12 Jan, 2015

Paush 29, 1421 Rabiul Awal 20, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 277

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

20 pages plus 8-page tabloid opinion poll special supplement | Price: Tk12

SPECIAL

7 | WORLD

11 | OP-ED

12 | SPORT

DT NATIONAL OPINION SURVEY DEC 2014

SRI LANKA TO PROBE RAJAPAKSA ‘COUP’ ATTEMPT

TO BE OR NOT TO BE CHARLIE

RUBEL GETS 3-MONTH BAIL

72% consider government successful n Tribune Report Dhaka Tribune’s national opinion poll on the government’s one-year OPINION performance rating has POLL revealed broad satisfaction among the general population.

Nearly 72% of the respondents rated the incumbent Awami League-led government, which came to power through the January 5 national election a year ago, as either very successful or just successful.

The current poll shows a marginal drop from the previous opinion poll six months ago, when 75.3% of the respondents said they were satisfied with the government.

Conversely, Awami League’s arch rival BNP, which went out of parliament for the first time in 23 years because of its election boycott, has been rated as unsuccessful by a significant majority of the respondents.

DT

More than 62% of the respondents said the BNP had failed to project itself as a better alternative than the Awami League.

From December 28 to 31, a total of 600 adults, comprising male and female from both urban and rural settings, were interviewed over telephone using a mostly structured questionnaire.

The Dhaka Tribune poll six months ago showed that fewer people, that is around 52%, were unhappy with the BNP. After a year in office, education has been the government’s biggest success and also the people’s number one priority, according to the latest Dhaka Tribune opinion poll.

Similarly, the number two concern for the people was infrastructure development and they also gave the government high marks in this sector.

Six months ago, 43.4% interviewees

Support for fresh election inches back up

DT NATIONAL OPINION POLL 2015 OVERALL PERFORMANCE OF BNP ALLIANCE

OVERALL PERFORMANCE OF THE GOVERNMENT IN LAST ONE YEAR

72 24 %

62%

%

DO YOU WANT CURRENT GOVERNMENT TO COMPLETE ITS FULL TERM?

47% 49% YES

35%

OF THEM WANT ELECTION TO BE HELD SOON

5%

WANT ELECTION WITHIN THE YEAR

Say ‘UNSUCCESSFUL’

WHICH PARTY WOULD YOU VOTE FOR IF THE ELECTION WERE HELD TODAY?

WHOM DO YOU WANT TO SEE AS THE NEXT PM OF BANGLADESH?

WHO IS MORE FIT AS A NEXT GENERATION LEADER?

48.6 22.2 21.8

24.5 52.4 18.7

No decision taken yet

AL

33.7 BNP

JP

5.3

Jamaat

1

6.6 Others

%

%

%

9.9

SHEIKH HASINA

KHALEDA ZIA

NONE OF THEM

%

%

%

TARIQUE RAHMAN

SAJEEB WAZED JOY

NEITHER

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Most people dissatisfied Voters prefer Awami League over BNP with BNP’s performance n Tribune Report

n

Tribune Report

The BNP has failed to project itself as an alternative to its arch rival OPINION Awami League over the POLL last one year since the January 5 parliamentary elections.

According to a Dhaka Tribune opinion poll, a clear majority of 62.2% rated the overall performance of the BNP-led alliance as either very unsuccessful or unsuccessful.

The BNP’s performance rating suffered compared to what it was in another Dhaka Tribune opinion poll six months ago; in that poll, 51.8% re-

DT

spondents said they were either just dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied with the BNP’s performance.

The latest poll, conducted during December 28-31 on a total of 600 randomly selected adult mobile phone users of the country, set several parameters on the basis of which to measure how the BNP had performed.

When asked whether the BNP has been successful in “highlighting better future outline for the people,” 70% respondents replied in the negative.

A similar percentage of the respondents said the BNP has failed to present itself “as a better alternative of the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

If there is an election right now, 41% people will have voted for OPINION the Awami League and POLL 34% for the BNP, a Dhaka-Tribune opinion poll has revealed.

This marks only a 7% gap between the arch rivals compared to the much wider gaps that exist in the Hasina-Khaleda and Joy-Tarique comparisons.

Interestingly, among the respondents belonging to the 18-24 age group, the BNP is more popular than the Awami League. When asked who they would vote for if there was an election right now, 48% of them said BNP and 34% Awami League.

DT

In another Dhaka Tribune opinion poll conducted right after the January 5 election last year, the two parties were literally neck and neck in terms of popularity – Awami League 35.6% and the BNP 34.8%.

In another poll conducted right before the election in December 2013, the BNP with 36.8% preference slightly outnumbered the Awami League’s 35.9%.

In the latest opinion poll conducted in the last week of December last year, over 11% said parties and alliances other than those led by the Awami and BNP would win if there was an election right now; 7% said they did not know or could not say; and 1.6% refused to answer.

The opinion poll, in which 600 randomly selected adults from both sexes were interviewed over telephone,

shows that 48.6% of the respondents want to see Awami League President and current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the helm of the of the government in future.

BNP Chairperson and former threetimes prime minister Khaleda Zia is less than half as popular; only 22.2% respondents said they vision her as the next premier of the country.

While former military ruler and JaPa chief HM Ershad was chosen by 7.5%, nearly 22% said they would prefer to see someone other than these three as the prime minister of the country in future.

PM’s son Joy, who advises his mother on information and communication technology affairs, was chosen by 52.4% of the respondents when asked  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Blockade firebomb victim dies Govt struggles to keep transport links open

n Mohammad Jamil Khan The first fatality at a Dhaka hospital resulting from an arson attack during the BNP blockade this year has left one Magura family in the throes of grief.

“Poverty has deprived me of many things in life, but I always dreamed of marrying my sons off when they grew up, and now that too has been taken away from me,” said a grief-stricken Nurjahan Begum yesterday in front of the morgue at Dhaka Medical College.

She asked: “I know it is a great sin to be born poor, but is it a sin to dream as well?

“Do the poor not have a right to have dreams for their children?”

Nurjahan’s son, bus helper Murad Mollah, died yesterday while being treated at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

She said: “I was sitting beside Murad. In the morning he stopped talking to me and looked directly at me.

“I drew closer to him but after a moment, his eyes stopped moving.”

His mother realised then that he had gone.

Dr Partha Shankar Pal, resident surgeon at the institute, told the Dhaka Tribune that Murad succumbed to his injuries around 8:25am while being treated for burns affecting 32% of his body.

n

Nurjahan Begum, mother of the ill-fated bus helper Murad who succumbed to his injuries after being severely burnt in an arson attack in Jessore, bursts into tears RAJIB DHAR Murad died because the flames had damaged his pulmonary system, Dr Partha said.

“Generally, if a burn patient’s breathing apparatus is affected, survival is difficult,” he said.

Murad was burned when miscreants set fire to a parked bus that he

was sleeping inside around 3:30am last Wednesday at the Jessore Khajura bus stand.

He was first admitted to the 250-bed Jessore General Hospital before being transferred to the DMCH. A case was filed with Jessore  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Shohel Mamun

The government is struggling to ensure road and railway connectivity as the BNP-led 20-party alliance blockade has, with a combination of sabotage and intimidation, laid waste to long distance travel networks across the country.

Bus owners, saying their buses are facing attacks by blockade enforcers on the highways, are finding it difficult to operate their vehicles.

Bangladesh Railway timetables are unravelling because of sabotage to railway tracks and derailments.

The people, meanwhile, faced immense difficulty as the political deadlock ground transportation networks in the country to a virtual halt.

Home Ministry officials said they had told law enforcement agencies to beef up security on the highways.

State Minister of Home Affairs Asduzzaman Khan Kamal held several meetings with long haul bus service operators to restore regular services on long distance routes but sources said he did not get positive feedback from them.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan and State Minister for Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD)

Sheikh Hasina, who has held her office for 11 years in three terms, has now become the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the country.

3 | News

Amid speculations over whether the DMP ban on public gatherings would force the Awami League to call off today’s Suhrawardy Udyan rally, the state minister for home has said the restrictions would not be there on Monday.

6 | Nation

Allegations of rampant corruption have surfaced against the food supplier of Rajapur Health Complex in Jhalakati.

5 | News

The sixth consecutive day of indefinite blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance was relatively calm throughout the country yesterday, with a few sporadic incidents of vandalism and arson.

15 | Entertainment

Familiar and ordinary moments receive extraordinary treatment in Jamal Ahmed’s art.

His solo exhibition titled “Ordinary Life: Extra Ordinary Vision” at Dhaka’s Athena Gallery of Fine Arts was inaugurated on January 9.

See special supplement for the full survey report

Hartal to coincide with AL rally n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Yesterday, a small number of long haul  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

‘To protect trains and tracks, we have assigned 8,000 Ansar and VDP personnel to secure risky points’ The Railway Ministry yesterday called an emergency meeting with high officials of the Home Ministry, LGRD Ministry, Finance Ministry and law enforcement agencies.

It identified thousands of risky points along the country’s 2,877 kilometres of railway track which they have decided to secure with the deployment of police, Ansar and VDP.

Road connectivity

4 | News

The Power Division has finalised its decision to make those seeking new electricity connections deposit a certain amount of money to a government fund for every new residential connections above two kilowatts of consumption.

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

On the day Awami League is scheduled to hold a rally to mark Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day, the BNP-led 20-party alliance has called a hartal for today in the capital’s adjacent districts, while the party’s student wing Chhatra Dal has also called hartal for 14 districts including Dhaka.

However, the Dhaka city would remain out of the hartal purview.

Although there were uncertainties on whether the ruling party would be able to stage its rally amid DMP’s indefinite restriction against any public gathering, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said the bar would be lifted today.

If the Awami League decides to go ahead with its plan to stage its scheduled rally, it might run into some troubles in mobilising its activists as the 20-party alliance’s countrywide rail, road and waterways blockade also continues along with today’s hartal.

BNP sources said directives have been sent to district leaders to disconnect Dhaka from the rest of country.

Party insiders added that although the blockade was unofficially relaxed yesterday because of the Biswa Ijtema, a fresh hartal has been called in the Dhaka-adjacent districts to disrupt

Moshiur Rahman Ranga, both transport union leaders, also tried to persuade bus owners, even threatening to padlock bus counters if they refused to operate long haul services.

The Railway Ministry has assigned 8,000 Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) personnel to secure railway tracks across Bangladesh.

INSIDE 2 | News

Immediately after the parliamentary election in January last year, a Dhaka Tribune opinion POLL poll found that an overwhelming majority of 77% respondents wanted fresh election as soon as possible.

Six months later in July, another opinion poll found that fully 53% of respondents wanted elections only after the current government’s term was finished, with only 25% wanting fresh election as soon as possible.

However, as the country’s political arena heats up again, the preference has started swinging the other way.

A latest poll, conducted by interviewing 600 randomly selected adult mobile phone users in the country from December 28 to 31, shows that now 49% people want to see an election before the Awami League completes its tenure against 47% who wish to see the government see out its term.

Thirty five percent of them want the election as soon as possible, 5% within a year and 9% within two to three years.

However, in the list of the most important issues facing Bangladesh right now, fresh elections came only fifth, behind education, infrastructure, law and order and economic development.

Only 8.7% respondents say the government should prioritise holding a fair parliamentary election right now.

In the opinion poll conducted after the January election last year, only 16% thought the then new Awami Leagueled government should complete its tenure.

In the latest poll, when asked who

DT OPINION

NO

SUCCESSFUL UNSUCCESSFUL

41.3

n Tribune Report

SLH/DT INFOGRAPHIC

Education, infrastructure top people’s shopping list

B1 | Business

Default loans gripped the scam-hit BASIC bank as clients were allowed to take loans beyond the single borrower exposure limit to ultimately turn defaulters. Of the default loans, Tk3,500 has already become bad debt.

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Monday, January 12, 2015

Explosives hidden in books found at HC n Tribune Report Three bombs, concealed in books, were found at two courtrooms of the High Court yesterday.

Upon information, the bomb disposal unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) rushed to spot and neutralised the explosives.

The first explosive was found around 2pm at courtroom 9 of Justice Zinat Ara and Justice Md Habibul Gani at the annex building.

Within three hours, two more bombs were found at the courtroom of Justice Nizamul Haque and Justice Nurul Huda around 5:30pm.

The incident took place amid an indefinite countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Earlier, houses of two HC judges and the law minister were attacked by miscreants.

Rahmat Ullah Chowdhury, assistant commissioner of the DMP’s bomb disposal unit, said all the three objects found at the HC premises were bombs.

“We found a different type of explosive inside the books. We are assuming that these explosives are stronger than crude bombs. We will send them to the

Heist at Rupali Bank: Tk1.22 crore recovered n Our Correspondent, Faridpur Police yesterday recovered Tk1.22 crore of Tk1.57 crore, which was earlier found stolen from the vault of Rupali Bank’s Faridpur branch, from the residence of the bank’s peon in Shibrampur village.

Peon Abul Kalam was arrested.

Police conducted a special drive at the peon’s house around 6:30pm yesterday and found the money inside a polythene bag hidden in a drum.

Police Super Jamil Hassan and Kotwali OC Mohsinul Haque led the drive.

Earlier in the day, the bank officials had found the bank vault unlocked with Tk1.57 crore missing.

Police had detained five persons, including the cashier and a security guard, in this connection.

Bank Manager Khan Md Shahidul Islam said they had found the vault locker unlocked upon entering the office in the morning. l

explosives department to see how strong they are and the possible damage that could be caused by them,” he added.

Abdul Hasib Khan, bench officer of courtroom 9 told reporters that he found a book titled “Minor Acts” abandoned on one of the benches of the courtroom.

“When I going through the pages, I saw it was hollowed inside where the bomb was kept wrapped in red tape. I immediately informed the register of the Supreme Court and called for the DMP’s bomb disposal unit.”

Later Advocate Masud Hossain Dolon saw another book abandoned on a bench of courtroom number 17 of the annex building. He found not one but two explosives also wrapped in red tape inside the book.

Register of the Supreme Court SM Kuddus Zaman told the Dhaka Tribune that they had filed a case with the Shahbagh police station and the investigation was under way.

Asked how the explosives got past the security given there was archway at every entrance of the building, Kuddus Zaman said: “I think some archways are not functional. We will have a look into the matter and strengthen our security.” l

The bomb disposal unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police neutralises a bomb after recovering it from a book where it was concealed. Three such bombs, hidden in a similar fashion, were found in two courtrooms of the High Court yesterday spreading panic among lawyers and visitors FOCUS BANGLA

Hasina, the longest-serving premier of Bangladesh n Muhammad Zahidul Islam Sheikh Hasina, who has held her office for 11 years in three terms, has now become the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the country.

She has served the country for 4,047 days as a prime minister in her three terms – first in the seventh parliament and two consecutive terms in the ninth and tenth parliaments.

BNP Chairperson Khalada Zia, also three-times prime minister, served the country a total of 3,682 days as the prime minister of the country.

But Badiul Alam Majumder, general secretary of Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan) viewed it from a different viewpoint: “As no new leadership is emerging it has had no impact on the politics of the country. It can merely be recorded as a figure.”

“It sounds pretty good that one of

our leaders has held the chair of prime minister for more than four thousand days but at the same time it also exposes our political bankruptcy that the nation has failed to produce any new leaders,” he observed.

Sheikh Hasina was first took the office of prime minister with a majority in the seventh parliament on June 23, 1996 and she continued until July 15, 2011.

She also became the premier of the country in the ninth parliament on January 6, 2009 and has held the office as of now.

Officials of the ruling party noted that Hasina had already crossed 2,200 days as prime minister without interruption in the ninth and tenth parliaments.

“We have achieved a lot in her three tenures and it could be declared as the golden time of Bangladesh,” Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, information advisor

to Sheikh Hasina said yesterday.

Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, also a senior journalist in the country claimed, Hasina established good governance in the country and also brought recognition from international arena.

In India Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi served their country as prime minister for 6,130 days and 5,829 days respectively.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman held his office as a prime minister for 1,109 days but at the same time he also served as the president of the country twice.

Shah Azizur Rahman was name-only prime minister who held the office of prime minister for 1,074 days but he served under the presidential form of government headed by Ziaur Rahman.

Ataur Rahman Khan too served as a prime minister under the presidential rule of Hussain Muhammad Ershad. l

ACC to question Sonali Bank foreign exchange GM n Adil Sakhawat

Attack on BNP leaders’ houses in Dhaka n Tribune Report

The Anti-Corruption Commission has summoned the general manager of the state-owned Sonali Bank’s foreign exchange division, ATM Mizanur Rahman, for questioning regarding his wealth.

ACC Assistant Director Masudur Rahman sent a notice to Mizan’s office yesterday, which asked him to appear before the commission on January 18, an ACC official confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune.

The ACC approved the inquiry at a meeting on December 31 after it found proof during the primary investigation into the allegation that Mizan accumulating wealth through illegal means.

According to the complaint, Mizan earned a large amount of money by accepting bribes in exchange for approving loans worth Tk7,000-8,000 crore in total during his tenure as deputy GM in the foreign remittance management division from February 2011 to December 2014. l

The residences of two BNP leaders in the capital were under attack late last night, the sixth day of the ongoing nationwide blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Miscreants shot two rounds of rubber bullets at the residence of BNP leader Moin Khan in Gulshan 2 area around 11:15pm. Another group of miscreants hurled four crude bombs at the residence of BNP leader Khandakar Mahbub Hossain in Chamelibagh area around 11:15pm.

No arrests were made and no injuries or casualties were reported in connection with these two incidents when this report was filed.

Yesterday was comparatively peaceful despite the BNP and alliance’s continued blockade throughout the country, except for a few disconnected incidents of vandalism. l

Govt struggles to keep transport links open

Blockade firebomb victim dies

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

buses left Gabtoli Bus Terminal overcrowded with passengers.

But the more luxurious coaches, which industry sources said cost between Tk70 lakh and Tk1cr each, did not leave the terminal out of fear of pickets’ attacks.

Passengers faced serious disruptions to their travel plans. Some camped out at the terminal to wait it out while others returned home.

Ripon Saha, a passenger, said: “We were informed that some long haul bus services would be operated, but after getting to the terminal, I saw that they probably would not run. So I have decided to return home.”

Dhaka Bus-Truck Owners’ Association President Faruk Talukder Sohel, who owns Shohag Paribahan, told the Dhaka Tribune: “It is not possible to run buses on the highways because of blockade enforcers’ attacks.”

“On Sunday, three of my buses were attacked by the pickets in Rangpur, Comilla and Chittagong,” he said.

Sohel said: “The government pres-

Voters prefer Awami League over BNP  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

who is the best fit for the next generation leader of Bangladesh.

Khaleda’s son Tarique, who has been living in exile in London for seven years and is accused in several corruption and criminal cases in the country, was chosen by only 24.5% of the respondent.

The higher is the age of the respondent, the less popular Tarique came out; 33.2% of the respondents belonging to the 18-24 years age group preferred him; 20% from the 25-34 group, 22.1% from the 35-50 group and only 13.5% from the 50-plus group thought Tarique could be good future leader.

Interestingly again, nearly a fifth of the respondents think neither of them are fit to lead the country in future. Around 4.4% refused to give an answer. l

sured us to keep long haul buses running and offered to compensate us for losses and to provide security for our buses.

“But thousands of kilometres of highway are not possible to secure and experience shows that if we lose Tk70 lakh, the government will compensate us no more than Tk7 lakh.”

Rail connectivity

Bangladesh Railway is facing a collapse of its schedule, with virtually every train failing to leave or arrive on time.

Railway authorities said of the 62 trains that daily depart from Kamalapur Railway Station, none left the station on time.

At Kamalapur Railway Station, the capital’s main station, throngs of people were seen yesterday around noon waiting on the platform, some for hours on end.

Passengers on every train that arrived at Kamalapur station were packed like sardines.

Believing the railway to be the safest bet amid the blockade violence, passengers swarmed the already-over-

crowded trains, even clambering onto the rooftops.

“Most trains are running off schedule. Trains reaching and leaving the station are overcrowded,” Nripen Chandra Saha, the station master, said.

During the last few days, sabotage on the tracks disrupted Dhaka-Chittagong, Chittagong-Sylhet and Rajshahi-Joypurhat services.

“To protect trains and railway tracks from sabotage and to ensure the safety of the passengers, we have assigned 8,000 Ansar and VDP personnel to secure risky points along the tracks all over the country. A patrolling and piloting system has been started as well,” Railway Minister Md Mujibul Haque said yesterday.

He said: “We have taken legal action against the culprits responsible for the derailment.

“I have been informed by police that BNP-Jamaat activists were involved in sabotaging the railway tracks. We are trying to avoid a schedule collapse.”

He said the ministry would ensure that the railway’s 334 daily services would be operated whatever the cost. l

Hartal to coincide with AL rally  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

the Awami League’s rally preparations.

However, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the party, said: “As a democratic party, the BNP’s district units and Chhatra Dal called the hartal.

Who is holding rally is not our concern.”

The Awami League is scheduled to hold a rally in the city today to mark the 43rd anniversary of the Homecoming Day of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Instructions for a new hartal was reportedly sent to district and Chhatra Dal leaders on Saturday night.

A press release, signed by the Dhaka district BNP president and general secretary, said the day-long hartal would be staged in the district’s five upazilas: Dohar, Nawabganj, Dhamrai, Keraniganj and Savar.

The hartal was called in protest of party chief Khaleda Zia’s confinement at her Gulshan office and to also protest the countrywide killing and arrest of party activists. The Dhaka district BNP called the hartal in favour of the

20-party Dhaka district unit, the release also read.

Separately, local units of the 20-party alliance in Manikganj, Narayanganj, Bogra and Gazipur also called day-long hartals for today on the same issue.

Chhatra Dal’s hartal

Chhatra Dal, student wing of the BNP, has also called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Dhaka district and its adjacent 13 other districts for Monday protesting the confinement of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia and demanding release of the detained top leaders of the party.

When contacted, Abdus Sattar Patwary, Chhatra Dal’s office secretary, told the Dhaka Tribune that the hartal will begin at 6am and end at 5:30pm on Monday. He also added that the Dhaka metropolitan area would remain out of the purview of the shutdown.

The announcement of hartal came through a press release where the Chhatra Dal president and general secretary asked the party leaders and ac-

Kotwali police station accusing BNP Standing Committee member Tariqul Islam, Jessore district Jamaat chief Prof Abdur Rashid, district BNP Secretary Sayed Saberul Haque and other BNP, Jamaat and Chhatra Dal leaders.

OC Enamul Haque said the case, earlier filed as an arson case, will now be turned into a murder case.

After autopsy, Dhaka Medical College handed over Murad’s body to his family.

Sohar Mollah was seen silently arranging an ambulance to take his son’s remains home.

When approached, the bereaved father broke down in tears, saying: “My son is no more, my son is no more.”

Samad Mollah, Murad’s elder brother, said his father had worked as a rickshaw puller but recently stopped working. “My brother Murad and I were the only earners in our family. We just started to set up our house,” he said.

Murad is the first blockade victim in the burn unit to have died this year.

During the political violence in the last three months of 2013 that swept

tivists to make the hartal successful.

The hartal enforced districts are: Narsingdi, Narayanganj district and metropolitan, Gazipur, Tangail, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Jamalpur and Netrokona.

Trucks reappear

The drama surrounding security measures around Khaleda’s Gulshan office continued yesterday, as seven trucks appeared in the morning on the office-adjacent roads, only to be removed again later in the afternoon.

The trucks – carrying sand, cement and wood – were parked at the site around 12:35pm, but were driven off the site later in the day. The main gate of the office, however, stayed unlocked throughout; although police permission was needed to enter the office – where Khaleda has been virtually confined since January 3.

Vehicle movement around road 86 of Gulshan, where Khaleda’s office is located, was regulated by the police;

through the country, 30 people died and over 200 were treated for burn injuries at the DMCH’s burn institute. l

72% consider  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

said infrastructure development was the government’s biggest success; this time around, 24.1% people said the government’s performance in the education sector has been the most satisfactory.

In the August poll, respondents said the government should give more attention to controlling the law and order situation. This time though, the highest 23.7% of the respondents said education should be the government’s top priority.

Nearly a fourth of the respondents of this poll have opined that the government has no major failures. Interestingly, only about one out of every five respondents thought the same way six months ago.

Neither the war crimes trial nor the Digital Bangladesh agenda is seen as either a major success or a major issue to the respondents of the present poll. l

local residents were allowed to cross the street – where check posts were set up yesterday.

Riot police units were deployed along with the regular police force and they formed a human barrier on both sides of the main entrance of the office.

Amid the tightened security, BNP Standing Committee Members Mahbubur Rahman, Jamiruddin Sircar, Rafiqul Islam Miah and some other leaders went to visit Khaleda at her office today, the first time any standing committee leader was allowed to enter the Gulshan office since Khaleda’s “confined” state began on January 3.

After meeting with the party chief, Rafiqul came outside to tell journalists said the “peaceful” blockade would go on until the party’s demands were met.

Snubbing out recent media reports on Khaleda’s conversation with India’s Bharatiya Janata Party president, he also claimed that the “confined” Khaleda had indeed spoke with BJP President Amit Shah. l

Most people dissatisfied with BNP’s performance  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

current government.”

Nearly 61% respondents said the BNP has been either unsuccessful or very unsuccessful “in questioning the legitimacy of the government.”

Over 61% said the BNP has failed to highlight “the problems of common people.”

Overall, 50.2% of the respondents said the BNP was unsuccessful over the last one year and 12% said very unsuccessful.

Nevertheless, in terms of popular vote, BNP trailed Awami League by only 34% to 41%, and among the 18-24 demographic, significantly out-polled the Awami League by 48% to 34%. l

Support for fresh election inches back up  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

they will vote for if there is an election right now, 41.3% said they will vote for the Awami League, 33.7% BNP, 5.3% Jatiya Party and only 1% Jamaat.

Interestingly, the percentage of people who thinks Awami League will win is higher than that of those who will vote for them; around 46.5% said the party will win although nearly 74% of the respondents said the party has been successful in running the country over the last one year.

Similarly, while 33.6% people think the BNP will win the election; more than 71% respondents said the BNP has failed to present itself as an alternative to the current government.

Some 11.3% people think that other parties outside the Awami League and BNP-led alliances will win if there is an election right now. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Monday, January 12, 2015

DMP undecided, but Asaduzzaman says rally restrictions to go n Abu Hayat Mahmud Amid speculations over whether the DMP ban on public gatherings would force the Awami League to call off today’s Suhrawardy Udyan rally, the state minister for home has said the restrictions would not be there on Monday.

“The DMP’s restrictions against public gatherings in the city would be lifted tomorrow [Monday] morning,” State Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

But when asked about securing police permission for the rally, Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif told the Dhaka Tribune at 7pm: “We have not received permission as of yet. But we will hold the meeting if the DMP permits... We respect the law. So without police permission, we will not hold any activity.”

However, later in the evening, DMP Deputy Commissioner (media) Saidur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that the police were yet to decide on whether to lift the restrictions, and it was still undecided whether the Awami League would be granted permission for the rally.

An official announcement on this regard would be made in the morning, he added.

Even if the restrictions are lifted, the ruling party would still have to face an-

Rubel granted bail n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu National cricketer Rubel Hossain was freed from the Dhaka Central Jail yesterday afternoon hours after he was granted bail from a Dhaka court in a case filed on charges of raping film actress Naznin Akter Happy.

“He walked out of the Dhaka central jail around 4:45pm,” said Rubel’s counsel barrister Moniruzzman Asad.

Earlier, acting Judge KM Imrul Kayes of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court granted bail for Rubel on a surety bond of Tk50,000 after hearing on a petition filed by his counsel.

The court in its order mentioned that “Rubel is nominated player of world cup cricket tournament, so the court granted bail for him until police report in the case for the sake of national interest, country’s image and overall consideration”.

Barrister Muniruzzaman Asad appeared for Rubel while Tuhin Hawlader, the counsel for complainant actress Happy, opposed the bail petition.

Earlier Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Anwar Sadat sent Rubel Hossain to jail rejecting his bail petition on his surrender before the court in the case on January 8.

On January 4, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced a 15-member team including Rubel Hossain for the next ICC World Cup scheduled to begin in Australia and New Zealand from February 14.

Cricketer Rubel has been at the centre of controversy since actress Happy filed the case on December 13 under the Prevention of Women and Child Repression Act accusing Rubel of luring her into an extramarital affair with false promises of marriage.

Rubel was first picked for the national team in late 2008 following his good performance in the Cricket Academy and he made his international debut in January 2009.

The 25-year-old pacer from Bagerhat played 22 Tests, 53 ODIs and 11 T20Is in his cricket career. l

Goyeshwar, Alal denied bail, remanded n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday remanded BNP Standing Committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy after rejecting his bail petition in a case filed over the December 24 Bakshibazar clash.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order when police produced him before the court with a 10-day remand prayer. The court however asked police to interrogate the leader at jail gate within 10 working days.

Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shariar Mahmud Adnan denied Jubo Dal President Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal bail yesterday and remanded him in a case filed with Shahbagh police station. Like Goyeshwar, the court directed police to quiz Alal at jail gate within 10 working days.l

other set of challenges, as the BNP-led 20-party alliance and Chhatra Dal have called hartals in Dhaka-adjacent districts to run parallel with the ongoing blockade.

The Awami League is scheduled to hold a rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan to mark the 43rd anniversary of the Homecoming Day of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Party insiders said the Awami League leadership was preparing to show off their strengths by gathering thousands of people in the city for the scheduled rally.

Earlier, the Awami League rescheduled the rally from its original January 10 date in order to reduce any hassle to the Biswa Ijtema.

Meanwhile, the Awami League leadership has directed the party lawmakers and local unit chiefs from around Dhaka to stay alert ahead of Monday’s programme. The directive came from a joint meeting of the party, chaired by General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, held at Sheikh Hasina’s political office at Dhanmondi on Saturday.

Moreover, the Awami League president’s Dhanmondi office yesterday also sent a press release in which Syed Ashraf asked leaders and activists of the party and all its associate bodies to join the Suhrawardy Udyan rally to make it a success. l

People stare from a safe distance as a bus burns In Mirpur’s Pallabi neighbourhood after being set ablaze by miscreants. Arson attacks have become commonplace during the BNP-led 20-party alliance’s ongoing countrywide blockade DHAKA TRIBUNE

Pangs and pains of two arson victims ETV chairman placed on n Mohammad Jamil Khan

“I don’t know what I will do. Doctors even did not say anything. Please ask them and let me know. My children are crying at home,” wailing Sharifa Akther, pleaded.

Sharifa, wife of an auto-rickshaw driver who sustained burn injury during the on-going opposition-sponsored blockade, wanted to know when her husband’s ordeal would come to an end as she had to go back home.

Siddiqur, 45, husband of Sharifa, is now undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) with 17% burn injury.

As his respiratory system was affected he was shifted to ICU two days back at DMCH last Tuesday.

Sharifa, was talking to this correspondent in front of the ICU gate.

She said she had a three-year-old boy and two daughters – one aged 10 and the other 04 – back at home in Mymensing.

“I rushed to Dhaka as my husband suffered burn injury,” she said.

On January 5, around 5pm, Siddiqur

came under attack, while he was going back home with his auto-rickshaw under Kotowali police station of Mymensing.

Dr Partha Shankar Pal, residential surgeon of the DMCH Burn Unit, said he could not say something for sure as anything could happen.

Meantime, private car driver Abul Kalam, 28, who received 33% burn injury from a petrol bomb attack on Friday night, was shifted to the ICU from High Deficiency Unit as his condition deteriorated.

His mother Safia Begum, was sitting beside his bed. “Please pray for my son,” she murmured.

Dr Partha Shankar Pal, said Kalam was shifted to ICU as his respiratory system too was affected from the burn attack. “We are trying our best and hopeful that he would recover soon.”

Kalam was sleeping inside a private car after parking it in front of Agora Shopping Centre at Moghbazar area on Friday night.

Around 11.30pm, unidentified miscreants threw petrol bombs into the car and a fire broke out in no time leaving Kalam badly injured.

Another victim, a truck driver PR Ahmed, 55, took admission to DMCH

with 15% burn injury yesterday.

The victim was going to Garura of Bailla area of Comilla after loading his truck with sand from Haziganj area.

PR Ahmed further said while he reached at Poranpur area of Laksham Police Station, some pickets threw petrol bombs at him around 11pm on Saturday and before he came out of the vehicle it went up in flame burning his face and two arms badly.

Meanwhile, Md Selim, 35, a laguna driver received 34% burn injury while he was going to Motjheel from Mugad area.

Selim, said when he reached Sardar Garments of Kamlapur Bazar Road around 7pm, two persons stopped him saying they would take a ride.

As I stopped they first damaged the window of the laguna and then set it on fire with petrol. Before he came down his hands, face, back and legs suffered burn injury.

According to burn institute register book, a total of 15 people have taken treatment after they received burn injury in attacks during the countrywide on-going blockade over the last six days.

Of them, one died yesterday while the seven others are undergoing treatment. l

five-day remand n Md Sanaul Islam Tip A Dhaka court yesterday placed Ekushey Television (ETV) Chairman Abdus Salam on a five-day remand in a sedition case for airing “fabricated and instigating” speech of Tarique Rahman.

Metropolitan Magistrate Wais Kuruni Khan Chowdhury passed the order after ABM Moshiur Rahman, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Tajgaon Police Station and also the investigation officer, produced Salam before the court.

The investigation officer prayed for a seven-day remand but the court granted five days.

In the remand prayer the IO said, the accused needed to be quizzed as to why he aired the speech of Tarique Rahman and who others are involved in the “conspiracy against the sovereignty of the state”.

Salam’s counsel Mosleh Uddin Jasim in a petition denied his client’s involvement in any conspiracy stated in the remand prayer.

The government filed the case against Salam in a bid to stifle the free-

dom of the media, he said.

On January 8 Assistant Sub-Inspector Borhan Uddin filed a case with Tejgaon police station against BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, Salam and others unnamed accused for broadcasting Tarique’s speech on Ekushey Television on January 5.

According to the case statement Tarique Rahman in his speech asked his party members not to return home until the present Awami League government quit power.

While addressing a discussion on the “Democracy Killing Day” in East London, Tarique said: “The aim of our movement is to oust the Hasina-led government, restoration of democracy, and election under an impartial election-time administration.”

Tarique, from London, has recently made various derogatory remarks on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and history of Bangladesh.

Earlier detectives on January 6 detained ETV Chairman Abdus Salam when he went down to the ground floor of ETV office in connection with the case filed under pornography act. l

Road crashes kill seven including three policewomen in Dhaka

Zubair murder case accused dismissed from JU job

n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Jahangirnagar University (JU) authorities have fired one of its employees on charge of being accused in the sensational Zubair Ahmed murder case.

An order yesterday, signed by JU Registrar Abu Bakr Siddique, reads: “The university authorities have discharged Md Mahmudul Hasan Masud from his post on Thursday as his name appeared in the charge sheet of the Zubair Ahmed murder case.” Masud had been working as computer operator in the transport department.

Seven people, including three policewomen and a schoolboy, were killed in separate road accidents in the capital yesterday.

In Fakirapool, two female police officers were killed and 27 others injured when a truck rammed into a bus around 5:45am.

The two were Mamuni Khatun, 22, who hailed from Dinajpur, and Aklima Begum, 23, whose hometown was in Kishoreganj. Both were constables of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Syed Mamun Mostofa, DMP assistant police commissioner, told the Dhaka Tribune the bus was transporting 29 policewomen to the police control room.

“Aklima died on the scene, while doctors declared Mamuni dead after she was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Of the injured, nine were admitted to the DMCH and others to Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital,” he added.

Yesmin, one of the injured, said the bus overturned after the truck hit it from behind.

Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Secretary of the Home Ministry Mozammel Haque Khan visited the injured at the hospitals.

Bodies of the two police officers were sent to their hometowns for burial after their namaz-e-janaza was held at Rajarbagh central mosque.

In a separate accident, three people, including a female police officer, died when a truck hit a CNG-run autorickshaw at Najirabazar in Keraniganj around 2:45pm.

The policewoman was identified as Selina Akther alias Shoily, 25. The other two, a man and a woman, could not be identified.

Habibur Rahman, police super of Dhaka,

The brother of a policewoman who died yesterday in a road accident in the capital’s Fakirapool area breaks down in tears while talking over the phone in front of the DMC morgue DHAKA TRIBUNE said Shoily was going to Keraniganj police station to have lunch when the accident took place.

“The three were critically injured and were taken to Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital but doctors declared them dead,” he said.

In both incidents, the truckers fled the scenes but the trucks were seized.

Housewife, schoolboy killed

A housewife named Munni Akhter received serious injuries when a bus hit her at Sayedabad around 7:30am. The 22-year-old was taken to the DMCH where doctors declared her dead, said Mozammel Haque, inspector

of the DMCH police outpost.

Shariful Islam, husband of the victim, said they were going to Sayedabad to board a bus for Pirojpur when the accident happened.

Besides, a 13-year-old boy named Pavel Ahmed died after a train hit him in Khilgaon around 5:45pm.

He was the son of Liton Ahmed, a transport worker, and a seventh-grader at Kuril Ideal Public School. His village home was in Lakshmipur.

Liton said Pavel was returning home in Bhatara after attending the Akheri Munajat when the accident took place. The DMCH police outpost inspector confirmed Pavel’s death. l

n JU Correspondent

When contacted, transport official Md Emdadul Haque confirmed of receiving the order.

Sources said Masud was a history department student of JU, who got the job in 2013.

Zubair, honours final year student of English department and former JU unit Bangladesh Chhatra League activist, was stabbed to death on January 9 in 2012 allegedly by Chhatra League rivals. Following the incident, 13 students and Chhatra League activists, including Masud, were expelled as the probe committee found their involvement. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Monday, January 12, 2015

New power connections to come with new rules Mandatory solar panel requirement to be scrapped n Aminur Rahman Rasel The Power Division has finalised its decision to make those seeking new electricity connections deposit a certain amount of money to a government fund for every new residential connections above two kilowatts of consumption.

The move is likely to be implemented after scrapping an existing rule for mandatory solar panel installations for new connections, while the deposited money would go to a special fund to develop renewable energy projects at off-grid areas.

State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid finalised the decision in a meeting with Power Division officials at the secretariat yesterday.

“Consumers will have to deposit Tk2,000 for each kilowatt [that accounts for 3% of total consumption] above 2kW on new connections,” Nasrul told the Dhaka Tribune.

Previously those who consumed more than 2kW, had to install solar panel to generate 3% of their own electricity. But from now on, the consumers would not need to install solar panels

but pay the extra money for the 3% power generation, said a Power Division official.

“If someone wants to get a 100kW electricity load, he will have to pay Tk6,000. According to 3%, he had to produce 3kW, which would cost that money,” he said.

The money has to be deposited to the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (Sreda), which will use the fund to implement renewable energy-based projects for the deprived people living in the offgrid areas.

Since its formation in December 2012, Sreda has reportedly made little progress, despite its ambitious plans for producing 800MW of electricity sustainably by 2015.

The existing solar panel rule made it mandatory for consumers to install permanent rooftop panels at their holdings for getting new connections. In current market prices, the minimum cost of setting up such a panel is Tk50,000.

The Power Division will issue a new order for taking applications for new electricity connections against pay-

ment of extra amount.

A Power Division official, seeking anonymity, said instead of installing electricity generating permanent panels, many consumers set up rented panels on rooftops without laying the distribution lines. These window dressing panels, rented for small durations, are used to convince a section of government employees that the panels had actually been installed.

The Power Cell under the Power Division recently recommended the ministry to collect the money that the consumers were supposed to spend on installing solar panels as a precondition for getting new connections.

On January 21, 2014, the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) urged Nasrul Hamid – who was also a former president of REHAB – to scrap the solar panel installation requirement.

REHAB leaders claimed that the regulation had complicated things for their businesses because none of the owners were interested in bearing the financial burden of setting up solar panels. l

49TH DU CONVOCATION

Four members of a family stabbed in the capital n Tribune Report

n DU Correspondent

Unidentified criminals yesterday stabbed four persons of a family at South Goran area under Khilgaon police station in the capital yesterday morning.

The injured were named as Mizanur Rahman, 50, a medicine retailer, his wife, Bilkis Begum, 40, and their sons, Rafikul Islam Biplob, 16, and Billal Hossain, 12. Of them, the condition of Bilkis is said to be deteriotating.

“Some four to five persons, unknown to us, stormed into my brother’s house around 6am and started stabbing him, his wife and their two sons with machetes, leaving them injured,” Nasima Akhter, sister of Mizan, told the Dhaka Tribune.

She also said they had not yet informed police of this.

Rafikul is a secondary school certificate examination candidate from Ali Ahammad High School while Billal is a student of class VII at Kadamtali High School. l

Women will receive more degrees than men Women will receive more graduation and post graduation certificates than men in the 49th convocation of Dhaka University on Tuesday. The convocation will begin at 12 noon.

Dhaka University Vice Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique said this at a press conference held at the VIP lounge in front of his office yesterday.

A total of 6104 students would be given graduation and post graduation certificates. Of them, 2,737 are men and 3367 women, he said, reading out a written statement.

Of them, 3160 students would receive honours certificates, 565 masters, 1625 MBBS, 319 BDS, 186 nursing and physiotherapy and 109 homeopathy and ayurvedic, he said.

He added some 42 students would receive PhD certificates, 20 MPhil and 49 MD-MS while 29 other students would get their graduation and post

JU Day today n JU Correspondent Jahangirnagar University (JU) will celebrate its 44th founding anniversary of the university.

The authorities have chalked out a variety of programmes in collaboration with the teachers and students of the university.

JU Vice-Chancellor Professor Farzana Islam will kick off the celebration at the Business Studies Faculty premises at 10am.

The day-long programme include a grand rally with participation of the former and current teachers and students of the university followed by discussions, cultural events and a reception accorded to the university’s first batch.

The authorities have urged all former and current teachers and students to join the programme and make it a success.

Transportation to and from the campus would be provided throughout the day, according to a press release. l

graduation certificates with gold medals.

Francis Gurry, director general, World Intellectual Property Organisation, will deliver his speech as the convocation speaker at the convocation, with President Abdul Hamid, also the chancellor of the university, in the chair.

“Farncis will be honoured with the Doctor of Laws during the programme for his outstanding contribution in reaching out technology to people in the developing and underdeveloped countries,” Vice Chancellor Arefin said.

Cabinet members, members of parliament and diplomats, among others, will attend the convocation.

BNP-Jamaat panel of the university teachers have meanwhile vowed to boycott the convocation in protests of political unrest across the country and corruption in the university administration. l

Girl murdered after rape n Ashif Islam Shaon

A 10-year-old girl was raped and killed by unidentified miscreants in the capital’s Bhatara area yesterday.

Police recovered the body of Mim Akhter Sheuli lying abandoned on a plot in Bashundhara residential area in the evening. Later, her family members identified the body.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.

Bhatara police station’s Sub-Inspector Julfikar Ali said locals spotted the body at Block D on Road 6 and informed them. “Miscreants might have strangulated Sheuli to death after raping and dumped the body. There are injury marks around her neck. Besides, a piece of cloth was also stuffed in her mouth,” he said.

Khadiza Akhter, elder sister of the victim, said Sheuli was a class V student at Kuril Government Primary School.

“Our mother has been maintaining our family by working at a garment factory since my father died in our childhood,” she said.

Sheuli had been at home because she had a holiday. After returning from school around 2:30pm, Khadiza found their house locked. Later, she collected the key from one of her neighbour’s who said Sheuli had left the key with them.

“I thought Sheuli was playing with her mates nearby. But she did not return until 4pm. Her mobile phone was also switched off. Mother came back home and we started searching for her.

In the meantime, some locals informed us that a girl’s body was found at a plot,” she said.

The process of filing a case was underway at the time of writing this report.

The SI said: “We suspect someone known to the victim lured her as the area is always abuzz with dwellers and security guards.” l

Dr Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, addressing the concluding session of the conference on climate change arranged by Gobeshona at Independent University yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Braving the risk of fatal accidents, young Ijtema goers try to find a place to travel to their destinations by jumping between two running trains MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Govt served legal notice to release Latif n Tribune Report The government has been served with a legal notice seeking the release of Abdul Latif Siddique within seven days on the grounds that there is no legal basis of the cases filed against him.

The notice, served by Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua on behalf of Latif’s wife Laila Siddique, also warned the authorities yesterday of legal actions if he was not set free within the deadline.

Explaining why the cases against

Exam held amid majority candidates’ absence at CU

n CU Correspondent While most students of a Chittagong University (CU) department could not attend their examination due to the ongoing countrywide blockade, the authorities concerned yesterday held the scheduled examination as usual.

The first-year students of communication and journalism department expressed grievances for holding the exam despite most of their absence. Sources said only 14 out of 82 students sat for yesterday’s examination.

CU Examination Controller Professor Dr Mohiuddin said departments arrange their own examinations, but it would not be justified if less than one-third students fail to take an exam. “Now the department is responsible in this regard,” he said.

Md Jakaria Khan, chairman of the examination committee, said: “We do not know why the students were absent as we had whole arrangements.”

However, they would not face any complexities to be promoted to second year as per as the university law, he continued. On January 8, only 31 of 113 second year examinees of the Islamic history and culture department attended an examination. l

Latif were illegal, the notice stated that nobody shall be sued without permission from the home ministry for any act of offense committed outside the country.

The notice was sent to law secretary, home secretary, inspector general of police, inspector general of police (prison), superintendent of Dhaka Central Jail, its deputy jailer, Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner and Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate.

Latif’s wife Laila alleged that all

thirty cases had been filed against her husband for a single offence, which runs contrary to the Code of Criminal Procedure in the country.

Earlier on September 28, Latif spoke at a function, allegedly demeaning hajj, Tablighi Jamaat and defaming the prime minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, in New York.

He returned home on September 23 and surrendered before Dhanmondi police on Sept 25 in connection with the cases. He is now in Dhaka Central Jail. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Monday, January 12, 2015

Children are busy picking up tomatoes from the road, left, after a tomato-laden truck was torched by miscreants at Hujurpur area while it was coming to Dhaka from Chapainawabganj during the blockade yesterday. Many tomatoes were also burnt by the fire causing serious loss to the farmers and businessmen Leaves have started to sprout from onions as the Indian truck carrying them remains stranded at Sonamasjid land port due to the BNP-led 20-party alliance blockade. Loading and unloading of goods at this important port have been badly affected as the transport AZAHAR UDDIN sector continues to suffer due to the arson and vandalising of vehicles

6th day of blockade relatively calm Jessore arson victim Murad dies at Dhaka Medical College Hospital n Tribune Report The sixth consecutive day of indefinite blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance was relatively calm throughout the country yesterday, with a few sporadic incidents of vandalism and arson.

In Dhaka, miscreants set a passenger bus on fire around 4pm at Sheorapara in Mirpur. Md Farhaduzzaman of the fire service said no injuries or casualties were reported.

A school boy was injured when a crude bomb went off on Saturday around 9:45pm at the Chairmanbari Square in Kamrangirchar. The injured, Abdul Khalek, 15, was rescued by his father Billal Hossain and sent to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).

In Jessore, arson victim Murad, who sustained burn injuries on Wednesday, died yesterday.

He was severely burned when mis-

creants set fire to a parked bus he was asleep in around 3:30am at Jessore Khajura bus stand. Murad was first taken to the 250-bed Jessore General Hospital, but later was transferred to the DMCH. Our Comilla correspondent reported that police filed three cases against 220 leaders of BNP-Jamaat for vandalism and arson attack on loaded trucks and attack on police in Chauddagram upazila.

Sub-Inspectors Nuruzzaman and Ibrahim and Assistant Sub-Inspector Delwar Hossain of Chauddagram police station filed the cases.

In Chittagong, vandalism, arson attack and crude bomb blasts in the city marked the sixth day of the blockade.

Pickets vandalised two autorickshaws and a pick-up van and blasted several crude bombs in city’s New Market area, while a threewheeler was torched in Chandgaon area in the evening, said police and fire

www.dhakatribune.com

WEATHER DRY WEATHER LIKELY

MONDAY, JANUARY 12 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:30PM SUN RISES 6:44AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 26 27 25 26 26 27 28 26

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

14 16 11 10 9 13 13 16

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

26.8ºC Teknaf

8.5ºC Tangail

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:23am 6:42am 12:07am 3:53pm 5:30pm 6:50pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

A schoolboy was injured when a crude bomb went off at the Chairmanbari Square in Kamrangirchar Panic griped the locals following the attack, but no one was injured in this attack, the OC said.

Earlier, miscreants set a parked three-wheeler human haulier of fire near Chandgaon residential area around 4:30pm.

Assistant Director Md Iyahia of Fire Service and Civil Defence in Agrabad said fire fighters rushed to spot after receiving information and doused the fire in half an hour.

Inter-district buses and trucks carrying goods were escorted by police on the highways, police sources said.

Our Habiganj correspondent reported that local BNP activists got engaged in a clash with police as the BNP activists tried to bring out a procession.

Police shot rubber bullets at them to disperse the procession, which injured at least 10 people including five BNP leaders. The BNP activists vandalised two vehicles during the conflict.

Police arrested one person named Jewel Miah, 10, in this regard, said Assistant Police Superintendent Sazzad Ibne Rayhan.

At least three activists of Jatiayatabadi Chhatra Dal’s Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) unit were injured as police reportedly shot rub-

n Our Correspondent, Barisal ber bullets to foil a train track blockade near the campus by Chhatra Dal activists yesterday morning.

Chanting slogans against the government and in support of the ongoing countrywide blockade, some 25-30 Chhatra Dal activists tried to put up a barricade on the Mymensingh-Dhaka train track at Kewatkhali area near one of the university’s entrances around 7:30am, witnesses said.

On information, patrol police rushed to the spot and chased the Chhatra Dal activists away. They also shot several rounds of rubber bullets to bring the situation under control, which injured the three activists including Chhatra Dal’s BAU unit General Secretary Jasim Uddin Jony.

Fazlul Karim, OC at Kotwali police station, confirmed that police had foiled Chhatra League’s plan to block the train communication, but he did not comment on the firing of rubber bullets. l

Blockade puts Rajshahi poultry traders at stake n Nazim Mrihda, Rajshahi

visit our website @

service sources.

AKM Mohiuddin Selim, OC at Kotwali police station said unidentified miscreants in a sudden attack vandalised the vehicles and set off several crude bombs around 6:30pm at Riaz Uddin Bazar in New Market, before fleeing the scene.

Hundreds of poultry farmers who are mostly involved in egg production have plunged into a hardship due to shortage of feed supply caused by the countrywide blockade.

Poultry farmers said shrinking of poultry industry in Rajshahi had started long ago as poultry farmers had not been getting reasonable price of broiler chickens and eggs. Sometimes, they were compelled to sell eggs at lower price which was below of production cost.

Now, the political unrest and continuous blockade have added misery of them.

The poultry industry of Rajshahi

city area has a great contribution to fulfill the demand of eggs and boiler chickens in the northern districts of the county, according to the Rajshahi Poultry Industry Association.

Sources at the association said there were about 4,000 broiler chicken farms in Rajshahi one and a half years ago, but now the number has declined to around 2,000.

Traders said they were now facing two types of problems. One is they could not sell eggs and another is they could not manage necessary feeds and medicines for chickens.

Rezaul Karim, a poultry farmer in the city, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had a firm from where he got 400 to 500 eggs each day.

“I could not sell eggs in last five days and about 15,000 eggs have remained unsold at my poutry firm”, he said.

“If I could not sell the eggs produced at the firm how I will manage feeds and medicine for the chickens.” he asked.

The farm eggs can be stored 15 days.

Many farmers already have stored eggs for about six to eight days. And if the situation would not be normal within five to six days farmers would loss a large sum of money, added Atik Khan, another farmer of city’s Buthpara area.

Atik who has a firm with 3,000 layer chickens said he was unable to arrange preservation facalities for eggs.

“We could not transport eggs to nearby districts because of the blockade.

Buses from Barisal start running

“Now we sell 100 pieces of eggs at Tk 500 to Tk 550 to wholesalers while the traders sell the same at Tk600 to Tk650,” he added.

On the other hand, the food crisis for the firms has worsen the situation as most the feeds is come from Dhaka, Sirajganj and Bogra.

But the traders could not bring feeds for the blockade.

The prices of the feeds have also increased, said poultry feeds trader Abdur Rahman.

Rajshahi Poultry Association General Secretary Enamul Haque said it was an urgent need to resolve the situation.

Otherwise, the losses of farmers will be more terrible which might collapse the poultry industry. l

Bus owners in Barisal have finally taken decision to operate buses on longroute during the countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Moreover, the sixth day of the blockade passed off with stray incidents in and around Barisal city.

Two policemen were injured in an attack on police vehicle by blockade supporters in Rahamatpur area under Babuganj upazila on the Dhaka-Barisal Highway in the early hours of the day.

Sudipta Sarkar, assistant superintendent of police, Barisal Sadar circle, said he along with constable Sontu and driver Mohsin were on a patrol duty.

When they were patrolling the Barisal-Dhaka Highway near Barisal airport, blockade supporters put up barricade on the highway burning tyres and hurled brick chips at them. Two policemen were injured in the attack.

Lodging a case in this connection, police have arrested two pickets from the area.

Meanwhile, police dispersed a group of Jamaat-Shibir men in Kashipur and Kawnia areas of the city when they tried to take out a procession, said Kazi Mahbub, officer-in-charge of Kawnia police station.

Apart from the two incidents, the sixth-day of the nationwide indefinite blockade called by BNP-led 20-party alliance, was observed loosely and peacefully in city without hampering daily life.

Road and water transport on long routes have started functioning with less numbers of transports as well as passengers.

However, disruption of long route road transportation continued like previous days. On the day, people were seen waiting for long time for transport. Passengers were compelled to use different modes of transport to go to their destinations. l

Seven illegal billboards removed in Ctg Seven fraud matchmakers n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) and Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) yesterday removed seven more billboards and 75 signboards put up illegally in different areas from Probortok to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

It was a six-hour drive where CCC and CMP officials were present, said CMP Panchlaish circle’s Assistant Commissioner Dipok Jyoti Khisha.

He said legal actions would be taken against owners of the illegal billboards and signboards.

On Saturday, six billboards and 51 signboards were removed as part of the second phase of the drive to remove illegally installed billboards, which started on January 1.

The drive to remove such billboards and signboards was initiated by CMP Commissioner Abdul Jalil Mandal as most of the billboard owners did not remove theirs despite an ultimatum.

The decision to issue the ultimatum was taken at a meeting attended by officials of the CMP, CCC and the Out-

door Billboard Owners Association.

CCC Chief Revenue Officer Ahmadul Haque said a total of 422 billboards out of around 6,000 in the port city were illegally installed but CCC sources claimed the number would be higher.

The first phase of the drive was initiated on November 16 last year but was halted allegedly by local Awami League leaders after 31 billboards were removed.

The CMP commissioner at a press briefing on December 16 refused to talk about the allegation, saying that removing billboards was not his task.

The drive resumed on January 1 under the CMP Ordinance, and 27 billboards and 126 signboards had been removed since then.

The CMP commissioner said the drive would continue until all the billboards put up illegally were removed.

But the largest such billboard, measuring about 4,000 square feet, in the port city was installed at GEC intersection and is still there.

The billboard, owned by several local Awami League and Jubo League leaders, including Awami Jubo League Chittagong city unit Convener Mohi-

uddin Bacchu, General Secretary of Omar Gani MES College Chhatra Sangsad Arshadul Alam Bacchu and Jubo League leader Sanat Barua, was put up after taking permission from the CCC for three separate billboards, said CCC sources.

It was removed when the last caretaker government was in power but was again put up when the Awami League took over after the elections, sources said.

The CCC gets Tk2.40 lakh every year from billboard owners but the owners allegedly make around Tk50 lakh annually by putting up the billboards for rent, sources added.

CCC Revenue Officer Shamsul Haque said the highest limit of a billboard’s dimension was 800 square feet and those installed on footpaths were entirely illegal.

The CMP commissioner also said: “We will remove all big billboards put up in violation of the rules one by one after removing the small ones.”

CCC sources said many Awami League leaders are involved in billboard business in the city. l

arrested in the capital n Tribune Report The police have arrested seven peoplewho used to defraud men by posing as matchmakers and presenting the unknowing victims with photos of attractive women claiming to be living abroad.

The Detective Branch of police made the arrests from the capital’s Niketan area on Saturday, while some of the suspects managed to flee after sensing the police raid, said Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Describing the modus operandi of the fake matchmaking gang, Masudur said the detainees used to rent a house and set up a fake matchmaking agency office from where they advertised about arranging marriages with attractive women – all of them fabricated identities – who were immigrants in the US, the UK or Australia.

For the past five or six years, the gang leader Md Mahfuz, also the prime accused in the case filed in this regard, had been carrying out the business of

swindling men who were interested in getting married, said the DMP deputy commissioner.

Once the unsuspecting men contacted the matchmaking agency, the gang of frauds grabbed large amounts of money in the name of marriage registration. The con men also produced fake passports and fake photos of women to lure the men into their trap.

DB officials said that in order to gain the trust of their targets, the matchmakers also arranged meetings with the “prospective brides” by hiring women to pose as the persons advertised in newspapers. Once the trap was set, they even organised the wedding in order to pocket the money and gold jewellery offered by the groom.

However, as soon as the money changed hands, the frauds went into hiding and later opened a new matchmaking agency office at a different location, DMP official Masudur said.

The detainees confessed to their crimes during primary interrogation, Masudur added. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Monday, January 12, 2015

Rampant corruption in food supply

Huge anomalies in job generation scheme

Patients Rajbari health complex complain that they were given poor quality food Meanwhile, Dulal filed a case with said they were never given any lentil was bought instead of the needed n Our Correspondent, Jhalakati tients n Our Correspondent, Lakkhipur the Jhalakati court demanding to in1kg 95 gm. eggs.

Allegations of rampant corruption have surfaced against the food supplier of Rajapur Health Complex in Jhalakati.

Mohd Shajal Mridha, a sub-contractor and a local BNP activist, has been accused of not providing quality food to the patients admitted at the health complex.

Many patients complained that they were not given food according to the list and even the food provided is of poor quality. Moreover, the child patients are also given adult food instead of baby foods.

A recent visit to the health complex had found that the patients were given two small bananas and two coarse bread for breakfast.

Though two eggs were listed, pa-

The same food is provided to the child patients instead of milk and khichuri which are supposed to be fed three times a day.

According to the list of food for lunch and dinner on Friday, 318 gm of chicken, 50 gm lentil and various types of vegetables are supposed to be provided to each of the 39 patients who are currently admitted.

However, it was seen that pangas fish was bought instead of chicken.

But even if fish is fed as a substitute of chicken, the amount should be of 437.38 gm per head. As per this estimation, a total of 17 kg of fish is needed.

But only 4kg fish was bought for 39 patients.

In the same way, only 400 gm of

Hatem Mridha, 95. Aynali, 70 and Rony, 22 – all admitted at the health complex – alleged that they were not getting food as per their need and the list provided during the admission.

Though they are supposed to get food right from the day of admission, patients usually get it the day after.

However, the contractors make their bills counting the day of admission.

Yasmin Begum, mother of a child patient, said: “My child was given two hard breads and two bananas in the morning. You tell me, can any sixmonth old eat this food?”

Sources said, the main contractor of supplying food to the health complex is Dulal Talukdar of Nalchhoti area and the sub-contractor is Shajal Mridha.

crease the government budget allocation.

Because of the case, new food supply tenders could not be floated forcing the authority and the patients to be under the grip of Dulal and Shajal.

When contacted Shajal Mridha said: “The prices of food have shot up recently and we are still providing food as per the previous contract. We are already counting huge loss. That is why it is not always possible to provide food as per the list.”

TH Mahbubur Rahman, an official of the health complex, said there was no separate menu for the child patients.

“That is why they are given adult food.

I myself look after the food supply and there is no irregularities,” he claimed. l

Union Parishad-level public representatives and ruling party leaders have allegedly been misappropriating Tk1.3 lakh per day from 40-day income-generating programme in Lakkhipur’s Raipur upazila.

The government allocated Tk1.05 crore for 40 projects in 10 unions of the upazila.

A total of 1317 vulnerable people are supposed to be employed under the projects, each earning Tk200 per day.

However, more than half of them have been falsely employed.

According to a finding by our correspondent, a chairman has 10 people and the members have 35 and the ruling party men 20 falsely employed on average under four job schemes per union.

Two killed in road accident n Our Correspondent, Habiganj

Police finally take case four days after killing of AL leader n Our Correspondent, Jhenaidah A case was filed with Kaliganj police station in Jhenaidah against 49 people in connection with the murder of Awami League leader Ananda Mohon Gosh on Saturday night, four days after the murder.

Topon Kumar Ghosh, brother of the deceased, filed the case with the police station around 10pm.

Topon told the Dhaka Tribune that he had gone to the police station on Saturday night to file a case, but officerin-charge of the police station refused to file the case. Later, he agreed to file the case under the pressure of higher authorities.

He said they he had made accused 49 people who were loyal to AL lawmaker Anwarul Azim Anar as the attack of Ananda and other AL leaders took place after Anar entered the conference hall.

People loyal to Anar attacked on supporters of former AL lawmaker Abdul Mannan and his supporters, including Kola union Awami League President Ananda Mohon Ghosh, Panel Chairman Rezaul Islam, former Kaliganj upazila AL unit secretary Israil Hossain and Juba league activist Jaman Hossain on Wednesday afternoon.

Ananda was hacked to death and 14 others were injured as rival faction attacked a meeting of the upazila Awami League in Kaliganj.

Party sources said when an extended meeting of the upazila unit Awami League was going on at Kaliganj municipality auditorium with former MP Abdul Mannan in the chair, a group of Jubo League activists led by Jahangir Hossain Sohel and Ashraf Ali attacked the meeting.

During the attack, they hacked former secretary of upazila unit Awami League Israil Hossain, Municipality Panel Mayor Rezaul Islam and President of Kola union unit of the ruling party Ananda Mohon Gosh indiscriminately.

They also vandalised 15 motor bikes, 200 chairs and a jeep during the attack.

The injured were taken to Jessore Sadar Hospital where Ananda succumbed to his injury around 8:30pm.

Brother of the deceased sought intervention of Prime Minister in the case and bringing accused of the case to the book. l

Seeking anonymity, a source said the project implementation officer also receives commission over this misappropriation.

Raipur Upazila Chairman Master Altaf Hossain Howlader said he was aware of this and added that he would inform the local MP about this.

Project Implementation Officer Golam Sorowar said he had not received any such allegation.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sharmin Alam said she would take actions if she received any specific complaint regarding this.

MP for Lakkhipur 2 Mohammad Noman said necessary actions would be taken if anybody was involved in the projects.

He also said: “I am looking into who are behind the misappropriation. l

Though dry season has not begun yet, farmers have to face water shortage for irrigation in Barendra area in Rajshahi. The picture shows a farmer irrigates saplings yesterday with deep tube well in Kakonhat upazila Azahar Uddin

Maize cultivation widens in North n Tribune Desk

Cultivation of maize continues in full swing in the northern region where a target of producing over 13.49 lakh tonne of the cereal crop has been fixed from over 1.90 lakh hectares land for this Rabi season.

The enthusiastic framers have so far brought around sixty-five percent of the targeted land under maize farming

as sowing of the seed still continues and the farming target might exceed during this season.

According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sources, the farmers have put maximum emphasis in large- scale farming of maize after getting repeated bumper production and lucrative price in recent years.

The char people have been show-

Blockaders vandalise an electricity pillar carrying truck yesterday on Habiganj-shaestaganj Road in Sadar upazila defying police protection during opposition’s countrywide blockade programme DHAKA TRIBUNE

NEWS IN BRIEF Youth jailed for harassing college girl

42 BNP men sued for violence

A young man in Muksudpur upazila was sentenced to jail for six months for sexually harassing a college girl on Saturday night.

Ratan Halder, son of Tarapad Halder of Baniarchar village, was jailed by mobile court judge Md Khairuzzaman, who is also the upazila nirbahi officer. The 25-year-old was sent to Gopalganj district jail soon after the sentencing. Sub-Inspector of Sindiaghat police outpost Abdul Barek said Ratan had for some time been harassing a girl of Baniarchar village on her way to college. “The convict was detained on Saturday evening as the girl lodged a complaint with police against him. The mobile court later jailed him for six months,” added the policeman.

– Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

At least 42 BNP men including the district unit president of it accused of violence yesterday in the district. Magura police station Officer-in-Charge Nikunja Nath said the was filed accusing 42 BNP leaders and workers including the BNP leader Kabir Murad for vandalising a bus. The bus was torched at Vina Square in the town on Friday night.

– Our Correspondent, Magura

RAB rescues abducted school girl, one arrested Members of the Rapid Action Battalion-14 (RAB) rescued a 12-year old school girl from Fulbaria of Jamalpur Sadar on Saturday night.

They also arrested the abductor Rasel, 22 at that time. Additional Police Super and Captain of RAB-14, Mohd Anisuzzaman said the fifth grader was abducted on December 30 while she was returning home after obtaining her PSC results. Later the abductors demanded Tk30,000 as ransom from her family. Following a case filed by the girl’s father, RAB members raided Rasel’s house on a tip off and rescued her.

– Our Correspondent, Jamalpur

24 BNP-Jamaat men arrested in Magura

At least 24 BNP-Jamaat men were arrested in the district yesterday. Sources said police conducted drives in different areas of the district and arrested the people including a UP chairman. The police said the arrested were accused of vandalism during the on going blockade called by the BNP led 20-party alliance.

– Our Correspondent, Magura

SP’s house torched Miscreants torched the house of the Superintendent of Police in the district yesterday. Model police station Officer-in-Charge Mir Mosarraf Hossen said the miscreants set fire to the house at night when the SP was not at the house. On information, locals doused the fire.

– Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

ing keen interests in farming maize in more land as they earned huge profits to lead better life and change fortune in recent years through farming the cash crops in their sandy and barren char lands.

The government has fixed an alltime record target of producing 21.73 lakh tonne maize from 3.06 lakh hectares of land in the country during this Rabi season. l

At least two people were killed and ten others sustained injuries in a road accident in Madhabpur upazila of the district yesterday.

Of the injured, five got admitted to local health complex in a critical condition. The mishap killed Masuk Miah, 45, from Shimulgar village, and Shafi Miah, 40, from the same village of the upazila.

Saiestaganj Highway police station OC Ejajur Rahman Chowdhury said the accident took place around 2:30pm a Madhabpur-bound human hauler from the district town collided head-on with a CNG-run autorickshaw on Saiestaganj highway in Shahpur area, leaving the duo dead instantly.

However, both drivers managed to flee the scene soon after the incident, the OC went on.

The bodies, passengers of the authorickshaw, were sent to the district hospital morgue for autopsy. l

Acid thrown at woman n Our Correspondent, Habiganj Criminals have thrown acid at a woman over a piece of land dispute in Habiganj. The woman was identified as Shamsunnahar, 45, from West Borochar village in Sadar upazila.

She was admitted to Sadar hospital with serious burn injuries. The victim came under the acid attack at Kodomtoli on the way to Shaistaganj

on Saturday night, she said.

She alleged that her village neighbour Abdul Bari’s son Rahim Mia launched this attack with his men on her over a piece of land dispute, which she had recently taken to court for settlement.

Physician Debashish said the woman was now admitted to the hospital.

Shaistaganj police station Officer-inCharge Yasinul Haq said he had heard of the incident and would take action. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

7

Monday, January 12, 2015

Sri Lanka to probe Rajapaksa ‘coup’ attempt n AFP

Sri Lanka’s new government will investigate an attempt by Mahinda Rajapaksa to stage a “coup” to stay in power after it became clear he had lost last week’s presidential election, a spokesman said.

“People think it was a peaceful transition. It was anything but,” spokesman Mangala Samaraweera told reporters yesterday. “The first thing the new cabinet will investigate is the coup and conspiracy by President Rajapaksa.

“He stepped down only when the army chief and the police Inspector General refused to go along with him.” the AFP news agency quoted Samaraweera as saying.

Rajapaksa had been widely praised for conceding defeat early on Friday, even before the last votes in Thursday’s election had been counted, when he realised that his rival Maithripala Sirisena had an unassailable lead.

But Samaraweera said that the

69-year-old, who had ruled the country since 2005, tried his best to annul the poll and cling onto power.

He said police Inspector General N K Illangakoon was “very vocal and did not want to be a party to this coup.”

Army chief Daya Ratnayake stood by the police and refused to deploy troops for Rajapaksa to seize power, while the state attorney general’s department warned of dangerous consequences, the spokesman said.

Rajapaksa planned to stop the vote count as it became apparent that he was headed for a shock defeat and wanted to remain in office by issuing a proclamation declaring himself the president, Samaraweera said.

C A Chandraprema, a political analyst speaking to Al Jazeera from Colombo, dismissed the allegations as “absolute nonsense.”

“He never did anything of that sort,” he said, adding that the claims made by the government spokesman was just one of several rumours being circulated by people within the winning coalition. l

New Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena gestures to supporters after speaking outside of the Buddhist Temple of Tooth in the central town of Kandy yesterday. Sri Lanka’s new government yesterday accused toppled strongman Mahinda Rajapakse of having tried to stage a coup to cling to power after losing last week’s presidential election AFP

Indonesia confident AirAsia fuselage found, black box close n Reuters, Jakarta Indonesian search teams believe they have found the fuselage of an AirAsia airliner that crashed in the Java Sea two weeks ago, and divers hope calmer waters on Monday will allow them to retrieve the black box flight recorders.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control in bad weather on Dec. 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

None of the 162 people on the aircraft survived.

Searchers have also been hearing pings, believed to be from the aircraft’s two black boxes near where the tail of the Airbus A320-200 aircraft tail was raised on Saturday.

Supriyadi, operations coordinator for the National Search and Rescue Agency, said yesterday a sonar scan had revealed an object measuring 10 meters by four meters by 2.5 meters on the sea floor.

“They suspect it is the body of the plane. There is a big possibility that the black box is near the body of the

FIERY

plane,” Supriyadi told Reuters in the town of Pangkalan Bun, the base for the search effort on Borneo.

“If it is the body of the plane then we will first evacuate the victims. Secondly we will search for the black box.”

Forty-eight bodies have been found in the Java Sea off Borneo and searchers are still hunting for the plane’s fuselage, which could contain more bodies.

Strong winds, currents and high waves have been hampering efforts to reach other large pieces of suspected wreckage detected by sonar on the sea floor.

Three vessels involved in the search have detected pings about 4 km (two miles) from where the plane’s tail was raised on Saturday, in water about 30 meters (yards) deep.

“Three ships have (recorded) the pings so we can confirm the coordinates of the location of the black box,” Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee investigator Santoso Sayogo told Reuters.

If weather conditions are conducive, “hopefully they will recover the black box tomorrow morning,” Santoso said. “The coordinates show the

PA K I STA N

bottom of the sea (in that location) is sand so the divers should easily be able to see it.”

If and when the recorders are found and taken to the capital, Jakarta, for analysis, it could take up to two weeks to download data, investigators said, although the information could be accessed in as little as two days if the devices are not badly damaged.

Searchers have also been hearing pings, believed to be from the aircraft’s two black boxes near where the tail of the Airbus A320200 aircraft tail was raised on Saturday Tail floated

On Saturday, teams of divers in rubber dinghies battled the swell to attach inflatable balloons to the tail section,

B U S -TA N K E R

CRASH

which was later hauled onto a rescue vessel and towed to Kumai Bay, not far from Pangkalan Bun, which has served as the base port for search and rescue vessels.

The aircraft carries cockpit voice and flight data recorders - or black boxes - near its tail but once the wreckage was visible, it quickly became apparent that the flight recorders were still underwater.

While the cause of the crash is not known, the national weather bureau has said seasonal storms were likely to be a factor.

President Joko Widodo, who took office in late October, said the AirAsia crash exposed widespread problems in the management of air transportation in Indonesia.

Separately yesterday, a DHC-6 Twin Otter operated by Indonesia’s Trigana Air crashed on landing at Enarotali Airport in Paniai, Papua, yesterday.

Strong winds caused the aircraft to roll over, domestic news website Detik.com reported, with no injuries to the three crew members on board. The plane was not carrying any passengers. l

KILLS

Merkel to Putin: No Ukraine summit without progress on peace plan n Reuters, Berlin German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that a four-way summit to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine would not take place until there was real progress on the Minsk peace plan.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement after the phone call between the leaders that Merkel welcomed Russian efforts to find a solution to the crisis.

Putin underlined the need to observe a ceasefire and “to support the economic recovery of the affected regions in southeastern Ukraine,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

It said both sides confirmed their intention to promote a peaceful settlement in Ukraine.

However, the chancellor told Putin that a summit by leaders from France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine in Ka-

62

n AFP At least 62 people including women and children were killed early Sunday in southern Pakistan when their bus collided with an oil tanker, starting a fierce blaze which left victims burnt beyond recognition.

Initial reports said the tanker was travelling on the wrong side of the road along a dilapidated stretch of highway, police said.

It was the second crash involving major loss of life in Sindh province in less than three months.

Authorities transferred the remains to a local morgue after taking samples for DNA testing for identification.

Doctor Semi Jamali at Karachi’s Jinnah hospital said another four passengers with minor injuries have been discharged.

The bodies were “completely burnt A Pakistani policeman stands beside wreckage of a burnt out oil taker and passenger bus Pakistani volunteers search for victims inside a burnt out passenger bus demolished in and stuck to each other,” she said. l following an accident along the Super Highway near Karachi early yesterday the same accident AFP

US judge rules Haitians cannot sue UN for cholera epidemic n

Reuters, New York

Thousands of Haitians killed or sickened by a cholera epidemic that they blame on UN peacekeepers cannot sue the United Nations in a US court because the UN has legal immunity that only it can waive, a judge has ruled.

In a decision late on Friday, Judge J. Paul Oetken of US District Court in Manhattan dismissed a lawsuit filed by human rights lawyers seeking compensation for the cholera victims.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs said they would appeal the ruling.

The outbreak has killed more than 8,600 people and infected over 707,000 since October 2010, according to the UN Oetken wrote that the UN’s ability to block lawsuits was established by a 1946 international convention and was

made clear again in a 2010 ruling from a US appeals court in a case of alleged sex discrimination.

“The UN is immune from suit unless it expressly waives its immunity,” he wrote.

The UN did not expressly waive immunity for the Haitians and has not accepted responsibility for the outbreak, although it has tried to raise money for a cholera elimination campaign.

The plaintiffs plan to appeal Oetken’s ruling and show that their case is different from the 2010 case, said one of their lawyers, Brian Concannon, executive director of the Boston-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.

“We are disappointed in the ruling but not discouraged, and we have always assumed that this case was going to go to the appeals court,”

Concannon said in a phone interview on Saturday.

Concannon said the UN was not entitled to immunity under the 1946 convention because it has failed to establish any kind of settlement process for the cholera victims, as required by the same convention.

UN spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci said the organisation welcomed Friday’s decision and was in the process of reviewing it further. “Our focus in Haiti remains on our commitment to eliminating cholera in Haiti,” she said.

UN peacekeepers from Nepal likely caused the cholera outbreak when they were stationed near a major river and discharged raw sewage, according to the plaintiffs and a 2011 report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. l

zakhstan’s capital Astana or another city could not be confirmed at this stage, Seibert said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has invited the leaders of Russia, France and Germany to talks in Astana on Jan. 15 in an attempt to restore peace.

But Germany and France have already raised doubts about whether such a four-way summit can take place without further progress on the peace plan which was agreed in the Belarussian capital Minsk in September.

In a separate phone call, Merkel discussed the situation in Ukraine also with Poroshenko, the spokesman said.

A four-way summit would only make sense if there was a substantial improvement on important points like a ceasefire and a demarcation line between the Ukraine-Russia border, Merkel told Poroshenko, according to the statement. l

German minister calls for anti-Islam rally to be canceled n AP, Berlin Germany’s justice minister is calling on organisers of anti-Islam rallies in Dresden to cancel a planned protest Monday out of respect for the victims of the terror attacks in France.

The weekly rallies are organised by he Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West, or Pegida. They often accuse mainstream media of lying about immigration and other issues.

The participants were asked to wear black ribbons to honour Paris victims.

But Justice Minister Heiko Maas told newspaper Bild yesterday that the rally should be canceled, saying it’s “simply disgusting” that organisers want to commemorate victims “that last week they still insulted as lying journalists.” l

Riga’s new missionaries look east, again n Reuters, Riga European Union meetings in Riga last week were heavy with the historical symbolism EU leaders turn to for relief from economic malaise, terrorism or fears of Russia.

EU Chief Executive Jean-Claude Juncker hailed the start of Latvia’s first turn as chair of ministerial councils since the small, ex-Soviet state joined the bloc a decade ago, calling it a completion of Europe’s “reunification” after the Cold War. But in a city built by the Teutonic Knights on their fire-and-sword crusades to convert the peoples of the east, it was hard not to detect a modern missionary zeal in Latvian plans to spread “European values” beyond the EU frontier - and challenge Moscow on what they call its propaganda war against the West.

A focus of their six-month presidency is a summit in May on the bloc’s

Eastern Partnership, a program to strengthen ties with other former Soviet republics. A similar meeting in 2013 in Lithuania sparked a crisis when Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to prevent Ukraine slipping further from Moscow’s orbit.

“We definitely don’t see our presidency as anti-Russian,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics told reporters.

Yet his list of targets for closer EU ties included not just Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia but states hitherto friendlier to Moscow, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and in Central Asia - not to mention the West’s old bugbear Belarus. The eastern strategy should even stretch all the way to Afghanistan, he said.

EU leaders say Russia is wrong to fear “encirclement.” But Rinkevics, who is on what he called a “reconnaissance mission” for the EU in Kiev and Moscow this weekend, may struggle to

convince the Kremlin that the hitherto hawkish Latvian government can help wind down the East-West rhetoric.

Television wars

Having long accused Moscow of agitating among a 30% Russian-speaking minority that is wary of Latvians who see it as an unwelcome relic of Stalin’s annexation, the Riga government plans to take the offensive against Kremlin-backed media.

“Propaganda against the EU, the US, our way of life ... has become so intense,” Rinkevics said, that Latvia and its allies are studying a new “strategic communications” plan. It may include launching a television channel that could compete with Kremlin-financed entertainment networks which carry news.

“We will try to get our message across,” he said, while dismissing any suggestion of seeking “regime change” in Moscow. l

Continuation of Success and Development

One Year of New Tenure

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Monday, January 12, 2015

CODE-CRACKER

Progress and some warning signs

O

ur latest opinion poll contains a number of positive indicators for the government, at the start of the new session of parliament.

A year on from the January 5 election, a clear majority of voters, over 70%, have rated the government’s overall performance as successful, particularly in relation to managing the economy.

The AL currently has a 7 point lead over the BNP in terms of stated voted intention and there is evidence of strong public dissatisfaction with the performance of the BNP alliance in presenting itself as an alternative to the government. Around twice as many voters rate the latter’s performance as unsuccessful than those rating it as successful.

Nonetheless, there are still signs that the government’s lead in most respects is not so large that it can afford to be complacent. Public opinion may always change, particularly if the economy undergoes a downturn.

Major underlying public concerns about education and law and order remain significant and the BNP’s both retains its core support and is relativity strong among younger voters and those in rural areas.

The government has to become more responsive to public concerns.

In our survey a year ago, 77% of the public said they considered an election without the BNP would be unacceptable. While acceptance of the government has clearly grown since then, twofifths of voters still say the next election should be held as soon as possible or within one year.

The public has witnessed fully contested elections take place over the last year in Bhutan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. If the government wishes to consolidate its current lead over the BNP, it may be best advised to negotiate actively to hold the next election sooner rather than later.

The government’s lead is not so large that it can afford to be complacent about public concerns

Lessons for the BNP

T

he BNP badly needs to reconsider its current strategy.

Our new opinion poll demonstrates quite clearly that its policies over the past year have failed to win round a majority of the public.

A combination of public disapproval of its programs and satisfaction that the economy has improved since the hugely disruptive pre-election hartals means there has been growing support for the government and the BNP has not made any gains above its core base.

The party needs to change its approach to build public confidence if it is to gain support from vital swing voters, who presently seem to be favouring the AL. More of the same type of protests and programs is unlikely to deliver any gain in support for the BNP, whether or not the government actively hinders its ability to organise.

The most positive finding for the BNP in the survey is that it has a clear 13% lead over the AL with voters aged 18 to 24. In view of the youthful age profile of the population, this is a key demographic which gives it hope for the future.

When read with the fact that the AL lead over the BNP is only 3% in rural areas, it is clear the opposition party still has a base from which to build support.

To do so successfully, it needs to learn from its failures of the past year. There can be no doubt that the public’s abhorrence of the violence that occurred during the pre-election hartals damaged the party’s support. It cannot afford to make similar mistakes again.

To build support from its base, BNP needs to reconsider its strategy

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They raped her and killed the baby in her womb December 31

Mohammad A Sattar These monsters of Jamaat ought to get the worst treatment ever – what is that? Hanging? No. Then what? Think of the cruelest way to inflict punishment on the perpetrators. I am for Bangladesh. I saw, as a kid, the gory events of 1971. I remember the blood and the bodies. I am proudly non-political. I want them punished. But we should not harm the innocent.

To all my countrymen, pick up the 1971 war criminals, and hand them over to the law. Boycott them, for they are the ones who killed your father, maimed your brother, violated your mother and sister, and killed scores of babies. We still carry the scars, don’t we?

Please don’t care about the politics of any party, just identify the criminals in every village, town, and city, and give them all sorts of deserving treatment. However, if the new generation of these criminals repent and truly wish to be with us as one of us, we shall be with them. rose Simply despicable! The war-time criminals should be punished harder, and those who were raped should be given justice.

Guest Please get through these cases faster.

Two minors violated in capital January 3

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 10 represents H so fill H every time the figure 10 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

sirajul I agree. To all concerned, please deal with these cases faster and get them over with. Our progress is being hampered because these trials are still hanging over our heads.

Shahazad In March/April 1971, a lot of crimes – rape, arson and looting – were also done by activists of a certain political party to innocent men, women, and children who were non-Bengalis, and the cycle of revenge continued through December well into 1972.

People were publicly bayonetted to the cheers of large crowds. Who will punish them?

JusticeForAll Shahazad: A crime is a crime, but we have to start somewhere. Once this episode is finished, we should deal with any crime perpetrated against the non-Bengalis. Both must however be done with a spirit of justice and reconciliation, not vengeance or division.

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

imzy Shahazad: Almost the entirety of murders and genocide were carried out by non-Bengalis (Biharis and West Pakistanis) on Bengalis as well.

Diary of a four-year-old December 31

Tahseen Chowdhury Disgusting!

Tania Ashraf What the hell is wrong with these people? They should at least be incarcerated.

PB I guess now religious bigots will not come forward to claim how those kids had seduced the rapists.

Security force beefed at Khaleda’s house and office January 4

Dr Sheikh Farid Ahammod I do not think this is acceptable if we love our country. There is no scope for the government to be excessively rigid on the public and the political parties. Bangladesh was born to be a democracy, not a dictatorship or autocracy. We want peace.

Every party, their leaders, and the government should be dependent on the people’s mandate, not the other way around.

Hold companies accountable for bad drivers December 31 Momoaswan We have to eliminate corruption first. If we can do that, we will have more law-abiding companies obeying existing laws and compensation requirements – and less accidents and bad drivers.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

CROSSWORD

rose Yes, indeed. I agree we really need to be responsible and should never leave children to die like this.

Luna Interesting way to describe such an awful incident.

Evil People Politics Absolutely riveting. Condenses pretty much every tragedy we have undergone recently.

Karl Hungus This is an exceptionally well-written article. Props to the author for coming up with the creativity necessary for such a piece!

ACROSS 1 Call for aid (6) 5 Lacking in discipline (3) 7 Female fox (5) 8 Tallies (6) 10 Consumed (3) 12 Separate (4) 13 Newt (3) 14 Hurried (4) 16 Young horse (4) 17 For each (3) 18 Run away (4) 20 Transgression (3) 23 Surgical instrument (6) 24 Mechanical man (5) 25 Was ahead (3) 26 Deteriorate (6)

DOWN 1 Church recess (4) 2 Drive forward (6) 3 Ward off (5) 4 Careen (4) 5 Meadow (3) 6 Insect (3) 9 Floating structure (4) 11 Finish (3) 14 Observed (4) 15 Abstract (6) 16 Long-leaved lettuce (3) 17 Lunar crater (5) 18 Stream (4) 19 Stupefy (4) 21 Wrath (3) 22 Indicate agreement (3)

Film on Taslima Nasreen adjudged best December 31 HT “Churni Ganguly’s first directorial venture, Nirbashito, has been adjudged the best film in Delhi International Film Festival, The Times of India reports.”

Congratulations to Taslima Nasreen! :)

China free trade deal a must December 31

RetiredBUET Would that our politicians have any of the vision and commitment shown by China’s leaders.

Tristaterefugee RetiredBUET: So what, if our politicians are not good enough; everybody knows that already. If honest people want change, they need to join politics to improve it. Lamenting our poor governance is not enough to make change happen.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

In memory of Justice KM Subhan PEANUTS

December 31

Lisa “He had been a man of order and discipline – everything he did had to be done in perfection.”

Good to read about such an influential person.

Bashir Haque Mr Subhan was a truly noble soul.

China launches frigate for Bangladesh navy December 31

imzy Long live Chinese and Bengali friendship!

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Monday, January 12, 2015

The human side of climate change n Nausheen Khan

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To be or not to be Charlie

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n Towheed Feroze

et’s clear out all confusion first: Any killing as a form of revenge is utterly reprehensible. Whatever the cartoonists have done or said in the name of free speech, they didn’t deserve to be shot and killed at the beginning of a new year. But the recent slaying of Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in Paris has also opened up a hotly-debated yet never crystal clear argument about the issue of free speech.

Interestingly, there has been a rather disquieting trend within the international media to swiftly change the topic whenever there is an effort to dissect the topic of free speech, and where there should be a line asking it to make a considerate stop.

If you ask me, free speech does not mean one can just have a free run at everything at the expense of creating social havoc. Okay, I know many will counter this by saying that if so much fun can be made of other faiths like Juadism and Christianity, then why should Islam be spared? The obvious reason is that taking a humorous look at other faiths had been around for a long time, with God and paradiserelated jokes finding a firm footing in almost all western cultures.

Now, that is not the case for Muslim communities. Whether it’s a country enforcing strict Sharia law or not, no Muslim majority state ever pokes fun at religion; and since I am a Bangladeshi, the best example should come from here, because the sacred place of faith is not exclusive to Islam alone.

Here in Bangladesh, religions are mostly kept outside the purview of sarcasm, facetious comments, or public ridicule. We also have progressive people here and a section within the community which is relaxed when it comes to religious do’s and don’ts.

While these liberals enjoy their

beliefs and ways of looking at issues of faith, making vulgar jokes about religion never became a zealously pursued activity. Keep your convictions to yourself and let others be happy with theirs. If I am not mistaken: Live and let live is actually a Western import and not an indigenous idea.

So when it’s obvious that certain sections of a multi-cultural society are offended by something, then why try to defend it under the rather ambiguous definition of freedom of expression?

to be fashionable. After all, the sole purpose here is to stir the community and attract attention.

Tell me, if someone tries to disparage Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, or Judaism, will that faith become less significant? I personally feel any faith is beyond the reach of any potential harm engineered by mere mortals.

Bringing the Paris incident into perspective, one has to think about large Muslim populations residing in Western nations. The fact is, if Muslim

Does the pursuit of freedom of expression override the need for a harmonious existence?

We have been deluged by the words “free speech” and “secularism” in the last few days, and this got me thinking: Multiculturalism, in my limited knowledge, means a social system where all faiths can live comfortably.

So, does the pursuit of freedom of expression override the need for a harmonious existence?

Again, the avid western free speech proponent may argue that to live in a Western society, people of other faiths (meaning those representing minorities) must adhere to the ideals of that society and try to integrate. In that case, it means just ignoring the lampooning of faiths.

Just turning the other way and shrugging it off is perhaps a prudent treatment to those who want to assert their expression rights by poking fun at religion. Trust me, once people begin to disregard such callousness, the desire to play with religion will cease

communities want to carry on living as part of one cohesive society in a Western nation, they need to realise that no cartoon or statement for that matter can ever taint or shake the foundation of Islam. The same goes for other faiths too. Therefore, instant flaring up at the slightest provocation needs to be averted.

It reminds me of the case of the obscure American priest who wanted to burn the holy book a few years back. While this created mass hysteria among Muslims, the priest got all the media attention, which is possibly what he wanted in the first place.

The trend du jour is to say or do something to inflame the Muslims and voila, you are in the limelight. Just don’t give these instant glory-seekers the spotlight – your faith has survived many formidable challenges, so such small matters won't rock its platform.

But at the same time, all this brouhaha

over free speech and foaming at the mouth on the right to say whatever we want need to be discussed with plain and dispassionate logic, not paranoia.

There are plenty of things to make fun of. Why religion has to be one of them is hard to understand. The term “secular” has been spoken like an invocation by a lot of international media in the past couple of days, but my feeling is that if someone wants to find a secular society, or a community which tries to be equally respectful to all faiths, then one should come to Bangladesh and not search for it elsewhere.

Here, we do not obsessively use the term “secular,” though there is a national holiday reserved for all major religions in Bangladesh which are celebrated enthusiastically by everyone. On major Hindu occasions, like Swaraswati and Durga Puja, millions of Muslims go to witness the celebrations, with the Swaraswati Puja, especially relevant to those seeking knowledge, reaching out to students across all faiths.

The same goes for Christmas and Buddha Purnima. Yes, there are a few minor hiccups at times, but nothing that upsets the social order. Oh, I almost forgot: Major, state-sposored programs are also inaugurated by verses from the holy books of all four major religions.

Meanwhile, nations which have emphatic rhetoric on secularism don’t have state acknowledgement for religious events of “other” minor faiths.

Instead of taking dogmatic stances, maybe compromising attitudes from all sides are needed in Western societies first, with freedom of expression being defined clearly.

May the cartoonists’ souls rest in peace. l

oming from Bangladesh, one of the countries worse-affected by climate change, this is an issue close to my heart.

Both as a student and as a professional in the field of development, I have had the opportunity to engage with this issue in various ways – as an Ecological Representative planning and conducting awareness campaigns among students in areas such as food waste and energy conservation, as an advocate negotiating in international platforms for more inclusive sustainable development goals, and as a researcher exploring the impact of climate change on women’s sexual and reproductive health or trends in global air travel and carbon dioxide emissions.

However, one factor that the academic and civil society communities have failed to truly recognise or appreciate is the human side of climate change and climate change research.

My participation at the Gobeshona Conference for Research on Climate Change in Bangladesh that was held this past week has made me look at climate change under a new lens. We are perpetually bombarded by the terms “vulnerable,” “poor,” and “women” among others, but how often do we actually stop and think about the groups that I have just mentioned?

What I mean by the human side can be explained by the term “empathy.”

I believe that it is imperative to recognise “cognitive empathy,” or “perspective taking,” in climate change.

Only then will we be able to tackle the adverse effects of climate change and/ or stop climate change entirely.

In both quantitative and qualitative research, we, as researchers, expect that the respondents, ie these vulnerable groups, are at our mercy, ready and willing to provide us with any data or information that we might need. This primary data is an essential part of the researcher’s investigation and this act of data collection is, in one way, selfish, because it serves the interest of the researcher.

Although the end goal of generating evidence that can be used by policy-makers at national/global levels or practitioners at the field level is noble, how often do we appreciate the value or role played by these vulnerable groups who are suffering from climate change? These individuals have not only shared their homes but their hearts as they reflect upon the devastating experiences that they have faced, whether it is the loss of their homes, loss of their livelihoods, or the

inability to feed their families.

One area of improvement for the Bangladeshi research and civil society community is the development and/ or deepening of the ethical, moral, and social responsibilities involved in conducting climate change research.

We need to be more aware of the specific culture and contexts and have a greater understanding of the research sensitivities surrounding climate change.

Science and research is often dry; scientists and researchers observe, analyse, theorise, test, and repeat in an effort to dispel the uncertainty and formulate solid, evidence based conclusions. However, to appreciate the human side of climate change means that scientists need to remove their scientist hats and put on their human hats; they need to become counsellors and listeners invested in the well-being of the respondent.

Through the research and evidence, we would like to create a strong advocacy on behalf of these vulnerable groups. The basic premise is that Bangladesh has one of the largest populations of the sufferers of climate change. The adverse effects of climate change are both an urban problem and a rural problem, and there are not enough safeguards for these vulnerable groups.

When we look at these vulnerable groups or read about them, we see them in numbers. However, each of these individuals has a story to tell.

Through the evidence generated, we would like to tell the stories of these people, the hardships they have faced, what their main concerns include, the strategies they have employed to survive, etc. I believe that concentrating on collecting individualised accounts or empathising with the respondent will enable the researcher to produce enriched and insightful studies. This is particularly true for qualitative research.

Additionally, this would also enable the reader to connect on a deeper level with the sufferers of climate change and design policies and programs more effectively. I argue that data collection must incorporate and/or take into account empathy through which the researcher hears, feels, understands, and values the stories of others, that form the foundation of her/his study. Emphasis on values alongside science will enable us to advocate for climate change adaptation and mitigation more successfully. l Nausheen Khan is a democracy and human rights activist working at Khan Foundation.

Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

BIGSTOCK

Do we need an interim election? n Mohammad Zaman

A

ll the hoopla is about an interim election. The two arch rivals are at odds over the exact process of the elections, but to us, the question of utmost poignancy is: Do we need an interim election?

The answer is a resounding “no” if further elections are to be held within the current political framework.

However, it is a definite “yes” if it can be held after reforming our politics, the introduction of an intra-party democracy, and after enacting laws which empower the Election Commission (EC) sufficiently to be able to conduct a credible election.

Begum Zia remains the head of her party despite a disastrous debacle in the 2007 election and her wrong (one may definitely beg to differ) judgment regarding the blighted election of January 5, 2014. In any political party with a working democracy, this would be unthinkable. The heir-apparent Tareque Zia is a tainted man who had allegedly committed significant corruption during the reign of Hawa

Bhaban.

Even if he is a “fuler moto pobitro” person as claimed by his loving mother, his tainted public image has already robbed him his logical legitimacy to run a democratic party.

Thus, BNP, in its existing construct, is

not ready to call for a credible election.

Why should we, the people of Bangladesh, vote to replace one hegemony with yet another of the same trained history?

So, before calling for an interim election, the BNP should introduce

Bangladesh may not be ready for a credible election

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

some order to itself by exercising intramural democracy – that is the only way they can look at the complete picture and not get embroiled in the petty personal matters of the leader and her family.

The BNP's policy now is clearly geared towards claiming power and that’s it – there is no agenda in their manifesto that will, or can, serve the public interest.

They need to spell out exactly how they plan to execute the job of running the country for the people and not for themselves. They must tell us exactly what it is that differentiates them from the juggernaut that is the Awami League.

From a pragmatic standpoint, both AL and BNP share, with some inflection, a common vision of secularism and social and/or foreign policy. Their oft stated “Joy Bangla/ Bangladesh Zindabad” paradigm does not inspire the common masses.

For AL, giving an interim election and losing it will be suicidal. The reason is simple: The Awami kings/ queens and their millions of minions

have engaged in so many bad deeds over the past few years, that a chance of being hounded by their suddenly empowered nemesis is very real. Their lives will be inundated with a plethora of law suits.

It is quite possible that even the top leaders of the AL may not be exempt from such hounding.

Well, the bigger leaders will most likely flee to their second homes in Europe, America, or Malaysia – and the brunt will be borne by the mid and lower-level minions.

I do not see any chance of the BNP being able to force AL into holding another election unless the police and armed forces are on board, and that is extremely unlikely because the AL government is giving law enforcement outfits and the military all they want – in fact, they are virtually running the country, albeit with the help of bigmoney-businesses (taking a good look at the composition of the parliament would be enough).

So, what is all the hoopla for? I believe it is time for both the AL and BNP hierarchies to take a leave from

active politics. They should let the lower-ranking individuals engage in some real politik, get their houses into democratic order, and forge a path forward without having too much ill will against one another.

I'll bet that, by practicing intramural democracy, every rotten element will be weeded out and our politics will once again be in the favour of the people.

Once we get rid of the politics of personal and family hegemony, the virtual rivalry between the two Rahman families would end. The senior Rahman can continue to be the great leader of our Independence War, where the younger Rahman played a very important part by publicly announcing that the country is at war with its occupying forces.

Until that, an election shall remain an election only in name, and the poor citizens of Bangladesh cannot afford to spend thousands of crores for nothing. l Mohammad Zaman is a freelance contributor.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, January 12, 2015

13 McCullum blitz

sets up New Zealand victory

14 Federer

14 Wolfsburg’s

claims 1,000th career win

Malanda killed as car hits tree

Sport

Did you know?

Virat Kohli’s 692 runs in the Australia series are the third most by a player in a losing, winless series

Bangladesh depart for Hockey World League n Raihan Mahmood

The Bangladesh hockey team pose for a photograph before their departure for the Hockey World League Round 2 yesterday

Rubel gets 3-month bail n Minhaz Uddin Khan

The three-month bail granted to Rubel Hossain yesterday meant the national paceman’s dream of playing the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia-New Zealand is well and truly alive. The Metropolitan Sessions’ Judges court passed the order yesterday, thus making Rubel available for the global showpiece event Down Under.

The plea for bail was granted by Judge Imrul Kayes following the hearing of the case. The bail order will be in place until the law-enforcement authorities submit the chargesheet against Rubel to the court.

Bangladesh Cricket Board’s cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan said Rubel will now be clear of legal hassles, at least till the completion of the upcoming World Cup. “According to our lawyer, he has received a three-month bail for the time being and during this period he can continue playing cricket,” Akram told the media yesterday after Rubel was granted the anticipatory bail.

BCB president Nazmul Hasan last Saturday announced that Rubel would receive the board’s full backing on the issue, provided there is merit in the case. And yesterday, following Rubel’s bail, the BCB supremo hinted that the right-arm paceman’s chances of featuring in the forthcoming 50-over World Cup have increased. Since Rubel was allowed the anticipatory bail, the BCB, now, has no qualms rallying behind the crestfallen cricketer.

“Since he got the bail, it is highly likely that he will play the World Cup,” said Akram.

“The news has brought a huge sigh of relief. We have always encountered

difficulties with our pacers since most of them are injury-prone,” the former skipper added.

Akram further explained that Rubel is one among few pacemen who remains injury-free most of the time.

“If we had lost him, it would have left us with little fast-bowling options,” said Akram.

A relieved Rubel Hossain leaves the Dhaka Central Jail yesterday after being granted a three-month bail DHAKA TRIBUNE “He is an experienced bowler and is capable of bowling well during the powerplays. By the grace of Almighty Allah, he got the bail and it is very good news for him and Bangladesh cricket. Now he can give his hundred percent effort without any tension,” opined Akram.

The BCB director hoped that Rubel will now appear at the training camp of the World Cup squad, starting today at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Akram was also keen to draw a line under the recent events.

“Personally, I will request the board to discuss the matter of the players’ private lives since they are national assets. We should bring an end to these

WALTON-DHAKA TRIBUNE FIFA WORLD CUP-2014 LUCKY WINERS LIST 1ST ROUND Prizes 1st Prize Walton Refrigerator-1

Name

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Shakil

Mohakhali

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Wahab Khan

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Chittagong

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Md. Akash

Tejgaon, Dhaka

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matters. Stern action should be imposed if this sort of allegation against any player is raised again,” said Akram.

The 25-year old cricketer from Bagerhat went behind bars last Thursday after his bail petition was rejected by the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in a case filed by film actress Naznin Akter Happy under the Women and Children

Name

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5th Prize Rice Cooker-1

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5th Prize Rice Cooker-5

Iqbal Hossen

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Repression Act on December 13 last year.

The film actress alleged that she was previously involved in an intimate relationship with the national cricket and that Rubel went back on his promise to marry her.

Rubel appeared at the High Court on December 15 and filed an appeal requesting anticipatory bail. The court then granted a four-week bail.

On January 8, three days before the expiration of his anticipatory bail, Rubel surrendered to the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court and sought bail again. But this time, it was turned down and the cricketer was subsequently sent to jail. l

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

BANGABANDHU GOLD CUP

Fox Sports aboard, kick off on Jan 29 n Shishir Hoque The Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football Tournament gets a new kick off date as the much-awaited event is now scheduled from January 29, revealed Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Kazi Salahuddin yesterday.

The tournament also secured live telecast on Fox Sports Asia who bought the international broadcasting rights from Channel 9, the local TV channel who holds the exclusive TV and sponsorship rights of the tournament, informed managing director of Channel 9 Enayetur Rahman.

The BFF boss Salahuddin returned home on Saturday night after attending the Extraordinary Congress of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Australia where he spoke to the representatives of the participating countries and confirmed the date.

The details of the tournament, however, are expected to be revealed within this week through a press conference.

The BFF president is scheduled to sit in a meeting with Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith today noon.

“Bangabandhu Gold Cup will begin on January 29. I will talk to the Finance Minister tomorrow (Monday) at 1.30pm about the tournament.

The details of the event and the logo unveiling will be finalised in the next two or three days,” said Salahuddin at his office yesterday.

The sixth team, Sri Lanka, of the tournament was finalised during

Kottan livens up Walton-Dhaka Tribune Quiz n Raihan Mahnmood Former Bangladesh football coach George Kottan enthralled the audience with lively gestures in the draw ceremony of the Walton-Dhaka Tribune World Cup Football Quiz at the Dhaka Tribune office yesterday.

Former national coaches Hasanuzzman Bablu and Shafiqul Islam Manik, former national footballers Satyajit Das Rupu and Atikur Rahman and football stars Arman Aziz and Enamul Haque were also present on the occasion.

Executive director of Walton, Humayun Kabir, was the special guest while Executive Editor of Dhaka Tribune, Shahriar Karim, welcomed all in the programme. l

Former national football coach George Kottan picks up the lucky winner of the Walton-Dhaka Tribune World Cup Football Quiz yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

the Congress and after talking to AFC president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Salahuddin received the final nod regarding the participation of Bahrain which enabled to fix the date.

Bahrain, one of the six participants, will send their Olympic team as their senior team is taking part in the Asia Cup and the U-23 team is engaged in the Gulf Cup at their home which will conclude on January 26.

Bangabandhu Gold Cup will begin on January 29. The details of the event and the logo unveiling will be finalised in the next two or three days “Bahrain is the country of AFC president and he said they want to play in the tournament. After the end of their games they will be available from January 29. The other countries also agreed to play on the date,” explained Salahuddin why they had to change the previous date of January 16-27.

Enayetur Rahman was also in the BFF president’s office room while Salahuddin was talking to the media.

He informed that they have finalised a deal with Fox Sports Asia for the whole tournament who will bring their own production to telecast the matches in Asia.l

The 23-member Bangladesh hockey team left Dhaka yesterday to take part in the second round of the Hockey World League.

The national hockey team reached Malaysia to play two warm-up matches against Malaysia Under-21 and Malaysia A before flying off to Singapore where the tournament will be held from January 17 to 25. Bangladesh will face Malaysia U-21 today and Malaysia A a day later before playing their last warm-up match against Oman this Thursday.

Bangladesh will begin their Pool B campaign against Japan this Saturday before taking on Mexico the following day. Bangladesh will face Poland in their last game on January 20. Pool A comprises Malaysia, Oman, Singapore and the Ukraine.

With 40 days of training under Malaysian coach Gobinathan Krishnamurty, Bangladesh are focused upon winning a semifinal slot. l

Tigers take field for final touches n Mazhar Uddin Mashrafe bin Mortaza will lead his troop in the nine-day training camp starting today before the Bangladesh World Cup squad flies for Brisbane, Australia on January 24.

The 15-member squad was declared on January 4 this year by the Bangladesh Cricket Board and after a week’s rest following the completion of the Dhaka Premier League, the cricketers will rejoin today at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

The first day will contain strength and conditioning training before an open discussion session under the supervision of coach Chandika Hathurusingha.

Maverick all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and opener Tamim Iqbal, who are in Australia for different reasons, are not the only ones missing from the camp that will end on January 21 as wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim will also skip the opening day after being advised two weeks’ rest following a shoulder injury. Shakib is currently playing for Melbourne Renegades in the KFC Big Bash Twenty20 League while Tamim is receiving treatment under Dr David Young in the same province.

Meanwhile, fast bowler Rubel Hossain, who was sent behind bars following a police case filed against him by a film actress, came out with bail yesterday and will be joining the Tigers’ training camp today.

Bangladesh will play two unofficial practice games during their two-week camp in Australia before playing an equal number of official warm-ups against Pakistan on February 9 and Ireland on February 12. They will begin the mega event against Afghanistan on February 18 in Canberra.l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

McCullum blitz sets up New Zealand victory

QUICK BYTES

Bale not too selfish, insists Ancelotti Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti defended his Welsh superstar Gareth Bale after he was whistled by sections of the home support during the European champions 3-0 win over Espanyol on Saturday. Bale contributed to James Rodriguez’s opener and then struck a wonderful free-kick to put the hosts 2-0 in front at half-time.

However, the Bernabeu faithful were less than happy when shortly after Madrid had been reduced to 10 men by Fabio Coentrao’s red card, Bale squandered an easy chance to make it 3-0 with Cristiano Ronaldo waiting for a tap in. “Bale played a very good game. He had intensity, he scored, he helped in the first goal. I thought he played very well,” said Ancelotti. “It could be in this moment the fans asked for a pass to Cristiano that he didn’t make because, like all strikers in front of goal, they try to score.

“The altruism of this team is very important, if there is someone who is being selfish we will fix it. “We have fans that demand a lot and this is good. Bale is a fundamental player like Cristiano and that is why the fans demand more of them.” Right-back Nacho eventually sealed the three points with his first goal for the club, but Bale’s error meant Ronaldo went scoreless for the first time in a league match that he has started at the Bernabeu since September 2013.

–AFP

n AFP, Christchurch

Rogers replaces Hussey as PM’s XI skipper Test opening batsman Chris Rogers has replaced injured Mike Hussey as captain of the Prime Minister’s XI for Wednesday’s match against England, Cricket Australia said Sunday. Hussey withdrew from the January 14 clash in Canberra with a calf injury sustained while playing for the Sydney Thunder in the Twenty20 Big Bash League on Friday. Rogers played a key role in the recent Test series against India with six consecutive half-centuries.

“It’s a great honour for me to be selected as captain of the Prime Minister’s XI to take on England,” Rogers said. “This is an important fixture on the Australian cricketing calendar and is steeped in tradition.

“I’m looking forward to following in the footsteps of Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee and others in leading this PM’s XI at Manuka Oval.” PM’s XI players Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell were on Sunday named in Australia’s squad for next month’s Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

–AFP

Anelka waits for Algeria go-ahead Former Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool striker Nicolas Anelka is on the verge of signing for his 13th club, NAHD of Algeria, as long as he’s not judged to be too old. The 35-year-old former French international has been training with Nasr Athlétique d’Hussein-Dey (NAHD), but needs special dispensation from the Algerian football federation (FAF) before he can put pen to paper. “Anelka is waiting for a concession from the FAF to sign his contract as they expect internationals to be under 29 years old when they sign,” NAHD president Mahfoud Ouled Zmirli told AFP. The club want Anelka, who has also played at Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain in a colourful and controversial career, to pen an 18-month deal. “Anelka hasn’t discussed money - he just wants to play for an Algerian club,” said the club president.

–AFP

Destro not leaving in January, says Garcia Roma coach Rudi Garcia insisted on Saturday forward Mattia Destro’s immediate future belonged at the club and he would not be leaving in January. Reports earlier on Saturday claimed AC Milan had offered Roma 1m euros ($1.9million) to take 23-year-old Destro on loan for six months and a further 20 million to buy him at the end of the season. Roma are said to be considering the deal but Garcia said: “I can confirm that he won’t be moving in January.” Roma can go top of Serie A, if only for a few hours, with a win at home to city rivals Lazio on Sunday afternoon. Champions and leaders Juventus hold a onepoint lead over Roma ahead of their trip to high-flying Napoli later Sunday. Destro, who has scored four goals this season, has previously been linked with Premier League sides Chelsea and Arsenal.

–AFP

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum’s bat is airborne during their first ODI against Sri Lanka at the Hagley Park Oval in Christchurch yesterday AFP

A cracking half-century by Brendon McCullum set New Zealand up for a comfortable three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in their first one-day international in Christchurch Sunday.

After McCullum’s 51 in 19 balls had provided his side a comfortable target well under four an over as they chased 219, Corey Anderson stepped up with 81 to ensure the job was done.

When Anderson was dismissed New Zealand required a further 10 runs which they achieved with seven overs remaining. Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews believed the target they set New Zealand was 30-40 runs short of what was required.

Sri Lanka, electing to bat first, posted 218-9 on the back of Jayawardene’s 104 in 107 balls.

It was the 18th ODI century for the 37-year-old, the fifth highest run-scorer in the history of the shortened game, who was rarely in trouble by the New Zealand attack until caught in a wicket meltdown late in the late innings.

Although Jayawardene received little support in the middle, Sri Lanka had

reason to believe their modest target was defendable when they removed Martin Guptill on the third ball of New Zealand’s reply.

But for McCullum that was a signal to open up as he blazed away to bring up his 50 in just 19 deliveries with six fours and three sixes.

It was the seventh fastest half century of all time, and only two behind the record held by Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya, who took 17 balls to reach 50 against Pakistan in 1996.

McCullum had no sooner reached his 50 than his rollicking innings was over, beaten in the air by Sachithra Senanayake and stumped by Kumar Sangakkara to trigger a mini New Zealand collapse. Three wickets fell for 13 runs in 27 balls as Kane Williamson (15) and Grant Elliot (one) followed McCullum back to the pavilion.

Williamson was snared by a remarkable catch at first slip by a diving Jayawardene who juggled the ball twice in his left hand before securing the wicket.

Tom Latham was stumped on 15 and New Zealand were 101-5 before Anderson and Ronchi put the innings back on course.l

SLvNZ, 1ST ODI Sri Lanka R D. Karunaratne lbw Milne 5 T. Dilshan st Ronchi b N. McCullum 19 K. Sangakkara c Williamson b Milne 4 M. Jayawardene b Clenaghan 104 A. Mathews run out 15 L. Thirimanne b McClenaghan 23 J. Mendis c McCullum b McClenaghan 23 T. Perera c Ronchi b McClenaghan 0 N. Kulasekara not out 6 S. Senanayake c Ronchi b Anderson 7 S. Eranga not out 5 Extras (w7) 7 Total (nine wickets, 50 overs)

B 8 42 15 107 33 50 25 1 4 11 4

218

Fall of wickets 1-10, 2-16, 3-51, 4-82, 5-155, 6-200, 7-200, 8-200, 9-213 Bowling Boult 10-1-46-0 (4w), Milne 10-1-37-2, McClenaghan 10-1-36-4 (2w), Anderson 10-0-61-1 (1w), N. McCullum 10-1-38-1 New Zealand M. Guptill c Dilshan b Kulasekara B. McCullum b Senanayake K. Williamson b Senanayake T. Latham st Sangakkara b Dilshan G. Elliott b Kulasekara C. Anderson lbw Dilshan L. Ronchi c Mathews b Eranga N. McCullum not out A. Milne not out Extras (lb5, w2, )

R

B

0 51 15 15 1 81 17 25 7 7

3 22 22 30 6 96 21 47 11

Total (seven wickets; 43 overs)

219

Fall of wickets 1-0, 2-63, 3-76, 4-77, 5-101, 6-149, 7-209 Bowling Kulasekara 10-1-43-2 (1w), Eranga 6-0-491 (1w), Senanayake 10-0-43-2, Mathews 2-0-17-0, Dilshan 7-0-28-2, Perera 7-029-0, Mendis 1-0-5-0 Series: New Zealand 1-0

Clarke under deadline to lead at WC n Reuters, Sydney Injured captain Michael Clarke has been named in Australia’s 15-man squad for the World Cup in February and March, but will be omitted if he cannot prove his fitness by the second match against Bangladesh.

Clarke is in a race to be fit for the global showpiece to be held in Australia and New Zealand after hamstring surgery and said last month it was unlikely he would play the start of the tournament.

Australia’s first match is against England on Feb. 14 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

“He is one of the world’s best batsmen and we want to give him every chance to prove his fitness for a tournament as important as this one,” chairman of selectors Rod Marsh said in a statement on Sunday.

“We have said that if Michael has not recovered by our second match of the

tournament against Bangladesh on Feb. 21, we will replace him in the squad. He understands that and is working tirelessly with medical staff to get back to fitness.”

George Bailey has been named vice-captain and is likely to deputise in

SQUAD Michael Clarke (captain), George Bailey, Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson Clarke’s absence, though in-form batsman Steven Smith has made a compelling case to lead the side.

Smith torched South Africa’s world class pace attack in a recent one-day series, and after replacing Clarke as captain of the Test side for the final three

matches against India, guided Australia to a 2-0 series victory.

Australia test spinner Nathan Lyon’s hopes of a recall after nearly three years out of one-day international cricket have been dashed with selectors sticking with established left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty, seen as a more economical choice if not a big wicket-taker.

Doherty is the lone specialist slow bowler in the squad, with Australia and New Zealand’s pitches not expected to offer much turn.

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell has been included and can provide parttime offspin. He is likely to vie with fast bowling all-rounder Mitchell Marsh for the number six spot in the batting order, depending on the wicket.

Australia’s selectors have included 21-year-old fast bowler Pat Cummins in the pace battery dashing speculation that accomplished Test bowler Ryan Harris might win a berth. l

South Africa captain Francois du Plessis is on cloud nine after scoring the second fastest Twenty20 international century, against the West Indies in Johannesburg yesterday REUTERS

No Bravo or Pollard, but Bastia stun PSG in thrilling comeback RESULTS Narine returns for WC n AFP, Paris

n Reuters, St. John’s West Indies have left out all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from their 15-man squad for the World Cup in February and March.

The duo are surprise omissions, but there is a recall for spinner Sunil Narine whose bowling action was deemed illegal during last year’s Champions League Twenty20 competition.

Bravo led the team which abruptly withdrew from a one day series in India last year over a pay dispute and the pullout prompted the Indian board to suspend all future tours with West Indies.

The squad will be captained by 23-year-old Jason Holder, who will lead the side for the first time in their fivematch one-day international series in South Africa starting on Friday.

Experienced batsman Marlon Samuels has been appointed vice-captain.

Also returning to the squad is top order batsman Darren Bravo, who had taken time away from the game to ad-

SQUAD

Jason Holder (captain), Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor dress some personal matters.

Fast bowler Kemar Roach has been selected despite after suffering an ankle injury in the recently completed Test series against South Africa.l

Paris Saint Germain gave up a two-goal lead as Bastia stormed back to win 4-2 in Corsica on Saturday as the defending champions spurned the chance to go top of Ligue 1.

Instead the shock loss left Paris in fourth place after Saint Etienne extended their unbeaten league run to 10 games, beating Reims 2-1 to climb up to third.

PSG had looked to be in total control after goals in the 10th minute from Lucas, a lovely lob, and in the 20th when the 19-year-old Tottenham-linked midfielder Adrien Rabiot pounced on the loose ball and fired it with his left foot into the bottom corner.

Ryad Boudebouz pulled one back from the spot for Bastia on the halfhour after Gregory Van der Wiel was harshly judged to have handled.

And just on the stroke of half-time David Luiz was caught napping as Fran-

Bastia

4-2

Boudebouz 32-P, Modesto 45, Palmieri 56, 89

Guingamp

PSG

Lucas 10, Rabiot 20

2-0

Lens

Mandanne 17, Beauvue 76-P

Lille

1-0

Caen

Frey 20

Nice

3-1

Bautheac 29-P, Bosetti 60, Carlos Eduardo 67

Reims Cohade 90-og

Evian Thomasson 63

Lorient Jeannot 6

1-2

Saint-Etienne

Mollo 44, Hamouna 48

1-1

Rennes Ntep 66

cois Modesto headed home a corner.

Bastia took the lead with a thunderbolt in every sense of the word, as defender Julien Palmieri latched on

to a poorly cleared corner in the 56th minute and unleashed a jaw-dropping half-volley.

The pulsating finale ended when Palmieri himself ran clear of the defence to make it 4-2 in the 89th minute for a fully deserved win that ended eight straight Ligue 1 defeats for Bastia to the capital side.

The victory was welcome relief for struggling Bastia, who are now two points and four places above the relegation zone. Paris coach Laurent Blanc put the defeat down to a lack of respect for the adversary.

Ahead of the match a one minute silence was observed in the wake of the Islamist attacks that left 17 people dead this week. Some local fans unfurled a banner reading ‘Qatar finances PSG and terrorism’.

Ligue 1 leaders Marseille, on 41 points, also lost on Friday when they went down 2-1 at Montpellier.l

BHF distributes gear and scholarship

n Raihan Mahmood

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 4 2:40PM T20 Big Bash League Adelaide Strikers v Sydney Thunder 11:30PM Fifa Ballon D’Or Gala Night 1:45AM Spanish La Liga Rayo Vallecano v Cordoba

13

Monday, January 12, 2015

Agnieszka Radwanska and Jerzy Janowicz of Poland hold aloft the Hopman Cup in Perth on Saturday REUTERS

The Bangladesh Hockey Federation yesterday distributed hockey sticks and balls to the 21 participating schools of the Dhaka division of the First Security Islami Bank National Hockey at the Dutch-Bangla Bank auditorium.

The sponsor, First Security Islami Bank, also handed over scholarships to 46 students of the previous edition in the same programme. The selected students will receive Tk1,000 per month this year. The total amoung of the scholarship is Tk542,000. First Security Islami Bank Ltd acting managing director Syed M Wasek Ali distributed the kits as the chief guest. The bank’s head of development and marketing Azam Khan, hockey federation general secretary Khaja Rahmatullah, joint secretary Anvir Adil Khan and secretary of the tournament committee, Mamunur Rashid, were also present on the occasion. l

Syed M Wasek Ali (3L), acting managing director of First Security Islami Bank, hands over a stick to a participant school yesterday MI MANIK

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Monday, January 12, 2015

Wolfsburg’s Malanda killed as car hits tree n AFP, Berlin

Roger Federer of Switzerland poses with a giant number 1,000 after winning his thousandth career title in the men’s singles final at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane yesterday. Federer defeated Milos Raonic of Canada in three sets to mark the milestone.

REUTERS

Federer claims 1,000th career win n Reuters, Brisbane Roger Federer beat Milos Raonic in an enthralling final at the Brisbane International on Sunday to register his 1,000th ATP career win and complete the perfect build up to this month’s Australian Open.

Federer survived the inevitable serving blitz from the towering Canadian to win the two hour 13 minute slugfest 6-4 6-7(2) 6-4 and join Jimmy Connors (1,253) and Ivan Lendl (1,071) as the only men to reach the magical milestone.

The Swiss master, as fiercely competitive as ever at the age of 33 even if he doesn’t move quite as quickly as he once did, also chalked up his 83rd career title and has now won at least one

tournament every year since 2001, an unbroken streak spanning 15 seasons.

Federer was presented with the tournament trophy by Roy Emerson, a 12-time grand slam winner, and also received a special framed photo marking his 1,000th win from Rod Laver, the only tennis player to win all four majors in the same year on two separate occasions.

“I’ve played a lot of tennis over the years...so to get to 1,000 wins means a lot to me and I will never forget this match.”

Raonic, one of the emerging stars of men’s tennis since making the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year was gracious in defeat and also paid tribute to Federer, saying he was in awe of his achievements.

“We all know today is a significant

milestone for Roger,” he said. “When we came out and they listed all the things you’ve won, I thought you must have been playing for 2,000 wins.”

Raonic was unable to dictate terms against the vastly more experienced Federer once he adapted to his booming serve but pushed his opponent all the way in a high-quality match where the pair hit a combined total of 92 clean winners.

Raonic had blasted 34 aces past Kei Nishikori in his semi-final but managed only 12 against Federer, who replied with 20 of his own, including one where Raonic misjudged the bounce and took an embarrassing air swing.

Federer, returning the ball deep and mixing up his shots, broke Raonic’s serve once in each set as the capacity

crowd at the Pat Rafter Arena roared in admiration.

The world number two broke in the third game of the match when Raonic dumped a backhand into the net then broke him again in the opening game of the second set.

But Raonic showed that he has more to his game than just his big serve when he quickly broke back and forced a tiebreaker, his sixth of the tournament.

Federer won the first two points of the tiebreaker but Raonic reeled off the next seven on the trot to square the match at one set apiece.

The standard of play rose along with the tension in the deciding set before Raonic blinked first, double faulting to give Federer match point then hitting a forehand into the net to concede defeat. l

Belgian under-21 international and Wolfsburg midfielder Junior Malanda died when a car he was travelling in smashed into a tree, Bild reported on Saturday.

The 20-year-old, who died at the scene of the accident, had been a back seat passenger when the driver lost control and slid off the road, police said. The two other people in the car survived.

Malanda had been on his way to join up with his Wolfsburg teammates for a winter-break in South Africa, but died at Porta Westfalica on his way to Hanover airport on Saturday afternoon.

The Belgian FA said on their website that the nation had lost one of its greatest talents, pointing out he had represented the national team at all age levels.

“Wherever he went Junior made a good impression. Beside his footballing talent and impressive physique he was always in a good mood. He was the current captain of our under-21 side, which is testament to his good character and leadership skills,” read the statement.l

Ferrer claims 22nd title with Qatar triumph n AFP, Doha David Ferrer, so often the forgotten man of the world’s top ten, made a heartening start to the new season by winning the Qatar Open title on Saturday, defeating Tomas Berdych, 6-4, 7-5.

The 32-year-old fourth seed saved three set points in the second set against Berdych, the third-seeded former Wimbledon finalist, whose big weapons sometimes threatened to sweep all before him.

But Ferrer, diligent, fast and better focussed, made the best of his talents - despite having to work hard to survive from within two points of defeat against Ivo Karlovic the previous day - and proved

that he can still be a high level contender with the 22nd title of his career.

Berdych’s failure to convert his break points in the 10th game of the second set was crucial. His strident ground strokes, particularly when he hit straight, threatened to take charge of the match. But his best chances were harmed by his own doubtful shot selection.

One came on his third set point, when he pinned Ferrer back with a great drive, and then tried to make a drop shot over the highest part of the net.

With the court open the ball fell dramatically back. Berdych’s previous two set points ebbed away after he hit one backhand drive long and another into the net, both from reasonable positions.l

Ronaldo hopes to hold off Messi, Neuer to retain Ballon d’Or n AFP, Zurich Cristiano Ronaldo is the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or for the second year in succession at Monday’s gala ceremony in Zurich ahead of Manuel Neuer and Lionel Messi.

Messi has finished in the top two in each of the last seven years but, despite another prolific year in 2014, appears this time to be lagging behind his two rivals.

A disappointing World Cup, in which he was eliminated at the group stage with Portugal, has not prevented Ronaldo from staking a strong claim to win the prize for the third time overall.

The 29-year-old Real Madrid superstar scored a remarkable 61 goals in the calendar year as he helped his club win the Champions League, Copa del Rey and UEFA Super Cup before ending 2014 by securing the Club World Cup. Ronaldo scored a record 17 goals in

City agree fee for Swansea’s Bony n AFP, London Manchester City have agreed a $45 million fee to sign Swansea’s Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony, according to British media reports on Sunday.

The 26-year-old is currently preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations, but City have been pushing to seal a deal for the former Vitesse Arnhem star and it is believed the move will be officially confirmed early next week.

Bony has proved to be a major asset for Swansea since arriving at the Liberty Stadium from Dutch club Vitesse in 2013. He has scored nine Premier League goals already this season, having managed 17 in the league in the 2013-14 campaign.

That fine form has caught the eye of City manager Manuel Pellegrini and Bony’s agent Francis Kacou said on Wednesday that he expected “things will be sorted in the next few days”. l

last season’s Champions League and has already netted a phenomenal 26 goals in 16 La Liga games this season.

Unsurprisingly, he has received

BALLON d’OR LIST 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 NB

: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real/POR) : Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ARG) : Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ARG) : Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ARG) : Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ARG) : Cristiano Ronaldo (Man U/POR) : Kaka (AC Milan/BRA) : Fabio Cannavaro (Real/ITA) : Ronaldinho (Barcelona/BRA) : Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan/UKR) : Before 2010, the Ballon d’Or was awarded by France Football magazine. Fifa ran a separate World Player of the Year award but the two prizes then merged.

fierce support from his club, who feel that Ronaldo would be the only worthy winner of the prize and felt compelled to publicly criticise UEFA president Michel Platini for his suggestions that Neuer should take the award.

Platini said in November that a German should win the award following their World Cup triumph, telling press: “I already said it four years ago. A Spaniard should have won it then because Spain had won the World Cup (in 2010).

This year it is Germany.”

In response, Madrid expressed “surprise at (Platini’s) repeated remarks regarding his personal preferences for who should win the Ballon d’Or”, and added that Ronaldo was “deserving more than ever of winning the Ballon d’Or.” However, Neuer makes a good case to become the first goalkeeper to take the prize since Lev Yashin of the Soviet Union in 1963. l

Sanchez lifts Arsenal

Ali Ahmed Mabkhout of UAE reacts after scoring during the Asian Cup football match between UAE and Qatar in Canberra on January

Iran, UAE turn on the style at Asian Cup

n Reuters, London

n AFP, Sydney

A sublime Alexis Sanchez scored twice and created a third as Arsenal climbed level on points with fourth-placed Southampton following a 3-0 Premier League victory against Stoke City on Sunday.

After Laurent Koscielny headed Arsenal into a sixth-minute lead from a Sanchez cross the outstanding Chilean fired in a brilliant second before scoring with a deflected freekick for his 18th goal in all competitions this season.

Arsenal’s win was soured somewhat by a serious looking injury to defender Mathieu Debuchy but the Gunners were able to welcome back German World Cup-winner Mesut Ozil following a length injury absence.

Victory lifted Arsenal above rivals Tottenham Hotspur to fifth, level with Southampton who travel to Manchester United, one point and place above them, in Sunday’s late game. l

Ehsan Hajsafi’s glorious volley fired Iran to victory over Bahrain and Omar Abdulrahman starred for UAE as the region’s brightest stars turned on the style at the Asian Cup Sunday.

Hajsafi’s swift control and scything strike from the corner of the box raised the roof at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium as Team Melli opened with a pulsating 2-0 win.

Earlier UAE’s top-rated midfielder Oman Abdulrahman bewitched Gulf rivals Qatar in a 4-1 rout achieved through braces to both Ahmed Khalil and Ali Mabkhout in Canberra.

UAE went behind to “Qatari Maradona” Khalfan Ibrahim’s sweetly executed volley before they roared back to put a huge hole in the campaign of the 2022 World Cup hosts.

The atmosphere in Melbourne was at fever pitch from the start and Iran al-

most opened the scoring when Ashkan Dejagah forced a smart stop from Sayed Abbas in the Bahrain goal.

Bahrain’s Nigerian-born striker Jaycee Okwunwanne blazed just wide and Sayed Shubbar headed a golden opportunity over as Bahrain threatened to

RESULTS

UAE

4-1

Khalil 37, 52, Mabkhout 56, 89

Iran

Qatar Ibrahim 22

2-0

Bahrain

Ehsan Hajsafi 45+2, Masoud Shojaei 71

capitalise on Iran’s sluggish start.

But with nearly the last kick of the first half, Hajsafi struck when he juggled a clearance from his left to his right boot and smashed it into the top corner.

Okwunwanne knocked Iran ‘keeper Alireza Haghighi backwards with a ferocious drive before Masoud Shojaei

popped up to steer home a mishit effort from a corner.

The Gulf derby in Canberra lacked the frenzied atmosphere of Melbourne’s 17,000-strong crowd but the UAE put on an exhibition fit for the big stage.

Goal of the game went to Qatar’s Ibrahim, a former Asian player of the year, who controlled a rebound on his chest and acrobatically lob-volleyed for a memorable strike.

But Gulf Cup champions Qatar were profligate at the back and Khalil equalised from the rebound of his own header before the first half was done.

After half-time, man-of-the-match Khalil’s free-kick from the left evaded everyone including Qatar goalkeeper Qasem Burhan as it crept into the goal to put UAE ahead. Burhan then gifted Mabkhout his first goal, when he palmed the ball to the striker, before qualifying’s top-scorer combined with Abdulrahman for his second. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Life and work of CHASHI NAZRUL ISLAM

n Entertainment Desk Chashi Nazrul Islam, who died yesterday of liver cancer at the city’s Labaid Hospital, was born on October 23, 1941, in the Sreenagar upazila of Bikrampur district. A prominent filmmaker and producer, Islam always wanted to be an actor like Dilip Kumar. In his childhood, he would often sell his books, even steal friends’ books to sell, so he could manage money to watch movies.

His father died when he was a boy

Monday, January 12, 2015

Dhallywood mourns CHASHI NAZRUL ISLAM n Entertainment Desk

of 16, prompting him to take up a job at the office of his uncle, the auditor general of then Pakistan. He was irregular in office, and would instead spend time organising cultural programmes. He was a member of the local theatre troupe Krishti Sangha.

After he got fired from that job, he started to perform for radio in 1965.

He directed and lent his voice to popular radio dramas such as “Ramer Sumoti” (1965), “Socrates” (1966), “Sokhina Birongona” (1974).

Chashi started his career in the visual media in 1964, after successfully auditioning for a work on the television. He worked as an assistant director for the film “Dui Digonto,” directed by Obaidur Rahman. Later, he worked with director Fateh Lohani. He took part in the 1971 war of liberation, and later, made his first film “Ora Egaro Jon” – the first film in independent Bangladesh based on the themes of the war.

His other war films include “Shongram,” “Hangor Nadi Granade” and “Megher Pore Megh.” He also directed mainstream movies such as “Dhrubo Tara,” “Shahid Captain Salauddin,” “Debdas,” “Shuvoda,” “Padma Meghna Jamuna,” “Hason Raja,” and “Shasti and Suva.”

Winner of Ekushey Padak in 2004 for Best Director, Islam made around thirty films. l

Dhallywood was quick to acknowledge the legacy of iconic filmmaker and freedom fighter Chashi Nazrul Islam, who died yesterday after battling cancer for a long time. Film stars and producers joined the mourning by paying tribute to his contributions to the industry and recalling their personal attachments to him.

Razzak, actor

“May Chashi Nazrul Islam’s soul rest in peace. I lost a friend. I worked with him in ‘Bajimat’ in 1978, ‘Chandranath’ in 1984, and ‘Shubhoda Shuva’ in 1986, and later, we acted together in my son Bappa Raj’s directorial debut ‘Kartuz.’ To me, he was not only an actor, but also a member of my family.”

Shuchonda, actor and producer

“A valiant freedom fighter, friendly and always honest with his words – in short, Chashi Nazrul Islam was a great person. He had a heavy voice that would demand

the attention of a houseful audience.

A charismatic personality, he directed ‘Basona’ in 1989 and ‘Behula Lakhindar’ in 1987 under the banner of my production house.”

Kabori Sarwar, actor

“I still remember his smiling face when he was at the hospital, suffering from the disease. It showed his indomitable willpower.

He wouldn’t show his pain to anyone.

With his passing we lost a central figure in the industry. For me, personally, I am indebted to ‘Debdas’ which actually made my career. He will be greatly missed.”

Sohel Rana, actor

“One of his significant films, ‘Ora Egaro Jon,’ will be remembered fondly.

There were a lot of obstacles to making the film, but Islam went ahead with the project and made it possible.”

Faruk, actor and producer

“I produced a film, ‘Mia Bhai,’ in 1987 of which he was the director. I saw

in my own eyes what a perfectionist he was.

He would continue to shoot and reshoot sequences until he was satisfied.

I think creative persons are like that, they would see to it that their works are done to their heart’s content.”

Riaz, actor

“I still remember his heavy voice. I am very lucky to have worked with a director of his stature.

I worked with him in 2004, in ‘Megher Pore Megh,’ and again in 2005, in ‘Shasti.’”

15

Deep Blue Sea WB, 7:30pm Cast: Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson

Searching for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the bait as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.

Limitless HBO Hits, 11:40pm Cast: Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish

Purnima, actor

“I used to call him ‘darling’ and he used to reply saying ‘ s w e e t h e a r t .’

He always made time to come and see me during my shootings. Chashi Sir used to carry a black-and-white picture of mine in his wallet. The love that he gave to me was so precious.” l

With the help of a mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100 percent of his brain abilities, a struggling writer becomes a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with lots of dangers.

Promotions a necessity now: Amitabh Bachchan

Jamal Ahmed’s ‘Ordinary Life: Extra Ordinary Vision’ opens at the Athena Gallery n Nadira Sultana Ava Familiar and ordinary moments receive extraordinary treatment in the art of Jamal Ahmed.

His solo exhibition, on display at an exhibition titled “Ordinary Life: Extra Ordinary Vision” at the Athena Gallery of Fine Arts in the capital, was inaugurated on January 9 by distinguished artist Shahabuddin.

In his work, Jamal portrays the emotion and beauty of the mundane surroundings that are the companions of daily life.

Everyday scenes fail to capture our attention; we are too well acquainted with them to pay them, and the artist-

British stars set to shine at Golden Globes n Entertainment Desk The Golden Globes are due to kick off Hollywood’s awards season later, with British stars expected to fare well.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne go head-to-head for the best movie actor prize, for their respective roles as Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking.

Rosamund Pike and Felicity Jones also compete in the best actress category.

Both are newcomers to the ceremony, with Pike shortlisted for the thriller “Gone Girl,” and Jones for the Hawking biopic, “The Theory of Everything.”

Seven-time nominee Julianne Moore, who is hoping to win her first Globe, for “Still Alice,” in which she portrays a woman with early-on set Alzheimer’s.

Moore is not the only star hoping to break a run of bad luck at the ceremony.

Emily Blunt, nominated as best actress (musical or comedy) for “Into The Woods,” has nothing to show for her three previous nominations.

The same is true of Patricia Arquette - who must be cursing her luck after her groundbreaking performance in “Boyhood” was nominated against Meryl Streep in the best supporting actress (musical or comedy) category.

Streep, who plays a wicked witch in “Into The Woods,” stands to win her eighth Globe (from 29 nominations) at the ceremony. l

ry inherent in them, heed.

The uniqueness of Jamal’s eye is in the way his art focuses our eyes on the ordinary occurrences and objects, bringing us in touch with the feeling of a specific emotion or situation.

He gives us an acute realisation of the things we habitually miss out on.

Using an array of media including acrylic, charcoal, pastel and pencil, Jamal exhibits his studies of the human figure and the human soul on a meaningful background.

One of his pieces, “From the river,” not only reveals the beauty of the riverbank but also centres our focus on the human figures who belong to the working class.

T H E

Pigeons, depicted with a wonderful sense of colour, feature prominently in the series.

As a distinctive artist, Jamal is a pioneer in representing Bangladeshi Fine Arts to the world art market.

Born in 1955, Jamal is currently an Associate Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

He was a visiting teacher in the Art and Design Department at North Carolina State University and a visiting Artist in Residence in the United States.

He has had 41 solo exhibitions in Japan and the US. The exhibition will be on display till January 31. l

n Entertainment Desk Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is currently busy promoting his forthcoming film “Shamitabh”, believes promotions are a must now.

“Promotions deprive you of yourself consciousness. It does not give you a chance to be so … much as we may like to be obsessed with the temperament.

It is a necessity now, a must, a budgeted must and so we do it,” the 72-yearold posted on his official blog srbachchan.tumblr.com.

He further added: “I wonder often who really the true benefactor of these promotions … is for if the film is weak and disliked by the audience, surely any amount of glorification pre or post would not ever enhance the box office. Would it?” l

R O L E S

T H A T

Theatre Folk, an Oxford-based theatre troupe, stages “Jamuna”, which features Liberation War heroines. It was staged at Natmandal of Dhaka University and the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on January 9 and 10

G O T

A W A Y

Some of the most famous on-screen performances could have gone a totally different direction MTV News. “Very uncomfortable,” Hale continued about her audition. “But it was sort of one of those things where you just had to go for it or you’re just going to look lame—hopefully, I didn’t look lame.” In the end, the gig went to Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith’s daughter Dakota Johnson.

Reese Witherspoon in ‘Gone Girl’ “Gone Girl” director David Fincher did not feel Reese Witherspoon was right for the part of Ben Affleck’s wife in the 2014 thriller. “We had a long conversation where Fincher was like, ‘You’re not right for it. And this is why,” Witherspoon told The Hollywood Reporter. No hard feelings though, Reese agreed with Fincher and the role eventually went to Rosamund Pike.

Robert De Niro in ‘Big’ The 1988 hit wouldn’t have been the same without Tom Hanks as Josh, but that role almost went to Robert De Niro. De Niro was too expensive and the producers gave it to Tom.

Hugh Jackman as James Bond?

Burt Reynolds in ‘Pretty Woman’

Before Daniel Craig was dubbed the new Bond in 2006, Hugh Jackman was approached to play the MI6 agent. “’I got a call from my agent saying, ‘There is some possible interest in you for Bond, are you interested?’” Hugh Jackman recalls. “At the time I wasn’t. I was about to shoot ‘X-Men 2’ and ‘Wolverine’ had become this thing in my life and I didn’t want to be doing two such iconic characters at once.”

The actor was offered the role of Edward Lewis in “Pretty Woman” but ultimately declined. He later joked with Piers Morgan in 2012 that after he saw the film and the love-making scenes with Julia Roberts, that he regretted not taking the part.

Nicole Kidman in ‘The Reader’

Lucy Hale in ‘50 Shades of Grey’ Actress turned country singer Hale (L) recalled her “uncomfortable” “Fifty Shades of Grey” audition. “It was a two-page monologue of exactly what you would think it would be,” she told

Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Twilight’ Susan Sarandon in ‘Rocky’ Susan read for the role of Rocky’s love interest, Adrian (Talia Shire), but producers thought she was “too attractive” to play the part.

The Oscar winner tried out for the role of Bella Swan in the “Twilight” series. She was likely better off spending her time working on “Hunger Games” and “Silver Linings Playbook.” So, “Twilight” series and Razzy awards went to Kristen Stewart.

The lead character in “The Reader” was originally supposed to be played by Kate Winslet, but she was replaced by Nicole Kidman due to a scheduling conflict with “Revolutionary Road.”

However, it seems as though Kate was meant to play the WWII vet in “The Reader” since Nicole Kidman had to bow out when she became pregnant. Kate ultimately got the role back and it earned her an Academy Award.

16

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Monday, January 12, 2015

Inferno at Katasur Battala slum claims child’s life n Ashif Islam Shaon A devastating fire that swept through a slum in the capital’s Katasur area claimed the life of a four-year-old girl and ravaged about 500 shanties yesterday.

After the fire was put out, the deceased girl’s father, Joynal, a CNG-driven auto-rickshaw driver, pulled his daughter Fatema’s body out from the ashes of his rented house at the Battala slum.

The victim’s mother, Asma Begum, had locked her inside the house before taking her older sister to school.

Deputy Director Johirul Amin Miah of the fire service’s Dhaka division said they were informed around 8:25am that the slum had caught fire.

Eleven fire fighting units from headquarters and several other stations reached the spot within 15 minutes of being notified, he said.

Fire fighters and residents managed to bring the blaze under control around 9:40am. Some 515 families lost their belongings in the fire, the fire service official said.

Abdur Rashid, a witness whose shanty was spared, said minutes after 8am, a tenant named Abdur Rahman came running out of his shanty screaming that his house had caught fire.

“An electrical wire in the house caught fire, when he threw water over the fire it went out of control.” he said.

“Loudspeakers from a nearby mosque directed slum dwellers to rush to Rahman’s house to help douse the flames, but to no avail. The fire service

The charred remains of Fatema, a four-year-old child killed in the Battali slum fire, is recovered by her father from the ashes of their gutted shanty. Fire fighters earlier carried out a frantic effort to rescue the child thought to be trapped beneath debris DHAKA TRIBUNE was informed,” he said.

A morning breeze from the north helped the flames to spread quickly.

Residents of the slum rushed out of their houses with whatever they could carry in their arms. Some continued to try to fight the fire with bucketloads of water.

According to the residents of the slum, landlords Rahman, Moti, Bach-

chu, Haji Siddique, Hawlader, Vandari, Rana and others rent out at least 20 houses containing more than 500 rooms to low-income people.

Perhaps Fatema died in her sleep

In the morning yesterday, Asma prepared her elder daughter Joynob, 7, a student of class one, for school. When they left the house, just 20 minutes

First phase of Biswa Ijtema ends with prayer for peace on earth

before the fire broke out, Fatema was asleep under a blanket.

Asma did not wake her up and locked the door from the outside expecting to be back home soon from Jafrabad Adorshabad Government Primary School.

But before Asma could make it home, fire had broken out at a neighbour’s house and spread to hers.

Call for collective approach to tackle climate change impact n Abu Bakar Siddique

Hundreds of thousands of devotees raise hands together in prayer during the Akheri Munajat of the first phase of the Biswa Ijtema.

Dedicated trains for Ijtema-goers failed to accommodate the massive crowds MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Alam Durjoy and Munir n Nure Momtaj with our Gazipur Correspondent With the prayer for peace on earth and seeking divine blessings of the Almighty Allah, the first phase of Biswa Ijtema concluded yesterday through the Akheri Munajat.

The Munajat, conducted by Indian Muslim scholar Maulana Mohammad Saa'd, began at 11:15am and ended at 11:48am. Before that, the sun came out shining bright giving devotees a great relief from cold.

Pin drop silence prevailed as the sea of devotees raised their hands to the Almighty for his mercy during the prayer.

Maulana Mohammed Saa'd in his speech in Urdu and Arabic called upon the Muslims to uphold Islamic values in everyday life and dedicate themselves for the service of Islam.

Meanwhile, the stream of Ijtema goers continued till yesterday morning amid the countrywide blockade. Finding no transport, many walked miles to participate in the concluding prayer.

Muslims from the capital and the nearby areas of Tongi, Gazipur, Savar and Uttara also participated in the Akheri Munajat.

As per the government plan, the traffic on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway remained suspended since Saturday midnight with the ocean of people marching towards the Ijtema ground.

The Munajat was relayed to far-flung areas through loudspeakers. Roads, side-walks, open spaces, foot-over bridges and rooftops of nearby hous-

es and factory buildings were teeming with people who could not be at the main ground.

The prayer was also aired live by TV and radio stations allowing people to take part from their houses.

Many people also joined by taking positions at various mosques, school fields, bazaars and other places where mobile phone was their only means of hearing the prayer.

The government and private offices, mills and factories, educational institutions in Tongi and Gazipur were declared closed to facilitate the Ijtema and devotees.

On the concluding day, some Islamic scholars delivered sermon after Fazr prayer till the beginning of the prayer.

During the three days of the Ijtema, Islamic thinkers and Tablighi Jamaat leaders delivered sermons about Iman (faith in Allah), Akhlaq (manners), Practice and Dawat (invitation).

The sermons were delivered in different languages including English, Bangla, Malay, Tamil, French, Hindi and Urdu.

The second and last phase of the Ijtema will begin on January 16 and will end on January 18.

After the end of the first phase of Biswa Ijtema, Tablighi Jamaat made three thousand Jamaats (small group of devotees) who will spread out all over the country and abroad for conveying the invitation of Islam.

Human snarl on the roads after Munajat

As soon as the Akheri Munajat ended, tens and thousands of people began

their return journey from Tongi. Most of the devotees went walking as there were no vehicle available on the roads.

Mohammad Zakir, a devotee at the Ijtema, said: “I attend the Akheri Munajat every year. But due to the lack of transportation and the huge number of attendees, I could not reach the main Ijtema ground.”

The devotees who came to the Ijtema from remote districts of the country were worried about their return journey.

Many of them expressed dissatisfaction over the BNP-led 20-party alliance as they did not withdraw the blockade.

Rabiul Islam, from Jessore, said: “I came here with our group by various means of transports, but now we are worried about our return. I don't know how we would be able to go to our home. It is very difficult to get transport to go together.”

However, a few number of reserved buses, along with local vehicles, were seen carrying the devotees to next convenient location.

Moreover, the Bangladesh Railway arranged 23 special trains to carry devotees from Tongi station after the prayer. Besides, all the inter-city trains also stopped at the Tongi station.

4 more devotees die Four more devotees died since Saturday till yesterday at the Ijtema ground.

They were identified as Makbul Hossain, 75 and Moktar Hossain, 59 from Chuadanga, Saidur Rahman, 20 from Sylhet and Sobhan from Gazipur.

A total of ten devotees died in the first phase of Ijtema due to health issues. l

“I was on duty the whole night driving my auto-rickshaw. After returning the vehicle to the garage, I was on the way home when Asma called on my cell phone. When I returned to the slum I saw nothing but flames,” Joynal, Fatema’s father, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We were near certain that she was trapped in the room, but we hoped against hope that someone had rescued her and she was unhurt,” he said crying.

With the help of fire fighters, he pulled his daughter out of the debris.

“We could not recognise her. Her remains consisted of just some charred pieces,” Joynal said.

“I gave Fatema Tk5 when I left home on Saturday night. She hugged me and said, ‘Father come back soon.’ She was sleeping under her blanket. Perhaps the fire gave her some warmth before burning her to death,” he said.

His grief-stricken wife fainted several times while holding up a photograph of her two daughters.

Joynal said after the incident local Awami League lawmaker Jahangir Kabir Nanak called him to his office and gave him Tk20,000 for the burial.

Nanak visited the spot in the afternoon.

Joynal came to the capital from Shibchar in Madaripur in search of work in 1988 but went back to his village home in 2013.

“But we came back to Dhaka last year because the girls’ mother became ill and needed better treatment. We moved to Bottola slum four months ago,” he said. l

Speakers at a programme yesterday called on national and global leaders to work together to tackle the negative impacts of climate change, terming it a global problem.

“Bangladesh alone cannot address the problem as it is a global one and hence requires concerted efforts,” said Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hossain Manzu while addressing the concluding session of a conference arranged by Gobeshona at Independent University, Bangladesh.

The Gobeshona conference for research on climate change in Bangladesh is part of the Gobeshona programme that seeks to enhance the sharing and quality of research on climate change in Bangladesh in order to raise the effectiveness of research in forming national responses to climate change through policy and practice.

“Tackling impacts of climate change is inherently a learning-by-doing process. Bangladesh has actually done quite a lot. We now need to learn from what we have done before we do something more, especially learning from the past mistakes. This is what we are trying to do collectively and it was great to see such an impressive turnout at the conference,” said Dr Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development.

The environment minister said science-based policy research was imperative to attract the attention of global leaders in mobilising climate resilience fund.

But Saleemul said the country had to illustrate a good performance regarding managing funds in a rational manner to get the currently available funds from the global community.

He also urged the government to consider adaptation measures as well

as the need and knowledge of the vulnerable people to get the best output from the funds.

According to the fifth assessment report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Bangladesh is at specific risk from climate change impacts due to its exposure to the rise in sea level and extreme events like salinity intrusion, drought, erratic rainfall and tidal surge which will hamper the country’s food as well as livelihood security.

The government has formulated Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) in 2009 as a guideline for tackling the negative impacts of global warming.

Under the guideline, the government has formulated Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) using its own resources in 2010 to take adaptation measures, which received Tk2,700 crore in the current fiscal year from the government’s revenue budget.

Using the fund, the government has taken different measures, including developing saline and drought tolerant crop varieties, building embankments to resist salinity and tidal surge, and developing infrastructure to tackle cyclone and flood-related hazards.

In addition to the BCCTF, the government has formed another fund named Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund with contribution from development partners, including the European Union, Denmark, Canada and the UK. Md Nojibur Rahman, secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Dr Atiq Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, Professor M Omar Rahman, vice-chancellor of Independent University, Bangladesh, and Dr Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change addressed the concluding session. l

Chashi Nazrul Islam dies n Mohammad Abu Bakar Siddique

Eminent Bangladeshi filmmaker and producer Chashi Nazrul Islam, who made the first film on the country’s Liberation War, died at Labaid Specialised Hospital in Dhaka yesterday morning after a long battle with liver cancer. He was 73.

President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, as well as many cultural organisations, expressed profound shock at the death of the famed director and offered their condolences.

“Chashi Nazrul Islam will always be remembered by the people of Bangladesh because of his work on the Liberation War as well as life-oriented films,” the president said in a statement.

The prime minister said: “The loss that the country has suffered due to his death is irreparable.”

They prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family.

Chashi Nazrul’s body was taken to his residence on Jashimuddin Road in Motijheel, where his first Namaz-e-Janaza was held at the local mosque. Later, his body was taken to the Brothers Union Club for a second Namaz-e-Janaza.

His body will be taken to Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (FDC) this morning for a final tribute.

Two more Janazas are also scheduled for today at the National Press Club and the Baitul Mokarram.

After the Janazas, his body will be taken to ancestral graveyard in Shamashpur village in Munshiganj, Chashi’s cousin Nasiruddin confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune.

Babul Biswas, filmmaker, performance art analyst and secretary at the publication committee of the International Theatre Institute, Chashi was the last active filmmaker of his generation, which included the legendary filmmaker Zahir Raihan.

A glimpse into Chashi’s life

Chashi Nazrul Islam was was born on October 23, 1941 at Shamashpur in Sreenagar upazila of the then Bikrampur district, which is now Munshiganj, to Mosleh Uddin Khan and Shayesta Khanam.

He started his career in visual media in 1964 when he was selected in the audition of a TV programme. He worked as an assistant director of the film “Dui Digonto,” directed by Obaidur Rahman.

He participated in the Liberation War in 1971, was the first filmmaker to make a film on the war, titled “Ora Egaro Jon,” which came out in 1972.

For his contribution to the country’s film industry, Chashi was awarded with the Ekushey Padak in 2004. He also received the National Film Award in 1997 for “Hangor Nodi Grenade,” and he was given Bangladesh Film Critics Award in 1989.

His film “Shuva” won the National Film Award in 1986. His first award was Bangladesh Cine Journalist Association Award in 1974 for “Sangram.” l

World leaders gather for Paris march

n Agencies, Paris

Dozens of world leaders including Muslim statesmen gathered in Paris on Sunday to join hundreds of thousands of French citizens set to march amid high security in an unprecedented tribute to victims of this week's Islamist militant attacks.

Hours before the march, a video appeared online apparently made by one of the gunman before he took hostages at a Jewish supermarket on Friday, killing four before he himself was killed by police. He sat wearing white robes, a gun by his side.

Some 2,200 police and soldiers patrolled Paris streets to protect marchers from would-be attackers, with police

snipers on rooftops and plain-clothes detectives mingling with the crowd.

City sewers were searched ahead of the vigil and underground train stations around the march route are due to be closed down.

The silent march reflects shock over the worst militant Islamist assault on a European city in nine years. An Elysee official quoted President Francois Hollande as telling his ministers: "Paris is today the capital of the world. Our entire country will rise up and show its best side."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italy Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will be among 44 foreign leaders due to march with President Francois Hollande. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-

moon, Turkish premier Ahmet Davutoglu and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu - who earlier encouraged French Jews to emigrate to Israel - are expected.

Across France on Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people took part in rallies. Many carried signs saying "Je suis Charlie" (I am Charlie).

Meanwhile, EU and US security ministers met at France's interior ministry on Sunday to work out a joint response to the threat of jihadist attacks following days of carnage in Paris by three gunmen claiming to act on behalf of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, reports AFP. Sunday's meeting was expected to address ways in which Western countries can head off future such jihadist violence on their soil. l

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B3 ‘Vibrant India’: Modi’s

superlative act to charm investors

B4 Oil-driven Asian bond

rally could boomerang

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015 www.dhakatribune.com/business

BASIC Bank bleeds as large borrowers turn defaulters

Classified loans stand over 56% of the total loans and advances mostly provided to 67 clients

n Jebun Nesa Alo Default loans gripped the scam-hit BASIC bank as clients were allowed to take loans beyond the single borrower exposure limit to ultimately turn defaulters.

The bank so far provided a total loan of Tk10,731 crore to 81 clients (business groups and individuals), exceeding the limit of 15% of its capital, according documents Dhaka Tribune obtained.

Of the loans, Tk9,600 crore provided to 67 clients became classified till November last.

Of the default loans, Tk3,500 crore became bad debt, having hardly any hope to be recovered.

The loans, barring few ones, were given between the year 2011 and 2013 during the tenure of the bank’s chairman Sheikh Abdul Hai Bachchu, who has been removed amid criticisms.

BASIC Bank is going through serious financial crises as the default loans grew abnormally, eroding its financial strength.

More than half the total loans of the bank turned classified last year - rising to 56.22% in November last year from 11.72% in December 2013.

The total loans of the bank stood at Tk11,407.57 crore in November last year, of which Tk6,473 crore became

classified. Of the default amount, 67% or Tk4,356 crore turned into bad loan.

The bank disbursed a new loan of Tk557 crore last year while the default loan rose by Tk5,191 crore.

The financial indicators of the bank deteriorated extensively in November due to abnormal growth of default loans which raised concern for Bangladesh Bank.

Bangladesh Bank has decided to hold a meeting soon over the financial situation of the bank with the board of

directors.

According to the bank statement, the newly classified loan rose faster in the first four months of last year.

The amount of newly classified loan rose to Tk1,867 crore in April last year from Tk217 crore in December 2013.

Then the growing trend slowed down due to regularising loans through taking advantage of the relaxed loan rescheduling policy. The amount of new classified loan was Tk501 crore in November last year.

The capital shortfall of the bank stood at Tk2,257 crore in November last year from Tk647 crore in December 2013.

Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), a percentage of a bank’s risk weighted credit exposures, came down to negative 24.14% in November last year against the required 10%.

Bangladesh Bank signed a MoU with the BASIC bank in August last year, setting a condition to reduce the default loan rate to 15% by June this year. l

BSCCL to cut wholesale bandwidth price by 33% Showkat Kallol and n Asif Muhammad Zahidul Islam Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) is going to cut the wholesale price of internet bandwidth by 20% to 33% in different slabs, second time within eight months.

The state-owned BSCCL has decided to reduce its wholesale price once again to compete with the price of the bandwidth being imported from India.

Internet bandwidth imported from India through International Territorial Cable (ITC) companies had earlier forced the BSCCL to cut its wholesale price and it, however, didn’t affect the end users, accordingto the BSCCL officials.

BSCCL officials have, however, claimed that the quality of the Indian bandwidth is low, which is also destroying the local market. But the industry insiders hailedthis competition as it eventually benefited the users.

Lone submarine cable company in the country has decided to reduce its wholesale internet bandwidth price in different ten slabs. The decision has already been sent to the finance ministry for getting final approval.

According to the proposal,BSCCL has proposed 33.33% price cut in the bandwidth slab of 1900Mbps2499Mbps, the lowest in the list.

Currently, selling price of per megabits per second (Mbps) of this slab is Tk2,280 while the proposed rate is Tk1,520. The proposal for the lowest slab from 50Mbps to 299 Mbps is Tk2,280, the current price of which is

Tk2,850 per Mbps.

“We had sent the proposal to the regulator for its approval before it was sent to the finance ministry for getting final nod,” Md Monwar Hossain, managing director and chief executive officer of BSCCL, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He noted that during the last couple of years, BSCCL had slashed its tariff significantly, but the end user did not get any benefit.

BSCCL boss also informed that the board made the decision to secure their business as imported bandwidth has already eaten up the entire market.

At present, importers are selling the internet service at half a price that BSCCL offers, pushing down the demand for BSCCL’s bandwidth to 32GB from 42GB a year ago, said industry sources.

Monwar Hossain also said:“As we are going to export at least 10 Gbps internet bandwidth in some of the Eastern states of India, so the uses of bandwidth will be increased shortly.”

Currently, BSCCL has 200 Gbps capacity of internet bandwidth while a huge amount remained unused.

According to the proposal in the bandwidth slab of 7500Mbps9999Mbps, BSCCL has proposed 31.69% price cut,which is currently selling per megabits per second (Mbps) Tk1,710 against the proposed rate of Tk1,168.

And if anyone takes more than 10Gbps bandwidth in a baulk then its price will be Tk1,036 per Mbps, which is currently Tk1,336, slashing by 20%. l

Nojibur Rahman made Government wants to talk with US NBR chairman about duty-free access of RMG

Citi awarded best bank in Asia

n Tribune Report

n Tribune Report

Md Nojibur Rahman, Secretary to Ministry of Environment and Forests, has been appointed as chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

Public Administration Division issued a circular yesterday after Finance Minister AMA Muhith made a directive in this regard.

Earlier, finance minister told Dhaka Tribune that the government was trying to appoint a “skilled , honest and perfect person” for the post of the Revenue Board, adding they had already prepared a short list to select chief of the national revenue

authorities.

He hoped NBR chairman would be picked from that short list soon.

The finance ministry’s short list included Arosto Khan, a member of Planning Commission, Abdul Karder Sarkar, secretary to cooperatives ministry and NBR member Fariduddin Ahmed.

Officials of Finance Division said the name of Banking Division Secretary Dr M Alsam Alam was included in the list.

Earlier, the government decided not to extend the tenure of NBR Chairman Ghulam Hussain as his contract expired on 8th of this month. l

n Tribune Report Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said the government would discuss with the United States about duty and quota-free access of Bangladeshi garment products under the Bali decisions of WTO. The discussion could be held at a next WTO meeting, he told reporters yesterday after a meeting of the high-level committee on reviewing and monitoring of World Trade Orgainsation activities.

Commerce Minister presided over the meeting, attended, among others,

by Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon ndc and Additional Com-

merce Secretary and head of WTO cell in the ministry Amitava Chakrabarty.

“We are working to prepare a road map to realise the benefits of WTO’s Bali decisions. We will talk about intellectual property rights issue at February 5 and 6 meetings of WTO on trade related intellectual property rights in Geneva,” Tofail said.

He said most of the Bangladeshi goods are now out of IP rights provision, though the pharmaceutical products will come under the provision from 2016.

He said Bangladesh wants to keep the pharmaceutical sector out of IP rights provision till 2021.

Tofail claimed the country had already started enjoying duty and quota-free access for 97% of its products under the WTO agreement.

He said the government was now trying to get the facility for garment products too in the US market.

According to commerce ministry sources, Bangladesh along with other 48 least developed countries (LDCs) will raise the issue of getting duty- and quota-free market access to developed and developing countries at the WTO forum.

Officials said the LDCs are also likely to press for preferential market access for their service sector. l

RAK to raise 25% production by March n Kayes Sohel RAK Ceramics, one of world’s largest makers of ceramic tiles and sanitary ware, plans to increase its 25% sanitary ware production in Bangladesh by March this year.

The company listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange is operating in Bangladesh with a local partner. Some US$50m earned from selling its Sudan business, which is in the process, and its stake in the pharmaceutical company RAK Pharma in Bangladesh, which was recently sold, will be invested in the UAE, India and Bangladesh, its chief executive told a UAE-based daily last week.

During the last month, the firm had sold its Pharmaceutical unit in Bangladesh to Gulf Pharmaceuticals Industries Julphar PJSC with a deal of $9.5m. “[This year] revenue in UAE will be better, in Bangladesh will be better and in India will be better,” said the firm’s chief executive Abdallah Massaad.

The current production capacity for

sanitary ware in Bangladesh is 1.2m pieces and will rise by 25% to 1.5m pieces from the first quarter of this year.

Current production capacity for tiles in Bangladesh is 8m sq metres and it will increase by 21.2% from the third quarter of this year. Massad said, “We are working into several initiatives to enhance the value of the company by concentrating, focusing and adding more capacity in the performing countries and exiting non core [assets].”

“We have some real estate assets, hospitality business, construction companies and some investments like pharma, which we are being sold.”

The Ras Al Khaimah-based firm said profit fell 15% in the third quarter because of hyperinflation accounting in Sudan and Iran.

The sale of the Sudan business, which will be concluded by the end of March, will help the company avoid operational issues regarding the import of raw materials and spares, and prevent further financial losses stemming from hyperinflation and foreign-exchange losses. l

The Turkish stall at the ongoing Dhaka International Trade Fair showcases decorative lamps

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Global food price declines for 3rd consecutive year n Tribune Business Desk Global food price declined further in 2014, marking the third consecutive annual decline, according to a recent report of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The report, released last week, noted that the FAO’s Food Price

Index, a benchmark for world food price, declined by 3.7% last year from 2013 when the average value of the index was 202 points, reports BSS. This year-on-year drop came despite FAO’s sub-index for meat rising to an all-time high annual average of 199 points, up 8.1% from 2013. Cereals, by contrast,

dropped 12.5% from the previous year, buoyed by forecasts of record production and ample inventories.

The report said that the index in December dropped 1.7% to 188.6 from its November position.

FAO said large supplies and record stocks combined with a

stronger US dollar and falling oil prices contributed to the decline.

The Food Price Index is a trade-weighted index that tracks prices of five major food commodity groups on international markets. It aggregates price sub-indices of cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar. l

Citi has been adjudged the best bank in Asia for 2014, according to the leading industry publication FinanceAsia.

The editorial team of the magazine made the decision based on the performance of banks across institutional and retail banking for the last 12 months.

This was the six year in a row Citi has picked up the award, said a press release.

During the year Citi helped raise over $150bn for clients from international capital markets and advised on over $85bn in M&A. In Bangladesh, Citi acted as the Sole Bookrunner and Lead Manager of the first ever international bond offering by a corporate issuer.

In 2014, the bank also passed 7m digital banking users in Asia and passed $250bn in client assets in the region for the first time in its history.

Citi also picked up the best M&A bank after leading over $85bn of M&A transaction in 2014.

The work of banks’ clients was also recognised via deal of the year, best equity deal, best IPO, best equity linked deal, best M&A deal, best project financing, best loan and best private equity deal.

The bank also led the transaction that picked up the best country deal in Korea.

In the editorial write-up announcing the awards, the editors said: “Citi wins our best bank award for its remarkable momentum in Asia….it also maintained a well-balanced split evenly amongst businesses and countries…Citi has managed to harness the growing importance of Asia in a region that now accounts for a third of Citi’s global net income and a fifth of its global revenues.”

“In a highly competitive market, this independent recognition is greatly appreciated by all of us at Citi. I would also like to thank our clients who place their trust in us to meet their financial needs day in and day out and without whom this award would not be possible. Asia is at the heart of Citi’s transformation and we are well-placed to capture more of the growth opportunities in this region,” said Stephen Bird, CEO for Citi in Asia Pacific.

“By leveraging Citi’s strong network, we strive to meet the expectations of our clients and this win demonstrates Citi’s commitment to providing the best solutions to them in the Asia Pacific region.” said Rashed Maqsood, managing director and Citi country officer for Bangladesh. l

B2

Stocks fall as political crisis erodes confidence n Tribune Report

DSE LOSER Closing (% Change)

Sonargaon Tex -Z Al-Haj Textile -A Meghna PET Ind. -Z Standard Ceramic -A GSP Finance-A LafargeS Cement-Z Tallu Spinning -Z BD. Thai Alum -B BSRM Steels-A BD Finance-A

-7.08 -5.04 -5.00 -4.27 -3.54 -3.53 -3.27 -3.21 -3.18 -3.13

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

Rupali Life Insur.-B ISN Ltd. -Z LR Global BD MF1-A LafargeS Cement-Z Delta Brac HFCL-A NLI 1st M F-A GSP Finance-A Aziz PipesZ I P D C -A FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B

-6.50 -5.00 -4.17 -4.03 -3.82 -3.70 -3.54 -3.33 -3.26 -3.21

4943.99046

(-) 0.50%

1835.23782

(-) 1.02%

15175.09060

(-) 0.52%

12273.16730

(-) 0.44%

9194.11800

(-) 0.33%

Average (% Change) -4.62 -2.38 -4.83 -5.97 -2.64 -2.28 -1.25 -1.46 -2.88 -3.23 Average (% Change) -6.61 -4.92 -5.02 -1.99 -2.78 -3.70 -1.69 -2.71 -3.63 -3.21

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 10.74 110.03 5.71 42.40 33.20 130.54 15.01 45.90 89.28 15.58

ClosingAvg. 48.85 11.40 4.54 130.56 76.25 7.80 33.66 20.45 17.80 18.10

Closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 198.46 243.72 61.05 347.61 173.93 342.45 3.03 526.00 304.16 15.29 155.55 8.99 69.78 131.26 192.84 23.81 24.66 82.14 45.57 93.74 0.00

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

DHIGH

10.50 107.50 5.70 42.60 32.70 128.60 14.80 45.20 88.40 15.50

Closing

11.00 114.90 5.80 43.50 33.80 133.70 15.40 46.90 91.20 16.20

DHIGH

48.90 11.40 4.60 128.70 75.60 7.80 32.70 20.30 17.80 18.10

82,894,431

52.00 11.50 4.70 133.00 77.10 7.90 33.90 22.70 17.80 18.10

85,173

Traded Issues

304

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

154

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

145

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,638.83

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.99

CSE key features January 11, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka)

269.74

Turnover (Volume)

8,575,253

Number of Contract

14,266

Traded Issues

233

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

108

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

119

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,547.01

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.87

Turnover in Million

DLOW 10.30 106.80 5.60 41.70 32.50 128.30 14.80 45.00 88.00 15.30

47.10 11.20 4.50 128.00 75.00 7.70 32.40 20.30 17.80 18.10

Latest EPS

0.715 19.136 0.004 0.332 25.132 110.596 1.599 21.364 16.877 13.189

Turnover in Million

DLOW

% change 6.52 8.01 2.01 11.42 5.71 11.25 0.10 17.28 9.99 5.11 0.30 2.29 4.31 6.33 0.78 0.81 2.70 1.50 3.08 0.00

Million Taka 14.62 16.82 3.83 26.02 12.11 23.57 64.24 12.41 3.79 22.38 2.17 11.69 17.19 23.71 0.60 0.88 4.22 4.08 11.08 0.03

CSE

% change 5.31 6.11 1.39 9.45 4.40 8.56 0.00 23.32 4.51 1.38 8.12 0.79 4.24 6.24 8.61 0.22 0.32 1.53 1.48 4.02 0.01

-0.84 1.04 -0.44 0.60 1.59 2.43 -0.48 1.09 3.88 0.69

Latest EPS

0.068 0.022 0.350 15.793 0.390 0.003 1.954 0.012 0.036 0.005

Million Taka 213.08 260.55 64.88 373.63 186.05 366.02 3.03 590.24 316.57 19.08 177.93 11.16 81.47 148.45 216.54 24.41 25.54 86.36 49.65 104.82 0.03

Alltex Industries -Z Dacca Dyeing-A Mozaffar H.Spinning-A Saiham Cotton-A Fu-wang Ceramic-A Emerald Oil Ind. -N Miracle Industries -B Northern Jute -Z Prime Textile -A Anlima Yarn -A

Closing (% Change) 9.94 9.82 9.62 9.19 8.50 7.85 7.59 7.05 5.62 5.45

CSE GAINER

5.33 0.13 0.08 2.43 5.36 2.12 1.59 -0.37 1.16 1.27

Latest PE -ve 105.8 -ve 70.7 20.9 53.7 -ve 42.1 23.0 22.6

Total

Company Alltex Industries -Z Saiham Cotton-A Dacca Dyeing-A Mozaffar H.Spinning-A Fu-wang Ceramic-A Emerald Oil Ind. -N Phoenix Insur -A Miracle Industries -B Padma Islami Life*-N Envoy Textiles Ltd-N

Closing (% Change) 9.97 9.89 9.88 9.79 9.21 8.16 5.97 5.63 4.63 4.44

Average (% Change) 10.52 10.01 7.56 7.30 7.89 7.22 5.17 2.92 4.92 4.16 Average (% Change) 10.67 8.27 9.81 8.14 8.11 6.56 6.07 4.52 4.63 3.86

ClosingAvg. 34.25 17.58 31.15 19.70 16.28 42.02 16.67 244.44 18.56 23.02

ClosingAvg. 34.12 19.64 17.57 30.96 16.40 42.10 35.50 16.65 40.70 56.28

Closing 35.40 17.90 31.90 20.20 16.60 42.60 17.00 249.00 18.80 23.20

Closing 35.30 20.00 17.80 31.40 16.60 42.40 35.50 16.90 40.70 56.50

DHIGH 35.40 17.90 32.00 20.30 16.70 43.00 17.10 252.90 18.90 23.40

DHIGH 35.30 20.00 17.80 31.40 16.70 43.00 35.50 17.00 40.70 56.90

DLOW 32.00 16.50 28.80 18.40 15.50 39.50 15.60 230.00 17.70 22.30

DLOW 32.00 18.50 16.60 28.80 15.80 39.00 35.50 15.50 40.70 53.00

Turnover in Million 86.230 24.518 97.608 20.788 46.216 37.696 7.495 0.748 2.671 4.284

Turnover in Million 17.166 2.360 2.734 4.734 7.687 3.863 0.003 0.515 0.001 0.788

Latest EPS

Latest PE

3.28 1.04 2.80 1.68 0.40 2.56 0.40 1.00 1.04 0.84

10.4 16.9 11.1 11.7 40.7 16.4 41.7 244.4 17.8 27.4

Latest EPS

Latest PE

3.28 1.68 1.04 2.80 0.40 2.56 3.88 0.40 1.10 2.15

10.4 11.7 16.9 11.1 41.0 16.4 9.1 41.6 37.0 26.2

News, analysis and recent disclosures ORIONPHARM: Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited (CRAB) has announced the entity rating (surveillance) of the Company as A1 with a stable outlook based on audited financial statement up to December 31, 2013, bank liability position as of November 30, 2014 and other relevant quantitative as well as qualitative information up to the date of rating declaration.

AFTABAUTO: (Q1): As per un-audited quarterly accounts for the 1st quarter ended on 30th November 2014 (Sep14 to Nov14), the Company has reported consolidated net profit after tax (excluding non-controlling interests) of Tk. 67.73 million with consolidated EPS of Tk. 0.71 as against Tk. 73.71 million and Tk. 0.77 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

IPO Subscription: 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. Asian Tiger Sandhani Life Growth Fund subscription date 11 to 15 January 2015, NRB upto 24 January 2015. @ taka 10, face value taka 10 and market lot 500. United Power Generation & Distribution Company Limited subscription date 18 to 22 January 2015, NRB upto 31 January 2015. @ taka 60, face value taka 10 and market lot 100. Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 01 to 05 Febuary 2015, NRB upto 14 Febuary 2015. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGM ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 26.02.2015, Record Date: 05.01.2015.

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.

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.

SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 24.01.2015, Record Date: 23.12.2014.

DESCO: 5% cash & 10% stock, AGM 03.01.2015 Record Date: 13.11.2014.

Latest PE 9.2 87.7 56.8 53.7 14.2 3.7 21.2 -ve 15.3 14.3

Investors’ remained cautious throughout the day amid countrywide blockade, as benchmark index continue to consolidate between 4,900 and 5,000 points

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

3,084.45

Number of Contract

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index :

Company

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Monday, January 12, 2015

DSE GAINER

DSE key features January 11, 2015

lower with cement leading the way by sliding almost 3%.

Most other sectors, including banks, non-banking financial institutions, food and allied, telecommunication, pharmaceuticals and power, edged down.

However, some of the small caps rallied, led by mostly textile sector that gained 1.5%.

News of export growth has been welcomed by the investors, and among the top ten gainers six coming from textile sector. The sector also captured the highest turnover as well as highest daily return.

BRAC-EPL, one of the leading brokerage firms, said, “The market closed in red amid political instability in the country and investors’ confidence erosion.”

LankaBangla Securities said investors’ remained cautious throughout the day amid countrywide blockade, as benchmark index continue to consolidate between 4,900 and 5,000 points.

IDLC Investments said bumpy journey on DSE continued while mainstream political condition remained in a fix.

Lafarge Surma Cement remained at the top of the liquidity chart for the seventh consecutive session with total liquidity of Tk11 crore. It was followed by Agni System, Saif Power Tec, Muzaffar Hussain Spinning Mills, IDLC and Alltex. l

Stocks fell yesterday after remaining flat over the last several sessions, as fear grew about anticipation of prolonged political crisis.

The benchmark index DSEX settled at 4,943, shedding 25 points or 0.5%.

The Shariah index DSES lost marginally 8 points or 0.7% to 1,173. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,835 with a drop of 18 points or 1%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was down 30 points to 9,194.

Investors’ participation in trading remained dull as turnover value hovered around Tk300 crore over the last several sessions, which was considered poor compared to the market depth.

The DSE turnover stood at Tk308 crore, up 4.8% over previous session’s value.

“In the beginning investors believed that there might be quick political settlement,” said a leading stock broker. But after political violence spreading across the country in the last one week, panic started to engulf investors.

The country is going through non-stop blockade called by the 20-party alliance demanding for fresh national election since January 5, which hit the supply chain.

All the large cap sectors closed

Company

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

% change 6.42 7.85 1.95 11.26 5.60 11.03 0.09 17.78 9.54 0.57 5.36 0.34 2.45 4.47 6.52 0.74 0.77 2.60 1.50 3.16 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 Agni Systems -A SAIF Powertec-N Mozaffar H.Spinning-A IDLC Finance -A Alltex Industries -Z Ratanpur Steel -N Grameenphone-A Beximco Pharma -A Fu-Wang Food A

Khulna Power-A DESCO Ltd. -A Square Pharma -A WesternMarine -N aamra technologies-A Pharma Aids A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Alltex Industries -Z Agni Systems -A LafargeS Cement-Z SummitAlliancePort.-A SAIF Powertec-N Delta SpinnersA Fu-wang Ceramic-A Hamid Fabrics -N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Khulna Power-A

WesternMarine -N IDLC Finance -A Mozaffar H.Spinning-A MJL BD Ltd.-A Beximco Pharma -A

VolumeShares 847,239 2,887,095 1,410,160 3,133,090 1,135,015 2,517,751 1,381,039 208,341 1,207,520 2,561,910

Value in Million 110.60 104.28 102.98 97.61 89.96 86.23 83.28 75.71 75.49 67.85

% of TotalTurnover 3.63 3.43 3.38 3.21 2.96 2.83 2.74 2.49 2.48 2.23

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

998,502 778,384 193,885 913,145 1,262,545 182,020

503,109 450,270 120,962 145,795 141,883 560,839 468,606 178,947 182,935 99,240

108,212 62,513 152,900 36,170 70,208

63.35 56.07 50.39 50.16 49.12 47.73

17.17 16.32 15.79 11.82 10.31 8.29 7.69 6.97 6.69 6.28

5.93 4.95 4.73 4.62 4.40

2.08 1.84 1.66 1.65 1.61 1.57

6.39 6.07 5.88 4.40 3.84 3.09 2.86 2.59 2.49 2.34

2.21 1.84 1.76 1.72 1.64

ClosingP 128.60 35.60 72.40 31.90 79.10 35.40 60.00 362.40 61.90 26.80

62.90 71.80 259.60 54.30 38.80 263.80 ClosingP

35.30 36.00 128.70 79.90 72.00 14.80 16.60 38.50 36.50 62.90

54.30 79.20 31.40 126.40 62.10

Change % -3.53 0.00 2.70 9.62 0.38 9.94 -0.99 -0.71 -1.12 3.47

1.29 -0.97 -0.23 -1.09 1.84 5.10

Change %

9.97 1.12 -4.03 -2.80 2.42 3.50 9.21 -1.53 -0.82 1.78

-0.91 0.13 9.79 -2.77 -0.80

ClosingY 133.30 35.60 70.50 29.10 78.80 32.20 60.60 365.00 62.60 25.90

62.10 72.50 260.20 54.90 38.10 251.00 ClosingY

32.10 35.60 134.10 82.20 70.30 14.30 15.20 39.10 36.80 61.80

54.80 79.10 28.60 130.00 62.60

DHIGH 133.70 36.90 73.90 32.00 79.80 35.40 61.00 365.40 63.80 26.90

64.00 72.70 260.80 56.00 39.50 269.80 DHIGH

35.30 36.90 133.00 84.90 73.90 15.00 16.70 39.60 36.90 64.00

55.80 79.80 31.40 130.00 63.40

DLOW 128.30 35.20 70.90 28.80 78.40 32.00 59.80 361.80 61.10 25.90

62.10 70.90 259.10 54.00 38.40 251.40 DLOW

32.00 35.70 128.00 79.00 67.50 14.20 15.80 38.20 36.40 62.70

54.00 77.30 28.80 126.00 61.90

AvgPrice 130.54 36.12 73.03 31.15 79.26 34.25 60.30 363.41 62.51 26.49

63.45 72.03 259.89 54.93 38.90 262.22 AvgPrice

34.12 36.25 130.56 81.07 72.68 14.79 16.40 38.95 36.60 63.31

54.79 79.17 30.96 127.78 62.71

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Monday, January 12, 2015

'Vibrant India': Modi’s superlative act to charm investors

Looming power blackouts threaten South Africa’s economy

n Reuters

n AFP

Global statesmen and business titans descended on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state on Sunday to pay homage to the man they count on to unleash big-bang reforms and create one of the few bright spots in a troubled world economy.

Big business cheered Modi when he won India’s strongest election mandate in 30 years last May, and he has caught its attention with eye-catching initiatives like a ‘Make in India’ campaign complete with lion logo.

Now, the 64-year-old leader has ramped up the Vibrant Gujarat jamboree he founded as the state’s chief minister in 2003, turning it into a pitch to put his nation of 1.25bn people, most of them poor, firmly on the investment map.

“India is marching forward with a clear vision to become a global power, even as most of the world is struggling with low growth,” the country’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, told an audience of hundreds of chief executives and politicians.

US Secretary of State John Kerry led a roll call of leaders, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank head Jim Yong Kim, converging on Modi’s home town of Gandhinagar for the three-day Davos-style bash.

President Barack Obama visits India later this month.

Yet, eight months into Modi’s rule, the failure of Asia’s third-biggest economy to emerge from its longest growth slowdown in a generation is raising questions about how much substance there is behind Modi’s promise of “red carpet, not red tape”.

His Make in India drive has drawn comparisons with the manufacturing miracle that turned China into the world’s second-largest economy, outstripping India’s fourfold since 1980.

Sceptics argue that India’s competitive strengths are not in making and exporting things, but in areas like informa-

South Africa’s capacity to generate electricity is shrinking due to ageing power plants, latest statistics show, and the continent’s most developed economy could face rolling blackouts for years to come.

New data released by Statistics South Africa highlight how the beleaguered state power utility Eskom, which generates around 95% of the country’s electricity, is unable to meet demand.

Electricity production dropped 1.4% from January through November last year compared with the same period in 2013. In November, Eskom had to introduce power cuts across the country to prevent a collapse of the grid after a coal storage silo collapsed.

The outages escalated in December when swathes of the economic hub of Johannesburg were repeatedly plunged into darkness.

Eskom, which relies on its ageing coal stations for supply, has warned of a high risk of more “load shedding” until March at least.

But analysts predict that the blackouts could continue for two more years until new power plants come on stream.

That would be bad news for South Africa as one of the BRICS group of emerging economies considered to have huge potential, along with Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Last year’s outages cost companies millions of dollars in lost production

Supporters carry giant cut-outs of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after attending a campaign rally that was addressed by Modi ahead of state assembly elections, at Ramlila ground in New Delhi REUTERS tion technology and business process outsourcing where it is a world leader.

Delivering on the promise

Vibrant Gujarat, held every two years, has yielded billions of dollars in investment promises but only a fraction of the deals announced has come to fruition.

In keeping with tradition, Ambani said his Reliance Industries conglomerate would invest a huge 1tn rupees ($16bn) in Gujarat over the next year to 18 months. He gave no details, but Reliance has embarked on major expansion.

“There is an air of optimism in the air of India,” said Sam Walsh, CEO of glob-

al mining giant Rio Tinto, who flagged two potential projects: a $2bn iron ore project in Odisha and an investment in Madhya Pradesh that could employ 30,000 diamond cutters.

Modi needs investors to put their money where their mouths are to lift stagnant capital investment that has held back India’s growth to 5.3%.

That is expected to accelerate this year to 6.4%, said the World Bank’s Kim, who called India a “bright spot” in an otherwise gloomy global economic landscape.

That would still be short of the 7-8% India needs to create work for the one

million people who join the workforce every month.

Modi has made headway on making it easier for outsiders to invest more in real estate, insurance and defence, but a rigid labour market and rotten infrastructure are huge deterrents.

India slipped to 142nd out of 189 in the World Bank’s latest Doing Business Index. Modi wants India in the top 50.

“Investors want credibility, stability and at the same time flexibility. Right now, India is a bit of an inflexible market,” said Kilbinder Dosanjh, a director for Asia at Eurasia Group, a geopolitical risk consultancy. l

Fitch cuts Russia credit rating, sets negative outlook

and business and battered South Africa’s already-struggling economy, which was expected to grow by 1.4% in 2014.

Growth is forecast to rise to 2.5% this year, but that is still well below South Africa’s potential, and the impact of power cuts will be more widespread this year.

“This year it’s a different situation.

It’s negatively affecting the retail sector, it’s much more across the board and it’s much more immediate,” said Dennis Dykes, chief economist at Nedbank.

“Unfortunately it certainly has the potential of hurting growth, anything between half a percent to one percent of GDP,” said Dykes.

“It is a real constraint on the economy.”

Vicious cycle of breakdowns

Senior Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger summed up the situation: “The grid is tight, and we are vulnerable.”

“There is a medium risk of loadshedding on the grid at the moment and that will continue until the end of summer (March),” he added.

In an effort to help slash usage, Eskom has posted energy conservation tips on its Twitter account.

“Open windows and doors to allow a cool breeze to circulate through the house” instead of turning on the air conditioning, says one tweet.

“Only boil the amount of water in your kettle that you need for the number of cups of tea or coffee you are making,” reads another. l

CORPORATE NEWS

NCC Bank Training Institute has recently organised a training course for the newly recruited management trainee officers. The bank’s chairperson, Md Nurun Newaz Salim inaugurated the course as chief guest

n AFP, Washington

The amount Athens owes its partners is equivalent to just a tiny fraction of the eurozone's economy, but some analysts are still worried that a 'Grexit' could ultimately cost Europe its single currency REUTERS

Weighing the costs for Europe if Greece exits the euro n AFP, Paris A Greek exit from the eurozone would certainly come at a cost to Europe, but just how expensive would it be?

The amount Athens owes its partners is equivalent to just a tiny fraction of the eurozone’s economy, but some analysts are still worried that a ‘Grexit’ could ultimately cost Europe its single currency.

Global markets plunged at the beginning of last week, seized by a fresh bout of fears that Greece may be forced to leave the euro.

A snap election in Greece on January 25 could bring to power the far-left Syriza party, which wants to abandon the austerity policy imposed by the EU and IMF as part of the country’s 240bn euro ($282bn) international bailout.

The market selloff was triggered by media reports indicating that if a new government in Athens reversed course, Germany was ready to let Greece leave the European club of common currency users.

Most analysts doubt it would come to that, but if it did Athens would be hard pressed to repay its bailout loans and would likely default.

“A Greek default on its around 240bn euros in rescue loans would

send another shock wave to the (euro) area,” said Guy Verhofstadt, president of the liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament.

Germany stands to lose the most if Greece fails to pay up: some 56.5bn euros according to calculations by Eric Dor, director of economics research at France’s IESEG School of Management, based on EU data. That works out to 699 euros per resident.

For France the total cost comes to over 42.4bn euros, or 644 euros per resident. For Italy the cost would be 37.3bn euros, Spain 24.8bn, the Netherlands 11.9bn, Belgium 7.2bn, Austria 5.8bn, Portugal 1.1bn and Ireland 300m.

While the headline numbers are huge, they are minuscule in comparison to the eurozone economy. The 195bn euros that Greece owes its partners is equivalent to just four percent of 2013 eurozone government spending. Moreover, the loans were scheduled to be repaid over many years.

And eurozone banks, which were once considerably exposed to Greece, are no longer so.

JPMorganCazenove recently calculated that the eurozone lenders it covers have only about 5bn euros in exposure to Greece.

‘Financial stampede’

Another cost of a Grexit however would be the uncertainty it would spark in a eurozone economy that has already nearly stalled, and could exact a very high price.

“The biggest worry is about a financial stampede” to get out of Europe, said Thomas Grjebine, an economist at the CEPII international economics institute.

“If investors are not reassured that the eurozone is really solid there could be an increase in interest rates, which are currently very low, and thus borrowing costs,” he said.

A rise in the cost of credit and drop in investment would pull the rug out from under efforts to revive eurozone growth. Analysts are divided over whether a Grexit could be contained or if it would it lead to a break up of the eurozone.

Some see Europe as being far better prepared to handle a Grexit thanks to the creation of a 500bn euro bailout fund and efforts taken to strengthen the region’s banks.

Economist Holger Schmieding at Berenberg bank said the “contagion effects on other European countries would be limited” from a Greek euro exit. l

Fitch Ratings cut Russia’s credit grade Friday to just one notch above junk level, saying plunging oil prices and Western sanctions will force a four percent economic contraction this year.

Fitch lowered its rating for Russian government debt by one step to BBB-, the lowest possible investment grade, and added a negative outlook on the rating.

“The economic outlook has deteriorated significantly since mid-2014 following sharp falls in the oil price and the ruble, coupled with a steep rise in interest rates,” Fitch said.

“Western sanctions first imposed in March 2014 continue to weigh on the economy by blocking Russian banks’ and corporates’ access to external capital markets.”

The agency said that had forced it to cut its forecast for the Russian economy this year to a 4% contraction, compared with its previous forecast of a 1.5% contraction and growth of 0.6% in 2014.

“Growth may not return until 2017,” the agency warned.

Fitch said it was assuming that the price of crude oil, a major source of government income, would average $70 a barrel, well above the $50 level the Brent global benchmark traded at in London Friday.

“If the oil price stays well below this, it could precipitate a deeper recession and put further strain on public finances, severely limiting the authorities’ room for maneuver,” Fitch said.

It also said that with the ruble still weakening, and sanctions blocking access to global capital markets, Russia banks could suffer more and the government will be challenged to further support them.

On the other hand, the government still merited an investment-grade rating because it has a low level of debt and solid, if deteriorating, foreign assets.

The longer sanctions remain in place, Fitch said, these positive attributes could be eroded.

“Russia’s current predicament has done little to hasten the onset of a more liberal economic policy agenda and raises the risk of greater isolationism,” it added. l

Jamuna Bank Foundation has recently opened a free medical service centre at Biswa Istema. The foundation’s chairperson, Al Haj Nur Mohammed was present on the occasion as chief guest

United commercial Bank Ltd has recently held its annual business conference for the year 2015 at a hotel in Dhaka. The bank’s chairperson, MA Hashem attended the event as chief guest

Jamuna Bank Ltd has recently held its 257th board meeting. The bank’s chairperson, Shaheen Mahmood presided over the meeting

Dettol has recently held the gala event of its third season of 'Dettol Shera Ami Shonge Maa'. The winners’ prizes were handed over by Mahbub Baset, marketing director of RB Bangladesh-Sri Lanka Cluster, Nayan Mukherjee, COO & finance director of RB BangladeshSri Lanka Cluster and CEO of RTV Ashik Rahman

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Monday, January 12, 2015

of the future Oil-driven Asian bond rally could boomerang TV may be a sphere n Reuters

n AFP, Las Vegas

Plunging oil prices have sparked a big rally in Asian government bond markets as lower fuel costs cut inflation expectations, but the rally could be built on shallow foundations as monetary policymakers remain out of step with tumbling bond yields.

The price of oil, of which Asia is a net importer, has halved in less than six months, driving bond yields down across the region, from India to South Korea, as markets anticipate looser monetary policy to accommodate the resulting disinflation.

The imminence of further monetary easing in Europe and Japan builds a strong case for bond yields to drop further. But there is little sign yet of official rate cuts, particularly in markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, where central banks were sounding hawkish or even raising rates into the final months of 2014.

“The oil price has caught central banks by surprise,” said ING’s chief Asian economist Tim Condon.

“The panic of 2013 is right now foremost in their minds, and they are looking at a Fed rate hike, and so I think they will remain pretty dug in,” he said.

The fear of a repeat of 2013’s “taper tantrum”, when talk of the Federal Reserve withdrawing monetary stimulus prompted vast sums of foreign capital to bail out of the region, helps explain why Asian central banks might err on the side of tighter monetary policy.

But there are other factors that also suggest official policy will stay tighter than the bond markets imply.

For one, a rising US dollar is pushing down all emerging market currencies, which already indirectly eases monetary conditions for Asian policymakers and creates pressure on them to keep interest rates up to prevent the flight of foreign cash.

The market mismatch is evident in Indonesia, where the rupiah currency has fallen 9% against the dollar in the past six months.

Ten-year Indonesian government bond yields, which are normally significantly higher than overnight policy rates to reflect the risk of holding bonds

The TV of the future may not be a rectangle, but a sphere.

Some visitors to the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show got a peek at this new way to view 360-degree video.

The new viewing experience was shown as part of a collaboration among several partners including French video software firm Ateme and Britishbased Pufferfish Displays, which makes the spherical projection module.

Although 360-degree video can be viewed on a standard television or tablet, the spherical module adds a new dimension, said Mike Antonovich, the Ateme general manager for the Americas.

This “can augment the experience of viewing a live concert or sporting event,” Antonovich said.

Using the sphere makes the viewing an interactive and collaborative experience, said Geoff Kell of Pufferfish.

“It will be an addition to the viewing experience, but it also has great value as a data visualization tool” for research or other purposes, Kell said.

Ateme and its partners recently produced the first live 360-degree broadcasts using the trademark LiveSphere.

“You can view from different angles, so if you are watching a concert you might want to be part of the audience, and then switch to be part of the band,” Antonovich said.

While 360-degree imaging has been around for several years in services such as Google Maps, Ateme said it is far more challenging to produce this for live television.

It “is completely different to do 360 degrees for live TV, and making it seamless,” said Ateme research manager Jerome Vieron.

Other partners in LiveSphere include the Finnish technology group Finwe and France-based Kolor, which specializes in “image-stitching.”

The partners are working with broadcasters around the world to produce live events, using the 360-degree interactive format.

The navigation on the Pufferfish display is done by hand, while remote control can be used for viewing on a television screen. l

GM plans fresh move into electric car market n Reuters, Washington General Motors Co plans to offer a new electric vehicle with a style and price-point that can compete with the forthcoming Tesla Model 3 car due out in two years, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The $30,000 electric car called the Chevrolet Bolt, expected to debut commercially in 2017, will be able to drive 200 miles on a charge and is intended to cut into a market where Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc has been an investor darling.

Electric car purchases badly lag sales of gas-powered vehicles but the market is growing and GM will show off an early model of the Bolt at the Detroit auto show next week to stake a stronger claim in the space, the newspaper reported.

The Chevy Bolt will boast a stronger battery manufactured by South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd, the paper reported. l

Google Capital invests in Indian property website Commonfloor

n Reuters

Property search website Commonfloor.com has received funding from Google Capital, an equity fund backed

by Google Inc, the online portal said in a statement on Thursday.

Commonfloor will invest the funds in product technology and marketing, the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Sumit Jain, told Reuters.

The companies did not disclose the amount. Foreign investors including Japan’s Softbank Corp and News Corp have invested more than $100m in Indian property portals over the last couple of months. l

DILBERT

A worker holds a fuel nozzle at a petrol pump in Mumbai to term, are just 5 basis points above the 7.75% policy rate, having fallen 60 bps since mid-December.

One plausible scenario that could trigger a bond market tumble is if lower oil costs dramatically improve US growth numbers in the next couple of months, leading to renewed optimism about global growth and a rise in Treasury yields. Far from cutting rates, policymakers might then have to raise rates.

Paradox

The odds of this high-growth scenario playing out are perhaps reflected in how well equity markets have held

up despite worries about disinflation, patchy economic growth and the possibility that Greece could return to the emergency room. Despite a wobbly start to 2015, Asian shares are up 6% in the past three months.

“We are apparently on the edge of deflation, and yet equity markets aren’t collapsing,” said BofA Merrill Lynch strategist Claudio Piron. “And there are certain elements to what is going on which are reminiscent of the Asian financial crisis -- oil prices falling, dollar strengthening, bonds rallying strongly -- which all seems very ominous.”

With the exception of Thailand,

REUTERS

none of Asia’s central banks has explicitly spoken of the need for easier policy.

Inflation has slowed sharply, except in Indonesia and Malaysia, where fuel subsidies were cut late last year.

While consumer price inflation in the Philippines is well below the central bank’s expected 3% average for the year, the rhetoric from policymakers suggests markets may at best hope for rates to be on hold.

On the other hand, Indonesia’s inflation is running at nearly double the official forecast range for this year, thanks to a jump in domestic oil prices.

ING’s Condon doesn’t expect any of

Asia’s central banks to react in a hurry to either oil or slowing inflation, and instead says they might be prepared to tolerate disinflation just as the European Central Bank and Fed do.

“There is some sort of asymmetry there. It’s okay to undershoot inflation, it’s prohibitive to overshoot. That, I think, will be the story in Asia as well.”

Some market participants recognise that bias, which is possibly why short-end yields in Asian bond markets haven’t moved much. But it is in longer-term yields that investors might read a warning that 2015 will hold more pain than gain. l

If the Internet becomes United States oil production will a public utility, you’ll be falling by end of 2015 n pay more John Kemp

n Reuters The Federal Communications Commission is in the middle of a high-stakes decision that could raise taxes for close to 90% of Americans. The commission is considering whether to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service and, in doing so, Washington would trigger new taxes and fees at the state and local level.

The agency would like to make Internet service a public utility, placing broadband under Title II regulation of the Communications Act of 1934. This move would make broadband subject to New Deal-era regulation, and have significant consequences for US taxpayers.

Under this decision to reclassify broadband, Americans would face a host of new state and local taxes and fees that apply to public utilities. These new levies, according to the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), would total $15bn annually. On average, consumers would pay an additional $67 for landline broadband, and $72 for mobile broadband each year, according to PPI’s calculations, with charges varying from state to state.

Proponents of broadband reclassification, including the left-of-center organization Free Press, claim that it would not result in higher taxes or fees.

The recently extended Internet Tax Freedom Act, they assert, prohibits state and local taxation of Internet service. This is incorrect, however. The act does not apply to telecom-related fees.

Free Press and other broadband reclassification proponents also say the new taxes and fees can be prevented if the FCC designates broadband as an interstate service. A Progressive Policy

Institute report explains why this also is incorrect: “When the Commission previously considered the jurisdiction of Internet traffic, it determined that such traffic was ‘largely interstate,’ but ‘jurisdictionally mixed.’ States routinely tax jurisdictionally mixed services that are classified as ‘interstate’ for purposes of regulation. For example, wireless services may not be regulated by state public utility commissions, but they are subject to a host of state and local taxes and fees. In several states, interstate wireless revenues are subject to taxation.”

Late last year, President Barack Obama waded into this contentious debate. He called for the Internet to be treated like a public utility. Critics of Obama’s position point out this would reduce investment in infrastructure and lead to inferior service for consumers. Reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service would also stifle innovation and restrict the openness of the Internet.

The telecommunications industry has invested more than $1.2tn on broadband infrastructure since 1996.

As a result, roughly 87% of Americans have access to broadband.

It would be foolish for government to discourage the significant investment required to maintain, expand and improve this infrastructure by subjecting broadband to circa 1930s regulation. Subjecting Internet service providers to such onerous rules would depress innovation and penalize Web users.

Not only would higher taxes and fees leave individuals, families, and employers with less disposable income, a wealth of research indicates it would be bad for the economy. John Hood, former president of the John Locke Foundation, found that keeping state and local tax and regulatory burdens as low as possible fosters economic growth, when he analyzed 681 peer-reviewed academic journal articles going back to 1990.

“Most studies find,” Hood stated, “that lower levels of taxes and spending, less-intrusive regulation correlate with stronger economic performance.” l

Unless prices recover, US oil production will start falling before the end of 2015 as new drilling is insufficient to replace declining output from wells completed in 2013 and 2014.

Future production depends on the rate of decline from existing wells (known as the decline curve) and the average age of old oil wells as well as the number of new ones drilled and their productivity.

Decline curves for typical shale wells in the Bakken, the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford are all widely available on the internet, as are basic data on the number of wells in each play and their approximate age.

In the short term, US oil production is set to continue rising because there is still a backlog of wells waiting for fracturing crews and completion after the record drilling during the first ten months of 2014.

In North Dakota, for example, there were around 650 wells waiting on completion services at the end of October 2014 because drillers had outpaced completion crews, according to the state’s Department of Mineral Resources.

As these wells are completed, there will be a significant increase in reported output because newly completed wells yield extremely high rates of production in the first few days and months after starting to flow.

But as the backlog is cleared, production will plateau and then start to fall, as new drilling and completions fails to keep up with the declining output from older wells.

Recently drilled wells Daily production from a typical Bakken well falls by around 65% by the end of the first year, then another 35% by the end of the second, 15% by the end of the third, and around 10% per year thereafter, according to state regulators (link.reuters.com/kup73w).

There are currently around 8,600 wells producing from the Bakken shale, of which more than 2,000 were drilled and completed in 2014, with another 1700 dating from 2013 and 1700 dating from 2012.

Almost a quarter of Bakken wells are under a year old and their output is set to decline by as much as two-thirds in the year ahead. In total, more than half the wells in the Bakken are less than three years old, and these rapidly declining wells account for the vast majority of oil output (link.reuters.com/nup73w).

To replace the declining production from this large inventory of recent wells,

companies would need to drill more than 2,000 new wells in 2015.

But drilling rates have already started to fall sharply and the number of new wells will fall far short of the replacement rate unless oil prices improve.

The number of rigs active in the state has fallen to just 169, down from 191 in October, according to the Department of Mineral Resources. Further declines in drilling are virtually certain in the months ahead as rig crews come to the end of their existing contracts.

Cash conservation Sweet crude from the Bakken fetched less than $32 per barrel on Jan 6, and sour crudes were worth less than $23, according to posted prices from Plains Marketing.

At these price levels, there are no parts of the Bakken, whether in the core areas of the play or on the periphery, where drilling new wells makes financial sense.

Most of the small and medium-sized independent oil producing firms which dominate shale plays rely on borrowing to fund new wells and already carry a high debt burden. The imperative in the current environment will be to conserve as much cash as possible by limiting the cost of new drilling and abandoning plans to drill wells which are not profitable (which is most of them at current prices).

The same pattern is repeated with only minor differences in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford in Texas, the two other major shale plays. In both, there are large stocks of relatively young and rapidly declining oil wells drilled in 2013 and 2014. Meanwhile rigs are being idled as small debt-laden exploration and production companies try to conserve cash.

Across the United States, oil production has surged by more than 3mn barrels per day in the last four years and by more than 2mn in the last two years alone.

But almost all of that production increase has come from recently fractured shale wells which are now declining rapidly and must be replaced to sustain let alone grow output. However, drilling rates are plummeting. The industry has idled almost 130 oil-directed rigs (8% of the total) since Oct 10, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

Oil-directed rigs are being idled at the fastest rate since the financial crisis in 2009 and before than 1991 and 1988, and hundreds more will be taken out of service

in the next few months.

The net result is that production will be declining month on month by the end of the year, though in the next few months it might continue increasing.

Productivity and costs Some analysts have questioned whether US oil output will indeed fall, arguing improvements in drilling and well productivity will offset the smaller number of rigs operating and wells drilled.

That seems implausible. Given the large stock of comparatively new wells, rapid decline rates, and sharp drop in rigs operating, a truly enormous improvement in productivity would be needed to keep production flat let alone on a rising trend.

Costs will come down as the price of everything from rig hire to fracking sand and contractor rates are renegotiated. But it would need an epic reduction in costs to make shale oil profitable at less than $45 per barrel in Texas and Oklahoma and $35 per barrel in North Dakota.

Analysts with an optimistic view about production (and a bearish view on prices) can point to two important examples where output was flat or continued to increase despite steep price falls.

In 2009, oil output in North Dakota and the United States flattened though it did not fall much in response to plummeting prices amid the financial crisis and recession and a slowdown in new drilling.

And US natural gas production has continued to rise each year since 2008 despite the depressed level of gas prices and the number of gas-directed rigs falling by more than three-quarters.

Neither of these cases should provide much comfort, however. In 2009, the inventory of recently drilled shale wells was small, less than a thousand, accounting for just a fraction of national oil output, and prices rebounded very quickly.

US gas production has been sustained despite low prices and a fall in the number of gas-directed rigs because of the huge increase in associated gas output from oil wells.

US gas production been sustained by the oil boom. Shale oil producers have no such support. On balance, it is more likely than not that US oil output will be declining by the end of the year unless prices rise from current levels. l John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The article was initially published at Reuters.