01 July 2014

Ashar 17, 1421 Ramadan 2, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 91

TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

20 pages plus 16-page T-Mag tabloid | Price: Tk12

7 | DON’T

TMAG | TAKING A LEAP OF FAITH!

WC SECOND STAGE MATCH SCHEDULE

TREAD ON OUR DREAMS, PLEASE

July 1, 2014 10pm Argentina vs Switzerland July 2, 2014 2am Belgium vs United States

11 | A BANG AND A WHIMPER

DMP boss: Police no contract killer Sources say the DB team members that conducted Sunday’s operation were rewarded for killing two ‘security threats’ of at least 40 rounds of gunshots,” said Jamil Khan and n Mohammad the witness who saw the incident from Tazlina Zamila Khan Dhaka police chief Benazir Ahmed has categorically said the members of his force were not involved in any “contract killing.”

His comment comes only a day after the death of two people – identified by families as Sramik League leaders Akmal and Ramzan – in an alleged gunfight with law enforcers in the capital.

Their families alleged that police were “hired” by political rivals for the “killing.”

The “gunfight” took place only hours after they and four others were allegedly detained in the capital’s Press Club area.

‘Police have the power to take action against criminals; they will apply all for ensuring security.’

While speaking at a programme in the capital yesterday, the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) also said neither would anyone be spared if they shot at police, nor would police fire bullets at the public.

According to a witness, around 2:15am on Sunday, police cordoned off six men, travelling on two motorbikes in front of the T&T High School in Motijheel.

“The bikers fired gunshots at police and hurled a crude bomb. In reply, police also opened fire. I heard the sound

the window of his room in the adjacent AGB Colony.

“After the gunfire exchange, I saw two men fall on the road. Police left the two bodies there and took the four others on a van. A little later, police came back and took away the bodies,” the witness said.

DMP boss Benazir told yesterday’s programme: “Police have the law and power to take action against criminals and they will apply all of these for ensuring security.”

According to the employees of residential Boishakhi Hotel near the Press Club in the capital, deceased Ramzan and Akmal and four others were detained from the hotel around 9pm on Saturday.

However, the first information report (FIR) of one of the two cases filed by police in connection with the incident on Sunday says that the four others are still absconding. Moreover, the FIR mentions the two deceased as unidentified.

There are questions as to how the six men came near the T&T High School if they had already been detained. Police have never admitted picking them up from the hotel.

DMP sources said that in a high-level meeting on Sunday, top officials of Dhaka police thanked the Detective Branch team that conducted the operation in which Akmal and Ramzan were killed and gave Tk25,000 to each member of the team for getting rid of two “security threats.”

Benazir also said yesterday: “No  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

France midfielder Paul Pogba (L) heads to score during their 2014 World Cup round of 16 game against Nigeria at the Brasilia national stadium in Brasilia yesterday

France strike late to see off Nigeria n AFP

A Paul Pogba header and a Joseph Yobo own goal saw France edge a hardfought contest with Nigeria 2-0 in Brasilia on Monday to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

Pogba broke the deadlock in the 79th minute, nodding into an empty net after Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who plays for French club Lille, failed to collect a corner.

It was a cruel moment for Enyeama, but rewarded a barrage of French pressure sparked by the introduction of Antoine Griezmann, who forced Yobo to put through his own goal in injury time.

Didier Deschamps’s France will now

await the winners of Monday’s other last-16 tie between Germany and Algeria, who they will meet at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro on July 4.

While France, who showed six changes, started purposefully, their final ball frequently let them down, which handed Nigeria opportunities to

2nd Round

Details on page-15

use their pace on the counter-attack.

Emenike thought he had put Nigeria ahead in the 19th minute when he deftly prodded in an in-swinging cross from Musa, but the offside flag allowed French heart rates to return to normal.

Late in the first half Emenike took aim from range, but Hugo Lloris was able to parry.

Nigeria suffered a blow early in the second period when Lazio midfielder Ogenyi Onazi had to be stretchered off after an ugly, ankle-high challenge by Blaise Matuidi, who escaped with only a caution.

It was to prove a temporary reprieve.

Yohan Cabaye, back from suspension, saw a 20-yard half-volley crash back off the bar before Enyeama had to produce a finger-tip save to touch a Benzema header over the bar.

It was the second fine stop of the match from the 31-year-old, but seconds later his failure to claim Valbuena’s left-

Latif, Inu convince PM to approve halving call termination rate

TIB ‘finds’ irregularities in 22 private universities

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

n Mushfique Wadud

Two cabinet members yesterday reportedly convinced the prime minister to give her approval for halving the international incoming voice call termination rate, a proposal that had been twice rejected by the Finance Ministry in recent months.

Following a cabinet meeting yesterday, Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddique and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu raised the issue to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Latif bhai placed the issue to the premier after the cabinet meeting and I just joined in with him,” Inu told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting.

“I told the prime minister that if the call termination rate was slashed, illegal calls will come to a regularised route, something we had also done previously; and the prime minister asked us to do so for the betterment of the industry,” Inu added.

Earlier, the Finance Ministry twice rejected the BTRC recommendation for lowering international call termination charges to 1.5 US cents ($0.015)

per minute from the existing 3 US cents ($0.03) for the international gateway (IGW) operators.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) also recommended reducing the government revenue sharing to 40% from the existing 51.75%.

In July last year, the telecom watchdog made its initial proposal for slashing the rates, noting that the cuts would cost the government around Tk1,073 crore. However, after the Finance Ministry rejected the proposal this March,

INSIDE 4 | News

Twenty-one indigenous families in Khagrachhari, claim they were forcefully evicted from their own land for the establishment of a BGB battalion headquarters, have been living in crammed conditions at a local school since June 10.

5 | News

The Chittagong Metropolitan Police yesterday launched three new onlinebased tech based services for the port city dwellers as well as for maintaining law and order situation in the commercial capital of the country.

SEHRI & IFTAR TIME Day Ramadan 2/July 1 Ramadan 3/July 2

Sehri – 3.42am

Iftar 6.54pm 6.54pm

6 | Nation

Despite laying the foundation stone three years ago, the construction of a bridge on a local river linking popular Miarhat and Barchakathi bazars under Swarupkathi upazila of the district has yet to begin.

8 | World

Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an al-Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit yesterday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria.

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Transparency International Bangladesh has claimed to have found “widespread” irregularities – many of them monetary – in at least 22 private universities, without mentioning any name and disclosing details about data collection methods.

The TIB study, titled “Private University: Challenges for Good Governance and Ways to Overcome them,” was conducted from June 2012 to May 2014 among the universities.

The report was published at a

programme in the capital yesterday.

Asked why the report did not mention the names of the universities, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said disclosing such information was against their policy.

If the government wanted, only then they would disclose the information, he told reporters.

The summary of the report says among the 22 institutions studied, only four were based outside Dhaka – two each in Chittagong and Sylhet.

But there is no information at all  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

REUTERS

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

France 2 15 9 12 3 12 1 0 49%

Nigeria 0 8 6 9 2 14 0 0 51%

wing corner allowed Juventus midfielder Pogba to head in at the back post.

Enyeama then palmed a shot from Griezmann over the bar, but France made it 2-0 at the death when Yobo, under pressure from Griezmann, inadvertently steered Valbuena’s drilled cross into his own net. l

Ershad’s iftar discriminates orphans n Manik Miazee Jatiya Party President HM Ershad yesterday had his first Iftar with the orphans in the holy month of Ramadan, but these children failed to overcome discrimination at the programme.

Unlike every year when Ershad observed his first Iftar with poor people, this year he held his first Iftar party with the orphans from Nurul Quran Madrassa at a city hotel in the capita’s Mohakhali.

Witnesses said JaPa leaders along with Ershad had plates full of delicious  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

MARKET MONITORING

Exclusion of police, magistrates suggested n Asif Showkat Kallol One of the market monitoring teams formed by the Commerce Ministry has recommended that the authorities concerned should monitor the market without magistrates and police protection to get the real picture of kitchen markets.

The monitoring team made its suggestion on Thursday after monitoring kitchen market at New Market and Palassey Bazar. Earlier, the Commerce Ministry had formed 14 teams to monitor the kitchen markets in the capital during the month of Ramadan.

Traders, especially, retailers reduced the prices of essentials when the market monitoring team visited the markets with police protection, said a member of the monitoring team.

He said the actual prices of essentials were not quoted during the kitchen market observation by the monitoring team. “As a result, market monitoring does not work at all.”

The monitoring team found that the retailers were unaware of rules and regulations. So, the monitoring team should distribute leaflets among the retailers to make them aware of the rules and regulations. Without police protection, monitoring teams will be able to easily motivate the traders for not raising prices of essentials, the memmber said.

He added that the retailers were not maintaining the original vouchers for purchasing essential commodities and monitoring team also found vouchers without signature and mobile phone numbers.

The monitoring team also suggested launching a campaign through the internet and television channels as to

Five Shibir men held n UNB Police arrested five Shibir activists from Baro Bazar area in Meherpur town yesterday morning. The arrestees were Sayeed Hossain, 22, Halim Miah, 24, Ashraful, 20, Sohel Rana, 19, and Abdullah, 21.

Sheikh Atiar Rahman, officer-incharge of Sadar police station, said on secret information, a team of police conducted a drive around 6am and arrested the five Shibir activists while they were pasting anti-government posters in the area. l

how traders will fix the prices of essentials during Ramadan.

Beef was selling at over Tk300 per kg against Tk280 fixed by the city corporation for the month of Ramadan.

The price of Najirshail rice might go up within a couple of days and the monitoring team saw a hike in the prices of potato, green chilli, flour and onion in the two kitchen markets.

Najirshail rice sold at Tk55 per kilogram yesterday while a week ago, it was Tk48. The price of per kilogram potato (white) increased from Tk20 to Tk28 and that of potato (red) from Tk35 to Tk40.

Green chilli was selling at Tk80 per kg while a week ago it was Tk50. Per kg lentil was selling at Tk110 while a week ago it was Tk80. In the two kitchen markets, sugar sold at Tk48 per kg while a week ago it was only Tk40.

The price of chickpea selling at Tk55 per kg remained stable. The price of a five-litre can of Rupchanda soybean oil sold at Tk560 and Tk550, but the markup price is Tk 570. As a result, potential buyers get confused over the prices of Rupchanda soybean oil, according to the monitoring team.

Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune that if the prices of essentials remain stable in the markets, they do not want to deploy police for monitoring the market during the month of Ramadan. “We are considering the suggestions made by the monitoring team,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of the National Consumer Rights Protection which is under the ministry had intensified its ongoing market monitoring drive during Ramadan. l

n Tribune Report

A World Bank report issued yesterday says around a quarter to one-third primary school graduates in South Asia lack the basic numeracy and literacy skills that would enable them to pursue further education.

The report is the first comprehensive study to analyse the performance of South Asian education systems in terms of student learning.

It also noted that much of what South Asian students are taught is “proce-

n

Awami League lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta has asked the government to disclose the names of Bangladeshi nationals who have deposited money with banks in Switzerland.

“The government has to take the initiative to publish the list, bring back the money from Swiss banks and take action against money laundering,” Suranjit, a member of the ruling party’s Advisory Council, said while addressing a rally in the capital yesterday.

The rally was organised by Nouka Samarthak Goshti, a group of supporters of Awami League’s “boat” symbol, at the Diploma Engineers’ Institution in the capital.

In response to BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir’s recent statement demanding a neutral, international-level investigation committee for exposing the Bangladeshi depositors with Swiss banks, the former minister said it was the government’s duty to bring back the money, and BNP did not need to worry about the matter.

“The UNDP has not disclosed the holders of the money. So, why is the BNP so upset about the matter?” Suranjit said, adding that the previous AL government was able to repatriate money laundered

by Arafat Ranman Koko, the younger son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. A study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), published last week, said Bangladesh lost over $800m a year on average in capital flight through trade mis-invoicing, unreported remittances and balance of payment leakages. The total capital flight accounted for 30.4% of the country’s GDP of $100bn in 2010.

On Thursday, Switzerland’s central bank disclosed that deposits by Bangladeshi citizens at different Swiss banks rose by 62% last year. Swiss National Bank data show that the deposits stood at Tk3,236 crore at the end of 2013, up from Tk1,991 crore in 2012.

On a different topic, the senior AL leader said bad relations between politicians and the media were not acceptable all. “The relation between politicians and the media is supplementary to each other. Politicians keep ties with people through the media,” Suranjit said, referring to party lawmaker Shamin Osman’s recent derogatory remarks against journalists.

“Politicians should talk to the media in logical language, and not express their arrogance. There should be an end to the bad relationship between politicians and journalists.” l

Ex-army man run over by train, dies n Tribune Report

A retired brigadier general of the armed forces was killed after a train ran over him in the capital’s Mohakhali yesterday. He was identified as Ashfaq Faruq, 65.

Faruq was hit by the train while crossing the rail tracks talking on the

phone, said inspector Abdul Majid Khan, officer-in-charge of Kamalapur General Railway police station.

“Local people and police took him to Combined Military Hospital in a critical condition where doctors declared him dead,” he said.

The former army official lived in Gulshan with his family. l

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Cabinet approves oceanographic research institute n Mohosinul Karim

The cabinet yesterday refused to separately approve three proposed acts for public servants, and instructed the authorities concerned to prepare a comprehensive act by compiling the three drafts.

“The drafts of the three different acts were placed before the cabinet meeting for approval. The acts were prepared to legitimatise three ordinances issued during two previous

military rules, which became invalid following court orders,” Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters after the meeting.

“The public administration ministry will prepare a comprehensive draft and place it before the cabinet again,” he added.

The proposed acts included “Public Servants (special provision) Act, 2014”, “Public Servants (suspension for conviction) Act, 2014” and “Public Servants (regular attendance) Act, 2014”.

The drafts of the three acts regarding disciplinary procedures for public servants were prepared in Bangla.

The cabinet agreed in principle to approve the comprehensive act, Musharraf said.

“As soon as the draft of the new comprehensive act is placed before the cabinet, it will get approval,” he added.

The cabinet, meanwhile, approved the draft of “National Oceanographic Research Institute Act”.

The proposed act would be placed

WB: South Asia primary education not satisfactory

Suranjit: Disclose names of Bangladeshis with Swiss bank accounts Emran Hossain Shaikh

DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed puts up a sticker on a car in the capital's Motijheel area yesterday as part of an anti-formalin awareness campaign

dural,” or rote-based, and students are inadequately prepared in practical competencies such as measurement, problem-solving and writing meaningful and grammatically-correct sentences.

“Just spending time in school is not enough. There has to be a significant gain in skills that requires an improvement in the quality of education,” Philippe Le Houérou, World Bank vice-president in the South Asian region, was quoted in a press release issued by the organisation yesterday.

There is an increase in the net en-

rolment rate in South Asia’s primary schools – from 75% in 2000 to 89% in 2010 – bringing the region closer to the enrolment rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (94%) and East Asia and the Pacific (95%), according to the report.

Afghanistan and Pakistan still lag significantly behind other South Asian countries in almost all education indicators.

“The poor quality of education in South Asia is a major obstacle to the region’s future economic prospects,” said Halil Dundar, a lead education specialist

DMP boss: Police no contract killer  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

matter what the families said, the two deceased were involved with all kinds of illegal trade... Police have dozens of allegations against the deceased.”

According to the families, one of the deceased Zakir Hossain Akmal, 35, a resident of the capital’s Gopibagh area, was the president of the Sayedabad unit of Sramik Leauge, ruling party’s labour front.

The other deceased Ramzan Zabed, also 35 and resident of the capital’s Demra area, was the general secretary of the same unit of the ruling party wing.

Akmal had his auto parts business while Ramzan was in the cloth trade and both of them were highly respected in their areas, the families said.

However, Md Masudur Rahman,

deputy commissioner of DMP, said Ramzan had a total of 93 cases against him filed with different police stations.

Ramzan’s wife Nusrat Jahan Jhorna has repeatedly mentioned the name of one Saiful Islam Khokon alias “Blade” Khokhon while talking about her husband’s death.

She claimed that it was planned killing and Khokhon was the mastermind.

He had good connections in DB and “hired” the law enforcers for killing his political rival Ramzan, she alleged.

She also said her husband came out of their home around 5:30pm Saturday.

Kokhon and one Babu were with him and they rode away on a motorbike.

When the reporters were talking to the families of the deceased at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Sunday, where the two bodies were kept for

at the World Bank and one of the report’s authors. “Raising the education quality is an urgent priority that could transform the region’s economic landscape.”

The report recommends a multi-pronged strategy that includes initiatives outside the education sector to address South Asia’s education challenges.

The recommendations include ensuring nutrition for young children, improve quality of teaching, using financial incentives to boost said quality, bring in private investments, and improving the measurement of students’ progress. l

autopsy, Khokon went there to see the dead bodies.

Ramzan’s sister-in-law Jahanara yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that such “cruelty” of police was nothing new for their family. She alleged that DB police also killed her husband three years ago.

Jahanara said; “My husband Rabiul Islam was a supporter of the Awami League and used to attend every politial programme. He went missing three years ago. I still do not know what happened to him. I am happy that we have at least found my brother-in-law’s body.”

According to the autopsy report, several bullet wounds were found on the bodies of Ramzan and Akmal. All those marks showed that they had been hit several times from the front. l

TIB ‘finds’ irregularities in 22 private universities  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

about which method has been followed for selecting the universities.

According to the report, while crores of taka has changed hands for big issues such as getting approval for universities, amounts as small as Tk500 have been exchanged for matters such as ensuring passing marks for students.

The TIB has found that amounts ranging from Tk50,000 to Tk2 lakh are being exchanged for getting names of VCs, pro-VCs and treasurers approved; Tk1 lakh for inspection; Tk10,000Tk20,000 for settling complaints; Tk1 lakh for preparing illegal audit reports; and so on.

However, the report says nothing at all about the payers and the receivers of these amounts.

About data collection, it says individuals from the Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC), vice-chancellors, pro-VCs, officials, students and teachers were interviewed; there were focus group discussions; and the universities in question were observed.

Although the summary says the study was a qualitative one and some quantitative data was also collected, there is no detail about which respondents gave out which of the findings.

Although none of the universities were named, the study specifies some of the “representative characteristics” of these institutions: there were specialised and general universities; some had permanent campus and others did not; some were NGO initiatives; and some featured in the preference list of students and guardians and others did not.

One of the key findings of the study is that one of the universities in question awarded certificates to 300 students without actually taking any class and examination in exchange for Tk3 lakh for each certificate.

Another finding is that a tripartite nexus of the officials of the Education Ministry and the UGC and the authorities of some of these universities are creating the scope for such irregularities.

However, the report is not entirely harsh on these private educational in-

stitutions.

Under one of the sections titled “positive achievements,” the report praises the institutions for now having more students than public universities and emerging as alternatives to going abroad for higher studies.

More than once, the TIB mentions a UGC report that uses terms such as “ownership disputes” to describe the private universities.

According to the TIB, this is a problem because although the private universities are not for profit organisations on papers, the government body sees them as profit-making entities.

When contacted for immediate reaction, UGC Chairman AK Azad Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune: “It seems that they [TIB] are writing whatever they want...Such a study will affect TIB’s credibility.”

He also said the UGC ensured the highest kind of accountability in not only approving universities but also in every other activity.

He said a three-member committee had been formed to look into the allegations. l

in the ongoing session of parliament for passage, the cabinet secretary said.

According to the draft, the research institute will be an autonomous organisation, with a director general as its chief executive.

An 18-member board, led by the science and technology secretary, will be formed to advice the institute. Science and technology experts and representatives of relevant ministries will be its members. l

Ershad’s iftar  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Iftar items, but the poor children were deprived of the menu, rather they were restricted to relishing the opportunity to do Iftar with ordinary food.

In addition, the orphans had to share their Iftar items in a plate with three to four children in a group, they said.

However, the oblivious orphans seemed happy to just think about their celebration of Iftar with Ershad.

Addressing the Iftar party, Ershad said Islam is a religion of peace.

The whole world was trying to brand Islam with the criminal lifestyle, which was not at all true, he said.

“We have to deliver the true thought of Islam to ordinary people,” he added.

Asked about the apparent discrimination, a JaPa leader who was present at the Iftar party said the sight of such thing was very common. l

Latif, Inu convince  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

the BTRC sent another proposal with changed numbers to claim that the cuts would allow the government to earn an additional Tk162 crore.

To make claims of potential profits, the BTRC allegedly manipulated the number of international incoming calls to show that 3.5 crore minutes of daily calls were being made on average. However, separate BTRC figures show that the daily call volume had not gone below four crore minutes over the past year, while it is currently around six crore minutes per day.

Inu, who was the chairman for the standing committee on Telecom Ministry during the last government, said the Finance Ministry had no chance to reject the proposal any more as the prime minister had accepted it.

“They [Finance Ministry] will accept the proposal and I am sure they cannot present any excuse to avoid it,” he added.

Earlier, sources told the Dhaka Tribune that the BTRC had prepared false estimations to favour the cause of IGW operators who got licences with political backing.

The BTRC’s recommendation also claimed that neighbouring countries’ call termination rates were much lower than Bangladesh, which sources said was also a lie. Legal specialists said the government cannot arbitrarily change the revenue sharing structure as the rate was fixed by an open auction.

The structure had been fixed through a public auction in 2008 and only four companies were given licenses through an auction when IGW service was introduced in Bangladesh.

The Awami League-led government in 2012 awarded 25 more licenses – mostly to people linked to the ruling party.

The regulator had proposed at best 10 more licenses, but the government in last year awarded 25 IGW and 23 ICX licenses. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Life term jail suggested for formalin misuse n Mohosinul Karim The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of Formalin Control Act, 2014 reducing the maximum punishment to a life-term imprisonment from capital punishment, proposed earlier, for violation of the law.

The highest punishment would be given for producing, selling, buying, possessing and carrying formalin without having any license from the government authorities concerned.

The chemicals that are known as formalin, formaldehyde and para-formaldehyde or any solution of any limit of formalin would be considered as formalin under the proposed law. Producing, selling, buying, possessing and carrying such chemicals without having licence would be considered as offence.

The regular cabinet meeting approved the proposed law with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the act might be placed in the current session of parliament for passage.

The law would come into effect when the Commerce Ministry formulates rules and regulations regarding this. Until then, anti-formalin drives would be conducted under mobile courts in line with the existing system to control the misuse of formalin, the cabinet secretary said.

The law would be enforced under the jurisdiction of mobile court or civil courts. If a mobile court thinks the trial of any case is beyond its jurisdiction, they would refer the case to the court concerned, he said.

The government will also form for-

malin control committees in all districtand upazila-levels across the country.

The DMP on June 11 launched a massive anti-formalin drive in the capital, armed with electronic device Formaldehyde Meter Z-300. However, the initiative faces huge criticisms since the tool is termed “unscientific.” Many experts say it is basically made to test the concentration level of formaldehyde in the air.

“The objective of the proposed law is not banning the use of formalin since it is widely used by industries as preservatives. The law will only control the misuse of formalin by issuing license for the users,” Musharraf said.

According to the proposed law, the misuse of formalin without having license is a non-bailable and non-mutable offense.

The law proposes a provision of two to seven years’ in prison and Tk2-5 lakh as penalty for violation of the provisions regarding licensing, possessing or selling formalin. For possessing the equipment to produce formalin without having any license, an offender would be sentenced to two to 10 years’ jail and fined Tk5-20 lakh.

Earlier, the ministry proposed to keep the provision of capital punishment as the highest punishment. But, it was later changed due to extreme pressure by the trade leaders.

A minister who attended the meeting told the Dhaka Tribune that the government wanted to control the use of the chemical without creating any obstruction for the actual users.

“The limits of using the chemical [Formalin] must be fixed. The scientists or chemists can do that. We will set the limit of using the chemical after consulting the experts,” the minister said. l

CID again fails to submit Rana Plaza probe reports n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to submit 13 the investigation reports in August for the two cases filed over last year’s Rana Plaza collapse in Savar.

Dhaka’s Senior Judicial Magistrate Wasim Sheikh passed the order as the CID failed to submit the report yesterday.

On November 24 last year, a Dhaka court show caused Investigation Officer Bijoy Krishna Khar, an assistant superintendent of police of CID, for failing to submit the probe reports.

Police and a victim’s family filed two

murder cases while Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) filed another case against the building owner for constructing the structure using substandard materials and violating building code.

The CID is investigating all the cases and has been asked to deal the two murder cases together. However, since the agency is yet to complete the investigations, proceedings in the cases have been delayed.

In the deadly collapse of April 24 last year, more than 1,138 people mostly female garment workers were killed and over 2,500 injured. The eight-storey building housed five garment factories. l

Assistant Commissioner of Police Tobibur is seen carrying the keys of motorbikes belonging to photojournalists, which he took away after stopping four bikes at the city’s Banglamotor, moments after a VVIP motorcade passed the intersection. Although other motorbikes were allowed to pass, the police official left the journalists’ bikes in the middle of the road, causing traffic congestion in the area. He also misbehaved with the photojournalists before finally returning the keys NASHIRUL ISLAM

Bangladesh yet to decide on mega connectivity n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

China and Japan have asked Bangladesh to join their separate mega connectivity initiatives to boost trade and investment in Asia.

“Both the countries asked Bangladesh to join their separate initiatives,” said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry.

Beijing is pursuing a “One Belt, One Corridor” initiative to revive the old Silk Road and new maritime route while Tokyo has floated a Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) initiative to connect the coastal countries to expand Japan’s trade.

The BIG-B Initiative was proposed at the summit talk by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina in Tokyo in May. During the official talks with Hasina in Beijing in June, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang also proposed that Bangladesh join the One Belt, One Corridor initiative.

“Our officials are in touch with the officials of Japan and China to know more about the initiatives and how Bangladesh can fit in,” the official said.

The countries have yet to share the concept papers of the initiatives, he added.

BIG-B initiatives

The proposed BIG-B initiative is a strategic concept of Japan’s cooperation with other countries, said the Japanese embassy in Dhaka.

“BIG-B is stated as the vision of future cooperation along with the current comprehensive ODA of Japan,” it said through an email.

During his visit to Dhaka in June, Jica President Akihiko Tanaka talked about the concept of BIG-B. The BIG-B has three pillars – trade and industry, energy and transportation, Tanaka said.

“Bangladesh can provide a gateway to the ocean for Bengal regional economies and play a nodal role between Southeast Asia and South Asia,” he said.

Bangladesh and Jica jointly identified Matabari, located 60km south of Chittagong, as the tipping point for carrying out the BIG-B initiative, Tanaka said.

Jica will provide $406 million to build the 1200mw Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal-Fired Power project with the country’s first deep sea port for coal imports.

However, when contacted, another senior Foreign Ministry official said the government has yet to examine the potential of the initiative.

“Japan has yet to share the concept paper with us. Unless we get it, we are not in a position to make any comments,” he said.

During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Tokyo in May, the Japanese government pressed for a mention of the initiative in the joint statement which was issued, but Dhaka refused.

“We refused their proposal as the whole issue is still not clear to us,” said the official.

One Belt, One Corridor initiative

Under the initiative, China has taken a two-pronged approach – one is through land and rail, and the other through sea routes – to boost connectivity in the region.

“They wanted to revive the old Silk

Road,” said a Foreign Ministry official.

In addition to that, China has taken the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route, which will connect China with other coastal countries along the Indian and Pacific oceans, he said.

“Both the initiatives are jointly called One Belt, One Corridor,” he added.

Chinese officials discussed the issue with Prime Minister Hasina during her visit to China this month, the official said.

Like Japan, China also wanted to mention the One Belt, One Corridor issue in the joint statement issued during Hasina’s visit to Beijing in June, but Dhaka refused.

“We are open to all connectivity initiatives as long as it brings a good impact to Bangladesh,” he said.

Bangladesh joined the BCIM EC (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor) initiative as it has an immense impact on the socio-economic condition of the country, he added.

“We will continue to negotiate with Japan and China about our joining their initiatives,” the official said. l

International pressure for recognising Rohingyas easing n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

With the city roads experiencing long tailbacks throughout the day, hundreds of people wait at the capital’s Farmgate intersection in the afternoon looking for a place in a public transport that could take them home before iftar MEHEDI HASAN

15th case filed against Hall-Mark bosses n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu State-owned Sonali Bank yesterday filed another case against Hall-Mark Chairman Jasmine Islam and its Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud to realise a defaulted loan amount of Tk13.62 crore from Boby Flatbed Printing Ltd, a concern of the group.

Abdus Salam, executive officer of Ruposhi Bangla Hotel Corporate Branch of the bank, filed the case through their

counsel on behalf of the Bank.

To realise the money, the bank issued final notice to the group. But as the company did not take any step, the bank issued a legal notice. At last, the bank filed the case yesterday with the Money Loan Court 1 of Dhaka (Artha Rin Adalat 1).

After a primary hearing, Judge Md Rabiuzzaman took the case into cognisance and ordered the accused to submit their written statements to the court by August 13.

The bank has so far filed 15 cases against the Hall-Mark Group to realise their outstanding loan amounting to Tk852.72 crore.

Plaintiff Salam told the Dhaka Tribune: “Hall-Mark took the loan from Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel Branch to import and purchase machineries for Boby Flatbed Printing Ltd.” The case statement says the defendants were given the loan in phases from 2011 to April 30 this year. l

The external pressure on Bangladesh for recognising illegal Myanmar nationals as refugees has come down as Dhaka was able to convince the international community that the Rohingya influx was caused by internal conflicts in the neighbouring country, Foreign Ministry officials say.

While briefing on the Bangladesh-Myanmar relations, the officials yesterday told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Ministry that the illegal Rohingyas had been eating away at the opportunity cost in Cox’s Bazar and its adjacent areas, risking the possibility of social unrests there.

Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali told the 10-member watchdog, headed by former foreign minister Dipu Moni, that Bangladesh must take confidence-building measures to improve the bilateral relations with Myanmar.

“The international pressure [to recognise the illegal Rohingyas as refugees] on us has come down as we have successfully made the international community understand that the Rohingya problem is a result of the internal disturbances in Myanmar,” Suhrub Uddin, a committee member, quoted a foreign ministry official telling the watchdog.

All Rohingya nationals entering Bangladesh are not refugees. Refugees are those living in two camps in Noyapara and Kutupalong of Cox’s Bazar.

According to the trilateral agreement involving the governments of Bangladesh, Myanmar and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the refugees numbering over 33,000 get free food ration,

education and health services from the donors.

But, according to a previous estimate of the Standing Committee, over 2 lakh Myanmar Muslims were living in Cox’s Bazar in shanties. The locals have already formed bodies to stop Rohingya influx, believed to be the most persecuted minorities in the world.

The western countries had been pressing Dhaka to recognise the Rohingyas living inhumane conditions in shanties. They also urged Dhaka to allow assimilation of the Rohingyas.

Their recognition as refugees would open up the floodgate for the Rohingyas in Bangladesh, the government fears.

“They have been causing the local opportunity losses amounting to croes of Taka every year. Besides, they have been increasing the population in Bangladesh,” said Suhrub, referring to the growth rate of population in the refugee camps – four against the Bangladesh’s national average of 1.3.

Director General Saida Muna Tasneem, who briefed the MPs about the Rohingya problems that started in late

1970s, told the Dhaka Tribune that the government would ask the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to launch family planning activities among the Rohingyas.

“We have to build confidence so that any trust deficit can be overcome. We need more engagement with Myanmar,” Col Faruk Khan, a committee member, told the Dhaka Tribune.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, and lawmakers Razi Mohammad Fakhrul, Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Selim Uddin and Mahjabin Khaled attended the meeting at the cabinet committee room of the Jatiya Sangsad with Dipu Moni in the chair.

Saida Muna said the government should not only engage with the central government of Myanmar, but also the Rakhine state government as the Rohingyas flee from the province which has a border with Bangladesh.

Due to communal violence by Buddhist fundamentalists and periodic crackdown from authorities, the Rohingyas often cross the border, sometimes bribing the guards to get into Bangladesh. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Indigenous families and government dispute over land ownership in Khagrachhari 21 Chakma families living in classrooms claim that BGB built battalion headquarters on their land Azad back from n Abid Khagrachhari Twenty-one indigenous families in Khagrachhari, who claim they were forcefully evicted from their own land for the establishment of a BGB battalion headquarters, have been living in crammed conditions at a local school since June 10 following clashes between law enforcers and the families over land acquisition disputes.

Although the indigenous families claimed that they had been living on the local land for generations, authorities concerned alleged that most of the families were making false claims of being permanent residents, while the UPDF and local political forces were also trying to take advantage of the existing tension surrounding the issue.

Following the recent clash, 21 families from the local Chakma community have been living in only two classrooms of the Babuchhara High School in Dighinala upazila, claiming that the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had set up its 51 battalion headquarters on their land last month.

“We had to come here [the school] carrying only the clothes we had on.

We could not bring our clothes, household materials, or even our domestic animals and harvested crops,” said Sudarshana Chakma, who has been living in this school since the clashes.

“We cannot even harvest our own paddy field. When we try to go to our house to bring back our stuff, the BGB members halt us,” said Shantash Kumar Chakma, 76, who is the karbari or leader of Shashi Mahan para.

Visiting the school, the Dhaka Tribune found that around 84 people – who were from Shashi Mahan Karbari Para and Jatna Mahan Karbari Para – were living in crammed conditions without proper supply of food, clothes or medical facilities.

The government and BGB officials claimed that most of the disputed 45 acres of land in the two paras (neighbourhoods) was khash land that had not seen any habitations since 1986.

According to the district administration, the government started acquiring the 45 acres of land from 2005 to build the Babuchhara BGB battalion headquarters in 51 Dighinala Mouza, where 13.90 acre land was private land and 31.10 acre was khash land of the government.

“Some 10 indigenous people filed a writ petition with the High Court in 2005, for which the government start-

Members of the families who have been living inside the school talk to reporters ed their action for acquiring only 29.81 acre that included 2.20 acre of private land and 27.61 acre of khash land. But the government excluded a primary school on a 2-acre area inside the acquired land,” said district Deputy Commissioner Masud Karim.

“The government is yet to acquire 10.27 acre land as the High Court issued a stay order upon this land,” he added.

On May 15, the district administration handed over 29.81 of acquired land to the BGB, Masud added.

The BGB has since then set up its 51 battalion headquarters on the land; while barbed wire fences have been erected to mark the property, with around nine outposts and Baghaichhari Government Primary School-2 falling inside the fenced territory.

Interestingly, around 5 acre of land remain missing from the equation for land acquisition. Although the initial land acquisition target had been set at 45 acre; the BGB had received 29.81 acre with decision on 10.27 acre still pending at the court.

Asked about the 5 acres of unaccounted land, the DC and BGB officials evaded any reply; with DC Masud say-

ing: “Now we are only concentrating on the 29.81 acre land.”

On the other hand, the indigenous people claimed that they had been living on the disputed land for many years.

“We had been living in Babuchhara for generations. During the insurgencies in 1986, hundreds of families including us became refugees in India’s Tripura. After the peace accord in 1997, we returned to our land upon an agreement that said we will be given our land back,” said Mrinal Kanti Chakma, 42, who was now living in the school with his family.

“However, we are yet to get back our land. For this, we had been living and cultivating on this land in a tensed situation. Now, for the second time, we are being displaced from our land,” he added.

Bishwa Kallyan Chakma, the chairman of Kabakhali union parishad, said: “During 1977-79, I lived at my relative’s house which was situated on the 45 acre land. At the time, there were more than 30 families living there. There was also a Kyong [a religious house].

“During 1986-89, many families were forced to leave their land and go

Tribunal: Submit charges against Hassan on Aug 5 n Udisa Islam

Tribunal slams prosecution for skipping Tipoo’s name

The International Crimes Tribunal 1 yesterday asked the prosecution to submit on August 5 the formal charge against alleged razakar commander Syed M Hassan Ali alias Hachhen Ali. The three-member tribunal headed

by Justice M Enayetur Rahim passed the order after receiving the investigation report submitted by the prosecution. Hassan, 65, had carried out atrocities as a razakar commander of Tarail, Kishoreganj in association with the Pakistani occupation forces, the report says.

The investigators have found fugitive Hassan’s involvement in six counts of offences including killing, mass killing, arson, looting, torture and kidnapping. The tribunal on April 4 issued the arrest warrant against the suspect.

Meanwhile, the same tribunal yesterday set August 31 for passing order upon a pending contempt charge issued against Fakhrul Islam, the counsel for death row convict BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

In another case, against Jamaat-e-Islami leader ATM Azharul Islam, defence counsels continued cross-examination of Investigation Officer Idris Ali for the third session.

When the defence questioned the IO about his case diary, the tribunal asked them not to question on the case diary as it was contrary to the law. In the following one hour, the prosecution and the defence argued whether the defence could question on the case diary or not.

The tribunal later expressed discontent over some blurred parts of the ICT Act and told the defence: “The Act does not allow the defence to use case diary.

Here the word ‘use’ means to examine, to grill upon this.”

After half session, the tribunal adjourned the trial until today. l

The conflict within the prosecution came to fore again yesterday as the prosecution of the International Crimes Tribunal avoided mentioning the name of the chief prosecutor in a petition, breaching its rules.

The tribunal 2 headed by Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan slammed the prosecution for doing so and ordered to resubmit the petition following correction.

n Udisa Islam

The prosecutor was totally silent when the tribunal said: ‘The chief prosecutor assigned you to do your job. Why did not you mention his name on the petition?

Is he dead or out of office?’

The prosecution yesterday submitted to the tribunal a petition filed by the investigators seeking its order for showing alleged razakar commander Forkan Mallick arrested in a case filed for killing people in Mirzaganj of Patuakhali during the 1971 Liberation War. They mentioned the name of acting chief prosecutor Syed Haider Ali, instead of Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipoo, and others.

The tribunal took notice and asked Mokhlesur Rahman Badal the reason.

As he could not give any reply, the tribunal asked them what the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act said regarding filing of a petition.

“The chief prosecutor assigned you to do your job. Why did not you mention his name on the petition? Is

he dead or out of office?” the tribunal asked.

The prosecutor was totally silent facing such sudden grilling.

The petition even had the name of Rezaur Rahman, a prosecutor who did not even come to the tribunal in the last two years. Only the name of the chief prosecutor was deleted.

The tribunal said mentioning section 6 of the ICT Act: “Whatever you do [outside court] is a your own matter, but when you come to us, try to follow the law.”

Later it asked the prosecution to include the name of chief prosecutor and said: “We will wait for the correction.”

The tribunal also asked the inspector general of police (prison) to produce war crimes suspect Forkan Mallick before it on July 3 in the case filed against him for his alleged involvement in crimes against humanity.

Detective Branch of Police arrested Forkan from Rupatoli Bus Stand area of Barisal on June 25.

The prosecution said Forkan had been arrested in the killing case filed with Mirzaganj police station in Patuakhali.

After police investigation, the case was sent to Patuakhali District and Sessions Judge’s Court that issued the arrest warrant against Forkan last year.

After his arrest, the court ordered to send him to jail.

Abdul Hamid of Soilabunia of Mirzaganj upazila filed the case on July 21, 2009 against Forkan, 62, a razakar commander of the upazila.

In the case, the complainant alleged that Forkan had abetted the Pakistani occupation forces to kill then president of Subidkhali unit Awami League Abdul Quader Jomaddar and activist Yazuddin Khalifa; Dr Debendranath and his wife and some Hindu people in the area during the war. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

to India. After they left, an army camp was established in the area in 1986.

When the displaced people returned, they found an army camp on their land.

As they did not get back their land since then, they could not build any permanent house.

“We are neither against the government nor the BGB, but we request them to establish the headquarters on any land where no one would be displaced” Bishwa added.

Asked if the indigenous families had any documentation showing proof of their ownership of the land, Santo Shita Chakma, the secretary for refugee welfare organisation Jumma Saranarthi Kallyan Samitte, said: “How can we have any papers? When a 20-point deed was made in 1997, we were told that we will be given our land back with all necessary papers. But we are yet to get our land back or any paper.”

However, both the Khagrachhari DC and BGB officials denied claims of the 21 families’ ownership of the land.

“Since 1986, there was a sub-zone army camp in Babuchhara area. There was no family living on the 45 acre land. As the government now realised

that the border area was unsafe, a BGB battalion headquarters was established withdrawing the previous army camp,” said Babuchara 51 BGB official Maj Kamal Uddin.

“The area still belongs to the army camp,” he added.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Masud Karim claimed that the area had no habitation a year ago, while some people recently built some new houses in order to be compensated for land acquisition.

On April 10, the government proposed compensation to ten indigenous people as part of the land acquisition drive; with two of the families to be compensated for acquisition of their private land and the rest compensated for their trees on the land. The compensation amount was proposed on the basis of their land area and trees, with the lowest amount proposed at Tk2,636 and the highest at Tk69,000.

Lolito Mohan Chakma, who was proposed to get Tk69,000 as compensation for his 1.5 acre land, said: “I do not need any compensation money. I want my land back.”

Meanwhile, local officials suggested that an organisation of the hill tracts area were encouraging the families to not accept the compensation.

The DC said: “An anti-peace accord group was always against the establishment of a BGB battalion here. Here, only two families are the real victims while others want to prevent the establishment of the BGB battalion headquarters in this area.”

On June 17, the Dighinala upazila nirbahi officer submitted a report to the DC office that said: “The present law and order situation is normal. But it is thought that United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) along with some local political parties are trying to make the situation worse using the land acquisition issue.”

However, UPDF central member Debadanta Tripura denied the allegations and claimed that the government and the BGB were blaming the UPDF in order to discard their own responsibility and secure their own interest.

Earlier, State Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Bir Bahadur U Shwe Sing told the Dhaka Tribune that only two families were affected by the land acquisition of 29.81 acres of government khash land in the area. The other families were not victims, he said, claiming that a group was trying to divert the situation to their benefit. l

Strategic leadership training soon for health officials n Moniruzzaman Uzzal Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University is going to conduct Strategic Leadership and Training Programme for district health and family planning officials in mid-August.

Under the programme, more than 80 district civil surgeons including senior deputy health directors and upazila health and family planning officers will take part in the five-day extensive training on strategic leadership.

Several senior officials of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told the Dhaka Tribune that initially seven high-ups of the health directorate would participate in the programme that would continue from August 13 to 17.

The programme will be held at BIAM auditorium in the capital in association with the Health and Informatics Department of BSMMU, Save the Children, Dhaka and John Hopkins Blumberg School of Public Health.

Prof Dr Pran Gopal Datta, vice-chancellor of BSMMU, has already sent letters to seven selected district civil surgeons to attend the first batch training programme. l

Trustee of Bengal Foundation dies n Tribune Report Subir Chowdhury, director of Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts and one of the trustees of Bengal Foundation, died at 61 at a hospital in Sydney, Australia yesterday morning.

He was suffering from brain tumour and was under treatment at the time of his death.

Subir was renowned for his service to the country’s art scene. He promoted Bangladeshi art in many countries by organising several exhibitions. His contribution in the Asian Biennial Fine Arts Exhibition is particularly remembered.

He went to Australia with a team of 10 contemporary artists on March 16 for an exhibition titled “Jonmobhumir Gaan” to be held in three cities of the country. He fell ill at the inauguration of the exhibition in Canberra and later was diagnosed with brain tumour. His treatment immediately began at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital.

He is survived by his wife, a son, a daughter and numerous friends and well-wishers. l

Biman officials lay seige to the office of their MD yesterday, pressing home their 14-point demand

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Victim testifies against Subhan n Udisa Islam

A prosecution witness in the war crimes case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Abdus Subhan yesterday described the killing of villagers, in presence of the accused, on the premises of a mosque in Pabna during the 1971 Liberation War. Eighteenth witness Abdul Aziz, 62, from Bharara under Pabna sadar police station, claimed that Subhan and his men had captured at least 17 people and killed 10 of them. The accused captured him too but freed him later as his name was not included in the list.

Aziz said one Mazid Sheikh was killed in front of his eyes as Maulana Subhan had hinted his accomplices to shoot him. Mazid was killed as he had

taken time to respond when Subhan called his name from his list, the witness said.

He said: “Subhan and Bonder Chairman came to Dilbar’s house on 5th Jaishthya [the second month of Bangla calendar] and captured him. I went there to see what was happening and Subhan captured me from there. That day they also captured at least 17 people. Subhan called some names from his list and asked them to stand in queue.”

After he had been freed, Aziz spoke to Dilbar wanting to know about the 11 people who were taken to Noorpur power station army camp. Dilbar told him that 10 of them had been killed by gunshot. Dilbar also told the witness that villagers from Debottorpara buried

six bodies in a hole after Subhan and his fellows had left the place.

The 17th witness testified on the same charge on Sunday.

After his deposition, defence counsel Mizanul Islam questioned him.

The witness became restless when the counsel grilled him for over 30 minutes. Aziz said he had given true statement at the tribunal and refused to be questioned for so long. The tribunal and the prosecution then told him about the trial proceedings and asked him to answer the questions.

The witness then said: “If Maulana Shaheb was a good man, then why did he support West Pakistan and why did he leave the country after liberation?”

After his cross-examination, the tribunal set July 8 for further witness. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Port city people to relish CMP techno services n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong The Chittagong Metropolitan Police yesterday launched three new online-based tech based services for the port city dwellers as well as for maintaining law and order situation in the commercial capital of the country.

The services include Digital Surveillance System, CMP Mobile Application and Vehicle Theft and Recovery Database, CMP Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam said, while inaugurating the services at the conference room of CMP headquarters in the morning.

Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder, Additional Commissioner (Traffic, Finance and Administration) AKM Shahidur Rahman, Deputy Commissioners, Additional Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and officers-in-charge of different police stations of CMP were present at the programme.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Babul Akhter of Detective Branch of CMP, also the spokesman of CMP, described different aspects of the three services at the programme.

He said three types of cameras – Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ), Face Detector and 1200 TBL – have already been setup on 17 spots of the port city under Digital Surveillance System while the CMP would install more cameras on 37 spots

within next two to three months.

“A total of 56 cameras were installed at 17 points while 111 will be installed at 37 other points,” he also said.

PTZ cameras can track autos and detect any object within 100 metres at night while it can also be operated by android mobile phone sets.

Face Detector Camera could take many peoples’ faces at a time which would help police find out criminals easily, the ADC said, adding that 1200 TBL cameras could take an overall view of a place and the snaps could also be examined by zooming in.

The CMP spokesman said any android mobile phone could download the CMP’s application from Google Play Store from where people could get every kind of answers of their desired queries.

With the help of newly launched services, people who lost their vehicles from theft or mugging could get information about their vehicles' recovery through mobile phone SMS, said the ADC. If the owner of the stolen vehicle enters all required information into the database, the database system will preserve that information and send them to all police stations across the country while the vehicle owner will be informed as soon as his vehicle is recovered, he said.

The CMP commissioner said they were trying their best to provide citizen services for people in the port city. l

Dhaka University Day today n DU Correspondent

Over 100 illegal structures demolished

The Dhaka University Day will be celebrated on the campus premises today with traditional festivity and enthusiasm, marking the 93rd founding anniversary of the university.

A press release of the university says the day would be celebrated with the slogan “Higher education for economic development and social justice development.”

The university authorities have chalked out elaborate programmes, including hoisting flags at the top of all student dormitories and main buildings of the university, cutting cake, bringing out colourful procession, research exhibition, discussions, reminiscence and cultural session, sports and debate competitions, drama and short film show.

Speaker of the parliament Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury will inaugurate the day long programmes in the morning.

The University of Dhaka was established during the British rule in 1921.

Academic activities started on July 1, 1921 with 3 faculties: Arts, Science and Law; and twelve departments: Sanskrit and Bengali, English, Education, History, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Persian and Urdu, Philosophy, Economics and Politics, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Law; three dormitories for students: Salimullah Muslim Hall, Dacca Hall [present Shaidullah Hall] and Jagannath Hall.

At present, around 33,000 students study at the university with 13 faculties and 11 institutes. l

n Our Correspondent, Gazipur The Gazipur Traffic department demolished over 100 illegal structures, including shops and resturants, along the Tongi-Kaliganj road in Tongi station road area yesterday.

A team of traffic department led by Assistant Police Super of Gazipur Shakhwat Hossain conducted the drive in the area and demolished the structures.

Shakhwat Hossain said traffic congestion had become a common phenomenon in the area because of illegal structures on both sides of the road.

He said they had warned traders of demolish drive several times, but they did not pay heed to the warning.

He said they had taken the decision to demolish the structures at a meeting held between law enforcers and local businessman.

At the meeting, officer-in-charge of Tongi police station was given responsibility to conduct the drive, but the OC

CMP officials take a look at the Digital Surveillance System, a new addition to the agency, yesterday to maintain law and order of the port city DHAKA TRIBUNE

could not do so for unknown reason.

Later, the ASP conducted the drive and demolished the structures.

Local sources alleged that the OC regularly extorts from traders, who built structures on government land and for that reason the OC was reluctant to demolish these structures.

Kazi Ismail Hossain, officer-in-charge of Tongi police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that it was true that he was reluctant to evict traders because these people’s livelihood is running their roadside shops.

Additional Superintendent of Gazipur police Sonjit Kumar Roy said they would continue drive against illegal structures.

Asked about the reluctance of the OC to evict traders, he said he had nothing to do if anyone felt upset regarding demolition of the shops.

He said if any trade built structure along the road, they would take stern actions against them. l

n Tribune Report European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided 100 million Euro loan to the government to finance a new sustainable surface water supply system in Dhaka.

The financing contract was signed in Dhaka yesterday, said a press release.

The main project component is a new sustainable surface water supply system comprising of a raw water intake in the Meghna River, about 30km east of Dhaka, and 21km raw water transmission pipeline.

The project will also include 14km treated water transmission pipeline from the Gandharbpur water transmission pipeline to the injection point of the existing distribution network and distribution reinforcements in the target area with an estimated population of approximately three million.

The water supply project component is complemented by a distribution network improvement component that will be implemented in 16 district metered areas (DMAs) with a population

DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:50PM SUN RISES 5:15AM FORECAST FOR TODAY Chittagong

31

26

Rajshahi

31

27

Rangpur

31

27

Khulna

29

25

Barisal

30

26

Sylhet

34

26

Cox’s Bazar

30

26

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

34.1ºC Sylhet

24.2ºC Chittagong

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

3:47am 5:13am 12:02am 4:43pm 6:50pm 8:18pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

of approximately 1.3 million. The project will be implemented between 2014 and 2019.

In line with the European Union mandate guiding the EIB lending man-

This is the second lending operation to public sector in the country, the first one being euro 82 million in support of more efficient power generation was signed in November 2013 date for Asia, the project will promote the development of social and economic infrastructures.

It will improve availability, quality and reliability of water supply services in Dhaka with positive health and environmental benefits for the population.

The operation will also contribute to

n Kailash Sarkar

TUESDAY, JUly 1

27

A domestic worker committed suicide yesterday by hanging herself, reportedly after being deceived by her fiance.

The deceased was identified as Khadiza, 17, daughter of Rezina Begum and Khorshed Alam. She is from Botmari village of Kaliganj upazila in Lalmonirhat.

Khadiza had been working as a domestic help at a house in the capital’s Razabazar area.

Khadiza's mother said: “Her cousin Alam was supposed to marry her, but he betrayed my daughter and married another woman. Alam got married three months ago, but my daughter was unaware of this matter. She came to know about the matter recently.”

Rezina came to Dhaka before six to seven months and started working as domestic worker in Nababganj area.

Khadiza’s employer Tapon Halder said: “She was totally heart-broken after hearing about the marriage. She used to cry a lot and had become mentally ill. She couldn’t even work properly. We have noticed some abnormal behavior in her.” “She used to say, nobody will marry her ever and she had become a burden to her mother, and her death would reduce the burden of her family. She had said that, just four days ago,” Tapon added. l

EIB’s Climate Action as it will improve the resilience to adverse impacts from climate change, in particular drought.

This is the second lending operation to public sector in the country, the first one being euro 82 million in support of more efficient power generation was signed in November 2013.

EIB is granting this loan under the current lending mandate for Asia and Latin America (ALA IV), which enables it to support investment designed to develop the local private sector, build social and economic infrastructures and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Since 1993, EIB has operated under four successive Asia and Latin America mandates. Under these mandates, from 1993 until 2013, EIB has already provided euro 5.6 billion for projects in Asia.

European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its member states. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. l

Two Pakistanis held with Rs1.71 crore fake currency at Dhaka airport

RAIN OR THUNDERSHOWER

33

Domestic worker commits suicide n Tribune Report

EIB gives 100m euros loan

WEATHER

Dhaka

5

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Businessmen ready with different kind of delicious iftar items in the capital's Chawkbazar on the first day of Ramadan yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Vegetable prices skyrocket in Ctg n CU Correspondent

Prices of daily commodities, especially vegetables, have shot up at the kitchen markets in Chittagong city on the occasion of Ramadan, in spite of having ample supply of vegetables and others items.

The prices of most vegetables have been on the rise, causing difficulties for the lower- and middle-income people.

In the city’s Kazir Dewri, Karnaphuli, Chowmuhani and Chawk Bazar kitchen markets, prices of aubergine, cucumber, green chilli, onion, tomato and lemon went up, forcing the consumers to buy the items at high rates.

Aubergines are being sold at Tk90100 a kg, which was Tk70 only the day before. Cucumbers are Tk70-80 a kg,

against last week’s price of Tk30 per kg.

Rahim Mia, a vegetable retailer at Kazir Dewri market, said the price of aubergines shot up to Tk100 from Tk80 per kg, while tomatoes were being sold at Tk70.

Mohammad Eliash, proprietor of Eliash Store in the same market, said the price of onion rose to Tk45 from Tk34 in a day, and the Indian garlic was also being sold at Tk95.

“We are forced to sell the items at high price to the customers as the wholesale traders have hiked the price,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Md Shah Alam, a retired Bangladesh Railway employee, said there was no political strike or any other obstruction in the supply chain that could cause the price hike.

Because of this, every essential commodity is going out of reach for the general people, he said.

Md Sakib, a road side vegetable vendor in Kazir Dewri market, said prices of four standard seized lemons was Tk25, while a kg of carrots was being sold at Tk100.

Venting his frustration, a consumer named Md Belal Hossain in Bandar area said although the government had announced to monitor the prices of essential commodities in market to check the price during Ramadan, there was no visible result.

“This is a common phenomenon every year,” he said.

The shopkeepers said the prices would keep increasing in the coming days of Ramadan. l

Customs officials yesterday arrested two Pakistani nationals and seized fake Indian currency amounting to Rs1.71 crore and 195 cartons of Esse, a Korean brand cigarette, from them at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka city.

Abu Zahir, 50, and Yeasmin, 18, residents of Karachi, reached Dhaka on tourist visas by a Pakistan Airlines flight about 2pm.

Director General of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) Mainul Khan said they were seen moving around suspiciously after landing at the airport, when customs officials approached them and checked their luggage they discovered the fake Indian currency and the cigarettes.

Earlier in the day, 413 cartons of cigarettes and huge amount of medicine worth around Tk50 lakh was abandoned and recovered at the airport.

Customs officials said the contraband goods might have been at the Customs Hall after smuggling those from Dubai.

In the last few years, according to customs intelligence officials and other law enforcement agencies, around 60 Pakistani nationals had been arrested in possession of fake Indian currency amounting to around Rs200 crore.

Most arrestees were found to be linked to different militant organisations in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh –Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

CIID Director General Mainul was asked whether they were trying to discover the duo's link to any militant organisation, he said the two would be handed over to police and sued for smuggling fake currencies and foreign cigarettes.

Assistant Commissioner (customs)

Qamrul Hasan said: “Almost 90 percent of the currencies, which have so far been recovered from Pakistani nationals, are found to be fake.”

On April 3 of this year, Pakistani national Asimullah Khan, 40, was arrested with fake Rs8.8 million at the Dhaka airport.

Detective Branch of police arrested 12 militant leaders, including 4 Pakistani nationals, with fake Indian currencies worth Tk1.29 crore in March of last year.

'Almost 90% of the currencies, which have so far been recovered from Pakistani nationals, are found to be fake' Pakistani nationals Sabbir, Md Danish and his Bangladeshi wife Fatema were arrested with fake Rs10 lakh at Rampura on January 18, in 2010.

On December 18, in 2009, Pakistani woman Rubina and Bangladeshi national Solaiman Majumdar, who was said to be linked to the ISI and LeT, was arrested with fake Rs10 lakh.

Among other Pakistani nationals, Mobasshar Shahed was arrested with fake currencies of Rs15 lakh, Zahid Hasan with Rs10 lakh, Abdullah Ali with Rs1 crore, Sabakat Ali with Rs41 lakh, Wahid Ali with Rs90 lakh, Sahadat Ali with Rs40 lakh from 2011 to April this year.

Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam of Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) had earlier said fake Indian currencies usually go to JMB, HuJI and other militant outfits. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Work on Swarupkathi upazila bridge yet to see light n Our Correspondent, Pirojpur Despite laying the foundation stone three years ago, the construction of a bridge on a local river linking popular Miarhat and Barchakathi bazars under Swarupkathi upazila of the district has yet to begin.

A total of 10,000 people have long been facing difficulties to cross the Inderhat River in absence of the bridge as a result.

While visiting, the correspondent found that Miarhat bazar is belonged to Sutiakathi union while Barchakathi under Sohagdal union. The bridge, which 72 metre in length and 7.3 in width, will work as linking bridge for the bazars.

The local bazars attract large groups of buyers and sellers from both the unions on Monday and Thursday each week.

Sources at Pirojpur Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) said a total of four tenders have been flouted for the bridge until 2012 end.

On June 4, 2011, the then local MP Shah Alam and LGED chief engineer Wahidur Rahman set the foundation stone of the bridge, at an estimated cost of Tk9 crore and later a tender was announced.

Naim, a resident of the upazila, said especially about 3,000 dwellers of Barchakathi village would be benefited from the bridge and it would be less

Two AL men killed n Tribune Report At least two AL men were murdered in Kushtia and Pabna districts yesterday.

According to our Kushtia correspondent, a local Awami League activist was hacked to death by some miscreants at Gopalpur village in Mirpur upazila.

Shahidul Islam Shahin, officer-incharge of Mirpur police station, said 3 to 4 miscreants had entered the house of Mamun Gazi, 35, an activist of Chithlia union unit of the ruling party and son of late Amjad Gazi of the village. He was sleeping at around 2am, when they stabbed him indiscriminately with sharp weapons, leaving him dead on the spot.

In Pabna, a local Awami League leader was hacked to death and another activist was injured by some unidentified miscreants at Haturia Purbapara in Bera.

Tofazzel Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bera police station, said that miscreants had stabbed Md Mosaddek Ali Mukul, 45, secretary of Haturia-Nakalia union unit AL and also the headmaster of Anwara Quader Girls’ High School and son of Shiker Ali and his fellow Hazrat Ali at around 11:30pm when they were returning home riding a motorbike.

Hazrat was rushed to hospital in Sirajganj where doctors on duty declared him dead. l

time consuming to reach the Miarhat bazar as well.

Asaduzzaman, a businessman of Miarhat bazar, said about five thousand people cross the river daily and they have to face untold suffering particularly during the rainy season.

Mahbubur Rahman, general secretary of Miarhat bazar traders' association, echoed the Asaduzzaman’s opinion.

Sources at Pirojpur Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) said a total of four tenders have been flouted for the bridge until 2012 end Contacted, Pirojpur LGED Executive Engineer Md Rafiqul Islam said no contractor expressed interest in the bridge construction despite flouting tender for several times.

“We are trying best to end the task as early as possible by issuing another fresh tender,” the engineer continued.

When he was asked why the foundation stone of the bridge was placed, he declined to make any remarks in this regard. l

The foundation stone of Inderhat bridge was laid on June 4, 2011, but the authority is yet to begin the bridge. The photo was taken yesterday

Wage discrimination against women still largely evident n Our Correspondent, Rajbari Breaking the century-old tradition of remaining confined to their household chores, women are now getting engaged in physical labour outside their homes to support their poor families along with their fathers and husbands.

Taking advantage of their poverty and lack of awareness, middlemen hire them for low wages. Both the demand and employment of female labourers have considerably increased recently, but employers still often tend to exploit them.

“Although female workers are said to be more sincere and active than their male counterparts, the female workers are paid far less,” said Mim, 26, a sewing worker of the Ayesha-Abed Foundation at Rajbari BSCIC under Ramkantopur union of Sadar upazila in the district.

In a recent visit to the Ayesha-Abed Foundation, a good number of female workers were seen working there, as well as in rice mills, flour mills and some other factories in the district.

Every year labour organisations observe the May Day with huge enthusi-

asm and spirit in our country to reduce the wage discrimination, but the reality at the ground level suggests quite the opposite picture which again points at the meaninglessness of observing those programs.

Women are engaged in almost every sector, be it in menial labour in crop lands, brick kilns, hotels, houses, small industrial units, construction sites.

However, they have to remain “satisfied” with half, even one-third of the wages than their fellow male workers for the same amount of work.

In fact a section of them, mostly widows or divorcees are the lone bred earners of the family.

Several female labourers, working for the road construction at Daulatdia in Goalondo upazila, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were hired for a daily wage of Tk200 to 225, while a male labourer was given Tk350 to 400 for the same job.

“I am a labourer for road repairing work at village Ghee Komla under Mrigi union in Baliakandi Upazila for a meagre pay of Tk200 daily. We know we

Over 3,000 trees chopped down by miscreants n Our Correspondent, Gazipur A gang of miscreants chopped down at least 3,000 acacia and 40 jackfruit trees from a garden at Sripur in Gazipur on Sunday morning.

The miscreants also assaulted Sultan Uddin, owner of the trees, and his niece as they tried to stop the tree felling.

Sultan Uddin filed a case with Sripur Model police station accusing his 12 co-villagers, including Ataur Rahman, Liton Mia, Shah Jamal, Sumon Mia, Uzzal and Shakil.

According to local sources, Sultan Uddin has planted 3,000 acacia and 40 jackfruit trees in 2003.

The sources said people from adjacent village used to cut branches of trees. Sultan tried to raise his voice several times but then the miscreants threatened him with dire consequences.

On Sunday morning, a gang of local goons equipped with lethal weapons entered the forest and started cutting down trees.

Sultan Uddin and his niece tried to resist them, but could not as they beat them up severely.

Chopping down the trees within an hour, the intruders left the place along

with logs riding on a human haulier.

After filing of the case, police picked up Mozzamel from the spot and questioned him. Abu Jafar, Sripur Forest Range officer, told the Dhaka Tribune

that they had visited the spot.

He said they would take action against the people who are behind the tree chopping. He said, “The investigation is going on.” l

A gang of miscreants chopped these trees on Sunday morning

DHAKA TRIBUNE

are being deceived by the middle men due to lack of unity among the female labourers,” said Khodeja Begum, 40, a divorcee living in that area.

Zaheeda Begum, 35, a widow at village Hosnabad in Rajbari Sadar upazila, was seen working at a block painting shop.

“I and all other female labourers get Tk250 per day each while the male labourers get Tk350,” she said.

Shirin Begum, 30, an unskilled worker of the shop, said she was only getting Tk75 per day.

Shafiqul Islam, a contractor of Roads and Highway Division (RHD) of Rajbari Sadar upazila said the female labourers usually remain satisfied with a daily wage of Tk200, although they are not less active in work than the males.

Wahiduzzaman, general secretary of a day labourers' organisation of Rajbari Sadar upazila, said at least 5,000 female labourers are working at different places in the district. We are trying to unite them under a female works' council to ensure that they get proper wage like their male counterparts. l

Two indigenous women burnt alive n Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

Two ethnic minority women were burnt alive in remote Moratila area under Panchhari upazila in Khagrachhari district Sunday night.Sources said Uttari Tripura,13, daughter of late Babu Ram Tripura of Horonsing Para, and her aunt Shanti Rani Tripura,48, died as fire engulfed their thatched house within moments.

Panchhari police station Officer-inCharge Abdus Samad Morol said: “At first, four members of the family came out of the house except Uttori Tripura, who came to visit her aunt in the afternoon. When her aunt Shanti Rani Tripura rushed inside the burning house to rescue her niece Uttori, both of them were engulfed by the devastating fire that subsequently burnt them alive.”

Police visited the spot for investigating the incident whether it was a natural one or a planned murder, the OC said, adding that legal action would be taken on completion of the investigation. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

NEWS IN BRIEF Jamaat leader held for vandalising AL office Police yesterday arrested a Jamaat-e-Islami leader for vandalising and setting fire to Belkuchi upazila Awami League office in Sirajganj. Majnu Mia, 45, is the current head of Ward No 8 at the upazila’s Bera Union Parishad. He is also a rokon (full member) of the upazila Jamaat. Belkuchi police station Officer-in-Charge Abdul Hai said there was an arrest warrant against Majnu.

– Our Correspondent

Elderly tailor dies in road accident An elderly tailor was killed in a road accident at Chauhali upazila in Sirajganj yesterday. The deceased was identified as Ramzan Ali, 62, of Khashkawlia Chouddarashi village in the upazila. Chauhali police station Officer-in-Charge Shamsul Haq said Ramzan was going home from his workplace on Sunday night, when a locally assembled vehicle, named Nasiman, ran him over. He was critically injured and rushed to hospital, where he died immediately.

– Our Correspondent

Schoolboy dies from electric shock A 15-year-old school student died as he came in contact with a live wire at Sadar upazila in Sirajganj yesterday. The deceased was identified as Niamul islam, 15, son of Fazlu Sheikh of Bonbaria village.

He was a class nine student of Paikpara Model High School. Witnesses said Niamul had climbed up a tree to cut off a branch, when he came in direct contact with a live wire, fell to the ground and died on the spot. Sadar police station Officer-inCharge Habibul Islam said he had heard of the incident but had not got any complaint from anybody about this.

– Our Correspondent

Woman held with illegal drugs in Chapainawabganj Police arrested a woman allegedly in possession of 1800 bottles of phensidyl syrup at Bholahat upazila in Chapainawabganj yesterday. The woman was identified as Sagira Begum, wife of Atabul of Poladanga village. Bholahat police station Officer-inCharge Farhad Hossain said they arrested

Sagira on Sunday night in a raid at her house. However, her husband was then able to flee.

– Our Correspondent

Motorcyclist dies in road crash A motorcyclist yesterday died in a road accident at Sadar upazila in Jamalpur. The deceased was identified as Saddam, 25, son of Hafez Ali at Jamtali Bashchara area.

He was a mechanic by profession. Witnesses said Saddam was riding a motorcycle, when he was hit by a pick-up van at the upazila’s Jamtali area. He died on the spot.

Sub-Inspector Mahabbat Kabir, who is incharge of Narayanpur police investigation centre, confirmed the incident.

– Our Correspondent

Mother, child die in road accident A woman and her four-year-old daughter on Sunday evening died as a speeding truck ran over them at Gobingaganj upazila in Gaibandha. The deceased were Maksuda Begum, 30, wife of Sirajul islam of Kalitola Singhojani village, and their daughter Sumaiya Akter. Gobindaganj police station Officerin-Charge ABM Jahidul Islam said Maksuda along with her daughter were returning to her in-laws’ house at Kalitola Singhajani after visiting her parents at Santalpara village.

They were returning in a CNG-run auto rickshaw when a truck hit them from behind on Dhaka-Rangpur highway at Katakhali Bridge area. They died on the spot.

– Our Correspondent

Khagrachhari Pourasabha budget declared Budget worth over Tk59.93 crore for the 2014-15FY of Khagrachhari Pourasabha was declared yesterday without imposing any new taxes. Khagrachhari Mayor Rafikul Alam read out the budget at a programme jointly organised by the pourasabha authorities and Socheton Nagorik Committee. Deputy Commissioner Masud Karim was present at the programme as the chief guest. Additional Deputy Commissioner Abdul Khalek, Additional Police Super Enayet Hossain and pourasabha councillors were present among others at the programme.

– Our Correspondent

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

7

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Don’t tread on our dreams, please

Rakshand and n Korvi MH Kawsar Rudro When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.

- Edmund Burke

I

n political campaigns and discussions, our politicians often brag about the power of youth – youth can change the world; youth are the power and whatnot. The political parties run special campaigns to impress the young voters before an election as the youth is the major vote bank that determines who will come to power.

They talk about how they will give the youth jobs, a better place to live in, endless promises. Listening to their fairytale, the youth start dreaming – this time, Bangladesh will change, people will find a country where everyone will have equal rights to education, no one will die starving, every child’s face will be lit up with a smile, and we will live happily ever after. But their dreams never come true as the unemployed and frustrated youth walk the lonely road – waiting for the happy days to come.

In Bangladesh, there are an estimated 30 million adolescent boys and girls, between the ages of 10-19, who represent 20% of the population, while 40% of the population comprises of children alone. In a country where nearly half the population is aged below 18, the existence of promising youth goes uncounted, and their stories remain unheard.

Yet, the youth of Bangladesh struggle every day, they wake up every morning with dreams of a better country to live in. As the sun rises and starts spreading light, the darkness of corruption and systematic discrimination engulf their dreams. Our history of winning the title of world cup of corruption for several times, testifies how corruption and misuse of political power eat up the fruits of peoples’ hard work.

Not an anomaly Despite the odds we face every day in Bangladesh, many youth-led initiatives are raising hope to bring changes to the system that nurtures poverty and social injustice, and caters to the need of the powerful.

Jaago Foundation started its journey in 2007 with a vision of breaking the cycle of poverty through education for the disadvantaged children who would be deprived of quality educa-

The dreams the youth are promised are worth saving from the clutches of corruption and discrimination tion otherwise. Having Started with a small room, with only 17 children from slums in Rayerbazar, Jaago Foundation currently runs a total of eight free of cost English Medium Schools, educating approximately 1,400 underprivileged children from disadvantaged families in different districts of Bangladesh.

With the partnership of Grameenphone, Jaago also introduced online

of Bangladesh.

Madaripur School is one of the online schools that enabled disadvantaged students of the area get free of cost education with the support of our sponsors and well wishers. About 30 disadvantaged children were enrolled in the play – group of our Madaripur School, and the students were attending classes regularly until “mighty” politics entered their classroom.

We are in between the power play, a toy for leaders. Whoever has more power will take over the school and the dreams of the underprivileged children studying in the school

schooling in Bangladesh in five of the schools where students in the remotest areas are offered quality education through video-conferencing technology. We are also opening five more schools this year with a vision of establishing schools in all 64 districts

In May 2014, Shobuj, the nephew of Rehana Parveen Lipa, Secretary of women’s affairs of the Awami League in Madaripur District, applied for the role of project officer at the Jaago Madaripur School. Not having met the criteria, his application had been

WIKIMEDIA

rejected in favour of another local candidate.

On June 15, Rehana Parveen Lipa threatened Jaago officials over the phone as her nephew Shobuj was not recruited. As we explained that her nephew is not eligible for the post, she directly threatened that the new project officer would have to face dire consequences, and even the school would be shut down if things goes against her wishes.

Next morning, her nephew along with five other men came to the school and forced the newly recruited officer to leave the premises, and said, no project officer can work here unless he is recruited. Strengthened with threats to Jaago from his politician aunt, Shobuj, who also forced the previous project officer to leave, often enters the school since then, with local goons, to make sure the newly recruited project officer doesn’t attend office.

As we were contacting the mayor and administration of the area for help, Lipa asked us to mention her name to them, and to tell them that it’s her order. We went to every contact we have to do something to save the school: mayor, MPs, minister and administration; but still, Shobuj with local goons often enter the school premises creating fear and panic among the little students.

It seems, Rehana Parveen Lipa

doesn’t care about anyone, neither does her nephew and his friends.

We are in between the power play, a toy for leaders. Whoever has more power will take over the school and the dreams of the underprivileged children studying in the school.

Entrapped in a corrupted system Thanks to Lipa and her fellows, we have experienced a cruel reality where power game engulfs the pillars of state and even the media – the watchdog of society. As we couldn’t get help from the administration or political leaders, we contacted some journalists for help. Only one newspaper reported the incident, and the rest avoided it for mysterious reasons.

May be, the story was not a hot cake. The media, may be, didn’t find the incident newsworthy as no one died, or no politician said something spicy, or Justin Bieber didn’t lose his keys. But no one saw how systematic deprivation and a culture of impunity is killing our dreams, and hopes generation after generation.

Our history of winning the title of world cup of corruption for several times testifies how corruption and misuse of political power eat up the fruits of peoples’ hard work

This story is not an anomaly, and such misuse of political power adds fuel to corruption that skews governance in favour of the wealthy who can afford to “buy” politicians and officials – thereby exacerbating socio-economic, judicial and political inequalities.

The culture of impunity deeply undermines the rule of law, trust in government and its institutions, and develops disrespect for the judiciary.

The love we share

Despite the oods, many youth-led initiatives are raising hope for children

WIKIMEDIA

health care as well. The sponsor parent not only pays money, they also visit the school, some celebrate their birthdays together, and few even come to Bangladesh and spend their holidays at Jaago – bringing smiles on the children’s faces by giving them gifts.

Each school we run is a gift of love from kind people and well wishers. Take our Madaripur School for example, the land of the school was donated by a philanthropist and her family; they even provided the cost of building construction. Likewise, our sponsor parents bear the cost of every child and they stands beside them, embracing the children who are considered expendable by the society.

In that sense, each school is like a family, where the privileged class of the society share their love with the underprivileged. Bangladesh is advancing in every field only because some people still care about others, they share whatever little they have, embracing the underprivileged and deprived.

In Jaago, there is no passive aggressive power struggle or ulterior aspirations that bubble under its surface; it is simply a group of motivated young people united by their shared desire to educate tomorrow’s generation, and break the cruel poverty cycle which holds so many of the country’s children in its grasp.

We provide free of cost education to these disadvantaged children with your money. Each child’s education expenses are met by individuals like you who pay 1,500 taka per month to ensure the child’s nutrition and

The dreams we dare The youth of Bangladesh are dreamers and optimists who struggle every day, and never stop dreaming. The glorious birth of Bangladesh carries the mark of their blood, their sacrifice. The language we speak are a gift of our brave young who gave their lives for it.

Through our journey, we have met many young minds and explored immense potential among the youth of Bangladesh. We bet, like us, thousands of youth, have the wish to contribute for the society and change the existing system for a better country. A country, where no one goes to sleep hungry, no child is deprived of education, no youth is unemployed, no mother dies without treatment, no one is burnt alive, and no human life is wasted.

Please, don’t tread on our dreams l Korvi Rakshand is the Founder Chairman of Jaago Foundation and President of Volunteer for Bangladesh. He can be reached at korvi@ jaago.com.bd and can be followed on twitter via @KorviRakshand. MH Kawsar Rudro is Assistant Manager at Jaago Foundation.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

As caliphate declared, battle continues in Iraq n Reuters, Baghdad Iraqi troops battled to dislodge an al-Qaeda splinter group from the city of Tikrit yesterday after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized this month across a swathe of Iraq and Syria.

Alarming regional and world powers, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed universal authority when it dropped the local element in its name and said its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as leader of the Islamic State, was now caliph of the Muslim world - a mediaeval title last widely recognized in the Ottoman sultan deposed 90 years ago after World War One.

The move aims to erase international borders drawn by colonial powers and defy Baghdad’s US- and Iranian-backed, Shi’iteled government “He is the imam and caliph for Muslims everywhere,” group spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in an online statement on Sunday, using titles that carry religious and civil power.

The declaration came at the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

The move, which follows a threeweek drive for territory by ISIL militants and allies among Iraqi’s Sunni Muslim minority, aims to erase international borders drawn by colonial powers and defy Baghdad’s US- and Iranian-backed, Shi’ite-led government.

It also poses a direct challenge to the global leadership of al Qaeda, which has disowned it, and to conservative Gulf Arab Sunni rulers who already view the group as a security threat.

The Iraqi government has appealed for international help and has accused Sunni neighbors, notably Saudi Arabia, of having fostered Islamist militancy in

Syria and Iraq. Iraqi army spokesman Qassim Atta said declaring a caliphate could backfire by underlining Baghdadi’s group posed a risk to other nations: “This declaration is a message by Islamic State not only to Iraq or Syria but to the region and the world. The message is that Islamic State has become a threat to all countries,” he said. “I believe all countries, once they read the declaration, will change their attitudes because it orders everybody to be loyal to it.”

Fighters from the group overran the Iraqi city of Mosul on June 10 and have advanced toward Baghdad, prompting the despatch of US military advisers. In Syria, ISIL has captured territory in the north and east, along the desert frontier with Iraq.

The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, with the help of Shi’ite sectarian militias, has managed to stop the militants from reaching the capital but security forces have been unable to take back cities they abandoned in the fighting. The army attempted last week to take back Tikrit but was unable to seize the city.

International role

The fighting has started to draw in international support for Baghdad, two and a half years after US troops pulled out.

Armed and trained by the United States, Iraq’s armed forces crumbled in the face of the ISIL onslaught and have struggled to bring heavier weaponry to bear. Only two aircraft - turboprop Cessna Caravans normally used as short-range passenger and cargo carriers - are capable of firing the powerful Hellfire missile.

The US is flying armed and unarmed aircraft in Iraq’s airspace but says it has not engaged in fighting. Russia has sent its first warplanes to Baghdad, filling an order for five second-hand Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack jets. The government said they will be operational within a few days.

The Islamic State has used alliances with other, less radical Sunni armed groups and tribal fighters who are disillusioned with Maliki. Members Saddam’s secular Baath party have also fought in the revolt. l

Iraqi soldiers load artillery shells onto a vehicle during clashes with Sunni militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar. Iraqi troops yesterday battled to dislodge the al-Qaeda splinter group from Tikrit after its leader was declared caliph of a new Islamic state in lands seized across a swathe of Iraq and Syria REUTERS

Alarm, ridicule for declaration of Islamic state n AP, Baghdad

The audacious declaration of the establishment of a new Islamic state made by the al-Qaida breakaway group that has overrun much of northern Syria and neighboring Iraq sparked celebrations in the group’s Syrian stronghold but was condemned by rival rebels and authorities in Baghdad and Damascus.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant unilaterally announced the creation of a new Islamic caliphate — a state governed by Shariah law — in an audio recording released late Sunday.

The group proclaimed its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of its new state, and demanded that Muslims everywhere pledge allegiance to him.

Through brute force and meticulous

‘ W E S C R E W E D U P I N C R I M E A’

People walk past an advertising board showing an image of Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko at a public transport station in central Moscow. The board reads ‘Impolite people (top). We screwed up in Crimea, we will screw up in the whole country too’ REUTERS

planning, the Sunni extremist group — which said it was changing its name to just the Islamic State, dropping the mention of Iraq and the Levant — has carved out a large chunk of territory that has effectively erased the border between Iraq and Syria and laid the foundations of its proto-state. Along the way, it has battled Syrian rebels, Kurdish militias and the Syrian and Iraqi militaries.

Following the group’s announcement, Islamic State fighters in their northern Syrian stronghold of Raqqa paraded through the city to celebrate.

Some of the revelers wore traditional robes and waved the group’s black flags in a central square, while others zoomed around in pick-up trucks against a thundering backdrop of celebratory gunfire. Video of the celebra-

tions was posted online, and activists in the city confirmed the details.

The announcement was greeted with condemnation and even ridicule elsewhere in Syria, including from rival Islamist rebel groups who have been fighting the Islamic State since January across northern and eastern Syria.

“The gangs of al-Baghdadi are living in a fantasy world. They’re delusional.

They want to establish a state but they don’t have the elements for it,” said Abdel-Rahman al-Shami, a spokesman for the Army of Islam, an Islamist rebel group. “You cannot establish a state through looting, sabotage and bombing.”

Speaking over Skype from Eastern Ghouta, near the capital Damascus, al-Shami described the declaration as “psychological warfare” which he pre-

Russian cameraman 5th journalist killed in Ukraine

Blasts kill 2 officers at Egypt palace

n AP, Moscow

n AP, Cairo

A veteran cameraman working for Russia’s Channel One was killed in eastern Ukraine when a bus carrying journalists and soldiers’ mothers was hit by gunfire, the station said yesterday.

Anatoly Klyan, 68, who had worked for the state channel for 40 years, was the fifth journalist to be killed since the fighting began in April between Ukrainian government troops and armed pro-Russia separatists.

Channel One said its crew was traveling late Sunday to a Ukrainian military base with mothers of conscripts hoping to bring their sons home when their bus came under attack near Avdiivka, a village just north of the city of Donetsk.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry blamed the attack on Ukrainian soldiers and demanded an objective investigation into the attack and for those responsible to be punished.

Video footage of the attack broadcast on Channel One showed Klyan continuing to film inside the bus even after he was shot in the stomach, stopping only when he grew weak and telling his colleagues “I can’t hold the camera any longer.” Other journalists helped him into a passing car to be taken to a nearby medical center, but the television station said doctors were unable to save him.

The bus driver also was hit in the head. He was filmed holding his left hand to his bloody, shaven head while continuing to drive with his right hand until it was safe to stop.

Channel One said the trip was organized by the rebel fighters and that the bus, whose driver was wearing camouflage, came under fire as it approached the military base.

Ukrainian conscripts serving in eastern Ukraine tend to be from the region, where the majority of the population is Russian-speaking. l

Presidential race highlights Europe rejects Cameron’s ‘empty Erdogan’s reshaping of threat’ about UK leaving EU Turkish politics n Reuters, Istanbul/Ankara A quick glance at the emerging candidates for Turkey’s first direct presidential poll illustrates the dramatic change wrought in the country by Tayyip Erdogan’s 11-year premiership; an old secularist elite has yielded the stage to two men of Islamist pedigree and a third from a long-suppressed Kurdish minority.

“It is certainly novel, a new republic,” says Soli Ozel, a professor in political science at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. “We really are in uncharted waters.”

Prime Minister Erdogan, his popularity unscathed by a flare-up of anti-government riots and a corruption scandal, is widely expected to announce his presidential bid on Tuesday for August elections that could further strengthen his hold on power.

Many see his victory as inevitable.

Since his AK party came to power in 2002, he has built huge support among conser-

vative Muslims, many of them poor, who had felt treated as second-class citizens in a secular society - pious women, for instance, excluded from state buildings because they wore headscarves.

Erdogan, now 60, himself served a brief prison sentence in 1999 on charges of Islamist activity. Taking the reins of power only four years later, he tamed the army that had seen itself as final guarantor against Islamism and had toppled four governments in four decades.

Rather than taboo, religion is now a front-and-center political issue. The notion of a secularist president has become politically toxic for many of Turkey’s 77 million citizens. So much so that Turkey’s foremost secularist party, the CHP, the party of secular state founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and the nationalist MHP have chosen as joint nominee Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, a diplomat who was at the helm of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for nine years until 2014. l

n Agencies

European countries have warned David Cameron that his threats about the British people voting to leave an unreformed EU may backfire, undermining the Prime Minister’s hopes of winning major concessions, The Independent reported.

Diplomats from countries sympathetic to Britain have told the Foreign Office there will be a limit to sweeteners the prime minister can win before putting his new deal to voters in a referendum promised for 2017.

The warnings emerged after Cameron failed to block the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission. Cameron believes Juncker will stand in the way of reform.

A senior official from a pro-British EU nation told The Independent: “The threat to leave may prove an empty one. It is not the best way to get what you want. Cameron may find that other

dicted will turn people against the Islamic State. In Iraq, where the government has launched a counteroffensive to try to claw back some of the territory lost to the Islamic State in recent weeks, the declaration is viewed through the prism of the country’s rising sectarian tensions.

“This is a project that was wellplanned to rupture the society and to spread chaos and damage,” said Hamid al-Mutlaq, a Sunni lawmaker. “This is not to the benefit of the Iraqi people, but instead it will increase the differences and splits.”

The Islamic State has seized upon widespread grievances among Iraq’s Sunni minority and opposition to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government to help fuel its blitz through northern and western Iraq. l

people will call his bluff.”

Another EU diplomat said: “The view around Europe is that Britain will come to its senses and would not be stupid enough to leave. That means the rest of us will only go so far to help Britain.”

A Brussels insider also said people were “sick of Britain’s complaining tone” and would only help to avoid its exit if ministers made a “positive case” for EU membership.

Meanwhile, Labour has launched a scathing attack on Cameron’s approach to the negotiations. Writing on The Independent website, the shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander, said Britain had less chance of achieving reform to the EU following the Prime Minister’s “personal defeat and diplomatic humiliation.”

The Government claims Cameron’s unyielding stance against Mr Juncker’s appointment will strengthen his hand when he negotiates new EU membership terms by 2017.

NEWS BITES

Three homemade bombs went off yesterday near Egypt’s presidential palace in Cairo, killing two senior police officers and wounding eight people, security officials said, in an attack that fell on the first anniversary of the mass protests that led to the ouster of then-President Mohammed Morsi. The officials said the first bomb slightly wounded three street cleaners, while a second and third exploded while bomb squad teams were trying to defuse them, killing a police colonel and a lieutenant-colonel and wounding five other policemen, the officials said.

Another device in the area was discovered and defused, said the officials.

All the devices were planted less than 20 meters (yards) away from the walls of the Ittihadiya palace in the upscale Heliopolis district in eastern Cairo. It was not immediately clear whether President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who as army chief ousted the Islamist Morsi, was inside the palace when the blasts went off.

An Associated Press video showed the immediate aftermath of the second explosion, with plainclothes policemen carrying away the dead colonel and an injured policemen on stretchers as a cloud of white smoke rose from the cite. Security forces also sealed off roads leading to the scene, with police dogs arriving at the scene. l

More than 50 dead in Nigeria attack on churches

n AFP, Kano, Nigeria

Leaders of Germany and Sweden made conciliatory noises towards Britain after Cameron was outvoted by 26-2 at an EU summit on Friday which nominated Mr Juncker. But the diplomats’ views suggest the Prime Minister’s hardline tactics may rebound on him. l

More than 50 people were killed in the latest attack blamed on Boko Haram Islamists which targeted churches in Nigeria’s embattled northeast, a Borno state government official said yesterday.

“So far we have 54 dead,” said the official, who requested anonymity, of the raid on four villages just outside Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April.

A local leader in Chibok, who also asked that his name be withheld, said residents had discovered at least 47 bodies in the surrounding bushland, but told AFP the search was ongoing and figures were still being collated. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Pakistan begins ground offensive against militants Modi asks space scientists to develop n Saarc satellite AP, Islamabad

n Agencies India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday asked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop a satellite which will serve all the Saarc nations.

Addressing Indian space scientists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota after the successful launch of PSLV C23 rocket, the prime minister said the fruits of India’s space missions should reach other developing nations, especially India’s neighbours.

“You should develop a Saarc satellite,” he told the scientists. “We should dedicate this satellite to our neighbourhood as India’s gift ... India is rooted in our age-old ethos of ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakom’. Our space science reflects that.

We should share the fruit of this with our neighbouring countries,” he said.

Minutes earlier, PSLV C23 had injected five foreign satellites into the specified orbits. The rocket lifted off at 9.52am and completed all four phases with textbook precision. Modi went around congratulating the scientists after promising bigger thrust on space science.

He sought to dispel the notion that space science is for the elite. “This is the biggest mistake some people make.

Space science ultimately works to change the lives of the poor. Space science empowers a child in the farthest village with education. It delivers telemedicine,” he said.

“GIS (Geographic Information Systems) has applications in urban planning and watershed development.

Space imagery helps in land management, coastal management. It is an invaluable asset in disaster management.

By predicting cyclones, it has saved millions of lives,” the Prime Minister said.

He called upon space scientists to enlarge the footprints of India’s satellite-based navigation system to cover the whole of south Asia.

“Space should be our national mission. We should have bigger satellites with larger power. We also have to further our international partnership in space technology. Extend our launching capabilities to heavier satellites,” he said, urging Isro to tie up with universities and colleges to develop future scientists and leaders. l

Pakistan launched a ground offensive against militant strongholds near the Afghan border yesterday after evacuating nearly half a million people from the tribal region, the army said.

The ground offensive is the second phase of a long-awaited operation against militants in the North Waziristan tribal area, a lawless, mountainous stretch of land in northwest Pakistan. The military announced the operation on June 15 but has mostly limited its tactics to airstrikes while giving time to hundreds of thousands of people to pack up their belongings and leave to safer areas.

The US has long pushed for such an operation to go after militants that use the area as a safe haven from which to attack targets in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The army began a house-to-house search in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, the army statement said. It said nearly 15 militants were killed in the initial ground advance.

The town is also the headquarters for a number of different militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban.

The operation began days after militants attacked the main airport in the southern port city of Karachi, killing 26 people. The 10 assailants were also killed in the roughly five-hour siege that shocked Pakistanis by showing how vulnerable the country’s institutions have become.

Pakistani forces killed 376 militants during the first 15 days of the offensive, the statement said, adding that 17 troops also died. North Waziristan was already a difficult area for journalists

Pakistanis flee their villages after receiving relief supplies at a distribution point in Bannu, North Waziristan. Pakistan launched a ground offensive against Taliban strongholds near the Afghan border yesterday after evacuating nearly half a million residents from the tribal region, the army said AP to access but the operation has made it even more difficult to independently verify reports of casualties.

The military said infantry troops and commandos are leading the ground advance. Three soldiers were wounded in an exchange of fire, the statement said.

The Pakistani army has already conducted several military operations in the tribal badlands along Afghan bor-

der, including offensives in 2009 in the scenic Swat valley and in South Waziristan, the onetime headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban.

The Pakistani Taliban is a loose network of several local militant groups who want to overthrow the country’s government in a bid to install their own harsh brand of Islamic law. In their decade-old deadly campaign of

bombings, shootings and other attacks, they have killed thousands of Pakistanis.

The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ever since he took office last summer had been trying to negotiate a peace deal with the militants. The operation has effectively ended prospects of any such move in near future. l

Thai junta begins overhaul of electoral system n Reuters, Bangkok Thailand’s military government said yesterday it had begun an overhaul of the electoral system following an announcement by junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha that polls could take place by late 2015.

The military took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of street demonstrations that contributed to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. A court had already ordered her to step down after finding her guilty of abuse of power on May 7.

Permanent secretary for defence Surasak Kanchanarat said political party reform, decentralisation of power and “investigations and penalties for those

groups that commit electoral fraud” were top on the military’s agenda.

“We will talk about obstacles to an election and corruption,” Surasak told reporters ahead of a meeting later on Monday with the Election Commision.

The junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order, has scrapped the constitution and its leader, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, said on Friday that a new, temporary charter would be ready in July.

The army chief said this would allow an interim cabinet to be installed

by September and a reform council would then start work on a longer-term constitution. He also said in his weekly televised speech that a general election could be held around October 2015, the firmest date he has given until now.

The United States and European Union downgraded diplomatic ties with Thailand after the coup. Washington has called for a quick return to civilian government and a move toward “free and fair elections.”

The junta’s plans for sweeping electoral reforms echo demands made by the anti-government demonstrators who hounded Yingluck. They wanted reforms before a new election and disrupted a Feb. 2 vote that was later annulled by a court.

Yingluck’s government and the Election Commission, which was accused of bias by Yingluck’s supporters, failed to agree on a new election date prior to the military seizing power.

The toppling by the army of her brother, former premier Thaksin Shi-

nawatra, in 2006 ignited a long-running struggle between the conservative middle-class and Thaksin’s largely rural supporters. The military has said it wants to put an end to Thailand’s often violent political cycle.

The protesters accused Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile abroad to avoid a corruption sentence handed down in 2008, of rampant vote-buying and said they wanted to eliminate his “toxic” political influence.

Meanwhile, the junta has widened a purge of Thaksin-linked government officials. On Friday, it announced a reshuffle of senior civil servants, transferring 10 Thaksin allies to inactive posts, including Tarit Pengdith, chief of the Department of Special Investigation, the equivalent of the US FBI. l

Thai military aims to revive peace talks with Muslim rebels n Reuters, Bangkok

Village volunteers train during a self-defense practice session organized by Police and the Thai army in Yala province, Thailand. The country’s military government said yesterday it had begun an overhaul of the electoral system following an announcement by the junta leader that polls could take place by late 2015 REURTERS

Thailand’s military government is to revive talks aimed at bringing peace to the troubled south, where Muslim separatists have fought the government for over a decade, a senior military official said yesterday.

Udomdet Sitabutr, secretary-general of the military’s National Council for Peace and Order, said talks, brokered

by Malaysia, with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgent group would restart after stalling last year.

A low-level insurgency in the south has claimed more than 5,700 lives since

China strikes key blow in battle against pervasive graft n Reuters, Beijing Chinese President Xi Jinping struck a key blow in his fight against pervasive graft yesterday with the expulsion from the Communist Party of a former high-ranking military commander who had risen to near the very apex of power in China.

Xu Caihou, who retired as vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission last year and from the party’s decision-making Politburo in 2012, is the highest-ranking military officer to be accused of corruption in China.

Xu will be handed over for a court martial after being accused of taking bribes, the official Xinhua news agency said. “The party will never allow a hiding place for corrupt elements, the military will also never allow corrupt elements any place to hide,” Xinhua said.

Both the party and the army, the agency said, had to understand “the

President Xi has launched a sweeping campaign against graft since becoming party chief in late 2012 and president last year, vowing to take down powerful ‘tigers’ as well as lowly ‘flies’ long-term, complicated and arduous battle against corruption, and the need for the fight against corruption to be put in a more prominent position.”

“Upon investigation, Xu Caihou took advantage of his office, helped others be promoted to positions and accepted bribes directly or through his family, used his position to influence others for profit and his family mem-

bers accepted valuables from others.”

Xu has been under virtual house arrest for months while helping in the probe into Gu Junshan, who has been under investigation for corruption since he was sacked as deputy director of the logistics department of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in 2012, sources have previously told Reuters.

Gu was charged with corruption earlier this year.

Reuters has not been able to reach either Xu or Gu for comment. It is not clear whether they have lawyers.

The Xinhua dispatch made no mention of Gu. President Xi has launched a sweeping campaign against graft since becoming party chief in late 2012 and president last year, vowing to take down powerful “tigers” as well as lowly “flies.”

Xu is the most senior person to have been felled to date. l

2004 following the resurgence of a dormant Muslim separatist movement.

“The talks are still alive but the details must be fleshed out so that we can move forward and draw up a road map to peace,” Udomdet told reporters.

“Thailand trusts Malaysia as the mediator. We must prepare details to go into the talks.”

Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south, in particular the three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, are majority Muslim and resistance to central government rule has existed there for decades.

Attempts by the state to impose Bud-

dhist Thai culture on the region and Thai language in schools have only helped to create animosity on both sides.

Successive governments have failed to bring an end to the violence, which includes shootings, beheadings, bombings and arson attacks. Rights groups say both the rebels and the Thai army have committed war crimes.

The recently ousted government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra began peace talks last year with the BRN, or National Revolutionary Front, in Malaysia although critics said the meetings did not have the support of all rebel groups. l

Half Japanese voters oppose Abe’s security shift n Reuters, Tokyo Half of Japanese voters oppose dropping a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War Two, a survey showed yesterday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe readied a landmark shift in security policy that would ease the constraints of the pacifist constitution on the armed forces.

A man set himself on fire at a busy Tokyo intersection on Sunday in an apparent protest against the policy change, police and witnesses said, a rare form of protest in Japan.

The change will significantly widen Japan’s military options by ending the ban on exercising “collective self-defense” or aiding a friendly country under attack. It will also relax limits on activities in UN-led peacekeeping operations and “grey zone” incidents short of full-scale war, according to a draft government proposal made available to reporters last week.

The change is likely to anger China, whose ties with Japan have chilled markedly due to a territorial row, mutual mistrust and the legacy of Japan’s past military aggression. But it will be welcomed by Tokyo’s close ally Washington and some Southeast Asia nations, also wary of an increasingly assertive Beijing. Abe’s cabinet is expected to adopt as early as Tuesday a resolution revising a long-standing interpretation of the US-drafted constitution to lift the ban, after his ruling party finalizes an agreement with its junior partner.

Fifty percent of Japanese voters oppose dropping the ban compared to 34% who support the change, a survey by the Nikkei business daily showed.

The rest were undecided. Fifty-four percent of respondents to the June 27-29 survey were against making the change by reinterpreting the pacifist charter rather than going through politically more difficult formal amendment procedures, the Nikkei said. l

Tapas Pal: ‘Will ask my boys to rape CPM women’ n Agencies Tapas Pal, popular Bengali actor and a Member of Parliament from Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, has been caught on camera purportedly saying, “I will ask our boys to go and rape CPM women, if necessary.”

The footage aired by local TV channels is hazy, but Mr Pal is clearly heard making the shocking threat while addressing party workers and assuring them that members of other parties will not be allowed to harm them. He also allegedly made other threats.

The Trinamool Congress quickly distanced itself from the comment.

“Statements made by Mr Tapas Pal are very insensitive. We do not in any way endorse what he said weeks ago, being played on TV today (yesterday),” said Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien.

There is, however, no word yet on whether the party will act against Mr Pal, who is a two-term MP from Krishnanagar in West Bengal.

The CPM’s Malini Bhattacharya said her party will move the National Commission for women against Mr Pal and also complain to the Lok Sabha speaker.

“What has been reported in the media as a public statement is condemnable...

We are going to approach NCW and the speaker. We want to ask parliament to inquire into this.” l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Better buses needed

B

RTC needs to overhaul the bus system in Dhaka city and its adjoining areas. At present, there is an insufficient number of buses plying on the roads. Of the ones that are running, many offer poor service, are overcrowded, do not make enough daily runs, or do not travel to all the points in the city.

Many private bus services have tried to cover up for this shortfall, yet their services are also still not up to the mark.

Such unsatisfactory standards for our buses force many people to use private cars, thereby adding to congestion. In a country suffering from poor air quality, reducing congestion should be more of a priority for the government, not only to free our roads but also for public health.

We should have good, clean, safe bus services for all. It is imperative that women in particular feel safe and can travel free from harassment.

The BRTC has a duty to change our public transport situation around. Right now, the BRTC is holding millions of commuters hostage. Internal corruption and a broken system is holding us back. The BRTC needs to let private operators operate and break up the control of the cartels. It also needs to make public transport a line item in the budget and buy more buses.

The availability of better, safer, and more accessible buses would be greatly beneficial to our citizens, and what is good for the people is good for the government as well.

The availability of better, safer, and more accessible buses would be greatly beneficial to our citizens

Don’t restrict imports

I

t is good news that some 49 countries have just allowed duty-free access of Bangladeshi goods to their markets, and Bangladesh should similarly open itself up to the world.

Trade restrictions, such as import duties and import quotas, have been widely used to protect the interests of domestic businesses.

While it is in our interest to encourage and spur the growth of Bangladeshi industries, restricting the import of foreign goods is not the best strategy for us in this competitive globalised economy.

Import duties and quotas try to save certain sectors by protecting them from the flood of foreign goods entering our local market, undercutting our prices, thereby standing in the way of the growth of some of our infant industries.

However, this strategy is fraught with problems.

Artificially controlling the local price level can create disequilibrium in the market, giving rise to unethical practices such as administrative corruption with certain importers vying for the favour of customs officials. Furthermore, quotas tend to incentivise criminal practices where businesses may try to bypass the quota by smuggling in foreign products to meet local demand.

We cannot do away with import duties fully – there is a need for it in some cases. However, the world is moving in the direction of duty-free access.

Instead of restricting imports, we should help our domestic industries in other ways. For example, the government could subsidise or give tax breaks to local businesses. This will help our local businesses without hurting local consumers or closing us off to the world.

The government could subsidise or give tax breaks to local businesses

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

What does India want?

June 26

Mohammad Munshi I wouldn’t expect anything substantive from Sushma Swaraj except more promises. India’s objective is simply to achieve hegemony over the South Asian region, and profit from smaller countries and make them follow its lead. matthewislam Mohammad Munshi: Thank you very much for reading Mr. Munshi.

Mohammad Munshi matthewislam: You are welcome. Good article.

Richard Parker India does not care about smaller neighbours, unless, of course, you happen to have a nuke or two.

We must therefore learn to live with Indian indifference and hostility. A small size, however, has also its advantages and we must craft an all-weather, bipartisan India policy. As for LBA, water sharing and the like, we must take them to UN for arbitration.

Bilateralism with India hasn’t work for forty-plus years, and is unlikely to work any time soon.

By the way, great write-up, Matthew. matthewislam Richard Parker: Thank you for reading. By the way, are you still stuck on the boat with Pi Patel?

Raihan Hadi Fantastic article! But I’m afraid India has a way into

Disservice with violence June 27

SAM Before anything else, the MD of Biman should extend a public apology to all, for unacceptable violence by a Biman staff member. All women’s organisations should take this case up with the authorities concerned.

The inquiry by Biman has nothing to do with the visible physical violence. It is to see if the violence was justified or not? If I owned the airline, the top executive management officer would have been sacked by now. Why has he not done so with the officer who has sullied Biman with his violence? That speaks volumes about Biman’s management, which seems to be nothing more than a sales organisation that ignores customers (present and future) in a typically wrong, monopolistic and bureaucratic mindset.

This event pinpoints to that attitude. Would the authorities concerned please ask the MD why he has not issued a public apology?

Most airlines advertise and try to practice “service with a smile”; not so in Biman’s office, it seems to me. Has the Biman management forgotten that they are dependent on the taxpayers, who are the real owners of Biman?

This incident points to the popular feeling among Biman passengers that it is an untrustworthy airline. Can the Biman management justify violence against a customer? No way! An apology should come first, not an inquiry. I think, from now on, all prospective passengers should avoid Biman altogether.

this country through “influential” businessmen who pay our politicians and play them on strings as and when necessary. If we are to solve this problem, the proper way is we must face the enemies inside and break and rebuild the infrastructure if necessary; otherwise it’s all just words from us.

In my eyes, India was never willing to befriend us in the first place. India is never really friends with anyone; all they mean is business and they’ll stick to you as long as you are beneficial to their businesses. Besides, to take the easy way out, a lot of businesses in our country tend to import goods from India, and that way we are once again benefiting their economy. And, seriously, thank you for mentioning how their cricket and entertainment don’t really count.

They think we can all just sing and dance bhangra away while they take everything they can from us through the backdoor, not knowing that we only let our idiots dance away. I know this comes off like a hate message and I’m blabbering too much, but it is what it is and once again, Matthew, gracias!

India must think a million times more before severing ties with us any further.

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 5 represents R so fill R every time the figure 5 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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

matthewislam Raihan Hadi: Thank you for reading. It is a complex issue but at the least we need to be cognizant of the fact that we are getting a raw bargain for quite a while now and there is no need for it. There are many people who are standing by to provide more and accord due respect.

The doyen takes his leave June 25

Evil people politics A true pioneer in the field of journalism for our country.

Alphabet for ideal living June 26

SA Mansoor Accept differences; be kind; count your blessings; dream happily; express thanks; forgive all faults; give freely; harm no one; imagine vividly; jettison anger; keep smiling; love truly; master a capability; nurture hope; open your mind; persevere unfailingly; quell rumours; respect others; support the needy; try your best; understand people; value honesty; win gracelessly; xenophobia is to be avoided; yearn for peace, and zealously support the needy.

No one should have to live in fear June 27

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Glittering particles (6) 6 Passing craze (3) 9 Riverside embankment (5) 10 Fruit (4) 11 Wide open (5) 12 Mineral spring (3) 13 Light colour (6) 15 Soft powder (4) 18 Excuse (4) 21 Spruce (6) 24 Consumed (3) 25 Man’s name (5) 28 Swarm (4) 29 Permission (5) 30 Serpent (3) 31 Rocked under a blow (6)

DOWN 1 Incline (5) 2 Laundry item (3) 3 Be of use (5) 4 Corded fabric (3) 5 Part of a castle (4) 6 Clenched hand (4) 7 Electrical unit (6) 8 Business transaction (4) 14 Undermine (3) 16 Lessens (6) 17 Drinking vessel (3) 19 Confined to an area (5) 20 Ventilated (5) 21 Facts given (4) 22 Sly look (4) 23 Acting part (4) 26 Observe (3) 27 Hail! (3)

imzy That’s because the Biharis are stranded Pakistanis.

You revisionists need to look at your history. No matter what “laws” were introduced in 2008 against the will of the people, the Biharis belong in Pakistan. It seems to be merely another way of Pakistan to humiliate Bangladesh by not taking their people back.

As for how they’re treated here, they need to be treated well. There are some instances of bad actions, but it is misleading to say they are persecuted etc. On the whole, they are treated amazingly.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

PEANUTS

Nizami’s illness eases after verdict postponed June 25 vihan It is so strange that all arrested war criminals or mass murderers (worldwide) always seem to get “sick” when they face justice. It is as if they try to show themselves as “weak” and “vulnerable” in order to receive some compassion and sympathy from the public.

Julfikar Ali Manik wins Gerald Loeb Awards June 26 Tareq Salahuddin Congratulations Manik Bhai. A well-deserved win.

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

You’re history n Mohammad N Miraly

T

Gavrilo Princip’s action a hundred years ago affects the world today

F

R

O

M

T

WIKIMEDIA

H

E

M

A

R

G

I

N

S

A bang and a whimper

T

n Ikhtisad Ahmed he parochial, bigoted interpretation of politics being about ruling with absolute power and without any accountability endorses, as part of its philosophy, homicide and genocide as equitable remedies.

Personal or societal equity, or greed and gain disguised as such, does not justify the taking of a human life.

Assassinations, political, or otherwise, are therefore, ignoble and illegal. Nevertheless, international relations have leaned heavily on this Faustian crutch from ancient history, especially in the New World that the West built for itself following the two World Wars.

Those in power have not been the only ones guilty of concocting elaborate plots to rid themselves of their enemies. Those ruled over have, unfortunately, also resorted to this device to usurp their rulers, particularly when said rulers were viewed as being authoritarian and tyrannical.

On June 28 – a hundred years ago – one man, who thought himself and his kind to have been egregiously wronged, sought to rally troops behind the cause for justice by assassinating a senior figure of a near six and a half century-old empire. The symbolic act was to be a catalyst for self-determination. The success of the ill-trained, ill-equipped, and short-sighted, if not downright foolish, Gavrilo Princip’s plan did worse.

The first shots of the Great War

were fired by the Austro-Hungarian Empire exactly a month after the assassinations of the pious, methodical, and arrogant heir presumptive to its throne and his wife in Sarajevo. In the era of the Triple Alliance, stemming from the 1882 defensive pact, and the Triple Entente, effective from 1907, they inevitably led to the overtly opposing forces facing off against one other.

was charged with maintaining world peace. One of its key covenants was the creation of Mandates, such as the British Mandate for Palestine, whereby areas of the defeated forces – the Central Powers – would be divided among the victors on a temporary basis.

These areas would not be part of the victorious empires indefinitely, and were promised sovereignty and independence. This did not, in itself,

Many have been lulled into believing in the principles of Gavrilo Princip that assassinations are positive actions

A cursory glance at a 1914 map of the world would inform that the vast majority of the planet’s total land mass belonged to the six empires (the French Third Republic was one in all but name, while the other five brazenly identified themselves as such).

Their expansionist tendencies that had been kept under control by pragmatism and treaties were unleashed once more. The handful of remaining independent nations and regions were obliging or unwilling allies over the course of the four and a half years that followed.

The Paris Peace Accords of 1919 established the League of Nations, which

spell the end of imperialism. However, it sowed the seeds for nationalist movements in the existing parts of the various empires that were not made Mandates, and added momentum to the principle of self-determination.

Amongst such developments was the rise of nationalism in the Indian subcontinent following the huge losses suffered by Indian troops as part of the British Armed Forces with little or no compensation. World War I marked the end of the Age of Empire, being fully borne out after World War II. The major conflicts and crises – from Africa to the Middle East and South Asia – plaguing the world, date

back to the unwise realpolitik of imperialists reluctantly surrendering their crowns on their own ill-advised terms.

It ended the Age, but made provisions for future empires that would repeat the mistakes of their predecessors.

Notably, American isolationism gave way to an easily excitable doctrine of intervention that feeds its bellicose 21st century empire.

Many have been lulled into believing in the principles of Gavrilo Princip that assassinations are positive actions in the political arena that resolve dire situations. The ones in power and the bereaved underlings – be they in the American and European corridors of power or in Africa and the Indian subcontinent – have fallen into this trap have all been wholly wrong.

That does not seem to be enough to make these aspiring assassins and belligerents shun this ideology.

Gavrilo Princip was two weeks short of his 20th birthday, and could not be sentenced to death under Austro-Hungarian law for killing a man who, ironically, had insisted that war would be a disaster. Ravaged by skeletal tuberculosis, he died in a prison hospital just over six months before the end of the war that his actions had triggered.

Although the assassination led to the fall of empires of the time, the world continues to suffer because of what happened a hundred years ago. l Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer. He can be contacted on Twitter via @ Ikhtisad.

he past has a ripple effect on the present. Unless we know who we were, we cannot know who we are. Aamer Rahman, an Australian-Bangladeshi comedian, sheds an ingeniously skewed perspective on the value of history in his “reverse racism” bit that now has over a million YouTube hits. By flipping the history of colonialism, he brings to light many of the power dynamics we take for granted in today’s society.

He speeds through the highlights of colonialism, arguing that the only way he could be a “reverse racist” is if he went back in time and convinced the leaders of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Central America to occupy Europe and steal their resources (and set up a trans-Asian slave trade).

His irony-laden history lesson gets even more poignant when he suggests that those leaders “set up systems that privilege black and brown people at every conceivable social, political, and economic opportunity, so white people would never have any hope of real self-determination.” And, “just for kicks, subject white people to coloured people’s standards of beauty.”

Rahman’s alternate Bizarro World holds up a mirror to our own accepted notions of how things ought to be. The supremacy of the West over the last few centuries was by no means a foregone conclusion. It came on the heels of Europe’s very Dark Ages, a term that is itself loaded with the conception that nothing of any worth transpired during that period. Truth is, while continental Europe was in its Dark Ages, Asia was at a cultural apogee and the Middle East was a global hub for new knowledge.

In a way, colonialism has been more of a European obsession than that of other continents

The fact that we don’t learn this in school is no accident. It is reflective of Rahman’s “systems of privilege” that

modern Western history deliberately includes no mention of the scientific, philosophical, and cultural heritage it owes to the Middle East and Asia.

What we are today is a result of what happened yesterday

For almost half a millennium – from the 15th to 18th centuries – while most Europeans were living in gutter-ridden mud streets, the Ottoman Empire was a beacon of shining sophistication, and Indian maharajas lived lives so lavish that their individual wealth would have surpassed that of whole countries on the continent. But, it was a Chinese invention that would change the fate of the West – and the rest – for with the introduction of Chinese gunpowder to the continent, Europe was able to lay siege to the entire world.

In a way, colonialism has been more of a European obsession than that of other continents, who chose the paths of isolation, in the case of China, or of inclusion, in the case of the Ottomans. Nevertheless, the point here is that even a simple understanding of the contours of history can radically change our perspective on our world.

Why is European Renaissance art considered a global standard today when Chinese art has the world’s richest heritage? Why is English the lingua franca today when Arabic was the language of learning in Europe until 500 years ago?

What we are today is a result of what happened yesterday. Questioning why things are is the only way to understand who we are. Rahman’s comedic bit subversively questions the ruling power dynamics of today’s society, and silently asks the right question: “Why do things have to be the way they are?” The unspoken answer, of course, is: “They don’t have to be.” l Mohammad N Miraly is an educator and film producer. He holds a PhD from McGill University in religion, ethics, and public policy, and is the author of themiralyblog. wordpress.com.

Aamer Rahman has over a million hits on YouTube

Is it a sin to hate my own city? n Mushfique Wadud

E

very day, when I am traveling on a bus or walking the streets of Dhaka, I battle with myself about whether I should continue following the teachings of my parents and teachers.

Will people hate me if I say that I now hate Dhaka though I fell in love with it in my childhood?

From my childhood, I was taught to love my motherland. And I remember the poem of Jibanananda Das that I read in school: “Abar ashibo phiire dhanshiritir tire ei Banglai, hoito manush noi, hoitoba shongkho chil shaliker beshe …”

Till today, I have been following this teaching. I love my motherland and I

will continue to do so.

But one question had come to my mind recently: Will it be against everything I have been taught to hate my own city? Is it a sin to hate Dhaka, where I was born?

I encounter this question every moment I am in the city. Should I continue to pretend I love Dhaka when I actually don’t? Will people hate me if I say that I now hate Dhaka though I fell in love with it in my childhood?

These are the questions I face every day.

Dhaka changed very rapidly. I have witnessed how a loving city can turn into a loathing city. Recently, I discovered that one should have four eyes to cross the roads in Dhaka as vehicles come from both sides. Two eyes are required to carefully watch one side, and another pair for the other side.

I discovered that footpaths are made for motorbikes and not for walking. The other day, I asked a motorbike owner who was driving on the footpath if the footpath was made for riding motorbikes. He answered: “When law enforcers don’t say anything, why should you be bothered? It is not your

duty to look after footpaths.”

Yes, it is not my duty. But whose duty is it?

Sometimes I think it is the duty of hawkers as they occupy the footpaths as if it were their property. It seems that footpaths were built for hawkers.

And Dhaka’s transportation system is even worse than its footpaths.

When I am in a public bus, I feel like I am not a human being. I am sure even cows or goats have a better journey when they come to Dhaka. The conductors of the city’s bus services always seem to follow a policy – to fill every inch of space in the bus. And sometimes, even the roofs of buses are not spared.

I find many passengers who think some city buses are (in a way) like prison vans. And they are not wrong.

In some busses, you hardly get any ventilation.

And what if a passenger experiences a sudden cardiac arrest inside a bus?

I am sure he or she will not survive as it is not possible to get out of a crowded bus.

And if you share your objections with the conductor, his answer will

surely be: “Buy a car, otherwise you have to face this.” As if a person who cannot afford to buy a car has no right to live in this city.

But even if you have a car, you are not free of problems in this city. The first problem everyone faces is lack of cleanliness. You will hardly find any place in the city without a bad smell, and if you are unlucky enough, you will find some open dustbins in important parts of the city.

The whole city is a public toilet.

The smell of urine is overwhelming in every bus stop. In many places, waste is dumped on the busy roads.

Our city corporation is responsible for looking after the city, but ironically the surroundings of the city corporation offices are the dirtiest. Just go to Gulistan, which is just a few yards of Dhaka South City Corporation, and if you do not vomit, you should test whether your nose is working properly.

All these problems only get worse during the rainy season.

There are many poems in Bangla literature about the rainy season. A rainy day is always an enjoyable event for

Bangalis. But for city-dwellers, this is the worst season. In many parts of the city, roads are inundated for days after a rainy day. Throughout the season, most roads are in such a bad condition that it is really difficult to walk or drive vehicles.

And then there is traffic congestion.

I came across a cartoon the other day and thought it was the best thing to explain our city’s traffic problems. A person seeks three days’ leave from his boss. The boss asks him whether he is going anywhere and the person answers: “Yes, I am going to my in-laws’ house in Uttara. One day is required to go from my house in Jatrabari to Uttara, and another to return. And I will stay there for one day.” Very soon we will need one whole day to go from one part of the city to another.

These are only a few of the many problems in Dhaka. I am in a dilemma – is it possible to love a city with all these problems? Or should I admit that I am no longer in love with it? l Mushfique Wadud is an education reporter at the Dhaka Tribune.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Poets and artists express urban experience n Shadma Malik

The artists came from different areas including students from Fine Arts to professionals. They have expressed congested urban centres without living any space on the canvases. The prints narrate the sprawl of urbanisation.

Representing urban experience, artist Abdullah Al Bashir has depicted two boys on a street over a huge net.

At the background, birds can be seen sitting unruffled on an electric wire which is a common scenario of the city where there is no security for the birds.

Rahul Amin Tarek's artwork depicts a sketch of a man who is observing flying and floating objects made out of paper such as kites and boats. The person inside the wall perhaps has an urge to become a paper objects which are free.

Using a red pen, Nityananda Gaine has marked the most congested places of the capital city like Airport Road, Motijheel, Farmgate, to name a few on his canvas. On a gloomy background, Saurav Chowdhury has represented high-rise buildings which deprive us from the bright blue sky and soothing greenery.

On the contrary, Anika Marium Ahmed presents a remote village in her artwork which, perhaps, express her inner self that still seek for the serenity of rural life.

The show will continue until 8pm, July 29. l

A group exhibition titled “Urban Experience” where the participant artists and poets explore both the positive and negative aspects of urban life is going on at the Bengal Art Lounge in Gulshan.

The show is an outcome of a weeklong workshop. With the help of two visiting artists, Whitney Baker on poetry and Andrew Saftel on printmaking, the theme given is to get an outlook of the formidable challenges and opportunities of urban life. The workshop was conducted in Dhaka and Rajshahi organised by the Bengal Foundation and American Center of the U S Embassy.

The unique show presents combination of poetries and prints. Sometimes the poetries compliment the artworks, while some paintings are visual expressions of the verses. As the theme suggests, most of the works present high-rise buildings, rickshaws and different vehicles to represent city life.

Through the artworks, the artists and poets try to find out answers of some questions: Is living in a city an advantage, or a curse? How to express oneself in enclosed urban spaces? How to interpret the often contradictory issues raised by rapid urbanisation – where congested urban centres are sources of both formidable challenges and opportunities?

TODAY IN DHAKA Film

Transformers: Age of Extinction3D X-Men: Days of Future Past 3D NonStop(2D) Walking with Dinosaurs Time: 10am – 10pm Star Cineplex, Level 8 Bashundhara City 13/3 Ka Panthopath Noah 3D Tarkaata Godzilla 3D Ami Shudhu Cheyechi Tomay Mr Peabody & Sherman 3D Jamuna Future Park, Blockbuster Cinemas Ka- 244, Pragati Avenue Kuril

Exhibition

Second Sight Time: 12pm – 8pm The Daily Star Centre 64-65, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue Artistic Musings of Great Collector Nasir Ali Mamun Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Road No 16 Dhanmondi Shadow of Concave Time: 12pm – 8pm Gallery Shilpangon

Talk

Prakriti and Purusha Time: 3:30pm – 5:00pm Daily Star-Bengal Arts Precinct The Daily Star Centre Karwan Bazaar

Amitabh Bachchan sports no makeup look in Yudh n Entertainment Desk Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will be seen without make-up in his much awaited TV show “Yudh.”

The 71-year-old actor plays the character of a real estate baron, Yudhisthir Sikarwar, in the upcoming show.

Anurag Kashyap, the creative director of the show, took a deliberate decision of “no makeup” for the artists and the entire cast welcomed it.

“Keeping in mind that it was a directorial decision to make visuals look as real-life as possible, it was essential that the actors looked natural. That helped in the way our scenes were lit up and there were no special efforts to conceal defects, if any, on our faces. These factors work well in the overall look of the product,” Bachchan said in a statement.

The show is likely to go on air from mid-July on Sony Entertainment Television. l

Grief of losing a father portrayed in telefilm n Entertainment Desk

Abul Hayat in Ar Ekbar Phirey Ashtey Jodi

Telefilm “Ar Ekbar Phirey Ashtey Jodi” will be aired on Wednesday at 2:45pm on Channel i. The story is about the pain of losing someone very dear. A son, who shared a cold relationship with his father wishes he could have him back again. Only after his father passed away did he realise how special their bond was.

Directed by Picklu Chowdhury, the telefilm features Abul Hayat, Shamol Maula, Hasin and many others. l

Rick Savage uncovers hidden treasures n Entertainment Desk Watch out for the documentary “American Digger” on the Discovery Channel today at 8pm. Follow former professional wrestler-turned modern-day relic hunter, Ric Savage, and his team as they travel around America uncovering hidden treasures from the backyards of everyday Americans hoping to strike it rich. The only thing standing in their way are the homeowners themselves.

Ric must convince to allow them to dig up their property, using state-of-the-art metal detectors and heavy-duty excavation equipment. What artefacts they find they sell for a substantial profit, but not before negotiating a deal to divide the revenue with the property owners.

What buried treasures will they discover and what will they be worth? l

Apu, Shakib and Bobby promote Hero: The Superstar n Entertainment Desk A special celebrity show “Moments with Stars” will be aired on RTV during Eid. Along with the besotted on-screen couple Apu Biswas and Shakib Khan, actor Bobby who shares a good camaraderie with the duo will accompany them. The trio will be seen in an upcoming movie “Hero: The Superstar” which is set to release soon and will be appearing in the show to promote the movie.

The celebrities will share many pro-

Special culinary show

Ed Sheeran’s X becomes fastest-selling album of 2014 n Entertainment Desk Ed Sheeran’s “X” becomes fastest-selling album of 2014. It has sold 182,000 copies in its first week, 14,000 more than Coldplay managed with “Ghost Stories” in May. The singer’s second album, which is pronounced as “multiply” rather than the letter “X,” also includes his first number one single, “Sing.”

Ed Sheeran appeared on stage at Glastonbury this weekend after country-singer Dolly Parton, 68, who drew more than 80,000 music fans to her show.

He performed on the Pyramid Stage on Sunday evening and kicked off his performance with a rendition of his 2011 single “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.” l

fessional and personal stories with the audience, some of which have never been revealed before. Shakib, Apu and Bobby will be playing short games including a blindfold segment where Shakib will be asked to identify the ladies after he is blindfolded.

About pairing up with Shakib, Apu said: “Shakib and I have worked in 45 films together and the audience has embraced us as an onscreen couple. We have been entertaining them for the last 8 years and is grateful for their love and appreciation.”

Dhallywood megastar Shakib Khan

and his leading lady Apu Biswas’ sparkling chemistry not only created a sensation on-screen but also grabbed headlines. The duo has gifted many hits at the Box Office which created a vibe in the film industry.

The stars also shared their marriage plans in the show where Shakib said: “I hope to tie the knot within three years.” Apu and Bobby both replied: “Not before five years.”

The programme has been produced

by Shumon Mahmud and anchored by Mahbuba Islam Shumi. l

Parineeti Chopra to back to banking

n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk

A special culinary programme titled “Radhuni Ramzan-e Shuswade, Shuswasthe” will be aired on Maasranga TV at 4:02pm throughout the month of Ramadan. Produced

by Foyez Reza and anchored by Aporna, every episode will showcase a noted female guest who will share their success story along with their favourite recipes.

Another culinary programme titled “Zerocal Drinks and Dessert” will be aired on the same channel at 4:20pm everyday. Different recipes of drinks and desserts will be presented in the programme which are considered healthy during Ramadan. The programme is anchored by Moutusi and produced by Ajoy Poddar. l

Parineeti Chopra has managed to make a mark for herself in Bollywood, but the actor says she still keeps banking sector as an alternative career option. The 25-year-old, who made her Bollywood debut with “Ladies vs Ricky Bahl” (2011) said: “I have a backup plan and I think everyone should have one. The day when my films start flopping, I will go back to banking.

To run my house, banking is the safe option for me.”

Once an aspiring investment banker, Parineeti worked as a marketing professional at a prominent production house before her foray in films. “There are very few people who are lucky and don’t have to struggle much to get into films. If one has an interest (in acting), then one must try, but should also have a back up plan because the film industry is very unpredictable,” she says.

The actor, who made it clear that she got her debut offer directly from director Manish Sharma and producer Aditya Chopra and that her sister, actor Priyanka Chopra, had no role in it, revealed that she considers Manish and Aditya as her mentors. She adds that she often consults them regarding her films. “Manish has been my mentor. Manish and Adi are two people, who I ask for suggestions and opinions,” she said. l

Sp rt DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

ICC chief warns against nepotism in Bangladesh n Former Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president AHM Mostofa Kamal who became the first ever Bangladeshi to head the International Cricket Council (ICC) after he was officially given the charge of the cricket’s governing body at its annual conference in Melbourne recently, received a warm reception from the BCB directors and former players when he arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday.

‘You call this Sakib, Tamim, Mashrafe and Mushfiq bad. Their problem is six of them queue up together to get married if one gets married Interestingly, the former BCB president sounded critical of the velocity of the players’ getting married when he commented, ‘You call this Sakib, Tamim, Mashrafe and Mushfiq bad. Their problem is six of them queue up together to get married if one gets married.”

The former BCB boss, however, did not forget to raise questions over the recent lackluster performance of the Bangladesh team and the cricketers, and blamed the media for ruining the cricketers as they are more involved in shooting for TV commercials rather than practicing.

The ICC president also opined that the authorities should be stronger and warned if nepotism in cricket continues, it will not usher in good result for the nation. “Listen, if you have uncles-nephews and other relatives involved in cricket, it will cause a bad impact on Bangladesh cricket. We have to be strong and disciplined, and if New Zealand and West Indies can do so then why not Bangladesh? We have beaten New Zealand and West Indies so many times before,” he said.

The first ICC president from Bangladesh further warned that this achievement of his would go in vain if Bangladesh fail to produce better cricket on the field.

Kamal became the eleventh ICC president in the annual conference in Melbourne and will be at the helm for twelve months. The new ICC president, however, expressed his intentions as the new president of ICC upon arrival.

“I will work for cricket in the next one year and as I am now the president of ICC, I can’t work only for a specific country. I am an optimistic individual and I believe cricket will reach its ultimate goal. May be we are yet to achieve that under the new management but I hope we can,” said Kamal.

Kamal said he is happy with the role, “The president’s title is really good for me. It is an ornamental post.

I will speak in conferences, give awards in tournaments and chair the ICC’s annual conference. Then after my time is up, I will hand it over to the next president,” he said. l

‘Too much class in one frame’ British journalist and television host Piers Morgan takes a selfie while training with Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan and discarded English cricketer Kevin Pieterson yesterday. The cricketers are practicing for the MCC match against the Rest of the World to commemorate Lord’s Bicentenary on July 5

1966 WORLD CUP ENGLAND 4 WEST GERMANY 2

It’s hard to ignore this one. England’s finest half hour on a football field came courtesy of Sir Geoff Hurst with a little help from an Azerbaijani linesman.

History was made. “We didn’t realise the importance and magnitude of the occasion, how when you win a World Cup and it affects the national psyche of everyone in the country,” said Hurst last year. “That’s when you realise how big it is. It’s a long time ago but for many people it’s a big part of their lives.”

However, not everyone is convinced it has affected the country in a positive way. Former England manager Glenn Hoddle believes the achievement of Sir Alf Ramsey’s side have shaped everything that has followed. He said, “After Ramsey’s success, all our teams started playing 4-4-2. We got stuck in that rigid system.” Talk about a defining moment.

13

Abahani slip away from title n

Mohammedan striker Wahed Ahmed (L) celebrates a goal with teammate during their Nitol-Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League match against Abahani at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

Kaka leaving Milan to join Orlando City n Former Brazil playmaker Kaka will sign for new Major League Soccer team Orlando City after terminating his contract with AC Milan by mutual consent.

“I’ve always said I wanted to play in the USA and now I have reached an agreement to play there,” Kaka told Milan’s TV channel on Monday.

Initially Kaka is likely to be on loan until January 2015 at Brazilian side Sao Paulo, where he was developed as a youth and where he played the first two years of his professional career before being sold to Milan in 2003.

Kaka returned to Milan in 2013. They finished eighth in Serie A last season and missed out on Europe for the first time since 1998 in a wretched campaign that saw them sack two coaches, Allegri in January and Seedorf at the end of the season.

Two biggest crowd-pullers Abahani Limited and Mohammedan SC shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in the Nitol-Tata Bangladesh Premier Football League at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The Sky Blues’ Ghanaian striker Osei Morrison’s early strike was cancelled out by Mohammedan’s in-form striker Wahed Ahmed in the second-half of the game that experienced the lowest turnout in a Dhaka derby in recent years.

The draw shattered any hopes Abahani had of catching up with table toppers Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club. With 40 points from 22 matches Abahani are now 11 points behind Jamal with only five games left to play in the league. Meanwhile Mohammedan sit third with three points behind their arch rivals.

Ghanaian midfielder Awudu Ibrahim’s header in the ninth minute almost put the Sky Blues ahead but woodwork came to Mohammedan’s rescue. Morrison, however, broke the deadlock a minute later after fine work by Portuguese forward Leonildo Soares. Soares’ lobbed pass found Morrison inside the box who simply slotted home past Mohammedan goalkeeper Mamun Khan.

The Black and Whites regrouped during the breather and it took them just three minutes in the second-half to level the score. A pin point cross from Zongo found national striker Wahed Ahmed who headed past Abahani custodian Shahidul Alam Sohel with ease.

The game could have been in Mohammedan’s bag but Wahed squandered a golden opportunity to seal the winner in the 80th minute as his angular strike from inside the box went just wide of the target. l

Wozniacki, Wawrinka join clock campaign to fight time-wasters n Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki and Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka joined calls Monday for on-court clocks to be installed to clamp down on Wimbledon time-wasters.

Wozniacki claimed she was the latest victim of the growing problem as she crashed out against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, the unseeded Czech who claimed another famous scalp to move into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

Danish 16th seed Wozniacki was unhappy with the length of time Zahlavova Strycova took between points,

claiming the Czech’s routine stopped her establishing any rhythm.

“I thought she was very slow. But I guess the referee, she has the time on it.

If she’s within the time, I guess it’s okay.

It’s up to the referee or up to the umpire to say if she is or not,” said the Dane.

She also agreed with Roger Federer’s opinion that clocks may have to be installed on court to hurry up the slower players, with the seven-time Wimbledon champion fearing that the pedestrian pace of some matches could lead to fans turning their backs on the sport.

However, Zahlavova Strycova believes clocks are not necessary as the final call should remain with the chair umpire.

“I like to take time between points, but the referee didn’t tell me anything

5 WORLD CUP EXTRA-TIME CLASHES

about it, so I was continuing in my rhythm,” said the Czech player who has made the last-eight at a major for the first time at her 32nd attempt.

“So if the referee would tell me speed up or hurry up on your serve, I would maybe change it. But I didn’t get any warning or something like that, so I was just following the rhythm I had.”

Federer’s comments over slow play came just hours after world number one Rafael Nadal, notorious for his lengthy breaks between each point, had been criticised for time-wasting by Lukas Rosol following the Spaniard’s second round victory.

Nadal took an average of 25 seconds to resume play when the maximum allowed in the sport’s rulebook is 20 seconds. l

1970 WORLD CUP ITALY 4 WEST GERMANY 3

1982 WORLD CUP WEST GERMANY 3 FRANCE 3

1990 WORLD CUP CAMEROON 2 COLOMBIA 1

2002 WORLD CUP SOUTH KOREA 2 ITALY 1

West Germany’s last-minute equaliser to send this semi-final into extra time was a blessing. In front of over 100,000 in the Estadio Azteca, what followed was one of the great games and to date the only occasion in which five goals have been scored during the extra period. Even more extraordinary was some of the defending.

The winner came straight from the kick-off. Gianni Rivera sidefooting home after a lung-busting run in the Mexico heat by Roberto Boninsegna. A game that had been 1-0 to Italy after 89 minutes was 4-3 to the Azzurri after 111 minutes. Intense stuff and perhaps no surprise that the Italians looked jaded against the might of Brazil just four days later.

Regarded as one of the best World Cup matches of all-time, it’s worth remembering that four of the six goals came in extra time. The game looked to be going France’s way when Marius Tresor’s volley deflected in just two minutes into the extra period and Alain Giresse then doubled the lead. But the introduction of Karl Heinz Rummenigge changed things.

France coach Michel Hidalgo had to use his second and final substitute to replace the previous one. Only 10 minutes after coming on, Patrick Battiston was cynically taken out by West Germany goalkeeper Harald Schumacher. Rummenigge pulled one back before Klaus Fischer came up with an equaliser in the second period of extra time with a trademark bicycle kick. All that remained was for Schumacher to save twice in the penalty shootout for a German win. Naturally.

Cameroon versus Colombia provided one of the most memorable moments from Italia ’90. It didn’t look that way in normal time with the score goalless after 90 minutes. Colombia’s charismatic goalkeeper Rene Higuita was among the more impressive performers. But in the final 30 minutes the narrative shift was swift. It was all about Roger Milla. Milla could have gone to ground under a challenge from Andres Escobar but stayed on his feet to beat Higuita with a left-footed shot. Shortly afterwards came Higuita’s nadir. Robbed by Milla, ITV commentator John Helm could barely hide his contempt. “That is always the danger,” he told the audience.

“Made to look an ass.” Colombia pulled one back but the night belonged to the oldest swinger in town.

The words Byron and Moreno remain ones of the dirty variety in Italy after his officiating in the 2002 World Cup match between the Azzurri and hosts South Korea. A dubious penalty and a controversial second yellow card for Francesco Totti angered Italy but more was to come. Damiano Tommasi had a goal ruled out in extra-time before Ahn Jung-Wan enjoyed the sweetest of moments.

The South Korea forward had been playing his club football in Italy for Perugia, later claiming he was “an outcast” in the dressing room and bullied by Marco Materazzi. Revenge was brutal as he outjumped Italy’s captain Paolo Maldini to score the golden goal – winning the match in an instant.

14

Sp rt DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Costa Rica players celebrate after the deciding goal during a penalty shootout in their 2014 World Cup round of 16 game against Greece at the Pernambuco arena in Recife on Sunday

REUTERS

Costa Rica revel in unfamiliar dark side n Costa Rica proved on Sunday they were not just an exciting attacking team but could also defend when they knocked Greece out of the World Cup 5-3 on penalties after playing with 10 men for more than an hour.

The Central Americans took a page out of Greece’s book and beat the Europeans at their own ugly defensive game, matching them tackle for tackle and relying on several superb saves by man-of-the-match goalkeeper Keylor Navas.

The Greeks, playing in the World

Cup knockout rounds for the first time, found themselves in the unusual position of having to attack as Costa Rica lured them into a false sense of security.

Long the underdogs at international tournaments, the Greeks took the bait, hook, line and sinker and Costa Rica proceeded to pick-pocket their ticket to the last eight for the first time with a disciplined defensive performance.

The Central Americans looked nothing like the sprightly aggressive team which beat former World Cup winners Italy and Uruguay in the group stage to progress as winners.

They relinquished possession and

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

Costa Rica Greece 1 1 6 24 2 13 3 11 0 10 23 16 6 2 1 0 43% 57%

with lone forward Joel Campbell having to endure constant crunching tackles by the rugged Greek defenders, they

were content to soak up pressure before hitting them on the break.

With the Greeks lured out of their defensive shell for the first time in years knowing that one goal could be enough to decide the match, Costa Rica struck when captain Bryan Ruiz scored after a fine move down the left wing.

They were reduced to 10 men when Oscar Duarte was sent off after a second booking but kept the Greeks at bay until a last-gasp equaliser sent the game into extra-time at 1-1.

There ‘Los Ticos’ did exactly what Greece had been doing against stronger opponents for years, letting them come

forward while waiting to strike on the counter.

They held on even as Greece coach Fernando Santos brought in two more forwards to finish the game in extra time and Navas saved their skin on several occasions.

He then stopped a penalty in the shootout to complete Costa Rica’s most memorable footballing moment which was undoubtedly not their prettiest.

With the prospect of facing attacking Netherlands in the quarter-finals, football fans around the world are relishing the clash and rejoicing that Greece were not the party-poopers yet again. l

Robben confessed penalty Greek Karagounis hangs up his boots unfair, says Mexico captain n n Mexico’s captain Rafael Marquez said Arjen Robben had admitted to him that the Dutch forward should not have been awarded the penalty that decided Sunday’s last-16 clash.

With extra time looming, the pacey Robben went down in the box under a challenge from defender Marquez, giving the Netherlands a penalty that won the game 2-1 but brought accusations of play-acting from Mexico.

Robben told him after the game in the players’ changing area “that it wasn’t a penalty, though one of the previous (tackles) was,” Marquez told journalists in comments that were translated from Spanish.

The Dutch forward went down several times in the box during the match with replays suggesting at least one of the incidents could well have been given as a penalty.

“I believe it was not a penalty,” Marquez added of the last-gasp action that lost his team the game. “I felt I touched the ground but I didn’t touch him, maybe he touched me.”

The Mexico captain said Robben, 30, who has had a brilliant career but often been accused of diving, had abused the spirit of the game. “For 10 fouls that he receives, he lets himself fall over for five, and that’s not fair play,” Marquez said. l

Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis announced his retirement from an international football career spanning 139 caps over 15 years following his team’s World Cup round of 16 exit to Costa Rica on penalties on Sunday.

“This was my last game for Greece,” the 37-year-old told reporters.

“We wanted to stay on another week or even longer but you can’t change it now.”

The midfielder, who had his biggest moment when he helped Greece surprisingly win European Championship in 2004, said he would move aside for younger players.

“The national team has grown up, younger players have won invaluable experiences. This is no small thing and as we helped the team come of age we

hope it will continue to be as successful in the future.”

The hard-working Karagounis, who scored 10 goals for Greece, made his first appearance in 1999 against El Salvador and went on to play in three European Championships as well as two World Cups.

He scored the opening goal in their successful Euro 2004 run against Portugal in the group stage but missed the final due to suspension. He also scored the winner against Russia at Euro 2008 that saw Greece advance to the semi-finals.

While he had lost his starting spot in recent years, Karagounis played the entire 120 minutes of their 5-3 shootout loss to the Central Americans after a 1-1 draw following extra-time, bringing down the curtian on his international career with another tireless performance. l

Robben in World Cup diving storm n Dutch star Arjen Robben remained at the centre of a diving storm Monday after the Netherlands’ controversial 2-1 World Cup win over Mexico.

Mexico coach Miguel Herrera said the penalty was “invented” and debate intensified after the Bayern Munich striker admitted he had dived in the first half in a bid to get a spot kick.

Wesley Sneijder and KlaasJan Huntelaar led a late Dutch fightback to beat Mexico 2-1 while Costa Rica advanced with a dramatic 5-3 penalty shoot-out win over Greece. France play Nigeria and Germany take on Algeria in Monday’s last 16 games.

Robben, who is often accused of going to ground too easily, fell in injury time after a tackle by Mexico’s Rafael Marquez. Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca pointed to the spot and Huntelaar stepped up to bury the winning penalty.

It came just moments after Sneijder had scored an 88th-minute equaliser to cancel out Giovani dos Santos’s superb

goal for Mexico.

Robben admitted to diving in an unsuccessful attempt to win a penalty earlier in the first half.

“I really have to say and at the same time apologise in the first half I took a dive and I really shouldn’t do that,” Robben said.

“That was a stupid, stupid thing to do but sometimes you’re expecting to be struck and then they pull their leg away at the last minute.”

But he insisted he had been fouled in injury time. Mexico were furious however and coach Herrera lashed out at referee Proenca for awarding the penalty.

“The penalty was invented,” said Herrera who added that Robben should have been punished.

“The determining factor was the man with the whistle. He put us of the World Cup,” said Herrera, whose country has now lost in six consecutive last 16 games.

The Dutch now face a new Latin American test when they play Costa Rica in the quarter finals in Salvador on Saturday. l

Coach Santos rues waste of extra time as Greece exit n Greece wasted a golden opportunity to beat 10-man Costa Rica in extra time before exiting the World Cup on penalties, coach Fernando Santos said on Sunday.

Leading 1-0, the Costa Ricans struggled to hold on following the dismissal of defender Oscar Duarte after 66 minutes of the last 16 clash.

Greece hauled themselves back into the game to level in stoppage time, but failed to make their numerical advantage count in extra time, eventually losing 5-3 on penalties.

“I don’t think we used the 30 minutes (of extra time) as well as we should. We started it as if it was the last minute of the game, but there was still 30 left,” the Portuguese-born Santos told a news conference.

“We just needed to pass it around well and go into their half of the field and do things well. We were controlling the game, but then we wanted to try to finalise things individually,” said Santos, who was sent to the stands for arguing with the referee before the penalty shootout.

He praised Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas, whose superb acrobatic save from Theofanis Gekas’s fourth spot-kick proved to be the difference between the two sides.

“Navas, he was the real protagonist today, he saved three or four goals, two in particular were very good moments for him,” said the 59-year-old, whose contract as Greece coach runs out on June 30.

“Obviously he has to be congratulated, I think if it wasn’t for him the result would have been different.” l

Herrera blames referee n Mexico coach Miguel Herrera blamed referee Pedro Proenca for his side’s last 16 World Cup exit on Sunday after his decision to award a stoppage-time penalty allowed the Netherlands to seal a thrilling 2-1 comeback victory.

With two minutes to play Mexico led 1-0 but Wesley Sneijder equalised with a fierce drive before captain Rafael Marquez was judged to have tripped Arjen Robben and Klaas Jan Huntelaar calmly scored to put the Dutch in the quarter-finals.

“It seems to me the reason (we lost) was the referee, the man with the whistle. He left us outside the next stage of the World Cup,” Herrera told reporters.

“If the referee starts marking fouls that don’t exist, you leave the World Cup to circumstances out of your hands. We expect the referee committee to take a look at that and that this gentleman goes home, just like us.”

With victory in their grasp on a scorching afternoon at the Castelao arena, the defeat was a particularly sore one for Mexico who have reached the last 16 at six consecutive World Cups and have lost every time.

“It’s a World Cup where everything

was against Mexico... Out of the four matches that we had, three of them were referee disasters... Unfortunately we didn’t achieve what we wanted.”

He said the spot kick for the Dutch could also have been avoided had Robben been booked for diving earlier in the game, suggesting the winger may not have risked going down so easily under the challenge of Marquez for the late penalty.

“He dived three times, he should have cautioned him the first time,” said Herrera, who also questioned why Portugal’s Proenca had been selected for the game, suggesting a referee from Africa, Asia or South America would have been fairer. l

Sp rt DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014

15

USA plan to go on offensive against Belgium n United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann says attack will be the best form of defence when his American underdogs tackle Belgium on Tuesday for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.

The United States confounded all pre-tournament predictions by battling their way out of a daunting Group G, finishing behind Germany but claiming the runners-up spot ahead of Portugal and Ghana.

Klinsmann acknowledged, however, that his team must improve on last Thursday’s 1-0 defeat by the Germans in Recife if they are to provide another shock by eliminating Belgium, regarded by many as tournament dark horses.

Of particular concern to Klinsmann is his team’s attack. According to FIFA statistics compiled after the completion of the first round, the United States had just 72 attacks in three games -- putting them 31st among 32 teams.

Klinsmann says he wants to buck that trend against a Belgium side who may be missing centre-backs Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen, both of whom are battling to recover from injuries.

“It’s definitely something we learnt out of the Germany game,” Klinsmann said. “We were too deep, especially the first 20 minutes.

“I was screaming my lungs off there to get the back line out and to move the entire unit higher up the field.

“So we’ll work on that over the next couple of days in training, to shift the entire game forward and through that put more pressure on the opponent and create more chances. This is really one of our goals.

“It was good at the other end. We didn’t give away too many chances. But this is something we have to do better,

WC IN NUMBERS Greece defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ surname is the longest (single) second name of any goalscorer in World Cup history The eighth penalty has the worst success rate of the opening 10 in World Cup penalty shoot outs At the 2010 World Cup, seven of the eight group winners advanced through their last-16 match, with US missing out.

Costa Rica have reached the quarter finals of the World Cup for the first time in their history The last eight World Cup shoot outs have been won by the team going first There have been 145 goals scored at the 2014 World Cup already; as many as at the entire 2010 tournament Costa Rica have scored with their first shot on target of the match against Greece

we have to bring up the players higher and create chances.”

Klinsmann was criticised by sections of the US media on the eve of the tournament for stating that his side had no realistic chance of success.

But since reaching the knockout phase, Klinsmann has changed tack, bullishly telling his players they can go beyond the last 16 and ordering them to change their return flights for the Monday after the July 13 final. l

V Belgium Belgium

USA

Arena Fonte Nova Salvador 01 Jul 2014, 17:00 (2:00BST)

KEY STATS Belgium are playing in their first World Cup finals since 2002.

Belgium’s best World Cup result is fourth place in 1986.

The only time the U.S. have beaten Belgium was at the 1930 World Cup, winning 3-0 in the group stages on their run to the semi-finals.

This is the United States’ seventh successive appearance in the finals, a consistent run bettered only by Brazil, Italy, Argentina, Germany, Spain and South Korea.

Belgium’s national players ride their bikes before their training session in Mogi das Cruzes on Sunday REUTERS

Previous meetings Belgium and the United States have met five times with the Belgians victorious on four occasions and the Americans just once.

Last meeting 29 May, 2013, Cleveland, United States, friendly - U.S. 2 Belgium 4

Neymarmania goes to Brazilians’ heads Petulant Lukaku likely n Anderson Guimaraes walked into a barber shop decorated with Brazil flags to get the latest popular hairstyle in Rio’s slums: The face of football star Neymar sculpted in the back of his head.

World Cup fever and Neymarmania have literally gone to some Brazilians’ heads. Fourteen barbers work seven days a week at the barbershop lying between the Manguinhos and Jacarezinho favelas, as Brazilian slums are known.

Each barber pays $9 a day to rent one of the rundown chairs in the shop, which quickly fills with clients who want to get a shave, chat and watch a football game.

The house special is the “jaca cut.”

Invented a decade ago in the nearby Jacare slum, the hair is shaved around the ears and neck, leaving the top longer.

But customers can get variations on the cut, courtesy of Marcelo Ferreira, the barbershop’s 22-year-old “craque” -- or whiz. With a razor, Ferreira will turn a neck into Neymar’s face, Brazil’s flag, the tournament’s armadillo mascot Fuleco or the six stars representing the sixth World Cup title that the nation hopes to capture. Guimaraes, 24, came to get the Neymar special for a second time.

He held up a tablet with a black and white picture of the Barcelona forward.

Ferreira used a black pen to carefully trace the face in the back of the client’s head and sharpened his razor before getting to work.

The first time he got the haircut, at the start of the Cup, “people wanted to take pictures with me,” Guimaraes said.

“When I took the subway, people asked where I got it and the barbershop’s phone number. I had a lot of suc-

cess with the girls,” he said, laughing.

It takes Ferreira three hours to finish his masterpiece. It costs $45, quite a sum for favela residents.

Yuri Nascimento, 11, would love to get the Neymar special, but his mother has no job and raises three children with government welfare checks of $191 per month.

He finally settles for a $6 “delta wing:” A curly mohawk with the sides shaved.

“Some clients want their hair cut like Messi’s. Others like Cristiano Ronaldo’s.

But what I like the most is drawing Neymar,” Ferreira said.

His Neymar figures are precise, featuring the player’s diamond earrings, baseball cap and blondish hair. A few months ago, the Manguinhos resident won a “barber battle” thanks to his hair masterpieces. His prize was a barber lesson in Copacabana, an upscale tourist zone that is an hour away by bus. l

WORLD CUP IN BANGLADESH PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST

The last team from CONCACAF to go further than the last 16 at the World Cup were the USA in 2002

Send us your photographs to WorldCupBD@dhakatribune.com

Arjen Robben has won five penalties in 14 Champions League + World Cup games this season Mexico have failed to win any of their last seven knockout matches at the World Cup (D2 L5) The Netherlands have now turned their last four WC games in which they fell behind in regular time into a victory.

Wesley Sneijder has scored five goals in his last five WC knockout matches for Netherlands No team has seen more players (6) score for them in this World Cup than Netherlands Mexico have scored a goal in each of their last 12 WC matches against European nations Each of Mexico’s four matches at this World Cup have been 0-0 at halftime

DAY’S WATCH BTV, Maasranga TV, Gazi TV 2014 World Cup 10:00PM Argentina v Switzerland 2:00AM Belgium v USA Star Sports 1, 4 4:30PM & 6:00PM Wimbledon Championship

Dhaka

For more info visit our FB event page ‘World Cup in Bangladesh’ Photography Contest

to lead line for Belgium n Striker Romelu Lukaku is set to return but concern over captain Vincent Kompany is still clouding Belgium’s build-up to their World Cup last-16 meeting with the United States in Salvador on Tuesday.

Kompany skipped training again on Sunday as he battled with a groin problem, having now not worked out with the rest of the squad since before Belgium’s last game against South Korea which he sat out.

Coach Marc Wilmots suggested Lukaku would be restored to the starting line-up for the match at the Fonte Nova arena after also missing the 1-0 win which ensured Belgium a 100 percent record in the first round.

The striker jerked his arm away as

Wilmots reached over to grab it and shake his hand after taking Lukaku off for a second successive match.

But it seemed to have been forgotten at a news conference at Mogi das Cruzes on Sunday.

“I still count on him,” Wilmots said.

“The ankle injury he suffered against Tunisia (in Belgium’s last warm-up international before the World Cup) slowed him down. That you can clearly see here. Previously, he had good momentum but now we need to give a boost to his mental confidence.

“Vincent is following a special programme,” Wilmots added. I hope he’ll be able to train tomorrow. He is on track and feels better. He’s been working in the swimming pool and done two sessions daily outside as well. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, July 1, 2014 DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, June 16, 2014

13 Abahani slip away from title

14 Costa Rica revel in unfamiliar dark side

Sport

15 USA face Belgium in final last-16 game

Messi’s Argentina look to conquer Swiss peak n Switzerland’s ‘Alpine Messi’ Xherdan Shaqiri, hot from a hattrick against Honduras in his last game, meets the real Messi whose goals have fired Argentina into the World Cup last 16 but they will look for a better all-round performance when they meet Today.

The diminutive four-time player of the year has finally sparked for his country, hitting four of their six goals as Argentina qualified top of Group F. But Argentina needed Messi’s late winner to overcome Iran 1-0 and they also shipped two goals before beating Nigeria 3-2, lowering expectations of a third world title.

They will face their toughest opponents yet in Switzerland, who put seven goals past group opponents Ecuador, France and Honduras, including three from Xherdan Shaqiri.

“Now we can’t make any mistakes as any error will see us getting knocked out,” Messi warned after Argentina negotiated the group stage.

“There is nothing more beautiful than to be world champion, to achieve that with my country.”

In Argentina’s favour is that more than 100,000 of their fans are expected

Argentina practise penalties ahead of Swiss game n After five misses in the World Cup’s first penalty shootout, Argentina wisely practised spot-kicks on Sunday before flying to Sao Paulo for their last-16 clash with Switzerland.

The South Americans are heavily favoured to beat the Swiss on Tuesday, but underdogs have been making a mark in Brazil so coach Alejandro Sabella clearly aims to leave nothing to chance.

Attackers Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel Di Maria, joined by midfielder Javier Mascherano and defender Martin Demichelis, all practised penalties against goalkeeper Sergio Romero at their Belo Horizonte training camp.

They were no doubt mindful of Saturday’s drama nearby when five players missed penalties during Brazil’s 3-2 shootout victory over Chile after a 1-1 draw in normal and extra time.

Argentina have been involved in four World Cup penalty shootouts, winning three, against Yugoslavia and Italy in 1990, and England in 1998.

They lost against Germany in 2006. l

The passion of football and the love towards the national team inspired the Villanueva family to overcome all the obstacles and barriers as they travelled more than 10,000 kilometers in their

to flood Sao Paulo ahead of Tuesday’s game, including many inside Corinthians Arena.

But they will have to cope with the loss of Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero, who is out with a muscle injury after going off in the first half against Nigeria.

Both Messi and coach Alejandro Sabella acknowledge that Argentina are a work in progress but they will now hope to raise the heat on their slow-burning campaign.

“We’ve got nine points, but we can always get better,” Sabella said.

Former Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld will relish the clash against one of the pre-tournament favourites in what he says will be his last hurrah before retirement.

Despite their 5-2 hammering by France, Switzerland have twice bettered Latin American opposition already after their 2-1 and 3-0 wins over Ecuador and Honduras respectively.

Their attack will be spearheaded by one of the revelations of the tournament, 22-year-old Shaqiri, who hit all three goals against Honduras to secure Switzerland’s qualification.

The winger, the first Swiss player to score multiple goals in a World Cup match since 1954, has hit the headlines after making just 10 league starts for Bayern Munich this season.

Switzerland have never beaten Argentina in six attempts. And they know

V Argentina

FACT BOX Probable teams Argentina

1-Sergio Romero; 2-Ezequiel Garay, 4-Pablo Zabaleta, 16-Marcos Rojo, 17-Federico Fernandez; 5-Fernando Gago, 7-Angel Di Maria, 14-Javier Mascherano; 22-Ezequiel Lavezzi, 9-Gonzalo Higuain, 10-Lionel Messi

all about Messi, who struck his first international hat-trick in their 3-1 friendly win in Bern in February 2012.

“We’ll prepare ourselves to face Messi, as well as their other players, but of course he has the quality to decide games,” said goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

“It will be relatively hard to shut him out, but he’s not the only dangerous player in a very good team.

“Argentina don’t revolve just around Messi even though he’s their superstar. But we know all about the skills he has and it helps that we’ve seen a lot of him.”

Hitzfeld’s attacking options have been reduced by a cruciate knee ligament injury suffered in training by forward Mario Gavranovic, an unused substitute in all three group games. l

Switzerland

1-Diego Benaglio; 2-Stephan Lichtsteiner, 13-Ricardo Rodriguez, 20-Johan Djourou, 22-Fabian Schaer; 8-Gokhan Inler, 10-Granit Xhaka, 23-Xherdan Shaqiri, 11-Valon Behrami; 18-Admir Mehmedi, 19-Josip Drmic Key stats:

In the teams’ six meetings, Argentina have scored 14 goals to Switzerland’s three Both teams are among the cleanest so far in the World Cup. They each received just one yellow card in their opening three games.

Switzerland have not made the quarter-finals of the World Cup since 1954 when they hosted the tournament.

Argentina are one of just four teams to have won all three of their World Cup group games.

Previous meetings

The teams have faced each other six times, with Argentina winning four and two draws.

Last meeting

Feb. 29, 2012 - Switzerland 1 Agentina 3 Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick for Argentina.

Be kind to football and the world Hissing back at the American Right

One of the great things about not living in America is that I hardly have to think about Ann Coulter anymore. For those blissful people who don’t know Ann Coulter, she is a conservative blowhard who has made a lot of money calling Arabs ragheads and implying that all U.S. immigrants, and especially Muslims, are living breathing terrorist cells.

If there is an intolerant and cruel political position to be taken, Ms. Coulter is usually in pole position to take it. It is very difficult to ignore her or her bigoted brothers like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity if you are living in the fifty states, since they are everywhere. I am happy to say that in this poor country of mine, I can go months without reflecting on their unnecessary existence.

I cannot, therefore, forgive my colleague Nader for diverting my attention Ann Coulter’s latest attempt at being the most horrible bully on Earth. Ms Coulter has recently written an article in the Clarion-Ledger, a Mississippi based newspaper with a dour history of racism, where she asserts that any growing interest in what she calls soccer is a sure sign of America’s moral decay. She writes, and I quote: “If more “Americans” are watching soccer today, it’s only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy’s 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.”

Like I said before, I am more than happy to ignore Animal Ann in the normal course of things. But this time she has peed in my

corner and I will not turn the other cheek.

So here is my appeal; to Suarez.

Dear Luis, Since you are going to spend the next four months not being very useful to Liverpool, use the time to bring some joy to the world. Go to America. Seek out a blond woman with maniacal eyes called Ann Coulter and bite her.

Yours truly, Iresh Zaker If the reader thinks that my measures are a little extreme then he or she has little idea about people like Ann Coulter. She is the kind of person who hates you and me, and makes a living trying to make other white people hate us. Then she claims that WE are the ones who cannot stand her for her American prosperity.

There is little nuance in the Coulter world and definitely no kindness. She does not expect nor will she appreciate a clever repartee. She wants me to bite back. Being a good Bengali Muslim boy, however, I will

remember the oft repeated adage from my childhood. If a dog bites me, I will not bite back. I will use Suarez instead. After all him and Coulter have nothing better to do. At least for the next four months.

On a more serious note, I loved living in the United States. Even at its paranoid post 9/11 worst, the American society boasted a level of tolerance and respect that is hard to come by in any other part of the world.

If there really is a land of the free, then the U.S. can claim to be it.

No one screams about freedom more than Ann Coulter and her ilk, yet few try as hard to destroy freedom and tolerance as they do. They pose the same kind of danger to America that the most uneducated fundamentalist poses to Bangladesh.

Only in Coulter’s case, she knows better.

Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh, and others like them are a disgrace to humanity, and America’s sagacious founding fathers. The sooner America realizes this better for the world. l

Motorhomes – the best possible means to travel motorhome before Chile bid adieu to the greatest show of the world - the World Cup. The motorhomes, small trucks with attached structure that imitates a house, are not an uncommon phenomenon and a good number of the vans were seen adjacent to the venues prior to Chile’s matches. Many football fans have chosen these motorhomes as means of accommodation and transport during the World Cup in different cities of Brazil while the authorities also provided special arrangements for parking the vehicle.

The La Roja fans started their journey from Chilean capital Santiago on June 6 and followed the national team to Cuiaba, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo before Chile’s run stopped at the Belo Horizonte to the hosts in the Round of 16.

Businessman Manoel Villanueva (56), his wife Ruth, son Jose, Jose’s son and granddaughter Julica are frequent visitors to Brazil and they knew the routes and obstacles of the journey will not be a barrier. Travelling such a long distance itself is very tiring, but yet the Chilean family was on their toe following the success of their national team.

“All of our discomforts and the soreness vanished after the national team’s success, driving thousands of kilometers is not an easy job, specially the four thousand kilometer from Cuiaba to Rio was a tough one,” said Manoel.

There were two double beds and one single and one of the beds is used as the dining table with four small chairs, a stove, a microwave oven, a fridge and some utensils also accommodated inside the van. Though a TV could be found

Switzerland

Arena de Sao PauloSao Paulo 01 Jul 2014, 13:00 Local (10:00BST)

‘Messi of the Alps’ out to conquer Argentina n Xherdan Shaqiri, dubbed ‘the Messi of the Alps’ thanks to his World Cup hat-trick, hopes to conquer new peaks when Switzerland faces Argentina in Tuesday’s last 16 clash.

Shaqiri lived up to his flattering nickname with a hat-trick in his team’s 3-0 romp against Honduras in their final group match to set up Tuesday’s last 16 clash in Sao Paulo against Lionel Messi and Argentina.

“It’s a dream tie for us, little Switzerland is facing a big challenge,” said the 22-year-old as Swiss newspaper Blick proudly boasted “We have our own Messi. We have achieved something big as little Switzerland, I am proud of my three goals. Anything is possible now in the last 16.”

Switzerland have never beaten Argentina in six previous attempts and are also bidding to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 60 years.

Shaqiri proved his form with a hattrick in their final group match to set up Tuesday’s last 16 dream clash. l

inside, the van however did not have any toilet. The Villanueva family packed enough dry foods and of course lot of water bottles, juice and beer with them to Brazil. Jose Barrios, the 35-year old son echoed his father’s sentiment and said, “We love Chilean football team. Vidal, Medel and Vargas has lifted the counties image, Chile has played super football.”

Their 22-day travel came to end with the exit of Chile in the second round, they were ready to follow the team to Fortaleza, about 2000km away from Belo Horizonte though they did not posses any ticket. The motorhome was rented for US$12000 for 35 days but now the bill will go down. The World Cup assembles football fans across the world with different identity and different culture and the motorhome added a different taste among the festive mood. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

B3 Global bank profits hit

B4 Following long ban, US

$920bn as Chinese lenders boom

could dominate global light oil supply

TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Stocks remain range bound in H1

NBR set to curb tax evasion by MNCs

Good stocks perform well, bad-speculative ones slide during January and June period of 2014 private investment, which together n Kayes Sohel n Tribune Report would cause negative psychological MOVEMENT OF DSEX INDEX IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS The stock market remained range bound in the first half of this year ended yesterday as some investors were cautious in trading.

The benchmark DSEX Index only ranged within the band of 4,300 and 4,800 points without making any big movement during the January to June period of 2014.

After reaching its highest level since the beginning of the year, over 4,800 points on February 6, the index could not surpass the 500-point threshold.

The DSEX closed nearly 4,500-mark yesterday, the last trading day of the first half.

This fact has caused difficulties to individuals and institutions.

Some investors are still having cautious views on the future prospect of the market in the second half of 2014, despite somewhat active supports from the budget passed on Sunday last.

Volume of trade at the Dhaka Stock Exchange remained volatile with a decrease of more than 3% to Tk387 crore yesterday from Tk400 crore in January 1. It had crossed Tk800 crore –mark in the second week of January and sank to year lowest below Tk200 crore in the final week of May.

4,900 4,800 4,700 4,600 4,500 4,400 4,300 4,200 4,100 4,000

January 1, 2014 Managing Director of IDLC Investments Md Moniruzzaman said the changes in the market from the beginning of the year have truly reflected the investors’ cautious sentiment.

“No big move, no major fall during the period,” he said. But the immediate concern is private investment that still struggling to wriggle out of sluggish situation despite government’s efforts, he said.

NBR set to curb tax evasion by MNCs n Tribune Report

National Board of Revenue is set to try stopping tax evasion, if there is any, by multinational companies as the Transfer Pricing Law becomes effective from today.

The law was initially framed under the Finance Bill 2012 to identify and prevent tax evasion by foreign companies operating in Bangladesh.

The law, however, took two years more to come into effect due to lack of expertise and attitude among both the taxmen and the taxpayers, a high official of NBR said.

“It took two more years as the NBR officials were not capable enough to deal with the capital flight, which requires knowledge of international taxation methods.”

He said around 50 officials are now trained up with international practices to audit the files. The issue would now be dealt by the Transfer Pricing Cell at NBR having 7 to 8 trained officials.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech said the cell will start working from July 1 and will play effective role in preventing money laundering and tax evasion.

According to the Finance Act 2012, transactions worth of Tk3 crore in a fi-

nancial year by the multinational companies with their associate enterprises will come under the scrutiny.

There are some 200 foreign companies now operating in Bangladesh in sectors, including consumer goods, telecom, energy, beverage, cement, readymade garments and banks.

Under the NBR plan, a number of companies in a limited manner will be brought under the law in the first two years while the number would increase gradually from the next years.

NBR officials have found MNCs evade tax through abusing the transfer pricing in ways including capital flight, transfer of dividend and profit to its permanent establishments or parent companies, over-invoicing and under-invoicing during transactions of goods and services within their associated enterprises.

Different studies show, the country lost a huge amount of tax and capital each year by way of transfer mispricing.

According to a study by the Washington-based Global Financial Integrity in 2011, Bangladesh suffered the highest amount of illicit financial flow of $34.8 billion from 1990 to 2008, and it is losing $1.8 billion every year through capital flight due to misuse of transfer pricing. l

March 31, 2014 “Investors look for level playing field and stability in the political field for going long term investment,” he said.

Moniruzzaman sees a good sign that the companies having good fundamentals performed well and poor fundamentals and speculation were on the slide during the past six months.

An analyst at the top brokerage firm said along with the concerns from the

June 30, 2014 political side, views on the market prospect in the rest of the year remain cautious.

He evaluated that in the near future, there would still be unpredictable changes in the market and said those changes could put negative impact on the market, leading to concerns.

The first concern is about the public bank borrowing to finance the new budget deficit, the slowdown in

impact on the market.

The next concern is the market’s drying-up despite huge liquidity in the banking system due to fulfillment of regulatory requirements, including gradual cutting down of bank exposure to the stock market.

Managing Director at the Union Capital Akter H Sannamat said the market in the six months of the year grew moderately, as most investors, particularly big one, preferred to stay sidelines.

“But the market still bears the shock of stock market debacle in late 2010,” he said adding that purchasing capacity of many still remained negative, contributing to lower volume of trade.

The decreasing trend of interest rate ground is the positive signs for the stock market, said a market player. But the central bank’s requirement might put curb on market’s moving forward, he said.

However, he noted there is a negative factor besides the positive ones, which is the unstable psychology of investors in local stock market.

While small investors still dominate stock market, the unprofessional investment and crowd psychology are unavoidable, he said. l

$78m WB loan to add 480,000 solar home systems n Tribune Report

World Bank has given $78.4m additional financing to further scale-up support for the solar home systems (SHS) programme of Bangladesh.

The project will help install an additional 480,000 solar home systems that has emerged as a viable electrification option for areas without grid access to electricity.

The credit for the additional financing to the Bangladesh Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development II (RERED II) Project is provided from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group’s soft loan arm, said a press release yesterday.

Additional Secretary of Economic Relations Division Arastoo Khan and Acting Head of World Bank Bangladesh Christine E Kimes signed the agreement in this regard on behalf of their respective organisations. Implemented as a public-private partnership, the SHS programme is currently installing over 70,000 solar home systems every month, making it the fastest growing SHS programme in the world.

In Bangladesh 3 million systems have already been installed with support from World Bank and other devel-

opment partners.

“Together, Bangladesh and the World Bank are scaling up a program that delivered development results for millions of rural Bangladeshis,” said Arastoo Khan, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division.

“This repeater project is building up on our efforts to support the government’s vision of providing universal access to electricity.”

Christine E Kimes, acting head of World Bank Bangladesh said: “This is a proven model that works. Investing in electricity in rural areas empowers both men and women, leading to increased income and growth opportunities and reducing poverty.”

Currently, only 42% of the people in

rural Bangladesh have access to electricity, and reliance on the grid alone will not achieve the government’s vision of universal access by 2021.

The benefits of using solar homes systems include increased study time for children, empowerment of women through knowledge from TV viewing, income generation from mobile phone recharging services, as well as contribution to emissions reduction as a result of kerosene replacement.

The project has also started dissemination of improved cook stoves with a target to provide clean cooking solutions to over 1m rural households.

Access to clean cooking benefits women and children in particular, reducing respiratory diseases. l

National Board of Revenue is set to try stopping tax evasion, if there is any, by multinational companies as the Transfer Pricing Law becomes effective from today.

The law was initially framed under the Finance Bill 2012 to identify and prevent tax evasion by foreign companies operating in Bangladesh.

It took two more years as the NBR officials were not capable enough to deal with the capital flight The law, however, took two years more to come into effect due to lack of expertise and attitude among both the taxmen and the taxpayers, a high official of NBR said.

“It took two more years as the NBR officials were not capable enough to deal with the capital flight, which requires knowledge of international taxation methods.”

He said around 50 officials are now trained up with international practices to audit the files. The issue would now be dealt by the Transfer Pricing Cell at NBR having 7 to 8 trained officials.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech said the cell will start working from July 1 and will play effective role in preventing money laundering and tax evasion.

According to the Finance Act 2012, transactions worth of Tk3 crore in a financial year by the multinational companies with their associate enterprises will come under the scrutiny.

There are some 200 foreign companies now operating in Bangladesh in sectors, including consumer goods, telecom, energy, beverage, cement, readymade garments and banks.

Under the NBR plan, a number of companies in a limited manner will be brought under the law in the first two years while the number would increase gradually from the next years.

NBR officials have found MNCs evade tax through abusing the transfer pricing in ways including capital flight, transfer of dividend and profit to its permanent establishments or parent companies, over-invoicing and under-invoicing during transactions of goods and services within their associated enterprises.

Different studies show, the country lost a huge amount of tax and capital each year by way of transfer mispricing.

According to a study by the Washington-based Global Financial Integrity in 2011, Bangladesh suffered the highest amount of illicit financial flow of $34.8 billion from 1990 to 2008, and it is losing $1.8 billion every year through capital flight due to misuse of transfer pricing. l

Plastic sector fails to take full advantage of Biman employees to continue export market preference agitation for pay hike n Tribune Report

Bangladesh has failed to take full advantage of preferential market access in case of plastic goods export due to the supply-side related constraints and lack of skilled manpower, trade analysts said in Dhaka yesterday.

“Bangladesh has not yet emerged as an exporter of plastic products with considerable share as it has only 0.01% share against the global demands of US$590bn,” observed Khondakar Golam Moazzam, an additional research director of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), while presenting a key-note paper on “Export-Oriented Plastic Industry of Bangladesh Challenges and opportunities” at a seminar in the capital.

Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Bangladesh Plastic Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPMEA) jointly organised the seminar to address problems and prospects of this sector at its Karwan Bazaar office. Urging the government to take measures for establishing a plastic industry park, BPMEA president Jasim Uddin said: “Compliance is a big concern for this sector as the global buyers are concentrating on this issue before placing any orders.”

He also said Bangladesh would be

able to earn $2bn by 2012 if the all the constraints were removed.

According to BPMEA, there are 5000 plastic factories in the country with an employment of 12 lakh people.

Out of the 5000 factories, 65% located in Dhaka, especial in the old part of the city, 20% in Chittagong, 10% in Narayanganj and rest 5% in other parts of the country.

“To make this sector compliant, the relocation of these factories to environmentally compliant area is needed,” said Moazzem. He also urged the government to provide necessary funds needed for establishing a plastic Palli.

“As the country’s export items are very few, we have to increase export items to maintain the export growths,” opined EPB vice-chairman Shubhashish Bose. He also put emphasis on introducing courses in the private and public universities to generate skill manpower for the plastic sector.

“Despite global recession, Bangladesh’s economy remained stable as the country exports basic products,” reminded Bose.

Bangladesh will witness more FDI in this sector as the production cost of China and Thailand has been increased while this factory will be relocated in Bangladesh, he added.

Withdrawal of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) put pressures partially on competitiveness as Bangladeshi products face duty from 3-15% depending on the products.

During his presentation of the study, Moazzem identified some challenges that include lack of machinery use in a proper way, skilled manpower, testing laboratory, technological efficiency, mold manufacturing, proper management of waste, and also shortage of gas and electricity supply.

He also stressed the need for attracting more local and foreign investments for the development of this potential sector.

The plastic sector people urged the EPB to separate plastic export from the deemed export to understand the contribution of this sector. Currently, deemed export is accounted for more than 75% of the total export.

Currently, Bangladesh manufactures products worth $1.2bn of which $330m are of high-quality products.

In July-May 2013-14, Bangladesh earned $76.50m exporting plastic products, which is 2.14% less compared to $78.17m of the same period of last fiscal year. In the last fiscal Bangladesh’s export earnings from the sector was $84.51m. l

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam Employees of national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines have threatened continuing their agitation to press home their 14-point demands, including hikes in pay and perks.

They confined the acting managing director at his office for two hours.

Several hundred employees besieged the office of AM Mosaddek Ahmed, the chief executive officer of the airlines, between 11 am and 1pm at the Biman headquarters.

They also handed over a memorandum to the CEO, seeking immediate implementation of their demands, which the authorities had earlier pledged.

CBA President Moshikur Rahman, who led the agitation, announced they would also confine the chairman’s office on July 3 over the same demands.

Their demands include recruiting skilled manpower for ground handling, arranging personal pay for employees along with regular salaries, ensuring free treatment by revoking a 25% cut of the salary for treatment, making permanent the temporary staff mem-

bers who have been working for more than five years, and making effective the dearness allowance from July 1.

‘The board meeting (on July 5) will decide about the demands of the employees’ Employees union has been agitating since long to press home their demands, which have already been

turned into 14-points from its earlier 6-point demand. Recently, they launched their movement to full fill the demands on 25 June and also announced a programme to seize the MD office.

Mosharraf Hossain, general manager (public relations) of Biman said the employees submitted a memorandum to the managing director after the agitation.

He said a board meeting of the Biman would be held on July 5. “The meeting will decide about the demands of the employees,” he added. l

B2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Profit booking ends rally n Tribune Report

Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

3,901.23

Turnover (Volume)

103,930,420

Number of Contract

100,047

Traded Issues

297

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

238

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

53

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,315.01

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.06

CSE key features June 30, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

325.64

Turnover (Volume)

Daily capital market highlights

10,871,140

Number of Contract

14,812

DSE Broad Index :

4487.07318

(+) 1.76%

▲

Traded Issues

225

DSE Shariah Index :

1017.17358

(+) 1.09%

▲

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

191

1638.9007

(+) 1.38%

▲

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

29

CSE All Share Index:

13820.75760

(+) 1.60%

▲

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

CSE - 30 Index :

11375.76650

(+) 1.56%

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,218.30

8540.83730

(+) 1.66%

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

26.89

DSE - 30 Index :

CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS

Active Fine Chem.-A GeminiSeaFood-Z Savar Refractories-Z Central Insur -A AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A Imam Button -Z BD Fixed Income MF-A Samata LeatheR -Z

-4.10 -3.77 -3.65 -3.54 -2.78 -2.53 -2.47 -2.18

Average (% change) -1.94 -7.14 -3.33 -4.99 -1.39 -2.88 0.00 -2.07

Modern Dyeing -Z Al-Haj Textile -A

-2.16 -2.15

-4.35 -1.52

Company

Closing (% change)

CSE LOSERS

Pragati Gen. I -A Midas Financing-Z Apex SpinningA Imam Button -Z Rupali Life Insur.-A Premier Leasing-Z Active Fine Chem.-A Daffodil Computers -Z

-9.32 -7.19 -4.82 -3.95 -2.95 -2.63 -2.59 -2.52

Average (% change) -9.32 -7.19 -4.82 -3.95 -2.95 -1.07 -0.02 -2.27

Federal Insu.-A Grameen M F One-A

-2.40 -1.87

-2.22 -1.28

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 396.34 162.67 51.15 357.90 168.50 300.74 2.20 308.22 522.89 0.43 111.53 38.45 22.37 474.48 24.68 36.99 72.57 296.28 191.20 361.09 0.56

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

Latest PE

64.05 130.00 58.00 24.17 7.09 7.77 8.00 27.00

63.20 130.00 58.00 24.50 7.00 7.70 7.90 26.90

67.00 130.20 58.00 24.70 7.40 8.10 8.10 27.20

61.00 130.00 58.00 23.70 7.00 7.70 7.70 26.90

58.538 0.052 0.003 0.029 0.397 0.167 0.020 0.162

3.72 -11.90 0.52 3.64 1.49 -1.85 0.56 0.09

17.2 -ve 111.5 6.6 4.8 -ve 14.3 300.0

76.52 156.65

76.90 154.70

77.10 161.70

75.10 150.00

0.088 26.548

1.61 2.00

47.5 78.3

Closing average

Closing

Daily high

Turnover in million

Daily low

Latest EPS

Fine Foods A National Housing Fin.-B Union Capital -A Shinepukur Cera-Z BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Rangpur Dairy-N BD Finance-A In Tech Online -A National Bank - A Fu-wang Ceramic-A

39.90 14.20 75.00 7.30 65.80 7.40 63.90 11.60

39.90 14.20 75.00 7.30 65.80 7.50 66.70 12.00

39.90 14.20 75.00 7.30 65.80 7.40 63.50 11.60

0.056 0.021 0.015 0.022 0.066 0.156 3.687 0.082

2.52 -6.91 1.85 -1.85 5.33 0.12 3.72 0.68

15.8 -ve 40.5 -ve 12.3 61.8 17.4 17.1

20.29 42.27

20.30 42.00

20.40 42.80

20.20 42.00

0.041 0.254

1.36 3.40

14.9 12.4

Participation of investors is quite vibrant and it is perfectly normal for the market to underperform after few days of advancement and on the first day of Ramadan

% change 10.16 4.17 1.31 9.17 4.32 7.71 0.06 7.90 13.40 2.86 0.99 0.57 12.16 0.63 0.95 1.86 7.59 4.90 9.26 0.01

Million Taka 32.62 13.33 4.43 34.70 9.44 22.22 24.95 23.19 5.67 8.19 6.67 2.37 43.61 2.92 0.65 4.15 25.86 38.53 39.11 0.02

% change 9.52 3.89 1.29 10.13 2.76 6.48 0.00 7.28 6.77 1.65 2.39 1.95 0.69 12.73 0.85 0.19 1.21 7.55 11.25 11.42 0.01

Million Taka 428.96 176.00 55.58 392.60 177.95 322.96 2.20 333.17 546.07 6.09 119.72 45.12 24.74 518.09 27.60 37.64 76.72 322.14 229.73 400.20 0.58

Total

9.93 9.67 9.27 9.17 8.33 8.19 8.00 7.20 6.73 6.67

CSE GAINERS Company Fine Foods A Aziz PipesZ National Housing Fin.-B BD Finance-A In Tech Online -A Rangpur Dairy-N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Shinepukur Cera-Z National Bank - A SummitAlliancePort.-A

Closing (% change) 9.93 9.38 9.12 8.87 8.80 8.77 8.33 8.20 7.62 7.20

Average (% change) 7.68 9.24 7.68 6.39 9.11 6.07 7.12 5.91 5.72 4.49 Average (% change) 9.16 9.20 9.66 8.01 8.83 7.14 9.14 7.25 5.08 6.49

Closing average 15.29 29.44 22.14 12.82 32.95 18.18 13.24 13.27 11.09 15.82

Closing average 15.37 14.00 29.86 13.35 13.44 18.30 32.97 12.87 10.96 24.94

Closing 15.50 29.50 22.40 13.10 33.80 18.50 13.50 13.40 11.10 16.00

Closing 15.50 14.00 29.90 13.50 13.60 18.60 33.80 13.20 11.30 25.30

Daily high 15.50 29.50 22.50 13.20 34.10 18.70 13.60 13.50 11.40 16.20

Daily high 15.50 14.00 30.10 13.60 13.70 18.80 34.00 13.40 11.40 25.50

Daily low 12.70 26.00 18.50 10.80 28.10 15.50 11.30 12.00 9.40 13.50

Daily low 13.00 14.00 29.00 12.70 13.10 17.60 31.10 12.40 10.40 24.00

Turnover in million 3.240 4.601 10.484 6.614 265.617 18.239 3.915 2.220 38.604 11.402

Turnover in million 0.564 0.002 0.911 0.451 0.551 1.504 30.886 0.896 6.226 3.504

Latest EPS -1.01 2.32 2.08 0.64 0.59 1.12 1.22 -0.80 0.92 0.49

Latest EPS -1.01 0.68 2.32 1.22 -0.80 1.12 0.59 0.64 0.92 1.08

Latest PE -ve 12.7 10.6 20.0 55.8 16.2 10.9 -ve 12.1 32.3

Latest PE -ve 20.6 12.9 10.9 -ve 16.3 55.9 20.1 11.9 23.1

News, analysis and recent disclosers ORIONINFU: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the entity rating (surveillance) of the Company as "BBB3" based on audited financial statements of the Company up to June 30, 2013; bank liability position as of September 30, 2013 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

GRAMEEN1: Grameen Fund, the Trustee of Grameen Mutual Fund One, has informed that at the meeting of the Unit holders of the Fund held at 11 AM on June 26, 2014 the Unit holders elected to extend the tenure of the scheme for another 10 years term from July 01, 2015 to end on June 30, 2025 under the relevant provisions of the SEC (Mutual Fund) Rules 2001. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other document of the scheme or the fund, as the said Rules provides for the time being, the scheme may not be eligible for any further extension. In other separate motions, the Unitholders also re-confirmed continuation of the appointment of Grameen Fund as the Trustee and AIMS of Bangladesh Limited as the Asset Manager of the scheme for the extended period.

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company LafargeS Cement-Z BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Grameenphone-A UNITED AIR-A Square Pharma -A BD Submarine Cable-A Eastern Housing -A

CSE

Closing (% change)

IFIC: BSEC is not in a position to consider the application of IFIC Bank Ltd. for extension of time as applied for as the Company has failed to comply with the rule 7(1) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Rights Issue) Rules, 2006 regarding submission of application for issuing rights share along with the offer document which was required to furnish to the Commission for approval within 15 working days of approval of such issue by the shareholders of the Company in a general meeting.

PROVATIINS: 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 26, 2014.

RENATA: 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 26, 2014.

KPCL: 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 23, 2014. The Company has also informed that

the cash dividend including the payment of sale proceeds of fractional shares will be disbursed to the respective bank account of the shareholders and whose bank accounts are not found, dividend warrants will be issued and dispatched to the registered address of the shareholders through courier within stipulated time.

CMCKAMAL: The Company has further informed that the 19th AGM of the Company will be held on June 30, 2014 at 11:30 AM at Factory Premises of the Company at Kaicha Bari, Bashbari, Ashulia (Savar), Dhaka.

NTC: The Company has further informed that the 36th AGM of the Company will now be held on July 12, 2014 at 11:00 AM at 'Hotel Purbani' 1, Dilkusha C/A, Dhaka.

NORTHERN: The Company has informed that the Registered Office of the Company will be shifted to Navana DH Tower, Plot-06, Panthapath, Tejgaon Dhaka-1215 with effect from 14th July 2014.

NHFIL: The Company will be placed in "A" category from existing "B" category with effect from June 30, 2014 as the Company reported disbursement of 12.50% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

Latest PE

39.90 14.20 75.00 7.30 65.80 7.42 64.90 11.63

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

Daily high

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features June 30, 2014

cash in on the gain of last two trading sessions.

IDLC Investments said closing with FY2013-14, session absorbed the last stance of June-impact. The financial year booked 9.16% gain in DSEX with an average turnover of Tk471 crore, despite tremendous setbacks caused by pre-election violence.

Half-yearly book closing fell in the first day of holy Ramadan, leaving a sign of mixed trading pattern, it said.

Zenith Investments said after five days of stretch, the market takes a breather as the bulls made little attempts to take control over the bears.

“However, neither group was able to make much of a statement as the downtrend of main index was weighed against the uptrend of other two indices,” it said.

Participation of investors is quite vibrant and it is perfectly normal for the market to underperform after few days of advancement and on the first day of Ramadan, it said.

Beximco Ltd was the most traded stock of the session with turnover Tk21 crore changing hands, followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Grameenphone, Meghna Petroleum, United Airways and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company. l

Stocks ended flat with volatility on the first day of the month of Ramadan yesterday, as late profit booking selling pressure erased some of early gains.

The market was in the positive territory almost entire session but profit booing sale mainly on bank, power and pharma issues has sent the market to the negative territory.

The benchmark DSEX lost over 6 points or 0.2% to end at 4,480, breaking its five-day rally.

However, the Shariah index DSES rose marginally 2 points or 0.3% to 1,019. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,645, inching up almost 6 points or 0.4%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, fell 34 points to 8,506.

Turnover remained sluggish given that the trading hours at DSE have been shortened by an hour during the month of Ramadan.

Turnover stood at Tk387 crore, which was 0.7% lower over the previous session.

Majority of stocks declined, as out of 289 issues traded, 98 closed in green, 161 declined and 30 remained unchanged.

Lanka Bangla Securities said intraday movement in index was shaky as investors prompted to

Stock

% change 10.11 4.15 1.31 9.25 4.19 7.61 0.05 7.85 12.87 0.14 2.82 1.06 0.58 12.21 0.65 0.89 1.81 7.59 5.41 9.43 0.01

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

BSRM Steels-A BSC-A Appollo Ispat CL -N

HeidelbergCement -A ACI Limited- A Active Fine Chem.-A Mercantile Bank -A Meghna Petroleum -A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A

LafargeS Cement-Z UNITED AIR-A Grameenphone-A BD Submarine Cable-A The Peninsula CTG.-N Appollo Ispat CL -N BSRM Steels-A BSC-A National Bank - A AramitCementA Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A G Next Fashions-A Eastern Housing -A Keya Cosmetics -A

Volume shares 4,124,520 8,060,346 655,762 10,053,810 388,149 538,682 1,537,630 1,050,506 150,275 2,600,200

145,250 259,655 913,997 3,723,100 199,480

Volume shares

936,827 355,000 1,980,156 49,600 58,811 325,600 375,000 98,280 13,470 568,207 132,000 237,500 301,836 74,778 188,010

Value in million 344.35 265.62 193.94 135.13 107.80 102.34 96.34 90.47 79.56 73.72

72.87 69.99 58.54 56.29 53.10

Value in million

30.89 29.61 26.61 14.67 11.18 11.18 10.60 8.45 7.14 6.23 6.11 5.83 5.48 4.68 4.55

% of total turnover 8.83 6.81 4.97 3.46 2.76 2.62 2.47 2.32 2.04 1.89

1.87 1.79 1.50 1.44 1.36

% of total turnover

9.57 9.17 8.24 4.55 3.46 3.46 3.28 2.62 2.21 1.93 1.89 1.81 1.70 1.45 1.41

Daily closing 83.30 33.80 294.70 13.70 277.10 188.50 62.00 85.40 531.00 28.30

505.00 265.70 63.20 15.00 266.00

Daily closing

33.80 83.00 13.70 293.70 188.80 34.20 28.30 85.40 531.30 11.30 46.70 24.30 18.20 62.10 24.40

Price change 0.85 8.33 -0.81 5.38 0.22 -0.68 4.03 4.02 1.68 3.66

Daily opening 82.60 31.20 297.10 13.00 276.50 189.80 59.60 82.10 522.25 27.30

Price change

Daily opening

1.61 0.38 -4.10 0.00 1.41

8.33 0.48 5.38 -1.24 -0.58 0.59 3.28 4.15 2.17 7.62 1.08 -0.41 0.00 3.50 5.63

497.00 264.70 65.90 15.00 262.30

31.20 82.60 13.00 297.40 189.90 34.00 27.40 82.00 520.00 10.50 46.20 24.40 18.20 60.00 23.10

Daily high 84.30 34.10 298.90 14.00 279.20 193.50 64.00 87.50 543.00 28.70

506.90 272.40 67.00 15.50 268.00

Daily low 82.80 28.10 290.00 11.70 265.00 175.00 53.70 79.40 513.50 27.60

497.00 250.00 61.00 13.50 240.00

Daily average 83.49 32.95 295.75 13.44 277.73 189.99 62.66 86.12 529.40 28.35

Daily high

Daily low

Daily average

34.00 84.10 13.90 302.00 192.50 34.70 28.70 87.50 541.00 11.40 46.90 25.10 18.30 63.50 24.60

31.10 82.10 12.90 293.00 188.10 34.10 27.60 84.00 511.00 10.40 45.60 24.20 18.00 61.70 23.80

501.71 269.57 64.05 15.12 266.21

32.97 83.42 13.44 295.85 190.15 34.33 28.26 85.94 530.39 10.96 46.28 24.56 18.15 62.62 24.20

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

B3

Global bank profits hit $920bn as Chinese lenders boom n Reuters, London China’s top banks accounted for almost one-third of a record $920bn of profits made by the world’s top 1000 banks last year, showing their rise in power since the financial crisis, a survey showed yesterday.

China’s banks made $292bn in aggregate pretax profit last year, or 32% of the industry’s global earnings, according to The Banker magazine’s annual rankings of the profits and capital strength of the world’s biggest 1,000 banks.

Last year’s global profits were up 23% from the previous year to their highest ever level, led by profits of $55bn at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). China Construction Bank, Agriculture Bank of China and Bank of China filled the top four positions.

Banks in the United States made aggregate profits of $183bn, or 20% of the global tally, led by Wells Fargo’s earnings of $32bn.

Banks in the eurozone contributed just 3% to the global profit pool, down from 25% before the 2008 financial crisis, the study showed. Italian banks

Oil prices down in Asian trade n AFP, Singapore Oil prices eased in Asia yesterday on softer US demand, but tensions in the Middle East where jihadists have declared an Islamic state straddling Iraq and Syria will likely keep prices high, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was down 43 cents at $105.31 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent crude dropped 37 cents to $112.93.

Analysts said investors are concerned after data last week showed that consumer spending in the United States, the world’s biggest economy, rose by a mere 0.2 percent in May after flattening in April.

US jobless claims, another barometer for the giant American economy, totalled 312,000 in the week ending June 21, down just 2,000 from the week before.

As the world’s top oil consuming nation, the health of the US economy is a key influence on oil prices.

Investors were also monitoring the latest news from the oil-producing Middle East, after militants said Sunday they were establishing a caliphate covering wide areas of Iraq and Syria.

The jihadists said their caliphate would spread from Aleppo in northern Syria to Diyala in eastern Iraq, and ordered Muslims in those areas to “obey” and pay allegiance to their new leader.

French bank BNP Paribas has raised its average oil price forecasts for 2014 and 2015 by 4-6 percent because of the developments in the Middle East. l

lost $35bn in aggregate last year, the worst performance by any country.

Banks in Japan made $64bn of profit last year, or 7% of the global total, followed by banks in Canada, France and Australia ($39bn in each country), Brazil ($26bn) and Britain ($22bn), The Banker said.

The magazine said ICBC kept its position as the world’s strongest bank, based on how much capital they hold - which reflects their ability to lend on a large scale and endure shocks.

China Construction Bank jumped to second from fifth in the rankings of strength and was followed by JPMorgan, Bank of America and HSBC. ICBC, which took the top position last year for the first time, was one of four Chinese banks in the latest top 10.

Wells Fargo has this year jumped to become the world’s biggest bank by market value, after a surge in its share price on the back of sustained earnings growth. Its market value is $275bn, about $75bn more than ICBC. The Banker said African banks made the highest returns on capital last year of 24% - double the average in the rest of the world and six times the average return of 4% at European lenders. l

People stand in front of the headquarters building of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) in Beijing

REUTERS

Global M&A at seven-year high as Dollar sinks deeper after poor US data big corporate deals return n Reuters, New York Investor support for large acquisitions and a desire to trump rivals in consolidating markets have led chief executives to strike big transactions so far in 2014, raising year-to-date global deal volumes to their highest level in seven years.

Corporate buyers did not shy away from going hostile if their targets proved unwilling to sell, while more US companies rushed to buy overseas peers to lower tax rates and access cash held offshore in a practice known as inversion.

The dealmaking frenzy could last for several months absent geopolitical or economic shocks, with buyers keen to take advantage of their strong stock prices, ample cash reserves and cheap available financing.

“Companies have strategic imperatives to do deals, they have the cash to do deals, and they can borrow additional cash at record-low rates,” said Frank Aquila, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. “It really is a bit of a perfect storm when it comes to dealmaking.”

Unlike the most recent heyday of dealmaking, which was back in 2007 when private equity used cheap money to load up companies with debt, this year’s merger boom is being led by cash-rich corporations with strong balance sheets, such as Pfizer Inc, Com-

Marcel, an electronics maker has recently opened an exclusive showroom named Rahi Electronics at Beanibazar in Sylhet. Amin Khan, film actor and the company’s brand ambassador inaugurated the showroom at the presence of

RSPL Health Bangladesh Ltd has recently appointed HAVAS Media Bangladesh for all media buying and strategic planning. Rakibul Matin, head of marketing at RSPL Health and Syeda Shamima Baly, vice president of HAVAS Media signed the agreement in Dhaka

cast Corp and General Electric Co. “What is notable about the deal activity we have seen in the first half of the year is the blue-chip nature of the companies who are doing the acquiring. We have finally seen the return of the strategic acquirer,” said Gregg Lemkau, co-head of global mergers and acquisitions at Goldman Sachs Group.

Year-to-date global deal volume as of June 26 surged to $1.75tn, up 75% from the year-ago period, according to

launched in the first six months of the year, compared with 19 such deals worth $8bn in the same period last year.

Pfizer made an abortive $118bn bid for AstraZeneca Plc, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc is trying to buy Botox maker Allergan Inc for more than $5bn, and AbbVie Inc plans to appeal to Shire Plc’s shareholders after an unsolicited $46bn bid was rebuffed.

“With both the target and acquirer’s

'With both the target and acquirer’s stock generally up after deals are announced, buyers see value creation and tend to be more aggressive even if targets are not willing to sell' Thomson Reuters data. That was the highest level since 2007, when deal volume reached $2.2tn.

This year’s increase came despite the number of global deals dropping slightly to 17,698 from 17,820 the year before.

At over $1tn, the second quarter of 2014 was the highest in deal volume since the second quarter of 2007 and was up significantly from the $680m in the first quarter of 2014.

Thirty-eight unsolicited or hostile bids, worth more than $150bn, were

stock generally up after deals are announced, buyers see value creation and tend to be more aggressive even if targets are not willing to sell,” said Ravi Sinha, executive vice chairman of global corporate and investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

More CEOs and boards are willing to pull the trigger on transactions that have been contemplated for a while, with a view that financing conditions are at their peak and unlikely to improve, said Marc-Anthony Hourihan, co-head of Americas M&A at UBS AG. l

Rupchanda Mustard Oil Inter -College Pickle and Essay Competition 2014 has recently come to an end. Team from Government Victoria College, Comilla stood with the flag of first position and NorthSouth University claimed the second position of the pickle competition while the essay competition winners are Jannatul Ferdous Binte, first position and Suhrat Jamil Chowdhury secured the second position. A total of 74-college/university team participated in the competition. Along other food personalities, Bangladesh Edible Oil’s general manager Inam Ahmed was also present at the prize giving ceremony

G Hari, president of TAFE & TMTL, India and Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, MD of Pubali Bank Ltd held a breakfast meeting at a hotel in Dhaka recently. Engr Aminul Islam, chairperson of The Metal Ltd & Metal Plus Ltd, also attended the meeting along with its managing director Engr Sadid Jamil

n AFP, Tokyo

The dollar drifted lower in Asia yesterday as a string of disappointing US data last week put pressure on the currency.

The greenback sank to 101.30 yen in afternoon Tokyo trade from 101.45 yen in New York Friday afternoon.

The US unit briefly fell to 101.23 yen in earlier trade, its lowest since late May. The euro fetched $1.3643 and 138.24 yen against $1.3646 and 138.45 yen in US trade.

Market reaction was muted after Japanese data showed factory output rose a smaller-than-expected 0.5 percent in May from a month earlier after a 2.8% fall in April.

The dollar’s downturn came as US Treasury yields fell.

“US interest rates continue to languish on the back of consistent buying of Treasurys, which is keeping the dollar down,” Hiroyuki Fukunaga, chief executive at Investrust, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Dreary data on the US economy prompted market players to flee to Treasurys as they sought safe investments but expectations are that the Federal Reserve will keep ultra-low interest rates well into 2015.

On Thursday US consumer spending data for May showed a mere 0.2% increase from April, but adjusted for inflation, spending actually fell 0.1%.

News of the weakness in consumer spending, the main driver of the US economy, came a day after the government

slashed its first-quarter gross domestic product estimate to a 2.9% contraction.

Investors are now waiting for the release of manufacturing data Tuesday, the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting Thursday and US jobs data on Friday.

“We expect the ECB to leave rates unchanged” at the upcoming meeting, Credit Agricole said in a note. The bank cut rates in June in a bid to fend off deflation as price rises remain minimal in the eurozone.

The dollar was mostly lower against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It dipped to Tw$29.86 Monday from Tw$29.88 Friday, to 43.62 Philippines pesos from 43.79 pesos and to 1,012.17 South Korean won from 1,013.75 won.

It also declined to 60.04 Indian rupees from 60.14 rupees, to 32.45 Thai baht from 32.47 baht, to 11,942.50 Indonesian rupiah from 12,103.00 rupiah.

But it rose to Sg$1.2490 from Sg$1.2486.

The Australian dollar slipped to 94.22 US cents from 94.37 cents, while the Chinese yuan traded at 16.33 yen against 16.28 yen. l

Mustafa Mart has recently introduced world-renowned perfume brands Brut and Denim in Bangladesh through a ceremony held at Mustafa Mart in Bashundhara City Shopping Complex, Dhaka. General manager of Mustafa Mart Bangladesh, Alan Loo was present at the ceremony among others

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited has recently announced Bhuvnesh Khanna as its head of commercial banking in Bangladesh.

Bhuvnesh has over 19 years of diverse experience in various frontline and management roles including investment banking, corporate banking, business banking and retail banking. Immediately before joining HSBC Bangladesh, he was the head of business management, commercial banking in HSBC China. Bhuvnesh joined the HSBC group in 2004 in India

B4 China banks’ profit growth to slow, risks rising -industry body n Reuters, Beijing Annual profit growth of China’s banks could slow to 9% in 2014 as they face increased liquidity and lending risks due to slower economic growth and Beijing’s battle on excessive factory capacity, the banking industry body said a report.

Concern about huge growth in Chinese corporate debt since the global financial crisis and the risk of defaults has intensified this year as growth slows and authorities allow markets to play a bigger role in deciding winners and losers.

“Banking financial institutions face challenges from increased volatility of short-term liquidity and rising credit risks due to the impact from economic slowdown, structural adjustment and efforts to reduce overcapacity,” the China Banking Association said in the report.

“Market risks will rise along with interest rate liberalisation, increased exchange rate flexibility and more frequent capital flows, but there will be no large-scale outbreak of liquidity risks.”

Commercial banks made a combined 1.42tn yuan (134.53bn pounds) in net profit in 2013, up 14.5% from 2012, the association said. But the growth rate could slow to around 9% this year.

Banks may see a rise in non-performing loans (NPLs) this year from small firms in the export sector and companies gripped by excessive capacity, it said.

But commercial banks have set aside sufficient provisions to write off possible bad loans, it added.

Average NPL ratios for commercial banks were at a three-year high of 1.04% at the end of March, above the 1% red line for China’s banking regulators. Given the opacity of the banking system, many analysts believe the real levels are much higher.

Banks should closely check on loans for the property sector and local government financing vehicles, the association said.

The chances for the central bank to loosen monetary policy aggressively remain small this year, even as the central bank uses targeted easing to support the economy, it said.

The government has unveiled a series of modest stimulus measures in recent months to give a lift to economic growth, which dipped to an 18-month low in the first quarter. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Following long ban, US could dominate global light oil supply n Reuters, New York

After decades of isolation, the United States is set to become a major player in the global trade of ultra light oil as recent government export approvals attract interest across the world.

Following rulings disclosed this week, US companies can now export the light, gaseous petroleum known as condensate after a forty-year ban, giving them access to needy markets in Latin America and Asia and potentially threatening the dominance of other established producers in the Middle East and Africa.

Companies are ready to ship condensate from some of the United States’ massive oil and gas fields within weeks.

By the end of the year, as much as 300,000 barrels could be exported each day, according to analysts at Citi in New York, a timely event as Asian countries increase capacity to import and exporters elsewhere face headwinds.

“It could have an enormous impact,” said Al Troner a condensate expert and president of Asia Pacific Energy Consulting. “It could happen within the next two weeks.”

Up to one million barrels of condensate is produced each day in the United States, all of which can be exported after some basic refining to reduce volatility, known as stabilizing, according to the US ruling. That is double the amount exported by Qatar, the world’s leading condensate producer.

The amount exported and where it goes depends on the kind of condensate that is produced and whether it is the right grade to feed petrochemical plants in China or Japan or to dilute heavy crude produced in Latin America.

Enterprise Products Partners and Pioneer Natural Resources this week both said that they have received private goahead from the Commerce Department to export condensate. Enterprise said it is ready to start exporting anytime.

Exports of condensate, a major feedstock for the petrochemical industry, will provide the first outlet for the vast amounts of oil and gas now produced in the United States. It will also give an inkling of the impact that a US drilling boom could finally have abroad if other types of crude are approved for export.

Buyers are already interested, not just in nearby Latin America - the closest destination for U.S. condensate but further afield in India and east Asia, traders and sources said.

An oil refinery is seen in Louisiana In Latin America, companies could use condensate as a substitute for naphtha to lighten local heavy crude.

Venezuela’s state-run oil producer PDVSA and firms operating in Colombia including Ecopetrol and Pacific Rubiales, some of which already buy from West Africa, are “lined up waiting to buy light crudes and condensates if the price is right” said one trader working in crude purchases, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

In India, Essar Oil’s chief executive L K Gupta said “we will look at buying condensate from the United States if the pricing is right. We do buy condensate and if a new source is opening up that is good for us”.

It is unclear what the cost of US condensates would be, given that the price depends on the density and where it is produced. Some condensate from the Eagle Ford play in Texas does appear to be cheaper than some grades currently exported from Australia’s North West Shelf, according to traders and Reuters data.

“According to an internal analysis at

REUTERS

our company, the US condensate based upon (US) WTI pricing appears to have cost competitiveness compared with those from the Middle East based upon Dubai crude,” said one Seoul-based refining source, adding that competitive US exports could help bring down global prices.

Length to tightness

The Middle East dominates supply of condensate. Qatar and Iran export 760,000 barrels per day combined, about half daily global supply, according to a presentation in November by analysts at Facts Global Energy. Australia and Africa make up most of the rest.

The majority of supply heads to Asia, where importers like China, Japan and South Korea have build processing plants known as splitters that can turn condensate into naphtha and other oilrelated products. In Asia Pacific, splitters can process up to 900,000 barrels per day of condensate, according to Facts.

But as demand rises, production from existing exporters is faltering. In

Australia, where condensate is a byproduct of liquefied natural gas production, exports are already declining in part because new gas produced is “drier” than before. In Qatar, domestic demand is set to slow exports. Iranian output has been hampered by sanctions.

“The condensate market East may move from length to tightness,” the Facts report said.

It remains to be seen if the United States can fill the gap, and it is expected to take time to determine whether US condensate is compatible with Asian importers’ needs. Some said that no moves have been made to export condensate to Asia from the United States. Sampling could take months, others said.

But with demand on the rise, the United States could offer unexpected respite.

“What we hope is this (US) export will help pull down prices of shipments from the Middle East as overall supplies in the global market increase,” the Seoul-based refinery source said. l

Euro zone price inflation stays low but stable in June n Reuters, Brussels Euro zone inflation in June was flat, official data showed yesterday, easing immediate pressure on the European Central Bank to act again soon to tackle slow price rises.

The year-on-year June inflation rate in the 18 countries sharing the euro stood at 0.5% for the second month in a row, the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said.

It was the ninth straight month that inflation remained within what European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has called a “danger zone” of below 1%.

Prices of food, alcohol and tobacco fell by 0.2% in June, while the prices of services rose by 1.3% and energy costs were up by 0.1% year-on-year, Eurostat data showed.

Core annual inflation - excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco - rose by 0.8% year-on-year in June after a 0.7% increase in May. Earlier this month, the ECB reacted to vanishing price inflation with a raft of measures, including cutting the deposit rate below zero and offering longterm loans to banks aimed at boosting lending to business. l

Germany to push for economic reforms in G7 n AFP, Berlin Germany wants to promote structural economic, financial market and tax reform when it takes over the presidency of the G7 club of rich nations next week, German media reported on Sunday.

Member states must “join forces to support an even stronger economic recovery”, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and central bank chief Jens Weidmann said in a written message to other G7 members, the Handelsblatt business daily said.

They stressed the need for “sound public finances and energetic structural reforms ... to achieve sustainable growth in the G7 countries and the global economy,” according to the German-language report.

Amid the eurozone crisis, Schaeuble has been a champion of tough austerity and fiscal discipline as opposed to the stimulus spending advocated by crisishit countries in the single currency union. l

In corporate tax reform, Abenomics giveth, and taketh away n Reuters, Tokyo For corporate Japan, burdened by one of the industrialised world’s steepest tax rates, a tax cut at the centre of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s latest growth strategy will end up giving with one hand - and taking back with the other.

While the headline tax rate will fall, Tokyo, under pressure to shore up its finances with a public debt twice its annual GDP, is seeking to offset the tax cut by scaling back exemptions and deductions favouring small and lossmaking companies.

That regime - in which fewer than a third of firms shoulder the entire corporate tax burden - has been seen as essentially subsidising inefficiency and punishing profitability.

“Corporate tax cuts and broadening the tax base would make Japan’s taxation fairer and more stable, even though it would impose a burden on unprofitable companies that are not paying corporate tax, many of which are small and unlisted,” said Hiroshi Watanabe, senior economist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

“If the government continues to levy high tax on profitable firms, that would drive more firms out of Japan.”

The changes, part of the latest instalment of Abe’s “Third Arrow” of growthpromoting structural reforms, will mean short-term pain for the 70% of Japanese firms that pay no corporate tax, especially among the small firms that employ seven out of 10 Japanese workers.

DILBERT

In other developed economies such as the United States and Britain, by contrast, more than half of firms pay corporate tax.

But in the longer term, the changes are expected to nurture more profitable firms, while it is hoped the lower tax rates will encourage foreign direct investment and capital spending to spur growth under the reflationary policies dubbed “Abenomics”.

A number of foreign companies with Japan-listed units, including Oracle Corp and The Coca-Cola Co, will also be among the main beneficiaries of the tax cut, according to SMBC Nikko Securities.

Carrying forward losses

Abe’s cabinet approved on June 24 the plan to cut Japan’s corporate tax rate - among the highest in the world at above 35% - to less than 30% over several years.

Decisions on how to offset revenue losses and other details were deferred, but a government tax panel has issued proposals that included expanding taxation to companies with less capital, meaning that even loss-making firms will have to pay local corporate tax.

The panel also proposed changes to deferral provisions, which let companies carry forward losses to offset future taxes.

Those generous carry-forward provisions resulted, for example, in Toyota Motor Corp - one of Japan’s most profitable manufacturers and its most valu-

able by market capitalisation - paying no corporate tax for the five tax years from the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008.

The Ministry of Finance estimates that each percentage point of tax cuts would reduce government revenue by about 470bn yen ($4.6bn) a year. Cutting the tax rate below 30% would cost some 2.8tn yen in terms of lost revenue.

Nomura Securities estimates that a 6 percentage point cut in corporate tax could boost GDP by around 0.3% over time, although the effect would be smaller if revenue losses were financed by alternative sources.

“The immediate impact of the tax cut may be small. But in the long run, lower corporate tax rates would encourage foreign direct investment and boost cash flow at profitable firms and encourage them to raise capital spending and wages,” said Minoru Nogimori, economist at Nomura Securities.

Among the 34-member OECD economies - whose average rate is around 25% - Japan’s corporate tax rate ranks second after the United States. In Britain, Germany and Canada, the rate is below 30%.

In Asia, China and South Korea impose a corporate tax around 25% and Singapore at 17%.

Timing right

Some observers believe the effort to encourage foreign direct investment is coming just as Japanese small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) are looking attractive to foreign buyers.

“Many foreign companies want to buy mid-cap Japanese firms. We are at the crest of a good wave of interest, possibly the first and last,” said Takashi Mitachi, Co-Chairman Japan at Boston Consulting Group.

“The 2011 Fukushima disaster was an unfortunate event, but the resulting supply chain disruption also showed the world that there are many lucrative SMEs in Japan that boast large global shares.” l

A Google employee demonstrates the Android Auto interface for a conference attendee at the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco REUTERS