17 sep, 2014

Ashwin 2, 1421 Zilqad 21, 1435 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 166

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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7 | LONG FORM IMAGINED COMMUNITIES AND THE SCOTTISH REFERENDUM

QUIZ: WHO IS THE ARTIST OF THIS PICTURES?

‘Gunfight’ kills 88 in seven months n Mohammad Jamil Khan

As the media reports go, at least eight persons have been killed in “encounters” between law enforcers and “criminals” across the country over the last 45 days.

Statistics provided by the Ain O Salish Kendra says a total of 88 people have been killed in “encounters” in the last seven months of this year.

Of them, 27 were killed in gunfight with the Rapid Action Battalion, 43 with police, one jointly with RAB and police, five with DB police, two with RAB and BGB, three with coastguards and seven with the joint force.

Such killings first surfaced in 2004 soon after the formation of the elite crime-busting force RAB. In 2005 and 2006, at least 739 people were killed in such incidents.

At that time the then major opposition Awami League slammed the BNP-Jamaat government for extra-judicial killings and asserted that they would stop “crossfire” if voted to power.

When it came to power such killings did not seize to stop; rather 229 more people became victims of “crossfires” in 2009 alone.

In most of the cases, family members of victims termed the gunfights drama.

In a “gunfight” with the Detective Branch (DB) of police a youth from the capital’s Mugda area Mesbah Uddin Tarek alias Masud, 25, was killed last Sunday.

DB police, however, claimed that the victim was an illegal arms trader of Kadamtoli and Matuail areas of the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Verdict in Sayedee appeals case today

n Tribune Report The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is set to deliver its final verdict today in the appeals case against top Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, almost 18 months after the appeals were filed with the apex court.

It is the second appeal case in which the court is set to announce a judgement. It took five months to complete the hearing in Sayedee case whereas in the trial against Abdul Quader Molla it took only nine months to execute the final verdict after filing of the appeal.

On September 17 last year, the same bench handed down death penalty to

Jamaat leader Quader Molla for his involvement in crimes against humanity during the 1971 War of Independence.

Molla was executed on December 12.

Hailing from Pirojpur, Sayedee was handed down the death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal 1 on February 28 last year on two counts of crimes against humanity including for the killing of Ibrahim Kutti on May 8, 1971. The tribunal acquitted Sayedee from 12 other charges.

The tribunal desisted from giving sentences in six charges which were proved beyond reasonable doubt.

After the verdict, Sayedee filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on March 28 last year seeking acquittal from all the charges. The same day the government submitted a separate appeal demanding death for Sayedee in all the eight charges proved. On September 24, the apex court started hearing the appeals.

After concluding the hearing, the five-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain on April 16 kept the appeals case as CAV (Curia Advisari Vult), which means that the verdict will be delivered any day.

The other members are Justice SK Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury.

The Supreme Court’s website yesterday showed that the matter was on today’s cause list.

Study: Less than 1% of the population pays taxes n Tribune Report Despite recent improvements, the number of taxpayers continue to be a major concern for the government, with less than 1% of the population properly paying tax in Bangladesh.

It should not be any consolation for Bangladesh that 3% of Indians, less than 1% in Pakistan and only 0.3% people in Vietnam pay income tax, comprising the list of some of the lowest performing countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2014, prepared by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (Escap) of the United Nations, there are several reasons for this.

The governments in the developing countries like Bangladesh have exempted people with low incomes. Moreover, a large number of people work informally or in agriculture, making it hard for the authority to collect taxes.

However, the alarming reason is that wealthier individuals have continued to avoid paying tax because of non-compliance and poor implementation of laws.

According to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the tax authority in Bangladesh, at least seven million people earn enough to

pay taxes. Only 1.7 million of them has tax identification numbers (TINs).

Last year, only 1.1 million out of the TIN-holders submitted their income tax returns which is roughly 0.73% of the 150 million population in Bangladesh.

Last year, the amount of tax collected was 10.5% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Escap survey suggests that Bangladesh has the potential to collect up to 18% of the GDP as tax.

China collecting 19.4% of GDP as taxes in 2012, Thailand 18.8% in 2011 and Japan 17% in 2012 are some of the best performers in this grid from this region.

On different occasions, taxpayers have said the unfriendliness of the revenue officers and the complexities in the payment process discourage them. Reports of taxpayers getting harassed by revenue officials have been very common in this part of the world.

According to a survey conducted by non-government organisation Sushashoner Jonno Procharabhijan (meaning publicity campaign for good governance), 78% people thinks that the existing system in Bangladesh is not taxpayer-friendly and 63% said they felt discouraged because of the complexities in the system.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

INSIDE

9 | World

15 | Sport

3 | News

5 | News

4 | News

6 | Nation

Erratic weather, rising temperatures, declining water resources and labour shortages are threatening India’s Haryana state, forcing farmers to abandon age-old practices and adopt technology to ensure food supplies.

Despite recent improvements, the number of taxpayers continue to be a major concern for the government, with less than 1% of the population properly paying tax in Bangladesh.

Issuing machine readable passports to around 1.5 million Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia has become uncertain as the Malaysian outsourcing company, which was given the job, could not start the pilot project yet.

Australia has built an artificial pitch at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane to help its batsmen deal with spin-bowling on the slow tracks of the subcontinent, where they have so often struggled in the past.

The reopening of famed Rajshahi Silk Factory has become uncertain as the Privatisation Commission is determined not to leave it to the Ministry of Textile and Jute.

Belal Hossain was born blind. He firmly believed that begging was the sole way of earning a living, but his thoughts took a U-turn on Monday following the begger rehabilitation programme in Thakurgaon sadar upazila.

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

11 | OP-ED

B1 | BUSINESS

STRENGTH AND VULNERABILITY

INCOME TAX FAIR KICKS OFF, DRAWS HUGE CROWD

W H O M A K E S T H E L A W, B R E A K S T H E L A W

Although the law does not allow any establishment within 30 feet of either side of rail tracks, this market in Jurain of the capital, approved by the railway authorities themselves, exists within 10 feet. The photo was taken yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Khaleda hesitant to act against Moudud n Abu Hayat Mahmud BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was discontent with Moudud Ahmed’s recent controversial remarks on her party leadership, but was also hesitant on taking any stern action against the senior leader as it might create a fresh crisis for the party, a source close to the BNP chief has said.

Seeking anonymity, the party source told the Dhaka Tribune that Khaleda

had shared her anger and dissatisfaction about the contents of Moudud’s book with several party leaders including Nazrul Islam Khan, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee and Sultan Salauddin Tuku.

While holding talks with the party leaders, Khaleda said she did not understand why Moudud would make such comments in his book and criticised him for not consulting her before writing the remarks, the source added.

In his recently published book “Bangladesh Emergency and the Aftermath (2007-2008),” BNP Standing Committee Member barrister Moudud Ahmed claimed that Khaleda was more of a mother than a political leader during the emergency period in 2007-08 and was only concerned about the release of her two sons.

The source also told the Dhaka Tribune that BNP Joint Secretary General  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Bangabandhu satellite project okayed n Tribune Report The government has approved the country’s first satellite project, styled Bangabandhu 1, revising down its estimated cost to Tk2,967 crore, down 10.7% from its original cost of Tk3,253 crore.

The project revision came after the Finance Ministry objected the initial estimated cost.

The satellite project was one of the six projects that received the green signal of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the capital’s NEC conference room.

Of the total satellite project cost, the government will provide Tk1,315.51 crore and the rest of the Tk1652.44 crore will come form foreign assistance.

Although the project is expected to be completed by June 2017, sources inside the project have claimed that meeting the deadline would be impossible.

The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will implement the project by launching the satellite in space with broadcasting facilities, in a bid to make information and communication technology more available and upgrade the facilities to an international standard.

US-based company Space Partnership International is acting as an adviser of the project and has already made a design.

An official said the country will be able to save Tk110 crore yearly once the project was completed. The amount is now being paid to different foreign companies by the country’s 28 television channels for transmission. l

Activists of Gonojagoron Moncho again take to the streets of Shahbagh yesterday ahead of the verdict in the Sayedee appeals case

ACC summons 17 government officials to face interrogation n Adil Sakhawat The Anti-Corruption Commission is set to interrogate 17 officials of the Housing and Public Works Ministry on September 21-23 in connection with a case filed with Shahbagh police station.

The case was filed against former state minister of Housing and Public Works Ministry Alamgir Kabir and three others for their alleged involvement with embezzlement of Tk15 crore.

ACC Deputy Director Jatan Kumar Roy yesterday served notice to the government officials and asked them to appear before the commission on September 21, 22 and 23, an official told the Dhaka Tribune.

Executive Engineer Nurul Islam, Executive Engineer of Dhaka division Rafiqul Islam, Superintending Engi-

neer Nazrul Islam, former director Mehedi Hasan, former deputy director Abdul Kaiyum, former senior assistant secretary Sahabuddin and former sen-

They are asked to appear before the ACC on September 21-23 in a case involving Tk15 crore scam ior assistant secretary Benjamin Haider were asked to appear before the commission on September 21.

Besides, Superintending Engineer Sultan Ahmed, former deputy secretary FMA Monayem, former joint secretary Bijan Kanti Sarker and former secretary Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury were

No Jamaat hartal today n Manik Miazee

In a clear deviation from its previous stance, Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday did not announce a countrywide shutdown in response to the apex court’s setting today for delivering the verdict in the appeals case of Delawar Hossain Sayedee.

Before the last verdicts were delivered by the tribunal and the Appellate Division against the Jamaat leaders, the party – a key ally of the BNP-led alliance – called hartal on the verdict dates and went on a rampage.

Asked why they did not announce a hartal this time, the party’s Working Committee member Sayed Abdullah Mohammad Taher said they would decide on agitation programmes after the verdict was announced.

“If the verdict is given following due legal procedure then we will welcome it. But if not, tough actions will be taken in protest against the verdict,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Meanwhile, Jamaat acting ameer Maqbul Ahmed in a statement demanded immediate release of Sayedee. l

summoned to face interrogation on September 22 while former chairmen of National Housing Authority Abu Syed, ATM Ataur Rahman and Abdul Khaleque, former member Md Ikramuzzaman, Superintending Engineer Rafiqul Islam and Abdul Wahed Joarder on September 23.

Earlier, the commission served notice to four accused – Alamgir Kabir and NHA members (land and property management) Azharul Haque, Monsur Alam and Matiar Rahman – to appear before the commission on September 21.

The case was filed against the four for their alleged involvement with allocating seven acres of government land to Dhaka Reporters Unity at a nominal price in 2006. The land was allocated for only Tk3.38 crore, but its market value was Tk18.91 crore. l

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam who represented the state in the appeals case confirmed the matter. “Hopefully the convict will get death penalty.”

Asked about the opportunity to review against final verdict, he said: “It is already settled in the trial against Molla that in this matter no review is acceptable.”

Ahead of the verdict, a huge number of additional forces have been deployed on every major establishment across the country with special focus on Dhaka and Chittagong. Vigilance of intelligence agencies has also been increased. Special instructions were given to all the 56 check points and 16 police stations of the capital.

The security measures have been taken considering the violent reaction of Jamaat-Shibir men last year after the tribunal verdict against Sayedee.

In Chittagong, Border Guard Bangladesh personnel will be deployed from 6am today in 14 upazilas. Moreover, around 2,000 police members

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

The Escap reports says, for paying income tax once, people in Georgia have to meet tax officials 0.6 times on an average, Indonesia 0.2, and Vietnam 0.9 times. Bangladeshis, however, have to meet tax officials 1.3 times on an average, which means that the payment cannot be completed in one meeting, indicating that the tax administration system is not smooth and prone to corruption.

Although the government has always said it was keen to encourage people and make them aware of paying proper taxes, over the last two years,

capital. But there had been no case or general diary filed against Masud.

Even local people of Mugda area and family members are clueless as to why DB police picked him as he was known as a gentleman.

Abu Jafor Shikdar, the victim’s father, told the Dhaka Tribune that a team of DB police picked up Masud on Saturday night around 3.00pm.

“When we contacted DB police they told us to go to police. As we went to police they asked us to go to the Dha-

ka Medical College Hospital. We finally found Masud’s dead body at the DMCH” Monirul Islam, the DB joint commissioner, without giving any direct answer said they would be able to know what really happened after the investigation.

Just a day after the gunfight, Moghbazar triple murder prime suspect Kailla Babu was killed in another “gunfight.”

On August 8, a youth named Rajib Hossain was killed in crossfire with DB police in the capital’s Hatirjheel area.

Police, soon after the incident, claimed that Rajib was prime suspect in the re-

Police recovered 18 petrol bombs, five chocolate bombs, gunpowder, four machetes and 1,500 Jihadi books from two Shibir-dominated dormitories at Chittagong University yesterday afternoon.

During the drive, they also arrested Hasan, a third year student attached with Alaol Hall.

Ismail Hossain, officer-in-charge of Hathazari police station, said acting on a tip-off, police raided Abdur Rab Hall around 3:45pm and seized the explosive items.

In another drive at Alaol Hall, police recovered two machetes from rooms 337 and 437, the OC said. Police also seized around 1,500 Jihadi books and sticks from Uttara cottage and Masjid cottage in Gate 2 area. l

Ex-DMCH boss indicted for graft n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu Former director of Dhaka Medical College Hospital Brig Gen (retd) Bazle Quader and six others were indicted yesterday in a case filed for embezzling Tk2.31 crore.

Senior Special Judge Md Jahrul Haque rejected their bail and fixed October 15 to start the trial.

The other accused are ex-deputy direc-

the number of taxpayers has increased by only about 50,000.

No matter what the authorities said, publicity measures were generally focused on special annual days such as the National Income Tax Day, the Income Tax Fair, the Value Added Tax Day, Customs Day, and so on.

Former NBR chief Mohammad Abdul Majid told the Dhaka Tribune: “The board [NBR] should expand its activities on a rural level to raise awareness and encourage people to pay income tax. Many even do not know if their incomes are taxable or not. So, a massive

The attack came within a week of withdrawing police protection from Mostafa’s house. Moreover, over 200 Jamaat-Shibir activists vandalised the house of plaintiff of the case and witness Mahbubul Alam Hawlader in Pirojpur on October 28.

Activists of Gonojagoron Moncho last evening staged a sit-in programme in Shahbagh intersection demanding death penalty for the war criminal.

They are set to demonstrate at the same place again from this morning.

In the judgement, the tribunal stated that Sayedee used to sell oil-salt-onion at Parerhat Bazar in 1971 and was not economically stable but he could speak Urdu well. He was the man who had welcomed the Pakistani Army at Parerhat Bazar and formed local Peace Committee. He also actively participated in the atrocities committed by the Pakistani occupation forces and razakars against the pro-liberation people.

“This ordinary man one day became MP after he started his journey with Jamaat-e-Islami in 1979 as a general supporter. Sayedee is also known to all as

a renowned Oazin. Though, he spread many types of provocation to establish anti-liberal position in society.”

During the appeals hearing, both the state and the defence placed long arguments over Sayedee’s identity.

Attorney General Mahbubey said in his submission: “The defence has talked about Delawar Mallick or Delawar Shikder. They tried to get our witnesses to talk on the issue during the cross-examinations. But our witnesses have not said this anywhere.”

On that other hand, chief defence counsel Khandker Mahbub Hossain, also an adviser to the BNP chief, said: “The charges [brought against Sayedee] might be right. But Delawar Hossain Sayedee is not involved in these incidents. Delawar Sayedee has been charged instead of Delawar Shikder.”

After the end of hearing, Mahbubey prayed to the Appellate Division to affirm the tribunal verdict that sentenced Sayedee to death, saying all the charges against the convicted war criminal were proved beyond reasonable doubt. l

tired police official Fazlul Karim murder – a claim which the family denied.

In defence of such incidents the Joint commissioner said police fired shots in self defence. “Even police personnel get injured in such gunfights.”

Police chief Hassan Mahmood Khandker said if any allegation of extra-judicial killing is proved based on evidence then action would be taken against those involved in the incident.

The incidents of extra-judicial killings were on the decline after 2006 and it came down to 91 in 2012. According

to Ain O Shalish Kendra, 210 people were killed in 2004; 377 in 2005; 362 in 2006, 180 in 2007, 175 in 2008, 133 in 2010, 100 in 2011. In 2013 “crossfire” was coined as “gunfight” when around 208 people were killed.

Dr Mizanur Rahman, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, said extra judicial killing goes against the rule of law and democracy and it is in no way acceptable.

“Those responsible for such criminal acts must be given capital punishment to stop such practice,” he said. l

were positioned at 80 points of the port city to avert any violent agitation.

A key ally of the BNP-led alliance, Jamaat, however, did not announce any shutdown for the verdict day which they had done in the previous verdicts against party leaders.

At least 87 people including law enforcers were killed while thousands were injured across the country in attacks perpetrated by the Jamaat-Shibir men following the February 28 verdict in Sayedee case.

Jamaat supporters tried to spread propaganda through mosques’ loudspeakers that Sayedee was a holy figure and so his face was seen on the moon, in a bid to save Sayedee. People in Bogra and Chittagong came out of their houses after such announcements and set fire to government offices and attacked police stations in different areas.

A prosecution witness in the case named Mostafa Howlader succumbed to injuries on December 8 last year after he had been allegedly attacked by the Jamaat-Shibir men at his home in Pirojpur.

‘Gunfight’ kills 88 in seven months  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

n FM Mizanur Rahman

tor Foyzullah, doctors Atiur Rahman and Moshiur Rahman, two former accountants both named Nazrul Islam, and surgical instrument supplier Habibur Rahman.

On August 27, Atiur and Moshiur escaped from the dock of the courtroom after it rejected their bail petitions. On September 7, Atiur was sent to jail after surrendering to the court, while Moshiur remains a fugitive. l

Study: Less than 1% of the population pays taxes

Verdict in Sayedee appeals case today  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Bombs seized in CU dorms

publicity campaign can help improve the scenario.”

Prof Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of civil society think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told the Dhaka Tribune: “Many countries are now resorting to information and communication technologies for forensic auditing. Bangladesh have been trying to promote ICT in tax administration, but the implementation is still very insignificant and weak.”

He also said the large number of pending cases at the tax tribunals was another indicator of the complexities

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Body of a child recovered from Mohammadpur n Tribune Report Police recovered a body of a child around 11 years, from a field on road number 13 of Chandrima Housing of the Mohammadpur area in the capital on Monday.

The child could not be identified immediately.

Sub-Inspector of Mohammadpur police Ali Jahan told the Dhaka Tribune: “The deceased bore several injury marks on his body. He was wearing a T-shirt and his lungi was tied around his neck.”

SI Komol Krishno Saha on being informed said they recovered the body around 8pm on that day and sent it to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital morgue yesterday.

A case of unnatural death was filed by the police. l

in the existing administration.

The country’s apex trade body FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin said out of the 35 million businessmen in the country, only 1.34 million have electronic TINs. He suggested that the authorities would have to ensure service-oriented attitude among the officials.

“You [tax officials] have to bring changes in your behaviour. Moreover, there should be accountability and transparency in the tax collection system, otherwise it will not work,” he said. l

Khaleda hesitant to act  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi had criticised Moudud after receiving permission from Khaleda.

Rizvi recently slammed Moudud for writing the book in an attempt to “impress the government.” Also in a programme at the National Press Club yesterday, he claimed that some opportunist BNP leaders were acting as government agents, as part of a conspiracy to break up the party.

Meanwhile, party sources claimed that at the next BNP Standing Committee meeting, Khaleda Zia might discuss with her colleagues on three possible actions against Moudud: issuing a show-cause, revoking the leader’s Standing Committee membership, or expelling him from the party.

Asked about the issue, BNP Standing Committee Member Lt Gen (retired) M Mahbubur Rahman refused to comment, saying he had not read Moudud’s book yet. He, however, added: “If any mistake was made in the book, it will be presented at the party’s Standing Committee meeting. Madam [Khaleda] and all the committee members will make a decision.”

The BNP chairperson’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel, on the other hand, said: “Madam did not take any decision against Moudud Ahmed.

I think it is not a major issue. If it was major, madam would have called a Standing Committee meeting.”

He, however, admitted that most central leaders along with root-level leaders and activists were unhappy about the comments made by Moudud in his book.

Asked whether Khaleda had discussed the issue with other party leaders, he said discussion on Moudud’s

book had come up when several senior and mid-level party leaders had gone to meet the BNP chief on unrelated matters.

When asked about the issue, Moudud Ahmed claimed that Khaleda Zia could not blame him for not consulting her on the book, as it was not required for anyone to consult others before writing a book.

He added that the BNP chief was being misled by a section of party leaders on this issue.

“If madam reads the entire book, the misunderstanding that had been created will be resolved,” Moudud told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

On Monday, Moudud also termed Rizvi’s criticisms on his book “unexpected and unfortunate,” claiming that the contents of his book were aimed at pointing at the failures of the BNP during the emergency period, not to impress anybody.

In the book that was published last Saturday, Moudud wrote: “At that time [2007-08], the fate of her sons Tarique and Koko was the most important thing for Khaleda Zia. She was not ready to take part in any discussion until their freedom was ensured. She remained strong despite many different kinds of pressure. In those days, she was more of a mother than a leader of the people, BNP chairperson and a politician who was anxious about her sons’ freedom.”

Moudud also wrote that the BNP government’s ill-rule, widespread allegations of corruption, ties with Jamaat, the rise of militancy and its connection with some BNP leaders, and the power practice of Hawa Bhaban made voters turn away from the BNP. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

3

National Trauma Counselling Centre comes to little help n Udisa Islam Failure to apply the proper methods, shortage of skilled counsellors and lack of social security have held back the National Trauma Counselling Centre from rendering effective support to female victims.

Because of a lack of publicity, not only are most women not aware of the presence of the facility, many others who have actually consulted the counselling centre are not keen to go back.

A few months ago, Rista (not her real name) went to the NTCC seeking psychological counselling about some sexual complications that she had been having her husband.

She told this reporter that some unpleasant involuntary childhood sexual encounters that she had had with some of her close male relatives, had been causing problems now, especially when she had sex with her husband.

Counsellors sometimes work hastily and without the sensitivity and secrecy needed The NTCC also included her husband in the counselling plans and the psychologists talked to couple simultaneously in the same room.

After a number of sittings, the husband started behaving rudely with her because by then he had learned about Rista’s childhood experiences.

Rista then stopped taking counselling because she did not want to further jeopardise her conjugal life.

Researchers said such a counselling centre must also make sure that a victim would not face new problems after she shared her trauma. But the NTCC clearly failed to ensure that in case of Rista.

Professionals have told the Dhaka Tribune that the NTCC does not most of the prerequisites to give optimum support to victims of psychological trauma. They said such a support centre must have clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, legal advisors and arrangements for social security.

The psychiatrists are needed because clinical psychologists cannot prescribe medicines if need be. The legal advisors are needed in case anyone comes who is still going through abuse and need to take steps against the abuser. The social security arrangements are supposed to make sure that the identity

Two suspected war criminals held n Udisa Islam The law enforcers have arrested two suspected war criminals in Shibganj of Chapainawabganj for their alleged involvement in a case related to explosive and murder of a man in March this year.

Alleged razakars Mahidur Rahman, 84, a resident of Kaitanitola; and Afsar Hossain alias Chhutu, 65, from Rasunchak under Shibganj, were arrested on Monday night. Police disclosed the information yesterday.

The probe agency of the International Crimes Tribunal has been investigating the allegations of their involvement in crimes committed in the district during the 1971 Liberation War. Ashikur Rahman, OC of Shibganj police station, said they had arrested the duo for their alleged involvement in killing of a man in a bomb attack. The case was filed on March 26.

Sources in the probe agency said since they had been working on the matter since early this year, the police might hand them over to the agency. This will be the first case of war crimes in Rajshahi region.

MZ Altaf, the investigation officer in the case, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had started investigation against the duo and found preliminary evidence about their involvement in at least three acts of war crimes.

He said investigation against this duo was almost done. According to one charge, the suspects are responsible for the killing of 24 civilians at Chandsikari with the help of the Pakistani Army and razakars. The investigation officer already included the names of martyrs in his primary report.

During the war, Chutu was known as a killer in the locality as he used to shoot people who had been abducted the collaborators.

Altaf said they would place the suspects before the tribunal soon and submit progress report on the investigation. l

of a victim remains undisclosed.

However, papers show that that there are only two professional clinical psychologists at the NTCC. The centre does not have any post for a psychiatrist or a legal advisor at all.

When this reporter sought some information to use as case studies, the authorities gave her all the papers containing actual personal information about some victims.

Since its inception in 2009, the NTCC has so far given support to a total of 1,069 victims. In 2014, a total of 111 got support from here; most of them are old clients. No new victim had come for consultation in the first week of this month.

Generally, women from middle class families come here for trauma counselling. The NTCC has just a few unmarried clients who have come here with their boyfriends.

Some clients have complained that the psychologists at the support centre sometimes do not take the time needed for preparation before they start counselling.

Because there are not enough counsellors, they sometimes work hastily and without the sensitivity and secrecy needed for dealing with sensible personal information.

Ismat Jahan, one of the two clinical psychologists at the NTCC, claimed that they were not short of manpower.

However, she admitted that help from psychiatrists could be useful because they could not prescribe drugs.

Sometimes they need to make a patient stable by using drugs before starting the counselling.

Psychiatrist Mohammad Asif told the Dhaka Tribune: “A psychologist and a psychiatrist should together deal with a psychological condition. That is the only correct practice. There is not scope of any compromise. The psychologists cannot prescribe drugs and the psychiatrists are not trained for counselling. So, they need to work together as a unit during counselling sessions.”

Ayesha Khanom, president of women’s rights body Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, said counselling was not an easy thing by any stretch of the imagination.

Criticising the methods used at NTCC, she said: “If those who are working there think that a common method should work equally well for all, then they are wrong. Morever, the centre should also be equally focussed on ensuring social and familial rehabilitation for a victim to guarantee full recovery.” l

Mother of Sumaiya Akhter, a schoolgirl who was found hanging inside the residential hall of Halima Sadia Mahila Madrasa in Lalbagh, burst into tears while attending a human chain demanding justice for her daughter in front of the National Press Club in the capital yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Dhaka for creating regional public goods in BCIM for direct impact n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Government officials, experts and academics have put their heads together to give the BCIM EC national plan a final shape to be submitted in its second joint study group meeting in November.

“In the national study plan, we have emphasised on creating regional public goods so that it has direct impact on the well-being of the people in the region,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.

A review seminar on the BCIM national plan was held yesterday at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies where participants made presentations on seven thematic areas and organisational structure.

Energy, connectivity, investment and finance, trade in goods and service, poverty alleviation and social and human development, sustainable development, and people-

Witness: Jabbar called meeting to save Pakistan n Udisa Islam A new witness in the trial against former Jatiya Party lawmaker Abdul Jabbar yesterday said the accused called a meeting during the 1971 Liberation War to save Pakistan and called for eliminating the supporters of Awami League, freedom fighters and Hindus, terming them “enemies of the country.”

Md Siddique Matobbor, 60, the fourth prosecution witness, mostly corroborated the depositions of previous witnesses on charges 1, 2, 4 and 5.

Siddique told the International Crimes Tribunal 1 the incident where razakars, following the instruction of Jabbar, had detained 150 to 200 Hindus from Phuljhuri village, converted them to Islam and forced them to eat beef.

The witness said on May 16 of 1971, accused Jabbar held a rally around 11am on Tushkhali High School ground from where he had ordered to bring freedom fighters Abdur Razzak and Motaleb

Sharif dead or alive.

He also described the atrocities in Angulkata village. He said: “In the morning of October 6, about 40-50 razakars led

by Jabbar went to Angulkata village and detained 37 Hindus. Among them seven were set free. They opened fire on the detainees and killed 22 people.”

After his deposition, state-appointed defence counsel Mohammad Abul Hasan questioned him and the tribunal 1 adjourned the hearing until today leaving the cross-examination incomplete.

Earlier, Hasan concluded cross examining third witness Abdul Mekar who gave his deposition on Monday.

Meanwhile, Investigation Officer Motiur Rahman in the trial against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Abdus Subhan started placing his deposition yesterday. After half an hour, when he said he had started the investigation halfway, the tribunal asked the prosecution to place the other investigation officer first. l

SC dismisses Alim’s appeal n Ahmed Zayeef The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday declared the appeal proceedings of Abdul Alim defunct since the war crimes convict has died.

A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the order in response to a plea filed by Alim’s counsel.

The court termed the appeal proceedings “abated” since Alim had died.

Any petition shall abate on the death of a petitioner.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam moved for the state while Joynul Abedin Tuhin for Alim.

Mahbubey said: “Alim’s lawyer formally informed the court that he is

dead. Then the court abated the appeal petition.”

Tajul Islam who moved for Alim in the tribunal told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is the duty of the state side to inform the court formally that Alim died. But they did not so.”

On August 30, the former BNP minister of Gen Ziaur Rahman cabinet died at the Intensive Care Unit of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Alim was sentenced to jail until death by the International Crimes Tribunal 2 on October 9 for committing crimes against humanity in Joypurhat during the 1971 Liberation War. On November 7, Alim lodged an appeal with the Appellate Division challenging the verdict. l

to-people contact are the seven thematic areas.

The first joint working group meeting held in Kunming, China last December decided that four countries would prepare their own national plan

The intra-BCIM trade was only $6 billion in 2001, but it shot up to $90 billion in 2011, where China-India bilateral trade was $70 billion, about 77% of the trade figure in a common format which would be shared and discussed at the second meeting in Cox’s Bazar on November 12-13.

BCIM is not a traditional business bloc as it is circled around a corridor to connect growth and nodal

centres of the four countries, Shahidul said.

“In the meeting, all countries will present their reports and after synthesising, one report will be prepared where recommendations of the members will be incorporated,” the secretary said.

At the third working group meeting in Kolkata next year, the synthesised report would be adopted, he said.

The corridor will integrate the economies, enhance competitiveness and harness potential.

The intra-BCIM trade was only $6 billion in 2001, but it shot up to $90 billion in 2011, where China-India bilateral trade was $70 billion, about 77% of the trade figure.

BCIM EC, an initiative under the track II diplomacy, elevated to track I when China and India in May last year publicly announced that they would use the framework to boost connectivity in the region and it was welcomed by Bangladesh and Myanmar. l

10 including Ansarullah chief chargesheeted n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu Police yesterday submitted a charge sheet against 10 alleged militants, including banned Islamic outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team chief Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani, in a case filed under the anti-terrorism act with Mohammadpur police station in the capital.

Abdul Latif Sheikh, officer-in-charge for investigation at Mohammadpur police station, submitted the charge sheet with the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court mentioning 27 prosecution witnesses in the case.

The charge sheeted accused Mufti Jasimuddin Rahmani, Md Saiful Islam alias Prince, Abu Hanif, Aminul Iislam, Jahidur Rahman, Ali Ahmed, Priyas alias Abdullah Al Asadullah, Jonnan Sikdar, Kazi Mohammad Rezaul Sharif and Naimul Hasan. All of the accused were members of the militant outfit.

As par the case statement, the accused were arrested at Katasur in Mohammadpur area on August 24 last year when they were holding a clandestine meeting to plan a conspiracy against state. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Issuing MRP to 1.5 million migrants in KSA uncertain

Assistant Judge found dead in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong An assistant judge was found dead at his second wife’s house at Mollapara under Halishohor police station in Chittagong yesterday.

Kazi Abdul Asif Fayez, who had been serving in Naogaon, was declared dead after his wife Sanjida Ahmed Mishu took him in an unconscious condition to Chittagong Medical College and Hospital around 6pm.

His wife Mishu claimed that her husband had killed himself.

However, police said they could be sure whether it is a murder or a suicide only after an autopsy is carried.

CMCH police outpost’s Assistant Sub-Inspector Pankoj Barua said they have kept Sanjida in custody for interrogation.

The body was sent to the hospital morgue for autopsy. l

Outsourcing company yet to start pilot project As per agreement, entire work has to Bangladeshis in the kingdom. But n Rabiul Islam be started within three months. And a unofficial sources said there are around

20,00,000 Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia.

The official added around 400,000 MRPs have been issued among the Bangladeshis by the embassy.

Huge number of Bangladeshi migrant workers would be in trouble if they are not issued MRP before ICAO deadline.

“We have selected 16 officers but they could not go to Saudi Arabia for carrying out MRP jobs as they are not getting diplomatic passport,” MRP project director Brig Gen Md Masud Rezwan told the Dhaka Tribune recently.

“We could not provide visa to the officials and as a result the company could not start work,” state minister for home Asaduzzaman Khan told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.

He hoped the company would be able to start work on issuing passport.

“We have requested the Saudi Authorities to allow additional manpower for issuing MRP to our migrant workers,” Bangladesh ambassador to Saudi Arabia Md Shaidul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune over phone from Saudi Arabia yesterday. l

Issuing machine readable passports (MRPs) to around 1.5 million Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia has become uncertain as the Malaysian outsourcing company, which was given the job, could not start the pilot project yet.

Officials at Bangladesh Embassy in Malaysia said the migrants would not be able to change their professions without MRP. Manual passport would not be acceptable while Saudi authorities would not endorse documents without MRP. Ultimately, the migrants would become illegal, the officials added.

Moreover, without MRP the migrants would not be able to travel after November 2015, the deadline has been set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which has made MRP mandatory for all nationality across the world.

To issue MRP to Bangladeshis in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the government signed an agreement with IRIS on July 21, 2014.

IRIS is to start the pilot project within 30 days since entering the agreement.

migrant has to pay $9 dollars for receiving MRP. But the company is yet to start the pilot project. IRIS would collect MRP enrollment data and distribute MRP passports among Bangladeshi citizens.

Abductor held red-handed n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Minister: Pinak 6 probe report to be made public soon

Police arrested an abductor while receiving ransom money in Rajshahi’s Puthia upazila on Monday night.

Puthia police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Bazlur Rashid said they arrested Salam in the act of receiving the ransom money sent through bkash at a shop called Sumon Store in the upazila around 10pm.

He said a case was filed in this connection. Apart from Salam, Sohel, son of Anwarul of the upazila’s Fulbari village, was accused in this case.

OC Rashid said they had sent Puthia municipality unit Swechchhasebak League President Abdus Salam to jail through court yesterday noon. l

Huge number of Bangladeshi migrant workers would be in trouble if they are not issued MRP before ICAO deadline Preferring not to be named, a local representative of IRIS said, “We are ready to start the work but we cannot not do so unless Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) officials reach Saudi Arabia”.

The representative also said the DIP officials would verify the applicant’s document, and afterwords the IRIS would work on data entry.

A senior official at Bangladesh embassy in KSA said as per Saudi government claim, there are 13,00,000

n Mohosinul Karim The official probe report on the Pinak 6 launch capsize would be made public within a couple of days, while stern action would be taken against those responsible for the disaster, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan has said.

All information from the probe findings would be disclosed publicly on the Shipping Ministry website, as the government does not intend to hide anything regarding the tragedy, the minister told reporters yesterday at his secretariat office. Once the report is made public, the probe committee chief, in presence of the minister, would also brief the media about the findings of the investigation.

Based on the recommendations from the probe body, the government has

already begun preparations for taking stern action against those responsible for the launch capsize, Shahjahan said.

“At the same time, the government will take initiatives to implement the recommendations of the probe body to avoid such incidents in future,” he added.

On Sunday, the probe body members led by its chief Nur-Ur Rahman, also a joint secretary to the Shipping Ministry, submitted its report on the Pinak 6 launch capsize to the shipping minister and the ministry’s secretary.

Asked whether the government considered it a failure for not being able to salvage the capsized vessel despite having modern equipment, Shahjahan said: “I do not think so. It is not a failure of the authority or administration.

It [the capsize] was caused because of natural calamity and strong current in

BNP leader Taimur gets bail n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Workers construct an iron frame for commercial billboard on an old building without taking adequate safety measures in the capital’s Kaptan Bazar area yesterday. Such heavy structures on weak infrastructure caused several accidents in past SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

the river Padma.

“Our people could not reach the sunken launch because of strong current. However, we have tried our level best. It was possible as we have imported several modern equipment. We are also planning to buy more modern instruments for the shipping sector,” he added.

Citing the example of the missing Malaysian aircraft, the minister said: “Despite having modern technologies and involvement of several developed countries on searching the aircraft, they could not find it yet. So, what could we do by using such instruments that we have?”

On August 4, the Pinak 6 sank in the Padma near Mawa in Munshiganj along with over 200 passengers.

According to official data, the bodies

of 49 passengers have been recovered so far, while 62 people as well as the sunken vessel remain missing.

Meanwhile, seven seafarers – who recently returned home after being held hostage by Somali pirates for three years – received financial support from the government yesterday.

Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan handed over cheques of Tk5 lakh to each of the seven hostages. The recipients are Golam Mostafa, Aminul Islam, Habibur Rahman, Zakir Hossain, Eman Sarker, Abul Kashem Sarder and Nurul Huq. The minister said the monetary help was given from a welfare fund for seamen.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam was also present during the handover of the cheques. l

Comprehensive tiger census by 2016 n Mushfique Wadud

Workers conduct topographic survey in the capital’s Shabagh intersection yesterday to prepare the Dhaka Metro Rail route map RAJIB DHAR

The 13 tiger range countries have agreed to conduct a comprehensive tiger census by 2016 to determine the animal’s population and habitat status as they work to double the wild tiger population by 2022.

The agreement came at the conclusion of the 2nd Stocktaking Conference of The Global Tiger Recovery Program held at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, which ended yesterday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the three-day conference that began on Sunday.

The declaration on the comprehensive census said the countries agreed to undertake reserve-specific tiger monitoring using camera traps, DNA analysis to ensure transparency, and other intelligent technologies to build up national tiger databases.

Some 140 tiger experts from over 20

countries participated at the conference. Senior government officials from the 13 tiger range countries attended the conference to review progress towards the goal of doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022, known as Tx2.

The 13 tiger range countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The delegates agreed that tiger range countries would engage local communities in tiger protection to reduce human-tiger conflict. They also agreed to increase investment in and professionalise front-line wildlife protection staff so that Zero Poaching could be achieved.

In a press release, Mike Baltzer, head of the World Wildlife Fund Tigers Alive Initiative, hailed the governments for agreeing to hold a comprehensive census, saying it was a crucial step to achieving Tx2. l

Enclave people: Execute Committee formed to decide abandoned properties’ future Indira-Mujib pact n Our Correspondent, Kurigram A large number of people living in Indian enclave Dashiar Chhara under Phulbari upazila brought out a procession in Kurigram town yesterday demanding rapid implementation of the Indira-Mujib Border Agreement ‘74 and exemplary punishment to drug smugglers who are opposing the pact.

Under the banner of India-Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Co-ordination Committee (IBEECC), they arrived at the office of Kurigram Deputy Commissioner Imtiaz Hossain at noon.

They placed a memorandum to the DC demanding the drug smugglers working to thwart the treaty’s implementation be punished.

General Secretary of IBEECC’s Ban-

gladesh part Golam Mostafa said Assistant General Secretary of the Indian part of the committee Diptiman Sen Gupta, in a rally on September 11, announced to protect the smugglers.

“We expect that the Indian government will implement the agreement but some drug smugglers have got in the way. The majority of the enclaves have become safe havens for smuggling and taking drugs,” Mostafa said.

“The drug smugglers do not want to have the treaty implemented because they cannot carry on with their business once the deal is implemented,” he added.

A number of drug smugglers vandalised the IBEECC office at Dashiar Chhara early on Monday. The enclave dwellers brought out a stick procession on the day in protest of the incident. l

n Mohosinul Karim

The government has taken initiatives to examine the necessity of announcing the abandoned properties as khas properties (government-owned lands) 43 years after the independence of the country.

A seven-member committee headed by the Director General 1 of the Prime Minister’s Office was formed on September 11 to make recommendations to the government in this regard.

The committee was tasked with identifying and estimating the exact amount of abandoned properties in the country that comply with the Bangladesh Abandoned Property (Control, Management and Disposal) Order 1972.

Other members of the committee include joint secretary-level represen-

tatives from Land, Commerce, and Housing and Public Works Ministries, legislative and parliamentary affairs division, and representatives from the offices of the attorney general and the deputy commissioner of Dhaka.

The committee was given six weeks to submit its report to the PMO. The gazette notification issued by the PMO read: “The committee will examine the necessity of announcing abandoned properties as khas lands and make suggestions about the process of making the announcement, if necessary.”

According to Land Ministry officials, the government has details of the vested properties in the country but there has been no estimation of abandoned properties in the 43 years of independence.

Most of the abandoned properties were occupied by influential people in-

volved in politics or holding administrative positions, making it really hard for the government to recover those from them, said the officials, adding that the latest move came in the wake of that.

According to the Abandoned Property (Control, Management and Disposal) Order 1972, an abandoned property means any property owned by any individual who does not stay in Bangladesh, or whose whereabouts are unknown, or who is no longer occupying, supervising or managing the property personally, including any person who was engaged in military operations against the country during the 1971 War of Independence.

A property in possession or under control of the government under any law for the time being in force will also be considered an abandoned property. l

A Dhaka court yesterday granted bail to Taimur Alam Khandakar, president of Narayanganj district unit of BNP and chairman of Bangladesh Jatiya Badhir Sangsthya, in a case filed over a disputed property at Bijaynagar in the capital.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Rezaul Karim granted bail after Sub Inspector Md Wahiduzzaman, who is the investigation officer of the case, produced Taimur before the court seeking a 5-day remand for interrogation.

Taimur’s counsel Md Sanaullah Miah filed a bail petition along with a remand rejection prayer from the court.

On September 11, Sayed Ruhul Arefin filed a case with Paltan police where he said some 10/12 people, led by Taimur, attacked him at Meherba Plaza in Paltan and vandalised power plant machines and other valuables.

Meanwhile, the BNP-led alliance yesterday issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the government to free Taimur, or otherwise they would enforce a dawn-to-dusk strike in Narayanganj on Thursday.

Earlier on Monday, police arrested Taimur from Meherba Plaza office at Paltan area in connection with the case. l

Charge framed against Chhatra Dal president n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday indicted Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal President Abdul Kader Bhuyan Jewel and four others in a case filed over hurling crude bombs on the residence of Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu on June 9.

Dhaka special Tribunal 10 Judge Masud Parvaj framed the charges against the five JCD men and also fixed October 23 to start trial of the case.

Apart from Jewel, JCD Central Committee member Akil Mahmud and JCD Titumir College Unit leader Mahbubul Alam, Dhaka North Unit JCD Senior Vice-President Sharif Uddin, Mirpur Unit JCD leader Firoz Miah have been named in the case. Of the accused, Sharif and Firoz Miah are on the run while the remaining three appeared before the court and claimed themselves innocent.

On September 22 last year, DB Inspector Nibaran Chandra Barman submitted the charge sheet.

Earlier on June 30 last year, Akil Mahmud and Mahabubul Alam confessed that they had carried out the attacks on the direction of the Dhaka Uttar unit JCD president.

They also told the magistrate that they had been assured of providing with higher positions in the organisation in exchange for carrying out the attack. l

Product fair at the German Club n Tribune Report German Development Cooperation along with their partner TARANGO is organising a product fair on September 17, 2014 at German Club in Gulshan.

The fair is a joint collaboration of GIZ and TARANGO which aims to create sustainable income generating opportunities for vulnerable women, including Rana Plaza victims, through a collection of handicrafts out of recycled cement bags and jute fabrics which will be exhibited at the end of a presentation and be up for sale at the fair.

Individuals and organisations willing to attend the fair should contact mobile email: naaz.fahmida@giz.de or 01758876011. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Reopening of Rajshahi Silk Factory uncertain n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi The reopening of famed Rajshahi Silk Factory has become uncertain as the Privatisation Commission is determined not to leave it to the Ministry of Textile and Jute.

Earlier in 2002, the factory, established in 1961, was shut down on the grounds that it was facing loss instead of adding any revenue to the state’s coffer.

This went under the aegis of the Privatisation Commission in 2007.

In August of 2008, Finance Minister AMA Muhith offered the reopening of the factory under the Public-Private Partnership. Bangladesh Bank had agreed to offer loan on easy terms. But they could not go ahead with their plan as the commission was not forthcoming.

In March of last year, Silk Board, Silk Research Institute and Silk Foundation were merged into Bangladesh Silk Development Board (BSDB).

After the Awami League government came to power for the second straight term, the Ministry of Textile

and Jute came up with move to reopen this factory in March of this year.

They wrote to the Privatisation Commission but the commission refused it, saying that since this silk factory was a losing concern and so as a statutory body, they themselves would take steps about this factory.

Bangladesh Silk Board’s CBA President Abu Selim told the Dhaka Tribune: “The factory had been doing quite well since it was equipped with modern equipment in 1996, but the government closed down the factory in 2002 on the grounds that there was no adequate capital to keep it functioning.”

“The present government is keen enough to reopen this factory, but the silk development board is not sincere,” he said.

BSDB Director General Swapan Kumar Pal said the BSDB’s Board of Directors had sat in a meeting with the textile minister in the chair in Dhaka city on September 4, when they decided that they would write again to the commission, asking them to return the factory. l

2kg gold seized in Jessore town n Our Correspondent, Jessore

Tight contest for a seat Experts stress training teachers at Rajshahi University on ICT for digital classrooms

Members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrested a man in possession of 12 gold bars weighing two kilograms from Durgapur area in Jessore town yesterday.

Rafiqul Islam, commander of BGB Benapole camp, said a patrol team of the border guard force had intercepted Tabibur Rahman, 45, son of Amir Ali of Ghiba village at Benapole port police station, in Durgapur area when he was going to Ghiba border point from Benapole town on a motorcycle.

The BGB personnel searched his body and recovered the gold bars worth around Tk20 lakh.

Tabibur confessed to BGB that he had been smuggling gold to India for a long time. He was later handed over to police. l

Two cosmetic factories fined n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi A mobile court of Rapid Action Battalion fined two fake cosmetic factories at Puthia in Rajshahi yesterday with Tk1.25 lakh for keeping unapproved and expired beauty products.

The mobile court led by Operation Officer of RAB 5, Rajshahi Khaleda Begum conducted drives at Modern Cosmetic and Madona Cosmetics in the afternoon and found the illegal and expired cosmetics.

Members of the elite forces also destroyed cosmetics worth around Tk7 lakh. l

WEATHER

LIGHT RAIN WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 6:00PM SUN RISES 5:46AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 35 32 34 34 34 33 34 31

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

27 26 26 26 26 25 26 26

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

35.4ºC Chuadanga

23.4ºC Rangamati

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zuhr Asr Magrib Esha

4:31am 5:45am 11:53am 4:18pm 6:02pm 7:16pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

n RU Correspondent

The ratio of students registered for admission tests and available seats at Rajshahi University (RU) is 43:1 for this year’s academic session.

This outstanding ratio number is for the contest of Honours courses for various faculties at RU. Public Relation Administrator of the University Professor Elias Hossain said: “This year, a total of 1,65,596 students have registered for admission tests for only 3,828 available seats under 8 units”.

Registration process for the tests was open from August 27 till September 14.

The admission test is scheduled to be held from October 19 to October 25.

RU Administration sources said 22,457 students have registered for

The Bangladesh Railway conducts an eviction drive and demolishes illegal structures along rail track at Jurain in the capital yesterday

A-unit under Arts faculty, 18,607 for B-unit under Law Faculty, 21, 957 for C-unit under Science Faculty, 25,271 for D-unit under Business Faculty, 30,165 for E-unit under Social Science Faculty, 16, 790 for F-unit under Life and Earth Faculty, 10,307 for G-unit under Agriculture Faculty, 20,028 for H-unit under Engineering Faculty and the highest number of students registered for E-unit under Social Science faculty.

The details of the admission tests are available at RU website, www.ru.ac. bd.

Registered students will be informed about routine and seat arrangement of the tests by SMS. This year, two new departments, International Relations (IR) and Banking and Insurance, are launched with 30 and 40 seats available for each department respectively. l

n Tribune Report Providing technological devices to classrooms might not bring any benefit if the teachers are not properly trained on using ICT (Information and Communications Technology) at classrooms and the study contents are not developed accordingly, discussants said at a seminar yesterday.

They said teaching practices in the country can be improved by a large scale through using ICT in classrooms and properly training the teachers to make idea of “digital classroom” a success, they said at the seminar on “Education, Technology and Women.”

British Council and English in Action jointly organised the two-day long seminar at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in the

capital that will end today.

Tom Power from Open University, UK, gave example of Myanmar where schools have ICT devices but progress is little.

Rokhsana Hossain from Save the Children shared the organisation’s experience on running a digital classroom project and said they had found that providing technological devices will bring no change if teachers were not properly trained about digital content.

Ananya Raihan, executive director of D Net, said collaboration between the public and the private sector was necessary for making classrooms digital.

Sharmistha Das, an adviser of English in Action, said there should be a coordination among the many programmes that are currently being

36 receive Meena Media Award n Afrose Jahan Chaity UNICEF honoured 36 media professionals for their contribution in championing child rights with the 10th Meena Media Award 2014 yesterday at capital’s Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.

The nominees were selected by a panel of judges under “creative” and “journalistic” categories divided into two age groups – under 18 and above 18.

This year around 500 entries came in from both print and broadcast media for the award.

Under creative category, Jannatul Nayeem and Mim Nowshin Nawal Khan won the first prize in the under 18 category while Ahmed Riaz came out first in the above 18 category.

Under the journalistic category, Jahid Islam and Jahidur Rahman won the first prize. The first, second, and third prize winners in each category received Tk50,000, Tk25,000 and Tk15,000 respectively. l

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

run on using ICT in education.

In his keynote speech, Anir Chowdhury, policy advisor (Access to Information Programmme) to the Prime Minister’s Office, said the government was working on providing proper trainings to teachers on digital content.

Anir said they had plans to involve the electronic media, particularly the Sangshad Television, in this regard.

While inaugurating the seminar, University Grants Commission chair A K Azad Chowdhury stressed on learning English language to progress with the project.

Among others, University Grants Commission chairman A K Azad Chowdhury, British High Commissioner Robert W Gibson and British Council Country Director Brendan McSharry spoke at the seminar. l

Arms trader shot in gunfight with police n Tribune Report

Recipients of the Meena Award 2014 pose for a photograph at a city hotel yesterday

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

An alleged firearms trader was shot in a gunfight with police at Purbo Kulgao under Baizid police station in Chittagong city early yesterday.

The victim, Manjurul Alam, 30, was admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), and a 7.65mm pistol was recovered from his possession, said Babul Chandra Bonik, officerin-charge of Baizid police station.

Acting on tip-off, a police petrol team intercepted a CNG-run auto rickshaw carrying Manjurul at Kalarpul area in Purbo Kulgao around midnight, the OC said.

Sensing the presence of police, Manjurul opened fire on the petrol team, and in retaliation police shot at him as well, hitting Manjrul with a bullet.

Later, police seized the US-made gun from him and sent him to the CMCH, the OC told the Dhaka Tribune. l

CNG-run auto-rickshaw Alarming rise of psychogenic illness among minors in Barisal drivers block Dhakan Chittagong Highway Our Correspondent, Barisal

Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong Drivers of the CNG-run auto rickshaw put up a barricade on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway at Mirsari upazila in Chittagong yesterday, protesting arrest of one of their fellows.

Imtiaz Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge of Mirsari police station, said an altercation had ensued between the members of the Coast Guard and a CNG driver on the highway on Monday night.

Members of the Coast Guard members filed a case accusing Firoz, 25, a CNG driver, and 15 to 20 persons on charge of obstructing police personnel in discharging duties.

Police then arrested Firoz and later on produced him before a Chittagong court yesterday morning.

As soon as the news of his arrest spread, CNG drivers put up a barricade on the highway in the Baratakia area of Mirsari upazila around 11:30am which created traffic jam stretching six kilometres on both sides of the highway, said Syed Jakir Hossain, officerin-Charge of Barwalia Highway police outpost.

On receiving information, police and local administration rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

“The agitating CNG divers lifted their blockade following the assurance of local administrations,” said the OC. l

Psychogenic illness is manifesting itself with symptoms such as difficulty in walking, fever, nervousness, weakness and nausea has increased alarmingly among schoolgirls in Barisal with hundreds of girls affected by, it much to the distress of parents.

Having been affected by the illness many students have stopped coming to schools which obviously hampers their academic career.

Over 100 teenagers, mostly girls, have been affected with by disease at Gournadi, Agoiljhara and Babuganj upazilas of Barisal and Kalapara upazila in Patuakhali.

Currently, many of them are undergoing treatment at a local health complex and also in Barisal Sher-e- Bangla Medical College Hospital.

A seven-member team from Insti-

tute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) led by Dr Dilruba Begum, senior scientific officer, visited and met with the affected students at Gournadi upazila health complex at Ashukathi on Monday.

In Gournadi upazila, 92 students, mostly girls, from AN School of Mahilara and Nalchira School of Nalchira, have been treated at Gournadi upazila Health Complex, said Dr Moslem Uddin, upazila health officer.

Yusuf Khandokar, a parent, said her teenaged daughter Israt Jahan was affected with the disease last week and she had received treatment at Galaxy Medical College Hospital, Dhaka for a few days. Lamia, a student of class VIII at Nalchira School, said she had been suffering from chest pain and convulsion since last Friday.

Pronoy Kanti Adhikari, headmaster of Mahilara School, said attendance at

his school had declined to a great extent. On Monday, Only 105 students out of 1,275 attended classes.

Nurul Alam, headmaster of Nalchira High School, said only 102 out of 825 students present at his school on that due to fear of spreading the disease.

Bibekananda Hawladarr, acting headmaster of Mollapara School in Agoiljhara, said eight students of his school were treated and six of them admitted to Agoiljhara upazila health complex with MPI symptoms.

Besides, 11 students of Altaf Memorial School under Babuganj upazila reported as MPI victim.

Six students of Hazipur School at coastal Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali were affected with the disease.

Dr Aminul Islam, residential officer of Kalapara health complex, advised that the patients be isolated when they are being treated. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

61 beggars given shelter, Tk61 lakh each in Thakurgaon

Ten to die for murder

n Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur District and Sessions Judge’s Court yesterday sentenced 10 people to death for killing a schoolgirl in 2012.

According to police sources, criminals killed the schoolgirl Sima Rani after gang rape at Basudouhida village in Sadar upazila on 28 July, 2012. Later, grandfather of the girl filed a case accusing 25 persons. Police submitted a charge sheet on 25 March, 2013 in this connection. The court led by Manzurul Basid handed down the verdict after examining witnesses and evidences. l

The project will be role model in eliminating poverty it would a role model in n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon successful, eliminating poverty.

Belal Hossain was born blind. He firmly believed that begging was the sole way of earning a living, but his thoughts took a U-turn on Monday following the begger rehabilitation programme in Thakurgaon sadar upazila.

Jogeshwar, Joynob Bewa, Darajul and Sagor Chandra, four other beggars of the upazila, had the same realisation following the programme. They have already started to dream of changing their lives through the programme.

Financed by Palli Karma Sohayok Foundation (PKSF), the beggar rehabilitation programme was being implemented by local non-government organisation Echo-Social Development Organisation (ESDO).

ESDO Manager Monir Hossain said a total of 61 beggars of Auliyapur union would be rehabilitated under the project worth around Tk61 lakh.

Economist Dr Muhammad Shahiduzzaman said if the project became

Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Chandra Biswas distributed deeds of homestead, cows, cash, shops and houses worth Tk1 lakh to each of the five beggars.

Union parishad Chairman Jaforullah said primarily five beggars were selected following five investigations by different organisations.

During Monday’s programme, Sadar upazila Chairman Toimur Rahman and UP Chairman Jaforullah were also present.

Among the five beggars, Jogeshwar was given land, a new house, betel-nut shop and Tk5,000 cash; Joynob was given two cows, cattle feed, grocery shop and Tk17,000 cash; Sagor was given two cows, new house, shop and Tk7,000 cash; Darajul was given two cows, new house, betel-nut shop and Tk7,000 cash; and Belal was given grocery shop and Tk20,000 cash during the programme. l

Hospital vandalised by patient’s relatives n Our Correspondent, Comilla Relatives of a patient vandalised the Upazila Health Complex in Chauddagram and assaulted on-duty doctors and other hospital staff yesterday. The hospital staff observed an hour work abstention protesting the attack yesterday. Dr Monirul Islam, resident doctor of the health complex, said an injured man from Ramra area of Chauddagram was brought to the health complex around 12am yesterday.

After giving him first aid, the doctors referred him to Comilla Medical College.

When the patient’s family members asked for the ambulance, the hospital authority told them that the ambulance of the hospital was not working.

The hospital authority and patient’s relatives got involved in an altercation regarding the issue and at one point Mizan, 18, and Shakil, 19, vandalised the emergency ward of the hospital.

When Dr Shawkat Mahmud, Dr Mezbah Uddin and health assistant Sirajul Islam tried to deter them, they were attacked too. The vandalisers also beat up two other hospital staff Sribas Chandra and Masud.

Officer-in-Charge of Chauddagram police station Uttam Kumar Chakrabarti told the Dhaka Tribune that Dr Monirul Islam lodged a case against Mizan, Shakil and 25 other unnamed people.

Police were trying to arrest them, he added. l

Robber killed in shoot out n Tribune Report An alleged robber was killed in a ‘gunfight’ with police on Kaliganj-Chuadanga road in Kaliganj upazila yesterday.

The deceased was identified as Matiar Rahman, 45, son of Nekbar Hossain of Gobrapara in Harinakunda upazila of the district. l

Stolen idols found n Our Correspondent, Feni

The picture shows a beggar is given a cow yesterday as part of a beggar rehabilitation programme in Thakurgaon’s Auliyapur union DHAKA TRIBUNE

Four found dead n Our Correspondent, Gazipur Police recovered the bodies of four people, including a newborn baby, from different areas in the district yesterday.

The deceased are auto-rickshaw driver Monir Hossain, 30, piling trader Shasuddin Mia, 50, son of Abdul Halim of Kaliakoir upazila and Abdul Motaleb. The identity of the newborn baby could not be known immediately.

Joydebpur police station Sub-Inspector Monjurul Haque said: “A group of five hijackers

rented Monir’s auto-rickshaw around 11pm and at one point they stabbed him indiscriminately on the way.”

He died while he was being taken to hospital. Kaliakoir police station SI said Rafiqul Islam said: “The police recovered Samsuddin’s body around 8am.”

Police recovered the body of a newborn baby from the veranda of a mosque at Salna area in the morning, he said. SI Kamal Pasha of Naojor Highway police outpost said the police had recovered the body of security guard Motaleb at night. l

NEWS IN BRIEF AL leader held with firearms Detective branch of police arrested the Secretary of Awami league’s Nawapara unit Abdul Wadud Sheikh and his associate Robi in Jessore yesterday, and recovered 2 pistols, several rounds of bullets and bombs from them. Sub-inspector of Jessore DB police Murad said acting on information, a team of DB police took position in front of one Kesmat’s house in Mahakal area of the upazila and found Wadud and Robi waiting on a motorcycle there. DB police searched them and recovered two 9mm pistols, five rounds of bullets and six bombs from them. The SI said the arrested were waiting there to kill someone and but he refused to disclose the possible target for the sake of further investigation.

– Our Correspondent, Jessore

Newborn found dead

Railway police recovered a body of a newborn baby from a train compartment in Jamalpur yesterday. Locals said passengers found an abandoned carton in a compartment of the Bhawalgarh express which reached Dewanganj station of Jamalpur from Dhaka. When the locals informed the Railway police, they recovered a body of a newborn baby from the carton. SI of Jamalpur staion Hossain confirmed the incident. – Our Correspondent, Jamalpur

4,441 bottles phensedyl recovered

BGB members recovered 4,441 bottles of phensedyl from the Notunhat area near the Jessore-Benapole road yesterday and arrested three smugglers in connection with the incident. The arrested were Hridoy Mia, 19, Imran Hossain, 20 and Iman Ali, 18. Commander of BGB-26 Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Jahangir Hossain said they stopped a covered van without any numberplate in front of the Notunhat Public College and recovered the bottles from a hidden compartment inside the car.

– Our Correspondent, Jessore

Police recovered four idols yesterday which were stolen from Lemua Joldas Para Mandir on 31 August.

According to police sources, the miscreants stole four idols from the temple at night.Police lunched a drive to nab the culprits and held a person named Nur Karim in this connection. Later, the police recovered the idols from near the bank of a river over his confessional statement. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

7

Imagined communities and the Scottish referendum The case for Scotland’s independence is not only an ethnic demand but a demand for a people to be freed from the kind of policy environment that London has created for Scotland

T

n Garga Chatterjee he goras or firingis (the white people, Europeans) who ruled over large parts of the subcontinent for centuries, often appear to the browns as an undifferentiated mass.

That there are different shades of Goras too, should have been apparent from Ireland, long a part of the “United” Kingdom and yearning equally long to be free from being ruled from London.

The Irish proclaimed a Republic in 1916, and waged an armed struggle against the London government from 1919 to 1921 that ended with the British government being forced to sign a treaty leading to the formation of the Irish Free State. A new constitution was put to a public referendum and was ratified by the people. Those Irish who were London loyalists managed to secede from the Irish Free State and continue to remain a part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland.

Our subcontinent has not been that fortunate. In 1943, when Subhash Chandra Bose proclaimed a provisional government of Free India called “Hukumat-e-Azad Hind,” brown loyalists of the crown were active in the British war-effort while calculating their share of future power.

When Subhash Chandra Bose was leading a fighting force against the British, a leading Congress politician announced, “If Subhash would bring soldiers from outside and enter India, then I would be the first person to take sword in hand and oppose him.”

This person was to become the first prime minister of the Indian Union. No wonder that the Irish Free State was formed on the basis of a treaty between the Irish and the British while the formation Indian Union was not the product of any treaty between the browns and the British. The British transferred power to the type of chosen browns they could continue to deal with.

This transfer of power has been sold as the end-point of a struggle for independence. Brown loyalists got better dividends – they didn’t have to secede. They inherited the empire.

The Indian Union’s constitution has never been put to a public referendum. This is true for all the constitutions of Pakistan, Bangladesh and other post-colonial fragments of the British Empire in India.

But these are different times. The unity of the United Kingdom itself seems to be at stake with the independence referendum for Scotland scheduled to take place on September 18. If the “Yes” campaign wins, Scotland will secede from the United Kingdom. The referendum is not some illegal activity, but has official sanction from Elizabeth II, the queen of the United Kingdom.

Given the long association between England and Scotland, by favour and colonial spoils-sharing, there is a class in Scotland that looks to London and are Trojan horses in the political arena.

The threat from many British companies to move away from Scotland if it secedes should act as a warning for all who think that money has no colour, be it from Delhi or Nagpur or London.

Headquarters matter.

Many English and loyalist Scottish politicians are camping in Scotland, campaigning strongly for the “No” side. They have an advantage as a large section of the electorate is neither Scottish, nor were they born in Scotland. Most opinion polls show that the No-campaign has a slight advantage.

AFP

Autonomy, referendum – these are bad words in regimes which steamroll diversity in the name of unity.

The deep-state in such regimes may build whatever democratic façade they might want to build, but the real power lies in the mechanisms in which power is rationed out.

Thus, it is heartening to see that the contest in Scotland around the issue of independence is not being fought by militarisation, armyroads, strip-searches, encounters, kidnappings, “friendly” football and forced renditions of national anthems. Rather, it is being fought by a debate around ideas of nationhood, autonomy, jobs, economy, and future dreams.

Pro-Yes Scots want a humane state with a strong social-safety net provided by revenues generated from Scotland. The now-marginalised languages of the Scottish people called Scottish Gaelic and Scots can only thrive again when freed from English domination. People with dignity have more linguistic rights than speaking English with a “Scottish” accent. Language is not merely a method of communication, but a repository of aspirations and dreams. Future dreams of freedom-loving people cannot be best dreamt in the language of the rulers from London.

Every nation has a right to self-determination, and no people can be told that you are not a nation, just because

It is heartening to see that the contest in Scotland around the issue of independence is not being fought by militarisation, army-roads, stripsearches, encounters, kidnappings

In 1963, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was forced to drop its demand for a sovereign Dravida Nadu free from North-Indian domination in politics and culture after the parliament at New Delhi declared secessionism as illegal by a constitutional amendment.

The Scottish National Party (SNP), which is spearheading the “Yes” independence campaign, is a legal political party in the United Kingdom. This means that in this case, the system holds democracy to be superior to ideology. It acknowledges that those parts of the political spectrum that hold views against the unity of a nation-state are not lesser people whose voices need to be silenced so that the unity-ideology may be victorious.

There are subtler ways to ensure that.

Scotland already has a lot of freedom in decision-making in a lot of matters, but many crucial matters are still controlled by the powers at London. This includes oil and minerals, which is Scotland’s wealth that is controlled by London. The case for Scotland’s independence is not only an ethnic demand, but a demand for a people to be freed from the kind of policy environment that London has created for Scotland.

there may be fantasies of over-arching mythical nationhood. The “British” was such an overarching term, most powerful in its heyday and now gasping for meaning beyond English-ness.

That is the fate of many holy cows that are kept away from public debate by holy-cow-friendly propaganda and if that fails to keep a psychological grip, state violence follows.

But make no mistake – every holy cow is a topic that cannot be discussed, that is shoved under the carpet and hence an issue that is real and pervasive.

Freedom and democracy are words that evoke paranoia among those who are anxious that the unity of their domain may be more artificial than organic and some of the marginalised people may start taking the word Swaraj (own nation)seriously. Territorial maps of nation-states become real things in our heads, giving near-divine status to the visible lines on paper and screen and invisible lines on the earth.

At certain moments, when these lines threaten to change, the non-divine nature of these lines becomes clear.

Any multi-national state that has distinct peoples with ideologies will have diverging political aspirations.

It is up to the centralised political dis-

Clockwise: (1) A Scottswoman showing her support for the referendum, (2) A statue of Robert the Bruce, a Scottish freedom fighter, (3) The installation of the British nuclear deterrent, a bone of contention in the secession debate

pensation of the day to work out how the Baloch or the Larma or the Mizo may live, speak and dream freely in Balochistan, Rangamati and Aizawl.

A federal democratic set-up sees this challenge as strength and lets each achieve the best it can, in its own trajectory. A federation is an enabler, not a hindrance, of achieving aspirations.

The longer the list of things that is controlled by the centre exclusively or concurrently, the more undemocratic a regime is.

Parts can disagree on issues and go their own way and that is a good thing – friendship is the bedrock of federalism, a parent-child relationship is not.

Thus, London has now understood that even if “Yes” fails this time, power devolution cannot be stopped. As Scotland votes, people from Catalonia to Kurdistan to Jaffna are watching, waiting for their chance. States that fear hues beyond its national colours probably have much crime to cover-up under their national flags. If nation-states are “imagined communities,” re-imagining is no crime. l Garga Chatterjee is a freelance contributor.

He can be followed on twitter @gargac

WIKIMEDIA

AFP

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Obama sends 3,000 troops as Ebola crisis worsens

US to build 17 treatment centres, train healthcare workers ratory with 59 staff to speed up testing and continue the spread of this deadly n Reuters, Washington for the disease. It already has 115 staff virus. All for a lack of international re-

sponse,” she said.

Obama, who has called the epidemic a national security crisis, has faced criticism for not doing more to stem the outbreak. The WHO said last week Ebola had killed more than 2,400 people out of 4,784 cases in west Africa.

US officials stressed it was very unlikely the Ebola crisis could come to the United States. Measures were being taken to screen passengers flying out of the region, they said, and protocols were in place to isolate and treat anyone who arrived in the United States showing symptoms of the disease.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Islamic State shoots down Syrian war plane n Reuters, Beirut Islamic State fighters shot down a Syrian war plane using anti-aircraft guns yesterday, the first time the group has downed a military jet since declaring its cross-border caliphate in June, a group monitoring the civil war said.

The plane came down outside Islamic State’s stronghold of Raqqa city, 400 km (250 miles) northeast of Damascus, during air strikes on territory controlled by the group, a resident said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group which gathers information from a network of activists on the ground, reported five air raids on Raqqa on Tuesday. Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the organisation, cited sources close to Islamic State as saying the plane had been shot down.

US President Barack Obama last week authorised air strikes against Islamic State in Syria, potentially widening action against a group already being targeted by US air strikes in Iraq.

The Syrian air force has been bombing Islamic State-controlled territory in the provinces of Raqqa and Deir al-Zor on a near-daily basis since the group seized the Iraqi city of Mosul in June.

Syria has offered to join a coalition the United States is assembling to fight Islamic State, but Western governments see President Bashar al-Assad as part of the problem and have ruled out the idea of such cooperation. l

The United States announced yesterday it will send 3,000 troops to help tackle the Ebola outbreak as part of a rampedup plan, including a major deployment in Liberia, the country where the epidemic is spiralling fastest out of control.

The US response to the crisis, to be formally unveiled later by President Barack Obama, includes plans to build 17 treatment centers, train thousands of healthcare workers and establish a military control center for coordination, US officials told reporters.

“The goal here is to search American expertise, including our military, logistics and command and control expertise, to try and control this outbreak at its source in west Africa,” Lisa Monaco, Obama’s White House counter-terrorism adviser, told MSNBC television on Tuesday ahead of the announcement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it needs foreign medical teams with 500-600 experts as well as at least 10,000 local health workers.

The figures may rise if the number of cases increases, as is widely expected.

So far Cuba and China have said they will send medical staff to Sierra Leone.

Cuba will deploy 165 people in October while China is sending a mobile labo-

and a Chinese-funded hospital there.

But Liberia is where the disease appears to be running amok. The WHO has not issued any estimate of cases or deaths in the country since Sept. 5 and its director-general, Margaret Chan, has said there was not a single bed available for Ebola patients there.

Liberia, a nation founded by descendants of freed American slaves, appealed for US help last week.

One UN official in the country has said her colleagues had resorted to telling locals to use plastic bags to fend off the killer virus, due to a lack of other protective equipment.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the charity that has been leading the fight against Ebola, said it was overwhelmed and repeated its call for an immediate and massive deployment.

“We are honestly at a loss as to how a single, private NGO is providing the bulk of isolation units and beds,” MSF’s international president, Joanne Liu, said in a speech to the United Nations in Geneva, adding that the charity was having to turn away sick people in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.

“Highly infectious people are forced to return home, only to infect others

Al Qaeda groups urge warring militants in Iraq, Syria to unite n Reuters, Doha

Ukraine rebels granted self-rule

Two al Qaeda branches urged warring militant factions in Iraq and Syria to stop fighting each other and unite against a US-led alliance preparing to attack the ultra hardline Islamic State armed group, according to a joint statement posted online.

“Stop the infighting between you and stand as one rank against America’s campaign and that of its satanic alliance that lies in wait for all of us, to break us stick by stick,” al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said in a rare joint statement.

Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda, has fought several rival Islamist groups in Syria including Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s official wing in Syria, that have sought to resist its expansion over the past year.

It has also waged a propaganda war with al Qaeda’s central leadership in a thinly-veiled attempt to wrest leadership of global militancy from the group founded by Osama bin Laden, killed by US forces in 2011.

Islamic State fighters set off alarms across the Middle East since June when they swept through northern Iraq, seizing cities, slaughtering prisoners, proclaiming a caliphate to rule over all Muslims and ordering non-Sunnis to convert or die.

President Barack Obama declared his plans to establish a broad coalition against Islamic State last week, and world powers meeting in Paris on Monday gave public backing to military action to fight the group in Iraq.

The groups appealed to militant fighters and their supporters to “stop the campaigns of mutual slander, and direct the honest pens and swords against the head of infidelity, America, and its unjust aggressive alliance.”

“In the face of this unjust crusaders’ campaign, we have no choice but to stand in front of the hater of Islam and Muslims, the US and its allies, who are the real enemies of the Muslim world,” said the statement by the al Qaeda groups.

The statement was dated 11 September, the 13th anniversary of al Qaeda attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York’s World Trade Center, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The statement said the US-led alliance’s true aim was to fight Muslims, “under the excuse of attacking the Islamic State and destroying it, as they claim.”

The group, whose leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi calls himself “Caliph” or Muslim leader, fell out with al Qaeda in 2013 over its expansion into Syria, where his followers have carried out beheadings, crucifixions, and mass executions.

The group also appealed to Arabs in the Gulf and any Muslim whose government was a part of the alliance to prevent them “by all legitimate means from going to war against Islam under the excuse of fighting terrorism.” l

n Agencies

Ukraine’s parliament has granted selfrule to parts of eastern regions held by pro-Russian rebels, as well as an amnesty for the fighters themselves, according to a report by BBC. The measures are in line with the 5 September ceasefire agreement signed

by President Petro Poroshenko. The European and Ukrainian parliaments also voted to ratify a major EU-Ukraine association agreement.

Meanwhile, Russia said it needed to boost troops in Crimea - Ukraine’s peninsula annexed by Moscow in March.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said “a full and self-reliant force” must be deployed in the southern region because of the escalating

‘More effective’

The president was supposed to visit the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Tuesday to show his commitment. The stepped-up effort he will announce includes 3,000 military troops and a joint forces command center in Monrovia to coordinate efforts with the US government and other international partners.

The plan will “ensure that the entire international response effort is more effective and helps to ... turn the tide in this crisis,” a senior administration official told reporters on Monday. l

Ukraine crisis and a foreign military build-up.

The pro-Russian rebels have been battling Ukrainian government forces since their seizure of a number of towns in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April.

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of backing the separatists with soldiers and heavy weapons. The Kremlin denies doing so.

At least 3,000 people have been killed in the five-month conflict and more than 310,000 internally displaced in Ukraine, the UN says.

The amnesty affects rebels in the eastern regions, but does not cover the shooting down of the MH17 passenger plane in July. All 298 people on board died.

Western leaders believe rebels shot down the Malaysia Airlines jet with a Russian missile - a charge the rebels and Russia deny.

However, rebels accused of other “grave” crimes will not be covered by the new amnesty either.

The EU-Ukraine agreement ratified on Tuesday lies at the root of Ukraine’s crisis. It was Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the deal in November last year that triggered mass protests and his eventual fall from power.

The votes ratifying the agreement took place simultaneously, with a live video link-up between the parliaments in Strasbourg and Kiev.

Both President Poroshenko and the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, called it a historic day. l

Scientists’ colossal squid exam a kraken good show n AP, Wellington, New Zealand It was a calm morning in Antarctica’s remote Ross Sea, during the season when the sun never sets, when Capt. John Bennett and his crew hauled up a creature with tentacles like fire hoses and eyes like dinner plates from a mile below the surface.

A colossal squid: 350 kilograms (770 pounds), as long as a minibus and one of the sea’s most elusive species.

It had been frozen for eight months until Tuesday, when scientists in New Zealand got a long-anticipated chance to thaw out the animal and inspect it — once they used a forklift to maneuver it into a tank.

The squid is a female, and its eight arms are each well over a meter (3.3 feet) long. Its two tentacles would have been perhaps double that length if they had not been damaged.

Kat Bolstad, a squid scientist from the Auckland University of Technology who was leading a team examining the creature, described it as “very big, very beautiful.”

“This is essentially an intact specimen, which is almost an unparalleled opportunity for us to examine,” she said. “This is a spectacular opportunity.”

Many people around the world agreed: About 142,000 people from 180 countries watched streaming footage of the squid examination on the Internet.

Colossal squid sometimes inhabit the world of fiction and imagination, but have

rarely been seen in daylight. Remarkably, Bennett and his crew on the San Aspiring toothfish boat have caught two of them.

Their first, hauled in seven years ago, is on display in New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa.

Bennett said there was so much excitement about his previous catch, he thought he had better save the latest one for research.

“It was partly alive, it was still hanging onto the fish,” Bennett recalls. “Just a big bulk in the water. They’re huge, and the mantle’s all filled with water. It’s quite an awesome sight.”

Susan Waugh, a senior curator at Te Papa, said scientists hope to find out more about where the creature fits in the food chain, how much genetic variation there is among different squid types, and basic facts about how the colossal squid lives and dies.

She said scientists plan to further assess the condition of the squid before determining whether to preserve it for public display.

Bolstad said it’s possible that ancient sightings of the species gave rise to tales of the kraken, or giant sea-monster squid.

She said sperm whales often eat colossal squid and are known to play with their food, and sailors may have mistaken that for epic battles.

“On the other hand, we don’t really know what the grog rations were like at that time at sea, either,” she said. “So it may be that we’ve got a bit of a fisherman’s story going on there, too.” l

Scottish ‘don’t knows’ hold key to historic vote n Reuters, Edinburgh

Pro and anti-independence supporters wave posters outside a campaign event in favour of the union in Clydebank, Scotland. The referendum on Scottish independence will take place tomorrow REUTERS

Scotland’s independence campaign has stoked strong passions on both sides but with just one day until Thursday’s historic referendum, it is the quiet waverers who may hold the balance of power.

Scotland decides on Sept 18. whether to sever centuries-old ties with the rest of the United Kingdom. Recent polls have narrowed dramatically and show the vote is too close to call.

The United Kingdom’s fate may rest on a group of undecideds which could constitute as few as 500,000 people out of an electorate of more than four million. They are weighing up the economic uncertainties against the pull of sovereign statehood.

With claims and counter-claims made by both sides over how the economy, welfare and health care will be affected, some voters who are most in need of persuading feel little the wiser.

“My heart says yes but my head says no. I guess it will come down to how I feel on the day,” said Anne from the town of Lochgelly, north of the capital Edinburgh. “It’s such a risk, and you can’t know what’s going to happen.

When even businessmen disagree over

the impact it’s going to have, how are we meant to know?”

As the campaign enters its final stretch, two factors will decide the country’s future: whether those who have expressed a firm preference think again and whether the undecideds come off the fence and if so which way.

Opinion polls show the elderly will swing heavily towards the “No” camp and will turn out in high numbers. But previous strongholds for the pro-unionists - the female vote and opposition Labour party supporters - have wavered.

Ben Page, chief executive of polling group Ipsos MORI, said the undecideds tended to be women and young people.

Polls suggest 10% or more of the electorate has yet to make up its mind but Page told BBC Radio most of them had essentially decided and that only about four percent who were certain to vote were genuinely unsure about how to. If true, that leaves a small pool for each side to target. The problem could be finding them.

Many Scottish residents declined to talk to Reuters about their intentions in recent days, a reticence that makes it difficult for pollsters and campaigners to divine their intentions. l

First US air strike under US scouts for Sunni allies in Iraq new Islamic State plan n Reuters, Baghdad/Amman

n Agencies The US has carried out its first air strike against Islamic State (IS) militants under a new strategy to “degrade and destroy” the group, BBC reported.

US officials said the strike destroyed an IS fighting position near Baghdad, five days after President Obama outlined his new anti-IS strategy. IS has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq and declared a “caliphate.”

Meanwhile, Iraq’s new PM saw his two nominations for defence and interior minister rejected by parliament. The rejections of the two key posts are a setback for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The US has also been building a broad coalition to fight the jihadist group, which

is also known as Isil or Isis. US Central Command said Monday’s strike was “the first taken as part of our expanded efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions.”

It did not specify the exact location, but Iraqi security spokesman Lt Gen Qassem Atta told AFP news agency it was “an important strike” in Sadr al-Yusufiya, 25km (15 miles) from the capital.

In northern Iraq, Kurdish “peshmerga” forces backed by US surveillance jets and drones have been advancing against IS positions, the BBC’s Jim Muir reports. An attack into the IS-held plain of Mosul, east of the city, began at dawn while on the other side of Mosul, the Kurds have also been pressing towards the town of Zumar. l

Unwilling to send US troops back to Iraq, Washington is trying to persuade armed Sunni factions and tribal figures to fight Islamic State militants in an echo of the “Awakening” movement that drove al Qaeda from the country six years ago.

“There is a lot of traffic right now,” James Jeffrey, a veteran diplomat who was US ambassador to Iraq from 20102012 and maintains close ties to the government in Baghdad.

“There were meetings in Arbil.

There were meetings in Amman,” he said, referring to talks between tribal groups and US officials in the capitals of the relatively neutral Iraqi province of Kurdistan and neighbouring Jordan.

The plan is far from easy, since many Sunnis regard the Awakening as a failure and a betrayal and see the Sunni Is-

lamic State’s sweep into predominantly Sunni northern and western Iraq as the lesser of two evils, despite its mass killings.

US and Iraqi officials say it is not a rehash of the Awakening but will incorporate Sunnis into a “National Guard,” a security force intended to decentralise power from Baghdad, addressing Sunni demands to stop oppression from the majority Shi’ite security forces.

Past promises by the Americans and Iraqi officials to integrate the minority into the Iraqi state in return for its help were never realised. Instead, the movement’s leaders found themselves hunted by both jihadists and the Shi’ite-led Iraqi government.

Recent US and Iraqi air strikes on Islamic State targets have not helped since they are hard to distinguish between and local leaders say the latter

have hit residential areas, even after a recent government call to avoid civilians.

Yet a host of talks are going on between US and Iraqi officials and Iraqi Sunni groups, security officials from Iraq and the US say.

“Americans of all provenances are talking to all kinds of Iraq Sunnis as we speak,” a western diplomat in the region said on condition of anonymity.

“Amman is full of these guys.”

Sunni militants who fought US troops and the Shi’ite led government after Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown are also being approached.

Talking to insurgent groups who killed US troops will be contentious in the United States as well as in Iraq, where some of the Shi’ite majority are concerned about Washington supporting Sunni militants. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Suicide car bomber kills 3 foreign troops in Kabul Taliban says suicide car bomber ‘lay in wait’ for foreign convoy; attack comes amid months-long political deadlock

n Reuters, Kabul A suicide car bomber killed two US troops and a Polish soldier in an attack on a convoy near the US embassy in Kabul yesterday, the Nato-led coalition said, one of the worst attacks on international forces in the Afghan capital in months.

The attack near the heavily fortified embassy wounded 13 Afghan civilians nearby. It came amid a months-long political stalemate and an emboldened insurgency, with a presidential election still unresolved as most foreign combat troops prepare to leave by the end of the year.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing on the main road leading to Kabul’s international airport, not far from the sprawling US embassy compound that is also home to other members of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition.

In a text message to journalists, a Taliban spokesman said the suicide bomber, identified only as Bilal, had been lying in wait for foreign troops in a car packed with explosives.

Two of the three killed were American military personnel, a US Defence Dept. official confirmed on

Tuesday in Washington.

Poland’s military identified the third victim as Rafal Celebudzki, a platoon commander who had also served in Iraq. Two other Polish soldiers were wounded.

Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi said on Twitter a suicide car bomber had targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying foreign troops. The blast tore through cars and shattered shop windows on the road a few hundred metres from the main embassy gate.

Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said 13 Afghan civilians were wounded and 17 nearby cars damaged.

‘Huge blast’

Ambulances arrived within minutes of the blast during the morning rush hour at about 8am (0330 GMT).

“It was a huge blast,” said wounded bystander Haji Awal Gul, his shirt splattered with blood as he stood on the roadside.

Tensions have been building in Afghanistan since the disputed run-off vote in a presidential election in June, with rival candidates still arguing over the outcome despite US efforts to broker a compromise deal.

Taliban insurgents have been exploiting the uncertainty, launching bombings and attacks on government security forces and officials across Afghanistan.

In western Herat province, one US soldier was killed when an unidentified member of the Afghan security forces turned on his trainers late on Monday, the latest incident in a string of “greenon-blue” attacks.

A Western official, who asked not to be identified, said the US soldier was killed when the Afghan threw a hand grenade at his trainers.

ISAF did not confirm the exact details of the attack. An ISAF statement on Tuesday said the US service member was killed when an individual wearing an Afghan army uniform “turned his weapon against ISAF members.”

Also overnight, two suicide bombers set ablaze 26 fuel tankers in an attack on a customs post in eastern Afghanistan near a border crossing into Pakistan, Afghanistan’s TOLO media reported on Tuesday.

One of the attackers detonated explosives he was carrying while the other was killed in an ensuing gunbattle, the report on TOLOnews.com quoted Afghan officials as saying. l

An Afghan policeman keeps guard near burnt-out Nato supply trucks after an attack by militants in the Torkham area near the PakistaniAfghan border in Jalalabad Province REUTERS

1 in 9 people in the world undernourished n Reuters, Rome

Global hunger

805 million people had insufficient to eat in 2012-14

Percent of population undernourished 2012-14 (est.)

1990-92 Sub-Saharan Africa Caribbean

20.1

Southern Asia

15.8 15.7 14.0

Oceania East Asia

10.8

SE. Asia West Asia

6.3

23.8 27.0 24.0

23.2 30.7

10.3 8.7

Caucasus, Central Asia

7.4

Latin America

5.1%

33.3%

14.1 14.4

The number of hungry people in the world has fallen sharply over the past decade but 805 million, or one in nine of the global population, still do not have enough to eat, three UN food and agriculture agencies said yesterday.

The number of chronically undernourished people dropped by more than 100 million, equivalent to a country the size of the Philippines, according to a report by the United Nations food agency (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and World Food Programme (WFP).

Government drives to improve nutrition have helped the developing world move towards a UN goal of halving the number of people suffering from hunger between 1990 and 2015, said the report entitled “The State of Food Insecurity in the World.”

But success stories such as Brazil mask struggles in countries like Haiti, where the number of hungry people rose from 4.4 million in 1990-92 to 5.3 million in 2012-14.

“We cannot celebrate yet because we must reach 805 million people without enough food for a healthy and productive life,” WFP executive director Ertharin Cousin said in Rome.

The Ebola virus threatens food security in western Africa, while conflicts in places including Iraq and Syria have meant that people who once had enough food could lose reliable supplies “in just a matter of weeks,” she said.

The ambitious goal to halve the absolute number of chronically undernourished people between 1990 and 2015 has been met by 25 developing countries, but there is not enough time for the whole world to get there by next year, the report said.

Brazil, Indonesia and Malawi, among others, have already achieved the development goal by halving the undernourished proportion of their populations through investments and policymaking in areas from agriculture to school meals.

But the agencies urged more efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and southern and western Asia to ease food crisis. l

Number of people undernourished, in millions

Indonesia questions 1,050 World four foreigners 1,014 n Reuters, Jakarta

900 Indonesian anti-terror police are questioning four foreign nationals in a sign 805 of tightening security in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, officials confirmed yesterday.

750 Indonesia grappled with a string of 1990-92 00-02 05-07 09-11 12-14 militant attacks during the 2000s, including a bombing at a Bali nightclub that killed 202, with 88 Australians Developing 1,000 them. Since among then, it has been regions largely994 successful in cracking down on homegrown militant cells.

“At the moment we are still investigating where the foreigners are from 875 and what their objective was,” Marciano Norman, head of Indonesia’s intelli791 gence agency, told reporters.

Police on Saturday arrested the four and750 seized fake passports from them. l 1990-92 00-02 05-07 09-11 12-14

Afghan rivals said close to ending feud on how to share power 22

Developed regions

20

17

n Reuters, Kabul Afghanistan’s rival presidential15 candidates was likely to reach a deal on how to 12 share power late on Tuesday, accord1990-92 00-02 05-07 09-11 12-14 ing to Afghan and Western officials, potentially ending months of tension over the outcome of adeveloped run-off election held Least in250 June. countries The struggle to find a successor to President Hamid Karzai, who has 247held power since the Islamist Taliban were ousted in 2001, has destabilised Af225 ghanistan and paralysed its economy just as most foreign troops withdraw.

The rival candidates for the pres209 been negotiating for idency have months 200 on how to share power and the

US secretary of state has twice flown in to try to broker a deal.

Abdullah Abdullah, a former anti-Taliban fighter who later served as foreign minister, says the election was rigged against him. His rival, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, denies that.

“If no new issues arise ... it is possible and expected that it could be concluded at the meeting today,” Ghani’s spokesman, Faizullah Zaki, said of an elusive pact.

A deal between rival camps is widely seen as the best hope for peace after the fraud-marred vote dented confidence in the legitimacy of the process and fuelled ethnic and tribal

1990-92 00-02 05-07 09-11 12-14

Sources: FAO, IFAD, WFP, UN hunger report 2014

rivalries between the teams.

Preliminary figures indicate that Ghani led the second round by more than a million votes, and the results of a UN supervised audit are also expected to show he is the winner, according to officials involved in the process.

Abdullah’s team, however, disputes the legitimacy of the process and is calling for political power to be shared.

Ghani’s camp says everyone should accept the outcome once it is announced.

“The whole process will mean nothing if the results are not accepted,” Zaki said. “For the government of national unity to be shared, there must be a legitimately elected and accepted president.” l

n Agencies The Congress and the Samajwadi Party, which suffered a rout in India’s latest general elections, bounced back yesterday in the assembly bypolls in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. But, for the first time in 15 years, the BJP will now have its lawmaker in the West Bengal assembly.

In Gujarat, the BJP romped home in Vadodara Lok Sabha seat that was vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he also won from Varanasi parliamentary constituency. The Maninagar assembly seat, which Modi once represented, too saw a BJP victory. But the Congress wrested three seats from the BJP, which retained six seats.

In Andhra Pradesh, the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) retained Nandigama assembly seat, while the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) too retained Medak Lok Sabha seat in neighbouring Telangana.

In the northeast, the BJP was leading in an assembly seat in Assam, while the AIUDF won one seat and was leading in two assembly constituencies.

An independent candidate won in Sikkim, while Tripura saw the CPI-M candidate emerge victorious with a record margin.

Buoyed by the performance of the Samajwadi Party that won four seats and was leading in four constituencies, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said he was happy that the people of the state have reposed faith in his party and given a thumbs down to the “communal” politics of BJP. “We are happy and thankful that people have preferred development and prosperity over false hopes and communal politics that BJP practised,” he said.

The SP has won from Sirathu, Hamirpur, Bijnore and Charkhari assembly constituencies and had a comfortable lead of over two lakh votes in Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency from where Tej Pratap Singh, grand-nephew

of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, is the party candidate.

The BJP, which had won all the 11 seats in the 2012 state assembly elections, went down to just three as counting progressed. The party won the Saharanpur (City) state assembly seat while its candidates were leading convincingly in Lucknow (East) and Noida seats.

In Rajasthan, the Congress candidates won from Weir, Surajgarh and Nasirabad constituencies while the BJP’s Sandeep Sharma was elected from the Kota South constituency.

An upbeat Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan state president of the Congress, described his party bagging three seats as “a win of our party workers.”

In West Bengal, after 15 long years, the BJP will have a representative in the assembly “Despite the use of official machinery by the BJP, we have won. The BJP did nothing since it came to power and on the contrary it stopped the social welfare schemes,” said Pilot.

In West Bengal, after 15 long years, the BJP will have a representative in the assembly. Party candidate Shamik Bhattacharya won the Basirhat (South) seat in the bypolls, while the state’s ruling party Trinamool retained the Chowringhee seat.

Bhattacharya defeated Trinamool candidate and former soccer captain Dipendu Biswas in a hard-fought battle by a slender margin of over thousand votes.

In Assam, the AIUDF won one seat while it was leading in another constituency. The BJP was leading in a third constituency. The AIUDF was leading in Lakhipur while the BJP candidate was in the lead in Silchar assembly seat. l

Climate smart farmers get tech savvy to save India’s bread basket n Reuters, Karnal, India

Labourers work in a paddy field in Haryana. Erratic weather, rising temperatures, declining water resources and labour shortages are threatening India’s bread basket state of Haryana, forcing farmers to adopt technology to ensure food supplies for millions REUTERS

SP wins in UP, Congress in Rajasthan, BJP stuns Bengal

Erratic weather, rising temperatures, declining water resources and labour shortages are threatening India’s bread basket state of Haryana, forcing farmers to abandon age-old practices and adopt technology to ensure food supplies for millions.

Using machines which sow rice directly, devices to inform when to irrigate and phone messages warning of infestations, thousands of farmers are learning to adapt to climate change, boost soil fertility and reduce their carbon emissions.

“At first, many farmers were unsure. It’s a big risk to change the way you have farmed for decades and try new things. Agriculture in these parts is not just a livelihood, it’s a way of life,” said Harpreet Singh, 36, a farmer in the village of Birnaraya, 130 km (80

miles) north of Delhi. “But over the last four years, through these technologies, we have learnt to save water and fertilisers, cut our costs for hired labour, improved the resilience of our crops and also reduced pollution by not burning crop residues.”

Singh is from one of 12,000 farming households across 27 villages in Haryana’s Karnal district working with scientists from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to pilot climate smart techniques aimed at sustaining one of the country’s most fertile belts.

Since India’s so-called “Green Revolution” - a massive government programme rolled out in the 1960s and 1970s which increased the use of fertilisers and irrigation to boost farm output - Haryana’s rice production has soared to almost 4 million tonnes in 2013/14 compared to 334,000 tonnes in 1966/67.

But while the Green Revolution may be credited with ending famine across the country, it has come at a cost and, coupled with more unpredictable weather attributed to global warming, India’s food security is once again at risk.

Almost half a century on, farmers face environmental problems such as depleted groundwater because of intensive pumping for irrigation, soil degradation and soil salinity. “Resources are depleting. Groundwater levels are falling, there is emerging climate variability, the soil health is worsening, and profitability is going down,” said M.L. Jat, an agronomist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre.

The Indo-Gangetic Plains - which include the rice and wheat states of Haryana and Punjab - are particularly vulnerable to climate change, say experts from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Advertising Bangladesh

Be heard

W

e welcome the Board of Investment’s hosting of the International Investors’ Forum Bangladesh 2014 in Dhaka today.

By bringing together business leaders, government officials, and international representatives, it provides a valuable platform for exchanging ideas among both overseas and national investors.

More importantly, it is an expression of self confidence which bodes well for stimulating and attracting new flows of investment.

With 160m people, Bangladesh’s economy has huge potential to grow if it can modernise its infrastructure and attract investment in new jobs.

However, we badly need to foster a much more conducive climate for all types of investment, whether multilateral, self-generated, or FDI. Improving transparency and law and order are essential in order to reinforce existing investment flows. We think more attention must also be given to raising awareness about the country’s potential globally.

Bangladesh has sometimes been referred to as a “well-kept secret” by economic analysts when it comes to foreign investment.

It can be hoped that some of the new investment promises secured by the government from partners such as China and Japan, can help change this perception and herald a new era of growth.

The government and leading businesses should be more pro-active in advertising Bangladesh as a key destination for foreign investors.

Recent investment conferences in Singapore and London should be emulated to raise the country’s profile in a constructive manner.

The country faces many competitors for international investment such as the fast growing economies of South America or our neighbour Myanmar.

Bangladesh needs to do more to reach out to the world.

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

The Islamist narrative September 9

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 10 represents H so fill H every time the figure 10 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Be pro-active in promoting Bangladesh as a destination for investors

Getting taxes right

T

he National Board of Revenue’s annual celebration of the country’s top taxpayers is a helpful reminder of the importance of taxes.

By giving awards to leading corporate and individual taxpayers, it rewards transparency and sets an example for others to follow. Taken together with the Income Tax Fair which began on Tuesday, it is a costeffective way of making people aware about the importance and benefits of paying tax regularly.

The government needs to heed remarks made by some of those who have received awards.

Services for taxpayers still have much room for improvement, despite the development of new online methods for registering identification and submitting returns. Complicated rules which facilitate avoidance or high-import duties that encourage avoidance and smuggling should be reformed to root out inefficiencies.

Many citizens still show reluctance to use NBR offices because of fear of facing harassment. Modernising the system and rooting out corruption to make it more user-friendly is vital to encourage more people to pay due taxes.

Official figures suggest less than 2% of the population pays income tax. While in part this is explained by low levels of typical incomes, it is clear the country suffers from large amounts of tax avoidance and evasion.

The government must speed up initiatives to reform the system so that the country’s tax base can become more inclusive and self-reliant.

It is both inefficient and unfair to those taxpayers who pay their dues in full to leave people who can afford to pay outside the system.

Make the tax base more inclusive and self-reliant

My name is Khan Sorry bro, had the full intention to finish your piece, but after reading “… have no legal basis in holy scriptures whatsoever, and are usually nominally derived from Hadiths, which are not divinely inspired,” had to give up.

With due respect, if that is the case, then how on Earth do Muslims know how many rakah to pray and in which prayer, since, as per your logic, there is no Qur’anic ayah specifically talking about the details?

My common sense tells me just as the maker of a machine gives us a manual and also sends us a demonstrator to instruct naive people, like me, so that we can learn hands-on and since he is trained by the maker, he doesn’t invent, rather says things that are taught (aka divinely inspired).

Now, I can ignore your fatwa on “music” (futile to argue in this trying time), or, to the extent, “democracy” (indeed, the mother of all evil, apparently), but I cannot ignore the fact that an article of 1,809 words is written on Islam, but with not a single reference from the Qur’an, let alone Hadith. But, believe me, I am not surprised at all.

We are living in a time when we have a tool in hand that allows us to reach millions from our desks.

But brother, remember: “Great power comes with great responsibility.” If I cannot guide you, I will make sure not to misguide you. Because none of us want to be called “when the blind leads the blind.” ;-) If you were not such a purist (for lack of a better word), I would suggest you explore this Hadith which relates to your topic and current scenario, if we deduct the hue and cry about the material part (destroying historical monument, etc).

Abdulla bin Umar said: “I saw the Prophet doing

tawwaf around the Ka’aba, saying ‘How sweet/good are you, and how sweet is your scent. How great are you and how great is your sanctity. By the One who the soul of Mohammad is in His Hand, the sanctity of a believer is greater with Allah than your sanctity.”

But alas, we ummi know no better. :-(

Police charge as relatives mark 6 months since MH370 went missing

Countrywide anti-adulteration drive ordered

September 9

NK “No trace of MH370 or the 239 people aboard found despite an exhaustive search.” Really, it is surprising how a big plane can totally vanish.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Zeeshan My name is Khan: Thank you for your comments.

I appreciate your feedback. Believe me brother, I know exactly what I am talking about.

The Hadith are not divinely inspired. There is no logic or belief on Earth that can make that true. Even if I accept (and I don’t) the analogy of a manual and a demonstrator, I cannot ignore the fact that they are the result of human agency, ie humans told these stories to other humans who then wrote them down for other humans to follow.

They ascribed them to the Prophet, and scholars with the best of intentions tried to verify their authenticity and established what they believed was an infallible isnad.

This is simply impossible unless they were themselves prophets, since the margin for error is too large. I cannot in good conscience encourage people to make that a part of their religion. That would be misguiding them.

Please do read the second part of the article.

This is only the first part. It is also on the DT website.

You will find that many people, far more enlightened than me, have agreed with this position.

Also, the article is not about Islam, it’s about Islamism.

Thank you for your patience and I do hope you will read the rest of it.

September 10

Ayan Rahman This is one promising and praiseworthy initiative. I would like to thank our government for doing this.

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.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Barrels (5) 4 Social event (4) 7 Perform (3) 8 Be victorious (3) 9 Raised platform (5) 12 Minute particle (4) 13 Long angry speeches (7) 15 Play on words (3) 16 Encountered (3) 18 Seek charity (3) 19 Domestic animal (3) 21 Musical performance (7) 24 Tibetan priest (4) 26 Tantalise (5) 27 Liable (3) 28 Female swan (3) 29 Specialised skills (4) 30 Make effort (5)

DOWN 1 Members of a play (4) 2 Busy (6) 3 Main actor (4) 4 Prejudice (4) 5 Insect (3) 6 Restrict (5) 10 Opening (3) 11 Draw forth (5) 14 Make into a decree (5) 17 Rubber (6) 18 Corkwood (5) 20 Neckwear (3) 21 Sharp blows (4) 22 Ribbon (4) 23 Fasting period (4) 25 Floor covering (4)

Japanese PM calls for more investment in Bangladesh September 6

RE When will our share be equal … I ask.

Unite against literacy September 9

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

PEANUTS

Nazmul Khair “Ensuring full literacy should be treated as a basic human right.”

It would be nice if the government made all education, up to SSC, free all over Bangladesh. Of course the question will arise as to how the expense will be managed.

The government should force private organisations to donate the funds yearly with little tax benefits.

Maybe the government can make a little income through taxes, but in the future, there will be a better economy. At least the teaching of trade should be free for up to a certain period.

Three domestic helps flee judge’s flat, by breaking window September 9

PB “They tried to flee from the torture by their landlord.”

Stop the violence!

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Strength and vulnerability

T

n Arild Engelsen Ruud he most recent UNDP report on human development holds an interesting lesson for countries such as Bangladesh. It talks about vulnerability, and that it is necessary to take steps to reduce vulnerability among the poorer sections of the world population. The reasons are clear and well known, and have been shown over and over again in numerous studies.

The poor are not lazy, contrary to what the self-congratulatory rich would have it. The poor work hard, often very hard. There was once a study that followed a poor woman in New York. She handled three different jobs, travelled between them on public transportation, and in addition, sought to create the best opportunities for her young daughter. This woman was working or helping her daughter with homework or travelling between jobs 17 hours per day, including Sundays.

She did not watch television, she did not take time off to sip coffee in a coffee bar. And for all her effort, she was still poor. She did not have time to follow that advise so often given, to be innovative, to think outside of the box, to take evening courses that can lead to better income.

did not have much to do. “Amra boshe thaktam,” they told me.

But lack of income, whether from too little work or too little time to be innovative and create new income, is still lack of income. It means poverty.

And poverty means vulnerability.

This is the situation for a large proportion of the world population today, even if poverty levels are falling. 20 to 30% of the world population, or 50 to 60%, depening on how you calculate, continue to live with vulnerability.

Many scrape by. Such as our woman in New York. After all, she works and does not depend on others to sustain her life or that of her daughter. But my point is that she scrapes by only just.

And what if she falls ill one day?

Then she would not be able to work, there would be no income, no food for her or her daughter. To live she would depend on others, or she would starve.

We know that illness is the one main cause that can make individuals and families tumble from poor to extreme poor.

The world success story today is that many families climb out of poverty. But it is still a major problem that many fall down, preventing the number of poor from declining even more.

In countries where there is no or very limited public healthcare, illness is the one factor that cause families that are

Many countries introduced such schemes at a point in their development history when they were much poorer on average than Bangladesh is today

We are not talking about the extremely poor here. She did earn enough to meet the basic needs. But she was poor in the sense that she did not have anything beyond what would cover the basic needs.

Now, there are other reasons for poverty. Many poor may not work hard at all and are poor because of a lack of opportunity. In the bad old days in Bengal there was only one paddy crop per season. The rest of the time people

climbing up, to fall down.

Healthcare alone is not enough. The UNDP report states quite simply that the most successful antipoverty and human development initiatives have taken a multi-dimensional approach.

Income support and job creation have been combined with expanded healthcare and education opportunities and other interventions for community development. The daughter of our New York woman needs education,

Making the most of human resources is the key the woman herself needs healthcare, additional education, opportunities.

Now, here is the lesson: All the countries at the top of the human development index list are in Northwestern Europe, or they are culturally derived from Northwestern Europe. The Scandinavian countries, Germany, the Netherlands, the US, the UK, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. There is one significant exception, and that is Singapore. But Singapore is a special case, and we may leave that aside for the present purpose.

These countries are mostly Protestant Christian. The historical clue to their later success is in what this particular faith led the state to do. It was a fundamental idea in Protestant Christianity that every individual should himself or herself (yes, including women) read the Bible in order to achieve salvation. Hence the Bible was translated into the vernacular, and schools were organised in every

village. This happened from as early as the 17th century onwards, and since those days, illiteracy was slowly but significantly reduced – almost to the point of non-existence.

Literacy, as we know, gives people information, and renders them conscious and aware. Healthcare, innovation, the sustaining of public institutions, and interpersonal trust were easier in societies that consisted of informed populations. And so, when democracy was introduced, in some cases, many generations later it found resonnace and could be sustained.

In the US, typically, when democracy was introduced after the American Revolution, people would subscribe to newspapers all over the country and follow events in Washington. Even in small cabins in the Appalachies and far flung farms in the west, families subscribed to newspapers, and they kept a small library of books – the Bible, novels perhaps, the constitution, and

NASHIRUL ISLAM

textbooks on law that helped them understand their own rights in their own local community.

Today, societies do not need to turn to religion to legitimise state interventions such as schools. We know there is a connection between literacy and development. We know there is a connection between quality healthcare to all and development. We know this, and for those of us who wish to take the example of Vidyasagar and other leading Bengalis seriously, a welfare system that caters to the poor and the vulnerable is the logical aim to work for.

Can Bangladesh afford a welfare system? Can it afford a multidimensional state intervention that ensures quality schooling to all, a proper healthcare system, and pensions to the old and infirm? The interesting point in the UNDP report is that many countries introduced such schemes at a point in their development history when they were much poorer on aver-

Soulmates of the East

Fake fighters

n Tunku Varadarajan

n Mohammad Ali Sattar

T

here is an old American phrase, “wooden Indian,” that was used to describe the life-size statues of Native American chiefs placed outside tobacco stores in the United States in less enlightened times. Since many customers were illiterate, vendors needed a visual prompt to lure them indoors. I’ve always thought of that phrase when I visualise Manmohan Singh, a gentleman, but oh-so-wooden on the public stage.

One cringed when he stood next to George W Bush, an exuberant Texan, in New Delhi; and one cringed again when he was at the White House with his wife, visiting the Obamas. Alongside the elegance of the American First Couple – he with his expressive leanness, she with her robust physique – Singh seemed a cut-out doll with a turban. A Wooden Indian.

Narendra Modi, his successor, offered an altogether different image on the diplomatic stage in Japan earlier this month. His Jodhpuri suit was much better tailored. He moved easily, a faint trace of swagger in his gait, and was never awkward in a crowd.

His was an altogether more physical presence. Can you imagine Manmohan Singh playing the drums before a Japanese audience? Can you picture him tweaking the ears of a little boy in public, as Modi did playfully to a tyke in Tokyo?

The biggest contrast between the two men, however, was in Modi’s chemistry with Shinzo Abe, his Japanese counterpart. So comradely were the two men, in fact, that I expect to be told by Dinanath Batra that “bromance” was invented by Vedic brahmacharis.

For Indians, this rapport was a phenomenon to behold. It was the first time since Jawaharlal Nehru that an Indian prime minister appeared to have a true soulmate in another international leader of stature. World leaders, when visiting each other, usually put on convincing shows of conviviality (sometimes with teeth gritted). Occasionally, they even hit it off. The Modi-Abe bond, however,

suggests an extraordinary harmony, one that goes beyond the comfort of shared wavelengths.

The peerless ideal of soulmateship will forever be the Reagan-Thatcher duo. Ronnie and Maggie were profoundly – even adamantly – nationalist. Their special relationship was grounded in the Special Relationship (so much more vaunted in London than in Washington) between the US and Great Britain, whose modern origins lie with another pair of soulmates, FDR and Winston Churchill. India and Japan have, as yet, no such singular relationship: Ties between the two Asian countries, for long correct and cordial, are only now showing a passion that catches the eye and suggests that a Big Alliance is afoot.

Modi and Abe could one day come to have as much in common with each other as Reagan and Thatcher

One has to reach for the history books and those stilted (but charming) old newsreels to encounter the last bosom buddy of an Indian prime minister: He was Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose friendship with Nehru defined an era of nonalignment. Although Nehru was patrician and Nasser the son of a postman, they bonded over a shared project that sought to transcend nationalism. Nehru, a gregarious internationalist, had other friends, too: Tito, Nkrumah, and Chou En-Lai (who would later break Nehru’s heart). But after Nehru, Indian prime ministers became socially stilted.

Shastri wasn’t in office long enough to bond with anyone, and Indira, who followed him, was much too haughty. Patrician like her father, but without his erudition and confidence, she could be more combative than comradely on the world stage (Richard

Nixon, famously, referred to her as “a bitch”). India’s warmest ties under her were with the Soviet Union, whose leaders preferred a scripted bonhomie.

After her came a succession of gauche men, beginning with the distinctly unconvivial Morarji. The prime ministers who followed him were mostly netas from the Cow Belt, ill at ease on the foreign stage and so wedded to provincial priorities that a “bromance” with a fellow statesman from abroad was inconceivable.

If there was one prime minister who cut a dashing figure amid that grab-bag of gray men, it was Rajiv Gandhi. Personable, cosmopolitan, more at ease in the West than he was in his own country, Rajiv could have been a rare Indian prime minister who forged close ties with a fellow-traveller from a friendly country. But he was, alas, a lightweight in international affairs, not to mention a reluctant politician.

Like Reagan and Thatcher before them, Modi and Abe have bonded over a grand project. If the first pair were determined to win the Cold War for the West, the two Asian BFFs are working in tandem to protect their countries from an increasingly irrepressible China. All the great modern political friendships have been embedded in grand endeavours, none more ambitious than the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, wrought by Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. The ultimate odd couple, the two men met each other 10 times between 1977 and 1981, the year of the Egyptian’s death, and developed a lively, improbable friendship.

For all their outward differences, Modi and Abe could one day come to have as much in common with each other as Reagan and Thatcher. What is unusual is that their bromance has blossomed at a time when no other leaders of top-rank countries are “in a relationship.” Apart from these two men, I can’t think of any soulmates on the international stage. Can you? l Tunku Varadarajan is the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Fellow in Journalism at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. This article was first published in Open magazine.

A

fter anomalies were detected in the quantity of gold on the crests given to the foreign friends of Bangladesh, we thought national-level theft would end – if not for remorse, at least for the fear of getting put in the oven.

Things are not as simple as we think. The rot that has eaten up our souls is baring its teeth every second from all angles, warning us to be on our toes to embrace such revelations every moment.

The mind ceases to think when it looks for reasons behind the actions of the high-ups – all in the grips of looting, plundering, mayhem, and brutal murders. Just remember the Narayanganj seven murders and the perpetrators.

We are waiting for the next shocking news to reach our doors. We are battered and bruised. High-level government servants are deceiving the nation and the government.

They bought fake freedom fighters’ certificates from corrupt authorities and went on to secure prestigious government postings. Five grubby characters arranged these credentials to prove that they were freedom fighters, and thus get the benefits of extra years of service and opportunities to do more harm to society, and amass more ill-gotten wealth.

See the blustering characters! They did not care to check the dates of their birth, and the year the liberation war was fought. These wicked brains were 12 to 15 years old in 1971. How could they have been attached with the forces in any way back then?

Imagine the level of wisdom of these iniquitous psyches, serving the government departments for such a long time. God knows what else they have been doing to deceive the people and the country all the years they have been working. Track records from the beginning of their careers should be brought forth.

Look further back, check their school and college records and activities in their areas, and I am sure, more stinking facts will surface. At the very

end of their occupation, they wanted to stay on for some more benefits by resorting to barefaced deceit.

Government servants on whom the state management depends and towards whom people look up with deference come out as felons.

Take a step closer. Over the last five years, 11,150 freedom fighters’ certificates have been issued. The most obtrusive fact is that the authorities have exercised unilateral power when issuing these certificates.

The Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Council has been bypassed. The Muktijoddha Council Act 2002 has been overlooked.

Interestingly, their names were found nowhere in the state records.

However, this is not the first exposure of fake freedom fighters credentials.

So far, 116 fake certificates of public servants have been cancelled since 2009, and investigations into over 500 other frauds are in progress.

age than Bangladesh is today. China, Rwanda, and Vietnam are names that are pointed to in the report. And the Scandianavian countries and others too, started to introduce such schemes in the 19th and early 20th century, when they were still relatively poor.

The opportunities and security created by such schemes helped generate a healty, aware, innovative, conscious, and productive population. For Bangladesh to become a middle income country it needs to make the best use it can of the resources it has, and while it has very limited natural resources, it potentially has a vast pool of human resources. The key to success in the most successful countries was precisely this, to make the most of the human resources. l Arild Engelsen Ruud is Professor of South Asia Studies, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental languages, University of Oslo, Norway.

ministers took their own lives in disgust after their misdeeds were exposed.

No one from this land has the guts to admit guilt. We haven’t witnessed voluntary abdication of positions. Our ministers, MPs, influential leaders, and political heavyweights are regularly involved in controversial acts and speeches. Everything appears to pass by smoothly. Nothing touches them.

There are hundreds of genuine soldiers of 1971 who do not care for a piece of paper (as they put it) that confirms they were freedom fighters. They feel good when they behold the flag flying high, and they harbour intense hatred for those corrupted fighters, and pity the fake ones.

We should not let this event slip away like other ones in the past. The corrupted souls involved ought to be exposed, and the sword of justice must come down hard on them.

From the signing authority to the

There are hundreds of genuine soldiers of 1971 who do not care for a piece of paper (as they put it) that confirms they were freedom fighters

More deafening is the fact that the certificates have been signed off by the state minister of Liberation War Affairs. How low should we droop our heads? Where do we hide our faces?

There are many instances of state and government corruption stories worldwide. In India, Pakistan, and other Asian countries, we know of strange leakages of high-profile crimes committed by ministers, MPs, and mayors. The people of South Korea, Japan, China, and India are well versed with high altitude sleaze, and how they were dealt with.

Many disgraced politicians and

recipient, all must be put on trial and handed the harshest penalty. Their qualifications, credentials, certificates, benefits, and ill-gotten wealth must be seized.

Deposing them from their posts and reprimanding them will not be enough, at least not with those who tried to buy the esteem that others paid for with their lives. If this is not treason, duplicity, and treachery, then what is? This is a crime against the state and history. l Mohammad Ali Sattar is a journalist and a DT columnist.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Kangana Ranaut turns director

Haat Ta Dhortey Paro Ki Channel i 3:05pm

n Entertainment Desk Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, who recently directed and produced a short film titled “The Touch,” is gearing up to direct her first feature film soon. The actress who just returned from New York after attending a course in script writing, is now one of the most demanding stars of Bollywood after her success in “Queen.”

She even wrote her own dialogues in “Queen.” She says: “When I started getting into the character, I had a certain way of delivering lines with a certain accent. I told Vikas Bahl (the director of the film) that I would like to do the character in my own way.”

Says a source close to the actress: “Kangana is keen on directing a light romantic comedy for her directorial feature film. Most people expect her to helm a gritty, edgy story, but she would rather direct an ideal date film. She loves chick flicks like “Bridget Jone’s Diary,” “The Notebook,” “Crossroads,” “The Devil Wears Prada” and “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days,” but the film she directs will come from her own experiences, and won’t be a remake.”

Kangana confirms: “It’s too early to talk about my directorial debut right now. All I can say is that, it will be a commercial movie — a complete chick flick.”

Currently, the actress is busy shooting for her films, Anand Rai’s “Tanu Weds Manu 2” and Nikhil Advani’s “Katti Batti.” l

Ferdous and Sohana Saba in Brihonnala

‘Brihonnala’ is both realistic and entertaining: Ferdous n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

F

erdous and Sohana Saba are set to pair-up for Murad Parvez’s upcoming film, “Brihonnala.” The premier of the movie is scheduled on Friday.

“Brihonnala” is the second feature film of the Ferdous and Sohana Saba duo, they have worked toghter in “Ayna” before this project. This film is also the second project of Murad Parvez, a national award winning director.

Brihonnola, a project under the National Filmmaking Grant, is set in the rural Bangladesh of the 90s, where a city born and bred doctor, Abir, (Ferdous) comes to ply his trade.

Abir strives to help the villagers. In time, the genorousity and kindness of the villagers also touches Abir. The villagers embroil in a fewd regarding a banyan tree. While trying to solve the fewd, Abir finds himself in the thick of things. Meanwhile, Abir develops an affair with Durga, (Sohana Saba) a married hindu woman smitten by Abir.

About his role of a physician, Ferdous said: “These days, the audience is not interested in watching bizarre, unrealistic films. They enthuse for films that have realistic stories which combine entertaining elements. I believe that these two factors are present in the film flawlessly.”

“Generally, a realistic film set in the rural life does not do well, but I believe that the elements present in this film will ensure that Brihonnola in a success,” he added while pointing out the 2008 Bollywood project, “Fasion” as an example that such films can succeed. Fashion portrayed a realistic storyline, and attained critical acclaim, box office success as well as the National Award.

The cast of the film also includes Intekhab Dinar, Dilara Zaman and Azad Abul Kalam among others.

The soundtracks of the movie were released on August 23. The movie has four songs in total, all of which have been composed by Emon Saha. l

TODAY IN DHAKA Exhibition

Alo Adharir Golpo Time: 3pm – 8pm Drik Gallery, House 58, Road 15A (New) Montage Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts Road 27, Dhanmondi Solo Art exhibition by Murtaja Basheer Time: 11am – 8pm Galleri Kaya, House 20, Road 16, Sector 4, Uttara Shreyoshi Time: 12pm – 8pm Gallery Twenty One

JAMES FRANCO to play serial killer n

Entertainment Desk Hollywood actor James Franco is eyeing to play the main character named Buster “Rant” Casey in the big screen adaptation of novel “Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey.”

Casey is described as the most efficient serial killer. A high school rebel, he moves from his small town home to the big city where he becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing.

Pamela Romanowsky is in talks to write and direct the film adapted from the author Chuck Palahniuk’s book, reported Ace Showbiz.

“As of last night we’ve finalised a deal for James Franco to option my novel ‘Rant’,” Palahniuk said in a statement on Sunday.

“Details about the casting, shooting and a proposed release date will be forthcoming. After the opportunity to work with Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Sam Rockwell, I can’t imagine a more exciting actor to work with than Franco,” the statement read further. l

A telefilm revolves around a girl played by Badhon who is a polio survivor. Her struggles to get a job, love interest and family life are highlighted in the story.

Turbo

Star Movies 7:30pm

A freak accident might just help an everyday garden snail achieve his biggest dream: winning the Indy 500.

The Conjuring HBO 9:30pm

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 trailer released n Entertainment Desk A full-length trailer for the forthcoming Hunger Games sequel, “Mockingjay: Part 1” has been released, giving audiences a clear look at what is in store for Katniss Everdeen. Starring Hollywood superstar Jennifer Lawrence, the film, directed

by Francis Lawrence, is the first part of the adaptation of the third book in Suzanne Collins’ hugely successful young adult fiction trilogy.

The sequel picks up where last year’s “Catching Fire” left off with Everdeen, now the official symbol of a mass rebellion against the Capitol. Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland, who plays the villainous President Snow, are also returning in the sequel.

The late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman will also be seen reprising his unfinished role of Plutarch Heavensbee. Julianne Moore joins the cast as President Snow’s rival, while British Game

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.

The Green Hornet HBO Hits 8:30pm

of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer will appear as Cressida, another of the Capitol’s rebels. Pop star Lorde meanwhile, has been commissioned to “curate” the film’s soundtrack. “Mockingjay – Part 1″ opens in theatres on November 21. l

Following the death of his father, Britt Reid, heir to his father’s large company, teams up with his late dad’s assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team.

Mithu gets best director award for ‘Jonakir Alo’ n Entertainment Desk Khalid Mahmud Mithu, director of “Jonakir Alo,” got the Best Director award for his movie at the Brasov International Film Festival (BRIFF), held between September 12 and 14 in Romania. Faridur Reza Sagar, managing director of Impress Telefilm Ltd, received the award on his behalf.

“Jonakir Alo,” starring Gazi Rakayet, Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, Emon and Kalyan, was screened on September 13

with Romanian subtitles. The story revolves around Kabita, who dreams of working for

children’s welfare, and is torn between adopting a child and her responsibility as a daughter-in-law of a conservative family.

In the festival, the Best Film award went to “The Great Beauty,” Best Lead Male Actor to Alex Pettyfer for “Endless Love,” Best Lead Female Actor to Keira Knightley for “Anna Karenina,” Best Screenplay to John Gatins for “Flight,” Best Cinematography to Danny Cohen for “Les Misérables” and Audience Award to “Once Upon a Fish.”

Director Daria Trifu declared the third edition of the renowned nonviolent film festival closed. This year the theme of the festival was Africa.

The awards ceremony was held on September 14. l

Akira Kurosawa film retrospective in Dhaka n Entertainment Desk

A week-long retrospective of films directed by influential Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa will be held at the main auditorium of National Museum, starting from September 19. The festival, jointly hosted by the International Acad-

emy of Film and Media (IAFM), Japan Foundation, Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh and the National Museum, will pay tribute to Kurosawa’s 16th death anniversary.

The festival, apart from screening movies, will also feature a three-day workshop dedicated to the director’s life and works, from September 20 to 22. Kurosawa exponent Sanjoy Ghosh from India will conduct the workshop.

It has been learned that thirteen Kurosawa films including his most celebrated “Yojimbo,” “Rashomon,” “Seven Samurai” and “Ikiru” will be screened with English subtitle, in three sessions each day — 11:00am, 3:00pm and 6:00pm. The screening is open to all.

Arguably the most celebrated filmmaker of all time in Japan, Akira Kurosawa had a career spanning from the Second World War to the early nineties. l

A scene from Jonakir Alo

HRITHIK ROSHAN

to pen a book on fitness n Entertainment Desk Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan probably has the best well toned Greek god like physique in Bollywood. Now as the actor gears up for the release of his next film “Bang Bang,” alongside Katrina Kaif, it is said that Hrithik Roshan is all set to turn author.

In fact sources close to Hrithik Roshan state that while the actor who has always held a good physique in high regard has always been approached by friends and colleagues for tips on attaining a physique like his.

Now in answer to their per-

sistent pleas Hrithik is intending on penning a book dedicated to fitness.

However, Hrithik’s transition from actor to author may take some time, as the source adds: “Though Hritik has been toying with the idea of penning the book, he is not intending to start it any time soon.

But he will for sure be writing it.”

Away from the book, on the film front, apart from his next release “Bang Bang” that is an official remake of the Tom Cruise— Cameron Diaz starrer “Knight and Day,” Hrithik will next be seen in Ashutosh Gowariker’s film “Mohenjo Daro.” l

Did you know?

Shahid Afridi is the only player to have scored 1,000+ runs and taken 50+ wickets in T20Is

Sport

14 English big guns

face German challenge

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

DHAKA TRIBUNE

14 Champagne to

15 Australia

run against Fifa president Blatter

Bangladesh fight back after Chanderpaul ton n Tribune Desk With Bangladesh batting on 114/2 in 40.4 overs when a brief rain interruption halted play on the stroke of tea on the fourth day of the second Test against the West Indies at St Lucia yesterday, the visitors were left with an uphill task chasing an improbable 489 for victory.

Heading into the final session’s play, opener Tamim Iqbal was unbeaten on 43 off 131 balls while middleorder batsman Mominul Haque was undefeated at the other end on 31 from 78 deliveries.

Still requiring 375 runs for an unlikely win, Bangladesh, in all likelihood, are up against it as they seek to square the two-Test series 1-1 with the hosts claiming a convincing 10-wicket victory in the first Test.

Till tea, the unbroken thirdwicket pair of Tamim and Mominul added a patient 66 runs to resurrect Bangladesh’s innings after the quick departures of opening batsman Shamsur Rahman and Anamul Haque.

Shamsur, dismissed after making an entertaining 27-ball 39, paid the price

West Indies 1st Innings 380 all out (Chanderpaul 84, Al-Amin 3/80) Bangladesh 1st Innings 161 all out (Mahmudullah 53, Roach 5/42) West Indies 2nd innings KC Brathwaite c Shamsur b Mahmudullah 45 LR Johnson b Taijul 41 KA Edwards c Shamsur b Shafiul 2 DM Bravo b Mahmudullah 7 S Chanderpaul not out 101 J Blackwood not out 66 Extras (lb 5, w 2) 7 Total (4 wickets dec; 77 overs) 269 Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-81, 3-97, 4-100 Bowling Taijul 28-5-81-1, Al-Amin 4-0-18-0, Robiul 12-3-42-0, Shafiul 13-1-42-1, Mahmudullah 16-2-64-2, Mominul 4-0-17-0 Bangladesh 2nd innings (target: 489 runs) Tamim Iqbal not out 43 Shamsur Rahman c Edwards b Taylor 39 Anamul Haque c Ramdin b Benn 0 Mominul Haque not out 31 Extras 1 Total (2 wickets; 40.4 overs) 114 Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-48 Bowling Taylor 12-3-39-1, Roach 4.4-0-18-0 Benn 16-5-35-1, Blackwood 2-0-4-0, Gabriel 6-0-17-0 Bangladesh require another 375 runs with 8 wickets remaining Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (R) congratulates West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul (L) after the experienced campaigner reached his 30th Test century on the fourth day of the second Test at St Lucia yesterday WICB

Mahbubul, Nasiruddin elected as new Vice Presidents of BCB n Minhaz Uddin Khan The much-anticipated vice-president’s election of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was held yesterday with board directors Mahbubul Anam and AZM Nasiruddin winning the poll for the two posts. Mahbubul, who has served as a BCB vice-president for around eight years, led the race with 21 votes followed by Nasiruddin with 17.

The third candidate of the contest, BCB director Najib Ahmed, managed to bag only eight votes. 23 out of the 26 voters participated in the poll. BCB president Nazmul Hasan decided not to vote as he wanted to prove himself neutral while two board directors, Iqbal Yousuf and Sheikh Sohel, failed to cast their votes due to personal reasons.

Four directors, on the other hand, who are not in the country, put in their votes through e-mail and texts. The main attraction of the election was the contest between Mahbubul and Najib.

Najib’s submission of nomination paper on the very last day added a late twist to the contest and it was learnt

builds pitch for spin practice

DAY 4, AT TEA

for playing one shot too many as he holed out to midwicket off Jerome Taylor while Anamul departed without troubling the scorers.

With Bangladesh placed at a precarious 48/2, Tamim and Mominul set about steadying the batting department. And luck seemed to have finally shone on Mominul who was dropped on 29 by Darren Bravo stationed at first slip off the bowling of Jerome Taylor.

Ladyluck has deserted the diminutive left-hander so far in this series as most of his dismissals were shrouded with a considerable amount of doubt.

The West Indies earlier declared their second innings on 269/4 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul hammering his 30th Test ton. The hosts resumed the fourth day’s play on 208/4 and declared after adding 61 runs without the loss of any wicket.

It was Chanderpaul earlier who dominated the scenario. He played 134 balls in his unbeaten knock and in the process went past Sir Don Bradman’s 29 hundreds and became only the second batsman to remain undefeated throughout a Test series having played a minimum of three innings and scored 200-plus runs. South African colossus Jacques Kallis was the first to do so against Zimbabwe in 2001. l

from BCB sources that Najib was made to participate in the poll by a group of board directors with the aim of competing with Mahbubul.

It is understood that a particular group inside the board believed Mahbubul should make way in order to freshen up the post.

However, Najib and Co’s mission was ruined with Mahbubul winning the race by a heavy margin. According to BCB sources, Najib got a hint that he would lose right on the eve of the election due to which he tried to pull out his name from the contest at the last minute.

He had even walked out of the BCB meeting room but his efforts were in vain as the constitution does not allow any last minute withdrawals.

This had created some tension in the board office premises but BCB chief Nazmul said to the media that the election was held systematically and in order.

When asked to describe Najib’s reaction after the results were declared, Nazmul said, “His (Najib) reaction was totally fine. To be honest he was the

13

first one to rush to the two winners in order to congratulate them. This happened in front of everyone as we all were in the same room.”

In order to eliminate any potential difference suggestions over reaching a consensus regarding the two ceremonial BCB posts were made by a few directors. The election took place among a very selective group so at the end of the day everyone would get to know who voted for whom.

However, newly-elected vice-president Mahbubul believes the election will not create any dispute amongst the committee members. “All the board directors and the three candidates had met in a get-together yesterday (Monday) where we discussed and reached a common ground that election is just only a process. But we all will maintain the bonding because we have to work together for the betterment of cricket of the country,” said Mahbubul.

On the other hand, Nasiruddin, who is also the chairman of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, said getting elected meant people will now expect him to work hard. l

Saqlain Sajib keeps terrorising Zim A n Mazhar Uddin Left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib weaved his magic upon the touring Zimbabwe A side once again in the first unofficial Test at the Sheikh Kamal International Stadium in Cox’s Bazar as the hosts were on the brink of victory heading into the fourth day’s play today.

Having scalped a record 9/82 in the first innings, Sajib picked up six wickets in the second innings as the home side were just 61 runs away from victory.

Resuming the third day’s play on 162/3 replying to the visitors’ first innings total of 206-all out, Bangladesh lost their last seven wickets for 49 runs to be dismissed for 211, a lead of five runs.

In their second innings, Zimbabwe A fared far worse compared to the first essay as they had no answers to Sajib, capitulating to 108-all out to give the 25-year old a 15-wicket haul.

Faced with a comparatively modest target of 104, the second-string national side lost opener Shadman Islam (six) early. Liton Kumar Das (27) and Marshal Ayub (10) were the unbeaten batsmen on the crease as Bangladesh ended the day on 43/1, requiring another 61 runs to win the bowler-friendly unofficial Test, the first of two four-dayers between the two teams. l

Low on moral, Gazi leaves for UK today n Mazhar Uddin Bangladesh off-spinner Sohag Gazi will leave here for the Metropolitan University in Cardiff, United Kingdom today to undergo tests on his bowling action on Friday. Gazi’s bowling action was recently questioned by match officials following the conclusion of the second one-day international against the West Indies last month.

Questions, however, have risen over a lack of support for the 23-year old on behalf of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) as the right-arm spinner has received very little assistance ever since he returned from the Caribbean on September 1.

It was learned that Gazi will be appearing for the bowling tests all by himself as no official from the BCB will be accompanying him. And prior to Gazi’s departure, BCB game development manager Nazmul Abedin Fahim worked on his action for a duration of only two days.

Gazi can count himself unlucky because when another Bangladesh spinner Abdur Razzak encountered a similar situation in 2008, the latter was accompanied by Nazmul.

Gazi complained that if he was provided support at the right time he might not have faced this scenario. “If someone had helped me on this issue six months back then I would not have faced this situation,” he said.

Nazmul also admitted that it would have been better for Gazi if he was afforded more support before his departure. “I was told to work with Gazi for two days. It would have been better if we got more time,” he said.

Alongside one defeat after another, Bangladesh’s woes in their ongoing tour of the West Indies took a turn for the worse as paceman Al Amin Hossain’s bowling action was also reported following the end of the first Test.

Al Amin too will have to undergo tests on his bowling action within 21 days of being reported and Nazmul informed that there are some bowlers in domestic cricket as well who need to work on their bowling action.

BCB media committee chairman Jalal Younus had assured the board’s assistance towards both Gazi and Al Amin. However, if recent events are anything to go by, Gazi has been let down big time. l

Hockey team leaves for Asiad n Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan (2R) presents flower bouquets to the new vice presidents, AZM Nasiruddin (L) and Mahbubul Anam (2L) after the election at the BCB headquarters in Mirpur yesterday MUMIT M

With an aim of producing a better display compared to any other previous edition, the Bangladesh hockey team left the country yesterday night to take part in the 17th Asian Games scheduled to begin on Friday in Incheon, South Korea.

Despite winning the Hockey World League Round 1 in the first week of this month as unbeaten champions, Bangladesh’s performance was not upto the mark given the fact that they have been training for months which includes three friendly matches against India at home. Players like Mainul Islam Koushik and Pushkor Khisa Mimo were not at their best and failed to perform to their potential.

Bangladesh’s Pakistani head coach Naveed Alam, however, is in no doubt

that the players will fare better in the Asiad. “The players are committed to produce the best for the nation. They are recharged and refreshed,” said Naveed before leaving the capital city yesterday.

The coach is confident that, under his tutelage, the team will be able to put up their best performance. “Bangladesh will definitely play better than before,” he added.

The players are committed to produce the best for the nation. They are recharged and refreshed Bangladesh skipper Mamunur Rahman Chayan set the team’s target to finish fifth or sixth in the event. “Our fight will be for fifth or sixth place. We have to create an upset in the group stages to achieve that goal. It is possible if the players give their best on the pitch,” said the

Usha Krira Chakra midfielder yesterday.

Following the conclusion of the Hockey World League Round 1 which Naveed declared was a part of their preparation for the Asian Games, the Bangladesh players went through a few tactical sessions that included swimming- and teamwork-based practice sessions.

Bangladesh are placed in Group B of the Asian Games Hockey alongside three powerhouses of Asia - South Korea, Malaysia, Japan - and Singapore.

The Red and Green outfit will take the field on Saturday with the game against Japan slated for Seonhak Hockey Stadium. Bangladesh will then play Malaysia a day later before facing Singapore on September 23. Chayan and Co. will play their final group match against the hosts on September 27.

Bangladesh finished eighth in the last edition of the Asian Games losing against India, Pakistan and Japan with the only consolation win coming against Hong Kong. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

English big guns face German challenge n AFP, Paris English heavyweights Chelsea and Manchester City get their Champions League campaigns off the mark on Wednesday against German rivals Schalke 04 and Bayern Munich, with Paris Saint German star Zlatan Ibrahimovic returning to his old club Ajax and Spanish giants Barcelona also in action.

Bayern Munich (GER) v Man City (ENG)

Five-time winners Bayern, who made a third consecutive European semi-final last season, face off against English Premier League winners Manchester City for the third time in four years in the group stage starting in Munich.

City came from two goals down to end Bundesliga champions Bayern’s record ten-game run of Champions League wins last season. Both teams finished level on points with Bayern coming out on top after their 3-1 win at City.

Bayern eliminated Arsenal in the last 16 and City’s neighbours Manchester United in the quarter-finals, before losing to eventual champions Real Madrid 5-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

The 2013 winners are boosted by France playmaker Franck Ribery who marked his return from a knee injury to score in a 2-0 win over VfB Stuttgart that put the champions joint top of the Bundesliga.

City, meanwhile, have had a sluggish start to their Premier League title defense with a draw against Arsenal on Sunday leaving them fifth with just seven points for their first four games.

Roma (ITA) v Cska Moscow (RUS)

Roma coach Rudi Garcia is set to hand former Barcelona midfielder Seydou Keita his full debut when the Giallorossi end a four-year absence from the Champions League by hosting CSKA Moscow.

Malian international Keita, who has come off the bench in two league wins so far, is set to step in for the suspended Daniele De Rossi.

bidding to become the first coach to win the European title with three different clubs after Porto (2004) and Inter Milan (2010).Schalke were eliminated in last season’s round of 16 by winners Real Madrid, losing 3-1 away and 9-2 on aggregate, and are struggling in the Bundesliga with just one point from three games.

Roma last competed in the competition in the 2010/2011 season, when they reached the round of 16, and will be desperate to make a positive start in a Group E which also features favourites Manchester City and Bayern Munich.

While Roma are without attacking midfielder Kevin Strootman (knee) and possibly defender Leandro Castan (thigh), CSKA have far bigger worries in comparison. Russian international Alan Dzagoev and Swede Pontus Wernbloom will also sit out the first of a three-match ban following red cards last season against Czech side Viktoria Plzen.

Garcia rested several key players, namely Gervinho, Francesco Totti and Juan Iturbe in last weekend’s 1-0 win at Empoli, suggesting they will start at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.

Maribor (SLO) v Sporting Lisbon (POR)

Resurgent Sporting Lisbon return to the Champions League group stage after a six-year absence with Nani among a new-look side bolstered by 11 new signings who open against Slovenian champions NK Maribor, themselves back in Europe after 15 years.

Maribor’s squad can take inspiration from coach Ante Simundza, who played an important role in the club’s last European qualification as a player in the 1999-2000 season, scoring the winning goal in the group opener to defeat Dynamo Kyiv. Sporting’s new coach Marco Silva will be hoping to overturn the statistics of the Portuguese league runners-up having lost their last two opening day fixtures.

Barcelona (ESP) v APOEL (CYP)

New Barcelona coach Luis Enrique’s European campaign debuts with La Liga runners-up hosting Cypriot outfit Apoel, competing in the group stage for the third time and quarter-finalists in 2011/12 .

Last season the Catalans failed to reach at least the semi-finals for the first time since 2007 being stopped in the quarter-finals by eventual runners-up Atletico Madrid.

The four-time winners are however boosted by the statistic of having lost just one of their last 27 home Champions League matches.

Athletic Bilbao (ESP) v Shakhtar (UKR)

Ajax (NED) v PSG (FRA)

Dutch champions Ajax, who won the last of their four European titles two decades ago, face a potentially tricky test at home against last season’s quarter-finalists Paris Saint-Germain.

The Amsterdam outfit will also have to contend with their former Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now an international star 13 years after he joined Ajax, as they bid to survive the group stage for the first time since 2006.

But French champions PSG, who play their first ever tie in the Netherlands, have won just one of their last seven away games, being held Saturday

Chelsea striker Diego Costa (C) warms up with teammates Didier Drogba (L) and Ramires during a training session in Cobham, southern England yesterday. Chelsea are due to play Schalke 04 in their Champions League Group G match today REUTERS in Ligue 1 action.

Laurent Blanc’s side also have defensive worries with skipper Thiago Silva still sidelined while David Luiz picked up a knee injury playing for Brazil and Serge Aurier recovering after losing consciousness during a clash of heads playing for the Ivory Coast.

Champagne to run against Fifa president Blatter n Reuters Former Fifa official Jerome Champagne formally announced on Monday that he will stand against incumbent Sepp Blatter in next year’s election for president of the world soccer body.

“I have the honor of informing you that I have just written to the FIFA adhoc Electoral Committee and its president, Mr. Domenico Scala, to confirm my intention to run for FIFA president,” Champagne said in a letter on his campaign website.

The Frenchman, FIFA’s former director of international relations, announced in January that he intended to run for the presidency - the most powerful job in soccer - but then confused many observers with his comments regarding Blatter.

At his launch news conference, Champagne had declared he did not

believe he could beat Blatter and that he was undecided about whether he would even run if his former boss was a candidate.

Blatter, 78, announced last week that he would seek a fifth term and, with UEFA president Michel Platini having decided against challenging him, the prospect of the Swiss being unopposed looked likely.

“I am happy that the debate about the future of FIFA and football has finally begun with the prospect of various candidates,” he said, adding that he would like all candidates to take part in public and televised debates across the world.

“We have to take clear and informed decisions on whether we want to continue with the current economic polarization, and the sporting imbalances it brings in its wake, or be willing to rebalance the game in our globalised 21st century.”l

Chelsea (ENG) v Schalke 04 (GER)

In-form Premier League leaders Chelsea, with maximum points on the domestic front after four games, will be looking to repeat last season’s display against Schalke 04 whom they beat 3-0 home and away.

Bolstered by new signings Diego

Costa and Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea are favourites to advance past the group stages as they bid for second title after 2012. The Londoners reached the semi-finals last year and can be boosted by the fact they have never lost against a Bundesliga side at home.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho is also

Scholes tips Liverpool as outside CL chance n AFP, London Champions League winner Paul Scholes believes Liverpool could be dark horses to win this season’s competition.

Five-times European champions Liverpool will return to the elite event after a five-year absence when they face Bulgarian champions Ludogorets at Anfield on Tuesday and will also play holders Real Madrid in Group B. Scholes, a member of the Manchester United side that won the 2008 Champions League final, has forecast Anfield will be a tough place for visiting sides.

The 39-year-old, now a pundit for ITV’s Champions League coverage, said: “Liverpool are the dark horse of the competition this year.

“Brendan Rodgers (the Liverpool manager) has done a fantastic job. The style of play he’s adopted is exciting

to watch and the players seem to have taken to him. I feel they will do well with the players they have.

“The big advantage they have is a home crowd. Anfield is always a hostile place to go, which is something Manchester City lack.”

Liverpool qualified for the Champions League after a 2013/14 season in which they finished runners-up to Manchester City in the Premier League.

Since then star striker Luis Suarez has been sold to Barcelona, but Scholes believes Mario Balotelli could prove a good replacement.

Speaking about Suarez, Scholes said: “He’s a great player, but don’t forget they’ve signed Balotelli who, on his day, can be a match winner too.”

City reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time last term and Scholes believes going further this time around will be manager Manuel Pellegrini’s priority.l

Athletic return to the Champions League group stage for just the second time and the first in 16 years after their 4-2 aggregate victory over Napoli in qualifying last month and are hopeful of making it out of a group which also includes Porto and BATE Borisov.

The Basque side have struggled in La Liga this season with just three points from three games, while Shakhtar have notched up six consecutive victories in their league despite playing their home games in the western Ukranian city of Lyviv because of unrest in the Ukraine.

Mircea Lucesu’s side can feel at home in northern Spain having got their Champions League campaign last season of to a 2-0 win at Athletic’s rivals Real Sociedad.

Porto (POR) v BATE Borisov (BLR)

Porto, winners in 1987 and 2004, will be playing their 200th elite European fixture. l

Nottingham voted England’s City of Football n Reuters, London The city has no presence in the Premier League but Nottingham has been voted England’s 2015 City of Football.

Nottingham beat off Manchester and Portsmouth to earn the title, a reward for its efforts to get more people playing the game in the East Midlands city.

Plans include a month-long Festival of Football, creating playing opportunities in more urban spaces and using social media to connect players.

“We will make it as easy as possible for people to get to their game,” Team Nottingham, who are working alongside clubs Nottingham Forest and Notts County, say.

“We will spark an explosion of football participation.”

Former English and European champions Nottingham Forest are currently top of the Championship. l

Swiss keeper Hull, Hammers Catalans have right to shocked after fans share four goals urinate in his bottle independence vote: Pique n AFP, London calling for the Spanish government to Hull duo Abel Hernandez and Mon Reuters n AFP, Madrid allow a referendum similar to that which hamed Diame both scored their first A Swiss goalkeeper has threatened legal action after fans of a rival lower league team urinated in his water bottle and then taunted him when, unawares, he took a sip during a match at the weekend.

FC Muri goalkeeper Reto Felder said he had felt sick after tasting the warm contents of the bottle, which he had left near the goalpost during the 1. Liga (third tier) game at FC Baden near Zurich.

“The idea of drinking piss is simply intolerable,” the Aargauer Zeitung website quoted the 34-year-old player.

“What if next time it is something that knocks you out?,” added Felder.

Swiss tabloid Blick reported that the unidentified fans had persuaded a ball boy behind the goal to pass them the bottle during the second half of the match.

The paper said the fans shouted “Now you have AIDS” after Felder realised what had happened.

Muri coach Beat Hubeli was shocked “That’s bottom drawer,” he said.

“I’ve played football and experienced a lot but that beats everything.” Baden president Thomi Bram apologised to the goalkeeper on the club website. l

Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Pique has thrown his support behind calls for Catalonia to be allowed to hold a vote on independence from Spain.

Pique posted pictures to his social media accounts last week of him attending a mass demonstration with his son

will take place in Scotland on Thursday.

Speaking ahead of Barca’s Champions League opener against APOEL Nicosia on Wednesday, Pique claimed his efforts in representing Spain at international level could not be questioned despite his call for a “democratic” solution.

“I don’t understand why people are bothered by it, my playing for Spain doesn’t have anything to do with it,” he said.

“I don’t think there can be any doubts about me. I have played with the Spanish national teams since I was 16, I have played over 11 years without fail. I have always given my all in every game.

“It is different thing that I also feel Catalan, it was the day of the Catalans and to be in favour of the vote. That is something democratic and the people ought to have the right to vote.”

Pique has 61 caps for Spain and was part of the sides that won the World Cup in 2010 and European Championships in 2012. Barcelona marked the 300th anniversary of the loss of Catalan sovereignty to Spain during Saturday’s 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao. l

goals for the club but they were only good enough for a 2-2 draw with West Ham in the Premier League clash at the KC Stadium on Monday.

Curtis Davies’s own-goal ultimately ensured a share of the spoils after Hull twice lost the lead.

Hernandez’s first-half header put Hull ahead and Diame also scored against a West Ham side he left on transfer deadline day. In between Ecuadorean international striker Enner Valencia marked his first league start with a 25-yard goal and the 2-2 draw was sealed when Diafra Sakho’s weak shot evaded Allan McGregor, only for Davies to bundle over his own line.

Hull went ahead in the 39th minute when Hernandez headed in Egyptian Ahmed Elmohamady’s cross.

But the Hammers were level five minutes after half-time when Valencia hit his long-range blockbuster.

But with 64 minutes gone, a loose West Ham throw-in was seized on by Diame, whose shot went in off the post.

However, this time Hull’s lead lasted under three minutes. l

Hull City's Uruguayan forward Abel Hernandez celebrates scoring during their English Premier League match against West Ham United at the KC stadium on Monday AFP

DHAKA TRIBUNE

QUICK BYTES

Sri Lanka want to play friendly football match on Oct 8 The Sri Lankan football team have aspired to play two friendly matches against Bangladesh on October 8 and 10 but the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), however, desires to host the friendlies at the end of next month. In a bid to expand football across the country, the BFF planned to host Sri Lanka in Jessore and Rajshahi but according to the latest correspondence, the Lankans are holing out for the start of next month. The BFF, however, refused the island nation’s proposal as the country will be celebrating Eid-ul-Azha on October 5 and will be gripped with a holiday mood during that time. “We are hopeful that Sri Lanka will understand the scenario,” said BFF general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag.

–Raihan Mahmood

MSC win over Feni in U-18 football Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited earned a comfortable 2-1 victory over Feni Soccer Club in the Airtel Under-18 Football Tournament 2014 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. Nizam put the Black and Whites ahead in the 22nd minute before Sadek doubled the lead in the 70th minute. Jafor pulled one back for the Feni outfit in the 89th minute.

Meanwhile in the day’s other match, Abahani Limited were held by Brothers Union 2-2 at the same venue. Monzurul Alam and Nayeem Sheikh scored one apiece for Abahani in the 13th and 74th minute respectively while Shahriar Bappy and Sohanur Rahman netted in the 45th and 65th minute respectively for Brothers.

–Tribune Desk

Top seed Dewani reaches last eight Top seed Ali Dewani of Bahrain beat Navraj Dhar of India 6-0, 6-0 to seal a last-eight slot in the Bengal Group Asian Under-14 Tennis at the National Tennis Complex yesterday. In the other matches of the day, Naimul Islam of Bangladesh defeated compatriot Ranjit Sarker 6-1, 6-2, Mohammed Istiak pipped Ashik Jannat 6-3, 7-5, Mohammed Reday Hasan outclassed Zubin Omar 6-2, 6-2, Mehedi Hasan ousted Mir Shahidul Islam Nishad 6-1, 6-0, Shadheen Hasan outplayed Shaiket Shahrier 6-2, 6-1, Faruk Hossain of Bangladesh beat fellow Bangladeshi Badhon Sharif 6-1, 6-3 and Michael Francis Eala of Philippines defeated Faridur Reza 6-0, 6-2. In the girls’ singles, Popy Akter beat Sanjida Sohana 6-0, 6-1 while Ety Akther defeated Raisa Haider 7-6, 6-0.

–Raihan Mahmood

Chittagong finish third in national rugby Chittagong finished third in the Walton Motorcycle National Rugby beating Gazipur 24-10 at the Paltan Ground yesterday.

The winners led the first half 12-0. The final between Bangladesh Army and Narail district will be held at the same ground today. In the semifinals, Bangladesh Army defeated Gazipur 63-0 while Narail outplayed Chittagong 20-3. National Sports Council secretary Shibnath Roy will distribute the prizes as the chief guest.

–Raihan Mahmood

Sport

DAY’S WATCH BTV, Gazi TV, Ten Cricket 8:00PM Bangladesh tour of West Indies Second Test, Day 5 Star Sports 1, 3, HD1 8:30PM Champions League T20 KKR v Chennai Super Kings Uefa Champions League Ten Action 10:00PM Olympiacos v Atletico Madrid 12:00AM Bayern Munich v Man City Ten Sports 12:00AM Chelsea v Schalke 04 Ten HD 12:00AM Barcelona v Apoel Nicosia

15

Lions crush Express to keep CLT20 hopes alive n Cricinfo Lahore Lions kept their chances of progressing to the main draw of the Champions League T20 alive with a comprehensive victory over Southern Express.

Their future in the tournament, however, will be decided only at the end of the game between Northern Knights and Mumbai Indians.

At the toss, Express captain Jehan Mubarak had stated that he had opted to bowl because he preferred chasing a target with the qualification at stake, and he had aimed to restrict the Lions to a total in the range of 130-140. Those goals, however, came undone in the last five overs of the Lions innings against an attacking innings from Mohammad Hafeez, who blasted 67 off 40 balls.

The Lions went into their last five overs with the score at 89 for 3 and the run rate hovering around six before Hafeez changed gears. He blasted Seekkuge Prasanna for a four and three successive sixes off the first four balls of the 16th over, in which 25 runs were added to the Lions total. The Lions captain followed that up with a few more big hits and brought up the 150 for the side with a six and four off Jayampathi in the 19th over. By the time the innings had ended at 164 for 6, 75 runs had come off the last five overs and 50run milestones had taken 43, 50 and 17 balls, respectively.

Express needed one of their top-order batsmen to replicate the kind of innings Hafeez had played but their chal-

lenge began withering away in the sixth over, as Aizaz Cheema dismissed the top three with the score on 36. An already weakened innings stumbled along to an early finish as Express lost four wickets for six runs in two overs, including Mubarak who had struck a brisk 35.

Cheema, who missed out on a hattrick for the third successive match in the tournament, finished with 3 for 15 and was well supported by Wahab Riaz and Adnan Rasool as Express folded for 109 in 18 overs.

BRIEF SCORE Lahore Lions 164 for 6 (Hafeez 67, S Nasim 31; Maharoof 3-28) Southern Express 109 (Mubarak 35, Cheema 3-15, Riaz 2-20) Lahore Lions won by 55 runs The Lions opening pair of Umar Siddiq, promoted up the order in place of Nasir Jamshed, and Ahmed Shehzad had made a confident start before Maharoof landed the first breakthrough, enticing a dab from Siddiq that was caught by wicketkeeper Kusal Perera.

Maharoof’s next over turned out to be even better with the wickets of Shehzad and Jamshed, both batsmen out to poor shots. The next seven overs saw Lions score just 37 runs as Hafeez and Saad Nasim focused on rebuilding the innings and set up a brilliant flourish at the end. l

Lahore Lions captain Mohammad Hafeez plays a shot against Southern Express during their qualifier 5 match of the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 at the Chhattisgarh International Cricket Stadium, Raipur, India yesterday CRICINFO

Zidane interested in Pakistan re-appoint coaching role Afridi Twenty20 captain France n AFP, Marseille

n AFP, Lahore Pakistan on Tuesday re-appointed Shahid Afridi as their Twenty20 captain until 2016, three years after he was removed following a fall out with coach Waqar Younis and the cricket board.

The 34-year-old all-rounder led Pakistan to the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 in 2010 and then to the same stage of the World Cup (50 overs) a year later.

But after the tour of the West Indies in May 2011 where Pakistan won the one-day series 3-2, he developed differences with Waqar and then Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt and was removed.

Pakistan’s Twenty20 captaincy has remained vacant since Mohammad

Hafeez stepped down following the team’s first round exit from the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in April this year.

“Afridi has been announced as captain of the Pakistan T20 squad till the ICC World Twenty20 in India in 2016,” the PCB said in a statement.

The PCB also said it would retain Misbah-ul-Haq as captain of the Test and one-day teams till next year’s ICC World Cup amid speculation he could be sacked following a disastrous tour of Sri Lanka where they lost both Tests and the three-match one-day series 2-1.

Afridi’s first assignment will be a lone Twenty20 game against Australia in Dubai on October 5 followed by two more games against New Zealand in

the United Arab Emirates in December.

Afridi led Pakistan in 19 Twenty20 matches in his first stint, winning eight and losing 11.

Pakistan will also play three one-dayers and two Tests against Australia.

Afridi said he was looking forward to a new beginning under Waqar, who himself was re-appointed coach in May, his second stint in the job.

“Whatever happened is in the past now. I have started a new beginning with Waqar.”

He continued: “I will do my best to give better results and develop fighting spirits in the players.

“This game is not for chicken-hearted, so we have to remove the fear of failure from the players’ minds.” l

Former France captain Zinedine Zidane, currently coach of the Real Madrid reserve side, admitted Tuesday he would consider a coaching job with his native France.

The former World Player of the Year worked as Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant as Real won the Champions League and Copa del Rey last season and is following in the footsteps of Pep Guardiola by beginning his career in management in the Spanish third tier.

“I’m ambitious. Now I’m a coach I say to myself ‘why not be national coach?’,” Zidane, 42, said in an interview published Tuesday in the daily La Provence newspaper.

“I love the France team, I wore this jersey. That doesn’t mean to say that I can be coach, but from the moment I

went over to the other side of the fence it’s obviously a possibility.”

He added: “Now I’m coaching Real’s young players. One thing at a time.”

Capped 108 times, former World Cup and European championship winner Zidane retired from international football after the 2006 World Cup where France reached the final.

“Zizou” praised his former teammate Didier Deschamps, now the France coach.

“As a player he was a leader. As a coach, he hasn’t changed. With Les Bleus he has managed to form a solid group. He’s achieveing great things,” added Zidane.

The Marseille native claimed the first win of his coaching career on Sunday when his young team Real Madrid Castilla won 3-1 at home against Trival Valderas. l

Australia build pitch for spin practice n Reuters, Sydney Australia has built an artificial pitch at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane to help its batsmen deal with spin-bowling on the slow tracks of the subcontinent, where they have so often struggled in the past.

The surface, which is intended to mimic the conditions in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, has a concrete base with artificial grass, clay and turf rolled into a compact layer on top.

“The artificial base and the bounce is a lot different to what we get in Australia,” Cricket Australia’s high performance manager Pat Howard told Brisbane’s Courier Mail on Tuesday.

Mercedes name teen as reserve driver The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team on Monday named 19-year-old Pascal Wehrlein as reserve driver behind race-day duo Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Wehrlein, after a successful early career in go-karts, raced the Formula 3 championships in 2012, claiming the title of best rookie, before moving on to DTM, the German Touring Car Masters, with Mercedes-Benz.

–AFP

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Woods takes McIlroy comments in stride

Van Basten swaps jobs at AZ Alkmaar n Reuters, Amsterdam

n AFP, Washington

Marco van Basten stepped down as coach of AZ Alkmaar on Tuesday, saying he could no longer cope with the stress, but will stay at the Dutch club after swapping jobs with his assistant Alex Pastoor.

The club had announced on Monday that the former European Footballer of the Year was returning from a brief leave of absence. But in a dramatic twist to the saga, the 49-year-old told a news conference that stress, which led to heart palpitations, meant he could no longer work as head coach and would never again do so.

“I asked AZ to change my responsibility to better suit me and so that I can continue,” Basten said.

Dutch media had reported on Friday that Van Basten, who coached the Netherlands at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and turns 50 in October, was quitting after missing the club’s last two matches. l

Tiger Woods, his 39th birthday looming in December, laughed off 20-something Rory McIlroy’s recent estimation that the 14-time major winner and compatriot Phil Mickelson are in the back nine of their careers.

“I thought it was funny,” a relaxed Woods said Monday as he promoted the Hero World Challenge unofficial event he will host in Florida in December.

“I mean,” he added, “Phil has less holes to play than I do, though.”

Woods, hindered all season by injury, acknowledged that, all kidding aside, McIlroy had a point.

“It’s a reality, you know? We’re all older,” he said. “I’m nearing my 20th season on tour here coming up pretty soon. I’ve been out here for a while, and Phil has been out here for a while.

“Phil has made every single Ryder

Cup and Presidents Cup team since, I think, what, ‘95? Pretty remarkable.

“As long as you’re still part of that conversation, you cross generations in this game of golf,” he said.

Woods said he’s as curious as the rest of the world to see how he’ll play when he tees it up at Isleworth Golf and Country Club for the tournament he hosts for the benefit of his charitable foundation December 4-7.

He hasn’t played since missing the cut at the PGA Championship in August with back spasms, saying doctors told him he needed time to strengthen his back, although he insisted at the time the trouble wasn’t related to the surgery he had in March to relieve a pinched nerve.

He was sidelined for nearly four months thanks to that trouble, missing the Masters and US Open as he recovered. l

“I think it’s a step in the right direction. Batsmen can practise on a pitch that will play very differently to what we can expect in Australia.

“It’s a start. At no stage am I going to suggest it’s the finished article but I think it will provide a good, solid base to try something different.”

Australia’s problems with spin bowling are widely considered to have contributed to the humiliating 4-0 series sweep they suffered in India last year.

The first players will get a chance to bat and bowl on it this week as Australia prepare for a trip to the United Arab Emirates to take on Pakistan in two tests, three one-day matches and a Twenty20 starting next month.

Howard said he would continue to investigate the possibility of bringing soil from India to more accurately replicate conditions, even if he had discovered that there was a great deal of variety in the make-up of pitches in South Asia.

“In a further process we have been talking to quarries and doing further testing,” Howard added.

“We even found out that in Mumbai they have a mixture of clays. It’s very different, as you could imagine, if you go from the bottom of Sri Lanka in Galle all the way up to Mohali.

“It’s a fascinating process and we’re not going to have a magic bullet here. l

Kei Nishikori, US Open runner-up, displays a package of the cup noodle designed with his celebration at the US Open, at the Nissin Food Products headquarters yesterday AFP

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

JS set to get back power over judges n Kamran Reza Chowdhury The Awami League-led Jatiya Sangsad is set to pass the 16th Constitution Amendment Bill 2014 today that would make the supreme court judges accountable to the legislature for “misconduct and incapacity.” With this the parliament will retain the authority after around 40 years.

The fourth amendment to the constitution, carried out by Bangabandhu’s government on January 25, 1975, curtailed the control of Jatiya Sangsad (JS) over the apex court judges.

Because there was a Westminster type presidential form of government in the country at that time, the fourth amendment empowered the then president to remove Supreme Court judges for misconduct and incapacity.

After the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15 of the same year, Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman, through an illegal military order, introduced the provision for the

Supreme Judicial Council to remove the judges. That provision still exists.

Chief Justice is the head of the three-member council having two other senior judges as members.

Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah, who was the acting speaker in absence of Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The decision so far is to pass the bill on September 17 [today].”

This is the second constitution amendment move by Sheikh Hasina-led governments since 2009.

On June 30, 2011, the Awami League brought the 15th amendment to the constitution, scrapping the provision for non-party polls-time caretaker government. That resulted in massively violent street protests across the country and subsequent poll boycott by the BNP. On September 7, Law Minister Anisul Huq tabled the 16th constitution amendment bill to restore article 96 of the original 1972 charter that empowered the legislature to remove supreme court judges.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Law Ministry has already submitted its report on the bill, unanimously recommending passage.

If passed, the government will enact a law governing investigation into charges of misconduct and incapacity of judges and place reports to the legislature. The Jatiya Sangsad will discuss the report, which must be passed with a two-third majority. The legislature will then forward the parliament resolution to the president who will order removal of alleged judges.

The process of passage

Today the speaker will ask the law minister to propose the House to adopt the 16th Constitution Amendment Bill 2014 as recommended by the parliamentary watchdog.

If a majority of the Mps shout “yes,” the JS will adopt the bill.

After adoption, the speaker will ask the MPs to shout whether they want the bill to be sent for eliciting public opin-

ion and to a select committee for further examination. If a majority of the MPs shout “no,” the opposition proposal for further scrutiny will be rejected.

The speaker at this stage will give opportunity to each of the Mps, who have brought amendment proposals to the bill, to talk. The House will go into voting again even if the law minister accepts any of the amendment proposals. If the MPs say “no,” the amendment proposals will be rejected.

The speaker will urge the MPs to shout “yes” if they confirm every section of the bill and its title. After the adoption, the chair will urge the law minister to propose passage of the bill.

Now, the speaker will ask the MPs to shout “yes” if they want the bill to pass.

After passage, the MPs will go for division vote – each of the MPs will assemble into small groups in the lobbies and sign a document confirming their consent.

Finally, the speaker will announce the results of the division votes and passage of the bill. l

ACC finds Tk216 crore illegal wealth of AL MP Enamul n Adil Sakhawat The Anti-Corruption Commission has found proof of illegally amassed wealth worth Tk216 crore by Awami League MP from Rajshahi Enamul Haque.

ACC Deputy Director Jatan Kumer Roy recommended filing a case against him yesterday in his probe report.

The graft buster’s investigation found that the lawmaker concealed information of his wealth estimated to be worth around Tk213 crore in his wealth statement submitted to the Election Commission before January 5 election.

Apart from this, Enamul amassed Tk2.88 crore beyond his legal income in five years before the election.

The commission also found proof of amassing wealth illegally worth Tk49 crore against the lawmaker's wife Tohura Haque, informed an ACC official on condition of anonymity.

That official also informed that from the audit report found from Rajdhani

Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) reveals that the incumbent lawmaker’s company earned Tk84 crore net profit but he paid only Tk87 lakh as tax which is clearly tax evasion. The report has a clear indication about that.

Earlier on September 8 the ACC questioned the lawmaker. After the questioning was over the lawmaker told reporters that he had not owned any other assets beyond those his statement submitted to Election Commission.

A day after, Enamul’s PS Kanchan Das threatened the investigation officer not to recommend any case against the MP. However, after the threat the ACC official filed a general diary with the police station concerned.

The ACC initiated the inquiry against the lawmaker on January 22 on charges of amassing illegal wealth. The probe was prompted by his wealth statement submitted to the Election Commission before the January 5 election, which showed a dramatic rise in his wealth. l

‘UN endorsement Siblings’ suicide ‘pact’ in key to multinational Uttara under investigation cooperation’ “We never saw the siblings fight. The n Rafe Sadnan Adel and n Tazlina Zamila Khan three of them have been living here for Abid Azad

Endorsement of the United Nations should be taken into careful consideration in civil, military and multinational cooperation, said Gowher Rizvi, adviser to the prime minister.

After a plenary session on day three of the ongoing 38th Pacific Armies Management Seminar, he said: “In recent times we have seen instability rising in many Asian countries; the same is happening in Europe... Sometimes we are compelled to assist other countries. For that we need to consider what UN says as it works for the entire world.”

Rizvi was a moderator at the panel discussion, titled “Civil-Military and multinational cooperation: The essential elements for future stability.”

“Sometimes, we see groups that are identified as terrorists in one country but are supported by other countries.

This creates confusion for international cooperation,” he said.

No civil representatives were present in the discussion although it was partly on civil-military cooperation.

When a Bangladesh Army official pointed this out, Rizvi said: “The presence of civil representatives is important here. We hope to have them with us in the next PAMS event.”

A brother and sister were found hanging in their rooms in what appears to be a suicide pact between them.

Sub-Inspector of Uttara West police station Nannu Khan said: “We found a notebook which had an English story titled 'The Departure.' The brother wrote that they were going to commit suicide.”

The story describes a life of sorrow and grief after their parents’ separation.

The teenagers' bodies were recovered yesterday from the flat they lived in with their single mother in Uttara.

Chirosree Zaman Munmun, 18, and her brother Md Alimuzzaman, 15, lived on the 5th floor of a building on Garibe-Newaz avenue in Uttara sector 13.

Their mother, Joyshree Zaman, has been working at Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) since 2009.

On Monday night, Joyshree spoke to her children over telephone around 9:30pm. When she returned two hours later, she found the hanging bodies of her children in two separate rooms locked from the inside.

Asking not to be named, a senior BSS colleague of Joyshree said: “Joyshree was a contractual employee and her job was not yet confirmed. She was depressed about this because her income was not enough for her family.”

two months,” said their neighbour Rina.

The building's caretaker Mohammad Ilyas said: “Their father Alimul Haque lives in China with another wife and family. He occasionally sent expenses. Munmun did O-levels and Alim was in class 9 at a local school.

“No guest came in these two months. I did not see the children go to school in the last few days. Madam [Joyshree] was supposed to buy books for Alim Bhai [Tuesday]. The siblings used to go out to buy cigarettes, but I do not know if they were drug addicts.”

Police say the siblings were upset about their parents' divorce. Investigating officer of the case, Harun-ur-Rashid, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The sibling's parents were separated.

Their quarrels and clashes in married life had a huge impact on the children's mental state. This could be the reason for their suicide.”

SI Nannu Khan said: “We recovered the bodies of the siblings just after midnight. An investigation is under way. A case of unnatural death was filed with the police station by Joyshree's cousin Habibuzzaman.”

Family members received the bodies after autopsies was conducted at Dhaka Medical College. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

B3 Investors team up to find path through risky dark pools

B4 Europe’s startups get bootcamp booster

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Income tax fair kicks off, draws huge crowd TAXPAYERS’ TURN UP YESTERDAY NBR serves people NBR bags eTIN registration Re-registration with eTIN Return Submission

51,223 Tk137cr 1,831 995 13,451

n Syed Samiul Basher Anik A week-long income tax fair kicked off across the country yesterday, aimed at providing tax-related assistance and motivating people to contribute to the national exchequer.

National Board of Revenue (NBR) organised the fair for the fifth consecutive year to assist the existing taxpayers to register with Electronic Taxpayers Identification Number, pay tax, file returns and encourage prospective taxpayers to get involved with the taxation system.

This year the fair is being held at all seven divisional headquarters and 57 districts. The divisional headquarters are holding it for seven days while 54 districts for four days at their convenience.

In three hill districts – Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati – it would be for two days. But the one in Bandarban, it would be a roving one.

During a visit to the tax fair at Officers Club premises in the capital, it was found that taxpayers of different ages and categories were inquiring about the services while some others

Taxpayers crowd the National Income Tax Fair at the Officers Club, Dhaka yesterday to get registered and submit income tax returns. The week-long fair began yesterday, aimed at raising awareness among the people to pay tax RAJIB DHAR

cilities from the fair in a client-friendly manner.

The Dhaka Tribune correspondent found Sharmin Nahar Nira at the e-TIN registration booth where she was taking assistance from the tax officials on how to register.

“I was planning to pay tax for a long period of time, but never managed to do so. Following newspaper advertisements, I came to the fair to get registered with e-TIN. I hope I would be a respected taxpayer from the next year when I will file my return,” she said.

To facilitate tax-related transactions and to help the visitors, E-TIN registration booths, E-payment booths, 44 income tax return filing booths, 20 help and inquiry desks, emergency health booths, form distribution booths, media booth etc were set up at the fair premises in Dhaka.

There are also booths of Sonali Bank and Janata Bank to facilitate financial transactions.

Around 100 rover scout members have been deputed at the fair premises to help taxpayers get the services.

The fair remains open for the visitors from 10am to 6pm. The visitors would be offered to get the electronic TIN registration instantly.

Last year, the NBR had bagged Tk1,117 crore of income tax from the fair. A total of 510,145 people obtained services from the fair while 12,337 people registered themselves with e-TIN and 74,356 people re-registered. Some 132,017 tax returns were submitted. l

have been visiting the fair every year as taxmen provides hassle free services from this fair,” said Rahmat Ali Bhuiyan, a 54-year-old taxpayer.

“Tax officials help us solve any kind of problems and teaches us about the process here. But the scene is completely different in the circle offices. So,

I submit my return here.”

The taxpayers always express dissatisfaction amid widespread allegations that the tax officials do not facilitate taxpayers without speed money.

But the fair every year draws huge crowd as people get the tax related fa-

Govt to procure 120 broad gauge passenger carriages

FSIB rights offer proposal rejected n Tribune Report

BB raises EDF loan limit for exporters

n Tribune Report

The securities regulator yesterday rejected a rights offer proposal of First Security Islami Bank that failed to comply with the securities rules.

The bank proposed to issue one rights share for every two ordinary shares of Tk10 each at an issue price of Tk12 (including a premium of Tk2 per share) to enhance and strengthen its capital base.

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission is not in a position to consider the application of FSIB regarding approval of rights issue as the company has failed to comply with the requirements of rights offer rules, BSEC said in a statement. l

n Tribune Report

The government will purchase 120 broad gauge passenger carriages for the development of railway in the country.

The project titled “Procurement of 120 Broad Gauge Passenger Carriages for Bangladesh Railway” will cost Tk975.97 crore. The government will complete it by June 2017.

Of the total project cost, Tk710.63 crore will come from the Indian government under its Line of Credit (LoC) while the rest will be provided from the public exchequer.

The project was one of the six projects approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) meeting at the NEC conference room here with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

After the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said six development projects involved Tk4296.63 crore.

“Of the total project cost, Tk1928.53 crore will come from the national exchequer, while Tk5.03 crore from the organisation's own fund and Tk2363.07 crore in project assistance."

The Ecnec also approved the country’s first satellite project styled Bangabandhu-1 revising down its cost and extended its implementation deadline further.

taking assistance from taxmen.

As the official deadline for submission of income tax for the income year 2013-14 will end on September 30, taxpayers are gathering at the fair venue to file their returns.

“I have been paying tax since 1988.

As the fair was introduced in 2010, I

The total outlay of the project has been fixed at Tk2,906 crore, down 10.7% from its original cost of Tk3,253 crore.

Of the total satellite project cost, the government will provide Tk1315.51 crore and the remaining amount of Tk1652.44 will come form foreign assistance. The project will be completed by June, 2017.

The meeting also approved the Institute of Livestock Science and Technology project involving Tk207.38 crore under which five institutes will be set up in Netrakona, Gopalganj, Khulna, Brahmanbaria and Gaibandha districts.

The Ecnec meeting also approved the Pre-payment metering for Khulna City (1st phase) with Tk42.43 crore under which some 31,000 prepaid meters will be distributed among the consumers of the Khulna city.

The Power Division will implement the project by June 2016.

Of the project cost, Tk42.43 crore will come from the government exchequer while Tk5.03 crore from the organisation’s own fund.

Two other projects “Tamabil Land Port Development” project with Tk69.26 crore from entirely the government fund and “Nimgachhi Society-based Fish Farming” project with an outlay of Tk33.64 crore also received the approval. l

BIA asked for steps to restore discipline n Tribune Report

Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) Chairman M Shefaq Ahmed asked the Bangladesh Insurance Association to take necessary steps for restoring discipline to the sector.

The instruction came yesterday while he visited the Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) office in the capital.

He warned that strict action will be taken against who will violate the rules.

The chairman said the association has responsibility to provide guidance for their members.

The irregularities and indiscipline prevailing in the member companies are the main obstacle to the improvement of the industry.

Shefaq stressed the need for reform in this sector.

He said all efforts of IDRA to bring in reform will fail if the companies themselves do not feel the need.

“We have already proposed the government for trained manpower to conduct bima academy,” he said.

The Actuarial science course will start soon, but it is necessary to ensure well-paid jobs in the industry, added Shefaq. l

Bangladesh Bank has enhanced the loan limit to $1m taken from Export Development Fund by exporters.

The central bank took the decision to enhance the limit to $1m from $5,00,000 for Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) based on their local deliveries and exports, said a circular the authority issued yesterday.

According to the circular, the EDF loan to authorised dealers against their foreign currency financing for input imports to a BPGMEA member mill shall not exceed the value realised in foreign

exchange against inland back-to-back LCs and export LCs/Contracts over the past twelve months, or $1m, whichever is lower. “We have enhanced the loan limit as the central bank has increased the fund size recently and it has now adequate dollar,” said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

Earlier in April this year, the central bank increased the allocation for the export development fund (EDF) by 20% to $1.2bn from $1bn to meet the growing demand from the country's exporters.

The EDF loans from the central bank are payable by the banks upon receipt of exports proceeds within 180 days from the date of disbursement. l

Tofail: Top taxpayers to get CIP status n Tribune Report The highest taxpayers of the country will be awarded with the prestigious Commercially Important Person (CIP) status, said Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed.

“I will try to take necessary initiatives to honor them with CIP status after conversations with the finance minister,” he said.

Tofail Ahmed made the announcement in response to a such proposal made by the NBR yesterday at the opening ceremony of the week-long Income Tax Fair.

National Board of Revenue Chairman Md Ghulam Hussain placed the proposal to give the top taxpayers CIP status.

The fair is being held at the capital’s Officers Club premises.

On contribution of income tax in revenue earning, commerce minister said while the budget for FY197273 was announced Tk787 crore with 7% earning from income tax, it has increased to Tk2,50,500 crore in the current fiscal with 10% revenue from income tax.

He lamented that only 18 lakh out of 16 crore population are paying tax and 12 lakh of them are paying regularly. “The number needs to be increased.”

Tofail Ahmed asked the NBR to look after the tax collection process properly so that the taxpayers do not confront any hassle in the system.

In his speech, NBR Chairman Ghulam Hussain said the income tax will be the largest source of revenue earning from the current year.

The revenue authority awarded tax cards to the highest and long time taxpayers at a function on Monday marking the National Income Tax Day. Ghulam Hussain said the tax card recipients requested the board to give them CIP status.

“As the authority of awarding CIP status is at the hand of commerce ministry, I request the minister to consider the proposal,” said NBR chief.

The Income Tax Fair began yesterday at the capital’s Officers’ Club premises, which aims to attract at least 8 lakh taxpayers and get new more taxpayers.

NBR officials said the board is planning to collect Tk1,500 crore revenue from the fair. l

Malaysian car manufacturer keen to invest in Bangladesh n Asif Showkat Kallol Malaysian renowned automobile company Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd, widely known as PROTON, has expressed its keen interest in setting up a joint venture car manufacturing plant in Bangladesh.

According to commerce ministry officials, a two-member delegation from Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional yesterday held meetings with the top officials of the commerce ministry including senior commerce secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, ndc, to elaborately discuss about the matter.

A two-member team of Malaysian automobile company are senior executive of Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd Norman Be Karidi and its executive Fatin Otsman. Managing dirctor of PHP automobile industry Mohamamd Akter Parvez Chowdhury and an adviser engineer Mohamamd Ali Chowdhury.

Local business conglomerate PHP group will be the local partner of the joint venture of the automobile plant in Bangladesh, said a source in commerce ministry.

According to the meeting sources, the Malaysian team reminded that the economy of the two Asian countries Bangladesh and Indonesia, were not

A worker cleans the Proton Savvy, manufactured by Malaysia’s Perusahaan Otomobil National Sdn Bhd, during the opening ceremony for Proton’s first showroom in Jakarta REUTERS

affected by the global economic recession during 2007 to 2009 as these two countries have strong economy to survive the last global recession.

According to the IMF, the world growth was slowed from 5% in 2007 to 3.75% in 2008 and to just over 2% in 2009.

Our company chairman and ex-Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad instructed us to conduct a

rigorous economic survey in Bangladesh before setting up a car manufacturing plant, they also said.

“We are visiting Bangladesh to meet the potential stakeholders in car manufacturing industry for assessing the car demand as per the survey, '' they added.

In fact, the Malaysian counterpart wanted to know about the prospect

of the export facilities of a car manufacturers in the Bangladeshi export markets as they are keen to establish a joint venture in Bangladesh, Shawkat Ali Waresi, an additional secretary, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday after the meeting.

“As Bangladeshi export items are going to the European union countries under the least development category, the potential car exporters will also get the same export facilities”.

Regarding local demand of car, he noted that yearly earnings of a big portion of the population is around US$20,000, so the prospect of domestically made car is bright in the local market as well.

Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd or PROTON was incorporated on May 7, 1983 to manufacture, assemble and sell motor vehicles and related products, including accessories, spare parts and other components.

PROTON produced Malaysia's first car, the Proton SAGA, commercially launched on July 9, 1985 by Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who had originally conceived the idea of a Malaysian car.

Proton car manufacturer main plant in Shah Alam, with an area of 923,900 sq metres, was originally designed for a capacity of 80,000 units per year. l

Mozilla brings smartphones with Firefox operating system n Tribune Report Mozilla, best known for producing the Firefox web browser, has introduced smartphones with Firefox operating system in Bangladesh, in cooperation with Grameenphone and Symphony.

The price of the 3G-enable handsets will be Tk4,650 and the

customers will have to wait one week to get the products.

According to the market insiders, Mozilla sets launched yesterday will be the cheapest smartphones in Bangladesh though much higher than the target price of $25 (Tk1,933). It has created further chances of flourishing 3G business in the country.

In February Mozilla declared that it will bring handsets within $25 as the same sets were released in India at around $33 (Tk2,552) last month.

“The sets that we have launched here are 3G-enabled, but in India were 2G. Tax has also made a difference in the price,” Aminur Rashed, Chairman and CEO of

handsets vendor Symphony, in reply to a related question.

Grameenphone said the customers of its Bondhu product will be able to enjoy the full range of benefits on Firefox operating system, including 20MB of free Internet per day.

Through the launch of the system, named Symphony GoFox F15,

Mozilla, Grameenphone and Symphony aim to rally the developers community in Bangladesh, stimulate growth and lower the barriers to smartphone use for customers.

“As part of our ambition to empower people with Internet, we have declared ‘Internet for all’ call and we want to simulate the  B3 COLUMN 1

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks rebound on buying binge

DSE key features September 16, 2014

DSE GAINER

Turnover (Million Taka)

n Tribune Report

Number of Contract

ACI Formulations-A Anlima Yarn -A Delta Life Insu. -A Rangpur Dairy-N Beximco Pharma -A GPH Ispat Ltd-A MJL BD Ltd.-A ACI Limited- A SummitAlliancePort.-A BSRM Steels-A

Stocks rebounded yesterday after profit-booking marginal fall in the previous session.

The investors bet on mainly cement, pharmaceuticals and engineering stocks, which gained more than 2% each.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange benchmark index DSEX gained 49 points or 1% to 4,759.

Pharmaceutical sector contributed almost 20% of the total market turnover The Shariah Index DSES was up 15 points or 1.5% to 1,126. The comprising blue chips DS30 soared 39 points or 2% to 1,858.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, ended at 8,863 with a rise of 62 points.

The DSE turnover crossed the Tk800-crore mark once again with the total value amounting to Tk836 crore, which is 25% higher over the previous session.

Pharmaceutical sector contributed almost 20% of the total market turnover.

Three pharma stocks, Beximco Pharma, ACI Ltd and ACI Formulations - were among the top ten turnover leaders.

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

BD Building Systems -A Eastern Housing -A Mozaffar H.Spinning-N ISN Ltd. -Z ICB Sonali Bank 1 MF-A Meghna Con. Milk -B Khulna Printing-N Daffodil Computers -Z Safko Spinning-A FAR Chemical-N

-6.27 -5.05 -4.95 -4.72 -4.69 -4.55 -4.48 -4.44 -4.32 -3.93

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

Asia Pasific Insu. -A Daffodil Computers -Z BD Fixed Income MF-A Paramount Insur-A MutualTrust Bank-A BD Building Systems -A Dutch Ban. Bnk- A Alltex Industries -Z I P D C -A Mozaffar H.Spinning-N

-8.89 -7.97 -6.67 -6.38 -6.25 -6.09 -5.28 -5.13 -4.97 -4.95

4759.39933

(+) 1.05%

1858.40527

(+) 2.17%

14697.75920

(+) 1.07%

11940.63420

(+) 1.44%

8863.46260

(+) 0.71%

Average (% Change) -2.13 -3.25 -4.32 -5.86 -1.43 -3.96 -4.15 -4.38 2.66 -3.52 Average (% Change) -8.89 -6.16 -6.67 -5.88 -5.96 -4.33 -5.28 -5.28 -5.11 -4.21

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 59.65 55.69 29.46 10.12 6.20 8.48 28.39 13.11 31.99 39.98

ClosingAvg. 20.50 12.94 7.00 18.25 15.00 58.31 84.30 7.35 15.23 29.38

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 429.61 366.00 77.75 1465.78 345.06 936.21 1.69 627.21 1638.34 59.61 163.04 57.58 32.26 553.44 160.28 87.68 316.36 266.96 209.23 566.34 1.81

DHIGH 65.00 57.90 31.00 10.60 6.30 8.90 29.90 14.00 34.20 41.70

DHIGH

20.50 12.70 7.00 17.60 15.00 57.10 84.30 7.40 15.30 28.80

20.50 13.70 7.00 18.70 15.00 60.10 84.30 7.40 15.40 30.40

170,267,345 151,960

Traded Issues

301

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

85

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

208

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

8

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,527.74

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

3064

CSE key features September 16, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

537.29

Turnover (Volume)

13,349,408

Number of Contract

18,384

Traded Issues

233

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

78

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

148

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,430.72

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.46

Turnover in Million

DLOW 55.00 52.00 28.50 10.00 6.10 8.20 27.40 12.80 29.20 38.90

20.50 12.60 7.00 17.60 15.00 56.70 84.30 7.30 15.00 28.50

Latest EPS

84.579 54.926 32.331 0.405 1.265 0.089 59.203 2.890 34.736 30.127

Turnover in Million

DLOW

% change 5.14 4.38 0.93 17.53 4.13 11.20 0.02 7.50 19.59 1.95 0.69 0.39 6.62 1.92 1.05 3.78 3.19 2.50 6.77 0.02

Million Taka 24.17 13.74 4.00 92.75 18.58 39.71 45.46 80.85 20.17 7.60 13.75 3.01 55.81 19.05 2.57 20.87 25.36 31.40 57.80 0.01

CSE

% change 4.19 2.38 0.69 16.08 3.22 6.89 0.00 7.88 14.02 3.50 1.32 2.38 0.52 9.68 3.30 0.44 3.62 4.40 5.45 10.02 0.00

3.01 3.19 2.27 0.20 1.60 -4.85 1.31 0.68 1.06 2.88

Latest EPS

0.062 0.459 0.007 0.051 0.015 3.353 0.042 0.007 0.152 3.702

Million Taka 453.78 379.74 81.75 1558.53 363.64 975.92 1.69 672.67 1719.19 79.79 170.64 71.33 35.27 609.25 179.33 90.24 337.23 292.32 240.64 624.15 1.83

Closing (% Change) 10.00 9.79 9.57 9.41 9.20 8.15 7.87 7.60 7.17 7.11

CSE GAINER

2.26 0.68 0.81 1.18 2.40 3.01 9.28 -1.24 0.92 2.27

Latest PE 19.8 17.5 13.0 50.6 3.9 -ve 21.7 19.3 30.2 13.9

Company ACI Formulations-A Anlima Yarn -A Delta Life Insu. -A Beximco Pharma -A ACI Limited- A MJL BD Ltd.-A Rangpur Dairy-N BSRM Steels-A LafargeS Cement-Z Navana CNG-A

9.96 9.83 9.64 9.17 8.68 8.03 7.32 7.24 6.99 5.72

Average (% Change) 11.30 9.05 3.77 6.06 5.79 4.62 6.70 2.14 4.21 3.85

ClosingAvg.

Closing

155.32 25.57 161.91 21.89 61.32 49.56 136.08 407.98 32.42 103.59

ClosingAvg.

157.30 25.80 167.10 22.10 62.90 50.40 138.40 420.40 32.90 106.90

Closing

154.07 25.54 160.76 61.40 416.07 135.10 21.83 103.34 136.22 63.73

156.80 25.70 166.10 63.10 423.00 138.50 22.00 106.70 139.30 64.70

DHIGH 157.30 25.80 167.70 22.20 63.30 51.20 141.00 424.00 33.50 108.00

DHIGH 156.80 25.70 166.60 63.50 423.20 139.80 22.40 99.90 140.00 65.00

DLOW 134.00 24.40 142.00 18.20 52.00 42.00 115.50 365.00 28.00 95.00

DLOW 146.00 24.80 150.00 58.00 400.00 126.00 20.90 100.00 130.00 60.00

Turnover in Million 201.475 9.808 242.543 82.059 560.643 58.267 456.971 221.299 73.629 546.330

Turnover in Million 6.679 1.124 19.426 26.962 5.839 15.239 3.308 32.267 40.730 4.828

Latest EPS 3.36 0.80 2.92 1.16 3.94 2.80 5.04 9.22 0.96 4.80

Latest EPS 3.36 0.80 2.92 3.94 9.22 5.04 1.16 4.80 2.42 4.56

Latest PE 46.2 32.0 55.4 18.9 15.6 17.7 27.0 44.2 33.8 21.6

Latest PE 45.9 31.9 55.1 15.6 45.1 26.8 18.8 21.5 56.3 14.0

News, analysis and recent disclosers CENTRALPHL: The Board of Directors has recommended 5% cash dividend and 15% stock dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. The Board has also decided to increase the Authorized Capital of the Company from Tk. 100.00 crore to Tk. 300.00 crore subject to the approval by the shareholders in EGM. The Board has further decided to issue rights share @ 2R:5 at par on paid up capital after considering bonus shares subject to the approval by the shareholders in EGM and the Regulatory Authorities. The purposes of the Rights Issue are to repayment of outstanding loan, business expansion through product diversification and for working capital.

Date of AGM & EGM: 23.10.2014, Time of AGM and EGM: 10:00 AM & 10:45 AM respectively, Venue: Ansar-VDP Academy, Shafipur, Kaliakoir, Gazipur. Record date for AGM & EGM: 29.09.2014. Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be notified later after obtaining approval from BSEC. The Company has also reported net profit of Tk. 152.26 million, EPS of Tk. 2.14, NAV per share of Tk. 20.00 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.04 for the

year ended on June 30, 2014 as against Tk. 77.84 million, Tk. 1.62, Tk. 12.24 and Tk. 1.68 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

SALVOCHEM: The Company has informed that it has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on December 31, 2013 to the respective shareholders' BO Account on September 04, 2014.

QSMDRYCELL: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on September 25, 2014 at 3:30 PM to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

SALVOCHEM: The Company will be placed in "A" category from existing "B" category with effect from September 16, 2014 as the Company reported disbursement of 10% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

UNITEDAIR: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on September 18, 2014 at 3:30 PM to consider, among others, au-

dited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

EHL: As per Regulation 30 of DSE Listing Regulations, the Company has informed that a meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on September 21, 2014 at 3:00 PM to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on July 31, 2014.

GHAIL: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of Golden Harvest Ice Cream Limited, a subsidiary Company of Golden Harvest Agro Industries Limited has decided that, it will start commercial production on 18th September, 2014.

IPO Subscription: Hamid Fabrics Limited subscription date 28 September to 02 October 2014, NRB upto 11 October 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.

9.1 19.0 8.6 15.5 6.3 19.4 9.1 -ve 16.6 12.9

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

Total

Closing (% Change)

Average (% Change) 11.26 9.88 3.47 7.09 6.31 4.93 5.68 3.60 5.81 2.03

Latest PE

All the sectors performed well except non-banking financial institutions that posted negative return of 0.3%

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

56.80 54.50 28.80 10.10 6.10 8.40 27.70 12.90 31.00 39.10

Closing

8,362.25

Turnover (Volume)

But the market breadth remained negative as out of 301 issues traded, 114 advanced, 137 declined and 50 remained unchanged.

All the sectors performed well except non-banking financial institutions that posted negative return of 0.3%.

Cement gave the highest return of 4.6% while pharmaceuticals came second gaining more than 1% with three of its issues featuring in the top gainers chart.

They were followed by engineering, telecommunication, power, food and allied, and banks.

Lanka Bangla Securities said the index was back on positive momentum after first breaking its psychological resistance level of 4700.

It said the market took a checking on the strength of index with a correction of 3.7 points. The actively traded stocks were back on track to support the benchmark index towards a new high.

IDLC Investments said bidding on the previous day’s slight correction, the market regained momentum with investors’ strong participation in a few stocks.

As prime index stayed above 4,700 points level for the third consecutive session with robust turnover, investors were gaining confidence in fresh funds injection, it said.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals topped the turnover’s chart with over Tk56 crore changing hands, followed by BSRM Steel, Mobil Jamuna Limited Bangladesh, Beximco Ltd, Lafarge Surma Cement, Delta Life Insurance and ACI Ltd. l

Company

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

% change 5.08 4.25 0.91 17.44 4.07 10.92 0.02 7.53 19.23 0.89 1.91 0.80 0.39 6.82 2.01 1.01 3.77 3.27 2.69 6.98 0.02

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Beximco Pharma -A BSRM Steels-A MJL BD Ltd.-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A LafargeS Cement-Z Delta Life Insu. -A ACI Limited- A ACI Formulations-A Grameenphone-A IDLC Finance -A

Singer BD -A Navana CNG-A HeidelbergCement -A Orion Pharma-N Appollo Ispat CL -N CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A LafargeS Cement-Z BSRM Steels-A Beximco Pharma -A UNITED AIR-A Delta Life Insu. -A Grameenphone-A MJL BD Ltd.-A Shurwid Ind. -N Square Pharma -A

Appollo Ispat CL -N Khulna Printing-N Singer BD -A Orion Pharma-N BD Submarine Cable-A

VolumeShares 9,143,389 5,274,204 3,358,028 10,594,563 2,522,100 1,498,011 542,424 1,297,177 578,918 2,959,326

Value in Million 560.64 546.33 456.97 452.15 341.33 242.54 221.30 201.48 199.01 193.78

% of TotalTurnover 6.70 6.53 5.46 5.41 4.08 2.90 2.65 2.41 2.38 2.32

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

649,097 2,080,005 228,450 2,525,360 4,061,800

1,257,724 299,000 312,245 439,133 1,822,749 120,838 50,000 112,802 260,000 48,900

399,200 371,000 40,812 179,620 57,000

156.70 132.91 125.86 123.92 110.17

53.63 40.73 32.27 26.96 21.60 19.43 17.22 15.24 11.47 11.45

10.92 10.55 9.86 8.79 8.14

1.87 1.59 1.51 1.48 1.32

10.07 7.65 6.06 5.06 4.06 3.65 3.23 2.86 2.15 2.15

2.05 1.98 1.85 1.65 1.53

ClosingP 62.90 106.90 138.40 43.40 138.90 167.10 420.40 157.30 345.70 66.40

242.30 64.70 548.00 49.60 27.00

ClosingP

43.30 139.30 106.70 63.10 11.80 166.10 344.50 138.50 43.20 234.40

27.20 27.80 242.70 49.40 142.20

Change % 9.20 7.11 7.87 5.85 6.60 9.57 7.60 10.00 0.44 1.07

1.85 5.72 0.62 5.76 -0.37

Change %

5.35 6.99 7.24 9.17 -2.48 9.64 0.03 8.03 0.47 0.73

-0.37 -4.14 1.97 5.11 -1.11

ClosingY 57.60 99.80 128.30 41.00 130.30 152.50 390.70 143.00 344.20 65.70

237.90 61.20 544.60 46.90 27.10

ClosingY

41.10 130.20 99.50 57.80 12.10 151.50 344.40 128.20 43.00 232.70

27.30 29.00 238.00 47.00 143.80

DHIGH

DLOW

63.30 108.00 141.00 44.00 139.90 167.70 424.00 157.30 349.00 67.00

52.00 95.00 115.50 37.00 125.00 142.00 365.00 134.00 340.00 60.00

243.80 65.40 559.80 50.40 28.00

230.00 56.00 537.00 43.00 26.80

DHIGH

DLOW

43.50 140.00 99.90 63.50 12.20 166.60 347.80 139.80 45.80 237.00

28.30 30.00 244.90 49.90 144.50

41.20 130.00 100.00 58.00 11.70 150.00 342.00 126.00 42.90 233.00

27.00 27.60 238.00 47.10 142.00

AvgPrice 61.32 103.59 136.08 42.68 135.34 161.91 407.98 155.32 343.77 65.48

241.41 63.90 550.92 49.07 27.12

AvgPrice

42.64 136.22 103.34 61.40 11.85 160.76 344.43 135.10 44.11 234.21

27.34 28.42 241.54 48.95 142.80

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

B3

Investors team up to find path through risky dark pools n Reuters, London Stock investors who recognize the risks of trading in anonymous "dark pools" but are unwilling to spurn them have found an alternative: club together.

A growing number of European investment funds have signed up to use an electronic trading system designed by one of their own - Finland's Pohjola Asset Management - which offers the ability to dissect and control the way their market bets are routed to dark pools and other exchanges across the region.

The data they generate is shared among the group, giving them strength in numbers but also leeway to change strategies.

This might seem like little more than back-office tinkering to the uninitiated - after all, fund managers are paid to decide which stocks to buy, not the minutiae of where to trade them.

That job is usually left to brokers and banks, which often run their own dark pools while also offering access to rival venues.

But investors want more control and transparency over the trading process, fearing the post-crisis proliferation of opaque private markets and highspeed electronic traders has exposed them to new risks that can rack up costly losses.

These risks include a lack of disclosure about how some venues operate and price trades, as well as the danger that some give an unseen advantage to high-frequency traders.

"For many years, investment banks and other electronic brokers have provided electronic order-routing mechanisms ... But once an order goes behind a firewall it's very difficult to maintain total control over it," said Adam Conn, head of trading at Barings Asset Management, a user of the Pohjola router.

"There is a growing empowerment within the buy side (investors) and that's a healthy development."

Enforcement actions against global banks that run dark pools have raised awareness of potential conflicts of interest. The UK's FCA markets watchdog warned in July that "many" banks and brokers were failing to put their clients' interests first when executing trades.

The implicit trading costs these risks represent may be just fractions of a percentage point on each trade, but for a fund turning over a $5bn portfolio they could represent losses well into the millions. This is the kind of "slippage cost" Pohjola says it helps save.

Mozilla brings  B1 COLUMN 6

experience of smartphones and creation of local content,” said Vivek Sood, CEO of Grameenphone. “This offer is the first of its kind in Bangladesh, and we believe this will serve as a strong stimulus for the increased Internet usage across the country,” he said.

The cooperation with Mozilla has originated through Telenor Digital Services, part of Grameenphone’s parent company Telenor ASA. Telenor, along with the Mozilla community and more than a dozen global operators, is an active participant in the development of the operating system through sharing of its engineering resources.

Mozilla recently introduced a powerful new design to the Firefox operating system with in-browser performance debugging features. In the technical specifications of the sets: 1 GHz single core processor, operating system Firefox 1.4, 3.5” display monitor, 512 RAM memory and 3.2MP camera. l

client and that they can take away toxicity from different dark pools," said Swedbank Robur's Hans Lindh.

While none of the traders said they would restrict themselves to only using the Pohjola router - some big block trades might for example fare better with a bank that has the balance sheet to directly take on the risk - they agreed that it was one way of independently getting more transparency and data.

Not everyone is convinced. Some brokers argue that they are already responding to clients by offering more detailed trade analysis and transpar-

'The rule book would be written by the buy side ... We have had some discussions ... not just our group but a wider group'

Simo Puhakka, Chief Executive Officer at Pohjola Asset Management Execution Services, poses for a photograph in central London REUTERS Rather than try to outgun rivals with souped-up algorithms, Pohjola's system aims to reduce conflicts of interest by putting fund managers - not brokers - in charge of where to send trades. By comparing notes on each venue's performance, Pohjola and its clients make tweaks accordingly.

Designed by a team led by former Pohjola head trader Simo Puhakka, as well as ex-broker David Berney and electronic-trade specialist Keith Wright, the router is pitched as a bias-

free and transparent alternative to putting trades in the hands of a broker who may have financial incentives to use certain venues.

"You can't rely on or trust solely what your broker delivers," said Puhakka in an interview. "We realized we should create a better solution, a better smart order router."

Rather than build the technology from scratch, Puhakka partnered with data group LiquidMetrix and used execution infrastructure provided by

agency broker ITG. Clients pay trading commissions as they would to any other regular broker.

Three years after launching the system, with regulators scrutinizing dark pools and the publication of Michael Lewis' "Flash Boys" keeping highspeed trading on policymakers' agenda, Puhakka has 20 clients using the system and meeting regularly to give feedback.

"The next logical step is that the buy side (investor) has to take control

of the venues as well," he said, envisaging a new trading venue designed by the funds community. "The rule book would be written by the buy side ... We have had some discussions ... not just our group but a wider group."

Traders at three investment funds that use the Pohjola router - Barings Asset Management, Swedbank Robur and IPM in Stockholm - told Reuters control over trading was key.

"We think that Pohjola has a different approach, that they work for the

ency. They also doubt that fund managers do enough trading on their own to justify a new stock market.

"A revolution in trading has not happened yet," said Mark Goodman, head of quantitative electronic services for Societe Generale in Europe. "The detailed control remains with the broker."

Even some asset managers say that the Pohjola route, while valid, is not something they would choose to use.

Traders at three different funds said they would either seek to gather their own data from third-party providers or would focus on other parts of the trading process such as developing more algorithms to set the defining parameters of a trade.

However investors choose to get more control, fund managers are acutely aware of the commercial risks at stake.

"The buy side should be in a situation of more control going forward," said Simon Maughan, product specialist at financial-data supplier OTAS Technologies.

"Fund managers say they are serving clients' interests but then they outsource their trading ... Lowering the cost of trading is going to be a major competitive advantage." l

Dollar eases in Asia before Fed policy meeting

Euro zone trade surplus rises in July on growing exports

n AFP, Tokyo

The euro zone's trade surplus rose yearon-year in July as exports grew faster than imports, pointing to a positive contribution to economic growth at the start of the third quarter, the European Union's Statistics office data showed.

Eurostat said the non-seasonally adjusted external trade surplus of the 18 countries sharing the euro was 21.2bn euros (27.39bn US dollar) in July, up from 18bn in July 2013. Exports increased 3% year-on-year while imports only 1%.

Adjusted for seasonal swings, however, and on a month-on-month basis, exports edged 0.2% lower in July against June while imports rose 0.9%.

The seasonally adjusted trade balance was a 12.2bn surplus, down from 13.8bn in June and 15.2bn in May.

The dollar gave up some of its recent gains in Asia yesterday as investor caution set in ahead of a US central bank policy meeting.

In midday Tokyo trade, the greenback weakened to 107.10 yen, after briefly falling below the 107-yen level.

The unit bought 107.18 yen in New York on Monday.

The euro was nearly flat at $1.2944 against $1.2940 in US trade, while it fetched 138.66 yen from 138.69 yen.

In other trading, the pound fetched $1.6232 against $1.6234 in New York as investors await the results of Scotland's independence vote later this week.

The dollar rose past the 107 yen mark for the first time in nearly six years last week on speculation that the Federal Reserve will bring forward its timetable to raise interest rates.

But investor caution grew ahead of the central bank's policy meeting, which ends Wednesday.

"I don't get the impression that the (dollar-yen) pair will break widely" until the meeting ends, said Akira Moroga, manager of forex products at Aozora Bank.

The Fed - which has said it would keep interest rates low for a "considerable time" after ending its massive stimulus - is widely expected to further scale down the monetary easing programme after its meeting, setting the

stage for a full termination at the end of October.

Market players are looking for any change in the Fed's statements, which could give a clue as to whether it would start raising its key rates before the mid-2015 forecast.

The dollar was also pressured by a surprise fall in US industrial production, which contracted in August after six months of gains, dragged down by a slump in automobile manufacturing.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is delivering a speech to regional business leaders later Tuesday amid growing speculation that the central bank will expand its monetary easing to counter a downturn in the economy. l

City Bank has recently launched the country’s first walk-up ATM on Banani Kamal Ataturk Avenue in Dhaka. The bank’s chairperson Rubel Aziz inaugurated the ATM at a simple ceremony

Modhumoti Bank Limited has recently held its 17th meetings of its executive committee.

The meeting was presided by the committee’s chair, Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh

Walton has recently opened an exclusive distributor showroom named SDL Electronics Plaza. The company’s executive director and film actor, Ilias Kanchan inaugurated the showroom

Sunlife Insurance Company Ltd has recently held its 14th annual general meeting at an auditorium in Dhaka. The company’s chairperson Professor Rubina Hamid presided over the meeting

n Reuters, Brussels

There was no detailed data for July yet, but Eurostat said that in the first six months of the year the euro zone's trade deficit narrowed to 144.9bn euros from 157.8bn in the first six months of 2013.

The trade deficit with Russia, Europe's main oil and gas supplier, rose slightly to 31.7bn euros in the January-June period from 29.5bn in the same period of 2013, because euro zone experts to Russia tumbled 14% and the value of imports fell only 6%. The biggest contributions to the euro zone trade surplus came from a strong exports increase to Britain and the United States and as well as China.

Germany remains Europe's biggest exporter with a trade surplus of 100.7bn euros in the first six months of the year. Britain is Europe's biggest importer, with a trade deficit of 60.2bn euros in the first six months. l

Alex Barrett, head of group country Rrisk at Standard Chartered Bank has arrived in Dhaka for a two-day official visit to Bangladesh. During this visit, he will be meeting senior officials of Bangladesh Bank, stakeholders and interact with staff and clients, said a press release. Alex Barrett is the Head of Group Country Risk, responsible for assessing, assigning and managing the country risk exposures of Standard Chartered Group. Prior to this role, Alex had been responsible for Group Research, running a team of over 120 Equity, Fixed Income, Commodity, FX and macro-economic strategists for 5 years

Jamil Iqbal, director of NRB Bank Ltd and also the proprietor of M/S Jamil Iqbal has recently been given Top Tax Payers Award in the Sylhet Division by the National Board of Revenue

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Europe’s startups get bootcamp booster n Reuters, Amsterdam In the two years that Rockstart Accelerator - a private bootcamp for tech firms - has been going, it says the 20 startups it has backed have raised 15m euros ($19m) and created nearly 150 permanent jobs.

“It’s cool to be in a startup there,” said Cralan Deutsch, a 44-year-old founder whose Rockstart-backed company has been ticking over for a decade but joined the incubator for a revamp and access to new contacts. “It used to be, I go to a party and I tell the girls I’m in a startup and they walk away – that’s changing now.”

It’s an increasingly familiar story in Europe, where hundreds of entrepreneurs have set up incubators that are adapting the Silicon Valley model to fast-track new companies.

For Europe’s politicians, the trend represents an economic bright spot, bringing life to disused office space, new jobs, and reflected geek chic. One EU-funded study from March, by database Seed-DB, estimated startups have created 3,500-4,500 jobs in Europe.

Few, if any, of these firms will ever be Google or Facebook. Some will make money replicating successful ideas.

Most will go nowhere, neither growing nor failing but limping along. But every year 100-200 in Europe are bought by rivals or much bigger firms.

The value of those deals is often not disclosed, but where it has been, the average purchase prices have jumped, suggesting that the type of ecosystem found in California’s Silicon Valley may finally be taking off in parts of Europe.

The $2.5bn that Mojang, the Swedish game developer behind Minecraft, collected from Microsoft earlier this week is far from typical. But in the first eight months of 2014, more than 100 European venture-backed firms were sold to others in the industry.

The average value of each deal where a price was given - $420m - is 80% higher than the 10-year average of $233m, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Prices are volatile, and the number of deals is still far short of the United States, but prices have been higher for

Oscar Kneppers, co-owner of private bootcamp for tech startups Rockstart Accelerator, poses for a picture in Amsterdam European firms. In the United States the average value so far this year, at $398m, is about 70% up on the 10-year average.

The data is partial and no clear trends are discernible. Even so, incubators like Rockstart – there are around 100 of them in Europe, according to website tech.eu – certainly help feed the market. Funded variously by private wealth, government support and multinationals, they consolidate teams of talent and plug young businesses into investment and expertise.

As incubators seed more ventures, they build an environment where businesses can buy others, innovate and grow. That’s needed. Tech talent is in short supply. The European Commis-

sion has said almost half a million tech vacancies may come up next year.

“We’re not breeding startups to be bought,” said Rockstart founder Oscar Kneppers. “We do see a growing interest in corporates in getting access to startups.”

Bootcamps are no panacea. They may start things, but economists say Europe needs more firms to then grow bigger independently, instead of just becoming acquisitions. A recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit for Barclays Bank warned that the UK - far and away Europe’s most successful startup hub – risked becoming “a national start-up incubator supplying foreign multinationals.”

Apple a decade behind Japan mobile payment curve n AFP, Tokyo Apple's proud announcement that its new iPhone could be used to buy goods in a single swipe left customers nonplussed in Japan, where mobile contactless payments have been normal fare for a decade.

A type of Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, known in Japan as FeliCa, was introduced to the Japanese mobile market in June 2004 and has been been implanted in almost all phones sold in the country since.

The iPhone has been one of the few chip-less exceptions - something that will change when the new models hit Japanese shelves on September 19.

Ten years ago the charismatic Takeshi Natsuno, who was then multimedia services director of Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo, extolled

the benefits of swapping cash for cell phones. "When I leave my house in the morning all I take with me is my phone, which lets me do everything -- pay, take public transport -- simply by swiping a special reader in shops, stations or airports," he said at the time.

FeliCa was conceived by Sony way back in 1989 and first used in the Hong Kong underground railway system in 1997 - in a card known as Octopus - inspiring cities around the world to use similar technology in their own contactless transport cards.

Japan adopted an electronic payment system for trains in 2001, starting with the JR East network, which serves the Tokyo region.

The transport cards' success led to the integration of contactless chips into Japanese mobile phones and lifestyles with the creation of a group of apps

known as the "mobile wallet" by NTT Docomo in 2004.

Thousands of readers are now installed in convenience stores, on vending machines, in office buildings and at stations and airports in Japan.

Contactless payments are a normal part of everyday life for many Japanese people, said Michael Au, president of the South Asia and Japan branch of digital security firm Gemalto.

"Japan has the most developed contactless infrastructure in the world and customers are already familiar with using their mobiles for contactless services," he said. Sony, which said it has delivered more than 530 million FeliCa chips for cards and 245 million for mobile phones, is now responsible for making around a hundred various services based on the technology compatible with each other. l

Canon's new high performance digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera 'EOS 7D Mark II' is displayed at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on yesterday. The EOS-7D Mark II will go on sale ealy November AFP

“The potential downsides relate to the negotiating ability of the startups to get a good deal with the multinationals,” said Mike Wright, professor of entrepreneurship at Imperial College, London, who contributed to the report.

“It could be that the startups basically get screwed because the terms of the deal are very much in the multinationals’ favor.”

Seed and venture capital has financed young tech firms for decades.

Bootcamps like Rockstart offer added support, replicating a model that started in 2005 with Silicon Valley firm Y Combinator, whose 700 alumni include Dropbox, Reddit and Airbnb.

In Europe, big names include Tech-

YouTube to go offline in India on Android phones n AFP, New Delhi YouTube users in India will soon be able to save videos from the Googleowned service, making it possible to watch them offline, and the feature will eventually be available globally, the company said Monday.

The feature will be available through the YouTube app on Google's new $105-Android One smartphones unveiled in New Delhi on Monday.

"YouTube will be available offline soon, starting with India," Google India communications manager Gaurav Bhaskar told AFP. Smartphones using Google's Android operating system are used by more than one billion people globally and the new Android One phone is part of the company's drive to reach out to billions more.

The company said the YouTube save service will be available soon but gave no date. It did not give any indication when it would be extended to other parts of the world.

The new YouTube save feature will be "a great benefit for when there is a slow connection or re-watching videos without using up the data plan", said Bhaskar.

Google has tied up with local Indian handset makers Micromax, Karbonn and Spice Mobiles to make Android One Smartphones that will start at 6,399-rupee ($105).

"While 1.75-billion people around the world already have a smartphone, the vast majority of the world's population - over five billion more - do not," said Sundar Pichai, a senior Google vice president.

Google said the phones will be "high-quality" and "affordable" smartphones sold through online Indian retailers.

The new Google phones come with improved security features and more than a million apps, the company said.

Smartphone-makers are in a race to the bottom of India's economic pyramid as they battle for customers in the fast-growing low-end market segment where analysts say opportunities are vast.

India is now the fastest-expanding smartphone market globally and the third-largest market after China and the United States, according to Britainbased consultancy Canalys. l

REUTERS

Stars London and Startupbootcamp.

Incubators have also been funded directly by multinationals such as Telefonica of Spain, Deutsche Telecom and Barclays. A few cultivate a celebrity vibe. Kneppers, a magazine publisher who flunked journalism school in the mid-1980s, calls startups “the rock bands of business.”

Each Rockstart incubator program is essentially an investment fund which devotes 20,000 to 25,000 euros in cash to each startup and takes an eight percent stake in each. This is split 25:75 between the accelerator and its investors.

It has had applications from 56 countries: firms compete for places. None of its potential returns have yet been

realized but on paper, it says the return on investment on its two initial funds is about 185%.

It shares its canalside home in a 400-year-old former merchant bank with an advertising agency. A poster marks the young companies’ shared space with the mantra, “I have not failed.” It’s a recurring theme in many bootcamps. When things go wrong, accept it, change your approach, and learn.

The young entrepreneurs - many bearded and in headphones - tap away quietly at laptops. An Italian snoozes in a beanbag after lunch. A whiteboard carries graffiti mocking different founders or their companies’ names.

The founders are a motley bunch.

Deutsch, the 44-year-old now impressing women at parties, grew up in 1980s Silicon Valley, studied anthropology, and keeps a diary of his failures. Another entrepreneur wants to teach children to code through an app called Bomberbot – a play on an old Atari game, not combat drones. A third has a PhD in neuroscience and is building an e-learning business around the theory that seven minutes is the optimal attention-span.

The businesses focus on a simple mantra: Find a problem, propose a solution. Each team – Rockstart does not take on individuals - has a wall poster with neon post-it notes in boxes, some reading “high-level concept” or “unfair advantage.” Another piece of jargon reflects the defining moment of many a startup’s career: “pivot.” That’s what startups do when things go wrong.

Teams get a total of six months, including a trip to Silicon Valley, at the shared office. “In 10 weeks I’m getting 10 years’ worth of exposure,” Deutsch said. “If I wanted to raise 50k tomorrow I’d ask a mentor and they’d arrange an interview.”

Roughly every six months there is a “Demo Day” where each cohort gets to pitch their businesses live. Venture capital investments in Europe are weak - running at $7.6bn last year, less than half their 2000 peak of around $20bn– and Rockstart, like many other bootcamps, hooks up with multinationals, including giants such as Microsoft. l

Why breaking up Britain could tear apart the EU, too n Anatole Kaletsky While recent opinion polls have swung slightly back toward the "no" camp, there remains a distinct possibility that Thursday's Scottish referendum will trigger a previously unthinkable breakup of Britain.

If this were to happen, the biggest risks for global businesses and investors do not lie in the economic problems created by Scotland's choice of currency or the inevitable arguments about sharing North Sea oil revenue and the British national debt.

These are crucial challenges for Scotland and have been much discussed in financial institutions and think tanks. But the crucial issue for the world economy and financial markets is about the resulting impact on the European Union - and especially on Britain, which would remain the world's sixth largest economy even if Scotland departs.

These political risks, which I discussed in my last column, can be broken down into four questions: What would Scottish independence, if it happens, mean for British politics and economic management over the nine months, until the May 2015 general election? What effect would it have on the election results? How would all this turmoil affect Britain's fraught relationship with Europe? Would Scottish independence act as an inspiration for secessionist movements in other European countries?

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during a visit to the Scottish Widows building in Edinburgh, ScotlandThe answers to all four questions promise to be more destabilizing than almost anyone would have predicted a month ago.

Starting with the issue of other European independence movements, the answer is obvious. If Scotland votes for independence, it would become extremely difficult for the Spanish government to continue denying a similar democratic right to the Catalans and Basques. Beyond that, Flemish separatists would intensify pressure in Belgium, and the Northern League in Italy could get a new lease on life.

DILBERT

Focusing back on Britain, the political implications become more complex. If Britain breaks up after Thursday's vote, Prime Minister David Cameron would have to take responsibility for promoting the referendum on needlessly risky conditions that in hindsight look downright reckless.

It was Cameron who decided to offer the Scots a simple choice between staying in the union or breaking it - instead of taking up the Scottish National Party's proposal for a third option of increasing self-government within Britain. Cameron also allowed preserving the union to be presented as a negative option in the phrasing of the referendum question and accepted the National Party's controversial decision to lower the voting age from 18 to 16.

For all these reasons, plus his unpopularity in the Conservative Party's powerful anti-European wing, Cameron would likely face huge pressure to resign if the referendum passes.

The Conservative Party has a history of turning suddenly and ruthlessly against its leaders. In September 1990, nobody imagined that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was even remotely vulnerable. Less than three months later she was gone.

'No Thanks' badges are displayed during campaigning by Alistair Darling, the leader of the campaign to keep Scotland part of the United KingdomWhether or not Cameron is ousted after the vote, the British government would be reduced to lame-duck status until the May election.

The only issues on the political agenda would be the terms of Scottish separation and the Cameron government's astonishing complacency about presiding over national breakup.

This complacency, which voters, investors and businesses have only just started to notice, was exemplified on Monday when Sir Jeremy Heywood, head of the British Civil Service, calmly told a shocked parliamentary committee that government departments were doing absolutely nothing to prepare for the possibility of Scottish independence. l