16 Oct, 2014

Kartik 1, 1421 Zilhajjj 20, 1435 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 192

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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TMAG

7 | JURIS

11 | OP-ED

13 | SPORT

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

TACKLING MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

REMEMBERING PIASH KARIM

SANJIDA GUIDES BANGLADESH TO INSPIRING WIN

90% physicians slip through tax net Only one-sixth of the 60,000 doctors registered with the BMDC have tax records n Syed Samiul Basher Anik The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has taken an initiative to identify tax-evading physicians and bring them under the tax radar, as around 90% physicians with taxable incomes reportedly do not file their income tax returns.

NBR officials said although physicians earned large amounts of money from private practice and diagnostic centres as well as their regular salaries from public or private hospitals or institutions, an overwhelming majority of them did not pay any tax.

They added that most taxpayers who did file their returns, showed less income in tax statements than what they actually earned.

According to data compiled by the NBR, only around 10,000 physicians have tax files whereas the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) has already published details of 60,000 registered doctors and dentists on its website.

There are also a large number of unregistered doctors who earn a lot by consulting patients at different chambers.

BHASHANTEK MURDER

Police unleash wave of extortion, change murder story again n Tazlina Zamila Khan A police deputy commissioner claimed Md Nasir Hossain was murdered over an unpaid Tk200 bet in a game of carrom, as police unleashed a wave of detention and extortion upon the residents of Bhashantek.

The new account of Nasir’s death is based on statements made to police detectives by Shorif alias Chokkha, the sole accused in the murder case to have been taken into custody.

Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner (west) Sheikh Nazmul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune: “In primary interrogation Chokkha said he once bet Nasir Tk200 in a carrom game, but when Chokkha won the game Nasir refused to pay, and that is why he and some others beat Nasir.”

This version of the story is the fourth version in a series of explanations of the murder offered by police.

An alleged conflict over drug-peddling, a quarrel over the eve-teasing of the murdered man’s cousin and an altercation over the harassment of the cousin’s husband have also been put forward as motives for the murder.

Nasir has been alternately described by investigators as a hero of women’s rights, a fugitive criminal, and now, a bad sport.

Bhashantek residents say police began detaining large numbers of people in the wake of the Nasir murder investigation, though none of the accused in the case, and threatened to show them as arrested in the case unless they paid large bribes to police officers.

The police station has already seen the suspension of 19 officers and the closing of one of its officers over their alleged links to the prime accused in the murder case.

The Dhaka Tribune spoke with residents in the area who said police were conducting daily round-ups of innocent people while the accused in the case continued to move about freely,  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Many top physicians allegedly hide information about the wealth generated from different commissions, diagnostic centres and chambers. These doctors reportedly charge higher fees from hospitalised patients and also get a considerable amount of commission if patients are hospitalised with their references.

NBR Chairman Md Ghulam Hussain recently told the Dhaka Tribune that around 90% of the physicians did not pay proper amounts of tax and so initiatives would be made to bring them under the tax net.

“Efforts to bring not only the doctors but also other professionals within the tax net have started and will continue,” he added.

The Central Intelligence Cell of the NBR has already prepared a list of 537 physicians and collected their income tax-related documents from its respective field offices.

Asking not to be named, a senior NBR official told the Dhaka Tribune that the physicians’ concealment of income-related information would be detected by auditing tax files.

A Dhaka Medical College (DMC) pathology report confirms evidence of anal sex from tests conducted on a specimen taken from the remains of 17-yearold Zubair Ahmed who is believed to have been murdered in an Uttara pond.

In the language of the laboratory, the report says “Anal Swab – Spermatogene Present.” This means that male sexual fluid was found in his anal tract.

No details were given about whether DNA testing had been done or would be done to determine the origin of the body fluid.

Dhaka Tribune correspondents have seen a copy of the DMC microbiology department laboratory test on a specimen sent for testing on October 5, but was not able to obtain details of either the autopsy or microbiology reports.

Asked about the report, Abu Sufian, medical technologist of microbiology department of DMC, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that his department had completed its tests on the specimen in the Zubair case and sent the findings to the forensic department of the DMC. He would not make any further comment about it.

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CIC investigation

Chhatra Dal turned into old age home AL looking for legal ways n to drop Latif from JS Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Ishak Sarkar passed the SSC examination in 1993 after having failed once in the previous year. Then he got admitted to the capital’s Kabi Nazrul College for HSC; but nobody can say for certain whether he passed.

Considering that Bangladeshis generally sit for the SSC examination at the age of 16/17, he should now be at least 37/38 years old.

But many have said Ishak, who has been “made” the organising secretary in the new committee of BNP’s student front Chhatra Dal on Tuesday, is not less than 40 years old.

A father of two, Ishak is a businessman by profession and known as the right-hand-man of BNP leader Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu, also a former Chhatra Dal president. Under normal circumstances, a man in his forties is very unlikely to be a student.

In fact, a look at the names of the 153 members out of the 201 announced on Tuesday night may give the idea that

circumstances were not normal any of these student leaders.

Senior Vice-President of the new committee Mamunur Rashid Mamun passed SSC in 1994 and General Secretary Akramul Hasan Akram in 1995.

Although these two are known for their

The committee was announced through a press release, instead of being ‘elected’ though a council organisational capabilities, none are less than 35 years old.

However, there are allegations that Ishak, who has never been known as a team-man, was given an important post in the committee just to please his mentor Pintu.

Rajib Ahsan, president of the new committee, passed SSC examination in the same year as Ishak. He is known

as the most unsuccessful leader of the previous committee who was nowhere to be seen during the BNP-led alliances election-resistance movement last year.

Many including Joydev Joy, Tarekuzzaman Tarek and Khalilur Rahman – vice-presidents of the students’ organisation – are said to be more than 40 years old.

The word “made” has a special significance in this context because the committee that was formed a couple of days ago was actually announced in the middle of the night through a press release, instead of being “elected” though a council, as is expected from one of the biggest student groups in the country.

Not just Pintu, but many other national-level BNP leaders have had their preferences served in the new committee, which meant that many others have been deprived.

People who know Chhatra Dal very well have said former president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku’s followers, including  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

n Emran Hossain Shaikh After the Awami League dropped Latif Siddique from the cabinet and the party primary membership it is now contemplating how to strip him of the parliament membership.

The party is searching for a legal ground to remove him from parliament, said a number of Awami League central leaders.

Article 70(1) of the constitution says an MP will lose his seat if s/he resigns or votes against his or her party.

Several Awami League leaders said Latif’s comments on Hajj and Tabligh Jamaat had infuriated party Chief Sheikh Hasina so much so that she does not want to see him any more in parliament.

Sources in the ruling party said the parliament secretariat was working on the issue but it is yet to find any legal

ground on the basis of which Latif can be stripped of his parliament membership.

A source in the parliament secretariat said it might not be possible to vacant the seat of Latif.

Referring to previous records a parliament official said if someone is expelled from his/her party he/she will not lose his/her parliament membership.

BNP lawmaker Abu Hena in the 8th parliament, Jatiya Party lawmaker Golam Reza in the 9th parliament and Jatiya Party’s Anwar Hossain Manju in the 7th parliament were expelled from their parties but they did not lose their JS memberships and performed as independent lawmakers, said.

However, Chief Whip ASM Feroz have recently told the media that the matter would be resolved after  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Tug of war over land allocated for RAB headquarters n Ahmed Zayeef

A piece of disputed land has been fenced off for constructing the permanent headquarters for RAB. The land, located near the Dhaka airport, has seen a long-standing ownership dispute between Bangladesh Railways and the civil aviation authority SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Several government entities have engaged in a tug of war over a lucratively located piece of land in Dhaka where the Rapid Action Battalion has already started construction work for its permanent headquarters.

Bangladesh Railway claims the disputed 8.52 acres of land – which is in close proximity to rail tracks just opposite Dhaka airport – belongs to them; the RAB insists that the government had given them the land to set up a headquarters for the elite force; while the civil aviation authority claims that the land was under their name until the government decided to hand it over to RAB. On the other hand, Padma oil company, which although does not claim ownership of the land, says it has development plans near the disputed site for constructing a siding line (a low-

5 | News

12 | Entertainment

INSIDE B1 | Business

Rupali Bank runs a capital risk through providing credit beyond its absorbing capacity, according to a Bangladesh Bank report.

3 | News

After cancelling a major power plant deal with an Indian company, the government is now set to award the 367MW dual fuel power project to Singapore-based Sembcorp under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (special provision) Act.

Zubair’s pathology report indicates evidence of sex Jamil Khan with n Mohammad DMCH Correspondent

A total of 388 fishermen have been jailed and 393 fined for violating Ilish catching ban during the 11-day ban. During the period, a total of 486 mobile courts conducted 733 drives.

6 | Nation

Tamli Rajar Bari, a nearly 300 year old palace at Baragachi village in Poba upazila of Rajshahi, is now in ruins as a locally influential family is gradually occupying the site.

9 | World

Bolstered by intensified US-led airstrikes targeting Islamic State militants, Kurdish militiamen fought pitched street battles yesterday with extremists in a Syrian Kurdish border.

Vivacious and down to earth Sanjida Preeti linked up with Shahiduzzaman Selim and Tania Ahmed in a television play titled Kagojer Kobi.

speed rail track section distinct from a running line) to supply jet fuel to the airport.

There has reportedly been a long-standing ownership dispute between the railway and the civil aviation authorities over a large chunk of land

Railway, civil aviation, and RAB authorities claim ownership of 8.25 acre land near Dhaka airport in the area including the disputed 8.52 acre of land, which is located between the rail tracks of the Dhaka-Tongi route and the hajj camp.

The railway authority is saying they need the land to lay down the third and the fourth sets of rail tracks on the Dhaka-Tongi route under a prime  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Gulshan hotel killers identified, claim police n Mohammad Jamil Khan The law enforcers have identified the two alleged murders of a money changer, who was killed in a luxurious residential hotel in the capital’s Gulshan on Monday.

However, the perpetrators are yet to be arrested. The victim’s wife filed a murder case with Gulshan police last night against unnamed persons.

“The killers gave false names and addresses while checking in to Amari Hotel. But we have traced them from video footage of the hotel’s CCTV camera,” Rafiqul Islam, OC of Gulshan police station, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The official said the killers were professional. “We have already got information about some suspected hideouts of these killers and hope to arrest them shortly.”

The body of Nazrul Islam, 40, was found in room 701 of the newly-built hotel on Monday night. He was the owner of “Paltan Money Exchange Point” at Gulshan DCC market. His hands and legs were found tied with ropes.

The victim used to live in a flat in the capital’s Badda area as a sublet tenant while his wife at Dashpara in Narsingdi.

OC Rafiqul said: “We are suspecting that Nazrul was strangulated to death.

The matter will be clear after getting the post-mortem examination report from Dhaka Medical College Hospital.”

Police also found two needles from the crime scene and were assessing whether Nazrul had been drugged or poisoned before being killed.

Victim’s cousin Sumon, who works as a staff at the firm, told the Dhaka Tribune that Nazrul had often visited different persons, based on phone calls, to buy foreign currency. “On Monday noon, getting such a call, Nazrul went to the hotel with some Bangladeshi currency.”

He, however, could not say how much money Nazrul had taken with him on that day.

Nazrul’s wife Doly Islam suspected that the hotel staff could be involved in the murder “as it is not possible to kill someone in such a high-secure residential hotel.” l

News

Fazlul Karim new Bangladesh envoy to China n Tribune Report The government decided to appoint M Fazlul Karim, currently serving as Bangladesh Ambassador to Mexico, as the new Bangladesh envoy to China.

A career diplomat, Karim belongs to the 1984 batch of BCS (Foreign Affairs) Cadre, says a press release of the foreign ministry.

In his illustrious diplomatic career, he served at Bangladesh Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, Bangladesh embassy in Jakarta, Bangladesh embassy in Washington DC, Bangladesh high commission in Islamabad and Bangladesh Consulate General in Hong Kong in various capacities.

He has also served as Bangladesh Ambassador to Italy, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Karim obtained his graduate and post-graduate degrees from the University of Dhaka on International Relations.

He attended a number of overseas training programmes on international law, international development issues, peace keeping operation, commercial representation and law of the seas at various reputed institutes.

He is married with two sons and a daughter. l

Thursday, October 16, 2014

AL looking for legal ways

Chhatra Dal turned

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Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury’s return from abroad who is scheduled to come back on Sept 21 after a visit to India.

Although ASM Feroz claimed that Latif Siddique could keep his membership as he had not crossed the floor as the constitution does not categorically said what about happens to the fate of a lawmakers if he/she is expelled from the party.

The speaker would decide on the matter if there was controversy over his membership in parliament, he added.

When asked if legal experts will be consulted on the matter, he said: “The speaker can do that if necessary.”

Awami League Advisory committee member Suranjit Sengupta said if party cancels his primary membership he would not lose his JS membership rather he would be treated as an independent lawmaker.

When asked about party General Secretary Syed Ashraful’s statement that Latif Siddique would not able to keep his parliament membership after his party primary membership was gone, Suranjit said: “I have said what constitutional law says and Ashraful’s remark is his party stand.”

Narrating the party stand on Latif Siddique Awami League Law Affairs Secretary Abdul Matin Khasru MP said they did not want to see the man under question in any state or party position as did their party chief who cleared her

stance at the AL central working committee meeting on October 12.

“The party want to remove him from parliament through a legal ground and it is now looking for the way,” Former law minister Khasru told the Dhaka Tribune.

“If any further difficulty surfaces the speaker may send the matter to Election Commission and I think EC will recommended vacating the seat,” he said.

Former law minister Safique Ahmed said Latif’s seat would not fall vacant as long as he himself does not relinquish his membership.

But, he continued, it would be tough for Latif to return to the country soon following the furore his comments created and in that case automatically his seat would fall vacant if he missed 90 consecutive assembly days.

While addressing a programme in the US on September 28, Latif made derogatory remarks on Hajj, Tablighi Jamaat and the prime minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. The minister’s “derogatory” comments on Hajj have sparked widespread criticism both at home and abroad.

Following the issue, the government sacked the minister from the cabinet on October 12 and the same day Awami League also removed Latif from its presidium body and temporarily cancelled his primary membership. l

Zubair’s pathology report

90% physicians slip through tax net

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Professor Habibuzzaman Chowdhury, chief of the forensic department of DMC, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday he had not yet seen the report so it was impossible to comment on it.

The forensic report of Zubair’s death is still pending and will be sent to investigators when it is ready.

DMC morgue sources said muddy water was found in Zubair’s stomach and gastrointestinal tract. The boy’s lungs were filled with water and that is believed to be the reason for his death.

Morgue sources also said Zubair’s vocal chords displayed pressure imprints consistent with marks that would be made by a hand being pressed upon the neck.

The prime suspect in the murder case, Abuubaida Kadir, 46, an Algerian citizen, illegally residing in Bangladesh for the last decade and a half, was placed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court for the third time by investigators. Detective Branch

Sub-Inspector Nasiruddin, the investigation officer (IO), sought a seven-day remand. In the remand plea the IO said it was a sensitive case and police had more questions for the suspect.

Advocate Helal Uddin Ahmed, the lawyer appointed by the accused, appealed for bail but the court rejected it, granting a further two-day remand for Kadir. Metropolitan Magistrate Shariar Mahmood Adnan granted the remand prayer.

Detectives were still awaiting for a response from the Algerian Embassy in Pakistan.

“Once we get a response from them, we will be able to verify Kadir’s background information and got some clues in the present case,” SM Nazmul Haque, senior assistant commissioner at the DB, told the Dhaka Tribune.

An investigation official, requesting anonymity, said Kadir during the remand session, says he killed Zubair but refused to give a confessional statement. l

Police unleash wave of extortion  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

seemingly without fear of arrest.

Locals of the area said they had been threatened with death if they failed to pay extortion money. Police, they said, appeared to be in a frenzy of bribe collection, taking whatever they could from the terrified populace.

Vulnerable people like rickshaw pullers, tea stall owners and local small businessmen were detained by police after the victim’s brother, Mosharraf Hossain, filed a murder case against Bablu, Mamun, Sohel, Sujon, Kana Alam, Chokkha, Dat Bhanga Khokon and six unnamed persons for the murder of Md Nasir Hossain.

Only Chokkha has been arrested.

One victim told the Dhaka Tribune how the police were using the pretext of the Nasir murder investigation to bully, extort and threaten local people.

Sojib, a local businessman, was picked up from his house in Bhashantek three days ago and brought back to the police station yesterday.

He had completely vanished for three days. His wife, Marium, had no idea where he had gone until word came that he had been brought back to the police station yesterday morning.

In order to secure his release, the investigation officer of the case Sub-Inspector Jahir Royhan demanded Tk20 lakh from Marium.

Marium told the Dhaka Tribune: “My husband was picked three days ago. Officer Royhan is demanding Tk20 lakh from me. He said if I cannot manage this huge amount, then Tk10 lakh will be acceptable.”

Marium, who started crying in front of the reporter, asked how the police, who were supposed to protect people, could toy with a person’s life.

She said: “The police threatened to kill my husband in a crossfire, showing him as a culprit in the Nasir murder case, if we do not pay the bribe.”

She said she would not pay the bribe and would go to higher authorities for help.

The murder victim’s brother, Mosharraf, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Sojib is not the culprit and he is not even involved in the case of my brother’s killing. Police are not arresting the culprits but are instead harassing ordinary people.”

Masud, another victim, who is a local rickshaw puller, was picked up on Tuesday. He told the Dhaka Tribune

that police threatened to trap him in the Nasir murder case if he did not pay them a bribe.

Masud said: “I gave them Tk2,000 and they released me.”

He said many residents of the area had been arrested and threatened under the pretext of the investigation and were released after paying bribes.

Recently, Bhashantek police station inspector (investigation) Golam Nabi was closed by Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). Nineteen officials of Bhashantek police station were suspended by police deputy commissioner of Mirpur zone, Nisarul Arif, because of their alleged involvement with the murder suspects.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Md Jahir Royhan, who allegedly demanded a Tk20 lakh bribe from the wife of a man held in police custody in order to secure his release, is the newly-appointed investigation officer of the case. The previous investigation officer has been suspended.

Residents of the area say police have a good relationship with the accused in the murder case, which was one reason they had not been arrested.

The detective branch of police (DB) have arrested one of the accused, Shorif alias Chokkha, and produced him in court yesterday, DB Deputy Commissioner (west) Sheikh Nazmul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune.

The court ordered him put on fiveday remand.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman (media) said: “Actions will be taken if allegations are proved. Already many officers have been suspended, closed and transferred.”

Bhashantek police station Officerin-Charge (OC) Hosne Arafa was transferred to the Victim Support Center in the capital’s Tejgaon area. Kadamtoli police station Inspector (investigation) Abul Kalam Azad was made the new OC of the police station, DMP DC Masudur Rahman (media) confirmed.

Deputy Commissioner Nisarul Arif said: “I got the order yesterday. A probe committee was formed to investigate the allegations against the 19 temporarily suspended officials of Bhanshantek police station. Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Jasim Uddin will head the committee, which is to submit a report within seven working days.” l

“Doctors make a lot of money from attending patients at different chambers.

None of them charge less than Tk500 and some charge even more than Tk1,000,” another NBR official said.

The official added that renowned physicians consulted 30 to 80 patients every day, but their income tax statements did not reflect that sort of income.

He said tax officials had already served letters to different banks and financial institutions, asking them to submit documents related to financial transactions of around 200 top physicians who were suspected of concealing wealth information. The CIC has sought details of financial transactions made by these doctors between July 2007 and now.

Following a huge mismatch between those physicians’ declaration of income in tax returns and their actual earning, tax officials have also decided to scrutinise their tax files, while the rest would also be brought under tax net, the official added.

Former NBR chairman Mohammad Abdul Majid, however, opined that had the circle officials concerned done their work properly, there would have been no need to bring such regular cases under special intelligence activities.

“If the regular activities, which should be properly monitored, are brought under the special activities of the CIC, the philosophy of tax collection is hampered. The authorities should encourage professionals to pay tax and the circle offices should do their work properly on time to bring

people under tax radar,” he said.

Earlier in a primary investigation, the NBR had found that these physicians evaded tax through concealing wealth information.

If found true, the NBR will file tax evasion cases against them unless they pay all due taxes along with a 30% penalty for concealing wealth information.

If the tax-evading physicians fail to pay the taxes properly, officials may freeze their bank accounts if needed.

Chasing tax target

The NBR has found that there is a big potential in collecting income tax from professionals among whom physicians were heavyweights, an NBR official said. He added that it was mostly physicians who did not file tax returns; those who did only showed their income from hospitals but concealed their income from chambers or private practices.

Although there are some doctors who showed their actual income and paid taxes regularly, their number is reportedly small.

According to the income tax ordinance, doctors, chartered accountants, cost and management accountants, lawyers and income tax practitioners will have to submit Taxpayers Identification Number certificates for obtaining practising licence.

The government has set Tk57,500 crore as income tax collection target for the current fiscal year, and to make this happen, tax officials are expanding their tax net by finding potential sectors and bringing the tax-evading

sectors under their radar.

‘NBR disrespectful to doctors’

Meanwhile, the NBR’s way of representing doctors was criticised by Bangladesh Medical Association Secretary General M Iqbal Arslan, who told the Dhaka Tribune: “The state expects tax from citizens and to make this happen, the authorised body NBR can take necessary moves. However, the NBR has presented and publicised the matter in a way which makes it seem like only doctors are evading tax, which is disrespectful to us.”

Dr Rowshan Ara Begum, whose financial transaction details were sought by the NBR, told the Dhaka Tribune that tax officials should have informed the doctors before making such decision to facilitate the process.

“The NBR asks for information from banks, but they should first warn us through a show cause notice or let us know first about the matter, if there was really any mismatch. I have paid advance tax up to June 2015. I have heard about the matter, but the NBR did not serve any letter on me asking me to pay due tax, if there is any,” said Rowshan, who is a professor at Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital.

Dr Rowshan, however, appreciated the NBR’s move to bring the physicians who do not pay tax under radar.

“There are many people who earn more but do not pay tax. The board should not pressurise us [who pay the tax], rather it can bring the physicians who are yet to pay tax having taxable income,” she added. l

new chief Rajib, have got the most important posts in the new committee.

There are also rumours that posts have been given to people in exchange for money. For example, Shafiqul Islam Riblu, who lives in London, reportedly spent Tk7 lakh for getting a vice-president post.

Protesting the new committee, a group of deprived student leaders hurled several handmade bombs in front of the party’s Nayapaltan office yesterday afternoon. They also brought out a procession demanding cancellation of the new committee.

Around 10pm, another group of unhappy student leaders exploded several crude bombs in front of the Gulshan office of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia when she was very much inside the office.

Police arrested three people from the spot to bring the situation under control.

According to the amended Representation of the People’s Order Act, a student body cannot have any formal affiliation with any political party.

But the news is that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has herself approved the committee, which was full of handpicked student leaders instead of those who have shown dedication to the party on the field.

When contacted, Chhatra Dal’s overseer Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie, student affairs secretary of the BNP, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The committee was formed in consultation with Khaleda Zia and many others’ opinions have been considered. Nobody should object with this.”

When the process of revamping the Chhatra League central committee began after the January 5 election, Khaleda Zia said the organisation was going to see some fresh blood instead of the “oldies.” She also said the top five leaders cannot be married.

But when the committee eventually emerged on Tuesday, none of those promises appeared to have been fulfilled.

Even President Rajib Ahsan also admitted that some irregular students had got posts in the new committee.

“The new committee, comprising both regular and irregular students, will play its role to ensure students rights and people’s voting rights. We are ready to make the highest sacrifices for restoring democracy in the country,” Rajib Ahsan told reporters at the BNP’s Nayapaltan office yesterday.

However, many leaders, despite getting posts in the new committee, have indirectly expressed their dissatisfaction.

Vice-president Nazmul Hasan, who was the office secretary of the previous committee, wrote on Facebook: “There is no need to congratulate me. I will work for the party even if I did not get any post.”

Asking his friends to not congratulate him, International Affairs Secretary Bayezid Arefin, joint secretary of the previous committee, wrote on Facebook: “I was showered by people’s love and affection from around the country. My realisation is that this is my best achievement in politics.” l

Tug of war over land allocated for RAB headquarters  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

minister’s priority project funded by the Indian government, as well as carrying out some expansion work of the Airport Railway Station.

To find a solution, authorities concerned held a meeting on July 1, presided

by Railways Minister Md Mujibul Haque.

The minutes of the meeting, a copy of which has been obtained by the Dhaka Tribune, showed that a seven-member committee headed by the additional secretary of the Land Ministry was formed to find a solution to the issue. The committee was instructed to find an alternative suitable site for RAB headquarters in the nearby area.

Although the committee was directed to submit a report in this regard within 15 days, it is yet to be submitted.

Asked about the issue, Md Moazzem Hossain, convenor of the committee, told the Dhaka Tribune last month that the committee had sought extensions to the previous deadline and expressed hopes of submitting the report at the end of September.

However, Mohammad Shahidul Islam, a member of the committee and also an additional chief engineer (east) of Bangladesh Railway, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that the report has not been submitted yet as no signatures had been collected from the committee member.

Claims and counter-claims

Md Tofazzol Hossain, director general of Bangladesh Railway, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Railway is the owner of the [disputed] land. But the civil aviation authority is claiming it as their own. It [the claim] is not new; previously they also used acres of railway land to construct civil aviation community centre, civil aviation university, and a few staff

quarters.”

Railway authority claims of owning 650 feet stretch of land from the existing rail tracks to the east (toward the land allotted for RAB headquarters).

However, the civil aviation authority had reportedly erected the wall only 50 feet away from the rail tracks.

Tofajjol also made similar claims at the July 1 meeting. According to the minutes of the meeting, he said: “Previously, when the civil aviation authority started to construct its convention centre [near the allotted land for RAB headquarters] on railway’s land, we went to Dhaka Second Judge’s Court seeking a permanent ban on the construction work. This case was later transferred to the Fourth Judge’s Court which directed to stop the construction until the case was disposed. But the civil aviation authority is still continuing the construction.

“After constructing a link railway to the Padma Bridge and the Dhaka-Narayanganj double rail line, many services of Kamalapur Rail Station will have to be transferred to the Airport Rail Station. On the other hand, construction of the Dhaka-Tongi third and fourth rail line financed by the Indian government will also go over this [disputed] land,” Tofajjol told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the minutes, Railway Secretary Abul Kalam Azad asked authorities concerned to find an alternative site for the RAB headquarters in order to accomplish several development works on the land. He said an assessment was needed for recommendations on relocating the RAB headquarters to a nearest suitable site, so that work could be carried out on laying down the Dhaka-Tongi third and fourth lane rail tracks, building a siding line to supply jet fuel for Biman, build-

ing a tunnel from the Dhaka airport to the Airport Railway Station, and to enhance the railway station’s facilities.

Md Rizaul Haque, project director of the aviation fuel receiving pipeline project, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Now jet fuel is supplied from Chittagong by tank lorries. During any labour or political strike, the supply has to be stopped.

That is why a project was taken with the railway to supply the jet fuel from Chittagong through rail wagon.

“To stop those wagons in airport area, we need a siding line which the railway authority will construct for us.

Just near the RAB headquarters’ land, the civil aviation authority also allotted land which is 60 feet in width and 2,664 feet in length for the jet fuel siding line project.

“The railway is now facing problem as they need more land for their own project, but the civil aviation is not giving it to them. For that dispute, the railway authority has still not started our project,” the project director claimed.

Rijaul added: “It is very important to make the siding line for the airport to provide jet fuel without any obstacle.” Claiming that these projects were more important than the RAB headquarters, he said: “Every problem will be solved if the allotted land for RAB can be moved to another site.”

GM Abdul Kader, director (administration) of Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), told the Dhaka Tribune: “The civil aviation authority had acquired the land, but recently the government took it back from us. The RAB authority got the allotment from the government.”

Shudhendu Bikash Goswami, chief engineer of civil aviation, also echoed Kader, saying: “Civil aviation was the

owner of this land. We have every document [regarding this]. The land for RAB headquarters was allotted two years back after giving the required land for the railway’s plan. But now they [railway] want more, which has created the problem.”

Mokhlesur Rahman, director general of RAB, who was present at the July 1 meeting, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday,” The government gave us the land and we will construct our headquarters there.

“I do not know about any dispute over the land. All we know is that the land is ours and it is under our possession,” he added.

A visit to the site

During a recent visit to the site, the Dhaka Tribune found that the area was walled off and guarded by a RAB member, while it was already being filled with soil. A small excavator could also be seen at the middle of the site.

A large sign-board had also been erected in front of the land, reading: “Selected land for RAB headquarters.”

Another small sign near the entrance also read: “Own property of RAB forces headquarters; entry and urinating are prohibited.”

Locals claimed that the land used to be a part of a water body called the Shialdanga Beel which was leased from the civil aviation authority for fish farming.

Jamal Hossain, who had been selling boiled eggs on the footpath just opposite the land for around seven years, told the Dhaka Tribune: “RAB started to fill the land with soil from last Ramadan.”

Sayeed, who sells coconut beside Jamal, said: “Everyday from 2pm to 5am, around 15 to 20 trucks filled the land with soil.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Singaporean company to get 367MW Sirajganj plant deal n Aminur Rahman Rasel

A Power Division official said it would be the biggest power plant building deal with a Singapore company based on the production capacity.

Meanwhile, Singapore has also shown interest in setting up two more power plants in phases having capacity of 700MW each under joint venture.

Visiting Singaporean senior state minister for foreign and home affairs, Zulkifli Masagos, expressed the interest when he called on Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali and State Minister Shahriar Alam at the Foreign Ministry yesterday.

On March 28 last year, India’s Lanco signed an initial agreement with Bangladesh for a power and gas purchase-sale on the proposed 367MW Sirajganj dual-fuel power plant, which was supposed to start commercial operation in mid-2015.

Lanco was also awarded another project for building a 214MW plant in Bhola; but after the contract-signing, the company has sought relocation of the plant to Sirajganj and proposed setting up a dual-fuel power plant instead. l

After cancelling a major power plant deal with an Indian company, the government is now set to award the 367MW dual fuel power project to Singapore-based Sembcorp under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (special provision) Act. On September 1, the Power Cell under the Power Division cancelled a deal with Haryana-based Lanco Infratech Ltd because the Indian company failed to deposit the security money.

Power Cell was supervising the project for building the power plant in Sirajganj.

“We cancelled the letter of intent (LOI) awarded to Lanco as it failed to submit performance security deposit (PSD) of $13.23m by August for building the power plant,” said CFK Musaddeq Ahmed, a director of Power Cell.

Under existing rules, when the government issues an LOI to a company for any contract, the company must pay the PSD within a stipulated time. In case the PSD payment deadline cannot

be met and the deal is cancelled, the company must still pay the money to the government as a form of compensation.

Sources said the Indian company – Lanco – could not make the security deposit in time because of a financial crisis. Lanco also had to shut down some of its major power plants at home and abroad because of the reported crunch.

In the meantime, Singapore-based Sembcorp sent a proposal to the Power Ministry for building a dual fuel power plant at the same location in Sirajganj.

The proposal letter, signed by Sembcorp’s Executive Vice-President Tan Cheng Guan, was recently sent to State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid.

After getting Sembcorp’s proposal, the Power Ministry sent a proposal to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the minster in-charge of Power Ministry.

Power Division sources said the premier has recently approved the proposal under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provisions) (Amendment) Act 2014.

Schoolgirl beaten by stalker, stepfather detained

First arrest warrant against Latif Siddique

Supreme Court lawyer again challenges legality of 16th amendment

n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

n Tribune Report

n Our Correspondent, Natore

A school girl was brutally beaten by a stalker for refusing marriage and sexual proposal at Narayanpara village of Tebaria union of Sadar upazila in Natore early yesterday.

The victim, Habiba Akter Himi, a student of class nine of RK Dulu Model High School and daughter of Abdul Hanif, was admitted to Natore sadar hospital following the assault.

The perpetrator was identified as Imran Hossain Tusher, step-son of Abdur Rahim of the same village.

Abdus Sattar, inspector (investigation) of sadar police station said, Tusher had been regularly harassing Himi on her way to school for the last one year.

At one stage, Himi informed her father, who then took the matter to Tusher’s guardians. Being enraged, Tusher physically assaulted Himi’s father and geared up his teasing activities.

On the day of the incident, Tusher went to Himi’s residence at around 10:30am when no one was at home. He again proposed marriage. But upon being refused, he tried to sexually assault Himi and at one point started beating her. Hearing her screams, locals rushed to the spot and found Himi in a badly injured condition. Tusher managed to flee.

A team of sadar police raided Tusher’s house and detained his step-father Abdur Rahim to know the whereabouts of Tusher. l

A Dhaka court yesterday issued arrest warrant against sacked minister Abdul Latif Siddique in a case filed for hurting religious sentiment of the Muslims.

It is the first warrant of arrest order issued against Latif Siddique after his recent derogatory remarks about Hajj and Ijtema.

Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan issued the order as the accused had not appeared before the court as per its previous order.

The court fixed November 23 for police report on execution the warrant.

Latif was summoned on October 2 by the same court after Dhaka Bar Association lawyer Md Shah Alam filed the case with the court under section 298 of the Penal Code.

As Latif Siddique remained absent ignoring the summon, Shah Alam yes-

terday sought an arrest order and the court accepted it.

Maximum punishment for violation of section 298 of the Penal Code, under which the case was filed, is one year imprisonment.

Following his remarks made on September 28 in New York, the ruling Awami League-led government sacked Latif Siddique from the cabinet on October 12. He was also removed from the Awami League Presidium and his primary membership suspended.

Complainant Shah Alam in the case termed Latif a fraud, who is disrespectful to Islam. The lawyer said he was hurt after learning about the matter through TV and newspaper reports.

Judge court lawyer Md Humayun Kabir, and news editors of Ekushey TV, Jamuna TV, the daily Bangladesh Protidin and the daily Kaler Kantho were made witness in the case. l

Three men work hard on an old, broken bus in the capital’s Pallabi area yesterday, polishing and painting the vehicle to make it look new SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

A Supreme Court lawyer yesterday filed a writ petition with the High Court, for the second time, challenging the legality of the 16th amendment to the constitution.

Petitioner Eunus Ali Akond urged the court to issue a rule upon the government seeking explanation as to why the amendment that restored parliament’s authority to impeach the apex court judges for misconduct and incapability should not be declared illegal.

He also sought postponement of the effectiveness of the amendment until the petition was disposed of. He also requested the court to direct the government to cancel the amendment.

The secretaries of the Cabinet Division, Law Ministry, Parliament Secretariat and the Chief Election

Eunus says, according to the rules of precedence, the judges are in higher rank than the parliament members But the High Court on August 21 declined to hear the petition terming it “premature” since the bill was not

placed in parliament until then.

Parliament passed the bill on September 17 while President Abdul Hamid gave his consent on September 22.

In the petition, Eunus said: “According to section 66 of the constitution, no specific academic qualification is fixed to hold the position of MPs. “But as per section 95, a lawyer or a district judge needs 10 years’ experience to become a Supreme Court judge. So how do they [MPs] exercise the authority to impeach judges?”

According to the rules of precedence, the judges are in higher rank than the parliament members, he says.

“There is no strong opposition party in parliament. The amendment passed without any ‘no vote.’ So how can it be expected that it will pass a neutral opinion in any case?” l

No one to defend Subhan n Udisa Islam The prosecution in the trial of Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Maulana Abdus Subhan will start placing their closing arguments from November 2.

The International Crimes Tribunal 2 set the date as the defence declined to present any witnesses to defend the accused. Earlier they told the tribunal that they would place two witnesses and end their depositions in a single day.

A total of 31 prosecution witnesses testified against Subhan, narrating the heinous crimes committed by the accused during the 1971 Liberation War

New PP for August 21 grenade attack cases n Ashif Islam Shaon

Senior lawyer of the Anti-Corruption Commission Mosharraf Hossain Kajol has been appointed as a special public prosecutor in the August 21 grenade attack cases.

Kajol will assist chief public prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman, who along with nine other prosecutors have been conducting the two cases – one filed for murder and another for the blasts – filed with Motijheel police station following the 2004 attack on an Awami League rally.

The decision was taken on Tuesday to speed up the trail process. The court has also decided to run the trail proceedings three days a week, instead of two.

Speedy Trial Tribunal 1 Judge Shahed Nuruddin granted the prosecution prayer to induct Kajol on September 30.

“The Law Ministry informed me about my appointment last night,” Kajol, now acting chief public prosecutor of the ACC, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone.

The attack left 24 people including late president Zillur Rahman’s wife Ivy Rahman dead and nearly 300 others injured. Awami League President Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped death.

The trial of the cases began on March 28, 2012 and the court is now recording statements of the prosecution witnesses. A Dhaka court framed the charges against 30 people including BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, the elder son of party chief Khaleda Zia, on March 18 the same year. l

Commissioner were made respondents.

Eunus on July 20 filed another petition with the High Court to stop process of the amendment saying “if the parliament gets back the impeachment authority, the judiciary cannot function independently.”

in Pabna.

Yesterday was set for placing the defence witnesses. But defence counsel Mizanul Islam mentioned that they would not place anyone before the court. The tribunal then asked the prosecution to start arguments. But as the prosecution sought time, the tribunal set November 2.

The defence in the trial against Syed Mohammad Qaisar, which is now awaiting verdict, also denied to place any witness. The 78-year-old Jamaat leader was indicted on December 31 on nine charges of crimes against humanity. l

Witness: Jabbar ordered conversion of Hindus n Udisa Islam In observance of International Day of Rural Women yesterday, Oxfam’s GROW campaign organises a roundtable discussion at the National Press Club in the capital MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Charge framing hearing against 41 BNP men deferred to January 14

Court accepts money laundering charges against Mosharraf n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday took cognisance of charges against BNP Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in a case filed in connection with siphoning off over Tk9.53 crore to the UK. After accepting the charge sheet, judge of Dhaka Senior Metropolitan Special Judge Court 1 Md Jahrul Haque ordered to transfer the case to Dhaka Metropolitan Special Judge’s Court 8 for trial. The court also said it would hear the case again on November 2.

On August 14, Deputy Director of ACC Nasim Anwar submitted the charge sheet to CMM court of Dhaka, mentioning eight people as prosecution witnesses. Mosharraf, was arrested on March 12 and is now behind bars. l

A Dhaka court yesterday deferred until January 14 the charge framing hearing against 41 BNP leaders and activists, including its acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in an arson case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Special Tribunal 5 Judge Md Ruhul Amin passed the order in response to time petitions filed by the defence counsel.

Four of the 41 BNP men-- Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Joint Secretary General Amanullah Aman, Vice-Chairman Abdullah Al Noman and JCD General Secretary Habibur Rashid Habib-did not appear before the court while 37 others, including Convener of Dhaka

city unit Mirza Abbas, Standing Committee Member Moudud Ahmed, Joint Secretary General Barkatullah Bulu and Student Affairs Secretary Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie, Juba Dal President Moazzem Hossain Alal, General Secretary Saiful Alam Nirob and Swechchhasebak Dal President Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, were present.

A case was filed with Ramna police station under the Explosive Substance Act for torching a vehicle in front of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in the capital during an agitation programme on March 2, 2013.

Sub-Inspector of Ramna police station Deepak Kumar Pal, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet on July 5 last year. l

A new prosecution witness against war crimes accused Abdul Jabbar yesterday said they had no other option but following the order of the accused to be converted to Islam during the 1971 Liberation War. Dilip Kumar Paik, the 12th prosecution witness, hails from village Phuljhuri under Mothbaria upazila of Pirojpur.

He also described how razakars following the order of Jabbar had shot dead two freedom fighters on May 16, 1971.

Now fugitive Jabbar, a former Jatiya Party MP, played a key role in the formation of razakar force in Mothbaria.

He faces five charges of crimes against humanity committed during the war.

“On May 17, the Pakistan Army members and razakars led by Jabbar surrounded our village and torched at least 360 houses after looting them.

As all the people were running to save their lives, the occupation forces shot dead my cousin Sharada Paik,” Dilip said.

The witness claimed that after around 10 days, he and his father had been captured by local Peace Committee leader Hossain Kerani and his goons while going to Telikhali village by boat.

They were taken to Sapa Bazar. “Hos-

sain Kerani told us that if we wished to live we have to become Muslims.”

‘The abductor gave us only one option – to convert to Islam.

Razakars and Peace Committee activists forced us to utter ‘Kolema’’ They were taken to the bank of a pond where around 150-200 more Hindus had been kept.

“The abductor gave us only one option – to convert to Islam. Razakars and Peace Committee activists forced us to utter ‘Kolema,’ gave us Muslim names and forced to perform prayers continuously,” Dilip claimed adding that he had named as Delwar Hossain Khan while his father Qaiyum Khan.

“After two-three days, we were forced to eat beef,” said the witness, who is a lawyer by profession.

After his deposition, state-appointed defence counsel Mohammad Abul Hasan cross examined the witness. The two-member tribunal led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim adjourned the hearing until October 20. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, October 16, 2014

ACC seeks debit card forgery documents from Standard Bank n Tribune Report The Anti-Corruption Commission has sought documents related to the Tk16.07 lakh embezzlement from the Standard Bank Ltd through debit card forgery to facilitate its investigation in a case filed against a former official of the bank.

Through a written letter, M Moshiur Rahman, the commission’s assistant director and investigation officer, asked the bank’s Managing Director Nazmus Salehin to collect and submit the documents at the ACC headquarters by October 27, the ACC official told the Dhaka Tribune.

The ACC is now investigating the case, filed on December 2, 2013, against the bank’s former assistant officer M Sumon Khan who had allegedly embezzled the money from the accounts of five clients, namely Chayan Kumar Sengupta, Parul Ghosh, M Sheikh Idris, M Faruk Hossain and Ismail Hossain, at the bank’s Mohammadpur branch.

The accused, from Purba Khalashpur village in Faridpur Kotwali, reportedly stole the money by forging debit cards from the victims’ accounts.

As the clients realised that money had been withdrawn from their accounts without their consent, they filed the case with Mohammadpur police, who later forwarded the case to the ACC. According to the notice served to the bank’s managing director, the anti-graft body asked for the accused’s job offer letter, appointment letter, transfer orders, release letter, termination letter, documents related to departmental action taken against him, his job respon-

ACC chief: Cases not dependent on anyone’s instruction to start or end

sibilities at the Mohammadpur branch, and all documents and certificates related to his service at the bank.

In addition, the commission asked for the victim clients’ account opening forms, financial statements, application letters for the debit card, PIN-related documents, and the identity card of the card delivery officer.

The ACC also asked for the report of investigation conducted by the bank, the date and time of cash withdrawal using the debit cards, location of the ATM booths, and the video clip of the time and date for further investigation.

Meanwhile, the ACC sent summon notices to six top officials of the bank to question them in this regard.

They officials – SM Oliul Hasan, assistant vice president at the bank’s ICCD branch, S Tanzim Hamid, senior officer, A H M Manjur Kader Khan, senior vice president at the principal branch, Zoarder Iliyas Rahman, first assistant vice president at Mohammadpur branch, Shamim Ara Tania senior officer, and Gourango Chandra Sarker, executive officer at the head office – are required to appear before the commission on October 22 to give their statements.

All the documents and the statements are necessary to furnish the inquiry report, which is why the officials have been summoned, said Assistant Director Moshiur.

“These bank officials has conducted an audit in this connection and they were appointed in the bank’s branch when the stealing took place, so we summoned them to be present at the ACC to give statements,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. l

People look on as Bangladesh Railway authorities evict illegal establishments along the rail tracks at Azampur in the capital’s Uttara area yesterday

EC asks police to ensure security at server stations n Mohammad Zakaria The Election Commission is worried about the security of the newly constructed server stations in district, regional and upazila levels across the country as some valuable equipments have gone missing recently.

On Monday, the commission sent letters, signed by Deputy Secretary of EC Israil Hossain, to all superintendents of police and commissioners of metropolitan police, asking them to

n DU Correspondent

Chairman of Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Mohd Badiuzzaman said his organisation was not reliant on government’s instruction to begin or end graft cases against anyone.

He said this while addressing a view exchange meeting on ways to tackle corruption at Comilla city’s Bir Chandra auditorium yesterday.

“ACC conducts investigation independently and then files cases. Corruption is on the rise due to political instability and bureaucratic complications.

It is not possible to eradicate corruption without political eagerness,” Badiuzzaman added.

The event, organized by district administration and the local ACC chapter, was presided over by district commissioner Mohd Hasanuzzaman Kollol.

Also present were Qamrul Hossain Molla, director general (legal) of ACC, Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, director of Chittagong ACC, police super Tutul Chakrabarty, President of Committee on Prevention of Corruption and Community Policing of Comilla Professor Amir Ali Chowdhury, Advisor of Justice Reform and Corruption Prevention project Richard Miles and Head of Programme Promita Sengupta among others.

Earlier in the day, a rally led by ACC Chairman was brought out from the district Shilpokala Academy to raise awareness against corruption. l

Dhaka University (DU) authority yesterday denied permission to Piash Karim’s family to keep his body at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital for public tribute.

Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University, Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, confirmed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune.

The decision came following an application from Piash Karim’s family seeking permission in this connection on Tuesday.

DU acting proctor Amsad Ali said

the university authority had not given permission as it had already approved programme of another organisation.

“We have given permission to ‘Muktijoddha Shangshad Shontan Command’ to hold their event as they sought permission before. That is why we cannot allow Piash Karim’s family to take his body to the Shaheed Minar on Friday,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chhatra Shangram Parishad (comprised of seven student organisations) held a press conference yesterday at Madhur Canteen and declared to protest and take position at

Shaheed Minar on Friday morning.

They also alleged that Piash Karim had acted “against the liberation war” of Bangladesh and that he was one of those who had made “negative remarks about the Shahbagh movement and the war crimes trials, particularly in television talk shows”.

On October 13, Brac University Professor Piash Karim died of cardiac arrest at a city hospital.

After his family members announced to take his body to Shaheed Minar for last respect, several organisations declared to resist the move. l

involved with elections and many political leaders, activists, supporters and contenders come regularly.

According to the letter, information, voter data and papers from nine regional offices, 38 district, and 410 upazila and thana offices has already been shifted to newly constructed buildings.

When contacted yesterday, Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Hafiz confirmed the sending of the letters and said security at the server stations

Water tank collapse kills 1 n Tribune Report A man died and 10 others sustained injuries as a wall of a concrete water tank on the roof of a four-storey mosque collapsed and fell on a laundry adjacent to it in the capital’s Fakirapool yesterday.

The deceased, Abdus Salam, 45, was a worker at the laundry named Sunlight Ideal Home Dry Cleaners located right beside the Fakirapool Bazar Jame Mosque. A total of 12 men were working inside the laundry when the water tank collapsed on them.

The mosque’s caretaker Waliullah told reporters that he was on the first floor when the accident took place in the evening. He said a portion of the wall of the water tank collapsed with a

bang and then it fell on the laundry.

“Water was pouring out of the tank.

The wall of the tank could not bear the pressure of water,” he said.

Salam who comes from Manikganj lived at Fakirapool with his wife.

Another worker of the laundry Nawab Ali who also suffered minor injuries said: “A heavy object dropped on us out of nowhere. Salam died on the spot when he got mostly buried under the object. It fell directly on him.”

He said nine other people who were also working at that time were also injured. Two of them –Jakir and Sohag – were badly injured and were taken to a local hospital.

Locals rescued all the victims before fire-fighter personnel arrived there. l

Journalist Fouzul Karim passes away n BSS

n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Former executive editor of the now-defunct Bangla daily Dainik Bangla Fouzul Karim popularly known as Tara Bhai died of old-age complications at a city hospital yesterday. He was 84.

He died around 12pm at Central Hospital in the capital.

Fouzul Karim left behind a wife and a host of relatives and admirers to mourn his death. He will be buried at Mirpur Intellectual graveyard after namaz-e-janaza at a mosque in Road no 7 of Dhanmondi after Magrib prayer. l

police station said the girl was abducted on August 18 when she was returning home from school. Selim along with 5-6 cohorts forcibly picked-up the girl into a microbus, he added.

Later, the mother of the girl filed a case with Joydepur police station in this connection. SI Mobarak said police raided the house of Selim in Netrakona after receiving a tip-off on Tuesday night and found the girl.

Selim used to work at a factory in the area and lived in the house of the female student as a tenant, he added. l

Acid attack condemned n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Workers dig up a street in the capital’s Pallabi area yesterday to install water pipes for Dhaka Wasa SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

should be ensured immediately.

However, EC sources said they did not receive any response from the police authorities in this regard yet.

Meanwhile, the commission has directed it’s establishment wing to fill the 15 vacant security guard posts at the now operational server stations.

An official of the wing said they were also trying to appoint security guards at the 410 upazila server stations which will be operational from November this year. l

Girl rescued after 57 days of abduction, 1 arrested A teenage girl was rescued by the police on Tuesday night from Netrokona, 57 days after her abduction from Gazipur.

The victim, aged about 17, was a class VII student of Chandana High School in Gazipur city.

Police arrested Selim Mia, 22, son of Alam Fakir of Mona village under the Sadar upazila of Netrakona, for his alleged involvement in the abduction.

Sub-Inspector Mobarak Hossain of Vogra police outpost under Joydebpur

Mahbubur Rahman passes away n Tribune Report R e t i r e d government official Mahbubur Rahman passed away at the age of 85 due to old age complications at a hospital in the capital yesterday, leaving behind two sons, three daughters and a host of relatives to mourn his death.

Mr Rahman retired from Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992.

His youngest son, M Shamsur Rahman, is the editor of The Independent, and editor-in-chief and CEO of Independent Television.

Mr Rahman was laid to rest at his village home in Chatkhil upazila of Noakhali district yesterday. l

ensure security at all server stations.

The commission’s letter also requested officer-in-charges’ to increase vigilance around the stations until any permanent security measures are taken.

The issue of added security emerged after some laptops, scanners, cameras and other necessary equipments went missing in some of the offices.

The letter said the commission feared that all field-level offices were now insecure since they were directly

DU denies permission to take Piash’s body to Shaheed Minar

n Our Correspondent, Comilla

MEHEDI HASAN

Women’s rights activists yesterday formed a human chain condemning the acid attack on a female school teacher by her husband and demanded speedy trial and exemplary punishment of the accused.

The programme was organised

by Barisal Sammilito Nari Nirjatan Protirodh Committee, a local platform to resist violence against women, with assistance from Barisal chapter of Hunger Project Bangladesh and Acid Survivors Foundation in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall of the city in the morning.

It was presided over by Anwar Zahid, NGO organiser, and addressed among others by Khaleda Huq, former chairman of Babuganj upazila parishad, Mobarak Hossain, district president

of primary teachers association, and Meher Afroj Mita, regional coordinator of The Hunger Project.

The speakers demanded death penalty of the accused for throwing acid and emphasised on strict enforcement of the law to curb violence against women.

Meanwhile, Barisal unit of Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association published a statement condemning the attack and assured of legal aid to acid victims.

Earlier on Monday, Asma Akter, 34, a teacher of Amirabad Government Primary School under Nalchhity upazila of Jhalakati received severe burn injury after her husband, Masud Alam, threw acid on her.

Barisal Kotwali police arrested Masud Alam on Monday night and the court sent him to jail on Tuesday. l

USAID-DFID visit joint health venture

n Tribune Report Country Representative of the UK government’s Department for International Development, Sarah Cooke, and the Deputy Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development, Paul Sabatine, visited health clinics in Chittagong under Surjer Hashi network yesterday.

Under the partnership, DFID provided an additional $29 million to USAID’s five-year $54m NGO Health Service Delivery Project. Surjer Hashi clinics provide healthcare services to the poorest in Bangladesh through a network of 26 NGOs, 334 clinics and more than 6,666 community health workers. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Two irksome cattle markets to be relocated Health minister termed DNCC official 'criminal' for giving approval to set up cattle markets at Agargaon, Azimpur

n Abu Hayat Mahmud

“Next year, both the markets will certainly be set up elsewhere. If we cannot find alternative locations, we will shut the markets,” LGD Joint Secretary Ashoke Madhab Roy told the Dhaka Tribune.

Every year, the two markets are organised by the city corporation but the Health Ministry before this Eid-ul-Azha wrote to the LGD to close the market in Agargaon considering the misery of patients of three nearby hospitals.

SM Jahid, organising secretary of Jubo League central committee, was awarded the lease for the market.

On October 8, the health minister came down heavily on DNCC officials for not complying with the order in the letter. He termed the DNCC administrator a criminal and urged the LGRD Min-

istry to take action against him.

“If the cattle market in Agargaon is not relocated next year, I will seek the prime minister’s intervention,” he said.

DNCC Administrator Md Faruque Jalil and Chief Estate Officer Aminul Islam, however, said they received no letter from the ministry.

“We also heard a letter was sent to the LGRD Ministry but the ministry did not forward it to us,” said Aminul.

LGD sources said officials were unable to act on the Health Ministry’s letter as it was sent at a time when the market was almost fully organised.

“We could not act according to the letter as it came at the eleventh hour and we had no alternative location to set up the market,” the LGD joint secretary said.

Meanwhile, the other cattle market set up by the DNCC in Azampur Government Primary School compound caused much nuisance among local residents and students of at least 20 educational institutions.

Afsar Uddin Khan, organising secretary of Awami League’s Uttara thana unit, was awarded the lease for the market while Jubo League leader Mahbubur Rahman got it last year.

“The cattle market has ruined the environment of the school. Classes will resume on Sunday, but the wastes have not been removed yet. I am not sure whether it is possible to clean the playground before classes start,” the school’s headmistress Nargis Sultana told the Dhaka Tribune.

In 2013, DNCC former chief estate officer Md Fasiullah said they were planning to relocate the Agargaon, Azampur and Taltola markets next year.

However, only the Taltola market was set up in a new location. l

Accidents kill three in Chittagong n Tribune Report

Minister: Identifying real Government plans to build ‘green, freedom fighters in the offing smart’ Purbachal city by 2019

The Local Government Division (LGD) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) have decided to relocate two city cattle markets next year.

The decision comes in the wake of criticism from Health Minister Mohammed Nasim and complaints from locals of both the areas about cattle markets in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar-Agargaon area and Azampur school ground in Uttara.

LGD and DNCC officials said they would find new locations to relocate the markets.

The decision comes in the wake of criticism from health minister and complaints from locals about the cattle markets

A bus driver was killed and five others were injured as a covered-van collided head-on with a bus in Mirsarai upazila in Chittagong yesterday morning.

Police said a Chittagong-bound bus collided head-on with a covered-van in the Dhumghat area around 6am, leaving bus driver Md Ali, 55, hailing from Feni, dead on the spot.

A man age around 35 years was crushed under the wheels of a Dohazari-bound local train in the Pahartali station area around 11am of Tuesday, leaving the him dead on the spot, said the OC. Being informed, police rushed to the spot and sent the bodies to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy. l

n Our Correspondent, Savar

LIGHT RAIN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:32PM SUN RISES 5:57AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 29 31 30 31 31 30 30 30

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque yesterday said the actual freedom fighters would be picked out soon.

“The real freedom fighters will be given digital identity card after spotting them through proper investigation as early as possible. They will be considered as honourable citizens of the country while their allowance will be lifted to Tk10,000 and 25% of them will get house rent from the next fiscal year,” Mozammel Haque said. The minister made the remarks while addressing a view exchange meeting

CERTIFICATE FORGERY BY STUDENT

BAU decides not to confer degree on him n BAU Correspondent The authority of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) has taken decision that they would not confer honors degree on a student who has allegedly forged certificate of the university to get admission to another university.

Vice-Chancellor of the university Prof Md Rafiqul Haque asked authorities concerned to take immediate steps against Md Ekramul Haque, son of Md Mominul Haque of Old Babupara in Syedpur upazila, Nilphamari, as soon as possible.

The VC also asked them not to con-

with the local liberation war heroes as the chief guest after inaugurating the Panchagarh Freedom Fighters’ complex in the afternoon.

Those who contributed to the 1971 liberation war from March 26 to December 16 would be enrolled to the list, said Mozammel, adding that a move would be taken to legalise the use of the title freedom fighter before their names.

Later, the minister said there will have also a step to take a 100-mark of examination in the BCS on the liberation war and later he warned of taking stern action against the education institutions which do not hoist the national flag. l

RMG workers demand reinstatement

WEATHER

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

n Our Correspondent, Panchagarh

Accident can happen at any time as a manhole remains without cover at Azampur in the capital. The photo was taken yesterday

Hundreds of workers of two ready made garment factories, who have been sacked, stage demonstration in Savar yesterday demanding reinstatement without any delay.

During the agitation, a total of 288 garment workers tried to put up barricade on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway, but police foiled their attempt.

Later, they held a rally at Ashulia where they demanded their reinstatement; otherwise they would wage tougher movement.

Quoting workers, police said authority of Hanara Fashions and Hesong Fashions terminated 288 workers before Eid-ul-Azha without prior notice.

A worker said the authorities sacked them when they were on leave, which was inhumane. l

fer any certificate or degree on him, said Additional Registrar (academic) Md Sarwar Jahan.

Ekramul, a student of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology faculty under the university, has taken admission to MBA course of Brac University’s Fall Semester in 2012 by using a fake certificate of Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics (honors), although he is yet to complete honours degree from the BAU. According to public university rules, a student is considered as a student of the university till after eight years of his/her enrollment, whether he/she

n Mohosinul Karim The government has planned to build a “green and smart” Purbachal city, having own power production and supply system and utility services, by 2019.

Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, a Singapore-based company, has shown interest in investing in the project to be implemented under public private partnership (PPP) programme.

The Bangladesh government has already given the company the goahead to invest in the project which will be implemented under the ‘Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) system.

“Bangladesh wants to complete the construction work of smart Purbachal city by 2019 as it was taken 19 years ago,” Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain told reporters yesterday after a meeting with visiting Singapore Senior Minister of State for Foreign and Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli Bin Masagos Mohamad.

“The Singapore government wants to invest in the project. Bangladesh is now scrutinising the draft of a memorandum of understanding which will be signed with Singapore soon

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22.6ºC Sayedpur

PRAYER TIMES 4:41am 5:55am 11:44am 3:55pm 5:33pm 6:48 pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, a Singaporebased company, has shown interest in investing in the project to be implemented under public private partnership (PPP) programme ern city near Purbachal,” Prime Minister’s Press Secretary AKM Shamim Chowdhury told reporters after the meeting. “The Singaporean entrepreneurs want to take up the project either on their own or as a joint venture.”

Mosharraf Hossain told reporters,

n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Source: Accuweather/UNB

Fajar Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

after consulting with the officials concerned,” he said.

Earlier, Masagos Zulkifli made the same proposal on behalf of the entrepreneurs during a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office on Tuesday.

“Singapore wants to set up a power plant in Bangladesh and build a mod-

Trader robbed of Tk2 lakh in Sylhet n Our Correspondent, Sylhet A gang of snatchers took away Tk2 lakh from a businessman in front of Majumdari Biman office on the Sylhet Airport Road in the city yesterday.

Police said Nazrul Islam had withdrawn Tk2 lakh from Dargah Gate branch of AB Bank at about 10am.

When he reached Companiganj by a CNG-run auto-rickshaw, a gang of muggers numbering 6/7 on three motorbikes intercepted his vehicle in the area.

Later, they snatched away the money kept in a bag by frightening him with a sharp weapon. A case was filed in this connection. l

“The Purbachal city will be built as a satellite city with all civic amenities. It will be a separate city from Dhaka. The construction work will be completed by 2019 during the present government’s tenure.”

“The city will have separate sewerage, water supply, waste management and recycling and own power production system. The Singapore government will provide technical and financial assistance for the project.”

Sembcorp Design and Construction will implement the project with financial support from Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, the minister added.

It would be a separate city, he said, adding that it would not depend on Dhaka city for anything. “They [entrepreneurs] want to take it as a model as it is their first investment in housing sector of Bangladesh.”

Replying to a query, the minister said, “The company is interested to build 62,000 public apartments in Purbachal area. They are also interested to construct buildings on private plots the government allotted among the people. They are keen to invest if the plot owners seek financial assistance.” l

388 jailed in 11 days for violating Ilish fishing ban

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

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attends classes or examination or not.

According to the rule, Ekramul is still a student of the university.

Being informed, the BAU authority formed an investigation committee headed by Former Students’ Affairs Adviser Prof Md Sultan Uddin Bhuiya of Agronomy department one month back and the recent action has been taken according to the recommendation of the probe committee, Sarwar Jahan added.

On behalf of the university, he also requested other universities not to enroll Ekramul Haque to their institute. l

MEHEDI HASAN

Defying government’s ban on Ilish catching two fishermen catch fish in the Padma River yesterday. The photo was taken from Horipur in Rajshahi AZAHAR UDDIN

A total of 388 fishermen have been jailed and 393 fined for violating Ilish catching ban during the 11-day ban.

During the period, a total of 486 mobile courts conducted 733 drives against violating Ilish fishing ban in Barisal division.

Shamsul Alam, divisional engineer of fishery department and duty officer of the control room opened in this connection at Barisal, gave the statistics.

Apart from giving punishments to the fishermen, 9.51 tonnes of Ilish, 47.87 lakh metres fishing nets worth Tk10.58 core and 13 fishing boats were seized during the period.

Bazlur Rashid, deputy director and divisional fishery officer, said the government had imposed the 11-day ban on catching, selling and transporting Ilish on October 5 across the country to ensure safe spawning.

As Ilish lays eggs in plenty during this period—Ashwin-Kartik, five days before and after Baro Purnima, the government imposed the restriction on catching the delicious fish in this period.

Bimal Das, district fishery officer (Ilish), said 124 fishermen were jailed, 246 fined Tk10 lakh and 370 cases lodged by 106 mobile courts during 195 drives against violating Ilish fishing ban in Barisal district till yesterday afternoon. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Heritage site grabbed and gradually demolished n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi Tamli Rajar Bari, a nearly 300 year old palace at Baragachi village in Poba upazila of Rajshahi, is now in ruins as a locally influential family is gradually occupying the site.

The palace, locally known as the palace of King Tamli, is located 19 kilometres from Rajshahi city. Locals said the local Gobra Hakim family was dismantling the structure, selling the bricks and growing crops on the land.

The palatial ground is now overrun by all kinds of forage, making it difficult to get inside. It is also waterlogged.

This is a real frustration for visitors who come from different areas to visit the palace.

Shamshuzzoha, a local resident, said there was a paved road connecting the palace to the main road but that was turned into a rice field by the local Gobra Hakim family.

While visiting, our correspondent found that on the southern part of the historical site radish was being cultivated on a piece of land filled with brick chips. Rita, a housewife from the neighbourhood, said that part of the house was knocked down by the current owners to turn the site into arable land.

Villager Piarul Islam said the actual history of the palace is still unknown but some large copper pots full of cowry shells were found while digging the soil around it nearly 30 years ago, making people speculate that the structure dates back to shell money era.

Dr Saifuddin Chowdhury, former director of Varendra Research Museum and also a professor of Folklore department in Rajshahi University, said many local kings and land lords emerged

NEWS IN BRIEF 30 shops burnt down in Lakshmipur At least 30 shops were gutted in a devastating fire at Haidarganj bazar in Raipur upazila of the district early yesterday. Lakshmipur Fire Service and Civil Defence Station Manager Md Salauddin said the blaze originated from electric short circuit in one of those shops before dawn and soon spread. – Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur

One hacked to death A man was hacked to death in Toraghat area under Haziganj upazila of the district yesterday. Sources said Shaha Hossain, 20, was hacked by his sisterin-law Kea over a family feud. Later, he was admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where he died. Mohammad Shah Alam, officer-in-charge of Hajiganj police station confirmed the incident. – Our Correspondent

23 rescued while trafficked to India Members of Border Guard Bangladesh rescued 23 people while they were being trafficked to India through Daulatpur border on Tuesday night. Lt Col Abdur Rahim, commanding officer of BGB battalion-23 said, acting on tip-off, a BGB team conducted a drive in the area at night and rescued 10 women, seven men and six children. The human traffickers manged to flee the scene.

Later, the rescued people were handed over to Benapole port police station.

– Our Correspondent, Jessore

The picture shows ruins of 300-year old Tamli Palace at Baragachi village in Poba upazila of Rajshahi lies in the middle of a vast cropland as a locally influential family has occupied the site AZAHAR UDDIN during the initial period of British rule in the subcontinent. The zamindar’s house in Baragachhi village shows characteristics of European architectural style, which suggest that it is 250 to 300 years old. Archeology department should take initiatives to protect the historical site, he opined.

Founder of Heritage Rajshahi Mahbub Siddiqui said a number of traders from West Bengal used to deal in betel and also would operate as loan sharks in this part of Rajshahi during the age of the Mughals.

“The business thrived and they quick-

ly became very rich. The Persian word for betel is Tambul and that is how the locals named it Tamli palace,” he said.

Asir Uddin Ahmed alias Gobra Hakim was a chairman in the area at the time of the king’s rule, and he and his brother used their power to take ownership of the estate, locals said, adding that their heirs now own the property.

Assistant Officer of the Baragachi union land office Sajjad Ali said the palace was built on a 1.7-acre land.

“The SA ledger of 1962 contains Gobra Hakim’s name while the RS ledger

has three names – Abu Bakkar Siddiq, Abdus Salam and Shamsul Alam. They all are Gobra Hakim’s sons,” he said.

Abu Bakkar Siddiq’s son Mahmudunnabi Uzzal, however, refused to talk about the ownership and demolition of the palace.

Assistant Commissioner (land) of Poba upazila Shahadat Hossain Kabir said the government generally becomes the owner of a zamindar’s property.

“We will examine how the ownership of the palace went to a family, and would take necessary steps to protect

Industrial waste damaging cropland in Habiganj n Our Correspondent, Habiganj Toxic wastes from a used oil recycling factory in BSCIC Shilpa Nagari (industrial area) in Habiganj is polluting the environment and harming croplands surrounding the factory despite recurring protests by the locals.

Locals said since the factory Prominent Lube Limited was established in 2010, their lands were becoming barren, and trees, cattle and poultry were dying in the areas near the factory.

They also complained that the people living in the nearby villages were suffering from different health problems because of the toxic wastes emanating from the factory.

Sources said the factory was closed down for a few days after the locals made a complaint to the Department of Environment, but later again it resumed production.

The locals staged several processions demanding shutting down of the factory. Recently, the locals laid a seize to the factory and organised a meeting protesting the factory’s waste dumping in the fertile lands.

Md Yunus Ali, owner of a different factory in the industrial area, said they were suffering a lot of problems because of the toxic wastes coming from the factory. Their lands were becoming more and more infertile and the

Locals foil land grabbing attempt n Our Correspondent, Gazipur Locals foiled attempts of land grabbing by the vice chairman of Sreepur upazila on Tuesday.

Sources said over 100 followers of Sreepur upazila vice chairman, who is also the president of Sreepur Municipality Awami League unit Rafiqul Islam Mandal Bulbul, tried to grab a piece of land at Kewa area under Sreepur Municipality of the district.

Among the locals, Ainuddin and Giasuddin said: “We have been living in our parental land since our childhood.

But Afaz Uddin of the area declared himself as an owner of the land and sold it to the upazila vice chairman.”

“An arbitration meeting was scheduled to be held on Tuesday at Sreepur police station to solve the issue. But we found none there,” they added.

After a while they informed that Rafiqul’s followers tried to grab the land. On information, locals rushed to the spot and drove away the followers from the scene, they informed.

Officer-in-Charge of Sreepur police station Mohsinul Kadir told the Dhaka Tribune, after being informed, police rushed to the spot and managed to control the situation before any untoward incident took place there.

‘None filed any complaint in this connection and none was also arrested,” the OC added.

The Sreepur Upazila Vice Chairman denied the allegation. l

Waste from a used oil recycling factory ruins arable land in Habiganj DHAKA TRIBUNE

environment was getting polluted, he added.

Ambar Ali, an inhabitant of Dhuliakhali village in Habiganj Sadar upazila, said pedestrians cannot go through areas surrounding the factory without covering their noses because of the stench generated by the factory. The villagers want the factory closed down immediately, he added.

Assistant Manager of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries

Corporation (BSCIC) in Habiganj Muhsin Kabir Khan said the authorities took steps when the factory was releasing toxic wastes and generating stench, but now it was not doing anything to threaten the environment now.

Muhsin also said complaints made by the locals were baseless.

The factory has proper drainage facilities for waste disposal and it was not posing any threat to croplands. l

the historic structure,” he added.

Badrul Alam, regional director of the Department of Archaeology, said the 300-year-old palace is not included in the official list of heritage sites of the department.

“Based on media reports, we will conduct a survey of the site before including it on the list,” he said.

“However, we often take care of a property even if it is absent on the official list. In this case, we are unable to do so because of a manpower shortage,” he added. l

3 policemen hurt in Lakshmipur ‘gunfight’ n Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur Three policemen including an SI were injured in a “gunfight” between local criminals and police during a raid at Kashemnagar area under ramganj upazila of Lakshmipur district yesterday.

The injured policemen were identified as Sub-Inspector Gias Uddin, Constable Mohammad Nur and Rubel.

They were sent to Ramganj Health Complex. Police also arrested a bullet-riddled enlisted criminal named Jasim and recovered a LG gun and two bullets from the spot.

Ramganj police station Officer-inCharge Md Lokman Hossain said: “Acting on a tip-off, police conducted a raid in the area to arrest Jasim in connection with murder and extortion cases.”

He said: “Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the criminals opened fire and hurled crude bombs targeting them. In retaliation, police also fired 13 bullets, leaving three policemen and two criminals injured.” l

63 arrested in Habiganj

n Our Correspondent, Habiganj Police arrested 63 accused yesterday in the district. Mahmudur Rahman, Habiganj assistant police super said, all of them were the accused of number of cases. On a tipoff, police conducted separate drives and arrested five from Habiganj Sadar, one from Shayestaganj, 18 from Nabiganj, seven from Madhabpur, three from Baniachong, one from Ajmiriganj, nine from Lakhai, 10 from Chunarughat and nine from Bahubal areas, said police sources. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Juris

Tackling medical malpractice

LIFE IN PRISON

Social demise or birth of a new hope? n Farah Sonda

T

BIGSTOCK

M

n Mohammad Nayeem Firoz

edical malpractice refers to certain criminal acts or omissions committed while clinically dealing with people seeking medical treatment.

Such wrongful acts or omissions are committed by the physicians, surgeons, pharmacist, anesthesiologists, nurses, intern-doctors, medical assistants, hospital personnel or any other medical service provider either independently or, in rare cases, in furtherance of any common intention of all in pursuant to willful malpractice coupled with criminal negligence of both gross and culpable nature.

Medical malpractice is normally viewed as an actionable civil wrong, the remedy for which is generally pecuniary compensation. In common law jurisdictions, the notion comes within the purview of the law of torts, such as Malaysia, while some countries provide for separate legislation with specific judicial forum to redress such wrong, eg in India, medical malpractice cses are adjudicated under the Consumer Protection Act. Medical malpractice coupled with criminal negligence generally gives rise to a criminal offence and is generally dealt with by the criminal law of any given country.

Doctrine of medical malpractice Medical Malpractice is generally defined as “Mistreatment of a disease or injury through ignorance, carelessness or criminal intent.” It is the negligent or incorrect performance of the professional duties of doctors, health care providers such as, nurses and institutions including hospitals. It is a departure by a physician or hospital from accepted levels of medical care.

Medical Malpractice usually results in harm, injury, distress, prolonged physical or mental suffering, or the termination of life of a patient.

Examining the medical malpractice in the touchstone of criminal jurisprudence It is expected that a medical professionals show a fair, reasonable and competent degree of skill. It is important for a medical practitioner to remember that negligence involv-

ing the risk of injury is punishable criminally, though nobody is actually hurt by it. The mere act of exposing a patient to the risk of personal safety or life is enough to trigger a criminal negligence case.

Negligence is one of the wrongs for which the law gives a remedy both under the civil law and the criminal law. Penal liability is commonly based on the co-existence of two conditions – material and formal. Material condition implies two requisites: an act must have been done and the act must have been done by the person to be held liable. The other is the mens rea or a guilty mind with which the act has been done.

Medical malpractice is normally viewed as an actionable civil wrong, the remedy for which is generally pecuniary compensation Therefore, before the law can justly punish a criminal act, an inquiry must be done into the mental attitude of the doer for although the act may have been objectively wrongful, the mind of the doer may have been innocent.

The mental attitude of the medical practitioner would thus have to concur with the wrongful act before he could be prosecuted successfully under the criminal law.

To attribute mens rea to a wrongful act it is necessary that the act be done either willfully or recklessly. If a medical practitioner does an act which he did not foresee, but which a reasonable medical practitioner would have foreseen under similar circumstances as likely to cause injury, he/she would be held guilty of the wrongful act.

Here “foreseen” and “foreseeable” consequences are put on the same footing as consequences which are intended.

Criminal negligence is the gross or culpable neglect, or failure to exercise that reasonable or proper care and precaution to guard against an injury which was an imperative duty of the concerned professional to adopt.

Medical negligence is a gross negli-

gence (culpa lata) which differ from slight negligence (culpa levis).

Modern jurists and medico-legal experts differentiate between negligence and error in their judgments.

Leaving ‘foreign body’ in patient’s body by surgical error Occasionally, sponges, clothes stained with blood (making them difficult to see) and surgical instruments are left inside the body of a patient. These objects can cause infections and lesions and require painful and risky revision surgery to remove those objects. Medical malpractice can involve serious errors as wrong-site surgery, labour mismanagement, a substandard procedure, or other gross mistakes.

Surgical errors are also common.

Anaesthesia reactions and problems cause many deaths and injuries each year as well as failure to properly monitor a patient during and after a surgery causes grievous physical impairment which are irreparable.

Onus of proof in a medical malpractice litigation In order to prevail in a Medical Malpractice claim, the plaintiff must prove four elements as enunciated in the Four Elements of Medical Malpractice, Yale New Haven Medical Center: I. That the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of reasonable care II. That the negligent care was rendered III. That the plaintiff incurred an injury, loss or harm, and IV. That the damage or harm done to the patient was a direct result of the negligent care.

The plaintiff must prove each of these four elements by a preponderance of the evidence.

Degree of criminal liability in a medical malpractice litigation So far as the spirit of the penal law regarding the principle of joint liability is concerned the criminal responsibility of all the persons committing the malpractice is equal in the eye of criminal law who had participated in the occurrence in furtherance of the common intention of all. That is why all the persons allegedly engaged in the process of medical mistreatment

or surgical operation including the surgeon, fellow physicians, anesthesiologists, nurses and hospital personnel in any given criminal action shall come within the periphery of the criminal responsibility of the alleged offences committed by them in furtherance of their common intention.

Feasible judicial action for medical malpractice Criminal prosecutions

Arguably, the exemptions and immunities given for the defence of “good faith doctrine” in sections 88 and 92 of the Penal Code narrowed the scope for criminal action against medical malpractice in Bangladesh.

However, it can be argued that in such cases mens rea need not be proved, or alternatively, instead of actual guilty mind, knowledge of the probable injury or constructive mens rea should suffice.

Civil prosecutions

Since there is no express or implied restriction in any other law for the time being in force in Bangladesh, civil suits for compensation are largely maintainable in accordance with sections 9 and 19 of the Code of Civil Procedure (1908) for all instances of medical malpractices.

Consumer rights prosecutions

Since the medical profession comes within the meaning of “service” as defined in the Consumer Protection Act, compensations can be achieved under this Act for the damage caused due to negligence in the delivery of the service.

Judicial review

Apart from providing remedy where there is no other equally efficacious remedy obtainable under the domestic law, judicial review can also offer prospective collective remedy or open the sealed doors of procedural relief.

Judicial review, in the form of Public Interest Litigation or in other cases, can provide certain remedy regarding medical negligence. The remedy bestowed by judicial review may not directly benefit an individual, but it does have a collective impact on any such issue of popular significance. l Mohammad Nayeem Firoz is Senior Assistant Judge, Chittagong.

JURIS QUOTE I observe to the letter all laws that make sense but combat those that are obsolete or absurd.

Wilhelm Reich

Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst March 24, 1897 – November 03, 1957

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7

Thursday, October 16, 2014

he reformative theory of punishment has gained much popularity over the last couple of centuries with the radical changes in social values, increased concerns for human rights, developments in criminal science and growing interest in the psychological causes of crime. The proponents of this theory advocate for treating the offenders as victims of society and urge to make efforts for their rehabilitation.

The institution expected to play the foremost role in putting this theory into practice is prison.

With the steady growth in support of the reformation of offenders, there have been demands for reformation of the prison systems all over the world. In order to make the wrongdoers confront their conscience, repent their actions and comprehend their consequences, prisons must be transformed to act more like a rehabilitation center than a penal institution. To ensure true reformation and to eliminate the possibilities of relapse, programmes must be designed for the post-release reintegration of the offenders.

Many European countries like Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland have successfully reformed their prison system and are working for its further improvement. Independent institutions like Howard League for Penal Reform and CURE, initiatives like Right On Crime and various international corrections standards and guidelines also reflect this recent trend of reformative treatment of the offenders.

However, what has been the response of Bangladesh to this call for reformative treatment of prisoners? Has there been enough effort to elevate the existing prisons to international standards?

Regrettably the answer is in the negative. The existing prison system in Bangladesh is in a dire situation.

The services, facilities and overall accommodation standard of the prisons are alarmingly poor.

The government is struggling to secure even the basic rights of the prisoners let alone formulating effective programmes for their reintegration. The list of challenges that must be overcome to modernise the prison system and meet the international standards are pretty long—overcrowded prisons, outdated laws, inadequate legal assistance, corrupt authorities, deficiency of budget, shortage of manpower, political influence, absence of strict monitoring system and awareness among officials about the rights of the prisoners.

In light of the above situation, reformation of the overall penal system of the country seems indispensable for the reintegration of offenders af-

ter they have served their sentences.

Some internationally recognised frameworks and correctional outlines for the application of reformative principles are—separate prison based on age, sex and history of the offenders, educational programme, vocational training, community service, religious activities, psychological and sociological tests, interaction with family, parole and probation.

Along with these traditional programs, some unconventional and innovative mechanism are also being experimented with. And some of these are proving to be quite fruitful, for example Training based on age, sex, health and history of convicts, nature and degree of his offence;  Distinguishing prisoners reflecting on their actions from the ones following prison rules simply for the sake of parole or probation;  Special training on social recuperation  Building relationship among the prisoners and the corrections, parole, probation and welfare officers  Denying convicts the opportunity to repeat their offence etc.

There have been a few initiatives on the national level to improve the prison system. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Prison Directorate have initiated a project with German Government to address the overcrowding situation of prisons.

The higher authorities have also expressed their intention to formulate rules and policies for the improvement of prisons. The progress of these initiatives are, however, too slow to bring any significant change to the current situation anytime soon.

Compared to the government, the non-governmental organisations have been doing some impressive work for promoting the rights of the prisoners.

The Public Interest Litigation cell of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) has filed several writ petitions for the protection of the rights of the offenders and obtained favorable judgements. Recently it has conducted a study on the probation system of the country and submitted policy recommendations.

Reformation of the overall prison system through implementation of rehabilitation programmes is not an easy undertaking. It will entail extensive policy making and a comprehensive overhaul of institutional framework. But the result it will bring in is equally rewarding. It will give the wrongdoers the opportunity to make the right choices and re-establish themselves as reformed and productive members of the society once again. l Farah Sonda is a law student and a writer.

The article was first published in Dhaka Law Review Blog (dhakalawreview.org).

Chimpanzees to get legal rights A New York court will decide on this sometime soon in the case. Lavery did not return a n Reuters request for comment, but said when

A

New York appeals court will consider whether chimpanzees are entitled to “legal personhood” in what experts say is the first case of its kind.

For Steven Wise, the lawyer behind the case involving a chimp named Tommy, it is the culmination of three decades of seeking to extend rights historically reserved for humans to other intelligent animals.

Recently, a mid-level state appeals court in Albany will hear the case of the 26-year-old Tommy, who is owned by a human and lives alone in what Wise describes as a “dark, dank shed” in upstate New York. Wise is seeking a ruling that Tommy has been unlawfully imprisoned and should be released to a chimp sanctuary in Florida.

A victory in the case could lead to a further expansion of rights for chimps and other higher-order animals, including elephants, dolphins, orcas and other non-human primates, Wise said.

“The next argument could be that Tommy ... also has the right to bodily integrity, so he couldn’t be used in biomedical research,” the Boston attorney said.

Tommy’s owner, Patrick Lavery, has made the rare move of waiving his right to make an argument

the lawsuit was filed last year that Tommy’s “shed” was a state-of-theart $150,000 facility, and that the chimp had been on a waiting list for a primate sanctuary for three years.

An appeals court in Rochester in December will hear a similar case from Wise involving a chimp named Kiko. State judges dismissed both cases but allowed Wise to create the record necessary for an appeal.

Wise is using a legal mechanism traditionally filed on behalf of people, usually prison inmates, who claim they have been unlawfully imprisoned.

Although there are hundreds of captive chimps in the United States, Wise said he thought Tommy and Kiko would make compelling subjects because they lived alone in conditions he said were clearly unfit for a chimp.

The bid to secure legal rights for animals has been criticised by some prominent legal experts, including US Circuit Judge Richard Posner and New York University law professor Richard Epstein. If animals gain rights once reserved for humans, courts would be inundated with tricky legal questions that could spawn a series of novel and potentially contradictory rulings, they say. l

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Thursday, October 16, 2014

US rethinks Ebola response as second Dallas nurse is diagnosed n Agencies

People gather on a hilltop on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, to watch fighting between Syrian Kurds and IS militants in Kobane

Airstrikes, street battles in Kobane n AP, Mursitpinar, Turkey

Bolstered by intensified US-led coalition airstrikes targeting militants from the Islamic State group, Kurdish militiamen fought pitched street battles yesterday with the extremists in a Syrian Kurdish border town near Turkey, making small advances, activists and officials said.

Elsewhere in Syria, in a stark reminder of the country’s wider civil war, a Syrian lawmaker was gunned down in the central province of Hama — the latest assassination to target a figure linked to President Bashar Assad’s government.

In the border town of Kobani, members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, were advancing hours after the US-led coalition stepped up

airstrikes against the Islamic State group in and around the town, said Asya Abdullah, a Syrian Kurdish leader.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that 21 airstrikes against Islamic State targets near Kobani overnight Monday marked the largest number there in a 24-hour period since the air campaign in Syria began last month.

Abdullah, the co-president of Syria’s powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, told The Associated Press that Kurdish fighters have advanced near the hill of Tel Shair that overlooks part of the town, taking advantage of the air raids that slowed the push by the militants. Abdullah spoke by phone from Kobani.

In mid-September, the Islamic State group launched its offensive on Kobani — also known under its Arabic name

of Ayn Arab — and captured dozens of nearby Kurdish villages, as well as about a third of the town. The fighting in and around Kobani has killed more than 500 people and forced more than 200,000 people to flee across the border into Turkey.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists around the country, said Wednesday’s clashes were taking place in the eastern neighborhoods of Kobani as well as the southern edge of the town.

The Observatory also reported several airstrikes by the US-led coalition in the town Wednesday and plumes of smoke rising from the strikes were visible across the border in Turkey.

In Syria’s restive central province of Hama, gunmen opened fire late Tues-

After loss, Scottish US, Iran seek elusive nationalists choose breakthrough in nuke talks new chief dent and many experts – Iran and the n AP, London n AFP, Vienna six powers might push back the target The Scottish National Party says Nicola Sturgeon will be its next leader, replacing Alex Salmond, who is stepping down after failing to secure independence in a referendum last month.

The party said Wednesday that Sturgeon had been elected unopposed. Her leadership will be confirmed at a party conference next month. She will also become Scotland’s first minister once the Scottish Parliament confirms the choice.

Under Salmond, the party came close to realizing its dream of making Scotland an independent country.

In a Sept. 18 referendum, 45% of voters backed independence, but 55% said no.

Sturgeon, who served as deputy first minister under Salmond, has said independence remains her goal.

Sturgeon’s selection means that women now lead the three biggest political parties in Scotland. l

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart sought yesterday to jumpstart stalled talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme, less than six weeks before a deadline to forge a deal.

Iran and six world powers have until November 24 to strike a comprehensive accord meant to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian atomic programme.

Ahead of the meeting in Vienna with Mohammad Javad Zarif as well as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Kerry said there was still hard work to be done but that a deal remained achievable.

“I don’t believe it’s out of reach, but we have some tough issues to resolve,” Kerry told reporters in Paris on Tuesday after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Kerry refused to be drawn on whether – as floated by Lavrov, Iran’s presi-

AP

day at lawmaker Waris al-Younes’ car as he was travelling on a road linking the city of Hama with the town of Salamiyeh, according to the state-run SANA news agency.

A Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, told The Associated Press that al-Younes died Tuesday night.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Several Syrian officials have been assassinated since Syria’s crisis began in March 2011. The uprising, which later turned into a civil war, has killed more than 190,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Syrian opposition forces have targeted government officials, army and police officers and civil servants in their campaign to topple Assad. l

A flawed response to the first case of Ebola in the United States has led to a second nurse being diagnosed.

Wednesday morning, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed the diagnosis of a second nurse that helped care for Liberian Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan at Dallas’s Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital before his death last week.

A nurse named Nina Pham was diagnosed over the weekend and is now being treated.

The announcement came as the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tom Frieden, acknowledged that his agency was too slow in responding to the situation at the Dallas hospital. Failure to follow protocol was the cause for the new cases, health officials have said, but a nurses’ union, Nurses United, cited unnamed nurses who claimed protocols changed constantly as the hospital tried to figure out what to do with Duncan.

The union also claimed that needless numbers of people were exposed to Duncan as soiled bedclothes and other detritus piled up in his room.

The flawed response isn’t surprising in many ways, given that this has been the US health care system’s first test with the illness. The failure to completely contain the virus has forced the CDC to create a new “Ebola response unit” to help other hospitals prepare as the agency acknowledges the US may see more cases. One part of that plan is to limit exposure of victims to fewer nurses and doctors.

“Ebola is unfamiliar,” Dr Frieden said, stressing that getting the response “right is really, really important.”

“I wish we had put a team like this

n AP, Dubai A well-known Shiite cleric was sentenced to death yesterday by a court in Saudi Arabia, sparking fears of renewed unrest from his supporters in the kingdom and neighboring Bahrain.

Sheik Nimr al-Nimr’s case has been watched closely by minority Saudi Shiites in the eastern region of the majority Sunni kingdom. The 54-year-old cleric’s case was seen as a barometer for Saudi Arabia’s handling of Shiite

grievances over the past years.

His brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, announced the verdict on Twitter. He had told The Associated Press earlier Wednesday that he would be in the courtroom for the verdict. He could not be immediately reached again for comment.

The cleric had faced charges that also include disobeying the ruler, firing on security forces, sowing discord, undermining national unity and interfering in the affairs of a sisterly nation. A statement by the cleric’s family

The illness has become a global crisis after the deaths of 4,500 people in West Africa in the largest outbreak of its kind. The World Health Organization said Tuesday that the survival rate has fallen from 50% to 30% Public health officials reiterated Tuesday that the risk of the public contracting Ebola is “exceedingly low” as it does not spread through the air.

The illness has become a global crisis after the deaths of 4,500 people in West Africa in the largest outbreak of its kind. The World Health Organization said Tuesday that the survival rate has fallen from 50% to 30%, and it predicts as many as 10,000 new cases by Christmas. In recent weeks, new cases have been diagnosed in the US and Europe. Seven patients have been treated or are being treated in the US, and so far Duncan is the only one to die. l

Higher views from Burj Khalifa Visitors to the world’s tallest building in Dubai can now get an even more elevated view of the Middle Eastern city. The owner of the 2,717 foot-tall (828 meter) Burj Khalifa skyscraper says that starting on Wednesday, visitors can pay to ride up to a new observation deck on the 148th floor. That is 1,821 feet (555 meters) above street level, making it the world’s PHOTO: AP highest observation deck, according to Guinness World Records.

date, as they did earlier this year.

“We need to continue to have some serious discussions, which we will, and we’ll see where we are,” he said.

“I don’t think anything is served by a lot of speculation at this point in time.”

- Deadline ‘not sacred’ “We’re not talking about an extension,” a senior US State Department official added Wednesday. “There is still time to get this done... if everyone can make the decisions they need.”

But Lavrov, whose country together with the US, China, Britain, France and Germany forms the P5+1 group, said Tuesday in Paris that the November deadline was not “sacred.”

“We aspire to get a result by that date but I am convinced by the principle that it is not artificially-set deadlines but the essence of the deal, the quality of the deal (that counts),” Lavrov said, according to Interfax. l

Saudi sentences Shiite cleric to death Libyan army, residents battle Islamist militants in Benghazi

In this July 20, 2012 file photo, riot police tear down pictures of prisoners and people who have died in anti-government unrest during clashes with protesters in Jidhafs, Bahrain. At top second right is a picture of Saudi Shiite cleric Sheik Nimr al-Nimr AP

on the ground the day the patient – the first patient – was diagnosed,” he said.

“That might have prevented” the additional diagnoses.

Frieden has vowed that the agency is prepared to stop the illness “in its tracks” but acknowledged on Tuesday that fear of the illness among health care workers is a problematic aspect of the response.

described the verdict as discretionary, suggesting that what the court found al-Nimr guilty of could have been eligible for a lighter sentence.

The family said the verdict sets a “dangerous precedent for decades to come.”

Prosecutors asked for execution followed by crucifixion. In Saudi Arabia, most death sentences are carried out by beheading. Crucifixion in this context means the body and head would then be put on display as a warning to others.

Al-Nimr had not denied the political charges against him, but denied ever carrying weapons or calling for violence. He can appeal the sentence.

Public figure and renowned activist Jaafar al-Shayeb in eastern Saudi Arabia said the verdict appears to have been handed down for “sedition” and “incitement” of Shiite protests in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

“There’s a big chance there will be a reaction,” al-Shayeb said. “There could be protests, marches, statements of condemnation. ... The situation is tense.”

Bahraini authorities on Wednesday painted over pictures of al-Nimr that had been plastered on walls by Shiite supporters there.

Al-Nimr was a key leader of Shiite protests demanding equal rights in 2011. Protests are banned in Saudi Arabia, where many ultraconservatives view Shiites as heretics. l

n Reuters, Benghazi, Libya Libyan army troops and armed local residents clashed with Islamist fighters in the eastern port of Benghazi yesterday, one day after a renegade former general who backs the government forces vowed to retake the city from the militants.

Libya’s second largest city is caught up in a chaotic struggle for control between an alliance of Islamist militia groups and the army, which is backed by forces loyal to former general Khalifa Haftar.

Gunfire could be heard in several Benghazi districts from early morning, residents said. Hospital officials were not immediately available to give details of any casualties.

Fighters from one Islamist group, Ansar al-Sharia, attacked an army camp, one of the last bases still controlled by government forces since militants drove army special force units out of Benghazi months ago.

Later war planes, apparently belonging to forces allied to Haftar, could be heard bombing suspected Islamist positions, residents said. On Tuesday, Haftar had promised to “liberate” Benghazi.

Three years after the fall of veteran strongman ruler Muammar Gaddafi, the plight of Benghazi illustrates the central government’s inability to control rival armed factions who once fought Gaddafi and now battle over the post-war spoils.

Libya’s neighbours and Western powers fear the OPEC member is heading for full-blown civil war as the weak government is unable to challenge brigades of heavily armed former rebels who now defy the state’s authority.

The United Nations has started negotiations to bring an end to the fighting among the various factions, but some hardliners have so far refused the idea of any talks.

Among the rival forces in Benghazi are Haftar, a former Gaddafi ally, and Ansar al Sharia, the Islamist group Washington blames for the 2012 attack on its consulate in Benghazi, in which the US ambassador died.

Local Benghazi activists also called on Wednesday for street protests against the Islamist militias, including Ansar al-Sharia, which control parts of the city. In some parts of Benghazi, armed young people were fighting Islamist forces. l

UK terror suspect had ‘Plan A’ document n AP, London Police found a checklist-style document labeled “Plan A” in the home of a suspect accused of plotting a terrorist attack in Britain, a prosecutor told a semi-secret trial in London yesterday.

Erol Incedal is charged with preparing a terrorist act and possessing bomb-making instructions. He denies the charges. Prosecutors say the 26-year-old Londoner may have been planning indiscriminate Mumbai-style shootings or to attack a “significant” individual. The address of former Prime Minister Tony Blair was found in his car.

Prosecutor Richard Whittam said police found a document headed “Plan A” atop a wardrobe in a bedroom at Incedal’s home after he was arrested in October 2013. It listed “three to four workers, two tennis (rackets), one month’s surveillance, rent nearby flat, transport, assess security, assess risk, legitimacy, action etc.”

Incedal lived in the apartment with his wife and three children. He also rented another London apartment, and police found evidence several people were living there. Investigators found multiple toothbrushes and pairs of shoes, Nicholas Cage movies and other Hollywood DVDs, and a laptop that prosecutors say contained messages with coded versions of the words “Mumbai-style” and “Kalashnikov.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

China asks foreign media to report Hong Kong unrest ‘objectively’ n Reuters, Hong Kong A Chinese official told foreign media in Hong Kong yesterday that China has seen interference in the city’s pro-democracy protests from outside forces and called on international journalists to report “objectively.”

“Since the occurrence of this event, from the statements and the rhetoric and the behaviour of the outside forces of political figures, of some parliamentarians and individual media, I think such a kind of interference certainly exists,” the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was the first time since the demonstrations, which China and the Hong Kong government have called illegal, that an official from the central government has met foreign media in Hong Kong and made such a request.

Hong Kong, governed under a “one country, two systems” model, is supposed to have a high degree of autonomy, including freedom of the press and speech, though rights and media groups have warned in recent years the situation had worsened.

“We hope the outside world will respect one country, two systems, will respect the Hong Kong SAR government to deal with the situation in accordance with the law and does not send any wrong signal to this unlawful activity,” the official added.

Hong Kong is officially a Special Administrative Region of China. l

World

HK tycoon calls for end to protests after tension over police beating Hong Kong’s most prominent tycoon, Li Ka-shing, yesterday urged protesters who have occupied parts of the city since late last month to go home, after police mounted their toughest action against the democracy activists in more than a week.

Police arrested about 45 protesters in the early hours of Wednesday, using pepper spray against those who resisted, as they cleared a main road in the Chinese-controlled city that protesters had blocked with concrete slabs.

But footage of police beating a protester went viral, sparking outrage from some lawmakers and the public.

Authorities said police involved in the beating would be suspended.

Outrage over the beating could galvanise support for the democracy movement in the city where the protests over Chinese restrictions on how it chooses its next leader had dwindled from about 100,000 at their peak to a few hundred.

Li, Asia’s richest man and chairman of property developer Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, had made no public comment on the protests but broke his silence to say if Hong Kong’s rule of

“Since the handover, the ‘one country, two system’ formula has protected Hong Kong’s lifestyle,” Li said, referring to the formula under which the city has been run since its return from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

“I urge everyone not to be agitated.

I urge everyone not to let today’s passion become the regret for tomorrow. I earnestly request everyone to return to their families,” Li said in his first public comments on the protests.

“One country, two systems” allows wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal suffrage for Hong Kong as an eventual goal.

But Beijing ruled on Aug. 31 it would screen candidates who want to run for the city’s chief executive in 2017, which democracy activists said rendered the universal suffrage concept meaningless.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain should stand up for the rights of Hong Kong people and it was important they were able to enjoy freedoms and rights set out in the agreement with China before Britain handed Hong Kong back.

Such calls are likely to compound

earlier on Wednesday as interference from outside forces.

“We hope the outside world will respect one country, two systems, will respect the Hong Kong ... government to deal with the situation in accordance with the law and does not send any wrong signal to this unlawful activity,” the official told foreign reporters, adding that foreign media should cover the protests “objectively.”

Earlier, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok told a news conference police would investigate the beating of the protester after he was dragged into a dark corner next to the protest site police were trying to clear.

Several officers appeared to beat and kick a handcuffed protester for several minutes in footage aired by television broadcaster TVB. Alan Leong, leader of the pro-democracy Civic Party, identified the person in the video as party member Ken Tsang Kin-chiu.

The situation was calm through the rest of Wednesday. More than 100 people marched to police headquarters close to the main protest site to condemn the beating of Tsang. l

A protester shouts slogans during a rally at the Department of Foreign Affairs to demand justice in the killing of Filipino transgender Jeffrey ‘Jennifer’ Laude with a US Marine as a possible suspect AP

Avalanche, blizzard kill at least 12 in Nepal’s mountains n Reuters, Kathmandu At least 12 people, including eight foreign hikers and a group of yak herders, were killed in Nepal by unseasonal blizzards and avalanches triggered by the tail of cyclone Hudhud, officials said yesterday.

The hikers’ deaths come during the peak trekking season in Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest.

For the past two days, Nepal has been lashed by heavy rains brought by the cyclone that has battered neighbouring India. The weather triggered blizzards at high altitudes.

The bodies of a Nepali citizen, two Polish nationals and an Israeli hiker from the Thorang-La area were found along a popular trekking route near Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest mountain, said Baburam Bhandari, governor of the district of Mustang, where the incident took place.

Bhandari said the group perished in a blizzard.

“We have rescued five German, five Polish and four Israeli trekkers who were trapped in the snowfall early on Wednesday,” Bhandari told Reuters by telephone, without giving details. One German tourist fractured his leg, he said.

Mustang, a fertile valley bordering

Tibet, is about 150 km (93 miles) northwest of the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, and is popular among foreign hikers.

Separately, in the neighbouring district of Manang, four Canadian hikers and an Indian national were killed in an avalanche, the district’s most senior bureaucrat, Devendra Lamichhane, said.

“The pilot of a rescue helicopter spotted the bodies in snow,” Lamichhane said. “But it is not possible to retrieve their bodies because it is heavily snowing in the area now.”

Three yak herders were killed after being swept away by a separate avalanche at Nar village in Manang, officials said. l

China broadcaster says Xinjiang attack mastermind sought IS n Reuters, Beijing A mastermind of violence in China’s Xinjiang region in which almost 100 people were killed sought to establish an Islamic state, official media said yesterday, reinforcing government warnings about an Islamist threat.

A court in the far western region sentenced 12 people to death on Monday for an attack in Xinjiang’s southern Yarkant county on July 28, in which the government said 59 “terrorists” were gunned down by security forces, while 37 civilians were killed.

The incident was one of the bloodiest bouts of unrest in the region that

Why is the US Navy practising for war with China?

TV footage shows police beating protester on ground law broke down it would be the city’s Chinese suspicion about what one Chin Reuters, Hong Kong nese official in Hong Kong referred to “greatest sorrow.”

Philippine police accuse US Marine in murder case n AP, Manila, Philippines A police inspector says a complaint for murder has been filed in the Philippines accusing a US Marine of killing a transgender Filipino in a motel room.

Police Chief Inspector Gil Domingo said Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton was the last person seen with the victim late Saturday, when they checked into a motel after meeting in a disco bar in Olongapo city.

Jennifer Laude, whose former name was Jeffrey, was found with her head resting on the motel room’s toilet bowl, apparently after being drowned.

Domingo said the criminal complaint was filed Wednesday before government prosecutors, who would decide formal charges.

Pemberton took part in combat exercises between American and Filipino troops. He is being held on the USS Peleliu in the Subic Bay free port northwest of Manila. l

9

Thursday, October 16, 2014

has seen hundreds of people killed in the past two years, most in clashes between ethnic Uighur Muslim people, who call Xinjiang home, and ethnic majority Han Chinese.

In light of a near blockade on reporting by independent media on such attacks and a lack of hard evidence produced by authorities, China has faced international scepticism over its assertion that unrest in Xinjiang is motivated by Islamist separatists as opposed to deep ethnic divisions. China Central Television (CCTV) showed several Uighur defendants dressed in orange prison uniforms confessing and expressing regret for their crimes.

They said they had been brainwashed into “holy war” by a man named Nulamaiti Sawuti, who the government said incited the violence in July and was killed then.

China’s legal system is under tight government control and it is unclear if such confessions are coerced. At least one defendant’s case was handled “leniently” because he confessed and as a result was given life in prison, the Xinjiang government’s news site, Tianshan, reported.

“He talked about jihad, about establishing an Islamic state,” one Uighur defendant, identified as Ailimu Rouze, told CCTV, referring to Sawuti. l

The crew of the USS George Washington are rehearsing an ‘anti-access, area denial’ scenario BBC

n Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC You don’t get invited out on a US nuclear aircraft carrier all that often, and after writing this I might not get invited back for a while.

On the flight deck of the USS George Washington the noise is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. A few feet from where I am standing, 11 F/A-18 Super Hornets are lining up to be launched.

The first one is hooked on to the catapult; there is a massive crescendo as its engines roar to full re-heat. Then, in a cloud of white steam, the 15-tonne jet is thrown down the deck and off the end of the ship like a toy.

Seconds later, the deck crew in their multi-coloured smocks are calmly lining up the next one. Watching the US Navy close up like this, it is hard not to be slightly awed. No other navy in the world has quite the same toys, or shows them off with the same easy charm.

But as I stand on the deck filming my report on how “the US is practising for war with China,” I can see my host from the Navy public affairs office wincing.

You get used to hearing the PR rhetoric: the US Navy “is not practising for war with any specific country.” But the US Navy has not assembled two whole carrier battle groups and 200 aircraft off the coast of Guam for a jolly, either. This is about practising what the Pentagon now calls “Air Sea Battle.”

It is a concept first put forward in 2009, and it is specifically designed to counter the rising threat from China.

A few minutes later I am standing on the bridge of the George Washington with Rear Adm Mark Montgomery, the commander of Carrier Strike Group Five. The forces under his command are practising for what he calls an “anti-access, area denial” scenario.

“When we talk about our capabilities,” he says, “we are talking about our capabilities to operate in unrestricted way in the waters of our choice. As some countries have been developing increasingly complex anti-access weapons, we have to develop our tactics, techniques and

Sri Lanka bans foreigners from old war zone amid UN probe n Reuters, Colombo Sri Lanka yesterday banned foreigners from a former battle zone, the government said, weeks after the United Nations began an investigation into alleged war crimes in the final phase of a 26-year conflict between the army and separatist rebels.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in August rejected entry visas for UN officials for the war crime investigation.

His administration has said an external investigation is unnecessary and Sri Lanka can conduct its own.

“Prior permission for the foreigners to visit the north will be implemented,” the government’s Information Department said in a text message. “Foreigners or relevant organizations have to write to the defense ministry for approval.”

It did not give any reason for the decision.

The United Nations launched its inquiry into accusations of war crimes committed by both state forces and ethnic Tamil rebels during the conflict that ended in 2009, saying the government had failed to investigate properly.

The United Nations estimated in a 2011 report that about 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final weeks of the war, mostly by the army.

Rajapaksa, who is expected to run for a third six-year term in an early election next year, and his government have rejected all the accusations.

The military last week stopped foreigners from visiting the north as a “temporary measure” because of se-

curity concerns as Rajapaksa visited the region to open a railway link that had been closed for 24 years due to the conflict.

The United Nations estimated in a 2011 report that about 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final weeks of the war, mostly by the army The north of Sri Lanka is predominantly Tamil and the site of much of the fighting during the war.

The government had relaxed curbs on foreigners visiting the north after the end of the war, but many foreign visitors, including diplomats and journalists, complained of scrutiny by government security agents.

Domestic media groups and non-governmental bodies dealing with issues such as human rights say their activities have been increasingly targeted since the UN resolution on the investigation in March.

Media rights groups say pro-government protesters and police have disrupted at least four workshops in the last five months. Political analysts say the government might be concerned that the media could help the UN investigation. l

procedures to continue to operate in an unfettered manner.”

Rear Adm Montgomery won’t discuss the specifics of the exercise. But his ships and aircraft face an increasingly complex web of threats, from beneath the water, from air, land, from cyberspace and from space.

“It’s generally understood that some countries have the ability to remove satellites or to limit satellite communications,” he says, “so we have to practise working in a communications-denied environment.”

China’s Navy is still no match for the US Navy, and won’t be for a very long time.

Instead, China has been developing other weapons designed to keep America’s carriers away from its shores China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy is still no match for the US Navy, and won’t be for a very long time. Instead, China has been developing other weapons designed to keep America’s precious carriers far away from China’s shores.

These include new quieter submarines, long-range hypersonic anti-ship missiles and, perhaps most worrying, very accurate medium range ballistic missiles that have been dubbed “carrier killers.”

As if on cue, an alarm bell starts ringing. A voice comes on the public address system: “This is a drill, this is a drill! Black smoke, black smoke!”

The George Washington is under simulated attack. Part of the ship is reported to be on fire. Teams rush to contain the damage. For the last 10 years, China’s most important, and oft-repeated, political slogan has been “peaceful rise.” It is designed to reassure Beijing’s neighbours its growing military might is no threat. l

Thai leader: Polls could be delayed until 2016 n AP, Bangkok Thailand’s interim prime minister, who seized power in a military coup, suggested yesterday that the country’s next elections may not occur until 2016, although he earlier set a target date of October 2015.

Prayuth Chan-ocha, who was army commander when he toppled an elected government in May, said he could not control the implementation of a roadmap he established earlier, which called for a new constitution in July 2015 and a general election about three months later.

“Don’t push me too much on this,” Prayuth told reporters ahead of his departure for Italy, where he is to attend a summit of Asian and European leaders.

“I’ve already said it, so that’s the end.

Everything depends on the roadmap, so the issue is whether we can follow the roadmap or not.” He said he alone could not finish the process.

Prayuth has consistently maintained that the October 2015 date was a provisional one, contingent on a series of post-coup measures proceeding smoothly. He has said that criticism of the process could slow the schedule.

Criticism is effectively criminalized under regulations imposed by the army after its takeover, and martial law remains in effect.

Reporters asked him about the election date after Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, a legal expert, said the polls might not take place until 2016 because of the need to pass legislation for holding elections. Thailand has suffered from political instability since 2006, when an earlier military coup ousted then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Thursday, October 16, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Is simple decency too much to ask?

W

e are shocked and saddened by the severe unpleasantness that has been shown by some quarters following the untimely death of the respected academic Dr Piash Karim, most specifically the demand that his family and well-wishers be denied the right to hold a memorial service for him at the Shaheed Minar and threat that any efforts to do so would be met with violence.

People are entitled to hold and voice different views about the career and opinions of the late professor. But common decency suggests that his memorial service is not the time to settle scores. The ugliness shown by his detractors shames them. That things have come to such a pass in this country that a man’s death can be used to score political points in this way shames us all.

Please note that Dr Karim was a respected teacher and that his only wrong in the eyes of his detractors was that he was outspoken in his opinions that differed from theirs. That this is now considered sufficient in some quarters to dispense with any vestige of decorum upon his death is a deeply worrisome and unhappy development.

As alarming as the intolerance shown by this mind-set is the lack of common decency that underpins it. If this is a sign of the times of where the nation is heading, then we all have cause for concern.

It is bad enough that his detractors are so dogmatic in their views and cannot appreciate the good done by Dr Karim during his distinguished career, but what is really unsettling is the lack of generosity and charity that have been put on display.

Intolerance and divisiveness are good for no one. And it is precisely this kind of pettiness and meanness of spirit that has held us back and continues to poison our society and polity. Let us all aim as a nation to rise above our differences and conduct ourselves at the bare minimum with decency, dignity, and respect for all.

If this is a sign of the times of where the nation is heading, then we all have cause for concern

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

Let’s reform the way we do qurbani October 10

MS When halal was codified, all food was organic, everywhere. Should halal include feeding animals on organic farming principles?

Fareed Wakil This slaughtering of livestock on city streets is one more reason why Dhaka is second to last on most unlivable cities of the world. In Qatar, where I lived for four years, you never see blood on Eid-ulAzha – all such activities take place far away from urban centres. The meat is given away to the poor.

Nobody makes a show of bringing big camels to their backyards and garages and dancing around

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 13 represents L so fill L every time the figure 13 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

it and boasting how much it cost. All the Arabs do is go to the mosque and pray on Eid day. It is a very quiet day of meditation and prayers. This barbaric practice of public slaughter is basically in the Indian subcontinent, and the worst show of it all takes place in Dhaka.

MF Really? Have you ever talked about shifting tanneries from Old Town to Savar? That will never happen. Dhaka doesn’t get dirty because of the three days of slaughter. Dhaka gets dirty because we elected unscrupulous people to rule this city and country.

SUDOKU Shirin Sharmin made CPA chairperson October 9

‘China overtakes US as world’s largest economy’

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.

October 10

SamKQBoro Real GDP is still a huge gap.

MZ SamKQBoro: Insha’allah China will top that soon. :-)

3 ways to finance RMG upgrades

A

ccord, the larger of the two major brand-led stakeholder safety initiatives, has reported that it has completed initial inspections of 1,106 RMG factories used by its signatories.

With over 80,000 safety issues identified by these inspections, the scale of remediation and cost of improvements needed across the industry is huge. The complementary Alliance on Workers Safety estimated a price tag of $250,000 per factory in its inspection report, which tallies with industry views that the sector needs a billion dollars of investment over the next few years to compete in the long term.

Perhaps the best form of support available is the continued interest shown by major brands and companies. H&M, which according to BGMEA is the single largest RMG sourcing company from Bangladesh, indicated in 2012 that it sought to double orders from Bangladesh by 2018. This sort of long-term commitment is vital to secure long-term investment to build more modern factories.

Other stakeholders can support the industry in other ways.

The government owns or controls a lot of idle or underused land, which could be leased or sold to allow entrepreneurs to develop new enterprise zones. The industry’s largest customer nation, the United States, could invest some of the excess tariffs it imposes on Bangladeshi RMG exports into a fund to finance factory upgrades and improvements.

All stakeholders can and must help. The millions of people who rely on RMG for a living, factory owners as well as workers, need every bit of assistance possible to ensure all necessary finance is available for upgrades.

Continued interest by major brands is vital but government and other stakeholders can also help

Mushfique Wadud Congratulations! I personally like her … one of the few polite politicians in Bangladesh.

Journalist Golam Faruk passes away October 7

Zayed Mahmud “He was the managing editor of the daily Bonik Barta.”

Every death is a reminder for the ones left alive.

Convicted killer of Ahsanullah Master arrested October 8

NK Convicted? As far as I can remember, some local AL leader was also involved in this killing. He was a great man and always against the drug business, and this is the main reason for his getting killed.

And if anyone goes against the drug business, he can’t survive. This is a universal truth.

SamKQBoro MZ: Why would you care for a country like China that oppresses Islam and the Xigur Muslims of the West? Why do you care for a country that has no democracy for anyone?

College student held for ‘hurting religious sentiment’ October 9

MS “… the youth had posted two pictures from his Facebook ID, demeaning Islam and the Holy Quran.

A case was filed against him under the ICT Act.” No real criminals to catch then? Must the police have to listen to childish complaints about “he said she said,” and are there so few of these they need to spy on Facebook as well? Or is this just a silly law that wastes police time?

Yes prime minister!

October 9

City mostly cleared of cattle waste October 10

Ashraful Islam Siam Thanks city corporation! :-)

CALVIN AND HOBBES

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Fruit (4) 4 Manservant (5) 8 Beginner (6) 9 Eastern ruler (4) 11 Make up for (5) 12 Article (4) 14 United (3) 15 Downright (6) 19 Dwell (6) 21 Narrow beam (3) 22 Small drink (4) 24 Wicked things (5) 27 Encourage in crime (4) 29 Sale to consumer (6) 30 Out of sorts (5) 31 Dexterous (4)

DOWN 1 Filled pastry (3) 2 Combines (6) 3 Additional (4) 4 By way of (3) 5 Thespian (5) 6 Zodiac sign (3) 7 Formal agreement (6) 10 Pit (4) 13 Insane (3) 14 Commands (6) 16 Colour (3) 17 Fit for ploughing (6) 18 Nominate (4) 20 Lazed (5) 23 Attack (4) 25 Choler (3) 26 Place for pigs (3) 28 Make lace (3)

Zero-Agenda “Of course, a song is more lethal than car accidents that kill or vandalising minority communities that instill fear.”

Tonmoy’s incarceration shows where the government’s priorities lie.

Fighting for a cause October 9

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

Abelard the Greek-Lover “The students of Hong Kong are struggling to save their democracy.”

We could learn a thing or two from these Hong Kong kids.

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

Durga idols vandalised in Khulna October 9

Dr Ahsan Habib Police can arrest a youth from Notre Dame College for posting remarks against Islam which they did in Rangamati. What will they do in the case where the sentiments of Hindus have been irreparably damaged?

Father dies, son injured in clash over carrom play October 8

Nazmul Khair Is it even an issue for a clash? How funny!!

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Indelible stamp n Ikhtisad Ahmed

W

Who decides who is worthy?

RAJIB DHAR

Remembering Piash Karim

O

n Sanam Amin n Monday morning, I learned that my teacher, Piash Karim, died of a heart attack.

I thought about when I first met him in 2007, when I was considering minoring in sociology. I ended up taking three sociology courses with him, and remember them very clearly, for the exciting debates on history, politics, and current issues.

I went home and looked at my well-read bound copy of essays from the first course, political sociology, and thought about how that class, and discussions with him outside class, shaped so much of my thinking over the years. When I moved away from Bangladesh, the collection of texts from his sociology courses was a component of my overweight luggage that I paid a Tk5,000 fee to carry with me.

And I don’t regret that cost.

I searched through my inbox and looked at all my old emails to him, and had the urge to write to him one last time. I thought about how proud he would have been at the work I am doing now, with the high levels of officials who pay attention to the research and advocacy work that I am shaping.

Every time someone passes, there is a varying awareness of the kind of person they were. Everyone has a

T

H

complex collection of identities and has different effects on the people that they interact with.

While there are many who criticise Piash Karim for his political views, it seems that the majority is not actually aware of what his political views were.

To suggest that he was against 1971, against independence, or not worthy of being near the Shaheed Minar, is outrageous to me.

bindranath. He talked at length about the Hindu and Muslim communities’ usage of Bangla, the emphasis Nazrul made in integrating Farsi words into his poetry; all of the political, cultural, and literary movements that shaped the Bangla that people gave their lives for in 1952.

Can it be that someone so passionate about our history, so dedicated to democracy, justice, and equality, does

struggle for independence, it is hard not to agree with his concerns. He warned that a nationalism based on language would exclude communities within the borders who don’t speak the language, and that care must be taken to ensure everyone’s freedoms are protected, no matter what their heritage, ethnicity, religion, language, or gender.

The man I knew cared deeply about people’s rights and justice. To label his concerns about transitional justice and the war crimes trial as evidence that he was against 1971 is the kind of ad hominem we cannot possibly accept as reasonable, educated people.

My appeal is not just to reason, but also to sympathy. Let myself and countless others grieve wholeheartedly for a teacher, a mentor, an activist, whose like we will not find in this generation. Stop vilifying someone who warned us not to accept a blind nationalism, a patriotism that does not allow for discussion, examination or self-criticism. Piash Karim chose, for seven years, to speak out for what he believed in, at great cost, and even when he was attacked and his family put in danger. His death should not be treated as an occasion to demean him and dismiss what he stood for. l

Piash Karim chose, for seven years, to speak out for what he believed in, at great cost

This is the man I knew: A scholar, an academic who knew much more about the history of the Bangla language than most. At the back of my sociology essays, there is a loose sheet with my notes on what Piash Karim told us about the developments and changes to the Bangla language over the centuries, thanks to the presence and influence of the Mughals, the British, and later, the contributions of Kazi Nazrul Islam, Vidyasagar, Ra-

I

not deserve to be taken to Shaheed Minar? Can it be that a group of people who collectively do not have an iota of his extensive knowledge of the history of Bangla language, would actively prevent those grieving his loss from coming to pay their respects?

What has he done that is so outrageous? It is no crime to have different political opinions. And if you really listened to what Piash Karim had to say about nationalism, about the

R

hen the Nobel Prize was forced to cut costs, it permanently outsourced the Peace Prize. The US gleefully accepted that the role reserved for India when it comes to call centres, making it inseparable from malleable dogma and Western propaganda.

Whenever there is a need to raise someone’s profile or lend someone credibility, awards are a handy tool.

The US can be trusted to be the knight in shining armour, so long as its interests are served. There is a long queue of egomaniacs desperate to be relevant, who live to pleasure the West.

The scraps spilled from its table during the process of gratification is all they seek. The Nobel Peace Prize, with a name reeking of unimpeachable credibility, is amongst the highest of politically motivated honours that can be bestowed on these lesser men and women as they grovel towards climaxes themselves.

Excellence in peace has never been achieved. Navigating the political terrain, driven by the principle of individualism, not only necessitates being selfish, self-serving, and self-aggrandising, but also striking deals that are beneficial to one’s objectives rather than for the greater good.

Peace is a pathetic greater good, the quest for it an ignoble one that does not help expand one’s mythos, cult or legacy. The illusion of being in the service of peace, however, is a coveted feather in one’s cap that the Narcissuses of today who dominate the political arena and those linked to it cannot resist.

The lure and the benefits are cherished by all: Bankers to the rich and the poor, bakers of famed and impoverished lands, candlestick-makers thoroughly redundant. The prize, thus, does not humbly acknowledge excellence or accomplishment, but propagates celebrity and its psychopathic tendencies.

Objectively trying to answer what any one of the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize has done to further peace is as futile an exercise as locating a drop of sweet water in the world’s oceans.

However, objectively trying to answer what any of them has done to establish his or her cult, to cement his or her own importance, to secure a lifetime of book deals, guest lectures and myriad lucrative opportunities beyond the grasp of worthier mortals for himself or herself, is akin to compar-

ing the saline content of a drop from one ocean to one from another.

The public relations machines go into overdrive to keep the fading spotlights shining, and the cheques from the books, lectures and sundry continuing to trickle through.

Consider, for a moment: A teenager shot and left for dead by those derided as being extremists and terrorists, the very face of evil responsible for all the ills of the world, recovered and campaigned for education. Whether she is the darling of the West or not, whether there are unsavoury details about her current state of existence that are conveniently left out to nurture the romanticism surrounding her or not, whether it is purely a wicked publicity stunt or not, it cannot be denied that a symbol of hope has been birthed by the actions, well-informed or ill-advised, of a committee that would have faced repeated calls to give Malala Yousafzai the award.

Hope needs to be treasured in a world in which it is in short supply.

Additionally, it needs to be acknowledged that there is another with whom she shares the accolade. Kailash Satyarthi’s story needs to be told and remembered if the Nobel Peace Prize is to attempt to shed its label of pandering glamorously to populist or politically convenient illusions. His journey, met with indifference and ignorance until now, needs to only be beginning, not ending, if the world is to see substantive rather than cosmetic changes.

This year’s prize needs to be about more than Indo-Pakistani relations and a young girl shot by extremists in a country and region under threat from terrorists if it is to ever amount to anything of real significance.

Malala had to be shot for the West, and through it the world, to take notice of her and apologise, thereby elevating her by shaping her to its liking.

There are countless nameless others being mercilessly slaughtered by the forces that attacked her and the ones that saved her. As peace remains further from reality than fairy tales, many unknowns like Kailash who fight the broken systems in desperate need of change continue to suffer for daring to do so. The unbridled deifying of fallible, flawed human beings, boisterous in their desperation to extend their fifteen minutes, is not for the greater good. l Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer. He can be contacted on Twitter via @Ikhtisad.

Sanam Amin is a journalist and researcher, currently based in Thailand.

D

BIGSTOCK

E

Y

E

Dreams that keep us awake n Mamun Rashid

I

t was late the 90s. The boss of a large firm had almost thrown me out of his Chittagong head office when I expressed doubts about the success of his large cement factory being situated at the outskirts of Dhaka. He thought foreign banks in Bangladesh were apple-polishing the multinationals too much. I was wrong, he was right. This group now commands Bangladesh’s cement market with their brand.

My CEO friends in the global pharmaceuticals industry had reservations about Incepta Pharmaceuticals, with them moving too fast and not being fully compliant. Incepta, within a span of 10 years, has beaten all pharma companies except one. Their products are entering many unregulated to semi-regulated markets, and are now looking to enter regulated markets.

Nobody less than the Wilmar group boss in Singapore (the owning group and producer of Bangladesh’s edible oil brand Rupchanda) expressed his tremendous respect for Fazlur

Rahman of City Group in old Dhaka.

He thought Mr Rahman was second to none in understanding Bangladesh’s edible oil market. I heard similar praises for another Bangladeshi – Mostafa Kamal of Meghna Group.

Large suppliers from Germany gave a standing ovation for his manufacturing acumen and command over the distribution chain. Both groups have either exceeded or will soon exceed $2bn in annual sales. Yet they are extremely humble and God-fearing in nature. The late Mr Akijuddin from Navaron, Jessore always thought that the Almighty had sent him to this world to generate employment for the poor.

Talk to any RMG buyer in the world, and you will get to know how they respect Bangladeshi vendors like Pacific group in Chittagong, and Viyellatex and DBL Group in Dhaka.

Apex Footwear is trying to rewrite the definition of success in leather products export. Anybody coming across PHP Group in Chittagong won’t understand what adversity they had to face in the late 90s, yet managed to

climb up the curve.

Transcom Group has changed the face of the media. Global brands have found a “safe haven” with them.

Square is a symbol of reliability among many households in Bangladesh.

Beximco or Bashundhara Group never stopped to think beyond. ACI, Renata, Sinha, Hameem, Summit, Shanta, New Asia, and Western Marine – all are becoming synonyms of success in Bangladesh.

All these are the symbols of Bangladesh’s entrepreneurship. They carry records in winning over extreme adversity, moving beyond borders, and competing with proven entrepreneurs from both neighbouring and competing countries. They, along with seniors like Noorul Quader Khan and Samson H Chowdhury and others made the new story of “made in Bangladesh.”

They are the architects of the new Bangladesh, carrying it forward.

No matter what happened in the past, they are increasingly realising the importance of good HR, good governance, compliance of global standards, and enterprise

resource-planning and standard operating procedures. Many of them are accessing the global markets or even capital markets, commanding the global supply chain.

Entrepreneurs are passing sleepless nights to build more and to contribute more

Unlike in the past, their succeeding generation is studying in the best of schools and universities, ensuring “success transfers.” These Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are making sure that the 157 million people of Bangladesh have access to food, energy, clothes, and anything they deserve.

They have made Bangladesh the second largest RMG exporter in the

world. I feel moved when I get to see the Bloomberg report “Cotton price up on increased Bangladesh demand.”

Next Saturday, we, along with Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) will be celebrating the rise and success of Bangladeshi entrepreneurship. The MCCI, which started its journey in undivided India in 1904, is celebrating 110 years of marching onward, championing the cause of Bangladeshi entrepreneurship. They are saluting the contribution of leading “sons of the soil” for their journey towards excellence.

For their successes amidst the tremendous challenges with land, labour, capital, and organisations, the “East India company mentality” among regulators, bureaucrats, or East European-minded politicians, could not hold them back. They moved on despite a lot of slurs being hurled on their names. They had to pay for higher country risk, political debacles, non-availability of good human resources, poor infrastructure, and shallow finance industries.

Still, the march is on. When the

new identity of a “middle income Bangladesh” will be endorsed in 2021, I am sure we will be singing the successes of Bangladesh’s private sector. President APJ Abdul Kalam wrote: “Dreams are not what you get to see in sleep, dreams are what do not let you sleep.” Most Bangladeshi entrepreneurs are passing sleepless nights to build more and to contribute more in advancing the nation; to build national capital.

Bangladeshi entrepreneurs don’t only work for them, they need very little. I know many business owners whose only dreams are to generate employment for Bangladeshi people.

Incidentally, very few Bangladeshi business owners drive brand new cars.

They derive sublime pleasure in looking after their village people or visiting holy places. They will soon become the epitome of responsible entrepreneurship – learning from their mistakes, adopting newer ideas, and creating space for the next generation. l Mamun Rashid is a business professor and financial sector entrepreneur.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE

SANJIDA PREETI: Every actor needs a therapist n Hasan Mansoor Chatak Vivacious and down to earth Sanjida Preeti linked up with Shahiduzzaman Selim and Tania Ahmed in a television play titled Kagojer Kobi.

In the play Preeti portrays a character of a girl who overwhelmingly falls for a poet, played by Selim. Meanwhile, Selim and his wife, played by Tania Ahmed, stumbles on

Entertainment

seperation as the “acquainatce” between Selim and Preeti advances.

Directed by Amitabh Ahmed Rana, the drama has wrapped-up it’s shooting, and will be aired on a television channel shortly.

Recently, Dhaka Tribune caught up with the talented actor about her TV ventures and many more. Preeti is reluctant to talk about her television works as she feels she has “nothing to say about her recent TV endeavours.”

Subsequently, the actor was asked is she feels that the present television works descend from the previous standards She thinks the descent and the ascent of standard simultaniously exists as the technicality has improved, but the screenplay and storybuilding has downgraded. “Sometimes a good script can not be executed because of budget constraints,” she adds.

So many things are involved in a television production that its nearly impossible for a single guardian angel to fix everything.

Preeti is also quite prominet in theatres and she is taking part in the rehearsal of her troupe Prachyanaut with upcoming productions titled “Tragedy Polashbari.” Though her performing in theatre is not finalised yet, she reckons audience will see her in couple of stage works shortly.

Currently, a serial titled “Progga Poromita” is being aired on ATN Bangla in which she portrays a character of a girl whose spirituality works with her inertly, and she is benevolent to her surroundings. Interestingly, she has a supernatural power of writing other people’s fate. She has played such off-beat characters before. About these out-of-the-box portrayals, she remarks that good characters with strong scripts come to her often, but later “something happens” and the outputs, sometimes, disappoint her.

What she usually looks for in roles is the standard of the script, her character, and above all, how significant her role is in the context of the whole story regardless of weather the role owns only two scenes or twenty.

Actors sometime speak about how tough it is to leave certain roles behind after they’ve played them. About her she experience of switching characters, she says “It is a challenge.

Sometimes it is very difficult to adjust myself from one set to another within one single day. I think every actor needs therapist about the matter.”

Preeti expressed her eager interest to act in films, and in such roles she thinks will suit her. Currently the actor is working in a film titled “Run,” dircted by Afsana Mimi; after the project she will think about working in others. l

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Queen

Sony Max, 9:25pm

Rani is a 24-year-old Punjabi girl from a very conservative family goes on her planned honeymoon trip, alone beginning a journey of self discovery as she is rejected by her fiance.

The Ladykillers

Zee Studio, 10:30am

Known Unknown inaugurates today at Dhaka Art Center n

Entertainment Desk

A solo exhibition “Known Unknown”

by Farzana Ahmed Urmi is going to be inaugurated today at Dhaka Art Center.

Curated by Wakilur Rahmn and Kehkasha Sabah, the exhibition will remain open until October 23.

Farzana Ahmed Urmi explores the idea of perception in works. She strives to combine conscious vision and the fleeting perception of a blink in one image. Her paintings exhibit fascination with awkwardness and search for a distinct aesthetic from conventional visual arts.

Her courage in using elective gestures lends her figures their eerie and powerful presence. The portraitures are unnerving naked images of agony, anger, soreness, revenge, or similar expressive emotions as she embraces the known and unknown faces of this urban society. She is an artiste striving to create her own artistic identity and distinguish is with visually penetrating psychological tensions and compositional arrangements.

While holding a postgraduate degree on printmaking, Farzana is quite spontaneous in choosing any technique. l

The comedy centered on Professor G.H. Dorr who gets together a group of thieves to rob a casino.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey HBO, 9:30pm

A reluctant hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, sets out to the Lonely Mountain with a spirited group of dwarves to reclaim their mountain home - and the gold within it - from the dragon Smaug.

Man vs Food TLC, 10pm

Music

Thursday Night Jam session and Speakeasy Time: 9pm Shadhona Cultural Circle A Center for Advancement of South Asian Culture, House 5, Road 27 Block J, Banani

Richman explores the big food of a different American city before facing off against a pre-existing eating challenge at a local restaurant.

The Lone Ranger

Exhibition

Star Movies, 6:30pm

The Macabre World’

By Subrata Das Time: 9:30am – 8:00pm EMK Centre, MIDAS Center House 5, Road No 16, Dhanmondi Solo Painting Exhibition

By Gopal Ghoshe Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Shilpalaya, House 42, Road- 27 (old), Dhanmondi

Centre for Asian Theatre (CAT) staged their 21st production, “Macabre” at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. Scripted by Anika Mahin and directed by Kamaluddiin Nilu the two day show from from October 13 to 14 themed on freedom, equality, and the importance of rights and dignity

BONO apologises for U2’s iTunes release

DIA MIRZA’s big day n Entertainment Desk Bollywood actress Dia Mirza is all set to don the bride’s attire on October 18 as she ties the knot with her business partner Sahil Sangha in a closed-door ceremony in New Delhi.

A source close to the actress said, “Only a few family friends and relatives will be part of the wedding. Both Dia and Sahil believe in Arya Samaj and in all likelihood, the wedding vows will be read out in that style.” Dia is already in the process of planning her second film after “Bobby Jasoos” but will take time off for a honeymoon. The source said, “The honeymoon destination is not decided as yet.”

One doesn’t really know if she has planned a wedding reception in Mumbai. l

ARIJIT SINGH set to rock Dhaka again n Entertainment Desk Arijit Singh is going to perform in “Arijit Sing Live in Concert” on December 5 at Jamuna Future Park. This is the second time in this year that the 27 year old singer is performing in Dhaka.

The playback singer is expected to sing for two and half hours in the programme. He has multiple hits from both from Bollywood and Tollywood films.

Before Arijit takes his bow on the stage, a dance number by “Porobashinee” stars Emon and Mahajabin will grace the show, after that band Shironamhin and singers Nirjhor and Imran will be performing at the event. “Probashinee” is a film that will hit the cinemas soon. For pre booking. tickets are available online at www. emakersbd.com/booking. The reservations will get priority when the tickets go on sale. l

Native American warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice.

KESHA accuses pop producer of abuse in duelling lawsuits n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk U2 frontman Bono has said sorry after their latest album was automatically added to the libraries of all iTunes users around the world.

In response to a questioner who told him it was “rude” to impose their music upon everyone, Bono said: “Oops, I’m sorry about that.”

Apple later released a one-click tool enabling iTunes customers to remove it.

Some users complained that the 11-track “Songs of Innocence” had been added to their music library without permission and that it was not clear how to delete it.

The questioner on the Facebook session said: “Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads to peoples playlists ever again? It’s really rude.”

Bono replied: “I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing.

“Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn’t be heard.

“There’s a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it,” he said.

The music was made available for free to more than 500 million iTunes customers in 119 countries last month. It has been reported that around 5 percent of those have downloaded U2’s latest piece of music.

At the time, Bono acknowledged that not everyone would appreciate the move. l

Pop singer Kesha and music producer Dr Luke unleashed duelling lawsuits on Tuesday trading accusations of abuse and extortion as the “Die Young” singer says she wants out of her record contract with the hit-making producer.

Kesha, 27, whose legal name is Kesha Sebert, has accused Dr Luke in a civil lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court of sexual, physical, verbal and emotional abuse.

The lawsuit accuses Dr Luke, whose legal name is Lukasz Gottwald, of forcing Kesha to “take drugs and alcohol in order to take advantage of her sexually while she was intoxicated.”

The 41-year-old producer behind hits for singers such as Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus responded with his own lawsuit in New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan accusing Kesha and her mother, Pebe Sebert, of defamation, breach of contract and contractual interference.

The lawsuit accuses Kesha and her mother of orchestrating a campaign to publish “false and shocking accusations” against Dr Luke to extort him into letting the singer out of her contract.

“Kesha’s lawsuit is nothing more than a continuation of her bad and offensive acts,” Dr Luke’s attorney, Christine Lepera said in a statement.

Kesha, who has scored No 1 US hits “Tik Tok” and “We R Who We R” that Dr Luke helped write and produce, has been under contract to record for Dr Luke’s music production company and record label since 2005. l

Did you know?

Steven Naismith has scored his first international goal outside of Scotland against Poland on Tuesday

Sport

Thursday, October 16, 2014

14 Germany held

as Ronaldo rescues Portugal

14 Serbia-Albania

match abandoned following brawl

DHAKA TRIBUNE

13

15 Barca looking to

‘MSN’ to eclipse Real’s ‘BBC’

I scored for the people of my country: Sanjida n Raihan Mahmood

The triumphant Bangladesh Under-16 women’s football team celebrate their 1-0 victory over Jordan in the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2015 Qualifiers at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday

MUMIT M

Sanjida guides Bangladesh to inspiring win n Shishir Hoque The Bangladesh Under-16 women’s football team made an unexpectedly bright start in the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2015 qualifiers with an incredible 1-0 victory over Jordan at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Unarguably one of the best players

Iran skipper Fatemeh Geraeli (L) and striker Fatemeh Ghasemi share a light moment against the UAE at BNS yesterday MUMIT M

on the pitch, Sanjida Akhter netted the all-important goal in the second half from the penalty spot to give the hosts their best result in the women’s football arena in recent years. All credit goes to super substitute Lipi who earned the penalty.

The Bangladesh women (117), positioned 60 places below Jordan (57), in the Fifa women’s rankings made a mockery of the official standing in world football as the hosts displayed great spirit, began the game brightly and fought bravely till the final whistle.

Not only did they score and win, the young footballers of Bangladesh did not give space to their opponents and dominated the midfield throughout the entirety of the game. The scoreline, however, does not paint the true picture of the game as the home side could have scored more goals were it not for the missed chances scuffed by the inexperienced forward line.

The Jordanian players appeared a bit uneasy on the pitch and were unable to penetrate the Bangladesh defence, which, despite all its weaknesses and worries, put up a solid exhibition at the

Shahadat eager to return n Mazhar Uddin Kazi Shahadat Hossain aka Rajib made his debut for the Tigers nine years back after impressing the cricket arena with his pace and aggression. However, the 6’2’’ tall spearhead failed to keep the promise he staged early in his career and encounter injuries often which saw him fade away from the scene with time.

Shahadat, a part of the 32-man camp for the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe, admitted his fitness problem has been the major reason behind his downfall, but he is working hard and following a strict routine to get himself back on track.

The jolly character and a keen Real Madrid FC follower, Shahadat is aiming a return to the national fold and looks to pair up with Mashrafe bin Mortaza with the new ball in the upcoming home series. “I have changed as a person now and I am working hard and spending more time at gym and running.”

Shahadat was first spotted in a talent-spotting camp in his hometown Narayanganj from where he was sent to BKSP in his teenage for refinement.

He made his first-class debut in 2004 and it took him only a year to wear the national jersey that also through a Test match against England at Lord’s.

“One thing I can say surely that I was never dropped from the Test side for my performance but for fitness. Even when Bangladesh team was passing a rough period I at least took a wicket for my side,” said Shahadat after the training session at the Sher-e-Bangla

back. Bangladesh, on the other hand, also struggled inside the opposition’s terrain to find the net in the opening half.

The home side fared better after resumption. Bangladesh squandered a glorious opportunity to score the opener two minutes into the second half when Sanjida shot wide while being one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

The hosts piled up more pressure on their opponents but the tactical change

RESULTS Bangladesh

1-0

Jordan

9-0

UAE

Sanjida 69-P

Iran

Ghasemi 37, 41, 54, 90 + 1 Geraeli 50, 52, 67, 82 Dabbaghi 63

which brought on Lipi in place of Krishna Rani in the 66th minute changed the fate of the game.

Lipi made an immediate impact after coming off the bench by earning Bangladesh a penalty three minutes later. The pacy forward ran through the goal skipping past a Jordan player before being brought down by a defender

inside the penalty area.

Sanjida stepped up and converted from the spot sending the ball into the right side of Jordan custodian Naser Salem Albustanji.

The Bangladesh players broke into tears after the final whistle as it is their first ever victory in the U-16 level.

Meanwhile in the day’s other game, Iran captain Fatemeh Geraeli led her side from the front alongside striker Fatemeh Ghasemi as the duo slammed four goals apiece in their crushing 9-0 win over the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

With a new team and fresh set of players, UAE, who are participating in an AFC competition for the very first time, could not resist the power and strength of Iran.

Ghasemi put her side ahead in the 37th minute with a superb solo effort.

The Iranian forward showed great skill and technique on her first effort which thumped the woodwork. The rebound fell kindly onto her feet again as she dribbled past an opposition defender before sending the ball into an open net after rounding off the UAE keeper.

Ghasemi doubled the lead four minutes later. After fine work by Hajar Dabbaghi who broke into the left flank of the penalty area before sliding the ball for Ghasemi, the latter smashed home past the keeper from six yards.

It took Iran just five minutes into the second half to put another into UAE’s net. This time skipper Geraeli’s side volleyed into the near post following a corner. Geraeli scored again in the 52nd minute when the midfielder chipped over the keeper from the edge of the box and found the back of the net.

Iran continued the route as Ghasemi completed her hattrick two minutes later tapping home a rebound after skipping past the puzzled keeper.

Dabbaghi extended Iran’s lead to 6-0 with a solo effort in the 63rd minute pacing forward past two defenders before slotting home past Farhan Baashir.

Geraeli netted the second hattrick of the day four minutes later sneaking the ball into the net from the centre of the box.

Geraeli and Ghasemi both scored their fourth goals of the day in the 82nd minute and injury time respectively to complete the 9-0 scoreline. l

Bangladesh midfielder Sanjida, whose calm penalty in the 69th minute turned to be the match winner against Jordan, was equally bold during the post match briefing at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The teenager from Tangail said, “I am very happy. I did not recall any particular person, but I thought that I have scored the goal for the people of the country.

“I was not afraid to take the spot kick. I chose to shoot towards the left side. I have been practising it for the last five days and I was confident of hitting the back of the net,” said Sanjida.

The confidence with which the Bangladeshi girls took the field was also felt in the words of player of the match Mousumi. “We thought it simple. Jordan players are also girls. We were not afraid of them. When we took the field we felt that we could beat them and we did it,” said Mousumi.

Coach Golam Rabbani Choton hailed the teamwork and said he motivated the players by asking them to play “For the country, for their parents and for women’s football.”

“To be frank I also never expected the result. Bangladesh beat a team that declared themselves as a title contender. It was a perfect teamwork from all the players,” he expressed.

“I told them you have to show your worth. You have to fight. You don’t get all the facilities like your opponents but you have the potential. You are playing at your home. I am satisfied to see the teamwork,” added Choton.

Choton also termed the success the best of his career and in women’s football. “It is the best day of my coaching career and I think this is the biggest success in women’s football. Jordan are ranked 57th in the world whereas we are 117th among 132 nations.”

The joy, however, will not shift the focus of the team as Choton revealed they will not take UAE lightly. “We want to go match by match and extend the run of success,” he added.

Meanwhile the defeat was probably too much to handle for Jordan head coach Manar Ahmad al Fraij as he did not appear in the post match. Instead he sent assistant coach Haya M Qatami who took time to settle in front of the packed press people. “I am surprised to see this Bangladesh. I did not expect it. Bangladesh played good. I am not happy with my team’s performance,” said Haya.

She also added that her charges felt disturbed with the pitch and failed to rise to the occasion though they always look to give their best. l

Razzak ruled out of first Test n Minhaz Uddin Khan

National Stadium yesterday.

The 28-year-old, who few would have predicted that he would become the first Bangladeshi cricketer to have his name etched on the honours board at Lord’s, has been very injury prone during his 35-match Test career where he took 70 wickets with four five-wicket hauls.

In Bangladesh’s tour of England in 2010, he picked up 5 for 98 in England’s first innings of the first Test at Lord’s, but like he has always been – unpredictable – Shahadat followed the feat with just five wickets in his next 13 innings with eight of them going wicketless.

Bangladesh are not popular for producing great fast bowlers and simply a balanced routine should have been enough to see him permanently in the side. He slowly lost pace, lacked aggression and most of all the variations and swings went missing.

“It is totally my fault for where I am today as I never took the rehabilitation and fitness training seriously. And if I realized these two years back things would have different and I would have been playing in the national team now,” he said. l

Veteran Bangladesh spinner Abdur Razzak has been ruled out of contention for the first of three Test matches against the visiting Zimbabwe due to a hamstring strain. The first Test between the two sides begins on October 25 at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

A reliable Bangladesh Cricket Board source informed Dhaka Tribune yesterday of Razzak’s unavailability owing to injury. Razzak hurt his hamstring in his right leg during a practice session at Mirpur last Monday. A day later, the 32-year-old left-arm spinner was sent for an MRI scan which revealed the injury. The source, however, informed the injury is not a severe one and proper treatment will get Razzak fit by the first week of November.

The national selection panel is not concerned with Razzak’s unavailability. The left-arm spinner has been an irregular fixture in the Bangladesh Test squad and was not a member of the national side’s previous Test series against the West Indies recently. At the same time better performances in the shorter formats of the game have put an invisible tag of ‘ODI and T20 specialist’ on Razzak.

Razzak last appeared for Bangladesh in the longer format in February this year, against Sri Lanka in Chittagong. He has played 12 Tests since his debut and has picked up 23 wickets in 18 innings. l

Bangladesh Under-16 footballer Sanjida Akhter smashes home the penalty during their AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2015 Qualifier against Jordan at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MUMIT M

De Kruif blasts football federation n Tribune Desk

Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif blasted the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) for not keeping their promises of paying his dues in time and said he will not return to national team duty before receiving his salary.

The Dutchman, who went home on vacation following the conclusion of Asian Games men’s football and was supposed to come back last Tuesday, also said he took the issue to Fifa as well.

“BFF cannot keep promises. I don’t

want to work with them,” said De Kruif to a Bangladeshi journalist through social media yesterday. He added, “I spoke with Fifa yesterday (Tuesday) and they will take it over soon.

“They did not pay me for four months now. After three months BFF is in serious offence and in big trouble. But I don’t understand them,” he said adding, “I came with several good ideas to help but they didn’t provide me apartment, car, driver. It was all in my contract. I don’t want to fight over it but now my family is suffering.”

BFF president Kazi Salahuddin went to Singapore and is scheduled to return home today. It was learned that the decision surrounding the payment of the outstanding wages of the Dutch coaches will be taken after the return of Salahuddin.

“The coach (De Kruif) told me they will not come back until they receive their one-month salary. It is really unfortunate as the Sri Lanka friendlies are just a few days away,” said BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag yesterday. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Germany held as Ronaldo rescues Portugal n AFP, Paris World champions Germany stumbled again in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign on Tuesday, drawing 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland on a night where Cristiano Ronaldo and a flying drone made headlines elsewhere.

Ronaldo’s late header gave Portugal a 1-0 win in Denmark to kickstart their qualifying campaign, but the meeting between Serbia and Albania in the same Group I was abandoned after crowd trouble in Belgrade.

Germany had suffered their first qualifying defeat since 2007 at the weekend, losing 2-0 in Poland in Group D, but the World Cup winners were greeted by a huge fan mosaic at one end of the stadium in Gelsenkirchen which read simply ‘Thank You’, proving that such a defeat could not overshadow their heroics of July.

Nevertheless, only five of the players who started in the win against Argentina in Rio de Janeiro three months ago lined up at kick-off against Martin O’Neill’s men. Borussia Dortmund’s Erik Durm, who went to the World Cup but did not play, smashed a shot off the bar in the first half before a precise Toni Kroos strike in the 71st minute gave Joachim Loew’s men the lead.

But Ireland stunned their hosts by equalising in the fourth minute of added time with their first effort on target from veteran defender John O’Shea.

In Copenhagen, Cristiano Ronaldo

headed in Ricardo Quaresma’s cross in the fifth minute of injury time to score his 51st international goal and give Portugal victory against their Danish hosts in their first competitive game under new coach Fernando Santos.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland made it three wins from three in Group F with a remarkable 2-0 victory away to Greece in Piraeus, Jamie Ward and Kyle Lafferty finding the net either side of half-time for Michael O’Neill’s side.

In England’s Group E, Switzerland recorded their first points with a 4-0 victory away to hapless San Marino, with Haris Seferovic scoring twice and Dzemaili and Shaqiri also on target. l

RESULTS Gibraltar

0-3

Georgia

Gelashvili 9, Okriashvili 19, Kankava 69

Germany

1-1

Kroos 71

Poland

2-2

Maczynski 12, Milik 76

San Marino

Ireland O’Shea 90+4)

Scotland Maloney 18, Naismith 57

0-4

Switzerland

Seferovic 10, 24, Dzemaili 30, Shaqiri 79

Finland

0-2

Romania Stancu 54, 83

Greece

0-2

N Ireland Ward 9, Lafferty 51

Faroes

0-1

Hungary

Denmark

0-1

Portugal

Szalai 21 Ronaldo 90+5

Portugal skipper Cristiano Ronaldo reacts after scoring the winner during their EURO 2016 qualifying match against Denmark at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on Tuesday

Fifa hails India’s new league n AFP, New Delhi The inaugural Indian Super League will help the cricket-mad nation develop a football culture with the ultimate aim of qualifying for the World Cup, a top FIFA official said Wednesday.

“India has huge potential. The ISL is helping,” the world governing body’s secretary general, Jerome Valcke, said.

“We must make sure that we are all together with one goal - to develop football in India and help India play in the World Cup sooner,” he told the league’s official website www.indiansuperleague.com.

The glitzy 10-week long ISL, which opened on Sunday, is modelled on cricket’s popular Indian Premier League, televised by Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV and backed by sports management giants IMG and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

Cricketing greats Sachin Tendulkar

and Sourav Ganguly, Bollywood A-listers Ranbir Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan, and Spanish La Liga side Atletico Madrid are among co-owners of the eight franchised teams in the fray.

The league has lured past greats like 39-year-old Alessandro Del Piero of Italy, ex-Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, and former French internationals Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pires and David Trezeguet as marquee players.

“I think it’s important (to have former greats) because these stars are who kids everywhere are dreaming about,” Valcke said. “It’s a way to attract more youngsters to watch and even play the game.”

Valcke, who attended Tuesday’s match in New Delhi - a dull goalless draw between Del Piero’s Delhi Dynamos and Trezeguet’s FC Pune City - said he was impressed by the enthusiasm of fans.

Valcke said India, once described by FIFA boss Sepp Blatter as the “sleeping giant” of world football, will receive a boost when it hosts the under-17 World Cup in 2017.

“We wanted to do whatever we could to promote or help the development of football in India,” he said. “We have given India the responsibility of organizing the under-17 World Cup which is a huge milestone.

“We need the support of the Indian authorities to develop more infrastructure. We need more pitches, and give all Indians more ways to play the sport in the country.”

India’s national side languishes at 158 in the world rankings, which has largely been blamed on the failure of administrators to develop training grounds and young players.

A separate I-league is also organised by the AIFF that feature the country’s leading clubs. l

Ferdinand charged over Twitter post n AFP, London Queens Park Rangers defender Rio Ferdinand has been charged with misconduct over a comment he made on Twitter, the Football Association announced on Tuesday.

The FA did not identify the posting in question, but reports suggested it concerned a tweet in which Ferdinand had referred to the mother of another Twitter user as a “sket” - a derogatory slang term for a promiscuous woman.

“Queens Park Rangers defender Rio Ferdinand has been charged by The FA for misconduct in relation to a comment he made via social media,” the FA said in a statement on its website.

“It is alleged the comment posted on his Twitter account was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper. It is further alleged that this breach is aggravated pursuant to FA Rule E3(2) as it included a reference to gender.” l

REUTERS

Gignac stars as France defeat Armenia n AFP, Yerevan Andre-Pierre Gignac marked his first start for France in more than four years with a goal and two assists as the Euro 2016 hosts eased to a 3-0 friendly win in Armenia on Wednesday.

RESULT Armenia

0-3

France Remy 8, Gignac 55-P, Griezmann 83

Gignac set up goals for Loic Remy and substitute Antoine Griezmann either side of converting a second-half penalty in Yerevan as Didier Deschamps’ side followed up their 2-1 friendly win over Portugal at the weekend with a comfortable victory.

Deschamps made eight changes to his starting line-up from that win on

A DRONE LEADING TO THE ABANDONMENT OF THE SERBIA-ALBANIA EURO ‘16 QUALIFIER

The politically-sensitive Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania was abandoned on Tuesday following a brawl between players from both sides after a flag stunt. The Group I game was interrupted when the flag was flown over the terraces and pitch by what appeared to be a remote controlled mini drone near the end of the first half. Mitrovic eventually grabbed the flag at the Partizan stadium, prompting an angry reaction from Albanian players and an unsightly melee ensued. Riot police then moved in when around a dozen fans invaded the pitch and players retreated into the tunnel as flares were thrown from the terraces REUTERS

Saturday, with goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, Raphael Varane and Blaise Matuidi the only players to keep their places.

Karim Benzema, who had picked up a knock against Portugal, was dropped to the bench to allow Marseille striker Gignac, the leading scorer in Ligue 1, to start for Les Bleus for the first time since the 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the last match of their disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign.

And on the occasion of his 19th cap, Gignac did not disappoint, ensuring that he should remain part of Deschamps’ future plans, although the player himself refused to get carried away.

Gignac needed just eight minutes to make his presence felt, controlling a long diagonal ball from Jeremy Mathieu and crossing from the right side of the box for Chelsea forward Remy to tap in at the back post.l

Serbia-Albania match abandoned following drone stunt, brawl n Reuters, Belgrade The politically-sensitive Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania was abandoned on Tuesday following a brawl between players from both sides after a flag stunt.

The Group I game, with no away fans permitted, was interrupted when a flag depicting so-called Greater Albania, an area covering all parts of the Balkans where ethnic Albanians live, was flown over the terraces and pitch by what appeared to be a remote controlled mini drone near the end of the first half.

A Serbian player eventually grabbed the flag at the Partizan stadium, prompting an angry reaction from Albanian players and an unsightly melee ensued.

Riot police then moved in when around a dozen fans invaded the pitch and attacked the Albanian players, forcing them to retreat into the tunnel as flares were thrown from the terraces.

After a delay of around half an hour, English referee Martin Atkinson abandoned the game, which stood at 0-0.

“What happened is something we can’t comprehend at the moment,” Serbia captain Branislav Ivanovic told reporters.

“On behalf of my team, all I can say is that we wanted to carry on and that we shielded the Albanian players every step of the way to the tunnel (after the riot broke out).

Albanian captain Lorik Cana told Albanian television: “I saw my players being attacked and hit even inside the tunnel, and even by the stewards. We were not in the right psychological or physical state to continue playing.”

Serbian state television reported that Olsi Rama, the brother of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, was arrested in the VIP section on suspicion of instigating the flag stunt. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Barca looking to ‘MSN’ to eclipse Real’s ‘BBC’

QUICK BYTES

Shafiqul Islam (L) and Asif Iqbal

n Reuters, Barcelona

Asif Iqbal new president of BSJC Asif Iqbal of Bangladesh Protidin and Shafiqul Islam Shamim of Diganta TV were elected president and general secretary respectively of the Bangladesh Sports Journalists Community yesterday. The annual general meeting was held at the office of the organisation as the nine-member executive committee was elected unopposed.

Election commissioner Mohammed Yahya declared the names. The other office bearers are senior vice president Mainuddin Tarek, vice president Kamal Hossain Bablu, joint secretary Sakir Ruben, organising secretary Imam Hossain Sourav, publicity secretary Mushfiqur Rahman. The members are Anwar Hossain and Rakibul Islam.

–Raihan Mahmood

Pope to have audience with Bayern next week Bayern Munich players and their Spanish coach Pep Guardiola will have a private audience with Pope Francis next week, the German club announced Wednesday. The audience will come the day after Bayern’s Champions League match against AS Roma in the Italian capital on Tuesday. “Before their return to Munich on Wednesday morning, Pep Guardiola and his team will make a detour by the Vatican,” the club said. Pope Francis, an Argentinian, is a well-known football fan and in August received officials and players from San Lorenzo, the Argentine club which lifted the Libertadores Cup and of whom the pontiff was a boyhood supporter.

–AFP

Last-gasp Honduras draw with host USA Maynor Figueroa headed home the equalizer in the 86th minute Tuesday to give Honduras a 1-1 draw with the United States in an international football friendly. The 31-year-old Premier League standout for Hull City leaped between US defender Jermaine Jones and American goalkeeper Nick Rimando and nodded in the tying goal.

Jozy Altidore, a striker for English side Sunderland, had put the Americans ahead with a goal in the 10th minute. It was second match in five days in which the US squad surrendered a late equalizer, with Enner Valencia scoring in the 88th minute for Ecuador in a 1-1 draw Friday at East Hartford, Connecticut, in the farewell match for US all-time scoring leader Landon Donovan.

–AFP

Young players need more support: Wasim Former captain Wasim Akram Tuesday blamed a lack of international cricket and the absence of a system for developing young players for Pakistan’s disappointing defeats in recent months.

Pakistan lost the final one-day international against Australia in Abu Dhabi on Sunday to complete a 3-0 rout, and the upcoming Test series in the United Arab Emirates looks likely to be a tough proposition. The common complaint in international cricket is that teams play too many matches, but Wasim said Pakistan were suffering for precisely the opposite reason. “Australia were always favourites to win the one-day series,” Wasim told AFP. “So don’t blame the Pakistan team, because they are playing so much less international cricket than other countries.” Pakistan lost one-day and Test series against Sri Lanka in August - their first international encounters in six months.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 1 Sultan of Johor Cup 2:00PM New Zealand v Pakistan 4:00PM Malaysia v India 6:00PM Great Britain v Australia

Star Sports 2, 3 7:30PM Indian Super League North East v Kolkata

Star Sports 4 9:00PM BWF World Super Series India 2014

15

MESSI

SUAREZ

NEYMAR

While Real Madrid’s fearsome attacking trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema has become known collectively as “BBC” in Spain, Barcelona are confident “MSN” can be at least as lethal.

Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar could play a competitive game together for the first time in the La Liga ‘Clasico’ at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium on Oct. 25, the day after Suarez’s four-month ban for biting an opponent at the World Cup expires.

Messi and Neymar have been unable to keep up with Ronaldo’s incredible haul of 13 goals in six La Liga outings this term but have the same number between them and the return of Suarez should boost Barca’s already formidable scoring rate even further.

The exploits of the three South Americans on international duty this week prompted crowing headlines in the Barcelona-based sports papers, who suggested Messi, Suarez and Neymar were shifting into top gear at exactly the right time.

Messi struck twice for Argentina as a second-half substitute against Hong Kong, Suarez netted a double for Uruguay against Oman and Neymar cracked four goals past Japan.

“An explosive cocktail threatens the Bernabeu,” wrote Sport. “Barca sharpens its aim before the ‘Clasico’,” added Mundo Deportivo.

To be sure, all three matches were friendlies against weak or weakened opponents and the trio will be up against defenders of a far higher quality in the ‘Clasico’.

Ronaldo and Bale, meanwhile, were instrumental in important wins for Portugal and Wales respectively in qualification for Euro 2016, while Benzema

Fit-again Clarke hopes Australia carry momentum n AFP, Sharjah

Fit-again Australian captain Michael Clarke said Tuesday he hopes his team can carry the momentum of its Twenty20 and one-day wins over Pakistan into the two-match Test series starting next week.

Australia routed Pakistan 3-0 in the one-day series which finished on Sunday and also won the only Twenty20 match by five wickets in Dubai.

The 33-year-old, who sat out the one-day series due to a hamstring injury, will test his fitness in the four-day preparation match against Pakistan ‘A’ starting from Wednesday.

That will put Clarke on course for the first of two Tests starting in Dubai from

October 22. The second Test will be played in Abu Dhabi from October 30.

“It’s obviously a different format of the game but the players that have been involved in T20 and One day series will take that confidence into the Test matches,” said Clarke.

“In any form of the game I love seeing Australia have success and win and the momentum players have been able to produce is really exciting and hopefully, the Test players can grab that momentum and continue to run with it.”

Pakistan have not beaten Australia in a Test series since the match-fixing 1995 home games.

Then Pakistan captain Salim Malik was banned for life after Australian players -- Shane Warne, Mark Waugh

and Tim May -- alleged he offered them a bribe to under perform on that tour.

Clarke showed confidence of regaining full fitness after getting injured on the tour of Zimbabwe in August.

“I feel a lot better now than I did certainly after Zimbabwe when I tore a hamstring so I will be playing in the four day match. I think I am just trying to take every single step along the way and listen to the experts.

“I have always worked exceptionally hard on my fitness and at 33 of age that will certainly continue. I feel fit and I have given my body every single chance to be as close to 100 percent as possible on a daily basis.”

Clarke said Pakistan always pose different challenges.

“I think Pakistan in general are very talented in all formats of the game, always had very good spin bowlers and good fast bowlers who can execute reverse swing. I think there are probably two major areas as to how you face spin and how you face reverse swing and the other side of that is how you bowl spin and how you bowl reverse swing,” said Clarke.

“I feel I still have got lot to offer in one day cricket. The big reason why I retired from T20 was to give myself the chance to be the best I can possibly be in the other two formats and help Australia have success I think it has probably given me more hunger to get back into the One-day format which I have been missing in the last couple of series,” said Clarke. l

netted the opening goal in Saturday’s 2-1 friendly victory for France against the Portuguese.

If Suarez does make his competitive Barca debut against Real, the coach of the Madrid club, Carlo Ancelotti, and his players will have to work out how to thwart three players who like to roam across the forward line.

Ancelotti’s Barca counterpart, Luis Enrique, must come up with a plan to snuff out Real’s devastating counter attacks.

Barca typically seek to play their way through stubborn defences with intricate passing, while Real tend to be more direct, with Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema using their pace and strength to burst through on goal.

“Some people see me as a centre forward and others as a forward, but even if I play at centre forward I never stay there all the time,” Suarez said this week.

“When we have the ball, I like to move all around the attack. I don’t just want to be in the penalty area,” added the 27-year-old, who scored 69 league goals in 110 appearances for previous club Liverpool.

“But you have to listen to what the coach wants and asks for and try to help the team however you can.”

While Suarez is still waiting for his chance to net his first goal for Barca, Messi is just two short of matching the La Liga scoring record of 251 goals held

by Telmo Zarra.

His next chance to add to his tally is Saturday’s game at home to Eibar but the prospect of the four-times World Player of the Year matching or beating the record at the Bernabeu, the home of their arch rivals, is a mouthwatering one for Barca fans.

Barca are two points clear of Valencia at the top of La Liga after seven matches. l

Injured Del Potro writes off season n AFP, Buenos Aires Argentina’s 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro drew a line under a season ruined by a left wrist injury on Tuesday and said he would not play again this year.

The 26-year-old -- who missed most of the 2010 season with a right wrist injury -- said he preferred to prepare himself for fresh start next year than try and play in the final few European indoor tournaments.

“Despite good progress through training and physiotherapy, I have decided not to play in the season ending tournaments in Europe,” del Potro wrote on his Facebook page. l

Ferrer ready to fight to the end for London spot n AFP, Vienna David Ferrer’s determination to qualify for the season ending World Tour finals is such is he has opted to play in the Vienna Open for the first time in 10 years.

The 32-year-old -- seeded top here -- has decided to compete in Vienna as has British number one Andy Murray as they search to accrue enough points to get in the top eight which entitles them to a place in the finals in London in November.

Ferrer and Murray are ninth and 10th respectively in the race for places in London, for which three remain unfilled.

Canadian Milos Raonic -- who is

playing in Moscow this week -- in eighth spot at the moment, the Spaniard is just 35 points adrift of him and the Briton 95 in arrears.

Ferrer, who will play the winner of either Simone Bolelli and Tobias Kamke after he benefited from a first-round bye, said that he would battle till the end of the qualifying process to secure his place.

“Of course it is my goal, I’m fighting for,” said Ferrer, who played in Shanghai last week losing to Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

“It’s important for me. We don’t have too many tournaments. We have only three tournaments more to be in London.”

Murray, seeded second, only springs into action on Thursday against against Canadian Vasek Pospisil, who beat German Daniel Brands 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2).

Murray, who flew into the Austrian capital in a private jet after receiving his wild card entry, is due also to compete in Valencia again on a wild card entry next week and the Paris Masters.

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka have already qualified for the finals.

One will go to Marin Cilic as a Grand slam winner this season, leaving three available.

On the court spectators witnessed the first elimination of a seed as German Jan-Lennard Struff beat number seven seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-4.l

Tennis Star Sania Mirza kicks a football during the ISL 2014 match between Delhi Dynamos FC and FC Pune City at Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday AP

Brisbane Heat close on Flintoff move

n AFP, London

Ex-England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is close to joining Brisbane Heat for the 2014-15 Big Bash League, the Australian club’s coach revealed in a British newspaper interview published on Tuesday.

Flintoff, 36, ended five years in retirement earlier this year when he returned to former club Lancashire for England’s T20 Blast tournament.

After initial struggles with injury, he caught the eye on T20 finals day -- notably dismissing former England team-

mate Ian Bell with his first ball -- and it convinced Brisbane to move for his services.

“We’ve had discussions with Freddie,” Brisbane coach Stuart Law, who was at Lancashire from 2002 to 2008, told regional newspaper the Manchester Evening News.

“If things go well, hopefully we will be able to confirm next week that he will play some part in the Big Bash for us.

“I am really excited by the idea. We get on really well and have had plenty of good times down the years during my time with Lancashire. He will be

the biggest signing Brisbane Heat has made.”

While Flintoff ’s best days are clearly behind him, Law said that he would not be moving to Australia just to pick up a sizeable pay-check.

“I have spoken to Fred and made it clear that this is not a holiday, but he told me cricket is number one for him, and that it is not about collecting cash, it’s about winning trophies,” said Law. “I am sure Fred will do the right thing for this team. He is a proud man.

He is not after the cash. He wants to contribute to the team. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, October 16, 2014

G4S scrutinised over mishandling clients’ money Security guard arrested for stealing Tk3 crore from the vaults; G4S says he acted alone

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong The G4S Chittagong city office, robbed of Tk3 crore on October 12, was storing Tk54 crore belonging to banks and other private owners even though Bangladesh Bank (BB) does not allow security companies to store bank money.

Group Four Security Services (G4S) Chittagong Vice President Khurshid Irtiza Chowdhury said his company was storing Tk54 crore belonging to private owners and six banks at its premises in the port city’s Khulshi area when Tk3 crore was stolen from its vaults.

G4S Senior Vice President Tarikul said his company had legal permission from Bangladesh Bank to store and transport cash money.

But Bangladesh Bank (BB) Executive Director Mahfuzur Rahman, who is the spokesman of the country’s central bank, said the central bank does not allow security companies to store bank money.

The BB executive director who said: “G4S is not a registered company of Bangladesh Bank. It is run under the Companies Act. They cannot store the money of banks in their vaults. It is not legal.”

WORLD FOOD DAY

Small farms’ role vital in meeting food demand n Abu Bakar Siddique

Small size farming has been playing a vital role in boosting agricultural production and reducing hunger and poverty, professionals have said.

They said the productivity of the small farmers was better than the medium and large scale because proper care can be taken.

Dr Quazi Shahabuddin, former director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said the small size farms constitute 88% of the total number of farms in Bangladesh. Currently, Bangladesh produces around 37.26 million tonnes of food grains including rice and wheat which is nearly equal to the demand.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics says a small farm in Bangladesh is up to 1.01 hectares big, medium size 3.03 hectares and large ones are over 3.03 hectares.

Quazi Shabuddin said because of frequent natural calamities during Aman season, many large scale farmers have shifted to Boro because it depended on ground water-based irrigation.

The Ministry of Agriculture says more than 15 million households in Bangladesh are currently involved in farming on 8.52 million hectares land.

UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation says Bangladesh have been facing reduced farm size since 1960.

The UN fixed “Family Farming: Feeding the world, caring for the earth” for World Food Day today as a recognition for the small farmers. l

Cash belonging to six banks including Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Dutch Bangla Bank and other private owners had been placed in the private security company’s vaults.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mainul Islam Bhuiyan of Khulshi police station said the company did not inform the police about the storage of such a large amount of money at their office.

“The company did not even inform the police in a timely fashion after the theft took place,” the OC said, referring to the 24-hour gap between the time the robbery, caught on CCTV, took place and the time G4S reported it to police.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner Abdul Jalil Mandal said police were looking into the entire incident along with the legal grounds of G4S to store the huge amount of bank money.

RAB makes arrest in Chittagong G4S robbery

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) yesterday arrested the man believed to be responsible for the theft of Tk3 crore from the Chittagong city office

of Group Four Security (G4S) Services Bangladesh Private Limited.

On October 12, G4S security guard Shahidul Haque Shantan, 24, of Narsingdi district, who was on duty when the theft took place, allegedly donned a mask and robbed Tk3 crore from the office vault.

G4S Senior Manager Tarique Mansur lodged a case in the early hours of Monday after an analysis of the CCTV footage from the early hours of Sunday, nearly 24 hours previously, showed that a robbery had taken place.

RAB 7 Commanding Officer (CO) Lieutenant Colonel Mifta Uddin said his force, acting on a tip off, arrested Shantan from the Rangamati Government College area around 7am, adding that Shantan admitted to stealing the money from the G4S vault.

In a press conference at RAB 7 Headquarters in the city’s Patenga area around 11:30am, the CO said RAB had recovered the mask and gloves used in the theft.

Shantan broke four security doors after three hours of effort in the early hours of October 12 while another

on-duty security guard, Rafiqul Islam, and front desk staff, Rabiul Hossain, were fast asleep.

“G4S did not pay my salary and bonuses during Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ulAzha. I stole the money because I was angry about this. I have been planning for this since October 6,” Shantan said.

He claimed that he had planned to distribute the money to the poor and to oppressed women.

Shantan, who worked at G4S since June 13, 2013, said the three other people detained in connection with the theft, Rabiul, Rafiqul and Bashirul were not linked to the theft.

G4S Senior Vice President Major (retd) Tarikul Islam, who was present at the conference, denied the allegation that the company was not paying its employees properly and on time.

Avoiding journalists’ questions, he said, “We are looking into the matter and we will organise a separate press conference to brief the media about the incident.”

The Detective Branch (DB) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) on Tuesday recovered Tk29,950,000 of the

stolen Tk3 crore from the residence of Md Bashirul Alam, 24, the muezzin of Chittagong City College Jame Mosque in the city’s Sadarghat area. Bashirul is from Maheshkhali Island in Cox’s Bazar district.

The RAB 7 CO said officers found just Tk257 in Shantan’s possession. He was planning to take a job in Rangamati, officers said. Investigators said they had not traced the missing Tk50,000.

Shantan told reporters he kept all of the money at Bashirul’s residence. The RAB 7 chief said police were looking into the matter.

Khurshid Irtiza Chowdhury, the company’s Chittagong vice president, told the Dhaka Tribune that G4S had formed a four-member inquiry team led by Tarikul Islam, a retired major and senior vice president of the company, to investigate the matter.

He said the company’s Chittagong office, with 2,000 staff members and security guards, was shifting premises from Khulshi road 4 to road 1, and said the thief took advantage of lax monitoring during this time to make his move. l

F L O AT N ’ E AT

Two schoolgirls violated in Natore n Our Correspondent, Natore

Two young men allegedly raped two schoolgirls in a vegetable garden while their crony filmed the act at Dhanura-Bograpara village of Gurudaspur upazila on Tuesday.

One of the victims studies in class seven while the other is an eighthgrader.

A case was lodged with Gurudaspur police station against three men yesterday.

The three were Naim Hossain, 17, son of Erfan Ali, Ziaul, 18, son of Nazrul Islam and Jewel, 18, son of Osir uddin.

They all live in the same village.

Quoting the victims, Ibrahim Hossain, officer-in-charge of Gurudaspur police station, said the girls were intercepted by the accused at Halsha Bazar while returning home on Tuesday afternoon.

“The men dragged them into a nearby garden. Naim and Jewel raped the girls while Ziaul captured the incident on film using a mobile phone. Locals rushed in hearing screams of the victims but the accused managed to flee,” he said.

“The victims went to the upazila health complex where they underwent medical check-up. We are trying to nab the accused soon,” he added. l

Girl sexually harassed by another minor n Tribune Report

Boatmen gather for lunch on a make-shift restaurant on a boat moored at the bank of the Buriganga River at Kaliganj in Keraniganj. Most boatmen in the area opt for this restaurant because they find affordable day meals here. The photo was taken on Tuesday RAJIB DHAR

Taslima slams Mamata for allowing Latif to n Kamran Reza Chowdhury stay in Kolkata The progress of the Dhaka-Chittagong fourproject, the Awami League government’s n Mohammad Abu Bakar Siddique lane priority initiative, was “not satisfactory,” a

A four-year-old girl, who allegedly fell victim to sexual harassment by another child on Tuesday in the capital’s Khilkhet area, was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital early yesterday.

The offender Fahim (not his real name), 15, is a student of class VIII at Kurmitola High School.

The victim’s father told the Dhaka Tribune: “Fahim is our neighbour. On the day of the incident, some guests came to our house and I went out for work.

My child’s mother was at the house and my daughter was playing with Fahim’s sister.

As it started raining, both the girls went to my room and played there.

After some time, Fahim came over and tried to harass my daughter sexually.

My wife was sleeping at the time and woke up after hearing the scream. Fahim quickly fled the scene.”

He said he took her daughter to hospital for medical tests around 1:45am and was now waiting for reports. He also filed a case with Khilkhet police station.

Officer-in-Charge of the police station Md Nazrul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “Police held Fahim after the case was filed and produced him before court. The court sent him to the correctional centre in Gazipur today.” l

Dhaka-Ctg 4-lane project ‘not satisfactory’

Taslima Nasreen, a Bangladeshi writer in exile in India, slated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee “for allowing” sacked minister Latif Siddique to live in Kolkata.

Taslima on Wednesday tweeted that Mamata had banned her stay in West Bengal “to appease Islamist fanatics.”

She questioned if Mamata could slap a ban on her stay in West Bengal for her criticism on Islam, then why she allowed Latif Siddique to live in Kolkata even after he was widely criticised for his anti-Islamist comments.

Latif Siddique is now facing heat for his remarks on Hajj, Ijtema, Tabligh Jamaat and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy on September 28, during a programme in New York, USA. As a consequence, he was terminated from the cabinet. A number of cases have been filed with different police stations across the country following his comments.

He was also removed from the party’s presidium and served a show-cause notice. A Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against former minister Abdul Latif Siddique yesterday afternoon.

Poet, essayist and novelist Taslima Nasreen has been living in exile since 1994 after a fatwah, or Islamic edict, was issued calling for her death. l

parliamentary team has concluded.

A five-member delegation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Road Transport and Bridges Ministry, headed by its chairman Ekabbar Hossain, observed that at best 60% of the 192km road upgradation works had been finished as of September 13.

The parliamentary panel that visited the construction sites in September placed its findings yesterday at the meeting of the watchdog, also concluding that the project cost had gone up for extending the project duration twice.

“This (two time extensions) has led to the increase in the project cost. This has been causing economic burden on the people,”

reads the report which has been obtained by the Dhaka Tribune.

The standing committee accepted the report and referred it to the ministry for expediting the construction work and finishing the project “as soon as possible.”

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, also a member of the committee, attended the meeting but left the venue early because of other obligations. He, however, assured the watchdog that his ministry would do everything possible to finish the project early.

The minister had previously told the parliament that the project would end by December 2014.

Meanwhile, the report said the ministry should maintain close touch with the contractors and monitor the works extensively.

“Actions in line with the agreement could be taken against the contractors failing to act

according to the agreement,” it recommended, adding that completion of the project would allow people to travel between Dhaka and Chittagong without traffic jam.

In 2006, the BNP-led government initiated the project to make the two-lane Dhaka-Chittagong highway – the lifeline of Bangladesh’s export-import activities – into four-lane, as increased traffic movement caused huge tailbacks that led to people’s sufferings.

The construction work for upgrading the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, on which at least 80% trade activities depend, started in 2010.

At the outset, the project cost was fixed at Tk2,382 crore; but two time extensions increased the cost to Tk3,190 crore.

Change of consultants, intervention of the local ruling party leaders in the land filling works, removal of tombs, mosques, temples and educational institutions were some of the reasons behind the delays. l

Police-mugger ‘gunfight’ injures 3 in Mirpur n Ashif Islam Shaon

At least three people sustained bullet wounds in a “gunfight” between police and a group of alleged muggers yesterday morning on the Zillur Rahman Flyover in Mirpur, police said.

One of the victims Rubel Hossain Khorshed, 23, a resident of the capital’s Abdullahpur area, is a member of mugging gang, police claimed. Another victim, Aminul Islam, is a trader in Uttara and was a bystander when the shootout took place. The third victim is Assis-

tant Sub-Inspector Shafiqul Islam of Cantonment police station.

A pistol and two rounds of bullets were recovered from the scene.

Recounting the incident Sub-Inspector Benzir Ahmed said a patrol team, which both Benzir and Shafiqul were part of, was on duty at the check post on the flyover.

“Around 6am, we signalled Aminul’s motorbike to stop. We were checking his bag when we noticed a CNG-run autorickshaw speeding towards Mirpur on the flyover. So,

we signalled that vehicle to stop as well.

“As the autorickshaw stopped, two young men got out and started arguing with us. Soon after, Rubel and one other man came out of the autorickshaw and opened fire on us.

“One of the bullets hit Shafiqul in his right hand. Aminul also got hit. Then the four culprits tried to get inside the autorickshaw to flee, which is when we retaliated.

“While trying to escape, Rubel got shot in his left hand and failed get on the vehicle. The other three managed to flee,” he added. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

B3 Planner: China can meet 2014 economic growth target

B4 The mutual fund that

reads like a cheat sheet for activists

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Rupali Bank capital BSEC to tweak over-the-counter rules Plans accommodating well performing junk stocks in the main market at stake for lending n beyond capacity Kayes Sohel

n Jebun Nesa Alo Rupali Bank runs a capital risk through providing credit beyond its absorbing capacity, according to a Bangladesh Bank report.

The bank has already been suffering from capital shortfall of about Tk217 crore as in June this year from its surplus capital of about Tk20 crore in December last.

Orion Power khulna owed Tk1,706 crore to Rupali Bank which was 70% more than the bank’s capital of Tk1,008 crore at the end of June this year. The capital of the bank will become negative if Orion Power crashes at any reason.

The client was very risky for the lender, but the central bank executives have been asked to treat the case as risk-free since there is no certain loan limit specified for financing the power sector, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

“They have been provided with the loan considering their business performance,” Rupali Bank Managing Director Farid Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the central bank report, the loan status of Orion Power Khulna, a client of local office in Dhaka of Rupali Bank, was Tk916.62 crore against the approved loan limit of Tk1060.42 crore as of June this year.

The loan status was already beyond the single borrower exposure limit of Tk151.18 crore.

The company owed an excess loan of Tk765.44 crore to the Rupali Bank while the central bank loan department did not provide any NOC for the Rupali Bank.

Besides, the client further proposed for a loan of Tk945.87 crore to the bank and the board of directors of Rupali

Bank approved the loan proposal at its 944th meeting.

As a result the total loan status against the client stood at Tk1,862.49 crore which is Tk1,711.31 crore more than the limit.

Of the total loan, the funded amount was Tk1,705.17 crore.

According to section 26 (kha) of the amended bank company act 2013, all kinds of loan facilities given to an individual or any group will not exceed 25% of the bank’s capital.

The highest loan limit for the Orion Power was Tk252 crore in accordance with the rule.

But the company has been allowed to hold an excess loan of Tk1,453 crore from the certain limit which is a violation of the law.

The report said it was not clear to the central bank authorities why Rupali Bank issued the big chunk of loans without going through a formal syndication process.

The Rupali Bank board approved loan to nine more institutions, violating the single borrower exposure limit from January to June this year.

Bangladesh Bank has found huge irregularities in loan approval process of the bank board and marked the bank as more risky in its report.

The classified loan ratio of the bank, however, dropped to 15.60% in June this year from 17.48% in December last year due to regularisation of huge classified loan through rescheduling process.

Among the state-owned banks, Rupali Bank rescheduled the highest amount of loan of Tk3,137 crore from December last year to June this year through taking advantages of relaxed policy given by the Bangladesh Bank. l

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) is set to bring some changes in existing regulations to accommodate junk stocks in the main board from OTC market.

The commission considered taking back the companies in the main market due to their improving corporate performances.

It has recently been noticed that there were tendency about coming back of non-performing companies listed with the OTC (over-the-counter) market to the main market, according to the minutes of the commission meeting held on Tuesday.

In this perspective, the commission has decided to scrutinise the applications filed by such companies for listing with the main market, aiming at protecting the investors’ interest, it said.

To formulate a guideline, a three-member panel headed by its executive director Anowarul Islam has been formed. The regulator has asked the committee to submit a report to the commission by November 15.

The BSEC’s move comes five months after Wata Chemicals received Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) nod for re-listing in the main market as the company became regular in holding annual general meetings (AGMs) and paying dividends to shareholders.

The OTC market is a separate platform for the companies not in operation, holding AGMs, declared dividends or converted their paper shares into electronic ones.

Listed with the stock market in 1992, Wata Chemicals started holding AGMs regularly and paying out dividends to shareholders a year after it was de-listed from the main market. The company disbursed 30% stock dividends in 2013, 20% stock dividends in 2012, 12% cash dividends in 2011 and 10% cash dividends in 2010.

OTC market is a separate platform for the companies not in operation, holding AGMs, declared dividends or converted their paper shares into electronic ones On its debut day in the main market after re-listing, its share price had skyrocketed by more than eight times to Tk487 a share.

Ex-BSEC chairman Faruk Ahmed Siddiqi lauded the commission’s move

saying the new guideline might prevent repetition of Wata Chemicals that rose irrationally in its first trading day after re-listing.

He noted that there was a tendency of manipulation centering a company that was transferred to the OTC market from the main market. “New norms should focus on curbing manipulation.”

Presently, 66 companies are listed with the OTC market. Under the OTC system, interested buyers and sellers announce prices and the number of shares to be traded through their brokerage houses. Transaction takes place only when the offer price by buyers and sellers match.

In September 2009, the OTC market was introduced on the Dhaka Stock

Denim fabric offers huge investment opportunities

GP withdraws free Facebook browsing n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi after having 5cr Domestic denim fabric manufacturers lag far behind meeting the demand by clients the apparel manufacturers, offering immense investment opportunities. n Muhammad Zahidul Islam This vacuum has invited foreign Grameenphone has withdrawn its free Facebook browsing offer to its customers in the midst of celebration of five crore subscriber milestone.

The market leader on Tuesday put a single-colored low priority advertisement in the inner pages of only a few newspapers, informing subscribers about the suspension.

But at a recent ceremony, GP senior officials had been labelling the free offer as attractive one and their success.

The mobile phone operator gave the offer to all its customers from mid-September. The offer had been effective from midnight to morning every day on all devices, drawing popularity.

Chief Marketing Officer Allan Bonke disclosed this attractive offer on September 14 at a city hotel.

Now the withdrawal of offer yielded imposition of charges on facebook uses, with Tk9 for 9MB which will remain active only three days after activation. l

manufacturers to market their products in Bangladesh as reflected by the exhibitors from other countries at a denim show began in Dhaka yesterday.

Local manufacturers alleged that they could expand the denim manufacturing capacity for lack of infrastructure, technical expertise and insufficient fund.

According to the denim producers, the current local demand of denim fabric is over 800 yards, out of which, only 40% are met by the local manufacturers while rest of the 60% are being met through imports. The global demand for denim fabric is 6.5 billion yards.

A two-day denim expo, which began yesterday at Hotel Radisson Blue, reflected that the local markets has a huge demand for denim fabrics as a total of 19 manufacturers from India, Pakistan, Germany, China, Hong Kong and Brazil took part in expo to attract Bangladeshi buyers.

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

“We are unable to manufacture denim fabrics to meet the local demand due to lack of technical expertise and infrastructural facilities, insufficient utility services and insufficient funds,” Abdus Salam Murshedy, Managing Director of Envoy Textile and a denim producer, told the Dhaka Tribune.

To produce necessary denim fabrics, uninterrupted gas supply with enough pressures is a must, which the country is still lacking, said Salam.

He also noted that it cost at least Tk300 crore to establish a denim facto-

ry but the entrepreneurs don’t get any funds at low rate.

Under such a circumstance, joint venture investments in denim sector can help the country to be self-dependent in producing denim fabrics, he added.

“Bangladesh is still far away to meet its local demand of denims fabrics,” said S.M Masum, a senior marketing officer of Ha-Meem Denim.

Bangladesh is a growing market for denim fabrics and global retailers especially European Union are sourcing from here. As we also do business with

European and Asian countries, we are here to capture the denim market, said Eickel Mann, an executive of Vicunha Textil S.A, of Brazil.

“We don’t have enough infrastructural capacity to increase production to meet local demand, which is on rise,” Managing Director of Argon Denims Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez told the Dhaka Tribune.

While high establishment cost pushes the price of local fabrics up, it makes us less competitive to the importers, said Parvez, also former BGMEA present.

“It is not possible to meet the local demand over night,” said BGMEA president Atiqul Islam adding that when the country had started RMG business, the manufacturers had to import every things but now 90% of the items are locally met.

He also said, if the government can ensure gas supply, Bangladesh would soon be able to be self-reliant on producing denim fabrics.

In 2013, Bangladesh exported over 215 million pieces of denim apparel worth US$1.24 bn to the US and European market, according to Denimsandjeans.com. l

Oriental Bank clients being put on patience test again n Asif Showkat Kallol The clients of former Oriental Bank – now ICB Islamic Bank Limited – are unlikely to get back their deposit soon.

They would have to wait more as the authorities have initiated a move to extend the deadline by three and half years from the previous deadline that expires early next month.

The ICB Islamic Bank Limited is now dealing with legal complexity that prevents the authorities to repay the depositors under the Oriental Bank Reform Scheme 2007.

Bangladesh Bank in this regard sent a proposal to Bank and Financial Institutions Division yesterday seeking an extension of Oriental Bank Reform Scheme 2007.

BB in June 2006 dissolved the former Oriental Bank’s board of directors after detecting massive corruption.

The central bank took over the manage-

ment, appointing a BB executive director as administrator to safeguard the depositors of Oriental Bank.

The five-year reform scheme of Oriental Bank was supposed to be ended on November 3, 2014.

The central bank also failed to put an end to the banking crisis within the five-year time frame.

An official of the banking division said the decision of reform scheme extension will be taken after Finance Minister AMA Muhith and banking division secretary have come back from Bank-Fund meeting in Washington.

The ICB Islamic Bank Limited has a higher percentage of default loans till June 30.

As per the letter, the bank is now in liquidity crisis because of its huge frozen deposits and shares and is unable to sell the bank shares to other foreign and local investors due to cases yet to be dismissed although Fodial

International Investment Limited cases have already been dissolved.

As a result, ICB Islamic Bank Limited has yet to pay its clients deposits within the last five years, according to the letter.

The letter said the bank is likely to pay the clients that deposited Tk10 lakh in between 78 and 84 months, Tk1 crore between 114 and 120 months and above Tk1 crore after 120 months.

Earlier in February 2008, ICB Group made a share sale and purchase agreement with BB. Under the agreement the Oriental Bank Ltd acquired a 50.1% equity against a total of Tk350 crore. The acquisition completed in March 2008.

Of the remaining 49.9% share, general shareholders own 25% while different government organisations and financial institutions, including BB, Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and Power Development Board the rest. l

Exchange (DSE) to trade junk shares aiming at bringing transparency, enhancing efficiency and protecting the interest of the retail investors.

Before the OTC was introduced, the prices of many shares had increased abnormally, although they did not declare dividends and some could even not be traced physically by the exchange management.

But share trading of those companies was taking place, as many retail investors were unaware of the companies’ latest status.

In the last four years, 11 companies returned to the main trading floor after converting their physical shares into electronic shares or improving corporate performance. l

BSCCL approves 10% cash dividend n Tribune Report Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) has approved 10% cash dividend for its shareholders for the last fiscal year.

The state-owned company has approved the dividend in its sixth Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Hotel Ocean Paradise, Cox’sbazar, according to a press release issued by the company yesterday.

The meeting was attended, among others, by BSCCL directors Jalal Ahmed, Feroz Salah Uddin, Rabindranath Roy Chowdhury, Col Md Arefin Talukder, Md Mahbubul Alam Joarde, an independent director Nasir Uddin Ahmed and company secretary and managing director (additional charge) Md Abdus Salam with post and telecommunications division secretary and chairman of the company Faizur Rahman Chowdhury in the chair.

Good numbers of shareholders also attended the meeting. l

Peninsula Chittagong added to DSEX n Tribune Report The Peninsula Chittagong Ltd has been added to the DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange with effect from Sunday next.

With the inclusion, total number of companies in the index stood at 229, which represents 97% of the total equity market capitalisation.

In accordance with the DSE Bangladesh Index Methodology, designed and developed by S&P Dow Jones Indices’ Interim IPO additions to the broad index and thorough supervision

by Index Committee of DSE, Peninsula Chittagong Ltd has qualified as eligible constituent for inclusion in DSEX with effect October 19, 2014, said DSE in a statement yesterday.

The criteria for inclusion in DSEX, a company must have a float-adjusted market capitalisation above Tk10 crore.

Additionally, if a current index constituent falls below the Tk10 crore threshold, but is no less than Tk7 crore, the stock remains in the index provided it also meets the other inclusion criteria. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks rebound after two days of losses

DSE key features October 15, 2014

Traded Issues

303

n Tribune Report

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

175

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

122

last day of market correction could not dampen the spirit of investors nor was it any sign of weakness Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, gained 24 points to 9,959.

Trading activities somewhat slowed down as DSE turnover stood at Tk980 crore, a decline of over 11% over the previous session’s value.

Banking and telecommunication stocks regained a bit with a rally of over 1% and 1.6% respectively. Textile stocks dropped on profit booking.

Better earnings in some mutual funds prompted investors to take

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B Northern G Insur-A GSP Finance-A Argon Denims Limited-A Takaful Islami Insu-A First Lease- A People`s Leasing-A PragatiLife Insu. -Z Intl. Leasing-B Meghna Life Ins. -A

-7.18 -5.07 -4.94 -4.14 -3.66 -3.60 -3.55 -3.52 -3.45 -3.27

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

Prime Islami Life -A LR Global BD MF1-A Standard Insurance-A BD Fixed Income MF-A GSP Finance-A Intl. Leasing-B Islamic Finance-A Wata Chemicals -A Rangpur Foundry -A FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B

-9.06 -8.82 -7.35 -5.71 -5.62 -5.03 -4.85 -4.81 -4.72 -4.44

5315.11726

(+) 0.43%

2002.08524

(+) 0.44%

16390.12030

(+) 0.21%

13502.04970

(+) 0.85%

9959.72210

(+) 0.24%

Average (% Change) -4.18 -3.80 -4.72 -4.47 -0.64 -4.25 -4.33 -3.58 -0.99 -2.74 Average (% Change) -9.00 -8.82 -1.93 -5.71 -3.39 -2.83 -2.60 -4.99 -4.73 -3.68

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 17.18 36.19 25.64 44.29 32.36 24.56 27.65 101.41 17.06 104.82

ClosingAvg. 83.32 6.20 29.00 6.60 25.91 17.14 22.09 225.18 107.00 17.26

Closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 872.61 719.30 207.69 945.11 675.08 1920.15 5.08 690.94 1434.16 43.75 129.23 81.42 184.52 427.71 85.89 147.07 383.78 382.77 80.72 333.85 1.68

DHIGH 18.30 36.90 26.40 45.00 32.90 26.00 29.00 101.70 17.60 110.00

DHIGH

83.30 6.20 29.00 6.60 25.20 17.00 21.60 225.60 107.00 17.20

9,752.53 222,271,928

86.00 6.20 29.00 6.60 27.20 17.60 22.70 225.60 108.00 17.30

174,534

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,795.85

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

33.89

CSE key features October 15, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

605.38

Turnover (Volume)

17,865,015

Number of Contract

21,336

Traded Issues

237

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

123

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

112

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,700.86

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.74

Turnover in Million

DLOW 16.50 35.40 24.00 41.70 30.00 22.50 25.40 101.20 16.50 100.00

Latest EPS

2.687 4.994 13.455 64.413 5.686 23.423 139.332 0.862 33.897 26.398

0.52 4.14 1.56 3.86 1.50 1.38 0.82 2.38 -0.78 6.45

Turnover in Million

DLOW 83.00 6.20 29.00 6.60 25.10 16.80 21.20 225.00 106.00 17.20

% change 8.95 7.38 2.13 9.69 6.92 19.69 0.05 7.08 14.71 1.33 0.83 1.89 4.39 0.88 1.51 3.94 3.92 0.83 3.42 0.02

Million Taka 64.37 30.59 14.29 71.80 30.29 78.10 72.79 80.02 8.71 13.59 6.78 19.72 28.57 9.74 5.64 13.98 21.95 11.96 37.64 0.01

CSE

% change 10.37 4.93 2.30 11.57 4.88 12.59 0.00 11.73 12.90 1.40 2.19 1.09 3.18 4.60 1.57 0.91 2.25 3.54 1.93 6.07 0.00

Latest EPS

0.333 0.078 0.087 0.003 0.896 4.088 3.435 0.270 0.107 0.285

Million Taka 936.99 749.90 221.98 1016.91 705.36 1998.25 5.08 763.73 1514.18 52.47 142.83 88.20 204.24 456.28 95.63 152.72 397.77 404.72 92.67 371.49 1.68

ISN Ltd. -Z Bangladesh Welding -Z United Insur -A Meghna PET Ind. -Z 7th ICB M F-A Zeal Bangla Sugar -Z EBL NRB M.F.-A Trust Bank 1st MF-A IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A Grameen1:Scheme2 -A

Closing (% Change) 9.26 8.89 8.45 7.41 7.30 7.25 7.14 6.67 6.67 6.34

CSE GAINER

4.95 0.64 3.00 0.81 1.56 -0.78 1.50 6.20 3.20 0.52

Latest PE 33.0 8.7 16.4 11.5 21.6 17.8 33.7 42.6 -ve 16.3

Total

Company Central Insur -A Bangladesh Welding -Z ISN Ltd. -Z Imam Button -Z Grameen1:Scheme2 -A IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A Monno Ceramic -B Prime Insur -A Asia Pasific Insu. -A Rangpur Dairy-N

Closing (% Change) 9.78 9.49 9.01 8.11 7.14 6.67 6.42 6.28 6.25 6.22

Average (% Change) 8.55 13.97 5.26 8.27 7.30 2.32 4.94 4.17 6.31 Average (% Change) 9.78 10.72 9.63 8.55 6.74 8.46 5.98 4.66 6.25 5.72

ClosingAvg.

Closing

11.68 14.77 38.62 5.89 95.50 7.14 7.50 6.37 6.24 15.00

ClosingAvg.

11.80 14.70 39.80 5.80 95.50 7.40 7.50 6.40 6.40 15.10

Closing

30.30 14.97 12.07 8.00 14.88 6.41 31.37 23.34 25.50 23.67

30.30 15.00 12.10 8.00 15.00 6.40 31.50 23.70 25.50 23.90

DHIGH 11.80 14.80 40.00 5.90 95.50 7.50 7.50 6.50 6.50 15.30

DHIGH 30.30 15.00 12.20 8.00 15.20 6.60 32.00 24.00 25.50 24.40

DLOW 10.00 12.50 34.00 5.50 95.50 7.00 7.50 5.70 6.00 12.80

DLOW 30.30 14.50 11.80 8.00 14.40 6.10 29.80 23.00 25.50 22.70

Turnover in Million 1.109 10.030 1.003 0.103 0.048 0.010 0.004 13.965 8.371 47.729

Turnover in Million 0.303 1.325 0.236 0.008 5.719 0.144 0.198 0.162 0.038 10.554

Latest EPS 0.20 0.34 2.84 -1.33 12.01 -30.63 0.85 0.91 1.07 1.54

Latest EPS 3.14 0.34 0.20 -1.85 1.54 1.07 0.28 1.28 2.26 1.16

Latest PE 58.4 43.4 13.6 -ve 8.0 -ve 8.8 7.0 5.8 9.7

Latest PE 9.6 44.0 60.4 -ve 9.7 6.0 112.0 18.2 11.3 20.4

News, analysis and recent disclosers From TradeServers: OLYMPIC: With reference to the Company's earlier news (news disseminated by DSE on July 08, 2013) the company has further informed that it has completed its installation of machineries for its 2 new Biscuit Lines (Line-6 and Line-7). The Company has further informed that the production of aforesaid 2 new Biscuit Lines will start from October 15, 2014 when its production capacity will increase from 5,000 tons to 7,500 tons per month and will be able to produce and sell many newer types of international quality biscuits.

NCCBLMF1: (Q3): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 3rd quarter ended on 30th September 2014 (July'14 to Sep'14), the fund has reported net profit/(loss) of Tk. 9.68 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.09 as against Tk. (0.86) million and Tk. (0.008) (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas net profit was Tk. 34.48 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.32 for the period of nine months ended on 30th September 2014 (Jan'14 to Sep'14) as against Tk. 70.24 million and Tk. 0.65 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year.

GREENDELMF: (Q1): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 1st quarter ended on 30th September 2014 (July'14 to

Sep'14), the fund has reported net profit/ (loss) of Tk. 27.12 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.18 as against Tk. (10.23) million and Tk. (0.07) respectively for the same period of the previous year.

DBH1STMF: (Q1): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 1st quarter ended on 30th September 2014 (July'14 to Sep'14), the fund has reported net profit of Tk. 16.56 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.14 as against Tk. 2.32 million and Tk. 0.02 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

IPO Subscription: Hamid Fabrics Limited subscription date 28 September to 02 October 2014, NRB upto 11 October 2014. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 100. National Feed Mill Limited subscription date 26 -30 October 2014, NRB upto 08 November 2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500.

Right Share: MIDASFIN: Subscription period for rights issue will be from 01.09.2014 to 30.09.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 03.08.2014.

ICB: Subscription period for rights issue will be from 07.12.2014 to 30.12.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 09.09.2014.

BIFC: subscription period for rights issue of the Company will be from 09.11.2014 to

30.11.2014. Record Date for entitlement of rights share: 19.10.2014.

Dividend/AGM/DESCO: 5% cash & 10% stock, Record Date: 13.11.2014.

APOLOISPAT: 15% stock, Date of AGM: 21.12.2014, Record Date: 21.10.2014.

QSMDRYCELL: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 27.11.2014, Record Date: 20.10.2014.

PENINSULA: 10% cash, AGM: 13.11.2014, Record Date: 15.10.2014.

FAREASTLIF: 40% cash, AGM: 03.11.2014, Record date: 16.10.2014.

UNITEDAIR: 10% stock, Record date: 20.10.2014.

EHL: 15% cash & 5% stock, AGM: 30.10.2014, Record Date: 02.10.2014.

BANGAS: 50% stock, AGM: 21.10.2014, Record date: 30.09.2014.

BDBUILDING: 5% cash & 20% stock, AGM: 23.10.2014, Record date: 30.09.2014.

MATINSPINN: 25% cash, AGM: 30.10.2014, Record date: 02.10.2014.

CENTRALPHL: 5% cash and 15% stock, AGM & EGM: 23.10.2014, Record date for AGM & EGM: 29.09.2014.

DBH: 25% cash, AGM: 25.11.2014, Record date: 25.09.2014.

DESHBANDHU: 10% stock, EGM & AGM: 19.10.2014, Record date for AGM & EGM: 21.09.2014.

Latest PE 16.8 9.7 9.7 8.1 16.6 -ve 14.7 36.3 33.4 33.2

Market ended in the green zone with DSEX hitting 5,360-level intraday supported by pharma, fuel and telco stocks in the morning trading

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

16.80 35.60 25.00 44.00 31.60 24.10 27.20 101.40 16.80 103.40

Closing

Company

Number of Contract

position and assisted most of the mutual funds to close in green zone, with six of them attaining positions in top ten gainers’ list.

Lanka Bangla Securities said market ended in the green zone with DSEX hitting 5,360-level intraday supported by pharma, fuel and telco stocks in the morning trading.

However, sell-offs in last hour retracted some of the positive vibe in index, it said.

“Monthly inflation news seemed to be decisive for the market as investors embraced the falling inflation rate on back of good rice production and low interest and exchange rates account for the slide.”

IDLC Investments said having optimistic support of large cap, the market reversed last two sessions’ correction mood.

Meanwhile, investors started re-balancing portfolio ahead of upcoming Q3 earnings disclosures, it said.

Zenith Investments said last day of market correction could not dampen the spirit of investors nor was it any sign of weakness.

It said although profit taking was witnessed in some major sectors and stocks, the overall market kept itself from falling off the cliff with all the three indices pointing upwards only.

Mobil Jamuna Limited topped the liquidity chart accumulating Tk55 crore, followed by Square Pharmaceuticals, Titas Gas, Grameenphone, Delta Life Insurance, Beximco Ltd and Heidelberg Cement. l

Stocks rebounded yesterday, driven by large cap issues after two days of losses due to profit booking.

After shedding 42 points in the previous two sessions, the benchmark DSEX rose 22 points or 0.5% to close at 5,315.

The Shariah index DSES was marginally up over 8 points or 0.7% to 1,248. The comprising blue chips DS30 edged almost 9 points or 0.5% higher to end at 2,002.

DSE GAINER

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Thursday, October 16, 2014

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

% change 9.03 7.23 2.14 9.80 6.80 19.26 0.05 7.36 14.60 0.51 1.38 0.85 1.97 4.40 0.92 1.47 3.83 3.90 0.89 3.58 0.02

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

MJL BD Ltd.-A Square Pharma -A Titas Gas TDCLA Grameenphone-A Delta Life Insu. -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A HeidelbergCement -A Olympic Ind. -A Khulna Power-A Beximco Pharma -A

IDLC Finance -A Summit Power -A RAK Ceramics-A People`s Leasing-A ACI Limited- A

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Square Pharma -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A MJL BD Ltd.-A RAK Ceramics-A LafargeS Cement-Z National Bank - A Ratanpur Steel -N Jamuna Oil -A Grameenphone-A

Delta Life Insu. -A Shurwid Ind. -N Rangpur Dairy-N UNITED AIR-A Khulna Power-A

VolumeShares 3,478,573 1,721,768 3,788,842 792,632 1,376,315 5,261,596 395,240 761,032 2,982,298 2,648,345

Value in Million 551.92 491.59 354.34 300.16 284.94 231.02 217.06 195.11 189.02 184.10

% of TotalTurnover 5.66 5.04 3.63 3.08 2.92 2.37 2.23 2.00 1.94 1.89

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

2,273,038 3,829,890 2,077,043 5,039,697 268,515

105,210 656,357 776,000 114,294 252,815 123,000 1,118,019 177,800 52,208 33,400

55,199 272,000 445,940 905,301 150,143

173.08 171.14 139.98 139.33 133.84

30.02 28.87 20.40 18.00 17.01 16.89 14.49 14.31 12.92 12.64

11.42 11.30 10.55 10.00 9.52

1.77 1.75 1.44 1.43 1.37

4.97 4.78 3.38 2.98 2.82 2.80 2.40 2.37 2.14 2.09

1.89 1.87 1.75 1.66 1.58

ClosingP 154.00 284.80 93.80 379.10 205.80 43.30 551.10 253.90 62.30 68.70

76.30 44.20 66.30 27.20 483.00

ClosingP

284.80 43.40 26.10 154.20 66.30 137.20 12.90 77.00 247.70 380.10

205.20 40.50 23.90 11.10 62.50

Change % -2.90 1.90 2.29 1.74 2.39 -2.70 2.24 2.38 -1.11 -2.00

2.83 -1.12 1.38 -3.55 -1.17

Change %

1.93 -2.91 -2.97 -2.22 1.07 -0.29 0.78 -2.90 -0.08 1.47

1.94 4.11 6.22 0.91 -0.95

ClosingY 158.60 279.50 91.70 372.60 201.00 44.50 539.00 248.00 63.00 70.10

74.20 44.70 65.40 28.20 488.70

ClosingY

279.40 44.70 26.90 157.70 65.60 137.60 12.80 79.30 247.90 374.60

201.30 38.90 22.50 11.00 63.10

DHIGH 162.30 295.00 95.00 383.90 210.00 46.00 558.00 260.00 64.90 71.00

77.40 45.20 70.00 29.00 508.50

DLOW 143.00 255.10 82.60 356.00 185.00 40.10 530.00 230.00 56.70 63.10

68.00 40.30 59.00 25.40 451.50

DHIGH

DLOW

287.30 45.10 27.00 162.50 69.10 138.50 13.20 81.50 249.00 383.00

280.00 43.20 25.90 153.40 65.50 136.70 12.70 76.90 244.20 374.00

208.90 42.60 24.40 11.20 64.90

200.00 39.60 22.70 11.00 62.20

AvgPrice 158.66 285.51 93.52 378.69 207.03 43.91 549.18 256.37 63.38 69.51

76.14 44.68 67.39 27.65 498.45

AvgPrice

285.33 43.99 26.28 157.49 67.27 137.32 12.96 80.49 247.46 378.42

206.88 41.53 23.67 11.05 63.38

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Planner: China can meet 2014 economic growth target n Reuters, Beijing China’s investment growth should pick up in the coming months as authorities hasten construction of water conservancy and other infrastructure projects to support growth, a senior official at the country’s powerful economic planner said on Tuesday.

Quickening investment in projects such as refurbishing shanty towns and building rail networks and water facilities should boost the broader economy, said Li Pumin, general secretary of the National Development and Reform Commision (NDRC).

Li said he was confident that China can achieve its full-year economic growth target of around 7.5%, though many private economists think that goal is in doubt unless the government rolls out more measures to stimulate activity and offset the drag from a cooling property market.

“Economic growth will remain within a reasonable range in the fourth quarter and we are confident of achieving the full-year economic growth target,” Li told a news conference.

Fixed-asset investment, a crucial driver of the world’s second-biggest economy that contributed to half of last year’s growth, has sagged this year as a cooling manufacturing sector and the softening housing market discouraged spending.

Analysts expect China’s investment growth to hit a near 13-year low of 16.3% between January and September. The latest investment data will be released along with September industrial output and retail sales readings and third-quarter gross domestic product on Oct 21.

Annual economic growth likely slowed to 7.3% in the third quarter - the weakest pace in more than five years as the property downturn weighed on demand for everything from glass to cement and steel, a Reuters poll showed.

“We expect the pace of slowdown in

Wal-Mart to offer digital movie access to customers

n Reuters

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is launching a new service for customers to access digital copies of movies they buy at its stores and website across all platforms.

The world’s largest retailer, along with VUDU, rolled out a beta version of the service, InstaWatch, in collaboration with seven movie studios. These include DreamWorks Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

About 800 movies available at Walmart stores and 1,100 on walmart. com will be a part of the program at the launch, the company said.

InstaWatch, which can be accessed via the Wal-Mart app, will enable a user to watch digital copy of a purchased movie on VUDU. Wal-Mart acquired digital entertainment service VUDU in 2010. l

Labourers work on a construction site in Guangzhou, Guangdong province investment to ease in coming months, as policy gradually produces results,” Li told reporters at a briefing.

China will launch 172 key water conservancy projects in the coming years, officials at the briefing said.

They said work on some projects worth around 600bn yuan ($98bn) was already under way, but did not give a total investment figure for all 172 projects.

Most new projects were still in the preparatory stage that involved environmental impact assessment and studies on how to resettle people that could be affected, officials said.

The government hopes to attract private investors into some water projects, allowing them to participate via

equity investment or build-operatetransfer (BOT) arrangements, they said.

The announcement had little effect on the shares of most major listed water companies, but Jiangxi Sanchuan Water Meter Co Ltd surged 10%, providing the biggest lift to the small-cap ChiNext growth board in Shenzhen.

“The NDRC conference will not have too much impact on the market, as it is not a brand new policy,” said Xiao Shijun, an analyst at Guodu Securities in Beijing.

“The State Council has said this before, and it has been a strategy to shore up the sloppy economy since earlier this year.”

The remarks came after Premier Li Keqiang recently promised to launch

B3

Thursday, October 16, 2014

REUTERS

major investment projects in information networks, water conservancy and environmental protection to support the economy.

Beijing has encouraged local governments to fast-track spending on projects this year along with a host of other stimulus measures aimed at more vulnerable sectors of the economy, such as lowering mortgage rates for some home buyers in late September.

China’s central bank moved again on Tuesday as part of its ongoing efforts to keep market interest rates relatively low to encourage more borrowing. The People’s Bank of China lowered the yield at its bond repurchase agreement auctions for the second time since July. l

Frankfurt exchange’s China dream turns to nightmare n Reuters When Deutsche Boerse set off eight years ago to lure Chinese companies to Germany with fast listings and low fees, it dreamed of one day landing a giant like Alibaba.

But as the New York Stock Exchange basks in the $22bn debut of the Chinese e-commerce company, the German exchange operator is licking its wounds after a raft of scandals involving Chinese firms listed in Frankfurt.

Investors are wondering how to seek redress and what can be done to prevent it happening again.

In the latest and most bizarre case, Ultrasonic, a small Chinese shoemaker listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, announced last week that Wu Qingyong, the company’s chief executive, and his son had disappeared, along with $60m from the company’s bank account.

Late on Sunday Wu resurfaced, saying in a video interview shown by Chinese news outlet Sina that he had simply been on holiday with his grandson and had lost his mobile phone. On Monday, Ultrasonic said Wu had contacted the group’s finance chief to say he would return to the company, along with the money.

Ultrasonic’s shares more than doubled to around 2.3 euros in Frankfurt on Monday, but were still more than 60% down from where they began last week.

It was the third time that shares in a Chinese firm listed in Germany have collapsed amid accusations of wrongdoing.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange says it has rigorous listing standards to protect investors from fraud, but the scandals suggest that in the drive to win Chinese listings in the face of tough competition from New York and London, officials in Frankfurt may not have fully appreciated the risks.

Maserati

With little hope of any compensation from China, a member of German private investor lobby SdK has suggested investors should consider taking auditors and underwriting banks to court.

The company’s auditors declined to comment and Frankfurt-based brokerage BankM, lead manager in all three listings, or IPOs, said there was no way it could have known.

“This is a total catastrophe,” said Thomas Stewens, head of corporate strategy and communications for BankM, which staked its reputation in part on the Chinese listings. “It’s unimaginable how this could come to pass.”

There were few signs that anything at Ultrasonic was amiss, Stewens told Reuters. “We were in China regularly, certainly 20 times over the past few years, and we regularly checked production on site,” he said.

Qingyong Wu, the chief executive, seemed to live entirely for his company. His son, chief operating officer Minghong Wu, was also part of the family operation. “Then the son bought himself a Maserati. We had to ask: “Is that really necessary?” But we had no way of knowing that there was an outbreak of megalomania,” Stewens said.

Japanese bank Nomura’s decision to give the company a $60 million unsecured credit facility also indicates that nothing seemed to be amiss. People involved in the loan talks said the bank did exhaustive background checks.

Questions

The scandals have brought pressure for change in a corporate governance system designed to claw back funds from wrongdoers based in Germany rather than overseas.

Prosecutors in Cologne, Germany, where Ultrasonic has its legal headquarters, said they had not yet been contacted by the company about launching a criminal investigation. l

Oil prices see small rebound in Asia

Tamer food prices send inflation to multi-year low

n AFP, Singapore

n Reuters, New Delhi

Oil staged a minor rebound on bargainbuying in Asian trade yesterday following sharp falls that have seen prices hit multi-year lows owing to a supply glut and weak global demand, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery climbed 20 cents to $82.04 a barrel in afternoon trade and Brent crude for November added 31 cents to $85.35.

WTI is still languishing at two-year lows after plummeting 4.5% in New York on Tuesday as the International Energy Agency slashed its oil demand forecast in light of slowing economic growth in Asia and Europe. Brent on Tuesday tumbled 4.3% to levels not seen since 2010.

The International Energy Agency said it expects demand to rise by just 700,000 barrels per day to 92.4 million barrels per day this year, 200,000 fewer

than its previous growth forecast.

Market-watchers have blamed the slump in demand on weak growth in China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, and the eurozone, which some analysts have warned is flirting with recession.

Adding to the pain is an oversupply of the black gold caused by strong US production of shale gas and a return of Libyan oil on to the market after facilities that were closed due to civil unrest resumed operations. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are also maintaining output levels, while slashing prices to gain market share, analysts said.

“At some point, dwindling oil prices should be a positive for businesses but global headwinds, which include an Ebola outbreak and signs of slowing growth in China and Europe, have the upper hand for now,” said Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore. l

A smaller-than-expected surge in India’s food prices sent inflation to a multi-year low, data showed on Tuesday, giving a boost to the new government that has promised to pull the economy out of its malaise.

Food prices have been at the core of India’s struggle in the past two years to beat low growth and high inflation, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi scored the biggest electoral mandate for 30 years in May on an economic reform ticket.

Tuesday’s figures showed that lower vegetable prices helped bring down wholesale food inflation to a near threeyear low of 3.52% in September, and fuel inflation hit a near five-year low of 1.33% on falling global crude prices.

The wholesale price index rose an annual 2.38% last month, its slowest since October 2009, compared with

BASIC Bank Training Institute recently concludes 22nd Foundation Course for assistant officers and officers of head office and branches. The institute’s Principal M Kamran Hamid was present as chief guest on the occasion

the 3.3% forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. Benchmark 10-year bond yields hit a 13-month peak as bond traders priced in more aggressive monetary easing next year.

On Monday, consumer price inflation, which the central bank tracks to set policy lending rates, dropped sharply to 6.46% in September, the lowest since the latest data series started in January 2012.

“It is heartening to note that we have been able to bring food inflation under control,” finance minister, Arun Jaitley, said in a statement. “We are confident that soon we will be achieving a low and stable inflation rate.”

But economists say Modi’s adminstration has yet to lay out a credible inflation strategy, beyond short-term improvisation, and India still urgently needs to fix a supply chain controlled by middlemen and boost farm produc-

tivity to prevent recurring food price shocks.

Risk factors

As well as a prospective pick-up in domestic consumption stoking price pressures, patchy monsoon rains and floods in parts of India this year are likely to keep food inflation high.

Economists say the real picture of inflation will emerge only after November when a favourable base effect fades out and the impact of a sub-normal monsoon rains on summer-sown crops are more visible.

“We will see the lowest reading for inflation in November due to the statistical base effect,” Bank of Baroda chief economist, Rupa Rege Nitsure, said.

“So it needs to be seen post-December how inflation pans out as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants inflation to come down on durable basis.” l

Dove, a personal care brand of Unilever, runs a Self Esteem project that promotes that Beauty should be a source of confidence, not anxiety. It has already reached 13 million young people and is committed to reaching 15 million globally with the Self Esteem Project by the end of 2015

ACME Laboratories Ltd holds ‘The Road Show for Security Price Discovery’ in Dhaka recently. The company chairman Afzal-Ul-Rahman Sinha and managing director Mizanur Rahman Sinha, among others, were present. The ACME wants to issue 5 crore ordinary shares in the stock market through IPO under book building method

Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources ALM Abdur Rahman speaks at a workshop on ‘Innovations for More Food with Less Water’ held at BRAC Centre Inn in Dhaka recently

United Commercial Bank Limited has won the best emerging markets bank award 2014.

The bank’s managing director Muhammed Ali received award recently

Standard Bank Limited recently signed an agreement with DHL Express to provide international express delivery to the bank and its customers. The ceremony was held at the bank’s board room. The bank’s DMD Mamun-ur Rashid and DHL country manager Desmond Quiah inked the deal on behalf of their respective organisations. SBL’s MD and CEO Md Nazmus Salehin was present during the signing

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

The mutual fund that reads like a cheat sheet for activists n Reuters

For over seven years, fund managing partners Bob Olstein and Eric Heyman have had the good fortune of investing in a number of companies that were later bought out or became targets of big-name shareholder activists.

This year alone, their Olstein Strategic Opportunities Fund has seen two of its holdings targeted by activists and another six the object of announced acquisitions. That’s a significant showing for a fund with a smallish $116m portfolio.

Those kind of market events generally drive big gains in a stock’s price, and the fund’s ability to be there first has rewarded shareholders. Over three years its returns have been double those of the average activist hedge fund, making its portfolio one for bargain hunters to watch.

Heyman and Olstein, who ran his own stock research service in the 1960s, have a simple explanation for their success: it’s all about the balance sheet.

“A lot of people look at these businesses and treat them as stocks,” Heyman said in an interview. “We look at it as if we are a private equity company and we are buying the business.”

Over the five years ended Sept 30, outside activists like Jana Partners, Relational Investors and Nelson Peltz of Trian Partners have invested in nine of the companies that are among Olstein’s portfolio holdings; none would comment for this story.

“We think there are some pretty smart people monitoring our portfolio,” the 73-year-old Olstein told Reuters.

Heyman and Olstein look for smallcap companies that have stumbled but offer solid management, turnaround prospects and the ability to produce free cash flow.

Those metrics have brought them to companies like CareFusion, a top holding of the fund that recently agreed to be acquired by Becton Dickinson & Co in a deal that valued the company at a 26% premium to its last closing share price. In July, when hedge fund Jana

A bank employee counts U.S. hundred dollar bills at Kasikornbank in Bangkok Partners announced its activist stake in PetSmart Inc, the Olstein fund was already sitting on 69,000 shares, according to Lipper.

The fund also holds nutritional supplement retailer Vitamin Shoppe, which is the subject of shareholder and activist calls for a sale..

An avenue for individual investors

As of Sept 30, the Olstein fund had a three-year annualized return of 26.48%, while the Activist Hedge Fund Index had an annualized return of 13.16%.

“For individual investors who cannot afford to invest with the hedge fund activists, this is a way to own shares of the companies many are targeting,” said Todd Rosenbluth, director of mutual fund research at S&P Capital IQ. The Olstein fund is expensive, with management fees of 1.60%, and certain

share classes carry sales charges. It is, however, cheaper than activist hedge funds, which tend to charge management fees around 1.75% plus incentive fees.

The fund has not escaped this year’s stock market selloff. It is down 2.24% through Oct 10, compared with the 7.44% average decline for Lipper’s category of small cap core funds.

There is one consumer fund that is solely focused on activists’ targets, the 13D Activist Fund, but it buys companies after they have been targeted. The fund returned 0.71% this year through Oct 10.

But for Olstein and Heyman, value is not defined by activists’ interests.

They still hold audio equipment maker Harman International Industries, five years after buying the stock and two years after it was targeted by Relational Investors.

REUTERS

Similarly, Heyman and Olstein are sticking with all-terrain vehicle maker Arctic Cat, which recently fired its chief executive officer. At roughly $32 a share, the stock is down 44% this year but Heyman and Olstein believe the company could become a $45 stock with a new CEO. Olstein’s process does not always work. In 2011, the fund was down 7.6%, compared with an average decline of 3.4% for small-cap core funds, according to Lipper.

Olstein and Heyman themselves have behaved like activists in only a handful of situations, usually behind the scenes, and said they never engage with hedge fund activists.

“I have no desire to be the next Carl Icahn,” Olstein said. “Carl knows how to take over companies, I know how to value them.” l

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Facebook challenging Google in online ad market n AFP For years, Google has been the undisputed leader in online advertising, but Facebook is gaining quickly in the fastevolving market.

Google is still collecting about a third of the $140bn Internet ad market in 2014, but Facebook’s share has doubled over the past two years to nearly eight percent, according research firm eMarketer.

And Facebook, which is able to leverage its huge membership of 1.3 billion people around the world, is not stopping there.

Earlier this month, Facebook unveiled its “Audience Network” that mines what it knows about users to target ads in other applications on smartphones or tablet computers.

Audience Network expands the social network’s ad platform beyond its borders on the vast landscape of mobile apps and could provide a major boost to Facebook revenue.

The battle is particularly intense in the fast-growing mobile ad segment: Google’s share has dipped slightly over the past two years to 44.6% while Facebook has grabbed 20% of those revenues worldwide, up from just 5.9% in 2012, according to eMarketer.

Tracking users for ads

The world’s biggest social network is particularly well-equipped to deliver “targeted” ads that aim to be relevant, based on the browsing history of each users, in part by using the “Facebook login” feature for many websites and services.

“Because of that Facebook login, they can track people across devices and understand their behavior,” said eMarketer’s Cathie Boyle.

“Now they’re letting advertisers leverage that information beyond just ads on Facebook, which plays to challenging Google.”

While privacy activists object to socalled behavioral marketing, this type of advertising is generally seen as effective because it makes more efficient use of ads. Tech firms are starting to learn this, and find ways to track be-

havior as users switch from their PCs to tablets or smartphones.

“One of the biggest challenges for advertisers for the rise of mobile is not only technical things, it’s really understanding how people use the devices together,” Boyle said.

“You have to think about multiple devices. People are not necessarily giving up any of these devices, they are splitting their time between more and more.”

Circumventing ad blockers

The login system used by both Facebook and Google have become more important as more people use ad blocking technologies or “private browsing” which prevents marketers from using Web histories.

“Facebook and Google have the same competitive advantage in the landscape, they have the unique login that can be used to identify the user across different devices,” said Jennifer Wise at Forrester Research.

“They both have the ability to do it, but Facebook acted on it first. We’re expecting Google to make some announcement in the near future of some kind of ad network that is going to do cross-devices targeting.”

Google took the first step in that direction in early October, unveiling a tool that allows marketers to determine when an ad delivered on one platform results in a purchase on another.

Amazon rising?

Google and Facebook are not the only companies using these techniques.

Wise said rival firms, such as Twitter and online radio Pandora, also can monitor the activity of its users for marketing. Other such as Apple have the capacity to do so through its login feature.

The online ad market is evolving quickly, and it’s not clear yet how new connected devices such as smartwatches or eyewear will impact the ad landscape.

Twitter has seen ad revenues grow at a rapid pace in the past two years, but it still holds less than one percent of the market, behind rivals like Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL. l

Citi pulls out of consumer China inflation slips to near five-year low, banking in 11 countries more stimulus measures expected n Reuters

Citigroup Inc said it is pulling out of consumer banking in 11 markets, including Japan and Egypt, as the US bank with the biggest international business looks to cut persistently high costs.

The third-largest US. bank, built with a series of acquisitions spanning back to the 1980s, has been trying to slim down since the financial crisis to be as profitable as rivals. It has shed hundreds of billions of dollars of bad assets.

The latest exits were the result of studies the bank began in early 2012 to figure out which countries were not profitable enough for retail banking.

Getting results took a long time, partly because the bank did not have standardized accounting systems across all countries to compare the units’ profitability, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in 2013.

A spokesman for Citigroup said that the sources’ comments were false, and the bank has long had systems in place to consistently measure profitability across businesses and geography.

The deliberate pace at which Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat is fixing its business underscores how hard it is to fix a business as sprawling as Citigroup, which operates in more than 100 countries. Corbat told analysts that in shedding the poorly performing businesses the company is also taking a valuable step toward reducing complexity.

Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach, speaking earlier to reporters, said the bank first identified sub-standard businesses about a year-and-a-half ago, and tried to fix them before deciding to they had to go. “Better late than never,” said stock analyst Mike Mayo of CLSA. Citigroup separately announced the results of a probe that also illustrates how hard it is to manage the bank: it found a new $15m fraud at its Mexican unit, Banamex, which has been roiled

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by a series of mishaps.

The bank is showing some signs of progress in streamlining itself. On Tuesday, it posted stronger-than-expected third-quarter adjusted net income of $3.67bn, or $1.15 per share, from $3.26bn, or $1.02 per share, a year earlier. Profit was boosted by better results from its portfolio of troubled assets left over from the financial crisis and its shares rose 3.1% on Tuesday to $51.47.

Adjusted results exclude a tax benefit from last year and accounting adjustments linked to changes in the value of the company’s debt.

Analysts had expected earnings of $1.12 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Focusing on expenses

But the bank still has work to do. Expenses at Citicorp, which houses the bank’s main businesses, rose 11%, while revenue rose 8%. The increase in expenses came from money set aside to cover expected legal liabilities.

The bank has been trying to rein in its expenses for about a decade. At a meeting with 300 Citigroup executives in February, CEO Corbat stressed the need to focus on expenses and efficiency this year.

Shedding retail businesses in 11 markets may help — stripping out these units would have reduced operating expenses by $1.34bn over the last year, while reducing net income by only $34m. The bank said it will exit Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Guam, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru, as well as the consumer finance business in Korea. It will continue to serve institutional clients in these markets.

In December 2012, Citigroup said it was withdrawing from consumer banking in five other countries. After these latest exits, the bank will serve consumers in about 24 countries. l

n Reuters, Beijing China’s consumer inflation slowed more than expected in September to a near five-year low, adding to concerns that global growth is cooling fast unless governments take bolder measures to shore up their economies.

While much of the decline was due to falling prices for food, fuel and other commodities, which are benefiting consumers globally, the data also pointed to broad weakness in the world’s second-largest economy.

Facing mounting risks to growth and rising risks of deflation, Beijing is widely expected to continue rolling out a steady stream of stimulus measures in coming months, though most economists believe it will hold off on more aggressive action such an interest rate cut unless conditions sharply deteriorate.

“Policymakers in Beijing should begin to be concerned that global disinflationary pressures are spreading to China,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

“The low inflation readings will open the door to further targeted monetary and fiscal easing. There is also less need for a strong currency to offset imported inflation.”

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6% in September from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, missing market expectations for a 1.7% rise and down from 2% in August.

The reading was the lowest since January 2010, and was also partly due to a relatively higher base of comparison a year ago, officials said.

Inflation is also easing in other parts of Asia from India to South Korea, whose economy is also sputtering and facing growing fears of deflation.

But price softness in China was not all down to food and fuel. Its data also showed further downward pressure from the cooling housing market, which economists say is the biggest single risk facing China’s economy.

The CPI rose 0.5% in September from the previous month, versus a 0.4% gain expected by economists.

“The low inflation readings suggest rising risks of deflation in China due to weak domestic demand. It confirms our view that risks to growth are still

A vendor yawns as she sorts vegetables at a wholesale market in Hefei, Anhui province on the downside, and further policy easing measures are needed,” HSBC economists said.

With inflation well below the official annual target of 3.5%, Chinese policymakers have ample scope to announce more stimulus, on top of a flurry of steps earlier in the year.

But as neighbouring Japan and many Western countries have found, simply injecting a mountain of money into the system may have limited impact on the real economy if demand is too weak to absorb it and banks remain reluctant to lend.

Further attempts by the central bank on Tuesday to keep market interest rates relatively low also suggest authorities may be content to take a more measured response for now. Still, some economists believe the chances of bolder policy action are rising.

“Easing gains (in) non-food prices and the worsening PPI provide more evidence of a weakening economy, which means the problems of weak domestic demand and over capacity are more severe than expected,” said

Li Huiyong, an economist at Shenyin & Wanguo Securities in Shanghai.

“We expect policymakers will take more measures to stabilise the economy. The possibility of an interest rate cut is increasing in the coming months.”

Highlighting the increasing strains on companies in China, the producer price index (PPI) fell 1.8%, its 31st consecutive monthly decline, dragged by lower oil and steel prices. The market had expected a 1.6% fall in producer prices after a drop of 1.2% in August.

Weakening demand is not only curbing companies’ pricing power and cutting into their profit margins but putting increasing strains on their balance sheets and ability to pay back debts, posing a growing threat to the banking system.

Highlighting faltering demand, the country’s second-biggest steelmaker, Baoshan Iron and Steel (Baosteel), said on Friday it will cut prices for November delivery.

Major construction machinery maker Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science

REUTERS

and Technology Co Ltd said on Tuesday it expects third-quarter net income to fall as much as 90% on continued weakness in the market.

Premier Li Keqiang said earlier this month that China will avoid a hard landing despite worries about the real estate market. Li also said he was confident the economy would continue to grow at a “medium to high tempo”, forecasting growth of about 7.5% this year, which appears sharply at odds with the low inflation figure.

Slowing property market biggest risk

The latest Reuters poll showed China’s economy likely grew 7.2% in the third quarter from a year earlier, its weakest pace in more than five years as the property downturn weighed on demand.

Wang Jun, senior economist at China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, a Beijing-based think tank, believes that the central bank is more likely to cut all banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) to encourage more lending and support growth. l