30 Dec, 2014

Paush 16, 1421 Rabiul Awal 7, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 266

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

B4 | BUSINESS SPECIAL RESCHEDULING PACKAGE FOR BIG GROUPS

20 pages | Price: Tk12

7 | LONG FORM

11 | OP-ED

12 | SPORT

THE LONG WAR

BEFORE WE FOLLOW JIHAD INTO DEATHTRAPS

TAMIM’S OPERATION SUCCESSFUL

Six killed as lorry slams into train 11 injured in collision at Kamalapur Railway Station container depot

Tribunal verdict in Azhar case today Ahmed Zayeef

Abid Azad and Mohammad Jamil Khan Six people were killed when a container lorry that had defied a crossing signal slammed into a Dhaka-bound train at the Kamalapur Railway Station container depot, causing the train to derail yesterday.

The accident near Dhaka’s main railway station left 11 people severely injured.

Kamalapur Railway police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdul Majid told the Dhaka Tribune: “The 219 Narayanganj Local, packed with passengers, was travelling inbound from Narayanganj and was about to reach Kamalapur Railway Station when it was rammed by a container lorry at the container depot gate after the van ignored the Ansar member’s signal and drove across the railway-crossing.

“The incoming train was overloaded with passengers – they were riding on the roof, along its sides, and on the engine railings.

“The van hit the train at speed and caused a carriage to derail. Two were killed on the spot. The driver has fled. We suspect that a helper was driving the van.

Ten or twelve people injured in the crash have been sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for treatment.”

According to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) security register, the van, belonging to NS Cargo Ltd, entered the PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

The mangled wreck of a carriage of the 219 Narayanganj Local rammed into by a container lorry lies on its side in the container depot area of Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka.

Eyewitnesses say the container lorry driver failed to pay heed to a crossing signal and ploughed into the moving train on its way to Dhaka from Narayanganj MEHEDI HASAN

School teacher killed in 20-party general strike Tribune Report The daylong general strike of the 20-party alliance ended yesterday evening amid random acts of violence across the country, including the killing of a female school teacher.

The teacher, Shamsunnahar, died after sustaining serious injuries when pickets hurled stones at her in Noakhali in the morning.

The 37-year-old worked at the Agargaon Tawhid Laboratory School in Dhaka.

Sudharam police station Officer-inCharge Anwar Hossain said the woman

Shamsunnahar

42,500 jobless youths to get jobs under NSP Muhammad Zahidul Islam The government is planning to provide jobs to around 42,500 youths including women under the third phase of the National Service Programme (NSP).

Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan made the statement while briefing journalists after a scheduled cabinet meeting yesterday, where he added that the cabinet has also approved a proposal for the third phase of the NSP. “The government has fixed a budget of Tk661 crore for the project which is part of the government’s 2008 election pledge of creating job opportunities.

Jobs for over 16,036 were created in the second phase for youths in eight upazilas in northern districts “Under the programme, job opportunities will be created for around 42,500 unemployed youths in 17 upazilas of 17 districts,” Musharraf said.

The cabinet secretary added that applicants must have already passed their HSC exams and be at least 24-25 years old to be deemed qualified for the NSP jobs. Musharraf said the programme would start in January 2015 and continue until December 2017.

The NSP was first launched in March 2010 in three districts to provide necessary training and short-term services to educated male and female youths for

capacity building to find jobs. At that time, the programme was implemented in 19 upazilas of Kurigram, Barguna and Gopalganj districts.

Under the programme, 56,801 male and female youths were given training and out of them 56,054 got jobs in the government service. Under the NSP a youth gets Tk100 everyday during the training period and Tk200 during the short-term service.

Jobs for around 16,036 unemployed were created in the second phase of the programme for youths from eight upazilas in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Nilphamari, Gaibandha and Lalmonirhat.

The third phase will be implemented in 17 poverty-stricken upazilas of 17 districts, the cabinet secretary said, adding that the upazilas were selected on the basis of the poverty map of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

The upazilas are- Mehendiganj of Barisal, Gosairhat of Shariatpur, Dewanganj of Jamalpur, Nandail of Mymensingh, Kaokhali of Pirojpur, Haimchar of Chandpur, Sherpur Sadar, Shyamnagar of Satkhira, Nalchiti of Jhalakati, Mohammadpur of Magura, Goalanda of Rajbari, Chitalmari of Bagerhat, Chowhali of Sirajganj, Thanchi of Bandarban, Singda of Natore, Terkhada of Khulna and Monoharganj of Comilla.

Meeting sources said that in yesterday’s meeting, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury disagreed with the BBS survey, claiming that one target location – Sherpur sadar – should be changed as it was Sherpur’s Jhenaigati upazila that was the poorest area in the district.

was taken to Abdul Malik Ukil Medical College where doctors declared her dead around 10:15am.

Her husband Shahjahan Siraj was also injured, he said.

Shahjahan said pickets threw stones at him and his wife when they were at the Maijdee Municipal Bazar.

“I was transferred to Noakhali and we were moving to the district,” he added.

Apart from the teacher, a man was injured when police opened fire during a clash between BNP activists and law enforcers in Mirpur.

Ziauzzaman, officer-in-charge of

Pallabi police station, said some BNP and Jamaat activists vandalised vehicles in the morning.

“They hurled stones at the police, who were then forced to charge batons and fire rubber bullets. The man was hit by bullets at the time and was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” he added.

Earlier, five people, including three women, were injured in Dhaka in violence perpetrated on the eve of the strike.

The strike was enforced in protest at the denial of permission to hold the PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

INSIDE 6 | Nation

8 | World

The water ambulance service in the three haor upazilas of Kishoreganj has failed to take off due to negligence of the authority, poor quality of the vessels and costly operation.

Passengers from a car ferry, ablaze off the coast of Greece, arrived in Italy yesterday as rescue teams worked to save stranded 149.

3 | News

The disappearance of AirAsia passenger jet comes at a sensitive time for Jakarta’s aviation authorities, as they strive to improve the country’s safety reputation to match its status as an fastest growing airline.

Indian Border Security Force chief Devendra Kumar Pathak yesterday echoed his predecessor to claim that his men open fire on self defence and that border killing incidents had decreased.

9 | World

5 | News

4 | News

Sixteen students of Barisal University have been expelled for different periods of time for their involvement in attacks on some BU officials and vandalising the university registrar’s office.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan has again got the taste of dense fog woes disrupting ferry movement in the Padma river. The minister spent from around 10pm on Sunday to 11am yesterday in the stuck ferry the ferry.

13 | Sport

15 | Entertainment

A superb World Cup featuring one of the greatest upsets in the sport’s history, Germany’s fourth title and the duel between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to be the world’s best were among the soccer highlights of 2014.

Model and actress Rukhsana Ali Heera will appear in a TV play titled “Bhalobasha Ontoraley”. She will share the screen with actor Nayeem in the drama to be aired in private television channel soon.

A war crimes tribunal is set to deliver the verdict today in the case against alleged al-Badr leader ATM Azharul Islam for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War in the Rangpur area where over 1,200 people, mostly Hindus, had been killed.

The International Crimes Tribunal 1 led by Chairman Justice Enayetur Rahim fixed the date yesterday.

The 62-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general is facing six charges including abduction, confinement, murder, genocide, looting and arson.

An alleged al-Badr commander of Rangpur, Azhar was the former president of the Rangpur district unit Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of the Jamaat.

Son of late Nazir Hossain and Ramicha Khatun of Batasan Lohanipara in Badarganj upazila of Rangpur, Azhar was a student of class XI at the Rangpur Carmichael College during the war.

Police arrested him on August 22, 2012 from his Moghbazar house in the capital after the tribunal had issued an arrest warrant against him.

The tribunal indicted him on November 12 last year.

A total of 19 witnesses testified against the accused. Of them, the prosecution declared their seventh witness hostile. The defence produced a relative of Azhar to testify in his favour.

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

OBAMA SALUTES END OF COMBAT MISSION

Afghan spy chief claims Mullah Omar in Pakistan Agencies Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar is alive and hiding in the Pakistani city of Karachi, a top Afghan intelligence official has said, echoing a similar assessment by Western intelligence officials.

“There is a lot of doubt whether he is alive or not. But we are more confident that he is in Karachi,” acting Afghan intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil

was quoted as saying in the New York Times regarding Omar’s whereabouts.

An European official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said in the NYT report that there is a “consensus among all three branches of the Afghan security forces that Mullah Omar is alive.”

“Not only do they think he’s alive, they say they have a good understanding of where exactly he is in Karachi,” PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Foreign Ministry seeks more time for MRP delivery Asif Showkat Kallol The Department of Immigration and Passport will not be able to deliver machine-readable passports (MRPs) to around 50 lakh Bangladeshi expatriates currently residing around the world, especially the Middle East.

The issue was discussed at a meeting last week at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presided over by the ministry’s Bilateral, Training and Consular Secretary Mustafa Kamal.

At the meeting, Muhammad Zulqar Nain, director general of the minitry’s consular and welfare wing, said he had taken initiatives to extend the deadline to deliver MRPs to the expatriates, set by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), from December 2015 to the end of 2017, meeting sources said.

The DG already asked the Bangladeshi embassies and missions abroad if the time could be extended in this regard, the sources added.

In response to Zulqar Nain’s statement, former DG of Immigration and Passport Abdul Mabud said: “The government fixed the deadline following the ICAO’s instruction. If we want to extend the duration of use for the hand-written passports, an inter-ministerial meeting needs to take place re-

garding this matter,” He also said it was not possible to deliver MRPs to all Bangladeshi expatriates across the world within the current deadline.

The Dhaka Tribune contacted State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday in this regard, who said: “We are considering different options about providing MRPs to the 50 lakh Bangladeshi expatriates within December 2015.”

The government has already signed deals with a Malaysian firm and a local firm to supply the MRPs to the expatriates, but the process has been very slow.

In another development, 14 Home Ministry officials, who were selected to supervise and monitor MRP enrolment in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, were given only one-month visa, whereas they need at least three months to do their job, sources at the Home Ministry said.

If these officials do not get visa for more than a month, many Bangladeshi expatriates may be forced to come back home, the sources said.

The government launched the MRP project on April 1, 2010. Besides the people in the country, the government has introduced the MRPs at 41 missions abroad so far.

Tribunal verdict in Azhar case PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

After recording the closing arguments of both prosecution and defence, the tribunal on September 18 kept the case for a verdict.

During the arguments, the prosecution sought death penalty for the offences Azhar had committed including the Jharuar Beel massacre of April 17, 1971 when 1,200 unarmed people had been killed.

Azhar was also allegedly involved in the abduction and murder of four Hindu teachers of Carmichael College and others on April 30, according to a charge.

The prosecution pleaded for compensation to a victim of sexual torture.

The victim testified at the tribunal as the first prosecution witness. She was confined at the Rangpur Town Hall camp and raped for 19 days resulting in the miscarriage of her baby.

Terming the Town Hall of Rangpur a “rape camp,” the prosecution said it was one of the many camps that had been raised and run by the anti-liberation forces in 1971. Azhar helped the Pakistani occupation forces to abduct and confine women in that camp, who were later treated as sex slaves.

“The person, who can facilitate such crimes in a rape camp, cannot be called anything other than an animal,” prosecutor Tureen Afroz said.

On the other hand, defence lawyer Abdus Sobhan Tarafder claimed that there had been no evidence of “conspiracy,” “instigation” and “planning” against his client in March 1971. “On March 24, 1971, Bangladesh was not born and an 18/19 year old boy cannot hatch any kind of conspiracy with the Pakistani Army commanders in the cantonment.”

Six killed as lorry slams into train PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

container depot around 12:40pm. The register shows the vehicle was signed in to the depot by driver Md Rahmat and helper Ripon.

ICD Security In-Charge Fazlul told the Dhaka Tribune: “The van had entered the container depot to load goods.”

The DMCH emergency unit physician, Dr Riaz Morshed, said: “Two people were killed on the spot and four others succumbed to their injuries in hospital. Most of the injured are being treated for broken bones. They are being kept in observation rooms 101 and 102.”

Four of the deceased have been identified as Mojibur Rahman, 55, Naimul Islam, 16, Ismail Hossain, 35, and Md Alamgir, 50.

“The two others have not been identified as yet,” Dr Riaz said, adding: “One is a 25-year-old woman.”

Railway Minister Mujibul Hoque

visited the accident site and told reporters: “Either the driver lost control or made a mistake while driving.”

He said a three-member probe committee had already been formed with Bangladesh Railway Divisional Communication Officer Nazmul Hasan as its chief. He said the committee had been asked to submit its report within three days.

Kamalapur Railway police station OC Majid said a case, accusing only the driver, had been filed with Kamalapur Railway police by Railway Assistant Engineer Abdul Matin.

Several eyewitnesses told the Dhaka Tribune that the van was approaching from the east while the train was traveling north towards the Kamalapur Railway Station.

“The driver, the only one inside the van, did not follow the Ansar member’s signal and attempted to cross the tracks. The van crashed into the train’s engine and flipped over. The train

Rubina of Godagari cannot hold back tears at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital after her newborn baby girl was stolen by a woman yesterday. The woman tricked Rubina’s mother into letting her hold the infant while the grandmother went to bring some dry clothes. Rubina’s mother came back and saw she had disappeared with the child AZAHAR UDDIN

‘Influentials pulled strings in drives against unfit vehicles’ Tribune report The drives against unfit vehicles never saw success as local influentials in many areas of the country manipulated the operations in exchange for money, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader.

“I tried several times but the steps proved futile because the influentials got in the way because of their own financial interests,” he said at a seminar organised by the Awami League sub-committee on publicity and publications at Engineers Institution in the

capital yesterday.

Quader, who did not specify who the influentials are, sought cooperation of Awami League leaders to remove unfit vehicles as well as human hauliers, locally known as Nasiman, Kariman and Bhatbhati, from the road.

He said the human hauliers cause around 50% of the total highway accidents.

“One of my major weaknesses is that I have not been able to ensure discipline in the transport sector. I urge the party leaders who are present here to address the problem,” said Quader.

BNP blames govt for Kamalapur accident The government’s insincerity, mismanagement and negligence caused the train-covered van crash inside the Inland Container Depot (ICD) of Kamalapur Railway Station killing six people, according to the BNP. “This fatal accident has again proved that the government has totally failed to ensure the security of people’s lives. Accidents these days have become a routine affair due to the government’s mismanagement,” said BNP acting secretary

general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

“The government’s mismanagement, negligence and lack of accountability have reached a worrisome level.

Now the authorities of service-providing government departments and institutions are unconcerned about their duties which cause regular loss of lives in frequent accidents.”

Fakhrul made the allegations at a press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in the capital.

At least six people were killed and nine others seriously injured as a cov-

dragged the van some 50 yards from the container gate damaging the engine and the first carriage, and causing it to derail,” an eyewitness, CNF agency employee, Md Azad, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The container lorries cabin was crushed and its chassis was severely damaged. The train’s engine was damaged and one side of the first carriage was crushed.

According to eyewitnesses, the first carriage of the train was carrying 70 or 80 passengers.

Several Railway rescue team members said the van had flipped because it was empty when it collided with the train.

Ansar member, Hannan, told the Dhaka Tribune at the DMCH: “The driver did not pay heed to my whistle and crossed the tracks. My colleague Mizanur Rahman was severely injured.”

The injured were identified as Babul Hossain, 40, Mostafa Pradhan,

40, Billal, 30, Jindar Molla, 40, Majib, 34, Alamgir, 32, Zaved Ali, 35, Harun-ur-Rashid, 35, Kamal, 32, and Suman, 35.

The railway minister also visited the DMCH and provided Tk20,000 to some of the injured, including Ansar members Mizanur, Zindar and Molla, rickshaw-puller Zaved Ali and workshop worker Harun-ur-Rashid.

He said: “We will soon ask all the victims and injured to come to the ministry and will provide them with a handsome compensation. We have already asked the DMCH to make every effort to treat the injured.”

Container Depot In-charge Abdul Karim said: “There is no previous record of an accident like this. A bamboo level-crossing has been installed to avoid further accidents of this nature.”

The accident caused Narayanganj – Dhaka railway services to be suspended for some time but railway officials said they would resume by evening.

UNB

Afghan spy chief claims Mullah Omar in Pakistan PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

the Pakistani metropolis where some say Mullah Omar is hiding.

Obama salutes end of Nato combat mission

Meanwihile, US President Barack Obama on Sunday saluted the “milestone” end of Nato’s combat mission in Afghanistan, but warned the country remains “a dangerous place.”

A low-key ceremony in Kabul marked the formal end of Nato’s war after 13 years of conflict that have left the country in the grip of worsening insurgent violence.

As of January 1, the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) combat mission, will be replaced by a Nato “training and support” mission.

Obama called the ceremony “a milestone for our country.”

“For more than 13 years, ever since nearly 3,000 innocent lives were taken from us on 9/11, our nation has been at war in Afghanistan,” he said in a statement.

“Now, thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, our combat mission in Af-

ghanistan is ending, and the longest war in American history is coming to a responsible conclusion.”

Obama thanked the troops and intelligence workers who served in Afghanistan, crediting them with “devastating the core al-Qaeda leadership, delivering justice to Osama bin Laden, disrupting terrorist plots and saving countless American lives.”

“We are safer, and our nation is more secure, because of their service.”

And he honored those who were wounded or killed in the long war, including more than 2,200 US soldiers who lost their lives to make “this progress possible.”

But, Obama warned, “Afghanistan remains a dangerous place, and the Afghan people and their security forces continue to make tremendous sacrifices in defense of their country.”

Under a bilateral agreement with Kabul, about 12,500 foreign troops will remain in Afghanistan.

They will not be involved in direct fighting, but will assist the Afghan army and police in their battle against the Taliban, who ruled from 1996 until 2001.

HT Imam, adviser to the prime minister, who was present at the seminar said Quader’s proposal would be placed before the premier.

Emphasising awareness building measures among people, the road transport and bridges minister demanded traffic rules be included in the school curriculum.

HT Imam, meanwhile, suggested introduction of buses exclusively for school children in the capital to reduce traffic jam.

Quader, Imam and Mizanur Rahman, a professor of civil engineer-

Mullah Omar in Pakistan

The New York Times report said that Mullah Omar has always functioned more as the spiritual and ideological leader of the movement than as an operational commander.

His inner circle, made up of village mullahs who have known one another for decades, has provided the active leadership of the Taliban’s many local factions.

“But now one man, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, has risen to the No 2 role and become the main link to Mullah Omar, allowing him to place his loyalists up and down the ranks,” Nabil said in the report.

Nabil, in his assessment, saw Pakistan’s security establishment driving the changes, an appraisal shared by some Western officials.

“Some said it was a bid for greater control over the insurgency; others saw it as the evolution of a long-running Pakistani effort to avoid the embarrassment of having Mullah Omar discovered being sheltered in their country,” the report said.

The report comes even as Pakistan tries to clamp down on terrorists fol-

lowing the Taliban attack on a Peshawar school this month that killed 148 students and their teachers.

Sharif vowed not to show any distinction between good or bad Taliban and “resolved to continue the war against terrorism till the last terrorist is eliminated.”

Other Afghan officials, along with some European and American counterparts, said the suggestions that Mullah Omar had died were a propaganda ploy intended to weaken Taliban morale, not a reflection of the true thinking within the Afghan government.

Maulvi Najibullah, a senior Taliban military commander, said in a telephone interview from Peshawar, that he has “not seen Mullah Omar in a very long time.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid credited Omar’s reclusiveness with his survival, claiming that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found because he had couriers coming and going with videos and letters.

“We are attempting to eliminate any possible opportunity that could end up helping our enemies find our leader,” the report quoted Mujahid as saying.

ered van crashed into a moving train on a level-crossing inside the Inland Container Depot (ICD) of Kamalapur Railway Station yesterday.

Fakhrul said only two days ago a little boy, Jihad died as he fell into a deep pipe of an abandoned water pump, also because of the negligence of the authorities concerned.

The BNP leader said there is no respite from accidents on roads and rail and waterways due to the utter negligence and carelessness of the government about ensuring public safety.

ing at Buet, also talked about several ongoing projects such as Padma bridge construction and elevating Dhaka-Chittagong highway to four lanes.

Noted columnist Syed Abul Maksud and Nirapad Sarak Chai Chairman Ilias Kanchan said the government must ensure road safety and implement other development projects.

Awami League Deputy Publicity and Publications Secretary Ashim Kumar Ukil moderated the seminar, which was attended by Awami League leaders and academicians.

Shahinul Islam new PDB chairman Tribune Report Engineer Md Shahinul Islam Khan has been appointed the new chairman of the Power Development Board. He will take charge of his new post on January 1.

The announcement was made in a notice issued yesterday by the Power Division which falls under the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

He will be replacing Md Abduhu Ruhullah who will be retiring tomorrow.

School teacher killed in 20-party

BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvee seen with party activist in the cold morning of the 20-party alliance hartal yesterday MEHEDI HASAN PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

Gazipur rally and to demand the release of the senior leaders of the party.

BNP leaders said they would be on the streets during the strike but none of the senior leaders were seen.

Traffic was largely unaffected by the strike but the number of private vehicles was considerably low on Dhaka streets. Buses did not run on long-haul routes but train and launch services were normal.

Crude bombs were blasted in different areas of the capital, including Dayaganj, Malibagh, Khilgaon and Green Road.

To avoid any untoward situation, the BGB was deployed at key points in the capital on Sunday night.

Police stood guard near the Nayapaltan office of the BNP and no activists were seen in the office but at least 11 people were detained in the area.

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir entered the Nayapaltan office at 6am while Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Abdus Salam and some other leaders had stayed there since Sunday night.

No BNP men marched in the area in support of the strike.

But the Dhaka city BNP member secretary led a short march in Bailey Road area which was lasted only for a few minutes.

At 9:30am, Jagannath Universi-

ty unit of Chhatra Shibir marched in Dholaikhal and Katherpool areas and some bombs were blasted there.

Outside the capital, bombs were exploded while police and supporters of strike chased and counter-chased each other as the strike was underway.

A police vehicle came under attack in Rajshahi.

Sylhet city BNP convener Shahriar was arrested and the city unit imposed a half-day strike in Sylhet district and city for today in protest at the arrest.

In the Mahalchhari upazila of Khagrachhari, Chhatra Dal called a daylong strike in the upazila protesting vandalism of the party office.

In Gaibandha, four Chhatra Shibir activists were arrested in the Palashbari area.

Fifteen BNP activists were arrested in Bhola and another 15 in Chandpur.

The BNP acting secretary general claimed at a press briefing yesterday that the government had been trying to foil his party’s movement.

Claiming that the people had observed the strike spontaneously, Fakhrul alleged that more than 300 BNP activists were arrested and 110 were injured during the shutdown.

But the Awami League claimed that the countrymen had rejected the strike and many marched in different parts of the country protesting it.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

AL challenges BNP’s rally foil threat Abu Hayat Mahmud Referring to the threat issued by the BNP, ruling Awami League (AL) Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak yesterday said they would see how the BNP supporters hinder the 14-party rally scheduled for January 6 at the Central Shaheed Minar.

“We do not want to prevent anyone from observing democratic programmes.

But if anyone tries to hinder ours, we will see how they can do so. We want to see how the BNP obstructs our programmes,” Nanak told reporters at the party chief’s Dhanmondi political office.

The press conference was arranged to inform media about the AL’s reaction on the country’s recent political situation.

BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Sunday said if the BNP was barred from holding a rally, then the Awami League would not be allowed to hold one smoothly.

Blatant disregard for safety often results in tragedy, but that is a lesson our countrymen have yet to learn. The train that was rammed into by a container lorry yesterday in the capital was like the one in the photo, left, overloaded with passengers because of the BNP-led 20-party alliance hartal. The fatal collision, top right, left six dead and injured 11, bringing unbearable grief to the families of the victims. One such family, bottom right, breaks down in tears after indentifying a loved one at Dhaka Medical College morgue MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK/ MEHEDI HASAN/ RAJIB DHAR

BORDER KILLINGS

BSF again justifies shootings as self-defence Ashif Islam Shaon Indian Border Security Force chief Devendra Kumar Pathak yesterday echoed his predecessor to claim that his men open fire for self defence and that border killing incidents had decreased.

Since the BSF had started using non-lethal weapons to tackle trespassing, Pathak claimed that the incidents of attacks on their members increased alarmingly.

“The efforts to bring down the killings to zero level have been done at the very cost of BSF personnel’s lives,” he said during a joint briefing on the concluding day of 40th DG-level talks of Bangladesh and Indian border forces in the capital’s Pilkhana headquarters.

Pathak said the BSF did not differentiate between Bangladeshi or Indian nationals during self-defence.

“On Indian land, the Bangladeshi attackers as well as Indian nationals have been shot. And more importantly, deaths are taking place in the Indian territory and at midnight. This is the time, that criminals generally dare to cross the border and sneak into the other country’s border with ill motives.”

However, asked whether all the BSF members use non-lethal weapons, Pathak said in 2010 a general policy was taken to adopt non-lethal weapons.

After last year’s conference, the then

Former state minister Mannan Khan sued Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A complaint was filed against former state minister for housing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan with a Dhaka court yesterday allegedly for physical assault and attempted murder.

AB Siddique, president of pro-ruling party organisation Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad, filed the case against Mannan and 40-50 others unnamed with the Dhaka’s Chief Judicial Magistrate Court.

According to the case, Mannan attended a Victory Day celebration at Joypara Pilot School in Dohar upazila, Dhaka on December 16, where he launched an attack with some 40-50 supporters as the presenter had not mentioned his name.

Mannan and his followers vandalised the stage, tore the banner that carried the image of Bangabandhu, and set off a crude bomb, the plaintiff alleged.

They also snatched Siddique’s gold chain and wrist watch.

Mannan also threatened lawmaker Salma Islam, who was chief guest at the programme, and Md Nurul Kabir Bhuiyan, upazila nirbahi officer of Dohar, another guest, and humiliated all the guests, Siddique stated in the complaint.

He named lawmaker Salma and nine others as witnesses in the case.

After recording the complainant’s statement, Senior Judicial Magistrate Nazmun Naher Nipu directed the OC (investigation) of Dohar police station to investigate the matter and submit a report before the court by February 20.

The deadline was later rescheduled to January 20.

BSF director general Shubhash Joshi claimed that their men open fire for self defence as “according to the Indian law, every citizen has the right to self defence.”

He also said the BSF had been working to bring down the deaths to zero-level. “It’s a joint responsibility. The number of killings and incidents of injury along the border is reducing gradually,” Joshi said, adding that the BSF investigated each incident.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week said the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had played a key role in decreasing the number of border killings in recent times.

Pathak yesterday said: “When the BSF members are certain that the intruders are going to commit crimes or that the force will be attacked, the first priority is self-defence...”

He said the number of deaths along border would have been higher had the BSF used lethal weapons.

Bangladesh shares 3,909 kilometre border with India.

In the latest incident of border killing farmer Moshiur Rahman Moshi was shot dead by the BSF on Thursday along the Medinipur frontier in the Jibonnagar upazila in Chuadanga.

The BSF delegation was in Dhaka at that time for the conference.

According to media reports, BSF

members from the Putkhali border camp entered the Bangladesh territory and opened fire on a group of farmers, numbering four or five, while they were working in the fields around 5pm, leaving Moshi dead on the spot and two others injured.

However, the visiting BSF chief at the joint briefing said since 2010, number of deaths had decreased. “In 2007 it was 106, but in 2010 it was reduced to 32 , bring the numbers down further to 11 in the next two years.

“Figures can be increased here, decreased there. But look at the trend.”

He claimed that incidents of attack on the BSF members equipped with “non-lethal weapons” had increased.

“In 2009, it was only 20, but in 2012 it increased to 151 and the following year to 122. The number is 99 until November this year,” the BSF DG claimed.

Indicating that Bangladesh needed to cooperate more, Pathak said: “[When] one side is using non-lethal weapons and are being attacked by unsocial elements and trans-border criminals, the other side needs to respond more.

“Any border force of the world is mandated to keep sanctity of the border. This is what the BGB is doing and this is what we are doing,” he said.

Asked if there was any proof that the Bangladeshi nationals had swooped on the BSF members with lethal weap-

ons that provoked them to open fire, the BSF chief said: “Since the attackers could not be caught, we could not seize their arms. But medical reports of the injured jawans showed that lethal weapons were used.”

Talking to reporters, BGB chief Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed said the issue of deaths along border had been discussed for years at different levels of the two next-door neighbours. “But the incidents could not be brought down to zero level. So, at every DG-level meeting, it remains our top agenda of discussion.”

He said the two forces had identified some points along the border where incidents of killing and trespassing had increasing. “We will arrange joint patrol there while the list of identified points will be updated every six months.”

The two forces also agreed on taking measures like increasing vigilance in the areas “vulnerable” to cattle smuggling.

Regarding the retrial of the killing of Bangladeshi teenager Felani Khatun, the BSF chief said: “We do not want to announce any time frame because we do not have any control over the [special] court...The trial will take its own time.

“During the first trial [when the lone accused was acquitted], certain aspects were overlooked while others not examined. So the case was sent back to the trial court...as of now, the case is

under retrial.”

The BSF members shot dead Felani on January 7, 2011 while she was crossing the border into Bangladesh over barbed-wire fences at Anantapur of Phulbari in Kurigram. The retrial was adjourned for four months on November 20 as the accused had fallen ill.

Pathak refrained from commenting when asked about the Bardhaman blast of October 2 in which involvement of militants of banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh have been found.

“It’s under investigation,” he said.

At the conference, the BGB requested its counterpart to allow the use of existing border roads in India to facilitate construction and maintenance of new border outposts in remote areas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts until the allied facilities are acquired by the BGB. In response, the BSF requested for a detailed proposal, the BGB chief said.

Both the forces explored an idea of providing medical support to the BGB personnel deployed in remote areas in BSF’s medical establishments.

The BGB chief was leading a 23-member team while Pathak led a 19-member team to attend the six-day conference.

The meeting emphasised on ways to control border crimes especially smuggling of arms and drugs in line with the Coordinated Border Management Plan signed on July 30, 2011.

‘The main policy of BNP-Jamaat is to kill people. They are killing ordinary people by attacking with petrol bombs in the name of a shut down’ His statement came after the party’s Gazipur rally had been stopped by the district administration issuing a ban on public gathering. Ruling party-backed Chhatra League announced a rally at the same place simultaneously.

Earlier, Chhatra League threatened that they would not allow BNP chief Khaleda Zia to hold any rally in the district until her elder son and party’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman apologised for his recent comments made about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Protesting the ban, BNP later called day-long hartal in Gazipur for Saturday.

Nanak yesterday claimed that those hurt by the remarks of the BNP chief’s son had foiled the Gazipur rally, not the Awami League.

Asked if the AL was not hurt by Tarique’s statement, Nanak said: “The Awami League is certainly hurt by the statement. We called a press conference to condemn it as well.”

Regarding yesterday’s hartal called by the BNP-led 20-party alliance, the former LGRD state minister said: “The main policy of BNP-Jamaat is to kill people. They are killing ordinary people by attacking with petrol bombs in the name of a shut down.”

Nanak claimed that the hartal was called only to foil the trials of Khaleda, Tarique and the war criminals. “The people have understood BNP’s plans, and therefore, they rejected their hartal.”

The Dhaka City unit Awami League and its associate organisations also demonstrated protesting the hartal.

Premier Bank boss Iqbal The innocent suffer as political again under ACC scanner violence takes toll Tribune Report The Anti-Corruption Commission has launched a fresh inquiry against former Awami League lawmaker and Chairman of Premier Bank Limited HBM Iqbal after finding specific allegations of misappropriation of a large amount of money.

It assigned Deputy Director Hamidul Hasan to conduct the inquiry on December 9, a high official of the ACC told the Dhaka Tribune.

Iqbal was sentenced to jail for 13 years by a special court for accumulating wealth illegally in an ACC case filed in March, 2008. Later, the verdict was cancelled by the Apex court.

According to the fresh allegations, Iqbal embezzled a good sum of money from the share market, and also by renting his own building, receiving bribes for recruitment in his bank and misappropriation of loans taken from

banks showing fake organisations.

He also allegedly borrowed large amount of money from the bank to construct a building, which was not approved by the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).

Inquiry Officer Hamidul said: “I have already collected related documents from Premier Bank regarding its chairman’s corruption. The commission is now scrutinising the documents, following which he will be summoned.”

Meanwhile, ACC Deputy Director Abdus Sattar yesterday filed a case with Ramna police against Rezabuddaula Chowdhury, owner of SR Business Liners, for allegedly accumulating illegal wealth and concealing information of assets worth Tk20.61 lakh illegally, Public Relation Officer Pranab Kumer Bhattacharya said.

The commission approved filling of the case on December 21.

Shohagh Paribahan driver jailed for road crash death Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced a bus driver to three-year rigorous imprisonment for killing a retired government official in a road accident in the capital.

Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Bikash Kumar Saha pronounced the verdict in the presence of convict Md Jamal Hossain, 40, driver of a Shohagh Paribahan bus. The court also

fined the convict Tk7,000 and warned him of an additional three months in jail if he failed to pay it.

According to the case, on February 15, 2010, the driver ran over Monowar Hossain, 65, a former general manager of Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (BTMC), at Manik Mia Avenue of the capital.

The same day, the victim’s younger brother filed a murder case with Sher-e-Bangla police station.

Mohammad Jamil Khan All Salma Akther Anika could do was plead desperately: “Can you cure my brother and my mother? If not, please, leave us alone, we do not want any sympathy from you people. Leave us to our fate. We will face it on our own.”

Anika was talking to the Dhaka Tribune at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday. She, her brother and mother were being attended to by doctors after they received burn injuries because miscreants hurled petrol bombs at the CNG run autorickshaw they had hired.

The incident occurred as the autorickshaw stopped at Kazipara signal amid heavy traffic around 7:30pm on Sunday. Out of nowhere, some youths appeared, threw bricks at the CNG, then set the back of the vehicle on fire, the victims said.

Describing their ordeal, Anika, still shocked and afraid, said: “Before we could get out of the CNG, the fire spread rapidly, and we do not know how we got out. Later, locals brought us to DMCH.” Such incidents have become commonplace before a hartal day. On Sunday alone, the Dhaka Tribune reported on five such incidents, motivated by political violence where pickets either hurled crude bombs or set vehicles on fire with petrol.

The strike was called for the following day, and the victims, mere pedestrians, were not involved in politics.

Their only crime was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some people,

belonging supposedly to political parties, attack people the strike can gain momentum, and the panic-stricken public stays indoors, bringing a halt to normal life.

In this specific incident, Shamsunnahar, Anika’s mother, had nine% of her skin burnt, her son Ayon was burnt 10%, Anika, the most fortunate of the lot, had been burnt in two% of her body area.

On Sunday, a day before a countrywide hartal enforced by the BNP, pickets set fire to a public bus carrying secretariat staff at Paltan, and blasted crude bombs Ayon was unfortunate enough to have had his face burnt. His respiratory system was also damaged. Ayon and Shamsunnahar are both undergoing treatment at the HDU ward of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit.

Anika’s injuries did not require her to be admitted to the hospital.

Ayon, a third year student of Drama and Dramatics in Jahangirnagar University, used to live in Rafiq-Jabbar residental hall. The family is from Hatia,

Noakhali.

On Sunday morning, Shamsunnahar and Anika came to the capital as Anika needed to see a doctor. Anika’s father, Md Javed, stayed back at Hatia.

They first went to Anik’s uncle’s house at Mirpur from Sadarghat in the morning. Later, after seeing a doctor at Shantinagar, they were on their way back to Mirpur.

A case was filed with the Mirpur police station in this regard. Police are yet to trace anyone connected to the incident.

When contacted, Partha Shankar Pal, resident surgeon of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were taking extra care of Ayon. He said they were hopeful his condition would improve.

Tanvir Ahmed, investigating officer of the case and sub-inspector of Mirpur police station, said police are yet find the criminals responsible.

This year was almost devoid of political violence. But the political mercury is rising again as the year ends.

On Sunday, a day before a countrywide hartal enforced by the BNP, pickets set fire to a public bus carrying secretariat staff at Paltan, and blasted crude bombs.

Passers-by Harun-or-Rashid, Reena Chowdhury and Shathi Akther, were hurt by crude bombs hurled by pickets. They are also receiving treatment at DMCH. Just a year ago, during the last three months of 2013, a number of people came under picket’s attacks, and two dozen people lost their lives.

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

JUNE 5 ATTACK ON REGISTRAR’S OFFICE

16 BU students expelled Our Correspondent, Barisal Sixteen students of Barisal University (BU) have been expelled for different periods of time for their involvement in attacks on some BU officials and vandalising the university registrar’s office.

Three students have been expelled for life, four students for two years, and nine others for one year, BU administration sources said.

The BU authorities made the decision at the 29th syndicate meeting held at its Dhaka office on Sunday night.

With BU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Harunor Rashid Khan in the chair, the nine syndicate members of the university attended the meeting.

On June 5, a group of students attacked the BU registrar office-1 and vandalised some electronic equipment and furniture in the office.

Four officials of the university including Assistant Registrar Bahauddin

All set to celebrate textbook festival on Jan 1 BSS Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday said that all preparations were made to celebrate the textbook festival across the country on January 1.

He said the festival would be celebrated at all primary and secondary schools and madrasas across the country.

The minister was addressing a review-meeting at the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) with its officials, according to a press release.

Education Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan and NCTB Chairman Professor Abul Qusem were present on the occasion, among others.

Nahid said negligence in supplying textbooks would not be tolerated. He also warned that action would be taken against officials and teachers who would be found guilty.

Golap, were injured in the incident.

On June 7, BU Estate Officer Saiduzzaman filed a case with the Barisal Kotwali Police Station against more than 50 students by name and some other unnamed students.

Earlier on June 6, a seven-member probe committee led by BU syndicate member Prof Md Hanif submitted a report to the university authorities, suggesting that studentships of six students be cancelled for their involvement in the attacks.

The BU authorities, however, asked the committee to investigate further and asked to submit detailed report within 4-weeks.

Yesterday, Prof Md Hanif told the Dhaka Tribune that the decision of expulsion of the students was taken to ensure a good academic environment in the university.

BU VC Prof Harunor Rashid could not be reached for his comment on the decision.

The monkeys in Dhaka Zoo cuddle to share body warmth and fight the chilly weather as a cold wave sweeps across the country. The photo was taken yesterday

5 killed, 6 injured in road accidents Tribune Report Five people were killed and six others injured in road accidents in Pabna, Ahulia, and Gaibandha yesterday.

Our Pabna correspondent reports that two people were killed and six others injured in a head-on collision between a human haulier and a pick-up van on Pabna-Dhaka highway in Sholabaria area of Santhia upazila.

The deceased are Helal Uddin, 40, and Ramjan, 42.

Police said the accident took place when the human hauler overturned after it collided head-on with a pickup van carrying newspapers around 5:30am, killing its two passengers on the spot.

The injured were rushed to the Pab-

na Medical College Hospital.

Meanwhile, two people were killed as a bus rammed into a human haulier in the Moraganga area in Ashulia, on the outskirts of the capital.

The victims could not be identified immediately.

In Gaibandha, a man was killed in a road accident on Rangpur-Dhaka highway in the Choumatha area of the Palashbari upazila on Sunday, report our Gaibandha correspondent.

The victim was Babu Mia, 35, an employee at a restaurant, and a resident of Durgapur village of the upazila.

Police said Babu was killed on the spot as a bus ran him over.

Police detained the bus. But its diver and his assistant managed to flee the spot.

Indian academician calls on DU VC

Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury’s 4th death anniversary today Tribune Report

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman speaks at the inauguration ceremony of 71bangladesh.com, a Liberation War-based research archive, at the Liberation War Museum in the capital yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Web archive Ekattor Bangladesh launched Tribune Report To preserve and showcase all the documents of the country’s Liberation War electronically, a web archive titled “Ekattor Bangladesh” [www.71bangladesh.com] was launched at the Bangladesh Liberation War Museum yesterday.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman inaugurated the web archive at a programme in the capital.

Information and documents on the war will be available in 12 main categories and 70 sub categories in the archive.

The titles of the main sections are Father of the Nation Bangabandhu, Preparation Period of the Liberation War, Liberation War, Freedom Fighters, Genocide, Martyred Freedom Fighters, Killers of 71, Liberation War in the Media, Letters and Pictures of the Liberation War, Publications on the Liberation War, After Liberation War Period, and the New Generation and Liberation.

With the help of some young people,

Dr Anwar Hossain, former vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University, created the archive.

Addressing the launching ceremony, the archive’s authorities said the ethos of democracy, nationalism, secularism and socialism will be the inspiration of the initiative.

The archive will be a bridge among the generation of the Liberation War and the post-Liberation War generations, they said. All the information and documents will be objective, authentic and interview-based. Anyone can avail the information and documents free of cost, they said.

Dr Anwar said many people and organisations are conducting researches on the country’s Liberation War in keeping with their individual capacities.

“But, we want to make a bridge so that all the documents on the Liberation War could be upheld,” he said.

“We want to publish the contributions of women, general public, labour-

ers and others to the Liberation War. Many of them are still unknown to us,” he added.

Mofidul Haque, trustee of the Liberation War Museum, said it is an important initiative to keep the present generation informed about the war of liberation.

Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, said that innumerable people had extended their support to the freedom fighters. The contribution of the people and freedom fighters should be upheld before the country’s young generation.

Dr MA Hasan, a researcher on the Liberation War, he said all the data, information and artifacts of Liberation War would be presented at the archive through a rigorous verification process by a special committee.

The archive’s General Secretary Dr Ashfaq Hussain, Retired Major Ziauddin Ahmed were also present on the occasion.

Jagannath University holds seminar on corporate career

BSS, Dhaka Dr Parbin Sultana, a teacher of the Department of Business Administration of the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya, India met Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique at the latter’s office on the DU in the capital yesterday.

DU Institute Statistical Research and Training Prof Dr M Sekandar Hayat Khan and Botany Department Prof Mihir Lal Shaha of the were present, among others, on the occasion.

During the meeting, they discussed various academic and research issues of common interest. They emphasised on signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the universities to strengthen academic ties.

Prof Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique thanked the guest for her visit and expressed keen interest about academic and research activities of the universities.

Today is the fourth death anniversary of Dr Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury.

Prof Chowdhury, a prominent educationist, was the first vice-chancellor of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB).

Before joining IUB, he served as the chairman of the Department of Sociology at the Rajshahi University between 1976 and 1977, and as the dean of student affairs between 1982 and 1985.

He was also the registrar of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet. All students, friends and relatives have been requested to pray for the salvation of the departed soul.

Qulkhwani of AM Jahangir Kabir today Tribune Report AM Jahangir Kabir, 77, son of late Professor Moksud Ali passed away on December 26 at 6:50pm at the United Hospital. He was laid to rest at the Banani graveyard on Saturday after the Namaz-eJanaza at the Azad mosque.

His Qulkhwani will be held after Asr prayers today at his Gulshan residence.

AZAHAR UDDIN

Tribune Report The Management Club of Jagannath University yesterday organised a seminar on ‘Career Prospects in Multinational Corporations’ at the university campus.

Presided over by Rabeya Rahman, moderator of the management club and also an assistant professor of the department of Management Studies, the event was addressed by the Chairman of the same department Professor Md Mosharraf Hossain as the chief guest.

The key note presentation was done

by Md Monir Hossain, head of external supply, GSK Bangladesh and focused on the corporate culture, career prospects in multinational corporations, and the recruiting and selection procedure of multinational corporations.

More than 250 registered participants took part in the seminar.

The Dhaka Tribune, Radio Foorti and Banglamail24.com were the media partners of the seminar while Nescafe was the beverage partner.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Clockwise from top left: Jamaat-Shibir activists bring out procession and vandalise public transports yesterday afternoon during the day long hartal by the BNP-led 20-party alliance. Two persons travelling to the South Bengal fall asleep at Gabtoli Bus Terminal while waiting for the hartal to end, due to which many long-distance bus services were suspended for the day. Fish vendors collect their stock for the day’s business from Jatrabari fish wholesale market at dawn yesterday, before the hartal goes into effect. Activists of Awami League’s Mirpur unit in the capital take to the streets yesterday morning to resist the hartal RAJIBDHAR/ MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Dense fog woes: Shipping minister stranded in the mid river for 13 hours Our Correspondent, Madaripur Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan has again got the taste of dense fog woes disrupting ferry movement in the Padma river.

The minister spent from around 10pm on Sunday to 11am yesterday in the stuck ferry the ferry, he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

His entourage said he spent hours sleeping in the VIP cabin of the ferry.

The minister faced same situation along the Kaurakandi-Shimulia route last year.

The minister started for Dhaka after attending various programmes at his

WEATHER

PARTLY CLOUDY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30

Madaripur 2 constituency on Sunday.

There is no direct land route to Dhaka and so everybody has to cross the Padma river to come to Dhaka by water vessels, including ferries and launches.

Since the minister was coming to Dhaka in his car, he had to get into a ferry to cross the river in order to come to Dhaka city.

After the ferry reached Banglabazar around 10pm on Sunday, it had to be anchored there because there was no visibility due to dense fog, according to the ferry operator.

Apart from the ferry the minister was travelling in, eight others were stuck in

Corruption allegation against union land officer in Natore

DHAKA

TODAY SUN SETS 5:22PM

TOMORROW SUN RISES 6:41AM

FORECAST FOR TODAY 26 26 26 25 24 25 29 26

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

18 20 14 13 15 18 16 22

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

29.5ºC Teknaf

7.5ºC Chuadanga

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:20am 6:40am 12:01am 3:45pm 5:21pm 6:42 pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

the river on the same night. The ferries began operating around 11am after visibility returned to normalcy.

BIWTC Manager at Korakandi ferry pier Salam Hossain said the ferry had to be anchored because there was no visibility due to dense fog in the mid river.

There was no police escort when the minister was crossing the river by ferry.

This came in question why he was not given any protection while ferrying across the river. He even did not have any police escort when he faced same situation last year.

When Madaripur Superintendent of Police Khandker Faridul Islam was

Our Correspondent, Natore Some locals have filed complaints against a land official of a union parishad to the authorities concerned in Natore stating that the official had allegedly taken several thousand taka from them as bribes in the name of solving their land related problems.

They have submitted the complaints against Abdur Rahim, assistant land officer at Dighapatia Union Parishad to Natore’s additional deputy commissioner (revenue), sadar upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) and assistant commissioner (land).

In the statements, they claimed that Rahim had collected a huge amount of money illegally saying that he would help them solving land related paper-work problem.

Habibur Rahman, a resident of village Dhakopara under the union, told the Dhaka Tribune that Rahim had taken Tk30,000 from him for solving a land related problem.

Earlier, Habibur applied to the district’s assistant commissioner (land) seeking declaration of his name for a “Kha” scheduled land to restore his ownership of the land.

The district land office asked Rahim to produce an investigation report about the mater, he said.

But Rahim demanded Tk35,000 from Habibur for the purpose, he added.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, one Shahbaz Khan and Kashem Sikder of Gobindapur area also raised the same allegation against Rahim.

Rahim collected a huge amount of money illegally saying that he would help them solving land related paper-work problem They said the union parishad’s land official took bribes of Tk60,000 and Tk1 lakh from them respectively.

Toufiq Al Mahmud, additional deputy commissioner (revenue) in Natore, confirmed that they received the allegations against Abur Rahim.

Necessary steps would be taken in this connection soon, he said.

Rahim could not be reached for his comments, despite several attempts over cellphone.

asked about the minister’s security, he said the minister was usually given police escort until he got into a ferry from this side because he received police protection soon after crossing the river.

It was not different even on Sunday.

However, when police heard of him, a 10-member team from Shibchar police station was sent out for escorting him, he said.

Former State Minister for Labour Begum Munnujan Sufian and former Khula city mayor Talukder Abdul Khalek also got stuck in the mid river due to dense fogs disrupting the ferry movements in the river last year.

Four fortune seekers rescued, one held in Chittagong Our Correspondent, Chittagong Police rescued four fortune seekers and arrested one suspected middleman from Chittagong city’s Kotwali area early yesterday while they were being trafficked to Malaysia.

The rescued persons were identified as Kawsar Ali, 21, Mazharul Islam, 19, Ismail Hossen, 24 and Ahad Molla, 32.

Of them Kawsar, Mazhar and Ismail hailed from Sirajganj while Ahad was from Narail, said Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP)’s Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Kotwali Circle Shah Mohammed Abdur Rouf.

He further added that they held Helal Uddin, 26, of Cox’s Bazar in this connection from the spot.

Acting on a tip off, a team of police

went on a drive at Cinema Palace area of the city and rescued the four victims while they were being boarded on a Cox’s Bazar-bound bus at around 2am.

Helal brought the four fortune seekers to Chittagong with the assistance of his local associates promising them of job in Malaysia.

“They were to be sent to Malaysia illegally in a boat,” said AC Abdur Rouf adding that the four admitted of giving money to Helal after their arrival in Malaysia.

A case was filed with the Kotwali police station in this connection under the Human Trafficking Act. Earlier on November 17, the Bangladesh Coast Guard East Zone rescued 625 persons from deep sea while they were being trafficked to Malaysia.

NEWS IN BRIEF Kawrakandi-Shimulia ferry services resume Ferry services on the Kawrakandi-Shimulia route resumed around 11am after a 12-hour suspension due to dense fog. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) authorities said the ferry service on the route was stranded since last night due to poor visibility caused by the dense fog. Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan was also in a ferry during the period that the ferry was anchored in the middle of the Padma River. “I was stuck in the ferry from 10 last night to 11 this morning,” said the minister when contacted over telephone. Thousand of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the ferry terminal creating a huge traffic gridlock.

– Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

Two held for stealing in Chittagong Police arrested two persons, including a woman, on charge of theft in Chittagong city’s Rahattarpul area yesterday. The arrestees were Nadim, 26, a rickshaw puller by profession and his mother-in-law Hosne Ara, 45, police sources said. Police also found a laptop in their possession. Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammed Mohsin of Bakalia police station said the duo had been involved with burglary for the last three years in city’s Kotwali, Chandgaon and Bakalia areas. During the primary interrogation, they admitted stealing the laptop and other valuables from a house at Rahattarpol of Bakalia.

Police said a case would be filed against the two.

– Our Correspondent, Chittagong

Four illegal clinics sealed off A mobile court sealed off four unauthorised private clinics in the Naogaon district yesterday. The clinics are Salma Clinic, Santahar Clinic & Diagnostic Centre, Ekota Clinic and Mor Foundation. On a tip-off, a police team, led by Civil Surgeon Dr Mozahar Hossain, conducted a raid in the town and arrested clinic owners as they could not show any documents supporting legality of the clinic’s operation. The court also jailed the owner of Salma Clinic for two

and a half months. Samir Kumar Sutradhar, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station confirmed the incident.

– Our Correspondent, Naogaon

MoU between JU and Aruna Palli signed A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Waste Management was signed between Jahangirnagar University (JU) and JU Cooperative Society Limited (Aruna Palli) at Vice-Chancellor’s office on the campus yesterday. JU Treasurer Professor Dr Abul Khair and Secretary of Aruna Palli Professor Dr Abdul Hai signed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides. As per the MoU, authority of the university will collect garbage from Aruna Palli and authority of Aruna Palli will have to pay to university authority for collecting the garbage. The university authority will produce gas by this garbage. JU VC Professor Dr. Farzana Islam, Pro-VC Professor Abul Hossain, Convener of Waste Management Programme Professor Dr. Khabir Uddin and Registrar Abu Bakr Siddique were present, among others, at the function.

– BSS

December 31 to be observed as ‘Clean Our Country Day’ A voluntary organization, ‘Poriborton Chai’ (we demand change), will observe ‘Clean the Country Day’ for the first time in Bangladesh on Wednesday. The day will be observed to raise mass awareness about keeping the city clean to protect the environment. Addressing a press conference at Jatiya Press Club on Sunday, Poriborton Chai chairman Fida Haque said the main target of the day is to make a pledge not to throw wastes here and there, rather dump wastes in nearby dustbins. As part of the day’s programme, Poriborton Chai will clean city streets, parks, rivers and open spaces from 11am to 1pm. The organisation invited people from all walks of life across the country to take part in the programme by taking part in cleaning their surroundings and making a pledge not to throw litter haphazardly again. Fawzia Khan, advisor of Poriborton Chai, said: “Our environment is a testimony to the state of our mentality.

– UNB

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Water ambulances not operational in two years Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj The water ambulance service in the three haor upazilas of Kishoreganj has failed to take off due to negligence of the authority, poor quality of the vessels and costly operation.

As per the government’s plan to improve the healthcare services for the haor population, three water ambulances were given to Itna, Mithamoin and Oshtogram upazilas on August 16, 2012.

The idea was to provide emergency and fast services to the haor areas which are cut off from the mainland making it difficult for the residents to access basic facilities.

However, the ambulances were unable to serve a single patient in the last two years. Patients are still reliant on the engine-run local boats.

Administrator of the Itna Upazila Health Complex, Dr Md Israil Hossain said: “I am yet to get any concrete direction about the salary of the boat’s master, fuel budget and the fare. Hence we are not being able to use the ambulance. Moreover, due to its design, it requires high maintenance, which is becoming a problem. Hence, we have grounded it and kept the important parts in the store room.”

A recent visit to the health complexes of these three upazilas had found the ambulances stranded and left to collect dust. Some of them were turned into public toilets while some were just waiting to become scraps.

In the same year, 10 more water ambulances were also given to the haor areas of Sunamganj, Netrokona, Habiganj, Sirajganj and Barisal. A Dhaka-based Ms Cascade International Limited got the job to build these ambulances.

However, there are allegations that the company did not follow proper drawing and used poor materials. As such the ambulances could not be used in the haor areas.

Teacher shot dead in Jhenaidah Our Correspondent, Jhenidah A school teacher was killed by miscreants at Sherkhali Bazar under Kotchandpur upazila of the district on Sunday night.

The deceased was Janab Ali, 50, a former teacher of Baharampur Govt Primary School of the upazila.

Shahedul Islam Shahin, officer-incharge of Kotchandpur police station said some unidentified miscreants riding motorcycles shot Janab to death while he was staying at a tea stall in the bazar around 10pm.

On information, police recovered the body and sent it to hospital morgue.

A case was filed in this connection.

Crude bombs recovered in Rajshahi Members of Rapid Action Battalion in a drive recovered seven bottle bombs from Binodpur area in the city early yesterday Being tipped off, members of the elite force conducted a drive in the area around 3:30am and recovered the bombs in an abandoned condition. Mirza Golam Sarwer, senior ASP of Rab-5, confirmed the incident.

– Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

Passenger bus plunges into pond, 7 rescued

A water ambulance of Itna Hospital in Kishoreganj lies in a sorry state. The boat reflects the nonchalant attitude of the authority who has failed to provide the much needed emergency health service to the people of the haors DHAKA TRIBUNE Moreover, the water ambulances are slower and more expensive than the local engine-run boats, making them less popular with the haor residents.

Md Ershad Uddin of Itna upazila said: “The then Army Chief Moin U

Ahmed gave a water ambulance to Itna hospital. But it was of no use due to poor maintenance and coordination.

Now no one knows where that ambulance is. We are afraid these new ambulances will have the same fate.”

Another resident from Mithamoin

Father abducted; daughter pleads for rescue Our Correspondent, Bagerhat A college girl in Bagerhat has called on the local authorities to take steps for bringing back her abducted father.

Addressing a press briefing at Bagerhat Press Club yesterday, Nipa Monalisa Tuli, daughter of Abdul Hanan Howladar Kalu, also claimed the culprits had threatened her family but police took no action. The family lives at Chhotokumarkhali village in Morelganj upazila.

Tuli said her father, an employee at a private firm in Dhaka, was kidnapped from home on the night of December 6.

She claimed that some men of the village were among the kidnappers, and her father was abducted over a previous feud. “We were forced to lodge a case with the court of the senior judicial magistrate in Bagerhat when police denied taking one. The court ordered police to take legal action but the order has not been complied with,” said Tuli.

Our Correspondent, Chuadanga A sub-inspector in Chuadanga was closed on Sunday soon after his cousin was detained along with heroin in Damurhuda upazila.

Tobarak Ali has been closed and an investigation has been initiated, said Kamruzzaman, assistant superintendent of police in Chuadanga.

Officer-in-Charge of Damurhuda police station Kamruzzaman said Tobarak’s posting was at Munshiganj police camp.

The police official’s withdrawal was prompted by the detention of his cousin Mission Haque.

On Sunday night, a case was filed with Damurhuda police station in connection with the detention.

Assistant Sub-Inspector of the police station Niamul Haque said police found a bag containing 1.72kg heroin when they frisked Mission.

said the water ambulances could be really useful for the emergency patients if the administration paid attention to its utilisation.

When contacted Civil Surgeon of Kishoreganj Dr Mrinal Kanti said: “The water ambulances are very expensive

Our Correspondent, Gazipur Police recovered 210 sacks of rice from a house in Haidarabad area of Gazipur city on Sunday night looted from Sherpur upazila of Bogra district on 23 December.

The police also arrested six people for their involvement in the incident.

The arrested were identified as Hasif,22, son of Sadu Miah of Haidarabad in Gazipur, Babul Miah,35, of the area, Ramiz Uddin,18, of Pukuriakanda area underPurbadhola

Our Correspondent, Naogaon

Young jokeys get ready for horce race in Shibrampur area under Mahadebpur upazila in Naogaon DHAKA TRIBUNE

for the poor patients of the haor areas.”

Admitting that the ambulances were decaying day by day, he suggested handing over the responsibility to a non-government organisation in order to reap the benefit of the water ambulances.

Looted rice recovered; 6 held

Horse race held

Our Correspondent, Joypuhat

SI closed after cousin’s detention

Fire at Gazipur packaging factory A fire broke out at a godown of a factory in Boro Bari area of the district yesterday. MD Akhtaruzzaman of Gazipur Fire Service said, the fire broke out at a godown of Five Star Packaging Factory around 11:45am. On information, four fire-fighting units rushed to the spot to douse the fire, officer said. The reason behind the fire could not be known. – Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Robbery committed in Joypurhat A daring robbery was committed at a house in the district yesterday.

Sources said the robbers entered the house of Khairul Islam at Katair village in Kalai upazila at night. They looted valuables including Tk20,000 after exploding several bombs. At least three people were critically injured in the explosion.

Ramjan Ali, officer-in-charge of Kalai police station visited the spot.

NEWS IN BRIEF

A horse race was held yesterday in Mahadebpur upazila under the district.

Locals from Shibrampur area arranged the function where at least 40 racers from Mahadebpur, Dhamrai, Manda and Chapainawbganj participated the programme.

Upazila chairman Abdus Salam Nannu attended the function as chief guest where among others local AL leader Abdur Rahim, UP chairman Nasir Uddin Mondal, teacher Abdul Khalek and Hridoy Khan were present.

upazila in Netrakona district, Iqbal Hossain,26, of Sonargaon of Narayangonj district, Rafikul Islam,30 of Sherpur district and Abdul khalek,27 of Bongram area under Nandail upazila in Mymensingh district.

Sub-inspector Mister Ali of Joydebpur police station said 305 sacks of rice were looted from a truck carrying the rice of Alal Agro Food on the way to Dhaka from Sherpur of Bogra district.

Later, manager of the company Abul Kalam Azad filed a case with Sherpur police station in this connection.

A passenger bus plunged into a pond on Barguna-Nishanbari road of the district yesterday morning. Seven critically injured were whished off to the Barguna Hospital while the fate of other passengers was unknown. Barguna Bus Workers’ Union president Shahbuddin Sabu confirmed the matter. He said a bus of Hawlader Paribahan fell into the pond around 9:30am while going to Nishanbari from Barguna as the driver of the bus lost his control over the steering.On information, the fire service unit rushed to the spot and rescued seven passengers from the bus with critical condition.However, the rescue mission has been continued till filing the report. – Our Correspondent, Barguna

23 goats distributed among disable persons Nilphamari Disable People Organization to Development (NDPOD), a non government organization distributed a total 23 of goats among the disable persons in the district yesterday.

Bangladesh Protibandhi Kollyan Somoty and NDPOD jointly organised the programme. Presiding over by the director of NDPOD, Nilphamari Shah Md Nurun Nabi, the programme was attendant by UNO Md Sabet Ali, Atiar Rahman, Aklima Khatun. Journalists from different print and electronic media were also present in the programme. Five disabled persons were given the goats. – Our Correspondent, Nilphamari

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

7

The long war

Nationalist fundamentalism of our elite is an utterly cynical ideology that may be also very inadequate for keeping religious fundamentalism at bay

R

Shafiqur Rahman

ecently a friend, who is usually the image of equanimity, uncharacteristically expressed shock and disillusionment at the way the social and cultural elite of Dhaka comported themselves in the wake of the Bergman contempt of court verdict.

The friend, a well trained scholar and a hugely talented artist, knows the elite of Dhaka like a duck knows its pond, yet he was surprised to see the almost total lack of support for principles that should be essential commandments for progressive elites in any country.

I have very little experience of hobnobbing with the elite compared to my friend but I have been a keen watcher of their public articulations for more than two decades and I must say, if I was surprised at the way the elite reacted to the Bergman verdict, my surprise was at the tepidness of it.

I expected worse.

Invoking war and struggle related imagery to portray all kinds of political, social or ideological contentions is a facile task and often adds little explanatory information; but sometimes that is the most effective way to understand things as they are.

I also think that war and struggle is an indispensable lens for any critical examination of collective mind of the Dhaka elite and understanding the wheels within wheels. In this article I am going to use that overused lens again but before that let me lay down a couple of generalised war related expressions that will be key to this exposition.

It is said that “there are no atheists in foxholes”; which means that when bullets begin to fly overhead, no one crouching in the trench or anyone who is about to go over the ramparts and into the no-mans-land, remains a skeptic, a rational-calculating person who can see and understand all sides of an argument. In other words, firm and unquestioning belief make far better soldiers than understanding without conviction.

The second expressions is that “Only Stalin could stop Hitler”; meaning that only another totalitarian regime with equal ruthlessness and more determined singularity of purpose could have faced the Nazi land-juggernaut head on and defeat it.

No democracy could have withstood the tremendous losses that the Soviet Union suffered in the beginning months of Nazi invasion and still go on fighting unrelentingly. These expressions are of course very simplistic and overgeneralised but they do not lack

scholarly support.

To understand the Dhaka intellectual elite we first must understand the “Bangladesh intellectual paradox,” a separate paradox from the “Bangladesh Paradox” of economics and development. Since my early youth I have been very perplexed by a curious complete inversion of progressive thinking in Bangladesh compared to the rest of the world.

Throughout the world universalism and rationality are regarded as the bedrock of progressive thinking; in Bangladesh parochial nationalism and emotion are the guiding principles of progressives. Throughout the world progressive historians regard debunking national exceptionalism and national glory as essential for historiography; in Bangladesh progressives regard glorifying national history and suffusing it with strong emotions as the sacred duty of historians.

Throughout the world the best literature are dispassionate and clinical analysis of the human and social condition, in Bangladesh the more emotions you can pour in art and literature the better is its reception to the critical elite. Throughout the world the best political commentators are those who can provide detached, reasoned analysis of political developments, in Bangladesh the best political commentary are saturated with messianic imagery and the most cloying emotional appeals.

Even without comparing with the west, I found this total inversion in Bangladesh flabbergasting when juxtaposed against neighbouring countries.

In India, works of the best-regarded progressive historians most often go against the nationalist narratives and invite ire from the “patriots.” The most famous progressive political commentators in India often go against the “mass emotions” of the crowd and bear the vituperative like “unpatriotic” or “anti-national” in their daily strides. In Bangladesh being patriotic and nationalistic seem to be the highest goal of intellectuals.

In my callow, youthful arrogance I thought for some time that maybe the reason for this inversion is the provincialism of the elites of a small country like Bangladesh who are not too well connected with the progressive thinking of rest of the world.

Then I gradually realised that there are thousands of people in Bangladesh who are far more informed, wellread and intelligent than me and it is improbable that this paradox is not apparent to them as it is to me. So, then, what explains the persisting paradox and almost total lack of progressive thinking in Bangladesh?

Unfortunately I haven’t mixed

Each and every day religious fundamentalism is discrediting itself in front of the world and raising the ire of general people with mindless violence and depraved inhumanity

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

with the elite sufficiently to know the answer and no one has explained it to me yet. In lieu of that I often tried to play the devil’s advocate and tried to understand the rationale of my intellectual opponents by placing myself in their shoes and looking for coherent justifications. I cannot say that I have found the answer but gradually an explanation became plausible to me, an explanation becoming very vivid in the post September eleven world.

It is said that study of history is basically interpretation of the past.

There is some hard core of facts in every historical event or period but without interpretation, the hard facts remain disconnected and do not stand together for coherent narratives. Such is the cumulative nature of human knowledge and culture that we can only interpret history in the present frame of mind.

Try as you might, it is next to impossible to faithfully slide into shoes of the past. There is no doubt that the war of 1971 is the single most important historical event in our nation’s recent history and the war has a living breathing presence in all spheres of our public life. The significance of 1971 in shaping our intellectual landscape becomes clearer when we interpret it in our present context.

Undoubtedly the main theme of the 1971 war of Independence for us was independence, freedom from colonial rule of West Pakistan. What else was there? For three decades the progressives reminded us that along with abstract ideas like equitable justice, nationalism, the war of 1971 was also about a fundamental question: whether religion would be a guiding principle for organising the polity and society of this country or secularism?

In the naïve but exciting decades of 80s and 90s, when fundamentalist political Islam was but a remote threat to

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

the state power, that question seemed not too crucial for us. But in the post 9-11 world, when we saw the global tumult and disruption due to pathology of politicised religion and when that derangement also came to home, that question became very relevant to us.

There can be no understating the threat that fundamentalist political Islam poses to our society and nation.

In Bangladesh, political Islam has not reconciled itself with democracy and modernity even to the halfway extent like AKP of Turkey. The face of political Islam in our country is not men in suits discussing policy as part of civil exchange but a mass of crazed, bearded people demanding blood or prescribing medieval punishment for all kinds of transgressions.

They may lack the RPGs of ISIS or AK47s of Taliban but the spirit of their language is same. Bangladesh, a most densely populated and precariously balanced country, cannot afford to experiment with religious fundamentalism in power for even the shortest period. We do not have the oil resource that is vital for any sustained experiment with fundamentalist religion in power. Such an experiment sans oil would make our socioeconomic conditions worse than Afghanistan under Taliban.

I do not know to what extent this threat was apparent to our elite during the early decades since our independence but this is clear now to all those who want to see. The devil’s advocate in me reasons that the elite of Bangladesh feel that the war of 1971 put only a temporary check and the threat reared its head at the earliest opportunity; the war remains an unfinished business to them.

And they feel that universalism, rationality, freedom of expression are but poor defences against such a formidable foe in an under-developed country like Bangladesh where the mass is almost totally unconversant with such esoteric ideals. They feel that the only effective defence against virulent religious fundamentalism is promotion of another fundamentalism; only a Stalin can stop a Hitler.

That’s why the elite in Bangladesh have constructed another fundamentalism, a fundamentalism based on national glory, sacrosanct past and hallowed individuals. The elite feel that the only way to safeguard the social gains that we have made in the last four decades from the barbarian hordes amassed before the walls of the city is to unquestioningly adhere to this faith and fight for it.

Like any fundamentalism, this narrative has its sacred, its profane and its rituals. Like any fundamentalism, the sacred myths of this fundamentalism must be protected against not only all profanity but also all critical examinations. Therefore, in this long and continued war, there is no room for skeptics in the trenches, all dissents and wavering must be summarily squelched. Arguably, author Zia Haider Rahman referred to this fundamentalist regime when he recently stirred the teacup by calling Bangladesh a

Nationalist fundamentalism is more unstable because of greater inherent contradiction; the ideology purports to champion the aspiration of the whole nation but by the very nature of power it can only bolster one faction at the expense of others

land of dead ideas.

There is no question about which kind of fundamentalism is the worse threat for Bangladesh. At its worst, one kind of fundamentalism would render Bangladesh an increasingly chaotic kleptocracy. At its worst the other one would lead to a murderous, totalitarian theocracy. So it is not hard to see the choice that a learned and informed member of the elite would make.

We can also question the need for a vibrant culture of dissent and freedom of expression for development of society and economy. East Asian countries, our in-fashion idols of development, are not renowned for diversity of thinking and tolerance of dissent in their society. They are, on the other hand, very nationalistic and Confucian societies where primacy of national glory is unquestioned and collective consensus is emphasised over individual dissent. And we can all see how the lack of dissent in these societies have affected their development!

Here I would like to discard the shoe of the devil’s advocate for the time being and make some brief arguments against adhering to small fundamentalism as the only bulwark against big fundamentalism. First of all we are not disciplined, regimented people like the East Asians; everything in our history and culture points out that we are a vibrantly argumentative people who can rarely remain steadfast in determined pursuit of a purpose.

Rather than East or South East Asia, South Asia and in particular India shows us the realistic path towards development through democracy, a path that is stumbling and meandering but robust against internal and external changes.

It is also hard to see the viability of our brand of nationalistic fundamentalism against a global fundamentalist movement that promises unlimited glory in this world and eternal bliss in the next. Fundamentalism is hard to sustain in the long run because of contradictions rising within or the evolving external environment. Strong fundamentalist movements keep the contradictions in check with promises of great reward and threats of excruciating fate.

Nationalist fundamentalism is more unstable because of greater inherent contradiction; the ideology purports to champion the aspiration of the

whole nation but by the very nature of power it can only bolster one faction at the expense of others.

The contradictions in fundamentalism of our elite are still greater because it is diametrically opposed to the very pillars on which it is founded. Not only is it against the spirit of democracy, but it is also against the ethos of secularism. It suffices here to mention that politics based on religion is not banned in any secular democracies of the world.

The need for a higher purpose is one of the basic characteristics of human life. Fundamentalism provides that purpose in simple, easy to understand ideals. However, simplicity do not automatically mean coherence.

Often the incoherence in the ideals of fundamentalists are too obvious for even the most dedicated follower to ignore and manifestly flawed ideals cannot be sustained without huge promises or grave threats.

I think that nationalist fundamentalism of our elite is an utterly cynical ideology that may be also very inadequate for keeping religious fundamentalism at bay. I hope to expound later on why I think rationalism and humanism would be much better weapons in that fight but for now let me don the shoes of the devil’s advocate for one last time.

The way things are going, the nationalist fundamentalism of our elite may not need to be sustainable for long. Each and every day religious fundamentalism is discrediting itself in front of the world and raising the ire of general people with mindless violence and depraved inhumanity. No country is isolated in today’s world and surely our domestic religious fundamentalists will be receiving bulk of that ire from our people by virtue being nearer and therefore more threatening.

Religious fundamentalism, by virtue of being a global movement, also bears the responsibility of every action in the globe. The global reaction may turn the tide soon enough and Bangladesh will not be separate from that reaction. So our nationalist fundamentalism just needs to limp on for another decade or so. Meanwhile there must not be any skepticism in the ranks and all hands should remain unwaveringly vigilant at the ramparts.

Shafiqur Rahman is a freelance contributor.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

NEWS BITES Liberia reports dozens of new Ebola cases along border AP, Monrovia Authorities in Liberia say there have been dozens of new Ebola cases erupting along the border with Sierra Leone.

The announcement by Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah yesterday marks a setback for Liberia, which has seen the number of cases stabilise somewhat after having been the hardest hit country in West Africa.

Nyenswah blamed the flare-up on a number of factors including people going in and out of the country and traditional practices such as the washing of bodies.

Nearly 3,400 people have died from Ebola in Liberia over the past year with nearly 8,000 cases, though health officials say the situation has improved especially in the capital, Monrovia.

Sierra Leone, by comparison, has now eclipsed Liberia with more than 9,000 cases, according to the World Health Organisation.

Photo taken from a video made available by the Guardia costiera, Italy’s coast guard organisation on December 28, shows the burning ferry ‘Norman Atlantic’ adrift off Albania

Rescued ferry passengers arrive in Italy, 149 still stranded Reuters, Athens/Bari Passengers from a car ferry, ablaze off the coast of Greece, arrived in Italy yesterday as rescue teams worked to save 149 people still stranded on board 24 hours after the fire started.

Rescuers worked through the night to pull 329 people off the multideck ferry, the Italian navy said.

Helicopter crews have been airlifting passengers from the upper deck of the Norman Atlantic, which caught fire in the early hours of Sunday and began drifting in rough seas between Greece and Italy.

Bad weather hampered efforts

overnight to attach cables to the ferry for towing, and a tug boat is expected to reach the ship to make another attempt by 10 a.m. local time, Greece’s shipping minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told Skai TV. No decision had been made on where the ferry would be taken, he said, although there had been expectations that it would be towed to the Italian port of Brindisi.

A merchant ship carrying a reported 49 of the ferry passengers, including four children, arrived in the southern Italian port of Bari yesterday and Italian Admiral Giovanni di Tullio told Sky TG24 they would

Malaria killing thousands more than Ebola in West Africa AP, Gueckedou, Guinea West Africa’s fight to contain Ebola has hampered the campaign against malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that is claiming many thousands more lives than the dreaded virus.

In Gueckedou, near the village where Ebola first started killing people in Guinea’s tropical southern forests a year ago, doctors say they have had to stop pricking fingers to do blood tests for malaria.

Guinea’s drop in reported malaria cases this year by as much as 40% is not good news, said Dr. Bernard Nahlen, deputy director of the US President’s Malaria Initiative. He said the decrease is likely because people are too scared to go to health facilities and are not getting treated for malaria.

“It would be a major failure on the part of everybody involved to have a lot of people die from malaria in the midst of the Ebola epidemic,” he said in a telephone interview. “I would be surprised if there were not an increase in unnecessary malaria deaths in the midst of all this, and a lot of those will be young children.”

Figures are always estimates in Guinea, where half the 12 million people have no access to health centers and die uncounted. Some 15,000 Guineans died from malaria last year, 14,000 of them children under five, according to Nets for Life Africa, a New York-based charity dedicated to providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets to put over beds. In comparison, about 1,600 people in Guinea have died from Ebola, according to statistics from the World Health Organisation.

Malaria is the leading cause of death in children under five in Guinea and, after AIDS, the leading cause of adult deaths, according to Nets for Life.

Ebola and malaria have many of the same symptoms, including fever, dizziness, head and muscle aches. Malaria is caused by bites from infected mosquitoes while Ebola can be contracted only from the body fluids of an infected victim — hence doctors’ fears of drawing blood to do malaria tests.

People suffering malaria fear being quarantined in Ebola treatment centers and health centers not equipped

to treat Ebola are turning away patients with Ebola-like symptoms, doctors said.

WHO figures from Gueckedou show that of people coming in with fever in October, 24% who tested positive for Ebola also tested positive for malaria, and 33% of those who did not have Ebola tested positive for malaria — an indication of the great burden of malaria in Guinea.

Malaria killed one of 38 Cuban doctors sent to Guinea to help fight the Ebola outbreak. One private hospital had a kidney dialysis machine that could have saved his failing organ but the clinic was shut after several people died there of Ebola.

The US President’s Malaria Initiative ground to a halt in Guinea months ago and the WHO in November advised health workers against testing for malaria unless they have protective gear.

The malaria initiative is doing a national survey of health facilities and elsewhere to try to find out “what’s actually happening here ... where people with malaria are going,” said Nahlen, of the US campaign. There was some positive news in Guinea — it had just completed a national mosquito net campaign against malaria when Ebola struck, he said.

Neighboring Liberia, on the other hand, suspended the planned distribution of 2 million nets, said Nahlen.

In Sierra Leone, the third country hard-hit by Ebola, Doctors Without Borders took unprecedented, pre-emptive action this month, distributing 1.5 million antimalarial drugs that can be used to both prevent and treat, aiming to protect people during the disease’s peak season.

“Most people turn up at Ebola treatment centers thinking that they have Ebola, when actually they have malaria,” said Patrick Robataille, Doctors Without Borders field coordinator in Freetown. “It’s a huge load on the system, as well as being a huge stress on patients and their families.”

He said a second distribution is planned in Freetown and western areas most affected by Ebola. Robataille said the huge delivery of antimalarial drugs was “in proportion to the scale of the Ebola epidemic — it’s massive.”

receive medical attention.

View galleryHandout video grab showing a person being lifted on … A person is lifted on an Italian Navy helicopter as the car ferry Norman Atlantic burns in waters of …

Sky and Italian state television RAI reported that one of the people rescued said he had seen four people dead, but there was no confirmation of the report.

A medical team and a flight operator had boarded the stricken vessel to assist the passengers and crew as the rescue proceeds, the navy said.

After initial rescue efforts were

AFP

impeded by bad weather that stopped other ships getting close, Italian and Greek helicopter crews began the airborne operation on Sunday afternoon.

The rescue is being coordinated from the Italian navy’s amphibious transport ship the San Giorgio.

Eighty five people had been transferred to the San Giorgio by 0750 GMT and one person suffering from heart disease was taken to the Italian mainland by helicopter, the navy said.

One man died on Sunday and four people were reported to be injured.

Several passengers have been flown to Galatina in southern Italy.

Fire damages Swedish mosque in second suspected arson attack Reuters, Stockholm Fire ripped through a Swedish mosque early yesterday in the second suspected arson attack on a Muslim center in four days in a country caught up in a fierce debate on immigration.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the southern town of Eslov and no one was injured, local media reported.

“We ... are working under the assumption it is arson,” police officer Marie Keismar told the TT news agency.

Five people were injured when fire broke out in another mosque in the Swedish town of Eskilstuna on Christmas day.

Polls have shown the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats winning over voters from the center right and center left.

The party, Sweden’s third biggest, wants to cut the number of asylum seekers getting in by 90%. Other more mainstream parties have promised to preserve the Nordic state’s traditionally liberal stance.

Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces Agencies The Israeli army has shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank at the Zaatara checkpoint south of Nablus city, Palestinian security officials said.

The Israeli military has confirmed to Al Jazeera that a Palestinian man was killed and another was injured yesterday after soldiers encountered a group of stone throwing Palestinians near the Zaatara checkpoint.

Israeli forces said they had fired warning shots in the air and when those shots did not disperse the crowd, the soldiers responded with live fire. A military investigation is under way.

Nearly 20 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank since June, according to an AFP tally.

Greek PM proposes early election be held on January 25 Reuters, Athens Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras said he would propose holding an early national election on January 25 after parliament rejected his nominee for president.

Samaras said he was confident of winning the election, saying he would not allow anyone to put the country’s place in Europe in question or usher in a new period of crisis and budget deficits in Greece.

“All those who have voted against are responsible for an event that Greek people did not want,” he said in a televised address. “It’s time for Greek people to do what parliament has not done, to end uncertainty and restore stability.”

He said he would go to President Karolos Papoulias on Tuesday to propose the dissolution of parliament and the election date.

Earlier, opposition leader Alexis Tsipras hailed the result of the presidential vote, saying it spelled the end of bailout programmes tied to austerity.

“Today is a historic day for Greek democracy. Lawmakers proved that democracy cannot be blackmailed,” he told reporters after the vote. “With the will of our people, in a few days bailouts tied to austerity will also be a thing of the past.

The future has already begun.”

P H O T O O F T H E DAY

A woman feeds seagulls in a snow covered park in Diessen at lake Ammersee, southern Germany on Sunday

REUTERS

Thieves fry Kenya’s power grid for fast food Reuters The morning scene is increasingly routine for Kenyans. When it’s time to start the day, the power is already out. Somewhere nearby, the shell of a wrecked electrical transformer lies on its side underneath the pole where it had been fixed seven metres off the ground.

The culprit is an unusual one: A vandal who is selling the toxic oil, drawn from the transformer, to chefs who use it for frying food in roadside stalls. Five litres of the viscous, PCB-laden liquid sells for $60. It looks like cooking oil, but lasts much longer, users say.

Kenyans’ appetite for fried food and cheap frying oil is stalling the country’s urgent efforts to build a modern electrical grid, even as it sows the seeds of a public health crisis, experts say.

And with utility companies reporting similar vandalism across East Africa and as far away as South Africa and Nigeria, the crime spree is becoming another thorn in ambitious plans to electrify Africa.

Sudden blackouts darken businesses and communities across Africa. In a continent where 70% of Africans are not yet connected to grid electricity, the World Bank says even those manufacturers who

do have a connection lose 56 days a year, on average, to blackouts.

Such power losses can cut revenues as much as 20% for businesses that can’t easily use or afford backup generators, World Bank said.

Even companies that don’t experience blackouts are likely to suffer as utilities pass on the price of continually replacing transformers.

In 2012, replacing transformers cost Kenya Power $4m, about seven percent of its net profit, according to Kevin Sang, a communications officer for the company.

Umeme Uganda, a power distributor, had to spend $2m this year, said Patrick Mwesigwa, the company’s chief financial officer.

One big problem is that the oil that cools electrical transformers is also great for frying cassava, chips and fish. Other than fuel, thieves tout it as a “remedy” for wounds, and even to make cosmetics, said Tom Muhumuza, a senior project manager for Ferdsult Engineering Services, a Ugandan firm that deals with energy projects.

The copper wire from transformers is sold to fix motors and as scrap metal, which enters the global market and can end up as far away as India and China, Muhumuza said.

Kenya represents the problem in microcosm. On paper, its goals for electrification

seem promising: It’s sub-Saharan Africa’s fifth biggest economy, according to the World Bank, with better infrastructure than most. Kenya Power Ltd aims to bring electricity to 70% of all Kenyans within five years, up from the current 35%.

Kenya has even had some success fighting transformer vandalism. In 2013, 535 transformers were vandalised across the country, a stark drop from 898 in 2011, according to Kenya Power. That may be due to a 2013 law that imposes a minimum 10-year jail sentence on transformer vandals.

Kenya Power has also started mounting transformers in more inaccessible places, such as inside homes and much higher up on poles.

But that’s no comfort to Barnabas Ikahu, who runs a small printing company to supplement his income as a teacher in Kaheho, a town 200km northwest of Nairobi.

Ikahu’s plant churns out calendars, business cards, wedding invitations and photocopying and is typical of the small businesses that are the backbone of Africa’s economic growth. His business stops every time the power goes out.

He’s thinking of buying a generator to keep things going, but that would cost around $300 - enough to erase most of

his profit when combined with the costs of generator fuel.

Even generators aren’t a possibility for Nderitu Miano, a welder based 30km away from Kaheho, because the machines he uses to fix farm equipment or car parts suck more power than he can get from the type of small generator he could afford.

When the power goes out, “everything stops,” he said. Customers, many of whom don’t have electricity at all, don’t understand why he can’t get their work done.

Within hours of the power going out, transformer oil can end up on the street, where it creates another health and environmental problem because it contains highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The United States banned PCBs in 1979.

“Consumption of PCB-laden chips poses a health risk to Kenyans in a country where health services are already underfunded and doctors are in short supply,” said Dr Esther Maina a biochemist at the University of Nairobi. But use of the oil is so widespread that she, herself, got sick from it when she bought chips at a roadside stand.

Kenya Power, the firm that distributes power in Kenya, is now thinking about building transformers that don’t use oil. Such transformers are not widely used and cost about half as much as ones that do use oil.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Plane went missing off Indonesia with 162 people on board Nationalities of passengers and crew

Differences between MH370 and AirAsia incidents AP, Singapore

Pilot

MALAYSIA

Indonesia

BRUNEI 250 km

Scheduled arrival 0830 am Singapore time (0030 GMT Sunday)

Crew 5

Karimata Bangka Belitung

INDONESIA INDIAN OCEAN

JAKARTA

Indonesia

Passengers

KALIMANTAN

Approximate scheduled route

France

BORNEO

SINGAPORE Singkep

Co-pilot

4

0755 am Officially loses contact with ATC

3

0618 am Disappears from radar

2

0612 am Requests Jakarta Air Traffic Control (ATC) to ascend to 38,000 feet (from 32,000 feet) to avoid clouds on the left

JAVA SEA

Indonesia 149

Foul play

Authorities suspect Flight 370 was deliberately diverted by someone on board, and suspicions of foul play emerged within days of its disappearance. There has been no suggestion that the AirAsia flight is anything but an accident, meaning the aircraft should have crashed not far from the spot where it fell off the radar. Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry says its pilots asked permission to turn left and fly higher to avoid clouds three minutes before the jet was last seen on radar.

That strengthens early speculation that adverse weather, or the pilot’s response to it, was a factor in the accident.

Southern indian ocean

Designated search area

1

Surabaya 0535 am Sunday, Indonesia time (2235 GMT Saturday) Plane departs South Korea 3 Britain Malaysia Singapore

Airbus A320-200 Delivered to AirAsia on Oct 2008

Last maintenance: Nov 16

1 each

Sources: AirAsia, Flightradar24/ Indonesia transport ministry/ Malaysia ministry of defence

Stakes high for Indonesia as aviation safety in spotlight again Reuters, Jakarta The disappearance of an Indonesia AirAsia passenger jet comes at a sensitive time for Jakarta’s aviation authorities, as they strive to improve the country’s safety reputation to match its status as one of the airline industry’s fastest growing markets.

The Airbus A320, with 162 people on board, is presumed to have crashed into the Java Sea on a flight from Indonesia’s second city Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday, putting renewed scrutiny on the regulation of airlines in a country that remains on the European Union’s aviation blacklist.

Malaysian-listed budget carrier AirAsia and its regional affiliates have up until now had a near blemish-free safety record, but officials were quick to announce yesterday a review of Indonesia AirAsia’s operations.

“We will review Indonesia AirAsia to make sure its performance can be better in the future,” Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters.

“Much will be reviewed in terms of its business operations and in terms of air

transportation business, so that there are safety improvements.”

Indonesia is on track to become one of the world’s top 10 aviation markets by around 2020, and could be in the top five with 270 million passengers by 2034, according to projections by the International Air Transport Association.

The country’s fast-growing airlines such as Lion Air, Garuda Indonesia and its subsidiary Citilink have been ordering hundreds of aircraft from Airbus and Boeing to meet this demand.

But, despite recent improvements, the air safety record of Southeast Asia’s most populous nation remains patchy.

A spate of fatal accidents in the 2000s that culminated in the crash of an Adam Air Boeing 737-400 on Jan. 1 2007, killing all 102 passengers on board, led to a blanket ban on all Indonesian-based airlines from flying to the European Union.

Around the same time, the US Federal Aviation Administration barred Indonesian carriers from increasing flights to and from the United States, prompting the State Department to caution American citizens about using

Indonesian carriers on regional or domestic routes in the country.

“Indonesia has had a questionable safety record. This will once again raise questions about how safe Indonesian airlines are,” said Greg Waldron, Asia Managing Editor at Flightglobal, an industry data and news service.

“This is the first incident for Indonesia AirAsia, but it will cast a spotlight once again on the entire industry.”

Investigation expertise

The European Commission began granting exemptions to the EU flight ban for some Indonesia airlines in 2009, including Garuda Indonesia, which subsequently began direct services to Europe, and Indonesia AirAsia.

But the ban remains in force for most of the countries airlines, including Lion Air, one of the world’s fastest growing carriers. Lion Air co-founder Rusdi Kirana told Reuters recently that he expected the ban on his airline to be lifted next year.

Despite improvements, since 2010 there have been 13 serious incidents involving passenger aircraft in Indone-

sia, excluding the disappearance of the AirAsia jet. Eleven of those resulted in the plane being written off and four incidents involved fatalities.

An official from Indonesia’s transport ministry told Reuters that the country expected to take the lead in any investigation into the fate of the AirAsia plane.

“The aircraft was registered in Indonesia and it looks to be missing over Indonesian territory. So we will lead the investigation. We have the expertise to do this,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Jakarta-based National Transportation Safety Committee has a dedicated team of air crash investigators – many of whom are former airline or transport ministry officials - and has a reputation for being meticulous in its investigation of air incidents, according to aviation experts.

“They have the expertise to investigate air crashes, ironically because of the large number of them,” said Flightglobal’s Waldron. “Their reputation is at stake and they will want to get this right.”

Based on data “pings” from Flight 370, authorities believe the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, a vast, deep, isolated stretch of water far from the last known position of the plane.

The AirAsia flight was carrying enough fuel for about four hours of flying. Assuming it crashed soon after it dropped off the radar, finding it should be far easier. The Java Sea is a contained body of water, shallow, and crisscrossed by planes and ships. In normal circumstances, a plane leaves wreckage even

A Pakistani court yesterday suspended a detention order on the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, government lawyers said, drawing a sharp protest from India.

India summoned Pakistan’s envoy to protest after the Islamabad High Court suspended the order on the alleged mastermind of the attacks which killed 166 people.

The suspension is the latest round in a tussle over whether to grant bail to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who is accused over the terror siege in India’s commercial capital.

The Mumbai carnage was blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and India has long seethed over Islamabad’s failure either to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning and organising the violence.

A court had granted Lakhvi bail on December 18 but after protests from India, the authorities ordered his detention under public order legislation.

Lakhvi’s lawyers challenged the detention yesterday and the Islamabad High Court suspended the order, government lawyer Jehangir Jadoon told AFP. “The Islamabad High Court took Lakhvi into its custody and granted him conditional bail against surety bonds of one million rupees ($9,943),” Jadoon said.

The suspension can be withdrawn if the government challenges it, Jadoon added.

Lakhvi remains in custody in a high-security jail, as he has throughout the 10 days of wrangling. The paperwork involved in actually getting him released means he is unlikely to walk out of prison soon.

A unified Korea?

AP, Seoul South Korea yesterday proposed talks with North Korea to discuss what it calls a range of issues needed to prepare for the unification of the divided countries.

It’s unclear if Pyongyang would accept Seoul’s offer as the country has viewed any of South Korea’s unification plans an attempt to take it over.

North Korea wants a unified Korea with Pyongyang in charge.

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told a televised news conference that South Korea wants talks in January to discuss exchange programs, joint projects and laws needed for a unified Korea. Ryoo said South Korea hopes the

proposed talks would also discuss resuming reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul launched a government committee on the unification in July, six months after President Park Geun-hye told a New Year’s press conference that unifying with N Korea would bring an economic “bonanza,” not massive financial costs.

North Korea made an angry response, saying Park’s plans were nothing but a plot to topple Pyongyang and build a unified Korea under a South Korean system.

The Korean Peninsula was divided into a US-backed, capitalistic South Korea and a Soviet-supported, socialist North Korea.

if it enters the water largely intact. It can take several days for it to be spotted, however. On Jan. 1, 2007, an Indonesian jetliner carrying 102 people went missing on a domestic flight from Surabaya to Manado. A search effort across land and sea turned up nothing until 11 days later, when a fisherman found the plane’s right horizontal stabiliser.

AIRLINE COMMUNICATIONS

Malaysia Airlines was severely criticized following the Flight 370 disaster for giving out contradictory and vague information. So far, that has not happened with the latest incident. The boss of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, has tweeted about the incident and what the company is doing, drawing praise not scorn. Managing communications about the loss of the flight will become more challenging if the wreckage is not found quickly. The fact that the overwhelming majority of the passengers are Indonesians and that it was an Indonesian-registered company operating the plane should mean less pressure, however. Around two-thirds of the passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 were Chinese, with the rest coming from all over the world, only adding to what was already an unprecedented situation.

Another Malaysia-linked plane disappearance spooks travelers Reuters What appears to be a third air disaster involving a Malaysian carrier in less than a year has further dented confidence in the country’s aviation industry and spooked air travelers across the region.

A plane belonging to Indonesia AirAsia, 49% owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia, vanished on Sunday on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

There were 162 people on board Flight QZ8501, which is presumed to have crashed at sea.

Malaysia’s only other airline, Malaysia Airlines (MAS), was involved in twin air disasters this year with flight MH370 disappearing over the southern Indian Ocean in March and MH17 being shot down over Ukraine a few months later.

Many travelers have been apprehensive about using Malaysia Airlines over fears that the company was “cursed,” and now people are expressing concerns about AirAsia.

“This is a bit unsettling, because of how many times it’s happened to us. It

Pakistan suspends detention of 26/11 ‘mastermind’ AFP, Islamabad

9

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

looks like a Malaysia problem now,” said Daniel Lim, a 26-year-old financial executive who flew on two domestic Malaysian AirAsia flights in the past week.

“With MAS, I thought it was the exception, but this is the third incident and I’m a bit worried about flying on any Malaysian airline now.”

Hong Leong Investment Bank said in a research note that following the MH370 and MH17 incidents, the case of AirAsia QZ8501 is likely to have a deep impact on demand for air travel in the region.

Malaysia Airlines has already been severely affected.

Last month the company posted its worst quarterly loss since late 2011, as passenger numbers and average fare yields fell sharply. The airline’s passenger numbers dropped 14% year-on-year in the July-Sept period.

The company will be delisted from the stock market on Dec. 31 as part of a 6 billion-ringgit ($1.8 billion) government-led restructuring to revive its fortunes.

Shares in AirAsia were down over 8.5% at the end of trade yesterday.

87,000 caught in China for prostitution, gambling PTI

Internally displaced Afghan girls are seen at a camp in Kabul, Afghanistan. Thousands of Afghans are pouring into makeshift camps in the capital where they face a harsh winter as the Taliban return to areas once cleared by foreign forces, who this week are marking the end of their combat mission AP

Afghans fleeing war now face brutal winter AP, Kabul Thousands of Afghans are pouring into makeshift camps in the capital where they face a harsh winter as the Taliban return to areas once cleared by foreign forces, who this week are marking the end of their combat mission.

On the grimy outskirts of Kabul, hundreds of families are huddled in flimsy tents or mud shelters at the Bagrami camp. By day the children forage for fuel and food. At night the families burn garbage to try to keep warm as the icy winds sweep down from the Hindu Kush mountains surrounding the city and temperatures plunge to below freezing.

“Violence has forced us out of our

homes but here misery and poverty have made our life even more difficult,” said Abdul Qayyum, 52, who fled here with his wife and eight children.

“Such a life is not worth living.”

Like the others in the camp, they fled their home in Sangin in the volatile Helmand province, an opium-rich region where the British struggled for years to keep the Taliban at bay before withdrawing in 2010.

The insurgents are now once again on the move, and have extended the summer fighting season as foreign forces have handed over front-line combat responsibility to Afghan security forces. This week the US and Nato are formally ending their combat mission, 13 years after the invasion that

toppled the Taliban in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks.

The insurgents have taken advantage of the vacuum and seized territory across the country, redrawing battle lines through urban areas and putting civilians at greater risk. The Sangin fighting began in June after Afghan forces replaced withdrawing US troops.

Emanuele Nannini, project coordinator of the Emergency aid organisation, says its 90-bed hospital in Helmand’s capital Lashkar Gah has been full for months with wounded civilians and combatants from both sides of the Sangin fighting. Unlike previous years, he said there had been no winter slowdown. The facility is “100% a war hospital,” he added.

Some 87,000 people have been arrested by Chinese police this year for their alleged involvement in prostitution and gambling, authorities said.

Police across the country closed over 37,000 criminal cases involving prostitution and gambling during the year, ministry of public security (MPS) said.

The MPS made public 20 of the 37,000 cases, including cases of organised prostitution in entertainment venues and through online platforms, setting up casinos, running cross-border gambling website, among other violations, state- run Xinhua news agency reported.

Police captured 87,000 criminal suspects for prostitution and gambling since the beginning of 2014.

S Korea officials face punishment over ‘nut rage’ AP, Seoul Four South Korean officials will be punished for improper conduct during an investigation into a former Korean Air Lines executive who forced a flight to return over a bag of macadamia nuts, the Transport Ministry said yesterday.

The punishments could include dismissals, salary reductions or formal reprimands, according to Shin Eun-chul, the official who headed the ministry’s internal investigation. The ministry also issued warnings to four other lower-ranking officials who were involved in the investigation. The ministry has been under fire following revelations that some officials leaked information and committed other improper acts during the investigation.

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

CODE-CRACKER

Too much confusion clouding facts

T

he amount of confusion surrounding the tragic case of fouryear-old Jihad, whose lifeless body was recovered from a deep, uncovered well on Saturday afternoon, almost a full day after he had fallen in, raises many questions about what was going on at the scene.

When there were eyewitnesses to his having fallen in, testimonies of neighbours having heard the boy’s cries, and when members of the fire brigade itself reportedly claimed to have spoken to him, that there was any doubt Jihad had, in fact, fallen into the well is astounding.

Our home minister’s insensitive comments implying the whole incident may have been a fabrication, the fire service director general’s announcement that there was no trace of anyone inside the well, and the subsequent detaining of the worried father for abusive questioning demonstrate the kind of irresponsible and callous behaviour by the authorities we seem to have grown accustomed to, but should not have to stand for.

It is outrageous that rescue efforts were suspended despite by-standers insisting the child really was at the bottom of the well.

Given the confusion over the facts, risking a child’s life over a hunch that the episode may have been concocted – a presumption they had no solid basis for – is disgraceful.

We are appalled at the shameful manner in which the entire incident was handled by the authorities concerned. We need to get to the bottom of how such a tragedy of errors, with mistake piled upon mistake, and misjudgement piled upon misjudgement, could have been allowed to play out.

Risking a child’s life over a hunch that the episode may have been concocted – a presumption they had no solid basis for – is disgraceful

Paying the right people

W

e are pleased to see the government taking steps to promptly bring into effect recommendations made in the national pay commission’s report.

The proposal, which seeks to cut the number of third and fourth-class government service holders and hike the pay grade across the board, would go a long way in improving the quality of employees being hired and helping to reduce public sector corruption.

However, the pricetag of Tk30,000cr required to implement the recommendations – which would roughly double the government’s total expenditure on payroll and pensions – strikes us as shockingly high.

Only drastic cutbacks in the number of public sector employees can afford the government the opportunity to enforce the revised pay scale.

At the moment, the state employs 800,000 service holders with 600,000 engaged in lower-level jobs. This number needs to be scaled down considerably before proceeding with the pay commission’s proposal.

It is essential that the government adopt such hardline measures if it wishes to repair our crumbling public sector. Doubling of salaries ought to be balanced by a proportionate reduction in staff to keep costs from escalating.

An overstaffed and inefficient public sector has hampered our economy and service delivery for far too long. Appointing fewer, better-paid officials may well be the best way to bring about a much-needed transformation in civil service, and reestablish it as the esteemed profession it once was.

Doubling of salaries ought to be balanced by a proportionate reduction in staff to keep costs from escalating

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

The persecution of Maria Corina

December 19 Evil People Sammy Politics It is an article like this that makes me so proud “Machado’s of Dhaka Tribune, because no other daily in real crime?

Bangladesh has the courage to print anything that Being a even mildly criticises an anti-American regime. long-time This is all the more true because the Venezuelan campaigner government is very similar to the one in Dhaka – for electoral transparency.” drawing its supposed legitimacy from a farcical I have admired Ms Machado from a distance electoral exercise, keeping itself in power by using for years now; therefore I am quite glad to see a the full might of the state against any dissent, and Bangladeshi newspaper reserving space for her intimidating any voluntary organisations (like TIB being mentioned in any capacity. Go, go Dhaka and Odhikar) in every way possible.

Tribune!

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 12 represents D so fill D every time the figure 12 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 Feud over Ziaur Rahman road in Chicago December 20

Muhith: No chance to cut oil price December 20

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.

Dr Ahsan Habib “We never adjust oil prices with that in the global market. Rather, we increase it at times when our capacity decreases.” Simply rubbish.

Birth registrations 11% higher than total population December 20 Siddique Al Islam I’m not a BNP, or Shibir, or Awami League supporter. As a citizen of Bangladesh, I would say naming the road after Ziaur Rahman is an honour for me and for Bangladesh. I don’t find any point to criticise really. We Bangalis are truly a disgrace.

Zahidul Islam “Ambassador Mohammad Ziauddin said Zia was unfit to be given a street sign in his honour, citing what he said was his complicity in the 1975 assassination of then President Sheikh Mujib Rahman and members of his family during a coup.

It is Bangladesh’s official government position to oppose the Chicago recognition for Ziaur Rahman, he said.”

What is your problem, Mr Ambassador?

Rezaul Karim This street naming should be a matter of pride for not only Bangladeshi Americans but all Bangladeshis. It was wrong for Sheik Hasina’s AL to oppose this. Major Zia lives in the minds of 160 million Bangladeshis, except, maybe some Awami Leaguers blinded by wrong politics and fascist mindset. Not only that, Zia lives in the minds of freedom-loving people all over the world. As long as there is freedom, his legacy will live as a valiant freedom fighter who had the courage to declare independence when no one, not even the then leader of the AL, Sheikh Mujib, dared.

Sk. Mujib refused to declare independence even after repeated requests from his party leaders. He instead decided to surrender to the custody of the occupying Pakistan forces.

NazimFarhan Choudhury Washing dirty linens in public doesn’t help anyone.

God do we need to rise up over petty politics.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

AH A lower population number is good for the government, since such a number raises all per capita numbers, and pushes Bangladesh closer to meeting all international statistics requirements.

Victory Day and a 15-year-old December 20

Karl Hungus “From this mass of working boys and girls, we will surely get small-scale entrepreneurs who, one day, will open their own shops.”

I can half-sympathise with the writer in his wish that people remain humble and climb the societal ladder with their moral values remaining intact, just as nature intended; but progress (and, by extension, “education”) is an important catalyst, regardless of how much it often acts as a “spoiling agent” sometimes.

The demon bites back December 19

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Employs (5) 4 Colour (4) 7 Anger (3) 8 Period of time (3) 9 Giver (5) 12 Church recess (4) 13 Beseech (7) 15 Wicked (3) 16 Bashful (3) 18 Perform (3) 19 Infant’s bed (3) 21 Contract and wrinkle (7) 24 Foundation (4) 26 Very poor (5) 27 Female swan (3) 28 Ever (poet) (3) 29 Niggardly (4) 30 Multitude (5)

DOWN 1 Conceal (4) 2 Seemingly mocked by fate (6) 3 Torn (4) 4 Annoying child (4) 5 Scoop up with tongue (3) 6 Funeral song (5) 10 Sphere (3) 11 Extend to (5) 14 Embellish (5) 17 Paid attention (6) 18 Collector’s book (5) 20 Neckwear (3) 21 Observed (4) 22 Turn away (4) 23 Old stringed instrument (4) 25 Mineral spring (3)

TJ “Reports suggest that large-scale killings are taking place in Baluch areas to suppress dissent there.

One wonders when Pakistan will learn its lesson.”

It is high time Pakistan becomes intolerant towards the Taliban, and other extremist and terrorist groups.

Human chain for rape victim December 20

PB “Human Rights Defender Forum forms a human chain in the capital’s Shahbagh area seeking justice for a 14-yearold indigenous girl, Umaching Marma, who was allegedly raped and killed by Bengali settlers.” Stop #rape #violence in #CHT.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

Anon PB: Exactly. Enough is beyond enough. The perpetrators must be caught and punished.

PEANUTS

Mir Ahmed Law enforcement should take the necessary action seriously. They should not delay simply because the victims are minorities.

‘Citizen Platform’ calls hartal to prevent return of sex workers December 20

habib The Islamists hadn’t actually brought out a procession after Juma prayers in Tangail town; they were just trying to.

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Before we follow Jihad into deathtraps

A

Zahid Newaz Khan

lthough unintended, the death of Jihad is basically a “murder.” Unfortunately, punishment for this kind of murder is minimum, and the law does not consider it a homicide. It falls under the section of “causing death by negligence.”

The related Section 304A of the Bangladesh Penal Code reads: “Whoever causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to [five] years, or with a fine, or with both.”

The main responsibilities for the death go to the officials concerned and employees of Bangladesh Railway as well as the contractors who had kept open the pipe with enough space to swallow a human body.

Dhaka Wasa is not the first party here, as these kinds of pumps are considered to be “private.” Still, they cannot avoid their responsibilities as they are the ultimate monitoring authority.

Yes, we heard that the engineer has been suspended, and the contracting house blacklisted. If the state initiates a criminal case, or Jihad’s parents take legal action, the responsible people can be brought to book, although the punishment is at best five years’ imprisonment, or a fine, or both.

Compared to such a death due to negligence, the punishment is quite insignificant. Still, some punishment will send a message of warning to all to avoid such heartbreaking accidental murders in future. Who does not know that Bangladesh, especially its capital city, is full of deathtraps?

Unfortunately, Jihad had stepped into one such trap to become a victim of the irresponsibility of institutions in a country heading towards achieving MDGs one after another. However,

F

R

O

M

the lack of responsibility was not only exhibited by the pump operators.

Such irresponsible acts were seen since the rescue operation began for Jihad, and the stupidity continued till the abrupt suspension of the recovery operation. From ordinary people to state minister for home affairs – none are outside the long list. Remember the live telecast – the footage makes the place seem as though it was a fish market.

The area of the rescue operation was not cordoned off. Hundreds of enthusiastic people gathered, police were seemingly spectators, and television reporters were giving live commentaries without authentic sources.

There was no spokesman from the rescuers to give the actual picture. In fact, visibly, they were not sure what they were going to do. Politicians also thronged the place, though nobody knew what their business there was.

Some drama also took place behind the scenes. An intelligence agency tried to convince people that the incident “might have been a rumour.” The state minister for home was convinced. He also expressed similar doubt, prompting his police forces to pick up Jihad’s father for interrogation.

The poor father was kept in custody for 12 long hours during this time of sorrow and agony. He was threatened to be handed over to RAB, to whom he will be compelled to disclose where he hid his son (obviously following the application of third degree treatment or threats of crossfire or encounter).

The so-called intelligence gathering and the statement by the home minister encouraged the fire brigade to give up, and they eventually abandoned the operation in the name of suspension.

Finally, the body of Jihad was recovered by volunteers, just 10 minutes after the fire brigade officially withheld their drive.

T

H

E

M

A

MEHEDI HASAN

Several things surfaced from the tragic incident That even after the Rana Plaza tragedy, our firefighters are still not prepared for any accident (it can’t be an excuse that this kind of incident took place for the first time, it’s their duty to face any disaster).

That our law enforcers, despite a very good track record of chasing opposition activists, do not know how to make a place of occurrence trouble-free for a rescue or recovery operation.

That volunteers are always welcomed in facing a disaster, but our ordinary people do not know they have nothing to do in a situation like this. Rather, crowds create trouble for the rescuers.

R

G

I

N

S

Friend of poverty Ikhtisad Ahmed

H

ighlighting religious differences and performing unholy acts in their name are de rigueur in the 21st century. One of the similarities amongst the beliefs of all faiths and the faithless, spoken of with shame when it should be trumpeted with pride, is charity.

The end of a year awakens this character even in the most cold-hearted of human beings, since beginning a new chapter in one’s life by giving alms to the poor is an attractive proposition for the selfless and selfish alike.

These acts require destitution of an obscene level, for there needs to be those so desperately lacking in means that crumbs can come as comfort for others to flaunt their benevolence.

There are few better ways to usher in a new year than by shedding the Scrooge in oneself. The government of Bangladesh has, unfortunately, deprived the highest echelons of Bangladeshi society from this pleasure. It has taken the cynical view, identifying the intentions of its upper class as presumptuous pity, and has implemented measures to put a stop to it.

Clearing the streets of poverty and promising to rid the country of it by 2018 goes further than the twin brief respites of charity – the disaster relief

for the recipient and the elation of the dispenser flowing from altruism, or pretence thereof.

This bold decision of an oft-derided government is commendable. Its contemporaries around the world ignore and abuse the poorest of the poor, but it has shunned the treacherous path of debauchery in this instance, choosing instead to stay noble.

The UK, the country that never came out of the latest worldwide recession – a fact that has not deterred the electorate from trusting the economic credentials of the government since it has been good to the rich at the expense of the poor, who simultaneously remain the highest taxed and most affected by the targeted benefit cuts – has set its course unequivocally as one of punishing the poor in the severest of terms, repeatedly, to preserve the image of the country staying afloat.

The US allows a seventh of its population to live in poverty while it stamps its authority on the planet. Over 50 million people live in abject conditions that are associated with the hearts of darkness that make up the underdeveloped world, in the self-proclaimed, self-aggrandising leader of the free world. Their leaders do not have any answers for them, and think it best to exclude them from the equations of governance.

BIGSTOCK

In Bangladesh, however, the immediate step taken in the war to end all wars on poverty has been to fight it with beggar-free areas and bans on begging, a shining example of the government’s genius triumphing where microcredit and civil societies have failed.

There are more poor people in Bangladesh – conservative estimates put it at a quarter of the population – than the total number of lives lost during the Liberation War. The estimates cannot, of course, be debated as there are no valid academic grounds for doing so, but even if the number of displaced is added to the death-toll, it still does not come close to the number of poor Bangladeshis at present.

They do not deserve any outrage or outcry, that is saved for the futile attempts to search for the true history of Bangladesh. They have brought their plight upon themselves, and the government is to be commended for its efforts to conceal the most wretched of these creatures who dare roam the streets of the proud capital.

It is hoped that these edicts, tantamount to waving the magic wand to cure the ills of society that sound policies planned and implemented diligently fail to tackle, are replicated countrywide to usher in the poverty-free era promised by the government. The representatives who have promised the end of poverty are to be applauded for their foresight, which is beyond the ability of mere mortals.

There are more beggars than billionaires in Bangladesh, but the pandemic is a problem only if it is seen. Poverty exists because capitalism peddles the same myth as communism – that everyone is equal. The difference is in the packaging. In simple terms, capitalism says everyone is special, while communism says no one is.

Devoid of humanism and humanitarianism, neither appreciates personal or societal difficulties. In reality, all that is special are circumstances, individual and collective. Systems need to be designed to tackle this rather than propagating falsehoods to mask their own inherent deficiencies. Lamentably, eradicating poverty and promises to that end stem from fallacious propaganda, not honest constructive efforts.

Ikhtisad Ahmed is a writer and an erstwhile lawyer. He can be contacted on Twitter via @ Ikhtisad.

That even after the Pilkhana tragedy, our government machinery did not prepare themselves for media management during a crisis.

That our media is still lacking in covering a crisis.

All of these point to one common understanding that from rescuers to the government’s top brasses, from policemen to media personnel, there is a lack in proper planning for crisis management.

Jihad is no more. He can simply laugh at us from the other world for our irresponsibility, ignorance, craziness, and cruelty. But the government machinery and its officials have many things to learn.

Media should also take some lessons. But at the end of the day, only

punishment for Jihad’s “killers” can check such tragedies in the future. We know deathtraps are not very far from our own doorsteps.

Before we fall prey to those traps

May we demand a North Korea-style firing squad for those who had kept the pipe open, ensuring the death of baby Jihad?

May we demand exemplary punishment to those police officials who had kept Jihad’s father in custody for 12 hours during the worst time of his life?

May we demand the resignation of the state minister for home affairs who made an irresponsible statement saying the incident of Jihad going missing “might have been a rumour,” leading his policemen to take Jihad’s father

into custody?

May we demand action against the intelligence agency who had predicted that the “incident might have been a rumour,” provoking the state minister to make such a statement, leading Jihad’s father being lead into custody?

May we demand action against the fire brigade who not only failed in this case despite their successes in the past, but also abruptly suspended the rescue or recovery operation?

But, a standing ovation is in order for the creative youths who could at least recover the body of Jihad for the last kisses and glimpses by Jihad’s mother and father.

Zahid Newaz Khan is News Editor, Channel i.

From Russia with love Ikhtiar Kazi

T

here is now a full-blown panic and fear in the Russian markets that has hardly been reported in the Bangladeshi press. Perhaps it is because Russia is not a major trading partner, or people feel unaffected.

The cause of the paralysed Russian economy may not be for the same reasons that keep Bangladesh humming at a lower rate than its true potential, nonetheless it is worth exploring some of the underlying symptoms.

Last week, nothing substantively new took shape in Russia, Western sanctions and low oil prices were already in place; what has changed is a shift in psychology, and fear took over. It’s the fear of the unknown (and perhaps the known) that has brought instability to the Russian system, and as a result, ordinary Russians are going to pay a stiff price and feel lot of pain.

This level of panic also occurred in August 1998 when the fear of the Russian ruble devaluation led to the collapse of the Russian financial markets – stocks, bonds, and the currency market took a nosedive. The ruble lost three-quarters of its value in a span of three weeks. The central bank took emergency action by raising the interest rates by 100%, but eventually Russia defaulted on its debt.

Just like Humpty Dumpty, once the egg broke, there was nothing the authorities could do to put the pieces back together, it was too late.

Last week seems to be a rerun of many of the same series of events that took place 16 years ago. Overnight, the Central Bank raised interest rates from 10.5% to 17%, the week prior it was raised 1%, done in efforts to calm the markets. By raising the rates, the Central Bank hoped to incentivise people to keep their money in rubles.

In a normal scenario, Russia could have turned to the IMF for funding and debt restructuring, but these are not normal times. In exchange for granting Russia a lifeline, IMF would have required economic reforms, and the West would demand reversal of its Ukraine (Crimea) policies. Even with this ongoing crisis, Putin is enjoying a high approval rate, and he is unlikely to submit to any outside demands.

With no face saving options for Putin, the Russian Central Bank will continue to defend the ruble through its large foreign exchange reserves (which it acquired through its oil and gas

earnings).

In 2014, the bank has spent $80 billion, one-fifth of its reserves, to support the ruble.

The ruble has been gradually losing its value, in part, due to low oil price.

Cheap oil is terrible for Russia’s economy and the government; half of the government’s budget comes from oil and gas. In the last six months, crude has dropped nearly 50%, to about $55 a barrel.

A few years ago, I wrote an Op-Ed (“Defeat jealousy with love: Nobel Laureate Yunus and the judgment of King Solomon”) after the government of Bangladesh sacked Professor Yunus.

I questioned the logic, since it would only serve to deteriorate the “reputation and credibility of Bangladesh.”

Firms will be hesitant to invest in a factory that could be burned down in a riot or shut down from a strike

I asked if Bangladesh is “clamouring for foreign direct investments; will investors line up with bags full of money with this type of turmoil and uncertainty?”Perhaps I was being a bit hyperbolic, but the underlying point is very pertinent – the capital markets demand the assurance of stability, and in return it grants a lower cost of capital through favourable interest rates. The lower rates allow citizens to borrow money for their businesses, and receive loans for cars or houses at a more economical rate.

Panic can be triggered from a single event or a series of events; when it may strike is unknown, what is know is when there is lack of confidence and the actions from the government are not well choreographed, chaos arises.

It is in this light, when I observe, what seems to be the daily strikes that shut down the entire country (and economy), and vicious mudslinging by political parties who argue about the most inconsequential, I ask myself three questions.

First, how will the financial markets account for the uncertainty (how will the markets “price this in”)?

The type of investment, the profile of the investor and level of commitment, is a signal of how world markets perceives a nation. Firms who are investing in neighbouring India don’t look at Bangladesh as a serious alternative. Although India has a host of challenges, compared to Bangladesh it is still assumed to be a better choice.

Foreign technology or manufacturing firms will be hesitant to invest in a factory in Bangladesh that could be burned down in a riot or shut down from a strike.

Company executives don’t want to have to defend why they made capital investments in Bangladesh, when similar, and safer (perceived or not) alternatives existed. Thus, Bangladesh becomes the destination when all options have been exhausted. Even Pakistan is considered a safer bet, little Sri Lanka is years ahead, India with its history of recurring sectarian violence is considered less volatile, and military dominated Myanmar (Burma) will add more competitive challenges for Bangladesh in the near future.

Second, what will be the consequence (punishment) to the ordinary citizens who hardly have a say on high-level decisions, but are most impacted by them? In 1998, after Russia defaulted on its debt, there were riots on the street when inflation caused food prices to rise. Food prices are already high in Bangladesh, and dayto-day vary considerably. How will people plan for the future, when they don’t even know what will be the cost of rice, vegetables, and meat the next day? The mental fatigue of having to deal with oscillating prices is something the more fortunate can’t grasp.

Third, do the people in charge, not get it?

The rapidly changing market conditions of one of the world’s largest economies should be frightening to everyone in Bangladesh; because if it can happen in Russia, it can happen in Bangladesh. Just like with Humpty Dumpty, it’s better to fix the problem before a fall, before it’s too late, then after a crash when no one can put the pieces back together.

Ikhtiar Kazi is a capital markets professional, human rights activist, and writer, residing in New York City. He was educated at the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The author’s articles are posted on his blog: http:// strategyandexecution.wordpress.com.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, December 30, 2014

13 Marsh digs in to

put Aussies in control

14 McCullum,

bowlers blast NZ to comfortable win

14 Germany rise,

Brazil eclipsed in dramatic year

Sport

Mushfiq keeps batsmen ahead Mazhar Uddin Mushfiqur Rahim led the Bangladesh one-day side in the past two years before the Bangladesh Cricket Board replaced him in the format last month. As a captain he has proved his credentials while as a batsman he grew with time and is now one of the most dependable performers among the Tigers. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who can call himself unlucky to lose leadership with the World Cup a few months away, revealed his personal goals to the media yesterday.

Are the DPL Super league matches enough preparation for the World Cup?

We just completed a big series at home and there are no international games left this year as well. The Dhaka league is the most important domestic tournament for us. And if we can play some competitive games here it will help us boost our confidence in the World Cup. We will be there (Australia) early which will help us to cope with the conditions and we will also play two extra practice matches. We don’t have much time left and we need to utilise this time.

What about your personal preparation?

I am preparing myself by regularly watching the matches on TV and getting an idea about the pitch over there. I last played in Australia back in 2006

Minhaz Uddin Khan

Your last WC didn’t go well, but you played better in the past three years.

Your thoughts this time?

Every cricketer wants to play well in the WC. If two or three cricketers of a side perform at a time it increases the chances of a better result. I have played well in the last three years but that is in the past.

The new year is going to begin with the WC. If we perform as a team it will definitely send the message to others.

Bangladesh are capable of playing better cricket in those conditions, not only individually but also as a team and we are looking forward to giving our best.

The expectation upon you, does it add extra pressure?

Bangladesh cricketer Tamim Iqbal’s Facebook fan page posted the picture after the southpaw’s successful operation at Avenue Hospital in Australia yesterday

‘Clean’ Stevens arrives for DPL Minhaz Uddin Khan

Siddikur leads Gemcon C’ship Tribune Desk Ace Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman carded five-under-par 67 to take the lead in the Gemcon Players Championship 2014 following the first round at Kurmitola Golf Club yesterday.

Delwar Hossain Dilu and Jamal Hossain Mollah jointly shared second spot after hitting three-under-par 69 each.

Dulal Hossain is third after striking oneunder-par 71. Nurul Islam Goni, Habibur Rahman, Sobuj Khan, Mohammed Shahid and Mohammed Badal Hossain jointly occupy fourth having smashed equal par.

English cricketer Darren Stevens, who was charged with corruption in the Bangladesh Premier League 2 in 2013, flew in yesterday morning to join Kalabagan Cricket Academy for the last three rounds of the ongoing Dhaka Premier League (DPL).

Stevens played for Dhaka Gladiators in the first two seasons of the BPL before being charged for failing to report a corrupt approach during the second edition along with six other teammates. The Kent allrounder however was cleared of the charges when he was proved innocent on February this year.

“I have come to play three one-day games for Kalabagan Cricket Academy,” Stevens told Dhaka Tribune. “I tried to come a month ago but my NOC (No Objection Certificate) didn’t get cleared.

Now it has been cleared by the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board),”

New Zealand won five Tests in 2014, the most they have recorded in a year (four wins in 1985, 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2008)

Tamim’s operation successful

when I was playing for the under-19 side. Many of them are saying the fast bowlers will get the benefits over there. However, I don’t think there will be a lot of swing, but yes there will be bounce. And I don’t think the batsmen will find it hard to score runs, it will be easier for us if we can play the side shots with good effect. I think the batsmen have to play a major part in this tournament.

Actually, nobody puts pressure on me.

Sometimes I get a feeling that I will not be able to score with extra pressure on me. It feels good to perform in those situations and I hope that I can continue to do that and do something for the side.

Did you know?

the 38-year-old added.

“The BPL was a great experience, we won both times. In the second year unfortunately there was a little bit of controversy with match-fixing and things like that. But it had nothing to do with me. I have got cleared of it all now, so I

am really pleased to be back here and happy to be playing.”

Stevens did his homework before deciding to play in the domestic league here and said, “I have spoken to (Dawid) Malan a couple of times. Joe Denly and Phil Mustard also came and played.

They just said wicket is slow, not much turn – low bounce. I will turn up tomorrow (today) in Fatullah and deal accordingly.”

When queried if he is skeptical of on-time payment from the club, Stevens said, “The boys with whom I have spoken to have been paid. No issues about it.”

The County players to have played the DPL this year before Stevens are Malan (Prime Doleshwar), Mustard (Kalabagan CA), Denly (Brothers Union), Daniel Housego (Partex), Mark Pettini (Kalabagan KC), Liam Dawson (Sheikh Jamal DC), Ryan ten Doeschate and Ashar Zaidi (Legends of Rupganj).

National opener Tamim Iqbal underwent an arthroscopic evaluation and surgery for a left meniscal pathology at Avenue Hospital in Australia yesterday.

The surgery was performed by orthopaedic surgeon Dr David Young in Melbourne.

Tamim’s injury initially raised doubts regarding his participation in the 2015 ICC World Cup. The situation got worse after it was revealed that the left-handed batsman will need to undergo surgery which might rule him out of the World Cup. However, Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) senior physician Dr Debashish Chowdhury is hopeful that Tamim will be able to return to cricket within two or three weeks. The southpaw’s rehab process will begin immediately. Dr Debashish is in constant contact with Dr Young.

The BCB medical team will decide on the management plan for the player in consultation with Dr Young after evaluating the complete report on the surgery.

Tamim, who left Dhaka last Friday, was scheduled to meet Dr Young yesterday morning. Upon consulting Dr Young, and after the completion of scans, it was decided that Tamim should go under the blade immediately.

The left-hander first complained of pain in his left knee during this month’s home series against Zimbabwe and was later diagnosed with a hamstring injury. He had taken rest for 10 days before returning to cricket with the Dhaka Premier League. With the World Cup knocking at the door, Tamim’s worst nightmare was realised as further scans showed that he had a Grade 1 meniscus tear in his left knee.

BFF names squad for Bangabandhu Gold Cup Shishir Hoque Aminur Rahman Sajib, Atikur Rahman Fahad and Rubel Mia were recalled again as a total of 26 players were called up for the national team camp for the upcoming Bangabandhu Gold Cup, scheduled for the middle of next month.

The camp will get underway this Thursday at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan (BKSP) in Savar under the guidance of interim head coach Saiful Bari Titu.

Abahani forward Sajib, juvenile defender Fahad and Sheikh Jamal DC winger Rubel were added to the previous squad of 23 men named for the Fifa international friendly against Japan Under-21 held on December 18 this year.

The 26-man squad might be re-shuffled once new head coach – most likely to be Dutchman Lodewijk de Kruif – takes over the charge of the national side in the first week of next month.

Following the just-concluded international friendly between South Korean club Busan IPark and Sheikh Jamal DC, current coach Titu was anything but happy with the fitness of a few national players.

“Some senior players have fitness issues because of being out of match-practice for a while.

“They need improvement to get back their fitness. But, most of the players from Sheikh Jamal seems to be in good shape as they played against Busan IPark recently,” said Titu yesterday.

All’s well that ends well Minhaz Uddin Khan

BANGLADESH CRICKET IN 2014 MOST RUNS Tests Mominul Haque ODIs Mushfiqur Rahim T20Is Anamul Haque MOST WICKETS Tests Shakib al Hasan ODIs Shakib al Hasan T20Is Shakib al Hasan

614 704 285 27 21 11

For Bangladesh, it promised to be a year of achieving goals and emerging stronger as a nation in international cricket.

Instead, 2014 turned out to be the most important chapter a year can possibly teach. Big names, big games and big events scheduled in the country elevated the expectations to a sky-high level.

However, the expectations descended gradually over the first 10 months in the face of countless defeats before the Tigers clawed back their confidence with a mesmerising clean sweep over Zimbabwe.

Apart from holding two major events, Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20, Bangladesh also hosted Asian powerhouses Sri Lanka and India and archrival Zimbabwe. The Tigers, coming to the Sri Lanka series on the back of a whitewash over New Zealand on December 2013, remained winless in their home series comprising two Tests, two T20Is and three ODIs against the island nation.

However, the series taking place was in itself a relief for the cricket board and the nation as political unrest in the country threatened to snatch away the mega multinational events. Bangladesh Cricket Board convinced Sri Lanka to arrive for the month-long bilateral series that eventually paved the way for other teams

to play in Bangladesh.

The results of the Sri Lanka series though could have easily been the other way round as the Tigers suffered some close and heartbreaking defeats.

The cracks in the wall widened through the Asia Cup where Bangladesh lost all their matches, despite going agonisingly close every time, including one against ICC Associate Member Afghanistan.

Mushfiqur Rahim and his troop had only six days to recover from the nightmare and it was not enough. Pitted in Group A of the WT20 qualifiers, Bangladesh progressed to the main round albeit with a hiccup - a defeat to another ICC Associate Member Hong Kong. In the main round, Bangladesh, as expected, slumped to defeats to India, Pakistan, the West Indies and Australia to bow out of the event.

The Tigers lost two-nil in the threematch ODI series against an untested Indian side led by Suresh Raina before they flew to the Caribbean islands for a month-long tour. The outing was the Tigers’ only away bilateral series in this year.

The tour of the West Indies produced another bitter experience as Bangladesh lost all the matches in the Test and ODI series while the only T20I was washed out.

Meanwhile, bad luck seemed to have followed the team to the Asian Games where defending gold-medalist Bangla-

desh fell prey to nature. After beating Kuwait in the quarters by 203 runs, rain washed away their last-four match against Sri Lanka which was eventually decided by a coin toss. Losing the toss, led by Mashrafe bin Mortaza, the Tigers had to remain content beating Hong Kong by 27 runs to hold on to the bronze.

As expected, the defeats pulled out many controversial points and raised questions regarding the commitment of the national players. The BCB also relieved Mushfiq of his duties from one-day internationals and handed Mashrafe his second stint.

The cricketers worked hard, bonded under the guidance of Chandika Hathurusingha – the former Sri Lankan cricketer who took charge as the head coach in June after Shane Jurgensen quit on the back of poor results – and turned the tables around by staging a combined team-effort which was missing earlier.

The supporters regained their confidence when the Bangladesh squad whitewashed Zimbabwe in the three-Test and five-ODI series on November-December.

To sum it all up, the cricketers learned how to regroup, work as a unit and put everything aside in order to bounce back when their backs were pushed hardly against the wall. 2015 should be the year where the Tigers put their bitter lessons of 2014 behind them.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

13

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

QUICK BYTES

AUSvIND, DAY 4

U19 prelim squad for SL tour announced

Australia 1st innings 530 (S. Smith 192, R. Harris 74; M. Shami 4-138)

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) yesterday announced a 21-member Under-19 preliminary squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in January. The selected players have been asked to report at the SAHARA-BCB National Cricket Academy. The camp will begin this Saturday. The Bangladesh U-19 side are scheduled to fly to Sri Lanka on January 14 to play five one-dayers and two three-day matches against their Sri Lankan counterparts.

– Tribune Desk

M. Shami c Smith b Johnson U. Yadav c Haddin b Johnson I. Sharma not out Extras (lb1, w1)

12 0 0 2

Total (all out; 128.5 overs)

465

India 1st innings (overnight 462 for 8)

Fall of wickets 1-55 (Dhawan), 2-108 (Pujara), 3-147 (Vijay), 4-409 (Rahane), 5-415 (Rahul), 6-430 (Dhoni), 7-434 (Ashwin), 8-462 (Kohli), 9-462 (Yadav), 10-465 (Shami) Bowling Johnson 30.5-6-135-3, Harris 26-7-70-4 (1w), Hazlewood 25-6-75-0, Watson 16-365-1, Lyon 29-3-108-2, Smith 2-0-11-0

Mourinho cries foul over Chelsea diving Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho claimed that there is a “campaign” to get his players wrongly punished for diving following his side’s 1-1 Premier League draw at Southampton. After Eden Hazard had cancelled out Sadio Mane’s opener for Southampton on Sunday, referee Anthony Taylor booked Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas after he went down under a challenge by Matthew Targett in the second half. Television replays indicated that the official may have made a mistake, as Targett appeared to make contact with Fabregas after slipping, but Mourinho suggested that there was more to it than that. He listed previous incidents when Chelsea players had been booked for perceived dives, including one involving Diego Costa against Burnley on the opening weekend of the season.

– AFP

Torres completes loan return to Atletico Former Liverpool and Chelsea striker Fernando Torres completed his return to boyhood club Atletico Madrid after his new owners AC Milan agreed a loan deal with the Spanish champions on Monday. Torres agreed a permanent transfer with the San Siro club from Chelsea on December 27 but was swiftly loaned back to the club where he built his reputation on a deal set to run until the end of the 2015-16 season.

The Madrid giants, who lost last year’s Champions League final against arch rivals Real Madrid, confirmed the 30-year-old’s return to the Vicente Calderon on their website. “Fernando Torres returns to Atletico Madrid after an agreement reached by our club with Milan for the international striker to play on loan for the remainder of the season and one more,” read an official club statement. “The player will have a medical on January 5. He returns home, where he trained as a player and became one of our biggest stars.”

– AFP

Australia 2nd innings D. Warner lbw b Ashwin C. Rogers b Ashwin S. Watson c Dhoni b I. Sharma S. Smith c Rahane b Yadav S. Marsh not out J. Burns c Dhoni b I. Sharma B. Haddin c Dhoni b Yadav M. Johnson c Rahane b Shami R. Harris not out Extras (lb8, w1, nb5) Total (7 wickets; 75 overs)

Indian paceman Ishant Sharma (L) hits Australia’s batsman Shaun Marsh (R) with a delivery on the fourth day of their third Test at the MCG in Melbourne yesterday

DAY’S WATCH Ten Cricket 2:30PM South Africa v West Indies 2nd Test, Day 5

Star Sports 1 6:00AM Australia v India 3rd Test, Day 5

Star Sports 2 9:20AM Ranji Trophy Bengal v Mumbai

Star Sports 4 2:15AM T20 Big Bash League Renegades v Sydney Thunders

AFP

R 40 69 17 14 62 9 13 15 8 14 261

B 42 123 34 27 131 17 27 27 27

Fall of wickets 1-57 (Warner), 2-98 (Watson), 3-131 (Smith), 4-164 (Rogers), 5-176 (Burns), 6-202 (Haddin), 7-234 (Johnson) Bowling: Yadav 14-1-73-2 (1w), Shami 202-75-1, I. Sharma 19-4-49-2 (5nb), Ashwin 22-2-56-2 MoM: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)

Marsh digs in to put Aussies in control AFP, Melbourne An unbeaten half-century by Shaun Marsh put Australia in a strong position on Monday, setting India a near-record task if they are to win the third Test in Melbourne.

Marsh produced one of his finest knocks for his country with 62 to steer Australia to 261 for seven, giving the hosts an overall lead of 326 runs heading into Tuesday’s final day.

The Indians will have to defy history at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground, where they have not won for 33 years, to keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series alive to next week’s fourth and final Test in Sydney.

The highest successful run chase in the fourth innings at the MCG remains

332 for seven by England against Australia in 1928.

Teams have struggled to score more than 250 in the fourth innings on the drop-in pitch in recent years, with India all out for 169 (2011) and 161 (2007) in their last two Tests at the ground, both defeats.

Australia has to decide whether to declare overnight or bat on with a total of 96 overs to be bowled on the fifth day, but opener David Warner believes more runs are needed.

“I think we need a few more runs than we’ve got at the moment. Shaun Marsh is batting fantastic and we saw what Ryan Harris did in the first innings (74), so hopefully he can produce something similar to that tomorrow and I think we’ll assess it after we’re all out,” he said.

“It’s still a very good batting wicket.

The key is going to be to get that ball going a little bit and dry up the runs and take 10 wickets.”

It was Marsh’s fighting innings which tilted the Test Australia’s way after India reduced the home side to 176 for five, claiming the key wickets of Steve Smith and Chris Rogers in the process.

The tourists kept the clamps on the Australian batting in a tense final session, before Marsh clawed back the advantage.

“Any score on the final day is going to be tricky,” Indian spinner Ravi Ashwin said. “It’s going to be hard work, but we’re up for it. We’re here to win games of cricket, so we’ll be positive and try and see where we can go.”

The tourists removed Smith for just

14 after the Aussie skipper scored 192 in the first innings in his third century of the series.

Veteran opener Rogers reached his fourth consecutive half-century of the series but again failed to go on with it and was bowled by Ashwin for 69 nearing tea.

India celebrated the important pyschological wicket of Smith in one of their rare successes against the prolific Aussie skipper in the series.

Smith was caught at leg-slip by Ajinkya Rahane off Umesh Yadav after playing a similar shot for a boundary a few overs before.

Shane Watson again failed to nail a big score when he was caught behind off Ishant Sharma for 17.

Debutant Joe Burns was out to a poor shot and was caught behind off

Sharma for nine, while Brad Haddin (13) and Mitchell Johnson (15) were also caught behind. Australia lost the explosive Warner before lunch after he was looking threatening.

He played forward but was struck on the back pad and was given out leg before wicket for 40 off 42 balls with six fours.

Australia quickly mopped up India’s first innings for 465 to lead by 65 with Johnson snaring both wickets of Yadav and Shami for the addition of just three runs to the overnight score.

India lost their last seven wickets for 56 after Virat Kohli (169) and Rahane’s (147) ground record 262-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

It was yet again another lower order collapse to highlight one of the main differences between the two sides.

McIlroy ends year as top AFP, Paris

Pakistan’s Hafeez flies to India for bowling action test Pakistan’s spinning all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez flies to India on Monday in a bid to have his bowling action cleared in time for next year’s World Cup. The 34-year-old’s action was reported as suspect during the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi last month and he was subsequently suspended after a bio-mechanical test found it was illegal. Under International Cricket Council (ICC) rules, bowlers are permitted to straighten their bowling arm by up to 15 degrees, which has been established as the point at which any straightening will become visible to the naked eye.

Hafeez’s suspension was a second blow for Pakistan after their ace spinner Saeed Ajmal was also sidelined over his illegal action in September. Ajmal last week announced his withdrawal from the World Cup as his remedial work will not be completed before the January 7 deadline to announce a final 15-man squad for the event in Australia and New Zealand, which starts on February 14. The Pakistan Cricket Board said Hafeez has worked with former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed.

– AFP

30 2 6

Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan shakes hands with Singer Bangladesh Limited Managing Director and CEO AM Hamim Rahmatullah (3R) at the Singer corporate office yesterday. Shakib signed a two-year agreement to be the brand ambassador of Singer COURTESY

Windies collapse after big stand Cricinfo Centuries from Kraigg Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels steered West Indies past the follow-on mark before a familiar collapse revived the possibility, albeit slight, of a South Africa win. Brathwaite and Samuels added 176 for the third wicket before West Indies let slip a position of apparent safety by losing seven wickets for 44 runs. They trailed by 142 with one wicket in hand when rain intervened for the umpteenth time to end play with an hour still left.

After some predominantly short bowling from South Africa’s quicks that discomfited Brathwaite and Samuels without quite threatening to dismiss them, Vernon Philander broke the partnership with a full ball that moved in sharply and rapped Samuels’ front pad, punishing his non-exitent front-foot stride.

Paul Reiffel upheld the lbw shout, and HawkEye showed the ball to be clipping leg stump after Samuels reviewed. Third ball of the next over, Morne Morkel sent back Brathwaite, who went for a drive away from his body at a ball that wasn’t quite full enough for the shot and edged a catch to second slip.

Rory McIlroy made it a career total of 60 weeks as world number one on Monday with the final golf rankings of the year.

The Northern Irishman started the year as world number six, but after wins in the British Open in July and in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at the start of August he was back at the top.

He cemented that position with his fourth major title win at the US PGA Championship and ended the year almost three ranking points clear of second-placed Henrik Stenson of Sweden.

Tiger Woods, who was top-ranked at the start of the year, slumped to 32nd due to a run of injuries and related problems with his swing.

Masters champion Bubba Watson is the top-ranked American at fourth with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama the top Asian at 16th.

WORLD RANKINGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

PLAYER Rory McIlroy (NIR) Henrik Stenson (SWE) Adam Scott (AUS) Bubba Watson (USA) Sergio Garcia (ESP) Justin Rose (ENG) Jim Furyk (USA) Jason Day (AUS) Jordan Spieth (USA) Rickie Fowler (USA) Matt Kuchar (USA) Martin Kaymer (GER) Billy Horschel (USA) Phil Mickelson (USA) Graeme McDowell (NIR) Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) Victor Dubuisson (FRA) Zach Johnson (USA) Dustin Johnson (USA) Chris Kirk (USA)

POINTS 11.04pts 8.13 7.71 7.27 6.70 6.69 6.62 5.81 5.75 5.47 5.11 4.86 4.78 4.47 4.16 4.12 4.02 3.83 3.78 3.76

Premier League cricket enters business stage Mazhar Uddin With just three rounds left, the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League has reached its climax. A lot will be at stake when table-toppers Abahani face thirdplaced Prime Doleshwar at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.

Prime Doleshwar will be more confident of the two sides as they won both their Super League matches. Abahani on the other hand lost their previous match.

With 20 points, Abahani occupy top spot while Prime Doleshwar are third with 18 points.

The clash between second-placed Prime Bank and fourth-placed Kalabagan Cricket Academy in Fatullah will also be of equal importance. Prime Bank are second with 20 points while Kalabagan CA have four points fewer.

The other Super League encounter will pit Mohammedan against Legends of Rupganj at BKSP. On the eve of the crucial match against the Sky Blues, Prime Doleshwar skipper Mushfiqur Rahim said he is confident of a win.

“Every match is important for us as each of the sides in the Super League phase are equal strength-wise. It is important to do well in all the three departments of the game. We were not able to play well earlier but we have managed to win the last two games and definitely tomorrow’s (today’s) match is a big one for us. If we can play as we did in the previous two matches then I am confident of winning this game,” said Mushfiq yesterday.

The Bangladesh Test captain went on to praise his teammates along with the management of the club. Mushfiq also informed that the professional attitude exhibited by the players has helped the club to produce consistent performances.

Meanwhile, Prime Bank will target a win in their match against Kalabagan CA, whose title hopes are also alive.

Like Abahani, Prime Bank also lost their previous match.

In the other tie, Mohammedan, who are already out of the title race, are up against Shakib al Hasan’s Legends of Rupganj, who are technically still not out of title contention.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Ansar, Chapainawabganj, Kushtia, Madaripur, Gopalganj and Chittagong districts reached the quarterfinals of the Exim Bank 24th National Men’s Handball Championship yesterday. BGB thrashed Mymensingh 34-11, Police humbled Bagerhat 43-4, Ansar outplayed Jessore 30-17, Chapainawabganj crushed Faridpur 29-7, Kushtia defeated Comilla 27-12, Madaripur routed Feni 38-5 and Chittagong beat Patuakhali 19-11 to reach the last eight. BGB, Police, Ansar and Chapainawabganj will face Kushtia, Madaripur, Gopalganj and Chittagong respectively in the quarterfinals today MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

14

Sport

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

FO OTBALL IN 2014

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Germany rise, Brazil eclipsed in dramatic year Reuters, London A superb World Cup featuring one of the greatest upsets in the sport’s history, Germany’s fourth title and the duel between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to be the world’s best were among the soccer highlights of 2014.

Real Madrid’s long-awaited tenth European crown – ‘la decima’ – secured after they equalised late in normal time before winning the Champions League final 4-1 after extra time against Atletico Madrid in Lisbon was another dramatic moment.

But far too often in a turbulent 12 months, the headlines made for unsettling reading.

Allegations surrounding corruption within FIFA never end with world’s soccer’s tarnished governing body lurching from one drama to another over the decision it took in 2010 to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 finals to Qatar.

A report into alleged corruption has only created more problems for the game’s rulers with FIFA president Sepp Blatter, 78, unwilling to make the findings public. Racism and match-fixing also blighted the game but, unless sweeping changes are made next year and Blatter is voted out of office when he seeks a fifth term as president in May’s elections, it is hard to see where real reform will come from.

Luckily for the millions of fans, though, the problems affecting the men who run the game were not apparent on the field when the World Cup kicked off in June.

Brazil beat Croatia 3-1 in a thrilling opener that set the tone for a fantastic tournament in which invisible spray, the innovation to mark distances at free-kicks and goalline technology, made their debuts.

The civil unrest that marred the Confederations Cup, the 2013 dress rehearsal tournament, was not repeated and Brazil’s progress to the semi-finals played its part in keeping rioters off the streets.

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari had pledged

Djokovic, Serena still rule

TENNIS IN 2014 Reuters, London Grand slam titles were shared around like slices of pizza in 2014 but for all the welcome variety Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams ended the year still setting the standard.

For the first time since 1998 the eight grand slam singles trophies on offer were lifted by eight players.

While the four women’s champions were existing members of the elite club, Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka and Croatia’s Marin Cilic marked the biggest shake-up of men’s tennis for a decade with breakthrough victories.

After years spent in the shadow of 17-times grand slam champion and compatriot Roger Federer, Wawrinka came good in Melbourne, beating Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian

Open and showing no mercy to injured Spaniard Rafa Nadal in the final.

Nadal rebounded to claim a ninth French Open title, but the year was too prove a worrying one for the injury-prone Mallorcan who suffered a shock defeat by Australian teenager Nick Krygios at Wimbledon before a wrist problem and a grumbling appendix restricted him to only seven more matches.

Federer, 33, claimed five titles but was unable to add to his record collection of grand slams. He came close though. The Swiss maestro went toe to toe with Djokovic for five sets in an epic Wimbledon final, while a few weeks later in New York he looked favourite for the title before being ambushed by the powerful Cilic in the semi.

The door had been opened invitingly by events earlier on that sweltering

New York day when Asian trailblazer Kei Nishikori became the first Asian man to reach a grand slam singles final with a stunning defeat of Djokovic.

It meant that, for the first time since 2005 a men’s grand slam final took place without a member of the Fab Four, be it Federer, Nadal, Djokovic or Briton Andy Murray. Cilic seized his chance in ruthless fashion by destroying Nishikori, completing a stunning comeback from the depths of the previous year when he served a doping ban.

Djokovic, who got married and became a father this year, claimed a chart-leading seven titles and won his last three events, culminating at the ATP World Tour Finals.

“I physically feel very fit,” Djokovic said ominously. “I’m very motivated to keep on playing on a very high level. I’m going to try to use these years in front of me to fight for number one in the world and the biggest titles in the sport.”

Like Djokovic, Williams, 33, will start 2015 as the measuring stick for the rest as usual. The American, now the oldest world number one, overpowered Caroline Wozniacki to win her 18th grand slam title at the U.S. Open, moving level on the all-time list with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert and only four behind record holder Steffi Graf.

While not as dominant as the year before, she still bagged seven titles and the way she scythed through the draw at Flushing Meadows was awe-inspiring, winning 14 consecutive sets and dropping only 32 games in bagging a sixth U.S. Open crown.

Brazil would win the World Cup as hosts to eradicate the painful memory of losing out at home in 1950 to Uruguay, but a traumatic defeat ended that dream as Germany, already 1-0 up, scored four goals in six minutes to lead Brazil 5-0 after 29 minutes before winning 7-1.

Five days after one of the greatest upsets in the game’s history, Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in the final at the Maracana with substitute Mario Goetze scoring a brilliant extra-time winner.

The losers in Brazil included Uruguayan Luis Suarez, banned for four months for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, Argentina skipper Messi and Portugal captin Ronaldo, whose rivalry in Spain for Barcelona and Real Madrid respec-

tively continues unabated.

Ronaldo picked up winners medals with Real winning the European Cup and King’s Cup, while Messi set scoring records in Spain and in the Champions League.

Two men who dominated the European Cup in a previous era passed into history, with all-time greats Alfredo Di Stefano, who played in Real’s five winning finals from 1956-60, dying at 88 a few months after his old rival, Eusebio of Benfica, 71, the top scorer in the 1966 World Cup, who died in January.

Tom Finney, one of England’s greatest players, passed away aged 91 in February, while South Africa captain and keeper Senzo Meyiwa, 27, was mur-

McCullum, bowlers blast NZ to comfortable win Reuters A once in a lifetime innings from Brendon McCullum and high quality seam bowling ensured New Zealand completed an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on Monday to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

McCullum’s Test began terribly by losing his sixth toss in nine matches as captain in New Zealand and being asked to bat on a green Hagley Oval pitch by Angelo Mathews.

New Zealand’s first innings of 441 was then followed up by a superb spell of opening bowling as Tim Southee and

Trent Boult worked in tandem to reduce Sri Lanka to 15 for three.

Sri Lanka adapted better in their second attempt, with Dimuth Karunaratne producing a patient innings to score his maiden Test century as the visitors inched towards the end of the third day on 277 for three.

Boult, however, then struck with a beautiful delivery that bowled Karunaratne and then dismissed Niroshan Dickwella that reduced the visitors to 287 for five by the close.

Williamson and Ross Taylor, however, calmly guided the hosts to a victory after tea.

dered in October. Peter Biaksangzuala, 23, also died after falling on his head attempting an acrobatic somersault goal celebration in India in the same month.

Among the losers in 2014 were David Moyes, who was sacked as Manchester United manager less than a season into a six-year contract at Old Trafford where Ryan Giggs, 41, ended his 24-year playing career after 963 appearances for the club.

San Marino, while not finishing the year as winners also did not end it as losers like they had for the prvious two decades. In November, they ended a run of 61 straight defeats when they held Estonia to a goalless draw in a Euro 2016 qualifier.

NZvSL, DAY 4 New Zealand 1st innings 441 (B. McCullum 195, J. Neesham 85, K. Williamson 54; A. Mathews 3-39, S. Lakmal 3-90) Sri Lanka 1st innings 138 (A. Mathews 50; T. Boult 3-25, N. Wagner 3-60) Sri Lanka 2nd innings R B (overnight 293-5) Karunaratne b Boult 152 363 Silva c Watling b Southee 33 106 Sangakkara c Watling b Boult 1 16 Thirimanne c Watling b Neesham 25 124 Mathews c Watling b Southee 66 127 Dickwella c Neesham b Boult 4 22 Kaushal c Craig b Southee 12 27 Jayawardene c Southee b Craig 23 38 Prasad c Taylor b Southee 4 17 Eranga not out 45 62 Lakmal c Southee b Boult 16 23 Extras (b4, lb20, w1, nb1) 26 Total (all out, 154 overs)

407

Fall of wickets 1-85, 2-94, 3-181, 4-277, 5-287, 6-307 , 7-320, 8-325, 9-348, 10-407 Bowling Boult 39-8-100-4 (1w), Southee 37-891-4, Wagner 30-6-76-0 (1nb), Craig 38-10-83-1, Neesham 8-2-29-1, McCullum 1-0-3-0, Williamson 1-0-1-0

R New Zealand 2nd innings T. Latham c Mathews b Kaushal 17 H. Rutherford c Dickwella b Eranga10 K. Williamson not out 31 R. Taylor not out 39 Extras (lb6, w2, nb2) 10 Total (2 wickets, 30.4 overs)

B 24 24 75 63

107

Fall of wickets 1-23, 2-43

New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (L) and Ross Taylor walk from the field after winning the first Test against Sri Lanka in Christchurch at Hagley Park Oval yesterday AFP

Bowling Lakmal 6-2-16-0 (1nb, 1w), Kaushal 13-0-48-1 (1nb), Eranga 7-2-20-1, Prasad 4.4-1-17-0 (1w) Result: New Zealand won by 8 wickets MoM: Brendon McCullum (NZL)

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Heera to play journalist in TV play

JAMES to perform in New Year event

Shadma Malik Model and actress Rukhsana Ali Heera will appear in a TV play titled “Bhalobasha Ontoraley”. She will share the screen with actor Nayeem in the drama to be aired in private television channel soon.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Heera revealed the storyline of the play.

“It is a love story where I played a role of a journalist.

Interestingly, I will be an undercover journalist, and the story will revolve in a mysterious manner,” she said.

Heera, one of the participants in Lux Channel I Superstar in 2008, has been working in the modelling arena since 2007.

“Now, a lot of good shows taking place where models are getting good platforms. Besides, good designers, organisers and photo-shoots are being held. It is a good for the modelling industry in the country,” she said.

About her acting career, Heera said: “At the beginning of my acting career, I felt that it was just boring for me.

But now I am enjoying it.”

“Since, modelling was my stepping stone, I will also keep continue modelling for any brands or shows,” she added. “Good scripts are coming on my way and some great directors are making TV plays. However, if I get any offer to perform in a film having good script, certainly I will take the opportunity.”

About style statement, the ramp model said: “In the show, the designers make clothes for me. But, it is up to me that how I carry the attire.”

“I feel comfortable wearing western outfit. But in numerous occasions, I also wear Kamiz and sarees,” she said.

Entertainment Desk Celebrating the New Year, Nogor Baul’s James will perform in a concert “Countdown Tonight” in the scenic beauty of Cox’s Bazar’s.

Along with James, Mila and Bangladesh Idol contestants including Mong, Monty, Tamim, Jewel, Brithi, Sami, Pankaj, Showreen, Arif and Talha will also perform at the stage.

Private television channel SATV telecast live the concert at 5pm on December 31.

Exhibition

Shifting Sands Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Art Lounge 60, Gulshan Avenue

Film

Meghmallar, Ouija Interstellar Gone Girl

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Ek Cup Cha Into The Storm Blockbuster Cinemas Jamuna Future Park Meghmallar Brick Mansions Big Hero 6 (3D), Pipra Bidda Lavel 8, Star Cineplex Bashundhara City, Panthapath

Prachyanaut to premiere Tragedy Palashbari today

15

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Star Movies, 7:30pm

A substance, designed to help the brain repair itself, gives rise to a super-intelligent chimp.

Insidious HBO, 11:39pm

A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.

Wedding Crashers HBO Define, 6:05pm

Rukhsana Ali Heera walked down the ramp on the fifth edition at The Lustrous Runway MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

SOULS wrap up new video Entertainment Desk Rock band Souls have completed the shooting of their new music video of a song from the latest album Jam, which was released in 2011.

Titled Nirmolendu Goon, the music video of the track shot in Potenga,

Chittagong. Along with Partho Barua, the bands all members took part in the shooting. Another music video of Partho’s unpublished solo track has also been made throughout the venture.

Directed by Imraul Rafat, the music videos will be aired on several television stations from the early 2015.

John and Jeremy sneak into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air.

The Core Zee Studio, 4:25pm

The only way to save Earth from catastrophe is to drill down to the core and set it spinning again.

The Kite Runner HBO Hits, 5:10pm

Entertainment Desk Theatre troupe Prachyanaut is to stage a new production titled Tragedy Palashbari today at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh

Shilpakala Academy at 7pm.

The play depicts the tragic collapse of a nine-storey factory at Palashbari in April 2005, when more than 70 garment workers died.

The drama highlights the garment

workers’ dreams and aspirations which can be shattered in a blink of an eye due to such tragedies.

Tragedy Palashbari, the 30th production of the troupe, is written and directed by Azad Abul Kalam.

After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.

EVA GREEN finds light in the darkness in new trailer for Penny Dreadful Entertainment Desk Eva Green looked on the bright side in a dark and foreboding teaser trailer for the upcoming second season of Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful.” The 34-year-old actress portrays the mysterious and afflicted Vanessa Ives in the critically-acclaimed horror series.

The 43-second season preview released on Wednesday opened with Vanessa in a window and providing a voice-over. “The time came when I learned the curse was also something of a blessing. I’d learned to make use of the gifts I had been given.

Will you do the same?,” she said.

The hidden blessing seemed to come at a price as Vanessa was shown collapsing on snow-covered ground. The narration was delivered over quick scenes including Josh Hartnett as brash American adventurer Ethan Chandler looking over two dead bodies in a ransacked room and Timothy Dalton as explorer Sir Malcom Murray riding in a carriage. The trailer tiled A Curse And A Blessing also showed blood splatter on a wood floor in the shape of a red lobster and a creepy hand reaching out of a bathtub.

Characters in the series including immortal Dorian Gray from the Oscar Wilde novel, monster maker Victor Frankenstein from the Mary Shelley novel and Abraham Van Helsing from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”

Penny Dreadful will return next year for a 10-episode season.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE tops Forbes’ list of highestgrossing actors Jennifer Lawrence is Forbes’ top-grossing actor of 2014. Throughout the year, Lawrence’s films -- including blockbusters “Mockingjay” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past” -have brought in $1.4 billion at the box office worldwide. According to Forbes, that number will grow even more as “Mockingjay” continues its theatrical run.

This is a big jump in the rankings for Lawrence, who last year snagged the final spot in the top ten with a gross of $700 million. The number one spot in 2013 was filled by Dwayne Johnson, who brought in $1.3 billion.

The ranking comes on the heels of recently released information from the Sony leaks that Lawrence was paid less than her male co-stars for her work in “American Hustle” -- a revelation that falls in line with the greater gender gap that continues to persist in Hollywood.

Rounding out the top five of 2014’s list include Chris Pratt, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Wahlberg and Chris Evans.

Protests against PK triggers backlash online Entertainment Desk A few theatres in Mumbai on Monday stopped shows of Aamir Khan starrer “PK” amid protests and threats by religious activists who allege that the movie insults Hindu gods.

The protests, mostly by fringe groups, have provoked sharp reactions on social media, with rival hashtags - #BoycottPK and #WeSupportPK - warring for dominance on Twitter.

A theatre owner in south Mumbai’s Parel said he had no choice but to stop screening the film after being threatened by activists allegedly belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or VHP, an affiliate of the ruling BJP’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

“We are soft targets. Around 40 people came to the theatre and said stop the screening or we will ransack your building,” Punit Shah, the owner of Deepak Talkies, told NDTV.

A scene from the film PK starring Anuska Sharma and Amir Khan A letter, purportedly by a VHP leader, has been circulated among theatre owners. It calls for criminal action against the makers of the film for “hurting Hin-

du sentiment.”

There have been protests in other cities like Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Agra and Jammu.

Prominent theatre troupe Nagarik Natyangan staged its famous production “Pushi Biral O Ekjon Prokrito Manush”, a play that depicts story about prevalences of corruptions in the politics, yesterday at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Tearful playfellows bid adieu to Jihad Laying a flower bouquet on the cover of the pipe, they remember their friend who met an unfortunate death

‘Crop loss’ blamed for Indian cotton farmers’ suicide Tribune Desk

Mohammad Jamil Khan They all used to play together on the Shahjahanpur Railway Colony grounds once but one of them has now left this world to begin a journey to a place of no-return.

In memory of his departed soul, Jihad’s playmates chose not to play yesterday evening and laid a floral bouquet on the cover of the pipe where the four-year-old boy accidentally fell into on Friday and died later.

“We will not be able to join Jihad in his eternal journey but we are placing the bouquet here to remind us that he will always stay in our hearts,” Jahidul Islam Maruf, a fourth-grader at Railway Colony School, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Jihad’s playmates gathered in front of the pipe around 4pm and placed the bouquet. They all were shedding tears.

Nazrul Islam, who is in the fourth grade, said: “How can we forget Jihad?

We feel as though he is still around us.”

Another boy Mehedi Hasan said the pipe and the area around it would continue to haunt Jihad’s playmates who might not be able to play there again.

It might hurt Jihad if we run around and play here, he said.

Fatema, the girl who first heard the sound of crying coming out of the pipe, said she would always see Jihad playing and running around on the field with other children.

“Jihad always had an inncent smile on his face. I feel quite empty as I think of his absence,” she said.

Rawshan Ara Surma, who lives in the colony, said her son Atikur Rahman Nabil, a student of Ideal Model School and College, cried to join Jihad’s funeral prayer.

“But it was not possible as Jihad was buried in his home-town,” she added.

Indian college girl pushed back Tribune Report A 20-year-old girl, who fled her home in Nadia of West Bengal seven months ago for love, has been sent back.

BGB handed over Pompa Mondol to BSF officials at the Darshana border during a flag meeting yesterday noon.

Her parents were present at that time, Darshana Immigration Police InCharge SI Mahbubur Rahman said.

Pompa is the daughter of Asit Mondol and Anuradha Mondol from the bordering Shikarpur village in Nadia.

She was honours first year student at Karimpur Panna Devi College.

Locals said after coming to Bangladesh in May, Pompa got married to Amzad Ali of Dharmadaha village under Daulatpur in Kushtia.

They met each other last year while bathing in the area’s Mathabhanga River.

Shikarpur and Dharmadaha villages are situated on either side of the river and people of both the villages bathe there.

Meanwhile, Pompa’s father filed a case with Krishnanagar court to get back his daughter. The family also contacted Kolkata-based human rights group Sanglap, which arranged the deportation of Pompa through the high commissions of the two countries.

Following this, Daulatpur police arrested Pompa on June 7 but Amzad went into hiding.

A court jailed Pompa for six months on charge of illegal entry. Since then, she had been staying at the women’s safe home at the Kushtia jail.

Alleged robber beaten to death in the capital Tribune Report A man was lynched to death by locals at the Rosulbagh area of Lalbagh in the capital yesterday for committing an alleged robbery. he was identified as Md Shopon, 35 of Hasan Nagar of Kamrangirchar.

Relatives said Shopon, hailing from the Chikondi union of Shariatpur district, earned his livelihood by selling polythene.

Officer-in-Charge of Lalbagh police station Md Moniruzzaman said: “A relative of Shopon took him to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) at around 8am on Monday. But the duty doctors declared him dead.”

Locals alleged that they caught Shopon red handed in the process of stealing in a tin-shed house owned by Saidur Rahman of the area.

In memory of Jihad, his playmates yesterday lay floral wreaths on the cover of the pipe where the four-year-old boy fell into and later died

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DIGITAL UNIVERSITY GETS CABINET’S NOD

Death toll alarming

Student enrolment to start in 2016-17 academic year Muhammad Zahidul Islam The cabinet has approved the proposal of establishing a new specialised university in the country aiming to expedite the pace of development of information and communication technology education.

The proposal was approved in a routine cabinet meeting at the Secretariat yesterday, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in chair.

The Ministry of Education will implement the project, which will be the 34th public university in the country, with an estimated cost of Tk372 crore, and on a priority basis. The student enrolment will likely begin in the 2016-17 academic session, sources at the ministry told the Dhaka Tribune.

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the cabinet had approved, on principle, the draft of the “Digital University Bangladesh Act 2014,” which proposed to establish the university at Gazipur HiTech Park.

He said the cabinet discussed the is-

sue of naming the university, and after a lot of argument, decided to name it after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Approval of the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust would be sought in this regard, before the cabinet gives final approval to the draft, the cabinet secretary added.

He also said the draft act had set an attractive salary structure and allowances to draw the brilliant and competent teachers and researchers, from both home and abroad, to teach at the university.

It will also provide distant and online education on ICT and will have a connection with the ICT industries. Two noted personalities who are management or technical experts on the ICT will be members of the academic council.

Regarding the student enrolment, Education Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan said they had decided to start the enrolment in the 2016-17 session, though the initial plan was to do it earlier.

“We can go for a makeshift arrangement to start the academic session, but before that we need to finalise the cur-

At least 12 farmers from the cotton-producing belt of the western Vidarbha region in Maharashtra, the richest state of India, had committed suicide due to crop losses since Friday.

Farmers’ advocacy group Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samitti Chief Kishore Tiwari in a press release on Sunday said those farmers belonged to the Yavatmal, Wardha, Buldhana and Amaravati districts.

Talking to PTI, Tiwari pointed out that the farmers’ suicide was a “serious issue” in the entire Vidarbha region.

“The government should think about increasing the minimum support price paid to the cotton farmers.”

The farmers’ suicide toll this month is 52, Tiwari said.

Meanwhile, remarks on the suicide incidents by Sanjay Dhotre, a BJP lawmaker from Akola of Vidarbha, has sparked massive criticisms, reports Deccan Chronicle.

“The farmers are in trouble due to our wrong policies. Sometimes I angrily say, ‘Let the farmers die, do not pay attention. Those who can afford farming will do it, others will not do it,’” Dhotre said speaking at an agriculture exhibition and conference of farmers in Akola on Sunday.

Criticising Dhotre, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said it showed the ruling alliance’s “perverted mentality.”

Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil on Sunday demanded that the BJP take action against Dhotre.

“The BJP turned the suicides of farmers into an emotional issue during ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ programmes ahead of elections but now their MPs are insulting farmers by making such statements. I demand an apology from Dhotre,” he said.

ricula,” he told the Dhaka Tribune, adding that the minister would conduct a seminar to finalise the curricula soon.

“This will be a multidisciplinary and research and technology-based institute of international standard. I can assure that this university will make a significant difference,” the education secretary said.

According to the draft act, the university will provide education in science, engineering and technology, and the ICT, and conduct research on theoretical and practical issues.

Apart from that, there will be studies and research on digital technology, biotechnology, digital management, digital development and advanced technology.

According to the draft, the postgraduate students as well as researchers will get accommodation, scholarships and allowances.

Sources said the Bangladeshis who are teaching in foreign universities might be encouraged to return home to teach and research in the university.

“We have arranged for better salaries

and other benefits that can attract the highly qualified teachers,” Nazrul said.

The vice-chancellor would be appointed by the president from a pool of three academics selected by a five-member search committee, he said.

The lowest rank of the university teachers will be assistant professor, who must have a PhD or an equivalent degree, according to the draft.

The university will also communicate with foreign institutes for studies and research and its library will offer all facilities through latest technology.

The University Grants Commission started to formulate the plan after the prime minister, at a public meeting in Gazipur on February 24, 2010, promised to establish a university for ICT education in the country.

Before the premier’s pledge, a similar initiative was taken in August 2009

by Mostafa Jabbar, the then president of Bangladesh Computer Samity, who signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the then Ministry of Science and Information Technology, but that initiative never came to fruition.

There has been an upward trend in cases of farmer suicides in Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab recently, besides reporting of instances in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, Times of India quotes an Intelligence Bureau note submitted to the Modi government recently.

Issued on December 19, the IB report titled “Spate of Cases of Suicide by Farmers” blames rising farmer suicides on erratic monsoon (at the onset stage) this year, outstanding loans, rising debt, low crop yield, poor procurement rate of crops and successive crop failure.

It also linked the agriculturists’ woes to a depleted water table, unsuitable macro-economic policies with respect to taxes, non-farm loans and faulty prices of import and export.

As per figures placed in parliament by the government, 204 farmers had committed suicide until April this year in Maharashtra.

India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) says a total of 11,744 farmers ended their lives in India last year, down from 13,754 in 2012. With 3,146 suicides, Maharashtra tops the grim list for the 12th year in a row. The state alone has accounted for an alarming 60,750 farm suicides since 1995.

Indonesia fears missing AirAsia jet ‘at the bottom of sea’ AFP, Jakarta International search planes and ships scouring Indonesian waters for a missing AirAsia plane focused yesterday on a patch of oil for possible clues, as a top official warned the aircraft was likely at the bottom of the sea.

Australia, Singapore and Malaysia joined the Indonesia-led search as anguished relatives waited for news of their loved ones more than a day after Flight QZ8501 disappeared over the Java Sea with 162 people on board.

The Airbus A320-200 lost contact en route from Surabaya in Indonesia’s east Java to Singapore on Sunday after the crew requested a change of flight plan due to stormy weather, in the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year.

Indonesian Air Force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto told AFP the search was now concentrated on an oil patch spotted off Belitung island in the Java Sea, across from Kalimantan on Borneo island.

“We are making sure whether it was avtur (aviation fuel) from the AirAsia plane or from a vessel because that location is a shipping line,” he said.

Separately, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said an object spotted at sea was not from the plane.

“It is not an easy operation in the sea, especially in bad weather like this,”

he said, adding that 15 ships and 30 aircraft were searching the area.

“The government will not give up and is not giving a time limit for the search. What is important is to find the victims and the plane.”

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) chief Bambang Soelistyo said earlier it was likely the plane was at the “bottom of the sea.”

The hypothesis is “based on the coordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea,” Bambang Soelistyo told journalists.

Ships and aircraft were searching an area where the sea is 40-50 metres (130-160 feet) deep, he said, adding that Indonesia was coordinating with other countries to borrow any equipment needed to scour the seabed.

Hoping for news

Distraught relatives spent the night in Surabaya hoping for news of loved ones as the international search effort expanded. Intan, 28, said Indonesia needed overseas help to find the plane which was carrying her brother and his family and friends.

“My hope is Indonesia seeks as much help as possible from other countries.

Don’t claim ‘We have sophisticated technology,’ just ask other countries because they are better equipped,” she said.

Family members of passengers on board AirAsia flight QZ8501 wait for information inside the AirAsia crisis centre at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, East Java REUTERS

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

B3 Asia follows Wall Street

up, euro wobbles before Greek vote

B4 German minimum wage

rings in Happy New Year for millions

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Special rescheduling package for big groups Central bank wants to bring back large borrowers to business, says Governor Jebun Nesa Alo Bangladesh Bank has decided to formulate a special policy on rescheduling and restructuring loans for the large borrowers to facilitate their business.

The central bank yesterday formed a committee of seven members to make the policy on paying instalments timely by the big groups through rescheduling and restructuring their loans.

The committee will also identify problems of cash flow of large businesses. The terms of the policy include assessment of asset quality, capacity of payment, international market possibility and security capacity of the borrowers in case of providing them with rescheduling benefit.

The committee will be under the supervision of a deputy governor, and a chartered accountant must be included in the committee.

It will also recommend a policy to the Bangladesh Bank board. After getting the board approval, the policy will be applied to the large groups that require rescheduling.

“We want to bring back the large borrowers to business,” Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune.

He said some groups including Beximco appealed for rescheduling and

restructuring their loans as their businesses had been suffering cash flow problem.

Some loans of big groups needed 10 years to repay, but those were restructured for payment by five years.

The restructuring led to failure to pay installment regularly by the large borrowers as their cash flow did not generate in line with payment amount, the governor explained.

Beximco, Rupayan, Mostafa and

Akhtar Groups appealed to the central bank for rescheduling and restructuring their loans.

Beximco Group sought for rescheduling their loans of above Tk5,000 crore till 2026.

The BB governor said Beximco Group was overexposed. Banks had taken wrong decision to provide loans for the group more than its capacity.

The group has also not been guided properly by the banks in case of providing loans.

“We will also have another policy for the groups affected by international business. Some groups that import edible oil fell in crisis due to fall in price in global market. We have formed the committee to make such different policies to use in crisis moment.”

The governor said banks will follow dual policy – one for the groups that have capacity to pay the loan at due time and another for those that cheat on the banks by taking loans, violating rules.

Atiur Rahman said: “Some groups rescheduled their loans under the relaxed policy given in December, but later they also failed to come up with installment payment. In these perspectives, we decided to provide benefit under a guideline.”

Earlier in December last year, Bangladesh Bank relaxed its rescheduling policy considering facilitating businesses affected by political unrest.

Under the policy, loans of above Tk18,000 crore were rescheduled till June this year.

Muhith: Bilateral energy dialogue with India to start in three months Tribune Business Desk

Day labourers stand idle near Babubazar Bridge in the capital due to the countrywide hartal yesterday

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

MoU with state banks, FIs to improve conditions Asif Showkat Kallol Bank and Financial Institution Division will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with state-owned banks and financial institutions to establish a proper commercial environment from January next year increasing efficiency, accountability and dynamism, official sources said.

“We will sign an MoU with all stateowned banks and financial institutions one by one to achieve some key performance indicators,” Banking Secretary

M Aslam Alam told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday. He also said the Division will strictly monitor the key performance indicators of state banks and financial institutions at three-month intervals while the centrak bank will monitor financial activities.

In 2007, the Division gave full financial freedom to boards of directors of state-owned banks and financial institutions, but they failed to maintain expected environment, he said.

“That’s why the Division has to start monitoring activities of the boards,”

secretary said. During the three months of monitoring, the Division and Bangladesh Bank will monitor the classified loans, capital adequacy, profit margin, return of assets, return of equity, credit against net assets, assets turnover ratio, growth of deposit and statement of credit growth.

The Banking Division sources said the chairmen of seven state-owned banks, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh and Sadharan Bima Corporation and Jiban Bima Corporation will sign MoU with the Division secretary.

Tapan Chowdhury new BTMA president Tribune Report Tapan Chowdhury has been elected as the president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) for the period of 2015-2016.

The election was held on Saturday in the 31st annual general meeting of the association at BTMA Research and Training Institute, said a press release. Outgoing president Jahangir Alamin presided over the meeting.

Fazlul Hoque and Showkat Aziz Russell have also been elected as vice-presidents of the organisation uncontestedly.

Fazlul is the managing director of Ishraq Spinning

Mill and Ahmed Group while Showkat is the chairman of Amber Group and managing director and share holding director of Partex Group.

Tapan Chowdhury took the office as an adviser to the Ministries of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Youth and Sports, Food and Disaster Management and Science and Technology under the regime of last caretaker government.

He is also the sponsor director of 30 different business establishments of Square Group. He is a descendant of late Samson H Chowdhury, founder chairman of the group.

Cooperation in the energy sector and improvement in road and port infrastructure are the key areas where India and Bangladesh are looking to engage in a bilateral discussion within the next three months.

Bangladesh Finance Minister AMA Muhith said his government already had a high-level discussion with India on these areas of bilateral cooperation and is expected to hold further discussions in the coming months.

He told this in an interactive session at Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kolkata Sunday night, reports BSS. After the new government in India, an impression has been conveyed that there will be continuity in policies.

Some issues need to be discussed bilaterally, which also include energy cooperation, he said.

“Besides energy cooperation, bilateral discussions are also expected on the use of waterways and land routes for extensive use.”

“In some areas there has been a sort of diagnosis of what is to be done and what not to be done. Then the government in India changed. With the new government, we had a high-level contact last October in Washington and we were told just this month that it would be exactly as it was before,” Muhith said.

“Following that some of the developments, which had taken place in the last four years, are now to be discussed bilaterally and in some areas trilateral-

ly. So, that’s in the offing,” he said.

“One of the areas is energy cooperation. It involves not simply India and Bangladesh but also Bhutan and Nepal.

“With Bhutan and Nepal, we have done some work and we were supposed to put it in a combined gathering of those countries. Exactly at the time, we made this request, there was a change in the government. Now anytime we expect these trilateral meetings - one with Bangladesh, Nepal and India and Bangladesh Bhutan and Nepal on mainly energy cooperation.”

At present, Bangladesh imports around 500 megawatt of power from India and is looking to source more from India as it looks to sustain an average growth rate of 6.2%.

While NTPC is looking to set up a thermal power plant in Bangladesh with cooperation from the Bangladesh power development board, the neighbouring country may also source power from the ONGC Tripura gas-based thermal power project.

Muhith also expressed concern over the low quality of roads and ports, which are important for the two countries.

“There is not enough standard for a substantially increased use. This is the second area where quite a bit of proposals have been formulated and needs to be considered now.

After getting a green signal now from Prime Minister Modi, the process has been expedited. I expect we should be having discussions within the next three months,” he said.

Banks asked not to close KYC non-complaint accounts Tribune Report Commercial banks have been asked not to close those accounts, which were opened before April 30, 2002 and have failed to complete the KYC (know your customer) procedures as yet.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday issued a circular asking the banks not to close those accounts to pay respect to the banking principles.

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.

Banks were also asked to identify those accounts as dormant that are KYC non-compliant since March 31, 2010.

But, the banks are reportedly closing the non-compliant accounts instead of identifying them as dormant.

In this perspective, the banks are closing the KYC non-compliant accounts opened before the year 2002, said a senior executive of a private bank.

Earlier, seven banks and a non-bankingfinancial institution were fined by the central bank because of having no updated information about those accounts.

The seven banks were Islami Bank Bangladesh, Premier Bank, BRAC Bank, Mercantile Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Southeast Bank, UttaraBank while the lone financial institution is Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB). The banks were fined up to Tk20 lakh while lowest fine was Tk1 lakh.

Hanoi for more trade with Dhaka Tribune Business Desk Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang hoped an increase in trade volume between Bangladesh and his country in the days to come.

President said this as Bangladesh Ambassador to Vietnam M Shahab Ullah presented his credentials, reports UNB. The present trade volume between the two countries is now $600m.

The Bangladesh envoy expressed his profound regard to Ho Chi Minh, describing him “the greatest leader of all time.”

M Shahab Ullah said said he had brought a message of good will and friendship from Bangladesh’s President and Prime Minister to the Vietnamese people.

He acknowledged with gratitude the continuous support of Vietnam for the cause of Bangladesh in all international forums.

The Ambassador further said Bangladesh is keen to share with Vietnam the spectacular achievements in the area of poverty reduction, disaster management, microcredit financing and achieving the MDGs. Shahab Ullah recalled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Vietnam visit in November, 2012 and said she expected another visit soon.

Vietnam President also emphasised high-level official visits to strengthen bilateral relations.

B2

Stocks end flat amid volatility

Turnover (Million Taka)

Stocks closed flat amid volatility yesterday, shrugging off the developing political situation over the last few weeks.

The market swung between positive and negative during early trading, as investors played both sides of fence. The intra-day volatility was nearly 30 points.

'Since the market has reached to an oversold position, rally was observed' The benchmark DSEX rose slightly 12 points or 0.3% to close at 4,814, scaling back from one-month low recorded in the previous month.

The Shariah index DSES was down 1 points to 1,136. The comprising blue chips DS30 ended at 1,780, also marginally rising 1 points.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, gained 36 points to 8,981.

The large cap sectors posted mixed results. The heavyweight banks ended losing streak with a rally of almost 1%. Other big cap sectors, including non-banking financial institutions, pharmaceuticals and power edged higher.

Food and allied, telecommunication and cement closed negative.

Turnover, however, still remained dry despite significant improvement as it stood at Tk190 crore, which was up 21% over the previous session’s value.

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Closing (% Change)

Dulamia CottonZ 7th ICB M F-A AMCL 2nd MF-A Popular Life Insu. -A Shahjibazar Power-N Daffodil Computers -Z Rahim Textile -A United Insur -A 3rd ICB M F-A Savar Refractories-Z

-6.49 -5.15 -4.17 -3.37 -3.04 -2.92 -2.88 -2.69 -2.54 -2.39

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

Hakkani P& Paper -B National Tea -A Apex SpinningA Janata Insur -A Eastern Cables-A Aziz PipesZ Hwa Well Textiles-N ICB -A PHP 1st M. F.-A Asia Pasific Insu. -A

-9.50 -7.03 -6.71 -6.59 -4.88 -3.93 -2.64 -2.31 -2.17 -2.08

4814.16445

(+) 0.27%

1780.59853

(+) 0.06%

14820.15170

(+) 0.68%

11991.26080

(+) 0.68%

8991.43620

(+) 0.65%

Average (% Change) -6.58 -5.15 -4.39 -1.66 -2.55 -2.12 -0.56 -2.77 -2.54 -16.67 Average (% Change) -9.50 -7.91 -6.71 -4.36 -5.39 -3.72 -2.07 -2.31 -1.09 -2.13

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 7.24 92.00 4.57 142.20 213.45 13.36 272.27 32.70 230.00 50.00

ClosingAvg. 30.50 633.16 68.10 15.58 117.00 22.00 36.92 1,348.10 4.55 18.80

Closing 7.20 92.00 4.60 140.40 210.30 13.30 269.60 32.60 230.00 49.10

Closing 30.50 633.20 68.10 15.60 117.00 22.00 36.90 1,348.10 4.50 18.80

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 256.94 123.85 45.09 158.65 64.03 333.89 1.29 131.47 304.81 6.88 82.22 14.43 16.66 116.94 54.80 23.34 38.19 67.87 13.40 41.08 0.00

7.50 92.00 4.70 146.30 224.00 13.60 285.00 33.40 230.00 49.10

50,145,954

Number of Contract

58,475

Traded Issues

309

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

192

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

107

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

10

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,580.33

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.28

CSE key features December 29, 2014 Turnover (Million Taka)

152.04

Turnover (Volume)

4,759,700

Number of Contract

8,838

Traded Issues

242

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

162

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

73

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,487.61

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.15

Turnover in Million

DLOW 7.00 92.00 4.50 140.10 208.30 13.20 268.00 32.00 230.00 49.00

0.060 0.015 0.290 2.489 12.317 1.269 1.666 0.120 0.023 0.004

Turnover in Million

DHIGH

DLOW

30.50 635.00 68.10 15.70 117.00 22.00 37.50 1,350.00 4.60 18.80

30.50 631.10 68.10 15.50 117.00 22.00 36.70 1,348.00 4.50 18.80

% change 13.55 6.53 2.38 8.37 3.38 17.61 0.07 6.93 16.08 4.34 0.76 0.88 6.17 2.89 1.23 2.01 3.58 0.71 2.17 0.00

Million Taka 16.40 6.60 2.67 16.92 2.94 16.51 20.66 12.99 2.75 13.70 1.14 2.33 15.20 1.93 0.77 1.24 3.41 5.92 9.79 0.04

CSE

% change 10.65 4.29 1.73 10.99 1.91 10.73 0.00 13.42 8.44 1.78 8.90 0.74 1.51 9.87 1.26 0.50 0.81 2.22 3.85 6.36 0.03

Latest EPS -3.84 8.52 0.72 4.13 9.00 1.16 11.00 2.91 65.28 -0.44

Latest EPS

0.037 0.507 0.054 0.010 0.059 0.002 0.119 0.027 0.170 0.002

Million Taka 273.33 130.45 47.76 175.57 66.97 350.40 1.29 152.13 317.80 9.63 95.92 15.57 18.99 132.14 56.74 24.11 39.43 71.28 19.32 50.88 0.04

Samata LeatheR -Z Prime Islami Life -A Berger Paints-A Modern Dyeing -Z Al-Haj Textile -A Prime Bank-A Dutch Ban. Bnk- A ICB Islamic Bank-Z Meghna PET Ind. -Z Eastern Lubricants -A

Closing (% Change) 8.02 8.01 5.99 5.17 4.94 4.32 4.01 3.77 3.51 3.38

CSE GAINER

0.64 -6.49 0.86 0.37 0.08 -0.37 3.52 94.16 0.92 2.32

Latest PE -ve 10.8 6.3 34.4 23.7 11.5 24.8 11.2 3.5 -ve

Company Midas Financing-Z Sonargaon Tex -Z Kay & Que (BD) -Z Pragati Gen. I -A 7th ICB M F-A Rangpur Foundry -A BDCOM Online-A Dutch Ban. Bnk- A Fareast Islami Life -A GreenDeltaInsu -A

9.21 7.48 7.14 6.49 5.87 5.44 4.27 4.23 3.95 3.90

Average (% Change) 9.05 5.51 7.14 6.49 5.84 5.47 8.42 3.09 4.01 3.95

ClosingAvg. 22.86 72.00 1,338.80 90.48 83.28 19.21 105.73 5.42 5.90 400.54

ClosingAvg. 16.63 11.29 15.00 41.00 84.82 102.83 24.08 107.82 73.70 77.33

Closing 22.90 74.20 1,342.70 91.50 85.00 19.30 106.30 5.50 5.90 401.00

Closing 16.60 11.50 15.00 41.00 84.80 102.80 24.40 108.50 73.70 77.30

DHIGH

DLOW

23.10 74.90 1,346.00 92.00 85.40 19.50 107.00 5.50 5.90 405.00

22.80 66.50 1,270.00 87.00 81.20 18.30 102.00 5.20 5.90 391.00

DHIGH

DLOW

16.70 11.70 15.00 41.00 88.10 103.00 24.70 114.00 74.50 77.40

16.60 11.10 15.00 41.00 84.50 101.90 23.00 105.00 73.10 73.60

Turnover in Million 0.064 6.454 7.105 0.193 2.321 4.815 7.353 0.199 0.012 0.298

Turnover in Million 0.009 0.059 0.000 0.000 0.009 0.021 0.031 0.590 0.106 0.004

Latest EPS 0.05 4.95 49.25 -2.16 1.04 1.87 9.69 -0.71 -0.44 2.08

Latest EPS -7.00 -0.84 -1.41 2.47 8.52 3.23 1.64 9.69 4.60 1.68

Latest PE 457.2 14.5 27.2 -ve 80.1 10.3 10.9 -ve -ve 192.6

Latest PE -ve -ve -ve 16.6 10.0 31.8 14.7 11.1 16.0 46.0

News, analysis and recent disclosures STANDBANKL: The Company has informed that it has purchased a land measuring 19 katha 15 chatak at Plot No. 06, Block No. SW(G), Gulshan Avenue, Dhaka-1212 from Apex Hotels Limited, registration executed on 29.12.2014 for Banks Corporate Office, at the cost of Tk. 10.50 crore only per katha totaling Tk. 209,34,37,500.00 only excluding registration cost, all Government duties and other related expenses.

HFL: Hamid Fabrics Ltd. has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company has taken the following decisions: The Board considered and approved disposal of 120 units old looms of Hamid Fabrics Limited Unit-1 for renovation of this unit by new weaving machinery under expansion of the Company as per IPO Prospectus. The Board also decided to sell aforesaid 120 Units old looms to Mr. Abdul Awal of M/S Shah-Zalal Shah Poran at Tk. 15,000,000 (Taka fifteen million only) subject to approval of the concerned authorities.

KEYACOSMET: Keya Cosmetics Ltd. has further informed that the 18th AGM of the Company will be held on 14 January 2015 at 10:00 am at Factory Premises of Keya Knit Composite Ltd., Jarun, Konabari, Gazipur. Other information of AGM as announced earlier.

IPO Subscription: 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 05 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 ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 26.02.2015, Record Date: 05.01.2015.

HFL: 10% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 30.12.2014, Record Date: 22.12.2014.

SONALIANSH: 10% cash AGM: 30.12.2014, Record Date: 21.12.2014.

MPETROLEUM: 95% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 16.01.2015, Record date: 04.12.2014.

JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.

KBPPWBIL: 10% stock, AGM: 29.12.2014, Record Date: 08.12.2014.

PRIMELIFE: 10% cash and 15% stock dividend, AGM: 24.12.2014, Record Date:

20.11.2014.

PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015, Record date: 22.12.2014.

EASTRNLUB: 30% cash, AGM: 17.01.2015, Record Date: 25.11.2014.

SAMORITA: 20% cash and 10% stock dividend, AGM: 07.01.2015, Record Date: 19.11.2014.

POWERGRID: 10% cash, AGM: 17.01.2015, Record Date: 25.11.2014.

SPCL: 25% cash and 5% stock dividend, AGM: 29.01.2015, Record Date: 27.11.2014.

ANWARGALV: 7.50% cash dividend to the general shareholders, AGM: 12.01.2015, Record Date: 13.11.2014.

METROSPIN: 5% stock dividend, AGM: 30.12.2014, Record Date: 17.11.2014.

FINEFOODS: No dividend, Date, 28.12.14.

Record Date: 24.11.2014.

SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 24.01.2015, Record Date: 23.12.2014.

FEKDIL: 5% cash and 15% stock, AGM: 29.11.2014, Record Date: 06.11.2014.

ZAHINTEX: 10% stock, AGM: 29.12.2014, Record Date: 05.11.2014.

STANCERAM: 10% cash dividend for the Public Shareholders only, AGM: 28.12.2014, `Record Date: 05.11.2014.

DESCO: 5% cash & 10% stock, AGM 03.01.2015 Record Date: 13.11.2014.

47.7 -ve 79.2 42.1 1462.5 -ve 10.5 14.3 4.9 8.1

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

Total

Closing (% Change)

Average (% Change) 8.96 6.73 5.38 4.00 2.54 5.15 3.73 1.31 3.51 3.58

Latest PE

As morning optimism faded away in the later part of the session, DSEX barely closed in green

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

DHIGH

Company

1,895.83

Turnover (Volume)

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

DSE GAINER

DSE key features December 29, 2014

The market breadth remained positive as out of 309 issues traded, 98 declined, 165 advanced and 46 remained unchanged at DSE. IDLC Investments said as morning optimism faded away in the later part of the session, DSEX barely closed in green.

Lanka Bangla Securities said since the market has reached to an oversold position, minute rally was observed during today’s trading hour. The market was under stress due to the political scenario, dragging down share prices that lured some buyers.

Though turnover remained low amid the day long nationwide hartal, attractive price of fuel, textile and financial stocks spurred interest among the buyers, it said.

Zenith Investments said since the market has reached to an oversold position, rally was observed. “With stocks looming near their lows, potential return is on the higher rise,” it said.

Lafarge Surma Cement was the most traded companies with shares worth over Tk9 crore changing hands, followed by DESCO, Mobil Jamuna Limited Bangladesh, Grameenphone, Beximco Pharmaceuticals and Brac Bank.

Prime Life Insurance was the biggest gainer with a rise of 8%. Other top gainers include Berger Painting of Bangladesh Limitd, Al-haj Textile, Prime Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited and Eastern Lubricants.

The worst losers were Dulamia Cotton, 7 th ICB Mutual Fund, ICB AMCL Second Mutual Fund, Popular Life Insurance, Shahjibazar Power Company and Daffodil Computer.

Tribune Report

Company

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

% change 13.33 6.36 2.33 8.57 3.27 17.09 0.06 7.42 15.50 0.47 4.68 0.76 0.93 6.45 2.77 1.18 1.92 3.48 0.94 2.48 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

LafargeS Cement-Z DESCO Ltd. -A MJL BD Ltd.-A Grameenphone-A Keya Cosmetics -A Beximco Pharma -A Brac Bank -A AFC AgroBiotech-A IDLC Finance -A SAIF Powertec-N

Square Pharma -A Agni Systems -A SummitAlliancePort.-A Titas Gas TDCLA AIMS First -A Alltex Industries -Z CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company LafargeS Cement-Z MJL BD Ltd.-A SAIF Powertec-N SummitAlliancePort.-A Hamid Fabrics -N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A WesternMarine -N The Peninsula CTG.-N G Next Fashions-A Aftab Auto.-A

Square Pharma -A Appollo Ispat CL -N Grameenphone-A Khan Brothers-N Central Pharm-A

VolumeShares 800,423 1,276,757 546,723 176,048 2,656,724 833,403 1,329,952 968,617 605,150 691,480

Value in Million 97.10 89.69 67.72 62.75 61.75 49.33 49.25 46.18 44.74 43.42

% of TotalTurnover 5.12 4.73 3.57 3.31 3.26 2.60 2.60 2.44 2.36 2.29

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

147,089 1,156,337 421,992 412,715 879,853 4,845,000

118,179 57,717 111,835 78,771 168,469 171,423 79,567 150,255 231,328 47,931

11,262 127,196 6,956 71,940 77,241

37.72 36.90 35.20 32.54 24.71 113.67

14.28 7.13 7.02 6.58 6.21 6.16 4.16 3.98 3.50 3.22

2.89 2.52 2.48 2.43 2.25

1.99 1.95 1.86 1.72 1.30 1.51

9.41 4.70 4.63 4.34 4.09 4.06 2.74 2.62 2.31 2.12

1.90 1.66 1.63 1.60 1.48

ClosingP 120.90 70.00 124.20 356.50 23.50 59.00 37.00 48.60 74.20 62.40

255.80 31.80 83.30 78.80 28.20 22.90 ClosingP

120.10 124.10 62.50 82.90 36.60 35.90 52.10 26.90 15.10 67.00

256.70 19.70 355.90 33.60 28.80

Change % -0.17 1.74 1.47 -0.36 1.29 0.00 0.27 1.46 1.37 2.63

-0.54 0.00 0.00 0.25 1.44 4.09

Change %

-0.83 1.39 3.14 -0.36 1.67 0.84 0.97 3.07 -0.66 -0.15

0.31 0.00 -0.39 2.13 0.70

ClosingY 121.10 68.80 122.40 357.80 23.20 59.00 36.90 47.90 73.20 60.80

257.20 31.80 83.30 78.60 27.80 22.00 ClosingY

121.10 122.40 60.60 83.20 36.00 35.60 51.60 26.10 15.20 67.10

255.90 19.70 357.30 32.90 28.60

DHIGH 122.30 71.00 124.60 357.90 23.70 60.00 37.30 49.00 74.40 64.30

258.90 32.70 84.70 80.00 28.30 24.20 DHIGH

122.00 124.40 64.40 84.50 37.50 36.90 52.80 27.00 15.30 67.40

257.60 20.10 359.70 34.40 29.30

DLOW 120.50 68.70 122.00 355.70 23.10 58.50 36.80 47.00 73.10 60.70

255.00 31.30 81.90 78.00 27.60 20.50 DLOW

119.00 122.30 60.10 82.00 36.30 35.50 51.90 26.00 15.00 67.00

255.60 19.60 354.20 33.40 28.30

AvgPrice 121.31 70.24 123.86 356.45 23.24 59.19 37.03 47.68 73.93 62.79

256.46 31.91 83.40 78.83 28.08 23.46 AvgPrice

120.86 123.58 62.80 83.60 36.85 35.96 52.27 26.48 15.12 67.15

256.64 19.80 356.30 33.73 29.08

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Asia follows Wall Street up, euro wobbles before Greek vote Reuters, Tokyo Asian stocks rose yesterday, following fresh gains on Wall Street, while the euro wallowed near 28-month lows versus the dollar on nervousness before a vote in the Greek parliament that could result in snap elections.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.1%.

Australian shares rose 1.6%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei bucked the trend and slid 1% as reports of a suspected Ebola case in Japan spooked a market which had thin trading before the year-end holidays. The index was still on track for about an 8% gain on the year.

In Malaysia, shares in AirAsia posted their biggest one-day drop in more than three years after one of its aircraft went missing on its way to Singapore from Indonesia. Spreadbetters expected a higher open for European bourses, forecasting Britain’s FTSE to rise by as much as 0.3% at the open, Germany’s DAX to gain 0.2% and France’s CAC to rise 0.6%.

The Dow and S&P 500 both closed at record highs on Friday after a broad rally.

On the 2015 outlook for risk assets, investors will concerned about whether the robustness of the US economy will be able to offset signs of slowdown in powerhouse China and the euro zone.

The euro inched up 0.2% to $1.2200, not far from its lowest since August 2012, at $1.2165, which was hit the previous week. Greece faces a vote in parliament later yesterday that will decide whether the country’s leading coalition can gather enough votes to elect a president.

If it fails, markets are concerned this may trigger a snap election that could bring the leftwing opposition Syriza party to power and derail an international bailout. Former European Commissioner Stavros Dimas, the candidate for the leading coalition, needs to garner 180 votes in parliament to become president.

If Dimas is elected, the euro could bounce on relief as Greece can continue negotiations with its creditors, said

A man walks past electronic boards showing the graph of the recent fluctuations of the Japan's Nikkei average (left) and the Japanese yen's exchange rate against the US dollar (top right) outside a brokerage in Tokyo REUTERS Masafumi Yamamoto, a market strategist at Praevidentia Strategy in Tokyo.

“On the other hand, the euro could fall towards $1.21 if the 180 votes are not secured, as the market will ponder the risk of the left-wing Syriza party, which is against fiscal reconstruction, taking power after a snap election next

year,” he said.

Even if the euro does draw relief from the Greek vote, it will still face longer-term downward pressure from prospects of further monetary easing by the European Central Bank next year.

The dollar stood firm at 120.200 yen, remaining in sight of a 7-1/2 year high of

121.86 hit earlier in the month, but lacking enough momentum to challenge that peak. This year, the greenback has risen roughly 15% against the yen.

US crude oil rebounded on renewed tensions in Libya. A fire caused by fighting at one of Libya’s main export terminals has destroyed more than two

days of the country’s oil production, officials said on Sunday, as clashes escalated between factions battling for control of the OPEC member nation.

US crude rose 1.3% to $55.44 a barrel after shedding 2% on Friday. US crude, which fell to a 5-1/2 year low this year, was on track to fall 43% in 2014.

AirAsia shares fall 7.8% after plane goes missing Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Prime Insurance elects new chairman Tribune Report Md. Zakiullah Shahid was elected as chairman of Prime Insurance Company Limited, says a press release yesterday.

He was elected at the company’s 258th board meeting held recently.

At present, he is the managing director of Electra International Limited and chairman of the Federal Securities & Investment Limited.

Shares in AirAsia fell 7.8% yesterday, their biggest one-day drop in more than three years after one of its aircraft went missing on its way to Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya.

Analysts said the Sunday incident involving AirAsia’s Indonesia unit may cause some travelers to be wary about flying with the AirAsia group, affecting its prospects to improve yields and bolster its profit in the year ahead.

“I was expecting yields to at least maintain on a year-on-year basis in 2015, but now I’m expecting them to decline by up to five percent,” said Daniel Wong, an analyst at Kuala Lumpurbased Hong Leong Investment Bank.

The research house downgraded AirAsia from a “buy” to a “trading sell” on Monday morning.

The Kuala Lumpur-traded shares of AirAsia had fallen 7.8% as of 0320 GMT, their biggest daily drop since Sept 22, 2011. The stock had dropped as much as 12.9% after the opening, compared

Passengers check in an AirAsia flight at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta REUTERS

with a 0.4% decline in Kuala Lumpur’s benchmark index.

Despite the decline, the stock has gained more than 20% since the beginning of the year, compared with the in-

B3

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

dex’s 5% fall. About 59.5 million AirAsia shares had been traded, making it the bourse’s most active stock. That was about 5.2 times the stock’s average full-day volume over the past 30 days.

The Bangkok-listed shares of Asia Aviation, the holding company for Thai AirAsia in which the AirAsia group holds a 45% stake, fell 3.6% yesterday.

Indonesia AirAsia is 49% owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia, with local investors holding the rest.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, has not had a crash since its Malaysian operations began in 2002.

Indonesia resumed its search for the missing jetliner QZ8501 at first light on Monday. Hafriz Hezry, an analyst with AmResearch, expected the stock to recover within a few days after the market’s initial reaction to news of the missing airplane.

AirAsia’s reputation at the group level may take a hit, affecting its yield recovery next year, he said, but the impact on AirAsia’s earnings would be minimal because its share of the Indonesia unit’s profit will not be included in its earnings until the unit has reversed unrecognized losses, which could take several quarters.

Oil prices climb on Libya supply worries Reuters, Singapore Oil prices rose yesterday, after dropping for the past two sessions, as escalating clashes in Libya stoked worries about supply from the OPEC member.

A fire caused by fighting at one of Libya’s main export terminals has destroyed 800,000 barrels of crude more than two days of the country’s output, officials said, amid clashes between factions battling for control of the nation.

“Libya, and all the other problems, warrants some kind of risk premium,” said Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer at Sydney’s Ayers Alliance. “Oil is at a level where people are happy to build in a risk premium,” he said.

Brent crude was up 49 cents at $59.94 by 0745 GMT after hitting $60.40 in earlier in the day. The benchmark settled down 79 cents in the previous session.

U.S. crude rose 59 cents to $55.32 after closing $1.11 down in thin trade on Friday. It rose to a peak of $55.74 in early trade on Monday.

Daniel Ang, an analyst with Singapore’s Phillip Futures, expects Brent to stay around $60 and U.S. crude to trade between $55 and $56 this week.

Oil prices also drew support from short covering by traders and plans by China and Japan to boost liquidity.

The People’s Bank of China plans to loosen loan-to-deposit ratios for banks from next year. China’s economy is expected to grow by 7% in 2015, slower than the forecast 7.3% in 2014, a government think-tank, the State Information Centre said on Monday.

Gold retains sharp gains Reuters, Singapore Gold was trading near its highest in nearly a week yesterday, retaining sharp short-covering gains from the previous session, but the metal could be susceptible to losses, given weak investor sentiment and a strong dollar.

Spot gold held firm at $1,195.50 an ounce as of 0324 GMT, after a gain of 1.8% on Friday, when it had touched $1,199, its highest since Dec 22 and its biggest one-day jump in 2-1/2 weeks. It had closed at $1,194.65 on Friday.

Bullion’s rise has come in thin market conditions due to the Christmas and year-end holidays and it was unclear whether the gains would be maintained when trading picked up again.

“There were stops triggered around $1,185 and then again around $1,190 which resulted in sharp spikes as participants covered short positions in the low-volume environment,” said MKS Group trader James Gardiner.

The $1,200 level is a resistance point, while $1,185 should provide some support, he said.

“It’s very hard to quantify whether the price action is something of fundamental importance or whether it is a function of liquidity during this time of year,” MKS said in a note last week.

Bearish sentiment in the bullion market was evident in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund. The fund’s holdings fell 0.08% to 712.30 tonnes on Friday, a six-year low.

CORPORATE NEWS

Bangladesh Development Bank Limited has recently opened its 31st branch at Kazirhat in Nilphamari. The bank’s chairperson, Md Yeasin Ali inaugurated the branch

Shahjalal Islami Bank has recently distributed blankets at Bangshal in Dhaka. The bank’s director and chairperson of Shahjalal Islami Bank Securities Ltd, Alhaj Mohiuddin Ahmed handed over the blankets

Ascott Hotels Dhaka has recently celebrated its soft opening of new outlet 'Raindrops BBQ Terrace' at Ascott Palace in Dhaka. The company’s managing director, Mosharraf Hossain was present on the occasion along with Madurapochana Ittarong, ambassador of the Royal Thai Embassy and Mahmoud Ezzat, ambassador of Egypt

Banglalink has recently partnered with Symphony to bring Android One 3G Smartphone to Bangladesh. Marketing director of Banglalink, Solaiman Alam and senior director of Symphony, Rezwanul Hoque briefed media in this regard

EXIM Bank Agricultural University, Bangladesh has recently held its 1st orientation programme at its university campus. The managing director of EXIM Bank, Dr Mohammed Haider Ali Miah attended the programme as chief guest along with the university’s vicechancellor, Dr Md Abdul Mannan Akanda

Bengal Windsor Thermoplastics Limited, a company of Bengal Group of Industries has recently held its 12th annual general meeting. The company’s chairperson, Morshed Alam presided over the meeting

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

German minimum wage rings in Happy New Year for millions AFP, Berlin As the New Year approaches, Berlin bakery worker Jessica Arendt is not just looking forward to the fireworks.

In 2015, she says, “I’ll be able to afford a few more things”.

A national minimum wage comes into effect in Germany on January 1, and that means an additional one euro ($1.30) an hour for the 23-year-old.

Mathias Moebius, a bakery chain owner, isn’t quite so happy. He says he will have to put up prices in response.

Chancellor Angela Merkel this year signed off on the country’s first national minimum wage, an idea she had long opposed. In the past, Merkel favoured separate pay deals by industrial sector and region, arguing that a national minimum wage would harm many small- and medium-sized businesses and could force them to lay off workers.

But her coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), were adamant that they would only enter into a power-sharing deal if Merkel and her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) agreed to the fixed basic wage to help Germany’s growing army of working poor.

So, after long and tortuous negotiations, the two sides finally agreed to start phasing in a minimum wage from January 1. Arendt will now receive 8.50 euros per hour before tax, one of around 3.7 million people the Federal Labour Agency predicts will see a fatter pay packet.

Higher prices

For Moebius, whose bakery chain numbers some 45 stores in the eastern German state of Saxony, more than 300 employees will be affected.

Moebius acknowledged that it would be good for his workforce in principle.

“It will bring the financial remuneration for working in a personnel-intensive sector like the food industry more into line with other sectors,” he told AFP. “It may even improve the image of

our industry.”

But for a family-run business like his, it would also mean a 10% rise in costs, which he would have to recoup elsewhere, he said.

Economists argue that if there are price rises in other sectors, if taxis and hairdressers also put up their prices, then Arendt and the millions of other low-wage earners will soon find themselves out of pocket as quickly as before.

In Berlin, Ahmet, a 58-year-old taxi driver who is paid per ride, not by the hour, also expressed concern.

“I’ll probably have to pay more taxes and welfare charges. So the effect on my pay will be negative rather than positive,” he said.

According to a poll of 6,300 businesses across all sectors by the Ifo economic think-tank, 26% of employers affected by the new minimum wage plan to raise their prices; 23% plan to curb

employee bonuses; and 22% to cut jobs.

Others plan to reduce investment or scale back employees’ working hours.

The effects will be felt more sharply in eastern Germany, where wages have never been able to catch up with those in the west, even a quarter of a century after unification, economists said.

But the minimum wage has many critics around the country, not just in the poorer east of Germany.

“The minimum wage jeopardises thousands of jobs in Bavaria, increases labour costs and weighs on both companies and taxpayers by creating additional bureaucracy,” complained Bertram Brossardt of the regional employers’ federation in the wealthy southern state.

Jobs in danger?

The DIHK federation of chambers of commerce calculates that 200,000 jobs

could face the chop nationwide.

But the labour agency’s president Frank-Juergen Weise was less alarmist.

“I don’t believe there will be massive job cuts,” he said recently.

In Saxony, Moebius said he had no immediate plans to slash jobs or shut stores. But, he warned, “I can’t rule that out in future,” adding that it will probably be unskilled workers who would find it more difficult to find new work.

Many economists agreed, even if the large majority acknowledge that it will take years before the real economic consequences on the minimum can be fully gauged.

Nevertheless, Yen, a 20-year-old who is currently paid 7 euros per hour for working on a food stall in a Berlin shopping mall, says it will bring her closer to her dream of one day travelling to Australia.

“I’ll continue to save hard,” she said.

The euro edged up in Asia yesterday as lawmakers in debt-laden Greece embark on a final bid to elect a new president and avoid a snap election that could undermine its international bailout.

In Tokyo, the single currency strengthened to $1.2188 and 146.61 yen, from $1.2179 and 146.59 yen in New York on Friday.

The definitive round of voting later Monday to choose a successor to President Karolos Papoulias comes during last-ditch efforts by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to get the government’s candidate elected and avert early polls.

If no president is chosen, a general election will automatically be triggered.

A man walks by the poster for the film ''The Interview'' outside the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Littleton, Colorado online film of all time.”

It was available for rent for $5.99 or $14.99 for purchase.

Meanwhile “The Interview” earned an estimated $1.8m in theaters over the weekend, adding to the $1m it raked in on its Christmas Day limited release, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Family fun fills cinemas While “The Interview” did not land a spot in the North American box office’s weekend top ten for ticket sales, Tolkien’s fantasy epic “The Hobbit” enjoyed a second week at the top.

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” directed by Oscar-winning heavyweight Peter Jackson, is the last of six films adapted from JRR Tolkien’s books and the third and final installment based on the author’s novel “The Hobbit.”

It took in $41.4m over the weekend, its second week in theaters, for a total of $168.5m since its release, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates.

In second place was “Unbroken,” directed by Angelina Jolie, which tells the story of US bombardier Louis Zamperini, who was taken captive during World War II. The film, which was snubbed at this month’s Golden Globe nominations, fetched $31.7m in its debut weekend.

Following closely behind was Disney’s “Into the Woods,” adapted from a Broadway musical, starring Meryl Streep as a

REUTERS

witch who puts a curse on a childless baker and his wife.

The film, a modern twist on several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, raked in $31m over the weekend.

In the number four spot was “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” the third movie in the Ben Stiller family-comedy franchise about a museum security guard trying to keep track of exhibits that come to life.

The flick earned $20.6m in its second week in theaters.

“Annie,” about the adventures of an orphan girl starring Quvenzhane Wallis in the title role and Jamie Foxx as the tycoon who takes her under his wing, sat in fifth place. In its second week out, the movie brought in $16.6m.

“Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1” raked in $10m, slipping into sixth place.

The sequel, one in the hugely popular series starring Jennifer Lawrence, has earned a whopping $306.7 million in its six weeks in theaters.

In seventh was newcomer “The Gambler,” staring Mark Wahlberg, which raked in $9.3m.

“The Imitation Game,” about a codecracking mathematician and logician during World War II, was in eighth with $7.9m.

Rounding out the top 10 were Ridley Scott’s biblical blockbuster “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” in ninth with $6.8m, and “Wild,” starring Reese Witherspoon, which earned $5.4m.

Japan’s financial regulator is running stress tests to see if too much cash in the system is stifling smaller banks’ ability to earn, unlike regulatory tests elsewhere that have been designed to see whether lenders had enough capital to cope with financial shocks.

Two people with direct knowledge of the process said the Financial Services Agency (FSA) had initiated the tests on concerns that with 10-year Japanese government bond yields near a record low around 0.3%, regional lenders in particular could be at risk as the gap between what they pay for deposits and what they collect on loans and bond holdings shrinks.

The FSA was not immediately available for comment.

The action highlights one of the unintended risks of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s programme to end decades of deflation with the support of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), which by injecting monetary stimulus into the economy is helping to keep interest rates at rock bottom.

Critics say policymakers in Europe should be considering such risks, too.

The European Central Bank completed a review of the resilience of euro zone banks in October and came under fire for not including a deflationary scenario in its stress test hypotheses, even though inflation and bond yields in much of the region are hovering barely above zero.

ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio defended the omission by arguing that a “deflation (scenario) is not there because indeed we don’t consider that deflation is going to happen”.

Loan demand shrinking

It was not immediately clear what scenario or assumptions the FSA was using in its assessment of the risk to regional and smaller banks, nor how the agency would follow up with lenders

that appeared to be at particular risk from a period of persistently low, longterm interest rates.

Japan’s more than 100 regional banks account for around 40% of the country’s $4.6tn in outstanding loans, but overall loan demand has shrunk 10% over the last 20 years.

Such banks, which typically serve smaller businesses, have seen lending fall as Japan’s population ages, and many have cut the interest rates they charge to win business.

For over a year, the FSA has been urging regional banks to consolidate or seek customers abroad.

Japan’s second-largest regional lender, Bank of Yokohama, said last month that it was considering a merger with Tokyo-based Higashi-Nippon Bank Ltd in a potential deal that analysts said could spur consolidation.

Regional banks’ lending rates have come under pressure from the BOJ’s programme of quantitative easing, which began in early 2013. Average lending rates from 64 regional banks have fallen over that period from about 1.5% to about 1.2%, according to BOJ data.

At the same time, average loan rates for the group of smaller institutions known as the secondary regional banks have fallen from about 1.7% to about 1.5%.

As a group, profits from core lending by the regional banks dropped 1.7% in the most recent quarter from the same period a year earlier and by 3.7% for the secondary regional banks, according to data from the BOJ. The FSA has had little response so far to its call for more consolidation among smaller banks, but more have followed calls by officials to seek opportunities offshore.

Earlier this month, 10 regional banks, including Joyo Bank Ltd, joined a syndicate of lenders providing a $375m loan to Bunge Ltd, a major trader of commodities based in the United States.

Euro edges up in Asia ahead of Greek presidential vote AFP, Tokyo

Controversial low-brow comedy “The Interview” scored more than $15m in online rentals and purchases, entertainment giant Sony said, following an embarrassing cyberattack and threats that led the company to pull the film from theaters.

The madcap R-rated comedy featuring Seth Rogen and James Franco revolves around the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Sony canceled the film’s release after many of the biggest US movie theater chains got cold feet following threats from hackers who also claimed a cyberattack on Sony Studios.

The White House has said the attack was orchestrated by North Korea, but Pyongyang has denied any involvement.

In the end the comedy, which received widespread publicity throughout the episode, played in some 330 independent movie houses that offered to show the film after Sony came under fire for the cancellation.

It was also made available beginning Wednesday across Google Play, YouTube Movies, Microsoft’s Xbox Video and on a dedicated website, seetheinterview.com Sony Sunday said the comedy was rented or purchased online more than two million times over four days through Saturday, for a total of more than $15m.

This, it said, made it the studio’s “#1

Japan’s regional banks face stress test for ultra-low rates Reuters, Tokyo

‘Interview’ rakes in more than $15m online

AFP, Los Angeles

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

European Union and International Monetary Fund officials fear an early poll would be won by the anti-austerity, radical leftist Syriza party and could undo many of Greece’s fiscal reforms.

But analysts said currency markets have largely factored in the success of a presidential vote, while upbeat US data has been supporting the dollar, which was slightly lower at 120.31 yen yeaterday, against 120.37 yen in US trade.

“There will be no change in the underlying trend of a stronger dollar,” said Shinji Kureda, head of FX trading group at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Expectations of a mid-2015 interest rate rise by the US Federal Reserve have been boosting the dollar on expectations that the Bank of Japan could go in

the opposite direction and further expand its already huge monetary easing programme.

The dollar was mostly firmer against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It rose to 12,465.00 Indonesian rupiah from 12,394.00 on Friday, to Sg$1.3223 from Sg$1.3221, to 32.93 Thai baht from 32.91 baht, and to 63.69 Indian rupees from 63.62 rupees.

It also advanced to Tw$31.85 from Tw$31.71 and to 44.77 Philippine pesos from 44.70 pesos.

The greenback weakened to 1,097.60 South Korean won from 1,099.23 won.

The Australian dollar bought 81.32 US cents against 81.24 cents, while the Chinese yuan was at 19.33 yen from 19.36 yen.

Bundesbank chief: Europe ‘not doing so badly’ AFP, Berlin Europe’s economy is not doing as badly as some people think, Germany’s central bank chief Jens Weidmann said Sunday as he gave an upbeat prediction for Germany, its biggest component.

On Germany’s outlook for 2015, he said: “As things are right now, and if oil prices stay this low, inflation will be lower than expected, but growth will also be better.”

The central bank, or Bundesbank, early this month cut its growth forecasts for Germany to 1.4% for this year and 1% for 2015. Weidmann said that “Europe is not doing as badly as some people believe,” speaking to the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

“The forecasts assume a recovery in the eurozone, albeit at a restrained pace.”

He reiterated his opposition to plans by the European Central Bank to purchase government bonds from eurozone countries to promote growth, saying that current cheap oil prices already amounted to a virtual stimulus programme.

“We have been handed a stimulus package for free, so why add to it with monetary policy?” he asked.

“It irritates me that in the public debate lately there has been just one question: When will you finally buy?” He added that the ECB should not be swayed by pressure from financial markets.

A protester holds a banner reading 'Foreign currency mortgages - SOS' during a rally against the banks and the growth of the dollar in central Moscow on December 28. With Russia's mortgage industry still in its formative phase, taking out a loan to buy a home is considered risky business. Even before the crisis, interest rates of 10 to 12 percent on foreign currency loans -- and 12 to 14 percent on ruble-denominated mortgages -- mean many Russians will wind up paying double to triple the principal borrowed on 15- to 20year loans. The group of foreign currency mortgage holders says Russia's financial crisis, exacerbated by falling oil prices and Western sanctions over Ukraine, has transformed their loans into 'financial slavery' AFP

DILBERT