13 jan, 2015

Paush 30, 1421 Rabiul Awal 21, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 278

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

20 pages | Price: Tk12

B1 | BUSINESS

7 | LONG FORM

11 | OP-ED

12 | SPORT

RMG BACK IN TROUBLE AS POLITICAL UNREST DEEPENS

IS THERE ANY ISLAMIC BASIS FOR BLASPHEMY LAW?

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

RONALDO WINS BALLON D’OR AWARD AGAIN

Violent blockade claims life of another innocent Blockaders across country use Molotov cocktails, hand bombs as 7th day ends n Tribune Report The seventh day of BNP-led 20-party’s indefinite blockade passed yesterday amid vandalism, arson and explosions that left at least one person dead.

In the capital, miscreants set two buses on fire at Golap Shah Mazar of Gulistan and Norda Bus Stand in the morning, Bhajan Sarker, operator of Fire Service and Civil Defence, confirmed the incidents to the Dhaka Tribune. No one was injured.

He said a bus of “Gazipur Paribahan” was completely gutted in Gulistan area

Transport owners after a meeting with Chittagong police decided to operate buses under protection around 10:15am while the other arson attack on a “Turag Paribahan” bus took place around 11:15am.

In Bongshal of Old Dhaka, housewife Maria Akhter Nipa, 25, was injured in a bomb blast in front of Suritola School while going to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.

In another incident, rickshaw-puller Md Milon sustained injuries when blockade supporters blasted a hand bomb in Nadira Bazar.

At the Tantibazar intersection, a person named Abdul Jabbar, 40, was in-

jured in a bomb blast while crossing the road. He was also rushed to the DMCH. Two more people including a woman were injured in front of the Azimpur branch of Viqarunnisa Noon School in a hand bomb attack. The victims are Samiul, 45, and Masuda Begum, 25.

In Gaibandha, miscreants hurled a Molotov cocktail at a speeding bus in Kalitola bridge area of Gobindaganj around midnight. One person named Parvez was killed while three others were injured in the incident.

Of the injured, the condition of Asadul was critical. He was taken to Bogra Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College.

The identity of the two other victims could not be confirmed immediately.

Masud Parvez, OC of Gobindaganj highway police, said three passengers of a Dhaka-bound Ena Paribahan jumped off the bus through the windows when the attackers had hurled the Molotov cocktail.

But a truck coming from the opposite direction crushed Parvez, leaving him dead on the spot, the OC added.

Our Netrokona correspondent reported that 11 BNP leaders were arrested from Barhatta, Kendua, Modon, Atpara and Mohonganj, Additional Police Superintendent Abdul Momen said.

In Tangail, police filed a case against 89 leaders of the BNP including Ghatail upazila BNP General Secretary AKM Rezaul Karim for creating violence during the blockade. Sub-Inspector Rojob Ali filed the case as a complainant.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Selim, driver of a human haulier, is being taken to the burn unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital with 35% burns on his body yesterday. He suffered the burn injuries when blockade supporters torched his vehicle in the Kamalapur area of the capital DHAKA TRIBUNE

Even kids can’t recognise disfigured dad n Mohammad Jamil Khan Attacked by pickets, public transport driver, Md Selim, 35, has suffered burns to nearly 34% of his body, including to his face and pulmonary system.

The burns disfigured his face so severely that even his own children cannot recognise him.

Seven-year-old Hasib and three-yearold Shikha went with their mother to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday to see their father who, the children were told, had been in an accident.

When their mother stopped in front of bed number two at the High Deficiency Unit (HDU) of the burn institute, the children asked: “Where is he?

Please, let us see him first and then we can visit others.”

Their mother, Hashi Akther, choked by grief, broke down in tears. Their grandmother, Rahima Akther, quietly explained to them that the man on the bed was their father.

Selim had been on his way to Dhaka’s Motijheel area from Mugda, driving his empty human haulier in search of passengers on Sunday evening.

In front of Sardar Garments in the

Kamalapur Bazar area, two men flagged him down and asked if the vehicle was available for a ride.

When Selim responded in the affirmative, the two men smashed his windshield with bricks, poured petrol inside the vehicle and set it on fire.

Before Selim could escape, his body caught fire. His clothes ablaze, he started to disrobe in a frantic bid to put out the petrol-driven flames.

He had taken off all of his burning garments until he was left standing naked in the street, but it was too late, the damage had been done.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

n Tribune Report

n Abu Hayat Mahmud

Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has been appointed the 21st chief justice of the country, with President Abdul Hamid making the appointment as per article 95(1) of the constitution.

The Law Ministry issued a gazette notification yesterday regarding the appointment, Law Minister Anisul Haq said. Justice Sinha’s appointment will come into effect from the day he takes oath, while incumbent Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain is set to retire on January 16.

Justice Sinha’s appointment comes only a few months after he drew flak by revealing his role and affiliation with the anti-liberation force during the Liberation War. On September 10 last year, during the hearing in war criminal Muhammad Kamaruzzaman’s appeal case, presiding judge of the four-member Appellate Division bench SK Sinha said he had been a member of the infamous Peace Committee in 1971.

During the proceedings, Justice Sinha said: “It may happen. There was a situation during the war when in every family if one was an Awami League supporter, another was pro-Pakistani. I myself was a member of the Peace Committee.

“I myself worked for the Pakistani army, but at night I passed down information to the freedom fighters,” he added.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday warned the BNP that her government would get tough if needed to ensure security for the country’s people.

While speaking at a rally in the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan organised to mark the Homecoming Day of Bangabandhu, she also called upon people to come forward and resist any attempt to create sabotage and violence in the name of movement.

“She [BNP chief Khaleda Zia] has made a big mistake by not participating in the January 5 elections [last year].

And now she is inciting anarchy from the refuge of her Gulshan office.

“I want to tell the BNP chief clearly...

It was your mistake and your party will have to suffer. The people of the country will not suffer [for your mistake].

Why are you damaging the properties and livelihood of the countrymen through militancy and terrorism?” the PM said.

“Do not try our patience,” Hasina said.

“I am strictly telling the BNP leader that nobody would be spared if they try to attack people again. They will be dealt with iron hands...The government will do whatever is necessary to protect the people.”

Hasina, also the president of ruling Awami League, said Khaleda Zia’s habit of staying outside is nothing new; she has stayed out during various crisis

The Biswa Ijtema ended two days ago but Selim Sheikh and other devotees are still waiting for transport to Gaibandha at Gabtoli Bus Terminal in the capital. Many devotees are stranded in the capital because of the blockade RAJIB DHAR

Blockade starts taking toll on transport and supply chain n Asif Showkat Kallol One year ago, the country’s transport sector was one of the worst sufferers in the pre-election violence, businesspeople fear that things are heading very much that way.

Because of the ongoing countrywide blockade enforced by the BNPled alliance, transportation costs have already doubled in many cases, just

like how the skyrocketing started in December 2013 when similar political programmes were going on.

Alongside passenger buses, goods-laden trucks have often been targets of vandalism and arson attacks on the highway by political pickets.

The Dhaka-Chittagong highway is one of the busiest internal trade routes in Bangladesh. For carrying goods on the 465km route, a truck or a covered

van, depending on their sizes, charges from Tk8,000 to Tk10,000.

Since the blockades began, many transport owners have refrained from sending their trucks on the long route.

Others are charging from Tk14,000 to Tk20,000 for a single trip as of yesterday.

When pre-election political unrest was nearing its peak in the first week of  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

INSIDE 2 | News

Trains moving at a snail’s pace to avoid sabotage on railway tracks by blockaders are causing railway timetables to fall apart.

3 | News

Three people with small arms and bullets were arrested from the vicinity of Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday where Prime Minister Sheikh spoke on the day in an Awamy League rally commemorating the homecoming of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

A truck helper who was seriously injured in blockade violence almost a week ago died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday.

On January 7, Atikur Rahman was riding on a truck travelling to Begumganj from Ghorashal, when bricks hurled by blockaders hit him in the forehead.

Delowar Hossain, driver of the truck, told the Dhaka Tribune the cement-laden vehicle came under attack at Bazra around 3pm.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

Do not try our patience, Hasina tells Khaleda

SK Sinha made new chief justice

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Arson victim dies of burn injuries n Mohammad Jamil Khan

4 | News

Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission yesterday raised concerns about what it called “the intensified crackdown by the government on the media and the opposition.”

6 | Nation

Hundreds of villagers in seven unions of Tahirpur upazila in Sunamganj are falling victims of various diseases and malnutrition due to the absence of proper sanitation facilities.

5 | News

The seventh day’s blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance was seen largely uneventful in the port city as life of city dwellers was normal during daytime.

8 | World

Israeli PM Netanyahu managed to ruffle a few feathers while taking part in the “Charlie Hebdo”rally in Paris, an event his office initially said he would not be attending.

15 | Entertainment

To mark the 7th death anniversary of iconic playwright Selim Al Deen, a two-day-long commemorating programmes have been arranged by Selim Al Deen Foundation.

moments of the country including the Liberation War in 1971.

Claiming that her political arch rival has not been kept confined to her Gulshan office and is free to go home with police escort, the PM said: “She is staying in her office willingly to stage a drama.”

Hasina also called upon people to stay vigilant so that they can catch anyone planning subversive activities in their areas and hand them over to law enforcers.

‘Her son is a kulangar. It is simple mathematics; like mother, like son’ She also came down hard on Khaleda’s elder son Tarique Rahman, who recently said in London that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a collaborator.

“Her son is a kulangar [black sheep].

It is simple mathematics; like mother, like son,” Hasina said.

Most senior Awami League leaders attended and spoke at the rally that started around 2:30pm yesterday with recitations from Qur’an, Geeta, Tripitaka and Bible.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police lifted its indefinite ban on rallies and processions in the capital yesterday to allow the programme. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Railway services hit by delays and cancellations

Rawshan for nonviolent political programmes n UNB

Trains told to go slow to avoid derailment from sabotaged tracks n Shohel Mamun Trains moving at a snail’s pace to avoid sabotage to railway tracks by BNP alliance blockaders are causing Bangladesh Railway’s timetables to fall apart, despite the railway minister’s vow to keep services running smoothly.

Railway authorities said, of the 62 scheduled departures from Kamalapur Railway Station, three intercity and two local services had been cancelled yesterday due to the slow movement of trains.

The 57 remaining services faced delays of between three and 21 hours.

Thousands waited on the platform for their trains, some for many hours. Incoming trains were filled to the brim with passengers The result for passengers has been long waits, changed travel plans, and, when trains were available, extremely crammed conditions.

Bangladesh Railway Managing Director Amzad Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have decided to operate train services at any cost but we have emphasised passenger security and the protection of railway assets.”

“A patrolling and piloting system has been started, meaning that pilot trains precede passenger trains to ensure that railway tracks are safe,” he said.

Amzad said: “To avoid derailments or other incidents, we have decided to slow the trains down.”

“Generally an intercity train moves

at between 70 and 80 kilometres per hour, but they are now running at a maximum of 50 kilometres per hour,” he said.

Delays and cancellations

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

The Chittagong-bound Turna Express, Sylhet-bound Jayantika Express, Dinajpur-bound Akata Express, Gazipur-bound Turag Local and Sirajganj-bound Sirajganj Express had been cancelled yesterday. The remaining 57 scheduled services departed three to 21 hours behind schedule.

The Chittagong-bound Mahanagar Provati, scheduled to leave at 7:40am, left the station yesterday evening at 7:30pm. The Rangpur Express left the station at 3:30pm although it was scheduled to depart at 9am.

The Tarakandi-bound Agnibina Express, which was scheduled to leave the station at 9:40am, did not even reach the station until 3:15pm. The Jamalpur-bound Jamuna Express, scheduled to leave at 8:30am reached Kamalapur Railway Station at 4:00pm.

At Kamalapur Railway Station, throngs of people were seen yesterday waiting for their trains.

Anamul Haque, a passenger, said: “We have been waiting for the Chittagong-bound Suborna Express for two hours but the train has not yet reached the station. My wife and child are weary from waiting.”

Thousands of others waited on the platform alongside Anamul and his family, some for much longer.

Incoming trains were full to the brim with passengers who had no other option for long haul travel since many bus operators had suspended their services. l

38 nursing institute students expelled for admission forgery n Our Correspondent, Chuadanga The authorities of Chuadanga Nursing Training Institute have decided to cancel the studentships of 38 students for admission forgery in 2014-15 academic sessions.

Forty nine students were admitted to the institute in the three-year-long Diploma in Nursing Science and Midwifery course in November last year.

Alomoti Begum, sister-in-charge of the institute, said they admitted the students against 50 seats following a directive of the Directorate of Nursing Services.

“We have received a letter on Sunday from the Directorate of Nursing Services which asked us to take steps against 38 students saying that the

students adopted unfair means in the admission process,” she said yesterday.

Being informed about the decision of the authorities, some students broke into tears on the campus yesterday.

Two students were admitted to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital as they fell ill after hearing that their studentships were cancelled.

Talking to the Dhaka, many students whose studentship have been cancelled said they filled their admission forms properly by following instructions in the advertisement and followed all the instruction in it. “We cannot understand that why the authorities are taking such decision now,” said a student.

“The authorities must cancel the decision. We will go for movement if the authorities do not cancel the decision.” l

Train stations face extra pressure because most Biswa Ijtema devotees prefer trains to buses to reach their destinations. A large number of devotees wait for their trains at Kamalapur Railway Station yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Voicing deep concern over the current confrontational political situation in the country, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Rawshan Ershad yesterday said there is no alternative to political stability for economic development.

In a statement, she urged the political parties to avoid violent action programmes as people do not like it.

“Killing people by torching buses and increasing public sufferings by hurling bombs, removing fishplates of rail lines in the name of political programmes are completely unethical and unexpected,” the opposition leader observed.

Rawshan noted that hartal and blockade the main means for realising political demands have now become another name of fear and public sufferings. “Violent incidents are being carried out one after another in the name of hartal and blockade.”l

Tribune reporter attacked Chashi Nazrul Islam laid at passport office to eternal rest Correspondent, n Our Brahmanbaria

Identified criminals who work as touts at the regional passport office in Brahmanbaria yesterday swooped down on three on-duty journalists with firearms and injured a Dhaka Tribune reporter.

The injured is Masuk Hridoy. The criminals also snatched his Canon DSLR camera and a Dell laptop.

The two other reporters were Independent TV’s district correspondent Jabed Rahim Bijon and local newspaper the Daily Sarod reporter Shafiqul Alam Swapan. The attack was launched by some eight persons led by Nasir Mia, 33, who identified himself as the elder brother of district unit Chhatra League President Masum Billah.

Swapan said they had gone to the passport office yesterday noon to gather information on the sufferings of service-seekers as activities at the office had been suspended for the last two weeks.

Nasir and his gang attacked the trio while they were speaking to the people on the office premises.

Swapan said: “Nasir hit Masuk’s head with his pistol, and kicked and punched him. Identifying himself as the elder brother of the district unit Chhatra League president, Nasir threatened to kill Masuk by pointing pistol on the chest. He also fired several blank shots.”

An accomplice of Nasir then snatched the DSLR camera and laptop of Masuk and a Panasonic video camera of Bijoy. Later police and local journalists rescued the trio.

Masuk filed a case against eight persons naming three including Nasir for attempted murder, mugging and use of arms and explosives.

Passport office Assistant Director Al Amin Sarker said at one point of the attack, Masuk had taken shelter in his room.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Tapos Ranjan Ghosh said they would launch a drive to arrest the perpetrators. l

n Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

Freedom fighter and noted film-maker Chashi Nazrul Islam was laid to eternal rest beside his parents at his native village Shomoshpur under Srinagar upazila in Munshiganj yesterday.

The funerals were completed at 5pm yesterday.

His last namaz-e-janaza was held ahead of asr prayer on the playground of Shomoshpur Business Management College where people from all walks of life were in attendance.

Film director Amzad Hossain, actor Ujwal, among many others from the country’s entertainment industry, took part in the last funeral prayer.

The Ekushey Padak and National Film Award winner was given a guard of honour by the state on the premises of the Film Development Corporation in the capital.

Born to Mosleh Uddin Khan and Shayesta Khanom at Shomoshpur vil-

Arson victim dies

Violent blockade claims

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The 22-year-old was admitted to a local clinic after the attack but was brought to the DMCH the following day as his condition deteriorated.

Dr Riaz Morshed, resident surgeon of the DMCH casualty unit, said Atikur died of head injuries. “The attack led to internal fractures in his head,” he said.

Sabbir Rahman, elder brother of the victim, said Delowar would not come home very often but would send money to mother.

“He would often tell mother to spend as much as she needed and save the rest. He also would say that he would one day take back the amount that had been saved when he would need it.

“But my brother is never going to return home to take back his money,” Sabbir added.

Ashraful Islam, officer-in-charge of Sonaimuri police station, told the Dhaka Tribune he was aware of the death of a man attacked by blockaders but could not take any action as no complaint was lodged with his police station. l

Our Comilla correspondent said police had arrested 10 leaders of the BNP and six of Jamaat-e-Islami from Sunday night until yesterday morning on charge of their involvement in violence, Mahbubur Rahman of the district Special Branch said.

In Jessore, miscreants torched an onion-laden truck in Dhopakhola area of Jessore-Benapole road yesterday morning. Spokesperson of Jessore police Reshma Sharmin said coming from Satkhira, the truck was heading towards Jessore. No one was arrested.

Meanwhile, blockaders set fire to a truck early yesterday at Modondanga village under Shailkupa, Jhenidah on Kushtia-Jhenidah road. They earlier torched a bus in Kabirpur area of the same upazila around 11pm on Sunday, Officer-inCharge Sagir Mia confirmed the matter.

In Savar, police arrested 18 leaders and activists of the BNP after they brought out a rally in Bazar bus stand area in the morning.

Our Narsingdi correspondent report-

ed that hartal supporters brought out a procession on Dhaka-Sylhet highway and carried out vandalism and arson attacks around 9:30am. They also obstructed traffic by burning tyres. Police arrested seven BNP leaders and activists.

Meanwhile, police and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel yesterday escorted buses and goods-laden trucks plying on Dhaka-Chittagong, Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong-Rangamati highways.

Members of BGB were also deployed in the port city. Moreover, the BGB set up a makeshift camp in Mirsarai.

Transport owners after a meeting with the Chittagong police high-ups yesterday decided to operate vehicles under police protection.

Police said they had arrested 42 people including leaders of Jamaat’s student body Islami Chhatra Shibir from the district’s Boalkhali, Sitakunda, Rangunia, Patia, Lohagara and Hathazari areas in an overnight drive for their alleged involvement in subversive activities in the name of observing blockade. l

lage on October 23, 1941, he died at a hospital in the capital around 6am on Sunday.

He had been suffering from liver cancer for a long time.

Shortly after his death, President Md Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia expressed condolence at his death in separate messages.

MPs Sukumar Ranjan Ghosh for Munshiganj 1, Sagufta Yasmin for Munshiganj 2, Mrinal Kanti Das for Munshiganj 3 also mourned his death.

Nazrul began his career in a radio in 1965. He directed and voiced popular radio dramas like “Ramer Sumoti” (1965), “Socrates” (1966), “Sokhina Birangona” (1974) etc. He started his career in visual media in 1964.

Nazrul participated in the 1971 Liberation War. After independence, he made “Ora Egaro Jon”, the first film on the country’s glorious liberation war. l

SK Sinha made new chief justice  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

Born in 1951, Justice Sinha hails from Tilokpur village of Alinagor union at Moulvibazar. After obtaining his LLB degree, he enrolled as an advocate of the Sylhet District Court in 1974.

He enrolled as an advocate of the High Court Division in 1978 and the Appellate Division of Supreme Court in 1990. He was elevated as judge of the High Court Division in 1999 and as judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in 2009.

Justice Sinha sat on the Appellate Division bench that heard the 13th amendment appeal and scrapped the provision for caretaker government to oversee national elections. He was also part of the bench that heard the 2009 appeals in the Bangabandhu murder case and has been an appeals judge in the on-going war crimes trials.

He will serve just over three years as the chief justice with his retirement due in early 2018. l

Blockade starts taking toll on transport and supply chain

Even kids can’t recognise

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December 2013, the hike began in the exact same way: rising to Tk20,000 per trip on the highway.

By the last week of that month, transport owners were charging up to as much as Tk1-1.25 lakh which was more than 12 times the regular cost.

The government has arranged special security for highway vehicles on the Dhaka-Chittagong route considering its importance in trade, allowing some vehicles to ply the route.

Not every part of the country is as fortunate as the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. The northern districts have been the most troublesome and the highways in that region have been vulnerable to vandalism and arson attacks.

The northern district of Naogaon is one the biggest rice-supply hubs in the country. When there is peace, around 100 rice-laden trucks come to the capital on an average every day. However, over the last five days, not a single truck has left the district for Dhaka.

“We are having to suffer from Tk3040 crore loss every day because we have not been able to send the rice to Dhaka. Nobody is ready to bring their trucks on the highway,” said Nirod Baran Saha, president of the local rice traders’ association in Naogaon.

“Not the entire Naogaon-Dhaka

highway is risky. Only some parts in Sirajganj and Bogra districts are troublesome. The portion leading from the Jamuna bridge to Dhaka is good.

Over the last six days, we have been requesting the government to deploy BGB members in those areas. But our call has remain unheeded,” he told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.

“Even the Dhaka-Chittagong highway has not been fully free of violence.

Two trucks carrying readymade garment products were torched in Narayanganj and Sitakunda on Friday, although there were police escorts,” said Rustom Ali, general secretary of the Covered Van and Truck Owners’ Association.

“These and fear of facing more such incidents have led the truck owners to raise the bill for carrying goods. If the blockade continues for a month, the cost may go up to Tk1 lakh,” he said.

Manjur Ahmed, an adviser to the country’s apex trade body FBCCI, told the Dhaka Tribune that police escort will not be able to tame things during blockades. “If anyone thinks this model [police escort] will work during blockade, then he or she is nothing but a fool.”

“We have no other option but to pay the additional bill of carrying goods to ensure timely shipments abroad,” he said.

Contacted, State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu

told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “We will definitely take strong measures to ensure security for buses and trucks carrying goods from the northern districts to Dhaka.” However, he did not elaborate the kind of measures he was talking about.

On an average, 2,500-3,000 trucks enter Dhaka every day; over the last six days, on an average around 300-400 trucks have entered the city.

Compensation problem

According to Rustom Ali, a truck, depending on its capacity, costs between Tk20 lakh and Tk40 lakh.

If the engine remains unhurt when a truck is torched or vandalised, the truck can be made operational again by spending around Tk20 lakh. But if the engine is damaged, repairing costs go up to as much as Tk40 lakh.

Rustom said 40 of his trucks were damaged during the pre-election political violence a year ago, but the government had compensated for only 12 of those. “That too not more than Tk2.5 lakh for each truck.”

He also said insurance companies refuse to pay if a truck gets damaged in political violence.

This year too, the government has assured truck owners that it would pay compensation in case their vehicles got damaged in political violence.

Rustom said they got the assurance from State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal during a meeting; there is also directive from the Prime Minister’s Office in this regard.

As of yesterday, at least 200 trucks have been vandalised and torched on different highways around the country.

During the pre-election violence in 2013, more than 1,000 trucks were damaged beyond repair and 4,000 were partially damaged.

Fertiliser supply

The blockade and the resulting transportation crunch are also likely to hit the fertiliser supply chain hard.

Growers of Irri and Boro – two of the major paddy breeds in the country – will be needing a lot of fertilisers in the coming months.

“Cultivation of Irri and Boro may face a serious setback if the blockade continues for a month,” Bangladesh Fertiliser Association Chairman Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton told the Dhaka Tribune.

“Dealers have enough stock of fertiliser. We had plans to distribute these fertilisers around the country over the next three weeks,” he said.

Prices of the key inputs such as seeds and fertilisers have already shot up significantly in many areas since the blockade started, farmers said. l

“‘Please, someone give me some water...Someone give me some water,’ is all I heard him say,” a witness of the incident told the Dhaka Tribune. The witness, Emran Hossain Chowdhury, took Selim to the DMCH. Emran, who works in a grocery shop, said he had only seen such violent acts in films.

“It was like a nightmare. I cannot sleep at night when I think they set a living person on fire,” he said.

Selim lives in the Madinabagh area of Mugda with his wife, children, mother and sisters.

His wife, Hashi, has become unhinged after the arson attack on her husband, family members said.

She does not go anywhere or do anything. She just sits by his bedside, praying: “Allah, save us from this disaster.

Give us release.”

The victim’s mother, Rahima Begum, told the Dhaka Tribune that Selim was her only son and the only earning member of the household.

She said: “Six months ago, Selim took a loan from a credit association to buy a human haulier. He pays Tk8,000 per week in instalments. His rent in Mugda is nearly Tk8,000 per month and, on top of that, this year Selim’s son Hasib has started school for

the first time.”

“We might pass a day without food but the association people do not care about anything but the timely payment of their instalments,” said Rahima.

“The human haulier was burned and we are surviving with assistance from Selim’s friends and other drivers.

I do not know how long we can carry on this way,” she said.

When asked about Selim’s poor condition, Rahima bites her tongue as if to ward off an evil omen.

With tears in her eyes she said: “Please do not say anything negative.

He is the only hope in our life and if anything happens to him then we are all dead.”

Partha Shankar Pal, the resident surgeon of the DMCH burn institute told the Dhaka Tribune that Selim is in critical condition because of inhalation burn injuries.

He said patients in this condition may survive but take time to heal.

According to the burn institute’s records, 10 victims of arson attacks had received treatment in the last seven days.

Along with Selim, auto-rickshaw driver, Siddique, and private car driver, Abul Kalam, were also in critical condition. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

‘Awami League activists’ carrying guns arrested near PM’s rally n Tribune Report Three people with firearms and bullets were arrested from the vicinity of Suhrawardy Uddyan yesterday where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressed an Awami League rally commemorating Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day. All three arrestees claimed to be Awami League activists, and that their weapons were licensed.

The arrests were made after the proceedings of the rally had begun.

Sirajul Islam, Officer-in-Charge of Shahbagh police station said the arrestees have claimed the guns were licensed.

“We are investigating why they brought the arms at the rally of the prime minister,” he added.

To ensure security during the rally, Police, RAB, Armed Police, plainclothes detectives and SSF members were deployed around the venue. Two gates were kept open for people to enter the venue and members of law enforcers searched their bodies, while another gate was for the AL men coming with processions. A fence was also installed around the rally stage.

Despite tight security, people with guns were arrested, and crude bombs were blasted in front of Bangla Academy and Shaheed Minar, places close to the rally venue.

Police, acting upon information, arrested Abu Sayem Shahin, 36, and Jasim Uddin, 33, while carrying a pistol and 38 rounds of bullets from Joykali Mandir area. Sayem claimed he was an activist of Mohammadpur unit AL, and also a car trader. Jasim was supposedly his assistant. The arrest was made between 3pm to 4 pm.

Noab condemns police raid at New Age office n Tribune Desk Members of the Newspaper Owners’ Association Bangladesh (Noab) strongly condemned police’s attempt to raid the office of English daily the New Age without warrant on December 28, and their threats to the journalists.

Speaking at Noab’s meeting yesterday, they said the likes of the December 28 incident is a threat to the freedom of expression, freedom of thinking and freedom of press.

They also expressed concern over the arrest of Ekushey Television Chairman Abdus Salam, saying talk shows are banned or regulated to intimidate the TV channels. l

Around 4pm, police arrested one Anwar Hossain, 45, near the Bangla Academy premises with another pistol and 14 rounds of bullets. He claimed to be an ex-president of Mirpur unit Chhatra League.

Earlier on the day, miscreants hurled crude bombs at a truck carrying AL activists to the rally near the Shaheed Minar area. Five people injured in the incident have been admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital following the attack around 4pm.

The injured are Hasan, Javed, Milon, Aslam and Abdul Latif, all of whom came from Dohar-Nababganj, said police.

Md Polash, organising secretary of Nawabganj upazila Swechchhasebak League, told reporters that while they were passing the Shaheed Minar area, some miscreants hurled the bombs from a motorbike and fled.

“Five cocktails were hurled; all of the them hit the trucks body. If one of those fell on the truck’s bunk, it could have killed people” he said.

In another incident, three crude bombs were hurled on the road in front of the Bangla Academy around 2pm when the leaders and activists started coming to the rally ground, said Shibli Noman, an ACP of the Ramna zone.

Two of the three bombs exploded while police recovered another from the road. No one was wounded in the incident. Police suspected that the bombs were hurled from the rooftop of an adjacent building.

Abdul Taben, Deputy Commissioner of police’s Ramna Division said, they had deployed police since Sunday night around the rally ground as they had information that miscreants would try to do something ‘bad’ in the area. l

Paper-laden truck torched in Chittagong n CU Correspondent

A procession of the supporters and activists of Bangladesh Awami League proceeds towards the Suhrawardy Uddyan to attend a rally marking the Homecoming Day of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman yesterday. The photo was taken in the Dhaka University area RAJIB DHAR

Miscreants torched a truck carrying paper at the GEC intersection area in Chittagong city last night, on the seventh consecutive day of the BNP-led-20 party’s ongoing indefinite blockade. However, no causalities were reported.

Miscreants set the running truck on fire in front of Sanmar Ocean City shopping complex around 7:30pm, said Assistant Sub-Inspector P Ranjan Barua of Khulshi police station.

The driver immediately stopped the vehicle and he along with his helper jumped off the truck, but none of them was injured, the ASI added.

Two units of fire fighters doused the flame around 8:30pm, according to the Fire Service and Civil Defence office at Agrabad.

Panic spread among the passers-by and vehicular movement in the area was halted for half an hour due to the attack, sources said. l

Draft amendment approved to allow review of assets and transactions n Tribune Report The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of an amended act which would allow Bangladesh Bank to seek information on any foreign asset owned by expatriate Bangladeshis.

The draft of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) 2015 also included new provisions for currency transactions of Bangladeshi citizens and foreign citizens living in Bangladesh.

The draft was approved yesterday at a cabinet meeting, presided by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said it was essential to amend the FERA to make it time-befitting, as the transaction of foreign currency and bullion along with international trade have increased in the

last few years.

He added that the existing foreign exchange regulation act was almost the same as the laws passed in undivided India during the British rule.

The definitions of export and import of goods, currency transaction, current accounts and capital accounts have been expanded under the draft amendment Musharraf also said minor amendments were made to the act in 1976 and 2003, while the current account transaction convertibility was made in 1994,

and the exchange rate was made market-based in 2003.

The Bank and Financial Institutions Division placed the draft before the cabinet committee meeting for approval yesterday, the secretary said.

The Bank Division formed a committee, headed by the executive director of Bangladesh Bank, which reviewed foreign exchange regulation acts of neighbouring countries before making its recommendations.

The draft was prepared in accordance with recommendations from several inter-ministerial meetings, but surprisingly no public opinion submitted through the website was considered, said Secretary Musharraf.

The major amendments to the existing act includes new provisions for the overview of foreign currency transaction by Bangladeshi citizens as well as

foreign citizens living in Bangladesh.

The definitions of export and import of goods, currency transaction, current accounts and capital accounts have been expanded under the draft amendment, while a new definition of electronic transaction has also been added.

The secretary also said the meaning of the currency has now expanded as foreign currency transaction was also being made through electric system.

Regarding the central bank’s administrative measures, Musharraf said the Bangladesh Bank would take the measures by penalising stakeholders of illegal foreign exchange transactions.

Under the amendment, foreign currency firms would not have to take permission from Bangladesh Bank for setting up office or appointing agents, but would need to seek permission from other authorities concerned, he added.l

BNP: PM thinks people are fools n Tribune Report Rejecting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s claim that Khaleda Zia had not been confined, the BNP yesterday said the PM’s statement was a “blatant lie.”

“What prime minister said today is nothing but a madman’s delirium.

People know Khaleda Zia is confined... the locking of gate and stationing of sand-laden trucks [shows that] the deshnetri [Khaleda] is confined,” Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of BNP, said yesterday.

Rizvi’s comments came hours after the PM addressed a rally at the Suhrawardy Uddyan in the capital at a programme marking Bangabandhu’s Homecoming Day.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been “confined” to her Gulshan office since January 3. After failing to come out of her office on January 5, Khaleda announced non-stop countrywide blockade.

It looks as if she [PM] thinks that the people are fool; they do not understand anything Rizvi said the PM has cheated with the people of the country. “It looks as if she [PM] thinks that the people are fool;

they do not understand anything.”

Countering the Hasina’s allegation that Khaleda has been sabotaging in the name of movement, Rizvi said: “The government is running the country by repressing, killing and abducting people. It is clear to people who are doing criminal activities in the country.”

“We want to say clearly that by doing this they [the government] cannot linger the misrule and the consequences will be dire,” he said.

He condemned the arrest of BNP’s Joint Secretary General Mohammad Shahjahan, Assistant Office Secretary Shamimur Rahman Shamim and executive committee member Belal Ahmed and demanded their immediate release. l

Rapid Action Battalion detains six people after a drive at an adulterated medicine factory in the capital’s Mirpur area yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Dudu on 5-day remand n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

A Dhaka court yesterday placed BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Adviser Md Shamsuzzaman Dudu and two others on a five-day remand in a case filed under the Special Power Act. Metropolitan Magistrate Md Aminul Islam passed the order after Md Moniruzzaman, sub-inspector of Mirpur Model police station and also the investigation officer of the case, produced Dudu and two others before the court with a 10-day remand prayer.

The two others who were remanded are – Md Rafiqul Islam Liton, Jubo Dal secretary of Mirpur’s ward number 14, and Shibir activist Md Dider.

In the remand prayer, the officer said Dudu was a mastermind of different vandalism and heinous activities

across the country and needed to be taken under remand for interrogation.

The court also rejected a bail petition placed by Dudu’s counsel Md Masud Ahamed Talukder.

The case statement claimed that miscreants, led by Shamsuzzaman Dudu and carrying out a BNP-Jamaat plan, torched a bus of Jabale Nur Paribahan in West Shewrapara of Mirpur.

They were also meeting at Rabbani Hotel in Jutpalli of Mirpur 10 to plan further subversive activities, the statement added. Acting on a tip-off, police raided the hotel and detained the three men.

In this connection, Mirpur SI Masud Pervez, on Sunday lodged a case against 40 named BNP-Jamaat activists including Khaleda Zia’s Adviser Shamsuzzaman Dudu and other unidentified people under the Special Power Act. l

Contempt of court order issued against Tajul n Tribune Report

People who suffered injuries due to crude bomb explosions during the blockade in various parts of the capital are brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Sharif, 30, was hurt when a cocktail went off at Shakhari Bazar. Mahfuza, 28, is a victim of a cocktail explosion in Azimpur while Hasan, 30, was injured when miscreants blasted crude bombs in front of the Central Shaheed Minar MEHEDI HASAN

The International Crimes Tribunal 1 has issued a contempt of court rule against a Jamaat-e-Islami lawyer Tajul Islam and its five leaders as well as two leaders of its student affiliate Islami Chhatra Shibir for making derogatory statements against the court.

The rule was issued in response to a petition for calling countrywide hartal

and making derogatory comment over the verdict against ATM Azharul Islam.

A three-member tribunal, led by Chairman M Enayetur Rahim, issued the rule seeking explanation as to why contempt of court charge should not be brought against them for their statements and calling hartal in protest of its death sentence to Jamaat leader ATM Azharul. The tribunal directed them to place explanation by January 28. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

AHRC: Crackdown on media and opposition intensifies n Tribune Desk Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, yesterday raised concerns about what it called “the intensified crackdown by the government on the media and the opposition.”

The AHRC pointed to several actions taken by law enforcement agencies and senior members of the government as causes for concern.

It noted a police raid without just cause on the office premises of the New Age, a national English daily, on the evening of December 28 last, in which journalists were threatened with “dire consequences.”

The AHRC said the January 7 arrest of Ekushey Television Chairman Abdus Salam in a “pornography” case was made despite the fact that no complainant had officially accused Salam and the police did not have evidence to merit the action.

It recalled a High Court ruling the same day against the publication or

Prof Shafi made Cambridge University fellow n Tribune Report Cambridge University has recently elected Prof Abdullah Al Shafi Majumder as the “Senior Visiting Fallow” of the u n i v e r s i t y,

says a media release.

The prestige is an exceptional honour to a Bangladeshi cardiologist for the first time, the release went on.

Prof Majumder has been working as director of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD). Besides, he is also Secretary General of Bangladesh Cardiac Society.

Earlier last year, he gained Fellowship from Royal College of Physicians of Glasgow, UK and Cardiological Society of India. l

broadcast of any statements by Tareque Rahman, son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who is also senior vice-chairperson of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

In its press statement, the AHRC said former prime minister Khaleda Zia had been effectively confined by police to her office at Gulshan in Dhaka since the night of January 3.

According to the press statement, on January 11, Tofail Ahmed, commerce minister in Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet and a senior Awami League leader, reportedly said: “…BNP would meet the fate the Naxalites did after the country’s liberation in 1971….”

The alleged Naxalites the minister is referring to were extra-judicially murdered by law-enforcement agencies, and was a cause for concern, according to the press release.

The ruling party and its allies are allowed to hold public meetings, including one held yesterday, yet authorities continually denied the opposition their right to do the same, the AHRC press release said. l

Luminaries of Bangladesh film industry and longtime colleagues of Chashi Nazrul Islam pay their last tribute to him at the BFDC yesterday morning

Destiny 2000 director asked to submit wealth report to ACC n Tribune Report The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday sent a notice to a director of Destiny 2000 Limited, seeking her wealth accounts.

ACC Public Relations Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said the commission sent a notice signed by Deputy Director Sheikh Fanafillah to Destiny 2000 Director Farha Diba asking for her wealth statement within seven working days, reports UNB. Bhattacharya said it was in connection with an allegation that Farha amassed a huge amount of wealth by swindling investors’ money through the multi-level marketing company.

On August 28, 2014, the ACC also served notices upon Destiny 2000 directors Gofranul Huq, Saidur Rahman, Mesbah Uddin Swapan, Syed Sazzad

Hossain, Irfan Ahmed Sunny, Sheikh Tayebur Rahman and Nepal Chandra Biswas, and former treasurer of Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (DMCSL) Akbar Hossain Sumon.

On July 31, 2012, the ACC filed two money-laundering cases against Destiny 2000 Limited Chairman Lt General (retd) M Harunur Rashid and Managing Director Rafiqul Amin and 20 others on charges of misappropriating investors’ money amounting to Tk3,285 crore.

ACC Assistant Director Toufiqul Islam filed a case against 22 Destiny officials for the embezzlement of Tk1,178 crore from DMCSL. ACC Deputy Director Mozahar Ali Sarder also filed another case with against 12 officials of Destiny 2000, including its chairman and managing director, for misappropriating over Tk2,106 crore from the Destiny Tree Plantation Limited (DTPL). l

2 Bangladeshi ‘cattle traders’ picked up by BSF Correspondent, n Our Thakurgaon

Indian Border Security Force personnel yesterday held two Bangladesh nationals along Dubree Molani border under Horipur upazila of Thakurgaon allegedly for carrying illegal phensidyl.

A senior official of Border Guard Bangladesh said Abdul Malek and Komison Ali from Beldangee village of Horipur had been caught by the members of 121 BSF Battalion around 9:30am while returning home.

“They were held by a patrol team around 2km inside India with cattle,” Commander of 30 BGB Battalion Lt Col Tushar Bin Yunus said.

Tushar requested his counterpart for the release of the duo, but the BSF officials said Malek and Komison were held with phensidyl in their possession, and so would be handed over to the Indian police. l

Forest robber gang leader killed in ‘gunfight’

n UNB

Bangladesh Basic Graduate Nurses Society yesterday forms a human chain in front of the Central Shaheed Minar to express condolence on the death of their teacher Anjali Devi and to demand punishment of those involved. Anjali Devi was killed by miscreants in Chittagong on January 10 MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Medicine shop owner sues two physicians for wrong treatment n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong A medicine shop owner yesterday lodged a case with a Chittagong court against two physicians, demanding Tk1 crore as compensation for alleged wrong treatment.

The sued physicians were Chittagong Medical College Hospital Orthopedic Surgeon Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy and his son Dr Binimoy Chandra Roy, said court sources.

The trader, Shafiul Azam, lodged

the case before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Nur-E-Alam Bhuyian yesterday morning under sections 267, 270, 226, 418, 406 and 34 of Criminal Procedure Code, the sources said.

The court took the matter into cognisance and ordered Chittagong Metropolitan Police Detective Branch’s deputy commissioner to look into the matter.

Shafiul, owner of Azmir Medical Hall at Green Super Market on Hajaree Lane and Aroma Medical at Sugandha Resi-

dential Area of the city, said he went to Dr Bidhan in 2013 after he felt pain on his left leg. The doctor gave pain killers as initial treatment but when the medicines did not work, they pushed two steroid injections in his leg, he added.

“The two injections were supposed to be given in the bones but one was pushed in the muscle which caused infection,” he said adding that both the doctors later operated on him in August, 2013 but his left leg was paralysed due to wrong treatment. l

A suspected leader of a forest robber gang was allegedly killed in a gunfight between his cohorts and police at Garaikhali Kumkhali Char in Payekgachha upazila early yesterday.

The dead Amir Hossain Ranga, 40, was the alleged leader of forest robber gang “Ranga Bahini” of the area and son of Shafiuddin, a resident of Araipur village in Rupsa upazila.

Shikdar Akkas Ali, officer-in-charge of Payekgachha police station, said they arrested Ranga from Harichandi village of the same upazila around 2pm on Sunday.

Later, police of Dakop and Payekgachha police stations jointly conducted a drive, taking Ranga with them, to recover firearms at Garaikhali Kumkhali Char around 2:30am yesterday.

Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, Ranga’s cohorts fired gunshots, forcing the law enforcers to retaliate, which triggered a gunfight and left Ranga seriously injured.

Police took him to Payekgachha Upazila Health Complex where the duty doctor declared him dead around 4am. Two policemen were also injured during the exchange of fire. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

3 train passengers die being hit by bridge girder n UNB Three passengers of a train died and five others were injured after being hit by a girder of a bridge in Bhangura upazila of Pabna yesterday.

The dead were Matbbor, 25, son of Mahatab, Zia, 25, son of Chanu Miah, and Saidul Islam, son of Fitu Miah, hailing from Chapainawabganj. They were travelling on

the roof of the train.

Quoting witnesses, Station Master of Chatmohor Railway Station Mohibul Islam said the passengers who were travelling on the roof of the Saidpur-bound Suborno Express train were struck by the overhead girders of Koibhanga Bridge in Bhangura upazila around 3:30am. The accident left three passengers dead on spot and five others injured. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Ctg townspeople see uneventful blockade Most of the roadside shops and markets were closed down in the evening in fear of vandalism n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong The seventh day’s blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance was seen largely uneventful in the port city as life of city dwellers was normal during daytime.

But the activities of townspeople decreased after dusk in fear of sudden violence. Many city people said they did not wanted to stay outside after sunset as miscreants targeted common people after dusk.

The fear of sudden violence causes decrease of vehicles movement on the roads in the evening, compounding troubles for commuters.

Working people, especially readymade garment workers, street hawkers and transport workers, were the worst victims of the blockade as they had to face difficulties while going to their destinations.

Most of the roadside shops and markets were closed down in the evening fearing vandalism.

Long distance and freight vehicles were plied by police escort, but many of those are not plied fearing sabotage.

Meanwhile, Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) authorities yesterday formed 16 five-member special patrol

Teenager raped in Savar, rapist held n Our Correspondent, Savar Ashulia police yesterday arrested a rapist and his brother-in-law for violating a 16-year-old girl at his house assuring her of giving a job.

The victim, who lives in Ashulia with her family and used to take training at a centre in the area, was looking for a job in garments. She met the rapist during her training.

Accused Habib, 18, worker at a Baipile garment factory, had asked the girl to meet him yesterday noon at his house at Tiger Colony with related documents.

The girl was raped after he had met Habib. Later the rapist fled the scene.

Local people rescued the girl and sent to hospital.

Ashulia police OC Mostafa Kamal said the victim had been sent to the One-Stop Crisis Centre of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. l

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DRY WEATHER LIKELY TUESDAY, JANUARY 13 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:31PM SUN RISES 6:44AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 26 27 25 21 26 27 28 27

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teams in 16 police stations to resist violent activities in the respective police station areas.

The authorities also ordered to gear up four teams of Detective Branch (DB) to find out the persons who are involved in sabotage in the city, said CMP sources.

The measures were taken in a special meeting at CMP headquarters yesterday around 11am with CMP Commissioner Abdul Jalil Mandal in the chair.

“According to the instructions from CMP headquarters, we sat in the meeting where it is ordered to increase police vigilance strongly to ensure best public security,” said CMP Commissioner while talking the Dhaka Tribune.

At the meeting all the officials were instructed to show zero-tolerance against any kind of violence, he added.

“Every officer-in-charge (OC) of each police station will lead respective police station’s patrol team which has to find out the people who are behind violent activities.

CMP Additional Commissioner (crime and operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder said the DB’s four teams were ordered to gear up their activities to find out the miscreants specially bombers. l

More than hundred oil tankers, stranded due to the strike and blockade, are being escorted to their destinations by Rapid Action Battalion and Police.

The photo was taken yesterday at Talaimari area of Rajshahi city (top).

Miscreants set fire to a railroad using tyre and other flammable materials at Hasnabad of Raipura in Narsingdi yesterday morning. Police rushed to the spot and doused the fire soon preventing possible damage and accident AZAHAR UDDIN

Rampant attacks on goods-laden trucks

Life remains almost normal

n Our Correspondent, Rajshahi

n Our Correspondent, Barisal

The farmers of the northern zone of the country are counting huge loss as the attacks and arsons continue to jeopardize the movement of vegetable-laden trucks in Rajshahi district.

The indefinite countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20 party alliance was rather relaxed in Rajshahi district in the first few days.

The inter-district buses were able to ply without any major attacks, thanks to the security provided by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP).

However, there had been a growing number of attacks on the goods-laden trucks leaving the district.

Manjur Rahman, general secretary of Rajshahi Road Transport Association, said the attacks on vegetable carrying trucks had increased alarmingly.

Yesterday, pro-blockade activists torched a truck carrying potatoes on the highway in front of Rajshahi airport in broad day light.

Nazmul, the driver of the truck said miscreants chased and stopped the truck when he was heading to Bayaba-

zar from Nowhata at around 12:30pm.

Manjur said: “The attacks had increased after the BNP leaders directed the party activists to enforce a strong blockade at major points of Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj to bar necessary goods from reaching the capital.”

Earlier on Saturday at a rally at Bhobon Mohon park, Mizanur Rahman Minu, BNP’s joint secretary and also the co-coordinator of BNP (north), urged the party activists to resist the Dhaka-bound goods-laden trucks at any cost.

On the same day, pro-blockade activists set fire to a plum-laden truck on Chapainawabganj-Rajshahi highway at Kashimpur area of Godagari upazila.

On Sunday night, blockaders also torched a pick-up van carrying pesticides from Dhaka to Rajshahi.

“In the last 5 days, blockaders set fire to at least 10 goods-laden trucks in Rajshahi district causing huge loss to the farmers as well as to the transport owners,” said Manjur.

During the winter season, the northern parts of the country produce a huge amount of vegetables, including tomato, potato, bean, pumpkin, different types of creeper and plum.

Stoppage of activities at Rangamati Medical College demanded n

DU Correspondent

The Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP) demanded not to start academic activities at Rangamati Medical College without implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts treaty.

They also demanded punishment of people who attacked activists of the PCP on Saturday.

They made the demands from a rally held at Aparejeyo Bangla on Dhaka University campus yesterday.

Prior to holding the rally, the leaders and activists of the organisation brought out a procession on the campus.

They urged the government not to start functioning of a medical college and a technology university in Rangamati before fully implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peace treaty.

The speakers also made the government responsible for the attack on PCP activist on Saturday.

Around 30 were injured when activists of indigenous students’ group Pahari Chhatra Parishad and pro-Awami League organisations clashed over the inauguration of the medical college on that day.

The Rangamati district unit Awami League and BCL men attacked on PCP activists while they were observing a peaceful blockade programme to press

home their demands. Jemson Amly president of the PCP Dhaka City unit said: “The settlers continuously attacking on indigenous people. On that day, the settlers attacked on a Chakma with lethal weapon although administration imposed section 144 in the district.”

Speaking at the demonstration rally, Shulav Changma Dhenga, organising secretary of the PCP Dhaka city unit, said: “If the hill administration failed to protest basic rights of indigenous people the indigenous will take weapon in hands to protect their due rights”.

He claimed that the government’s motive behind establishing the universities in Rangamati was a conspiracy to grab the land of indigenous people in the name of better study opportunities.

He said: “According to hill tracts treaty the government must negotiate with the representatives of the indigenous communities before making any decision regarding Hill-tract districts.

But the government, defying the hill tracts treaty, has planned to set up two universities in Rangamati”.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday inaugurated the academic activities of 11 new public medical colleges, aiming to fulfill the country’s huge demand for physicians to provide better medical services to the people. l

However, due to the blockade the vegetables could not be distributed across the country causing a shortage in supply and a rise in price.

Saiful Islam, a trader in Rajshahi city said the local traders did not dare to buy the vegetables from the farmers fearing frequent arson on the highway, “Moreover, no traders could also come from other parts of the country to buy vegetables,” he added.

“We are not being able to collect vegetables from the field and even if we sometimes do, we have to sell them at a nominal price in the local markets,” said Matiur, a tomato grower at Mohonpur upazila. The tomato growers, especially, are at high risk as this vegetable can get rotten easily. This year, the farmers in the district cultivated tomato on about 760 hectares of land in Godagari upazila, which is noted for quality tomato.

“However, the blockade has disrupted the supply chain affecting hundreds of farmers in the last few days, said Ashraf Ali,” a trader of the area.

Assistant commissioner of RMP Ifte Khayer Alam told the Dhaka Tribune that they had been trying their best to provide security to the highway transports. l

The seventh day of the ongoing blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance yesterday went without disrupting daily activities in Barisal city.

However, there were a few incidents of vandalism, picketing and arson, and two people were injured in one such incident.

Pro-blockade pickets burned tyres on Boidyapara Road around 6:30am to halt traffic movement; they also damaged two human hauliers then.

Around 8am, miscreants set a battery-run easybike on fire at Hospital Road area, which injured two of the four passengers in the vehicle.

The victims – Akhi Aktar, student at Barisal Government Women’s College, and Saleha Begum, staff member at National Savings Bureau – were taken to Barisal General Hospital for treatment.

The local BNP activists brought out a procession, calling people to make the blockade successful, at Hatkhola and Nabagram Road areas, while Jamaat-Shibir activists brought out another procession at Kawnia and Kashipur areas in the city yesterday morning.

Construction of second JnU campus inaugurated at Keraniganj n Tribune Report The foundation of Jagannath University’s (JnU) second campus was laid yesterday by Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources.

The new JnU campus is located in the outskirts of the capital – at Baghoir village in Keraniganj, just across the new, under-construction Dhaka Central Jail.

'Construction of the second campus is good news for the students as well as all others related to the university' Addressing the ceremony as chief guest, the state minister for power said: “It is good news for the people of Keraniganj that the second campus of JnU is in this area.

“The government will continue its assistance for this institution of more than 130 years, to provide it with modern and standard facilities.”

Prof Mizanur Rahman, vice-chancellor at the university who also pre-

sided over the ceremony, said: “A 20-storey academic building and an ultra-modern dormitory named Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will be constructed at the second campus.”

A special prayer and a discussion were held at 3pm following the foundation laying.

Among others, JnU Treasurer Prof Md Selim Bhuyan, Teachers’ Association President Prof Ali Nur and Secretary Prof Abul Hossain, JnU acting deputy director of public relations Saiful Islam, Bangladesh Chhatra League’s JnU unit President Shariful Islam and Secretary Sirajul Islam were present at the event.

The JnU authorities purchased three acres of land in Baghoir for the university’s new campus.

“Construction of the second campus is good news for the students as well as all others related to the university. I hope to be able to give some more good news to the students soon,” the JnU VC said.

A public university, JnU was upgraded to its current academic status on October 20, 2005 from Jagannath College, which was again upgraded from Jagannath School, which was founded

by Jagannath Roy Chowdhury in 1868.

His son Kishorilal Roy Chowdhury upgraded the school to college in 1884. l

In retaliation, anti-blockade activists led by Awami League lawmaker Jebunnessa Afroz brought out a march on the city’s main road in the afternoon, calling people to reject the blockade, anarchy creators and anti-liberation forces.

The Jamaat-Shibir activists also picketed at Kawnia and Kashipur, but police dispersed them, said Kazi Mahbub, OC at Kawnia police station.

Law enforcers patrolled the city roads to observe the situation and keep it under control, said Golam Rouf, deputy commissioner (south) at Barisal Metropolitan Police.

Transportation on short-distance and internal routes of both the roads and waterways were less active than usual, with fewer transports carrying smaller number of passengers.

Aftab Hossain, president of the local bus owners’ association as well as of Bangladesh Sramik League’s Barisal city unit, said a limited number of vehicles ran on the long-distance routes carrying a lower number of passengers.

Long-distance road communication remained irregular, causing more trouble for the travellers and a price hike for the essential commodities. l

JU Day observed amid festivities n JU Correspondent Teachers and students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) yesterday observed the university’s 44th birth anniversary amid huge enthusiasm and festivities on the campus.

JU, country’s lone residential university had started its journey on January 12 in 1971 and the authorities have been observing the day since 2001 through different colourful cultural programmes.

“Nobiner Joy Houk Prabiner Haat Dhore” holding this slogan JU authorities hosted the inauguration programme on the business studies faculty premises around 9:30am, where national anthem in line with hoisting the national and university’s flags was cited, source said.

In the event, JU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Farzana Islam gave a welcome speech, saying his pupils and teachers have already showed their talents in the education and research sectors glorifying the university’s image in home and abroad.

Later, its former and existing teachers, students and employees brought out a colourful procession that ended at Selim Al Deen Muktomoncha after parading the campus.

Whereas a remembrance programme presided over by VC Prof Farzana Islam was held. JU Pro-VC Prof Abul Hossain and Treasurer Prof Abul Khayer also address the programme among others. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Haor people suffer from diseases for lack of sanitation n Our Correspondent, Sunamganj

Tahirpur is 43.05 leaving a great number of people out of the sanitation coverage.

A recent visit to Patargaon village, situated 10 kilometre from Tahirpur upazila sadar, found that there was no proper sanitary latrine. Even the only school of the village, Patargaon Government Primary School, lacked the facility.

Mashkura Akter, a student of fifth grade, said the male students could use the canal to relieve themselves. But this was even not possible for female students.

One of the most densely populated villages in the upazila, Patargaon has about 800 people in 120 families.

Though each family is supposed to have its own sanitary latrine, there is only 20 make-shift unhygienic latrines.

Females of the village have to go to a nearby dead canal to respond to the nature’s call before dawn-break. And the children are seen to defecate out in the open, spreading diseases and stench throughout the village.

To make the sitution worse, villagers use the water of the canal for household work since there is also a lack of clean water in the area. There are only six tubewells in the village.

Ayesha Banu, 60 of the village said they face a lot of problems while going out in the dark. And during day time, they cannot even go out.

Lufia Begum said: “Our children are suffering from diseases throughout the year. We want the governement to arrange proper sanitary latrines for us.”

Since most of the villagers are day labourers and earn their livelihood by lifting sand and stones in the nearby Jadukata river, they are not able to afford even the ring toilets.

Moreover, Patargaon villagers lack personal and family hygiene making them prone to waterborne diseases during the monsoon when the water level rises in the haor areas.

According to the upazila health complex, 70 percent of the patients who come to the hospital complaint about waterborne disease. The doctors blamed the poor sanitation situation of the upazila.

The same situation prevails in other 45 villages of the union.

Union Parishad member of Dakkhin Sripur Mohibur Rahman said: “Many people in my union cannot afford a proper sanitary latrine. Moreover, there is an acute crisis of land in the villages.”

Chairman of the same union Biswajit Sarkar said at least 4000 sanitary latrines were needed for his union but it was not possible to provide due to financial constraint.

However, DPHE official Saikat Roy emphasised on increasing awareness of the villagers along with providing sanitary latrines.

“It is true there is a lack of space to establish sanitary latrines in the haor areas. But as long as the villagers are not made aware and local cost effective methods are devised, the situation will not be resolved,” he said.

Saikat further added that he had informed the authorities for providing sanitary latrines but he was yet to get any budget allocation. l

2 arrested over fish plate removal n Our Correspondent, Joypurhat

Cane growers upset over steady price

Members of Rapid Action Battalion arrested two people from Shahpur area in the district town early yesterday in connection with the removal of fishplates from the rail tracks of Khulna-Rajshahi and Rajshahi-Dhaka routes in Sadar upazila on Thursday. The arrested were identified as Dulal, 42, and Suman, 20.

A team of RAB conducted a drive in the area and arrested the duo around 3:30 am.

Rail communications on the Khulna-Rajshahi and Rajshahi-Dhaka routes remained snapped from early Thursday as miscreants removed fishplates from about a 36 feet stretch of the rail line at Uri Madhabpur in Sadar upazila during the countrywide indefinite transport blockade. l

n Our Correspondent, Thakurgaon

Hundreds of villagers in seven unions of Tahirpur upazila in Sunamganj are falling victims of various diseases and malnutrition due to the absence of proper sanitation facilities.

150 villages out of 252 in the upazila are deprived of sanitary latrines. The situation is worse in the haor areas, where villagers struggle a lot even to go about their everyday life.

According to the upazila Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), the percentage of sanitation in

DPHE official Saikat Roy emphasised on increasing awareness of the villagers along with providing sanitary latrines

Sugarcane farmers are frustrated by the steady cash crop price as opposed to its increasing production cost in Thakurgaon.

The cane price has been set at Tk250 at the mill gate and Tk246 at the selling centre per quintal for three years while the farm input price and labout cost have increased much over the period.

The farmers have repeatedly urged the authorities to increase the cane price over the years but they did not get any fruitful result. Frustrated, they are now turning to other crops.

Thakurgaon Sugar Mill management fear that they may miss their target in

Gaibandha district unit of the Bangladesh Nari Mukti Kendra organizes a sit-in yesterday front of deputy commissioner office protesting antisocial activities under the cover of ‘Ananda Mela’ held in seven upazilas

Roadblock in Gopalganj over attack on BCL leader Correspondent, n Our Gopalganj Leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League yesterday put up barricade on a road protesting attack on a BCL leader.

Hundreds of agitating BCL men took position on road near Bangabandhu Government College and stayed there till 1:30pm, resulting a huge tailback on both sides of the road.

Injured Shafiqul Haque Sajib, former BCL convener at Bangabandhu Government College, is now undergoing treatment at the hospital.

He said a gang of miscre-

ants numbering seven to eight stormed into his residence in the early hours of yesterday.

Entering the house, they made Sajib’s mother hostage and when he went to her room hearing screams, the miscreants hacked him indiscriminately.

He said as he had raised voice against drug peddling in the locality, the drug peddlers attacked on him. “They wanted to kill me,” he said.

Officer-in-charge of Gopalganj Sadar police station said they were yet to receive any complaint in this matter. “We will take lawful action after getting complaint,” he added. l

sugar output next season since cane has not been grown over the targetted acres of land this season.

Cane farming was targeted to be over 12000 acres of land this season while it has been grown over about 10,000 acres of land, which would be harvested next season for producing sugar.

Thakurgaon Sugar Mill-Centred Farmers’ Association President Ruhul Amin said they would mount strong movement if the authorities did not increase the cane price soon.

Managing Director of the sugar mill SM Abdul Aziz said they were in talks with the higher authorities to increase cane price to inspire people in the farming on a large scale. l

Crude-bomb like objects found in court building Correspondent, n Our Chapainawbganj Police recovered four cocktail-like objects from Chapainawbganj court building yesterday morning.

Sources said police recovered the objects wrapped in tapes from the 1st floor of the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court around11:45am.

Assistant police super Ohidul Islam said someone kept the objects to spark panic among the people. l

NEWS IN BRIEF Godown, pharmacy gutted A jute godown and a pharmacy were gutted in a devastating fire in Baraigram upazila yesterday. Sources said the fire had originated at the godown at Talsho village of Nagar union in the upazila and engulfed the adjacent pharmacy leaving it burnt to ashes. On information, locals went to the spot and doused the fire after one hour of hectic efforts. The loss caused by the fire could go up to Tk6 lakh, said Monirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Baraigram police station.

– Our Correspondent, Natore

Schoolboy killed in road accident A school student was killed in a road accident in the district yesterday. The deceased was identified Raju Mondol,12, Class VI student of Gopalpur Panchapalli High School and son of Dipak Mondol of Chapail village in Tungipara upazila. Monirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Tungipara police station said a truck run over Raju on the Tungipara-Kotalipara Road ,leaving him dead on the spot while he was crossing the road by bicycle.

– Our Correspondent, Gopalganj

Security guard abducted in Khagrachhari Some unidentified miscreants kidnapped a security guard from his workplace in Gossabil area in Manikchhari upazila of the district on Sunday night. The victim, identified as Md Nurul Hossain, 30, had been working at Gossabil bridge construction site in the upazila.

Police and witness sources said two unarmed indigenous people picked up Hossain from the site around 9:15pm and they moved towards Lakshmichhari deep forest. When contacted, Manikchhari police station OC Md Shahidul Islam confirmed the incident, telling they could not identify the abductors, but they had information that two indigenous people were involved in the kidnap.

– Our Correspondent, Khagrachhari

Two held in rape case Police arrested two people yesterday in the district in a rape case. The arrested were identified as Nasir Haolader,65, and Majeda Begum,40, of Potapur village in Sadar upazila. Police sources said Nasir raped a teenaged physically challenged girl in the village while Majeda helped him on 8 December in 2014. Later, the father of the victim filed case in this connection.

– Our Correspondent, Jhalokathi

Chhatra League brings out procession in Lakshmipur Leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Lakhsmipur district unit brought out a procession during the dawn-to-dusk hartal in Lakhsmipur yesterday, demanding dissolution of the unit’s newly formed committee. The procession started from the student party’s district office in Lakshmipur’s Madam area in the afternoon, ran around the East Station area and ended at the district office. Hundreds of leaders and activists participated in the procession

led by Imtiaz Sharif, president of Chhatra League’s Lakshmipur Sadar upazila unit, Alamgir Hossain, general secretary of Chhatra League’s Lakshmipur Government College, and others. Following the procession, the protesters gathered for a while where the leaders threatened with a mass resignation throughout the district if Chhatra League’s new district committee did not get dissolved within seven days.

– Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur

Two killed in Jessore Two people including a housewife were killed in the district yesterday. Sources said a young man was strangulated to death by unknown miscreants at Matipukur village in Sharsha upazila in the morning.

The deceased was identified as Shimul Hossain, 22, son of Mohammad Islam, a resident of the village. Quoting family members, Sahidar Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sharsha police station, said Shimul went out of his house following a phone call around 5am. Later, local people found the body and informed police. A case was filed in this connection. On the other hand a housewife was found hanging from the ceiling of her room in Samandhakathi village. The deceased was indentified as Laboni Khatun, 19, wife of Babul Sheikh of the area. Ohiduzzaman, SI of Sharsha police station, said Laboni might have committed suicide over family feud. She was married to Babul nine months ago.

Police recovered the bodies of the two and sent those to Jessore Medical College Hospital for autopsy.

– Our Correspondent, Jessore

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Long Form

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

7

Is there any Islamic basis for blasphemy law?

In light of the recent massacre in France and the subsequent discussion that followed regarding Islam and blasphemy, this article which was previously published on September 8, 2014, is reprinted by popular demand

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

A

n Zeeshan Hasan fairly common demand of conservative Muslim political parties is that the death penalty be implemented as punishment for blasphemy (by which is meant insulting Islam or its Prophet) in accordance with Shariah or Islamic law. It is therefore worth looking at the textual sources which are used to justify blasphemy law.

Interestingly, investigation reveals that there is no Qur’anic basis for any blasphemy law at all. Further investigation reveals that blasphemy law arises from the secondary legal source of Sunnah (or Prophetic practice).

However, the Prophetic practice as described in the Sirah (Prophetic biographies) does not establish any death penalty for blasphemy. The Sirah passages which might have provided a basis for blasphemy law actually seem to be dealing with secular nationalist issues, namely treason during wartime.

Finally, the relevant Hadith (Prophetic sayings) which advocate blasphemy law may be the product of political tampering by the early Caliphate during the post-Prophetic ‘wars of apostasy’ (ridda). Even if the relevant Hadith is reliable, justification of any blasphemy law in Shariah through these religious sources may still be questioned.

To begin with, we can look at the Qur’anic position on blasphemy in the following verses. Blasphemy is indeed a serious offense against God, but no earthly legal penalty is ever mentioned. Rather, the Qur’an emphasizes that God will ultimately punish blasphemers, not any human law: Those who disbelieve and turn from the way of God and oppose the messenger after the guidance hath been manifested unto them, they hurt God not a jot, and He will make their actions fruitless... Those who disbelieve and turn from the way of God and then die disbelievers, God surely will not pardon them. (Qur’an 47:32, 34) The above makes the point that God cannot be harmed even ‘a jot’: the logical implication of which is that blasphemy laws are not required for His protection. This is in keeping with the following verses, which explicitly identify punishment for blasphemy and disbelief as being in the afterlife, with no mention of any earthly punishment: God hath promised those who believe and do good works: theirs will be forgiveness and immense reward.

And they who disbelieve and deny Our revelation: such are the rightful owners of Hell. (Qur’an 5:9, 10) The Qur’an even tells the Prophet directly that it is foolish to expect everyone to follow him, as only God knows who will find guidance; and humans, including messengers of God,

have no ability to control this: They indeed are losers who deny their meeting with God until, when the hour cometh on them suddenly, they cry: Alas for us, that we neglected it!... We know how well their talk grieveth thee, though in truth they deny not thee, but the evil-doers flout the revelations of Allah. Messengers indeed have been denied before thee, and they were patient under the denial and the persecution till Our succour reached them. There is none to alter the decisions of God... And if their aversion is grievous unto thee, then, if thou canst, seek a way down into the earth or a ladder unto the sky that thou mayst bring unto them a portent... If God willed, He could have brought them all together to the guidance – so be thou not among the foolish ones. (Qur’an 6:31-35) How can traditional Islamic law justify punishing blasphemy with death, given the lack of any mention of earthly punishment at all for this crime in the Qur’an?

Interestingly, investigation reveals that there is no Qur’anic basis for any blasphemy law at all The answer is that traditional Islamic law is not derived only from the Qur’an but also from the Prophetic practice or Sunnah, as is established by the Hadith (reports of Prophetic sayings). A narrative of Prophetic actions, and hence of Sunnah, can also be derived from the Sirah (biographies of the Prophet). So these additional sources have to be considered.

When we look at the Prophetic practice as recounted in the Sirah biographies, we do find a precedent which may initially seem to support the death penalty for blasphemy. This is the killing of Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf, a Medinan who composed poetry opposing the Muslims. After the battle of Badr, Ka’b recited verses praising the Meccan Quraysh whom the Muslims had slain, and mocking the Muslim victors. He was slain by Muslims acting according to the Prophet’s instructions: The apostle said … ‘Who will rid me of Ibn al-Ashraf?’ Muhammad ibn Maslama ... said, ‘I will deal with him for you, O apostle of God, I will kill him.’ He said, ‘Do so if you can.’ (The life of Muhammad: a translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, page 367, by Alfred Guillaume, printed in 1955 by Oxford University Press).

On the face of it, this seemingly justifies death penalty for speaking against the Prophet. However, blasphemy implies a religious offence.

A significant fact about Ka’b ibn

al-Ashraf is that his opposition to Muhammad was not religious in nature.

Rather he was a political opponent of the Muslim community of Medina.

In spite of being a Medinan, and nominally at peace with the Muslims living there, Ka’b publicly allied himself with the Quraysh, who had not only expelled the Muslims from Mecca but were still in a state of war with them. So technically, this killing was not for blasphemy at all, but treason during war-time.

A second incident which throws light on the secular nature of the execution of Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf is the punishment of the Medinan tribe of Banu Qurayzah. The Banu Qurayzah were punished after the “battle of the ditch,” when the Muslims of Medina protected themselves from the attacking Meccans by digging a protective trench around the city.

During the battle, the Banu Qurayzah allied themselves with the Quraysh; as a result, after the Meccans had been repelled, the Muslims beseiged the Banu Qurayzah. The Banu Qurayzah surrendered on the condition that their fate be decided by a Muslim, Sa’d ibn Mu’adh, from whom they expected leniency.

However, Sa’d gave the decision that all the men of Banu Qurayzah should be killed, their property seized and their women and children enslaved.

The execution of the men of Banu Qurayzah was obviously for treason, not blasphemy, as unlike Ka’b they did not speak publicly against the Muslims.

The fact that the death penalty was used against both Banu Qurayzah and Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf in similar circumstances points to the fact that their crime was the same. It is a fair generalisation that most states, including modern nation-states, have maintained laws advocating the death penalty for treason, especially during war; the Medinan state of the Prophet was no exception. Thus, these two cases taken together do not provide any basis for establishing the death penalty as a punishment for blasphemy.

So far it seems that there is neither support for death penalty as punishment for blasphemy in the Qur’an, nor in the Sunnah as mentioned in the Prophetic biographies.

The only remaining possible source for blasphemy law is the Sunnah as established by the Prophetic sayings of the Hadith. In fact, there are Hadith reports supporting the death penalty for blasphemy, such as the following attributed to Ibn Abbas, one of the companions of the Prophet: ‘Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari, volume 9, page 45, translated by Muhammad Muhsin Khan and printed in 1984 by Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi, India).

Here we see that the position of the Hadith is remarkably different from the Qur’an, in that this Hadith report does explicitly advocate the death penalty for apostasy (abandoning the religion of Islam). It should be noted that apostasy is not exactly the same as blasphemy, as blasphemy usually

implies publicly insulting religion, while apostasy can take the form of a purely private renunciation of religion, in which case it would not be blasphemy.

However, a Muslim committing blasphemy in public may be legally judged to have become an apostate, and so the two offenses become related. Thus, Hadith reports such as the above become the legal justification for death penalty for both apostasy and blasphemy in traditional Islamic law.

It should be further noted that even this Hadith does not provide support for the death penalty to be applied to a non-Muslim who is guilty of blasphemy, nor is what might constitute such blasphemy even defined.

One point about the historical sources of Hadith becomes critical now. The massive Hadith literature arose after the death of the Prophet.

How long after is a good question. The earliest existing Hadith collection is the Muwatta of Malik, founder of the Medinan Maliki school of Islamic law, which was compiled 150 years after the death of the Prophet. The widely read Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim were compiled several decades or even a century later.

Thus, none of the Hadith collections have anything like the historical reliability of the Qur’an; this is precisely why each Hadith saying has a chain of transmitters as evidence of authenticity, whereas no chain of transmitters is required for the Qur’an.

As important as the late date of Hadith collections is the possible political motive for incorporating post-Prophetic material in them; most likely the Hadith collections were undertaken under the authority of early Muslim caliphs who required justification of the laws which they were implementing to administer their newfound empire.

In Western Islamic scholarship, Ignaz Goldziher first argued that the Hadith generally reflected political and historical realities of the early Caliphate rather than the time of the Prophet.

He mentions specifically a report regarding political pressure on alZuhri, a respected legal scholar, during the Umayyad Caliphate.

How the Umayyads made it their business to put into circulation hadiths which seemed to them desirable, and how people of the types of the pious alZuhri acquiesced in being their tools ... is to be seen from evidence ... Here we find an account which is handed down ... from ‘Abd alRazzaq, a disciple of Ma’mar b. Rashid ... [of] the disciples of alZuhri. This account tells us that the Umayyad Ibrahim alWalid ... came to alZuhri with a notebook he had written, and asked his permission to spread the sayings contained in it as hadiths communicated by alZuhri.

The latter gave his permission easily: ‘Who else could have told you the hadiths?’... The Ma’mar just mentioned preserved a characteristic saying by alZuhri: ‘These emirs forced people to write hadiths’... Thus the Umayyad was enabled to circulate the contents of his manuscript as texts taught him

by alZuhri ... [who] could not forever resist the pressure of the governing circles. (Muslim Studies, pages 46-47, published by Ignaz Goldziher in 1890 and translated by SUNY Albany Press) In Goldziher’s analysis, any laws adopted by the early Islamic empires which could not be found in the Qur’an required establishment of a second religious source to justify them; this second source of the law came to be the Hadith collections.

In the case of blasphemy and apostasy law, this becomes especially relevant due to the wars of apostasy (ridda in Arabic), which were fought by the early caliphs. If we consider the political and historical situation of the early Caliphate in which the Hadith were recorded, we may be able to explain the difference between the Qur’anic leniency regarding blasphemy and the contrasting severity of death penalty advocated by the Hadith.

After the Prophet’s death, the newly established Muslim rule over Arabia was threatened by the ‘wars of apostasy’ or ridda. These wars had a number of different reasons, but a common feature of them was the rise of local religious and political leaders who challenged the authority of Muslim rule.

It was the first caliphs who first implemented the death penalty as penalty for apostasy. But justification for such a harsh stance was distinctly lacking in the Qur’an, as we have seen.

Thus it could be that the early caliphs encouraged Hadith be compiled establishing the death penalty for apostasy (and by extension blasphemy) in spite of the Qur’anic silence on punishment for apostasy.

undertaken an extensive and systematic comparison of legal traditions in their historical sequence, [this part of Schacht’s study] is unassailably scientific and sound in method and one only wishes that it were practised thoroughly in all fields of Hadith.

(Islam, page 49, by Fazlur Rahman, printed 1979 by University of Chicago Press).

In short, there is ample scope to question the death penalty for blasphemy under Islamic law.

In the first place, even accepting that relevant Hadith, there appears to be no support for the imposition of the death penalty for blasphemy committed by a non-Muslim.

In the second place, even if the Hadith establishing the death penalty for apostasy is reliable, this need not be interpreted as support for a blasphemy law as envisioned by its proponents today.

As we have seen, the Sirah prophetic biographies do record that the death penalty was implemented by the Prophet as punishment for treason

by Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf and the Banu Qurayzah. It should be recognised, however, in the context of the war between the pagan Quraysh of Mecca and the Muslims of Medina, apostasy meant far more than a personal statement of faith. It was also a declaration of which side of the war one intended to fight.

As such, within the context of the Quraysh/Muslim struggle, it is not unreasonable that apostasy could be taken as evidence of treason against the Muslim state of Medina, and be punished by death.

Even if the Hadith establishing the death penalty for apostasy is reliable, this need not be interpreted as support for a blasphemy law as envisioned by its proponents today Scholars following Goldziher have long suggested that doubtful Hadith reports may have been circulated by early caliphs in order to justify their legislation.

Joseph Schacht’s “Origins of Muhammedan Jurisprudence,” published in 1950, concluded that the isnad, or chain of transmission which had traditionally been used to judge reliability of legal Hadith, had been subject to widespread forgery and thus could not prove whether particular legal Hadith actually traced back to the Prophet.

Unfortunately, the work of Goldziher and Schacht is rarely read in the Muslim world. The view of the late Pakistani scholar Fazlur Rahman of the University of Chicago, certainly the most influential 20th century Muslim professor of Islamic studies in the West, on Schacht’s criticism of legal Hadith is worth reading: [T]o my knowledge, Professor Schacht is the first scholar to have

However, once the Muslims triumphed over Mecca, the association of apostasy and treason ends.

In peacetime, apostasy should once again be considered only a personal matter of faith, and the death penalty based on treason during wartime is not applicable.

Rather, the position of the Qur’an, which never advocates any earthly punishment for blasphemy or apostasy, makes more sense as the default position of any Islamic law outside the context of the Quraysh/Muslim war.

And where there is clear difference between the precepts laid down by the Qur’an and the apparent legal stricture suggested by the Hadith, surely Islamic laws should follow the reasoning of the Qur’an. l Zeeshan Hasan holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School.

His other writings on religion can be read at his web site, www.liberalislam.net.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

‘Qatar home to Hamas chief Meshaal’ n AFP, Doha Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal remains welcome in Qatar, the Gulf state’s foreign minister said yesterday, brushing off claims that the Palestinian leader had been asked to leave.

“Khaled Meshaal is a dear guest in Qatar. He is in fact at home,” Khalid al-Attiyah said, denying that the head of Hamas’ politburo was set to relocate to Turkey.

Meshaal’s departure was a just a “rumour” aimed at pushing Qatar to “abandon its stance on the Palestinian question, and this is impossible,” the minister said, quoted by QNA state news agency.

Attiyah insisted that “Qatari authorities and brothers in Turkey never had such a plan.”

Qatar has been accused of supporting Islamist groups in the Middle

East and North Africa.

It recently mended fences with Egypt after a tense standoff triggered

by Qatar’s alleged support to the Muslim Brotherhood, the party of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who was ousted by the army in July 2013.

This followed Doha’s rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which returned their envoys to Qatar after months of tensions over its position on the Brotherhood and accusations of meddling in their affairs.

Yesterday, Attiyah stressed Qatar and Egypt “have no disputes,” adding nonetheless that the two countries have “different opinions over some issues.”

“We respect the people of Egypt...

A healthy Egypt is a need for all other Arab countries to be healthy; this is Qatar’s everlasting position,” he said. l

Russian spy agency sought to recruit Snowden n AP, Berlin From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, bodyguard, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi take part in a Unity rally ìMarche Republicaineî in Paris on Sunday in tribute to the 17 victims of a threeday killing spree by homegrown Islamists AFP

Merkel, top ministers to join Muslim rally for ‘tolerance’ n AFP, Berlin Chancellor Angela Merkel and most of her cabinet will join a rally for an “open and tolerant Germany” called by Muslim leaders for Tuesday after the jihadist attacks in France.

President Joachim Gauck will address the vigil at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, which Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and other top officials will also attend.

Merkel yesterday thanked leaders of Germany’s four-million-strong Muslim community for quickly and clearly condemning the violence committed in the name of their faith in last week’s bloody attacks in Paris.

“Germany wants peaceful coexistence of Muslims and members of other religions” and Tuesday’s vigil would send “a very strong message,” she said at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Merkel and Davutoglu on Sunday joined French President Francois Hollande and other world leaders at a huge Paris solidarity rally in the wake of the massacre of 17 people by Islamist gunmen in the French capital last week.

Merkel – in a message also aimed at Germany’s far-right, anti-Islam PEGIDA movement – stressed that “Islam is part of Germany,” adding: “I am the chancellor of all Germans.”

She said there was still need for better inter-religious dialogue but expressed her gratitude to Muslim community leaders who “very quickly drew a very clear line and delivered a clear ‘No’ to the use of violence” following the attacks.

The Central Council of Muslims in Germany, one of several groups representing the interests of the community, called the vigil under the banner “Let’s be there for each other. Terror: not in our names!”

“We Muslims in Germany condemn the despicable terror attacks in France in the strongest terms,” the groups said in the invitation to the event, which is co-sponsored by the Turkish Community of Berlin.

“There is no justification in Islam for such acts.”

The rally is also intended to send a strong message of unity against PEGIDA or the “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident,” whose weekly marches in the eastern city of Dresden have grown in size since their start in October.

“Those who use racist and Islamophobic slogans strengthen the rabble-rousers, inciters of hatred and terrorists,” the organisers of Tuesday’s rally said.

PEGIDA leaders have asked participants at yesterday’s march to wear black armbands and observe a minute’s silence for “the victims of terrorism in Paris.”

The call drew accusations that PEGIDA was trying to exploit the bloodshed in Paris to whip up hatred against Muslims.

Davutoglu mentioned recent attacks on mosques and rising Islamophobia in Europe and stressed that terrorist attacks should not be allowed to drive a wedge between people of different faiths. l

Netanyahu out of step with French leaders at Paris rally n Reuters, Jerusalem Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to ruffle a few feathers while taking part in the “Charlie Hebdo” rally in Paris on Sunday, an event his office initially said he would not be attending for security reasons.

Perhaps most awkward was his invitation to French Jews – alarmed by the Paris attacks and the killing of four people at a kosher supermarket – to migrate to Israel if they wanted, leaving French Prime Minister Manuel Valls scrambling to reassure the community it was safe and an integral part of France.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the head of the European Jewish Association, was particularly stern, saying Aliyah – the process of Jews migrating to Israel – was not the answer to everything, even if it was an important policy for the state of Israel.

“Anyone familiar with the European reality knows that a call to Aliyah is not the

solution for anti-Semitic terror,” he said.

Only a few French Jews move to Israel each year – last year 7,000 out of the 550,000-strong community. That number is expected to rise to more than 10,000 in 2015, in part because of last week’s attacks.

Helping more of the Jewish diaspora migrate to Israel remains a central policy of the right-wing government, which faces elections in March. But many don’t want to leave France and even those considering it worry about the difficulties of starting a new life in a foreign country.

“I live in France and I want to die in France,” said Mauricette Abouchaya, a middle-aged Parisian woman cheering on Netanyahu as he visited the site of the kosher grocery attack.

“Israel has a very different culture and language,” said a 38-year-old financial analyst who gave his name as Sami.

Netanyahu’s “move to Israel” rhetoric was in fact no different to what he

frequently says on the topic. But coming on the day of a three-million-person march designed to show the world standing as one with France, it came across as divisive.

It wasn’t the only uncomfortable episode.

A video posted on Facebook, the news footage mockingly set to the Looney Tunes cartoon music, showed Netanyahu maneuvering his way to the front of the rally with the help of several bodyguards, allowing him to be photographed arm-in-arm with other leaders, including French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Those pictures were quickly posted on Netanyahu’s Twitter feed, while the banner on his Facebook page was changed to a photograph of him in the front row, shoulder-to-shoulder the global elites.

Mahmoud Abbas, though, was not shown in those photos l

Kerry: US, Iran eye progress in next round of nuclear talks n Reuters, Gandhinagar US Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday that he and his Iranian counterpart would seek at their meeting on Wednesday to lay the ground for negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program to make greater progress.

Kerry meets Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Geneva in a bid to revive the search for an elusive nuclear accord after negotiators

failed for the second time in November to meet a self-imposed deadline.

“The meeting is calculated to take stock, number one, and to provide direction to our teams, number two, and to hopefully be able to accelerate the process to make greater progress,” Kerry told reporters on a visit to India.

Zarif has also struck a conciliatory tone ahead of the new push to end the 12-year-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran insists is

peaceful. The West fears it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

The Kerry-Zarif meeting precedes lower-level bilateral talks between Iran and members of six major powers the next day, and a collective discussion among the entire group on Jan. 18.

In 2013, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China, struck a preliminary agreement with Iran for the suspension of nuclear work in return for easing some economic sanctions. l

A close ally of Edward Snowden has told filmmakers that Russia’s intelligence agency sought to recruit the former NSA contractor, but he declined the offer.

WikiLeaks staffer Sarah Harrison says the Russian FSB intelligence security service approached Snowden while he was stuck in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for six weeks in 2013.

At the time, Snowden was unable to enter Russia or fly elsewhere because his passport had been canceled by US authorities seeking to arrest him for leaking secret documents.

Harrison told German filmmakers in a documentary airing late yesterday that the FSB asked only once, and he “didn’t give anything to the Russians at all.” The FSB did not respond to an AP request for comment.

Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum in August 2013. l

US: Cuba completes release of 53 political prisoners n AP, Islamabad Cuba has completed the release of 53 political prisoners that was part of last month’s historic deal between the United States and Cuba, the US said yesterday The prisoners had been on a list of opposition figures whose release was sought as part of the US agreement last month with the Cuban government.

They had been cited by various human rights organisations as being imprisoned by the Cuban government for exercising internationally protected freedoms or for their promotion of political and social reforms in Cuba.

The US has verified the release, according to an official traveling with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Islam-

abad. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorised to discuss the issue on the record.

Last month, Cuba and the US agreed to work to restore normal diplomatic relations as part of a deal in which Cuba freed an imprisoned US aid worker along with an imprisoned spy working for the US and the imprisoned dissidents. The US released several Cuba intelligence agents. The deal came after 50 years of hostility between the two countries.

“Certainly, for those 53 prisoners, it’s a great deal. We don’t know who they are,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in an appearance yesterday on “CBS This Morning.” l

Turkey confirms woman wanted over Paris crossed into Syria n AFP, Ankara Turkey yesterday confirmed that Hayat Boumeddiene, the wanted partner of one of the gunmen behind the terror attacks in France, travelled through Turkey last week on her way to Syria.

“She entered Turkey on January 2 from Madrid. There are images of her at the airport,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Anatolia.

Cavusoglu said the 26-year-old, who married gunman Amedy Coulibaly in an Islamic ceremony, stayed at a hotel in Kadikoy on the Asian side of Istanbul and was accompanied by another person.

She then crossed into Syria on January 8, according to her phone records, Cavusoglu said, without making clear if she travelled to Syria on her own.

But Turkey did not arrest her because of a lack of timely intelligence from France, the source said. l

Spear-carriers and chainmail warriors: Erdogan’s new palace welcome n AFP, Ankara Spear-carrying guardsmen, warriors bedecked in chainmail, gleaming golden helmets and even a few fake moustaches thrown in for good measure.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas could have been forgiven for thinking he had walked onto the scene of a historical costume drama or far-fetched ballet as he arrived for talks in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As Abbas shook hands with Erdogan, the main staircase of the Turkish leader’s controversial new presidential palace was occupied by 16 warriors dressed in historical armour, carrying spears, brandishing shields and clutching fearsome-looking swords.

Some of the costumes did not look entirely convincing and rather too shiny to be deemed truly historic.

Social media users expressed bewilderment over what was going on. “Ottoman circus in the palace,” tweeted prominent Turkish journalist Kadri Gursel.

The official Anatolia news agency later explained that the 16 warriors each represented one of the 16 empires of Turkish

history, dating back to well before the Turkic conquest of Anatolia.

These range from the great Hunnic empire founded around 200 BC though to the Seljuk Empire, the Mughal Empire, and right up to the Ottoman Empire that was dissolved in the 1920s with the foundation of the modern Turkish republic.

These 16 empires are also symbolised in the 16 stars of the official seal of the Turkish presidency that has been given a new prominence since Erdogan moved from the office of the prime minister in August presidential elections.

Erdogan in October opened his hugely controversial new presidential palace on the outskirts of Ankara, which has 1,150 rooms and was built at a cost of around 490 million euros ($615 million).

He says that the palace is a symbol of the “new” Turkey which he is building. But opponents decry it as a ridiculous extravagance in an increasingly authoritarian state.

He has also increasingly harked back to Turkish history well before the foundation of modern Turkey in 1923, sparking accusations he wants to undermine its modern and secular foundations. l

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan walks down the stairs in between soldiers, wearing traditional army uniforms from the Ottoman Empire, as he arrives for a welcoming ceremony for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas AFP

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Former Sri Lanka leader denies early-morning coup attempt n Agencies Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa denied allegations that he sought to stage an early-morning coup to retain power after assessing that he would lose a Jan. 8 election.

President Maithripala Sirisena’s camp said yesterday it plans to investigate an “attempted coup” by Rajapaksa that was foiled when security forces refused his orders. The allegation is “baseless and unsubstantiated,” Mohan Samaranayake, a spokesman for Rajapaksa, said by phone today.

Rajapaksa assessed that he would lose the election at 3:30 a.m. and ordered a peaceful transfer of power, Samaranayake said. At the time, about less than 10% of the vote count had been announced on the state-run

A black box of the ill-fated AirAsia Flight 8501 that crashed in the Java Sea, is briefly displayed at airport in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia yesterday

Divers retrieve one AirAsia ‘black box’ n

Reuters, Jakarta

Indonesian navy divers retrieved the black box flight data recorder from the wreck of an AirAsia passenger jet yesterday, a major step towards unraveling the cause of the crash that killed all 162 people on board.

But there was confusion about what happened in the final moments of Flight QZ8501, which crashed off the Indonesian coast on Dec. 28, with one official saying the plane probably exploded before hitting the water and another disputing that theory.

The Airbus A320-200 airliner lost contact with air traffic control in bad weather less than halfway into a

two-hour flight from Indonesia’s second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore.

“At 7:11, we succeeded in lifting the part of the black box known as the flight data recorder,” Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters at a news conference.

The second so-called black box, containing the cockpit voice recorder, is located about 20 meters away from where the flight data recorder was found, but divers have not yet been able to get to it. “(The cockpit voice recorder) seems to be under a wing, which is quite heavy,” said Supriyadi, operations co-

ordinator for the search and rescue agency. “So we will use air bags to lift it. This will be done tomorrow.”

The black boxes contain a wealth of data that will be crucial for investigators piecing together the sequence of events that led to the airliner plunging into the sea.

Supriyadi said the wreckage indicated that the plane likely “experienced an explosion” before hitting the water due to a significant change in air pressure.

He said the left side of the plane seemed to have disintegrated, pointing to a change in pressure that could have caused an explosion.

Supporting this possibility, he add-

AP

ed, was the fact that fishermen in the area had reported hearing an explosion and saw smoke above the water.

But another official disputed the likelihood of a blast.

“There is no data to support that kind of theory,” said Santoso Sayogo, an investigator at the National Transportation Safety Committee.

The flight data recorder was brought by helicopter to Pangkalan Bun, the southern Borneo town that has been the base for the search effort, and then flown to Jakarta for analysis.

The black box looked to be in good condition, said Tatang Kurniadi, the head of the transport safety committee. l

broadcaster. News that Rajapaksa conceded defeat broke about three hours later.

The smooth transition boosted stocks and the currency as Sri Lankan voters ousted Rajapaksa after 10 years in power. Sirisena had accused the former president of amassing too much power over the bureaucracy, judiciary and military even as economic growth averaged 7% a year since the end of a 26-year civil war in 2009.

Rajapaksa’s spokesman said that he assured a peaceful and orderly transition of power when he spoke to US Secretary of State John Kerry before the results came in, after earlier saying a phone call occurred after the counting began. Kerry commended Rajapaksa for accepting the results in a statement after the election. l

Malaysia military court sacks election whistleblower n BBC The Malaysian Air Force officer who told the media that indelible ink used in the 2013 general election was ineffective has been sacked.

The judge said officer Zaidi Ahmad breached military protocol by making the media statement.

The opposition coalition claim the use of faulty ink combined with fraud cost them victory over Malaysia’s governing coalition in May 2013.

The coalition has been in power for more than five decades.

Malaysia’s Rakyat Post newspaper reports that Major Zaidi Ahmad was dismissed with immediate effect under Section 89 of the Armed Forces Act. The military court’s five member panel dropped other charges against

the officer but found him guilty of not going through military channels to voice his grievances and leaking a document on the indelible ink to the media without obtaining approval from the Armed Forces. Major Zaidi said the charges against him were politically motivated.

Following the election there were several reports claiming the ink used at polling stations to identify who had voted could be easily washed off.

Malaysia’s ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organisation (UNMO) won nine out of 12 states in the 2013 election, but with a share of the popular vote below that of the opposition coalition under Anwar Ibrahim.

It was the governing coalition’s poorest showing since 1969. l

Afghan president finally nominates South Korean president open to cabinet ministers after three months unconditional North Korea summit n Reuters, Kabul Afghan President Ashraf Ghani nominated ministers for his new cabinet yesterday, after a wait of more than three months, in a bid to to form a working government to tackle rampant corruption and the escalating war with Taliban insurgents.

Many Afghan institutions have been all-but-paralysed for a year amid a months-long election crisis and uncertainty over whether the withdrawal of

most foreign combat troops last month will lead to more violence and territorial gains by the Taliban.

Ghani’s chief of staff announced the 25 cabinet nominees at a ceremony attended by Ghani, who did not speak.

The nominees must be approved by Afghanistan’s parliament.

The president and his election rival-turned-government partner, Abdullah Abdullah, have spent months wrangling over the makeup of the cabinet, raising worries over whether

their unity government could work effectively.

Ghani was sworn into office on Sept.

29 after a power-sharing deal with Abdullah, who accused him of winning through fraud.

A former World Bank official, Ghani has promised a reformist, corruption-fighting government made up of technocrats and free from the patronage that marked the administration of his predecessor, long-time President Hamid Karzai. l

n Reuters, Seoul South Korean President Park Geunhye said yesterday she was willing to hold a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without any pre-condition but maintained the country still needed an anti-North security law.

An end to North Korea’s nuclear program should be an important part of discussions for peace on the Korean peninsula but it was not a

pre-condition to having a summit meeting, Park told a televised news conference.

“My position is that to ease the pain of division and to accomplish peaceful unification, I am willing to meet with anyone,” Park said. “If it is helpful, I am up for a summit meeting with the North. There is no pre-condition.”

There is no sign of any concrete plan for a meeting between the two leaders.

North and South Korean presidents have met only two times since the pen-

India rebels held over Assam violence n BBC Security forces in India’s north-eastern Assam state say they have arrested 39 separatist rebels in connection with last month’s attacks which killed more than 70 people.

The aboriginal rebels belong to a faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).

The NDFB wants an independent homeland for the ethnic Bodo group to be carved out of Assam.

December’s attacks took place in areas populated by non-Bodo people.

LR Bishnoi, a senior police official in Assam, told reporters that 12 NDFB rebels, including some leaders, were held on Sunday, taking the number of people arrested in connection with the attacks to 39.

The latest arrests came after a threeday-long security operation in forests adjoining a national park in Chirang

district near the state’s borders with Bhutan.

Mr Bishnoi said the security forces had also killed a top leader of the group after a gunfight on Saturday.

A large amount of arms and ammunition had also been recovered, he added.

The rebels attacked the villages in Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts on 23 December and those killed and injured were mainly tribespeople who worked in the local tea gardens.

Hundreds of survivors of the attacks fled their homes and took shelter in a church and school.

Assam has been plagued by ethnic clashes and separatist violence in recent years.

A number of rebel groups have been fighting the central authorities, demanding autonomy or independent homelands for the indigenous groups they represent. l

Kerry lands in Pakistan for talks on security n Reuters, Islamabad US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Pakistan yesterday on an unannounced trip to urge the government to do more to crack down on militant groups following last month’s massacre of 134 children by Taliban gunmen.

During his trip, Kerry is expected to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as well as the powerful army chief.

Visiting neighboring India earlier in the day, Kerry said he would travel to Paris this week to express solidarity with the victims of the militant attack on a satirical weekly newspaper. l

insula was divided at the end of World War Two. The two sides are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended only in a truce and not a peace treaty. More than 1.8 million troops are deployed on both sides of their border, one of the most heavily fortified in the world.

Park also told the news conference that an anti-North law, the National Security Law, continued to remain necessary in the South. l

Delhi heads to polls after year-long limbo

n AFP, New Delhi

Schoolchildren react inside a decorated van as they head to their school after it reopened in Peshawar yesterday

AFP

Pakistani children anxiously return to school a month after massacre n Reuters, Peshawar Children streamed back to school across Pakistan yesterday in an anxious start to a new term following last month’s massacre of 134 students at an army-run school in the volatile northwestern city of Peshawar.

Most schools across the country of 180 million had been shut until yesterday for an extended winter break in the aftermath of the Dec. 16 attack when Taliban militants broke into Army Public School and methodically killed the children.

Pakistan has long been used to almost

daily militant attacks but a cold-blooded massacre of so many children has deeply scarred the nation, prompting criticism that the government was not doing enough to curb the insurgency.

In Peshawar, a chaotic, often violent city on the edge of Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, survivors of the attack returned to their studies amid tight security, some students still wearing bandages.

In an emotionally charged and nervous atmosphere, parents, some crying, met army chief Gen Raheel Sharif who had travelled to Peshawar to address them in a private meeting.

“The army chief didn’t make a speech but individually met the parents and assured them they would eliminate the terrorists from the country,” a security official told Reuters.

Another official said eight-feet high walls were being built around public schools in Peshawar as part of enhanced security, with hundreds of residents volunteering to protect schools.

But some parents, especially those grieving their children, stayed away from the meeting with the army chief, saying it was too painful for them to go back to the school. l

India’s capital will hold state elections next month after almost a year without a government and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party trying to tighten its grip on power, organisers announced yesterday.

Some 13 million people are eligible to vote in elections for the Delhi state assembly on February 7, with results known a few days later, India’s chief election commissioner said.

“In order to restore the mandate of the people, the commission has decided that election results will be known before February 15,” V.S Sampath told a press conference.

The city of some 17 million people has been under president’s rule since February when firebrand anti-corruption campaigner and self-styled “anarchist” Arvind Kejriwal quit as state chief minister just 49 days after taking power.

Kejriwal won plaudits for his anti-corruption stance and for shunning the VIP culture of Indian politics. But his brief tenure was marred by a street sit-in and disputes with the national government.

Although Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party flopped at national elections in May, he is again expected to be the biggest obstacle facing Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The right-wing BJP is attempting to tighten its grip on power by wresting control of state governments from regional parties as well as from the main opposition Congress.

Modi vowed at the weekend to provide round-the-clock electricity for Delhi as he kicked off the BJP’s election campaign. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

CODE-CRACKER

Do not compromise independence of law enforcement

W

e hope the DMP’s lifting of its ban on rallies in the capital, to allow the AL to hold a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on Monday will pave the way for the BNP to hold its own rally and call off its national blockade.

It is essential that rules are applied equally for all citizens and political parties.

In this context, it was completely unacceptable that some AL leaders at the party’s meeting on Saturday called for ward-level leaders of the party ‘’to take to the streets’’ in order ‘’to aid law enforcers.”

Pledging support for law enforcers in performance of their duties is one thing, which indeed the public may look for in politicians. However, seeking to aid or control their work by taking to the streets or joining in clearly crosses the line in a manner which should never be excused.

Independent law enforcement is a basic principle and requirement of democracy and rule of law. There can be never be any justification for interfering with the independence of law enforcers.

For such a call to be made when the AL is complaining about anarchy and subversive activities by blockade supporters is hypocritical, as it opens the door to vigilantism and lawlessness.

The government has a duty to uphold the constitution and ensure that nothing is done to compromise the independence of law enforcers.

It must not tolerate calls which risk undermining public confidence in the impartiality of the police and law enforcement agencies.

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

Chittagong people defy Jamaat hartal January 1

Calls to take ‘to the streets’ in order ‘to aid law enforcers’ are completely unacceptable

Protect businesses during hartals

O

ur economy pays a steep price for the uncertainty and destruction caused by political unrest.

Production has fallen across major industries as transport of goods and materials has been disrupted by the blockade and businesses all across the nation are reporting a fall in activities.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) is, right then to ask government to consider new legal protections and remedies for the losses and destruction caused by the hartals and blockades.

This is not the first time businesses are being hit hard by political deadlock, but there is certainly a case for reviewing the legal protection available, both to help to provide some compensation and to deter future instances of indiscriminate disruption.

Participation in protests should be voluntary, not enforced through violence and intimidation. We need to ensure the distinction between voluntary participation in hartals, and deliberate malicious hindrance of the business activity of others. The government has a responsibility to protect citizens from the latter.

We have witnessed our productivity slow down while crores upon crores are lost due to the senseless protests on the streets. A legal mechanism should be in place to compensate the victims for these damages. To this end, we support the plea to the government to waive the interest on bank loans, because of the increasing productions costs arising from unrest-related difficulties.

Ultimately, we hope both parties understand that while the opposition has a right to protest, nobody has a right to hinder or destroy the livelihood of others.

Farhad Faisal Congratulations Chittagong! It is widely recognised that “hartals” are harmful and are a self-destructive means of political protest in our country.

Independent of who launches it, it does great injury to the citizens’ economic and daily life.

Every citizen and political party in this land has, of course, the legal right to protest in public, but only if it is non-violent. If the political parties do not come to their senses to undo this self-destructive culture of “hartals,” then the people themselves will rise to end them.

Bus set on fire, 10 burnt January 4

SA “Five have been admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital in critical condition.”

This is terrible! I hope they will be well soon. anon Bullies and cowards, the lot of them, who set vehicles and people on fire for fun. How about setting them on fire; see how they like it?!

Final World Cup squad for Bangladesh announced January 4

Consider new legal remedies for the losses caused by hartals and blockades

How? By ignoring them effectively, by coming out en masse to carry on with their daily outdoor activities.

Lo and behold, the courageous citizens of Chittagong have exactly done this! We congratulate them for showing the nation the way. The citizens of Dhaka and other places in the country, of whatever political sympathy, can follow the lead of the Chittagonians to help end the culture of “hartals” as a means of political protest in our country.

It goes without saying that the authorities and the government in power (of whatever political hue) have the responsibility of protecting the citizen from any violence in the street. All political parties will do well to find non-violent means of political protests for reaching their goals, or they run the risk of increasingly losing their sympathisersw. sirajulmo@yahoo.com Farhad Faisal: Excellent comment Mr Faisal. Every citizen must resist this hartal and picketing, irrespective of party affiliations.

Joshim Uddin Nisha Hoque Talukder: Actually, from what I’ve heard, the Jamaatis were beaten badly, but yeah, I know what you mean. But, it won’t continue, because the Jamaatis will keep failing if they engage in terrorism.

Farewell 2014 December 31

TJ Good riddance!

January 1

January 1

Dreampie “Going forward, the central bank should be allocating more time in reforming the existing archaic policy regime.” I’m just hoping my bank doesn’t try to screw me over as much this year.

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.

December 31 Nisha Hoque Talukder The year ends with a strike and starts with a strike ... :)

Volunteerism 365

Taking stock

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Jamaat hartal underway peacefully

Slip cover afficionado 2014 has been an interesting year, but I’m more than ready to shake it off and welcome 2015 ... which hopefully will be a better year.

Sheikh Jinat Mahmid “Bangladesh team get Mashrafi as Captain and Shakib Al Hasan as Vice Captain.”

Shakib & Mashrafi – congratulations!

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 16 represents O so fill O every time the figure 16 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.

Fragglerock & roll Hopefully this will kick-start a new trend of people being increasingly responsible towards their country. You chaps at Volunteer for Bangladesh are doing some really good work.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Former Iranian leader (4) 5 Heavenly body (4) 10 Frank (4) 11 Eggs (3) 12 Divided land (5) 13 Precious stone (3) 14 Radiolocation (5) 16 Folds in cloth (6) 18 Refelected sounds (6) 21 Backbone (5) 23 Consumed (3) 24 Of birth (5) 26 Anger (3) 27 Border (4) 28 Dissolve (4) 29 Transmit (4)

DOWN 2 Multitude (5) 3 Monkey (3) 4 Encourage (7) 6 Roman garment (4) 7 Reluctant (6) 8 Male sheep (3) 9 Jump rope (4) 15 Goes up (7) 17 Sheen (6) 19 Frequently (5) 20 Fine sediment (4) 22 Rind (4) 23 Goal (3) 25 Mature (3)

vhs The best way to feel better about yourself is to help others. Counter-intuitive it might be at times, but it’s true. Good job volunteers!

Karl Hungus I had not heard of Volunteer for Bangladesh before.

Seeing people finally get up and take some initiative is truly a feeling to be relished.

Year ends with a milestone for women

CALVIN AND HOBBES

January 1

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

PEANUTS

sirajulmo@yahoo.com “Combat pilots Nayma and Tamanna said they believed that all females of the country should come forward tof realise their own dreams.”

Nobody is given anything by anybody. One needs to stand up and educate one self and claim their due postion. Begging will get you nowhere. Ladies should wake up and claim their due position in the most gender-neutral country of this world- Bangladesh. Last six PMs of Bangladesh are ladies. What more concessions one can expect from the males?

Sonali, BASIC get Tk1,500 crore recap funds January 1 Dr. Ahsan Habib I believe this money belongs to the people of Bangladesh who are now paying the price.

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Between a rock and a hard place

A

n Ziauddin Choudhury famous political philosopher once commented: Power is totally deaf to the individual, indifferent to the interests of freedom, and ignorant of the true concerns of the nation. Nothing can be more appropriate than this statement to describe the current struggle for dominance between the two major political parties of the country.

Parties that have waged this war of attrition that has been going on for the past few days are tone-deaf to people’s sufferings, the nation’s economy, and least of all of democracy that both parties swear by. This is because the contest here is not about democracy, but about power. One party wants to cling to it at any cost, while the other wants to snatch it away by resorting to anarchy and complete breakdown of law and order.

be fair, rightly or wrongly), would prepare itself politically to challenge the government in fair means, through another round of elections.

Unfortunately it chose to return to negative practices, and the politics of destruction that are a grim reminder to the public of the utter lawlessness and total anarchy that prevailed in the country in 2013. The government and the ruling party have also resorted to the same practice of unleashing the state machinery and muscle power to defeat the opposition. In the meantime people are the collateral in this war of attrition.

Both the opposition and the ruling parties are experiencing an existential crisis, born of their misguided sense of the nation’s history, misinterpretation of the principles of democracy, and insistence on choosing intransigence in a dynamic age of fundamental change.

This is further aggravated by a lack

The street becomes the parliament, and voices are replaced by firearms and arson

The two major parties have ruled the country for past 20-plus years, except for an interregnum of two years (which ironically happened because of the feud between the two parties).

The parties held the helm alternately in these years until 2014 when the change did not happen through a competitive and participatory election.

In a true sense, there was no change in government as the same party rolled over to its next term. But it was at a huge cost. The main opposition gave a walk over to the ruling party after making the country go through months of agony, mayhem, and untold loss to its economy in battles with the government which in the end proved to be purposeless.

One would expect that a political party that had deliberately surrendered its right to take part in elections (because it thought these would not

of mutual respect of the leaders and their total mistrust of each other at a personal level. This lack of respect has inspired others in their respective party one step beyond to spread hatred not only against the party leaders but also other national figures who should have been kept from this realm of party fights.

So much so, that it has led one exiled leader of the opposition to create his own history of the country’s freedom struggle and discredit the founding father of the nation in a most absurd and disturbing manner.

Sadly, the way the government and the ruling party have handled their responsibility in extricating the country out of this impasse is disappointing the country in no small measure. Countering force with force and answering false rhetoric of callow leaders with retaliatory actions do

DHAKA TRIBUNE

not solve the root of our political problems. Political problems need to be addressed politically, with patience; maturity, and statesmanship, which none of our major political parties seem to have enough of.

Intransigence in politics is no virtue, but it becomes a cardinal sin when it is accompanied by arrogance.

In this latest struggle for power, each party is determined to show its muscle to the limit; no one is willing to yield.

People of Bangladesh have become hostage to this last sin because of the showdown between the two political adversaries. It has also put people between the horns of a dilemma, the devil, and the deep sea, as none of them gives people any hope of leading the themselves out of this morass.

The past 20 years had lifted the country from a dire stage of poverty and economic backwardness to a stage of minimal development and hope for prosperity, despite political infighting and poor governance. But the political deterioration of the past two years and the current stalemate have put the economic achievements in the backseat with looming crisis of another uncertainty.

Unfortunately, this uncertainty has not only the potential of undoing the achievement of past decades, but also changing the values of our liberation struggle. There is great danger that if this looming political crisis is not handled in a mature manner, the alternative will be an unwelcome change that may fundamentally

alter our core values of freedom and history. The rhetoric of some of the newly spawned leaders who dictate from abroad may suddenly become a reality.

Nations and leaders who have faith in democracy, which is governing with the will of people, also believe in people to put them in power; not brute force or intimidation. The political contestants in our country, however, seem to believe otherwise.

The voice of the opposition is usually heard in parliament, except in our country where the street becomes the parliament, and voices are replaced by firearms and arson.

And the government responds with greater force and repression instead of preventing these acts through

dialogue.

A German philosopher once said: “Without democracy there is no freedom. Violence, no matter who is using it, is always reactionary.”

Sadly, none of the parties involved in the political fight now ongoing seem to believe in this dictum. In current times, it is not known when the stalemate and the battle of attrition will cede. But it is certain that an unwelcome change may happen if sanity does not descend on both parties soon. That is a change that we would like to avoid. l Ziauddin Choudhury has worked in the higher civil service of Bangladesh early in his career, and later for the World Bank in the USA.

An old child’s ruminations to the brave mother n Mahbub ul Alam Chowdhury

M

ay 7, 2007 was the day Sheikh Hasina was to return home. I learnt from the newspapers that a few Awami League leaders were granted permission to greet her at the airport.

I reside in Uttara. At 4pm on that day, I was travelling to Gulshan to run an errand. Upon reaching the airport, my car was brought to a standstill. I bore witness to the entire area being engulfed by a sea of people. Overcoming the myriad challenges put in their way, caring not a jot for the state of emergency, mindful of the risks and fears, they came of their own volition to catch a glimpse of her, to pay their respects.

After being away for 51 days, she was welcomed with blessings and love by the thousands who lined the

streets from the airport to Road No 32, Dhanmondi. At the airport she said: “The grave mistake of obstructing me to prevent my return to Bangladesh should never be repeated by the government.” A momentous statement.

A gentle rain had suddenly started to fall. The sky had surrendered to darkness.

Standing amidst it all, the populace chanted: “In rain and storm, in the darkest of nights, we are with you!” An aberrant ray of light. Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib, the greatest Bengali of all time (“shorbokaaler shorbosreshtho Bangali”). 26 years ago, in 1981, returning home in inimical circumstances, she had gone straight to the same address.

The house in which Bangabandhu was killed along with his family by insurgent, assisted by imperialists. On that day, the tears that echoed within

Sheikh Hasina when she entered the walls haunted by the past, the melancholy, translated anon into fortitude. From then until now (2007), she has fought with courage to unite the pro-liberation forces and establish good governance.

Should I compare Sheikh Hasina’s homecoming with that of Bangabandhu’s on January 10 1972? Yes, and no.

Yes: An ocean of people stretched from the airport to Suhrawardy Uddan to welcome Bangabandhu. The same love and respect greeted her daughter on May 7, 2007. It has to be noted that this assembly was not arranged by the AL. People’s adulation manifested itself so.

The AL is a constitutional political party. Its words have been curtailed by caution during the state of emergency, and its political actions halted. Thus, it did not dare break the law by taking any initiative to welcome her.

The initiative that was present on January 10, 1972. Bangabandhu had arrived after nine long months, escaping death in the gaols of Pakistan to return to independent Bangladesh a free man. Sheikh Hasina too has returned to her independent homeland, albeit under disparate circumstances and a contrasting environment, concerned and anxious.

Much has happened in the country during the 51 days of her absence.

It had seemed like the government would not allow her to return. That stance has been relaxed. The continuance of the state of emergency has seen the caretaker government transmute into an interim government.

In its attempt to fulfil its mandate of holding fair and free elections, it has adopted several policies to eradicate corruption and further democracy.

On this, it has been applauded by the patriotic military, the populace, civil societies, the media, and honest politicians.

Sheikh Hasina has joined in with the praising as well. She is repeatedly reminding them of their duty to hold elections soon. Overcome with emotion upon being able to return to her homeland, she told the media, “the ban on my return has been lifted since the government has come to its senses. That I have been able to come back is enough for me.” When asked whether she will be put under house arrest like Khaleda Zia, she reiterated the government’s error in preventing her return. Arresting or incarcerating her now will see them regress. Asked about reformation, she stated that the AL will take care of its own – none can dictate it.

On this issue I have written previously that there is no doubt that reforming the political parties is imperative. However, it cannot be done via the “minus two” doctrine. If the parties do not themselves have democracy, transparency, and accountability, they cannot fulfil their duties to the citizens they serve.

There has to be a needs-based,

bottom-up reform. External pressure to undertake these changes can have the opposite effect. Sustainable change comes from within. Bangabandhu had a distinct vision regarding the future of politics. No leader who has come since has been able to live up to this.

Hence, they limped on the path of politics, lost their way, took refuge in corruption.

Secularism is the bedrock of the AL. Do not compromise on this under any circumstances, in wany way

The purposefully corrupt were not removed from their parties. Rather, the unscrupulous accumulators of illegal wealth and their muscle have been celebrated as the embodiments of the parties. Our politicians need to develop a superior understanding of being competent, principled, honest, and courageous by practising these values. Reformation has to flow from a commitment to avert cults of personalities and dynasties in parties. Their policies have to be conceived democratically, and the youth need to have access similarly, opening the door to leadership for them.

Sheikh Hasina’s father is the greatest Bengali of all time, the Father of the Nation. Although I was not at his level, I was involved in politics alongside my cultural practices. Our ideologies brought us close. I received his affection. This is amongst my life’s most precious treasures. I am now 81 years old. I dote on Hasina like a daughter. I love her respectfully like a

mother. I respect her as a leader.

Ma, I know that the devotion of the thousands flooding the streets in adverse conditions towards you touched you deeply. How will you reward the citizens of this land if you rise to power? They do not expect a utopian nation from you. They expect a happy, prosperous, and corruption-free nation. They expect the mistakes of the past that kept AL from winning the 2001 election to be rectified with a firm hand on the oars from you. Find the courage to rid the party of the debauchers and nihilists who surround you.

The AL is founded on non-communalism, Bengali nationalism, and egalitarianism. Secularism is the bedrock of the AL. Do not compromise on this under any circumstances, in any way.

Building on the foundations, establish transparency, accountability, and democratic principles in politics. Wage war against communalism, fundamentalism, shibboleth, and terrorism. Evolve the AL into an august gathering of enlightened and virtuous individuals capable of creating a forward-thinking, logical, and humane society. Unite the entire nation with Bangabandhu’s ideologies.

I know that you do not fear death.

Temptations cannot derail you. I also know that my meagre words already form a part of your thoughts. Nevertheless, let my plea serve as a gentle reminder. I had written an open letter to Bangabandhu during his lifetime, a similar prayer. You are my esteemed mother. Please do not misunderstand this old child’s ruminations. I raise both hands to bless you, to make yourself in Bangabandhu’s image. l Mahbub ul Alam Chowdhury, litterateur and intellectual, penned “Kandte Ashini, Phashir Dabi Niye Eshechhi,” the first poem of the Language Movement. This article was translated by Ikhtisad Ahmed from the Dainik Janakantha article dated May 10, 2007, reprinted in the book, Alor Shondhane Desh.

More on him and his writings can be found on www.mahbubulalamchowdhury.info.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Tuesday, January 13, 2015

13 Gayle leads

Windies to world record triumph

14 Barcelona

star trio down Atletico Madrid

14 Totti celebrates

derby double with ‘selfie’

Sport

Did you know?

Manchester United failed to have a shot on target in a Premier League game at Old Trafford for the first time since May 2009

Spinning duo dream of excelling n Mazhar Uddin

(L) Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny going through a photo album in the presence of his sister and mother. (R) Sunny’s mother points to one of the newspaper articles written on his son.

Over the years, she has collected hundreds of them MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Mashrafe bin Mortaza and Co began their 2015 ICC World Cup mission yesterday as all the 13 members of the squad were present at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, including paceman Rubel Hossain who was granted a three-month bail last Sunday.

Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan and opener Tamim Iqbal were the only cricketers missing from the training camp.

Shakib is currently playing for Melbourne Renegades in the KFC Big Bash Twenty20 League while Tamim is undergoing rehab in Melbourne after undergoing an operation in his knee recently.

Mushfiqur Rahim, who injured his shoulder during the recently concluded Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, also reported at the camp yesterday.

Meanwhile, the World Cup will get underway in Australia on February 14 and the conditions and pitches are expected to favour the faster bowlers.

Even then, the two specialist left-arm spinners of the side, Taijul Islam and Arafat Sunny, vowed yesterday that they would be looking to rise to the occasion in the global showpiece event.

Taijul, who registered his name in the record books following a terrific ODI debut against Zimbabwe recently, is hoping to be amongst the top 10 bowlers of the World Cup. “The World Cup is a different stage and after receiving the opportunity, I have to think about my country first and then I can think of personal goals. Having said that, I am hoping to see myself amongst the top 10 bowlers of the World Cup,” said a confident Taijul.

The 22-year old cricketer informed that he has always dreamed of playing in the World Cup for Bangladesh.

“One never dreams of something suddenly. When I made my Test debut I had a goal of playing in the ODIs. I was determined to give my best whenever I get the opportunity. I think my performance against Zimbabwe played a vital role behind the fulfillment of my dreams,” Taijul added.

Sunny on the other hand said besides the pacemen, the spinners can also play a crucial role Down Under.

“It’s difficult for the spinners to be successful in Australia but it is not impossible. If the spinners can bowl at the right areas I think it is possible to be successful,” said Sunny. l

international cricket.

However, Nargis’ prayers were finally answered last year when Sunny made his international bow against Sri Lanka in a bilateral series at home. She would not have to carry his kit-bag anymore.

“It was the day when my dreams turned into reality. I saw my son playing for the national side in front of a packed crowd. I cannot express my feelings in words. It was a moment of huge satisfaction after sacrificing so much for him,” she said, tears swelling in her eyes.

“I can remember the day when the World Cup team was scheduled to be announced by the cricket board. I was

fasting that day, only to hear my son’s name in the team. I was very nervous. The team was supposed to be announced at 1 pm, which they eventually did at 3 pm. Upon hearing on the phone that my son was included, I could not say anything. I only cried.

From the other side, my son was saying, ‘Maa, why are you crying? You should be proud’,” said Nargis.

Sunny is one of two specialist spinners in the Tigers’ World Cup squad.

They will fly to Brisbane, Australia, on January 24 and one hardly needs to guess who will be praying the most for him in front of the television set. l

A sacrificing mother’s dream-come-true n Mazhar Uddin Every mother loves her son in her own ways. One such example of a loving and sacrificing mother is Nargis Akter, the proud guardian of Arafat Sunny, one of the 15 members of the Tigers’ World Cup squad.

Nargis, 50, has dedicated her entire life to see her son playing for Bangladesh. Although she initially wanted her son to be an actor, it was later changed to cricket, a sport where Sunny has performed consistently in the last decade.

One of Sunny’s relatives suggested his mother to admit her son in a crick-

et academy at Abahani ground. There, Sunny started out by bowling left-arm spinners under the guidance of former national cricketer Dipu Rai Chowdhury.

Ever since the beginning of Sunny’s cricket career, Nargis was staunchly determined that her son would play for Bangladesh one day. The persevering mother used to take a young Sunny to Dhanmondi all the way from Amin Bazar in the outskirts of the city. They still live there.

“For 10 years, I have taken my son to Dhanmondi for training. I used to sit there and watch him play cricket. I had a dream that one day Sunny would play for the national team. Sometimes, it was tough for

Shakib world’s best in one-dayers too

n Mazhar Uddin After topping the Test and Twenty20 all-rounders’ rankings, star Bangladesh cricketer Shakib al Hasan has also reached the summit of the ODI all-rounders’ chart. Shakib is now the numero uno all-rounder in all the three

formats, something that no other cricketer has been able to achieve.

According to the latest ICC rankings announced yesterday, Shakib has gone past Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez with 403 rating points.

Second-placed Hafeez has 397 rating points while Sri Lankan cricketers Angelo Matthews and Tillakaratne Dilshan are third and fourth respectively.

The Magura lad has 398 rating points in Tests. South African all-rounder is second with 341 rating points.

Meanwhile in the T20 rankings, Shakib is top with 377 points with Hafeez at second with 14 fewer points.

Shakib’s news has doubled the joy of the Bangladesh fans in recent times.

Bangladesh women’s captain Salma Khatun recently became the number all-rounder in T20. Salma is also the number one bowler in T20. l

me to take care of the family and accompany my son to practice simultaneously.

But, it did not stop me from dreaming,” an emotional Nargis told Dhaka Tribune yesterday at her home.

Nargis’ endeavours started to reap rewards soon after admitting her son in the academy. Sunny caught the attention of the coaches and played for all the national age-level teams before featuring for the Bangladesh Under-19 side in 2003.

Soon, Sunny emerged as one of the most promising left-arm spinners of the country, someone who could persistently bowl a tight line and length.

The 28-year old cricketer’s first obsta-

Ronaldo wins Ballon d’Or award again n Reuters, Zurich Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the second year running and the third overall on Monday after a prolific, trophy-filled year with Real Madrid.

He was voted ahead of Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi, his bitter rival, and Bayern Munich and Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the annual poll run jointly by soccer’s governing body and France Football magazine.

Joachim Loew was voted Coach of the Year after leading Germany to the World Cup title in Brazil. He finished ahead of Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti and Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone in the poll.

Ronaldo netted 51 goals in 47 appearances last season as Real secured a record-extending 10th Champions League title and won the King’s Cup. His tally included 17 goals in the Champions League, a record for a single edition of a Europe’s elite club competition

Malaysia U21 too good for Bangladesh n Raihan Mahmood Bangladesh crashed to a 3-1 defeat against Malaysia Under-21 in a practice match in Kuala Lumpur yesterday ahead of the Hockey World League Round 2.

Bangladesh conceded all the three goals in the last 15 minutes. Midfielder Romman Sarker scored the consolation goal for Bangladesh in the last quarter of the game. The newly introduced match regulations implemented by International Hockey Federation were in place during the practice match.

Bangladesh will take on Malaysia A today in their second practice match before flying off to Singapore for the HWL Round 2. Bangladesh will play against Oman in their final warm-up match this Thursday. Bangladesh will open their HWL Round 2 campaign against Japan this Saturday at 7am. l

cle came in 2007 when his bowling action was questioned by the Bangladesh Cricket Board. He was under observation of the local coaches for two years.

“I will never forget the time when there was a problem with his bowling.

I saw that he was very upset during that time. I was also concerned. But, I was sure that my son would be able to overcome the bad phase in his career. I was sure of a comeback and it duly happened,” reminisced Nargis.

Despite being one of the most steady performers in domestic cricket, Sunny had to bide his time as veteran spinner Abdur Razzak was going great guns in

Since then, he has added the Club World Cup title to his collection, has scored a stunning 26 goals in 17 La Liga matches and looks set to looks set to smash the biggest total for a season in Spain’s top flight of 50 scored by Messi in 2011-12.

All that was enough to overlook a disappointing World Cup where Portugal went out in the first round and Ronaldo mustered only one goal.

However, he still became Portugal’s all-time leading scorer and his goal haul for his country stands at 52 in 117 appearances.

Messi, by contrast, inspired Argentina as they reached the World Cup final, where they lost to Neuer’s Germany.

Ronaldo first won the award in 2008, when it was run solely by FIFA, and he finished ahead of Messi. Messi won the award four times in a row from 2009 to 2012, with Ronaldo finishing as runner-up on three occasions, before the Portuguese reversed the trend last year.l

CORPORATE FOOTBALL

Magnito, Bando, Computer Source grab win

n Tribune Desk

National paceman Rubel Hossain (R) arrives for training yesterday in Mirpur after being granted a three-month bail a couple of days ago. Fellow pacers Al Amin Hossain (L) and Shafiul Islam are seen accompanying the controversial bowler MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Magnito Digital, Bando Design and Computer Source won their respective matches on day three of the Mir Corporate Football Fiesta, powered by International Turkish Hope School yesterday.

A hat-trick for Fayaz ensured Magnito an easy 5-0 win over Vizrt in the day’s opening match while Bando cruised to an 8-0 victory over Mir Group. Man-of-thematch Mamun scored a brace for Bando while Imran, Mobarak, Shakil and Rumi also put their names on the scoresheet.

Meanwhile, double strikes from Kaiser enabled Computer Source to a 4-2 win over Dhaka Tribune. Inzi and Shohag scored one each for the victors while Miru and Moon netted one apiece for Dhaka Tribune. l

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, holds his World Player of the Year trophy as he stands next to Fifa President Sepp Blatter during the Fifa Ballon d’Or 2014 gala at the Kongresshaus in Zurich yesterday REUTERS

BFF requests Tk39m for football development n Shishir Hoque Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin yesterday submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Finance, asking for Tk39m to be allocated every year for the development of the country’s football.

The BFF chief sat in a meeting with Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith yesterday afternoon where he submitted the budget. According to the BFF president’s assistant, Ahmed Sayed Al-Fatah, the Finance Minister took the proposal positively.

“The BFF president met the Finance Minister today (yesterday) at 1:30pm.

The president submitted the proposal officially to the minister and the

minister took it positively,” said Fatah yesterday.

The amount of money is believed to be in the region of Tk39m per year. It will be used for the development of football in the grass-root level, organising men’s and women’s professional and age-level tournaments, school football, BFF Academy, talent hunt programmes et al.

The meeting also settled on a date of the logo-unveiling ceremony of the long-awaited Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football Tournament 2015.

The logo and other details of the tournament will be revealed this Thursday where Muhith will be present as the chief guest. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

13

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

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Bravo, Pollard omissions leave Gayle fuming Chris Gayle has accused the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) of victimisation after key all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard were left out of the country’s World Cup squad. The powerful left-handed opener was left flabbergasted by the axing of the pair, which he feels has little to do with their performance on the pitch. Bravo, who was captain of the team, and Pollard were seen as leading the player revolt in India that forced the abandonment of the West Indies tour to the country last October after a pay dispute with the WICB. “There’s no way you can tell me those guys shouldn’t be in the team,” Gayle told reporters. “For me it’s got to be victimisation towards those two guys. Come on guys, it’s just ridiculous.

Honestly, it choked me up.” The players had been told they would be left out of the World Cup team as the country was building a team for the future, though as Gayle points out, the timing is odd going into a major tournament. “Bravo said to me the team they selected is to build for the next World Cup, which I can’t understand,” he said. “What they’re telling us then, is this team selected is not going there to win the World Cup. “Building for the next World Cup is ridiculous. I cannot understand what Bravo told me.”

–Reuters

Misbah to quit ODIs after World Cup Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said Sunday he will quit one-day cricket after the World Cup although he will continue to play Tests. Misbah, 40, becomes Pakistan’s second senior player after Shahid Afridi to announce his one-day retirement after the World Cup which is being staged in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29. “It’s my final decision and I have informed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of my decision,” Misbah told AFP. “It would be the icing on the cake if I retire with a World Cup win and I will do my best to do that. I’ve thought about this for a long time. “The World Cup is an important event and I want to finish on a winning note,” said Misbah, who will be playing his second World Cup after featuring in Pakistan’s semi-final finish in 2011. Misbah has played 153 one-day internationals, scoring 4,669 runs at an average of 42.83 with 37 fifties, the most runs without a hundred in all one-day internationals.

– AFP

Nice confident Ben Arfa will be registered Nice are confident that Hatem Ben Arfa will be registered as one of their players despite a last-gap hiccup with the French federation, the club said on Monday.

French sports daily L’Equipe reported that the FFF had yet to register the France international because it was wondering whether he has already played for a maximum two clubs this season as per FIFA’s regulations. “Players may be registered with a maximum of three clubs during one season. During this period, the player is only eligible to play official matches for two clubs,” FIFA regulations state.

Ben Arfa, whose transfer to Nice was announced by the French club this month, was loaned to Hull City until December

by Newcastle United and it is unclear whether a game he took part in with Newcastle’s development side is an official match. Nice said the English FA confirmed to the French federation that the game in question was not official. “This is a piece of information that legitimises the club’s position, and that has been handed over to FIFA,” Nice said in a statement.

–Reuters

Black Cap Williamson out with shoulder injury New Zealand’s Kane Williamson is likely to miss the next three one-day internationals in the World Cup warm-up series against Sri Lanka to recover from a minor shoulder injury. The top-order batsman damaged the shoulder when fielding in the first test against Sri Lanka in Christchurch and will be sidelined for the next seven to 10 days, almost certainly ruling him out of games two, three and four of the seven-match series. “Kane is obviously a very important player for us and we need to give his shoulder the time to fully recover,” New Zealand coach Mike Hesson said in a news release.

“He’s played a lot of cricket of late and this window will allow him to get back to 100 percent.” New Zealand co-host the World Cup with Australia from Feb. 13 to March 29.

–Reuters

DAY’S WATCH

n AFP, Sydney

Lleyton Hewitt’s son Cruz Hewitt (C) prepares to high five Roger Federer of Switzerland (L) during their Fast4 tennis exhibition in Sydney yesterday

Kasim magic inspires Iraq as greedy Japan hit four n AFP, Sydney Yaser Kasim’s wizardry earned Iraq a 1-0 win victory Jordan on Monday, while defending champions Japan were disappointed despite slamming four

past Palestine.

The late match between the Middle East rivals looked to be heading for a gritty draw before Kasim slalomed through three defenders to scored via a deflection deep in the second half.

It was the touch of class that the game sorely needed and it sealed the points for Iraq as they strive to recapture the title they won in fairytale fashion in 2007.

Iraq now sit behind Japan on goal difference after the opening games in

Group D and they will have high hopes of reaching the last eight, where they could potentially face bitter rivals Iran.

Kasim-style heroics were hardly required by Japan, who have won four of the last six Asian Cups and were up against a team playing in the continent’s showcase tournament for the first time.

The match pitched European-based stars against struggling players from the blockaded Palestinian territories, and the Blue Samurai wasted little time getting off the mark in a 4-0 win.

Just eight minutes were on the clock when Yashuhito Endo rifled Japan’s opener. Shinji Okazaki and Maya Yoshida also scored, either side of a Keisuke Honda penalty. But it was not the goal avalanche that some expected from Japan, 8-1 winners over Uzbekistan at the 2000 Asian Cup, and coach Javier Aguirre ad-

Gayle leads Windies to world record triumph n AFP, Johannesburg Chris Gayle blasted 90 off 41 balls as the West Indies achieved a world record run chase in the second Twenty20 international on Sunday to beat South Africa by four wickets.

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis hit a 46-ball century in his team’s total of 231 for seven -- their second highest total in the shortest form of the game.

But it was overhauled with four balls to spare on a record-breaking day at the Wanderers with West Indies captain Darren Sammy finishing the match with a six to take his team to 236 for six.

Man of the match Gayle was again the star for the West Indies as he shared a second wicket stand of 152 off 75 balls 236-6 West Indies vwho Southmade Africa60.

with Marlon Samuels, Jan 11, 2015 said “CricketJohannesburg was the winner today,” 226-3 “We Sussex v Essex Sammy. were dominated in the Chelmsford July 25, 2014 Tests but we have diff erent energy in this224-5 series.”

Cape Cobras v Titans It was astonishing batting Centurion March 9, 2011by both teams in ideal conditions on a field 220-4 Somerset v Hampshire where the Taunton world record 50-overs run July 9, 2010 chase was achieved by South Africa 220-4 Central Districts v Otago when they scored 438 for nine against Dunedin Jan 27, 2006 Australia in 2005/06.

RECORD T20 CHASES

The previous T20 record chase was 211 for four by India against Sri Lanka in Mohali in 2009/10.

Du Plessis said his South African record score of 119 off 56 balls was “bittersweet”.

Du Plessis hit five sixes and 11 fours, while Miller’s three sixes and four fours off 26 balls included arguably the biggest hit seen at the ground, a mighty blow over long-on which cleared a four-tier grandstand and sailed into an adjacent golf course.

The West Indies replied with even more brutality at the start of their innings. They raced to 86 for one in the six-over power play, with Gayle and Samuels posting a fifty partnership off 21 balls.

Gayle, who hit a 17-ball half-century in the first match in Cape Town on Friday, was only marginally slower on Sunday, reaching the mark off 20 deliveries with three sixes and seven fours.

The carnage continued, with Gayle bludgeoning the bowling, while Samuels managed to play with more classical control despite scoring his 60 off 39 balls with seven fours and two sixes. l

RESULTS

Japan

4-0

Palestine

Endo 8, Okazaki 25, Honda 44-P, Yoshida 49

Jordan

0-1

Iraq Yaser Kasim 77

mitted there was still work to do.

“I was happy and satisfied with the defence, but I saw some points to improve in attack,” he told reporters. “I expect those points to be improved through the training sessions.

“What we were missing in the first half was probably speed and mobility, and the missing part I saw in the second half was middle range shots.”

Man of the match Okazaki said: “As a result with four goals that was a great win, we played well. However, we could

Star Sports 4 2:40PM T20 Big Bash League Melbourne Renegades v Brisbane Heat

have been better.

Iraq’s Kasim became the second Swindon Town player to score at the Asian Cup after Massimo Luongo also scored a cracker for Australia in the tournament curtain raiser last Friday. The club team-mates were both named man of the match.

Monday also featured the tournament’s first red cards after Ahmed Mahajna was sent off for Palestine and Jordan’s Anas Bani Yaseen also got his marching orders.

Earlier record goalscorer Tim Cahill was named as captain of Australia, deputising for the injured Mile Jedinak, for the Tuesday’s clash with Oman in Sydney.

Victory could put Australia into the quarter-finals, provided South Korea avoid defeat against Kuwait in Tuesday’s other Group A tie. l

Ball boy, 12, becomes China penalty hero n AFP, Brisbane If China go far in this Asian Cup, they may have a 12-year-old ball boy to thank.

Unassuming Brisbanite Stephan White has been hailed in China after helping goalkeeper Wang Dalei save a crucial penalty in the 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia.

As Naif Hazazi lined up his kick, Wang asked White which way to dive.

The ball boy answered “left”, Wang followed his advice and saved the spotkick with his legs.

After Wang’s vital stop, China scored through Yu Hai’s free-kick to claim a priceless opening Group B win.

The grateful Chinese team rewarded White by inviting him to train with them ahead of their second match against Uzbekistan in Brisbane on Wednesday. l

SCORECARD South Africa R. Rossouw c Ramdin b Holder 15 9 M. van Wyk c Pollard b Benn 4 3 F. du Plessis c Bravo b Holder 119 56 D. Miller run out (Russell) 47 26 J. Ontong c Holder b Bravo 19 12 F. Behardien not out 8 12 D. Wiese c Smith b Bravo 6 2 K. Abbott run out (Ramdin) 22 Extras (lb2, nb2, w7) 11 Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 231 Did not bat: M. de Lange, A. Phangiso, Imran Tahir Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Van Wyk), 2-21 (Rossouw), 3-126 (Miller), 4-156 (Ontong), 5-222 (Du Plessis), 6-228 (Wiese), 7-231 (Abbott) Bowling: Benn 3-0-42-1, Cottrell 3-047-0 (1nb), Holder 4-0-40-2 (2w), Russell 4-0-39-0 (1nb, 4w), Bravo 4-0-32-2 (1w), Sammy 1-0-17-0, Pollard 1-0-12-0 West Indies D. Smith lbw b De Lange 17 9 C. Gayle c Van Wyk b Wiese 90 41 M. Samuels c Behardien b Wiese 60 39 K. Pollard c Behardien b Wiese 7 5 A. Russell c Miller b Abbott 14 6 D. Bravo c Ontong b Phangiso 10 5 D. Sammy not out 20 7 D. Ramdin not out 7 4 Extras (b4, w7) 11 Total (6 wkts, 19.2 overs) 236 Did not bat: J. Holder, S. Benn, S. Cottrell Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Smith), 2-171 (Gayle), 3-178 (Samuels), 4-185 (Pollard), 5-198 (Russell), 6-209 (Bravo) Bowling: Abbott 4-0-68-1 (1w), De Lange 3.2-0-42-1 (2w), Wiese 4-0-43-3 (3w), Phangiso 3-0-33-1, Imran Tahir 4-0-29-0 (1w), Ontong 1-0-17-0 West Indies won by four wickets; lead three-match series 2-0

Star Sports 2 9:50 AM Ranji Trophy Gujrat v Punjab

AFP

Roger Federer fought his way to a tough win over old rival Lleyton Hewitt in the Fast4 tennis exhibition in Sydney on Monday.

The Swiss world number two continued his unbeaten run into the new season with a 4-3, 2-3, 3-4, 4-0, 4-3 win over the Australian in the short-form contest.

Coming off a four-match winning run in Brisbane, where he took the title in three sets over Milos Raonic on Sunday, Federer started where he left off.

The match featured an experimental style of play, with sets being won after four games, no deuces and play allowed to continue after lets on serve.

The shorter breaks between the changes of ends certainly worked, speeding up the pace considerably.

The format has been piloted at clubs across Australia and is being billed as the Twenty20 of tennis, a reference to the fast and furious form of cricket that has proved a huge hit.

Great friends off the court, Federer and Hewitt have one of the most enduring rivalries in tennis. The pair, both aged 33, have faced each other 27 times since 1999, with Federer winning 18 of them.

Federer was pushed all the way by his evergreen rival, the contest going its full allotment of five shortened sets. l

West Indies players celebrate at the end of their second T20I win against South Africa at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday REUTERS

CJKS General Secretary A J M Nasir Uddin inaugurated the CJKS First Division Rugby League COURTESY

Wawrinka wins third Chennai Open title n Reuters An aggressive Stanislas Wawrinka won his third Chennai Open title on Sunday beating qualifier Aljaz Bedene in the final for a perfect buildup to his Australian Open title defence later this month.

The world number four, winner in 2011 and last year, hardly broke sweat against his Slovenian opponent for a

6-3 6-4 victory.

“It’s just amazing to win it again, to start the year with a trophy,” the 29-year-old Swiss, in his seventh straight year in the south Indian city, said in a courtside interview.

In a match between opponents who had split their previous two encounters, Wawrinka drew first blood in the sixth game, breaking Bedene before going on to seal the first set.

In the second set, Wawrinka converted a second break point to forge 4-3 ahead and eventually clinched title without losing a set in the tournament which bodes well for his Australian Open campaign.

“It would be a strange feeling to come back as the defending champion in a grand slam,” he said the of the year’s first major starting on Jan. 19.

“First I’m going to enjoy a little bit (winning) this trophy. It’s not every week that you win a trophy.”

Bedene was the first qualifier in the 20-year history of the tournament to reach the final, winning seven matches en route to his maiden ATP Tour final. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Barca star trio down Atletico n AFP, Barcelona

Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez were all on target as Barcelona eased talk of a club crisis with a 3-1 win over La Liga champions Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

Messi shrugged off speculation surrounding his future at the Camp Nou to cross for Neymar to scramble home the opener and then tee up Suarez to register just his second La Liga goal.

The Argentine also handed Atletico a route back into the game, though, when he was adjudged to have brought down Jesus Gamez inside the area on the hour mark and Mario Mandzukic slammed home from the penalty spot.

However, Messi made amends by sealing the three points when he slotted home from close range three minutes from time to move Barca back to within a point of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. Atletico are now four points adrift of Real, who also have a game in hand over both their title rivals.

Messi did his talking on the pitch as Barca’s star-studded South American frontline guided them to victory.

Barca went in front on 12 minutes when the four-time World Player of the Year danced past Gamez and pulled the ball across goal. Suarez failed to make a proper contact, but Neymar was on hand

LA LIGA

Almeria

0-2

Sevilla Iborra 58, Coke 63

1-2

Athletic Bilbao San Jose 73

Elche Rodriguez 16, Fajr 53

1-1

Granada Fran Rico 79-P

Real Sociedad Vela 36-P

3-1

Barcelona Neymar 12, Suarez 35, Messi 87

Atletico Madrid Mandzukic 57-P

to sweep home his 17th goal of the season.

The visitors were on the ropes in the first 45 minutes and teenage centre-back Jose Maria Gimenez was lucky to escape unpunished when he flew in dangerously on Neymar to leave the Brazilian with a bloodied ankle.

However, when the second goal did come, Atletico had a right to feel hard done by as Messi appeared to use his hand to speed past Gamez before sliding the ball through for Suarez to slot home.

Referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco balanced up that perceived injustice on the hour mark, though, as he pointed to the spot when Gamez went down under a challenge from Messi.

It was the first time that Messi had ever conceded a spot-kick in La Liga and Mandzukic didn’t pardon him as he slammed high into the roof of the net. l

(L-R) Barcelona’s Luis Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi celebrate scoring against Atletico Madrid during their La Liga match at Camp Nou stadium on Sunday

LVG defends methods after loss n AFP, Manchester

RESULT

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal was forced to defend both his tactics and squad management following a disjointed 1-0 home defeat by Southampton in the Premier League.

Substitute Dusan Tadic’s 69th-minute goal earned Southampton a first victory at Old Trafford since January 1988, which allowed Ronald Koeman’s side to climb above United to third place in the table.

Man United

0-1

Southampton Tadic 69

Victory was the visitors’ reward for a disciplined and intelligent display, but United misfired badly in attack, failing to muster a shot on target in a home league game for the first time since a 0-0 draw with Arsenal in May 2009.

On that occasion, the draw was enough to give United the league ti-

Southampton players celebrate their victory against Manchester United during their English Premier League match at Old Trafford on Sunday REUTERS

Schalke sign Man city defender Nastasic on loan n Reuters, Berlin Bundesliga club Schalke 04 have signed Manchester City defender Matija Nastasic on loan until the end of the season.

The tall 21-year-old joined City as a teenager in 2012 on a five-year deal but has been unable to force his way into Manuel Pellegrini's side. Nastasic has made just one appearance for City this season, in the 3-0 Community Shield defeat by Arsenal in August.

Schalke, who are fifth in the Bundesliga, have conceded 21 goals in 17 league games compared to leaders Bayern Munich's four. The Bundesliga resumes on Jan. 30 after the winter break. l

tle, but Sunday’s defeat left them with 37 points from 21 games - the same amount as Van Gaal’s hapless predecessor David Moyes had mustered at this stage last season.

Koeman suggested that United were having trouble adapting to Van Gaal’s preference for a three-man defence, opining that “they have difficulties to build up with three centre-backs”.

But Van Gaal, whose side have taken six points from a possible 15, rejected the claim and argued that Southampton had been “lucky” to avenge their 2-1 loss to United in December.

Asked if United had struggled to bring the ball out of defence, he replied: “I don’t think so, because we were the dominating team. You have seen that today (Sunday). That for me is not any question.”

Van Gaal also had to explain his decision to omit Radamel Falcao from his 18-man squad, having selected 19-yearold striker James Wilson ahead of the Colombia international. With Luke Shaw, Daley Blind and Angel di Maria playing after injury, Van Gaal said he needed defensive and midfield cover on the bench and had plumped for Wilson over Falcao “because I know I want speed in attack”.

In the end, Van Gaal threw Marouane Fellaini on as an auxiliary striker, but Juan Mata squandered late chances to equalise. l

Lyon go top of Ligue 1 n AFP, Paris

Seven-time champions Lyon are the new Ligue 1 leaders after comfortably defeating Toulouse 3-0 at the Stade Gerland on Sunday.

Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette extended his lead at the top of the scoring charts with his 18th and 19th goals of the season while Nabil Fekir added further gloss to a perfect evening for Hubert Fournier’s side as they lead the table in January for the first time since 2012.

In Sunday’s other matches, Nantes were held to a 0-0 draw in Brittany by Metz, a result that lifts the Canaries up to seventh while Metz climb out of the relegation zone but only ahead of Evian on goal difference. At the Louis II stadium, Monaco kept a grip on fifth place as they drew 0-0 with sixth-placed Bordeaux.

LIGUE 1

Lyon

3-0

Toulouse

Lacazette 14, 27, Fekir 48

Nantes

0-0

Metz

Monaco

0-0

Bordeaux

Previous leaders Marseille slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Montpellier on Friday while champions Paris Saint-Germain threw away a 2-0 lead and were beaten 4-2 by Bastia in Corsica on Saturday.

Those results left Lyon one point clear of Marseille with Saint-Etienne third, three adrift, and PSG surprisingly fourth and four points back.

Lyon’s victory was their ninth straight home success and fifth straight league win as they edge closer to a first French title since 2008. l

I’m not going anywhere, fires indignant Messi

Wenger eyes defensive deal after Debuchy injury n AFP, London n AFP, Barcelona Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will step up his efforts to sign a centre-back this month after losing Mathieu Debuchy to a dislocated shoulder during the 3-0 victory over Stoke.

Wenger insists a central defender was already his priority but the need to strengthen his defensive options was reinforced by the loss of Debuchy and the continuing absence of Kieran Gibbs.

“The only negative today is we lost another defender, an experienced defender, with a dislocated shoulder. And that gives us a problem because at the back on the experience front, we are already short,” Wenger said.

“With a dislocated shoulder you need a diagnosis from a specialist and we don’t know yet but he will certainly not play next week. And Gibbs’ ankle is still inflamed. He had a test and it didn’t work.

I was in the market anyway. But what is for sure, not having Gibbs and Debuchy affects us. Nacho Monreal can play centre-back, Debuchy can play centre-back.

“But if Gibbs is not here, Monreal cannot play centre-back and if Debuchy is not here he cannot play centre-back so this is a position at the moment where we are short.” l

n

Roma captain Francesco Totti celebrated scoring his first brace of goals this season by taking a “selfie” with a mobile phone after he levelled for the Serie A title challengers in the city derby against Lazio on Sunday.

Lazio stunned Rudi Garcia’s side when they took a 2-0 half-time lead following goals from Stefano Mauri and Felipe Anderson.

Totti reduced arrears with a fine angled strike three minutes after the

restart and claimed his second just after the hour to set up a tense finale.

It was Totti’s 239th goal in Serie A, taking the 38-year-old to within 35 of Silvio Piola’s all-time record of 274.

Totti, who is in his 22nd season with the club, celebrated by taking a telephone from one of the Roma coaching staff and taking a “selfie” picture of himself before returning to the pitch.

Totti’s 11th goal in the city derby was also a record, and he told Sky Sport: “I had the idea during the week.” l

Four-times World Player of the Year Lionel Messi shot back angrily Sunday at rumours that he could leave Barcelona after clashing with coach Luis Enrique and the club’s board.

The Argentine was in top form with a goal and two assists as the Catalan giants ended and unsettling week off the field with a crucial 3-1 win over La Liga champions Atletico Madrid.

Messi holds up a trophy after being honored by the LFP for breaking the La Liga goal scoring record AFP

Wonder strikes send Juve clear of Roma n AFP, Milan

A pair of stunning strikes from Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal and Martin Caceres’s first Serie A goal in over two years sent Juventus three points clear of Roma on Sunday following a 3-1 win away to Napoli.

Roma’s hopes of a Napoli win were valid - Juventus’s last league win at the San Paolo came in 2000 - but Rafael Benitez’s men were handed a warning just before half-time when Pogba fired a wonderful volley past Rafael Cabral.

A mix-up in the box saw Carlos Tevez’s shot bounce off Llorente and out towards Pogba, who leaned back and teed up before firing a crisp volley

Totti celebrates derby double with ‘selfie’ AFP, Milan

REUTERS

past the outstretched hands of Rafael for his fourth goal of the campaign.

Although defender Miguel Britos levelled just after the hour with a fine close-range volley from a corner, Napoli were trailing again soon after.

Earlier, a second-half brace by captain Francesco Totti saved Roma’s blushes after Stefano Mauri and Felipe Anderson had given Lazio a 2-0 firsthalf lead. Fiorentina moved up to sixth after dominating Palermo 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller in Florence.

Former Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic’s first goal for Inter Milan helped secured a 3-1 win over Genoa as on-loan Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski made his first start for the hosts. l

“I have never demanded anything to ensure that I stay because I have never had any intention of leaving,” he told Barca TV after Sunday’s match.

“I have heard it said that my dad has spoken to Chelsea or Manchester City.

It is all lies.

“I have taken this chance to deny it so that everyone knows the truth.”

Messi had missed training on Monday, citing a stomach bug, after being left on the bench by Enrique for last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad.

And he sent the rumour mill into overdrive later in the day by following Chelsea and two of their players Thibaut Courtois and Filipe Luis on social media site Instagram.

“I am grateful to be able to give my version of events,” he said.

“It hurts me because it comes from here, from Barcelona, from people that love the club, or say they do. It doesn’t come from Madrid like it has in the past.

“It is not good that they look for rivalry between Luis Enrique and I because there isn’t any,” Messi added.

“We need to be more united than ever, the fans and us. We have an important six months ahead to achieve good things for us and for the club.” l

SERIE A Inter Milan

3-1

Genoa

Palacio 12, Icardi 39, Vidic 88

Atalanta

1-1

Chievo

Zappacosta 72

Cagliari

Lazarevic 90

2-1

Cesena

Pedro 11, Donsah 27

Fiorentina

Brienza 89

4-3

Pasqual 20, Basanta 51, Cuadrado 64, Joaquin 74

Verona

Totti 48, 64

Sampdoria

Palermo Quaison 59, 61, Belotti 81-P

3-1

Parma

Sala 39, Toni 72, Valoti 90+1

Roma

Izzo 85

2-2

Lodi 63

Lazio

Mauri 25, Anderson 29

1-0

Empoli

1-3

Juventus

Eder 49

Napoli Britos 64

Pogba 29, Caceres 69, Vidal 90+4

Mancini ‘fine’ after being hit n AFP, Milan

AS Roma captain Francesco Totti takes a selfie as he celebrates after scoring his second goal against Lazio during their Serie A match at the Olympic stadium on Sunday INTERNET

Inter coach Mancini joked he was back to full health after a wayward pass during his side’s win over Genoa on Sunday knocked the Italian clean off his feet.

Mancini was standing on the sidelines when Inter defender Marco Andreolli hit the ball inadvertently at his coach’s head, sweeping Mancini off his feet as he tried to protect himself with his arm.

The 50-year-old Mancini, who led Inter to seven trophies including three consecutive league titles during his previous spell with the club in 2004-2008, dusted himself down and went on to oversee his second victory at the helm.

Asked about his attempted “save”, the Italian replied: “I didn’t parry the ball, it really hit me in the face! It wasn’t very pleasant, but I’m more or less fine.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

ROMEO VS JULIET to hit cinemas on January 16

15

The Master Star Movies Action, 6:30pm Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams

n Entertainment Desk Romeo vs Juliet, an India-Bangladesh joint venture film starring Mahiya Mahi and Ankush in lead roles, will be released on January 16 in both the countries.

For the first time, Indian actor Ankush Hazra and Mahiya Mahi paired up for the romantic comedy jointly directed by Ashok Pati and Abdul Aziz.

In Bangladesh, the film will be released under the title “Romeo Bonam Juliet”, as the censor board does not accept the use of foreign language in the title.

Other major cast of the film includes Kabila (Bangladesh), K h a r a j Mukherjee (India), Supriyo Dutta (India), Ali Raj (Bangladesh), Tulika Basu (India), Partho Sarathi Chakraborty (India) and Nita Mistry (UK).

The film’s soundtrack was tuned and composed by Pritom and Emon Saha.

Jaaz Multimedia, Bangladesh, and Eskay Movies, India, have jointly produced the film, which was mostly shot in India and the UK. Some scenes were shot in Bangladesh as well. l

SHAKIRA to collaborate with Iggy Azalea on new album n Entertainment Desk Shakira will reportedly collaborate with Iggy Azalea for her new album.

The singer will team up with the Aussie rapper for her 11th studio album, which is currently under way, according to El Mundo.

Mexican rock band Mana and Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz are also

said to be working with the Colombian singer on her next LP. Shakira’s last self-titled album was released in 2014, reaching number 14 in the UK and number two in the US. The record featured collaborations with Rihanna, Magic! and Blake Shelton.

Azalea has previously teamed up with artists including Jennifer Lopez, Rita Ora, Ariana Grande and Charli XCX. l

Monkey Business portrays middle class family n Entertainment Desk A new telefilm titled “Monkey Business” will be aired soon in a private television channel. Actors Tariq Anam Khan, Iresh Zaker, Sabila, Tamim, Sabnam Faria, Sifat Tahsin will be seen in the play.

About the teleplay, Iresh told to the Dhaka Tribune: “It is a family drama with an unusual storyline and characters. An entertainment teleplay which depicts the middle class life in a sensitive and insightful manner.” The shoot of the tele-

Music

SD Burman Music Festival Time: 6pm Shawkat Osman Memorial Auditorium, Central Public Library, Shahbag

Film

Kazi Zahir & Subhash Dutta Film Festival Time: 6pm to 8:30pm

SELIM AL DEEN to be commemorated

n Entertainment Desk To mark the 7th death anniversary of iconic playwright Selim Al Deen, a twoday-long commemorating programmes have been arranged by Selim Al Deen Foundation.

With a slogan “Tomar sommukhe ananta muktir animesh chhayapoth,” the programmes will held on January 14 and 15.

On January 14, the programmes will begin through placing wreaths at the grave of Selim Al Deen on Jahangir-

G O L D E N

nagar University campus.

A Dhaka Theatre production “Putul Tomar Jonom Ki Roop” will be staged at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 7:00pm on that day.

Meanwhile, Theatre troupe Shwapnadal have arranged a three-day-long commemorating festival at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

To observe the day, the troupe come up with a list of programmes including theatre production, seminar and speeches from Jnauary 12 to 14. l

G L O B E S

Boyhood and Grand Budapest Hotel top the list n Entertainment Desk

“Boyhood” won three awards, including the prize for Best Drama at the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards. Richard Linklater took home the trophy for Best Director and Patricia Arquette won for Best Supporting Actress. But on the comedy half of the movie slate, Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” rode a wave of recent critical goodwill to win Best Comedy or Musical, slipping past the presumed frontrunner, “Birdman.”

Michael Keaton, however, did win the award for Best Actor in a Comedy, and Alejandro Iñárritu’s film also was honoured for Best Screenplay.

The only other movie to win multiple awards was “The Theory of Everything,” which took home statues for Best Actor, for Eddie Redmayne’s convincing performance as Stephen Hawking, and Best Score.

On the television side, several new shows got the attention of the Hol-

lywood Foreign Press Association.

Showtime’s “The Affair” was named Best Drama and Ruth Wilson won for Best Actress. Amazon’s “Transparent” claimed Best Comedy and Jeffrey Tambor won for Best Actor. And “Fargo” beat out “True Detective” for Best Miniseries/Movie and Best Actor, with Billy Bob Thornton winning and giving the shortest speech of the night.

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman Julianne Moore

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armie, Game, Into The Storm Exodus 3D, Interstellar Ek Cup Cha, Desha: The Leader Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3D The Penguins of Madagascar Blockbuster Cinemas

Best Motion Picture, Drama: Boyhood Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Richard Linklater

Best Song: “Glory,” by John Legend & Common—Selma Best TV Movie or Mini-series: Fargo

Fargo

Amy Adams

Due Date WB,1:36pm Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan

Peter Highman is forced to hitch a ride with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay on a road trip in order to make it to his child’s birth on time.

“Mary Kom” was one of the top gainers at the Renault Star Guild Awards 2015 and actress Priyanka Chopra, who played the lead in the film, has dedicated its success to her late father Ashok Chopra.

Priyanka always found a great support system in her father, who passed away after a battle with cancer in 2013. A doctor by profession, he had retired from the Indian Army in 1997 as lieutenant-colonel.

The Fashion actress also has a tattoo reads “Daddy’s Li’l Girl” on one of her forearms.

Directed by Omung Kumar, the film released on September 5, 2014. Priyanka, who has earlier called “Mary Kom” her toughest film ever, credited the film’s team for the success of the film.

At present, the actress is busy shooting for her first period drama “Bajirao Mastani,” which also stars Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. l

2 0 1 5 The 3 most surprising winners n Entertainment Desk

How to Train Your Dragon 2 wins best animated movie

Most assumed “The LEGO Movie” and “Big Hero 6” were duking it out, yet Dragon 2 swooped in for the kill.

Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best Original Score, Motion Picture: Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything

During the reign of the Vikings, Kainan, a man from a far-off world, crash lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator known as the Moorwen.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA dedicates Mary Kom to her father n Entertainment Desk

Eddie Redmayne

Best Screenplay: Alejandro G Iñárritu, Birdman

Outlander HBO, 5pm Cast: Jim Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Ron Perlman

International Digital Cultural Archive, Room 613, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

The Golden Globes has a reputation for honouring fresh talent and making unexpected moves. There were plenty of jaw-dropping moments too as several dark horses surged forward to cross the finish line:

Best Actress: Amy Adams, Big Eyes

Best Animated Motion Picture: How to Train Your Dragon 2 Best Foreign Language Film: Leviathan

play will start from January 16.

The plot of the story revolves around Rafee, a common and simple student of private university.

Whose father is a cuckold; mother is irritated with her daughter-inlaw; a corrupt elder brother and a sister-in-law, who is drowned in her own dreams of a nuclear family. Rafee refers to his family as the “Monkey family.”

At one stage of his life, he gets in touch with Angel Lamia, the first crush of Rafee, and his friend Sam who wants to be a photographer. l

A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future—until he is tantalized

by The Cause and its charismatic leader.

Fargo beats True Detective — and Billy Bob Thornton beats Matthew McConaughey

The two acclaimed freshman crime anthology dramas finally squared off in a major race. Yet “True Detective” has enjoyed more buzz and Thornton topping McConaughey was definitely a shock given the latter’s mesmerising performance that was such a large part of “True Detective”’s success.

Gina Rodriguez wins best actress in a TV comedy

Her nomination was already a surprise. Rodriguez made headlines when she made it into this category as relative unknown actress on the never-before-nominated The CW network.

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Unsafe CFL disposal harming environment New guideline finalised for environmentally safe recycling of CFL bulbs

n Aminur Rahman Rasel As the use of compact fluorescent lamp bulbs – popularly known as CFLs – grows rapidly in the country, it is also putting the environment at risk with unregulated CFL disposal causing a significant rate of mercury pollution.

According to a recent study, each year, around 20 million CFLs are being used in the country, resulting in 0.070.1 tonnes of mercury entering the environment, with an estimated average of 5mg mercury content in every bulb.

Such high levels of emission can have direct harmful effects on the human food chain and lead to health costs ranging between $255,000 and $344,00011 annually, the study – carried out under the supervision of the Power Division – also claimed.

Based on the study, the Power Division has finalised a guideline that aims to reduce the harmful effects.

Effects of mercury exposure can include fatality, reduced fertility, slower growth and development “We have finalised a guideline for environmentally safe disposal and recycling of CFLs, which will ensure minimisation of negative health and environmental effects of used CFLs,” said Mohammad Hossain, the director general of the Power Cell – a state-owned entity under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

“CFLs contain toxic mercury as well as other substances like glass and other metal parts. When broken, compacted, crushed, or disposed of improperly, fluorescent bulbs may release mercury into the air, water, and land, posing significant threats to people and the environment,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

The purpose of the guideline is to provide practical guidelines to all stakeholders conducting any activities related to the collection, transportation, treatment or recycling and disposal of used CFLs, the Power Cell DG said.

The guideline would facilitate institutions like the Department of Environment (DoE) and Sustainable Energy

Development Agency (SEDA) to formulate the relevant legal and institutional framework for implementing safe disposal and recycling of mercury-bearing CFLs and subsequently broaden the boundary to include all hazardous wastes.

The study – conducted by Ernst & Young Global Limited, a London-based multinational professional services firm – found that the lighting industry in the country was flourishing with increasing rural electrification programs as well as increasing urban electrification.

The annual sales of CFLs – which have numerous benefits over incandescent lamps in terms of energy savings and lifetime – ranged approximately between 15-20 million.

Mercury content in CFLs generally range between 2mg to 5mg, while for a small segment of manufacturers, mercury content goes up to 8mg, the study found.

The Efficient Lighting Initiative of Bangladesh (ELIB) and Solar Home System (SHS) programmes – which were introduced in recent years – had led to a rapid growth of CFLs in the country, the study mentioned.

Under the first phase of the ELIB programme, the government distributed 10.5 million CFLs in 2010; while under the SHS programme, the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) distributed 2.7 million more CFLs. Assuming a 5mg mercury content per CFL, the total mercury released into the atmosphere from CFLs distributed under the ELIB program alone is estimated to be 0.04 tonnes, which may lead to a marginal environmental and health damage cost of $136,0009.

Similarly, for the 2.7 million CFLs distributed under the SHS, a resultant emission of 0.014 tonnes may be expected, leading to a damage cost of $45,900 per annum, the study found.

People were being exposed to mercury almost entirely by eating contaminated fish, while fish-eating birds and mammals were also being exposed to the mercury in water ecosystems and the pollution continued up the food chain, the study claimed.

Effects of mercury exposure on environment and wildlife can include fatality, reduced fertility, slower growth and development and abnormal behaviour that affect survival, depending on the level of exposure. l

With a mentally challenged wife at home, Md Rashed - who has to beg for a living - has no other option but to carry around his daughter as he moves around the streets of the capital.

The photo was taken at Bailey Road yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

BLOCKADE VIOLENCE

Dead teacher’s family ‘barred’ from filing case n Our Correspondent, Gaibandha The family of the head teacher of a Gaibandha school killed in blockade violence on Saturday was apparently barred from lodging a case over his death.

Locals alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami men persuaded the family into not filing any case as his in-laws were involved in Jamaat politics.

Altaf Hossain, 50, was the headmaster of Chhoto Bhagabanpur Government Primary School at Jhalingi village in Betkapa union of Palashbari upazila.

On Friday, he was returning home on a human haulier from Rangpur’s Pirganj but blockaders chased the vehicle when it reached Suigram-Grameen Bank area in Palashbari. The driver accelerated but blockaders hit him with sticks, causing him to fall out and the vehicle to overturn.

Five passengers of the vehicle, including Altaf, were seriously injured.

Altaf was rushed to Palashbari Upazila Health Complex but was later taken to Rangpur Prime Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated. He died there on Saturday noon.

His Namaz-e-Janaza was held at his

residence on Sunday. But Palashbari upazila Vice-Chairman Md Abu Taleb urged the family members attending the prayer not to get involved in any “hassle” over the incident as this would not bring him back to life.

Taleb is also the ameer of Palashbari Sadar unit Jamaat-e-Islami and was accused in a number of subversion cases.

On Sunday evening, police went to Altaf’s house to lodge a case but some men there were strongly against it.

This correspondent tried to talk to Altaf’s wife Rahima Begum but a neighbour named Shamim who was in the house came up and angrily said: “We do not want journalists to dig deep into the incident as we will not file any case.”

Another man named Md Yusuf Mia, who identified himself as the brother-inlaw of Altaf, said he was with the teacher in hospital during treatment but the reason of the death remained unclear.

After a while, Shamim brought a piece of paper to Rahima and asker her to put a signature on it. The widow did.

Altaf’s elder daughter Laboni was then asked to do the same but some elderly men forbade her.

Some of Altaf’s relatives also put

their signatures on the paper, which was basically a statement that said no case would be filed in connection with Altaf’s death.

The statement was handed over to police but Rahima and Laboni began crying louder after that as if they had something to say but could not utter it.

Locals said almost all of Altaf’s inlaws are involved in Jamaat politics and even Jhalingi village itself is a Jamaat-dominated area.

Altaf’s childhood friend Enamul Haque, who is a trader in Dholbhanga, expressed his resentment, saying: “It is true that the wife of the deceased cannot identify those responsible for his death but cannot she at least demand justice for the crime?”

“One of Altaf’s brother-in-law was recently arrested in a subversion case but was later bailed. In fact, his in-laws are involved in Jamaat politics which is why they are trying to make sure that no one goes any further about the incident,” he added.

Altaf is survived by two daughters, a son and his wife. His elder daughter Laboni recently got married while the younger one Liza is a tenth-grader at Dholbhanga

High School. His son Rohan Mia is a qawmi madrasa student in Rangpur.

Officer-in-Charge of Palashbari police station Mojibur Rahman said Altaf’s family was reluctant to file any case.

“They gave a written statement where they said they are against initiating any legal proceedings in connection with the death,” he said.

Altaf’s in-laws claimed that the accident happened as a motorcyclist suddenly drove in front of the human haulier.

Mojibur also echoed the statement, saying it was likely that the driver of the human haulier lost control after thinking of the rider in front of him as a Jamaat or Shibir activist.

“We are investigating if blockaders chased the human haulier before the rider drove in front of it,” he added.

Palashbari and Sundarganj are known as Jamaat strongholds. Terror reigned Palashbari in the wake of the pronouncement of Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee’s war crimes verdict on February 28, 2013.

The upazila once again descended into chaos after the verdict in the case against another Jamaat leader Quader Molla was handed down in late 2013. l

Police ‘shoot’ trader for not paying extortion money France mobilises n 10,000 troops after Paris shootings Mohammad Jamil Khan

A trader was shot yesterday by police at Dakshinkhan in the capital for allegedly failing to pay extortion money to police.

He was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Nipu Enterprise proprietor, Haji Foyez Ali, 52, was allegedly shot by Sub-Inspector (SI) Joynal Abedin in front of the Munshi Market around 8:30am.

Leaving his van about a hundred metres away, SI Joynal grabbed the victim by the collar and shot him in the waist, saying: “You are involved in the politics of BNP,” his family told the Dhaka Tribune.

Freedom fighter Nurul Hasan was allegedly present during the incident.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, he said: “We were talking to each other when SI Joynal Abedin came in, grabbed him by the collar and began taking him away.”

“I asked him why he was being taken away. The SI replied that Foyez had been on the Wanted List and when I asked him about it, he refused to explain,” he said.

“The next moment, he took out his gun and shot Foyez in the waist. On hearing the gunshot, locals as well as other policemen waiting in the van rushed over. Then he, along with the other officers, left the scene,” Nurul said.

“Foyez was rushed to Crescent Hospital and then shifted to the DMCH around 2pm,” he added.

The Dhaka Tribune tried to contact Joynal, but could not reach him on the phone.

When asked, Dakshinkhan police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Sham-

n Reuters

Businessman Foyez Ali Sarkar is admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after being shot by police in the capital’s Dakshinkhan area.

Police say he was mistakenly hit when law enforcers were trying to bar a pro-blockade rally. But the victim’s family claims Foyez was shot deliberately for not agreeing to pay tolls demanded by a police official MEHEDI HASAN imur Rashid Talukder said that Foyez was a BNP supporter, who along with others, tried to bring out a procession on road 10 in Uttara’s sector 4 in support of the blockade.

“Police chased the blockade supporters and suddenly Foyez approached us and got locked in scuffle with police officials,” said OC Shamim, adding that at one stage, a bullet was “accidentally” discharged from a gun and hit Foyez in the waist.

Despite the OC’s claim that the

shooting was an accident, the victim’s nephew, Md Jewel, told the Dhaka Tribune that the police team led by SI Joynal used to visit his uncle’s business to demand extortion money which his uncle regularly paid.

He said the SI demanded a higher amount after his uncle started construction work on his new building.

As part of the bargaining, the police official might have opened fire, Jewel said.

The victim’s wife, Rehana Foyez,

denied that her husband was involved with any political party.

“In the morning, Foyez left the house with a cheque of Tk1 lakh to pay the wages of the construction workers.

There is no question of him joining a procession,” Rehana said.

Rahadul Islam Nipu, Foyez’s elder son, said SI Joynal had been milling around their house for the last few days.

“We must file a complaint over the attack on my father,” Rahadul said. l

France will deploy 10,000 soldiers on home soil by Tuesday and post almost 5,000 extra police officers to protect Jewish sites after the killing of 17 people by Islamist militants in Paris last week, officials said.

Speaking a day after the biggest French public demonstration ever registered, in honour of the victims, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the country remained at risk of further attacks. Soldiers would guard transport hubs, tourism sites and key buildings and mount general street patrols.

"The threats remain and we have to protect ourselves from them. It is an internal operation that will mobilise almost as many men as we have in our overseas operations," Le Drian told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The victims, including journalists and police, died in three days of violence that began on Wednesday with a shooting attack on the political weekly Charlie Hebdo, known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions.

The Charlie Hebdo attackers, two French-born brothers of Algerian origin, singled out the weekly for its publication of cartoons depicting and ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad.

Charlie Hebdo's remaining members are working on an eight page issue due to come out on Wednesday with a one-million copy print run. Its lawyer, Richard Malka, told France Info radio there would be caricatures of the

Prophet Mohammad.

"We will not give in. The spirit of 'I am Charlie' means the right to blaspheme ," he said, adding that the front page would be released Monday evening.

The three days of bloodshed ended on Friday with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in Paris where four hostages and another gunman were killed. That gunman declared allegiance to Islamic State insurgents and said he was acting in response to French military deployments against militant Islamist groups overseas.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said 700 police officers would be placed at all 717 Jewish schools across the country in addition to some 4,100 gendarmes already deployed.

"Synagogues, Jewish schools, but also mosques will be protected because in the past few days there have been a number of attacks against mosques," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told BFM TV. The first two attackers, who had travelled to Yemen in 2011 for training, were killed on Friday after a siege north of the capital.

The co-ordinated assaults amounted to the deadliest attack by militant Islamists on a European city since 57 people were killed in an attack on London's transport system in 2005.

Valls said police were searching for likely accomplices. The Turkish government confirmed that the female companion of the supermarket attacker had entered Syria on January 8 from Turkey, having arrived in Istanbul several days before the killings. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

B3 Japan readies record

$800bn 2015-16 budget

B4 Mind the gap in multi-

speed world economy after oil plunge

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015 www.dhakatribune.com/business

RMG back in trouble as political unrest deepens

Third Bangladesh-India border haat opens today n Tribune Report

n Tribune Report Bangladesh’s garment manufacturers and exporters yesterday said the industry is in a deep trouble again due to latest spate of political unrest.

The pain had no sooner come than fading away effect of Rana Plaza tragedy and political unrest in 2013.

“The blockade that began on January 4 has already wiped off Tk4,50 crore of readymade garment sector,” Atiqul Islam, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told a press briefing in Dhaka yesterday.

The trade body urged the political parties to exempt RMG industry and its forward and backward linkage industries from all kinds of political programme so the supply chain remains smooth.

“The garment industry, described as lifeline of the economy, is almost on the verge of collapse due to political instability,” said Islam.

He said: “We, the business people, won’t request any more for reconciliation among political parties as our previous experience was not sweet.”

“But if necessary we can meet BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for calling off blockade for the interest of the country’s economy and people as well.”

The political stalemate has hit the country again on one year completion of controversial January 5 election which brought ruling Awami League into power again with its main rival BNP boycotting.

Damage in the apparel industry is also going to take a grave shape as buyers have already threatened to withdraw orders in the wake of political chaos.

“When we are assuring the buyers by saying that we are back to business, they (buyers) are saying you (local exporters) are again back to the pavilion.

This message (from buyers) bodes ill for more than $24bn industry,” said BGMEA president.

A worker stacks up finished and packed apparel products at a factory in Dhaka. The ongoing political unrest affects transportation of goods to Chittagong sea port for shipment SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN He said the garment makers, who account for 80% of the country’s $27.3bn annual exports, fear the worst since a prolonged blockade could prompt Western retailers to divert orders to other nations.

Recalling 2013 political unrest when RMG exporters were forced to deliver goods through air shipment by spending additional Tk5,500 crore and selling products in discount of Tk900 crore, Atiqul Islam said the industry would continue to suffer losses unless political conflicts are resolved.

“The industry produces about Tk430 core apparel goods per day. If the strike or blockade hampers 50% of those products, the production is hampered by at least Tk215 crore,” he said.

Referring to a recent apparel summit

in Dhaka, he said the buyers had promised to give orders to live up Bangladesh’s RMG export target of $50bn by 2021.

“But this will never come true, if such political unrest continues.”

Already, the political unrest has cast negative impact on garment makers, as the number of BGMEA members came down to 4,222 from 5,876 and sick industry list becomes longer to 439 from 279.

“If the existing industry falls sick, who will take the responsibility?” he questioned.

A non-stop transport blockade organised by the BNP chief Khaleda Zia is taking a huge toll on all sectors with the vital garment industry being hit hard.

Apex trade body FBCCI said the

transport sector alone loses Tk200 crore a day during the current blockade. At least 200,000 buses and lorries are now out streets fearing attacks.

At least 200 buses, lorries and cars have been torched while hundreds more damaged. The train schedules have also gone haywire after several major services were derailed, leaving at least 50 people injured.

The government is providing guarded security to ensure the movement of buses and lorries carrying products for shipment.

Bangladesh is the world’s second largest garment exporter after China.

The sector provides jobs for 4m people, mostly women, and has spurred economic growth to over 6% a year in the last decade. l

The third border haat between Bangladesh and India will be inaugurated today to expedite border trade benefiting people in frontiers and to boost bilateral trade and commerce.

The border markets are located at Srinagar, Tripura, India and Purba Madhugram, Feni district of Bangladesh.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, its Senior Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun Commerce and Industry Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman, Trade and Commerce Minister of Tripura Shri Tapan Chakraborty will attend the inaugural ceremony.

“We are going to inaugurate the third Boarder Haat located in Feni,” said Tofail Ahmed at a media briefing after a curtsy meeting with Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran at the secretariat yesterday.

Bangladeshi products are being transported to Nepal and Bhutan through India, he said, adding that since Bangladesh does not have any transit agreement with India, its lorries cannot enter Indian territory, and so the vehicles of Nepal and Bhutan – having such treaties with India, reach Indian frontiers to pick up Bangladeshi goods.

“To remove this barrier we are working on transit issue,” said the minister.

In order to strengthen connectivity among the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, a law on transit had been drafted but due to veto from Pakistan a consensus could not be reached, Ahmed said, adding that efforts are underway to find a bilateral solution.

The minister also said there was a question about the BSTI standard and India helped promote its test standard which will now be granted in the neighbouring country.

“We are working on ways of how to simplify process to do business and how to increase bilateral trade and commerce.”

The Indian government is providing Bangladesh with duty- and quota-free access of all products except alcohol, arms and tobacco, but there are some

Citizen services to come $2bn Chinese loan for rural ICT to be inked soon under a toll-free number n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Zahidul n Muhammad Islam The government is going to establish a call centre to deliver all citizen services under a single toll-free number, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said yesterday.

At a press conference held in Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) auditorium to mark a successful one year of the government, he also said the government has already developed citizen services in different sectors through mobile phone applications and the services will now be much easier through the establishment of National Call Centre.

“All citizens can have this easy number and obtain public services without any cost,” said Zunaid Ahmed Palak.

He added that they have a plan to set up an ICT master plan to develop the sector with the help of South Korea.

“China made the master plan in 1980 for 30 years and South Korea also for 15 years in 2000. We can also do it to pursue our own objectives,” the sate minister said.

Some 34,000 youths are

being given training on information technology, he added, saying that training organisations will provide jobs for 60% trainees.

Of the youths, some 20,000 are being provided with basic training. A total of 10,000 young people will be imparted top IT training for quality development.

Palak said some 26,000 people, including 12,000 women, had been trained under “Learning and Earning Project” and training organisations will provide freelancing training for more 55,000 people in two years.

Currently, some 1,000 employees of IT or ITES sector under High Tech Park are giving trainings for mid-level professionals, added the state minister. He said a total of 36 organisations have given training to some 3,000 people under “Skill Enhance Programme” of High Tech Park.

They trained 1,000 people in 2014 and 1,450 are now receiving the training.

Palak stated that all upazilas across the country have been connected with Fiber Optic Network with which 18,132 government organisations will remain connected. l

Bangladesh is going to sign a $2bn concessional loan deal with China for developing rural ICT sector, State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak said yesterday.

The deal will be signed during Chinese Prime Minister Le Kagiang’s visit to Dhaka in March or April this year, he told a press conference in Dhaka.

The Chinese government and agencies will provide the money which is supposed to be used to implement the government’s plan to develop business process outsourcing (BPO) in rural areas and establish broadband connectivity with optical fibre cable.

ICT Division sources said the negotiation for two projects under the deal is under way.

The projects are Info Government-3 and a tier-4 data centre.

Officials said the interest of the loan would be less than 2%. But the interest is still under negotiation process in the Economic Relations Division (ERD).

State Minister for ICT said: “During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to China, the ICT sector was among top agenda to be discussed with the Chinese authorities.”

According to a senior official, the successful use of the loan can change whole Bangladesh in a short period of time.

“If we can use the loan successfully, the whole Bangladesh will change in a short time,” SM Ashraful Islam, Executive Director of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), told Dhaka Tribune.

He said they had stepped into a commercial contracting process for tier-4 data centre which would be established in Gazipur’s Kaliakair near Hi-Tech Park.

Tier-4 data centre, which is first of its kind in Asia and will be able to store huge amount of digital data, will cost $154m.

Bangladesh has tier-3 data centre already.

The new one will be developed by the Chines company Zte. Ashraful Islam said under the Info government-3 project the government has a plan to

establish more than 50,000 Wi-Fi hot spots and all 4,500 union parishad offices across the country will be connected with that.

Replying to a question, the official said although the country has a third-generation mobile data service, for quality service it needs to have optical fibre cable connectivity.

‘If we can use the loan successfully, the whole Bangladesh will change in a short time’ State minister said they also have a plan to launch a “Digital Connectivity Project” and all these will be implemented with the loan.

He also mentioned a plan to establish more than 2,000 computer labs which will also be used as language clubs to improve foreign language skills of freelancers. Trainings will be given on nine languages including English, Arabic, Chinese, France, Russian, Spanish. l

problems and we are working to remove these, said Ahmed.

Indian companies especially some big companies are looking to invest in Bangladesh.

If some of the investments can be materialised, it would help boost economic growth of both countries as well as enlarge export volume, said Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh Pankaj Saran.

‘We are working on ways of how to simplify process to do business and how to increase bilateral trade and commerce’

India is committed to focusing on more trade, commerce and investment with Bangladesh as the priorities of present Indian government are development of India, development of South Asia, plus regional integration, said Pankaj.

Replying to a question, the Indian high commissioner said: “We are setting up more testing laboratories which did not exist five or ten years ago to ensure an identical standard for tests.”

The Indian government has provided funds for upgrading Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institutions (BSTI) and is negotiating an agreement between BSTI and Bureau of Indian Standard to ensure standardisation to enable further Bangladeshi export to India, said Pankaj.

Currently, there are two border haats at Kalaichar (India) – Baliamari (Bangladesh) and Balat (India) – Dolora (Bangladesh) on the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border.

The haat will remain open only for one day every week from 10am to 4pm.

People living within five kilometres of the haat areas will be allowed to sell and buy locally produced goods. l

Malaysian trade minister in Dhaka n Tribune Business Desk Malaysian Minister for International Trade and Industry Mustaba Mohammed arrived in Dhaka yesterday on a three-day visit to expand trade ties with Bangladesh.

He is scheduled to hold talks with Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed today. They are expected to discuss ways to expand Bangladesh’s export to Malaysian market and boost Malaysian investment in Bangladesh, officials said yesterday.

The meeting with Tofail is also expected to discuss bilateral issues like trade and investment between the two countries apart from reviewing the current bilateral relations. Bangladesh suffers a huge trade deficit with Malaysia as the country imported goods worth US$2084 million against its exports valued about $136 million only in the last fiscal year. l

Most of the city’s ATM booths run out of cash as banks struggle to refill them due to the political unrest. Card holders, however, withdraw money from few booths attached with the respective bank branches after staying for long in queue yesterday MUHAMMAD ZAHIDUL ISLAM

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSE GAINER

Stocks inch higher amid high volatility

DSE key features January 12, 2015

Traded Issues

271

n Tribune Report

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

99

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

170

'The market closed in red amid political instability in the country and investors’ confidence erosion' The Shariah index DSES edged 9 points or 0.6% higher to 1,179. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,845 with a rise of 10 points or 0.6%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was down 30 points to 9,194.

Despite political irritants, some investors took position on some stocks, leading to increase turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

It stood at Tk417 crore, up more than 35% over the previous session and highest in the last 18 sessions.

High volatility indicated that some investors still were worried

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

7th ICB M F-A 4th ICB M F-A Samata LeatheR -Z Progressive Life-A 3rd ICB M F-A 5th ICB M F-A Keya Cosmetics -A Aziz PipesZ Zeal Bangla Sugar -Z Apex Tannery -A

-6.42 -6.28 -5.33 -4.94 -4.58 -3.99 -3.86 -3.85 -3.61 -3.10

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

Standard Ceramic -A Kay & Que (BD) -Z Apex Foods -A Republic Insu.-A Phoenix Insur -A Hakkani P& Paper -B Apex Tannery -A Keya Cosmetics -A Apex SpinningA Nitol Insurance -A

-8.72 -7.41 -4.46 -4.31 -3.94 -3.78 -3.76 -3.43 -3.31 -3.20

4956.92860

(+) 0.26%

1845.74705

(+) 0.57%

15235.54870

(+) 0.40%

12281.83690

(+) 0.07%

9229.50320

(+) 0.38%

Average (% Change) -5.99 -6.10 -5.33 -4.93 -4.88 -3.80 -3.55 -4.92 -8.57 -2.84 Average (% Change) -8.72 -7.11 -4.46 -4.16 -3.83 -3.78 -3.62 -3.57 -3.29 -2.95

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 90.70 203.00 21.30 77.01 231.00 190.00 22.56 20.08 8.00 135.05

ClosingAvg. 45.00 12.54 96.30 24.44 34.14 28.00 133.28 22.66 70.00 27.31

Closing

Closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 256.19 284.69 532.79 503.27 501.30 3.60 604.19 326.17 67.38 200.69 15.63 39.49 118.11 326.46 19.74 44.90 85.20 36.29 130.32 0.00

DHIGH 90.50 203.00 21.30 78.00 231.00 190.20 23.10 20.80 8.00 139.90

DHIGH

45.00 12.50 96.30 24.40 34.10 28.00 133.10 22.50 70.00 27.20

100,904,056

45.00 13.50 98.00 24.50 35.20 28.00 134.00 23.00 70.00 27.60

101,617

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

2

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,650.33

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.13

CSE key features January 12, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka)

309.27

Turnover (Volume)

9,432,607

Number of Contract

16,797

Traded Issues

247

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

124

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

117

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,556.05

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.98

Turnover in Million

DLOW 88.00 203.00 21.30 76.00 231.00 190.00 21.90 19.80 8.00 131.00

0.078 0.061 0.011 0.133 0.081 0.076 20.534 0.215 0.004 4.271

Turnover in Million

DLOW 45.00 12.50 93.90 24.40 33.50 28.00 133.00 22.40 70.00 27.20

% change 6.25 6.95 13.01 12.29 12.24 0.09 0.00 14.75 7.96 1.64 4.90 0.38 0.96 2.88 7.97 0.48 1.10 2.08 0.89 3.18 0.00

Million Taka 14.43 12.44 3.06 46.70 13.21 28.11 81.38 18.73 17.89 14.67 11.35 6.20 13.18 21.67 0.61 1.77 5.13 5.49 22.17 0.02

CSE

% change 4.27 3.68 0.90 13.81 3.91 8.31 0.00 24.06 5.54 5.29 4.34 3.36 1.83 3.90 6.41 0.18 0.52 1.52 1.62 6.56 0.01

Latest EPS 8.52 35.84 0.05 2.30 65.28 19.52 2.36 -0.37 -47.80 2.64

Latest EPS

0.009 0.016 0.144 0.006 0.001 0.014 1.333 2.036 0.035 0.015

Million Taka 270.62 297.13 535.84 549.96 514.51 31.71 0.00 685.57 344.91 85.26 215.37 26.98 45.69 131.29 348.13 20.35 46.67 90.34 41.78 152.49 0.02

Khulna Printing-N GeminiSeaFood-Z Northern Jute -Z Dacca Dyeing-A Deshbandhu Polymer-A SAIF Powertec-N BDCOM Online-A Shurwid Ind. -N Khan Brothers-N National Polymer -A

Closing (% Change) 9.33 8.71 8.31 7.26 6.51 6.49 6.00 5.98 5.98 5.93

CSE GAINER

0.60 -1.41 3.64 2.56 3.88 0.64 2.64 2.36 0.86 2.79

Latest PE 10.6 5.7 426.0 33.5 3.5 9.7 9.6 -ve -ve 51.2

Company Khulna Printing-N Paramount Insur-A Rupali Life Insur.-B ISN Ltd. -Z Dacca Dyeing-A SAIF Powertec-N Deshbandhu Polymer-A Premier Leasing-Z Khan Brothers-N Daffodil Computers -Z

8.89 8.64 8.59 7.89 7.87 6.81 6.02 6.00 6.00 5.93

Average (% Change) 5.77 5.62 7.33 7.89 8.48 3.08 5.33 4.55 2.78 6.23

ClosingAvg. 23.73 235.16 265.28 19.08 22.60 74.88 25.80 31.10 36.54 70.59

ClosingAvg. 23.63 17.11 52.43 12.30 19.06 74.92 22.74 10.56 36.55 14.16

Closing 24.60 239.70 269.70 19.20 22.90 77.10 26.50 31.90 37.20 71.40

Closing 24.50 17.60 53.10 12.30 19.20 76.90 22.90 10.60 37.10 14.30

DHIGH 24.80 239.80 270.80 19.60 23.00 77.90 26.80 32.30 37.60 72.00

DHIGH 24.70 17.60 53.30 12.40 19.50 77.50 23.20 10.70 37.70 14.50

DLOW 22.20 221.10 249.00 18.10 21.70 72.80 24.90 29.90 35.10 67.20

DLOW 22.30 16.60 51.50 11.90 18.40 71.10 22.00 10.00 35.40 13.10

Turnover in Million 66.246 1.814 0.486 63.668 52.577 130.452 37.829 18.896 56.155 32.762

Turnover in Million 8.219 0.017 0.136 0.064 9.729 9.638 2.940 0.410 10.303 0.821

Latest EPS 2.60 1.39 1.00 1.04 1.52 2.36 1.64 0.76 1.36 2.76

Latest EPS 2.60 1.13 5.33 0.13 1.04 2.36 1.52 0.08 1.36 1.16

Latest PE 9.1 169.2 265.3 18.3 14.9 31.7 15.7 40.9 26.9 25.6

Latest PE 9.1 15.1 9.8 94.6 18.3 31.7 15.0 132.0 26.9 12.2

News, analysis and recent disclosures Ifad Autos Limited: All concerned are hereby informed that the Refund Warrants & Allotment Letters of the shares of Ifad Autos Limited have been distributed as follows: 7,35,139 no. of application through online distribution, 6,44,271 no. of applications through Hand Delivery and 16,840 no. of applications through Courier Service. The undelivered Refund Warrants & Allotment Letters have been dispatched on 1 January 2015 through 1.

Actual Courier Service, 2. Bangla Courier Service Ltd., 3. Continent Express, 4.

Ekushe Express, 5. Faith Courier Service, 6. R.M. Courier Service, 7. Top Express and 8. Vision Express Ltd. for delivery to the respective applicants.

KEYACOSMET: Keya Cosmetics Ltd. has further informed that due to unavoidable circumstances the Board of Directors of the Company has decided to postpone the 18th AGM of the Company which was scheduled to be held on 14 January 2015.

The date, time and venue for the AGM will be informed later.

NPOLYMAR: National Polymer Industries Ltd. has informed that the Bonus shares of the Company for the year ended 30 June 2014 have already been credited through CDBL to the respective shareholders' BO Accounts on 7 January 2015.

LRGLOBMF1: (Q1: Un-audited): Net Profit from Oct14 to Dec14, Tk. 5.89 million with Earnings Per Unit of Tk. 0.02 as against Tk. 118.93 million and Tk. 0.38 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

MBL1STMF: (Q3: Un-audited): Net profit/ (loss) from Oct14 to Dec14, Tk. (0.13) million with Earnings Per Unit of Tk. (0.001) as against Tk. 28.15 million and Tk. 0.28 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas Net Profit from Apr14 to Dec14 was Tk. 9.27 million with Earnings Per Unit of Tk. 0.09 as against Tk. 111.37 million and Tk. 1.11 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

AIBL1STIMF: (Q3:Un-audited): Net profit from Oct14 to Dec14, Tk. 12.47 million with

Earnings Per Unit of Tk. 0.12 as against Tk. 10.91 million and Tk. 0.11 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Whereas Net Profit from Apr14 to Dec14 was Tk. 8.08 million with Earnings Per Unit of Tk. 0.08 as against Tk. 92.88 million and Tk. 0.93 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.

75.0 -ve 26.5 9.5 8.8 43.8 50.5 9.6 81.4 9.8

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

Total

Closing (% Change)

Average (% Change) 6.36 7.37 8.53 8.53 4.73 2.53 5.01 2.61 3.02 5.55

Latest PE

The benchmark index closed the day in green zone as investors went for fresh buying activity

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

90.40 203.00 21.30 76.90 231.00 190.10 22.40 20.00 8.00 134.60

4,170.19

Number of Contract

over the prevailing political situation while increased turnover implied that some were optimistic, said a stock broker.

“Let’s look if the rally is sustainable or not,” he said.

The large cap sectors showed mixed performance. Food and allied posted highest gain of over 3%.

Cement came second with a rise of more than 1% each. Telecommunication and Power edged up while banks, pharmaceuticals and non-banking financial institutions inched down.

BRAC-EPL, one of the leading brokerage firms, said, “The market closed in red amid political instability in the country and investors’ confidence erosion.”

Lanka Bangla Securities said the benchmark index closed the day in green zone as investors went for fresh buying activity.

Intraday volatility has been observed in the broad market, it said.

Small and mid-cap stocks were in the buying radar, it said, adding that trailing market P/E stands at 16.

IDLC Investments said after day long volatility market settled in positive arena. Enthusiasm in textile continued as it showed up in the top turnover list again, while engineering and food and allied captured considerable turnover, it said.

Agnai System Limited was the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk19 crore changing hands removing Lafarge Surma Cement that remained for the 8th consecutive session. l

Stocks ended slightly higher amid high volatility yesterday, shrugging off ongoing political turmoil again.

The market moved between green and red several times throughout the session.

The benchmark index DSEX gained 13 points or 0.3% to close at 4,956, hitting highest 4,966 in the final session and lowest 4,931 in the first session.

Company

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

% change 6.10 6.70 12.08 12.40 11.60 0.72 0.00 15.46 7.78 1.92 4.86 0.61 1.03 2.96 7.85 0.46 1.05 2.04 0.94 3.44 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

Agni Systems -A DESCO Ltd. -A Olympic Ind. -A BATBCL -A SAIF Powertec-N WesternMarine -N Ratanpur Steel -N IDLC Finance -A LafargeS Cement-Z Alltex Industries -Z

aamra technologies-A Grameenphone-A Fu-Wang Food A Mozaffar H.Spinning-A Envoy Textiles Ltd-N Khulna Printing-N CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Alltex Industries -Z Agni Systems -A WesternMarine -N LafargeS Cement-Z Khan Brothers-N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Dacca Dyeing-A SAIF Powertec-N Khulna Printing-N Ratanpur Steel -N

Hamid Fabrics -N Khulna Power-A SummitAlliancePort.-A Square Pharma -A aamra technologies-A

VolumeShares 5,140,275 2,434,738 728,186 56,570 1,742,039 1,864,885 1,634,135 1,285,913 790,128 2,717,999

Value in Million 188.82 179.71 178.22 158.37 130.45 103.79 102.47 101.68 101.42 99.62

% of TotalTurnover 4.57 4.35 4.31 3.83 3.15 2.51 2.48 2.46 2.45 2.41

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

2,256,441 212,791 2,837,310 2,307,576 1,250,238 2,791,889

510,956 396,716 249,658 92,265 281,852 279,251 510,329 128,635 347,875 124,844

175,120 86,195 61,475 18,988 121,725

89.59 77.37 76.26 75.91 72.19 66.25

18.64 14.57 13.85 11.80 10.30 10.08 9.73 9.64 8.22 7.83

6.88 5.42 5.00 4.93 4.84

2.17 1.87 1.84 1.84 1.75 1.60

6.12 4.78 4.55 3.87 3.38 3.31 3.20 3.17 2.70 2.57

2.26 1.78 1.64 1.62 1.59

ClosingP 37.00 74.60 244.80 2802.60 77.10 56.50 63.00 79.50 130.40 35.80

39.80 364.60 26.60 32.60 58.10 24.60

ClosingP

35.80 37.20 56.40 130.40 37.10 35.90 19.20 76.90 24.50 63.00

39.20 62.90 82.20 259.70 39.90

Change % 3.93 3.90 1.37 3.82 6.49 4.05 5.00 0.51 1.40 1.13

2.58 0.61 -0.75 2.19 3.01 9.33

Change %

1.42 3.33 3.87 1.32 6.00 -1.64 7.87 6.81 8.89 4.13

1.82 0.00 2.88 0.08 2.84

ClosingY 35.60 71.80 241.50 2699.50 72.40 54.30 60.00 79.10 128.60 35.40

38.80 362.40 26.80 31.90 56.40 22.50

ClosingY

35.30 36.00 54.30 128.70 35.00 36.50 17.80 72.00 22.50 60.50

38.50 62.90 79.90 259.50 38.80

DHIGH

DLOW

38.00 74.90 246.50 2809.00 77.90 56.80 63.90 79.90 132.00 38.40

35.50 71.00 240.30 2730.00 72.80 54.40 61.00 78.00 126.50 35.00

DHIGH

DLOW

40.40 365.40 27.30 33.60 58.50 24.80

38.40 38.00 56.60 131.00 37.70 36.60 19.50 77.50 24.70 63.40

39.80 63.40 83.00 260.50 40.40

39.00 355.90 26.20 32.20 56.30 22.20

35.10 35.70 54.20 125.10 35.40 35.80 18.40 71.10 22.30 61.00

38.90 62.00 79.70 258.50 39.00

AvgPrice 36.73 73.81 244.75 2799.59 74.88 55.65 62.70 79.07 128.36 36.65

39.70 363.58 26.88 32.90 57.74 23.73

AvgPrice

36.49 36.72 55.47 127.85 36.55 36.09 19.06 74.92 23.63 62.71

39.31 62.84 81.34 259.49 39.75

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Japan readies record $800bn 2015-16 budget n Reuters Japan’s government will propose a record budget for next fiscal year of more than $800bn but cut borrowing for a third year, government officials said on Sunday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to maintain growth while curbing the heaviest debt burden in the industrial world.

The draft budget projects tax revenues rising 4.5tn yen to 54.5tn yen, the officials said, easing somewhat the need to issue more bonds The third annual budget since Abe swept to power in late 2012 also highlights his struggle to contain bulging welfare costs for the fast-ageing society while increasing discretionary spending in areas such as the military.

Abe’s 96.3tn yen ($813bn) draft budget for the year from April, to be approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday and submitted to an upcoming session of Parliament, is up from this fiscal year’s initial 95.9tn, the two officials told Reuters.

But spending restraint and a surge in

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a news conference at his official residence in Tokyo tax revenues as the economy recovers allows the government to cut bond issuance by 4.4tn yen to 36.9tn, the third

CORPORATE NEWS

decrease in a row and the lowest level in six years, the officials said.

The improved fiscal picture helps

MD of Union Bank Ltd, Md Abdul Hamid Miah has recently congratulated Dr Atiur Rahman, governor of the Bangladesh Bank for being awarded as 'Central Banker of the year in AsiaPacific for 2015'

REUTERS

Abe trim Japan’s public debt, which is well over twice the country’s GDP after years of sluggish growth and huge

stimulus spending. The budget for the coming year follows an extra budget of 3.1tn yen for this fiscal year, approved last week.

With the budget deficit - excluding new bond sales and debt servicing - projected at roughly 3% of gross domestic product for the 2015-16 fiscal year, Abe will meet the government’s promise of halving the debt ratio from 2010-11 levels.

But Finance Ministry calculations show that the goal of balancing the budget by 2020-21 remains ambitious.

Abe raised the national sales tax in April to 8% from 5%, sending the world’s third-biggest economy into recession. He postponed a second increase, to 10%, by 18 months to April 2017, but the economy’s upturn under the premier’s easy-money policies is set to boost tax revenues in the coming year.

The draft budget projects tax revenues rising 4.5tn yen to 54.5tn yen, the officials said, easing somewhat the need to issue more bonds.

Debt will finance about 38% of the coming year’s budget, down from this year’s 43%.

But as the government continues to run a deficit, debt servicing, interest payments and redemptions, are set to rise about 200bn yen to 23.5tn yen.

Social-welfare spending, such as medical care, is set to rise 1tn yen to 31.5tn yen. l

Oil prices extend falls; Goldman Sachs slashes price forecasts n Reuters Global oil prices extended their slide on Monday as Goldman Sachs lowered its short-term price outlook, while refineries in Ohio and Pennsylvania were hit by fires over the weekend, curtailing demand for crude in the US Both Brent and US crude are at their lowest since April 2009 and have ended down for the past seven straight weeks.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs lowered their three-month price forecast for Brent to $42 a barrel from $80. They set their forecast for US crude at $41 a barrel, down from $70, adding it would need to stay near $40 for most of the first half of 2015 before it would hold up shale oil investments.

“To keep all capital sidelined and curtail investment in shale until the market has rebalanced, we believe

B3

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

prices need to stay lower for longer,” the analysts said in a report.

US crude oil futures for February fell 84 cents to $47.52 per barrel by 0437 GMT. The February Brent contract was down 80 cents at $49.31 a barrel, after trading more than $1 lower earlier in the session.

New oil and gas well permits issued across the United States rose slightly in December after falling sharply in November on tumbling crude prices, data showed.

The drop in November pointed to a potential slowdown in the shale oil and gas boom that brought the United States into competition with Saudi Arabia for being the second largest crude producer behind Russia.

Refinery disruptions in Ohio and Pennsylvania threaten to add to a growing glut of crude by reducing de-

mand from two sizeable plants, including the largest on the US East Coast.

Venezuela said in a statement on Sunday it had agreed with Saudi Arabia to work to recover the oil market and oil prices “with state policies” between the two countries, without providing details.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has said it won’t support prices by cutting production and ignored calls from smaller OPEC members, including Venezuela, to react to falling oil prices at a meeting of the cartel in November.

The weakness across oil markets became evident last week when for the first time since 2009, the entire oil complex slipped into contango, a market structure where prices for immediate delivery is cheaper than for delivery in future months.l

Kuwait plans $155bn projects despite oil slump n AFP, Kuwait City Kuwait’s government on Sunday announced plans to spend 45.5bn dinars ($155bn) on projects over the next five years despite the plunge in world oil prices, a lawmaker said.

The spending is slated to cover 523 key projects in a five-year development plan starting in the fiscal year which begins on April 1, said parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee secretary, Mohammad al-Jabri.

He said the oil-rich Gulf country’s state minister for planning and development, Hind al-Sabeeh, discussed the draft development plan with his panel.

The committee was assured that the sharp drop in oil revenues would not affect the projects of Kuwait, which has a massive sovereign wealth fund and invested billions of dollars in a “future generations fund”.

The emirate has scrapped subsidies on diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel as a first step in revising heavilysubsidised electricity, water and petrol Oil revenues in the new budget from April will be calculated on the basis of $45 a barrel, down from $75 a barrel in the current fiscal year, Jabri said.

The price of Kuwaiti oil closed on $43.21 a barrel on Friday, compared to a price of over $110 a barrel in June 2014.

Oil income makes up around 94% of public revenues in Kuwait.

The government has vowed to cut current spending, especially subsidies, which constitutes over 85 percent of total expenditures but insisted it will not reduce capital spending on projects.

The OPEC member has posted a budget surplus in each of the past 15 fiscal years and is expected to post a surplus in the current year ending March 31.

But officials and lawmakers warned that an actual deficit is expected in the next fiscal year unless oil prices rise.

The emirate has scrapped subsidies on diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel as a first step in revising heavily-subsidised electricity, water and petrol.

Local media said Kuwait’s fiscal reserves grew to $548bn as of June 30.

The emirate has a native population of 1.25 million and is also home to about 2.8 million foreigners. l

India considering higher subsidies for raw sugar exports n Reuters Bank Asia has recently held an occasion to distribute blankets among poor cold-hit people at Malkhanagor in Munshigonj. The bank’s chairperson, A Rouf Chowdhury was present on the occasion

Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd has recently launched its new Centuro “Rockstar” at Dhaka International Trade Fair in Dhaka. The company’s chief of operations, Mr Viren Popli was present at the launching ceremony

First Security Islami Bank Ltd has recently opened its 14th foundation training course for its trainee assistant cash officers at the bank’s training institute. The bank’s managing director, Syed Waseque Md Ali inaugurated the course

Samsung Electronics Bangladesh has recently launched its technical training project named 'ARISE' (Advanced Repair and Industrial Skill Enhancement) at Dhaka Polytechnic Institute. Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Nazrul Islam Khan was present as chief guest on the occasion

The cabinet could soon approve an increase in the raw sugar subsidy paid to mills to about 4,000 rupees ($64) per tonne as it looks to cut large stockpiles, two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

India, the world’s biggest producer behind Brazil, paid a subsidy of 3,300 rupees to produce and export raw sugar in the season that ended in September.

The subsidy proposal will soon go for approval to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, the sources said.

The country is sitting on massive mounds of the sweetener due to the fifth straight year of surplus output, which has depressed local prices and strained mills’ finances.

Additionally India, which is also the world’s biggest sugar consumer, has failed to export because of weak global prices. New York raw sugar futures, the global benchmark, are trading near a more than four year low hit in the third quarter of 2014.

With the help of the incentives, mills say they will be able to sell raw sugar to standalone refineries in Asia and Africa.

“Looking at the current global trade dynamics, merely extending last year’s export subsidy will not be of any help,” said one of the sources.

Export incentives and rising global prices may finally help Indian sugar mills clinch export deals in the 2014/15 season.

New York sugar futures are up slightly so far this year, after four consecutive years of falls. Reversing weeks of losses, Indian sugar prices gained 2.5% to $461 a tonne in the week to Thursday.

Indian sugar mills produced 7.5mn tonnes of the sweetener between Oct 1 and Dec 31, more than a quarter higher than a year earlier, as crushing in the biggest cane producing state of Uttar Pradesh started a week in advance, a producers’ body said on Monday. l

US dollar bank notes are seen in a bank in Budapest

REUTERS

Dollar down in Asian trade n AFP, Singapore

The dollar fell in Asia yesterday after a report revealed a decline in US wages that could dampen consumer spending and delay an interest rate increase.

The euro was at $1.1856 in afternoon Singapore trade, up from $1.1842 in New York late Friday, while it was also at 140.04 yen from 140.29 yen. The dollar dipped to 118.13 yen from 118.46 yen.

Japanese financial markets were closed for a public holiday.

The US government on Friday reported that the economy added a solid 252,000 jobs in December, while unemployment dropped to 5.6% from 5.8% in November.

However, hourly earnings, a sign of the economy’s strength, fell back, almost totally reversing the previous month’s gain. Hourly earnings were up just 1.7% from a year ago, just keeping up with inflation.

Analysts said investors focused on

the hourly earnings fall because of its impact on consumption.

“The broader picture remains unchanged,” DBS Bank said in a commentary.

“There has been essentially zero real wage growth for the past two years, suggesting much slack remains in labour markets and raising more doubt about an official unemployment rate that has fallen to 5.6% from 8% on the same two-year time frame.”

Analysts took the report as allowing the Fed to hold off hiking interest rates too soon, denting speculation of an increase in April and making the dollar less attractive to investors.

“Despite the robust US jobs data, markets chose to focus on the weak wages growth and the likelihood that it will keep the Fed Reserve ‘patient’ about any rate hike,” United Overseas Bank said.

Investors were also looking ahead to a meeting of the European Central Bank’s governing council on January

22 for some clues on its intention to launch a quantitative easing (QE) programme of purchasing government bonds like the US Federal Reserve did during the global financial crisis to protect the eurozone from deflation.

“The main interest now is what size QE may take,” banking group ANZ said.

“We expect sovereign bond purchases need to be at least 500bn euros and probably closer to 750bn euros to convince the market that the ECB’s balance sheet policy will be credible,” it said.

And eyes will be on the Greek snap election on January 25 in the face of fears that a win by far-left Syriza party could lead to the country exiting the eurozone.

The dollar retreated against key Asia Pacific currencies.

It fell to 62.17 Indian rupees from 62.35 on Friday, to 12,540 Indonesian rupiah from 12,636, to Sg$1.3315 from Sg$1.3358 and to 44.8550 Philippine pesos from 44.96. l

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Mind the gap in multi-speed world economy after oil plunge n Reuters Robust recovery in the United States, a moribund euro zone and slowing Chinese growth reflect global splits which plunging oil prices are likely to widen.

On the face of it, lower energy bills should give consumers and companies more money to spend and boost economic growth, at least for oil importers.

But for those countries facing stagnation or even deflation the prospect of downward pressure on prices is more worrying.

The likelihood is that a near 60% fall in the price of oil - from above $115 in mid2014 to just $50 - will see those already growing strongly pick up further, leaving the laggards trailing in their wake. Central bankers in the United States and Europe have clearly expressed the divide over an oil dividend in recent weeks.

“It is a huge plus for consumers, for businesses,” San Francisco Fed President John Williams said on Monday. A drag from weak economies elsewhere in the world would not counteract that, he calculated.

Williams is not alone. Minutes of the Fed’s December meeting said some of those present thought “the boost to domestic spending coming from lower energy prices could turn out to be quite large”.

Compare that with European Central Bank chief economist Peter Praet, speaking on the last day of 2014, days before euro zone inflation turned negative for the first time since 2009.

“With the recent oil prices, inflation would be even lower, even substantially lower than expected so far,” he said, noting that in the past the ECB would have looked past external shocks such as this but could no longer afford to.

“In an environment ... in which inflation expectations are extremely fragile we cannot simply ‘look through’.”

Markets are certain the ECB will launch a Fed-style government bondbuying programme with new money.

Given that it may be curbed in some way to meet German concerns, there is much less certainty that it will deliver a jolt.

Most economists agree the US econ-

spend. The oil rout complicates life for the Bank of Japan as it strives to get inflation from below 1% to a 2% target. But it sees more positives than negatives.

“Oil price falls would weigh on overall prices in the short term. But from a somewhat long-term perspective, they will help narrow Japan’s output gap and lead to an uptrend in prices,” BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told business leaders on Dec. 25.

Brics split

An oil field is seen at sunrise near Bakersfield, California omy will benefit from low oil, which will harden expectations of an interest rate rise this year, but some see real stress elsewhere.

“You’ve got a handful of places that are seemingly doing very well – like the US, the UK, Canada - but it trails off pretty quickly after that,” said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust.

“It’s pretty rare that you have a price adjustment this significant in a market that is this significant and not have

some corner of the market or the world really cause some instability.”

Oil producers hit

For the major oil producers, the price plunge is a clear negative although the Gulf oil nations have the reserves to ride through this unscathed.

Russia’s malaise is partly due to western sanctions over Ukraine but oil is probably a bigger factor in heralding a deep recession. The Kremlin needs something around $100 per barrel to

Bureaucracy delaying Qatar Airways launch in Saudi

Foreign investors add Indian online property portals to shopping cart

Complicated bureaucracy is delaying the launch of Qatar Airways’ domestic operations in Saudi Arabia, and they are now expected to start in six to 18 months, the airline’s chief executive was quoted as saying.

Saudi Arabia announced in 2012 that it would liberalise its domestic air travel market, where currently only national carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines and budget airline flynas serve a customer base of about 30mn people. Foreign carriers can only fly in and out of Saudi Arabia, not within the country.

The reform was seen as a major step

by Riyadh to introduce more market forces into the economy. Qatar Airways obtained permission to run a Saudi domestic carrier, Al Maha Airways, and originally said it would start operating in early 2014. But the plan was delayed, at least partly because of controversy over Saudi Arabia’s price caps for domestic flights and fuel subsidies for Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Qatar Airways said last January that Saudi officials had agreed to compromise on those issues and that operations would start by the third quarter of 2014, but it did not give details of the compromise, and the launch did not go ahead.

Last Thursday, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker was quoted by Saudi Arabia’s Al Madina newspaper as saying there would now be a further delay of six to 18 months because of “complex” bureaucracy. He did not elaborate.

Qatar Airways did not respond to a request for comment.

Diplomatic tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar last year seemed as if they might become an obstacle to the Qatar Airways venture. But the countries publicly patched up their differences at a summit of leaders last month.

Saudi Arabia’s Abdel Hadi al-Qahtani group also plans to launch a domestic carrier in the country and last year signed deals to buy planes, but it has not yet started operating. l

n Reuters

n Reuters

DILBERT

Indian businessman Navin Bhartia’s Internet habits make him a dream customer for bnaire foreign media moguls like Rupert Murdoch.

The 45-year-old from Kolkata likes to buy homes online, sometimes without visiting them. In the last four years, he has bought five properties for 40mn rupees ($641,900) on Proptiger.com, partly owned by Murdoch’s News Corp (NWSA.O).

Foreign investors like Murdoch have already put more than $200mn into portals that help people like Bhartia buy homes. Spurring the interest is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vow to provide a house to every Indian family by 2022 as the country’s growing army of Internet users embrace e-commerce.

“Scale and growth of businesses like (online retailer) Flipkart are a proxy that consumers in India are comfortable doing transactions on the Internet,” said Mukul Singhal, principal at India-China fund SAIF Partners, which has invested $10mn in Proptiger. News Corp has a $30mn stake.

India’s Internet legion, already bigger than Indonesia’s 250mn population and growing at an annual rate of more than 20%, has also lured property portal investment from the likes of Japanese telecoms-to-media firm SoftBank Corp (9984.T). Last week Google Inc’s (GOOG.O) Google Capital unit invested an undisclosed sum in a site called Commonfloor.com.

The need for long-term capital for start-ups like Proptiger and Housing. com also makes India more attractive for foreign investors compared with China, where local money dominates, according to one investor, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Indian home buyers by tradition work with local brokers. But in a vast country with a property market already estimated by KPMG to be worth $121bn

REUTERS

make its budget work. A price of half that must mean steep tax rises and spending cuts or an alarming depletion of Moscow’s currency reserves.

Norway has been more prudent. Not a cent of oil revenue is used for budget spending, it merely spends the returns on the hundreds of billions of oil wealth saved in the past.

But lower returns means petroleum investments are likely to fall, cutting future state revenues.

“Growth in Norway’s mainland GDP

will be much lower than we’ve been used to,” central bank governor Oeystein Olsen told Reuters. “(Oil field) profitability is starting to become much more marginal.”

For Japan, with a central bank pumping out money to get prices up, the story is a mixed one.

As a huge fuel importer, low oil will help the economy but it may not be enough to nudge Japanese households and companies, who hoarded cash during nearly two decades of deflation, to

Russia’s travails have highlighted the divergent fortunes of the BRIC economies. Growth in China, the world’s second biggest economy, is slowing and the authorities have already cut interest rates for the first time in two years.

Data on Friday put Chinese inflation at a near five-year low of 1.5%, reflecting economic weakness which is likely to prompt more stimulus.

“Deflation this year is definitely a risk,” said Minggao Shen, economist at Citi in Hongkong.

Brazil is battling high inflation with punitive interest rates while India is seeking to improve upon growth which is topping 5% annually.

With oil accounting for nearly a third of India’s imports, its current account should improve and inflation fall.

The oil rout allowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end government price caps on diesel in October. That actually led to a sharp fall in pump prices for the fuel that drives rural tractors and urban SUVs, boosting personal disposable income.

But insofar as low oil reflects slowing global growth, there is also a warning sign for an export-oriented economy.

“The slump in world oil prices represents an estimated transfer of around $1.5tn from global oil producing countries to oil importing countries and Asian oil importing industrial nations are among the biggest winners,” said Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific Chief Economist at IHS Global Insight.

“These positive factors will help to mitigate some signs of growth moderation in China in the second half of 2014, as well as weak growth in Japan.” l

in 2013, the Internet offers people like businessman Bhartia the ability to compare house prices hundreds of kilometres away without leaving home.

“A single broker would have his own limited contacts...and he could have personal reasons for pushing a property. Online you get a very good and holistic view,” said Bhartia, whose firm manufactures gas cylinders. He bought his last two properties without visiting them at all.

Modi moves

Prime Minister Modi has already sought to make an impact on India’s still largely unregulated property market by making the listing of real estate investment trusts easier. He has paved the way for more foreign investment in construction, and eased land acquisition rules.

“Real estate in India is very messy.

There is a lot of information arbitrage and asymmetry...no credible pricing data and that is why there is a strong case for technology-based solutions,” said SAIF Partners principal Singhal.

Driven by expectations that years of property market slowdown may come to an end soon, investment in property portals jumped five-fold to $193mn last year, according to data from Venture Intelligence. The research firm also expects India’s housing market to grow to $158bn by 2020.

Desperate to boost housing sales that have flagged as India’s economy stuttered in recent years, property developers are tying up with portals to push transactions online with special promotions.

Developer Tata Housing, part of the $100bn Tata group, in November sold homes worth more than 500mn rupees through a partnership with Housing.

Buyers could see 3D models of the units, make a token payment online and complete the remaining purchase offline.

Such websites, which charge subscription fees or a percentage of the sales price, still account for a fraction of home sales in India. For investors like News Corp, though, the Internet logic is inescapable.

“India’s digital demographics are a key factor in looking at this space,” said Raju Narisetti, vice president of strategy at News Corp. “More of the research, decision-making and increasingly the early part of the journey of buying a home is all happening on the Internet.” l

The price of coffee futures has skyrocketed because of a major drought in Brazil

REUTERS

Brazil drought brews trouble for coffee market n AFP, Rio de Janeiro Brazil’s coffee harvest last year was hit by one the country’s worst droughts in decades, with effects on the world’s largest producer now threatening to spill over into this year, pushing prices ever higher.

Brazil’s 290,000 growers produce around a third of the world’s coffee - outproducing the country’s nearest competitor, Vietnam, by more than three times.

But last year’s total yield was down 7.7% from 2013 and well below initial forecasts, the ministry of agriculture said this week.

Production of high grade arabica slumped even more drastically, by 15%.

The falling production has sent prices soaring, with arabica up by half in 2014 and expected to keep increasing this year.

A pound of arabica for March delivery was fetching around $1.77 on New York’s ICE Futures US market Thursday, compared to around $1.06 a year earlier.

Unlike many crops that are replanted and harvested each year, coffee is grown in a two-year cycle. So initial predictions for 2014, made before the drought took hold, had initially forecast a much stronger harvest.

“This harvest was all set to be a bumper one, given many plantations

were new and cultivators had invested to increase productivity,” said Gil Barabach of Safras & Mercado specialist news agency.

“At the end of 2013 we expected production to hit 60 to 65 million sacks,” Barabach said.

The final total, measured in 60-kilogram bags, was actually just 45.3 million, thanks in large part to severe rain shortages in south and central south Brazil, the country’s main production centers, that stretched from the first weeks of last year through November.

“Annual rainfall normally comes in at between 1,600 millimeters (63 inches) to 1,800 millimeters,” said Paulo Sergio Elias, a spokesman for a coffee growing cooperative of some 3,000 producers in Minas Gerais, north of Sao Paulo and Rio states.

But rainfall last year “didn’t even reach 900 millimeters,” Elias said.

Stunted growth

The drought had a particularly severe impact because “it happened from January and February, just as the beans were growing larger and ripening,” Elias explained.

“It will also affect the productive potential of this coming year as plant reserves are too weak to ensure the development of future fruit,” he added.

In other words, given coffee’s twoyear growing cycle, the effects of last year’s stunted growth will be seen in the bean yield over the next 12 months.

“The plants expended a huge amount of energy in enduring the lack of water and high temperatures,” Elias said.

“As a result, the branches are shorter than usual and hence will bear less grains. Buds are also lacking in the clusters.”

Production was further hit last year by frost in the southern state of Parana.

The region’s harvest slumped by twothirds over 2013, according to national supply company Conab.

Plantations of lower grade robusta in regions less affected by drought saw their harvests rise 20% - but their yield only accounts for a third of national production.

Barabach says he expects production this year to be “similar” to 2014, but exports may be even lower, potentially pushing prices yet higher.

“The country had major reserves to call on given weak demand and the low prices of (2013),” explained analyst Barabach.

“Once the falloff in production was felt and prices rose it sold off stock at a good price.

“Reserves will be much tighter in 2015,” Barabach predicted. l