22 Jan, 2015

Magh 9, 1421 Rabiul Awal 30, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 287

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

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TMAG

7 | JURIS

11 | OP-ED

12 | SPORT

DON’T LET ME GET TO ME

MEDIATION, NOT LITIGATION

THE BAD KIND OF HARTAL

TIGERS END HOME PREP ON HAPPY NOTE

Blast while making bomb hurts kids Police find gunpowder and crude bombs at a mess rented by Shibir men in Mohakhali n Mohammad Jamil Khan Three people including two children were injured in a bomb blast in the capital’s Lalbagh area yesterday, while the police also recovered a huge quantity of gunpowder and 130 crude bombs from a mess belonging to Shibir cadres in Mohakhali.

The bomb exploded at around 3pm on the second floor of a house in Dhakeswari Road, injuring three people: Mahbubur Rahman Bappi, 25, his niece Happy Akther Sumi, 14, and a former neighbour Samaran Ahmed Ripon, 6.

All three are now undergoing treatment at the burn and plastic surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Sumi, an eighth grader of Azimpur Girls High School, said she was watching television after lunch when her uncle Bappi was doing something while sitting on the floor.

“Suddenly I heard a big bang and the entire room was engulfed in smoke and seconds after that another sound of explosion came from the room and I cannot remember anything after that.”

Bappi’s right wrist was blown off in the bomb blast while Sumi and Ripon received injuries in their eyes.

Sumi’s mother Jhumur said she was cooking in the kitchen when she heard the sound. She, however, did not make any comment on her brother Bappi’s involvement in bomb making.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

A child, along with two others, suffer burn injury after a bomb went off while being made at a house in the capital’s Lalbagh area yesterday. They were rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for treatment DHAKA TRIBUNE

Tk1 lakh bounty for aids in arresting anarchists n Shohel Mamun The government has announced Tk1 lakh bounty for helping in the arrest of miscreants who are creating anarchy on the streets, making arson attacks and blasting bombs in the name of blockade.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu made the announcement yesterday after a cabinet committee meeting on law enforcement.

This comes as an official bounty announcement only a day after State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said rewards would be announced.

In December 2013, when political unrest in the country was at its peak, Dhaka Metropolitan Police published a list of 11 individuals and declared Tk1 lakh bounty for each of them after a group of criminals vandalised and set fire to cars and shops and exploded bombs near the Fakirerpul kitchen market in the capital.

However, as of yesterday, nobody has given police any information about those suspected Jamaat-Shibir activists.

According to sources, there is no instance in Bangladesh’s history where a bounty is announced and a common citizen has helped police in arresting a criminal by giving information or any other means.

The perception is that although police always pledge to keep informers’ identity secret, the citizens do not trust police enough to tip them off even if they have any information.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

PM: It would be logical to arrest Khaleda

Intelligence asks BTRC not to allocate remaining 3G spectrum

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said it would be logical to arrest BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia as the main accused for ordering the killing of around 30 people in the name of blockade.

“It will be logical to bring her under the purview of law as the accused of giving order [of the killings]; the law will take its own course. The law enforcement agencies will look into the matter and they will take their actions,” she said.

Hasina made the comments during the weekly question-answer session for the prime minister at the parliament. She was answering a supplementary question by ruling party lawmaker ABM Tajul Islam, who asked if there was any chance to the bring the BNP chief to justice for the deaths and arson during the ongoing blockade.

She added that the BNP-led alliance also unleashed a reign of terror during the last national elections by killing people with petrol bombs.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

A high profile intelligence agency has recently requested BTRC to not allocate anymore of the 3G spectrum to operators, when the regulator has been making preparations to offload unused 15 megahertz, sources said.

In a letter sent to the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in December, the agency said easy access to 3G services has emerged as a big threat for security because smartphone-based communica-

tion applications cannot be monitored.

Earlier this week, the government blocked popular mobile internet-based voice and text messaging applications Viber, Tango, Whatsapp, etc, saying they were being used by criminals to create anarchy in the streets during the ongoing blockade of the BNP-Jamaatled alliance.

Sources said copies of the letter have also been sent to State Minister for Home Assaduzzaman Khan Kamal and State Minister for ICT Junaid Ahmed Palak.

The Dhaka Tribune contacted the

BTRC several times in the last few days but nobody was ready to make any comment in this regard.

When contacted last week, State Minister for ICT Junaid Ahmed Palak denied receiving any such letter; but said he also thinks militants are taking advantage of the 3G facilities.

He told the Dhaka Tribune: “There is no doubt that popular voice and messaging services are not being monitored and hence they are threats for the nation.”  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Isolated blasts, arson attacks mark first day of strike n Tribune Report Yesterday, the first day of the 48-hour general strike called by the BNP-led 20-party alliance in Dhaka and Khulna divisions amid a countrywide indefinite blockade, saw sporadic blasts, arson attacks and vandalism.

A car was set ablaze near Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute in Gazipur around 8am while a bus of Jagannath University teachers was set on fire on the university premises around 11:30am.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

School attendance drops for unrest

Presence of students at schools in the capital has shrunk significantly because of the ongoing blockade enforced by the BNP-led alliance. The photo was taken at Kamrunnesa Government Girls High School on Tuesday MEHEDI HASAN

n Munir Momtaj Although the academic school year has already started, throughout January – most schools in Dhaka city have been seeing reduced student attendance as

many parents are keeping their children at home fearing possible blockade-related violence on the streets.

Talking to teachers from different schools in the capital, the Dhaka Tribune learned that the schools were see-

ing fewer students in class since the blockade began; as a result, academic progress was being stalled from the very beginning of the academic year.

They admitted that reports of violence on the streets was prompting parents to keep their children at home.

Their fears are not unfounded. Many children including infants have so far fallen victims in blockade-related arson attacks, while two SSC candidates in Feni also received serious injuries earlier this month when pickets hurled crude bombs at them.

Mohammad Abul Mansur, a teacher of Dhaka’s Udayan Higher Secondary School, said student attendance has been lower than usual on regular blockade days but no one comes to class when a hartal is announced.

The rate of attendance is staying around 70% which was lower than usual, Mansur said, adding that the students who managed to come to school did so in a panicked state.

If the situation continued then it would become tough to complete the syllabus in time, the teacher cautioned.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

INSIDE B1 | Business

BASIC Bank has been asked to intensify their effort on loan recovery to reduce default loan rate growing abnormally.

5 | News

Lichu Bagan Road at Joar Shahara area of Baridhara in the capital has become unusable as it has been under sewage and unsanitary water continuously for more than a year now.

6 | Nation

When launched ‘Ektee Bari Ektee Khamar’ project, the aim was to alleviate poverty in the country. In Kishoreganj, little progress has been made in alleviating poverty.

8 | World

A rare BJP leader, Kiran Bedi, the party’s chief ministerial nominee for Delhi, on Monday described the Sangh as ‘very nationalistic’ that has kept India united.

01_FR 02_Ne 16_BA

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Nasim tells Khaleda to go home n Abu Hayat Mahmud Awami League Presidium member and Health Minister Mohammad Nasim yesterday suggested that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia go home instead of losing politically to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He also suggested that Khaleda should calm herself and do politics with more cool, adding that she should be taking preparation for the 11th parliamentary election in 2019.

Nasim made the remarks yesterday evening at a 14-party rally, which he was attending as chief guest, on Mirpur 10 Avenue in the capital. The rally was organised as part of the ruling alliance’s countrywide campaign to resist ongoing violence.

AL lawmaker Kamal Ahmed Majumdar, who chaired the event, also addressed many other 14-party leaders.

Nasim, also the spokesperson of the AL-led 14-party, said: “You [Khaleda] will not win with your techniques against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and thus will lose to her.

“Be calm, and do not get excited.

Politics is not done properly when there is excitement or anger.”

He further said no election will be held under Sheikh Hasina before 2019.

“I am requesting you to go home and practise fair politics for the next four years, and become close to the people.”

Amnesty calls for fair probe, trial of arsonists

n Tribune Report

Amnesty International has observed that human rights situation continues to deteriorate as government and BNPled 20-party alliance supporters are battling each other for the past few weeks.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the London-based organisation urged the government to carry out thorough and impartial probe into all arson attacks and killings and bring those responsible to justice in fair trials.

It suggests that the government release anyone detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression or peaceful assembly and ensure that the law enforcement officials do not use excessive or unnecessary force.

It asks the government to ensure that all state bodies abide by the human rights obligations to which Bangladesh has committed. l

He also warned Khaleda that a discussion held in parliament has said they will take action against her if people of the country express need for that.

President of Samyabadi Dal, Dilip Barua alleged that Khaleda Zia is conspiring against the government along with international conspirators, and added: “She is a queen of terrorists and militants. But her conspiracy will lose in front of the country’s people.”

Furthermore, Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya has again urged the government to arrest BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for fomenting violence, killing people and torching vehicles in the name of blockade and hartal.

Activists carry hockey sticks

Several hundred activists belonging to Awami League as well as bodies affiliated with the party, including ward level leaders joined the 14-party rally with bamboo sticks and hockey sticks.

This was the scenario both at Mazar Road rally on Tuesday as well as yesterday’s Mirpur rally. The activists carried sticks with small, triangular flags of white cloth. A Jubo League activist, on condition of anonymity, told this correspondent: “Why do not you understand? We have to carry the stick to control the BNP men, in case they want to create violence on the streets.” l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina poses for a group photo at her official residence with the cricket board chief, its officials and the Tigers ahead of their ICC World Cup tour

Transport workers to cordon off Khaleda’s office today n Abu Hayat Mahmud Pro-Awami League transport workers have threatened to cordon off BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office, in protest against the ongoing BNP-led country-wide blockade.

Two organisations of transport workers – Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan

School attendance drops  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

Claiming that schools sometimes manage to recover the lost progress by taking extra classes on weekends, Mansur said the non-stop blockade is preventing teachers from doing so this time.

Mainul Islam, who was waiting to pick up his daughter from Viqarunnisa Noon School, told the Dhaka Tribune he was worried about his daughter as the indefinite blockade and hartals are not letting her study since the new school year began. Mainul said fearing possible any sudden violence on the streets, he was bringing his daughter to school and also picking her up on most days at the end of her classes.

A teacher of Sunbeams School, seeking anonymity, said the school authorities kept the institution closed during hartals as parents did not want to send their children to class during general strikes.

He added that during any hartal or volatile political situation, most English medium schools notified their students by sending text messages telling them that classes would not take place.

Md Habibullah Khan, headmaster of Junior Laboratory High School in Dhanmondi, said it was the parents’ duty to send their children to school. As long as the parents would send their child to school, the teachers would take all classes, he added.

Visiting several government primary schools over the past few days during the blockade, the Dhaka Tribune found that the number of students were very low, even though the schools stayed open.

Nayan, a student of Nilkhet Government Primary School, said classes were not being held regularly as most students were absent.

While school students face the existing crisis of fear and uncertainty, this year’s SSC candidates are readying themselves for challenging days ahead as one of the biggest exams of their lives begin on February 2. The BNP-led 20-party alliance, however, reportedly has no plan to relax their grip on their anti-government programmes during the exams if there is no sign of solution to the prevailing political crisis. l

Sramik League and Sammilito Gari Chalak Samaj made this threat while distributing leaflets in front of the National Press Club yesterday.

Activists from the organisations said if Khaleda would not withdraw the blockade by Wednesday night, they would have to cordon off Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office, in protest against

He also said: “But I am not in a position to comment on spectrum allocation. It is BTRC’s issue. If necessary, the prime minister will make a decision in this regard because she is in charge of the telecom ministry,” Palak said.

Senior officials from a number of mobile operators have said that they had also heard about such a letter from an intelligence agency but none of them were ready to say anything on record.

“This type of requests will not help the cause of building a digital Bangladesh,” a senior executive officer of a

mobile operator told the Dhaka Tribune requesting anonymity.

“Similar requests delayed our joining the submarine cable in the early 1990s,” he said.

The agency letter reads: “Terrorist groups, militants and anti-state elements are carrying out terror and subversive activities using the facilities of communication devices such as mobile phones and Internet technologies such as Viber, Skype, Tango and WhatsApp.” The 3G spectrum is like a natural resource; it is scarce but not perishable.

Every country has its own unique signal transmission frequency spectrum.

Through auction, a government sells the rights or licences to transmit signals over specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum to telecommunication companies.

Market sources said the six mobile operators in the country are already enjoying 25MHz of the existing 40MHz spectrum. Expecting to have a much wider subscriber base in the near future, all these operators now want more from the remaining spectrum chunk.

The BTRC is now on the final stage of arranging an open auction for offloading the remaining 15MHz spectrum in the 2100 band and 10.6MHz in the

Blast while making bomb hurts kids  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

Lipi Akhter, mother of Ripon, said they live in the city’s Elephant Road and her husband Nizamuddin Bacchu has a pet shop at Kataban.

She said her family used to live in Lalbagh a couple of months back when they met Jhumur’s family.

“Yesterday around 12pm Sumi came to our flat after her coaching classes and wanted to take Ripon with her to their flat. Although I refused, Ripon began to cry and insisted on going with Sumi and I let him go,” Lipi said she later came to know that her son had been admitted to the DMCH. Visiting the site of the explosion, this correspondent found that the two-room flat was left in ruins with the glass-windows broken and the steel door twisted. The entire flat smelled of gunpowder.

Sufia Begum, owner of the house, said Jhumur and her husband Abdul Hakim had rented the flat just a month ago for Tk8,000 and they paid Tk20,000 in advance.

“We have often visited their flat but never found anything suspicious,” Sufia said.

She added that Jhumur claimed that her husband was a private car driver and that four members used to live in the flat: Bappi, Jhumur, Sumi and Hakim.

“I often found Hakim out of the house at 7pm and he came back about

Police arrest five suspected activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir and seize more than hundred crude bombs and bomb-making materials after a drive at a residence in the capital’s Mohakhali area yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE 11pm.

“Yesterday, when we had just had our lunch, I heard a sound of explosion and I found Bappi in an unconscious state with his wrist blown off in the blast.”

Mofiz Uddin Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Lalbagh Division of police, said Bappi is a well known bomb maker in the capital’s Nilkhet and Kataban area and better known as Boma Bappi.

“Inspecting the spot, we have come to know that the explosion happened

while making bombs and we have detained a total of 10 persons for interrogation,” he says.

A case will be filed shortly in connection with the incident.

A source in the police and locals of Kataban area said Bappi is a secretary of Chhatra Dal of New Market thana unit.

When Jhumur’s family had been living in Kataban slum a few months back, local residents reportedly forced Bappi to leave the place as they came to know

the terror created in the city, the petrol bomb attacks, vandalism and arson attacks on buses, and other forms of sabotage in the name of blockade.

They said they will begin with a rally in front of the National Press Club at 11am today, and then begin a march to Khaleda’s Gulshan office.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia has been kept

confined in her Gulshan party office since January 3.

The party then declared a non-stop nationwide blockade since January 5, which has resulted in deaths of many common people as well as grave injuries on many from arson attacks with petrol bombs, and vandalism of vehicles. l

Tk1 lakh bounty PM: It would be logical to arrest  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Amu said yesterday: “Innocent people are being killed across the country by hurling petrol bombs and crude bombs in the name of political programmes.

Vehicles are also being vandalised and torched.”

He said: “Attackers are killing people in the name of political programmes.

They have also destroyed governmental resources. The cabinet committee has decided that violence and sabotage have to be stopped at any cost.

“We have also decided to form strong anti-terrorism committees at every district and upazila which will be led by the respective deputy commissioners and upazila executive officers. Civil society members, professionals and student will also be involved [in the committees].”

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan and State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal attended the cabinet body meeting. l

Intelligence asks BTRC not to allocate remaining 3G spectrum  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

PMO

1800 band.

The telecom watchdog expects to earn more than Tk5,000 crore by selling the remaining spectrum.

In an open auction in September 2013, market leader Grameenphone acquired 10MHz and Banglalink, Robi and Airtel took 5MHz each.

Before that, in October 2012, the lone state-owned mobile operator Teletalk took 10 MHz spectrum for a commercial test run of 3G. At present, Grameenphone has 32MHz spectrum, Teletalk 25.2MHz, Banglalink and Airtel 20MHz each and Robi enjoys 19.8 MHz spectrum. l

that he was a bomb maker.

Meanwhile, in another incident, the police conducted a drive at a house in Mohakhali TB Gate area at around 4am and recovered 130 crude bombs, two litres of petrol, 10kg stone powder, 12 tapes and 15 pots, as well as arresting five Islami Chhatra Shibir loyalists.

The arrestees are Shibir’s Banani unit President Mostafizur Rahman, Shibir activists Joynal Abedin, Arifuzzaman Arif, Atiar Rahman and Khalid Saifullah.

Bhuiyan Mahbub Hossain, officerin-charge of Banani police station, said the detained men make bombs and supply them to other Shibir cadres.

The arrestees first damage tyres of a vehicle by throwing nails and once the vehicle comes to a halt they set it on fire by pouring petrol and blasting crude bombs, said the OC. Mostafiz is a second-year student of Islamic History of Jagannath University and he comes from Charcaladi of Gazipur while Joynal is a third-year student of LLB at Prime University and is from Gangni of Meherpur.

Arif is a second-year student of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute and he comes from Hotathpara of Meherpur; Khalid is awaiting admission to Titmur College; Atiar Rahman, a student of final year of English in Titumir College, comes from Gaibandah.

A case has been filed with the police station concerned in this connection.l

However, the situation has improved a lot since the elections, Hasina claimed, adding: “It is very unfortunate that when the country’s image was improving and people were passing their days in peace, BNP leader Khaleda Zia again started killing people without any issue.”

Blaming activists of the 20-party alliance for killing people with petrol bombs, the premier said: “Islam does not permit such kind of activities.”

She also claimed that Khaleda was now staying in her office instead of her own home in order to issue directives for killing people.

Replying to another starred question from Chittagong lawmaker Mostafizur

Rahman Chowdhury, the prime minister said the BNP-Jamaat alliance was trying to create anarchy and carry out destructive activities after being frightened by the government’s development activities.

She also claimed that the heinous activities of the BNP-Jamaat had surpassed the heinous activities of Pakistani occupation forces in 1971.

“We are trying to contain these by deploying the police, the BGB and the Ansar. They are performing their duties,” the prime minister said.

Hasina also requested people to hand over the criminals to the police and help the law enforcement agencies with information. l

Isolated blasts, arson attacks mark first day of strike  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Three to four youths vandalised and torched the bus before fleeing quickly.

The fire, which destroyed the seats of the bus, was put out by university staff.

Officer-in-Charge of Kotwali Police Station Abul Hasan said police were trying to identify the arsonists with the help of university officials.

Around 1:15pm, two crude bombs were blasted in front of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Old Dhaka but none was injured.

Traffic was relatively thin on roads in the capital compared to the past few days and long-haul bus services remained suspended since the morning, but train and launch services were normal.

Darus Salam police station Officerin-Charge Rafiqul Islam said long-haul buses did not leave Dhaka but some set off for nearby districts.

Chittagong

Police detained 14 BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami activists for their alleged involvement in subversive acts in Chittagong.

A man named Faruk was arrested in Bayazid Bostami area as he was about to torch a bus. A wood-laden truck was set on fire in Eshapur of Hathazari.

Feni

Four people were seriously injured when miscreants torched a CNG-run autorickshaw at Daganbhuiyan in Feni late Tuesday night.

Two of them - Main Uddin, 28, a small business owner and Saddam Hossain, 35, a day labourer - were sent to Dhaka Medical Collage Hospital as their condition deteriorated.

“Their faces and chests were burnt along with some other internal organs,” said Dr Ashim Shaha of Feni Sadar Hospital where Main Uddin and Saddam took primary treatment.

Azim Uddin, officer-in-charge of Daganbhuiyan police station, said the other two – autorickshaw driver Manik and passenger Joynal Abedin – were treated locally.

“We are trying to arrest the arsonists and will lodge a case,” he added.

Barisal

Miscreants set fire to a bus near Khairabad bridge on Barisal-Kuakata route early in the morning, leaving six

people injured.

They were provided with first aid and resumed the journey.

Golam Kabir, second officer of Kotwali police station, said the bus of Abdullah Paribahan left from Dhaka’s Sayedabad for Kuakata.

Three cabins of triple-decker launches MV Sundarban 7 and MV Parabat 10 were torched on Tuesday night just before those were leaving Barisal port for Dhaka, damaging furniture.

A human haulier parked in Battala was set alight yesterday.

BNP activists organised a short march on Nabagram road and chanted slogans in support of the blockade.

Some Jamaat and Shibir activists blasted crude bombs at Kawnia and Kashipur areas early in the morning.

Meherpur

Police detained 30 people from different parts of Meherpur on charges of possible violence and subversion.

Azbahar Ali Sheikh, additional superintendent of Meherpur police, said the detainees would face court proceedings.

Gaibanda

Blockaders vandalised a truck and four rickshaw vans on Dhaka-Rangpur highway near Palashbari of Gaibanda in the morning.

Joint forces detained 25 BNP, Jamaat and Shibir activists from different parts of the district on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Additional Superintendent of Police Mosharraf Hossain said the joint forces had beefed up operations to detain criminals.

Sylhet

Police arrested 15 people, including Sylhet city Jamaat Ameer Hafez Abdul Hai Harun and former office secretary of district BNP unit Moinul Haque, in Sylhet during the blockade.

Additional Deputy Police Commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police Md Rahmath Ullah said they were detained from different parts of the city.

He also said the city was not affected by the strike, he added.

Around 8am, Chhatra Dal marched at Shah Eidgah area. They lit fire on the road by pouring petrol and blasted a few crude bombs there, witnessed said. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, January 22, 2015

3

BERC PUBLIC HEARING

PGCB crippled by corruption and inefficiency n Aminur Rahman Rasel The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh has become an unprofitable agency due to officials’ lack of efficiency and increased corruption, the association of consumers has claimed.

Having lost Tk3 crore for the first time in 2013-14 fiscal year, the company has recently submitted a proposal to hike transmission charges.

The matter came up on the second day of public hearing at the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC).

The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), which receives electricity wheeling charge from its clients – the distribution companies – at the rate fixed by the BERC, has sought increased charges.

Md Shamsul Alam, energy adviser of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said BERC should not make any decision over transmission charge until a disagreement between PGCB and Power Development Board (PDB) is resolved.

The PDB says the price of assets related to the transmission system should be Tk8,500 and the PGCB says it should be Tk2,200 crore.

Suggesting the two entities to come to an agreement within seven days, Shamsul said: “For the inefficiency of officials and increased corruption at PGCB, it has become an unprofitable agency.”

Since its inception in 2003-04 until 2013-14, Power Grid was never a losing concern. It made Tk7 crore profit in its first year and the figure rose to Tk169 crore in 2012-13.

The adviser also said: “After Abul Kalam Azad, former secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, became chairman a few years back, the company’ [Power Grid] profit margin started narrowing. I think he should be removed as soon as possible.”

PGCB is mainly concerned with the operation, maintenance and development of the power transmission system all over Bangladesh.

Before Power Grid was formed, the PDB used to look after the transmission system. Power Grid got full responsibility in December 2002.

The power generated by different state-owned and private power plants all over the country is evacuated and transmitted through Power Grid’s integrated grid system by 230KV and 132KV lines and substations.

Power Grid General Manager (Finance) Mohammed Salim presented their proposal before the commission.

The technical evaluation committee of BERC yesterday recommended increasing of the wheeling charge by 1.53%. The recommendation was made in a public hearing on hiking power price.

BERC Chairman AR Khan, members Salim Mahmud, Delwar Hossain, Md Maksudul Haque and Rahman Murshed, along with other stakeholders attended the public hearing at TCB Bhaban in the capital.

AR Khan said: “if any company does not do the energy audit, then we will accept any proposal of price hike from the company.”

Power Grid proposed that BERC raised the wheeling charge at 132KV level by 70.77% or Tk0.3873, and at 33KV level by 70.06% or Tk0.3896 per unit. The current rates are Tk0.226 and Tk0.2291 per unit.

The company claims that it will suffer losses worth Tk818 crore for the ongoing 2014-15 fiscal if the price is not hiked.

As per the BERC schedule, the public hearing on raising the existing electricity retail tariff of the state-run PDB and Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited will be held today. l

A trader falls asleep on his stack of pumpkins as the markets in the capital witness a low turnout of buyers due to a sharp rise in the prices of vegetables. Due to the indefinite blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance, supply of vegetables has been severely disrupted causing the prices to go up. The photo was taken yesterday at Karwan Bazar MEHEDI HASAN

BNP: Lawmen given licence to kill opposition men n Tribune Report

The BNP has alleged that Awami League resorted to killing opposition men to thwart the 20-party alliance’s ongoing movement for a mid-term poll under a caretaker administration.

The party yesterday also alleged that the government had given “licence to the law enforcers for secret killing.”

“The illegal government’s law enforcement agencies again resorted to killing opposition leaders and activists in the name of so called gunfight,” Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, joint secretary general of the party, said in a press release issued from a hideout.

The government forces were given licence to commit crimes against humanity – enforced disappearance and secret killing, he said.

“Police, RAB and detectives are picking up our leaders and activists from their homes while their dead bodies are recovered from other places,” he claimed while blaming the government agents for sabotage, including arson attacks and killing innocent people.

The statement said resignation of the incumbent government was the only solution to the political crisis. “An inclusive election under a non-partisan government will only end the prevailing political crisis and it is the demand

of the people of the country.”

Meanwhile, the alliance yesterday drew the attention of international community and rights bodies to “extra judicial killings.”

A press release of the alliance signed

by BNP Vice-Chairman Selima Rahman said: “The top brass of the ruling party are provoking law enforcers to shoot on sight, killing people without trial and instigating party cadres to take laws in their own hands.

“In the name of joint force drive, law enforcers are repressing the opposition supporters, vandalising their houses and even assaulting family members in various places.”

Claiming that their ongoing movement is logical, the alliance warned of dire consequences if the government did not shun the path of repression.

Through the statement the alliance asked all quarters to exercise restraint and patience to create a congenial atmosphere to reach a consensus leaving the path of vengeance and confrontation.

Calling upon the law enforcers to act neutrally, the alliance said the law enforcers were not their opposition.

“We hope that they will refrain themselves from carrying out any illegal order and will uphold people’s hopes and aspirations.” l

Obaidul Quader: Three new bridges on DhakaChittagong highway n Tribune Report

Joj Mia cross-examined in August 21 cases

The Dhaka-Chittagong Highway is going to get three four-lane bridges over the Shitalakkhya, Meghna and Gomati Rivers, with the financial assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader told reporters about the massive project at a press briefing at the Secretariat yesterday around 10:30am.

The bridges will be constructed near the existing bridges, which will be repaired as well, the minister said.

“Around Tk8,500 crore is estimated to be the cost to run feasibility tests and appoint consultants for the construction of the new bridges, supervision and renovation of the old bridges and construction of a flyover and intersection at Kaachpur,” he told the reporters.

“Of the estimated cost, Tk6,500 crore will be provided by Jica, and the rest will be paid by the government.

The feasibility tests, appointment of consultants and designs are already done,” he added.

International tender was floated on Tuesday for the three bridges, and the deadline for tender submission for the project is on April 27, the minister said.

Work order for the bridge construction will be given in September, and the minister hopes that the construction can start off by November.

Asked about the ongoing violent attacks on vehicles on the highways during the 20-party-imposed blockade, the minister said: “The transport situation has indeed been much troubling due to the continuous arson and bomb attacks in the name of blockade, as well as the vandalism of the vehicles.

“We are trying to keep the highways safe by enforcing extra security and urge the transport owners to run their vehicles on the highways.”

He said: “No matter how much violence is inflicted on us, construction of mega projects such as Padma Bridge and Metro Rail will not be stopped.”

Among others, the press briefing was attended by MAN Siddique, secretary at the Road Transport and Highways Division, and Md Feroz Iqbal, chief engineer at the Roads and Highways Department. l

The trial of two cases filed over the deadly grenade attack of August 21, 2004 resumed yesterday after three months with the partial cross-examination of Joj Mia. Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal 1 Judge Shahed Noor Uddin later fixed January 27 for next hearing in the cases – one filed for murder and the other for use of explosives.

Defence counsels of 15 accused cross examined Joj Miah during the trial proceeding.

Joj Mia testified at the tribunal on September 30 last year as the 104th prosecution witness.

The recording of deposition had been stopped since than as a defence counsel, Mohammad Ali, filed a petition for expunging Joj Miah’s statement mentioning that the witness had given confessional statement in the cases.

As the tribunal rejected the petition, the defence counsels went to the High Court. On November 23, the High Court cleared way for the trial proceedings.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s elder son Tarique Rahman, a number of former cabinet members of the BNP-Jamaatled government, and some militants are facing trial in the cases.

At least 24 people including Ivy Rahman were killed in the grenade attack launched on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004. Then opposition leader and now Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina narrowly escaped death but her one ear was impaired.

Then the government staged a drama by accusing petty criminal Joj Miah and notorious Seven Star Group of carrying out the attack. According to Joj Mia, he was forced by some officials of the Criminal Investigation Department to give the confessional statement. It was also alleged that the law enforcers had damaged evidence from the crime scene.

Sanaul Islam Tipu and n Md Probir K Sarker

Doctors and employees of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital form a human chain in the capital’s College Gate area yesterday, demanding the arrest of BNP chief Khaleda Zia for her alleged role in blockade violence MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

US envoy: Rohingyas stateless n Abu Bakar Siddique Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard yesterday said the Rohingya population had remained stateless as they were not recognised as a distinct ethnic group in Myanmar’s citizenship law.

Being stateless is a root cause of the suffering and displacement that the Rohingya people are experiencing inside their own country, the US official said while addressing a seminar titled “US policy on refugee, migration and population dynamics.” The seminar was organised by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) at its office.

Richard also said the US had been urging the Myanmar government to take steps to end hostilities, build mutual confidence and establish a political dialogue. “At the highest levels, we have repeatedly pressed the Government of Burma to take decisive action to address the root causes of conflict.” Richard said the US supported the UNHCR mandate to prevent and reduce statelessness and protect stateless persons.

Rohingya refugee issue is the major problem in the bilateral relation between Bangladesh and Myanmar. The Myanmar government refuses to grant them citizenship. A large number of Rohingyas has crossed over to Bangladesh

to live here because of riot in Myanmar since long. It is estimated that 16,000 people left the Myanmar-Bangladesh border by boat in just four weeks between October and November 2014.

Richard thanked Bangladesh government for hosting the Rohingyas for the past four decades and for launching the National Strategy for Undocumented Myanmar Nationals.

Munshi Faiz Ahmed, chairman of the BIISS Board of Governors, said the US as the most powerful country had a responsibility to solve the Rohingya crisis.

Urging to solve the matter inside Myanmar, Faiz said it was tough for Bangladesh to receive new migrants.

Richard said Bangladesh had set a shining example in 2008 when its High Court recognised 300,000 Urdu-speakers as citizens.

Richard arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday from Myanmar on a four-day tour – to learn about the Bangladesh perspective of the situation of the Rohingya refugees.

Talking about her Myanmar visit, Richard said violence in Kachin and northern Shan states had internally displaced an estimated 100,000 people since 2011 while fighting between ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya communities in Rakhine State displaced 140,000 since 2012.

The UNHCR says over 50m people have been forcibly displaced globally, mostly since World War II. l

Arrest warrant against Prothom Alo editor n Tribune Report A Jhalakathi court yesterday issued arrest warrant against Matiur Rahman, the daily Prothom Alo editor, and Sajid Hossain, its photographer, in a case filed for hurting religious sentiment.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Md Arifuzzaman passed the order as the duo did not appear before it on three dates, reports our Barisal correspondent. February 22 has been set for the next hearing.

The court summoned the accused to appear before it on November 16, December 17 and yesterday.

The case was filed on October 9 last year under sections 295 and 298 of the Penal Code accusing Matiur of hurting religious sentiment of the plaintiff – lawyer Bony Amin Baklai – by publishing a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (SM) in its now-defunct satire magazine “Alpin” on September 17, 2007. The Prothom Alo editor was accused of publishing a “fake photo” of Hindu women casting vote during last year’s January 5 election, taken by photojournalist Sajid, adds our Jhalakathi correspondent.

If the charges are proved, the accused would have to face maximum two years’ imprisonment.

The four weeks’ anticipatory bail they had secured ended on January 12. l

Hasina blamed BNP high-ups

Ten months after the attack, Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina citing an investigation by her party claimed that at least 50 criminals had carried out the attack in cahoots with the police.

Addressing a press conference on June 13, 2005, Hasina said BNP chief

Khaleda Zia, her son Tarique, then home state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, Nasiruddin Pintu and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury organised the attack, says a US embassy cable released by whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

“After the attack, the criminals, who were earlier given training at Dewanganj in Jamalpur, went for Singair in Natore where a petrol pump owner gave them shelter. Prior to the attack, they held a series of meetings at Thanthonia Bazar in Bogra.”

Joj Mia said he was forced by some officials of the Criminal Investigation Department to give the false confessional statement She said: “I have heard that four persons wearing veil offloaded a consignment of arms from a tinted jeep in Tarique’s in-law’s residence at Dhanmondi on the night of August 20. The arms were used in the attack on the Awami League rally.”

Hasina also alleged that the police had fired tear gas after the attack to provide cover for the fleeing assailants, says the cable sent to Washington by then ambassador to Dhaka Harry K Thomas on June 15, 2005.

The former ambassador in the same cable mentioned: “On June 14, Babar claimed to us that the BDG [Bangladesh government] has identified the individuals involved in the August 21 attack, but acknowledged there is no concrete evidence of ‘direct’ involvement by AL leaders.”

It also stated that the government’s official inquiry, which was never released, concluded that India had been behind the attack but acted without Awami League’s knowledge.

In another cable sent on February 7, 2005, Harry said: “We have serious concerns given our experience after the August 21 attack, when the BDG denied ATF consultants access to key witnesses and failed to protect the crime scene from severe contamination.” l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, January 22, 2015

‘Sultan Mela’ kicks off today in Narail n Our Correspondent, Narail A seven-day fair will begin today in Narail marking the 90th birth anniversary of renowned artist SM Sultan.

The SM Sultan Foundation and the district administration organised the fair titled “Sultan Mela” in front of Sultan Mancha on Narail Government Victoria College premises.

The famed artist won Ekushey Padak in 1982, Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986 and Swadhinata Padak in 1993 Sultan’s 90th birth anniversary was on August 10 last year but the fair was delayed as winter is more convenient for organising such an event, Member Secretary of SM Sultan Foundation Ashiqur Rahman Miku told the Dhaka Tribune.

Narail Deputy Commissioner Abdul Gaffar Khan, also the president of the foundation, said preparations had been taken to make the event successful.

In the fair and elsewhere in the town, a range of events will be held, including art competition, exhibition, volleyball competition, kabaddi, wrestling, bullfight, handball competition, jari songs and a seminar on Sultan’s life and works.

A total of 100 stalls with traditional

textile and cottage industry products will be sold in the fair.

Dr Gowher Rizvi, adviser to the prime minister on international affairs, is to attend the inauguration ceremony as the chief guest while Gaffar Khan will preside over the programme.

Lawmaker of Narail 1 constituency Kabirul Haque Mukti, that of Narail 2 constituency Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, Narail District Council Administrator Subhas Chandra Bose, Police Super Sardar Rakibul Islam and Principal of Narail Government Victoria College Sheikh Anwar Hossen are expected to attend the programme as special guests.

Sultan Padak will be given on the concluding day and artist Kalidas Karmaker will receive the accolade this year.

Sultan was born on August 10, 1923, in a poor family at Masumdia village in Narail Sadar upazila. His artworks were displayed in Shimla of India in 1946, and in Lahore and Karachi in 1948-49.

In 1959, Sultan’s paintings were exhibited in New York, Boston, London and University of Michigan university.

He joined the international conference of painters in the US in 1950 as the representative of the then Pakistan government.

The famed artist won Ekushey Padak in 1982, Bangladesh Charu Shilpi Sangsad Award in 1986 and Swadhinata Padak in 1993. He was declared the Man of Asia in 1982 by the University of Cambridge.

Sultan died at the Combined Military Hospital in Jessore on October 10, 1994. l

The ticket counters at the Gabtoli Bus Terminal in the capital is almost deserted as the on going blockade, coupled with violence and strikes, has deterred passengers from travelling.

The photo was taken yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Five suspected Shibir men held at DU n DU Correspondent Police yesterday detained five alleged members of Dhaka University unit Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student body of Jamaat-e-Islami, from Zahurul Haque Hall of the university.

The detainees Shakhawat, Fazlur Rahman, Masum, Badru Alam and Ikramul Haque were students of different departments of the university, campus sources said.

Police said they detained the five from the hall around 4pm after being instructed by DU authorities. They were charged with being involved with Shibir politics.

According to some of the dormitory residents, hall unit Chhatra League activists caught the five initially and then beat them up. The DU acting proctor Amzad Ali later went to the scene after being informed of the matter and handed them over to the police.

The acting proctor said: “Suspicious replies from the students compelled police to make the detention.”

“We will investigate the matter and necessary action in this regard would be taken as per directions of the authorities concerned,” he added.

The police with the help of university authorities also seized some books related to Jamaat-Shibir from the hall.

Meanwhile, most of classes at the university were postponed except scheduled examinations because of the 48-hour hartal and student strike at all educational institutions called by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal. During the student strike, unknown people locked seven classrooms of the science faculty including two dean offices at Curzon Hall early yesterday.

On information, the proctorial body of the university went to the spot and broke the locks around noon.

DU acting proctor Amzad Ali alleged that JCD activists locked the classrooms in a bid to curb the usual academic activities of the university. l

JU teachers, students protest blockade violence n JU Correspondent Pro-Awami League teachers and students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) yesterday brought out a procession on the campus protesting the ongoing arson attacks and bomb blasts in the name of blockade.

Several hundred people, including the employees and the JU unit BCL activists, under the banner of “Bangabandhur Adorshe Biswashi Jahangirnagar Biswabiddalay Paribar” joined the silent procession that started

from the administrative office around 11:30am.

It ended on Shaheed Minar premises after parading the Dhaka-Aricha highway, where they held a rally, sources said.

In the programme, the speakers urged the BNP and its alliance to stop the violence immediately.

JU Teachers’ Association (JUTA) President Prof Dr Khabir Uddin said: “Terrorism is not a mean of protest in a civilised and democratic society.”

He opined to take legal action against

those who were committing crime and violence in the name of movement.

Alleging Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal for attempting to commit subversive activities, JU unit BCL President and General Secretary Mahmudur Rahman Jony and Rajib Ahmed Rasel respective vowed to ensure stability on the campus at any cost.

On Monday night, security forces caught the unit’s JCD leader named Wasim Ahmed Anik while he was fleeing after exploding a crude bomb in front the VC’s residence. l

Railway to get 120 more coaches

n Tribune Report

A total of 120 broad-gauge coaches will be added to the fleet of Bangladesh Railway (BR) in the next two years to ensure a smooth and safe transportation of passengers.

The Railways Ministry inked a deal with Indian company Rites Limited yesterday at Rail Bhaban to procure the coaches.

Railways Minister Md Mazibul Hoque said at the signing of the agreement the coaches would be purchased for an estimated Tk975.96 crore under the Indian Line of Credit while the government would provide Tk175.49 crore.

“The two-year project is expected to be completed by December 31, 2017. The railway authorities will be able to ensure better services for passengers after adding the new coaches,” he said.

“The BNP is a new militant party as arson attacks made by its activists destroyed railway resources.

They also destroyed fish plates,” added the minister. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Residents of Lichu Bagan suffer from waterlogging Locals say they filed complaints to authorities to solve the problem but haven’t received any responses

n Abu Hayat Mahmud Lichu Bagan Road at Joar Shahara area of Baridhara in the capital has become unusable as it has been under sewage and unsanitary water continuously for more than a year now.

Despite being one of the busiest roads of the capital, it has now become a nightmare for commuters given it is constantly logged with poisonous water, with the authorities taking no step to solve the problem.

Locals blame the flooding on a lack of monitoring by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), the two bodies responsible for managing the area’s sewerage and drainage systems.

Residents who live on both sides of Lichu Bagan Road, which is between Baridhara DOHS and Jamuna Future Park, and is adjoining to Pioneer Dental College, alleged that they have filed complaints several times to the authorities to solve the problem, but haven’t received any responses.

Faruque, a tea-stall owner beside the road, said: “The sewerage lines under the road have been blocked since a year.

This has caused the roads to continuously flood with stinky sewage water.”

He added that there is no vehicular movement on the road, which has effectively cut them off. Thus, many locals are trying to get some media attention with the hope to pressurise Dhaka Wasa into taking some action.

Mohammad Afanul, a local resident, said: “We have informed the Wasa and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) authority but they did not take any step. Although a private TV channel has published a report, it has not had any effect.”

He further claimed that many high profile government officials including a secretary live in the area but don’t appear concerned about the problem.

“We’ve even seen that the secretary goes on foot into the road flooded with

The Lichu Bagan road in Baridhara area of the capital lies in unusable state as the sewerage water has been clogging the road for a long time. The residents struggle to cross the road using sand bags placed on two sides MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU sewage water. How is that possible?” he asks, adding bitterly that the government has been irresponsible about this issue.

“Those officials are busy with only one target: how to take public money into their pockets, nothing else,” he said angrily.

During a spot visit yesterday, the Dhaka Tribune observation found that the road was immersed in pitch black waters, with no vehicular or even pub-

lic movement.

We also noted that four education institutions including a private dental college, and a university college were situated adjacent to the major road of the area. Besides, there are at least three garment factories, making the area rather populated. When asked what is being done, this correspondent found conflicting reports.

Faruque said: “Around eight months ago, a team of (DNCC) paid a visit and

5

Thursday, January 22, 2015

took measurements for renovation.

However, there has been no further step from them.”

However, Wasa Managing Director Taqseem A Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that he had no idea about this issue, and in fact expressed shock at the incident.

“What were the concerned persons doing this whole year?” he asked, inquiring further if the issue falls under Dhaka Wasa’s service.

“I will direct concerned officials to look into the problem and take necessary steps,” he added.

However, during the spot visit this correspondent found that few labours were working adjacent to the Lichu Bagan Road.

Several attempts were made to contact DNCC Chief Engineer Brig Gen Md Gazi Firoz Rahman, but he remained unavailable for comment on this matter. l

Newsmen for taking stern actions against fake journalists n Our Correspondent, Sylhet Speakers at a programme said presence of vehicles with “press” logo had increased alarmingly in Sylhet city which sometimes cause embracing situation for the genuine journalists.

Journalists leaders at a view exchange meeting with Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner made the observation.

At the meeting, the leaders also requested the SMP commissioner to take immediate action against fake journalists for the well being of actual journalists.

Fraudulent in guise of journalists realise extortion from common people which tarnish image of journalists in the society.

In this circumstances, Photo Journalists Association Sylhet divisional unit in association with police conducted drives against them at the city’s Chowhatta and Zindabazar Point area, journalists told the commissioner.

During the drive, the law enforces found about 30 vehicles with press logo. Owners of these vehicles were also warned not to use vehicles with press logo.

Rahmat Ullah, additional deputy commissioner of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police, said they had taken some initiatives to detect fake journalists who were also doing different types of criminal activities.

He said: “We are fed with the matter.

Police will provide all out sorts of supports to reduce such kinds of crime.”

Iqbal Siddique, president of Sylhet Press Club said, “We suggested the SMP to take action against the fake journalists.”

Police detained three fake journalists, including a female from the Technical road area in South Surma upazila yesterday recently on charge of extorting money from a principal of a local college. l

Blockade hurting Khulna’s poultry industry n Our Correspondent, Khulna Around four lakh people who rely on Khulna’s poultry industry for a living – are passing through dire times as the ongoing political unrest continues to disrupt the distribution chain of the poultry farms in the region.

Industry insiders said violence on the roads was hampering the process of supplying and distributing poultry feed, eggs, poultry medications, freshly hatched chicks and chicken meat.

Sources said 4,952 poultry farms are currently operational in Khulna; the eggs and chickens from these farms usually meet the regional demand while the surplus products are supplied to different areas. However, since the blockade began, the owners have been facing massive losses as they are unable to transport their products.

Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, the student wing of the Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, brings out a rally in the capital to celebrate its three decades since inception. The photo was taken in Dhaka University area yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

NID required to book launch cabin

WEATHER DRY WEATHER LIKELY THURSDAY, JANUARY 22 DHAKA

TODAY SUN SETS 5:21PM

TOMORROW SUN RISES 6:03AM

FORECAST FOR TODAY

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

21 27 17 16 28 28 26 27

15 15 11 12 10 14 12 16

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

31.8ºC Bogra

19.4ºC Dinajpur

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:24am 6:42am 12:10am 4:01pm 5:37pm 6:56 pm

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

n Our Correspondent, Barisal Passengers who want to book launch cabins to travel on the Dhaka-Barisal route will have to produce copies of their national identity cards to buy the tickets from now on.

Upon implementation of the new rule, passengers will have to show their NID

cards and produce the copies to be attached with their tickets. The tickets will also have the names and mobile phone numbers of the passengers written on them.

The decision was taken in a meeting at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) office in Barisal river port yesterday evening. l

Exploiting the crisis, unscrupulous traders have allegedly hiked up prices of poultry feed and poultry medication, as fresh supply of these items have been scarce since the start of the political turmoil.

SM Sohrab Hossain, secretary general of Khulna Poultry Fish Feed Industries Owners Association, told the Dhaka Tribune around four lakh workers involved with the industry are facing a severe crisis. If such turbulent political times continued, these poultry workers would have to give up all hopes of staying alive, Sohrab claimed.

Local traders said the poultry farms in Khulna supplied around 40 tonnes of chicken meat every day during regular times. Since the blockade cut access to the regular chicken meat distribution system, the local poultry

farm owners have been counting total daily losses worth around Tk60 lakh, with around Tk9.25 crore in cumulated losses so far.

Meanwhile, the five lakh eggs that were usually sold every day from the local poultry farms are also remaining unsold, causing Tk5.25 crore worth of losses so far. Around eight hatcheries in Khulna – which produce around one lakh chicks every week – have also suffered from over Tk25 lakh worth of losses since the blockade began.

At least five farms also produce poultry feed in Khulna, supplying 80 tonnes of feed every day during regular times. But the political unrest has so far caused Tk5 crore in losses to these farms. The poultry medication sector has also suffered a total of around Tk1 crore worth of losses because of the turmoil, sources said. l

BR suspends CU shuttle train operation n CU Correspondent Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities yesterday suspended Chittagong University bound shuttle train services, fearing sabotage on railway tracks as Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) called for a two-day countrywide student strike.

Bangladesh Railway’s Divisional Transport Officer Firoj Iftekhar told the Dhaka Tribune: “CU shuttle train services has been suspended since morning as there were possibilities of

subversive activities on the trains.”

BR sources said the decision was taken based on police and detective reports as it suggested that JCD’s men might attack CU-bound shuttle trains to create anarchy during their countrywide student strike which was enforced in protest of JCD leader Nuruzzaman Jony killing.

Chittagong city’s Sholoshahar Railway Station’s Master Md Shahabuddin said: “After receiving orders from higher authorities, we sent the two shuttle trains to

the dockyard from the station premises.”

He added that train services will remain suspended until further notice.

CU teachers’ bus service also remained suspended because of the 36-hour hartal enforced by BNP-led 20-party alliance in Chittagong district.

CU transport department Deputy Director Rabiul Alam said no bus had left the campus due to the BNP hartal.

CU Proctor Siraj Ud Dowla said no academic activities took place on the campus. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Little done with ‘One House, One Farm’ project in Kishoreganj More than 90% members have been affiliated with the ruling party n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj When the government launched its “Ektee Bari Ektee Khamar” project five years ago, the main aim was to alleviate poverty in the country. However, in Kishoreganj, little progress has been made in alleviating poverty.

The project is supposed to enable the rural poor and the community people to find self-employment opportunities with the physical and financial supports offered by the project. Besides, the village organisations coming under the project are supposed to work as the driving force to mobilise the poor, including the women, in their respective areas.

But the reality tells a different story.

In the project’s cooperative associations in the district, more than 90% members have been found affiliated with the ruling party in one way or the other – some are leaders, some are activists, and some are just followers of the Awami League.

People who met the criteria for membership in the cooperative associations did not get it This reporter spoke with several members of the cooperative associations in the Mahinanda, Maizkhapon, Kadirjangal and Sogra unions under Kishoreganj

Sadar upazila. When asked if they met all the criteria to be eligible to be a part of the project, they all admitted that they, in fact, were not.

“We got the membership with inside help, as we know the local influentials as well as Awami League leaders,” they told the Dhaka Tribune.

It is to be noted that the target beneficiaries of the project must be: 1. Poor women in charge of their households in the village, 2. Households having only homestead, 3. Landless people or those who own land up to 0.5 acre of land, including their homestead, and who earn their livelihood by selling manual labour and have no regular sources of income, and/or 4. Small and marginal

farmers having up to 2.5 acres of land, including homesteads. Applicants are prioritised based on the aforementioned order.

In case of backward/char areas, households having land up to 4 acres can also be included as project beneficiaries.

This reporter also found that several people in Mahinanda and Maizkhapon unions who actually met the criteria for membership in the cooperative associations did not get it.

“The government gave the project to its own supporters. They are not poor, and they have sufficient land.

They take the money, but they do not invest in farming,” they alleged while talking to the Dhaka Tribune. l

Students lock school building protesting additional fees n Our Correspondent, Natore Candidates of Secondary School Certificate from Mirjapurdigha High School in Naldanga upazila put their school under lock and key yesterday demanding the return of the additional fees which has been taken by the school authorities for the enrolment.

Earlier, the High Court in this regard has given an order to give back the additional fees to the students.

The board has fixed fee Tk1,385 for the students of Science group while Tk1,280 for that of Humanities.

Naldanga police station OC (investigation) Wazed Ali Khan said about 85 students from the school filled up the SSC form for paying Tk2,400-2,900 for the upcoming examinations.

In the morning, some candidates flocked into the room of Shishir Prosad Talukder, headmaster of the school, and demanded the excess money return back.

When the headmaster denied doing so, the agitating students locked up all rooms of the school and started demonstrating on the premise. During the demonstration, they also demanded removal of the head teacher.

Being informed, Naldanga police station OC and local UNO Sharmin Akter Jahan rushed to the scene and ordered the headmaster to give back the additional money.

When contacted, the OC confirmed the incident, saying the school authorities had contacted the bank and the students might have get the money by 5pm. l

6 killed in road accidents n Tribune Report Six people were killed and three were left injured in separate road accidents in Tangail, Savar and Noakhali in the last two days.

Four people were killed and two others were injured after a truck collided head-on with a CNG-run autorickshaw in Kalihati upazila of Tangail early yesterday, reports our Tangail correspondent.

The dead were Golam Kibria, 40, son of Abdur Rahman of Kalihati upazila, CNG-run autorickshaw driver Farukh Ahmed, 30, son of Abdus Salam of Tangail Sadar upazila, Niranjan Saha, son of Mintu Saha, and Nurul Islam, 45, son of Abdul Khalek of Jamalpur.

Officer-in-Charge Md Akheruzzaman of Bangabandhu Bridge East police station said: “The Alenga-bound autorickshaw collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction at Char Vabla area on the Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway.” “The incident took place around 12:15am leaving four spot dead,” he added.

The OC said the two injured were admitted to Tangail Medical College Hospital and police seized the truck.

Our Savar correspondent reports, a motorcyclist was killed yesterday

evening after a bus hit the bike on the Dhaka-Aricha highway near Bishmail bus stand area.

The dead Shafiqul Islam, 40, was turning his motorcycle when a bus of Babul Enterprise ran over the bike, leaving Shafiqul spot dead, according to witnesses.

OC Mostofa Kamal of Ashulia police station said the dead body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy and the bus and its driver Rubel Ahmed Bepari was arrested from the spot.

In Noakhali, another motorcyclist was killed and one was injured in a road accident on the Sonaimuri-Lakhsam road in Kalabagan area under Sonaimuri upazila late Tuesday night, reports our correspondent.

The dead Md Ibrahim, 30, was son of Md Abdul Matin of village Kandail in Comilla abd the injured was identified as Md Hasan who was admitted to a local clinic after the incident.

Quoting locals, OC Ashraful Islam of Sonaimuri police station said the accident took place around 11 pm when Ibrahim was going home with his friend Hasan on his motorbike.

A goods-laden truck hit the motorbike head-on near Kalabagan area leaving Ibrahim spot dead and Hasan critically injured, he added. l

As buds will start blossoming within a few days, a grower sprays pesticide on a mango tree to protect it from pest attacks. The photo was taken from Baneswar village under Puthia upazila, Rajshahi yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

Habiganj passport office seeped with corruption, recipients suffer n Our Correspondent, Habiganj Dominance of brokers and their faulty deals at Habiganj passport office has reached an extreme level, causing enormous suffering to those intending to travel abroad and are in need of passports.

According to sources, there is a strong syndicate among the workers of the passport office and some outside brokers. The passport officials are receiving a heavy sum of money through this syndicate.

Sources say, there are passport brokers in about 12 travel services across the city – some exposed, some hidden.

The syndicate is regulating a business of passports under the mask of travels business. Each month, the passport office receives

about Tk1.5lakh from each of these travel offices.

By this calculation, the officials at the passport office are receiving more than Tk20lakh per month from these travel agencies.

Namely, Faruk and Helal, computer operators at the passport office, along with an Ansar member are working in a corrupt group to control this syndicate of brokers.

There are complaints that Faruk brings in about Tk50lakh per week from the travel agencies.

According to sources, the consignment for a regular passport is Tk3,000 and for emergency passport is Tk6,000 at Sonali Bank.

After depositing the money in the bank, when a passport customer goes to the passport office to submit their papers, they become subject to

exploitation by several corrupt workers who send them to the brokers.

Some of the more cautious individuals who fill up the forms without help of brokers, are subject to much suffering and complications regardless.

At the same time, villagers who intend to go abroad are often in need of assistance with such matters. They thus seek help from the brokers, who heavily abuse this opportunity. The brokers are charging Tk6,000 for the Tk3,000 package and Tk9,000 for the Tk6,000 package.

A large portion of this money then goes to the passport office and District Special Branch.

Khokon Miah, who came from Jalalbad village in Habiganj main upazila to get his passport, said:

“I have received my visa for Oman a while back. I have paid a broker Tk9,00 for an emergency passport and still haven’t received it. He is leading me on.”

Another passport customer, Shahidul, who came from Ajmeriganj, told this correspondent: “The brokers have taken Tk9,000 from me for the passport to be issued in one week, but I’m not getting it on time.

This is affecting my visa application.”

Nurul Huda, the Assistant Director at the regional passport office of Habiganj, has said if individuals at the passport office are involved in such corruption, necessary measures will be taken against them. He, however, claims that the passport office has gotten rid of brokers since he joined in February last year. l

BGB detains Indian cattle smuggler n Our Correspondent, Panchagarh The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) detained an Indian cattle smuggler at Ghasalu village near Barshalupara border in Atwary upazila of Panchagarh yesterday morning.

The detainee was identified as Pashir Uddin alias Tilkhowa, 35, son of late Hafiz Uddin of Ghomadighi village under Islampur police station of Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal, India.

The BGB also detained his Bangladeshi fellow Md Delwar Hossain, 28, son of late Tomiz Uddin of Darkhor Nodidangi village under Atwary upazila in Panchagarh with 28 Indian smuggled cattle.

Commanding Officer of 30, BGB Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Tusher Bin Yunus said acting on a tip-off a BGB petrol team of Balapara camp detained the Indian cattle smuggler and his Bangladeshi fellow along with 28 smuggled cattle at Ghasalu village 100 yards inside Bangladeshi territory near Barshalupara border. l

The Border Guard Bangladesh and the Border Security Forces yesterday destroyed poppy plants cultivated on no-man’s land near Chapainawabganj frontier DHAKA TRIBUNE

Juris

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Mediation, not litigation

RAJSHAHI UNIVERSITY LAW FACULTY

Pioneer of legal studies in Bangladesh

This is a new process of resolving civil and commercial disputes

Islam Sagar and n Sadiqul Md Moniruzzaman

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BIGSTOCK

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n Khandker Dider us Salam

ediation is the process of solving civil and commercial disputes through a third party who is not a party to the dispute and works impartially to help the parties reach a conclusive and mutually satisfactory agreement.

In mediation, parties voluntarily resolve the dispute and the mediator’s duty is to facilitate the parties but not to judge who is right and who is wrong. The primary duty of a mediator is to identify relevant legal and factual issues and bring those into attention of the parties so as to enable the disputing parties to reach a settlement avoiding legal proceedings. It is the parties who select their mediator.

In England, a joint study on legal practitioners on commercial disputes reveals that at least 60% of them want to solve their disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). The main reason for this is the confidential nature of the ADR mechanisms.

Mediation also takes less time and money.

ment conducive to mediation. It is important to welcome the parties warmly and enthusiastically. Clients must be assured that they are not fighting a legal battle rather they are there to mediate. The mediator must create a comfort zone in order to building confidence in the minds of the clients.

A mediator has to use non-judgmental language and show neutrality in his verbal and non-verbal communications with both the parties. A mediator should treat all the parties to the dispute equally so that his role can never be questioned.

Before the mediation process starts, a mediator needs to take good preparation by studying the dispute and recognising the issue properly.

Patient hearing of the parties is a must for the mediator to build confidence in the minds of the parties which will give them the feeling that the mediator actually understands their perspectives and sensitivity. It is also important to deal with the clients in such a manner that they retain the positivity and confidence throughout the process.

The mediator

Process skills

In order to become a competent mediator and to conduct the mediation process smoothly, the mediator needs to have certain competencies and skills. If one can apply them very professionally, he will certainly be able to build confidence in the minds of the parties which will enable the parties to reach a solution. Three competencies and skills are essential to conduct a mediation process professionally. They are, relationship skills with the clients, process skills to carry out the mediation process and content skills for closing the mediation with a solution.

If anyone understands these skills and also know how to apply these skills properly, he or she will be able to act as a successful mediator. Here are the three competencies for a mediator:

Relationship skills

In order to start a mediation process, it is necessary to create an environ-

This is the most technical skill that one must possess in order to be a successful mediator. If a mediator opens the mediation well, it will be easier for him/her to end up with a good outcome. At the beginning of the process, the mediator explains his/her role, responsibilities and procedures to the participants and demonstrates the parties the whole process of mediation. Though there is no prescribed rule or method of conducting a mediation, the mediator may sketch his/her own method of conducting the proceedings. The mediator must keep the clients assured about the confidentiality of their information.

Mediators must avoid asking leading questions to the clients which may create a negative impression in the minds of the clients. It is also necessary to decide whether the mediator will have private meetings with the clients and prepare a schedule of the

private meetings and the joint meetings. It is also important to maintain a proper pace so as to keep compatibility with the events.

Content skills

A mediator must be able to convey his responsibility and the outcome of the mediation process to the parties, be it positive or negative. The mediator should motivate the parties to go with the process and help the clients understand the outcome of the mediation process and take their own decisions.

A mediator must caution the clients about the negative outcome of mediation. This will enable the clients to prompt themselves to reach a positive solution. It is necessary to perform a reality check by asking questions. However, mediators need to be technical while asking hypothetical questions to the parties. It is also crucial to manage information correctly and explore different possible outcomes of the dispute.

Benefits of mediation

A successfully completed mediation has many benefits. In a mediation process, it is possible to reach a solution within a few days and therefore, businesses do not suffer and get interrupted. In our country, legal and preparatory costs are comparatively high. Hence, solving disputes through mediation may save money which can be used in other ventures. One of the principles of mediation is that the mediator does not disclose any facts without the consent of one party to the other party.

Therefore, greater confidentiality is ensured. It helps the parties to be safe from unwanted publicity.

In mediation, parties reach a settlement through dialogue and thus it is possible to continue relationship in the future. Honest discussion with the help of the mediator helps parties to ascertain the actual disagreement and solve it amicably.

Barriers to mediation

Since mediation is a comparatively new concept of ADR process, the

main barrier to mediation is lack of knowledge about the process and the legal practitioners still do not think that this is an acceptable way of resolving disputes. Confusion among the parties as to its acceptability is also a barrier to the process. Though the Arbitration Act has been enacted by the parliament in 2001, mediation in particular is yet to get popularity among disputing parties.

For an ADR mechanism to be successful, especially in mediation proceedings, both the parties must agree to refer the dispute to be settled through mediation. Therefore, the parties must agree to each other otherwise they will have to face an actual litigation. Since no specific rules of procedure have been framed for mediation, the parties have to depend on the rules of mediation determined by a tribunal and the current Arbitration Act, 2001. This lacuna in the system makes ADR an uncertain game.

Lack of awareness regarding the advantages of ADR is another problem and we also do not have the institutional support that has been developed in countries like UK, USA, Singapore and even in India.

According to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, disposing of millions of cases pending before the courts in Bangladesh would take at least 86 years if no new cases are filed. The pending cases will not only make the litigants suffer, but will also cause loss to the state.

To reduce the burden on the courts, there is no alternative to ADR mechanisms and, hence, mediation can be an effective tool for popularising the ADR system in our country.

Therefore, in order to establish this comparatively new system of ADR, the mediators must establish themselves as not only lawyers but also performers. l Khandker Dider us Salam is an Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh, a CEDR accredited Mediator and a Faculty Member at the Department of Law, Daffodil International University.

JURIS QUOTE There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

Charles de Montesquieu

French Philosopher January 18, 1689 – February 10, 1755

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Thursday, January 22, 2015

aculty of Law, University of Rajshahi is one of the pioneer institutes for legal education in Bangladesh as well as in South Asia.

University of Rajshahi, the second largest university in Bangladesh, was granted its charter in 1953 through the Rajshahi University Act, 1953 and Law was one of its six founding subjects.

Since 1953 faculty of law has created a proud legacy and established itself as a prominent institute in the field of legal education in Bangladesh.

A two years Law (pass course) program was initiated in 1954 by this faculty of law, which was the first of its kind amongst the law faculties in South Asia. It started offering Bachelor of Jurisprudence (B.Jur.) and Master of Jurisprudence (M.Jur.) programmes in the years 1970 and 1973 consecutively. B.Jur. and M.Jur. programmes were renamed as LLB (Honors) and LLM respectively in the years 1976 and 1981. There is only one department, ie department of law, under the faculty of law, which was previously known as department of law and justice.

Currently the faculty of law is offering a four years LLB (Honors) programme and a one year LLM programme. It also runs a one year evening LLM course for professionals and another one year Masters in Police Science (MPS) course at Sarda Police Academy for the BCS (Police) cadres. Faculty of law also awards postgraduate research degrees, such as MPhil and PhD to the successful fellows. It also hosts the research projects funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and University of Rajshahi itself.

At present there are 26 faculty members at the department of law and two of them are abroad on study leave. The present dean of the faculty of law is Mr Biswajit Chanda and the present chairman of the department is Professor Dr M Ahsan Kabir. Among the past faculty members internationally famed expert on the law of the sea

legal scholars. The seminar library offers a good collection of various law journals and authoritative reference books. The central library of University of Rajshahi also has a separate corner for the law students where numerous research materials can be accessed for higher studies.

Faculty of Law, University of Rajshahi is not only committed to give the students high quality and innovative legal education, it is also providing the students with practical legal experience. A new course named “Professional Ethics, Trial Advocacy, Moot Court and Court Attendance” has been

The total number of students at the department is around 550. Every year around 110 students get enrolled at this department through a very competitive admission test added to the curriculum to serve that purpose. Students are getting firsthand experience in litigation matters.

Regular visit to the court is also enriching their experience and preparing them for the future challenges of legal profession. The course teacher Sadiqul Islam Sagar, an Assistant Professor of the department, personally oversees the activities of this course.

The faculty of law also organises various seminars, workshops and training sessions in collaboration with various NGOs, think tanks and other research organisations, which helps the students to become aware of the social problems and encourages them in lawyering for the poor and the under-privileged. Students from this department also success-

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Professor Dr Habibur Rahman, present Chairman of Human Right Commission Dr Mizanur Rahman, present member of Law Commission professor Dr M Shah Alam and former chief justice and chief adviser to the care taker government late Justice Habibur Rahman are a few notable figures.

The total number of students at the department is around 550. Every year around 110 students get enrolled at this department through a very competitive admission test. A good number of judges of the lower judiciary and the higher judiciary have completed their graduation from this department.

Its alumni are also playing a significant role in the legal profession, teaching, NGOs, and other legal fields.

To meet the demands of the 21st century the faculty of law has introduced a more scientific and digitalised method of study. It has been following an innovative and rigorous curriculum for its students over the years. Almost all the classrooms are equipped with projectors and sound systems so as to provide a more convenient atmosphere for teaching. A computer lab has also been set up for the students so that they can be familiar with the international standards of legal education. Furthermore the whole department has been converted into a wifi zone and the students of this department have free access to it all the time.

The faculty of law has always been striving to attain the highest standard in legal education and to make it a center of excellence. The seminar library provides a rich collection of books on different areas of legal study written by national and international

fully participated in various Moot Court competitions and won prizes.

Recently “Rajshahi University Moot Court Society” has started its journey with a grand inauguration programme.

RUMCS is doing very well under the direct and dedicated supervision of it’s first president Mr Sadiqul Islam Sagar.

Two research journals namely, “Rajshahi University Law Review” and “Rajshahi University Law Journal” are regularly being published by the faculty of law. Department of law has an impressive track record in the field of sports as well. It is the reigning football champion of University of Rajshahi. The department is also doing good in other sports as well.

Despite all these accomplishments, improvement in infrastructure has become a need of the hour. The computer lab has become inoperative.

The seminar library is not accessible for the students after 2pm. Addition of up-to-date academic books in the central library has been a demand of the students for a long time now. Student counseling facility should be introduced to keep the students motivated to their studies.

Faculty of law is producing quality law graduates, who are working diligently and honestly to serve their clients and the public, to lead the legal profession and to help solve the problems of our society, our country and the world. l Sadiqul Islam Sagar is an Assistant professor, Department of Law, University of Rajshahi and Md Moniruzzaman is a final year LLB student at Department of Law, University of Rajshahi.

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Thursday, January 22, 2015

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPEECH

Barack Obama shakes hands with Republican Senator Marco Rubio, left, as Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, 2nd left, gives him a thumbs up Obama delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of the US Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday REUTERS

Obama declares victory, way too late n Matt Bai for Yahoo News In case you didn’t watch the president’s swaggering speech Tuesday night, because after a month of previews it seemed to lack the drama of “Storage Wars” (which was on A&E at the same time and is actually a reality show about repossessed storage lockers, but let’s not get into it), here’s what you missed.

Remember that wrecked economy from the Bush years that was just kind of limping along, and how we were all living in 1930 with everybody destitute?

Yeah, forget all that. We’ve turned the corner. The economy’s on fire, and now it’s time to get back to building the country of our dreams, where everybody gets a Tesla.

Actually, Barack Obama’s case – slightly more nuanced than I just made it sound – is pretty compelling on the facts; by any traditional measure, the economy really is powering back from the steep recession he inherited. What’s puzzling is why it took so long for Obama to own that progress, and why he’s wasted so much of his presidency trying to figure out how to talk about it.

Obama, as you may have noticed by now, is a pretty cautious guy when it comes to testing the boundaries of political convention. If he’d asked my advice (and that’s never going to happen), I’d have suggested he dispense with the cursory mention of a hundred topics and the anecdotes about people sitting in the balcony, and instead use the entire speech to tell a story – much as Bill Clinton did at the 2012 convention – about why the economy tanked in 2008 and why it’s rebounding now.

I’d have suggested he become the first president to use PowerPoint slides in a national address, so that Americans at home could see the graphs showing job growth (about 246,000 per month last year), falling unemployment (the largest

annual drop in 30 years, even if some of that reflects a decline in workforce participation) and shrinking deficits.

Also, it would have been a riot to see last month’s unemployment numbers projected onto John Boehner’s forehead.

But in his more traditional way, Obama offered the rough draft of his own legacy and tried to focus the nation’s attention on exactly the policy choices we ought to be focused on. The president wanted to make clear this wasn’t his “mission accomplished” moment; he acknowledged, for instance, persistent inequality. But he also looked ahead to the next phase of the economic mission, which is to help families meet the nearly insurmountable costs of higher education, child care and saving for retirement.

Obama has now been reduced to suggesting topics for conversation, sort of like a facilitatorin-chief. ‘Talk amongst yourselves’ If Obama’s words Tuesday night didn’t land with the kind of impact they should have, though, it’s because they came so long after most Americans had stopped paying attention. Ironically, given his relative inexperience and his reputation as an orator when he was elected in 2008, Obama has turned out to be a better steward of the economy than he is a champion of it.

This confusion goes all the way back to 2009, when Obama’s genius advisers made some very ill-advised projections about how the economy would magically right itself within plenty of time of

the 2010 midterms. That was the calculus that led Obama to steer his administration into a fierce storm over health care, even as the unemployment rate hovered stubbornly near 10 percent.

By the time he ran for re-election in 2012, the economy had cleared imminent danger and was slowly recovering, and he could reasonably have claimed credit. The 2009 auto bailout, for instance, staved off catastrophe in the Midwest and maybe the entire industrial sector.

But Obama’s aides were petrified of pointing to any real progress without first going through an entire monologue on the misery that continued to befall ordinary Americans. They feared that too much boasting would make the president seem out of touch.

And, more than that, the deeper he got into what he characterised as his “one paragraph” presidency, the more fatalistic Obama himself seemed to become. He gave the impression that he didn’t think he could really affect the economy, anyway. The winds of history would blow this way and that, and all a president could do was hope for a gust.

So Obama made taxes and concentrated wealth – rather than the promise of a nascent recovery – the central theme of his re-election campaign.

Ever since, Obama has found himself buffeted by the self-described populists in his party, whose core message relies on the idea that America is always headed backward and that everything is getting worse. This was the subject of an interesting, if little noticed, debate in Washington during the run-up to the State of the Union address. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator and idol of the populist left, took the unusual step of publicly attacking a story in Politico Magazine, because the writer, Michael Grunwald, argued (only a little facetiously) that the real state of the Amer-

ican economy was awesomeness.

As has been the case throughout his presidency, Obama, determined not to be seen as a triangulator, has shied away from disagreement with the populists in his own party, even if it means downplaying his own record. He’s gone on talking mostly about economic suffering and inequality, at a time when the broad base of the country might well have responded to a more hopeful message – especially from the guy who used “hope” as his campaign slogan.

At every one of these junctures, Obama forfeited an opportunity – not simply to trumpet his own growing success, but to help voters understand the crucial distinction between shortterm and long-term economic challenges. He missed the chance to say, “Guess what? Things are actually getting a lot better now. You’re welcome.

But we still face a serious crisis for your kids not too far down the line, and that’s what I want to focus on next.”

That’s the argument he made Tuesday, and it comes too late for his own presidency. No one seriously believes that Obama can enact any of the major proposals he ticked off in his speech.

The public isn’t likely to rally around him now, and absent that, Republicans have written him off.

Obama has now been reduced to suggesting topics for conversation, sort of like a facilitator-in-chief. “Talk amongst yourselves.”

But maybe that role can be useful, too. Because the speech he gave Tuesday, long overdue and soon to be eclipsed by another presidential campaign, raises all the right questions for the country’s future.

What does a modern tax code look like? What about modern infrastructure? Where are the next century’s jobs?

Trust me, we’re not going to find them in a repossessed storage locker. l

l Our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. l Our unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. l We battled terror, went past recession and fought wars. l More of our kids are graduating than ever before. More of our people are insured than ever before. l We salute the courage and sacrifice of every man and woman in this 9/11 generation who has served to keep us safe. l We’ve fought our way back from economic crisis. It’s time for Congress to build on that momentum. l In two weeks, I will send this Congress a budget filled with ideas that are practical, not partisan. l Over the past five years, our businesses have created more than 11 million new jobs. l In the past year alone, about 10 million uninsured Americans finally gained the security of health coverage. l Millions more now have the peace of mind that comes with having health insurance, thanks to ‘Obamacare.’ l It’s time we stop treating child care as a side issue. l It’s time for Congress to help build an economy that works for everyone and not just for a few. l This country does best when everyone gets their fair shot. l Middle-class economics means helping working families feel more secure in a world of constant change. l Paid sick and maternity leave should be a right for all workers – not just a privilege. l Send me a bill that gives every worker in America the opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave. l It’s 2015. It’s time for equal pay. l If you truly believe you could work fulltime and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. l We still need laws that strengthen rather than weaken unions, and give American workers a voice. l That’s why I am sending this Congress

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a bold new plan to lower the cost of community college-to zero.

Free community college is possible-and I want to spread that idea all across America.

To every CEO in America: If you want someone who will get the job done and done right, hire a veteran.

Let’s pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that could create more than 30 times as many jobs per year.

21st century businesses will rely on American science, technology, research and development.

America should lead on science and technology, and Americans should win the race on the kinds of discoveries that unleash new jobs.

When it comes to issues like infrastructure and basic research, I know there’s bipartisan support in this chamber.

We need a tax code that truly helps working Americans trying to get a leg up in the new economy.

When what you’re doing hasn’t worked for 50 years, it’s time to try something new.

No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.

14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century.

I will not let this Congress endanger the health of our children by turning back our efforts.

Leading, always, with the example of our values. That’s what makes us exceptional. That’s what keeps us strong.

I know how tempting such cynicism may be. But I still think the cynics are wrong.

I still believe we are one people. I still believe that together, we can do great things, even when the odds are long.

I want future generations to know that we are a people that see our differences as a great gift.

My fellow Americans, we too are a strong, tight-knit family. We, too, have made it through some hard times. l

‘Big nations can’t bully small,’ Obama tells Russia Russia issues counter-statement

n AFP, Washington President Barack Obama warned Russia on Tuesday that US support for Ukraine was a show of American strength and diplomacy which had left Moscow isolated and its economy in tatters.

“We’re upholding the principle that bigger nations can’t bully the small – by opposing Russian aggression, supporting Ukraine’s democracy, and reassuring our Nato allies,” he told US lawmakers in his State of the Union address.

His words came as Kiev accused Russian forces of attacking its soldiers after crossing over into the ex-Soviet state’s war-wrecked separatist east in violation of a September truce deal.

Russia hit back on yesterday, saying it showed the United States believes it is “number one” and seeks world domination.

Obama said his country was upholding “the principle that bigger nations can’t bully the small” by oppos-

ing what he called Russian aggression and supporting democracy in Ukraine.

Russia, he said, was isolated and its economy was in tatters.

“The Americans have taken the course of confrontation and do not assess their own steps critically at all,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.

“Yesterday’s speech by the president shows that at the center of the (U.S.) philosophy is only one thing: ‘We are number one and everyone else has to respect that.’ ... It shows that the United States wants all the same to dominate the world and cannot merely be first among equals.”

This phase would pass, Lavrov said, but added that it would take time.

“I would prefer all countries to adopt the philosophy of cooperation, not ‘diktat’,” he said.

Relations between Russia and the United States have sunk to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War, mainly because of Moscow’s confrontation with the West over the crisis in Ukraine. l

Man who saved lives at Paris grocery gets French citizenship

IS executing ‘educated women’ in new wave of horror

Palestinian stabs seven people on Tel Aviv bus

French authorities on Tuesday honored a Mali-born employee who saved lives at the kosher supermarket attacked by terrorists as a hero and granted him French citizenship.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve praised Muslim Lassana Bathily, 24, for his “courage” and “heroism” during a ceremony in the presence of Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

Cazeneuve said Bathily’s “act of humanity has become a symbol of an Islam of peace and tolerance.”

“Tonight I’m very proud and deeply touched,” Bathily said with tears in his eyes, humbly stressing that he doesn’t consider himself a hero. “I am Lassana.

I’ll stay true to myself ... “People are all equal to me and skin color isn’t a matter.

France is the country of human rights.”

Bathily was in the store’s underground stockroom when gunman Amedy Coulibaly burst in upstairs on January 9 and killed four people. He turned off the stockroom’s freezer and hid a group of shoppers inside before sneaking out through a fire escape to speak to police and help them with their operation to free the 15 hostages and kill the attacker. l

n AFP, Geneva

n Reuters, Jerusalem

n AP, Paris

The UN on Tuesday decried numerous executions of civilians in Iraq by the Islamic State group, warning that educated women appeared to be especially at risk.

The jihadist group is showing a “monstrous disregard for human life” in the areas it controls in Iraq, the UN human rights office said.

The group, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and in

neighbouring war-ravaged Syria, last week published pictures of the “crucifixions” of two men accused of being bandits, and of a woman being stoned to death, allegedly for adultery.

Numerous other women have also reportedly been executed recently in IS-controlled areas, including Mosul, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

She said “educated, professional women, particularly women who have

run as candidates in elections for public office, seem to be particularly at risk.”

“In just the first two weeks of this year, reports indicate that three female lawyers were executed,” Shamdasani said.

A number of other groups are also targeted by the jihadists, Shamdasani said, pointing to “the ruthless murder of two men, who were thrown off the top of a building after having been accused of homosexual acts by a socalled court in Mosul.” l

AQAP says ‘preparing’ attacks on US, West n AFP, Washington Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch called for lonewolf attacks against the United States and the West in a video posted Tuesday, days after the group claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo killings.

One of the group’s ideologues, Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, urged supporters to conduct what he called “individual jihad,” according to the SITE monitoring group, which tracks

Islamist extremists online.

“We are preparing and lurking for the enemies of Allah. We incite the believers to do that,” Ansi is quoted as saying in the online video.

In a previous video, Ansi claimed Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was behind the attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the start of three days of bloodshed in France that left 17 people dead.

Western governments say it remains

unclear if AQAP directly orchestrated the violence, although they do believe one or both of the attackers spent time with jihadists in Yemen.

In the latest recording, which was presented in an interview format, Ansi recommended lone-wolf attacks as those were “more harmful.”

But, if this was not practical, then supporters should leave Western countries rather than live under the rule of “disbelievers.” l

A Palestinian stabbed and wounded seven people on a Tel Aviv commuter bus during the morning rush hour yesterday before he was shot in the leg by a security officer as he fled, police and emergency services said.

It was the first Palestinian attack reported in Israel’s commercial capital since a soldier was stabbed to death two months ago.

Passengers on the bus said the assailant, later identified by police as a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank, stabbed the driver and then others as the vehicle slowed to a stop.

“The terrorist had murder in his eyes,” one passenger, identified only as Orly said on Israel Radio.

As screaming passengers spilled out of the bus, prison officers in another vehicle at one of Tel Aviv’s busiest intersections saw the suspected attacker trying to flee and gave chase.

One of the officers shot him in the leg. Television footage showed the alleged assailant, whom police said was aged 23, lying face down in mud, his

arms handcuffed behind his back.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said seven people were wounded in the stabbing, four of them seriously, and two other passengers suffered injuries while running off the bus.

During the attack, the bus driver managed to alert his dispatcher and plead over the phone for help.

“Save me. I have been seriously injured, stabbed all over my body. He has stabbed my passengers ... If anything happens to me, look after my children,” the driver said, according to the dispatcher’s account on Army Radio.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Hamas Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip called it “the natural reaction to Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people.”

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a direct result of venomous incitement disseminated in the Palestinian Authority against Jews and their country.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

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Thursday, January 22, 2015

AirAsia jet’s alarms were Kiran Bedi: Nationalistic RSS kept India united ‘screaming’ before crash DELHI ELECTION

Anna Hazare says politics is dirty

n AFP Warning alarms in AirAsia flight QZ8501 were “screaming” as the pilots desperately tried to stabilise the plane just before it plunged into the Java Sea last month, a crash investigator said yesterday.

The noise of several alarms including one that indicated the plane was stalling, can be heard going off in recordings from the black box in the Airbus A320-200’s cockpit, the investigator told AFP, requesting anonymity.

“The warning alarms, we can say, were screaming, while in the background they (the pilot and co-pilot) were busy trying to recover,” the investigator said, adding the warnings were going off “for some time.”

The investigator, from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), added that the pilots’ voices were drowned out by the sound of the alarms.

The revelation came a day after Indonesian transport minister Ignasius Jonan said that the plane had climbed abnormally fast before stalling and plunging into the sea, during a flight on December 28 in stormy weather from Indonesia’s Surabaya to Singapore.

“In the final minutes, the plane climbed at a speed which was beyond normal,” the minister told reporters.

Wreckage of the crash.

The plane crashed in shallow waters with 162 people on board, but so far

Former top police officer turned politican and Bharatiya Janata Party Chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi gestures during a road show while heading to the district collectors office to file her nomination papers for ongoing Delhi State Assembly election in New Delhi yesterday. Polling will be held on feb 7 with counting two days later AFP

n Agencies A rare BJP leader with no RSS link, Kiran Bedi, the party’s chief ministerial nominee for Delhi, on Monday described the Sangh as “very nationalistic” that has kept India united.

The 65-year-old Bedi, who has been pitchforked to a leadership role within days of joining BJP, also felt that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing organisation, was a very disciplined outfit and has been contributing significantly to nation building.

“They (RSS) are very nationalistic.

I would think here is an organisation which kept India together, which has

kept India neat,” Bedi told in an exclusive interview.

The former IPS officer, who was a core member of Team Anna till about two years back along with Kejriwal before they parted ways, said the AAP leader’s agitation at Rajpath within a month of becoming chief minister (on December 28, 2013) had “ticked” her off very much.

It was after Kejriwal’s protest at Rajpath that she thought of joining politics to save Delhi from “confrontational politics,” she said.

“The city of Delhi was the reason for my joining politics. Delhi has gone through a huge upheaval ever since

this man’s (Kejriwal) entry (into politics). It stood still and it’s been only on an agitation mode which left a very bad taste in the mouth of Indians. Because whatever happens in Delhi, happens in India. It affects India, it impacts India.

It’s been all about confrontation, it’s all about Rajpath Dharnas. What kind of person is he (Kejriwal) who says I am an anarchist? Three days Delhi was standstill (when Kejriwal was on dharna as chief minister),” she said.

While she was severely critical of AAP, she was full of praise for RSS and said people do not know the “real” RSS. “You do not know them. I have seen

it all ... I saw very disciplined people and being very very strongly nationalistic. Teaching discipline to youngsters,” she said.

Anna Hazare’s first reaction on Bedi: Anti corruption crusader Anna Hazare yesterday said that he doesn’t want to get into ‘dirt’ of politics. Shutting his doors on Kiran Bedi, Hazare said that corruption and Lokpal were top priority for him.

Interestingly Kiran Bedi has announced that corruption was seventh on her agenda. Hazare said that anti corruption movement will be relaunched after New Delhi elections with new team members. l

Iraqi Kurds in major offensive against ISIL n Tribune Desk Kurdish Peshmerga forces have launched a major military operation in northwestern Iraq, following recent attempts to push across a frontline near the ISIL stronghold of Tal Afar.

Hundreds of Peshmerga troops have been deployed along frontlines pushing south from the Mosul Dam yesterday, after clearing almost 4km of territory.

With the help of the US-led coalition, the Peshmerga have been try-

Philippines says China expanding South China Sea reclamation

Hindu widow saved 10 Muslims in Bihar riots

n AFP

n Agencies

Philippine officials accused China yesterday of expanding reclamation work in disputed waters of the South China Sea, as the United States again called for restraint in the territorial conflict.

Philippine and US officials spoke as the longstanding allies ended a two-day

strategic dialogue in Manila, reaffirming defence and economic cooperation.

“The Chinese activities in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) continue to be a serious concern, arising from reports of greater development in reclamation,” Philippine defence undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino told reporters.

Batino refused to elaborate on the

progress of the reclamation, saying only: “It’s very serious. It has grown.”

Philippine foreign undersecretary Evan Garcia described the Chinese reclamation work as “massive” and a violation of an agreement among South China Sea claimants not to build new structures until a binding code of conduct is in place. l

PAKISTAN’S IDEOLOGY COUNCIL SUBMITS PROPOSALS

Three consecutive declarations for divorce should be punishable offence n Tribune Report Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) yesterday proposed that the practice of making divorce an act of three vocalised sentences be made an offence.

The CII proposed numerous resolutions yesterday, the final day of its convention which was chaired by Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani.

Religious experts, clerics, researchers and the 11 members of the council were present at the meeting in which 14 issues were conferred upon.

Under many interpretations of Islamic law, men easily can obtain a divorce known as “talaq” by simply declaring their intention three times. A woman, however, usually needs the pronouncement of a Muslim judge who is a scholar in the field of Islamic jurisprudence.

Earlier, the CII had suggested that the divorce sought by a woman would go into effect if the husband fails to respond within three months. It also recommended registering the first declaration of divorce by the husband, following which the second and third declaration would terminate the marriage.

The recommendations sparked a row as religious scholars and political parties criticised the Council for Islamic Ideology of misinterpreting the Islamic Shariat laws. Critics were of the view that the

Council has no right to suggest reforms against the basic spirit of Shariah Laws.

Divorce Chairman of the CII Maulana Sherani proposed that the pronouncement of three divorces at once be recognised as a punishable offense. He declared on behalf of the council that pronouncing divorce thrice simultaneously is un-Islamic and against Shariah.

In response to the council’s decision on multiple divorces, religious cleric Mufti Naeem told DawnNews, “To declare giving three divorces at once a crime, I think is inappropriate.” He maintained that while declaring a divorce there consecutive times has been strongly disliked by Prophet Muhammad (SM), it is not a crime per say.

The council earlier stirred controversy when it stated that a Muslim woman could not object to the second or subsequent marriages of her husband.

Maulana Sherani declared that the nature of punishment for the pronouncement of three divorces should be left to respective courts where particular cases are handled.

Obligation of niqab for female judges Speaking on behalf of the CCI, Maulana Sherani proposed that female judges

should be obligated to cover or observe niqab (face veil). He added that the veil should be observed according to principles of Shariah Law.

Juvenile punishments In the convention, the council rejected a bill regarding juvenile punishments, declaring punishments for minors un-Islamic and inappropriate. It has advised the government to reassess and draft a new bill in this regard.

Independence day holiday The council, which has been holding sessions for the past two days, has proposed for Aug 14 to be rendered a public holiday owing to the day’s paramount national significance.

During his address, Maulana Sherani presented the council members’ consensus that ‘Black Days’ or days of mourning should not be observed in Pakistan regardless of adversity faced by the nation.

Denouncing instances of sectarian violence rife in the country, CCI proposed in the final session of its meeting that a Code of Conduct be formulated by the government to curb sectarian hostility.

The members of the council also discussed measures to promote interfaith harmony among the Pakistani people. l

A Hindu woman who saved lives of 10 Muslims in this village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district during the recent clashes in which five people died is being hailed as a hero, officials said.

Shail Devi, a frail widow in her early 50s, risking her own life, gave shelter to her Muslim neighbours when a mob of more than 5,000 people attacked Azizpur Bahilwara village after a 20-year-old Hindu boy’s body was found Sunday.

He was allegedly abducted and killed over his love affair with a Muslim girl.

“I provided shelter to my Muslim neighbours to save their lives because the mob could have killed them,” Shail said yesterday morning.

Shail, a poor woman fighting for her survival like many others in this village, told IANS that she along with her two daughters stood guard outside her house when a mob was targeting Muslims in the village. She told them that it was a house of a “Mallah” (fisherman).

“I lied to rioters that I had not given shelter to Muslims in my house.

Though some people tried to enter my house but I stopped them and they returned,” she said.

Shail, widow of late Jaglal Sahni, has become a household name in the village and neighbouring villages for her rare example of communal harmony.

“She has proved again that humanity is still alive, we are proud of her,” Arvind Kumar, a villager, said.

Ash Mohammad, a man in his 60s, who was one of the ten Muslims whose lives were saved by Shail, told IANS that she is like “farishta” (angel) to them.

“Shail was like god-sent angel to us ...,” Mohammad said.

Mohammad admitted that all of them could have been killed if Shail had not given shelter to them.

A day after she saved lives of her

just 53 bodies have been recovered.

Divers have been struggling for a week against rough seas and strong currents to reach the plane’s main body, which was spotted on the seabed and is thought to contain the bulk of the remaining passengers and crew.

The two black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, were recovered last week after a lengthy search, and investigators are expected to complete a preliminary report next week.

As well as the cockpit voice recorder, the NTSC is examining a wealth of information in the flight data recorder, which monitors every major part of the plane.

They are focusing on the possibility of human or aircraft error, after ruling out terrorism following an analysis of the cockpit voice recorder.

Committee head Tatang Kurniadi said that the preliminary report into the crash would be completed on Tuesday, a month after the accident. He said the full report would not be released publicly but the media would be told some of its contents.

There was a huge international hunt for the crashed plane, involving ships from several countries including the US and China.

All but seven of those on board the flight were Indonesian. The foreign nationals were from South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Britain and France. l

Muslim neighbours, some Hindu villagers warned her that she may be targeted by some people of the mob for doing it, Shail said.

“I was so frightened that I along with my two daughters and a son Monday took shelter in Mohammad’s house but after district administration persuaded, I returned to my home,” she said.

Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who visited the village yesterday, met Shail. He lauded her role and compared her with legendary Rani Lakshmibai.

Manjhi also announced a cash reward of Rs 51,000 for her.

“She is an example of communal harmony. People should take lesson from her and she would inspire others to follow her,” Manjhi praised her.

Manjhi also announced assistance of Rs 20,000 each to her two unmarried daughters under a welfare scheme.

Earlier, Bihar information technology minister Shahid Ali Khan also praised Shail for saving the lives of her Muslim neighbours.

“I promised her help by the state government, and a reward for her soon,” said Khan, who visited the village Tuesday.

A first information report (FIR) was registered Monday against 2,000 unidentified people and 12 named accused who were part of the mob that attacked the villagers from a particular community, the official added.

Police have already arrested 14 people in this connection.

Additional director general of police Gupteshwar Pandey submitted an inquiry report on the incident Tuesday to the state government.

Soon after the incident, Manjhi asked Pandey and state home secretary Sudhir Kumar to conduct a probe and report to him.

The BJP Tuesday demanded a judicial probe into the killing of four people and arson in a village that later turned into a communal clash in Bihar. l

ing to take strategic territory that will cut vital ISIL supply lines from their strongholds in Syria into Iraq.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from near the Mosul Dam, said that Peshmerga commanders were confident of the operation, even though they knew it may take some time.

“The military operation is being carried out jointly with the US coalition.

Since the early hours of the morning we have seen coalition planes dropping bombs targeting ISIL positions,” she said. l

Nigerian officers face court martial over Boko Haram n Reuters, Abuja Nigeria has ordered a brigadier general and 21 other army officers to face a court martial over alleged sabotage in the war against Islamist militant group Boko Haram, two military sources said on Tuesday.

The charges were not specified.

Some officers have long been suspected of colluding with Boko Haram, with President Goodluck Jonathan saying in May that the Sunni jihadist group had “infiltrated ... the armed forces and police.” l

Pakistani IS commander arrested in Lahore n Reuters Pakistani security forces have arrested a man they believe is the commander of the Islamic State group in the country as well as two accomplices involved in recruiting and sending fighters to Syria, intelligence sources said yesterday.

Authorities in South Asia are concerned about the rise of the jihadist group in a region already beset by home-grown insurgencies fighting to topple local governments and set up strict Islamic rule. l

Catholic Church ‘Allah’ appeal shot down in Malaysia n Tribune Desk Malaysia’s highest court has rejected the Catholic Church’s application to appeal a ban on its use of the word “Allah” in the Malay-language section of its newspaper, the Catholic Herald, bringing to an end a protracted legal battle over constitutional rights.

The five-man panel, headed by Federal Court Judge Abdul Hamid Embong, yesterday dismissed unanimously the application, the second by the Church. l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Thursday, January 22, 2015

CODE-CRACKER

BNP cannot evade responsibility for hartal carnage

I

t has demonstrably been proven that whatever politicians calling blockades and hartals say about only supporting peaceful protests, these calls continually lead to sickening incidents of violence.

Dozens of people have been killed and injured by the anarchy and violence wrought by this month’s blockades and strikes.

The appalling case of a family of two innocent doctors and their two-year-old son being seriously burnt and maimed by pickets hurling petrol bombs onto a public bus in Narayanganj on Sunday, is but one of many distressing tragedies.

Even if such acts are mostly perpetrated by tiny numbers of thugs for hire and unrepresentative militants, it is the general public that pays the price for politicians prolonging the dispute that gives license to these criminals.

It is totally unacceptable for the public to suffer from the inflexibility of political leaders in the stand-off between the government and BNP. We find the BNP leader’s decision to call a 48-hour hartal this week to be the height of irresponsibility.

Not only does it heighten the chances of violence and deliver nothing to bring forward a peaceful resolution, it also forfeits the moral high ground that Khaleda Zia could have claimed from the government’s highhandedness in denying the BNP space for political protests.

She would have been better off using her clout to publicly call off the blockades and lay claim to a peaceful, and undoubtedly more popular path to putting the government on the spot.

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

Writing off democracy January 10

or jail time and even “disappearance.”

The public pays the price for the inflexibility of political leaders

Cut subsidies, not prices

T

he public hearing on the Power Development Board’s proposal to raise bulk power tariff rates by 18.12% should take note of the strong arguments for raising prices.

While it may seem tempting and more popular to use recent falls in global oil prices as a reason to resist energy price rises, the fact remains that the economy is harmed by current pricing structures.

Artificially low prices deprive the PDB of funds for investment in new production sources as it is forced to incur large losses on its bulk electricity sales to distribution companies.

They also encourage wasteful use by consumers who can afford to pay market prices and reduce investment in cutting system loss and improving efficiency.

Irrational subsidies are an underlying reason why the country is deprived of the reliable power supplies it needs to support growth and improve living standards.

To sustainably end the curse of load shedding, the economy needs higher energy prices to ensure more funds are invested in stable energy supplies.

Taxpayers currently spend almost a billion dollars (Tk7,500 crore) directly subsidising power prices. The harm done by distorting the market creates more costs for the public in the long run by keeping energy supplies unreliable.

Scarce taxpayer funds should not be spent subsidising wasteful use by consumers who can afford to pay market prices, when they could be better invested in education and development.

Falls in global oil prices should be seen as an ideal opportunity to move towards cutting subsidies and letting energy prices follow the market.

Don’t waste taxpayer money on costly subsidies, let prices follow the market

vhs Esam Sohail is such a pleasure to read. A rare, truly neutral columnist. shottikar bangalee There’s a saying: Scratch a cynic and you get a disappointed idealist underneath. I think Mr Sohail is one such idealist. Thoroughly enjoyed the piece.

Lonewolf Great piece! This would have been the time for a rational opposition to step up and show the way … sadly, history and current rhetoric tell us that they would hardly be better. The restoration of fundamental rights will require strong independent institutions, and though a hard pill to swallow, it might require some external pressure along with a grassroots effort.

Veco Great piece. Unfortunately, this type of fact-based criticism is not possible for anyone living in Bangladesh. He/she has to fear for sedation charge and/

BNP mulling new strategy for the coming months

January 10 Babul Sarwar Is the government failing to ensure people’s lives and properties? If the answer is “yes,” shouldn’t the government start talking?

Rubel gets bail

January 11 Optimistic Shufol How do laws in Bangladesh define rape? I became very confused when, according to the law, Rubel Hossain was arrested for rape and then denied bail. Committing rape by refusing to marry? The whole thing is absurd! And if women can try and get away with it, then it is terrifying for the men who might find themselves in similar situations.

Hartal in Dhaka, 17 districts Monday

January 11 Tim Steel Could someone please explain the theoretical and the practical difference between hartal and blockade?

There can be no excuse January 10 riazo Thank you for an editorial that does not append condemnation with the word “but” or “if.” Those words are never applicable when condemning such barbaric acts by Islamist terrorists.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 20 represents S so fill S every time the figure 20 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Farhad Faisal Mr Sohail has done an excellent job of recalling the two crucial periods of political distortions, perpetrated from the opposite directions. They are among the legacies of today’s political reality.

It would be too hurried though to write off a democratic future for this land. One may well be disappointed without a collateral, but what collateral did he have in mind? There is one though, a long-term one, that is the people of Bangladesh.

Zia Another great piece of writing. Let us not write off democracy yet. Let us find a way to dialogue and move democracy forward. Clamping down on democracy through oppressive means bodes ominous future for Bangladesh. Let us learn from history and walk in the shoes of reason before things go out of control in Bangladesh.

Karl Hungus I know not why, but reading Mr Sohail’s column always brings out the inner misanthrope in me … in a twisted-ly good way though.

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.

Dreampie Karl Hungus: Indeed-ly doodley. In fact, I read that line about pampered youth and their self-indulgent seminars in James McCaffrey’s distinct monotone in my head.

Climate change and a prosperous Asia

January 9 sattar Good, noble initiatives. Planet first, everything else comes later.

Dreampie sattar: Everything else comes later ... even our lives.

Evil People Politics Climate change is nothing to take lightly - literally each and every single citizen of the world is responsible of how mother Earth reacts to our blatant abusing of her.

Abellard the Greek-Lover Props to the writers for pointing out how it is the actions of developed countries which will eventually sink (pun unintended) the less developed ones. It feels like not enough focus is ever given on that specific factor when it comes to the matter of climate change.

Mother-son debacle

January 9 SR What a circus. The son is worse than the mother though.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Bludgeon (4) 4 Scottish garments (5) 9 Craft (3) 11 Water filled trench around castle (4) 12 Emits fumes (5) 13 Sports (4) 14 Augury (4) 15 Vegetables (5) 19 Precipitous (5) 21 Encourage in crime (4) 25 Be concerned (4) 26 Cunning (5) 28 Otherwise (4) 29 Morse (3) 30 Swarms (5) 31 Seeks charity (4)

DOWN 1 Fish (4) 2 Metal-bearing rock (3) 5 Set as a burden (6) 6 Machine for burden (4) 7 Story (4) 8 Gem (5) 10 Useful thing (5) 16 High regard (6) 17 Small anchor (5) 18 Aspect (5) 20 Company of lions (5) 22 Large bundle (4) 23 Celtic language (4) 24 Wagers (4) 27 Ship’s record (3)

Tom Clancy’s Sunglasses SR: Agreed. Takes a special kind of cowardice to literally abscond.

BS Grovelling.

An open letter to politicians January 10

sb “You’re the people who should let us know how our tomorrow will look like.”

Noble attempt, but our politicians don’t read letters.

They hit the streets for mayhem.

Barely Legal Alien sb: I doubt if most of them are even capable of reading in the first place.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

rose Our politicians should indeed think about this open letter.

PEANUTS

Mushfique Wadud The first open letter should be written to journalists and then politicians … correct our journalists first and politicians will be corrected automatically.

Rajapaksa concedes defeat after decade in power

January 9 WaliulHaqueKhondker Democracy has won in Sri Lanka as it did in India last year! Bangladesh and Pakistan are still in their nascent forms, so far as democracy is concerned. One has Islam as it’s state religion and other is an Islamic Republic! Could that be the reason?

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Thursday, January 22, 2015

The survivor n Ukhengching Marma

T

Burning buses is not legitimate protest

RAJIB DHAR

The bad kind of hartal

H

n Mohammad Habibur Rahman artals have become a regular feature of everyday life in Bangladesh.

Indeed, hartals in Bangladesh are historically associated with numerous important movements, including the Language Movement of 1952, the Liberation War, and the movement against an autocratic ruler in 1991.

Hence, there are many people in our country who believe that hartals are quite justifiable, and are called for appropriate causes. However, with the increasing violence and indiscipline that are associated with hartals nowadays, there are questions of how such hartals can be legal, and how destruction in the name of hartals can be a right, have been raised by various groups.

Recently, the question of legality of hartals has entered public discourse due to the anxiety, insecurity, uncertainty, and threats associated with hartals. Top political and business leaders are proposing to enact a law banning hartals to put an end to its detrimental effects.

A UNDP report on hartals showed a majority of the public agreed hartals should be banned. Thus, this issue needs to be resolved as the common people of Bangladesh hold a confused perception about the legality of hartals.

Generally, most of the people of our country regard hartals as lawful, and identify them as a democratic right.

They feel banning hartals would be

imposing a limitation on every fundamental democratic right, and in the end, it would not produce any positive result for the nation.

There is a good possibility it may even help turn a democratically elected government into an autocratic one. They believe that without establishing a trustworthy and sustainable democratic culture, based on mutual tolerance, accountability, and an independent judiciary, such a decision will be desperately detrimental for the nation and our democracy.

hartal as a political and constitutional right. However, the court also held that committing violence and coercion for or against hartals is a criminal offence.

Considering the violence associated with hartals, the court also interpreted Section 141 Clause 5 of the Penal Code 1860, which is on the offences against public tranquility, and held that a procession or other activities of five or more persons in support of, or to enforce, hartals shall be unlawful assembly, punishable under Section 143 of the code.

Hartal is an extreme form of protest. It should not be resorted to unless all other forms of protest have become ineffective

Although there is no concrete judgement or ruling regarding the legality of hartals, the issue of its legality was already answered and clarified by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in distinct judgments. For the first time in 1999, the HCD of the Supreme Court issued a suo moto rule asking for an explanation as to why a call for a hartal and the enforcement of a hartal would not be declared illegal and a criminal offence.

In this case, the court declared the

Likewise, all assemblies of five persons or more to oppose a hartal shall be an unlawful assembly. Activities of the members of these assemblies shall be cognisable offence according to their behaviour under the relevant sections contained in chapter VIII of the Penal Code.

Several questions still come to mind. On the one hand, the court has declared hartals a political and constitutional right, hence it should be tolerated when observed calmly with

no illegal activities. Conversely, it has kept a precaution against those calling the hartals, saying they shouldn’t commit any violence and infringe on anyone’s rights in the name of hartal, and directed that the government take initiative to ensure the rights of individuals from the harm of hartals.

Consequently, a common question that pops into people’s minds is: By any means, is it possible to observe hartals with no violation and harm to others’ fundamental rights including the right to liberty, movement, work, conduct business, and so on? If it is possible, what will be the nature of that hartal? Or, can that be defined as a “hartal” at all?

Finally, a question that remains to be answered is: How can the hartal, as a democratic right, be observed legally without violating others’ rights? We cannot disregard the argument of the people who think that banning hartals will, in time, be damaging to the democratic process itself.

For that reason, we have to realise that the hartal is an extreme form of protest in a democratic society, and it should not be resorted to unless all other democratic forms of protest have become ineffective. Alternatively, another way to resolve political hartals is to reach an understanding through dialogue and negotiation between the government in power and the opposition parties to determine the issues that spark off hartals. l

his is the story of an eight-yearold Marma girl who loves to go school, likes to play with her friends, and lives with her family in a small remote village in Rangamati in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. On January 14, 2015, she was coming home from school alone as her friends had left her behind.

She did not know what was going to happen to her that day. With her child’s mind, she walked home carefree. As she passed the jungle on the way back to her home, a man suddenly attacked her and a terrible incident took place: The man raped this little girl. When the girl finally returned home, she was crying and bleeding profusely.

The family, including the girl’s parents and grandmother, was able to reach Chittagong town from Rangamati with the help of some indigenous students and they admitted the girl to a hospital. A senior sister contacted me at 10pm on January 14 and asked me to come to the hospital but my university did not give me permission to leave campus at night for security reasons.

The sister stayed with the girl the whole night. According to her, the girl was bleeding profusely, but the hospital authorities did not try to give special attention to her condition. The senior sister cleaned the blood herself the whole the night and tried to console both the parents and the girl.

Then the next day, on January 15, the girl was shifted to the OCC (Onestop Crisis Centre) in another section of the hospital, but no one was allowed to stay with the girl except her mother.

As the mother cannot communicate in Bangla, I was given permission to stay with them for one night as a translator to help the mother communicate with the nurses and doctors.

As I had heard about the condition of the girl from the senior sister, I struggled to muster the courage to face the girl for the first time. I stumbled as I walked into the room. I saw a glimpse of the girl’s face from the corner of the door, closed my eyes, and then went near her.

My heart kept sinking and pinching

itself as I touched her little fingers. She did not look at me. Perhaps she was wondering about her pain and seeking answers about herself. As she was not allowed to take solid food and could only take liquids provided by the hospital, she was hungry and kept asking her mom for food.

It was heart-wrenching that we could not provide food to a hungry child due to her physical condition.

The whole night her mom and I barely slept, because the girl would often scream due to her pain. The night passed away and the sun rose with our eyes still open.

According to the girl’s mother, they know the rapist well. He has a plantation near their home and is also a tea seller in their area. In their village, there are only six indigenous Marma families surrounded by the Bengalis who were settled there from elsewhere a few years back.

Due to the hospital’s rules, I had to leave the patient’s room in the morning, but the next day I went to visit her again. I entered the OCC room by taking special permission. But this time, I discovered a completely different girl compared to my first visit.

The girl was smiling, even as she felt shy about answering my questions. I felt hopeful that perhaps the girl would be able to survive the psychological and physical trauma of the assault. I was touched by the support of the volunteers, donors, and social activists who have continuously done their best to provide all kinds of support to the girl and her family.

This incident happened within one month of another tragic incident on December 15, 2014, which also occurred in Rangamati, where one Marma girl was raped and murdered by settlers. This could have happened to me or any of my sisters. As I held the little girl in my arms and tried to comfort her, I kept asking myself why this had happened. Since God made all of us and filled our veins with the same blood, why didn’t God also provide each and every one of us with a compassionate heart? l Ukhengching Marma is a student. This article was first published on AlalODulal.org.

Mohammad Habibur Rahman is a freelance contributor.

BIGSTOCK

Corruption in a An ill wind blows from the east Muslim country? n William Milam

n Mahdin Mahboob

T

he religion of Islam, followed by approximately 1.6 billion people in the world, is perhaps the most misunderstood and misinterpreted of religions.

Originally intended to be a religion with one God and one prophet, various interpretations over time has led to many different man-made sects, who seem keen on fighting each other to death.

The Holy Qur’an has often been misused to support political ideologies, which has done more harm than good. A way of life which promises social and personal peace and harmony seems to be a thing of the past.

In Bangladesh, over 90% of the population is Muslim, and ironically enough, we also have a very high corruption rate. I fail to understand how both of these can be true at the same time.

Perhaps it is because we, the Muslims in our country, take words from the Holy Qur’an too literally, when it has really provided many of its instructions metaphorically.

In Chapter 17, Verse 35, the Holy Qur’an clearly states: “And give full measure when you measure, and

weigh with a balance that is straight.

That is good (advantageous) and better in the end.”

Also, in Chapter 83, Verses 1 to 6, it is mentioned, “Woe to the defrauders.

Who, when they take the measure (of their dues) from men, take it fully, but when they measure out to others or weigh out for them, they are deficient.

Do they not think that they shall be raised again, for a mighty day, the day on which men shall stand before the Lord of the worlds?”

It is important for us to understand that these instructions are not only meant for shopkeepers who are selling products based on weight, but for everyone belonging to every profession. Whether you are a banker, a teacher, or a high government official, you have to give your 100% in your job, and make your income halal (permissible) for you and your family.

It is not enough to lead a corrupted life and then perform the Hajj (and get “purified of all sins”) after one retires.

We have to lead a good life all the way through, and have to feel compassion for others who are needy and helpless.

That is what Islam and the Holy Qur’an asks us to do. l Mahdin Mahboob is a graduate student, based in New York, USA.

T

his intensification of the measures against all forms of opposition could signal a decision by the AL leaders (really Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who seems to answer to no one these days) to consolidate the AL one-party government into a one-party state before growing popular disillusion solidifies into popular resistance.

If so, it probably also means a cycle of increasing repression, increasing violence, and much greater instability.

The BNP wanted to hold a rally to protest government actions despite the official ban on street demonstrations put in place recently by the government. Insisting on doing so would be a recipe for violence.

Clearly, the first item on the agenda of an authoritarian-minded party seeking absolute power is to destroy any opposition that can claim to be legitimate. The BNP can claim legitimacy despite its abysmally poor record when in office.

Both parties have governed very badly. Rumour has circulated for a number of months that Khaleda would be arrested on some charge or other, possibly on corruption, or perhaps as the Economist magazine has suggested, on sedition.

Given the control the government exercises over the courts, and the authoritarian mindset that seems to be

inspiring the AL, speaking as opposition leader against the government could lead to a charge of sedition that the courts would uphold.

One wonders, however, if the sudden crackdown on all opposition is not a preemptive move of a government that feels growing levels of dissatisfaction in the country. The AL has, it is assumed by many observers, managed to avoid popular discontent so far because the economy keeps chugging along at 5-6% growth, and poverty continues to decline, albeit at a fairly slow rate.

that are almost always manipulated to make the government look better than it is, that the economic outlook is as rosy as many predict, especially in the rural areas.

In any case, it is possible that Sheikh Hasina’s legitimacy may not be as solid as she thought it was, and she may have decided to hammer the opposition on the one hand and offer up bucolic visions of the future on the other to the masses.

With most of the opposition locked up or clammed up or bought up – the only voices of dissent I see in the

The AL has, it is assumed by many, managed to avoid popular discontent so far because the economy keeps chugging along at 5-6% growth

The prime minister took to the media herself the other day to boast of the government’s plans for the future largely on empowering women and the underprivileged. One might infer that it was an effort to take peoples’ minds off the present and focus them on heady promises for the future. It is not clear to me, despite statistics

English language press are from the Bangladeshi diaspora – it is not certain that she can be stopped.

The international community seems inclined to look the other way, perhaps believing that Bangladesh is a lost cause for democratisation. India, which stands to lose most if instability becomes chronic and dysfunctional,

seems unconcerned now.

This, in itself, is a disincentive for those in Bangladesh who are opposed to the AL’s authoritarian ways to step up and voice dissent. Can the West, and will it try to, keep them out of jail and out of harm’s way?

As one wag recently wrote that Sheikh Hasina has trained the AL “in the art of bullying, bashing, muzzling free voice, thuggery (sic), creating and abolishing movements (like the Shahbagh movement), creating an opposition party that is a part of her government and [whose leader] sits in her cabinet and votes in favor of the ruling party …”

She has, this anonymous writer says, created the “world’s first model of autocratic ‘democracy’.” (I note the author of this send up did not sign his name to the article. I also note that the BNP wasn’t bad at these same skills when in power.)

My guess, however, is that the democratic elements of civil society and the opposition parties will not bow down without a fight. Sooner or later, in the absence of a peaceful turnover of government, there will be violence – and it may be pretty serious.

We may regret our indifference. l William B Milam is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, DC, and former US Ambassador to Pakistan and Bangladesh. This article was first published in The Friday Times.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, January 22, 2015

13 Ailing Nadal,

Sharapova survive big scares

14 France’s Euro

2000 hero Trezeguet retires

14 China’s Dalian

Wanda buys 20% of Atletico Madrid

Sport

Did you know?

Chelsea managed just one shot in each half of Tuesday’s Capital One Cup match against Liverpool

BANGABANDHU GOLD CUP

Tier one assured, thanks to Sri Lanka n Shishir Hoque

Bangladesh paceman Rubel Hossain rolling in the field during training at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur yesterday

Tigers end home prep on happy note n Minhaz Uddin Khan The Bangladesh national cricketers wrapped up their home-phase of training ahead of the World Cup yesterday.

The last two days saw the Tigers play “match situation” games alongside some unusual fielding drills that even involved a “bowling machine.”

The Bangladesh team is scheduled to leave Dhaka on January 24 for the two-week long conditional camp in Brisbane. Fast bowler Rubel Hossain attended the press conference at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday and said they are happy with the preparation and are eagerly waiting to set foot in Australia.

“I think we tried to do the best we can,” said Rubel. “Of course the condition here is totally different from what we will have in Australia and New Zealand but for that we have the two weeks of conditional camp in Brisbane.”

The mega multinational event will be the second for 25-year-old Rubel, yet it will be a “very tough time” for him given his recent personal problems. His

legal tussle with actress Naznin Akter Happy saw a Dhaka court send him to jail earlier this month and spent three nights behind the bars.

“I think those were the toughest days in my life but I don’t want to think much about it. We have a very big mission ahead so I personally want to focus only there,” said the Bagerhat lad.

When queried if the recent set of

events in his personal life will make his appearance in the World Cup more challenging, Rubel said, “I always try to perform when I am given the opportunity. Yes, this World Cup is a challenge for me but only because we have to get good results from it.”

Bangladesh, given the condition in Australia and New Zealand, aim to put up competition with their counterparts relying on the pace attack.

However, there is a question mark on the strategy looking into the performances of the side’s seamers in the ODIs in their last away tour to West Indies in August last year.

“Bouncy wickets do help the pacers as it allows to attack the batsman at many points but then again to be successful one has to maintain proper line and length.”

“But the problem with our (Bangladesh) bowlers is that we rarely play on wickets which help the pacers. But I hope we will be able to come over the barrier through the conditional camp and utilise what we learn in the matches,” explained Rubel. l

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

The much-hyped forthcoming Bangabandhu Gold Cup is all set to be classified as a Tier 1 Fifa competition, courtesy of the participation of the Sri Lankan national team.

Bahrain and Singapore had already confirmed to send their Olympic team while the respective football governing body of Thailand and Malaysia yesterday sent their approval of participating in the six-nation international tournament with their Under-23 side. That leaves only Bangladesh and Sri Lanka playing with their national team and as per the law, one international match is enough to make a tournament fall under Tier 1 competition.

Meanwhile, Fifa and Asian Football Confederation (Afc) have also answered to the Bangladesh Football Federation’s query through email and assured to officially authorise the tournament as Tier 1 soon.

According to Fifa regulations of governing international matches (Article 7.3), “A competition that contains at least one Tier 1 international match shall be classified as a Tier 1 competition.”

Hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are placed in Group A and therefore their encounter is enough to label the tournament as Tier 1. “We asked them (Fifa and Afc) whether the tournament will be under Tier 1 category. It will be Tier 1 competition and they said they will authorise it soon,” said BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag yesterday.l

ULAB face NSU in Fair Play Cup opener n Raihan Mahmood Transmitting the message of camaraderie, the 8th ULAB Fair Play Cup Inter-Private University Cricket Tournament comprising 16 leading universities starts at the ULAB cricket ground today. Defending champions University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and North South University will lock horns in the inaugural match.

The tournament’s first edition back in 2006 saw only six teams participate and after nine years the number of teams grew to highest 16 this time. Apart

from the hosts the other participating universities are BRAC University, North South University, East West University, Northern University Bangladesh, United International University, State University of Bangladesh, Manarat International University, Independent University Bangladesh, University of Asia pacific, South East University, Eastern University, Green University of Bangladesh, Premier University of Chittagong, University of Information Technology and Sciences, European University of Bangladesh.

The T20 format tournament will see the teams split across four groups with

the top two from each group progressing to the Super 8. The champions will receive Tk40,000 while the runners-up will be awarded with Tk25,000 as prize money. The final will be played on February 11.

The details of the event were revealed in the press conference held at the Dutch-Bangla Bank Auditorium of BOA House yesterday where Prof. Imran Rahman, Vice Chancellor of ULAB, Roquibul Hassan, former captain of Bangladesh cricket team and Advisor of ULAB Fair Play Cup and Lt. Col. Foyzul Islam (Retd.), Registrar of ULAB, were present among others.

BD face Oman in QF n Raihan Mahmood Bangladesh face Oman in the third quarterfinal of the Hockey World League at the Sengkang Hockey Stadium at 3.30pm BST today.

Bangladesh will look to avenge their 2-3 defeat to the same opponent in the Asian Games last year and reach the semifinals of this mega event.

A win will see Bangladesh face Poland in the semifinal while a loss will make them play the loser from the match between Poland and Singapore. l

Prof. Imran Rahman (L), former cricket captain Roquibul Hassan (C) and Lt. Col. Foyzul Islam (retd.) attended the press conference at BOA auditorium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Sledging is part of cricket: Mushfiq, Tamim n Mazhar Uddin

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal (L) riles up Zimbabwean batsman Hamilton Masakadza during a one-day international last year MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Cricket is a sport where only physical ability is not enough. Mental strength is also required in order to overcome a crunch situation.

Without a shadow of a doubt, sledging or verbal exchanges between opposition players has been a common sight of modern cricket in recent times. Sledging is often used as a tactic to frustrate the opponent mentally.

Therefore, if a player is mentally vulnerable, he is susceptible to breaking down during a game, which sometimes has a negative influence on his performance. Similarly, if a player is mentally resolute, then he will be more than capable of handling a difficult scenario, thus enhancing his prospects of displaying a good performance.

Ever since attaining the Test status back in 2000, the Tigers have come a long way as far as sledging is concerned. In the early stages, the Bangladesh cricketers, in response to the opposition’s wrath, replied with a mere smile. But, as time went on, the Tigers have shown their mettle, thanks to the current batch of fearless cricketers like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib al Hasan.

Among the trio, Mushfiq, Bangladesh’s Test captain and former ODI skipper, reaffirmed that sledging is indeed a part of cricket but it has its limits. “Obviously, sledging is part of cricket, why should it not be?

If it helps my team to get the momentum, it is always fair. But, it has its limits,” Mushfiq told Dhaka Tribune recently.

Me and Daniel Vettori always had heated conversations on the field. He always tries to tempt me. But, it’s nothing personal The chirpy Tamim is probably the most verbal amongst the Bangladesh cricketers.

Most of the Tigers’ squad members unanimously agreed that the marauding opener leads the way when it comes to riling up any opposition cricketer. “Most of the times, Tamim bhai interacts with the opponent.

He often frustrates the opposition batsmen while he is fielding,” opening batsman Anamul Haque told Dhaka Tribune.

One of Tamim’s recent exchanges came

in the second Test against the West Indies in the Caribbean last year. It was West Indian batsman Darren Bravo who started it all.

“Why don’t you pay the cricketers money?” Bravo inquired Tamim, poking fun at the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 where several West Indian cricketers participated.

Tamim replied without hesitation, “Don’t come to our country and beg for money.”

The verbal clash between Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza and Tamim last month is also another example.

Upon being dismissed, Masakadza expressed his dismay with the umpire’s decision. As the burly Masakadza was refusing to leave the ground, Tamim dished out an earful which no doubt annoyed the Zimbabwean batsman.

Tamim was fined following the end of the game but according to the Chittagong cricketer, he is happy to be punished if his team is benefitted. “I think sledging is part of cricket. I try to frustrate the opponent which sometimes helps us. I am happy if my team benefit from my conversations or comments towards the opposition cricketers,” Tamim told Dhaka Tribune.

The hard-hitting opener went on to

inform that he always gets into a heated conversation with veteran New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori whenever they meet in the field. “We always had heated conversations on the field and he always tries to tempt me. However, it’s nothing personal,” Tamim added.

Sports psychologist Ali Khan on the other hand informed Dhaka Tribune that only a cricketer who is mentally strong can use it to a positive effect.

“Look, there is always a positive or negative reaction to sledging. If a cricketer is mentally tough and applies those words in a positive way, then he can dominate,” he said.

With the 2015 ICC World Cup knocking at the door, the Tigers should also concentrate on their mental aspects besides honing their technique and skill. However, all the mental preparation might not be required at all as the International Cricket Council recently announced they would clamp down on any on-field confrontation in the mega event. It remains to be seen whether the guidelines are followed.

If they aren’t, then the Bangladesh fans need not worry as the Tigers are more than capable of looking after themselves. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

QUICK BYTES

Mourinho jokes about Gerrard loan deal Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has joked that he might make a bid to sign Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard on loan when he leaves for the United States at the end of the season. Gerrard announced at the beginning of the year that he would leave Anfield when his contract expired in July to join MLS champions LA Galaxy. The 34-year-old proved he can still play at the highest level though, after a lively display in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea in a pulsating League Cup semifinal first leg at Anfield on Tuesday. When asked if he would try to sign Gerrard, Mourinho told BBC radio: “Or to get him on loan. “I’m not happy he leaves. I would love the Premier League to keep always the best players. “I think he has more than enough quality to play in the Premier League. In spite (of the fact) he’s my opponent, I feel sorry that he’s leaving,” he added. Mourinho had spoken before the semi-final tie about his regret at not completing a deal to sign Gerrard in 2005 during his first spell as Chelsea manager, with a move breaking down after the midfielder decided to stay at Anfield.

–Reuters

Arsenal sign Polish teen Bielik Arsenal on Wednesday confirmed the signing of teenage midfielder Krystian Bielik from Polish side Legia Warsaw. The transfer of the promising 17-year-old was posted on the official Arsenal website, with a fee in the region of £2.5million ($3.8million, 3.3 million euros) said to have been agreed. The Poland youth international is expected to work initially within the Gunners’ Under-21s side, but then the aim would be for him to swiftly progress through to the senior squad. A statement from Arsenal read: “Arsenal have completed the signing of 17-yearold midfielder Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw for an undisclosed fee.” Bielik, who made his senior debut for Legia at the age of 16, has made six appearances for the club, and can play in both midfield and defence. Arsenal won 2-0 at Manchester City on Sunday to close back up on the top four of the Premier League and manager Arsene Wenger is determined to secure some more defensive cover in the January transfer window.

–AFP

AC Milan send Niang on loan to Genoa French striker M’Baye Niang has been loaned to Genoa by struggling Serie A giants AC Milan, according to reports Wednesday. Niang joined Milan in 2012 but spent much of last season on loan at Montpellier, where he scored four goals in 19 games for the Ligue 1 side.

The 20-year-old Niang, born in France to Senegalese parents, returned to Milan at the start of the season but has made only five appearances for Filippo Inzaghi’s side. Milan and Genoa have yet to make any official announcement but a website report on La Gazzetta dello Sport said Niang, who made a rare start for Milan in a 1-1 draw away to Torino a fortnight ago, was seen saying goodbye to the rest of his teammates after training on Wednesday.

If confirmed, the move could see Genoa drop their interest in Roma forward Marco Borriello. For the third consecutive season, seven-times European champions Milan are struggling in Serie A and are in danger of missing out on next season’s Champions League for what would be the second successive season.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 2 Ranji Trophy

Sport

Nadal, Sharapova survive big scares n AFP, Melbourne Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova survived huge scares after being pushed to the limit at the Australian Open on Wednesday, but Roger Federer had an easier workout in the gruelling Melbourne conditions.

World number three Nadal battled stomach cramps to come out on top of a mammoth five-setter with American qualifier Tim Smyczek, with the 14-time Grand Slam champion prevailing 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 7-5 in a 4hr 12min epic.

The Spaniard is returning from injury and with little match practice and said he found it tough going in the humid night conditions, at one point being sick on court.

“For me after a tough period of time out of competition in the last seven months and just playing a few matches, today was a little bit humid and I felt very tired after the first set and for the whole match,” he said.

The second seeded Sharapova also struggled, melting down as the afternoon heat was turned up.

She needed to draw on all her experience to save two match points before staging a gritty comeback to beat courageous compatriot Alexandra Panova 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

World number two Federer also had a wobble, dropping the first set before bouncing back to trounce Italian Simone Bolelli 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and move into the third round.

British sixth seed Andy Murray joined him with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 drubbing of local hope Marinko Matosevic.

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after defeating Tim Smyczek of the US during their men’s singles second round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday REUTERS Other seeds progressing included men’s and women’s seventh seeds Tomas Berdych and Eugenie Bouchard, and 10th seeds Grigor Dimitrov and Ekaterina Makarova.

World number ones Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic play their second round matches on Thursday.

While the searing 42 Celsius (107.6

Fahrenheit) heat of last year has yet to materialise in Melbourne, temperatures topped 33C and players, including Sharapova and Nadal, draped ice towels around their shoulders at the changeovers.

Sharapova, who can unseat Williams as world number one if she wins the title, wilted badly after winning the

opening set, firing a slew of unforced errors that almost had her on an early plane home.

“I didn’t actually want to be out here for two-and-a-half hours but that’s sometimes the way it goes on days when you’re not playing your best sometimes it’s good enough just to get through,” she said.

“I was one point away from being out of this tournament twice today and not playing my best tennis so I’m just happy I was able to win that last point.”

The five-time Grand Slam champion, red-faced from the heat, trailed 4-1 in the deciding set and looked out for the count, but rallied to save two match points when down 4-5 before hanging on for an unlikely victory.

Federer, chasing his fifth Australian Open title, enjoyed slightly cooler, but still humid conditions, later in the day and steadied after losing the first set to sweep past Bolelli, despite a mystery swollen finger.

“Simone played really well in the first set, I wasn’t playing badly, and I had to fight in the middle of the third set and go up a break to enable me to relax a little bit and play a touch better because of less pressure,” Federer said.

“He didn’t have to lose as much as me, I guess sometimes it can be an advantage and sometimes a disadvantage to be favourite.”

Federer, chasing his 18th Grand Slam title, has always made the third round in 16 attempts in Melbourne and has reached the semi-final stage for the last 11 Australian Opens.

Murray, a three-time runner-up, was always in charge against Matosevic, continuing his dominant record against Australians, having now won all 10 previous Tour level meetings with Australian players.

The Scot jumped out of the blocks and wrapped up the opening set in just 21 minutes but had some tighter games in the second and third sets. l

Is it a bee? Is it a blister?

Federer doesn’t know

ICC promise sledging crackdown at WC

n Reuters, Melbourne

n AFP, London

The mystery affliction that affected a finger, or fingers, on Roger Federer’s right hand had still not been solved more than an hour after he saw off a spirited performance from Italian journeyman Simone Bolelli at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old Swiss had just been blasted off the court in the first set by the 29-year-old journeyman when he sought treatment on his hand. Federer said it did not look like a blister and he had thought he may have been stung by a bee, but was still examining his hand after the 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory.

“I don’t know what that thing is,” the 17-time grand slam winner told reporters in a media conference while staring intently at the tips of his fingers.

“It’s the weirdest thing.

“I feel it on the tip of my finger. Just felt really odd starting after the break, and for three, four games, it was the funniest feeling I have.

“I feel like it’s numb and swollen.

Actually it went away, but now I feel it again. I don’t know what the feeling is.”

Federer declined to have the finger taped by medical staff because it would have just looked “bigger and weird”.

“You can’t see anything,” he said laughing while staring intently at his hand. But it is definitely swollen and it’s funny. I don’t know what it is. As long as it’s not getting bad, it’s okay.”

Federer and Bolelli had hammered away at each other in the first set, with the Italian seizing his one, and only, service break opportunity to seal it in 33 minutes.l

Three Russian Olympic walk champions get doping bans n Reuters, Moscow Russian Olympic walk champions Valery Borchin, Sergei Kirdyapkin and Olga Kaniskina are among five athletes banned for doping, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) said on Tuesday.

Russia’s 2011 world champion Sergei Bakulin and silver medallist Vladimir Kanaykin have also been banned for failing doping tests, RUSADA added on its website (www.rusada.ru).

“The Russian Anti-Doping Agency RUSADA after meeting with its Disciplinary Committee has decided to ban five sportsmen for taking banned substances,” it said in a statement.

“The breaking of anti-doping rules was due to abnormal blood levels in their biological passports, which belong to the International Association of Athletics Federations.”

Borchin, 28, has been suspended for eight years backdated to Oct. 15 2012, although he had already retired from competition.

Kaniskina, 30, who had also finished competing, and 35-year-old Kirdyapkin, were banned for three years and two months from Oct. 15 2012, while Bakulin got the same ban from Dec. 24 2012.

Kanaykin, 29, has received a life ban from Dec. 17 2012.

Kirdyapkin won gold in the men’s

10:00AM Tamil Nadu v Mumbai

50km walk at the 2012 London Games, while Kaniskina took silver in the women’s 20km race following the gold she claimed in Beijing in 2008.

The length of Kirdyapkin’s ban means he will be eligible to defend his title at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Borchin, who won the men’s 20km walk in Beijing, had previously been banned for a doping offence. In 2005, he tested positive for ephedrine and was suspended for one year.

Bakulin, 28, won the men’s 50km walk at the 2011 worlds while the 29-year-old Kanaykin, who was banned for two years in 2008 for taking a banned substance, won silver in the 20km. l

International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson said Tuesday the global governing body would come down hard on players who “sledged” or verbally abused their opponents at the upcoming World Cup. During the course of an extensive interview on the ICC website, former South Africa wicketkeeper Richardson also said officials were determined to continue their campaign against illegal bowling actions and added he was confident the World Cup would not be blighted by match or spot-fixing.

Several high-profile incidents in recent months have led former Australia captain Ian Chappell to say he fears it can only be a matter of time before things get so heated that a physical clash ensues.

Meanwhile New Zealand great Martin Crowe has called for the introduction of a yellow and red card system common to many other sports in a bid to punish poor on-field behaviour in cricket, which has traditionally prided itself on being a “gentlemen’s game”.

India’s ongoing tour of Australia has been marred by numerous verbal spats, with Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland taking the unusual step of publicly telling David Warner to “stop looking for trouble” after the opener’s latest flare-up saw him demand India’s Rohit Sharma “speak English” during a one-day international in Melbourne on Sunday.

Richardson said he was confident the existing system, whereby match referees oversee disciplinary punishments at major international fixtures, could cope with “disrespectful behaviour”.

“Over the last six months, or even

going back further to the last Ashes series, there have been too many examples of player behaviour going too far and overstepping the boundaries of acceptability,” Richardson told icc-cricket.com.

“The amount of sledging and disrespect shown by players to each other was bad.

“Since then, we have done a lot of work with our umpires and match referees to ensure they are much more pro-active in terms of policing behaviour on the field and - when players do overstep the mark - taking appropriate action.”

He added: “Over the last three or four months, you have seen 12 ICC code of conduct charges laid against people for exactly that - disrespectful behaviour on the field.

“For the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, it will be no different - and at all preevent briefings with the teams, the match referees will be making sure that message is delivered loud and clear.”

“The game realised we had a significant problem - and there were just too many bowlers, from all teams, bowling with suspected actions,” said Richardson.

“I think we have made very good progress in identifying those bowlers, sending them off to be tested and, where necessary, suspending them until they can remedy their actions,” he added.

As for the scourge of fixing, a bullish Richardson said: “On the corruption side, it’s safe to say we’re the best prepared we’ve ever been.

“It will be very difficult for anybody outside of the game to come and even attempt to try and corrupt players, umpires or anybody involved in the World Cup, to try and fix a match.” l

Vettel a good fit for Ferrari: Surtees

7:30PM Hockey India League Kalinga Lancers v Ranchi Rays

n Reuters, London

Star Sports 4 2:40PM T250 Big Bash League Sydney Sixers v Sydney Thunder

Ten Action 2:00AM Coppa Italia Napoli v Udinese

Sony Six 6:00AM, 2:00AM Australian Open, Day 4 Day & Evening Sessions Orange African Cup of Nations 09:00PM Zambia v Tunisia 12:30AM Cape verde v Congo Dr

Ten Sports 02:30AM Copa del Rey, QF, 1st Leg Espanyol v Sevilla

13

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Anderlecht’s new player Marko Marin poses at a press conference on Tuesday. German winger Marin is coming over on loan from English club Chelsea FC AFP

Sebastian Vettel could be just the man to revive Ferrari’s Formula One fortunes because both need to recover their lost lustre after a dismal year, the team’s 1964 world champion John Surtees said on Tuesday.

Quadruple world champion Vettel failed to win a race in 2014 with Red Bull and was eclipsed by Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo.

The 27-year-old German has replaced Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso as Kimi Raikkonen’s team mate at the most successful and oldest outfit on the grid, one who also ended the season winless for the first time since 1993.

“He’s very interested in the past, and the cars and the motorcycles. He’s a great enthusiast, but there was something missing from him last year,” Surtees told Reuters at the regional finals of the F1 in Schools competition at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge soccer stadium.

“The sparkle wasn’t there. But I think because he’s such an enthusiast, this is just what he needs. And what Ferrari needs,” added the 80-year-old Briton.

“Someone who says ‘Lets find ourselves again’ because they’ve both got to find themselves again. So that makes a good combination.”

Surtees, the only man to win the world championship on two wheels and four and now the oldest surviving F1 champion, took his title with the Italian team in an era when there was plenty of political in-fighting at Maranello but less money.

Under-performing Ferrari had a turbulent year off the track too, with three principals in the space of a season, and the Briton said he was surprised by developments.

He said he had expected Ferrari, one of just two constructors to make both chassis and engine, to adapt better than they had to the new turbo hybrid V6 era.l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Sterling slalom checks Chelsea n AFP, Liverpool Raheem Sterling’s magnificent second-half solo goal earned Liverpool a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final at a snow-speckled Anfield on Tuesday.

With Chelsea leading through Eden Hazard’s 18th-minute penalty, Jose Mourinho’s side were poised to pull off a classic smash-and-grab when Sterling surged through their defence to equalise in the 59th minute.

The goal, Sterling’s seventh of the season, was a demonstration of the 20-year-old England forward’s quicksilver brilliance and was the reward for

LEAGUE CUP RESULT

Liverpool

1-1

Sterling 59

Chelsea

Hazard 18-P

a committed and industrious display

by Brendan Rodgers’s men.

“I’m delighted with the performance, disappointed with the result.

We thoroughly deserved to win the game,” said Rodgers.

“We showed wonderful character.

Some of our play was very impressive and it sets up the second leg perfectly because they’ve probably got to open up a bit more. It’s still all to play for. It was a great game and that shows the improvements that we’re making.”

Sterling’s goal prevented Premier League leaders Chelsea from recording a third successive victory at Anfield,

where they famously derailed Liverpool’s title challenge last season.

Chelsea’s away goal means that Mourinho - seeking to win the trophy for a third time - will feel he holds the upper hand ahead of next week’s return leg.

“It’s a draw. I am not sad as a defeat, not as happy as a victory. My emotion is in the middle,” Mourinho told the BBC. “I’m not saying we are favourites now. This semi-final was two legs and now it’s only one match, and that’s at Stamford Bridge. We defended well and our goalkeeper was good.”

Gerrard almost silenced them in the 16th minute, letting fly with the kind of dipping 30-yard shot that was once his trademark, only for the recalled Thibaut Courtois to palm it over the bar.

It came after a spell of Liverpool pressure that briefly ignited the freezing crowd, but within two minutes, the hosts were behind. After Cesc Fabregas darted past him, Emre Can stuck out a leg, and Hazard fell over it. Referee Martin Atkinson deemed it a penalty and Hazard sent his Belgium team-mate Simon Mignolet the wrong way from the spot.

Chelsea continued to resist early in the second half, Gary Cahill blocking from Sterling, but just before the hour Liverpool drew level with a goal of shimmering quality.

Receiving a pass from Jordan Henderson with his back to goal 40 yards out, Sterling span away from Nemanja Matic and then glided past Cahill before drilling home with his left foot.l

Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling (top) celebrates scoring against Chelsea with team mates during their English League Cup semi-final first leg match at Anfield on Tuesday

REUTERS

Australia, China ready to kick-start long rivalry France’s Euro 2000 n Reuters, Brisbane

Australia versus China: it should be one of the great rivalries in Asian soccer.

That it isn’t, at least right now, is a reflection on how long the two regional powerhouses have taken to embrace the world’s most popular game.

But the times are changing quickly and on Thursday, the two nations will lock horns in the quarter-finals at the Asian Cup. The stakes are high and in years to come, this match could be remembered as the start of a long battle for Asian supremacy.

The countries have played each other 10 times before, with Australia winning five times, China four times and the other match drawn, but this will be

the first time in a major competition.

There are more than just bragging rights on the line. Neither country has won the Asian Cup before and both have even grander ambitions, investing millions of dollars to develop the talent they need to become a contender at the World Cup. Although Australia are newcomers to the Asian Cup, entering the competition for the first time in 2007 after ditching Oceania in search of tougher competition, the pressure is on.

The popularity of the sport in Australia has been rising steadily since the Socceroos ended a 32-year drought by qualifying for the 2006 World Cup and winning the Asian Cup on home soil would be a major shot in the arm for the code.

But an early exit for a team that made the final four years ago and was vying with Japan as favourites would be a major setback.

Australia will start as slight favourites despite suffering a surprise 1-0 loss to South Korea in their final pool match, a result that saw them finish as group runners-up and pitting them against China, who topped their group after winning their three pool matches.

The Australians piled on eight goals

QUARTER FINAL FIXTURES Australia v China Uzbekistan v South Korea in their first two matches but squandered a stack of chances against the Koreans when Postecoglou rested some of his key attackers and Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak sat the game out because of an injury.

Jedinak has been cleared to make his return on Thursday and Postecoglou said all his players had recovered from the group phase.

Mali’s goalkeeper Soumbeylia Diakite dives to save a shot on goal by Cameroon’s forward Vincent Aboubakar (C) during their 2015 African Cup of Nations group D match in Malabo on Tuesday AFP

Parma sign Varela, Rodriguez n Reuters, Milan Parma, joint bottom of Serie A alongside Cesena, have signed Uruguay midfielder Cristian Rodriguez and Portugal forward Silvestre Varela, both on loan, the club said on Tuesday.

Rodriguez, who has played for Uruguay at two Copa America tournaments and the 2014 World Cup, joined from Atletico Madrid, where he has made only six league appearances this season. The former PSG, Benfica and Porto player has not previously played in Serie A. Varela has been loaned by Porto, having spent the first half of the season at EPL’s West Brom, where he scored one goal in seven league appearances.l

Roma scrape past Empoli n Reuters, Milan AS Roma needed a hugely controversial penalty, converted by Daniele De Rossi six minutes from the end of the extra time, to see off modest Empoli 2-1 in the Italian Cup last 16 on Tuesday.

The penalty was awarded when Empoli’s Piotr Zielinski slid in to make a clearance and seemed to get the ball away cleanly, but Roma forward Leandro Paredes tripped over his outstretched leg and referee Marco Di Bello pointed to the spot.

The official was surrounded by an angry group of Empoli players and both Vecino and Zielinski were booked before De Rossi sent Davide Bassi the wrong way for the winner after the game had

finished 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.

Roma got off to a flying start when Juan Iturbe latched onto Maicon’s cross and beat Bassi with an angled drive in the fifth minute but the Argentine did not celebrate the goal, apparently in protest at criticism of his recent performances.

COPPA ITALIA RESULT 2-1 Empoli

AS Roma

Iturbe 5, Rossi 114-P

Verdi 80

Empoli stunned the Stadio Olimpico with 10 minutes left when Vecino’s through ball sent Simone Verdi clear and he rounded Lukasz Skorupski to score into an empty net and force the match into the extra period. l

China only just scraped into the tournament after a poor qualifying campaign but have been a revelation under French coach Alain Perrin.

Elsewhere, Uzbekistan will harness the pain of almost two decades of frustration against South Korea to drive them to victory in the other quarter-final on Thursday, coach Mirdjalal Kasimov said.

The Uzbeks have only beaten the Koreans once in 11 meetings, a 1-0 success in the semi-finals of the 1994 Asian Games in Japan where they went on to win gold.

Since then, South Korea have had the measure of their technically strong but mentally frail central Asian foes, a 2-1 World Cup qualifying win in 1997 kicking off a streak of eight victories and two draws.

The last meeting came in Seoul 18 months ago in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. l

hero Trezeguet retires n AFP, Buenos Aires France’s 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winning striker David Trezeguet, who enjoyed a decade leading the Juventus attack, has retired, Argentine daily Clarin reported Tuesday.

The 37-year-old’s agent had confirmed the news of his retirement on Tuesday according to Clarin and he was now set to rejoin Italian champions Juventus’ management team where he scored 149 goals in 245 games between 2000-2010. Despite a goal at the 1998 World Cup finals which France ultimately won, the striker’s most memorable goal remains the extra-time golden-goal (sudden death) that saw France beat Italy in the Euro 2000 final.

However, he was to be the only player to miss a penalty in the 2006 World

Cup final which saw Italy this time prevail in the penalty shootout.

He was born in France to an Argentine father who was at that time playing in France and although he grew up in Argentina he joined AS Monaco in 1995. After leaving Juventus, Trezeguet played for various Argentine clubs including River Plate and Newell’s Old Boys and ended his playing days at Pune City in India’s Super League.l

Cameroon, Ivory Coast escape shock defeats

Chelsea eye Cuadrado signing n AFP, Milan

n Reuters, Malabo

Chelsea are preparing a bid for Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado although La Viola would not sell the Colombian for less than 35m euros ($40million), reports in Italy said Wednesday.

Cuadrado, a reported summer transfer target for Manchester United and Barcelona, has eclipsed his shaky start to the season with a string of solid performances to help the Serie A side up to sixth place. Reports claim Chelsea are set to offer 27m euros ($31million) for the Colombian international, although Gazzetta dello Sport said Fiorentina club president Andrea Della Valle would not sell for less than the value of his buy-out clause, 35m.

In Italy’s top flight Fiorentina are 16 points behind leaders and champions Juventus. Cuadrado, who moved to Fiorentina from Udinese in the summer of 2012, has scored five goals this season including four in Serie A. l

Powerhouses Cameroon and Ivory Coast both battled back from a goal down to avoid shock defeats as they drew 1-1 with Mali and Guinea respectively in the African Nations Cup on Tuesday.

Mali were six minutes away from their first ever win over Cameroon in a raw, bruising encounter when Ambroise Oyongo struck an equaliser for the Indomitable Lions, cancelling out Sambou Yatabare’s opener.

Mali, third in the last two Nations Cups, thought they had grabbed a last-minute win when Yatabare headed in a rebound following Seydou Keita’s free kick, but it was ruled offside.

Ivory Coast were down to 10 men and trailing to Mohamed Yattara’s goal against Guinea before Seydou Doumbia saved their blushes in another full-bloodied encounter which saw

Gervinho dismissed just before the hour.

The AS Roma winger, Ivory Coast’s top player, was given his marching orders for lashing out at an opponent off the ball.

Tuesday’s Group D double bill in Malabo completed the opening round

RESULTS

Guinea

1-1

M. Yattara 36

Cameroon Oyongo 84

Ivory Coast Doumbia 72

1-1

Mali S. Yatabare 71

of matches which produced five draws in eight games and no goal-less stalemates.

The two games were played before a full house in Malabo with all fans screened for the Ebola virus and ordered to wash their hands before they were allowed into the stadium.l

China’s Dalian Wanda buys 20 pct of Atletico Madrid n Reuters, Beijing China’s biggest property conglomerate, Dalian Wanda Group Co, has bought 20 percent of Spanish soccer champions Atletico Madrid for 45 million euros ($52 million), becoming the first Mainland company to invest in a premier European club.

The purchase adds to a string of deals as Wanda expands overseas and diversifies away from a weak domestic real estate market. Over the past two years, the company agreed to invest nearly $2 billion in London and Madrid hotels and properties.l

Wang Jianlin (C), chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, holds an Atletico Madrid jersey with his name, to pose for a photo with Atletico Madrid’s President Enrique Cerezo (R) and managing director Miguel Angel Gil after a signing ceremony in Beijing yesterday REUTERS

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Made in Bangladesh to be staged on Monday n Entertainment Desk After touring Europe and India, German-Bangladeshi dance production “Made in Bangladesh” will be finally staged in the capital, at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Monday.

Invited by Goethe-Institut Bangladesh in association with Shadhona, there will be two shows of the production – at 2pm and at 7pm.

Directed by renowned German theatre director Helena Waldmann, “Made in Bangladesh” explores the notorious sweat shops of the RMG industry and the supposedly legitimate artistic “sweat shop” of a dance studio, and comes to the conclusion that they have

more in common than the cultural establishment would like to admit.

Waldmann and her Kolkata-based co-choreographer Vikram Iyengar use the complicated staccato dynamics of Kathak as a relentless choreographic reflection of piecework sewing. The choreography with 12 dancers from Bangladesh is thereby interspersed with multimedia extension in the form of video clips and sound collages.

After the premiere of “Made in Bangladesh” in the German city of Ludwigshafen in November last year and the Europe tour that followed, the ensemble most recently toured India with the support of Goethe-Institut, participating in two renowned dance festivals as well. l

Artist Nicola Strippoli Tarshito shows his artworks to the distinguished guests at the gallery

EMBROIDER THE WORLD: Nakshi Kantha in Tarshito’s eyes n Nadira Sultana Ava “Tarshito: Embroider the World,” a solo art exhibition by Italian artist Nicola Strippoli Tarshito, was inaugurated on Friday at Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts in the capital.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Mario Palma, and National Crafts Council Bangladesh President Chandra Shekhar Saha.

Nicola Strippoli was named Tarshito, which means “thirst for inner knowledge,” by his guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during his journey to India in 1979. He was intrigued by Indian primitive and spiritual beliefs. During his visit to Bangladesh, the traditional “nakshi kantha” (hand-embroidered quilt) caught his attention.

Bangladeshi nakshi kantha has unique stitching style, depicting a va-

riety of objects and designs including mythical figures, animals, birds, geometrical objects, symbols of the sun and moon, etc. Each quilt represents its maker’s cultural background, nature and perception of the world.

In the exhibition, Tarshito is showcasing 30 artworks which aptly blend these stitch work with an array of media like acrylic, gold leaf, ink, and rubber on canvas and fabric. Fifteen women from Jessore worked on these artworks for six months. Tarshito is, indeed, a master of finding the best possible craftsmen and filling them with his own inspiration, be it in Italy or any other country.

The artist believes that richness of a culture can only be grasped through its art, so he tries to incorporate the harmony of people into his own work. Merging traditional techniques of craftsmanship, he conveys messages of light, truth and goodness through his work.

For this reason, his brilliant unification of the Bangladeshi rural culture and his creations earns universal appeal.

Tarshito’s excellent mapping acquaints us with a new world which transcends geographical boundaries and relieves us from the confinement of time. In one of his thought-provoking artworks, Tarshito has connected the map of Bangladesh with that of Italy and written BANGLADESHITALY on it, using gold leaf on canvas.

Born in Southern Italy in 1952, Tarshito completed his graduation from the University of Architecture in Florence. In quest of inspiration and curiosity, he travels to many places and, looking into his own inner space, he finds his own way to be creative, his own notion of design.

Open for all every day from 12pm to 8pm, the exhibition will run until January 30. l

JENNIFER ANISTON proclaims herself the ‘No 1 Oscar snub’ n Entertainment Desk

Pandit Uday Bhawalkar performs ‘Dhrupad’ at ‘Mayar Madhuri,’ an Indian classical music programme arranged by Bengal Foundation, at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh auditorium on Tuesday KHAN HASAN MD RAFI

DIANA PENTY makes a comeback n Entertainment Desk Diana Penty was last seen in “Cocktail” playing the girl Saif Ali Khan chooses to marry over Deepika Padukone. Two years after her big debut, the actress is back in the game with her second film. The model-turned-actress has recently signed a film titled “Dolly Lahore Mein” where she will be seen playing the lead opposite Abhay Deol.

A source close to the film informed a leading daily, “After the release of Cocktail in 2012, the entire industry was waiting to sign Diana. However she kept on refusing films. In the midst there were also rumours that she was all set to tie the knot with her boyfriend who happens to be a diamond merchant and she was seen hanging around with him at various social events as well. However that aside, Diana has finally gone ahead and signed a film and it is expected to go on the floors in the next couple of months.”

“Dolly Lahore Mein” is a romantic comedy produced

by Aanand L Rai and directed by Mudassar Aziz. l

Bjork surprise releases new album n Entertainment Desk Björk has released her new album, “Vulnicura,” on iTunes just one week after announcing it in a handwritten note and two months ahead of its original March release date. The surprise early release may have been prompted by a leak of the album, which Stereogum reports surfaced over the weekend.

In a note on Facebook, the eccentric Icelandic musician said she wrote six of the nine tracks herself, co-wrote two with Arca and penned one with

Spaces. Björk and Arca produced much of the album together, while British producer the Haxan Cloak also chipped in on one track, and handled most of the mixing, save for two he mixed with Chris Elms. “Vulnicura” marks Björk’s first album in four years, and follows 2011’s “Biophilia,” which arrived complete with its own interactive app.

Björk detailed the making of “Vulnicura” in another Facebook note posted Tuesday, saying one year into writing, she realised she was making “a complete heartbreak album” with an “emotional chronology” to it. l

Jennifer Aniston may not have snagged an Oscar nominations, but she still feels like a winner.

“I’m the number one snubbed! That’s the silver lining!” she smiled to Ellen Degeneres in an Ellen interview airing Monday. “It hasn’t even come out! That’s the crazy thing — we’re so shocked and amazed that we have had this much love for a movie that hasn’t even been released yet.”

Aniston earned SAG, Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominations for her performance in the indie drama as a woman

living with chronic pain, loss and addiction.

She also took home a trophy from the inaugural People Magazine Awards and will receive the Montecito Award at the 2015 Santa Barbara International Film Festival on January 30.

“What’s been so incredible is the amount of people that have come out to me who are suffering with chronic pain and in this same situation,” Aniston explained. “It’s unbelievable how much positivity it’s bringing to those who are kind of silently suffering. It’s a beautiful, hopeful movie.”

“Cake” opens in limited theaters January 23. l

JOHNNY DEPP: Actors making music is ‘sickening’ n Entertainment Desk In comments that are unlikely to endear him to Russell Crowe and Jared Leto, Johnny Depp took aim at actors who capitalise on their fame to make music, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Speaking at the Berlin premiere of his latest film, “Mortdecai,” Depp didn’t hold back in slamming those of his profession who fancy themselves as musicians.

“That whole idea for me is a sickening thing, it’s always just made me sick,” he told reporters.

Depp himself plays guitar and has played on records by British band Oasis as well as recorded and performed with Marilyn Manson, as he did last November. He also played guitar with supergroup The New Basement Tapes and was featured in the 2014 Showtime documentary “Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued.”

Dabbling with music though is fine, according to the actor. “I’ve been very lucky to play on friends’ records and it’s still going. Music is still part of my life.... But you won’t be hearing The Johnny Depp Band. That won’t ever exist.” Depp was content with being a low-key musician, and expanded his point of people riding their success to push their music.

“The kind of luxury now is, anybody with a certain amount of success, if you have a kind of musical being, you can go out and start a band and capitalise on your work in other areas,” he said. l

15

Exhibition

Chaos & Order

By Jasna Boudard Time: 3pm – 8pm Dhaka Art Centre, Dhanmondi Different Strokes Time: 3pm – 8pm Dhaka Art Center House-60, Road-7/A Dhanmondi

Film

Game, Into The Storm, Ek Cup Cha, Desha: The Leader Blockbuster Cinemas Penguins of Madagascar (3D) Romeo V/S Juliet Into The Woods Beauty and the Beast Star Cineplex

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Sufferings unbound for petrol bomb victims Number of burn patients has been rising at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital said in front of the ICU. n Mohammad Jamil Khan Carrying her feverish son, she said: As the nationwide blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance continues, there seems to be no respite in sight from crude bomb and petrol bomb attacks.

New victims with burn injuries from the attacks keep pouring in at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) everyday. The air is heavy with the pain-filled groans of the patients, and equally heart-wrenching grief of their families.

Abdur Rashid, 45, an autorickshaw driver, suffered severe burns when the bus he was travelling on was attacked by pickets near Nandan Park at Ashulia on Tuesday evening. He is currently undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery at the DMCH. Dr Partha Shankar Pal, resident surgeon at the burn institute, said Rashid had suffered 39% burn injuries, and his respiratory system had been severely affected. “His condition is critical,” the doctor told the Dhaka Tribune.

Rashid’s wife Rasheda Begum said: “My husband had gone to Aricha to visit his sister’s husband, who had recently recovered from heart complications. He went on Friday, but could not come home [at Kaliakair in Gazipur] as he could not get a bus because of the blockade.

“But when I told him about our three-year-old son Rahat falling ill from high fever on Tuesday, he started for home in the evening.”

Rashid’s bus was attacked around 7:30pm that day near Nandan Amusement Park in Ashulia.

“He never came home; fate brought him here instead,” a crying Rasheda

“I do not know what to do now. At this point, I feel death would be better than suffering such pain.”

Three other people suffered burn injuries in the same attack – two of them students. They are being treated at the burn institute as well.

The students, Prithwiraj Chakroborty, 20, and his close friend Rajib Karmakar, 21, were going to Pritihwiraj’s sister’s house in Kaliakair to fetch Prithwiraj’s HSC certificate for university admission.

Before he could reach his sister’s house, Prithwiraj fell victim in the attack and received 4% burns in his hands.

His friend Rajib suffered 7% burns.

Chandan Chakroborty, Prithwiraj’s father, told the Dhaka Tribune that his son had been offered a place at the accounting department of Mohammadpur Central University, while Rajib had secured a place at the political science department. The admission deadline at their university is on January 28.

“I do not know what will happen to his admission. If he misses the deadline because of this attack, who will take the responsibility? My son’s future is at stake here,” Chandan told the Dhaka Tribune.

Another victim Nitai Sarker, 57, an accountant, suffered 2% burn injuries.

He was going home at Baraipara on that bus after work at Aminbazar area.

In a separate incident in Feni, fabric trader Main Uddin, 30, received 8% burn injuries. Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, he said pickets attacked his autorickshaw on Basurhat Road in Daganbhuiyan upazila yesterday night.

“Will this ever end?” he asked.

According to the records at the burn

Drugs in dirt: Scientists appeal for help n BBC US scientists are asking the public to join them in their quest to mine the Earth’s soil for compounds that could be turned into vital new drugs.

Spurred on by the recent discovery of a potential new antibiotic in soil, the Rockefeller University team want to check dirt from every country in the world.

They have already begun analysing samples from beaches, forests and deserts across five continents.

But they need help getting samples.

On their Drugs From Dirt website, they say: “The world is a big place and we can’t get to all of the various corners of it.

“We would like some assistance in sampling soil from around the world. If this sounds interesting to you – sign up.”

They want to hear from people from all countries and are particularly keen to receive samples from unique, unexplored environments such as caves, islands, and hot springs.

Such places, they say, could house the holy grail – compounds produced by soil bacteria that are entirely new to science.

Researcher Dr Sean Brady told the BBC: “We are not after hundreds of thousands of samples. What we really want is a couple of thousand from some really unique places that could contain some really interesting stuff.

So it’s not really your garden soil we are after, although that will have plenty of bacteria in it too.”

He said they would also be interested to hear from schools and colleges that might want to get involved in the project.

From the 185 samples they have tested so far there are some promising results, the researchers say in the journal eLife. l

Top, Rasheda, wife of autorickshaw driver Abdur Rashid who sustained 40% burns in a petrol bomb attack on Tuesday, sheds tears as her husband writhes in pain on the hospital bed Rajib Karmakar, who suffered 7% burn injuries in the same incident, also taking treatment at the DMCH burn unit MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

institute, at least 42 victims of arson violence have been brought in since the blockade started.

At present, 21 victims are undergoing treatment at the hospital. A total of three patients have died while undergoing treatment so far. l

BERC against raising west zone company’s retail tariff n Aminur Rahman Rasel The technical evaluation committee of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has recommended against raising power tariffs at the consumer-level by a distribution company.

The recommendation came yesterday after a public hearing on proposals by the West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd (WZPDCO) for hiking electricity prices by 21.31% if the proposed bulk tariff went up.

WZPDCO Deputy General Manager Rabindranath Roy presented the proposal before the commission, Film actors and directors bring out a procession followed by a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital yesterday protesting the release of Hindi films in Bangladesh NASHIRUL ISLAM

Big screen celebrities protest Hindi film release, call off productions n Tribune Report

Wearing white crisp shrouds and carrying various banners, the Dhallywood stars yesterday chanted slogans and walked the street in protest of Hindi film release in the country.

Top actors Shakib Khan, Rubel, Amit Hasan, Ahmed Sharif, Amrita Khan, Pari Moni, Nijhum Rubina, Zayed Khan and others led the procession, which began at around 1:30pm from Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) premise in the capital and ended at Jatiya Press Club.

Noted directors Sohanur Rahman Sohan, Mushfiqur Rahman Gulzar, Delwar Jahan Jhantu and Mustafizur Rahman Manik accompanied the celebrities.

The procession, organised by Bangladesh Cholochitro Oikkyajot, was an outburst of the silver screen fraternity against the government decision to allow screening of Hindi-language films in the local theatres.

18 other organisations, which are part of the Oikkyajot, also participated in the procession.

Later at a human chain held in front of the Jaitya Press Club, Sohanur Rahman Sohan said: “Our industry is already struggling and allowing Hindi films at this stage will be really detrimental. Instead of helping the industry, the government is allowing Hindi films and destroying our livelihood.”

Secretary General of the directors’ association Mushfiqur Rahman Gulzar said they had sent a memorandum to the prime minister.

“We are expecting something positive. So far our movement has been really peaceful.

If our demands are not met soon, we will be forced to take strong measures.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh Film Directors’ Association announced to halt production work of all films in the country.

Vice President of the association Sohanur Rahman Sohan said letters had been sent to all the BFDC and outdoor units to stop their work.

“This import of Hindi films will totally destroy our local industry and we cannot let that happen,” he said.

The Bollywood film “Wanted”, starring Salman Khan, is scheduled for release in more than 80 cinemas across the country on January 23.

Earlier in 2010, the Ministry of Commerce allowed 12 Indian films to be imported and screened in the country. Among them, nine were Hindi and three were Bangla.

Since then a faction of the local film industry has been demonstrating against the decision.

The Indian Bangla films – Jor, Badla and Sangram – were released in 2011.

The Hindi films that were allowed were Sholay, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Don, Wanted, Three Idiots, Taare Zameen Par, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hain and Kuch Kuch Hota Hain.

Out of them, Wanted is the only film which is ready to hit the theatres.

The association of cinema owners, however, are in favour of releasing Hindi films on the ground of saving their business. They said many theatres were closed down due to the failure of local films and they releasing foreign films could be a boost for the industry. l

but said they would not have made the retail tariff proposal if there was also no proposal regarding bulk tariff hike.

However, the BERC committee recommended increasing average per unit (each kilowatt-hour) tariffs for the WZPDCO consumers by 2.28% if the bulk tariff was increased.

The WZPDCO has about eight lakh customers in 21 districts and 20 upazila towns, including Khulna, Bagerhat, Jessore and Barisal.

BERC Chairman AR Khan, Members Salim Mahmud, Delwar Hossain and Md Maksudul Haque and

other stakeholders attended the public hearing at the commission’s office in the capital.

Meanwhile, Shamsul Alam, energy adviser of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB), opposed the BERC move to raise power tariffs during yesterday’s hearing.

During the hearing, members of some left-leaning parties, including the Communist Party of Bangladesh, also requested the commission not to increase the tariffs.

Mostaque Ahmed, chief of the evaluation committee and also a director for the BERC, said if the bulk power tariff was increased by 5.16%,

the operating revenue in 2014-15 fiscal year for the WZPDCO would be Tk1542.8 crore for 2351.02 million units.

If the bulk tariff was not increased, then the company’s revenue would be Tk1509.7 crore; while the company would reach breakeven if the BERC recommendation for only 2.28% increase in case of a bulk tariff hike was approved.

On January 20, the technical evaluation committee of the BERC recommended raising bulk power tariffs. It recommended increasing the average per unit (per kilowatt-hour) tariff of the PDB by 5.16%. l

Laser-etched metal ‘bounces’ water and cleans itself n BBC Physicists in the US have created metal surfaces that repel water to the extent that droplets bounce away.

They sculpted the surface of small pieces of platinum, titanium and brass using a very high-powered laser.

The materials “self-clean” because water droplets gather dust particles before they slide away.

If it can be scaled up, the technique could help produce hygienic, easily-maintained devices - from solar panels to toilets - that do no rust or ice up.

The team, from the University of Rochester in New York, reported

their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics.

Most other efforts to produce such “superhydrophobic” surfaces have relied on coatings, but this approach permanently changes the shape of the metal’s surface.

“The structures created by our laser on the metals are intrinsically part of the material surface,” said senior author Prof Chunlei Guo. “The material is so strongly water-repellent, the water actually gets bounced off. Then it lands on the surface again, gets bounced off again, and then it will just roll off from the surface.”

Prof Guo’s team etched paral-

lel grooves into the metals, 0.1mm apart, using rapid pulses of a laser beam that are extremely strong but extremely brief - lasting just a few quadrillionths of a second.

On close inspection, these

grooves are covered in complex “nanostructures” that give the surface its remarkable properties.

Immediately following the treatment, water actually sticks very easily to the metal surface. But as soon as it comes into contact with air, it becomes almost impossible to get wet.

Water droplets released from 2cm above the surface bounce back to a height of 5mm, maintaining 30% of their energy. And any drops sitting on the surface, given half a chance, will slide away.

These materials are even slipperier than Teflon, a hydrophobic material well-known from non-stick frying pans. l

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B3 Brent crude inches

above $48, but outlook remains weak

B4 Bank of Japan slashes

inflation outlook, boosts growth forecast

THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015 www.dhakatribune.com/business

BASIC Bank asked to intensify default loan recovery

Total outstanding of large loans stood at Tk8,534 crore in November last year loans of the clients who terminated n Jebun Nesa Alo their relations with the bank but the State-owned BASIC Bank has been asked to intensify their effort on loan recovery to reduce default loan rate growing abnormally.

The instruction came at a meeting Bangladesh Bank held with the BASIC Bank management on Monday over the financial situation of the scam-hit bank.

The default loans were growing abnormally as large borrowers of the bank have been turning defaulters, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

The rate of loan recovery from the top defaulters is very poor, prompting the central bank to ask focusing on the loan recovery drive, he said.

BASIC Managing Director Khondoker Md Iqbal expressed his hope that the financial picture of the bank will change by June this year as they got the capital support of Tk790 crore from the government on 29 December last year.

He said they expect to get more fund from the government soon as part of recapitalisation and the positive effect of funding will be reflected at the year-end financial statement of 2014, which is yet to be published.

BASIC management also demanded that the bank be allowed to purchase

central bank did not allow such practice.

Currently, the bank faces a capital shortfall of Tk2,257 crore, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

The default loans against top 20 defaulters rose by 103% to Tk1,793 crore on November last year compared to Tk879 crore in December 2013.

The default loan against top borrowers also rose aggressively, but the recovery was very poor last year.

The loan recovery was only Tk2 lakh in November last year which was Tk2.20 crore in December 2013.

The total loan recovery against top defaulters was only Tk2.19 crore last year, even in some months, the recovery was zero.

The total outstanding of large loan stood at Tk8534 crore in November last year.

The total default loans of the bank stood at Tk6,473 crore or 56% in the same month, according to the central bank latest data.

On the other hand, the bank already submitted many proposals of loan rescheduling to the Bangladesh Bank.

The bank rescheduled total of Tk154 crore during last year. l

Call for strong political will to face post-2015 agenda n Tribune Report

Guideline formed against use of chemicals in ripening fruits

Obama: US, not China, must write trade rules

n Tribune Report

n Reuters, Washington

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya has called for incorporation of aspirations of transformative changes, a credible work plan and strong expression of political will in the upcoming international development agenda.

He was speaking at the first session of inter-governmental negotiations on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, said a CPD press release issued in Dhaka yesterday.

Debapriya also called upon the member-states of the UN to demonstrate visible political will to endow the post-2015 international agenda with necessary momentum.

The session was co-chaired by the co-facilitators of the negotiations Macharia Kamau, Ambassador of Kenya and David Donoghue, Ambassador of Ireland.

Debapriya, also chair of Southern Voice on post-MDGs–a network of 48 think tanks from Asia, Africa and Latin America, in his presentation highlighted the issues that should find place in the political declaration on post-2015 agenda.

He emphasised that the global leaders need to commit themselves to a new framework of international partnership for development cooperation.

This would entail provisioning adequate resources for implementation of the SDGs, making space for private sector and non-state actors in the implementation process, putting in place a rigorous accountability mechanism, and operationalising an effective monitoring and review procedures, he said. l

Ministry of Commerce has formulated a guideline to prevent the use of chemicals for quick ripening of fruits.

The guideline has been submitted to the Court, said a ministry statement yesterday.

On July 22 last year, the High Court asked the commerce ministry to formulate a guideline by six months against chemicals use in fruits.

The guideline would remain effective for an interim period before the

BGB members stand guard on the street to let a convoy of goods-laden trucks pass through Raypara area under Rajpara police station of Rajshahi district yesterday

AZAHAR UDDIN

Cash subsidy on exports released n Asif Showkat Kallol

The government has released Tk875 crore as cash subsidy on exports, especially of jute and garment sectors, for the third quarter last fiscal year.

Finance Division disbursed the amount yesterday, which is expected to help the political unrest-hit garments sector to pay wages of their workers by the first week of month, said officials.

Of the money, the garment sector got Tk500 crore and jute and other sectors received the remaining figure.

The garment industry leaders earli-

Food Safety Authority was formed under the Food Safety Act 2013.

The guideline incorporates the provisions of several laws, including the Food Safety Act 2013, Special Powers Act 1974 and Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009.

Under the guideline, a central monitoring committee, headed by additional commerce secretary, will be formed.

In its statement, the ministry said a group of unscrupulous businessmen use chemicals harmful to human health to ripen fruits.

er demanded the release of the subsidy instalment so they could pay the workers’ wages.

However, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) had jointly demanded Tk1,900 crore to Bangladesh Bank.

“The subsidy amount we have received will give exporters little comfort to meet the present crisis in political unrest,” former first vice president of BKMEA Mohammad Hatem told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

It said the government would monitor the use of chemicals and take punitive actions against the people found involved in using chemicals.

Under the new guideline, the committee will also visit warehouses and examine the registration books of purchases and sales.

Besides, necessary steps would be taken to make people aware about the hazards of using chemicals in mangoes, lichees, jack fruits, blackberries, pineapples, guavas, bananas, papayas and other seasonal fruits, the ministry added. l

ICMAB award winners pose for a photograph at a prize-giving ceremony held in Sonargaon Hotel day before yesterday. Finance Minister AMA Muhith was present at the function MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

He said it would take five more days to have the money in their hands as some processes are involved.

Besides, the blockade is delaying the process of delivering export payments through local channels, Hatem alleged.

He also feared the production might slow down as blockade was disrupting raw materials supply to the factories.

Cash incentive or export subsidy rose by more than 35% to Tk3,500 crore in fiscal year 2014-15 compared to last financial year, a figure that has crossed 3.0% of the total National Board of Revenue earnings.

US President Barack Obama said the United States and not China must write trade rules for Asia and called on Congress to give the White House a freer hand to close trade deals.

Obama, who is pushing to overcome resistance to so-called fast-track authority from within his own party as well as conservative Republicans, said if China prevailed, US workers and businesses would be at a disadvantage.

“That’s why I’m asking both parties to give me trade promotion authority to protect American workers, with strong new trade deals from Asia to Europe that aren’t just free, but fair,” he said in the State of the Union address on Tuesday, also acknowledging past deals had not always “lived up to the hype.”

China is not part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership the United States is negotiating with 11 other trading partners, which aims to set common standards on issues such as workers’ rights and the environment as well as lower trade barriers.

The Asian giant is instead pushing for faster progress towards a trade pact with the wider Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) bloc.

Asked about Obama’s comments, China’s Foreign Ministry yesterday said the country was willing to work with the US to resolve trade problems.

“We hope each side can put forth joint efforts to provide a fair, open and transparent trade and investment environment, and jointly work to make contributions to improving global investment rules,” said ministry spokeswoman HuaChunying in a daily briefing.

Currently, 14 export-earning sectors including apparel and frozen foods get the financial benefit ranging 5-20% on their export earnings. Earlier, 19 sectors were eligible for export incentives.

Meanwhile, BGMEA has already urged the politicians to find a solution to the current political instability as the nationwide transport blockade is causing huge losses to the industry.

“Keep the RMG sector alive. Please, ensure a safe supply chain, resolve the current deadlock and guarantee congenial business climate,” said Atiqul Islam, president of BGMEA. l

National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons said fast-track, which gives Congress a yes-or-no vote on trade agreements in exchange for setting negotiating objectives, would make trading partners take the United States more seriously and backed Obama’s focus on China.

“I think it’s important to note that there are countries all over the world, China included, that would like to take away America’s mantle of economic leadership,” he said.

‘The majority of Democrats right now are very hesitant, to say the least, and not at all sure that trade is good for working people’

Trade supporters and critics are already lobbying lawmakers on fasttrack authority, and Maryland lawmaker Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, said the White House had to consider Democrats’ concerns about trade deals hurting jobs and wages.

“The majority of Democrats right now are very hesitant, to say the least, and not at all sure that trade is good for working people,” said Hoyer, who voted against fast-track in 2002 but has supported major trade deals. l

BB sets refinance limit for physically impaired entrepreneurs n Tribune Report Physically challenged entrepreneurs would be entitled to get a maximum refinancing facility of Tk5 lakh from Bangladesh Bank Fund, established in 2013 without having any limit.

All the individuals, including the visually impaired SME entrepreneurs, will be ben-

efited by the refinancing that ranges from Tk10,000 to Tk5 lakh, said a circular Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday.

They will get 100% refinancing, with 10% interest, subject to availability of funds.

Banks have been asked to take necessary measures, following their own policy, to expand the loan disbursement activities among those physically challenged under

the Bangladesh Bank fund.

They were also advised to make supportive programme in their annual activities and take measures to allocate necessary budget for physically challenged individuals including those visually impaired, according to the circular.

Banks may make this expenditure under the CSR programme, the circular said, add-

ing that the instructions will take immediate effect. An official in every branch of banks would be tasked with providing banking services easily for those physically challenged.

Moreover, such insolvent individuals would be allowed to open a bank account with Tk10 and there is no compulsion to maintain minimum deposit against that account, added the circular. l

B2

Stocks tumble as political strife continues Stocks went into tailspin yesterday as fear of prolonged political unrest made investors panicky.

The benchmark index DSEX dived 73 points or 1.6% to 4,783 – lowest since November 30 this year and extended the losing streak for the fourth straight sessions.

The DSEX also saw a single-day steep fall in recent months.

'Fears over impact of prolonged political unrest might be the reason behind the ongoing skid in stocks' The Shariah index DSES lost 16 points or 1.2% to 1,134. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,774, shedding 27 points or 1.6%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was down 120 points to 8,885.

“Uncertainty over the political situation remained a key concern as still there was no sign of political reconciliation among feuding political parties,” said a stock broker.

Investors were disturbed by the images on TV channels and wondered where the country is heading for, he said.

The country saw escalation of political violence since January 5

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Company National Feed-N Shampur Sugar -Z Midas Financing-Z Progressive Life-A Bangladesh Welding -Z Sinobangla Indu.-A Samata LeatheR -Z NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A BD. Thai Alum -B GeminiSeaFood-Z

Closing (% Change) -10.65 -8.70 -7.55 -7.24 -6.98 -6.74 -6.37 -6.35 -6.33 -6.11

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

National Feed-N Central Insur -A Pragati Gen. I -A Hamid Fabrics -N NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A Khan Brothers-N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Sinobangla Indu.-A ICB Sonali Bank 1 MF-A Prime Insur -A

-9.97 -8.50 -7.89 -7.16 -6.35 -6.19 -6.08 -6.03 -5.97 -5.79

4783.21231

(-) 1.52%

1774.77209

(-) 1.52%

14662.64510

(-) 1.43%

11877.40510

(-) 1.04%

8882.00740

(-) 1.37%

Average (% Change) -11.52 -17.60 -4.20 -5.54 -7.64 -5.65 -6.30 -3.27 -7.56 -6.88 Average (% Change) -11.08 -8.58 -7.89 -7.38 -3.34 -5.72 -6.31 -5.96 -5.37 -3.14

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 35.50 8.24 15.29 71.60 16.32 26.88 19.20 5.92 37.28 231.93

ClosingAvg. 35.46 22.60 35.00 32.87 6.08 31.00 31.31 26.53 6.34 17.90

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 274.67 164.59 40.03 236.70 74.72 264.61 1.76 769.52 221.04 22.04 77.23 22.03 19.01 198.15 70.79 15.72 36.51 90.56 30.00 188.33 0.00

DHIGH 37.30 8.50 16.00 76.00 17.30 28.00 19.10 6.30 40.00 250.00

DHIGH

34.30 22.60 35.00 32.40 5.90 30.30 30.90 26.50 6.30 17.90

86,692,499

37.90 22.60 35.00 34.20 6.30 31.90 32.60 26.70 6.40 17.90

110,738

Traded Issues

309

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

25

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

277

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,559.92

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.03

CSE key features January 21, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka)

326.86

Turnover (Volume)

11,945,586

Number of Contract

22,656

Traded Issues

238

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

23

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

208

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

6

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,475.87

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.01

Turnover in Million

DLOW 33.00 8.30 14.60 70.20 15.70 25.50 19.00 5.70 36.50 226.00

33.00 22.60 35.00 32.10 5.80 29.60 30.60 26.40 6.30 17.90

Latest EPS

85.786 0.021 0.451 0.367 2.304 2.919 0.024 10.027 14.926 0.555

Turnover in Million

DLOW

% change 9.75 5.84 1.42 8.40 2.65 9.39 0.06 27.31 7.84 0.78 2.74 0.78 0.67 7.03 2.51 0.56 1.30 3.21 1.06 6.68 0.00

Million Taka 17.47 7.14 6.24 37.21 4.78 28.44 124.65 11.00 7.80 13.58 2.87 2.39 12.34 6.44 0.59 1.85 7.16 5.33 36.51 0.01

CSE

% change 5.23 2.14 1.87 11.15 1.43 8.52 0.00 37.35 3.30 2.34 4.07 0.86 0.72 3.70 1.93 0.18 0.56 2.14 1.60 10.94 0.00

1.37 -52.72 -7.00 2.30 0.44 1.21 0.05 0.43 1.09 1.39

Latest EPS

19.135 0.002 0.018 5.277 0.824 3.216 12.202 0.239 0.029 0.014

Million Taka 292.14 171.74 46.27 273.91 79.50 293.04 1.76 894.18 232.04 29.84 90.80 24.90 21.40 210.48 77.23 16.31 38.37 97.71 35.33 224.84 0.01

3rd ICB M F-A Shahjibazar Power-N SonarBangla Insu. -A 8th ICB M F-A BD Fixed Income MF-A Fine Foods A 1st ICB M F -A Bengal Windsor-A Modern Dyeing -Z Northern Jute -Z

Closing (% Change) 7.16 2.24 2.15 2.02 1.49 0.99 0.87 0.87 0.77 0.70

CSE GAINER

1.37 2.96 2.47 3.12 0.43 1.36 1.01 1.21 1.04 1.81

Latest PE 25.9 -ve -ve 31.1 37.1 22.2 384.0 13.8 34.2 166.9

Total

Company 7th ICB M F-A Islami Ins.BD-A Aziz PipesZ IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A Bengal Windsor-A BGIC -A SonarBangla Insu. -A Bata Shoe Ltd. -A Padma Islami Life*-N Dutch Ban. Bnk- A

Closing (% Change) 9.88 7.73 7.14 3.45 3.08 2.97 2.75 2.37 2.13 1.83

Average (% Change) 7.02 1.39 (0.54) 2.61 (1.19) 0.89 0.82 0.59 (1.30) (0.40) Average (% Change) 9.66 7.73 7.14 3.66 1.96 0.84 2.20 2.36 2.24 1.82

ClosingAvg.

Closing

244.00 210.16 18.56 65.63 6.62 10.19 1,153.66 57.91 105.00 244.99

ClosingAvg.

244.00 214.60 19.00 65.70 6.80 10.20 1,154.10 58.10 104.20 245.10

Closing

84.33 19.50 19.50 5.95 56.27 20.40 18.60 1199.63 38.30 100.00

84.50 19.50 19.50 6.00 56.90 20.80 18.70 1199.80 38.30 100.00

DHIGH 244.00 218.70 19.10 65.90 6.90 10.30 1,158.00 58.60 108.00 246.10

DHIGH 84.50 19.50 19.50 6.30 57.50 21.00 18.80 1200.00 39.00 100.00

DLOW 244.00 204.00 17.90 65.00 6.40 10.10 1,154.00 57.10 101.10 245.00

DLOW 84.00 19.50 19.50 5.80 55.70 19.90 18.30 1195.00 37.60 100.00

Turnover in Million 0.012 22.855 1.506 0.105 0.129 0.100 0.976 5.919 0.042 0.159

Turnover in Million 0.013 0.007 0.001 0.060 5.508 0.072 0.020 0.148 0.038 0.000

Latest EPS 65.28 9.00 1.77 4.76 0.48 -0.48 45.56 4.16 -2.16 1.00

Latest EPS 8.52 1.48 -0.37 1.52 4.16 2.35 1.77 52.96 1.10 9.69

Latest PE 3.7 23.4 10.5 13.8 13.8 -ve 25.3 13.9 -ve 245.0

Latest PE 9.9 13.2 -ve 3.9 13.5 8.7 10.5 22.7 34.8 10.3

News, analysis and recent disclosures SHURWID: The Company has credited the bonus shares for the year ended on June 30, 2014 to the respective shareholders BO Account on January 20, 2015.

ENVOYTEX: (Q1 Un-audited): Profit after tax from Oct14 to Dec14 was Tk. 174.57 million with EPS of Tk. 1.21 as against Tk. 39.36 million with EPS of Tk. 0.27 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year.

CNATEX: (Q3 Un-audited): The Company has reported its net profit after tax Tk. 66.36 million and basic EPS Tk. 0.51 for the 3 (three) months ended on 31 March 2014 (Jan 2014-March 2014) as against profit after tax of Tk. 77.93 million and basic EPS of Tk. 1,558.53 for the same period of the previous year. It is to be noted that basic EPS has been calculated based on weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number of shares i.e.

130,000,000 shares and 50,000 shares in 2014 and in 2013 respectively. However, considering Post-IPO 175,000,000 number of shares the Companys basic EPS for the 3 (three) months ended on 31 March 2014

would be Tk. 0.38. For the period of 9 (nine) months (July 2013 to March 2014) ended on 31 March 2014 net profit after tax was Tk. 297.30 million and basic EPS was Tk. 6.61 as against profit after tax of Tk. 271.37 million and basic EPS of Tk. 5,427.48 for the same period of the previous year. It is to be noted that the said EPS has been calculated based on weighted average Pre-IPO paid-up number of shares i.e. 44,950,000 shares and 50,000 shares in 2014 and in 2013 respectively. However, considering Post-IPO 175,000,000 number of shares, Companys basic EPS would be Tk. 1.70 for 9 (nine) months ended on 31 March 2014 (July 2013 to March 2014) and NAV per share would be Tk. 16.60 as on 31 March 2014.

ZAHINTEX: (H/Y Un-audited): Net Profit after tax from July14 to Dec14 was Tk. 20.38 million with EPS of Tk. 0.33 as against Tk. 21.79 million and Tk. 0.35 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas net profit after tax from Oct14 to Dec14 was Tk. 2.45 million with EPS of Tk. 0.04 as against Tk.

2.77 million with EPS of Tk. 0.04 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year.

DBH: (H/Y Un-audited): Net Profit after tax from July14 to Dec14 (excluding preference dividend) was Tk. 246.85 million with EPS of Tk. 2.13 as against Tk. 200.84 million and Tk. 1.73 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Dividend/AGM HRTEX:12.50% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record date: 12.02.2015.

MARICO: 225% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 29.01.2015.

ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 26.02.2015, Record Date: 05.01.2015.

JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.

PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015, Record date: 22.12.2014.

SPCL: 25% cash and 5% stock dividend, AGM: 29.01.2015, Record Date: 27.11.2014.

SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 24.01.2015, Record Date: 23.12.2014.

Latest PE 25.9 7.6 14.2 10.5 14.1 22.8 31.0 21.9 6.1 9.9

Market encountered panic-shaken free-fall during the session

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

34.40 8.40 14.70 70.50 16.00 26.30 19.10 5.90 37.00 230.30

2,819.24

Number of Contract

when 20-party alliance called for indefinite blockade, demanding fresh national election.

In line with negative sentiment, all the sectors closed in negative territory, where non-banking financial institutions took the maximum hit plunging 3%.

Cement also lost a hefty more than 2%, followed by power that declined 1.3%, food & allied 1.2%, pharmaceuticals and banks 1% each.

Dhaka Stock Exchange witnessed sluggish trading continuously, as risk-averse investors preferred to stay sideline.

Total turnover at DSE was Tk280 crore, up by 14% over the previous session. C & A Textile Limited that made debut on the day alone contributed more than 15% of the total turnover.

The new-comer was the biggest gainer of the day rallying 120% on its offer value of Tk10 per share.

More than 85% share prices fell, as out of 309 issues traded, 20 advanced, 265 declined and 24 remained unchanged.

Lanka Bangla Securities said it was another tough day for stocks.

Since the opening of this week, Motijheel Street has been observing steep fall in index, it said.

“Fears over impact of prolonged political unrest might be the reason behind the ongoing skid in stocks.”

IDLC Investments said market encountered panic-shaken free-fall during the session. l

Tribune Report

Company

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Thursday, January 22, 2015

DSE GAINER

DSE key features January 21, 2015

DSEX slips to over 7-week low n

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

% change 9.27 5.45 1.47 8.69 2.52 9.30 0.06 28.37 7.36 0.95 2.88 0.79 0.68 6.68 2.45 0.52 1.22 3.10 1.12 7.13 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

C & A Textile -N LafargeS Cement-Z National Feed-N Grameenphone-A Envoy Textiles Ltd-N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A WesternMarine -N Agni Systems -A Brac Bank -A Beximco Pharma -A

IDLC Finance -A Titas Gas TDCLA Square Pharma -A Alltex Industries -Z Hamid Fabrics -N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company C & A Textile -N National Feed-N Jamuna Oil -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A WesternMarine -N LafargeS Cement-Z SummitAlliancePort.-A Alltex Industries -Z Bengal Windsor-A Khulna Printing-N

Hamid Fabrics -N Shurwid Ind. -N Grameenphone-A aamra technologies-A SAIF Powertec-N

VolumeShares 18,750,608 1,482,375 2,416,198 224,848 1,298,813 2,110,971 1,057,318 1,532,265 1,097,492 730,849

Value in Million 425.58 186.28 85.79 78.53 73.17 66.20 53.75 48.68 42.68 42.03

% of TotalTurnover 15.10 6.61 3.04 2.79 2.60 2.35 1.91 1.73 1.51 1.49

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

498,444 496,756 146,467 1,269,976 1,063,865 1,093,190

4,155,974 539,571 60,586 389,665 230,118 82,477 131,917 201,809 97,900 260,505

160,531 189,995 13,141 118,930 57,995

38.74 38.06 37.26 37.02 35.20 36.46

93.65 19.14 12.55 12.20 11.80 10.27 8.77 5.84 5.51 5.49

5.28 5.15 4.57 4.35 4.10

1.37 1.35 1.32 1.31 1.25 1.48

28.75 5.88 3.85 3.75 3.62 3.15 2.69 1.79 1.69 1.68

1.62 1.58 1.40 1.34 1.26

ClosingP 22.00 126.10 34.40 350.20 55.70 31.00 50.40 31.80 39.00 57.80

78.20 76.40 254.10 28.90 32.80 32.90

ClosingP

21.90 34.30 202.50 30.90 50.20 125.20 66.70 28.80 56.90 20.90

32.40 27.00 349.70 36.50 69.80

Change % 0.00 -2.47 -10.65 -0.54 -2.62 -5.78 -4.36 -3.93 -0.76 -2.03

-0.64 -1.29 -0.51 -4.93 -5.20 -2.66

Change %

0.00 -9.97 -0.78 -6.08 -4.38 -3.10 -5.79 -4.32 3.08 -5.43

-7.16 -5.59 -0.60 -1.62 -2.10

ClosingY 0.00 129.30 38.50 352.10 57.20 32.90 52.70 33.10 39.30 59.00

78.70 77.40 255.40 30.40 34.60 33.80 ClosingY

0.00 38.10 204.10 32.90 52.50 129.20 70.80 30.10 55.20 22.10

34.90 28.60 351.80 37.10 71.30

DHIGH 25.00 129.00 37.30 351.00 59.00 33.00 53.00 33.00 39.80 58.40

79.10 78.10 258.90 30.80 34.70 34.20 DHIGH

27.00 37.90 211.90 32.60 54.00 128.70 69.70 29.60 57.50 22.00

34.20 28.50 350.90 37.00 73.80

DLOW 21.10 123.00 33.00 345.30 54.90 30.70 49.90 31.30 38.70 56.30

77.10 76.00 253.50 28.20 32.50 32.60 DLOW

20.10 33.00 200.00 30.60 49.60 121.30 64.20 28.20 55.70 20.00

32.10 26.80 345.30 36.20 69.00

AvgPrice 22.70 125.66 35.50 349.26 56.33 31.36 50.84 31.77 38.89 57.51

77.71 76.61 254.36 29.15 33.09 33.35 AvgPrice

22.53 35.46 207.07 31.31 51.29 124.55 66.49 28.95 56.27 21.06

32.87 27.09 347.90 36.58 70.75

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Brent crude inches above $48, but outlook remains weak n Reuters, Singapore Oil prices edged up yesterday in a further sign of support around current levels, but analysts fretted that the outlook for the next six months remained bleak due to oversupply.

Oil fell as much as 5% on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its 2015 global economic forecast and key producer Iran hinted prices could drop to $25 a barrel without supportive OPEC action.

Prices stabilised yesterday, with traders pointing to buying this week whenever benchmark Brent crude oil LCOc1 dropped towards $48 a barrel.

Brent was trading at $48.44 a barrel at 0413 GMT, up 45 cents from its last settlement, while US crude CLc1 was up 48 cents at $46.95 a barrel.

But analysts said they expected low prices to continue for the next half-year.

“We see little scope for avoiding a large stock build in 1H15 and therefore anticipate weak prices ... Commodity price strength is inversely related to the dollar. With the US in monetary tightening mode and Europe and Japan in an expansive phase, an expected stronger dollar will create headwinds for any upward oil price improvement,” BNP Paribas said in a note overnight.

A ship passes a petro-industrial complex in Kawasaki near Tokyo Lower oil prices are bringing down inflation in many countries, especially Asian and European economies that have to import to meet a lot of their demand.

Taiwan 2014 export orders hit record thanks partly to iPhone n AFP, Taiwan Taiwan’s export orders hit a record high of $472.8bn in 2014 thanks to robust demand for handheld devices including Apple’s iPhone 6, government officials said Tuesday.

The 6.7% rise over the previous year marked the highest growth since 7.2% in 2011.

The growth rate stood at only 1.1% in 2012 and 0.4% in 2013, as the economies of major trading partners such as China, the United States and Europe faltered.

“The latest figure indicates the strength of local companies in obtaining orders on the international markets,” an official at the economic ministry said.

However, the booming export order figures do not necessarily help the economy as nearly half of the orders are filled by overseas plants of local companies, mainly on the Chinese mainland.

Export orders - those filed to manufacturers one or two months ahead of delivery - are an indicator for the island’s export-reliant economy.

Taiwan’s actual overseas shipments

rose 2.7% year-on-year to a record high of $313.84bn in 2014.

Export orders for information and mobile devices rose 9.4% from 2013 to $127bn, the ministry said.

It did not identify brands but the official referred to the iPhone 6 as a major factor in the increase.

Robust demand for the iPhone 6 and rival Android cellphones also benefited microchip makers and other suppliers.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, is the world’s largest computer components manufacturer and assembles products for leading international brands including iPhones.

Media reports say local firm Pegatron Corp worked on the assembly of the new iPhone and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company -- the world’s biggest contract microchip maker - manufactured its chips. Neither company has confirmed the contracts.

Orders from the United States rose 7.2% in 2014 from the previous year to $118.5bn, while those from China increased 4.1% to $117.7bn.

Orders from Europe came in at $91bn, up 11.3%. l

“Headline inflation rates have come down sharply in developed economies because of low oil prices ... The global low-inflation environment has created

REUTERS

room for policy easing in key economies, most notably in the euro area,” US-based Pira Energy Group said in an overnight note. l

The yen rose in Asia yesterday, buoyed by the Bank of Japan’s decision to hold off fresh easing measures as it projected a pick up in the economy.

The gains came despite the central bank’s slashing of its outlook on inflation, as the vaunted 2% target slid further out of reach, which was likely to boost speculation over further policy measures.

The dollar slipped to 117.39 yen yesterday afternoon, down from around 118.40 yen before the BoJ decision and 118.80 yen in New York. The euro, meanwhile, bought 135.97 yen and $1.1582 against 137.24 yen and $1.1553 in US trade.

The BoJ slashed its inflation outlook for the year from April 2015, as plunging oil prices dent its efforts to slay inflation, and decided against fresh easing measures as it wrapped up a two-day policy meeting.

Policymakers boosted their growth forecasts, however, saying the economy was rebounding.

“If the inflation forecast is cut, it would normally boost expectations for further monetary easing, sending the yen lower and stocks higher,” Daisuke Uno, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, told AFP. But Uno said the bank’s forecasts for growth and inflation were stronger for the year starting April 2016, while a sharp fall in the currency recently also left room for it to bounce back.

He added that some traders had priced in additional easing, setting the stage for the yen’s rise after the BoJ held steady.

Investors were now waiting for the European Central Bank’s policy meeting on Thursday.

The ECB is set to decide whether to buy sovereign bonds under its quantitative easing (QE) programme in a bid to prop up the sagging 19-nation eurozone economy.

The prospect of such a move has hit the euro, which last week fell below $1.1500 for the first time in more than 11 years before recovering slightly.

“Expectations are obviously coalescing around a big ECB sovereign QE programme,” Richard Franulovich, chief currency strategist for the northern hemisphere at Westpac Banking Corp. in New York, told Bloomberg News.

Yesterday the dollar weakened against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It slipped to 1,083.30 South Korean won from 1,085.60 won recently, to Sg$1.3349 from Sg$1.3379, and to 12,493.00 Indonesian rupiah from 12,640.00 rupiah.

The dollar also weakened to Tw$31.49 from Tw$31.59, to 32.57 Thai baht from 32.71 baht, to 61.60 Indian rupees from 61.79 rupees, and to 44.41 Philippine pesos from 44.67 pesos.

The Australian dollar rose to 82.25 US cents from 81.76 US cents, while the Chinese yuan slipped to 18.91 yen from 19.01 yen. l

Gold tops $1,300 on stimulus hopes n Reuters, Singapore Gold climbed above $1,300 an ounce yesterday for the first time since August as a softer dollar, worries over the global economy and hopes of stimulus measures from the European Central Bank (ECB) fuelled safe-haven bids.

Financial markets have been nervous about the ECB policy meeting on Thursday, when the bank is widely expected to unveil a quantitative easing (QE) programme that is likely to boost demand for bullion.

“Prices have been boosted by hopes of QE by the European Central Bank, which is expected to have far-ranging effects on the bond market,” said Howie Lee, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures.

“The prospects of looming deflation and increased volatility in financial markets have added to gold’s gains,” Lee said, adding that global growth worries were adding to the metal’s safe-haven appeal.

Spot gold hit a session high of $1,303.20, its loftiest level since Aug 18, and was at $1,299.60 an ounce by 0752 GMT, up 0.5% on the day.

The dollar lost some ground as the yen strengthened after the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy steady.

A softer greenback makes dollardenominated gold cheaper for holders of other currencies, while also boosting its hedge appeal.

Bullion has performed well since the

beginning of the year as its safe-haven appeal has been burnished by uncertainties in Europe.

Traders are watching out for Sunday’s snap election in Greece. Polls suggest anti-bailout party Syriza will win, which may set off fresh turmoil in the euro zone.

Worries over the health of the global economy have added to gold’s demand.

On Tuesday the IMF cut its forecast for global growth in 2015 and called on governments and central banks to pursue accommodative monetary policies and reforms.

Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchangetraded fund, jumped 1.55% to 742.24 tonnes on Tuesday.

But some in the market warned that gold could see profit-taking at these levels as it has climbed steeply, gaining nearly 10% this month after two straight annual declines.

“While we do not discount further safe-haven-inspired gains in gold, the yellow metal may be in need of a price consolidation,” HSBC analyst James Steel said, adding that softer physical buying might also keep a lid on prices.

Other precious metal prices rose along with gold.

Spot silver jumped more than 2% yesterday and has gained about 16% so far this month. Palladium rose 1% to stretch its rise to a third session, while platinum climbed 0.4%. l

Nigeria under pressure to cut petrol prices further n AFP, Lagos

Nigeria’s government was under pressure Tuesday to cut petrol prices further, with unions saying people were being “short-changed” over the global crude price plunge.

The main opposition accused the government of “tokenism” before the February 14 elections, after Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke announced 10-naira (five US cent, 4.5 euro cent) reduction on Sunday.

A litre of fuel at the pump in Africa’s most populous nation and top oil producer now costs 87 naira.

But the opposition and unions said the price of petrol as well as diesel and kerosene should be slashed further.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said in a statement on Monday that the new price of petrol was “mere tokenism at a time the price of crude oil has crashed by about 60 %”.

Party spokesman Lai Mohammed said the government should immediately cut the price of petrol to 70 naira

An oil and gas terminal in southern Nigeria's Niger Delta a litre and diesel and kerosene to no more than 90 naira.

Mohammed charged that state corruption was to blame for the size of Sunday’s reduction, saying the government was unwilling to reduce the price

REUTERS

further as it would hit its so-called “commissions”.

The plunge in crude prices to below $50 a barrel has slashed the Nigerian government’s revenue, forcing it to revise its 2015 budget forecast.

Africa’s leading economy based on gross domestic product derives 70% of government revenue and 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings from crude sales.

Nigeria currently produces 1.75 million barrels of crude a day, according to OPEC, but imports most of its refined petroleum products, which the government subsidises to keep prices low.

A devaluation of the currency against the US dollar has also hiked the cost of imports, with a knock-on effect on the price of imported goods and services to consumers.

Peter Ozo-Eson, general-secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress workers’ union, echoed calls for further reductions at the pump.

“If we consider all the variables in determining petrol prices, Nigerians are still being short-changed,” he told AFP. “The 10-naira drop is not enough. It should have been 30% or even more. If you check other oil-producing nations, you will notice that the drop is at least one-thirds.” l

CORPORATE NEWS

Yen rises despite Bank of Japan cutting inflation outlook n AFP, Tokyo

B3

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Modhumoti Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Dhaka WASA. The bank’s MD and CEO, Md Mizanur Rahman and MD of Dhaka WASA, Engineer Taqsem A Khan have signed the agreement

Prime Bank Ltd has recently signed an agreement with Korea Exchange Bank. Habibur Rahman, deputy managing director of Prime Bank Limited and Jong Yeong Park, managing director of Korea Exchange Bank have signed the agreement

Standard Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) Limited for collecting electricity bills through online banking system from its branches. Tha bank’s DMD, Mamun-Ur-Rashid and general manager of DPDC, Md Aminul Islam have signed the agreement

Managing director of EXIM Bank, Dr Mohammed Haider Ali Miah has recently congratulated central bank governor, Dr Atiur Rahman for being awarded “Governor of the Year in Asia-Pacific” for 2015 by “The Banker”, a UK based financial magazine of Financial Times Group

Professional Advancement Bangladesh Limited (PABL) has recently organised a workshop on compliance for underwriters of Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Bank of Japan slashes inflation outlook, boosts growth forecast

US is bright spot for Davos CEOs in troubled global economy

n AFP

n Reuters, Davos

The Bank of Japan on yesterday slashed its inflation outlook as plunging oil prices dent efforts to slay deflation, but policymakers boosted their growth forecasts and said the economy was rebounding.

The bank, which held off fresh easing measures after a two-day policy meeting, said inflation for the year starting in April would come in 1.0%, well down from an earlier 1.7% forecast.

But the economy would expand by 2.1%, up from 1.5%, it said.

The price downgrade underscores how reaching the BoJ’s 2% inflation target by early next year looks increasingly unlikely, and it may ramp up expectations for further stimulus to kickstart the world’s number three economy.

Markets are now awaiting a postmeeting press briefing by BoJ chief Haruhiko Kuroda, who has repeatedly pledged to do whatever is necessary to achieve the inflation target.

Observers will be keen to see what Kuroda says about the possibility of further measures, after surprising markets in October when the bank announced a huge expansion of its assetbuying programme.

Kuroda previously acknowledged that falling oil prices threatened the bank’s inflation bid, but he said cheaper energy should give the wider economy a shot in the arm and generate higher prices.

“Kuroda will be under pressure to increase stimulus,” Masamichi Adachi, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., told Bloomberg News.

“It must be getting harder for him to communicate with market participants, with the economy expected to recover while inflation is slowing due to oil.”

Oil prices have lost more than half their value from above $100 in June last year.

Chief executives are more worried than a year ago about the global economic outlook, as deflation stalks Europe and commodity prices wilt, but the United States stands out as a bright spot.

That is the verdict of a worldwide survey of more than 1,300 CEOs, released on the eve of the Jan. 21-24 World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, that also found business leaders still moderately confident in their own firms’ ability to grow revenues.

Seven years on from the financial crisis that brought the global economy to the brink, there are a host of new geopolitical issues to worry about today, from turmoil in the Middle East to fighting in Ukraine to protests in Hong Kong.

Those confrontations all have economic knock-ons, adding to a wariness that has been compounded by recent market volatility, including a rocketing Swiss franc which has shocked locals in the ski resort of Davos.

“There’s a fair amount of concern about the economy,” said Dennis Nally, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) International, which conducted the annual CEO health check.

“There’s probably more negativity thus far in 2015, which is really a continuation of the theme from the fourth quarter of last year.” Just 37% of CEOs think global economic growth will improve in the year ahead, down from 44% last year, and 17% think growth will decline, more than twice as many as in 2014.

But when it comes to their own businesses, 39% of CEOs said they were “very confident” of growing revenues in the next 12 months, an unchanged reading from a year earlier and slightly up from 36% in 2013. That steady internal confidence is helped by the fact executives see opportunities to use technology to move their companies into new business areas.

Gloomy survey opens Davos meeting n AFP Global business leaders are very downbeat on the potential for economic growth in 2015, a closely watched survey said recently, bringing a gloomy start to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

In a Davos tradition, consulting group PwC surveyed 1,300 business leaders in the runup to the high altitude gabfest, and their responses fell in line with the International Monetary Fund, which recently slashed its world growth forecast for this year and next.

The poor outlook comes despite a sharp drop in oil prices and will weigh heavily as the world elite gather over the next four days in this Swiss Alps village.

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be among the 2,500 prominent figures attending the meeting, along with Nobel laureates, top bankers and CEOs. Asked how they saw the big economic picture at the start of the year, only 37% of the PwC respondents said they expected the economy to improve in the next 12 months, down from 44% a year ago.

Even worse, 17% of business leaders said the economy would turn for the worse in 2015, more than double the 7% last year.

For the first time in five years, the United States came ahead of China as the country respondents felt would best boost the world economy over the next 12 months.

As ever, over-regulation by governments was cited as the biggest barrier to growth, but cyber-security, the uncontrolled advance of technology and the lack of qualified talent also rose as worries.

The IMF recently sharply cut its 2015-2016 world growth forecast of only six months ago, despite hopes that lower oil prices would offset pervasive weaknesses around the globe.

The IMF said poorer prospects in China, Russia, the euro area and Japan will hold world GDP growth to just 3.5% this year and 3.7% in 2016. l

DILBERT

A man using his mobile phone walks past the Bank of Japan headquarters building in Tokyo The meeting comes a day before European Central Bank policymakers are widely expected to give the go-ahead to a huge bond-buying programme aimed at propping up the ailing eurozone economy.

Oil prices weigh on target

The BoJ’s inflation target is a cornerstone of Tokyo’s wider bid to turn around years of tepid growth by generating price rises and prompting firms to boost their hiring and expansion plans.

But a sales tax rise in April slammed the brakes on consumer spending, plunging the economy into recession during the third quarter and throwing

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s growth project, dubbed Abenomics, into question.

The BoJ, however, on Yesterday kept up its view that the economy was on track for a recovery, and said its longer-term inflation view remains unaffected.

The inflation rate in the year starting April 2016 would come in at 2.2%, it said.

“With regard to the CPI (consumer price index), the outlook for the underlying trend remains unchanged, but the year-on-year rate of increase will likely be lower toward fiscal 2015, due to the significant decline in crude oil prices,” the bank said in a statement.

REUTERS

The rest of the statement was largely a mirror of the one issued after the BoJ’s meeting in December, when the bank struck a more upbeat view of economy, saying exports were showing signs of picking up while factory output was bottoming out.

“Apart from a minor tweak to its lending programmes, the Bank of Japan left policy settings unchanged today and signalled no concern about the impact of lower oil prices,” Capital Economics said after the decision.

“The chances of additional stimulus being announced as early as April as we currently expect have thus diminished somewhat.” l

Emerging markets lose shine

The pendulum has swung further away from many emerging markets over the past year, with the notable exception of India, where the arrival of pro-business Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the country’s CEOs the most confident in the world.

Russia, however, has plunged from top of the confidence table a year ago to having the gloomiest business leaders, as a tumbling oil price and Western sanctions take a heavy toll.

'There’s a fair amount of concern about the economy' Confidence in China, too, is down and the country is no longer the automatic go-to market for multinationals.

Instead, for the first time since the question was asked five years ago, the United States has overtaken China as CEOs’ most important overseas growth market.

With the US economy some 7% larger than before the financial crisis and more jobs having been created than were lost, executives see a strong case for investing in a country that remains a hub of technological innovation.

That echoes a report earlier on Tuesday from the International Monetary Fund, which lowered its forecast for global economic growth in 2015 but raised it for the United States.

It rings true, too, for Barry Salzberg, global CEO of Deloitte, a rival to PwC in the audit and consulting business.

“You can sense that things in the US are getting better, while the euro zone has big economic challenges and China’s economy has slowed,” Salzberg told Reuters. l

German investor confidence up on 'QE effect’ n AFP, Germany Investment sentiment in Germany hit an 11-month high this month on hopes the European Central Bank is about to roll out its heavy anti-deflation artillery, analysts said on Tuesday.

The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute jumped 13.5 points to 48.4 points in January, its highest level in 11 months, ZEW said in a statement.

It was the third consecutive monthly rise and beat analyst expectations for a more modest increase to around 40 points.

“The new year started with turmoil in the capital markets. News of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Greece and the Swiss National Bank’s decision to abandon the euro cap on the franc’s value have led to strong stock market fluctuations,” said ZEW president Clemens Fuest.

“However, this seems not to have impressed ZEW’s financial market experts with regard to their expectations for the German economy. Instead, decreasing crude oil prices and a depreciating euro have contributed to a further gain of the indicator,” Fuest explained.

For the survey, ZEW questions analysts and institutional investors about their current assessment of the economic situation in Germany, as well as their expectations for the coming months.

The sub-index measuring financial market players’ view of the current economic situation in Germany jumped by 12.4 points to 22.4 points in January.

Germany leaves lull behind

While the ZEW is frequently criticised for being volatile and not particularly reliable, analysts nevertheless took heart from this month’s better-thanexpected reading.

“The third increase in a row is a good piece of good news and adds to signs that the German economy is about to leave the recent lull behind,” said

Natixis economist Johannes Gareis.

“Indeed, with the recent sharp decline in oil prices and the lower euro exchange rate, a significant stimulus is in the pipeline. Obviously, Germany’s investors and analysts have also scaled up the expectations for the ECB’s looming QE programme,” he said.

The ECB is scheduled to hold its first policy meeting of the year on Thursday and market speculation is at fever pitch that its president Mario Draghi will announce a programme of sovereign bond purchases, known as quantitative easing or QE, to jump start the eurozone’s morose economy.

QE is regarded as the central bank’s most powerful tool yet to ward off the threat of deflation in the single currency area, where consumer prices actually started to fall in December.

Lower euro

BayernLB economist Christiane von Berg similarly attributed the strong ZEW reading to the “QE effect”.

The large-scale purchase of government bonds would help drive the euro down lower against major currencies “and that will provide a boost for exports,” she said.

“Today’s ZEW data confirm the positive upturn which has emerged in Germany over the past couple of months.

All the signs are for more dynamic growth in 2015,” von Berg said.

BNP Paribas economist Evelyn Hermann said expectations of the asset purchase programme “certainly explains part of the ZEW increase.”

The euro’s drop against the Swiss franc would also help.

“In this context, we expect other January surveys for Germany are likely to show sizeable improvements, too, in line with our expectations of gradually strengthening quarterly growth rates in 2015,” the analyst said.

Capital Economics economist Jennifer McKeown said that “presumably any worries about the effect of the Greek crisis on the German economy were offset by expectations of ECB quantitative easing and hopes of a boost to exports from the weakening euro.”

“But note that the ZEW survey has not been a particularly reliable indicator of actual activity in the past and if the Greek situation deteriorates in the aftermath of this week’s election or ECB QE disappoints, investors may well take a dimmer view of Germany’s prospects,” she cautioned. l

Swiss 100 franc bank notes are withdrawn from an ATM in the northern Swiss town of Kreuzlingen in this picture illustration REUTERS

Central bankers lurch from ‘whatever it takes’ to ‘whatever next’ n Reuters The Swiss currency shock has raised an awkward question many investors have been fearful of asking - what if central banks become as unpredictable and fallible as they are powerful?

The Swiss National Bank’s sudden decision to abandon its three-year-old cap on the franc - the “cornerstone” of its monetary policy just three days before - led to the biggest one-day move in major exchange rates in the post-1973 floating rates era. To some it was a warning sign of other U-turns, mishaps and possible failures by central banks still ahead, outcomes not fully appreciated by long-becalmed markets.

For decades the power of currency printing presses has held markets in thrall.

“Don’t fight the Fed” and all its international variations has been a devout belief among financial traders.

Even after the failure of Alan Greenspan’s Federal Reserve to spot and headoff one of the biggest credit booms and busts in history, the ability of the Fed, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, European Central Bank and others to flood their money supply to ease the fallout helped anaesthetise fractious markets.

The subsequent waves of cheap credit, currency fixes and “quantitative easing” drove down borrowing rates and erased volatility.

The demonstrations of central bank might culminated in ECB chief Mario

Draghi’s declaration in 2012 that he would do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. In the face of the power of the money printing press, speculation became pointless.

So much so that one of the biggest conundrums of recent years became the persistently low implied volatility in markets even in the face of outsized economic, political and policy risks. Not everyone was pleased by the complacency.

“Monetary methadone was the best of no choice but we have become addicted to cheap money everywhere and, somehow, that central bankers are prophetic,” Nigel Wilson, chief executive of UK insurer Legal & General told Reuters last week as he bemoaned the track record of central banks over many years.

The first cracks appeared last summer, when it became clear the Fed was turning off the printing presses even as counterparts in Europe and Japan were still cranking up theirs.

The idea the world’s largest economy was about to suck dollars back out of the world just as others were pumping in euros and yen sent once-steady exchange rates lurching. The power of the central banks was as daunting as ever, but no longer such a reassuring and calming influence.

Thunderbolt Last week’s thunderbolt from the Swiss authorities went further by calling into question whether central banks are as committed to their policies as they purport to be.

The SNB may simply have tried to pre-empt a flood of euro sales expected after the ECB announces sovereign QE this week. But in allowing 30% plus franc appreciation it delivered its ailing economy a harsh blow, which few outsiders saw as unavoidable.

And for a major central bank to twice proclaim the virtue of effectively printing Swiss francs at a fixed 1.20 per euro, only to scrap the cap within the week, injects an element of randomness into monetary policymaking not seen for many years.

Can investors now be sure now Denmark’s central bank - facing a similar problem of holding a long-standing crown peg to a weakening euro - will hold the line as it repeatedly promises?

Or more immediately, will Draghi stay good to his commitment to do “whatever it takes” to sustain the euro zone and stave off euro deflation? Will he even be there to see it through?

Stephen Jen, manager of the eponymous hedge fund SLJ Macro, reckons the Swiss decision was as much about personalities as the durability of the policy.

The expansion of the central bank’s balance sheet to date did not leave it way out of whack by comparison with the likes of Singapore, for example.

Jen argues the abandonment of the Swiss franc cap was simply a personal preference of SNB chief Thomas Jordan who had inherited a policy he never liked from predecessor Philipp Hildebrand. l