31 Jan, 2015

Magh 18, 1421 Rabius Sani 10, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 296

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JAIPUR LITERARY FESTIVAL

THE BEQUEST OF COX’S BAZAR

MAMUNUL HINTS OF RETIREMENT

Now SSC takers face catastrophe BNP-led alliance calls 72-hour hartal from tomorrow amid countrywide transport blockade n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla The BNP-led 20-party alliance’s announcement of countrywide 72-hour shutdown from tomorrow along with the ongoing blockade has put the Secondary School Certificate examinations in a great peril.

BNP leaders have said they would not backtrack from the movement as they are not responsible for the ongoing crisis. The government should step down from office to put an end to the prevailing political stalemate, they say.

Party insiders told the Dhaka Tribune hartal (shutdown) along with the blockade will be enforced on a regular basis until the problem is solved.

Education ministry is yet to decide whether SSC and equivalent exams would be rescheduled Issuing a press statement at 2:40pm yesterday, BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi asked the government to stand down to pave the way for bringing back normalcy to the country.

“Peace and stability can be restored only after the illegal government resigns,” Rizvi said, replying to the call of Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid to withdraw the blockade during the SSC examinations.

Around 1.5 million students will sit for the examinations this year.

On January 28, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid told journalists that the upcoming Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations would be held throughout the country in due time and warned that no conspiracy could stop the SSC and equivalent exams.

“We can expect minimum norms

White House declines to call Afghan Taliban ‘terrorists’ n AFP

and values from the BNP-led 20-party alliance leaders,” Nahid said.

But Nahid yesterday softened his stance after the hartal call. He said his ministry was yet to decide whether the SSC and equivalent exams would be rescheduled.

“We still believe that human values will prevail and the BNP-led 20-party alliance will take the exams into consideration and postpone or call off their shutdown,” he said.

Earlier, Education Ministry sources said the government decided to hold the exams amid blockade but exam dates coinciding with hartal would be rescheduled.

Guardians of examinees are panic-stricken due to the blockade violence, he added.

Rizvi, on the other hand, said: “The Awami League government is the root of people’s sufferings. They bagged only 5% votes. If the illegal government resigns from the office then peace and stability will return to the country.”

Meanwhile at 5:25pm, Rizvi in another press release on behalf of the 20-party alliance announced a 72-hour nationwide hartal from February 01 protesting killing of at least 21 opposition men and filing cases against more than 150,000 leaders and activists.

The nationwide strike will be enforced from 6am tomorrow and will continue till 6am of February 04, he said, adding that the strike was called protesting the threat of arresting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. Earlier, the O- and A-level examinations were cancelled due to the opposition combine’s 48-hour shutdown in Dhaka division.

Though the BNP-led alliance had kept O-level exams out of hartal’s purview, this time they did not do so; they rather alleged that the solution would  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

These young men from the northern districts came to the capital in a group in search of seasonal jobs yesterday. They usually do so following harvests. But finding no contractor to hire them in the capital’s New Market area, they returned to their mess in Keraniganj empty-handed. Day-labourers have been among the worst victims of the ongoing blockade and strikes enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance. The photo was taken at Bangshal in Old Dhaka SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Rangamati adivasis firm to resist medical college, tech university n Abid Azad Indigenous leaders and activists have expressed resolve to resist at any cost the government move to establish a medical college and a science and technology university in Rangamati.

They allege that the Awami League government did not consult the indigenous community leaders about its plan to establish the medical college, which violates the 1997 agreement known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord.

The government also did not pay heed to the voices that have been opposing the move in the following years.

It rather started academic activities in a building of the General Hospital on a temporary basis after the prime minister on January 10 inaugurated it.

In the current academic session, as many as 51 students have enrolled; the authorities have also appointed a principal and two lecturers. Of the students, 12 were picked up after combined tests under CHT quota; nine of them belong to indigenous communities.

On January 10, several indigenous groups demonstrated against the medical college but faced resistance from ruling party men, which led to violence, communal attacks and the administration to declare curfew in the

area for a couple of days. Around 30 people were injured in the clash¡es.

Talking to the indigenous peoples, it has been learnt that they are not against the technology university or the medical college; rather they seek sincere attention of the government in implementing the Accord first. They also demand improvement of the existing government colleges and schools in the area that lack adequate manpower and logistics.

Groups that favour the government plans are the ruling Awami League, its affiliated bodies and Bangali settlers’ organisations. They also want the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Khilgaon bus burning sends 4 to hospital last night n Tribune Report Four people were burnt as a bus was set on fire at Khilgaon in the capital yesterday while another four were injured in two crude bomb blasts at Mirpur and Palashi. Stray acts of subversion and violence were reported in Comilla, Barisal, Khulna, Noakhali. Three people sustained injuries in the incidents.

The four burn victims, including a retired policeman named Jamaluddin, were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors said they suffered 6-15% burn.

Jamaluddin, 55, whose condition was worse than the others, told the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

54 killed in Pakistan Shia mosque blast Arsonists: We did it at the n behest of ‘boro bhai’ AFP

The White House on Thursday declined to describe Afghanistan’s Taliban as a terrorist group, prompting consternation from the right, which accused President Barack Obama’s administration of being out of touch.

“They do carry out tactics that are akin to terrorism, they do pursue terror attacks in an effort to advance their agenda,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

“What’s also true though is that it is important to draw a distinction between the Taliban and al-Qaeda,” he said, pointing to a difference in designation.

“The Taliban is a very dangerous organisation,” he added.

The Treasury Department has imposed anti-terror sanctions on around 2,000 Taliban fighters, leaders, supporters and financiers.

But the White House’s distinction got short shrift from its political opponents, with Republicans sending footage of the comments to supporters.

At least 54 people were killed and 55 others were injured in an explosion inside a central imambargah (mosque affiliated with Shia Muslims) in Sindh province’s Shikarpur district on Friday.

Civil Hospital Shikarpur issued a list of 49 victims out of whom 46 bodies had been identified whereas the identity of 3 others was yet to be confirmed.

The imambargah is located in Shikarpur’s Lakhi Dar area and the explosion occurred just after Friday prayers.

A number of victims were trapped under debris after the roof of the imambargah collapsed due to the intensity of the blast. Many of the casualties were shifted to hospitals in Sukkur and Larkana districts of Sindh.

Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) central leader Allama Mohammed Amin Shaheedi announced three days mourning, describing the incident a failure of the government.

He told Dawn that the party’s further course of action would be announced in a press conference later in the evening.

The Jafria Disaster Cell (JDC) demanded that the critically wounded victims be immediately shifted to Karachi for treatment.

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 PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Pakistani investigators and security officials look for forensic evidence at a Shiite mosque in Shikarpur, Pakistan, yesterday, destroyed in a bomb blast just as worshippers were gathering for Friday prayers, killing dozens of people and wounding many others AP

Fazal Miah, a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal activist, received a phone call on January 20 that instructed him to set a bus on fire in his area.

“You have to set a bus on fire,” the order came from the other end of the mobile phone to Fazal Miah alias Sajal, 22, when he was working in his garage.

“A boro bhai (big brother) named Pavel rang me,” he said this while he was presented before the media at Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Media and Community Center yesterday.

“He first told me that I have to do something but as I asked him about what I have to do he said I have to set alight a bus.

“I told him I only know how to fix vehicles and have never ever done such a thing but he insisted. Later I went out with him about 12am on January 20 and set a bus on fire at 2am.”

Detective Branch of Dhaka District Police arrested Fazal along with two others – Khairul Islam alias Silti Khairul, 26, and Shawkat Islam, 24, – for setting fire to a passenger bus in Keraniganj area, the outskirts of the capital.

“Based on information, detectives arrested the three from Noadda village of Rajendrapur Bazar under Keraniganj police station early yesterday,” says Habibur Rahman, superintendent of police of Dhaka.

SP Habib said the arrestees are actively involved in the politics of Chhatra Dal.

The driver and his assistant were sleeping inside the bus when it was set on fire “On January 20, about 1:45am the arrestees set fire to the bus of Sirajdhikhan Paribahan which was parked at Rajendrapur Bus Stand of Dhaka-Mawa Highway.

The driver and his assistant were sleeping inside the bus when it was put on fire but somehow they managed to escape the fire but were burnt badly, said SP Habib while briefing at the media center of DMP. Habib says that a case was filed with  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

INSIDE 3 | News

The long-awaited Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) will likely top the agenda during Mamata Banerjee’s visit to Dhaka next month, analysts said.

6 | Nation

A 2.5 acre land, worth aboutTk10 crore belonging to Haribari Forest Department in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh district has been allegedly grabbed by local influential people.

5 | News

Along with a strong police presence, Bangla Academy authorities install 60 CCTV cameras for security at Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2015.

7 | World

Over the past six months, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have been unhappy with the MEA and particularly with former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh’s leadership.

11 | Op-Ed

Traffic jams, fender benders, fatalities, emissions, expense of delay, and social marginalisation … these are all direct and indirect costs of a motorist-dependent city.

15 | Entertainment

On this Valentine’s Day, charming personality Nusrat Faria will be seen on small screen endorsing Mr Cookie Biscuit with heartthrob actor Arefin Shuvo.

01_FR 02_Ne 16_BA

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Amnesty: Excessive force not the answer n Tribune Desk The Bangladesh government risks making the country’s situation worse by giving police “carte blanche to use excessive force” in response to bomb attacks, Amnesty International (AI) has said.

In a press statement issued on Thursday, the rights group quoted media reports of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina saying: “as the head of the government I am giving [the police] the liberty to take any action wherever and whenever it will be deemed necessary” to stop arson.

“Remarks like these carry a high risk of being seen as an open invitation for the police to use unnecessary and excessive force against demonstrators or even to carry out extrajudicial executions – which Bangladeshi security forces have carried out with appalling frequency in the past,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International Bangladesh Researcher.

The statement went on to say: “International human rights law protects the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and peaceful protest, but the manner in which the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led protests are being carried out clearly shows a repeated

pattern of violence being used for a political purpose.”

“The BNP should exhort their members and supporters to stop these politically-motivated criminal acts, which should be dealt with in fair procedures under the criminal law,” Abbas said.

Since the opposition BNP imposed a transport blockade in the country on January 5, more than two dozen people have been killed and hundreds injured, some seriously.

More than a dozen people have been killed in recent operations by the police, including the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite force accused of numerous human rights violations in the past, the press statement said.

Ten of the recent deaths occurred in what police termed “shootouts” between January 12 and 28, it said.

“These deaths during police operations – some of which may amount to extrajudicial executions – must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible brought to justice. The security forces have a duty to maintain law and order, but that does not place them above the law and it is never an excuse to resort to excessive use of force,” said Abbas. l

Dr Kamal, Manna meet Khaleda n Tribune Report Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain and Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna met BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office in the capital yesterday.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, Dr Kamal said they went to Khaleda’s office only to express their condolence over the death of Khaleda’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko.

“Except this, we did not discuss any political issue,” he said.

Former Awami League leader Sultan Mohammad Monsur was also present during the meeting. Since 1991, this was the first meeting Khaleda and Kamal. l

Gayebana janaza held for blockade victims

n BSS

A relative attend to Raju, 20, who received burn injuries in a petrol bomb attack on a bus at Khilgaon last night. Raju and three others were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital Rajib Dhar

54 killed in Pakistan Shia mosque

Khilgaon bus burning sends 4 to hospital last night  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

Dhaka Tribune that four-five youths were on the bus and they set the vehicle on fire while getting down near the Khilgaon flyover around 9pm.

Jamaluddin and his wife, daughter and granddaughter were returning home by that bus.

At Mirpur 11, two people were injured when miscreants hurled a crude bombs around 9:30pm.

Two more people – a Dhaka College student and a Buet employee – were injured in another bomb blast at Palashi in the capital around 8pm.

Meanwhile, Wari police station OC Tapan Chandra Saha said they had arrested Mozammel Hossain Mukta, a local BNP leader and a former ward councillor at Wari, in connection with the recent petrol bomb and crude bomb attacks.

The OC told the Dhaka Tribune that they had arrested Mukta on the basis of information provided by those who had been held earlier in connection with attacks over the past few days.

In the capital miscreants burnt down two passenger buses at Tantiba-

zar and Kaptanbazar earlier in the day.

Miscreants set fire to an Abdullahpur-bound bus of Victor Paribahan at Tantibazar intersection around 8:30am while another passenger bus of Madina Enterprise was torched at Kaptanbazar in the Gulistan area around 2:30pm, said Nilufar Yeasmin, an official of the fire service headquarters.

Firefighting units rushed to the spots and doused the fires. No one was injured in the incidents, he said.

Apart from this, vehicles moved normally on almost all streets in the capital until evening. Even some inter-district and long-route buses left the capital. Train and launch services were also normal.

Our Noakhali correspondent reports, miscreants hurled petrol bombs at a truck on Thursday night injuring its driver Monjurul Islam Monju at Sebarhat Pachchimbazar on Feni-Noakhali highways.

The truck, laden with cement, came from Chittagong and was going to Dhaka.

Senbagh police station Officer-inCharge Mominul Islam said the driver received burns on his hands as the

bomb hit him breaking through the windshield about 11pm.

The pickets were able to flee the spot before police reached the spot, he said.

Besides, pickets torched a covered van stationed in front of a restaurant at Maijdi area around 5am. Police arrested 14 BNP-Jamaat men for their alleged involvement in the two incidents.

Our Barisal correspondent reports, pickets set fire to a covered-van plying the Barisal-Madaripur route in Barisal.

Police said the driver and the helper of the van were injured in the attack, allegedly made by pro-blockade pickets near Kataksthal government primary school on Barisal-Dhaka highway early Friday.

Sajjad Hossain, OC of Gournadi PS said injured driver Liton Haoladar, and his helper Tuhin Mridha, left the place with the vehicle for Madaripur after receiving first-aid.

Our Comilla correspondent reports, two covered vans were torched by the alleged pro-blockaders in the district on Thursday night.

Witnesses said some youths set afire a moving covered van at the Che-

The Awami League-led 14-party alliance yesterday held gayebana janaza at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque for the victims of the ongoing hartal and blockade across the country.

The janaza was held after the Jumma prayer. Later, a milad mahfil was also held seeking eternal peace of the deceased and recovery of the burn victims. l

ora-Batisa area under Chouddogram upazila in the district around 9:45pm.

Some youths torched another van in front of Royel Hostel at Batisa about 8:45am. No one was injured in the incidents, they said.

Our Khulna correspondent reports, miscreants blasted bombs in front of Khulna range’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) SM Moniruzzaman’s residence in the city around 10pm, Thursday. Within half an hour eight more crude bombs went off in different places of Khulna.

Our Gazipur correspondent reports, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested two youths Monir Hossain, 28, and Sagor Mia, 20, in possession of 13 petrol bombs and five rounds of bullets in the district.

The elite force identified Monir as a Jubo Dal activist and Sagor as an electrical shop worker. They made petrol bombs on contract and detonated them in exchange of money.

Our Chandpur correspondent reports, police arrested 23 BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists for their alleged involvement in subversive activities in the district. l

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A huge contingent of police and rangers is present here and ambulances from the nearby towns have started to arrive.

Local resident Mohammad Jehangir told AFP he had “felt the earth move beneath my feet” as he prayed at another mosque around 1.5 kilometres away.

An official with a national Shi’aite organisation, Rahat Kazmi, told AFP that up to 400 people were worshipping in the mosque when the blast struck.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon told Dawn that an emergency had been imposed at all hospitals in Shikarpur and surrounding talukas and cities.

He added that provincial Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Health Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar have taken strong notice of the incident.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain, Pakistan

Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain issued condemnation messages against the incident.

A bomb disposal squad team has been dispatched to the area from Sukkur and rescue teams have reached Imam Bargah Maula Karbala where the explosion took place. Speculation prevails that the explosion may have been carried out by a suicide bomber.

The incident comes as Pakistan is attempting to implement the National Action Plan to combat and root out terrorism from the country, an initiative that was set in motion after the Dec 16 attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School in December 2014.

It was the second major attack on an imambargah in the country since the beginning of 2015; the first being an attack on Rawalpindi’s Imambargah Aun Mohammad Rizvi in the garrison city’s Chatian Hatian area. l

White House declines to call Afghan Taliban ‘terrorists’  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

“It slits throats, it attacks buses, it drives car bombs into markets and it’s not a terrorist group. Look, you can’t parody this administration,” said conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer.

Others said the White House’s distinction was based more on politics than reality, pointing to the negotiated release of Taliban captive and US soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

The White House says it does not negotiate with terror groups.

Seven days earlier, Dawn reported that US has said that after Jan 2, US forces in Afghanistan will not target Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders unless they posed a direct threat to the US.

“Being a member of the Taliban doesn’t mean that the United States is going to prosecute operations against you for that reason alone,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told a recent news briefing in Washington.

But he also drew a line between combatant and non-combatant Taliban, saying that those who continued to fight would not be spared.

“We’ve also concurred that a member of the Taliban who undertakes missions against us or our Afghan partners – by that act alone, renders himself vulnerable and liable to US action,” Rear Admiral Kirby said.

In his year-end news conference on Friday, President Barack Obama

assured the American nation that he would fulfil his pledge to end the US-led war in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

“And in less than two weeks, after more than 13 years, our combat mission in Afghanistan will be over,” he said.

President Obama, however, has authorised this force to fight the militants if they posed a direct threat to them or caused a major threat to official Afghan forces.

At the Pentagon briefing, journalists asked Mr Kirby to further explain the policy and also asked him if US forces would continue to pursue Taliban leader Mullah Omar after 2014 as well, as they did in the past.

Mullah Omar was Afghanistan’s head of state from 1996 until the US

forced him from power in 2001. He has been on the State Department’s Rewards for Justice programme since Oct 2001, for harbouring Osama bin Laden and other terrorists. The reward for his capture is $10 million.

The Pentagon spokesman explained that from January 2, the US policy in Afghanistan would change. But “what changes fundamentally, though, is (that) … on January 2nd, just by being a member of the Taliban doesn’t make you an automatic target,” he explained.

“So, beginning January 2, it will be up to the Afghans to go after someone like a Mullah Omar?” asked a journalist.

“That’s correct, unless there is a direct threat that’s posed,” Kirby said. l

Rangamati adivasis firm to resist medical college, tech university  PAGE 1 COLUMN 5

proposed science and technology university near Kaptai of the district to be implemented smoothly.

The authorities have recently issued eviction notices to 74 families living inside the proposed site for the university. The project covering primarily around 40.5 hectares (100 acres) of land would finally require displacement of around 200 families, sources say.

PCJSS chief Santu Larma in the recent months issued warnings against such development projects, saying those would further increase discrimination against the indigenous people.

He has asked the government to execute the core provisions of the 1997 Accord, including elections to the regional council and the three hill district councils, and removal of the army camps, before taking such initiatives.

The Awami League government in 1997 struck the landmark agreement with Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) that ended a decade-long armed struggle in the CHT region.

However, the indigenous leaders now allege that they were fooled in the name of establishing peace since no significant progress is seen to solve the key issues of the Accord which also include making effective the land dispute resolution commission.

The three hill district councils, in which subsequent governments have

been appointing people on ad hoc basis, have not seen election in a decade while the Land Commission could not solve a single case.

Rangamti lawmaker Ushatun Talukder said: “It makes no sense to establish a medical college and a science and technology university as the fundamental issues of the Peace Accord are yet to be implemented.”

Ushatan claimed that despite being a public representative, he had not been informed by the government of the large development projects. “Then for whom is the government going to establish the medical college or the university?”

He stressed that the government should focus more on the undergraduate public colleges in the three districts that require infrastructural development, qualified teachers and other necessary supports “before establishing another medical college and university.”

Women MP from reserved seat Firoza Begum Chinu said: “I do not understand why the indigenous people do not want such academic institutions in Rangamati. It will certainly be a great opportunity for all the hill tracts people including the settlers.”

The Awami League MP said: “I think a misunderstanding has divided the settlers and the indigenous people over this issue.”

CHT Citizen’s Committee President Gautam Dewan, on the other hand,

pointed out that the Rangamati Medical College Act was nothing special. It would run like other government medical colleges even though the language, culture and tradition of the indigenous people are different.

“According to the act, we the indigenous people do not see the light of educational opportunities and other developments in the CHT area.

“As the adivasis are lagging behind compared to the Bangalis in other part of the country, students from this region do not fulfil the indigenous quota scheme for higher studies.”

He suggested that the government undertakes programmes to increase the number of teachers and facilities to ensure more enrolment of indigenous people.

In Rangamati College, there are 20 vacant posts against a total of 67 posts; 20 against 47 in Khagrachhari College; and 10 against 39 posts in Bandarban College.

He said: “When a college requires minimum six to seven professors, we have maximum two professors in every college.”

PCJSS chief Santu Larma in an interview with this reporter earlier gave two points why they had been opposing the medical college and the science and technology university.

“Firstly, the government did not discuss with us before taking such initiatives. We came to know about it, not from the government officially, but un-

officially after the bill was passed.

“Secondly, the recent context in the CHT area is not appropriate to establish such institutions. There are not many qualified students in the indigenous communities who can study in the universities? How many experienced and qualified teachers do we have among the indigenous people? They can, at best, get the third and fourth class jobs in those proposed institutions.”

He also pointed out that a huge number of students, teachers, and other employees would come from outside the CHT area. “It will gradually create more pressure and complexity on the existing social and cultural crisis,” Santu said adding that political activities at the institutions would also affect the region adversely.

Gautam Dewan said the proposed Rangamati Science and Technology University is planned in an area from where the indigenous people had been evicted in early 1960s during construction of the country’s lone hydro power plant.

“Then they took shelter in the hilly areas but were again evicted because of land acquisition for tourism. Later the Kaptai locals had to leave the area as the law enforcement agencies wanted to build establishments there.”

Gautam mentioned that they had asked the government several times, not to establish any academic institution that may not bring any development for the indigenous people. l

Three men held for hurling petrol bombs in the capital’s Keraniganj area framed at the media cell of the Detective Branch in the capital yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

We did it at the behest of boro bhai  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

South Keraniganj police station against 30 named and 10 to 12 unnamed persons in connection with the arson attack.

Sub-inspector Sohrab Hossain of the police station filed the case.

While investigating the case, district police detectives found involvement of the three in the bus fire case and arrested them, says Habib adding that in primary interrogation the three confessed to their involvement in the bus blaze.

Another arrestee Shawkat said they first poured petrol into two soft-drink bottles. “When the opportune moment came we opened a window of the bus and poured petrol before we set it on fire.”

“We have done this on the instruction of boro bhai,” added Shawkat.

About Pavel, SP Habib says Pavel Mollah is the joint convener of Chhatra Dal Tegharia Union unit under Keraniganj police station.

Pavel and his younger brother Babu are involved in violence and sabotage in the area.

“We are now trying to arrest Pavel,” says SP Habib.

“The three were placed before a court yesterday evening followed by their confessional statement before Senior Judicial Magistrate Afroza Shiuli.

The three were later sent to jail, says Md Asaduzzaman, officer-in-charge of prosecution of Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. l

Now SSC takers face catastrophe  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

come only through resignation of the government.

“The problem is political. It is neither an academic nor an administrative problem, so the problem should be settled politically and only the government can do this,” Serajul Islam Chowdhury, eminent educationist, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said academic life has remained almost suspended along with economic and other issues. So normal situation has to be created as exam is not only about students or the examinees rather many other stakeholders are involved with the issue.

Mamtaz Begum, mother of a student who will sit for the SSC exams this year, said: “We are really concerned as we could not understand what to do.

Should we risk our child’s life during the exams?

“How will the government ensure safety and security of the students?

What will the opposition gain disrupting the education life of our children?

Things should be made clear soon for the sake of the future generation.”

The BNP-led 20-party alliance called countrywide transport blockade since January 5 and countrywide hartal has been enforced intermittently amid blockade to intensify the movement.

A senior BNP leader said the Awami League did the same thing: it enforced hartal during public exams when it was in the opposition.

In 2013 also, the BNP-Jamaat-led combine enforced hartals and staged protests during the SSC and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Saturday, January 31, 2015

3

LBA will likely top talks during Mamata visit n Abu Bakar Siddique The long-awaited Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) will likely top the agenda during Mamata Banerjee’s visit to Dhaka next month, analysts said.

Experts said the LBA will get top priority because India’s parliament has already started the process of finalising the deal.

The Teetsa Water Sharing Treaty, crucial for Bangladesh in light of last year’s lowest ever recorded flow, has long been held up due to Indian domestic politics.

Both the LBA and the Teesta Water Sharing Treaty will feature prominently in talks between the government and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Dhaka from February 19 to 21, foreign ministry officials said.

Mamata’s visit is likely part of a move to improve her image at home and abroad, which has taken a battering in recent times, according to Imtiaz Ahmed, professor of International Relations at Dhaka University.

For the Indian electorate, Mamata’s visit will try to shore up an image tarnished by an Indian central government probe into possible links between senior members of her party and Islamist militants working against Bangladesh.

In the international arena, Mamata will hope to regain some political mileage in Bangladesh where her aboutturn on a nearly-agreed-upon Teesta agreement in 2011 caused former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s government to renege on its international commitments.

Her decision to come to Dhaka in February, a month of Bengali cultural pride stemming from the Language Movement of 1952, is likely calculated to capitalise upon the fellow-feeling and festive mood of the month, Imtiaz said.

LBA

An Indian parliamentary committee tabled a report recommending a constitutional amendment bill to enable the agreement to be ratified and enclaves to be swapped, The Hindu reported on December 2, 2014.

Ratifying the LBA would end a 68year dispute dating from partition.

Bangladesh and India signed the LBA

in 1974 but India never ratified it.

While the Bangladesh side has ratified the LBA, India must first pass a constitutional amendment to exchange territory with its neighbour.

Imtiaz Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune: “India may linger in ratifying the LBA but cannot avoid it.”

He said it was not important whether or not Mamata opposed the LBA because the power to do so lies solely with the BJP, the ruling party at the centre, which enjoys a two-thirds majority in parliament.

But former Ambassador Humayun Kabir said that while the BJP alone can complete the ratification process, it would likely to do so by consensus and not fiat.

The agreement calls for India to hand over 111 enclaves measuring 17,158.2 acres to Bangladesh, and receive 51 enclaves measuring 7,110 acres.

Some 14,215 people reside in the Bangladeshi enclaves in India, while 37,269 people reside in the Indian enclaves in Bangladesh.

Teesta

There is no constitutional obstacle to the Teesta deal, but electoral politics in West Bengal and at India’s centre militate against a deal.

It is a crucial issue for Bangladesh.

On March 9, 2014, water flow was recorded at just 409 cu secs – the lowest in history.

This happens because India unilaterally decides on the volume of water flow from its position upstream.

Without the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement, farmers in Bangladesh’s northern districts suffer from serious water scarcity during lean periods.

Imtiaz said: “With West Bengal provincial polls coming in the next year and a half, Mamata’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may avoid signing the deal out of fear of electoral disapproval for it.”

He said Bangladesh will probably have to wait until the next election in West Bengal to see positive results on the Teesta issue.

To placate fears of a water shortage among West Bengal voters who are generally opposed to the Teesta agreement, Mamata has sought assurances of adequate water supply from Sikkim state where the Teesta River originates. l

Day labourers stare at a political programme being staged in front of the National Press Club yesterday. As the 20-party alliance continues to stage its blockade and the government stays firm against holding a dialogue, it is these labourers living a hand-to-mouth existence who have to pay the high price SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Former diplomat’s daughter found dead at her flat in Dhaka n Mohammad Jamil Khan Police recovered the body of an advocate, also daughter of a former diplomat and journalist, yesterday in her flat at Rampura in the capital.

The victim was identified as Fahmida Akther Bithun, 47, an advocate at the High Court and daughter of Late Aktarul Alam, former advisory editor of the Daily Ittefaq and former ambassador to Bahrain.

“Police recovered Fahmida’s body around 11am inside her flat in House no D-105 at Rampura City Project. The body was lying face down, her hands and feet tied, a shawl wrapped around her neck, and remnants of chilli powder on her face,” said Mahbubur Rahman Tarafdar, OC at Rampura police station.

Fahmida lived in the flat alone, moving there five years ago, as her husband Golam Rabbani lives in Bahrain, employed at a British company, and their son Siratul Mostakim lives in the US for studies, her mother Monowara Begum told the Dhaka Tribune.

Shajahan threatens to cut Khaleda’s utility lines n

Abu Hayat Mahmud

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan yesterday said utility services at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s office would be suspended if the ongoing blockade was not lifted.

He also said the supply of food to Khaleda’s office would be stopped, but mentioned no specific date when the harsh measures would be carried out.

Addressing a rally organised by Sramik-Karmachari-Peshajibi-Muktijoddha-Shamannay Parishad at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital, the minister announced a four-day programme protesting the nationwide non-stop blockade, frequent general strikes and the killing of people in petrol bomb attacks.

“Fifteen innocent workers died as a result of burn injuries they had sustained in petrol bomb attacks. What were their faults? If you [Khaleda] do not stop burning people, a time will come when you yourself will be burnt in fire,” Shajahan said.

He urged the BNP chief to lift the blockade considering the troubles the Secondary School Certificate (SSC)

examinees would face.

“If Khaleda does not withdraw the blockade, the people will confine her to her office again,” warned Shajahan.

The four-day programme announced by the minister includes a demonstration of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Malik Sramik Oikya Parishad which will be held in front of National Press Club today.

On January 22, an association of workers tried to lay siege to Khaleda’s office but police foiled the attempt On February 3, professionals working in different fields will hold a rally at Shaheed Minar while transport workers will also demonstrate at bus and truck terminals in every district.

On February 5, people of different professions will gather on roads in front of their respective offices across the country at 12:45pm and stay for 15 minutes while drivers will continuous-

ly honk for two minutes at the time.

On February 7, a convention of freedom fighters, workers, students and others will be held at 10am in the capital for announcing the next programme if the blockade is not withdrawn by then.

Shajahan also presented a 10-point suggestion, urging people to ignore the 20-party’s agitation and resisting it from February 2, the day the SSC tests are scheduled to begin.

Speaking at the rally, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal lawmaker Shirin Akhter said workers and freedom fighters would resist subversive acts till Khaleda withdrew the blockade.

Describing agitations of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami as terror acts, she said there would be no compromise with the terrorist organisations.

On January 22, an association of workers tried to lay siege to Khaleda’s office but police foiled the attempt. They later staged a sit-in at Gulshan 2 intersection and threatened to go on a hunger strike if the blockade was not lifted.

The blockade has been in force since January 6, and has been marked by violence, mostly arson attacks, in different parts of the country. l

Rampura police OC Mahbub said police suspected she was strangulated to death, at it had likely happened nearly 24 to 36 hours before the body was found. The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for a post-mortem.

The body was first found by Fahmida’s housemaid Sabiha Begum around 9am, who had been employed by Fahmida for around two years, the building staff and police said.

“I usually worked there at night. On Thursday night, I went there as usual but found the door locked. No one responded when I knocked, so I left. When I went back this morning [yesterday], I still found the door locked from inside. I knocked the door, I called on her mobile phone, but there was no response. So, I informed the security staff of the building,” she told the Dhaka Tribune.

The security staff then broke down the door and found Fahmida’s body lying on the floor. Later, they informed police.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Nur Alam, assistant commissioner of police at

Stop anarchy or face stern action, Muhith tells Khaleda n Our Correspondent, Sylhet Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith yesterday warned BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia of stern action if she did not refrain her party from all kinds of violence and sabotage in the country.

He labelled the BNP as the creator of the politics of enforced disappearance while speaking at a conference, which was organised by city wards 19, 20 and 21, at Tilagar in Sylhet city.

Among others who spoke at the conference were Jubo League Presidium Member Ahmed Al Kabir, Central Organising Secretary Foyjul Huq Atik and Sylhet City Awami League President Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran.

Earlier in the morning, the minister inaugurated the platinum jubilee programme of the Modon Mohon College where he said, `We expect 7 percent GDP growth this fiscal year, but it may not be possible due to BNP-Jamaat’s terrorist acts.”

Khaleda and some of her “terrorist” followers were getting in the way of the country’s overall development, which needs to be stopped in any way, he said.

“We have been talking about banning hartal for 20 years because it can-

19 bank officials summoned in Ananda Shipyard scam probe n Adil Sakhawat The Anti-Corruption Commission has summoned 11 former Janata Bank officials and eight incumbent senior officials of Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) in connection with a loan scam of Ananda Shipyard.

On Wednesday, separate notices signed by ACC Senior Deputy Director Mir Jainul Abedin Shibly and addressed to eight BDBL officials were sent to the bank’s managing director, while separate notices were also sent to eleven former officials of Janata Bank

on Thursday, said a top official at the commission.

The BDBL officials are to appear before the commission on February 4 and the ex-officials of Janata Bank on February 5 and 8.

The ACC source said the commission found irregularities against the BDBL in disbursing Tk90 lakh worth of loans.

In the name of exporting ships, the Ananda Shipyard – with no prior experience in exporting ships – has taken nearly Tk1,300 crore from 14 banks and financial institutions without depositing proper security in accordance with

bank rules, the ACC source added.

Following an investigation by the Bangladesh Bank, the ACC probed the allegations in April last year.

The BDBL officials summoned on February 4 are its General Manager Nurur Rahman Kadri, Senior Principal Officer (SPO) Imamur Rashid of principal branch; SPO Dinesh Chandra Saha of Motijheel branch; SPO Yunus Ali of Faridpur branch; Assistant General Manager (AGM) Engineer SM Sirajul Islam, former SPO Najrul Islam of head office; Deputy General Manager (DGM) Tapan Kumer Roy and Banking Consul-

Khilgaon zone, said: “From what we have gathered from the primary investigation, it is not likely a case of robbery or theft.

“The furniture and other belongings were in disarray, but nothing seemed to be missing, apart from the victim’s mobile phone.

“We are looking into both her personal and professional lives to find out if she had any enemies. We are still waiting for the post-mortem report, which will hopefully give us some leads for the investigation.”

Rizwanul Alam, the victim’s brother who is also the director of Transparency International Bangladesh, filed a case of murder against unidentified suspects with Rampura police station yesterday evening.

“This is a murder,” he said, arriving on the scene after being informed by police. “I hope police will solve the mystery behind my sister’s death and catch the culprits who are responsible for it.”

Both Rizwan and Monowara claimed Fahmida never mentioned having any enemies. l

tant Mahe Alam of Agrabad branch.

On February 5, the ACC summoned former Janata Bank officials first assistant general manager (FAGM) and manager Samsunnahar Begum, AGM Afjal Hossain, DGM Najrul Islam, GM Nuruzzaman and FAGM Enamul Haq of local office.

The former Janata Bank officials summoned on February 8 are FAGM Musfiqur Rahman, assistant executive officer Israfil Sikder, FAGM MA Matin, manager Mahfujur Rahman, AGM Purnendo Kumer Roy and AGM Sagar Ahmed of local office. l

not be the language of protest but unrest in the country. Personally, I back banning hartal but it would not be possible soon,” he said.

SCCI delegations meet Muhith

The members of the newly formed board of directors of Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) called on the finance minister at his Hafiz Complex residence in the city.

When they came to meet him, he asked the new leaders to arrange a pre-budget discussion involving businessmen from all sections in the district and city. The SCCI delegation, led by its President Salah Uddin Ali Ahmad, asked the minister to reduce VAT and other taxes to facilitate their businesses.

The delegation include Senior Vice-President M Mamun Kibria Suman, Vice-President Masud Ahmed Chowdhury and Directors M Hijkil Guljar, Khandaker Sipar Ahmed, M Saidur Rahman, M Layes Uddin, Ejaj Ahmad Chowdhury, Abu Taher M Shoyeb, Enamul Quddus Chowdhury, Nurul Islam, M Emdad Hossain, Amiruzzaman Chowdhury, Ehteshamul Haq Chowdhury, Mukir Hossain Chowdhury, Abdur Rahman and Bashirul Haq. l

7 bodies recovered from migrant boat capsize n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Seven bodies were recovered yesterday from the hull of the trawler which capsized in the Bay of Bengal on Thursday with about 80 Malaysia-bound illegal passengers; around 30 more, however, remain missing.

After conducting a search inside the boat, the bodies were found at the bottom layer of the 30-feet-long wooden fishing trawler – FV Idris – at around 12:30pm, said Bangladesh Coast Guard (East) Public Relation Officer Lt Commander M Rajibul Islam.

Although the capsized vessel was located and dragged towards the shores of Kutubdia island on Thursday, no bodies could initially be found on the upper decks of the ship.

While officials scanned the hull of the boat in the morning, rescue efforts also continued at the Kutubdia channel – the site of the sinking.

Coast Guard ships Towhid and Tanvir along with five metal shark boats, Bangladesh Navy Ships Oporajeyo and Otondro, and two local fishing boats conducted the joint rescue operation, said Bangladesh Coast Guard (East) Zonal Commander Captain Shahidul Islam.

He said the search for missing people would continue, but admitted that chances for their survival were getting slimmer with every passing moment.

In the early hours of Thursday, an overloaded FV Idris capsized around 8km southwest of Kutubdia Island in the bay, while it was trying to carry illegal migrants to Malaysia. So far, 43 people including six suspected traffickers have been rescued.

Meanwhile, Kutubdia police yesterday lodged a case against six named and 1012 unidentified persons under sections 7/8 of Human Trafficking Prevention and Control Act 2012, said Kutubdia police station Officer-in-Charge Ongsha Thoai.

The accused – Mohammad Ismail, 35, Obaidul Haq, 35, Nur Mohammad, 50, Mohammad Yasin, 18, Mohammad Toyeb, 32, and Mohammad Rasel, 32 – were found in the water with the illegal immigrants, the OC said; adding that all of them hailed from different areas of Cox’s Bazar.

The OC also said they were looking for owner of the trawler which was made only for illegal human trafficking.

“The boat was named as a fishing vessel [FV] while fishing nets and other equipments could also seen on the trawler; but its inner shape and cargo-vessel like multi-deck suggests that it was specially made for some unusual activities like trafficking or smuggling,” he added. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Biogas plant in Savar dairy farm collecting dust

Dutch investors praise Bangladesh

n Our Correspondent, Savar

A group of Dutch investors highly praised Bangladesh as a land of opportunity and enthusiasm.

The investors also anchored their attention to Bangladesh as a “land of untapped potential with huge market size of its own.”

The appreciation came at an investment seminar titled “Bangladesh: Opportunities and Best Practices” held in The Hague on Thursday.

More than 50 Dutch investors attended the seminar organised by Bangladesh Embassy in the Hague in collaboration with Nyenrode University of the Netherlands.

The information was released by the External Publicity Wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.

The press release said the Dutch investors hailed Bangladesh as an emerging gateway to South Asia given its geostrategic location with both China and India on either side of her border.

Andre Nijhof of Nyenrode University acted as the moderator of a lively panel discussion, which was also attended by Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands Sheikh Mohammed Belal.

After only a month and half into operation, the much anticipated biogas plant of Central Cattle Breeding and Dairy Farm in Savar has been shut down for no specific reason.

Employees of the farm alleged that the officials involved in the project swindled a large chunk of money.

The biogas plant, costing Tk80 lakh, was set up in 2012 to generate electricity using the manure of the farm animals. However, only after 45 days of production the plant was shut down because of alleged technical fault.

Since then there has been no initiative to make it operational again.

According to the documents obtained on request from the dairy farm, it was learned that the biogas project was approved to meet the demand of electricity for the dairy farm. Production in the farm has been greatly hampered due to the rampant power failure.

In the Savar dairy farm, there are more than 1500 cows and goats producing about 1500kg manure a day. The

biogas project proposal said 550 cubic feet of gas could be produced with that amount of animal waste per day. And a 40-kilowatt generator can produce electricity for 20-hours at a stretch with that gas.

Moreover, since biogas is environment friendly and sustainable, the Livestock Department approved the project in 2012 with a cost of Tk79 lakh and 48 thousand.

The plant was inaugurated in June 2012 and since then was able to provide electricity for only 45 days. But it has remained suspiciously out of operation since then.

A visit to the dairy farm found that four houses were built for the biogas plant. Many equipment including a generator was also bought. But now they are collecting dust and falling apart day by day.

Comparing the market price of the equipment bought for the project, it was observed that they were purchased at a much higher price.

For example, the generator that was shown priced at Tk45 lakh and 13 thousand could be bought for Tk3-4 lakh

from the market. And though the budget had two generators listed, only one was bought.

In the same way, cost for making the biogas plant was estimated to be Tk11 lakh 65 thousand. But local biogas plant makers and owners said the real price was much lower.

Jalal Sarkar of Hemayetpur has two biogas plants, similar to the one in the dairy farm, in his house. He said he spent about Tk2 lakh for each for the plants.

“The biogas plant in the dairy farm may cost a bit more but definitely not that much,” he claimed.

Some employees of the farm, on request of anonymity, said government fund had been misused in the project.

They alleged that the plant is kept non-operative because of the project director Gautam Kumar Kundo and the deputy director of the farm.

After several attempts, this correspondent was able to contact the deputy director Dr Abul Kalam Azad, who said he did not have any knowledge about the project and denied to comment any further. l

n Tribune Report

Peter Van Bergen, proprietor of Budgetview and Impel IT solutions with big IT offices both in Dhaka and in Amsterdam, highlighted that he found working in Bangladesh “easier” than many other countries.

A dutch entrepreneur said he found working in Bangladesh easier than many other countries Vicenta Ariza, representative of Maruboshi Europe BV in Bangladesh informed the audience that despite “strike” or “hartals” his shippers in Bangladesh had never failed to deliver.

Overall mood of the audience was highly in favour of more investment and business with Bangladesh.

Dutch investors in Information Technology, Logistics, waste management, water management, and business consultancy participated in the event. Besides the business community, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CBI, RVO, PUM, Schiphol Airport, Bangladesh Next have also attended the seminar. l

Workers Party to observe AntiViolence Day on Feb 10 n BSS The Workers Party, an ally of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance, will observe Anti-Violence and Subversion Day across the country on February 10.

A resolution to this effect was taken at a meeting of the politburo of the Workers Party (WP) yesterday.

The party’s President Rashed Khan Menon presided over the meeting in which a political report on current political situation now prevailing in the country was presented by WP general secretary Fazle Hossain Badsha.

In the report on political analysis, the WP observed that the conspiracy of Jamaat has been implemented to thwart the ongoing trial of the war criminals by killing people by torching them in the name of siege-hartal, according to a press release.

The WP laid emphasis on building people’s resistance against saboteurs.

In another resolution, the WP observed that the demand for imposition of a ban on the politics of Jamaat is the demand of the hour.

Toxic poultry feed confiscated from Hazaribagh, owners fined n Tribune Report Four people have been convicted for producing toxic poultry and fish feed by using tannery waste yesterday in the Hazaribagh area of the capital.

A total of 50 tonnes of toxicd feed was ceased in a mobile court a drive around noon. The mobile court was led by AHM Anowar Pasha, an executive magistrate of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) The convicted persons are: Abul Kalam, 51, with 2 years in prison and 2 lakh taka in fines; Abdul Jalil, 20, Hasan Sheikh, 21, Faruk haoladar were charged Taka 50,000 in fines.

Company owner Abul Malik, 51, said he has been making such feed from tannery waste since 2013. The feed is known among the poultry farm owners as “Bangla protein of Hajaribagh.” The business profits at least Tk 2 lakh per month.

The court scaled 5 thousand ppm of chromium in this feed; any more than 30 ppm of chromium is dangerous for livestock.

The feed is used for the rapid growth of poultry and fish while it is much than any other feed available in the market. l

Silkflex Bangladesh launches waterbased textile inks n Tribune Report

The photo reminds of the phrase ‘one man army’ as Tejgaon College master’s student Mukhlesur Rahman displays different posters protesting the recent petrol bomb attacks. Mukhles has been demostrating his protest from time to time during the ongoing blockade. The photo was taken in front of the National Press Club yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

89% Sunamganj expectant mothers have deliveries at home n UNB Eighty-nine percent expectant mothers living in Sunamganj district have to have their deliveries at home with the help of traditional birth attendants due to the existing social barriers to get access to skilled healthcare at hospitals, according to a new study.

The study found that the level of awareness of maternal and child health issues and utilisation of skilled care was very low in Sunamganj while the overall knowledge of danger signs associated with pregnancy and childbirth was also found to be low as less than half of the study respondents received information on birth preparedness.

A baseline study, led by Bidhan Krishna Sarker at icddr,b’s Centre for Reproductive Health, was carried out recently in Sunamganj under Sylhet Division considering the

economic, social and cultural factors that prevent women from access to quality maternal and neonatal care.

The Sylhet division has shown the least amount of improvement in recent years in both maternal and child health. Maternal mortality in this region is very high -- 425 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to the national average of 194. Similarly, infant and under-five child mortality are 67 and 83 per 1,000 live births, compared to a national average of 45 and 56, respectively.

Sunamganj district is one of its remotest areas with very poor communication linkages with the rest of the country.

The study reveals that about two-thirds of the women did not receive any postpartum care, a period that begins immediately after the birth of a child and extending for about six weeks. In case of complications

during or after birth, more than half of the women responded that they consulted a village doctor, rather than a trained physician.

However, lack of access to skilled healthcare was not the main reason for using traditional birth attendants and village doctors. The unskilled healthcare providers are much less expensive and do not require travel, and they also tend to be well known to the community and viewed as a trusted resource, the study says.

On the other hand, perceptions of poor quality of treatment and of poor communication at government hospitals and private clinics discourage villagers from using these more formal health services.

The study also found that many families have religious objections to taking pregnant women to hospitals for delivery as it is con-

sidered a ‘sin’ and violates the modesty of a pregnant woman to be treated by strangers, especially men.

Women also lack decision-making power when it comes to their pregnancy and health care options.

These decisions are usually deferred to the husband or mother-in-law who often opt for traditional healthcare providers such as birth attendants and village doctors.

Aiming to address these multiple barriers to quality care, the researchers of the study recommend introduction of a community-based skilled birth attendant programme; training of existing traditional birth attendants and village doctors to recognise danger signs for both the mother and child and to make timely referrals; and development of strong referral collaboration between the range of providers. l

Gonojagoron Moncho to begin mass signing programme n Arif Ahmed

General people take part in a mass signature campaign initiated by Gonojagoron Moncho at the capital’s Shahbagh area yesterday protesting the victimisation of innocent people in BNP’s countrywide indefinite blockade programme RAJIB DHAR

As a protest against the on going political violence, Gonojagoron Moncho is launching a mass signing programme on February 1.

During a gathering of Moncho activists yesterday at Shahbag Projonmo Chattar, the spokesperson of the organisation Imran H Sarker urged the countrymen to join the programme.

Terming the violence and arson attacks as heinous and inhumane, the youth led platform hoped that collective solidarity and struggle would be able to defeat the anti-liberation forces and protect general people from

violence.

With the slogan “Bangladesh Burning, Humanity Burning”, the Moncho will collect signature, which would be submitted to the president and the speaker of the parliament on 26th March, Imran H Sarkar told the Dhaka Tribune.

He also urged the BNP to withdraw the country-wide blockade and hartals considering the woes of people.

Earlier on January 27, Gonojagoron Moncho announced to go for a non-stop sit-in program at Projonmo Chattar from February 5 in protest of the political violence. l

Silkflex Bangladesh Ltd and Silkflex Polymers SDN BHD, Malaysia have jointly launched water-based textile printing inks in Bangladesh.

On the occasion, the Silkflex Bangladesh arranged a programme titled “Launching of the latest technological products” at FARS Restaurant in the capital yesterday.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Eric HL Tan, director of Silkflex Malaysia, said this product is eco-friendly, high elastic, high coverage and very soft hand feel without tack. It has natural color tone.

Silkflex Malaysia is a supplier of water-based textile printing inks worldwide, while Silkflex Bangladesh Limited and KM Enterprise are their authorized marketing company in Bangladesh.

The companies have marketed nine other nine products – Elastisol white, Elastisol CMYK, AquaDis CMYK, Glowin-the-dark, Pearl Paste, Premium white Paste, Elastic white and Photosol TSP – in market of Bangladesh. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Saturday, January 31, 2015

60 CCTV cameras at Ekushey Book Fair venue RAB and police are also planning additional security measures to prevent any unwanted situation

n Mohammad Jamil Khan In a move to heighten security during the Amar Ekushey Book Fair, the Bangla Academy authorities are going to install 60 CCTV cameras.

Apart from the cameras, walkthrough metal detectors will also be installed.

Police, RAB, intelligence officials and Ansar personnel will be deployed at both the fair venues – Bangla Academy premises and Suhrawardy Udyan - to ensure security of visitors.

“We believe no attack will be made at the venues during the fair as this is an event that the people have a deep connection with. But still there will be additional security arrangements as a volatile situation prevails in the political arena,” Murshid Anwar, deputy director of Bangla Academy, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“Along with security forces, our own disciplinary committee members will work for ensuring security and the CCTV cameras are being installed at key points of the venues,” he said.

The month-long fair is set to begin tomorrow.

RAB and police are also planning additional security measures to prevent any unwanted situation that might arise during the fair, a literary event organised to commemorate the significance of the 1952 Language Movement.

“Necessary security measures will be in place to ensure that nothing goes wrong during the fair,” Abdul Baten, deputy commissioner of police of Ramna division, told the Dhaka Tribune.

Commander Mufti Mahmood Khan, director of media and legal wing of RAB, said members of the force would keep the fair venues safe from the ongoing political violence. “We might use choppers and deploy patrol teams if situation demands.”

But publishers expressed their concern about the number of visitors despite the security arrangements.

Youth strangulated n Our Correspondent, Khulna A youth was allegedly strangulated near his own residence in Khulna city’s Teligati area.

The body of the youth, Sabuj Fakir, 18, was recovered by the police around 10pm on Thursday night. He was son of Azizul Fakir of the area’s village.

Officer-in-Charge Golam Rasul of Arangghata thana said they went to the spot after being informed by the victim’s family. Sabuj had marks of strangulation around his neck which suggested that he was murdered, he added.

An unnatural death case was filed with the thana in this regard. The OC said further investigation will be conducted if necessary after autopsy. l visit our website @

www.dhakatribune.com

Installations of panels with portraits of famous litterateurs ready inside the Bangla Academy premises a day ahead of the beginning of the Amar Ekushey Grontho Mela yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Lutfor Rahman Chowdhury, proprietor of Swandesh Publication, told the Dhaka Tribune security measures would have no effect if the turnout at the fair failed to meet expectations.

“I think there needs to be arrangements for visitors so that they can

come to the fair and return safely. The fair will be successful if this can be ensured.

“We are expecting a good business in the fair but all these security measures will really have no meaning if the number of visitors is low,” he said.

According to the fair committee, 565 stalls and 11 pavillions have been allocated to a total of 391 organisations, including the leading publishing houses, this year.

Of those, 259 companies will display their products on Suhrawardy Udyan

Session jam looms at Rajshahi University n Nazim Mridha, Rajshahi

Students and teachers of Rajshahi University (RU) are fearing that the university may face prolonged session jam because of the ongoing countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Campus sources said academic activities of the university had virtually come to a halt because of the blockade while the university authorities are yet to take any decision whether it should resume classes as well as examinations or not.

The university opened on January 12 after an 11-day winter vacation. But since then, no classes and examination have not been taken place for the recent political turmoil.

Students of many departments said as their final examinations are being

delayed, they could not be able to complete education life in time which definitely would have negative impact on professional life.

In the current year, students of the RU could neither take part in classes nor take part in examination because of the frequent hartals and blockade sponsored by the BNP-led alliance.

Fearing untoward incident, almost all the departments had postponed the examinations for sine die.

Besides, the first year classes under 2014-15 academic session were scheduled to begin on January 22, but it was rescheduled for February 3. But the RU authorities are considering to reschedule classes further.

According to department sources, final examination of some 20 departments, including law, sociology, eco-

nomics, pharmacy, physics, mathematics, language, philosophy, Islamic studies, Arabic, statistics, material science and engineering, were postponed for sine die as blockade is still going on.

“Though, our masters final examination has been rescheduled for two times already, they authority may delay examination further which will refrain us from taking part in competitive public examinations,” said Monira Janna Ria and Saimum Tuhin, students of law department.

If the final examination of each year does not held in time, the students of all years would face session jam automatically, they said. Tania Sultana, a 2nd year student of language department, said her second year final examination was scheduled for January 17, but the department has postponed for indefinite peri-

DRY WEATHER LIKELY

n Nazim Mridha, Rajshahi

SATURDAY, JANUARY 31 DHAKA

TOMORROW SUN RISES 6:40AM

FORECAST FOR TODAY 25 26 24 24 26 27 26 27

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

14 14 11 12 11 14 12 15

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

29.0ºC Rangpur

13.4ºC Srimangal

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:22am 6:40am 12:12am 4:07pm 5:43pm 7:01pm

od for the ongoing crisis of the country.

“But now, we are studying with uncertainty as the ongoing political turmoil continues and university authorities are yet to take decision whether they hold examinations in this situation,” Tania said.

Meanwhile, teachers and students also demanded resumption of classes and examinations anyhow from a separate human chain held on the campus.

RU Vice-Chancellor Prof Muhammad Mizanuddin told the Dhaka Tribune that as most of the students were yet to come back to the campus after the winter vacation for the blockade, departments could not hold the classes and examinations. The department’s authorities would decide whether they would hold classes and examinations during the blockade, he said. l

Four died while one got injured when a truck hit two CNG autorickshaws and one rickshaw parked on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway near Jamaldi Bus Stand under Gazaria upazila of Munshiganj yesterday.

Losing control, the Comilla-bound truck carrying corns fell on the vehicles parked near Jamaldi Bus Stand killing Anchalee Rani Saha, 52, and her son Pratyay Saha, 12, hailing from Nadiabad village under Comilla, CNG autorickshaw driver Kalu Mia, 38, of Baluakandi village and rickshaw-puller Montu Mia, 40, hailing from Chuadanga district.

Locals admitted the injured to a nearby hospital.

Munshiganj Additional Police Super ABM Masud Hossain said: “The truck and the autorickshaws were moved away with a wrecker. The dead body of Kalu Mia was handed over to his family while three other dead bodies are kept inside the Bhoberchar police camp.”

Meanwhile, a tractor skidded off a road in Notunbosti area under Tetulia upazila of Panchagarh district killing its helper Rojob Ali, 30, yesterday.

The brick-laden tractor lost control while heading towards Bhojonpur Bazar, said Shalbahan Union Parishad Chairman Md Motiar Rahman. The driver of the tractor fled while Rojob, son of Rustom Ali, hailing from Sarialjot village under Tetulia union, died on the spot.

Four died in a road accident while five others sustained injuries in Dudshar Bus Stand area in Shailkupa upazila under Jhenaidah district yesterday.

All of them are betel leaf traders by profession.

Of the dead, Amul Hossain, 35, hailed from Charpara village while Shafikur Rahman, 32, Rezaul Islam, 40 and Mozibor Rahman, 42, hailed from Kanapukuriya village under the upazila.

Of the injured, Alamgir Hossain, 28, Nur-Islam, 29, Momin Joardar, 32, and Milon Hossain, 43, hail from Kanapukuriya village while one could not be identified yet.

Alamgir Hossain, Nur-Islam, and Milon Hossain are currently admitted to Faridpur Medical College and Hospital while Momin Joardar is admitted at Jhenaidah Sadar Hospital.

Locals said yesterday morning around 6am the betel leaf traders were going to Dakbangla Bazar from Sheikhpara Bazar by a CNG autorickshaw.

As they reached the bus stand area, a speeding Jessore-bound truck coming from the direction of Kushtia hit the autorickshaw from behind.

The driver of the autorickshaw lost control and fell into a roadside ditch leaving the four dead on the spot.

Locals all of the victims to Jhenaidah Sadar Hospital.

Shailokupa police station Officer-inCharge MA Hashem said police seized the truck while its driver and helper managed to flee. l

Worried guardians and teachers of SSC examinees to take to streets against blockade in Rajshahi

WEATHER

TODAY SUN SETS 5:44PM

premises while 92 stalls have been allocated to publishers of children’s literature, little magazines and media organisations on Bangla Academy premises.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be inaugurating tomorrow’s fair. l

Road accidents take lives of nine n Tribune Report

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Leaders and activists of Awami League central committee take part in a ‘gayebana janaza’ in front of the Baitul Mukarram Mosque in Dhaka yesterday. The prayer was offered seeking salvation of the souls lost in the violence unleashed during the ongoing blockade and strikes called by BNP-led 20-party alliance RAJIB DHAR

Teachers’ associations urge Khaleda to stop blockade n Tribune Report Teachers of Chittagong University (CU) and Bangladesh College University Teachers Association has called upon BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to immediately withdraw the indefinite nationwide blockade programme.

In the name of political movement, the blockade and strikes enforced by BNP have generated widespread anarchy and bomb attacks killing innocent people, said teachers under the banner of Chittagong University Teachers’ Association (CUTA).

They demanded that the government take stern action against the perpetrators of the subversive activities and compensate the victims, reports our CU correspondent.

Around 120 teachers under the banner of CUTA formed a human chain around 4:30pm on the Chittagong Press Club premises protesting the ongoing violence.CU Vice-Chancellor Professor Anwarul Azim Arif and Pro-VC Professor Dr Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury participated at the human chain.

University Science and Technology in Chittagong (USTC), Hazi Moham-

mad Mohsin College, Chittagong unit of Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee and Peshajibi Somonnoy Parishad expressed solidarity with CUTA. The participants at the human chain said the subversive activities carried out by the BNP-Jamaat alliance was “an ill strategy for grabbing power” rather a political programme.

CU’s former VC Professor Abdul Mannan said: “BNP is carrying out terrorism by burning innocent people.

The teachers could not remain silent seeing such situation. Please stop it, save the people, save the future.” l

More than one lakh examinees of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination under the Rajshahi Education Board are worried as the exams are likely to begin on February 2 amid the ongoing political violence.

This has prompted the guardians and teachers to take to the street for a demonstration against the blockade and hartals in the city today.

This year, about 1,28,199 students are supposed to sit for the SSC exam in Rajshahi.

However, the students, their guardians and teachers are worried whether the exams would be held peacefully amid the countrywide blockade and intermittent hartals enforced by the BNPled 20-party alliance.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, Professor Shamsul Kalam Azad, examination controller of Rajshahi Education Board of SSC and HSC said: “This year, the SSC and equivalent exams will be held at 214 centres. If the blockade is not withdrawn, it will be tough for the students and teachers to go to the centres with a peaceful mind.”

Abdur Rauf Mia, chairman of Rajshahi education board said all preparation to hold the exams had been completed already.

He also urged the 20-party alliance

to withdraw the blockade during the SSC exam.

Meanwhile, the guardians and the teachers have planned to go on a demonstration in Rajshahi city demanding withdrawal of the blockade.

Teacher’s leader Professor Shafikur Rahman Badsha told the Dhaka Tribune: “The students, guardians and teachers will stage demonstration and hold a human chain at Shaheb Bazar intersection in Rajshahi city today.”

Mizanur Rahman, a resident of Katakhali in Rajshahi city said his daughter Fariha Farah would sit for the SSC exam and her examination venue was at Rajshahi University School.

He expressed deep worry as to whether his wife and daughter would be able to go to the centre safely given how the highway from his residence Katakhali to University was prone to frequent arson attacks.

Mizanur also urged to the political parties to think about the future generation and withdraw the blockade and hartals. He also requested the authorities concerned to ensure securities for the students and guardians.

In the meantime, education minister Nurul Islam Nahid ensured the newsmen that the SSC and equivalent exam will be held on the scheduled times despite the blockade. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Forest land worth Tk10 crore grabbed in Bhaluka n Our Correspondent, Gazipur A 2.5 acre land, worth aboutTk10 crore belonging to Haribari Forest Department in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh district has been allegedly grabbed by local influential people.

Abu Sayed, a local, made a complaint to the forest officials that a group of 40-45 people led by local influential Kamrul Islam and Kamrul Huad grabbed the land on Saturday near the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway.

“The grabbers constucted a wall on the forest land including my ancentral homestedas,” he said.

On information, the forest officials went to the spot and demolished the wall. The miscreants also set up the wall again with RCC pillaar after the officials left the spot.

Loclas also claimed the grabbers were able to erect the wall as the forest officials were reluctant over the incident.

Sources said the government acquired 294 acre land in Haribari area in 1999. Of the land, the forest department got 201 acre. 64 acre had been alloted for the landless people. 20.70 acre had been provided to the poor who had

Man killed after being abducted in Chougachha

n Our Correspondent, Jessore

A man was allegedly abducted and then killed in Chougachha of Jessore on Thursday.

The victim was identified as Samad Molla, 60, of Dighori village in the upazila.

Police and family members of Samad said miscreants abducted him from Mashila bazar on Thursday afternoon.

And later he was beaten to death.

Police recovered his body on yesterday morning from a house in Pantipara of the municipality. l

applied for the land earlier.

When contacted, leader of the land-grabbing group Kamrul Islam asked the correspondent not to write about his involvement in this regard.

He claimed that he had bought the land from one Shamsul Islam.

Additional Deputy Comissiner Farid Ahmed said there was no land of Shamsul Islam in the area.

Kamrul had gabbed the forest land forcefully, he said.

Saiful Islam, officer of the forest land said Kamrul Islam and Kamrul Huad had grabbed the land illegally.

When asked, Jamil Mohammad Khan, the forest range officer, said the wall was not constucted on the government land.

It was constructed on private land, he said. GM Rafiqul Islam, assistant chief of Mymensingh forest officer, said the land was owned by Abu Sayed.

The accused Kamrul Islam and Kamrul Huad had bought the land from Sayed, he said.

The divisionel forest officer Gobindra Chandra said that he had ordered Rafiqul to investigate the incident. l

Defying the sudden cold wave in Rajshahi, farmers return home with freshly harvested mustard plants on a bullock cart. The photo was taken at Kadomshahar village of Kakon area yesterday AZAHAR UDDIN

Money robbed from Taiwanese businessman yet to be recovered

Carjackers’ gang leader held in Gazipur

n Our Correspondent, Comilla

n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Police in Comilla could neither nab the gang that robbed a Taiwanese entrepreneur of Tk31 lakh nor recover the money until yesterday afternoon.

Sub-Inspector of the Detective Branch of police in Comilla Firoz Hossain, also the investigating officer of the case, said several police and RAB teams were trying to capture the accused and to recover the money they had taken away.

Local Chhatra League leader Sohel Ibne Mohiuddin was sued for leading the gang to coerce Huangjun Yu, managing director of Yagotex Fabrics in Comilla EPZ area, into giving the money on Wednesday.

Huangjun stated in the case statement that five to six men led by Sohel entered his rented flat in section 3 of the housing estate area around 1:30pm, held him at gunpoint and forced him to write a cheque for Tk23 lakh.

Sohel then transferred the money from Prime Bank’s Comilla branch to the account of his firm, Aab Yaaz Enterprise, by wire transfer.

They also took Tk8 lakh in cash from Huangjun’s flat and made him sign two blank cheques before leaving.

Sohel, a leader of Chhatra League’s Comilla Victoria Government College unit, served in prison a year earlier on charges of embezzling Tk38 lakh from a Dhaka-based businessman named Azad, sources said. l

Police arrested a member of a carjackers’ gang on charge of attempted murder of a private car driver in Shreepur of Gazipur on Thursday.

They also recovered the hijacked car from gajari forest in Dokhola, police said. The arrested is Kajol Mia, son of Abdul Helim of Paithol village under Pagla Police Station in Mymensingh. He was produced before a Gazipur court yesterday.

Majibur Rahman, sub-inspector of Shreepur police station, said Kajal and two of his cohorts rented a car from Uttara’s Sector No 11 area of Dhaka saying that they would go to Mymensingh on Wednesday. They first went to Bhaluka Bazar area. Then they asked the driver, Milon, to drive the car toward Dhaka.

On the way to Dhaka, they asked Milon to stop the vehicle saying that they need to urinate in Nayanpur area of Shreepur.

Later, they tied Milon up blindfolded and kicked him off from the vehicle. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Saturday, January 31, 2015

7

MH370 relatives reject that passengers are dead n AP, Beijing

US President Barack Obama, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a home reception with several hundred Indian political and cultural figures at the Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace in New Delhi January 26. Sujata Singh was removed from her position shortly after Obama’s visit to India REUTERS

On Modi’s beef with Sujata Singh n Indrani Bagchi for TNN

Over the past six months, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have been repeatedly unhappy with the MEA and particularly with former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh’s leadership, which failed to keep pace with his bigger interests.

Where Sujatha Singh and the PMO diverged was her inability – or unwillingness – to make the necessary course corrections.

Early problems cropped up between the Singh-led MEA and the PMO when the BRICS summit declaration put in a paragraph critical of Israel, a country Modi has declared as a priority partner.

This was followed by India voting against Israel at the UNHRC – which was along the lines of the MEA’s traditional stance, but very different from the stand of the new government. In fact, an abstention was not even considered, which the PMO objected to. It

was, therefore, no surprise that Modi chose to meet Benjamin Netanyahu in New York.

With Japan, too, the view in the PMO was that Singh failed to run with the outcomes of Modi’s visit there in September. As a result, things are said to have slowed down in a relationship into which Modi has deeply invested.

On Denmark, the PM is said to have suffered a personal slight. The Gujarat government had invited the Danish PM to Vibrant Gujarat. But the visit failed to materialise because the MEA refused to budge from its stand that no high-level contact was allowed unless they resolved the issue of Kim Davy, despite the fact that Modi had a personal interest in the Danes. The Danish PM did not come, and serious wrinkles have appeared in that bilateral relationship.

Singh and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj built a working relationship, but since neither of them had any meaningful relationship with the PMO,

CONGRESS LEADER QUITS

‘Hang me, if I am wrong’ n Agencies In a tell all press conference following the leak of her letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan announced her resignation from the party stating that there is no democracy in the Congress party.

Accusing the Congress Vice president of not explaining why he instructed to delay projects and then complained that there were bottlenecks in the environment ministry, Jayanthi Natarajan said she was resigning from the primary membership of the party and from the post of a trustee of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee.

Natarajan said she was shocked to see her letter explaining Rahul Gandhi’s interferences to the Congress president published in the media and thought she should explain why she was forced to write the letter.

Explaining the sequence of events that led to the letter and her subsequent resignation, she said: “When I was made Environment Minister the party line was very clear that the policy of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi to preserve the environment must be protected at all times.”

“As I continued my duties as minister I received several instruction from the office of the Congress Vice President Shri Rahul Gandhi forwarding representation from NGOs, complaining about environmental deterioration in large projects, I was asked by him to make sure that environment is protected at all costs and to ensure that these large projects don’t cause tremendous havoc to the environment. And according to these instructions, which I perceived to be directions from the party I did my duty.

I did due diligence of the project, I got the projects investigated and I had it stopped. Many of my colleagues protested. Very often I had to face the anger and wrath of colleagues and my cabinet. I had to keep telling them that the environment and the future cannot destroyed at any cost.”

Jayanthi said “I was carrying out

all my duties according to party lines as instructed in specific cases including Vedanta, Niyamgiri, Nirma cemebt plant and especially the Adani project.

But suddenly I was called by the Prime Minister on December 20 and asked to resign from the Ministry.”

“I was told by the Prime Minister who looked very upset and grim that I had to resign because the Congress president wanted me to do party work,” She said.

Accusing the Congress Vice president of planting stories in the media immediately after she said that her media friends had alerted her that they were getting calls from the Congress Vice Predient’s office that it was not for party work that she was asked to resign. “After that continuous campaign of defamation and allegations of wrong doing have been made against me. I told the Congress president that I am being vilified in the media but she told me not to respond,” Jayanthi said.

She then said that her name was later dropped from the list of Congress spokespersons and that from then own she had never heard from the Congress leadership.

My sources were impeccable, and I felt unease. Thereafter, the media was flooded with negative stories about me. The same day, namely, the day after I resigned, Shri Rahul Gandhi addressed a FICCI meeting of industrialists, where he made uncomplimentary references to delays in environmental clearances, and the adverse effects upon the economy, and assured the corporate world, that the party and government would henceforth ensure that there would be no delays, and bottlenecks for industry.

Clearing her stand, Natarajan says that she was “never a bottleneck,” nor was she “ever responsible for unwarranted delays in major projects.” She goes on adding that she can “prove this at any time.”

In the letter to Sonia, Natarajan says that her “entire career is ruined” and that the “sacred and venerable” legacy of her family also “stands in danger of being tarnished.” l

the MEA began to be bypassed in major decisions on foreign policy. It wasn’t long before the foreign minister-foreign secretary relationship also began to turn tepid.

Swaraj tweeted on Thursday that it was the government’s decision appoint Jaishankar, who had to be brought in before he retired on January 31. “Then I spoke to Ms Sujatha Singh personally,” she tweeted, indicating that she was very much a party to the replacement decision.

Modi’s keenness in India’s relationship with the US brought ambassador Jaishankar in Washington into a key role of taking bilateral ties forward.

By the time Modi invited Obama for R-Day, Singh had been told she would be replaced.

Jaishankar is rated very well both by the Modi government and in MEA as a master strategist and an efficient implementer. He was also able to grasp the core of Modi’s foreign policy which

made him a valued member of the PM’s foreign policy team.

There were apparently efforts to give Sujatha Singh an honourable exit.

Sources said she was offered a UPSC position, which she declined. Instead she chose to take early retirement after her tenure was cut short.

Unwilling to disturb the status quo by moving either ambassador or foreign secretary before the Obama visit, the Appointment committee of the cabinet moved hours after Obama left to take the decision.

Jaishankar’s first trip will be to accompany Swaraj to China over the weekend. Swaraj will hold discussions with her counterpart Wang Yi. They will be joined by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for the Russia-India-China trilateral.

Jaishankar’s elevation means Modi now has a direct connection with the ministry, which will also make Jaishankar a more powerful foreign secretary. l

About 100 Chinese families of passengers on the missing Malaysian airliner demanded yesterday that Malaysian officials retract their statement that all aboard died, saying that without hard evidence they don’t want to start compensation claims.

Malaysia’s government formally declared still-missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 an accident on Thursday and said all those 239 people on board were presumed dead, paving the way for claims to begin.

Most of the victims’ families in China — where the majority of the passengers were from — still hold onto hope that their loved ones are alive.

“We don’t accept it. As a matter of fact, we are demanding the statement to be retracted,” Zhang Qian, whose husband was on the plane, said yesterday.

The relatives’ continued refusal to accept the authorities’ conclusion is understandable because they are going through “ambiguous loss,” where there has been no body or wreckage to confirm death, said

Therese Rando, a clinical psychologist in Warwick, Rhodes Island, who has worked extensively in grief counseling.

“For any family member to make the move to presume death in the absence of confirmation is a huge step,” Rando explained in an email.

“They need to have eliminated other possibilities; to do otherwise would be tantamount to prematurely abandoning their loved one.”

Earlier this week, in anticipation of the Malaysian statement, 110 members in a group of 115 relatives of passengers voted during a mobile phone group chat to demand that Malaysia refrain from making any announcement.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was a passenger aboard the flight, said the new announcement was based on no new facts.

“We not only demand the Malaysian government retract the statement, but also issue an apology,” Jiang said. “That’s the wish of the majority of family members.”

Relatives were unmoved by the argument that the declaration paves the way for compensation claims. l

AU calls for 7,500-strong force to fight Boko Haram n AFP, Addis Ababa The African Union called yesterday for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to defeat the “horrendous” rise of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist militants.

The call for collective action came as leaders of the 54-member bloc opened their two-day annual summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where they were addressing a string of crises across the continent.

“Terrorism, in particular the brutality of Boko Haram against our people, (is) a threat to our collective safety, security and development. This has now spread to the region beyond Nigeria and requires a collective, effective and decisive response,” AU commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a speech opening the summit.

Conflicts elsewhere, including civil war in South Sudan and the Central Af-

rican Republic, as well as a new offensive launched Thursday by Democratic Republic of Congo against Rwandan ethnic Hutu rebels in the east of the country, are also expected to be discussed.

The AU Peace and Security Council called for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to stop the “horrendous” rise of the insurgents.

The proposed force will have the backing of the AU, and will ask for expected UN Security Council approval, plus a “Trust Fund” to pay for it, Dlamini-Zuma said.

More than 13,000 people have been killed and more than one million made homeless by Boko Haram violence since 2009.

UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon told African leaders that Boko Haram was “a clear danger to national, regional and international peace and security.” l

Fleeing Pakistanis find new dangers

UN court upholds life for two convicted in Srebrenica massacre n AP, Khost, Afghanistan

n AFP, The Hague

The UN’s Yugoslav war crimes court yesterday upheld life convictions of two Bosnian Serbs for their role in the Srebrenica massacre of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys in 1995.

The Appeal Chamber “affirms the life sentence” against former Bosnian Serb Vujadin Popovic, 57, and Ljubisa Beara, 75, Judge Patrick Robinson said at a hearing at the Hague-based tribunal.

Both men are former officers in the Bosnian Serb army blamed for the mid-July 1995 massacre regarded as one the worst incidents of bloodshed on European soil since World War II. Popovic, wearing a dark suit and black T-shirt shook his head as the appeals verdict was read out, while Beara, also in a dark suit and white shirt, stood motionless.

The two men were sentenced to life on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity charges in 2010, together with five co-accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Four other army officers and a police official found guilty of war crimes were jailed for between five and 35 years. Three of the officers appealed their sentences.

The court upheld a 35-year sentence against Bosnian army security chief Drago Nikolic, 57 and a 13 year sentence against brigade commander Vinko Pandurevic, 55.

It reduced a 19-year sentence against Bosnian army operations chief Radivoje Miletic, 67, by one year.

The Appeals Chamber dismissed, unanimously or by majority, most of the appellants’ other challenges in the case, which is the ICTY’s largest completed case to date.

The dismissals include challenges to the admissibility and credibility of witnesses testifying in the case that opened in The Hague in 2006.

It has seen some 315 witnesses testify during 425 trial days.

Twenty individuals have been indicted for crimes committed at Srebrenica, including former top Bosnian Serb politician Radovan Karadzic and his military partner general Ratko Mladic. l

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis have sought shelter at a sprawling refugee camp in a volatile region of Afghanistan after crossing the mountainous border to escape a military onslaught against insurgents.

For decades Afghans have fled into Pakistan to escape war and upheaval, but in recent months the tide has reversed, with some 60,000 Pakistanis — more than half of them children — taking refuge in the Gulan camp, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the border in the restive Khost province.

“We knew the military operations would last a long time once they started,” said Malik Omardin, a tribal elder who came from the Pakistani town of Datta Khel. “It’s a mountainous area and the insurgents are very strong on

their own territory, so the government will have a hard time finding and destroying the Taliban.”

More than 210,000 Pakistanis have crossed into Afghanistan from the neighboring North Waziristan province since the Pakistani military launched a long-awaited offensive in June against Taliban and other foreign militants, who have long used the lawless tribal region as a launch-pad for attacks in both countries.

Eastern Afghanistan is an unlikely refuge. Khost and neighboring Paktika, where most of the refugees have sought shelter, are among the most dangerous provinces in the country.

Local security forces have struggled to combat the Taliban following the withdrawal of US and Nato forces, and the insurgents are expected to launch a fresh offensive in the spring.

Russia says nuclear arms to keep military edge n Reuters, Moscow The chief of Russia’s armed forces said yesterday a strong nuclear arsenal will ensure military superiority over the West as Russia seeks to fulfill a multi-billion dollar plan to modernise its forces by 2020.

Russia, facing a likely recession this year after US and European sanctions over Ukraine and a fall in oil prices, must deal with new forms of Western aggression, including economic confrontation, said armed forces chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

Despite deep economic woes, he said Russian armed forces would receive more than 50 new intercontinental nuclear missiles this year.

“Support for our strategic nuclear forces to ensure their high military capability combined with...growth of the military potential of the general forces will assure that (the United States and Nato) do not gain military superiority over our country,” said Gerasimov.

Tensions between Russia and the West have risen over the conflict in

eastern Ukraine, where the United States and Europe say Moscow is fuelling an insurgency by sending in troops and weapons. Moscow denies this.

Russia has criticised Nato expansion in eastern Europe and President Vladimir Putin has accused the Ukrainian army, which is fighting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, of being puppets of Nato with a policy of “containing” Russia.

Russian military planes increasingly have been spotted over Europe on radar in recent months. Britain summoned the Russian ambassador on Thursday for an explanation to the flight of two Russian long-range bombers that flew over the English Channel, forcing British authorities to reroute civil aircraft.

Russia promises to push through by 2020 a more than 20-trillion-rouble ($286.62bn) military modernisation plan conceived by Putin, and military expenditures will remain unchanged even in the face of a growing economic crisis that has cut the budgets of other ministries. l

On the edge of the camp, mine removers in pale blue body armor scan the dusty ground for ordinance left over from decades of war. But inside, local traders have set up stalls selling fresh produce, giving the camp an air of permanence. And the Pakistanis say they have been welcomed by local Afghans, many of whom had found shelter on the other side of the border in past conflicts.

The Pakistan offensive was launched last June after a militant attack on Karachi’s international airport.

The government warned residents to flee, and some 93,000 families — up to 750,000 people — have been displaced inside Pakistan. The Pakistani military says it has killed hundreds of militants, but journalists are barred from the region so it is not possible to verify the claims. l

Ukraine peace talks due as EU hits Russia with more sanctions n AFP, Minsk Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and Europe are set to hold fresh peace talks yesterday in a bid to end a surge in fighting between Kiev and Kremlin-backed rebels, with tensions running high after the EU hit Moscow with more sanctions.

The talks in Belarus’s capital Minsk will bring together the contact group of representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Belarus foreign ministry said.

But the meeting is set to be overshadowed by a deal reached by EU foreign ministers Thursday to tighten sanctions against Russia over the conflict, which the United Nations says has left at least 5,100 people dead.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev warned Thursday that the sanctions risk turning the new Cold War atmosphere into a globally destabilising “hot” armed conflict between Moscow and the West. l

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Your body Syeda Samira Sadeque

i

s the playing field Of wartime soldiers Your secrets’ beholders.

Lost its way in a wilderness Too wild Even for animals To survive.

Wretched, wrought With war-like woes.

Armored, anguished Against all anecdotes.

Ravaged, revealed, a Rueful reborn rose.

No. Your body is a thousand roses in a rose-less season And sunshine in a mid-monsoon night’s treason.

It is peace – not piece – of wartimes So pray, you – young, divine Worship these spaces Your body embraces. 

Untitled

E

ven the boy at the coffee shop downstairs Knew better Of her secrets - lipstick-stained, perfume-drenched - secrets, that she didn’t even know existed.

Like how he, who had proposed right there, would bring those other women To the same coffee shop Before going away to Apartment 17 While she waited in the office upstairs For his meetings to be over. 

Jaipur Literary Festival Shazia Omar

W

here in the world can you listen to story tellers while sipping hot chai on a cool but sunny winter’s afternoon then retire for an evening of quawali? Nowhere other than Jaipur during the famous Jaipur Literature Festival.

Thousands of book lovers gathered for 5 days at the glorious Diggi Palace from January 21-25 in Jaipur to celebrate the written word. I was lucky enough to be among them. Here are some of the highlights.

In the taxi from the airport, I met Claire Armitstead from Guardian Books from whom I learned of that Guardian Books’ twitter feed has over 1 million followers and is a great place to learn about new books.

The first session I watched was of octogenarian Nobel laureate VS Naipal reconciling with his disciple and later critic Paul Theroux in a tearful moment on stage.

In a session titled ‘Basic Instinct’, Hanif Kureishi (Buddha of Suburbia), Sarah Waters (The Paying Gyest), Nickolson Baker (Vox) and Deepti Kapoor (A Bad Character) discussed with Parul Segal, NY Times Books Editor the art and politics of writing sex. Sarah discussed the challenge of depicting lesbian love in a way that is more honest than pornographic depictions that cater to male fantasies. Hanif suggested that in the current sex-obsessed milieu, perhaps writing about a happy marriage would be something fresh.

I was entertained by a few sessions of historical writers in conversation with the charming William Dalrymple. William Pinch described the life and times of warrior yogi, Anupgiri who was said to have super natural powers.

Jessie Childs spoke about torture techniques in Elizebethan England.

Deborah Hutton, Kavita Singh and Molly Aitkin swooned over the 17th century hero of syncretism, Jagat Guru, Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur.

Young women writers Joanna Rakoff (My Salinger Year), Amrita Tripathi (The Sibius Knot) and Eleanor Catton (The Luminaries) spoke on panels about their approaches to writing. Joanna’s memoir required an excavation of memories, Eleanor’s research involved pouring through New Zealand’s archives of 19th century newspapers and Amrita’s novel came out of her study of mental health.

Popular best-sellers Amish Tripathi (The Shiva Trilogy), Ashwin Sanghi (The Rozabal Line) and Chetan Bhagat (Half Girlfriend) separately discussed the importance of marketing. “Content is queen, marketing is king” was the motto.

Samit Basu, voted one of the top young writers of India, acclaimed for his Game World fantasy trilogy, spoke about our eternal love for Hogwarts and the power of imagination.

Bangladesh had a strong presence at the festival. Maria Choudhury (Beautiful Stranger) explored the family as an intriguing social unit with

many secrets. Sadaf Saaz (Sari Reams) discussed with Vijay Seshadri (Pulitzer Prize winning poet from USA) the complexities of being an immigrant in America. Mukul Deva, best-selling author of military thrillers, launched The Garud Strikes, about Bangladesh’s Liberation War. Namita Gokhale introduced Malishri Lal’s new release, ‘Tagore and the Feminine’ followed by a beautiful rendition of Ogo Bideshini which was apparently written for Tagore’s Colombian crush.

One evening, I enjoyed a poetry recital under the starry sky in Hawa Mahal by the elegant Shabana Azmi. At one point she recalled a tune she had hummed for her husband Javed Akhtar and her dear friend Gulzhar. Each came up with a spontaneous verse of lyrics. Gulzar’s began with ‘aye aye meri pyar’ while Javed’s began with ‘ja ja ja pyari.´ The most noticeable feature of the festival was its colossal size. There were more than 250,000 enthusiasts attending, 300 authors speaking, 150 media personalities buzzing and more than 300 village cooks preparing mouth-watering meals for the crowds. The festival was a paragon of good organization, team effort and seamless show biz!

As if this wasn’t impressive enough, the Jaipur Literature Festival, was ranked the third largest music festival in the world! Every evening three bands showcased their talents and had the crowds dancing away.

People in India are reading voraciously. The publishing industry is sophisticated and savvy.

Book stores are profitable. Children are encouraged to express themselves. All in all, India is holding its position in the world of literature, with the Jaipur Literature Festival leading the way. Anyone interested in literature will love this festival and I highly recommend it for your calendar next year!   Shazia Omar has written one novel, Like A Diamond in the Sky, one mind-body-spirit book, Intentional Smile, and one play, Karma Coffee.

Allende’s Invented Country Ahsan Sajid

“L

et’s begin at the beginning, with Chile, that remote land that few people can locate on the map because it’s as far as you can go without falling off the planet.

Why don’t we sell Chile and buy something closer to Paris? One of our intellectuals once asked. No one passes by casually, however lost he may be, although many visitors decide to stay forever, enamored of the land and the people. Chile lies at the end of all roads, a lance to the south of the south of America, four thousand three hundred kilometers of hills, valleys, lakes, and sea.”

Isabel Allende claims to have been an outsider in her native land; “I never fit in anywhere, not into my family, my social class, or the religion fate bestowed on me.” But she continues to carry with her even today, almost four decades after leaving her homeland, the mark of the people, myth and magic of her soil. “My Invented Country” is the memoir she has penned in which she calls upon the most bizarre cast of characters, people she has known while growing up in Chile, to tell the tale of her land, which at times become too much to take, to accept or believe.

Allende’s novels (The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, Daughter of Fortune etc.) are sweeping and epic, historical and romantic, her work weaves in elements of North and South American culture.

As with most fiction writers of similar caliber, Allende’s work is inspired by seemingly ordinary personal experiences, and in this memoir she delves into the history, social mores and idiosyncrasies of Chile, showing, in the process, how that land has served as her muse.

Exploring personal events of her life, she manages to take the reader on a highly charged, magical, whirlwind of a ride through Chile, bringing it to life in the most unexpected ways.

Her town of Santiago is where her grandfather encounters the devil on a bus and her grandmother calls upon spirits to move around furniture.

Her home is a place of love, spirits of the deceased, abandonment, and the living. In her memoir are the almost mythic figures of a Chilean family, grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends, with whom both regular and first-time readers of Allende’s fiction will feel comfortable. Bangladeshi readers will

be surprised to find that they can relate to South Americans on an entirely different level.

“My Invented Country” is a memoir whose very structure mimics the workings of memory itself, ranging back and forth across that distance gathered between the author’s past and present lives. It speaks on a personal level to immigrants, and to all of us who has ever felt like an outsider, who try to retain a coherent inner life in the world despite its many contradictions. I bought this book from Boi Bichitra.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Heritage

Saturday, January 31, 2015

9

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

The bequest of Cox’s Bazar

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n Tim Steel o we owe Lord Mornington for the bequest that is Cox’s Bazar, or do we thank the seasoned servant of the Honourable East India Company, Captain Hiram Cox, whose name, as it were, is carried as “the maker’s name?”

It is, of course, Mother Nature herself to whom we owe the famous “world’s longest continuous natural sea beach,” on the verge of which, beside the estuary of the ever lovely, historic Bakkhali river, the city stands.

But, although today’s city may not, in most eyes, be much of a thing of beauty, bequeathed to the nation of Bangladesh by, first the British, who founded it, and the Arakanese, Portuguese and Bengalis who have developed it, to, above all, today’s tourists from all over Bangladesh, as well as not a few from India, Arabia and elsewhere, it remains close to Bangladeshi hearts.

Without Hiram Cox, there may well have been an initiative undertaken, but as his companions, to commemorate his social interests, and his integrity, named this centre for him, and marked, forever, his own contribution to such heritage

No doubt it was, in fact, remote East India Company administrators who conceived the value of settling the unsettled peoples of the area, in the late 18th century. Most of them were Arakanese refugees from the depredations of the Burmese army; and there were others, including rootless Portuguese, displaced by British expansion in Bengal, onto cultivable lands around markets, of which Cox’s Bazar, the largest, was one.

There are parts of Cox’s Bazar, even today, where luxuriant tropical growth fringes the silver sand of the beaches along sprawling water courses, and can readily conjure up what Hiram Cox first saw; with, no doubt, two hundred and fifteen years ago, roaming elephants and tigers.

Few such conspicuous bequests, perhaps, in Bangladesh, are as distinctively marked as today’s city of Cox’s Bazar. But whether, in the end, we owe this settlement for the social and economic enrichment of the recently

acquired lands under British control, to administrators in Dhaka or Calcutta, to Governor, the Earl of Mornington, brother of the famous Duke of Wellington, or to Hiram Cox himself, it has proved itself as, unquestionably, an enduring contribution to the social and economic development of all these lands that are now known as Bangladesh.

A bequest, of course, is an inheritance, a legacy, of value, something to be valued and, preferably, passed on, and, whichever way you look at it, without Hiram Cox, there may well have been an initiative undertaken, but as his companions, to commemorate his social interests, and his integrity, named this centre for him, and marked, forever, his own contribution to such heritage.

Even within today’s city, unnoticed, perhaps, by most of those who travel to enjoy, however briefly, all that is Cox’s Bazar today, there is a very tangible gift from Cox; within the ancient Buddhist Temple, which was probably all that originated before Cox, there is a small, Burmese, image of the Buddha, that Hiram Cox presented to them.

Flood waters may have swept away the grave within which he was interred following his untimely death in 1799, just a year after founding the Bazar, leaving behind no other tangible memorial, except his name.

This year, opening Cox’s Bazar Surf Club on Shugandha Beach, the British High Commissioner, His Excellency Robert W Gibson, also unveiled a small memorial plaque to commemorate the man himself, the Scot who ended his life undertaking what, today, we would call refugee relief, at a mere 39 years of age.

Born in 1760, only fifteen years after the 1745 rebellion in which Prince Charles Edward Stuart, “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” came close to overthrowing the monarchical dynasty that has now ruled Britain for over two hundred and fifty years, Cox hailed, it is believed, from Inverness, on Scotland’s east coast.

The punishment of Scots for the rebellion saw many take up roles in the burgeoning Empire, of which, of course, the lands of Bangladesh might reasonably be called the foundation stone. Captain Hiram Cox was, clearly, amongst them, and might, in his own way, even serve as something of a poster child for an Imperial administration evolving from ruthless chancers to servants with the interests of subjects within their commitment.

The lands that are now Cox’s Bazar district had, through previous centuries, been much fought over

and invaded. Arakanese, Tripurans, Burmese and even Mughal armies had tramped the lands and contested overlordship. These were lands between powerful kingdoms, with, perhaps, little of real value in themselves, although the Roman cartographer, Ptolemy, about 150 CE,

of ships probably largely unaltered in shape, except for the lack of masts, but traditionally craftsmen built; terracotta potteries; the remaining wooden houses; above all, perhaps, the fishing fleet.

Only a few years ago, the town included a mid nineteenth century

That, today, it serves tourists, mostly from across Bangladesh and north east India, but also the world at large, makes his bequest even richer

nearly one thousand nine hundred years ago, clearly identified historic Ramu, which lies some 16km north of Cox’s Bazar, also on the banks of the Bakkhali, and evidently, at that time, widely known as an important trading centre associated with the first of the international Silk Road trading routes, known, today, as The Southern Silk Road.

Lost within the sprawling, and, frankly, ugly, development of what some refer to as Uttara by Sea, no compliment intended, there are still to be found glimpses of, perhaps, what was, but is no longer. The mangroves beside the Bhakkhali; boat building

A lazy evening stroll on the beach

prison, which would have made a great visitor centre … such places are very popular with tourists around the world … but it was sadly bulldozed to make room for extra Eidgarh space.

Within half an hour or so travel, today, of course (probably slower then in Hiram Cox’s time) lies Ramu, where Cox was based. With what is reputed to be a 3rd century BCE Buddhist Temple, founded by the great Ashoka himself, some beautiful wooden Temples, centuries old, and, overlooking the town, on what the locals call “Golden Hill” for the treasure they believe hidden therein, a thousand year old Stupa dominates the Bakkhali valley.

It is clear that Cox intended his Bazar, his Market place, to serve the lands around. That, today, it serves tourists, mostly from across Bangladesh and north east India, but also the world at large, makes his bequest an even richer one than, perhaps, even he could ever have envisioned.

Maybe, being born in the Highlands of Scotland, only sixteen years after the disastrous ’45, he empathised with the displaced, the disadvantaged, but we do know that he was a very sensitive, even intellectual type. His comrades mention his sensitivity and empathy, but we also know that he was a devotee of the game of chess, and a leading exponent of a peculiar variant, four handed chess. His memoir of his time as ambassador of the honourable company in Burma, where it seems he was at odds with the King and his court also underlines a more than passing interest in engineering.

Above all, his integrity shines through what is known of him; not a quality it is immediately easy to associate with such Company contemporaries as Collector Lindsey of Sylhet.

This then, the city by the sea, on the longest beach, that after 215 years still bears his name, is a lasting bequest of one man’s determination that creates yet another jewel in the extraordinary crown of heritage that is Bangladesh’s, and its visitors, to enjoy. l

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Saturday, January 31, 2015

CODE-CRACKER

Time to step up fight against corruption

A

new Transparency International report shows that corruption present in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has become deep-seated and commonplace.

It is a matter of great concern that the very office in charge of keeping an eye on how government money is spent should be so riddled by corruption.

There is widespread evidence of under-the-table payments being sought by and made to officials in the auditor general’s office in return for favours.

Gross corruption and malpractice at such a key level reflects the very poor state of governance in the country.

Rampant bribe-taking has compromised our bureaucracy at every level of operations, from hiring personnel to granting services.

The public depends on the government to ensure that independent bodies like the CAG and ACC are able to operate to the highest ethical standards in investigating and holding lawbreakers to account.

Corruption corrodes public life and has a disastrous effect on the national economy by making it harder for responsible businesses to operate.

As a society, we cannot afford to see corruption as a necessary evil. Exemplary punishment must be doled out to crooked officials, and those who can expose punishment from inside these institutions should be rewarded.

The government must act on, not downplay, the concerns noted by the report. Our civil society must also stay vigilant against abuses of power, and expose corruption where they see it instead of participating and perpetuating the vicious cycle.

Punish crooked officials. As a society, we cannot afford to see corruption as a necessary evil

MPs should question traffic privileges

T

here is no good case for parliament issuing special car stickers to identify vehicles carrying MPs relatives.

By giving their family members special stickers, parliamentarians are needlessly extending special privileges when they should be questioning what purpose they serve in the first place.

As it is, vehicles used by ministers and other high-ranking government officials regularly flout traffic rules at the expense of general road users.

The new stickers will extend preferential treatment on public roads, including the privilege of avoiding security checks, to vehicles carrying family members of parliamentarians.

Under the previous policy, only each lawmaker was entitled to have a single sticker for their own car. The new rule arises in part out of concern about the scandal of forged or falsely issued stickers being sold and used unlawfully.

Road transport and bridges minister reported to parliament that forged MP car stickers have been found on sale and have also been seen being used by lawmakers’ domestic staff.

In pointing out that some MPs also ignore traffic rules, the minister rightly said: “Lawmakers have a responsibility. We should be lawmakers, not lawbreakers.”

It is concerning then that instead of clamping down on and preventing the abuses which have been acknowledged in relation to the existing stickers, that parliament has compounded the potential for abuse by extending the sticker privilege to people not even working in public service.

MPs are tasked with serving the public. They should be looking to stop public servants exacerbating the traffic situation, not extending the privilege which gives helps give rise to the problem.

MPs should be stopping abuses, not extending privileges which give rise to problems

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

Possession is nine-tenths of the law

January 16 inflation has come down to around only 6% for RetiredBUET the last 25 months.

Possession is the problem. Whoever gets in is so For the last one year, the country was, by and consumed by power they treat the country as large, peaceful. Now, terrorism has set in at the their own private fiefdom, regardless of what the behest of the said party and the associated relipublic think. gious bigots. The innocent people are made the victims, public and private properties, including vhs the cars, buses, and trains that are being torched.

Characteristically sharp analysis from Zafar SobThe country has been subjected to unprecedenthan. He wrote about the bait and switch when it ed loss only to get a party in power. Is it really the happened, and here it is. democratic way?

Evil People Politics Karl Hungus The government should pay close attention to It speaks volumes about the BNP’s intellectual such non-partisan polls as they are far more bankruptcy that they were unable to gain much reflective of the people’s opinions than anything traction despite the wide berth they were all but they can come up with. Props to Dhaka Tribune for gifted in the form of the current government’s conducting this. waning popularity.

Hafeejul Alam shottikar bangalee Thanks indeed for the erudite explanation of the BNP is pathetic. It should’ve been so easy for them present polical scenario in Bangladesh. Obviously, to make themselves look good in this scenario. But BNP and it’s associates have resorted to terrorism, no, they choose to look like hooligans. failing to arrange a mass-movement against the government as the people at large have no reason Ishrat to be unhappy with the present government’s Not sure about the use of the word “opined” performance when there is no famine, and power though. Sounds old-fashioned. Otherwise, good generation, agricultural, and industrial production analysis. soared up, economy is well-managed and the

Govt blocks Viber January 18

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 18 represents O so fill O every time the figure 18 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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

Tourists in terror January 16

Zaman DB “Security purposes”?! GP has incurred losses.

Fahmida Islam Why though? On what “security grounds”?

Faruq Hasan Won’t change what, denial of facts?

Nazmul Khair It’s better if the government can make us blind ... and deaf.

Asaki Ahmed Ankon I say it’s rubbish!

Samia Khan Can the govt explain why it’s blocked?

Nasif Hossain Nasfan Bunch of idiots in power. #Govt_sucks Fahim Rahman But why did they block it? Are the telecoms incurring losses?

Shadman Ahmed Maybe it’s a joint effort by the BTRC and telcos to gain higher revenues. They have been missing out on quite a lot – can’t really recall the last time I placed a long international call without VoIP. Imran Chowdhury That’s good. It is a lot of bother to receive and make calls with these modern technologies ... most of the time you hear half of a sentence.

Shamimul Haque Tanjil Who said it’s been been blocked?! Its working if you can figure it out.

Nazmul Khair How funny. I don’t know how it’s still working for me.

CROSSWORD F Singh Are cocktails going off in Cox’s Bazar?

Dreampie F Singh: They are, but not the kind of cocktails that are mentioned in the papers.

Bashir Haque Interesting, I never realised how much all this nonsensical chaos is hurting our country’s tourism industry - imagine booking a flight for Cox’s Bazar/ Teknaf and then reading about how the country is literally imploding, in some local newspaper!

IGP: Anarchy maker will not be spared

January 16 Dr Ahsan Habib Very good point, Mr IGP. But can you also add to that: “Police will work without being the servants of ruling party politicians and their chamchas?”

ACROSS 1 Couple (4) 4 Remain (4) 8 Spirit (3) 9 Employ (4) 10 Work hard (4) 11 Fissures (5) 12 Cult (4) 14 Regret (3) 15 Donkey (3) 17 Pinch (3) 19 Vigour (3) 21 Golf club (4) 23 Weapon (5) 26 Decline in power (4) 27 Tree (4) 28 Corded fabric (3) 29 Matured (4) 30 Remainder (4)

DOWN 1 Customer (6) 2 Part of the eye (4) 3 Sovereignty (5) 4 Pronoun (3) 5 Ornamental coronet (5) 6 Limb (3) 7 Acceptance (3) 11 Bullock (5) 13 Love god (5) 16 Pick out (6) 18 Disposed (5) 20 Strength (5) 22 Back of the neck (4) 23 Mineral spring (3) 24 Hairpiece (3) 25 Colour (3)

m Sirajullah Congratulations to the IGP for this new attempt to maintain peace and order for the common men and women on the street. We do not care about nor do we want to understand politics. The only thing we know is that whoever goes to power will loot the country and slowly suck our blood. We are accustomed to this. We do mot want to shed more of our blood on the streets or get burnt and have our property vandalised.

Demonocracy

CALVIN AND HOBBES

January 16

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

rose The prime minister should take very tough actions against those who are creating violence in the streets since days.

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

EVP BNP have every right to protest, but that does not equate to giving them a free pass to run amok and disrupt the livelihoods of citizens.

SB Demonocrazy. rolly Good article.

Maus SB: That’s it, exactly. Took the word right out of my mouth.

Suspected arsonist killed in “gunfight” with RAB January 16

SM Great news! All arsonists should be killed. Disputes between politicians should not jeopardise public life. The police exist for the security of ordinary public, not for hooligans.

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Distant friends n FS Aijazuddin

A

MEHEDI HASAN

The true cost of cars

T

n Alyson Hayes raffic jams, fender benders, fatalities, emissions, expense of delay, and social marginalisation … these are all direct and indirect costs of a motorist-dependent city. And Dhaka is such an urban complexity that has exploded in population size and density, a socioeconomic intricacy, and is reliant on movement via cars.

This can be seen by the astronomical number of single-passenger vehicles on the roads.

Car dependence has historically shaped the way that cities are planned, and Dhaka is not exempt. Car dependence means wider roads, more congested roads, and limited green space and walkways.

Cars make up a higher vehicle mix and move fewer people. Cars can stimulate economies, but can also impair them. Cars consume otherwise economically and socially profitable space. Here is a simple image for your consideration: The average length of a car is just over 4 metres.

The average length of a passenger bus is just over 12 metres (three times the length of a car). The total number of passengers allowable in an average sized car is four plus one driver, who may or may not be a passenger; for this visual we will assume not.

The number of passenger seats in an average sized bus is 28. Therefore, although buses take up three times more road space per unit, they can transport seven times (or more) passengers. So, for fully occupied cars to move 1,000 people, they would take up 1,000 metres of road space or one metre per person. For buses to transport the same number of seated people, it would take up less than half

(42.86%) the road space of cars.

Before delving into this further, please understand that this is not an argument to make Dhaka exclusively car-free, nor is it a fully comprehensive review; this is a basic argument to encourage improved public transit facilities, particularly bussing, to give a glimpse at some benefits of public transit, eliminate the stigma of public transportation use, and to discourage sole dependence on single-passenger vehicles in Dhaka.

A study showed that the vehicular congestion of Dhaka resulted in an annual cost of over $18.1bn

The environment … it is obvious that more vehicles contribute more emissions that result in higher particulate levels in the air. It is estimated that the number of vehicles have been increasing at a steady rate of 10% annually in Dhaka. This rate of increase has resulted in a 5-6% increase in each of various types of emissions, including carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons.

Increased air pollution is hazardous to health and destructive to infrastructure due to decay induced from chemically altered air quality. Air pollution increases urban runoff which affects waterways, agriculture, landscapes, and increases erosion and deterioration of earth bankings and roads.

The society: In Dhaka, as with many

other cities among developing and developed nations, public bussing has a socioeconomic stigma toward riders. Use of public buses is often associated with poverty or inability to purchase a vehicle or lack of ability to operate a vehicle. Here, where many vehicles are not self-driven and the buses are in poor repair, the stigma can be exacerbated. This stigma is validated globally, based on the racial and income data of riders; but there is slowly an emerging shift in paradigm that can be and should be embraced here as well.

Other social costs that cars impose relate to the overall restrictions to city design due to the need for more (or wider) road space. Car-dependent cities often do not support pedestrian requirements for safety and access.

Furthermore, green space can be limited due to the need for more road space and lack of parking facilities.

Recreation and exercise is therefore compromised.

The economy: It is true that cars can help the economy. Vehicle taxes and associated registration costs are extremely high, but the abuse of roadways due to the high traffic flows in Dhaka creates a development challenge for improving and even maintaining infrastructure within limited financial resources.

Car subsidies exist here, even in an informal and unintentional context; parking and road use is more or less free. Cars that park on street shoulders and in traffic lanes incur costs to movement and design. The congestion from the abundance of cars on the roads creates economic burdens and the planning that is directly attributed to facilitating car dependency, limits other income sources. A past study showed that the vehicular congestion

of Dhaka city resulted in an annual cost of over $18.1bn due to the delay (UNDP).

A solution: Following global trend of promoting improved public transport, Dhaka city can identify major causeways that are limited for car use; this can be implemented by days, hours, or without specification. Car related fees can eliminate unintended subsidies for car users.

Public bus infrastructure can become a key focal point for government expenditure; better buses, the existence of bus lanes, and more attention to improving ridership and rider safety and comfort. The government of Bangladesh and associated organisations such as John McAslan + Partners, JICA, and consultants who have been tasked with the development of the Dhaka Metro must consider the impact on the overall transportation dynamic.

This means that to motivate metro users, considerations must be made to improve bussing within the stop locales. Car parking at major stations may be incorporated, but land space is valuable; so bussing to and from stations for metro riders must be a complementary strategy in the metro project.

As Dhaka, and Bangladesh, continue positive growth and development, understanding the challenges of urban realities is critical. Recently, seven international cities have been identified due to their diminishing dependence on cars (fastcoexist.com; Adele Peters).

Internationally, governments and the public are gaining understanding that car dependency in cities is becoming more of a downfall for sustainable and social development and a hindrance to urban planning and design. l

dences of social collapse due to wars and armed invasions. In recent times, the prime examples are Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Syria.

However, the Greeks were compelled to endure almost an unthinkable measure of privation “peacefully.” The economy plummeted in such a manner that the Greek economy is 30% smaller than what it was six years ago.

In social terms, this shattered millions of lives and a whole generation of youth who grew prematurely old, deprived of any chance at a stable and assured life. According to various studies, close to 25% of the population live under dire poverty with another 35% on the brink of being pauperised.

Wages have consistently fallen by 5% per annum 2009. During a survey, some 47% of Greeks reported that they were unable to afford necessary treatment. A 33% cut in education spending between 2009 and 2013 left the public education system ravaged. Not content with that the ruling class has scheduled to cut another 14% by 2016.

Thousands of teachers are jobless and the classrooms are overcrowded with students. The first world had no parallels of such situation since the Great Depression of the 30s.

Therefore, the huge popular jubilation witnessed in the streets and neighbourhoods of Athens or Thessaloníki

and throughout the country, manifests the triumph of those people who had suffered immensely due to government policies and were immiserated.

Alyson Hayes works at Eminence.

nyone who did not believe in Lady Luck or the goddess Lakshmi should have witnessed the Indian tea ceremony at Hyderabad House, New Delhi, on January 25. There was evidence enough – and more – that an invisible, indefinable force had lifted Barack Obama and Narendra Modi to such lofty eminence.

Think about it. Barack Obama – a down-and-out first generation American who once slept roofless on a pavement in New York, whose friend was a drug-snorting Pakistani illegal alien, whose first fundraiser for a Senate seat was organised by his Pakistani friends in a Chicago restaurant (they raised $3,000).

Narendra Modi, initiated into politics while serving tea to RSS delegates, a pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a married brahmachari vegetarian, an introvert and a poet.

Yet, that day, in the garden of what Edwin Lutyens designed as the Nizam of Hyderabad’s town house on Rajpath, Narendra Modi, as the 15th prime minister of India, served tea/coffee to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States.

It was hardly the occasion for them to remind each other of their antecedents. So when Barack Obama referred to Modi’s Bollywood-like reception by the Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden in September 2014, Modi had the ineffable grace not to mention that, less than ten years earlier, just as he was on his way to address Indian expatriates at the very same venue, his US visa had been revoked peremptorily by the US government. It cited a forgotten piece of legislation, the International Religious Freedom Act passed by Congress in 1998.

And when both leaders announced “a breakthrough to end the logjam” over the US-India nuclear deal (hanging fire since 2005 because of an obstructive unforgotten Indian law that enabled its operators to sue US suppliers in case of accident), neither fouled the atmosphere by alluding to Union Carbide or its culpability for the Bhopal tragedy in December 1984, in which 3,787 Indians died and over half a million Bhopalis were injured.

Official visits like Obama’s are not sessions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They are designed to be less about grimy substance than about non-lethal atmospherics.

Much has been made by the Indian media of the obvious chemistry between Obama and Modi – the bear-hug on arrival, the closely observed têtea-têtes, the informal banter between the two leaders. However spontaneous these gestures appeared before the cameras, they were the product of diplomacy aforethought.

This visit had a number of imperatives. The United States as a global superpower needed to re-assert its interest in South Asia. By avoiding Pakistan, Obama wanted us to know that while US-Pak relations had yielded past uses, commerce with India promised future, greater benefits.

Modi, for his part, hoped that international economies would recognise

that his India had turned its back irreversibly on Nehruvian socialism.

Democracy and capitalism – like Modi and Obama – would stride forward together, hand-in-hand. The unspoken expectation on India’s part was the endorsement of itself as a self-appointed regional superpower, by a bully bigger than itself.

The attitude of leaders to each other can often make or mar such events.

At Vienna in 1961, for example, John F Kennedy felt patronised by Khrushchev’s condescension towards him.

This visit had a number of imperatives. The United States as a global superpower needed to re-assert its interest in South Asia

Pandit Nehru never disguised even when they met his contempt for General Ayub Khan. And the personal animus between Mrs Indira Gandhi and President Richard Nixon undoubtedly discoloured their policies during the East Pakistan/Bangladesh crisis in 1971.

“Politics,” as Nikita Khrushchev once observed, “is a merciless business.” Geo-politics is even less forgiving. During Modi’s last visit to the United States, he and Obama “expressed concern about rising tensions over maritime territorial disputes, ... especially in the South China Sea.” Because of the very nomenclature of those turbulent waters, China was bound to react. It warned both countries not to interfere in its disputes.

Unabashed, in New Delhi, Obama and Modi again reiterated the importance they attached to “safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea.” President Xi Jinping’s mature unrepentant response can be gleaned from a speech (termed “an Important Address”) he gave to the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, in November 2014.

He stressed China’s need to “promote neighbourhood diplomacy, turn China’s neighbourhood areas into a community of common destiny … and to actively advance the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road.”

If the United States thinks in centuries, China contemplates in millennia. Mao Zedong, sitting on Taishan mountain, declared famously once that “the East is Red.” He was not simply describing the crimson sunrise. He was warning, as Zhou Enlai did Henry Kissinger in July 1971, that the US was “10,000 miles away. China was much closer.” l FS Aijazuddin lives in Lahore and is a columnist for Dawn, Pakistan’s main Englishlanguage newspaper. This article was first published in Dawn.

Greece fights back n Sushovan Dhar

W

ith the build-up of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the political pundits and financial honchos, not to mention the ruling elites, preached to us about the virtues of “austerity.” Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, was audacious in preaching austerity as the sole panacea for the Eurozone-evil.

Herr Schäuble and his likes lecturing the European people, including the Greeks, wanted the plebeians to comply with the diktat of the Troika (the EU, the European Central Bank, and the IMF) – in order to be “rescued” from the awful financial disorder that their elites have put them in.

Syriza victory

However, four years on, the Greeks decided to be disobedient pupils. And, the coalition of radical leftists, Syriza, won the elections on an anti-austerity program. This victory clearly manifests the popular rejection of the so-called austerity policies imposed by the Troika and faithfully enforced by successive Greek regimes, whether of right or “left,” since 2008.

The Troika’s prescriptions, called the Memorandums, reminds us of the odious “structural adjustment programs,” earlier imposed on the Southern countries trapped under piles of foreign debt. These prescriptions were

nothing but reducing public welfare spending, remotion of subsidies for the poor, privatisation of state-owned firms, and regressive taxes on working people and the poor.

Alexis Tsipras led Syriza to win 149 seats in the 300-seat Greek parliament with a 36.3% share of the vote. Only two short of an absolute majority.

In order to form a government, he decided to collaborate with ANEL (Independent Greeks), the populist right-wing party which has 13 seats.

While the latter is certainly a lesser evil compared to others, it is nevertheless an evil. It is deplorable to see the sectarian attitude of KKE, the Greek Communist Party, which won 15 seats but refusing unity in struggle and ruling out any support to Syriza.

The ravage and destruction

Syriza’s anti-austerity & anti-bailout program found a spirited audience in an otherwise visibly tired and depleted landscape. Greece’s GDP has dropped by 25% since 2009; the household income by around 35% with unemployment trebling to 26%.

Severe spending cuts and towering joblessness have compelled 3.1 million people (a third of the Greek population) to lose their health insurance and other social securities. This population is drowned below the poverty line with 18% incapable of buying food.

History is replete with terrible inci-

The threat

With the official dissolution of the Hellenic Parliament on December 31, 2014, the formal announcement of a month-long election campaign was made. Instantly, both European and international “masters” launched a systematic campaign filled with hatred, lies, and threats to force the masses away from voting for Syriza.

President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Italian PM Matteo Renzi, “austerity theorist” Wolfgang Schäuble and their lackeys, all raised their voice in unison against the enfant terrible.

Backed by the mainstream European media, these “leaders” were hoping to stage a media-coup and brutally poison the minds of the Greek public.

However, this public was already exhausted to witness their land turning into a mess of social ruin due to the inhumane and barbarous austerity policies that these leaders have imposed through the infamous Troika.

The debt that Greece is expected to pay is equivalent to 175% of its GDP. It is abominably an insufferable onus for the Greek people. This illegitimate, ille-

gal, and odious debt that the Greeks are burdened with is surely not their debt.

Isn’t it surprising to see that the election in such a small country of less than 12 million people could create such palpitations for ministries in Berlin, Paris, or Rome, and at the EU headquarters in Brussels. The crusade against the “dangers” of the radical-left in Greece was designed to coerce the Greeks into renouncing their right to change.

This smear campaign was also aimed at influencing European public opinion to frown upon Syriza in order to arrest the spread the “contagion” across the continent, in an eventual victory of the radical-left.

Possible consequences

The winds of change might spread across Spain this autumn, with the anti-austerity bloc Podemos winning the election. The possibility of the Cyprus, Portugal, and Slovenia citizens considering displacing calamitous ultra-conservative parties by left-wing formations can’t be ruled out as well.

European ruling elites and their benefactors, the private capital and the corporates, are not oblivious to the fact that the majority of common Europeans despise the policies that have been enforced in the past few years, and might decide to vote for change.

The Syriza victory implies a strong warning to the mainstream parties,

either conservative or “socialist,” increasing their anxiety that the contamination could spread to Spain and then elsewhere.

In the end, the Greeks rejected the threats and provided a fitting reply.

The victory of Syriza is certainly a manifestation of the mass outrage against austerity. Rooted in previous traditions of popular resistance, this indignation has produced waves of outbursts and struggles since 2008.

The election results are an essential rejection of the cardinal policies flaunted for handling by the EU and Germany under the pretext of handling the Eurozone crisis.

It would also be after four decades that neither the centre-left Pasok, nor the right-wing New Democracy remain at the helm of Greek affairs.

One would expect that the Hellenic republic leaves behind the nightmares of the catastrophic austerity, fear, and authoritarianism. The five years of humiliation and suffering are enough!

The Greek people deserve our support and all-out solidarity while they try to embark on a new journey.

The sounds of jubilation from Athens are loud enough to spread around the planet. Are our leaders listening?

The Modis, the Hasinas, the Sharifs, and their counterparts in the region? l Sushovan Dhar is an activist. He is based in Kolkata.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Saturday, January 31, 2015

13 Sharapova out

to end Serena dominance

14 Heavyweights

collide in blockbuster final

14 Ivanovic fires

warning ahead of City showdown

Sport

Mamunul hints of retirement n Shishir Hoque from Sylhet The final Group A tie against Sri Lanka this Monday at Bangabandhu National Stadium was already a do-or-die one for Bangladesh given that the hosts lost their opening match against Malaysia Under-23 two days ago in Sylhet. The home side’s final encounter though became doubly important yesterday as skipper Mamunul Islam hinted that he might retire from national duty if they fail to qualify for the semifinals of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup. Following a 1-0 defeat against the Malaysians, there is no other option left for Mamunul and Co but to draw or win their final group stage match against the Lankans if they are to make it to the last four. And as the leader of the side, Mamunul came forward and took responsibility for their loss in the

With virtually no knowledge about the opponents, Sri Lanka will begin their Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football campaign at Sylhet District Stadium today against a confident Malaysia Under-23 side. The match will kick off at 5pm.

On the eve of their opening match today, Sri Lanka’s Serbian head coach Nikola Kavazovic admitted that they are yet to analyse their opposition.

n Shishir Hoque from Sylhet

opening match.

“I talked to the players after the defeat, tried to lift them up and inspired them to give their best in the next game. I took the responsibility of all the 22 players in the squad so that they do not have to play under pressure,” said Mamunul yesterday.

Before leaving for Dhaka yesterday afternoon, Mamunul told the media that he would quit from the national team if they crash out of the event in the group stage.

“Yes, I am sad. We gave our word to someone (BFF president Kazi Salahuddin) that we would reach the semifinals of the tournament. If we fail to make it, I will personally leave the national side,” he added.

The Sheikh Jamal midfielder also gave his observations on the 1-0 defeat against the Malaysians. “We had no idea about their strength but they analysed us well and knew about us,” the 28-year old said before adding, “We went into the game to surprise them but they rather surprised us with high pressing football in the first 25 minutes.

After that we played well but there is no value of performance if we cannot get the result.”

Winger Zahid Hossain meanwhile, arguably Bangladesh’s best player in the first match, said they are quite confident about beating Sri Lanka.

“I am positive about the match against Sri Lanka. We should quit the game of football if we do not win that game,” he said. l

Thailand goalie Yos Somporn goes aerial in a desperate attempt to thwart a Singapore attack in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup at Sylhet District Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

“This is the first time in my career we didn’t analyse our opponents because I came here without any competitive aim. We can’t compete against Malaysia and Bangladesh at this moment,” said a resigned Kavazovic yesterday.

The Serbian informed that the third edition of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup will serve as preparation for the upcoming 2018 Fifa World Cup pre-qualifiers.

“Our only aim here is to play two games and have two different experiences. Firstly, we want to compete with one national team coming from a developing country. And, the other

experience is to play against the hosts in front of 50,000 people in Dhaka in a competitive match. So, mainly we came here to play two games as part of our preparation for the first stage of WC qualifiers,” he said.

Kavazovic added that it would be a miracle if they beat Malaysia today. “I don’t expect that we will win. We are on the course of 30 percent of possibility. So, if we beat them tomorrow (today) it would be some miracle. Even if we beat Bangladesh it would not be natural.”

The Group A encounter between the two teams is also important for hosts

The Bangladesh cricketers and coaching staff pose for a photograph at a Go-Karting track in Brisbane yesterday

COURTESY

Tigers go karting! n Mazhar Uddin Following three days of training, Bangladesh cricket team enjoyed a rare day off yesterday in Brisbane as the national cricketers experienced the thrills of Go-Karting. The entire Bangladesh contingent, including the coaching staff, thoroughly enjoyed their leisure time on the race track.

“After a couple of days of hard work in the practice sessions, Bangladesh team got a day off to relax in Brisbane

where the team went for Go Karting.

Tigers will refocus and get back to their mission from tomorrow (today) once again!” Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim posted this in his official Facebook page.

After landing in Brisbane, the Tigers began their camp at Allan Border Field last Tuesday. Opener Tamim Iqbal joined the camp two days later.

Meanwhile, Mashrafe bin Mortaza and his team are preparing for their first warm-up match against Cricket

England have won 10 of their 14 ODIs in Perth, the only Australian venue where they have a positive record, minimum 2 matches

Thailand edge Singapore in opener

Unmindful Lankans, Malaysians clash today n Shishir Hoque from Sylhet

Did you know?

Australia XI, which will take place tomorrow. Two days later, the Tigers are scheduled to face the same opponents in their second warm-up match this Tuesday.

Bangladesh are also scheduled to play two official practice matches before the start of the tournament proper. The Tigers will take on Pakistan and Ireland on February 9 and 12 respectively before facing Afghanistan in their first pool game of the tournament on February 18. l

Thailand Under-23 kicked off their Bangabandhu Gold Cup campaign with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Singapore U-23 in the first match of Group B at Sylhet District Stadium yesterday.

With Bahrain – the other side of Group B - touted as the favourites to win the cup, yesterday’s match was potentially a quarterfinal to decide which of the two teams make it through to the last four as the runners up side from this group. And it was Thailand who sealed the win in a topsy-turvy encounter.

Thailand went ahead with just six minutes into the clock through midfielder Sensomaiad Adisak. Kana Narakorn’s corner from the right flag found Adisak inside the box. Adisak headed the ball into the net after it rebounded off the sidepost.

Thailand, ranked 13 places higher than Singapore in the Fifa rankings, then took advantage of a baffled Singapore defence as midfielder Srinawong Chayawat doubled the lead in the 31st minute. Forward Parmpak Pakorn was the architect behind the goal as he dribbled past a defender to break into the box before cutting the ball back to Chayawat who placed home from the centre of the box.

Singapore staged a comeback immediately after resumption by pulling one back four minutes into the second half. Following a blunder from a Thai defender who failed to block Taufik Bin Suparna’s through pass for Iqram Yazid, Iqram received the ball calmly and slotted home past Yos Somporn in the near post.

It took Singapore only four minutes to find the net again and equalise the margin, thanks to a lovely finish by Taufik. Midfielder Nur Ishafiq Naim ran through the right flank and delivered a low cross which deflected off a defender and went straight to the keeper who was unable to grip the ball. The rebound fell kindly at the feet of Taufik who smashed home from just outside the six-yard box.

Thailand, however, had the last laugh as Pakorn sealed victory in the 80th minute, thumping in a 20-yarder into the back of the net. l

Bangladesh, who suffered a 1-0 defeat against the Malaysians at the same venue last Thursday. If the home side are to have any hopes of making it through to the semifinals, then Malaysia must beat Sri Lanka 2-0 or more today. Then, Bangladesh must draw or win their final group stage match against the Lankans this Monday in Dhaka.

Malaysia head coach Mohamed Razip Ismail on the other hand expressed his determination to continue their winning streak and progress to the last four as group champions. Ismail though echoed Kavazovic’s tune saying the Malaysians were also in the

dark over their opposition.

“I have no idea about Sri Lanka team and I never watched them play,” said Ismail before adding, “I think every match is very important. We already beat the host country. But tomorrow’s (today’s) match is more important for us to qualify for the semifinals. I will take this match against Sri Lanka very seriously.

“We want to continue our winning performance. If we beat Sri Lanka tomorrow (today) we will come up as top of the group. The most important thing is to maintain the winning performance.”l

First three-dayer ends in draw n Mazhar Uddin

Annual athletics of St. Gregory’s held

A brilliant unbeaten hundred from Joyraj Sheik enabled the Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team to conclude their opening three-day match against Sri Lanka U-19 yesterday with a 73-run first innings lead.

Resuming the third and final day’s play on 78/2 at Dambulla International Stadium, overnight batsman Sheik made merry of the Lankan bowlers to score an undefeated 100 off 167 balls with the help of 11 boundaries. Skipper Mehedy Hasan added 41 as the Junior Tigers finished the day on 289/8.

The tourists earlier dismissed the hosts for 216 with left-arm spinner Nihaduzzaman bagging a five-wicket haul. Persistent rain on the second day, however, ensured that the match would not end in a result for either side as only 29.4 overs of play was possible.

Both the teams will now target a series win in the second and final three-dayer starting from this Monday.

The visitors earlier claimed the fivematch one-day series 3-2 after coming back from 2-0 down. l

n Raihan Mahmood The annual athletics event of renowned educational institution St. Gregory’s School was held at the school premises at Luxmibazar yesterday.

Swadhin Bangla football team captain Zakaria Pintu graced the occasion as the chief guest. The headmaster of the school, Brother Prodip Placid Gomez, presided over the programme.

During the programme, Pintu urged the students to acquire more knowledge about the Liberation War and the struggle of the freedom fighters to achieve independence.

“Nowadays, it appears to me that the new generation is not properly knowledgeable about the Liberation War. I believe the students of St. Gregory’s School will obtain in-depth knowledge of it and build the country,” said Pintu.

Brother Prodip emphasised upon the importance of sports in addition to studies.

“Without a proper mind, it is not possible to gain knowledge. Sports helps a student to set up the mind in the proper way,” said the headmaster.

Hundreds of students participated in the week-long competition. l

BRIEF SCORE Sri Lanka U-19 1st innings 216/10 in 97.4 overs (Salindu Ushan 77) Nihaduzzaman 5/55, Mehedy Hasan 3/65 Bangladesh U-19 1st innings 289/8 in 83 overs (Joyraz Sheik 100*, Shadman Islam 56) Nishan Peiris 4/91 Match Drawn

Zakaria Pintu, the captain of Swadhin Banglafootball team (R) and Brother Prodip Placid Gomez (L), the headmaster of St.Gregory’s School congratulate the winners of 100 meter sprint in the school’s annual athletic event yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

QUICK BYTES

McLaren unveil Hondapowered MP4-30 McLaren unveiled their new car, the MP4-30, which will be piloted by former world champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in 2015, in an online presentation on Thursday. The British marque will be running Honda engines for the first time since 1992 and they hope that Alonso and Button will help them end two years in the Formula One wilderness. But despite resuming their partnership with Japanese engine manufacturer Honda, the new car retains the predominantly grey livery synonymous with the team’s 20-year partnership with Mercedes. “Although our renewed alliance began again many months ago, the launch of the McLaren-Honda MP4-30 marks the start of a lengthy journey,” said chief executive Ron Dennis in a statement. “We’ve come a long way already and, although there’s a lot of work to do before we can expect to repeat the level of success we enjoyed together 25 or so years ago, it’s already clear that there’s enormous synergy and potential in our partnership.

–AFP

Villarreal to face Barca in King’s Cup semis Villarreal set up a King’s Cup semi-final against Barcelona after Gerard Moreno gave them a 1-0 victory at Getafe on Thursday to secure a 2-0 aggregate success. Villarreal are unbeaten in 18 games in all competitions and now face their first ever cup semi-final against last year’s runners-up Barca who knocked out Atletico Madrid on Wednesday. Espanyol secured a surprising 3-2 aggregate win over a spirited Sevilla side despite conceding a late goal in a 1-0 defeat when Diogo Figueiras pounced two minutes from time. They will play Athletic Bilbao who beat Malaga 1-0 with an Aritz Aduriz goal at the start of the second half dividing the teams over the two legs.

The game at Getafe’s Coliseum Alfonso Perez was played at a slow tempo with few openings at either end. However, youngster Moreno made the most of the chance that fell his way by rounding keeper Jona and slotting into an empty net 12 minutes from time.

–Reuters

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 1 9:00PM English Premier League Stoke City v Queens Park Rangers 2:00AM Italian Serie A Roma v Empoli

Star Sports 2 10:00AM Ranji Trophy Punjab v Odisha 7:30PM Hockey India League Kalinga Lancers v Uttar Pradesh Wizards Spanish La Liga 11:00PM Eibar v Atletico Madrid 1:00AM Granada v Elche

Sport

England beat India to set up Australia decider n AFP, Perth England will face Australia in Sunday’s tri-series final after winning their oneday international against India at the WACA Ground in Perth on Friday by three wickets.

Set a modest 201 to win after another disappointing batting effort by India, England stumbled early before recovering to edge their way to 201 for seven and win with 19 balls to spare.

With the winner of the game advancing to Sunday’s final, England looked in deep trouble when they slumped to 66 for five in their run chase.

However, James Taylor and wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler rescued their cause.

The pair rode their luck, with several close calls, to put on 125 for the sixth wicket and carry their side to within 10 runs of victory, before both fell in quick succession.

Taylor made 82 (122 balls) before holing out to deep fine leg from the bowling of Mohit Sharma in the dying stages of the chase.

Buttler made the most of an early reprieve, when he should have been run out.

He went on to make a match-winning 67 from 78 balls before falling just

two runs after Taylor, caught on the boundary from the bowling of Mohammed Shami.

The loss meant India ended their three-month tour of Australia without a win from 10 games, including two warm-up matches, four Tests and four one-day internationals.

Having been sent in to bat, India squandered a good platform provided by their openers.

They lost six wickets for just 31 runs to slump to 165-9, before some late hitting from Mohammed Shami (25 from 18 balls) and Mohit Sharma boosted their total.

It was another worrying batting performance ahead of their upcoming World Cup title defence in Australia and New Zealand next month. India beat Sir Lanka in the 2011 final.

The Indians made an encouraging start to their innings through the previously out-of-form Shikhar Dhawan and opening partner Ajinkya Rahane.

The pair put on 83, but the innings started to unravel when Dhawan was caught behind by Buttler from the bowling of Chris Woakes for 38.

Virat Kohli’s poor series then continued when he was caught by Joe Root from the bowling of spinner Moeen Ali (2-35) for just eight.l

INDvENG India A. Rahane c Buttler b Finn S. Dhawan c Buttler b Woakes V. Kohli c Root b Ali S. Raina c Woakes b Ali A. Rayudu c Buttler b Broad MS Dhoni lbw Anderson S. Binny c Bell b Finn R. Jadeja c Finn b Broad A. Patel c Bell b Finn M. Sharma not out M. Shami c Buttler b Woakes Extras (lb2, w4) Total (all out, 48.1 overs)

R

B

73 101 38 65 8 19 1 5 12 17 17 32 7 12 5 9 1 5 7 6 25 18 6 200

Fall of wickets 1-83 (Dhawan), 2-103 (Kohli), 3-107 (Raina), 4-134 (Rayudu), 5-136 (Rahane), 6-152 (Binny), 7-164 (Dhoni), 8-164 (Jadeja), 9-165 (Patel), 10-200 (Shami) Bowling Anderson 9-1-24-1, Woakes 9.1-1-47-2, Broad 10-1-56-2, Finn 10-0-36-3, Ali 10-0-35-2

R

B

England I. Bell lbw Sharma M. Ali c Rayudu b Patel J. Taylor c Raina b Sharma J. Root c and b Binny E. Morgan c Dhawan b Binny R. Bopara c Jadeja b Binny J. Buttler c Rayudu b Shami C. Woakes not out S. Broad not out Extras (w7,nb2)

10 13 17 34 82 122 3 2 2 13 4 6 67 78 4 9 3 6 9

Total (7 wickets, 46.5 overs)

201

Fall of wickets 1-14 (Bell), 2-40 (Ali), 3-44 (Root), 4-54 (Morgan), 5-66 (Bopara), 6-191 (Taylor), 7-193 (Buttler)

James Taylor (L) and Jos Buttler shared a 125-run stand aganst India in the Carlton Mid TriSeries in Perth yesterday CRICINFO

Bowling Binny 8-0-33-3, Sharma 10-1-36-2, Shami 9-0-31-1, Patel 10-1-39-1, Jadeja 9.5-0-62-0 England won by three wickets

Sharapova out to end decade of Serena dominance n AFP, Melbourne Top seed Serena Williams’ coach has dismissed the American’s decade-long, 15-0 winning streak against Maria Sharapova as irrelevant ahead of the arch-rivals’ blockbuster Australian Open final on Saturday.

The final will pit the world’s two best players, both in sizzling form, against one another in a dream Grand Slam decider, although the second seeded Sharapova faces questions over her staggering inability to notch a win over Williams since 2004.

The Russian’s overall losing record against Williams is 16-2, including a crushing straight sets win in the 2007

Australian final, and her last 15 meetings with the 18-time Grand Slam champion have ended in defeat.

In addition, Williams has won five titles in five final appearances at Melbourne Park, emerging victorious every time she has reached the decider.

But Williams’ coach, Frenchman Patrick Mouratoglou, said such statistics would mean nothing when the adversaries face each other in the Rod Laver Arena, describing Sharapova as a champion in her own right with five majors to her name.

“Every sequence has to end, just ask Nadal,” he told AFP, referring to Czech Tomas Berdych’s quarter-final victory over Rafael Nadal this week to end a re-

cord-equalling 17-match losing streak against the Spanish great.

“Maria Sharapova is changing all the time. This is someone who works hard.

She develops her game, she evolves.

This is the strength of a champion. Nadal did it all the time, Serena too.”

Neither player will lack motivation in the final. Sharapova, 27, can finally end a decade of pain at Williams’ hands in the ninth Grand Slam final of her career.

Williams, who at 33 is the oldest woman to contest an Open-era final in Australia, is contesting her 23rd Slam final. A win would take her overall tally to 19, surpassing Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert as she chases Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22. l

Windies call up Miller to Murray defends fiancee over replace Narine televised outburst n AFP, St. John’s Left-arm spinner Nikita Miller was called up by the West Indies for the World Cup on Thursday to replace Sunil Narine who withdrew from the squad.

Miller, 32, has featured in 45 oneday internationals, taking 40 wickets with a best of 4-43 against Zimbabwe.

His last appearance for the West Indies in a one-dayer was in March last year against England.

Narine withdrew from the squad on Tuesday, citing the need for more time to confidently bowl for sustained periods with his new action.

The Trinidadian’s action had been deemed on two occasions during the Indian Champions League T20 tournament last September to be illegal.

However, he has not been under any cloud of official sanction from the International Cricket Council.

The World Cup commences on February 14 with West Indies playing their opening match two days later against Ireland in Nelson in New Zealand.

They will also play South Africa, defending champions India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates.

Revised West Indies World Cup squad:

Jason Holder (capt), Marlon Samuels, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Gayle, Nikita Miller, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor l

n AFP, Melbourne Andy Murray has defended his fiancee after she was caught on camera during his tense Australian Open semi-final win apparently swearing at the Tomas Berdych camp courtside.

Tension between Murray and Berdych spilled over off court with the Scot’s wife-to-be Kim Sears caught up with the emotion of Thursday’s match.

Murray, who beat the Czech seventh seed 6-7 (6/8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 to reach his fourth Australian Open final, attributed the atmosphere to the pre-match focus on his former coach, Dani Vallverdu, who is now working with Berdych.

Asked at his post-match media conference if he was aware of Sears being caught on camera, but with no audio,

using some “Anglo-Saxon adjectives” directed at the Berdych camp, Murray said he was.

“I was told about that. When there’s a lot of tension surrounding something, which you (media) created, then it’s completely normal,” Murray said.

“Even Tomas, who very rarely says anything on the court, there was tension there for him, as well. In the heat of the moment you can say stuff that you regret. And, yeah, that’s it.”

There was plenty of friction between Murray and Berdych and a few glares at each other at changeovers during the opening set sparked by Berdych’s decision to hire former Murray team member Vallverdu as his coach.

Murray blamed the media for stirring it up.l

Dead battery led to Wawrinka losing Australian Open title

3:00AM Celta Vigo v Cordoba CF

Star Sports 4 3:00PM Asian Cup, Final Korea Republic v Australia 06:05PM English Premier League Hull City v Newcastle United

n Reuters, Melbourne

9:00PM Man United v Leicester City 11:15PM Chelsea v Manchester City

Ten Action 7:30PM Indian-League Kalyani Bharat v McDowell’s Mohun Bagan 9:30PM French Ligue 1 Olympic Marseille v Evian Thonon 1:00AM Nantes v Lille

Ten Sports 6:15PM Sky Bet Championship Brentford v Middlesbrough 9:00PM Cardiff City v Derby County

13

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Novak Djokovic (L) of Serbia applauds Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland as he walks off the court after their men’s singles semi-final match at the Australian Open 2015 tennis tournament in Melbourne yesterday REUTERS

A 2014 season which began for Stan Wawrinka with an Australian Open triumph and ended with Davis Cup glory finally caught up with the Swiss at Melbourne Park on Friday as he was left “mentally completely dead”.

The fourth seed’s title defence fizzled out in a low quality 7-6(1) 3-6 6-4 4-6 6-0 semi-final loss to world number one Novak Djokovic and Wawrinka admitted he was simply running on empty.

“I told my coach before the match and yesterday that I was mentally completely dead and no battery,” he told reporters.

“Tough to focus on what I want to do. Tough to focus on my game. And that’s what happened.”

The 29-year-old Wawrinka had entered the match after a clinical destruction of Kei Nishikori in the quarter-fi-

nals, but both he and the Serb appeared flat on Rod Laver Arena on Friday, with neither anywhere near the level expected for a semi-final.

The pair had played two epic five set encounters over the last two Australian Open tournaments, with the winner eventually going on to clinch the title.

Wawrinka, however, said his maiden grand slam win 12 months ago, which was the springboard for a season best three titles and a first Davis Cup triumph with Switzerland, may have contributed to the insipid end to his Melbourne Park title defence.

“It was mentally that I’m paying the price to finish off the season with Davis Cup, not having a bigger off-season,” Wawrinka said.

Given how he was feeling, Wawrinka did not expect the match to go the full distance.l

14

Sport

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Gulf nations want Australia out of Asia: AFC chief

UAE beat Iraq to finish third in Asian Cup

Asia’s football chief has admitted there is groundswell of opinion in the west of the continent that Australia’s membership of the confederation has not worked out and they should be kicked out.

Australia will play South Korea for the Asian Cup on Saturday after what is widely regarded as a successful hosting of the tournament, the second time they have reached the final in three attempts since switching from Oceania in 2006.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, in an interview with United Arab Emirates newspaper Al-Ittihad, said there was a desire by Gulf Arab federations to review Australia’s membership.

“Yes, it is true, there are indications that confirm that there is a desire among West Asian federations to remove Australia from the AFC,” he told the paper on Wednesday.

“But I also know that the Arabs are not the only ones that are not convinced with the value of Australia staying within the Asian football family.”

Critics of Australia’s move to Asia, a switch aimed at securing more competitive football and an easier route to the World Cup finals, say the benefits have been all one way.

The Socceroos have reached the last two World Cup finals through Asian qualifying, while the Arabian Gulf, which had one team in soccer’s showpiece event from 1990 to 2006, was not represented in South Africa or Brazil.

Asia has four automatic qualifying spots for the World Cup with a fifth country getting a shot at the finals through an intercontinental playoff. Bahraini Al-Khalifa, who took over the AFC in 2013, said no mechanism had been put in place to review Australia’s membership when it was agreed in 2005.

“The decision to include Australia was taken many years ago, before I became head of the AFC,” he added.

“There are several Asian federations that see that it is necessary for Australia to leave the AFC, and for the AFC to cut all ties with Australia, but we can’t just base any decision on opinions.

“Any decision about Australia’s membership will have to come from the general assembly.”

Al-Khalifa released a statement on Friday saying Australia had earned its place in Asia by “working diligently” and contributing to the confederation at all levels.

“This effort includes development work among AFC member associations, administration through the various AFC committees and economic benefits through the commercialisation of AFC’s broadcast rights in Australia,” it read. l

The United Arab Emirates overcame a 10-man Iraq 3-2 in an action-packed Asian Cup third-placed playoff on Friday to complete an impressive tournament for Mahdi Ali’s side.

Ahmed Khalil netted twice before Ali Mabkhout converted a second-half penalty for his fifth of the tournament to take him top of the scorers’ charts with only Saturday’s final between hosts Australia and South Korea to come in Sydney.

UAE playmaker Omar Abdulrahman was again at the heart of his side’s good play, with two brilliant assists for Khalil, who stepped in as skipper with goalkeeper Majed Naser rested after the 2-0 semi-final loss to Australia.

The opener came in the 16th minute when Abdulrahman controlled a long ball from deep and played a one-two with Mabkhout before sliding an inviting pass for Khalil to slot home under the onrushing Mohammed Hameed in the Iraq goal.

The neat counter-attack goal had a negative effect on the UAE, who knocked out holders Japan in the last eight, with Iraq taking a grip of the game and the lead just before the halftime break.l

n Reuters, Sydney

n Reuters, Newcastle

UAE players and coaching staff pose for photos after winning their Asian Cup third-place playoff match against Iraq at Newcastle Stadium in Newcastle yesterday

Heavyweights collide in final n AFP, Sydney Top-scorers Australia will try to unlock the Asian Cup’s stingiest defence on Saturday when they meet South Korea in a blockbuster final between two of the region’s heavyweights.

The Socceroos are desperate to win a first Asian title on home soil, but to do so they will have to find a way through a Korean rearguard which has not conceded all tournament.

It could be a case of who blinks first as Australia look to be crowned kings of Asia, after defecting from Oceania in 2006, and South Korea try to end a hoodoo stretching back a staggering 55 years.

Runners-up to Japan in 2011, Australia have hit 12 goals in five games and they will start as slight favourites, despite losing 1-0 to South Korea in the group phase.

Coach Ange Postecoglou opted to rest talisman Tim Cahill for that game in Brisbane and he was robbed of cap-

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD MATCHES PLAYED - 26

AUSTRALIA

Draws - 10 wins goals for

9 28

GROUP A

Beat Kuwait 4-1 Beat Oman 4-0 Lose to South Korea 0-1 Beat China 2-0

Beat Uzbekistan 2-0

Beat UAE 2-0

Beat Iraq 2-0

tain Mile Jedinak through injury, but he insisted the result would count for little with the stakes now so high.

“Previous records go out the window,” he told reporters on Friday. “It will be the team able to deal with whatever may happen who wins, because finals never run to script.”

Cahill has netted three times so far, including a venomous overhead kick in the quarter-final win over China, and is

Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic has warned Manchester City that the Premier League leaders are back to full power heading into their seismic showdown at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Jose Mourinho’s side are five points clear of second placed City and Ivanovic claims they are confident of extending that lead over the champions after a much-needed morale boost in the League Cup in midweek.

Stung by their humiliating FA Cup fourth round defeat against third tier Bradford last weekend, the Blues responded impressively by booking a League Cup final berth thanks to a 1-0 semi-final second leg win over Liverpool.

The victory was secured by Ivanovic’s extra-time goal and the Serbia international celebrated by insisting the result was a sign Chelsea are ready to hit peak form in the crucial clash against City.

“We showed the real power of our team and in the end deserved to be in the final,” Ivanovic said.

“We know we can improve and we’ll improve in the next couple of games.”

Ivanovic’s bold declaration might not sound so threatening to City if Chelsea’s star striker Diego Costa is suspended this weekend.

Costa is facing a three-match ban for his apparent stamp on Liverpool’s Emre Can on Tuesday, although the Spain international has appealed the charge of violent conduct and a Football Association verdict is due by Friday.

Facing Chelsea without Costa would be a significant lift for City, who have struggled badly since influential Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure departed for African Cup of Nations duty.

Toure’s exit has coincided with a run of three games without a win for City,

v v v v

Real Sociedad Atletico Madrid Elche Cordoba

And Madrid will need Bale to be on top form whilst their top scorer watches on from the sidelines for the next two games.

Bale netted in Ronaldo’s absence through injury when the sides met earlier in the season, but, despite roaring into an early 2-0 lead, Madrid were eventually defeated 4-2.

Upsets have been a feature of Sociedad’s season as they have beaten La Liga champions Atletico Madrid and Barcelona as well as Real under three different coaches. Moyes masterminded the latest of those triumphs against Barca early this month, but his side have failed to kick on since with just one win in five games since to remain in the bottom half of the table.

Esteban Granero will be returning to face the club where he started his career and all too aware that Sociedad have to be at their best if they are to shock Madrid once more.l

Beat Oman 1-0 Beat Kuwait 1-0 Beat Australia 1-0

SEMI-FINAL

David Moyes will face the biggest test of his brief spell in charge of Real Sociedad when the Basques visit Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

However, the trip for Moyes’s men isn’t quite as daunting as it could have been with three-time World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo banned for kicking out at Cordoba defender Edimar during Madrid’s 2-1 win last weekend.

Gareth Bale sealed those crucial three points for Carlo Ancelotti’s men with a late penalty after Ronaldo had been dismissed for the ninth time in his career.

Real Madrid Eibar Granada Celta Vigo

27

QUARTER-FINAL

Ivanovic fires warning ahead of City showdown n AFP, London

7

SOUTH KOREA

PATHS TO THE FINAL

Moyes tests Real Madrid mettle without Ronaldo n AFP, Madrid

FIXTURES

REUTERS

including damaging back to back home defeats against Arsenal in the league and then second tier Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. But City manager Manuel Pellegrini is adamant his players, including veteran midfielder Frank Lampard who is set for his first return to Chelsea since leaving the Bridge at the end of last season, are still confident of overhauling the Blues.

“I am concerned, not because of the Chelsea game, but because in the last two games at home we didn’t score goals and we conceded two goals in each,” he said.

“But we don’t have any problem

FIXTURES Chelsea Crystal Palace Hull Liverpool Man United Stoke Sunderland West Brom

v v v v v v v v

Man City Everton Newcastle West Ham Leicester QPR Burnley Tottenham

with motivation. I think we are going to work hard and I hope we can win at Stamford Bridge.”

A City defeat would offer encouragement to Southampton and Manchester United that they could leapfrog Pellegrini’s team.

But third placed Southampton, five points behind City, host Swansea on Sunday with boss Ronald Koeman battling a growing injury list.

Already hit by injuries to Toby Alderweireld, Victor Wanyama, Morgan Schneiderlin, Sam Gallagher and Jay Rodriguez, the Saints suffered another blow this week when Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long was ruled out for six weeks with fractured ribs.l

likely to be central to the plot in one of the biggest games in Australia’s history.

“It just takes one second for someone to switch off,” said the former Everton forward. “Hopefully I can be on point to make it count.”

Both teams possess players capable of delivering a knockout blow, with South Korea hoping golden boy Son Heung-Min can weave his magic as they seek to win a first Asian Cup since

1960 having already defied the odds by reaching the final.

Their title drought is a curious anomaly for a nation who stormed to the World Cup semi-finals in 2002, but they have reached the final -- their first in 27 years -- despite an injury crisis and a flu bug which swept through the squad, forcing medical staff to work overtime.

“It’s been too long for Korea to be champions,” said captain Ki Sungyueng, who has been a calming influence on South Korea after losing the dynamic pairing of Lee Chung-Yong and Koo Ja-Cheol in the group stages.

“We don’t have anything to lose in this game, maybe Australia have more pressure than us. I told the players it’s a great opportunity, maybe once in a lifetime, to become Asian Cup champions so everyone is ready for tomorrow.”

South Korea are the first team to reach the final without conceding a goal since Iran in 1976, but their resilience will be severely tested by Australia’s firepower in front of a sell-out crowd of nearly 80,000 in Sydney and an estimated global audience of 80 million.l

Asian Cup final an 80,000 sellout in Sydney n Reuters, Sydney The Asian Cup final between hosts Australia and South Korea at the 80,000-seat capacity Stadium Australia in Sydney on Saturday is a sellout, organisers said.

Australia’s progress to a second successive final at the tournament has helped boost ticket sales, which have already far exceeded organisers’ “budget” target of 355,000 for the competition.

“It is the eighth sell-out for the tournament which has already seen 561,178 fans attend 30 matches over 21 days in five cities - five of those sell-outs being for Socceroos’ games,” read a statement released by the local organising committee on Friday.

Chief organiser Michael Brown told Reuters last year the “budget” target would net organisers A$14.5 million ($11.28 million), while his more optimistic goal of half a million tickets sold would push revenue above the A$20 million mark.l

Algeria national team players players train with tennis balls during a training session at Estadio De Rebola yesterday ahead of their quarterfinal against Ivory Coast at Estadio De Malabo in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea AP

Guinea handed Nations Cup quarter-final place n Reuters, Malabo Guinea will play in the African Nations Cup quarter-finals after qualifying instead of Mali by the drawing of lots at a ceremony in Malabo on Thursday.

Lots were drawn to determine second place in Group D after both countries finished level after their three opening round matches. Ivory Coast won the group.

Three successive 1-1 draws for both teams meant they could not be separated by points, their head-to-head result, goal difference or goals scored.

Guinea will now play Ghana in Sunday’s quarter-final in Malabo at 1600GMT. It was only the third time in African Nations Cup history that a draw had to be conducted to separate two teams after the group phase.

Previous drawing of lots in 1972 and 1988 favoured Congo and Algeria. l

Battling Borussia fighting for Bundesliga survival n AFP, Berlin Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp admits feeling the pressure as his side resume their fight to stay in Germany’s top flight on Saturday at fellow Champions League side Bayer Leverkusen.

Just over 18 months after losing the 2013 Champions League final to arch-rivals Bayern Munich, Dortmund are second from bottom and threatened with relegation from the Bundesliga.

Their domestic fall from grace has been even more dramatic on the back of a successful European campaign which has seen them reach the Champions League’s last 16.

Like most teams, Dortmund had expected to drop a league point here or there after five of the squad returned weary from helping Germany lift a fourth World Cup title last July.

But Klopp’s dejected figure on the sidelines, struggling to accept any one of Dortmund’s 10 league defeats, became an all-too common sight.

Having won the 2011 and 2012 Ger-

FIXTURES Freiburg Hamburger SV Mainz 05 Schalke 04 VfB Stuttgart Leverkusen

v v v v v v

Frankfurt FC Cologne Paderborn Hannover 96 M’gladbach Dortmund

man league titles, then finished runners-up to Bayern in 2013 and 2014, Dortmund suddenly found themselves at the wrong end of the table this term.Defeats at Mainz, Schalke and Cologne preceded humiliating loses at Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen in December.l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment Nusrat Faria: I almost got sunburnt while shooting

15

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Zahir Raihan Film Fest in the capital

WHAT TO WATCH TELEVISION

n Shadma Malik On this Valentine’s Day, charming personality Nusrat Faria will be seen on small screen endorsing Mr Cookie Biscuit with heartthrob actor Arefin Shuvo.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, the model cum actress, Faria expressed her feelings: “The commercial is different from other TVCs. It has music, drama, and dance that we usually see in films. I can assure that it will be a hit commercial in 2015.”

Asked how her shooting experience was, she said: “It was filmed in beautiful Cox’s Bazar. The weather was fantastic.

On the first day of shooting, I had to stand on a rock in the middle of the sea for three and a half hour wearing a sari. I got a tan while shooting in the scorching heat.”

Recalling her fondness for Mr Cookie biscuits, Faria said: “Back in 2000, when I was a school-goer my mother gave me a pack of biscuit as snacks. The biscuit was so delicious with butter and sugar. When I reached home I asked my mother what it was and she told me that it was Mr Cookie, which I am endorsing now. When I was offered for the TVC, I just grabbed it without thinking twice.”

“I have always preferred to work for TVCs. This time working with Arefin Shuvo was another great experience,” the model added.

Directed by Riyad Rahman, the jingle titled “Bhalo Tomai Bashi Bondhu Prothom Dekhatey” was sung by Kona and Mehedi with music by Shondhi.

The commercial will be aired on various TV channels. l

KUNG FU PANDA 2 Zee Studio, 11:35pm Cast: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan ‘Jibon Theke Neya’ will be screened on the concluding day

n Entertainment Desk To mark the 43rd disappearance day of the eminent filmmaker Zahir Raihan, a 3-day film festival dedicated to his work and memory began yesterday at the national art gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

The festival named after him is featuring four of his popular movies and a documentary on his life.

The film festival started by screening a documentary on Zahir Raihan titled “Epoch-making Filmmaker Zahir Raihan” followed by his film Kancher Deyal (1963). Today, Anwara (1966) and Behula (1966) will be screened at the same venue at 6:30pm and 8:30pm respectively. On the concluding day, Raihan’s famous documentary “Stop Genocide,” a 20-minute documentary on the killings and atrocities by the Pakistan Army during war of liberation, was screened. It will be followed by showcasing Zahir Raihan’s popular film “Jibon Theke Neya” (1970).

Zahir Raihan went missing on January 30 in 1972. l

Singh is Bling is a perfect mix of comedy, action, romance: Akshay

THEATRE THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 I PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR (3D) I ROMEO V/S JULIET I BOYHOOD I BEAUTY AND THE BEAST @ Star Cineplex

A dance drama festival titled ‘Amar Mukti Aloy Aloy’ is being held at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. Jointly organised by Shilpakala and Bangladesh Nritto Shilpi Sangstha, the five day festival will end today KHAN HASAN MD RAFI

Old wisdom in new garb: Sufi Festival takes Dhaka to new heights n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla The Sufi Festival has taken the genre and indeed lifestyle of Sufism from its traditional association with mazars and faqirs, and repackaged it for the well-heeled and trendy.

Derived from the Arabic word, “safa” which means “purity,” Sufism is the path for the purification of the nafs, or human soul, by cleansing the qalb, the spiritual heart, for the reflection of the Almighty’s love – Ishq.

Juxtaposing renunciation and ecstasy, the ruh, or spirit, is wiped clean of its egotism and replaced with the recollection of the divine attributes, zikr.

This balm for the world-weary soul speaks many tongues but carries a single message of love for all.

Thursday’s final show of the threeday event reached out across borders and divisions, leaving the audience with the hope that peace and beauty might yet prevail in the world.

In Bangladesh, Sufi songs have never really broken into the mainstream of cultured society because of their association with the cult of tombs and other heterodox practices.

The genre was never the choice of

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan took the stage on the concluding day the upper class but was the entertainment of the khankas, spiritual spaces open to all regardless of religion.

The three-day Sufi Fest in Bangladesh brought together thousands of people irrespective of age, religion and race.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI Star Gold, 2:15pm Cast: Ajay Devgn,, Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut A smuggler rises to power in 1970s Mumbai, a younger gangster seeks to overthrow him, and a police officer is caught in the middle.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN HBO Hits, 2:40pm Cast: DiCaprio, Hanks, Walken A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr, who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars’ worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.

n Entertainment Desk Bollywood’s actor Akshay Kumar is excited to begin shooting for “Singh is Bling” and says it will be a wholesome entertainer. The “Khiladi” Kumar, whose espionage action thriller film “Baby,” released January 23, will soon begin shooting for the new film, in time for it to hit theatres on “Gandhi Jayanti” October 2.

“Pre-prod. on in full swing 4 #SinghIsBling. It’s d perfect amalgamation of action, comedy & romance. Can’t wait to begin shoot.” the actor tweeted Thursday.

Prabhudheva directorial “Singh is Bling” also stars Kareena Kapoor and Kriti Sanon. l

Po and his friends fight to stop a peacock villain from conquering China with a deadly new weapon, but first the Dragon Warrior must come to terms with his past.

Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani and Western people including Danish, French and others thronged the festival venue.

The last day of the festival was packed but there was pin-drop silence as Pakistani singer Sufi maestro

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan took the stage.

The main attraction of the day, and some would say the festival, Rahat and his qawwali troupe brought with them the majesty and expertise of their family tradition in Sufi music that spans six hundred years.

When Rahat started performing around 10:35pm, it seemed sanctity and serenity took command of the whole venue. Things spiritual invisibly took over the material, it seemed.

The mesmerised audience sometimes even forgot to clap, so enraptured were they by the music.

Earlier, Zik’r came on stage with a genre named Flemenco, a type of Spanish folk music and tap-dancing from Andalusia. This was a complete package as it included guitar playing, dance and hand clapping.

The group seamlessly blended traditional instruments with exciting electronic elements and the whole performance was punctuated by the spectacular, powerful Flamenco dance.

The different performers used both modern and traditional instruments but, interestingly, the harmonium was used by all, even the Spanish Flamenco ensemble. l

Depp set to wed Amber Heard on his private island in Bahamas n Entertainment Desk Johnny Depp is all set to wed Amber Heard on his private island in Bahamas, it has been revealed.

Sources have revealed that the “Mortdecai” star, and his 28-year-old actress fiancee, will marry in an intimate ceremony at his Little Hall’s Pond Cay island home, the New York Post reported.

It has also been mentioned that the guest list will include just 50 people, including Heard’s family and Depp’s children with former love Vanessa Paradis, Lily-Rose and Jack. Heard and Depp chose the February 7 to 8 weekend after working around their various schedules. The couple met while making the 2011 movie “The Rum Diary” and was engaged in December 2013 after a year of dating. l

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB I EXODUS 3D I THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES I THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I EK CUP CHA INTERSTELLAR @ Blockbuster Cinemas

Shakira gives birth to second child in Barcelona n Entertainment Desk Colombian pop star Shakira has given birth in Barcelona to her second child, a boy, Spanish media said on Friday.

Their son, born by caesarean section, is called Sasha, the player’s proud grandfather has confirmed.

The singer and her boyfriend, Spanish soccer player Gerard Pique, had their first child, a son named Milan, in 2013.

Shakira, 37, and Pique, 27, met in 2010, but only confirmed that they had been in a relationship in March 2011.

The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer, one of the best-selling Latin pop idols, gave birth in

Barcelona’s Teknon clinic, local media said. Pique is a defender for Spanish La Liga team FC Barcelona.

As with the birth of their first child, the couple recently asked fans in an online baby shower to buy gifts such as fresh water kits and vaccines to help needy children. Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. l

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Psychological distress haunts arson survivors Doctors say burn patients’ mental health concerns are often ignored n Abid Azad An under-reported facet of the country’s deadly siege by arsonists is the psychological toll it has taken on victims who struggle, sometimes for years afterwards, with post-traumatic stress.

“Flame injuries are terribly destructive to victims’ psychological states.

For one thing, post-traumatic stress disorder causes survivors to relive their trauma as flash backs leaving them exhausted and deeply battered,” National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Clinical Psychologist Md Zahir Uddin said.

Geeta Sen, 45, a housewife living in the capital’s Tantibazar area, is still haunted by memories of the petrol

‘People who receive visible flame burns start feeling that other people are afraid of them. Patients can start thinking that the people around them will abandon them.

Thus they gradually become detached from family and friends’ bomb attack in Shahbagh on November 23, 2013, that left her and her daughter severely injured.

Although Geeta, who received 11% burns including inhalation injuries, has enjoyed a degree of physical recovery, she still cannot forget the trauma of that day.

“She barely goes out. She feels safer when she stays at home. She says she feels threatened outside, and does not even allow us to leave the house. She is afraid of travelling by bus or CNG,” her elder daughter Kona Sen said.

“She abruptly forgets what she has just said. She gets frightened for silly reasons. She gets nervous lighting a candle or the oven. All of a sudden, she becomes agitated without reason,” Kona added.

Kona, a university student, tries to be strong. Her younger sister Shushmita Sen, 15, also suffers from psychological stress.

“Shusmita also does not want to go outside and gets frightened on buses and CNGs. When we take an autorickshaw, she only feels safe if she takes the middle seat,” Kona said.

Geeta is one of nearly 300 people who were burned in petrol bomb at-

tacks in 2013. The attacks left 31 dead.

This month, some 87 people have sustained burn injuries arising from arson. Six have died so far.

Zahir, the clinical psychologist, said: “Such incidents are not accidents. They are intentional attacks.

“People who suffer such injuries are always chased by fear and depression.

They lose their faith in people. They suffer from uncertainty. They lose their self-confidence.”

Rahajul, 23, received 25% burns including inhalation burns in 2013.

The Pabna Sadar man who lives in the capital’s Wari neighbourhood said a few months ago he finally returned to his job as a computer operator at Kashmir Fans in the city’s Gulistan Nawabpur area.

“I feel terrible fear whenever I go outside; I am always tense. Whenever I am out walking, I fear that a bomb might at any time be thrown at me,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

His parents and two younger brothers live in Pabna. Rahajul is the primary income earner in his family.

“I am tense about my family’s financial condition. At the same time, I know I need better medical treatment. I understand that I am fearful of everything but I cannot escape this overwhelming fear,” he said.

Zahir, explaining how social reactions to visible burn injuries add another dimension to patients’ distress, said: “People who receive visible flame burns start feeling that other people are afraid of them. Patients can start thinking that the people around them will abandon them. Thus they gradually become detached from family and friends.”

Al-Amin, a 27-year-old assistant electronic engineer at a garment factory, who received 18% burn injuries on Saturday, described how he felt increasingly detached from his nearest and dearest ones.

“My elder sister fainted when she first saw me.

“I still have not seen my face in the mirror. But when people look at me their reactions are a mirror for me,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Dr Samanta Lal Sen, founder, coordinator and adviser to the Burn Institute at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), said: “Most arson victims are poor. They do not receive proper psychological treatment.

“The Burn Institute is not equipped to deal with this issue. It does refer patients to DMCH for physiotherapy but many patients need psychotherapy as well.” l

Well of Death, a daredevil driving spectacle usually staged with motorcycles, is performed with a car as part of an attraction at the Dhaka International Trade Fair 2015. The photo was taken yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

TWELVE YEARS OF BTRC

Less focus on customer satisfaction, more on revenue and licensing n Muhammad Zahidul Islam As Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) observes the 12th anniversary of its foundation today, there are fewer achievements than what the expectation was when the organisation started its journey.

Founded on January 31, 2002 under the Telecommunication Act 2001, the telecom regulator so far has mostly concentrated on collecting revenues and awarding licences to a host of telecommunication and information technology service providers in the past 12 years, with little focus on customer satisfaction.

As the numbers of both mobile phone and internet users have increased exponentially over the years, the BTRC put emphasis on collecting revenue. So far, they have collected around Tk34,669 crore for the government, with around Tk10,000 crore collected alone in FY2013-14, according to BTRC sources.

Besides, it has awarded 1,948 licences to different communication service providers – mobile operators, international gateway exchanges for internet connectivity, internet service providers, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers, etc – to operate in the country.

But the quality of service has not improved as was expected.

The BTRC’s liberal view of awarding licences has especially caused more disadvantages than advantages, several sources in the industry told the Dhaka Tribune.

“We cannot say or do much since we have investments in this industry, but working with hundreds of licence holders is quite challenging,” said a senior executive of a leading mobile phone operator in the country on Thursday, seeking anonymity.

“The BTRC needs to realise that it has made some poor decisions, since many of them are now being challenged at court,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

A press release issued by the telecom regulator on the occasion of its 12th anniversary stated that it has brought down the mobile call charge to around Tk0.83 per minute now from Tk11.37 12 years ago.

But it was shot down by another senior executive of a mobile operator.

“Bangladesh indeed has one of the lowest call tariffs currently in the world, but the BTRC can hardly claim any contribution to it. This happened due to the competition among the mobile phone operators,” he claimed.

‘They don’t care about our interests’ The telecom regulator has also failed to make any significant improvement

of services or introduce new services in the country.

It has been trying to implement mobile number portability (MNP) in the country for six years, but without success.

The MNP service allows mobile phone subscribers to switch to different mobile operators without having to change their numbers.

The BRTC’s performance as a regulating body has been quite unimpressive, opined many telecom experts while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.

Mustafa Jabbar, former president of Bangladesh Computer Samity and one of the prominent telecom experts in the country, said: “We had a lot of expectations from the BTRC regarding rights and services at the customer end, which it has failed to meet.”

Jamil Uddin, a student at Dhaka University, told the Dhaka Tribune: “On many occasions, we have fallen victim to embezzlement by the mobile operators, but have not been able to get the BTRC’s support. They simply do not care about the customers’ interests.”

The Dhaka Tribune contacted Md Sarwar Alam, BTRC secretary and director of IT and media wing, yesterday regarding the aforementioned issues.

“We have taken several initiatives to protect the customers’ rights,” he said. l

‘Prime Evil’ granted parole n AFP, Pretoria One of South Africa’s most notorious apartheid mass murderers, Eugene “Prime Evil” de Kock, was granted parole on Friday after 20 years in jail, a decision set to re-ignite painful debate over the crimes committed by the country’s former white-minority rulers.

“In the interest of nation-building and reconciliation I have decided to place Mr De Kock on parole,” Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha told a news briefing, adding that he had rejected parole to two other prominent convicted apartheid-era killers.

De Kock was sentenced to two life terms plus 212 years in prison for his activities as head of the infamous Vlakplaas police death squad targeting anti-apartheid activists.

The highly-decorated former colonel confessed to more than 100 acts of murder, torture and fraud before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was established in 1995 to consider amnesty for those who confessed their crimes during apartheid.

He was granted amnesty for most offences – including the 1982 bombing of the ANC’s London offices – but was jailed for six murders found to have lacked direct political motivation.

The run-up to the parole decision rekindled bitter debate over the crimes of the former white-minority regime. l

Rajuk says building did not tilt at Bashundhara n Abu Hayat Mahmud

Rajuk authorities have denied the news that a nine-storey building had tilted in the capital’s Bashundhara Residential Area on Thursday, instead claiming that only an adjoining wall had collapsed.

“The nine-storey building had not tilted. Only a boundary wall of the building had collapsed when a building developer company was digging soil at a neighbouring plot,” said Sheikh Abdul Mannan, a board member (planning) at Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha.

“The real estate company was not careful while digging soil, causing the wall to collapse,” he told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. Soon after it was feared that the structure had started to lean, all of its occupants were evacuated on Thursday.

However, after checking the condition of the building yesterday, Md Mahabubur Rahman, Rajuk authorised officer of the respective area, said: “The building is fully free from risk and the residents of the apartments are likely to return to their apartments on Sunday.”

Answering to a query, he said the building’s utility lines had been disconnected on Thursday evening to avoid any accident.

“As the utility lines have been disconnected, the residents did not get permission to return to the apartments,” Mahabub said.

However, police and fire-fighters confirmed journalists on Thursday evening that the nine-storey residential building – located near the Apollo Hospital – had tilted.

Golam Sarwar, officer-in-charge of Bhatara police station, and Fariduzzaman, duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence, had confirmed the tilting of the building to the Dhaka Tribune. l

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