05 Aug 2014

Shraban 21, 1421 Shawal 8, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 123

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

7 | LONG FORM SURVEY: BRIBERY, CORRUPTION IN NBR MAJOR OBSTACLES IN DOING BUSINESS

20 pages | Price: Tk12

8 | WORLD PALESTINIANS, ISRAELIS TRADE CHARGES OF BREAKING TRUCE

11 | OP-ED

14 | SPORT

PAY THEM BEFORE THE SWEAT DRIES

‘BEST EVER’ C’WEALTH GAMES END IN GLASGOW

Overloaded launch sinks in rough Padma More than 100 feared dead; bad weather and rough river impede rescue operation Water transport monitoring riddled with holes

Islam Shaon from Mawa n Ashif and Mohammad Jamil Khan in Dhaka When this report was first filed around 9pm yesterday, nobody was sure how many people were travelling on the launch which capsized in the Padma River in the morning.

The authorities were nowhere near certain either about how many people managed to swim to safety or how many had actually died.

The recovery of bodies of two women until midnight were the only things that they could confirm. One of them was Heera, 22, a student of the capital’s ZH Sikder Women’s Medical College.

Her body was handed over to her family late last night. The other victim is aged nearly 45.

The uncertainty was very visible on the worried faces of hundreds of people who have gathered on the river bank, waiting to know the latest about their dear ones soon after the news of the capsize broke.

Pinak 6, the fateful launch that was supposed to carry 85 people at best, had reportedly more than 200 passengers on board. Most of them were women and children coming back to the capital from their village homes in the southern and southwestern districts after the Eid vacations.

When the launch – which was carrying passengers from the Kawrakandi point to the Mawa terminal – reached Louhajang and was taking a sharp turn, a strong wave hit it from one side and it started tilting in the opposite direction.

Witnesses said the vessel was only 10 minutes away from the Mawa Terminal when it sank. Depth of water in that spot was around 85-90 feet, said officials.

The river was rough and a cautionary signal number three from the Met Office suggested that overhead conditions were nowhere near ideal.

Soon after the launch sank, teams

Bangladesh urges NAM to impose embargo on Israel n Tribune Report Bangladesh has called on the NonAligned Movement member countries to mobilise their collective strength to send a strong message to Israel by imposing a trade embargo on the country.

Member states should deny visas to Israeli politicians, officials and business people accused of committing crimes against humanity and slap a ban on arms trade with Israel for violating the provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty, Gowher Rizvi, International Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, said.

He urged the suspension of overflight permissions to Israeli aircraft through the airspace of NAM member states.

Rizvi was speaking at an emergency meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement committee on Palestine held in Tehran yesterday.

Bangladesh was invited to the meeting as a member of the 11-member committee, a foreign ministry press release said.

“The way Israel is using the power of coercion, in the same way NAM member states should use the power of denial to bring Israel to civilised behaviour,” the prime minister’s adviser said.

He said the continued inability of  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

kar Ali Manik and n Julfi Mohammad Jamil Khan

ship was supposed to start from Chittagong for the site this morning.

According to Sujan, a survivor, the overloaded launch took about five to six minutes to fully go under water.

“As the launch was nearing the Mawa terminal, we were getting ready

Gross negligence and weak monitoring in the water transport sector were again exposed yesterday when the Pinak 6 launch capsized in the waters of the Padma, claiming at least two lives with more than 100 others remaining missing.

Although the government had claimed of taking massive preparations to ensure safe journey on the waterways for Eid holidaymakers, yesterday’s accident – which came only six days after Eid – showed the futility of those claims.

In a well-publicised move during Eid rush, the BIWTA – for the first time ever – deployed helicopters to monitor launch traffic on the country’s waterways. However, the extravagant move turned out to be not enough to mend the faults in the existing system or to prevent the loss of lives.

When it capsized, the Pinak 6 was operating on a temporary conditional permission from the authorities, said Fakhrul Islam, chief engineer of the Department of Shipping. The conditional permit was given after the management of the Pinak 6 had applied for an operation permit, officially known as “survey certificate,” in April; but the decision on the permit was still pending.

The 19.5-metre-long launch also did not have any valid certificate from the Shipping Department to operate on the Mawa-Kewrakandi route in the Padma River.

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Yet another Eid has gone by and the country witnesses one more tragic capsize of an overloaded launch with more than 200 passengers on board this time. Two mothers, who have survived the accident, cry their hearts out because they could not bring back their children with them MEHEDI HASAN from the Bangladesh Army, Navy, Coast Guard and the fire service started rescue efforts.

Rescue operation remained suspended since around 10pm for rough weather and strong current. At 12:30am, only the rescuers of fire service resumed work.

BIWTA Chairman Shamsuddoha Khandker told the Dhaka Tribune that they identified the location where the launch had sank.

But the rescuers were yet to determine the exact position of the launch until 1am.

Rescue vessel Rustom, which left

Narayanganj for Louhajang soon after the incident, reached the place around 9pm. A survey ship of the BIWTA joined the rescue work around 9:30pm.

Another rescue vessel Hamza, which started from Barisal for the spot, went back for unknown reasons.

Officials concerned said a survey

Cabinet committee okays restrictive No provision in jail code broadcast policy for inmates’ marriage n BIPLOB’S MARRIAGE IN PRISON

Mohosinul Karim

n Tazlina Zamila Khan When AHM Biplob, a convict in three murder cases, wedded in jail last week, it spawned controversy. The Dhaka Tribune has spoken to several lawyers and jail officials who argued that the country’s jail code does not permit any inmate to get married in prison.

If the prisoner, however, wants to do so, permission from the court dealing with his case is needed, they said.

Former DIG (prisons) Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told the Dhaka Tribune that the jail code does not have any provision that permits a prisoner to get married in jail.

“In the case of Biplob’s marriage, the order of the district magistrate is being considered the highest order,” he said.

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan said on Sunday that the jail wedding of Biplob, who is serving a prison sentence for two murders, was lawful, but did not mention any specific provision relating to marriages of inmates.

“As a fraud case against Biplob, filed under Section 420 and 406, is under trial at the Chief Judicial Court in Lakshmipur, taking permission of the court

for marriage was mandatory. However, no such permission was taken and this is a criminal offence,” said Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan.

“Because a case against him is under trial, a court order is needed along with permission from the district magistrate. The marriage did not take place in compliance with the jail code,” he added.

Jailer of Lakshmipur Jail Jainal Abedin and Jail Superintendent Mahbub Alam said no court permission was issued for the wedding and no permission was even sought from the court regarding the marriage.

Jainal told the Dhaka Tribune: “We were not provided any court permission other than a letter from Lakshmipur Deputy Commissioner AKM Tipu Sultan. After receiving the letter, we came to know about the matter.”

“In the afternoon of July 31, I got the letter and initiated the wedding procedure. Biplob was brought to the jail gate in the afternoon in order to complete nuptial formalities. His relatives took permission from the deputy commissioner earlier.”

“He was taken back to jail  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

The council of ministers led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday approved the draft of National Broadcast Policy that proposes restrictions on some issues which key players of the electronic media industry think may hamper their independence.

The policy – the first in the country – will come into effect after a gazette notification is published within 48 hours, the information minister said.

The policy would help the government enact the National Broadcast Act and the Independent Broadcast Commission Act. It has, however, created confusion among those involved with the broadcast media industry since the issues of restriction have not been elaborated.

The regular cabinet meeting chaired by the premier at the secretariat cleared the policy with some observations. The cabinet earlier sent it back, asking the policy formulation committee to include its observations.

A 15-strong committee comprising nine media persons and academics, and six bureaucrats prepared the policy.

As per the proposed policy, strict restrictions would be imposed on violation of privacy of individuals, casti-

gating or insinuating members of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies, and discussing deceptive or wrong information in any talk show.

It also bars mocking any ideology or insulting citizens, instigating militancy or violence or spreading hatred, airing incidents of insurgency, destruction or reprisal, hampering state security, hurting religious sentiment or instigat-

‘It will ensure accountability, protect interests of owners, employees, people and government’ ing conflict between religious communities, impeding relations with friendly countries and inspiring corruption.

The policy suggests that the broadcast media authorities give equal scopes to both views for discussions in the talk shows.

The proposed Independent Broadcast Commission will function as a regulatory body which will have semi-judicial authority. The interested entrepreneurs would be issued licences considering recommendation of the commission.

INSIDE 2 | News

The Health Ministry has cancelled the posting order of more than 500 BCS-passed health cadre doctors and directed them to stay ‘in situ’ until further order; however, the promotion of these doctors to the rank of junior consultant (current charge) would stay in effect.

4 | News

The government has decided to introduce a system for ensuring the gas supply for the under construction Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory in Fenchuganj of Sylhet, official sources said.

6 | Nation

Farmers in Jhenaidah have been facing severe water crisis when attempting to process green jute, as most of the water bodies have little to no water due to the lack of rainfall.

7 | Long Form

Amongst other Arab-Muslim nations, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and Syria continue to struggle in the post-Arab Spring world. It is a tragedy tearing the legacies of historical cities.

12 | Entertainment

A brilliant presenter and orator, Masuma Rahman Nabila has become a familiar face on television. She talks to the Dhaka Tribune about her presentation skills.

13 | Sport

Football coaches need to be more efficient and subjective to develop their country’s football standard, and require proper facilities to deliver the best.

It would formulate a code of guidance or programme code for the broadcasting entities and the regulatory authority comprising four specific criteria into the code. The commission will also revise the policy after an in-depth scrutiny.

Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu claimed that the restrictions had been proposed in line with the country’s constitution and declarations of the media.

“Until the new laws are enacted, the ministry will regulate the media in line with the existing laws and regulations.

The laws will be enacted shortly after issuing gazette notification. The explanations of the issues will be given in detail in the new laws or regulations,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Inu said the Information Ministry would publish a gazette notification within 48 hours. The observations of the cabinet would be included in the policy to publish the gazette.

“The ‘National Broadcast Act’ and ‘Independent Broadcast Commission Act’ will be enacted to enforce the policy and monitor the activities of the state-run and the private television channels and radio stations of the country. The ministry will start preparing the draft Acts shortly.”  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Minister warns opposition to keep movement peaceful n Tribune Report Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury yesterday warned the BNP over the party’s anticipated opposition movement, saying the government would take necessary steps to protect the lives and properties of people.

“As part of its duty to protect lives and properties, the government will take every necessary measure,” said Matia, also the Presidium member of the ruling Awami League, while addressing an extended meeting of the party’s Dhaka city units in the capital.

Pointing to the BNP’s threat to organise demonstrations, the minister said every political party had a democratic right to do so.

“There is no problem if they do so in a constitutionally acceptable way. But we will not tolerate it if they foment

unrest in the country by resorting to killing or burning property in the name of a movement,” she said.

The leader claimed that, while the country was moving forward, the BNP-Jamaat alliance was looking to start a conspiracy.

“They have been trying to turn the country into Pakistan. And that is why they chose the month of August to stage their movement, just like in 1975,” she said.

Disaster Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said the BNP’s threats sounded hollow and there was no reason to worry, adding: “We will be alert to their conspiracies. We will make preparations to tackle their plots.”

The meeting, presided over by Dhaka city units’ acting president MA Aziz, was held at the Awami League’s central office on Bangabandu Avenue. l

Volunteering doctors attend to the workers of Tuba Group, who have been on a hunger strike for eight days, yesterday. Story on Page 3

Jamaat: Transfer war trials to another country n

Tribune Report

Counsels of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders facing war crimes charges yesterday asked visiting US envoy Stephen J Rapp to press his government so that the trials be shifted to a third country and monitored by the UN. These suggestions had been made by the Sub-Committee for Foreign Operations of the US Congress, Tajul Islam told journalists after meeting the US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues in the capital.

“Although he [Rapp] earlier made 27 recommendations including formation of

an appeal chamber, paving way for a High Court judicial review and ensuring facilities for the defence as per international standards, none of them were implemented by the [Bangladesh] government.

“We asked him about his goals during the fifth visit...We requested him to press these two issues in the US Congress [after he returns home].”

Eight lawyers, including BNP chairperson's Adviser Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, who represent the Jamaat leaders in the trials joined the hour-long meeting held at Hotel Westin in Gulshan.

Tajul also urged Rapp to make sure that no innocent person was prosecut-

Bangladesh urges NAM to impose embargo on Israel  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

the UN Security Council to implement a ceasefire and bring the aggression to a halt should prompt NAM member states to consider alternative approaches, including through the UN General Assembly.

“The adviser stressed that that time had come to move beyond the traditional approach of censure and official declarations and resolutions to drive home NAM’s unequivocal stand against Israeli brutalities and breach of international humanitarian principles,” the press release said.

Rizvi said Israel was no longer as invulnerable as it used to be since international public opinion was clearly divided on the wanton aggression it

continued to commit against Palestine.

The emergency meeting was inaugurated by President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and heard a briefing on the latest situation in the Gaza Strip from Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki.

Ministers from Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria and Venezuela and special representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Morocco, Jordan and other NAM member countries spoke at the meeting.

The meeting adopted a declaration calling upon NAM member states to ensure a number of multilateral and bilateral actions in light of the current situation in the Gaza Strip. l

Water transport monitoring riddled with holes  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Fakhrul said one of the conditions for the temporary permission of the launch was that it was allowed to carry maximum 85 passengers at a time.

But Munshiganj police sources quoted witnesses as claiming that more than 200 passengers were on board when the launch capsized.

Asked how the launch was allowed to exceed its permitted passenger limit, Fakhrul said traffic inspectors at the launch terminal were responsible for checking whether the launch was overloading passengers.

“In that case, the traffic inspector in the launch terminal did not discharge his duty properly before the Pinak 6 left Kewrakandi terminal in Madaripur,” he added.

Meanwhile, Zakiur Rahman Bhiuyan, director general of the Department of Shipping, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were mainly responsible for providing fitness certificates to launches. He echoed Fakhrul, claiming that it was the traffic inspector or the port officials’ duty to check whether the launch was following the order as per its certificate.

The Shipping Department has nothing to do regarding the issue as the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) mainly coordinated the checking of vessels, Zakiur said. Even though the department often conducted mobile court drives, it had now become difficult to do so because of manpower shortage, the DG added.

Despite talks held with local authorities, the police and the BIWTA before

every festival rush and after inclement weather forecast, tragic accidents continue to take place, Zakiur said. He, however, said the lack of coordination among the authorities concerned such as the BIWTA, the police and the district administration might be a reason behind the recurrence of such accidents.

Asked about the issue, BIWTA Chairman Shamsuddoha Khandker refused to make any comment on this regard.

The BIWTA would be able to clarify who was responsible for the launch capsize only after getting the probe report from the two probe bodies that were formed following the accident, he added. However, when asked how an accident took place despite massive safety measures, the BIWTA chief said they had nothing to do as the Pinak 6 capsized because of “natural disaster.”

The launch sank under 80 feet water, while the wave was too high in the river at the time of the accident, Shamsuddoha said, adding that the launch lost control and capsized because of bad weather.

On the other hand, Shipping Department Chief Engineer Fakhrul further pointed out that Pinak 6 was operating “illegally” as it was violating a condition which bars launches smaller than 24 metres in length to travel when there was a cautionary signal number 3 announced for rivers.

The Met Office had raised cautionary signal 3 for the Padma River when Pinak 6 capsized in its waters yesterday. l

ed under the “faulty trial process.”

One of the convicted war criminals, Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla, was executed last year while several others were convicted to different terms for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War. Opposing the birth of Bangladesh, Jamaat had formed militia units to collaborate with the Pakistani occupation forces.

Tajul claimed that the trial process had already been termed “faulty” by the US, human rights bodies and the international community.

Criticising media for misquoting the US envoy, he said: “Many newspapers

claimed that Rapp is happy with the trial process, but he told us that he never said anything like that.”

Rapp did not speak to media after the meeting. He would announce his views formally before leaving Bangladesh, the Jamaat lawyer said.

Earlier, Rapp met with the judges of the two war tribunals. According to BSS, Rapp told journalists: “I had discussions with the judges and talked about the cases. They are doing their jobs without pressure and without politics. I salute their service and their courage.

“The US government strongly supports this judicial process.” l

8 top police officers transferred n UNB

Eight top police officers have been transferred and given new postings in a recent reshuffling of the police administration.

According to a Home Ministry order issued yesterday, Md Nowsher Ali, deputy inspector general of Chittagong Range, has been transferred as the DIG of Telecommunications and Information Management, Dhaka. He has been replaced by CMP Commissioner Mohammad Shafiqul Islam.

Mir Shahidul Islam, DIG of the Rajshahi Range, has been made the DIG of Special Branch, Dhaka, while Md Iqbal

Overloaded launch sinks in rough Padma  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

to disembark. Suddenly, water carried in by a strong wave entered the engine room. In no time, the rear side of the vessel started sinking,” said Sujan with tears mixed with fears in his eyes.

Sujan, a student of the capital’s Tejgaon college, was travelling along with his aunt Hashi and her three children: Shampa, 14, Miraj, 9, and Ibrahim, 2.

Hashi said she had no idea what had happened to her three children. Her husband went to spot hearing the news of capsize.

Zakir Hossain, acting chief of Munshiganj district police, told the Dhaka

Tribune that primary estimates suggest that around 100 people managed to swim ashore with the help of local people.

He said they were still trying to come up with a list of the missing people and around 10pm, the list had about 108 names with many more to come.

Mohiuddin Ahmed, port officer of the Mawa terminal, said the launch was not very big; so even 200 passengers were too much for its size.

Rescuers said bad weather and the rough river were severely hampering their work.

Mahfuzur Rahman Akand, an assis-

tant director of fire service, said their divers had been frantic in their efforts, using speedboats and trawlers, but unfavourable overhead conditions were making their task difficult.

“If the launch drifts away because of the strong wave, then it will be very difficult for them to trace its exact location,” he said.

Meanwhile, two probe bodies have been formed to learn the reason behind the fatal accident.

Mohammad Hossain, a director of BIWTA, told the Dhaka Tribune that the launch sank because of three reasons: it was overloaded, the weather

No provision in jail code for inmates’ marriage  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

immediately after all the formalities ended,” Jainal added.

Jail Superintendent Mahbub said: “In the jail code, there is no specific provision for the marriage of an inmate inside prison, but we are bound to obey the order of the deputy commissioner. No permission from the court was sought either.”

The marriage took place at Lakshmipur Jail gate around 5pm on Friday in the presence of Abu Taher, Biplob’s father and an Awami League leader in Lakshmipur, and relatives of both the families. A marriage registrar and two witnesses on behalf of Biplob were also present. The relatives, riding 40 motorbikes and three microbuses, brought the bride to the jail gate around 10pm.

The bride and the groom reportedly stayed at jail gate till 1am.

“If that is how the wedding took

place, a case will be filed against Biplob.

Conjugal visits are not permitted in the country,” Supreme Court Advocate Zunaid Ullah Shoeb told the Dhaka Tribune.

Mahbub and Jainal, however, said a conjugal visit did not take place.

Jainal said: “Conjugal visits are now allowed in Bangladesh and no such thing happened during Biplob’s wedding. As for the wedding night, he might be released on parole.”

DC Tipu Sultan said Taher sought his permission to arrange the wedding in the morning on last Thursday and I granted it.

“The jail code says a deputy commissioner can take any decision regarding a prisoner’s family and social matters,” he said.

Interestingly, Jail Superintendent of Dhaka Central Jail Forman Ali told the Dhaka Tribune that there is no provision in the jail code that says a district

DHAKA TRIBUNE

magistrate can take decision on issues relating to inmates.

“In some cases, the magistrate can use his administrative power for something which is not mentioned in the jail code.

For example, if a prisoner wants to sell his land, a magistrate can grant the permission. In this case, the jailer will obey the decision of the magistrate,” he added.

A covert marital benefit?

The marriage can open new doors for Biplob to seek frequent paroles, said Khurshid.

“A prisoner can seek parole on different grounds such as, to spend his wedding night with his wife, during her pregnancy or to see their child. Biplob is now able to use these excuses. The decision to grant parole is completely up to the Home Ministry. As for conjugal visits, it can only happen if the

Bahar, DIG of Telecommunications and Information Management, Dhaka, has been transferred to the Rajshahi Range.

Abu Musa Mohammad Fakhrul Islam, director of Rajarbagh Central Police Hospital, has been sent to the Armed Police Battalion headquarters, Dhaka as the DIG, replaced by Dr Mohammad Sadiqur Rahman, former DIG of the Railway Range, presently attached with the police headquarters after completing the NDC course.

Md Moniruzzaman, DIG of APBn, has been appointed the DIG of newly formed River Police, while Humayun Kabir, DIG of the police headquarters, has been sent to the Barisal Range. l

was bad and the current in the river was too strong.

Saiful Hassan, deputy commissioner of Munshiganj district, said the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief had already given Tk20,000 to the family of Heera, the only identified dead victim of the capsize so far, to carry the bodies and for burial.

The other families of the victims would also get the same amount each, he said.

The Shipping Ministry and the local administration would give the deceased families Tk1,25,000 each as compensation, the minister said. l

court permits,” he said.

Shoeb said: “Biplob now can use the excuse of marriage to ask for parole for a particular period of time counted in hours. He can get this legal benefit if the state permits. He can even get parole on humanitarian grounds.”

Biplob tied the knot with Sanjida Akhter, a sophomore at Lakshmipur Government College, in prison on Friday afternoon. Sanjida is the daughter of late advocate Abul Khayer, a member of Pandit Bari which is the house of former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Shafiqul Islam.

Biplob was granted presidential pardon by late Zillur Rahman in 2012 in the advocate Nurul Islam murder case, in which he was awarded death sentence a year earlier. He was granted mercy again

by Zillur, and his life sentence in each of the remaining two murder cases was reduced to a 10-year imprisonment. l

Cabinet committee okays restrictive broadcast policy  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

A committee would be formed to prepare the laws. After scrutiny, the laws would be placed in cabinet and then parliament for passage.

He said the commission would be formed in view of the demands of the media personnel. “We have done it.

The commission will be established as soon as the new Acts are enacted.”

The new policy would not hamper the media’s independence, he said. “It will ensure accountability and protect the interests of the owners, employees, people and the government. It has been prepared following article 39 of the constitution. No provision was included in the policy to interrupt media’s independence.”

Standards for programmes and advertisements would be determined following the interests of the consumers. “The values of Liberation War, Language Movement and the rights of women and children will also be pro-

tected by the policy,” the minister said.

Cabinet Secretary M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists: “The policy has been prepared to ensure free flow of information and responsibility of the media. It will strengthen, accelerate and improve standard of the media and ensure healthy competition.”

Asked if the policy would control or interrupt the independence of media, Channel i Director and Head of News Shykh Seraj said: “We do not believe that the government will interrupt flourishing of the media which we have achieved during the tenures of democratic governments.

“We do not want a policy of rules, we want a policy of regulations.”

He, however, expressed concerns regarding the restrictions, particularly on violating privacy of individuals and the clause on defence forces and other law enforcement agencies.

“The media must publish or broad-

cast reports against those persons who commit corruption. It is the main job a journalist. It will defame the person.

But how can a reporter avoid such reports? They must do it. Such restriction should not be kept in the policy,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“So far I know, no media deliberately criticises or insinuates the members of the defence forces or the law enforcement agencies. But, it must be reported when anyone is found to be involved in any offence,” he added.

About the commission, he said: “We urged the government to form an Independent Broadcast Commission which will work as our shield. We wanted the commission to regulate the broadcast media and issue licenses.” He said the commission should be established as soon as possible incorporating media experts.

“It must be decided first who are going to be the chairman and members of the commission. They must

have expertise in the media sector.

Otherwise, the initiative of the government will not bring any result,” he said.

Welcoming the policy, President of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul told the Dhaka Tribune: “There are some anomalies in the policy. We hope that the government will address the issues during its implementation.”

Also the chief executive of Boishakhi Television, Bulbul said: “The government must fix a minimum standard for entrepreneurs to acquire a licence.”

He also questioned some provisions regarding programmes and advertisements terming those unacceptable and demanded that those be changed.

Bulbul demanded that the government ensure job security of the employees and journalists, formulation of minimum wages board for electronic media and protection of the owners like the print media. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Clockwise from top left: Locals, rescuers and relatives of missing passengers gather on the bank of river Padma where a launch, MV Pinak 6, capsized with more than 200 people on board. A diver takes a dip in the river to recover the bodies of dead passengers. A family wails after losing their relatives in the launch mishap. People crowd the rescue site in a bid to identify their lost relatives MEHEDI HASAN

Posting cancelled for 500 BCS doctors Ministry changes mind on posting, but upholds promotions However, Swachip Joint Secretary at regular posts soon,” he added. n Moniruzzaman Uzzal The Health Ministry was reportedly General Dr Jamaluddin Chowdhury The Health Ministry has cancelled the posting order of more than 500 BCSpassed health cadre doctors and directed them to stay “in situ,” or at their original posting, until further order; however, the promotion of these doctors to the rank of junior consultant (current charge) would stay in effect.

AKM Muklesur Rahman, a deputy secretary of Health Ministry, issued a circular on this regard on August 3.

The latest move comes after a separate circular issued on July 27, which promoted over 500 hundred doctors and gave them posting to different upazila health complexes. It also asked the promoted doctors to join work within four days.

Sources told the Dhaka Tribune that around half of the promoted doctors, who were all junior leaders of Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad (Swachip) working in or around Dhaka, objected to their posting at different upazilas, prompting the ruling party-backed doctors’ organisation to successfully lobby the ministry against their relocation.

denied the allegation and claimed that Swachip leaders did not interfere in either the ministry’s promotion and posting of the doctors, or in the suspension of its previous order. “I heard the Health Ministry had failed to make the order correctly,” he added.

Such a wholesale promotion of doctors to current charge is reportedly an unprecedented move.

The majority of the doctors given promotion allegedly did not have professional experience of four years and required degrees (post-graduation or diploma in specific subjects); instead there are claims that they were promoted based on their political allegiance.

Md Habibur Rahman Khan, a joint secretary at the ministry, however, denied the allegation and told the Dhaka Tribune that all the doctors had the required qualifications and job experience.

“All of them deserved to be promoted, but because of the delay in the process, they were given promotion to current charge. They will be promoted

compelled to promote the doctors to the rank of junior consultant as there was a shortage of entry-level posts.

Habibur said it was partially true but not the sole reason.

Dr Ehtheshamul Hoque Chowdhury, director (administration) of the health services, told the Dhaka Tribune that the decision to promote such a large number of doctors was taken by the ministry and he was unaware of the reason behind it. He also denied claims that the move was made to create vacant entry-level posts.

“We had 4,000 vacant entry-level posts. A total of 1,300 ad hoc doctors joining the posts were selected in the 33rd BCS which is why their posts became vacant. Another 800 doctors were recently promoted to the rank of junior consultant (regular) and their posts turned vacant.

Moreover, according to the public service rule, 10% of a total of 15,829 entry-level posts must be reserved for emergency use. So there will be no problem in vacancy for entry-level posts,” he added. l

Tuba workers continue hunger strike n Tribune Report

The workers of Tuba Group vowed to continue their fast-unto-death until their demands were met, rejecting Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s (BGMEA) proposal of two month’s wages to be paid on Wednesday.

The agitating workers also announced at a press conference on Sunday that they would lay siege to the BGMEA building today at 11am to press home their demands.

At least 1,200 workers from five factories under the Tuba Group have been on a hunger strike for eight consecutive days at Hossain Market in the capital’s

Badda area, demanding the payment of three months’ wages, overtime and Eid bonuses. As of yesterday, over 90 workers have fallen sick from days of fasting, and 20 of them have been admitted to various hospitals in the city in critical conditions.

The BGMEA agreed to pay two months’ wages to more than 1,600 workers by Wednesday, but no representatives from the BGMEA or the government visited the aggrieved workers to convince them to accept the offer.

“We will accept the BGMEA proposal when they come here with the funds, as they have failed to keep their promises before,” said Mofazzal Hossain, a worker of Tuba Group.

He claimed the promise seemed vague as the BGMEA had left the responsibility of payment for the month of July and other dues on the factory owners, which was still uncertain.

“We will continue fasting until our demands are met,” Moshrefa Mishu, president of the Garment Workers’ Unity Forum, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The hunger strike will be withdrawn only when the authorities pay us the three months’ dues in full,” she said.

The five factories under the Tuba Group are Tuba Fashion, Tuba Textile, Mita Design, Taif Design and Bughsan Garments. The group needs around Tk4.13 crore to pay all of the outstanding amount to the workers. l

BNP: Government out to gag media

National consumer complaint centre set up n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla n UNB Consumers who have complaints about any product can now seek redress at a centre set up by the National Consumer Rights Protection Department, a government press release said yesterday.

The national consumer complaint centre was opened at TCB Bhaban at Karwan Bazar in the capital under the Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009.

It will receive complaints from consumers from across the country and forward them to officials concerned through email, fax and other channels for disposal. The centre would also collect data of disposed complaints, review and coordinate the data, said the release.

A deputy director and two assistant directors under the director general will be in charge of the centre.

For details, the consumers can visit www.dncrp.gov.bd. l

Another case filed against Nur n UNB A fresh case has been lodged against Nur Hossain, the prime accused in sensational seven-murder case, on charge of transferring a firearm to other person.

Sub-Inspector Ajit Kumar Mitra of Siddhirganj police station filed the case yesterday afternoon.

Officer-in-Charge of the police station M Alauddin said Nur had given the firearm to his brother-in-law Nur-eAlam instead of surrendering it to the state since its licence was cancelled.

Nur, also a Narayanganj City Corporation councillor, had obtained licences for a total of 11 firearms in his name.

After the gruesome killing of seven people, including Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker, in late April, the district administration took away the licences.

Later, police seized nine of the firearms while the two others remained traceless. l

Criticising the country’s first-ever media policy, the BNP yesterday alleged that the government was hatching a conspiracy to gag the media in the name of “responsibility and accountability.”

“The government is going to enact a law to put the newspapers, online news agencies and other media in a cage. The law is also being formulated to close the television channels,” Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the party, told a press briefing held at the BNP’s Nayapaltan headquarters.

“The BNP thinks that it is a strategy to establish Baksal [one-party rule] in the country,” he said while calling upon the government to backtrack from such a decision to control the media.

The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of National Broadcast Policy 2014 with a provision to ban broadcasting anything that demeans the armed forces or law enforcement agencies.

The BNP leader alleged that the Awami League government had become authoritarian, resulting in deterioration in the country’s law and order.

“The more days the government will stay in power, the more sufferings the people will have to face. We can only overcome the situation by waging a movement to oust the government,” he said.

BNP’s key ally Jamaat-e-Islami said the government was formulating the

media policy to establish “one-party rule” in the country, destroying democracy.

“The government is going to formulate the new media policy to gag the media, but the people of the country will not accept such a media policy,” Shafiqur Rahman, acting secretary general of the party, said in a statement.

However, Awami League Advisory Council Member Suranjit Sengupta

‘The more days the government will stay in power, the more sufferings the people will have to face. We can only overcome the situation by waging an oust-government movement’ said: “The government has to be careful that the freedom of media is not be curtailed through the media policy. The issue is very sensitive. The government has to be very careful about the formulation of the policy to give democracy an institutional shape.”

Addressing a programme in the capital, he also said the government, at the same time, should be tough to stop yellow journalism. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Construction of Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory goes on in full swing n Asif Showkat Kallol The government has decided to introduce a system for ensuring the gas supply for the under construction Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory in Fenchuganj of Sylhet, official sources said.

Fenchuganj Fertiliser Factory, one of the country’s oldest factories which went into operation late 50s, will be closed after Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory goes into operation.

An Industries Ministry official said the government had decided to set up a customer metering station (CMS) which would store up gas and supply it to the new fertiliser factory.

Some 162 acres of land had already been acquired to set up the fertiliser factory and the acquisition of more land was under process The official said China National Complete Plant Import and Export Corporation Ltd, a China-based company, had assured the authority concerned that the construction of Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory would be completed by June next year and the construction of the CMS would also be completed within the stipulated time.

Industries Secretary Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah sent a proposal to the authority concerned for selecting the consulting firm to set up the CMS on the site of Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory. The proposal would be placed at a meeting of the cabinet committee on public economic affairs today.

As per the proposal, the evaluation committee had selected Langfang Ruihua Petrochemical Company Ltd, a Chi-

Schoolgirl commits suicide in Chittagong n FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong A teenage girl committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling at Halishahar residential area in Chittagong on Sunday night.

The deceased, Nusrat Jahan Setu, 15, was a student of class 10 in Khwaja Gharib-e-Newaz High School, and a resident of number 15 building at Block-G area of the residential area.

SI Nurul Bashar Chowdhury of Halishahar police station said, the victim’s mother had yelled at her on Sunday night about her studies, following which, Setu hung herself with a scarf in her bedroom at around 9pm.

Family members rescued the girl and rushed her to Chittagong Maa O Shishu General Hospital at Agrabad, where the on duty doctors declared her dead, added SI Nurul Bashar. An unnatural death case was lodged with Halishahar police station in this connection. l

nese company, from three firms. The two other firms were Zicom Equipment Pte Ltd and Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Systems Company.

The proposal reads: “The government will count huge fine unless the supply of natural gas is ensured for Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory within January next year.”

The industries secretary told the Dhaka Tribune that Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution Systems Company had assured the authority concerned of ensuring the gas supply for the new fertiliser factory.

“Gas crisis will be resolved because almost obsolete Fenchuganj Fertiliser Factory is supposed to be closed down after the commencement of the new fertiliser factory,” he said.

The secretary said the new factory would go into production at the end of next June if the authority concerned did not face any difficulties.

The construction work of Shahjalal Fertiliser Factory is going on in full swing. COMPLANT is implementing the project at a cost of Tk5,050 crore of which Tk3,986 crore will come from the Chinese government.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on March 24, 2012 inaugurated the project which was expected to be completed within 38 months.

To finish the work within time frame, several Chinese companies, including Saxing Petrolatum Chemical Engineering and Construction Company Ltd, CNC Seven, CNC Eleven and China National Engineering and Heavy Mechanised Corporation are working as subcontractors.

Some 162 acres of land had already been acquired to set up the fertiliser factory and the acquisition of more land was under process. The construction of a urea bulk storage with the capacity of 70,400 tonnes is nearing completion. l

Members of Gonotantric Bam Morcha bring out a procession yesterday, demanding the payment of due wages of Tuba Group workers. The photo was taken near Paltan

RAJIB DHAR

RMG trade unions, left political activists stage demo for Tuba workers n Afrose Jahan Chaity Several RMG trade unions and left political parties staged a demonstration in front of the National Press Club yesterday, demanding the payment of dues of the Tuba garment workers.

Around 150 activists formed several human chains under the banner of Ganatantrik Bam Morcha, a left political party, and tried to remove a police barricade during their protest. The demonstrators also demanded safety

at workplaces and job security. The police obstructed the activists when they tried to march towards the city’s secretariat building around noon.

A few people got injured during a scuffle that erupted when police barred the gathering from marching towards the secretariat building and sources said one person had been admitted to a local hospital. After the incident, the agitators set themselves in front of the police barricade and chanted slogans to press home their demands.

Democratic Left Alliance leader Shuvangshu Chakraborty said: “The prime minister is the labour minister herself. She exchanged regards on the occasion of Eid but became blind when it came to take an initiative regarding the agitating workers.”

The protesters also vowed to lay siege on the BGMEA office in the capital today to press home their demands.

Over 100 workers from 30 garments factories protested at the same place.

They also staged a hunger strike for the

Tuba workers.

Around 90 workers fell sick from days of fasting and 15 of them, in critical conditions, were admitted to different hospitals in the city. They vowed to continue their demonstration till their dues were paid.

Five sister concerns of Tuba Group – Tuba Fashion, Tuba Textile, Mita Design, Taif Design and Bughsan Garments – have not paid the salaries of its workers.

Sources said the group required around Tk4.13 crore to pay all the dues. l

‘ICTs function neutrally without pressure’

Yunus addresses youth at Europe’s largest music festival

n UNB

n Tribune Report

Expressing satisfaction over the functioning of International Crimes Tribunals, Stephen J Rapp, the visiting US Ambassador-at-Large for war crimes issues, yesterday said the judges had been able to work neutrally without pressure and politics.

Talking to reporters after meeting the judges of the two tribunals, he said it was important that the judges were able to do their job without pressure and politics.

Rapp also praised judges’ bold and impartial role in discharging their judicial functions and said he salutes their service and courage.

He underpinned the US support to the trial for the 1971 crimes against humanity and said the process had moved properly.

Rapp viewed that both the prosecution and the defence had got equal

opportunity to deal with their cases by providing evidences through witnesses and documents.

Rapp also said it was important for Bangladesh to try the perpetrators of the atrocities committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Liberation.

The good part of the trial would serve as examples for other countries of the world, he remarked.

Rapp arrived at the tribunals at the Old High Court building around 1:30pm and held meeting with the judges.

Earlier, Rapp met the ICTs investigation agency members at its Dhanmondi office in the capital.

He arrived in Dhaka yesterday morning on a three-day visit, his 5th to Bangladesh since war crimes trial began.

He is expected to meet the law minister, foreign minister and foreign secretary today before holding a press briefing. l

Muhammad Yunus addressed a massive audience of European youth at the Woodstock Festival Poland, the biggest open-air music festival in Europe held from July 31 to August 2.

The festival drew over half a million young people.

In his address, Yunus said: “You can see the flaws of the system more clearly than those in the older generation, because your minds are still free to observe things.”

“Older minds have gotten so used to the way things are that they cannot see what is wrong with them. You must feel strongly enough and disgusted enough to jump into daring departures from the current system.”

“You can be the designers. You have to be the designers. You are as smart as, or smarter than, the people who designed the existing system.”

“Governments do not design the economy. They follow the blueprint prepared by economists. Do not be blind followers. Be leaders. Go

Professor Yunus greets the audience at Woodstock Festival Poland through the unbeaten path. Our only escape route is in the unbeaten path.

Sheikh Kamal’s 65th birth anniversary today n Tribune Report

Stephen J Rapp, the visiting US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, looks at bones from the time of Liberation War during his visit yesterday at the Liberation War Museum DHAKA TRIBUNE

The 65th birth anniversary of Sheikh Kamal, the eldest son of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and brother of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, will be observed across the country today.

Ruling Awami League as well as different socio-political and sports oriented organisations have chalked out a day-long programme to mark the day.

The programmes include placing wreaths at Sheikh Kamal’s portrait on the premises of Abahani Club in Dhanmondi around 8am and at his grave in Banani around 9am.

On the other hand, the AL’s all Dhaka City Units will arrange a Milad Mafil on Bangabandu Avenue this evening.

Sheikh Kamal, the founder-president of the country’s leading sporting club Abahani Krira Chakra and Dhaka Theatre, was born on August 5, 1949, in Tungipara of Gopalganj.

Later, Kamal was killed, along with most of his family members, by a group of unruly army personnel on August 15, 1975.

In a statement yesterday, LGRD Minister and General Secretary of AL Syed Ashraful Islam urged upon the party activists to observe the day with due respect. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Discover it. If you do not, nobody will,” he said. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Legal issues delay development at Purbachal project n Abu Hayat Mahmud

writ petition from several months ago.

“An open court directed that Rajuk can continue the development work alongside conserving the forest in the project area. So, the development is still going on.”

Maruf, however, claimed though Rajuk did not get a certified copy from the court and did not start the development work in full swing.

Answering a question regarding the plot owners’ concerns, he said: “Rajuk has not made a new decision or change in the project area and every plot winner will get the allotted plot in the housing project.”

He said: “The plot winners could also register their plots by paying in installments or making the full payment.”

On November 25, 2013, the Supreme Court directed Rajuk to maintain status quo on the construction work of the Purbachal project at Barokau and Parabartha moujas in Kaliganj upazila of Gazipur.

The status quo came after Rajuk filed a plea following a High Court verdict which asked Rajuk to suspend the project until it obtained a clearance certificate from the Department of Environment.

The HC verdict came following a writ petition filed by Bela against the

The development activities of the Kaliganj portion of Purbachal New Town Project in Gazipur has been moving at a snail’s pace as the project awaits the Supreme Court’s verdict on the legality of the housing project.

Although officials at the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha claimed that the project work had been progressing as per schedule, local residents, former land owners and winners of the plot lottery alleged that the development work in the area had been irregular.

When asked, Rajuk Deputy Director (Estate 3) Ahsan Iqbal Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune: “The development work of the project faced a little delay after the writ petition filed by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA). Already, the Supreme Court has announced a verdict in our favor, allowing us to continue to run the project.

“The development activities are still going on and will resume full swing after the Supreme Court’s final verdict.”

Meanwhile, Rajuk Legal Officer AKM Maruf Hasan said: “The housing project is not harmful for the environment, reasoning the SC has vacated Bela’s

BIG-B initiative likely to dominate talks during Japan PM’s visit

Two college students held with 1,000 Yaba tablets n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

n

Police arrested two college students with 1,000 pieces of Yaba tablets from Chittagong’s Bakalia area yesterday.

The detained are Minhajul Islam, 19, student of Chittagong Government City College in Satkania upazila, Chittagong and Atikul Islam Tareque, 19, student of Chittagong Model College in Teknaf upazila, Cox’s Bazar.

The duo have been arrested from Kala Miya Bazar area around 6am while they were entering the city with the contraband items, said Bakalia police station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Mohsin.

“We found 500 pieces of Yaba s from tablets each of them after searching their bodies. They are mainly involved in carrying Yaba from Teknaf to the port city,” he said.

The Teknaf based Yaba smugglers use the students for carrying the Yaba tablets to Chittagong. In Chittagong, they hand over the items to another group who later hand over the items to the wholesalers who supply the items to customers around the city.

Communication between all the associates is done over mobile phone while the monetary transaction is done via bKash, said the OC. A case had been lodged with Bakalia police station in this connection, he said.

In recent time, law enforcers recovered huge quantity of yaba from different parts of the port city. l

Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

The Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt initiative, also known as the BIG-B initiative, is likely to be a major issue to be discussed when Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Dhaka in September.

According to Foreign Ministry sources, the BIG-B initiative – which is a strategic concept of Japan’s cooperation with other countries – will be on the table during talks when Abe visits Dhaka.

“The Bangladesh side has proposed September 6 and 7 as the dates for his [Abe’s] visit,” said a senior Foreign Ministry official, seeking anonymity.

Abe’s visit follows Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Tokyo in May, when she invited her Japanese counterpart to visit Dhaka.

At the prime ministerial talks in May, Tokyo floated the idea of the BIG-B initiative to connect coastal countries and expand Japan’s trade.

Also during Hasina’s visit, the Japanese prime minister announced his commitment to provide up to 600 billion yen (equivalent to $6bn) of additional assistance to Bangladesh over about four or five years starting from

2014. Hasina in turn asked Abe to consider a range of specific projects like the Ganges Barrage, a multi-modal tunnel under the Jamuna River, a dedicated railway bridge over the Jamuna, a multi-modal Dhaka Eastern Bypass, and the ecological restoration of four rivers around Dhaka.

“These are all very important projects for Bangladesh,” the ministry official said.

BIG-B initiatives

Japan has shown great interest in the BIG-B initiative, which is stated to be the vision of future cooperation along with the current comprehensive official development assistance (ODA) from Japan.

“They [Japan] proposed that Bangladesh could provide a gateway to the ocean for Bay of Bengal regional economies and play a nodal role between Southeast Asia and South Asia,” said another senior official of the Foreign Ministry.

During a visit to Dhaka in June, Akihiko Tanaka, the chief of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said Bangladesh and JICA jointly identified Matabari, located 60km south of Chittagong, as the tipping point for carry-

ing out the BIG-B initiative.

The proposed BIG-B initiative has three pillars – trade and industry, energy, and transportation.

Earlier, the Japanese government pressed to mention the initiative in the joint statement issued during Hasina’s Tokyo tour, but Dhaka refused.

Hasina’s visit

During Hasina’s visit to Japan, both the governments agreed to take the bilateral relationship to new heights as the prime ministers of both the countries launched the “Japan–Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership.”

At the official talks, Abe underscored the urgency of an improvement of the investment environment in Bangladesh, including infrastructural development and stable energy supply in order to further facilitate and promote Japanese investment in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh side agreed to provide 500 acres of land exclusively for Japanese investors, while the prime ministers reaffirmed the importance of strengthening energy cooperation, including in the area of peaceful uses of nuclear energy as a stable source of energy, as the key to economic development in Bangladesh. l

Poisoning deaths more than halved in five years n Moniruzzaman Uzzal The number of deaths due to poisoning have been halved across the country over the last five years, dropping from five thousand cases five years ago to less than two thousand currently, said the Central Chemical Examination laboratory of the Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The chief chemical examiner of the Central Chemical Examination Office located in Mohakhali, Dr Dilip Kumar Saha, told the Dhaka Tribune it was good news that the number of toxicological death related samples had decreased. He said most toxicological deaths were caused by ingesting organophosphorous compounds, commonly used in pesticides.

On average, some 60 percent of poisoning victims were female and 40 percent male. The highest number of toxicological death case samples were sent from Shailakupa Upazila of Jhenaidah district, he said.

Saha could not say for sure what had caused the decreasing trend, but said that perhaps public awareness had changed the situation.

He also said that processing times for samples sent to the lab had decreased drastically. He said while in the

LIGHT RAIN

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:39PM SUN RISES 5:30AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 32

27

Chittagong

31

26

Rajshahi

33

26

Rangpur

33

26

Khulna

31

25

Barisal

31

26

Sylhet

33

25

Cox’s Bazar

30

26

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

35.3ºC Sylhet

24.5ºC Cox’s Bazar

Source: Accuweather/UNB

A car crosses a rail track amid risk as a signboard set up in front of the level crossing reads “Caution! A level crossing without gatekeeper ahead, cross at your own risk.” The photo was taken from Kakon area in Rajshahi yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

4:07am 5:28am 12:05am 4:42pm 6:40pm 8:02pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

A construction worker died from electrocution at the under construction Radisson Hotel at Kazir Dewri area in Chittagong yesterday.

The deceased has been identified as Md Shipon, 26.

Nayek Abdul Bashar of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police outpost said, the worker had been critically injured after he tripped on a live electric wire on the ground floor of the under construction building at around noon.

He was hurried to CMCH where the on duty doctors declared him dead, added Nayek Bashar. The body was sent to hospital's morgue for a post-mortem examination.

The Radisson Hotel, built under the supervision of Bangladesh Army, will be the first five star hotel in the port city once completed. l

Jute exporters deprived of credit facility for huge default loans n Asif Showkat Kallol

PRAYER TIMES

past there were serious delays in processing lab reports because of a shortage of trained personnel, things had improved significantly.

The head of the forensic medicine department of Dhaka Medical College (DMC), Professor Dr Habibuzzaman Chowdhury, agreed, saying to the Dhaka Tribune that the waiting time for sample testing had come down to one to two weeks from the previous waiting time of two to three months.

Saha said more than ninety percent of samples sent to the laboratory for testing were viscera from dead bodies.

The chemical examination office operates two labs, one in Dhaka and the other in Chittagong. These labs performed a number of procedures including toxicology tests involving the examination of viscera, stomach washes, and tests of the urine.

The Dhaka lab processes samples from Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Rangpur divisions. The Chittagong lab deals with samples from Chittagong and Sylhet divisions.

Md Kayser Rahman, CID deputy chief chemical examiner, Bangladesh Police, told the Dhaka Tribune that drug related samples were tested at the Chittagong office. l

Construction worker electrocuted in Chittagong Radisson Hotel n CU Correspondent

WEATHER

Dhaka

housing project on April 18, 2013.

On August 20, the chamber judge of the SC stayed the high Court order. Later, Bela filed the petition with the SC to vacate the chamber judge’s order.

During a recent visit at Barokau and Parabarthha moujas, the Dhaka Tribune found that the development work in the area had stopped after the lowlands were filled up with sand. No other infrastructural development has been started.

Locals also claimed that Rajuk had started the development work in the area about one month ago, but failed to continue it in the face of protests by land owners.

Rajuk officials said as per the revised project schedule, some 24,697-plots in 30 sectors of the project will be completed by December, 2015. Earlier, the project was expected to be finished by June 2012.

In 1992, the government drafted the formation of a planned satellite city – Purbachal New Town – and stated acquiring land for the project in 1993. The project is situated at Rupgonj upazila of Narayanganj and Kaliganj upazila of Gazipur between the Balu and Sitalakhya rivers on the north-east side of Dhaka. l

Country’s jute and jute goods exporters have not been getting credit facility from scheduled banks for last one year due to mounting default loans, official sources said.

Officials of Bank and Financial Institution Division said the amount of jute exporters’ default loan in commercial banks increased from Tk3,000 crore to Tk4,500 crore in last six years.

Bangladesh Jute Goods Association Chairman Mohammad Zakirul Islam

sent a letter to Finance Minister AMA Muhith last week and urged him to immediately take necessary measures for providing export credit facility for jute goods exporters.

He wrote: “Honest jute exporters are being deprived of credit facility as scheduled banks are not interested to provide them with loan after some unscrupulous businessmen have become loan defaulters in scheduled banks.”

“A vested group has also lobbied against jute goods exporters so that they do not get credit facility from the

banks.”

The chairman claimed that 60% of local jute goods exporters had opened letters of credit and met their export expenses from their own fund.

“It takes 16 days for the exporters to get back money from abroad. So, we badly need export credit facility from scheduled banks,” he added.

In the letter, the finance minister has recommended that Bangladesh Bank should take necessary steps for providing credit facility again to jute goods exporters and find the causes of delay

in reaching the exporters’ earnings to their bank accounts from abroad.

Country’s jute and jute goods exports decreased drastically in the fiscal year 2013-14 following depreciation of Indian rupee and sluggish demand in the world market.

As per data of Export Promotion Bureau, the export earnings declined by more than 30% during the period. The country earned nearly $592 million in July–January period in the current fiscal year against $646 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

Millers and exporters said India used to buy about 55-60% of the total raw jute exports of Bangladesh and it cut the level of its imports from the country that accelerated the fall in jute exports.

Iran, another raw jute importer, had also slashed buying jute due to economic sanctions imposed by the western countries, they said.

In addition, the prevailing sour relations with Pakistan and instability in Syria, Libya, and Iraq which are traditionally jute and jute goods importers, had caused a decline in exports. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Lack of rainfall may badly impact jute production 437mm rainfall recorded in last three months against required 5,000mm between June and August n Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah required every year for the water bodies, Although it is the rainy season, farmers in Jhenaidah have been facing severe water crisis when attempting to process green jute, as most of the water bodies have little to no water due to the lack of rainfall.

Farmers said they had been moving around in search of adequate amounts of water, which is needed to process the jute.

Alam, a farmer from Habibpur village in Sailkupa upazila of Jhenaidah, said they usually do the jute extraction in the Kumar River, but this year there was not enough water even during the monsoon.

He said the water crisis might adversely impact jute production this year.

Rabiul Islam, a farmer from Ganna village of Sadar upazila, said the water in local water bodies, including ditches, canals and ponds, have dried up for the lack of adequate rainfall.

He said they might be denied fair price for the golden fibre because of the low quality of the jute fibre this season.

This will cause massive losses for the farmers.

Bijoy Krishna Halder, upazila agriculture officer of Sailkupa upazila, said usually 2,500mm rainfall is

especially the local rivers, to have adequate water for processing jute.

But the rainfall has been minimal this monsoon.

According to the Met Office, as of July 31 this year, a total of 437mm rainfall was recorded in the district.

The monthly recorded rainfall this season is 102mm in May, 142mm in June and 193mm in July. The figures were 201mm, 125mm, 111mm and 223mm in May, June, July and August respectively last year.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), farmers had used a total of 19,785 hectares of land for jute cultivation this year although the government had set a target to use 20,247 hectares of land. The hectare-wise yield was targeted to be 11 bales of jute.

DAE Deputy Director Hazrat Ali said farmers had not also followed the government method for precessing jute fibre from the stick which would require less water than the traditional method would.

The government prescribed extracting the raw jute fibre with the help of a machine, and then the fibre is wrapped in polythene bags and sunk in water to rot. l

Farmers load jute plants on a truck to take those to a nearby water body for processing fibre

TWENTY DAYS GONE BY

11 fishermen still missing in Barguna n Our Correspondent, Barguna Families of 11 missing fishermen are furious at what they say is the administration’s inactivity in rescuing their loved ones who have been missing since they were apparently abducted while fishing in the Bay of Bengal on July 16.

They say their loved ones could have been rescued by now if the administration had been active enough over the last 20 days. But they are taking much time.

They add that they are struggling with their livelihood because their loved ones were their sole bread-earners. In their absence, they are going hungry almost every day.

A local journalist, Jaber Ahmed, visited the family of a missing fisherman at Dakkhin Chardowani village in the district’s Patharghata upazila yesterday.

Families furious at the administration’s 'inactivity' at rescuing the fishermen.

They also question SI Idris’ role after the incident Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, he said Rani Begum, wife of missing fisherman Ismail, has become mentally ill after finding no trace of her husband in the last 20 days.

He said she, along with her two sons, is passing their days almost in starvation because Ismail was the sole bread-earner to the family.

Barguna District Trawler Owners Association President Mostofa Chowdhury said they are unhappy with the police’s role in rescuing the missing fishermen.

Earlier on July 28, Sub-Inspector Md Idris Mia received a call from a person posing as BGB Battalion 34, Satkhira Captain Lieutenant Colonel Shamsul Kabir.

The person, posing as Shamsul Kabir, said they had rescued five fishermen with bullet injuries at Nildumur, an area border-

ing India, in Satkhira.

Sub-Inspector Idris soon informed the families and provided them with the number through which he had talked to the socalled captain of the BGB Battalion 34, Satkhira.

The families then contacted the so-called BGB captain, who asked them to send Tk 50,000 by Bkash, saying that it was essential to treat the injured fishermen immediately.

However, they sent only Tk 25,000 by Bkash only to know that they have been deceived.

Sharmin Begum, the wife of another missing fisherman Shahidul of the Chardowani village, told the Dhaka Tribune by phone that police had cheated them over the incident.

They should have verified this phone call before telling us to contact the so-called BGB officer, she said.

Barguna District Trawler Owners Association President Mostofa also sees Sub-Inspector Idris’s role behind the missing 11 fishermen. Otherwise, the families of the fishermen would not have lost Tk 25,000.

Patharghata police statiobn Sub-Inspector Idris Mia however denied the allegation and said they have fallen victim to deception. “However, we should have been informed before the families sent any money

by Bkash.”

When he was asked why he had not verified this phone call by calling up the police station in Satkhira, he said: “I have made a mistake by not calling there.”

Patharghata Coastguard Station Commander Lieutenant M Arif Hossain said all coast guard stations have been informed of the incident of the missing fishermen in the Bay of Bengal.

Patharghata police station Officer-inCharge AGM Shahnewaj said: “We have registered a general diary in this regard. In addition, we have informed all police stations next to the Bay of Bengal about this incident.”

When asked about deceptively taking Tk 25,000 by Bkash from the families of the missing fishermen, he said: “We have collected the call list and from this, efforts are on to identify the frauds’ gang.” l

5 cops hurt while attempting arrest Correspondent, n Our Habiganj

Five police personnel were injured yesterday while they were trying to nab some absconding accused from a warranted criminals’ house in Rasulpur’s village under Ajmeriganj upazila.

Toimur Bakhat Chowdhury, Ajmeriganj police station officer in-charge, said, “We have arrest warrants against Saddam Hossain and Amir Hossain, the sons of Sattar Hossain from Rasulpur village.”

When the police went to arrest the alleged criminals, they along with their family members attacked the officers, injuring four constables and one village police. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Four killed across the country n Tribune Report

At least four people were killed yesterday at Dhaka, Natore, Chandpur and Netrakona districts.

In Savar, an old man was killed in an attack by robbers at Pashshim Lakuria area of Dhamrai in Dhaka.

Locals said a gang of 10-12 armed robbers stormed into Shahidul’s house around 3am, after breaking open its main gate, and tried to loot valuables.

When Shahidul resisted them, the hoodlums hit Shahidul on the head with shabol (homemade sharp weapon), leaving him dead on the

spot. Later, when locals heard the screams of the victim’s family members and rushed to the spot, the robbers fled.

Firoz Talukdar, officer-in-charge of Dhamrai police station said they sent the body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue.

In Natore, a youth was strangulated by a group of miscreants in Boraigran upazila, who also stole his motorcycle.

Ibrahim Hossain, officer-incharge of Boraigram Police Station, said some criminals obstructed Abul Hossain, 35, when he was returning home around 11pm. They then

strangled him and fled with his bike.

In Netrakona, a Krishak League leader was killed in an attack at Garinnagar village in Atpara upazila.

Miscreants attacked Khairul, Krishak League president of ward no 6, with sharp weapons and injured him critically.

He was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, where he later died around 7am.

He bore several injury marks on his legs, hands and stomach.

In Chandpur, police recovered the hanging body of a woman and arrested her husband from Professorpara area of the district town. l

Section 144 imposed in two upazilas of Rangamati n Our Correspondent, Rangamati The local administration imposed ban on public gathering in Baghaichhari and Kaokhali upazilas in Rangamati yesterday to avoid untoward incidents.

Baghaichhari UNO Sumon Chowdhury said the ban was imposed in the sadar upazila as two factions of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (Santu Larma and MN Larma) announced to hold separate demonstration programmes at the same place simultaneously.

The PCJSS (Santu Larma) called a human chain demanding suspension of the government plan to set up a science and technology university and a medical college in district.

On the other hand, the other group announced a human chain on the same venue demanding full implementation of the CHT Accord.

Apprehending tension, the local administration clamped down the ban from 7am to 10pm yesterday to maintain law and order, the UNO said.

Meanwhile, Kaokhali UNO Afia Akter said the PCJSS (Santu Larma) and the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) called separate human chain and demonstration programmes at the same venue and time demanding the suspension of setting up the university and the medical college.

OC of Kaokhali police station Nilu Kanti Borua said the ban was imposed from 10am to 6pm to avoid any untoward incidents.

PCJSS chief Santu Larma at a press conference on July 14 criticised the government for taking initiatives to establish the institutions without discussing the issues with the CHT Regional Council, as per related laws.

He claimed that if admission takes place following the proposed rules and regulations, 90% outsider students would get scope to take admission in the institutions.

Santu Larma suggested that the government should focus on the three government colleges in the CHT region. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

7

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The audacity of hope Making the next Ramadan much more memorable for the Muslim world. This is the concluding part focusing on the other unstable Muslim majority countries

n Sourajit Aiyer

A

Continued from yesterday mongst other Arab-Muslim nations, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and Syria continue to struggle in the post-Arab Spring world. It is a tragedy tearing the legacies of historical cities like Damascus, Aleppo, Cairo and Baghdad to tatters.

In Syria, Bashar Assad starting his third term means the conflict would continue until a ceasefire is announced or till the rebels (and their foreign backers) drop their guns.

Foreign aid is the only way for any normalcy ahead, given the abject destruction to homes, basic facilities and normal economic life.

In Libya, opposing forces across Tripoli, Sirte and Benghazi continue to battle. Weapons have found their way to the hands of civilians, creating continued lawlessness. Some years back, Lebanon addressed its issue of civilian weapons with a scheme to replace them with free mobile phones.

But mobiles were a novelty then, not so much now. Libya needs to take weapons out of civilian hands and take the people out of its cities’ battlefields by employing them, maybe in oil or infrastructure projects. Till then, Libya would burn.

In Iraq, while Shia-Sunni sectarianism was always a thorn for Nouri Maliki, recent weeks saw it worsen.

ISIS, the Salafi/Sunni group, increased its hold across areas of Nineveh and Anbar, including key towns like Mosul and Fallujah.

Anbar has strategic importance, as the province borders Jordan and a vital access route. The future holds a longdrawn-out offensive. But with western armies weakened by years of fighting, mediation by regional Middle East biggies might hold some weight instead for Iraq’s future – especially those who have sway over Salafi/Wahabbi entities.

Egypt might be the only one out of these four which can hope for a better Ramadan next time. After tumultuous years of civil disturbance as Hosni Mubarak’s regime and Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamist government were ousted, Abdel Fattah might provide some stability.

Tensions remain, given the depth of Muslim Brotherhood’s penetration into villages through its network of social services built over a few decades.

With an over-80-million population, Egypt is a sizable middle-income consumer market.

A stable government would put Egypt back on the road to development (albeit with some foreign assistance into projects). It was seeing economic and income opportunities for its youth, if commercial developments like Smart Village near October 6 City/ Giza are any indication. Economic revival from here on should spell a

In Iraq, while Shia-Sunni sectarianism was always a thorn for Nouri Maliki, recent weeks saw it worsen better Ramadan for Egypt next time.

Amongst non-Arab Muslim nations, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia and Malaysia need a mention. Malaysia’s case is truly saddening. Many of its citizens lost their lives in two plane crashes, for no fault of their own.

A furniture exporter turned city-mayor, Joko Widodo just became Indonesia’s President. It is the first time that someone outside the military or elite won the top office. His grassroots style of functioning by going within the people endeared him to the population.

Egypt might be the only one out of these four which can hope for a better Ramadan next time

The first crash remains a mystery. In the second, Malaysians still ask why they got caught in the Ukraine situation.

Given the nature of the incidents, its citizens did not even get a dignified death.

While the memories of the lost ones would plague its next Ramadan, one hopes a swift conclusion to the investigations and apprehending of the actual culprits might offer some justice. Iran and Indonesia can look forward to some positivity.

The result remains a debate due to the legal challenge filed by the opposing contender, former army-man Subianto, on the election commission. Nevertheless, the world’s largest Muslim nation, and world’s fourth most populous at about 250 million, can look at its future with optimism after a lackluster second term under President Susilo.

Indonesia’s economic potential is enormous, given its young population and vast natural resources. It has to

Syria Israel Palestine

Iraq

Libya Egypt

Areas in the Middle East and North Africa that are facing severe instability

WIKIMEDIA

play a bigger role among emerging economies, and in ASEAN and G-20.

Countries seeking to invest in projects in Indonesia or market their products to its growing workforce will keep a watch now on Widodo’s upcoming policies and reforms.

Overall, Indonesia spells good news.

Iran saw some good news under Hassan Rouhani’s leadership. After undergoing years of harsh sanctions, 2013-end saw Iran reach an interim deal with six super powers to reduce some of those sanctions in return for a short-term freeze on some of its nuclear programmes.

The deal unlocked a few billions of relief from sanctions for Iran, an economy that was in dire straits indeed. Though the six-month deadline for the final deal had to be extended by another four months since the two sides could not agree on certain aspects despite negotiations ongoing through Ramadan, one hopes that some concessions would be agreed upon eventually before the November deadline. That may bode better news for Iran in the months ahead.

For Pakistan, its armed operation in North Waziristan could not have come at a worse time. There was criticism that the government delayed the offensive, but giving peace talks a chance first was also needed.

While it aims to put legislations in place to address the Internally Displaced People (IDP) issue, it should look to build formal settlement colonies for them. Informal refugee camps are prone to crime and health risks.

Formal colonies might be a durable long-term solution. Such colonies would ensure basic standards of living, housing and essential services to the IDPs. Of course, it presupposes that they may not want to return to the conflict areas in the near future, as only then would the government’s investment be worth it.

If the government’s resources are inadequate to fund such colony projects, it may use external assistance. Apart from the $6bn IMF loan, $12bn World Bank funding, $2bn of Eurobonds, China has also agreed to invest $32bn over the next five years in energy, transport and infrastructure through its EXIM Bank.

This additional $52bn is estimated to double its existing level of external debt – a worry for repayment.

A portion of China’s infrastructure assistance could be utilised to develop settlement colony projects.

South Asian political expert Christine Fair suggested in an interview related to her book “Fighting to the End, Pakistan Army’s Way of War” that

REUTERS

this offensive was done simply for the country to make a case to continue receiving military assistance and support cheques from the US. This was based on US Senator Carl Levin’s proviso in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2015 that suggested making further assistance contingent to an operation in TTP areas.

Pakistan might try allocating some of these US cheques to fund IDP settlement projects. In any case, the time period of displacement that the IDPs are staring at is questionable.

There is criticism that many insurgents might already have crossed into the Afghan province of Khost before the offensive started, given the governments’ prior warnings. Those extremists might return to haunt Waziristan.

Or else they might head for other restive regions like Xinjiang, Kashmir, Nuristan or Paktika, in which case Pakistan’s neighbours should beware.

Another aspect is easing IDPs’ movements between provinces.

There were allegations of Sindh restricting entry for IDPs, although it maintained its objective was to scrutinise militants passing off as IDPs. Another is of assistance to the host communities.

These are the families who play host to the displaced people. They have to share their resources, often meagre, with many more mouths. At such times, the government should subsidise some essential resources for the hosts.

A challenge is to track the households as they are scattered, unlike in refugee camps. Another is checking if they are genuine IDPs. Full coverage

The country has a sizable workforce, intelligent graduates and natural resources, and can achieve much more than its current track record. Its local industries will have to compete with cheap Chinese imports, as China might want access to Pakistan’s consumer base in return for its generous assistance.

This might limit opportunities for local Pakistani industries and job creation. Nevertheless, even some addition to economic activity would be useful, given the gap between its supply of graduates and demand from companies.

Currently, some Pakistani youth seem to find employment in aid agencies or as self-employed contractors.

As the US exits Afghanistan, some aid agencies might opt to shift base to worse hit regions like Ukraine, Syria, etc, thus impacting local jobs.

In short, Pakistan has no choice but to create more jobs, entrepreneurship and revitalise its local industries. Dependence on US support cheques might keep the government solvent, but it will not create adequate economic opportunities for all its educated youth, who will continue to struggle to find enough well paying jobs unless economic activity picks up. For this, achieving sustained internal security would give a definite hope for the future.

In conclusion, the recent experiences of these nine Muslim countries discussed have been a mixed bag during this recent holy month. Some seem to be on the road for a better tomorrow, while some seem quite far from it.

How the next few months actually turn out is anybody’s guess. The at-

Subsidising resources for host communities might help settle the lives of the IDPs and hosts, and minimise the added burden

of IDP registration cards would help, as well as centres in towns where IDPs are headed.

Subsidising resources for host communities might help settle the lives of the IDPs and hosts, and minimise the added burden. It is essential that Pakistan settles its conflicts in FATA. Much-needed foreign/private investment will flow in only when its issue of internal security is adequately addressed.

tempt in this article was to list some of those guesses. Irrespective, the hope remains that the next holy month would be memorable for all the right reasons, and would spell a better future for “all” the nations even though such a hope might seem audacious now for “some” of these countries. l Sourajit Aiyer is a finance professional based in India. This article was previously published in slideshare.net.

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Palestinians, Israelis trade charges of breaking truce

Palestinian women walk upon the debris of a house which witnesses said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday REUTERS

n Reuters, Gaza/Jerusalem Palestinians and Israel accused each other of breaking a seven-hour ceasefire intended to allow humanitarian aid into the battered Gaza Strip soon after it came into force on Monday.

Palestinians said Israel had bombed a refugee camp in Gaza City, killing an eight-year-old girl and wounding 29 other people, while Israel said at least four rockets had been fired at its territory from Gaza. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said the air strike on a house in Shati camp took place after the truce was scheduled to start on Monday morning.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking the refugee camp attack. She said four rockets had been fired from Gaza since the truce started and two had crashed inside Israel. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

In Jerusalem, a heavy construction vehicle slammed into a bus, overturning it in what Israeli police said was a

suspected terrorist attack. No passengers were on the bus but a passerby died after being run over by the digger, and police said its driver was shot dead.

Israeli media identified the driver as a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.

Israel announced a ceasefire to free up humanitarian aid and allow some of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by almost four weeks of war to go home.

The announcement met with suspicion from Gaza’s ruling Islamist Hamas movement and followed unusually strong censure from Washington at the apparent Israeli shelling on Sunday of a UN-run shelter that killed 10 people.

An Israeli defence official said the ceasefire, from 10pm to 5pm (0700 to 1400 GMT), would apply everywhere but areas of the southern town of Rafah where ground forces have intensified assaults after three soldiers died in a Hamas ambush there on Friday.

“If the truce is breached, the military will return fire during the declared

duration of the truce,” the official said.

The official said east Rafah was the only Gaza urban area in which troops and tanks were still present, having been withdrawn or redeployed near the border with Israel over the weekend.

Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN that Israel’s goal with the truce was “to assist with the humanitarian relief” of the people of Gaza.

Hamas, whose envoys are in Egypt for truce negotiations that Israel has shunned in anger at Friday’s ambush in Rafah, said attacking the house after the Israeli ceasefire began showed the truce was a media stunt. “We urge our people to continue to be cautious,” said spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

Israel is winding down its offensive in the absence of a mediated disengagement deal with Hamas. It says the army has completed the main objective of the ground assault, the destruction of cross-border infiltration tunnels from Gaza. l

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Lebanese army finds 50 bodies in border advance n Reuters, Arsal, Lebanon The Lebanese army advanced on Monday into a border town attacked by Islamists at the weekend in the most serious spillover of the three-year-old Syrian civil war into Lebanon.

The army pounded areas around the town of Arsal with artillery for a third day in a bid to expel the fighters identified by the army as members of the Nusra Front and the Islamic State, which has seized wide areas of Syria and Iraq.

Advancing soldiers found the bodies of 50 militants, a Lebanese security official said.

At least 13 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, which erupted after the Lebanese security forces arrested a Syrian Islamist rebel commander on Saturday. At least two dozen members of the Lebanese security services - both army and police - have been taken hostage or are missing.

The army has described the Islamists’ incursion as a long-planned attack. Local politicians say it marks an attempt to extend the Islamic State’s footprint into Lebanon.

The militants have been beaten back

in the border area in the past year by Syrian government forces backed by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim political and military movement.

Some 3,000 fighters are estimated to be in the border zone.

Thick plumes of black and grey smoke billowed from the tops of the hills where Arsal lies. Intermittent bursts of gunfire could be heard from the surrounding areas as the army sent in reinforcements.

A dozen armoured personnel carriers were seen advancing towards the town, together with a similar number of other military vehicles including trucks and Humvees. Soldiers armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades sat atop the vehicles as they moved along the main road towards Arsal.

In a statement, the army said it had taken full control of a school that militants had seized during the incursion.

It said a number of soldiers had been killed and wounded in the fighting, but gave no further details.

Arsal is a mainly Sunni town located on the Lebanese side of the border between Syrian government-controlled territory and Lebanese Shi’ite areas sympathetic to Hezbollah. l

Kurds plan counteroffensive: Kurdish officials n Reuters, Baghdad Kurdish peshmerga forces are planning a counter-offensive against Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq after being routed by the radical Sunni insurgents on Sunday, senior Kurdish officials said on Monday.

One of the officials told Reuters the Kurds had been overstretched in a vast region but were now calling in a large number of fighters to hit back. “It is a very dangerous situation for the region.

Something needs to be done soon.”

The Islamic State inflicted its first major defeat on the Kurds with a dramatic advance through three towns to reach the Mosul Dam, acquiring a fifth oil field to fund its operations along the way.

State television and witnesses said on Sunday that the Islamic State had seized Iraq’s biggest dam. Kurdish peshmerga officials said they have pushed Islamic State militants from the Dam area. This could not be immediately confirmed.

One peshmerga colonel who said the Kurdish withdrawal was tactical forecast that several Kurdish brigades would take back all territory lost on Sunday and even win back Mosul, Iraq’s biggest northern city.

“We will attack them until they are completely destroyed we will never show any mercy,” he said. “We have given them enough chance and we will even take Mosul back. I believe within the next 48-72 hours it will be over.”l

Former enemies unite for World War I commemoration

n AP, Liege, Belgium Former enemies united Monday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, with Belgium, France, Britain and Germany standing together in a spirit of reconciliation.

Belgian King Philippe and Queen Mathilde welcomed German President Joachim Gauck under cloudy skies for the late-morning ceremony at the Cointe allied memorial amid pomp and military honor. During the ceremonies, the former enemies sat united, listening and applauding each other’s speeches.

Germany invaded neutral Belgium on Aug. 4, 1914, as part of a planned attack on France. By nightfall, Britain had joined the war. “It opened Pandora’s Box,” said Gauck who acknowledged that it “is anything but self-evident to stand and talk to you on this day.”

The war wasn’t expected to last long. But instead of weeks, the continent was plunged into hardship and misery for more than four years.

Gauck will join British Princes William and Harry at the Saint Symphorien cemetery late Monday for a similar remembrance. In Britain, there was a ceremony in Glasgow, Scotland, and a late-evening candlelit vigil at London’s Westminster Abbey.

The Great War, as it came to be known, is now often depicted as senseless slaughter without a big moral cause that claimed an estimated 14 million lives, including 5 million civilians as well as 9 million soldiers, sailors and airmen from 28 countries. At least 7 million troops were left permanently disabled.

British Prime Minister David Cameron sought to debunk that notion.

“Although there was an enormous amount of waste and loss of life, there was a cause that young men rallied to at the beginning of the war, which was the idea that Europe shouldn’t be dominated by one power. That a country, a small country like Belgium, shouldn’t be simply snuffed out,” Cameron told the BBC. On Sunday, an intense hug between Gauck and French President Francois Hollande during a remembrance ceremony in eastern France close to the German border sealed again the friendship between the two neighbors, who have become the cornerstones of the European Union. l

‘We come in sadness, we go in sadness’: Gaza family briefly returns home n Reuters, Gaza Glass and debris littered the road to Ahed Marouf’s house in a northern Gaza town on Monday as he rode on a donkey cart with his wife and three children to check on their home during a seven-hour truce declared by Israel.

What they saw when they reached Beit Lahiya, near the Israeli border, persuaded them to return to their temporary shelter in a UN-run school in nearby Jabalya refugee camp.

“It did not feel safe,” said Marouf, a 30-year-old farmer. “At our house, windows were shattered. There is no electricity and no water.”

Along with thousands of other residents, Marouf and his family fled Beit Lahiya - at Israel’s urging - during

fierce battles last week between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. Israel attacked from the air and ground while militants fired dozens of mortar bombs.

Israel said the brief truce was intended to allow some of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by an almost four-week-old war to go home. The Islamist group Hamas, which dominates Gaza, said the one-sided truce was an Israeli media stunt.

On the main road leading to Beit Lahiya, a cluster of high-rise apartment buildings that had housed hundreds of low-income families looked as if it had been peppered by tank fire, seemingly damaged beyond repair.

“Only a permanent ceasefire involving both sides would persuade us to go home

to stay. For now, we remain in the UN school,” said Marouf’s wife, Mervat, 23.

She said the war had gone on too long and complained she could not treat her children for flu and stomach pains at local hospitals because they have been overwhelmed by wounded from Israeli bombardments.

In Gaza City, dozens of people lined up outside banks and automatic teller machines to withdraw cash.

Others packed into grocery stores during the ceasefire, which Palestinians accused Israel of violating in a bomb attack they said killed an eightyear-old girl and wounded 29 other people in a Gaza refugee camp.

“Destruction is all over Gaza,” Mervat Marouf said. “We come in sadness.

We go in sadness.” l

A visitor views a work part of a public exhibition of of WWI landscapes entitled ‘Fields of Battle: Lands of Peace’ created by photographer and battlefield guide Michael St. Maur Sheil in St Jamesí Park in central London yesterday AFP

Interfax: Russia staging military exercises near Ukraine n Reuters, Moscow

Ukrainian soldiers cross The EU-Russia ‘sanctions theatre’ n border into Russia

Russia announced new military exercises involving bombers and fighter jets on Monday in a show of strength near the border with Ukraine.

An air force spokesman was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying more than 100 planes and helicopters would take part in the manoeuvres from Monday until Friday in its central and western districts. The spokesman, Igor Klimov, said the exercises were the first in a series to improve coordination in the military and made no mention of Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels are fighting Ukrainian government forces.

The move is likely to alarm Western powers which have accused Russia of beefing up the number of troops along its border with Ukraine and arming the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies supplying the rebels with weapons.

Klimov said aircraft such as Su-27 and MiG-31 fighter jets, Russia’s newest frontline bomber Su-34, and Mi-8, Mi-24 and Mi-28N helicopters would be used in the exercises and the aircraft would conduct missile practice. l

A Russian border security official said more than 400 Ukrainian soldiers crossed into Russia, according to a report from the Interfax news agency. It wasn’t immediately clear why the soldiers entered Russia, with both sides giving conflicting accounts.

The Russian official said the soldiers deserted the Kiev government and the Russian side opened a safe corridor, while a Ukrainian military official said the soldiers, without giving a number, were forced into Russian territory by rebel fire after running out of ammunition.

Vasily Malayev, head of the Federal Security Service’s border patrol in the Rostov region, told Interfax that 438 Ukrainian soldiers had reached Russia on Monday. He said the Russian side had allowed the soldiers to safely enter the country.

Russia’s Defense Ministry couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The Ukrainian military confirmed that part of a brigade had most likely crossed into Russian territory, although it disputed Russia’s version of events

John Kemp,Reuters

n AP, Moscow

and wouldn’t say how many soldiers went over.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian military operation in the east, Oleksiy Dmitrashkovsky, said troops from the army’s 72nd brigade were penned into their position and came under a sustained barrage of fire from separatist forces.

Rebel fighters used tanks, mortars, artillery and Grad missile launchers over four hours, Dmitrashkovsky said, and eventually the brigade was forced to divide up into two sections.

“One was meant to break out and join forces with a support unit. The other unit had the task of providing fire cover,” Dmitrashkovsky said. “In doing that they fired their weapons until no ammunition remained, after which they abandoned their position and reached a place near a border crossing on Russian territory.”

Dmitrashkovsky said it was too early to confirm how many soldiers had crossed into Russia.

“We do not have such information.

The Russians are capable of claiming anything they want,” he said. l

EU sanctions on Russia’s oil sector will not seriously hamper the development of new oil resources in either the short or the long term, though they leave open the possibility of further escalation if relations with Russia deteriorate in future.

Taken as a whole, the restrictions announced on July 31 are best viewed as a piece of “sanctions theatre” designed to show the public and Washington that the EU is doing something in response to the downing of the Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine while keeping the costs to EU energy firms as low as possible.

Sanctions will be enforced in the form of a “prior authorisation” requirement before certain oil-related goods and services can be exported for use in Russia, according to the EU Official Journal (“Council Regulation 833/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine” July 31).

Restrictions apply to the “sale, supply, transfer or export” of certain technologies “suited to the oil industry for use in deep water exploration and production, Arctic oil exploration and production, or shale oil projects” (Article 3 paragraphs 1 and 3).

Covered technologies are set out in a

list which consists mostly of steel pipe and casings used for the construction of pipelines and oil wells, as well as drilling and pressure pumping equipment, and some floating or semi-submersible production platforms (Annex 2).

Technical assistance, brokerage services and financing linked to the same items and technologies are subject to the same prior authorisation requirement (Article 4 paragraph 3).

Enforcement of the sanctions is left to individual EU member states, though there are basic information and consultation requirements.

In theory, member states “shall not” grant authorisation for any technology transfers or technical assistance related to deepwater, Arctic and shale projects.

But the ban contains several important exclusions which should ensure that most if not all existing and future projects are exempted: l Sanctions apply only to oil production, not gas. l Export authorisation “may” be granted for equipment, technical advice or financing “arising from a contract or an agreement” concluded before August 1 (Article 3 paragraph 5 second part). l Sanctions apply only to deepwater, Arctic and shale developments, not to conventional oil fields.

In combination, these exclusions apply to all current and announced projects, and cover billions of barrels of potential oil and gas production over the next few decades.

For example, agreements between Exxon, BP, Shell, Total and Russian companies to develop Arctic, offshore and shale formations in Russia are either exempt because they were concluded before Aug 1, or because they are principally drilling for gas, or can be classified as conventional oil production.

The language of the regulation is very permissive. The concept of a “contract or an agreement” concluded before the deadline is particularly stretchy since it is not limited to a final investment agreement but seems to encompass plans which are still only at the provisional stage.

Most major oil and gas companies, as well as service companies, should have no difficulty in arguing the provision of equipment and technical advice is linked to the execution of existing obligations for contracts or agreements which are already in place.

In addition, most wells produce a mix of oil, gas and condensate, in varying proportions. The regulations only prohibit the export of equipment and advice for oil projects. Gas projects are clearly allowed. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Nepal landslide raises fears of floods in India n

Indian judge accused of sexual harassment n Agencies

AP, Patna

Rescue workers in eastern India urgently evacuated tens of thousands of people on Monday after a deadly landslide in neighboring Nepal blocked a river that could burst its banks and submerge scores of Indian villages.

Authorities in Nepal said there is no hope that more than 150 missing people are still alive after being buried by piles of rocks, mud and upturned trees in Saturday’s landslide in Mankha, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Katmandu.

Nineteen others are confirmed dead.

But as disaster workers continued to clear the debris Monday, the danger area moved downstream to eastern India, where 125,000 people are in peril.

The landslide blocked a mountain river in Nepal, causing it to back up and form a massive lake that is threatening to overflow and flood the Indian villages.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed right now,” said Aniruddh Kumar, a senior disaster management official in India’s Bihar state. He said it is still not clear how much water might come down from the lake.

Nepal’s army triggered three controlled explosions Saturday to allow some water to flow out of the lake, but much of it remains trapped.

Kumar said Bihar state has asked all government doctors and civil officials in threatened areas to cancel vacation plans. Indian soldiers, as well as air force helicopters and jets, were on standby for relief and rescue operations.

The local government also invoked

9

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

A Madhya Pradesh high court judge accused of sexual harassment said on Monday he was ready to face death penalty if found guilty.

Amid reports that have the potential to deliver a blow to the image of the higher judiciary, the judge of the Gwalior bench wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) RM Lodha, saying he had the “highest regard to the institution.”

A controversy broke out on Monday after reports that an additional district and sessions judge in Gwalior had quit her job accusing a judge of the Madhya Pradesh high court of sexual harassment.

She also accused the judge of seeking sexual favours from her, and wrote to the CJI explaining the reasons that forced her to resign.

According to reports, the accused had asked the additional judge to “perform dance on an item song” at a function at his home and influenced her transfer to a remote location.

Rejecting the charges made by the woman judge, who also headed a district-level committee to look into sexual harassment at workplace, the high court judge said he was ready to face any probe by any agency including an investigating agency.

“In regard to the woman judge and even in regard to any lady, an investigation can also be done whether I have ever harassed or abused any of the lady employees or any subordinate judge,” he said in his two-page letter to the CJI. “I am ready to face any penalty, even the death penalty (if found guilty).” l

Meerut on edge after ‘gang-rape’ of teacher A landslide is seen in Sindhupalchowk district August 2 a law allowing authorities to forcibly evacuate villagers who refuse to leave their homes and property and move to higher ground or government-run relief camps. The government has so far evacuated 60,000 people and set up 120 such camps.

Kumar said all public schools in the

area have been closed to provide space to house the large number of people being evacuated.

The annual monsoon season, which runs from June through September, is vital for the largely agrarian economies of South Asia but every year also brings floods and landslides that kill thousands

REUTERS

and submerge hundreds of villages.

Another landslide hit in a village in eastern Nepal on Monday, killing four people and leaving six others missing.

And the death toll from a massive landslide in western India last week rose to 108, according to rescue official Sandeep Rai Rathore. l

n Agencies The district administration deployed additional forces in the Kharkhauda area on Monday to diffuse communal tension after a 20-year-old woman complained of forced conversion at a madrasa and subsequent gang-rape.

Meerut superintendent of police (rural) MM Beg confirmed arrest of three out of four accused named in the com-

plaint, including a woman and a girl.

He said raids are on to nab the Urdu teacher of the madrasa.

The alleged forced conversion took place at a madrasa in Dautai village of neighbouring Hapur on July 30, a day after Eid. The woman worked as a teacher in the madrasa at Sarawa village, 40 km from Dautai and around 25 km from Meerut. l

The doubt at the heart of Iraq’s Sunni ‘revolution’ n Reuters, Arbil Iraq

Sheikh Ali Hatem Suleiman, one of the leaders of the Sunni revolt against the Shi’ite-led government of Iraq, sat cross-legged on a couch last month, lit another Marlboro Red, and discussed the struggle with visitors from his home city of Ramadi, where the uprising began late last year.

Instead of taking delight in the rebellion’s progress, though, the 43-yearold crown prince began lamenting the fact that Iraq’s patchwork quilt of ethnicities and religions was being torn apart. “How do we guard what we still have?” he asked his visitors.

The revolutionary sheikh’s doubts may seem surprising. Over the past seven months the Sunni armed factions which Suleiman helps lead, and their allies in the far more extreme al Qaeda offshoot known as Islamic State, have captured most of the north’s largest Sunni cities. The battle against Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki in Baghdad has spread north and east and threatens to fracture Iraq altogether. In late June, Islamic State declared a new Caliphate.

Suleiman has become one of the public faces of the rebellion. But the brash figure also encapsulates the contradiction at its heart, and his story explains why Iraq will be so difficult to put back together.

The alliance between Sunni tribesmen, nationalists, old Baath regime loyalists and military veterans on one side and Islamic State on the other is based almost entirely on a mutual hatred of Maliki’s Shi’ite government and a desire for an independent Sunni region.

But like most Iraqi Sunnis, Suleiman is no Islamic extremist. He helped crush an earlier incarnation of al Qaeda in Iraq. And he was disturbed recently by the news that tens of thousands of Christians were fleeing the city of Mosul after an Islamic State ultimatum that they should convert, leave or be put to the sword. The notion was an affront to Suleiman, who grew up in cosmopolitan Baghdad and has often spoken publicly of the need for tolerance.

In a series of interviews since the fall of Mosul in early June, Suleiman described how Islamic State fighters and his Sunni rebels gradually came together. He expressed deep concerns about the ability of the groups he leads – they identify themselves as ‘tribal revolutionaries’ – to stand up to their more extreme allies, who operate in both Syria and Iraq and are sometimes known by the acronym ISIL. “If any place is open, ISIL will take it over,” he said. “ISIL isn’t strong compared to the tribes, but they are strategic. They have military equipment and they use it against the (tribal) revolutionaries.”

The rise of Islamic State has helped the tribes, but Suleiman said it also threatens them. The stronger the Islamists grow, he said, the more likely the purely nationalist aims of many

of his Sunni followers will be eclipsed by religion.

The tribes and their militarised offshoots greatly outnumber the jihadis, both in the overall populace and in men under arms. But Islamic State is already wooing Sunni factions with massive hauls of American and Russian weaponry seized on the battlefield, and revenue from oil fields it controls in Iraq and Syria.

The balance of power between the Islamic State and more nationalist-minded figures like Suleiman will help determine the future shape of Iraq’s Sunni regions, and whether reconciliation is possible with the country’s Shi’ite majority.

“Is this a revolution or terrorism?” one of his followers asked late that night in Suleiman’s Arbil villa.

“It’s a revolution,” Suleiman answered, “but we have problems.”

A more hopeful time

In some ways Suleiman is a reminder of a more hopeful era, a pioneer of the 2006 revolt against al Qaeda and the US-backed effort to reintegrate the Sunni community into Iraq’s political mainstream.

The mercurial and outspoken crown prince took on his leadership position when his father died, two years before the fall of Saddam Hussein.

His tribe, the Dulaim, numbers between two and four million. As is common in Iraqi tribes, members come from both the main denominations. Most are Sunni, with 300,000 to 400,000 Shi’ite.

Centred in the sprawling western province of Anbar but spreading north of Baghdad as well, the Dulaim is one of the largest tribes in Iraq and a powerful social, political and economic force, with ties to royal families across the Arab Gulf and the elite of neighbouring Jordan. It was a foundation of Saddam’s Sunni-dominated regime, with members serving in the military and government. Today, it remains a bellwether of Sunni tolerance for Iraq’s majority Shi’ite-led government.

The world Suleiman inherited was different from his father’s. After the US-led invasion in 2003, his first job was to preserve the Dulaim’s political power amidst a brutal Sunni insurgency. That rebellion drew on his kinsmen and targeted both the Americans, who angered Iraqis with mass arrests and indiscriminate force, and the new Shi’ite political elite, which seemed intent on marginalising Sunnis because of their role in Saddam’s abuses.

Suleiman kept a distance from the insurgency, but did not condemn it. He later told a US military historian “mistakes were made on both sides.”

Broken alliance

The young Sunni had sartorial flair. He wore v-neck sweaters with immaculate white dishdashas and a keffiyah held perfectly in place. He looked the part of a tribal leader, with sharp brown eyes

and high cheekbones. He had a talent for speeches and his title of crown prince inspired respect and loyalty.

In early 2005, his Uncle Majid, who had served as his regent, fled for Jordan. Suleiman found himself alone navigating both the American military presence and the Iraqi arm of al Qaeda, which began killing its way through Anbar and Baghdad.

That campaign ended in 2006 when Suleiman and a group of men in their twenties and thirties used money and weapons from the Americans to take on al Qaeda. Sunnis and Americans alike called the movement the Awakening.

US officers credit Suleiman with rallying tribes from Ramadi to the farmlands around Baghdad and further north. Even today, in some houses outside Baghdad, tribal sheikhs adorn their homes with pictures of the crown prince.

“He pushed the fight against Qaeda,” said Colonel Rick Welch, a retired Special Forces officer, who worked closely with Suleiman.

Suleiman exhibited a flair for dramatic gestures. Once, after a car bomb slammed into his office in Baghdad and killed several of his guards, he walked out unscathed. He welcomed the attack, he told the Americans. “We have a saying: When you are already wet don’t be afraid to go out in the rain.”

When many Sunnis still feared Shi’ite militias, he visited the Shi’ite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad’s east, walking from his Jeep into a swarm of thousands of people, Sunni and Shi’ite alike.

He could also be pragmatic and direct. While most Sunnis despised Prime Minister Maliki from the outset, the crown prince gambled on an alliance with him. It lasted three years before collapsing in 2010 under rising sectarian tensions, acrimony and pride on all sides.

While it lasted, Suleiman thrived on his relationship with Maliki. He was awarded government contracts and bet on the premier as the man for the future. He put forward his youngest brother, Abdul Rahman, to run for parliament on Maliki’s slate.

When Rahman failed to win, and Maliki played up his Shi’ite Islamist identity, the alliance frayed. Suleiman took to satellite television to lambast Maliki and what he called the prime minister’s Iranian backers.

In 2011, Maliki sent troops to Suleiman’s riverside offices in Baghdad and evicted him. The prime minister also coaxed back Suleiman’s uncle Majid from Amman and provided him a house and guards, in an effort to erode Suleiman’s stature.

Those around Maliki still dismiss Suleiman as a terrorist and a loud mouth.

Haidar Abadi, a senior member of Maliki’s Dawa party, mocked him as “one of those people talking to the media” from outside the battle zone. He said the government was talking to more influential tribesmen on the ground who could tip the balance.

The tribal mentality

Even after the Sunni victory over al Qaeda, the Shi’ite-dominated government kept arresting Sunni opponents. Thousands were imprisoned on blanket terrorism charges and held for years without trial.

A year after the US military pulled out of Iraq, many people had lost hope that life would improve; mass demonstrations erupted after the arrest of a prominent Sunni politician’s bodyguards. Suleiman threw himself into the protests, joining crowds or huddling with tribal figures and religious clerics.

The tribal leader swung between war and negotiation. He plotted a military confrontation as early as February 2013, convinced that the government would attack Sunni demonstrators. That April, government security forces shot dead at least 50 demonstrators in the northern city of Hawija, sparking violence around the country. In the following weeks, Suleiman mobilised a militia to defend the protesters.

Tensions rose. Islamic State, born from the ashes of al Qaeda in Iraq, began a series of suicide bomb attacks against Baghdad. Last December, Maliki invaded Ramadi to clear the protest camps. The war in Anbar between the government and tribes had begun and Suleiman’s militia was transformed into a full-fledged fighting force.

Suleiman commanded fighters in Ramadi and dodged Iraqi government attempts to kill him. A series of failed attacks by helicopter gunships firing what Suleiman called US missiles confirmed his status as a voice of the revolt.

‘So much blood’

Maliki’s confidantes privately felt the war would prove popular with Shi’ite voters in April’s national election. The coalition to which his party belongs did win the biggest share of the vote. But on the ground the offensive turned into a drawn-out fight. In its first six months, at least 6,000 government soldiers were killed and some 12,000 deserted, according to medical officials and diplomats.

A tribal rival to Suleiman, Ahmed Abu Risha, broke with the uprising, and joined Maliki. Abu Risha now heads a new Awakening and works in tandem with his own uncle, Iraq’s defence minister Sadoun Dulaimi.

The chaos also presented an opportunity to the Islamic State, which sent forces into Ramadi. At first Suleiman and his followers ignored the more radical organisation but by April the two groups had begun fighting alongside each other.

Suleiman said an alliance was a necessary evil. He may have once fought al Qaeda, but he recognised that Islamic State had tactical experience from the civil war in Syria. His drift away from moderation matched popular Sunni feeling. He and his followers believe that, at a minimum, Baghdad must grant concessions before the tribes confront the Islamic State. Sunnis should run their own affairs and security and

receive a share of oil revenues from the central government, they say.

Suleiman nominally heads two large organisations – the Anbar General Military Council and the Tribal Revolutionaries – that loosely connect about 10 different armed factions. Some factions believe in conservative Islamist principles and an Iraqi Sunni identity. Others are offshoots of Saddam’s old Baath party regime. What links the factions is military leadership from former officers.

“The participation of officers facilitated matters,” said an Islamic cleric associated with the Sunni insurgency.

“They are the brains who fought the 1980s war with Iran, so the presence of one officer in a group of 30 to 50 people was enough. He is the one who does the planning.”

Suleiman, who is often called Sheikh Ali or Ali Hatem, straddles the groups and provides a badge of legitimacy: His grandfather fought in the nation’s 1920 uprising against the British and was a friend of King Faisal, the founding father of modern Iraq.

“The revolutionaries need someone to stand out such as Ali Hatem,” the cleric said. “He grasps the tribal mentality and talks in a language that tribes relate to and understand.”

But his powers have limits.

“If Sheikh Ali had agreed with people to stop the revolution, would it stop?

I don’t believe anyone would heed his call,” the cleric said.

State’s haul of Iraqi military equipment, he said.

For now, Suleiman rules out confrontation with the Islamic State because Maliki and his special forces and Shi’ite militias remain the bigger threat. “We have bad people in our Sunni areas, but who gave the government the right to bring militias to our land to kill our people?” Suleiman demanded of his guests with a smirk. “And they ask me about the Islamic State.”

Amid intense bombardments by the government in May, Suleiman moved to Arbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. He swore to return to Ramadi, but has remained in the north, citing the need for political meetings and travel to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to rally Gulf Arabs to his cause. Some say his extended exile has damaged his reputation; others disagree.

One insurgent in Baghdad described Suleiman as inspiring. In Diyala province, a fighter who had defected from the remnants of the government-funded Sunni Awakening movement called him one of the most-respected tribal figures in the country.

A US military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he believed if Iraq broke down along sectarian lines, the future of Iraq’s Sunni regions rested with those like Suleiman who bore a badge of tribal legitimacy.

“Ali Hatem is the only serious Anbari sheikh,” the officer said.

‘Baring their teeth’

‘The people are going to lose’

The Islamist State may be smaller – somewhere between 8,000 and 20,000 fighters, compared with an estimated 30,000 Sunni tribal and nationalist fighters – but it increasingly dominates the insurgency. As the Iraqi security forces imploded in June, other Sunni armed factions joined the radical group’s gallop through Mosul, and to within 100 miles (160 km) of Baghdad.

“Leadership is in the Islamic State’s hands,” said onetime Sunni insurgent, Abu Azzam al-Tammi, now an adviser to Maliki. Suleiman, said al-Tammi, was a “genuine tribal and popular figure,” one of the “revolutionaries with genuine demands.”

But, he believes, the Islamic State will ultimately defeat all other Sunni groups.

He also questioned Suleiman’s ability to marshal large numbers amidst the sea of Sunni factions.

Suleiman’s brother Abdul Razzaq said the Islamic State had bared “their teeth” and won over broad segments of the population. “They have better everything: ammunition and new vehicles.”

An intelligence officer in Ramadi told Reuters Suleiman had fooled himself in championing a war he could not win.

“When he speaks about the rebels controlling land he means, without saying it, ISIL,” the officer said.

A fighter loyal to Suleiman agreed, telling Reuters that any distinction between the Sunni tribes and Islamic State has effectively vanished. The groups now share weapons from the Islamic

Suleiman himself is realistic.

In early May, he sat in an Arbil hotel room sipping coffee and fiddling with his iPhone. He recounted plotting ambushes against Iraqi special forces, which he said killed more than 100.

Fresh from the battlefield, his skin looked grey and his frame emaciated. An attempt at mediation between the government and Sunni tribes in Anbar had just failed. Mosul would not fall for another month, but Suleiman already sensed Iraq was headed towards a major change.

He saw no way to halt the momentum or to remove himself from the process.

He sketched in broad strokes much of what has since transpired: An intensified fight by Sunni insurgents for Baghdad’s rural districts and attacks on the country’s critical natural resources – oil fields, pipelines and dams.

“All the communities will be divided. It is going to be too late and the people are going to lose,” he predicted. Civilians across Iraq’s Sunni region would soon be trapped in a war between the government and a multitude of armed factions.

He lay back on his couch and fell silent, his baritone voice for once not bragging about the power of tribes and armed groups. He blamed Sunnis close to the government for sabotaging the chance at compromise.

“Who hurts the Sunnis a lot in Iraq, who damages them? Do you know who?” Suleiman asked. “The Sunnis themselves.” l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Another tragedy foretold

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e are saddened by the death toll in the appalling sinking of a passenger launch carrying more than 200 passengers, near Munshiganj on the river Padma.

The Munshiganj area suffered a similar accident in May when a vessel sank near Doulatpur on the river Meghna, claiming 58 lives.

Unfortunately, authorities can hardly claim to be surprised by this latest tragedy.

Already this year, the grim total of over 4,500 people being killed in the 550 plus passenger launch accidents occurring since 1976, has been added to repeatedly.

In spite of numerous inquiries over the years and high levels of public concern, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) allows hazardous and outdated vessels to ply their trade with impunity.

Procedures for inspecting and maintaining boats are rarely followed and untrained boat operators routinely risk passenger lives.

To make matters worse, far from showing concern for basic passenger safety, many operators and launch owners have pressured and connived with authorities to regularly breach and undermine standards.

Overloading of boats is commonplace, placing passengers at even more risk by reducing the stability of vessels, whose safety is already compromised by unfit equipment and poor maintenance.

It is difficult to comprehend why such incompetence and negligence is allowed to continue.

With millions of passengers dependant on river transport, there should be enormous incentive for responsible operators to invest in modern boats to deliver safer and more efficient services.

The government and boat owners must take urgent action against unsafe practices and operators. There is no excuse for inaction.

Take urgent action against unsafe practices and operators

Save Bhawal Raja Estate’s heritage

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

Save Gaza, where is the humanity?

August 2

Shah Jalal What humanity? Where is humanity in Israel?

Don’t see it.

Jahangir Shah Good question. Where is the humanity? World leader America and the underling Arab nations

Greek court acquits farmers who shot 28 Bangladeshis August 1

Abu Syeed And if the tables were turned on Greece, and some Greeks were shot down in Dhaka? What would Amnesty International, ILO and UN have to say then?

Depressed Town Haven’t heard anything from our Bangladesh corner. Why is our government totally silent about it? When it comes to remittance, they holler like mad! So, is it just about money?

A rainy day in Ramna Park

July 30

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elatedly, the Department of Archaeology and Land Ministry have sent teams to inspect the 100-year-old residence of the Bhawal Raja Estate at Nalgola, near the Buriganga river in Dhaka.

The one-acre site has been leased to dozens of people for commercial use, who have senselessly damaged the historic building, placing it on the verge of destruction.

It is symptomatic of the negligence with which the nation’s heritage is treated, that it took newspaper reports for authorities to pay attention.

A lack of co-ordination, coupled with the fact that the Urban Development Committee has been inactive, is being blamed for preventing the building from being listed for protection in line with the Antiquity Act. This indicates that the Supreme Court’s order in October 2012 requiring the government to update the list of protected heritage sites, has been comprehensively ignored by all the relevant authorities responsible, including Rajuk and the Land Ministry.

While the Chawkbazar police have now taken action to stop demolition of the house, doubts remain about its preservation because of the way in which the Land Ministry has apparently permitted influential lessees, including a land registry office and councilor’s office to be set up on the compound.

The government should step in to formulate an action plan to undertake restoration of this site.

Bhawal Raja Estate is located in an area of prime historic importance. It is vital to cherish buildings like it as museums and public spaces, to allow everyone to celebrate the country’s rich history.

Undertake restoration to allow everyone to celebrate the country’s rich history

JS Wow!! A healthy picture of a polluted city.

Bipasha Basu refuses to share stage with Chitrangada Singh July 27 Rabiul Alam Wow! Couldn’t wait for this news!! It made my whole day. Oh damn it, it made my whole Ramadan!!

10 die in landslide in India July 31 Ûñkñøwñ Løvë Such pathetic and sad news!

Bangladesh to raise border killing issue at BGB-BSF summit August 2 PB Why not at the UNHCR?

1 killed, 50 injured in Habiganj clashes July 29

Arch Bishop Eid Mubarak?

CALVIN AND HOBBES

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 4 represents A so fill A every time the figure 4 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

seem to have sent all of humanity into exile.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Saudi Arabia is only waiting for a cease-fire, so that after everything is demolished, it will grant a million-dollar rehabilitation project to Palestine, and the Arab League will call an emergency meeting to condemn Israel.

Why not now?

India moves on curbing drug trafficking August 1

Habibul Alam Those are export-oriented industries specially set up across the border to facilitate cost and delivery time-cutting to serve Bangladeshi consumers.

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.

Mir Mahbob Ali Is Phensidyl legal in India as it was in Bangladesh?

Whatever, India should close Phensidyl factories in bordering areas with us, as the item is a contraband here.

Israel resumes Gaza offensive July 27

‫הדש לייא‬ Important! In every war there are casualties. I have not seen those who talk about the dead in Gaza talking about casualties, when America invaded Iraq and Russia invaded Ukraine.

Gazans chose Hamas, a terrorist government who fires missiles at Israel. Just a few minutes ago, Hamas fired dozens of rockets on Ashdod city.

What would you do instead, Israel? The only reason people were killed in Gaza is because Hamas uses them as human shields while they are firing rockets at Israel.

Obama asked to spend night at Gaza hospital July 28

Sandy Khalil Obama needs to see the truth with his own eyes. He’s the one supporting Israel with weapons and bombs.

Turkey deputy PM: Women shouldn’t laugh out loud July 31

Arif Islam Yeah, and birds should not fly.

On a different note, now BD has someone officially competing for the dumbest comment made by politicians!

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Spirit (3) 3 Matures (4) 6 Thunder god (4) 7 Insect (3) 9 Small bouquet (4) 10 Corn spike (3) 11 Attack (4) 13 Gap (5) 16 Embellish (5) 18 Layer (4) 19 Kimono sash (3) 20 Satellite (4) 21 And not (3) 23 Serpents (4) 24 Stagger (4) 25 Choler (3)

DOWN 1 Bellows (5) 2 Rounded vase (3) 4 Virtuous (4) 5 Secret agent (3) 6 Tendency (5) 8 Commerce (5) 9 Jetty (4) 12 Fruit of the oak (5) 14 Suffering (4) 15 Supreme happiness (5) 17 Norwegian (5) 18 Large volume (4) 20 Spoil (3) 22 Rowing implement (3)

On PPP and disasters July 31

Ashraful Alam Sagar The concept of PPP is yet to be thought of in Bangladesh in combating disaster and DRR. This write-up might be an eye-opener for us. Thanks for this timely article.

Flyers dropped over Gaza city

by Israeli army urging residents to evacuate their homes August 1

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

PEANUTS

Shamuna Mizan Sigh. Why should anyone have to abandon their home just because some power-hungry nutcases think they have some God-given right to that land?!

Frustration mounts as war crimes trial cases are kept awaiting verdict August 1

Ahsan Habib This reveals another lie by the BAL-led government. Despite what Hasina says, she knows very well as does everyone else, that the judiciary in Bangladesh is under the full control of the government, even without the parliamentary move to make the judges responsible to the parliament.

SUDOKU

Op-Ed

DHAKA TRIBUNE

11

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Pay them before the sweat dries n Saleh Md Arman

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More than music

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BIGSTOCK

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Turn up the radio

M n Ekram Kabir

y first memory of a radio set goes back to the time of our liberation war. Our elders were always secretly glued to the radio transmissions of Akaash Bani and BBC. The radio sets were bigger at that time, and it was also difficult to listen to the broadcasts secretively. The radio was the only means of communication that I was ever oriented with.

My parents had lost everything during the war, but the radio was still there after the war. It was one of the few things they didn’t lose during the war. I remember that after the war, my mother used to tune in to Bangladesh Betar, and she used to listen to it almost all day.

We grew up listening to songs in the morning, cinema commercials at noon, and dramas in the evening. The newspapers used to reach the place where we lived in the afternoon. So, our father encouraged us to listen to the radio news. We didn’t have a TV set, and that is why we always depended on the radio, and there were many like us.

In 1978, I went to a boarding school.

For us – the students, the radio was the only means for listening to live sports commentaries. We were immensely dependent on radios as far as the current affairs were concerned. At the university, I participated in several educational programs on Bangladesh Betar, and I loved to be on air.

Later on in my professional life, I was quite fortunate to have worked in BBC Radio, and I learnt a lot about radio there. So, when I look back, I find the presence of radio in my life almost always. However, we saw that local radio stations had almost disappeared from people’s lives during the 80s and 90s.

casts. But at the end of the day, these radio stations became successful in drawing young audience through their infotainment programs. A new breed of broadcasters was created who came to be known as Radio Jockeys (RJs).

“RJ-ing” as a profession also became a very sought-after one. RJs successfully became media icons.

Bangladesh’s FM radio industry is changing with an intention to get closer to the people’s lives

The audience had turned to BBC and Voice of America at that time. And when private TV channels came forth, everyone forgot about radios in this country. To our great surprise, private entrepreneurs started to launch private FM radio stations and attracted a huge audience. The history of radio in Bangladesh began to change.

In the beginning, almost all the FM radio stations were heavily dependent on music. They started immensely contributing to our music industry, and they also started to promote our musicians. In effect, the FM radios became a platform for music in Bangladesh.

Many analysts and critics had negative views about the FM broad-

Along with them came a bunch of radio professionals who started experimenting with new programs. The music-dependent programs started to take a new flight when one of the radio stations successfully introduced a suspense program titled Bhoot FM. The show evoked quite a lot of interest among the audience, and it became a leading show in the Bangladeshi radio scenario. Many others followed the same path. That’s how other programs like Kuasha, Thursday Night Saga, Paap, and Chhaya began. Before Bhoot FM, a program titled Poka had also become popular.

Then some new programs such as Jaha Bolibo Shotto Bolibo, Jiboner Golpo, Love Guru, Premrog etc started

to experiment with new ideas. Jaha Bolibo Shotto Bolibo, and Jiboner Golpo successfully involved the audience directly to the program, as these two programs aimed to get closer to the hearts of the people.

In Jaha Bolibo Shotto Bolibo, the audience come to the show and confess their guilt. In Jiboner Golpo, the audience tell the stories of their lives.

There were times when programs like these had greatly contributed to social issues. They have successfully contributed in changing people’s lives. These are not infotainment, but still they have the largest audience on radio.

Love and romance-related programs naturally draw the attention of the audience. Premrog and Love Guru are great examples of this fact.

These have been making the funstarved Bangladeshis laugh. And on the other hand, some stations have successfully started airing problemsolving shows by involving the listeners directly. They have been broadcasting relationship programs that are helping a huge number of people across the country.

This is how Bangladesh’s FM radio industry is changing with an intention to get closer to the people’s lives.

Well, of course, music would remain as one of the prime element on these radios, but music would find its place in specialised slots. The radio stations are likely to experiment with more serious and interesting programs. So stay tuned! l

efore the arrival of this year’s Eid-ul-Fitr, we observed the agitation of RMG workers in several garments factories owned by Tuba Group. They had demanded their due salaries with Eid bonuses, for which they had been staging hunger strikes from July 30, the day of Eid. Eid has come and gone but their demands remain unfulfilled. Indeed, it is a matter of regret when you realise that some folks are able to enjoy Eid with their salaries and bonuses in their pockets, while some are denied that privilege. I feel dearly for these people. I can feel their pain because I have experienced something similar to this. Worry not, I did not engage in any hunger strikes nor did I call for any sort of agitation, I only shed tears in the presence of Allah (SWT).

I will not mention my employers’ names or the type of organisation they ran in my writing. After the completion of my post-grad, I joined a private organisation at an entry-level job. A couple of months later I had gotten married, so the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr was quite vital for me. The first Eid for newlyweds: Lots of planning, dreaming, and most importantly, shopping.

After all, it is a tradition to gift clothing to kith and kin.

We began to prepare lists. When Eid approached, I was notified that I was not entitled to an Eid bonus. A bolt from the blue struck my heart. I contacted the top authorities and asked for a reason, they told me that they did not give me a bonus because I was five days short of being eligible. I was both amazed and shattered, unable to fathom the gravity of the situation.

One of my colleagues told me that she received a full bonus despite being 20 days short the year before. So I decided to negotiate with them. I informed them of my current situation, but they denied me very crudely. They did not even show a single fault which could be marked against me.

I know there is a good practice in every organisation to give festival bonuses equal to the basic salary.

The common practice is if they do not fulfill one year, they are entitled to an amount half of their basic

salary. Moreover, an employee who works one day prior to Eid is falling in this provision. However, the top authorities were much more knowledgeable than me. They grabbed a pile of academic degrees from home and abroad, after all. They were fully aware of this fact, yet they treated me in the woeful way RMG workers get treated. A man, who was then an executive of a reputed private Bangladeshi bank, once asked me: “Arman, are you an RMG worker?” The “compliment” cheered me up.

The authorities should feel the sorrows of the workers and pay their due salaries with bonuses

However, I did not take my arguments with them any further than that. I returned home and shared the fact with my wife, she told me to complete my obligations, that is, to give clothing to my home and my in-laws homes, but not her. I was astonished to hear that.

I didn’t know how she could make that sacrifice.

Basically it is a sacred sign from Allah (SWT) that He had granted me such a knowledgeable, pious, and loving wife. Meanwhile, by the grace of Almighty Allah (SWT), I managed to get some money eventually. Notwithstanding the matter of clothing, I gave “Eidi” to the juniors.

According to Abdullah Ibn Umar (RA), Rasul Allah (SAW): “Pay the wages of workers before his sweat dries.”

I expect a solution to this terrible situation immediately. The authorities should feel the sorrows of the workers and pay their due salaries with bonuses included. Additionally, I urge the government to fix the loopholes that still exist in our current labour laws of paying festival bonus. l Saleh Md Arman is a lecturer, Manarat International University.

RAJIB DHAR

Ekram Kabir, a journalist, is a DT columnist.

Should the US forget about India? n Tunku Varadarajan

S

o low is the bar in US-India relations right now that the best thing that can be said about John Kerry’s two-day hop-over to New Delhi was that he went there at all. A relationship that burst into true blossom under George W Bush, one that held for many Americans the promise of a mold-breaking alliance for the 21st century, lies shabbily dormant.

Indeed, the only memorable episode in Kerry’s visit was his scolding

by India’s foreign minister, Sushma

Perhaps there is nothing for Kerry to do here

Swaraj, for the NSA’s spying on her political party.

Should America care? India has little or nothing to contribute to American efforts to tackle the crises in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, and Iraq. It is a reluctant partner, at best, in Washington’s efforts to rein in Iran and will have no truck with the West in any showdown with Vladimir Putin and Russia.

Its incessant push for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, while understandable for a country that is the world’s second-most populous, isn’t exactly in America’s

AFP

interests: New Delhi and Washington frequently find themselves on different sides of votes on UN resolutions.

The two countries converge in their legitimate fears of Chinese aggression and expansion in Asia, but even here, India has been loath to embrace any formal alliance that would act as a check on Beijing, for fear of provoking the Chinese into military incursions into Indian territory that New Delhi is shamefully unprepared to counter.

Besides, in recent weeks, India has been party to the setting up of a BRICS Bank, with Brazil, Russia, China, and South Africa. This institution was conceived as a way to break America’s global financial hegemony – a word beloved in bureaucratic Delhi, where America is still regarded with a suspicion that is as potent as it is irrational. The BRICS Bank looks, for all its founding rhetoric, like a platform for Chinese hegemony instead. Once more, China appears to have taken India for a ride. But that is another story.

India offers America nothing of concrete strategic value that Washington cannot, currently, live without. Not only does it balk at an alliance of any kind, its political and intellectual elites are wedded still to nonalignment, that antediluvian credo from the years of the Cold War.

Intellectual worthies in New Delhi have cooked up something called “Non-alignment 2.0,” by which “India must remain true to its aspiration of creating a new and alternative universality.”

Doesn’t India matter to America as a market, a place for wise and profitable investment? Here again, Americans must resign themselves, for the moment, to disappointment.

For all Narendra Modi’s free-market

It’s time for Washington to move on, leaving a warmer relationship with India to a time when Indians have made up their muddled minds

For those masochists who want to acquaint themselves better with this Cold War mummy come to life, I suggest a visit to this website: http://www.cprindia.org/workingpapers/3844-nonalignment-20-foreign-and-strategic-policy-india-twenty-first-century. It will swiftly become clear that there is no room in this starry-eyed arrangement for a compact with Washington.

Forget matters strategic, you may say; banish from your head all thoughts of a military or security handshake. What about economics?

rhetoric in the run-up to the elections, for all the assurances given to investors in back rooms, he has offered scant evidence, in his two months in power, of being the man who will shake up the Indian economy and make his country a more rational place in which to do business.

His national budget was only marginally less squishy and Fabian than other, recent Indian budgets, and Thursday’s capricious scuttling by India of a World Trade Organisation deal that would have vastly streamlined the global trade system calls into question

Modi’s professed ardour for free trade.

American private enterprise has always tread cautiously in India, and there is every indication that it will have to continue to tiptoe its way through, around, and over the cactus grove of Indian regulations. The job of the Obama administration (and that of a likely Hillary administration) will be to persuade India to change its ways.

That will be immensely difficult if Modi continues to backtrack on economic reform. (Why is he doing so? Is it his belief that, having won an emphatic but contentious election, he needs to “buy” social harmony by embracing the sops and subsidies he inherited from the previous quasi-socialist government of Manmohan Singh?)

So, as things stand, America gets neither strategic comfort nor a fair economic opportunity from India.

Perhaps it’s time for Washington to shrug its shoulders and move on, leaving a warmer relationship with India to a time when Indians have made up their muddled minds about the kind of country theirs is – or ought to be. l Tunku Varadarajan is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and writer-at-large for The Daily Beast. This article was first published in The Daily Beast.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

James becomes frequent in playbacks n Entertainment Desk Rock icon of the country James has recently engaged himself in playbacks more than before and the news of his ventures in three upcoming films hit the audio arena. He is the playback in a film titled “Sotta” which is directed

by Hasibur Reza Kollol and the song is tuned and composed by Bappa Mazumder. The number is written by Sohani Hossain who is also the original story writer of the film. The song has been recorded in a studio in the capital on August 3, while James himself will be seen onscreen presenting the song, which confirms a cameo appearance of the singer in the film. Shakib Khan, Paoli Dam, the sizzling actor from Kolkata and Ahmed Rubel play the lead roles.

Earlier James lent his voice in a film titled “Zero Degree” in which Mahfuz Ahmed, Joya Ahsan and Dilruba Yasmeen Ruhee donned the lead roles. The song is titled “Bhalobasa O Ghrina” and is written by Animesh Aich while it has been tuned and composed by Price Mahmud.

Besides these, James also recorded a song titled “Eto Kosto Kosto Lage E Ontore” in Safiuddin Safi “Warning.” It is written

by Kabir Bakul while Shawkat Ali Emon worked on the tune and music composition.

James’ first playback work was in Manna’s “Moner Sathe Juddha” and later he worked in “Matir Thikana.” l

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

‘I am a victim of targeted criticism’ n Waliul Mukta A brilliant presenter and orator, Masuma Rahman Nabila has become a familiar face on television.

With her serene smile and easygoing nature, the model/presenter has the ability to keep the audience hooked with her interesting commentaries. About her presentation skills, she said: “I love anchoring and thus talking comes naturally to me.”

Dhaka Tribune caught up with the newcomer to talk about her career and more.

How did you start your journey in the entertainment industry?

I stepped into the media through a school magazine show on Banglavision called “Ebong Class er Baire” in 2006. Afterwards, I became the anchor of internationally celebrated events like ICC World Cup and T20 World Cup alongside other television programmes. I always tried to do quality work that would be good for my profile as a presenter.

Celebrities have always been victim of gossips, what rumours did you hear about yourself?

Well, once there was a show which was jointly aired by Banglavision and Radio Today. Nirob and I anchored the show.

One day, Nirob was alone and an audience member asked him why I was not present.

Nirob jokingly answered that I was getting married. The audience member took his words literally and I had to explain myself over and over again for quite some time.

There are many speculations about your relationship status, would you mind setting the record straight?

I would say, most of what you have probably heard are hearsays. In many cases false news was circulated against me. For

their own interest, a few atrocious people did this. I am a victim of targeted criticism and none of these are true. I am single at present and I am enjoying it.

Why do you enjoy being single? Is there any advantage?

I have had a terrible experience when it comes to relationships. It is always very painful when you are deceived by a loved

New series Tin Bhubon begins n Entertainment Desk A new drama series “Tin Bhubon” will be aired from today at 11:30pm on ATN Bangla. Directed

by Sadek Siddique, the play has been adapted from Dr Mahfuzur Rahman's story, and dramatised by Rokeya Islam, Mirza Rakib, and Maruf Ahmed.

A comedy, “Tin Bhubon” is the story of a retired Colonel, Rani and Chapa. They live in man-

sions named after themselves. The three families have been portrayed in a humorous manner. Colonel lives a regimental lifestyle. He is very strict and has two sons Haider and Humayun. Both of them are married. They live in a mansion named Rani Mahal. Rani's husband Raihan is a police inspector but in the home-front, everything runs according to the mistress of the house. Their sons Rajib, Ratan and Rana are interesting characters to say the least. One is a failing doctor, the second is busy with auditions as he dreams of becoming a famous actor one day and the last third is unemployed. The last story is of Chapa who has the bad habit of lying without reason, is well-known because of her beautiful daughter Chumki. Everyday something interesting and amusing happen to these three families and that is how the story of the drama series moves forward.

The drama features Maznun Mizan, Farzana Chhobi, Tutul, Shimana, Sazzad Reza, Tushar Khan, Shirin Bokul, Hasan Masud and many others.

The drama will be aired every Tuesday and Wednesday. l

one and that is not acceptable to me. Right now I want to concentrate on work and for that, being single is preferred.

How was your Eid?

In a single word, it was fantastic. For the last four years I had to work continuously and I even had to work on Eid day. This time it was different. I got the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. l

Theatre festival commemorates Natyacharya n Entertainment Desk

Popular folk-fusion band Chirkutt will perform at the Studio Live Concert on Boishakhi TV from 11:15pm-3am today

Lindsay Lohan to write tell-all autobiography

The 65th birth anniversary of the late iconic playwright Selim Al Deen is on August 18. Like the previous years, theatre troupe Swapnadal has chalked out a five-day festival that will begin on August 16 marking the Natyacharya's birth anniversary.

The event will be held in Dhaka and Mymensingh, where a number of Deen’s plays are scheduled to be staged by different theatre troupes. The festival will also feature seminars, workshops, processions and musical performances.

The celebration will commence on August 16 at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy with Selim Al Deen’s acclaimed production “Hargaj” by the host troupe. l

Guardians of the Galaxy rules Hollywood's box-office

n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk

The “Mean Girls” actor, 28, wants to pen a tell-all memoir and has already met with publishers.

And it seems she thinks James, who wrote the steamy “Fifty Shades Of Grey” novels about a raunchy relationship between a billionaire and a young student, would be the perfect ghost writer, reported The Sun. A source said: “Lindsay held meetings at major publishing houses in London recently - and the stories she promised the literary agents made their jaws drop.”

The insider went on: “Lindsay is now looking for a ghost writer. It may seem unlikely, but she thinks she’s in with a shot of getting EL James to work on it - they met recently at the Chiltern Firehouse and got on well.”

“Another pie in the sky idea was that she might persuade JK Rowling to work with her.”

Li-Lo - who is rebuilding her career following a series of legal and personal troubles, including addiction issues and stints in rehab - is set to make her stage debut in London’s West End in “Speed-ThePlow” later this year. l

The galaxy is in safe hands.

“Guardians of the Galaxy,” Marvel's latest addition to its superhero canon, invaded Hollywood this weekend with the biggest debut on record for an August movie.

Guardians rounded up $94m, according to studio estimates.

The debut shattered the record previously held by Matt Damon's “The Bourne Ultimatum,” which bowed to $69m in August 2007.

“None of the characters involved in this movie are considered seminal to the Marvel universe in the way that

Aamir Khan in legal trouble over PK's nude poster n Entertainment Desk A case was filed in a court in Kanpur, on August 2, against Aamir Khan and the makers of the upcoming movie “PK” after its poster showed the Bollywood star in the nude except for a transistor covering his private parts.

In the complaint, lawyer Manoj Dixit accused the actor, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and director Rajkumar Hirani of promoting nudity and vulgarity.

The court listed the case for August 7 when the contention of the petitioner would be heard and, if needed, the producer, director and actor will be served notice to appear before it.

The petitioner said Aamir Khan has considerable influence on the youth of today and any such act would only tempt youths to emulate him, thereby threatening the social order. This in turn, he added, would lead to cases of sexual offences.

The film is scheduled for release in December. l

'Captain America,' 'Thor,' 'The Hulk' and 'Iron Man' are,” says David Mumpower, analyst for Box Office Prophets.

Critics and fans were ready for an original comic-book team. The movie earned a thumbs-up from 92% of the nation's critics, says survey site Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the best-reviewed movies of the year. This is Marvel's fourth film to open above $90m this year.

“Lucy,” Scarlett Johansson's thriller, took second place with $18.3m.

“Get On Up,” the James Brown biopic, took third place with $14m, meeting most expectations. It earned solid scores from fans and critics, scoring an A from moviegoers and a recommendation from 77% of reviewers. l

Did you know?

Arsenal have failed to score in an Emirates Cup match for the first time since 2008 (0-1 v Juventus)

Sport

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

14 ‘Best ever’

Commonwealth Games end

15 Falcao sinks

Arsenal on Monaco return

Bangladesh opener Anamul Haque walks away after a net practice at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday

Phill’s lessons would benefit players, says Anamul n Mazhar Uddin National team cricketers’ second and final session with the Australian psychologist Phill Jauncey at the Sher-e-Bangla National stadium yesterday should help them to improve on their mental strength during tough situations. Opener Anamul Haque was of the opinion that the Australian tried to work on the mental aspect of the cricketers as to what they can do to improve in the near future.

The 21 year old was quick to figure out the difference in the approach of Phil Jauncey with that of Azhar Ali, the life success coach who had earlier given them similar lessons. Anamul thinks Ali’s approach was long-term while the current psychologist tried to work in detail in order to get the benefit instantly.

“There are some differences. The coach who worked with us earlier had a long-term approach, like what will be our future thinking, may be we can become champion one day or I should have fifty centuries.

“And this time Phill is trying to work on details like what we can do now or say, a batsman sometimes thinks a lot of things during batting where he stays in double mind. Phil taught us how this should be handled and informed us small things in detail,” said Anamul.

However, the youngster also added that whatever the Australian taught them, they will try to follow them on their although at times they might even forget those, but those lessons will certainly help them to improve if they can implement.

Bangladeshi batsmen have this ill tendency to throw away their wickets

in pressure situations and the young opener acknowledged that and said if they can hold their nerves and emotions in tough situations, it will surely help them to improve.

“We are going to West Indies and if a bowler bowls three or four bouncers in a row, that might create a pressure on us. He told that if we can hold on to our confidence like we do during our best time, it will work for us. He taught us how to control the emotions as we might try to play a silly shot and consequently get out after playing four or five dot balls. So we have to control our emotions at that time,” he said.

But Anamul also predicted that it would take time for them to improve and it’s the matter of implementation during both practice and match situation to get the results. Although Phill Jauncey did not provide any designed

schedule for the cricketers, he gave examples of some great players like Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and others who worked on their lacking and improved.

“He talked about Adam Gilchrist who used to do what he said while Matthew Hayden thought a lot before doing anything and worked on that. On the other hand, Damien Martyn hardly really bothered about anything but did things right on the field. He also talked about Symonds, Sangakkara and Jayawardene,” said Anamul.

The Australian psychologist’s last day of the two day assignment with the Tigers came to an end after a oneon-one discussion with the cricketers where he tried to observe their personality and the way they think in order to find out the lacking of Mushfiqur Rahim and his boys. l

Bangladesh hockey team will go through a tough test against the Indian ‘A’ team that arrives in Dhaka today to play three practice matches on August 6, 7 and 8 at BKSP. Bangladesh hockey team is currently based at BKSP in a residential camp for the Asian Games scheduled to be held in Incehon, Korea in September this year. This will be the first time in the history that an Indian hockey team will arrive in Bangladesh as per the invitation of the Bangladesh Hockey Federation and the federation is eager to continue the relation.

Khwaja Rahmtaullah, the general secretary of the BHF expressed the desire. “We want to build up a strong relation with India and Pakistan for the sake of the development of our hockey. All the three countries have morally agreed to do so. In the past we had some training facilities for our coaches in Patiala. For unknown reasons it had been discontinued and we will take the initiatives to revive the process,” said Rahmatullah.

The Indian A team consists of a mixture of youth and experience as the team will be led by midfielder Vikramkanth who has played 70 international matches for India. The team also includes Yuvraj Walmiki with 44 international caps, Kushallappa Uthappa with 54 international caps and Nithin Thimmiah who has played 36 matches wearing the Indian jersey. Tushar Khadker, a familiar name in Bangladesh’s hockey arena, is the coach of the visiting team.

Only two players in the visiting squad are yet to wear an Indian jersey and apart from them, all the other players have played for India in international fixtures.

INDIA A TEAM SQUAD

Harjot Singh, (Gk), Sushant Tirkey (Gk),Talwinder Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Yuvraj Walmiki, Lalit Upadhay, Kushlalppa Uthappa, Satbir Singh, Nithin Thimmiah, Harjeet Singh, Vikash Vishnu Pillay, Harbir Singh Sandhu, Devinder Sunil, Jasjit Singh Kular, Vickram Kanth (Captain), Yusuf Affan. Tushar Khandokar (Coach), Harendra Singh(Manager). l

13

15 Dominant

Serena wins WTA Stanford title

MUMIT M

Tamim under observation after injury scare n Minhaz Uddin Khan National opener Tamim Iqbal received an injury scare during the national team’s practice session yesterday.

While batting in the nets, Tamim was hit on the right ankle by a yorker off pacer Taskin Ahmed. The 25 year old left-handed batsman was rushed into the dressing room immediately where national team’s physiotherapist Vibhav Singh examined him.

Vibhav, following his short observation, informed the media of Tamim sustaining a fracture.

“He was in pain after the hit but it didn’t seem to be as severe as it should be when you sustain a fracture. There were some swellings and ice was applied. We will keep him (Tamim) under observation for next 24 hours and then reassess,” said Vibhav.

“So far it hasn’t looked to be severe and I hope it should be fine. We just need it to settle before rushing for an

India A hockey team arrives in Dhaka today n Raihan Mahmood

DHAKA TRIBUNE

X-ray,” he also added.

The last time Tamim was taken off the field due to an injury was during the Asia Cup 2014. The southpaw was not risked in the Asia Cup with the aim of having him fit for the World Twenty20 in March. Tamim also suffered from a neck strain after the second Test against Sri Lanka and missed the threematch ODI series against the same opponent in January this year. l

WORLD CHESS OLYMPIAD

Bangladesh beats Chile in 2nd round n Tribune Desk

BFF president Kazi Salahuddin (C) speaks at an experience sharing programme organised by the League Coaches Fourm at BFF House yesterday COURTESY

Journalists, coaches share Brazil experience n Shishir Hoque

Football coaches need to be more efficient and subjective to develop their country’s football standard, and require proper facilities to deliver the best. This was elaborated in an experience sharing programme between the local coaches and the journalists who went to Brazil to cover the World Cup 2014 at the BFF House yesterday.

Organized by the League Coaches Fourm, BFF president Kazi Salahuddin inaugurated the meet as the chief guest. BFF vice president Badal Roy,

general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag, renowned coaches like Shafiqul Islam Manik, AKM Maruful Haque, Zakaria Babu, Md. Yusuf and former national players Alfaz, Jewel Rana, Julfiqar Mintu, Titu and others were present during the pleasant occasion.

From among the journalists, Dilu Khandokar, Parag Arman, Sanat Babla, Nasimul Hasan Dodul, Rafikul Islam, Ahmed Rakib and Raihan Mahmood spoke on the occasion.

BFF president Salahuddin urged the local coaches to pick up the talents from across the country and announced that the local coaches would be rewarded if

the player is selected by the national coaches. “We are thinking of an exchange programme. The coaches roam across the country, they are the talent-hunters. If they provide talented footballers in future and if they are selected, BFF is thinking of starting a payment for them,” said Salahuddin.

Comparisons were drawn between the two country’s football infrastructures and the summary was although Bangladesh is far behind in terms of standards, the motto should be to go ahead with available resources and presence of a strong and efficient policy is also more than necessary. l

Bangladesh chess team registered their second successive victory in the open section of the 41st World Chess Olympiad beating higher seeded Chile comfortably by 3-1 points in the second round in Tromso, Norway on Sunday.

Bangladesh Open team now shares the top spot in the points table alongside the other 35 teams. The team has now earned four points after the end of the 2nd round. All the players of Bangladesh team (55 seeded) have lower ratings than the opponents (50 seeded).

Grandmaster Ziaur Rahman (Rating-2523) beat GM Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo (Rating-2533) while International Master Minhazuddin Ahmed Sagar (Rating-2418) beat IM Henriquez Villagra Cristobal (Rating-2457).

GM Abdullah Al Rakib (Rating-2522) drew with GM Flores Rios Mauricio (Rating-2537) and GM Niaz Murshed (Rating-2453) drew with IM Valenzuela Fuentealba Luis (Rating-2455).

Meanwhile, in the women’s section, 58 seeded Bangladesh women team lost against 10 seeded Armenia by 0-4 points. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Australian singer Jessica Mauboy performs during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sunday

AFP

‘Best ever’ Commonwealth Games end in Glasgow n AFP, Glasgow

sured of top spot in the medals table for the first time since 1986, dethroning Australia.

By the end of Sunday’s action, with just 11 more titles to be decided, England had captured 174 medals of which 58 were gold. Australia finished on a total of 137 with 49 gold.

On a rain-hit final day in Glasgow, Lizzie Armitstead struck further gold for England in the women’s cycling road race going one better than four years ago in New Dehli. Fellow English rider Emma Pooley finished 25 seconds behind to finish second and add to the silver she won in the time trial.

“I can call myself a champion finally.

It’s special and something I’ve always

The Glasgow Commonwealth Games were hailed as “the best ever” on Sunday as the 11-day showpiece came to an emotional conclusion inside a chilly Hampden Park.

An event long written-off as a dusty anachronism in the modern, profit-driven era of international sport ended with England on top of the medals table for the first time since 1986 and with rich plaudits ringing in its ears.

“The Games have made us all very proud and truly brought our family together,” said Prince Imran, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), during a closing ceremony which

fused the pop of Kylie Minogue and poetry of Rabbie Burns.

“Scotland, and Glasgow, you really have delivered in every aspect the best Games ever.”

Prince Imran’s warm endorsement echoed similar praise earlier in the day from Mike Hooper, chief executive of the CGF, who described the event as “the stand-out Games in the history of the movement”.

With more than 4,700 athletes having competed for 261 gold medals on offer, the Commonwealth Games flag was then entrusted to officials of the 2018 Games to be hosted by Australia’s Gold Coast.

England started the day already as-

Rodgers rules out Balotelli bid n AFP, London

Qatar World Cup ‘ludicrous’: Lineker

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has rejected speculation linking him with a bid for AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli.

Rodgers spoke about the Italy international in glowing terms when he was asked about him last week, but the Northern Irishman said that his admiration would not translate into a former offer for the 23-year-old.

“I can categorically tell you Mario Balotelli will not be at Liverpool,” Rodgers told a press conference in Miami on Sunday, in comments that were widely published in the British media.

“In my last press conference I was asked a question about Mario Balotelli and I talked about what a talent he was and what an excellent player he was.

“And the next day it was wrote (sic) as if we were signing him. I just gave my perception of him as a player. It shouldn’t be transmitted into us signing the player.” l

n AFP, London Former England striker Gary Lineker has accused world football’s governing body FIFA of “nauseating” corruption and said the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was “ludicrous”.

Lineker was a member of the England bid team for the 2018 World Cup, which was awarded to Russia, and he suggested that the only way to have succeeded in the vote would have been to employ underhand tactics.

“I was with David Beckham having a burger the night before the Qatar decision (in Zurich in December 2010),” he told GQ magazine.

“We were out trying to get support -- Prince William and (British Prime Minister) David Cameron were out there, too -- and I said to Becks, ‘We are the only country doing this. The whole thing smells; it is a done deal.’

“It makes you feel sick, actually, the

whole FIFA thing. The corruption at the top level is nauseating. “(FIFA president) Sepp Blatter likewise has run it like a dictatorship for so long and he comes out with so much nonsense.”

On the decision to stage the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Lineker said: “Ludicrous. I am not against it going to different parts of the world, but you’d have thought they might have known it would be very hot in summer.

“You have to be careful what you say, but the corruption is just... yuk.”

Asked if FIFA was corrupt and no longer fit for purpose, Lineker replied: “Yes, and it is such a shame because it is a massive sport and means so much to so many people. “(England) are too straight, in a way, and I am not saying that as a criticism.

We should stand up for what is right and if that means never hosting the World Cup again, fine. l

Real lure Navas from Levante n Reuters, Madrid

Real Madrid have agreed to sign highly-rated Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who shone at the World Cup, from La Liga rivals Levante on a six-year contract, the European champions said on Sunday.

“The player will be presented on Tuesday ... on the VIP tribune at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium after undergoing the necessary medical examination,” Real said on their website.

Levante also confirmed the deal and thanked Navas for his contribution and professionalism since he joined the Valencia-based club in 2011. Neither club disclosed financial details but Spanish media reported Real had agreed to pay

10m euros for Navas, in line with the buyout fee in his Levante contract.

Known as the “Falcon of Costa Rica” for his agility, Navas was one of the top players at the World Cup finals in Brazil and his brilliant form helped the central American nation unexpectedly reach

the last eight.

The 27-year-old was hailed last season as the world’s number one keeper by Joaquin Caparros, who was Levante coach at the time, and his arrival at Real is likely to signal the departure of Diego Lopez.

It will also increase the pressure on captain Iker Casillas, who has been under fire in recent months after a series of errors and a woeful World Cup showing when holders Spain failed to advance beyond the group stage.

Navas’s performances last season, including a series of memorable duels with Real forward Cristiano Ronaldo, prompted the official La Liga website to proclaim him “the league’s best” ahead of the likes of Victor Valdes of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois. l

dreamed about,” Armitstead said.

“I just feel like I deserve this. I’ve trained so hard and I’m always on the podium but I don’t win too many races.”

Welsh rider Geraint Thomas then won gold in the gruelling men’s 168km road race.

Thomas, who won bronze in the time trial, survived suffering a puncture with just 6km to go to finish in a time of four hours 13 minutes and five seconds.

A sprint finish saw New Zealand’s Jack Bauer claim silver while Scott Thwaites took bronze for England.

“I’m a massive diesel engine at the moment,” said Thomas, whose day got even better when it was revealed he would carry the Welsh flag in the clos-

ing ceremony later Sunday.

Australia won gold in the men’s hockey with a 4-0 thumping of India for a fifth consecutive Commonwealth title, and in the netball with a 58-40 revenge win over New Zealand, who beat them at the same stage four years ago.

Scottish hopes of a 20th gold medal were dashed when Kirsty Gilmour lost 21-14, 21-7 to Canada’s Michelle Li in the badminton women’s singles final.

India’s Kashyap Parupalli was a popular winner in the men’s singles title as he beat Derek Wong of Singapore in a three-game classic to win gold.

“I’m so happy,” said the 27-year-old Indian. “This championship means such a lot to me. These Games come every

four years and that’s what drove me on.”

English husband and wife pairing Chris and Gabrielle Adcock comfortably won the mixed doubles, Khe Wei Won equalled the Malaysian badminton gold medal record as she went level on four with Eei Hun Chun after she won the women’s doubles with partner Vivian Kah Mun Hoo. Malaysia also won the men’s doubles through Tan Wee Kiong and Goh Wei Shem. Australia won the two remaining titles in the squash tournament. David Palmer, 38, had come out of retirement in a bid to finally add a winning squash gold medal to his Commonwealth Games collection and he ended with two on Sunday. l

Roger Federer of Switzerland takes a shot on goal during Sportsnet Ball Hockey Challenge game at Rexall Centre at York University in Toronto, Canada on Sunday AFP

Nasri hints at France retirement n AFP, London Manchester City’s France midfielder Samir Nasri on Monday indicated that he has decided to quit international football.

The 27-year-old has endured a fractious relationship with his national team and was left out of the squad for this year’s World Cup in Brazil by France coach Didier Deschamps.

“I’ve made the decision. I made it a while ago, but I will announce it when the time is right,” he said in an interview with the Sky Sports website, without specifying what that decision was.

“With the national team I didn’t win anything. So it’s more easy to take this decision than if we’d just won some-

thing. When you play for a big club and you play lots of games, it’s easy to come to this decision.”

Nasri made his France debut at the age of 19 in 2007 and has won 41 caps, scoring five goals, but his international career has been dogged by controversy.

He clashed with senior players during the 2008 European Championship and unleashed an expletive-strewn tirade at a journalist following France’s elimination at Euro 2012, for which he received a three-game ban.

Nasri’s girlfriend Anara Atanes, meanwhile, sparked controversy in May when she responded to his exclusion from the World Cup squad with a foul-mouthed Twitter attack on Deschamps and the France squad. l

Chiellini joins Tavecchio criticism n Reuters, Milan Italy and Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini has joined the criticism of Italian football federation (FIGC) presidential candidate Carlo Tavecchio after the 71-year-old referred to African players as “banana-eaters.”

As the row continued to fester a week after the comments were made, Chiellini said the position needed somebody with “decorum and personality” and that Tavecchio’s rival Demetrio Albertini was the only suitable candidate. Tavecchio gave a radio interview later on Sunday in which he said he suffered more than Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated American President John F. Kennedy in 1963. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

15

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

‘Lethargic’ Arsenal not ready yet, says Wenger n AFP, London

QUICK BYTES

Raonic rips Pospisil in first all-Canada final Wimbledon semi-finalist Milos Raonic captured his sixth ATP title Sunday at the Washington Open, defeating Vasek Pospisil 6-1, 6-4 in the tour’s first all-Canadian final. In his first event since producing his best Grand Slam showing, Raonic took the top prize of $316,400 (235,635 euros) from the $1.9 million (1.4m euros) hardcourt event, a warmup for the US Open starting later this month. Pospisil, coming off a Wimbledon men’s doubles title alongside American Jack Sock, played in his first ATP final after upsetting Czech top seed Tomas Berdych in the third round and playing four sets Saturday after completing a rain-halted quarter-final and beating Richard Gasquet in the semi-finals.

–AFP

Italian great Del Piero wants to play on Former Italy and Juventus great Alessandro Del Piero on Monday said he wants to play on, despite being 39 and without a club. The 2006 World Cup winner failed to agree a new contract with Sydney FC at the end of last season but is back in Australia to captain an All Stars side against his old club Juventus on Saturday. Del Piero said he had been staying fit and wants to keep playing football for at least another year, but is yet to decide where or in what capacity. Asked by reporters in Sydney whether it could be the last game of his career, Del Piero said: “No, I don’t think so.

–AFP

Kuznetsova ends fouryear WTA title drought Svetlana Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam champion, snapped a four-year WTA title drought Sunday by outlasting Japan’s Kurumi Nara 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to win the WTA Washington Open. The 29-year-old Russian had not won a title since August of 2010 at San Diego but Kuznetsova, 20 times a WTA runner-up, broke Nara in the final game to collect her 14th career crown. “It feels like it has been too long,” Kuznetsova said. “You really miss this feeling. It’s a nice feeling.” Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open winner, had not reached a WTA final since 2011 until May in Oerias, Portugal. “It’s nice to get to the finals, but four years I’ve been struggling a lot. Now I’m playing much better, serving much better, moving much better,” said Kuznetsova.

–AFP

McIlroy wins WGC Bridgestone to regain top ranking British Open champion Rory McIlroy outdueled Sergio Garcia to win the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday and regain the world number one ranking. In his first start since claiming his third major title at Royal Liverpool, McIlroy erased a three-shot overnight deficit, firing a final round of four-under par 66 for a 15-under total of 265 and a twoshot win over Garcia. The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland will overtake Australian Adam Scott atop the world rankings, regaining the number one spot he last held in March of 2013.

Garcia closed with a one-over par 71 at Firestone Country Club for a 13-under par total of 267.

–AFP

Mauresmo link-up is ‘long-term’: Murray Andy Murray returns to action for the first time since surrendering his Wimbledon crown this week, insisting his coaching liaison with Amelie Mauresmo is long-term. The Scot began working with Frenchwoman Mauresmo shortly before Wimbledon but a disappointing grasscourt season raised question marks about the longevity of their partnership. Murray, however, says he has enjoyed working with the former Wimbledon champion at his training base in Miami as he prepares for the U.S. hardcourt season “We’ve agreed to work together and I think from both sides we’re willing to do what it takes to make it work long term,” Murray, 27, was quoted on the BBC’s website.

–Reuters

Valencia’s Dani Parejo (C) holds the trophy as he poses with his team after winning the Emirates Cup at Emirates Stadium in North London, England on Sunday

Falcao sinks Arsenal on return n AFP, London Radamel Falcao scored his first goal since a six-month injury lay-off to earn Monaco a 1-0 win over Arsenal in the Emirates Cup friendly tournament in London on Sunday.

The Colombia striker netted with a powerful first-half header to give Monaco victory in their final pre-season friendly before they open their Ligue 1 campaign at home to Lorient next Sunday.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger handed a full debut to £30 million ($50.4 million, 37.6 million euros) new signing Alexis Sanchez, but the Chilean was eclipsed by Falcao, who missed the World Cup after damaging knee liga-

ments in January.

“I’m very happy with his return and very satisfied that he scored a goal that gave us the win,” said Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim on Falcao, who has been strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid.

“Obviously I’m counting on him. In football anything is possible, especially in the transfer window, but we want to keep our best players, of course.”

Monaco’s win handed victory in the four-team tournament to Valencia, who beat Benfica 3-1 earlier in the day at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal tackle Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley next weekend, before kicking off the

Premier League season at home to Crystal Palace on August 16.

“As much as our performance was sharp, creative, dynamic, and mobile yesterday, today it was static, lethargic, and not convincing at all,” said Wenger, whose side had crushed Benfica 5-1 on Saturday.

“We lost because we deserved to lose. But I’m not especially concerned.”

Sanchez lined up in front of debutant Mathieu Debuchy on Arsenal’s right flank, with fellow new signing Calum Chambers again deployed at centre-back, while Falcao made his first start since his injury.

Buzzing around in bright orange boots, Sanchez almost freed Olivier Gi-

roud with a sweeping pass from wide on the right, but while Arsenal looked bright and eager in possession, Monaco carried the greater threat.

Right-back Nabil Dirar almost embarrassed Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny with a mishit right-wing cross and then teed up Falcao to head wide.

Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco twice threatened from range, drilling narrowly over from 25 yards with his right foot and then working Szczesny with his left, while Joao Moutinho also shot wide.

All that Arsenal could offer by way of reply was a Chambers effort from a Santi Cazorla corner that sailed well clear of the crossbar. l

Mourinho blames referee, fitness for Bremen defeat n AFP, Bremen Chelsea slumped to their first pre-season defeat on Sunday as they were beaten 3-0 by Werder Bremen in Germany to spoil the return of Didier Drogba and the debut of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Ivory Coast legend Drogba made his first appearance for Chelsea since scoring the penalty that won the 2012 Champions League in Munich when he came on as a second-half substitute for summer signing Diego Costa.

However, Jose Mourinho’s side were already 2-0 down at that point and Drogba’s return ended in a tame defeat at the Weserstadion.

“They are the best team we’ve faced in this period,” said Mourinho. “We knew they were in a more advanced stage of pre-season so we were expecting a competitive, intense game.”

Blues captain John Terry conceded a soft penalty after 20 minutes when he needlessly blocked the ball with his arm and Dutch winger Eljero Elia stepped up to plant his spot-kick past

Belgian ‘keeper Courtois, who has joined up with Chelsea after a longterm loan at Atletico Madrid.

It got worse for the visitors 17 minutes later when Terry was again implicated as Polish winger Ludovic Obraniak darted past the static centre-half to glance a header past Courtois.

“We came here and the referee thought it was a circus for Bremen fans to have fun and he killed the match,” Mourinho told the Chelsea website.

“I like their team, they are fast, defend with a lot of players, they are physical. It was the perfect opponent but we didn’t play.”

Mourinho made several changes at the break, including the introductions of Drogba and Branislav Ivanovic, while Eden Hazard entered the fray in the second half.

Bremen won a second penalty in the last minute when Dutch defender Nathan Ake was punished for what appeared to be a fair challenge but it didn’t matter to Felix Kroos, who stroked the ball past substitute ‘keeper Petr Cech from 12 yards. l

Werder Bremen’s Dutch midfielder Eljero Elia reacts after scoring against Chelsea FC in a friendly football match in Bremen, northern Germany on Sunday AFP

Serena wins WTA Stanford title n AFP, Stanford

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 4 9:00PM Tennis: Rogers Cup Star Sports 1, 2 Pro Kabaddi League 8:15PM Bengaluru v Mumbai 9:30PM Delhi v Jaipur

AFP

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted that his side were still short of fitness after they lost 1-0 to Monaco in the Emirates Cup friendly tournament.

Having routed Benfica 5-1 on Saturday, Arsenal fell to a solitary Radamel Falcao goal the following day, leaving Wenger to brand their performance “static, lethargic, and not convincing at all”.

Wenger explained that he had removed Olivier Giroud at half-time because the French striker was “not ready at all”, and the former Montpellier man was not the only player who appeared fatigued.

In addition, Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski are all guaranteed to miss the start of the season after their World Cup-winning exploits with Germany, but Wenger says his side still have time to get in shape.

“I’m not especially concerned. It’s part of pre-season,” he told a postgame press conference at the Emirates Stadium.

“It’s a good warning for us that we’re not completely ready physically. The positive is that we had to dig deep for some players to play today (Sunday) and we got no injuries.”

Arsenal face Manchester City in the Community Shield on Sunday before opening their Premier League campaign against Crystal Palace the following weekend.

Asked if Arsenal will be ready for the showdown against City at Wembley, Wenger replied: “We will be. And Man City may be as well.”

Giroud’s exit, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain coming on, saw £30 million ($50.4 million, 37.6 million euros) new signing Alexis Sanchez moved from the right flank to centre-forward.

Wenger was encouraged by Sanchez’s second-half display, but when asked if the former Barcelona forward can expect to play in the centre on a regular basis, he replied: “I don’t know yet, honestly.

“Giroud is not ready at all. I thought I’d take him out because he didn’t look ready and it was an opportunity as well for me to see Sanchez at centre-forward. l

Serena Williams holds up the trophy winning the in the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California on Sunday AFP

World number one Serena Williams climbed out of an early hole to beat third-seeded German Angelique Kerber 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 on Sunday to win the WTA Stanford crown.

The top-seeded American, playing her first tournament since a disappointing Wimbledon campaign in which she was slowed by a virus, got her hardcourt build-up to the US Open off to a good start and will try to carry the momentum into next week’s tournament at Montreal.

Williams collected her third Stanford trophy and her fourth title of 2014, after triumphs in Brisbane, Miami and Rome.

But the 17-time Grand Slam champion has struggled in majors this year, failing to make it past the fourth round in the Australian Open, French Open or Wimbledon.

She’ll have her last chance of the year to add another major title to her resume at the US Open, which starts at Flushing Meadows on August 25.

“That would definitely make (my

year) better,” Williams said. “That would be a great thing. But I’m just focused on the next tournament.”

Kerber, who saved a match point en route to her semi-final victory over Varvara Lepchenko on Saturday, soared to a 5-1 lead in the opening set.

Trailing 5-2, Williams saved two set points as she broke Kerber to trim the gap to 5-3, part of a run of five straight games that gave her a 6-5 lead.

Williams saved one set point with a screaming forehand cross-court winner before Kerber netted a forehand. The American took the game when Kerber poked a forehand wide.

Williams broke Kerber to love to knot the set at 5-5, and held serve for 6-5 with a game that included a 120 mileper-hour ace.

“It wasn’t easy,” Williams said. “I blinked my eye and I was down 1-5. She was playing so well, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going on?’

“I just thought to myself, ‘Relax, don’t get crazy about it. Don’t think about anything but making your shots.’” l

Lyon back but no place for Hughes on Zimbabwe trip n Reuters, Sydney

Spinner Nathan Lyon has been recalled to Australia’s squad for the trip to Zimbabwe after two years out of one-day international cricket but there was no place for in-form top order batsman Phil Hughes.

Hughes had pressed his case for a recall last week by setting a new Australian record for a “List A” match with a brilliant unbeaten 202 against South Africa in a quadrangular one-day A team series in Darwin. With opener David Warner having decided to skip the tour to remain in Australia for the birth of his first child, Hughes had hoped his hot form might have earned him a call-up.

“We would have loved to pick Phillip but it’s quite difficult to find the spot for him with a strong batting line-up,” new head selector Rod Marsh said in a news release.

“He was in superb form during the recent Australia A one-day matches, including a stand-out double-century, and (we) will certainly be continuing to

watch him closely.”

Lyon was preferred to Xavier Doherty as the specialist spinner in the 14-man party and looks set to represent his country in a limited overs match for the first time since March 2012, when he played both of his ODIs.

SQUAD Michael Clarke (captain), George Bailey, Ben Cutting, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Shane Watson.

“Nathan Lyon has done very well in test match cricket, but first came under notice through his performances in short form cricket,” Marsh added.

“He bowled well in last year’s (inter-state) competition and having not played an ODI since early 2012, the (selectors) are keen to see him in action again. l

16

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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Mitford market a haven for illegal drug ingredients n Moniruzzaman Uzzal

Although news of fake drugs manufacturers often hit the headlines, the illegal trade still flourishes as unscrupulous businesspeople continue to rely on the steady supply of raw materials at the capital’s Mitford market – the main source of illegal drug ingredients.

There are allegations that several pharmaceuticals legally import the raw materials to manufacture a certain amount of drugs, but they also always order excess amount of materials – which they do not need – that are later sold at the market.

Sources told the Dhaka Tribune that these raw materials lose their efficacy because of improper handling, but are still bought and used by unlicensed manufacturers to produce substandard and fake medicine.

According to existing Drug Policy 2005, the sale of raw materials (active pharmaceuticals ingredients) of drugs in the open market is forbidden. For importing the raw materials, each

pharmaceutical also has to submit to the Directorate General of Drug Administration a block list that includes details on the amount of material they need to import for manufacturing a certain medicine.

The DGDA has a ten-member committee which then verifies the needs and the past records of the company, before permitting a company to import a certain amount of raw materials. But there are allegations that some pharmaceuticals – mostly medium and small ones – import extra raw material by applying for excess ingredients.

Maj Gen Jahangir Hossain Mollick, the director general of the DGDA, however, said they did not find any huge irregularity after scrutinising the yearly production of different drug companies. The drug administration was planning to conduct a mobile court drive at the Mitford medicine market soon, the DG added.

Admitting that claims about some pharmaceuticals illegally selling raw materials at the Mitford market were

“partially true,” Maj Gen Mollick said that the mobile court drive would reveal if the raw materials being sold there are smuggled products.

The raw drug materials are used to manufacture substandard, fake and adulterated medicines that are offered to patients at lower prices. Most con-

tice and more than often do not have the minimum facilities considering infrastructure, equipment and manpower.

According to the DGDA, 653 mobile court drives seized fake, adulterated, smuggled, and date-expired drugs worth around Tk10 crore during 2013.

The mobile courts had also handed jail

Yearly analysed samples in National Control Laboratory of the DGDA: Year

Total received

Total analysed

Standard

Substandard

Could not be analysed

Pending

2011

3720

2687

2583

104

0

3441

2012

4239

2371

2276

95

264

5043

2013 (upto October)

4688

3832

3998

134

14

5885

sumers of fake drugs are reportedly villagers who are unaware of the risks of having drugs not prescribed by doctors, and as a result suffer from severe side effects and face further complications instead of being cured.

The illegal drugs manufacturers – who buy raw materials from the Mitford market – fail to maintain the WHO guidelines for good manufacturing prac-

sentences to over 100 people, and fined them more than Tk2 crore.

When asked about the unscrupulous manufacturers, Selim Barami, a DGDA director, admitted that a handful of companies had been producing drugs without following good manufacturing practice, but claimed that the DGDA was trying its best to conduct mobile court drives and ensure safe medicine for people.

Although at least 253 pharmaceuticals are currently manufacturing around 25,000 brand drugs, the national control laboratory of the drug administration had only examined around 9,000 samples between 2011 and 2013. A total of 333 substandard drugs were identified during the time.

Professor ABM Faruq, former dean of the pharmacy faculty of Dhaka University, told the Dhaka Tribune that from his experience in the field, he could name at least 50 registered pharmaceuticals that did not have the minimum facility to manufacture medicine and were active in producing antibiotics and other drugs.

Meanwhile, Monir Hossain, assistant secretary general of Bangladesh Chemist and Druggist Somity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the pharmacies only sold the drugs and it was the drug-makers who were responsible for manufacturing the fake medicines. Claiming that the DGDA was not serious about monitoring, Monir called for better supervision by the drug administration.

No action yet against substandard pharmas

In 2010, the parliamentary body on the Health Ministry formed a probe team that identified 62 companies as producers of fake medicine. Later it revised the number of companies and placed it at 73, following a second round of inspections in 2013.

Of the 73, the team found 29 companies posed high risks to public health.

A report by the team mentioned that the 29 companies did not comply with the World Health Organisation guidelines in manufacturing drugs.

Asked about what steps had been taken against the accused pharmaceuticals, Golam Kibria, a DGDA director, said the drug administration had issued show cause notices to the alleged companies and sent all the necessary papers to the parliamentary committee on Health Ministry.

The parliamentary body met last month, Kibria said, expressing hopes that the committee would soon suggest taking further actions against the accused companies. l

TANGAIL BROTHEL EVICTION

Factors that expedited the eviction plot n Abid Azad

A woman sorts through betel leaves that were dumped on the banks of the Buriganga River. Although these leaves were originally rejected for their poor quality, she will sell whatever good leaves she can find from the waste to vendors NASHIRUL ISLAM

Eminent citizens: Report: Justice still elusive for Prosecute Delowar for holding 1,600 repressed women workers hostage 2005 and 2009 respectively. The latest provide information and counselling n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman is the fourth report. on these subjects, the report added. n Tribune Report A government report has said that Eminent citizens have called to prosecute Toba Group Managing Director Delowar Hossain on charges of securing bail by holding 1600 workers hostage in the Tazreen fire tragedy case.

“We think it is a threat to the independent judicial system in our country,” said 16 eminent citizens, including Syed Abul Maksud, Sultana Kamal, Khushi Kabir and Anu Muhammad, in a joint statement yesterday.

Delowar, also an owner of Tazreen Fashions Ltd, has been detained in connection with the devastating factory fire in which 112 people were killed in November 2012.

On July 28, a High Court bench granted two months’ bail to him, reportedly on the controversial grounds that 1600 workers of five factories under Tuba Group cannot be paid their salary for May and June unless he is out on bail in order to enable the release of the funds from the bank.

As a result of this, they believed that the trial of 112 workers who were killed on November 24, 2012 would be called into question, the eminent citizens said in their joint statement.

Through the statement, they strongly condemned the issue and demanded Delowar be punished for the Tazreen tragedy and for holding the workers hostage.

The statement urges people from all walks of life to voice this demand and also attend a human chain and a protest rally to be held in front of the Supreme Court at 10am today. l

women continue to face barriers in gaining access to justice when they experience repression.

Tardy legal process and difficulties in ensuring accountability of law enforcers make it difficult for women to get justice after being subjected to violence, the report said. It mentioned uncertainty of getting justice as another reason why violence against women persists.

The government, in its national report on implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action submitted to the United Nations in May, revealed the progress and major challenges to advancement of women, gender equality and discrimination against women.

“We are working on stopping violence against women,” Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Tariq-ul-Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the report, violence against women is still a critical challenge and weakness in the enforcement of laws has made it difficult to ensure women’s rights.

“Special courts to try women-related cases have been set up in all districts and many complaints were lodged there,” said Tariq.

The report pointed out that social norms are tolerant of violence against women, and both individuals and communities feel that it is justified in certain contexts.

“These beliefs are reflected among the law enforcement authorities and the judiciary,” the report read.

The national report is submitted in every five years, with the first, second and third reports submitted in 2000,

Child marriage

The report said the child marriage rate is high in Bangladesh despite the fact that the average age for getting married has gone up over the years.

“We are going to amend the existing act related to child marriage and hopefully the draft will be placed before the cabinet the following month,” Tariq said.

The government wants to increase the penalty for those involved in child marriage, he added.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently attended Girls Summit in London where the issue was discussed.

Right to inherit

The report revealed that many women have been deprived of receiving their proper share of inherited wealth.

“There are ample examples where women are not getting their due share of inherited wealth,” the secretary said, but refused to comment on the subject of equal inheritance.

The report, on the other hand, said the proposal for equal inheritance rights is being contested by some groups.

Sexual rights

The government, according to the report, includes information on sexual and reproductive health rights in textbook syllabus.

“We consult with girls, mothers and guardians to help them understand the issues,” Tariq said.

The report, however, said decisions on such issues are often taken by families or partners in spite of many steps taken by the state.

Health centres and hospitals do not

Women trafficking

Trafficking of women is a big problem and the Women Affairs Ministry has teamed up with the Home Ministry to curb the crime, said Tariq.

The government has already signed an agreement with India and it is also working in accordance with the Saarc convention on trafficking, he added.

Women in CHT

The report said the government is concerned and trying to implement the CHT Peace Accord.

Quoting a report of Kapaeeng Foundation, the national report said in the last seven years, 245 were killed, and repression of women was used as a tool for illegal occupation of lands.

Violence, killing and abduction of women are reported mostly as part of local conflicts over land and forest resources, the report added.

Budget allocation

Budget allocation for women is growing but it is still inadequate, said the report.

“We have raised the allocation this year and we are trying to provide allowance for as many women as possible,” Tariq said. “In this fiscal, more than 0.2 million rural women will get Tk500 in allowance each, which was Tk350 earlier,” said the secretary, adding: “The government will also give Tk500 each to 0.1 million poor and working urban mothers in allowance.”

According to the report, urban cities are failing to cope with population growth, and the government has not prioritised the poor living in urban areas in the budgetary allocation. l

The NGOs and the Nari Mukti Sangha, the local association of sex workers, strongly protested every past attempt at evicting the Tangail brothel.

This year, however, their failure to organise, coordinate and raise a collective voice has made the eviction easy.

Not only that; apart from one, all the NGOs have been mysteriously silent and inactive in protesting and rehabilitating the sex workers, many of whom have been left floating and destitute.

According to the HIV/AIDS and STD Alliance Bangladesh (Hasab), there were 622 active sex workers in the Kandapar brothel. The dependent population comprised 33 elderly former sex workers and 129 children – aged from zero to 17 years. At least 250 of the active sex workers were underage.

Additionally, there were 252 male partners and husbands of the sex workers, according to a survey conducted jointly by Hasab and an international NGO population council in June.

However, some former residents of the brothel claimed that the number of active sex workers was more than 2,000. They also said many sex workers from evicted brothels in Madaripur and Narayanganj Tanbazar used to live with them.

After the July 12 eviction, most sex workers did not have anywhere to go.

While many of them came to the capital, others stayed back and were fast spreading in Tangail town and its outskirts as floating prostitutes.

Some of them told the Dhaka Tribune that because they did not have any safe shelter, they were frequently victims of rape and torture. Sometimes their customers would not pay them after having sexual intercourse with them. “Somehow I managed a house after a few days of the eviction. But now, I cannot find any customer. My income has virtually come down to zero,” said one of them.

Seeking anonymity, another sex worker said: “On that night, I had to leave behind all my belongings at the brothel. I lived on the streets for a few days and looked out for customers. But it was a terrible experience.”

According to Hasab official Hirok, the biggest risk with the unmonitored floating sex workers is the fear of spreading sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as AIDS.

The role of NGOs

Seeking anonymity, an official of Hasab alleged that other than their NGO, none of the others had taken any steps to help rehabilitate the sex workers.

He told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have sent around 200 sex workers to brothels in Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Rajbari, Jessore and Khulna. But a large number of them have scattered through Tangail town.”

Other than Hasab, renowned NGOs such as Care Bangladesh, ActionAid, UNAIDS, Save the Children, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and Durjoy Nari Sangha had been running various projects with the sex workers including AIDS awareness, sex workers’ children education, and so on.

However, he also alleged that all of them have kept their offices shut since the day of the eviction. In fact, many of them have been wrapping up their activities in the area since rumours spread around a month ago that the sex

workers might be evicted.

Maulana Ashrafuzzaman Kashemi, imam of the Tangail graveyard mosque and vice-president of the unsocial activities prevention committee, slammed the NGOs saying: “Why do they remain silent when innocent girls are forcefully brought and sold to the brothel? Why do they not protest against such human rights violations? Why can they not save the innocent minor girls from prostitution?”

When asked why they did not make protests, an NGO official, seeking anonymity, said: “The failure of NMS [the sex workers’ association] to organise was a big reason.”

The role of NMS

The official said: “The NMS was formed

by Care Bangladesh in 1976. The leadership of the sex workers was scattered this time and divided into several groups since [Aklima Akter] Akhi changed its constitution after she became the president of the executive committee last year.”

“NMS was aimed to work for the betterment of sex workers. The executive committee should be elected every two

‘The leadership of the sex workers was scattered and divided into several groups’ years. The NGOs and the international organisations were supposed to work closely with the NMS. They formed a cooperative society to collect monthly amounts from the income of the sex workers to create a crisis fund.

“But Akhi changed the constitution autonomously after the last election and made herself the chief executive.

As the president, she could stay for two years; but the tenure of the chief executive is five years.”

Seeking anonymity, a Care Bangladesh official said: “Three years ago, I heard that the NMS had a Tk3 crore fund. But nobody knows how that amount came down to Tk80 lakh when Akhi was the leader.”

Akhi has allegedly fled with Tk80 lakh from the NMS fund. She has not been seen around since the day of the eviction. Sex workers alleged that they had not been returned the amounts that they had saved with the NMS. Some of them had as much as Tk1 lakh in the fund.

On July 6, six days before the eviction, Care Bangladesh officials took Akhi to meet Mizanur Rahman Khan, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Some sex workers said they did not like it. They thought that the NGO could have taken some more of members of the 11-strong executive committee of the NMS.

NHRC’s strange silence

Since the day that Akhi went to meet its chairman, the NHRC has remained strangely silent.

Upon her return after meeting with NHRC chief Mizanur, Akhi assured that no eviction would take place. But the commission reportedly took no action to prevent the eviction. Neither did it contact the local district administration or the law enforcement agencies as it was supposed to. The commission chairman could not be reached immediately for his remarks on the allegations. l

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Banks’ H1 profit shines, but fails to lift stock prices

‘Because there is still a big challenge ahead as curse of NPL is hovering over banks’ head’

n Kayes Sohel Net profit of nearly 80% of the listed private banks have increased in the first half of this year due mainly to higher income from treasury bonds and improved import situation.

Bankers said loan rescheduling against Non-Performing Loans (NPL) have also helped increasing the net profit, but NPL is still a headache as it will have to be adjusted at the end of the year.

They, however, hoped the earnings would be better in the days to come if the political situation remains in favour of investment.

Of the 30 listed banks, the net profit of 23 marked rise, five saw a fall and two incurred losses in the January to June period, according to Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) data.

Pubali Bank Managing Director Helal Ahmed Chowdhury said some banks recovered well from their poor earnings last year hit by the political unrest.

He said the banks have earned the lion’s share of income from investment in government treasury bonds. “It gives a big support in boosting earnings as rate of interest of bonds was higher in the last quarter.”

Some supports also came from realising commission from opening LC (letter of credit) that rose in the recent months, and remittances, he said.

Imports rose by 20.7% in the last fiscal compared to the previous fiscal.

In June this year, the opening of LCs posted a rise of about 31% compared

BANKS’ PROFITS AFTER TAX (IN CRORE TAKA) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

NBL Premier Prime UCBL Pubali AL-Arafa AB Bank SIBL South East Bank City Bank MTBL Exim Mercantile Uttara IFIC Jamuna Bank Standard Bank Bank Asia Dutch Bangla Dhaka Bank NCC First Security Trust Brac Bank EBL One ICBIBANK Rupali Islami Bank Shahjalal

H1 2013 -186.75 -204 -65 105.9 112.6 68.83 39.47 24 118.8 40 3.6 35 22.78 52.3 45 9.33 47.4 49 81.44 40 28 24.61 36.6 97 97.57 47.96 -8.6 74.6 153.8 20.7

with that of a negative growth of 17 % in the same month of 2013, according to Bangladesh Bank.

Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTBL) Managing Director Anis A Khan said mainly expansion, diversification and restructure of planning has helped bringing good results. “Banks’ invest-

H1 2014 119.38 34 101.2 194 163.6 117.94 80.95 61.7 154.3 74.2 36.94 65.93 43 72 64.55 28 64.5 66 92.85 50 35 30.38 38.7 95.92 94.74 43.67 -26.29 28.8 97.4 -49.5

Change 306.13 238.00 166.20 88.10 51.00 49.11 41.48 37.70 35.50 34.20 33.34 30.93 20.22 19.70 19.55 18.67 17.10 17.00 11.41 10.00 7.00 5.77 2.10 (1.08) (2.83) (4.29) (17.69) (45.80) (56.40) (70.20)

ment in Treasury bonds with high call rate has helped recovering well in the recent times from last year’s dismal earnings.”

The banker said the impact of loan defaults, which shot up last year following a series of banking scams and political unrest, might improve this

year too, if political field remains calm.

Chowdhury said rescheduling NPL in line with the central bank rules helped banks keep lower provisioning, also contributing to the profits. “But there is no reason for complacency.

Because there is still a big challenge ahead as curse of NPL is hovering over banks’ head.” About NPL, Khan said it followed last year’s trend.

The banks registered increased earnings by more than 100% are MTBL, Jamuna Bank, Social Islami Bank Ltd (SIBL), National Bank and AB Bank.

The banks with increased earnings by more than 50% are UCBL, Mercantile, Exim Bank, City Bank and Al-Arafah Bank.

The banks that saw a decline in their net profit are BRAC Bank, EBL, Islami Bank, One Bank and Rupali Bank.

Shahjalal Bank incurred losses of Tk49.5 crore in the first half of this year against its net profit of Tk20.7 crore a year earlier. During the period, accumulated losses of ICB Islami Bank rose to Tk26.3 crore, which was Tk8.6 crore.

Despite majority of banks registering increased net profit, they failed to attract stock investors. Yesterday, share prices of banks – the stock market’s bellwether – dropped 0.4%.

“It is probably because of bad loan,” said Asad Khan, managing director of Prime Finance and Investment Ltd. He said banks enjoy loan rescheduling facility against bad loan, giving a boost to income. But at the end of the year, bad loan will be adjusted with the profits. Failure in bad loan recovery means negative impact on profit.” l

CIB weakness prompts BB to ask banks to submit monthly large loan status n Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank has asked all the schedule banks to submit monthly the large loan statement through the central bank’s web portal.

The statement will have to be submitted within 10th of next month, said a circular Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday with immediate effect.

The banks will also have to submit hard copy of the statement and soft copy of CIB statement to the Department of Off-site Supervision (DOS) of Bangladesh Bank until further notice.

The central bank has no accurate information about the large loans. As a result, it could not monitor the large loan clients and identify who are holding loans violating the rules, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

He said the Credit Information Bu-

reau (CIB) of central bank is supposed to preserve the loan statement, but most of the information is inappropriate as it maintains the data provided by the banks. “There is no scope to recheck the information.”

The CIB, however, is supposed to be a most functional department as banks provides loans to the clients based on its clearance that a client is not already a defaulter. Unfortunately, the CIB remains non-functional, said the executive.

As a result, he said, the loan defaulters are getting loan through taking the advantage of the weakness in the CIB. Sometimes innocent people are being harassed due to CIB clearance with wrong information, he added.

Under the circumstance, the central bank has asked the banks to submit the large loan statement to the DOS, he said. l

Remittance hits record Cell phone life insurance getting popular high in July n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

n Tribune Report The country received highest-ever monthly remittance in July due to its increased inflow ahead of the Eid festival.

Remittance stood at $1.48bn in July, which is 19.69% higher than $1.2bn in the same month last year and 15.21% higher from the previous month of June.

Earlier, monthly highest remittance was $1.45bn in October, 2012, according to a central bank statement issued yesterday.

The total remittance in the first seven months of the current year increased by 7.71% to $8.93bn compared to $8.29bn in the same period of the last year.

The country experienced slower trend of remittance inflow since last fiscal year amid political unrest and sluggish investment climate.

As a result, it dropped by1.6% to US$14.22bn for the first time in the fiscal year 2013-14, after a steady upward trend during the last 12 years, compared to the previous fiscal year.

The remittance inflow was slower

even ahead of Eid festival in the last one year, but it had turned to record high from June as the country’s economy started getting back to normalcy after a pro-longed per-election political unrest, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

Expatriates are being active to invest into the country as the local businessmen are expanding their business activities after a long break, he added.

According to the central bank data, monthly remittance growth was negative 5% in January this year as the country went through a high-voltage tension centering the national election held on January 5.

Then the growth rate remained within 4% from February to April and turned to significant growth from May 11.83%, June 21.59% and July 19.39%.

The country received remittance worth $469m through state-owned banks, $17.91m through specialised banks, $976.50m through private commercial banks and $18.35m through foreign banks. l

Life insurance support, which is now being offered by the top three mobile phone operators to their loyal subscribers for providing them with a handsome monthly revenue earnings, are being popular in the telecom sector in recent times.

All the three leading operators Robi, Grameephone and Banglalink are currently offering this service, bringing around 75 lakh subscribers under the insurance net, according to sources.

Robi, the second-largest operator in-terms of revenue earning, is the pioneer for introducing this innovative idea in the country’s telecom sector in July, 2012 and the company has already paid around 273 claims worth Tk86 lakh.

Robi officials have claimed that they have so far brought around 47 lakh of their subscribers under the insurance net till May, this year.

The operator had also launched Emerging Market Initiative of the Year award in Asia Communication in 2013 for the life insurance service.

Robi is committed to provide such services to our valued subscribers to show them that we are always with them especially at the time of their need, Matiul Islam Nowshad, Chief

Only 0.9% subscribers are so far covered by the life insurance net under a formal channel although there is a huge scope for mobile operators to offer their services to more people Corporate and People Officer of Robi told the Dhaka Tribune.

Robi’s parent company Axiatia had also introduced the same service at the same time in two of its markets in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Bidyut Kumar Basu, former Chief Marketing Officer of Robi and also the then officials of Axiatia, has termed the initiative a unique one across the globe.

“Only 0.9% subscribers are so far covered by the life insurance net under a formal channel although there is a huge scope for mobile operators to offer their services to more people,” he, however, added.

Market leading operator Grameenphone had also offered the service to its subscribers along with Robi. More than 23 lakh people were brought under the same service called ‘Nirvoy Life’ by June, 2013 and also awarded their subscribers with free life insurance on the basis of the amount of airtime used per month.

“Though the concept of insurance as a safety net is new to many people, free micro insurance being offered by mobile operators is helping the low income groups to get some coverage, creating awareness on insurance products,” said Marcus Adaktusson, head of communications of Grameenphone.

He, however, claimed that this pro-

cess would also help strengthen the insurance industry of the country.

Grameenphone’s product is underwritten by Pragati Life Insurance and powered by Micro Ensure Bangladesh.

Grameenphone, which has around five crore active subscribers, the operator has so far successfully settled 51 claims worth Tk20 lakh. Most of the claims were settled within seven days and in many cases, claims were settled within 24 hours.

Banglalink, which is the second-largest in-terms of subscribers base, also joined the party in June, this year, raising the insurance coverage up to Tk10 lakh.

Banglalink officials informed that all their ‘Priyojon’ customers are automatically registered with the insurance coverage and the number is increasing day by day.

Nearly five lakh subscribers already got the benefit of the service, claim Bangllink officials. They took the services from a third party named “Aparajito” which is also engaged with the leading life insurance companies Alico, Delta and others. l

Survey report: Bribery, corruption in NBR major obstacles in doing business n Tribune Report

The country’s informal business sector has categorically identified “bribery and corruption” in the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and its officials as major obstacles in doing business in Bangladesh, according to a recent survey.

Among the respondents, 57% found it as a severe obstacle, while 22% rated it moderate, 13% as minor and 8% consider it not an obstacle.

The survey, which was conducted among 1000 formal and 800 informal business in Dhaka and Chittagong, has also found public’s poor perception and belief about the NBR officials.

The survey titled ‘Tax perception and Compliance Cost of the Formal sector and Perception of Taxation by the Informal Sector’ was conducted

by International Finance Corporation (IFC) from April 2012 to June 2012 and was released in last month.

The survey has defined informal firms as who is not yet registered with NBR and formal firms as those who had taxpayer identification number

(TIN) and filed tax returns at least once in the last three years.

According to the survey, respondents were asked to give their opinion on 12 selected aspects of business operations and taxation matters on 5-point agreement – disagreement scale where they have showed strong negative attitudes towards NBR and its officials as they have rated 3.9% ‘NBR officials as corrupt point, the highest point in the five-point agreements.

Like the informal sector, businesses from the formal sector have also showed negative perception about the taxmen and opined that the taxmen were ranked the lowest in terms of honesty.

Under another rating in 6-selected options including competency and expertise, helpfulness, honesty, and fairness in assessment of NBR officials on 0-100 scale, only 39% of the respondents have rated the NBR officials as honest.

In another segment of resolving disputes, respondents from formal firms have noted that NBR took 339 days on

an average to resolve a dispute.

They have also rated 79.4% for over

imposition of tax, 51.5% for bribe,

67.7% for harassment by tax officials, and 42.7% for repeated visit required for the same job due to non-cooperation etc faced while in resolving disputes.

There are widespread allegations that the corruption among NBR officials is largely hindering the revenue collection growth as they are demanding bribes for providing their services, even it is happening in case of obtaining a certificate.

To remove such hindrances, the board has taken up different initiatives, including prioritising automation of the country’s tax system, said an NBR official.

“The NBR is hinges on automation to bring accountability and transparency in tax collection by the government officials to curb corruption,” he said.

The NBR is now putting emphasis on developing a hassle-free and tax-friendly atmosphere, so the taxpayers will be encouraged to pay more taxes in the coming days, the official added. l

B2 DSE turnover crosses Tk500cr after 3 months n

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks gained yesterday with turnover crossing Tk500 crore after three-month, triggered mainly by lowered deposit interest rates by the banks, and low prices of stocks.

The market opened the session in a positive note and remained upbeat till closing of the session on buying spree, mainly on pharmaceuticals and energy stocks.

The benchmark DSEX rose 46 points or 1% to end at 4,467, after marginal fall in the previous session.

The Shariah index gained 14 points or 1.5% to 1,022. The comprising blue chips DS30 was up nearly 24 points or 1.5% to 1,655.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, closed at 8,452 with a rise of 80 points.

Inflow of fresh funds has helped the DSE turnover to cross Tk500 crore. It stood at Tk5 crore, a sharp increase of almost 38% over the previous session and the highest since April 9 this year.

Fuel and power, and pharmaceuticals made up 31.6% of the total trade at DSE. The major sectors posted mixed performance, yet another day.

Pharmaceuticals, power and, food and allied went up in the session with 2.8%, 1.5% and 1.5% respectively.

News of drop of cell phone subscribers’ growth pulled down telecommunication sector, making it the

Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

5,604.90 115,917,538

Number of Contract

worst performer of the day. It witnessed the losses of 0.7%.

The financial sectors – banks and non-banking financial institutions – edged down.

“Buying spree was spurred by mainly reduced banks’ deposit interest rate,” said a market player.

According to the data of the central bank, the weighted average interest rate on deposit in the banking sector declined to 7.79% in June from 8.01% in May this year.

IDLC Investments said triggered by the selective stock-specific focus, the bourse moved ahead. “Alongside, volatility prolonged with more stocks being in positive territory, indicating a search for worthwhile spread in undervalued stocks,” it said.

Besides, it said, favorable prices impulsed investors’ participation so the market level activity.

Zenith Investments said after remaining latent during the holidays, Dhaka stocks got back to its vibrant and lively mode as it was very well reflected in the higher volume of trade.

Half-yearly earnings have also created lot of noise, for the stocks to react accordingly, creating more impact on the market, it said.

Grameenphone was the most traded stocks with shares worth Tk46.9 crore changing hands, toppling Beximco that came second after remaining top for the eighth consecutive sessions. l

Tribune Report

DSE GAINERS

DSE key features August 4, 2014

Turnover (Volume)

Weekly capital market highlights

118,757

Traded Issues

300

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

167

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

131

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,343.96

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.41

CSE key features August 4, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

409.95

Turnover (Volume)

10,570,878

Number of Contract

15,733

Traded Issues

212

4467.00434

(+) 1.05%

▲

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

117

DSE - 30 Index :

1654.99375

(+) 1.46%

▲

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

85

CSE All Share Index:

13746.6256

(+) 0.99%

▲

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

9

CSE - 30 Index :

11341.7769

(+) 1.74%

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,246.46

8451.7580

(+) 0.96%

▲

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.23

DSE LOSERS Company Midas Financing-Z Savar Refractories-Z Linde (BD) Ltd. -A 7th ICB M F-A ICB Islamic Bank-Z Premier Leasing-Z DBH 1st MF-A ICB AMCL IslamicMF-A Imam Button -Z Mercantile Bank -A

Closing (% change) -19.81 -6.27 -4.82 -4.17 -4.08 -4.00 -3.85 -3.59 -3.57 -3.42

CSE LOSERS Company Midas Financing-Z NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A Sonargaon Tex -Z Hakkani P& Paper -B Standard Insurance-A PrimeFin. 1st MF-A Bay Leasing.-A In Tech Online -A Rupali Bank - A Islami Ins.BD-A

Closing (% change) -22.81 -7.94 -5.56 -4.23 -3.49 -3.47 -3.25 -3.20 -3.13 -3.11

Average (% change) -19.66 6.19 -3.56 -4.17 -2.82 -1.36 -3.65 -3.59 -4.45 -1.73 Average (% change) -16.67 -8.25 -5.22 -5.17 -3.49 -0.58 -3.20 -2.96 -3.13 -6.12

ANALYST

Closing average 17.08 60.00 845.37 92.00 4.83 7.27 5.02 18.80 8.15 14.23

Closing average 17.65 5.78 8.54 24.94 24.90 17.20 23.88 12.13 62.00 21.78

Weekly closing 17.00 58.30 847.10 92.00 4.70 7.20 5.00 18.80 8.10 14.10

Weekly closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 304.08 103.85 67.05 640.61 183.34 945.70 1.36 679.41 833.10 0.09 55.01 43.71 8.44 407.68 58.96 46.66 35.85 556.80 256.80 376.22 0.21

17.10 60.00 860.00 92.00 5.00 7.50 5.10 18.90 8.30 14.70

Weekly high

17.60 5.80 8.50 24.90 24.90 16.70 23.80 12.10 62.00 21.80

18.00 5.80 8.70 25.20 24.90 17.50 25.00 12.30 62.00 21.80

Weekly low

Turnover in million

14.80 57.00 839.00 92.00 4.70 7.10 4.90 18.70 8.00 14.10

Weekly low 17.50 5.70 8.40 24.40 24.90 16.70 23.50 11.50 62.00 20.30

Latest EPS

1.128 0.009 1.733 0.046 1.643 0.919 2.554 0.329 0.106 22.823

Turnover in million

9.16 9.11 8.72 7.40 7.06 7.01 6.79 6.64 6.05 5.86

-6.91 0.52 38.76 12.01 -0.80 0.10 0.81 2.33 -1.85 1.30

Latest EPS

0.035 0.038 0.038 0.162 0.012 0.146 0.203 0.264 0.006 0.044

-6.91 0.46 -0.96 0.28 3.00 1.64 2.32 -0.88 2.76 1.70

Latest PE -ve 115.4 21.8 7.7 -ve 72.7 6.2 8.1 -ve 10.9

Latest PE -ve 12.6 -ve 89.1 8.3 10.5 10.3 -ve 22.5 12.8

Company Argon Denims Limited-A aamra technologies-A H.R. Textile -A MJL BD Ltd.-A Shahjibazar Power-N Nitol Insurance -A Golden Harvest Agro-N Singer BD -A Square Pharma -A Active Fine Chem.-A

Closing (% change) 10.00 8.76 8.68 7.17 7.04 6.87 5.78 4.95 4.79 4.60

Average (% change) 6.37 8.58 5.59 5.85 6.28 3.07 3.78 6.08 5.01 4.97 Average (% change) 9.57 5.49 7.43 6.55 5.42 8.40 3.65 4.78 3.25 3.89

Closing average 28.90 48.95 213.79 427.50 163.78 33.95 23.06 87.46 276.97 192.68

Closing average 49.33 28.80 28.47 87.37 630.75 28.00 30.41 191.05 261.52 65.21

Weekly closing 29.80 50.30 219.50 433.70 165.20 35.10 23.60 88.30 282.10 195.20

Weekly closing 49.50 29.80 28.80 88.20 68.40 28.00 31.10 192.90 264.60 65.90

Weekly high 30.00 50.70 219.50 437.90 167.00 35.40 24.00 90.00 284.00 196.90

Weekly high 49.50 30.00 28.80 89.00 69.00 28.00 31.40 194.70 265.70 66.20

Weekly low 27.20 46.30 202.20 413.00 155.60 32.40 22.10 83.50 266.00 184.20

Weekly low 47.00 27.60 27.80 84.00 60.50 28.00 29.30 185.00 253.00 63.30

Turnover in million 43.176 128.055 3.132 1.710 43.746 271.827 2.175 150.200 6.614 42.279

Turnover in million 20.972 5.989 0.185 3.882 0.883 0.014 1.722 3.701 17.198 3.169

Latest EPS 1.39 3.86 3.92 6.95 3.91 0.88 1.43 5.04 3.18 6.28

Latest EPS 3.86 1.39 1.75 5.04 3.04 2.58 1.55 6.28 8.36 3.72

Latest PE 20.8 12.7 54.5 61.5 41.9 38.6 16.1 17.4 87.1 30.7

Latest PE 12.8 20.7 16.3 17.3 207.5 10.9 19.6 30.4 31.3 17.5

News, analysis and recent disclosers NBL: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 1,193.86 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.76 as against Tk. (1,867.50) million and Tk. (1.20) respectively*.

UTTARABANK: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 719.77 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.80 as against Tk. 522.85 million and Tk. 1.31 respectively*.

FLEASEINT: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 76.49 million with EPS of Tk. 0.69 as against Tk. 81.09 million and Tk. 0.95 (restated) respectively*.

EXIMBANK: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 659.38 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.51 as against Tk. 350.57 million and Tk. 0.27 respectively*.

BDFINANCE: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 14.54 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.13 as against Tk. (31.41) million and Tk. (0.27) respectively*.

NCCBLMF1: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 24.81 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.23 as against Tk. 71.09 million and Tk. 0.66 (restated) respectively*.

BDTHAI: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 20.16 million with EPS of Tk. 0.42 as against Tk. 18.11 million and Tk. 0.38 respectively*.

RDFOOD: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 31.53 million with EPS of Tk. 0.58 as against Tk. 26.53 million and Tk. 0.49 respectively*.

SAFKOSPINN: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 13.13 million with EPS of Tk. 0.53 as against Tk. 11.29 million and Tk. 0.46 (restated) respectively*.

RNSPIN: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 338.35 million with EPS of Tk. 1.37 as against Tk. 703.79 million and Tk. 2.93 respectively*.

FAMILYTEX: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 604.83 million with EPS of Tk. 2.17 as against Tk.

453.58 million and Tk. 4.13 respectively*.

ACIFORMULA: (Correction): (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 75.82 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.68.

WATACHEM: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 19.56 million with EPS of Tk. 3.10 as against Tk. 19.84 million and Tk. 3.14 respectively*.

SALVOCHEM: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 28.00 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.60 (restated 0.55) as against Tk. 21.93 million and Tk. 0.47 (restated 0.43) respectively*.

CONFIDCEM: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 157.31 million with EPS of Tk. 3.50 as against Tk. 187.37 million and Tk. 4.16 respectively*.

INTECH: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. -9.34 million with basic EPS of Tk. -0.48 ( restated –0.44) as against Tk. -1.45 million and Tk. -0.08 (-0.07 restated) respectively*.

PHENIXINS: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 86.72 million with EPS of Tk. 2.15 as against Tk. 70.97 million and Tk. 1.75 respectively*.

CENTRALINS: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 65.30 million with EPS of Tk. 1.57 as against Tk. 48.89 million and Tk. 1.18 respectively*.

PARAMOUNT: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 12.93 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.65 ( restated 0.59) as against Tk. 11.60 million and Tk. 0.58 (restated 0.53) respectively*.

ISLAMIINS: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 21.69 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.98 (restated 0.85) as against Tk. 19.42 million and Tk. 0.88 (restated 0.76) respectively*.

KARNAPHULI: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 26.68 million with basic EPS of Tk. 0.72 (restated 0.69) as against Tk. 24.14 million and Tk. 0.65 (restated 0.62) respectively*.

PROVATIINS: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 17.88 million with EPS of Tk. 0.76 as against Tk.

24.08 million and Tk. 1.02 respectively*.

GLOBALINS: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 22.40 million with EPS of Tk. 0.83 as against Tk. 24.51 million and Tk. 0.91 respectively*.

AGRANINS: (H/Y): NPAT= Tk. 25.03 million with EPS of Tk. 0.99 as against Tk. 21.48 million and Tk. 0.85 respectively*.

PRIMEINSUR: (H/Y): NPAT=Tk. 24.99 million with EPS of Tk. 0.64 as against Tk. 36.77 million and Tk. 0.94 (restated) respectively*.

MEGHNALIFE: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 30.06.2014 (Jan'14 to June'14), the Company has reported an increase in life insurance fund of Tk. 700.18 million with total life insurance fund of Tk. 12,784.77 million as against Tk. 819.82 million and Tk. reported an increase in life insurance fund of Tk. 77.09 million with total life insurance fund of Tk. 8,908.16 million as against Tk. 203.83 million and Tk. 8,36811,291.24 million respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas increase in life insurance fund was Tk. 477.24 million for the period of 3 months (Apr'14 to June'14) ended on 30.06.2014 as against Tk. 534.23 million for the same period of the previous year.

SANDHANINS: (H/Y): As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on 30.06.2014 (Jan'14 to June'14), the Company has.95 million respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas increase in life insurance fund was Tk. 14.17 million for the period of 3 months (Apr'14 to June'14) ended on 30.06.2014 as against Tk. 161.66 million for the same period of the previous year.

Alongside, volatility prolonged with more stocks being in positive territory, indicating a search for worthwhile spread in undervalued stocks

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

Weekly high

aamra technologies-A Argon Denims Limited-A Renwick Jajneswar-A Eastern Lubricants -A National Tubes -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A BDCOM Online-A MJL BD Ltd.-A Ambee Pharma -A Singer BD -A

Closing (% change)

CSE GAINERS

DSE Broad Index :

CSE Selected Index :

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

% change 5.43 1.85 1.20 11.43 3.27 16.87 0.02 12.12 14.86 0.98 0.78 0.15 7.27 1.05 0.83 0.64 9.93 4.58 6.71 0.00

Million Taka 18.57 10.03 2.41 40.22 25.34 54.72 79.24 52.92 41.08 6.58 42.50 2.09 22.67 6.73 2.29 2.49 28.70 44.10 50.02 0.00

CSE

% change 3.49 1.88 0.45 7.55 4.76 10.27 0.00 14.88 9.93 7.71 1.24 7.98 0.39 4.26 1.26 0.43 0.47 5.39 8.28 9.39 0.00

Million Taka 322.65 113.87 69.46 680.83 208.68 1000.43 1.36 758.66 886.02 41.17 61.59 86.20 10.53 430.35 65.69 48.95 38.34 585.50 300.89 426.23 0.21

Total

% change 5.26 1.86 1.13 11.09 3.40 16.30 0.02 12.36 14.44 0.67 1.00 1.40 0.17 7.01 1.07 0.80 0.62 9.54 4.90 6.94 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Grameenphone-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Square Pharma -A LafargeS Cement-Z The Peninsula CTG.-N Golden Son -A Shahjibazar Power-N ACI Limited- A Meghna Petroleum -A MJL BD Ltd.-A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A The Peninsula CTG.-N Grameenphone-A Argon Denims Limited-A Square Pharma -A LafargeS Cement-Z FAR Chemical-N Appollo Ispat CL -N Padma Oil Co. -A Golden Son -A

Volume shares 1,502,200 8,006,453 856,865 2,338,500 5,455,400 3,893,118 2,888,000 597,484 611,980 1,717,319

Volume shares 1,237,086 936,200 69,400 425,116 65,764 161,500 255,500 353,400 29,242 181,093

Value in million 468.12 271.83 224.39 216.78 205.74 184.47 182.42 177.41 174.83 150.20

Value in million 41.81 35.34 21.59 20.97 17.20 14.95 14.47 10.42 10.17 8.57

% of total turnover 8.35 4.85 4.00 3.87 3.67 3.29 3.25 3.17 3.12 2.68

% of total turnover 10.74 9.07 5.54 5.38 4.42 3.84 3.72 2.68 2.61 2.20

Weekly closing 310.80 35.10 265.90 92.10 37.90 47.50 68.20 291.00 284.80 88.30

Weekly closing 35.20 37.80 311.10 49.50 264.60 91.90 57.80 29.40 345.10 47.60

Price change -0.73 7.01 5.06 2.45 4.12 2.81 5.74 0.38 0.14 6.64

Weekly opening 313.10 32.80 253.10 89.90 36.40 46.20 64.50 289.90 284.40 82.80

Weekly high 314.80 35.40 268.00 94.00 38.70 48.10 69.30 304.00 287.70 90.00

Weekly low 309.00 32.40 252.80 90.00 36.30 46.00 59.50 289.50 284.50 83.50

Weekly average 311.63 33.95 261.87 92.70 37.71 47.38 63.16 296.94 285.68 87.46

Price change 7.32 3.85 -0.67 10.00 4.79 2.00 -2.03 0.00 -0.92 3.25

Weekly opening 32.80 36.40 313.20 45.00 252.50 90.10 59.00 29.40 348.30 46.10

Weekly high 35.60 38.60 313.50 49.50 265.70 93.70 59.50 29.90 350.50 47.90

Weekly low 32.40 36.40 309.00 47.00 253.00 91.00 55.00 29.20 343.60 46.30

Weekly average 33.80 37.75 311.05 49.33 261.52 92.59 56.64 29.50 347.85 47.33

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Obama: CEOs should quit complaining n Reuters, Washington President Barack Obama said corporate America has done well under his economic policies, telling the Economist magazine that chief executive officers should stop complaining about regulations and show greater social responsibility.

“If you look at what’s happened over the last four or five years, the folks who don’t have a right to complain are the folks at the top,” Obama said in an interview conducted last week and posted on the magazine’s website late on Saturday.

Republicans have sought to portray Obama as anti-business, and businesses have complained that Obama’s signature healthcare law and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms have raised costs.

Business groups are lobbying against his new plan to curb climate-changing carbon emissions from power plants.

“I would take the complaints of the corporate community with a grain of salt,” Obama said, arguing that his

policies have been friendly to business.

“They always complain about regulation. That’s their job.”

Obama has increasingly promoted populist economic measures such as raising the minimum wage to motivate Democratic voters ahead of critical November congressional elections, in which his Democrats face the prospect of losing control of the Senate. “Oftentimes, you’ll hear some hedge-fund manager say, ‘Oh, he’s just trying to stir class resentment’.

No. Feel free to keep your house in the Hamptons and your corporate jet, etcetera. I’m not concerned about how you’re living,” Obama said.

“I am concerned about making sure that we have a system in which the ordinary person who is working hard and is being responsible can get ahead,” he said.

Obama had a frosty relationship with business in his first term, famously telling an interviewer: “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street.”

The White House had toned down that rhetoric, and in Obama’s second

term has rallied corporate America for support to advance executive actions to hire the long-term unemployed, get better technology in schools and provide more opportunities for young African-American men.

Obama slammed Republicans for what he termed a thread of “anti-globalization” that has stalled reauthorization of funding for the Export-Import Bank, which he said would hurt US businesses trying to finance overseas trade. But in the interview, Obama chided business for a lack of social responsibility, citing a “general view” that “the only responsibility that a corporate CEO has is to his shareholders.”

“There’s a huge gap between the professed values and visions of corporate CEOs and how their lobbyists operate in Washington,” he said.

“My challenge to them consistently is, ‘Is your lobbyist working as hard on those issues as he or she is on preserving that tax break that you’ve got?’ And if the answer is no, then you don’t care about it as much as you say.” l

US President Barack Obama speaks at the Summit of the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington REUTERS

Oil price up in Asian trade

Euro slips in Asia on Portugal bank bailout

Will Europe’s banking ‘big bang’ loosen lending?

Oil prices rose in Asia yesterday, but analysts said gains were capped following weakened demand caused by refinery shutdowns and easing concerns about armed conflicts around the world.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery was up 10 cents to $97.98 while Brent for September gained 23 cents to $105.07 in afternoon trade.

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank said oil prices were pressured by multiple factors “including logistical issues in pipeline and refinery systems that weakened demand and that there is ample global supply despite the troubles in Iraq, Libya and Eastern Europe”.

Reports of refinery outages in the United States last week have caused concern that crude inventories will build at the Cushing, Oklahoma oiltrading hub, with the supply glut dampening prices.

Oil prices have seen a build in risk premium in recent months over armed insurgencies in crude producers Iraq and Libya, as well as Ukraine, a key conduit for Russian energy exports to Europe.

But a market awash with supplies have since eased worries that disruptions caused by these geopolitical crises will have any significant impact on prices. l

n AFP, Tokyo

n Reuters, Paris

n AFP, Singapore

NRBCB opens branch in Barisal n Tribune Business Desk NRB Commercial Bank Limited has opened its 19th branch at Sadar Road, Barisal. Educationist Professor Mohammad Hanif inaugurated the branch yesterday. l

The euro slipped against the dollar in Asia yesterday following news of a bailout for a crisis-hit Portuguese bank, while the dollar held steady after falling on US jobs data.

Portugal’s central bank announced late Sunday that the nation will inject 4.4bn euros ($5.9bn) into the Banco Espirito Santo (BES) amid fears of a catastrophic bank run.

The upcoming BoJ meeting is unlikely to result in any changes in policy. However, policymakers will have to outline their strategy for 2015 before too long The euro bought $1.3421 in Asia on Monday, down from $1.3430 in US trade late Friday, while fetching 137.80 yen against 137.75 yen.

The dollar was at 102.66 yen compared with 102.60 yen in New York on Friday.

The dollar slipped on Friday after US jobs data for July turned out to be solid but not strong enough to boost inflation expectations.

Stocks were lacklustre Monday, weighed down by concerns over the impact of stricter sanctions on Russia on European economies and the situation surrounding the BES, said Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager of re-

search at Chibagin Asset Management.

“European risk is having an impact on the broader market,” Okumura told Dow Jones Newswires.

BES, Portugal’s third-largest banking group, will be split into two entities, with its toxic assets isolated and its healthier assets regrouped in a new Novo Banco, national bank governor Carlos Costa said late Sunday.

The market focus is now shifting to Thursday’s monthly meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), although it is widely expected to hold fire on new policy action despite a lingering threat of eurozone deflation and geopolitical risks.

“The ECB might be enjoying a summer lull, eventually, with no hints of new action expected” at the upcoming meeting, Credit Agricole said in a note.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is also scheduled to hold a two-day policy meeting later this week.

“The upcoming BoJ meeting is unlikely to result in any changes in policy.

However, policymakers will have to outline their strategy for 2015 before too long,” Capital Economics said.

The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It fell to 32.15 Thai baht from 32.28 baht on Friday, to Sg$1.2464 from Sg$1.2489, to 1,033.01 South Korean won from 1,035.23 won, to Tw$29.99 from Tw$30.03, and to 11,740.00 Indonesian rupiah from 11,791.30 rupiah.

The dollar rose to 60.99 Indian rupees from 60.82 rupees, and to 43.69 Philippine pesos from 43.68 pesos.

The Australian dollar climbed to 93.19 US cents from 92.90 cents, while the Chinese yuan bought 16.58 yen against 16.64 yen. l

In the biggest advance in European integration since the launch of the euro in 1999, the European Central Bank will take charge of supervising banks from Helsinki to Lisbon in November after subjecting their books to unprecedented scrutiny.

The aim is to restore confidence in the euro zone’s banks, battered by the 2007-08 global financial crisis and the currency area’s own debt crisis, and help revive lending to businesses and households, especially in stricken southern Europe.

Many economists say Europe is at least five years behind the United States in cleaning up its banks, which explains in part why the euro zone’s economic recovery is so slow and fragile.

But it is not clear that the ECB exercise, involving a rigorous review of 131 banks’ assets and liabilities and a tough test of their ability to withstand economic shocks, will be sufficient to get more credit flowing into the “real economy”.

The problem lies less in any design fault in the process, which analysts agree is more demanding and transparent than two previous rounds of softball stress tests in 2010 and 2011 conducted under the aegis of the European Banking Authority.

The issue is more whether credit to firms in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece is scarce and expensive because shaky banks there cannot borrow and are reluctant to lend, or because of a shortage of demand in stagnant economies.

Where there is credit demand, banks scarred by the damage that bad lending can do may be too scared to lend to all but the safest of companies.

There is also concern about whether politics will get in the way of the ECB’s drive to restructure or wind down “zombie” banks and reverse financial fragmentation in Europe.

Daniele Nouy, the French official heading the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism, has vowed to resist political pressure, to which she says national supervisors have been prone in the past. Those same national supervisors will now sit on her board.

“We will not shy away from winding down banks,” she told German magazine Der Spiegel in June.

The euro zone crisis sparked an outbreak of banking nationalism, with governments and regulators trying to curb cross-border exposure. In one notorious case, Germany’s banking supervisor barred a German unit of Italy’s Unicredit from transferring funds to its parent company.

Nicolas Veron, an expert on banking supervision at the Bruegel economic think-tank in Brussels who was among the first to propose a European banking union, says the crunch will come if governments resist ECB efforts to close down ailing lenders.

“Lots of governments are worried that their banks may have to be closed,” he told Reuters. “It is unclear how far the ECB will go in clashing with governments. That won’t be entirely settled before the ECB takes over supervision on Nov 4.”

There could be disputes over the ECB banking supervisor’s treatment of government or local authority guarantees, of certain forms of hybrid capital and of the valuations of assets such as derivatives and foreclosed real estate portfolios.

Political pressure has already led to one exception being made for troubled Franco-Belgian lender Dexia, which has had 12bn euros ($16.11bn) in state aid and is being wound down. According to sources familiar with the matter, Dexia will not have to prove it could withstand a financial crisis, reducing the chances of it needing further public funds.

Greece, the country hardest hit in the euro zone crisis, is asking that stress tests on its banks take into account new restructuring plans and are not just based on last year’s balance sheet.

Ironically, some of those issues may come to a head in Germany, Europe’s biggest and most robust economy.

Despite restructuring, some of the six Landesbanken regional banks are propped up with state guarantees and are carrying risky assets in shipping loans and commercial real estate.

They are politically highly sensitive because they are owned by regional authorities and local savings banks and play a role in sustaining fragile sectors such as shipping.

The stress test results will be published in the second half of October and the ECB proposes giving banks just 48 hours to review the findings, although bankers want more time.

They will then have two weeks to come up with a plan to plug any capital shortfall, and up to nine months to raise the money.

Veron expects the “zombies” - banks deemed not to have sufficient capital to withstand economic shocks - to fall into two groups. The weakest may not even take the stress test in October. Another group will take the test but fail. l

Toyota dreams of green car future, but tied to gas-guzzler present n Reuters, Tokyo Toyota Motor Corp is hitching its future to green cars, investing billions of dollars in gasoline-electric hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles, but for now its record profit performance is being powered largely by a gas-guzzling US market.

In the United States, relatively cheap gasoline prices helped to spur brisk 9% growth in industry-wide light truck sales in the first half of the year, making that one of the fastest-growing major global market segments - accounting for about one-tenth of global vehicle sales.

Toyota outperformed the overall US market, moreover, with its fresh model line-up - the Highlander SUV was redesigned in February and the Tundra pick-up got a facelift last September powering a 10% rise in its January-June US light truck sales to nearly half a million vehicles.

That success is feeding the nearly $40bn cash pile that Toyota will tap for future green car investments.

“The U.S. is one of the few bright spots contributing to year-on-year profit growth for Toyota while it faces a slowdown in places like Japan and Thailand,” said Koichi Sugimoto, an auto analyst at

Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley.

Light trucks, a category that includes SUVs, accounted for around 42 percent of Toyota’s total US sales in January-June, which were up 5% from a year earlier.

The strong showing continued in July, when Toyota’s total US sales rose 12% due to robust SUV demand and larger discounts, outperforming the industry’s 9% growth and surpassing Ford Motor Co to become the No 2 seller for the month.

Analysts forecast that Toyota’s AprilJune North American operating profit jumped at a double-digit rate from the same period a year ago, with Barclays auto analyst Tatsuo Yoshida putting the figure at 106bn yen ($1.03bn), up 30% year-on-year. The company will announce its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday.

Toyota’s North America numbers undercount the region’s actual contribution to profits, since they exclude much of the profits made from imported vehicles. Most of what Toyota earns through exports from its home country are counted with Japan profits, which likely fell in April-June due to a sales tax hike in April that dented domestic sales. l

Bank Asia has recently opened four agent banking booths in Munshigonj. The bank’s vice chairperson AM Nurul Islam inaugurated one of the four agent-banking booths that is situated at Dhalagaon Bazar in Munshigonj

First Security Islami Bank Limited has donated Tk10 lakh for constructing class rooms for Raj Textile Secondary School in Jessore yesterday. The bank’s managing director AAM. Zakaria handed over the cheque to Md Shamsul Alam, chairperson at Support Foundation of Trusty Board of Raj Textile Secondary School

World Brand Congress has recently announced Walton, a brand of Bangladesh as the winner of its “Best Brand” award for achieving high trust in the fields of electrical, electronics & automobiles. Md Humayun Kabir, Walton’s executive director and deputy director (PR and media) Firoj Alam received the award from Virginia Sharma, director marketing of Linked In, Asia Pacific and Ned Mody, country head of Barkadia

Lions Club of Dhaka Dilkusha Green, part of Lions Clubs International (District 315 A1) Bangladesh has recently distributed clothes among the poor and distressed people. Zone chairperson of Lions Clubs International, District 315 A1 and former president of Lions Club of Dhaka Dilkusha Green Mohammad Mizanur Rahman handed over the clothes among the poor and distressed people of Radhanagar village, Narayanganj District

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

SoftBank vets Japan entrepreneurs n Reuters, Tokyo If Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank Corp needs a fresh strategy to fend off a surprise French counterbid for a prized US telecoms target, he could do worse than ask budding entrepreneurs at the SoftBank Academia.

Here, some 300 or so aspiring leaders - split about evenly between company insiders and entrepreneurs from outside - brainstorm ideas and vie to catch Son’s eye, with a chance he’ll offer them a job or invest in their company, or even choose them as his “heir” to run Japan’s second most valuable listed company.

The Academia, set up by Son four years ago, meets once or twice a month in the 25th floor cafeteria of SoftBank’s Tokyo headquarters. In what sounds like an episode from business-reality TV show “The Apprentice”, the budding leaders play business-themed board games and compete with 5-minute business proposals that are judged by their peers. The winners get to meet Son; the losers hear, “You’re fired!”

The Academia is ostensibly seeking someone to carry on the business from Son, Japan’s best known entrepreneur who built a small software distributor into a near-$90 billion internet media empire. Son, 56, has said he wants to retire in his 60s.

But the programme is also helping SoftBank scout and train talent to run its hundreds of ventures, in fields from internet services to robotics and renewable energy, in a country where MBA-type business schools and venture capital firms are rare.

“People say Son’s thinking is: you guys may not be able to be my actual successor, but you definitely have what it takes to become head of a subsidiary,” said one participant, who asked not to be named. The contents of the programme are not made public and participants are explicitly told not to discuss the sessions with people outside the programme.

SoftBank, Japan’s third-largest mobile operator, is an aggressive acquirer that last year bought No.3 U.S. wireless company Sprint Corp, and is in talks to buy fourth-ranked T-Mobile US Inc. It is also a significant shareholder in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, and has stakes in mobile game companies Supercell and Gungho Online Entertainment Inc. It plans to amass 5,000 companies within its empire by 2040, up from nearly 900 now.

Son, who now faces a counterbid

for T-Mobile US from French firm Iliad SA, has acknowledged that the lack of a successor poses one of the leading risks to SoftBank’s future.

“If you say, ‘Son’s successor’, that’s going to get people excited. I don’t know whether this is true or not, but I heard that if Son’s stock went to his successor, it would be worth around 10bn yen ($100m),” said the Academia participant.

Star-struck

About 4,000 applied to the Academia when it was launched, with just 300 accepted - a tougher acceptance rate than Princeton University or Tokyo University, Japan’s most prestigious school.

The bottom performing 20% are routinely culled from the programme, making room for fresh applicants while keeping the total number of participants steady. Participants, aged 20-45, are selected by the human resources department on the basis of a CV, an essay and two 5-minute presentations - the hallmark of the programme.

Another participant said that some of those who apply are drawn by the promise of meeting Son, while others treat it more as an MBA-type school.

Son insists that everyone should be able to speak English, so they could at least conduct business overseas.

Yasuyuki Genda, director of SoftBank’s HR development department, said about 20 participants, half of whom were from outside the company, had been selected for special appointments or promotions inside the company.

“It’s not a recruiting operation, so we’re certainly not going to them saying, ‘Hey, come on over,’ but they do end up coming into contact with SoftBank’s operations, even if not at the front lines,” he said.

Genda said the Academia was not intended as a vehicle through which SoftBank could identify potential startup acquisitions, though this could one day be part of its legacy.

“There have been no cases when such an acquisition actually occurred, and that’s not our objective,” he said.

“While not our objective, though, some (companies) could end up becoming part of the SoftBank group as part of the whole process.”

Participants say there have been occasions when Son, impressed by a proposal in one of the sessions such as a solar power project, made an offer on the spot to invest several billion yen (tens of millions of dollars) in the idea. l

The world's largest solar-powered boat, 'MS Turanor PlanetSolar' sails through the Corinth Canal near the town of Corinth on July 28. The boat arrived to Greece as part of a joint archaeological project focused on underwater exploration off one of Europe's oldest human occupation sites, the Franchthi cave in the Argolid, southeast Peloponnese. The project is taking place in one of Greece's richest archaelogical areas, the Argolid, known for its major palatial complexes in the Bronze Age that include Mycenae and Tiryns and later, classical-era city-states and sites like Argos and the ancient-theatre site of Epidaurus AFP

Amazon to invest $2bn more in India as e-commerce race heats up n Reuters, Mumbai Amazon.com Inc on Wednesday said it will invest a further $2bn in India just a day after the country’s largest e-tailer Flipkart attracted $1bn of fresh funds, raising the stakes in a nascent but fastgrowing e-commerce sector.

Amazon, which opened its Indian website in June last year, has drawn up the battle lines by slashing prices, launching same-day delivery, adding new product categories and embarking on a high-voltage advertisement campaign.

Amazon and Flipkart are joined in India’s $13bn e-commerce sector by marketplace Snapdeal, fashion e-tailer Jabong, and US auctioneer eBay Inc. “With this additional investment of $2bn, our team can continue to think big, innovate, and raise the bar for customers in India,” Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said in a statement. “At current scale and growth rates, India is on track to be our fastest country ever to a billion dollars in gross sales.”

Amazon had not previously dis-

closed Indian investment plans. But on Monday, the U.S. company said it will raise its presence in the country by opening five more warehouses, almost doubling storage capacity to half a million square feet.

“It’s all about who builds up scale faster and remains relevant for the next few decades,” said Harminder Sahani, managing director of retail consultancy Wazir Advisors.

Amazon makes its money in India by charging third-party suppliers to use its website to sell 17 million different products including books, electronics and clothing.

The government is considering allowing foreign retailers to sell directly to customers. It recently took a step in that direction by allowing retailers to sell online products manufactured in India.

Indian e-commerce is expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 34%, according to a joint report by consultants Digital–Commerce, the Internet Mobile Association of India and the Indian Market Research Bureau. That

rate, however, is slower than in some other emerging nations such as China.

Of the $13bn market, travel services account for about 70%, according to consultancy Technopak. The type of goods sold through Amazon made up

'With this additional investment of $2bn, our team can continue to think big, innovate, and raise the bar for customers in India' $1.6bn of the total last year, according to researcher Forrester, and Technopak expects that figure to swell to $76bn by 2021.

By comparison, e-commerce sales in China are likely to surpass $180bn this year, according to researcher eMarketer l

India’s Flipkart raises $1bn in funds to tackle Amazon n AFP, Mumbai India’s top e-commerce company Flipkart said Tuesday it had raised $1bn (60bn rupees) in funds as it battles US giant Amazon for supremacy in the hyper-competitive local market.

Flipkart, set up in 2007 by two former Amazon employees, said Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC was among those to participate in the fundraising, the latest injection of money into the e-commerce market.

“The fresh round of funding is a great milestone in the e-commerce industry of India. Very few internet companies in the world could have raised such funds publicly,” Flipkart’s cofounder Sachin Bansal told reporters in Bangalore.

Flipkart is the country’s biggest online shopping portal in an e-commerce market that is still puny next to China’s.

But the market, whose sales reached $2.3bn in 2013 according to Indian consultancy Technopak, is expanding rapidly, with venture capitalists pouring money into the sector, scenting potential. l

China brands beat global rivals with tea toothpaste & pickled plums n Reuters, Shanghai With green-tea flavoured toothpaste and pickled plum juice, an army of Chinese retailers is tapping local tastes to whittle away market share from global rivals that are banking their future growth on the world’s second-largest consumer market.

Senior executives at companies such as The Coca-Cola Co, Procter & Gamble Co and Colgate-Palmolive Co are being forced to adapt as the challenge posed by local firms intensifies in a slowing economy.

Last year, China’s 1.15tn yuan ($185.31bn) consumer goods market grew at 7.4% annually, half the rate of three years ago, according to a report this month from Bain & Company and Kantar World Panel.

In this tougher market, both local and foreign brands are targeting the same customers, and increasingly, the domestic firms are winning: nearly two-thirds of foreign brands surveyed lost market share in China last year, according to the report.

“The good domestic brands are closing the gap really quickly and are able to play off the idea that they know how to develop something that a Chinese person is going to want,” said Ben Cavender, a principal at China Market Research Group.

Understanding the needs of Chinese consumers has given local companies an edge. Privately owned Jiaduobao Group (JDB) makes canned herbal tea which it says can put out internal “fires”, playing on a concept in traditional Chinese medicine. The firm also sponsors a popular TV talent show, “The China Voice”.

“Our campaign around ‘fearing internal fire’ has helped JDB herbal tea

A boy sitting in a toy tricycle is pushed past shelves of bottled beverages at a supermarket in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province REUTERS

become the highest selling canned drink in China...,” said Wang Yuegui, a senior executive at the firm.

JDB accounted for 6.1% of the soft drinks market in 2013 by value, up from 4.2 in 2009, according to data from consumer consultancy Euromonitor. CocaCola had 13.1%, while Pepsi had 3.9%.

Green tea toothpaste

With a population of 1.2 billion and a rapidly expanding middle class, China

is the largest consumer goods market after the United States and even with a slowing economy, remains key to the future of global brands.

China’s economy is expected to grow at its slowest pace in 24 years this year, but that’s still 7.4%. The US economy, by comparison, is expected to grow at just 1.7%. Many of the Chinese firms taking on the international conglomerates are little-known abroad, but their local know-how is helping them broad-

en their appeal at home.

Hawley & Hazel, a joint venture owned by Colgate-Palmolive and its Hong Kong-based founders, makes Darlie toothpaste which leads the domestic market according to Kantar and Bain, playing to Chinese tastes with green tea and jasmine flavours.

Another popular toothpaste brand is made by Yunnan Baiyao Group Co Ltd, which uses its history as one of the biggest and oldest traditional Chinese

medicine makers in the country as a selling point.

Taiwan-based drinks maker Tingyi Cayman Islands Holding Corp, which bottles and distributes PepsiCo Inc products in China, also says it makes a point of developing traditional Chinese flavours such as snow pear and pickled plum.

“There are a lot of things that Chinese prefer localized,” said Bruce Rockowitz, chief executive of Global Brands Group and former CEO of global sourcing firm Li & Fung. “Foreign brands haven’t adapted well enough.”

In a bid to fend off competition, market leader Coca-Cola launched small-sized products, which helped boost its China sales. It also offered shoppers discounts, like rival PepsiCo. Coca-Cola, however, saw its market share drop more than 3 percentage points to 13.1% last year, while PepsiCo Inc fell 1.8 percentage points to 3.9%, according to Euromonitor data.

Coca-Cola International president Ahmet Bozer said he was happy with the company’s 9% sales volume growth in China during the second quarter.

“From a competitive standpoint, we are quite pleased,” he said on a conference call with reporters. Pepsi said in an email to Reuters that its China revenue grew by low double-digits in the second quarter. It also said its relation-

DILBERT

ship with Tingyi and a research and development centre in Shanghai helped it develop products geared to the local market.

Under siege

Even traditional strongholds for foreign brands are under attack in China, including the market for infant milk formula. That market is one of largest and fastest growing, expected to be worth $25bn by 2017, according to Euromonitor data.

Global companies including Mead Johnson Nutrition Co, Nestle SA, Danone SA and Abbott Laboratories have long dominated the premium formula segment but they have increased tieups with Chinese partners and boosted domestic supply chains to protect their position. Chinese milk powder firms including Biostime International Holdings and Beingmate Baby & Child Food Co Ltd increased their market share last year, helped by a food scare that hit foreign brands as well as government drives to consolidate the sector.

In diapers, another area traditionally dominated by foreign brands, local firms are becoming more credible rivals, said a spokesman for Japanese diaper maker Kao. “The potential challenge from Chinese domestic manufacturers has grown remarkably,” he said. l