22 Aug, 2014

Vadro 7, 1421 Shawal 25, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 140

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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WEEKEND

8 | WORLD

11 | OP-ED

B1 | BUSINESS

RAISING HELL: KIDS THESE DAYS!

FOLEY’S DEATH ISN’T CHANGING VIEWS IN CONGRESS

BIRTHDAY LUNACY MUST END

ATIUR: DISCIPLINE RESTORES IN BANKING

AL leaders sued for illegal wealth Israeli air strike kills ACC says they hid information about income and wealth in election affidavits Samiul Basher Anik n Syed and Adil Sakhawat Two years ago, Cox’s Bazar Awami League lawmaker Abdur Rahman Badi purchased a 0.6 decimal land in Teknaf upazila for nearly Tk42 lakh. Documents show that eight months later, he sold that land for Tk2.4 crore, which was nearly five times higher than the purchase price.

According to the local land office in Teknaf, the current market price of 0.6 decimal land in that area can be Tk6 lakh at best.

In February this year, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) sought a statement of wealth from Badi where he showed that his family owned tangible and intangible assets worth a little over Tk5.20 crore.

However, the income tax return that he submitted in November 2013 shows that the value of their assets was more than Tk16.06 crore.

Although he told the ACC in the wealth statement that he had acquired the assets with income generated from his “export-import” business, he could not produce any valid document when investigators went to him. The ACC thinks that he has hidden assets worth more than Tk10 crore.

Yesterday, the graft buster filed a case against the incumbent ruling party lawmaker on charges of accumulating illegal wealth beyond his known source of income.

In February, Badi challenged the

three top Hamas commanders in Gaza n Reuters

ACC saying he would step down as an MP if the investigators could prove that he had laundered even a single penny or concealed information about wealth in his election affidavit.

According to the affidavit that Badi

had filed with the Election Commission before the January 5 election, his net asset was Tk49.79 lakh in 2008, which rose to Tk15.57 crore in 2013 at the end of his five year term as a lawmaker.

The ACC yesterday also sued two

former state ministers from the ruling Awami League’s immediate past cabinet on similar charges.

In January this year, the commission initiated an inquiry against seven  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

An Israeli air strike killed three senior Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip yesterday, a clear sign of its intention to hit the group’s armed leadership days after a ceasefire failed.

Hamas, which dominates Gaza, named the men as Mohammed Abu Shammala, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum, the three highest-ranking casualties it has announced since Israel started its offensive six weeks ago.

All three, killed in the bombing of a house in the southern town of Rafah, had led operations against Israel over the past 20 years, the Islamist movement said.

The Israeli military and Shin Bet, the internal security service, confirmed it had targeted two of the men.

Following the collapse on Tuesday of a 10-day ceasefire, the Israeli military appears to have ramped up its efforts to hit the leadership of Hamas’s armed wing.

Late on Tuesday, the Israeli air force bombed a house in northern Gaza, an attempt, Hamas said, to assassinate Mohammed Deif, its top military commander. Deif’s wife, daughter and seven-month-old son were killed but Deif escaped, Hamas said.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

PADMA BRIDGE FUNDING

Goldman Sachs, a US-based investment bank, has offered the government to raise $2 to $3 billion fund from international bond market by issuing sovereign bonds for infrastructure projects like Padma bridge.

The visiting high officials of Goldman Sachs made this offer at a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith at the Finance Ministry Auditorium yesterday.

Prime Minister’s Economic Affairs Adviser Dr Moshiur Rahman, Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi, Bangladesh

However, Goldman Sachs said raising project loan from sovereign bonds would take time Bank Governor Atiur Rahman and Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed were also present.

Ryad Yousuf, the managing director of Goldman Sachs, UK, led the delegation at the meeting. The other two members of the delegation were Johanna Dunn and Paul S Rose.

After the meeting, the finance minister told reporters that they (representatives of Goldman Sachs) said the infrastructure fund might be raised to $5 billion if negotiations with Bangladesh continued smoothly to float bonds in the global bond market.

Now Goldman Sachs indicated that

The ACC is scrutinising the wealth and assets of a good number of politicians of different parties, whose wealth showed a meteoric rise.

4 | News

In a meeting with Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) yesterday, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the private manpower recruiting agencies should not consider the government their rival.

it was the right time to float sovereign bonds in the international market as there was an upward trend in bond prices, he said.

“The representatives of Goldman Sachs have given us good information in the meeting that most of the countries are now out of the global recession. So, the demand for Bangladeshi bonds will be lucrative in the global market.”

Goldman Sachs had helped Bangladesh make its economy stronger, he said. “They also closely studied Bangladesh’s economy when we planned to float sovereign bonds last year. But we could not float due to different reasons.”

The World Bank criticised the floating of bonds in the international bond market, but we had informed the WB and ADB of floating bonds in the international market, he said.

In November 2013, Goldman Sachs included Bangladesh among the next eleven economies identified for having great opportunities for investment in foods and beverages, technology, textiles, leather tanning and real estate.

Goldman Sachs representatives said it would take time to raise the project loan from the sovereign bonds, although US Investment Bank raised all purpose loan from international bond market within three months, Muhith said.

In reply to a question, the finance minister said interest of bonds can be 7% to 9%.

Goldman Sachs said interest of foreign credit would be reduced if Bangladesh floated bonds in the international market.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A two-day-old child was reportedly stolen yesterday from the neonatal ward of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), the second newborn to be stolen from the hospital since March.

It is reported that a woman carried the infant out of the hospital in broad daylight, in plain view of law enforcement personnel and under the noses of closed-circuit camera staff.

The child’s father alleged that the theft took place with the collusion of hospital authorities.

The grief-stricken 27 year old mother has been crying inconsolably since her little boy was allegedly stolen from the ward. Luna Begum, wife of security guard Kawsar Hossain Babu, is losing hope of recovering her son.

At least five children have been stolen from DMCH wards in the last three years.

Not one child has ever been recovered.

Hospital authorities have formed probe bodies, increased security and set up CCTVs to clamp down on the crime but they have not been successful.

The mother-to-be, from the Mohammadpur area of the capital, was

admitted to the DMCH labour ward in the early hours of August 19, where she gave birth to twins. Doctors transferred Luna and her healthy boys to ward number 213. Luna’s mother, Gulnur Begum, accompanied them.

On Wednesday morning around 8am, a 40 to 45 year old woman, who said a relative had been admitted to the hospital, began to befriend Luna and her mother. She kept up a friendly conversation with Luna, offering advice on breastfeeding and neonatal care, and kept them company until afternoon.

After a 13-year long wait, the trial of a terror attack that killed 8 people and injured 50 others at a public rally of Communist Party Bangladesh at Paltan Maidan, has finally begun.

The attack took place at a time when little was known about the underground activities of militant outfits in the country and their fanatic movement to establish Shariah law using acts of terror.

Thirteen militants of banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji) had been made accused of orchestrating the CPB rally attack.

A Dhaka Court yesterday framed the charges against 13 Huji activists in two cases filed regarding the attack.

Additional Metropolitan Session’s Judge KM Imrul Kayes farmed the charges in presence of 5 accused after rejecting the discharge petitions filed by the defense counsels.

The court framed the charges under Section 302/324/326/307/120(b) and Section 34 of the penal code in the murder case. For the murder case, the court fixed September 14 for prosecution witnesses to testify before it.

Meanwhile, the court also fixed September 4 for the hearing for charge framing of the case under the explosives act.

Among the accused, five militants including Mufti Hannan were produced before the court from jail.

All of the accused claimed themselves innocent and sought justice when Additional Public Prosecutor Assaduzzama Khan read out the charges in front of them.

Earlier, defense counsels mentioned in their discharge plea that the incident occurred in 2001 and the investigation officer submitted the charge sheet in

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

8 | World

12 | Entertainment

15 | Sport

Luna Begum gives a blank look with one of her twin baby boys in her lap at DMCH. Yesterday morning, the other baby boy was allegedly stolen from the hospital Mahmud Hossain Opu

Another newborn disappears, family blames DMCH authority n Mohammad Jamil Khan

5 | News

Residents of Rajshahi City Corporation have been suffering immense woes as around 6,000 ditches, dug by the authorities along around 410km roads in the city to facilitate new gas connections, are not being repaired properly.

6 | Nation

“The assassinations of the three Qassam leaders is a grave crime,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. “But it will not break our people and Israel will pay the price for it.”

Amos Yadlin, former chief of Israel’s military intelligence and head of Tel Aviv University’s INSS think-tank, said Israel, which was engaged in indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas in Cairo until Tuesday, had now changed its game plan.

“The prime minister has adopted a strategy which says ‘You shoot at us, we’ll hit you seven times harder, you want attrition? We have intelligence and an airforce that will crush you with greater force,” he told Israel Radio.

However, Israel’s ultimate goal could still be a diplomatic deal to end hostilities, Yadlin said. l

Mufti Hannan and 13 others indicted n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

INSIDE 3 | News

P8 HAMAS ADMITS KILLING TEENS

BOMB ATTACK ON CPB RALLY

Goldman Sachs offers to raise $2-$3bn from int’l bond market n Asif Showkat Kallol

Netanyahu declined to say whether Israel had tried to kill Deif, but said militant leaders were legitimate targets and that “none are immune” from attack.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians marched at the funeral of the three Hamas commanders yesterday, firing weapons into the air in anger and calling for revenge.

A Union Parishad has witnessed 11 abductions and 13 robberies at Naikhangchhari upazila in Bandarban district in the last four months.

Thousands of protesters in the far-flung Indian state of Assam defied a curfew and attacked police in a fifth day of unrest over a territorial dispute with a neighbouring state.

Somnur Monir Konal, took the Bangladesh music scene by storm after winning the ‘Shera Konthho 2009’ beating thousands of participants.

Quinton de Kock smashed 84 as a weakened South Africa crushed Zimbabwe by seven wickets to complete a whitewash in their three-match ODI series.

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Friday, August 22, 2014

Japanese FDI in RMG opposed n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Local garment manufacturers have vehemently opposed any Japanese investment in producing basic garment products, claiming domestic entrepreneurs are capable of doing it.

“Japanese investors showed interest in producing basic readymade garment products like pants and shirts; but we discourage such investment as we are capable of manufacturing those,” Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Vice-President Reaz bin Mahmood told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The Japanese investment in RMG and textiles sector was discussed in the first Bangladesh-Japan Public-Private Economic Dialogue held at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday.

The association asked them to invest in composite textile industry or value-added products such as suits, tents and school bags, where local investment had been negligible, Reaz said.

“A foreign investor has set up a plant to produce apron, gloves and other products which are used in hospitals and we encourage such investment,” he added.

FBCCI president Kazi Akramuddin, who represented the business community in the Bangladesh-Japan dialogue, told the Dhaka Tribune that the Japanese investors wanted to come in a big way.

“They wanted to know what incentives they would get if they invested in Bangladesh.”

Bangladesh wanted them to invest in sectors such as power, information technology and other value-added industries, he said.

“We showed little interest about having investment in the readymade garment sector,” he added.

BGMEA president Atiqul Islam, who also attended the meeting, told the visiting delegation that Japan investors would be encouraged to invest in high-end products where Bangladesh entrepreneurs have little investment, Akram said. l

Two children drown as flood worsens in Jamalpur n Tribune Report

The flood situation worsened as a child drowned and another went missing, presumably already dead, in Jamalpur while it remained unchanged in Kurigram, reported our correspondents yesterday.

The deceased was Tinni, 7, daughter of Billal Mia at Jonail village in Jamalpur’s Madarganj upazila while the identity of another child named Roni, 7, who went missing, could not be known immediately Confirming this, Madarganj municipality’s Ward No 7 Councilor Md Shawkat Ali said Tinni had drowned while bathing in the flood water.

He added that the flood had worsened as water level rose by 2 centimetres in the Jamuna river over last 24 hours. Water was now flowing above 36 centimetres of danger level in the river.

With the rise of water, vast tracts of Melandah, Madarganj and Bakshiganj were flooded anew in the district.

At least 30 unions under Islampur, Dewanganj, Sarishabari, Melandah, Madarganj and Bakshiganj upazilas were flooded, marooning at least 1,50,000 people, for a few days until yesterday.

Acute food crisis was seen among people surrounded by flood water.

Moreover, at least 15,000 hectares of crop and vegetable lands were affected by the innundation. l

Goldman Sachs offers  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

“We are yet to decide about whether the government will go for credit from international bond market,” Muhith said, adding that his ministry would discuss the matter with the government agencies concerned. “Then we will inform Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about it.”

The finance minister added: “The country’s demand for loan is zero because our foreign exchange reserve is now enough. Even the government does not need budget assistance from outside.”

“If we take credit from international bond market, it will definitely be used in

Mufti Hannan  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

2002 after the Explosive Substances Act law was amended. ‘‘The court could not trial the case after the corrected version of the law which has been amended after the incident. This is against the ethics of the spirit of the law,” the defense counsels said.

After hearing the plea, the court decided to pass order in later after the scrutiny of the document.

On January 20, 2001, eight people were killed and over 50 injured in a terrorist attack on a CPB rally. CPB leaders Himangshu Mondol, Abdul Majid, Abul Hashem and Mukter Hossain died on spot. Chhatra Union leader Biprodash died in hospital later. On November 27, 2013, investigation officer Mrinal Kanti Saha submitted charge sheets accusing Huji for the attack mentioning 137 witnesses.

The accused will face charges in two cases – one for killing eight people and the other under Explosive Substances Act. CPB’s the then president Manzurul Ahsan Khan, who filed the cases with Motijheel police station, alleged that a group of anti-state conspirators had carried out the attack which took place during the first tenure of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League (AL) government.

Two years later, during

building Padma bridge,” he pointed out.

According to the Bangladesh Bank data, the foreign exchange reserve has now crossed $21 billion.

The finance minister mentioned that the government allocated Tk800 crore this fiscal year for the construction of Padma bridge.

The raised fund from sovereign bonds might be used in the mega project “Dhaka elevated expressway” which is now stalled for fund crisis, he said. The much-talkedabout Padma bridge construction needs a foreign funding of $1.8bn, according to the government information. l

the regime of BNP-Jamaat led four party alliance government, the CID had submitted a final report on December 17, 2003 accusing none.

On January 27, 2005, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) asked the authorities to re-investigate the matter following a petition for fresh probe into the cases.

Among the 13 accused, Mufti Hannan, Mufti Mainuddin Khaja alias Abu Jandal, Arif Hasan Suman, Maulana Sabbir Hossain, Shawkat Osman and Md Moshiur Rahman are now in jail.

The seven others on the run were Maulana Abdul Hai, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Jahangir Alam Badar, Nurul Islam, Mohibul Muttakim, Anisul Morsalin and Rafiqul Islam Miraj.

Involvement of Huji with the CPB rally blast surfaced nine and a half years after the attack when Jandal had shouldered responsibility of the attack during a judicial confessional statement.

In his statement, Jandal said the Huji men had carried out bomb attack on the CPB rally where five people were killed. While escaping, the attackers exploded another bomb at Bangabandhu Avenue that killed three people, including two hawkers.

Huji chief Mufti Hannan is also an accused of being involved with the August 21 grenade attack case and the Ramna Batamul blast case. l

New committee to recommend Jubok remedy n Asif Showkat Kallol

A flood-affected family from the Rahmanpur village in Kurigram is being shifted to a nearby high land

AL leaders sued for illegal wealth  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

ruling party leaders comprising one former minister, two state ministers, three current lawmakers and one former lawmaker, in order to trace the sources of phenomenal rise in their wealth during the party’s 2008-13 tenure.

As inquiry teams found evidence that the three Awami League leaders had accumulated illegal wealth, in a regular meeting yesterday morning, the ACC approved filing the cases. Later in the day, ACC Deputy Directors Khairul Huda, Nasir Uddin and Muhammad Abdus Subhan filed three separate cases with Ramna police station in the capital against Badi, former state minister for water resources Mahbubur Rahman and former statement minister housing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan.

Of them, Mahbubur was reelected from Patuakhali but Mannan lost in the January 5 parliamentary election.

According to the first information report (FIR) of one of the cases filed by the ACC yesterday, former junior min-

ister Mahbubur Rahman accumulated illegal wealth worth over Tk5.19 crore and concealed information about more than Tk1.24 crore.

Analysing records, the ACC investigator found that he had failed to provide the relevant records in support of the wealth shown in his affidavit.

The commission has also found that his wealth expanded more than 12 times in five years – from Tk51 lakh in 2008 to Tk6.35 crore in 2013.

The state of the third case filed yesterday shows that former state minister Abdul Mannan Khan has concealed information about wealth worth Tk4.60 lakh and has accumulated illegal wealth worth Tk75.04 lakh.

The anomalies came up after the ACC investigator analyzed his wealth statements, income tax returns and other relevant records.

When the Election Commission published the candidates’ wealth statements before of the January 5 poll, media reports highlighted massive discrepancies in the affidavits.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Later, citizens’ platform Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik, better known as Sujon, analysed the wealth statements and found that the incomes of the candidates rose by 32.98% in five years.

Ministers’ incomes and wealth increased by 243% and 247% respectively, while those of state ministers rose by 464% and 459% respectively.

The government has formed an eight-member committee tasked with appointing an administrator for the Jubo Karmasangsthan Society (Jubok) to protect the assets of the controversial cooperative society that allegedly cheated hundreds of thousands of people.

“The committee, headed by a joint secretary of the Commerce Ministry will give recommend on appointing an administrator for closing down Jubok on the basis of a government sponsored commission report,” Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday after an inter-ministerial meeting.

The committee that also has representatives from the Ministries of Social Welfare, Home and Public Administration and the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms, will submit a report by September 30.

According to sources, the government now wants to repay the money, deposited by the members of Jubok, by selling its assets worth Tk2,500 crore.

Jubok, in the name of high profit, lured over 300,000 people to collect the huge sum. l

Abdur Rahman Badi, a ruling party lawmaker from the Cox’s Bazar 4 constituency, have made news many times before for making sarcastic remarks, beating journalists or his alleged involvement in Yaba trade.

When the ACC first made the move to initiate an investigation into the meteoric rise in his wealth, he claimed that the allegations were baseless and were intended to tarnish his political image.

“Some journalists, in collusion with the opposition party, have published negative reports against me to tarnish

my image,” he said at that time. “I belong to a family of businessmen and I did not whiten any black money; rather I ran my businesses and paid taxes properly,” he told journalists.

According to section 26(2) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004, if any person, after having received notice from the ACC, fails to furnish the information or provides any false or baseless information, then that person will be sentenced to a prison term of up to three years or a fine or both.

Section 27(1) of the same act says if there are sufficient and reasonable grounds to believe that a person has obtained ownership of property through dishonest means which is not consistent with known sources of income, then that person will be sentenced to minimum three to maximum ten years’ imprisonment and the properties will be confiscated.

The Dhaka Tribune tried repeatedly to contact Badi over phone; but he answered none of the calls until filing of this report around 9:30pm yesterday. l

and her mother, so they did not check the woman properly when she left.

The ward master of DMCH, Babul, filed a stolen child case with Shahbagh police station, Sub-Inspector Nabullah of Shahbagh police station confirmed.

The two-day-old child’s father, Kawsar, alleged that hospital authorities were running a child-theft syndicate and knew his son’s whereabouts. He said hos-

pital authorities filed a case with the police station without contacting him first.

The deputy director of DMCH, Dr Mushfiqur Rahman, said it was the hospital’s responsibility to file a case because the incident happened on hospital premises. A three-member probe body, with labour ward chief Prof Dr Ferdousi Islam as convener, would investigate the disappearance, he said. l

Will Badi resign?

Another newborn disappears  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

That night she joined Luna’s family for dinner and then slept in an unoccupied bed in the neonatal ward. In the morning, while Luna was feeding one of the twins, the woman offered to take care of the other child. Luna happily consented. The woman then promptly disappeared with the boy.

By the time Luna realised some-

thing was wrong and notified hospital authorities, it was too late. The woman had left the hospital, giving the two Ansar officials on duty the slip.

When asked about the case, Abdul Khaleq, platoon commander of the DMCH Ansar force told the Dhaka Tribune that his staff had assumed the woman was a relative because she had chatted and shared a meal with Luna

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Friday, August 22, 2014

More politicians to face ACC inquiry for illegal wealth

PM: Zia family was behind both August 15 and 21

BCL clash at JU leaves 10 injured n Mahadi Al Hasnat

n Emran Hossain Shaikh

n Tribune Report

Terming the “Zia family” as killers, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday alleged that Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique were involved with the 21 August killings and Ziaur Rahman was involved with the killing of Bangabandhu.

“There is no doubt that Khaleda Zia, her son and the members of her cabinet were directly involved with the attack of 21 August,” Hasina said while addressing a programme in the capital marking the 10th anniversary of the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally that killed 24 and maimed hundreds.

Hasina said although it was the government’s duty to help the victims of the attack and take initiatives to recover evidence, the then BNP government did the exact opposite.

“They ruined evidence by washing the area with water right after the attack had been carried out and hurled tear gas canisters on our activists, who

At least 10 people were injured when a clash erupted between two factions of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) of Moulana Bhashani Hall unit at Jahangirnagar University over establishing supremacy on the campus yesterday.

Later in the afternoon, police raided the residential hall and recovered several local weapons. However, no one was arrested in this regard.

Witness said the hall unit’s BCL general secretary Aninda Baroi, a student of the anthropology department, along with his followers launched the attack on the unit’s president Faisal Ahmed Shakil and his followers on early hours of Thursday.

During the attack, seven BCL leaders and activists were critically stabbed.

The injured students were immediately rushed to Enam Medial College and Hospital at Savar while Faisal Ahmed Shakil was admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital due to several injuries in his body. l

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is scrutinising the wealth and assets of a number of politicians of different parties, whose wealth showed a meteoric rise but was inconsistent with their known sources of income.

An ACC official said the commission had already filed cases against three Awami League leaders and some others might be sued soon, as investigators had submitted probe reports against a former minister, two incumbent lawmakers and a former parliamentarian.

The ACC yesterday filed three cases against Cox’s Bazar lawmaker Abdur Rahman Badi, former state minister for water resources Mahbubur Rahman and former state minister for housing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan.

The official said many more would come under scanner if the government continued to support such moves.

Several Awami League leaders, including Dr Hasan Mahmud, Afsarul Amin, Abul Kalam Azad, Shamsul Haque Tuku and Abdus Shahid, might face ACC inquiry, sources said.

The ACC, meanwhile, is conducting probe against at least 12 BNP leaders, including M Morshed Khan, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Moudud Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and former state minister for education ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon.

On January 22 this year, the graft buster initiated an inquiry against six Awami League and a Jatiya Party leaders in a bid to trace the sources of the dramatic rise in their wealth between 2008 and 2013.

“We will certainly take legal actions against the politicians if the inquiry reports find evidence of accumulation of illegal wealth or any irregularity on their part,” ACC Chairman M Badiuzzaman said.

He said continuation of the inquiry would largely depend on the success of the inquiry against the seven. “Most inquiries are based on media reports, but the ACC would also try to gather information from external sources. If we receive allegations against any other lawmaker, we will also scrutinise those and will take action.”

After the Election Commission published wealth statements of the candidates before January 5 poll, there were reports on large inconsistencies with the information they had provided.

According to an analysis by Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik, the wealth statements showed an increase of up to 32,985% in their income.

According to the affidavits submitted to the Election Commission, earnings of ministers soared by 243% and their wealth by 247%, while the income of state ministers shot up by 464% and their wealth by 459%. l

were helping the victims,” she said.

The premier, who was then the opposition leader, also alleged that they had not been allowed to raise the issue in parliament.

“Instead, the then prime minister Khaleda Zia said I had carried the grenades in my vanity bag and exploded them in the middle of the rally,” she said.

She also said Tarique Rahman used to live at his in-laws in Dhanmondi; but just 20 days before the grenade attack, he had started living in a house inside the cantonment. “We have a number of proofs, including him shifting his house.”

Commenting that militancy grew up during the BNP tenure, the premier said it was during that time that the militants were allowed to move around the country freely.

“We saw the rise of Bangla Bhai [JMB leader Siddiqur Rahman] at that time. They used to hang people in trees after killing,” she said. l

Committee recommends identifying non-mineral zones for sand export n Asif Showkat Kallol A committee, tasked with making recommendations regarding the export of sand and soil, has suggested that the government should identify some “non-mineral zones” first before going for extraction and export.

This recommendation is supposed to be placed soon at a Commerce Ministry meeting.

Officials said the government would first conduct a survey to identify some areas in the country with deposits of sand that are not rich in mineral resources.

At a meeting in July, the Commerce Ministry discussed the prospects of exporting sand following proposals placed by some private business entities who said the new foreign trade could fetch as much as Tk1,200 crore, annually.

During that meeting, officials of the

Environment Ministry opposed the idea saying the sand could be rich in mineral content.

Officials also said once the survey was done, there should be legal bindings on extracting sand from areas outside the non-mineral zones.

Three weeks ago, the Commerce Ministry formed an eight–member committee, led by Commerce Ministry Additional Secretary Shawkat Ali Warsi.

Professor of Soil Science at Dhaka University Mahabub Alam has already submitted a research in this regard.

The research paper details the economic and environmental advantages of exporting sand, but it does not have any recommendation regarding how to prevent extraction of mineral-rich sand.

According to the paper, most of the sand and sediment deposits in the Padma River; but the sand deposits there do not have any mineral content.

Although it has also found that there is residual sand and sediment in the Teesta River bed, it recommended further research to find out whether it has any mineral content.

During its last meeting, the eight-member committee also discussed that 1.22-1.30 billion tonnes of sand and sediment comes into the Bangladeshi rivers every year and only 30% of that reaches the Bay of Bengal. The rest settles in the river beds which can be extracted by dredging.

According to the minutes of the last meeting, representatives of the Water Development Board said at the meeting that minerals could be separated from the sand and then the sand could be exported.

Commerce Secretary Hedayetul, one of the leading sand export enthusiasts, said: “After receiving the recommendations from the committee, the ministry will decide what to do.” l

A policeman attends to an injured bus driver, who got stuck in his driving seat after a brake failure in front of the National Press Club in the capital yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

Hearing in Bergman’s Uncertainty remains as Hajj visa contempt charge continues processing goes at sluggish pace n Udisa Islam After holding a hearing on the response to a contempt notice issued against British journalist David Bergman, the International Crimes Tribunal 2 yesterday adjourned the hearing until Monday.

The notice was issued asking why he should not be punished for contempt of court for his criticism of an order and a judgement of the tribunal on his personal blog site.

During the hearing, petitioner’s counsel Mizan Sayeed citing a judgement said when anybody is charged by the court, justification and apology could not run together. He also claimed that the stance of Bergman was not clear in his written explanation.

Bergman’s counsel Mustafizur Rahman Khan later argued for 10 minutes and pleaded for two more hours of time.

The tribunal then adjourned the session.

Mustafiz asked the petitioner to show in which specific point his client

had committed contempt of court. “It will be easy for us to respond if they can pinpoint us the section of the Act.” Mizan Sayeed, who pleaded for action against Bergman, said the journalist had committed contempt by criticising a sub-judice matter in his writing.

The petition also cited from Bergman’s analysis on Abul Kalam Azad’s case verdict. “It is simply to point out that if the tribunal is supposed to be an adjudicator of truth, it would have been appropriate for it to have dealt with the issue of the number of dead in a more judicial manner rather than repeating a mantra that has little or no factual basis.”

The tribunal enquired about the term “mantra” several times and asked Bergman’s counsel to answer it the next day.

Meanwhile, the defence counsel of Jamaat leader Maulana Abdus Subhan ended cross-examination of the prosecution’s 22nd witness claiming that the witness, SM Shamsul Alam, had given false testimony. l

n Moniruzzaman Uzzal Nine aspirant Hajj pilgrims received visas from the Saudi Arabian embassy in Dhaka yesterday, as authorities concerned continued their efforts to finish the visa processing procedures before the first Hajj flight leaves on August 27.

Even though 1,000 more Hajj aspirants – who would be travelling under government arrangement – are expected to receive their visas today, uncertainty remains about the fate of thousands of others who would make the pilgrimage under the management of private Hajj agencies.

Mizanur Rahman, director of Religious Affairs Ministry’s Hajj office, told the Dhaka Tribune that more than 1,000 government-managed pilgrims are expected to get their visas on Friday. He added that the Hajj office’s primary goal was to ensure visas for the pilgrims of the first two Hajj flights, all of whom would travel under government management.

The Saudi embassy will stay open on Friday – a weekly holiday – to accelerate the visa processing for aspirant pilgrims.

More than 1,000 pilgrims travelling under government management are expected to get their visas today Asked about the fate of the pilgrims going under the management of private agencies, Mizanur said the agencies were yet to receive their barcode – a pre-requisite for visa applications – from the Saudi government. The Hajj agencies have prepared the necessary documents for around 6,000 aspirant pilgrims and would submit the documents to the embassy as soon as they receive their indi-

vidual barcode, he added.

Ibrahim Bahar, president of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB), yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that were yet to receive the barcodes from the Saudi government, adding that even if they received the codes on Friday, it would not be possible to submit visa documents before Sunday.

He also said it was unlikely that visas would be secured in time for over 11,000 pilgrims who are set to fly during the first few days of Hajj flights in August. Despite booking seats on flights, many pilgrims would have to postpone their flights for not getting the visas in time, Bahar added.

According to the Religious Affairs Ministry, 98,762 pilgrims are expected to participate in the upcoming Hajj.

Among them, only 1,600 pilgrims will go through government initiative, while the rest will travel under the management of over 800 private Hajj agencies. l

HC declares broadcast policy writ premature n Ahmed Zayeef A High Court bench has declined to hear a writ petition that challenged the legality of the National Broadcast Policy 2014.

The bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman dropped the petition from its cause list yesterday afternoon saying that the plea was premature as the policy had only got the cabinet’s approval.

Supreme Court lawyer Eunus Ali Akond filed the petition on August 18.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Additional Attorney General Murad Reza moved for the government.

In his petition, Eunus urged the court to issue a rule upon the government, seeking an explanation as to why the policy should not be declared illegal.

Eunus told the Dhaka Tribune: “I will move the petition before a regular High Court bench after the court reopens on August 31.” l

‘Azhar responsible for killing Carmichael College teachers’ n Udisa Islam

A BSTI official shows the inedible colours being used in making ice-cream at a factory in the capital’s Mirpur area yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

The prosecution in the war crimes case against ATM Azharul Islam yesterday claimed that the Jamaat-e-Islami leader had abetted and facilitated the killing of his teachers of Rangpur Carmichael College during the 1971 Liberation War. On the third day’s argument, the prosecution placed arguments on charge number three and part of four.

Later the International Crimes Tribunal 1 adjourned the session until Sunday.

When prosecutor Tureen Afroz took the chance to submit arguments on old evidence principle, the tribunal asked her to place it during the legal submission.

Prosecutor Tapos K Baul then pleaded before the tribunal: “If we submit this earlier, it will be easy for us to argue on next charges.” Then the tribunal said: “It is your case. You may proceed as you want.”

Tureen placed her submission saying that the prosecution could accommodate hearsay evidence.

Tapos said the accused, an assistant secretary general of Jamaat, had planned to abduct and kill the teachers as he knew when the teachers would go to the college to collect their salaries.

According to the charge, Azhar accompanied by the Pakistani occupation forces had entered the campus of Carmichael College on April 30, 1971 and abducted Prof Chityaranjan Roy, Prof Sunil Baran Chakrabarty, Prof Ram Krishna Adhikari, Prof Kalachand Roy and his wife Manjusree Roy. They were later taken to nearby Damdam Bridge and killed.

A total of seven prosecution witnesses including two eye witnesses testified on the charge.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Abul Kalam Azad yesterday submitted formal

charges against fugitive war crimes suspect Syed Md Hassan Ali to the tribunal’s registrar office.

The investigation agency on June 29 presented the final report against Hassan, infamously known as “Razakar Daroga” for his war time role in Tarail area of Kishoreganj, to the prosecution.

Six charges have been brought against the alleged razakar commander of Tarail.

In another case, defence counsel Tajul Islam pleaded to the tribunal to meet his client, Obaidul Huq alias Abu Taher, who was sent to jail recently.

The tribunal said since the case was under investigation, the counsel had nothing to do with his client.

Tajul answered that he had been engaged to deal with the case. “So I need to talk with him about his prima facie case. The tribunal then allowed his plea mentioning that they could meet tomorrow. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Friday, August 22, 2014

Mosharraf: Government not a rival of Baira n Adil Sakhawat In a meeting with Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) yesterday, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the private manpower recruiting agencies should not consider the government their rival.

Denying the private manpower recruiters’ allegations that the government did not cooperate with them, the minister said: “You are all licensed agents under the ministry, but from your allegations, it seems like you are my competitors. You will not compete with the government as per Bangladesh’s law.”

The meeting, which was organised

by Baira at Ladies’ Club auditorium in the capital’s Eskaton area, was aimed at finding ways to expand the overseas employment opportunities for Bangladeshi migrant workers.

However, little was achieved in finding a common ground between the parties. The private manpower recruitment agencies places many complaints before the minister about the lack of cooperation on the government’s part in the private sector of manpower business.

Abul Basar, president of Baira, said: “We know that many of the private recruiting agencies have not renewed their licences. We demand that the government eases the conditions of licence renewal, instead of cancelling

the licences.”

Many agents demanded that the government should take diplomatic initiatives to open the closed market in the UAE, Libya, Saudi Arabia, which were the main overseas employer for Bangladeshi migrant workers.

Rehana Parween, director of Adobe Communications Ltd, claimed that Baira was always held responsible for the problems that the migrants faced abroad, when the government officials working in the Bangladeshi missions overseas did not do their job of providing services to them properly.

She also said Baira was not responsible for the migrants who went abroad illegally, or on student visa, with the intent to work.

She urged the government to take action in expanding the overseas employment market, from which 13% of the national income is earned.

Seraj Miah, managing director of Leza Overseas Ltd, demanded amendment of the law regarding overseas recruitment, saying the current law did not help the private recruiters in running a profitable business.

He also asked the minister to fix the recruitment cost, a demand voiced by many other agents.

The also claimed that the recruitment cost went high because of the middlemen, and asked the government to monitor and control them so that they cannot harass people who seek employment overseas.

Riaj Uddin, owner of Riaj Overseas

Ltd, asked the minister to allow the private recruiters to send migrant workers in Malaysia, aside from the government.

“Around 1.7 million people are registered with private recruiting agencies to go to Malaysia,” he claimed.

In response, The minister told the private recruiters to forget about Malaysia.

“Forget about Malaysia. Try sending the migrants to 169 other countries. I do not want to sell my people; rather I want them to work with dignity overseas,” he said.

“It is because of the greedy mentality of many recruiters that around 250,000 Bangladeshi workers are living in Malaysia illegally, while 1 million are living in Saudi Arabia illegally,” the minister said.

Refuting Seraj Miah’s request to fix the recruitment cost, the minister said it had been fixed a long time ago, but the private agents did not follow it.

Addressing Rehana Parween’s claim, he said: “If any government official fail to provide services to the expatriates properly, and if any police official creates problems for the passengers on their way abroad, tell me. I will take action.”

Presided over by Abul Bashar, the meeting was attended by Dr Khondaker Showkat Hossain, secretary at the expat ministry, Begum Shamsun Nahar, director general at the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, and Monsur Ahmed Kalam, secretary general of Baira, among others. l

A Hilsa fish seller poses with his best offerings in front of Bangladesh Bank building in the capital yesterday. He is asking Tk1,000 for each of them DHAKA TRIBUNE

Three get five years for embezzling dead man’s account n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong A Chittagong court yesterday sentenced three men, including two former officials of Bangladesh Post Office, to five years’ rigorous imprisonment on charge of working in collusion with each other to misappropriate the fixed deposit of a dead person.

The three were Nurul Absar, former assistant postmaster of Cox’s Bazar district post office, Nur Mohammad, former postal and letter operator of the post office, and Md Kaiser, younger brother of the deceased owner of the account.

The court also fined the convicts Tk5,000 each and said they would be serving six more months in jail in default.

Music director Emon jailed

n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Bangladesh Chhatra Union holds a mass signature programme at the capital’s Baily Road yesterday protesting the demolition of a government primary school building there NASHIRUL ISLAM

South Korean ambassador’s name removed from a case n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman RN Spinning Mills has requested a lower court to remove the name of South Korean ambassador as “pro-forma defendant” from a case it filed in 2011 as a summon was issued against him.

“We made the request today,” lawyer of RN Spinning Anwar Zahid told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Earlier, the summon against South Korean Ambassador Lee Yun-young was recalled when the Foreign Ministry had taken up the summon issue with the law ministry as any foreign envoy is immune to any legal procedures in domestic courts under the Geneva Convention 1961.

The case was filed in 2011 to recover money from a South Korean company

which entered into an agreement with RN Spinning and the envoy was made a party to the suit as a pro-forma defendant, Zahid said.

“A summon was issued in 2011 which was delivered through mail last month,” he said.

The ambassador was not liable for any complaint, but he was made party to press the South Korean company to repay the money that it owed to the local company, he added.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry took up the up the issue with the Law Ministry when the South Korean ambassador had written to it about the summon early August.

“When we came to know about the issue we immediately informed the

law ministry that all envoys have diplomatic immunity,” State Minister for Foreign Afairs Shahriar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune. The lower court issued the summons on July 24 and asked the ambassador to appear before the court on September 10.

Mustafa Kamal, who was an acting secretary that time, informed the Law Ministry that under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, all foreign diplomats enjoy immunity and beyond the jurisdiction of domestic courts.

He feared that the issuance of summon might have negative impact on bilateral relationship and asked the ministry to take necessary actions in this regard as soon as possible. l

Illegal structures Chittagong University journo removed from Tagore’s Kuthi Bari receives death threat Tasnim. n Our Correspondent, Kushtia n CU Correspondent Former BCL leader Ashraf however Following a court order, the cultural ministry evicted illegal structures from the premises of Shilaidaha Kuthi Bari, a country house made by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestors, in Kushtia yesterday.

In the eviction drive led by Cultural Ministry’s Joint Secretary Monjurul Rahman, two NGOs, three houses and 30 shops were removed from the 6 acre land.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (revenue) of Kushita Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, Additional Police Super Sohel Reza participated in the drive along with thousands of law enforcement members and volunteers. l

A correspondent received a death threat from a former Chittagong University (CU) unit leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) for running a report that happens to go against him yesterday.

The Daily Prothom Alo’s CU Correspondent Tasnim Hasan received the threat.

He said he had received a phone call from Ashrafuzzaman Asa, former deputy-cultural affairs secretary of BCL CU unit, around 4:30 in the afternoon.

During this time, Ashraf threatened him with death for covering the BCL attack on police, in which four police men were injured on Wednesday, said

denied having made the threat and said: “I just called him up to know why he had deliberately run the report against me. Nothing else.”

During a clash between BCL and Shibir men on November 18, he threatened another CU student.

A master’s student of the Department of Communication and Journalism, Tasnim is also the general secretary of Chittagong University Journalists Association (CUJA).

In protest against the threat on him, the CUJA issued a 24-hour ultimatum seeking a punishment to the BCL leader immediately. l

A Dhaka court yesterday sent music director Shawkat Ali Emon to prison in a case filed under the informations act.

He was accused of releasing secretly-produced nude pictures and video footage of young girls on the Web, including Facebook.

On August 18, the case was filed by his wife Jinat Kabir Tithi with Ramna police station. Yesterday’s jail sentence was pronounced by Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Haque after police had produced him before court.

Meanwhile, the defence counsel lodged a petition seeking Emon’s bail but the court turned it down. Police arrested Emon from his Bailey Road residence in the capital early yesterday. l

Scholastica to participate in Odyssey International ‘14

n Tribune report Five students from the Mirpur campus of Scholastica will be participating at the 6th Odyssey International 2014, a platform to enhance English literary and linguistic skills.

The City Montessori School in Lucknow, India is organising the event which will begin on August 23 and continue till August 26.

The objective of Odyssey is to widen the importance of English language and relationships irrespective of cultural and language barriers. The challenge aims to trace the evolution of literature through time and promoting academic excellence and competence through healthy and fair contest.

The Scholastica team will be participating in the junior category and will actively participate in presenting skit, music and poetry as “on stage activity.” l

The court of Chittagong Divisional Special Judge SM Ataur Rahman passed the order as the charge against the accused was proved beyond any doubt, said Advocate Mezbah Uddin, prosecutor of the court.

Another accused Rafiqul Amin, former postal operator of the post office, was acquitted as the allegation against him could not be proved, court sources said.

The Cox’s Bazar district magistrate was ordered to take Tk30 lakh from Kaiser and hand it over to Nurul’s family, added Mezbah.

Of the convicts, Kaiser is on the run while the other two were sent to Chittagong Central Jail following the pronouncement of the verdict.

According to case documents, late

Nurul Alam, a resident of Cox’s Bazar Sadar, had a fixed deposit of Tk30 lakh at Cox’s Bazar district post office.

Kaiser, however, withdrew the money by presenting fake documents on the account’s nominee after Nurul’s death collaborated with the connivance of Nurul and Nur. Deputy Assistant Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission Khalilur Rahaman lodged a case with Cox’s Bazar Sadar police station on May 27, 2011, against four men in this connection.

The charge sheet of the case was submitted on January 27, 2012.

On July 4 last year, the court indicted the four accused under Sections 409 and 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Friday, August 22, 2014

Road digging causes sufferings for commuters n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi Residents of Rajshahi City Corporation have been suffering immense woes as around 6,000 ditches, dug by the authorities along around 410km roads in the city to facilitate new gas connections, are not being repaired properly.

After visiting different parts of the city, this correspondent has found irregularities in the repair works of the roads. Small ditches have turned into large ones and most of the roads are being decayed due to lack of proper repair works since last four years.

The authorities concerned had started providing new gas connections to the city dwellers since last June and around 6,000 consumers were provided with new connections after digging same number of ditches along different roads.

Although the consumers are charged the road repairing costs, ranging from Tk97 to Tk3,190, the ditches on the roads are not being repaired properly.

Paschimanchal Gas Company Limited (PGCL) sources said city corporation authority’s permission to dig the roads and road repairing costs from the consumers had to be taken before providing the connections.

The PGCL has set around 271km gas connection pipe lines before January 30, 2012 spending around Tk97 crore.

Though the ditches dug for these connections are supposed to repaired

Arrest warrant issued against Hotel Agrabad chairman

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

A Chittagong court yesterday issued arrest warrant for three persons, including Chairman of Hotel Agrabad HM Khorshed Alam, in a money embezzling case.

The court of Chittagong Divisional Special Judge SM Ataur Rahman passed the order as the three accused were not appeared before the court for last five hearing dates, said Advocate Mezbah Uddin, prosecutor of the court.

Other accused of the case are suspended assistant general manager Jasim Uddin of Pubali Bank and Director Karimul Islam of Gulf Associates.

According to the case, HM Khorshed on May 10, 1988 opened a Letter of Credit of Tk5,85,19,200 with Pubali Bank to import 8,000 tonnes of rice, but later he did not import rice and misappropriated the money.

Inspector Shafiqul Islam of the then Anti-Corruption Bureau lodged a case with Kotwali police station on December 28, 1991 accusing eight persons including the chairman of Hotel Agrabad.

On March 10, 1998, the HC gave stay order on the trial of the case according to the revision petition of the accused while the HC withdrew the stay order on October 11, 2013. The trial resumed on April 20. l

WEATHER

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22 TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:36AM

FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

32

26

Chittagong

30

26

Rajshahi

32

26

Rangpur

31

26

Khulna

31

25

Barisal

31

25

Sylhet

29

24

Cox’s Bazar

30

26

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

24.8ºC Chittagong

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Jumma Asr Magrib Esha

4:18am 5:35am 12:01am 4:35pm 6:26pm 7:45pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Barisal commercial site Dhaka-Ctg highway ‘goes vegetable’ turns into dump as city n awaits new market Our Correspondent, Comilla

n Our Correspondent, Barisal The site of Barisal city’s old municipal market has become an accident hazard and garbage dump because planned construction of a new market had not begun two years after the old one was torn down.

City corporation authorities and local residents said the site used to be occupied by an old pond.

Located at the crossing of Sadar Road, Fakir Bari Road and Katpatty Road, the site sits in the busiest and most valuable location at the heart of Barisal city.

Before independence, a wooden board walk and platforms were built on the banks of the pond and the space rented out to commercial outlets by the municipality.

After liberation a three-storey municipal supermarket was constructed after existing shops were evicted and the pond filled, AL-backed local ward 17 councillor Akhtaruzzaman Hiru said.

The three-storey municipal supermarket was demolished in 2012 after a decision was taken to construct an

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

DHAKA

35.2ºC Rajshahi

A grower takes care of his vegetable field on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway. The photo was taken yesterday from Daudkandi in Comilla yesterday

eight-storey supermarket at the cost of Tk16 crore.

But even after twice calling for tenders, construction work had not yet started due to trouble with funding and design, the local ward councillor explained.

The place, in the meantime, has turned into a massive ditch at the crossing of three main roads. It is now used as a urinal, a garbage dump and a fish-farm.

Advocate Abu Taher, of the adjacent Fakirbari area, said people were often hurt after falling into the ditch.

Motaleb Haoladar, executive engineer of Barisal City Corporation (BCC), said tenders were twice cancelled due to changes in the design of the new structure. Procedures to hold the third round of tenders were completed, he said. Work orders will be given as soon as funds can be made ready.

When approached about the situation, Tariqul Islam, BCC chief engineer, said the city corporation would erect fences around the construction site to prevent accidents and the dumping of waste. l

Dhaka-Chittagong highway offers a different look as vegetables, like spinach, red spinach and radish, are now being grown on its 12-foot-broad divider at Daudkandi upazila in Comilla.

A total of 10 farmers are growing the vegetables on the divider of the highway’s around two-kilometre stretch at the upazila’s Shahidnagar, Shalpopennai and Amirabad. They however do

A madrasa student has orchestrated a kidnapping drama to pocket a huge amount of money from his expatriate father.

Police came to know about the plot concocted by Mohammad Shahed, 17, after an investigation.

During a confessional statement before a court, Shahed, who is a Class VII student of Oaichia Sunnia Dakhil Madrasa, said he and his friends had formed a plot to obtain money from his father, who is an Oman expatriate, because his father was not providing him with

sufficient money.

Assistant Commissioner (AC) Shah Mohammad Abdur Rouf of Panchlaish circle in Chittagong Metropolitan Police said as per the plan, on August 13, Shahed had gone missing from his residence in the Char Rangamatia area under Chandgaon police station in the port city.

After his disappearance, his friends, disguised as kidnappers, demanded Tk50 lakh from his family in exchange for his freedom.

Later, both the parties settled the issue at Tk5 lakh.

Hearing the news of his son’s

n Tribune Report

The garment workers of a factory at Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) yesterday staged demonstration protesting a sudden shut down notice of their factory.

The Atlantic Garments authorities yesterday hung a notice on the factory gate, stating that the factory would be laid off from September 1, 2014.

Around 350 workers of the factory staged a demonstration on the factory premises and abstained from work for an hour protesting the decision.

Upon receiving information, police rushed to the spot and dispersed the protesters while a meeting was going on between the agitating workers and the BEPZ authorities to come to a solution.

kidnapping, Shahed’s father Hossain Mia came back to the country from Oman and lodged a case with Chandgaon police station.

When police strengthened its vigilance, Shahed returned to his residence on Tuesday night and said that the kidnappers had released him because of the police’s actions.

But police were not convinced of his claim and nabbed Shahed’s friend Mizan for his alleged involvement with the kidnapping.

Both Shahed and Mizan were interrogated and they confessed their plot, the AC said. l

One killed, two injured as train hits truck in Chittagong n CU Correspondent A man was killed and two others were injured when an express train rammed a truck in City Gate area in Chittagong city yesterday morning.

The deceased was Md Sajib, 25, helper of the truck and son of Shamsuddin, of Manurabad area of Halishahar in the city, police

sources said.

The injured – Md Jalal, truck driver, and Md Mozammel – were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH).

Sub-Inspector (SI) Wahidul Haque of Government Railway Police at Chittagong railway station police outpost said the Chittagongbound Nasirabad Express train

not have to go anywhere for selling the vegetables as people who travel along the highway buy them.

Farmer Motaleb Mia, who hails from Haripur village, says: “We start to grow a variety of vegetable once it is sold out.

Roads and Highway Department Sub-Divisional Engineer Md Mazharul Islam says: “There is a plan to turn this highway into an elevated one and so we have kept 12 feet of island between the highway.

“Making the best use of this space, some farmers are growing vegetables on it. They are making good profits from it.”

Daudkandi Upazila Agriculture Officer Aminul Islam says: Farmers are benefiting from growing vegetables on the highway divider quite well. Like them, others may add to their family income by growing vegetables on the fallow land around their homestead.” l

RMG factory shut down after protest

Youth orchestrates kidnapping drama to bag money from father

DRIZZLE

TODAY SUN SETS 6:26PM

jointly by the gas distribution company and the city corporation authorities, most of the roads are yet to be repaired completely.

It is alleged that lion share of the compensation money provided by the consumers is being looted by the authorities concerned before the money is deposited in the city corporation fund.

Rokeya Begum, one of the consumers in Baliyapukur area, told the Dhaka Tribune that she had deposited Tk2,583.90 through city corporation slips. After contacting the city corporation branch of the Agrani Bank later, she, however, found that only Tk84 was deposited in this connection.

Contacted, acting manager Tofael Ahmed of Rajshahi PGCL denied the allegations, saying the PGCL had nothing to do with the repair works. The compensation money was taken by the city corporation authorities and they were solely responsible for the repair works of the roads, he claimed.

Meanwhile, Rajshahi City Corporation’s Chief Engineer Ashraful Haque said: “The roads were not being repaired because of the rainy season.”

The compensation money provided by the consumers was being deposited in the city corporation fund properly and the roads would be repaired soon after the rainy season, Ashraful told the Dhaka Tribune. l

coming from Mymensingh hit the truck carrying the trio while it was crossing the rail line in the area at 6:30 am.

The truck skidded off several yards after being hit by the train, leaving Sajib dead on the spot, he said, adding that the body was handed over to the family members after autopsy. l

Deputy Assistant Director Arifur Rahman of Chittagong industrial police said the factory authorities made the lay-off decision as they were failing to get any work order.

Our Gazipur correspondent said a group of miscreants had attacked a garments factory and injured two officials in the Kewa area of Sreepur municipality in Gazipur on Wednesday night.

Sources said around 25 unidentified miscreants entered the SIJI Garments Company Limited with iron rods, sticks and firearms around 9pm on Wednesday when the officials of the factory were preparing to leave the workplace after closing it.

The miscreants beat Assistant General Manager of the factory Abdur Raz-

zak Liton and Time Keeper Sohel Rana who sustained serious injuries. The attackers also looted Tk20,000 and a bank check from them.

When local people came to the spot hearing the officials screaming, the miscreants left the spot quickly.

Aftab Uddin Ahmed, human resource and administration officer of the factory, said the two injured were sent to Sreepur Upazila Health Complex for treatment. He also suspected that some employees of the factory might be involved in the attack as the authority recently took some measures to prevent corruption and irregularities in several sections of the factory.

Officer-in-Charge of Sreepur model police station Mohsin-ul-Kadir said they were investigating the incident. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Friday, August 22, 2014

Abductions, robberies continue in Bandarban’s Naikhangchari 11 abductions, 13 robberies have taken place over four months Correspondent, n Our Bandarban A Union Parishad has witnessed 11 abductions and 13 robberies at Naikhangchhari upazila in Bandarban in the last four months.

Locals have become seized with a great sense of panic over such incidents.

They say there was no week in the last four months when either robbery and abduction or both did not take place here.

They also say they have become held hostage to a quarter which enjoys political clout.

They add that they keep vigil over

the night to save the union from any kind of abduction or robbery, but this is hardly bearing any fruit because this gang seems to have a high backing from some influential quarters.

The latest abduction took place in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Seven to eight armed robbers abducted Maulana Rashid Ahmed Imam, 39, from his house at the staff quarter of Plot 6 Tolatuli under Nazma Khatun Rubber Garden about 2am on Tuesday.

They later called up Manager Al Amin and demanded Tk2lakh for the release of Imam.

He had not been set free until filing of this report yesterday evening.

Local police however say he might have been abducted by those who belong to the robbers’ gang led by Sapu.

Sapu is known as a notorious robber in Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban.

Sapu’s gang has been perpetrating robberies, abductions and murders for so long at Ramu and Ukhia upazila in Cox’s Bazar and at Naikhangchhari and Lama upazila in Bandarban.

Naikhangchhari’s Baishari Investigation Centre In-Charge Sub-Inspector Anisur Rahman says they are trying to rescue Imam.

Baishari Union Parishad chairman Monirul Haq says: “We have been living in a constant fear of abduction

and robberies in the union. Steps should be taken about this urgently.”

“These abductors may be on the good terms with some influential ruling party leaders,” he says, adding: Mostly, Rohingyas are involved in the abductions here.”

Naikhangchhari upazila borders Myanmar.

Locals also allege that whoever among the police officers gets active against robbery and abduction here is transferred elsewhere.

Naikhangchhari police station Officer-in-Charge Farid Hossain says the number of abductions has comparatively come down in the upazila. l

Skeleton stealing attempt at Jamalpur graveyard n Our Correspondent, Jamalpur In a few months time, Jamalpur municipal graveyard has seen another attempt by miscreants to steal skeletons.

On Wednesday night, Pasha, 35, and Liton, 28, of Bonpara village dug out skeletons from three graves but left those and fled when security

guards attempted to capture them.

Police visited the graveyard after the incident and put the skeletons back in the graves.

Pasha and Liton were also said to have served in jail after they were caught for attempting to steal skeletons.

Locals said dead bodies were lifted from several graves a couple of

months ago. They said the crime of stealing bodies and skeletons goes unabated at the bushy graveyard due to a lack of adequate lighting.

An organised group is behind this misdeed, according to locals, who also said the large graveyard has only two security guards, terming the number insufficient.

No measure has yet been taken by

the local authorities to prevent such wrongdoings that happen pretty often, a number of villagers claimed.

They also demanded exemplary punishment be awarded to miscreants who steal human remains.

Officer-in-Charge of Jamalpur police station Mujibur Rahman Majumdar said police were looking into the matter. l

Community centre under Chhatra Dal attack in Sylhet Correspondent, n Our Sylhet UK expatriates from Sylhet demanded immediate arrest of 24 activists of Chhatra Dal, the students wing of the BNP, who allegedly vandalised a community centre in the city on August 17.

The demand came at a press conference held in the Sylhet Press club yesterday.

On August 17, a group of Chhatra Dal men allegedly attacked Sunrise Community Centre situated in Patantula area and vandalised 15 motor vehicles parked outside the centre while a wedding ceremony was taking place inside.

Upon receiving information, police went to the spot and brought the situation under control.

In this connection, Selim Hossain, a UK expatriate and father of the bride, filed a case with Jalalabad police station against 24 Chhatra

Dal men and 10/15 unidentified people.

Police have arrested two Chhatra Dal men, Yeasin, 25 and Anam, 18, so far.

The attackers confessed that they had attacked the centre because Mabub Kadir Shahi, prime accused in the Chhatra Dal cadre Jillur Rahman Jilu murder case, was attending the wedding ceremony that day, said sources in Jalalabad police station.

Jilu was killed on June 27 in Patantula area this year.

Amra Probashi, a group of UK expatriates from Sylhet, arranged a press conference yesterday where they called upon the authorities concerned to take punitive action against the culprits.

They said such attacks at a social event was not acceptable. Such incidents would discourage expatriates to return to the country. Later, they formed a human chain in front of the press club. l

Road accidents kill six in three districts n Tribune Report Separate road accidents killed six people and injured 15 others in Gazipur, Kishoreganj and Kurigram, our correspondents report.

In Gazipur, a high school student was killed after a truck ran over her on Dhaka-Tangail highway near Hijoltoli area in the district’s Kaliakair upazila yesterday morning.

The victim, Naznin Aktar Maha, 14, was left critically injured after the sand-laden truck hit her on her way to school, said Tofazzal Hossain Rana, headmaster of Maha’s school Chapair BB High School.

Locals rushed her to Kaliakair Central Clinic, where the doctor on duty pronounced her dead, he said.

In Kishoreganj, three people were killed and at least 15 were injured in a road accident in Baratia area under Pakundia upazila yesterday.

The deceased are Mia Hossain, 60, from Tarakandi village, Swapan Mia, 45, from Mirjapur village, and Ahammad Hossain, 50, from Bahadia village.

Police and local sources said the accident occurred around 12pm, when a Dhaka-bound bus collided head-on with an auto rickshaw, which was carrying the victims.

The accident left Swapan dead on the spot and the others injured. Later, Mia and Ahammad died after they were taken to Pakundia Upazila Health Complex The passengers of the bus suffered injuries as the bus lost control and got off the road after the collision.

Meanwhile, an unidentified man fell off the roof of a Kurigram-bound train and on the rail track near a textile mill in Kurigram Sadar upazila around 12pm, and was run over by the train. In the other accident, a truck rammed a motor cycle in Nageshwari upazila around 3:30pm, killing the rider instantly. Police said the victim, Al Amin, 20, from Pankauri village in Nageshwari, was going to Kurigram on his motor bike a truck coming from the opposite direction ran him down on Charaikhela Bridge. The truck driver sped off from the scene after the accident. l

A human chain is formed in Chapainawabganj town yesterday demanding trial of those who were involved in August 21 grenade attacks in 2004 DHAKA TRIBUNE

1 killed in Sunamganj land dispute n Our Correspondent, Sunamganj A person has been killed and 25 others have been injured in a land dispute between two rival groups in Chhatak upazila of Sunamganj district on Thursday morning.

Akbar Ali, 30, was killed when two rival groups locked into a clash over Khas land (government owned land) at Assampur village in the morning.

Locals said supporters of Akbar Ali and Askir Mia the village locked into a hour-long

clash with each other with locally made weapons that killed Akbar and injured the others.

On information, police went to the spot and sent the body to Sunamganj Sadar morgue for autopsy.

Meanwhile, the injured have been admitted to local Upazila Health Complex.

Chhatak police station Officer-in-Charge Shahjalal Munshi said: “They locked into the clash centering a dispute over Khas land. The situations has been brought under control.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

7

Friday, August 22, 2014

Not in my name, please

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

I am not a lawyer, and I am not a politician, but I have to live by the law, and I have to endure the politics. I am a citizen. No one cares about me, but everyone uses me. They do everything in my name. I belong to the public. These are my thoughts

W

n Syed Mujtaba Quader e were getting quite comfortable with at least four neutrally conducted elections, since 1991 when the last “autocratic� leader of the republic was deposed.

We thought we could change the government every five years like the inevitable swing of the pendulum.

We did not realise that politicians had more undemocratic tricks up their sleeves than we counted.

One section of them out-maneuvered the other to be in control for another five years. The public was left on the sidelines like a child who cannot play with the big kids.

But we did see their true colours and we are piqued and offended with them. They have taken us for granted and have affirmed that they are only concerned with their personal interests.

Some are hell bent on enthroning their progeny, while some are delirious with consolidating their ill-gotten millions. The feeling has emerged that, physiologically the politicians are one group and the public is another.

But what about the two major political parties individually. The AL is the senior player having a longer, more colourful history. The BNP is also strong, enjoying the silent support of the forces that stretch back to the needs for the creation for a Muslim homeland.

Both parties strategise on the past, instead of concentrating on the visceral needs of the present. As a member of the public, if I am an AL supporter, I should be happy because they are in power, but unhappy that they achieved this through disingenuous means.

If I am a BNP supporter, I should be unhappy because they are powerless, but happy that they are being taught a lesson for neglecting my interests in the past.

Collectively, the expectations of

the public from the BNP is greater, because of their lesser numerical representation and shallower roots within the national psyche, but a perceived greater dedication to action rather than words.

But they did not live up to the expectations. The BNP did not differentiate itself substantially from the AL in the public mind when it had the opportunity during the two times they were in power. The public did not think that they benefited from them.

Now, the BNP has dug itself into a hole and they cannot come out of it without the help of the public.

The AL and the BNP seem to be the two sides of the same coin. Therefore,

demand from any form of government is the proper enforcement of justice.

Justice cannot be procured at the individual level, and so men feel helpless if it is not provided by the community. It is ludicrous to see how major political parties have ignored this for years.

The easiest, the most cost effective way to win the hearts and minds of the people is to ensure the timely dispensation of verdicts. There are now about 3.5 million cases pending in the courts affecting around 50 million of the most productive members of the public.

These people have resources and ability but their time and efforts are being wasted for completely unproductive purposes. These are mostly civil and criminal matters which have little impact on the need of politicians to stay in power, and yet the politicians will not do what is needed which can benefit the people immensely.

The legal system is riddled with archaic laws and procedures inherited from the British. The devil is mostly in the procedures, not in the laws.

Judges and lawyers use loopholes in the procedures endlessly for personal gains.

Granting of endless time petitions

A party wins the hearts and minds of the people, mostly by paying attention to the little things that affect their daily lives of the common people

the AL should be careful. A day may come when the same fate may await them. Now when they are in power, this is the time for them to win the hearts and the minds of the public for the next 20 years, because the public does matter, in the long run, as the BNP is now finding out. But how does a party win the hearts and minds of the people?

A party wins the hearts and minds of the people, mostly by paying attention to the little things that affect their daily lives. The first would be the enforcement of justice in the courts.

More than food, shelter or clothing, which, from time immemorial, man is supposed to procure for himself at the individual level, man’s primary

can prolong cases from 5 to 25 years.

There is almost no scope to appeal to a higher authority. The only time that a litigant can meaningfully appeal to a higher authority is when the case is moved from the lower courts to the higher courts.

The Code of Civil and Criminal Procedures therefore must be thoroughly reformed in the same spirit that the Hasina government has identified digitalisation as the easy way out of poverty. If corruption cannot be prevented by appealing to the conscience, then it must be done through the proper design of the system.

Another curious feature of our legal system is the behaviour of our lawyers who have a serious deficiency in

self-esteem, and suck up to politicians who have total control over them.

They group along political lines when they should be protecting the integrity of their profession first.

As officers of the courts, they have made the entire judiciary subservient to politicians. This is the main reason why free and fair elections cannot be held in the country. Senior lawyers must take responsibility for failing to guide their junior colleagues.

little capital.

Most importantly, they create an environment of hope and open doors to millions of rural people who get the opportunity to set up their own networks.

The country has been saddled with a foreign exchange reserve of over 22 billion dollars which can only be used to finance imports. Although a decent reserve is absolutely essential, too much of it, especially the part created

These people have resources and ability but their time and efforts are being wasted for completely unproductive purposes

The second area which concerns the public is investment and finance.

The stock exchange, the hope and aspiration of many people has taken a severe beating causing much distress.

The stock exchange represents investments by both businessmen who run the enterprises and common people who only invest in them.

Common people with no particular skill or expertise, have money which remains idle if they cannot invest in a bigger firm which can produce profit.

It is therefore in the interest of the government to see that new businesses are set up.

However, it has been difficult to convince affluent people to invest in new enterprises given the lack of facilities eg electric power, infrastructure etc and the web of bureaucratic rules and disparities that harasses and discourages would-be entrepreneurs.

Why should an affluent person set up an industry risking it all, when he can earn 10% interest sitting at home?

Another issue has been the MLM companies. The government has cracked down on them without much consideration to their cogency to the present stage in our industrial development.

Although MLM companies have their downside, and must be regulated, they serve a major purpose by creating capital for entrepreneurs and at the same time offering much needed exposure and business connections to rural folks with no special skills and

by unproductive labour remittances can have banal effects.

This money collects no interest, yet it creates inflation by the Bangladesh Bank having to purchase it with Takas.

Unless, this money can be utilised to import capital goods to boost local production, this will be a bane rather than a boon. The only way out of this impasse is to have a sound industrial growth policy free of bureaucratic hassles.

These are some suggestions from a citizen who has become disgruntled with the country and has taken up the pen in the hope of creating the spark that will ignite the fire. The public want good governance irrespective of which party provides it.

Gone are the days when people would go into the streets spilling their blood for a particular person or a party. The only way for the incumbent party to sit in the pulpit of power is to take the public on its side, and this can only be done by helping them in matters that actually affect their daily lives, not by implanting exotic ideas to get more revenue into the party coffers.

And the non-incumbent party must make all efforts to regain the trust and confidence of the people. It is in the interest of all that the political parties understand this. Once in the hole, it may not be easy to get out. l Syed Mujtaba Quader is a freelance contributor

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

US strikes in Iraq despite IS threat n Tribune Desk US aircraft have launched fresh strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in northern Iraq, despite threats from the group to kill a second American captive in retribution for continued attacks.

US Navy fighters and drones provided air cover to Kurdish and Iraqi forces battling IS near the city of Mosul, BBC reported.

On Tuesday, the Islamist group released a video showing the beheading of journalist James Foley, who went missing in 2012. In it, the militants threatened to kill another US reporter they are holding.

But since the video was released, American forces have conducted 14 new strikes near the Mosul dam, a key facility recaptured from IS militants earlier this week.

The raids provided air cover as Kurdish and Iraqi forces pushed into the hills south-west of the site, Kurdish sources said. US officials said they had successfully eliminated vehicles and other targets belonging to IS. The US has been carrying out strikes against IS - which has been seizing large parts of Syria and Iraq - since 8 August.

In its video, the group said it has killed Foley in revenge for such attacks. US President Barack Obama on Wednesday called the killing “an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world.”

Failed rescue

Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon said the US had “attempted a rescue opera-

tion recently to free a number of American hostages held in Syria.”

It said the operation “involved air and ground components.” “Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location.”

It was the first time the US government had acknowledged that its forces had operated in Syria since the country’s civil war began in 2011.

The New York Times newspaper quoted unnamed US officials as saying the raid occurred at an oil refinery in the north.

Foley, 40, had reported across the Middle East, working for US publication GlobalPost and other media outlets.

‘Warning to Obama’

In the IS video, titled A Message to America, a man identified as James Foley is dressed in an orange jumpsuit, kneeling in desert-like terrain beside an armed man dressed in black.

He gives a message to his family and links his imminent death to the US bombing campaign in Iraq. Clearly under duress, he says: “I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government, for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality.”

Then the masked militant - who speaks with a British accent - delivers a warning to the US president: “Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.” l

World

Friday, August 22, 2014

Foley’s death isn’t changing views in Congress n AP, Washington

The beheading of an American journalist in Syria, for all its horror, appears unlikely to change lawmakers’ minds about military intervention against Islamic State extremists. It’s equally unclear whether the Obama administration will be asking them to back a new US approach.

President Barack Obama said the United States wouldn’t scale back its military posture in Iraq in response to James Foley’s killing. But he offered no specifics Wednesday about what new steps he might take to protect additional captives and other Americans, and ward off what he described as the al-Qaida offshoot’s genocidal ambitions.

The initial response from members of Congress was mixed, reflecting the divide of the American people. While all decried Foley’s death, hawks, particularly Republicans, continued to assail the Obama administration’s limited airstrikes in Iraq and its refusal to target Islamic State bases in neighboring Syria. The president’s supporters voiced support for the current, cautious intervention in Iraq. No tea partiers or dovish Democrats who have cautioned against military action publicly changed position.

“The president’s rhetoric was excellent, but he didn’t outline steps to stop the slaughter,” Republican Sen. John McCain, one of Obama’s harshest foreign policy critics, said in a telephone interview. “The strategy should be to launch all-out air attacks in Iraq and Syria to defeat ISIL,” he said, using an alternative acronym for the Sunni militants.

Interrupting his family vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts,

Hamas finally admits role in the killing of Israeli teens

In this June 17, 2011 photo, journalist James Foley receives applause from students at the Christa McAuliffe Regional Charter Public School in Framingham, Mass AP Obama denounced the Islamic State as a “cancer” threatening the entire Middle East. And military planners weighed the possibility of sending a small number of additional US troops to Baghdad. Still, Obama was vague about what more his administration would do, saying the US will stand with others to “act against” the extremists.

“We will be vigilant and we will be relentless,” he said. “When people harm Americans, anywhere, we do what’s necessary to see that justice is done.”

That message was clearly inadequate for McCain, the Republican candidate Obama defeated for the presi-

dency in 2008. The Arizona senator, who has clamored for years for US action against government forces and extremists in Syria, said the Islamic State has “erased the boundaries between Syria and Iraq, and we must treat it the same way.” Otherwise, he said, the militants will enjoy a sanctuary in Syria where they can regroup and create more chaos.

Other Republicans echoed that message. “The Iraqis have already demonstrated that they cannot stop them on their own,” said Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, a House Intelligence Committee member and former Army officer.

“The president’s current path of ac-

tion has been far too limited to make a difference.”

Republican Rep. Ed Royce, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said the US must aggressively arm the Islamic State’s opponents.

Sen. Marco Rubio called Obama’s approach “piecemeal.”

Some Democrats, too, pushed for expanding US military action into Syria. “Otherwise, they will continue to threaten Americans and the interests of our country,” said Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

Others, however, expressed caution and said the president was reacting appropriately. l

Calm largely holds in Missouri after grand jury opens investigation n Reuters, Ferguson Small crowds staged largely peaceful protests late on Wednesday over the fatal shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, the calmest night since riots erupted over the racially charged killing.

US Attorney General Eric Holder met the parents of 18-year-old Michael Brown and promised his department would hold a thorough investigation into a case that has reignited a debate over the justice system’s treatment of African Americans.

“I am the Attorney General of the United States, but I am also a black man ... I can remember being stopped on the New Jersey turnpike on two occasions and accused of speeding. Pulled over,” Holder told a community meeting in the

St Louis suburb, according to US media.

A grand jury also began hearing evidence in the case on Wednesday, though protesters stepped up their demands that the local criminal investigation be turned over to a special prosecutor.

A few gunshots rang out overnight, at least one officer was hit by a bottle and police said early on Thursday six people had been arrested, much fewer than the scores detained in the past nights of riots and looting.

“We saw a different crowd that came out tonight. We didn’t have as many agitators and, as I said, criminals in the crowd,” said Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, a black officer appointed to oversee security last week.

“The trend is good. Crowds were

smaller, they were calm and orderly,” he told journalists.

An hour before sundown on Wednesday, groups of dozens of protesters began marching peacefully along a main thoroughfare that has been the scene of nightly demonstrations and sporadic violence, chanting: “Hands up, don’t shoot.”

A thunderstorm struck just after dark, scattering demonstrators, including an angry crowd that had surrounded a couple carrying a pro-police sign.

Members of the clergy were seen in the crowd, helping direct the march and acting as intermediaries between police and demonstrators. One black female minister in a long white robe calmed a woman who was screaming defiantly, then ushered her along the route. l

Liberia police fire on protesters as Ebola toll hits 1,350 Smoke and sand are seen following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Israel killed three senior Hamas commanders in an air strike on the Gaza Strip yesterday. Story on page 1 REUTERS

n Reuters, Ramallah West Bank A top Hamas official said members of his militant group kidnapped three Israeli teenagers whose deaths in June provoked a spiral of violence that led to the war in Gaza, the first acknowledgement of the movement’s involvement.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, has up to now refused to confirm or deny Israeli accusations that it masterminded the abduction and killing of the three young men, one of them a joint US-Israeli citizen, in Hebron.

“There was much speculation about

this operation, some said it was a conspiracy,” Saleh al-Arouri told delegates at the International Union of Islamic Scholars in Istanbul on Wednesday, according to a recording of the meeting posted online by organizers.

“The popular will was exercised throughout our occupied land, and culminated in the heroic operation by the Qassam Brigades in imprisoning the three settlers in Hebron,” he said, referring to Hamas’s armed wing.

“This was an operation from your brothers in Qassam undertaken to aid their brothers on hunger strike in (Is-

raeli) prisons,” he added.

Jewish seminary students Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Gilad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel, both 16, were abducted while hitchhiking in the Israeli occupied West Bank on June 12 and killed.

Israel promptly accused Hamas, which is based in Gaza but has a presence in the West Bank, of masterminding the attack and began a crackdown on the group in which over a thousand Palestinians were arrested. Tensions already ran deep in the West Bank after weeks of a mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. l

n Reuters, Monrovia Police in the Liberian capital have fired live rounds and tear gas to disperse a stone-throwing crowd trying to break an Ebola quarantine imposed on their neighbourhood, as the death toll from the epidemic in West Africa hit 1,350.

In the sprawling oceanfront West Point neighbourhood of Monrovia, at least four people were injured in clashes with security forces, witnesses said. It was unclear whether anyone was wounded by the gunfire, though a Reuters photographer saw a young boy with his leg largely severed just above the ankle.

Liberian authorities introduced a na-

tionwide curfew on Tuesday and put the West Point neighbourhood under quarantine to curb the spread of the disease.

“The soldiers are using live rounds,” said army spokesman Dessaline Allison, adding: “The soldiers applied the rules of engagement. They did not fire on peaceful citizens. There will be medical reports if (an injury) was from bullet wounds.”

The World Health Organization said that the countries hit by the worst ever outbreak of the deadly virus were beginning to suffer shortages of fuel, food and basic supplies after shipping companies and airlines suspended services to the region.

The epidemic of the hemorrhagic fever, which can kill up to 90% of those it infects, is ravaging the three small West African states of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. It also has a toehold in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country.

Liberia - where the death toll is rising fastest - said its Ministry of Health warehouse had run out of rubber boots and bottles of hand sanitiser, essential for preventing the spread of the disease.

Still struggling to recover from a devastating 1989-2003 civil war, Liberia recorded 95 deaths in the two days to Aug. 18, the World Health Organization said. l

Violence, threats prompt more Muslim women in Britain to wear a veil n Reuters, London When youth worker Sumreen Farooq was abused in a London street, the 18-year-old decided it was time to take a stand - and she started to wear a headscarf.

Farooq is one of many young Muslim women living in Britain who have, for various reasons, chosen to adopt the headscarf to declare their faith to all around them, despite figures showing rising violence against visibly identifiable Muslims.

For despite a common view that young Muslim women are forced to wear veils by men or their families, studies and interviews point to the opposite in Muslim minority countries where it is often the case that the women themselves choose to cover up.

“I’m going to stand out whatever I do, so I might as well wear the headscarf,” said Farooq, a shop assistant who also volunteers at an

Islamic youth centre in Leyton, east London.

While just under five percent of Britain’s 63 million population are Muslim, there are no official numbers on how many women wear a headscarf or head veil, known as the hijab, or the full-face veil, the niqab, which covers all the face except the eyes. The niqab is usually worn with a head-to-toe robe or abaya. But anecdotally it seems in recent years that more young women are choosing to wear a headscarf to assert a Muslim identity they feel is under attack and to publicly display their beliefs.

Shanza Ali, 25, a Masters graduate who works for a Muslim-led non-profit organisation in London, said she was born in Pakistan and her Pakistani mother had never worn the veil but both she and her sister Sundas chose to do so aged about 20.

“I decided to make a commitment as a Muslim and I have never stopped since,”

Shanza told Reuters in her family home in Walthamstow, east London where prayer mats hang from the walls alongside modern, family portraits. “Sometimes you forget that you’re covering your hair but you never forget why you’re covering. You remember, that to you, your character should be more important than your appearance.

Standing out in a crowd Shaista Gohir, chairman of the Muslim Women’s Network UK, said more women had adopted headscarves since the attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and in London on July 7, 2005, put them under greater political and public scrutiny.

“For some young women it is a way of showing they are different and they are Muslim although it is not a Muslim obligation,” she told Reuters.

She said the full-face niqab was a minor

phenomenon in Britain, worn by relatively few women, although it had become central to a wider debate in the country about integration and British values.

This was put to the test last year when a judge ruled a Muslim woman could not give evidence at a trial wearing a niqab, sparking debate about whether Britain should follow other European countries and ban full-face veils in public places.

After a national debate, a compromise was reached and it was agreed that the woman could wear the niqab during the trial but not when she was giving evidence.

Modesty in Islam is key for both men and women but most Islamic scholars agree that women adopting a full-face veil is more to do with culture than religion. But women who publicly display their religion by wearing a scarf of any kind have found they can be targeted for doing so. l

Shanza Ali, taking pictures at her sister’s wedding, is a Masters graduate who works for a Muslim-led non-profit organisation in London REUTERS

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Friday, August 22, 2014

Thai junta leader appointed PM by hand-picked parliament n Reuters, Bangkok Thailand’s coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha was appointed prime minister yesterday by a legislature he handpicked, giving the army chief a veneer of legitimacy even while the military presses on with efforts to silence its critics.

The army seized power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of sometimes deadly street protests that contributed to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose populist government was opposed by the Bangkok royalist establishment.

Although Prayuth’s appointment paves the way for an interim government to be set up in the coming weeks, power will remain firmly in the junta’s hands. The general has said he plans to press ahead with a year of political reforms before a new election that he said will take place by late 2015.

“It is designed to give him the power to run the country according to the law. The premier position will give him legal power in the Thai governance system,” Gothom Arya, a lecturer in human rights studies at Mahidol University, told Reuters.

The nomination comes as no surprise - the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) that chose Prayuth is largely considered little more than a rubber stamp parliament tasked with enacting sweeping reforms under the army’s watch.

The 60-year-old Prayuth will retire

as army chief in September but will stay on as head of the junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order. His appointment will need to be endorsed by Thailand’s king.

In the weeks leading up to the coup Prayuth denied rumours that the military was planning to take control, but a Reuters report in May revealed the army had a plan ready that ran through

various scenarios and how the military should respond.

Yingluck, the sister of self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, had already been forced to step down on May 7, after a court found her guilty of abuse of power, but the army said its putsch to remove the remnants of her government two weeks later was necessary to restore order.

New Thai prime minister General Prayut Chan-O-Cha named as premier by Thailand’s junta-picked national assembly

Prayuth, who was not present at Thursday’s vote in the legislature, has said he will hand over power once a three-phase roadmap of reconciliation, an interim government to oversee reforms and elections is complete.

Moments after his appointment Prayuth, who was inspecting troops at an army camp in Chonburi province south of Bangkok, was asked by reporters whether he had heard the news.

“I didn’t know I had been asked to join,” Prayuth said, shaking his head, adding: “First, I want the country to move on.”

‘Cosmetic change’

Ousted the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra in bloodless coup on May 22 Seen as staunch opponent of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, brother of Yingluck Move to shed army uniform and take premiership seen as cementing military’s control of the country Due to retire as army chief in September

Since launching the coup, Prayuth has displayed signs of authoritarianism. A draft 2015 fiscal budget was approved on Monday in a unanimous vote, with only three abstentions by the NLA president and deputies according to convention. “Nobody had any problem. Nobody disagreed,” Prayuth said after the vote on Monday.

Australia, the United States and the European Union downgraded diplomatic ties with Thailand after the coup and western diplomats Reuters spoke to said the appointment amounted to little more than a public relations exercise.

“The prime minister title is just a cosmetic change and the nomination is not unexpected,” said one Western diplomat in Bangkok, who declined to be named. l

Indian firms tool up for defence orders on Modi’s ‘buy India’ pledge n Reuters, New Delhi Some of India’s biggest companies are pouring billions of dollars into manufacturing guns, ships and tanks for the country’s military, buoyed by the new government’s commitment to upgrade its armed forces using domestic factories.

India, the world’s largest arms importer, will spend $250bn in the next decade on kit, analysts estimate, to upgrade its Soviet-era military and narrow the gap with China, which spends $120bn a year on defence.

Under the last government, procurement delays and a spate of operational accidents - especially dogging the navy - raised uncomfortable questions over whether India’s armed forces are capable of defending its sea lanes and borders.

Even before his landslide election victory in May, Prime Minister Na-

rendra Modi promised to assert India’s military prowess and meet the security challenge posed by a rising China and long-running tensions with Pakistan.

Within weeks of becoming prime minister, he boosted defence spending by 12% to around $37bn for the current fiscal year and approved plans to allow more foreign investment into local industry to jump-start production.

Launching a new, Indian-built naval destroyer last week, Modi said: “My government has taken important steps in improving indigenous defence technology ... We can guarantee peace if our military is modernised.”

This build-up comes as Southeast Asian nations expand their own defence industries, spurred by tensions with China. India, reliant on a state defence industry that often delivers late

Imran Khan calls off talks to end protest impasse n AFP, Islamabad Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan yesterday called off talks with the government aimed at ending protests seeking the fall of the prime minister, which have destabilised the nuclear-armed nation.

Khan and populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri have led followers protesting outside parliament for the past two days demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif quit.

Talks to end the standoff – which began a week ago with “long marches” from the eastern city of Lahore – started on Wednesday but made little headway.

Khan insists the May 2013 general election, won in a landslide by Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party, was rigged, despite independent international observers judging it free and credible.

The former cricket star has demanded Sharif resign and call new elections and on Thursday repeated his insistence the PM must quit before talks.

“The talks with the government are over. How can these talks proceed when we first want resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif?” Khan said.

“I want to tell you Nawaz Sharif that I will not leave this place until you step down.”

Between them, the protest rallies of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) have drawn tens of thousands of supporters this week.

But as Khan made his address from the top of a shipping container outside parliament on Thursday, there were barely a few thousand supporters scat-

tered over the protest site.

PAT has said it wants “meaningful dialogue” and the powerful army has called for a negotiated end to the showdown. A number of Pakistan’s key trade partners – and aid donors – including the United States, Britain and the European Union have also urged a political solution.

The showdown has added to instability in a country that has had three military coups since its creation in 1947 and which is struggling with a homegrown Taliban insurgency, a crippling power crisis and a sluggish economy.

The two protest movements are not formally allied and have different goals, beyond toppling the government. But their combined pressure – and numbers – have given extra heft to the rallies.

If PAT were to reach a settlement with the government and withdraw, PTI’s position would be significantly weakened, despite Khan’s tough stance.

Neither movement has mobilised mass support beyond their core followers and opposition parties have shunned Khan’s call to unseat the government and begin a campaign of civil disobedience.

On Thursday the lower house of parliament passed a unanimous resolution rejecting calls for Sharif’s resignation and vowing to uphold democracy.

Lawyers also staged a national strike in protest at the PAT and PTI sit-ins.

“This style of politics and call for disobedience is harming Pakistan’s economy, a call for civil disobedience is equal to a constitutional coup,” Yaseen Azad, senior leader, Supreme Court Bar Association, told Geo TV. l

and over budget, risks being caught flat-footed.

“The opportunity is huge,” said M.V. Kotwal, president (Heavy Engineering) at Larsen and Toubro Ltd, one of India’s biggest industrial houses.

“We really expect quicker implementation. There are signs that this government is very keen to grow indigenisation,” added Kotwal, referring to increasing domestic production.

Tata Sons, a $100bn conglomerate, said last month it will invest $35bn in the next three years to expand into new areas with a focus on a handful of sectors including defence.

Larsen is putting $400m into a yard to build ships for the navy, while Mumbai-based Mahindra Group is expanding a facility that makes parts for planes, including for the air force, and investing in armoured vehicle

and radar production.

The companies are being lured by the prospect of lucrative returns on their investments as the Modi government has pledged to make “buy Indian” the default option for future orders.

Larsen is targeting a fourfold increase in annual defence revenue to $1bn within the next five years.

Critics of indigenisation argue that producing gear - especially in the lumbering state sector - is more costly than buying from abroad. Such deals can add layers of bureaucracy, increasing risks of corrupt dealings.

Indian industry is renowned for its ability to adapt, yet questions remain whether the private sector can come up with the solutions needed to bring armed forces into the 21st century without sufficient access to world-class foreign technology. l

Tremendous spike in ‘suicide tourism,’ researchers confirm n Tribune Desk In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers in the UK have confirmed tremendous spike in a worrying trend of suicide tourism, The Times of India reported.

The numbers of ‘suicide tourists’ going to Switzerland to take their own lives have doubled within four years with citizens from Germany and UK contributing to the largest per cent.

Those with neurological conditions, such as paralysis, motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, account for almost half of the cases.

While 123 people undertook suicide tourism in 2008, the number rose to 172 in 2012. The data shows that nationals from 31 different countries were helped to die in Switzerland between 2008 and 2012, with German (268) and UK (126) nationals making up almost two thirds of the total.

Other countries in the top 10 include France (66), Italy (44), USA (21), Austria (14), Canada (12), Spain and Israel (each with 8).

The data base made public yesterday morning shows one case from India as well in 2012.

The study by Oxford University looked at whether the availability of suicide tourism in Switzerland had prompted changes in the law on assisted suicide elsewhere.

While assisted suicide (AS) is strictly restricted in many countries, it is not clearly regulated by law in Switzerland. This imbalance leads to an influx of people — suicide tourists — coming to the Canton of Zurich with the sole purpose of committing suicide.

Political debate regarding ‘suicide tourism’ is taking place in many countries.

Swiss medico legal experts are confronted with these cases almost daily, which prompted our scientific investigation of the phenomenon, said the researchers.

Researchers therefore searched the databases of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Zurich for information on investigations and post-mortem examinations

Protesters attack police as two Indian states fight over territory

Indian army personnel remove branches of a tree which were thrown by the protesters to block the road at Golaghat district in Assam.

Protesters in the state defied a curfew and attacked police in a fifth day of unrest over a dispute with a neighbouring state REUTERS

n Reuters, Guwahati Thousands of protesters in the farflung Indian state of Assam defied a curfew and attacked police in a fifth day of unrest over a territorial dispute with a neighbouring state.

Assam and the tiny state of Nagaland in northeastern India have been claiming tracts of land along the state limits since the creation of Nagaland more than four decades ago.

Clashes have periodically erupted between people living in villages straddling the two states. The latest wave of violence has left at least 20 dead and forced thousands to flee their homes, officials said.

On Thursday, residents of Assam’s worst-affected Golaghat district turned on the state police, saying it had failed to protect them from attacks by Naga tribesmen coming over the state borders.

Armed with stones and sticks, and even bows and arrows, demonstrators attacked policemen and vehicles, ignoring a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the authorities in the district, about 300 km (180 miles) from Assam’s main commercial city Guwahati.

“The situation in Assam is volatile and emotions are high among the people against the government for its failure to protect its people from Nagas,” said Akhil Gogoi, a protest leader in Guwahati.

India’s mountainous northeast is home to dozens of ethnic groups, many of whom are campaigning for greater autonomy, statehood or even secession.

New Delhi has deployed troops for decades in the area which shares borders with China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. But critics say the northeast is a neglected corner of the country, and that federal politicians only turn their attention to it when there is an outbreak of violence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected by a landslide in May, has appointed a former army chief as his minister for northeast affairs to help build border infrastructure and ramp up economic activity. l

among non-Swiss nationals who had been helped to take their own lives between 2008 and 2012.

There are six right-to-die organizations in Switzerland, of which four permit nationals from other countries to use their services.

The search revealed that 611 people who were not resident in Switzerland had been helped to die between 2008 and 2012, all but four of whom had gone to Dignitas. Their ages ranged from 23 to 97, with the average being 69; over half (58.5%) of the ‘tourists’ were women, who were 40% more likely to choose assisted suicide in Switzerland than men.

The rises were particularly steep in certain countries, especially Italy — up from 4 in 2009 to 22 in 2012, and France, up from 7 in 2009 to 19 in 2012. Overall, the numbers of people being helped to die in Switzerland doubled between 2009 and 2012.

Virtually all the deaths were caused by taking sodium pentobarbital. Four people inhaled helium — deaths which were widely publicised and described as “excruciating,” and possibly responsible for the dip in numbers of suicide tourists to Switzerland between 2008 and 2009, say the researchers.

Around one in three people had more than one condition, but neurological conditions accounted for almost half of the total cases, followed by cancer and rheumatic diseases.

The study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics suggests that the phenomenon of suicide tourism, which is unique to Switzerland, has prompted legislative changes and/or serious debate in Germany, the UK, and France—the principal sources of this type of tourism.

In Switzerland, assisting suicide is not clearly regulated by law, and unlike in other countries such as the Netherlands, no rules exist that regulate under which conditions someone might receive assisted suicide (AS). l

Hanged India girls’ ‘rape’ in doubt n Tribune Desk A forensic investigation into clothing and swabs taken after the murder and alleged gang rape of two teenage cousins in northern India has concluded that they were not sexually assaulted.

The girls were found hanged from a tree in Uttar Pradesh state in May, in a case which sparked global outrage, BBC reported.

Three suspected attackers were taken into custody along with two policemen. At the time a local post-mortem examination confirmed multiple sexual assaults and death due to hanging.

The case was initially investigated by the state police, but later handed over to federal investigators at India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Correspondents say it is not clear how the CBI will be able to resolve the apparent contradictions between the latest forensic conclusions and the earlier post-mortem performed by the local authorities.

The father of one of the victims said he was shocked by the latest report.

“I don’t know whether the samples sent to the labs were of my daughter or of someone else. Ever since the post-mortem was conducted every effort has been made to conceal the facts...

Justice is being denied to us,” he said.

Last month, the CBI attempted to exhume the bodies of the girls but their graves were under floodwaters and remain inaccessible to this day.

But India’s Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) was able to examine the clothes and personal effects of the two girls and reported that it found no proof of sexual assault, a CBI spokesperson told BBC Hindi.

The CBI refused to provide any more details, but media reports quoting sources in the CDFD said “no male DNA had been found on the clothes and personal effects” of the girls.l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Friday, August 22, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Don’t forget August 21

J

ust a few days after August 15, the date of the assassination of the Father of the Nation, the nation commemorates yet another black day in its history.

Ten years ago on this day, the nation was shaken by a horrific grenade attack. The attack took place during an Awami League rally and killed twenty people, including prominent politician Ivy Rahman.

Another 200 people were injured. Many are yet to recover from the physical and emotional damage caused by the attack that blindsided the country that day. Many never will.

August 21 will continue to serve as a grim reminder of our violent political culture, and our regrettable willingness to engage in thuggery and murder to silence or wipe out opponents instead of inviting them to the table for discussion.

Our main political parties have always had their differences, and all too often we have been unable to rise above the petty ways of street violence. It is further regrettable that the perpetrators of this crime have not yet been brought to book. We hope political hindrances can be overcome to do justice to the victims of this terrible crime.

On this day we remember and mourn all the victims of that heinous attack, and try to make sure this kind of incident never happens again on our soil.

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

Jet Airways’ pilots fall asleep in air August 15

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 7 represents W so fill W every time the figure 7 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

Bring the perpetrators of this terrible crime to book to do justice to the victims Jafar Ahmad Someone needs to tell him to sleep well before he gets into the plane to take off.

Mahin It’s obvious they are bad pilots; otherwise, would they endanger their passengers in this way? Rather than flying on such a plane, it’s better to ride in the murir tin buses.

Ilajar Islam Cruise control / snooze control! :D

O

nce again, the Economist’s updated Global Liveability Index has ranked Dhaka as the second least liveable out of 140 world cities surveyed in its annual rankings.

We have editorialised before that while this survey’s methodology may contain some flaws, it is beyond doubt that Dhaka is highly unliveable and, that without major changes, is in danger of becoming less attractive to residents and businesses.

As well as tackling polluting industries and improving law and order generally, the government needs to urgently facilitate major improvements, particularly to the state of housing and transport infrastructure.

Poor infrastructure is the biggest factor underscoring the city’s low ranking and needs to be addressed as a high priority. Having better transport connections and improving energy supplies across the country can help ease pressure on Dhaka by enabling more relocation of industry and housing.

But it is not only major developments that have to take place, it is also necessary to get back to basics. Many of the day-to-day challenges afflicting residents need to be tackled far better by city authorities.

Road conditions can be readily improved by better enforcement of traffic laws and by reforming the city’s bus networks. There is also no excuse for not vastly improving the state of garbage collection and waste recycling in the city, or for protecting green spaces.

Resources and labour are already available for these tasks, but the city corporations need to administer them better. Mayoral elections should be scheduled so that Dhaka’s citizens can hold them to account.

The city corporations need to better administer the available resources and labour

Sonia Hossain Wtf. Enough man, what’s going on? This is scary. :-(

Time to grow cumin in Bangladesh August 15

Md Ashraf Hossain Cumin is one plant that should also be considered for cultivation. It is an essential spice in Bangladeshi cuisine. But because farmers here do not grow it, a certain quantity of it is imported every year from Iran, India, and other nations with currency that could be invested elsewhere.

It had been believed that cumin is not suitable in our environment. This, however, has been proven wrong by a farmer in Patuakhali.

Last year he collected cumin from a neighbouring market, and grew it on a small piece of his land, resulting in an encouraging profitable yield. He had taken the advice of a Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) field official. This year, he is growing cumin on a larger part of his land, and the growth has been encouraging so far.

It is expected that he will get a good yield again.

From the time of our independence, too much emphasis has been given to rice cultivation. The time has now come to grow cumin. The DAE should start a project to motivate farmers in Patuakhali to cultivate cumin on a large-scale commercial basis, to cater to the demand of this nation, if not for export.

Political clout behind most unsolved murder cases

August 16

Sharmin Sultana Law enforcers are breaking laws left and right.

That’s why criminals have no fear.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Labonno Am I the only one who’s surprised?

Sayeed Both of them though? That’s unusual!

JJ Gibbs Planes fly themselves at a cruising altitude until a few hundred miles from their destination. There is a decent chance we’ve all been on flights on which one or even both pilots have taken a cat nap.

MR What on Earth do they mean by this!?

Attend to basics to make Dhaka liveable

Rabab It’s normal for pilots to sleep.

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.

Labonno Okay, I know that much. Planes run on auto pilot.

But pilots sleeping? I wasn’t too familiar with that. :-/

No list, no green tax August 13 Forecasting Freddy Your business page report on green taxes calls for a timely need to re-maneuver the Department of Environment, to settle their “under the table tax”before any list of offending polluting organisations are placed to NBR for the levy of any “green tax.”

After this essential matter is settled (on a word-of-mouth basis, naturally), only then will the list be publicised for needed action by the NBR. This is the minimum time gap before any levy of taxes are started. This is indicated in the last line of the report, that states (quote): “NBR should have to wait some more time as we are working ... to implement the surcharge policy (green tax).” That is the official version for all the deep internal realities that can only be imagined, not seen, heard or noted anywhere.

TIB: Broadcast policy contradicts constitution August 14

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Clever (5) 6 Light blow (3) 7 Kingdom (5) 10 Fragrance (5) 12 Kill (4) 13 Swellings (5) 15 Water pitcher (4) 16 Serpent (3) 18 Unhappy (3) 20 Floating structure (4) 22 Useful thing (5) 23 Precious metal (4) 25 Combine (5) 27 Lowest point (5) 28 Moved quickly (3) 29 Make effort (5)

DOWN 1 Glittering particles (6) 2 Spoil (3) 3 Made up for (6) 4 Dealers (7) 5 Everyone (3) 8 Donkey (3) 9 Church service (4) 11 Cut grass (3) 14 Obliteration (7) 16 Garb (6) 17 Powerful (6) 19 Soon (4) 21 Marsh (3) 22 Say further (3) 24 Lacking discipline (3) 26 Sailor (3)

Arch Bishop That’s a rather silly assertion. In a one-party state, the “Constitution” is whatever the paramount leader – head of the ruling party, scion of ruling family, prime minister, defence minister, leader of the House – says it is. The written constitutional document is ornamental in one-party systems like Bangladesh, where parliamentary nominations, high court judgeships, and the margin of election victories are all controlled by one person.

Overflowing intellectuals August 15

PEANUTS

A technical hand A fairly long essay on this subject, published by you, explored the pseudo-intellectuals that abound this nation. We have them in surplus and should look forward to exporting them elsewhere, say the Middle East and Africa, or neighbouring Nepal and Tibet.

I agree with the writer, that our socalled intellectuals have become a “joba khichuri” of writers and idea-spewing persons who fill many pages. Some are immensely wealthy and accomplished “social climbers,” being indulged by the many nouveaux riches who are a dime a dozen in our land. Given this background and easy access to wealth for the cunning and clever, we have pseudo-intellectuals, here, there and everywhere.

However, given the recent trends in the last decade, it seems that “human rights” has been overtaken by the brute reality of the state’s apparent strengths, that “might is right” and “money is the key to power.”

Unseen films of Andy Warhol digitised August 16

Esha Ohh, I am so excited! Can’t wait! :D

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Friday, August 22, 2014

ISIS on the march n SM Shahrukh

W

A bad day to party

T

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BIGSTOCK

E

F

L

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P

S

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Birthday lunacy must end

O

n Nadeem Qadir nce again, we saw BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia cutting her birthday cake amid fanfare on August 15, the National Mourning Day, marking the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members.

The controversy surrounding her birthday celebration is not new, and I think it is time that the issue gets resolved, as it is quite tasteless and painful.

Already major national dailies have ignored her birthday and television channels mostly showed a brief report, as it is a news event. Before I go into it, I would like to analyse the editorials of four major national dailies.

Dhaka Tribune: “Bangladesh’s independence today is the most important legacy of the leadership provided by Bangabandhu. The National Day of Mourning should not be a partisan occasion. It should be an opportunity for people of all views and allegiances to reflect on Bangabandhu’s vision and on how the nation can best move forward.”

The Daily Star: “Today, 39 years after that darkly vicious day, the best way for us to remember Bangabandhu will be to recall the high ideals he brought into politics through his long struggle for the rights of his fellow Bangalees. The Father of the Nation

died too young for him to preside over a full, satisfying transition to the high goals we set for ourselves in the days of the War of Liberation.”

Prothom Alo: (Loosely translated from Bangla) “August 15 is a day of mourning in our national life. One may debate about his rule, but denying his unique and courageous role in our liberation war is denying the very existence of Bangladesh. We have to remember this great national leader nationally, keeping aside narrow political views.”

wished Khaleda Zia on her birthday.

Taking these editorials into stock, I think it is high time for Begum Khaleda Zia, whom I respect from the core of my heart, abandons her birthday parties on the National Mourning Day. A cross-section of the people interviewed for my Asian News 30 segment called “Amjanata” had the same appeal.

Begum Khaleda Zia has been ill-advised by some of her people to seize this tasteless timing in celebrating her birthday. Even more, those

All she has to do is say that she respects Bangabandhu and will not celebrate her birthday, real or fake, on August 15

The Daily Ittefaq: (Loosely translated from Bangla) “Bangabandhu will live in his own right as long as Bangladesh and this Bengali nation will live in the comity of nations.”

That is the call and the outpouring of respect for the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, by top national dailies, which is reflective of its readers. No media has

close to her went in and conjured up a fake date of birth for her. I would not rejoice for a moment even on the day of my own enemy’s death. That is just ugly. I know a lady who changed her birthday from March 25 to March 26, since her birthday coincides with the Black Night, when the Pakistani army launched its genocide in 1971.

The media’s message should be tak-

en seriously as it is loud and clear that Miss Zia’s celebration of her birthday on August 15 is unacceptable. All she has to do is come out and say that she respects Bangabandhu and will not celebrate her birthday, real or fake, on August 15.

The law ministry must urgently take the matter to court and settle the controversy over Begum Khaleda Zia’s birthday. This would also help end this unfortunate politics and teach a positive lesson to our new generation.

Bangabir Kader Siddiqui, an individual who does not see eye-to-eye with the ruling AL or Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, visited Bangabandhu’s house in Road 32, Dhanmondi on August 15 to pay his respects to the slain leader.

Hussain Muhammad Ershad wrote in an article in the Bengali daily Bangladesh Protidin that it was immoral of Begum Zia to celebrate her birthday on August 15, further stating that she should not do it as it hurt a large portion of the populace.

“The first time she came to power, she did not celebrate her birthday on August 15. I have been closely associated with General Ziaur Rahman, and he too never celebrated his wife’s birthday on August 15,” Ershad writes.

The bottom line is clear – this lunacy must end once and for all. l

ith Gaza showing relative quiet after a tentative ceasefire albeit Israel is still making aerial forays at the sight of the rockets still launched by Hamas, the world – especially social media – has turned its attention to the “relatively new” monster on the block, ISIS (also known as ISIL). With ISIS fighters advancing towards Baghdad, the ultra-fundamentalist Sunni outfit is now the Islamic State.

ISIS, led by their strong leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, has already been in the Syria’s civil war controlling big swathes of Ar-Raqqah, Idlib, and Aleppo governorates. The world has looked away all this time, only their atrocities in Iraq and the “promotional” videos that they released have caught everyone’s attention. People have not seen such graphic depictions of atrocities for a long time.

Before flourishing into today’s status, they made their presence felt as early as 2003. Back then, ISIS was at a seed stage. But by 2011, they have had a strong presence in many regions of Iraq, and claimed Baqubah as a capital city. Today they are advancing towards Baghdad in all earnest and are razing all and sundry on the way, killing women and children, even burying some alive.

They have driven the Yazidis that predates the Abrahamic religions, to the hills. Over 50,000 of Yazidis, a small minority sect of Iraq, are living without food, water, and shelter – their survival would have been impossible but for the air-dropped scant aid from countries like the US and its allies.

The Islamic State considers them as idolaters, hence perfectly suited for extermination as per their hardcore interpretation of Islam.

The small group of Christian minority is also facing their wrath with churches burnt, and worshippers driven out and hounded. A priest in Nineveh was lamenting the other day to a BBC journalist how he was unable to carry out regular prayers with the followers of his faith in the region – flight seems to be the only option left to his “flock” for keeping their mortal existence.

The Kurdi region in Iraq’s north is facing an “existential” crisis as well.

The oil-rich region has been a flourishing region in the otherwise unstable fractious area called Iraq. They have a democratically-elected government, and the people have the leaders of their choice. The Kurdistan of Iraq has remained an autonomous region

Nadeem Qadir, a senior journalist, is a UNCA Dag Hammarskjold Scholar in journalism.

instead of seceding from the union.

But, the time may have come for them to get away from the government in Baghdad. The Kurdish fighters, “the Peshmerga,” are having a tough time fighting off the well-armed ISIS march.

The Peshmerga have the courage but are lacking in guns and other equipment, even though they have put the ISIS in retreat in Nineveh and some other region.

But for them to thwart ISIS, they need weapons worthy of combatting the big guns of the marauding Sunnis, and only the US and its allies can provide that. It may be mentioned here that ISIS got hold of modern weaponry from the Iraqi security forces that the US had given them in the first place.

Also, they bolstered their arsenal by pillaging and taking hold of arms silos in the captured areas of both Iraq and Syria.

The leader of ISIS, Al-Baghdadi, is said to be a creation of the US but it seems he has become the Frankenstein’s monster. It would be foolhardy to confuse ISIS with al-Qaeda. ISIS has taken control of oilfields as well as power stations, and is selling crude and electricity to both Iraqi and Syrian governments, earning millions promising to be billions if things move in the direction they intend.

They will not depend on donations or private fortunes for meeting expenses. This financial flexibility will allow them to make well-planned and comprehensive attacks on vast areas of the Middle East. The prognosis is quite gloomy if the status quo is maintained.

The US made a big mistake by assuming that things would normalise under a government led by Nouri al-Maliki. Instead of trying to create a unified Iraq, he has divided Iraq along sectarian lines, and the Sunnis are feeling left out. Now he has also gone to court seeking a third term as prime minister. The rise of ISIS is made easier by this nation divided into Shia, Sunni, and Kurd sects.

The Arab region as a whole should rethink the state of their nations, deprived of any democracy and the disparity between the rich and the poor a big yawn, the path of ISIS will only get smoother. The US coming with its drones and flattening all enemies and allowing the ruling elites to vacation in the South of France do not seem like a prudent plan even if the world is hungry for their oil. The US made deals with fundamentalists in the past and there are no guarantees that it will not do the same in the future. l SM Shahrukh is a freelance contributor.

REUTERS

150 years of the Geneva Convention Burkhalter and n Didier Peter Maurer

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ne hundred and fifty years ago to the day, the first Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field was adopted, enshrining the idea in international law that even in times of war, a certain degree of humanity must be preserved.

Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which together helped to secure acceptance for international humanitarian law on the world stage at that time, are now calling for stricter compliance with this principle, as there remains a lack of effective mechanisms for encouraging compliance around the globe.

Today’s wars have little in common with the battles of the 19th century.

The fighting has gradually moved from clearly defined battlefields to populated areas. Traditional war between armies of opposing states is the exception, while non-international conflicts have become the norm.

Nowadays civilians bear the brunt of armed conflicts.

International humanitarian law has adapted to this change. Appalled by the destruction and suffering caused by the Second World War, states agreed in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 on comprehensive protection for those who are not or are no longer participating in hostilities – wounded and sick soldiers, prisoners of war and civilians. This cornerstone of international humanitarian law was supplemented in 1977 and 2005 by three additional protocols.

The use of certain weapons, such as biological or chemical weapons, cluster munitions, and anti-personnel mines is now widely outlawed. The law has put barriers in place to protect the most vulnerable from the brutality of war. Its implementation has also seen a certain amount of progress, such as in the training of soldiers or in the prosecution of the worst war crimes, thanks in particular to the founding of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Nevertheless, every day we receive horrific reports and pictures from around the world that bear witness to unspeakable suffering in armed conflicts. All too often, serious breaches of international humanitarian law are

the cause of this suffering. Underlying it all is our collective failure. The Contracting States undertook in Article 1 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 “to respect and to ensure respect” for these Conventions “in all circumstances.”

to lose its validity over time. The consequences for the victims of armed conflict do not bear thinking about.

This is why Switzerland and the ICRC have been holding talks since 2012 with all states on the best way to improve compliance with interna-

Every day we receive horrific reports from around the world that bear witness to unspeakable suffering in armed conflicts

Thus far, however, they have failed to give themselves the resources required to keep their promises. International humanitarian law has, since its conception, lacked mechanisms for encouraging effective compliance. This impotence has often meant death and destruction for those affected by war.

The principles of international humanitarian law apply universally.

However, constant effort is required. A right that is regularly violated without provoking any clear response is likely

tional law. Their work is based on a mandate given by the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. They are convinced that states need a forum where they can decide jointly on the measures that are needed to bring better compliance with international humanitarian law.

They should have regular and systematic discussions on how they are meeting their obligations.

The forum would help the states to gradually establish an overall picture

of how these obligations are being fulfilled, and how the associated challenges are being met. On this basis, the states could finally take steps to reinforce the application of the law, for example by assisting each other to develop the skills and capacities required to meet their obligations. They could also keep each other up-to-date and exchange views on the most effective measures to tackle this often complex task.

A forum of states would also create the conditions required to ensure that the law dictates future developments in warfare (such as new weapons technology) and not vice-versa. This requires a regular dialogue on current issues of international humanitarian law. It is also important that the states have an appropriate instrument to respond to serious violations of international humanitarian law, to prevent such crimes in the future and to protect civilian populations from further suffering. A mechanism for investigating the causes of such violations would be expedient.

In accordance with their mandate, Switzerland and the ICRC will submit specific recommendations on the establishment of such a forum at the

32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which will be held in Geneva in late 2015. At this occasion, the states will decide what action to take.

Since the adoption of the first Geneva Convention 150 years ago, international humanitarian law has become a central pillar of the international legal order. Ultimately, its provisions serve to protect our key characteristic as human beings: Our humanity. This is an irrevocable right. It is based on the belief, forged over the centuries and in all our cultures, according to which it is essential to lay down rules if we want to prevent wars from degenerating into barbarism.

It is up to our generation to consolidate these achievements and to create an institutional framework to ensure these rules are respected. If it is to be fully effective, the law needs suitable instruments. Never in the history of humankind have we been closer to a solution than we are today. It is up to us to seize this opportunity. l Didier Burkhalter is the President of the Swiss Confederation. Peter Maurer is the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Friday, August 22, 2014

Tridib on MTV World Stage in Malaysia n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

I have passion for acting: Konal n Hasan Mansoor Chatak Somnur Monir Konal, took the Bangladesh music scene by storm after winning the “Shera Konthho 2009” beating thousands of participants. At present, the youngster is one of the most popular singers in the contemporary music arena and is working on her new album. She is also coming up with a music video of her song “Sukh Thame Naa” with music by Bappa Majumder. Konal will be performing at the IGCC tomorrow.

Dhaka Tribune caught up with the artiste in an interview to learn about her IGCC performance and more.

“Now the real journey has started for Mechanix. We have to prove ourselves on a bigger stage and only then this journey will be successful,” he added.

Mechanix got international recognition after their 2012 single “Enemy Within” followed by a music video of the song. International music platforms like Vevo and Yahoo! Music expressed their interest to work as platform for the band. Vevo already created a channel on Youtube named MechanixVevo.

Creinse Limited, a brand innovation, music and entertainment company in Bangladesh which brought the MTV Programme Platform in Bangladesh, confirmed that next year another band or artist from Bangladesh will once again be selected for the grooming session.

MTV Asia has been staging the show in Malaysia every year from 2009. l

For the first time ever, MTV invited a Bangladeshi musician in the grooming session of the show MTV World Stage which was held in Malaysia this year.

Aftabuzzaman Tridib, vocalist of the band Mechanix participated in the programme and learned the process of taking part in one of the most prestigious music event in the world.

Tridib shared his experience with Dhaka Tribune: “We were taught the process of how a band should prepare themselves for the international platform. We worked with a talented team who are specialists on processor’s tune to band’s outlook to stage act. We learned the sound engineering and above all, the overall designing of a show for a big event like MTV World Stage. Most fun part of the trip was when I was interviewed by MTV Asia’s VJ Alan and Henli.”

Push

HBO 7:18pm

Nick (Colin Ford) and Cassie (Dakota Fanning) are two young Americans with telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities. They must race against time to find Kira (Camilla Belle), a girl in Hong Kong, before a shadowy government organisation called Division does.

The Big Bang Theory (Season 5) Zee Cafe 8:30pm

What are you going to perform at the IGCC gig?

Firstly I will perform my original tracks followed by a new track from my upcoming album. Then I will be presenting popular Bangla songs of yesteryear including “Shrabon E Shondhya” by Mitali Mukherjee, “Bhalo Achi Bhalo Theko” by Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah and “Ektush Khani Dekho” by Sabina Yasmin.

Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists, the kind of “beautiful minds” that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door.

In your opinion, what is the essential feature to enthral the audience in a live concert?

I think it all depends on the type of songs you are performing. A singer will be able to keep the audience hooked with the right style and voice. Take Lata Mangeshkar for example. She does not walk around on stage or dance, but the audience would be glued anyway. For me, it is about the perfect synchronisation of the songs, tune/singing style and of course the personal presentation.

Tridib at the MTV World Stage in Malaysia

Nisho sets out to kill Orsha

How do you communicate with your fans?

n Entertainment Desk

Basically live concerts give me the ground to interact with the audience. Live TV programmes are also a great way to communicate with fans as they get to make phone calls. I also have a Facebook account to communicate with my fans.

What is your hobby besides singing?

I love to paint and read. I love cooking too.

Do you take art seriously?

I did not take any professional training. I usually come up with acrylic and oil paintings. Sometimes, I gift my paintings to my friends.

What about your love life?

My love is my family. I adore my parents, they are simply the best. Apart from that, I am single.

When do you plan on tying the knot?

I don’t have any plan to marry at this stage. Right now I am focusing on my career and studies.

Bollywood diva Jacqueline Fernandez turned up in a bridal lehenga as the showstopper for designer Anju Modi at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week Winter Festive 2014 in Mumbai on Wednesday night. Jacqueline was dressed in a glittering lehenga, fully embroidered long sleeved choli and net dupatta, along with beautiful jewellery to complement her look. Anju’s collection was a story of reincarnation called ‘Manikarnika’

To fullfill the final stage of a challenge, Nisho attempts to kill girlfriend Orsha in a single-episode play titled “Moho, Maya Othoba Prem.” The thriller will be aired on Maasranga TV tonight at 11:59pm.

Here, Nisho plays a young guy who just got fired. He becomes frustrated and his relationship with Orsha suffers. One fine day, he receives a call and a stranger offers him a challenge which will win him Tk10m if he

reaches the final stage and complete a deadly act. Phase by phase he is asked to carry out some daring tasks and he wins money in every stage. The money is transferred to his bank account after the successful completion of the undertakings. At the final stage, he is asked to kill his girlfriend Orsha and a spellbound Nisho agrees to do so and sets out to kill her. Will he finally be able to complete the ultimate challenge? The answer will be found on the final scene of the play written and directed by Mahmud Didar. l

Do you have any interest in acting?

Yes. From my childhood, I have acted in stage shows.

But I have yet to consider taking up acting as a profession. If I get the opportunity of acting during my spare time, I might snatch the chance as I am passionate about acting as well. l

Orsha, left, and Nisho in the drama Moho, Maya Othoba Prem

Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett in Jungle Book

Drik’s Appeal for Gaza concludes

n Entertainment Desk

2

1 1. Theatre activist Reetu Sattar staged a performance titled ‘A Bird of a Stone’ 2. Waqeel Ahad presented his original song O Amar Desh, Blowing in the Wind and Kabir Sumon’s Bangla version of the Bob Dylan song 3. Vocalist of band Ajob, Labik Kamal Gourab presented a couple of songs including the baul number Lohare Banaila Kancha Shona PHOTOS: KHAN HASAN MUHAMMAD RAFI

3

Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett have joined the cast of upcoming Warner Bros film “Jungle Book: Origins.”

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the project which would be helmed by Andy Serkis now stars Bale, Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsan and Peter Mullan along with Benedict Cumberbatch as the animal characters, while young actor Rohan Chand plays the human boy Mowgli.

The Rudyard Kipling story, which centres on the orphaned boy, Mowgli, raised by wolves, was adapted to script by Callie Kloves, while her father, Steve Kloves, produces with Jonathan Cavendish.

The movie would see Serkis play Baloo the bear, Bale for the voice of Bagheera the panther, Blanchett as the voice of sinister python Kaa, while Cumberbatch voices the killer tiger Sher Khan. l

Did you know?

Mario Balotelli averages a red card every 18 Premier League games, the third highest ratio of all players with 3+ red

Sport

Friday, August 22, 2014

14 Zenit, Porto

close in on group stage

14 De Kock stars as

Proteas cruise to series whitewash

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Banned Aamir

to star in Pakistani film

begin Tigers looking Tribune title-defence for turnaround against Qubee in second ODI

ASCENT CORPORATE CUP

n Shishir Hoque

n Mazhar Uddin

West Indies’ Lendl Simmons takes the Ice Bucket Challenge at Grenada on Wednesday as Kemar Roach (L) and Sunil Narine (R) helps him get drenched INTERNET

The thoughts of a series defeat will once again play in the back of the minds of the visiting Bangladesh side as they prepare to face the West Indies in the second of the three-match ODI series at Grenada today. Despite running the hosts close, Bangladesh conceded a three-wicket loss in the first match on Wednesday and Mushfiqur Rahim and his charges will no doubt be looking at an improved performance to stay alive in the series.

The visitors will certainly feel they were 20-30 runs short with only Anamul Haque able to put up some sort of resistance as none of the other batsmen were successful in converting their innings to a bigger one.

“The batsmen kept getting out.

They didn’t play their best innings. Our bowlers did a great job at the front, but we were unable to keep the pressure.

We gave away too many loose balls after that, so there were some positives to take,” said Mushfiq at the post-match presentation on Wednesday.

The Bangladesh pacemen, especially Al Amin Hossain and Mashrafe bin Mortaza, did manage to break into the Caribbean middle-order early on in the

innings. The visitors were in the driving seat as the West Indies were reeling on 34/5 inside the first 15 overs.

However, the Tigers badly missed the services of a spinner who could initiate regular breakthroughs. For the first time in 229 ODIs, Bangladesh played without a left-arm spinner in their line-up. Two of their most experienced spinners, Abdur Razzak and Shakib al Hasan, were missing with Razzak sitting in the dugout while the suspended Shakib might have been watching the game in the comforts of his home.

In the second game today, Bangladesh might opt to go for a leftarm spinner in place of 19-year old pacer Taskin Ahmed, who proved to be expensive giving away 46 runs from his seven overs besides remaining wicketless.

Tigers head coach Chandika Hathurusingha will be hoping for some better performances from his batsmen as the likes of Imrul Kayes, Shamsur Rahman, Mushfiq and Mahmudullah all failed to register any substantial score.

“We have to play our best game to win here. It is not impossible to win here, but we have to do the right things, and not only in a short space of time, but we need to do it over a longer period,” said Mushfiq. l

Bangladesh placed in strong group in Asian Games football n Shishir Hoque The Bangladesh Under-23 football team will face a stern test in order to prove their credentials in the upcoming 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea next month as they were placed alongside tournament favourites Uzbekistan, Hong Kong and Saff Championship winners Afghanistan in a tough group.

All the three teams are positioned above Bangladesh in the Fifa world rankings as well as the continental rankings. Ranked 51st in the world, Uzbekistan are third in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) rankings and are considered by many to be the favourites to claim the title of the men’s football competition in the Asiad. Hong Kong are ranked 32nd in the AFC rankings while Afghanistan, the defending Saff Championship winners, are ranked 19th. Bangladesh, meanwhile, are ranked 36th according to the latest AFC rankings.

In the last edition of the Games host-

ed by Guangzhou four years ago, Uzbekistan and Hong Kong were also grouped with Bangladesh. Bangladesh will not have fond memories as they went down to defeats against both the teams losing 4-1 against Hong Kong and 3-0 against Uzbekistan. Overall, Bangladesh have won only two matches in 19 attempts in the history of the Asian Games.

The competitiveness of the tough group was not lost on Bangladesh’s Dutch assistant coach Rene Koster who requested the supporters not to expect big things from the football side. Given

GROUP B

Uzbekistan Bangladesh

Hong Kong Afghanistan

the country’s past record in the Asian Games, Koster was also circumspect whilst putting Bangladesh’s chances of progressing past the group stage at 30 percent.

“There are two teams in the group who we have played before in the Asian Games and lost against both teams. All three teams in the group are ranked higher than us so it is unwise to expect anything big,” said the Dutch assistant coach yesterday.

“There is no chance that we are favourites in the group. We played against Afghanistan recently so we now have to do homework for the other two sides,” added Koster.

National striker Wahed Ahmed though put up a brave face saying the draw is ‘neither tough nor easy’. “We will give a good fight against Afghanistan and I believe we will put up a positive result against Hong Kong,” said the Mohammedan striker.

The draw ceremony was held yesterday where a total of 29 teams were split into eight groups. The participating teams have been divided into five groups of four teams and three groups of three.

Bangladesh will play their first match against Hong Kong on September 15 at Hwaseong Sports Complex before facing Uzbekistan three days later at the Namdong Asiad Rugby Field. The third and final group game against Afghanistan will take place on September 22 at Munhak Stadium.

The top two sides from each group will move to the round of 16. Although the Asian Games will get underway on September 19, the men’s football tournament will begin on September 14. l

The Bangladesh shooters are seen practising during a training camp at the National Shooting Complex at Gulshan yesterday ahead of the 17th Asian Games next month MUMIT M

Reigning champions Dhaka Tribune will take on Qubee in the inaugural match of the 9th Ascent Cup Corporate five-a-side Football Tournament 2014 which kicks off at the STM Hall of Scholastica school campus at Uttara today.

A total of 51 corporate teams, split into 17 groups, are taking part in the nine-day long meet. Dhaka Tribune, who clinched the title in its debut appearance in the last edition of the tournament, will also face Midas Finance Limited in Group A. A press conference was held at a city hotel yesterday where the details of the event were announced. The official draw ceremony also took place during the presser.

Ascent Group has been the title sponsor of the meet for nine years running and they are the title sponsors this year too. Runner Automobiles Limited is the new co-sponsor while IPDC and Securex are the associate sponsors.

The tournament has been held on a regular basis for the last nine years with more than a hundred corporate houses taking part in the tournament so far making it one of the largest corporate amateur sporting events of the country.

Deputy managing director of Ascent Group, Madiha Murshed, tournament’s organiser and CEO of Excalibur Entertainment, Farhan Quddus, director of business development of Ascent Group, Amer Ahmed, managing director of Runner Automobiles Limited, Brigadier General Shafiquzzaman and director of Securex Limited, Fedae Dastagir, were present on the occasion. l

The organisers pose for a photograph during a press conference held at a city hotel yesterday where the draw ceremony of the Ascent Group Corporate Cup was held. The five-a-side corporate football tournament gets underway today MUMIT M

Anamul’s fairytale ODI run continues n Minhaz Uddin Khan Bangladesh opener Anamul Haque made his bow in one-day internationals with a bang against the West Indies in the fag end of the year 2012. Although the 21-year old right-handed batsman was a part of the Bangladesh squad which finished runners-up in the Asia Cup held earlier in the same year, it was not until November that the youngster received his first international cap.

Anamul started his journey on a high note blasting his maiden ODI century in only his second game against the Windies. That was the first time Bangladesh and the cricketing fraternity begun to take notice of Anamul and his thunderous roar upon completion of his first limited-over hundred. Apparently it is no surprise as he is usually considered to be the most over-enthusiastic member of the Bangladesh dressing room.

The latest scream from the Kushtia lad was heard the loudest again, this time against the West Indies on Wednesday during the first of the three-match ODI series in the Caribbean islands. The occasion was his third one-day international ton in just his 20th match with two of those coming against the Windies. En route to his milestone, Anamul slammed 11 boundaries and a solitary six against the Caribbean attack.

At the beginning he shared 41 runs with Tamim Iqbal for the opening stand before adding 53 runs with middle-order batsman Nasir Hossain for the sixth-wicket partnership.

In the face of adversity, the most encouraging aspect of the youngster’s innings was the way he dealt with the opposition bowlers who had the obvious advantage of the home conditions.

Even when Anamul was punishing the West Indian bowlers, he did not look overly assured and seemed to present a sniff of an opportunity to the opponents every once in a while.

He survived a close leg-before wicket appeal in the 36th over. In the nervous nineties Anamul lifted one towards midwicket where Kirk Edwards misjudged a catch.

However, he was largely unhindered when mystery spinner Sunil Narine was troubling the rest of the Bangladesh batsmen. Finally after reaching his hundred he celebrated his century with a fierce scream.

The 109-run innings might have been overpowered by Kieron Pollard later on in the day but Anamul will be a satisfied man knowing he carried out his task of lending respectability to Bangladesh’s total.

The Tigers will be hoping for more of the same in the rest of their monthlong tour of the Caribbean. l

Bangladesh batsman Anamul Haque Bijoy embraces teammate Masrafe bin Mortaza (L) after scoring a century during the first ODI against West Indies at Grenada on Wednesday AFP

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Friday, August 22, 2014

Zenit, Porto close in on group stage n Reuters, Berne Zenit St Petersburg and Porto both put a foot in the Champions League group stage with 1-0 away wins in the first leg of their respective playoff ties on Wednesday.

Oleg Shatov’s first-half goal gave Andre Villas-Boas’ Zenit a 1-0 win at Standard Liege and a second-half effort from Hector Herrera was enough for the Portuguese coach’s former team Porto at Lille.

Wednesday’s other three matches, Slovan Bratislava-BATE Borisov, Maribor-Celtic and Aalborg-APOEL Nicosia, all ended in 1-1 draws.

Zenit’s goal in the 16th minute was a superb team effort, beginning when Domenico Criscito sent a clever pass into the path of Danny.

The Portuguese player chested the ball down for Hulk and the Brazilian

RESULTS Maribor Bohar 14

Lille Slovan Bratislava Vittek 80

Std Liege Aalborg Thomsen 16

1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1

Celtic McGregor 6

FC Porto Herrera 61

BATE Borisov Jablonsky 44-o.g.

Zenit Shatov 16

APOEL Nicosia Vinicius 54

picked out Shatov who side-footed home from near the penalty spot.

Porto, who have only missed out on the group stage four times since it started in 1992, took control of their tie when Mexico forward Herrera stabbed in from close range in the 61st minute after Vincent Enyeama had parried Jackson Martinez’s header.

“We played a very serious game, against very serious and difficult opponents,” said Porto coach Julen Lopetegui.

Slovan Bratislava gifted BATE the lead just before halftime when defender Thomas Jablonsky turned Sergei Krivets’ looping cross past his own goalkeeper.

Robert Vittek grabbed a superbly taken equaliser for the Slovakian champions, who have never qualified for the group stage, with 10 minutes to play.

Celtic appeared determined to make the most of their reprieve in Slovenia.

They took an early lead when Callum McGregor fired in a rebound after six minutes and took the game to Maribor despite conceding an equaliser in the 14th minute when Damjan Bohar sidefooted past Craig Gordon.

Aalborg dominated the first-half against APOEL and took a deserved lead when Nicolaj Thomsen side-footed home from the edge of the area, but Brazilian Vinicius scored from the Cypriot side’s only real attack nine minutes after the break. l

Standard fans hold a banner during the first leg between Standard Liege and Zenit Saint Petersburg in the playoffs for the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday in Liege. The banner reads ‘R.D. (Roland Duchatelet, Standard’s Belgian coach) : lots of money but not much passion and ambition for our blazon’ (top) and ‘Unanimity against him. Leave!’ (bottom) AFP

Chopra joins Tendulkar-owned team in new Indian league

Bayern headache prior to Bundesliga opener

n Reuters, Mumbai

n AFP, Berlin

Former Newcastle United striker Michael Chopra was picked by the Kerala Blasters, co-owned by cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar, in an international draft for the upcoming Indian Super League on Thursday.

A total of 49 foreign players were drafted during the session for the eight-franchise league, which is slated to run from Oct. 12 to Dec. 20. Seven players have been directly recruited by the teams.

“When the drafts came up, the first name that caught our attention was that

of Chopra,” former England goalkeeper David James, marquee player and manager of the Kerala team, told reporters.

“We immediately decided to have him and are happy to have him in this team.”

Chopra, who has also played for a host of other Premier League clubs, was the only English player in the draft, which was held at a Mumbai hotel overlooking the Arabian Sea. Former Manchester United midfielder Bojan Djordjic has joined other marquee names such as former Juventus striker David Trezeguet and former

Arsenal winger Freddie Ljungberg in the first season of the football league.

Djordjic, now 32, won the young player of the year award at Manchester United in 2000, but only made two appearances for the Premier League club.

He went on to enjoy a successful career, winning league titles with Red Star Belgrade in Serbia, Videoton in Hungary, and AIK in Sweden.

The top four sides in the Indian Super League will qualify for the semi-finals, which will be played over two legs, with the winners advancing to a one-off final. l

Indian Super League’s (ISL) “Kerala Blasters” marque player and manager David James, right, and General Manger Viren D’Silva attend the international player draft of the ISL in Mumbai, India yesterday. The eight-team league, scheduled to be held from October-December, is being organized by IMG-Reliance in collaboration with Rupert Murdoch’s Star India group AP

Italy FA chief faces Uefa racism probe n Reuters, Berne

Super Mario on brink of shock Liverpool move

Italian soccer federation (Figc) president Carlo Tavecchio is to face a disciplinary investigation by European soccer’s governing body over allegedly racist remarks made during his election campaign, Uefa said on Wednesday.

Tavecchio, who was elected Figc president last week, made a speech in the run-up to the election in which he referred to a fictitious player he called Opti Poba who, he said, “previously ate bananas and then suddenly becomes a first team player with Lazio.”

Uefa said in a statement: “Carlo Tavecchio... has today been personally informed

by Uefa about the decision of its Chief Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to open a disciplinary investigation on alleged racist comments made by him during his Figc presidential election campaign.”

Uefa said a report would be handed to its ethics and disciplinary panel “to render a decision about this matter.

“Further details concerning these proceedings will be announced in due course.”

Although Tavecchio’s comments caused anger in Italy, he was still swept home with 63 percent of the vote in last week’s election. l

n

AFP, Rome

Mario Balotelli is on the brink of a shock move to Liverpool, media in England and Italy reported Thursday, two weeks after Reds boss Brendan Rodgers ruled out a bid for the controversial striker.

According to sports channel Sky Italia, AC Milan have agreed to let the 24-year-old move to Anfield and a transfer worth 20 million euros (16 million pounds, $27 million) is being wrapped up.

A Milan spokesman said he could not confirm any talks.

The reported move is being seen as a sign of Liverpool’s frustration at being unable to land a top quality replacement for Luis Suarez following the Uruguayan’s World Cup biting disgrace and subsequent departure for Barcelona.

During Liverpool’s tour of the United States earlier this month, Rodgers had appeared to close the door on a move for Balotelli, saying: “I can categorically tell you that he will not be coming to Liverpool.”

The striker’s three years (2010-13) with Manchester City were overshad-

owed by his off-pitch antics, which included car crashes, setting fireworks off in his bathroom and an incident in which he threw a dart at a youth-team player.

He was regularly at loggerheads with then City boss Roberto Mancini and clashed with some team-mates while producing only intermittent flashes of his undoubted star quality.

Liverpool have reportedly targeted Monaco’s Radamel Falcao as their first-choice replacement for Suarez but appear to have made little headway in their attempts to secure the Colombian, who missed the second half of last season and the World Cup with a serious knee injury.

A return to England and a fresh start could suit Balotelli. The striker has been subjected to criticism in his home country for a perceived poor attitude during Italy’s World Cup campaign, which ended with the Azzurri flying home at the end of the group stage.

As the most prominent black player in Italy and the first to represent the country at a major tournament, Balotelli has also had to endure regular racist abuse of a kind which is now rare in English stadiums.l

Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola faces a selection headache ahead of the defending champions’ Bundesliga opener against VfL Wolfsburg on Friday.

Defender Jerome Boateng is suspended, while versatile Spanish international Javi Martinez tore his cruciate ligament during last week’s German Supercup loss at Borussia Dortmund.

Injured midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger, Franck Ribery and Thiago, as well as Brazilian full-back Rafinha, are also set to miss the game at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

Guardiola has expressed concern that his squad, which includes six World Cup winners, may struggle to hit the ground running following this summer’s tournament in Brazil.

Thomas Mueller, who scored his 100th competitive goal for Bayern in last weekend’s 4-1 German Cup win over Preussen Munster, believes that his side should be able to cope.

New signing Robert Lewandowski, who turns 26 on Thursday, should lead the line for Bayern.

Visitors Wolfsburg, who scraped past second division Darmstadt on penalties in their cup match, will also be under-strength.

Attacking midfielder Ivan Perisic fractured his shoulder in a friendly against Bayern in late July, while goalkeeper and captain Diego Benaglio could miss out due to an infection.

Max Grun, who saved two penalties

Palace move on from Mackay amid FA investigation n Reuters, London Preferred candidate Malky Mackay is out of the running to take charge of Crystal Palace after the English Football Association opened an investigation into the conduct of the Scot during his time at Cardiff City, British media reported.

The Daily Mirror and Daily Mail both reported that the FA were looking into a series of text messages sent between Mackay and Crystal Palace director of football Iain Moody when the pair worked together at Cardiff. The FA did not answer calls from Reuters about the matter.

Moody left his role as head of recruitment at the Welsh club at the end of last year after being suspended

by Malaysian owner Vincent Tan with Mackay sacked in the final days of 2013 after a public disagreement over transfer spending.

Moody then joined Palace shortly after with Tony Pulis then taking over as manager of the South London club and leading them to an 11th place finish in the Premier League last term, while Cardiff were relegated.l

in Sunday’s shootout, would deputise for the Swiss international.

On Saturday, Borussia Dortmund will hope to continue their fine early-season form when they host Bayer Leverkusen.

Last season’s Bundesliga runners-up followed up their 2-0 win in the Supercup with a 4-1 German Cup success at third division Stuttgart Kickers.

After losing Lewandowski, Dortmund bolstered their strike-force by signing Ciro Immobile and Adrian Ramos this summer.

Key midfielder Marco Reus returned

FIXTURES Friday Bayern v VfL Wolfsburg Saturday Hoffenheim Hanover 96 Hertha Berlin Frankfurt Cologne Dortmund Sunday

v v v v v v

Augsburg Schalke 04 Werder Bremen Freiburg Hamburg Leverkusen

Paderborn v Mainz 05 M’gladbach v VfB Stuttgart from injury in their cup game and Erik Durm believes that Dortmund are well placed to capitalise if Bayern make a sluggish start.

Also on Saturday, Champions League qualifiers Schalke 04 will look to bounce back from a shock German Cup loss at third division Dynamo Dresden when they travel to Hanover.l

Scholes ‘scared’ about Man United’s future n Reuters, London Manchester United great Paul Scholes has said he is scared about the club’s future and believes they could spiral into decline in the same way rivals Liverpool did in the 1990s.

Scholes, who played for United throughout his whole career and won 11 Premier League titles, says the club need to sign five top players to arrest their current slump that saw them fail to qualify for the Champions League last season.

United finished seventh in the Premier League in May, having won the trophy the previous year, and began the latest campaign under new manager Louis van Gaal with a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Swansea City on Saturday.

“I am scared for United. Genuinely scared they could go into the wilderness in the same way Liverpool did in the 1990s,” Scholes said in the Independent newspaper on Thursday.

“What do they need? Five players.

Five proper players who can hit the ground running and turn round a situation that looks desperate. Let me be clear: I am sick of having to criticise the club to which I gave my life as a footballer. But United need to arrest their decline.”

The defeat by Swansea shredded the close-season optimism that had been circulating since former Netherlands boss Van Gaal was chosen as the permanent replacement for David Moyes, who was sacked after just 10 months in the role.

With many pundits claiming United’s squad needs a root-and-branch overhaul, the club have so far struggled to make a major splash in the transfer market this window. l

Manchester United’s new Argentinian recruit Marcos Rojo listens to manager Louis van Gaal’s instructions during training yesterday.

Rojo, who can both play as a left-back and central defender, signed for United from Sporting Lisbon for a fee in the region of 20m euros. As part of the deal, Portuguese winger Nani went in the other direction INTERNET

DHAKA TRIBUNE

QUICK BYTES

BJMC record big win over Dinajpur Team BJMC recorded the biggest win of the day in the Walton Air Conditioner National (Under-19) Youth Women’s Handball Tournament at the Mirpur Shahed Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium yesterday. BJMC defeated Dinajpur district 30-6 while in the other two games of the day at the M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium, Naoga and Jessore districts posted wins over Rangamati and Rajshahi districts by 27-1 and 12-5 points respectively.

–Tribune Desk

Four-time winner Wozniacki ousted at New Haven

Camila Giorgi sprang an upset to defeat four-time champion Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday and reach the quarter-finals of the WTA Connecticut Open, a final warm-up for the US Open.

The Italian saw off the former world number one in 78 minutes to book a last-eight date with Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, who eliminated Chinese qualifier Peng Shuai 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in another second-round match. The unseeded Giorgi also ousted Wozniacki in last year’s US Open, but lost their only other meeting this year at Eastbourne. Wozniacki, whose best Grand Slam showing was a 2009 US Open runner-up effort, won the title at New Haven from 2008 to 2011, but saw her record at the Yale University event dip to 24-3. The 24-year-old Dane’s only prior losses since Wimbledon came in three-set battles with world number one Serena Williams in Montreal and Cincinnati.

–AFP

Real Madrid await tests on Ronaldo Real Madrid will await the result of checks on Cristiano Ronaldo’s back injury before deciding whether he is fit to play in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup against city rivals Atletico on Friday. He was substituted at halftime in Tuesday’s first leg at the Bernabeu Stadium, which finished in a 1-1 draw.

Ronaldo’s replacement, the new signing from Monaco James Rodriguez, put the European champions ahead with his first goal for the club but Raul Garcia equalised. “Cristiano felt something and was uncomfortable,” Real’s manager Carlo Ancelotti told reporters.

“We’ll evaluate it. He’ll undergo all the checks and we’ll see. It doesn’t seem to be anything too serious.” Ancelotti’s team, who have already won the European Super Cup by beating La Liga rivals Sevilla, continue a busy start to the season by playing their first league match against Cordoba on Monday.

–Reuters

Sport

DAY’S WATCH BTV, Gazi TV, Ten Cricket 7:00PM Bangladesh Tour of West Indies Second ODI Star Sports 4 2:00PM F1: Belgian GP Practice Session 1, 2 Star Sports 1, 2 Pro Kabaddi League 8:15PM Vizag v Kolkata 9:30PM Jaipur v Delhi Neo Sports 12:30AM German Bundesliga Bayern Munich v Wolfsburg

15

De Kock stars as Proteas cruise to series whitewash n Reuters, Bulawayo Opener Quinton de Kock smashed 84 as a weakened South Africa crushed Zimbabwe by seven wickets to complete a whitewash in their three-match ODI series at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Thursday.

After putting their hosts in to bat, South Africa skittled Zimbabwe for 165 inside 40 overs before chasing down their target to end at 171 for three with 136 balls to spare.

The Proteas, who had already rested fast bowling trio Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander for this series, left out their top two batsmen as well for the final match as Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers sat out.

That meant debuts for opener Rilee Rossouw and seamer Mthokozisi Shezi, and a return to the side for fast bowler Marchant de Lange.

The latter was the pick of the bowlers with a return of three for 31 as his extreme pace had the Zimbabwe batsmen hopping around the crease.

Only Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura offered any sort of resistance to the Proteas with 90 as he put on 46 for the 10th wicket with Tinashe Panyangara, before he was bowled by a slower ball from De Lange to deny him his century.

All of the runs in the last wicket stand were scored by Chigumbura to add some respectability to Zimbabwe’s total after they had looked as though they would be bowled out for under 120.

Rossouw’s dream of playing international cricket turned into something of a nightmare when he was run out trying to steal a run off the first ball he faced.

If there were any jitters in the South African camp after that they were settled by the remarkable De Kock, who on Tuesday became the joint fastest player to 1000 ODI runs, and captain for the day Faf du Plessis (40).

De Kock perished late in the innings chasing his century with his 84 coming from 75 balls. The two teams will now be joined by Australia in a triangular tournament to be played in Harare that starts on Monday. l

SCORECARD Zimbabwe H Masakadza lbw b Abbott 4 R Mutumbami c Rossouw b de Lange 0 Sikandar Raza c Phangiso b McLaren 30 E Chigumbura b de Lange 90 S Williams b Phangiso 17 M Waller c de Kock b de Lange 2 L Jongwe lbw b Abbott 2 P Utseya b Parnell 2 J Nyumbu c du Plessis b Parnell 0 T Kamungozi lbw b Shezi 1 T Panyangara not out 0 Extras (6lb, 11w) 17 Total (all out, 39.5 overs) 165 Fall of wickets 1-4, 2-4, 3-55, 4-89, 5-104, 6-109, 7-114, 8-114, 9-119, 10-165 Bowling Abbott 6-1-21-2, De Lange 7.5-0-31-3, McLaren 6-0-53-1, Parnell 8-0-33-2, Shezi 6-2-8-1, Phangiso 6-1-13-1.

South Africa Q de Kock c Williams b Panyangara 84 R Rossouw run out 0 F du Plessis b Williams 40 JP Duminy not out 28 D Miller not out 13 Extras (5w, 1nb) 6 Total (for 3 wkts, 27.2 overs) 171 Fall of wickets 1-1 , 2-74, 3-144 Bowling Panyangara 6-0-39-1, Jongwe 5-0-300, Kamungozi 3-0-32-0, Nyumbu 5.2-033-0, Williams 2-1-1-1, Utseya 6-0-36-0.

Result South Africa won the match by 7 wickets

South Africa’s batsman Quinton de Kock in action during the third and final cricket match of a three one-day internationals against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday AFP

Djokovic still favourite for US Open: McEnroe n Reuters

QPR sign Dutch international Fer Queens Park Rangers have signed the Dutch international midfielder Leroy Fer from relegated Norwich City, the Premier League club announced on Wednesday. The 24 year-old, who played for the Netherlands at the World Cup in Brazil, has agreed a threeyear deal. “I can’t wait to get started here,” he told the QPR website (www. qpr.co.uk). “It was always my dream to stay in England, in the Premier League.

“QPR did well last season to come up and the squad is full of top players, so I’m delighted to be here.” QPR manager Harry Redknapp had said after Saturday’s opening defeat at home to Hull City that he wanted to sign two new central midfielders and a new striker.

“Leroy’s arrival is a massive boost for us,” said Redknapp, who had previously signed four other players since winning promotion. “He’s another excellent signing. He has all the attributes you’d be looking for from a central midfielder - great physique, fine ability, he gets box-to-box.”

–Reuters

Friday, August 22, 2014

Darth Vader throws out the ceremonial first pitch before the game between the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants on Star Wars Night in Chicago on Wednesday AFP

Roger Federer is the form player going into next week’s U.S. Open but Novak Djokovic is favourite to win the title for a second time, according to former champion John McEnroe.

Federer, who reigned supreme at Flushing Meadows with five consecutive titles from 2004, won the Cincinnati title last week on the back of reaching the final in Toronto and with world No.2 Rafa Nadal injured, many believe the 33-year-old Swiss maestro

can claim an 18th grand slam title.

“Obviously not having to deal with (Nadal) is a huge positive for him potentially down the road if he’s at a stage at the end of the event,” McEnroe said in a conference call with TV channel ESPN for whom he will be working as a commentator during the year’s final grand slam.

“I would give a slight, slight favourite to Djokovic based on it being bestof-five. He’s younger and he can go the distance perhaps a little bit more easily than Roger at this stage. A little bit.l

Banned Aamir to star in Pakistani film n AFP, Karachi Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Aamer is set to make his big-screen debut, he told AFP Thursday, as he struggles to make ends meet while serving a ban for spot-fixing.

Left-arm quick Aamer was rated one of the best young talents in world cricket until his fall from grace in the notorious Lord’s Test against England in 2010.

Aamer, then 19, was hit with a fiveyear ban from cricket after he was caught in a tabloid newspaper sting

along with captain Salman Butt and pace partner Mohammad Asif agreeing to bowl no balls to order.

The ban is due to end in September 2015, when Aamer said he would go back to the sport.

“I have been offered the hero’s role in a Pakistan film and I have decided to take this opportunity but once my ban is lifted my first priority will be cricket,” Aamer told AFP. The 22-year-old said he took the role in “Blind Love”, offered by Pakistani director Faisal Bukhari, because

he was hard up.

“For four years now I have not played cricket which was my bread and butter, so I had to find ways and means to earn and this opportunity has come as a blessing,” said Aamer.

Aamer shot to fame in the first year of his career, leading Pakistan’s pace attack in their 2009 World Twenty20 win in England and earning comparisons with the great Wasim Akram.

A year later he took seven wickets in his team’s remarkable win over Australia in the Leeds Test, levelling the neu-

tral venue series 1-1.

That same year he finished as manof-the series despite Pakistan’s 3-1 defeat against England, taking 19 wickets in four matches.

But his rise to stardom collapsed dramatically with the spot-fixing scandal during the fourth and final Test at Lord’s which led to jail terms for him, Salman Butt and Muhammad Asif.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) last year launched a campaign to get relaxation on some of the conditions of Aamer’s ban.l

Puma sportswear says it will buy stake in Dortmund n AFP, Frankfurt Puma, the German maker of sportswear and equipment, said on Thursday it intends to acquire up to 5.0 percent of soccer club Borussia Dortmund.

“Sports company Puma intends to take a direct stake in Borussia Dortmund, having sponsored the football club since 2012,” it said in a statement.

It would do so by acquiring up to 5.0 percent of the club’s share capital via a capital increase announced by Borussia Dortmund earlier.

The move would “underpin our long-term, strategic partnership and to intensify the cooperation with one of Germany’s top clubs,” Puma said.

“As one of the top clubs in Germany and Europe, Borussia Dortmund is the perfect fit for Puma, increasing its brand awareness on a national and international level,” said Puma chief executive Bjorn Gulden. Hans-Joachim Watzke, managing director of Dortmund said the partnership “brings not only financial benefits for Borussia Dortmund, but we are also looking forward to intensive networking with our innovative sponsor in Germany and abroad.”

Puma has been Dortmund’s technical partner since July 2012, providing official playing kits for all associated Dortmund teams. l

Bottas confident of Rosberg, Hamilton duel n AFP, Spa Valtteri Bottas believes his much-improved Mercedes-powered Williams team have their best opportunity of the season at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

As Formula One returns from its annual August holiday, four weeks after the Hungarian Grand Prix where Daniel Ricciardo claimed a surprise victory for Red Bull, the two Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will continue their almost private duel for the title.

But the intensity of the battle to catch and, at some circuits, challenge them for victory will increase as the tension rises in the closing eight races of the 19-round season starting at the majestic old Belgian track in the forests

of the Ardennes.

“I think in theory Spa, and Monza, should be the next really good ones for us, maybe the best opportunities of the season,” said Finnish driver Bottas.

“But we need to aim to be strong in other places and we can’t just rely on our good top speed.”

Bottas believes that the power advantage provided by the Mercedes engines, and an efficient aerodynamic package, will enable the Williams cars to be extremely competitive in Belgium and Italy and a threat to both the Mercedes factory team and Red Bull, whose Renault engines this year have been disappointing.

Felipe Massa, who has started to show strong form at Williams, also believes a victory is possible. l

French tennis player Guy Forget (L) plays against French-Iranian player Mansour Bahrami during an exhibition match on the top of the Pic du Midi (2877 m) in the French Pyrenees, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Bagneres-de-Bigorre tournament on Wednesday AFP

16

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Friday, August 22, 2014

Shipping minister, JS watchdog at loggerheads n

Kamran Reza Chowdhury

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan and the parliamentary watchdog on his ministry were at loggerheads yesterday over the procurement of container handling equipment to begin the operation of Chittagong port’s New Mooring container terminal that remained unused for seven years.

The port authority finished construction of the terminal in 2007 to handle more containers, costing Tk435 crore.

But it remained idle for deadlock over the appointment of an operating firm for handling the container.

The 10-member parliamentary body, tasked to ensure transparency and accountability in the ministry’s activities, and the minister had debate over the procurement of the handling equipment.

Shajahan questioned how the private firms would operate unless the port authorities gave them the handling equipment. Watchdog Chairman Maj (retd) Rafiqul Islam Bir Uttam insisted that the private firm must sign the contract with their own equipment. The Shipping Ministry officials say the procurement involved around Tk1,200 crore.

“Nowhere in the world the government provides equipment for the private operators; they must come up with the equipment of their own,” Rafiqul told the meeting held at the parliament building.

Defending his stance, the chairman said: “If you hire a decorating company for an occasion, they come with their own crockeries and other necessary items. But if you give them plates, glasses, pots and other items, they will not use those carefully.

“So, giving the firm the equipment means that they will very often cause damage to the costly machines wilfully for their gains. And we must not give them such scope.”

Maj Rafiq acknowledged to the reporters that he had opposed the decision to buy the equipment for the private firm.

“We want to make the port operative as soon as possible. So, the equipment are must for the operators,” Shajahan Khan told the meeting, adding that private firms might not be interested in doing the handling works unless they got the equipment.

Maj Rafiq told reporters: “We have recommended formation of a joint committee comprising representatives of the ministry and the standing committee.

This committee will do the cost-benefit analysis and recommend us necessary action.”

Shajahan Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: “I hope to convene a meeting of the joint committee within the next seven days. We will work according to the decision of the meeting.”

According to the Rules of Procedure of parliament, the recommendations of the standing committee is not mandatory for the ministries. But in parliamentary democracy, the suggestions of the standing committees are highly respected. But in Bangladesh, the watchdogs’ recommendations in most of the cases remain unimplemented. Again, in many cases, the watchdogs also intervene in the executive’s affairs violating the Rules of Procedure.

The watchdog committee also recommended that the Shipping Ministry identify the spots where most of the launch accidents had taken place over the last 40 years.

Maj Rafiq said if detected, the rescue vessels should be kept in nearby spots so that these could reach the spot as soon as possible. “In many cases, we see that the rescue vessels reach the accident sites late since these are anchored far away,” he said. l

Study finds alarming level of lead in pregnant women n Rafe Sadnan Adel

Hajera Khatun weeps beside the coffin that arrived in Dhaka yesterday from Malaysia carrying her son’s body

RAJIB DHAR

Grieving families of labourers killed in Malaysia troubled by debt n Rabiul Islam Biman flight 87 touched down at Dhaka International Airport at 6:30am yesterday laden with the remains of three labourers killed in Malaysia, expatriates’ welfare ministry deputy secretary Badiar Rahman confirmed.

Mohammad Faruk Khan, Mohammad Elahi Hossain and Mohammad Alauddin Mollik were killed on Monday night when a concrete span collapsed at the Mass Rapid Transit work site in Sungai Buloh in Malaysia.

Workers’ families, overwrought with grief, were further burdened by large financial debts.

HJ Mohd Ghazali Bin Md Hamin flew in with the workers’ remains and offered each of the three families US $5,900 in primary financial assistance.

The construction project was being

carried out by MRT Corporation. MRT Corp CEO Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid resigned over Monday night’s construction site accident, Malaysia’s The Star Online reported.

Ghazali said the families would receive insurance payments. Rahman handed the dead bodies over to family members together with cheques of Tk35,000 to cover transport and burial costs.

As the families prepared to bury their sons and husbands, the pressure of paying off debts incurred to secure jobs abroad loomed on the horizon for the grieving families. Alauddin Mallik left behind his wife, two primary schoolaged sons and an infant daughter.

“We owe around Tk4 lakhs and I don’t know how I will be able to repay the loan,” Shampa, Alauddin’s wife, told the Dhaka Tribune over the phone yesterday.

“My father is no longer alive, and I don’t know how I will continue my children’s education. I don’t know how we will survive,” she said.

Mohammad Faruk Khan’s mother, Hajera Khatun, 65, broke down in tears at the airport as she received her son’s remains.

She said: “My son was a good boy.

He spoke to me in the morning on the day he died. His wife Mali Akter and I told him not to go abroad,” she said, adding: “I don’t know how we will pay off the debt”.

Faruk Khan’s cousin Nazrul Islam said: “Faruk’s family is in debt for around Tk500,000.” Elahi Hossain’s maternal uncle Abu Bakkar Siddique said Elahi spent TK450,000 four months ago to work in Malaysia. His family situation is not very good, his uncle said of his nephew’s financial situation. l

In the country’s remote areas, pregnant women are carrying high level of lead in their blood mainly because of using pesticides and herbicides in crops, says a new study.

Disclosing the findings at a press conference yesterday, key research person Dr Steve Luby, professor of medicine at Stanford University, USA, said they had tested blood of 430 pregnant women from Tangail, Gazipur, Mymensingh and Kishoreganj districts while 46% of them had overhead lead levels. The survey was jointly conducted by the icddr,b and Stanford University, USA. The women found with the highest lead levels had used pesticides in crop lands, taken canned foods and husked rice with a machine, Luby told journalists at the Liberation War Museum.

Referring to another study conducted

by Prof M Rafiqul Islam of Bangladesh Agriculture University, he said the rice sold in Dhaka also contained lead at six times higher level than accepted by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The study says 14% of the school-going children have high level of lead in blood while 25% of the parents facing the same.

The research also found high lead levels in the soil of Mymensingh; they found 40 ppb in agricultural soil and 21 ppb in the non-agricultural soil – which are higher than normal level.

Lead is mostly found in gasoline which was banned in Bangladesh in 1999.

Paint materials, battery and soldering are other sources of the poisonous lead.

Prof Mahmudur Rahman, director of IEDCR, said lead usually stored in human bones and “it usually hampers the unborn child’s cognitive development that sometimes causes heart and brain damages. Miscarriage and child death in pregnancy can also happen if not diagnosed early.” l

CTG STUDENT’S EYE INJURY

Three charge sheets submitted, 13 JamaatShibir men sued n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Police yesterday submitted three charge sheets in the case regarding the explosion of a handmade bomb that injured a schoolgirl’s eye during a general strike in 2013.

The three charge sheets accused a total of 13 Jamaat-Shibir men, including ANM Mashrur Hossain, president of the city (south) unit of Shibir in Chittagong, said court sources.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Mohammad Kamruzzaman of Kotwali police station, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted the charge sheets before General Registry Office (GRO) of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court.

Assistant Commissioner (Prosecution) Nirmalendu Bikash Chakrabarty of Chittagong Metropolitan Police confirmed that the GRO officer had received the charge sheets and said it will be produced before CMM Md Mashiur Rahman as early as possible.

Other persons accused in the charge sheets were Md Tareque Hossain, general secretary of the district (south) unit of Shibir, Nurul Amin, general secretary of the city (north) unit of Shibir, Md Faisal Younus, amir of the Kotwali unit of Jamaat-e-Islam, Jamaat activist ANM Harun, Md Sohel Rana, organising secretary of the city (south) unit of Shibir, Mawlana Ferdous Quoreshi, acting general secretary of the district (south) of Jamaat, and Shibir activists Amzad Ali, Delwar Hossain, Manjur Alam, Kafil Uddin, Mizanur Rahman and Altaf Hossain Chowdhury.

“Among them, ANM Mashrur Hossain, Md Tareque Hossain and ANM Harun are on the run,”SI Kamruzzaman told the Dhaka Tribune.

He also said one charge sheet was submitted under Section 143, 447, 448, 449 and 324 of Criminal Procedure Code while another was submitted under Sections 3 and 4 of Explosives Act while the third was submitted under Section 15 (3) of the Special Power Act. Seventeen prosecution witnesses were named in each of the charge sheets, he said.

According to the charge sheet, the accused collaborated with each other in exploding a crude bomb during 18-party alliance called shutdown to create panic among the city people. The blast resulted in a critical eye injury of a schoolgirl, Antu Barua. The charge sheets also mentioned that an accused Amzad Ali, who hurled the crude bombs on that day, gave his confessional statement under Section 164 under Criminal Procedure Code before a Chittagong court.

Besides, two accused whose name were in the First Information Report -- Md Mohiuddin, 30, general secretary of the city (south) unit of Shibir, and Shibir activist Jalal -were not mentioned in the charge sheets as the IO did not find their involvement with the incident.

On March 28, 2013, Antu Barua, a student of class nine of Aparnacharan City Corporation Girls High School, received injuries in her right eyes when a crude bomb exploded on her way to a coaching centre on Momin Road in the city on the second day of the then BNP-led 18-party alliance enforced 36-hour long shutdown. On March 29, 2013, SI Jafor Iqbal of Kotwali Police Station lodged a case with the police station in this connection.

“We want such incident will occur in none’s life,” said Antu’s parents; demanding exemplary punishment of them who turns his daughter’s life into uncertainty. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

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B3 Business growth slows in

B4 G20 edging towards deal

China and Europe

on ‘bail-in’ bond cushion for banks

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Atiur: Discipline restores in banking Speakers: Forced loans should be stopped

In no way we can say the banking sector is in discipline, says former BB Governor n Jebun Nesa Alo n Tribune Report Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman categorically said yesterday that discipline has been restored in the country's banking sector as he outright turned down the allegations of having indiscipline and disorder in the sector.

His remarks emerged at a function in Dhaka in the wake of rising concerns over the scam-hit banking sector. Former central bankers, however, refuted the claim and said the banking sector is still in disarray.

The central bank governor was addressing a signing ceremony on using the refinancing fund worth Tk200 crore for Tk10 account holders held yesterday at its headquarters.

“Those, who are thinking that the country's banking sector is not yet disciplined, are mistakenly using the term indiscipline,” Atiur told the function.

“Banking sector may face different kinds of problems but it is important to see whether the banks are now working towards their main objectives.''

To defend his claim, he explained the call money rate remained at around 7% even before the last Eid festival when total transaction stood at around Tk55,000 crore. “Now tell me what does it mean? Is it an indicator of stability or instability?” he posed a question to the audience, apparently seeking its recognition to what he claimed discipline restored in the banking sector.

He also demanded that financial stability came in the country's economy only due to giving importance on financial inclusion by Bangladesh Bank.

Envoy Textiles to set up own yarn manufacturing unit n Kayes Sohel Envoy Textiles Limited (ETL) is going to set up a yarn manufacturing factory with a production capacity of about 50 tonnes per day by the first quarter of 2016.

It expected that the company’s annual profit would then be increased approximately to Tk40-45 crore and the annual turnover would stand at US$50 million.

The listed company’s third quarter (April'14 to June'14) net profit stood at Tk11.4 crore, slightly down from Tk11.9 crore in the same period a year earlier.

Yesterday, its share prices at the Dhaka Stock Exchange dropped by more than 2% to Tk50.6 a share.

Established in 2005, the company is a concern of the country’s business conglomerate Envoy Group.

“The yarn project will save huge cost,” Abdus Salam Murshedy, Managing Director of the group, told the Dhaka Tribune Yesterday.

Major capital machineries to be imported from Germany, Switzerland and Japan Presently, the group procures yarn from local and international markets to feed the mills.

Around 80% of yarn to be produced by the new factory would be consumed by the mills of the group and rest 20% would be sold out in the market. And the earnings from selling 20% yarn will be used to buy other types of yarn to feed the mills.

The project titled ETL Spinning Unit will be established within its compound of denim factory plant at Jamirdia, Bhaluka, Mymensingh, with a total estimated cost of $30m. The compound covers an area of 48 acres of land.

HSBC and BRAC Bank will finance $20m under offshore financing arrangement for a maximum period of five years subject to final approval from relevant authorities and the ETL will provide rest of $10m from its own source as and when required.

The major capital machineries to be imported for setting up the manufacturing plant are mainly from Germany, Switzerland and Japan.

ETL introduced rope dyeing denim for the first time in the country. Currently, it produces quality denim fabric of 22m meters annually.

The company is also the largest denim fabric producing unit in Bangladesh with annual production of 24m meters. l

BB Governor Atiur Rahman is seen among the senior executives of different banks in Dhaka yesterday The BB governor recently came under wide criticism by the country's leading economists due to the central bank's relaxed loan reschedule policy, which mainly went in favor of the corrupt people.

The governor had awarded the facility to help banks reduce the burden of non-performing loans and facilitate the central bank to present an improved discipline in the financial sector.

But the rate of NPL rose further in the following two quarters, after temporarily going down to some extent last year ended in December.

The default loans of total outstanding dropped to 8.93% in December last year from 12.79% in September.

But, the NPL rose further to 10.45% in March and 10.75% in June, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

What seasoned bankers say?

“In no way we can say the banking sector is in discipline,” said Salehuddin Ahmed, former governor of Bangladesh Bank. “It is now completely disrupted due to lack of management and efficiency.”

He said internal governance has almost collapsed and the norms are not being properly complied with.

Currently, he added, it cannot be said the banking sector is in discipline with having lack of corporate governance, transparency and efficiency.

Former Deputy Governor of the central bank Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled said the recent scams that took place in BASIC and Sonali Bank were due to lack of discipline.

The government, however, is still continuing to recover the banks through removing BASIC Bank Chairman and restructuring Sonali Bank.

BANGLADESH BANK

“But it will not be possible to bring discipline in the banking sector until the establishment of good governance.”

BB Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury presided over the function while Executive Director Mahfuzur Rahman was present along with managing directors of 10 banks.

From now on, workers and marginal farmers, holding Tk10 account could get loan at a lower interest rate directly from the bank or through recognised micro finance institutions.

The number of Tk10 account holders stood at around 1.4 crore in June, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

“It will increase soon as the agriculture ministry decided to issue more agriculture card. We will also increase the limit of revolving refinancing fund while the card will be issued,'' said Atiur. l

Experts said there should be an end to providing “forced loans” to entrepreneurs as, according to them, a lot of big lending as forced loans are becoming classified, reports UNB. They were speaking at a seminar in the city yesterday on “Large Loan Financing by Banks in Bangladesh: Implications and Challenges.”

“Forced loan is unnatural, thus it becomes classified from the day one,” said Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, a former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank.

Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) organised the seminar with its director general Dr Toufiq Ahmed Chowdhury in the chair.

Forced loans refer to a type lending which banks make to clients regardless of necessity of the loans in business.

But these loans are mainly intended by banks to receive a good return and fulfill the loan disbursement target.

The seminar was also addressed, among others, by the central bank deputy governor Abul Quasem, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd managing director Mohammad Abdul Mannan, NCC Bank's managing director and CEO Golam Hafiz Ahmed and AB Bank's former managing director Kaiser A Chowdhury.

A number of banking sector professionals attended the function while a team of BIBM led by Prof SA Chowdhury presented a keynote paper.

Branch managers from different banks alleged that they were given a time-bound target to distribute loans, which made them take refuge in forced

loans to meet target.

The managers, however, said the central bank should bar the banks from this practice.

“Bangladesh Bank should impose a bar on such practices to stop forced loan distribution and issue a guideline to fulfill the target,” said Jyotirmoy Goswami, branch manager of a private bank.

Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, who also served roles of managing director and chairman in different state-owned banks, said: “When banks offer large loans, they go for forming syndicate.

But when they go for realising that loans, there is no syndicated approach.”

“Banks should form recovery club or recovery syndicate for realising their loan amounts,” he said.

According to Islami Bank’s managing director Mohammad Abdul Mannan, in many cases the big lending goes to certain people in certain cities. He stressed the need for a change in the practice to serve the common people's interest.

NCC Bank’s CEO Golam Hafiz Ahmed said it is true that entrepreneurs sometimes divert their loans from one project to another project to make more profit.

“Until the loan is not classified, it is okay. But when it becomes classified, it’s difficult to realise.”

He, however, said that now there are many third generation businessmen who finally become successful in their business through taking large loans.

Dr Toufic Ahmed Chowdhury said many entrepreneurs go for buying land and flats with the money diverted from their loans. l

India cuts minimum DSE ready to begin new IPO export price of onion subscription method next month n to $350 per tonne Tribune Report

n PTI, New Delhi The Indian government yesterday reduced the minimum export price (MEP) of onion to US$350 per tonne following improvement in domestic supply situation and softening of prices.

In June this year, the MEP on onion was re-introduced at $300 per tonne which was further raised to $500 per tonne in July this year as prices had continued to move upwards.

"The MEP of onion has been brought down to $350 per tonne as its availability has increased," Telecom and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting.

"When our government came in power we had increased the MEP of onion to $500 per tonne from $350 per tonne to

make the exports less competitive."

Onion prices were rising due to speculation amid anticipation of below normal monsoon despite sufficient supply in the country.

During June, the wholesale price of onion at Lasalgoan in Maharashtra – Asia's largest onion market – had risen by about 80% to Rs18.50 per kg. At present, the rates are hovering around Rs13-14 per kg at Lasalgoan.

Onion production is estimated to have risen to 192 lakh tonnes during 2013- 14 crop year (July-June), from 168 lakh tonnes in 2012-13.

Exports meanwhile fell to 13.58 lakh tonnes last fiscal from 18.22 lakh tonnes in 2012-13.

The domestic demand during the lean period from June to November is met through stored rabi (winter) and fresh kharif (summer) produce. l

Dhaka Stock Exchange is ready to adopt new IPO subscription method that would facilitate investors to apply through their respective brokerage firms from September, DSE said yesterday.

In line with the securities regulator’s directive, the DSE will begin the new method from next month as pilot project with 66 and 36 brokerage firms from DSE and Chittagong Stock Exchange respectively, and 16 merchant banks taking part in the method, said a statement.

On August 12, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission asked the twin stock exchanges to take necessary measures to implement the new method.

The brakeage firms are AK Khan Securities, International Leasing Securities, BRAC-EPL Stock Brokerage, MAH Securities, Adil Securities, Greenland Equity Securities, Royal Capital, Vision Capital Management, ETBL Securities and Exchange, Daulatunnessa Equi-

ties, Haji Ahmed Brothers Securities, Rapid Securities, AB and Company, M Securities, SAHCO Securities, Imtiyaz Hussain Securities, Mian Abdur Rashid Securities, Shajahan Securities, ASENZ Securities, Popular Securities, Mohammad Talha and Co, HAC Securities, Asia Securities, Uniroyal Securities, Md Fakhrul Islam Securities, SIBL Securities, Salta Capital , Jamal Ahmed Securities, Howlader Equity Services Ltd, Islami Bank Securities, Ettihad Securities, ANF Management Co, K Securities Consultant, Rose Securities, Dynamic Securities Consultants, Shakil Rzvi Securities, Lanka Bangla Securities, Moshiur Securities, Cosmopolitan Traders, Joytun Securities, Standard Bank Securities, Trustee Securities, EMES Securities, Mona Financial and Consultancy Securities, Tobarak Securities, TA Khan Securities, BLI Securities, Peoples Equities, Commerce Bank Securities and Investment, UCB Capital Management, Razzak Securities, Delta Capital, GMF Securities, Globe

Securities, Eminent Securities, DBL Securities, Parkway Securities, MTB Securities, AD Holding, Pubali Bank Securities, Mika Securities, BRB Securities, Modern Securities, IIDFC Securities, ANW Securities and One Securities.

Merchant banks are ICB Capital Management, IDLC Investments, EXIM Islami Investment, Imperial Capital, AFC Capital, Prime Finance Capital Management, FAS Capital Management, Trust Bank Investment, City Bank Capital Resources, Unicap Investments, SBL Capital Management, Jamuna Capital, Lanka Bangla Investments, EC Securities, BLI Capital and Prime Bank Investment.

According to the new IPO application system, IPO subscription will be done through stockbrokers.

The regulator will receive the amount in the investors’ bank accounts and keep the money blocked for the subscription period to remove hassles of handling cheques and reduce IPO subscription time. l

Scanty rainfall hits jute processing in Khulna MoUs signed with China for n modernising Jute Mills UNB

The farmers in 10 districts under the division are now facing difficulties in processing harvested jute plants for lack of water in absence of adequate rainfall in the current monsoon.

A number of cultivators said they are now facing problems in rotting jute plants in the rivers and other water bodies through traditional way because of water scarcity.

Sources at Jessore regional office of the Department of Agriculture Extension said a target was set to bring 1,93,170 hectares of land under jute cultivation in the Khulna division this year to produce 21,4,979 bales of jute.

However, farmers cultivated jute on 1,83,536 hectares of land in the south-western districts this year.

They grew the crop on more 7,354 hectares of land last year.

Of the land cultivated this year, jute was grown on 35,335 hectares of land in Kushtia, 1,436 hectares in Bagerhat, 21,880 hectares in Jessore, 19,785 hectares in Jhenidah, 32,730 hectares in Magura, 18,350 hectares in Narail, 1,820 hectares in Khulna, 10,655 hectares in Satkhira, 18,150 hectares in Chuadanga and 23,395 hectares in Meherpur.

Farmer Khalilur Rahman of Shovna village in Dumuria upazila in Khulna

n Tribune Business Desk

Farmers load rotten and washed jute on a three-wheeler to take back home. They have to take jute far away from their locality due to lack of enough water AZAHAR UDDIN said they fell in trouble in rotting and processing the national fibre in traditional method as there is a shortage of water in the rivers and other water bodies due to scanty rainfall this year.

He said many of them have piled up harvested jute plants in their fields since there is lack of water to rot those.

Like him, many growers said rotting jute plants in time has now become a challenge for them.

DAE officials are advising the farmers to rot jute through ribbon retting, a method to rote jute in small amount of water.

However, the farmers do not feel interested in using the method as they

find it difficult.

Besides, the farmers were not imparted necessary training on the ribbon retting method.

Agriculture officer of Dumuria upazila said the farmers are interested in rotting jute in rivers, pools and marshy lands in traditional way though they were encouraged to use ribbon retting method in doing so.

Asked why the farmers were reluctant to follow the modern jute rotting method, a DAE official of Khulna regional office said it takes time to adopt a new technology. He said they are encouraging farmers to rot jute in ribbon retting method. l

Bangladesh has signed three Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with China Tuesday for modernising state-owned jute mills with technical assistance from China, said an official release issued yesterday.

Under the MoU, China TextMatek Company (CTMC) will undertake balancing, Modernisation, Rehabilitation and Expansion (BMRE) work for twenty-six old jute mills under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC), reports BSS. Besides, the Chinese government will provide technology support to Bangladesh for producing modern and diversified jute goods at the BJMC jute mills.

The Chinese company will also survey the jute mills with the grant to be provided by the

Chinese government before undertaking BMRE work.

The MoU was signed by BJMC chairman Major General (retd) Humayun Khaled and CTMC president Jing Chen on behalf of their respective governments. The Chinese government will provide credit to Bangladesh for completing BMRE. The credit is refundable within 20 years with 1.5% interest.

Textile and Jute Minister Muhammad Imajuddin Pramanik, secretary of the Ministry of textile and Jute Phoni Bhusan Chowdhury, Joint secretary (jute) M Shamsul Kibria were also present. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks finish flat amid volatility n Tribune Report Stocks closed flat yesterday as late selling pressure to book profit cut early gains.

The market started on the positive mood, rising almost 20 points in the morning but the selling pressure mainly on bank, cement and telecommunication pulled the market slightly down.

The sheer size of the volume proves that traders are only taking a pause following the recent upward move by the market The benchmark DSEX lost nearly 7 points to end at 4,547, extending its losses for the second consecutive session.

The Shariah index shed 4 points or 0.5% to 1,062. The comprising blue chips DS30 was down over 1 point to 1,726. Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rose slightly 6 points to close at 8,559.

Turnover at DSE has remained sluggish and total turnover stood at Tk632 crore, down 1.5% over the previous session.

Bank, cement and telco sectors dragged the market with 0.3%,

0.3% and 1% losses while engineering, non-banking financial institutions and IT sector posted 1.3%, 1.2% and 2.2% gains.

All the other sectors, including pharmaceuticals, power and, food and allied edged down.

Lanka Bangla Securities said market closed red at the last trading day of the week as investors preferred profit booking after gaining sharp in the last two weeks.

IDLC Investments said the side way movement continued for the second day where investors continued to book profit and reallocate their positions.

Zenith Investments said the market once again reduced its pace, closing the week with some profit booking.

The sheer size of the volume proves that traders are only taking a pause following the recent upward move by the market, it said.

It said the indexes became somewhat lackluster in the late afternoon, after sellers took over buyers, offloading their holdings to book some profit.

Fuel and power topped the turnover chart, followed by pharmaceuticals and engineering. These three sectors jointly accounted for more than 41% of the total turnover at the DSE. Beximco Limited that gained 4.5% was the most traded stock with a net turnover of Tk48.4 crore. l

DSE GAINER

DSE key features August 21-2014

Company

Turnover (Million Taka)

6,321.35

Turnover (Volume)

133,967,836

Number of Contract

127,711

Traded Issues

296

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

78

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

213

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,401.95

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.11

CSE key features August 21-2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

486.84

Turnover (Volume)

12,551,102 17,972

Traded Issues

228

DSE Broad Index :

4547.05601

(-) 0.15%

q

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

66

DSE - 30 Index :

1726.43146

(-) 0.08%

q

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

155

CSE All Share Index:

14051.18580

(+) 0.01%

p

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

CSE - 30 Index :

11503.00420

(+) 0.09%

p

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,301.25

8559.41520

(+) 0.07%

p

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.89

CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Company IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A ICB AMCL IslamicMF-A ICB AMCL3rd NRB MF-A ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A ICB Sonali Bank 1 MF-A ICB Emp. PMF-A AMCL 2nd MF-A Prime Bank 1st MF-A Standard Ceramic -A Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A

Closing (% Change) -10.00 -9.84 -9.80 -9.78 -9.64 -9.43 -9.09 -8.00 -7.77 -5.88

CSE LOSER Company Kay & Que (BD) -Z IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A Prime Bank 1st MF-A ICB AMCL3rd NRB MF-A Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A AMCL 2nd MF-A Apex SpinningA Miracle Industries -B Reliance1 M.F.-A Dhaka Ins. Ltd.-A

Closing (% Change) -10.00 -9.86 -9.80 -9.80 -9.43 -8.93 -8.73 -5.95 -5.49 -5.26

Average (% Change) -11.27 -9.65 -9.80 -10.08 -9.83 -8.46 -8.96 -8.93 -7.84 -8.72 Average (% Change) -10.00 -8.83 -9.02 -9.61 -7.69 -7.68 -9.84 -5.84 -5.05 -5.13

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 6.30 16.58 4.60 8.30 7.52 4.87 5.08 4.59 47.50 4.71

ClosingAvg. 13.50 6.40 4.64 4.61 4.80 5.17 62.70 15.81 8.64 27.00

Closing 6.30 16.50 4.60 8.30 7.50 4.80 5.00 4.60 47.50 4.80

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 282.61 322.12 93.23 759.28 141.89 954.88 1.20 623.63 912.52 314.34 50.01 30.74 13.42 378.85 114.83 73.94 46.67 398.13 128.64 679.65 0.78

6.30 16.90 4.70 8.40 7.60 5.00 5.20 4.70 47.50 4.90

DHIGH

13.50 6.40 4.60 4.60 4.80 5.10 62.70 15.80 8.60 27.00

13.50 6.40 4.70 4.70 4.80 5.20 62.70 16.00 8.70 27.00

Turnover in Million

DLOW 6.30 16.50 4.60 8.30 7.50 4.80 5.00 4.50 47.50 4.60

13.50 6.40 4.60 4.60 4.80 5.10 62.70 15.70 8.60 27.00

Latest EPS

1.862 0.199 2.396 0.901 0.831 1.434 0.226 0.569 0.048 2.979

Turnover in Million

DLOW

9.67 7.93 4.84 4.72 4.71 4.69 4.53 4.17 3.97 3.85

1.07 2.33 0.64 1.40 1.60 0.68 0.99 0.73 1.32 0.71

Latest EPS

0.014 0.112 0.114 0.366 0.163 0.008 0.013 0.111 0.061 0.014

-1.24 1.07 0.73 0.64 0.71 0.99 2.24 0.19 1.38 2.60

Latest PE 5.9 7.1 7.2 5.9 4.7 7.2 5.1 6.3 36.0 6.6

Latest PE -ve 6.0 6.4 7.2 6.8 5.2 28.0 83.2 6.3 10.4

Company Khulna Printing-N MJL BD Ltd.-A IDLC Finance -A BSRM Steels-A aamra technologies-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A SonarBangla Insu. -A ICB -A Prime Finance-A Prime Bank-A

Closing (% Change) 9.41 7.93 5.81 5.18 5.04 4.53 4.47 3.69 3.59 3.57

Average (% Change) 13.99 4.11 2.72 2.94 6.16 9.38 2.64 2.63 3.97 (0.22) Average (% Change) 13.50 1.62 5.21 2.95 2.97 2.69 4.36 3.37 3.05 2.24

ClosingAvg. 42.21 114.67 96.02 35.07 57.89 7.00 38.92 12.48 13.10 31.66

ClosingAvg. 42.03 111.37 57.35 95.94 35.06 38.91 18.65 1762.86 17.25 20.08

Closing 43.10 117.10 97.50 35.50 57.80 6.70 39.20 12.50 13.10 32.40

Closing 43.00 117.10 58.30 97.40 35.40 39.20 18.70 1762.80 17.30 20.30

DHIGH 44.50 118.50 98.00 35.90 59.10 6.90 41.00 12.80 13.40 32.60

DHIGH 44.00 118.90 58.70 98.00 35.90 39.80 19.00 1770.00 17.60 20.30

DLOW 40.20 98.00 83.90 30.60 50.00 6.50 33.80 11.00 11.40 29.80

DLOW 40.00 106.30 56.10 92.00 34.30 37.10 17.60 1700.00 16.90 19.20

Turnover in Million 314.118 483.371 336.845 105.660 91.756 0.007 483.563 3.691 14.724 3.152

Turnover in Million 54.157 25.608 3.715 18.275 8.455 59.666 0.075 1.234 2.409 0.025

Latest EPS 1.31 5.04 4.80 1.39 3.04 -61.36 0.88 0.50 1.50 1.75

Latest EPS 1.31 5.04 3.04 4.80 1.39 0.88 1.74 53.53 1.02 1.96

Latest PE 32.2 22.8 20.0 25.2 19.0 -ve 44.2 25.0 8.7 18.1

Latest PE 32.1 22.1 18.9 20.0 25.2 44.2 10.7 32.9 16.9 10.2

News, analysis and recent disclosers ENVOYTEX: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has finalized the plan to setup 'ETL Spinning Unit', a yarn manufacturing project, within the compound of Company's denim factory plant at Jamirdia, Bhaluka, Mymensingh, having annual production capacity of 17,500 Ton, with a total estimated project cost of USD 30 million and the following are relevant information of the project: 1) Out of the total estimated project cost, HSBC Bank Ltd. and BRAC Bank Ltd. have approved/expressed their willingness to finance a total of USD 20 million under offshore financing arrangement for maximum 5 years tenor, subject to final approval from relevant authorities and rest of USD 10 million will be provided from the Company's own source on as and when required basis; 2) The major capital machineries to be imported for setting up the project are mainly from Germany, Switzerland and Japan in origin; 3) The project is expected to come in commercial operation by 1st quarter of 2016 and 4) The production of yarn will mostly be used for own consumption and may be increased approximately a yearly profit of BDT 40-45 crore from expected turnover of USD 50 million p.a. on completion of implementation of the spinning unit.

SAIHAMCOT: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on August 28, 2014 at 3:30 PM to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on April 30, 2014.

PRAGATILIF: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has

informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on August 24, 2014 at 3:00 PM to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

DELTALIFE: The Company has informed that the Share Department of the Company has been shifted to Delta Life Tower, Plot # 37, Road # 45 (South) & 90 (North), Gulshan Circle-2, Dhaka-1212.

IPO Subscription: Khan Brothers PP Woven Bag Industries Ltd. subscription date 24-28 August 2014, NRB upto 06 September 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. Western Marine Shipyard Limited subscription date 10-14 August 2014, NRB upto 23 August 2014. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 100.

Right Share: MIDASFIN: Subscription period for rights issue will be from 01.09.2014 to 30.09.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 03.08.2014.

ICB: Subscription period for rights issue will be from 07.12.2014 to 30.12.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 09.09.2014.

Dividend/AGM

Dividend of Mutual Funds: 1JANATAMF: 12.50% 'Re-Investment' Units. EXIM1STMF: 12% 'Re-Investment' Units. IFIC1STMF: 9% 'Re-Investment' Units. FBFIF: 10% 'Re-Investment' Units. TRUSTB1MF: 10% Re-Investment Units. EBL1STMF: 7% cash dividend. PHPMF1: 10% Re-Investment Units. EBLNRBMF: 10% Re-Investment Units. ABB1STMF: 10% Re-Investment Units. POPULAR1MF: 12% Re-Investment Units. DBH1STMF: 0.60% cash dividend.

GREENDELMF: No dividend. GRAMEENS2:

15% reinvestment units, GRAMEEN1: 30% reinvestment units. AIMS1STMF: 50% 'Re-Investment' Units as dividend, RELIANCE1: 11% cash dividend . Record date.

Record date: 01.09.2014.

APEXFOODS: 20% cash, AGM: 28.09.2014, Record date: 21.08.2014.

APEXTANRY: 45% cash, AGM: 23.09.2014, Record date: 27.08.2014.

NLI1STMF: 12% cash, Record date: 25.08.2014.

SEBL1STMF: 12% cash, Record date: 25.08.2014.

Dividend of ICB AMCL Managed MFs: ICBSONALI1 10% cash, IFILISLMF1 10% cash, ICB3RDNRB 5% cash, PF1STMF 5% cash, PRIME1ICBA 5% cash, ICBEPMF1S1 5% cash, ICBAMCL2ND 5% cash, ICB2NDNRB 10% cash, ICB1STNRB 30% cash, ICBISLAMIC 20% cash. Record Date: 20.08.2014.

DELTASPINN: 10% cash, AGM: 30.08.2014, Record date: 14.08.2014.

ICB MF Dividend: 8THICB: 120% cash, 7THICB: 130% cash, 12.08.2014, 6THICB: 110% cash, 5THICB: 225% cash , 4THICB: 250% cash, 3RDICB: 250% cash, 2NDICB: 400% cash, 1STICB: 800% cash. Record date: 12.08.2014.

NAVANACNG: 15% cash, AGM: 25.09.2014, Record Date: 10.08.2014.

SUNLIFEINS: 5% stock, AGM: 15.09.2014, Record Date: 07.08.2014.

SQURPHARMA: 30% cash and 15% stock, AGM: 25.09.2014, Record Date: 26.08.2014. NAV of Tk. 22,277.52 million, EPS of Tk. 8.36.

APEXSPINN: 20% cash, AGM: 28.09.2014, Record date: 07.08.2014. EPS Tk. 2.24, NAV per share of Tk. 49.75.

All the other sectors, including pharmaceuticals, power and, food and allied edged down

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

DHIGH

Khulna Printing-N MJL BD Ltd.-A BSRM Steels-A aamra technologies-A IDLC Finance -A Shampur Sugar -Z BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Shinepukur Cera-Z Islamic Finance-A H.R. Textile -A

Closing (% Change)

CSE GAINER

Number of Contract

Daily capital market highlights

Friday, August 22, 2014

% change 4.47 5.10 1.47 12.01 2.24 15.11 0.02 9.87 14.44 0.79 0.49 0.21 5.99 1.82 1.17 0.74 6.30 2.04 10.75 0.01

Million Taka 20.83 25.80 6.25 45.59 11.71 55.74 58.62 42.96 62.14 2.26 9.83 2.00 23.54 63.48 1.42 3.93 37.21 20.99 70.56 0.01

CSE

% change 3.69 4.57 1.11 8.07 2.07 9.87 0.00 10.38 7.61 11.00 0.40 1.74 0.35 4.17 11.24 0.25 0.70 6.59 3.72 12.49 0.00

Million Taka 303.44 347.92 99.48 804.87 153.59 1010.63 1.20 682.25 955.48 376.47 52.27 40.57 15.42 402.39 178.30 75.36 50.60 435.34 149.63 750.21 0.79

Total

% change 4.41 5.05 1.44 11.69 2.23 14.68 0.02 9.91 13.88 5.47 0.76 0.59 0.22 5.84 2.59 1.09 0.73 6.32 2.17 10.89 0.01

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A MJL BD Ltd.-A BSRM Steels-A Khulna Printing-N Grameenphone-A Square Pharma -A ACI Limited- A LafargeS Cement-Z BSC-A BD Submarine Cable-A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Khulna Printing-N MJL BD Ltd.-A BD Submarine Cable-A BSRM Steels-A Square Pharma -A LafargeS Cement-Z The Peninsula CTG.-N Grameenphone-A LankaBangla Fin. -A

VolumeShares 12,424,678 4,215,435 3,508,056 7,441,500 824,672 984,471 641,937 1,853,500 295,480 726,445

Value in Million 483.56 483.37 336.85 314.12 274.20 271.76 218.03 207.86 183.75 123.93

% of TotalTurnover 7.65 7.65 5.33 4.97 4.34 4.30 3.45 3.29 2.91 1.96

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

1,533,610 1,288,500 229,928 146,126 190,490 61,862 122,000 349,200 36,800 242,048

59.67 54.16 25.61 25.00 18.27 17.07 13.67 12.25 12.22 11.07

12.36 11.22 5.30 5.18 3.78 3.53 2.83 2.54 2.53 2.29

ClosingP 39.20 117.10 97.50 43.10 330.30 275.70 341.00 112.80 622.00 170.50

ClosingP

39.20 43.00 117.10 171.70 97.40 275.30 113.00 34.90 330.40 45.70

Change % 4.53 7.93 4.84 9.67 -0.99 -0.83 2.28 -0.79 1.72 -1.90

Change %

4.53 9.41 7.93 -1.60 5.18 -1.01 -0.70 -0.85 -0.63 2.47

ClosingY 37.50 108.50 93.00 39.30 333.60 278.00 333.40 113.70 611.50 173.80

ClosingY

37.50 39.30 108.50 174.50 92.60 278.10 113.80 35.20 332.50 44.60

DHIGH

DLOW

41.00 118.50 98.00 44.50 337.50 280.00 344.90 114.60 629.50 179.90

33.80 98.00 83.90 40.20 310.00 254.00 309.00 110.00 609.50 156.50

DHIGH

DLOW

39.80 44.00 118.90 174.90 98.00 279.00 114.00 35.60 336.70 46.10

37.10 40.00 106.30 168.90 92.00 274.00 110.00 34.80 328.40 44.50

AvgPrice 38.92 114.67 96.02 42.21 332.49 276.05 339.64 112.15 621.86 170.60

AvgPrice

38.91 42.03 111.37 171.05 95.94 275.91 112.09 35.08 332.03 45.75

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Friday, August 22, 2014

B3

Business growth slows in China and Europe Russia sanctions over Ukraine crisis still to bite n Reuters, London Business growth in China and across Europe slowed this month, surveys showed on Thursday, providing more evidence that the world economy is stuttering and may need more monetary stimulus to keep it going.

Euro zone private business activity expanded slower than expected in August, despite widespread price cutting.

This is before the full effects of sanctions imposed on and by Russia over Ukraine are felt.

Meanwhile, China's manufacturing activity hit a three-month low in August and a Reuters poll showed Japan's economic recovery is likely to be modest despite a small acceleration in the factory sector. Data due later from the United States is expected to show a similar slowdown.

"If you take all these things together we are clearly looking at a global economy that doesn't have a huge amount of momentum behind it," said Peter Dixon at Commerzbank.

Markit's Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the euro zone will provide gloomy reading for the European Central Bank (ECB) as it showed the big two economies of Germany and France struggling.

Based on surveys of thousands of companies across the region and a good indicator of overall growth, the Composite Flash PMI fell to 52.8 from July's 53.8, far short of expectations in a Reuters poll for a modest dip to 53.4.

However, readings above 50 do indicate expansion and Markit said the data point to third-quarter economic growth of 0.3%, matching predictions from a Reuters poll last week.

But there are challenges facing the economy now that it didn't have to worry about a few months ago.

Europe and others in the West imposed economic sanctions on Moscow over the Kremlin's support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"It is clearly premature to start fret-

ting about a new downturn," said Martin van Vliet at ING. "That said, with geopolitical tensions increasingly posing a threat to the subdued and fragile upturn it is clearly premature to assume that the ECB's easing work is fully done."

Companies in Europe are beginning to show signs of strain.

Germany's Adidas, the world's number-two sportswear firm, cut its profit target due to the ruble's fall and increasing risks to Russian consumer sentiment. Brewer Heineken said its sales volume in Russia fell by a "lowdouble digit" percentage.

'If you take all these things together we are clearly looking at a global economy that doesn't have a huge amount of momentum behind it' The composite PMI in Germany - Russia's biggest trade partner in the European Union which has already seen exports to the country plunge in the first half of the year - fell to 54.9 from 55.7.

For France, the euro zone's second largest economy, the Composite PMI rose from 49.4 to the break-even mark at 50, meaning it is neither expanding nor contracting.

In Britain, which does not use the euro, consumers have been the main driver of the country's economic recovery which began last year. But retail sales rose in July at a weaker pace than expected. The PMI for Japan showed factory activity accelerated in August as export and domestic demand increased, in another sign the economy is steadying after shrinking in the second quarter due to a sales tax increase.

But the Reuters Tankan survey indicated the economic recovery is likely to be modest, which could keep pressure on the central bank to act to sustain growth in the world's third largest economy. HSBC/Markit's Flash China Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.3 in Au-

Labourers work at a construction site of residential buildings in Hefei, Anhui province gust from July's 18-month high of 51.7, badly missing a Reuters forecast of 51.5 but just above the 50 threshold.

"The sharp drop in the PMI is perhaps not surprising given last month's disappointing activity and lending data. That said, we are not expecting a rapid deterioration in economic momentum," Julian Evans-Pritchard,

China economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.

"Meanwhile, we expect the government to continue to fine tune policy as necessary to prevent growth from slipping too much over the coming quarters."

A burst of policy stimulus since April lifted China's annual economic growth to 7.5% in the second quarter -

REUTERS

in line with the full-year official growth target - from 7.4% in the first quarter the weakest pace in 18 months.

But with conditions looking increasingly unsteady into the third quarter as policy support moderated, some analysts say even more stimulus may be needed in coming months to bolster growth and offset the downdraft from

the housing market. "Definitely there will be more measures to keep growth momentum steady in coming months," said Zhu Qibing, an economist at Minzu Securities in Beijing. "But we don't expect interest rate cuts in the near term as the central bank has reiterated that it would keep its prudent monetary policy unchanged." l

SL exports jump Dollar edges higher in Asia Oil prices down as supply on EU, US demand AFP, Tokyo currency analyst at the Bank of Tokyosue in planning rate hikes next year. n The intensifying debate signalled an Mitsubishi UFJ, told Dow Jones News- fears fade for garments The dollar edged up against the euro increased, albeit still measured, level wires.

Tokyo stocks gained 0.74% by midtwo producer, US air strikes that beand the yen in Asian trade yesterday, of hawkish sentiment in the Fed that n AFP, Colombo n AFP, Singapore afternoon. A weaker yen is seen as gan on August 8 have pinned back the building on the 11-month high it reached could speed up any rate hike.

Sri Lanka's trade deficit narrowed substantially this year thanks to increased demand for clothing exports to the United States and Europe, the island's central bank said Thursday.

Exports jumped 16.8% to $5.44bn in the first six months of calendar 2014 compared to the same period last year, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka said.

Overall, the trade gap reduced from $4.44bn in the first six months of last year to $3.55 billion in the same period this year, the bank said. l

against the European currency overnight as the market eyed US rate hikes.

In afternoon Tokyo trade, the euro was quoted at $1.3244 and 137.55 yen, down from $1.3258 and 137.57 yen in New York late Wednesday.

The dollar fetched 103.86 yen, up from 103.76 yen.

The greenback's climb came after the US Federal Reserve released minutes from its July 29-30 meeting showing policymakers increasingly at odds over how strong the labour market is and what that means for inflation -- a key is-

The dollar rose after the Fed minutes "pointed to more lively debate over US labour market improvement and what that might mean for the timing of the start of rate normalisation," National Australia Bank said in a statement.

Traders are now awaiting Fed Chair Janet Yellen's address to the Kansas City Fed on Friday for clues on how the US central bank chief is thinking, it added.

The dollar-yen rate is set to test the 104 yen level, driven by rallies in Japanese stocks as well as minutes from the Fed meeting, Minori Uchida, chief

positive for Japanese exporters as it makes their products more competitive abroad and inflates profits when repatriated.

The dollar was mostly stronger against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It rose to Sg$1.2519 from Sg$1.2480 on Wednesday, to 32.06 Thai baht from 31.91 baht and to 11,724.50 Indonesian rupiah from 11,701.50 rupiah.

The greenback also advanced to 1,023.90 South Korean won from 1,022.54 won and to 43.82 Philippine pesos from 43.81 pesos. l

City Bank has recently signed agreements with a few banks and financial institutions for issuing coupon-bearing subordinated bond worth Tk3bn. Mercantile Bank, Brac Bank, Meghna Bank, IDLC Finance, NRB Bank, NRB Commercial Bank, Pubali Bank, SABINCO, Dhaka Bank and United Leasing Company are the subscribers of the bond. Fauk M Ahmed, acting managing director of City Bank, Selim R F Hussain, CEO and MD of IDLC Finance Ltd and senior executives of the subscriber banks and financial institutions signed the agreements

Oil prices edged lower in Asia yesterday on fading fears that conflicts in crude producers Libya and Iraq could result in a major supply disruption, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery was down 27 cents at $93.18 while Brent for October eased 26 cents to $102.02 in afternoon trade.

"Benchmark prices weakened further as there has been no disruptions in crude supply despite ongoing crises in Iraq and Libya," said Sanjeev Gupta, head of the oil and gas practice at consultancy EY. In Iraq, the OPEC cartel's number-

Islamic State group who have overrun large swathes of the country's north and west as well as parts of Syria.

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday demanded the world take firm action against the "cancer" of jihadist extremism in Iraq and Syria, a day after the militants released a video showing the beheading of US reporter James Foley.

The jihadist expansion has not affected oil production in Iraq's south, where most of its oil infrastructure is situated.

Supply to neighbouring Turkey and Jordan has however been disrupted. l

AB Bank recently organised a two-day training programme from at AB Bank Training Academy, on account opening and general banking for its officials. The bank’s DMD (operations) and chief risk officer, Sajjad Hussain and its SVP (operations) Md Aminur Rahman were present at the inauguration ceremony Modhumoti Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB), which will allow its customer to pay their electric bill to any of the bank’s branch. ARM Harisur Rahman, director (FMT cell) of BREB and Md Mizanur Rahman, the bank’s managing director and CEO signed the agreement

BRAC Bank Limited has recently signed a payroll agreement with Butterfly Group, in order to provide payroll related services to the employees of Butterfly Group. Firoz Ahmed Khan, the bank’s head of retail banking and MA Mannan, chairperson and managing director of Butterfly Group signed the agreement

Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury, managing director and CEO of Trust Bank Limited recently received the “Best Performing Bank” award (US Dollar Clearing Business) from Ranju Sigtia, regional head (Asia Pacific) at International Financial Institutional Group, ICICI Bank Hong Kong

Marcel has recently opened its exclusive showroom at Al-Arafah Motors & Electronics in Faridganj, Chandpur. Amin Khan, film actor and Marcel’s brand ambassador inaugurated the showroom

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Friday, August 22, 2014

G20 edging towards deal on 'bail-in' bond cushion for banks n Reuters, London Government leaders are expected to agree in November that the world's top banks must issue special bonds to increase the amount of capital which can be tapped in a crisis instead of calling on taxpayers to come to the rescue, industry and G20 officials said.

The bonds, known as "gone concern loss absorption capacity" or GLAC, are seen by regulators as essential to stopping the world's 29 biggest lenders from being "too big to fail".

The plans are being drafted by the Financial Stability Board, the regulatory task force of the Group of 20 economies which declined to comment ahead of a G20 summit in November, when G20 leaders will discuss the reform before it is put out to public consultation.

The reform would put in place the final major piece of G20 regulation on banking as the global body turns to a "post-crisis" agenda of fostering economic growth and bedding down the rules it has approved.

There had been unease in Asia and parts of Europe over how big the bond issues need to be to provide this cushion but there is now a new optimism amongst bankers and regulators that the G20 will reach a deal in November.

"The industry is definitely in favor of making resolution, supported by an appropriately flexible concept of GLAC, work. That is the key pending aspect on ending too-big-to-fail," said Andres Portilla, director of regulatory affairs at the Institute of International Finance, a Washington-based banking and insurance lobby. "What is likely to happen is that there will be a consultative proposal, but without all the detail that a lot of people would like," Portilla added.

However, a G20 source said a deal

Global steel production up 1.7% in year to July n AFP, Paris Global steel production rose 1.7% in July over 12 months, driven mainly by growth in Chinese output, the World Steel Association (WSA) said on Wednesday.

Steel is used in most industrial processes and is an important indicator of economic activity.

The latest data showed that steel production reached 136.8 million tonnes last month.

Production rose by 1.5% in China which accounts for half of all steel made worldwide.

Ukraine, which has seen several months of intense fighting between pro-Russian rebels and government troops in its restive eastern region, posted a net loss in production, down 11.7% to 2.5 million tonnes.

Most of the steel produced in Ukraine is made in the east of the country which is the focus of unrest by proRussia separatists.

Output by Russia rose by 8.1% to 6.2 million tonnes. l

G20 Finance Ministers and central bankers pose for the family portrait during the IMF-World Bank 2014 Spring Meeting in Washington was not only expected but would also be more detailed than some parties anticipate, which is essential for conducting a thorough impact assessment before finalizing the rules.

"The authorities and the FSB are

working to have a proposal that will contain sufficient granularity of numbers to be a meaningful consultation and quantitative impact study to calibrate the final rule," the source said.

Top banks expect they will have to

WB arm to raise $2.5bn in India bond sale n AFP, New Delhi The World Bank's private sector financing arm said Wednesday it would raise $2.5bn in Indian rupee-denominated bonds to fund much-needed infrastructure projects across the country.

The debt sale by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the largest global development institution focused on the private sector, marks one of India's biggest-ever financing offers.

The proceeds of the bond sale will be used to help finance India's ambitious infrastructure programme to overhaul its shabby roads, ports and airports among other projects.

India requires big investment to carry out the planned infrastructure programme, expected to cost around $1tn in the five years to 2017.

But a shallow bond market and lack of other longterm financing have hampered efforts to raise the necessary money.

Leading Indian financial daily, The Economic Times, called the bumper debt sale a "vote of confidence in the Indian economy" under the country's new right-wing premier Narendra Modi.

The IFC will use a combination of bonds and swaps - a trade of one financial instrument for another - to raise up to $2.5bn (150bn rupees) in local currency financing over the next five years.

The offer "will deepen the bond market and also provide much-needed finance to infrastructure projects", India's Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram said in a statement.

Last year, the Washington-based IFC raised $1bn through the issue of overseas rupee-linked bonds to fund infrastructure projects, drawing a broad range of international investors.

Indian authorities have been working to ease regulations to make it simpler for multilateral agencies to issue bonds. l

hold GLAC bond capital equivalent to about 10 percent of their risk-weighted assets on top of their core capital buffers which currently stand at around 10 percent. But they hope for some leeway if they can show that they can

already be wound down smoothly in a crisis because of simplified structures.

The G20 source poured cold water on this, saying regulators believe all the world's top 29 banks earmarked for tougher supervision will need a signifi-

Cabinet cuts onion export price by 30% n Reuters, New Delhi The cabinet on Wednesday cut the minimum export price for onions by 30%, relaxing some of the curbs imposed on overseas shipments in the past two months to augment domestic supplies and rein in soaring prices.

Exports will now be possible at $350 per tonne, Telecom and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters.

The minimum export price was first raised to $300 per tonne in mid-June after fears of domestic shortages, fuelled by a scorching summer, drove up local prices. It was further increased to $500 per tonne in July to discourage exports.

Prasad said the review was prompted by an improvement in domestic supplies and a moderation in prices.

Indians consume about 15 million tonnes of onions a year, using them as the base for curries and traditional dishes such as biryani and bhaji. In the past, higher onion prices have contributed to the fall of state governments. l

US risk council takes next step in MetLife systemic review n Reuters, Washington The top US financial risk council has gathered enough evidence to decide whether insurer MetLife should be designated as a systemically important firm, a source familiar with the situation said.

Closing the evidentiary record is the last formal step before the Financial Stability Oversight Council can vote on whether to designate MetLife with the tag.

The tag is applied to large firms whose failure could threaten financial markets, and it brings far greater scrutiny by financial regulators, as well as new capital requirements.

The risk council later on Wednesday said it had closed the evidentiary record on a "non-bank financial company," but it does not name the firms in the process.

MetLife declined to comment.

The FSOC is chaired by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and is comprised of the heads of other top financial regulatory agencies, including Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White.

The panel was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law to monitor for potential emerging threats to market stability across regulatory agencies. l

REUTERS

cant cushion of such so-called "bail-in" bonds for some time to show they can be shut without public aid.

Regulators ultimately want to price bank debt better and end the cheaper funding that too-big-to-fail banks enjoy because markets assume governments would never allow them to collapse.

Efforts by the authorities so far are having an impact.

"We have been lowering our systemic support assumptions for banks or changing their outlooks to 'negative' to reflect the ongoing effort by governments to try to eliminate that support," said Johannes Wassenberg, managing director of banking at Moody’s credit rating agency in Europe.

In May, Moody's lowered its outlook to 'negative' on more than 80 banks in the European Union after the bloc approved a law requiring banks to hold a buffer of potential bail-in debt like GLAC. "Adopting GLAC is the final chapter in reforming the condition of banks," said Thomas Huertas, a former UK banks supervisor and now a regulatory consultant with EY. The plans for bail-in bonds are among the last of what G20 officials call the "heavy lifting" on banking industry reforms that came in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

With much of the work on defining how to make banking safer completed, the G20's focus will shift to implementation of its rules and behavior at banks after lenders were fined for rigging the Libor interest rate benchmark, with similar allegations in the currency markets now emerging.

"After dealing with too big to fail, the next big section for the G20 is conduct and there will be a shift in attention to that issue," Huertas said. l

An employee works at a production line inside a Geely factory in Ningbo, Zhejiang province REUTERS

China manufacturing growth eases in August n AFP, Beijing China's manufacturing growth slowed in August, indicating a recovery in the world's second-largest economy has yet to fully take hold, HSBC said yesterday.

The HSBC preliminary purchasing managers index (PMI), which tracks activity in China's factories and workshops, slipped to 50.3 this month, the British banking giant said in a statement.

The figure was down from a final reading of 51.7 in July and was the lowest for three months, it said.

The indicator is a closely watched gauge of the health of the Asian economic powerhouse, with a reading above 50 indicating the sector is expanding.

"Today's data suggest that the economic recovery is still continuing but its momentum has slowed again," HSBC economist Qu Hongbin said in the statement.

"Industrial demand and investment activity growth will likely stay on a relatively subdued path," he said, calling for "more policy support" to help consolidate the recovery.

Growth in both domestic and foreign new orders slowed from July while input and output prices contracted over the month, suggesting deflationary pressures, according to the statement.

"Both monetary and fiscal policy should remain accommodative until there is a more sustained rebound in economic activity," Qu said.

China's economic growth acceler-

DILBERT

Japan's electronics giant Toshiba employee displays the new robot vacum cleaner 'Torneo Robo' which trashes dust automatically after cleaning up a room, in Tokyo on Tuesday. The Torneo Robo also has a security camera and flash lights to monitor the room with smart phone, tablet or PC AFP

ated to a higher-than-expected 7.5% in the second quarter, up from 7.4% in the previous three months, which was the worst since a similar 7.4% expansion in July-September 2012.

But concerns remain over whether the rebound can be sustained in the face of an unruly slowdown in the housing market and risks in the banking sector.

The recovery in the second quarter was largely policy-driven and was "not self-sustaining", Barclays analysts Chang Jian and Serena Zhou said in a research note.

The HSBC preliminary PMI and other economic indicators suggested that on-the-ground activities and demand remained soft, they said.

China last week issued a batch of key economic data for July that was slightly slower compared to the previous month, with the increase in fixedasset investment hitting a new post2001 low.

An independent survey of Chinese property prices showed their decline accelerated in July, dropping for the third straight month.

China's bank lending also plunged last month as the weakening property sector and downward pressures in the economy weighed on demand for loans.

Beijing has stressed the importance of a new growth model driven by private demand such as consumer spending, rather than by the traditional engine of large and often wasteful state-supported investment. l