26 June 2014

Ashar 12, 1421 Shaaban 27, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 86

THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

20 pages | Price: Tk12 Jun 26, 2014

Jun 28, 2014 [2ND ROUND]

Jun 27, 2014

Jun 29, 2014

10pmBrazil vs Chile

10pmUSA vs Germany

2am Korea Republic vs Belgium 2am Colombia vs Uruguay 2am Algeria vs Russia 10am Netherlands vs Mexico

B1 | LAB LAUNCHED TO ENSURE RMG QUALITY

8 | BAGHDAD FEARS BATTLE

11 | WHAT DOES INDIA WANT?

WORLD CUP MATCHES

Most RMG unions affiliated with US-based NGO About 20 leaders control 90% of recently registered unions n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Most of the country’s RMG trade unions are reportedly controlled by workers’ federations affiliated with USbased non-profit organisation Solidarity Centre, with many labour leaders and factory owners raising concerns that the sector might become a hostage to a vested quarter.

According to the Labour Ministry, 152 trade unions have registered following last year’s Rana Plaza disaster.

There are allegations that 142 of those unions were linked with nine federations “affiliated” with the Solidarity Centre.

Sources said around 20 leaders of those RMG workers federations were controlling the entire sector.

“We have recently got involved with the Solidarity Centre and the organisation is now paying monthly Tk13,000 each to two organisers of my federa-

tion,” said Md Kamrul Hasan, general secretary of Akota Garments Workers Federation that secured 12 trade union registrations this year.

Several leaders of the nine RMG workers federations also admitted to the Dhaka Tribune that they received “financial and technical” support from the Solidarity Centre.

Amirul Haque Amin, president of National Garment Workers Federation, told the Dhaka Tribune that his federation was affiliated with Solidarity Centre and received technical support from them.

However, Jennifer Kuhlman, field programme specialist at Solidarity Centre’s Bangladesh office, denied allegations of having affiliates with any RMG workers federation in Bangladesh. Replying to a query, she told the Dhaka Tribune through an e-mail that the centre only provided “technical”  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

LEADING RMG WORKERS FEDERATIONS Name of federation

Number of unions

Bangladesh Independent Workers Union federation (BIGUF) Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF) National Garment Workers Federation Sommilito Garment Sromik Federation (SGSF) Bangladesh Revolutionary Garment Workers Federation (BRGWF) Akota Garment Workers Federation (AGWF) Bangladesh National Garment Workers Employee League (BNGWEL) United Federation of Garment Workers Bangladesh Federation of Workers Solidarity TOTAL

30 25 21 23 5 12 2 15 9 142

AH MAMUN/DT INFOGRAPHIC

Nigeria’s goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama (L) helps Argentina’s Lionel Messi up during their World Cup Group F match at the Beira Rio stadium in Porto Alegre yesterday

Messi fires Argentina again n Reuters, Porto Alegre Lionel Messi scored twice to inspire Argentina to a thrilling 3-2 win over Nigeria yesterday which clinched top spot in World Cup Group F and sent home an army of Sky Blue supporters with smiles on their faces.

The few Nigerian fans in the crowd also left happy because their team advanced to the knockout phase thanks to Bosnia’s 3-1 win over Iran.

The group finished with Argentina on nine points, Nigeria on four, Bosnia on three and Iran on one.

The match at Beira Rio stadium was as close as Argentine will come to a home game at this World Cup as an

Shamim Osman calling the shots Al-Masum Molla n Mohammad and Ashif Islam Shaon, back from Narayanganj Apparently Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman is nowhere seen in the election campaign of Narayanganj-5 by-polls, but he is leaving no stone unturned to ensure victory of his brother - Jatiya Party candidate Selim Osman.

Also a powerful district Awami League leader Shamim, who has earned the name “godfather” for indulging in violent politics, has held a series of meetings with different sections of people of Narayanganj to side with his brother Selim.

Over the last ten days, he has spent most of the time either at the Narayanganj Club or at the Rifle Club, holding meetings with people.

On Tuesday night, Shamim held a meeting with seven Union Parishad Chairmen – five from Bandar area and two from Sadar, asking them to work for Selim Osman.

“I hold meetings everyday with different sections of people. As I am a lawmaker, UP chairmen can have meetings with me. What is wrong with this?” Shamim Osman questioned while talking to the Dhaka Tribune over the phone.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

estimated 150,000 fans flooded across the border into this southern port city looking to get in on the party.

GROUP F

P W D L GF GA Pts Argentina 3 3 0 0 6 3 9 Nigeria 3 1 1 1 3 3 4 Iran 3 1 0 2 4 4 3 Bosnia 3 0 1 2 1 4 1 Although Argentina were guaranteed a place in the last 16, the twice champions still had plenty to play for on a drizzly day with top spot up for grabs and the soccer world waiting for the Sky Blues to flash their championship

Narayanganj 5 by-polls today n Mohammad Zakaria The by-polls of the Narayanganj 5 constituency is set to take place today, amid an uneasy calm dampening the enthusiasm of the voters who will either elect another member of the Osman family or his rival SM Akram.

Most of the voters in the Narayanganj sadar constituency, which had

fallen vacant following the death of Nasim Osman, remain tight-lipped, possibly for fear of violence and rigging by alleged armed goons of contender Selim Osman and his brother Shamim Osman, MP. In the run-up to the election, independent candidate SM Akram expressed his concern over fair voting  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Assurances expected as Sushma arrives in Dhaka Shahariar Zaman and n Sheikh Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Police officials carry ballot boxes to polling centres yesterday for today’s Narayanganj 5 by-poll MEHEDI HASAN

credentials after uninspiring wins over debutants Bosnia and unfancied Iran.

Nigeria entered the contest as the only team who had yet to concede a goal but had not faced a side with the attacking quality of Argentina, who immediately put the Super Eagles under pressure.

Boasting one of the most intimidating attacking formations in the business with Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Argentina had managed just three goals in two matches.

But the “Fab Four” were on song against Nigeria, with a dominating attacking display led by Messi, who struck twice in the opening half and looked dangerous throughout.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has arrived in Dhaka on a goodwill visit to assure continuation of New Delhi’s foreign policy and seek assurance of Dhaka’s commitment to Bangladesh-India relationship.

“This is an important trip as she will assure Bangladesh side that India will not change its foreign policy and at the same time she wants to be assured that Bangladesh will continue its cooperation with India,” said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry yesterday.

Sushma arrived by a special flight last night on an invitation of her Bangladesh counterpart AH Mahmood Ali. “Another significant thing is that Bangladesh is her first foreign destination after assuming the office as the foreign minister in May,” the senior ministry officials told the Dhaka Tribune, adding: “It means Bangladesh matters.”

The BJP won Indian election and formed government in May and the party in its election manifesto had said it would attach importance to regional bloc, including the Saarc countries.

Sushma Swaraj and Mahmood Ali

will have official talks this morning where Bangladesh will raise the issues of Teesta water sharing, land boundary agreement and border killing, said another official.

Indian media yesterday reported that Sushma had called West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and discussed her visit to Bangladesh.

The BNP hopes that the unsolved issues between the two countries, will be resolved through the visit of Sushma Swaraj Bangladesh and India were scheduled to sign the Teesta water sharing agreement in 2011 but could not do so because of strong resistance from Mamata.

Sushma will call on President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today and is expected to hand over a formal invitation letter to Hasina to visit India.

She will also deliver a lecture on  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

INSIDE 3 | News

An apparent contradiction of opinions on the Jatiya Party role as the main opposition in the parliament seemingly led the two JaPa presidium members into a political divide.

4 | News

The Health Ministry has directed all public medical facilities of the country to follow specific rules for buying any medical equipment or medicine to stop wasting money used to buy machinery not needed.

5 | News

In an attempt to improve efficiency, the government has reportedly decided to transform the PDB into a corporation like Petrobangla, according to the minutes of a meeting between the prime minister and the Power Division officials. *** Leaders of Chittagong University Teachers Association yesterday said university teachers’ salaries were among the lowest in the subcontinental countries.

14 | 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.

9 | World

The Indian government partially rolled back a steep hike in rail passenger fares announced last week after protests from allies.

12 | Entertainment

Michael Bay’s fourth ‘Transformers’ film hits the theatres all over the world along with the Star Cineplex, Dhaka this Friday, bringing with it all of the ferocity of a badly injured Autobot.

15 | Sport

The spectre of one of the most infamous episodes in World Cup history looms over Germany and the United States as they clash Thursday for a place in the last 16.

REUTERS

ISIS ‘invites’ Messi to join jihad n Tribune Report Congratulating Lionel Messi on the goal against Iran, the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) has called on the Argentine icon to “join the jihadist call.”

A Twitter account affiliated with the ISIS, a group of extremist militants who have seized a large section of Iraq and run parts of northern Syria, tweeted the message on Sunday, the Washington Post reported.

The tweet highlights the tension between the ISIS and Shia Iran, which reportedly has already sent small numbers of operatives to support the Shia-led government of Iraq in opposing the ISIS.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

SIBL director arrested for link to embezzlement of Tk140 crore n Jebun Nesa Alo and Syed Samiul Basher Anik

A director of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited was arrested yesterday for his alleged involvement in embezzling Tk140 crore from a Chittagong branch of the bank with the SIBL authorities having detected his link to the misappropriation of another Tk25 crore.

The bank authorities are going to file another case against the director, Mohammad Solaiman, who was also the bank’s chairman.

Anti-Corruption Commission’s Assistant Director Mohammad Rafiqul Islam with the assistance of the Detective Branch of police held Solaiman from his residence at Akram Tower in city’s Bijoy Nagar area.

The ACC official later told reporters that Solaiman had been arrested in a  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, June 26, 2014

‘Info Commission does not provide information’ n Emran Hossain Shaikh The Information Commission, created to ensure the people’s right to get information from government and non-government agencies, allegedly does not provide information to people, said Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu in a statement placed in parliament yesterday.

Replying to a question from independent MP Rustom Ali Farazi, the information minister placed a written script containing the list of 596 agencies and individuals who allegedly refused information to seekers.

The list contained the name of Information Commission twice and that of the chief information commissioner, enjoying the status of a state minister, meaning that the commission and its chairman had allegedly declined the request for information.

However, the script did not state what information the commission had

declined to deliver.

According to the list, there are various influential officials and agencies, including the cabinet secretary, senior secretary of the Health Ministry, secretary of the Land Ministry, secretary of the Liberation War Affairs Ministry, chairman of the Public Service Commission, chairman of the Power Development Board, secretary of the National Human Right Commission, chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission, director-general of the Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, police head quarters, Public Administration Ministry, Foreign Ministry, members of Rajuk, and Grameen Phone who are accused of not providing the information sought by people.

Responding to the independent lawmaker, the minister also said the Information Commission had already penalised the two officials accused of not providing information through an allegation hearing. l

Bablu: AL’s ‘mistake’ let BNP emerge as ‘banyan tree’ n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

RAB officials address a press brief at Narayanganj Shaheed Minar yesterday ahead of the by-poll

MEHEDI HASAN

Colleges, madrasas to remain Assurances expected as Sushma arrives in Dhaka closed from Ramadan 1  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

n Mushfique Wadud The Education Ministry issued an order yesterday regarding vacation during the month of Ramadan.

According to the order, schools, colleges and madrasas will remain closed from Ramadan 1.

The education ministry has issued the order regarding the vacation, which was signed by Subodh Chandra Dhali, deputy chief information officer.

The public examinations and admission procedures will be held outside of the vacation time.

The vacation for Eid-ul-fitr and Ramadan normally begins from Ramadan 10.

On June 16, however, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered that all the educational institutions should remain closed during Ramadan, rejecting the education minister’s proposal to continue classes until Ramadan 10. l

Messi fires Argentina again  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

Messi, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Tuesday, lashed in a rebound to give his side the lead after three minutes and scored again in first-half stoppage-time when he curled a sensational 20-metre free kick into the corner of the net.

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Nigeria 2 12 7 4 1 17 2 0 42%

Argentina 3 18 13 12 1 6 0 0 58%

Argentina’s brilliance on the attack was offset by shaky defence as Nigeria’s Ahmed Musa twice cancelled out Messi goals with neat finishes in the fourth and 47th minutes.

The Argentine crowd was stunned when Musa scored just after halftime but were quickly back on their feet celebrating three minutes later when a charging Marcos Rojo stabbed home a bouncing ball from close range. l

ISIS ‘invites’ Messi  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The goal, which came at the 91st minute of the game, gave Argentina the 1-0 edge to pull a win out of the scrappy match.

Messi, who plays for FC Barcelona in Spain, probably has no clue what he has been dragged into. l

SIBL director arrested for link to embezzlement of Tk140 crore  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

case filed for influencing the bank’s Jubilee Road branch to approve loans to Chittagong-based SK Steel, with which the director had personal business relationships.

The SIBL branch filed two cases – one against SK steel authority and another against Solaiman, his two brothers and former branch manager ANM Jahangir, who is Solaiman’s nephew, on charge of loan forgery of Tk140 crore.

The case was filed with the Kotwali police station of Chittagong.

“We have decided at an emergency board meeting to file an another case following an inquery conducted by the bank,” said SIBL Chairman AK Azad at a press conference yesterday.

“We have already informed the Bangladesh Bank about the new findings of embezzlement against Solaiman and requested punitive action. The central bank is conducting an inquiry against Solaiman.

“We will call an extraordinary general meeting very soon to take decision on the directorial post of Solaiman as he still holds the position,” said Azad.

He, however, denied the allegations Solaiman had raised against him on loan disbursement and recruitment.

Following the arrest, Solaiman claimed that AK Azad had been harassing him for “taking strong position against some illegal work of Azad.” He also claimed that Azad had used the ACC and other law enforcement agencies to arrest him.

Azad told reporters that Solaiman had approved loans to Joinab Steel and SK Steel by convincing the board that the clients had been known to him and

he would be liable if they failed to repay.

Azad, however, admitted the responsibility of the board for the incident as they had been convinced by Solaiman.

This was the first time for a private bank to have unearthed anomalies against its director, he said.

SIBL Managing Director Farman R Chowdhury, who was at the press conference, claimed that the internal inquiry had found anomalies of Tk165 crore, including interests, against Solaiman.

The SIBL was burdened with non-performing loan of around Tk700 crore up to March because of such anomalies, he said.

The anomalies were from the 20102011 period when Solaiman became the chairman of the bank, said the MD. According to the new inquery report, a loan of Tk23 crore was approved at the recommendation of Jubilee Road branch manager ANM Jahangir for its client Joinab Steel and its associate organisation Nasir and Brothers. False information about the stocked goods of the clients was presented for getting the loan.

Jahangir mailed Solaiman with information relating to the investment offer of Joinab Steel from time to time, which proves Solaiman’s involvement in the approval of the loan, says the report.

Joinab Steel deposited Tk7.63 crore to the account of Paradise Corporation, owned by Solaiman, instead of repaying the SIBL loan.

The report also says Solaiman has had assistance of some bank officials in the embezzlement. l

Bangladesh-India relationship. Tomorrow she will meet Leader of the Opposition Rawshan Ershad and two advisers to the prime minister – Mashiur Rahman and Gowher Rizvi.

Khaleda-Sushma meet

Under the outreach initiative of the BJP government, Sushma will also make a courtesy call on BNP Chairper-

son Khaleda Zia tomorrow morning, Khaleda’s press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel said at a press conference on Tuesday night. He, however, said the venue and the exact time for the meeting would be informed later.

“The BNP wants to maintain a friendly relationship with India. Former prime minister Khaleda Zia had met Sushma Swaraj in October 2013 when she visited India,” Sohel said.

Shamim Osman calling the shots  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

When asked why he remains absent from the public campaigning, Shamim said: “There is a legal complexity.

Being an MP, I can’t do so. But I am requesting everyone to cast their votes for my brother.”

Regarding a leaked audio clip, Shamim said: “As I did not listen to it, I can’t say anything about it.”

An audio recording of Shamim giving instructions to his followers has recently been leaked and has now become the talk of the town.

In the audio clip, Shamim is heard instructing his men to work sincerely saying that money is not a problem.

He told his activists that on the day

of the polls, as many as 20-25 thousand of his men from his constituency (Fatullah-Siddhirganj) will be posted in Bandar area to help Selim.

According to sources, the meeting was held with leaders and activists of Bandar upazila Awami League and Jatiya Party who are loyal to Selim Osman or the Osman family.

Among others, Bandar Thana Awami League President MA Rashid and district Jubo League unit’s General Secretary Shah Nizam were present. The secret meeting was held at Narayanganj Banglabhaban Community Center on June 17.

“The Jatiya Party will do what they need to do. If we can make arrangements with the BNP, I will manage

Narayanganj 5 by-polls today  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

and blamed JP candidate Selim Osman for such a situation. However, Selim ruled out the allegation.

Meanwhile, the returning officer and high officials concerned assured voters that they were ready to deal with any sort of violent situation, saying that people could cast their votes without any fear.

The Election Commission said they had completed all preparations for the election. Voting will start at 8:00am and continue till 4:00pm without any break. Four candidates are contesting in the by-polls.

Talking to different sections of people in the election area, it was found that voters were fearful of trouble on voting day. Voters said they would observe the situation before casting their votes.

“A suffocating situation is prevailing here. You will not find a single man who will talk about the election public-

ly. Everything depends on the law and order situation on the poll day,” the owner of a bookstore told the Dhaka Tribune, seeking anonymity.

A fruit vendor named Abdul Hamid of Bandar area said people had no interest in the voting and only a few people would go to vote, adding, “Let’s see the situation and then we will decide whether we will cast vote or not.”

At least 656 members of Rapid Action Battalion and 1,250 policemen have been deployed in the election area apart from four platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Senior Assistant Secretary of the commission Farhad Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.

Four executive and two judicial magistrates have been deployed to hold trials of those who violate the electoral code of conduct. The mobile and striking forces have also been deployed in the by-polls.

“The BNP hopes that the ties between the two countries under the new leadership in India would flourish.”

Meanwhile, talking to reporters at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday expressed hope that Sushma’s visit would create a new scope for resolving the outstanding issues with the neighboring country.

“The BNP hopes that the unsolved issues between the two countries, including border crisis and fair share of waters of the common rivers, will be resolved through the visit of Sushma Swaraj,” Fakhrul said.

The BNP leader said the BJP government was trying to intensify India’s ties with its neighboring countries.

“Sushma’s Dhaka visit will intensify the ties,” he said. l

that,” he said in the audio clip.

He urged the local leaders to “look after” his own area’s polling centre.

“Men from Bandar do not need to go to Madanganj or Madanganj men do not need to go to Kolagachhia. Kolagacchia people will do the work at Kolagachhia. After managing one’s own area, if someone feels that he can go to other areas to help, he can do so. But, he should not lose his own centre by working at other centres.

“Will you do election works without money? No. If you need to spend Tk2, spend Tk4. I will manage that. No need to run an election like poor people, do it like rich men. “We will send 20-25 thousand people to your area. If you need

more, ask for it. I will send 50 thousand.

“It is not a big deal for Shamim Osman to send one lakh activists to the polling centers from my Fatullah, Siddhirganj, Rupganj and Sonargaon areas,” he told his followers.

He also threatened those who had gone to his meeting to spy on him.

“Brother, do not spy on me. I have already sent three youths to every centre. Nizam will introduce one of them.

The other two will remain unnoticed,” he said. When asked about Shamim Osman’s controversial politics in Narayangnj his brother Selim Osman said there might have been some mistake but this election would provide a chance to correct them. l

He also said the commission had changed 12 presiding officers of the Narayanganj 5 by-polls.

SM Akram alleged that voters in different areas were being harassed by Selim Osman’s supporters.

“I am getting information from different sources that Selim Osman’s cadres are planning to capture the polling stations. My activists fell victim to Selim Osman’s cadres when they were distributing voter slips in different areas,” he claimed.

Selim Osman ruled out the allegation, saying that Akram was spreading slander. “If anybody plans to do so, I request the administration to take action against them,” he said.

Narayanganj Superintendent of Police Khandakar Mahid Uddin Ahmed said around 4,500 law enforcers will be on duty while mobile teams and strike forces will also be deployed to avert any sort of untoward incidents.

Wing Commander Habibur Rahman, director of media wing of RAB, said they will prove their efficiency in the election and for this, the force has already started working. “I assure the people of Narayanganj that we are with you,” he said.

Returning Officer Mihir Sarwar Morshed said voters could return to their homes safely after casting their votes as sufficient law enforcers were deployed to ensure their security.

A total of 342,405 voters --174,311 male and 168,094 female --will cast their votes in the by-polls. A total of 141 polling centres along with 674 polling booths have been set up to hold the bypolls of Narayanganj 5 constituency, comprising 13 wards and parts of four wards of the city corporation and seven unions.

As per the election rule, no motor vehicles can operate in the election area without permission from the Election Commission. l

RMG unions ‘hostage’ to a vested quarter  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

assistance for building the capacity of federations and factory-level unions.

As per existing regulations, the aspirant candidate of the workers should deal with the Joint Directorate of Labour for registration, but in most cases it was the federations that were involved with the registration process.

Leaders from several trade unions told the Dhaka Tribune that authorities concerned were providing registration to only the applicants who were affiliated with international NGOs or rights groups, while others who fulfilled all conditions were being denied registration.

“I have applied to the Joint Directorate of Labour for two unions, but they did not get registered despite having the required documents,” said Montu Ghosh, president of Garment Workers’ Trade Union Centre.

Montu, however, added that to the best of his knowledge, unions that were affiliated with foreign organisations were getting licences in large volume, creating the possibility that the

control of the sector might be left to a certain group.

“They [federations affiliated with NGOs or foreign unions] are getting licence for many trade unions as they have both power and money because of connection with the NGOs and international lobby,” said Bahrain Sultan Bahar, president of Jago Bangladesh Garments Sramik, a workers’ federation.

However, denying the allegations, SM Ashrafuzzaman, director of Department of Labour, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We provide registration through due process and in compliance with regulations, and there is no connection of any influential group in providing registrations.”

The unions that did not get registration were denied approval because they did not have the required number of workers, he added.

On the other hand, apparel makers also expressed concerns that the sector’s future might be dominated by a vested quarter.

“It is dangerous if most of the trade

Jatiya Party MP Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu yesterday told parliament that the Awami League’s post-1990 “mistake” resuscitated the BNP that has now emerged as a “banyan tree.”

Bablu, the secretary general of the opposition, said JaPa could have been in the BNP’s place had the party been given a level-playing field in 1991 elections.

“There was no level playing field in the elections after the Jatiya Party [JaPa] handed over power in 1990. All of our leaders including me were sent to jail. We were not allowed to hold meetings and processions,” said Bablu.

He said the JaPa won 35 seats despite all obstacles and the party’s jailed chief HM Ershad won five seats without campaign.

“If Awami League played the right role, then the BNP would not be in today’s position; we would have occupied the BNP’s place... The Awami League’s lack of farsightedness has made the BNP into a banyan tree,” said Bablu.

Demanding a judicial inquiry into different financial scandals, the MPcriticised the finance minister for claiming that the Tk4,000 crore swindled by Hall-Mark group had been "nothing." l

unions are under the control of a vested quarter. The whole sector would be hostage to them and they can create anarchy at any time in the sector,” Reaz Bin Mahmood, vice president of the BGMEA, told the Dhaka Tribune.

We want trade unions with the “real” presentation of “real” workers, said Reaz, adding that only some of the unions had genuine workers as members, while others were made of fake ones.

Factory owners, preferring to stay unnamed, claimed that if “puppet” federations could form trade unions, they could also take control of the RMG sector and use it as a tool to deal with issues like the GSP. The intention of Solidarity Centre was not clear as they were only focusing on the RMG sector, the factory owners added.

“Connection with the foreign unions or rights group are very threatening for the sector, as we have seen some misleading information being provided to the US government with-

out the knowledge of Bangladeshi government,” said a factory owner, seeking anonymity.

Based on those “misleading information,” the US urged the Bangladesh government to take action against 19 factory owners, he added.

However, the Commerce Ministry later claimed that it did not find any truth to the allegations raised against those 19 factories.

Factory owners claimed that those who were applying for trade union registration did not have basic knowledge about labour rights and responsibilities, and were being manipulated by a vested quarter as a result.

The issue of freedom of association and collective bargaining came under spotlight after the collapse of Rana Plaza last year, which claimed the lives of at least 1,136 and wounded thousands more. On June 27 last year, the US government suspended the GSP facility for Bangladesh, mentioning the lack of workers’ rights and poor working conditions in the country’s RMG sector. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Thursday, June 26, 2014

JaPa leaders wrangle over opposition role GM Quader criticises his party’s dual role in parliament Chisty tried to pacify Bablu but to no n Manik Miazee avail.

An apparent contradiction of opinions on the Jatiya Party role as the main opposition in the parliament seemingly led the two JaPa presidium members into a political divide.

The political quagmire came to the surface yesterday at a programme at the Diploma Engineers’ Institute hosted by the Jatiya Matsyajeebee Party and attended by GM Quader and Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, the two presidium members of JaPa, and Chairman HM Ershad.

At the programme, an acrimonious speech by GM Quader castigating the government as well as his own party, JaPa, the main opposition, outraged party presidium member, Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, who left the podium, defying even Ershad’s requests.

Quader said the dual role of the Jatiya Party as the main opposition and as part of the government was “unconstitutional.”

With reference to a football match, the leader said a football player could never play the dual role of a goalkeeper and a striker at the same time, holding one position on his own team and the other on the rival team.

He added, “You [JaPa] cannot play the role of a Uruguayan striker and an Italian goalkeeper at the same time.”

The remarks made Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu see red and he then quit outright, paying no heed to others’ requests.

JaPa presidium member SM Faisal

“I did not want to deliver my speech as you would not have felt comfortable listening to my speech,” said Quader.

Later, in his speech as the chief guest, JaPa Chairman HM Ershad admitted the infighting within the party.

He said: “We are in the opposition.

I have advised Rawshan Ershad to lead the party and to play the true role of the opposition.”

He also described the BNP as aimless and said the Jatiya Party would replace the BNP in politics and go to power.

When questioned, GM Quader told the Dhaka Tribune that he had declined making a speech, but at last he had to, because he could not turn down the party chief’s request.

“It is my habit to speak the truth every time. If anybody fails to take it easy, then I have nothing to do,” he said.

When the Dhaka Tribune called Ziauddin Bablu for his comment on the incident, he said: “It is not an issue at all.”

When asked if any action will be taken against GM Quader and Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, JaPa chief’s Press and Political Secretary Sunil Shuvo Roy said he was not under any instruction of this kind from the party chairman.

Quader’s speech was the prototype of that of HM Ershad, he said, adding that the party chief had no power to take any action against Bablu.

GM Quader attended the programme as a special guest while Ziauddin Bablu was supposed to deliver the keynote speech. l

Hasina: Drive against food adulteration to continue n Emran Hossain Shaikh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government would continue to take stern actions against those involved in food adulteration.

The prime minister said this in response to a question from Enamul Haque, a Rajshahi-4 constituency lawmaker, during a question-answer session at the Jatiya Sangsad.

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury chaired the session. Referring to her government’s initiatives taken on different occasions over the last five years, leader of the House Sheikh Hasina said the consumers had already started to benefit from the drives that the government had

launched against food adulteration.

“The government has taken various steps against food adulteration to protect public health,” she said.

The premier said the government had imposed fines of more than Tk8 croe on 8796 business institutions for selling adulterated products and medicines and more than Tk24 lakh on 186 traders for mixing formalin with food.

Responding to a question from Advocate Fazilatun Nessa Bappi about the Padma Bridge, the premier said it was now a matter of time.

“Now the Padma Bridge is not a vision, it is a matter of time,” she said hoping that it would be open to public by 2018. l

After defying the signal at the Tejgaon rail crossing, a good number of rickshaws and CNG-run three-wheelers squeeze in the remaining space between the boom barriers and the rail tracks to escape an oncoming train yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Family blames Ctg jail authority for prisoner’s death in custody

Nasrul: Fuel import from India under process n Tribune Report

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said the government will import fuel from India through a pipe line.

“It is a fact that the government has taken initiatives to import fuel (Diesel) from India through a pipe line. This may happen by June, 2017,” the state minister told parliament yesterday while responding to a question from ruling party lawmaker Didarul Alam.

As part of the process, both Bangladesh and India have already approved the Terms of References (TOR) for the preparation of a Detailed Feasibility Study (DFS), Nasrul stated.

The state minister continued that the country had extracted 11.92 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas until March 2014, while the volume of the present gas reserve is 15.12 TCF. In response to another query from legislator AFM Nasim, Nasrul said the per-day gas production is 2,350 million cubic feet (MCF) against the demand of about 3,000 MCF. l

Md Yakub Kaisar, the younger brother of Md Zakir Hosssain who was found hanging from the railing on the second floor of a building at Chittagong Central Jail on June 3, has blamed the jail authorities for his brother’s death.

Terming it pre-planned, he alleged that nine jail employees had connived with each other and tortured Zakir to death because of internal feuds.

The plaintiff gave his statement yesterday under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before a three-member inquiry team at the Detective Branch (DB) office, police sources said.

Deputy Commissioner (Detective Branch) Kushum Dewan, who led the team, said the investigation was ongoing.

“The truth behind the death will be revealed after a full investigation,” he said.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the inquiry team visited Chittagong Central Jail and recorded the statements of four persons,

including a jail guard, under Section 161.

Jail guard Mohammad Alamgir who first saw the prisoner’s body said he went to the spot after hearing groans and found Zakir hanging, quoted Additional Deputy Commissioner (prosecution) Md Rezaul Masud, who is also a member of the inquiry team.

The three prisoners who were with Zakir said he was always upset as his wife had an illicit relation with another man.

Zakir’s body was found hanging from the railing of the stairs of a jail building around 8:30pm on June 3. The jail authority called it a suicidal incident.

The family members of Zakir, who was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment in an abduction case, claimed that he was tortured to death by the jail officials.

On June 8, Yakub lodged a murder case with the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury, accusing nine employees of Chittagong Central Jail.

Taking the complaint into cogni-

Jahanara Imam’s 20th death anniversary today n Tribune Report The 20th death anniversary of Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam, who pioneered the campaign for the trial of 1971 war criminals, will be observed today.

Different organisations will hold programmes on the occasion to recall her contribution to the movement against Pakistani collaborators.

She died of cancer on June 26, 1994, at the age of 65 at a Michigan hospital in the US. She was born on May 3, 1929.

Jahanara Imam remains an eternal source of inspiration for her patriotism, devotion, sacrifice and struggle. She had relentlessly campaigned for the materialisation of the spirit of the War of Independence.

Her son Shafi Imam Rumi fought for independence in 1971 without availing the opportunity to study engineering in the USA and embraced martyrdom.

Jahanara Imam took the initiative to form the Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee and led the movement to hold the trials of the 1971 war crimes suspects.

She also took the initiative to constitute a ‘Gono Adalat’ or People’s Court which, on March 26, 1992, held a mock trial of the war criminals in front of the Engineer’s Institute.

The people’s court found Golam Azam guilty of war crimes and deserving of death penalty. Jahanara Imam is also remembered for her book, Ekhatturer Dinguli (The Days of 1971). She has written several other books as well.

To observe the day, Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee will organise a discussion and a “Jahanara Imam memorial speech” at the city’s WVA Auditorium in Dhanmondi at 3pm. The committee will also give away a “Jahanara Imam Memorial Medal” to Prof Abul Barkat. The committee will also place floral wreaths on her grave in Mirpur at 8pm. l

zance, the court ordered DC Kushum Dewan to investigate the matter.

The nine accused are Chittagong Central Jail Senior Jail Super Md Sagir Mia, Jailer Nesar Ahmed, Jail Hospital physician Mostafizur Rahman, former subedars Amju Mia and Humayun Kabir, Chief Jail Guards Mohammad Hossain and Abdur Rashid, jail guards Mohammad Alam and Ziabul Islam.

Of the accused, Amju Mia and Humayun Kabir were released from duty, Ziabul Islam and Mohammad Alamgir were suspended and a departmental case was filed against Mohammad Hossain and Abdur Rashid for negligence of duty.

Asim Kanti Paul, deputy inspector general (DIG) of Prisons in Chittagong, formed a three-member probe committee while the senior jail super formed another three-member probe body to look into the matter.

The probe bodies submitted their reports to the higher authorities saying that Zakir had committed suicide due to mental disorder. l

BLAST IN CTG MADRASA

Izhar, son indicted in acid case n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decorates a winner of the Education Ministry’s creative talent hunt competition at the capital’s Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday BSS

Tofail: Onion price may rise n Asif Showkat Kallol

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has said the price of imported onions could rise a little in the local market during the month of Ramadan as authorities in India have doubled the price of the essential item.

“We have decided to import onions from Myanmar and Turkey to stabilise the price in the local market,” Tofail told reporters after a meeting with stakeholders and businessmen at his ministry yesterday.

The minister said there would be no crisis of essential commodities, and prices would remain stable, during the fasting month, which is likely to begin

on Saturday.

“Businessmen have assured us repeatedly that there is no reason to hike the prices of essentials,” he added.

The government, meanwhile, has imposed a ban on exporting brinjal, cucumber, green chilly, lemon and coriander leaf during the month of Ramadan, the minister said.

Bangladesh produces about 14 lakh tonnes of onions annually, but the domestic requirement for the essential ingredient is around 16-18 lakh tonnes.

The demand doubles during Ramadan.

Meantime, imported Indian onions were being sold at Tk40 per kg, while local onions went for Tk36 per kg at kitchen markets in the city yesterday.

Golam Mawla, general secretary of Moulvibazar Bebsayi Samity, said the price of onions will definitely rise during Ramadan due to the price hike in India.

He added that a few importers were now bringing cheap onions from China.

The Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), meanwhile, criticised the minister for announcing possible price hikes in the local market.

M Shamsul Alam, an adviser of CAB, said it was “unfortunate that a minister and top-ranking person of state machinery revealed that the price of onions would rise due to hikes in India. The minister’s statement favours the syndication of the market for increasing prices during Ramadan.”

A Chittagong court yesterday framed charges against Hefazat-e-Islam Senior Nayeb-e-Ameer Mufti Izharul Islam and his son Harun Bin Izhar in a case lodged over recovery of picric acid after grenade blasts at his Lalkhan Bazar Madrasa in the port city.

The court of Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge SM Mujibur Rahman passed the order in presence of Harun and fixed July 15 for further hearing, said court sources.

According to the charge sheet, 18 bottles of picric acid, each containing 500 milligram of the liquid, were found in the office of Mufti Izhar. It is also said the acid could be used to make about 300 grenades.

The accused kept these explosives in their possession for carrying out massive subversion, the charge sheet said.

Mohammad Fakhruddin, public prosecutor of the Chittagong Metropolitan Court, told Dhaka Tribune that there was no reason behind the stashing of such a huge quantity of the acid in a madrasa. That was why the court observed that they had been planning massive violence in the city.

“When Harun Izhar was asked why

the acid was stocked in his father’s office, he could not give any satisfactory answer to the court,” he said.

He also said the court had framed charges against Izhar and his son under section 36 of Acid Control Act 2002.

SI Sontosh Chakma of Detective Branch, in-charge of the Bomb Disposal Unit of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said apart from the use in making grenades, picric acid itself was a devastating explosive and the recovered acid was enough to demolish two or three buildings in one shot.

“This type of high-powered explosives is highly risky for being preserved in civil possession,” he said.

On October 7 last year, several locally-made grenades went off at a dorm room in the Jamiatul Ulum Al Islamia Madrasa, a Qawmi madrasa whose founder director was Mufti Izharul. The blasts left five students critically injured. Three of them later succumbed to their injuries.

Later, police combed the entire madrasa complex and found some explosives and a huge quantity of grenade-making materials. Three cases – for murder, explosives possession and recovery of picric acid - were lodged with the Khulshi police station in this connection. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, June 26, 2014

New rules for buying medical equipment Study: 98% unaware of Hundreds of lifesaving machines remain locked in boxes equipment and medicines have “unfor- uisition to the authority concerned, n Moniruzzaman Uzzal tunately” remained locked and unused which will then place the demand to The Health Ministry has directed all public medical facilities of the country to follow specific rules for buying any medical equipment or medicine, in a bid to stop wasting money that is used to buy machinery that are not needed.

In a circular issued on June 24, the ministry laid out a seven-point directive that included ensuring that the purchases were made based on the demand of the end user, and confirming that there was proper infrastructure and trained manpower at the hospitals.

The move came after a one-member probe body completed its investigation into allegations of irregularities in the purchase processes of medical equipment and medicines.

Additional secretary (development and medical education) Md Aiyubur Rahman Khan, who headed the probe committee, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that he has already completed his investigation before the three month deadline and has found that a large number of lifesaving medical

across the country.

Without disclosing the list of unused equipment, he said most of the items had been brought without proper need assessment.

Many expensive lifesaving equipment and medicines, bought using millions of taxpayers' money, have reportedly been left boxed at different public hospitals and the Central Medicine Store Depot (CMSD), disregarding that their warranties and expiration dates were coming to an end or had already passed.

Aiyubur, however, said a separate eight-member committee, which is also headed by him, was working to find out ways to use the valuable medical equipment and medicines.

The ministry directives for purchase

According to the circular, no authority would be allowed to make purchases without getting the demand of medical equipment, machineries and medicine.

The end user will have to send the req-

the CMSD. The end user will also have to inform the authority if they have the infrastructural facility or necessary manpower to run the medical equipment/ machineries properly.

The Public Procurement Act (PPA) and Public Procurement Regulation (PPR) must be followed in purchasing any medical equipment or medicine.

The directives of development partners must also be followed while making purchases with reimbursable project aid (RPA) money.

When buying any high tech medical equipment, the payment schedule must include details regarding installation, commissioning and training.

The supplier will have to ensure a five-year guarantee for providing all kinds of retail machinery parts and after-sales services, as well as ensuring the training of manpower for running the machinery.

Authorities concerned must notify the National Electro-Medical Equip-

CHT accord progress

ment Maintenance Workshop and the Health Ministry within seven days of any equipment going out of order. Punitive measures will be taken against anyone failing to comply to the directives.

The Directorate of Public Works and Heath Engineering should also follow standard design to build any establishment for medical equipment or machinery, the circular added.

Sources said the medical instruments that are left unused for years include intensive care unit (ICU) ventilators, x-ray machines, ultrasonogram machines, hydraulic operation theatre (OT) tables, generators, anaesthesia machines, incubators, laparoscopy machine, OT light, paediatric laparoscopy, dental unit, biochemistry machine, hem dialysis, and echocardiography with color doppler.

These equipment have not been used allegedly because of inadequate infrastructure, or because the equipment were not needed at the facilities and only purchased to fill the pockets of some government officials and contractors. l

n Tribune Report

PJA committee formed

n Tribune Report Bangladesh Parliament Journalists’ Association formed a new, 11-member executive committee with Janakantha Special Correspondent Uttam Chakravarty as president.

Kamran Reza Chowdhury, a special correspondent of the Dhaka Tribune, was picked as general secretary and Harun Al Rashid, senior correspondent of the Prothom Alo, as vice president.

The organisation’s convening committee picked the members at a meeting on Tuesday. Kalerkontha Senior Correspondent Nikhil Chandra Bhadra, Manav Zamin Senior Reporter Kazi Shohag and bdnews24.com Staff Correspondent Kazi Sajidul Haque were made joint secretary, treasurer and office secretary, respectively. l

A recent study said about 98% of people in a survey area in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region are not aware of implementation progress of the CHT Peace Accord despite the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti’s (PCJSS) consistent claim that the government is not sincere or interested in implementing the accord even after 16 years.

The survey, prepared by Tanay Dewan and his team, was carried out among 222 people of seven unions in Rajasthali and Kaptai upazilas from September 25 to October 15 last year.

With the title “Enforcement of local institutional laws focusing public awareness through sustainable good governance approach in CHT,” it was done by two NGOs Nowzuwan and Ashika Manabik Unnayan Kendra and was unveiled at a workshop at Cirdap auditorium in the capital yesterday.

The study revealed that among the communities, Chakma, Marma, Bangalee and Tripura are completely in dark about the accord’s implementation

while people of the Khiyang and Tanchangya communities know about it.

The accord, signed between the PCJSS and the government on December 2 in 1997, ended a decade-long armed struggle of the indigenous people in the CHT region.

According to the study, 95.74% of people are not familiar with traditional laws, 72.34% unfamiliar to rules and regulations of union parishads and 100% unaware of union as well as upazila budgets. Many people claim the accord has failed but it has in fact brought a way to establish a permanent solution to the CHT crisis, said Bir Bahadur U Shwe Sing, state minister of CHT Affairs, while addressing the programme.

However, CHT Affairs Ministry Secretary Naba Bikrom Kishore Tripura, who presided over the programme, said: “Those who say the accord was not successful are actually lying.”

The study revealed 100% of the total population are not informed about activities of the CHT Land Dispute Commission while 36.17% of them are involved in land disputes. l

Eight policemen accused over businessman’s death in custody

Julfikar Ali Manik wins Geral Loeb Awards Dhaka Tribune journalist Julfikar Ali Manik has won the prestigious 2014 Geral Loeb Award in the “breaking news” category for his coverage of the Rana Plaza disaster along with Jim Yardley and Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times.

The Gerald Loeb Awards are considered to be among the highest honours in journalism that recognises the work of journalists whose contributions illuminate the world of business, finance and the economy for readers and viewers worldwide.

Steven Greenhouse, who received the award on behalf of Manik – special correspondent at the Dhaka Tribune – and Yardley at a banquet in New York on Tuesday, dedicated the award to the victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy.

The winners of 14 competition categories were announced at the banquet, along with the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to James Flanigan, former business journalist at the Los Angeles Times. l

n Abid Azad

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Bangladesh Dalit Panchayet Forum of Sherpur forms a human chain tying black cloth to their mouths protesting persecution of minority people in front of the National Press Club yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

ANTI-CHILD MARRIAGE INITIATIVE

UNFPA, Swiss embassy to continue campaign n Moniruzzaman Uzzal The Embassy of Switzerland and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Bangladesh will continue a media campaign to end child marriages in the country.

This is a follow-up of a partnership which commenced last year and is part of a national initiative to end child marriages. Both the parties have signed a partnership agreement in this regard at the Swiss embassy in Dhaka yesterday.

The media campaign aims to produce and air six episodes of animated cartoons to increase awareness of consequences of child marriage among the adolescents and youths in both rural

and urban areas.

At yesterday’s signing ceremony, Argentina Matavel Piccin, UNFPA representative in Bangladesh, said: “Child marriage perpetuates poverty over generations and is linked to poor health, curtailed education and violence against women.”

The Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Christian Fotsch said: “Child marriage is a threat to prosperity and undermines the development initiatives of the government and its partners in Bangladesh.”

A recent survey conducted by Plan International Bangladesh indicates that 64% of women currently aged between 20-24 years were married before the age of 18. l

Four arrested for killing JaPa activist n Our Correspondent, Bogra A case was launched at Dhupchanchia police station here on Tuesday night against 22 local activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and Jubo Dal, the youth wings of BNP, on charges of killing Jatiya Party activist Arifur Islam Rahat.

The victim’s brother Shaheed Ali filed the case accusing 15 named and seven unknown. Afterwards police arrested JCD activist Nurunnabi Riman and three others in the early hours, said Dhupchanchia police OC Riaz Uddin Ahmed. l

Workers’ absence halts activities at Bhomra port

Correspondent, n Our Satkhira Export-import activities at Bhomra Land Port in Satkhira were halted yesterday since workers were abstaining from work.

More than 100 goods-laden trucks were waiting to enter Bangladesh through India. Bhomra Clearing and Forwarding Agent Association’s General Secretary Ohadul Islam said the organisation’s workers did not go to work yesterday because they were having a general meeting, thereby resulting in a halt to all activities at the port. l

Jubo League man hacked to death Correspondent, n Our Mymensingh

Miscreants hacked a Jubo League activist to death on Tuesday night in Begunbari under Sadar upazila of Mymensingh.

The dead Sharif Ahmed, 25, was from Mirjapur village under Begunbari area in Sadar upazila of the district.

Police and witnesses said there had been a long-running feud between Surujjaman Khokon and Badol Driver of Mirjapur village regarding 22 decimals of land.

Sharif, Surujjaman’s nephew, had gone to the local market around 9pm on Tuesday when a group of miscreants, allegedly Badol’s followers, had cornered him and had hacked at him indiscriminately. Later, he succumbed to his injuries on his way to MMCH, said sources. OC of Kotowali police station Fazlul Karim said the murder might have been linked to the row over the land. l

A murder case was filed before a Chittagong court yesterday against 10 persons, including eight policemen, in connection with the death of a businessman in police custody on 19 June.

Shimu Akhter, the victim Md Rokunuzzaman’s wife, lodged the case before the court of Magistrate Ahmad Sayeed accusing Sub-Inspector Amir Hossain of Panchlaish police station, Assistant Sub-Inspector Enyaet Hossain of Bakalia police station, Constables Mizanur Rahman, Moslem and Khokon Mia, Ansar Constable Shahinur Alam, driver Akbar of Panchlaish police station, police sources Md Jamal and Humayun Kabir and local Harunur Rashid Duke, said the court sources.

Early on June 19, Rokunuzzaman died in police custody after a police team picked him up from his residence in the city’s Bakalia area.

Family members claimed the team, led by SI Amir Hossain picked Rokunuzzaman up from his residence around 12:30am saying that he was accused of a rape in a case filed with Panchlaish police station on 5 June.

Around 2am, they were informed that his body was at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, said Shimu. She claimed that the police had beat her husband to death.

The court ordered the deputy commissioner of Detective Branch of CMP to investigate the matter and submit a report by July 23, said Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Rezaul Masud. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

PDB to be turned into a corporation n Aminur Rahman Rasel In an attempt to improve efficiency, the government has reportedly decided to transform the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) into a corporation like Petrobangla, according to the minutes of a meeting between the prime minister and the Power Division officials.

On February 6, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the minister in-charge of the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, held a meeting with the Power Division officials.

“We want to reform the PDB. So, we have directed the Power Division and PDB officials to prepare and submit a guideline on how to turn the PDB into a corporation soon,” State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid told the Dhaka Tribune.

On June 22, the Power Division held a meeting with the state minister in the chair to review the government’s decision to transform the PDB into

a corporation.

An additional secretary of Power Division has been appointed to monitor the move.

“We are working to make the transformation. We hope that we will be able

The PDB as single buyer in power market of Bangladesh will sell power to the distribution business centres like other distribution companies or utilities to submit a report soon,” PDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhulla told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

On the other hand, the Power Division is working to form a company to conduct operations and maintenance of public and private-owned

power projects.

The government is also working to turn the 740MW Ghorasal Power Plant into a corporation as per a decision also made by the premier at the February 6 meeting.

The meeting also discussed the ways of creating three new distribution companies – South Zone Power Distribution Company, North-west Zone Power Distribution Company and Central Zone Power Distribution Company.

The government is also considering forming three separate specialised wings under the Power Division including an Engineering and Inspection (EI) wing, a Governance and Legal (G&L) wing and a Publicity wing.

However, PDB has already made a draft guideline to reform its board. According to guideline, all generation and distribution entities under the PDB will be converted into a Strategic Business Unit (SBU) in the future.

The SBU – running under a management board – will operate under the existing legal structure of the PDB, but

5

Thursday, June 26, 2014

will be functionally and financially separate like a corporate body.

The PDB as single buyer in power market of Bangladesh will sell power to the distribution business centres like other distribution companies or utilities. These business centres will be responsible for the overall distribution business within its franchise area.

The PDB will sign a performance target achievement (PTA) with the SBU management board.

Under the PTA, the PDB will evaluate performance of the SBU in some major areas including system loss reduction, collection-import ratio, operation and management cost, system average interruption frequency index, system average interruption duration index and overall cost optimisation.

Five subsidiary companies are at present running under the PDB, which was created in 1972 by presidential order-59, bifurcating Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda). l

Eviction of risky hillside houses underway n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Chittagong district administration and Chittagong Metropolitan Police jointly started evicting people yesterday from their vulnerable hill slope homes in order to reduce possible landslide casualties.

In the wake of incessant downpours which have continued for a couple of days, the authorities have been demolishing the risky and illegal establishments from the hill slopes, said CMP and district administration sources.

After holding a meeting on June 17, the Chittagong district administration decided to conduct eviction drives at the risky hill slopes of Chittagong before Ramadan.

The residential infrastructures were being demolished since many of the evicted people had tried to return to their risky houses after their primary eviction, police said.

The district administration conducted drives in Matijharna, Batali Hill

and Tankir Pahar areas in the city and demolished illegal slums and cut off power, gas and water connections to prevent the dwellers from returning to their risky houses.

SM Abdul Kader, additional deputy commissioner (Revenue) of Chittagong, led the drive where officials from the CMP, Chittagong City Corporation, Chittagong Wasa, Power Development Board, Public Works Department, Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited were also present.

Meanwhile, the slum dwellers alleged that the authorities did not issue prior eviction notices.

However, Abdul Kader denied the allegations, saying prior notices were served before the eviction drives were started.

Earlier, Mesbah Uddin, deputy of commissioner of Chittagong, informed that they had identified 30 risky hills, while 666 families were living in the most vulnerable spots on 11 of the 30 hills. l

'Implementation of laws can stop human trafficking' n Tribune Report

Body recovered from rooftop of BMP office n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Coordinated and enhanced efforts in combating human trafficking were sought in the two day Winrock International Bangladesh council, stressing the need for proper implementation of the existing laws and plans of the government.

The call came at a press conference at the capital’s reporters’ unity yesterday.

Winrock, aided by USAID, works at combating human trafficking and also the rehabilitation of the survivors of trafficking.

The organisation also demanded fast disposal of the cases regarding human trafficking, proper legal assistance through embassies in bringing home the victims who were trapped overseas, establishing tribunals, appointment of judges in the district level and proper compensation for the victims under the latest law regarding migration. They also demanded exemplary actions against traffickers.

For some years now, the organisation has been implementing its project, Actions For Combating Trafficking In Persons (ACT), under which more than 250 volunteers work in the peer leaders network and 130 survivors of human trafficking in the survivors’ network titled Anirban.

At the press conference, the peer leaders and survivors said this year until May, a total of 780 persons were victims of trafficking, of which only 693 people have been rescued and 191 cases have been filed in connection with these incidents.

They called upon people to actively resist the traffickers and exploitation of migrant workers, and help rehabilitate the victims into society. The peer leaders and the survivors of the organisation also formed a human chain after the press conference to press home calls and demands. l

The body of a youth was recovered from a police office rooftop in Barisal city yesterday. Shakhawat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Kotwali police station, said the victim was Jahirul Hasan Ruku, 35, the son of late Abdul Aziz of West Kalibari road area of the city.

Abu Raihan Md Saleh, deputy commissioner (north and traffic), said Barisal Metropolitan Police rented the ground and first floor of the house as its office and Ruku used to live alone in a room on the top floor.

The sweepers and staff of the office noticed a smell coming from that room yesterday and informed police officials.

Police broke down the door which was locked from the inside and found Ruku dead and lying on the bed, said Murad Ahmed, a journalist who is a tenant of another portion of the premise.

Ruku was suffering from different types of diseases and not addicted to any drugs, and did not even smoke. He left two sisters and a brother, Murad added.

After recovering the body, Sub-Inspector Golam Kabir of Kotwali police station said Ruku might have died one or two days earlier and only an autopsy could identify the cause of his death.

Police sent the body to Barisal Sher E Bangla Medical College Hospital yesterday for an autopsy, the SI added. l

WEATHER THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

THURSDAY, JUNE 26 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:50PM SUN RISES 5:13AM FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

34°

27°

Chittagong

31°

26°

Rajshahi

35°

28°

Rangpur

34°

26°

Khulna

33°

26°

Barisal

32°

26°

Sylhet

32°

25°

Cox’s Bazar

30°

26°

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

35.2ºC Rajshahi

22.5ºC Bhola

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

3:45am 5:12am 12:01am 4:42pm 6:50pm 8:18pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

A bulldozer demolishes a tin-shed house during an eviction drive conducted by Army personnel in Hatirjheel area of the capital yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

BCC interference halts BIWTC eviction drive

5 DB impostures held

n Our Correspondent, Barisal

The detective branch (DB) of police arrested five persons at the capital’s Khilgaon area yesterday, suspecting them to be members of a group of organised criminals who have been committing robberies by impersonating DB personnel.

The DB police also said they had recovered a walkie-talkie set, a pair of handcuffs, police uniforms and a knife from their possession.

The arrested are Elias Miah, 28, Manik Sheikh, 33, Yiasin Mollah, 35, Farid Mridha, 38, and Farhad Hossain, 35.

Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (DC) of the Media Centre of

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) could not conduct eviction drives against illegal structures adjoining Barisal river port yesterday because of interference from Barisal City Corporation.

Md Qamruzzaman, administrative magistrate, said they had started an eviction drive around 11:00am.

But the drive was forced to stop within an hour as the chief executive officer of the BCC phoned the magistrate claiming that city corporation owned the land.

Both sides then agreed to sit in a

meeting over the ownership of the land.

The BIWTA sources said the eviction drive had been postponed until further notice. The BIWTA will take a decision three days later regarding whether it will conduct an eviction drive or not, after the meeting.

Nikhil Chandra Das, chief executive officer of the BCC, said the city corporation owned the land and the under-construction structures on the land where the BIWTA had started operating eviction drives.

No one but the BCC has the authority to demolish any structure from the land owned by the city corporation, he said, adding that, for that reason, they

had requested the magistrate to halt the drive.

Md Shahidullah, deputy director of the BIWTA, said about 300 illegal structures had been established on the BIWTA land, stretching about three and half kilometres.

The BIWTA sources said the water transport authority started the eviction drive to construct passenger shades and different establishments for modernisation and to beautify the port. However, that eviction drive was forced to be postponed after 50 establishments had been evicted, since the BCC authority raised objections, said the BIWTA official. l

n Kailash Sarkar

the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said a team of DB led by Additional DC Saiful Islam apprehended the DB imposters from near the Khilgaon Flyover while the latter were attempting to rob people.

“After their detention, the DB personnel recovered the walkie-talkie, handcuffs, police uniforms and other materials by searching their bodies,” said the DC. DC Masudur also said during the primary interrogation the arrested admitted that they had been involved in looting people on the roads from Gulistan to Maowa Ghat, Jatrabari and Chittagong Road under the guise of DB personnel for a long time. l

Independent pay-scale for teachers demanded n CU Correspondent Leaders of Chittagong University Teachers Association (CUTA) said yesterday that university teachers’ salaries in Bangladesh are among the lowest in the sub-continental countries, thereby forcing the teachers to maintain low standards of living.

They also said meritorious students lost interest in taking on teaching positions at public universities because of the miserable scenario of the teachers, especially when most private universities are offering attractive salaries along with other facilities.

Addressing a press conference at Engineer Abdul Khaleque auditorium of Chittagong Press Club in the city, the teachers demanded independent payscales for the public university teachers.

CUTA General Secretary Professor

Mustafizur Rahman Siddique read out a written statement at the press conference where Professor Benu Kumar Dey, CUTA president and Professor Imran Hossain, dean of Art and Humanities Faculty of CU were present.

Referring to a newspaper report, Professor Mustafiz said a public university in Bangladesh offered Tk11,000 to a lecturer and the highest salary for a teacher was Tk40,000, whereas India and Malaysia usually offered Tk35,000 and TK 2,25,000, respectively, to a lecturer.

Professor Moinul Islam said bureaucratic difficulty is the major hindrance to implementing the independent salary scale for public university teachers.

“We have demanded independent salary scales for university teachers from the education minister and finance minister several times, but those demands have remained unheeded,” Professor Benu Kumar Dey said. l

The Bangladesh Railway Workers-Employees’ Wards Council forms a human chain in front of western railway’s headquarters in Rajshahi yesterday to press home its demands DHAKA TRIBUNE

6 | DHAKA TRIBUNE

Thursday, June 26, 2014

DHAKA TRIBUNE | 7

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Year 2013 US D million

Microfinance Health Education

Year 2012 USD million

%

%

164.30

30.13%

150.18

33.47%

57.16

10.48%

47.56

10.60%

90.7

16.63%

54.83

12.22%

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

19.69

3.61%

17.17

3.83%

Agriculture and Food Security

6.75

1.24%

3.39

0.76%

30.65

5.62%

26.22

5.84%

143.16

26.25%

136.24

30.36%

32.86

6.03%

13.17

2.93%

545.27

100.0%

448.76

100.0%

Ultra Poor Social Enterprises Others * Total

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Baghdad fears battle, prays for peace Militants attack Iraq air base, US teams deploy n Reuters, Baghdad

A child is seen at a camp for displaced Iraqi Shiite Turkmen who fled their town of Tal Afar, in Shikhan, in Kurdistan’s Dohuk province

n Reuters, Baghdad The line outside the Iraq passport documentation office stretches down the street. The people of Baghdad are fleeing an insurgency barely a dozen miles from the capital.

“People panic. They watch the news and they think the armed groups are right here in Baghdad,” said Ali Nejim, a 20-year-old shopkeeper across the street from the line.

The militant offensive, spearheaded by the puritanical Sunni Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in alliance with anti-government tribes, has seized majority Sunni areas across the north and west of the country.

The fighters’ rapid advance has halted about an hour’s drive north of the capital and even closer on its western outskirts, bringing renewed fear to a city of 7 million people where memories of a sectarian bloodbath are still fresh and daily suicide bombings are still as routine as the weather.

The Iraqi capital somehow functions as a city despite never healing from the intense street fighting of 2006-2007. It

is mainly divided into Sunni and Shi’ite neighborhoods, some still sealed off by razor wire and concrete blast walls.

Although outright war has not been fought in the capital for years now, Sunni militants regularly detonate bombs intended to kill Shi’ite civilians. The busy market street where Nejim’s shop is a frequent target for car bomb attacks.

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners who had refused food for 62 days have suspended their hunger strike after reaching a deal with the Israel Prisons Service, their lawyer told AFP. The prisoners began refusing food on April 24 in protest at being held by Israel without charge or trial under a controversial procedure called administrative detention, which can be indefinitely extended for years.

“The strikers, who have reached an agreement with the Israeli prison authorities, have decided to suspend their action with the approach of Ramadan,” Ashraf Abu Snena said, referring to the Muslim fasting month which begins this weekend.

Israel confirmed the agreement.

“The hunger strike was suspended overnight,” Israel Prisons Service (IPS) spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told AFP. She said the sides has reached a “short-term agreement” which allowed

bombed earlier this year, he said.

Still, he said he was certain Baghdad would not quickly fall to insurgents, like Mosul and Tikrit two weeks ago.

“Mosul fell because they are majority Sunni,” said shopkeeper Nejim.

“Baghdad is mixed and even the Sunnis here support the government,” he added. Nejim’s family is split. His father is Shi’ite and his mother is Sunni.

Although outright war has not been fought in the capital for years now, Sunni militants regularly detonate bombs intended to kill Shi’ite civilians The insurgent advance of the past two weeks raises the prospect that the underlying violence could again erupt into outright sectarian war, with civilians the target.

“Some of my neighbors sold their houses and left. I’m staying because if I don’t, nobody will be left,” Nejim said, in his shop that sells sweets, drinks and coffee. The restaurant next door was

Palestinians halt 62-day hunger strike after deal n AFP, Ramallah

AFP

for the hunger-strikers to suspend their action. “But this arrangement does not involve any suspension or cancellation of the use of administrative detention.”

The IPS put the number of hunger-strikers at 75 when the deal was reached. Earlier this month, the IPS said the hunger strike was the longest-ever staged by Palestinian detainees. Some of the hunger-strikers were kept alive with vitamins and sugars, but others took only water for the duration, according to prisoners’ rights group Addameer.

Administrative detention is a procedure dating back to the British Mandate of Palestine (1920-1948) under which prisoners can be held for six-month periods, which can be indefinitely renewed by a court order.

Around 200 of the 5,000 or so Palestinians held by Israel are administrative detainees, although that number looks set to double as Israel presses a major arrest operation in the West Bank following the disappearance of three teenagers believed kidnapped by Hamas. l

Exodus

In mixed neighborhoods where the threat of sectarian fighting is greatest, residents are taking no chances.

In the north Baghdad district of Ghazaliyah, a neighborhood split between Sunnis and Shi’ites, there has been an exodus of families who fear their neighborhood could become a focal point for sectarian attacks.

Israel stages 12 air strikes on Gaza after rocket fire n AFP, Gaza City

The Russian parliament’s upper chamber voted yesterday to revoke the right that it had granted President Vladimir Putin in March to order a military intervention in Ukraine, where Kiev is struggling to quell a rebellion by Russian speakers in the east.

A senior lawmaker said the move, which Putin had requested, it should be seen as an act of goodwill to help facilitate peace efforts in Ukraine, where Moscow sees itself as the defender of the rights of the Russian-speaking minority. But he said the authority could be reinstated at short notice.

“The President of the Russian Feder-

ation has enough means under the constitution and federal law to effectively influence the situation in Ukraine,” Viktor Ozerov, head of the Federation Council’s security committee, told the chamber.

“If, to that end, the president needs to take measures of a military nature, the Federation Council’s Defence and Security Committee is ready ... to swiftly consider such a motion from the president. But I hope that will not be required.”

The decision, effective immediately, was taken by 153 votes in favour to one against, with no abstentions.

Russia’s parliament rarely deviates from the line taken by Putin. After the vote, the speaker of the chamber

Maliki rules out Iraq unity government n Agencies The Iraqi prime minister has rejected US calls for the formation of a national unity government to tackle a rising Sunni offensive, calling the idea a “coup” against the constitution.

Nouri al-Maliki’s statement on Wednesday came a day after the US secretary of state, John Kerry, left Iraq after pushing for a agreement between Kurdish, Sunni and Shia leaders.

In his weekly televised address, Maliki said: “The call to form a national emergency government is a coup against the constitution and the political process. It is an attempt by those who are against the constitution to eliminate the young democratic process and steal the votes of the voters.”

The speech came a day after US military advisers arrived in Baghdad. The

US says Iraqi politicians must create a unity government before it sends futher help. Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Baghdad, said the prime minister’s comments would be seen as direct rebuttal to the US insistence of a unity deal before more help is sent.

Maliki’s electoral bloc won by far the most seats in April 30 parliamentary elections with 92, nearly three times as many as the next biggest party, and the incumbent himself tallied 720,000 personal votes, also far and away the most.

Meanwhile, Iraqi State TV yesterday broadcasted video claiming to show Iraqi troops in control of the oil refinery at Baiji, amid contesting claims as to who was in control there.

The footage, shot by a journalist sympathetic to the government, shows an army helicoper briefly landing at the site before leaving. l

Beyond cure? European courts rule on euthanasia

The Israeli air force carried out 12 raids on the Gaza Strip overnight after militants fired more rockets at southern Israel, Palestinian security sources said yesterday.

The attacks struck training grounds used by Palestinian militants, leaving two people lightly injured. The Israeli military confirmed a series of overnight strikes in a statement which said it had struck five rocket-launching sites in northern Gaza, as well two other sites in central and southern areas of the strip.

The raids took place after militants fired five rockets at southern Israel, one of which hit an open area. Two were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system while the other two landed inside Gaza, the statement said.

In a related development, a Palestinian child who was seriously wounded on Tuesday when a rocket fired at Israel fell short and landed inside Gaza, died of her injuries during the night, medical sources said. l

Russian lawmakers revoke right to send troops into Ukraine n Reuters, Moscow

When ISIL took Mosul on June 10, Sunni and Shi’ite residents started to move to other parts of Baghdad. The main street is now close to empty, with only a few families remaining.

“They are scared,” said a resident who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. “The Shi’ites have retreated to Shi’ite areas and the Sunnis to Sunni areas. There are only six or seven families left on my street now,” he said.

Residents of other districts say the same has happened in other mixed neighborhoods.

The immediate fear in Baghdad is that Sunni sleeper cells loyal to ISIL will stage hit-and-run attacks and car bombings. These could be backed up by militants from outside the city who now have US-made armored vehicles and heavy artillery.

Iraqi officials worry they could push into the city from Sunni suburbs on the outskirts.

Security has been beefed up. Soldiers in US Army-style desert camouflage stand on pavements. The past two weeks have seen traffic jams as vehicle checkpoints have increased. l

Militants attacked one of Iraq’s largest air bases yesterday as the first US teams arrived to assess the Iraqi security forces and decide how to help counter a mounting Sunni insurgency.

Two weeks of advances by militants spearheaded by al Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has threatened to rupture the country two and a half years after the withdrawal of US troops.

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged leaders of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday to stand with Baghdad in the face of the onslaught.

Militants including ISIL and allied Sunni tribes battled Iraqi forces in the town of Yathrib, 90 km north of Baghdad, into the early hours of Wednesday, witnesses and the deputy head of the municipality said. Four militants were killed, they said.

Insurgents have surrounded a massive air base nearby, which was known as “Camp Anaconda” under US occupation, and struck it with mortars. Eyewitnesses said the air base had been

surrounded on three sides.

More than 1,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed in less than three weeks, the United Nations has said, calling the figure “very much a minimum.”

The figure includes unarmed government troops machine gunned in mass graves by insurgents, as well as several reported incidents of prisoners killed in their cells by retreating government forces.

US President Barack Obama has offered up to 300 American advisers to Iraq but held off granting a request by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government for air strikes.

Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said late on Tuesday 130 of the advisers had now been deployed, with the initial group sent to establish the operations centre included intelligence analysts, logistics experts and special operations forces.

Kirby said about 40 special operations personnel already in the country and assigned to the US Embassy’s Office of Security Cooperation had been deployed as part of the first two assessment teams. l

asked whether the lawmaker who voted against had accidentally pressed the wrong button.

Ukraine’s government has agreed a limited ceasefire with some of the Russian-speaking rebel groups in eastern Ukraine to allow peace talks to take place.

The ceasefire is supposed to last at least until Friday, when Kiev is due to sign a free trade agreement with the European Union at a summit where EU leaders may also consider further sanctions against Russia over its role in Ukraine.

However, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has already threatened to end the truce early because of rebel attacks. l

Demonstrators dressed as mime artists hold placards which read ‘No to the euthanasia of elderly people,’ in Paris

n AP, Paris A European court ordered French doctors to continue treatment for a comatose patient while Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday said that a ban on assisted suicide was incompatible with human rights, raising new questions about who decides a person is beyond treatment.

The British decision was unexpectedly far-reaching. Although it dismissed the appeal from two severely disabled men who argued the law should be changed to allow doctors to legally kill them, the ruling suggested that Parliament change the law to be in line with human rights guarantees.

In southern France, meanwhile, a verdict was expected later in the poisoning trial of a physician who gave lethal injections to help seven terminally ill patients die.

Dr. Nicolas Bonnemaison faces up to life in prison. The verdict is expected Wednesday.

Several relatives of his alleged victims have testified on his behalf, and a petition signed by over 66,000 people calls for his acquittal.

Euthanasia is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The French president has said he hopes to make it easier for terminally ill patients to seek medical help to end their lives.

The case of the comatose Frenchman has drawn national attention, in part because his family is divided on his treatment and his parents fear his wife will take him to Belgium to die.

France’s top administrative court on Tuesday said doctors could withhold food and hydration for Vincent Lambert, saying he had made his wishes clear before the car accident six years ago that left him hospitalized. That decision was overruled hours later by the European Court of Human Rights in a highly unusual late-night decision.

AP

“He is not sick, he is not at the end of his life, he is not suffering,” Jean Paillot, a lawyer for Lambert’s parents, told BFM television on Wednesday. “From our perspective, there is no reason to stop feeding or hydrating him.”

The Lambert case has echoes of the legal fight over Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped, and she entered what doctors refer to as a “persistent vegetative state,” or prolonged coma. She died in 2005 after her husband won a protracted court case with Schiavo’s parents to have her feeding tube In Britain, five of the nine judges concluded that the country’s ban on assisted suicide is incompatible with the right to private life, suggesting British politicians should amend the law to be in line with the human rights guaranteed under the European Convention. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

India partially rolls back steep railway fare hike

The decision will appease Mumbai voters ahead of local polls

n Reuters, Mumbai The Indian government partially rolled back a steep hike in rail passenger fares announced last week after protests from allies, highlighting the political realities facing the new prime minister in his push to cut the country’s massive subsidy bill. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said late on Tuesday that fares for city commuters will now effectively be frozen, reducing the savings it will see from the fare rises by an estimated 14% or some $180m.

The decision will appease local politicians and voters in Mumbai ahead of local elections that Modi and his allies are expected to win. The largest number of India’s suburban rail commuters are in Mumbai and they were angry at the hike.

“Political realities, political compulsions do rule at some point in India,” said Tirthankar Patnaik, a strategist and economist at Religare Capital Markets.

“The loss of a few crore is nothing compared to getting negative publicity.”

The new government has said the country must cut subsidies which ballooned under the last administration if it is to lower the budget deficit and rebuild confidence in the economy.

But the realities of reducing subsidies - much of which flow to the 70% of Indians living on less than $2 per day

A passenger looks through the window of a parked train at a railway station in the southern Indian city of Kochi REUTERS and are spent on anything from diesel fuel to rice to transport - is far trickier.

Many Indians see the railways, which transport an estimated 25 million people each day, as a service for the “common man,” making fare hikes for travelers particularly sensitive.

A previous plan to raise fares in 2012 and the ensuing backlash cost the then-railways minister his job.

“They’ve at least made a start, so the

people are not as angry as they were anymore,” said Sanjay Raut, a leader in the Shiv Sena party in Maharashtra.

Years of low investment and populist policies to subsidize fares at affordable levels have crimped growth in new railway lines, hindered private investment and limited much-needed improvements in safety. In the latest incident, four people were killed after a train derailed in the state of Bihar yesterday. l

India gains on US in Twitterverse n Agencies India’s Prime minister Narendra Modi has overtaken the White House in number of followers on microblogging platform Twitter, according to data by Twitter-tracking website TwitterCounter.

The data shows that Modi currently has 4,981,574 followers, pulling in ahead of White House’s 4,979,707 followers.

On Facebook, Modi’s official page has over 18 million fans.

Modi is now the fourth most followed world leader on Twitter; in May this year, he was at the sixth position.

The list of most followed people on Twitter is headed by US president Barack Obama, who has 43 million followers. Pope Francis, who maintains nine Twitter accounts for each language, has a total of 14 million followers. Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono comes third with 5 million followers.

A study called Twiplomacy, conducted by PR firm Burson-Marsteller, shows French foreign minister Laurent Fabius and Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt are the best-connected diplomats.

Modi has been quite active on Twitter and has been a big proponent on social media. According to media reports, he has asked ministries to open Facebook and Twitter accounts and ensure that these accounts are updated at least once every fortnight by joint secretary level officers. l

N Korea’s take on new US movie: ‘Act of war’ n AP, Seoul

North Korea has warned that the release of a new American comedy about a plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong Un would be an “act of war.”

If the US government doesn’t block the movie’s release, it will face “stern” and “merciless” retaliation, an unidentified spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in state media yesterday.

He didn’t mention the movie by name but was clearly referring to “The Interview,” which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as a producer and talk-show host who land an exclusive interview with the North Korean dictator and are then asked by the CIA to assassinate him.

The “reckless US provocative insanity” of mobilizing a “gangster filmmaker” to challenge the North’s leadership is triggering “a gust of hatred and rage” among North Korean people and soldiers, the spokesman said, in typically heated propaganda language.

The film’s release would be considered an “act of war that we will never tolerate,” he said.

With no independent press of its own, North Korea often holds foreign governments responsible for the content of their media. Pyongyang regularly warns Seoul to prevent its conservative press from mocking or criticizing its leadership, something banned within authoritarian

New Chinese map gives US: Thai military rule likely to last greater play to South longer than expected n China Sea claims Reuters, Washington

n Reuters, Beijing China has unveiled a new official map of the country giving greater play to its claims on the South China Sea, state media said yesterday, making the disputed waters and its numerous islets and reefs more clearly seem like national territory.

Previous maps published by the government already include China’s claims to most of the South China Sea, but in a little box normally in a bottom corner to enable the rest of the country to fit on the map.

The new, longer map dispenses with the box, and shows continental China along with its self-declared sea boundary in the South China Sea - stretching right down to the coasts of Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines - on one complete map.

“The islands of the South China Sea on the traditional map of China are shown in a cut-away box, and readers cannot fully, directly know the full map of China,” the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said on its website.

Old maps make the South China Sea’s islands appear more like an appendage rather than an integral part of the country, which the new map makes “obvious with a single glance,” the report added.

“This vertical map of China has important meaning for promoting citizens’ better understanding of ... maintaining (our) maritime rights and territorial integrity,” an unnamed official with the map’s publishers told the newspaper.

China’s foreign ministry said people should not read too much into the issuing of the new map.

“The goal is to serve the Chinese public. As for the intentions, I think there is no need to make too much of any association here,” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.

“China’s position on the South China Sea issue is consistent and extremely clear. Our stance has not changed.”

Beijing claims about 90% of the South China Sea, but parts of the potentially energy-rich waters are also subject to claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Tensions have risen sharply in the region in recent months, especially between China and both Vietnam and the Philippines.

China’s positioning of an oil rig in waters claimed by both Beijing and Hanoi last month has lead to rammings at sea between ships from both countries and anti-Chinese violence in Vietnam. l

Military rule in Thailand is likely to last longer than expected and has been more repressive than after the country’s last coup in 2006, a senior US official said.

The official told a congressional hearing Washington was still looking at whether the big regional Cobra Gold military exercise held annually in Thailand could go ahead there next year given the military takeover in May. “Initially, we held out hope that – as happened with the 2006 coup – the military would move relatively quickly to transfer power to a civilian government and move towards free and fair elections,” said Scot Marciel, the US principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia.

“However, recent events have shown that the current military coup is both more repressive and likely to last longer than the last one.”

Marciel said in testimony to the Asia-Pacific subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the coup had put the United States in a difficult position, given that Thailand is a key US ally in Asia.

“The challenge facing the United States is to make clear our support for a rapid return to democracy and fundamental freedoms, while also working to ensure we are able to maintain and strengthen this important friendship

9

Thursday, June 26, 2014

and our security alliance over the long term,” he said.

Marciel said Washington hoped that strong international criticism of the military takeover would lead to an easing of repression and an early return to democracy. He said the United States would continue to call for martial law to be lifted and elections to be held sooner than a vague 15-month timeline laid out by the military government.

‘Recent events have shown that the current military coup is both more repressive and likely to last longer than the last one’ However, he added: “To be honest, it’s very hard to predict how long they are going to stay in power.”

Until there is a return to elected government, “we will not be able to do business as usual,” Marciel said.

Shifting military exercises

Thai Air Force Air Chief Marshall Prajin Juntong played down the significance of any possible move to shift elsewhere the US and Thai-led Cobra Gold exer-

cises, held annually in Chon Buri, a province east of Bangkok.

“The Royal Thai Air Force trains with other international friends, including Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. This should be no problem at all,” Prajin told reporters in Bangkok.

Prajin said he was confident that relations with Washington would return to normal quickly as they did after the 2006 coup, when the United States cut aid to its military ally.

“At that time, the US pressured us too, but after we created understanding the situation returned to normal and we believe it will be like that again this time.”

As required by US law, Washington has frozen $4.7m of security-related assistance since the coup and canceled high-level engagements, some military exercises and training programs for the military and police.

Marciel said Washington had yet to make a decision on Cobra Gold, planned for early next year, which he called “hugely important ... not only for Thailand and the United States, but for the region.” “It’s something we’re looking at. We have a little bit of time to work with.”

The US State Department last week downgraded Thailand to its lowest rank in a survey of countries’ efforts to eliminate trafficking, placing it alongside states such as North Korea, Syria and Uzbekistan. l

North Korea President Kim Jong Un North Korea, where the Kim family is revered.

Trailers have been released for the movie, which is set to hit US theaters in October.

The current leader’s late father, Kim Jong Il, was a noted movie buff, lauded in the North for writing a treatise on film.

He also ordered the kidnapping of prolific South Korean director and producer Shin Sang-ok in 1978, who then spent years making movies for Kim before escaping, Shin said. l

Bombing in Afghanistan kills 4 civilians n AP, Kabul A bomb hidden in a push cart and detonated by remote control near a government building in northern Afghanistan killed four people yesterday while a rocket attack near the Kabul airport wounded four, officials said.

The explosion, which struck early in the morning near the governor’s building in Dawlat Abad district, also wounded 13 civilians, said Sayed Massoud Yaqoubi, the police spokesman in Faryab province.

Meanwhile, Kabul police chief spokesman, Hashmat Stanikzai, said four people were wounded when two rockets struck near Kabul’s international airport overnight.

One of the projectiles hit a house near the airport, wounding four civilians inside it, including a woman, said Stanikzai. The other rocket struck an open area and caused no damage.

Separately, an Interior Ministry statement said three insurgents were killed late Tuesday night as they inadvertently detonated a roadside bomb they were trying to plant in the Domanda district in eastern Khost province.

No one claimed responsibility for the attacks in Faryab and Kabul, but the Taliban have stepped up their offensive against Afghan security forces to undermine the Western-backed government as foreign combat troops prepare to withdraw by the end of the year. l

Brides for sale in Vietnam n AFP, Lao Cai

When Kiab turned 16, her brother promised to take her to a party in a tourist town in northern Vietnam. Instead, he sold her to a Chinese family as a bride. The ethnic Hmong teenager spent nearly a month in China until she was able to escape her new husband, seek help from local police and return to Vietnam.

“My brother is no longer a human being in my eyes – he sold his own sister to China,” Kiab, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told AFP at a shelter for trafficking victims in the Vietnamese border town Lao Cai. Vulnerable women in countries close to China – not only Vietnam but also North Korea, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar – are being forced into marriages in the land of the one-child policy, experts say.

China suffers from one of the worst gender imbalances in the world as families prefer male children. As a result millions of men now cannot find Chinese brides – a key driver of trafficking, according to rights groups.

The Lao Cai shelter currently houses a dozen girls from various ethnic minority groups. All say they were tricked by relatives, friends or boyfriends and sold to Chinese men as brides. “I had heard a lot about trafficking. But I couldn’t imagine it would happen to me,” Kiab said.

As trafficking is run by illegal gangs and the communities involved are poor and remote, official data is patchy and likely

underestimates the scale of the problem, experts say. But rights workers across Southeast Asia say they are witnessing “systematic” trafficking of women into China for forced marriages.

“This problem has largely been swept under the rug by the Chinese authorities,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Tricked and sold Vietnamese girls are sold for up to $5,000 as brides or to brothels, said Michael Brosowski, founder and CEO of Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, which has rescued 71 trafficked women from China since 2007.

“The girls are tricked by people posing as boyfriends, or offering jobs. Those people do this very deliberately, and for nothing other than greed and a lack of human empathy,” he added.

It is likely that many of the girls end up working in brothels, but due to the stigma of being a sex worker they will usually report they were forced into marriage.

Communist neighbours Vietnam and China share a mountainous, remote border stretching 1,350 kilometres, marked primarily by the Nam Thi river and rife with smuggling of goods of all kinds: fruit, live poultry and women.

“It is mostly women who live in isolated and mountainous areas who are being trafficked across the border, because there is no information for us,” said 18-year-old Lang,

from the Tay ethnic minority, who walked across the frontier illegally and was sold to a Chinese family by a friend.

In northern Vietnam, trafficking has become so acute that communities say they are living in fear. “I worry so much about it, as do all the mothers in the villages, but it has happened to a lot of girls already,” said Phan Pa May, a community elder from the Red Dao ethnic minority group.

“I have one daughter. She’s already married, but I’m worried about my granddaughter. We always ask where she is going, and tell her not to talk on the phone or trust anyone.”

The shelter in Lao Cai opened in 2010

and has helped scores of female victims.

May Na, from the Hmong ethnic minority, was 13 when her uncle took her across the border and forced her to marry a Chinese man. “I could not accept it. They left me at home alone and I climbed over the wall and ran away. I was wandering for more than a day, lost, sleeping in the streets, crying.”

Now 16, Na – the eldest of five children – is learning Vietnamese at the Lao Cai centre.

Her uncle has been arrested, she said, but she has chosen not to return to her own family.

However, the government says it has launched education programmes in rural areas, near the border, warning young girls not to trust outsiders. l

Left to Right: H’mong ethnic teenager May Na (R) speaks with Nguyen Tuong Long, a human rights activist. May Na plays a keyboard at a government-run centre

AFP

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Thursday, June 26, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Modi’s chance to send a message

I

ndian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s three-day visit to Dhaka is a golden opportunity for newly-elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send a message of peace and good will to Bangladesh, and allay some of the early concerns that were raised during his campaign.

The timeliness of the Indian foreign minister’s visit is a sign of good intent for our country on behalf of the Indian government.

However, we hope for more concrete results. We would like more evidence that maintaining a good relationship with Bangladesh is in fact a priority for our neighbour.

Much ground is in need of covering when it comes to improving relations between our countries – the Teesta water-sharing deal, ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement, putting an end to border killings, the trouble with issuing on-arrival visas to Bangladeshi nationals, and bilateral trade. Indicators of tangible solutions for these issues would show India’s good intentions towards us.

It is good to know that the Indian foreign minister is meeting up with officials from parties opposing the incumbent government as well. This shows a willingness to consider all sides of these issues.

A lot is at stake between our two countries. We really hope that Swaraj and Modi will not waste this opportunity. Morning shows the day, and we hope this visit early in Modi’s tenure makes a good first impression for both sides.

Much ground is in need of covering when it comes to improving relations between our countries

No impunity for rapists and their friends

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

Is MQM taking root here?

June 20

SME Sad to see a commentator who is proposing concentration camps. That goes beyond the pale, though understandable for a columnist who has shown a marked affinity for a certain political party.

extremely glib and vacuous reference. This is a case of a writer openly peddling hate, blissfully oblivious to the need for a proper investigation into the violence or the need to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice.

VHS Sammy: The author’s opinions, even if they are contentious, do exist among us. His prescription may not strike many of us a good one, but DT still has a job to uphold the many different takes on this hotly debated subject. The op-ed page does not reflect the views of DT, but only that of the writer.

Sammy VHS: Good point; no disagreement on that score with you, VHS.

SME Ronnie: Appalling, yes, surprising, no. And the gentleman has very little idea about the MQM; that much is evident. Even a cursory reading of current news literature would have told him that the MQM represents the educated, urban middle-class professionals, whose grandparents migrated to Karachi from Delhi and UP. A far, far cry from the Biharis who were the underclass in Bihar and northern WB who migrated to the then East Bengal. This is bigotry compounded by basis ignorance wrapped up in laziness.

Ronnie The author’s blatant bigotry, vindictiveness, and advocacy of a more punishing ghettoisation of the Bihari community in Dhaka is wholly unwarranted.

Invoking the criminal complicity of many among a previous generation of Biharis, in the atrocities of Pakistani occupation forces during our war of liberation in ‘71, does not come close to justifying the writer’s intolerance here. He concludes with the righteous “simply unforgivable.” So, he condones all manner of injustice on Biharis today?

The author’s transparent appeal to a certain kind of vengeance on present-day Biharis is absolutely appalling. His curious conflation of Biharis in Bangladesh with the Mohajir immigrant community in Pakistan, indeed their political party MQM, is an

Anon The writer brought up some good points, and I don’t see any tenor of jingoism in it. That said, rule of law must prevail, and no one should be persecuted because of the alleged role of their forefathers during our liberation war. I say that because most of these people are of the post-71 generation and deserve to be given Bangladeshi citizenship. Those we prefer to go to Pakistan should be kept in the designated camps until Pakistan agrees to take them back. As for high crime rates, they stem mainly from poverty and deprivation. Given the opportunity and inclusion into wider society, they will be an asset to the country. One must not discount the entrepreneurial spirit of these people.

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 16 represents T so fill T every time the figure 16 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

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.

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he recent horrifying gang rape of a college student, committed by perpetrators who identified themselves as “journalists,” draws our attention to a troubling social ill. Reportedly, 10 men had entered the victim’s home claiming to be journalists. Not only did they rape her, they also recorded the attack on video.

Violence against women has been a pressing issue in our country, and recent UN studies suggesting that one in every four South Asian men commit some form of violence against women is concerning.

This particular case is made worse because the perpetrators claimed to be journalists, a profession held in high esteem in society. While the rape in itself is most disturbing, the involvement of people who call themselves journalists may hurt the credibility of those who really practice the profession.

The validity of the organisation “Asian Journalists Charitable Society” which the perpetrators claimed to be part of remains a matter of suspicion, given the signature of the OC on its registration papers – something the OC himself has denied.

It is imperative that a thorough investigation is carried out, and the perpetrators are brought to justice. Also, any organisation involved with these crimes must also be investigated immediately.

While our nation speeds towards social development in many other sectors, it is important that sexual violence be stopped. We hope for a speedy and thorough investigation, and for the rapists and their abettors to be brought to book.

Any organisation involved with these crimes must also be investigated immediately

Cracking down on bad food

CROSSWORD

June 21 VHS There is nothing more urgent right now than to clean up our foods.

Bangladesh situation stable, Hamid tells UN chief June 21 Hamidullah Babu No, it is not. The reality is that Bangladesh remains unstable.

Tangled Abstract Fallacy Absolutely fantastic achievement of our beloved troops in UN missions!! We are proud of our armed forces, and must devise strategies to eliminate all anti-liberation forces inside our beloved country!

Formalin detection method unscientific June 21 Vikram Khan The complete anti-formaline drive is an eyewash.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

ACROSS 1 Fish (4) 4 Unites, as metals (5) 9 Monkey (3) 11 Orderly (4) 12 Play for time (5) 13 Biblical weed (4) 14 Notion (4) 15 Measuring instrument (5) 19 Prise (5) 21 Matured (4) 25 Utter wildly (4) 26 Country (5) 28 At all times (4) 29 Dry, of champagne (3) 30 Thick (5) 31 Eft (4)

DOWN 1 Ready money (4) 2 Liable (3) 3 Kingdom (5) 5 Whole (6) 6 Heavy substance (4) 7 Venture (4) 8 Place (5) 10 Musical instrument (5) 16 Church office holders (6) 17 Expel by legal process (5) 18 Was concerned (5) 20 Elevate (5) 22 Donated (4) 23 Level (4) 24 Truth (4) 27 Fresh (3)

Iraq militants take Syria-border post in drive for Caliphate June 22

vihan I really hope the ISIS can be stopped and wiped out.

They’re a serious threat for Islam, the future of the Middle East, Europe, and the rest of the free world

Why can’t Hasina stand in support with the public?

June 20

PEANUTS

Sheuly Haque Sheikh Hasina reiterated that her government is for the development of our country. She claimed that she is working for peace. She also claimed that the BNP government used to foster terrorism. Claims have been made, even by some AL leaders, that the “seven-murder” was a creation of the “big brother” of AL, and Hasina declared she would stand in solidarity with that particular family. But everybody knows by now that that family has been tied to terrorism in Narayangonj. Before we have seen the head of government look out for those in distress and aid them, and punish criminals and terrorists.

Ten people were burnt to death at the Bihari Camp in Mirpur a few days ago, of whom nine were of the same family. There have been allegations that the local AL MP was involved in the politics behind these killings. He did not even visit the place until three days later. Soon after the seven-murder in Narayangonj, and not too long ago, the upazila chairman of Feni was murdered, and it was also alleged that local AL MP was involved. Recently, a Shibir leader was severely tortured and his leg cut off by Chhatra League, and then a hartal was called in Rajshahi.

The country is once again heading towards political instability. At this time, we ask the PM and her party to stand with the people, not with that family, and end the thuggery and murders. The people want to be able to live without being anxious about the future.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Op-Ed

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Thursday, June 26, 2014

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What does India want?

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n Matthew Islam ver since 1971, Bangladesh has been actively bending over backwards to thank, satisfy, and service India’s needs. The narrative of self-sacrificial Indian magnanimity that India very often likes to frame its stories of our bilateral relationship with them in, is utterly insulting, greatly demeaning, untrue, and heavily outdated. It is now very much a mutually beneficial relationship where we provide to India in direct and indirect ways, much more than what it provides to us, and it’s been the case for many years. We have paid off our debt to India for 1971 a long time ago.

The price we continue to pay for an ally in the fight for our freedom long won can’t be perpetual servitude.

It is time for them to act in earnest towards Bangladesh and ease our relationship with them The undercurrent of anti-Indian sentiments within Bangladesh isn’t the sum of all fears of our Muslim ruling class against what they feel is sanctimonious superiority of a majority Hindu nation imposing their will on us at any time they wish. It stems from the perceived lack of balance and respect in our relation with our most prominent neighbour.

I accept that some of the anti-Indianism stems in part from fear whipped up by true, disruptive, evil forces within our country wishing division and

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strife for political gain paid for by zero political capital and resulting from Cold War era alignments, but in truth it is more clear than any time in our history that a majority of this boiling cauldron of emotions within the people of Bangladesh is from the people recognising that Bangladesh always ends up with a bad bargain with anything we negotiate with India on, and the way our people are treated in general. Tell me what other set of nations, in this modern world, claiming to have a special relationship, based on a long shared cultural heritage with each other, still kill and torture each others citizens on their borders regularly?

Even in this dubious exchange, India has gotten away by doing far more to our citizens than we have theirs.

Lip service by India in recognising Bangladesh’s contribution to the Indian economy and our high priority in their list of neighbourly concerns, while flattering, never really materialises in anything of substance for us. It doesn’t even hold enough goodwill to stop torture and killing in the border zone of our brothers and sisters by their soldiers, let alone progress in other matters.

I recognise that we do, shamelessly, at times benefit from the minuscule, slowly activating financial aid here or a token gesture there, but nothing concrete has happened in our “special relationship” for more than a decade now.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s gestures to India are always welcoming (despite home-grown criticism against it), and I couldn’t agree more with her and our government’s overtures to New Delhi over the past decade because they are our largest neighbours with diplomatic clout worldwide, but when was the last time that India gave us a reason to cheer for it?

Entertainment and cricket don’t count.

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Make it flow easier n Mamun Rashid

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edia is spicy again. Bangladeshi depositors have reportedly put in SF372m in Swiss banks. People are making comments about- illegal money transfers, capital flight, rise in political corruption, money laundering, failures of the central bank or law enforcing agencies, weak governance, and even under-invoicing and over-invoicing in cross-border trade.

UNDP sources were quoted to show that each year, an average of $800m went outside Bangladesh illegally between 1970 and 2010. A US-based source showed, on average $1.6bn was sent out of Bangladesh each year between 2002 and 2011.

Having worked in many countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa, I am more than confident this amount of money is not all – Bangladeshis have larger sums on money in banks in Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Toronto, or the British Virgin Islands. This is expected from any developing economy with 30-80% of “black money” flowing around in the “white economy,” weak governance, low accountability, and unclear foreign exchange regulations.

In fact, the entire concept of “private banking” or “wealth management” grew in the global banks on this basis.

The individuals or families with $5m or above in deposits are being provided “extraordinary” services by these “private banking” folks or relationship managers.

If you attend any social program in Dhaka city’s posh areas, at least 10-15% of the people there would be holders of foreign passports, or they will at least enjoy “residency” status in Singapore, the UAE, Malaysia, the

UK, Canada, or the USA. The number of Bangladeshi executives joining international jobs is increasing every day. None of them should face any problem in depositing money with any bank in the world or in carrying money abroad. None of the media reports mentioned how many of these Bangladeshi “large depositors” abroad stay in Bangladesh.

The size of our external sector is almost 60% of the $137bn economy. Bangladesh entrepreneurs need easy-flowing money All non-citizens or non-foreign passport holders are being identified as Bangladeshis. On any given day, there are more people studying abroad, traveling abroad, or working abroad.

Bangladeshi parents with sons and daughters abroad are queuing up for immigrant and non-immigrant visas in the North American or European embassies every day. The queue is getting longer every week.

The size of Bangladesh’s external sector is almost 60% of the $137bn economy. Bangladesh entrepreneurs need easy-flowing money to settle their international obligations, and more importantly take benefits of any “episodic gains” in the international markets. Our present regulatory regime, for obvious reasons, can’t entertain any kind of quick money transfer abroad. I am convinced large business

BIGSTOCK

“Friendship to all and malice to none” is truly an honourable foreign policy punchline from our side, but India has yet to deliver on its promises to us that won’t make that punchline look like it’s forcibly abused constantly.

A diplomatic relationship is anything but a one-way street. The imbalances will always exist and in a relationship forged from blood and war, paranoia is a true enemy to lasting peace, so why isn’t India doing more?

Why does India’s inability to deliver promises made to the Bangladeshi people four decades ago still linger in the cabinet behind excuses of internal political processes? We know India can deliver, yet it doesn’t.

The moderate secular voices and apologists of the post 1971 “special relationship” in Bangladesh and India continue to press for more substantial exchanges between the nations as there is always the fear that festering wounds not closed will be reason for unnecessary amputation. To keep asking us to give and give, and not giving anything in return is horrendously unfair, and people in Bangladesh are fed up with it. India knows this and chooses not to act. This ambivalence is what makes even the moderates angry in the country to not even take into account those with a deep suspicion of India’s motives towards Bangladesh.

So as Sushma Swaraj visits Bangladesh, she must enunciate clearly what India wants and what it’s willing to do to get them. We must tell her in no unequivocal terms that Prime Minister Modi’s government must now deliver on the promises made. There has to be an end to pending issues clouding the future of this relationship. India has to positively and proactively move on issues such as Teesta and the Land Boundary Agreement, and deliver where the Congress-led government miserably failed.

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houses in Bangladesh need more facilitation from the government agencies as they need to participate more engagingly in the global supply chain or take advantage of global market benefits. More and more Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are looking forward to establishing their businesses abroad. I know of a few large commodity traders in Bangladesh having to put up cash deposits with foreign banks to obtain “workable trade lines” to participate in global commodity auctions. They needed this in order to participate in the “commodity spot markets” offering better bargains. Establishing letters of credit through Bangladeshi banks would have benefitted them.

I had to tutor the anti-corruption task force during the 2007 caretaker government in their investigations into financial crimes. There was a reported case of a few Bangladeshi entrepreneurs settling $30m in payments from their accounts abroad for buying a “landmark tea company” in assets in Bangladesh.

A colonel asked me how this could happen. I told him some very good tea gardens were on sale by a European owner. A few Bangladeshi owners gained the capability to buy, and more importantly, run those profitably. The seller was very reluctant to sell to the locals. Knowing the Bangladesh exchange control, they not only asked for a higher price, they wanted the money to be settled outside and as soon as possible.

I asked the colonel what he would have done if he wanted Bangladeshi owners to buy the local assets of a top-notch European operator. He was silent and afterwards blamed the East India Company’s delineated rules and regulations that are still in practice in Bangladesh.

If we want Bangladesh to move on and for Bangladesh’s economy to march forward, we need to put in our coins for continuous reform of the “regulatory frame-work.” We need to make them keep pace with the changed and changing world. We need our business community to contribute more in national wealth building. We need to help them participate more in the global supply chain and ensure we pick up gains through global market movements. We need our regulators and politicians to be more driven by their heads, not hearts. Private sector-owned media is moving forward, how about the erstwhile East European-minded policy planners? l Mamun Rashid is a business professor and financial sector entrepreneur.

Swaraj must make India’s intentions clear Any attempts by Swaraj to avoid contentious issues and moves to make progress on inadequate infrastructural cooperation must be met with persistent demands from our side to first make progress on matters that truly affect our friendship in reality. The rejection of a visa waiver program by the Ministry of Home Affairs in India is not an encouraging sign, so Swaraj must enlighten us as to why that has happened.

Concern about illegal migration or national security of India is not a valid excuse because it is a separate issue. The new visa regime would have

REUTERS

allowed for more people-to-people contact and that could have worked greatly to India’s benefit in addressing our people’s fears about India’s intentions and allaying their own fears too.

Why has India bracketed the Bangladeshi people in the same box as Pakistan and China? If it is serious about increasing cooperation and believes in friendship with us, India must learn to recognise the value of a friend and act like it, and not let fear cloud its judgment as clearly it is not clouding our own PM’s goodwill and judgment on working with them.

We can only hope that India recognises that it is time for them to act in earnest towards Bangladesh and ease our relationship with them, failing which, both our nations stand to lose a great deal more than convenient travel regulations. We have done the best we could for decades, and now it is on India to show us that this relationship truly matters to them. l Matthew Islam is a Barrister-at-Law, a textile businessman and a columnist at the Dhaka Tribune. He can be contacted on Twitter via @matthewislam.

A river runs through it n Faruque Hasan

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he external affairs minister of the newly elected, truly Hindu nationalist BJP government of Bharat (BJP prefers “Bharat” to “India”), Sushma Swaraj, is paying a three-day official visit to Bangladesh currently. There is every possibility that her agenda will include the socalled illegal Bengali-speaking Muslim immigrants in Assam, exchange of enclaves between the two countries, Teesta River water-sharing, transit through Bangladesh territory, Tetulia, and others. During the talks with Sushma Swaraj, the Bangladeshi government could also raise the question of India’s mega river-linking project, which will further aggravate the situation in our country.

It is nice to know that in India, dumping waste in the Ganges is going to be made a punishable offence.

According to a proposed law, spitting and throwing garbage in the holy river will also have legal repercussions.

Sanitation of the holy river was one of the main agendas of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign during the Indian parliament elections this year.

The Ganges is a celestial river. In fact she is a goddess, the daughter of Lord Brahma and one of the three consorts of Lord Vishnu. Once upon a time, King Sagara sacrificed a horse, but the sacred horse disappeared suddenly as Indra, king of the gods, hid it in the hermitage of Kapil Muni. King Sagara asked his 60,000 sons, who were haughty and wicked, to find the whereabouts of the horse and bring it back. The princes searched far and wide, and finally found the horse tied next to where the sage was performing his penance. They accused the sage of being a thief. Kapil Muni, rudely disturbed during his moment of penance, opened his eyes, glared at the princes, and reduced them all to ashes.

Since the princes had died in sin, their souls were unable to enter heaven. The pious Bhageerath, the great grandson of King Sagara, upon ascending the throne, discussed with the great sages on how to absolve his ancestors of their sin. He was told that only by cleansing the ashes of the deceased in the Ganges would the restless souls be allowed entry to heaven.

The king prayed to Shiva and Brahma to help him to bring goddess Ganges to Earth. Pleased by the king’s determination, Brahma asked his daughter to go down to earth.

Lord Shiva caught her thunderous

mighty fall on Earth in his locks. Being released from the locks of Shiva, Ganges then followed King Bhageerath, washing through his ancestors’ ashes, cleansing them off their sins, and letting them enter the heavens.

When Lord Shiva liberated the Ganges from his locks, the river started flowing, her water ripping and dancing as she carved out a path for herself. It is a great sin obstructing and diverting the free flow of the goddess by constructing dams like Farakka across her. This sin is greater than the sin of spitting and dumping waste in her.

India is currently planning a mega river-linking project which will connect big rivers such as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and others, with one another to divert their waters. This is another great sin in the making.

Brahmaputra refers to the son of the Lord Brahma. According to “Kalika Purana,” Parashurama, one of the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu, brought down the river Brahmaputra from the lake Manswaravar, through Tibet, Arunachal, and Assam to Bangladesh with his axe. Diverting its flow will be another great sin since it goes against the will of the Vishnu avatar, Parashurama.

It is a sin obstructing and diverting the free flow of the goddess by constructing dams like Farakka

There has been hue and cry in Assam about illegal Bengali-speaking Muslim immigrants there coming in from Bangladesh. During his campaign run, Modi supported Assam’s claim and pledged that these illegal immigrants would be sent back to Bangladesh when his BJP government came to power. In fact, the Indian state of Assam has been harbouring, though unwillingly, a number of Bengali-speaking Muslims on its soil for a while.

The British imperial government transferred the Sylhet of Bengal to Assam in 1874. On July 6 and 7, 1947 a referendum was held in Sylhet on whether the district would join East Bengal (Pakistan) or remain with Assam (India). In the referendum, Sylhet voted in favour of East Bengal, though in Karimganj, a subdivision of Sylhet,

the margin of votes in favour of East Bengal was narrow. Karimganj was (and still is) a overwhelmingly Bengali-speaking Muslim majority subdivision (now a district). But the Bengali-speaking Muslims there voted in favour of joining India due to the deep influence of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind – a Muslim religious organisation – on them, which was against the creation of Pakistan. After the referendum, the Redcliffe Commission gave Karimganj to Assam, though Ahomes (Assamese people) were not happy with getting that subdivision as they always wanted to, and still want to, have a monolingual and culturally homogenous Assam.

Besides Karimganj, the Hailakandi subdivision of Cachar district of Assam has a Bengali-speaking Muslim majority population. So it does not necessarily mean that a Bengali-speaking Muslim in Assam is an illegal immigrant.

Top officials in the Indian government are hinting that India and Bangladesh may ratify a long-pending Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) during Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Bangladesh.

They say India is also in favour of an early resolution of the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement. But in return, they want Bangladesh to grant India a land passage from rest of India to its northeast through Bangladesh territory, Tetulia – a 4km corridor in Bangladesh which will reduce the road travel from the rest of India to northeast by over 85km. In this regard, they cite the example of the Tin Bigha Corridor, with a length of 0.53km which India has granted to Bangladesh.

In the talk, Bangladesh could raise the subject that, during monsoon, India suddenly opens up the gates of Gajaldoba Dam on the Teesta River, which inundates a vast tract of land in Bangladesh.

The LBA aims to redraw the international boundary between India and Bangladesh by exchanging land enclaves and areas of adverse possession on either side. India stands to lose about as little as 400 acres to Bangladesh if the agreement is signed, but this agreement will fulfill the aspiration of the people living in these enclaves.

We hope, with the visit of Sushma Swaraj to Bangladesh, the relationship between the two neighbouring countries will be closer, based on proper understandings between them. l Faruque Hasan is a freelance contributor.

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Richi Solaiman’s show in ten channels simultaneously n Entertainment Desk

Transformers releases in Dhaka on international release date n Entertainment Desk Michael Bay’s fourth “Transformers” film hits the theatres all over the world along with the Star Cineplex, Dhaka this Friday, bringing with it all of the ferocity of a badly injured Autobot with his back against the wall.

A sequel to “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” the film takes place four years after the invasion of Chicago. Like

its predecessors, the film is directed by Michael Bay and executive produced

by Steven Spielberg. The screenplay is written by Ehren Kruger, who served as screenwriter since “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” This is the first film in the series to feature an entirely new cast of human characters and the first to feature the Dinobots.

The show belongs to Optimus Prime, his allies and their enemies while the

human heroes are played by Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor.

The film clocks in at around two hours and 45 minutes, an astonishing runtime that’s likely to turn off some moviegoers, and excite others. Moviegoers itching to see nonstop explosions and slow-motion action are definitely getting their money’s worth when they pay to see a three-hour “Transformers” flick. l

During Ramadan, actor Richi Solaiman will be present in ten TV channels simultaneously anchoring a culinary programme tilted “Knor Taste a Twist.”

The popular small screen actor thinks that it is an opportunity to present herself differently to the audience. She revealed that she had cherished a wish to anchor a programme from which she can learn something.

Richi, who loves cooking for her family and friends said: “I enjoyed anchoring the programme immensely as I got to learn new techniques and how to cook different dishes.”

Now Richi is busy working in a number of single-episode plays for this Eid. Three of those are directed by Mahfuz Ahmed, two by Imraul Rafat and one by Chayanika Chowdhury. l

Drama Oboseshe to air today

Ataur Rahman performs on his birthday celebration

n Entertainment Desk Single episode drama “Oboseshe” will be aired today on ATN Bangla at 11pm. Written by Lutfunnesa and directed by Mostafa Wahid Raza, the TV play casts actors Syed Hasan Imam, Doli Johur, Abdul Kader, Simana, Said Babu, Rina Rahman and others.

Orin is the youngest daughter of her parents and is adored by everyone in her family. Her volatile nature is quite opposite to that of her elder sister, who is a university lecturer and has a gentle and calm temperament. Orin is a firm believer of “no string attached” relationships and juggles more than one boyfriend at the same time through phone and facebook. After receiving complaints about her behaviour, her parents and uncle become anxious and makes a plan to deviate her from her usual routine with men. l

A scene from Oboseshe

Brac University Film Club’s event honoured Zahid Hasan by organising an event ‘Meet the Maestro’ on June 24. The actor talked about how to nourish acting skill, stardom, social life of celebrities, manage a public and personal life and the fame that comes with it. Zahid gave a short personal history of his trajectory from young dreamer, through stage actor, to onscreen trendsetter and a presentation on some of the now famous characters that he has played.

Fans observe Jackson’s 5th death anniversary n

Entertainment Desk

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, in a desperate search for sleep as he prepared for a comeback tour that he hoped would pull him out of deep debt and restore his reputation as the world’s top entertainer.

Events of the past five years revealed how that desperation ultimately killed Jackson.

Michael Jackson fans placed flowers on his grave at the Forest Lawn cemetery just outside Los Angeles this week to mark the fifth anniversary of his death, and gathered at Jackson’s star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame at 10pm to sing, light candles and display flags from around the world. Die-hard Jackson fans staged a flash mob on Sunday.

Jackson fans in the Netherlands gathered at Scheveningen Beach to commemorate his death by lighting lanterns.

Just last month, the singer moonwalked across a Las Vegas stage in a nationally televised hologram performance. A new album recently debuted at No 2 on music charts and a traveling Cirque du Soleil show based on Jackson’s songs has logged nearly 500 performances worldwide.

n Shadma Malik

Eli Wallach dies at 98 n Entertainment Desk Eli Wallach, a gravelly voiced actor who appeared alongside giants such as Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe in “The Misfits,” Clint Eastwood in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and Al Pacino in “The Godfather: Part III,” died Tuesday, his daughter Katherine told The New York Times. He was 98.

A recognisable screen presence since the 1950s, Wallach’s beginnings were anything but star-studded. He was born December 7, 1915, and grew up Jewish in a mostly Italian Brooklyn neighborhood.

He received an Honorary Academy Award at the second annual Governors Awards, presented on November 13, 2010, for “a lifetime’s worth of indelible screen characters.”

His Broadway debut came at the end of 1945 in the drama “Skydrift.”

The following year he joined the American Repertory Theater, performing Shakespeare, Shaw and even “Alice in Wonderland,” in which he played a duck and the Two of Spades. His stage career took off in the early ’50s.

In 2005, the actor released his wittily titled autobiography, “The Good, the Bad and Me: In My Anecdotage.”

Wallach and Jackson had three children, Peter David, Roberta and Katherine. l

At the concluding ceremony of the theatre fest on the occasion of Ataur Rahman’s 73rd birthday, a recitation by the director was held on June 24 at the Experimental Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

After a talk by Mamunur Rashid and Ashraful Alam, Ataur took to the stage and began his performance. The entertainer gave the audience three versions of a segment from Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth.” First he presented the original form, then the translation by Syed Shamsul Haque and finally a colloquial

We actors are like beggars: Rani n Entertainment Desk Bollywood diva Rani Mukerji would love to be a part of a women-oriented movie but feels that actors are like beggars as they can’t choose much.

Rani, who is known for portraying strong roles in her films, is now playing a police officer in upcoming “Mardaani.”

“It is great that female-oriented films are doing well. I wish many more women centric films would be made so that producers get inspired,” Rani told reporters at the trailer launch of “Mardaani.”

“We actors are like beggars. We never choose, but are chosen by creative people, including directors and producers. I will take up the subjects that are interesting and powerful, women-centric roles in particular. I hope there will be better offers,” she said.

Rani is quite excited about her next release and says that the movie is close to her heart.

“This film is extremely close to us. It is the way of awakening the spirit of ‘Mardaani.’ I learned about the Queen of Jhansi and her strength at a very impressionable age. Later I realised that her strength lies in her spirit and not in her physique.

We women are descendants of Shakti. Through this film we are talking about the inner strength of women so that no one takes undue advantage of them,” she said.

“Women of Kolkata are known to be strong.

My inspiration came from all the strong ladies of my family and lady police officers in real life. I hope this film works,” she added.

Noakhali version that was enjoyed by the audience as the hall broke out in applaud and laughter.

Praising the iconic littérateur Syed Shamsul Haque, Ataur read a verse from one of his poems. Following the recital, a documentary on Ataur Rahman’s life and work was screened which showcased his career in theatre, his tours abroad, and sequences of his popular productions.

At the end of the programme, Ataur gave a theatrical reading of a paragraph from Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” which was well received by the audience.

SADIA MARIUM

TODAY IN DHAKA Exhibition

Second Sight Time: 12pm – 8pm The Daily Star Centre, 64-65, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Time Line Time: 11am – 8pm Galleri Kaya House 20,Sector 4, Uttara 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 Shadow of Concave Time: 12pm – 8pm Gallery Shilpangon,

Theatre

Naam-Gotrohin

By Nagorik Natya Sampradaya Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm National Theatre, Shilpakala Academy, Shegun Bagicha

Sp rt DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 26, 2014

David Luiz: Brazil’s unsung watchman from Brasilia, Brazil Every footballer has a unique style to exhibit himself, but all of them surely do not catch our attention. But there are always some who make his presence felt to all and Brazil center back David Luiz surely tops that list by virtue of his distinctive style both on and off the ball.

The media personnels sitting in the World Cup stadium can see the flash pictures of the teams’ dressing room ahead of a game courtesy of the dedicated channel and one would come across inevitably with the ever-smiling face of Luiz inside Brazil’s dressing room. Even in the press conference, Luiz’s smile never ceases to vanish from his face and his cool look hardly fails to draw everyone’s attention.

With an upright stance and trademark curly hair which his teammates think is weird, he is bound to catch everyone’s attention.

But in the field, his control of the ball is nothing short of amazing. During the practice sessions he juggles the ball with both feet, remains upright and combines power and gentle touch on the ball impeccably. His calm as well as confident approach to the ball and to the opponent attackers are a delight to watch during match if you are a Brazil fan.

Luiz’s superb form last season for English giant Chelsea earned him a direct entry into Brazil coach Scolari’s first XI and needless to say, he has since established himself as the mainstay of the Selacao’s defense beside Thiago Silva with whom he will play next season at PSG. However, despite being burdened with such a huge responsibility, he hardly seems fazed by it and continues his job without making any fuss.

He has inflicted a good number of vital interceptions in all the three games so far. Against Croatia, he took a shot

Holder Murray hands lesson to college star

in his chest to deny Ante Rebic while goalie Julio Caesar was on the ground.

Against Cameroon, Aboubakar played an excellent through ball and David Luiz had to throw himself desperately in front of Choupo-Moting’s cross. He had an average of 4.1 clearances per game for Chelsea last season and based on his form in the World Cup so far, it would not be an exaggeration at all to say his club form has surely continued for the national team.

Luiz’s importance to Brazil’s attack is also worth a mention not only because he wins the ball back, but because he also sends a lot of long balls to the attackers which play a vital role in initiating counter attack and this quality of his makes him a priceless and indispensable tool in Brazil’s pursuit of ‘Hexa’. Therefore, it was not a surprise to see him playing a major role behind the goals Fred and Fernandinho scored against Cameroon. He himself came agonizingly close to scoring a goal with his head against Mexico. Whenever Brazil wins a corner, Luiz is inevitably there in opponent’s penalty area to maximize his team’s chances of scoring.

At the center of the defense, he is always communicating with the teammates and directing them to take the positions with the trademark smile.

He also celebrated wildly after Neymar scored the equalizer against Croatia and looked shell shocked after he and Thiago Silva failed to prevent the low cross of Nyom which was eventually tapped in by Matip. The distress was evident in his face as he gave a helpless look to Silva. He is an obedient Scolari man too. Against Cameroon Scolari hurled some hot words towards him because of his ambitious overlap which could have cost Brazil. Luiz just nodded in acknowledgement of his mistake and raised his hands signaling apology.

Currently aged just 27, David Luiz is undoubtedly destined to have a great career with the Selecaos. l

AFP

I gnash my teeth As others munch In some ways, Suarez’s biting incident is like Ciro Immobile’s name. There is almost nothing you can write about it that does not seem passé. The Italian forward’s title lends itself only to lame jokes. On the other hand, there are many serious moral questions raised

by Suarez Lecter. Unfortunately or fortunately even the serious points will suggest themselves readily to those who have never had a drop of iodine in their lives. There is no fresh perspective to be provided. The whole affair stinks. One remotely positive aspect of it all is Suarez’s choice of fare. I am glad it was Chielini and not Pirlo. If Andrea played his last game in Italian blue with nothing to show for it except Luis’ incisor marks, I might have had to bite someone myself.

Of course the real conundrum is where do I, and millions of Liverpool fans like me, go from here? I think that that is the dilemma, which has, consciously or not, plagued humanity since yesterday. Small people, like Manchester United and Chelsea fans, when faced with mental stress make crude jokes, and we have all seen the droll Suarez memes. They provide neither entertainment nor elucidation.

We are all on our own Kopites.

Whatever course of action and thought we choose from hereon will be solely ours. It is a friendless thankless task.

The world wants us to walk down the wrong path. There is some solace in the

knowledge that at least we will never walk alone.

Tough as the question is I must answer it. What do I do? Of course I could be bullish about the whole thing. I could try to argue that Suarez really did not bite. He butted and because of his unreasonably large fangs it looked like a bite. I could say that whatever minor transgression, they pale in comparison to the magic that Suarez produces on the pitch. I could claim that all legends have their demons, and that is what adds to their mystique. But this course of action seems a little too Manchester United post Cantona kung fu to me.

Lesser clubs can crown a goon king but that is not our way. No Kop should ever defend what Suarez did. Especially given that he has done it for the second time. It would be sheer public relations madness to come to his defense now (given that I made my bread in marketing communications, cold calculation is a moral imperative).

Here is what I WILL do for now. I will take one last bite of humble pie, which I have been consuming at an ungodly rate since yesterday. Then I will start scouting the world for a new striker. Given that Suarez is among the five best players in the world, Liverpool will not find a pound for pound replacement, and anyone who has for a second smirked thinking dog pound has been cursed by me. Whoever comes in Suarez’s place will reduce the bite in Liverpool’s attack.

But the show, however less entertaining now, must go on.

In the long run, I will shave my head, don a monk’s attire, and recede from this material world. I am spent. It took

13

every bit of mental and emotional content I had to stay with Liverpool as they clawed and bit their way back to the top. I was expecting to enjoy a few years of being a winner. In all likelihood, we will be knocked off the perch that we so nearly reached last season, and spend year in mid-table purgatory. I simply do not have what it takes to do the whole “once more to the breach” thing again. Not after being betrayed by a man I called a fine gentleman and my brother in this very series of articles.

Not after being betrayed by fate, which let Gerrard slip against Chelsea and inadvertently pass the ball to, OH GOD WHY, Suarez against Uruguay. Not after feeling like I have been castrated for my passions. I am too old, too tired to deal with this. Goodbye cruel world. You have been good, sometimes. Istanbul in May 2005 was particularly special.

Goodbye…

Glossary of Terms: Kop, Kopite: Fans of Liverpool Football Club, Suarez: Luis Suarez, Uruguay and Liverpool striker who bites people, Chiellini: The man he bit, Pirlo: Andrea Pirlo, the man Suarez did not bite, and a footballing legend who played his last game for Italy this World Cup, Cantona: Eric Cantona, ex France and Manchester United player, who once kicked a fan while playing for, you have guessed it, Manchester United, Kung Fu: A martial art form used by Manchester United players to kick their own fans. l Farshed Mahmud made some ‘beautiful changes’ to this article and is thus credited as a co-author. Sub-editors of the world rejoice your efforts are worth it.

Last-gasp Morrison rescues a point for Abahani A late goal from Ghanaian striker Osei Morrison rescued Abahani in a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Muktijoddha Sangsad in the Nitol-Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League at the Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni Stadiun in Gopalganj yesterday.

Enamul put the home side ahead from a penalty in the stroke of halftime before Morrison equalised the margin three minutes into injury time.

The draw means both the sides are unbeaten in their last eight matches with the Sky Blues sitting second in the points table with 39 points from 21 matches while the All Reds remained at fourth with 34 points. l

Defending champion Andy Murray handed out a tough Wimbledon lesson to Slovenian grasscourt rookie Blaz Rola on Wednesday as Li Na and Venus Williams struck early blows for the thirty-somethings.

Murray, the third seed, coasted to a 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 mauling of 23-year-old Rola who was playing just the 10th match of his career having only graduated from university in Ohio last year.

The British star eased to victory in just 84 minutes, hitting seven aces and 27 winners against the world number 92 and goes on to face either Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic or Spanish 27th seed Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the last 16.

“It’s his first year on grass so it was tough for him. But he has a good game and he’ll keep improving,” said Murray.

“I took care of my serve for the majority of the match and I played well. If you can finish matches as quick as possible then that’s better in the long run.”

French Open semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis became the highest ranked man to lose so far when the 12th seed went down to Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

Stakhovksy, who shocked Roger Federer in the second round in 2013, next faces either France’s Jeremy Chardy or Australia’s Marinko Matosevic.

The colourful Gulbis then denied he had lost all of his $500,000 winnings from the French Open in a Riga casino.

Australian Open champion Li Na, a three-time quarter-finalist at the All England Club, swept to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Austria’s Yvonne Meusburger, hitting 33 winners to just four from the world number 38.

Second seed Li, 32, goes on to face Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic. She said she was unconcerned about her 21 unforced errors. l

Kamal set to become ICC president Former Bangladesh Cricket Board president AHM Mostafa Kamal is all set to take the chair as the International Cricket Council (ICC) president on June 29 in Melbourne upon conclusion of the oraganisation’s six-day annual conference. Kamal left the country on Tuesday night to join the ICC conference.

Kamal will become the first Bangladeshi and fourth Asian to take charge of the high-ranked post in the world apex body. The three previous ICC presidents from the sub-continent were previously Jagmohan Dalmiya (India), Ehsan Mani (Pakistan) and Sharad Pawar (India).

According to the agenda of the ICC conference, the Full Council is expected to approve amendments to the ICC

constitution which were agreed upon by the ICC Board in its meeting on February 8 in Singapore.

“There will be no formalities here as the election for the president and vice-president was held simultaneously,” Kamal said to the media before leaving Dhaka.

Alongside Kamal, former Board of Control for Cricket in India president Narayanaswami Srinivasan will take over as the first-ever chairman of the ICC on June 29.

Meanwhile, Kamal also expressed his disappointment over Bangladesh’s recent performance on the field and said, “Our team’s current performance has not been satisfactory. Leading cricket-playing nations show less interest to play us. So, we have no alternative ahead of us but to execute better field performance.” l

Uncertainty looms over top-flight cricket The 2014-15 Dhaka Premier League (DPL) cricket season, scheduled to begin from October 10, is likely to be postponed again after Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan raised objections over its scheduling in a meeting held on Monday.

The 2013-14 season of the prestigious 50-over tournament in the country was overlooked and a vital season was lost but Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis chairman AJM Nasiruddin was hardly concerned as he informed, “I do not know what a season is. What is a season? There is nothing called a season here. Just like the [Dhaka Premier] league began in September last year, it will start in October this year.” However, the one that did take place last year was that of the 2012-13 season, which

began a year late.

Recently, the BCB supremo raised objections over the start of the 201415 DPL as Bangladesh are slated to play Test matches at home against Zimbabwe in November. As a result, Nazmul is willing to start the National Cricket League (NCL), a four-day firstclass competition, ahead of the series to give the cricketers some muchneeded practice.

Meanwhile, a few clubs have already signed cricketers for the upcoming season as the official players’ transfer was scheduled to be held on August 4-5 but the officials who were present in Monday’s meeting changed the cricket calender.

After attending the meeting, former captain and BCB game development committee chairman Khaled Mahmud informed that they are yet to take a

final decision over the scheduling of the DPL. “We have discussed the calendar but we are yet to take any decision. But as of this moment, we are planning to hold the NCL ahead of the DPL if Zimbabwe arrive in November,” said Mahmud.

“The series against Zimbabwe will start with the Test matches so we thought that if we can start the NCL ahead of the series it will help the preparation of the cricketers but if Zimbabwe do not come then the dates of starting the DPL will not change,” added Mahmud.

According to the previous schedule, Bangladesh were scheduled to face Zimbabwe in a Test series at home after the DPL. Following the Zimbabwe series, the NCL was slated to take place which would have been followed by the 2015 ICC World Cup. l

14

Sp rt DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 26, 2014

5 FACTS ON SUAREZ

Suarez was dubbed ‘the cannibal of Ajax’ after he bit PSV Einhoven’s Otman Bakkal shoulder in a Dutch league game in November 2010, months after a controversial handball at the World Cup. The referee did not immediately see the incident, but Suarez was later handed a seven game ban.

In April 2013, Suarez bit Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic’s arm in a Premier League for Liverpool. He was given a 10 game suspension for that offence.

Fifa probe Suarez bite furore Troubled Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez looks almost certain to miss the rest of the World Cup after Fifa opened disciplinary proceedings against him following an evening of accusations he bit an Italian defender.

A furious Giorgio Chiellini said he had been bitten by Suarez during the South Americans’ 1-0 Group D victory at the World Cup on Tuesday, and Reuters photographs showed what appeared to be bite marks on his shoulder.

Pictures also showed Suarez sitting on the ground holding his teeth immediately after the incident. The probe means Suarez, twice previously banned for biting, looks set to be hit with another lengthy suspension despite escaping punishment during the match.

“Fifa can confirm that disciplinary proceedings have been opened against

‘These things happen in WC’ Luis Suarez on Tuesday shrugged off accusations that he bit Italian opponent Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup saying “these things happen.”

The Uruguayan star did not explicitly confirm or deny that he bit the Italian in the match in Natal. But he told Uruguayan television that Chiellini had barged him during their clash in his country’s 1-0 victory that took Uruguay into the World Cup last 16.

“These are just things that happen out on the pitch. It was just the two of us inside the area and he bumped into me with his shoulder, and that’s how my eye got like this as well,” he told Channel 10 television pointing to his eye.

“There are things that happen on the pitch and you should not make such a big deal out of them.” l

the player Luis Suarez of Uruguay,” the world soccer body said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Fifa said Suarez and the Uruguayan soccer association had until 5 p.m.

Brasilia time (2000 GMT) on Wednesday to “provide their position and any documentary evidence they deem relevant”.

Fifa is probing what it called an apparent breach of two articles of the organisation’s disciplinary code. One covers infringements and the other offensive behaviour and fair play.

Suarez and Chiellini clashed in the Italian penalty area 10 minutes from the end of the match which sealed Uruguay’s progression and Italy’s elimination from the tournament.

Chiellini furiously pulled open his shirt to show the mark to the referee, while a Uruguayan player attempted to calm the situation and pull the shirt back in place over the mark.

The Italians were still complaining about it when Uruguay’s Diego Godin scored with an 81st-minute header to secure the win.

“It was ridiculous not to send Suarez off,” Chiellini told Rai TV. “It is clear, clear-cut and then there was the obvious dive afterwards because he knew very well that he did something that he shouldn’t have done.”

Suarez contested the Italian’s version of events, however.

“Those are situations that happen on the pitch. We were both just there inside the area. He shoved me with his shoulder, and my eye got left like that also,” he said in reference to Chiellini’s mark.

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said he did not see the incident, and complained that the forward was being persecuted.

“It seems there is this animosity toward him and he is being persecuted by past events,” a visibly agitated Tab-

arez said when repeatedly being asked about the alleged bite. “There are people hiding behind the tree waiting for something to happen.”

Liverpool’s Suarez was banned for 10 games last year after biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League match and in 2010 he was suspended for seven games for a similar offence against PSV Eindhoven’s Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax Amsterdam.

He missed Uruguay’s World Cup semi-final against the Netherlands four years ago after being sent off for a handball on the line that denied Ghana what would have been a match-winning goal in the final minute of extra time.

Fifa’s rules allow the use of video or “any other evidence” to retrospectively punish players.

Fifa’s disciplinary code sets a maximum ban of 24 matches or two years, but the longest suspension Fifa has

Suarez’s tough childhood to blame, says sports psychologist Uruguay’s volatile star Luis Suarez’s propensity for biting opponents stems from his under-privileged childhood, a leading sports psychologist told the BBC. The 27-year-old Liverpool striker -who has been banned for lengthy periods for two previous biting incidents -- is alleged to have bitten Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini in their World Cup Group D game on Tuesday.

Governing body Fifa are investigating the incident and if found guilty of biting he could face a ban of up to 24 matches.

“The formative years of people’s development do contribute to their personality. If you look at his history,

Suarez had a fairly hard upbringing (he was one of seven children born into poverty), which would have been fighting for survival - he was streetwise,” Dr Tom Fawcett from Salford University told the BBC on Wednesday.

Fawcett claimed that nobody should be surprised at the incident which has yet to be proven and which was not seen

by Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez.

TV images showed Suarez bending his head down onto Chiellini’s shoulder and then immediately afterwards sitting on the ground fiddling with his teeth.

“If it’s happened before, it’ll happen again,” Fawcett said. “Despite all the help, he’s going to do it again.”

Fawcett said that Suarez required

Suarez bite leaves gamblers winning

more help than just spending some time undergoing therapy with people such as him as the problem was so deeply etched in his psyche.

“I would suggest he is hard-wired in this way,” said Fawcett.

“It’s not something that’s going to come out of his character with a few sessions with a psychologist.

“Despite working with Liverpool in fairly impressive rehab, he’s relapsed and he’s open to that.”

Fawcett didn’t offer up much hope that this problem would be resolved any time soon.

“It’s in the man. I would think that in five years’ time, if there was a certain nerve hit or chord rung with Suarez in a different situation, he would react in the same way.”l

Jackson Martinez scored twice as Colombia beat Japan 4-1 Tuesday to end their World Cup Group C campaign with a perfect three wins and boot the Asian champions out of the tournament.

History was made when Faryd Mondragon beat Roger Milla’s record as the oldest player at a World Cup. The goalkeeper came on as a substitute for the last six minutes at the age of 43 years and three days.l

MATCH STATS

Colombia 4 13 9 2 2 19 1 0 45%

While Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini reacted with horror to being bitten by Uruguay striker Luis Suarez in their World Cup match on Tuesday a handful of gamblers in Scandinavia were celebrating as their unlikely bet came up trumps.

Online bookmaker Betsafe had been offering odds of 175/1 that the Uruguayan, twice banned for biting, would sink his teeth into an opponent in Brazil.

Sure enough, over 100 gamblers decided that it was worth a punt. When Suarez duly bit Chiellini on the shoulder at the end of their Group D clash in Natal, it was time to celebrate.

Jonathan Braeck from Stenungssund in Sweden bet 80 Swedish crowns that Suarez would bite, and the 23-year-old substitute teacher is now set for a payout of 14,000 crowns for his wager. l

Suarez stopped a certain Ghanaian goal with his hand on the goalline in the last minute of extra-time in the 2010 World Cup quarter-final. He was sent off but Asamoah Gyan’s penalty was saved and the Ghanaians went lost the penalty shootout. “I made the save of the tournament,” was Suarez’s unrepentant comment after the match.

Suarez appeared to have got over his past controversies this year at Liverpool. He scored 31 goals in the English Premier League in 2013-14 and was named player of the season by the Professional Footballers Association. His two goals against England furthered his reputation and fuelled reports that Real Madrid are said to be ready to pay more than 80 million euros for Suarez.

Greece crawl to Round of 16 with dramatic win

Japan sent packing

by Colombia

Japan Goals scored 1 Total shots 23 Shots on target 13 Corners 9 Offsides 0 Fouls committed 10 Yellow cards 1 Red cards 0 Ball possession 55%

imposed for an offence at a World Cup was eight games for Italy’s Mauro Tassotti for breaking Spain’s Luis Enrique’s nose in 1994 with an elbow.

Uruguay could potentially play four more games in the tournament, and it would be a surprise if Suarez were to be given a ban of a shorter duration.

Opinion in Uruguay, a country of around three million people sandwiched between soccer powerhouses Argentina and Brazil, was divided over Suarez’s latest antics.

The 27-year-old is regarded as something of a hero at home, having grown up in a poor family in the northwestern city of Salto, where he looked after parked cars to help support his siblings after his parents split up.

“We needed to win, so if you have to hit you hit, if you have to bite you bite,” said Barbara Giordano, a 26-year-old law student in Montevideo.l

The Uruguayan, considered one of the world’s most devastating goalscorers, has also been in trouble over on the field comments. He hurled racial abuse at Manchester United’s Patrice Evra during a Premier League game in October 2011. Suarez insisted the term he used was one often deployed in Uruguay. The English FA banned him for eight matches and fined him 40,000 pounds. He refused to shake hands with Evra when the two teams met later that season.

Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure reacts after their Group C match against Greece at the Castelao Stadium in Fortaleza on Tuesday

AFP

A stoppage time penalty from Giorgos Samaras gave Greece a dramatic 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast in their final Group C match on Tuesday and took them through to the knock-out stages of the World Cup for the first time.

Samaras stroked home a controversial 93rd minute penalty after he was judged to have been tripped in the box

by Giovanni Sio as the Greeks poured forward in search of a winner.

Replays showed that Samaras caught his foot on Sio’s calf, tripped and fell, but Ecuadorian referee Carlos Vera pointed to the spot and Samaras cooly converted the kick. Greece’s win left them second in the group on four points, one ahead of Ivory Coast.

The Ivorians kept plugging away after the break and equalized on 74 minutes, substitute striker Wilfried Bony connecting with a low cross from Gervinho.

That would have been enough to take the Africans through until Sama-

ras’s late strike turned the tie on its head once more and sent the Ivorians home at the group stage for the third consecutive World Cup. l

GROUP C

MP Colombia 3 Greece 3 Ivory Coast 3 Japan 3

W 3 1 1 0

D 0 1 0 1

L GF GA Pts 0 9 2 9 1 2 4 4 2 4 5 3 2 2 6 1

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Greece 2 13 5 4 1 13 0 0 45%

Ivory 1 13 9 7 1 23 3 0 55%

Sp rt

15

DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 26, 2014

FRIENDS BECOME FOES

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Klinsmann’s US target top spot against Loew’s Germany The spectre of one of the most infamous episodes in World Cup history looms over Germany and the United States as they clash Thursday for a place in the last 16.

The two teams each have four points heading into their final Group G match and a draw in Recife would see both qualify at the expense of Portugal and Ghana, who play in Brasilia.

The sense of intrigue has been heightened by the fact that Germany coach Joachim Loew and the United States’ boss Jurgen Klinsmann are old friends.

The match scenario has evoked memories of a notorious 1982 World Cup game between Austria and West Germany.

That match in the Spanish city of Gijon ended in controversy after the two sides effectively conspired to secure a 1-0 victory for the Germans, allowing them to qualify ahead of Algeria.

The shockwaves from that encounter continue to be felt today.

FIFA subsequently changed the rules, ordering that all final games in the group phase of the World Cup should kick-off simultaenously.

Press conferences for Germany and the United States this week have been littered with references to the 1982

scandal, with Klinsmann forcefully rejecting any suggestion of an arrangement this time.

“You’re talking about a game that is decades ago,” Klinsmann said when asked about the match known as the “Disgrace of Gijon.”

“That is only a part of Germany’s history and not part of the United States’ history. I think if you look at the past of the US team, we always try to make things happen,” Klinsmann added.

GROUP G

Germany USA Ghana Portugal

P W D L GF GA Pts 2 1 1 0 6 2 4 2 1 1 0 4 3 4 2 0 1 1 3 4 1 2 0 1 1 2 6 1

“We have that fighting spirit, and we give everything in every game. We will go to Recife and we will give everything to beat Germany. That is our goal.”

Germany’s coaching staff and players also dismiss repeated questions about the possibility of anything untoward.

“I can only say a concrete ‘no’, we’ve already said we want to win the game and that’s how we’ll play over 90 minutes,” assistant coach Hansi Flick said.

Germany’s centre back Mats Hum-

V PORTUGAL

GHANA

Estadio Nacional, Brasilia 26 JUN 2014 - 13:00 Local (10:00PM BST)

FACT BOX Probable teams: Portugal

22-Beto; 21-Joao Pereira, 2-Pepe, 3-Bruno Alves, 19-Andre Almeida; 4-Miguel Veloso, 8-Joao Moutinho, 16-Ricardo Meireles; 18-Silvestre Varela, 11-Eder, 7-Cristiano Ronaldo Ghana

16-Fatau Dauda; 23-Harrison Afful, 21-John Boye, 19-Jonathan Mensah, 20-Kwadwo Asamoah; 5-Michael Essien, 17-Mohammed Rabiu; 7-Christian Atsu, 9-Kevin-Prince Boateng, 10-Andre Ayew; 3-Asamoah Gyan Key stats:

World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal is taking part in his sixth major tournament and has scored at least once in each of the previous five.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal face a sobering early World Cup exit on Thursday even if their world footballer of the year produces pyrotechnics in their final group game against Ghana.

The Real Madrid player came to the World Cup bracketed alongside Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Brazil’s Neymar as one of a triumvirate of true global superstars.

But while the Barcelona pair have produced moments of sublime skill and goals, the attention surrounding Ronaldo has mainly focused on the health or otherwise of his troublesome left knee.

Portugal – fourth in the FIFA world rankings – are rock bottom of Group G with a solitary point from their matches against Germany and the United States, both of whom have four points.

They were pummelled 4-0 by Germany and the fact they still have any chance of progressing at all is down to Ronaldo, who delivered a sublime cross for their equaliser in a 2-2 draw against the United States.

Despite that goal, headed in by Silvestre Varela in the dying seconds of

WORLD CUP IN BANGLADESH PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

Goalless in his two outings in Brazil, he can equal the European record of scoring in six major tournaments, held by former Germany striker and current U.S. coach Juergen Klinsmann.

Send us your photographs to WorldCupBD@dhakatribune.com

KOREA

Belgium BELGIUM

Asamoah Gyan’s goal for Ghana against Germany took his World Cup tally to five and equalled the all-time African top scorer in the tournament, Cameroon’s Roger Milla.

KEY STATS Though playing in their first finals since 2002, Belgium came to the tournament as bookmakers’ fifth favourites behind Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Spain.

Belgium finished top of their group in European qualifying and were unbeaten - winning eight games and drawing two to finish nine points clear of Croatia.

South Korea’s best finish at a World Cup was the semi-finals in 2002.

Hong Myung-bo, who now coaches the team, was the captain during the run to the last four.

Hong and Belgium coach Marc Wilmots played against each other at the 1998 World Cup. Previous meetings The first two meetings came at the WC, with Belgium winning 2-0 in 1990 and the teams drawing 1-1 in 1998. A year later Belgium won a friendly in Seoul 2-1.

Algeria eye historic progress

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DAY’S WATCH

ALGERIA

2014 World Cup

RUSSIA

Arena da Baixada, Curitiba 26 JUN 2014 - 17:00 Local (2:00AM BST)

10:00PM Maasranga TV USA v Germany BTV, Gazi TV Portugal v Ghana 2:00AM BTV, Maasranga TV S Korea v Belgium Gazi TV Algeria v Russia Star Sports 1, 4 Dhaka

For more info visit our FB event page ‘World Cup in Bangladesh’ Photography Contest

FACT BOX Probable teams United States

1-Tim Howard; 23-Fabian Johnson, 5-Matt Besler, 20-Geoff Cameron, 7-DaMarcus Beasley; 15-Kyle Beckerman, 4-Michael Bradley, 13-Jermaine Jones, 19-Graham Zusi, 11-Alejandro Bedoya; 8-Clint Dempsey Germany

1-Manuel Neuer; 20-Jerome Boateng, 5-Mats Hummels, 17-Per Mertesacker, 4-Benedikt Hoewedes; 6-Sami Khedira, 16-Philip Lahm; 18-Toni Kroos, 8-Mesut Ozil, 19-Mario Goetze; 13-Thomas Mueller Key stats

A draw will be enough for both sides to qualify for the knockout stage.

Germany have only lost one of their previous 20 group stage games at the World Cup, a 1-0 defeat by Serbia in 2010.

US coach Juergen Klinsmann managed hosts Germany when they came third in the 2006 World Cup. Current Germany coach Joachim Loew was his assistant.

Previous meetings The two teams have met twice in the FIFA World Cup (1998 and 2002), with Germany winning both games.

In total the teams have met nine times, with Germany winning six and the U.S. three.

Last meeting June 2, 2013, Washington DC - United States 4 Germany 3

Belgium look to sharpen scoring touch against Korea

Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo 26 JUN 2014 - 17:00 Local (2:00AM BST)

Algeria can make history by qualifying for the second round of the World Cup for the first time in four appearances at the tournament when they face Russia in Curitiba on Thursday.

The Desert Foxes will be assured of their place in the last 16 with a win, but should also progress with a draw so long as South Korea don’t beat the already qualified Belgium by at least three goals in the other match in Group H.

Portugal came within about 30 seconds of an early exit at the hands of the United States in Manaus on Sunday when Silvestre Varela headed home Ronaldo’s cross to salvage a draw.

4:300PM, 6:00PM Wimbledon Championship

V

Algeria ended a 32-year wait for a World Cup win in emphatic style with a 4-2 demolition of the Koreans on Sunday, becoming the first African side to ever score four goals in a World Cup game in the process.

Granada midfielder Yacine Brahimi was among those on the scoresheet in Porto Alegre and he is eyeing more glory against a Russian side that has failed to live up to expectations so far.

“It is one of the most important matches of my career, it is a match which can write a new chapter in the history and that is very much in our heads,” he said. l

GERMANY

Arena Pernambuco, Recife 26 JUN 2014 - 13:00 Local (10:00PM BST)

mels said the Germans had no interest in anything other than a victory.

“It would be unsportsmanlike to do that and not fair, besides we want to win the game,” he added.

“We’re not playing for any result other than a victory.”

Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff also dismissed the possibility of collusion to. “We want to win. Everything else is uninteresting.”

A draw on Thursday would see Germany finish on top of Group G, ahead of the United States on goal difference.

Klinsmann’s side are still kicking themselves over their failure to clinch a remarkable qualification on Sunday in their thrilling 2-2 draw with Portugal. A brilliant header by Portugal’s Silvestre Varela in the final seconds of stoppage time denied the the United States a win which would have seen them qualify.

“We did so much work and we were almost there already, apart from this little phase (against Portugal) we were there to be already qualified for the knock-out stage,” Klinsmann said. l

Ronaldo’s Portugal face early exit time added on, the cold, hard reality is that if the United States and Germany draw in Recife, Portugal and Ghana, who also have one point, are doomed.

Portugal have insisted throughout the tournament that their star player is fit but he has failed to dominate matches in the way he does for his club and admitted that his side’s task is “virtually impossible”.

Ronaldo was sanguine after the match against the Americans, admitting that Portugal, despite their lofty ranking, were never among the favourites to lift the World Cup. Paulo Bento’s side have also had to cope with a one-match suspension for defender Pepe and an injury to Fabio Coentrao that ruled him out of the rest of the tournament.

Portugal’s task is made all the more difficult by their goal difference of minus four, meaning they must score a hatful of goals even to be in the mix.

Ghana’s goal difference is minus one.

And they are unlikely to have it all their own way when they take on Ghana in Brasilia after the Black Stars gave Germany a fright before Miroslav Klose equalised to rescue a 2-2 draw. l

USA

Belgium are not firing on all cylinders at the World Cup and had to grind out narrow wins over Algeria and Russia in Group H, so a game against leaky South Korea might be just what the doctor ordered.

The Belgians are considered ‘dark horses’ by many pundits to go all the way in Brazil after their star-studded squad went through World Cup qualifying unbeaten.

But they have looked far from fluent in Group H, coming from behind late on to edge Algeria 2-1 and only beating Russia through Divock Origi’s 88th-minute goal.

Belgium’s impressive qualifying campaign helped see them installed as fifth favourites to win the World Cup, but their prospects were dealt a severe blow when front man Christian Benteke ruptured an Achilles tendon in April.

Romelu Lukaku became the automatic replacement, but he has struggled to lead the line and Belgium have looked toothless without a dominant central striker.

While the win over Russia sealed Belgium’s place in the last 16, they will have to find their scoring touch if they are to go deeper in the tournament.

Playmaker Eden Hazard has so far failed to deliver the consistent performances his coach craves, and while he set up both Belgian winners in the last 10 minutes against Algeria and Russia, he knows he must do better.

GROUP H

P W D L GF GA Pts Belgium 2 2 0 0 3 1 6 Algeria 2 1 0 1 5 4 3 Russia 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 S Korea 2 0 1 1 3 5 1 Korea can still qualify in second place with a big win, and providing the result of the other group game goes their way, but it would be a minor miracle if they keep the clean sheet they will need against Belgium.

The Koreans saw their hopes virtually extinguished on Sunday with a 4-2 defeat by Algeria. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, June 26, 2014 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, June 16, 2014

13 David Luiz: Brazil’s unsung watchman

14 Fifa probe Suarez bite furore

Sport

15 US target top spot against Germany

Bosnia end Iran hopes, record first World Cup win n Bosnia beat Iran 3-1 in their Group F finale yesterday to record their first World Cup win and deny the West Asians any chance of reaching the knockout stage.

Already eliminated after two losses, Bosnia, appearing at a major tournament for the first time as an independent nation, went ahead in the 23rd minute through Edin Dzeko.

MATCH STATS Goals scored Total shots Shots on target Corners Offsides Fouls committed Yellow cards Red cards Ball possession

Bosnia 3 13 8 6 1 20 1 0 62%

Iran 1 7 5 5 8 17 1 0 38%

Bosnia doubled their lead just before the hour through Miralem Pjanic’s cool finish before Reza Ghoochannejhad pulled a goal back for Iran in the 82nd minute.

Avdija Vrsajevic restored Bosnia’s two-goal cushion with a fine strike a minute later.

Iran had required all three points against Bosnia and needed Argentina to beat Nigeria to have any shot of grabbing a surprise place in the last 16.

The Argentines beat Nigeria 3-2 in Porto Alegre to top the group on nine

points with the Super Eagles going through as runners-up with four. Bosnia finished with three and Iran one.

Bosnia opted to ditch a cautious 4-51 setup in favour of the attack-minded 4-4-2 that brought them 30 goals in qualifying, restoring Vedad Ibisevic up front alongside Dzeko.

The result was a more controlled performance, the Bosnians bossing most of the first half and taking the lead when Dzeko dropped deep into space to collect a pass before travelling to fire in low off the post from just outside the box. Iran almost got level seconds after the restart when Masoud Shojaei struck the crossbar with a deft chip.

In a scrappier second half, Bosnia scored a second when Dzeko picked up a loose ball that allowed Tino Sven Susic, nephew of Bosnia coach Safet Susic, to slide in Pjanic for a tidy finish.

Despite the roars of support the dogged defensive qualities that have won Iran plaudits in Brazil suddenly looked a little ragged and they struggled to reproduce the swift attacks that had worried twice champions Argentina in their last game.

Ghoochannej had provided a moment of cheer when he ensured Iran would avoid being the only team not to score in Brazil, scoring from close range after Bosnia failed to clear their lines quickly enough. The cheers were short lived though as right back Vrsajevic’s marauding run saw him played in to thunder a third home off the far post, earning Bosnia their first win over Iran. l

Fans of Iran cheer during Iran’s World Cup Group F match against Bosnia-Hercegovina at the Fonte Nova Arena in Salvador yesterday

AFP

Van Gaal, a success on and off the field

Till date, the Netherlands coach Louis Van Gaal might just be the most successful coach in the 20th edition of the

Fifa World Cup as he has savoured success both on and off the field. On the field, his enterprising Dutch side have cruised through to the round of 16 with flying colours, winning all the three group games. Off the field, the future Manchester United manager is quite enjoying the goalscoring exploits of six of his club players with striker Robin Van Persie leading the way.

Following the conclusion of the World Cup in Brazil, Van Gaal will take over the reins of United after a disappointing season under the guidance of Scotsman David Moyes. The 51-year old Moyes, who replaced the Red Devils’ legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, was sacked after just 10 months into his six-year contract.

The Netherlands displayed exhilarating football in the group stage and were victorious in all three of their Group B games, including a 5-1 drubbing dished out to defending champi-

ons Spain. The Oranges have scored 10 goals, the highest till date among all the participating teams and all of the goals came from open play, none from set-pieces. The 62-year old Dutchman also grabbed the media attention by slamming world football organising body Fifa over its biasness towards fixture scheduling.

While the English fans were left to rue the disappointment of an early exit after garnering just a single point from their three group games, the only source of consolation belonged to the United fans as six of the club’s players scored for different teams in the ongoing World Cup. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez’s strike for Mexico against Croatia in Group A was the latest among all of them.

Before that, Spain midfielder Juan Mata scored against Australia in Group B, Nani netted for Portugal in the 2-2 draw against USA in Group G, Wayne

Rooney broke his World Cup jinx for England in a 2-1 defeat against Uruguay in Group D, Marouane Fellaini grabbed the equaliser for Belgium against Algeria before the former went on to win 2-1 in Group H while Van Persie notched three goals for the Netherlands and is just a strike behind Brazilian sensation Neymar, who has the highest number of goals - four.

With left-back Patrice Evra showing good form for France and the young Adnan Januzaj waiting patiently in the wings for Belgium, Van Gaal could not have asked for a more productive time for his players ahead of the upcoming season.

The Netherlands’ good form coupled with the great scoring touch of the United players, the Red Devils can only hope for salvation once the strict disciplinarian walks out at Old Trafford as their saviour for the very first time next season. l

An Argentina’s fan holds an image of Lionel Messi and former footballer Diego Maradona as Saints, before Argentina’s match against Nigeria at the Beira-Rio Stadium in Porto Alegre yesterday AFP

Maradona reclaims his innocence from Brasilia, Brazil

A combination of pictures taken in June 2014 shows female supporters from various countries during the Fifa World Cup in Brazil AFP

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his World Cup dope test, Argentina legend Diego Maradona declared himself as a victim of Fifa’s disgraceful conspiracy during the 1994 World Cup in the USA. On 25th June 1994, the Argentina great was selected to undergo a doping test. Maradona was presented with the book “El último Maradona: Cuando A Diego Le Cortaron Las Piernas”(The last Maradona: when cut the legs of Diego)

by Andrés Burgos and Alejandro Wall on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of one of the biggest doping case in the history of the World Cup. The authors thought there were several elements of conspiracy behind Maradona’s suspension. According to the authors, it was unacceptable to the American that a country aligned with the ideas of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara and Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s government would taste success on American soil.

Four days after Argentina’s 2-1 the victory over Nigeria, FIFA announced that Maradona had failed a drug test and tested positive for ephedrine and four other substances which were not disclosed. Suspicions about Maradona started during the practice sessions of Argentina. After scoring a brilliant goal against Greece, Maradona celebrated strangely with his face on camera. It was reported that American police visited Argentina camp at least three

times with sniffer dogs.

The book says that Diego Maradona was taking 10 pills per day to reduce his weight after he was recalled to the national team for World Cup duty. He hired Daniel Cerrini, a former bodybuilder and with the help of “personal trainer”, slimmed down fast. Alejandro Wall thinks Julio Grondona, then the president of Argentine Football Association had to choose to whom he owed more loyalty, Maradona or Fifa and he chose FIFA when he should have protected Maradona. There was irregularity in the rebuttal and the AFA decided not to defend Maradona.

Although the official version says that the ephedrine entered Maradona’s body by an error, it was learned that Daniel Cerrini provided ephedrine to Maradona occasionally when he came to the USA for the World Cup. They thought that the treatment for obesity would not be a major issue with Fifa’s doping policy but it was too late when they realized it was not the case.

However, while talking to De Zurda, a Bolivian TV channel, Maradona insisted that he was innocent and that his exclusion from the World Cup was a conspiracy led by the Brazilian João Havelange, the then Fifa president along with general secretary Sepp Blatter. He also slammed Fifa for testing seven Costa Rican players after they beat Italy 1-0 last week. “It’s against the rules. Each team takes two to doping.

It’s something I’ve suffered. So I can talk about it. Seven players have never been tested,” said Maradona. l

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B3 Cash stash may reflect

fear of wealth going out of fashion

B4 Inspection tensions add to Bangladesh garment industry’s woes

Accord: Less than 2% RMG units vulnerable

It’s a good news for the country’s RMG sector

n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Experts of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh have identified less than 2% apparel factories vulnerable out of 760 they inspected in last one year period.

“Accord engineers have identified critical structural findings in 14 buildings and recommended for evacuation through the review panel,” said Rob Wayss, executive director of Accord Bangladesh operation at a press conference at a city hotel yesterday.

The vulnerable buildings are only 1.84% of the total inspected buildings.

Of the 14 buildings, 4 remained closed, 7 needs drastic removal of loading and the rest three trying to relocate, said Rob. Among the inspected factories, 59 were found critical and deserve remediation, and could be compliant through corrective works.

Brad Loewen, chief safety inspector of the Accord, said: “The findings are typical and same to the previous one that included unsound electrical wiring, lack of automated smoke detectors and fire alarm systems.”

Other findings are the need for fire protected exits and fire doors; failure to have proper load management plans and, in some cases, the need to strengthen columns and other structural elements. He said high rise buildings need sprinkler system.

About payment of workers wage by the Accord or respective brand, Rob

said some of the retailers are helping factory owners to pay workers’ wages while remediation works would take place. But the owners of the closed factory said they were not getting financial helps from the buyers or the Accord.

On Softex Cotton, a suspended factory by the Accord, Brad said: “We are working to find out a solution.”

The Accord, a plat form of over 180 brands and retailers, had committed to improve safety standard including fire, electrical and structural safety after the collapse of Rana Plaza, which killed 1,135 workers and injured over 2,500 last year.

Meanwhile, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety identified less than 1% factory as risky to workers safety as of yesterday.

The Alliance had inspected 601factories on the same ground and found 5 factories vulnerable as they recommended for closure through the review panel.

“We have identified five factories risky. One is closed and four running partially,” M Rabin, executive director of Alliance, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The percentage of vulnerable factories in the world is about 4%, while Bangladesh has less than 2%. It’s a good news for the country’s RMG sector,” BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim told the Dhaka Tribune in an instant reaction. “It would help Bangladesh to attract more buyers to place more orders and build confidence on the clothing industry.” l

THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Testing lab launched in Dhaka to ensure RMG quality n Tribune Report A modern testing facility has been set up in Dhaka yesterday to ensure quality of apparel items being produced here for supplying to developed country consumers – highly conscious about health and environmental hazards.

The comprehensive testing facility

by Intertek, a British quality and safety services provider to industries worldwide, was inaugurated in the capital’s Tejgaon area.

The facility, also the largest lab of this kind in Asia, would provide support to the growing readymade garments industry in South Asia.

Organised by Intertek, the inaugural ceremony was attended by Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed as the chief guest, while British High Commissioner Robert Gibson attended the event as the guest of honour.

“People want quality and safety when they buy products. We hear all too often that safety has been compromised for quick profit,” said the high commissioner while addressing the event.

“We already know the garments sector is important to Bangladesh, accounting for over 70% of the country’s exports and giving direct employment to four million people, over 70% of whom are women,” said Robert.

“I would like to call for fewer barriers to successful investing here. Barriers discourage trade and investment.

Changing mindset is needed for businesses to flourish and, more importantly, create a sustainable garment sector in Bangladesh.

“I hope this new facility offers companies the opportunity to change that mindset and ensure all products are safe for people to use and wear.

It is a strong vote of confidence by a British company and investors in the commercial development of

A view of the comprehensive testing facility set up by Intertek, a British quality and safety services provider, was inaugurate in Dhaka yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN Bangladesh,” he said.

“UK is a major commercial partner of Bangladesh. I want to see this continue and I want the partnership to grow deeper,” he stated.

Mr Kathik ND, director of Softlines and Business Assurance for Bangladesh, said: “The new Intertek facility, with about 1,00,000sq-ft area, will support enhanced testing activities in Dhaka, and the lab compliments current inspection and auditing services to support the US, the EU and other major global export destinations for Softlines.”

IFC to provide cheaper fund to MBM Group

World Bank: Budget not large yet implementation challenges huge

n Tribune Report

n Tribune Report

International Finance Corporation has launched a trade finance facility with local apparel manufacturer MBM Group under which IFC will provide a supplier finance credit line to the Group.

This is IFC’s first transaction in Bangladesh under the IFC Global Trade Supplier Finance programme,and it will help MBM Group expand its international trade footprint, said a press release.

The company will receive funding from IFC backed by receivables from international buyer Levi Strauss& Co, freeing up working capital for the MBM Group. Supplier finance is a scalable way for suppliers in emerging markets to access affordable financing for their receivables over a period defined by the terms of credit. The arrangement enables buyers to negotiate longer payment terms or better prices.

Wasim Rahman, Managing Director of MBM Group, said, “By partnering with IFC, we are paving the way for others in the sector to avail of the facility and obtain affordable short-term finance.”

M Zubair Aslam, director of product development and sourcing at Levi Strauss & Co. said, “IFC’s trade supplier finance programme helps our suppliers in emerging markets gain access to capital at reasonable rates, leading to new growth opportunities, positioning them better to compete in the global marketplace.”

Kyle F Kelhofer, IFC Country Manager for Bangladesh said, “Through IFC’s trade supplier finance programme, suppliers like MBM Group will be able to access much-needed financing and grow their business while effectively managing risk.” l

Though a large budget is the need of the hour, it will be, however, difficult to face formidable challenges in its implementation, the World Bank said in Dhaka yesterday, in its analysis on the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2014-15.

The global lender also came up with a view that the proposed budget is promising in terms of both expenditures and revenue collection, but it lacks time-bound road map in some areas such as enactment of VAT law, economic zones and PPP (Public Private Partnership).

The proposed budget is about 16% larger than the revised budget of FY14.

“Expectation is running high in case of budget preparation but many challenges, particularity resource mobilisation and effective ADP implementation still lies ahead to implement a large budget,’’ said Johannes Zutt, Country Director of World Bank Bangladesh, while addressing a press briefing at his office in the capital.

Replying to a question, he said political stability is obviously a very important factor for doing good businesses.

“Business always looks for level-playing field, favourable business climate and adequate infrastructure facilities.”

Regarding the target of 7.3% GDP growth by FY15, he noted that it is ambitious but what needs to be done to reach the target is to improve the country’s overall infrastructures, ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply, providing necessary lands and building skilled workforces.

In the wake of slowed export

growth, weak private investment and vulnerability in the financial sector due to the increasing non-performing loans, the GDP growth target is an ambitious one, said Zahid Hussain, lead economist of the World Bank.

“In terms of the country’s development needs, it is not too large budget but the budget size seems to be larger enough in comparison with the implementation capacity as expenditures often remain below the target because of under utilization of ADP,” he added.

According to the bank’s analysis, excepting FY2011, revenue target was under achieved in the last five years.

Consistent large gaps in between external financing and domestic financing overshoot when external financing undershoots.

Comparing the data of FY-13 with 112 other countries, the WB analysis said: Bangladesh’s per capita level of GDP, revenue to GDP ratio should be around 23% and expenditure-GDP ratio around 30% by FY2015, which is now 13.3% and 18.3% respectively.

“Expenditure shortfall far exceeds revenue shortfall, resulting in fiscal deficit consistently with the size of Bangladesh economy,” opined Hussain.

The WB has, however, welcomed the proposed budget for reducing subsidy in different sectors, including Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) as the bank’s budget assessment said total subsidy allocation reduced by 18.2%, which is good.

But share of non-development capital expenditure increased to 10.4% of the total expenditures, compared with 8.7% in the revised FY14 budget, which is concerning, observed the analysis.

As non-development expenditures, the government put aside Tk5,000 crore for recapitalisation of the corruption-hit state-owned banks. In this connection, the WB analysis said budget speech is short on improving governance in the public sector banks.

“If capital punishment is not awarded to the loan defaulters, the culture of loan default will continue in the country,” said WB lead economist.

ADP in FY15 budget is 32.1% of the total expenditures, which is much bigger than the implementation, said the bank’s assessment.

About the projects under ADP, World Bank said there are too many projects to implement as ADP contains 1,034 projects, another 959 unapproved projects listed in green pages and over 50% allocations to 352 ongoing projects. In FY14, only 64% of the target is achieved.

“To implement the ADP, the government needs economic viability and proper monitoring,” observed the assessment.

Regarding PPP implementation, which remains poor, the bank said: Without bringing reforms in legal framework and incentives policies, the ambitious US$11bn PPP projects will not be materalised.

Welcoming the tax measures and incentives, the bank said, “Measures are welcomed in principle, but revenue impact likely to face a setback.”

The World Bank also noted that the budget is weak on policies excepting in the RMG sector.

“Budget relies heavily on para tariffs, which is not consistent with the objective of export diversification.” l

Mobile internet users growing fast n Muhammad Zahidul Islam The number of mobile internet users in Bangladesh is growing fast as it rose about 5% in May thanks to growing 3G internet users.

According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) statistics released yesterday, the mobile industry bagged 17.71 lakh internet users in the month.

With the increase, the number

of mobile internet users rose to 3.74 crore, which was 3.56 crore in April.

While the total internet users of the country stands at 3.89 crore in May, which was 3.74 crore in April.

Industry sources said the internet users are increasing with the introduction of the 3G. During the November-January period, just after awarding the 3G licenses, users number dropped suddenly and went to 3.39 crore due to

political unrest.

In the last couple of months, internet users increasing significantly but the numbers just jumps in last month.

With this increasing numbers, Wi-max suffered a setback as three operators have lost more than 5,000 subscribers in May. May data showed the mobile phone operators have a total of 11.62 crore active subscribers.

The largest operator Grameenphone has 4.91 crore subscribers while Banglalink 2.96 crore, Robi 2.41 crore, Teletalk 35.25 lakh and Citycell 14.33 lakh. Airtel, however, lost very few subscribers and stood at 84.91 lakh.

Grameenphone, Banglalink and state-owned Teletalk witnessed an increase of nearly two lakh active users while Robi and Citycell added few new active subscribers last month. l

Shahidullah Azim, vice-president of BGMEA, said: “In order to enhance production, we need more infrastructure and logistical support. Time is very valuable as we cannot miss the shipment. The companies should also consider the price, which should be reasonable.”

Speakers said the lab aimed to facilitate harmonious development of all segments across the sectors through establishment of a full-service Softlines testing lab with enhanced capabilities in new streams, like footwear testing, water testing, ceramic testing

and packaging testing.

Additionally, it will facilitate electrical, food, mineral, agriculture, cargo and GTS testing services, and offer tactical advantages of calibration, inspection, auditing and training.

The lab is also a one-stop service for all quality and safety assurance solutions for countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.

Among others, Rajesh Saigal, regional managing director of Intertek South Asia, and Calvin Yam, senior vice-president of Intertek Global Softlines, were present at the event. l

Bangladesh finds model to prevent salmonella infection in betel leaf n Asif Showkat Kallol The government has undertaken a move to prevent the high-valued betel leaf from salmonella infection by undertaking a project for the removal of the bacteria known to cause stomach disorders.

Having already been caught secretly shipping salmonella infected betel leaf, Bangladesh’s $200m vegetable export is hit hard by a fresh blow after the European Union detected insects in kakrol and brinjal consignments.

Only in January, the EU warned Bangladesh that if proper guidelines were not followed then it would discontinue the import.

EU had prohibited the export of the highly demanded betel leaf from Bangladesh during the last year after detecting the presence of salmonella bacteria.

To regain the potential European market, commerce ministry has recently initiated a project titled “Short term project for the removal of salmonella from exportable high-valued betel leaf in Bangladesh.”

The project will be supervised by a professor of Bangladesh Agriculture University in Mymensingh, said a senior official of commerce ministry.

According to the officials, the project, which aims at identifying the root causes and the preventions of Salmonella bacteria from betel leaf and suitable production land and locations, will be formally launched today through a power-point presentation at the Export Promotion Bureau.

The salmonella bacteria , which is a severe health hazardous bacteria,

usually enters into the human body , causing diseases like gastric, ulcer, and damage the immunity system of a human body, said an official.

According to another official, the height of the human body, especially the woman, is getting lower just because of the infection by salmonella bacteria.

It is an alarming situation prevailing in the country as one fourth of the total population are at risk as they are habituated to eat betel leaf, the official added.

“Some unscrupulous traders have been harming our business... Unless we follow the EU guidelines, our export may be hampered badly,” Monjurul Islam, an adviser to the Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetable and Allied Products Exporters Association, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Dr Bahanur Rahman, professor of the department of the Microbiology and Hygiene of Bangladesh Agriculture University said: We should be as worried as like as the authorities of the European Union countries because Salmonella bacteria is not only hampering our betel leaf and vegetable export in terms of monetary loss, but also directing affecting the largest population of the country.

The EU member countries, one of the largest vegetable markets of Bangladesh, stopped more than a hundred shipments between July last year and May this year.

Last month, the quarantine section of the Plant Protection Wing of the Department of Agricultural Extension of Bangladesh government, certified that several consignments of spine – locally known as kakrol– contained no pest. l

B2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was up 20 points to 8,401 DS30 closed at 1,619, inching up almost 5 points or 0.4%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was up 20 points to 8,401.

All the major sectors moved up except the market bellwether banks which lost 0.6% on profit-booking.

Food sector gained highest 1%

3,377.28 84,457,121

Number of Contract

as most of the stocks, including the large cap BATBC, edged higher.

Non-banking financial institutions, power, pharmaceuticals and telecommunications also closed positive.

Trading recovered sharply with the total turnover crossing Tk300 crore after ten sluggish sessions.

It stood at Tk340 crore, which was 20.4% higher over previous session.

IDLC Investments said three session long positivity stimulated investors’ to rethink, creating a pool of upside potential.

Additionally, news of 24% increase in FDI knocked their attention very favorably, it said adding that the 26% contribution of FDI in textile and weaving, approached investors to hold their positioning.

As a result, the sector topped at performance list and gained by over 1%.

Lafarge Surma Cement was the most traded stock of the session with turnover Tk25 crore changing hands, followed by Grameenphone, Square Pharmaceuticals, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Beximco Ltd, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation and ACI. l

Stocks continued to post modest rise for the third straight session yesterday with turnover crossing Tk300 crore after a week.

The benchmark DSEX ended at 4,403 with a gain of nearly 11 points or 0.3%.

The Shariah index DSES rose marginally 6 points or 0.7% to 1,007. The comprising blue chips

Company

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

86,084

Traded Issues

297

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

208

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

86

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,281.34

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.65

CSE key features June 25, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

259.14

Turnover (Volume)

Daily capital market highlights

8,217,380

Number of Contract

12,273

DSE Broad Index :

4403.64748

(+) 0.24%

▲

Traded Issues

211

DSE Shariah Index :

1007.23976

(+) 0.65%

▲

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

147

DSE - 30 Index :

1619.31810

(+) 0.31%

▲

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

57

CSE All Share Index:

13606.04160

(+) 0.27%

▲

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

CSE - 30 Index :

11190.84530

(+) 0.31%

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,204.41

8401.30790

(+) 0.24%

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.72

CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS Company

Closing (% change)

Samata LeatheR -Z GlaxoSK (BD) -A Al-Haj Textile -A Southeast Bank-A Prime Insur -A Dulamia CottonZ Monno Stafllers -A Shahjalal Islami -A

-4.18 -3.14 -3.02 -2.97 -2.83 -2.78 -2.68 -2.65

Average (% change) -4.08 -2.28 -0.09 -2.61 -0.81 -2.22 -3.99 -1.77

City Bank - A PragatiLife Insu. -A

-2.48 -2.15

-2.46 -1.49

CSE LOSERS

Aramit -A Sonargaon Tex -Z Southeast Bank-A Asia Insur. Ltd.-A ICB AMCL IslamicMF-A Beximco Syn.-Z I P D C -A Social Islami. B-A

-4.52 -4.44 -3.45 -3.38 -3.31 -2.78 -2.67 -2.65

Average (% change) -4.52 -2.89 -2.92 -3.19 -3.31 -1.60 -0.14 -1.86

Islamic Finance-A Rahima Food -Z

-2.44 -2.34

-1.64 -2.34

Company

Closing (% change)

ANALYST

Closing average

Closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 314.36 108.08 74.38 289.11 89.27 319.54 1.46 292.03 571.26 0.15 54.06 27.54 29.93 332.07 14.13 44.77 41.97 416.67 113.69 242.01 0.81

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

Latest PE

27.50 1513.33 163.74 19.80 20.92 7.04 341.74 11.11

27.50 1500.70 160.40 19.60 20.60 7.00 340.70 11.00

27.50 1535.00 169.00 21.00 21.50 7.60 345.10 12.00

27.50 1491.00 159.20 18.20 20.50 7.00 336.50 10.20

0.041 4.313 25.831 14.776 0.573 0.054 0.786 6.012

0.09 76.20 2.00 3.04 0.92 -4.13 1.12 -0.88

305.6 19.9 81.9 6.5 22.7 -ve 305.1 -ve

15.87 140.98

15.70 140.90

16.50 142.00

14.50 140.00

9.627 0.574

1.00 2.38

15.9 59.2

Closing average

Closing

Daily high

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

Jute SpinnersA Wata Chemicals -A BSC-A GeminiSeaFood-Z Standard Ceramic -A Federal Insu.-A Safko Spinning-A BD. Thai Alum -B G Next Fashions-A Midas Financing-Z

285.00 8.60 19.60 20.00 17.50 10.50 14.60 11.00

285.00 9.00 20.00 20.00 17.50 10.70 14.80 11.30

285.00 8.50 19.50 20.00 17.50 10.40 14.50 11.00

0.014 0.031 1.167 0.005 0.009 0.254 0.161 0.599

12.56 -0.92 3.04 1.56 2.33 0.76 0.64 2.08

22.7 -ve 6.5 12.8 7.5 13.8 22.9 5.3

12.01 46.00

12.00 46.00

12.20 46.00

11.10 46.00

0.311 0.092

0.96 -1.01

12.5 -ve

Three session long positivity stimulated investors’ to rethink, creating a pool of upside potential

% change 9.31 3.20 2.20 8.56 2.64 9.46 0.04 8.65 16.91 1.60 0.82 0.89 9.83 0.42 1.33 1.24 12.34 3.37 7.17 0.02

Million Taka 24.26 10.33 4.19 26.74 8.26 20.88 29.44 27.08 8.57 6.93 10.04 2.38 27.75 2.02 0.72 0.77 27.49 19.03 27.93 0.01

% change 8.52 3.63 1.47 9.39 2.90 7.33 0.00 10.34 9.51 3.01 2.43 3.52 0.84 9.74 0.71 0.25 0.27 9.65 6.68 9.81 0.00

Million Taka 338.62 118.41 78.58 315.85 97.53 340.42 1.46 321.47 598.34 8.72 60.98 37.57 32.32 359.82 16.15 45.49 42.74 444.16 132.71 269.94 0.82

Total

9.29 8.72 8.10 8.08 7.36 7.29 6.81 6.42 5.33 5.03

CSE GAINERS Company BSC-A Apex SpinningA BD. Thai Alum -B Ambee Pharma -A Bangladesh Welding -Z Wata Chemicals -A Safko Spinning-A 1st Janata Bank MF-A Standard Ceramic -A Generation Next Fashions-A

Closing (% change) 8.15 8.02 6.82 6.76 6.19 5.37 5.18 5.00 4.76 4.71

Average (% change) 8.82 5.77 5.45 12.00 7.31 4.48 5.41 5.31 4.04 5.09 Average (% change) 6.04 8.02 6.84 3.66 3.90 6.56 5.07 3.65 4.52 4.04

Closing average 63.43 262.55 485.82 140.00 45.22 20.06 20.25 22.99 17.75 16.71

Closing average 487.69 87.50 23.44 301.96 11.72 263.36 20.31 6.24 43.90 17.75

Closing 63.50 268.10 497.25 135.10 45.20 20.60 20.40 23.20 17.80 16.70

Closing 497.50 87.50 23.50 311.00 12.00 255.00 20.30 6.30 44.00 17.80

Daily high 63.90 268.10 497.25 136.60 45.70 21.00 20.80 23.50 18.20 16.80

Daily high 497.50 87.50 24.20 311.00 12.00 268.70 20.50 6.30 45.50 18.10

Daily low 60.00 251.50 459.00 133.70 44.90 17.60 18.00 20.00 15.30 16.60

Daily low 460.00 87.50 22.50 297.10 11.40 255.00 19.50 6.10 43.00 17.20

Turnover in million 0.111 9.662 85.254 0.014 0.927 8.209 2.277 9.540 58.289 0.234

Turnover in million 10.758 0.018 0.643 0.036 0.129 0.263 0.092 0.056 0.110 7.780

Latest EPS -43.81 6.24 23.48 -11.90 1.32 1.36 1.08 0.84 2.28 -6.91

Latest EPS 23.48 1.85 0.84 3.20 0.48 6.24 1.08 0.55 1.32 2.28

Latest PE -ve 42.1 20.7 -ve 34.3 14.8 18.8 27.4 7.8 -ve

Latest PE 20.8 47.3 27.9 94.4 24.4 42.2 18.8 11.3 33.3 7.8

News from trade server MALEKSPIN: BSEC has given consent under the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Issue of Capital) Rules, 2001, for raising the paid up capital of Salek Textile Limited (transferee) from Tk. 40,00,00,000.00 to Tk. 48,26,08,700.00 through issuance of 8,26,087 ordinary shares of Tk. 100 each totaling Tk. 8,26,08,700 to the shareholders of Titas Spinning & Denim Co. Limited (transferor) in course of Amalgamation at a ratio of 1:4.6 (1 share of STL against 4.6 shares of TSDL). Salek Textile Limited and Titas Spinning & Denim Co. Limited, both are subsidiaries of Malek Spinning Mills Ltd. TRUSTBANK: BSEC has given consent under the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Private Placement of Debt Securities) Rules, 2012, for raising of capital by Trust Bank Limited through issuance of Fully Redeemable Non-Convertible Un-secured Subordinated Bond of Tk. 200.00 crore only through private placement to other than existing shareholders of the bank. The consent has been accorded subject to the condition that the Company shall comply with the relevant laws and Regulatory Requirements, and

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company LafargeS Cement-Z Grameenphone-A Square Pharma -A BD Submarine Cable-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A BSC-A ACI Limited- A

CSE

Closing (% change)

also shall adhere to the conditions imposed

by BSEC under Section-2CC of the Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969.

TRUSTBANK: The Company has further informed that the purpose of issuance of the Trust Bank Limited Fully Redeemable Non Convertible Un-secured Subordinated Bond is to strengthen Tier II capital of the Bank.

ASIAINS: (Q1): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 1st quarter ended on 31st March 2014 (Jan'14 to March'14), the Company has reported net profit after tax of Tk. 18.56 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.41 as against Tk. 17.60 million and Tk. 0.39 respectively for the same period of the previous year. However, considering proposed bonus share @ 5% for the year 2013, restated basic EPS will be Tk. 0.39 as on 31.03.2014 and Tk. 0.37 as on 31.03.2013.

SQUARETEXT: 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 22, 2014.

MEGHNACEM: The Company has informed that it has dispatched the dividend

warrants for the year 2013 to the registered mailing addresses of the concerned shareholders of the Company through "Bengal Post & Parcel Express" courier service (Address: 139, Motijheel C/A, Sadharan Bima Bhaban-2, Gr. Floor, Dhaka-1000).

Dividend/AGM NATLIFEINS: 20% cash and 38% stock, AGM: 21.07.2014, Record Date: 03.07.2014.

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.

Latest PE

285.00 8.74 19.62 20.00 17.50 10.48 14.65 11.09

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

Daily high

Thursday, June 26, 2014

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features June 25, 2014

Stocks continue to post modest rise n Tribune Report

Stock

% change 9.25 3.23 2.15 8.62 2.66 9.30 0.04 8.78 16.34 0.24 1.67 1.03 0.88 9.83 0.44 1.24 1.17 12.13 3.62 7.37 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

Summit Power -A BSRM Steels-A Beximco Pharma -A

UNITED AIR-A Golden Son -A G Next Fashions-A Meghna Petroleum -A Eastern Housing -A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BD Submarine Cable-A

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A LafargeS Cement-Z UNITED AIR-A BSC-A AramitCementA Grameenphone-A BSRM Steels-A G Next Fashions-A Square Pharma -A The Peninsula CTG.-N Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z Golden Son -A LankaBangla Fin. -A SummitAlliancePort.-A

Volume shares 3,079,500 818,252 682,577 888,975 4,799,960 175,485 275,159 2,105,206 791,843 1,442,215

5,141,934 1,350,422 3,283,401 188,247 716,375

Volume shares

93,508 573,475 182,500 916,105 22,060 208,000 31,800 99,214 438,352 27,774 217,600 427,010 110,842 111,500 151,244

Value in million 254.45 246.38 190.29 170.29 141.66 85.25 74.96 69.05 66.37 63.09

62.74 61.40 58.29 49.70 42.59

Value in million

17.89 16.92 15.05 11.16 10.76 9.71 9.60 8.30 7.78 7.75 7.48 6.80 5.03 4.66 3.58

% of total turnover 7.53 7.30 5.63 5.04 4.19 2.52 2.22 2.04 1.97 1.87

1.86 1.82 1.73 1.47 1.26

% of total turnover

7.02 6.64 5.91 4.38 4.22 3.81 3.77 3.26 3.05 3.04 2.94 2.67 1.97 1.83 1.40

Daily closing 82.80 301.40 278.30 192.20 29.10 497.25 268.00 32.90 83.00 43.40

12.20 45.00 17.80 264.40 59.10

Daily closing

192.30 29.10 82.50 12.30 497.50 46.80 302.50 83.00 17.80 278.80 34.30 15.50 45.10 41.60 23.70

Price change 0.98 0.17 0.54 3.11 -1.36 8.10 -1.29 4.78 -0.95 2.84

Daily opening 82.00 300.90 276.80 186.40 29.50 460.00 271.50 31.40 83.80 42.20

Price change

Daily opening

0.83 0.45 5.33 0.23 -1.66

3.39 -1.36 0.98 1.65 8.15 1.74 0.46 -0.60 4.71 0.65 0.29 0.00 0.67 0.00 3.49

12.10 44.80 16.90 263.80 60.10

186.00 29.50 81.70 12.10 460.00 46.00 301.10 83.50 17.00 277.00 34.20 15.50 44.80 41.60 22.90

Daily high 83.50 304.70 281.10 195.00 31.00 497.25 279.00 33.10 85.00 44.60

Daily low 81.70 285.00 253.00 168.90 26.60 459.00 249.00 28.30 80.00 38.00

Daily average 82.63 301.11 278.79 191.56 29.51 485.82 272.41 32.80 83.81 43.75

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

13.00 46.00 18.20 265.00 60.60

194.90 30.20 83.20 12.40 497.50 47.40 304.90 84.90 18.10 281.00 34.80 16.90 45.80 42.50 23.90

10.90 43.00 15.30 241.00 55.00

187.30 28.80 81.50 11.90 460.00 45.80 298.60 82.50 17.20 277.00 34.00 14.90 44.70 41.30 23.00

12.20 45.46 17.75 264.01 59.45

191.31 29.51 82.47 12.18 487.69 46.68 302.04 83.64 17.75 279.08 34.39 15.92 45.36 41.77 23.64

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Cash stash may reflect fear of wealth going out of fashion n Reuters, London As tension over inequality simmers, persistent cash hoarding by multinationals and the super-rich may be one measure of how seriously attempts at remedial action are being taken.

The political heat over soaring income and wealth gaps in the United States, Britain and much of the developing world has built up since the credit shock and global recession of 2008/09.

Even though protest groups such as Occupy failed to gain traction much beyond 2011, the evidence of inequality continuing to balloon so soon after such a seismic economic bust has refocussed the minds of economists, politicians and voters.

There’s little doubt the richer are getting much richer.

Last week’s annual CapGemini/RBC survey of investors worldwide showed the number of households with more than $1m in investable wealth rose almost 15% to 13.7m in the year through 2013. Their total wealth rose almost 14% to $53tn, it estimated.

Both the ranks of the rich and their collective wealth have now risen 60% since 2008, the survey showed, and those fortunes are expected to rise a further 22% by 2016.

By contrast, world economic output has expanded just 16% over the past five years and the slow, sub-par recovery and subdued wage growth for most workers sharpens the political divide. Near zero interest rates and money printing designed to kickstart credit growth and job creation helped stabilise the situation but has had the side-effect of inflating the financial assets and real estate holdings of the richest even further.

What’s more, anger has risen over a disproportionate hit taken by ordinary taxpayers for repairing government finances even as corporate and wealth tax rises were largely eschewed.

Toyota names price for new fuel cell car n AFP, Tokyo

Japanese auto giant Toyota will start selling its first fuel cell sedan this financial year, with a price tag of around 7m yen ($70,000), the company announced yesterday.

The vehicles will be rolled out by March and beyond the home market during the summer of 2015, it said, in a move that will see the environmentally friendly cars available in the United States and Europe.

“Hydrogen is a particularly promising alternative fuel since it can be produced using a wide variety of primary energy sources, including solar and wind power,” the automaker said in a statement.

This is the first time Toyota has given a specific timeframe for its fuel cell cars, which it had previously said would go on the market in 2015. l

Four thousand U.S. dollars are counted out by a banker counting currency at a bank in Westminster, Colorado Policies adopted since the ‘Great Recession’ have clearly done little to balance the scales on personal wealth.

And International Monetary Fund analysis shows more countries have cut corporate taxes over recent years than raised them - even as most countries have increased personal taxes.

But with U.S. mid-term elections due in November and UK parliamentary elections early next year, political pressure is mounting again. Cutting through the rhetoric is tricky, but some feel we may be on the cusp of action.

“Consumers and workers are paying far more than corporations to finance governments’ austerity efforts,” said Luca Paolini, strategist at Swiss asset manager Pictet. “This is politically unsustainable and is sure to reverse.”

Hoarding

If that view’s widely held, you would imagine those with the money are already braced for it.

And one glaring and enduring observation of the post-crisis years is the extent of cash hoarding by large

REUTERS

companies and the wealthy. This at least partly reveals the level of anxiety among these groups that changes to taxation or income regimes are only a matter of time.

Estimates of the amount of cash that non-financial US, European and Japanese companies are sitting on is as high as $5tn - twice the levels of 10 years ago as capital expenditure and investment has largely seized up. A pick up in mergers and acquisitions this year is modest by comparison with bloated balance sheets.

Dollar moves narrowly in Asia trade n AFP, Tokyo

The dollar held up against the yen and euro in Asia yesterday as dealers await the release of key US data later in the week.

The greenback was changing hands at 101.91 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, marginally down from 101.98 yen in New York Tuesday afternoon.

The euro bought $1.3607 against $1.3606 while inching down to 138.66 yen from 138.75 yen.

Not much of the data released Tuesday was particularly directional, said National Australia Bank in a note.

The dollar was unable to break away from the yen in New York despite the US Conference Board saying consumer confidence increased for the second straight month in June to its highest level since January 2008.

Separately, the Commerce Department said sales of new homes in May hit their highest pace since 2008. Sales surged 18.6% month-on-month to

504,000 units as the country moved out of the winter lull. Also, sales were nearly 17% higher year-on-year.

“US house prices were soft, but the market chose to focus on strong new home sales. US consumer confidence was solid,” it noted.

The bank added that the euro also held its own despite a slip in Germany’s Ifo index of business confidence.

“Germany’s Ifo, in contrast (to US data) was soft and disappointing,” NAB said.

The bank said markets were having another quiet day and were “likely to see lacklustre trading and the ebb and flow of unenthused participation”.

Junichi Ishikawa, market analyst at IG Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires that investors may find it “difficult to make a large move” ahead of Thursday’s US consumer spending data for May. The dollar was higher against other Asia-Pacific units.

It rose to Sg$1.2514 from Sg$1.2493

on Tuesday, to 12,087.50 Indonesian rupiah from 11,997.50 rupiah and to 43.95 Philippine pesos from 43.85 pesos.

The greenback also firmed to 1,021.11 South Korean won from 1,017.95 won, to 60.37 Indian rupees from 60.11 ru-

US house prices were soft, but the market chose to focus on strong new home sales. US consumer confidence was solid pees and to 32.48 Thai baht from 32.46 baht. The dollar stayed unchanged at Tw$29.97.

The Australian dollar fell to 93.61 US cents from 94.24 cents, while the Chinese yuan was trading at 16.32 yen against 16.33 yen. l

Moreover, the CapGemini/RBC survey showed rich investors still stored a whopping 27% of their expanding portfolios in cash or equivalents through last year - more than they held in any other asset class and twice pre-crisis levels.

With cash now effectively losing money when adjusted for inflation, that’s an extraordinary level of caution.

But for many it may be a price worth paying for keeping money highly liquid and geographically mobile if a domestic tax hammer is about to come down or profit margins are to be squeezed.

Many economists reckon the fear is simply due the dire state of the world economy and expectation of paltry growth for years to come. Others reckon it’s exaggerated due to the overvaluation of conventional assets from super-easy monetary policy and quantitative easing everywhere.

Yet worries about a political backlash to stabilise inequality are intertwined with growth worries.

Although IMF studies show higher taxes and redistribution are generally benign in terms of growth impact, uncertainty about how those policies are implemented and “future game rules” holds back investment today, said SEB chief economist Robert Berqvist.

With the ‘effective’ tax rate paid by US firms having fallen some 18 percentage points below the statutory 37% rate, there may be good reason to fret on that score.

Paolini at Pictet pointed to G20-led initiatives to clamp down on aggressive corporate tax avoidance - such as recent ‘tax inversion’ M&A activity in which U.S. pharma firms target Irishbased peers to avail themselves of super-low Irish taxes.

And a forecast rise in the effective US corporate tax rate by 3 percentage points over the coming years as a result of these measures could lower profit growth by one percent a year, he estimates. l

B3 WB: Indian power sector faces $27bn in annual losses n Reuters, New Delhi India’s power sector faces annual losses of $27bn by 2017 unless sweeping reforms are taken to tackle inefficient subsidies, theft and political meddling in utility companies, the World Bank said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to bring electricity to the 300 million Indians who still lack power and improve the reliability of supplies, one of the biggest complaints of companies doing business in the country.

Blackouts this summer have underlined the scale of that task, with large parts of north India suffering from severe power cuts after a rise in temperatures triggered a jump in demand that suppliers and an antiquated transmission system failed to meet.

Launching its report into the sector, the World Bank said that despite the gains made in the past decade, when 280 million Indians gained access to electricity, India would struggle to make further progress unless it gave its utilities the freedom to improve their performance.

These largely state-owned companies should be able to raise tariffs in line with their costs, receive more compensation for the subsidies they provide to rural users, and improve their accountability to regulators and consumers, the World Bank said.

“Two decades after the initiation of reforms, an inefficient, loss-making distribution segment and inadequate and unreliable power supply are major constraints to India’s aspirations for growth,” said Onno Ruhl, World Bank country director in India.

“Revitalising the power sector, by improving the performance of distribution utilities, and ensuring that players in the sector are subjected to financial discipline is the need of the hour.”

The World Bank estimates that 15,000 hospitals and 123,000 schools could have been developed in 2011 if the states had not been required to pump money into utilities to keep them afloat. l

Oil markets poised for record as Iraq crisis deepens n AFP, London Oil markets have staged only a muted reaction to the bloody insurgency gripping OPEC’s number two producer Iraq, but analysts warn any disruption to supplies could push prices to record peaks.

The offensive led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that has swept through the north of the country and is now threatening to rip Iraq apart has sent prices to nine-month highs but they remain $30 below the peaks hit in 2008.

“This contrasts with the period of civil war in Libya in early 2011 that halted production. Back then, oil prices, volatility and skew all reacted far more aggressively,” said BNP Paribas analysts Harry Tchilinguirian and Gareth Lewis-Davies.

“The reason for the orderly advance this time is simple: we have not had an actual supply disruption.”

Brent oil has surged almost 35%

since the beginning of the year and is hovering just below the $115.71 dollars a barrel (bbl) hit in early June.

Compare that to the 16% the European benchmark jumped in a month to $128.40/bbl when the EU imposed an embargo on Iranian oil at the end of January 2012. In Dubai, oil futures have even turned bearish, dropping a fifth from their May peak as traders fret about what impact the crisis in Iraq could have if it spills into the broader region.

“With the exception of the first couple of days following the onset of the Iraqi crisis, oil markets have remained admirably calm,” said analysts at PVM. That is mainly because there has been little actual disruption to exports from Iraq so far. Insurgents have forced the shutdown of the country’s main oil refinery but have not managed to break into the key Kirkuk oilfield in the autonomous region of Kurdistan or hit the main oil fields in the south. l

Summit Power Limited recently approved 15% stock dividend for its shareholders for the year ended on December 31, 2013. The dividend was approved at the company’s 17th annual general meeting that was presided over by its chair Muhammed Aziz Khan

Holcim has recently celebrated its successes with a two daylong celebration event followed by a press briefing at its corporate office in Dhaka. The successes include increase of capacity along with implementation of automated business processes and also inaugurating the company’s new corporate office

Modhumoti Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Western Union Money Transfer in association with Mercantile Bank Limited. Modhumoti Bank’s managing director and CEO Md Mizanur Rahman and Mercantile Bank’s managing director and CEO M Ehsanul Haque signed the agreement on behalf of their organisations

Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB) has recently signed an agreement with SSL Wireless (Software Shop Limited) for online payment service through MTB’s Internet Banking at the bank’s corporate head office located in the capital’s Gulshan area. The bank’s managing director and CEO Anis A Khan and Sayeeful Islam, managing director of SSL Wireless signed the agreement

Rangpur Foundry Ltd (RFL) has recently declared 22% cash dividend to its shareholders for the year 2013 at its 34th annual general meeting in Dhaka yesterday. The company’s chair Lt Col Mahtabuddin Ahmed (retd) was present at the meeting among others

ACI has recently launched a ‘Sports Soap’ named SAVLON Sports Soap for the people involved in sporting activities. Syed Alamgir, executive director of ACI Consumer Brands has declared the soap’s launching as chief guest

The executive committee of Standard Bank Limited’s board recently held its 116th meeting yesterday. The committee’s chair Mohammad Shamsul Alam presided over the meeting

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Inspection tensions add to Bangladesh garment industry’s woes n Reuters, Dhaka It took Western safety inspectors only about an hour to tour a factory the size of three football fields before ordering a partial shutdown of Sonia & Sweaters Ltd, a Bangladesh clothing supplier to Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Debenhams.

Two weeks later, the group that the inspectors represented changed its mind and allowed the factory to stay open, even though none of the repairs they suggested had been carried out.

Such erratic decision-making poses a new set of problems for Bangladesh’s $22bn garments industry, whose safety record has been under the microscope since the collapse of a factory near Dhaka that killed more than 1,100 workers last year.

More than a year after the public outcry that spurred Western retailers into demanding better standards from the factories that make their clothes, it also highlights the practical complexities of improving the conditions of millions of poor workers whilst also safeguarding their jobs.

Export growth in the sector has slowed as buyers turn to India, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia because of concerns over workshop safety, higher wages and political instability.

Now factory owners say they are concerned about arbitrary shutdowns and meeting the cost of demands for remedial work, while workers worry about who will pay their wages if their workplace is temporarily closed.

“We went through inexplicable harassment during this whole process, and I am sure they don’t care about that,” said Sonia & Sweaters Director Mahabubur Rahman, of his experience of the inspection.

“But with their trigger-happy attitude, I am left wondering if they at least care about the workers, who they are meant to protect, because nobody has to explain to them what the implication of one factory shutdown is.”

The garment industry accounts for 80% of Bangladesh’s exports, and turmoil in the sector has put at risk the livelihoods of nearly 4 million garment workers, mostly women.

Factory inspections

the collapse of the eight-storey Rana Plaza building in April 2013 brutally exposed the inadequacy of the safety

regime in Bangladesh, where 5,600 garment factories are inspected by different local agencies that often lack sufficient technical equipment and the required expertise.

The disaster led to the creation of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, an inspection group led by European retailers, and the North American brands-led Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which together are scrutinizing around 2,100 factories.

The groups, which have a mandate to recommend the closure of dangerous factories and demand repairs, are now embroiled in a debate over the inspection process and the question of who pays for upgrades and wages while factories stand idle.

Making the situation worse, almost all global retail brands have opted to stay out of the arguments between inspection agencies and suppliers, according to industry officials.

When the inspection groups were set up, retailers did not commit to pay for improvements they demanded some Bangladesh factory owners are very wealthy and politically connected - but agreed to discuss assistance with wages and improvements if owners could not afford them.

Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner said, as a founding member of the Alliance, the company’s contributions have made funds available to help factory owners make necessary repairs and to support workers who may be temporarily displaced.

This includes an initial worker safety fund of nearly $50m and growing, and more than $100 million in access to low-cost capital funding to improve fire and structural safety. Debenhams declined to comment.

Safety shutdowns

reuters obtained copies of two inspection reports on Sonia & Sweaters which showed the factory’s civil engineer tried to warn Accord inspectors that their assessment that insufficient steel had been used in the building columns was inaccurate.

The steel was later found to be adequate for operations to continue.

Company managers told Reuters that documents on the building’s loadbearing capacity sent to the inspectors after their assessment were overlooked.

That oversight was only acknowledged

German consumer confidence rises n AFP, Frankfurt Consumer confidence in Germany is rising again, buoyed by the European Central Bank’s recent decision to cut interest rates, a new poll found yesterday.

“The additional cut in interest rates by the ECB and the decision to charge banks for parking their money at the central bank has given the consumer climate an extra boost and is the main reason behind the rise in consumer confidence,” market research company GfK said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the ECB rolled out an unprecedented package of measures, including negative interest rates and targeted measures to kickstart lending to businesses.

“These monetary policy decisions have hit Germans’ propensity to save.

And the increase in their willingness to spend money is also partly attributable to the ECB moves,” GfK said.

Looking ahead to next month, GfK’s headline household confidence index was forecast to rise to 8.9 points in July from 8.6 points in June. For the past four months, the index has stagnated.

This reading is based on responses from about 2,000 households regarding their expectations about pay and the economy as a whole in the coming months, as well as their willingness to spend money.

Sentiment in Europe’s top economy is currently positive, but appears to be stalling amid uncertainty about possible fallout from the crises in Ukraine and Iraq.

Earlier this week, the Ifo business climate survey fell more than expected. l

government last December, because global brands are baulking at paying higher prices.

Who pays?

A worker works in a factory of Ananta Garments Ltd in Savar after the factory’s senior management physically carried the documents to the Accord’s Dhaka office.

The Accord assessed the number of steel bars in each column as 14-20, the lower range of which would be considered unsafe, whereas company officials said it was 32-35.

“We advised them to close down the top floor immediately and go for a detailed engineering analysis,” Brad Loewen, chief safety inspector of the Accord, said.

Loewen said the owners returned and challenged the numbers with their own documents. The Accord stuck with its findings, but decided to consider the steel strength of each column was 20 bars, at the top of its range, rather than 14, which meant operations could continue, he said.

Sonia & Sweaters had cleared a safety inspection by Wal-Mart in 2013, according to a report published by the U.S. retailer in November last year.

The Western inspection groups, between them, have so far shut 14 factories and asked five factories to partially close, according to government data.

Senior advisor to the Alliance Ian

Spaulding said the group has been careful with the issue of factory shutdowns and has been working closely with the government on the issue. Five factories have been shut down as a result of their recommendations, he said.

Foreign vs local

the legal authority to shut factories rests with the Bangladesh government, and decisions to do so are reviewed by a government-appointed panel that includes one member each from the Accord and Alliance and two civil engineers from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

That process has led to friction between local and foreign members.

Four Wings Ltd, a factory that supplies clothes to Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), was closed down on the recommendation of Accord inspectors who feared the load-bearing capacity of the building was inadequate.

The two BUET engineers on the review panel opposed an immediate closure, but were stopped from making recommendations and asked instead for an opinion with either a “yes” or a

REUTERS

“no”, according to a senior official at Four Wings and a professor from BUET who had direct knowledge of events.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Everybody appreciates the fact that they are working hard to make this industry safe, but everybody they are working with will agree they are extremely arrogant and have a highhanded attitude,” said the BUET professor.

Ananta Garments Ltd’s Mirpur factory, which employs 1,600 workers, was also shut down by the Accord on concerns over the buildings load-bearing capacity.

“They found problems, they shut it down and we realized the repairs they have suggested will take eight months,” said Inamul Haque Khan, managing director of Ananta Garments. “Nobody had an answer to what happens to the workers, who pays their salaries.”

He said he would pay workers’ salaries for one more month before laying them off as he could not afford to pay more.

Several garment factory owners said they were already absorbing most of a 79% increase in the minimum monthly wage to $68 that was imposed by the

the Alliance has decided to share wage costs for two months and is currently holding discussions to extend it to four months. It is in the final stages of making available low-cost loans for repairs at five to seven factories, Spaulding said.

The Accord requires factory owners to pay for repairs and wages for six months. They are expected to discuss with their brands, who will ensure resources are available, Loewen said.

But about a dozen garment factory owners Reuters spoke to said the Western brands they supplied had not got involved in talks over paying the bills.

This was despite several rounds of discussions involving factory owners, government officials, unions and Accord and Alliance members.

H&M, the first signatory to the Accord, said it was actively participating in remediation processes involving its suppliers.

Spokeswoman Andrea Roos said H&M discussed resource availability with all involved parties on a case-bycase basis. Two of H&M’s supplier factories have undergone minor construction work as a result of inspections, she said.

French retailer Auchan, which also sources garments in Bangladesh, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Softex Cotton, which supplies Auchan, was shut down by the Accord due to doubts over the factory’s loadcarrying capacity, but later allowed to resume partial operations, even though no repairs had been made.

Softex is now suing the Accord, challenging its legal right to close factories and demanding $100 million in damages to business and reputation, according to a copy of a lawsuit filed in a Dhaka court seen by Reuters.

Softex’s factory was vandalized by workers after the sudden closure notice was issued and the company says it has been forced to take a loan to keep paying workers’ salaries.

“When there is a problem we are being notified, sometimes not even in a proper way, and then being left to our own devices, which is just not right,” said Rezwan Selim, managing director of Softex Cotton. l

China, Singapore vie for Asia gold pricing alternative to London n Reuters, Singapore China and Singapore are vying to provide feasible gold price benchmarks in Asia, as calls grow in the top consuming region for more localized pricing of the precious metal at a time when the global benchmark is under regulatory scrutiny.

Singapore said at an industry conference on Wednesday it would launch a physical gold contract on an exchange to create a transparent form of pricing.

China, at the same conference, said it wanted to have a bigger influence on the global gold market and would like to have its own price ‘fix’.

The moves underscore rising pressure from Asia, home to the top two gold consumers – China and India - to have pricing references that better reflect the region’s market dynamics, and the growing disenchantment with

prices set in the West.

The London fix, the global benchmark for spot gold prices that is determined by a group of four banks over a teleconference, is being investigated by regulators in Europe and the United States under suspicion it may have been manipulated.

“Why should a country that is importing gold use a benchmark in London or the United States? Why can’t they have their own benchmark?” Jeremy East, global head of metals trading at Standard Chartered, said at the conference.

China and India account for more than half of global gold consumption but Asia still largely relies on the London fix for reference. The fix is set twice daily, at 1030 and 1500 London time - both much after Asian markets close.

The strength of Asian demand and a push by countries such as China and

Singapore to be trading hubs have led them to explore providing benchmarks.

China, the world’s biggest producer and consumer of gold, is set to launch three physical gold contracts in an international exchange in Shanghai’s pilot free trade zone. It is also looking to launch gold derivatives later.

“We should have gold fixing, pricing done in China itself,” Xu Luode, chairman of the state-backed Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), told the industry conference on Wednesday.

Singapore’s gold contract, expected to be launched in September, will be the first wholesale 25 kilobar contract to be offered globally and comprises a series of six daily contracts, the Singapore Exchange said in a statement.

The city-state wants to become a hub for precious metals trading. In

2012, it scrapped sales tax for investment-grade gold, and has since seen many banks open up gold vaults. Swiss refiner Metalor will officially launch Singapore’s first precious metals refinery later this week.

“Having a local price for local markets ensures that markets are more efficient and that the price accurately reflects where the metal is locally trading,” said Ruth Crowell, chief executive of industry group London Bullion Market Association.

“As more markets develop, local prices for precious metals will become more tailored.”

CME Group Inc, the world’s No1 futures exchange, plans to launch a physically deliverable gold futures contract in Asia, most likely in Hong Kong, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in April. l

Indian small retailers oppose foreign investment in e-commerce n Reuters, Mumbai A trade body representing small retailers is opposing a possible government move to allow foreign direct investment in e-commerce, posing the latest challenge for newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reform drive.

The Confederation of All India Traders, one of the country’s largest trade bodies, will organise a rally on Aug 9, to protest against the impact of such a decision on the livelihoods of small

DILBERT

Japan's biotechnology venture Euglena president Mitsuru Izumo (right) and automaker Isuzu Motors president Susumu Hosoi (left) display euglena in a flask at Isuzu's headquarters in Tokyo on June 25 as they announced to develop the world's first bio-fuel made from euglena called 'Deusel'. Isuzu's diesel bus can run with the fuel 'Deusel' with the next generation bio-fuel to be commercialized in 2018 AFP

bricks and mortar retailers, it said on Wednesday.

Earlier, the government was forced to partially roll back a steep hike in rail passenger fares, aimed at reducing the country’s massive subsidy bill, after protests from political allies.

The business-friendly Modi government is trying to kick- start India’s sluggish economy, which has grown at below 5% for two years, and win back domestic and foreign investor confidence.

Reuters reported earlier this month that a decision to allow global online retailers such as Amazon to enter India was likely to be announced as early as July, as government officials believed a robust online retail sector would spur manufacturing and consumption.

In 2012, protests from small traders, an important group of voters, forced the Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party to oppose a decision by then Congress government to allow foreign direct investment in the supermarket sector. l