29 Sep, 2014

Ashwin 14, 1421 Zilhajj 3, 1435 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 178

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

B1 | BUSINESS BANGLADESH MAY GET 1% MORE SHARE OF GLOBAL RMG MARKET BY 2020

20 pages | Price: Tk12

7 | LONG FORM

11 | OP-ED

14 | SPORT

WHAT’S IN THE BASKET?

THE BANGLADESH WE ALL LONG FOR

MESSI ‘NEVER IMAGINED’ REACHING 400-GOAL MARK

Fake documents fetch HC bail for yaba traders

F R E A K Y F O U N D AT I O N

Lawyer served show-cause notice n Ahmed Zayeef It was September 18 and the workload at the High Court was immense because it was the last working day before the court would go into a month-long vacation.

What appears to be a clever selection of timing – because everyone had apparently switched to vacation mode, Supreme Court lawyer Abdus Samad moved a petition, seeking bail for five accused yaba traders.

At the hearing he produced documents, which showed the five suspected yaba traders, arrested in the capital’s Mirpur area on July 1, had in their possession only 243 tablets.

Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who represented the state on that day, was too busy to notice that the five had been arrested for possessing 19,000 yaba pills, not just 243 – at least that was what a police press release issued a day after the arrest had mentioned.

After hearing the petition, a two-member High Court bench comprising Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam granted the bail and the five were released thereafter.

Indian cattle injected with banned drugs entering markets n UNB A large number of Indian cattle injected with banned dichlorophen are heading towards major cities across the country from Bagachra Satmail cattle market in Sharsha upazila everyday ahead of Eidul-Azha.

Located in close proximity with the Bangladesh-India border, the temporary cattle market at Bagachra Satmail is the largest of its kind in the southwestern region of the country that attracts wholesalers of Indian cattle.

At least 10,000 cattle, mostly  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Explaining the judgement, Jinnah said the bail had been granted because possessing 243 yaba pills appeared to be less severe an offence to the court.

However, on September 25, Jinnah eventually found out that Samad had forged several documents while moving the bail petition.

On September 27, he brought the matter to the Supreme Court’s attention, alleging that Samad had produced fake certified copies of the first information report (FIR), charge sheet and the seizure list for seeking bail for his clients.

The same day, a special High Court bench was formed to hear on Jinnah’s submission. The two judges, who had granted the bail in the first place, were included in that bench.

Yesterday, that bench cancelled the bail, asked authorities concerned to issue fresh warrants for the arrest of the five accused and served a show-cause notice on Samad to explain within October 19 why he had hidden the information.

The judges asked the SC registrar to form a probe committee to find out more about the alleged forgery. They also asked the registrar to sue or take  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Education Ministry, DU trade blame over admission test debacle n Mushfique Wadud In the wake of the Dhaka University admission test result fiasco, the education minister and the university authorities have played the blame game over what led to such a disaster - quality of education or the university’s admission process.

While the education minister termed the admission test flawed, university authorities defended, saying it is a scientific method.

A mere 9.55% candidates passed in this year’s admission test for Kha (B) unit at Dhaka University. Besides, only two students achieved the required score to be enrolled in the English department.

Latest, only 3.10% candidates passed the “Cha” (fine arts) unit admission this year.

DU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique announced the results at 6:30pm yesterday, reports our DU Correspondent.

The standard of education was questioned by many when admission test results were published, revealing the poor performance of the candidates.

‘It is faulty’

Education Minister Nurul Islam

INSIDE

5 | News

Medical teams led by veterinarians will be deployed in all cattle markets under both the city corporations and other markets elsewhere ahead of Eid-ul Azha to check artificially fattened sacrificial animals.

6 | Nation

A large number of trees belonging to the social forestry programme in Katabari union of Gobindaganj upazila in Gaibandha were felled and sold at a nominal price by the UP chairman there, flouting the regulations.

Children look happily at the lens unaware of the risk they are living in. With bricks and cements, a new floor has been constructed on a bamboo-made platform above a tin shed house.

Such vulnerable structure might collapse any time. The photo was taken from capital’s Mohammadpur Beribandh area. More photo on page 2 MEHEDI HASAN

8 | World

Airstrikes likely carried out by a US-led coalition struck an oil refinery in Syria held by the Islamic State group yesterday, a witness said, shaking buildings and sending flames shooting into the air near the Turkish border.

12 | Entertainment

An exhibition by Gopal Ghose, a member of the renowned Calcutta Painters Group, is being held at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts and will remain open till October 18, with 100 artworks on display.

Nahid at a press conference in the secretariat yesterday said the admission test at Dhaka University contained flaws. He also said tough questions were deliberately included in the question paper so that the majority of the candidates failed.

“If the university authorities can run the English department with only two students and if that is their principal then let them do it,” Nahid said.

The minister asked the university teachers to be more responsible and not to ruin the future of the students.

University defends

Responding to the education minister’s remarks, Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University AAMS Arefin Siddique said the admission test was a scientifically designed one.

“We have an entrance exam that is not only scientific but also logical and transparent,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Arefin also denied the allegation that questions were intentionally made tough.

He said the university would address a problem if the education minister could point it out specifically, adding that no one should

question the effectiveness of the admission test.

The vice-chancellor said students who did not succeed in the admission test did not lack talent.

“There are a slew of candidates and we need to select from them,” he said.

Proposal for integrated admission test

The education minister has long been advocating an integrated admission test system for public universities.

The University Grants Commission in several of its reports described the present university admission system expensive and difficult for students.

In its 2010 annual report, the commission urged to modify the enrolment process, terming it too expensive, questionable and dependent on private coaching. It has advocated an integrated system to hold admission tests for admitting freshers to the public universities.

Under the recommended system, admission tests at universities that are of the same type will be held centrally where the candidates will sit for a single admission test.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Monday, September 29, 2014

PM spreading lies abroad, alleges BNP n UNB BNP spokesman Mirza Fakhrul Islam yesterday alleged that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is spreading lies abroad as she accused BNP of taking a position against the country’s people.

“The prime minister has said in New York that BNP and Jamaat have taken a position against the country’s people by indulging in violence and terrorism. It is nothing but a complete lie,” he said.

Addressing a discussion, Fakhrul claimed that BNP is not a terrorist party and it des not believe in terrorism and violence.

“It is the Awami League which is a terrorist party. The Prime Ministry is spreading lies against the country’s people going abroad. She deceived people by resorting to lies. We condemn Hasina’s such false statements,” he said.

Zia Sangskritik Sangathan organised the programme marking its 22 founding anniversary.

About his party’s stance on mil-

itancy and terrorism, Fakhrul said, “We want to unequivocally say that BNP is a liberal democratic party. We do not believe in militancy and terrorism. Awami league is behind violence and terror acts in the country.

They do not want to allow democratic practice.”

Criticising the government’s “growing” repressive acts, he said the current administration with the help of law enforcers killed some 310 opposition leaders and activists and made 65 others disappeared.

The BNP leader warned that the government will not be able to resist people’s movement by resorting to repressive acts.

Pointing at BNP leaders and activists who got frustrated as the government could not be ousted before the January-5 polls, he said, “This government is holding office illegally. They cannot hang onto power in this way. They must go. We together with people force it to hold a fresh election through a movement. People’s movement does not go in vain.” l

With bricks and cement, a new floor is constructed on a bamboo-made platform above a tin-shed house. Families are living in this floor amid risk of collapse

Noor: Awareness on RTI act to enhance administration efficiency n BSS

Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor yesterday said information awareness among the marginal group of people would enhance efficiency and accountability of the administration and consolidate democracy.

“The Right to Information Act ensures every citizen’s right to know,” he said speaking at a discussion meeting on “International Right to Know Day,” organised by the Information Commission at Sufia Kamal auditorium of the National Museum.

Presided over by Chief Information

Commissioner Mohammad Faruque, the discussion was also addressed by Information Secretary Martuza Ahmad, Cabinet Division Coordinator and Cultural Cell Secretary-in-Charge M Nazrul Islam, Information Commissioner Prof Khurshida Begum Sayeed.

“It is the responsibility of mass media to reach the RTI act to the people, taking into account the commitment of the government and the obligation of the civil society in this regard,” he added.

“The RTI act is a good law. The people would want to know more information using this law, if they became conscious.”

This will also ensure accountability of the administration, he added. He stressed the need for making the women aware to get more benefit of the RTI act.

Information Secretary Martuza Ahmad said RTI act is a law to establish people’s rights on the state. “This is a law to establish democracy and human rights, ensure accountability and empower the people,” he added.

Earlier, the Information Commission organised a colourful rally marking the International Right to Know Day 2014. The rally started from the TSC at Dhaka University and ended in front of the National Museum. l

JS body scrutinises 3 CHT dist council amendment bills n UNB

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Affairs Ministry yesterday scrutinised three amendment bills relating to the three CHT District Councils.

The committee, in its 5th meeting, scrutinised the three bills – Rangamati Hill Tracts District Parishad (Amendment) Bill 2014; Khagrachhari Hill Tracts District Parishad (Amendment) Bill 2014; and Bandarban Hill Tracts

District Parishad (Amendment) Bill 2014.

Chairman of the standing committee RAM Ubaidul Moktadir Chowdhury presided over the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. Committee members state minister for CHT Affairs Bir Bahadur, Mohammad Subid Ali Bhuiyan, Amanur Rahman Rana, Kujendra Lal Tripura, Firoza Begum Chinu and MA Awal attended.

CHT Affairs Secretary Nabo Bikram Kishore was present in the meeting. l

PM’s birthday celebrated across the country n Tribune Report

Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote members hold a rally in front of the National Press Club on the occasion of the 68th birthday of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Muazzem Ali new envoy to New Delhi n Tribune Report The government has decided to appoint Syed Muazzem Ali as the new High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India.

He is will be replacing Tariq A Karim who was assigned to New Delhi in August 2009.

When contacted, Muazzem said he would fly to New Delhi in November.

Meanwhile, a press release of the Foreign Ministry said obtaining his MSc in zoology from Dhaka University, Muazzem joined erstwhile Pakistan Foreign Service in 1968 through Central Superior Service Examination.

On August 4, 1971, while working in the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC, he declared his allegiance to the Bangladesh government in exile.

Later, he set up the embassy of independent Bangladesh in Washington.

Muazzem, a career diplomat, served as ambassador of Bangladesh in Bhutan, Iran and France.

He also worked at Bangladesh missions in Washington, Warsaw, New Delhi and Jeddah in different capacities.

He served as the foreign secretary of Bangladesh in 2001. l

Ruling Awami League and its associate bodies celebrated the 68th birthday of its president Sheikh Hasina, who is also the prime minister of the country, through various programmes across the country yesterday.

Cutting cakes, Discussions, milad mahfils, cultural events, and distribution of foods among the poor were organised to mark the day.

In celebration of the birthday of the premier, who is in New York City now to attend the 69th UN general assembly, central leaders of Awami League and the USA unit of the party had given a floral reception to the prime minister, wishing her sound health and a long life.

Marking the day, special prayers were offered and milad mahfils were held at different mosques, including Baitul Mukarram National Mosque,

Fake documents fetch HC bail for yaba traders  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

appropriate actions against the person that had certified the forged documents.

AAG Jinnah told the Dhaka Tribune that a man named Shahadat Hossain Jony certified Samad’s documents as authentic. The only available information about him is that he is the son of Mohammad Hossain from Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar and his national ID number is 1992989158072.

According to the original case documents, police recovered 3,000 pills of the contraband drug from Hasan and 4,000 pieces each from the other four.

Police said in a press release that the recovered pills weighed 1.71kg whose approximate price was Tk60 lakh.

However, the documents that Samad produced said police had recovered only 40 pills from Sohel, 50 from Ferdous, 45 from Mohsin, 60 from Mostafa and 48 from Hasan.

Jinnah said Samad moved the bail petition on the last working day before the Supreme Court’s month-long vacation started on September 19.

“There was an immense pressure of cases on the last working day. So, I did not notice that the counsel for the bail petitioners provided false information,” he said.

Jinnah’s petition reads: “Accused petitioners were enlarged on bail by this Hon’ble Court by using the false and forged certified copies of the FIR, charge sheet and seizure list of the Mirpur Model Police Station.”

Rebuking Samad, the court said: “How long have you been practising law? What did you do before [starting to practise law]? You will give satisfactory answer to the show-cause [notice] otherwise we will take necessary steps against you.”

Samad later told the Dhaka Tribune, that Supreme Court clerk Boni Amin had brought the case to him. “I stood for the accused without checking the authenticity of the documents. The bail petition was prepared by the Supreme Court clerk.”

Boni Amin could not be reached over his mobile phone as of 11pm yesterday.

SM Rezaul Karim, former secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told the Dhaka Tribune that if found guilty, Samad might have to face jail terms of up to seven years for forgery and cancellation of licence.

He, however, explained that the person who certified the false documents was to be the one to blame. “A lawyer

generally trusts documents that his clients produce,” he said.

Rezaul Karim also alleged that a

after Johr prayers yesterday. Special prayers were also offered at Dhakeshwari National Temple and other places of worship including churches and pagodas.

A milad and doa mahfil was held at Gonobhaban, the official residence of the premier. The prime minister’s personal staff, well-wishers, party leaders and employees of the Prime Minister’s Office and Ganobhaban attended the milad mahfil.

Dhaka City Awami League organised a milad and doa mahfil and a discussion at the party’s central office at Bangabandhu Avenue in the city after Asar prayer.

Several associate bodies of the party like Swechhashebok League, Motor Sromik Lrague, Jubo League and Sheikh Russell Jatiya Shishu Kishore Parishad organised separate programmes to celebrate the day. l

group of Supreme Court clerks had been running an illegal business of preparing fake documents to help criminals. l

CASE DOCUMENT FORGERY 01/07/2014 wL«. g½jevi ivZ mv‡o 9 Uvi w`‡K 1036/2 c~e© gwbcy‡ii GKwU evmv ‡_‡K Zv‡`i‡K AvUK Kiv nq| AvUKK…Ziv n‡”Q 1| ‡mv‡nj (28), 2| ‡gvt ‡di‡`Šm (30), 3| gnwmb (28), 4| ‡gvt ‡gv¯—dv (30) Ges 5| ‡gvt nvmvb (34)| Zv‡`i evmvq Zjvwk Pvwj‡q

Highlights of the case

•

• • •

Police in a press release said 20,000 pcs yaba was recovered It was mentioned in the FIR that 19,000 pcs yaba was recovered Lawyer says only 243 pcs yaba was recovered The 5 accused are currently on bail

me©‡gvU 20 nvRvi wcm Bqvev U¨ve‡jU D×vi K‡i Rã Kiv nBq| G mgq g‡`i 5 wU, ‡dbwmwW‡ji 20 wU Ges weqv‡ii 30 wU Lvwj ‡evZj I K¨vb cvIqv hvq| Press release from the Police Department

State councel’s petition

MEHEDI HASAN

Education Ministry  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

UGC sources said the proposal failed to make progress mainly in the face of some public universities opposing it.

The opposition was believed to have stemmed from the fact that the universities would miss the opportunity to make money by selling application forms for admission tests.

There have also been allegations that a section of teachers are involved in the private coaching business and oppose reforms to the admission system.

Arefin told the Dhaka Tribune they had modernised the admission system and more changes would be made, if needed.

“We arrange the admission test as per the university’s needs and an integrated system might lead to problems for us,” he added.

‘Cha’ unit results

A total of 7,292 students sat for the tests held on September 13, out of which, 226 students passed for the available 135 seats.

The results are available at www. admission.eis.du.ac.bd. In order to get results through SMS, candidates can type “du” <space> “kha” <space> “roll number” and send it to 16321 from any operator.

Successful students will be asked to fill-up a ‘choice form’ on the website and submit it within October 14 to October 20. Students who are qualified under quota system will have to collect a form from the concerned dean’s office and submit it within October 12 to October 20.

Moreover, students who want to reevaluate their answer sheets, have to submit application forms including a fee to DU Fine Arts Faculty Dean Office, within 1st October. l

Indian cattle injected with banned drugs entering markets  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

imported from India, are being sold at the market everyday ahead of second largest Muslim festival.

Talking to the news agency, cattle traders admitted that the cattle were being injected with banned dichlorophen as soon as they land on the market after a week-long, hectic transportation from different faraway states in India.

Debprashad Mondol, a cattle trader from India, said that they have to inject each of the cattle with dichlorophen and vitamins to fend off the fatigue the cattle had to suffer from 5-7 days of travelling from Indian States as far as Haryana.

However, no medical team has been deployed by the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) to check the use of the banned medicine at the cattle market.

When asked, Sharsha Upazila Nirbahi Officer ATM Sharifur Alam said they have informed the livestock officials about it.

Sharsha upazila DLS Officer Mihir Kanti Biswas said they are unable to detect whether the cattle are injected with dichlorophen or not because they do not have the facility for the health check up of the cattle. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Tribunal irked with prosecution in Subhan case n Udisa Islam The war crimes tribunal yesterday was displeased after finding that the prosecution in the case against Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Abdus Subhan had given two birth dates of the accused in the documents placed before it.

The issue came to fore during the cross-examination of Noor Hossain, the second investigation officer, yesterday at the International Crimes Tribunal 2.

Defence counsel Mizanul Islam asked the investigation officer how he had confirmed the date of birth of the accused. Noor replied that as per leaflets distributed during Subhan’s election campaign, he was born in September 1929.

The defence then referred to another document submitted by the investigation agency which mentioned the birth year to be 1936.

The three-member tribunal told the prosecution: “You took the matter so lightly. The investigation officer brought the document relying upon Jamaat’s document, and the prosecution prepared it!”

The tribunal then asked designated prosecutor Sultan Mahmud to answer which one of the two dates should be accepted.

Noor testified at the tribunal on September 24 as the 31st and last prosecution witness.

In response to another query, Noor said he did not know whether Subhan had been elected chairman of Goyeshwar union of Pabna sadar in 1958.

The defence also asked Noor about the source of information regarding Subhan’s leading the attack in Kochuapara and Sakharipara areas during the 1971 Liberation War. The investigation officer mentioned three people of the area who were not

News

3

Monday, September 29, 2014

CYCLE OF POLLUTION

made witnesses in the case.

As the prosecution tried to say that this incident was not in the charges, the tribunal said: “This incident is in the documents you have relied upon, and the defence has right to cross examine [Noor] on this.”

Investigation Officer Noor said as per leaflets distributed during Subhan’s election campaign, he was born in September 1929 The investigation officer also failed to specify when the auxiliary forces of the Pakistani occupation forces – razakar, al-Badr and al-Shams – had been formed in Pabna. Noor said he only knew that the razakar force had been formed after the formation of Peace Committee on the first week of May 1971.

The tribunal later adjourned the cross-examination until today keeping it incomplete.

Acting chief of Jamaat’s Pabna unit during the war, the accused was indicted on December 31 last year on nine charges of crimes against humanity.

Subhan was also accused in 1972 by a special tribunal for collaborating with the Pakistani occupation forces and was summoned.

However, he did not face trial as he had already fled to Pakistan with former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam. He became a member of parliament in the 2001 national elections from Pabna 5 constituency. l

Abandoned tyres of rickshaws are stocked to be sold for using as fuel in brick kilns. The smoke generated from burning tyres pollute the air heavily. The photo was taken from capital’s Mohammadpur Beribandh area MEHEDI HASAN

ACC to appeal against Mannan’s bail after Eid n Tribune Report

The Anti-Corruption Commission has finally decided to challenge the bail of former Awami League state minister Abdul Mannan Khan in a corruption case, granted on August 24 by a lower court that has no jurisdiction to entertain such petitions.

Following the order, ACC Chairman M Badiuzzaman had said the commission would file an appeal seeking the cancellation of the bail order.

“I received an instruction of the commission on September 23 to appeal

against the bail. We will seek cancellation of the bail which was granted beyond the court’s jurisdiction,” ACC counsel Kabir Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The lawyer said he had applied for a certified copy of the ACC letter. “As soon as we get the copy, we will appeal against the bail,” he said adding that it would take a week for preparation.

Therefore, the commission cannot challenge the bail before Eid. On August 24, Judge Md Emdadul Haque of the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court allowed Mannan bail on

a Tk50,000 bond until October 13 in the case filed for accumulating illegal wealth worth Tk75.04 lakh.

According to the law, the metropolitan magistrate’s court is not competent to deal with the bail petitions of an accused in corruption cases. Only the Special Judge’s Court is entitled to hear such matter and give an order.

The case was lodged on August 21 against Mannan, a former lawmaker from Dohar, since he had concealed information of wealth worth around Tk4.60 lakh and accumulated illegal wealth worth Tk75.04 lakh.

Upon his surrender at the court, Mannan claimed that the political rival group had implicated him in the case to ruin his political image and harass him.

“Every accused has the right to enjoy bail. I have surrendered before the court since I respect the law. I am ill and have been suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes,” he told the court.

Earlier, the same court granted bail to 22 high-ups of Destiny 2000 Limited beyond its jurisdiction. Later their bails were cancelled after the ACC had appealed with a Senior Special Judge’s Court. l

Sajeda reviles Hasan for spoiling her programme

ACC takes statements from nine policemen

n Emran Hossain Shaikh

n Tribune Report

Awami League acting president Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury expressed her anger over scheduling different programmes by two associated bodies of the party at the same time and at same place yesterday.

The leader also termed party’s Publicity and Publication Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud “contumacious” as he was addressing the other meeting during her speech.

Two party associated bodies, Awami Swechhasebok League and Motor League, organised different rallies at Dhanmondi 32 in the capital on the occasion of 68th birthday of Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Swechhashebok League organised their programme in front of the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman while Motor Sromik League about 100 feet east of the portrait.

During her address as the chief guest Sajeda was repeatedly interrupted by the deafening sound of loudspeakers coming from the programme where Dr Hasan Mahmud was addressing the crowd.

Sajeda Chowdhury said: “I have never seen counter programmes organised here (Dhanmondi 32) in the fashion of Jamaat and I do not expect to see it now.”

Sajeda Chowdhury termed Dr Hasan Mahmud, who was addressing the other rally, “contumacious” and said after emerging as new leaders of the party they have started misbehaving.

“I have not seen such boastfulness in my political career. It is an ultimate example of misbehaviour and I will not tolerate it,” the leader said adding that “I tell him to restrain himself.” l

The Anti-Corruption Commission has taken the statements from nine police officials, including two assistant commissioners from different zones, in regards to its inquiry into the disappearance of 165 gold bars during an operation in the capital’s Banasree area.

ACC Deputy Director Jatan Kumar Roy took their statements at the anti-graft body's headquarters, its Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said while talking to reporters yesterday.

The officers are Motijheel Zone Assistant Commissioner Jewel Rana, Demra Zone Assistant Commissioner Mainul Islam, Inspector Abul Khayer Matubbar, Assistant Sub-Inspector Abul Bashar Mia, Naiyek Md Shakhawat Hossain, constables AK Azad, Md Abul Hasan, Md Saiful Alam and Nayan Kumar.

The ACC on Thursday took the statements from Khilgaon zone Assis-

Crude bomb blasted at IG Prisons’ office

n Tribune Report

Miscreants have hurled a crude bomb at the office of Inspector General-Prisons Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin in the capital’s Bakshi Bazar.

Chawkbazar police station Officer-in-Charge Azizul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune that some miscreants hurled a crude bomb at the IG Prisons’ office around 10am.

“The miscreants fled the scene soon after exploding the crude bomb,” he added. He said the police is looking into the incident. l

DISAPPEARANCE OF 165 GOLD BARS

In an anti-formalin drive Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution and members of RAB Uttara found no formalin in the fruits available at roadside markets and supershops in the area. The photo was taken from capital’s Uttara area DHAKA TRIBUNE

tant Commissioner Md Iqbal Hossain, Sub-Inspectors Abdul Mannan, ANS Nuruzzaman, Masud Mia, M Rashedul Islam, and constables Md Delwar Hossain and Md Rahim on the same matter.

On March 13, a gang of smugglers abandoned 235 gold bars in a car in the capital’s Banasree area when they were being pursued by a patrol team. However, after searching through the vehicle, Rampura police claimed to have found only 70 bars inside.

Driver Samir Biswas and suspect Jahid Hossain were detained later after they went to the Rampur police station to bring back the car and told them that there were 235 gold bars in the car. Later an investigation was launched and a case was filed over the alleged theft of the gold bars.

On April 1, the Detective Branch of police in separate drives arrested three policemen and their informer in possession of 149 gold bars from Dhaka city, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Bogra. l

Flag scandal committee Probe body on Narayanganj seven missed deadline murders to quiz RAB DG today n Mushfique Wadud A probe committee of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), formed to investigate how Pakistani flags were distributed among students at a state programme, has failed to submit its report during the deadline set by the government.

The three member committee, formed on September 22, was given three working days to submit its report on the issue.

DSHE Director for Finance and Procurement Wing Julfikar Rahman is heading the three member committee.

“We are working on it and hope that we will be able to file the report by this week,” Julfikar told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He further added that the committee has sought five more working days to complete its report.

On September 20 at the concluding ceremony of a sports competition for the schools and Madrasas, a good number of miniature Pakistani flags were

found inside packets of Bangladeshi flags when teachers were handing them over to students, who were supposed to wave them during the function.

The school management informed local lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon, also the civil aviation minister, regarding the issue One of the schools that were given Pakistani flags along with bundles of Bangladesh flags was Motijheel Ideal School and College.

The school management informed local lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon, also the civil aviation minister, regarding the issue.

Menon later sent a letter to the education minister demanding punishment to those responsible for the anti-state act. l

n Mohosinul Karim The government probe body formed under the directive of the High Court to investigate into the Narayanganj seven murders will quiz Director General (DG) of the Rapid Action Battalion Mokhlesur Rahman at 2.30pm today.

The RAB DG was given notice yesterday to appear before the interrogation cell at the probe body chief’s secretariat office.

“Not only the RAB DG, the body will also interrogate some more people including several law enforcement agency members and detained RAB member who tried to commit suicide after his arrest,” Probe Body Chief Shahjahan Ali Mollah, also the Public Administration Ministry Additional Secretary, said.

He is expecting to submit the probe report to the High Court by October after completion of a six-month investigation.

“The investigation is now at its final stage. But we are trying to quiz some more people to make sure that the

probe is flawless.”

Shahjahan Ali Mollah said the probe body had already quizzed around 400 people including the Narayanganj City Corporation Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy, Narayanganj MP Shamim Osman, Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman, Dhaka Range DIG of Police Mahfuzul Haq Nuruzzaman, Additional Director General of RAB Ziaul Ahsan and some other influential persons.

“We have planned to interrogate the RAB DG, the chief of the elite force, as most of the accused in the incident are RAB members. We have come to know that a section of the RAB high officials had prior knowledge about the incident.

“However, the DG denied the allegation at a press conference. We will take his statement,” he added.

He also said the probe body will quiz some senior high officials and other persons allegedly involved in the killing. The body intends to quiz the persons whose names came up in the confessional statements of the accused

during police interrogation.

“We are trying to submit the report

by October. We requested the court earlier to allow us four more weeks.

But, the court is yet to give any order.

We will submit our request to the court for time extension as the offices will remain closed due to the Eid-Ul Azha and Durga Puja holiday.”

Shahjahan Mollah said the probe body intended to quiz main suspected accused Nur Hossain in Kolkata earlier but later the plan was changed taking into consideration the strong move of the government to bring him back.

The probe body will quiz him after he is brought home before the submission of the probe report.

On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam, three of his aides and driver, and senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar and his driver were kidnapped from the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road. Three days later, six bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya.

The seventh body was recovered from the river the next day. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Monday, September 29, 2014

Train ticket scalping mounts people’s misery n Abu Hayat Mahmud A large number of people in queues for advance tickets in Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital yesterday ahead of Eid-ul-Azha and Durga Puja blamed the authorities concerned for anomalies and selling tickets on the black market.

Besides they expressed deep concern as the ticket reservation staffs were taking unusual time to end their task.

While visiting the corresponded found that the ticket touts were openly active on the eyes of law enforces inside the railway station yesterday like two previous days.

Although the advance train ticket sale began from Friday, most of the cabin, chair and first class ticket seekers returned back home empty handed while many people got tickets around after a long-time waiting.

Hasan who stood in queue told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have come in the station on Saturday evening and got a ticket now (yesterday 11:45am) as the counter staff are very slow in delivering service, who are taking 5 to 6 minutes against each ticket while the usual time is 1 to 2 minutes.”

Another ticket seeker named Faruk echoed the voice of Hasan. On the other hand, the depressed ticket seekers were loudly hurling abusive words to the staff for the slow delivery.

Habubur Rahman, one of the ticket seekers, said: “We have seen that the counter staff were selling to few persons who are involved with black marketing. Basically in absence of journalists, they do the misdeed.”

“At the end of the day when the rush of ticket seekers decreases and the countermen sell off that day’s remaining tickets to the scalpers,” he added.

The also correspondent found that several ticket scalpers shouting, saying “Ticket! Ticket...any one can get a ticket without standing the time-consuming queue.” When asked, a scalper declined to talk to any news men.

The railway authorities claimed that security had been tightened there comprising of Railway Security Force, Dhaka Metropolitan Police as well as RAB, BGB and the Army personnel although the correspondent on Saturday found the active movement of the ticket scalpers and brokers.

Besides, many touts were seen trying to squeeze into queues of ticket seekers at the ticket counters using various tricks like other days.

When actual ticket seekers challenged them, they moved to another line and applying the same trick.

Contacted, Kamlapur Railway Station Manager Shakhawat Hossain Khan denied the allegations, saying: “The tickets are being sold smoothly and I have not received any allegation of irregularities yet.” l

Recoilless rifle shell recovered n Our Correspondent,

JCD leader Habibur placed on remand

Chapainawabganj

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) yesterday recovered a 10kg shell of 75MM Recoilless Rifle in an abandoned state, which is believed to have been used during the liberation war in Chapainawabganj.

Quoting witnesses, Rab 5 Captain Major Kamruzzaman Pavel said workers found the shell while digging a drain to remove water from a person called Ekramul Haq’s mango orchard beside Tohakhana, a shrine, at Shibganj upazila in the morning.

“After being informed, we recovered the shell at around 10am. It has been damaged a lot, but can explode anytime and so it has been kept cautiously at the scene.” He added that Bangladesh army had been using this type of shell till about five years ago.

The Rab has left the scene after leaving the shell in Shibganj police custody.

Shibganj police station Officer-in-Charge Ashiqur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have contacted Bogra army for disposal of the shell.

It will be destroyed after they send a bomb disposal unit.”

Until filing of this report around 8pm, no bomb disposal unit from Bogra cantonment arrived at the scene. l

n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday placed Jatiyatabdi Chhatra Dal (JCD) General Secretary Habibur Rashid Habib on a three-day remand in a case filed with Shahbagh police station for vandalism and arson attack on vehicles during the September 22 hartal.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Asaduzzman Nur passed the order when the case’s investigation officer and a SI of the police station Azim Uddin produced the BNP’s student front leader before his court seeking a 10-day remand.

In the plea, Azim mentioned that his prayer was needed to find out the in-

Makeshift toilets for the visitors and traders of Agargaon cattle market are being erected on a nearby canal in the area. The toilets might create serious health hazard for the residents of the slum by the canal and also pollute the environment. The photo was taken yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

formation from Habibur for the sake of proper investigation in the case.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Md Sanaullah Miah filed two petitions, one for bail and another seeking rejection of remand. However, the court gave the decision after the hearing.

On Saturday, Immigration police arrested Habibur from Shahjalal International Airport in the capital when he was going to leave for the United States where his family members staying.

Afterwards, police showed Habibur arrested in the Shahbagh police station case for running vandalism during the hartal enforced by the BNP lead 20-party alliance. l

2 commit suicide in capital n Tribune Report Two people including a teenager committed suicide in the capital yesterday.

Fourteen-year-old Ibrahim Khalil Ullah, son of one Fazlur Rahman and late Lutfar Begum, took his life at Mirpur and Mamtaz Begum, 30, wife of one Md Anisur Rahman, killed herself at Motijheel.

Mirpur and Motijheel police recovered both of the bodies trom their respective areas.”

Mumtaz’s husband Anisur said: “On Friday, we were engaged in a family conflict. Yesterday around 10:30am, while I was eating and our two children were playing, Mumtaz went to the sixth floor of the building and jumped.”

The bodies were sent for autopsy. l

JS watchdog: Self-employment initiative flawed n Kamran Reza Chowdhury A parliamentary watchdog has pointed out flaws in a government-run self-employment training initiative, which provides only Tk40 to each trainee as daily food allowance.

Aiming to make the poor rural unemployed youth into skilled human resources, the Directorate of Youth Development under the Youth and Sports Ministry runs the training in 53 out of 64 districts and provides loans to the participants after trainings such as tailoring, poultry, animal husbandry, information training, textile and other trades.

At its meeting yesterday, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Youth and Sports Ministry detected gross flaws in the initiative for which the directorate spent over Tk1,200 crore to provide loans to the trainees since the programme was launched in 1982.

The 10-strong watchdog came up with the observation that some corrupt officials were pocketing money from the initiative.

Lawmaker Keya Chowdhury, a committee member, was the first to raise the flaws of the initiative, saying: “How can the poor trainees from the rural areas survive with daily allowance of Tk40 for three meals? So, what most of them do is just leave and the corrupt officials eat up the money allocated for them. No register is maintained.”

Youth found dead in Mymensingh n Our Correspondent, Mymensingh

Senior Secretary of Ministry of Public Administration Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury inaugurates the celebration programme of the 10th founding anniversary of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) at ULAB’s campus in Dhanmondi yesterday COURTESY

ULAB celebrates tenth founding anniversary n Tribune Report The tenth founding anniversary of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) began at ULAB’s own campus in Dhanmondi on September 28 and will end on October 1, 2014.

The celebration programme was inaugurated by Senior Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury at 10am who was also

the chief guest. Members of ULAB Board of Trustees Juditha Ohlmacher and Kazi Nabil Ahmed spoke on the occasion.

The guests and ULAB officials unveiled the plan for a permanent ULAB campus located at Ramchandrapur in Mohammadpur in the capital which will be the first sustainable green campus in Bangladesh.

Later in the evening Rabindranath Tagore’s play “Dak Ghor” was per-

formed by the ULAB Theater.

The Vice President Board of Trustees Dr Kazi Anis Ahmed, Pro-Vice Chancellor H. M. Jahirul Haque, Professor Emeritus, Dr. Rafiqul Islam, Senior Adviser Strategic Planning Prof Brian Shoesmith, Acting Treasurer and Registrar of ULAB Lt Col Md Foyzul Islam (Retd) along with faculty members, admin officers and students were also present at the program. l

Police have recovered the body of a youth from a tree at Deukhala Dasbari area under Fulbaria upazila in Mymensingh.

The deceased could not be identified immediately.

Fulbaria police station Officer-in-Charge Mosharraf Hossain said: “On information from the locals, police went to the spot and recovered the body.

The body was found hanging from a branch of a tree in the morning of today (Sunday).”

He said: “Injury marks have been noticed on the youth’s head.”

“The body has been sent to Mymensingh Medical College Hosptal morgue for carrying out an autopsy,” he added l

Keya told the Dhaka Tribune that in most of the cases, the money given to the trainees as loan was spent in wrong purposes.

“The women spend the money for household purposes while the men divert the money for other purposes,” she said, narrating her experience in Habiganj where she found corruption in the use of daily allowance.

She said officials concerned swindled the money as most of the trainees became irregular.

Zahid Ahsan Russel, the chairman of the committee, and other attending members agreed with her.

“The directorate has a target of establishing that at least 70% trainees were self-employed. But in reality we are in doubt about the target,” Russel told the Dhaka Tribune.

So, the standing committee has recommended increasing the daily allowance so that the young men and women could at least survive, the chairman said.

Russel added that the government had spent over Tk1,200 crore in phases for the self-employment generation training since the programme was launched in 1982. He said 53 districts carried out the training programme to produce skilled human resources.

“Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been trying to create employment opportunities by producing skilled human resources, but her noble

vision cannot be materialised because of some corrupt officials of the directorate. We need to ensure monitoring the activities of the officials,” said Keya Chowdhury.

The ministry officials attending the meeting assured the MPs that they would convey the recommendations for increase in allowance to the higher authorities.

The project

In all upazilas of the 53 districts, the youth directorate must provide training on self-employment trades every year. The selected youths are given accommodation facility for training of seven to 21 days. Some trainings are up to six-month-long.

The directorate spends Tk1 lakh per trade in each upazila; for instance, an upazila running trainings on 10 separate trades spends Tk10 lakh per year.

According to the project design, the directorate must show that they had established the self-employement of at least 70% of the trainees through the trainings.

In 2013, the directorate gave trainings to 192,000 youths.

“Is there anyone to challenge the officials claiming that 70% of the trainees have been self-employed? Or can the officers realise the money from the trainees if they spend the money for other purposes?,” said Keya Chowdhury. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Vet team to be active at each cattle market Medical teams will check artificially fattened sacrificial animals n Tribune Report

Farmers feed a healthy cow proportions of a mixture of urea, molasses and straw (UMS) daily for about 4 to 5 months

Tk30 lakh gold seized at Chittagong airport n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Customs officials have seized five gold bars worth Tk30 lakh from Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong. One person, Nurul Azim, hailing from Raozan upazila of Chittagong, was detained in this connection.

Md Shahadat Hossain, assistant commissioner at the airport customs, told the Dhaka Tribune that Nurul had arrived at the airport by an Air Arabia flight around 9:30am.

"Five gold bars weighing 584 grams were found inside Nurul's luggage during airport security checks," he added.

The gold bars were handed over to Bangladesh Bank and Azim was sent to the Patenga police station.

Meanwhile, one more gold bar was seized from the handle of luggage of another passenger of the same flight.

However, the passenger was released after the seizure of the gold bar.

Under the existing law, a person can carry 200 grams of gold from abroad after paying necessary duty and highest two kilograms of gold by giving an early notice to the authorities concerned. l

WEATHER THUNDERSHOWER

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:48PM SUN RISES 5:50AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 33 32 33 32 33 33 32 32

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

25 24 23 23 23 24 22 25

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

36.5ºC Faridpur

22.4ºC Srimangal

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

4:35am 5:48am 11:49am 4:08pm 5:48pm 7:03pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Blockade in Chapainawabganj after cattle truck seizure Correspondent, n Our Chapainawabganj

A medical team led by a veterinarian will be deployed in all cattle markets under both the Dhaka North and South City Corporations as well as major markets elsewhere in the country ahead of Eid-ul Azha to check artificially fattened sacrificial animals.

The teams will diagnose sacrificial animals according to a request from the buyers and treat the animals in case of any illness.

The same kind of service will be provided in the upazila and district level major cattle markets across the country.

This decision was the outcome of yesterday's meeting between the Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Muhammed Sayedul Hoque along with Department of Livestock Service (DLS) Director General (DG) Dr Ajoy Kumar Roy, Joint Secretary Md Nur Ali and the DG of the Livestock Research Institute, Dr Najrul Islam.

Ajoy Kumar Roy presided over the meeting held in the LGED auditorium of Agargaon, which was called to address the growing concern about artificially fattened cattle.

The Minister called upon everybody not to panic as the number of artificially fattened cows is insignificant and the livestock officers have been han-

5

Monday, September 29, 2014

With seven days left to Eid-ul-Azha, cattle including camels are being put on display for sale. The photo was taken from Gabtoli cattle market, the largest cattle market in the capital, yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN dling the issue effectively.

DLS Chief Veterinary Officer ABM Shahidullah related the scientific method of fattening cattle. He said farmers feed a healthy cow propor-

tions of a mixture of urea, molasses and straw (UMS) daily for about 4 to 5 months.

But a section of unscrupulous people allegedly use hormones and

steroids to fatten the cattle quickly to make large profit ahead of Eid, which is illegal under the Animal Feed Act 2010.

The officer said that these num-

bers are very small adding that around 2000 field officers across the country actively monitor the fattening process all the year adding that the monitoring has been strengthened this year. l

Local transport workers and cattle traders held a blockade on the Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi highway in the Bishwa road area of the district town on Saturday nigh protesting against the seizure of some cow-laden trucks by the members of Border Guard Bangladesh.

The blockade, which lasted for about six hours, caused about a 3km tailback on both sides of the highway creating immense suffering to the commuters.

Sources said members from the Border Guard Bangladesh camp located at Power House Moorh seized about 14 cattle-laden trucks, which was carrying about 153 cows, around 7:30pm alleging that it was smuggled cattle from India.

At one stage, local transport workers and traders turned down the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB)'s claim and in protest of the seizure, they held a blockade around 8pm by leaving trucks sporadically on the highway, creating severe traffic jam on the both sides of road.

9 BGB Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Abu Zafar Sheikh Mohammad Bazlul Hoque said 48 of the seized cattle were handed over to the local customs authorities as they had been smuggled from India while the rest were released.

Deputy Commissioner Jahangir Kabir said local people had lifted the blockade around 2:30am following a meeting between the blockaders and the administration. l

No child psychologist in schools despite PM’s directive

One to walk the gallows in Dhamrai killing case

n Mushfique Wadud

n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

Despite a directive by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina four years ago, the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) has yet to appoint child psychologists in schools, according to the sources at the directorate, who added that the process has been in limbo for a while.

The directive had come in light of recent suicide cases among school students, especially high among young females, in the country.

Asked about this limbo, Sajal Kanti Mandal, director (school) of DSHE, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterdya that they were working on it, but the delay was due to shortage of resources.

“Schools have a shortage of teachers. We are trying to solve that first, then we will address the child psychologist issue,” he said.

During her previous term, the prime

minister asked the ministries concerned on July 17, 2010 to appoint child psychologists in schools.

Following the directives, the Education Ministry decided that the decision would be implemented in phases and 317 government secondary schools would get child psychologists first.

A rise in the number of suicides among school-going children have been evident in recent times. This year, a female student of Cambrian School and College allegedly committed suicide at a hostel in the capital’s Badda area on August 15. On September 6, a Class IX student of East Point Education School and College in Khilgaon killed herself in face of continuous sexual harassment by a local stalker.

In the most recent incident, a brother-and-sister duo were found hanging in their rooms on September 16 in what appeared to be a suicide pact.

According to a World Health Organ-

isation report, about 28 people commit suicide every day in Bangladesh – mostly young females between 15 and 29 years. The number of incidents has grown over the past four years.

Dr Helaluddin, assistant professor of the National Institute of Mental and Research (NIMHR), told the Dhaka Tribune that suicide trends in Bangladesh were different from developed countries.

“In developed countries older people and males are more prone to committing suicide due to their loneliness,” he said.

“But in Bangladesh, it is mostly young women who take their own lives.”

He said the lack of a proper relationship with family members was the prime cause of suicide.

In addition, domestic violence, stalking, sexual harassment, physical and sexual assault, demands for dowry, failures in examinations and romantic frustrations were major causes of suicide, he said. l

A Dhaka speedy trial tribunal yesterday sentenced one person to death and six others to life term imprisonment for killing a Dhamrai resident in 2012.

Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal 3 Judge ABM Sajedur Rahman pronounced the verdict in the afternoon.

Abdur Rashid (absconding) was sentences to death while Md Rafiqul Hasan Moksed, Md Biplob (absconding), Siddiqur Rahman, Md Monir and Asaduzzaman Asad and Md Rajon (absconding) were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Court also finned Tk20,000 each of life timers and the failure to pay the fine would render them another year of imprisonment.

The court also acquitted eight other accused in the case as they were not found guilty.

The acquitted were Md Masud,

Shamsul Alam, Jahangir Alam, Khorshed Alam, Md Sujon, Md Shaju, Lal Chan, and Hasib alias Ashib.

On March 6, 2012, Nazmul Huda Panna was killed by the convicts regarding a union parishad post-election conflict.

Rafiqul Hasan Moksed, who was a chairman candidate for Chowhat union parishad election, had disputes with his rival candidate Nazrul Islam over the election.

Following the dispute, the convicts led by Moksed stabbed Panna, who was a supporter of chairman candidate Nazrul Islam, leaving him seriously injured beside the Bangshi river while he was coming back home from Balia Bazar.

The victim was rushed to Enam Medical College and Hospital in Savar where doctors pronounced him dead.

Panna’s wife Hasu Begum lodged a murder case with Dhamrai police station the following day. l

DMP: Vehicles carrying cattle hides to leave capital 3 days after Eid n Tribune Report Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has decided that no vehicle carrying cattle hides will be allowed to leave the capital during Eid-ul-Azha and next three days to prevent hide smuggling.

DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed announced the decision while addressing a press briefing on security measures ahead of Durga Puja and Eidul-Azha at DMP Media Centre in the capital yesterday.

He, however, said vehicle carrying cattle hides wishing to enter the capital will be allowed to do so.

Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest religious festival of Muslims to be celebrated on October 6 this year, is expected to generate huge number of cattle hides as thousands of sacrificial animals will be slaughtered across the country during the festival like previous years.

Earlier, a report by an intelligence agency had identified 13 routes across Bangladesh’s border that criminals use to smuggle out cattle hides to neighbouring countries.

Besides, the police chief also disclosed plans to ensure foolproof security during Durga Puja and Eid-ul-Azha in the capital.

The DMP commissioner said police forces will be deployed at 219 Puja Man-

daps across the capital from September 29 and maintain vigilance on city roads and set up check points at different points of the capital to ensure the security during the vacations, he said.

Saying police would also ensure security for vehicles brining in cattle into the capital ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, Benazir added that police members will be

Police members will be deployed round the clock at 22 cattle markets – 21 temporary and 1 permanent ones – in the capital deployed round the clock at 22 cattle markets – 21 temporary and 1 permanent ones – in the capital.

Urged people to remain alert of dope gangs, he also added: “We have already taken initiatives to stop their activities and already a number of people arrested through special drives.”

A number of CCTV camera have already been installed at different points of the capital including bus, train and launch terminals, so that people can reach their home towns without any hassle, he added. l

Farmers returning home with production of paddy. While many paddy fields of Rajshahi's Barendra area went under rainwater this season, some areas remained unharmed resulting into such ample production. The photo was taken from Kamla village of Rajshahi's Bagmaar upazila yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

3 hurt in BCL factional gunfight at CU n CU Correspondent

Three activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) at Chittagong University (CU) unit were bullet-hit when two factions of BCL were locked in a gunfight at Shah Jalal Hall early yesterday over establishing dominance in the campus area.

This was the third time over the last 25 days that the two groups had a gunfight.

The injured BCL men were Shuvo

Barua, 22, of Pali department, Md Akib Rasel, 23, of Sociology department and Farhad Hossain of Islamic Studies, said campus sources. All the three injured are the activists of shuttle train based BCL faction Varsity Express (VX).

Rashel and Shuvo were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), said police sources.

Witnesses said the activists of VX group drove out BCL CU unit’s former joint secretary Sumon Mamun’s fol-

lowers from the Shah Jalal Hall, which instigated the gunfight around 1:30am.

Both the groups fired at least 15 rounds of gunshots during the melee, said witnesses.

When informed, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, said Md Sala Uddin, Inspector (investigation) of Hathazari police station. Additional forces of police were deployed to the campus area, he added. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Trees worth around Tk1 crore sold for Tk4.2 lakh n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha A large number of trees belonging to the social forestry programme in Katabari union of Gobindaganj upazila in Gaibandha were felled and sold at a nominal price by the UP chairman there, flouting the regulations.

Sources said Katabari UP Chairman Zobaer Hasan Mohammad Shafiq Mahmud owns a sawmill and one Jahangir Alam supplies felled trees to his mill regularly. According to the sources, Zobaer sold the trees to Jahangir, though, when contacted, Jahangir denied such allegations.

Several people from the union made written complaints to the offices of district commissioner and UNO on Sep-

tember 14, but felling of trees was not stopped.

Sources from the Ministry of Environment and Forest said any proposal for selling trees grown under social forestry programme must be approved by a committee of union parishad officials, and sent to the upazila parishad, and if the trees were worth more than Tk5 lakh, the UNO must send the proposal to the district commissioner for his approval.

Md Mokhlesur Rahman, assistant director of the local government section under the district administration, said they had received a complaint regarding irregularities in selling trees and were preparing to take legal action regarding the issue.

Union parishad member Abul Kalam

told the Dhaka Tribune that the chairman informed them after selling those trees and when they asked the chairman why he sold them for such a low price, he refused to make any comment on the matter.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mamun-ul-Hasan said he received a proposal of selling trees from that union parishad, and held a meeting regarding the issue, but the UP chairman felled the trees before the proposal was sent to the district commissioner's office.

Katabari UP Chairman Zobaer Hasan Mohammad Shafiq Mahmud told the Dhaka Tribune that the number of trees was not as it was supposed to be, because many of the trees were felled by the thieves. l

A union level AL leader's son in Sylhet violated a Class IV female student of Salia Government Primary School yesterday. The students of the school bring out a procession demanding exemplary punishment of the rapist DHAKA TRIBUNE

Gaibandha hospital vandalised over employee's suspicious disappearance n

Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

A mob vandalised a 10-bed hospital at Chandia Gonoshasthaya Kendra under Kanchipara union of Fulchhari upazila on Saturday night as an employee has been absent for six days.

The locals were angry and attacked when a MLSS worker at the hospital Azadul Islam Azad, who left for Dhaka on September 23, did not return until Saturday. His relatives were among the attackers and they suspected that Azad had been a victim of enforced disappearance.

The attack left two female doctors and six health workers trapped in the building but they were later rescued by the police.

Azad’s wife Shahnaz Begum said Kawsar Ali Reza, regional director at the local office of Gonoshasthaya Kendra, sent Azad on an urgent assignment but he did not return until Saturday.

“We went to the Gonoshasthaya Kendra office and the hospital and they could not give us any precise information. My husband was also unreacha-

ble over the phone. We suspect he was forced to disappear,” she said.

Officer-in-charge of Fulchhari police station Moshiur Rahman and Gonoshasthaya Kendra official Reza said Azad was sent to the Gonoshasthaya Kendra headquarters in Dhaka’s Savar in relation to an investigation.

“Recently, the certificate of a health worker showing his completion of a three-year training programme at the Savar training centre of Gonoshasthaya Kendra was found to be fake by his employer. Probe revealed that he attended the programme only for eight months and left. He later bought the phoney certificate from Azad via Kazi Selim, who lives in Dinajpur. Azad was sent to Savar for investigation purposes but he escaped from there on Saturday morning after sensing the reason why we sent him to Dhaka,” said Reza.

"The locals were enraged and stormed the hospital. When police rescued the stranded doctors and health workers, they again vandalised the building and looted goods." he said. l

Siblings killed in Satkhira road crash

n Our Correspondent, Satkhira A youth and his younger sibling were killed as a truck knocked them down in front of the Satkhira upazila parishad building yesterday.

The accident claimed the lives of Mehedi Hasan Tamim, 22, and his sister Towfiqa Jaman Ruhina, 12, children of Abdul Jalil, of Puratan Satkhira area of the district town.

Quoting locals, Sadar police station OC Golam Rahman said the accident took place on a road before the building. l

Schoolboy found dead in Feni n Our Correspondent, Feni Police recovered the body of a school boy yesterday from the Kalidas Pahalia River in Sadar upazila.

The deceased is Foysal, 10, son of expatriate Nizam Uddin of Paikpara village and a student of class III at Paikpara Government Primary School.

Police recovered the body from the river around 11am on Sunday. l

NEWS IN BRIEF UP chairman vanishes with Tk18 lakh The secretary of Mobarakpur union parishad under Shibganj upazila has allegedly disappeared after misappropriating Tk18 lakh of the parishad’s fund. Matiur Rahman has been absent from his office for a month and his whereabouts remain unknown. Irregularities in the union parishad’s register, cheques, attendance book, bank statements and other official documents have also been alleged. Mobarakpur union Chairman Towhidur Rahman Mia said Matiur joined the office on April 16, embezzled nearly Tk18 lakh allocated for different projects, and suddenly disappeared. We cannot even find many important documents of the local people.

We tried to call him but he is unreachable,” added the chairman.

Locals said Matiur could be involved in corruption as the chairman remained out of office for nearly eight months.

– Our Correspondent, Chapainawabganj

Man sets fire to father in Gazipur A man was killed yesterday in a fire allegedly set by his son at Pirujali Masterpara area in Gazipur. The deceased is Abbas Ali, 55, of Bartopa in Shreepur. Abbas succumbed to his burn injuries at Dhama Medical College Hospital in the morning. Pirujali UP Ward 1 Member Rafiqul Islam said: “Abbas’s son Didarul Islam, 22, had been asking his father for money to go abroad.” “Following the issue, Didarul locked into a quarrel with his father on Saturday night. He locked his mother and sister in a room and set his father on fire who was sleeping in another room at around 1:30am,” he said. Meanwhile, a goat and some chickens were also burnt in the incident. He said

locals first took Abbas to Gazipur sadar hospital and later shifted him to DMCH. DMCH police outpost Assistant Sub-Inspector Haidar Ali said Abbas succumbed to his injuries around 6am.

– Our Correspondent , Gazipur

Idols vandalised in temple Miscreants vandalised idols of Pratima in Pirganj upazilla of Thakurgaon district on Saturday night. Police and locals said a number of miscreants enterend Narayanpur Durga temple during a period of load-shedding and vandalised imcomplete Pratima idols, which included the main idol along with the others, and fled the area. After electricity supply resumed, news of the incident spread around the area and senior officials of the admnisitration visited the location. Pirganj police station officer in charger Md Ishtesham confirmed the incident and said it happened suddenly and is being taken seriously by the police.

– Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

Housewife killed Housewife Meena, 26, was killed by strangulation in Ranishongkoil upazilla of Thakurgaon district while three were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the murder. At 2am from Dhokpur colony slum area of Dharmagargh union, police recovered the dead body and arrested her husband Soleman, father-in-law Abdul Jalil and mother-in-law Sharifa who were allegedly involved in the murder.

– Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

Monday, September 29, 2014

ISHWARDI HEALTH COMPLEX

Patients deprived of healthcare n Our correspondent, Pabna Upazila Health Complex in Ishwardi is failing to provide proper healthcare to the patients from the upazila as many hospital staff are not being trained properly, though the number of beds has increased since 2011. The hospital also needs more medical equipment and transportation facilities badly.

Health complex sources said 27 of the total 163 posts in the hospital were vacant. Ten positions of specialist doctors and medical officers were empty.

The posts of medicine, surgery, heart diseases, pediatrics, ear nose and throat

and osteopathy specialists remained vacant in the hospital. Eight positions of nurses and ward boys are not occupied currently, and there is only one sweeper appointed in place of four.

Moreover, no doctors were appointed for the emergency department.

The hospital also suffers from a lack of medical equipment. Hospital officials said a faulty X-ray machine is there for diagnoses and there is no operator to run the ultra-sonogram machine.

An IPS is required immediately in the emergency unit, the officials added.

The ambulance of the hospital was registered only for carrying patients

within Rajshahi division. As a result, it cannot be used for transferring patients to Dhaka for better treatment. Low-income patients suffer disproportionately because of it, as they have to rent ambulances from outside when required.

Dr Shaiqul Islam from the hospital said the 50 beds in the hospital remain occupied all the time, and the emergency department receives 350 patients on an average daily.

When contacted, the Director of the health complex Dr Amin Ahmed Khan said patients from the Ishwardi and its surrounding upazilas come to the hospital for treatment. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

Monday, September 29, 2014

7

What’s in the basket?

Trade liberalisation and development in Bangladesh

HDW

B

n Osiur Rahman

angladesh is known for its large population, garments manufacturing sector, and microfinance which was pioneered by Dr Muhammad Yunus. Recently, it has also been the subject of discussion for reaching the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and improving the social health sector.

In order to understand the origin of its misfortune, and also its recent development success, it is necessary to take a deep look into its economic system. More specifically, the Bangladeshi experience since its birth in 1971, until the 1990s, the period in which Bangladesh transformed from being virtually a closed economy towards becoming a relatively open market-economy against the backdrop of changing domestic and international political settings.

The 1971 to 1975 period in Bangladesh could be labelled as the pre-liberalisation period, and from 1975 onwards, liberalisation had begun in limited scope which ultimately peaked in the 90s. This transformation was mainly carried and controlled by domestic regimes, but considerable pressure from the World Bank and the IMF throughout the process was also present.

In fact, today, Bangladesh has become a favourite success story for the World Bank – in terms of its contribution and development schemes in developing countries of the world.

1972 – 1975: Bangladesh in the preliberalised period Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971 following a nine-month long bloody war, and the state adopted its first constitution in 1972. There were four basic principles of the state of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and one of those four principles was socialism – this reveals a lot about that period.

The socialist policy in Bangladesh involved nationalising all its industries, which inadvertently was plagued by a serious lack of expert managers, technicians and skilled labourers.

In addition, there was the wartime effect on crops and agriculture.

Bangladesh’s largest export good, jute, faced serious challenges in the international market from synthetic fibers.

Due to dwindling exports, there was a foreign reserve shortage and 1973’s oil price exacerbated the woes of an already paralysed economy.

A significant portion of the large, yet unskilled labour force remained unemployed. Bangladesh also did not have any natural resources to export, except natural gas. Inflation, especially for essential consumer goods, ranged between 300%-400% as the war of independence had crippled the transportation system.

Hundreds of roads and railroad bridges had been destroyed or damaged while the rolling stock was inadequate and in poor condition. On

top of that, the newborn country was still recovering from a severe cyclone that hit the area in 1970 and caused some 250,000 deaths.

Given the scenario, it would not

external resistance to developing the country’s richest natural resources is mounting; and power sectors including infrastructure have all contributed to slowing economic growth.

• Exert fiscal and monetary discipline to limit or stop inflation • Reduce public expenditure and tax rates • Broaden the tax base and cut marginal tax rates • Ensure that interest rates are market determined

Liberalisation of the economy has resulted in the increase of the economy’s size, but income inequality has also worsened

• Adopt floating exchange regimes and let exchange rates be competitively determined • Liberalise international trade • Open the nation to foreign direct investment • Privatise state enterprises

have been easy for any government to perform well economically. However, a lack of expertise and corrupt nature of the political regime fuelled the failure of the system which resulted in the Great Famine of 1974.

Due to virtually zero export earnings, the economy suffered from a lack of foreign currency reserve and thus, the trade policy consisted of significant import controls. The major administrative instruments employed in implementing the import policy during that period were the foreign exchange allocation system and Import Policy Orders (IPOs). Under IPOs, it was specified whether items could be imported, were prohibited or required special authorisation. With the exception of a few items, licenses were required for imports.

The argument behind the import-licensing system was that it would ensure the allocation of foreign exchange to priority areas as well as protect vulnerable local industries from import competition. However, the system was criticised for not being sufficiently flexible to ensure its smooth functioning under changing circumstances. Moreover, it was characterised by complexity, deficiency in administration, cumbersome foreign exchange budgeting procedures, poor inter-agency coordination, rigid allocation of licenses and time-consuming procedures.

Liberalisation period since 1975 On August 15, 1975, there was a military coup in Bangladesh in which the then President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed. After 1975, the socialist economic policies were abandoned and replaced by a relatively liberal market agenda. Bangladeshi leaders began to develop new industrial capacity and rehabilitate its economy.

Beginning in late 1975, the government gradually gave greater scope to private sector participation in the economy, a pattern that has continued. Many state-owned enterprises have been privatised, like banking, telecommunication, aviation, media, and jute.

Inefficiency in the public sector has been rising however at a gradual pace;

During the 1980s, moderate import liberalisation was introduced under the Military regime. In 1984, the biggest change came in the import policy when the government abolished the import licensing system and started allowing imports against letters of credit.

Since 1986, significant changes were made to the import procedures and IPOs with regard to their contents and structure. Whereas, prior to 1986, IPOs contained a lengthy Positive List of importable goods, in 1986 it was replaced by two lists – the Negative List (for banned items) and the Restricted List (for items importable on fulfillment of certain prescribed conditions). The import of items outside of these lists was allowed.

These changes may be considered as significant moves towards import liberalisation, since no restrictions were imposed on imports of items that did not appear in IPOs. With the aim of increasing the elements of stability and certainty of trade policy, IPOs with relatively longer periods replaced the previous practice of framing annual import policies. In 1990, the Negative and the Restricted Lists of importable items were consolidated into one list, ie the Consolidated List.

However, this process of liberalisation was not as smooth as it may seem today. The political situation of Bangladesh forced the government to carry out a calculated liberalisation process.

Despite the debate about the pace of trade liberalisation, the World Bank’s view is that, “Measured against other liberalising countries of the world, Bangladesh’s trade reforms over a period of 8-10 years do not appear unusually fast. Many countries in South East and East Asia and in Latin America, and even some in Africa achieved significant cuts in average tariffs and reduced the spread between their lowest and maximum rates in 5-8 years’ time.”

The Washington consensus Main policies recommended and supported by the Washington consensus were:

• Deregulate markets except where compelling grounds exist for market intervention to ensure safety, protection of the environment or consumers or to ensure prudential supervision of financial institutions • Ensure legal security for property rights In the 80s, Bangladesh adopted the policy to follow the recommendations of the Washington Consensus. It was mainly because the then current regime was interested in developing the national transport, and Bangladesh as the land of rivers needed World Bank funding to build up hundreds of bridges across the country as well as developing the highways.

Nevertheless, there is debate about the pace of the transformation. The speed of adoption of such reforms has varied widely. While Bangladesh, for example, has instituted most of the types of reform listed above, it

reform was evident. By then, possibly Bangladesh had done more than any other South Asian nation to liberalise its economy and integrate it with the global economy.

In the early 90s, democracy was restored in Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party came into power. They carried out significant liberalisation, and protection of both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors declined significantly in the 1990s.

For example, the government of Bangladesh reports that “Under donor persuasion and the dictates of the Structural Adjustment Program, Bangladesh has brought down its level of public support to agriculture to an absolute minimum. Recent estimates of Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS) to agriculture put this at around 1% of agricultural output although the permissible level of such support under the Agreement on Agriculture of the WTO is 10%.

“Furthermore, tariff protection fell in the 1990s from an average nominal rate of protection of 89% in 1900-91 to 25% in 1995-96. In addition, Bangladesh moved ahead with full exchange convertibility in the 1990s and with measures to encourage foreign direct investment.

“Consequently, despite its tardiness in the privatisation of a significant proportion of its public enterprises, Bangladesh had gone far by the beginning of the 21st century in implementing the policy recommendation of the Washington Consensus.”

Outcome Since liberalisation began in the early 80s, Bangladesh experienced a steady growth. There has been GDP growth of 6% since the mid-90s. The garment sector became the major export industry while other sectors like leather,

Today, Bangladesh has become a favourite success story for the World Bank – in terms of its contribution and development schemes in developing countries of the world

has been slow in privatising public enterprises including its financial intermediaries.

However, it moved quite quickly to adopt the macroeconomic stability policies recommended in the Washington consensus. Therefore, the macroeconomic reforms were quick to be implemented, as by the end of the 1980s, little microeconomic reform (but significant macroeconomic reform) had occurred; by the end of the 1990s substantial microeconomic

fisheries, and pharmaceutical exports are also on the rise. Import rates also increased to mainly facilitate exports.

The information technology sector is growing with improving education levels and buying capacity of its population.

Significant development has been achieved in the public health sector, mainly because of the liberal policies which allowed non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to work in this sector. Improvement in gender equal-

ity also contributed to development in the public health sector, which in turn fostered social development. Amartya Sen pointed out an important dimension behind this development: “The causation of this move towards gender equity cannot but remain somewhat speculative, but its consequences are clear enough.

Schools focused particularly on expanding the education of girls: Bangladesh is one of the few countries in the world where the number of girls in school now exceeds the number of boys. Public services, including school teaching, health care, and family planning, employ a much higher proportion of women workers than is the case in most developing economies, including in Bangladesh’s neighbouring countries.

“Women have also entered the economic workforce in plentiful numbers, led by such industries as garment manufacturing that provided easy entry to female labourers.

However, neglect of safety at work has been a huge blot in the record of that industry, a serious deficiency that is only belatedly being addressed, and perhaps not yet strongly enough.

“Women have also received special attention from Bangladesh’s NGOs – from large initiatives like BRAC and Grameen Bank to smaller organisations – and the mobilisation of the active agency of women has been a distinctive feature of the vision that has moved Bangladesh forward.”

Equally, although the trade policy reform has expanded Bangladesh’s economy’s size and the market experienced increased money flow; there are some major areas of concern as a consequence. There is clear evidence that personal income inequality in Bangladesh increased during the market reform period.

While very recent evidence is not yet available, household expenditure surveys for fiscal years 1991-92 and 1995-96 indicate rising income inequality. This is attributed to a large extent by the rising differences between urban and rural incomes.

Therefore, liberalisation of the economy has resulted in the increase of the economy’s size, but income inequality has also worsened. However, few people are at the receiving end of the benefits of these reforms.

Under the undemocratic regimes, urban areas developed mostly at the cost of rural areas. Nevertheless, despite rising inequalities, Bangladesh has stood on its feet and is not considered a “basket case” anymore.

Remittance from expatriate workers and female labour force participation has enhanced social security in great pace.

Most importantly, through following the suggestions or conditions of the international development partners, Bangladesh has gained necessary funds to develop its infrastructure and has made major strides in educating her people for a better future. l Osiur Rahman is a Masters student in International Relations at Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus. This article was first published in Alochonaa.com.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Monday, September 29, 2014

hit Syria oil refinery by Turkey Jihadists linked to Airstrikes n Al-Qaeda call for revenge against US AP, Sanilurfa, Turkey

The threat comes after airstrikes in Syria recent reports describing an emerging n Agencies alliance.

The Syrian terror group al-Nusra Front has denounced US air strikes against Isis as “a war against Islam” and vowed to take revenge against the coalition of countries supporting military action in the region.

In an online statement on Saturday, al-Nusra spokesman Abu Firas al-Suri called on jihadists around the world to strike against the global alliance opposing the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Led by the US, a coalition of about 40 countries, including Arab states, is taking steps to destroy the radical Islamist group Isis which controls vast swathes of northeastern Syria and northern Iraq He said: “These states have committed a horrible act that is going to put them on the list of jihadist targets throughout the world” “This is not a war against al-Nusra, but a war against Islam.”

Led by the US, a coalition of about 40 countries, including Arab states, is taking steps to destroy the radical Islamist group Isis which controls vast swathes of north-eastern Syria and northern Iraq.

Though al-Nusra, which is an affiliate group of Is, is not officially a target of the air strikes, US jets have attacked a new group called Khorasan, which some analysts believe is part of al-Nusra Front.

This international response represents a mutual enemy of former rival jihadist groups Isis and al-Nusra, with

An al-Nusra source told Reuters: “There are hardline voices inside Nusra who are pushing for reconciliation with Islamic State.”

An increasing number of al-Nusra fighters are defecting to Isis, which is seen as better organised and better equipped to impose Islamic rule.

The same source, however, also said that the groups would only unite on the order of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The Pentagon said that on Saturday US airstrikes hit the Syrian city of Raqqa, the unofficial capital of the Islamic State, as well as Isis forces near the Turkish border.

US Central Command said that jets destroyed an Isis-occupied building and two armed vehicles near the Kurdish town of Kobane at the Syria-Turkey border. Kurdish fighters are set up to defend Kobane following an Isis advance that sent more than 100,000 civilians fleeing to Turkey.

Moderate Syrian rebel group Free Syrian Army said on Saturday that it supports air strikes against Isis but only if it can avoid causing civilian casualties.

Spokesman Hussam al-Marie told the BBC that western countries should also attack Syrian government forces.

He said: “(The) so-called Islamic State is our enemy as much as (President) Assad’s regime is our enemy.

“We want Syria free from dictatorship and from terrorism. We need the support of the free world to continue this battle against the regime and Isis (IS). We are fighting on two fronts.”

The UK joined the air campaign against Isis on Friday following a vote in Parliament in which MPs voted to launch strikes in Iraq, but not Syria.

The UK’s first combat operation took place on Saturday when two RAF Tornadoes were deployed from Cyprus, although no strikes were launched. l

Airstrikes likely carried out by a US-led coalition struck an oil refinery in Syria held by the Islamic State group yesterday, a witness said, shaking buildings and sending flames shooting into the air near the Turkish border.

Explosions lit the sky “for two hours” at the refinery in the northern Syrian town of Tel Abyad around 2:30am local time (2330 GMT Saturday), local businessman Mehmet Ozer said.

“Our building was shaking and we saw fire, some 60 meters (65 yards) high, coming from the refinery,” said Ozer, who lives in the nearby Turkish town of Akcakale.

US Central Command, which is overseeing the operation against the Islamic State group, did not immediately comment on the strikes. A US-led coalition has been targeting oil installations controlled by the militants, aiming to crippling the Islamic State group’s finances, estimated to earn some $3m a day.

The United States and five Arab allies launched an aerial campaign against Islamic State fighters Tuesday with the aim of rolling back and ultimately crushing the extremist group, which has created a proto-state spanning the Syria-Iraq border. In seizing territory, the Islamic State group has chased out tens of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis who belong to minority groups and has imposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law on residents, including whipping and chopping off the hands of criminals.

The Islamic State group has held Syrian activists and international aid

In this September 23 photo, a US Navy F-18E Super Hornet receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria as part of US-led coalition airstrikes on IS and and other targets in Syria AP workers and journalists captive, and most recently beheaded a British aid worker and two American journalists.

Some European countries also are contributing to the US’ efforts in targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq, including France, the Netherlands, Den-

mark, Belgium and Britain.

The coalition’s efforts to strike at oil refineries is expected to be a long, slow task as most of the refineries held by the Islamic State group are small and scattered across their territory.

The Britain-based Syrian Observa-

Police officer shot in troubled Ferguson city n Reuters, Ferguson

A police officer from the strife-hit Missouri city of Ferguson was shot on Saturday night and authorities are still searching for the shooter, law enforcement officials said.

St Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters the shooting did not seem connected to peaceful protests occurring elsewhere in Ferguson.

“I wouldn’t have any reason to believe right now that it was linked in any way, shape, manner or form with the

protests,” he said.

The officer was chasing the suspect outside the Ferguson Community Center on Saturday night when the person turned and shot him in the arm, St Louis County Police Sergeant Brian Schellman said.

The officer, who was treated at a local hospital, returned fire but apparently did not hit the suspect, Schellman said. The shooter disappeared into a nearby wooded area, eluding arrest.

Police said earlier that there were two suspects, but detectives later de-

termined there was only one, Schellman said.

Several hours later, an off-duty St Louis City police officer was shot at and suffered a minor arm injury from broken glass while driving on a nearby freeway in a personal car, police said.

It was not immediately clear if the two shootings were related.

The St Louis suburb of Ferguson has seen weeks of sometimes violent demonstrations following the death of black teenager Michael Brown, who was shot by white police officer Darren

Turkey refugee crisis deepens as IS besieges Syrian town n Reuters, Karaca, Turkey

All that separates Mohammed Muslim from his village in Syria is a barbed wire fence running along the Turkish border, but the dull thud of artillery and the rattle of machinegun fire suggest he will not be going home anytime soon.

Muslim, dressed in a battered suit, his moustache flecked with grey, is among more than 150,000 Syrian Kurds who have fled to Turkey over the past week to escape the advance of Islamic State militants, who have seized villages and beheaded residents as they push towards the strategic border town Kobani.

“I don’t want to be in Turkey, I want to be in my village, I want to die in Kobani,” Muslim said, running prayer beads through his hands as he watched

Kurdish and Islamic State fighters exchange fire in the valley below.

“If the war goes our way, then of course we’ll go home, but it looks like it will be difficult.”

Turkey, already home to an estimated 1.5 million refugees from Syria’s civil war, is pushing the United States and its allies to create a safe haven for refugees inside Syrian territory. A safe haven along the border would require a no-fly zone policed by foreign jets.

President Tayyip Erdogan, until now reluctant to commit to a frontline military role in the US-led campaign against Islamic State, has said Turkish troops could be used to help set up such a zone.

US air strikes have hit Islamic State targets around 140 km to the south of

Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, in the militant group’s heartland of Raqqa, and on Saturday also hit sites to the east of the town.

But the heavily-armed Sunni insurgents appear gradually to be forcing the Kurdish fighters back around Kobani, raising fears that the town may fall. Either way, the tens of thousands of refugees who have crossed the border in recent days may be in Turkey for a long time, aid workers say.

“You’ve seen it in other places along the border. There’s no fighting anymore but people stay in Turkey,” said Umit Algan, who runs the relief effort in the border town of Suruc for IMPR, a Turkish aid organisation.

“I think it’ll be the same here, they never know when (Islamic State) might

come back,” he said, adding that his group’s initial relief effort aimed to help refugees camping out in mosques, schools and parks for a month only.

Cars and cattle

Crowds of mostly Syrian Kurds cheered from the Turkish hillside as Kurdish shells kick up plumes of dust near Islamic State positions just across the border, but the next day the jihadists seized new ground.

The advance towards Kobani is the latest in a series of lightning campaigns by the Islamist group which have seen them seize swathes of territory in both Syria and Iraq.

The United Nations, which has warned that as many as 400,000 people could flee Kobani to Turkey, has

said that the number of displaced makes the influx from the besieged border town the most serious yet of Syria’s civil war.

Many of those who have fled were from poor farming communities in the semi-arid terrain and were forced to leave their most valuable possessions behind - particularly livestock and vehicles.

“We have nothing here, nowhere to sleep. If they let us collect our cars, we can sleep in them,” said one Syrian Kurdish refugee, 60-year old Hussein Kadir Cumo.

Small crowds of Syrian Kurds gathered at crossing points along the border to plead with Turkish officials to be allowed to go back and collect their possessions, their vehicles tantalizingly visible through the barbed wire fence. l

Italy fights mafia by banishing sons Netanyahu says will refute Gaza ‘lies’ n AP, Locri, Italy

First Italy fought its mafia mobsters by confiscating their wealth. Now judges are taking away something more precious: their sons.

Riccardo Cordi’, a shy 18-year-old scion of one of Italy’s most notorious mob families, is a pioneer in a new strategy to fight the mafia by exiling crime clan sons from their homes and families. Riccardo is the first of about 20 sons sent into a kind of rehab away from the mob by juvenile courts in the southern region of Calabria, home to the dangerous ‘ndrangheta syndicate.

By age 16, Riccardo seemed destined to go the way of his father, a reputed boss gunned down in a turf war, and three elder brothers in prison on mafia-related convictions. Their photos line the wall of the fortress-like Cordi’ home in Calabria, seen in an exclusive visit by The Associated Press, in a testimony to the rule of blood in the powerful ‘ndrangheta.

But when Riccardo was charged with attempted theft and damage to a police car, judge Roberto Di Bella followed up his acquittal with a startling order: The ‘ndrangheta family prince would be sent away to Sicily until he turned 18.

Di Bella had sent Riccardo’s three brothers to prison and wanted to spare the last son a similar fate. He cited legal provisions that allowed courts to remove minors from families incapable of properly raising them.

Riccardo’s mother seethed, but there was nothing she could do. “If you don’t like it, we’ll take him away anyway,” the judge told her.

n AP, Jerusalem

In this June 26 photo, Riccardo Cordi’ stands on a terrace in Reggio, Calabria Italy with the Strait of Messina in the background. Cordi’ was exiled to Messina during a pioneering anti-mafia program for juveniles AP Riccardo was placed in a Sicilian facility for troubled youths where nobody cared that he was a Cordi’. Rules were rigid, including no going out at night. Everyone made their own bed and sat down for meals at a communal table.

“It was tough. I was counting the days,” Riccardo said in interviews with The AP. The judge put Riccardo under the wing of a fledgling psychologist, Enrico Interdonato. The psychologist had helped launch a courageous band of youths who encourage Sicilian business owners to stop paying “protection” money to the Mafia.

tory for Human Rights reports that at least 13 civilians have been killed so far in coalition strikes. Overall, some 190,000 people have been killed in Syria’s war, and nearly one-half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million people has been displaced. l

It was an audacious pairing, because the Cordi’ crime clan was itself alleged to be in the protection racket. This unlikely mentor helped Riccardo understand the terrible human toll of organized crime, taking him incognito to ceremonies for Mafia victims.

If the psychologist acted as a surrogate brother, a construction company owner practically became Riccardo’s second father.

Mariano Nicotra told Riccardo what happened when he refused to pay protection money: His car was torched, his daughter ostracized.

Nicotra even gave away the family dog, because Mafia threats made walks dangerous. l

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Israel yesterday en route to the United Nations in New York, saying he will refute “all of the lies directed at us” with regard to Israel’s recently concluded war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu’s comments come after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas charged that Israel had committed “a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world” during an address to the General Assembly on Friday.

“In this year, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Israel has chosen to make it a year of a new war of genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people,” he said.

With memories of the Nazi Holocaust still fresh in Israel, use of the word “genocide” is regarded as particularly provocative both to Netanyahu and Israelis in general.

An angry Netanyahu promised an appropriate response when he himself addresses the General Assembly on Monday.

“In my address to the UN General Assembly, I will refute all of the lies being directed at us and I will tell the

truth about our state and about the heroic soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, the most moral army in the world,” Netanyahu said.

During the 50-day Gaza war, which ended Aug. 26, Israel launched thousands of airstrikes against what it said were Hamas-linked targets in the densely populated coastal territory, while Gaza militants fired several thousand rockets at Israel. More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, the vast majority civilians, and some 18,000 homes were destroyed, according to UN figures. Sixty-six soldiers and six civilians were killed on the Israeli side.

The devastating war weakened Abbas domestically, with his Hamas rivals enjoying a surge of popularity among Palestinians for fighting Israel.

He is under pressure at home to come up with a new political strategy after his repeated but failed attempts to establish a Palestinian state through US-mediated negotiations with Israel.

But his remarks at the UN appear to have alienated many mainstream Israelis, beyond just Netanyahu and members of his rightwing government.

“Genocide is a term that shouldn’t be bandied about frivolously,” wrote Nahum Barnea in the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot daily. “In diplomatic and legal terms, it is on par with a declaration of war.” l

Wilson on Aug 9.

A crowd of about 100 people gathered near the scene of the night’s first shooting, with a group breaking off to protest at Ferguson police headquarters, according to Kareem Jackson, 27, a musician who goes by the stage name Tef Poe and is a member of the activist group HandsUp United.

“People are peaceful as a duck, just literally standing on the side of the street watching,” he said in a phone interview from the site where protesters had gathered. l

Cameron ‘sorry’ for saying Queen purred n Agencies A mortified David Cameron has said he will apologise again to the Queen after he broke convention to tell the former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg that she “purred down the line” when he informed her that Scotland had voted against independence.

The UK prime minister told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 that he felt “extremely sorry and very embarrassed” after confirming an open secret that the Queen had wanted Scotland to remain in the UK. The Queen, who had urged voters in Scotland to think “very carefully” before casting their votes in the referendum, had followed convention by declining to take sides in public.

But the prime minister highlighted her private thinking when a Sky News microphone last week picked him up recounting to Bloomberg a conversation with the Queen in the hours after the vote.

Cameron said of his conversation in New York: “One of those moments when you look back and kick yourself very hard. It was not a conversation I should have had, even though it was a private conversation.

“I am extremely sorry and very embarrassed about it. I have made my apologies and I think I will probably be making some more. I am very sorry about it.” l

Ukraine backs off from EU-backed Russia gas deal n AFP, Kiev War-torn Ukraine has distanced itself from an EU-brokered agreement with Russia that would have restored its gas supplies during winter and helped rebuild trust between the neighbouring foes. EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger emerged from hours of acrimonious negotiations in Berlin on Friday to pronounce the three-month dispute on the verge of being resolved.

However Ukraine’s top energy officials vowed on Saturday to keep fighting over both the gas price and Moscow’s claim that Kiev owed it billions of dollars in debt. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Monday, September 29, 2014

Modi jabs at Pakistan in first UN address

Kashmir talks possible in ‘an atmosphere of peace,’ he says

n Reuters, United Nations Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday he wants to hold bilateral talks with neighboring Pakistan “without a shadow of terrorism,” a day after Pakistan’s prime minister expressed frustration with stalled talks over Kashmir.

In his first address to the UN General Assembly since his resounding election victory in May, Modi also invoked India’s Hindu and ascetic traditions, saying they might provide answers to climate change and called for an International Yoga Day. Modi appeared to chastise Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had used his own General Assembly address on Friday to blame India for the collapse of the latest talks over Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed in full by both countries.

“By raising this issue in this forum,” Modi said in Hindi, “I don’t know how serious our efforts will be, and some people are doubtful about it.”

Last month, India announced it was withdrawing from the planned peace talks between the two nuclear-armed neighbors over Pakistan’s plans to consult Kashmiri separatists beforehand.

India was willing to discuss Kashmir with Pakistan, Modi said, so long as those talks are in “an atmosphere of peace, without a shadow of terrorism.”

India says Pakistan supports separatist militants that cross from the Pakistan-controlled side of Kashmir to attack Indian forces. Pakistan denies this, saying India’s military abuses the human rights of Kash-

miris, most of whom are Muslim.

Modi, India’s first Hindu-nationalist prime minister in a decade, embraces a strain of politics that maintains India’s culture is essentially Hindu, although his Bharatiya Janata Party says such a culture is welcoming to other religions.

He has said fears that he will favor India’s Hindu majority over its large religious minorities, including some 170 million Muslims, are unfounded, and his comments on spirituality in his address are likely to be scrutinized for evidence of this.

Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat when days of religious riots raged across the northwestern state in 2002 after a Muslim mob set alight a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, killing 59 people. More than 1,000 people were killed in the riots, most of them Muslims.

Critics have accused Modi of allowing the riots to happen, but courts have found no evidence to indict him.

In his address on Saturday, Modi invoked the “ancient wisdom” of India’s Vedic era, during which Hinduism’s most sacred texts were written. He also encouraged more people to take up yoga, the spiritual practice that predates the Islam’s arrival in India.

“Yoga should not be just an exercise for us, but it should be a means to get connected with the world and with nature,” Modi said as he called on the United Nations to adopt an International Yoga Day. After his UN address, Modi met privately with the prime ministers of Nepal and Bangladesh and the president of Sri Lanka at his hotel. No talks were planned with Sharif or other Pakistani officials. l

(Left): In this handout picture released on September 27, white smoke rises from Mount Ontake as Japan’s volcano Ontake erupts in Nagano prefecture, central Japan. (Right): Firefighters and members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces prepare to rescue climbers near the peak of Mount Ontake on September 28, after the mountain erupted spewing large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky and blanketing the surrounding area in ash AFP/AP

At least 31 people dead after Japan volcano erupts n Reuters, Tokyo

Thirty-one people were presumed dead yesterday near the peak of a Japanese volcano that erupted unexpectedly a day earlier while it was packed with hikers out to admire autumn foliage, sending a huge cloud of ash and rock tumbling down its slopes.

Police said the 31 people were found in “cardiopulmonary” arrest but declined to confirm their deaths pending a formal examination, as per Japanese custom. An official in the area said rescue efforts had been called off due to rising levels of toxic gas near the peak, as well as approaching nightfall.

Hundreds of people, including children, were stranded on the mountain, a popular hiking site, after it erupted without warning on Saturday, sending

ash pouring down the slope for more than 3 km.

Most made their way down later on Saturday but about 40 spent the night near the 3,067 metre (10,062 feet) peak.

Some wrapped themselves in blankets and huddled in the basement of buildings. “The roof on the mountain lodge was destroyed by falling rock, so we had to take refuge below the building,” one told NHK national television.

“That’s how bad it was.”

More than 40 people were injured, several with broken bones.

Earlier, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency had said authorities were trying to confirm the whereabouts of 45 people.

It was not clear whether those 45 included the 31 people found in cardiopulmonary arrest.

The volcano was still erupting on Sunday, pouring smoke and ash hundreds of metres into the sky. Ash was found on cars as far as 80 km (50 miles) away.

Volcanoes erupt periodically in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active nations, but there have been no fatalities since 1991, when 43 people died in a pyroclastic flow, a superheated current of gas and rock, at Mount Unzen in southwestern Japan.

Ontake, Japan’s second-highest volcano 200 km (125 miles) west of Tokyo, last erupted seven years ago. Its last major eruption was in 1979.

Satoshi Saito, a 52-year-old hiker who climbed Ontake on Saturday and descended less than an hour before the eruption, said the weather was good and the mountain, known for its fall foliage, was crowded with people car-

rying cameras.

“There were no earthquakes or strange smells on the mountain when I was there,” Saito, who usually climbs Ontake several times a year, told Reuters. He also said there were no warnings of possible eruptions posted on the trail.

“But a man who runs a hotel near the mountain told me that the number of small earthquakes had risen these past two months, and everyone thought it was weird,” Saito said.

Video footage on the internet showed huge grey clouds boiling towards climbers at the peak and people scrambling to descend as blackness enveloped them.

NHK footage showed windows in a mountain lodge darkening and people screaming as heavy objects pelted the roof. l

Hong Kong resorts to tear gas to break up democracy protesters after warnings

Loud blast rocks Kabul diplomatic district

n Reuters, Hong Kong

n Reuters, Kabul

Hong Kong police fired repeated volleys of tear gas to disperse pro-democracy protests yesterday and baton-charged the crowd blocking a key road in the government district after official warnings against illegal demonstrations.

The city’s Admiralty district had descended into chaos as chanting protesters converged on police barricades surrounding colleagues who had earlier launched a “new era” of civil disobedience to pressure Beijing into granting full democracy to Hong Kong.

Police, in lines five deep in places and wearing helmets and gas masks, staged repeated pepper spray attacks

Taiwan leader rejects China unification deal n Agencies Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has rejected a “one country, two systems” deal proposed by his Chinese counterpart.

“In the early 1980’s the ‘one country, two systems’ concept was created for Taiwan, not for Hong Kong. But Taiwan has sent a clear message that we do not accept the concept,” said Ma in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera.

“If the system is good, then we believe it should be ‘one country, one system’.

We are not expecting to go to war with the Chinese Communist Party,” added Ma. “Instead, we are hoping to minimise the possibility of war between us.”

Ma’s comments followed remarks

by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, who was quoted in state media warning Taiwan against independence, saying “no secessionist act will be tolerated” by Beijing.

Xi said that his government sought peaceful reunification using the “one country, two systems” principle for Taiwan, as it has done with the former British colony Hong Kong.

“The national reunification we advocate is not merely unification in form, but more importantly, a spiritual connection between the two sides,” Xi said.

Discussing the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, Ma said: “Taiwan is the only place in China where we are able to practice democracy .... We are worried about the developments in Hong Kong.” l

and shot tear gas into the air. The crowds fled several hundred yards, scattering their umbrellas and hurling abuse at police “cowards.”

Crowds returned however and by early evening tens of thousands of protesters were thronging streets, including outside the prominent Pacific Place shopping mall that leads towards the Central financial district.

Fresh rounds of tear gas cleared some of the roads in Admiralty and pushed the crowds towards Central.

Police had not used tear gas in Hong Kong since breaking up World Trade Organisation protests against South Korean farmers in 2005.

Clouds of tear gas also blew back to-

wards police lines, but it is unclear how many people on either side have needed treatment.

“We will fight until the end...we will never give up,” said Peter Poon, a protester in his 20s, adding that they may have to make a temporary retreat as night falls.

Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying pledged “resolute” action against the protest movement known as Occupy Central with Love and Peace.

“The police are determined to handle the situation appropriately in accordance with the law,” Leung said just hours before the charge began.

A spokesperson for China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office added

that the central government fully supported Hong Kong’s handling of the situation “in accordance with the law.”

Inside the cordon, thousands had huddled in plastic capes, masks and goggles as they waited for a fresh police charge to clear the area before Hong Kong opens for business on Monday morning.

Student organisers, urging calm, warned that police could return with rubber bullets.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a formula known as “one country, two systems” that guaranteed a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China. Universal suffrage was set as an eventual goal. l

A bomb hit a military vehicle in the diplomatic quarter of the Afghan capital yesterday, wounding one person a day before the inauguration of a new president expected to be attended by foreign dignitaries.

Police said no one killed by the magnetic bomb, which was attached to a military truck in Zanbaq Square, near the vast presidential palace compound and several embassies.

“At 9:15 this morning, a sticky bomb attached to an Afghan army vehicle exploded in Zanbaq Square ... only injuring the driver,” Najib Danish, Interior Ministry deputy spokesman, said.

A B A S E C A M P I N H K A K A B O R A Z I M O U N TA I N , K AC H I N S TAT E

This photo displayed during a press conference on Sept 21, in Yangon, Myanmar, shows a base camp in Myanmar’s icy mountain Hkakabo Razi, in Kachin State. A rescue helicopter from Thailand has lost contact with ground control during a search for two climbers who scaled Southeast Asia’s highest peak a month ago, officials said yesterday AP

Security is tight in Kabul ahead of Monday’s inauguration of Ashraf Ghani, who will replace long-time leader Hamid Karzai just before most foreign troops withdraw from the violence-racked country at the end of the year.

International leaders and dignitaries have been invited to the ceremony as the Taliban and allied insurgents seek to launch attacks to scare visitors away and create a mood of insecurity.

Monday’s inauguration will also see presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah named chief executive, a post similar to prime minister. Ghani and Abdullah agreed to share power in a unity government last week after months of bitter deadlock over the presidential vote. l

Panneerselvam new Tamil Nadu chief minister n Agencies A day after a special court in Bangalore unseated AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa as Tamil Nadu chief minister by sentencing her to four years imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case, party MLAs yesterday elected O Panneerselvam as her successor, as she wished.

Jayalalithaa’s erstwhile cabinet colleagues - Panneerselvam, Natham R Vishwanathan, R Vaithilingam and Edappadi K Palaniswami - met her at the Parappana Agrahara jail in Bangalore in the morning to apprise her of the developments that followed her imprisonment. She intimated them that her choice of successor is none other than her trusted loyalist Panneerselvam.

She handed over a list of names of MLAs to Panneerselvam who would be sworn in as cabinet ministers under his leadership.

On Sunday afternoon, the AIADMK MLAs met at the party headquarters and formally elected Panneerselvam as their leader. Natham R Vishwanathan proposed Panneerselvam’s name and over 150 MLAs elected him as party’s legislature party leader.

Panneerselvam would meet Governor K Rosaiah at the Raj Bhavan at 6pm. According to the constitutional requirement, the party has to first submit its list of MLAs. It is followed by the submission of the name of the chief minister-elect to the Governor, and his choice of cabinet colleagues. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Monday, September 29, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Let private sector take over jute mills

W

e are concerned by the government’s plan to allow the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation to borrow money from a Chinese state-owned textile company to rehabilitate 28 loss-making jute mills.

This is a terrible idea. If the capacity of the state-owned mills is increased in the current market, there will be even more excess production capacity, and the losses of the jute industry will be even more severe.

Loss-making state-owned jute mills have proven themselves to be a huge drain on the public purse. Like other state-owned industries in Bangladesh, they are beset by poor management and corruption. It does not make sense for taxpayers to borrow money so that more of it can be wasted or misappropriated. It also goes against previously announced plans to sell stakes in government jute mills this year.

The government should not be throwing more good money after bad into loss-making state jute mills.

As a major jute-producing nation, there ought to be a healthier future for our jute industry, given that worldwide demand is growing.

However, the industry will not be helped if private sector jute mills are forced to compete with endlessly-subsidised state-owned jute mills.

Loss-making state-owned jute mills should be shut down. The government should lease or sell their land and buildings so they can be developed as industrial parks led by the garment industry.

This will help secure jobs and attract new investment, and will be a far more productive use of these state assets.

Loss making stateowned jute mills should be shut down. Develop them as industrial parks

Be heard Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

Akram Khan courts audience in home debut September 22

Osmania A true genius, breathtaking in his scope and accessibility, and recognised as such by peers across the arts, like Danny Boyle.

A

German shipping company has expressed interest in buying a number of already-constructed ships and ordering a few more from Ananda Shipyard.

This is encouraging news for all Bangladeshi boat and shipbuilding firms, as the sector is hoping to see a growth of 15% this year.

Orders of this type are important to help stimulate interest in the industry. Over the years, entrepreneurs have invested in improving facilities and developing skills to enhance the nation’s capacity to build modern ships. They deserve to be rewarded with more international interest to help grow output further.

While the industry faces some constraints to growth by the limited land and anchorage area available to support bigger shipyards, it also has the benefit of huge opportunities.

More importantly, as a deltaic nation with thousands of kilometres of navigable rivers, including cargo routes, Bangladesh provides a large domestic market to serve. Current estimates suggest this is worth around Tk3,000 crore. However, given the large number of outdated and unsafe river vessels in the nation, there should be huge scope to grow this as pressure grows to modernise fleets. Local shipbuilders will have a natural advantage in supplying and fitting out such vessels.

Government efforts to develop the ocean-going economy and plans for further offshore energy exploration may also give it a further boost via orders for exploration vessels and oil rigs.

All of this should provide a strong platform for shipbuilders to compete in the export markets we need to grow, in order to earn foreign exchange and develop new jobs.

Overseas orders are encouraging for Bangladeshi shipyards. The sector still has huge scope to grow

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Glad to see him in Dhaka.

Momoaswan Am sad I missed this.

SUDOKU No Bangladeshi universities in top 500 September 20

Shipbuilding matters

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 16 represents J so fill J every time the figure 16 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.

Good Soha Please count from the bottom. You will certainly find many Bangladeshi universities on that end.

NK If any single university was within this 500, then something surely would be written about it.

Other than that it is normal.

Daud Arafath They are not in the list because people do educational business here. #Universities Saleh M Arman So is this a blemish or achievement for us?

Sheikh Hasina September 22 Anon I think she is stubborn and arrogant.

NM Yes, I believe she is.

Aminul Huda Anon: How can you say that? She is our honourable prime minister and the head of our state. The heir to the Father of the Nation. Learn to respect and love her.

Anon Aminul Huda: Please be aware of what democracy is. I am not disrespecting her. I am just expressing what I think about her. And I can do that from my right to speech and right to vote.

Being the heir of the Father of the Nation does not mean that she can do everything right.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Showing off holiness September 21

MN “In my opinion, the first thing for any religious person to do is to follow the teachings of their religion. They should ensure that they don’t harm others, and don’t do injustice to others. If we cannot be good human beings, being good at religious rituals will do us no good.”

The last paragraph. Very well said.

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.

Hasan Ahmed We forget that religion is not a separate identity that we possess as a human being, but rather it is in the way we behave toward all others.

And also that there are three letters – S, P, and I – which belong in front of the word ritual ie SPIritual.

FM: Political appointments to boards a reason behind failing banks September 20

OM Corrupt and incompetent political appointees.

Who’d have thunk such a thing? Still at least he’s not in total denial, which is more than most politicians who would be better off going to Fantasy Kingdom.

Fake FF certificate holder included in PM’s entourage September 22

Dr Ahsan Habib I get tired of reporting the acts of law-breaking done by the highest lawmaker of the country.

One possible reason is that no politician in Bangladesh ever faced the true scrutiny of Voters as our democracy has only been in name since 1971.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Workshop machines (6) 5 Early freshness (3) 7 Musical note (5) 8 Believe (6) 10 Drinking vessel (3) 12 Silent (4) 13 Printers’ measures (3) 14 Microbe (4) 16 Coarse file (4) 17 Wicked (3) 18 Indonesian holiday isle (4) 20 Flow back (3) 23 Jubilant (6) 24 Roof’s projecting edge (5) 25 Encountered (3) 26 Haphazard (6)

DOWN 1 Be wanting in (4) 2 Short melodies (6) 3 Sends out (5) 4 Location (4) 5 Obscure (3) 6 Flightless bird (3) 9 Set down heavily (4) 11 Adhesive (3) 14 Festive (4) 15 Supervised newspaper (6) 16 Fish eggs (3) 17 Corkwood (5) 18 Drink (4) 19 Dutch cheese (4) 21 Insect (3) 22 Sporting item (3)

CU shuttle trains halted over clash September 20 kingthorin Yep, gotta halt the transportation lady.

325 Hajj agencies representatives yet to receive Saudi visa September 22

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

PEANUTS

Bejoy Khan “All the 325 Hajj agencies Monazzem will get ordinary Hajj visa by Sunday.”

Very nice! This means I can now also go to Hajj.

Golden Harvest launches cold chain network September 20

An Expert BD An inspiring project.

Six more arrested over Moghbazar triple murder September 20

Nelson Apu When will we see a golden Bangladesh?

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Monday, September 29, 2014

The Bangladesh we all long for

I

n Uday Sankar Das

t has been two years now since a number of Buddhist monasteries and houses of Buddhists were razed to the ground in Ramu, Ukhia, Teknaf, and Cox’s Bazar on a night of mayhem on September 29, 2012. This carnage no doubt tarnished the image of Bangladesh both at home and abroad. The events, painful as they were and still are, still rekindled hopes about the kind of country we fought for and long for.

The Bangladesh Army has since helped in reconstructing and restoring the damaged Buddhist monasteries, and many of the homes belonging to the Buddhists have also been reconstructed with the help of the authorities.

I visited Ramu exactly a month after that fateful night on October 29, 2012. It was the evening of Prabarana Purnima, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Buddhist community.

According to scriptures, it was on this moonlit night that Lord Buddha, the greatest preacher of peace and non-violence, returned to Earth after visiting the gods and blessing his mother. This ritual is celebrated on the full moon of the 11th lunar month.

Standing in front of the charred remains of Shima Bihar, a very large religious complex of the Buddhist community in Ramu, I could not control tears flowing down my cheeks.

Only a hundred yards from the debris of the damage inflicted on the fateful night of September 29, 2012, a Buddhist Vante (priest) was preaching the teachings of Lord Buddha, and hundreds of men, women, and children with their eyes shut and fists closed were listening to him in rapt attention.

I walked past the burnt religious books in the complex, which was built in 1706, to look at the recently brought huge statue of Lord Buddha, which, despite frantic efforts by the perpetra-

tors of the most heinous crime in the annals of Bangladesh’s history, could not be burnt down. The scars on the statue were however very visible.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that Lord Buddha could not stare at us or look at the damaged structure in the bihar. It seemed that the tears in his eyes had dried up, and with a heavy heart and utter shame, his looks were fixed on the ground.

I expressed this feeling of mine to the Buddhist youth standing next to me. Swapan Barua, a resident of nearby Ukhia and a primary school teacher, while describing the horrific events of that dreadful night, said the bright stones in the eyes of that particular statue were uprooted by the gangs who carried out the mayhem in that bihar.

The scars inflicted on September 29, 2012 in Ramu will take a long time to heal

Exactly a month after the carnage in Ramu, Ukhia, Teknaf, and Cox’s Bazar, the local Buddhist community, in a sombre mood on the day of Prabarana Purnima, decided to observe the day with a deep sense of grief and anger.

Residents of 15 villages, whose houses were burnt down and whose places of worship were desecrated, assembled at Ramu to take part in a silent procession.

The messages that they wanted to send were loud and clear: They wanted the perpetrators to be punished,

BIGSTOCK

Bad news everywhere n Khawaza Main Uddin

C

urious about the life of celebrities, a common man, if s/he is sensitive to the turbulences in urban life, would wonder how they absorb the heat of being under the spotlight of public attention and criticism. Popular politicians hardly find peace and tranquility. Professionals – say a dedicated doctor who helps people during humanitarian crises – have no scope to enjoy a smooth private life.

Newsmen as witnesses to notso-sweet happenings are not an exception. A common question we encounter is: How do journalists deal with news items of so much negativity all the time? A former boss of mine gave the answer: “One should not be a journalist unless s/he can uphold human values even at the height of provocation, mood swings, or personal sufferings.”

There are creatures who are seen formulating all-evil arguments to justify a bad step or corrupt practices, making newspaper readers and television viewers feel suffocated even more. Of late, the news editor of a television station told me that he didn’t watch TV or read the newspaper at home. “Why should I make myself pale for a whole day by knowing all the bad news items?”

This, I suspect, is a sign of social despair, so much so that we are losing our confidence and trying to withdraw ourselves from social activities. Still,

we are not free from the influence of incidents and unwanted developments at home and in the international arena, as reflected in the media.

Four of a family found dead! A young girl commits suicide! A young man jailed for drawing a caricature!

Ruling party MPs grab land! Only two pass in DU admission test for English!

Floods inundate northern districts!

Bank money worth millions embezzled! Bangladesh humiliated in Test matches in the West Indies!

We can list many headlines that evoke sad feelings – seven murders in Narayanganj, launch capsize, forced disappearance of over 300, plane crash, killings in Gaza, or the civil wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Added to these are the news-making statements which are tantamount to bullying, which traumatise recipients.

Today, commoners can predict what a former leftist-extremist, who turned into an opportunist minister, is going to say – no words of reconciliation other than attacking comments. A PhD holder, who lost cabinet portfolio, claims his political adversaries communicated with his party at the dead of night, although his own party chief has said all her party colleagues could be purchased.

Ah. An ex-dictator, who bought many politicians and is now more predictable about his unpredictability, has lost his amusement value for his overplay. Powerful politicians, who are scared of facing the people’s wrath for their undemocratic behaviour,

they wanted to live in peace and harmony with members of other communities, and have the same rights to observe their religious festivals like all other communities.

Although civil society members also wanted to join in this procession to express their solidarity with the Buddhist community, the organisers insisted that only the Buddhists would take part in this silent procession, which saw an impressive attendance of a few thousand men, women, and children.

The scenes in nearby monasteries and pagodas of Aparna Charan Mandir, Lal Ching, Shada Ching, and Bara Kiang were equally heart-breaking.

Hundreds of devotees assembled to take part in evening prayers amidst the charred ruins of these very ancient places of worship. Rafiq, a local resident told us how the statues were being beheaded with sharp knives by the mad crowd that went on a rampage in that area.

In Bara Kiang, the religious zealots had faced resistance from the local youth and the Kiang was saved from being razed to the ground. But the internal decorations, and fixtures and fittings were destroyed. The cupboard containing religious scriptures was still lying on the floor upside down, the broken wall clock had its glass panel open and broken, and the broken rail pieces were strewn all over the floor. Amidst these ruins, women and children came to the Kiang to light candles and offer their prayers in grim silence.

We took a rickshaw to return to the local high school where concerned citizens took an initiative to preserve communal harmony and hold a candle light vigil. The whole area wore a tensed look. Salam, our rickshaw-puller, suddenly shouted, “Namashkar, Sir,” and I was totally taken aback.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would hear such a greeting

often issue threats against political demonstration, or call hartals in the name of democracy.

And there is no recess. Many generations are getting sick of the ceremony of ignorance, corruption, coercion, and usurpation. Like it or not, the proud presence of the culprits in the media causes frustration and anger among the people. We are undergoing a disturbing process of increasing antipathy or apathy regarding the media reports, in a country where once, news had serious entertainment value.

One may ask: Can the media play otherwise, to paint a rosy picture to inspire the people about life and living? Notably, the journalists’ business is of facts and the examination of truth, if not the universal truth and the tested truth. So, the media can’t give you good news when there is no good news – no increase in jobs, no rule of law, no end to corruption and nepotism, and no cessation of hostilities all around.

I can swear, it’s not the duty of media professionals to hide the truth or make self-censorship the way the coercive state tries to censor, to undermine the power of the media and stop it from speaking for the people. It is, therefore, important to express the harsh reality of maintaining journalistic ethics so that members of the society force the political actors to bring changes.

We live in a world of imagination, and it is turning sombre with every passing day in the absence of real-life inspirational stories. We also can’t present ourselves as happy artificially, turning our face from the crude facts of life. Whatever happens in a society is not a passive reality. There are actors definitely, especially within the political element, behind facts, incidents, and developments. The media too can’t exist as passive entities.

What then is our choice? To be an ignorant happy man or an informed, dissatisfied citizen, a protagonist of the establishment or a critic?

Celebrities, as the most widely-covered people in the media, have the responsibility of pointing out ills and injustices in political dispensation if they want to save society from degradation and sterilisation and retain their own image as social role models, at the very least.

The conscientious people are bound to protest misdeeds when an entire society is getting more polluted every day. The other option is to die well before the actual death by surrendering to the dominant clique. l Khawaza Main Uddin is Executive Editor at ICE Business Times.

Is our country broken?

RAJIB DHAR

from a rickshaw-puller. When I asked who he was greeting, Salam said he was showing respect to the local retired school teacher who happened to pass by and who was a Buddhist. I told myself: “This was the Bangladesh that we fought for and dreamt of.”

The candle light vigil was held in front of the Shahid Minar in Ramu High School in the presence of eminent people of the locality representing all sections of the community. The whole area was under a heavy blanket of security. Army and BGB personnel, RAB members, and police were seen

S

E

R

P

E

in and around most places of worship.

The Buddhists were in no mood to take part in any sort of festivity, and heeding to the advice of the Vante, refrained from releasing candle-lit paper balloons, popularly known as Fanush, in the air, although it is a salient feature of this religious occasion.

It was amply clear that the scars inflicted on September 29, 2012 on the Buddhist community in Ramu and adjoining areas would take a long time to heal. But still, while returning from Ramu late that night, two persons’ words were ringing in my ears. Swapan

N

T

I

Barua was whispering to me: “I am a Buddhist. I want to live as well.” But, a more positive note ringing in my ears was Salam’s greeting while pulling his rickshaw: “Namashkar, Sir.” That is the Bangladesh we all long for, and let’s hope that this positive vibe is the true outcome of the carnage that the whole nation had to witness with a very heavy heart and utter shame. l Uday Sankar Das is a senior journalist who worked for BBC World Service radio and presently lives in Chittagong.

N

E

D

E

N

Hypocrisy of the reel and the real n Towheed Feroze

L

et’s begin with a real-life experience: Sometime in the late 90s, while working as a journalist for an English daily paper, I had to keep the request of a famed movie production house and interview an upcoming starlet. “She is the next happening face in celluloid,” I was told by the excited movie house owner.

Wanting to understand the local cinema scene better, I decided to go for it and one afternoon, was sitting in front of the actress who was trying her best to appear as modest as possible.

At one point, her efforts to cover her hands and mid-riff (she was wearing a sari) became a bother.

What was she trying to do? Well, if you ask me, the oldest and perhaps the most clichéd thing done by most actresses is trying to show the media that though she was in movies, in real life, she is determined to portray herself as the ultra-conservative woman.

Now, accepting this reserved image was tough because when you see someone on-screen making provocative gestures and prancing on the beach without any care for exposed areas of the body, attempts in real life to do the opposite to an extreme seems not only absurd but ridiculous.

The logic is simple – when in front of several cameramen and a large filmmaking crew, an actress becomes daring, which eventually is ogled, admired, and worshipped by millions on the screen, what is the point in trying to deceive someone in real life?

Obviously, you might be wondering, where is all this coming from? Well, the Deepika Padukone cleavage photo row involving the Times of India and an enraged actress tweeting lines about invasion of privacy and objectification of women got me thinking.

Reportedly, after the image was posted with exclamation signs, the actress took offence, lashing out at the paper for such brazen tactics to titillate the readers.

Logically speaking, in movies, such flashes of delicate areas of the body

are shown regularly by all actresses, Padukone included.

To be frank, the item number culture, which has become a mainstay of all commercial films made in South Asia, includes flashing the navel plus cleavage, biting lips suggestively, writhing excitedly when drops of water fall on the belly, finger-tapping on bare backs, and plenty more.

Then, of course there are the audacious song lyrics which have gone to the extent where the actress in question is seen seductively comparing herself to tandoori chicken: “Main to tanduri murgi hoon yaar gatkale saiyan alcohol se.” I am sure that no translation is needed.

So, transgressing all forms of decency in the name of razzmatazz is accepted, while temperatures promptly rise when a far less provocative image appears in some other medium.

I am being blunt here: What actresses do demands their objectification.

When someone is taking part in an item song with navels bared and clothes hardly hiding the upper portion, they can’t expect the audience to sit back calmly and observe with a look of introspection: Hmm … there is an element of suave artistic intrigue in this presentation.

That is not what they do in the cinema halls. The audience screams, the savage inside rages, wolf whistles are heard, and those who do manage to restrain the primordial impulses allow the beast inside to relish the “dhamaka.”

Unsurprisingly, the Deepika-Times row has resulted in a polarisation of opinion. Some say printing the photo was degrading for the actress. But would they be as vociferous if this had been a film shot? That means, real and reel need to be separated.

As easy it may sound, in real terms, actors can hardly be isolated from the roles they take, or the characters they portray in reel.

Rationally speaking, no matter how hard Sunny Leone tries, her porn background will always be linked to her, providing her acting stint that wicked zest. In fact, it’s because of

her association with the porn industry that she has garnered so much attention in mainstream movies.

Sunny, sans the sizzling past, is just another expatriate Indian celluloid wannabe.

The funny thing with actors is that their personalities undergo rapid (read ridiculous) transformations within short spans of time.

I have seen actresses suddenly wearing a headscarf after performing Hajj and then after a few months moving about publicly without any head-covering, then there is the standard line: I will wear revealing clothes on screen if the character demands it.

Again, let’s cut the crap – no character ever requires the body to be shown.

Messages can be passed without providing scenes of intimacy. For example let’s take a look at Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, a 1954 suspense film where the husband, played by Ray Milland, wants to have his wife (Grace Kelly) murdered. In between, there are twists, hinting at an extra-marital affair.

The movie is for general viewing and no flesh is shown, whereas the same plot, adapted in A Perfect Murder (1998), starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, is filled with steamy scenes. Does that make the previous one lose appeal? Well, the latter is a forgotten flick whereas the Hitchcock one is a classic.

Sex is shown basically to add spice and therefore there is nothing called “necessity of a character.” Even the role of a sex worker can be portrayed without exposing the body.

When actors get drenched in rain in a sari tied perfunctorily around her, she wants to be worshipped for the perfect contours of her figure. And in real life too, she will be admired for her ability to set the screen on fire – the two lives are inexorably intertwined.

So, please dispel the hypocrisy; let’s learn from Marilyn Monroe who boldly declared: “It's not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.” l Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Monday, September 29, 2014

TABU makes bold comeback with Haider

The Incredible Hulk Star Movies, 9:30pm

n Entertainment Desk Bollywood’s one of the most anticipated film of this year is Vishal Bharadwaj’s “Haider,” which is releasing this October 2. Based on William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” the film brings a very interesting plot between two characters acted by Shahid Kapoor and Tabu.

In “Haider,” Tabu plays a role of a stepmother named Ghazala to Shahid.

The characters of Shahid and Tabu will be having a very complex sexual relationship. Tabu, talked about her character to an Indian daily recently where she expressed that her role is “to die for.”

“Ghazala is torn between her idealistic husband, opportunistic brother-in-law and her innocent and passionate son. Somewhere she feels she has the responsibility to keep everything in control but obviously she can’t. Her love for her son is crazy. She is always trying to protect him from being misled and misguided.”

Talking about the sexual conflict between mother and son, Tabu said: “Vishal cast me as Shahid’s mother because he wanted the oddity of the relationship to come out which wouldn’t have come across with a regular aged mother and son combination. Haider shares a love/hate relationship with Ghazala but it’s a very passionate emotion. You almost feel odd that these two are mom and son. Haider’s predicament is that he doesn’t know what to do with his mother—whether to love her, hate her, believe her or kill her.”

Giving this situation, it will be interesting to see how the audience react to this kind of a relationship onscreen, once the film hits the theatres. l

Bruce Banner, a scientist on the run from the US Government must find a cure for the monster he emerges whenever he loses his temper.

Gopal Ghose exhibition begins

Cake Boss

TLC, 6:30pm

n Entertainment Desk An exhibition of paintings by Gopal Ghose, a member of the renowned Calcutta Painters Group is being held at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts and will remain open until October 18. About a hundred artworks are on display at the event.

The exhibition, organised in association with Akar Prakar – an India-based organisation, has been curated by Sanjoy Kumar Mallik.

Mustafa Monwar and Ramendu Majumdar inaugurated the exhibition.

Gopal Ghose, before his death in 1980, was one of the most celebrated artistes in India. He was one of the founder members of the well-known Calcutta Group (1943).

Proficient with several mediums, Ghose was adept not only with watercolour, but also with tempera, pen and ink, and brush and pastel. His economical technique of

Theatre

Mymensingh Geetika Theatre Fest Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm National Theatre, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Shegun Bagicha

Exhibition

Shreyoshi Time: 12pm – 8pm Gallery Twenty One Small is Beautiful Time:12pm – 8pm Shilpangan, Dhanmondi Simple Pottery Exposition

By Dr Azharul Islam Sheikh Chanchal Time: 12pm – 8pm Zainul Gallery-1, Dhaka University

Kishorganj based Shikor Natya Sampradaya staged a dance drama titled Chandrabati as part of of Loko Natya Dal’s ongoing festival marking Mymensigh Geetika on Saturaday at Shilpakala Academy

Shaina Amin portrays strong, independent working woman n Entertainment Desk A single-episode TV play “Shadharon Gyaan” will be aired at 9:10pm on RTV on the fourth day of Eid-ul-Azha. The play stars Shaina Amin and Mosharraf Karim in the lead roles.

The plot of the story revolves around Shaina Amin as Sara, a progressive thinker who works for a multi national company in the capital. She lives alone in an apartment, rides a scooter, and lives an apparent good live.

In the course of the story, Sara has to deal with her boyfriend Afzal’s restrictions regarding her lifestyle. She breaks-up her relationship with him, and then faces many obstacles with other men as well – from her boss to a retailer, a CNG driver, a lift-man, among many others.

Whenever Sara gets involved in a conflict, she sees Afzal as a reflection of that behaviour.

“Shadharon Gyan” is the story of how Sara deals with her conflicts with society, and whether she prvails in this struggle.

Mosharraf Karim plays the character of Afzal – a representation of the patriarchal mentality of our society. l

Buddy Valastro is one of the most master bakers of Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey, Buddy is the Cake Boss.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Zee Studio, 11:20pm

swift sweeping brushwork in his landscapes was especially admired, including by the likes of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Among his contemporaries, he stood out, both as a draughtsman and as a skilled water colourist.

After obtaining a diploma in painting

from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Jaipur in 1935, Gopal Ghose formally trained in sculpture, from Government College of Art, Madras, where he studied under Debi Prasad Roy Choudhuri, known for his realistic style in his paintings and sculptures. l

A young fugitive prince and princess must stop a villain who unknowingly threatens to destroy the world.

COLIN FARRELL, VINCE VAUGHN to star in True Detective n Entertainment Desk Actors Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn will take leading roles in the second season of HBO’s crime thriller “True Detective.”

Irish actor Farrell, 38, will star as compromised detective Ray Velcoro and Vaughn, 44, will star as criminal mastermind Frank Semyon in the eight-part drama, HBO said.

The series will follow three police officers and a career criminal tackling a complex conspiracy after a murder and will be written by Nic Pizzolatto. “Fast & Furious” director Justin Lin will direct the first two episodes. The series will go into production this fall in California.

The first season of True Detective starring

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as detectives Rust Cohle and Martin Hart was a hit for HBO. The show won five Primetime Emmy awards last month, including best directing for Cary Fukunaga, who di-

After Deepika, Times of India now slams AISHWARYA n Entertainment Desk It seems Times of India is on a roll, and not of the good kind. After the leading newspaper published “OMG: Deepika Padukone’s cleavage show,” on September 14, claiming that they wanted everyone to know about how great Deepika looks, it has been on the receiving end of criticism.

Just when the public rage began to subside, TOI went a step ahead, targeting Aishwariya Rai Bachchan and some other Hollywood stars with its article titled, “Hot babes with ugly legs.” The article listed actresses, who according to the author, have legs that should never be exposed, don’t belong to movie stars or can only be described using weird metaphors.

By involving Hollywood stars, this time TOI has provoked people internationally, receiving a lot of flack from international sites like Huffington Post. In an article on Huffpost, Louise Court, editor-in-chief of British women’s magazine Cosmopolitan, said “I was infuriated by it – but women struggling with their body image are made even more vulnerable.”

This is not the first time media has targeted women’s body image, in general. Earlier, when Aishwarya Rai Bachchan walked the red carpet at the Cannes Festival in 2012, the media saw just one thing – her weight gain after her pregnancy. Such shameful episodes just bring to light the kind of attitudes that media has not only towards women who are pregnant and in their post-partum stage, but to women in all phases of their lives.

When a leading media source like TOI that has the power to influence millions of its readers, takes such a shallow step of criticising bodies of celebrities having a crazy fan following, it can have a huge negative outcome, influencing youth to believe that their bodies aren’t good enough. l

rected all eight episodes.

The second season of “True Detective£ faces the challenge of living up to the critical acclaim and buzz of the first, with a new cast, storyline and director. l

Did you know?

In his last 20 Premier League appearances, Mario Balotelli has hit 63 shots but scored just one goal

Sport

Monday, September 29, 2014

14 Messi ‘never

imagined’ reaching 400-goal mark

14 Tevez, Buffon

keep Juventus at top

BCB mulling separate teams for three formats n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is pondering about introducing separate teams for Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals at the national level in order to extract the maximum performance from the players.

BCB sources said they are yet to come to a final decision regarding the issue but are giving it serious thought.

Cricket’s governing body in the country apparently wants to follow in the footsteps of established cricket orders like Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan who have different teams for the three formats.

Newly-elected BCB vice president AZM Nasiruddin told Dhaka Tribune yesterday that they are thinking about this idea as presently, with the exception of a couple of cricketers, some find it difficult to adapt to the different formats of the game.

“We have no doubt about our players’ ability and skill but some players are good in Tests, some in ODIs and some in T20Is. We also have some players who are good enough in all the three formats,” said Nasiruddin.

“After thinking about this, the BCB is considering forming separate national teams comprising of the respective specialised players in the three formats,” he said.

Nasiruddin went on to say the players could not perform to their expected level ever since the ICC World T20

Brothers reach U-18 final n Shishir Hoque

Brothers Union are the first side to confirm a place in the final of the Airtel U-18 Football Tournament.

They beat Sheikh Russel KC 4-3 in the tiebreakers of the first semifinal at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The stipulated time ended goalless and the extra 30 minutes also produced an unproductive spell from both sides as the match headed to penalties. Arif sent the ball over the crossbar as Sheikh Russel missed their second penalty.

Brothers delivered clinical attitude and converted four out of the five penalties while Russel’s fifth penalty taken by Rocky was a repeat of Arif’s miss earlier which decided the fate of the game.

The second semifinal between Mohammedan Sporting Club and Team BJMC will be held today at the same venue at 5pm. BTV World will telecast the match live. The final is scheduled for October 2. l

held at home earlier this year and the national side’s complete lack of form is a matter of great concern for the board as well as the millions of cricket fans in the country. Keeping this in mind, the BCB is of the opinion that if separate teams were to be formed, the specialised cricketers would be able to play without pressure.

“Now, our players have to think about their performance across the three formats. The tension would lessen if separate teams are formed,” he added.

BCB director and former national captain Akram Khan though had different ideas. “We have to groom more world-class players like Shakib [al Hasan], Tamim [Iqbal], Mushfiqur [Rahim] and others if we want to form separate teams,” said Akram.

“To form different teams, more home series are needed to be arranged,” he said.

Former opening batsman Nafees Iqbal lauded the idea. “If the idea is introduced, the specialised players of the three formats will get opportunities in the national team and they can concentrate on their respective formats,” said Nafees.

Like Nafees, national discard Nazim Uddin also appreciated the thought of forming separate teams. Nazim said if the idea is implemented, more talented cricketers would get the chance to prove themselves in the international stage. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Ogunode sets

Asian mark in 100m

Abul’s return from injury shortlived n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal bats during a net session in Incheon, South Korea yesterday

COURTESY

National paceman Abul Hasan made a shortlived return to competitive cricket after 18 months through the first oneday game between Bangladesh A and Zimbabwe A at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium yesterday.

The right-arm speedster recovered from a severe back injury and crafted his return to the second string national side following a long hiatus only to succumb to a new injury after bowling only 2.5 overs in the first one-dayer against Zimbabwe A. Bangladesh Cricket Board physiotherapist Dr Debashish Chowdhury though brushed away any concerns by declaring that it is nothing serious and is not related with the 22-year old pacer’s previous injury.

“He (Abul) complained of a neck strain after bowling two-and-a-half overs. He was taken off from the game straightaway and was given primary treatment,” Dr Debashish told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“So far it does not seem to be anything severe. The team physiotherapist took care of him by medication and muscle therapy. He will undergo a few medical examinations tomorrow (today) for further analysis,” Dr Debashish added.

Abul had a flying start to his international career when he became the first number 10 batsman to score a century on Test debut in 110 years.

He achieved the feat against the West Indies in Khulna in November 2012 even before he took the new ball - his primary role in the national team. l

Chakabva guides Zim A District football gets financial boost n Mazhar Uddin

Regis Chakabva’s brilliant century guided the visiting Zimbabwe A side to a win in the first of the three-match unofficial ODI series against the Bangladesh A team by 17 runs in Fatullah yesterday.

Chasing 254, the home side were reduced to 36/3 having lost Shahriar Nafees, skipper Marshal Ayub and Mominul Haque on identical scores of two.

Soumya Sarkar and Naeem Islam tried to reconsolidate the initial batting collapse as left-handed Soumya scored 56 off 80 balls before he was dismissed by leg-spinner Timycen Maruma.

Naeem continued at the other end with young Mosaddek Hossain and added 56 runs for the fifth wicket before the home side faced another blow when Tafadzwa Kamungozi trapped Naeem leg before after scoring highest 66 off 85 balls followed by Mosaddek on 49.

Elias Sunny tried to take the home side to the winning line after hitting a few lusty blows but he too was dismissed after scoring a quick 42 off just 30 balls with five fours and a six as the

second string national side were all out for 236 in 49.3 overs.

Brian Chari (35) and Chakabva earlier put on 83 runs for the opening wicket after Zimbabwean skipper Vusi Sibanda won the toss and elected to bat as the visitors rode on the 132 off 144 balls from the right-handed Chakabva.

BRIEF SCORE Zimbabwe A 253/6 in 50 overs Regis Chakabva 132, Vusi Sibanda 52 Mominul Haque 2/47, Jubair Hossain 2/53 Bangladesh A 236-all out in 49.3 overs Naeem Islam 66, Mosaddek Hossain 49 Tafadzwa Kamungozi 4/24 Zimbabwe A won by 17 runs Sibanda also chipped in with a 50 as the visitors posted a challenging total of 253.

Leg-spinner Jubair Hossain and Mominul picked two wickets each for Bangladesh A. The second string national side will face the visiting Zimbabwe A on Tuesday in the second game. l

KOOL-BSJA MEDIA CUP FOOTBALL

n Shishir Hoque

In a bid to regularise district football in the country, the Bangladesh Football Federation’s (BFF) district league committee chairman Manjur Kader and sponsors Niloy-Nitol Group will provide financial assistance to organise the tournament throughout the country this year.

District football is not being held on a regular basis in the grass-root level ever since the formation of the District Football Association (DFA). Initiatives were taken last year to make it a regular occasion and its continuity saw financial support and football equipments being handed over to the DFA representatives yesterday during a view exchange meeting at the capital’s Uttara Club yesterday.

“I will provide Tk100,000 each to every district from my personal funding.

Hopefully sponsors Niloy-Nitol Group will distribute Tk200,000 each to every district,” said Manjur yesterday.

This time the district football league has been titled the “Sheikh Kamal Nitol-Tata District Football League”.

also present on the occasion. The BFF chief said, “We have many limitations.

Since Dhaka football became regular opportunities were created for the players. Now my target is to make the football league regular in district level.”

Meanwhile, the representatives from different DFAs were present on the occasion. Last year the name of the tournament was Prime Bank District Football League. However, more than 20 districts did not organise the league in their region. l

BFF president Kazi Salahuddin (4R) and the State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikder (2R) hand over footballs during a programme at the Uttara Club yesterday COURTESY

Another football title in Dhaka Tribune’s trophy cabinet n Raihan Mahmood

Joint-winners Dhaka Tribune poses with the Kool-BSJA Media Cup Football trophy after the final against My TV at the BFF artificial turf in Motijheel yesterday MUMIT M

Manjur has urged the BFF to prepare the fixtures of the tournament as soon as possible.

The Niloy-Nitol Group, however, announced that they will provide Tk100,000 each to every district.

“Niloy-Nitol Group has always worked for the development of football. We are trying to activate the football league in the root-level and in return, you will give us footballers,” said Major Gen. Abdul Matin, director of Niloy-Nitol Group.

BFF president Kazi Salahuddin was

Dhaka Tribune was declared joint champions alongside My TV in the Kool-BSJA Media Cup Football after the stipulated time of the entertaining final ended in a 1-1 draw at the BFF artificial turf yesterday. Later the organising committee declared both the teams as the joint champions.

Humayun of My TV put his team ahead in the fourth minute after Tribune defender Shamsur Rahman Shakib made a blunder and lost the ball. However, Tribune regrouped in the second-half as Tareq Miru equalised with a fierce left-footed drive three minutes after resumption.

However, after the completion of the stipulated time My TV refused to go to tiebreakers as Tribune opted to send their captain Reazur Rahman Rohan under the goal bar as a substitute goalkeeper. Although the referee ruled that any

playing member on the field during the final whistle is allowed to take the goalkeeping position, the My TV contingent were adamant with their views.

Later when BSJA officials and other people present there failed to convince them, Hasanullah Khan Rana, renowned senior journalist and sports editor of Jamuna TV and a resident of Arambagh, stepped up in an attempt to calm the situation and restart the game. However, in a heated moment there was an altercation where Rana was assaulted. A bearded companion who stepped ahead to assist Rana, was also beaten up by the My TV officials and players.

Soon, after seeing Rana and the other man assaulted, the residents of Arambagh attacked the My TV players and officials and injured a number of them.

Police also arrived at the venue and as the situation cooled down, the organising committee declared the teams as

the joint champions as both the team captains joined to receive the trophy.

Al-Amin of My TV was adjudged the man of the final while Reazur Rahman Rohan of Dhaka Tribune was named the best player of the tournament.

National sports award winning football coach and former national player Golam Sarwar Tipu was the chief guest during the prize distribution ceremony.

Malik Mohammed Saeed, the head of marketing of sponsors Square Toiletries was the special guest on the occasion.

BSJA president Sayeeduzzaman, general secretary Saidur Rahman and tournament committee convener Arifur Rahman were also present among others.

In the last one-and-a-half years this is the third football title that Dhaka Tribune has lifted. Dhaka Tribune won the Ascent Corporate Cup among 48 participants in 2013 before winning the Sony-Expo 2014 Corporate Cup (Fifa World Cup promotional event). l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Monday, September 29, 2014

Messi, Neymar fire Barca rout n AFP, Madrid Lionel Messi grabbed his 400th career goal while Neymar smashed a hattrick as Barcelona stormed back to the top of La Liga with a 6-0 thrashing of Granada on Saturday.

Champions Atletico Madrid moved into second, two points behind Barca, as they beat previously undefeated Sevilla 4-0 at home.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo’s hot scoring streak continued in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win at Villarreal to remain four points off the top in fourth.

Barca stretched their run of consecutive clean sheets to seven games, but rediscovered their scoring touch after being held to a 0-0 draw at Malaga in midweek as Messi and Neymar shone.

“Messi is someone who has been touched by a magic wand and he is desperate to enjoy playing football,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique.

After a slow start Barca took the lead on 26 minutes as Neymar was gifted the ball inside the Granada half and surged forward before seeing his effort deflect pass the helpless Roberto via Jean-Sylvain Babin.

Messi then increased his number of assists already this season to seven as he crossed right-footed for Ivan Rakitic to head home and Neymar tapped into an empty net to make it 3-0 after Roberto had denied Munir.

Barca continued to dominate after the break and Alves provided Messi with the kind of service he has been handing out in recent weeks with a fine cross that the four-time World Player of the Year headed home.

Messi returned to being the provider for Neymar to complete his hat-trick with a cut-back that the former Santos man dispatched low past Roberto.

And the Argentine rounded off a fine afternoon by robbing the Granada defence of possession and running through to slot home his fifth goal of the season and the 400th of his career.

Sevilla had started the day level on points with Barca, but their four-match winning streak came to an end at the Vicente Calderon as Atletico produced their most complete performance since winning the title in May. The hosts went in front after 19 minutes when Koke’s deflected effort left Beto with no chance before Saul Niguez continued Atletico’s streak of scoring from set-pieces when he headed home the second just before half-time.

Raul Garcia put the result beyond any doubt from the penalty spot seven minutes from time after Antoine Griezmann had been felled in the box and Raul Jimenez sealed a fine night for Atletico when he headed in his first goal for the club a minute from time.

RESULTS Barcelona

6-0

Granada

Neymar 26, 45, 65, Rakitic 42, Messi 61, 81

4-0

Sevilla

Athletic Bilbao

0-0

Eibar

Levante

0-2

Rayo Vallecano

Atletico Madrid Koke 19, Saul 42, Raul Garcia 83-P, Raul Jimenez 89

Baptistao 12, 32

“I was happy to be back close to the play,” said Atletico boss Diego Simeone, who was returning to the touchline after a six-game ban in all competitions.

“Along with the Supercup win against Madrid, that was the most consistent performance we have had this season. That is the hardest thing to achieve in football so I am very happy.”

Ronaldo, meanwhile, is now onto 13 goals from nine matches this season as Real won for the third consecutive league match at Villarreal. Real survived an early onslaught from Villarreal and won the game with two goals in eight minutes before the break as Luka Modric drilled home the opener before Ronaldo converted from Karim Benzema’s pass to register his eighth goal in a week. l

Arsenal, Spurs share spoils n AFP, London A late equaliser from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain earned Arsenal a 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the first north London derby of the Premier League season on Saturday.

Having gone ahead through Nacer Chadli in the 56th minute, Tottenham were disappointed not to have recorded only their third Premier League victory at the home of their neighbours.

But though Arsenal were relieved to have avoided that fate, the point came at a cost.

Injuries to Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey, both of whom were replaced in the first half, means manager Arsene Wenger may have to rethink his tactics for the visit of Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Wenger raised a few eyebrows before the game by leaving Alexis Sanchez, the big-money close-season signing from Barcelona, on the bench, with Danny Welbeck starting up front.

The one surprise in the Tottenham starting line-up was the inclusion of Ryan Mason in midfield.

The 23-year-old was a scoring substitute in Wednesday night’s 3-1 League Cup victory over Nottingham Forest,

Messi ‘never imagined’ reaching 400-goal mark n AFP, Madrid

but this was his first taste of Premier League action.

The first 45 minutes were goalless, but not short of incident, as referee Michael Oliver booked Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere as well as Tottenham’s Erik Lamela in the opening half hour.

Hugo Lloris, the Tottenham goalkeeper, was busy, making saves from Wilshere, Welbeck, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ramsey, but the man at the other end, Wojchiech Szczesny, was also required to make significant stops.

RESULT Arsenal

1-1

Oxlade-Chamberlain 74

Tottenham Chadli 56

Twice he kept out efforts from Emmanuel Adebayor, the former Arsenal striker, and he was also in the right place when team-mate Per Mertesacker sent an attempted headed clearance towards his own goal.

Arsenal began the second half strongly, but Tottenham held out and took the lead against the run of play after 11 minutes.

Flamini was at fault, losing the ball to Christian Eriksen. Lamela picking up the ball and found Chadli in space on the right of the box for a simple finish across Szczesny. l

Barcelona forward Neymar celebrates after scoring his hat-trick with teammate Lionel Messi against Granada FC during their Spanish first division match at Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona on Saturday REUTERS

Arsenal injury concerns ahead of big week n Reuters, London Arsenal face an injury crisis as they approach two crucial fixtures over the next week following the loss of three more players in the 1-1 Premier League draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

With his team due to meet Galatasaray and Chelsea, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has fresh concerns over Mikel Arteta (calf) and Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), who both went off before halftime in the north London derby. Jack Wilshere suffered another ankle injury in the second half.

They are sidelined along with Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy, Yaya Sanogo and Nacho Monreal, leaving Wenger to admit at his news conference: “Suddenly we are short.”

Arsenal face Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday and leaders Chelsea in the Premier League next weekend.

“I don’t know for how long Arteta, Ramsey and Wilshere will be out, but Arteta and Ramsey are definitely out of the Chelsea game, Wilshere I don’t know,” Wenger said.l

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Nacer Chadli scores during their English Premier League match against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium in London on Saturday REUTERS

Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi said he could never have envisaged scoring 400 goals in his career after passing that landmark in Barcelona’s 6-0 rout over Granada on Saturday.

The Argentine scored twice and took his tally of assists for the season to eight with two more as Neymar bagged a hat-trick to take Barca back to the top of the table.

Messi’s two goals took him to 359 goals for Barca allied to his 42 at international level in 525 games for club and country.

“I never imagined I could achieve anything like this in my career,” he said via his official Facebook page. Thanks for all the congratulations on scoring 400 goals with FC Barcelona and the Argentinian National Team. I’ll continue working hard to reach more targets.”

Messi is the only player to have started all seven games under new Barca boss Luis Enrique as the 44-year-old has been otherwise keen to rotate his squad. But Enrique admitted even he is enjoying watching the 27-year-old too much to hand him a break.

“I don’t think if we added together the goals we have scored on the playground it would reach 400,” he said in his post-match press conference.

“Messi is someone who has been touched by a magic wand and he is desperate to enjoy playing football.

“I prefer to see him on the pitch until the last minute to press and participate in our collective play.

“The temptation is there, it could happen at any point in the season, but his habitat is on the field.

“He is very intelligent and knows how to manage his efforts and he is one of the players who presses the most. I am confident his physical ability is up to that of being the number one.”

Next up for Barca is their biggest test of the season so far as they travel to face French champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

However, Enrique insisted he is confident that whatever team he selects they will be capable of leaving the Parc des Princes with three points. l

Tevez, Buffon keep Juventus at top n AFP, Rome Defending champions Juventus maintained their narrow advantage over Roma at the top of Serie A with a 3-0 win at Atalanta on Saturday evening.

Argentine striker Carlos Tevez was the inspiration for Massimiliano Allegri’s men as he struck either side of half-time to move top of the scoring charts in Italy with his third and fourth goals of the campaign as Juve responded to Roma’s 2-0 win against Hellas Verona earlier in the day.

RESULTS Roma

2-0

From Buffon’s clearance, Juventus marched down the pitch allowing former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra to set up Tevez, who drove a low shot inside the post from just outside the box.

Earlier, Rudi Garcia’s men also made it five wins on the trot, but were pushed all the way by Verona before Italian international Alessandro Florenzi struck a sweet opener with 15 minutes remaining.

Mattia Destro then fired home a looping shot from just inside the Verona half, a spectacular effort that sent the away side to their first defeat of the season after opening with two wins and two draws.

It was also the perfect result for Francesco Totti, the Roma legend who has scored 235 goals in 21 seasons for the club, and celebrated his 38th birthday on Saturday. l

Hellas Verona

Florenzi 75, Destro 86

Atalanta

0-3

Juventus

Tevez 35, 59, Morata 83

Alvaro Morata headed home a late third with seven minutes left of a match that hinged on a missed penalty by the hosts with the score at 1-0.

Both Juventus and Roma, the favourites for the title, improved their record to five wins from five, with a two-goal advantage keeping the Turin club top on goal difference.

Juventus’ Carlos Tevez celebrates after scoring his second goal against Atalanta during their Italian Serie A match in Bergamo on Saturday REUTERS

PSG endure worrying draw at Toulouse

Rooney deserved red, says Van Gaal n Reuters, London

n Reuters, Paris

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney deserved the sending-off that jeopardised his side’s nervy 2-1 Premier League win over West Ham United on Saturday, manager Louis van Gaal said.

The Dutchman stopped short of condemning the England captain for an inexplicably rash challenge, though, hailing his players’ attitude to secure a “very important” victory at Old Trafford.

“It was a break-out of a set-play of ours and he makes a professional foul, I think you can call it like that,” Van Gaal told a news conference of Rooney’s red card.

“I don’t think Wayne wanted to do it that way but he did it and you can give a red card.

“But OK, I am very happy that we hold the result until the end because it is very difficult to play against a team who have one more player but who also play a lot of high balls. I am very pleased with the attitude of my players.”l

Paris St Germain’s 1-1 Ligue 1 draw at Toulouse on Saturday demonstrated that the French champions will need the return of the talismanic Zlatan Ibrahimovic if they are to threaten Barcelona in the Champions League next week.

PSG, who are second in the table two points adrift of arch rivals Olympique de Marseille, have been without Ibrahimovic for two games as the Swede recovers from heel pains.

The striker is expected to be back to face one of his former clubs on Tuesday in a Group F clash but his absence was clearly felt at Toulouse.

The visitors fell behind in the eighth minute when Wissam Ben Yedder intercepted a poor back pass from Serge Aurier, outpaced David Luiz and beat Salvatore Sirigu from close range.

Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, however, levelled with a low angled shot in the 33rd minute.

PSG, who have drawn five of their first eight league matches, dominated possession but were barely threatening.l

RESULTS Monaco

0-1

Nice Carlos Eduardo 7

Toulouse

1-1

Ben Yedder 8

Lille

PSG Bahebeck 33

1-0

SC Bastia

Origi 39

Lorient

0-2

Evian Kone 2, Barbosa 79

Metz

3-0

Reims

Falcon 50, 90+2, Kashi 71

Montpellier

2-1

Camara 49, Montano 88

Guingamp Beauvue 83

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

15

Monday, September 29, 2014

QUICK BYTES Rista Zaman wins Bashap title

DAY 9 HIGHLIGHTS GOODBYE GREG, HELLO MOON Basketball fans from outside of Asia could be forgiven for thinking they’ve seen South Korea’s outstanding veteran Moon Tae-Jong somewhere before.

The 38-year-old scored 38 points as the Koreans rallied to beat the Philippines Saturday, and he bristled when asked about his background. That’s because he used to be called Greg Stevenson and played college basketball in the US and professionally across Europe. He was born in Seoul to an American father and Korean mother, and returned four years ago to the land of his birth with his brother. They were both granted full Korean citizenship in 2011. “I’m Korean, that’s it,” said Moon.

“I was born here.” His older brother Jarod now goes by the name of Moon Tae-Young.

Rista Zaman of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College claimed the title of the senior girls’ section of the Marcel 2nd National School and College Bashap at the National Sports Gymnasium yesterday. Tazbiha Binte Aziz and Shahnuma Shantona, both from Viqarunnisa, finished second and third respectively. Omar Faruk of Dhaka Commerce College clinched the senior boys’ section and he was followed by Fanhan Ahmed and Mohammed Sayem of Western College. The three-day tournament will conclude today.

–Raihan Mahmood

Mercedes deny foul play on Rosberg retirement

Mercedes on Saturday ruled out foul play after confirming that Nico Rosberg’s retirement from last week’s Singapore Grand Prix was caused by contamination of the steering column electronics of the German’s car. Rosberg’s Mercedes limped out with electrical failure, with British teammate Lewis Hamilton going on to win and move three points clear of the German in their bitter rivalry for the drivers’ title. Explaining what went wrong, Mercedes tweeted: “Forensic analysis has revealed that the steering column electronic circuits were contaminated with a foreign substance.

“The contamination was not visible and did not manifest itself until Sunday as Nico went to the grid. “The result was an intermittent short circuit in the electronic circuits meaning @nico_rosberg could not command clutch or engine settings. “Fresh parts will be used at the forthcoming races. Our hard work on reliability processes will continue at the same intensive level. “To clarify, the contaminant was a substance used in normal pre-event servicing of the component. #NotAConspiracy :)” –AFP

Marquez on pole again in Aragon World champion Marc Marquez claimed his 11th pole position in 14 races this season with a new track record on Saturday for the Aragon Grand Prix. The Spaniard smashed his own previous record in taking pole last year by 0.617sec to edge Honda teammate and compatriot Dani Pedrosa in 1min 47.187sec. Italy’s Andrea Iannone will also start on the front row in third, but there was disappointment for the Yamahas as Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo qualified in sixth and seventh respectively. Marquez leads the championship standings by a mammoth 74 points, but endured by far the worst race of his season in San Marino two weeks ago as an early crash saw him finish 15th. However, he is a heavy favourite to edge ever closer to his second world championship in as many years as a MotoGP rider with a 12th win of the season after a dominant qualifying session on home soil. Victory on Sunday would take Marquez level with Australia’s Michael Doohan, who won 12 races in 1997, the record for most victories in one season in the sport’s elite division.

–AFP

Nadal targets Djokovic China record on return Rafael Nadal makes his long-awaited return to action at the China Open this week, where he will be seeking to challenge world number one Novak Djokovic’s 100 percent record in Beijing. Nadal, who has not competed since Wimbledon after picking up a right wrist injury, makes his comeback at a tournament he has happy memories of from last year, when he reclaimed the top spot after a previous injury layoff. The Spaniard returned to number one after dominating 2013’s hardcourt events and making the final at Beijing’s Olympic Park, a game he lost to Serb Djokovic. The current world number three has slipped down the rankings due to his absence from competition, and with Djokovic winning four of the last tournaments he entered in Beijing, the 28-year-old knows he will have a battle on his hands to close the gap on his fiercest rival. “Novak dominates, you know, almost all the tournaments,” said the 2005 China Open winner in Beijing.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 1, 3 8:30PM Champions League T20 Kolkata v Dolphins Star Sports 2 1:00AM Italian Serie A Palermo v Lazio Star Sports 4 1:00AM Barclays Premier League Stoke City v Newcastle United

BADMINTON RACKET

Qatar’s Femi Seun Ogunode (C) wins the men’s 100m final at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium during the 17th Asian Games yesterday

REUTERS

Ogunode sets Asian mark in 100m n Reuters, Incheon Qatar’s Femi Ogunode broke the 10-second mark at the Asian Games for the first time, splashing his way through the rain to 100 meters gold on Sunday, while South Korea’s big-hitting baseball team finally overcame stubborn Taiwan to win a tense final 6-3.

On a day when China smashed through the 100 gold medal mark, and second-placed South Korea put daylight between themselves and rivals Japan, Ogunode blasted out of the blocks and motored home ahead of China’s Su Bingtian and Japan’s Kei Takase.

Originally hailing from Nigeria, Ogunode won the 200-400 double four years ago and is going for the 100-200 in

Incheon. While his task was made easier by the withdrawal of Japan’s Yoshihide Kiryu due to injury, his time of 9.93 seconds in atrocious conditions confirmed his status as Asia’s fastest man.

In the women’s blue riband sprint, China’s Wei Yongli pipped Japan’s Chisato Fukushima by a hundredth of a second, with Kazakhstan’s Olga Safronova another hundredth back in third.

Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet finally got her hands on a gold medal after her disqualification from the women’s steeplechase the previous night was overturned.

The Kenyan-born 17-year-old had momentarily stepped off the track during her run at the Asiad Main Stadium and was then stunningly stripped of her gold medal while waiting for the prize-giving ceremony and had to be led away in tears.

However, reviews later showed that her infraction had not impeded any of her competitors and the decision was reversed, allowing Jebet to stand atop the podium at a rearranged ceremony on Sunday.

After nine days of competition, China are out of sight at the top of the medals table on 105 golds.

South Korea, who have finished runners-up at the last four Games, look likely to do so again after finishing the day with 42 golds, eight more than Japan.

The Northeast Asian rivals went head-to-head in the quarter-finals of the men’s soccer tournament on Sunday, with the hosts coming out on top 1-0 after scoring a late penalty kick.

Japanese captain Ryota Oshima inexplicably bundled Lee Jong-ho over in the box, leaving the South Korean substitute

with blood streaming for his nose, and Jang Hyun-soo slammed home the spot kick to the delight of more than 43,000 fans at Munhak Stadium.

South Korean fans also got the baseball gold medal they had been demanding after the hosts capitalised on a late meltdown by Taiwan to score four runs in the eighth inning.

Taiwan’s Lo Chia Jen hit Kang Jungho with a pitch in the eighth with the bases loaded to tie the score at 3-3, before Na Sung-bum’s grounder brought across the go-ahead run and Hwang Jae-gyun smacked a two-run single to make it 6-3.

South Korea, who also beat Taiwan in the 2010 final in Guangzhou, have now won four of the six baseball golds since the sport was introduced to the Games in 1994. l

Hundreds of angry badminton fans queued for tickets at the Gyeyang Gymnasium Sunday while supposedly sold-out Asian Games matches have been played in front of banks of empty seats. Fans say that the Games website showed the event was sold-out months ago, but the arena has been less than half full for most matches. “It was sold out in January on the Internet,” said Incheon resident Choi Ji-Sook. “But we’re seeing many seats empty. I’m a bit angry about it -- I think many companies bought group tickets. I don’t think we’ll get one now. We’ll have to watch it on TV.”

BOXER FLOORED Thailand’s Sopida Satumrum cried foul after her narrow boxing defeat to Si Haijuan of China. “If I had lost because I couldn’t really box, I would have accepted it. But I’m sure I fared better than her,” said Sopida, who was in tears after the announcement, according to The National newspaper.

“If they had looked at the number of punches thrown, or how I boxed throughout the fight, I’m sure I would have been declared the winner.” The Thai camp protested the result but they were told Si’s win was a majority decision by the five judges. l

Murray wins first title since Wimbledon Lehmann expects Johnson n to play against Pakistan AFP, Shenzhen

Andy Murray has won his first title since his historic Wimbledon victory last year, surviving a scare to beat Tommy Robredo in three sets Sunday at the inaugural ATP Shenzhen Open.

Murray, who is currently ranked 11th by the ATP, overcame the 32-year-old in a tense match in which he saved five match points at the tie break in the second set as he appeared to be heading for defeat.

The 27-year-old Scot then powered through the third set, losing only one game as he closed in on his first title for 15 months.

The victory boosts the British player’s hopes of qualifying for November’s ATP World Tour Finals in London, the end of season finale which features the top eight mens players.

Murray has now won the last four of his six meetings against Robredo, which includes a victory over the Spaniard in his march to the 2013 Wimbledon final.

He will move into tenth position on the back of his win in Shenzhen, the ATP said on its website. Murray is now on 3,405 points, just 105 points behind eighth-placed Tomas Berdych, who currently occupies the final place for

the London tournament.

Murray is also scheduled to play two further tournaments in China where 1,500 points are available. He is the sixth seed at the China Open this week, which is worth 500 points for the winner, and he will play at the

Shanghai Masters, which is worth 1,000 points.

The Shenzhen Open is a new ATP tournament in China, and its introduction this year means China in 2014 has three successive men’s tournaments over three weeks. l

Andy Murray of Britain raises his trophy after winning the men’s singles final match against Tommy Robredo of Spain at Shenzhen Open in Shenzhen yesterday REUTERS

n AFP, Sydney Australian coach Darren Lehmann said Sunday fearsome fast bowler Mitchell Johnson will play in the upcoming Tests and one-day series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.

Johnson was withdrawn from the Twenty20 Champions League with a rib injury, but left with the national squad for the UAE on Sunday.

Johnson is the world’s leading pace bowler after prominent roles in the recent Test series wins against England and South Africa.

Lehmann allayed fears that Johnson was in any doubt for the first Test against Pakistan, starting in Dubai on October 22.

“He’ll be fine to go. Expect him to play the one-dayers, obviously not the T20 but the one-dayers and the Test series,” Lehmann told reporters in Melbourne before the team’s departure.

“We’re lucky enough that in terms of the preparation, he did a fair bit of bowling before (getting injured), so it won’t be an issue.”

Lehmann was also upbeat that hamstrung captain Michael Clarke will be fit

for the opening Test.

“I’m confident, he’s confident -- and that’s about where it is at the moment,” Lehmann said.

“The tour game (on October 15-18) will be the telling time, I suppose, getting him out and playing that... but I’m pretty confident he’ll play.”

Clarke left ahead of the team last week to ensure he was acclimatised before beginning to stretch himself at training.

Allrounder Shane Watson and pacemen Ryan Harris and James Pattinson are out with injuries.

Mitch Marsh and Stephen O’Keefe are both well placed to make Test debuts as Lehmann ponders whether to play two spinners on the spin-friendly pitches.

“We always pick according to the conditions,” Lehmann said.

“It’s an Australian curator (groundsman) for the first Test, so it could be a decent wicket.”

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon could be set for some marathon spells, while Peter Siddle will return. Lehmann wants the lion-hearted Siddle to be both spearhead and workhorse. l

Europeans take aim at Nishikori claims Malaysian Open title another Ryder Cup triumph n Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

n

AFP, Gleneagles

Europe’s finest golfers were poised to retain the Ryder Cup as Sunday’s singles matches began, with their American counterparts needing to match the greatest comeback in Cup history to swipe the trophy.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell teed off against Masters runner-up Jordan Spieth before thousands of chanting and singing spectators at Gleneagles in the first of 12 concluding singles matches that will decide a winner in the biennial showdown.

The Europeans carried a 10-6 lead into the final day, built largely on a 7-1 edge in foursomes over the past two days that matched the 1975 US squad for the format’s most lopsided domination.

Holders Europe need 14 points to keep the Cup and appeared set for their sixth victory in the past seven tries and eighth in the past 10 events.

The Americans, who lead the overall rivalry 25-12 with two halved, need 14 1/2 points to reclaim the trophy, meaning eight victories alone would still not be enough.

Europe was also within reach of its largest Ryder Cup victory margin, wins of 18 1/2 to 9 1/2 at Oakland Hills in 2004 and Ireland’s K Club in 2006.

But both teams were mindful that 10-6 deficits have twice been overcome to win the Cup, the Europeans doing so in 2012 with the Miracle at Medinah after the US team acheieved the feat in 1999 at Brookline.

For Tom Watson’s American squad to pull off a Stunner in Scotland, it will need the greatest rally ever on European soil, their prior best a two-point reversal to win in England in 1949.

No US side has won in Europe since Watson guided the 1993 squad to victory at The Belfry when Spieth, the rookie hero for the Americans this time with 2 1/2 points, was only 60 days old.l

Japan’s Kei Nishikori picked up his third title of a breakout year by downing France’s Julien Benneteau 7-6 (4) 6-4 in the Malaysian Open final on Sunday.

The world number eight, who reached the final of the U.S. Open last time out, fought through a tricky tiebreak before sealing a pivotal break to go 4-3 up in the second set.

The break was part of a run of 12 unanswered points for the Japanese, the first man from an Asian country to reach a grand slam singles final, which swung the contest in his favour.

The victory for the 24-year-old, who has also won titles in Barcelona and Memphis this year, boosted his hopes of becoming the first Asian man to compete at the ATP Tour Finals in London in November.

Nishikori is currently sixth in the leaderboard with eight spots available for the prestigious season-ending event.

“It was a tough match,” Nishiko-

ri said after sealing his victory in one hour and 47 minutes.

“After I won the first set, I relaxed and was able to play attacking tennis.

“I am aiming to win the next tournament in Japan as well,” he said, referring to the hardcourt tournament beginning in Tokyo on Monday.

For the 32-year-old Benneteau, it was simply more Malaysian misery.

The loss was his third straight in the final of the Kuala Lumpur event and meant a 10th runners-up prize in his career as the wait goes on for a first ATP Tour title.

“Kei was simply too good in the key moments, especially at the end of the first set,” Benneteau said.

“I had some chances, but against these kinds of players, they are small chances and you have to take them. I tried to play my best and I almost did it.

“I’m disappointed with the loss, but very happy with the level of my game.

It’s hard to keep that level of intensity in every point and every game. I need to improve this to be more consistent,” Benneteau added. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Monday, September 29, 2014

RAMU ATTACKS

Prime suspect enjoying chairmanship Buddhists say they do not want the nightmare to come back n Udisa Islam Two years after the barbaric attacks on temples and houses of the Buddhists in Ramu, Cox’s Bazar even after the temples have been reconstructed, locals still do not feel secure as the alleged perpetrators are moving freely and even holding important positions despite facing charges.

The people who voiced concerns after the attack and took initiatives of filing cases have been living in fear as some of the masterminds are now in the good books of local political leaders, while some others are now on bail and have become threat to the witnesses.

A number of locals seeking anonymity said they could not sleep well in the nights as the memories haunt them.

They do not want to see such brutality again, and for that they want quick trial of the cases and exemplary punishment to the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, a proposal to include army personnel as members of the advisory committees at the temples have created division among the Buddhists. Some monks have termed the move unacceptable considering it as an interference.

Many youths welcoming the decision said when no one from outside the area could help them, the army gave them shelter and ensured security.

On September 29, 2012, the local Muslims took part in an anti-Buddhist devastation following a rumour that the Qur’an had been defamed by a Buddhist on Facebook. Witnesses say not only the members of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, but also the ruling Awami League men were involved in the attacks stage-managed in Ramu, Cox’s Bazar sadar, Ukhiya and Teknaf areas.

The Supreme Court on May 12 ordered key suspect Tofail Ahmed, chairman of Naikkhyangchhari upazila of Bandarban, to surrender before a lower court in Cox’s Bazar within four weeks in connection with the attack and vandalism of a Buddhist temple at Ramu.

But he is still enjoying his chairmanship.

Law enforcers arrested Tofail on November 29 last year. However, he was released from jail on April 8 this year following a High Court order. The Chamber Judge of the Supreme Court stayed the order on April 17 following an appeal filed by the government. It also sent the matter to the full bench of the apex court for hearing. The Supreme Court then disposed of the ap-

peal cancelling the bail.

According to the probe body formed by the Home Ministry, a meeting was held at Tofail’s residence a day before the attacks that destroyed around 18 temples and 50 houses of the Buddhist community.

Police on February 3 submitted charge sheets in six cases accusing 358 suspects for their alleged involvement in the attacks. In all the charge sheets, Tofail has been named as the mastermind.

As the names of a number of top attackers have been dropped from the charge sheet, the people who testified before the judicial inquiry committee are living in fear, local journalist Sunil Barua alleges.

Jhantu Barua, a youth organiser, said the young people of the area had been divided in many small groups after the attack due to interference by the outsiders. Creating the division was one of the aims of the onslaughts.

Police said then Ukhiya upazila chairman and Jamaat leader Shahjalal Chowdhury, and incumbent chairman and former upazila unit secretary of the BNP Sarowar Jahan Chowdhury were charged in three other cases for attacking temples in the area.

Currently, both the accused are on bail but removed from their positions.

Earlier, police submitted charge sheets in 11 other cases filed in Ramu, Cox’s Bazar sadar upazila, Ukhiya and Teknaf accusing 324 people.

In total, 682 people have been charge sheeted in 19 cases filed over the attacks.

Fear also grips Satyaprio Mohathero, a senior monk, said: “As Buddhists, we are non-violent and never think about violence. We do not want the nightmare to come back but we are still in fear of something which I cannot identify yet.”

Bankim Barua, general secretary of Buddhist Federation in Cox’s Bazar, said after separate investigations, the Home Ministry probe committee named 205 people as accused while the judicial inquiry committee led by Chittagong Session Judge Abdul Kuddus Mia found the involvement of 298 people in the attacks.

Tofayel Ahmed, additional SP of Cox’s Bazar, said police were active to arrest the suspects. He said he did not know that the prime suspects were yet to be arrested saying that he had joined in the district after submission of the charge sheets. l

Members of Dhaka University Bouddha Chhatra Sangsad mark the second anniversary of Ramu Tragedy at the base of Aparajeyo Bangla in TSC area yesterday

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE TREATMENT IN BANGLADESH

Improved facilities but not enough surgeons n Moniruzzaman Uzzal Bangladesh has achieved significant advancement in the field of cardiovascular disease treatment over the past few years, with around 50 public and private hospitals currently providing treatment across the country.

However, there are not enough specialised cardiac surgeons to attend all the patients in the country, according to sources.

Among the public health facilities, medical college hospitals in Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Bogra, and Dinajpur, and Sheikh Abu Naser Hospital in Khulna have fully-functional cardiology department and catheterisation laboratories with trained manpower.

But despite significant improvement in the diagnosis process, the opportunities of cardiac surgeries are available at only two facilities – National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) in the capital and the Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

Between these two institutions, the NICVD has been catering to the highest number of cardiac patients from all over the country. According to the 2014 Health Bulletin published by the Directorate General of Health Services, around one million people visited the outdoor and 249,454 patients visited the indoor of the NICVD between 2008 and 2013.

Amid this situation, Bangladesh is celebrating World Heart Day 2014 today, along with the rest of the world, with this year’s slogan “Heart-healthy environment.”

According to health experts, cardiovascular diseases are one of the major health problems throughout the world.

In Bangladesh, it is emerging as a serious health problem.

According to the latest survey on cardiovascular diseases by National Heart Foundation, hypertension is prevalent in about 20-25% of the country’s adult population, ischaemic heart disease in around 10% of adult population, rheumatic heart disease in around 1.2 adults per thousand, and congenital heart disease in around eight new-born babies per thousand.

Changing of dietary habits and lifestyle, rapid urbanisation, growth of commuting, tobacco use, lack of physical exercise, consumption of processed food and beverages, etc are the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.

Not enough surgeons

This reporter found that, while there are around 400-450 cardiologists in the country, there were less than 100 specialised cardiac surgeons, with around 90 of them working at different public and private medial colleges and hospitals, and specialised hospitals in the capital.

There are more than 25 cardiac surgeons currently working at the NICVD, where the number of sanctioned cardiology units are only eight. Five extra units have been opened at the institute, while pressure from different influential sections have been coming to open more units.

Seeking anonymity, a high official at the institution told the Dhaka Trib-

Stephen Hawking claims there is no god n Tribune Desk

might pose a problem for his plans to fly into space once Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital rocket plane goes into service. But whether or not Hawking gets into outer space himself, he sees that final frontier as a life insurance policy.

“It could prevent the disappearance of humanity by colonizing other planets,” El Mundo quoted Hawking as saying.

But what about the aliens?

REUTERS

Renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has claimed that there is no God and stated that miracles stemming out of religious beliefs were “not compatible with science”.

However, he also expressed his beliefs that space travel offers the best hope for our species’ immortality.

Hawking expressed his observations during the buildup to this week’s Starmus Festival at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where Hawking and other scientific luminaries have gathered for rounds of talks, tours and elbow-rubbing, reports Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

In an exclusive interview with the newspaper, Hawkings expressed his views on religion and the origins of the universe.

In the past, there’s been a tiny bit of ambiguity: In “A Brief History of Time,” Hawking writes that the discovery of a unifying set of scientific principles known as the theory of everything would enable scientists to “know the mind of God.” But in a follow-up book about the quest for the theory of everything, titled “The Grand Design,” Hawking said the mechanism behind the origin of the universe was becoming so well known that God was no longer necessary.

When asked about those two references, Hawking replied: “Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by ‘we would know the mind of God’ is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God,

which there isn’t. I’m an atheist.”

Hawking addressed the issue more delicately several years ago when he told Reuters that he was “not religious in the normal sense,” and said “God does not intervene to break the laws” that He decreed.

Since then, however, there’s been a lot more theorizing devoted to the origin of the universe. Hawking now believes that an approach known as M-theory will eventually reveal the grand design of the cosmos.

“In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind,” Hawking told El Mundo.

Space travel as life insurance Hawking’s views carry a lot of weight in

MEHEDI HASAN

popular culture — in large part because his studies of black holes, the nature of spacetime and other deep subjects have earned him a reputation as one of the smartest people on Earth, reports NBC News.

Another part of his appeal comes from his triumph over adversity: For decades, he has been fighting against amylotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS — a neurogenerative disease that’s left him almost completely paralyzed. He can communicate only through a computer that’s controlled by the twitches of his cheek. Despite that hardship, he continues to travel and give voice-synthesized lectures at the age of 72.

The El Mundo interview says that his doctors no longer allow him to fly — which

There’s a catch: If there are other civilizations out there, we’d better be careful not to run across the bad guys, a la “Prometheus.”

Hawking has previously warned against calling too much attention to ourselves, for fear of attracting the wrong sort of extraterrestrials. Such a visit might well be similar to Christopher Columbus’ visit to the Americas, “which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans,” Hawking said.

But how likely is it that intelligent life exists? Surely someone who’s skeptical about God’s existence would be skeptical about E.T.’s existence as well, right? Not really.

During his own Starmus lecture, evolutionary biologist (and outspoken atheist) Richard Dawkins said the astronomical evidence suggests it’s “most likely” that the universe has many forms of life — although those life forms may be on “islands separated by vast distances.”

“The idea that we are alone in the universe seems to me completely implausible and arrogant,” El Mundo quoted Dawkins as saying. “Considering the number of planets and stars that we know exist, it’s extremely unlikely that we are the only form of evolved life.” l

une that the surgeons are not willing to transfer outside of or even to different places in Dhaka.

“For further advancement of cardiovascular treatment, cardiac surgery facilities must be improved in numbers, and the surgeons should immediately be transferred there,” he said.

Treatment out of reach

There are a good number of private health facilities where both cardiology and cardiac surgery treatments are available within and outside of Dhaka.

However, the treatment cost in these hospitals is much higher than any public hospital.

For example, the cost of angiogram at the NICVD is around Tk3,000-4,000, whereas it costs around Tk13,50022,000 in private facilities. Drug eluting stents cost Tk1.3-1.4 lakh in the NICVD, but around Tk1.8-2 lakh at private hospitals. Pacemakers cost Tk75,00080,000 at NICVD, but more than Tk1 lakh at private hospitals.

Professor Dr Abdullah Al Shafi Mazumder, director of the NICVD, claimed the decentralisation of the cardiovascular treatment at the district level had clearly showed that Bangladesh has improved a lot in this field.

“There was a time when diagnosing cardiovascular diseases anywhere else but Dhaka was impossible. But now, it is possible,” he said.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Brig Gen (retd) Abdul Malek, national professor and secretary-general of the National Heart Foundation, said several

public and private hospitals have been providing cardiovascular disease treatment of world-standard in Bangladesh, but unfortunately the services were mostly available around Dhaka.

“The process needs to be decentralised, as in cardiac surgery facilities should be made accessible at division level,” he said.

Two Dhaka colleges yet to catch up

Dhaka Medial College Hospital and Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, two renowned public hospitals in the capital, have yet to have fully-functional cardiac surgery facilities. There are cardiac surgeons stationed in these two hospitals, but they cannot perform surgeries as there are no operation theatres.

This reporter found out that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sanctioned more than Tk30 crore in two phases to buy necessary medical equipment in order to set up modern operation theatres in Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital in the past few years.

But the money was sent back to the ministry as the authorities failed to purchase the machineries within scheduled time.

Seeking anonymity, several ministry and directorate officials told the Dhaka Tribune that the hospital authorities were not keen on buying the costly machineries, because a section of influential doctors, leaders and contractors forced them to not follow the public procurement regulation and buy substandard machineries. l

Protest over schoolgirl molestation by AL leader’s son n Our Correspondent, Sylhet Students of two schools in Chhalia blocked Sylhet-Sunamganj road for two hours yesterday morning protesting the molestation of a fourth-grader by the son of an Awami League leader.

Protesters comprised of students of Chhalia Government Primary School and Rangitila Government Primary School.

They later lifted the blockade when Officer-in-Charge of Sylhet Airport police station Shah Zaman assured them of arresting the accused.

Locals said Ripon alias Rupom, son of Khadim Nagar union Awami League President Mujibur Rahman Moyur, picked the student of Chhalia Govern-

ment Primary School up while she was on her way to school on Saturday and molested her after taking her to a nearby sugarcane plantation.

She was rushed to Osmani Hospital and is now receiving treatment there.

Locals also gathered at Chhalia Government Primary School during yesterday’s blockade and they warned of stern programmes, provided the accused was not held within 24 hours.

The school’s headmaster Shikangshu Ranjan Das, assistant teacher Sayera Begum and leaders of different local associations addressed the gathering.

OC Shah Zaman said a case was about to be filed in this connection but the accused could not be nabbed yet. l

Coconut trader alleges police harassment and torture n Our Correspondent, Jessore A coconut trader in Keshabpur upazila claimed his rival businessman persuaded police to harass and torture him.

Mafizul Islam said police beat him up and scolded him at the local police station several times, and they did it at the instigation of trader Shahidul Islam.

“Police also demanded Tk2.30 lakh from me,” he claimed.

Officer-in-charge of Keshabpur police station Abdul Jalil, however, de-

nied the charges. Addressing a press briefing at Jessore Press Club yesterday, Mafizul said Shahidul owed him Tk41,936, and collaborated with police to harass him as he refused to sell another truck of coconuts on credit.

“On February 26, police picked me up from my house and tortured me at their camp. I was harassed several times afterwards. My relatives and I went to the police station on June 1 in response to a summons issued on May 29 and they harassed me again,” he said. 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 European steel sector

set for massive job cuts

B4 Last-minute promises to

Scotland will scar the UK

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Bangladesh may get 1% more share of global RMG market by 2020 Low cost labour, higher value-added textile sector keys to boost growth TOP FIVE HOTLIST EXPORT DESTINATIONS Rank 1 2 3 4 5

2013

2030

USA

USA

Germany

Germany

UK

UK

France

Canada

Canada

Turkey *Source: HSBC Trade Forecast

n Kayes Sohel Bangladesh’s share of global exports among 25 economies will increase to 3.8% by 2020 against the backdrop of low cost labour force, says a new report.

The 25 economies are Germany, Japan, France, UK, Australia, USA, Ireland, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Mexico, UAE, Brazil, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, India, China and Vietnam.

HSBC Trade Forecast, in its latest report released recently, said Bangladesh’s share of textile and garment exports will rise from 2.8% in 2010 to 3.8% in 2020 amongst the 25 economies.

Over 70% of survey respondents said the outlook for trade volumes will improve over the next six months, with almost 80% expecting the currency to have a favourable impact on business growth over this period.

It said low cost and a large number of young labour have encouraged the rapid growth of the textiles and garment sectors in Bangladesh, making it a leading supplier of ready-made garments to the West.

The strong foothold Bangladesh has in this market will underpin the growth in total merchandise exports over the coming decade, it said.

The ready-made garments make up around 80% of total merchandise ex-

Workers are performing duties at a RMG factory in Dhaka

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Mozena: Bangladesh’s RMG undergoes massive transformation n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena has observed that Bangladesh’s apparel sector has underwent a massive transformation in the last one year to make it more compliant with global standards.

“Today is September 28, 2014 and think about what it was a year back, just three or four months after Rana Plaza disaster. It’s a night and day difference,” said Mozena while addressing a programme of Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh held yesterday at the National Press Club in the capital.

“Bangladesh, in my view, has made significant progress in moving forward with this transformation,” he reiterated.

The readymade garment sector in Bangladesh received international attention after the twin tragedies – a fire incident at Tazreen Fashions in 2012 and collapse of Rana Plaza – that killed over 1,200 people, mostly women.

Mozena, however, said still there are some areas where additional progresses are needed.

Stakeholders including the government, owners, workers and general supporters along with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) were working together to help the industry transform itself, he added.

The United States is the single biggest export destination for Bangladesh where exports marked over US$5bn.

He said a transformation of the apparel sector was much more important than that of the reinstatement of Generalised System of Preference (GSP) offered by the US. Regarding energy exploration, the US envoy said many international oil companies, many of which from the US, were interested in exploring gas reserves in Bangladesh.

“You see a very broad international interest in exploring the Bay of Bengal area both offshore and onshore, which includes American companies as well,” he said.

About the price structure, he said: “Bangladesh can ask whatever it feels is best for its interests and the compa-

Bangladesh, in my view, has made significant progress in moving forward with this transformation nies around the world would act on to that price structure.”

Bangladesh has recently resolved maritime delimitation dispute with India and Myanmar and it has more than 1,18,813 square kilometers of waters altogether comprising territorial sea, exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles.

The ambassador, who has been working here for three years, identified infrastructure development, river erosion and governance as the biggest challenges for Bangladesh.

Apart from infrastructural development, power, energy, governance, red tapes, corruption, threat of political instability are also major challenges for the country, said Mozena. “All of these challenges have solutions,” he, however, added.

About corruption and governance, he said: “These are issues of commitment and when Bangladesh decides to address and resolve them then, that can be done as well.” l

of 2014 after growing by 11.7% last year, according to the report. The US and the EU are the key export markets, taking almost two thirds of Bangladesh’s total exports last year and demand from these markets is on the upswing this year.

It said Bangladesh has a large young population and costs of production are lower than that in China. This presents opportunities for growth in low cost manufacturing sectors such as textiles and garments, which have been key drivers of growth in the economy.

The apparel industry alone employs around 4 million workers, with 70% being women. Bangladeshi exports rose by 11.9% in 2013 and have risen at a similar pace in the first five months of 2014.

New safety laws for textile factories introduced after a series of disasters could boost investors’ confidence.

Meanwhile, the country has the fourth largest population in Asia and the working age population is growing. Investment should be increasingly aimed

at services and consumer products to take advantage of this trend.

Amongst the 25 economies in the Trade Forecast, Bangladesh gets around 20% of its imports from China and by 2020 this share will have risen to closer to 30%. Other Emerging Market economies in Asia will also gain market share in Bangladesh at the expense of developed economies.

More than half of the Bangladesh’s population is employed in agriculture and animal products is the third biggest export sector, contributing almost 10% of export growth from 2014-16.

But the HSBC said as more of the population gradually moves towards urban areas, agriculture will decline in relative importance.

The country is seeking to boost its trade prospects further by freeing up trade with many of its neighbours, hoping to broaden its export base into higher value-added production and encourage FDI, the report said. l

40% RMG units fail to pay Eid bonus within deadline

Prime Insurance starts mobile apps n Tribune Report

United Air saga under BSEC scanner

n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

Prime Insurance Company Limited, for the first time in its kind, has launched mobile apps to provide services for its customers in a faster and better way.

The insurance sector in the country witnesses apps introduction in a bid to facilitate services.

The apps would help check necessary information, receive services and send renewal requests by the clients of the company.

With the help of the new system, the clients of Prime of Insurance Company Limited will be able to enjoy faster services and get information from the insurance company.

The applications are designed with interactions that can also help the services seekers to get quick response.

“We have launched the apps to provide better services at the shortest possible time for our business partners as well as our clients,” said Managing Director Mohammodi Khanam at a media briefing at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.

Prime Insurance Company Limited has also launched two special products, which are Prime Health Plan and Hajj and Umrah Travel Policy.

Khanam said these products are unique as well as economic.

The official added the Prime Insurance is trying its best to serve all of its clients coming under its umbrella. l

Around 60% readymade garment factories claimed to have already paid Eid bonuses to their workers within the deadline set by the government, said a BGMEA office bearer.

“The rest 40% will be paid within a day or two,” BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The estimate was based on a monitor by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which found 612 units out of 1,000 already complied with the deadline that expired yesterday.

The government had earlier set the deadline to avert possible workers’ unrest that often takes place ahead of the festival like Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha.

Of the factories monitored, 14 have been identified as problematic but, Azim said, the problems could be resolved soon with the help the stakeholders concerned.

There are 13 other factories having problems in paying wages, but it would also be possible to overcome as we are witnessing the progress every day, he added.

BGMEA launched the monitoring through its 15 cells across the country to know the latest situation of the factories over the payment of wages and

ports from Bangladesh, with the value of exports in this sub-sector being greater than exports from India.

In 2013, half of Bangladesh’s exports of garments and textiles went to Europe and a quarter to the US. The authorities have introduced new safety laws for textile factories to strengthen standards, which has helped reinforce established relationships with international buyers and in turn should help the industry to expand production, the report noted.

“The 77% increase in minimum wage for garment workers implemented in December 2013 will add to firm’s costs, but the industry is expected to remain competitive in global markets,” said the HSBC. To improve longer-term growth prospects, Bangladesh will need to raise labour productivity and move into higher value-added textile sectors, it said.

Export values of ready-made garments rose by 13% in the first five months

bonus before Eid-ul-Fitr.

“Most of the units those already paid the bonuses are well-off and compliant factories,” said Sirajul Islam Rony, President of Bangladesh National Garment Workers Employees League (BNGWEL). He said the problematic ones are mainly the small and non-compliant factories.

“But a good number of factory owners did not pay salaries for the month of August, which is a matter of concern,” said Rony, urging the owners to pay wages soon to avert unrest.

Earlier, State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu announced that the readymade garment workers will receive festival bonuses on the occasions of Eid-ul Azha and Durga Puja by September 28 and the monthly wages by October 2.

Meanwhile, RMG workers-leaders staged demonstration and demanded payment of bonuses and salaries for the month of September before October 2.

The workers leaders brought out a protest rally in front of the National Press Club under the banner of Garment Sramik Sanghoti.

Taslima Akter, convenor of Garment Sramik Sanghoti, urged the factory owners to pay the bonus and wages before the government set date. She said: “We’ve not yet been assured of getting the pays as per the government directive.” l

n Tribune Report

The securities regulator will probe into the recent share trading pattern of United Airways in line with its flight suspension to resumption.

The move of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) came a day after the private airlines resuming operation following a threeday suspension.

“The commission has formed an enquiry committee on the whole issue relating to the suspension of operation, reconstruction of the company board of directors, coming back into operation and the recent trade pattern of United Airways (BD) Limited,” the regulator said in a statement yesterday.

The three-member panel, led by its director Abul Kalam, has been asked to

submit report within next 21 working days.

Since its corporate deceleration and later an announcement about flight cancellation for an indefinite period, share trading pattern of United Airways had raised eyebrows of many, even the company itself.

“Share trading on Thursday was more than unusual,” United Airways Deputy General Manager Kamrul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune earlier.

He said it was a question of survival when a company declared that it would suspend operations, but the following day so many shares were traded and it surprised the management also.

On September 24, the company declared that it would suspend its flight operations on cash crunch grounds when 66 lakh shares were traded. But most

surprisingly, a total of about 328.6 lakh shares were traded on the following day.

On September 22, Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury resigned from the post of chairman and managing director, and the board was reconstituted a day after the company declared 10% stock dividend for the year ended on June, 2014.

But in a dramatic move, the company resumed flight operation from Saturday after a three-day suspension.

Yesterday, the price of United Airways stock bounced back with a rally of 7.4%. The stocks saw no sellers throughout the session except one seller that came in the final minute.

Its share prices slumped 7.7% in the previous trading session on the news that the private airliner canceled all its flights for an indefinite period due to fund crisis. l

Saif Powertec debuts at stock market today n Tribune Report The Saif Powertec Limited will begin its share trading today at the stock exchanges under the fuel and power category.

The company raised Tk36 crore through IPO by floating 1.2 crore ordinary shares, each priced at Tk10, in addition to Tk20 as premium to finance its new battery project.

At present, 15 fuel and power companies are listed on the Dhaka Stock

Exchange, accounting for about 15% of the total market capitalisation.

The company is engaged in sales and services of construction, material handling and power generation equipment in Bangladesh through exclusive agreements with world renowned manufacturers such as Dossan Infracore Co (Daewoo Heavy Industries), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Babcock Borsig Power Service, Karrena, Foster Wheeler, Ana Navids and Carmanah Technologies.

According to its latest financial statement, from January to March this year its net profit stood at Tk2.5 crore, a sharp rise of almost 60% in the same period a year earlier. During the period its earning per share was Tk0.56 against Tk0.35 for the same period of the previous year.

It is to be noted that basic EPS has been calculated based on weighted average pre-IPO paid-up number of shares for both periods. l

Banglalink, GP declare ‘penalty’ for dropped calls n Muhammad Zahidul Islam The two market leader mobile phone operators in the country are for the first time going to introduce “minute back offer” for their customers as penalty in the wake of dropped calls.

The second largest operator in terms of subscribers, Banglalink,

yesterday at a press conference declared its offer which will be effective from today while Grameenphone, the market leader, sent a press release yesterday evening declaring its offer to take effect on October 1. At a press conference, Banglalink said it has identified call drops as a major nuisance preventing customers from enjoying a full-

fledged mobile communication.

That’s why Banglalink for the first time in Bangladesh is offering “Minute Back on Call Drop”, it added.

Ziad Shatara, CEO of the mobile company, said: “We are committed to providing our subscribers with the best value proposition.”

The innovative feature of “Minute Back on Call Drop” is a unique

and unprecedented proposition in the market, a testament to the capacity development and superiority of the mobile operator’s overall network strength, he added.

According to Grameenphone, the offer is in celebration of reaching a milestone of its five crore subscribers. Earlier, the company also offered the Free Facebook

Browsing for all of its subscribers for a same celebration.

As a treat to all Grameenphone users ahead of the Eid ul-Azha, GP announced that it would give 60 seconds reimbursement for dropped voice calls within its network starting from October 1, according to a release issued this evening.  B3 COLUMN 1

B2

DSEX gains for 9th straight session n Tribune Report

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was up by 87 points to settle at 9,526 At the end of the day, it closed at almost 5,072, surging 45 points or 1%, after hitting the highest 5,126 in the first session and lowest 5,027 in the final session.

The Shariah index DSES rose 17 points or 1.5% to 1,199. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,966 with a rise of almost 17 points or 1%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was up by 87 points to settle at 9,526.

Besides bank and cement sectors, all other major sectors posted decent

DSE LOSER

Mozaffar H.Spinning-N Ratanpur Steel -N Shurwid Ind. -N Rahima Food -Z RAK Ceramics-A Navana CNG-A GPH Ispat Ltd-A ACI Formulations-A I P D C -A BD Finance-A

Closing (% Change) -19.34 -8.13 -7.73 -6.37 -6.30 -5.98 -5.90 -5.78 -5.68 -5.42

CSE LOSER Company Mozaffar H.Spinning-N Samata LeatheR -Z Provati Insur.-A 6th ICB M F-A Prime Islami Life -A Ratanpur Steel -N Shurwid Ind. -N GPH Ispat Ltd-A Safko Spinning-A RAK Ceramics-A

Closing (% Change) -19.64 -9.80 -9.05 -8.57 -7.78 -7.64 -7.23 -6.92 -6.86 -6.58

5072.20030

(+) 0.90%

1966.44726

(+) 0.86%

15717.06030

(+) 0.65%

12746.11850

(+) 2.91%

9525.97410

(+) 0.92%

Average (% Change) -19.21 -7.51 -5.37 -5.67 -2.53 -0.57 -2.17 -3.71 -2.22 -2.15 Average (% Change) -20.23 -9.69 -2.99 -8.68 -4.88 -7.37 -6.11 -1.77 -7.59 -2.20

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 21.96 80.83 38.09 51.44 66.27 76.20 55.50 167.90 17.18 16.41

ClosingAvg. 21.81 23.03 21.38 54.37 83.00 80.57 37.93 55.50 28.50 66.60

Closing

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 717.51 809.08 111.34 1610.35 316.08 2085.56 3.88 763.71 1858.11 40.29 169.94 57.11 176.09 442.75 84.23 78.56 487.17 558.46 209.71 432.75 0.30

DHIGH 22.80 84.90 40.90 55.00 73.00 79.80 58.00 176.00 18.20 17.20

DHIGH

22.10 23.00 20.10 54.40 83.00 77.40 37.20 53.80 28.50 63.90

Turnover (Million Taka)

Fu-Wang Food A BD Submarine Cable-A Square Pharma -A Singer BD -A SummitAlliancePort.-A Eastern InsurA Standard Ceramic -A Rangpur Dairy-N Keya Cosmetics -A UNITED AIR-A

22.40 23.10 21.70 55.20 83.00 84.80 40.40 57.00 28.50 71.00

Company

11,012.98 228,428,886 196,249

Traded Issues

303

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

173

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

125

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,702.99

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.76

CSE key features September 28-2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

713.86

Turnover (Volume)

17,853,889

Number of Contract

24,949

Traded Issues

235

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

131

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

99

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,603.28

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.55

Turnover in Million

DLOW 21.30 76.00 36.20 47.70 62.00 72.00 52.00 156.00 16.00 15.00

21.30 23.00 20.10 54.00 83.00 76.20 36.80 53.20 28.50 62.00

Latest EPS

22.661 279.881 31.314 3.035 149.604 137.979 51.224 122.153 4.943 22.803

Turnover in Million

DLOW

% change 6.52 7.35 1.01 14.62 2.87 18.94 0.04 6.93 16.87 1.54 0.52 1.60 4.02 0.76 0.71 4.42 5.07 1.90 3.93 0.00

Million Taka 37.83 42.31 5.23 122.58 28.79 107.12 78.80 103.70 12.70 8.42 8.57 15.29 25.71 11.32 2.05 13.61 39.09 29.96 44.23 0.01

CSE

% change 5.13 5.74 0.71 16.62 3.91 14.53 0.00 10.69 14.06 1.72 1.14 1.16 2.07 3.49 1.54 0.28 1.85 5.30 4.06 6.00 0.00

2.10 3.03 0.75 -1.01 1.76 4.56 2.80 3.36 0.92 0.26

Latest EPS

2.639 0.035 0.171 0.277 0.008 27.137 4.456 0.639 0.043 14.009

Million Taka 755.34 851.39 116.57 1732.93 344.88 2192.68 3.88 842.52 1961.81 52.99 178.37 65.68 191.38 468.46 95.54 80.62 500.79 597.55 239.67 476.98 0.31

Monday, September 29, 2014

Closing (% Change) 9.66 9.22 8.71 8.68 8.42 8.36 7.96 7.55 7.36 7.34

CSE GAINER

2.10 0.09 1.52 6.47 4.95 3.03 0.75 2.80 1.06 1.76

Latest PE 10.5 26.7 50.8 -ve 37.7 16.7 19.8 50.0 18.7 63.1

Company Fu-Wang Food A BD Submarine Cable-A Square Pharma -A Singer BD -A SummitAlliancePort.-A Rangpur Dairy-N Keya Cosmetics -A Meghna Life Ins. -A Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A UNITED AIR-A

10.00 9.70 8.74 8.72 8.50 7.98 7.83 7.46 6.38 6.36

Average (% Change) 10.98 6.85 7.53 9.01 10.80 7.73 7.40 9.46 4.23 9.05

ClosingAvg.

Closing

26.04 147.97 249.55 230.61 54.15 35.86 48.80 22.76 24.64 11.81

ClosingAvg.

26.10 152.80 253.40 233.00 54.10 36.30 48.80 22.80 24.80 11.70

Closing

26.37 148.36 250.83 231.28 53.96 22.71 24.67 108.28 4.93 11.81

26.40 152.70 253.90 233.20 53.60 23.00 24.80 108.00 5.00 11.70

DHIGH 26.10 153.80 253.40 233.10 54.80 36.70 48.80 23.20 25.40 11.90

DHIGH 26.40 153.10 253.90 233.20 54.30 23.40 25.10 108.50 5.00 12.00

DLOW 22.00 130.00 230.00 200.00 45.00 33.90 48.80 20.00 20.80 9.90

DLOW 23.00 139.40 233.10 210.10 50.90 21.10 23.40 106.10 4.80 11.50

Turnover in Million 44.761 212.125 398.497 99.236 110.512 6.706 0.024 80.974 92.026 98.682

Turnover in Million 4.515 27.595 30.320 18.941 6.958 7.190 11.304 0.720 0.138 17.174

Latest EPS 0.96 2.42 10.04 6.28 0.96 2.42 1.32 1.16 1.93 1.02

Latest EPS 0.96 2.42 10.04 6.28 0.96 1.16 1.93 6.45 0.71 1.02

Latest PE 27.1 61.1 24.9 36.7 56.4 14.8 37.0 19.6 12.8 11.6

Latest PE 27.5 61.3 25.0 36.8 56.2 19.6 12.8 16.8 6.9 11.6

News, analysis and recent disclosers From TradeServers: QSMDRYCELL: The Board of Directors has recommended 5% cash dividend and 10% stock dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 27.11.2014, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Hall-2, RAOWA Complex, Mohakhali, Dhaka. Record Date: 20.10.2014.

The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 1.55, NAV per share of Tk. 53.85 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.26 for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

PENINSULA: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 13.11.2014, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: The King of Chittagong, In front of Panchlaish Thana, Chittagong. Record Date: 15.10.2014. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 2.70, NAV per share of Tk. 54.75 and NOCFPS of Tk. 3.00 for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

BIFC: The Company has further informed that the subscription period for rights issue of the Company will be from 09.11.2014 to 30.11.2014. Record Date for entitlement of rights share: 19.10.2014.

RENATA: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the entity rating (surveillance) of the Company as "AA1" based on audited financial statements up to December 31, 2013; bank liability posi-

tion as on March 31, 2014 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

GPHISPAT: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the entity rating of the Company as "AA3" based on audited financial statements up to April 30, 2014; bank liability (31 August 2014) and other relevant quantitative and qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

JMISMDL: Alpha Credit Rating Limited (AlphaRating) has rated the Company as "A" in the long term and "AR-2" in the short term along with a positive outlook based on audited financial statements of the Company up to June 30, 2014 and relevant qualitative information up to September 24, 2014.

COMPANY NEWS: SAIF Powertec Limited: Trading of the shares of SAIF Powertec Limited will commence at DSE from September 29, 2014 under 'N' category. DSE Trading Code for SAIF Powertec Limited is "SAIFPOWER" and DSE Company Code is 20623.

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.

Dividend/AGM FAREASTLIF: 40% cash, AGM: 03.11.2014, Record date: 16.10.2014.

UNITEDAIR: 10% stock, Record date: 20.10.2014.

EHL: 15% cash & 5% stock, AGM: 30.10.2014, Record Date: 02.10.2014.

BANGAS: 50% stock, AGM: 21.10.2014, Record date: 30.09.2014.

BDBUILDING: 5% cash & 20% stock, AGM: 23.10.2014, Record date: 30.09.2014.

MATINSPINN: 25% cash, AGM: 30.10.2014, Record date: 02.10.2014.

CENTRALPHL: 5% cash and 15% stock, AGM & EGM: 23.10.2014, Record date for AGM & EGM: 29.09.2014.

DBH: 25% cash, AGM: 25.11.2014, Record date: 25.09.2014.

DESHBANDHU: 10% stock, EGM & AGM: 19.10.2014, Record date for AGM & EGM: 21.09.2014.

SINGERBD: 160% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 17.09.2014.

MHSML: 25% stock, AGM: 30.10.2014, Record date: 25.09.2014.

10.4 255.9 14.1 8.4 16.8 26.6 50.6 19.8 26.9 37.8

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

Total

Closing (% Change)

Average (% Change) 10.86 6.34 7.20 8.65 11.49 7.01 7.65 8.17 7.36 9.15

Latest PE

The bull market remained alive and well and almost all the major stocks keep exceeding the investor’s expectations every single day

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

22.10 78.00 37.00 48.50 64.00 73.90 54.20 161.50 16.60 15.70

DSE GAINER

Number of Contract

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index :

DSE key features September 28-2014

Turnover (Volume)

gains. Pharmaceuticals advanced the most 4%, followed by power 2%.

Food and allied, non-banking financial institutions and telecommunication edged higher.

Th trading remained persistently robust at DSE. The total turnover stood at Tk1,100 crore, a slight fall of 0.2% over previous session.

The share prices of United Airways bounced back with a rally of 7.4% after it resumed its operation.

The stocks saw no sellers throughout the session except one seller that came in the final minute.

Its share prices slumped 7.7% in the previous trading session on the news that the private airliner cancelled all its flights for an indefinite period due to fund crisis.

The gainers took a strong lead over the losers as out of 302 issues traded, 168 advanced, 105 declined and 29 remained unchanged.

Zenith Investments said the bull market remained alive and well and almost all the major stocks keep exceeding the investor’s expectations every single day. The total turnover volume kept making record highs each day, and the indexes refused to take any respite from its continuous uptrend.

MJL Bangladesh Ltd remained at the top of turnovers’ chart with liquidity of over Tk54 crore. It was followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Delta Life Insurance, Beximco Ltd and Grameenphone. l

The Dhaka Stock Exchange benchmark index DSEX extended its rally for the ninth consecutive session yesterday, its ever-longest gaining streak.

The market opened on buoyant mood as usual in the morning as DSEX rose 100 points, but the pace of momentum failed to sustain at the close of trade due to profit booking on banking sector that lost over 1%.

Company

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

% change 6.43 7.25 0.99 14.75 2.94 18.66 0.03 7.17 16.70 0.45 1.52 0.56 1.63 3.99 0.81 0.69 4.26 5.09 2.04 4.06 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

MJL BD Ltd.-A Square Pharma -A Beximco Pharma -A Delta Life Insu. -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Grameenphone-A Active Fine Chem.-A Titas Gas TDCLA Ratanpur Steel -N BSRM Steels-A

Padma Oil Co. -A IDLC Finance -A Golden Son -A Summit Power -A BD Submarine Cable-A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Square Pharma -A BD Submarine Cable-A Ratanpur Steel -N MJL BD Ltd.-A Singer BD -A Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A UNITED AIR-A Summit Power -A Beximco Pharma -A

BSRM Steels-A Aftab Auto.-A GBB Power Ltd-A RAK Ceramics-A Active Fine Chem.-A

VolumeShares 3,501,723 1,596,879 5,150,678 1,884,130 7,264,408 868,460 3,563,716 3,353,102 3,462,600 2,299,295

Value in Million 542.70 398.50 381.00 361.40 351.95 346.34 286.05 285.50 279.88 273.10

% of TotalTurnover 4.93 3.62 3.46 3.28 3.20 3.14 2.60 2.59 2.54 2.48

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

688,177 3,196,501 4,207,676 4,902,728 1,433,546

783,393 120,880 186,000 336,800 165,993 81,899 799,000 1,454,151 376,431 215,485

128,405 160,160 561,467 210,350 163,836

236.98 236.97 235.79 212.89 212.13

38.04 30.32 27.60 27.14 25.94 18.94 17.93 17.17 16.34 15.91

15.24 14.32 14.08 14.01 13.11

2.15 2.15 2.14 1.93 1.93

5.35 4.26 3.88 3.82 3.65 2.66 2.52 2.42 2.30 2.24

2.14 2.01 1.98 1.97 1.84

ClosingP 156.50 253.40 72.80 188.20 47.50 397.50 80.60 85.50 78.00 116.50

347.80 74.50 56.10 43.00 152.80

ClosingP

47.80 253.90 152.70 77.40 157.40 233.20 23.10 11.70 43.00 72.90

116.90 88.20 24.90 63.90 80.00

Change % -1.63 8.71 2.10 3.86 1.28 -0.28 2.41 2.15 -8.13 -4.82

3.20 4.49 2.37 2.87 9.22

Change %

1.49 8.74 9.70 -7.64 -1.19 8.72 6.94 6.36 2.38 1.96

-4.26 -0.90 5.51 -6.58 2.17

ClosingY 159.10 233.10 71.30 181.20 46.90 398.60 78.70 83.70 84.90 122.40

337.00 71.30 54.80 41.80 139.90

ClosingY

47.10 233.50 139.20 83.80 159.30 214.50 21.60 11.00 42.00 71.50

122.10 89.00 23.60 68.40 78.30

DHIGH

DLOW

161.10 253.40 75.00 197.00 50.00 409.00 82.40 85.90 84.90 124.80

143.20 230.00 64.20 166.00 42.30 385.00 72.00 75.40 76.00 112.00

349.80 78.00 58.40 44.00 153.80

325.00 66.00 49.40 37.70 130.00

DHIGH

DLOW

49.40 253.90 153.10 84.80 160.90 233.20 23.40 12.00 44.00 74.90

121.30 91.80 25.70 71.00 82.00

47.10 233.10 139.40 76.20 151.20 210.10 21.70 11.50 40.00 72.00

115.20 87.00 24.00 62.00 78.00

AvgPrice 154.98 249.55 73.97 191.81 48.45 398.79 80.27 85.15 80.83 118.78

344.36 74.14 56.04 43.42 147.97

AvgPrice

48.56 250.83 148.36 80.57 156.25 231.28 22.44 11.81 43.40 73.84

118.69 89.39 25.08 66.60 80.01

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Monday, September 29, 2014

Fashion made-in-China: Fine for everyone but the Chinese n AFP, Milan

It has been called fashion’s dirty little secret but according to Miuccia Prada, soon everybody will be doing it.

Made-in-China’s just fine with Prada’s supremo and a host of other influential industry figures.

But for Chinese companies and designers seeking to become global style players, producing high-end clothing on home soil is complicated.

Trade barriers, brand perception issues and the sourcing of certain fabrics combine to form an obstacle to them competing internationally with an exclusively homegrown product.

Uma Wang, China’s best-known international designer, says the nature of her business dictates a 40% made-in-China, 60% made-in-Italy production model.

The creative work including production of samples is mostly done at Wang’s headquarters in Shanghai. But she spends half the year in Milan overseeing production and dealing with suppliers.

For Wang, whose sales are mostly outside China, import/export taxes are the key issue.

“An item produced in China, by the time it is sent to the shops, it adds an extra 30% to the price,” Wang told AFP. The add-on costs are even greater if high-tech fabrics, an area in which Italy

Appollo Ispat offers 15% stock dividend n Tribune Report The Board of Appollo Ispat Complex Limited, a listed company in the stock market, has recommended 15% stock dividend for its shareholders for the year ended on June 30, 2014, says a press release yesterday.

The proposal for the dividend was placed at its board meeting on Saturday at the company’s corporate office at Tejgaon in the city. The record date for selecting the shareholders has been set on October 21, 2014.

The board has decided to hold the annual general meeting for shareholders’ approval for the recommended dividend on December 21 at Dream Holiday Limited at Chaitabo, Panchdona in Narsingdhi.

The company’s earning per share (EPS) for the outgoing financial year was Tk1.84 while its net asset value was Tk31.37 and net operating profit per share Tk 0.71. l

Banglalink, GP  B1 COLUMN 2

About the offer, Grameenphone Chief Marketing Officer Allan Bonke said: “We want everyone to rely on our superior network quality.” He added that GP would offer all its subscribers 60 seconds reimbursement for every dropped call.

This is a token of appreciation to all our customers with the spirit of Eid ulAzha and also a small teaser for more celebrations to come, said Allan.

Currently, GP has 4.95 crore active subscribers and its contender Banglalink is subscribed by 3 crore active users. l

is acknowledged as having an edge, have to be imported and subjected to China’s textile tariffs.

So for Wang, with 58 shops around the world but only six in China, sticking with Italy makes sense.

Even if the trade barriers were to be swept away, she could not easily move production closer to home.

“The quality, for making the clothes, the basic sewing, is no problem in China,” she says.

“But for the fabric it is 100% from Italy. For the material I have to say that China is not yet at the level.

“And now I’m really used to the switch - two time zones, two cultures, the two foods! It’s amazing.”

Zhu Chongyun, another Chinese female fashion entrepreneur, has just begun to share Wang’s two-continent lifestyle following her acquisition of venerable Italian house Krizia earlier this year.

Shenzhen-based Zhu said she would retain Krizia’s Italian identity.

“We don’t want to mislead the public into thinking that because (Krizia) is now Chinese-owned it is going to have more of an Asian culture -- that is not what I want,” Zhu told AFP.

The Pepsi challenge

Seven years ago, Alfred Chan, the Canadian owner of Hong Kong-listed

group Ports Design Ltd, declared that the world’s biggest fashion houses should “take the Pepsi challenge” and try Chinese manufacturing.

Armani (for its diffusion ranges), Burberry and Prada, among others, did and found they liked the taste.

Miuccia Prada told the Wall Street Journal in 2011 that: “Sooner or later everybody will be doing it because (Chinese manufacturing) is so good.”

Exactly what proportion of top menswear, womenswear and accessories are produced in China is difficult to measure because of the complex and variable ways in which such things are assessed.

It’s clear, however, that powerful industry trends are driving more production China’s way.

The post-2007 fallout from the global financial crisis hammered a sector dominated by profit-driven conglomerates that covet cost-savings.

The downturn has also made China’s new rich more important as consumers of luxury products. By one estimate, the combined purchases of shoppers in China and the tourists it sends abroad will account for 50 percent of the sector’s worldwide turnover by next year.

All of which makes it noteworthy that one of the companies declining Chan’s Pepsi challenge is his own designer subsidiary, Ports 1961.

Originally a Canadian brand, Ports 1961 moved its HQ from New York to Milan two and a half years ago and is in the process of making itself as Italian as a thimble-sized espresso.

“For us it is an issue about positioning,” says Salem Cibani, the company’s youthful CEO. “Our commercial line (Ports International) is luxurious and very well-made with some expensive fabrics. But when we are producing in Italy, there are certain artisanal things that we are doing at a very high-level designer way that are not necessarily very doable in China.

“Also the best materials are coming from Italy. To move them all the way to China and back is also an exercise that takes time and adds cost.

“Yes Italy is more expensive, but for what you get, the value is still there.”

That view is endorsed by Italian cashmere magnate Brunello Cucinelli, a titan of the “absolute luxury” sector which he sees staying in old Europe.

“The French have been making champagne for 500 years and it is very, very special,” he says. “When I hear people saying there are other ‘champagnes’ that are the same, it’s just not true.

“My grandfather and grandmother were simple farmers but already they were making clothes. It is part of our culture. In these things, it takes centuries to arrive at a certain level.” l

Austrian steel group Voestalpine Chief Executive Wolfgang Eder addresses a news conference in Vienna REUTERS

European steel sector set for massive job cuts n Reuters, Frankfurt European steel companies will have to cut a substantial number of jobs to bolster their earnings, reflecting a slump in demand and Asian competition, Wolfgang Eder, vice president of the World Steel Association, was quoted saying by a German newspaper.

“Massive job cuts are unavoidable,” weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung quoted Eder as saying, in an excerpt of an article to be published later yesterday, adding headcount reductions were “painful but long overdue”.

Steel demand is expected to return

to growth in Europe this year, though European steel industry body Eurofer, whose members include the likes of ArcelorMittal, ThyssenKrupp and Voestalpine, has said cheaper steel imports from outside the European Union had put pressure on margins.

Eder, also chief executive of Austria’s Voestalpine, warned that European steel companies were falling behind their peers in China, India and Korea in terms of technology and innovation, because they could not afford to invest.

Executives of major steel companies are due to meet at the World Steel Association’s annual conference in Moscow on Oct 5 to 8. l

Apple plays defense on iPhone 6 bending, software concerns

Canada, EU formally conclude free trade pact

n Reuters

Canadian and European leaders on Friday formally concluded a free trade agreement that is widely seen as a template for a larger pact between the EU and the United States.

The text of the deal, which is 1,600 pages long, was published and now the long ratification process will begin, amid lingering concerns from some EU member states.

Germany, in particular, has pressed for a contentious arbitration mechanism to be excluded from both the Canada deal and an eventual EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

The “investor-state dispute settlement” provision will allow private investors to sue governments if they feel local laws threatened their investments, and idea opposed in Berlin.

Romania and Bulgaria may also try to block the deal because their citizens are required to have visas to travel to Canada, reportedly to stop a feared wave of refugee claims by ethnic Roma.

But EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht warned a German newspaper on Thursday that no changes can be made to the deal without killing it.

“If we re-open negotiations on CETA (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement), the deal will be dead,” De Gucht told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Thursday.

At a joint press conference in Ottawa on Friday with European Council Presi-

Apple Inc broke its silence on complaints about bending iPhones, hours after withdrawing a glitch-ridden software update as the company struggles to restore momentum to the rollout of its latest phones.

“With normal use, a bend in iPhone is extremely rare and through our first six days of sale, a total of nine customers have contacted Apple with a bent iPhone 6 Plus,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in an email.

Apple shares closed down nearly 4% at $97.87 on Thursday, wiping out nearly $23bn in market value.

The new phones face criticism over their bendability, dubbed “bendgate”.

Social media and online forums have been abuzz with comments about how the new phones can bend when placed in back pockets or while wearing skinny jeans.

Apple said its iPhones feature stainless steel and titanium inserts to reinforce high-stress locations and use the strongest glass in the smartphone industry.

The only way an iPhone may have bent is if someone put it in their back pocket and sat on the phone for a very long time, said Laban Roomes, chief executive of Goldgenie, which customizes and gold plates iPhones.

Apple was also forced to withdraw a faulty update to its latest operating sys-

tem after some users of its new phones complained of call service disruptions.

“We apologize for the great inconvenience experienced by users,” Muller said.

Apple said on its website it was working on an iOS update to fix the issue, and will release it in the next few days.

“I do believe this speaks to execution issues at Apple,” said JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna. “At the end of the day I believe this too shall pass, but we are noting with concern that the miscues pile up.”

Apple said on Monday it had shipped 10 million units of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Users of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also complained about the inability to use the fingerprint-reading Touch ID after updating to iOS 8.0.1.

Some users had complained of “sluggish Wi-Fi and dwindling battery life” after moving to iOS 8, Time magazine reported earlier this week.

On Thursday, Apple issued a stepby-step guide for users to reinstall iOS 8, launched last week, through the latest version of iTunes. The health app will not work for now and will be fixed in the next software update, the company said.

Customers might, however, hope for replacements for their bent iPhones, depending on whether their devices passed an inspection, tech news website The Next Web reported, quoting an Apple support executive. l

n AFP, Ottawa

dent Herman Van Rompuy and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the pact “was fully backed by all member states of the European Union including Germany.”

“It would be very strange,” he added, if Germany tried to block the deal which will benefit Germany the most as the EU’s largest economy and exporter.

Canada, meanwhile, pledged in a statement to remove its visa requirement on Bulgarian and Romanian travellers “as soon as possible.”

After the text is translated into 23 languages and the wording is scrutinized for accuracy by lawyers, CETA will be signed next year and come into force in 2016, Barroso said.

The pact will eliminate 98% of tariffs on goods and services, increase crossAtlantic worker mobility and harmonize professional qualifications.

‘Game changer’

Hundreds of millions of dollars in duties will be eliminated.

The EU will notably gain access to bid on Canadian federal, provincial and municipal government procurements and public contracts estimated to be worth more than Can$150bn, and which had been closed to all but local firms.

The EU will also receive protections for the use of geographical indications such as those on Roquefort or Grana Padano cheeses.

For sensitive sectors such as beef, pork, sweetcorn on the EU side and

dairy in Canada, preferential access is limited to quotas. Poultry and eggs will not be liberalised on either side.

Harper, who has already started campaigning for re-election next year on his economic record, including expanding export opportunities for Canadian companies, called the Canada-EU agreement a “game changer.”

CETA, he said, “is deep in substance and broader in scope than any other agreement in Canadian history.

Free trade will boost bilateral trade by more than 20 percent “Upon implementation, this will generate a massive increase of business and thousands of new jobs.”

The EU is second only to the United States among Canada’s trading partners, while Canada ranks as the 12th most important trading partner for the EU. The value of bilateral trade in goods between them is 60bn euros (Can$85bn).

Officials said free trade will boost bilateral trade by more than 20 percent.

It could also be used as a template for EU efforts to conclude a similar Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States, touted as the biggest free-trade agreement ever.

Closed door negotiations on the TTIP started last year. l

German consumer confidence falls again: Survey n AFP, Frankfurt

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has recently held its board meeting at the boardroom of Islami Bank Tower. The bank’s chairperson Prof Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher chaired the meeting

Rupali Bank has recently concluded a foundation course in banking for its probationary senior officers in Motijheel, Dhaka. The bank’s MD M Farid Uddin was the chief guest at the programme

Standard Bank has recently held a two weeklong induction course for its assistant officers.

The bank’s head of HRD, M Ahsan Ullah Khan distributed the certificates to the participants

Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited has recently held 164th meeting of its audit committee at the head office of the bank. The meeting was presided over the committee’s chairperson Mosharraf Hossain

Consumer confidence in Germany is fading, weighed down by concerns about the economic fallout from geopolitical crises, a new poll found on Friday.

“In the eyes of consumers, ongoing geopolitical tensions are now also threatening to affect the economy in Germany. And it has led to a drop in optimism,” market research company GfK said in a statement.

“As a result, both income and economic expectations, as well as a propensity to spend have fallen across the

board,” GfK said.

Looking ahead to next month, GfK’s headline household confidence index was forecast to fall to 8.3 points in October from 8.6 points in September.

This reading is based on responses from about 2,000 households regarding their expectations about pay and the economy as a whole in the coming months, as well as their willingness to spend money.

Sentiment in Europe’s top economy is fading as concern about the effect on investment of the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East. l

United Commercial Bank Limited has recently opened its 140th branch at Dakshin Khan in Dhaka. The bank’s chairperson, M A Hashem inaugurated the branch as chief guest

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Monday, September 29, 2014

Last-minute promises to Scotland will scar the UK n Anatole Kaletsky Astonishing as it was to contemplate the breakup of Europe’s most stable nation-state threatened by last week’s Scottish referendum, we now have an even more extraordinary possibility.

In the days since the Scottish voters rejected secession 55% to 45%, a new threat has suddenly appeared to blight Britain’s political and economic prospects for years ahead. It now looks like Britain may be dissolved by one rogue opinion poll.

The YouGov survey, released shortly before the referendum, found nationalists overtaking the unionists for the first time. (And, as it turned out, the last time.) This triggered total panic among Britain’s establishment politicians.

The outcome was a signed statement on the front page of the Scottish Daily Record by Prime Minister David Cameron, along with the leaders of Britain’s Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, promising immediate legislation to give the Scottish Parliament almost complete control over income tax, health and welfare policies - on top of the autonomy it already enjoys. They also issued a permanent commitment to channel £1,700 more per head in government spending to Scotland than to England, despite per-capita incomes that are approximately the same.

By signing the statement, Cameron and the other party leaders opened a Pandora’s Box of political and economic controversies that are certain to destabilize British politics. Businesses and investors who have viewed Britain as the most politically predictable and stable nation in Europe are in for a shock.

The Scottish vote, instead of confirming Britain’s historic stability, now looks like the prelude to a long period of constitutional, legislative and fiscal turmoil. This will certainly damage the current government’s re-election chances and could yet threaten a chaotic breakup of Britain.

The danger, not yet fully appreciated by international investors and political analysts, lies in the unintended consequences of the panic-stricken promises made to Scotland. They pushed to the top of the political agenda a constitutional demand long disregarded by all

but a fringe of extreme English populists: creating an English government, with powers similar to Scotland’s, either by electing a new English parliament or by denying votes on English issues to British parliamentarians from seats outside England.

At first sight, this reform could offer Cameron a huge political advantage.

His Tories hold only nine of 117 parliamentary seats in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - but 296 of the 533 English seats.

Until recently, this partisan benefit was so obvious that few Tories dared to openly campaign for a separate English government. But a powerful backlash against the “bribes” offered to Scottish voters has suddenly made demands for conferred respectability on the slogan of “English votes for English laws.”

Better still for the Tories, this slo-

gan appears to have snookered the Labor Party, which is over-represented in Scotland and Wales. If Labor backs “English votes for English laws,” it would condemn itself to permanent minority status in England. But if Labour resists this seemingly fair principle, it looks undemocratic and venal.

Hence the widespread assumption among political analysts that Cameron has plucked victory from the jaws of defeat. But this assumption is probably wrong.

Espousal of English independence may initially look to the Tories like a no-lose proposition, but like many cunning wheezes intended as time-bombs for political opponents, this one is likely to blow up in its designer’s face. For Cameron, the campaign for Scottishstyle devolution in England poses three existential problems.

Writers and readers go mobile and social at Wattpad n AFP, San Francisco Allen Lau considers himself living proof that love of good writing is alive and well in the age of streaming video and terse text messages.

He offers as further evidence the 32 million people who each month visit online literature social network Wattpad, which he and Ivan Yuen launched eight years ago as an online venue for writers and readers to connect.

“Wattpad is the world’s largest community for reading and writing,” Lau told AFP during a recent visit to San Francisco to meet with investors in the Toronto-based startup.

“We’ve created a mobile and social storytelling experience.” Of the more than nine billion minutes spent monthly reading at Wattpad, about 85 percent is done using smartphones or tablet computers, according to Lau. More than a million Wattpad users are writers, who typically upload a chapter at a time while readers tune in the way they might watch episodes of a television series.

“We make story telling very different and unique,” Lau said.

Readers shape stories

Readers share feelings, thoughts and criticisms with one another and authors at the social network, sometimes shaping fates of characters or directions of stories.

“Writing and reading have traditionally been very solitary experiences,” Lau said.

“In this case, writers get constant feedback from readers in real time; and from the reader perspective it is almost like watching a TV show with 10 million people all at once.”

Readers are free to wait until books

DILBERT

are complete and then binge on chapter after chapter, but that is rarely the case at Wattpad. The most common question fired off at the service was said to be “When will the next chapter be released?”

After Wattpad noticed writers providing links to music videos to listen to as background for reading, the social network added a way to embed YouTube clips.

“It has been so widely used, if you go to YouTube and search ‘Wattpad’ you will find millions of videos,” Lau said.

“The writing is the main actor, but we have supporting characters: video and sound.”

Wattpad sees a quarter of a million chapters uploaded daily, with about 24 hours worth of reading arriving at the service each minute.

Less than half the visits to Wattpad come from the United States, and the service is growing strong in an array of countries including Turkey, Italy, Britain, and Spain.

“Not everyone has an e-book store,

a library, or a regular book store, but everyone will be on the Internet and everyone will have a smartphone,” Lau reasoned.

“I am the walking proof that it is rubbish people aren’t reading as much; the Internet is helping people to read and write more.”

- Writers find fame The Wattpad mobile application is free, as is access to work uploaded by writers. More than half the stories on Wattpad were written on mobile devices. Wattpad writers don’t get paid, but exposure at the social network provides opportunities for them to make money.

Publishing house Simon and Schuster gave Wattpad author Anna Todd a sizable advance to make a series of books out of “After” stories she wrote on her Android smartphone and uploaded to the social reading network, according to Lau. Hundreds of writers reportedly have seen their work on Wattpad lead to traditional publishing deals.

In collaboration with USA Network, Wattpad has commissioned a writer to create prequel stories intended to promote a coming “Dig” television show.

“This is one of the first,” Lau said of the partnership.

“Whether a TV show or Starbucks, all good brands have good stories to tell. And where else can they tell their story but the world’s largest story-telling platform?”

While Wattpad remains focused on growth, not revenue, companies can sponsor stories at the network or commission writers to craft tales tied to brands.

Revenue from sponsorships is shared with writers, according to Wattpad.

Wattpad’s popularity has soared in the Philippines, where the first television adaptation of a story from the social network is heading for prime time television. Books and films have also been made there from Wattpad works.

Wattpad has raised about $70m in venture capital funding, the most recent round in April.

Terms of service at the Wattpad. com include not using, copying, or distributing content without express permission. l

The gravest, if least probable, risk is that Cameron actually tries to deliver English autonomy after winning the election in May. A breakup of Britain would then be back on the agenda - driven by English instead of Scottish voters.

This is because a Scottish-style separation of English from Britain issues would be impossible. England is simply too large in relation to the other components of the United Kingdom to be governed separately on major issues. With 84 percent of its population and a slightly higher share of total gross domestic product, decisions made by English parliamentarians on major fiscal or social issues would dominate conditions in Britain as a whole.

If, for example, England were granted the same autonomy as Scotland to vote separately on income taxes and

health and welfare funding, the British Parliament would be rendered powerless. If, on the other hand, such crucial votes were reserved to the British government, then the devolution of power to England would be rendered meaningless, since the British government would retain control over all key decisions on English taxes and public spending.

This fiscal conundrum provides just one example of how destabilizing the debate about English devolution could become. Creating English institutions with powers analogous to the Scottish government’s may seem reasonable, but it would do to Britain what Boris Yeltsin’s Russian government did to Mikhail Gorbachev’s Soviet Union.

Once Yeltsin asserted the primacy of his Russian government on issues such as taxes and social spending in 1990,

Gorbachev was left with an empty shell and the Soviet Union ceased to exist 18 months later. England’s dominance in the United Kingdom is even greater than Russia’s was in the Soviet Union.

This gross imbalance rules out any symmetry between Scotland and England in a German-style federal structure.

In short, the idea of “English votes for English laws is a kneejerk absurdity,” in the words of a powerful article published on Thursday by Vernon Bogdanor, one of Britain’s foremost constitutional scholars. This constitutional absurdity now presents a greater risk to the UK’s survival than the Scottish referendum ever did.

Which leads to the second problem that will face Cameron in the weeks ahead: Voters will gradually realize the momentous implications of English devolution and will almost certainly turn against the Tories for advocating something so radical and dangerous, for blatantly partisan motives and on an absurdly truncated timetable. If Britain really wants to transform its constitution, it should decide after years of debate, perhaps backed up by a referendum - not in the heat of an eight-month general election campaign. As Bogdanor says, “a constitution should be for life, not just for Christmas.”

Here we come to the final problem for Cameron. Once the public recognizes the two dangers, Cameron will presumably back away from “English votes for English laws.” But such prudence will be denounced as cowardice

by Tory radicals, thereby damaging Cameron’s credibility and deepening the splits between the party leadership and the majority of its MPs and activists, especially on the explosive issue of Europe.

Whether all this turmoil will fatally damage the British government’s reelection chances is impossible to say especially if the economy keeps improving. But here are two firm predictions: An election that Cameron planned to fight on economic issues will now be dominated by debate about a huge constitutional upheaval. And whoever ends up winning in May, Britain in the next eight months will feel like one of the least stable countries in Europe. l Anatole Kaletsky is a columnist at Reuters.

The article was initially published at Reuters.

Whistleblower phone app seeks to outsmart corruption n AFP, Kampala Douglas Buule, a teacher at Kiwenda primary, a government school outside Uganda’s capital Kampala, has a recurring problem.

“The money used to access the chalk comes late, even towards the end of term,” explains Buule. “It is a big burden to keep on writing on a chalk board. So sometimes the head teacher buys chalk on credit or even uses her own money.”

Funds arriving late or going missing altogether also mean the school’s 529 students usually only take exams twice a term instead of monthly, said the teacher.

“There is lack of transparency in many government institutions on the funds that are supplied and used,” said Buule, complaining of the country’s endemic corruption. “That lack of transparency is affecting day-to-day learning.”

But now, a new project is shifting the balance of power.

Through the Action for Transparency (A4T) Smartphone app, being piloted in three Ugandan districts, communities are being armed with information allowing them to report anonymously when budget allocations for health centres and schools fail to match public expenditure.

Using the GPS-enabled A4T app, a user can receive the location of a school or health centre, the number of staff allocated to them by both the government and the institution, and the amount of money approved and dispersed.

If they suspect money is being misused - for example if the government provides funds for an ambulance which then is nowhere to be seen - the user can simply click on the app’s whistle icon to send an instant report to the A4T website and their Facebook page.

“If it is a police case we’ll report it to the police,” said Moses Karatunga, the programme officer for Transparency International (TI) Uganda. “If it’s an advocacy issue we can take it up with the ministry.”

Keeping tabs on the cash flow In the past year, Uganda’s corruption rating has deteriorated, according to TI. They are introducing the app along with the Fojo Media Institute, part of Linnaeus University in Sweden, the Uganda Media

This photo taken on September 19 in Kampala shows Mr Gerald Businge, the project co-ordinator of Action for Transparency (A4T), demonstrating how the anticorruption app works. Ugandan anti-corruption groups are testing a phone app, Action for Transparency (A4T) that citizens can use to check the amount of money the government spends on schools and health clinics, and report when the money is not used for the right things AFP Development Foundation (UMDF) and the African Center for Media Excellence (ACME).

Gerald Businge, the A4T project coordinator, said Ugandans feared blowing the whistle on corruption.

“They think they could get sacked, they could get victimised,” he said. “There is also that worry ‘I report and nothing is done.’ So we’re saying ‘take this to the public court’.”

But it’s hoped that through A4T, which has been funded by SIDA, the Swedish International Development Agency, mismanagement of money can be prevented.

“When people know they’re being monitored they’re less likely to squander or misuse money,” said Businge.

Community monitors such as Twahah Musoke visit schools and health facilities in their area a minimum of two times in a quarter. The institutions and facilities can also access the app from the TI representatives.

Already Musoke has been to five

schools, including Kiwenda primary, and three health centres in the Busukuma area, home to about 16,000 people, in Wakiso district.

Challenges related to monitoring money include financial committees not knowing how much government money is being sent, and information and money staying with one person, for instance a school headmistress, instead of a team, he said.

“We need to empower people to realise it’s their responsibility to access this information,” said Musoke.

“If they go and seek the information the administrators of these facilities will be in a position to account for and utilise (the money) the way it’s meant to be utilised.”

Businge said phones were chosen for the project as “very many Ugandans have mobile phones and at least every family has a mobile phone”.

“We’re telling people that phones can do much more than what you’re already doing,” he said. l