04 dec, 2014

Agrahayan 20, 1421 Safar 10, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 240

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BODY TALK

INCLUSIVE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

VICTIMS OF EMOTION

EMOTIONAL FAREWELL FOR HUGHES

Bangladesh’s slip in graft index worries TI

ACC rejects TI’s corruption index

Government needs to follow its pledge to fight corruption, says the Berlin-based group n

The Anti-Corruption Commission has rejected the Transparency International (TI) report that says Bangladesh comes 14th among the most corrupt countries around the world.

Bangladesh was ranked 16th last year in the global graft index.

Rejecting the corruption report, ACC Commissioner M Sahabuddin Chuppu yesterday told reporters: “The statistics shown in the report is different from the real picture.”

Islam Shaon and n Ashif Monirul Islam This year Bangladesh has failed to continue its positive trend in curbing corruption, compared to the gradual achievement seen since 2006, as it slips both in score and rank among 175 countries covered by the Transparency International (TI) for its Corruption Perception Index 2014.

Ranked as the most corrupt country during 2001-2005, Bangladesh this year stands 14th. It ranked 16th last year.

The country scored 25 on a scale of 0-100, slipping from 27 last year.

Of the 175 countries, Bangladesh has ranked 145th in terms of success in fighting corruption. It ranked 136th the previous year, according to the Berlin-based global civil society group campaigning against corruption.

The index puts Denmark on top of the 2014 list of the least corrupt countries with a score of 92, followed by New Zealand, Finland and Sweden. On the other hand, Somalia and North Korea stay at the bottom of the list as the most corrupt nations with score 8, followed by Sudan and Afghanistan in the second and third positions.

P3 POLITICAL REACTION

In South Asia, Bangladesh is the second most corrupt country. Afghanistan is ranked as the most corrupt country in the region even though it has done much in anti-corruption activities while Bhutan is the least corrupt.

Bangladesh shares the same score with Guinea, Laos, Kenya and Papua New Guinea.

No country in the world is fully corruption free, as none scored 100. Influential countries like the UK, the USA, China and Russia scored 78, 74, 36 and 27 respectively.

“It is a matter of perception, and it may differ to some extent from the reality,” Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TI’s Bangladesh chapter,

told reporters at the capital’s National Press Club yesterday.

“We made continuous progress in ranking and score, and now it starts to go down which is a matter of concern.

If we were a little aware, it would not have happened. The government has to be more strict in fulfilling political pledges,” he said.

Metro rail cost to rise for depot

The Trinamool Congress government of West Bengal has decided to withdraw its objection to the long-pending land-swap deal between India and Bangladesh.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee might announce the new stand of her government at a rally in Cooch Behar today.

It was said enclave swap would put Mamata’s key vote bank of minorities under threat Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra informed the Indian Union Home Ministry last week that the state government wants to settle the enclave issue which is being dragged for over six decades now, UNB yesterday cited a report carried by the Kolkata-based daily Anandabazaar Patrika on Wednesday.

However, the state government

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n Tribune Report

Metro rail project staff conducting geo-technical survey at a site in Agargaon area of the capital to determine the nature of the soil. The photo was taken yesterday RAJIB DHAR He expressed hope that the first part of the construction may end by December 2019 while the whole project will be completed by 2024.

To build the only depot has been given priority as it would be needed to set the project rolling, Mofazzel said.

“As per the test report, soil of the

Mamata finally smiles on land agreement n Tribune Report

As reasons behind the degradation, Iftekhar cited inadequate steps to curb corruption despite pledges made. He also said measures were taken to curb the independence of the Anti-Corruption Commission whereas there was a lack of steps to achieve effectiveness of the anti-graft body.

He, however, said: “We are yet to receive the full report.”

Terming the TI’s remarks on the release of leaders of ruling parties and powerful people from corruption cases by the ACC baseless, the commissioner said: “The ACC is now much more active than ever before.”

The commission believes that corruption is now on the wane. It takes action based on proof and data. After finding enough proof and data the commission is now taking legal action against Hall-Mark and Destiny Group, he said.

“Even we are not hesitant to take

Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur ink four agreements

n Shohel Mamun The first tender of the much-expected Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (metro rail) will be floated in January to purchase locomotives and coaches.

The government planned to float tender for the lone depot first, but it has been delayed because of failure in completing soil tests in the proposed area.

Metro rail project officials say they have recently procured 21.85 hectares (54 acres) of land from Rajuk’s Uttara Third Phase Project to build the depot.

But as per a recent soil test report, the area is not suitable for the construction of any type of infrastructure after general piling.

So, a specialised piling system called “sand confection piling” is needed now, but it is expensive, the officials say.

The estimated cost of the 20.1km elevated metro rail project – stretching from Uttara to Motijheel – is Tk21,985.07 crore, which will be divided into eight contract packages. Officials say they now need more money to accommodate the sand confection piling. However, they could not say how much the cost may rise.

Project Director Mofazzel Hossain said: “Separate tenders will be floated for the eight contract packages starting from January until July 2016.”

Adil Sakhawat

wants the Indian central government to take up the issue of developing the land area that will be added to West Bengal, in terms of administration and infrastructure, the report said.

The venue Mamata’s rally is very close to the Bangladeshi enclave, which suggests that the reports about the big announcement could be true.

Mamata had hinted at her party’s changing role on the enclave issue before the Lok Sabha election in March.

When the draft of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) was made during a parliamentary panel meeting last week, the Trinamool representatives agreed to it.

The new stand of the TMC is a marked departure from what it had spoken earlier on the issue. Mamata had stalled talks between India and Bangladesh over the sharing of Teesta River water and also pulled out of the Bangladesh-bound entourage of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, causing immense embarrassment to New Delhi.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

depot area is less suitable for any construction work. Moreover, we have already purchased land from Rajuk.

In this situation, the cost of depot construction will rise.

“Since we need to revise the cost of building the depot, we cannot float tender for this part,” he said.

Under the first tender, 24 locomotives and 144 coaches would be procured from manufacturers and suppliers. The 24 trains, each having six coaches, will run from Uttara to Bangladesh Bank, Mofazzel added.

The second tender will be floated  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

INSIDE 3 | News

In an effort to pursue foreign investment from Malaysia Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday told Malaysian entrepreneurs that her government in Bangladesh is reviewing the country’s investment facilitation regime to simplify the process for foreign investment.

4 | News

The National Pay and Service Commission will submit the final report on the possible pay scale upgrade for government employees on December 11. Commission Chairman Mohammad Farashuddin will submit the report.

B1 | Business

After a two and half-year halt, the national flag carrier will resume operation of domestic flights from late of next month.

5 | News

Sexual harassment of adolescent girls is highest in Bangladesh where one out of every two married adolescent girls (15 to 19 years of age) faces sexual violence from her husband or partner, speakers told at a discussion citing a report.

6 | Nation

Allegations of bribes and irregularities have surfaced in a Power Development Board (PDB) project at Sadar upazila in Gaibandha. The bribe allegations are that the project was expanded outside the town area illegally and in exchange for bribes.

15 | Entertainment

Curtains will rise for the 13th International Short and Independent Film Festival, Dhaka 2014 today at the National Museum premises in the capital’s Shahbagh area.

Bangladesh yesterday signed four deals with Malaysia in the fields of manpower export, tourism, and art, culture and heritage.

The deals include an agreement on partial abolition of visa requirements, an MoU on cooperation in tourism, a protocol amending the 2012 MoU between the two countries on employment of workers and another MoU on cooperation in the field of art, culture and heritage.

The signings took place on the second day of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s three-day visit to Malaysia to strengthen ties between the two countries, reports UNB. Both Hasina and the Malaysian Prime Minister Nazib Razak were present during the signings held in the Perdana Meeting Room of the Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia in Putrajaya following a restricted meeting between the two premiers.

According to the UNB report, Malaysia’s Minister of Human Resources Dato Sri Richard Riot Anak Jaem and Bangladesh’s State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan signed the agreement on behalf of their respective countries on the partial abolition of

visa requirement for the officials and diplomatic passport holders of both the countries.

The same Malaysian minister and Bangladesh’s Expatriates Welfare and Overseas and Employment Minister Engineer Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain signed the protocol amending the MoU between the two governments on employment of workers.

Malaysian acting Minister for Tourism and Culture Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed and Bangladesh Civil Aviation

The deals include an agreement on partial abolition of visa requirements and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon signed the MoU on cooperation in the field of tourism.

The acting minister from Malaysia also signed the MoU on cooperation in the field of culture, arts and heritage with Bangladesh Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Malaysian counterpart Mohd. Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak witnessed the signing of the deals. l

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Meeting on December 10 to set up LNG import firm n

Aminur Rahman Rasel

A meeting is scheduled to be held on December 10 to finalise the board of directors in order to form a new company to import liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The firm is named LNG Power Company Bangladesh Limited.

“The demand for natural gas is rising gradually, causing the government to establish a company for importing gas to avoid any sudden gas crisis,” Mohammad Hossain, director general of

Power Cell planned to set up a land-based LNG terminal to feed a proposed 1,000MW combined cycle plant Power Cell, a state-owned entity under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said the existing gas reserve is depleting, causing severe gas crisis in the country, especially in the gas-fired power plants.

“Some of these plants are running below the capacity and a few were closed due to non-availability of gas.

The government is going to set up the country’s first-ever land-based LNG terminal in Chittagong’s Anwara or Mo-

heshkhali in Cox’s Bazar. The company to be formed will also administer operations at the terminal,” said The onshore terminal will be the country’s second LNG terminal, with the other planned as an offshore one.

In mid-April, Power Cell issued a tender seeking EOIs (Expression of Interest) from international firms to build an onshore LNG import terminal, with a handling capacity of 3.5 million tonnes a year.

Five globally renowned firms have already been shortlisted and those are Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation of China, Royal Dutch Shell Plc of the Netherlands, Tractebel Engineering and TSK Construction of Belgium, Mitsui and Company Ltd in Japan and Petronet LNG Ltd of India.

The terminal will be set up on the build-own-operate basis and gas from it will be supplied to the gas-based power plants.

Power Cell planned to set up a landbased LNG terminal to feed a proposed 1,000MW combined cycle power plant, as well as feeding the existing power plants in Raozan and Sikalbaha by one or more high pressure gas transmission pipelines to be connected from the terminal.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Division meanwhile has decided to set up the country’s first floating storage and re-gasification unit, otherwise known as LNG terminal, in Moheshkhali. l

Probe committee fails to submit report on journo Zaglul accident n Tribune Report

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina shakes hands with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak during a welcoming ceremony at the latter’s office in Putrajaya yesterday. Hasina is on a three-day official visit to Malaysia AFP

Nasrul: Lack in electricity management caused blackout n Aminur Rahman Rasel State Minister for Power And Energy Nasrul Hamid yesterday said lack of adjustment between production and supply of power had caused the blackout across the country on November 1.

Nasrul made the remarks while discussing a report submitted by an inquiry committee with journalists at the Secretariat. The formal statement

came after almost a month of the blackout incident.

The report was prepared by an eight-member probe body which had a former Power Development Board (PDB) chairman and seven current government high officials. The body had submitted a total of 32 recommendations to avert similar shutdowns in the future of which 22 were short-term measures and the rest were middle-

Surgery table blunder costs patient his kidney n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A doctor has allegedly removed the right kidney, instead of the stones in it, from a patient at the Uttara Adhunik College Hospital in the capital.

The physician Sabbir Khan called it just an accident.

A case was filed with the Western Uttara police station by patient Babul Sarkar’s brother-in-law Momen Sarkar, accusing the hospital chairman, director and the doctor who operated on him.

Babul, who hails from the Kaliganj upazila in Gazipur, is related to Momen

by marriage with the latter’s sister. He was admitted to the hospital with lower back pains after consultation with the Department of Urology Chairman Sabbir Khan.

After an x-ray and ultra-sonogram had been done, Babul was diagnosed with stones in the kidney after which the doctor told them that it would be a minor laser operation and cost Tk20 thousand only, he said.

“Since we permitted an operation on him, he was taken to the theatre around 11:30am on November 26. After the operation, we were told that his kidney had been removed,” Momen said.

The committee formed to probe into the road accident that had killed senior journalist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury failed to submit their report yesterday.

The Ministry of Road Transport And Bridges allowed the body seven more days to finish their investigation.

Abu Naser, public relation officer of the ministry, said: “The committee sought more time to take deposition of the witnesses. Therefore the time was extended.”

The committee was asked to submit a report within three days which ended yesterday. It was formed by the ministry on November 30 and was headed by Mashiar Rahman, director (administration) of BRTA. Veteran journalist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury was killed in a road accident in the capital’s Karwan Bazar area on November 29. l

“We were not informed that his kidney would be removed. If so, why was the kidney removed?” he questioned, adding that his sister fainted as soon as she heard about the removal of Babul’s kidney.

Babul Sarker’s wife Suraiya echoed him in saying: “We were informed about this only after the kidney was removed. My husband still does not know about the kidney removal. He would break down getting to know this.”

When the accused, doctor Sabbir was questioned, he said: “It was just an accident.” and claimed that the pa-

tient’s wife had been informed beforehand that it might require the removal of the kidney during the operation.” He however did not explain why it was an accident.

When contacted, hospital Director Shahjahan Biswas told the Dhaka Tribune that they already formed a three-member committee to investigate this on December 1 after receiving a written complaint.

“The committee has been asked to submit their report within three days.

After receiving the report, we would know what had actually happened,” he said. l

and long-term measures.

However, the report did not name or blame any official or functionary for the blackout.

Talking to reporters, State Minister Nasrul said: “The blackout occurred due to the lack of adjustment between production and supply of power. The incident took place on that day as the existing system failed to manage the load of electricity.”

He said: “After a sudden gap emerged between power generation and demand, the blackout took place because of under frequency as it could not balance out with the demand.”

The state minister said the country’s national power grid was still at risk and to avoid such incidents in the future the government will be taking short, medium and long-term steps in modernisation of the power system. l

Metro rail cost to rise for depot  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

to develop different kinds of infrastructure on the depot site, including administrative buildings, rest houses, staff quarters, water-treatment plant and training institutes.

As per the plan, the metro rail will have 16 stations to connect Uttara and Motijheel via Pallabi, Mirpur 10, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Agargaon, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, the TSC and the National Press Club.

The last tender will be called to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply and other mechanical supply for the project.

The government took the project under a 20-year-long Strategic Trans-

port Plan (STP), after Japanese consultants in 2011 found that the Uttara-Motijheel corridor was feasible for the first metro rail.

The trains will run every 3.5 minutes and take 37 minutes to reach Motijheel from Uttara.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has committed to funding of Tk16,594.59 crore while the government will provide Tk5,390.48 crore.

A Japanese consortium is currently working on the detailed design of the project. It is also carrying out a topographical survey, traffic survey and geotechnical survey in different parts of the project area. l

Bangladesh’s slip in graft index worries TI

ACC rejects TI’s corruption index

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The TIB also found that lack of steps to bringing to book the people responsible for much-talked-about corruption cases including Padma bridge, railway recruitment, share market scam, Hall-Mark, Destiny, Sonali and other state-owned banks, and Rana Plaza contributed to the degradation of the country’s corruption index.

It also said influential people having inconsistent wealth and the mentality of denial of the government were other reasons behind the rise in corruption.

The corruption watchdog also said people involved in grabbing land and water bodies, tender and recruitment business, and the loan defaulters were getting political cover.

It blamed parliament among the institutions that ensure accountably for its weakness to stand against corruption. There were incidents of conflict of interest, scope for whitening black money and high rate of money laundering this year.

The TI draws up the index on the basis of 12 surveys conducted by seven international organisations that covered the period between February 2011 and August 2014.

Citing an international research, Iftekhar said if Bangladesh could keep corruption in medium range, the country’s GDP would grow by 4% from the existing rate.

During 2001-2005, Bangladesh stood first five times in a row. Improving the position, it ranked third in 2006, seventh in 2007, 10th in 2008, 13th in 2009, 12th in 2010, 13th in 2011 and 2012 and 16th in 2013.

Low-income people are more victimised by corruption than the rich, Iftekhar said.

TIB’s Trustee Board Chairman Sultana Kamal said there is priority of executive power in all sectors in the country. “If these kinds of influence and interference prevail, no important state organs including parliament can work independently.”

When somebody tries to speak about this issue and demands trial of the corrupt, “there comes vendetta from the high-ups of the government.

For this, those who are vocal against corruption lose courage.”

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) arranges a press conference on the Corruption Perception Index 2014 at the VIP lounge of National Press Club yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU Asked about the government’s reaction about TI’s reports in the previous years, Iftekhar said primarily they get negative reactions after the release this kind of findings. “But when these reports are proved to be helpful, steps are taken to amend laws or make organisations free of corruption.”

He said the TIB does not take the political reactions as a major issue. If the government did not want the TIB to run activities in Bangladesh, it could not work, he said.

“The TIB does not do anything without the government’s permission,” Iftekhar added.

On the same issue, Sultana Kamal said: “We always get reaction from the government but no response. There might be flaws in our information and it can be discussed. But the government does not do that.

“I think we have a love-and-hate relation with the government. We get assistance as well as criticisms.”

Asked if the January 5 election had affected the index, Iftekhar said the election did not influence the degradation. “But [lack of] parliament’s expected role is a concern here.”

Parliament could not become effective until 2011 due to walkout of the then opposition party. “But it is also true that now what has been placed as the opposition is not a true opposition.”

The TIB thinks that the parliamentary standing committees have to be more active and accountable. The opposition has to be strengthened to change the situation.

The TIB executive director applauded the ACC, too. He said the ACC had been inactive during the BNP-Jamaat government while it had faced some methodological problems during the military-backed caretaker government.

“But we saw during this government’s tenure, the ACC has interrogated many corrupt people which was not

done before. We appreciate the ACC for this. But we think that the ACC is yet to earn the people’s trust,” Iftekhar said.

Political will must to contain corruption In the list of recommendations, the TI mentioned that political will, going beyond fear or favour, was the key to control corruption.

The government should make parliament effective and the ACC free and effective; and ensure transparency in the trial process. It must ensure that the public service providers including the law enforcement agencies work honestly and without political interference.

The TI says there should be coordination among the organisations that ensure accountability including the ACC, law enforcement agencies, the attorney general’s office, the comptroller and auditor general, the National Board of Revenue and Bangladesh Bank to curb corruption. l

action against ruling party leaders or powerful people,” Chuppu said.

From the statistics available in the commission it found that from January to August 2014 the ACC freed 1,598 people from corruption cases.

Among the 904 allegations of corruption the ACC only filed cases for 34 allegations in that period.

From 2011 to August 2014, the anti-graft body released 5,339 people accused in corruption cases.

This year the ACC released former communication minister Syed Abul Hossain and former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan along with eight others from Padma bridge graft case which is still under trial in a Canadian court.

The commission also acquitted former health minister AFM Ruhul Haq and lawmaker Aslamul Haq. They were charged for providing incorrect information on their wealth in their declaration submitted to the Election Commission.

The others who were let go are Deputy Leader in parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim and former adviser to prime minister

Syed Modasser Ali. Interestingly, the ACC also acquitted Executive Engineer of Roads and Highways Division Monjur Ahmed Bhuiyan and Traffic Inspector of Chittagong Metropolitan Police Abdur Rab even after they confessed to having committed corruption.

Earlier, in 2012 the ACC did not carry out an investigation into the allegations of much-talked-about railway scam against Awami League advisory council member Suranjit Sengupta.

The ACC also acquitted his son Soumen Sengupta in a case filed for transacting bribes for getting permission for an interconnection exchange licence from the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.

The commission has not shown any progress in the investigation into the allegation of crests coated with gold alloy given to foreign friends to honour them in June this year.

Yesterday the TI published a corruption perception index report 2014 where Bangladesh ranked 14th in the graft index among 174 countries. The corruption index also placed Bangladesh in the second position in South Asia.

Afghanistan topped the list as the most corrupt country in the region. l

Mamata finally smiles  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

The protocol that was signed between New Delhi and Dhaka in 2011 could not be ratified in parliament. In September 2013, when the then Congress government at India’s centre tried to table the bill in Rajya Sabha, it was torn off by the protesting TMC lawmakers.

It was said that the enclave swap would put Mamata’s key vote bank of minorities under threat.

According to The Indian Express, Trinamool MP Renuka Sinha from Cooch Behar said: “Our party had some serious issues with the protocol and its clauses. If the protocol is ratified, our state would lose a huge quantum of land too and there are certain other issues. But Didi [Mamata] wants the agreement to be implemented as she can feel the pain of the people living in

Indian enclaves in Bangladesh.”

Excited with the news, enclave dwellers swung into a celebration mood. They also celebrated the birth anniversary of late Dipak Sengupta, a Forward Bloc MLA who first spearheaded the movement for the enclave people.

This would be the first interaction between the residents of Chitmahal and the head of the state.

Zokey Ahad, deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh, told the Indian Express: “We are hopeful that the agreement would be implemented soon. Both the countries are active to get it implemented.”

On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that his government would utilise the LTA with Bangladesh in a manner that it serves the long-term security interests. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, December 4, 2014

3

Hasina invites Malaysian investors n Tribune Report In an effort to pursue foreign investment from Malaysia Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday told Malaysian entrepreneurs that her government in Bangladesh is reviewing the country’s investment facilitation regime to simplify the process for foreign investment.

“We’re revisiting our entire investment facilitation regime to simplify processes. We’re looking at our legal frameworks in attracting further foreign investments,” she told the Dialogue on Investment and Trade Opportunities in Bangladesh at Hotel Grand Hyatt in Kuala Lampur.

The premier said this during her three-day visit to Malaysia where she has also signed four deals with the Malaysian government on issues of visa and tourism, manpower export, and art and culture, reports UNB. At the Dialogue, Hasina expressed hopes that Malaysian investors would reconsider Bangladesh a comptetitive destination in the Asia-Pacific region, given her government was creating as many as 18 Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

“In spite of our limitations and a low level of economic development, Bangladesh offers advantages and incentives that should merit your (Entrepreneurs) due consideration,” UNB quoted her as saying.

“I believe sectors like road, power, energy, tourism and hospitality, waste

War crimes verdict in Jabbar case any day n Tribune Report The International Crimes Tribunal 1 will deliver verdict in the war crimes case against former Jatiya Party lawmaker M Abdul Jabbar, now absconding, any day as the concluding arguments in the case ended yesterday.

Tribunal Chairman Justice M Enayetur Rahim kept the case for CAV (awaiting verdict) after recording closing arguments of the prosecution and the defence.

According to the prosecution, Jabbar was the chairman of Mothbaria Peace Committee in Pirojpur during the 1971 Liberation War. He is facing five charges including murder, mass killing, looting and forced conversion of Hindus.

Jabbar, 82, allegedly played a key role in the formation of local unit of razakar bahini, an auxiliary force of the Pakistani Army, which committed atrocities in the area, especially against the Hindus.

The prosecution claims that Jabbar and his cohorts had killed freedom fighters and civilians. They also converted around 150-200 Hindus of Phuljhuri in Mothbaria to Islam and forced them to take Muslim names, eat beef and say prayers.

The tribunal on August 13 indicted the former lawmaker and ordered commencing the trial as the accused has been on the run since 2009. The prosecution submitted the formal charges on May 11. A total of 24 witnesses testified against Jabbar.

During yesterday’s concluding arguments, prosecutor Zahid Imam sought capital punishment for Jabbar while state-appointed defence lawyer Mohammad Abul Hassan prayed for Jabbar’s acquittal of the charges. l

management, water supply are some of the infrastructure sectors which should merit your attention,” she said.

“Equally attractive is the entire chain of food and agriculture sector.

And, Bangladesh is ready to consider any form of partnership, including Public Private Partnership (PPP).”

She added that in the process of deepening connectivity across Bangladesh, changed production patterns, industrial concentrations and value chains have great prospects to benefit Bangladesh.

She further lauded Bangladesh’s fast economic growth, saying Bangladesh’s economy is growing fast despite the scarcity of energy in the country, the UNB report said.

In response to interest shown by the chairman of Bintang AEG-CR23G JV Consortium, Hasina addressed the issue of Dhaka’s notorious traffic and said Dhaka needs circular roads and railway lines to address the issue.

President of Malaysia South-South Association (MASSA) Tan Sri Azman Hashim delivered the welcoming address.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to Malaysia AKM Atiqur Rahman made the closing remarks at the Dialogue which was also attended by Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Senior Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Md Abul Kalam Azad, Samy Vellu, Malaysian PM’s Special Envoy of Infrastructure to India and Southern Asia and FBCCI President Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed. l

Agitated workers of the Chunji Knit Ltd, based in the Badda area of the capital, demonstrate in front of the BGMEA building in Karwan Bazar yesterday demanding immediate payment of four months’ due wages and allowances MEHEDI HASAN

TI corruption index gets expected political reaction

Hearing on Mujaheed’s appeal case begins January 14

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

The apex court has set January 14 for commencing hearing in the appeal of war criminal Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujaheed, sentenced to death last year for committing crimes against humanity including the killing of intellectuals.

Mujaheed’s appeal was on top of the cause list of the five-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, yesterday.

The four other members of the bench are Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury.

The Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general was given death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal 2 on July 17 last year. Of the five proven charges out of seven brought against him, Mujaheed was given capital punishment in two – for abetting and facilitating killing of intellectuals during the Liberation War and participating in and facilitating the mur-

As was expected, political parties, depending on the side of the power spectrum they belong to, reacted to Bangladesh’s slide in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.

The CPI report launched yesterday by TI said Bangladesh had performed poorly both in terms of perception and curbing corruption during the last one year.

The ruling Awami League outright rejected the report, questioning the very basis on which it was prepared.

The TI says in its report that the CPI, which measures perceived levels of public sector corruption worldwide, is based on expert opinion from around the world.

TI’s local chapter Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said in a press conference in Dhaka yesterday that weakening of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Jatiya Sangsad heavily contributed to Bangladesh’s miseries in the global index.

Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, joint secretary general of the ruling party, said: “This [the report] has created doubts among people. The Anti-Corruption Commission has proved its efficiency and neutrality by arresting incumbent lawmakers for graft which is a rare example in the country’s history. We believe the report was aimed at rendering the Anti-Corruption Commission controversial.”

The Awami League leader also said: “The BNP and Jamaat raised questions about parliament and we think TI has just echoed them. It will instigate the opposition parties.”

The TI also said the CPI report painted an alarming picture because not one

single country had emerged as fully free of corruption, with more than twothirds of the countries scaled near the higher threshold of corruption prevalence.

BNP leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said: “This is nothing new.

It [prevalence of corruption] is well established in the country and all the people of Bangladesh are affected by it – some highly and others slightly.”

‘The BNP and Jamaat raised questions about parliament and we think TI has just echoed them.

It will instigate the opposition parties’ Khosru, also an adviser to the BNP chairperson, added: “As parliament is not legitimate, the government does not have any accountability and transparency.

That fuels corruption. Corruption will keep on rising as long as the illegitimate government stays in office.”

The CIP report mentions that Bangladesh showed signs of improvement in terms of curbing corruption after 2006, the year BNP completed its previous tenure. In 2005 and 2006 – the last two years of BNP’s last tenure – Bangladesh ranked 158th and 156th in TI’s CPI. This year, Bangladesh is ranked 145th. Last year, it was 136.

Golam Mosih, political secretary of opposition leader in parliament Raushan Ershad, said: “I agree that corruption has increased. There is nothing to hide. But the rise in corruption is not linked to any political government but rather to the population boom.”

The Jatiya Party leader also said: “There is no reason to think that if BNP or Jatiya Party assumes office, corruption will fall. The fact is that as the number of people is increasing, people’s activities are also increasing. So, corruption will take place as human values are about to be vanished. It [the report] seems politically motivated to me.”

Anisur Rahman Mallick, senior politburo member of ruling alliance component Workers Party of Bangladesh, said he was not surprised.

“The media cover only a small portion of actual corruption. Many other cases remain unreported...Tough days are ahead. I do not believe that the government’s goal of turning Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021 will be possible.”

Sharif Nurul Ambia, general secretary of another partner of the ruling alliance Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, said the precedents of corruption had not changed.

“One good thing is that the government has proceeded with corruption cases. But again, the country’s image has not changed. Moreover, there is no real opposition in parliament. So, it is also a loophole,” he said.

Mujahidul Islam Selim, president of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), said: “This is nothing new. We have repeatedly said corruption has spread like a virus from the top to the bottom. There is no alternative to waging a strong mass movement against corruption. A massive change in the political arena is essential, especially, the two major political parties have to remain out of power. An alternative force with people’s mandate should have to come to the front to stop corruption.” l

n Tribune Report

der of nine Hindu civilians in Faridpur.

He was acquitted in two other charges. He filed the appeal on August 11 last year seeking acquittal.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Khondaker Mahbub Hossain, also an adviser to the BNP chairperson, represented Mujaheed during yesterday’s hearing while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the state.

Mahbub mentioned that January was the month of change as the chief justice is supposed to go on retirement in the middle of the month. In his submission, the attorney general said the hearing could begin in December.

Chief Justice Muzammel then said: “You wanted the hearing to take place in December but the matter did not come to the cause list because of your lobbying. It came as a regular official report.”

He told the defence lawyer: “Everything is an ongoing process. It is a normal change...okay, we will think about both of your advantage and disadvantage.” l

Daud Merchant on 3-day remand n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday placed Indian national Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant, a suspected associate of crime lord Dawood Ibrahim, on a three-day remand.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Nuru Mia passed the order when Sub-Inspector of the Detective Branch (DB) of police Golam Rusul produced him before the court seeking a seven-day remand for interrogation.

Defence lawyers Hemayatuddin Khan and Md Ujjal Miah filed a petition seeking bail for Daud but the court rejected it.

On Tuesday, police arrested Daud in Khilgaon under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

He was arrested just two days after his release from Kashimpur jail in Gazipur on bail in another case.

The defence counsel, however, claimed that Daud was arrested at Kashempur jail gate soon after he had secured bail in another case on Monday.

Daud, also a convicted killer of Indian record label businessman Gulshan Kumar, was arrested in Brahmanbaria on May 28, 2009. He was later convicted for intruding into Bangladesh and illegally staying here. l

Satkhira police arrest BNP leader for an attempt on Hasina’s life n Our Correspondent, Satkhira

Two students brave a blow of dust as a speedy vehicle passes them at Hazaribagh Beribandh in Dhaka yesterday

MEHEDI HASAN

Police yesterday arrested a BNP leader in a case filed for launching an attack on the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina at Kolaroa upazila in Satkhira 12 years back.

Accused Rabiul Islam was arrested from his home around 10am on Wednesday, said Kolaroa police station Officer-in-Charge Masud Karim told reporters.

Kolaroa Upazila BNP unit Joint Secretary Rabiul is the current chairman of Jugekhali Union Parishad.

On August 30, 2002, assailants fired bullets at Hasina near Satkhira’s Kolaroa upzila while the Awami League chief was on her way to visit the wife of a freedom fighter, a gangrape victim in the district from Jessore.

Hasina, now the prime minister, survived the attack but some others who were in her convoy were injured in

the case. Several journalists were also assaulted during the attack.

On July 28, 2013, the High Court passed an order directing police to reconsider the case and conduct a fresh investigation The then BNP MP Habibul Islam Habib allegedly led the attack along with a gang of leaders and activists of the party’s youth wing Juba Dal and student wing Chhatra Dal. Former general secretary of Kolaroa Upazila Awami League Md Moslem Uddin went to file a case with Kolaroa police station, but they did not accept it.

He then filed the case with Satkhira judicial magistrate court in this connection, naming the then BNP MP Habibul Islam Habib as an accused.

The court ordered the Kolaroa police to investigate the case. Police submitted their report on it on December 25, 2003, claiming that the accusations cited in the case were not true.

Challenging the report, the plaintiff filed a no-confidence petition, which was dismissed by the court. Later, the plaintiff filed a revision petition with the High Court.

On July 28, 2013, the High Court passed an order directing the police to reconsider the case and conduct a fresh investigation in the case.

In a follow-up to the order, the Satkhira chief judicial magistrate court ordered the Kolaroa police station to take action against those who attacked Hasina’s convoy, mainly targetting her in 2002. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Pay Commission to submit pay scale report on Dec 11 n Asif Showkat Kallol The National Pay and Service Commission will submit the final report on the possible pay scale upgrade for government employees on December 11.

Commission Chairman Mohammad Farashuddin will submit the report, which will also include recommendations on administration reform and ways to enhance staff efficiency, officials at the Finance Division said.

The finance minister is going abroad in the middle of this month and the report would be submitted before his departure, the sources told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The recommendations came following the instruction of Finance Minister AMA Muhith, who wanted the administration to be more like that of the US government, and non-financial benefits for the government employees.

However, when the Dhaka Tribune contacted the commission chairman about the submission date, he did not confirm it and said: “I will submit it very soon.”

If the upgrade recommendation is approved, the pay raise will be as much as 80%, with the minimum pay being Tk7,000 and the maximum pay being Tk70,000. This will be the highest since 2009, when the public servants enjoyed a 74% raise. Other allowances will also be upgraded accordingly.

The report also proposed making the house loan as much as 60 times the basic salary of a government employee.

The number of salary grades is also likely to reduce to 16 from 20 grades under the current pay scale.

Time scale and selection grade are not be considered while implementing the upgrade either, as per the recommendation.

The proposed pay structure has been prepared considering the family size of

Azizur Rahman’s 23rd death anniversary today n Tribune Report The 23rd death anniversary of eminent politician, language hero and an organiser of the 1971 Liberation War Azizur Rahman is being observed today.

To mark the day, his family members have arranged special prayers both in the capital and his birthplace Dinajpur.

Azizur was born on November 1, 1920, in a respected family in Mohammadpur village under Dinajpur district.

He joined politics inspired by his father Moulana Akimuddin Sarker who was involved with anti-British movements.

The civil affairs adviser of sector 6 (half) and 7 was one of the close affiliates of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and was involved in the drafting of the 1972 constitution. l

six persons instead of four, sources told the Dhaka Tribune. The education expenses for children will be taken care of by the government, which includes textbooks and school tuition fees.

The commission also recommended that the government provide insurance coverage to its employees.

In order to enhance the employee efficiency as befitting with the modern times, the commission proposed to offer salaries similar to that in the private sector when appointing secretaries and joint secretaries.

A senior official at the Finance Division told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that if the pay commission’s recommendation of 80% raise gets approved, the Finance Division will have to allocate an additional fund of Tk18,00020,000 crore for the 2015-16 fiscal year in order to pay salaries to the government employees.

“We have not yet estimated the expense of non-financial benefits and administration reforms,” he added.

In the current fiscal year, the government allocated Tk38,000 crore for the payment of salaries and pensions of the government staff.

The Finance Division allocated Tk3,494 crore for 20% dearness allowance in the previous fiscal year, which came into effect on July 1 last year.

Last week, after a meeting with foreign delegates, the finance minister reaffirmed that the upgraded pay scale would come into effect on July 1 next year.

Upon receiving the report, a secretary-level committee will review the proposed recommendations and place it in the cabinet meeting, the minister added.

Presently, there are more than 832,000 government employees and around 500,000 pensioners in the country. l

NHRC Chair: Armed forces turning into corporate body n Tribune Report

Family members of the 180 Bangladeshi workers living in a dire straits at a construction site in Najaf of Iraq urges the government to repatriate them immediately along with befitting compensation. The photo was taken from the National Press Club yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

180 migrants in captivity in Iraq n Adil Sakhawat

Family members of 180 migrants, who were said to be living in captivity in the Iraqi city of Najaf, urged the government yesterday to take steps for bringing them back before the Victory Day. They came from 87 upazilas and spoke at a press conference at National Press Club demanding action be taken immediately by the authorities.

Career Overseas Consultant Ltd, a recruiting agency, promised the migrants lucrative jobs in Qatar but they ended up in a camp in Najaf, where they have been living for seven months, claimed the family members.

They said the workers had all valid documents, including passports and permit from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, but those were seized while in captivity.

The migrants were also tortured

when they implored the captors for sending them back, the family members said.

Zakia Begum, who came from Pirojpur, said: “I paid Tk3.5 lakh to send my son abroad. I do not want the money back, I just need my son here.”

Mamata Mondol, wife of Dashrath Mondol, said: “My husband earnestly requested me to do something to bring him back during our last conversation.

He said they do not get food or even drinking water regularly.”

The family members said they contacted the recruiting agency’s owner and also the ambassador of Bangladesh in Iraq, but no step had been taken to secure the migrants’ release or arrange employment for them.

They accused Bangladesh embassy officials of trying to save the recruiting agency.

One of them played an audio clip where Major Genreal Rezanur Rah-

Speakers identify obstacles to tapping Nurul’s widow demands maritime resources justice in an open letter n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Lack of coordination among authorities concerned, shortage of manpower and logistics, and insufficient enforcement of law are the reasons behind improper utilisation and insecure condition of the country’s maritime resources, biodiversity and economy.

The absence of a proper survey of the recently gained maritime boundary, insufficient facilities for fishermen and other stakeholders, and maritime pollution are also to be blamed, a seminar yesterday in Chittagong pointed out.

High officials of the navy and marine specialists of the country spoke at the seminar titled “Safeguarding

and Harnessing Maritime Resources of Bangladesh: A Strategic Roadmap for Economic Security” organised by Chittagong Naval Flotilla.

The seminar was held at Chittagong Naval Base BNS Isha Khan’s Command Mess Auditorium where Assistant Chief of Naval Staffs Rear Admiral AMMM Aurangzeb Chowdhury was the chief guest.

On the first day of the two-day event, the speakers recommended removing the obstacles immediately by taking necessary steps in order to maintain the huge maritime area.

They said the victory over maritime border had increased the role of navy, coastguard and other concerned bodies to ensure security and proper utilisa-

tion of maritime resources.

The navy high official said: “Forming an inter-ministry and inter-agency Maritime Security Committee at national level can be the best approach for maritime cooperation which will subsequently recommend other steps to articulate a common maritime strategy.”

Directorate of Fisheries-run Marine Fisheries Office’s Director (Marine) Nasir Uddin Humayun, Chittagong University’s Marine Science Institutes’ Director Dr M Shahadat Hossain, Bangladesh Coast Guard Deputy Director General Commodore Yahya Sayed, Bangladesh Navy’s Hydrographic Department Director Captain Mir Imdadul Haque and Captain Afzalul Haque presented their respective keynote papers. l

Speaker: Election of 153 MPs unopposed is legal n Tribune Report The 153 lawmakers who had been elected unopposed in the January 5 national election were not illegal, said the Speaker of the national parliament Advocate Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.

She said the parliament members were elected in line with the Represen-

man Khan, the ambassador, was heard saying: “If your [the migrants] family members sue the recruiting agency officials, nothing will happen as there will be no verdict.”

Families of many victims, who filed cases against the recruiting agency, said they were receiving threats to withdraw the lawsuits.

No official of the agency could be contacted for comments over phone.

CR Abrar, a professor at Dhaka University, said it was the government’s responsibility to do what is necessary for protecting the migrants as they had all legal documents while leaving the country.

Noted lawyer Dr Shahdeen Malik said seven months had passed but no action had been taken yet to bring back the migrants or arrange jobs for them.

“It appears that there is no accountability in this country at all,” he added. l

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Mizanur Rahman at an event yesterday claimed that the armed forces in the country are turning into corporate bodies.

Speaking at a mass hearing on the human rights of the indigenous community of the country, the NHRC chairman also said the acquisition of land owned by indigenous people was purely to protect the armed forces interest.

“We are proud of our armed forces; they keep our country safe. That is why when the government decides to get them the latest weaponry, fighter jets and other equipment to fight off threats to our national security, we applaud it,” Mizanur said at the hearing, where he was the chief guest.

“But when the same armed forces start to open banks and compete with the Public Works Department to get contracts, we cannot help but be worried that maybe, in the near future, we may have to establish a privatised force to uphold our nation’s security and sovereignty,” he said.

Seven indigenous people spoke about the sufferings of each of their communities at different places in the country.

Speaking about the violation of rights of the minority groups, Rana Dasgupta, one of the state-side lawyers at the International Crimes Tribunal, said: “I am the general secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council. But we did not fight in the war to have organisations like this. In 1947, 31% of our population were from the minority groups; it is not only 9%.”

Sanjib Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, said: “The grabbers are forcibly taking the indigenous people’s land, and suing them. The indigenous people are losing everything to fight the cases against them.”

The mass hearing was organised by the Institute for Environment and Development (IED) in the capital’s CBCB Centre. Presided over by Executive Director Numan Ahmed Khan, the facilitator of the institute, Oli Kuzur, presented the key note address at the event. l

tation of the People Order (RPO).

The Speaker made the comment while talking to journalists yesterday at a programme organised by Bangladesh Parliament Journalists’ Association in the capital. The event was organised to congratulate her and ruling party lawmaker Saber Hossain Chowdhury for being elected as chief of Commonwealth Parlia-

mentary Association (CPA) and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) respectively.

“The democracy of the country would have been hampered if the January 5 national election was not held. Also the posts of CPA and IPU would not have been achieved,” Shirin Sharmin said while replying to a query of a journalist.

“We both will try to resolve peo-

ple’s problem and improve their living standards in the region as well as the world,” the Speaker said.

Saber Hossain Chowdhury said: “These two wins mean that 6.5 billion people and 4,500 lawmakers from 192 countries around the globe are with us.

We haven’t faced any anti-campaign in the election from any corner.” l

n Tribune Report In an open letter to the countrymen yesterday, Ruby Rahman, widow of labour leader Nurul Islam, called for the arrest of the culprits involved with the alleged killing of her husband and only son.

The former Awami League lawmaker’s open letter was titled “Six years of the killing of leader Nurul Islam and an open letter to the country’s people.”

Investigators were urged to find out who called Nurul and who was on his way to Noakhali Nurul Islam was the president of Gonotontri Party and the Trade Union Kendro (TUC).

A nominee of the Awami Leagueled alliance for the 2008 parliamentary election for the Noakhali 1 constituency, Nurul died 36 hours after suffering burns in a mysterious fire at his Lalmatia apartment on December 3, 2008.

His son Tamohar Islam Puchi was burnt alive in the blaze. Ruby was not at home when the incident took place.

“I express disappointment as there

has been no development in investigation, although the government and prominent personalities of the society have soft corners regarding this. It has been three years since the probe team of the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research [BCSIR] submitted their report.”

She put forward three specific proposals. The first job should now be finding out who prepared the false loan default case documents.

Second, since chemical substance Osmium – which the BCSIR probe found at the spot along with arsenic and lead – is not available everywhere, investigators should move ahead with this clue.

Third, she urged investigators to find out who called Nurul, who was on his way to Noakhali, back to Dhaka on the day of the fire.

Lastly, she mentioned in the letter that before his death, Nurul had said in a television interview that he and his son were getting threats over phone.

The letter said the fire could not have originated from an electric short-circuit as was said in a police probe, because their apartment had a circuit breaker in place and their refrigerator was out of order for few days before the incident. l

Drug ‘addict’ husband beats wife for money n Tribune Report

Taufiqur Rahman, director of BRAC Dairy and Food Enterprises, at the inauguration of the ‘Dugdho Khamari Mela’ in Bhangura, Pabna yesterday. Senior officials of Aarong Dairy were present at the fair aimed to promote proper dairy farming practices

A woman was beaten by her husband in the capital’s Khilgaon area yesterday after she refused to pay him money for buying drugs.

The victim was Shahriar Rumi, 25, and was admitted to one-stop crisis center of Dhaka Medical College Hospital after the incident. She had married Mohiuddin six years ago and lived in Hazarpochanobboi Tilkapara of Khilgaon.

Rumi was a student of Eden College Law Department studying in the masters programme.

According to victim’s description, her husband demanded money from her in order to buy drugs in the morning. When she denied, Mohinuddin beat her with an iron road and kicked her brutally.

She said: “Before the marriage, inlaws said the groom is very pious, educated and dedicated towards work. I never knew that I was marrying with a drug addict.”

Rumi’s aunt Moni told the Dhaka Tribune: “Her husband used to work in a private firm during the marriage but he left the job suddenly and planned to start a business. According to the plan, he had set up a shop at Khilgaon but later he quit the business as well.”

“My niece used to say that Mohinuddin tortures her every now and then but it became unbearable in last seven months.” she added.

Moni said: “Her husband forced her to commit suicide after the beating but she managed to escape from the bedroom and locked it from outside.

Later when she contacted us, we took her to the hospital.”

Mohinuddin has a good rela-

tion with local drug dealers and sometimes he also worked as a salesman, claimed Rumi’s uncle Azizur Rahman.

When asked if a case has been filed, he said: “We hurriedly took her to hospital but we will file a case against her husband soon.”

OCC Coordinator Dr Bilkis Begum said: “There are several injury marks on the body of the victim. It seems she was beaten with heavy objects.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Study: Half of married adolescent girls face sexual violence

Police swoop on female protesters, 20 hurt

n Tribune Report

At least 20 people, mostly females, were injured in a baton charge by police while protesting in front of Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital yesterday.

The injured were students of Barisal Institute of Health Technology, and they blocked the road in front of the hospital at noon as part of the protest called by Bangladesh Diploma Medical Technology and Pharmacy Students’ Association.

The association called the programme to press home its 10-point demand.

“We were protesting peacefully but police attacked us out of the blue around 12 at noon,” claimed Md Hossain, convener of the association.

Lamia Sultana, one of the injured, echoed Hossain, saying police beat up the girls for no apparent reason.

“We did nothing that could compel police to beat us,” she said.

Another protester Tonny Afroz harshly condemned the police action.

She said a case should be filed against the law enforcers charging them with repression against women.

Police detained 14 students of the institute from the spot while the injured protesters were treated at the hospital.

Shakhawat Hossain, officer-in-

The rate of sexual harassment of adolescent girls is highest in Bangladesh where one out of every two married adolescent girls (15 to 19 years of age) faces sexual violence from her husband or partner, speakers told at a discussion citing a report.

Urging people from different spheres of the society to stand unitedly against child marriage, the speakers said citing a report of Unicef that about 5.6m children of primary and pre–secondary level in the country are dropped out because of child marriage.

They made the observation while addressing a discussion titled “Media’s Role to Combat Child and Early Forced Marriage (CEFM),” held at the National Press Club in the capital yesterday.

The Women Journalists Network, Bangladesh (WJNB) organised the event.

State Minister for Children and Women Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki, acting Canadian high commissioner in Dhaka Christian Tardif, UNFPA Representative in Bangladesh Argentina Matavel Piccin, Country Representative of UN Women Christine Hunter,

Deputy Representative of Unicef Louise Mvono, Editor of Daily Bhorer Kagoj Shaymal Dutta, Joint Secretary of the National Press Club Farida Yasmin and Programme Coordinator Angur Nahar Monty, among others, spoke on the occasion.

Senior Reporter of Prothom Alo Monsura Hossain presented the keynote paper at the event.

She said: “Everyone is aware of the bad impact of early marriage. In the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey, it was revealed that 66% of female get married before reaching the age of 18.

One out of every three girls is either conceiving or giving birth by the age of 19.

Meher Afroz Chumki in her speech said: “Child, early and forced marriages are among the many challenges in Bangladesh. The existing law has many loopholes.”

The new law regarding the child marriage prevention would be finalised after considering all aspects, she said and expressed hope that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would take the right decision over the issue.

Christian Tardif said accurate information and responsible journalism was

the key to make public and stakeholders aware about the benefits of ending early marriage.

“You [media] can be the vehicles of change and help spread the message to the young girls. Get educated, not married, just yet,” he said.

Child, early and forced marriages are among the many challenges in Bangladesh. The existing law has many loopholes The diplomat said Canada announced it would provide new funding for projects in six countries on the CEFM, including a US$ 1.5-million one with Plan Canada in Bangladesh focusing on empowering girls, mobilising communities and building and sharing evidence that supports delaying the age of marriage.

Argentina Matavel Piccin said media should keep writing on the issue with evidence and through proper

investigation.

“It is a social norm, it needs social revolution. It is one of the issues that cannot be changed overnight,” she said.

Appreciating the overall scenario, Farida Yasmin said awareness among all is very important apart from taking collective moves.

Christiane Hunter said journalists can talk to girls, their mothers and guardians and try to know their dreams. “Help materialise their dreams,” she said.

Louise Mvono said all had a shared responsibility. “Media, government or development partners cannot address the issue alone. We need to find ways to address the issue together. Media has a strong role to play and help girls get a better life.”

Shaymal Dutta said: “We cannot deal with the challenge alone. Media and the government have equal role to play to end child, early and forced marriage.”

Appreciating the idea of launching campaign through Facebook for the first time, he said: “I am really happy to know that a campaign has been launched through Facebook.” l

n Our Correspondent, Barisal

Tech Fest begins at IIUC in Chittagong n Tribune Report The two-day long Tech Fest-2014 kicks off at International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) on its Kumira campus of Sitakunda upazila yesterday.

Faculty of Science and Engineering of IIUC orgranised the festival.

Vice-chancellor (VC) of the university Professor Dr AKM Azharul Islam inaugurated the programme.

Professor M Kaykobad of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE) department of Bangladesh University Engineering and Technology (Buet) addressed the event as the special guest.

Professor Ahsan Ullah, chairman of Finance Committee of IIUC, and heads of different departments of IIUC were also present at the inaugural ceremony.

The VC said the IIUC had launched internet contest through the online for the first time where a lot of programmers and students took part in it.

Prof M Kaykobad said the IIUC have been ogranising the tech festival since 2003 which was the first IT festival at outside of Dhaka.

He said the programming team of the university had beaten the team of Indian Institute of Technology few years back which was very remarkable adding that to build “Digital Bangladesh”.

The senior teacher also asked the youth to emphasise over scientific research works using their merits and skill.

The two days tech fest has marked by different competitions and segments, including math Olympiad, project show competition, software development, inter-university programming contest. l

WEATHER

DRY WEATHER LIKELY THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:11PM SUN RISES 6:27AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 28 29 27 28 28 28 29 28

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

20 18 16 17 15 16 16 19

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

29.6ºC Cox's Bazar

13.3ºC Chuadanga

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:06am 6:25am 11:49am 3:35pm 5:12pm 6:31 pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

charge of Kotwali police station, said police initially asked protesters not to keep the road blocked but they refused to comply and even hurled brick chips at law enforcers, leaving two injured.

“We were forced to resort to baton charge to disburse the crowd and also detained 14 for interrogation,” he added.

But Suborna, another injured student, said the road where the protest was staged was not busy in terms of volume of traffic.

“We have been protesting since last month and today’s protest was absolutely peaceful. But still police beat the protesters,” she said.

Golam Rouf, deputy commissioner of Barisal Metropolitan Police, said protesters cannot make people suffer to have their demands met by blocking roads.

“They must approach the authorities concerned and submit their demands,” he said.

Sonia Aktar, one of the protesters, said the 10-point demand includes forming a diploma medical education board, creating posts as per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation at public healthcare institutes, and introducing degree and master’s courses for pharmacists holding diploma degrees for enabling them to enjoy firstclass status in public service. l

430 illegal structures demolished n Tribune Report

This is not a glass painting design. The ground on which the man is walking once used to hold water of the Buriganga River by the city protection embankment in Hazaribagh area of the capital. The photo was taken yesterday MEHEDI HASAN

Two mobile courts in separate drives knocked down at least 430 illegal structures from railway land and jailed one person for running water filter business illegally on its land in the port city’s Segunbagan and Halishahar areas yesterday.

During the drives, a mobile court led

by Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate Rakib Hasan sentenced one Samrat, owner of the water business establishment, to three months in jail in Halishahar area while the other court led by Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate Abdullah Al Mansur recovered around 3.5acres of railway land from the occupiers.

When contacted, Abdullah said the drive continued for four hours starting from 10:30am in Segunbangan area behind the Railway Museum and demolished at least 430 illegal houses and structures on the land out of 5-acre of railway land.

The drive was forced to halt as the bulldozer went out of order, said the magistrate. Rakib Hasan said his court pronounced the punishment to Samrat for having any legal document to run his business. Besides, the court fined another same sort of business establishment namely Jannat Enterprise Tk25,000 on the aforesaid ground and sealed off it. l

36 fortune seekers rescued in Chittagong, six held

Air monitoring centre launched at DU

n Tribune Report

n DU Correspondent

Bangladesh Coast Guard East Zone in a drive rescued 36 fortune seekers from a fishing trawler in Karnaphuli River of Chittagong on Tuesday night while they were being trafficked to Malaysia illegally.

Five crewmen of the fishing boat and an alleged human trafficker, Kabir, 60, were arrested in this connection, said coast guard sources.

Captain Shahidul Islam, zonal commander of Bangladesh Coast Guard (East Zone) said being tipped off, a

team of coast guard raided a Saint Martin Island bound wooden fishing boat in Karnaphuli River around 10pm.

Later, 36 fortune seekers who are mostly from Magura, Tangail, Jossore and Narsinngdi districts were rescued from the boat, he said, adding that five crewmen of the boat had also been arrested during the drive.

Captain Shahidul said based on crewmen’s confession coast guard and Kotwali police conducted a drive in Fisheryghat area of Patharghata and arrested the human trafficker Kabir.

The official said the rescued persons

boarded on the trawler in Chittagong city’s Sadarghat area and were supposed to be handed over to a mother vassal bound for Malaysia which reportedly anchored in the deep sea near Saint Martian Island.

They were handed over to the Patenga police station while a case was filed with the police station in this regard, said Captain Sahidul.

Earlier, coast guard had rescued 625 persons from deep see far from Saint Maritain Island while they were trafficking to Malaysia illegally on November 17. l

A modern Air Quality Research and Monitoring Centre (AQRMC) have been established under the science faculty of Dhaka University.

The inaugural ceremony of the centre was held yesterday in Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of the university, said a media release.

The AQRMC has been set up with the support from Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) of the University Grants Commission (UGC), in which World Bank and Bang-

ladesh Government would finance under a sub-project in collaboration with Wuppertal University, Germany.

The event was followed by a seminar titled “Air Quality and Its Consequences: Global Perspective” in the same venue.

Addressing the program, UGC Chairman Prof Dr AK Azad Chowdhury said Bangladesh is the worst sufferer of climate change, air pollution and global warming. DU Pro-Vice chancellor (Administration) Prof Dr Shahid Akhtar Hossain gave a briefing on the AQRMC’s establishment and functions. l

JU butterfly fair begins tomorrow n JU Correspondent To press the importance of butterflies in maintaining the ecological balance, Butterfly Fair 2014 will commence for the fifth time at the Jahangirnagar University (JU) tomorrow.

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Prakriti O Jibon Foundation are the organising partners of the fair with JU zoology department.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam will inaugurate the fair at 9:30am in front of the Zahir Raihan Auditorium while Noted film maker Catherine Masud is expected to join as a special guest.

Convener of the fair Zoology Prof Dr Monwar Hossain told the Dhaka Trib-

une: “Butterflies of many kinds have already extincted because of different natural and man-made disasters, the initiative is to protect and produce such rare species of butterflies in the university.”

VC Prof Farzana is scheduled to lay the foundation stoºne of a butterfly research centre adjacent to the Wazed Miah Science Research Centre.

Prof Monwar said they had been producing good number of butterflies of different types at the butterfly research centre.

Around 80 species of alive and 150 species of preserved butterflies will be on display. The fair includes a drawing competition for the children, photo exhibition, documentary screening, kite flying and other cultural programmes. l

Members of Rajshahi Rokkha Sangram Parishad chant slogans demanding supply of adequate gas to CNG filling stations, restaurants and households while besieging the office of Nawdapara Gas Company yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

6 Youth stabbed to death n Our Correspondent,Gazipur A youth was hacked to death by unidentified miscreants in Chakrabarti area under the district on Tuesday night.

The victim was identified as Nizam Uddin,30,son of late Nozor Ali of Ashulia area in Savar.

SI Zakir Hossain Zakir Hossain of Chakraborti police out post said Nizam went out around 11pm over a phone call.

When he reached Bokkorertek near his residence, a group of miscreants hacked him indiscriminately leaving dead on the spot.

On information, police recovered the body and sent it to Gazipur Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.

The police suspected that he might be killed following a land dispute.

A case was filed with Joydebpur police station in this connection. l

Firearms, ammo recovered n Our Correspondent,

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Allegations of bribes irregularities surface in PDB project n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha Allegations of bribes and irregularities have surfaced in a Power Development Board (PDB) project at Sadar upazila in Gaibandha.

The bribe allegations are that the project was expanded outside the town area illegally and in exchange for bribes.

The irregularities allegations are that the town area should get priority as per the project, but it was not followed.

Gaibandha Nagarik Andolon convenor Mirza Hasan told the Dhaka Tribune that there were still live wires that are supported on the bamboo poles at many places in the municipality, posing a danger to people and other animals.

Even, there is no power supply in the extended parts of the municipality, he said, adding that he was now at a loss to understand why the project was expanded in the rural area when such conditions exist in the town itself.

This correspondent recently visited the rural areas where power lines were distributed under the project in the district and heard of bribery behind expanding the power lines in the rural area.

Former member of Ramchandrapur Union Najibor Rahman told this correspondent that some Tk1 lakh had to be paid as bribe for power lines through Khejurteili village. Komoronnoi village’s inhabitant Abdul Hai said they, the villagers, had given about Tk3 lakh as bribe for power supply in the village.

Businessman Shahjahan Mia, who lives at Hashembazar village, said he and his villagers had given around Tk1 lakh for taking power lines through their village. He claimed to be one of those who had given bribe for power connections in the village.

Fulchhari upazila Awami League unit General Secretary Selim Parvez said around Tk1.5 lakh had to be paid as bribe to have 10 power poles built from Kanchipara Union’s rice mill to Mondolparah in the upazila.

When PDB’s Gaibandha Executive Engineer Zulker Nain Shafi was asked about all these allegations, he said: “I heard about this, but none has yet filed any complaint in this regard.”

The project rules lay down that the town area must be given priority but

this was not followed here. Rather, the rural area was given priority, ignoring its needful implementation in the municipality, he said.

Sub-Assistant Engineer Matiar Rahman, who is in charge of implementing the project in the district, said there had been no exchange of bribes for expanding power lines in the rural area. He added that the project was expanded in the rural area as per its rules.

When Rangpur Regional Executive Engineer Lufar Haider Chowdhury was asked about this all, he only said power lines had been expanded beyond the town area as per the project. Besides, there were demi-official letters from very important persons for expanding and overhauling power lines in the area. l

Chapainawabganj

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh recovered three pistols, six magazines and 12 bullets from Kaliganj area at Mankasha border point in Shibganj upazila yesterday.

Additional director Major Sheikh M Mizanur Rahman of BGB Battalion-9 said on a tip-off, a team of the border force conducted a drive in the area and recovered the firearms and ammo in an abandoned condition.

However, there was no arrest in this connection. l

The photo taken yesterday shows farm labourers are engaged in chopping potatoes for using as seed. As harvest of Aman paddy ended a few days ago, farmers of the district have become busy with potato cultivation. The photo was taken from Borshia village under Tanore upazila, Rajshahi Azahar Uddin

n Our Correspondent, Chandpur

Students of Old Parapur Government Primary School under Haziganj upazila, Chandpur attend a class at playground as their school building is too risky for use DHAKA TRIBUNE rooms,” he also added.

“Earlier, we urged the authorities concerned to construct a new building but they turned a blind eye to the matter,” he further said.

Md Motaleb Hossain, headmaster of the school said: “Education of 271 students is seriously hampered as we have to teach them outside the school.”

“We are yet to receive any govern-

ment allocation till now. I urge the authorities to take measures to rehabilitate the school soon,” he said.

The upazila primary education officer Abdul Awal said they would send a letter to the higher authorities to construct a new school building.

UNO Sheikh Mursidul Islam said that a tin shed building would be build up soon. l

NEWS IN BRIEF Worm cloths distributed in Nilphamari At least 100 people received worm cloths distributed by a non-government organisation in Sadar upazila yesterday midnight.

Sources said NGO Nilphamari Manabik Unnayan Kendra made the distribution among the cold affected poor people. While contacted, the NGO’s Director Asad Ali confirmed it. – Our Correspondent, Nilphamari

Two fined for illegal sand lifting in Munshiganj

A mobile court fined two people Tk50,000

A case was filed against seven people for killing a thief in mass beating at Songerdigi village under Sripur upazila, Gazipur yesterday.

Azizul Islam, son of Nuru Mia who was killed in the mass beating, filed the case with Sripur police station.

According to the case, some people of the village, including Shamim Moral and Harun Moral, had killed Nurul Islam over previous enmity.

But accused of the case claimed that they did not any enmity with him and they did not take part in the beating.

Police said Nurul Islam along with his five to six associates had gone to steal poultry brids from a farm owned by one Abdus Salam at SIngardighi village around 3:30am on Saturday.

Sensing their presence, workers of the poultry farm started screaming.

The locals came to the spot and caught Nurul Islam, but his others associate managed to flee.

Later, the angry mob gave him a good beating, leaving Nurul Islam seriously injured.

On information, police rushed to the spot and rescued him from the people and sent him to Gazipur Sader Hospital where on duty doctor declared him dead. l

Chapainawabganj

Parapur primary school students attend classes in the playground The students and teachers of 100year old Parapur Government Primary School under Haziganj upazila of the district have been attending classes under the open sky for the last one year as the school building is too risky for use.

School sources said the school founded in 1914 has become vulnerable over the years in absence of any repair work. Cracks developed in its roof, beams, walls and floors and rain water enters the classrooms through these cracks.

In 1994 the authority repaired the school building but recently a big portion of plaster has fallen from the roof.

In the last monsoon, there was a frequent rain in the area that compelled students to take shelter in the nearby houses.

“We are very afraid to attend classes in the rooms,” said Samia,Nasrin Khatun, Jannatul Nayma Akhi, Snigdha, Rabbi Hossain, Mohana Khatun, Laboni Khatun, Ahad Mahumud, Sharmin Nahar, some students of the school.

The president of school committee Mizanur Rahman said one year ago, the building was declared abandoned.

“We stopped taking classes in the

n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Medicine allotted for govt hospitals seized n Our Correspondent,

Drug peddler held in Gazipur n Our Correspondent, Gazipur A drug peddler was arrested with 250 yaba tablets in Baghia area under Gazipur city corporation yesterday.

The arrested was identified as Tofiz Uddin Tofu, 35, son of Bashir Uddin in the area.

SI of Konabari police out post Sayeed Mohammed Azharul Islam said, on a tip-off, police arrested Tofiz along with the drug. The police said Tofiz had been doing the drug business in the area for a long time. A case was filed in this connection. l

Seven sued for killing alleged thief in mass beating

on charge of illegally lifting sand from the Meghna river under Gazaria upazila on Tuesday night. Gazaria navy police outpost incharge Mir Shakawat Hossain confirmed the incident, saying the court led by Gazaria UNO Mahbuba Bilkis caught seven workers in Char Ramjannagar area while lifting sand from the river by dredger machines and fined two of them. – Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

Human chain for 7-point demand Activists of Nagorik Committee, a platform of locals, formed human chain in Satuail area in the district town yesterday de-

manding a seven-point demand, including stalking. Locals also joined the programme held in the morning. – Our Correspondent, Chapainawabganj

Drive against illegal gas connection A local mobile court conducted a drive of disconnecting illegal gas connection at Birasar village on the outskirts of the district town yesterday.Executive Magistrate Sabbir Hossain led the drive while he was accompanied by some officials of Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Ltd and police.

– Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

Police seized huge quantity of medicine allotted particularly for public hospital from a pharmacy in Debinagarboard area of Sadar upazila yesterday.

When asked, Sadar police station OC Jasim Uddin confirmed the incident, saying a team of police, on a tip-off, conducted the raid on the shop owned by one Khairul Islam and seized various sorts of public medicine worth around Tk2.75 lakh.

However, the owner managed to shun the arrest sensing the presence of police who later sealed off the shop.

A case was launched against the owner in this connection. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Round Table

7

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction October 13 of 2014 marked the Disaster Risk Reduction Day; the Department of Disaster Management, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and Centre for Disability in Development jointly organised a round-table discussion with the support of BMZ, Malteser International and DiDRRN to highlight the concerns of the elderly and the persons with disabilities in disaster risk reduction programme

NASHIRUL ISLAM

n Tribune Desk Md Ataur Rahman

This year’s emphasis is on the elderly and their needs during a disaster. Some of the needs of an elderly person and those of a person with disability are often similar in a number of ways. We would love to see a disaster management system which addresses the needs of everyone including women, children, the persons with disabilities and the elderly.

AHM Noman Khan

created a team and had discussed on flood preparedness measures at length.

When the flood hit we utilised CDD’s accessible boat to rescue people. The rescued were allocated into a school building and my own house, but we soon ran out of food. I started calling elected representatives and government officials for support.

Finally and rather desperately, I spoke to the District Commissioner and at about 11pm, food arrived. A number of people would have definitely starved to death if food had not arrived when it did. Prior to training in these matters, I was not fully aware of my rights and flood preparedness. I have now come to a point where I’m not all that concerned in taking as much as giving and raising awareness in the community.

fact the true definition of resilience.

The wealth of wisdom acquired over decades by the elders of our society is irreplaceable and we must utilise this wealth fully.

UNCRPD did not add any new rights for the persons with disabilities it only removed restrictions faced by the persons with disabilities from exercising their rights. Article 11 of the UNCRPD calls States Parties to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters. Bangladesh has ratified the CRPD, we must now ensure that concerns of persons with disabilities are considered in DRR.

Dr Muzharul Mannan

Sonya Syafitri

Bangladesh is recognised globally for its success on disaster management.

During cyclone Aila and SIDR, we could significantly minimise the loss of lives due to our improved risk management skills. We must now think of the elderly and the persons with disabilities throughout the disaster management cycle. During a disaster, these people face the full brunt because they are often less prepared than others and the environment is not conducive.

As an organisation, we started focusing on the inclusion of persons with disabilities during the late 90s, and we have worked with (I)NGOs and the government on many common agendas. We are happy to receive a positive response from the MoDMR including the DDM on disability-inclusion. We look forward to a Disaster Risk Reduction framework which is inclusive of the needs of the persons with disabilities and the elderly.

Disaster risk reduction is all the more important for our country because it faces disaster on an annual basis. With a little thought, elaboration and execution, we can minimise a lot of barriers faced by persons with disabilities in a disaster situation. We must remember that the needs of persons with disabilities depend to a large extent on their disability. The needs of autistic people during disaster situation could well differ from others. It is hence imperative that we consider all disability groups including autistic people for a well integrated disaster management process.

Md Mostafizur Rahman

Md Saidul Huq

We don’t always need a lot of monetary resources to ensure the inclusion of the elders and persons with disabilities in DRR. We can get a lot done by simple actions. Something as simple as an inclusive early warning mechanism can bring down a significant number of casualties. The elders hold much knowledge of their environment; we should take feedback from them and incorporate their opinions while planning inclusive DRR. We mustn’t forget that elders and persons with disabilities can make valuable contributions.

It’s not sufficient that we open our eyes to the horrors that disasters bring upon the most vulnerable; we must open our minds to them so that we become truly inclined to do something about mitigating those circumstances. The UNCRPD has taken a definite stand for considering persons with disabilities in humanitarian crisis.

Our government has not only ratified it but also passed the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disability Act 2013. Now the responsibility rests on our shoulders that we ensure its implementation.

Badhshah Miyah

Dr Nafeesur Rahman

Prior to a disaster, CDD had provided us with training in disability inclusive disaster risk management. We had

The way we face annual disasters, rebuild in the aftermath and know that the next year will be no different is in

Bangladesh has come a long way in managing disaster.

But when we are broaching the subject of an integrated system, we need a far more collaborative approach. Individually and separately we are all doing a lot, but we feel that if we can bring all our efforts under one umbrella, a lot of obstacles will be automatically overcome and we will be well on our way to a truly integrated risk reduction system.

Dr Mahbuba Nasrin

When dealing with knowledge it’s always sensible to reach out to the ones with experience.

When we study a flood prone region’s local history we discover when and with what warning signs floods have occurred there in the past.

But it’s secondary to firsthand experience. The UN first focused on the elderly in 1991 with a policy and a slogan which said, “Towards a society for all ages.” After all these years why do we find ourselves making a full circle back here again?

This is precisely because we are not accustomed to investing thought about the elders in our society. The more complex society becomes the less we care about the older generation. We can approach it with three phrases in mind, “in need, invisible and invaluable.” If we can discuss this with principles, without discrimination and set minimum standards, if we can make

the most of the storehouse of knowledge and insight carried by the elders, we can begin moving towards a truly integrated system in disaster management.

active in risk prone areas. All that is left is to make it inclusive of the needs of the elderly and the persons with disabilities.

Muhammad Saidur Rahman

If we take a look at the global timeline of DRR, we will notice that we are at a critical stage; HFA2 will be finalised in 2015. When HFA was initiated in 2005, unfortunately disability was not included in its fold.

The inclusion of disability in the HFA2 framework is crucial, because once it is included on a policy level, resource allocation will take place which will in turn make way for implementation and practice. As a member of the civil society we can only raise our voices in the matter, but it is the government that can effectively influence other governments and institutions to include disability and older age issues. We are hopeful that the issue will be raised by the government in the upcoming Prepcom 2 in November 2014. We need to keep raising the issue so that it is eventually included in HFA-2. We also need to ensure that our implementation phase is inclusive as well. Finally, when speaking of building back better, if at the initial stage we can include the issues of disability, I believe it will save us a lot of adjustments later.

Bangladesh is proud to be a global leader in disaster risk management, but we do not have room for complacence.

We have to go a long way in order to understand the full extent of the meaning of resilience.

Although the term is being defined in various ways, a number of elements associated with resilience are universally accepted. There has to be a capacity to absorb shocks, a capacity to continue performing a minimum set of functions in spite of absorbing shocks and most importantly the capacity to bounce back. Resilience is not restricted to the elderly and the persons with disabilities alone, it has a much wider context and it requires the cultivation of an inner strength that can also be sustained. Vulnerability does not arise simply out of old age or disability, lack of access to necessary resources has its implications as well.

We must address the main limitations holding back sustainable resilience, which are poverty, exploitation, social exclusion and economic exclusion. Our national budget stands at $30bn, consequently, resilience would not have been an issue if this fund could have been distributed and invested effectively among the needy. It is therefore of utmost importance for the poorest communities to be empowered and made aware of their rights and privileges regarding access to public resources, if we are to build a truly resilient nation.

Mohd Shahnawaz Qureshi

Bangladesh is known for being a disaster prone country and is famous for implementing effective disaster management programmes. Back in 2010, when I had gone to Gaibandha to discuss flood-preparedness, a number of people found it extremely odd that we were discussing floods, which wasn’t due for many more months.

It is truly inspiring to see that in four years we have made a lot of progress in awareness and that people have received training and community level disaster management committees are

Nazmul Bari

Md Quamrul Hasan

According to the theme of IDDR, in case of a disaster, we are to address everyone including children, the youth, older people and persons with disabilities. Our plan talks about 19 ministries having to work on 134 actions. We can meaningfully address the needs of older people and persons with disabilities only when we have effective inter ministry coordination. We need to ensure that those of us who work on disaster risk management should receive training so that they can address the issue of disability. We also need to improve our overall monitoring mechanism for safety net programme.

Mohammad Abdul Qayyum

We need to determine and implement strategies so that in the aftermath of disaster we can not only bounce back but bounce back better. Adding to that, the livelihood combination isn’t diverse enough

for the people of our country. For example, if along with fishing, there was rickshaw pulling, fishing net production trade and other miscellaneous tasks that bring money, the fishermen would have been better off. We have had discussions regarding the exact number of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh. We may not have an exact figure but the number is still large in our country.

They are the people who face the brunt, making the trips back and forth from rescue centres and returning to their homes. The elderly are perceived as having two relationships with society at large. On one end they’re a liability, on the other end they are an asset. The elders are in fact inseparable members of our family, we take care of them and in turn we make use of the wealth of wisdom they have gathered over the decades. In terms of utilising the knowledge of the elders we need to identify exactly how and where they can contribute.

Mohammad Abdul Wazed

The people of Bangladesh are resilient and are bouncing back after each disaster due to our collective efforts on disaster management. We must recognise the contributions of all people, including persons with disabilities, elders and other marginalised groups. We shouldn’t neglect them, rather we should consider how we can gain from their experiences. We have Disaster Management Act, Policy, Standing Order and other documents.

We had taken efforts to consider inclusiveness while developing these documents. We must now ensure that these acts and policies are implemented in such a way that persons with disabilities are not excluded. We cannot succeed in sustaining our development gains if disaster risk reduction is seen as the sole responsibility of our ministry; it concerns all ministries and they too should address DRR in their programmes and allocate required resources.

We need to review relevant policies, identify the gaps and then undertake initiatives to make these inclusive. We know that in 2015 the HFA–2 will be finalised. The Zero draft has mentioned disability-inclusion, which is encouraging. We will certainly take efforts from our government that HFA-2 considers disability issues with importance. The Prep Com 2 meeting will be organised in November in Geneva where our ministry will participate and raise the issue of disability-inclusion in the Post 2015 DRR Framework. l

ROUND-TABLE DIALOGUE ‘RESILIENCE IS FOR LIFE AND INCLUSIVE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION’ CHIEF GUEST

Mohammad Abdul Wazed, Department of Disaster Management

CHAIRPERSON

Mohammad Abdul Qayyum, Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme

MODERATOR

Dr Nafeesur Rahman, National Forum of Organizations Working with the

Disabled

IN ATTENDANCE

AHM Noman Khan, Centre for Disability in Development Nazmul Bari, Centre for Disability in Development Md Shahnawaz Quraishi, CBM Bangladesh Muhammad Saidur Rahman, Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Centre Md Monwarul Islam, Action on

Disability and Development ADD International Dr Mahbuba Nasrin, Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies, Dhaka University Kamran Jacob, Save the children Dr Kamranul Baset, Centre for injury prevention and research Bangladesh Md Kamruzzaman, Islamic Relief Bangladesh, Climate Change adaptation and disaster resilience

Nasiruddin Ahmed, Gono Unnoyon Procheshta Moniruzzaman Khan, Brac University, Centre for Climate change and environmental research Razia Sultana, Centre for Disability in Development Sonia Syafitri, Oxfam Bangladesh Naser Showkot Haydar, National Alliance for risk reduction and response initiative

Shafikul Islam, Handicap International Md Ataur Rahman, Department of Disaster Management Towhidul Islam Tarafder, Muslim Aid Mustafizur Rahman, HelpAge International Bangladesh Sayedul Haque, National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled Md Badshah Miyah, Member of Ward Disaster Management Committee,

Haripur, Sundarganj Dr Muzharul Mannan, Centre for Neurodevelopment and Autism in Children, Global autism Md Quamrul Hasan, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Badiuzzaman, Friendship Moni Krishno Roy, Centre for Disability in Development Broja Gopal Saha, Centre for Disability in Development

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Iran believed to have launched air raids on IS in Iraq n Reuters The United States has indications that Iran has carried out air strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq in recent days, US officials said yesterday.

A senior Iranian official denied that Iran had launched air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had indications that Iran had carried out air raids using F-4 Phantoms in the last several days.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told a news briefing on Tuesday the United States was not coordinating its military activities with Iran and added that it was up to the Iraqis to manage Iraqi air space.

“It’s the Iraqi air space and (Iraq’s) to deconflict. We are not coordinating with nor are we deconflicting with Iranian military,” Kirby said. Deconflict in military parlance means to avoid overlap.

The prospect of US and Iranian militaries separately carrying out air strikes in the same country raises questions about the degree of advanced co-

ordination that might be needed, even indirectly, to avoid a mishap.

A senior Iranian official said no raids had been carried out and Tehran had no intention of cooperating with Washington.

“Iran has never been involved in any air strikes against Daesh (Islamic State) targets in Iraq. Any cooperation in such strikes with America is also out of question for Iran,” the senior official said on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, in Brussels for a meeting of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, said he had no information about any air strikes.

While Shi’ite Iran and the United States have been at odds for decades, they have a common enemy in IS, the hardline Sunni militant group that has taken over large areas of Iraq and Syria.

Iran backs the Iraqi Shi’ite militias which are battling Islamic State and has sent senior commanders to help advise the Iraqi army and militia operations since the radical Sunni group seized large parts of northern Iraq in the summer. Iraqi officials say there are no Iranian troops on its soil. l

World

Thursday, December 4, 2014

THE REEDEMER RISES

The Christ the Reedemer statue surrounded by clouds atop the Corcovado mountain, seen from Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

‘No threat’ from Ukraine Over 150 killed in Boko Haram raid in Nigeria’s Damaturu on Monday neuclear accident n Reuters, Kiev An accident at a nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya in southeastern Ukraine poses no danger, Ukrainian energy authorities said yesterday, an assessment later corroborated by the French nuclear institute IRSN. Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said the accident occurred on Friday in one of the six blocks at Zaporizhzhya, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, and was caused by a short circuit in its power outlet system. The incident was “in no way” linked to power production, he told a news conference.

“There is no threat ... there are no problems with the reactors,” said Demchyshyn, who took up his post in a new government only on Tuesday. He add-

England’s King Richard III identified with DNA

ed that he expected the plant to return to normal operations on Dec. 5.

An explosion and fire at Ukraine’s Chernobyl power plant in 1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident, was caused by human error and a series of blasts sent a cloud of radioactive dust billowing across northern and western Europe.

France’s public nuclear safety institute IRSN said it had not detected any unusual radioactivity in Ukraine after Friday’s accident amd that it presented no danger to the nearby population or environment.

“We have two sensors installed on the roof of the French Embassy in Kiev, and the embassy has not signalled anything unusual,” Michel Chouha, the IRSN’s official representative for Central and Eastern Europe, told Reuters. l

n AFP More than 150 people, including 38 police, died in a Boko Haram raid on the northeast Nigerian city of Damaturu this week, police, a rescue official and a health worker told AFP yesterday.

A senior rescue official and a medical source at the city’s Sani Abacha Specialist hospital said 115 bodies were brought to the morgue after Monday’s attack, although it was not clear whether they were insurgents or civilians.

All 115 were in civilian clothing, but it was not certain whether they were all non-combatants, the sources said.

Among the dead were two medical doctors, a staff member of the federal

polytechnic in the Yobe state capital, and his two children.

Six soldiers were also killed, the sources added. Emmanuel Ojukwu, spokesman for Nigeria’s federal police, said: “Out of the police, we have 38 deaths.”

Most of the police killed were at the mobile police base in the Gujba Road area of the city, Ojukwu said, confirming eye-witness testimony from residents that the facility was attacked.

One local man, Umar Sada, said at the time that the gunmen, who began their attack at about 4:45am (0345 GMT) on Monday, burnt down the police barracks.

The heavy loss of life came after an increase in mass casualty attacks

blamed on the militants, who have been fighting since 2009 to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

Also on Monday, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at a market in the Borno state capital, Maidiguri — less than a week after two other women killed more than 45 at the same location.

Last Friday, two suicide bombers and gunmen killed at least 120 worshippers at the central mosque in the northern city of Kano, which has been repeatedly hit by Boko Haram attacks in the past.

Neither the military nor the state government in Yobe said they were in a position to comment on the casualty figures when contacted by AFP. l

Errant navigation satellite reaches new orbit n AP, Berlin The European Space Agency says a navigation satellite that ended up in the wrong orbit has completed a corrective maneuver.

The agency said Wednesday that the fifth Galileo satellite, launched Aug. 22, has risen 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) to gain a more circular orbit.

It says the satellite’s navigational systems were switched on in late November and the signal is “good and in line with expectations.”

The same maneuver is planned for a twin satellite also launched into an errant orbit. l

UN begins inquiry into attacks and weapons in Gaza n Reuters, Gaza The United Nations has begun investigating Israeli attacks that hit UN facilities during last summer’s Gaza war and how Palestinian militants came to store weapons at several UN schools, officials said yesterday.

A team of UN investigators arrived in Gaza on Tuesday to conduct the inquiry, three months after the war ended.

They had already met with Israeli representatives in Jerusalem. The investigation is expected to last three weeks.

“They are visiting the affected sites, they are conducting meetings and interviews with people who were involved,” Robert Turner, the director of operations for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza told reporters. l

Egypt sentences 185 to death over attack n Agencies

AC RO S S T HE G RE E N LI NE

n AP, London

Scientists say there is “overwhelming evidence” that a skeleton found under a parking lot is that of England’s King Richard III, but their DNA testing also has raised questions about the nobility of some of his royal successors.

The bones of the 15th-century king were dug up in the city of Leicester in 2012, and experts have published initial data suggesting they belong to Richard, including an analysis of his curved spine and the injuries that killed him.

Richard was the last English monarch to die on a battlefield, in 1485.

In the new study — probably the oldest forensic case ever solved — scientists compared DNA from the skeleton to living relatives and analysed DNA data identifying eye and hair color, which they matched to the earliest known portrait of the king.

“The probability that this is Richard is 99.999%,” said Turi King, a geneticist at the University of Leicester who led the research. When she and colleagues compared the skeleton’s DNA obtained from the ground-up powder of one tooth and a leg bone to samples provided by a 14th cousin on Richard’s maternal side, they found a perfect match. l

AFP

An Egyptian criminal court has sentenced at least 185 people to death pending an appeal process and approval from the country’s top religious official.

They are accused of involvement in a “massacre” of 11 policemen last August in the town of Kerdasa, in the west of Cairo, in one of the country’s deadliest assaults on security forces.

The attack happened on the same day that security forces cleared two protest camps supporting overthrown President Mohammed Morsi, killing hundreds in the process.

The ruling is preliminary and subject to a lengthy appeals process.

Tuesday’s decision also requires a non-binding opinion of Egypt’s top religious authority, after which the court will issue a final verdict. l

Arrested woman not IS leader’s wife n AP, Baghdad A Palestinian hairdresser works with Israeli Jewish customers at a hairdressing salon, owned by a local Palestinian woman, at the Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit Safafa in Jerusalem on Tuesday. The city has long been divided. Western districts are mostly Jewish while Palestinians live to the east - over the invisible ‘Green Line’ that marked the line separating Israel and Jordan until a 1967 war when Israeli forces took over East Jerusalem REUTERS

Germany targets coal plants to reach 2020 climate goals n Reuters, Berlin Germany’s cabinet yesterday agreed plans to cut CO2 emissions by up to 78 million tonnes by 2020, pushing operators to shut some coal-fired plants, to help Europe’s biggest economy meet bold targets to fight climate change, government sources said.

The broad package, which includes an energy efficiency program, is essential if Chancellor Angel Merkel is to avoid the embarrassment of missing her government’s goal of a 40% reduction in emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

The government has said sectors from power to transport must step up efforts if

Germany is to meet the target, more ambitious than the EU’s goal of a 40% reduction by 2030.

“The energy package has gone through,” said one government source. Details will be released at a news conference later.

Conservative Merkel has made Germany’s shift toward renewable energy and away from nuclear and fossil fuels a top domestic priority, a move accelerated by Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 although launched under her Social Democratic predecessor Gerhard Schroeder in 2000.

The closely-watched experiment has hit traditional energy firms, as shown by utility

E.ON’s radical decision this week to spin off its power plants to focus on renewables and electricity grids.

The cabinet’s agreement comes as talks between about 190 governments get underway in Lima, Peru, to lay the groundwork for a UN deal to slow climate change.

After big initial strides in cuts with the modernisation of East German industry after reunification in 1990, CO2 emissions are on the rise again. The most contested step in the package is compelling coal plant operators to reduce emissions by at least 22 million tonnes, equivalent to shutting about eight plants.

Coal accounts for about a third of Germany’s CO2 emissions.

The BDI industry group says Merkel’s plans will hurt the export-oriented economy and jobs. Environmentalists it does not go far enough. Greenpeace activists set off black smoke outside Merkel’s office and shouted: “Exit coal to protect the climate!”

Although about 25% of power generated in Germany comes from renewables, around 45% still comes from coal.

The package, which will require several different laws to go through parliament, envisages savings of 25-30 million tonnes of CO2 emissions via a national energy efficiency plan to modernise buildings and improve insulation. It also includes incentives for electric cars and stricter rules on fertilisers and waste. l

An Iraqi official denied Wednesday that a woman detained in Lebanon is a wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, adding that she is the sister of a terror suspect being held in Iraq.

The statement by Iraq’s Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim adds to the confusion surrounding the identity of the woman and child who were detained about 10 days ago in northern Lebanon travelling with a fake ID. Lebanese officials said the woman, Saja al-Dulaimi, is believed to be the wife of the reclusive IS leader who was held by Syrian authorities and freed in a prisoner exchange with the Nusra Front, Syria’s al-Qaida branch, earlier this year.

The interrogation of the woman was being supervised by Lebanon’s military prosecutor.

It was unclear what would have brought the woman and child to Lebanon, where IS controls no territory and enjoys only small support in some predominantly Sunni Muslim areas. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Pakistan, India and Israel to give up nuclear weapons n Agencies A United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on working towards a nuclear-weapon-free-world yesterday called on Pakistan, India and Israel to voluntarily drop their nuclear weapons, said a report by Business Standard.

The report further stated that the resolution was passed to achieve a nuclear weapon-free world and the three nations were called upon to comply with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) unconditionally as non-nuclear-weapon states.

The resolution also asked Pakistan, India and Israel to keep their nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, meaning they must also give up their ability to manufacture nuclear weapons. The United States joined India in voting against this part of the resolution and Pakistan and Israel also voted against this provision. Meanwhile, France, Britain and Bhutan abstained from voting.

The provision was passed with 165 votes in the 193-member UNGA, with 21 countries absent.

Britain, Israel, North Korea and Russia also joined the US and India in voting against the overall resolution, but it passed with 169 votes, While Pakistan, China, Bhutan, Micronesia and Palau abstained from voting.

The report also states that this resolution and similar ones, are not binding under the UN Charter and are symbolic in nature. It mentions that in another resolution, the UNGA asked nations to take strong measures against terrorists having access to weapons of mass destruction.

One more resolution called for lowering the operational readiness of nuclear weapons to reduce international tension. According to the resolution, several thousand nuclear weapons have remained on high alert even after the end of the cold war. The resolution requested the five nuclear states to re-analyse the nuclear doctrines and take actions to lower the risk of the use of nuclear weapons. l

11 more bodies recovered near sunken SKorean ship

n AP, South Korea

Relatives of victims of the South Korean ferry ‘Sewol’ sit before the sea at Jindo harbour on April 20, 2014. Divers began to locate bodies on April 19 inside a submerged South Korean ferry as the detained captain defended his decision to delay evacuation of the ship when it capsized nearly four days ago with 476 people on board AFP

Rattled by Chinese submarines, India joins other nations in rebuilding fleet n Reuters, New Delhi India is speeding up a navy modernisation program and leaning on its neighbors to curb Chinese submarine activity in the Indian Ocean, as nations in the region become increasingly jittery over Beijing’s growing undersea prowess.

Just months after a stand-off along the disputed border dividing India and China in the Himalayas, Chinese submarines have shown up in Sri Lanka, the island nation off India’s southern coast.

China has also strengthened ties with the Maldives, the Indian Ocean archipelago.

China’s moves reflect its determination to beef up its presence in the Indian Ocean, through which four-fifths of its oil imports pass, and coincides with escalating tension in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing’s naval superiority has rattled its neighbors.

“We should be worried the way we have run down our submarine fleet.

But with China bearing down on us, the way it is on the Himalayas, the South China Sea and now the Indian Ocean, we should be even more worried,” said Arun Prakash, former chief of the Indian navy.

“Fortunately, there are signs this government has woken up to the crisis,” he said. “But it will take time to rebuild. We should hope that we don’t get into a face-off with the Chinese, that our diplomacy and alliances will keep things in check.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gov-

ernment has ordered an accelerated tendering process to build six conventional diesel-electric submarines at an estimated cost of 500 billion rupees ($8.1bn), in addition to six similar submarines that French firm DCNS is assembling in Mumbai port to replace a nearly 30-year-old fleet hit by a run of accidents.

The country’s first indigenously built nuclear submarine - loaded with nuclear-tipped missiles and headed for sea trials this month - joins the fleet in late 2016. India leased a nuclear-propelled submarine from Russia in 2012 and is in talks to lease a second one, navy officials told Reuters.

The government has already turned to industrial group Larsen & Toubro Ltd, which built the hull for the first domestic nuclear submarine, to manufacture two more, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Elsewhere in the region, Australia is planning to buy up to 12 stealth submarines from Japan, while Vietnam plans to acquire as many as four additional Kilo-class submarines to add to its current fleet of two. Taiwan is seeking US technology to build up its own submarine fleet.

Japan, locked in a dispute with China over islands claimed by both nations, is increasing its fleet of diesel-electric attack submarines to 22 from 16 over the next decade or so.

In addition to the leased Russian nuclear-propelled submarine, India’s navy currently has 13 ageing diesel-electric submarines, only half of

which are operational at any given time due to refits. Last year, one of its submarines sank after explosions and a fire while it was docked in Mumbai.

China is estimated to have 60 conventional submarines and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, including three armed with nuclear weapons.

Ma Jiali, an expert at the China Reform Forum’s Center for Strategic Studies which is affiliated with the Central Party School, said Beijing’s top concern in the Indian Ocean was safeguarding the passage of its commodities, especially oil.

“There are many voices in India who believe the Indian Ocean belongs solely to India, and no other country belongs there. That line of thought is common – but of course it shouldn’t be viewed like that. Our (China’s) view is that there should be dialogue and discussion between China and India.”

With India building its navy to about 150 ships, including two aircraft carriers, and China holding around 800 in its naval fleet, the two are more likely than not to run into each other, naval officials and experts say.

David Brewster, a strategic affairs visiting fellow at the Australian National University, said India will do everything it can to recover its dominant position in the Indian Ocean.

It may seek naval cooperation with Japan and Australia, and expand a military base on the Andaman Islands which lie about 140 km (87 miles) from the Malacca Straits, he said. l

n Reuters, Hong Kong Leaders of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement surrendered to police yesterday for their role in democracy protests that the government has deemed illegal, the latest sign that the civil disobedience campaign may be running out of steam.

Three founders turned themselves in a day after calling on students to retreat from protest sites in the Asia financial center amid fears of further violence, just hours after student leader

Joshua Wong had called on supporters to regroup.

Pro-Beijing groups taunted Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming as they entered a police station just two subway stops from the main protest site in Admiralty, next to the Chinese-controlled city’s financial center.

The three, accompanied by Cardinal Joseph Zen, 82, former Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong, filled in forms, giving personal information, and were allowed to leave without facing any

n Reuters, Beijing China said yesterday Britain has had no moral responsibility for what happens in Hong Kong since its return to China, as the two countries argue about Beijing’s ban on a group of British members of parliament visiting the city.

The British parliament held a threehour emergency debate over the ban on Tuesday, with members warning it would damage relations between London and Beijing. [ID:nL3N0TM4CE] The row has escalated since Sunday, when the chairman of the British parliament’s foreign affairs committee said he had been told by Chinese embassy officials that his delegation would be refused entry to Hong Kong

to monitor progress towards democracy.

Protesters have been on the streets of Hong Kong for more than two months, calling for greater democracy in their city, a British territory which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that allowed it to keep wide-ranging freedoms and autonomy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying, asked to comment on whether Britain still had any responsibility for Hong Kong as a signatory to the agreement to hand it back to China, said that was not the case.

“Britain has no sovereignty over a Hong Kong that has returned to China, no authority and no right to over-

North Korean citizens hoping to name themselves after Kim Jong-Un in the near future are out of luck, because the leader has banned the use of his moniker, and ordered those who already have it to be “trained” to change it.

According to the Daily Mail, South Korean television obtained a leaked internal document from the state that included an “administrative order” to army, police and government officials to establish the new legislation.

“All party organs and public secu-

rity authorities should make a list of residents named Kim Jong-Un... and train them to voluntarily change their names,” it reportedly reads.

Those caught with the name Kim Jong-Un, it continued, would have their identity cards, school diplomas and official documents briskly adjusted.

Birth certificates baring the dictator’s name would also be rejected.

“Authorities should make sure that there is no one making unnecessary complaints or spreading gossip... regarding this project,” the Mail further quotes the document as reading. l

Indian forces kill 6 militants crossing Pakistan imam accused into Kashmir to disrupt vote of blasphemy Soldiers killed six militants near the border with Pakistan in the Indian state of Kashmir, the army said yesterday, in the biggest single-day shootouts in months at the heavily militarised border.

The encounter took place in Kupwara in northern Kashmir late on Tuesday, hours after voters turned out in large numbers for a state election that separatists and militants are opposed to.

One soldier was killed and four

wounded in the gunbattle that lasted several hours, an army officer said.

India has been worried this year that Pakistan-based militant groups fighting foreign forces in Afghanistan will turn their attention to Kashmir once the pullout is completed there.

Last week militants wearing army uniforms attacked an Indian army base near the border with Pakistan, leaving 10 people dead in the worst militant violence inside the disputed state in more than a year.

Tuesday’s bid to breach the fenced

border took place even after heavy snow blocked routes in the mountains, the army officer said. “They have used sophisticated equipment to infiltrate through the snow,” he said.

Traditionally the infiltration takes place in the summer months because the high mountain passes are closed off in winter. Tens of thousands of people, weary of decades of strife, have been taking part in the staggered vote that will end later this month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is making an audacious bid to win power in Muslim-majority Kashmir. l

charges.

Police said 24 people aged between 33 and 82 had surrendered for “taking part in an unauthorised assembly,” and authorities would conduct follow-up investigations based on the information provided.

More than 100,000 people took to the streets at the height of the demonstrations but numbers have dwindled to a few hundred, mostly students, and public support has waned as the protests blocked key roads and disrupted business. l

China says Britain has no moral responsibility for Hong Kong

n Agencies

An Indian paramilitary soldier checks the identity of a civilian during curfew in Srinagar, India. Parts of the city were under curfew after Indian army soldiers killed two Kashmiris at a check-point in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district on Monday AP

Fishermen recovered 11 more bodies from the western Bering Sea Wednesday near where a South Korean fishing ship sank earlier this week.

The bodies appear to be from the ship lost Monday in the waters near Russia, according to an official from the foreign ministry who didn’t want to be named citing office rules. One fisherman’s body was recovered Monday and seven fishermen were rescued. More than 50 went missing when the ship sank on Monday.

The bodies were found by fishing vessels searching the debris of the sunken Oryong 501, said the ministry official.

Furious relatives have blamed the company and the ship’s captain for not doing enough to save their family members.

Rough seas and bad weather mean there is little hope that anyone will be found alive.

Coast guard helicopters from Russia and the United States and at least five fishing ships were searching for the missing, according to an official from Seoul’s foreign ministry, who didn’t want to be named citing office rules.

The US rescue ship Munro should arrive Thursday to help the search effort. l

Hong Kong ‘Occupy’ leaders surrender

Kim Jong-Un ‘bans the name Kim Jong-un’

n Reuters, India

9

Thursday, December 4, 2014

n AP, Pakistan Pakistani police opened a blasphemy investigation targeting a pop singer who became Islamic preacher over him allegedly insulting one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, a senior police officer said Wednesday.

The accusation is the latest in a wave of blasphemy-related cases in this Muslim-dominated country, which often see minorities targeted.

Officials opened the case Tuesday against Junaid Jamshed in Karachi, po-

lice officer Sheraz Nazeer said. He said police responded to a complaint by the Pakistani Sunni Tehreek party over a video released last weekend. In the video, Jamshed appeared to insult one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad while making a point about women’s flaws. Jamshed swiftly apologised in a video statement Tuesday.

“I confess to my mistake,” he said.

“I did not do it intentionally.”

But the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek party rejected his apology, saying he must be tried in court. l

sight. There is no such thing as a moral responsibility,” she told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

“The real aim of a small minority of British people trying to use so-called moral responsibility to obscure the facts is to interfere in China’s internal affairs. Such an attempt cannot succeed, and is something China certainly cannot accept.”

Moves by Beijing to control nominations for a 2017 vote for Hong Kong’s leader have prompted the weeks of protests.

On Monday, thousands of democracy activists forced the temporary closure of the city’s government headquarters and clashed with police. l

Two minors raped in Indian schools

n Agencies

A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a minor in the campus of a school in west Delhi’s Rohini. In Bengaluru, another tree year-old baby was raped, twice, in the premises of a private school, PTI has reported.

In Delhi, The 17-year old boy , who is a student of class 10, allegedly raped the class 9 girl inside the school located in Sector 9 in Rohini on November 25.

In Bengaluru, The accused, a school attendant, was arrested on November 30 after the mother of the victim registered a police complaint, city police commissioner M N Reddi told PTI. l

‘Modi must apologise to people of Kashmir’

n Agencies

In the wake of the controversy over the hate speech by Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah yesterday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise to Kashmiris.

“Kashmir is a Muslim majority state and the Prime Minister who will hold a rally in Srinagar must apologise to the people of Kashmir as his cabinet colleague has used abusive language for people like us,” Omar told reporters on the sidelines of an election rally here. Asking BJP as how the party now expects votes from the people of Kashmir when such derogatory words have been used for the people. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Thursday, December 4, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Make strategic use of Malaysia talks

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

W

e welcome reports that the Malaysian automobile company Proton plans to build a car manufacturing plant in Bangladesh.

This may bring many spin-off benefits by building skills and knowledge and by using local manufacturers of components and spare parts feed into their supply chain. Bangladeshi companies have already been successful in such fields, for example in supplying batteries to the global car industry.

It is vital that the government uses trade talks to attract more such investments our way.

Efforts to improve our infrastructure by building a deepsea port and improving regional connectivity, via the BCIM corridor and the BIMSTEC initiative, are key to the future of our economy. Developing relations with the big three Asian economies of China, India, and Japan are of critical importance to these endeavours.

While Malaysia’s interest in building low-cost housing, supplying railway carriages, and tourism infrastructure in Bangladesh are welcome, it is important that we make strategic use of our geographical advantages and growing market to maximise the value we get out of such deals.

The government needs to use talks with Malaysia to encourage technology and skills transfers and to level the playing field for our exporters.

It should focus talks with Malaysia more on opening up competition and investment that benefits both our economies, than on being content with increasing our supply of low-cost migrant workers. Our battery producers, for instance, pay 29% duty on exports to Malaysia compared to 3% by China and India and zero by Asean countries. Malaysia must be asked to remove such duties to help build closer trade relations.

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One imprisoned for biting a law enforcer November 27

Encourage technology transfers and level the playing field for our exporters

Put CHT Accord into practice

I

t is long overdue for the government to fully implement the CHT Accord.

The 1997 CHT Accord was a major achievement of Sheikh Hasina’s first term in government. However, subsequent governments of both the AL and BNP, and the 1/11 caretaker administration have dragged their feet about fulfilling key provisions.

As the original signatory, the prime minister has a special responsibility for ensuring the CHT Peace Accord is properly implemented. Full implementation is vital to fulfill the state’s duty to protect the rights of all citizens and to help bring peace and prosperity to the CHT. It is disquieting that, 17 years after the historic treaty was signed, significant provisions remain fulfilled.

Contrary to the government’s claims, the PCJSS believes less than a third of the 72 treaty provisions have been fully implemented.

Land rights stand out as the key concern because the government has not empowered the CHT Land Dispute Resolution Commission to ensure indigenous people’s land rights. Matters are made worse by new land disputes still arising. According to Blast, in 2011 alone, at least 7,118 acres of land belonging to indigenous people were grabbed

by Bangalee settlers in the three hill districts.

Reports of abuse and discrimination by authorities remain high, and there have been notorious incidents of civil rights campaigners being targeted for intimidation and violence. The government must take heed of the warning given by Santu Larma that the PCJSS will launch a non-cooperation movement from next May, if concrete steps are not taken to ensure full implementation of the Accord.

Fulfill duty to protect the rights of all citizens and help bring peace and prosperity

“Pedestrians claim ‘being in rush’ to escape fine; 255 jaywalkers fined Tk13,075.”

It’s not enough to start imposing this law on pedestrians before widening the narrow overpasses, removing the vegetable and other vendors from those foot over-bridges, and providing adequate comfortable means to cross for the people with health concerns and disabilities.

For safety, and for Dhaka itself, pedestrians should especially be given the privilege and right of way.

Train drivers of motorised vehicles to accept that this is the global norm of the civilised world.

All the infrastructure should be in place first, that can accommodate the volume and variety of people who are forced to make these crossings under a number of limited options, and only then should the government fine or object if pedestrians are not using the outdated and extremely few foot over-bridges.

Shamim Ara Sumi And this is the face of our nation.

Ruhaini Fatema Islam Jaywalking and biting … gosh!

Nazmul Khair How funny!

Aman Chowdhury

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 11 represents M so fill M every time the figure 11 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

SUDOKU How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

Broken airways November 27 Babul Sarwar We all know how the chairman was appointed.

Should we blame the Biman chairman or the PM herself? Why was the constitutional committee report on Biman not even discussed in the parliament?

Parties need funds for election; the ruling party is doing just that. This is what has always happened. This is the way things work. The seed of corruption itself is sitting essentially in the very election system of our country.

Banking on faith

November 20

When nature calls November 20 Umair Well-written article! Here, we are just dependent on authorities/NGOs, when we should not be.

We need to spread awareness through a strong voice. Simply, the people should recognise the importance of having good, working toilets.

Providing such services would be a good idea for a sustainable change.

Aminul Islam Sujon Umair: Thank you so much for your appreciation and comments. Yes, I agree with you in a sense that we should not depend on authorities and NGOs. Actually, large-scale NGOs are not working in this field. Only a few small-scale NGOs are working, and they focus on policy rather than construction.

However, a policy change or policy decision can make a big difference. The media, in general, also does not seem much concerned with it. So, a comprehensive strategy is necessary for us. rose “1 billion people around the world still do not have access to toilets, and are forced to go out in the open.”

No one can turn a blind eye to this issue.

Proper toilets should be built for both men and women in places where they are needed. And they should be kept clean and tidy.

Evil People Politics “The time has possibly come for the central bank to think of investing more of their quality time to further streamline Islamic banking.”

Islamic banking is just another option in banking, and it never hurts to have options.

Xislamic Banker There is no alternative Islamic finance system.

When you have multinational banks mired in financial crises, like Citi and HSBC offering Sharia products, it’s just a market segment for them. And it doesn’t achieve the halal purity people may be seeking. As for these institutions creating new instruments, well, that’s getting away from trade finance and into speculation/paper trades.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Aminul Islam Sujon rose: I agree with you, but in reality, women and physically-challenged people are suffering a lot due to lack of sanitation. In fact, you are right that men also need clean toilets, which are not available currently.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Garden tool (5) 6 Level of equality (3) 7 Lawful (5) 10 Worship (5) 12 Musical instrument (4) 13 Shifted (5) 15 First man (4) 16 Little devil (3) 18 Printers’ measures (3) 20 Gull (4) 22 Worth (5) 23 Fashion (4) 25 Representative (5) 27 Of birth (5) 28 Regret (3) 29 Impressions left by blows (5)

DOWN 1 Scanty (6) 2 Cushion (3) 3 Fragrances (6) 4 Lift (7) 5 Seize suddenly (3) 8 Deity (3) 9 Loose soil (4) 11 Slender stick (3) 14 Gem (7) 16 Resident doctor (6) 17 Adhesives (6) 19 Satellite (4) 21 Equip (3) 22 Encountered (3) 24 Water storage (3) 26 Fastener (3)

Lisa It’s difficult for the privileged to comprehend the fact that there are still thousands of people in our country who do not have access to sanitary toilets.

This issue definitely needs more attention from the government and different NGOs. Aminul Islam Sujon Lisa: Thanks, and I agree with your views.

ACC Commissioner Sahabuddin to undergo surgery in Singapore November 19

Momoaswan Is it too much to ask that government officials and rich Bangladeshis spend the cost of an aircraft on hiring more tonotch doctors inside the country, so they don’t keep jetting off overseas? Flights can’t be that good for patients anyway.

Dr Ahsan Habib Hopefully this ordeal will teach him to be more honest with people, and he will no longer issue clearances to corrupt individuals in the country.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

PEANUTS Four sentenced to death for Pakistan ‘honour killing’ November 20

RS “Pakistan has one of the highest rates of violence against women globally. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says some 869 women were murdered in honour killings in 2013.”

It is high time that women in Pakistan get united and fight for their rights. Yes, this might prove to be abstruse but it is not impracticable or impossible.

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Victims of emotion

B

n Ziaur Rahman

angladesh is a country of many extremes. It is a country where the people have achieved success against insurmountable odds. On the other hand, we see nonsensical and idiosyncratic attitudes among the public and students at certain times.

A country that ought to be resolutely supporting the fair demands of the society turns a deaf ear against the outrage and ravenous acts of the mob and students who, at times, take the law into their own hands due to emotional outbursts that defy logic. Their capricious whims often create severe stress and destruction to public and private property, and the outrage turns so fierce that perhaps they themselves lose sight of the wrongdoings they perpetuate.

This form of unruliness has become a national disease and a habit. A cure is necessary

I am speaking of the aftermath of a deadly traffic accident where, unfortunately, a person is either killed or badly mutilated. The common scenario is repeated like an old record where either the driver or the helper (in case of public transport) tries to flee and the public runs after the alleged criminal(s), and if caught, chances are they are beaten to death or near death.

No level of civil and rational questioning ever dawns in the heads of any person directly in the chase to apprehend the persons on the run. The

first instinct is to beat the driver and/ or helper to near death. Public outcry fuels the maddening effort in exacting justice then and there, without even taking into consideration the faults, if any, of these poor individuals.

In most instances, the police gallantly arrives at the tail-end of the furore that either nabs or almost crushes the lives of the helpless driver or helper. The only logic that drives the mob into dispensing medieval justice is the fact that the driver or the helper is guilty. Why else would they flee the scene? An innocent person should stand tall and face justice, right?

No. In Bangladesh, emotional uproar grips everyone in seconds and even the most rational person gets hypnotised into thinking that the driver or his associate is at fault. This behavioural outburst has become a systemic malfunction within our people’s psychology. Therefore, special awareness programs by the government, road transport authority, municipalities, transportation associations, universities, NGOs, and private organisations need to be undertaken so that Bangladesh slowly, but surely, moves away from such attitude demonstrated only by ruffians and people of unsound minds.

On the second issue connected to the consequences of the accident, we notice an even more pervasive frenzy orchestrated by the people on the street hitherto not even connected to what transpired between the vehicle, its driver/helper, and the unfortunate person run over or badly struck.

The people in the surrounding vicinity are normally instantaneously gripped by extreme passion, anger, and frustration. They try to attack the vehicle, posing extreme risks upon themselves and other passersby. The vehicle, in most cases, is set ablaze or its body damaged beyond repair, as if the vehicle had a soul and the public are relentlessly beating the soul into submission.

The brunt of this unhealthy and over-exuberant reaction is that the owner of the vehicle, the people

Vandalism solves nothing within and around the vehicle, and the insurance company all chip into the damage for a cause hopelessly frustrating and asinine to say the least.

The public is determined to redeem vengeance for the wrong done on the street by this vehicle without even reflecting for a second that perhaps the person run over was in a hurry and jumped into the street without looking at the movement of traffic and, therefore, tragedy took over.

No one seems to wait for sense and sensibilities to set in. The most disturbing news arrives when the driver is able to abscond with or without the vehicle. The public rises to the occasion and takes every measure to burn and brutalise every vehicle and moving target in sight with fire and every conceivable instrument of destruction and disfigurement.

The discussion above brings me to cite a real life story that took place

In pursuit of happiness

BIGSTOCK

n Mahir Ahmed

I

n my experience, happiness is not something that you look forward to achieving, nor is it something you are born with. Happiness is a state of mind that comes through experiences, epiphanies, and above all, positive habits. As I creep into my late 20s, I wanted to share some things I have learned along the way, which helped me grow as a person. This is not a list to help the clinically depressed. These are just some thoughts which I believe are important for anyone to consider.

I spent the vast majority of my early 20s worrying about things to come. My mind was always in a perpetual state of anxiety or depression about the uncertain future. Eventually, I figured out that worrying is like a rocking chair – it occupies you but doesn’t get you anywhere. I realised this because I never appreciated any present moment.

I forgot that “living life” involves appreciating aspects of daily life — savouring the brisk early morning run, admiring your surroundings during your walk to class, and engaging your inner social animal through conversations with those around you. Whatever your rituals may be, they are all part of the journey to find your passion.

Learning to embrace daily life was an important turning point for me.

Dream big. Whatever you are passionate about, if you can use it to empower your fellow humans, you must chase it. Do not let anyone tell you that your plans are too idealistic.

The human body is capable of incredible things, and the mind is capable of sheer brilliance.

We have survived the torrid journey of evolution up until there were over 7 billion of us who inhabit this planet.

No matter what setbacks and failures you endure, you will always be able to bounce back because that is the human condition. As long as we are alive, we are resilient.

You must stand tall for change. In the current state of the world, there are millions who are under abject poverty. Changing that with ideas and work must be the fundamental core of our livelihood. People who discredit big ideas and change as “impossible” do so because they are not confident in their own capability. They are the ones who will only consume. They will always distract you from making a difference. Do not bother pleasing them because they love to see icons fall.

My dream has always been to do things to help the people of Bangladesh grow. I would love to see this resilient population become a competitive force in the developing world. Many residents of Dhaka will tell you: “Dhaka is doomed because it is too unlivable.” I am also one of them. Yes, it is ranked as one of the most unlivable cities in the world.

Even though the residents of Dhaka, including myself, rebuke the unlivable conditions, we forget that over 20 million people are making a living here.

The 2012 happiness index ranked Bangladesh as the 11th happiest country in the world out of 151 countries

that took part in the study. When I think of this, I take a deep breath and recognise how incredible it is to have been born a Bangladeshi. It truly is a priceless privilege.

There is a stark difference between pleasure seeking and happiness. I know a thing or two about material wants. I know that we – the consumers – can become engulfed in unlimited wants in a world with limited resources. During my college years, I was amazed by all different types of designer wear and, like many people, I wanted to buy the mall. Like most people, I was a victim of marketing.

The mass media simply promotes the culture of self-indulgence and pleasure-seeking, whose activities always have diminishing returns.

Everywhere you go, you can see big adverts that convince you to buy their products. It primes your brain to want those products. This is why marketing is a billion dollar industry. It works.

My body is the only physical attribute I own in this world. Ancient Greek scholar and philosopher Socrates once said: “No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

Two years ago, I decided to quit smoking. It was interfering with my athletic capabilities. At some point, it became important to train seriously in order to reach athletic milestones. Lifting weights, running, and pushing my body to its limits have taught me a lot about persistence and perseverance.

To keep the mind sharp, you have to keep the body active. I noticed that most people who describe themselves as happy engage in some form of regular exercise.

Sometimes, you get so involved in yourself that you forget to take the time and appreciate how fortunate you are. I know I have forgotten this many times. The struggle about growing up is accepting the situation you are in and appreciating it for what it is. All I know is my happiness arrives when I sit down, take a deep breath, and appreciate my fortunate circumstance amongst the wonderful people in my beloved Dhaka city. l Mahir Ahmed is a freelance contributor.

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

in Dhaka only a few days back, that augured enough emotion within my soul to actually pen this article. A student passed away due to a collision between two buses recently in Dhaka, and I am deeply saddened. There are no words of comfort for his family. Life is too precious to be lost due to such an accident.

The country truly requires safer travel ways and safer journeys to be introduced with a more effective traffic planning system, proper use of zebra crossings, and footpaths cleared for passersby. Otherwise, the people are exposed to the great risks of walking on the streets where vehicles ply at high speeds.

Additionally, I am also saddened by the magnitude at which the students of Islamic University vandalised 35 buses in a protest against the death of a student of their university in a traffic accident. The emotional outburst was

so acute that the students became unruly and set fire to others’ properties.

While the country mourns the death of every citizen in any unfortunate traffic accident, the actions of the students/public in this, and other cases following the accident is downright barbaric and uncivilised. It is high time that the country, its universities, and the administration deal with these unruly students, regardless of their affinity towards any political party.

This form of unruliness has become a national disease and a habit. A cure is necessary. Vandalism laws should be stringent and should also apply to people who destroy the property of innocent citizens. The need of the current society has to be reflected in the penal code, and with severe associated punishment, we will be able to curb the level of unruliness amongst the public.

Finally, it is never desirable that

when one bus runs over an unfortunate citizen, the public delivers the brunt of the accident to another few dozen vehicles that took no part in the accident. Why should the innocent fall under this severe punishment, and how are they safe on the road when accidents do happen? And more pertinently, what should the government do to ensure citizens’ awareness against this horrific onslaught of road accidents and subsequent vandalism?

The perpetrators of vandalism should be brought under severe punishment, and unless strong measures are taken, we shall continue to see more burnings of private and public property and even loss of life due to the spreading of fire on the streets, let alone negative country-branding. Let our community rise as citizens to put a stop to this evil behavioural trait. l Ziaur Rahman is CEO, IITM.

No real choice n Dhiman Chowdhury

U

niversities, particularly public universities, in Bangladesh, still follow the age-old practice of allowing students the choice to answer a specified number of questions from the available total. Elsewhere, at home and abroad, there are variations in the practice. In American and Canadian universities, this choice is uncommon.

In the UK, Australia, and Japan there is a mixed system. In professional and civil-service examinations in our country, all questions have to be attempted.

Even in our public universities the choice system appears to be inconsistent – the universities allow choices in regular examinations, but in the university entrance examinations, all questions have to be answered. In public universities, this choice system is compulsory. In the private universities, the practice depends on individual teachers – there is no official policy on this.

Having a choice in questions has two problems: First, different students answer different bundles of questions. As a result, evaluating students becomes similar to comparing apples to oranges. While grading the scripts, teachers cannot keep track of the various standards by which the different sets of questions were evaluated.

Secondly, it leaves the possibility that students may not go through the entire syllabus, instead opting to study selective chapters and ignore the rest.

This can be very harmful. Studying the broader syllabus is necessary to fully understand the subject.

Any content of the syllabus is quite related to the other – one complements and supplements the other.

This maintains an internal consistency.

Teachers do not start teaching a chapter before completing its related and prerequisite chapters.

In some areas, universities design their curriculum in collaboration with and under the consultation of various prospective employers. For example, business faculties, particularly that of accounting departments, consult with professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

These professional bodies want their students to know the various contents of a subject, and they in particular

require that the tests cover issues from the whole syllabus.

Students do not attempt to tackle strange and unseen questions in the choice-based system. When a choice is given, a student tends to pick the common questions and delivers the answers which he has already studied and had prepared. He does not have to think any further. But when he has to answer all the questions – both seen and unseen – then his job becomes more challenging. He has to tackle unforeseen situations, which is an important part of the education and examination system, particularly in universities.

In our country, because there is a choice-based system, students and their parents often ask teachers for “suggestions,” which translates to marking specific, important chapters that are more likely to appear in the examination. This is a common problem in the education sector, from primary to university level. If the choice-based system is withdrawn, this behaviour would go away as students would have to study the whole syllabus.

When a choice is given, teachers have a tendency to prepare difficult questions for the tests. The questions they prepare turn out to be more technical, more difficult, and sometimes, entirely unrealistic. They think that since a choice is given, students must work hard to find the answers. But if students are required to answer all the questions, teachers keep in mind that the purpose is not to examine the stu-

dents for their technical skills alone, but to examine whether the students have enough knowledge on all the topics of the subject.

Here, the purpose is to see if students can think, rather than being able to just answer questions perfectly.

Also, students can get better grades in the “whole syllabus” system. In the choice-based system, since fewer questions are to be answered, each question carries higher marks, and if a student cannot answer a question, they stand to lose more marks. In the whole syllabus system, there are many questions, and each question carries smaller marks. If the students cannot answer a question, they lose fewer marks.

In the choice-based system, the teacher usually looks for a definite answer, which tends to be more rigid.

On the other hand, when the students have to answer all the questions in a test, the teacher looks for a closer answer.

Giving choices in answering questions in an examination is not without reasons. For example, the probability of getting common questions is higher, therefore the examiner needs less time to check answer scripts. But, the reasons and arguments for a whole syllabus examination system, as explained above, appear to be stronger.

Better knowledge is based on adequate grounds and complete evidence. l Dhiman Chowdhury is a professor of Accounting in Dhaka University.

BIGSTOCK

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, December 4, 2014

13 Rodriguez helps

Real into Copa del Rey Last 16

14 Emotional

farewell for Hughes

14 Pak–NZ T20

trophy dedicated to Hughes

Sport

Did you know?

Only two of Steven Gerrard’s last 19 Premier League goals have come from open play

LRB slams BCB n Tribune Desk

Dhaka Premier League defending champions Legends of Rupganj owner Lutfar Rahman Badal slammed the Bangladesh Cricket Board for manipulation and conspiracy against his side and after their third league loss on the trot Badal threatened to withdraw his club.

“I have talked with my committee and I may withdraw my team from the league,” said Badal, after losing to Prime Bank CC, to the media personals present at the BKSP 3 ground yesterday.

He claimed a group within the cricket board is working to tarnish his image and as a result targeted the downfall of his club.

“There is no use of fighting against this board as I am alone in the frontier.

The board is full of thieves, the umpires who officiated the match between Abahani and Legends of Rupganj were allotted intentionally to manipulate the results. If you see the record you will find the same umpires officiating in the relegation matches, they are sent to fulfill the purpose,” he added indicating the poor quality of umpires.

A couple days back Badal delivered a written protest to the media alongside informing the BCB president Nazmul

Hasan about the issues. Badal believes the BCB chief himself is involved in the conspiracy and said, “The president of the board may pronounce himself as a neutral person but he himself is involved with the manipulation.”

“A man named [Ismail Haider] Mallick is involved with all the activities off the field, fixtures, umpires – while another director – [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon is a man with many faces. He is in fact a disgrace to the board, he is core to everything inside the board. Director, head of development, coach of one team, manager of other – what do you expect from them? Cricket can never develop under them,” said Badal.

When quarried if the allegations were made out of emotion, he said, “No, I am always talking about these things, I have been spending money for the sake of cricket, if the board thinks it will degrade my team, they can do it.”

“The board president yesterday (Tuesday) said he knows nothing, but he knows everything. Without the instruction of Mallick no umpire can move anywhere.

“Gazi Sohel was the umpire during the match of my team, Abahani lost and he was suspended. The top umpires were absent in the match of top two teams of the point table,” he said. l

King’s Cup-winning Sheikh Jamal DC captain Nasir Uddin Chowdhury (C) and coach Maruful Haque (L) alongside the other footballers and officials are all smiles upon their return to Dhaka yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Legends of Rupganj lose third in a row Naeem guides MSC to narrow win, Prime Doleshwar thump Old DOHS Shakib claimed 1/32 from his quota of give Mohammedan a close win. scored a painstaking 56-ball 23. n Mazhar Uddin Sheikh Jamal batsman Shahriar NaNational paceman Rubel Hossain 10 overs.

Bangladesh’s first ODI centurion Mehrab Hossain Opee in a light-hearted mood yesterday during the DPL match between Mohammedan-Sheikh Jamal DC in Mirpur.

Opee made a comeback to domestic cricket after a long time MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Parash-Shapla progress in BD Open Badminton n Tribune Desk Bangladesh shuttlers Ahsun Habib Parash and Shapla Aktar moved to the second round in the mixed doubles event of the Yonex-Sunrise Bangladesh Open International Badminton Challenge yesterday with a comfortable victory over Nepalese pair Pankaj Chand and Amita Giri.

After winning the opening set 21-11, the Bangladesh pair strolled to victory with a 21-13 win in the second set.

However, the result for the other two Bangladesh pairs were not satisfying as Tushar Krishna Roy-Rehana Parvin and Jabed Mostafa-Alina Sultana crashed out of the tournament losing to Nepal’s Bikash Shrestha-Nangsal Tamang and Ratnajit Tamang-Sara Devi Tamang respectively.

Among the other matches on the day, Satinder Malik-Kristi Das of India and Wee Gieen Tan-Yen Wei Peck of Malaysia also progressed to the round of 16 by securing wins in their respective matches. Meanwhile in the women’s singles, Ozge Bayrak (Turkey), Neslihan Yigit (Turkey), Lee Zii Yii (Malaysia), Kapuru Mudiyanselage (Sri Lanka) and Saili Rane (India) reached the pre-quarterfinal round beating Riya Pillai, Shruti Mundada, Brishty Khatun, Negin Amiripour and Nangsal Tamang respectively. l

Following the conclusion of the bilateral series against Zimbabwe last Monday, the eighth round of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League got underway yesterday at different venues with the participation of the Bangladesh cricketers.

Premier all-rounder Shakib al Hasan’s Legends of Rupganj suffered their third defeat in a row after being toppled over by table toppers Prime Bank at BKSP 3, Mashrafe bin Mortaza’s Mohammedan pipped Sheikh Jamal DC to an eight-run win in Mirpur while Mushfiqur Rahim’s Prime Doleshwar thumped bottom side Old DOHS by 109 runs in Fatullah.

Legends of Rupganj v Prime Bank Despite the presence of Shakib, Legends of Rupganj’s recent fortunes refused to improve as Prime Bank coasted to a comfortable 95-run victory.

Asked to bat first, Prime Bank posted a respectable 243/9 in their 50 overs with Shuvagata Hom scoring the highest 46. Wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan chipped in with 41 off just 33 balls. Zimbabwe Test skipper Brendan Taylor featured for Prime Bank and

and youngster Nayeem Islam Jr shared four wickets between them while

BRIEF SCORES Legends of Rupganj v Prime Bank Prime Bank 243/9 in 50 overs Shuvagata 46, Nurul 41; Nayeem Jr 2/48, Rubel 2/55, Shakib 1/32 Rupganj 148 allout in 39.1 overs Jahurul 53, ten Doeschate 40, Shakib 11; Taijul 4/32, Forhad 2/28 Prime Bank won by 95 runs Mohammedan v Sheikh Jamal DC Mohammedan 185/9 in 50 overs Naeem 57, Ariful 37; Gazi 3/33 Sheikh Jamal 177 allout in 48.5 overs Shahriar 89; Naeem 3/21, Amit 3/35 Mohammedan won by eight runs Prime Doleshwar v Old DOHS Prime Doleshwar 225/9 in 50 overs Mehedi 47, Mushfiq 25, Mominul 18; Shawon 4/30 Old DOHS 116 allout in 40.2 overs Shanaj 59; Asif 5/24, Sanjamul 4/20 Prime Doleshwar won by 109 runs

In reply, Legends of Rupganj lost wickets at regular intervals and were eventually bundled out for 148 in 39.1 overs. Jahurul Islam’s 53 and Netherlands all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate’s 44-ball 40 went in vain as Prime Bank’s Taijul Islam ran riot. The left-arm spinner scalped 4/32 in 8.1 overs while Shuvagata and Forhad Reza took two wickets each.

Legends of Rupganj skipper Shakib was dismissed for just 11.

Mohammedan v Sheikh Jamal DC Bangladesh’s first ODI centurion Mehrab Hossain Opee surprisingly turned out for Mohammedan as the traditional Black and Whites registered a narrow victory over Sheikh Jamal.

Opee’s outing though was an unfruitful one as he departed for just three.

National discard and skipper Naeem Islam scored 57 as Mohammedan managed 185/9 in their 50 overs. Sheikh Jamal off-spinner Sohag Gazi picked up 3/33 from seven overs.

In pursuit of a modest 186, Sheikh Jamal were restricted to 177 allout in 48.5 overs as Naeem and Amit Kumar shared six wickets between them to

Bangladesh U12s set to face Sevilla n Raihan Mahmood

Bangladesh Under-12 football team will take on Spanish top flight club Sevilla in the opening match of Group D in the Super Mokh U-12 Cup in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. This tournament is the first of its kind in the history of football that will see a Bangladesh team taking part. Brimming with confidence, Bangladesh U-12 side left here for Malaysia yesterday.

Bangladesh have been grouped with Andalusian side Sevilla, Chonburi of Thailand and Cougars of Malaysia. The top two teams from each group will progress to the Cup Competition, or quarterfinals. The bottom two sides of

each group on the other hand will contest in the Plate Phase.

Bangladesh Football Federation vice president Badal Roy, also the chairman of the Development Committee, said yesterday the tour will open up a new horizon for the young footballers.

“It is the first overseas tour of Bangladesh U-12 team. We have never sent any team of this age level to a foreign tournament before. Through the tournament, I hope the boys will earn valuable experience for the future.”

Monjurul Karim, director of Max Group - the sponsor - said they would continue their support for the boys.

“We will be supporting the child devel-

opment programme and we hope this team will shine in Malaysia.”

Midfielder Rahim Sikdar, the captain of the team, is a class six student and said they will play without fear.

“We know we have been pitted against powerful teams. But, we are not afraid.

We will play for the country. We will put up our best.”

Coach Ahsanullah Montu said his team have no dearth of talents. “I have never seen such a group of talent. I hope to go past the group stage and play the quarterfinals.”

Bangladesh will also play Chonburi tomorrow evening before taking on Cougars the following day. l

Bangladesh U-12 football team pose for a photograph at BFF House yesterday prior to their departure to Kuala Lumpur

COURTESY

fees struck 89 from 115 balls but the left-hander lacked support from the other end.

Prime Doleshwar v Old DOHS Old DOHS’ miserable campaign continued as they fell to their eighth defeat in succession, this time against Mushfiq’s Prime Doleshwar by a convincing margin of 109 runs.

Taking first strike, Prime Doleshwar put up 225 on the board for the loss of nine wickets in their stipulated 50 overs. Opening batsman Mehedi Maruf top-scored with 47 while Mushfiq scored 25 off 38 balls. Another national cricketer, Mominul Haque was dismissed for 18.

Saleh Ahmed Shawon was the wrecker in chief for Old DOHS picking up 4/30.

Chasing 226, Old DOHS were never in the hunt as they were skittled out for 116 in 40.2 overs. Opener Shanaj Ahmed notched a half-century that proved to be too little, too late. Asif Ahmed (5/24) was the most successful Prime Doleshwar bowler while Sanjamul Islam (4/20) provided valuable support from the other end. l

Glorious Kings return home n Shishir Hoque Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club head coach Maruful Haque hailed his charges for becoming the champions in the King’s Cup and said with the commitment the team showed in Bhutan, they can achieve anything they want.

The triumphant squad returned to the Dhaka yesterday.

“If the players maintain their concentration and keep their commitment, you can do anything with this Sheikh Jamal team,” said Maruf upon arriving.

Club president Manjur Kader credited the players and the coach and said they were determined to win the King’s Cup after missing out on the IFA Shield earlier this year. He also added they will request to the Prime Minister to install synthetic turf at the Bangabandhu National Stadium to make the Bangladeshi clubs get used to playing in international conditions.

The club in Dhanmondi was in a festive mood throughout the day and arranged brass band alongside decorating the club building to welcome the first Bangladeshi champions in King’s Cup. Bangladesh Football Federation and some top flight club officials also felicitated the Dhanmondi outfits at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. l

Shakib fined for dissent n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Just after a day when Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan expressed satisfaction over Shakib al Hasan’s positive behaviour, the leading cricketer of the country ended up in the middle of yet another controversy in his return to domestic cricket yesterday.

Legend of Rupganj’s Shakib was found guilty for misbehaving with the on-field umpire during their Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League game against Prime Bank Cricket Club at BKSP 3 and was later fined Tk10,000 for his misdemeanour by match referee Obaydul Huque.

Shakib has often been in the headlines for his “hot-headed” acts on and off the field and it was just months ago that the BCB had banned him from all forms of cricket citing his “attitude problem”.

In July the board banned the 27-year-old for six months from all kinds of competitive cricket while dismissing any chance of allowing him to participate in the foreign leagues by not granting him an NOC (No Objection Certificate) until the end of 2015.

However, on August 26, BCB commuted his ban to two and a half months and allowed the leading all-rounder to play for the national side in the recently concluded home series against Zimbabwe.

Shakib, named vice-captain of the

one-day side prior to the Zimbabwe series, not only proved instrumental behind Bangladesh’s success, but also showed a great change in his attitude throughout the series.

It was Shakib’s second over in the game yesterday when umpire Mizanur Rahman turned down a leg-before appeal against Prime Bank’s Zimbabwean recruit Brendan Taylor. The decision made Shakib furious and react in a very inappropriate manner as he eventually ended up cursing Mizanur.

It was Shakib’s performance with the bat and ball in the Zimbabwe series, along with his behaviour, that made the BCB go soft and decide to reduce his punishment. The latest incident now hyped up a question as to whether the BCB will stick to their word of lifting the World No 1 Test all-rounder’s foreign ban. Nazmul could not be reached for a comment as he is out of the country, but an answer will be found today as he earlier declared of revealing the decision at the airport upon his arrival.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club off-spinner Sohag Gazi, who is currently serving a ban from bowling in the international arena for his illegal bowling action, was also found guilty for a similar incident against Mohammedan and was handed a one-match suspension and fined Taka 10000 by match referee Neeyamur Rashid Rahul.l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

13

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Gerrard coy over contract talks

QUICK BYTES

Sangakkara completes 13,000 ODI runs

n AFP, Leicester

Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara on Wednesday became only the fourth batsman in history to surpass the 13,000-run mark in one-day internationals, achieving the feat in his 386th match. The 37-year-old left-hander reached the landmark during the third match against England in Hambantota when he took a single off Chris Woakes to move to 13. Sangakkara lies behind three retired batsmen in the all-time list led by Sachin Tendulkar of India, who made 18,426 runs in 463 ODI matches.

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has 13,704 runs in 375 ODI matches and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka has 13,430 runs in 445 games.

Sangakkara, who made his international debut in 2000, is also just 12 runs short of completing 12,000 Test runs.

He has made 11,988 runs in 128 Tests.

REUTERS

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard refused to be drawn on his future at the club after scoring in his side’s 3-1 Premier League success at Leicester City on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old midfielder was restored to the starting XI after starting Saturday’s 1-0 win over Stoke City on the bench and responded by scoring the crucial second goal as Liverpool came from behind to win.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers revealed before the game that Gerrard has been offered a new contract.

Liverpool fell behind in the 22nd minute at the King Power Stadium when Leonardo Ulloa’s shot hit the post and ricocheted into the net off visiting goalkeeper Simon Mignolet’s back for a cruel own goal.

But Adam Lallana equalised almost immediately and Gerrard put Liverpool in front nine minutes into the second half, steering home his first goal since September after Raheem Sterling’s cross was partially cleared.

After Leicester centre-back Wes Morgan had been sent off for hauling back Rickie Lambert, Jordan Henderson made the game safe in the 83rd minute.

When pressed on his future, Gerrard again refused to answer, focusing instead on his team’s improved form since their 2-2 Champions League draw at Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad last week.l

Liverpool following a fumble by home goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

Rodgers revealed before the game that Gerrard has been offered a new contract, but when asked if he was ready to commit to a new deal, the former England captain said: “I will decide when I am ready.

A knee injury to Wayne Rooney saw 19-year-old James Wilson handed a surprise start for Manchester United, who took a 21st-minute lead when Marouane Fellaini headed in Ander Herrera’s inviting left-wing cross.

Steven Nzonzi equalised for Stoke six minutes before half-time, lashing home from outside the box after a dart

by Bojan Krkic.

But Mata’s goal gave United a fourth straight victory, with Marcos Rojo’s leap distracting visiting goalkeeper Asmir Begovic and allowing the former Chelsea playmaker’s free-kick to nestle inside the left-hand post.

West Ham United remain a point be-

hind Van Gaal’s side in fifth place after coming from behind to win 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion.

Craig Dawson’s 10th-minute header put the home team in front, but Kevin Nolan equalised 15 minutes later and James Tomkins gave West Ham victory with a header in first-half injury time.

Swansea City climbed to sixth place, two points behind West Ham United, after well-taken late goals from Ki Sung-yueng and Wayne Routledge secured a 2-0 success at home to second-bottom Queens Park Rangers.

Burnley climbed out of the relegation zone following a 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle United, with Papiss Cisse earning the away team a point after George Boyd had put the hosts ahead with a strike from distance.

Meanwhile, Christian Benteke scored the only goal as Aston Villa moved five points clear of the bottom three with a 1-0 success at Crystal Palace. l

HIGHEST ODI SCORERS Player

Mat Runs

Tendulkar (India)

463 18426 44.83

Ave

Ponting (Aus/ICC)

375 13704 42.03

Jayasuriya (Asia/SL)

445 13430 32.36

Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL) 386 13027 40.20 Jayawardene (Asia/SL)

430 12168 33.42

–AFP

Marseille penalised by old boy Ayew Lorient’s Ghana international Jordan Ayew scored a penalty to cancel out Dimitri Payet’s opener and salvage a 1-1 draw against his former club Marseille on Tuesday. In an attempt to end a run of three successive defeats on the road Marseille coach Marcelo Bielsa opted for a five-man defence. Up front, Andre-Pierre Gignac had an off night, missing all his chances, including a lob attempt in the 24th minute. In the 71st minute, he struck the ball at a virtually empty Lorient goalmouth, only for his shot to be aimed at Vincent Le Goff - the only defender guarding the goalline. Marseille were struggling to create much real danger, aside from in the 32nd minute when Payet out-foxed Lorient keeper Benjamin Lecomte to put the south coast visitors in the lead.

Marseille’s lead lasted a matter of minutes, with Lorient levelling via Marseille’s former striker Ayew’s penalty awarded after keeper Steve Mandanda’s late challenge on Benjamin Jeannot.

–AFP

Rooney injury ‘not so serious’: Van Gaal Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal played down the extent of Wayne Rooney’s knee injury after the striker missed his side’s 2-1 win over Stoke City on Tuesday. Rooney was not included in the hosts’ squad after injuring himself during United’s 3-0 victory at home to Hull City on Saturday, but Van Gaal said that he did not expect his captain to be out of action for long. “It’s his knee, but we have to wait until tomorrow (Wednesday) to say anything about him because you never know with a knee,” Van Gaal told reporters at Old Trafford.

“My opinion is it’s not so serious, but I’m not a doctor. We have to wait for the scan, then we’ll know more. I hope it’s not so serious.” Asked if the 29-year-old England star was likely to recover in time for United’s next game away to Southampton on Monday, Van Gaal replied: “I don’t think so, but you never know.”

The Dutchman was also upbeat about the hamstring injury that ruled record signing Angel di Maria out of the Stoke game, although the Argentina winger is also set to miss the trip to St Mary’s.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Atn Bangla 3:00PM Men’s Junior AHF Cup Bangladesh v Oman

Ten Cricket

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard (L) celebrates after scoring during their English Premier League match against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday

Gerrard, Mata leave Liverpool, United smiling n AFP, London Steven Gerrard and Juan Mata scored pivotal goals as Liverpool and Manchester United each posted victories over obdurate opposition in the Premier League on Tuesday.

Liverpool captain Gerrard, the subject of speculation about his Anfield future this week, stroked home the crucial second goal as his side came from behind to win 3-1 at 10-man Leicester City.

Victory lifted Brendan Rodgers’s side up to eighth place, but they remain five points off the Champions League berths after Mata’s fortuitous strike earned fourth-place United a 2-1 success at home to Stoke City.

The Spaniard saw a free-kick from wide on the right drift straight into the net in the 59th minute at Old Trafford, sending United to within a point of third-place Southampton, who visit Arsenal on Wednesday.

Leaders Chelsea entertain Totten-

ham Hotspur on Wednesday, while second-place Manchester City travel to Sunderland.

Despite Gerrard’s return to the starting XI, Liverpool made a wobbly start at the King Power Stadium.

Esteban Cambiasso should have put Leicester ahead in the 20th minute when under-fire Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet played the ball straight to him, only for the Argentine midfielder to roll the ball wide.

But Leicester went ahead two minutes later, with Leonardo Ulloa’s shot hitting the post and cannoning into the net off Mignolet’s back for an own goal after Martin Skrtel had blocked on the line from Jamie Vardy.

The hosts’ lead lasted just four minutes, however, with Adam Lallana drilling home an equaliser from Rickie Lambert’s knock-down.

Gerrard’s moment arrived nine minutes into the second period. Wes Morgan could only get a toe to Raheem

Sterling’s left-wing cross and Gerrard strode forwards to steer the loose ball into the bottom-right corner.

After Morgan was sent off in the 63rd minute for hauling back Lambert, Sterling’s back-heel teed up Jordan Henderson to sweep home a late third for

RESULTS

Burnley

1-1

Boyd 34

Crystal Palace

Newcastle United Cisse 48

0-1

Aston Villa Benteke 32

Leicester City Mignolet 22-og

Man United

1-3 2-1

Fellaini 21, Mata 59

Swansea City

Liverpool

Lallana 26, Gerrard 54, Henderson 83

Stoke City Nzonzi 39

2-0

QPR

1-2

West Ham

Ki 78, Routledge 83

West Brom Dawson 10

Nolan 35, Tomkins 45+3

Oman post hard-fought win over SL n Raihan Mahmood

Oman warmed up for their crucial tie against Bangladesh today with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Sri Lanka in the Men’s Junior AHF Cup at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday. In the other match of the day, Chinese Taipei picked up their second win of the tournament after defeating Thailand 4-2.

Oman dominated the early stages of the game with their typical teamwork-based play. Sri Lanka, however, slowly gained their footing and made it difficult for their opponents. The Lankans though have only themselves to blame for not registering a win as their forwards squandered a number of good chances in the dying minutes of the game.

Oman went ahead in the 10th minute through Salmeen al Nof Ali. The opener came from a penalty corner which was initiated by Imad al Hasan and stopped by Muhanna al Hasani.

Salmeen doubled Oman’s lead in the 21st minute capitalising another penalty corner.

Lankan skipper Shahid Kuthupdeen

Oman and Sri Lanka in action during their Men’s Junior AHF Cup match at Maulana Bhasani Stadium yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE pulled one back from close range in the 24th minute.

Rashid al Hosni, however, restored Oman’s two-goal lead in the 32nd minute with a field goal.

Sri Lanka’s Saminda De Costa reduced the arrears once again in the 50th minute with a fierce angular hit.

This is Oman’s second win in as many matches while for the Lankans, this is their second defeat in succes-

sion. Oman won their opener against Thailand 7-0 while Sri Lanka lost their first match 4-3 to Chinese Taipei.

Meanwhile in the other match of the day, solid teamwork enabled Chinese Taipei to post a 4-2 win over the Thais.

This is Thailand’s third consecutive defeat in the tournament.

Chinese Taipei took the lead in the 10th minute from their very first penalty corner. Skipper Lu Yu opened the scoring. In the 23rd minute Chun Kuo grabbed a spectacular goal to double Chinese Taipei’s lead. Three minutes later Chung Shih made it 3-0 from close distance.

Thailand captain Aphiwat Thanperm netted his side’s first goal of the game in the 28th minute with a controlled hit after a combined attack.

Chinese Taipei’s Po Wu though scored the fourth in the 48th minute with an upward push before Boriak Harapan notched a late consolation goal for the Thais in the 67th minute with a solo effort.

Chinese Taipei earlier lost 7-0 to Bangladesh while Thailand shipped no less than 10 goals against the hosts without reply. l

Rodriguez helps Real into Copa del Rey Last 16

10:00PM Pakistan v New Zealand 1st T20I

Star Sports 1 2:30PM International Premier Tennis League

n AFP, Madrid

Star Sports 2 7:30PM Indian Super League Kerala v North East

Ten Sports 2:00AM Coppa Italia Sampdoria v Brescia

Ten Action 11:00PM Coppa Italia Cagliari v Modena 2:00AM French Ligue 1 Olympique Lyon v Stade De Reims

Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez (10) celebrates after scoring against Cornella in the Copa del Rey round of 32 second leg match in Madrid on Tuesday AFP

Winners of the Walton Smartphone Victory Day Open Bodybuilding pose for a photograph yesterday

COURTESY

Colombian star playmaker James Rodriquez helped holders Real Madrid into the Copa del Rey Last 16 on Tuesday, the Spanish giants crushing third division Cornella 5-0 for a 9-1 aggregate win.

Real may have been without Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale but Carlo Ancelotti’s youthful side barely made a false move to notch up their 17th consecutive win in all competitions.

Real almost got off to a rocky start when in the 14th minute Alvaro Arbeloa, captain for the night, gave away a penalty.

But the Catalan club’s striker Xavi Boniquet fired over the crossbar of Real’s third choice goalkeeper,

Fernando Pacheco.

One of Real’s ‘galacticos’ on duty, Rodriguez, opened the scoring two minutes later with a deft lob, Isco adding the second and Rodriguez adding a third before the break.

RESULT

Real Madrid

5-0

Cornella

Real Madrid win 9-1 on aggregate

An own goal from Borja Lopez increased Cornella’s deficit with Real substitute Jese Rodriquez adding Real’s 88th minute fifth goal.

This was the 21-year-old Spaniard’s first competitive match after eight months out with an injured knee. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Thursday, December 4, 2014

PHILLIP JOEL HUGHES LAID TO ETERNAL PEACE

The pallbearers, including captain Michael Clarke, Tom Cooper, Aaron Finch and Greg Hughes, help carry the coffin of Australian cricketer Phillip Joel Hughes during an emotional farewell of the deceased opener at his home town of Macksville, northern New South Wales yesterday. In attendance were Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, former cricketers Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Sir Richard Hadlee, Brett Lee, Mark Waugh and Matthew Hayden along with several others. Australian bowler Sean Abbott and Indian batsman Virat Kohli also came to pay their respects while 63 bats were lined up during a memorial service at the SCG yesterday. Hughes was 63 not out before a cruel bouncer took away his precious life last week in a first-class match AFP/REUTERS/CA

Emotional farewell for Hughes n Reuters, Macksville

Clarke’s tribute to Hughes n Cricinfo I’m deeply honoured to have been asked

by Phillip’s family to speak today. I am humbled to be in the presence of you, his family, his friends and his community. He was so proud of Macksville and it is easy to see why today.

Taken from the game, his family and loved ones at the age of just 25, he left a mark on our game that needs no embellishment. I don’t know about you, but I keep looking for him. I know it is crazy but I expect any minute to take a call from him or to see his face pop around the corner. Is this what we call the spirit? If so, then his spirit is still with me. And I hope it never leaves.

I walked to the middle of the SCG on Thursday night, those same blades of grass beneath my feet where he and I and so many of his mates here today have built partnerships, taken chances and lived out the dreams we paint in our heads as boys.

The same stands where the crowds rose to their feet to cheer him on and that same fence he sent the ball to time and time again. And it is now forever the place where he fell. I stood there at the wicket, I knelt down and touched the grass, I swear he was with me. Picking me up off my feet to check if I was okay. Telling me we just needed to dig in and get through to tea. Telling me off for that loose shot I played. Chatting about what movie we might watch that night. And then passing on a useless fact about cows.

I could see him swagger back to the other end, grin at the bowler, and call me through for a run with such a booming voice, a bloke in the car park would hear it. The heart of a man who lived his life for this wonderful game we play, and whose soul enriched not just our sport, but all of our lives.

Is this what indigenous Australians believe about a person’s spirit being connected with the land upon which they walk? If so, I know they are right about the SCG. His spirit has touched it and it will

forever be a sacred ground for me. I can feel his presence there and I can see how he has touched so many people around the world.

The tributes to him from cricket lovers kept me going.

The photos, the words, the prayers and the sense of communion in this loss from people across the globe have shown me his spirit is in action. It has sustained me and overwhelmed me in equal measure.

And the love of my band of baggy green and gold brothers and sisters have held me upright when I thought I could not proceed.

His spirit has brought us closer together - something I know must be him at work because it is so consistent with how he played and lived. He always wanted to bring people together and he always wanted to celebrate his love for the game and its people.

Is this what we call the spirit of cricket?

From the little girl in Karachi holding a candlelight tribute to masters of the game like Tendulkar, Warne and Lara, showing their grief to the world, the spirit of cricket binds us all together. We feel it in the thrill of a cover drive. Or the taking of a screamer at gully, whether by a 12-year-old boy in Worcester or by Brendon McCullum in Dubai. It is in the brilliant hundred or five-wicket haul, just as significant to the players in a Western Suburbs club game as it is in a Test match.

The bonds that lead to cricketers from around the world putting their bats out, that saw people who didn’t even know Phillip lay flowers at the gates of Lord’s, and that brought every cricketing nation on earth to make its own heartfelt tribute.

The bonds that saw players old and new rush to his bedside. From wherever they heard the news to say their prayers and farewells. This is what makes our game the greatest game in the world. Phillip’s spirit, which is now part of our game forever, will act as a custodian of the sport we all love.

We must listen to it. We must cherish it.

We must learn from it. We must dig in and get through to tea. And we must play on.l

Australia bid an emotional farewell to cricketer Phillip Hughes at a funeral in his hometown on Wednesday with a live coast-to-coast broadcast allowing a nation to unite in celebration of the life of a sportsman cut down in his prime.

Eight days after Hughes was struck by a ball on the back of the head and six after he died from the catastrophic injuries that resulted, his family, friends and a host of cricketing greats gathered at Macksville High School.

Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland spoke for many when he tried to make sense of the huge outpouring of grief that followed the tragic death of the lefthanded batsman a few days short of his 26th birthday.

“The wave of emotion that has washed over our country this past week tells us so much about the affection millions felt for Phillip and also about the privileged place cricket has near the heart of this nation,” he said.

“Quite simply, the boy from this proud community of Macksville, personified the spirit of Australian cricket.

“Ever since Bradman, the image of the innocent country boy playing in the backyard while dreaming of wearing a baggy green cap has become entrenched in our psyche. It’s our foundation myth as a cricketing nation.”

Some 1,000 mourners, mostly locals with a smattering of luminaries including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, dabbed away tears and perspiration in the baking heat of the school hall with thousands more watching on screens in the sunshine outside.

From the eulogies, they learned of a beloved son, brother, cousin and friend whose passion for cricket was matched only by his enthusiasm for the Angus cattle he helped raise on the family farm.

They were also reminded of a small town boy with a prodigious talent for hitting a ball with a bat who headed down the coast to big city Sydney as a

teenager and ended up playing 26 Tests for his country.

Australia captain Michael Clarke broke down in tears for the second time in a few days as he paid public tribute to his former team mate and friend.

“Phillip’s spirit, which is now part of our game forever, will act as a custodian of the sport we all love. We must listen to it,” he said, struggling to contain his emotions.

“We must cherish it. We must learn from it. We must dig in and get through to tea. And we must play on.

“So rest in peace my little brother. I will see you out in the middle.”

Australian greats of the game such as Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath were in attendance, while Richard Hadlee, Brian Lara and India captain Virat Kohli represented the wider cricket world.

New South Wales paceman Sean Abbott, who delivered the bouncer that dealt the fatal blow in a state match at the Sydney Cricket Ground last Tues-

Pak–NZ T20 trophy dedicated to Hughes n AFP, Dubai Pakistan and New Zealand dedicated the trophy for their two Twenty20 matches in the Dubai starting on Thursday in memory of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes who died last week.

Hughes died last Thursday, two days after being hit by a bouncer in a first class match in Sydney, leaving the cricketing world to mourn his death.

Hughes’s funeral was held early Wednesday, as Pakistan and New Zealand prepare for the shortest format of the game after drawing a preceding Test series 1-1.

Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi said Hughes’s tragic death has left the cricketing world in a shock.

“Hughes died very young and his tragic death has left everyone shocked,” said Afridi on Wednesday.

“We are thankful to the sponsors who have decided to dedicate the trophy in memory of Hughes as a mark of respect,” said Afridi on Wednesday.

Pakistan are boosted by the return of paceman Umar Gul, who has not played international cricket since April due to a knee problem.

Gul is the second highest wick-

et-taker in Twenty20 with 80 in 56 games, five behind Ajmal’s 85.

He famously took 5-6 in a World Twenty20 group match against New Zealand at The Oval when Pakistan won the title in 2009.

Afridi said Pakistan will not underestimate New Zealand who are without their dashing skipper Brendon McCullum who, along with pacemen Tim Southee and Trent Boult, have re-

turned to New Zealand to prepare for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka.

“New Zealand are a dangerous limited over side and we will not underestimate them,” said Afridi. “We have to be at out best to beat them.”

McCullum smashed a brilliant 202 to help New Zealand win the third and final Test in Sharjah on Sunday in the series-levelling win.l

day, was also among the mourners.

When he suffered the injury, Hughes was batting for a recall to the Australia side for the opening match in the Test series against India, which has since been rescheduled.

Tributes continued to flood in from around the world on Wednesday, many joining the viral campaign to get people to place cricket bats outside homes, workplaces and at sports grounds in tribute to Hughes.

Hughes’s own bat rested against the coffin throughout a service which concluded with “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”, the song Elton John dedicated to the cricketer when he played it in a concert in Munich last week.

Clarke and fellow cricketers Aaron Finch and Tom Cooper joined Hughes’s father and brother among the pallbearers and delivered the coffin to the hearse, which then set off in a procession through the town.

Hughes was cremated in a private ceremony. l

PCB applies for reassessment of Ajmal’s action n AFP, Lahore Pakistan cricket chiefs said Tuesday they are seeking a reassessment of Saeed Ajmal’s bowling action which was deemed illegal in September, in a bid to clear the star off-spinner before next year’s World Cup. Ajmal was suspended from bowling at international level after a bio-mechanical analysis of his action which was reported as suspect during the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in August.

After placing him in a corrective programme, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it was ready to have his action re-tested by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“We have sent an email to the ICC for Ajmal’s official bowling reassessment and are waiting for a date,” it said in a statement.

Ajmal’s suspension had disrupted Pakistan’s planning for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in February-March, since Ajmal has been their main wicket-taker. He has 178 Test, 183 one-day and 85 Twenty20 wickets. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

RIAZ and SHOSHEE shed light on community service n Shadma Malik Three-time National-Award-winning actor Riaz will be seen pairing up with small-screen actor Shoshee in a documentary drama titled “Community Clinic,” directed by Syed Aulader.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Riaz said: “‘Community Clinic’ is a social-awareness-building campaign.

The film shows how a group of people takes a stand against healthcare disparity in rural Bangla. I am playing the role of a scientist who comes from

abroad. He takes up the responsibility to promote community clinic service in the rural area.”

About working with Riaz, Shoshee said: “It is an enthralling experience working with such experienced actor after nine years.”

Riaz and Shoshee first worked together in Kohinur Akhter Suchanda’s “Hajar Bochhor Dhore” in 2005.

Filming of “Community Clinic” has been finished, and it will soon be aired on BTV. Screening of the film in the districts will be held too. l

International Short and Independent Film Festival begins today

Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger are all set to don the producer’s hat on HBO’s new rock ‘n’ roll drama series.

The yet-to-be-titled television se-

10 short films showcased at Stop Not Film Festival

ries will explore the drug fuelled music business with rise of punk and disco in 1970’s New York, reported Variety.

Terence Winter and Scorsese’s collaborative works “Boardwalk Empire” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” have al-

Exhibition

Life is Here

By Kanak Chanpa Chakma Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Art Lounge 16th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh Time: 11am – 8pm National Art Gallery Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Shegun Bagicha

15

Opoghat

Maasranga Television, 7:50pm

n Entertainment Desk Curtains will rise for the 13th International Short and Independent Film Festival, Dhaka 2014 today at the National Museum premises in the capital’s Shahbagh area.

The eight-day festival will feature about 200 films from 50 countries, and will take place in six venues simultaneously, including National Museum, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Russian Cultural Centre, Jagannath University and Independent University.

After the inaugural ceremony two documentaries, “Baghdad Messi” and “Pony and Me,” will be screened.

Shyam Benegal, an esteemed filmaker in India, and Aruna Basudev, Indian filmmaker and critic, will attend the festival as special guests.

In a retrospective session of noted UK filmmaker Kim Longinotto, eight exclusive documentary films will be screened.

Apart from screening, the festival has some intriguing events on its schedule, such as Bangladesh Cinema Talents Programme, a five-day creative summit of local and international filmmakers along with the new, young and aspiring filmmakers for sharing knowledge and experience, and exploring new ideas.

Also, another event called Alamgir Kabir Memorial Lecture will be held at Poet Sufia Kamal Auditorium in National Museum on December 9, where Aruna Basudev will present the key paper. l

Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger to team up for new HBO show

n Entertainment Desk

Thursday, December 4, 2014

ready won lot of appreciation and with Mick Jagger, founder of the famous band “Rolling Stones” joining the club, it would leave no stones unturned.

“Third Watch”(1999) star Bobby Cannavale, will play the character of Richie Finestra, the founder and president of a top record label, American Century Records.

Olivia Wilde, “Tron Legacy” (2010) star will be playing the character of Devon, who is Richie’s wife and a former model-actress.

Ray Romano, who is known for the famous TV series “Everybody loves Raymond” (1996) is also a part of the casting who will play the role of Zak Yankovich, one of Richie’s partners in the series.

Winter will write and executive produce the series with Scorsese, Jagger, Victoria Pearman and Rick Yorn who will be the executive producers of the show.

The untitled drama will shoot in New York. l

Realms of Perception Time: 12pm – 8pm Gallery Twenty One, House 21, Road 4, Dhanmondi ‘Love Story’

by Alamin Hasan, Gallerie Zoom Time: 3pm – 9pm Galerie Zoom, Alliance Francaise de Dhaka, 26 Mirpur Road (corner road n.3) Dhanmondi

The telefilm is about how a shadow character inflicts pain on a soul which includes comedy as well as serious tone.

Footloose

Zee Studio, 5:00pm

City teenager Ren MacCormack moves to a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned.

The Bourne Legacy Movies Now, 11:30pm

Documentary Baghdad Messi will be showcased today

An expansion of the universe from Robert Ludlum’s novels, centered on a new hero whose stakes have been triggered.

ANDREW SCOTT to play as Bond 24 villain

n Entertainment Desk The Sherlock star, Andrew Scott who plays the detective’s nemesis Moriarty in the BBC sleuth series, is tipped to be playing the villain in the new 007 film.

According to the Daily Mirror, the 38-year-old Irish actor has been handpicked for the role in the 24th Bond film, the cast and title details of which will be shared today.

Andrew would share the screen with returning cast members Daniel as the secret agent, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear.

Oscar-winning Austrian star Christoph Waltz, “Guardians of the Galaxy” actor Dave Bautista and French model Lea Seydoux have also been linked to the upcoming Bond movie.

A source told: “Casting directors thought he was perfect to play a baddie and they wanted to use his existing Sherlock profile and amp it up to the next level.”

Sam Mendes is returning to direct Bond 24, which will be released in October 2015. l

SCARLETT JOHANSSON secretly marries ROMAIN DAURIAC n Entertainment Desk Scarlett Johansson and Romain Dauriac were secretly married this fall in western Montana.

The couple tied the knot in the small, scenic town of Philipsburg, Granite County Clerk of Court Carol Bohrnsen said Tuesday.

Johansson, 30, and Dauriac, a French former journalist, had been engaged since September 2013. They welcomed a daughter, Rose, in September.

Bohrnsen said the couple went

to the Granite County Courthouse themselves to get a license. The document, later filed with the county, shows the wedding took place October 1.

It wasn’t known exactly where the nuptials were held, though Philipsburg is home to The Ranch at Rock Creek, which bills itself as a luxury ranch resort.

Johansson was previously married to Ryan Reynolds. Her recent acting credits include “Lucy,” “Chef” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” l

n Entertainment Desk Ten best short films, selected out of the films made for a campaign titled “Stop Not Golpo Chalao Film Banao” which started earlier this year, were screened at the Stop Not Film Festival in the capital’s Jamuna Future Park on November 29.

In the first phase of the campaign, stories were collected from the 10 participating public and private universities. Eminent writer Anisul Hoque provided the contestants with the first line of the story.

“Phirey Esho Faria,” a film made by students of Daffodil International University, was selected as the best film based on popular choice, while “Buno Phul,” made by students of Jahangirnagar University, was selected as the best film based on critics’ choice.

“Protyaborton” made by students of Stamford University, was the best story based on critics’ choice. Amit Jahidi of Dhaka University and Simran Dhar of Brac University were awarded as the best male and female actors, respectively.

The campaign was launched by Stop Not, a popular snack brand of Perfetti Van Melle Bangladesh, aiming to provide a platform to the aspiring filmmakers of the country. l

ZAREEN KHAN to play a journalist onscreen n Entertainment Desk

Mehnaz Raisa dons the bridal outfit designed by Zahin Khan, while model Jolly showcases designer Tazreen’s creation, at the bridal festival ‘The Look of Luxury’ held at the All Community Club. The show kicked off on Tuesday and will end today. The three-day fashion event, which showcased around 30 professional and aspiring models, was choreographed by Tabassum Anila Hridi KHAN HASAN MD RAFI

Bollywood actress Zareen Khan is keenly observing journalists these days. Not because she has an issue with them, but because she will be portraying one, in one of her forthcoming films.

“Zareen is thrilled to have been signed on for a comedy film, in which she will be playing a journalist. Although the shooting starts only in a few months, she has al-

ready started observing journalists. She is trying to understand the stress that job entails and the kind of presence of mind it requires,” says a source.

The actress will be sharing the screen-space with actors Sharman Joshi and Virr Das. The source said that the actor sometimes “talks with her friends like journalists and uses phrases like ‘that should be the headline,’ just for fun.” l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

SSF gets high capacity IP telephony licence n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

The Special Security Force that provides protection to VVIPs has got the licence to operate a high capacity IP telephony service, sources from the country’s telecom regulator have said.

IP telephony describes the technologies that use the Internet to exchange voice, fax and other forms of information that are traditionally being carried

by PSTN or land line-based networks.

At present, there are 29 national IP Telephony Service Providers (IPTSP) licensees and 10 zonal licenses, although very few of them are in operation The Special Security Force (SSF) – a law enforcement agency that provides physical protection to the president, prime minister and foreign delegates – was awarded the licence with retrospective effect last week.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in a regular meeting on November 17 approved the license with 21 “E1 connections.”

A single E1 can serve at least 30 concurrent calls at a time. Saying they would be used for security purposes of the VIPs, the SSF wanted 33-50 “E1 connections” in their application dated August 5.

At present, there are 29 national IP Telephony Service Providers (IPTSP) li-

censees and 10 zonal licenses, although very few of them are in operation.

BDCOM Online Ltd, the leading IPTSP in the country, holds a majority of the market share, having more than 100,000 subscribers. They are currently operating only 12 E1 connections against the allocated 15.

After getting the IPTSP license, the SSF is now looking to get waiver of all the fees and charges, BTRC sources say.

Since there are interconnection issues involved, it will be tough for the regulator to waive the revenue sharing.

But sources said it is possible if the government gives up its share.

Initially, SSF will run through the government-owned BTCL’s Interconnection Exchange (ICX). The force wants to set up a system for running 1,000-1,500 connections in the beginning and gradually expand up to 5,000.

The SSF has already set up an IPTSP network in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Soon, they want to lay similar networks at the president’s official residence Bangabhaban and PM’s Gonobhobon, the application says.

The existing telecom act neither necessitates a defence force to have a separate IPTSP licence, nor prohibits it. The act says security forces, including the army, will not need to have a licence; they can enjoy the facilities under existing arrangements.

Earlier, Bangladesh Army applied for an Internet Service Provider (ISP) license which is currently under the consideration of the BTRC. Currently, state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) runs a red telephone exchange for the VIPs which is secured and always live. l

Back Page

Thursday, December 4, 2014

F R E E D O M J U ST B E YO N D R E AC H

Even the free education provided by this street school in the capital’s Mohammadpur area could not fulfil seven-year-old Swapna’s dream of pursuing education. Daughter of a rickshaw-puller and a garment worker, Swapna has to look after her younger brother, with an ailing grandmother is the only person left at home. With her baby brother on lap, she does come to the school just beside her house every day but ends up just staring while her fellow mates continue to study MEHEDI HASAN

‘Bangladesh can export 1 lakh tonnes of rice this year’ n Tribune Report Bangladesh can export as many as 1 lakh tonnes of rice this year as the country has met its yearly demand, said Food Minister Md Qamrul Islam.

The minister made the claim after Bangladesh signed a deal with Sri Lanka at the Food Ministry to export 25,000 tonnes of rice at $450 per tonne.

A private company from Sri Lanka is buying the rice from Bangladesh, sources at the ministry said. Lalin Fernandez signed the deal on behalf of the Sri Lankan company, and Director General of Food Md Sarowar Khan signed the deal on behalf of Bangladesh.

Following the signing, the minister said Bangladesh has enough rice storage this year and can easily meet the

countrywide yearly demands.

“We have produced 12.5 lakh tonnes of rice, with which we can easily meet our yearly demand and have some surplus. We can export 1 lakh tonnes of rice any time,” he said.

He also claimed that the price of rice in the local market was stable now, and the government was strictly maintaining it with zero tolerance.

The Sri Lankan delegates said they were going to collect the rice within a very short time.

Bangladesh has exported aromatic rice before, but such a large quantity of a non-aromatic variety is being exported for the first time.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase approved the decision to export rice on September 18. l

Speakers: Joint Rivers Commission fails to deliver 70% rural households n lost land in 10 years Abu Bakar Siddique

Joint Rivers Commission (JRC), formed to maintain liaison between countries that share the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin, to ensure common river management, is lagging far behind from its mandate, say speakers.

“The JRC formed in 1972 has failed to deliver excepting the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty though its focus was on the management of the ecosystem of the entire Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin,” said CM Shafi Sami, former foreign secretary of Bangladesh.

He said this while taking part a discussion titled Ecosystems, People and Shared Learning: Experience from Bang-

ladesh-India Civil Society Dialogue, held yesterday at city’s Amari Hotel.

He raised the question about two separate JRCs in Bangladesh and India saying that as the ecosystem is same two JRCs are unnecessary.

Mir Sajjad Hossian, former member of the JRC, Bangladesh, echoed the same view and said the JRCs had never taken any initiative on basin-wise water management rather it had focused on water-sharing of some specific rivers between Bangladesh and India.

He termed it unfortunate.

He cited an example of Sundarbans ecosystem which lies between both the countries. “The two countries can easily initiate joint effort to save the

world’s largest mangrove ecosystem.”

The discussion was organised by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Bangladesh under its Ecosystems for Life project where around 80 experts from both Bangladesh and India are participating.

However, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud blamed the political unwillingness of the countries in the region as the reason for failure of such a platform.

He said the countries of the region are sharing a common ecosystem but none of them know what others are doing on their individual part and even they are not interested to share the information.

The conception that the Tipaimukh dam will turn Sylhet region of Bangladesh into a perennial flood zone was proved to be wrong, said the minister.

The countries concerned should sit across the table more and more based on scientific data and information to save the common ecosystem, otherwise each of them will have to suffer, he said while addressing the two-daylong discussion as a chief guest.

Echoing the same view Prof CK Varshney, the professor emeritus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, said ecosystem-based management had never got importance which may spell disaster for the region’s agriculture and water sectors. l

KIBRIA KILLING CASE

Court orders fresh charge sheet n Our Correspondent, Habiganj A Habiganj court yesterday asked authorities concerned, for the third time, to submit a fresh supplementary charge sheet by December 21, scrapping the current one submitted by the CID, in the former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria killing case.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Court Judge Rokeya Akter passed the order after the hearing a petition filed by Senior ASP Meherun Nesa of the CID, who is investigating the case.

In the petition, the investigation officer requested the court to accept the charge sheet after correcting the name of two accused.

Police submitted a supplementary charge sheet against 35 people, including 11 new, in the former finance minister murder case on November 14 this year.

In that supplementary charge sheet, Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury, BNP leader Harish Chowdhury and Sylhet municipality Mayor GK Gaus were indicted.

Before the supplementary charge sheet, the CID pressed two charge sheets in connection with the killing case.

But Kibria’s family filed no-confidence petitions against the first charge sheet and also the supplementary charge sheet terming them “incomplete and ill-motivated.”

Five people including Kibria, were killed and 70 others injured in a grenade attack at a rally at Baidder Bazar in the Habiganj Sadar upazila on January 27, 2005. AL leader Abdul Mazid Khan filed two cases – one for murder and the other under the Explosives Substances Act – with the Habiganj police station. l

A friendly match between the national wheelchair basketball teams of Bangladesh and Nepal takes place at DU gymnasium yesterday.

Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed organised the match marking the World Disability Day 2014 MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

n Abu Hayat Mahmud A recent study on rural land has estimated that 69.5% rural households lost their land in the past 10 years for various reasons among which grabbing and acquisition were two major contributors.

The study titled “Rural Land Market in Bangladesh: A Situation Analysis” conducted by a team led by Prof Abul Barkat, chief adviser of Human Development Research Centre (HDRC), points out that the average amount of lost land per household was 64.3 decimal.

A total of 400 households came under the study in three upazilas – Amtali in Barguna, Jamalpur Sadar and Mohanpur in Rajshahi.

Prof Barkat, however, says it cannot be called a national-level study because “the sample size is thinner than the total rural population of Bangladesh.”

“But, various questions will come from this study and that will be helpful for a large-scale study,” he said during a PowerPoint presentation of the study at a roundtable organised by Manusher Jonno Foundation yesterday.

Barkat said: “Most of the land losers are poor.”

The study pinpoints the key reasons for the loss of land in the three rural areas: river erosion (32.1%), deception (20.7%), grabbing (18.9%), government land acquisition (13.2%), litigation (5.7%), feud between brothers (5.7%) and others (3.7%).

Prof Barkat said the data was prepared on the basis of a study on three sample areas; in case of a large-scale study, the loss limit caused by erosion would come down as river erosion is not

a common feature all over the country.

The study is part of a project titled “Sustainable Access to Land Equality (SALE),” jointly being carried out by Manusher Jonno Foundation, CARE and Uttaran in collaboration with the Department of Land Records and Survey of Bangladesh and sponsored by the European Union.

The major focus of the project is on promoting digitalisation of land records and survey in Bangladesh. It is expected that this process will ensure equality in access to land leading to the achievement of the target of Digital Bangladesh.

Prof MM Akash and land expert Shamsul Huda recommended that the government should form a “land bank” to control land purchase and sale mostly for the agricultural land all over the country.

Referring to Barkat’s study, MM Akash said: “Land grabbing and acquisition are not properly explained in the study. If these two factors had been analysed properly, it would have become a national-level study.

“If a ‘land bank’ is formed, land grabbing will slump. If anyone wants to sell their land, they have to sell it to the land bank and vice versa.”

Akash recommended three steps – land digitalisation, bringing an end to political influence, and formation of a proper land law – to prevent anomalies in the field.

Shamsul Huda echoed the view, saying poor and marginal people were losing their land because of the absence of a proper land law.

The discussion was chaired by Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation. l

RAB man confesses to his involvement in seven murders n Ashif Islam Shaon A sacked member of RAB-11 within a day of his arrest, confessed before a court yesterday, that he was with his colleagues all through the process of abduction, killing and body dumping of the Narayanganj seven-murder victims.

RAB sepoy, Md Nuruzzaman, was “assigned” to put bricks inside sacks which were used to dump the bodies into the waters of the Shitalakkhya.

He was one of the two RAB members, who in plain clothes, followed Nazrul and his men on the court premises before the abduction.

Following the murders Nuruzzaman lost his job and went back to his

village home in Magura. He ran a cloth shop there.

Police arrested him from Magura Tuesday night. He himself wanted to confess before the court shortly after his arrest.

Nuruzzaman was produced before the court of Narayanganj Senior Judicial Magistrate Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury in the afternoon.

He took four and a half hours to narrate the murders at the judge’s office, said additional PP AKM Fazlur Rahman.

Quoting from the confessional statement a court source said two RAB members including Nuruzzaman in plain clothes went to the Narayanganj court premises on April 27, to follow

counsellor Nazrul Islam as per Maj Arif Hossain’s instructions.

From two different spots they were keeping an eye on Nazrul and his men.

At one stage Nazrul’s men caught one of them for their suspicious movement.

As Nuruzzaman introduced himself as a RAB member he was freed.

After Nazrul and his men left the court premises in a white Corolla the RAB men followed them in a microbus and over cell phone informed Maj Arif that Nazrul and his men were leaving.

Another team that was conduct checks at a check post on Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road beside the Fatullah Stadium stopped the cars that Nazrul and senior lawyer Chan-

dan Sarkar were travelling. Nuruzzman then joined other RAB members to pick the victims up in a RAB microbus and headed towards Narshingdi.

Later, as Maj Arif had instructed, the RAB members killed the victims by giving an injection and wrapping polythene around their heads. Nuruzamman witnessed the killing as he was also in the vehicle.

He was later ordered to put bricks inside some sacks. After he did so, other RAB members tied the brick-full packs to the victims’ bodies. The bodies were then put in separate sacks to be thrown into the water.

On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam, three of his aides and

driver, and senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar and his driver were kidnapped from the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road. Three days later, six bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya.

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

Detectives have so far arrested a total of 27 people in connection with the killings including 15 RAB men.

Three former RAB 11 officials – Lt Col Tareque, Major Arif Hossain and Lt Commander MM Rana – confessed to their involvement in the murders.

Prime accused Nur Hossain, who had been on the run since the murders, was arrested in India on June 14 on charges of trespassing. l

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B3 OECD: Top bosses aware of most foreign bribes

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Rupali Bank flouts Centre to improve RMG productivity opens Sunday n rules in lending Tk7,500cr Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

28 companies given credits beyond the single borrower exposure limit

n Jebun Nesa Alo Rupali Bank, having major stake owned by the government, has allegedly violated necessary formalities in providing loans of around Tk7,500 crore to 28 companies.

Bangladesh Bank found lack of transparency and accountability of the bank management in the lending process.

According to a central bank report on large loan monitoring, the bank management did not provide “intentionally” the board of directors with necessary documents to substantiate the loans.

The bank failed to come out of irregularities despite repeated warnings and financial penalties imposed by the central bank.

‘It will be difficult to recover the money unless the bank supports the business to get back’

It prompted the central bank to arrange a special meeting on Sunday last with the bank’s Managing Director Farid Uddin to discuss the irregularities as well as the bank’s performance.

Farid Uddin argued the bank extended the credit limit to the large loan clients beyond the single borrower exposure limit as a strategy to back them up for returning to business so the bank could get back its money, said a central bank executive who attended the meeting.

“It will be difficult to recover the money unless the bank supports the business to get back,” the CEO of the bank was quoted to have told the meeting.

The bank, however, obtained necessary NOCs (no objection certificates) from Bangladesh Bank, though not in all cases, while increasing the loans beyond the exposure limit during a period between June and September this year.

Farid Uddin, despite giving an appointment to the reporter yesterday, refused even appearing.

According to the report, Nurjahan Group borrowed over Tk396 crore – about 38% of the bank’s capital although a bank is allowed to lend not more than 25% of its capital to a single borrower.

Madaripur Spining borrowed about Tk603 crore, which is over 57% of the bank’s capital, S Alam Group Tk596 crore or over 59% of the capital, Blue Planate Knitwear and its two subsidiaries – Badar Spining and Green

Planate – over Tk464 crore or 44%, Orion Group Tk1,862.5 crore or about 177%, Bextex Tk600 crore or 48% and Mother Textile over Tk684 crore or 65% of the bank’s capital.

Rupali Bank also violated rules in cases of lending to Galco Steel, Virgo Pharmaceuticals, Virgo Media, SA Group, Multazim Spining Mills, Chemon Ispat, Jute Textile, Crescent Jute Mills, Beni Tex and M Rahman Steel Mills.

Mother Textile, despite being defaulter for failure to pay a down payment to reschedule existing loan, was given a fresh loan.

The bank board at its 946th meeting expressed opinion that though the CIB (credit information bureau) report is mandatory at the time of loan processing, branches and controlling offices of Rupali Bank ignored following the rule.

Later, as per the instruction of the board, Rupali Bank management issued a circular, asking all branches to strictly follow the lending process, taking CIB report into consideration.

But 23 borrowers were given loans on the basis of old CIB reports just the next board meeting.

The management did not provide accurate information to the board about Galco Steel, Chemon Ispat, Jute Textile and M Rahman Steel at the time of loan approval, according to the Bangladesh Bank report.

The bank allowed rescheduling the loans of Nurjahan Group and SA Group for the third time each and provided new credit facility, despite finding allegations and understanding that the duo might be incapable to pay installments of the rescheduled loans.

The bank is providing loan facilities without complying with the prudential regulations of Bangladesh Bank, said the BB report.

The earnings from the large loan clients are very negligible, said a senior executive of the central bank.

He said the bank kept the large loan accounts regular by extending loan limit through adding charged interest to the principal amount. He added despite bad performance of the maximum large borrowers, the bank continued to give credit facilities as the businesses are backed by politically influential people.

According to the report on bank performance, provision shortfall stood at Tk99 crore in September which is alarming.

The performance of reducing default loan rate in expected level was not satisfactory. The default loan of the bank was reduced by Tk68 crore in September against the target of Tk270 crore as per MoU. Cash recovery from the top 20 defaulters was only Tk16 crore as of September which was 43% of the annual target of Tk38 crore. The satisfactory level of annual target is defined at 70%. l

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association will launch Center of Excellence for Bangladesh Apparel Industry (CEBAI) to improve productivity through research and development.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the project simultaneously with the opening of the two-day Dhaka Apparel Summit on Sunday next at Bangabandhu International Conference Center.

The project is aimed at improving RMG productivity by creating skilled and semi-skilled workers through giving market-responsive training or providing support for skill development endeavour by any member company.

It will also research the challenges and ways to overcome them, policy recommendations, product diversification and wage mechanism.

The Centre of Excellence (COE) project also aims to produce 6,000 skilled workers with the help of the industry by next two years.

Swedish SIDA and retailer H&M are funding $1.5 million for the first three years of the project to be implemented

by ILO. SIDA’s financial support will be used for training and institutional development while H&M is supporting for infrastructure development and centre management.

“In true sense, there was no research on the RMG sector and the centre of excellence will research on a large scale the apparel industry to identify chal-

lenges and ways to overcome,” BGMEA President M Atiqul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune.

Bangladesh has moved out of lowend garment product to medium end and in order to raise the industry to a higher order of value chain, skilled manpower is required which would be met through the center of excellence project, Atiqul said.

Bangladesh is expecting to raise its RMG export to US$50 billion by 2021.

For meeting the growing global de-

mand and export target, the country will need 3.5 million skilled and semiskilled workers by next seven years.

Meanwhile, two million young people enter labor market every year, but there is no effective strategy to provide demand-based and market-oriented employment for these huge potential workforces.

“Bangladesh’s RMG workers’ productivity is around 20% less than other competitors and we need to reach the peak through the COE initi-

Hamid Fabrics set to debut at stock markets today n Tribune Report Hamid Fabrics Limited is set to start share trading at the stock exchanges today, being the first company to offer issues under the new IPO application method.

The new system has reduced processing time to one month from more than four months.

Hamid Fabrics was listed with the Dhaka Stocks Exchange as the 38th company in textile sector which accounted for over 3% of total market capitalisation.

It raised Tk105 crore from public.

Using the fixed price method, it floated 30m ordinary shares of Tk10 each at an offer price of Tk35, including

Tk25 as premium.

The raised fund has been used to pay the company’s bank loan and expand business.

According to the latest financial statement, the company’s quarterly (July-September) net profit stood at Tk6.2 crore and basic EPS (earning per share) Tk1.26.

In the same period last year the net profit was Tk6.4 crore and basic EPS Tk1.4.

Hamid Fabric’s initial public offering (IPO) subscription closed on October 2 for resident Bangladeshis and October 11 for non-resident Bangladeshis.

Under the new method, investors are allowed to submit their IPO applications through any of 174 designated

brokerage firms from Dhaka Stock Exchange and 73 from Chittagong Stock Exchange. Applications can also be submitted through 37 merchant banks.

However, the current system remains effective for the non-resident Bangladeshis and foreign investors.

Bangladeshi nationals can choose one from the two methods to apply.

As per the previous procedures, investors need to submit money with their applications for IPO shares to their respective bank accounts for which they have to waste hours standing in queues.

Market operators said once all brokerage firms and merchant banks adopt new method, IPO subscription procedure will be eased further. l

Deal signed for rice export to Sri Lanka n Tribune Report Bangladesh has signed an agreement to export rice for the first time ever.

Under the deal, the country will export 25,000 tonne coarse rice to Sri Lanka in next two weeks.

Sarwar Khan, director general of Bangladesh’s Food Directorate, and Nalin Farnando, chairman of Sri Lanka’s Lanka Sathosha Limited, inked the deal on behalf of their respective sides yesterday. Food Minister Md Quamrul Islam and Food Secretary Mushfeka Ikfat also attended the signing ceremony at the

ministry’s auditorium.

The export price has been set at $450 per tonne with Bangladesh earning $14 a tonne as profit. Until recently Bangladesh had to import rice to meet its local demand.

Food minister said it is a “national pride” that the country is going to become a rice exporting nation. In August this year Sri Lanka expressed its interest to import rice from Bangladesh. A four-member delegation from Sri Lanka arrived in Dhaka in October to fix the price.

The price was set at $450 per tonne to import a total of 50,000 tonne rice from

Bangladesh.

In the first phase the country is taking 25,000 tonne and the rest will be imported later, said Quamrul Islam.

According to him, Bangladesh currently has 1.2m tonne of food reserves and 1.1m tonne is rice of the amount. The total amount of food reserves is 250,000 tonne more than that in last year. DG of Food Directorate said the country can export up to 100,000 tonne rice at this moment.

The government on November 5 amended a policy to export coarse rice to Sri Lanka, incorporating a provision for government to sign deal. l

ative,” BGMEA Vice-President Reaz Bin Mahmood told the Dhaka Tribune.

“The project will formulate curriculum, carry out research on what we want in future and work on heal and occupational safety.”

Reaz said in the meantime, RMG sector is going on automation, which will help workers gain skill.

Bangladesh witnessed significant growth in RMG sector but the skilled labour growth did not take place in line with that, said Reaz. l

BB fines eight banks and FI n Tribune Report Seven banks and a non-bank financial institution have been fined by the central bank because of having no updated information about their respective clients.

Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of Bangladesh Bank imposed the fines recently in line with the money laundering prevention act.

The banks are Islami Bank Bangladesh, Premier Bank, BRAC Bank, Mercantile Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Southeast Bank, Uttara Bank while the lone financial institution is Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB).

The banks were fined up to Tk20 lakh while lowest one was Tk1 lakh, said Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Mahfuzur Rahman.

The central bank had earlier asked the banks through a circular in the year 2002 to update their KYC (Know Your customer) form of accounts opened before that year.

Although the banks were asked to update their KYC forms by the year 2010, they did not comply with in the instruction even in eight years. Then, the central bank extended the deadline by two more years.

Even after that, investigation team of the central bank found many accounts of those banks without having KYC. Under such a perspective, the banks were fined, said Mahfuzur.

Islami Bank and Premier Bank have been fined the highest amount of Tk20 lakh while BRAC is Tk5 lakh, and Mercantile Bank Tk4 lakh. Besides, Dutch-Bangla, Southeast and Uttara have been fined Tk2 lakh each while ICB Tk1 lakh. l

Biman to make a domestic return late next month n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

After a two and half-year halt, the national flag carrier will resume operation of domestic flights from late of next month.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines said it has hired two Dash 8-Q400 crafts to reopen the domestic routes.

Tickets would be made available from December 20.

Initially, flights will be operated in Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Sylhet routes while Jessore, Rajshahi, Syedpur and Barisal routes are expected to start in February.

Biman had suspended flights in four out of seven domestic routes in 2007 because of aircraft shortage. The last route, Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar, was closed in June 2012.

“We are preparing now to make a restart,” Mohammad Shah Newaz, director (marketing and sales) of Biman, told

the Dhaka Tribune.

He said there would be two flights daily in Dhaka-Chittagong route, one in Dhaka-Sylhet and one in Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar route.

Biman has its own offices in Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and Sylhet.

For other cities it’s looking for office rooms and staff as the airlines in the second phase is planning to run flights everyday in Jessore route, four flights a week in Rajshahi and Saidpur routes and two-three flights a week in Barisal route.

“Fare will be competitive with other domestic airlines,” said Shah Newaz.

Following a meeting with Biman board last week, Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon said, “The preparation (to resume domestic flights) is at final stage, and in a month we are going to make a restart.”

Biman has hired two crafts

with 72 seats each from Egypt’s Smart Aviation. The airlines will also use Dash 8-Q400s aircraft to operate two regional routes -- one to Yangon and another to Kolkata.

The airlines is currently carrying passengers to and from Sylhet and Chittagong with its international flights. Biman is active in 18 international routes

with 10 aircraft.

A new private carrier US-Bangla Airlines has already launched domestic flights; another new player, Epic Airways Ltd, aims to begin flights on domestic routes by the end of 2014.

Currently, four private local airlines -- United, Regent, Novoair and US-Bangla -- fly mainly on four domestic routes from Dhaka to Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Sylhet and Jessore.

The Dhaka-Chittagong route draws the highest volume of traffic followed by Dhaka-Jessore.

At present, 40,000-50,000 passengers fly on the domestic routes a month, with DhakaChittagong accounting for 70%.

In 2013, some 648,019 people traveled nationally by air, up 10% year-on-year, according to data from Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks rally for 3rd day

DSE key features December 3, 2014

n Tribune Report

Traded Issues

304

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

235

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

62

After witnessing sluggish trading in the last couple of sessions, the market witnessed buying binge mainly on power sector The Shariah index DSES gained 12 points or 1% to 1,166. The comprising blue chips DS30 ended at 1,853, soaring 16 points or almost 1%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, closed at 9,361 with a rise of 112 points.

After witnessing sluggish trading in the last couple of sessions, the market witnessed buying binge mainly on power sector, led by Titas Gas that rallied more than 4%.

Power sector received the highest participation, making up 18% of total turnover value.

Daily capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index :

4992.00231

(+) 1.20%

1853.83326

(+) 0.89%

15355.80060

(+) 1.23%

12604.70060 (+)

(+) 1.54%

9361.26840

(+) 1.21%

DSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

Northern Jute -Z R. N. Spinning-Z Bengal Windsor-A National Tea -A Envoy Textiles Ltd-N Continental Insur. -A ICB AMCL3rd NRB MF-A ICB Emp. PMF-A ACI Formulations-A BD. Autocars -Z

-8.74 -5.86 -4.78 -3.46 -2.90 -2.30 -2.22 -2.17 -2.08 -1.98

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

R. N. Spinning-Z Nitol Insurance -A Prime Insur -A Bengal Windsor-A Paramount Insur-A Midas Financing-Z Envoy Textiles Ltd-N ACI Formulations-A Aramit -A Green Delta M.F.-A

-9.40 -7.12 -6.98 -4.79 -3.47 -3.29 -3.11 -2.51 -2.33 -2.17

Average (% Change) -8.74 -7.59 -3.23 -3.29 -2.29 -2.13 -1.78 -0.43 -1.00 -1.16 Average (% Change) -10.34 -7.06 -6.98 -3.58 -3.41 -3.23 -3.21 -0.89 -2.34 -0.67

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 221.30 27.76 59.99 735.00 53.66 21.12 4.41 4.58 134.11 24.78

ClosingAvg. 27.30 30.01 20.00 59.57 16.71 14.70 53.00 133.72 302.15 4.47

Closing

Closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 699.65 302.75 35.78 616.05 176.19 935.05 9.93 331.29 908.15 43.22 281.08 53.11 25.03 138.97 96.16 26.84 98.66 131.99 41.43 213.73 0.28

DHIGH 221.30 29.00 61.90 735.00 54.30 21.80 4.50 4.70 137.80 25.50

DHIGH

27.00 30.00 20.00 59.60 16.70 14.70 53.00 132.10 302.20 4.50

5,165.34 122,275,154

28.50 30.50 20.00 60.00 17.10 14.70 53.00 136.00 303.20 4.50

104,583

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,659.22

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.23

CSE key features December 3, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

351.17

Turnover (Volume)

11,550,837

Number of Contract

12,895

Traded Issues

232

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

165

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

59

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,557.51

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.00

Turnover in Million

DLOW 221.30 26.60 59.50 730.00 50.00 20.00 4.40 4.50 130.70 24.50

26.90 29.80 20.00 59.50 16.60 14.70 53.00 131.80 301.10 4.40

Latest EPS

0.133 21.977 27.067 0.147 15.623 0.111 4.613 0.087 34.440 0.171

Turnover in Million

DLOW

% change 13.55 5.86 0.69 11.93 3.41 18.10 0.19 6.41 17.58 5.44 1.03 0.48 2.69 1.86 0.52 1.91 2.56 0.80 4.14 0.01

Million Taka 66.00 22.27 2.07 47.93 5.60 35.22 28.94 52.27 4.80 23.41 2.75 4.10 8.82 5.80 1.53 3.71 9.87 7.32 22.88 0.00

CSE

% change 18.58 6.27 0.58 13.49 1.58 9.92 0.00 8.15 14.71 1.35 6.59 0.77 1.15 2.48 1.63 0.43 1.04 2.78 2.06 6.44 0.00

1.00 2.19 4.16 -6.49 2.15 2.27 0.56 0.80 3.27 0.20

Latest EPS

3.467 0.135 0.020 0.693 0.526 0.007 0.170 1.177 0.030 0.036

Million Taka 765.65 325.02 37.85 663.98 181.79 970.27 9.93 360.23 960.42 48.02 304.49 55.86 29.13 147.79 101.95 28.36 102.37 141.86 48.75 236.61 0.28

Sonargaon Tex -Z Alltex Industries -Z Pharma Aids A Bangladesh Welding -Z Meghna Con. Milk -B Quasem Drycells -A Rahim Textile -A Shahjibazar Power-N Kay & Que (BD) -Z Apex SpinningA

Closing (% Change) 8.91 8.86 8.73 8.45 8.33 7.41 6.78 6.78 6.11 5.99

CSE GAINER

2.19 2.79 1.81 4.16 1.13 -7.00 2.15 3.27 14.12 0.72

Latest PE 221.3 12.7 14.4 -ve 25.0 9.3 7.9 5.7 41.0 123.9

Total

Company Sonargaon Tex -Z Alltex Industries -Z Quasem Drycells -A Union Capital -A Prime Textile -A City G Insu.-A Shinepukur Cera-Z Eastland Insur -A Bata Shoe Ltd. -A SummitAlliancePort.-A

Closing (% Change) 9.62 7.63 7.24 6.76 6.74 6.01 5.67 5.51 5.27 5.16

Average (% Change) 9.00 8.76 7.22 9.61 7.62 4.77 5.19 6.61 5.80 5.92 Average (% Change) 8.48 8.21 9.03 6.18 6.56 6.17 6.28 8.69 5.27 5.30

ClosingAvg. 11.02 25.33 238.25 15.51 7.77 59.55 285.32 227.01 13.87 75.09

ClosingAvg. 11.26 25.17 60.62 21.98 19.00 19.43 14.90 36.41 1189.50 76.94

Closing 11.00 25.80 241.50 15.40 7.80 60.90 289.90 226.90 13.90 76.10

Closing 11.40 25.40 60.70 22.10 19.00 19.40 14.90 36.40 1189.50 77.50

DHIGH 11.10 26.00 241.50 15.60 7.90 61.90 294.00 231.00 14.20 76.90

DHIGH 11.40 25.80 61.30 22.30 19.00 19.60 15.30 36.90 1190.00 80.00

DLOW 10.50 23.20 222.10 13.50 7.30 54.00 273.10 214.30 13.50 73.00

DLOW 10.90 23.70 59.80 21.50 19.00 19.40 14.50 34.80 1189.00 73.60

Turnover in Million 1.300 29.300 48.209 8.400 0.400 66.221 4.237 15.346 0.631 19.883

Turnover in Million 0.405 3.323 1.105 0.330 0.019 0.012 0.006 0.124 0.238 12.664

Latest EPS -0.84 3.28 9.88 0.44 -4.32 2.24 11.00 9.00 -1.41 0.86

Latest EPS -0.84 3.28 2.24 0.89 1.04 1.89 0.39 3.33 52.96 0.88

Latest PE -ve 7.7 24.1 35.3 -ve 26.6 25.9 25.2 -ve 87.3

Latest PE -ve 7.7 27.1 24.7 18.3 10.3 38.2 10.9 22.5 87.4

News, analysis and recent disclosers SAIHAMTEX: National Credit Ratings Limited (NCR) has announced the rating of the Company as "AA-" in the long term and "ST-2" in the short term based on audited financial statements of the Company up to June 30, 2014.

UNITEDAIR: The Company has further informed that the 9th AGM of the Company which is scheduled to be held on December 04, 2014 at Hafiz Complex, 1 East Dupadighir par, Sylhet has been postponed. New date and Venue of the AGM will be notified later.

KEYACOSMET: The Company has further informed that due to unavoidable circumstances, the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will now be held on December 03, 2014 instead of December 02, 2014 at 5:00 PM to consider, among others, audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

Hamid Fabrics Limited: Trading of the shares of Hamid Fabrics Limited will commence at DSE from December 04, 2014 under 'N' category. DSE Trading Code for Hamid Fabrics Limited is "HFL" and DSE Company Code is 17464.

IPO Subscription: IFAD Autos Limited subscription date 23 to 27 November 2014, NRB upto 06 December 2014. @ taka 30, face value taka 10 and market lot 200. Shasha Denims Limited subscription date 14 to 21 December 2014, NRB upto 30 December

2014. @ taka 10, face value taka 35 and market lot 200. Zaheen Spinning Limited subscription date 28 December 2014 to 04 January 2015, NRB upto 13 January 2015. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500.

Right Share: 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. FIRSTSBANK Subscription period for rights issue will be from 07.12.2014 to 28.12.2014. Record date for entitlement of rights share: 20.11.2014.

Dividend/AGM BATASHOE: 175% interim cash dividend, Record Date for entitlement of interim dividend: 04.12.2014.

ICB: 45% cash, AGM: 20.12.2014, Record Date: 03.12.2014.

BATBC: 100% interim cash dividend, Record date for entitlement of interim dividend: 03.12.2014.

BENGALWTL: 23% cash, AGM: 28.12.2014, Record Date: 02.12.2014.

MPETROLEUM: 95% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 16.01.2015, Record date: 04.12.2014.

ENVOYTEX: 12% cash and 3% stock dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record date: 02.12.2014.

AFTABAUTO: 17% cash, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record date: 30.11.2014.

JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock,

AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.

GEMINISEA: 7.50% cash, AGM: 22.12.2014, Record Date: 08.12.2014.

KBPPWBIL: 10% stock, AGM: 29.12.2014, Record Date: 08.12.2014.

RAHIMAFOOD: No dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record Date: 04.12.2014.

DACCADYE: 10% stock dividend, AGM: 12.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014.

ORIONINFU: 15% cash dividend, AGM: 18.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014.

KOHINOOR: 25% stock dividend, AGM: 18.12.2014, Record date: 25.11.2014.

LRGLOBMF1: 5% cash dividend, Record date: 25.11.2014. Earnings per unit of Tk. 0.69.

PHARMAID: 25% cash, AGM: 28.12.2014, Record Date: 02.12.2014.

TALLUSPIN: No dividend, AGM: 23.12.2014, Record Date: 01.12.2014.

MITHUNKNIT: 20% stock, AGM: 23.12.2014, Record date: 20.11.2014.

WMSHIPYARD: 5% cash dividend to the general shareholders only, and 10% stock dividend to all the shareholders, AGM: 21.12.2014, Record date: 20.11.2014.

PRIMELIFE: 10% cash and 15% stock dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record Date: 20.11.2014.

OLYMPIC: 20% cash and 35% stock, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record Date: 27.11.2014.

PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015, Record date: 22.12.2014.

Latest PE 12.5 10.8 11.0 14.3 14.8 -ve 24.7 40.9 21.4 6.2

Since, bullishness prevailed in the last two consecutive sessions, investors found confidence of coming back to market, again. Besides, expectations continued matching lucrative price level, which enforced fresh fund injection

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

221.30 27.30 59.70 733.70 53.60 21.20 4.40 4.50 131.70 24.70

Company

Number of Contract

This helped the DSE turnover to cross Tk500 crore after two weeks.

It stood at Tk516 crore, sharply up 38% over the previous session.

Banks sustained its positive trend and gained 1.7%, followed by cement and pharmaceuticals that soared 1.4% and 1.1% respectively.

Non-banking financial institutions edged higher.

Marginal correction was observed in other sectors, like telecommunication and, food and allied.

Telecommunication sector broke its steep rally over the last two sessions, as investors booked profits from its more than 10% rise.

IDLC Investments said the gaining tone extended further and resumed an upbeat reversal. “Since, bullishness prevailed in the last two consecutive sessions, investors found confidence of coming back to market, again. Besides, expectations continued matching lucrative price level, which enforced fresh fund injection,” it said.

Improvement in remittance flow put its positive impact on market movement, it said.

Zenith Investments said index gains once again as stock prices have rebounded with a vengeance.

The sharp pullback has made some investors wondering whether or not stocks can continue higher from here, it said.

Keya Cosmetics topped the chart with turnover of Tk22.8 crore changing hands, followed by Titas Gas, Summit Alliance and Port Limited, AB Bank and Beximco Pharma. l

Stocks continued to soar for the third session in a row yesterday, led by power issues that gained more than 2%.

The market remained buoyant as investors, who so far remained on sidelines, started to bet on stocks anticipating further gains in days to come, dealers said.

The benchmark DSEX was up 59 points or 1.2% to close at 4,992, which is highest in three weeks.

DSE GAINER

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Thursday, December 4, 2014

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

% change 13.87 5.89 0.69 12.03 3.29 17.58 0.18 6.53 17.40 0.87 5.52 1.01 0.53 2.68 1.85 0.51 1.85 2.57 0.88 4.29 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Keya Cosmetics -A Titas Gas TDCLA SummitAlliancePort.-A Square Pharma -A AB Bank - A Beximco Pharma -A WesternMarine -N Grameenphone-A Jamuna Oil -A Meghna Petroleum -A

Khan Brothers-N Khulna Power-A Olympic Ind. -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A City Bank - A

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company N C C Bank -A WesternMarine -N Khan Brothers-N SummitAlliancePort.-A Square Pharma -A SAIF Powertec-N Keya Cosmetics -A UCBL - A AB Bank - A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A

Grameenphone-A Beacon Pharma Ltd.-Z LafargeS Cement-Z Beximco Pharma -A Orion Infusions -A

VolumeShares 7,928,195 2,507,507 2,647,824 682,490 5,491,318 2,418,182 2,098,400 345,318 467,975 450,093

Value in Million 227.54 206.05 203.27 180.33 177.18 154.89 125.27 121.97 120.28 118.52

% of TotalTurnover 4.41 3.99 3.94 3.49 3.43 3.00 2.43 2.36 2.33 2.29

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

2,128,000 1,639,136 401,770 2,170,675 3,885,628

1,849,808 298,100 289,500 164,592 40,830 131,600 335,929 304,194 266,445 200,122

20,200 411,825 57,500 100,409 124,400

97.77 97.52 88.93 86.76 86.10

20.92 17.80 13.29 12.66 10.75 10.18 9.69 9.15 8.58 8.01

7.14 6.90 6.88 6.45 6.00

1.89 1.89 1.72 1.68 1.67

5.97 5.08 3.79 3.61 3.07 2.90 2.76 2.61 2.45 2.29

2.04 1.97 1.96 1.84 1.71

ClosingP 29.10 83.60 77.30 264.80 32.60 64.70 59.40 352.20 256.60 264.10

45.90 60.80 221.70 40.10 22.20

ClosingP

11.50 59.40 45.90 77.50 263.00 76.00 29.20 30.10 32.50 40.10

353.80 16.60 119.30 64.80 49.40

Change % 5.43 4.11 5.03 1.46 3.49 3.03 -0.50 -0.68 0.75 1.27

2.00 5.56 -0.63 1.52 1.83

Change %

1.77 -0.34 1.77 5.16 1.11 1.60 5.80 1.35 3.17 1.01

-0.23 4.40 2.32 3.35 5.56

ClosingY 27.60 80.30 73.60 261.00 31.50 62.80 59.70 354.60 254.70 260.80

45.00 57.60 223.10 39.50 21.80

ClosingY

11.30 59.60 45.10 73.70 260.10 74.80 27.60 29.70 31.50 39.70

354.60 15.90 116.60 62.70 46.80

DHIGH 29.40 84.80 79.50 265.40 32.90 67.00 60.80 357.30 259.40 265.00

47.90 61.00 224.80 40.40 22.40

DHIGH

11.50 60.50 47.80 80.00 264.30 78.00 29.40 30.30 32.70 40.30

356.00 17.10 120.00 65.00 50.00

DLOW 26.00 72.80 68.00 239.00 28.40 57.00 58.80 348.10 250.00 239.00

44.50 53.00 204.00 35.60 19.70

DLOW

11.10 59.00 44.10 73.60 261.90 75.00 27.20 29.70 31.50 36.00

350.00 16.10 118.00 63.50 47.00

AvgPrice 28.70 82.17 76.77 264.22 32.26 64.05 59.70 353.20 257.03 263.32

45.95 59.50 221.33 39.97 22.16

AvgPrice

11.31 59.71 45.92 76.94 263.26 77.37 28.84 30.07 32.21 40.02

353.36 16.75 119.58 64.25 48.25

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Thursday, December 4, 2014

OECD: Top bosses aware of most foreign bribes n AFP, Paris Most international bribes are paid by large firms with the knowledge of senior management, the OECD said Tuesday, after analysing hundreds of prosecuted cases spanning a quarter century and worth a total of $5.9bn.

“Corporate leadership is involved, or at least aware, of the practice of foreign bribery in most cases, rebutting perceptions of bribery as an act of rogue employees,” the club of wealthy nations said in a report.

The report analyses 427 cases involving the 41 signatories to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention since it took effect in 1999.

“Given the complexity and concealed nature of corrupt transactions, this is without doubt the mere tip of the iceberg,” the report said.

Nearly half of the bribes paid to foreign public officials originated in developed countries, and 21 of the cases involved heads of state or government ministers receiving bribes, the study found.

The four sectors most affected are mining, construction, transportation and storage, and information and communication.

Well over half - 57 percent - of the bribes averaging $13.8m (11m euros) each were paid to win public procure-

ment contracts, and three-quarters involved payment through intermediaries, the OECD said.

“Bribes were promised, offered or given most frequently to employees of state-owned enterprses (27%), followed by customs officials (11%), health officials (seven percent) and defence officials (six percent),” the report said.

Eighty individuals served jail time after being convicted of foreign bribery, while 261 individuals and companies paid fines, it said.

Sixty-nine percent of the cases were settled with sanctions, it added.

“One in three cases came to the attention of authorities through selfreporting by defendant companies or individuals,” it said, while whistleblowers accounted for just two percent.

“Companies that self-reported became aware of the foreign bribery in their international operations primarily through internal audits,” the report said. Media coverage led to five percent of the cases.

Currently, 390 probes are under way in 24 of the convention signatories, it added.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development provides economic analysis and advice to its 34 industrialised members.

“Corruption undermines growth

and development,” OECD SecretaryGeneral Angel Gurria said in a statement, adding: “The corrupt must be brought to justice. The prevention of business crime should be at the centre

of corporate government (and) public procurement needs to become synonymous with integrity, transparency and accountability.”

The group urged governments

worldwide to “strengthen sanctions, make settlements public and reinforce protection of whistleblowers as part of greater efforts to tackle bribery and corruption.” l

B3 Dollar creeps toward fresh 7-year yen high n AFP, Tokyo The dollar crept closer to a fresh sevenyear high above 120 yen yesterday as a batch of encouraging US data showed the world’s largest economy continues to improve.

In Tokyo midday trading, the greenback rose to 119.38 yen, from 119.22 yen, hovering around its highest level since mid-2007. The dollar last broke the 120 yen level in July 2007. The yen has been under pressure after Moody’s on Monday lowered its credit rating on Japan’s sovereign debt and later its outlook on five Japanese commercial banks.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise” if the pair tests the 120 mark later this week, said Yuzo Sakai, manager of FX business promotion at Tokyo Forex & Ueda Harlow.

“Investors may lack a sense of accomplishment until the pair hits 120,” he told Dow Jones Newswires.

In other trading, the euro strengthened to $1.2386 and 147.86 yen against $1.2381 and 147.62 yen in US trade.

On Tuesday, the US Commerce Department said construction spending rose 1.1% in September, almost twice as much as expected, while industry specialist AutoData said the car industry saw a healthy 4.6% increase in sales last month. l

Fed welcomes energy drop, shrugs off disinflation threat n Reuters, New York The Federal Reserve is welcoming the sharp drop in global energy prices, with two influential policymakers on Monday cheering the boost it should provide American pocketbooks and shrugging off any pressure on already low inflation.

Soft oil prices in particular, which hit a five-year low on Friday, will only temporarily dampen overall US prices, Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and New York Fed President William Dudley said at separate events. The pair painted a mostly rosy outlook for the world’s largest economy, suggesting the central bank is not letting energy markets distract it from lifting rates some time next year.

“The lower inflation that we’ll get from the lower price of oil is going to be temporary,” Fischer said at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I wouldn’t worry about that very much because that period of negative, low inflation is actually happening as a result of a phenomenon that’s making everyone better off, and furthermore likely to increase GDP rather than reduce it.”

Dudley, who like Fischer is a close ally of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, said the oil rout was a positive for the economy because much of the extra money will be “spent, not saved” by Americans. The

The United States Federal Reserve Board building is shown behind security barriers in Washington REUTERS global price drop will also encourage more monetary easing by other central banks, spurring global growth, he said.

If the oil price drop were to “intensify and persist, this would have negative implications for oil and gas investment” in the United States, he added.

“Nevertheless, there are several reasons why I don’t think this risk should be overstated, especially if oil prices stabilize around current levels.”

BSRM Steels wins ICAB award n Tribune Business Desk BSRM Steels Limited, a concern of BSRM Group of Companies has recently been awarded for its reporting standard for the year 2013 under the category - manufacturing sector.

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has awarded the recognition at a hotel in Dhaka.

The event’s chief guest, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhit has handed over the award to the company’s managing director, Aameir Alihussain.

Crude markets rebounded on Monday but have fallen the last five straight months, the longest losing streak since the crisis that brought on the deep recession. Measures of inflation, which have lingered below the Fed’s 2 percent target for more than three years, have recently softened, raising questions over the timing of policy tightening.

“I remain confident, despite the recent softening, that inflation will begin

to move up towards our 2% objective next year,” Dudley said at Baruch College. In a television interview later, he downplayed worries over leverage in oil and gas exploration.

Elsewhere in New York, Fischer said the United States may be on the verge of a long-awaited jump in wages that could signal the labor market has begun to heal more fully. “I think that has a significant chance of being about to happen,” he said.

US wages have stagnated despite falling unemployment and decent gross domestic product (GDP) growth, so the Fed is only cautiously preparing to raise rates. It halted a bond-buying program in October.

Dudley, who repeated it is reasonable to expect a rate hike in mid-2015, said the Fed will not just tighten policy based on how the economy is faring but also on how well financial markets respond to the eventual hikes. More aggressive rate rises will be needed if financial markets do not react as expected, and vice versa, he said.

Elsewhere, the dovish head of the Minneapolis Fed, Narayana Kocherlakota, in a paper called on the central bank to rewrite its 2% inflation goal to reflect the view that below-target inflation is just as costly as above-target inflation.

Asked about raising that target, Fischer rejected the idea. l

Moody’s cuts ratings on Japanese banks after sovereign downgrade n AFP, Tokyo Moody’s cut its credit rating on five Japanese commercial banks on Tuesday after it downgraded the country’s sovereign debt over concerns about the mammoth national debt.

The firms hit by the move were Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, as well as regional lenders Shizuoka Bank and Chugoku Bank.

Moody’s said it cut their rating by one notch to A1 with a stable outlook from Aa3, a day after cutting Japan’s rating.

“The downgrade actions follow and are in response to Moody’s downgrade of the Government of Japan’s rating to A1 with a stable outlook from Aa3,” it said in a statement.

“The rating actions reflect Moody’s

view that in Japan the capacity of the government to support banks is best measured by its own debt rating of A1.

“Despite these rating actions, Moody’s considers that the willingness of the Japanese government to support major banks continues to be very high.”

The cut to Japan’s rating on Monday put it below neighbours China and South Korea, and on the same level as Israel and the Czech Republic.

The agency cited “rising uncertainty” over the country’s fiscal situation - it has one of the world’s heaviest national debt burdens - and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s faltering efforts to kickstart growth, with an election just two weeks away.

Last month Abe announced that a planned sales tax rise set for next year would be delayed, as he called a snap election described as a referendum on his “Abenomics” growth blitz. l

Green Delta Insurance Company Limited has recently awarded by Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh for maintaining the best reporting standard among Insurance companies in Bangladesh. Finance Minister AMA Muhith handed over the award to the company’s MD and CEO, Farzana Chowdhury Mr. Arshadul Hasan – Chief Information Officer, Mr. Shafquat Hossain – General Manager, Retail Products, Mr. Mahiul Islam - Head, Brand & Marketing and other senior officials of Standard Chartered Bank along with Mr. Ahmad AD – Co Founder & CEO and Mr. Tausif Ahmed – Co Founder & COO of HungryNaki.com at the signing ceremony

Modhumoti Bank Limited has recently inaugurated its campaign named, “Freedom” for freedom fighters. The bank’s MD and CEO, Md Mizanur Rahman presided over the ceremony

Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Ltd has recently taken their channel partners to Singapore and Malaysia. The company’s director of marketing and sales, Syed Abu Abed Saher was present with the group

Rangs Workshop Limited, an authorized after sales Sservice provider of Mitsubishi Motors in Bangladesh has recently launched a weeklong servicing campaign of the most popular vehicle 'Lancer Ex' at Tejgaon I/A in Dhaka. Tanzeem Chowdhury Director of East Coast Group inaugurated the service campaign

KFC, a globally renowned and internationally beloved restaurant chain of Transcom Foods Limited has recently launched Burger Fest, where 3 new delicious burgers were introduced. MD and CEO of Transcom Foods Ltd, Akku Chowdhury was present at the launching ceremony

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Indonesia to lead SE Asian online shopping boom n AFP, Jakarta Indonesia is set to lead a boom in online shopping across Southeast Asia as Internet access explodes and investors pour money into a rapidly growing host of retail startups, analysts say.

Much like China several years ago, the region is enjoying a rapid increase in web access that observers say is starting to drive a fundamental shift in shopping habits among the emerging middle class.

According to a recent report by investment bank UBS, business-to-consumer e-commerce in Southeast Asia will increase at least five-fold by 2020, and could reach as much as $35bn a year.

It cited strong growth in Thailand and the Philippines but said Indonesia, the region’s biggest economy, was the most promising market despite currently having modest online sales and low Internet penetration.

This hope is based on an expected rapid increase in web users, with consultancy Redwing saying that 125 million people are expected to be online by the end of 2015, from 55 million in 2012, coupled with an increasingly affluent middle class.

“There is huge opportunity,” Daniel Tumiwa, head of the Indonesian e-commerce association, told a recent startup conference in Jakarta. “The middle class is a major, major, major driving force.”

US CEOs see dimmer economic growth in 2015 n AFP, Washington Chief executives of major US companies are slightly less optimistic about the economy than three months ago and plan to cut capital spending next year, according to a survey published Tuesday.

The Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of leading companies, said its Economic Outlook Index for the coming six months fell to 85.1 in the fourth quarter from 86.4 in the third quarter.

The index was a bit higher than the 84.5 reading in the 2013 fourth quarter, which included the October federal government shutdown over a budget dispute between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers.

Expectations for capital spending took the biggest hit in the latest survey, falling 5.8 points to 73.3. Executives’ outlook for sales dimmed by 1.3 points to 115.1. Hiring expectations rose, by 3.6 points to 67.1, following a decline in the third quarter.

Overall, the business leaders projected the US economy will grow only 2.4% next year, compared to 2.6-3% predicted by the Federal Reserve and a slightly faster pace forecast by the International Monetary Fund.

“The economy ended the year essentially where it started - performing below its potential,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman of Business Roundtable and chairman and CEO of telecom giant AT&T Inc. Survey respondents said the two most significant factors hampering their investment spending were US tax policy and regulatory issues.

Thirty-nine percent of CEOs said that regulatory costs were their largest cost pressure over the next six months.

Stephenson called on Congress to extend business tax breaks due to expire at the end of the month and to give the president greater powers to negotiate trade deals, actions that would “encourage additional business investment in the United States to help the economy grow and create more jobs.”

Stephenson, in a conference call with reporters, said the US corporate tax rate should be in line with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s average of 25%. It currently stands at 35 percent.

He said the survey did not address the international impact on businesses’ economic outlook but that the weakness in Europe and Asia had “nothing but a suppressive effect on their sales outlook.” l

E-commerce growth across Southeast Asia has been given a kickstart by an explosion in the availability of cheap smartphones, analysts say, with many getting their first taste of the Internet on handsets that come loaded with social media and popular retail sites.

The past two years has seen a noticeable shift in Indonesia with many starting to shop online, for everything from fashion to electronics, and consumers putting aside initial worries about fraud to opt for the convenience of “e-tail”, Tumiwa said.

Biggest startup investment

The current star of Indonesia’s nascent e-commerce scene is Tokopedia, a marketplace that allows users to set up online shops and handles transactions. In October, the site won a $100m investment from Japan’s SoftBank and US firm Sequoia Capital.

It was the biggest startup investment in Indonesia to date and the first in the country by Sequoia, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has been an early backer of success stories such as WhatsApp and Apple.

Numerous online shopping websites have also proven popular, from those that host classifieds, such as Kaskus and OLX, to retail sites including the Indonesian branch of Lazada, which bills itself as Southeast Asia’s answer to Amazon.

Lazada, founded in 2012 and with

Southeast Asia is enjoying a rapid increase in web access that observers say is starting to drive a fundamental shift in shopping habits among the emerging middle class AFP operations in six Southeast Asian countries, has also attracted investor interest. At the weekend it secured $250 million in a fresh round of funding led

by Singapore state investment giant Temasek.

The new government of President Joko Widodo is taking an interest, with

Latin America growth 1.1% in 2014, slowest in five years

Australia’s economy slows as private investment weakens

n AFP, Santiago

Australia’s economy slowed more than expected in the third quarter, dragged down by falling private investment, data showed yesterday, in another sign of the nation’s rocky transition away from mining-led growth.

The economy expanded by 0.3% in the three months to September, down from 0.5% in the previous quarter, to take the annual rate of growth to 2.7%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

“These national accounts reflect, quite starkly, the resources sector switching from significant investment to significant production,” Treasurer Joe Hockey told reporters.

“Iron ore production in particular has picked up more strongly than expected at budget time (in May). However, prices for iron ore and thermal coal, two of our biggest exports, have fallen dramatically in recent times.”

The new readings were well below analysts’ forecasts of 0.7% quarterly growth for a year-on-year rate of 3.1%, and sent the Australian dollar plunging three-quarters of a cent. The local unit fell from the day’s high of 84.69 US cents to a fresh four-year low of 83.92 US cents.

“There’s always two sides to a boom,” JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy told AFP. “We’ve had the good side of it, and now we are seeing a little bit of unwind from the investment boom.

“It looks like almost all of the sur-

Latin America’s economies, hit by falling investment, will grow just 1.1% in 2014 their lowest level in five years, a UN commission on the region said Tuesday.

The poor performance of several of Latin America’s biggest economies dragged down growth across the region, found the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Argentina’s economy will contract by 0.2% this year and Venezuela’s by 3%, it said. Regional giant Brazil’s will grow just 0.2%. The figures are the latest confirmation of the end of Latin America’s socalled “golden decade” of commoditiesfueled growth.

The International Monetary Fund had made a similar diagnosis in October, forecasting regional economic growth of 1.3% for 2014, the lowest in five years, and 2.2% in 2015.

Regional growth is expected to bounce back slightly in 2015, to 2.2%, ECLAC said.

It said the sluggish growth came amid a slow and uneven recovery from the global economic crisis, falling commodities prices, increasing financial uncertainty and “scarce dynamism” in Latin

America’s external demand.

Last year the region’s economies grew 2.7%. Growth this year is set to come in at the lowest level since 2009, when the region’s economies contracted 1.3% at the height of the global economic crisis.

“To invigorate economic growth and stop deceleration in the global economy’s current context entails significant challenges for the region,” said the commission’s executive secretary, Alicia Barcena, at a press conference in the Chilean capital Santiago.

“Among these, it is necessary to revive domestic demand prioritizing the dynamic of investment. This should impact positively on the economies’ productivity and competitiveness.”

ECLAC said one of the keys to reigniting growth was to expand counter-cyclical macroeconomic policy in ways that would protect financing for investment, especially for infrastructure projects, even in gloomy economic weather.

Investment in Latin America has been slowing since 2011 and is on track to fall 3.5% this year, the commission found.

It also recommended increasing the integration of the region’s economies as a way to boost productivity and demand and strengthen capacity to deal with external shocks.

Weak EU, Chinese demand

Across the region, the picture was largely uneven, ECLAC found.

Central America, Haiti and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean were on track to grow 3.7% in 2014, but South America would post just 0.7% growth, it said.

For 2015, it forecast growth of 4.1% in Central America, Haiti and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, 1.8% in South America and 2.2% in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The fastest-growing economies next year will be Panama with 7% growth, Bolivia with 5.5% growth, and the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua with 5% growth, it predicted.

In Brazil, the world’s seventh-largest economy, it forecast 1.3% growth.

The region’s larger economies will mostly do better next year, it found, predicting growth of 3.2% in Mexico, 3% in Chile and 4.3% in Colombia.

Much of Latin America was hit by falling exports this year.

While countries such as Mexico and the Dominican Republic benefited from the recovery of the nearby US economy, South America faced sluggish demand and low prices for its commodities in key trade partners China and the European Union. l

Companies and lovers of the City of Lights snapped up 6,600 “.paris” Internet domain names in a mere two hours on Tuesday, far exceeding expectations.

Deputy Paris Mayor Jean-Louis Missika said the city had a target of selling 10,000 of the domain extensions over the next two years, but now it appears that goal will be largely surpassed.

“We are very happy, it’s a great

n AFP, Sydney

prise here is from the private capex front, which took off 0.5 (percentage points) from GDP and we were expecting a much smaller drag from that.”

Net exports supported growth, expanding by a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percentage points while consumer spending rose by 0.4 percentage points.

But private capital spending slipped by 0.5 percentage points and public investment eased by 0.2 percentage points.

‘Income recession’

Australia’s economy is transitioning away from resources driven-growth amid an expected drop off in mining investment, supported by the Reserve Bank’s decision to keep interest rates at a record low of 2.5%. The mining investment boom has helped to keep the economy out of recession for more than two decades, with Chinese demand for Australia’s resources helping to insulate it through the global financial downturn.

But as business spending declines, growth has slipped below trend while the unemployment rate has edged up to a decade high of more than 6.0 percent.

Sharp falls in commodity prices, particularly due to a slowdown in major consumer China and global supply glut, have also hit Australia’s growth.

The terms of trade declined 3.5%, the data showed, while real gross domestic income - a measure of the nation’s earnings - fell by 0.4%, after declining 0.3% in the June quarter. l

Oil prices rebound in Asian trade n AFP, Singapore

A skyscraper known as the 'Tower of David' is seen in Caracas

REUTERS

Paris domain names sell like hot croissants n AFP, Paris

Information Technology Minister Rudiantara, who goes by one name, saying that they are looking at ways of supporting the sector.

But while there is much optimism, the e-commerce sector in Southeast Asia - home to 10 countries and a population of about 600 million people - still has long way to go, according to analysts.

E-commerce currently accounts for just 0.2% of retail sales in the region, compared with 8% in China and 8.7% in the United States, according to the UBS report.

And huge challenges remain in the most promising market, Indonesia, not least due to the government’s decision earlier this year to block foreigners from investing in e-commerce, critics say.

However, Kuo-Yi Lim, from venture capital firm Monk’s Hill Ventures, said the Chinese government had taken a similar approach, adding: “People figure out ways to work with it, or work around it.”

Tokopedia managed to secure its recent investment despite the government ban, as the site does not make any direct sales.

Even the firm’s CEO, William Tanuwijaya, admits he faced problems getting initial funding, highlighting the challenge for newcomers trying to enter an still underdeveloped market.

“People didn’t even call it a ‘startup’, people called it ‘I want to build a website’,” he said.

“Indonesia is not Silicon Valley.” l

start,” he told AFP. The cost of having a .paris at the end of one’s website address starts at 39 euros ($48) for one year, with the city getting 40-60% of the revenue.

The domain name allows businesses to associate themselves with a “prestigious brand: Paris”, said Missika.

The .paris name isn’t just about vanity though as it could be a tool for firms to get a leg up on competitors with more geolocation being used on

mobile devices.

“Today search engines give greater importance to .fr domain names when a search is done in French,” Missika added. “Tomorrow, if the search is done in Paris the .paris names will undoubtedly be highlighted.”

Over 1,500 .paris domain names were pre-reserved starting in September, adding to the 100 “ambassadors” like the Eiffel Tower and Paris’s transit and airport authorities that had been using the extension since June.

Paris is the first French city endowed with its own internet extension, which leaders hope will allow some measure of control over its online namesake.

“Once domains open up in a city’s name, Paris, like New York, London or Berlin, must have command of its digital territory,” Missika was quoted as saying in French paper Metronews.

The French capital is not itself selling the domain names, rather an accredited domain name registry is handling the process. l

Oil rebounded in Asia yesterday as dealers consolidated positions and awaited the latest US crude stockpiles report for fresh leads following sharp falls due to a supply glut, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery rose 89 cents to $67.77 while Brent crude for January gained 66 cents to $71.20 in mid-morning trade.

WTI tumbled $2.12 in New York on Tuesday, while Brent fell $2.00 after Iraq announced plans to boost the country’s crude oil exports after striking a deal with the autonomous Kurdish region.

The decline compounded the hammering taken by oil prices late last week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries left its output ceiling unchanged, despite the supply glut driving prices sharply lower.

“We are seeing some consolidation in the market at the moment,” Daniel Ang, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, told AFP.

DILBERT

“We are likely to see such ups and downs for the rest of the year as the crude market finds a good price to stabilise upon after recent losses,” he added.

Ang said dealers were also awaiting the US weekly petroleum report for the week to November 28 to be released later Wednesday. The report gives an indication of demand in the world’s biggest oil consuming nation.

Analysts are projecting the report will show a 600,000-barrel increase in crude stockpiles, the Wall Street Journal said.

The United States has 383 million barrels of crude stored currently, according to official data.

The market is also expected to digest the rise in China’s official services sector purchasing managers index to 53.9 in November from October’s 53.8.

A rating above 50 indicates growth.

The upbeat data released Wednesday follows a slew of lacklustre economic figures indicating slowing growth in the world’s second biggest economy. l