth in February, “we really meant it. It wasn’t just a rhetorical figure put in the communique for publicity purposes”. l

ders slowed sharply.

The Markit/JMMA flash Japan Manufacturing PMI rose to a seasonally adjusted 51.1 in June from a final reading of 49.9 in May, showing the first growth in three months.

Japan’s new orders index jumped to 52.0 from 49.6, indicating consumers are shrugging off an increase in the nationwide sales tax on April 1 as strong demand for workers puts upward pressure on wages.

However, Japan’s export orders continued to mildly contract, thwarting policymakers’ hopes that exports will help the economy shift into a higher gear after the sales tax increase.

Supportive measures

China’s government has unveiled a series of modest policy measures in recent months to give a lift to economic

A draft of the package includes corporate tax cuts, measures to increase skilled foreign labor and female employees, but it lacks a major policy needed to convince investors that the government will change the economy’s fundamental structure.

This task is all the more crucial, because the old model of relying on exports to prop up the economy no longer works as many Japanese firms have shifted production capacity overseas.

China is trying to wean itself from its old economic model of relying on fixed-asset investment, particularly in the real estate sector. The government has set an annual target for the economy to grow about 7.5% in 2014 and a recent Reuters poll found that economists expected growth of 7.3% for this year, which could be the weakest showing in 24 years. l

Tax cuts, dance hall deregulation aim to set Japan swinging n Reuters, Tokyo Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to unveil measures ranging from phased corporate tax cuts and public pension reforms to proposed dance hall deregulation, but the latest salvo from his three-pronged strategy for economic revival may disappoint some investors urging more radical steps.

Abe, who took office 18 months ago pledging to end persistent deflation and generate sustainable growth with a trifecta of monetary, fiscal and reform steps, will on Tuesday deliver the latest instalment of his so-called “Third Arrow” of long-term economic policies.

The measures, many of which have already been leaked or announced by officials, are likely to receive muted applause from financial markets and experts, who say the package is a step in the right direction towards vital structural reforms but want to see how the measures are fleshed out and implemented.

“I’m starting to be almost a bit of a ‘glass half-full’ guy. Abe is continuing to talk the right talk,” said one former US official who has seen many past Japanese reform packages that promised much but failed to deliver.

“It isn’t a ‘Big Bang’ but it is a lot better than some things I’ve seen in the past. But he still has to deliver.”

Among the steps outlined so far is a future cut in Japan’s effective corporate tax rate - among the highest in the world - to below 30% over the next sev-

DILBERT

An sensor that uses visible and invisible light to judge crop health is used at the Little Bohemia Creek farm on June 17, 2014 in Warwick, Maryland. The hand held sensor is used on a special well fertilized health crop to calibrate other sensors used on a tractor while fertilizing the rest of the plants AFP

growth, which dipped to an 18-month low in the first quarter. These include targeted reserve requirement cuts for some banks to encourage more lending, quicker fiscal spending and hastening construction of railways and public housing projects.

But the recovery has been patchy.

Exports remain uneven as recoveries in the United States and the European Union do not appear to be giving their usual robust boost to export-reliant Asian economies. Taiwan’s exports grew an annual 1.4% in May, much less than the average estimate for 4% annual growth. Exports from South Korea and Japan also contracted in May as the region’s major exporters stutter.

Japan’s cabinet is set to approve on Tuesday an updated version of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic growth strategy.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds a news conference at the end of the G7 leaders meeting at European Council headquarters in Brussels REUTERS eral years, and a promise to reform the $1.26tn Government Pension Investment Fund in ways likely to reallocate more money to the stock market.

In a nod to the need to strike a balance between stimulating growth and reining in Japan’s massive public debt, the tax plan will seek to offset the cuts by broadening the tax base.

Difficult but key details of many steps, such as the tax cuts, are likely to be left to be worked out later. Several bold but politically contentious proposals, such as for labor market and agriculture reforms, were watered

down or omitted as a result of discussions among myriad and conflicting interests.

Abenomics fatigue?

By dribbling out key elements of the package in recent weeks, the government hopes to avoid the disappointment that led to a sharp drop in Tokyo share prices when Abe announced the first tranche of his “Third Arrow” growth strategy last June.

Some market players appear to be suffering from what one expert called “Abenomics fatigue”. l