26 Aug, 2014

Vadro 11, 1421 Shawal 29, 1435 Regd. No. DA 6238 Vol 2, No 144

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

B1 | BUSINESS

20 pages | Price: Tk12

7 | LONG FORM THE RISE AND FALL OF GREAT POWERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

FOREIGN WORKERS UNDER NBR RADAR

A temporary act on course for permanence

11 | OP-ED

14 | SPORT

THE SHATTERED DREAM

ENRIQUE HAPPY WITH MESSI, MUNIR FORM

T H E C R AT E R S O F M O U C H A K

The two-year speedy power and energy supply act now gets a 4-year extension of “indemnity” in implementing proKarim, Asif Showkat n Mohosinul Kallol and Aminur Rahman Rasel ject decisions, especially the highly exAt a time of acute power crisis four years ago, the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy Act was promulgated as a temporary solution for quick disposal of energy and power-related decisions, despite the fact that it was heavily draining for the state coffer.

However, in what appears to be an attempt to give the temporary arrangement permanence, the cabinet has once again extended the tenure of the two-year act – this time until October 2018. The tenure was extended once before in 2012 by two years.

For June 2014 » Finance Ministry disbursed Tk790.13 crore as subsidy to PDB

» Tk582.24 crore went to paying quick rental bills

A regular meeting of the cabinet yesterday approved a draft of the amendment to the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act 2010 in line with a proposal from the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is in charge of the power ministry, chaired the meeting at the Secretariat.

The act was promulgated to what officials said simplify the approval of power projects and bringing generated electricity quickly to the national grid.

Many have opposed the act because it gave the government a certain degree

pensive fuel oil-powered quick rental power plants.

The act empowers the government to do “whatever necessary” to save time and red tape tangles, to the extent of going against the Public Procurement Act by undertaking projects without floating tenders.

It also says the legality of any of the decisions made, steps taken and orders given under the act cannot be challenged in future before any court of justice. Moreover, even after the expiry of the act, any work or steps taken under it should go on in a way that the law has not expired.

Buet Professor Ijaz Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune: “The act is harmful for the country. It was enacted with an aim to bypass the existing public procurement act.”

He also said: “The act has had a number of negative impacts on the power sector. We are falling behind in terms of technology because the power plants implemented under the act are by and large of low energy efficiency.

Because the act was enacted on a temporary basis, entrepreneurs installed less efficient and old machinery at cheap price at the quick rental power plants as they thought they would not be needing them after a couple of years. They are now using the same old machinery to produce electricity. As a result, they need more oil and the production cost is skyrocketing.

“If there had been a prior plan to run these power plants for seven to eight years, we would have been able to install better machinery that could generate  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

The dilapidated Mouchak-Malibagh road has turned into a dangerous trap for commuters. Even a brief spell of rain fills up the big potholes that dot the road. A couple, with a baby in their arms, recover yesterday after their rickshaw overturns when the rickshaw-puller steered the vehicle into a hidden pothole on the inundated road. Such scenes have become common nowadays FOCUS BANGLA

AUGUST 21 GRENADE ATTACK

Tarique says Hasina knew of it n Tribune Report BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman has come up with new claims that Sheikh Hasina knew everything about the August 21 attack on her party’s rally and that she is now surrounded by those who masterminded the assassination of her father.

At a programme in London on Sunday, he said: “No one but Hasina herself is responsible for the attack and deaths [from the grenade attack] because she was aware of the attack and let it happen.

Police foil plan to build yaba factory

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

INSIDE 3 | News

P3 147 BNP MEN INDICTED Tarique, who has been in London for more than five years and faces several cases in Bangladesh, was addressing a seminar titled “Strategies for Prosperous Bangladesh” at Queen Mary University.

n Kamran Reza Chowdhury

DB police present four people, arrested with 55,000 yaba pills in the capital’s Khilgaon on Sunday, before journalists yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

4 | News

Ashkona Hajj Camp is ready to welcome The government has decided to form a the Hajj pilgrims as Prime Minister Sheikh technical committee for raising the earn- Hasina will officially inaugurate this year’s Hajj programmes today. ings from marriage registration.

5 | News

The national flag carrier, Biman, is set to resume operations on all domestic routes in the next two months, officials of the airline told a parliamentary watchdog Monday.

He said every inch of the venue of the Awami League rally had been checked by the law enforcement agencies but all on a sudden Hasina decided to hold the programme in front of the party office.

“Is it possible to ensure security of a venue within such short time? Let me ask, who has the power to shift the venue of a programme? Definitely the venue was changed as per Hasina’s decision. So, who is responsible?” he said.

Tarique, the eldest son of BNP chief  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

BCIC confesses to swindling Tk3,115 crore in five years

n Ashif Islam Shaon Two flats in a posh area of the capital, an SUV and a whopping sum of money – accumulating all this in just three years was a piece of cake for Abdullah Zubayer, simply because he ran a very lucrative business.

Although illegal, his products sold like hotcakes and he was never caught by police. This sense of impunity served as an irresistible temptation, and Zubayer decided to take up a daunting challenge – to set up a plant in Gulshan to produce the synthetic drug yaba instead of importing from Myanmar.

The son of a rich man in Chittagong, Zubayer was also planning to hire people to operate the machines at the planned factory.

“She knew about the attack. That is why she had shifted the rally’s venue.

Why did she shift the scheduled rally to Bangabandhu Avenue from Muktangan just one and a half hours before the rally was set to start?”

Top officials of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) under the Industries Ministry yesterday confessed before a parliamentary watchdog that its corrupt officials had caused the theft of over Tk3,115 crore during a period of five years.

Industries Secretary Mohammad Uddin Abdullah and BCIC Chairman Munsur Ali Shikder came under fire of the 10-member parliamentary Committee on Public Undertaking, in connection with theft, embezzlement, wastage, and reluctance or wilful procrastination in realising public money that led to the drainage of around Tk623 crore every year.

8 | World

The Hamas chief has called on Barack Obama to intervene with the Israeli government to lift the siege of Gaza and push for a cease-fire to stop the ‘holocaust.’

A BCCI paper presented at the meeting further showed that an additional Tk11.5 crore was spent in violation of the government’s financial guidelines.

The Dhaka Tribune has obtained the paper which states that the corruption took place between 2006-07 and 201011 fiscal years.

Besides, 531 more audit objections involving over Tk1,525 crore were yet to be disposed off in the same five fiscal years.

“Both the industries secretary and the BCCI chairman have confessed that they were not ready to give us the answers to the causes of the theft and corruption. We have expressed serious dissatisfaction about it,” Col (retired)  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Body formed to identify sources of militant financing n Mohosinul Karim A high-power committee led by Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu was constituted yesterday to track down sources of militant financing and coordinate the activities of the government in this regard.

The committee, formed by the Cabinet Division, has been asked to accelerate investigation activities, enhance coordination between the agencies that are working to identify the sources and suggest the authorities concerned about necessary measures to stop militant financing.

It has also been asked to monitor and take necessary steps against the financiers, and if needed, inform the authorities concerned for action.

The committee will monitor how the Islamic or Shariah-based banks and insurance companies spend their profits and corporate social responsibility  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Khaleda: Zia's proclamation helped Mujib release n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla If Ziaur Rahman did not proclaim the independence of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would not have been released from Pakistan jail, BNP chief Khaleda Zia said yesterday.

Her comment follows that of her elder son Tarique Rahman, also the party’s senior vice-chairman, who a day before criticised the Awami League for the August 21 grenade attack and blamed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for compromising with the killers of her father.

“Today they [ruling party men] are making false and derogatory comments about [BNP founder and military ruler] Ziaur Rahman. If Ziaur Rahman did not proclaim independence and if the country was not liberated, then

there is doubt whether Sheikh Saheb [Mujib] would be released from Pakistan jail,” Khaleda said at her Gulshan office while exchanging views with the newly-elected upazila chairmen and vice-chairmen of Rangpur division.

The three-time former premier claimed that Zia had taken the initiative to bring Hasina back from abroad.

“Ziaur Rahman sent people to bring back Sheikh Hasina while her property worth Tk33 crore, except for the arms, was handed over to her. The current market price of that property is Tk3,500 crore,” Khaleda said.

Like her son, Khaleda was also critical of Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu and Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, saying: “Inu and his people said not to bury Sheikh Mujib but rather to throw the body into the

Bay of Bengal. Today Matia and Inu have become friends of the Awami League…”

Criticising Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad, Khaleda said: “People know about Ershad’s activities very well.”

Issuing a note of warning, the BNP chief said no law formulated by the incumbent government would exist in the future.

“After assuming power illegally, the Awami League is formulating laws one after another. They have formulated a broadcast policy to control the media and now they are trying to control the judiciary by empowering parliament to impeach judges,” she said.

“This illegal government has no right to enact any law. So the new laws will not exist in the future. They are doing this only to hide their misdeeds,” Khaleda said. l

Six to die for Siddhirganj murder n Ahmed Zayeef

A Narayanganj court has sentenced six people to death and one to life imprisonment for killing garment worker Md Rafique Bhuiyan in 2009.

Narayanganj Additional District and Sessions Judge Mamunur Rashid handed down the verdict yesterday.

Those sentenced to death are Mamun, Swapan, Nazmul, Aminul Islam Ashik alias Babu, Sazzad Alam Dollar and Zakir Hossain. They were each also fined Tk1 lakh.

Another accused, Sadia Akhter, was sentenced to life imprisonment. She was fined Tk50,000.

Nazmul, Mamun and Sazzad are in

custody while the others are absconding.

Rafique, 18, was a machine operator of Epic Garments and Manufacturing Company Ltd in Narayanganj EPZ. On June 3, 2009, the convicted killers telephoned him and called him over to see them while he was near his house in Noyatola, Siddhirganj. The next day his body was found floating in Chontola Bil (water body) in Mijmiji area of Siddhirganj. His neck and belly had been severed and his limbs were tied.

On the following day, his elder brother Md Ratan Bhuiyan filed a case accusing Sadia and her sister Moushumi.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Ratan said: “My brother had a relation with Sadia Akhter. She worked with my broth-

er at a factory in the EPZ. But Sadia also maintained a relationship with Nazmul.

“Nazmul and Sadia planned the murder. Nazmul hired the others for Tk20,000 to kill my brother,” he said.

After the case was filed, police arrested Sadia and Moushumi, and took them into remand. Sadia disclosed the names of others involved in the murder. Later police arrested Nazmul, Mamun, Dollar, Zakir and Babu. They failed to arrest Swapan.

“After obtaining bail, Sadia, Zakir and Babu went into hiding,” Ratan said.

MA Rahim, additional public prosecutor, said: “The judge ordered the district magistrate to collect the fines and hand it over to the victim’s family.” l

A cleaning worker dumps waste left by visitors to Suhrawardy Udyan at a place inside the park yesterday

214 among 6089 doctors re-posted as OSD n Moniruzzman Uzzal A total of 214 doctors, out of 6089 of 33rd BCS posted on Thursday, have been postated again as officers on special duty (OSD) at the Health Ministry, attaching them to various upazilas in the country.

They were asked in an order yesterday to join their new office by August 27.

The newly-posted doctors are those who have already served conditionally at various upazilas or are engaged elsewhere for post-graduation since they were appointed as adhoc doctors.

They were yet given new postings at

various upazilas on Thursday, sparking anger among them.

They then complained to the health directorate of it and taking the complaint into cognisance, it had recommended their re-posting and the health ministry followed it.

Joint Secretary (personal 1) Habibur Rahman confirmed the new posting to the Dhaka Tribune too. Despite Health Minister Mohammad Nasim's promise, all couple doctors have not been posted at the same working station. He said some of 440 couple doctors could not be posted at the same working station. l

Police foil plan to build yaba factory A temporary act on the way to permanence  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

But yaba trader Zubayer’s plans were nipped in the bud when he, along with his three cronies, was arrested by police around 7pm on Sunday in Khilgaon. Md Asaduzzaman, DB assistant commissioner, led the drive.

The three are Ayub Ali, 45, Shamshul Alam, 24, and Mostakin Hossain, 32. They were carrying 55,000 yaba pills and parts for a yaba-producing machine.

However, another Murad, 32, managed to flee. They were on their way to Zubayer’s residence in his SUV when they were held.

“During interrogation, we learned that Zubayer would import three or four consignments of yaba from Myanmar. If the demand was high, he would just double the number,” Jahangir Hossain Matubbar, deputy commissioner of DB (east), told reporters at the DMP media centre yesterday.

“Zubayer would sell yaba pills in a number of districts and also in the capital. Each of the tablets earned him Tk50 in profit. Within three years, he raked

in a huge profit,” he said.

Zubayer planned to set up the yaba factory in one of his flats. “He bought machine from Myanmar for Tk20 lakh.

To dodge the police, his accomplices were carrying parts of the machines separately,” he said.

“Zubayer decided to set up the factory as he thought producing yaba would allow him to make larger profits, and would diminish the risk associated with the illegal trade. Besides, he had connections with yaba manufacturers in Myanmar,” the DB official said.

Zubayer said he had studied in Darjeeling of India. After finishing his college education, he returned home as he had become addicted. His father Zahir owns Zahir Tower, a commercial building at Dampara in Chittagong.

A BRTA official told the Dhaka Tribune the registration number of Zubayer’s car was fake. The arrestees were produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka and they were put on a seven-day remand each. l

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

combined-cycle power instead of simple-cycle power. In that case, we would have been able to generate more power at these power plants.”

Ijaz, who teaches chemical engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), said: “The plans for building the large power plants did not make the desired progress. As a result, the government was compelled to invest in the expensive short-term solution. But as there is no other alternative, the government is now turning the short term solution into a long-term one.”

Under the special act, the government has so far signed agreements on setting up the country’s first floating storage and re-gasification unit, better known as LNG terminal. A total of 10 wells at six gas fields are currently being drilled and more than 25 quick rental and two independent power plants are operative under the act.

Additionally, the government has

SPEEDY SUPPLY OF POWER AND ENERGY ACT 2010

PROJECTS More than 25 quick-rental plans now operative Drilling underway of 10 gas wells Deal signed for first ever LNG terminal A 2nd unit at Eastern Refinary in the pipeline Several medium sized IPP in the pipeline decided to build a second unit at the Eastern Refinery Limited in Chittagong and a number of medium-sized independent power plants under the act.

After yesterday’s cabinet meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the approval had been given to the draft for amending the act on condition of vetting by the Law Ministry.

It would be placed in the next session of parliament due to start on September 1, he said.

“The extension was needed for achieving the power generation tar-

get as existing rules were creating obstacles to quick disposal of decisions related to the awarding of projects,” Musharraf said.

State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “The tenure of the act has been extended in the greater interest of the country. It was needed in order to ensure the continuation of the ongoing projects and completion of the unfinished ones under the act.”

The heavy burden

According to sources, the Power Development Board (PDB) is going to spend a total of Tk582.24 crore in the form of subsidy for paying the bills of quick rental power plants for June.

This amount comprises 73% of the Tk790.13 crore that the Finance Ministry has given as credit to the PDB for the month.

In May this year, the PDB spent 80% of the credit it had got from the Finance Ministry for paying quick rental bills.

Government appoints new NSI director n Tribune Report The government has appointed Mezbah Uddin, deputy inspector general of police, as the new director of the Department of National Security Intelligence (NSI). A gazette notification in this regard was issued yesterday, Public Administration Ministry said.

According to the issued notification, Mezbah, who was earlier posted at the Khulna Range of police and later attached to the police headquarters, will be at the Department of National Security Intelligence on deputation. l

The Dhaka Tribune has accessed a letter that the Finance Division had sent to Power Division Secretary Monowar Islam yesterday disbursing the loan to the PDB at a 3% interest rate.

In 2009, when the government depended much less on fuel oil-based quick rental power, the amount of subsidy in the sector was Tk994 crore.

However, in 2013, when the price of fuel oil and the government’s dependence on quick rental power increased manifold, the amount of subsidy rose to more than Tk5,170 crore.

According to official figures from October last year, 97% of the power sector subsidy was spent for paying the bills of the privately owned quick rental power plants.

According to the PDB, the average cost of producing power using natural gas is around Tk2 per unit; a unit of coal-fired power costs around Tk6.

On the other hand, the cost of producing power using fuel oil is around Tk14-20 per unit. l

Body formed to identify sources of militant financing

BCIC confesses swindling

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 PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

funds while financial reports of the NGOs, working mainly in the CHT region, will also come under the scanner.

Members of the new committee are state ministers for finance and home ministries; governor of Bangladesh Bank; senior secretary of the home ministry; secretaries of banks and finance division, and law and justice division; heads of police, BGB, Ansar, NSI, DGFI and Islamic Foundation; additional inspector general of police; general manager of FIU unit of Bangladesh Bank; and director of National

Telecommunication Monitoring Cell.

The additional secretary (political wing) of the Home Ministry will be the member secretary.

The previous committee tasked to deal with the issue was formed in 2009.

It was headed by the home state minister.

In the last meeting, held on August 14, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the major portion of the money spent on militant financing in the country came from profits and CSR funds of banks and insurance companies operating under Shariah rules.

August 21 grenade attack  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

Khaleda Zia, claimed that Hasina had repeatedly requested Ivy Rahman, wife of the late president Zillur Rahman, to get on the truck – the makeshift stage for the rally.

“Why did she repeatedly request Ivy to get on the truck? Did she know anything? Definitely she knew something.

Did the probe committee ever question Sheikh Hasina?

“I want to request the judges to ask Hasina why the venue had been shifted,” said Tarique.

Referring to Quader Siddiqui’s speech in parliament on September 15, 2004, Tarique said Siddiqui had also questioned the venue shift without any notice. Tarique claimed that his claim was authentic and many others had also questioned the sudden change of decision. He suggested checking media reports of that time.

The BNP leader’s claim is a distortion of facts because the Awami League had to change its rally venue since it had not got the permission to hold it at Muktangan.

Tarique has often presented dis-

torted information since the January 5 election. He once said BNP founder Ziaur Rahman was the first president of Bangladesh.

The BNP leader said the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975 was a condemnable incident. “But what do we see today?”

He said Sheikh Mujib had been scheduled to go to Dhaka University on August 15, 1975, but a party had created some chaos to prevent his visit. “Today we have to observe who Sheikh Hasina is now surrounded by and who were those people that had caused the unrest on that day.

“A number of Awami League leader said at that time that Sheikh Mujib was a dictator. Those very people are now at Hasina’s side,” said Tarique.

Referring to a write-up by Quader Siddiqui, he said: “On August 14, Sheikh Mujib himself ordered to position three tanks...to protect himself from the conspiracy of [Hasanul Haque] Inu, that is JaSaD. So, the tanks took position upon Mujib’s instructions. If we now ask: ‘Why had Sheikh Mujib been com-

At a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on February 24 asked ministers and officials concerned to take tough actions with a view to preventing the rise of militant groups and to stop terrorism financing from inside or outside the country.

She made the directives after three convicted militants of banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had been snatched from police custody – giving an impression that the group was being reorganised.

The detectives later learnt that four businessmen in the capital had been

financing regrouping of the JMB which had been banned on February 13, 2005.

With the money, the JMB has bought land in Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar areas, and set up camps to train its new members.

These incidents suggest that the banned outfit is still active with the capability to carry out devastating attacks like they did on August 17, 2005. On that day, the JMB came up with much-unprecedented scale of terror attacks including the simultaneous blasts of 459 time bombs in 63 districts. l

pelled to give such order?’

“Those who had created the chaotic situation at that time are now around Sheikh Hasina. Some of them are very close and trustworthy to Sheikh Hasina right now.”

Again referring to a book, this time one by Mohiuddin Ahmed, Tarique said on August 15, 1975 morning a Gono Bahini meeting had been held at Dhaka University where Col Abu Taher’s brother Anwar said Taher had visited the radio station in the morning and scolded Maj Sharful Haque Dalim. “Do you know who exploded bombs in the university yesterday? Those were my boys,” Taher told Dalim as claimed by Tarique.

“I think the role of Inu Bahini on the morning of August 15 should be clarified,” Tarique said.

Countering ruling Awami League leaders’ claim that Ziaur Rahman had been involved with the assassination of Bangabandhu, Tarique said they had been propagating against Zia to hide their failures and misdeeds.

“The BNP was not yet formed when Mujib was killed. Who formed the government at that time? Khandakar

Mushtaque, who was known as close to Mujib, and some Awami League leaders formed the government and took oath. HT Imam was the cabinet secretary. Ask him...it would be clear who were present at that time.

“Col Taher was present at the time of Mushtaque’s swearing-in. Not only Taher, Inu and Menon were also present in Bangabhaban at the ceremony,” said Tarique.

He alleged that Hasina had compromised with the killers and masterminds of her father’s assassination just to cling to power and for her greed of power.

Tarique termed Hasina the leader of black sheep as she had called Khandakar Mushtaque a black sheep. “Today we see all those masterminds of Mujib killing beside Sheikh Hasina. So can we not say the Awami League is a party of kulangars [black sheep] and Sheikh Hasina is the leader of kulangars?”

Referring to a book by Abul Monsur Ahmed, the BNP leader said Sheikh Mujib had killed the then deputy speaker Sahed Ali. However, such information could not be found in the book. l

Shawkat Ali, the committee chairman, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We will send you a detailed report on how the corruption took place in the next seven days,” Shawkat Ali quoted the BCIC chairman as saying.

“Our recommendations are: catch the corrupt employees and punish them as soon as possible.”

The Committee on Public Undertaking is a body tasked to ensure transparency and accountability of over 300 departments and wings under different ministries. Its recommendations are not mandatory for the departments.

However, in most of the cases, the discussions in the meetings force the parent ministries and respective departments to correct themselves.

Without referring to the nature of the theft and financial corruption, the BCCI paper stated that the largest financial corruption took place during the rule of the army-backed caretaker government in 2007-08 fiscal year: around Tk1,178 crore in 256 audit objections.

In the first two fiscal years under the Awami League government (200910 and 2010-11), 487 audit objections involving around Tk961 crore were reported.

The reports of the commercial audit wing observed that the BCIC officials allowed theft of urea fertiliser, payment of transport costs in excessive rates, paying more festival bonus and other allowances in violation of the financial rules.

“The factories under the BCIC are showing ghost temporary workers.

For instance, if they employ 500 workers in factories, they officially show it as 5,000, swindling the wages of the 4,500 workers. The additional amount

RAJIB DHAR

of money goes to the corrupt officials,” Shahidur Rahman Chowdhury, director of the commercial audit wing that audited the BCIC, told the Dhaka tribune.

In most of the cases, he said, the corrupt officials earned money in procurement at higher rates.

“Very often, the contracts for service or product delivery go to the relatives or close friends of the respective officials to pocket the money,” said Shahidur.

At its latest meeting, the parliamentary watchdog on Industries Ministry discussed the corruption of one of the CBA leaders in the BCIC who appointed his relatives and others in the department in exchange of money.

The standing committee further said contractors had supplied the Karnaphuli Paper Mill with a locally-made inferior equipment instead of the agreed-upon Japanese equipment that cost Tk36 crore.

After detecting the corruption, the standing committee recommended the BCIC to not refund guarantee money of the contractor. But the corporation paid them the money worth Tk9 crore, flouting the standing committee recommendations.

During the previous ninth parliament, the Standing Committee on Industries Ministry alleged that the BCIC had bought an old roller for the Karnaphuli Paper Mill. Besides, the mill authorities used sub-standard talcum powder and line stone that deteriorated the quality of the paper.

The paper mill authorities also allegedly resorted to corrupt means to procure a 15-ton overhead crane. The parliamentary committee detected that the mill authorities had been using two small cranes instead of one 15-ton crane. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

147 BNP leaders, activists indicted for violence

News

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

3

ROAD, WATER, OR AIRWAY?

Defence counsel says the cases are meant for politically harassing the BNP men stances Act and the Speedy Trial Act. n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu Police pressed the charges against A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against 147 BNP leaders including its Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi in a case filed for creating panic during a demonstration in front of the party’s Nayapaltan office on March 11 last year.

Metropolitan Magistrate Tarek Mainul Islam Bhuiyan passed the order in presence of 99 accused after hearing the discharge petitions. It fixed September 25 for opening statement in the case.

148 people on March 24 and named 42 people as prosecution witness.

In the seizure list, police said they had recovered 12 hand bombs, one hockey stick, two iron bars, six bamboo sticks and five bricks from the BNP office during the police raid.

The IO dropped the names of six accused from the charge sheet, saying that their involvement in the incidents could not be proved.

When the charges were being read out, the accused including Rizvi claimed themselves innocent

Metropolitan Magistrate Hasibul Haque yesterday indicted BNP Joint Secretary General Amanullah Aman and 13 other BNP men in a case filed for violence and obstructing law enforcers from discharging their duties. In presence of 12 accused, the court fixed November 20 to start the trial procedure.

The other accused are Mostafizur Rahman, Md Rasel, Moksed Alam, Lokman Hossain, Belal Hossain, Delwar Hossain, Nasiruddin, Chan Miah, Abdul Jabbar, Babul Miah, Julhash, Fazlu Miah, Haji Aminul Haque and Md Rana.

The court also issued arrest warrants against two fugitives – Haji Aminul and Rana.

On August 24, 2011, Airport police station SI Maruf Ahmed submitted the charge sheet before the Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court against the 14 accused.

The case was filed on September 29, 2009. According to the charge sheet, a group of BNP leaders and activists gathered at Shahjalal International Airport on September 29 to receive Aman when he returned home from Thailand. When police arrested the BNP leader, the BNP men started vandalism and attacked the policemen. l

Earlier, the defence counsels filed discharge petitions for their clients stating that the case was filed to politically harass them. On the other hand, additional public prosecutor Shilpy Rani Halder opposed the discharge plea and sought for charge.

The court issued arrest warrant against 46 accused.

When the prosecution read out the charges, the accused including Rizvi claimed themselves innocent and sought justice.

The court exempted BNP activist Omar Faruk from the charge following his death. He died while undergoing treatment at a hospital under police custody on May 5 last year.

On March 11 last year, Paltan police SI Jahangir Alam filed the case against 154 leaders and activists including BNP’s Publicity Secretary Zainal Abdin Farroque under the Explosive Sub-

Aman indicted in vandalism case

A brief spell of rain yesterday inundates the entrance and exit roads at Dhaka airport, the only international gateway to the capital. Knee-high stagnant water is a common challenge that has to be faced by both outbound and inbound air travellers whenever it rains MUMIT M

Earning from marriage registration gradually declining n Asif Showkat Kallol The government has decided to form a technical committee for raising the earnings from marriage registration in a bid to boost non-NBR revenue, officials said.

An inter-ministerial meeting at the Finance Ministry last week made the decision after reviewing a complaint that the marriage registrars, better known as the Kazis, had not deposited enough money to the government exchequer in the form of Kazi Licence Fees since July 1, 2012.

An official of the Law Ministry said earning from this sector started declining a couple of years ago after a provision was introduced binding the Kazis

The black smoke billowing from many factories in the capital’s Shyampur continues to pollute the air in the area yesterday. Lax enforcement of environment-protecting regulations has been allowing such practice to take place for many years MEHEDI HASAN

Probe finds evidence against Siraj Kosai and two others The investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal yesterday submitted their report, bringing eight charges of crimes against humanity against three alleged war criminals including razakar commander Sheikh Sirajul Haque alias Siraj Master alias Siraj Kosai.

Agency Coordinator Md Abdul Hannan Khan, Co-Coordinator M Sanaul Haque and Investigation Officer Md Helal Uddin unveiled the report during a press conference at its Dhanmondi safe home.

Later, the report was submitted to the prosecution around 3pm.

Nimai Chandra Das, a victim from Raghuduttakathi village, filed a case against some 20-30 men including the trio with a Bagerhat court in 2009. The case was later transferred to the tribunal and the investigation began on May 19 last year.

The accused – Siraj Master, Khan Akram Hossain and Abdul Latif Talukder – are now in custody. Of the charges, four are against Siraj only.

Hannan said: “The accused took training under the Pakistani occupation forces in Khulna Ansar Camp and then set up razakar camps in Bagerhat. They are responsible for killings, genocide, loot, arson and forced conversions.”

To establish the charges, the prosecution has named 68 witnesses.

The investigators say Siraj was a key associate of razakar founder AKM Yusuf during the war and involved in crimes against humanity. Yusuf died in custody during the trial period.

Of the three, Siraj Master was more ferocious since he used to slit throat of the victims after they had been shot by his accomplices.

According to charge one, Siraj with the help of his accomplices carried out genocide, loot and arson attack in vil-

allegations, that the Kazis have not been paying the amount that they should have to the government.

Abdul Jalil Mahaji, president of the association of marriage registrars, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is not true. Every Kazi has to deposited a part of his earning as non-NBR tax to the government.”

He also said NBR officials regularly conducts inspections to find out whether they had paid their dues to the government.

Law Minister Anisul Huq said: “We will take all necessary steps to strictly implement laws and make sure that there is a significant earning from marriage registration.”

At present, there are a total of 7,500 marriage registrars across the country.

In 2005, the united Dhaka city corporation earned Tk6 crore from the marriage and birth registration fees. However, in the following years, earning from this sector dropped significantly, prompting the two current city corporations to cut down the revenue target.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has set a target for earning Tk1.50 crore in the ongoing 2014-15 fiscal year. Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC)’s target for the same period is Tk2 crore. During the fiscal year, DSCC and DNCC earned Tk2.48 crore and Tk1.25 crore respectively.

For 2014-15, the government’s target for non-NBR earning was fixed at Tk5,575 crore. Last year, the target was Tk5,178 crore. l

Prosecution argues Bergman’s counsel seeks on Azhar’s superior acquittal from charge responsibility Mustafizur also said the petitioner n Udisa Islam n Udisa Islam had not brought any specific allegation

THE OPPORTUNITY COST

n Udisa Islam

to deposit a certain amount to the exchequer every year.

The technical committee will also advise the law and finance ministries whether to bring any change to the marriage registration fee. Sources said the government had kept the fee unchanged since 1997.

Until Junly 1, 2012, the government was supposed to get 5% of the first Tk1,000 and 25% of the remaining amount of the total “mohorana.”

Mohorana is the security money that a Muslim groom pledges to pay the bride as compensation in case there is a divorce. However, that rule was changed later and the new rule bound the Kazi to deposite a certain amount of his income to the government exchequer. There are

lage Ranjitpur under Bagerhat sadar on May 13, 1971 when 40-50 Hindus were killed.

The second charge states that Siraj and his accomplices was responsible for genocide in Dakra of Rampal in Bagerhat on May 21 when 600-700 Hindus had been shot dead.

Siraj is the lone accused in another charge which states that with the help of his accomplices Siraj abducted, confined and tortured to kill 19 unarmed civilians in Besargati and Kandapara areas under Bagerhat sadar.

Another charge says the trio with the help of their associates confined, tortured and killed 42 people in Shakharikathi of Kochua in Bagerhat on November 5, 1971. Many houses were looted and set on fire during the incident.

Akram and Latif have been charged for forceful conversion of 200 Hindus into Islam in and around Shakharikathi and killing of freedom fighter Fazlur Rahman Shikder on December 13. l

The prosecution in the trial of ATM Azharul Islam yesterday ended factual arguments and accused the assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami for superior command responsibility during the 1971 Liberation War. On the fifth day of hearing on the closing arguments, prosecutor Tapos K Baul placed arguments on charge six. He placed evidence on two incidents – the accused in mid-November of 1971 had slapped Shawkat Hossain for chanting “Joy Bangla” slogan, and on December 1, abducted his brother Rafiqul Hassan Nannu and tortured him in confinement.

Tapos claimed that Azhar had superior command responsibility in Rangpur.

When the tribunal enquired whether his command responsibility was on army or razakar, al-Badr, the prosecutor said the accused had been a civil superior in Rangpur and al-Badr commander too.

Later the tribunal adjourned the hearing until today. l

JaPa submits annual income and expenditure report n Tribune Report The Jatiya Party submitted its annual income and expenditure report to the Election Commission for 2013, showing lower expenditure than the party’s income yesterday.

According the report, the JaPa earned Tk3.37 crore and spent Tk2.82 crore during the period.

JaPa Senior Joint General Secretary Rezaul Islam Bhuiyan, accompanied

by Office Secretary Abu Hasan Mohammad Jewel, handed over the report at the secretariat office around 1pm.

Rezaul Islam Bhuiyan told reporters that they earned the money from monthly fees and nomination fees.

Sources said a total of 27 political parties, including the Jatiya Party and the BNP, submitted their annual financial statements to the EC till yesterday, but 13 parties were yet to submit their audit reports. l

The lawyer for British journalist David Bergman yesterday placed several arguments before the International Crimes Tribunal 2 on why a contempt charge should not be drawn against his client.

During the hearing on Bergman’s reply to the contempt notice, counsel Mustafizur Rahman claimed that the petitioner’s case was not maintainable since it had been brought by a third party applicant which is not permitted under the tribunal law.

He also questioned the delay in initiating the proceeding. One of the two blog posts was written around two years ago while another a year ago.

The lawyer said it was a clear indication that there was no necessary or urgency to raise the issue. The tribunal, however, dismissed the argument by saying that it started the trial of war criminals 42 years after the Liberation War.

against his client.

Mentioning several contempt cases of home and abroad including of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said there were instances that the alleged contemners had been acquitted.

After the hearing, the tribunal fixed September 4 for further hearing from the petitioner’s side.

On August 21, the tribunal heard Mizan Sayeed, counsel for the petitioner, who pleaded for action against Bergman, saying that he had committed contempt of court by criticising a sub-judice matter in his writings.

The tribunal on April 17 this year initiated the proceedings against Bergman.

Meanwhile, the defence ended cross-examination of prosecution’s 23rd witness in the case of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Abdus Subhan.

Later the tribunal 2 set today for placing the next witness. l

NEW LIFE

A baby Blue-Gold Macaw rests at a private zoo in the capital’s Hatirpool after being hatched last Thursday. The nestling belongs to “Princess,” a bird that came into the limelight following a legal dispute over the ownership of its mate “Prince.” The legal battle ended in the bird couple becoming separated. Although Blue-Gold Macaws mate for life, the owner of Princess was able to find another mate for his bird. After several failed efforts, Princess finally gave birth to a healthy nestling DHAKA TRIBUNE

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

PM to inaugurate Hajj camp today 1,505 out of a total 98,680 pilgrims will fly under government arrangement n Moniruzzman Uzzal Ashkona Hajj Camp is ready to welcome the Hajj pilgrims as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will officially inaugurate this year’s Hajj programmes today.

Officials at the camp have already gone all-out with their preparation regarding accommodation, food and medical service for the pilgrims.

Mizanur Rahman, director of the Hajj office under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told the Dhaka Tribune a total of 838 pilgrims will fly to Saudi Arabia under government arrangements on flights scheduled for August 27 and 28.

On the first day, 419 pilgrims will take two flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines at 7am and 12 at noon.

All the 838 pilgrims have already received their visas.

Meanwhile, the first flight for pilgrims who will fly under private arrangements will leave on August 28.

According to the ministry, a total of 98,680 pilgrims registered to perform Hajj this year. Of them, only 1,505 are flying under the government’s arrangement and the rest have subscribed to agency services. Half the total passengers will take Bangladesh Biman flights

while the other half will fly on Saudi Airlines.

Passengers of the first flight were handed their passports and tickets yesterday afternoon.

Senior officials of the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh told the Dhaka Tribune that only 102 agencies out of 835 had received bar codes till Sunday.

It is expected that the other agencies would get the bar codes in phases.

Mizanur said 102 agencies had so far submitted the bar codes and till yesterday, the Saudi Arabia embassy in Bangladesh had issued more than 3,000 Hajj visas to the private agencies.

Pilgrims have already arrived at the camp.

Camp officials said the venue could accommodate 3,000 passengers at a time. There is a restaurant where the pilgrims can buy food from. Three medical teams will be at the camp round the clock to provide medical services for the pilgrims, if needed.

Inside the camp, there are five stores selling necessary Hajj related goods.

Ministry sources said a total of 80 Hajj pilgrims of medical, administrative and IT team has left Dhaka for Saudi Arab on Monday. l

Taslima Pakkha, a group of people supporting author Taslima Nasreen, forms a human chain at the capital’s Shahbagh yesterday, demanding that the writer be repatriated to the country with citizen privileges RAJIB DHAR

Ex-ward commissioner hacked in capital n Tribune Report

Midwifery to get state recognition

A mob beat up three youths after they hacked an ex-ward commissioner with a machete in the capital’s Khilgaon area yesterday.

Khilgaon police station Sub-Inspector Shamsul Alam said around 1:30pm five armed men attacked Fazlul Haque, exward commissioner of Dhaka City Corporation, near Sipaibagh Bazar in the area.

Fazlul Haque was admitted to a private hospital in critical condition.

Locals caught three of them and gave them a good beating while two others fled the scene. Later police arrested all the attackers, said the SI. Of the arrested, Akkas Ali Kosai, 35, sustained serious injuries and was taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Two years back, Fazlul’s men had beaten Akkas’s sister upon entering her house forcefully, Akkas told reporters at DMCH. “I was looking for a chance to take revenge. As I saw Fazlul shopping at the bazaar, I called up my men and hacked him,” he said.

He claimed that Fazlul’s men had beaten them up while locals tried to save them. l

Alongside nursing, midwifery is set to be given state recognition as the cabinet yesterday approved in principle the Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council Bill, 2014.

The council of ministers approved the draft bill with some amendments repealing the Bangladesh Nursing Council Ordinance, 1983. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting at the Secretariat.

Under the proposed law, the Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council will be formed headed by the health secretary while chiefs of departments and directorates concerned and people from different professionals will be included as its members.

Moreover, a seven-member executive committee will be formed. The health secretary will head the committee.

The council will recognise the certificates and degrees on both nursing and midwifery services.

The proposed law has mentioned names of some institutions which are currently giving certificates and de-

n Mohosinul Karim

BNP announces fresh programme n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

grees on nursing and midwifery while the interested new institutions would require approval of the council before awarding such certificates and degrees.

The government has been entrusted to formulate rules while the council to enact regulations.

Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters that the draft was given approval in line with a previous decision to transform ordinances, promulgated during the military regimes, into laws after drafting them into Bengali with necessary reviews and amendments and making them time befitting.

The cabinet was also apprised the participation of the Bangladesh delegation headed by the commerce minister at the eighth meeting of the South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) Ministerial Council held in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu and the participation of Bangladesh delegation, headed by the state minister for science and technology, at the first meeting of the Joint Coordinating Committee for implementing the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant held in Moscow. l

The BNP-led 20-party alliance yesterday announced that they would stage demonstration across the country, protesting the government move to empower the parliament to impeach the Supreme Court judges.

The alliance will also observe the United Nation’s International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance

n Tribune Report Bitterly criticising BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir for his recent remark that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is a killer and her outfit is a party of killers, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim said the statement was beyond the etiquette of politics.

“Making this type of remark is only possible by the secretary general (Fakhrul) of a party that was born un-

Sujit Mustafa, CEO of Bangladesh Lyricists, Composers and Performers Society, addresses a press conference at the National Press Club yesterday to mark the official launching of the organisation that would work to protect the rights of music artistes RAJIB DHAR

$100m resilience fund focuses on S Asia n Tribune Report USAID and Rockefeller Foundation have announced a $100 million Global Resilience Partnership for Asia and Africa, especially focusing on South and Southeast Asia, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, said a press release yesterday.

The partnership will lay out a bold new vision for building resilience to disasters, food insecurity, the effects of climate change and other factors contributing to pover-

ty in communities across Asia and Africa.

It would focus on South and Southeast Asia, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa—areas particularly susceptible to disasters or crises of all kinds.

Michael Yates, director of the USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia, said: “Disasters have been increasing in Asia because more people are in harm’s way without the means to protect their loved ones and their possessions.”

“To change this, we will build

the lawmakers to impeach the judges,” he said.

The BNP leader alleged that through this move, the government would establish its full control over the judiciary.

Earlier, the alliance brought out a black flag procession on August 17 and staged demonstration on August 19, protesting Gaza killing and the new National Broadcast Policy respectively. l

Nasim hits back at Fakhrul over calling premier a ‘killer’

Shahriar Alam to attend Erdogan swearing-in n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam will be going to Turkey on August 27 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the following day.

“Engagement in different sectors between Bangladesh and Turkey is growing and the state minister will go to Ankara to attend the swearing-in ceremony,” said an official of the foreign ministry.

Dhaka and Ankara signed 11 agreements in different sectors in the last five years and both the countries have a common stance in United Nations and Organisation for Islamic Countries (OIC) regarding almost all issues including the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, he said.

Trade between the countries has reached about $2 billion where Bangladesh exports about $1.2 billion of products.

“Both the countries have plans to increase it to $3 billion in the next two years.”

“Bangladesh also wants to sign the Free Trade Agreement with Turkey to avoid tariff barrier to enter the country,” the official added.

The then Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan visited Bangladesh in February 2010 and November same year.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also visited Turkey in 2012. During her visit, there was a schedule for half-an-hour of tete-e-tete between Hasina and Erdogan in Ankara but it continued for over two and half hours. l

on August 30, forming human chains across the country.

BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the fresh programmes at a press briefing at party’s Nayapaltan central office.

“The alliance will hold procession and rallies across the country on Tuesday [today] and on Wednesday [tomorrow] at 15 spots of the capital, protesting the government move to empower

networks through this partnership and solicit the best ideas from local governments, the private sector and civil society, so that our collective investments will protect lives and livelihoods,” he said.

In the last 30 years, the number of weather-related disasters has tripled, and the cost is up 300 percent to $200 billion every year. While low-income countries were hit by only 9 percent of these disasters, they represented 48 percent of all fatalities. l

der a military dictatorship, occupying the power illegally. The countrymen will reply to this derogative statement,” Nasim said at a press conference held at the 14-party’s Dhanmondi office yesterday.

The minister, also a presidium member of the ruling AL, said the BNP was trying to save the accused, including its Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, in the August 21 grenade attack cases.

“The investigation in the cases has

clearly proved that Tarique, an accused in the cases, led the attacks behind the scene and none will be able to save the culprits involved in the attacks in any way and they must get punishment,” the minister continued.

The presidium member claimed that the BNP has been depressed after failing to muster up any movement against the Awami League.

Some alliance members of the ALled 14-party were also present in the briefing, among others. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Biman to resume domestic flights n Kamran Reza Chowdhury The national flag carrier, Biman, is set to resume operations on all domestic routes in the next two months, officials of the airline told a parliamentary watchdog Monday.

Due to a paucity of aircraft, Biman authorities suspended flight operations on domestic routes in several phases, the last being the Dhaka - Cox’s Bazar route that was closed in 2011.

Flights on the Dhaka - Chittagong and Dhaka - Sylhet routes have remained in operation.

Biman officials told the parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation and tourism ministry that it had floated tenders to procure small aircraft to operate domestic flights from Dhaka to other domestic destinations including Barisal, Cox’s Bazar, Ishwardi, Jessore, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Syedpur.

“They (Biman officials) have assured us that flights on all domestic routes would resume in the next two months.

Tenders have already been floated in this regard,” Col (Rtd) Faruk Khan, the standing committee chairman, told reporters after the meeting at the parliament building.

Faruk Khan, a former civil aviation minister, said his committee had recommended that Biman operate domestic flights either with its own or hired aircraft.

GM Quader, former civil aviation minister in the last parliament, came under verbal attacks from MPs as he de-

clined to reopen the domestic routes.

He said domestic operations would not be economically viable.

United Airlines, Novo Air, Regent Airways and US-Bangla Airlines operate domestic flights as demand for domestic routes has increased. But passengers have frequently raised complaints about the service.

The standing committee discussed Biman’s failure to operate direct flights from Dhaka to London and to Kuala Lumpur—two profitable routes frequently used by Bangladeshis.

“Why should you operate loss making routes? This is not a profitable route. Rather we should focus on London and Kuala Lumpur. Bangladeshis want more direct Dhaka-London-Dhaka flights,” Faruk Khan said.

Biman has frequent delays on the Dhaka-London-Dhaka route, angering passengers who now prefer international carriers such as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

Biman charges Tk93,000 for a direct return ticket from Dhaka to London and vice versa. Emirates charges around Tk130,000 and has a stopover in Dubai.

Bangladeshis have been demanding Biman’s uninterrupted service on the route. In many cases, passengers cannot get Biman tickets from sales agents, yet the planes operate with many seats vacant.

Biman sources said authorities have floated tenders several times, but the process was stalled halfway. l

The photo taken on Sunday shows that water of Dupadighi has become polluted because of random washing of clothes and dump ing of wastage

PM asks to build lakes along KurilPurbachal road n Mohosinul Karim

Chittagong to enforce ban Initiatives on the cards to free on battery-run rickshaws Dupadighi from pollution

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain to start constructing lakes beside the new Kuril-Purbachal link road immediately.

The premier also asked him to cancel the planning of constructing culverts beside the road.

The instruction was given during an informal discussion after the regular cabinet meeting held at the secretariat with the premier in the chair yesterday.

Several ministers who attended yesterday’s cabinet meeting confirmed the Dhaka Tribune about the premier’s direction.

Junior Labour and Employment Minister Mojibul Haque Chunnu also admitted the issue.

The minister said the premier did not like the plan to construct culverts beside the new road as it might hamper the flow of water.

“The premier also asked the minister to start the construction of lakes soon,” he added.

Earlier, the housing and public works ministry made a decision to build culverts across the road. l

Chittagong city authorities declared August 30 as the deadline to get battery-run rickshaws off the roads, following a High Court ruling banning the vehicles from city roads in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) and Chittagong district administration decided at a meeting yesterday to conduct drives across the city to halt the use of battery-run rickshaws in the port city from August 31, the day after the deadline comes into effect.

The owners and drivers of battery-run rickshaws in Chittagong city were told they could operate their vehicles on city roads only after removing the battery and electric motor.

Battery-run rickshaws caught after the August 30 deadline would be subject to confiscation of the battery and

WEATHER

Visually impaired students of Suhrawardy Hall of Chittagong University are leading a miserable life as authorities have closed their dormitory following a gunfight between the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Islamic Chhatra Shibir (ICS) on Sunday evening.

Nine visually impaired students of the hall were forced to stay out of the dormitory as the authorities have not allowed them to stay inside the hall.

Most of the residential students have already left the dormitory and many of them managed shelters at the cottages of their friends on the campus.

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

LIGHT RAIN OR THUNDERSHOWER

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:23PM SUN RISES 5:38AM FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

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motor, and owners could face legal action, the meeting, held in the conference room of CMP headquarters, decided.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Engineer Mohammad Hasan of the Detective Branch at CMP, also the spokesman of CMP, told the Dhaka Tribune that owners and drivers of battery-run rickshaws would have to seek permission from the CCC to operate their vehicles in the city area after removing the batteries and motors by August 30.

“After a discussion on the HC directive and the harmful aspects of battery-run rickshaws, the authorities took the decision,” he added.

On August 5, the High Court imposed a ban on the operation of battery-run rickshaws on city roads in Dhaka and Chittagong, rejecting an appeal prayer of the owners and drivers, said Deputy Commissioner Faruk Ahmed of CMP Traffic Division (North Zone). l

n Mohammad Serajul Islam, Sylhet The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives with the assistance of the government of India is going to implement a project aimed at making Dupadighi, a well known pond under the Sylhet City Corporation area, as a tourist spot, creating accommodation facilities for cleaners and also making the water of the pond pollution-free.

The project titled “Construction of Infrastructure and Socio-Economic Development” in the Sylhet City Corporation’s area will cost Tk24.84 crore and the India government has already given it’s consent that it would finance the project, said Noor Azizur Rahman, chief engineer of the Sylhet City Corporation.

Under the project, a five-storied kindergarten school, a high school building, a six-storied building where cleaners of the city corporation would be provided accommodation.

n FM Mizanur Rahaman

Ferdaous Hasan, a third year student of History department, said: “I had to spend the night out in the open in front of the hall as the authorities did not allow me to enter my room.”

“I was extremely worried as I have no relatives in the district,” he said, adding that his examination is scheduled to be held on August 27.

Abdur Razzak said: “The university authorities could have at least arranged an alternative accommodation for the students who are physically challenged like me.”

Solaiman Badsha, president of the Disabled Students’ Society of CU who is also a fourth year student of law department, told Dhaka Tribune that as

the authorities as they had closed the hall suddenly, it was their responsibility to arrange shelter for the students with disability.

“We hope that the authorities concerned will take special measure for the students during any future turmoil,” he added.

The BCL and ICS men of the Suhrawardy hall at CU were locked in a gunfight on Sunday night, leaving five persons injured.

Soon after the clash, the university authority asked students to vacate all the dormitories.

The authorities, however, formally announced all to vacate the hall yesterday morning.

The authority also formed a probe committee consisting of three members to investigate the gunfight and asked the committee to submit the report as soon as possible.

The decisions were taken at an emergency meeting in the morning with Professor Anwarul Azim Arif, VC of CU, in the chair.

Asked about the closure of the hall without any formal announcement, The VC said they were compelled to close the hall as turmoil was prevailing on the campus.

“We have asked the disabled students to reside at the Abdur Rab hall until reopening the Suhrawardy hall,” the VC added.

n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES 4:20am 5:37am 12:01am 4:34pm 6:24pm 7:42pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

He said a few years ago Sylhet city was prominent for ponds and Dupadighirpar pond was one of them. But water of the pond has become polluted because people use it to of wash clothes and dump waste.

“Water pollution of the pond has reached an alarming level,” he said.

The government has taken the initiative to make the pond pollution-free plus make an open space for city dwellers where they would enjoy nature. He

Earlier on Sunday night, police raided Suhrawardy hall around 9:30pm after the gunfight and recovered at least 15 crude bombs from there, said officer-in-charge (OC) Ismail Hossian of Hathazari police station.

Police also recovered two unexploded crude bombs beside the main entrance of the dormitory in an abandoned condition, he added.

Classes and examinations of different departments were held with a good number of students being present, said CU Proctor Siraj Ud Dowla.

Additional law enforcement personnel were deployed on campus to avoid further tension between the two student organisations, added the proctor. l

3 policemen, security guards injured in clash

23.6ºC Sylhet

Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

A road would be built beside the ponds after the implementation of the project

also termed the project as small version of the Hateerjhel project.

When contacted, Ariful Haque Chowdhury, mayor of the SCC, said the pond area is on 5 acres of land.

“For the beautification of the city, we have taken on this project. If the project is implemented, the overall scenario of the city will be changed to a great extent,” the mayor said.

He said he had already requested the Indian high commissioner to lay the foundation stone of the project as soon as possible.

While visiting Sylhet on August 19, Pankaj Saran, high commissioner of India to Dhaka, said they were implementing a project in the Sylhet City. He then said: “We will be happy to implement it.”

Presently, the SCC is running three educational institutions. The school are Bornomala High School, Bhulanondo Night High School, and Baby Care Academy. l

Students suffer from sudden closure of CU Suhrawardy Hall

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

35.3ºC Rajshahi

A road would be built beside the ponds for he said. After the implementation of the project, boat rides will be available to attract visitors.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

A transport leader is seen threatening police personnel before a clash that took place at Rajshahi Railway Station yesterday AZAHR UDDIN

At least three police personnel and four security guards were injured in the alleged attack of transport workers at Rajshahi rail station yesterday morning.

Police also fired three rounds of blank shots to disperse the crowd.

Sources at Government Railway Police said a group of transport workers led by Ramjan Mia, a resident of Shiroil area, were consuming mirajuana on the railway platform.

Then, railway security guards told them to stop smoking mirajuana there and forced them to leave.

In retaliation, a group of transport workers numbering 30-40 rushed to the railway station area yesterday

morning and started vandilising the main gate of the station.

On information, police rushed to spot, but the workers assaulted Sub-Inspector Sahabul, Sub-Inspector Hashem, constable Badsha Mia and four security guards, ensuing a clash between them. During the clash chase and counter chase took places that created panic among passengers.

Then, police started firing blank shots and the workers left the place.

Officer-in-Charge of GRP police station said they were taking preparation to file a case in this connection.

Additional police have been deployed in and around the railway station to avoid any untoward incident.

No case was filed in this connection. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Risky buildings still stand tall in Bandarban Only two of 114 buildings have been torn down so far n Our Correspondent, Bandarban Little has been done for the demolition or repairs of 112 risky buildings, or the evacuation of people from those spots in Bandarban municipality.

These buildings had been placed in three categories– very risky, less risky and moderately risky – in the previous year, sources in the local municipality said.

There are quite a few in the very risky category.

They include Aparajita Bhaban at Rajarmath, Barua Bhaban at Memberpara, Shaon Bhaban at Bazaar area, Al Amin Boarding, Jamal Boarding, Patowari Building at Armypara, Boshrot Ali Building and Chowdhury Building at T&T area.

Only two of 114 buildings have been torn down so far.

For reasons unknown, the others

have been left to themselves, with plenty of residents still living inside most of the structures.

A man called Abdus Salam, who lives at Bazar area, said he had not seen any steps taken by the local administration against the risky buildings in the bazaar area; it’s almost as if local administration had gone into hibernation after marking the buildings as dangerous and hazardous.

Executive Engineer Mong Sui Khoi Marma of Bandarban Municipality said the committee have plans to take action soon.

In a 2009 earthquake report, Bandarban was classified as an extreme damage risk zone.

The report pointed out that high casualties could take place there because of a hill slides and building collapses during any major earthquake in the district. l

The building located in Bazar area is one of the risky buildings identified by Bandarban municipality, but the structure is used as a grocery shop as the authority concerned could not take measures to demolish it, posing lives risk for its dwellers DHAKA TRIBUNE

Handloom industry in dire straits n Masuk Hridoy, Brahmanbaria

More than 2000 handloom factories have become inoperative in Brahmanbaria district leading to unemployment of thousands of weavers.

Dearth of running capital, high price of raw materials like yarn, dyes, and chemicals, extortion and a lack of incentives to the handloom workers have contributed to the situation.

Imperiled, the weavers of Bancharampur upazila of the district are opting for other jobs leaving their age-old profession.

Once there were 3,162 handlooms in 32 villages under Bancharampur upazila. Huge consignments of handloom made lungis and towels used to be transported to Baburhat in Narsingdi.

At present, only around a thousand handloom factories are in function in the upazila with no modern facilities.

If the price of yarn is not controlled the small industry might collapse, said a number of weavers.

A weaver of Rupsadi village Ohiduzzaman said: “Because of the rise in the price of yarn, the weaving cost of four pieces of lungis has risen by Tk60 but the selling price is still the same.

A weaver weaves four lungis each day and earns Tk100. With this little money he cannot maintain a family.”

Salimabad Union Primary Weaver’s Samity Chairman Sanaullah Sunny said: “The weavers start their businesses by taking loans. Whatever profit they make goes to the money lenders.”

So, most of the producers in the district are being forced shut down their handlooms and change profession, he said.

Kala Miya of Rupsadi village had been in the profession for 40 years. He said because of the decreasing numbers of workers he often had to keep his factory shut these days. However, number of workers increases during monsoon.

Dariyadoulat Weaver’s Samity Chairman Sidduqur Rahman said if the weavers were not spared from giving interests and loans were not provided by the government, the traditional art might become extinct in this region.

A number of veteran weavers said although technology has changed many sectors, this sector had remained out of the influence of modern technology over the years. Still the weavers have to use their hands to put colours

on the yarns and in return they do not get a decent wage.

Fifty-year-old Hossain Miya, who had been in the profession since 1987, said: “I have seen many changes in the designs of lungi and towels. Like many, I took up this profession out of interest.

Initially there was good money. But now as the powerlooms have become dominant, I am not paid like before.”

“What I get from weaving is so meager, I cannot even buy daily essentials, let alone buying any better food,” said weaver Bakir, while working with yarns inside a shabby hut.

Many related to the sector complained that they had to buy wood and bamboos from Naraynganj to make the handlooms themselves.

No government initiative was taken over the years to train the weavers of this region. Although one training centre was established in 1987, it was closed down within short time, they said.

Local Weaver’s Board official Kazi Abul Kalam said: “This year we have provided Tk330,000 as loan to 16 handloom owners. But because of a lack of interest in locals towards this profession we are not being able to resume the training centre.” l

72 BNP men sent to jail in four speedy trial tribunal cases n Our Correspondent, Natore At least 72 BNP leaders and activists were sent to jail in Natore yesterday after being denied bail in 4 speedy trial tribunal cases.

Chief Judicial Magistrate of Natore, Liaquot Ali Molla passed the order after the BNP activists appeared before the court with bail prayer.

The four cases were filed with the speedy trial tribunal following a clash between BNP and Awami League activists after the Baraigram upazilla election on March 23.

Four local Awami League activists,

OC accused of raping maid n Our Correspondent, Barguna

A case was filed against Officer in Charge of Taltoli police station of Barguna’s Taltoli upazila, Mizanur Rahman, for allegedly trying to rape his maid.

The servant, 16, filed the case under Prevention of Oppression Against Women and Children Act yesterday.

According to the case statement, the OC tried to rape her on August 6 in absence of his wife in the house. Anwar Hossain, a UP member helped in committing the crime by locking the door from outside. However, the rape attempt failed as locals came to rescue the girl after hearing her scream.

Later, OC Mizanur Rahman threatened the victim not to reveal the incident and made her sign 3 non-judicial stamp papers at gun point.

The OC denied all allegations and said he did not know the girl and she never worked in his house. He further claimed that he was falsely accused as a retaliation of the case he filed against the girl’s father for stealing from his house. l

Worker killed after balcony collapses n Our Correspondent, Barisal

One construction worker was killed and another one injured after a balcony collapsed over them in Kawnia area of Barisal city yesterday.

Mahmud Al Jalal, geography teacher of Amrita Lal Dey College and owner of the house, said Barisal City Corporation demolished part of the supporting wall under the balcony to expand road.

The balcony suddenly collapsed on the workers around 11am, leaving Mithun Mia, 29, and Kalu Mia, 31, critically injured. l

Jahir Khamaru, Shamsul Islam, Taijul Islam and Gulzar lodged the cases accusing the BNP men of vandalism and looting.

Sanowar Hossain Sana, senior vice president of Baraigram upazila Jubadal and district BNP secretary Aminul Haq confirmed the 72 accused as BNP men.

They blamed the local AL leaders and activists for the violence as their candidate did not win the election.

They demanded the quick release of the BNP activists.

Local sources said many BNP activists and leaders have gone into hiding after January 5 election to avoid arrest. l

Three killed in road accidents in two districts n Tribune Report At least three people were killed in road accidents in Gopalganj and Moulvibazar districts yesterday.

Our Gopalganj correspondent reports: A motorcyclist was killed and two others were injured on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway in the district.

Gopalganj Sadar police station Officer-in-Charge Md Jakir said the motorcyclist Tutul, 35, died on the spot as a trolley hit the motorcycle around 10am.

Locals blocked the highway for two hours after the accident creating traffic congestion on both sides of the road.

The trolley driver was arrested, OC said.

Our Moulvibazar correspondent said two people including a schoolgirl were killed and 15 injured at Sreemangal upazila in the district.

The deceased were identified Lili Akther,14, a student of Bhairobganj High School and daughter of Belal Miah of East Bhagalpur village and Moju Miah,30, son of Arob Ali of Giasnogor village of Sadar upazila.

According to police and local sources, a bus from Moulvibazar town turned turtle around 9am on the Moulvibazar-Sreemangal road at Baruna in Bhairobgong Bazar area of Kalapur union as the driver lost control over the steering. Lili died on the spot and Moju succumbed to his injuries on the way to local hospital.

The other injured were sent to Moulvibazar 250-bed hospital. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The rise and fall of great powers in the 21st century

The skyline of New York showing the empire state building – an icon for American dominance. Many have predicted that the USA’s glory will fade away as the hyperpower will fall

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n Mark N Katz arious scholars have sought to identify what the objective criteria are for a state to become and remain a great power – especially a dominant great power or hyperpower. These include Paul Kennedy (The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000, New York: Vintage Books, 1987); Amy Chua (Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall, New York: Doubleday, 2007), and Richard Jackson and Neil Howe (The Graying of the Great Powers: Demography and Geopolitics in the 21st Century, Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2008).

What I will do here is discuss the model of how a great power rises and falls that each of these set forth, and then discuss what each of these models implies about what great powers are likely to rise and fall at present.

In 1989-91, of course, it would be the Soviet Empire that would collapse.

In 1989, Francis Fukuyama published his famous article, “The End of history?” in The National Interest, where he argued that this event would result in the inevitable triumph of democracy worldwide. Since Kennedy’s forecast of decline did not seem to apply to the US, Kennedy’s book was quickly forgotten back then.

Looking back at Kennedy’s forecasts now, what is interesting is that all but one of those countries or international groupings whose future potential as a great power that he discussed then, still clearly has the potential to become or remain a great power now. These are China, Europe, Russia, and America. Japan is the one country that he forecast could not be a dominant great power that appears unambiguously accurate. Candidates for great power status that he missed back in 1987 include India (definitely) and Brazil (at least potentially).

What does applying Kennedy’s model to the present forecast?

• America is clearly the great power that is the most overextended;

The rise of anti-Americanism worldwide, especially during the presidency of George W Bush, suggests that America’s attractiveness is waning

Kennedy’s conjecture In his classic book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, historian Paul Kennedy described how the rising economic strength of a state not fully engaged in international relations allowed it to gain politico-military strength vis-à-vis those that were more engaged and overextended, but then how its own subsequent politico-military overextension would in turn result in this state becoming weaker versus rising economic powers that were not (yet) overextended.

I well remember how when this book came out in 1987, it received tremendous publicity in the United States for forecasting the decline of the US as a great power. Kennedy, though, also forecast how it would be difficult for the Soviet Union, China, Japan, and Europe (then still in the form of the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union) to remain (or become) great powers.

• Europe now has the same problem as Europe did when Kennedy’s book was published: an unwillingness to project force;

ness to others is a requisite for being a hyperpower (or even just a great power), what can be said about the attractiveness of our potential candidates to others at present?

The rise of anti-Americanism worldwide, especially during the presidency of George W Bush, suggests that America’s attractiveness is waning. Although the election of Barack Obama led to hopes (or fears) that this trend could be reversed, his ability to make the positive changes that he has called for appears to be limited by the increasingly intolerant Republican Party which controls the House of Representatives and can block action in the Senate.

As Chua herself argues, China is quite an intolerant country, thus limiting its appeal to others. As for Russia: while the Tsarist Empire had significant cultural attractiveness and while the Soviet Union led an ideological movement that was highly attractive worldwide, the appeal of post-Soviet Russia to others (for better or worse) appears quite limited.

India’s cultural attractiveness is growing, but not in the countries neighbouring it. Perhaps Brazil may have this quality of attractiveness to others. And very strangely, Japan combines a domestic intolerance of

WIKI COMMONS

foreigners with the possession of a popular culture that has become wildly popular worldwide with young people.

Although Chua argues otherwise, the entity with the greatest attractiveness to others at present may be the European Union. It is the only entity which other countries not only want to join, but willingly alter their behavior for in order to do so.

Demography is destiny Richard Jackson and Neil Howe see population decline and aging as negatively affecting the ability of great powers experiencing them to retain this status. The implications of their model are straightforward: the developed world is shrinking and aging while the developing world is growing and remaining relatively young. In their view, Europe and Russia in particular are especially unlikely to be able to remain great powers. Developing countries will have the potential to become great powers, but their very youthful populations will make them highly unstable. Interestingly, America – with its growing population that is aging less rapidly than Europe’s or Russia’s (due to immigration and a higher birth rate) is likely to remain a great power, but will face growing challenges.

Policymakers, commentators, and public opinion in various countries often maintain not only that their country deserves to be a great power, but also that because it deserves to be a great power, then it either is, will remain, or will become one Subjective vs objective While there are undoubtedly objective criteria that affect whether states become and remain great powers, public opinion, commentators, and policymakers in different countries often employ highly subjective criteria in making assessments about this.

Policymakers, commentators, and public opinion in various countries often maintain not only that their country deserves to be a great power, but also that because it deserves to be a great power, then it either is, will remain, or will become one.

Similarly, policymakers, commentators, and public opinion in one particular country often maintain that certain other countries do not deserve to be great powers, and therefore they will either not gain or retain this status.

Employing these subjective criteria, then, every country that wan ts to become or remain a great power can convince itself that it can do so.

Whether or not they actually can, though, is another matter.

Dr Katz is a Professor of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University. This article was first published on alochonaa.com.

• The BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – now appear to be adhering to Kennedy’s model for rising great powers: growing economically while avoiding military engagements. Whether Russia, India, and China will continue to avoid military engagements, though, is somewhat uncertain.

Chua’s challenge In her book Day of Empire, Amy Chua described how states that became and remained hyperpowers had more inclusive and tolerant regimes than their actual or potential competitors, thus allowing the former to more successfully harness the human resources needed to acquire and maintain this status. But when tolerance in them declined, she warned, this presaged the subsequent loss of their hyperpower status.

This pattern, she argued, was the path taken by the Persian Empire, Roman Empire, Mongol Empire, Dutch Empire, and British Empire (among others). America, she further argued, became a hyperpower after the end of the Cold War, but that rising intolerance in the US threatens this status.

Obviously, economic and military power is needed. But if the attractive-

Bomb damage in Malta during World War II; unlike World War II, emerging powers now try and avoid military conflict

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Hamas leader to Obama: Stop Gaza holocaust

No let-up in Gaza war, death toll stands at 2,122 after eight people killed yesterday He took a similar position when ing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- pragmatist who can help pave the way n Tribune Desk pressed about the onslaught of Hamas to a long-term peace agreement. tanyahu at one point to Adolf Hitler.

The political chief of Hamas has called on President Barack Obama to intervene with the Israeli government to lift the siege of Gaza and push for a ceasefire in the conflict to stop a “holocaust” against the Palestinians.

“You as the leader of the most powerful state in the world, I ask you to call [on] Israel to stop its aggression on Gaza — and to lift the siege and open the cross borders and to rebuild Gaza,” said Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal, in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News. “This is our demands.”

The direct appeal to the president was made — in English — at the end of a wide-ranging hourlong interview, conducted under tight security at a gated Hamas media office in Doha, Qatar. It came amid a new round of violence in the Gaza conflict, including the death of a 4-year-old Israeli child on a kibbutz from a Hamas rocket and the execution of 18 suspected Israeli collaborators by masked Hamas gunmen.

On Monday, Israeli air strikes killed at least eight Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and militants kept up their rocket fire on southern Israel, witnesses and officials said, bringing the death toll to 2,122 since the offensive began on July 8.

In the interview, in which he answered all other questions in Arabic, Meshaal was at times defiant, compar-

Khaled Meshaal, political chief of Hamas

“What is the difference between what Netanyahu, [Defense Minister Moshe] Yaalon, and [Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Benny] Gantz are doing — killing thousands of civilians, children, women, entire neighborhoods, targeting mosques, destroying hospitals and [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] schools — what’s the difference between that and what the Nazis did in the 1930s and ‘40s? And what Hitler did. This is the real holocaust.”

But he also said Hamas is “ready for a cease-fire” and is willing to stop its rocket attacks, though he insisted that Obama has a “moral responsibility” to pressure the Israelis to stop the conflict in Gaza. “This is an opportunity for me to send a message to the American people, to President Obama, and to the US Congress: America has to act in a moral way,” he said. (A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.)

Meshaal, 58, is widely seen as a critical, if cagey, player in the Mideast conflict, having headed Hamas’s political arm in exile since 2004 and emerging as its most visible international spokesman. Once the target of a botched Israeli assassination attempt — Mossad agents sprayed him with poison on the streets of Amman, Jordan — Meshaal has been embraced by some Westerners, such as former President Jimmy Carter, as a

Abadi optimistic on formation of new govt n Reuters, Baghdad

Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi yesterday predicted a “clear vision” on a new government would emerge within the next two days, state television reported, as the country faces deepening sectarian conflict.

Abadi is tasked with forming a power-sharing administration that can ease tensions and counter Islamic State militants who pose the biggest security threat to Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. # He said the latest talks on the structure of the government had been constructive. Shortly after Abadi spoke, a suicide bomb attack in a Shi’ite mosque

in Baghdad killed at least nine people and wounded 21, police and medical sources said.

The attacker detonated his suicide bomb vest inside the mosque in the New Baghdad district of the capital at prayer time, police said.

In his comments on Monday, Abadi also emphasized that the central government will not tolerate armed groups operating outside government control.

“There is no place for armed groups whether from the militias, the tribes or the volunteers,” he said. “We will not allow the formation of armed groups out of control of the state.”

The Prime Minister-designate noted that arms given to the peshmerga, the

Kurdish force battling Islamic State militants in the north of the country, had passed through the central government.

Still, many ordinary Iraqis have expressed concern about the unchecked growth of violent militia groups in recent weeks, some of whom have been accused of targeting civilians.

In June, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most senior Shi’ite cleric in the country, issued a call to arms for Iraqis to defend against the onslaught of the Islamic State as the group’s fighters blazed across northern Iraq. As a result thousands of volunteers, many of them Shi’ites, joined militia groups which are only nominally under the control of the central government.

An attack on a Sunni mosque in Diyala province north of Baghdad on Friday killed 68 and wounded dozens.

Shi’ite militants operating in the area are suspected of carrying out the attack, according to police sources and residents.

The central government has issued arrest warrants for four local tribesmen suspected of carrying out the attack after an investigation, Abadi said Monday.

Also on Monday, Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf for meetings with Ayatollah Ali Sistani as well as other senior Shi’ite clerics in the city, according to local officials. l

But the US government since 2003 has branded Meshaal a “specially designated global terrorist,” accusing him of raising money for and “supervising assassination operations, bombings and the killings of Israeli settlers.”

‘Who is planting 600,000 settlers on the West Bank?

They are stealing the land and killing Palestinian civilians.

And when Kerry tried to broker some kind of agreement, it was sabotaged by the Israelis’ He called those charges “lies” and disclaimed any direct responsibility for the Hamas suicide bombings that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians during the 1990s and 2000s. “I’m a political leader, and I do not interfere in military affairs,” he said. “What the Palestinian people do in resisting occupation are details that I do not get myself involved in.”

rocket attacks on Israel, a stance that raises questions about just how much control the group’s political leaders have over its military wing. He acknowledged that in the past, Hamas got its rockets and weapons from “different sources” — an apparent reference to aid that the group’s military wing has gotten from Iran. “Now it’s becoming very difficult to move these rockets through, and we manufacture most of them, if not all of them, in Gaza,” he said. “We depend on ourselves in making our weaponry.”

Meshaal was asked how many rockets Hamas has. “I don’t know,” he said, smiling. “I’m the head of the political bureau … I direct the policies and the positions. But not the details when it comes to military issues.”

As reported by Yahoo News on Friday, Meshaal did acknowledge that Hamas members were behind the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers hitchhiking on the West Bank in June but said Hamas political leaders did not know about the operation “in advance.” Still, he justified the killings as a legitimate action against Israelis on “occupied” lands. “Our view is that soldiers and settlers in the West Bank are aggressors, and they are illegally living in these occupied and stolen lands,” he said. “And the right to resist them is the right of Palestinians.” l

Russia announces new convoy on eve of delicate Ukraine talks n Reuters, Moscow Russia wants to send a second humanitarian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday, introducing a likely new topic of discord on the eve of crucial talks between the two countries’ leaders.

Ukraine and its Western allies denounced the arrival of a first huge convoy that crossed the border last week without Kiev’s permission. But Lavrov said more aid was needed to ease the plight of civilians caught up in four months of fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military.

“The humanitarian situation is not improving but deteriorating,” Lavrov told a news conference. “We want to reach an agreement on all conditions for delivering a second convoy by the same route... in the coming days.”

He was speaking a day before talks in the Belarussian capital Minsk, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko will come face to face for the first time since early June.

The first convoy of more than 200 Russian trucks crossed into Ukraine last Friday, prompting the Ukrainian state security chief to denounce it as “a direct invasion.” The trucks withdrew again at the weekend and Lavrov said the aid was now being distributed.

Ukraine and Western governments

have repeatedly accused Russia of arming pro-Moscow separatists who took over parts of eastern Ukraine in April and are still holding out in the face of a steady advance by Ukrainian government forces.

Kiev accused Russia on Monday of trying to open up a second, southern front against its forces. It said Russian forces in the guise of separatist rebels had crossed into Ukrainian forces with armour.

Russia denies sending weapons and fighters into Ukraine, where more than 2,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Lavrov said that in Tuesday’s talks, where the European Union will be represented by its foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the West should not put the onus on Moscow to come up with solutions. “I hope very much our Western colleagues... won’t just come with expectations we will somehow magically solve things for them. That will not work,” he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel cautioned on Sunday against expecting any breakthrough in the crisis, which has plunged relations between Russia and the West to their lowest point since the Cold War. Lavrov did not lay out any new Russian proposals but said Moscow wanted to see the implementation of previous agreements that he said had been ignored. l

Final letter by executed US journalist Foley n Tribune Desk

Men walk past the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, August 25. A car bomb killed seven people on Sunday in a mostly Shi’ite area of Baghdad

REUTERS

UN accuses IS of mass killings

French govt resigns after leftists call n Reuters, Geneva/Baghdad for U-turn The United Nations condemned yesterday “appalling, widespread” crimes n Reuters, Paris

by Islamic State forces in Iraq, includFrench President Francois Hollande asked his prime minister yesterday to form a new government, looking to impose his will on the cabinet after rebel leftist ministers had called for an economic policy U-turn. The surprise move came the day after outspoken Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg had condemned what he called fiscal “austerity” and attacked euro zone powerhouse Germany’s “obsession” with budgetary rigour.

The new cabinet will be announced today and there was no immediate word on who would stay and who would go. l

ing mass executions of prisoners that could amount to war crimes.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned “grave, horrific human rights violations” being committed by Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim group which has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria to the alarm of the Baghdad government and its allies in the West.

Up to 670 prisoners from Badush prison in the city of Mosul were killed

by Islamic State on June 10, Pillay said in a statement quoting survivors and witnesses to the “massacre” as telling UN human rights investigators.

“Such cold-blooded, systematic

and intentional killings of civilians, after singling them out for their religious affiliation, may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Pillay said.

Islamic State (ISIL) loaded 1,000 to 1,500 prisoners from the jail on to trucks and took them for screening, Pillay said. Sunni inmates were then separated and removed.

“ISIL gunmen then yelled insults at the remaining prisoners, lined them up in four rows, ordered them to kneel and opened fire,” she said.

Air power

Islamic State fighters have made gains against Kurdish forces in the north in recent weeks, seizing towns, oilfields and Iraq’s largest dam. Backed by US air power, Kurdish forces later took back

control of the Mosul dam.

An Islamic State video last week depicting the beheading of American journalist James Foley prompted revulsion in the West and calls for tougher action against the jihadists, including taking the fight to them in Syria as well as Iraq.

Some experts have suggested that attacking Islamic State in Syria should involve coming to some sort of arrangement with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, seen in the West as a pariah since an uprising against him began three years ago.

Syria said it would cooperate in any international efforts to fight Islamic State in the country, after Washington signalled it was considering extending the battle against the militants into Syrian territory. l

The parents of James Foley, the American journalist murdered by ISIS, have released a letter written by their son during his captivity, The Independent reported.

All letters “Jim” wrote to his family were confiscated by the jihadists in Syria - but last June he asked a fellow hostage, who was about to be released, to commit a letter to memory.

In the dictated message, which his family posted on the Facebook page Find James Foley, the journalist speaks about how he is coping with being held hostage and his yearning desire for freedom.

“I have had weak and strong days. We are so grateful when anyone is freed; but of course, yearn for our own freedom. We try to encourage each other and share strength,” Foley says.

Foley was kidnapped in 2012 while covering the Syrian uprising; on Tuesday ISIS posed a video online showing his killing.

The letter reveals the banalities of captivity; Foley was held with 17 other hostages and the group passed the time by discussing films, sport and trivia and playing games made up of scraps found in their jail cell.

“The games and teaching each other have helped the time pass. They have been a huge help. We repeat stories and laugh to break the tension.”

Foley also speaks about how memories of his family are helping him to remain strong.

“I remember so many great family times that take me away from this prison,” he says. “Dreams of family and friends take me away and happiness fills my heart.

“I know you are thinking of me and praying for me. And I am so thankful. I feel you all especially when I pray. I pray for you to stay strong and to believe. I really feel I can touch you even in this darkness when I pray.”

He makes particular reference to his brothers and sister, reminiscing over childhood games and holidays: “Werewolf in the dark... and so many other adventures.”

Foley ends the letter by addressing “Grammy.” He writes: “Stay strong because I am going to need your help to reclaim my life.”

On Sunday the British ambassador to the United States said that the UK is “close” to identifying the ISIS militant responsible for beheading Foley.

Peter Westmacott told CNN that “we’re not far away” from naming the man in the video, who is believed to be British. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

9

Afghan presidential inauguration delayed with candidates deep in conflict n Reuters, Kabul

In this photograph taken on September 5, 2012, an Indian labourer loads coal onto a truck at the Kankaria Railway Yard in Ahmedabad. India’s top court ruled yesterday that all coal block allocations made by the government between 1993 and 2009 were illegal, throwing the already energy-starved country’s power sector into turmoil AFP

India’s top court calls 1993-2009 coal block allocations illegal

Media has dubbed the controversy over under-priced sale of coal blocks as ‘coalgate’ many occasions guidelines had been government had cast doubts on the fig- and politicians alike given Birla’s statn Reuters, New Delhi breached, the approach casual and at ure. Indian media has dubbed the con- ure as a leading Indian entrepreneur.

India’s top court yesterday held as illegal all coal blocks allocated by the government to various firms between 1993 and 2009, adding that a final decision on the fate of the blocks would be taken next week.

About 200 coal blocks were awarded over the period to steel, cement and power companies for their own consumption. The court’s decision pushed down sharply shares of Jindal Steel and Power and Hindalco Industries - two of the firms that won blocks during the time.

“There was no transparency by the companies as well as the central government,” Chief Justice of India RM Lodha said in his observations. “On

times illegal.”

Amit Anand Tiwari, a lawyer for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that is also investigating illegalities in coal mine allocations, said wrongful grant of blocks had cost the public exchequer 290bn rupees ($4.8bn).

Earlier in the day, the CBI had said it was likely to close a coal scam case against billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla and a former top bureaucrat that surfaced in 2012 after a government auditor’s report.

India’s federal auditor had alleged that the government’s under-priced sale of coal blocks may have cost the exchequer revenues of $33bn, although industry watchers and the previous

troversy as “coalgate.”

The CBI is likely to file a closure report on the case against Birla and former coal secretary P.C. Parakh very soon, CBI spokeswoman Kanchan Prasad told Reuters.

“Obviously if a closure report is being filed there’s no criminality (on the part of Birla and Parakh),” she said.

The CBI filed the case against Birla and Parakh late last year in relation to a block allocated in 2005 to Hindalco, part of the $40bn Aditya Birla Group.

Kumar Mangalam Birla is the chairman of the group.

The case had sparked widespread condemnation from industry leaders

Pakistan cleric warns of 48-hour deadline for Sharif’s resignation n Agencies A Pakistani cleric leading a mass anti-government rally in front of parliament has issued a 48-hour deadline for the country’s prime minister to step down or he says he’s prepared to die.

Tahir-ul-Qadri, leader of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), showed protesters a white burial shroud yesterday in a speech issuing the deadline for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has refused to step down.

It’s not clear what Qadri plans to do after his deadline expires, though some have feared protesters may try to enter parliament, which is protected by soldiers. That could set off a violent confrontation.

Qadri and opposition politician Imran Khan, leading Pakistan Teh-

reek-e-Insaaf (PTI), separately led tens of thousands of people from eastern city of Lahore to Islamabad, protesting against alleged vote fraud in the 2013 elections that brought Sharif to power.

Meanwhile, PTI and PAT officials have assured the top court of Pakistan that they will vacate the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad, following instruction from the latter.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Nasir-ul Mulk led the five-member bench which instructed the lawyers of the two parties as well as the attorney general to make sure the Constitution Avenue was cleared in 24 hours, Geo News reported.

The Supreme Court bench was hearing a petition filed by the Supreme Court Bar Assosiation (SCBA) Pres-

ident, Kamran Murtaza along with other members, arguing that the protestors are in violation of the rights of the common citizen according to the constitution.

The road block has forced judges of the apex court to use alternate routes to arrive at the Supreme Court, while employees have also complained of being harassed by the protestors.

The chief justice remarked during proceedings yesterday that instead of law enforcement personnel, protestors were stopping cars and checking them before allowing them to proceed.

However, Qadri has reportedly remarked that his protestors will not violate any state building, adding that since the protest was a political activity, the apex court had no jurisdiction to interfere. l

Hindalco had denied any wrongdoing and even the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in charge of the coal ministry when the allocation took place, defended the decision to award the block to Hindalco.

Hindalco shares were down more than 10% while Jindal shares were down 15%, trailing a wider market that was up slightly.

Accusations of crony capitalism in allocating India’s resources from coal to mobile telephone bandwidth had dogged the former government of Manmohan Singh. His Congress party suffered its worst defeat in polls concluded about three months ago. l

A Thai doctor who performed in vitro fertilisation (IVF) for women involved in a surrogate baby business dubbed the “baby factory” has agreed to turn himself in, police said yesterday.

Thailand has been gripped by a slew of surrogacy scandals following allegations this month that an Australian couple had abandoned their Down syndrome baby with his Thai surrogate mother.

The case prompted a crackdown by authorities on Thailand’s largely unregulated surrogacy business. Thailand and India are popular choices for foreign couples looking for a surrogate mother.

The doctor wanted in connection with the so-called baby factory alleged-

ly performed IVF on five women linked to a Japanese man who is suspected of fathering at least 12 babies by Thai surrogate mothers.

The doctor, who has not been identified, has until Sept. 6 to turn himself in and is expected to do so, said police investigator Colonel Decha Promsuwan.

“He is in the process of preparing and gathering evidence,” Decha told a news conference. Decha did not elaborate but said an arrest warrant would be issued if he the failed to show up.

The doctor has been charged with practicing surrogacy without a license and for violating the Thai medical council’s code of conduct, which bars commercial surrogacy, and faces up to three years in prison.

This month, police raided a Bangkok apartment and discovered nine surro-

gate babies with their nannies and a pregnant surrogate mother. They later said more babies were found, all suspected of having been fathered by the same Japanese man.

Five women discovered at the apartment have identified the same doctor as having performed IVF on them, police said. A further six women are thought to have been treated by him.

Surrogate mothers in Thailand get up to 400,000 baht ($12,500) to carry babies to full term, police said on Monday.

The Japanese man at the centre of the baby factory scandal fled from Thailand shortly after the apartment raid. He has not been charged but police and Interpol are investigating the case and his motive for fathering the babies. l

‘Unpredictable’

But officials from the rival camps, as well as from the election commission, doubt that the Sept 2 date would be met.

Rivals Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, as part of a USbrokered deal, must form a government of national unity and cooperate on an audit of all eight million votes Many Western diplomats also say the process is unlikely to be resolved in time.

“I don’t see how there will be any space for compromise, because the pie is too small and there are too many people who want a piece,” said one Western official.

Results from the June run-off put Ghani, a former World Bank official and finance minister, in the lead. Abdullah, who came out first in the first round but fell short of the 50% needed for an outright win, rejected the second-round result, accusing his rival’s team of vote rigging with Karzai’s help.

Ghani and Karzai have denied the accusation.

“Prolonging of the presidential process has affected people’s daily life, particularly in security, economy and governance,” Karzai’s office said on Sunday after a meeting with the candidates to urge them to cooperate.

“This must end as soon as possible.”

A commission appointed by the two camps has been meeting for days to work out a solution but it has made little progress. l

Thai king endorses junta leader as PM n Reuters, Bangkok Thai military leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha was endorsed as prime minister by Thailand’s king yesterday, four days after he was elected by his own hand-picked parliament, although critics called his appointment a political farce.

Prayuth was appointed prime minister on Thursday, three months after leading a coup, by 191 out of 197 members of the military-dominated national assembly. He was the sole candidate.

Thai ‘baby factory’ doctor to turn himself in amid surrogacy scandals n Reuters, Bangkok

Afghanistan’s next president was due to take over yesterday but an inauguration deadline has been pushed to September as rival candidates fail to agree on who won an election meant to mark the country’s first democratic transfer of power.

Rivals Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, as part of a US-brokered deal, must form a government of national unity and cooperate on an audit of all eight million votes that were cast to eliminate concern about widespread electoral fraud.

Afghanistan has been in a state of crisis since the disputed first round of the presidential election in April and the stand-off has dashed hopes for a smooth transition of power from President Hamid Karzai, who has run the country since 2001.

Karzai had earlier said the new leader would take over on Aug. 25 but a spokesman for the president said on Monday that that date was never set as the inauguration date.

Whatever the plan, on Monday, the Independent Election Commission was still pouring over votes cast in a second-round run-off held under UN supervision on June 14.

In particular, the commission was due to begin throwing out, or “invalidating,” ballots deemed fraudulent in an audit of all eight million votes cast, organised as part of a deal to resolve the stand-off.

“The Independent Election Commission is trying very hard to finish the process as soon as possible,” said its spokesman, Noor Mohammad Noor.

The new inauguration target date of Sept. 2, if met, would allow the next leader to take power before a Nato summit in Wales, which starts two days later.

Countries at the summit are due to determine how much aid Afghanistan will get after most foreign troops pull out at the end of the year.

A peaceful transfer of power would allow the United States and Afghanistan’s other Western allies to trumpet a degree of success as their troops leave after nearly 13 years of inconclusive war.

“Honestly, I cannot come out with something definite on that, but I hope.

It’s Afghanistan. Things are unpredictable,” said Abdullah’s spokesman, Mujib Rahman Rahimi.

An official for Ghani’s campaign, who declined to be identified, said little progress had been made in interpreting the framework for a power-sharing deal.

“Nothing yet has added to the political framework and the commission couldn’t reach an agreement in most of the areas,” the official said, adding that the candidates were meeting to try to break the deadlock.

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej

Approval from King Bhumibol Adulyadej was a formality. His endorsement paves the way for the establishment of an interim government in coming weeks, although power will remain firmly in the hands of the junta formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

“His Majesty the King has endorsed General Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister to govern the country from this day onwards,” the Royal Gazette said in a statement published on its official website on Monday.

The military said the May 22 coup was necessary to avoid further bloodshed after months of turbulence pitting protesters, including the urban elite and southern Thais, against supporters of ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Dressed in a crisp white military uniform, Prayuth got down on his knees and paid homage to a portrait of King Bhumibol at a ceremony in Bangkok on Monday.

King Bhumibol, 86, who is in a Bangkok hospital for what the palace said is a routine medical check-up, did not attend. “I consider this the highest honour of my life,” Prayuth said in a televised address after the ceremony.

“Our country has accumulated many problems over the years which need to be urgently solved. To do this we must not create future problems,” he said.

Critics have denounced the coup and the junta’s self-described efforts to “return happiness to the Thai people.”

The Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy, a group set up overseas to oppose the junta, called Prayuth’s selection illegitimate.

“The NCPO’s selection of Prime Minister is only a political farce and in violation of the rule of law,” Charupong Ruangsuwan, the group’s secretary general, said in a statement posted on Facebook.

The junta has cracked down on issues ranging from food hawkers at tourist destinations, the illegal logging of forests, and taxi mafia gangs at international airports.

Prayuth, who is due to retire as army chief in September, moved quickly to silence dissent and deployed troops to quell protests in the weeks after the coup.

The junta has tried to sell a positive story and has pointed to modest improvements in the economy and consumer confidence since the takeover.

Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy avoided recession in the second quarter of the year but the tentative recovery is some way from matching the government spin. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Stop distorting the market

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he regulation of telecoms licenses by the BTRC has been completely distorted by cronyism and political interference.

According to BTRC, the optimum market for international gateway licenses should be around twenty operators. Contrary to its advice, regulations were amended in 2010 to allow a much larger volume of licenses to be awarded.

Some 82 licenses were awarded in 2012, taking the total number of all types of call termination operators to 91. Many of these were reportedly given on political considerations, with ministers and ruling party lawmakers among those lobbying for more licenses.

This has resulted in the marketplace being swamped with operators. As many of these have had to pay large amounts in bribes to middlemen, they are underfunded and finding it hard to make a profit.

Established operators and investors have also been hurt as they have seen large capital investments undercut by the sudden influx of competitors.

Consumers and taxpayers have been left with the worst of all worlds.

The excessive number of competitors has both undermined the ability of the regulator to manage service standards, while at the same time overall profitability has declined so total revenues shared with the government have barely increased.

Matters may become even worse as some operators are seeking to use their connections to monopolise lucrative activities, at the expense of consumers.

The government must take a stand against cronyism and corruption among officials to allow BTRC to fulfill its duty to regulate in the public interest.

Stop cronyism and corruption. Allow BTRC to regulate in the public interest

Drop non-tariff barriers in Saarc

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

Increase stipend amount to significant level August 20

Md Ashraf Hossain To encourage and financially support meritorious students, our government gives out stipends on the basis of their Primary School Certificate (PSC) and Junior School Certificate (JSC) examination results. The students are selected on a thana or upazila student population basis as well as results.

About 55,000 students were selected for the talent pool and general categories in the last exam.

This is a commendable venture. Each talent pool student gets Tk200 per month whereas each general category stipend achiever gets Tk150 now.

Each student also gets Tk150 consolidated extra per year to purchase study materials. On the other hand, stipends on the basis of JSC examination results is Tk300 for each talent pool student and Tk250 for each general category stipend per

Bangladesh and India should be leading the way to drop non-tariff barriers

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

month for students up to class 10 (SSC).

Indeed, the stipend is a motivating factor. The amount is also a significant factor. However, the present amounts are rather low. Monthly stipends need to be reasonably increased; otherwise, the point of the stipend will be in vain. Each talent pool student should get Tk1,000 and each general stipend category student should get Tk800 per month against PSC exam results. On the other hand, each talent poll student should get Tk1,500 and each general category student should get Tk1,200 per month against JSC exam results. Each stipend achiever should also get Tk1,000 yearly to purchase study materials.

I urge the government to increase the stipend amounts significantly from the next financial year on.

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.

President urges foreign nationals to invest in Bangladesh

New flick Meghmallar in pipeline August 20

August 18

Arch Bishop I guess Bangabhaban is totally cutoff from reality.

BGMEA and buyers must work together August 18

B

angladesh’s trade deficit with India still stands at around $5bn despite the opening up of duty- and quota-free access for Bangladeshi items.

One-sided non-tariff and para-tariff barriers are hugely hindering the ability of Bangladeshi businesses to export to India.

The Indian government needs to take more action to lower non-tariff barriers at customs points in the interests of both countries’ economies.

Officially, India imports goods worth $450 million against exports of over $5.5 billion to Bangladesh. It is clear that poor connectivity, redtape and bottlenecks at customs are unnecessarily denying major opportunities to Bangladeshi exporters and investors.

As prominent members of Saarc, our two countries should be leading the way in lowering non-tariff barriers by for example, standardising certification and duty requirements and allowing mutual recognition of testing certificates for exports.

Both nations would benefit by opening up customs points for 24/7 trade. There are many potential opportunities for Bangladeshi businesses to undertake mutually beneficial joint ventures, which are currently being slowed down by weak infrastructure and the persistence of unofficial barriers.

It is encouraging that senior officials from Meghalaya and Tripura have recently been speaking in favour of joint ventures to develop their resources and hydroelectricity potential for the benefit of both countries.

This augurs well for building future co-operation.

Upgrading customs points and developing faster transport infrastructure to improve connectivity should be a priority in order to make the most of the region’s potential. Bangladeshi businesses should also undertake more promotional tours across India in order to spearhead export growth.

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

You have 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.

Aminul Islam Sajib Sounds interesting. I’ll be waiting.

Bay of Bengal survey awaits PM’s green signal Nazmul Khair “Both workers and factory owners alike would benefit.”

Yes, but only for making profit.

Rolf Buchholz, world’s most pierced man, barred from Dubai August 19

August 20

Khondkar Saleque Without an information package of offshore petroleum prospects, leading international oil companies will not be interested to participate in fresh bids. This is not merely for seismic surveys.

I hope the Petrobangla chairman understands what is required as comprehensive data and information on preliminary mapping of offshore petroleum resources.

Public, private, and secret August 20

SM Shahrukh Picklu The headline reminded me of this quote by Gabriel García Márquez: “All human beings have three lives: Public, private, and secret.”

Nazmul Khair It’s insanity. This is sick and he should be kept in a mental hospital.

34 thieves, all millionaires

August 19

SK Nothing sounds better than “Kotipoti gari chor.”

CALVIN AND HOBBES

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Specimen (6) 4 Submit (3) 7 Edge (5) 8 Shrewd (6) 11 Craft (3) 12 Require (4) 13 Musical sound (4) 15 Metal (5) 16 Sovereign (5) 20 Insects (4) 23 Molten rock (4) 24 Colour (3) 25 Paid attention (6) 26 Angry (5) 27 Level of equality (3) 28 Circuitous way (6)

DOWN 1 Graceful birds (5) 2 Circumspect (7) 3 Level (4) 4 Annoying child (4) 5 Wicked giant (4) 6 Raining (3) 9 Become firm (3) 10 Golf mound (3) 14 Wealthy (7) 17 Boy (3) 18 First woman (3) 19 Tracking system (5) 20 Subtle emanation (4) 21 At hand (4) 22 Cast off (4) 24 Part of the body (3)

Govt creates Facebook group for executives August 20

Mohd Hasan II Do government officials even know how to use Facebook? I wonder why the government is not asking the real online professionals to help transform Bangladesh?

Dhaka ranked world’s 2nd least livable city August 20

Fawaz Rob Department of Architecture North South University

PEANUTS

This comment is addressed to Mr Robert Ward of the Economist Intelligence Unit, London, UK. Greetings. I believe that when you rank Kabul, Karachi, Baghdad, Freetown, and Monrovia above Dhaka, as the most liveable city, there are some serious flaws in your research findings.

I am pretty sure you have never been to Dhaka. The reason, I am sure, is because, if you ask any of the thousands of expatriates living here, chances are most of them will not agree with your intelligence unit’s findings. I’m sure every expatriate here has complained about this city. Dhaka has more civic problems than many other cities, but it is also devoid of any war-torn damages and provides livelihood for 20 million residents.

The crime rate for such a dense city is less than New York or Paris. The urban poor are devoid of many civic amenities, but the problem is in social infrastructure, not in the liveability index.

Please reassess your findings before more people start to question your research methodology. Thank you and good luck to you.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The shattered dream n Aaqib Md Shatil

A

We talk too much, but is there a deeper problem?

BIGSTOCK

Our (in)ability to summarise

W n Ishraq Khan

atching the national parliamentary sessions, one becomes accustomed to hearing two words most often, usually in tones alternating between boredom and desperation – “shongkhepe bolun” (please make it brief). Even though they are usually drowned out by unstoppable tirades parties throw at each other, they outline a significant national problem – our inability to summarise.

Of course this shortcoming is hardly restricted to the parliament. Whilst describing symptoms to a doctor, recounting stories of films and books, gossip or in unending lectures, we simply cannot speak precisely and concisely. For a nation that prides itself on its practicality, we are strangely wasteful in this regard. So in the whodunit of national shortcomings, who was in the library with a wrench at the wrong time? And, what may have been the motive?

An easy target is our education. Foreign language teachers typically ask at the beginning of a class: “What did we do in the last lesson?” – a question that requires students to recount the activities of a previous session. Apart from jogging one’s memory, this simple exercise helps the student to succinctly summarise the contents of a two-hour class, picking out the most relevant events, choosing the right words and

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sentences to express them in.

One wonders if in local language courses in schools and colleges, there may be more focus on style than diction and whether that is in effect what prevents us from being able to put these skills to practical use outside the textbooks we summarise in class. Is there perhaps also an innate impracticality and purely hypothetical nature to the texts or the methods taught that makes the exercise more mechanical than truly enlightening?

teachers’ lounges – all prove to be effective environments to observe this in action.

What did the man say when you ran his brand new car over with yours because you were having a bad day and how much money you paid him to fix his bumper in which garage where you met your friend who just got divorced and within a month sold off his house at what price and enrolled his daughter at the same school as your children where the tuition fees has

In the act of summarising, inherently, you are held responsible through the enactment of a conscious decision

In conversation, curious Bengalis possess a penchant for scooping out the tiniest details of a situation, as though without them, it would be near impossible to deduce the entirety of the picture. This manner of exchange appears to distinguish itself through its informal nature extrinsic to more formal structures of language use permitted in serious conversations.

Local beauty parlours, petrol stations, mosques on Friday, tea stalls, and

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gone through the roof!

The neglecting of years of training in summarising newspaper articles and Nazrul’s poems could thus also simply be a response to satiate this national appetite for details of other people’s lives. How can small talk about the goings on of a serial on Zee Bangla, a thing of everyday insignificance, demand the same dedicated and time consuming art of “putting it concisely” as a paragraph from Tagore

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for an essay? Is there a distinction then between summarising on paper and doing it verbally?

The most important thing to note is that when you summarise, in a sense you choose. You choose the points that you felt could portray the whole picture in the best possible way. In the act of summarising, inherently, you are held responsible through the enactment of a conscious decision. You become liable for deciding how and with which points. Is it this liability that we are trying to avoid?

There is a pithy expression in Bengali: “Dhori maachh na chhui paani,” reserved for the non-committal, eager to reap benefits without worrying about risks. We appear to exercise it unfailingly in our national lifestyle: Changing political sides at the next election, wanting bridges and flyovers but without having to pay taxes and tolls, writing “unbiased” editorials just short of thought provoking, swinging wildly between left, right, and centre, between TV channels, between Agora, Meenabazar, and Shopno.

This begs the question of whether or not there is a deeper, more disturbing intellectual problem behind the verbal diarrhoea plaguing our lives.

Are we confusing being objective with being non-committal? And has our inability to commit extended to our inability to summarise? l Ishraq Khan is an architect who lives in Dhaka.

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Is the Ice Bucket Challenge stealing Gaza’s thunder? n Mohammad N Miraly

U

SA Today hails the Ice Bucket Challenge as “a moment of peace in a summer of strife,” a unifying cause in a summer dominated by media coverage of violence.

Perhaps at the top of that list is the conflict in Gaza.

Certainly, the Challenge is a brilliant way to bring attention to a worthy cause. It is, however, also a welcome opportunity to have fun in the sun without being made to feel guilty about seeing images of faraway children being killed in a conflict everyone knows is more complicated than they are being told, but which no one wants to put the effort into understanding.

Yes, there is media fatigue about the Gaza conflict and the complicated fact that while less than 100 Israeli soldiers have suffered, almost 1,500 innocent children, women, and men have been killed in Palestine by weapons that say “Made in USA” on the side.

Yes, we are tired of thinking about the complicated fact that Israel’s ambassador to the US said the Israeli army should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its “unimaginable restraint,” while the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says Israel may be guilty of war crimes for its “disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks.”

Actually, most of us may not know all this. Because the small, plutocratic pocket that influences political decisions also influences the media’s output, impacting what is being talked about, and, more importantly, shaping people’s opinions.

The strategy here is to keep people insulated by bombarding them with stories carefully curated to focus their enthusiasm on simplistic and easily definable issues, and away from the more complicated global issues that strain the state’s relationship with law, money, and morality.

So, we might ask, is the sudden and

intense popularity of #IceBucketChallenge a manipulation by the media to take our minds off more difficult issues? Maybe yes, maybe no. Is it related to the Israel/Palestine conflict?

Not really.

It is a welcome opportunity to have fun in the sun without being made to feel guilty But, it does serve as a backdrop to USA Today’s somewhat terrifying suggestion – that we’re simply tired of caring about the more difficult issues.

Truth is, though, our generation is characterised by how much it cares.

n alleged criminal, when challenged by the police, tried to reach for a policeman’s gun to shoot him when the policeman had to open fire on the alleged criminal to protect himself. The criminal was, unfortunately, shot in his head, dying right on the spot.

This version of the story is one of the most common communiqués provided by law enforcers in any of the violence-riddled countries around the world. And, most of the Western countries, concerned about human rights, criticise the government of countries where this sort of encounters between criminals and law enforcers occur.

Very often, developed countries raise their voices against extrajudicial killings in other countries and even take strict steps to put an end to such violations of human rights. In early 2014, the United States refused to train any Bangladeshi RAB official because of the spate of allegations of human rights violations against the force.

Surprisingly, the incident depicted above had occurred on August 9 in the country which notified that individuals of RAB were ineligible for any further training and assistance because of their acts of gross violation of human rights: The United States. Michael Brown, a black American teenager, was shot dead by Daren Wilson, a police officer of Ferguson Police a week ago.

The killing of the teenager has enraged the African American community who are protesting the murder since it took place this year. The extra judicial killing of Michael Brown has rocked the suburbs of Saint Louis since the death with violent protests began.

The protesters are alleging that the police had killed the boy because of his colour.

The police and other law enforcement agencies were forced to fire tear gas canisters at the protesters.

Frequent clashes in the city compelled the government to declare emergency in Ferguson and impose a curfew.

Ferguson is a city comprising chiefly of African Americans but with an overwhelmingly white police force and city administration.

Though the city’s police, as a move to justify the killing, previously claimed that Michael Brown was accused of stealing cigars from a convenience store, the reason behind stopping him on his way home was not that. Rather, he was stopped by a police official for jaywalking and was asked to use the sidewalk.

According to a witness, the police officer, who was leaving the spot, suddenly drove back and tried to get out of the car while the car-door, as the car was adjacent to the murdered, hit Brown and his friend. The officer took it as an offence and shot at them from his squad car. The bullet missed them and the officer grabbed the neck of the deceased. As he refused to go with him and the officer and Brown struggled, the policeman shot him, leaving him dead.

The independent autopsy report found six bullets in the body of Michael Brown, with two in his head. One of the bullets had entered his head and came out through his eye; another, likely the fatal wound, struck Brown on the top of his head and caused irreparable damage to his brain. However, the autopsy report also suggested that there was actually no altercation, and the boy was in an indefensible position.

The brutality of the United States police force’s encounter with a teenager should not be undermined. According to a 2004 HBO documentary, over 700 of the people who reside in the United States were detained on suspicions of terrorist activities within only two years since September 11, 2011.

All of them were denied due process.

Very recently, an Indian diplomat was disgracefully harassed by American police.

Now, it seems that dream has been shattered. The United States still has a long way to go

African Americans are also victims of regular harassment. The widespread protests in the United States refers that the incident is not a scattered one. The African Americans who took to the streets are holding placards with different slogans like “Hands up,” “Don’t shoot me,” “Why always we,” “Am I next?” Such slogans show the extent of fear that they harbour about their future in the Unites States. Apparently, African Americans have never felt this insecure since the dissolution of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870s.

Amid public hue and cry, President Barack Obama had to address his countrymen on this incident. The president asked people to calm down, promising to take necessary steps with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) having been given the charge to look into the case.

Shockingly, the United States, fighting for human rights worldwide, is now rocked by protests for their own failures in preserving the human rights of the people of their own country.

Their own citizens are now in danger, and the government and their best intelligence agencies have failed to illustrate a clear image of what had taken place that night, even after nearly two weeks of the murder.

When Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 by American police for not giving up her seat to a white American, sparking the Montgomery bus boycotts and resulting in the United States District Court ruling that ended racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses, Martin Luther King Jr came up with a dream for a new America, one where people will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the strength of their character. He dreamed of an America where the black boys and black girls will be like brothers and sisters to the white boys and white girls of America.

Martin Luther King Jr died in 1968, but after the election of 2008, when the Americans decided to elect Barack Obama as the first African American President of the United States, it seemed that his dreams had not died.

It appeared that white Americans are ready to accept African Americans as their brothers and sisters. Now, it seems that dream has been shattered.

The United States still has a long way to go. l Aaqib Md Shatil is a blogger and member of Dhaka University Model United Nations Association.

In the very recent past, global citizens have banded together to trend their dismay for the abuse of power and the loss of human life in numerous circumstances, such as airline disasters, the Crimean crisis, and the abduction of girls in Nigeria.

So, why is there no overwhelming outpouring of dismay for the people dying in Palestine? Is it because we haven’t heard about it? Unlikely. Is it because the issue is too complicated?

Perhaps. Is it because we don’t care about human life? Definitely not.

Perhaps, then, the answer is simple – we just don’t care about Palestinians.

Would our reaction be different if the numbers of deaths in the Israel/Palestine conflict were reversed? Certainly, the media’s reaction would be. l Mohammad N Miraly is an educator and film producer. He holds a PhD from McGill University in religion, ethics, and public policy, and is the author of themiralyblog. wordpress.com.

There is much to be done, 46 years after MLK

WIKIMEDIA

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment 3rd National Theatre Festival at Silpakala Academy

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Fenny Shilpakala Academy staged Biddhosto Amoraboti, adapted by SMT Kamran Hasan and directed

by Rashed Mazhar, on the second day of National Theatre Festival at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

The play is an adaptation of Shahidul Zahir’s novel titled Jibon o Rajnaitik Bastobata. Besides, seven plays were also staged at different venues of BSA on Sunday as part of the festival. The event, which features 64 plays by each of the 64 district Shilpakala Academy, was inaugurated on Saturday KHAN HASAN MUHAMMAD RAFI

Jack Reacher HBO 11:30PM

An expert sniper shoots five people in a city.Soon police identify and arrest the killer. This killer is later offered a choice between life in prison in exchange for a full confession or guaranteed death row.

Predation!

Animal Planet 7pm

Munmun anchors Lux Channel i Superstar again

Actor-director Richard Attenborough dies at 90

n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk

For the sixth time in a row, Mummun will be anchoring for the Lux Channel i Superstar, the most anticipated beauty pageant of the year.

About her current project, Munmun said: “Honestly speaking, I love to anchor for Lux Channeli Superstar. It makes me nostalgic as I was among the top four contestant in 2006.”

Munmun has established herself in the industry as an anchor through several lifestyle programmes and talk shows. Her glowing smile, easygoing personality and ability to interact with the audience make her one of the most sought after anchors anwd it is no wonder that she is chosen once again to host the show. She was first seen anchoring for Lux Channel i in 2007.

Other shows anchored by Munmun include “Dettol Shera Ami Shonge Ma,” “Spelling Bee” “Chaar Dewaler Kabbo” and “Amar Ami.” l

Acclaimed actor and Oscar-winning director Richard Attenborough, whose film career on both sides of the camera spanned 60 years, has died. He was 90. The actor’s son, Michael Attenborough told the BBC that his father died Sunday. He had been in poor health for some time. Prime Minister David Cameron issued a statement calling Attenborough “one of the greats of cinema.”

“His acting in ‘Brighton Rock’ was brilliant, his directing of ‘Gandhi’ was stunning,” Cameron said.

Ben Kingsley, who shot to global fame for his performance as Mahatma Gandhi, recalled Attenborough’s passionate 20 year struggle to bring Gandhi’s story to the big screen. The film won eight Oscars, including

TODAY IN DHAKA Film

Hercules 3D Most Welcome 2 The Fault in Our Stars Hero Noah 3D Godzilla 3D Time: 12:30pm – 9:30pm Blockbuster Cinemas, Ka- 244, Pragati Avenue, Kuril

Exhibition

Jolchhobi

By Shahnoor Mamun Time: 12pm – 8pm Alliance Francaise, Mirpur Road Ode to Beauty

By Shama Shaiom Time: 3pm – 9pm Alliance Francaise, Mirpur Road Momentary History

By Niamul Bari Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts

Theatre

National Theatre Fest 2014 Time: 7pm – 10pm Shilpakala Academy

best picture, best director for Attenborough and best actor for Kingsley.

“He placed in me an absolute trust and in turn I placed an absolute trust in him and grew to love him,” said Kingsley. “I along with millions of others whom he touched through his life and work will miss him dearly.”

With his abundant snow-white hair and beard, Attenborough was one of the most familiar faces on the British arts scene - universally known as “Dickie.”

He appeared in many major Hollywood films, directed a series of movies and was known for his extensive work as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and other humanitarian causes. As a director, Attenborough made several successful movies, from “Oh What a Lovely War” in 1969 to “Chaplin” and “Shadowlands” in the 1990s. l

Predation is part of the chain of life. It is a merciless process both for the predator and its prey whose destinies and future evolutions are inextricably linked.

Cake Boss TLC 7:30pm

Buddy Valastro is one of the most successful and renowned cake artists in the United States. Master baker of Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey, Buddy is the Cake Boss.

Bollywood divas dazzle in Lakme Fashion Week n Entertainment Desk Lakme Fashion Week 2014 presented India’s biggest superstars and paraded them in the prettiest, most glamorous outfits of the season - an unfailing recipe for huge success!

Divas such as Sushmita Sen, Shilpa Shetty, Kareena Kapoor, Sunny Leone, Kangana Ranaut and Priyanka Chopra were the most anticipated celebrities of the weeklong fashion show which ended on August 24.

The event opened with ramp goddesses Shilpa Shetty and Sushmita Sen who walked the ramp in their sensuous outfits. While style icon Kareena Kapoor brought the curtains down on the Lakme Fashion Week 2014, as she cat walked the runway in India’s showbiz capital Mumbai on Sunday.

Throughout the week, the fashion show was the most talked about event of Bollywood and the beauties considered it a big platform to stand strong in the rat race. On the other hand, the event was a randezvous of prominent and promising designers.l

Sushmita Sen for Amit Aggarwal

Shilpa Shetty for Tarun Tahiliani

Kareena Kapoor for Rajesh Pratap Singh

Sunny Leone for Jyotsana Tiwari

Kangana Ranaut for Jabong.com

Priyanka Chopra for Neeta Lulla

Arshad and Tanjin together for the first time n Entertainment Desk Producer Arshad Adnan’s professional schedule barely permits him to work as an actor on the entertainment industry. But he makes it, given that the character and story is up to the mark.

Soon, Arshad will be seen in “Kath Golaper Boshonto” with newbie Tanjin Tisha. The play has been directed and written by Sazzad Shumon who prefers not reveal the plot of the story. About working in the TV play, Arshad said: “The play has been shot in the scenic beauty of Cox’s Bazar. I am playing the character of Romno Bayat.

The role is challenging for me. I myself am surprised with my acting proficiency.” Tisha who endorsed a few brands seems happy with her debut and satisfied with the cast and crew. Produced by Versatile media, “Kath Golaper Boshonto” will be aired during Eid-ul-Adha on Maasranga TV. l

Did you know?

One point from two games is Manchester United’s worst start to a league season since 1992-93 (0 points)

Sport

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

14 Messi at his best

in 10-man Barca’s winning start

DHAKA TRIBUNE

14 Alonso says

13

15 Phelps form

goodbye to Di Maria on Twitter

suggests Olympics story not over

Gazi’s Caribbean tour likely to be cut short n National off-spinner Sohag Gazi is likely to experience an unexpected end to his tour of West Indies with the Bangladesh team following his suspected bowling action in the second ODI on Friday.

Though there is no objection for playing Gazi in the remaining of the tour as his action has only been suspected to be illegal – not proven, but according to some Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) sources the team management in West Indies is thinking of sending the 23-year-old back.

The main reasons behind the decision are firstly his confidence level, which might hamper his performance, and secondly the team will suffer if by chance a ‘no ball’ is called due to his bowling action because he won’t be allowed to bowl further in the game, thus spilling water on the team strategy.

The final call, however, will be made by national chief selector Faruk Ahmed. It was learned, the team management has informed of their decision to send Gazi back to Dhaka to the chief selector and waiting for the nod from Faruk.

“The decision will be taken after the Twenty20 game because we still have some time in hand before Gazi undergoes the test in Cardiff,” said Faruk to Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The afore mentioned thoughts of the Bangladesh team management means Gazi is

most likely to be benched in the 3rd ODI and also in the lone Twenty20 international before he heads back home on August 28.

Moreover, his chances of playing the first Test versus the Caribbeans from September 5 can also be ruled out since he needs to get back to Dhaka in time to get the UK visa process completed, which usually takes a minimum 5-6 days, in order to able get his action tested at an ICC-accredited facility in Cardiff, England, on September 19.

Earlier on Sunday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) disclosed that Gazi was reported with a ‘suspected illegal bowling action’ during Bangladesh’s second ODI against West Indies in Grenada.

The match officials’ report which was handed to Bangladesh team manager Habibul Bashar on Saturday, cited concerns about the legality of the bowling action for all deliveries from Gazi who made his breakthrough in the international arena in 2012. He has so far played 10 Tests, 19 ODIs and nine T20Is for Bangladesh.

However, this is the second such instance in Gazi’s cricket career as he was first reported two years ago, during Bangladesh A’s tour to India, by an umpire in a tournament in Bangalore.

The match referee had informed the manager, who let the BCB know of the matter. Since the report did not contain details of the problem, no further action or testing was undertaken.

Gazi is the fifth bowler - and the fifth off spinner - to have been reported for a suspected action following Zimbabwe’s Prosper Utseya, Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal.

The issue of suspect bowling actions had come up during the ICC cricket committee meeting in June, where there was a general consensus among members that the current methods used to detect illegal actions were imperfect.

It recommended changes to help match officials get more support from biomechanists in order to identify illegal actions with “more confidence”. l

Nepal U-23 football team’s Polish coach Jack Stefanowski (L) and captain Sagar Thapa discuss their team strategy after they arrive at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka yesterday night MUMIT M

Defence a worry for Nepal U23 clash n Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh U-23 national football team will be looking forward to learn from the defensive flaws laid bare by them in the recent practice matches when they take on Nepal U-23 in the first of the two-match SS Steel International Friendly Series at the Army Stadium today. A 24-member Nepal squad arrived in Dhaka yesterday night.

Though not an international team, Nepal U-23s arrival for the Fifa A-category friendly meant the end of the three long years for a match against foreign team at home soil. Lebanon were the last time to visit Dhaka for the World Cup pre-qualifying match where the home side emerged as the winners.

However, a lot has changed during these three years with Bangladesh failing to impress much in two Saff Championship campaigns in India and Nepal during that time while Nepal had proved that they have improved as a team during the same period.

Bangladesh began their preparation camp for Asian Games earlier this month and had played four practice matches so far with two against Ban-

gladesh Army. They conceded four goals in the opening half of their ultimate warm-up and it is very much clear that the hosts need to show drastic development at the back if they are to earn a positive result.

U23 FRIENDLY

Bangladesh v Nepal Army Stadium, 4pm Live on BTV Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif is expected to return from his week-long vacation this morning and take charge immediately. One positive Bangladesh can take from their last practice match is that they achieved the all important goal scoring form by netting five times at the same venue where they play Nepal today. Rene Koster, however, was certain that his defenders will put up a better display today.

Kruif and his assistant Koster hold the U-23 forward line in high regard as Mohammedan’s star striker Wahed Ahmed is expected to start alongside Aminur Rahman Shajib or Toklis Ahmed with Jewel Rana possibly com-

ing on as a substitute later. The center midfield should belong to the senior quota players Mamunul Islam and Sohel Rana while youngster Hemanta Vincent Biswas could start in a wide midfield role. Given the performance in the recent practice matches, the hosts may opt to play with a 4-3-3 formation.

“The strikers are working very hard.

When we play three forwards in a 4-3-3 formation, Shajib plays the role of real number 9. Toklis, Sifat and Wahed can play on the wings,” said Rene in a prematch press conference on Sunday.

On the other hand, Jack Stefanowski, the Polish head coach of Nepal should be confident about his team’s defense as he named four senior players out of the allowed five in the 20man squad for the friendly including captain Sagar Thapa.

Seven players from Nepal’s 2013 Saff Championship squad will feature in the coming friendlies.

The senior teams of the two nations last met in the 2013 Saff Championship in Nepal, where the hosts handed Bangladesh a 2-0 defeat while the last friendly between the two sides ended in a 1-1 draw in Kathmandu 2 years ago. l

‘Much awaited’ and ‘crucial’ board meeting today How justified is the length of Maruful’s ban?

Shakib’s appeal for review and BPL-3 top the list of agenda n Mazhar Uddin Today marks the 50th day since former national skipper and all-rounder Shakib al Hasan received suspension from Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) from all type of cricket for six months along with the denial of ‘No Objection Certificate’ till December 31, 2015. Interestingly, today is also the day when BCB’s much awaited board meeting takes place to make a decision regarding Shakib’s appeal for a review of his suspension period.

As a matter of fact, today’s board meeting carries much more significance as apart from the Shakib issue,

BFF plans U23 warm-up in Malaysia

n Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) in order to prepare the U-23 national side to the fullest, plans to hold another friendly match before the 17th Asian Games in South Korea next month.

Following the two friendlies against Nepal U-23, the Red and Green booters are likely to play a practice match against a Kuala Lumpur based Malaysian Super League club, whose name was however not disclosed, on September 8.

Though the decision has not been finalised yet, but if everything goes according to plan, the Bangladesh team will leave Dhaka for Malaysia on September 6.

“We have a plan to send the under-23 national team to Malaysia to play a preparation match. Hopefully we can confirm it by tomorrow (today),” said BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag yesterday. l

some other major issues including the staging of the third Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) are expected to top the agenda in the meeting and thus allowing it to be labelled as one of the most important meetings in the recent past.

The acting CEO of BCB Nizamuddin Chowdhury echoed the same yesterday when he confirmed, “We have a board meeting tomorrow (today) and we will discuss Shakib’s appeal for a review of his suspension. We also have some financial issues to be discussed at the meeting and there will be discussion regarding the next edition of BPL.” Shakib was slapped with the pun-

ishment following the board meeting on July 7 for his serious misbehaviour with Bangladesh cricket coach Chandika Hathurusingha, and for his clash with a spectator during the recent first ODI against India in Mirpur.

However, BCB also took his previous records under consideration before handing out such a severe punishment to the 27-year-old. Prior to this, Shakib had served a three-match ban after he made an indecent gesture during the second ODI against Sri Lanka earlier this year. The fact that the gesture was telecast live on television to millions of viewers at home and abroad gave it a status of a serious offense which had

to be taken care of with an iron hand.

However, Shakib made a public apology and appealed formally to BCB president Nazmul Hasan on July 20 to review his suspension order. BCB president then informed the media that the decision over the suspension of Shakib will be made after Eid-ul-Fitr.

Meanwhile, it has been learned that there will be discussions regarding the players’ payment along with fixation of rules and regulations for BPL-3 after the second edition of the tournament was overshadowed by match fixing allegations which ultimately led to investigations followed by trials and verdicts. l

Runner, HSBC breeze through to 2nd round n Due to the torrential downpour and the flooding outside the STM Hall, matches started about half-hour later than scheduled and the first match on the fourth day of the 9th Ascent Corporate Indoor 5-a-side Football Cup saw HSBC take on Cream & Fudge.

The bankers required at least seven goals to make it through to the 2nd round of the Cup. No problem! They put nine past the Cream & Fudge goal keeper. Naimul of HSBC scored an impressive five goals, Moshiur on two wtih Ananta and Kabir a goal apiece.

Beximco Textiles vs Bangla Trac was a battle of epic proportion as neither team

were willing to throw in the towel. In the end, the tie was settled on a 3-3 draw. A fabulous hat-trick was scored by Sumon Jr. of Beximco Textiles, while Bangla Trac’s Emran Khan responded with hat-trick himself. By far one of the most competitive matches we have seen thus far.

The same can be said about the following match which involved Metlife Alico and General Electric. It was an eye for an eye encounter which ended in a 3-3 draw.

Kalam, Sodi, and Rahin all scored for Metlife while Sartaj scored a brace and Arijit added another for the electric giants.

Next up was Philip Morris International vs Runner Group. Needless to say it was a high octane encounter which saw the captain fantastic Sofiul Islam score eight magnificent goals. However, PMI clawed

RESULTS, DAY 4 HSBC Beximco Textiles Metlife Alico Philip Morris Energypack (Won via walkover)

9 1 3 3 3 3 5 8 v

Cream & Fudge Bangla Trac General Electric Runner Group Pepsi

back reducing the deficit with a spirited five goals themselves. Alas it was of no avail. Captain Majed scored a hat-trick himself. Runner are now through to the 2nd round of the Cup and looking good. l Arsalan Quddus is a key member of the organiser Excalibur Entertainment, a die hard Manchester United fan and also a passionate football fanatic.

n Shishir Hoque

Maruful Haque is unarguably one of the most talented and promising coaches in Bangladesh football but his recent suspension of one-year by Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is something which has raised question about the clarity of the length of the ban.

This one-year suspension from all kinds of activities of BFF will certainly hinder the former Sheikh Russel coach’s growth who is currently in United Kingdom to complete his Uefa pro-license coaching course. However, although the offense for which he received such a lengthy ban does not warrant a defense in his favor, the one-year ban for a coach sounds too harsh and unprecedented at the same time in world football.

Maruful came under BFF’s disciplinary committee’s scrutiny when he was quoted as demanding the resignation of the professional league committee on February 28 during his tenure as the head coach of Russel, the club he guided to its historic treble last season, though he apologised for his actions later.

According to BFF’s disciplinary code, “Anyone who insults someone in any way, especially by using offensive gesture or language, will be sanctioned with a match suspension. If the perpetrator is an official, he will be suspended for at least four matches. A fine as well as a ban on performing any football related activity, as referred to in Article 22, may also be pronounced.”

Therefore, Maruful’s 12-month ban is indeed extreme and disproportionate to the offense he committed.

Sheikh Jamal are also one of the victims of this decision as they brought in Maruf after the second phase of premier league this season and planned to keep him as head coach for next season.

“I highly rate three coaches in Bangladesh. They are Maruf, Manik (Shafiqul Islam Manik) and Titu (Saiful Bari Titu), and Maruf is the best among them. This is definitely a harsh and bad decision,” said Sheikh Jamal president Manjur Kader yesterday.

However, the president of Bangladesh Football Coaches’ Association Hasanuzzaman Khan Bablu defended BFF’s decision saying, “Maruf can’t make such comments against BFF. What he did was not right and I think he has got what he deserved.”

The convener of League Football Coaches’ Forum and Muktijoddha SKC coach Shafiqul Islam Manik said, “We will let our official comment know tomorrow (Tuesday) after discussing with other coaches. But they could have punished him when the incident took place, not after five months.”

BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag explained the reason behind the delay. “We kept the decision pending for the league to end so that his club doesn’t suffer for it.”

However, a source from BFF’s disciplinary committee requesting anonymity said few committee members recommended six-month ban, but it was BFF who took the final decision. Shohag, however, denied the allegation. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Messi at his best in 10-man Barca’s winning start n AFP, Madrid Luis Enrique got off to a winning start as Barcelona manager as they shrugged off Javier Mascherano’s first-half red card to beat Elche 3-0 thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi on Sunday.

Messi put the disappointment of losing the World Cup final in his last competitive outing behind him to open the scoring, but Barca were momentarily rocked by Mascherano’s dismissal for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity moments later.

However, 18-year-old Munir El Haddadi made the game safe with a classy lofted finish on his debut a minute into the second-half before Messi rounded off the scoring.

RESULTS Eibar Lara 45

Barcelona Messi 42, 63, Munir 46

Celta Vigo

1 0

Real Sociedad

3 0

Elche

3 1

Getafe

Nolito 20, Orellana 56, Larrivey 70

Levante

Sammir 62

0 2

Villarreal

Uche 56, Cheryshev 85

“I have to be delighted with that start,” said Enrique.

“As we expected we had a little bit of difficulty creating chances at the start because Elche are very well-organised defensively, but bit-by-bit we began to find space and opportunities.”

Messi looked back to his best throughout the 90 minutes after his tired showings towards the end of the World Cup and Enrique was in no doubt that he has inherited the best player in the world.

“With Leo playing in his element we have taken the first step and now we move onto the second.

“It is clear that Messi is the best player in the world. He has a unique quality that it is easy to see. Giving assists, scoring goals, pressing, defending he does everything.”

Two goals in Barca’s final pre-season friendly romp over Mexican side Club Leon on Monday had been enough to earn Munir his senior debut in the absence of the injured Neymar and suspended Luis Suarez.

And it was the 18-year-old who had the first meaningful effort of the game as he smashed a shot off the angle of post and bar on 22 minutes.

Barca’s captain for the evening Andres Iniesta then also hit the bar from range as the hosts dominated possession without clearing too many clear-cut chances.

However, Elche were punished for giving away possession cheaply near their own area three minutes before half-time as Sergio Busquets played in Messi and he sidestepped two defenders before slotting home on his trusted left foot.

Minutes later, though, the complexion of the game appeared to have changed as Mascherano was shown a straight red card for clipping Garry Rodrigues as he galloped clear on goal.

Instead, Barca were barely bothered

by Elche’s numerical advantage as Munir flicked home Ivan Rakitic’s pass into the far corner a minute after the restart.

Messi then put a seal on a comfortable three points for Barca as he again left three Elche defenders trailing before side-footing past the helpless Vicente Guaita.

Earlier, Eibar made a dream start to their first ever La Liga campaign with a 1-0 win over Basque rivals Real Sociedad in front of a 5,200 capacity crowd.

Javi Lara scored the only goal of the game with a wonderful curling free-kick just before half-time. And Enrique’s old side Celta Vigo also made a winning start as they beat Getafe 3-1 at Balaidos. l

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (R) reacts after scoring with teammate Munir against Elche during their La Liga match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on Sunday

Enrique happy with Messi, Munir form n AFP, Madrid

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique hailed Lionel Messi’s on his return to competitive action after the disappointment of losing the World Cup final as he scored twice in a 3-0 win over Elche on Sunday.

“With Leo playing in his element we have taken the first step and now we move onto the second,” said Enrique.

“It is clear that Messi is the best player in the world. He has a unique quality that it is easy to see. Giving assists, scoring goals, pressing, defending, he does everything.”

However, any Barca nerves were set-

but it was their latest wonderkid from the La Masia academy Munir who stole the show.

“I am very happy to have made my debut and that the team won the game,” he said.

“It is an honour for me to score here at the Camp Nou with these players like Messi and score a goal.”

The 18-year-old owed his chance to the absence of the injured Neymar and suspended Luis Suarez and showed he could be an important player this season as he smacked an effort of the bar in the first-half before sealing a fine individual display with a lofted finish from Rakitic’s through ball. l

Simeone handed 8-match ban n AFP, Madrid Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone has been given an eight-match touchline ban for his conduct in the Spanish champions 1-0 victory over Real Madrid to win the Spanish Super Cup on Friday.

Simeone was handed a four-match ban for that action, as well as a further two for protesting, one for sarcastically applauding the decision and a final match for watching the second-half from the front row of the stands just behind the Atletico bench. The 44-yearold also received a 4,805 euro fine with the club being fined 2,800 euros. l

Falcao lifts Monaco

Liverpool rope in Super Mario

n AFP, Paris

n AFP, London

Liverpool completed their signing of AC Milan’s Italy striker Mario Balotelli yesterday.

The 24-year-old emerged as a target for Reds manager Brendan Rodgers last week and Liverpool had been locked in talks with the former Manchester City star’s agent since agreeing a reported £16 million fee with Milan.

Those negotiations reached a successful conclusion yesterday and Balotelli’s move was confirmed just hours before his new club face his old employers City in a Premier League clash at Eastlands.

“Liverpool can confirm they have completed the signing of Italy striker Mario Balotelli, subject to registration,” a statement on the club’s website said.

“The 24-year-old sealed his switch to Anfield from AC Milan after passing a medical and agreeing a long-term deal to become the Reds’ ninth signing of the summer so far.”

Balotelli had tweeted the news of his signing minutes ahead of the official announcement, saying: “YNWA! COME ON LIVERPOOL!” l

tled just a minute into the second-half as Munir El Haddadi doubled their advantage on his senior debut and Messi classily rolled home his second of the game just after the hour mark to round off the scoring.

“If he wanted Messi could be the best defender in the world. We see him do even more difficult things in training against high quality opponents in his teammates,” Enrique added.

“He has a magic wand and he will continue being the best in the world as long as he wants.”

Big money summer signings Claudio Bravo, Jeremy Mathieu and Ivan Rakitic were also making their Barca debuts,

AP

Promoted Lens recorded their first goal and points of the Ligue 1 season with a 1-0 win at Lyon while Radamel Falcao lifted Monaco’s spirits in Ligue 1 action on

Monaco’s Colombian forward Radamel Falcao celebrates after scoring a goal during their French Ligue 1 match against Nantes at the La Beaujoire Stadium on Sunday AFP

Alonso says goodbye to Di Maria on Twitter, Instagram n Dailymail

Mourinho calls for NFL-style timeouts during EPL matches n Dailymail

Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso slipped in a sly dig at the Merseyside club’s rivals Manchester United while saying goodbye to Real Madrid team-mate Angel Di Maria on Twitter ahead of the Argentina international’s expected move to Old Trafford.

Di Maria is edging closer to a record £60million move to United after turning down a new contract at the reigning European champions.

In his tweet Alonso made reference to Di Maria’s Champions League heroics against Atletico Madrid in May: ‘Thanks for everything Fideo! I wish you all the best, even at Manchester Utd :) never forget the zigzag in extra-time in Lisbon.’

Earlier on Sunday, Madrid left-back Marcelo also bid farewell to Di Maria on social media. The Brazil defender took to Twitter to pay tribute to the pacy attacker, who starred for Madrid during their successful Champions League campaign last season.

Jose Mourinho wants NFL-style timeouts to be introduced to football so that he can discuss tactics with his players twice during each game.

The Chelsea boss believes managers would benefit from two brief stoppages - one in each half - to give specific instructions to their team and change formations.

Speaking after his side’s 2-0 win against Leicester, Mourinho told The Telegraph: ‘Football is very slow to change the rules. How many years have we had to wait for goalline technology?

‘I hope I am still in football when they give the coach the chance to stop the game during the first half once and during the second half because you can make the game much better.’

The Blues were drawing 0-0 with Nigel Pearson’s side at half-time before goals after the break from Diego Costa and Eden Hazard sealed their second consecutive Premier League victory. l

‘Thank you for everything you have done for Madrid! I love you!’ Marcelo wrote in a touching statement to the winger.

Real manager Carlo Ancelotti has already said Di Maria has said goodbye to his team-mates as he prepares to join Louis van Gaal’s side.

Real’s asking price for Di Maria has reportedly increased during negotiations as it became clear how desperate United were to add quality to their squad. Di Maria is set to be handed the No 7 shirt famously worn by two of the Red Devils biggest ever stars, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham. The leftside dynamo is expected to earn about £200,000-a-week at United. l

Sunday.

The Colombia striker, who missed the World Cup when out injured for six months, got last season’s runners-up finally off the mark at the third attempt against Nantes.

Winless after their opening two outings Monaco went into the game at the foot of the nascent table but climbed up to fourth from bottom when Falcao headed home Layvin Kurzawa’s cross for the only goal in the 17th minute to the relief of among others Monaco’s new boss Leonardo Jardim.

Falcao started at the expense of Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov.

While that result at Nantes raised spirits at the principality club, Lyon’s miserable week had earlier ended on a sour note.

Lyon boss Hubert Fournier had

hoped for a response from his side after Thursday’s shock 2-1 home defeat to Romanians Astra Giurgiu in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs, but instead they floundered once more.

Madagascar international Lalaina Nomenjanahary netted an 11th-minute goal for Lens and, despite wasting several chances to increase their lead, it proved enough to secure a first victory of the campaign after successive defeats.

RESULTS Lyon Saint-Etienne Nantes

0 1 0 0 0 1

Lens Nomenjanahary 11

Rennes Monaco Falcao 45

Lens manager Antoine Kombouare said: “Our season has really begun now because we were waiting impatiently to get some points on the board.

“We appreciate this victory with a lot of pride and joy.”

Elsewhere, Saint-Etienne lost their unbeaten record when held to a goalless home draw by Rennes. l

Teerasil becomes first Thai to play in La Liga

n Reuters, Bangkok

Striker Teerasil Dangda became the first Thai to play in the Spanish top flight when he came off the bench for Almeria in their 1-1 draw with Espanyol on Sunday.

The 26-year-old is on a season-long loan from Thai Premier League side Muangthong United as he bids to seal a permanent deal with the Spanish side.

“I was already happy when I was named one of the substitutes for the match. I’m delighted to see action on the pitch. I can’t describe my feelings,” Teerasil was quoted as saying by Thai media on Monday.

“I didn’t know whether I was delighted, excited or nervous. It’s a mixture of all but mostly it’s one of satisfaction to get a taste of what we previously could only watch on television.” l

THE BANGLABLUES

Chelsea Football Club Fans of Bangladesh (CFCFB), aka BanglaBlues, were officially recognised by the English Premier League giants Chelsea Football Club (CFC) in January this year and to mark the celebration, the facebook fan page group arranged a get together during Chelsea’s first home game of the season against Leicester City on Saturday. About 100 Chelsea fans gathered at a local restaurant in Dhaka where they watched the Blues win 2-0 before engaging in a raffle draw and dinner COURTESY

Sport

DHAKA TRIBUNE

QUICK BYTES

Marsh, Maxwell annihilate hosts Zimbabwe n AFP, Harare

Johnson smashes commentary box Even though Australia recorded the highest one-day international total at the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe, and Glenn Maxwell made 93 from just 46 deliveries, it was Mitchell Johnson’s six that had the cricket world – and social media – abuzz.Johnson’s pure strike in the 49th over off Tinashe Panyangara’s bowling sailed through the air at terrific speed before slamming into the SuperSport commentary box window. “Beautifully struck ... oh, and it’s hit the commentary box,” exclaimed Neil Manthorp as the ball struck the window. “There’s glass all over the place. “Dear me, oh!” Those watching the action on SuperSport, and on Fox Sports in Australia, were quick to grab hold of their laptops, tablets and mobile devices to share their views in relation to the bizarre incident.

– INTERNET

Rain puts Hales’s debut on hold Bad weather put England batsman Alex Hales’s one-day international debut on hold as rain washed out the series opener with India at Bristol on Monday without a ball being bowled. Hosts England were due to play world champions India in the first of a five-match series at the south-west ground but persistent overnight and early morning rain prevented play starting as scheduled at 10:30am local time (0930GMT).

The latest a 20 overs per side match -- the minimum length required to declare a result -- could have started was 3:47pm (1447GMT) but with the rain showing no sign of stopping, the umpires announced the match had ended in a no-result washout ay 1:30pm (1230GMT). Hard-hitting Nottinghamshire opener Hales has appeared in 32 Twenty20s for England and scored his country’s first century in cricket’s shortest format against when he made 116 not out from 64 balls against Sri Lanka at the World Twenty20 in March.

–AFP

Resurgent Flintoff eyes Big Bash deal Andrew Flintoff is considering playing in Australia’s domestic ‘Big Bash’ Twenty20 tournament after starring in the climax of its English equivalent. “I’ve had offers to play in the Big Bash but I’m going to sit down and talk with my family,” Flintoff told BBC Radio Lancashire.

“If there’s an opportunity there, why not? It’s one of the things I’ve wanted to do. I was about to sign for Queensland in 2009 when I retired.” The former England captain, whose international career ended in 2009 after a succession of injuries, came out of retirement to play Twenty20 cricket for his native Lancashire this season. All-rounder Flintoff was set to be nothing much more than a squad player on Saturday’s finals day at Edgbaston, having played just two matches since his return.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH BTV 4:00PM Fifa ‘A’ category friendly Bangladesh U23 v Nepal U23 Ten Cricket 3:00PM Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka 2nd ODI Ten Sports 9:00PM US Open 2014 Day 2: Day Session Star Sports 1 8:15PM Pro Kabaddi League Bengaluru v Vizag 12:00AM AFC Champions League Al Ittihad v Al Ain Ten Action UEFA Champions League, Qualifiers 10:00PM FC Zenit v Standard 12:45AM Porto v Lille

15

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Australia dismissed Zimbabwe for 152 runs to record a 198-run victory in the opening game of the triangular oneday international series at the Harare Sports Club on Monday.

Zimbabwe were never in the hunt, but Hamilton Masakadza nevertheless put in a valiant effort with 70. However, he could not find a partner of substance and in the 40th over, Steven Smith (316) brought the innings to an end.

Earlier, a brutal onslaught by Mitchell Marsh and George Maxwell carried Australia to a total of 350 for six. Marsh stroked 89 from 83 deliveries after coming in at number three, while Maxwell hammered 93 from just 46 balls as the pair put on 109 for the fourth wicket in just nine overs.

Australia hit a record 15 sixes in the innings, with Marsh and Maxwell accounting for nine of them, with the tourists easily beating their previous best of five in an innings against Zimbabwe.

It was also Australia’s highest score in an ODI against Zimbabwe, eclipsing the 344 for seven made in Hobart during a triangular series in January 2004.

Although Australia started slowly after they were asked to bat first on a slow pitch, Aaron Finch and Brad Haddin laid a sound platform with an opening stand of 98.

BRIEF SCORE Australia 350/6 in 50 overs Maxwell 93, M Marsh 89; T Chatara 2-77 Zimbabwe 152 all out in 39.3 overs H Masakadza 70, S Raza 33; M Starc 2-22 Australia won by 198 runs

Haddin was bowled by Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura for 46, while Finch went for 67 when he steered a delivery from off spinner John Nyumbu to backward square leg.

Captain George Bailey, who was standing in for the injured Michael Clarke, failed to get going, but his dismissal brought Marsh and Maxwell together and the results were spectacular.

The pair at one point added 63 in four overs, with Maxwell producing the shot of the day when he reverse-swept Sean Williams for six over the longest boundary, and Australia added 147 in the final 10 overs despite both men getting out for career-best scores. l

Australia batsman Glenn Maxwell plays a switch hit during their One Day International tri-series opening match against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club yesterday AFP

‘Celtic will bounce back against Maribor’ n AFP, Glasgow Celtic manager Ronny Deila insists his players will have no problems bouncing back from their weekend disappointment as they prepare to welcome Maribor to Glasgow for their crucial Champions League tie.

The Slovenian champions are the visitors to Celtic Park on Tuesday with their play-off tie evenly balanced after the first leg finished in a 1-1 draw last week.

The Hoops lost 1-0 to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in their Scottish Premiership clash on Saturday after Deila made 10 changes to his side in order to offer some first team stars a rest.

However, the Celtic manager expects his side to give a much better account of themselves against Maribor as they look to clinch a place in the group stage of

Europe’s elite competition for the third consecutive season.

“We could have been more effective in the first half against Inverness and our performance could have been better. There were a lot of changes to the team and it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to,” Deila said.

FIXTURES Zenit BATE Porto Celtic APOEL

v v v v v

Standard Liege Slovan Bratislava Lille Maribor Aalborg

“The players will have no problem picking themselves up. We have a new game now and we are going to bounce back on Tuesday.”

One of the players who could help fire Celtic past Maribor and into the group stage of the Champions League is striker Jo Inge Berget.

IPL not to blame for India Test form: Pietersen n AFP, London

Kevin Pietersen has said it is wrong to blame the Twenty20 Indian Premier League for the tourists poor Test form in England.

In the absence of exiled former captain Pietersen, England came from behind to beat India 3-1 in a five-Test series, with skipper Alastair Cook overseeing the recovery.

That led many pundits to take what IPL star Pietersen said were “lazy potshots” at the lucrative Twenty20 event, which some have blamed for turning the heads of young Indian players in particular.

“It is a cheap shot to blame the IPL and portray the young Indian player

as being uncaring about Test cricket,” Pietersen wrote in his Daily Telegraph column on Monday.

“I know Virat Kohli will be hurting and I know how happy Murali Vijay was to score a century at Trent Bridge and almost get another one at Lord’s. It was dream come true for all of them to play a Test at Lord’s. It hurts these guys every single time they do not score Test runs.”

Meanwhile Pietersen questioned England’s approach to the one-day game in the lead-up to a home series with India, the reigning world champions, saying there was “much work to be done if England are to be serious contenders to win the World Cup in Australia next year”. l

Ricciardo eyes title shot after third win n AFP, Spa Daniel Ricciardo is eyeing up a shot at the world title after his second straight win and third in six races brought him within striking distance of warring championship leaders Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

The Red Bull driver’s triumph in Sunday’s stormy Belgian Grand Prix cut the gap to second-placed Hamilton to 36 points and trimmed Rosberg’s advantage to 64 with seven races remaining - and double points on offer at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“It is great,” said the beaming Australian. “We are really motivated right now and it has been a really good day for us on a track where we didn’t expect to get maximum points.

“If I am within 50 coming into Abu Dhabi then, yeah... There are still a few races to go. Definitely, while it is still mathematically possible we will keep fighting. l

The Norwegian joined the Hoops on loan from Cardiff in the summer and he says one of the main attractions of coming to Glasgow was the prospect of playing European football.

“It’s a dream for all footballers to play in the Champions League. All players watch the tournament when it’s on, and so that’s where you want to play, and face the best players in the world.

“My first game at Celtic Park went very well for me and the team and hopefully it will be the same on Tuesday.”

Meanwhile, a convincing weekend win has made Maribor more confident they can pull off a shock result in Glasgow and book their own place in the group stage.

A 3-0 defeat of Zavrc lifted Maribor up to second in the Slovenian league and striker Jean-Philippe Mendy, who grabbed his first goal of the season in the match, is optimistic about his side’s chances. l

Younis to return from Sri Lanka after family tragedy n AFP, Karachi Veteran batsman Younis Khan will play no further part in Pakistan’s one-day series in Sri Lanka following the death of his 10-year-old nephew, an official said on Monday.

“Younis will return home on Monday as his nephew Saad Khan died while having a liver transplant in India,” a Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman said. The 36-year-old Younis made only 3 in Pakistan’s four-wicket win in the first one-day international in Hambantota on Saturday. Saad’s body will reach Pakistan on Monday and will be flown to the family’s hometown. l

Phelps form suggests Olympics story not over n AFP, Gold Coast Michael Phelps showed he could be on track for even more Olympic glory after making a winning return to international competition just a few months after coming out of retirement.

The greatest Olympian, with 18 golds among his 22 medals at the Games, is laying the foundations to add to his unrivalled tally at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Phelps, who will be 31 by the time of the Rio Games, won three gold medals at the Pan Pacific Championships on Australia’s Gold Coast, which ended Sunday.

He swept to victory in the 100m butterfly (51.29sec) and was also part of the successful men’s medley and 4x200m freestyle relay teams. And Phelps was denied by just two-hundredths of a second by Japan’s Kosuke Hagino in the final of the 200m individual medley, an event he has won three times at the Olympics. But significantly, it was the manner of Phelps’s improvement throughout the four days of the Pan Pacs meet that made a lasting impression.

The 1.93 metre (6ft 4in) swimming wonder was finishing his races with his trademark surge, wiping away the memories of his winless campaign at the US Championships earlier this month.

Bolt ends season, will not run in Zurich n Reuters

World record holder and six-times Olympic champion Usain Bolt has decided to end his 2014 season and will not compete in the 100 meters in Thursday’s IAAF Diamond League Final in Zurich, organisers said on Sunday.

The decision, which Bolt’s manager Ricky Simms confirmed to Reuters, came a day after the Jamaican sprinter ran the fastest indoor 100m ever, clocking 9.98 seconds in Warsaw.

“His coach Glen Mills ... feels it is now time to shut it down while he is healthy and injury free with a view on his preparations for the 2015 season,” Zurich organisers said in a news release.

Mills is satisfied with the eight-times world champion’s performances in the three competitions he took part in this season and Bolt will now rest, do some sponsor activities before resuming training in October, the release added.

The Jamaican had delayed the start of his season to recover from minor foot surgery and a hamstring injury.

In his only outings in an abbreviated season Bolt anchored Jamaica to 4x100m gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month, won an exhibition race on Brazil’s Copacabana beach and claimed Saturday’s indoor race in Warsaw.

“Next year will be more serious with world championships,” Bolt had said after the first indoor race he had competed in.

He plans to defend his 100m and 200m world titles in Beijing next year and go for three more gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics before ending his athletics career at the 2017 London world championships.

Zurich meeting director Patrick Magyar said he regretted Bolt would not be able to run there but supported his decision. l

“It shows that I can finish races well. I finished pretty strong in all my swims here, now I just have to step on the first half,” he said.

A more streamlined Phelps -- he has shed 30 pounds (14 kilograms) -- said he was already laying out training plans with his longtime coach Bob Bowman looking ahead to next year’s world championships in Russia, and beyond to Rio. “I have already started talking with Bob about some of the things that I need to do, like times that I need to go even before the world champs next summer,” he said.

“I think for my first real international meet back we accomplished everything we wanted to. We were able to find out some of the things that I need to improve on over the next year and things I want to improve on.”

Bowman, who has mentored Phelps since he was an 11-year-old at Baltimore, is adamant there is further improvement in his swimmer as he begins his second “life” in the pool.

“He can definitely improve his 100m free,” Bowman said.

“I never thought he got there where it could have been. You’ll probably see him swim the 200. He’ll be trying to find a relay spot somewhere.

“I think he can get faster in his IM (individual medley) and I think he can get faster in butterfly. l

Fletcher remains in charge, says Dhoni n AFP, London India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni insisted coach Duncan Fletcher was “still the boss” ahead of the forthcoming oneday series in England despite the upheaval in the tourists’ backroom staff.

England’s 3-1 win over India in the five-Test series saw Dhoni’s men suffer innings defeats in the final two matches.

“Definitely, Duncan will lead us into the World Cup ... he is still the boss,” Dhoni told reporters in Bristol, southwest England, on Sunday.

“We have Ravi, who will look into everything, but Duncan Fletcher is the boss.

It’s not as if his powers or his position have been curtailed, still operations remain the same. We have a few other support staff who come into the dressing room, but overall the operation remains the same,” the wicketkeeper-batsman added.

Asked about Ravi Shastri’s role, Dhoni said: “He is here to oversee the operations,” he added. l

16

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Tuesday, August 265, 2014

DMCH ailing with poor management

PARALYSED ROADS

Inadequate number of ward masters, unauthorised employees hampering work viding assistance to senior doctors and from the neonatal ward of the DMCH. employees at the hospital. n Moniruzzaman Uzzal ensuring cleanliness of the hospital.

Abdul Khalek, president of DMCH Behind every successful hospital, there is a team of dedicated and qualified staff who work around the clock to ensure that the patients receive the highest level of healthcare possible. But the absence of proper manpower, unethical deeds, and ignorance to rules have turned the management of the DMCH – one of the biggest hospitals in the country – into a house of cards.

Hundreds of unauthorised people who are not legally employed by the DMCH authority run most of the groundwork at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, while their contribution in serving the patients – although unethical – is so great that their removal risks triggering a “collapse” of the hospital’s management. Many of the fourth class employees also violate hospital rules and charge patients for different services, disrupting the hierarchy of the DMCH administration.

However, one of the major flaws in hospital management is the lack of adequate number of ward masters; the DMCH has only two permanent ward masters for its 2,450-bed facility.

Although the DMCH currently has four allotted positions of ward master, two of those posts have stayed vacant for many years. To help run hospital tasks smoothly, the DMCH authority has also given temporary appointment to four more ward masters, in addition to the permanent two – Abdul Gafur and Babul Mia. The ward master’s job responsibilities include taking care of the patients, ensuring the supply of medicine, medical equipment and accessories, pro-

On an average, around 3,000 patients and a similar number of their relatives stay at the 70 wards and 130 cabins in the DMCH, while around 4,000 to 5,000 patients come to the outdoor of the hospital to seek treatment.

Among the four ward masters currently working on a temporary basis, Abul Hossain and Jillur Rahman are office assistants taking on the additional responsibilities of being ward masters; the other two – Shamsul Alam and Abdul Aziz – are fourth-class employees.

Hospital sources told the Dhaka Tribune that most fourth-class employees did not follow the directives issued by the ward masters, as two of those posts were filled by their colleagues of a similar rank. This causes further mismanagement and results in sufferings for the patients, they added.

Several senior officials of the hospital also claimed to the Dhaka Tribune that the mismanagement was compounded by the negligence of the Ansar personnel, who are assigned to ensure the security and safety inside the hospital. Different kinds of medicine, valuable medical equipment and even newborn babies are often stolen allegedly in plain view of law enforcement personnel and under the noses of closed-circuit camera staff.

On August 23, the DMCH authority sent a letter to the platoon commander of the Ansar camp at the hospital, seeking explanation regarding the different incidents of stealing taking place inside the hospital premises. The move came after a two-day-old child was reportedly stolen

The curse of special employees

Another key factor that challenges the hospital administration is the group of “special employees,” who are not legally appointed by the DMCH but are allegedly assigned to carry out different hospital tasks by influential officials.

These “special employees” reportedly charge patients for extra money for providing any small service. Since they are not officially recruited by the hospital authority, they also often demonstrate a lack respect to the patients.

The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that most of these employees, better known as special ward boys or ayas, have been recruited by leaders of fourth-class employees, ward masters, or sardars. In exchange for being allowed to work inside the hospital, the ward boys or ayas have to pay a certain amount of money to their employers every day.

A large number of these unofficial employees are reportedly family members, relatives or friends of the present and past fourth-class employees’ leaders.

The mode of payment depends on where they work; in a normal ward, each employee has to pay Tk50-Tk100 daily, while the rate is Tk200-Tk500 in areas like the emergency ward, gynaecology ward, ICU, CCU, pathology, medicine or burn unit.

However, when asked about allegations of taking money, Ward Master Jillur Rahman denied the claims and told the Dhaka Tribune that the unauthorised employees worked on verbal permission from the hospital authority as there was a shortage of fourth-class

Fourth Class Employees’ Association, also denied allegations of collecting any money, but admitted that some of his poor relatives worked at the DMCH as “special employees.” These employees did not forcibly take money from any patient, he claimed.

Meanwhile, DMCH Director Brig Gen Dr Mustafizur Rahman admitted that the unauthorised employees charged patients for different services as they were not paid by the hospital.

“We know this is unethical, but we cannot take any action against them because they are not government employees. Not allowing them to work could result in the collapse of the hospital’s system,” he added.

No uniform to identify fourth-class employee

Although it is easy to identify doctors at the DMCH by their white apron, it is not possible to recognise the fourthclass employees as they ignore wearing the uniform that are assigned for them.

Every year, the hospital authority provides money to each fourth-class employee for buying three sets of uniform for summer, one set for winter, three sets of shoes, one umbrella and one cap.

Even though all the employees collect the money allotted for their uniforms, nobody wears it.

Several senior doctor and nurses told the Dhaka Tribune that compelling the employees to wear the uniform would decrease corruption as they would be easily identified. l

Traffic congestion has become a part of the daily routine for Dhaka residents. Political rallies, rainwater-clogged roads, shopping rush ahead of festivals are some of the common reasons behind long tailbacks on city roads. Pictured, rows of vehicles stay stuck on both sides of the road in Rampura yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Boko Haram declares Islamic state in northern Nigeria n BBC

Just beside Wasa’s water pump in Shyampur industrial area, lies a pond filled with garbage and factory waste. The toxic materials dumped in the water are polluting the whole neighbourhood. Unaware of the dangers of contracting diseases from the waste, children play near the polluted water yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

3,000 marooned in Madartek n Tribune Report

Around 3,000 people were marooned in the capital’s Madartek area as cracks developed on the Balu River embankment due to slight increase in the water level of the river yesterday.

Locals alleged that the embankment had been lacking proper maintenance since long.

According to Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre, water was flowing 63cm bellow the danger level in the Balu River.

However, the adjoining low-lying areas was flooded with the slight increase of water because of the sudden crack down of the embankment.

Water Development Board sources said water might increase further for few more days due to the increased water flow in the Jamuna River near Sariakandi, Sirajganj and Aricha areas.

However, Md Ekramul Haque, district relief and rehabilitation officer of Dhaka, told the Dhaka Tribune that they did not get any information in this regard yet.

“We will look into the matter and if necessary, we will take measures like providing relief and rehabilitation,” he added.

In Munshiganj, 10 villages were submerged as water was flowing 6cm above the danger level in the Padma River at Vagyokul point.

The water level has increased by total 8cm in last 24 hours due to continuous rainfall.

Villages in Louhajong and Tongibari upazilas were also at risk to be flooded

due to the continuous increase in water level.

In Kurigram, the flood situation, affected 450 villages under nine upazilas of the district for 11 days, worsened as the water of local Brahmaputra and Dharala rivers increased by 3cm-12cm at different points owing to the incessant downpour continued yesterday as usual.

WDB sources said water levels might increase for a few more days due to increased water flow in the Jamuna River near the Sariakandi, Sirajganj and Aricha areas Local water development board confirmed the news, saying although water flow of the Teesta river lessened a little bit, it had virtually no effect to improve the overall flood situation.

Consequently, about 1.5 lakh marooned people, who forced to take shelter on attics of houses, higher embankments and boats, have been struggling with food and drinkable water crisis although there was meagre relief activities by the government.

Besides, about 30 hectors aman paddy and vegetable land inundated, resulting havoc losses to the local farmers.

In Sunamganj, the flood condition of about 400 villages under Dowarabazar,

Tahirpur, Bishwamvarpur, Jamalganj, Dakkhin Sunamganj and Chhatak upazilas deteriorated yesterday as the downpour and spate coming from the nearby Indian border continued as usual.

Local water development board said the water of the Surma river was flowing 87cm above the danger level.

About 2 lakh marooned people of the six upazilas have passing their days amid a great suffering. The affected people alleged that there were no relief distribution activities and opening shelter centres by the local administration.

Besides, aman paddy and other crop land on vast tracks have been submerged causing huge loss to the local farmers while most of the rural roads were washed away as well, leaving the communication vastly disrupted.

On the other hand, locals have been also facing severe fodder crisis for their cattle and other livestocks.

Dowarabazar upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) said he managed just 10 tonnes of relief rice for his area’s flood affected people.

Chhatak UNO Ainur Rahman Panna said the flood condition of Noarai, Islampur and Dakkhin Khurma unions worsened and water entered about 500 houses.

Local DC Sheikh Rafaqul Islam said the flood water has been increasing continuously due to the continual heavy rain and he directed the upazila nirbahi officers concerned to remain alert to the worsening situation.

About opening the shelter centres, the DC said the situation was not so severe. l

Militant group Boko Haram has said it has set up an Islamic state in the towns and villages it seized in north-eastern Nigeria.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was speaking in a video released late Sunday to congratulate his fighters for seizing the town of Gwoza earlier this month.

It is not clear if Shekau has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria.

Military spokesman Chris Olukolade responded with a statement dismissing the declaration. “The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact,” he said.

Thousands of people have been killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, since 2009 when Boko Haram began its insurgency.

Gwoza is the biggest town under Boko Haram control. It has raised its flags over the palace of the Emir of Gwoza, the town’s traditional ruler, residents say.

“Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brethren in Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic state,” Shekau said in the 52-minute video.

Boko Haram re-emerged with the abduction of over 200 school girls on April 14 from their hostels in the town of Chibok – a case that drew international outrage and prompted a global campaign for their release.

Meanwhile, Cameroonian officials confirmed that at least 480 Nigerian soldiers were now in the protective custody of the neighbouring country’s gendarmes after they had crossed into Cameroon early yesterday to escape from Boko Haram insurgents. l

DI launches new research tool n Tribune Report Democracy International (DI), a Washington DC-based organisation, has launched a new research tool called Computer-Assisted Telephone Survey System (CATSS) on Bangladesh and a website named Bangladesh Barometer yesterday.

CATSS is a fully automated computer-based telephone interview system customised for Bangladesh context.

Bangladesh Barometer is an interactive online platform that includes all survey data, media monitoring data and electoral data through interactive graphs/visualisation, which will help explain the political temperature of the country.

DI’s Democratic Participation and Reform project Chief of Party David Dettman said: This technology will provide more accurate and up-to-date research data to the media, political parties, and other stakeholders, to help facilitate more responsive politics in Bangladesh.” l

UNHCR: 20,000 people risked their lives in sea crossings n UNB In the last 12 months ending in June 2014, the UNHCR estimated that some 53,000 people departed irregularly through sea from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in the Bay of Bengal, a 61% rise from the previous 12 months.

As in previous years, departures from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border peaked during the traditional sailing season from October to January. Since June 2012, over half of all estimated departures took place between the months of October and January.

The recent UNHCR report titled “South-East Asia: Irregular Maritime Movements, January-June-2014” says irregular maritime departures from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border set out most frequently from Teknaf, Bangladesh, and from Maungdaw, Myanmar.

Away from the border area, an estimated 7,500 additional departures have originated from the Sittwe area in Myanmar since June 2012, says the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The report estimates that 20,000 people risked their lives in sea crossings in the first half of this year. Many were Rohingyas who fled Myanmar and arrived in the region suffering the effects of malnutrition and abuse during the journey. Several hundred people were also intercepted on boats heading towards Australia.

In the first half of 2014, Bangladeshi

authorities reportedly arrested over 700 people, including smugglers and crew, attempting to depart irregularly by sea from Bangladesh.

The report produced by the UN refugee agency’s Bangkok-based Maritime Movements Monitoring Unit also shows that more than 7,000 asylum-seekers and refugees who have travelled by sea are at present held in detention facilities in the region, including over 5,000 in Australia or its offshore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Virtually, all maritime arrivals in Thailand had intended to travel to Malaysia, where many had family members. Most were either referred to smugglers by family and friends or recruited from their villages by smugglers.

Individuals departing from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border paid between $50-300 to board departure vessels.

Small boats ferried groups of 5-30 passengers to larger fishing or cargo vessels with capacities typically ranging from 100-700 passengers.

Irregular maritime movements of mixed populations that include persons of concern to the UNHCR have been prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region for many years, but movements through South-East Asia, largely originating from the Bay of Bengal, have increased at a particularly rapid rate following inter-communal violence in

Myanmar in June 2012.

Since then, some 87,000 people are estimated to have departed by sea from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border area.

This trend has continued through the first half of this year, during which the main route of irregular maritime movement in South-East Asia remained the journey through the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea from the Bangladesh-Myanmar maritime border to the Malaysia-Thailand maritime border.

Other irregular maritime movements passing through South-East Asia followed routes through the Indian Ocean from South Asia and Indonesia to Australia, and across the Strait of Malacca from Malaysia to Indonesia.

Although the precise number of people travelling on such routes is unknown and likely much greater than what has been reported, the UNHCR is aware of over 20,000 irregular maritime departures from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border area in the first half of current year, in addition to hundreds who have attempted the boat journey to Australia.

Given the high proportion and total number of persons of concern to the UNHCR departing by sea from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, as well as a lack of access to those who travelled along other routes, this report largely focuses on the journey between the Bangladesh-Myanmar border and the Malaysia-Thailand border. l

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Foreign workers under NBR radar

Of around 4 lakh working foreigners in the country, only 12,000 file tax returns Under such a circumstance, the NBR n Syed Samiul Basher Anik in July asked all of its offices to prepare The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has decided to further enhance its surveillance on foreigners, who are illegally working in the country without paying tax to the government exchequer.

The board has also asked its field offices to prepare a list of all the foreigners working in their respective areas so none can leave the country without paying taxes, said a NBR official.

There is no such compiled list of foreigners working in Bangladesh as there is no coordination between the government agencies responsible for giving work permits to foreigners.

“Normally, a number of government agencies including Board of Investment, NGO affairs bureau and Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) approves work permits for the foreigners. Though we’ve predicted that at least 4 lakh foreigners were working in Bangladesh, only around 12,000 of them file tax returns in every fiscal,” he added.

According to the Income Tax Ordinance-1984, a foreign national needs to open tax file if he or she lives in the country for 90 days in a year. They also need to present their tax clearance certificates from NBR while crossing the immigration check posts before leaving the country.

Earlier, the home ministry had under taken an initiatives for setting up NBR booths at the immigration checkposts to prevent foreigners, leaving the country without showing tax clearance certificates, but the move could yield any results as the agencies concerned are yet to reach a consensus on this matter.

separate lists of the foreigners working in their respective areas and has asked to conduct massive drives to bring all the foreigners under tax radar.

Meanwhile, the NBR chairman Md. Ghulam Hussain at a recent meeting with NBR commissioners and all its members had instructed its officials to keep foreigners under special monitoring to boost the revenue collection for the current fiscal.

Earlier, a working foreign national having work permit have to pay 25% income tax, which was raised at 30% for the current fiscal, came into effect from July 1.

A good numbers of foreigners comes to Bangladesh every year with tourist or business visa, but starts working in private sectors including readymade garment, IT and other manufacturing industries, but during their departure, they do not pay any taxes, making a huge revenue loss for the country.

Slating the employers, the NBR official also said: “Many of the foreigners even do not have any idea about the country’s tax structure and they also remain totally unaware about that. So, it’s the employers, who can encourage foreigners about their tax obligations during appointments so they are bound to pay tax properly.”

There are currently three tax circles in Dhaka and two in Chittagong to collect income tax from foreigners.

According to NBR officials, citizens mostly from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, South Korea and some European and African countries are working in the country. l

Visitors are seen at an exhibition of jute products held recently at Dhaka Art Centre. The exhibition aims at promoting comeback trail of jute articles

Jute traders, exporters to get loan at 9% rate n Tribune Report

Jute traders, exporters and both the public and private jute mills will get loan facility at a maximum rate of 9% from the scheduled banks under a Bangladesh Bank refinancing scheme of Tk200 crore, which has been introduced for promoting the jute sector.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday signed a partnership agreement with 16 banks interested to get the fund and disburse in the jute sector.

The signing ceremony, which was presided over by the central bank

Submarine Cable sees sharp fall in profit, revenue earnings n Muhammad Zahidul Islam Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) has witnessed 67% fall in profit last fiscal year.

The revenue also dropped by 35%, according to the company.

The state-owned company has decided to reduce Internet bandwidth price to prevent revenue fall. The government is expected to approve the decision today.

The revenue declined to Tk94 crore from Tk144 crore in the previous fiscal while profit after tax came to TK37 crore from Tk111.

Because of profit fall, the board of directors recommended reduced cash dividend of 10% for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

It was 20% cash and 15% stock dividends in FY2012-13.

The company informed about it to the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.

The company said its earning per

share was Tk2.42 in FY2013-14, reducing from Tk6.69 in previous fiscal.

“We are trying to gear-up the company and compete with the private sector,” Md Monwar Hossain, managing director and chief executive officer of the submarine cable company, told Dhaka Tribune.

We are trying to gearup the company and compete with the private sector He said they have decided to slash bandwidth price with IP Transit price, which is currently under government consideration.

The company can now sell 25 GB out

of total capacity of 200 GB Internet bandwidth. It reached 42 GB in October 2013.

As imported bandwidth is much cheaper than that of Bangladesh submarine company, the users are choosing the imported one coming from India.

“We hope the government will approve our new proposed tariff proposal which is around 30% less compared to the existing one. It will increase our bandwidth uses,” said Monwar Hossain.

He also said they will soon start exporting bandwidth to Indian “seven sisters” states, which will also increase their revenue and profit.

Submarine cable company calculated that it could earn around Tk50-60 crore annually from bandwidth export as an MoU was signed few months ago.

In FY2011-12, the company earned Tk126 crore revenue and Tk83.87 crore profit from Tk83.79 crore and Tk30.51 crore respectively in FY2010-11. l

BHBFC seeks fund for extending house loan at Upazilla level n Asif Showkat Kallol Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) has sought Finance Minister AMA Muhith's help to solve its fund crisis for extending its loan program up to Upazilla level.

BHBFC Managing Director Dr Nurul Alam has recently sent a letter to the fi-

nance minister with a request to solve fund crisis of the state-run financial institution either through recapitalisation by budgetary allocation or credits from the government agencies.

BHBFC virtually suspended its lending programme since last January due to fund shortage as the management had verbally instructed its staff not to process any loan application.

BHBFC, in its letter, sought a budgetary allocation of Tk500 crore for the current fiscal year while Tk500 crore every fiscal year.

The management instructed verbally the staff not to process

FILE PHOTO

any loan application, said officials of the Banking and Financial Institutions Division of the finance ministry.

The state-run financial institution responsible for providing housing loans won't be able to resume its credit programme shortly without recapitalisation by the government.

“We need adequate funds to finance at district and sub-district levels as per the directives of President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Presently, BHBFC’s annual demand for loan is about Tk1000 crore,” he noted.

He also said this institution was unable in expanding its activities to upazila and district levels due to fund crisis against the backdrop of increasing demands for house loans in Kishoreganj, Gopalganj, Sirajganj and Srimangal after opening branch offices in these towns.

“But, we are unable to disburse any loan in those areas due to severe fund shortage.” l

Of the total fund, 40% has been set for public jute mills, 40% for private jute mills, and rest of 20% has been set for the exporters and jute traders.

The central bank has formed the fund with an aim at ensuring fair price of the farmers, so they are encouraged to produce more raw jutes, said SK Sur Chowdhury. He, however, warned the banks that the loan must be secured and recoverable.

SM Moniruzzaman said: “Loan recovery of this fund will be a major challenge as there is no government guarantee and the full liability lies between

the banks and the clients.”

Urging the banks not to misuse of lower interest rate, he asked them to properly implementation the main objective of the funds.

“We will provide the loan facilities to the jute traders and jute mills although the main objective of the scheme is to ensure fair price to the farmers,” said National Bank Managing Director AKM Shafiqur Rahman.

He also urged the central bank to enhance the limit of refinancing scheme as the existing allocation of Tk200 crore is very small support this sector. l

Int’l calling card in the offing

FM: D-8 can emerge as powerful economic bloc n Tribune Business Desk

deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury, attended among others, by Executive Director SM Moniruzzaman and other managing directors of the 16 banks.

The 16 banks are Sonali, Agrani, Janata, Rupali, BASIC, UCBL, IFIC, NBL, Prime, AB Bank, Mercantile, Uttara, Standard, One, City and Bank Asia.

The central bank formed a 5 yearterm renewable revolving refinancing fund after the approval of its board of directors to facilitate the jute trading.

The banks will get the fund from the central bank with 5% interest rate, according to the guideline of scheme.

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam The telecom regulator is going to introduce international calling card services, a cost effective way for international voice communications.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has already made a draft with some conditions for the internationally popular services.

Sources said a couple of months ago, a local company, Hask Production Corporation, sought an approval from the telecom watchdog to run the services in the country.

Hask appealed to BTRC for using the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to run its services.

BTRC formed a committee for verification of various technical and financial aspects of the services.

The committee already submitted its report to the commission chairman, said a source.

According to the report, at best three to four companies may be allowed to run the services in the country.

The report suggests that only a No Objection Certificate (NOC) would be sufficient to operate services.

The telecom regulator said no International Gateway (IGW) and no mobile or land phone operators would be eligible for the job.

The operators need to make a handsome deposit and won’t be allowed to cross their financial limit, plus they have to submit a quarterly report to the regulator.

The report also mentioned the route to terminate the international calls.

According to the committee proposal, the users will first dial a toll-free number of the stipulated calling card and then enter the PIN code or follow the direction of call centres conducted by the respective calling card operators.

A senior official of BTRC said they also mentioned that all call must be routed through the Interconnection exchange (ICX) and IGW. It is a special service offer, which is at least 20% cheap compared to the existing tariff, a member of the committee told the Dhaka Tribune.

He, however, added that calling card services are very handy for international telephone communication for cost effectiveness but somehow the services are currently not functional in the country. l

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali yesterday said the D-8 (Developing-8) has immense potentials to emerge as a powerful economic bloc as its member states have vast mineral and human resources.

He laid emphasis on enhancing communication among the member states through introducing visa exemption for diplomatic and government passport holders, ensuring smoother air connectivity and establishing residential diplomatic missions in their capitals, reports UNB. The Foreign Minister said this when visiting D-8 Secretary General Dr Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi met him at his office. Mahmood Ali also focused on enhancing cooperation in the areas of trade, agriculture, food security, transportation and energy.

Earlier, Mousavi met State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam at the latter’s office and discussed issues to make the organization stronger and more effective. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks post moderate rally

DSE key features August 25-2014

n Tribune Report

Traded Issues

296

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

125

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

168

financial institutions and non-life insurance advanced 1%, 1.5% and 1.4% respectively. Food and allied inched higher.

Pharmaceuticals, engineering and power declined. Telecommunication ended flat losing slightly, pulled down by Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd that shed 8%, following its declaration of 10% cash dividend.

Lanka Bangla Securities said market snapped the losing streaks after consolidating around 4,550-level in previous trading session.

It said recent momentum in MNCs and FMCGs continued to support markets following the uptrend seen throughout much of the past two weeks.

“Stocks momentum suggested that investors are keeping their eyes on reports on existing fundamental stocks, leading economic indicators, and manufacturing activities.”

IDLC Investments said after consequent three days of downhill, the market turned around. “Investors continued to accumulate large cap stocks and the strong turnover in last few weeks shows investors’ growing interest and consequent fresh money injection.”

Beximco Limited was the most traded stock for the fourth straight session with a net turnover of Tk47.6 crore, making up more than 6% of the total turnover.

It was followed by Mobil Jamuna Ltd Bangladesh, BSRM Steel, Lafarge Surma Cement, Square Pharmaceuticals, Khulna Packaging and Printing Ltd and Summit Power. l

Stocks saw moderate rally yesterday, snapping the three-day profit-booking fall.

The market was in negative territory in the morning but moderate buying mainly on large cap issues has pulled up the market at the end.

The benchmark DSEX rose 23 points to 4,564, after losing 15 points in the early trading.

Trading at DSE remained lively with the total turnover amounting to Tk710 crore, down more than 4% over the previous session

The Shariah index edged 3 points or 0.3% higher to 1,063. The comprising blue chips DS30 was up over 6 point to 1,728.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, rose 35 points to close at 8,614.

Trading at DSE remained lively with the total turnover amounting to Tk710 crore, down more than 4% over the previous session.

Large cap sectors posted mixed performance. Banks, non-banking

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Company PragatiLife Insu. -A BD Submarine Cable-A Khulna Printing-N IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A GPH Ispat Ltd-A Matin Spinning-N Hwa Well Textiles-N Jute SpinnersA Progressive Life-A Dulamia CottonZ

Closing (% Change) -31.00 -8.33 -8.07 -7.02 -5.87 -4.74 -4.46 -4.43 -4.30 -4.29

CSE LOSER Company PragatiLife Insu. -A ICB Sonali Bank 1 MF-A BD Submarine Cable-A GPH Ispat Ltd-A Khulna Printing-N Meghna Life Ins. -A Wata Chemicals -A IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A BD Fixed Income MF-A Rangpur Foundry -A

Closing (% Change) -42.98 -8.97 -8.63 -8.30 -6.47 -6.12 -5.98 -5.17 -5.06 -4.40

4564.34999

(+) 0.52%

1728.44729

(+) 0.39%

14113.76170

(+) 0.39%

11594.68570

(+) 0.43%

8614.18310

(+) 0.41%

Average (% Change) -28.48 -7.69 -7.42 -3.85 -5.57 -3.56 -5.12 -2.78 -4.36 -3.57 Average (% Change) -36.64 -8.97 -8.27 -7.22 -6.94 -1.57 -4.25 -4.31 -5.06 -4.40

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 89.33 153.33 39.18 5.50 49.17 50.97 52.08 58.33 104.51 6.75

ClosingAvg. 86.10 7.10 152.94 48.31 39.01 90.31 236.53 5.55 7.50 95.60

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 392.28 472.06 92.29 841.92 198.32 1177.03 1.23 559.91 937.21 263.87 149.94 67.00 15.59 431.39 237.56 76.67 100.02 322.22 108.26 628.01 0.27

DHIGH

84.80 151.80 37.60 5.30 48.10 50.20 51.40 58.30 104.50 6.70

Closing

97.00 160.00 41.10 5.80 51.00 52.90 54.30 58.60 106.10 6.90

DHIGH

86.10 7.10 151.40 47.50 37.60 90.50 236.00 5.50 7.50 95.60

86.10 7.10 158.00 49.30 41.20 90.50 238.00 5.90 7.50 95.60

Company

7,073.04 160,161,455

Number of Contract

140,596

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,396.31

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.05

CSE key features August 25-2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

509.32

Turnover (Volume)

13,747,662

Number of Contract

18,473

Traded Issues

225

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

109

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

111

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,306.30

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

27.96

Turnover in Million

83.50 110.00 37.30 5.20 46.00 50.10 50.70 58.00 104.00 6.70

Latest EPS

18.416 120.177 263.440 4.285 34.956 70.318 51.950 0.035 3.083 0.106

2.38 2.95 1.31 1.07 2.35 2.99 3.99 -43.81 2.30 -4.13

Turnover in Million

DLOW 86.10 7.10 150.00 47.30 37.40 90.30 236.00 5.30 7.50 95.60

9.51 9.50 9.13 8.66 7.91 7.55 7.30 6.55 5.88 5.68

CSE GAINER

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

DLOW

SummitAlliancePort.-A Agni Systems -A Samorita Hospital -A BD. Thai Alum -B Bay Leasing.-A Phoenix Insur -A Prime Finance-A Delta Brac HFCL-A Deshbandhu Polymer-A Summit Power -A

Closing (% Change)

Latest EPS

0.043 0.099 22.238 1.215 43.628 0.081 0.189 0.286 0.004 0.048

2.38 1.60 2.95 2.35 1.31 6.45 6.20 1.07 0.81 3.20

Latest PE 37.5 52.0 29.9 5.1 20.9 17.0 13.1 -ve 45.4 -ve

Latest PE 36.2 4.4 51.8 20.6 29.8 14.0 38.2 5.2 9.3 29.9

Company Apex Foods -A SummitAlliancePort.-A Agni Systems -A 6th ICB M F-A Samorita Hospital -A Bay Leasing.-A Prime Finance-A Phoenix Insur -A Summit Power -A BD. Thai Alum -B

Closing (% Change) 9.95 9.89 9.46 8.51 8.29 7.45 7.26 7.14 7.07 6.84

Average (% Change) 8.10 9.87 6.27 6.58 4.83 4.95 6.17 2.90 4.09 7.11 Average (% Change) 9.97 8.34 10.11 8.51 8.59 4.82 6.37 6.37 6.08 6.74

ClosingAvg. 28.55 23.94 93.19 24.94 26.71 34.99 18.75 61.44 17.81 39.00

ClosingAvg. 103.88 28.57 23.95 51.00 95.67 26.96 18.88 34.25 38.92 24.85

Closing 28.80 24.20 95.60 25.10 27.30 35.60 19.10 63.40 18.00 39.10

Closing 103.90 28.90 24.30 51.00 95.40 27.40 19.20 34.50 39.40 25.00

DHIGH 28.90 24.30 96.30 25.40 27.50 36.00 19.30 65.00 18.10 40.30

DHIGH 103.90 28.90 24.40 51.00 96.90 27.90 19.50 34.50 40.10 25.20

DLOW 23.70 20.00 87.00 22.80 23.50 31.00 16.80 55.00 15.30 33.50

DLOW 103.80 26.90 22.60 51.00 94.80 25.80 18.00 34.00 37.50 23.30

Turnover in Million 69.646 105.653 21.200 21.305 29.353 3.494 57.553 6.884 13.145 211.644

Turnover in Million 0.057 4.700 4.229 0.005 0.670 1.954 6.751 0.014 13.095 1.045

Latest EPS 0.96 1.27 2.20 0.84 2.32 4.30 1.02 5.05 0.81 3.54

Latest EPS 2.99 0.96 1.27 6.47 2.20 2.32 1.02 4.30 3.54 0.84

Latest PE 29.7 18.9 42.4 29.7 11.5 8.1 18.4 12.2 22.0 11.0

Latest PE 34.7 29.8 18.9 7.9 43.5 11.6 18.5 8.0 11.0 29.6

News, Analysis and Recent Disclosers From TradeServers: BSCCL: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 12.10.2014, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Hotel 'Ocean Paradise', Cox'sbazar. Record date: 04.09.2014. The Company has also reported EPS (without fair valuation surplus) of Tk. 2.42, NAV per share of Tk. 27.05 and NOCFPS of Tk. 0.90 for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

PRAGATILIF: The Board of Directors did not recommend any dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013. Date of AGM: 16.09.2014, Time: 12:30 PM, Venue: Jamuna Resort Ltd. Bhuapur, Tangail.

Record date: 14.09.2014. A fresh AGM date will be announced later on in compliance with relevant law.

PREMIERLEA: ARGUS Credit Rating Services Limited (ACRSL) has announced the Rating of the Company as "A-" for long term and "ST-2" for short term in consideration of financials of the Company up to 31st December 2013 (audited), 1HFY14 (unaudited) and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

PRAGATILIF: The Company will be placed in "Z" category from existing "A" category with effect from August 26, 2014 as per Dhaka Stock Exchange (Settlement of Transactions) Regulations, 2013; since the Company did not recommend any

dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

Primary Status of IPO: Western Marine Shipyard Ltd.: All concerned are hereby informed that the primary status of the IPO of Western Marine Shipyard Ltd.: Total amount of subscription (excluding NRB) is Tk. 3,984,452,500. Total amount received from NRB is Tk. 59,864,000 up to 21 August 2014.

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 GPHISPAT: 15% cash and 5% stock, AGM: 10.11.2014, Record date: 22.09.2014.

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.

DELTASPINN: 10% cash, AGM: 30.08.2014, Record date: 14.08.2014.

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.

SANDHANINS: 25.50% stock, EGM and AGM: 06.09.2014, Record Date for EGM and AGM: 16.07.2014.

SALVOCHEM: 10% stock, AGM: 27.08.2014, Record date: 25.06.2014.

Stocks momentum suggested that investors are keeping their eyes on reports on existing fundamental stocks, leading economic indicators, and manufacturing activities

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

DSE GAINER

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

% change 5.55 6.67 1.30 11.90 2.80 16.64 0.02 7.92 13.25 2.12 0.95 0.22 6.10 3.36 1.08 1.41 4.56 1.53 8.88 0.00

Million Taka 24.00 37.19 5.84 50.44 9.39 63.70 40.91 47.57 49.44 11.41 9.96 1.90 33.22 55.49 1.18 2.86 30.98 21.72 73.10 0.01

CSE

% change 4.21 6.52 1.02 8.84 1.65 11.17 0.00 7.17 8.34 8.67 2.00 1.75 0.33 5.82 9.73 0.21 0.50 5.43 3.81 12.82 0.00

Million Taka 416.27 509.25 98.13 892.36 207.71 1240.74 1.23 600.83 984.78 313.32 161.35 76.96 17.49 464.61 293.04 77.85 102.88 353.20 129.97 701.11 0.28

Total

% change 5.45 6.66 1.28 11.67 2.72 16.23 0.02 7.86 12.88 4.10 2.11 1.01 0.23 6.08 3.83 1.02 1.35 4.62 1.70 9.17 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A MJL BD Ltd.-A BSRM Steels-A LafargeS Cement-Z Square Pharma -A Khulna Printing-N Summit Power -A Grameenphone-A ACI Limited- A BSC-A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Khulna Printing-N LafargeS Cement-Z BD Submarine Cable-A BSRM Steels-A MJL BD Ltd.-A Square Pharma -A LankaBangla Fin. -A Summit Power -A S Purbanchol Power-N

VolumeShares 11,292,098 3,438,544 3,398,710 2,920,000 1,052,886 6,724,000 5,426,625 614,883 523,447 200,680

Value in Million 476.00 401.33 335.98 312.29 288.81 263.44 211.64 202.04 187.27 128.28

% of TotalTurnover 6.73 5.67 4.75 4.42 4.08 3.72 2.99 2.86 2.65 1.81

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

1,502,636 1,118,500 217,500 145,400 180,085 149,126 62,025 308,310 336,482 226,586

63.40 43.63 23.34 22.24 17.77 17.41 17.02 14.75 13.09 12.35

12.52 8.61 4.61 4.39 3.51 3.44 3.36 2.91 2.59 2.44

ClosingP 43.40 119.90 100.20 109.90 273.90 37.60 39.10 326.80 354.00 631.50

ClosingP

43.50 37.60 110.20 151.40 99.90 120.10 274.00 48.20 39.40 53.90

Change % 5.08 2.92 0.60 0.37 -0.40 -8.07 5.68 0.46 -2.85 -1.33

Change %

5.33 -6.47 0.46 -8.63 0.50 3.00 -0.36 4.10 7.07 1.70

ClosingY 41.30 116.50 99.60 109.50 275.00 40.90 37.00 325.30 364.40 640.00

ClosingY

41.30 40.20 109.70 165.70 99.40 116.60 275.00 46.30 36.80 53.00

DHIGH

DLOW

44.00 121.30 101.70 110.00 277.00 41.10 40.30 334.40 370.00 653.75

37.20 105.00 93.00 103.70 252.00 37.30 33.50 315.00 332.80 626.00

DHIGH

DLOW

44.00 41.20 111.50 158.00 99.90 121.80 276.00 48.70 40.10 55.30

40.70 37.40 103.20 150.00 100.00 113.60 273.30 46.80 37.50 53.10

AvgPrice 42.15 116.72 98.86 106.95 274.31 39.18 39.00 328.59 357.76 639.22

AvgPrice

42.20 39.01 107.32 152.94 98.68 116.77 274.34 47.84 38.92 54.50

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Dollar surges after Yellen speech n AFP, Tokyo The dollar surged yesterday as investors bet on a US rate hike sooner rather than later, following a speech by Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen.

The greenback rose to 104.18 yen its highest level since January - from 103.87 yen in New York Friday.

The euro bought $1.3205 and 137.57 yen, compared with $1.3241 and 137.60 yen in New York.

Investors picked up the dollar after Yellen discussed slack seen in the US jobs market, while acknowledging improvements in recent US indicators.

Her address on Friday at the annual Jackson Hole conference was seen as a signal of her commitment to the Fed’s current timeline for raising interest rates beginning in the second half of next year, rather than earlier as some analysts and policy makers would like.

Still, the dollar swung upward as market players believed that her comment came out less dovish than expected, while many analysts also assessed the speech as being “balanced”.

Market participants speculate that the Fed could increase rates sooner than expected, should consumer prices and wages rise amid calls from the in-

flation hawks, said Junichi Ishikawa, market analyst at IG Securities.

“Her comments at Jackson Hole were balanced, and took into consideration the positions of the more hawkish members of the Fed,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Credit Agricole said it expected a possible brief “pause” in coming days for the dollar’s general appreciation, but the rising trend should remain.

“Overall we think the speech was a balanced assessment of the US labour market, though one can consider it a slight hawkish shift given Yellen’s usual dovish stance,” said Credit Agricole in a note to clients.

The dollar rose against other AsiaPacific currencies.

It rose to Sg$1.2506 from Sg$1.2478 on Friday, to 32.01 Thai baht from 31.89 baht and to 11,715.30 Indonesian rupiah from 11,655.00 rupiah.

The greenback also rose to 1,019.90 South Korean won from 1,017.35 won, to 43.83 Philippine pesos from 43.79 pesos, to Tw$29.97 from Tw$29.96 and to 60.43 Indian rupees from 60.42 rupees.

The Australian dollar slipped to 93.17 US cents from 93.23 cents, while the Chinese yuan was quoted at 16.94 yen against 16.81 yen. l

Packs of US one hundred dollar bills are counted at a bank in Westminster

European stocks rise on ECB stimulus bet n Reuters, London The euro fell to a near one-year low against the dollar and euro zone stocks and bonds rallied yesterday as investors positioned for rising chances of further policy easing by the European Central Bank.

ECB President Mario Draghi said late on Friday that the bank was prepared to respond with all its available tools should inflation in the euro zone drop further.

Investors speculated this meant the ECB was more likely to embark on an asset purchase programme, or quantitative easing, or adopt other stimulus measures in coming months which would weigh on the euro and boost assets such as stocks and bonds.

“The key message is that Draghi stands ready for more action if needed,” Franz Wenzel, chief strategist at AXA Investment Managers in Paris, said.

“Whether they’re going to do quantitative easing remains to be seen but we’re fairly confident that the financial engineers at the ECB will find other tools. At this juncture, we don’t exclude quantitative easing at the end of this year.”

A weak German business sentiment index, Ifo, also added pressure on the euro in European trade, as it reinforced concerns about Germany, the euro zone’s biggest economy.

The euro skidded to $1.3185 in early Asian trade, its lowest since September 2013, from around $1.3246 late in New York on Friday. It was last trading at $1.3190, down about 0.3% on the day,

amid lower than usual volumes due to a holiday in London.

The euro zone’s blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was up 1.2 percent to 3,135.38 points after climbing to a three-week high in early deals. Both Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 1.2%.

The MSCI All-Country World index was up 0.1% at 429.03 points.

long as needed to convince the public that deflation was dead and buried.

Kuroda’s pledges of policy stimulus weighed on the yen, which was down 0.1% against the dollar.

US RATES SEEN RISING EARLIER In contrast, US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday gave a nod to the concerns of some Fed officials about the sustained level of monetary

'Whether they’re going to do quantitative easing remains to be seen but we’re fairly confident that the financial engineers at the ECB will find other tools. At this juncture, we don’t exclude quantitative easing at the end of this year'

Amazon readying an attack on Google’s ad business

Google buys product design firm Gecko

n AFP, New York

Google on Friday confirmed that it bought Gecko Design to bolster its lab devoted to technology-advancing projects such as self-driving cars and Internet-linked Glass eyewear.

Gecko Design specializes in working with engineers on designs early in the creation of new products.

“This is an incredible opportunity for everyone at Gecko,” president Jacques Gagne said in a post on the company’s website.

“We are very excited and honored to join Google X and work on a variety of cutting edge products,” he said, referring to Google’s reserach lab. l

US online giant Amazon is preparing to take on Google in one of its core businesses, Internet advertising, the Wall Street Journal said Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Amazon is developing its own program to target ads using the information it gathers about the preferences of its customers. Tests of the new platform could start later this year, the business daily said.

Google is for now the uncontested top dog in online publicity, with around a 31.45% share of the global market this year, according to figures from research firm eMarketer.

policy stimulus, even as she stressed the need to move cautiously on raising rates.

As a result, Fed funds futures fell back as the market priced in the risk of an earlier rise in interest rates, while the dollar index rose to 82.563, its highest since September last year.

US T-note futures were flat at 12557/64, with cash 10-year yields trading at 2.41%.

In commodities markets, the rising dollar pressured prices with spot gold hovering near its lowest in two months at $1,277.00.

Brent crude dipped towards $102 a barrel yesterday as ample supply and a stronger US dollar continued to pressure oil markets. l

The company earns around $50bn a year from its advertising business, compared to the just $1bn Amazon is expected to earn this year, the Wall Street Journal said.

From its beginnings as an online bookstore, Amazon has enormously expanded its activities over the years.

Among other businesses, the company has become a major seller of digital content, including ebooks, streamed video and online music, as well as of devices like smartphones and tablets.

It has also become a marketplace where third-party venders can sell products, taking advantage of Amazon’s massive customer base. l

Oil prices down in Asian trade n AFP, Singapore

Spanish and Italian 10-year yields fell 8 bps to 2.31% and 2.51%, respectively, while Portuguese yields fell 14 bps to 3.12%.

“The ... market has interpreted Draghi’s statement as meaning that broad-based asset purchases, or quantitative easing, has now become more likely,” said Lutz Karpowitz, currency strategist at Commerzbank.

The Ifo business climate index dropped for a fourth straight month in August and the Ifo Institute said it was likely to cut its 2014 growth forecast for Germany to 1.5% from 2%.

Also sounding dovish was Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda who vowed over the weekend to press ahead with aggressive monetary easing for as

AFP

Oil prices fell in Asian trade yesterday on a stronger dollar as investors digested Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen’s defence of the bank’s monetary policy, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October eased 15 cents to $93.50 while Brent crude for October tumbled 19 cents to $102.10.

The US dollar surged against the yen in Asian trading Monday to 104.18 yen - its highest level since January -- from 103.87 in New York Friday.

A stronger greenback makes dollarpriced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies, denting demand and pushing prices lower.

The dollar rose after Yellen on Friday discussed slack seen in the US jobs

market and an improvement in recent economic indicators.

While some US economic data has improved, there still remains “considerable uncertainty about the level of employment”, she told the Jackson Hole Conference.

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank said Yellen’s comments, while seen as neutral, also signalled that “monetary policy is not on a preset path and the Fed’s decision path will be datadependent”.

An eventual hike in official shortterm interest rates will likely take place in the middle of next year, the bank said.

Analysts said the oil market is also under pressure on easing concerns about conflicts in crude producers Libya and Iraq, as well as Ukraine, a key conduit for Russian gas exports to Europe. l

n AFP, San Francisco

Burger King in talks to buy Tim Hortons

n Reuters, New York Burger King is in talks to buy Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc in a deal that would be structured as a tax inversion to move the hamburger chain’s domicile out of the United States, according to one person familiar with the matter.

The deal is not yet complete, and the person could not speak to the possible timing for an agreement to be reached.

The person asked not to be identified.

Recent attempts by companies for tax inversion deals, which are made to escape U.S. taxes and save money on foreign earnings and cash held outside the United States, have drawn the attention of some politicians, including President Barack Obama, who criticized a “herd mentality” by companies seeking such deals. l

Dhaka Mercantile Co-operative Bank Limited has recently held its annual general meeting in Dhaka. The meeting was presided over by the company’s chairperson, Belayet Hossain Exim Bank has recently provided 24-hours transportation facilities to Hajj pilgrims. The transportation includes a bus, a microbus and a covered van. The bank’s deputy managing director M Sirajul Islam handed over a replica of the key to Dr Shafiqur Rahman, director of Bangladesh Bima

Ericsson ConsumerLab has recently published its research on m-commerce interest in emerging Asia. The research showed that it is mostly driven by urbanization in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. Patrik Hedlund, senior advisor at Ericsson ConsumerLab, has recently briefed the research finding at an event

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd has recently opened its 117th branch on NS road, Kushtia Sadar in Kushtia. The bank’s chairperson, Badiur Rahman inaugurated the branch as chief guest while its managing director Md Habibur Rahman presided over the ceremony

NCC Bank Ltd has recently provided stipends to two meritorious students at Mymensingh Medical College who are not being able to fund their tuition, as part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility. The bank’s managing director and CEO, Golam Hafiz Ahmed handed over the scholarship to Dr Md Motiur Rahman, principal of Mymensingh Medical College at a simple ceremony held in Dhaka

Modhumoti Bank Limited has recently opened its 6th ATM Booth at Kanaipur in Faridpur.

The bank’s managing director and CEO Md Mizanur Rahman inaugurated the ATM booth

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

German business IMF chief: Germany should drive confidence hits economic recovery in Europe n 13-month low AFP, Geneva

n AFP, Frankfurt Germany’s Ifo business confidence index fell to the lowest level for more than a year in August, data showed on Monday, as Europe’s biggest economy continues to run out of steam.

The German economy is merely facing a soft patch, rather than an outright recession, analysts insisted.

The Ifo economic institute’s closely watched business climate index fell to 106.3 points in August from 108.0 in July.

It was the fourth monthly decline in a row, bringing the index to its lowest level since July 2013.

Companies “were again less satisfied with their current business situation. Also with regard to the further course of business, they are more sceptical than in the previous month,” said Ifo president Hans-Werner Sinn.

“The German economy is continuing to lose steam.”

Ifo calculates its headline index on the basis of companies’ assessments of current business and the outlook for the next six months. The sub-index measuring current business slipped to 111.1 points from 112.9 last month.

At the same time, the outlook subindex fell to 101.7 points, the lowest level since May 2013. Natixis economist Johannes Gareis insisted that the index “is way above its long-term average.

“All in all, today’s Ifo reading is still consistent with positive growth and, indeed, we expect the German economy to avert falling back into recession in the third quarter. Nevertheless, it is evident that the economy is losing some momentum,” Gareis said.

The government, too, remains optimistic in its outlook for Europe’s biggest economy, despite a contraction in activity in the second quarter, according to a report in the weekly Der Spiegel.

For the whole of 2014, the German economy could even notch up faster growth than the 1.8% it is currently predicting, the magazine said, quoting Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Protracted weakness

Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz said that Germany and the eurozone as a whole “entered a rough patch this summer.”

Both the crisis in Ukraine and the disappointing recovery in the eurozone were weighing on confidence and thus investment, Schulz said.

“German growth could still recover quickly if the tensions in Eastern Ukraine were to subside. But that remains a distant prospect, suggesting that economic weakness will persist,” he concluded.

Commerzbank economist Joerg Kraemer said the continued fall of the Ifo “is really problematic for the rest of the euro area, which is barely growing.”

The European Central Bank’s optimistic economic outlook was “crumbling” and could force the ECB to take further action, Kraemer said.

UniCredit analyst Andreas Rees said that although the Ifo reading “was the lowest level since July 2013, it is still quite impressive by historical standards. However, the recent rapid decline is definitely a reason for concern. Taken at face value, a significant growth deceleration is in the pipeline in coming months.” l

IMF chief Christine Lagarde wants Germany to play a bigger role in propelling economic recovery in Europe, she hinted in an interview broadcast yesterday, suggesting that German wages should rise.

Part of her remarks may be interpreted by personalities on the left of French politics as going in the same direction as criticism of French, German and European Union austerity policies

by French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg at the weekend.

Montebourg’s attack on the thrust of the French Socialist government’s policy caused a crisis on Monday when President Francois Hollande told Prime Minister Manuel Valls to form a new government.

Lagarde told Swiss public broadcaster RTS: “What I think is very important for Germany is to participate in the recovery movement in a very intense way. It has the means to do so.”

Describing the European economic recovery as “labourious”, the head of the International Monetary Fund stressed that the continent’s economic powerhouse had “room for manoeuvre”, as seen in recent wage negotiations.

“That leeway has been disclosed in the salary negotiations between the unions and the employers’ organisations,” she said, adding that “hopefully that movement will be amplified and will help propel the European recovery.”

Last month, Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann said that German wages had scope to rise by up to to three percent because “we are practically in a situation of full employment”.

But this runs counter to many on the German right, including Chancellor An-

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde holds a news briefing at the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington July 6 REUTERS

gela Merkel, who believe that low-wage policy has given the country its competitive edge.

But France, which remains mired in a stubbornly slow economic recovery, and other European states have argued that Berlin’s big foreign trade surplus is hurting them.

Since the start of the eurozone debt crisis in 2010, Germany has faced accusations that by not using its standing as Europe’s biggest economy to do more to kickstart growth, it is leaving strug-

gling partners in the lurch.

On Saturday, Montebourg criticised German austerity measures and warned that France would no longer “be pushed around.”

He told the Le Monde newspaper: “You have to raise your voice. Germany is trapped in an austerity policy that it imposed across Europe.”

Those comments follow Germany’s snubbing of a request from French President Francois Hollande earlier this month for an EU-wide shift of econom-

ic policy in order to encourage growth.

Asked by RTS how Europe should toe the line between “austerity” and “recovery”, Lagarde meanwhile said “a lot of austerity” had been put in action.

“We have seen a process of very strong budget tightening over the past three years,” she said, adding that “fortunately, in 2014 and 2015, this budget tightening is much weaker.

“We find that adjustment appropriate for the time being,” she said, stressing “more should not be done." l

Pressure builds within Fed to signal new policy course French economy minister n urges alternative to German austerity Reuters

Pressure is building within the Federal Reserve for officials to move as early as next month to more clearly acknowledge improvements in the US economy and lay the groundwork for the central bank’s first interest rate hike in nearly a decade.

According to some US central bankers and their close advisers, signs of economic resilience and growing anxiety about the risks of holding rates too low for too long have set the stage for an intense debate over rewriting their policy statement.

It is uncertain whether officials will use their upcoming meeting on Sept 16 and 17 to scrap key parts of the language they have been using to keep rate-hike expectations at bay, but if they do not, October looks like a good bet.

“Some shift of language is on the table, and should be on the table in the coming meetings,” Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart, a policy centrist, said in an interview.

While a handful of officials have argued for prompt changes, Lockhart said he thinks September “is still early.”

Adding, dropping or adjusting even a few words in the Fed’s post-meeting statement is a potentially treacherous task. A miscommunication by the world’s most powerful central bank could shock financial markets globally and, in a worst case, reverse the economic recovery it seeks to foster.

At issue is a 5-month old pledge from the Fed to keep benchmark rates near zero for a “considerable time” after it shelves an asset-purchase program in October.

A bank employee counts U.S. hundred dollar bills at Kasikornbank in Bangkok Another line that has drawn internal objections is the month-old statement that “significant” slack remains in the labor market, a suggestion that not even strong job growth and a further drop in unemployment will prompt a tightening of policy any time soon.

“The language puts us in a box that I think is not a good box to be in,” Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser told Reuters on the sidelines of the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole conference.

Plosser dissented against the “considerable time” line at the Fed’s last meeting in late July. Like fellow hawks at the central bank, he said he prefers “very simple, data-dependent” guidance that avoids timelines or calendar dates.

Wary eye on global growth

Aside from an unpredictable market reaction, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will

REUTERS

have to contend with a potentially uncooperative world economy that could upend US economic progress.

During the Jackson Hole meetings, central bankers from England, Europe and Japan described how their economies were healing more slowly than expected - and in Europe’s case, at risk of slipping backward.

Worse than a bout of inflation, Yellen does not want to raise rates only to have to shift gears if the economy slows. That means any change in language is not likely to mean rate hikes will come earlier or occur faster than currently envisioned.

As it stands, investors and the core of Fed policymakers expect to hold off raising rates until the middle of next year.

But a rhetorical shift would mark the start of a delicate transition as the

Fed plans how to close the book gently on six years of near-zero interest rates. At some point, it needs to shed key phrases it has used to describe the slack in the economy and prepare markets for the return to a more normal monetary policy.

In an address to fellow policymakers on Friday, Yellen gave more voice than usual to the possibility that economic conditions may tighten faster than expected. Coupled with increasingly loud calls from Fed hawks for a shift in course, her remarks suggested change was afoot.

“With a few exceptions, the data are mostly coming in to push everybody in a slightly more hawkish range,” said former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder, a professor at Princeton University who attended the conference. “The whole range is moving, so the midpoint is moving, and (Yellen) is moving.”

Minutes from the Fed’s last meeting in July revealed that several participants disagreed with parts of the statement, including the description of the degree of labor market slack and the likely timing of a rate hike. Those voices are only likely to get louder.

In her speech on Friday, Yellen nodded to the possible need to shift the tone soon.

“With the economy getting closer to our objectives, the FOMC’s emphasis is naturally shifting to questions about the degree of remaining slack,” she said of the Fed’s policy-setting committee.

“And thereby to the question of under what conditions we should begin dialing back our extraordinary accommodation.” l

n Reuters, Paris

The time has come for France to resist Germany’s “obsession” with austerity and promote alternative policies across the euro zone that support household consumption, firebrand French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said on Sunday.

Deficit-reduction measures carried out since the 2008 financial crisis have crippled Europe’s economies and governments need to change course swiftly or they will lose their voters to populist and extremist parties, Montebourg told a socialists’ meeting in eastern France.

“France is the euro zone’s secondbiggest economy, the world’s fifthgreatest power, and it does not intend to align itself, ladies and gentlemen, with the excessive obsessions of Germany’s conservatives,” Montebourg said.

“That is why the time has come for France and its government, in the name of the European Union’s survival, to put up a just and sane resistance [to these policies].”

Montebourg said consensus was growing among economists and politicians worldwide on the need for growth-oriented policies and mentioned his German socialist counterpart Sigmar Gabriel and Italy’s premier Matteo Renzi as potential allies.

He cited former president Charles de Gaulle and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as having effec-

tively spoken up to change the course of EU policies they opposed.

Montebourg said he had personally asked President Francois Hollande for “a major re-direction of our economic policy”. The government should now focus less on cutting debt than on supporting households to revive consumption, a traditional economic driver, he said.

Montebourg, who makes no secret of his own presidential ambitions, is known for his frequent attacks on austerity, but his latest comments are likely to embarrass Hollande, who despite mounting pressure said just days earlier he would not back away from his policy based on spending cuts and corporate tax breaks.

Hollande’s business-minded policies have alienated many left-wing lawmakers and voters already frustrated with his failed pledge to curb unemployment. He is now the most unpopular president in over half a century, with an approval score of 17% in the latest Ifop poll.

Hollande’s office declined to comment on what Montebourg said. A source close to Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Montebourg had gone too far.

“Firstly, there are declarations on economic policy and secondly, statements on our European partner Germany that are extremely harsh.

Therefore, considering the line has been crossed, the prime minister has decided to act,” the source said, giving no further details. l

Nut price surge could leave Nutella-lovers shelling out n AFP, Istanbul

Fans of chocolate spread Nutella or the hazelnut-filled Ferrero Rocher could soon be facing rising bills for their nutty treats because of poor weather in Turkey.

Prices of hazelnuts have surged in recent weeks after cold late winter weather and bitter frosts caused a poor harvest in the nut’s chief exporter Turkey.

The rise has been so sharp it risks driving up the prices of popular consumer products like chocolate spreads

DILBERT

or nut-filled chocolate bars.

Half of Turkey’s exports go to Germany and Italy, the headquarters of the Italian giant Ferrero, which owns brands like Nutella and Kinder and is the world’s largest buyer of hazelnuts.

Ferrero said in a widely-reported statement that it was “tracking this issue closely and there’s no foreseeable impact on the availability of Nutella”.

It may seem strange that the price of Nutella could be the victim of a cold snap on Turkey’s Black Sea coast,

which is the hub of the country’s hazelnut industry.

But this is the bitter reality after four hazelnut-producing Turkish provinces on the Black Sea -- Giresun, Trabzon, Rize and Ordu -- in March were hit by storms and unusual freezing weather, which destroyed part of the harvest.

Production of hazelnuts in Turkey usually amounts to 590,000 tonnes a year - three-quarters of global consumption. But this year production is set to fall to 370,00 tonnes, according to Turkish producers.

The fall in supply has already led to a spike in wholesale prices, which have climbed some 80%.

“Last year, the price of a kilo of hazelnuts was around six Turkish lira ($2.75). Now it has reached 11 lira ($5.0),” said Nejat Yurnur, head of a hazelnut factory in Ordu.

Buyers feel crunch

Ilyas Edip Sevinc, head of the exporters

confederation for the Black Sea region, said hazelnut groves lying at an altitude of 300 metres (1,000 feet) had lost up to 80 percent of their crop due to the bad weather.

“We are expecting a fall in our sales, even if we don’t yet have exact figures,” he said.

Sevinc warned that the problems would have a knock-on effect on the

Jars of Nutella are displayed on a shelf at a market on August 18 in San Francisco, California.

The threat of a Nutella shortage is looming after a March frost in Turkey destroyed nearly 70 percent of the hazelnut crops, the main ingredient in the popular chocolate spread.

Turkey is the largest producer of hazelnuts in the world AFP

global chocolate industry.

“All the hazelnuts sold in Turkey for abroad are used solely by the chocolate industry,” he said.

The head of the chamber of agriculture in Ordu, Ugur Corut, said that Turkish markets would remain wellsupplied, but international buyers would suffer a major hit.

The price of Nutella and other sweet hazelnut products rose when similar freezing weather hit hazelnut production in 2003 and 2004 in Turkey’s Black Sea region, according to Turkish media.

“Turkey exports hazelnuts to 120 different countries because these Turkish nuts are delicious,” Corut was quoted as saying by the Dogan news agency.

“This season there is a shortage of hazelnuts in Ordu and Giresun. This situation will hit the world market.

The nuts that we have from this season (2013-2014) will satisfy the Turkish domestic market,” he added. l