9 Oct, 2014

Ashwin 24, 1421 Zilhajjj 13, 1435 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 184

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com

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6 | WORLD UN: DEATH RATE 10 A DAY IN EAST UKRAINE DESPITE CEASEFIRE

STOP THIS NUISANCE!

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10 | SPORT

YES PRIME MINISTER!

STATUS SAME DESPITE PCB CHIEF’S VISIT

15 bandits killed in ‘gunfight, mob beating’ Two of them were killed yesterday in an ‘encounter’ with RAB members

87 robbers killed in 57 months

n Tribune Report

n Our Correspondent, Khulna

Over the past few days, a total of 15 bandits were killed in “gunfights” and mob beating with police.

Of the 15, two were killed in a gun battle with RAB in Mrigamari area of the Sundarbans yesterday morning.

They were identified as Zakir and Raju, and were members of the gang known as Awal Bahini.

Lt Col Faridul Islam of RAB 8 said: “After receiving information from some

fisherman that a group of bandits were fleeing after robbery, a team of RAB conducted a raid in Mrigamari area.”

“Sensing our presence, the bandits began shooting at RAB and the RAB also fired back, triggering a gunfight which continued for about 40 minutes.

“After the gunfight, RAB searched the area and found two bodies bearing bullet wounds. Fishermen identified them as members of Awal Bahini,” Faridul added.

RAB also recovered seven firearms,

150 rounds of bullets, a trawler, two solar panels, some lethal weapons and medicines from the scene.

Earlier on Sunday, two robbers were beaten to death by local people of Paikgachha upazila in Khulna and 11 others were killed in a “gunfight” with police.

Witnesses said members of Kashem Bahini demanded Tk50 lakh from Jitendra Dhali, a resident of Zirbunia village under Deluti union of Paikgachha, and threatened to abduct him in case of non-compliance.

At night, 13 robbers raided Jitendra’s house but did not find him there as he had escaped sensing their presence.

Failing to get the money or abduct Jitendra, the criminals picked up Jitendra’s brother Proshanta Kumar Dhali, a college teacher.

When they were about to leave the village, they found their trawler stuck in a shoal as the tide in the river was on the ebb. By the time they swam to Harinkhola area in Deluti union, the sun rose. They freed Proshanta as they

got apprehensive of running into trouble and concealed their arms in chambers of a sluice gate.

The 13 were then divided into three separate groups and tried to flee, but were caught by villagers, who were looking for Proshanta and his abductors. They beat the robbers up, leaving two of them dead on the spot. The others were handed over to police.

Based on information given by the bandits, police took them in Kalabogi  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Sohag Gazi suspended for bowling action n Minhaz Uddin Khan Bangladesh off-spinner Sohag Gazi has been suspended from bowling in international cricket for his bowling action, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed the media yesterday.

The right-arm spinner was recently reported by match officials for suspect bowling action during Bangladesh’s tour of the West Indies in August.

“He has been suspended by the ICC (International Cricket Council),” BCB Cricket Operations Committee Chairman Akram Khan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“The CEO [Nizamuddin Chowdhury] has informed me that his action is over the 15-degree mark. The ICC has not yet told the BCB about the next course of action,” said the former national skipper.

According to regulations, Gazi will either have to agree or challenge the ICC’s decision within 15 days after being suspended. If he agrees on the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A worker busy loading the truck with cattle hide in the capital’s Hazaribagh area yesterday

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

In the last 57 months, a total of 82 bandits were killed in gunfight with members of law enforcement agencies in the Sundarbans, according to statistics from different agencies.

The outlaws were killed when RAB, police and Coast Guard officials carried out drives in the Sundarbans from January 2010 till yesterday.

Besides, three bandits died in internal clashes and two others were beaten to death by fishermen in this period.

Of the 87, nine were killed in 2010, 19 in 2011, 19 in 2012, 14 in 2013 and 26 till yesterday.

Fourteen among the 87 were leaders of different groups and they were Manik, Krishna Sagor, Motaleb, Zulfikar, Sohag, Jihad, Nabakumar, Gama, Meghna Zakir, Nata Shahidul, Mahbub alias Saijja, Amzad, Rubel and Moktar.

During the drivers conducted in the 57 months, 330 firearms, 2,661 rounds of bullets, 69 sharp weapons and a slew of bombs were recovered.

The Sundarbans is stretched over 6,017 square kilometres in Bangladesh, with 4,143 square kilometres in land area and 1,873 square kilometres in water area. According to sources, a vast area is reigned by robbers.

A five-month fishing season is about to start in the Sundarbans and coastal areas within a day or two, and law enforcers said they had beefed up security to protect the fishermen from falling prey to bandits.

Commander of RAB 8 Lt Col Faridul Islam said the local administration had taken measures to ensure security for fishermen.

“Fishermen are also helping to check the activities of bandits while members of law enforcement agencies, including RAB, are on the alert for any crimes,” he added. l

Dhaka willing to assist in DB police aware of JMB regrouping in West Bengal Bardhaman blast probe n Mohammad Jamil Khan

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Dhaka has sought information from New Delhi on the blast incident of October 2 when two suspected radical Islamists were killed in the West Bengal district of Bardhaman.

An official communication, popularly known as note verbale, was sent to India through its mission in Bangladesh on Tuesday seeking the information.

“We sought information voluntarily from the Indian side about the incident on whether they need our assis-

Saradha scam was unearthed in which an Indian politician funded Jamaat-e-Islami tance, no matter if any Bangladeshi is involved or not,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam told journalists on Tuesday.

The government earlier contacted with the Bangladesh mission to Delhi and the Indian mission to Dhaka but they did not have any information, he said.

The explosion took place on October 2 at a house in Khagragarh in Bardhaman when two persons – Shakil Ahmed and Sovon Mondol – died on the spot.

The Hindu reports that the four people arrested over the incident – Abdul

Hakim, Hashem Molla, Gulsana Bibi and Alima Bibi – were charged yesterday under different sections including for waging war against the Indian government.

Shakeel had allegedly crossed over from Bangladesh in 2009. He had earlier rented a house in Beldanga in Murshidabad and only a few months ago rented the one in Khagragarh in Bardhaman, where the explosion occurred, the Indian newspaper reported.

Dhaka asked for information because it was primarily assumed that one or more of those involved might be Bangladeshi citizens and they were identified as JMB members, Shahriar said.

“We are committed that terrorism will not be tolerated. If the Indian government asks for any help, Bangladesh is ready to provide it,” he said.

The junior minister also said the news regarding closing of Bangladesh-India border is false. “The border is open.”

Asked if such terrorist activities were committed to destabilise Bangladesh, he said: “This issue is so sensitive that we do not want to make any comment for the sake of investigation.”

In the last two months, Saradha scam was unearthed under which an Indian politician funded Jamaat-e-Islami’s Bangladesh chapter to create instability in Bangladesh.

The junior minister said Jamaat and  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Concerns have developed in both India and Bangladesh over the reported regrouping of banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) mainly after two suspected militants of the group were killed on October 2 in a blast at a house in West Bengal’s Bardhaman district.

The 32-year-old prime suspect, Shamim Ahmed alias Shakil alias Nayem alias Afzal Gazi, was a Bangladeshi. The other deceased is Shovon Mondol alias Shawpan alias Subhan, 22.

According to primary reports in Indian media, they were killed while making bombs.

More chilling information came in the media lately which claims that the bombs were being made in the Indian territory to carry out subversive activities in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh authorities are yet to be informed “officially” by the Indian side about the latest development of the JMB operatives in West Bengal.

But the investigators here are closely monitoring the developments.

JMB founder Shayakh Abdur Rahman in a statement in 2006 mentioned about the West Bengal chapter terming it to be their 65th unit.

The Detective Branch (DB) of Police suspect that two convicted JMB men snatched from a prison van earlier this

A CNN reporter takes interview of Khadija, a former ISIS member

Police arrested a fugitive RAB personnel, one of the members of the team that executed the whole plan of the sensational Narayanganj seven murders, on Tuesday.

4 | Nation

A private car crashed into a tree in Mirzapur of Tangail killing two women and injured three more on Tuesday. The deceased were identified as Monowara Begum, 70, and Doli Akter, 15,

Shakil crossed the border to enter India illegally in 2009 and took shelter in Metiaburuje of Kolkata first. He started campaigning about so-called Jihad there under the guise of cloth trading as he had managed an Indian voter ID card.

Deceased Shovon hailed from Ut-

n CNN

2 | News

Only within a couple of days of Eid-ulAzha celebration, most of the waste products from the sacrificial cattle have been cleaned up by the two Dhaka City Corporations.

P3 JMB-JAMAAT LINK

tarpara Village of Purba Medinipur district.

Another injured in the October 2 incident was Abdul Hakim, from Mohammadbazar of Birbhum. He is undergoing treatment at Bardhaman Medical College Hospital in critical condition.

From the spot, the Indian police recovered around 25 grenades, 10 hand bombs, and bomb making chemicals – Ammonium Nitrate, Iron Oxide and Hydrogen peroxide in huge quantity.

The police also arrested Shakil’s wife Gulsana Bibi alias Rumi Bibi and Hakim’s wife Alima Bibi soon after the incident. Owner of the house Hassan Chowdhury was also detained.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Confessions of a female former ISIS member

INSIDE

3 | News

year were now staying in West Bengal.

Quoting Indian intelligence, media says hailing from Dhaka, Shakil was a cadre of the JMB. He also had links with Jamaat-e-Islami, al-Qaeda, al-Jihad, Student Islamic Movement in India and Indian Mujahideen.

6 | World

“You know you’re dealing with some serious Islamic hardliners when they blur out your face to protect Islamic modesty… [but] chose to make it blurry rather than to black it out entirely.

11 | Sport

Eden Hazard and Diego Costa both scored for Chelsea as the Premier League leaders beat Arsenal 2-0 in a fiery London derby, while Barcelona and Real Madrid were again in fine form.

CNN

The petite 25-year-old tentatively opens the door to the hotel room where we’ve agreed to meet. Her face is covered, but her body language betrays.

She slowly lifts her niqab, revealing her young, heart-shaped face. Her large brown eyes, filled with guilt and turmoil, are delicately made up under perfectly sculpted brows.

She calls herself ‘Khadija.’ It’s not her real name, because she’s a marked woman. Once a member of a fearsome, female ISIS brigade, she’s a recent defector, disillusioned by the group’s brutality.

Her interview with CNN is the first time she has ever told anyone her story.

Growing up in Syria, Khadija’s family ensured she got an education. She earned her college degree and began teaching elementary school. Khadija describes her family and upbringing as “not overly conservative.”

When the Syrian uprising began more than three and a half years ago, Khadija joined the masses who began peaceful protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“We’d go out and demonstrate. The security services would chase us. We’d  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

NARAYANGANJ KILLING

Another RAB member held, remanded He was involved in abducting, doping and confirming deaths of the victims

n Tribune Report Police arrested a fugitive RAB personnel, one of the members of the team that executed the whole plan of the sensational Narayanganj seven murders, on Tuesday.

Lance Corporal Ruhul Amin of Rapid Action Battalion 11 was placed on a seven-day remand yesterday by a Narayanganj court following the arrest.

Senior Judicial Magistrate AHM Shafiqul Islam passed the order after police produced Ruhul Amin before the court in a case filed by the murdered panel mayor Nazrul Islam’s wife Selina Islam Beauty.

According to police sources, Ruhul Amin was involved in abducting the victims, administering injection to make them unconscious and then confirming their deaths by suffocating them with polythene.

He was arrested from his house at Saneshwar village in Baufal upazila of Patuakhali by Baufal police. Later he was picked up by a team of Narayan-

ganj Detective Branch led by officer incharge Mamunur Rashid Mondol, also the investigation officer of two cases filed in connection with the murders.

Mamunur Rashid said: “After getting information from different sources, we told Baufal police station that he might be hiding himself in his house. They kept an eye on his house for few days and was able to pick him up on Tuesday morning. He went missing since the murders.”

With this, a total of 13 people, including 11 RAB members, had been arrested in connection with the gruesome seven murders.

On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam, his three associates and driver were abducted from Fatullah in Narayanganj city. At the same time, senior lawyer of the Narayanganj district judge court Chandan Kumar Sarker and his driver were also abducted.

Three days later, six bodies were recovered from Shitalakkhya and Dhaleshwari rivers. The body of Nazrul’s driver was found on May 1. l

News

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Dhaka for regional bloc on blue economy n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Bangladesh is set to float an idea of forming a regional bloc to develop partnership to use marine resources in a sustainable manner.

“We are going to initiate a process to form Bay of Bengal Partnership for Blue Economy comprising regional coastal states,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The Bay of Bengal is full of resources and the government is going to prepare a national action plan to utilise it,” the foreign secretary said.

“We organised an international workshop on the blue economy last month to gain knowledge from the experts.”

Over 30 experts and government officials from 20 countries and organisations took part in the workshop.

The outcome document of the workshop said: [The government would] initiate ‘Bay of Bengal Partnership for Blue

Economy’ to secure sustainable development among coastal/littoral states.”

“The joint statement on Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission held last month also mentioned it,” he said.

In the JCC meeting, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj congratulated her Bangladeshi counterpart AH Mahmood Ali for successfully organising the International Conference on Blue Economy in Dhaka last month.

“India sent a senior official to participate in the conference,” the official said, adding that the government would outreach other members to form the regional bloc.

Meanwhile, the foreign secretary attended a high-profile event hosted

by US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York last month.

Officials and experts from over 16 countries, including New Zealand, Norway, Chile, Bloomberg Foundation and Rock-

Nasim slams DNCC officials n Tribune report

Health Minister Mohammed Nasim has come down heavily on high officials of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) for providing lease of cattle markets around three hospitals in the Sher-E-Bangla Nagar in the capital.

“The administrator of the DNCC had done criminal offense providing the approval of setting up cattle markets near hospitals,” he said.

He urged the Ministry of Local Government and Cooperatives to take action against the administrator of the Dhaka North City Corporation.

He also termed the administrator as a criminal and nonsense person. A huge number of patients of three public hospitals located in the Sher-E-Bangla Nagar area have to suffer a lot because of the cattle markets before Eid, he said.

He made this remarks while addressing a press briefing at the conference hall of Health Ministry yesterday.

Expressing sorry to patients for their sufferings, he said: “I requested and even gave official letters to the concern officials not to give permission for setting up cattle markets near hospitals.

“I do not know in which interest he (administrator) gave permission of cat-

decision, the suspension will be extended and he will have to go through a correction process. On the other hand, a challenge gone wrong will mean that the severity of the suspension will be increased.

The 23-year-old spinner was reported after the second ODI between Bangladesh and the West Indies concluded at St George’s on August 22. Gazi, however, played the third and final ODI of the series.

Gazi was pulled out from the Test

squad so that he could undergo test on his bowling action in Cardiff. Gazi was looking forward to making a return to the national side in the home series against Zimbabwe but his suspension means that he will be unavailable for selection.

The national selection panel is likely to announce the Bangladesh squad for the Zimbabwe series on Sunday.

The suspension came as a blow to Gazi who, like the national side, had an ordinary year so far. The Zimbabwe series was the last-chance salon for

Bangladesh to salvage some measures of respectability before the 2015 ICC World Cup. However, the suspension will now dent his preparations for the mega event scheduled to take place in February in Australia and New Zealand.

After the Eid-ul-Azha vacation, the national cricketers will start taking preparations from October 14. The national side will play a three-day match against Bangladesh A from October 1618. During their 45-day stay in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe will play three Tests, five ODIs and a solitary Twenty20 in-

DB police aware of JMB regrouping in West Bengal  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Shakil, Shovon and Hakim reportedly rented the house three months back and the two women used to stay with them, according to reports published in Indian media.

Interrogating the women, the Indian National Intelligence Agency claimed that the deceased and the arrestees had been making bombs at the house to carry out destructive activities in Bangladesh.

Indian newspaper Hindustan Times published reports saying that the suspected JMB men had sent to Bangladesh four consignments of bombs in the last three months through courier service. The carriers were Kawser and Rasiq, the detainees said during interrogation.

The media also reported that India issued high alert across West Bengal and sealed off its borders with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan following the explosion in which a terrorist hand was suspected.

However, Brig Gen Aziz Ahmed, the chief of Border Guard Bangladesh, told

“We’d go out and demonstrate. The security services would chase us. We’d write on walls, have different outfits to change into,” she said. “Those days were great.”

But it was when the Syrian uprising spiraled into chaos and violence that she said she began to lose her soul, her humanity.

“Everything around us was chaos,” she said, her words tumbling out. “Free Syrian Army, the regime, barrel bombs, strikes, the wounded, clinics, blood you want to tear yourself away, to find something to run to.

“My problem was I ran away to something uglier.”

Gradual induction

She found herself drawn to the eloquence of a Tunisian whom she met online. Taken with his manners, she grew to trust him over time and he gradually lured her into the Islamic State, she said. He assured her that the group was not what people thought, that it was not a terrorist organisation.

“He would say, ‘We are going to properly implement Islam. Right now we are in a state of war, a phase where

Golam Faruque, the managing editor of Daily Banik Barta, died on Monday of cardiac arrest at the age of 48.

Around 9pm, Faruque suddenly felt ill at his own house in Mymensingh.

He was rushed to ICCU of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital after which at 9:45pm the doctors declared him dead.

Faruque’s body was taken to National Press Club on Tuesday morning. The first namaz-e-janaza was held there at 11am. His friends and well-wishers from journalist and cultural communities attended the janaza.

His body was later taken to Fulbaria University College premises in Mymensingh where his second namaz-ejanaza was held. Later, he was buried at his family grave yard in Kushmail village in Fulbaria.

According to family sources, Golam Faruque was born on October 6 in 1966.

His father is the ruling party parliament member of Mymensingh 6, Muslem Uddin and mother is Hasina Uddin. Faruq’s wife, Shaila Ahmed, is working at a private television channel and his only daughter, Oritri, is an A level student.

Faruque was a feature editor at Daily Samakal, head of programme at ABC Radio 89.2 FM. He was also an editor of popular periodical Ananda Bhuban. l

ternational. The series will begin with the first Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on October 25.

The ICC has been quite strict with the issue of illegal bowling action recently and has already banned Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal and Sri Lanka’s Sachithra Senanayake after the duo were found guilty of breaking the 15-degree flex rule.

West Indian spinner Sunil Narine was banned from bowling in the final of the recently concluded Champions League T20. l

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

the BNP had patronised terrorism and continue to do so. “Everybody knows about Bangla bhai who was directly patronised by the administration during the BNP-Jamaat-led government in 2001-06.”

Bangladesh has taken strong position on terrorism and it is not expected that its enemies would become inactive.

“It is expected that they would resort to different strategies and new mode of operational procedure. The law enforcement agencies are taking

action against them and will take in the future,” he said.

No dossier or document was handed over to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met him on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month.

The minister termed the media reports “creative and speculative.”

The Indian media made several reports that Hasina handed over a dossier expressing Bangladesh’s concern over the Saradha scam. l

15 bandits killed in gunfight

the Dhaka Tribune that they were unaware about the sealing off the border.

“We also did not take any special security measures about it. We usually take measures after each and every such incident takes place.”

Similar statement came from the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry too. In a press statement, the ministry said India issued no instruction to seal off its borders with Bangladesh in the wake of the October 2 grenade explosions.

The Indian authorities concerned have clarified it in response to a verification made by the Bangladesh government following the recent media reports.

The Bangladesh authorities also have not received any formal order on issuing high alert.

Kamaluddin Ahmed, additional secretary (political) of the Home Ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had not received any kind of formal order regarding the Bardhaman blasts. “We have learned that one of the deceased is Bangladeshi. But it is not proved yet,” he said.

Asked about any special measure, Kamal said the regular activities against militants had been under way.

The BD claimed that they had information about militant activities in West Bengal and were keeping an eye on the developments.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB police, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “We have not received any official order about the incident. But since an incident developed in the neighbouring country, we are looking into it.”

When contacted, Sanowar Hossain, additional deputy commissioner of DB police and chief of the anti-militancy team, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had been following the Bardhaman incident sincerely.

“When we notice any kind of information about anti-state activities, we take the issue seriously and start investigation. This is not a separate case for us.”

The DB has information that two top JMB leaders who had been snatched from a prison van in Trishal of Mymensingh in February were now staying in West Bengal, he said.

The JMB has a strong hold in the West Bengal where the two fugitive militants – Salauddin alias Salehin alias Sajeeb and Zahidul Islam alias “Boma” Mizan – remain holed up.

Another top DB official, requesting anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the West Bengal chapter of the JMB had developed its base mainly in Murshidabad, Malda and Nadia districts during the stint of the BNP-Jamaat-led government.

“JMB leader Sohel Mahfuz is leading the outfit in those districts. We first came to learn about it in 2010 after the arrest of JMB leader Saidur Rahman,” the official said.

The issue was verified after the arrest of seven JMB members from Ashulia Landing Station last month, who are reportedly planning to launch attacks on the VVIP motorcades.

During interrogation, acting JMB chief Abdullah Al Tasnim alias Nahid, 29, and six other members mention that they often got instructions from Salehin and Boma Mizan – now staying in West Bengal, said a DB high official. l

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

nection with looting arms from Baniakhali police camp in Dumuria. When Karimul was arrested three months ago, Mofiz lobbied for his release.

Akhirul was an associate of Chhatra League leader Mrinal Jotdar, and Hobi would work for Gopal Chandra Dey, a local Awami League leader.

Principal of a local college, seeking anonymity, said locals always lived in fear of abduction and extortion by bandits.

He said villagers were happy that the bandits died but they were not completely relieved as there were other robber gangs still operating in the area.

Deputy Inspector General of police of Khulna range SM Moniruzzaman said abduction and extortion increased in the areas near the Sundarbans recently.

“Two bandits were killed in a mob beating on Sunday and 11 more died during a gunfight in the Sundarbans. All of them operated locally,” the DIG added.

Five cases were filed with Paikgachha police station in connection with the abduction of Proshanta, recovery of arms from different spots and deaths of robbers in gunfights. l

we need to control the country, so we have to be harsh.’”

He told her he was coming to the Syrian city of Raqqa, that they could even get married.

“I got in touch with my cousin, and she said, ‘You can come join us in the Khansa’a Brigade. She was living in Raqqa with her husband who was with the Islamic State,” Khadija said. The brigade is the feared, all-female police for ISIS. Khadija convinced her family to move to Raqqa, saying it would be easier to register her younger siblings in school, and that they would have the support of relatives.

With her cousin to open the doors, Khadija was welcomed into the feared Khansa’a brigade.

Those who broke the laws are lashed. The lashings to the women who broke ISIS rules were carried out

by Umm Hamza.

When Khadija first saw Umm Hamza, she was terrified.

“She’s not a normal female. She’s huge, she has an AK, a pistol, a whip, a dagger and she wears the niqab,” Khadija said.

Brigade commander Umm Rayan sensed Khadija’s fear “and she got close to me and said a sentence I won’t forget. She said, ‘We are harsh with the infidels, but merciful among ourselves.’”

Khadija was trained to clean, dismantle, and fire a weapon. She was paid $200 a month and received food rations.

Her family sensed Khadija was slipping away, but were helpless to stop it.

Her mother tried to warn her.

“She would always say to me, ‘Wake up, take care of yourself. You are walking, but you don’t know where you are going.’”

she started questioning herself and the principles of the Islamic State.

“At the start, I was happy with my job. I felt that I had authority in the streets. But then I started to get scared, scared of my situation. I even started to be afraid of myself.”

She started thinking: “I am not like this. I have a degree in education. I shouldn’t be like this. What happened to me? What happened in my mind that brought me here?”

And her image of ISIS began to crumble.

Burned into her mind is an image she saw online of a 16-year-old boy who was crucified for rape. She questioned her inclusion in a group capable of such violence.

“The worst thing I saw was a man getting his head hacked off in front of me,” she said.

finding wives for both local and foreign fighters.

“The foreign fighters are very brutal with women, even the ones they marry,” she said. “There were cases where the wife had to be taken to the emergency ward because of the violence, the sexual violence.”

Khadija saw a future she did not want.

With her commander pressuring her to submit to marriage, Khadija decided she needed to leave the brigade.

“So it was at this point, I said enough. After all that I had already seen and all the times I stayed silent, telling myself, ‘We’re at war, then it will all be rectified.’

“But after this, I decided no, I have to leave.”

Khadija left just days before the coalition airstrikes, but her family remains in Syria.

She was smuggled across the border to Turkey.

Regretful of her immersion in radical Islam, she is wary of another sudden change.

“It has to be gradual, so that I don’t become someone else. I am afraid of becoming someone else. Someone who swings, as a reaction in the other direction, after I was so entrenched in religion, that I reject religion completely,” she said.

Towards the end of our interview, speaking about how ISIS could have gotten a foothold in parts of Syrian society, she has a personal moment.

“How did we allow them to come in? How did we allow them to rule us?

There is a weakness in us.”

Khadija spoke to us because she said she wants people, especially women, to know the truth about ISIS. “I don’t want anyone else to be duped by them. Too many girls think they are the right Islam,” she said.

She desperately wants to be the girl she was before falling under the spell of ISIS -- “a girl who is merry, who loves life and laughter... who loves to travel, to draw, to walk in the street with her headphones listening to music without caring what anyone thinks,” she said.

“I want to be like that again.” l

Confessions of a female former ISIS member  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

tle markets.”

Asked about which action the ruling party Awami League will take against a Juba League leader, who had taken lease of a cattle market at Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, he said party would take decision in this regard.

There will be no cattle market in front of hospital next year, he said.

He also sought intervention of prime minister in this regard. Health Secretary MM Niazuddin, State Health Minister Zahid Malek and Director General Of Health Services Professor Dr Deen Mohammed Nurul Haque were present at the press conference. l

Journalist Golam Faruque dies n Tribune Report

Bardhaman blast probe

Sohag suspended from international cricket  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

feller Foundation took part in the event.

However, Maritime Affairs Unit Secretary M Khurshed Alam is attending the Indian Ocean Rim Association ministerial meeting to gain knowledge about the blue economy.

Alam is leading a delegation at the IORA ministerial meeting to be held in Australia from October 8-9.

Bangladesh won more than 118,813 sq km of waters altogether comprising territorial sea and an exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 nautical miles (370km).

It also has undeniable sovereign rights in the seabed extending as far as 354 nautical miles [around 656km] from Chittagong coast in the Bay of Bengal with all living and non-living resources.

Some 30 million people of Bangladesh have had direct livelihood dependence on oceanic economic activities like fisheries and commercial transportation. l

Inside the female ISIS brigade

The Khansa’a Brigade is made up of around 25 to 30 women and is tasked with patrolling the streets of Raqqa to ensure that women adhere to proper clothing as outlined by the Islamic State.

Beaded or slightly form-fitting abayas are banned. Women are not allowed to show their eyes.

Second thoughts

Initially, Khadija did not pay attention to her mother’s warnings, seduced by the sense of power. But eventually,

Violence against women

Even more personally, she witnessed ISIS’ brand of violence reserved for women. The brigade shared its building with a man who specialized in marriage for ISIS fighters.

“He was one of the worst people,” she said of the man tasked with

area of Dakop upazila to raid the den of Kashem Bahini. Sensing the presence of police, members of the gang opened fire, triggering a gunfight with law enforcers.

The gunfight left the 11 robbers dead and six policemen, including Officerin-Charge of Paikgachha police station Shikdar Akkas Ali, injured.

The 13 were Sbaur Morol, 40, Md Hanif Gazi, 34, Alim Molla, 25, Akhirul Sheikh, 36, Afzal Sheikh, 25 Shafiqul Sheikh, 21, Nasrul Sheikh, 36, Mahabub Molla, 23, Mohsin Molla, 30, Rubel Sheikh, 22, Junaed Khan, 35, Karimul Sheikh, 40 and Habibur Rahman Hobi, 40.

Sources said Karimul Sheikh, Akhirul Sheikh and Habibur Rahman Hobi would work under the protection of powerful politicians, and were sued in several cases lodged with Dumuria police station.

Karimul was a close associate of local BNP leader Siraj Molla. When Siraj was killed, he became the right-hand man of Siraj’s younger brother Mofiz Molla, who established dominion after his brother’s death. Karimul was the prime accused in the case filed in con-

Life after ISIS

Khadija still wears the niqab, not just to conceal her identity but also because she’s struggling to adapt back to life outside the Islamic State.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Thursday, October 9, 2014

City mostly cleared of cattle waste More garbage remains in narrow alleys, waste containers dwellers, we have cleared the garbage n Abu Bakar Siddique before our declared deadline,” said Bi-

The city corporation authorities’ efforts were praised by many who claimed that the clean-up process was comparatively efficient than previous years.

“I found the nearby roads as clean as any other day today [Wednesday] during my morning walk,” said Banani resident Syed Zaman. He also praised the city corporations’ efforts, claiming that the post-Eid cleaning process had been improving each year.

This year, for a 48-hour special drive that started from 2pm of Eid day, the two city corporations deployed around 17,000 staff to clean the wastes of sacrificial animals.

“With the cooperation of the city

pan Kumar Saha, chief waste management officer of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).

The cleaning work had been carried out more efficiently than the previous years, Bipan claimed, adding that the smell of blood and other waste products was absent this year because of a special anti-bacterial spray that had been used during the drive.

However, some city residents claimed that stench was still coming out off waste containers in their areas.

Abdul Jalil, a resident of Hazaribagh, claimed that the city corporations cleaned only the main roads and roadside areas, but ignored the waste containers that were loaded with sacrificial animal garbage.

Regarding the allegations, Bipan admitted that some of the narrow alleys might not have been cleaned on time, but added that it would be taken care of as soon as possible.

He added that both city corporations had finished the special cleaning drive by the deadline that ended at 2pm yesterday.

City authorities, on the other hand, blamed Dhaka residents living in narrow lanes for not responding to the city corporations’ calls for cleaning up after themselves.

Bipan said advertisements were broadcast and published in nine TV channels and five newspapers to create awareness on the issue, but a large number of city residents living in narrow lanes did not pay heed to the advice.

Asked why trucks without roofs were used to carry garbage during the drive, he said such trucks had to be used because of the lack of proper covered vehicles. The waste that had been spilled from the open-roof trucks had later been cleaned with bleaching powder and water, he claimed. l

BCL members vandalise shops n Our Correspondent, Sylhet

US cable: JMB filled with disgruntled An unusual meat Jamaat-Shibir men market in the capital

Only within a couple of days of the Eid-ul-Azha celebrations, most of the waste products from the sacrificial cattle have been cleaned up by authorities concerned at the two Dhaka City Corporations, who had earlier set a 48hour deadline for themselves to clean up the city streets.

However, some city residents claimed that waste products allegedly remained untouched in narrow alleys and dustbins, resulting in pollution and stench in the areas.

‘The cleaning work was carried out more efficiently than the previous years. The smell of blood and other waste products was absent this year because of a special anti-bacterial spray used during the drives’

Members of Bangladesh Chhatra League led by Nadel vandalised 10 shops at Madina Market in Sylhet on Tuesday night.

Pathantula Filling Station is a regular gathering point for Nadel’s activists while Bidhan’s followers gather at Mahmud Complex.

The incident took place around 10pm over a junior member’s smoking in front of the other group’s senior members. After the activists of Bidhan group fled the scene, the supporters of the other group vandalised the shops, police said. l

WEATHER

PARTLY CLOUDY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:38PM SUN RISES 5:53AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 34 33 33 34 34 33 34 33

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

26 26 24 24 24 24 23 25

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

35.4ºC Sayedpur

22.8ºC Rangamati

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

4:38am 5:52am 11:47am 4:08pm 5:40pm 6:55pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

n Probir K Sarker After the series bomb blasts of August 17, 2005, the media as well as the Awami League leaders and political observers alleged that then the BNPled government ally Jamaat-e-Islami had connection with banned radical Islamist group JMB – both having the common aim to establish Islamic law in Bangladesh.

However, an aide of then prime minister Khaleda Zia acknowledged that many Jamaat men had joined the JMB. Even though Jamaat then denied having any organisational link with the JMB (Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh) and like-minded Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), two of its senior leaders admitted that there were some former Jamaat members in the JMB, according to US embassy cables leaked by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

On December 14, 2005, then US charge d affairs in Dhaka Judith Chammas met with former PMO principal secretary Kamal Siddiqui.

“JMB is filled with former Jamaat-e-Islami members who broke away when the latter aligned with the BNP [in 2001]. Some Jamaat members maintain supportive links to the JMB,” the cable sent to Washington on December 15 quoted Siddiqui as saying.

When asked, he declined to give names or more specific information.

He also acknowledged the government’s missteps, in particular its failure to recognise JMB’s terrorist potential and the protection of senior JMB figures by influential BNP leaders including Khaleda’s elder son Tarique Rahman and former state minister Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu.

“There is no doubt that there are some foreigners helping JMB. There is a nagging suspicion that this is the work of ‘the big brother,’” Siddiqui told Chammas.

BNP’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique in 2005 had phoned then home state minister Lutfozzaman Babar for the release of JMB’s second-in-command Mahtab Khamaru.

A boy looks up at the lens as Muslim devotees offer Eid prayers at the Baitul Mukarram Mosque on Monday

Eid-ul-Azha, Lakshmi Puja and Probarona Purnima celebrated n Tribune Report People across the country celebrated Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest festival of Muslims, on Monday with due solemnity and religious fervour.

The Hindu devotees celebrated Lakshmi Puja while Buddhists observed Probarona Purnima on Tuesday.

Eid-ul-Azha

Muslims throughout the country marked Eid-ul-Azha with prayers and sacrifice of animals.

Dressed in beautiful apparels, the Muslims converged on prayer grounds in the morning to thank Allah for His protection and blessings.

After prayers, affluent Muslims slaughtered animals — cows, goats and sheep — as their sacrifice on the occasion.

Eid-ul-Azha is a celebration that honours the willingness of Ibrahim to obey Allah and also commemorates the end of Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah).

As allegations piled against Jamaat after the blast incidents, its Assistant Secretary General Muhammed Kamaruzzaman called on Chammas on December 21 the same year to convince the US that Jamaat had not been involved with the JMB. He earlier visited the French, the UK, the Norwegian, and the Chinese embassies to defend the party.

“There were no current JIB [Jamaat] members that are members of the JMB. A member of the JMB can be a former JIB member, but will never return to the JIB party,” Kamaruzzaman said when asked by Chammas.

Another cable sent on January 24, 2006 quoted senior Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla, who was executed last year for his involvement in 1971 war crimes, saying that some JMB members had associations with Jamaat, particularly the student wing – Islami Chhatra Shibir.

‘Some JMB members have associations with Jamaat, particularly the student wing – Islami Chhatra Shibir’ Molla said the JMB members left by their own admission as they disagreed with Jamaat’s stance on “adhering to the democratic process.” His party had not been weakened by the association with the JMB, he told the US official.

A US embassy official met Molla at the Jamaat office on January 19. He said the JMB men were isolated from the people, and therefore, would not “survive in the current sea.”

Blaming India and the Awami League for supporting the group, Molla dismissed notions that the BNP government was protecting the JMB militants. “It is a political campaign saying that [Shayakh] Abdur Rahman is being protected.”

Asked who might be supporting the JMB, the Jamaat leader said the JMB’s explosives had come from India, and “it has been long known that India desires to control the markets of Bangladesh.”

The main Eid congregation was held at National Eidgah Maidan in the capital, while five congregations took place at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.

Two city corporations arranged over 300 Eid congregations in Dhaka.

President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Leader of the Opposition Rawshan Ershad and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia conveyed Eid greetings to Muslims in Bangladesh and all over the world.

Lakshmi Puja

Hindu devotees across the country worshipped Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, with gaiety and traditional rituals.

People thronged the temples dedicated to the goddess and offered their prayers, seeking good fortune and prosperity in the time to come. The temples were decorated and illuminated beautifully on the auspicious occasion.

Puja was performed at thousands

He thinks India blames Bangladesh for threatening the stability of all neighbouring states to justify its hostility to Bangladesh.

Even after it was banned in early 2005, Molla said, the JMB had not gone but certainly their activities decreased.

He anticipated that splinter groups might arise and make future attacks.

According to Kamaruzzaman, the bombings were meant to destabilise the government and the Awami League was benefited from that. “Islamists certainly are not benefited.

Islamic parties are being blamed for the bombings, which gives them a bad name,” he told Chammas.

Kamaruzzaman said newspapers were offering three arguments as proof of the Jamaat-JMB link. The first argument was that Jamaat wants Islamic law, as does the JMB. “Anyone can push for Islamic law, but the method in which they pursue the cause is different,” he said.

He, however, did not deny the second argument that relatives of Jamaat men were members of the JMB. “The country is densely populated and it is easy to find people that have relations with members of the government.

There are relatives of the opposition Awami League that are also members of JMB,” the cable reads.

The Jamaat leader was sentenced to death for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War and is awaiting verdict in the appeals case at the Supreme Court.

According to Babar, who Chammas met on December 19, 2005, JMB was aware that their string of violent attacks is not sanctioned by Islam, and therefore, their prime motivation must be to unseat the ruling party by splintering their four-party coalition.

Babar insisted that JMB’s agenda was political and not religious. “The randomness of their targets indicates they are primarily interested in creating instability.”

Therefore, he concluded, the JMB was politically motivated, and it was all about “winning the next election [in late 2006]” and splitting Jamaat from the BNP-led ruling coalition. l

of households decorated with flowers, earthen lamps and rangoli. Lakshmi Puja was also observed collectively in different localities.

Probarona Purnima

Shubho Probarona Purnima, the second largest festival of the Buddhist community, was celebrated across the country with traditional religious festivity and due solemnity.

Also known as Ashwini Purnima, the festival marks the conclusion of a threemonth long seclusion of the monks inside their monasteries for self-edification and atonement of their defilement. The festival follows a month-long preaching of sermons by the Buddhist monks for the welfare of whole humankind through yellow robes offering ceremony.

To mark this event, Buddhists ignited and sent up balloons made of coloured paper to flow towards the sky as a symbol of lighting up the sky which was the main attraction of the festival. l

n Moniruzzaman Uzzal It was around 6pm on the Eid day. A different type of meat market was seen on the roadside adjacent to the Azimpur graveyard in the capital. A number of men, women and children with bags full of meat were trying to draw attention of the passers-by.

“It is halal Kurbani meat. You can buy it for a reasonable price,” they were heard saying aloud to attract buyers.

People started gathering in no time and began to bargain to buy the meat.

‘If I can sell the meat, I will try to buy a dress to fulfil my girl’s demand, said Shahid Mia who usually sells vegetables Upon conversing with the sellers and buyers, it was learnt that all of them came from lower income group.

Most from the seller group were beggars and their relatives. Some beggars bring their relatives from village to collect meat on the Eid day. Later they sell that meat and buy rice, dal and other daily essentials with the money.

Among the buyer group, there were rickshaw pullers, auto-rickshaw drivers, fish traders, garment workers, tailors and seasonal butchers.

In this makeshift market, the meat was not sold by proper weights but by

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MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

CPA to vote on Shirin Sharmin today n Kamran Reza Chowdhury Fifty-three member states are set to decide today whether Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury would be first Bangladeshi to become the chairperson of the executive committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

The general assembly of the ongoing 60th CPA conference in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, will hold a vote to elect either Shirin Sharmin or Cayman Islands Speaker Julianna O’Connor-Connolly as the president of the 35-member executive committee.

Voters from 75 legislatures will vote to elect the chairperson for a three-year term. CPA members including Australia, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and the Maldives have already extended support to the Bangladesh speaker, who is now in Cameroon to attend the 11-day conference.l

guessing the weight with a balance scale.

Both the groups seemed to be happy for successfully completing a deal.

Sayed Hasan, a tailor by profession and a resident of Nawabganj, bought a packet of meat for Tk2000. He said: “I have no ability to sacrifice a cow or goat during the Eid. My wife had learnt from a woman that Kurbani meat was sold here and that’s why I came.”

Shahid Mia, a vegetable trader, was standing on the road with a bag full of meat to sell. His asking price was Tk1500 for the whole bag. He lived in Narayanganj with his wife and a 5-year old daughter.

Asked about selling of meat, he said he had come to Azimpur to collect meat from houses. “If I can sell the meat, I will try to buy a dress to fulfil my girl’s demand,” he said in a shaky moist voice.

Another buyer Jarina Begum, wife of an auto-rickshaw driver, said: “We are poor but cannot collect meat by going from houses to houses. Usually, beef is Tk280 to Tk300 per kg in the market but we can buy it from here for only Tk200.”

Aziz Mia, a rickshaw puller from Kamrangirchar, earned Tk800 on Eid day and bought a packet of meat for Tk1200 from this market. He said he lived in a small room with his wife, three daughters and one son. A few days ago they wanted to meat. So he saved some money and bought the meat.

Very different from the usual bazaar, this type of meat market was seen in other areas of Dhaka on the Eid day. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Traders unhappy as middlemen control rawhide price in Chittagong

About five lakh rawhides of cow, buffalo and goat were collected from the port city goat were collected from the port city 20 for goat per square feet while per would be rotten if the sale would be n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong and adjoining areas till yesterday while square feet hide was fixed at Tk60-65 be delayed. Vice-President of the CCC In spite of having a record-breaking rawhide collection in Chittagong in comparison with the previous years, the stockiest are in apprehension of achieving their expected profit because of imprudent purchasing by the seasonal rawhide collectors.

Besides, insufficiency of tannery in the port city also doubles the anxiety of the hide stockiest, said the stockiest in Chittagong city, while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Rawhide Stockiest Cooperative Society sources, about five lakh rawhides of cow, buffalo and

rawhide merchants’ target was about four lakh.

Rawhide traders claimed that they had to purchase rawhides from seasonal collectors with a high price than previous year which may cause losses for them.

A total 112 traders of the CCC Rawhide Stockiest Cooperative Society and about 50 other professional hide traders have purchased rawhide from 250-300 seasonal middlemen in greater Chittagong this year.

A hide trader Mohammad Abu Taher Saddam said they had targeted to buy rawhide from collectors with Tk50-55 for cow, Tk25-30 for buffalo and Tk15-

for cow, Tk35-40 for buffalo and Tk2535 for goat by tanneries associations.

But they had to purchase with more Tk5-10 per square feet from the fixed rate for each sacrificial animal from the collectors as the middlemen bought the rawhides from people with a high rate, he said.

Another trader Khorshed Alam said the cost of warehouse, salt, employees and other relevant costs for preserving the raw skin will also increase their expenses.

He said they would have to sell all the rawhides within a month after collection as the preserved rawhides

Rawhide Stockiest Cooperative Society Abdul Quader said seasonal collectors had crossed the fixed price of tanneries associations.

He also said if they could not buy rawhide at higher price, the collectors would trafficked the raw skin.

Muslim Uddin, former president of the CCC Rawhide Stockiest Cooperative Society, said only two tanneries – Madina Tannery and Reef Leather Tannery –are purchasing the 40 percent of the rawhide while the tanneries of Dhaka purchase 60 percent of the rawhide collected from greater Chittagong. l

Port city still in holiday mood n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Residents of Chittagong city are in relax mood till yesterday and they were passing their times with their near and dears.

Though yesterday was a working day, presence in offices, banks, business organisations and factories and other institutions was low.

A good number of officers and employees are on additional leave to spend more time with their near and dear ones at their village homes and it is expected that city would get its normal look by Sunday.

Sources at the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) sources said about 50 lakh out of 70 lakh city dwellers left the city on the occassions of Eid-ul Azha, Durga Puja and Prabarana Purnima.

Most of the city roads were found almost vehicle-free and the bustle of city life has not seen for the last six days, said the sources.

Nine killed in road accidents n Tribune Report A private car crashed onto a tree in Mirzapur of Tangail district killing two women and injured three more on Tuesday. The deceased were identified as Monowara Begum, 70, and Doli Akter, 15, both from Pakshi of Pabna district, the injured were admitted to Mirzapur Kumudini Hospital.

Another accident in Shatmile area on Dhaka-Sylhet highway killed Agrani Bank DGM Nurul Afsar, 48, his daughter Fatema, 18 and the driver of the microbus Polash, 37, leaving three more of the family injured. The family was going for a family trip to Sylhet.

On another incident on Dhaka-Chittagong highway near Feni bypass, a bus toppled over and killed Mujuibul Haque and another unknown man on Tuesday at 2:30am. The accident also injured ten passengers. According to police and witnesses, the bus driver was trying to save a CNG taxi coming straight head-on towards the bus. The injured are in treatment in different government and private hospitals.

An old pedestrian Hafizuddin, 65, was hit and killed by a microbus at Imadpur at 11am yesterday in Mymensingh. Police captured the vehicle but the driver managed to escape. Hafizuddin was crossing the road when the incident happened.

A victim of hit and run, a local singer SM Rana, 30, succumbed to dead after 12 hours of treatment at Feni sadar hospital on yesterday. A pickup truck hit Rana when Rana went to have a cup of tea at Zero Point of Dagonbhuiyan in Feni. l

Convict of Ahsanullah Master killing arrested n Our Correspondent, Noakhali Police arrested a convicted of former Awami League lawmaker Ahsanullah Master killing from Kotbaria village under Sonaimuri upazila in Noakhali on Wednesday night. The arrestee is Akram Hossain Bhulu 45.

Shawkat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sonaimuri police station, confirmed the Dhaka Tribune about the arrest.

Ahsanullah Master, a freedom fighter and a lawmaker from Gazipur 2 constituency, was shot dead at a rally of Shechchhasebak League in Tongi in 2004.

A Dhaka court on April 16, 2005, handed down death sentence to 22 people for shooting the AL leader dead. l

People who celebrated Eid in the city thronged different recreational locations. Though more than half portion of the city dwellers are outside the city before the holidays, the amusement parks and recreational centres were seen full with crowd.

The city people largely crowded in the Patenga sea beach area with thousands of people visiting the place every day.

Apart from the sea beach, crowd was also found in Naval Academy, Butterfly Park, Foy’s Lake, Chittagong Zoo, Shwadhinata Park, Halishahar Beri Badh (embankment) sea shore, Children’s Parks at Agrabad and Kazir Dewri and Uttar Kattoli sea shore.

Outside of the city, people are gathering in Sitakunda’s Eco Park, Mirsarai’s Mahamaya, Anwara’s Parki beach and Fatikchhari’s tea gardens.

Nur Mohammad, a computer engineer, said the number of recreational places should be increased in the city to meet the demand of the myriad of people. l

One gets death penalty for raping, killing housewife n Tribune Report

Two motor cycles catch fire after a head-on collision near Nakatti Kali temple in Rajshahi cty on Tuesday night. Three people were killed in the accident

No Eid celebration for Kurigram flood-affected people n Our Correspondent, Kurigam The flood affected people in the district could not celebrate Eid-ulAzha this year because of back-toback floods.

According to sources, serious flooding recently caused extensive damage to the agriculture, fisheries and infrastructure sectors in the district.

The people have to spend their last penny as the repeated disaster damaged croplands, houses, livestock, embankments, bridges, culverts, schools, colleges and mosques.

The flood damaged properties worth Tk 310.5 crore in nine upazilas of the district.

The unabated erosions by 12 rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Teesta and Dharla, have taken a turn for the worse, leaving some 3,400 families of over 100 villages in five upazilas of the district

homeless recently.

The flood inundated 492 villages damaging about 62,973 dwelling houses, 280 km roads, 19 shelter centres, 29 bridges and 198 institutions.

The flood damaged properties worth Tk 310.5 crore in nine upazilas of the district Saheb Ali of Jatrapur union said: “ I could not celebrate Eid as the Brahmaputra River had engulfed my homesteads including 3 bighas land.”

The erosion-hit families, meanwhile, have taken shelter on embankments, roads and their relatives’ houses only to live an inhuman life for lack of emergency supplies.

Many establishments and parts

of two cross-bars in Chilmari upazila and a one-km part of the flood prevention embankment at Jatrapur union in Sadar upazila have already disappeared into the gorge of the Brahmaputra River, sources said.

WDB executive engineer (Kurigram south unit) M Abu Taher said there are 16 erosion-hit points under his jurisdiction and they were dumping sand bags only at Kalirkura point to check the river bank erosion.

He said they did not get the approval of the authorities concerned to start working to stop erosion at 15 other points.

M Enayetullah, WDB (Kurigram north unit) executive engineer, said they could not prevent erosion by dumping sand bags at Boldipara points out of four erosion-hit points that fall under his jurisdiction.

The people alleged that no one came up with a penny to help them in their sorrowful moment. l

Boat race held to mark Laxmi Puja

Largest Eid congregation held at Sholakia

Correspondent, n Our Barisal

Correspondent, n Our Kishoreganj

On the occasion of Laxmi Puja, the 154 years old ‘Laxmi Puja Nauka Baich’ (Laxmi Puja Boat-Race) was held on the Sandhya River at Harta in Uzirpur upazila of Barisal district.

The ‘Nouka Baich’ was organized by the Harta Bazaar Committee on Tuesday afternoon, said Dr. Harendranath Roy, Harta UP chairman and president of the event arrangement committee.

Thousands of people including high officials of upazila, district administration, and local government representatives

enjoyed the race and cheered for their teams crowding both sides of the river along the racing route.

The two-kilometre long race kicked off from Harta old union parishad at 4pm and touched the finishing line at Harta Bazaar Ghat at 5pm.

Fifteen teams including two teams of females from the region rowed their best to claim the title.

The teams led by Surendranath Bain from Kotalipara of Madaripur came out as victorious while Ranjit Bala from Rajoir, and Nityananda Bala from Kotalipara secured the second and third places respectively. l

The largest congregation of the country was held on the historic Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj with participation of over 1 lakh devotees amid stringent security measures.

Maulana Faird Uddin Masud conducted the congregation at 9am on Eid day. A special prayer was offered seeking peace, welfare and prosperity of the mankind and the nation.

Devotees were allowed to enter the ground through 28 entrances after undergoing an exhaustive search. l

AZAHAR UDDIN

A Chittagong court yesterday gave death penalty to a person for killing a housewife after raping her at Banshkhali upazila in the district 15 years back.

The judge of Woman and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal 1 Md Rezaul Karim passed the order in absentia of the accused Abdur Rahim, son of Golam Sobhan of Pashchim Sadhanpur of Banshkhali, said court sources.

PP Jesmin Akhter of the tribunal said the court had given the verdict after testifying nine out of 14 witnesses.

According to the case document, Rahim took Nurunnahar, wife of Abdul Aziz of Pashchim Sadhonpur, in to a jungle and raped her while the victim was going to her maternal house located at Chapachhari village with him on March 24, 1999. Later, Rahim killed her and left the body in the jungle.

Police recovered the body from the jungle on the following day.

Sufia Begum, mother of the victim, lodged a case with Banshkhali police station accusing some unidentified persons.

Police submitted charge sheet against Rahim on November 4, 1999 while the court framed charges against him on March 25, 2001. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Juris

Stop this nuisance!

In US, when high-tech meets high court, high jinks ensue

Laws exist, but nobody knows about them

n Reuters

O

SYED LATIF HOSSAIN

T

n Juris Desk

of disease dangerous to life

he term public nuisance covers a wide variety of minor crimes that threaten the health, morals, safety, comfort, convenience, or welfare of a community. Violators may be punished by a criminal sentence, a fine, or both. A defendant may also be required to remove a nuisance or to pay the costs of removal.

For example, a manufacturer who has polluted a watercourse might be fined and might also be ordered to pay the cost of cleanup. Public nuisances may interfere with public health, such as in the keeping of diseased animals or creating obstruction in public way.

Public safety nuisances include shooting fireworks in the streets, storing explosives, practising medicine without a license, etc.

The Penal Code, 1860 provides for a range of acts and omissions that amount to public nuisance and call for penalties.

Any person who malignantly does any act which is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

What is public nuisance?

According to the law, public nuisance means an act or an omission which causes any common injury, danger or annoyance to the public or to the people in general who dwell or occupy property in the vicinity, or which must necessarily cause injury, obstruction, dangers or annoyance to persons who may have occasion to use any public right. A common nuisance is not excused on the ground that it causes some convenience or advantage.

Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life Any wilful or negligent act which is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life is an offence and the person responsible shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

Malignant act likely to spread infection

Disobedience to quarantine rule If any person knowingly disobeys any rule made and promulgated by the government for putting any vessel into a state of quarantine, or for regulating the intercourse of vessels in a state of quarantine with the shore or with other vessels, or for regulating the intercourse between places where an infectious disease prevails and other places, he/she shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.

Adulteration of food or drink intended for sale If any person adulterates any article of food or drink, so as to make such article noxious as food or drink, intending to sell such article as food or drink, that person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to Tk1,000, or with both.

Sale of noxious food or drink Selling, or offering for sale, as food or drink, any article which has become noxious, or is in a state unfit for eating or drinking constitutes a criminal offence. Any person guilty of the offence shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to Tk1,000, or with both.

Adulteration of drugs and sale of adulterated drugs Whoever adulterates any drug or

medical preparation in such a manner as to lessen the efficacy or change the operation of such drug or medical preparation, or to make it noxious, intending that it shall be sold or used for any medicinal purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to Tk1,000, or with both.

The Penal Code, 1860 provides for a range of acts and omissions that amount to public nuisance and call for penalties And, whoever knowingly sells any such adulterated drugs, or offers or exposes it for sale, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to Tk1,000, or with both.

Sale of drug as a different drug or preparation If any person knowingly sells, or offers or exposes for sale, any drug or medicinal preparation, as a different drug or medical preparation, that person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to Tk1,000, or with both.

Polluting a watercourse or a public reservoir If any person pollutes the water of any watercourse or a public reservoir, so as to render it less fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used, that person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with

fine which may extend to Tk500 or with both.

Making atmosphere noxious to health If any person voluntarily vitiates the atmosphere in any place so as to make it noxious to the health of persons in general dwelling or carrying on business in the neighborhood or passing along a public way, that person shall be punished with fine which may extend to Tk500.

Rash driving or riding on a public way

ne US Supreme Court judge referred to Netflix as “Netflick.”

Another seemed not to know that HBO is a cable channel. A third appeared to think most software coding could be tossed off in a mere weekend.

These and other apparent gaffes by the justices during oral arguments have become a source of bemused derision, as tech aficionados, legal experts and others have taken to social media, blogs, YouTube and other outlets to proclaim the justices black-robed techno-fogeys.

“Everyone who’s anyone inside that courtroom is most likely an incompetent Luddite,” Sarah Jeong, a 25-year-old Harvard Law School student, wrote on her personal blog following a recent Supreme Court argument dealing with a copyright dispute over TV online startup Aereo.

When it comes to cutting-edge technology, Jeong told Reuters: “Mom and Dad are the Supreme Court.”

Parker Higgins, a 26-year-old digital rights advocate who works at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, spliced together audio of the Aereo argument for comic effect and posted it on a sound cloud and at YouTube.

About a minute long, it’s a compilation of the justices’ references to “the cloud,” highlighting some misuse of terminology and uncertainty about how the technology works.

“Sometimes it’s just amusing and sometimes it’s really troubling,” Higgins said. “The justices are just unfamiliar with how the industry works. They don’t understand how software comes together.” The court, via spokeswoman Kathy Arberg, declined comment on the recent criticism.

should expect “the equivalent of a TED Talk on technology and the law,” said Andy Pincus, a veteran Supreme Court litigator, referring to the popular lecture series.

Court experts said justices take tech issues seriously, even if they make the occasional slip during oral arguments.

The justices read “friend of the court” briefs from experts in the field, and some had experience in the realm of science and technology before joining the bench. Justice Stephen Breyer worked on regulations as a US Senate staffer and wrote widely on issues related to technology and the law. If all else fails, they can turn to their twenty something law clerks.

Judicial Rankings In late April, Mashable.com ranked the justices on their perceived knowledge of technology, based on comments they made during oral arguments in the Aereo case. The question before the court in the case is whether Aereo, which charges users a low monthly fee to stream live broadcasts of TV channels, violates copyright law.

During oral arguments, the justices can be seen thumbing through hard copies of court papers, in contrast to some lower courts where judges tap away on laptop computers

Driving any vehicle, or riding on any public way in a rash or negligent manner which may endanger human life, or is likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person is an offence and whoever does this shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which may, subject to the minimum of Tk1,000, extend to Tk5,000 or with both.

According to the law, exceeding the prescribed speed-limit while driving a vehicle or riding shall be deemed to be rash or negligent driving.

Rash navigation of vessel Whoever navigates any vessel in a rash or negligent manner which may endanger human life, or is likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to Tk1,000, or with both.

Danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation If any person, by doing any act, or by omitting to take order with any property in his possession or under his charge, causes danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way or public line of navigation, that person shall be punished with fine which may extend to Tk200. l

JURIS QUOTE It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.

Earl Warren

(1891– 1974) American jurist and politician

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Thursday, October 9, 2014

BIG STOCK

Slow to change The sense that the Washington DC-based court is slow to embrace technology is heightened by its having persistently resisted calls to allow cameras or personal recording devices into its hallowed halls. Visitors, including reporters, are allowed to take only a pen and pad into the grand marble courtroom. The court has a simple website and no presence on social media.

During oral arguments, the justices can be seen thumbing through hard copies of court papers, in contrast to some lower courts where judges tap away on laptop computers.

In some ways the debate reflects the well-known generational divide over technology. Young people tend to be the early adopters. The average age of the Supreme Court’s nine justices is just over 68.

At 54, Justice Elena Kagan is the youngest on the court. Four of her colleagues are over 70 and several have served on the court since cellphones were the size of bricks.

Some critics say the Supreme Court’s apparent lack of awareness about the technology that increasingly permeates the lives of everyday Americans could have real consequences as the court grapples with such issues this term as maintaining privacy in the digital age, when software is eligible for patent protection, and the future of the TV industry.

To be sure, some long-time court observers are not too concerned that the justices occasionally seem clueless about the latest computer hardware or software. What matters, they say, is what’s ultimately in their rulings, not the bantering and parrying of oral arguments, when justices fire questions at the lawyers who appear before them.

No one attending a court session

Justice Sonia Sotomayor was ranked number one, because she appeared to be familiar with such products as Roku Inc’s streaming video device and services that store files on the Internet, such as Apple Inc’s iCloud - although she was also the justice responsible for the “Netflick” comment.

Ranked last, Justice Antonin Scalia was faulted for the HBO remark.

Justice Breyer was somewhere in the middle. He was seen as being out of touch for making several references to “phonograph records.”

From patents to phones Some techies chided Justice Anthony Kennedy for suggesting in a software patents case in March that code to implement an idea could be done by “any computer group of people sitting around a coffee shop” over a weekend.

In another closely watched case, over whether police should be able to search smartphones without warrants, Chief Justice John Roberts alarmed privacy advocates when he sharply questioned a lawyer about her assumption that many people carry more than one cellphone.

“What is your authority for the statement that many people have multiple cellphones on their person?” he asked Judith Mizner, a public defender arguing on behalf of a criminal defendant.

“That was definitely an odd moment,” said Orin Kerr, a professor at George Washington Law School.

It remains to be seen what, if anything, the justices’ comments this term mean for the intersection of law and technology, say Kerr and others. The key tech cases have yet to be decided, and it’s unlikely the stray remarks will be echoed in the justices’ written opinions, due out by the end of June. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Thursday, October 9, 2014

UN: Death rate 10 a day in east Ukraine despite ceasefire

Arrival of foreign fighters pushed up casualties, rate down in month of ceasefire The fighters, it said, were “pursuing n Reuters, Geneva killings, abductions and torture” and The conflict in eastern Ukraine is still claiming about 10 lives a day among government troops, pro-Russian separatists and civilians despite a ceasefire agreed in early September, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Over 3,660 people have died and 8,766 been wounded in eastern Ukraine since fighting broke out in mid-April when armed separatists declared they were setting up their own state, the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.

The overall death rate has dropped sharply since the ceasefire began, according to the latest monthly report by the nine international monitors and 24 support staff sent in March to the former Soviet republic now at odds with Russia.

A surge in civilian casualties in late August, the report said, followed an influx of foreign fighters including former or current Russian servicemen “on leave” to back up the separatists as the Ukrainian army was gaining the upper hand.

“The situation has improved since the ceasefire, but it is still concerning,” Gianni Magazzini, of the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, told a news con-

A man rides a bicycle past an anti-war graffiti against the military conflict in eastern regions of Ukraine. The graffiti reads: ‘No to war in Ukraine’ REUTERS ference to present the report.

Since the ceasefire was agreed in Minsk between Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin and separatist chiefs, at least 331 deaths have been recorded in the conflict area, it said.

In a separate statement, Zeid called on both sides in the fighting - largely

around the industrial and coal mining cities of Donetsk and Lugansk - to “halt the attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure once and for all.”

The report said the separatist fighters, portrayed in the Moscow media as defending their regions against a “fascist regime” in Kiev, “continue to terrorise the population in areas under their control.”

seizing property and businesses at will.

They abducted people for ransom and forced labour or to be exchanged for their own men captured by Ukrainian forces.

But the report also recorded allegations of human rights violations by some of the volunteer battalions fighting alongside the poorly-equipped Ukrainian army that were sent in to police regions recaptured from the separatists in August.

“The (Kiev) government needs to exercise more control of all its forces, including the volunteer battalions, and to ensure accountability for any violations and crimes committed by their members,” it declared.

Among the dead in the conflict, at least 1,078 were Ukrainian servicemen and volunteers, according to the report, although it noted that “the reporting of Ukrainian military casualties is imprecise and contradictory.”

Also included were the 298 passengers of a Malaysian airliner shot down over separatist-controlled territory on July 17, and some 1,300 separatist fighters and civilians in the Donetsk region and some 842 in and around Lugansk. l

Unlikely celebrity: The Texan with a huge IS following

n BBC “You know you’re dealing with some serious Islamic hardliners when they blur out your face to protect Islamic modesty… [but] chose to make it blurry rather than to black it out entirely - I suppose they did that so you could still tell that I was a blonde, white American girl. The holy grail of Muslim converts - so to speak.”

The blonde white American girl in question - Jennifer Williams, a researcher for the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy - joined a tonguein-cheek hashtag movement called #MuslimApologies, and found herself at the centre of attention among members of the Islamic extremist community.

World Bank: Ebola cost Crackdown or climbdown: Hong to West Africa economy Kong protesters face stark choices n could top $32bn Reuters, Hong Kong

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AFP, Washington

The deadly Ebola epidemic could deal a $32bn-plus blow to the West African economy over the next year if officials cannot get it under control, the World Bank warned yesterday.

If efforts to halt its spread out of a three-country core – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – are not successful by December, the entire region faces a real threat of economic catastrophe, the Bank said in a new report.

“In broader regional terms, the economic impacts could be limited if immediate national and international responses succeed in containing the epidemic and mitigating aversion behavior,” it said.

“If, on the other hand, the epidemic spreads into neighboring countries, some of which have much larger economies, the cumulative two-year impact could reach US$32.6bn by the end of 2015.”

The bank noted that small outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal have been quickly stifled, showing the potential for fast and resolute reactions.

Riots in Turkey kill 19 over failure to aid besieged Kurds n Reuters, Turkey/Ankara At least 19 people were reported killed in riots across Turkey, the deadliest street unrest in years, after the Kurdish minority rose up in fury at the government’s refusal to protect a besieged Syrian town from Islamic State.

Street battles raged between Kurdish protesters and police across Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, as the fallout from war in Syria and Iraq threatened to unravel the Nato member’s own delicate peace process. There were also clashes in the commercial hub Istanbul and capital Ankara.

Across the frontier, US-led air strikes appeared to have pushed Islamic State fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which the militants have been poised to capture this week after a three-week siege.

Washington said its war planes, along with those of coalition ally the United Arab Emirates, had struck nine targets in Syria, including six near Kobani that hit Islamic State artillery and armoured vehicles. It also struck Iraq five times.

Nevertheless, Kobani remained under intense bombardment from Islamic State positions within sight of Turkish tanks that have so far done nothing to help.

US officials were quoted expressing impatience with the Turks for refusing to join the military coalition against Islamic State fighters who have seized much of Syria and Iraq. l

The disease has so far killed nearly 3,500 people, has already taken a toll on the economy of the three countries, stifling production and consumption.

In the best case, Ebola being brought under control by the end of 2014, the Bank says, the economic cost will be about $359m in the three countries this year and another $129m next year.

For all of West Africa, the cost will run from $3.8 to $9bn.

But in the case that containment comes more slowly in the three core affected countries, and outbreaks surface in neighboring countries, the costs will soar for all, it said.

“The economic impacts of Ebola are already very serious in the core three countries – particularly Liberia and Sierra Leone – and could become catastrophic under a slow-containment, high-Ebola scenario.”

The study called for concerted international support not only during the outbreak but after it is contained, to revive the economies most affected. l

Student protesters galvanized Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement with their energy and ideological zeal, bringing tens of thousands of people on to the streets in a show of defiance against Beijing.

People young and old speak of a “new era” of civil disobedience for an already well-established movement, with young and politically engaged activists more willing to stand up for what they believe to be right.

As events of the last 12 days prove, however, sustaining momentum is difficult, and whatever success protesters had in pressuring the government by disrupting city life, they will always come up against a formidable foe mainland China.

Protest numbers have dwindled markedly to a few hundred people at times, and the focus for pro-democracy activists has switched to talks scheduled for Friday with key officials in the Hong Kong administration.

Already leaders among students and the “Occupy” movement, as well as tacticians in the city’s pro-democracy camp, say they are doubtful of an outcome that will pacify radical and mod-

erate demonstrators, possibly paving the way for another crackdown.

Protesters’ core demands, namely full democracy in Hong Kong including an open nomination process for elections for the city’s next leader in 2017, are not even on the agenda.

The turmoil presented China with one of its biggest political challenges since the Tiananmen crackdown “After the talks there will likely be another crisis,” said pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, who has helped advise the students behind the scenes.

“You don’t know what each party will do and what will trigger a crackdown or a backdown. It’s very difficult to say.”

The sticking point is China, which has the final say on what concessions, if any, it might grant Hong Kong. So far, all the signs point to it not budging from an Aug. 31 decision to restrict nominations for the 2017 poll to candidates who

get majority backing from a committee stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists.

What next?

That begs the question of what next for a movement that has lost much of its popular support as Hong Kong citizens count the cost of the disruption it has caused.

“Crisis resolution is important right now,” said Kuan Hsin-chi, emeritus professor of politics at Hong Kong’s Chinese University who has been close to protest leaders.

“It’s not the time for getting concrete reform policies or principles.”

A forced police clearance carries the risk of stoking fresh retaliatory blockades, while protest leaders have refused to withdraw given that their demands for full democracy and for Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying to quit have not been met.

“If the discussions do not yield the results we want, we will continue the occupation,” said Lester Shum of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.

The turmoil presented the Chinese leadership with one of its biggest political challenges since it crushed pro-democracy protests in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989. l

P R E PA R AT I O N S F O R D I WA L I

An Indian potter prepares clay lanterns used during Diwali celebrations ahead of the forthcoming Hindu festival in Jalandhar. Diwali, celebrated this year on October 23, marks the victory of good over evil and commemorates the time when the Hindu god Lord Rama achieved victory over Ravana, and returned to his kingdom of Ayodhya after 14 years exile AFP

“Last Monday, I had 60 followers on Twitter. Today, I have more than 4,300,” Williams wrote in a blog post on Brookings publication Lawfare. “But here’s the problem: A healthy number of them are Islamic extremists, including no small number of supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.”

On 24 September, Williams tweeted her #MuslimApology that very briefly shared her own Muslim conversion story.

While Williams says she detests “the twisted interpretations of Islam” espoused by the likes of al-Qaeda and IS (“Can’t believe I even have to say that,” she tweeted at those who question her motives), many (including some non-Muslim Americans) misunderstood her message.

“Then things took an unexpected turn.

My tweet went viral - at last check, it had been retweeted more than 11,300 times - and I soon began to notice a disturbing trend: of the thousands of people who were retweeting and following me, many of them had the black flag of ISIS as their Twitter profile photos. Others had pictures of themselves holding swords, standing in front of the black Isis flag. Uh-oh.”

Williams points out that many ignore her many tweets that go against the ideology of extremists, including actively try to get the “#No2ISIS” hashtag trending. l

Five more civilians killed in worst India-Pakistan fighting for years n Reuters, Srinagar/Islamabad Five civilians were killed and thousands took refuge in camps in the disputed region of Kashmir yesterday after some of the most intense fighting between nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India in a decade.

A total of nine Pakistani and eight Indian civilians have been killed since fighting erupted more than week ago in the mostly Muslim Himalayan region.

Kashmir is claimed by both countries and has been a major focus of tension in South Asia. Each side has accused the other of targeting civilians and unprovoked violations of a border truce that has largely held since 2003.

While exchanges of sporadic fire are common along the de facto border dividing the region, civilian deaths are unusual. Three Pakistani and two Indian civilians were killed on Wednesday.

“We are all concerned and want an early solution to it (the fighting),” India’s Air Chief Arup Raha told reporters.

“We don’t want to let the issue become serious.” The fighting comes at a time of changing power dynamics in South Asia, with Pakistan’s army taking a more assertive role in politics and India’s new nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising a more muscular foreign policy. l

Snowden and the Pope tipped for ‘wide open’ Nobel peace prize n AFP, Oslo The race for the Nobel peace prize, to be announced Friday, has rarely been as open or unpredictable, experts say, with Pope Francis and Edward Snowden tipped as possible winners.

Snowden, the former intelligence analyst who revealed the extend of US global eavesdropping, was one of the joint winners of the “alternative Nobel peace prize” last month. A hero to some and a traitor to others, he would be a highly controversial choice for the 878,000-euro ($1.11-million) award.

The Pakistani girls’ education campaigner Malala Yousafzai – who was also a favourite last year – is also said to be in the running along with Pope Francis and a Japanese pacifist group.

Predicting the winner is even harder than usual this year, as the Nobel committee has received a record 278 candidates, so experts only have the names of those made public by their sponsors to go on.

Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) analyst, was proposed by two Norwegian members of parliament. Last month he shared the “alternative” $210,000 Norwegian Right Livelihood Award with The Guardian newspaper and human rights and environmental activists.

But from his exile in Russia, the US fugitive said during a recent press conference that “it is somewhat unlikely that the Nobel committee would back...” him winning the real Nobel. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Spotlight

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Thursday, October 9, 2014

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Eid-ul-Azha: Here and abroad 1. Muslims walk near the Badshahi mosque after attending a prayer for Eidul-Azha in Pakistan’s Lahore October 6. Muslims across the world celebrate the annual festival that marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage, by sacrificing cattles and camels in commemoration of the Prophet Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to Allah REUTERS

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2. An Indian Muslim offers prayers at the Jama Masjid in New Delhi on October 6 AFP 3. Muslim pilgrims cast stones at pillars symbolising Satan, during Hajj in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca on October 5 REUTERS 4. People prepare sheep on the first day of Eid-ul-Azha on October 4 in Marcory, a neighborhood of Abidjan. Eid-ul-Azha, celebrated by Muslims around the world, coincides with the symbolic stoning of the devil by pilgrims gathered for Hajj near the holy city of Mecca in western Saudi Arabia. It is known as ‘Tabaski’ in western Africa AFP 5. Children gather to watch a celebration marking Eid in a rural area of the northwestern Yemeni province of Amran October 5 REUTERS 6. Women devotees attend Eid prayer at the National Eidgah in Dhaka MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU/DHAKA TRIBUNE

7. A sacrificial cow revolts moments before slaughtering on Eid day at Bangshal in Old Dhaka MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU/DHAKA TRIBUNE

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Thursday, October 9, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Saarc transport agreement the way forward

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e welcome approval by Saarc member states of regional agreements on railways and motor vehicles to improve connectivity in the region.

The agreements implement the recommendations put forward by the Saarc Regional Multimodal Transport Study and boost hopes to develop new transport corridors and regional links.

Overcoming technical hurdles, which limit the flow of trains and motor vehicles across borders, is essential to move forward in developing connectivity.

These new agreements address important practical issues such as including high standards and harmonisation of requirements to ensure only properly insured and licensed drivers and vehicles can cross the region’s borders.

The planned proposal to run a demonstration container train from Bangladesh to Afghanistan through India, Nepal, and Pakistan will provide a good illustration of the potential benefits of improving transport links.

For all its political and financial problems, it is the free and convenient movement of goods and people which gives life to the European Union’s success in bringing stability and boosting trade across its region.

There is no reason in principle why South Asia should not be able to emulate the EU’s success in integrating national economies and building co-operation for a more peaceful and prosperous region.

Lowering barriers to transport movements is a vital step forward in this endeavour.

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

We’d like to move it, move it September 30

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e welcome the continuing growth of mobile financial services in Bangladesh.

By enabling cheap, fast transactions via commonly accessible phones, they reach a much bigger part of the population than traditional financial services and are attracting the attention of major investors such as the Gates Foundation.

Companies such as bKash are making major strides in delivering much-needed financial services to the poor. They are a valuable means of empowering the poor, especially in rural areas, and opening up new opportunities.

Only 15% of the population has access to formal banking services, but 70% has access to mobile phones. Mobile and online services are succeeding in easing the flow of money throughout the country as they can reach individuals without being dependant on building uneconomic brickand-mortar buildings in remote areas.

This is allowing them to reach smaller savers and to cost effectively process small amounts, with current average transactions tending to be under Tk450.

Digital technology offers a less expensive way for the public to transfer money, buy and sell merchandise, get loans, borrow, and save, under the assumption that the financial-regulation environment is supportive. Also, as we have seen in the developed world, digital transactions can be processed at a fraction of the cost of financial services offered.

With mobile phones slowly becoming an all-purpose tool, it makes increasing sense to further adapt mobile technology in a way that offers online services to previously untapped markets. More banks and mobile providers should follow suit.

More banks and mobile providers should follow suit

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

but cannot read or understand the meaning of “no parking.” We like to talk about walking a short distance while riding the bus for a Tk5-distance.

Let us look at all the cool schools at Dhanmondi. How many provide school buses or parking facilities? I guess zero. I think, before blaming others, we should blame ourselves.

Lowering barriers to transport is vital for trade and stability

Mobile financial services a boon for all

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 8 represents U so fill U every time the figure 8 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.

Shamim Hasan First of all, we are the main reason for the huge traffic jams. We like to park our cars in front of schools, maybe in the third lane. We like to get out of the car while other cars wait besides our cars.

We are educated, smart people and cool dudes,

Osmania Shamim Hasan: Well said. It is only a small percentage of people who own private cars. The city has plenty of wide roads and is not that big, physically. There is no reason why it shouldn’t have good bus services and bus lanes. It is the elite who prefer to complain in cars – and whose drivers are a danger to everyone – who need to be blamed.

SUDOKU

Borderlands diplomacy

October 1 Anuradha Singh “Both Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina have the numbers required in their governments to push policies.”

Great sir, Mr Modi. God bless you.

DB arrests suspected IS recruiter in Dhaka

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.

September 30

vhs This LBA issue is taking too much time. We need to get serious about solving it for both our sakes.

Ananta Jalil now turns anchor October 1 Kaniz Fatema Hahaha.

SK Okay, so what will be the name of the show?

“Shokto Kotha with Ajo.”

‘Latif Siddique removed from cabinet’ October 2 MSP Good riddance!

SM Awww … and to think he had such interesting stories to tell!

Zakiul Ehssan If you think he has been removed from the cabinet for hurting religious sentiments, you are mistaken; instead, he was removed for hurting the sentiments of the PM. AH If he is removed, the real reason will be for his refusal to accept Joy as a member of the government. Hasina cannot be pleased with his attitude towards Joy and the religious comment will give her an excuse.

Lonely Traveler IS and Jabhat-al-Nusra are rival groups fighting each other. One cannot recruit for both groups.

Sharier Hazari Lonely Traveler: You’re absolutely right, but this guy definitely came to Bangladesh to recruit people for the so-called jihad and also set up some mini al-Qaeda group. Besides, ISIS and al-Nusra (the al-Qaeda faction in Syria) broke off their ties during the start of 2014.

FS It might have seemed like a good idea for the government to play the war on terror card with this British citizen, but it may well deal their credibility a fatal body blow.

Whatever the case, the young man, Samiun Rahman, is innocent until proven guilty and deserves due process, a fair hearing, and trial.

The Bangladesh we all long for September 29

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Employer (4) 5 Staggers (5) 9 Tempt (6) 10 Corded fabric (3) 11 Tidy (4) 12 Cleanse (5) 14 Allude (5) 16 S African monetary unit (4) 19 Earth (4) 21 Plant secretion (5) 24 Frequently (5) 27 Stubborn animal (4) 29 Fish eggs (3) 30 Numb (6) 31 Woody plants (5) 32 Fitting (4)

DOWN 1 Curved (4) 2 United (3) 3 Gazes fixedly (6) 4 Location (4) 5 Annuls (7) 6 Do wrong (3) 7 Limb (3) 8 Rate of progress (5) 13 Rounded vase (3) 15 Well-wishers (7) 17 Make bare (6) 18 Brief (5) 20 Mineral-bearing rock (3) 22 Muslim leader (4) 23 English county (4) 25 In favour of (3) 26 Golf mound (3) 28 Sheltered side (3)

Obaidul: Government worried about militants October 1

Arch Bishop And I am worried about the one-party Baksal government.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Zero-Agenda It’s hard to believe that it has been a full year since that awful day. I hope our Buddhist brothers and sisters still have faith in this country.

Education sector doing well despite poor governance September 30

poltergeist1234 If access to education is increasing but the quality of education is declining, then are we really moving forward? The recent DU admission results have raised some fundamental questions on the relevance of the education that students are receiving today.

In any case, it is nice to see strides being made with regards to enrollment rates and gender parity, at least at the primary level.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

Syed Ashraf calls Jamaat enemy of humanity PEANUTS

September 30

Dr Ahsan Habib If he is speaking of crimes against humanity, then he and AL are no less guilty. Consider how Limon of Barguna, the Buddhists of Ramu, and others have been treated.

KKR’s Narine reported for suspect action in CLT20 October 1

Nahian Asadullah “Narine has been KKR’s primary weapon over the past four seasons and has helped the team win two IPL titles in the last three seasons.”

This could be a big blow!

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

9

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Fighting for a cause n Aaqib Md Shatil

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Yes prime minister!

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n Dwitiya Jawher Neethi onmoy Mollick has been given seven years’ imprisonment for deriding Bangabandhu. The friend (in Bengali) and father (in English) of the nation is not to be ridiculed. Humour is not a part of our constitution. And we are not that Digital yet. This nation was not freed from the Pakistanis so that 25-year-olds could compose satirical songs and circulate them on social media.

We are a free nation and this we should remember every day. The Liberation War must remain the central political topic as long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and insecurity gives life to thee.

Our prime minister has dealt with slander against her family with an iron hand. Even the Jadavpur University professor who was arrested for making cartoons that Mamata could not understand was locked up in jail for a few nights. And Tonmoy Mollick has been given 7 years in prison. Being more wicked than Mamata might have seemed impossible. But Digital Bangla-

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desh triumphs again.

The 7-year imprisonment sentence also shows that the government of Bangladesh does know how to implement laws and act quickly so as to prevent recurrence of an undesirable act.

could solve many of our problems. For instance, the government has made foot-over-bridges for the safety of pedestrians. Yet, we refuse to give up the fun of running across the roads amongst zooming cars because Bangladeshis are Knight Rider-watching

Of course, a song is more lethal than car accidents that kill or vandalising minority communities that instill fear

This zeal is put to bad-mouthing the BNP, unless a young lad makes a song that is no Salman Rushdie production but still scary enough. And bad-mouthing the BNP is the worst use of the government’s time ever since BNP was sighted by the little boy from The Sixth Sense who sees dead things.

Proper implementation of laws

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daredevils.

Every Durga puja, “unidentified miscreants” vandalise and desecrate some Hindu idols. Because the minorities will still vote in favour of the AL, the miscreants forever remain unidentified.

The Tonmoy Mollick treatment in such circumstances could help to

R

make a strict statement and enhance discipline and respect for the law. But of course, a song is more lethal than car accidents that kill or vandalising minority communities that instill fear.

In alignment with the actions of her government, our prime minister has said that her “heart goes out to all those who have suffered as a result of such mindless violence” at the UN convention in New York a few days ago.

Meanwhile, the BNP has had some “teebro protibad” sessions that nobody cares about. Tarique Rahman has also issued statements from London.

The enormously important political event in London was attended by his wife and cousins. In a desperate attempt to prevent BNP’s statements from being the most useless news, the media had to publish a piece by Taslima Nasrin.

Overall, the AL has been able to maintain its stance of a Digitally (or otherwise)-bow-down-to-AL government. l Dwitiya Jawher Neethi works in the development sector.

D

fter the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende was thrown off by a coup

by General Pinochet on September 11, 1973, the US secretary of state in the 70s, Henry Kissinger (who is also a Nobel Peace laureate) said: “Chile should not be allowed to go Marxist just because its people are irresponsible.” In the 21st century, some new “Kissingers” can be found in Beijing who are not going to allow the people of Hong Kong to go democratic, because they are “irresponsible.”

To have a fair idea about the political situation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), one should go through the history of this specialised region. Hong Kong, once an integral part of China, was annexed by the British forces after the Chinese force conceded a disgraceful defeat in the First Opium War in 1841 and was ruled by British rulers till 1997 almost uninterruptedly.

On July 1, 1997 the government of the UK transferred the sovereignty of Hong Kong to China, as the last crown colony of the former. Since then, Hong Kong – as a special administrative region of China – has been governed by a chief executive supported by the central government in Beijing.

Though the land was returned to the communist China, they distrusted the people of Hong Kong. For example, Article 23 of the Basic Law of the HKSAR grants the police force the right to access to their private property, under the reason of “safeguarding national security,” without any court warrant.

Moreover, Beijing has frequently denied the right of the citizens of Hong Kong to practice the universal suffrage to elect a chief executive. Under a managed election, the inhabitants of Hong Kong had to choose their chief executive who was definitely from the pro-Beijing camp.

Amid public hue and cry that had initially escalated in 2003 for the reformation of the electoral system, the National People’s Congress of China made a move to democratise the system in 2014. The people of Hong Kong have consistently demanded the process of civil nomination for the elections in this autonomous region to preserve their right to vote for the candidates of their own choice.

But the reformation, initiated with a view to protecting the suffrage of the electorates of Hong Kong in the forthcoming Hong Kong chief executive election of 2017, ended up making the electoral process more flawed and partial than ever. The National People’s Congress of China declared on August 31, 2014 that Hong Kong residents can elect their next leader in 2017, but they will have to choose from a pool of only three candidates vetted by Beijing.

It means all the candidates participating in the 2017 election for choosing a chief executive to govern Hong Kong must be approved by a pro-Beijing committee. This completely undemocratic and unilateral decision by the central government agitated the people, especially the students of the universities who vehemently defied

E

it. They have been protesting on the streets since September 22.

The economy of both Hong Kong and China is suffering due to the impasse.

The protest has affected Hong Kong’s important commercial hub, forcing buses to be cancelled or diverted and some banks to close. Last month, profits made by the industrial companies in China declined for the first time in two years, as a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy deepens.

The students of Hong Kong are struggling to save their democracy

Amid the slowdown of the economy, the protesters rejected the call to go home by the central government.

Michael Schuman, the business and economics correspondent of TIME based in China, argued that it is important to fix the political process of Hong Kong to ensure the economic success of the region and supported the idea of the pro-democracy protesters as the economic system of Hong Kong can only sustain under a full-fledged democratic process.

The leaders of Hong Kong confirmed that the government will launch a new round of talks on electoral reform with the central government.

However, the possibility of finding a solution to this conundrum seems to be impossible as the Chinese authority, after crushing the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989, has repeatedly refused to comply with the demand of the protesters. Also, the riot police cracked down upon the protesters leaving many of them injured.

Moreover, China has warned other countries not to interfere while staterun media, including the People’s Daily, linked the protesters to “foreign anti-China forces’’ with alleged ties to the West.

Muhammad Ali, the legendary American boxer who has been an inspiration to many, once said: “You lose nothing when fighting for a cause.” These students in Hong Kong have locked themselves into a scuffle with the government of the world’s second-largest economy.

While the students of many other countries are refraining themselves from protesting against the wrong deeds of their government to ensure their selfish motives even if the fate of their country remains at stake, the students of Hong Kong are struggling to save their democracy because a nation of sheep begets a government of wolves. No matter what the protesters achieve from this movement, they will lose nothing at all. l Aaqib Md Shatil is a blogger and member of Dhaka University Model United Nations Association.

Y

E

Minister wanted n Mamun Rashid

M

y friend did his studies on engineering and business in the United States, and had worked for many years at Ford Motors and IBM. The other day he asked me a question: “What qualification does one require to become a minister in Bangladesh?” I was very intrigued as I’d never come across a job description for a cabinet minister in Bangladesh.

I replied: “Possibly, he or she must be a member of the parliament. If not elected, the person must be a specialist on something or a retired senior civil servant with good command over ministry activities.”

The gentleman smiled and cited a few examples, where the cabinet minister was not even a graduate or, for almost all his life, was nowhere near involved with the activities of the ministry he was running.

Though my friend was pushing me hard, he knew that in Bangladesh, cabinet posts were cherry picked by the prime minister. If you are a party loyalist or an elected MP, you have every chance to be picked today or tomorrow as a minister.

Even if the newspapers publish cartoons of you, don’t worry: As long as the prime minister is happy with

you, and you can term the journalist or the newspaper as being against the political party you belong to, your life is safe and you can have fun. You can even make fun of the miseries of the common people.

The other day, I was on a television talk-show discussing our country’s economic challenges and possible ways out, when the host was referring to various recent corridor and newspaper discussions holding the finance minister responsible for all the tensions within and the pressures on our economy and the apparent failure of the ruling party to tackle the economic challenges in Bangladesh.

In reply, I said it was unfair to be passing the buck entirely to the finance minister or even his ministry.

We are certain that the level of support and leadership from the “top office” of the republic could have been much better. This issue is difficult to ignore when we see many in the regulatory bodies, businesses, and political hierarchy often bypass the finance ministry and undesirably crowd into the top office.

But the host wasn’t about to leave me be so easily, she continued with the discussion, even after the show had ended, she insisted that we desperately needed a finance minister who

could drive our economy to its next possible trajectory, to a middle income country, keeping private sectors at the “centre of the plate” without losing sight of the marginalised.

Readers possibly would agree with me that it is a tough decision to prepare even a job watch for a finance minister in a transition economy like Bangladesh. In the past, we had

If the political parties mean to take the country to the next level, they must pick the right person for the right ministerial role

I was thinking out loud: “If we ever put up a “job watch” for “Finance Minister of Bangladesh,” what should the qualifications of the aspirants be? Should s/he be a chartered accountant? A retired civil servant?

Should s/he be from a multilateral agency background? Should s/he be an economist or an MBA having served with a global corporation? Should s/ he be from the private sector? Should the person be elected through voting or would anyone from any background do?”

put up economists in this job, they goofed up; we also put up retired civil servants, they were okay but achieved nothing great. We put up people from a multilateral agency background, and they did a good “business as usual” job.

Two of our previous finance ministers were blamed by their own party MPs for not looking after party interests since they themselves were not elected by the people. We often get to hear, or tend to believe, that the finance minister in a republic like

Bangladesh can’t also have his own business interests.

Therefore, we may resolve that the finance minister, in a transition economy like ours, should be a ruling party stalwart, commanding respect from the rank and file, with clear understanding about “where the shoe pinches” and visibility about the “destination.”

S/he should mostly be an elected public representative with greater acceptability among development partners and stakeholders. His or her integrity should be beyond any doubt; s/he should also be very articulate in negotiating the “national interests” with the development partners and drive the common causes of the “emerging economies” among the “league of nations.”

One can rest assured that if we now put up an advertisement in the leading Bangladesh and international newspapers/magazines, the number of interested candidates would be few and eligible ones would be even fewer. What do we do then? Run this “possibly the most forward-looking” ministry without a minister? With a public representative of a corrupt and doubtful background? With a “half-hearted” retired civil servant?

Or with an “always-shifting-stance”

economist?

I am sure that readers are convinced: We have to be extremely careful while choosing a finance minister in a challenging economy like Bangladesh. The case is possibly the same in selecting the right person for health, education, public works, energy, or planning ministries, if not all. We don’t have any plans to develop political leaders to do a good ministerial job. They have often been spoon-fed by bureaucrats, without any ownership.

Gone are the days for an individual with “close sight or visibility” or subscription to “populist thinking” to run a growing economy like Bangladesh, with multiple challenges emerging out of increasing externalisation, globalisation, technological innovation, massive urbanisation, agricultural land erosion, and energy and food security issues, along with under-qualified human resources and frequent “policy paralysis.”

Things have to change. If the political parties mean to take the country to the next level, they must do their homework to pick the right person for the right ministerial role. l Mamun Rashid is a business professor and financial sector entrepreneur.

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, October 9, 2014

11 Mourinho torments 11 Tavecchio barred

Wenger again, on and off the pitch

from Uefa over ‘banana’ comment

Sport

Did you know?

Cesc Fabregas has the same number of goal assists as the whole Arsenal squad so far this season

Status same despite PCB chief’s visit n Minhaz Uddin Khan Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan has restated that Bangladesh will visit Pakistan only if the International Cricket Council (ICC) agrees to send officials to conduct the matches of the tour. Nazmul said this after meeting the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Shahryar Khan, in Dhaka last Monday.

Nazmul, who was not scheduled to meet the PCB boss due to his tour of Paris, offered Bangladeshi stadiums as alternative venues for Pakistan’s home games. Pakistan currently play their home games at neutral venues due to security reason.s Following the meeting, Nazmul informed the media that they will only send the national side to Pakistan if the ICC concurs to send match officials.

“We maintained that if the ICC do not send match officials, we will not send the team,” said Nazmul on Monday. “I have clarified this from the start.

“As we spoke for very little time, we discussed the possibility of considering Bangladesh as a neutral venue, which will be a cheaper option for them. It will improve our relationship. We have beautiful stadiums - all ICC-approved so Bangladesh can be considered as an option,” Nazmul added.

Shahryar, meanwhile, said school

and second-string teams from Bangladesh can tour Pakistan before the national side’s visit in the future.

“I have had a very positive and fruitful exchange with the BCB president and his colleagues,” said Shahryar. “I endorse entirely what he (Nazmul) has said. I feel we could do with schoolboys, academy, university, women’s and A teams [touring Pakistan]. We can invite any one or more of these teams to Pakistan,” said Shahryar.

Shahryar added that Bangladesh should not the national side to Pakistan if they feel unsafe.

“We will not take you to Peshawar if we find it is not good there. If it is not perfect in Karachi, we will not take you there too. But there are many other cities. We have a superb new stadium. We will take you there, where I am sure they will be safe and warmly welcomed,” said Shahryar.

Shaharyar concluded by saying some Associate nations participating in the 2015 ICC World Cup had expressed interest in touring Pakistan. “I won’t name them but there are some important Associate countries, who are playing in the World Cup, who told us they are ready to come to Pakistan. It is a step-by-step process, we are hoping Bangladesh will be one of the early ones who will break the ice. We hope to get it [clearance from ICC] with the help of our Asian brothers.” l

BCB chief Nazmul Hasan (2R) greets PCB boss Shahryar Khan (3R) during his visit to Dhaka

Bale crowned Welsh player of the year

n AFP, London Real Madrid star Gareth Bale set a new record after being voted Welsh footballer of the year for the fourth time on Monday.

Former Manchester United striker Mark Hughes and ex-Arsenal forward John Hartson had individually received the Football Association of Wales (FAW) award on three occasions, but Bale is the first to take the crown four times.

The 25-year-old forward retained the trophy at the FAW awards dinner at Cardiff ’s St David’s Hotel and has now won it four times over the past five years.

Bale’s incredible year saw him win the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Copa del Rey for Real, while his performances for Wales have also caught the eye. The former Tottenham player scored both goals in Wales’ opening Euro 2016 qualifier last month, a 2-1 win in Andorra, and has now scored 10 times in his last 11 internationals. l

Norio Tsukitate, the Japanese coach of Bangladesh women’s football team instructs the players during a training session at the BFF artificial turf yesterday

Tsukitate to guide Bangladesh women footballers n Raihan Mahmood Japanese coach Norio Tsukitate has taken over the charge of the Bangladesh women’s football team and will be at the helm till the conclusion of the forthcoming Saff Women’s Championship, scheduled to be held in Pakistan next month.

Norio arrived at the capital last Saturday and has already begun his duties as the coach of the national women’s team. In addition to performing his responsibility as the head coach, Norio will also work as an adviser of the Under-16 women’s football team in the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2015 Qualifiers slated to begin on October 15.

Tamim sparkles but Asia XI fall short n Mazhar Uddin Hard-hitting Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal smashed a blistering 42 off just 31 balls but was unable to help his Asia XI side chase down a competitive 162. Asia XI eventually conceded the Twenty20 exhibition tie by a mere five runs against the Rest of the World XI in Doha last Monday.

The game was held at the West End Park Cricket Stadium as Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya led the Asian XI side. Alongside the swashbuckling Jayasuriya, the lad from Chittagong added fifty quickfire runs in just six overs in pursuit of the target.

The Asia XI skipper departed after scoring 25 runs off 23 balls but Tamim went on and stroked beautiful shots before the southpaw was dismissed by the Netherlands’ Ryan ten Doeschate.

Following the dismissal of the openers, Asia XI lost their momentum and although Lankan batsman Angelo Perera scored a quick 31, they eventually lost the game by five runs. Ten Doeschate picked up three wickets while West Indies paceman Corey Collymore took two wickets for the Rest of the World XI. The Rest of the World XI earlier posted a modest 161 from their stipulated 20 overs riding on the back of their captain, West Indian batting great Brian Lara, who blasted 47 off 44 balls.

Lara was later adjudged the man of the match. Discarded English cricketer Owais Shah also chipped in on his way to a breezy 43 off just 22 balls.

The exhibition match, witnessed by over 10,000 spectators in the capital city of Qatar during Eid-ul-Azha, was arranged by the ministry of youth and sports of Doha. l

He has arrived with co-operation from the Japan International Cooperation Association.

Born in 1960, Norio has worked as the coach of Japanese League outfit Nagoya Grampus and the youth team of Shimizu S-Pulse. He was appointed head coach of the national team of Guam in February 2005. He coached the players continuously for four years from the youth level right through to the national side. His crowning moment came in 2009 when Guam clinched the preliminary competition of the East Asian Football Championship.

The Japanese coach refused to speak with the media saying he will only talk after being officially introduced. It was

learned that the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) will unveil him officially in a presser on Saturday with BFF president Kazi Salahuddin presiding over the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the BFF is all set to host the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2015 Qualifiers at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. Iran, Jordan, India, the United Arab Emirates and hosts Bangladesh will be taking part in the nineday competition. The tournament was originally a six-team affair but Qatar’s withdrawl at the last moment turned it into a five-team event.

The Bangladesh U-16 women’s team have been going through an intense training schedule under local coach

Oct 15 Oct 17 Oct 19 Oct 21 Oct 23

Iran v UAE Bangladesh v Jordan Iran v India Bangladesh v UAE UAE v Jordan Bangladesh v India India v UAE Iran v Jordan Jordan v India Bangladesh v Iran

3pm 6pm 3pm 6pm 3pm 6pm 3pm 6pm 3pm 6pm

Golam Rabbani Choton. Choton will act as the assistant coach of the national side. l

n Raihan Mahmood Bangladesh wrestler Billal Hossain claimed the bronze medal in the 97kg category of the the 10th Asian Wrestling Championship in Kazakhstan last Sunday. The three-day competition started last Friday.

Wrestlers from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and hosts Kazakhstan participated in the event.

Billal later expressed his delight. “I have tried my best to fight for the country in my very first appearance in a bigscale event like this one. The bronze medal is a big success for me and it means that we can win more laurels for the country with proper training and planning.”

Bangladesh Wrestling Federation vice president FM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn accompanied Billal in Kazakhstan as the team official. l

n AFP, Washington

Local Chelsea fans enjoying the match against Arsenal at the capital’s Cook Cafe COURTESY

AFC U-16 WOMEN’S QUALIFIERS FIXTURE

Billal clinches bronze in Asian Wrestling

Billal Hossian won a bronze in the Asian Wrestling Championship

Phelps banned six months, no 2015 worlds

Beckenbauer ‘not offered WC bribes’ n AFP, London Former FIFA member Franz Beckenbauer declared on Tuesday that his vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids would remain “secret”, but said he was not offered any bribes.

Beckenbauer was on the FIFA executive committee that awarded the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively in 2010.

The bidding process has been dogged by accusations of corruption and horse-trading, but Beckenbauer refused to reveal how he had voted, telling the Securing Sport conference in London: “That’s my secret.”

When asked whether he had been offered any financial inducements to vote in a particular way, the former West Germany captain and coach responded: “That’s a clear ‘no’.l

COURTESY

Michael Phelps, the 18-time Olympic swim champion arrested last week for drink driving, was banned for six months by USA Swimming and dropped from the 2015 World Championships.

Monday’s punishments came six days after Phelps was apprehended by police in his hometown of Baltimore and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, excessive speed and crossing the center line while driving inside a tunnel.

On Sunday, Phelps said on Twitter that he would be taking a break from swimming and “take some time away to attend a program” for treatment of unspecified personal issues.

In announcing sanctions against the Olympic superstar, USA Swimming

executive director Chuck Wielgus said Phelps’ actions required “significant consequences.”

“Michael has publicly acknowledged the impact of his decisions, his accountability especially due to his stature in the sport and the steps necessary for self-improvement,” Wielgus said.

“We endorse and are here to fully support his personal development actions.”

The discipline meted out, which includes forfeiture of Phelps’ funding from the federation for six months, is based on USA Swimming rules that prohibit conduct “detrimental to the image or reputation” of USA Swimming or the sport.

Phelps will still be allowed to train with his club, but cannot compete in USA Swimming-sanctioned competitions through March 6, 2015. l

COURTESY

Injured Ozil out for 12 weeks n AFP, Berlin Mesut Ozil will miss Germany’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Poland on Saturday and faces up to 12 weeks out with a knee injury, the German Football Association (DFB) confirmed Wednesday.

The 25-year-old Arsenal star complained of pain in his left knee and was flown to Munich on Wednesday morning to be treated by the DFB’s doctor, who diagnosed a partial tear of the left cruciate knee ligament. Ozil will miss the Group D qualifiers in Warsaw and against the Republic of Ireland next Tuesday.

He also misses a qualifier against minnows Gibraltar in Nuremberg on November 14, plus a friendly against European champions Spain on November 18.

Ozil is also added to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s mounting injury list and will miss the rest of the Gunners’ Champions League group stage matches. l

Sport

DHAKA TRIBUNE

11

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Chelsea beat Arsenal again, Juve edge Roma, Ronaldo scores third hat-trick in five games n Reuters, London Eden Hazard and Diego Costa both scored for Chelsea as the Premier League leaders beat Arsenal 2-0 in a fiery London derby, while Barcelona and Real Madrid were again in fine form.

England

Chelsea stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points by beating Arsenal 2-0 on Sunday after surprise packages Southampton went down 1-0 at Tottenham.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger must wait to see if he faces any disciplinary action for apparently pushing Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho in the chest during the feisty London derby.

Southampton’s first defeat since the opening day of the season allowed champions Manchester City to go sec-

ond with Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Aston Villa, while neighbours Manchester United returned to the top four for the first time in more than a year by beating Everton 2-1.

Diafra Sakho scored for the fourth successive game as West Ham shot up nine places to seventh with a 2-0 home win over their former manager Harry Redknapp’s Queens Park Rangers, who stay bottom.

Spain

Leaders Barcelona became the first team to go seven games without conceding at the start of the season when Lionel Messi and Neymar struck in a 2-0 success at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.

Champions Atletico Madrid had earlier been beaten 3-1 at a resurgent Valencia, who strengthened their grip on second on 17 points, two points behind Barca.

Cristiano Ronaldo maintained his scintillating form with yet another treble as Real Madrid thrashed Athletic Bilbao 5-0 on Sunday to climb above Atletico into fourth.

It was the Portuguese World Player of the Year’s third hat-trick of the season and took his tally in La Liga to a phenomenal 13 goals in six appearances.

Real have 15 points, one behind thirdplaced Sevilla, who thrashed promoted Deportivo La Coruna 4-1 on Sunday.

Italy

Juventus beat AS Roma 3-2 to go three points clear of their opponents at the top of Serie A as the leading pair clashed in a stormy match which produced three first-half penalties and three dismissals.

An 86th minute volley by Leonardo Bonucci settled the match and left

Juve with a maximum 18 points from six games. Carlos Tevez converted two first-half penalties for Juve while Francesco Totti, also from a penalty, and Juan Iturbe were on target for Roma before the break.

Sampdoria’s 1-0 win over Atalanta put them third with 14 points, one ahead of Udinese, who were held 1-1 at home by promoted Cesena.

Germany

Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben scored twice each to give titleholders Bayern Munich a 4-0 win over Hanover 96 as they opened up a four-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga.

Bayern, with five wins and two draws, have 17 points from seven games and are already starting to look as if they could break clear of the rest of the field.

Borussia Moenchengladbach (13 points) lost ground and dropped from second to third when they were held 1-1 at home by Mainz 05. Hoffenheim went second, ahead of Gladbach on goal difference, with a 2-1 win over Schalke 04 as they remained unbeaten.

France

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his third goal against Athletic Bilbao during their Spanish La Liga match at Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on Sunday REUTERS

Champions Paris St Germain conceded a stoppage-time equaliser to draw 1-1 against Monaco at the Parc des Princes.

Brazilian Lucas Moura scored in the second half to give Laurent Blanc’s team the lead but Anthony Martial scored in injury time to snatch a point for Monaco.

Third-placed PSG, who beat Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, have 15 points from nine games and trail Ligue 1 leaders and arch rivals Olympique de Marseille by seven points.

A point for last season’s runners up Monaco means the principality side lie 13th in the table on 11 points.l

RESULTS

English Premier League Chelsea

2-0

Arsenal

2-1

Everton

Hazard 27-P, Costa 78 Di Maria 27, Falcao 62 Eriksen 40

West Ham

Naismith 55

1-0

Southampton

2-0

QPR

Onuoha 5-og, Sakho 59

0-2

Hull Diame 60, Jelavic 89 Schlupp 33, Mahrez 40

Toure 82, Aguero 88

2-0

2-1

Liverpool Lallana 45, Henderson 61

3-1

Wickham 5, Fletcher 23, 78

2-2

Bony 17, Routledge 50

La Liga

Sevilla

4-1

Mbia 24, 57, Bacca 39, Vitolo 63

Celta Vigo

Burnley Kightly 39, Wallace 90+6

West Brom

Stoke

Espanyol

Newcastle Cisse 43, 75

Deportivo Medunjanin 31

1-3

Larrivey 44

Villarreal Moi Gomez 32, 33, Mario 90+1

2-0

Real Sociedad

Vazquez 7, Stuani 90+2

Real Madrid

5-0

Athletic Bilbao

Ronaldo 2, 55, 88, Benzema 41, 69

Morales 2, Camarasa 44, Casadesus 79

2-1

Malaga

Verza 37-P, Hemed 84

Granada El-Arabi 1

2-2

Elche

Serie A 3-0

Rodriguez 6, Jonathas 56

Palermo

Maccarone 4, Tonelli 33, Pucciarelli 63

3-2

Lazio

Sassuolo

Mauri 9, Djordjevic 25, Candreva 35

Berardi 26, 50-P

1-2

Parma Coda 66

Genoa Perotti 53, Matri 90+3

1-0

Sampdoria

Atalanta

Gabbiadini 35

1-1

Udinese Fernandes 62

3-2

Tevez 27-P, 45+3-P, Bonucci 86

Fiorentina

Cesena Cascione 90+2-P

Juventus

Roma Totti 32-P, Iturbe 44

3-0

Inter

Babacar 7, Cuadrado 19, Tomovic 76

2-1

Napoli Insigne 55, Callejon 72

Torino Quagliarella 14

Played Saturday Verona

1-0

Cagliari

2-0

Chievo

Tachtsidis 89

Played Saturday Valencia

Levante

Pedro Lopez 46-og, Saul 70, Piovaccari 90+3

Empoli

Adam 15

Swansea

3-3

Eibar

Crystal Palace

Berahino 56-P

Sunderland

Barcelona Messi 35, Neymar 36

Almeria Man City

2-2

Leicester

0-2

Santa Cruz 60, Antunes 80-P

Played Saturday Aston Villa

Mandzukic 29

Rayo Vallecano

Man United Tottenham

Miranda 6-og, Andre Gomes 7, Otamendi 13

3-1

Milan Atletico Madrid

Muntari 55, Honda 78

Djokovic and Sharapova Mourinho torments Wenger, on and off the pitch n win China Open Reuters, London

n

AFP, Beijing

Novak Djokovic described his crushing 6-0, 6-2 win over Tomas Berdych at the China Open Sunday as his greatest ever final, as his remarkable 100 percent record in Beijing continues.

Meanwhile, French Open champion Maria Sharapova was forced to battle hard to overcome Petra Kvitova 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the women’s final - a victory which moves her into second place in the rankings.

Serb Djokovic was 5-0 ahead in the second set, one game from serving up an incredible “double bagel” as he tore

Barcelona face La Liga expulsion if Catalonia splits from Spain n Reuters, Barcelona Barcelona would not be allowed to play in La Liga if Catalonia broke away from Spain, the country’s football league chief Javier Tebas said as tensions mounted in the region over the possibility of an independence referendum next month.

Politics have been interwoven with the football club almost since it was formed and is summed up by the team’s motto: ‘more than a club’.

Barca’s role in pushing the Catalan nationalist cause varies depending on the board in power, but it always plays a central role in cultural life.

The present board, first under president Sandro Rosell and now Josep Maria Bartomeu, have taken a back-seat role in the heated debate currently taking place in the region about whether to hold an independence referendum on Nov. 9.

Catalan independence would clearly impact on the future of Barca, who, along with Real Madrid, are the major powerhouses of the Spanish game with support throughout the country.l

through his Czech opponent.

In the women’s final, it was a gritty performance from current world number four Sharapova, who handed Kvitova her first loss in nine games. The fourth seed Russian appeared to have carried into the match the determination she showed in her powerful 6-0, 6-4 semi-final defeat of Serbian world number nine Ana Ivanovic.

Kvitova, the world number three, broke serve in the first game, but Sharapova fought back to win the opener.

Kvitova was dominant in the second set, but Sharapova responded well in the third to seal her fourth title of the year. l

The long-running feud between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho shows no sign of healing after another high-profile falling out on Sunday, this time the result of a dispute over territory.

Midway through the first half of Chelsea’s ultimately comfortable 2-0 victory over Arsenal which stretched their Premier league lead to five points, it became clear that Stamford Bridge was not big enough for two of the game’s strongest personalities.

Especially when a seething Wenger encroached into Mourinho’s technical area raging about a robust tackle by Gary Cahill on his Chile forward Alexis Sanchez.

and then getting a hearty two-handed shove in the chest for his troubles.

With the crowd in uproar, all that

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho (R) and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (L) are spoken to by the match referee during their EPL match at Stamford Bridge on Sunday REUTERS

was missing was a theatrical tumble to the ground by Mourinho, who continues to have the Indian sign over the Frenchman he has at various times labelled a “voyeur” and “a specialist in failure”.

While Cahill’s tackle on Sanchez was barely legal, Wenger’s reaction could land him a touchline ban, especially considering that if it had happened on the pitch it would likely have resulted in a red card for a player.

Calmer after the heat of battle, Wenger played down the incident with a dash of humour.

Asked what Mourinho, who he is yet to get one over in 12 previous clashes, had said to him, Wenger added: “I don’t listen to what he says.” l

England stay serious against San Marino Italian FA chief barred from n AFP, London Having launched their 2016 European Championship qualifying campaign with an impressive win in Switzerland, England face a thankless task on Thursday when perennial whipping boys San Marino visit Wembley Stadium.

With San Marino currently 208th and last in the FIFA world ranking, having scored only one goal in their last 29 competitive fixtures, even a handsome victory will not earn Roy Hodgson’s side any credit.

England won 5-0 and 8-0 when they met San Marino in qualifying for this year’s World Cup, after which the

FIXTURES Belarus Macedonia Slovakia England Lithuania Slovenia Liechtenstein Moldova Sweden Serbia

v v v v v v v v v v

Ukraine Luxembourg Spain San Marino Estonia Switzerland Montenegro Austria Russia Albania

microstate in Italy finished with a goal difference of -53 for the second qualifying tournament in succession.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa may be prolific at club level, but Spain’s

coach Vicente del Bosque feels it is time he proves himself on the international stage.

Having convinced Costa to turn his back on Brazil, the country of his birth, Del Bosque has so far shown plenty of belief in the forward and gave him a chance to shine at this year’s World Cup, but he and Spain failed badly.

Costa will be the focal point in attack as a new look Spain, with veterans Xavi, Xabi Alonso and David Villa all having announced their international retirement, will face Slovakia on Thursday and Luxembourg on Sunday as they look to progress in qualifying Group C that also includes Macedonia, Ukraine and Belarus. l

Uefa over ‘banana’ comment n Reuters, Berne

Italian federation (FIGC) president Carlo Tavecchio has been barred from the next UEFA Congress and from holding any position with European soccer’s governing body for six months over an alleged racist comment he made in August.

UEFA said its disciplinary and ethics panel had also ordered the 71-year-old to organise racism awareness event in Italy.

The decision was an embarrassment for the FIGC whose own investigation had cleared Tavecchio of any wrongdoing.

Tavecchio caused an outcry when he made a comment about a fictitious

African player he named Opti Poba “eating bananas” during the campaign for the FIGC presidency.

He was addressing the vexed subject of the lack of opportunities for young Italian players at professional clubs. l

Smith hits maiden ton, Australia thrash Pakistan in first ODI n Reuters

DAY’S WATCH Sony Six 12:30 AM Uefa Euro 2016 qualifiers Slovakia v Spain Sony Six HD 12:30 AM Uefa Euro 2016 qualifiers Sweden v Russia

What happened next was both comical and unedifying in equal measure with Mourinho facing off Wenger

West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels celebrates after scoring a century against India during their 1st ODI in Kochi yesterday. West Indies scored 321 for 6 in their stipulated 50 overs. India scored 135 for 6 after 29 overs CRICINFO

Steve Smith cracked his maiden 50over century as Australia routed Pakistan in 36.3 overs to secure a comprehensive 93-run victory in the first One Day International on Tuesday.

Batting at number three, the nimble-footed Smith hit a sparkling 101 to help Australia to a competitive, if not intimidating, 255-8 in 50 overs after skipper George Bailey had won the toss and decided to bat first in Sharjah’s oppressive heat.

Pakistan responded well until off-spinner Nathan Lyon claimed two wickets in two deliveries, including that

of rival skipper Misbah-Ul-Haq, in the 13th over to turn the match on its head as Australia took 1-0 lead in the threematch series. Opener Sarfraz Ahmed (34) and Umar Akmal (46) provided some resistance with the bat before Pakistan folded for 162 in the 37th over.

BRIEF SCORE Australia 255 for 8 (Smith 101, Warner 43; Afridi 3-46) Pakistan 162 all out (Umar Akmal 46, Sarfraz 34; Johnson 3-24) Australia won by 93 runs

Lyon and fellow off-spinner Glenn Maxwell claimed two wickets apiece while Mitchell Johnson (3-24) proved a quality pace bowler can succeed even on a docile, spin-friendly surface.

Earlier Smith’s brilliant century notwithstanding, Australia did not get the late burst that could have taken them past the 275-mark. Shahid Afridi (3-46) was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers who conceded 37 runs in the first 10 overs and 64 in the final 10 to restrict Australia to a modest total at the Sharjah Cricket Ground.

Smith walked in to partner David Warner for a steady 85-run partnership before Afridi separated them in his second over.l

16

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Tannery traders face hazy future n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Tannery traders are fearing uncertainty in their business in the coming months as a result of field-level buyers purchasing rawhides at higher than the fixed rate and a recent downtrend in international leather prices.

In a bid to ensure uniform pricing, Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), Bangladesh Finished Leather and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLFEA) and Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchant Association last Friday jointly fixed prices at Tk70 to Tk75 for each square foot of rawhide in the capital and Tk60 to Tk65 for elsewhere.

The price was more than 16% lower compared to last year.

However, both tanners and seasonal traders paid Tk25 to Tk30 more than the fixed prices to buy cattle hides, according to the BTA. “We are worried about the prices of rawhides as both field-level traders and some tanners bought hides at prices higher than that had been set,” Md Mosharaf Hossain, general secretary of the BTA told the Dhaka Tribune.

The prices of hides would go further up as the product came to the tanners after a four or five-tier exchange, said Mosharaf.

The prices of leather in the global market was now in downtrend, while the major buyers especially the American buyers were not purchasing from Bangladesh, which was a great concern for the leather industry, he said.

Some tannery owners also bought

hides at higher prices as Eid allowed them the opportunity to get high-quality cattle hide which was less available during the rest of the year, Mosharaf said, adding that these top-quality material was later mixed with the regular rawhide.

Visiting different places in the city, the Dhaka Tribune found that traders were selling rawhide to the tanners for around Tk2,000 to Tk3,000.

Generally, a standard-sized cow hide is between 22 to 40 square feet on an average and costs Tk2,000 to Tk2,200 as per the set price for the year.

However, the Dhaka Tribune found that standard-sized cowhide was being sold at Tk2,300 to Tk2,800 and smallsized ones at Tk1,400 to Tk2,000.

“We had to buy rawhides at higher rates as the seasonal traders did not purchase hides at set prices of BTA and other organisations,” said Ali Hossain, chairman of Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association (BHSMA). He said the merchants had to purchase per square foot of cow hide for around Tk100 to Tk110 from Dhaka and surrounding areas.

“I bought some cowhides ranging Tk1,800 to Tk2,000 and sold them at Tk2,500 per pieces on an average,” Monir Hossain, a seasonal trader at Farmgate area, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Traders also claimed that the number of sacrificed animals was very low in the capital compared to the previous year as most city dwellers celebrated Eid in their village homes.

“We will not buy hides incurring losses as there is not enough orders from the buyers, while the global mar-

The many sides of Bhasha Matin He was one of those who fought on the streets six decades ago to ensure the right to speak in Bangla for the Bangalees. Twenty years later, he termed the Liberation War that led to the birth of Bangladesh, a “fight between two dogs.”

Abdul Matin, the man who had been respected for his 1952 Language Movement heroics and crticised for his controversial stance in 1971, died at the age of 88 in the capital yesterday.

He had been at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in the capital since August 19 after suffering a brain stroke that partially paralysed him.

Born in December 1926 at the Dhubaliya in Sirajganj District, Matin went to school in Darjeeling and graduated from the Dhaka University in 1947.

Bangladeshi communists have always said he was one of their comrades who spent a lion part of his life trying to establish communism in the country.

However, there are other sides to his political career as well.

Matin’s first major political stint came in 1952 when the Bangalis took to the streets to protest the then West Pakistani ruler Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s decision to establish Urdu as the state language of undivided Pakistan.

As a student leader, Matin played a front-row role in the movement that ended up cementing Bangla as one of the state languages of the then Pakistan.

Throughout the later years of that decade, he got deeply involved with the communist movement in the then East Pakistan.

He was one of the founding organisers of Chhatra Union in 1954, then an independent student group whose successors are now affiliated with the left leaning political parties in Bangladesh.

When communist politics was banned, Matin worked with Mawlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani’s National Awami Party (NAP). But at the same time, he was secretly involved with the activities of the erstwhile East Pakistan Communist Party.

In 1958, he formed his own pro-Chinese faction named the East Pakistan Communist Party (ML).

In the late 1960s, the pro-Chinese communists abandoned mainstream politics and diffused into several small groups with plans to carry out armed struggle to destroy what they said were their “class enemies.”

In April 1971, a Matin-led faction of the East Pakistan Communist Party (ML), inspired by the ideal armed struggle, openly denounced the Liberation War saying it was a “fight between the bourgeoisie and feudal lords of Pakistan and East Bengal and hence was a fight between two dogs.”

There are allegations that Matin and his followers fought both the Pakistani

Low-income people sort out rawhides that were dumped in the capital’s Hazaribagh yesterday, hoping to find leftovers that can be sold to tanners for small profits MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU ket is facing declining trend of hide prices,” Abu Taher, chairman of BFLFEA, told the Dhaka Tribune. The seasonal business may also suffer losses as the tanners would not buy unless they got the product at their desired price, said Taher.

Asked about the smuggling of cattle hide, Taher said there was no such

n Our Correspondent, Khulna

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

n

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

chance as the border was well protected.

The supply of hides was slow compared to last year as traders had become more skilled and cautious, BTA sources said, adding that traders were now stocking hides by mixing salt in the hopes of getting more profit considering the demand in the upcoming days.

However, Taher said it would better for the businesspeople if the hides came to the tannery in slow phases as they had only a small number of work orders and reduced demands for hides.

Businesspeople were also facing financial hardship as banks or financial institutions did not provide sufficient loans to buy hides this year, he added. l

Durga idols vandalised in Khulna

Mohammad Abu Bakar Siddique

occupation forces and the freedom fighters during the war. In Pabna, they allegedly organised thousands of young villagers to form an army of their own.

After the war was over, they allegedly killed many people in the northern parts of the country as part of what they said was their armed struggle against class enemies.

Matin again played a key role of organiser when the Workers Party of Bangladesh (WPB) was formed in 1992.

In 2008, when the WPB joined the Awami League in an electoral alliance, a group of dissident leaders broke away from it. A year later they formed a faction of the of the WPB which later joined the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) in 2010. That was very much the last political stint of Matin, who by then was suffering from various old-age physical complications.

CPB presidium member Haider Akbar Khan Rano said: “Matin fought the Pakistan Army and denied the wartime government of Bangladesh in the question of the struggle of the peasants. After the war Matin got involved in a fight with the Rakshee Bahinee and got shot in the leg. Matin always fought for freeing peasants from exploitation.”

Historian Muntassir Mamoon said: “As a politician, Matin has to be regarded as a man who showed integrity in his fight on behalf of the peasants. But, many of his moves can be regarded as mistakes because he opposed almost everything that had something to do with the making of Bangladesh.”

CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim said: “He would be remembered for his consistent commitment to the struggle for socialism and his contribution to the Language Movement that opened up the doors for the struggle for liberation.”

President Abul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has expressed their condolences at the demise of “Bhasha Matin.”

His dead body will be brought at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital at 12 noon today for people to pay their last tribune.

He will not be buried because he has donated his body to the anatomy department of the Dhaka Medical College. l

Rotten diplomats to face tougher action now

Miscreants have vandalised at least four idols of Hindu goddess Durga at two separate Puja Mondops at Doba village in Khulna’s Rupsha upzila.

During the attack on early Monday, at least seven people sustained injuries, while 10 shops were vandalised and two houses also looted.

The injured are Sujit Kumar Bagchi, 28, Sujit Kumar Basu, 27,Chayan Dash, 24, Sagor Odhikari, 21, Biplob Kumar Sarder, 28,Amit Kumar Bishwas, 27, and Amit Kumar Majumdar, 28.

Witnesses said a group of miscreants led by one Sohag Mollah attacked the Mondops at midnight and vandalised the idols following an altercation over seating arrangements at a cultural programme.

According to locals, the tension was sparked when some Muslim youths from the neighbouring Anandanagar village entered a cultural programme marking Durga Puja and tried to take the seats that were reserved for women. Following a verbal altercation with youths of Doba village, the Anandan-

agar residents returned to their own village and used loudspeakers of a local mosque to spread rumours that Hindu youths had assaulted Muslim youths in Doba village.

Hearing the rumours, Anandanagar residents – equipped with local weapons – vandalised four idols at the Sarbojonin Puja Mondop as well as attacking a nearby temple. They also looted and caused damages to four shops and two houses in the vicinity.

To prevent further attack, members of the local Hindu community also armed themselves with locally made weapons. Additional police personnel were deployed in the area to bring the situation under control.

On Monday evening, an arbitration was arranged between ten representatives each from the villages of Anandanagar and Doba, while local administration officials and political leaders were also present. The meeting assessed the extent of damages and a decision was reached for compensating the victims.

No case was filed with the local police station as the upazila chairman ac-

cepted the responsibility of personally overseeing the process of compensation.

However, Omio Sarker Gora, a leader of Khulna’s Puja Udjapon Committee, claimed that by settling for only compensation and refusing to take legal measures against the culprit, authorities were trying to bury the true incident.

Condemning the attack, Ratan Mitra, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad’s Khulna unit, demanded the arrest of the miscreants including Sohag Mollah. He also warned of large-scale demonstrations if the demand was not met.

Asked about the incident, Rupsha police station Officer-in-Charge Md Mezbah Uddin said: “The incident was nothing big. The matter has been settled through a meeting between the leaders of both sides.”

Doba and seven other nearby villages are mostly inhabited by members of the Hindu community, while the majority of residents in Anandanagar are Muslim. l

The Foreign Ministry has taken a tough stance against the Bangladeshi diplomats who are responsible for tarnishing the image of the country.

“No diplomat will be spared who damages the reputation of the country,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam told the Dhaka Tribune.

The ministry had to recall a number of ambassadors in recent times as allegations of serious misconduct were emerged against them. “That is not the end. Just wait and see,” the junior minister said.

He said many alleged that no action was taken against the diplomats who are corrupt or showed indecent behaviour.

“But the ministry is now committed to take drastic actions against the bad apples.”

Shahriar said the ministry would seek clarification from Bangladesh Ambassador to Manila, John Gomes, for inviting the Israeli ambassador to Manila to a dinner in July.

“If he is proven guilty by inviting an ambassador of a country with which Bangladesh has no diplomatic relations, he will be punished,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh ambassador to Greece Golam Mohammad, who was recalled recently as a probe found him guilty of assaulting a Bangladeshi-origin Greek, has reportedly sought one more month to return to Dhaka.

Following the allegation, a Foreign Ministry team led by Maritime Unit Affairs Secretary Md Khurshed Alam visited Athens and found him guilty.

In recent years, at least four ambassadors were recalled.

In July, the foreign ministry recalled Bangladesh Ambassador to Lebanon AFM Gousul Azam Sarker due to his failure to run the mission properly.

“He was even summoned by the Lebanese foreign minister to explain his behaviour,” said another Foreign Ministry official. If he had not been recalled, he would have been declared persona non grata, he added.

The ministry also recalled Bangladesh Ambassador to Japan AKM Majibur Rahman Bhuiyan as a Japanese woman working at its Tokyo mission alleged that she had been sexually harassed by the ambassador.

Former Bangladesh ambassador to Uzbekistan Hasib Aziz was sent to forced retirement as he had married a foreign woman without the consent of the president of Bangladesh.

Former Bangladesh ambassador to the Philippines Majeda Rafiq Unnesa was recalled after massive financial irregularities was found in the Manila mission. She is now facing charges by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Md Shamsul Haque was also involved in financial irregularities while serving as Bangladesh Consul General of New York.

He is also facing charges by the ACC. l

Girl burnt to death for refusing to marry n Our Correspondent, Tangail

A ninth-grader in Tangail was burned to death along with her mother and two daughters as she refused to tie the knot with a neighbour.

The incident took place at South Sohagpara village in Mirzapur on early Tuesday.

The dead were 32-year-old Hasna Begum, wife of Mojibur Rahman who is an expatriate in Malaysia, and her daughters Monira, 13, Mim, 10, and Moly, 7. Monira was a ninth-grader at Gorai High School while Moly was in the first grade at Nayapara Government Primary School.

Locals said several years ago, Monira’s family verbally agreed to marry her off to 25-year-old Jahangir, son of their neighbour Bahar Uddin. Jahangir is an

expatriate in Singapore and at the time of the verbal agreement, Monira did not even reach 10.

Monira, however, refused to get married to Jahangir when he returned from Singapore a little more than two months ago. Arbitrators in the village resolved the issue when Jahangir began harassing her for not consenting to the marriage.

The harassment, however, continued. Neighbour Jamal Hossain said Monira was a little girl when the verbal agreement was made but she refused to marry Jahangir as she did not like him following his return from abroad.

Member of Gorai union parishad Abdur Rahim said Jahangir had a bad reputation in the village.

“Three to four days before the incident, he went to Monira’s house,

assaulted her mother, and even attempted to strangle her to death. Hasna lodged a complaint with Mirzapur police station after that,” he said.

Continually harassed by Jahangir, Monira had to move to her grandfather’s place in West Sohagpara to study, Rahim said.

“She came to visit her mother and sisters in the afternoon on the Eid day.

Who knew they all would be dead by the morning?” he added.

After the incident, Jahangir and his family members fled the village.

Monira’s grandfather Chan Miah said Jahangir locked the house, poured petrol and torched it.

“He also booked his flight for the day after Eid beforehand as he can safely flee abroad after committing the crime,” he said.

Police recovered two petrol cans from Jahangir’s house after the incident, and detained his aunt Nasima as well as rickshaw-puller Md Ali. Ali said Jahangir paid him Tk200 for delivering the cans to his house.

The four were buried at the family graveyard at 7:30pm. Around 1am yesterday, Mojibur arrived home.

On Tuesday night, Hasna’s brother Md Mofazzal Hossain filed a case against 10 people, including Jahangir, with Mirzapur police station.

The police super of Tangail said Jahangir would not be able to flee the country as his passport was seized.

“We have so far held four people in this connection but cannot disclose the names right now for the sake of probe,” he said yesterday, adding that police were trying to nab the other accused. l

Nobel for medicine, physics, chemistry named n Reuters A German and two American scientists won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Chemistry yesterday for smashing the size barrier in optical microscopes, allowing researchers to see individual molecules inside living cells.

US citizens Eric Betzig and William Moerner and Germany’s Stefan Hell won the prize for using fluorescence to take microscopes to a new level, making it possible to study things like the creation of synapses between brain cells in real time.

“Due to their achievements the optical microscope can now peer into the nanoworld,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said

as it awarded the $1.1 million prize. Hell is director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany. Betzig works at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, United States, and Moerner is a professor at Stanford University.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, an American and two Japanese scientists won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics for inventing a new energy-efficient and environment-friendly light source, leading to the creation of modern LED light bulbs.

Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan and Japanese-born US citizen Shuji Nakamura won the prize for developing the blue light-emitting diode (LED) - the missing piece

that now allows manufacturers to produce white-light lamps. “Red and green LEDs have been around for a long time but blue was really missing. Thanks to the blue LED we now can get white light sources which have very high energy efficiency and very long lifetime,” Per Delsing, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, told a news conference.

Akasaki is at the Meijo University in Japan and Amano is at the Nagoya University.

Nakamura is at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

On Monday, British-American John O’Keefe and Norwegians May-Britt and Edvard Moser won the 2014 Nobel Prize for medicine for discovering the brain’s naviga-

tion system and giving clues as to how strokes and Alzheimer’s disrupt it.

The Nobel Assembly said the discovery solved a problem that had occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries: Ole Kiehn, a Nobel committee member, said the three scientists had found “an inner GPS that makes it possible to know where we are and find our way”.

O’Keefe is now director at the centre in neural circuits and behaviour at University College London. In 1996, Edvard and May-Britt Moser, who are married and now based in scientific institutes in Norway’s Trondheim town, worked with O’Keefe to learn how to record the activity of cells in the hippocampus. l

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