12 Feb, 2015

Magh 30, 1421 Rabius Sani 22, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 308

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

20 pages plus 16-page T-Mag tabloid | Price: Tk12

T-MAG

7 | JURIS

11 | OP-ED

12 | SPORT

SUCKED INTO A SPACE-TIME VORTEX

LEGAL STATUS OF EMPLOYMENT BONDS

YOU RECOGNISE PETROL BOMBS, BUT YOU DON’T RECOGNISE PEOPLE

BANGLADESH EYE IRELAND SCALP

Free talk with indigenous people barred Foreign visitors, diplomats need permission before visiting CHT n Abid Azad The Home Ministry decision to restrict communication by any local or foreign person or an organisation with the indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tract area has drawn severe criticisms from citizens’ platforms.

The government directives, already sent to the administrative bodies in the three hill districts, mention that presence of representative of the local administration, the military or the Border Guard Bangladesh is mandatory if any local or foreigner or an organisation wants to meet any indigenous person.

The eleven-point decisions, made on January 7 during a discussion at the Home Ministry, were finalised based on a report prepared by the BGB and aiming at improving law and order and preserving sovereignty.

As per the decisions, the law enforcement agencies will ensure law and order in the CHT in collaboration with the 24 Infantry Division of Army.

On January 22, the decisions were forwarded to the prime minister’s principal secretary; LGRD senior secretary; principal staff officer of the armed forces; inspector general of police; secretaries of the CHT and foreign ministries; heads of BGB, ANSAR, DGFI and NSI; NGO Affairs Bureau; additional inspector general of the special branch of police; additional secretary of the Home Ministry; and deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Rangamati districts.

When contacted, Bandarban Deputy Commissioner M Mizanul Haque Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune: “Yes, we have already received the Home Ministry’s instruction.

“As soon as the government takes any decision, it comes into effect when the order reaches the field level administration. The law enforcement agencies have already started working in line with the decisions.”

Tension in CHT may escalate due to mistrust n Abid Azad, back from Rangamati Recent incidents of attacks on and rape of indigenous people, and impunity to the attackers together with the government’s “unilateral” move to establish education institutions and tourist spots allegedly by evicting locals have adversely affected the process of

bringing peace in Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The indigenous communities even fear that the situation may turn as violent as it was before 1997. The Awami League in its previous term struck the landmark agreement – the CHT Peace Accord – with the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) to end a decade-long armed struggle.

Even though 17 years have passed, the key issues of the accord including removal of army camps, holding elections to the regional council and councils of three hill districts, resolving land disputes through the CHT Land Commission and transfer of government bodies to the district councils have been pending.

The United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), known for its antagonism towards the accord, has also hinted that they may join hands with the PCJSS in the latter’s announcement to enforce non-cooperation movement from May 1 if the key issues are not met by that time.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

UPDF-backed PCP slams government Correspondent, n Our Khagrachhari The leaders and activists of Pahari Chhatra Parishad, students’ wing of the United People’s Democratic Front, yesterday criticised the government for patronising land grabbing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts through its agencies and the Bangali settlers.

They alleged that the settlers backed by the army had launched arson attack on three villages in Naniachar of Rangamati on December 16 as part of the government conspiracy to uproot the hill communities from their lands systemically.

The remarks came from a rally held at Bogachhari Karuna Buddha Bihar, which also came under attack on that day, to distribute school dress, books and stationary items among children of the affected families, said a statement.

The Rangamati and Khagrachhari units of the PCP organised the

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

INSIDE B1 | Business

The state-owned Sonali Bank has written off the loans embezzled by the Hall-Mark group as there is no hope of getting the money back. The executive committee of the Sonali Bank recently approved Tk2,086 crore loan write off proposal in favour of a total of 23 clients, including the scam-hit Hall-Mark.

3 | News

The Power Division is fearing sabotage in the power plants and sub-stations for transmission and distribution, especially in the northern region of the country, due to the ongoing political unrest.

4 | News

Bangladesh needs a world class laboratory to analyse food properties and trace heavy metals, additives, pesticide residues and toxic substances in food.

5 | News

Disruption of classes and rescheduling of exams due to the continuous blockade and har-

tals by BNP-led 20 party alliance have severely hampered lives of students at public and privates universities in Chittagong.

the position of former al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden to the US, a report published on the al-Jazeera website said.

6 | Nation

14 | Sport

As darkness descends, Lakshmipur turns into a safe haven for miscreants who run amok creating anarchy in this southern district of the country.

8 | World

Foreign fighters are flocking to Syria at an ‘unprecedented’ rate to join the Islamic State or other extremist groups, US intelligence officials said.

9 | World

Former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani has said that Pakistan had ‘most likely’ revealed

Misbah-ul-Haq scored 91 not out to lead Pakistan to a thrilling four-wicket victory over England in their final World Cup warmup match. The 40-year-old notched up five fours and two sixes in his 99-ball knock, turning the match in a fourth-wicket partnership of 133 with Umar Akmal.

15 | Entertainment

Lux superstar and actress Kusum Sikder launched her first poetry book, titled ‘Neel Kyafer Kobi’ on Thursday.

Probe begins into Sylhet hospital deaths n Our Correspondent, Sylhet Separate probe committees by the Health Ministry and hospital authorities have started working to find out whether mismanagement or negligence was to be blamed for the “unusual” series of 32 deaths at the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.

After inspecting the paediatrics and cardiology wards, the three-member committee from the Health Ministry, headed by Joint Secretary (hospitals) Md Mosharraf Hossain, said it would make its recommendations after reviewing all the details.

Briefing journalists, committee member Dr Abid Hossain Rabbi – also a professor of paediatrics at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital – said the team would try to submit its report to the ministry within the seven-day deadline.

Earlier, during a 24-hour span since 8am Monday, at least 32 people including ten children died at the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital – a number that doctors themselves admitted was “unusual” for a single day.

Meanwhile, a separate probe body formed by the hospital has also started working, said the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Prime minister: No dialogue with murderers n Tribune Report Calling the BNP-Jamaat alliance “murderers, terrorists and militants” yesterday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina once again rejected the possibility of holding any dialogue with them.

She said: “The BNP-Jamaat people are militants. We cannot sit with them.”

When asked at a briefing at Dhaka Medical College Hospital whether she would sit for a dialogue with the BNP, Hasina placed counter questions: “Talks? With whom? With killers, with those who are burning people? Question does not arise.”

Sheikh Hasina visited patients at the burn unit of the DMCH yesterday. Many of these patients are victims of petrol bomb attacks carried out during the ongoing transport blockade since January 6 and several spells of countrywide general strike.

So far at least 69 people have died in these attacks and many more have been injured.

“I feel a lot of pain when I see that innocent people burnt to death in petrol bomb attacks. It is difficult to believe that people can be so inhuman,” she said.

The prime minister called upon people to remain alert and put up resistance against those, who want to push the country towards darkness with subversive activities “in the name of a movement.”

Referring to a citizens’ initiative to launch a dialogue between the two main political parties, Hasina said: “I went to express my condolences after Khaleda Zia’s son had died. But they locked the gates and I came back.”

Hasina said: “You think people would accept such insult when they go for dialogues?”

Hasina said Khaleda Zia had become insane. “She has completely lost it. She just wants to see dead bodies.”

She added, presumably referring to the civil society initiative which includes former advisers of the caretak-

er government: “A group of people are talking about dialogue now. But those very people could not even hold elections. Some had to resign and go away.

Do we now have to learn from them what to do?”

When pointed out that the people took to the streets because of her reassurances and yet falling victims to deadly violence, the three-time prime minister said: “They come out to the streets for their livelihoods. It has little to do with my reassurances. But we are doing all we can to prevent these attacks.”

Hasina then turned on the media and urged them not to broadcast the activities of the “killers and terrorists.”

“Why do you keep showing them on TV channels? Will your television stations die if you do not show their news?”

Hasina said: “I am the one who gave permission to all these stations! The more their activities are shown on TV, the more they are encouraged. Stop broadcasting their news and they will stop by themselves.” l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina breaks into tears after visiting two-year-old Jui Akter, a victim of a recent petrol bomb attack, at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday BSS

Costs of enforcing law rise with continuing blockade n

Asif Showkat Kallol

With no end in sight for the ongoing political stalemate, the continuing cost for maintaining law and order across the country is taking its toll on the government, Finance Ministry sources have said.

As funding requests from different government agencies keep piling up at the Finance Division, officials said only around half of the requests had been granted so far.

“We are facing tremendous pressure regarding funding demands of Tk154.3 crore from Home Ministry, Railways Ministry and Roads and Highways Division. However, as of now, the [Finance] division has only disbursed Tk86.3 crore from the fund for unexpected expenditures,” said a top-

ranking Finance Division official.

Seeking anonymity, the official added that a total 95% of the Tk1,500 crore unexpected expenditure fund have been released between July last year and the end of January this year.

“The main problem with spending money to tackle unrest is that the authorities can never be sure how long the unrest would last. They can only allocate money from the budget for a specific number of days. The disbursement cannot go on forever,” the official said.

Sources in the Finance Division also told the Dhaka Tribune that Finance Minister AMA Muhith had directed authorities concerned to immediately release funds to the ministries concerned for enforcing law and order during the

ongoing blockade and hartals.

Since the blockade began on January 6, the Home Ministry has sought Tk83.5 crore from the ministry for fuel and patrolling costs of law enforcers, but had seen only Tk38 crore released from the unexpected expenditure fund.

The Home Ministry reportedly sought the amount on an emergency basis to meet additional expenses during the blockade that had been spent on food, transport, vehicle requisition, fuel, and allowances for the law enforcers.

Under the latest disbursement of unexpected expenditure fund, the Finance Division disbursed Tk4.5 crore for Border Guard Bangladesh against its Tk14.5 crore demand; Tk20.8 crore to the Bangladesh Police for purchasing

Free talk with indigenous people barred  PAGE 1 COLUMN 2

The decisions also include applying “code of conduct” for foreign visitors which says they would require permission of the Home Ministry about a month earlier. The ministry will approve their application upon positive feedback from respective intelligence agency.

In addition, the foreign visitors will have to submit their addresses and travel schedules to the DCs and SPs. The codes mention that the diplomats will have to take permission from the Foreign Ministry before visiting the CHT area.

According to the decisions, UNDP’s development project worth $160m and activities of other NGOs would be mon-

itored while the NGO Affairs Bureau has been asked to change the name of the International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission (CHTC) since it had no legal base.

The 11-point decisions also suggest joint drives to prevent killing, abduction, drugs and arms smuggling; improving the capacity of the BGB; and transferring police and Ansar members, who had been former members of Shanti Bahini (now PCJSS), to other places.

CHTC Member Dr Iftekharuzzaman termed the government decisions “embarrassing and shameful.”

He strongly criticised the decision to ensuring presence of local administration or military or BGB men during communication with the indigenous people. “Such decision is stupidity and

an expression of communal mentality.”

Iftekhar made the remarks at a discussion, organised by citizens’ platform Nagorik Somaj, held at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday.

Condemning the restrictions, other speakers alleged that the constitution and the rights of the hill people would be violated if the decisions were implemented. They threatened to go to the court if the decisions were not scrapped.

Iftekhar, also executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh, said: “When the government is trying to implement the [1997 CHT] peace accord, a group has acted behind to make these decisions only to embarrass the government. People who do not want to see execution of the accord

Tension in CHT may escalate due to mistrust  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The government claims that it is working sincerely to execute the accord, but the process would take some time.

Indigenous community leaders have recently expressed fear that the region may face a deep political crisis in coming days, especially after April 30, the deadline given by the PCJSS for the movement to take “meaningful” steps with a view to implementing the peace accord, especially its core provisions.

The latest incident of communal attack took place on January 10 in Rangamati after a demonstration of Pahari Chhatra Parishad, the students’ wing of the PCJSS, protested the inauguration of Rangamati Medical College. The procession came under an attack of the ruling Awami League’s student front Chhatra League. Around 30 people were injured in the incident.

Later, Bangali people attacked local indigenous people forcing the authorities to impose a ban on gathering and even a curfew. But, ruling party men were later seen demonstrating despite the ban.

In another incident that occurred on December 16, the Victory Day, at least 54 houses and seven shops belonging to indigenous people were torched and looted while a Buddhist temple was vandalised in Naniarchar upazila, Rangamati.

At least three incidents of rape of indigenous children took place in the last two months. Adivasi leaders term the persistent sexual harassment of women a “systematic oppression” as no case get to trial.

Grievances and fear towards Bangali settlers as well as the government, a lack of trust that the accord would be executed sincerely, and threats by the

PCJSS of strong movement have rendered the lives of the indigenous people vulnerable again.

Meanwhile, Parbatya Bangali Somo Odhikar Andolon – a platform of Bangali settlers comprising leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami – has also been opposing the peace accord and any privilege towards the indigenous communities.

CHT Citizens’ Committee President Gautam Dewan said the adivasis had hoped that their rights would be ensured with the signing of the accord.

“But most of the key provisions of the accord have not yet been implemented.

Therefore, indigenous people have kept demanding full implementation of the accord through a democratic and peaceful movement since its signing.

“So, if the indigenous people remain deprived of their proper rights after more than 17 years, it will not be unusual that the situation may return to the pre-1997 era which will not be good for the country,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

At a press conference on November 29 last year, chief of PCJSS and the CHT Regional Council Bodhipriya Jyotirindra “Santu” Larma said if the government failed to “take concrete steps to ensure the full implementation” of the accord within April 30, they would go for a non-cooperation movement.

Terming the government’s claim that the accord was being executed “a sheer lie,” he said: “The government is giving false and confusing statements on the issue.”

Santu Larma, who on behalf of the hill tracts people signed the accord, also said: “We will stage both violent and peaceful demonstrations during

the non-cooperative movement. It depends on the situation.”

Niron Chakma, the spokesperson and also responsible person of press and publication unit of the UPDF, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were following the steps taken by the PCJSS. “We are waiting to see what Santu Larma is going to do; although he had made such threats several times.

“If the movement focuses all the indigenous communities, we will definitely join to the fight. We believe that if we fight together, then the government will be compelled to ensure the rights of hill people.”

PCJSS Information and Publicity Secretary Mangal Kumar Chakma said: “A deep discontent is mounting among the indigenous people’s minds which cannot be controlled this time. No obstacle created by the government will last in the face of mass movement.

“We will do whatever is required to forge a mass movement.”

Local women MP from reserved seat Firoza Begum Chinu said the government was very much sincere in implementing the accord.

“But Santu Larma should play more effective role to resolve the political crisis and unsustainable situation in the CHT area,” the Awami League lawmaker told the Dhaka Tribune.

Chinu observed that there was lack of trust between the two parties of the accord.

She, however, said: “Being as a representative of the people, I will face the non-cooperation movement politically.

“Santu Larma is the leader of the hill tracts people. Therefore, he must take all the responsibilities in this regard.”

Indigenous rights activists strongly criticised Chinu’s statement saying that

snacks for its officials; Tk13 crore to the Railway Ministry’s Tk26 crore request for deploying Ansar and VDP forces to protect the rail tracks; and Tk10 crore to the Roads and Highways Division for deploying Ansar and VDP forces to protect the highways.

For the Tk86.3 crore already disbursed by the Finance Division to different packages sought by respective ministries and divisions, the amount would be readjusted in the revised budget for the current fiscal year.

“Unless the government and the opposition parties reach a political consensus to end the political turmoil, the budget might suffer a big financial wound as the government is pouring huge funds to ensure law and order across the country,” said former caretaker government adviser AB Mirza

Azizul Islam.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday, he said the non-development expenditures of budget may increase further due to the sudden surge of need for ensuring law and order during the blockade and hartals. On another note, Mirza Aziz also pointed out that huge subsidies given to run the rental power plants had created finance mismanagement in the budget over the last couple of years.

According to the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates, the recent series of blockade and hartals are causing a daily loss of Tk2,277.86 crore to the country’s economy. The amount of daily loss would be Tk2,500 crore if the 25% of the total industrial production loss was also taken into account. l

can take such decisions.”

On applying “code of conduct” for foreign tourists and diplomats, he said such restriction should be imposed on all including the law enforcement agencies.

He also suggested that while monitoring the UNDP project’s implementation progress, the government should disclose the expenditure of “Operation Uttoron” carried out by the military in the name of establishing peace in the CHT, to ensure transparency. “Without ensuring this, such decision will be one-sided and unacceptable.”

Mentioning that the BGB’s responsibility was to secure the country’s borders, he said in the name of improving capacity, the BGB should not grab the

lands of the indigenous people to construct camps.

Iftekhar said the government should refrain from using the BGB to implement the army’s job.

Columnist Syed Abul Maksud, who presided over the programme, said: “The Home Ministry decision violates not only the rights of the indigenous people but also of the citizens of the whole country. It violates sections 7, 27, 28 and 32 of the constitution as well as the CHT peace accord.”

Dhaka University teachers Syed Robayet Ferdous, Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon and Mesbah Kamal, rights activist Dr Hamida Hossain, Oikya NAP’s Pankaj Bhattacharya and barrister Sara Hossain were also present. l

UPDF-backed  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

meeting urging students to “rise against the state’s activities.”

At least 55 houses of the indigenous communities were burnt to ashes in the attack carried out by several hundred Bangali settlers in the morning of December 16. The attackers also assaulted the monk at Karuna Bihar, and looted idols and cash.

According to the local government officials, military persons and indigenous people, the attack occurred following an allegation of vandalism in the settlers’ pineapple orchard situated in nearby Chouddo Mile area.

After the attacks, the UPDF activists demonstrated in the area. They also blamed the army for assisting the Bangali people during the attack.

During yesterday’s rally, the speakers said the government was implementing “divide and rule” policy in the CHT alongside evicting the indigenous people in the name of carrying out development activities.

They criticised the army, paramilitary force BGB and the settlers for land grabbing, killings and rape.

Those who spoke at the programme include PCP Rangamati unit President Bablu Chakma and General Secretary Anil Chakma; PCP central committee General Secretary Riton Chakma; Ganatantrik Jubo Forum Joint Secretary Sorbanondo Chakma; and Hill Women’s Federation Organising Secretary Rina Chakma. l

Probe begins into Sylhet hospital deaths  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

ensuring peace in the region was the key responsibility of the government.

Issues of concern While talking to ordinary indigenous people, political leaders and rights activists it is learned that the main reasons behind such tension are continuous land acquisition by different agencies of the government, land grabbing by Bangali settlers for which a huge number of indigenous people are displaced without being rehabilitated and persistent communal attacks perpetrated upon them.

The indigenous people say they have ever been deprived of proper citizen rights and facilities with regard to education, health, employment and development opportunities while their rituals, culture and language are gradually being lost due to lack of sincerity of the state.

They are also concerned over the land commission which is supposed to resolve the land disputes but remained inactive since its formation. They alleged that the government had been able to bypass the indigenous people’s interest in initiating any development activity in the region since no election has been held to the regional council and the three district councils.

They allege that the government never holds discussion with the hill people’s representatives before taking any decision regarding the CHT area even though the councils were supposed to be consulted as per the accord.

Chinu said: “The accord will not be implemented in one day; it will take time. It will be implemented slowly. The Awami League signed the accord and will implement it. Most sections of the accord have already been executed.”

She denied having bypassed the

indigenous people’s opinion prior to taking any development plan in the region. “This is not right that the government took decisions without discussion with the district councils. It is also not trustworthy that the representatives concerned did not get invitation at the government meetings.”

Rights activist Gautam Dewan said apart from being reluctant to hold election to the councils, the government also gives a blind eye to the repeated incidents of rape, killing, murder, abduction, arson attack and land grabbing.

Impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators for over the years is behind the recurrence of such activities, several indigenous activists said.

What’s waiting ahead?

Under the circumstances, a hushedup tension is prevailing among the common indigenous people, especially in Rangamati and Bandarban as they are waiting to see changes after the April 30 deadline.

An indigenous rights activist, on condition of anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Actually the government either may not realise or it may not be given such opportunity to understand the sufferings and bitter experience of the indigenous people in the CHT area.”

Pointing at the activities of Bangladesh Army in the region, he alleged that an influential quarter did not want peace in the region. “If peace is established here, they will have nothing to do here.”

A senior Awami League leader echoes activist. “Actually the government wants peace in this area, but there is an obstacle somewhere between the government and the indigenous people. I do not want to say anything more.” l

hospital’s Director Brig Gen Abdus Sabur Miah. Although initially a three-member committee headed by the hospital’s Chief of Medicine Dr Ismail Patwary had been formed, three more members were later added to that committee, the director added.

More deaths and anxiety

During the 24 hours since Tuesday 8am, the hospital saw 17 more patients die, confirmed the hospital’s Deputy Director Dr Abdus Salam. The deceased includes six children, while the 11 adults had died from different diseases, he added.

Dr Salam, however, claimed that the hospital saw similar number of patients die every day.

Meanwhile, the hospital authorities have taken additional measures following the backlash it faced for the recent series of deaths.

Those without an identity card or a patient slip are reportedly not being allowed to enter any hospital ward, while the patients are being kept under special monitoring.

Abu Talib, hailing from Sylhet’s Biswanath upazila, said his newborn child had been admitted to the paediatrics ward since February 5. Claiming that the doctors did not show any care to the child earlier, Talib said the scenario changed completely since the media started reporting about the series of deaths on Tuesday.

His views were also echoed by Mosharraf Hossain, who was providing care to a relative at the hospital. He said the doctors and the nurses had been on their toes since Tuesday.

A doctor at the hospital, seeking anonymity, also admitted to the Dhaka Tribune that physicians have been staying more alert since the series of deaths. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, February 12, 2015

3

Khaleda: No end to crisis without polls n AFP BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia insisted yesterday that there could be no resolution of Bangladesh’s growing political crisis unless Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina agreed to stand down and allow new elections.

“Every conscious and conscientious person in Bangladesh knows that the only way to resolve the current political crisis is to hold an inclusive, competitive and meaningful election,” she told AFP by phone.

“The more quickly it can be arranged, the better it is for everyone. If it is delayed, the crisis could become even more complex,” she said in her first interview with western media since she was confined to her office more than a month ago.

Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said she wanted to reach a consensus on the framework for the elections with Hasina but there had been no response to proposals that she had previously put forward.

“We said a fair election should be held based on consensus of all parties and through talks. We want that,” she said.

“We also have to make some decisions on the election commission, administration and electoral rules so that a level playing field is created for all the parties.

“We made a seven-point proposal on these matters a few days ago... but we’ve not heard anything from them,”

Falu placed on fresh remand n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court placed Mosaddek Ali Falu, adviser to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, on a fresh five-day remand in a case filed for torching a bus on January 28.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Muhammad Tarique Moinul Islam Bhuiyan passed the order yesterday after SI Md Rafiqul Islam of Mirpur Model police station, produced Falu before the court. The SI sought a fresh 10-day remand after completion of a three-day remand in another arson case.

Meanwhile, Falu’s counsel Md Sanaullah Miah filed a remand rejection petition with bail prayer.

According to the case details, on January 28, some miscreants set a bus ablaze in Mirpur 2 area during the 20-party alliance’s blockade.

On January 29, ASI Khandaker Razib Ahamed filed a case with Mirpur Model police station against 43 identified and 15-20 unidentified people.

On February 1, plainclothes police picked up Mosaddek Ali Falu as he was coming out from BNP chairperson’s Gulshan Office.

Fresh remand against Nazim-Nizam

A separate metropolitan magistrate yesterday granted a fresh three-day remand against two former BNP lawmakers – Nazim Uddin Ahamed and Ashraf Uddin Nizam – in an arson case filed under the Special Power Act. Metropolitan Magistrate Md Tosruzzaman passed the order when Sub-Inspector Md Mofijur Rahman of Motijeel police station produced them before the court seeking a 10-day remand.

The court also rejected a bail petition placed by defence counsel Taherul Islam Towhid. l

IGP: Condition seems normal n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque said the situation in the country seemed normal except some isolated sabotages.

“Hundreds of vehicles are plying highways and roads day and night. We, everyone, are able to attend this programme as situation is normal...It is just that a few miscreants are carrying out subversive activities but the law enforcing agencies are taking measures against them,” he said.

“We are showing zero tolerance against the miscreants and the saboteurs.”

He made the comments while answering reporters’ queries in a meeting in Chittagong yesterday.

The police boss also said the sabotages were purely acts of terrorism and no one could support those; the ethical strength of people can stop these activities.

The IGP, in his first visit after becoming the police boss, affirmed: “There is no possibility of being flexible with the saboteurs.” l

she added.

More than 80 people have been killed in political violence since Zia was confined to her office in central Dhaka on January 3, shortly before the anniversary of last year’s general election that was boycotted by many parties.

Many of the victims have died in firebombings of buses and trucks since Zia ordered her supporters to stage a transport blockade which is in its sixth week.

Hasina has said she will not deal with “terrorists” or “murderers”, comparing the arson deaths to the recent execution of a Jordanian pilot by the Islamic State organisation.

Petrol bombs

But Zia said the arson attacks appeared to be the work of Hasina’s Awami League.

“It’s the Awami League which is behind all this violence and they are putting the blame on us,” said the twotime former prime minister.

“We have read in the newspapers how petrol bombs were found in the Awami League’s office.”

Zia, who is the leader of a 20-party opposition alliance, said that 18,000 opposition activists had been arrested since the start of the year.

Zia, 69, welcomed the prospect of greater international pressure on Hasina.

“The world community should put stronger and more effective pressure on the government for compromise and dialogue,” she said. l

Western envoys start talking about dialogue n Tribune Report

Ambassadors of Western countries, taking the advantage of ongoing volatile political situation, have started to talk about democratic practice and dialogue among different stakeholders to resolve differences and stop violence.

They did not talk much about the issues during the last one year.

Before the general election in 2014, the diplomats had a series of meetings with all political leaders and urged to hold dialogue to resolve their political differences.

After the January 5 election last year, the US, the UK, the European Union, Russia and other countries issued statements questioning the legitimacy of the polls.

British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert W Gibson held a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday and urged all political parties to consider confidence-building measures that would defuse the current tensions in the country.

Khaleda has been staying at her Gulshan office since January 3 and this was the first time a foreign envoy met her at her office after that day.

“I have consistently called on all parties to fully consider the effects of their actions and resists from causing damage to the country’s national interest,” Gibson told reporters after the hour-long meeting.

He said the UK was committed to the future stability, development and prosperity of Bangladesh in which both the countries would remain close partners.

“I hope that in the long run, further confidence-building measures could be taken that would ultimately break the habitual cycle of violence and disruption that appears to characterise elections in Bangladesh, and which would allow all legitimate political activity to take place peacefully.

“The extent of the current violence and disruption to the lives of all people in Bangladesh is distressing and deplorable,” added the British high commissioner.

On February 5, after his return from the UK, Gibson in a statement expressed sadness over the continuing loss of lives and cases of injuries during the ongoing blockade across the country.

He also said he was concerned about

the detrimental effect the violence had on the education system.

Meanwhile, European Union Ambassador Pierre Mayaudon also reiterated the EU’s rejection of any form of violence and constant call for dialogue during a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday.

He pointed out that peace and stability were critical for Bangladesh’s economic development and deplored violence affecting innocent citizens of the country.

Besides, newly-appointed US Ambassador in Dhaka Marica Stephens Bloom Bernicat said everyone had a role to play to stop the violence.

On Tuesday, after a meeting with Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, she said Bangladesh was blessed with democracy and there was a space within that democracy to resolve differences.

“So we reiterate our call from Washington that everyone plays a role to stop violence and to move into the democratic space that Bangladesh is blessed to have,” she said.

Also on Tuesday, Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Benoît-Pierre Laramée during a meeting

Army-run BDP gets Rampal land development job n Asif Showkat Kallol Bangladesh Diesel Plant, run by the army, has been awarded a contract under the direct procurement method for developing land and building a dam for the Rampal Thermal Power Plant.

The Power Division proposal was approved at a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase yesterday. Finance Minister AMA Muhith presided over the meeting.

Cabinet Division Joint Secretary Mustafizur Rahman told reporters that the committee has given its consent to awarding the project to BDP for developing 918.5 acres of land without open tendering as part of the construction of 1,320

megawatt plant in Bagerhat.

In reply to a question, Mustafiz also said BDP has a good track record of finishing project assignments smoothly and within stipulated time.

The BDP has got the job for developing land for a second block of the power plant which will cost Tk75.18 crore.

Joint venture Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company is currently developing a 915.50-acre land for block “A” and building the power plant.

The land for block “B” will be filled up with sand and soil brought in from the the Ghoshiakhali canal in the Sundarbans. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already given verbal directive to the authorities about using the

canal for navigation.

Environmentalist and consumer rights bodies have for a long time been strongly opposing the construction of the power plant within just 14km of the Sundarbans.

They say the project may pose grave environmental threats to the Sundarbans, the biggest mangrove forest in the world and a Unesco heritage site.

On papers, the construction of the plant was to begin in 2009-10 and be completed in 2019.

The cabinet committee yesterday also approved a proposal for procuring 1.3 million tonnes of fuel oil from United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia at a cost of Tk9,373 crore duing the ongoing 2014-15 fiscal year. l

Tribunal seeks explanation from NY Times n UNB The International Crimes Tribunal 2 yesterday issued a pre-contemptof-court notice upon the New York Times, a USA-based prestigious daily, to explain its stance over its recent editorial asking for overturning convict contemnor journalist David Bergman’s sentence.

On its own motion, the three-member tribunal, headed

by Justice Obaidul Hassan, passed the order asking the US daily to submit its explanation by February 20 through Bangladesh mission in New York as the impugned editorial

titled “Muzzling Speech in Bangladesh” published on December 23, 2014 tends to demean the judiciary of a sovereign country, Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the tribunal kept with the record for further order on the controversial statement made by 49 noted citizens expressing concern over its judgment that punished British-origin journalist David Bergman for contempt of court and their conduct expressing ‘apology’ and ‘regret’ on compliance.

On December 20 last year, the Prothom Alo, a vernacular daily, published the statement titled “50 citizens express concern

punishing Bergman.” Later, rights activist Khushi Kabir, one of the signatories, retracted her name from the impugned statement.

Later, the tribunal asked the Prothom Alo editor to submit before it a copy of the full text of the statement over its judgment against David Bergman, now working at the daily New Age here, for contempt of court.

On December 2 last year, the tribunal convicted David Bergman and sentenced him to a symbolic jail term with a fine and accordingly the convict-contemnor served the sentence and paid the fine. l

with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said there must be an end to violence, and there must be space for peaceful political activity.

He said economic and social development were built on the foundations of good governance, peace, and democracy.

“The ongoing political violence is inflicting a terrible cost on the people and the country,” said the Canadian envoy.

Tension continues to mount in the political arena as violence spiked after January 5, the first anniversary of the tenth general elections.

The violence, including arson attacks and bomb blasts, has claimed more than 60 lives and injured scores others so far.

Demand for talks to break the deadlock between the Awami League and the BNP has been high but no effective measures have yet been taken towards that.

The prime minister yesterday described the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami men as terrorists, militants and murderers, and also ruled out the possibility of holding talks with them. l

SSC, equivalent exams postponed n Tribune Report The SSC and equivalent examinations scheduled for today were postponed due to the hartal enforced by the BNP. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid made the announcement at a press briefing at Bangladesh Secretariat yesterday. The fresh date for holding the exams has not been announced, however.

“We waited 24 hours with hope that the BNP-led alliance would withdraw their hartal in the interest of the examinees,” Nahid said. “We also hoped they would show compassion.”

He said providing security to the students is the government’s prime work. “We cannot shove our students into ferocity. That’s why we’ve decided to postpone the exams.”

The minister also urged the 20-party alliance to refrain from enforcing hartal to show respect to mother language in this month of February.

The alliance extended its 72-hour hartal by 48 hours until 6am Friday.

Earlier, the SSC exams were deferred thrice for hartal. The Secondary School Certificate and the equivalent examinations began across the country on February 6. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Power Division fears sabotage at plants across the country n Aminur Rahman Rasel The Power Division is fearing sabotage in the power plants and sub-stations for transmission and distribution, especially in the northern region of the country, due to the ongoing political unrest.

“We have asked the local administrations to increase vigilance at the power plants and sub-stations and not to go on leave, except unavoidable circumstances, until the political unrest ends,” a high official of Power Division said, seeking anonymity.

The Power Division recently sent letters to the Ministry of Home Affairs, all the divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and superintendents of police seeking protection and to prevent possible sabotage, he added.

As the northern region is known to be a strong den of Jamaat-Shibir activ-

ists, officials fear that the possibility of sabotage there would be higher.

At present, the country has a total of 92 power plants and 1,055 sub-stations, of which 129 are grid sub-stations and the rest are distribution sub-stations.

If even a handful of power plants go down in an attack, the disruption of operation will affect the entire country’s power supply, sources said. Similarly, any damage to sub-stations will put their coverage areas off power supply for days as repair work takes time, they said.

“Usually there are units of army soldiers deployed at large power stations.

But in the current situation, when petrol bomb attacks are regular occurrences during the blockade and hartal, we are very concerned that the possibility and risk of the secret attacks have significantly increased,” Md Nurul Alam, managing director of Ashuganj Power

Station Company Ltd, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“Power plans are sensitive areas; even a seemingly harmless accident can cause a disaster. So we need to cautious in this situation,” he said.

Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) Chairman Moin Uddin said the authorities concerned had asked for support from the local administrations to ensure security at 72 Palli Bidyut Samitys (rural electricity association) and their sub-stations.

Power Development Board (PDB) Chairman Shahinul Islam Khan said security had been increased at large power plants and sub-stations. “We alerted the chief engineers and executive engineers stationed at the power plants in this regard.”

Miscreants have recently attacked two local offices of PDB in Chittagong, Bogra and Sirajganj districts.

Also, police and BGB members recently arrested several persons, including BNP and Jamaat-Shibir activists and recovered huge amount of explosives in Chittagong. The arrestees confessed to having plotted to attack the 100-megawatt Peaking Power Plant and grid sub-station at Hathazari upazila in the district, sources at police said.

On February 28, 2013, some 2,000 Jamaat-Shibir activists carried out an arson attack on a substation of Chapainawabganj Palli Bidyut Samity at Kansat of Shibganj upazila, immediately after the International Crimes Tribunal 1 sentenced Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee to death for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. The destruction of the Palli Bidyut Samity office in Shibganj, Chapainawabganj alone bled the power sector of financial loss worth around Tk200 crore. l

Gazipur city mayor arrested for arson attack n Our Correspondent, Gazipur Professor M A Mannan, mayor of Gazipur City Corporation and adviser to the BNP chairperson, was arrested by police in an arson case.

He was picked up from his Baridhara residence yesterday evening and was taken to the office of Gazipur’s Superintendent of Police (SP) for questioning.

SP Mohammad Harun-ur-Rashid, at a press conference at his office at 7pm yesterday, said there were three cases of violence, vandalism and arson with Joydebpur police station against M A Mannan.

“He was also mentioned as the instigator, planner and financier of those incidents. We are questioning him and are taking preparation to seek remand from court,” the SP said.

On February 4, a Dhaka-bound bus was torched by miscreants during the BNP-enforced non-stop blockade and hartal on Dhaka-Joydebpur highway.

Six people, including a child, was seri-

17th Education UK Exhibition begins today n Tribune Report

Youth’s wrists severed for protesting drug trade

n Our Correspondent, Savar A member of Dhamsuna union parishad in Ashulia has allegedly cut off both wrists of a businessman for protesting drug business prevailed in Kaichabari area for long.

The heinous incident took place in the area on Tuesday night to Bappy Miah, 24, who was undergoing treatment in Savar Enam Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition.

The victim’s maternal uncle Shafiqul Islam said Bappy used to trade jhut, scraps of ready-made garment factory, from “4A Yearn Dyeing Ltd” for long and some days ago he beat up a local drug trader for running the illegal business there.

Notorious drug trader Halim, member from ward no 8 of Dhamsuna Union, got infuriated by the move of Bappy.

At one stage, a gang led by Halim swopped on Bappy around 11pm and cut off his both wrists while he was at a tea stall in the area, leaving him critically injured, Shafiqul went on.

Later, locals rescued and whisked off him to the hospital which professor Abdur Rahman said: “Bappy’s state is critical because of having cut off both hands and the situation could be worsen any time.”

Assistant Superintendent of Police (Ashulia-Dhamrai circle) Rasel Sheikh said UP member Halim is a drug trader and he was fed up with Bappy as he protested the illegal business.

“We primarily sure that there was loggerheads between them centring jhut business as well and finally Halim along his accomplices made the heinous attack on Bappy,” the ASP continued.

When asked, Ashulia police station OC Mostafa Kamal echoed the voice of the ASP, telling Halim had been accused in many cases on different criminal charges.

Yesterday noon, Bappy’s father Alim Uddin filed a case with Ashulia police station against Halim and ten others unnamed, the OC added. l

Two held for bomb blast in JU n JU Correspondent Jahangirnagar University authorities yesterday held two students including a Chhatra Dal activist for their alleged involvement in a crude bomb explosion in front of the Vice Chancellor’s residence inside campus on January 19.

The Chhatra Dal activist Faisal Rabbi Riyadh and his associate Sonnet Bala are current students of JU Marketing Department.

According to witnesses, the proctorial team of the university arrested the two yesterday afternoon and handed them over to Ashulia police.

Chhatra Dal Joint Convener of Shaheed Rafiq-Jabbar Hall Wasim Ahmed Anik was earlier detained in this connection.

JU Proctor Prof Dr Tapan Kumar Saha said the two students were handed over to police as they beat up Assistant Proctor Zulker Nine while he was interrogating Faisal over the bomb blast.

However, Chhatra Dal JU unit General Secretary Sayeed Bhuiya claimed that the authorities detained Faisal and Sonnet without proving any allegation.

“Students cannot beat up any teacher, rather, the authorities dragged them to police while they were attending an exam,” he said. l

ously burnt in the attack.

On the following day, police filed a case mentioning M A Mannan as the main accused in the incident. Citing names of 39 BNP-Jamaat men, 20 other unidentified people were sued in the case as well.

Assistant Sub-Inspector of Gazipur police station Rezaul Karim lodged the case. There are already two more cases of vandalism and arson against M A Mannan.

SP Harun-ur-Rashid further said M A Mannan often tried to provoke the garments workers in Gazipur in a bid to destabilise the sector.

He alleged: “There are about 40 lakh garments workers in Gazipur. And about 6000 vehicles transport factory goods. M A Mannan tried to shut down the transportation by vandalising and torching vehicles.”

“There are specific allegations against him of instigating, planning and financing violence. We will produce him before the court on Thursday with remand plea,” he added. l

The annual Education UK Exhibition, organised by the British Council, will begin at the Pan Pacific Sonargoan Hotel in the capital today to showcase a range of study options in the UK. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid will inaugurate the event at the grand ballroom of the hotel at 10:30am.

British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert W Gibson, as the special guest, will attend the inaugural session.

Some 38 renowned UK educational institutions will participate in the 17th annual UK exhibition.

This year, the exhibition will be held at the country’s three places—Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.

In Dhaka, the exhibition will be held at the hotel from 12pm to 6pm today.

Meanwhile, it will be held at Zinnia Hall of Hotel Peninsula in Chittagong on February 13, and in Sylhet at Rose View Hotel on February 18.

Representatives of the institutions will provide relevant information to interested students, teachers, and others who wish get higher education in UK. l

Day labourers and workers spend idle hours in Old Dhaka’s Lalbagh area yesterday as the non-stop hartal and blockade shrink scope of work

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Rickshaw puller and three BCL leaders rewarded for catching pickets n Mohammad Jamil Khan Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) rewarded three BCL leaders of Dhaka University (DU) and a rickshaw-puller yesterday for catching two pickets and handing them to police, during the ongoing hartals and blockades.

The BCL leaders – DU Bangabandhu Hall unit General Secretary Iaz Al Riad, DU AF Rahman Hall unit General Secretary Al Nahian Khan Joy, and DU Zahurul Haque Hall unit General Secretary Ruhul Amin – are graduate students.

DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah distributed the reward, ranging from Tk 25,000 to Tk1 lakh, in a ceremony at the DMP media and community centre. The individual amounts were

undisclosed.

The students were rewarded for assisting police in nabbing a picketer at Chankharpool on February 7, while

‘On the day of the attack, I thought it wrong to catch the picketer, but today I realise I took the right decision’ rickshaw puller Mozzamel Haque was awarded for catching another picketer at Katabon the night of February 9.

Ershad: Politics of killing to kill politics itself n UNB Observing that democracy cannot be established by hurling petrol bombs, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad yesterday said the politics of killing may kill the politics itself.

“What’s going on in the name of politics can never be considered politics. This is ill and evil politics. Democracy cannot be established by hurling petrol bombs. Politics of killing kills the politics itself. Such politics must be stopped,” he said.

HM Ershad came up with the observations while addressing the Biennial Council-2015 of the Dhaka (south) city unit of Jatiya Jubo Sanghati, the youth wing of Jatiya Party (Ershad) at Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh in the city.

The Jatiya Party chief urged political parties to refrain from evil politics, and called on people to resist and be aware of evil politics. l

Mamun Sheikh, a detained picketer, is facing three day remand at Shahbagh police station. The other picketer is also in jail, said police.

When asked about recent encounters in Dhaka, the DMP chief said: “No encounters are intentional. They occur when such a situation is created.”

The DMP chief added: “The situation in Dhaka has vastly improved, as no violence, arson attacks or vandalism took place the last few days. We hope everything goes back to normal soon.”

“From January 5 till now, 1,010 opposition activists were arrested in Dhaka for violence while mobile courts punished 30 others for different terms,” Asaduzzaman said.

186 of the arrested were caught

red-handed for arson, hurling bombs, or other criminal activities, said the DMP commissioner.

“11 cars were vandalised, and 168 more set afire during the blockade,” the DMP chief said, adding that two police officers were killed during the blockade.

When given his reward, Mozammel said: “On the day of the attack, I thought it wrong to catch the picketer, but today I realise I took the right decision. If in the future I see such arsonists, then they must be caught too,” he added.

The three DU students said: “We know the reward money is not much, but we want it spent on the Dhaka Medical College Hospital burn unit victims.” l

Lyricist Kazi A Fathah dies n Tribune Report Kazi Abul Fathah, a renowned lyricist, died on February 10 in New York, USA. He was 79.

He was a textile engineer and worked as a GM at different textile mills of the country. He was also a freedom fighter and a footballer.

He was the lyricist and composer of the famous song “Nithur Prithibi Diyecho Amay Akhi Jol Upohar.”

Kazi Abul Fathah was living in New York since a long time. Last week, he fell and broke his hip as he slipped on snow.

On Friday, he was doing well after he had a surgery, however, his condition deteriorated on Sunday and was shifted to ICU. He died around 3:15am while undergoing treatment at Jamaica Hospital in New York. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Blockade raises fear of session jam among students Students, professors of CU worry long breaks lead to loss of motivation on December 28 last year. And so far, till n FM Mizanur Rahaman, February 10, only four out of 11 examiChittagong

Disruption of classes and rescheduling of exams due to the continuous blockade and hartals by BNP-led 20 party alliance have severely hampered lives of students at public and privates universities in Chittagong.

Sources at universities say class schedules have been disrupted while many scheduled exams have been postponed in order to avoid blockade violence which has so far claimed about 70 across the country.

Some other exams such as those in the journalism and Arabic departments were postponed indefinitely Teachers say if the ongoing political turmoil continues, students would be victim of severe session jam. Many worry that it would affect their job potential as well as motivation.

Chittagong has around 13 universities, including three public universities Chittagong University (CU), Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), and Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU).

According to CU sources, a number of scheduled examinations under different departments have been either rescheduled or postponed due to the spell of hartals and blockades that began on January 6.

Sajol Kumar Nath, a student of Civil Engineering Student at Port City International University Chittagong say their classes have been shut down due to the blockades.

Examinations at CU under 10 departments including Institute of Education Research and Training, Philosophy, Public Administration, International Relations, Communication and Journalism, Economics, Arabic, History, Islamic Studies, Islamic History and Culture were rescheduled multiple times between January 15 and February 9.

Farzana Akhtar Parul, a third year student at the department of Islamic History and Culture told this correspondent: “Our examination had begun

nations have been held due to hartals.

Sayeed Al Noman, founder vice chairman at East Delta University told this correspondent: “We are also suffering like the public universities due to the shutdown. We are trying to hold make-up classes and hold the examinations at night when the hartals are over.”

“We have now started online classes to maintain an academic calendar for the students,” said Noman.

While some resort to alternative forms of classes such as online classes and assignments, some are doing their best to continue life as it used to be.

Premier University has held exams both during hartal hours and during the weekends, sources say.

While many CU exams were postponed, even CU followed this trend.

Sources say few CU examinations have been held during the weekends to avoid session jam. Professor Dr Mohammad Mohiuddin, examination controller (acting) at CU says examinations of a few departments were held during the blockade.

Some other exams such as those in the journalism and Arabic departments were postponed indefinitely.

Niaj Morshed Ripon, the first year examination committee’s chairman at CU’s international relations department, say the department is now holding examinations on Fridays to make up for the interrupted timetable.

Md Jaydur Rahman, examination controller at International Islamic University of Chittagong (IIUC) said although many exams have been rescheduled for as many as three times, their classes remained open despite the blockade.

Professor Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury, CU’s pro-vice chancellor shared with us the long-term effects of such disruptions. “Students would not take proper preparation for exams as they are gripped by the uncertainty.

He added that the academic calendars would collapse due to the spell of hartals, and students would heavily lag behind in the job markets if their results are not published on time.

Parul, the third year student at CU, worries these long stretches are demotivating. ““Now, I don’t know when my examinations will finally end. I am losing focus because of these long gaps,” she said. l

A girl takes part in a mass signature campaign against littering initiated by Dhaka International University in the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday

MEHEDI HASAN

Crimes on the rise as police busy quelling unrest n Our Correspondent, Khulna

As police are occupied with warding off blockade and hartal-related violence, other criminal activities in Khulna are increasing at an alarming rate, taking advantage of the situation.

A number of criminal activities, from mugging to murder, has been reported throughout Khulna since the nationwide blockade began last month.

Police sources said bombs are blasted almost every night in Khulna city’s important areas. Use of illegal weapons have risen too – at least nine firearms and 25 rounds of bullets have been recovered in January.

The latest reported incident was the dismembering of carpenter Murad Hossain Modir, 21, on Saturday. Criminals hacked off an arm and a leg of Murad, allegedly over a dispute between two gangs, said OC Habibur Rahman of Lobonchora police station.

Sources said many of the attacks and murders are related to disputes over drug peddling, establishing dominance over an area, and political reasons.

The situation is causing alarm among the city-dwellers, as police has not been able to make a headway in nabbing the culprits.

Crude bomb attacks are an everyday occurrence now, police sources and locals told the Dhaka Tribune.

'Police has been busy with blockade and hartal duty, so security has become lax, making it easier for smugglers to bring contraband items using this route' The bomb attacks usually start in the evening and are aimed at the important locations around Khulna city, especially places where police are on guard round the clock.

Police claimed to have increased security in the sensitive areas, but they

have yet to catch the perpetrators of the bomb blasts.

Md Motaleb Miah, resident of Tutupara area in the city, said: “Crude bombs are blasted frequently in this area and the surrounding areas. But police have not been able to arrest anyone yet. We are concerned about this situation.”

Regular police work hampered

Investigation of regular cases is suffering as police is focusing on hartal and blockade related violence in Khulna city and the district.

Sources said investigation of the recent stealing of Tk23 lakh at the corporate branch of Rupali Bank in the city has been going at a snail’s pace.

“We are occupied with blockade duty, so it is taking longer to solve the Rupali Bank case,” said Sub-Inspector Md Hossain Al Mahbub of Khulna Sadar police station, who is the investigation officer of the case.

“But we are working on the case, and will soon catch the culprit.”

Smugglers have become quite active

in Khulna as well. The Chuknagar-Dumuria route, one of the prominent smuggling routes in Khulna, has turned haven for spice and drug smugglers due to lack of police monitoring.

“Police has been busy with blockade and hartal duty, so security has become lax, making it easier for smugglers to bring contraband items using this route,” said Khan Ali Mansoor, chairman of Dumuria upazila parishad.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, KMP Commissioner Nibash Chandra Majhi said: “Criminals are taking advantage of the situation as police is more focused on the ongoing political unrest.

But police is working to ward off all kinds of criminal activities. Except for a few separate events, there has been no major criminal acts yet.”

Local lawmaker and Khulna metropolitan Awami League’s General Secretary Mizanur Rahman Mizan said: “The administration is working to indentify the criminals and bring them to book.

Police should prepare an area-based list of criminals and immediately conduct drives to catch the culprits.” l

OUTCOME OF POLITICAL UNREST

Roadside traders going through hardships

visit our website @

www.dhakatribune.com

n Nazim Mridha, Rajshahi WEATHER

DRY WEATHER LIKELY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:51PM SUN RISES 6:34AM FORECAST FOR TODAY 28 27 26 26 27 28 28 28

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

16 16 14 12 13 15 13 17

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

31.8ºC Teknaf

11.9ºC Srimangal

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:17am 6:33am 12:13am 4:15pm 5:52pm 7:08pm

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Journalists hold a human chain in front of the Dhaka Reporter’s Unity in the capital yesterday demanding justice for the journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi who were murdered three years ago

Female garment worker killed in Gazipur n Our Correspondent, Gazipur A female garment worker was stabbed to death by unidentified miscreants in Nawjore area of Gazipur yesterday.

Joydebpur police station Sub-Inspector Nazmul Haque said some unidentified miscreants attacked Moni Rani Das, 22, with lethal weapons while she was on her way to work yesterday morning.

Police recovered lethal weapons and identity card of the victim from the spot.

A worker of JK Cotton Mills located in Kodda area of the city, Moni was

the daughter of Razesh Sham Chandra Dash, hailing from Sitakunda village under Monpura upazila of Bhola district.

She used to live at a house rented by Gobinda Chandra Mozumder in Nawjore area, said the SI. Morali Mohon Das, a relative of Moni, said: “Moni divorced her husband about 18 months ago. She has a two-year-old son living in Sitakunda village.”

Moni had no enemy, she added.

Body of the deceased was sent to Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy. l

Gold in rice cooker seized at Dhaka airport n Tribune Desk The Customs Intelligence yesterday morning recovered two-kg gold hidden inside a rice cooker and arrested one in this regard from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The arrestee Mintu, 36, hails from Comilla district.

Joint Commissioner of airport customs department Qazi Mohammad Ziauddin said: “We detained Mintu in Green Channel area in the airport as his movement was suspicious. We then searched his belongings and found the gold, worth about Taka one crore, in melted condition hidden inside a rice cooker.” l

Hawkers have been going through hardships since the beginning of political unrest last month as they could not sell goods for lack of customers.

People from the low come group mainly buy goods from roadside shops.

As they are struggling to earn bread and butter, they do not have that luxury to buy extra things except foods for family members.

Although setting up roadside makeshift shops is prohibited by all the city corporations across the country, the poor people are compelled to sit on the roadside with their goods for their livelihood.

But the recent political turmoil has become a nightmare for them as they could not sell their items even after spending the entire day at shops.

Assistant Commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan police (RMP) Ifte Kahyer Alam told the Dhaka Tribune that they are strictly not allowing hawkers to set up makeshift shops on the roadside as the country was going through political unrest.

“The hawkers may face any kind of accident at anytime. So, we are discouraging them to run their business on the roadsides.”

Hundreds of hawkers open their shops generally in the morning everyday and close after dusk, but we cannot do it on the day of shutdown, said Ajgor Ali, a footpath trader who has a makeshift shop near Shaheb Bazar, the business hub in Rajshahi city.

Hawker Aslam-ud-Dowla told the Dhaka Tribune that he did business in front of a shopping complex of the Ra-

jshahi Development Association (RDA).

He said his income had declined to a great extent.

“Now, I earn Tk350 to Tk500 everyday to support my six-member family while earlier my per day income was about Tk2,000 to Tk 2,500.

“Sometimes, I have to go back to home without selling anything as consumers do not come out of home in fear of arson attacks and vandalism,” said Aslam.

According to sources at Shabeb Bazar Boro Masjid market, sales of all kinds of products has declined by 70% since the blockade started.

Masum, a small shop owner, said the non-stop strike affects us badly, If hartal and blockade continues, it will be difficult for me to realise my investments as I run my business taking loan from a non-government organisation and I have to pay debt Tk1,200 each week.

Saif Khan, employee of a private company, said, as hawkers could not sit on roadsides, they had to buy essentials from shopping complex at higher rate.

He said the unrest situation put the livelihood of low income peoples like hawkers into difficulties which political leaders could not realise.

He, however, urged the ruling and BNP leaders to come at a decision to bring a halt to the ongoing violence.

Another trader who preferred to be unnamed said the arch rival political parties should bring to an end to the stalemate that causing havoc on economy of the country.

He also demanded a ban on strike and blockade to keep stability in the country. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Nights becoming riskier in Lakshmipur n Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur As darkness descends, Lakshmipur turns into a safe haven for miscreants who run amok creating anarchy in this southern district of the country.

Arson attacks, vandalism, mugging and all sorts crimes have been going unabated since the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced the blockades and the hartals. Despite vigilance of law enforcers, so far three people have died due to arson attacks and a number of vehicles have been vandalised.

Moreover, since there are few vehicles on the streets at night, mugging has become common at various points of the district. The Faridganj-Raipur highway, Raipur-Lakshmipur highway, Singherpool, Rakhalia and Sikder road areas are especially vulnerable to such crimes.

According to police sources, miscreants hurled petrol bombs at a goods-laden pick up van on February 3 at Badamtali area of Lakshmipur police lines. Three people, including the driver of the van, were severely injured at that time. The driver, Kamal Hossain, 28, succumbed to his injuries while being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on the following day.

On February 2, a CNG-run autorickshaw came under arson attack in front of the Mahila College while coming from Moju Chowdhury Haat at around 8pm. All the passengers of the vehicle received serious burn injuries. One of them, Liton, 35, died later on.

Earlier on January 30, a Chittaging-bound passenger bus lost control and fell into a roadside ditch after miscreants threw petrol bomb at it around 10pm. At that time, driver Nur-e-Alam Sumon, 35, was injured in the head and died on the way to Noakhali hospital.

Police said, since the blockade began a number of vehicles were vandalised and torched in Lakshmipur Sadar, Chandraganj, Raipur, Ramganj, Kamalnagar and Ramgati areas. Blockade

supporters prefer the darkness of the night to carry on the attacks.

A Shibir activist, Nazim Uddin, 25, was arrested by police while vandalising an autorickshaw on February 2.

A mobile court later sentenced him to one year imprisonment.

On January 31, a truck carrying cement was torched at Poddar Bazar road in the Sadar. Four autorickshaws were attacked as well. On the same night, a pickup van was set ablaze at Lengra bazar area.

On January 27, police arrested two Chhatra Dal activists with cocktails while they were preparing for attacks.

Miscreants, wearing masks, vandalised eight autorickshaws in front of Raipur police station on January 21.

At least four people were injured when miscreants hurled cocktails at a goods-laden truck at Joksin area on January 15.

When contacted, Mohsin Kabir Murad, communication secretary of district Jamaat-e-Islami claimed that Awami League activists were behind the attacks to destabilise Lakshmipur.

Expressing concern over the attacks, General Secretary of district BNP Sahab Uddin Sabu said no BNP men were involved with the attacks. “Hurling petrol bombs cannot be a way of launching movement. Awami League activists are behind all the incidents,” he alleged.

However, President of district Awami League M Alauddin denied such allegations and said BNP-Jamaat were killing people in coordinated attacks and everyone knew that. “People no longer support their act of coercion,” he said urging the police to arrest the real perpetrators.

Shah Mizan Shafiur Rahman, superintendent of police of Lakshmipur, reiterated his force’s commitment to safeguard people’s lives and properties.

“No one will be allowed to play with people’s lives in the name of movement. We are working around the clock to ensure law and order,” he said. l

Rural people wade through the Padma River as the scanty water flow is causing gradual drying of the mighty river and its tributaries, causing an adverse impact on environment. The photo was taken yesterday from Satbaria char area under Motihar police station, Rajshahi AZAHAR UDDIN

Sakhipur Upazila Health Complex without generator for seven years n Our Correspondent, Tangail

A generator, allotted for the 50-bed Sakhipur Upazila Health Complex, has not been installed after seven years.

Consequently, emergency operations have been hindered during load-shedding, and patients and doctors are facing many difficulties.

The health department allotted the 50kV generator for the hospital on July 5, 2008, hospital sources said. Yet, no operator has been appointed, and no funds are available to operate the generator.

Nearly 200 people come to the hospital to avail its outdoor services, and at least 45 to 55 people get admitted every day, the sources added.

Despite repeated requests to senior authorities, no steps have were taken

to install the generator, said the sources. Minor operations are being carried out temporarily with a small generator.

During a recent visit, this correspondent found the generator lying haphazardly outside the storeroom, its cover rusty.

Nur Jahan, a senior staff nurse in charge of the OT (operation theatre), said: “We complete minor operations with a temporary backup IPS during load shedding. But for major operations, we face difficulties when there’s no electricity.”

Another senior staff nurse, Anjana Bala, said: “Patients are forced to suffer, though a powerful generator has long been lying uninstalled in the hospital.”

She demanded the generator be installed before the next dry season.

SM Amirul Islam, a medical technologist (radiographer), said: “We cannot prepare X-rays of our patient during load-shedding. They need to get them done from other clinics.”

Dr DI Rezaul Karim, the upazila health and family planning officer, said: “There is no space to keep such a large generator, and no manpower to run it.

We have requested the senior authorities to install the generator and provide us with the necessary manpower.”

Tangail civil surgeon, Dr Syed Ebne Sayeed, said: “Nearly 150 to 180 Caesarian operations are done at the hospital every month. Besides this, a large number of minor operations are also carried out. So, we have repeatedly requested the authorities concerned to immediately set up the generator. l

Road accidents in four districts claim lives of six people n Tribune Report At least six people, including three students, were killed in separate road accidents in four districts yesterday.

In Pabna, three persons were killed and five others injured in a road mishap in Kasinathpur crossing area in Sujanagar upazila in the morning.

The deceased were Runa, 18, a student of Kasinathpur Women College, Rana, 14, a student of a local school and Ahasan Mohori, 60. All of them are inhabitants of Ahamadpur village under Aminpur thana of the upazila.

Police said the accident occurred when a Dhaka-bound garlic-laden truck hit a Nosiman, locally-made human hauler, in the area around 9am, leaving three passengers of the human hauler dead on the spot.

The injured were sent to Pabna Medical College Hospital (PMCH)and Bera Upazila Health Complex, said Pabna Assistant Superintendent of Police

(ASP) Siddiqur Rahman confirming the death.

A case was filed in this connection.

In Rajshahi, a woman was killed and five people got injured in a road mishap at Shahabdipur of Godagari upazila around 11:30am.

The deceased was identified as Fahi Khatun, 30, wife of Shahin Ali of Shahabdipur, confirmed Godagari police station OC SM Abu Farhad.

OC added that a locally-made three-wheeler named Votvoti run over Fahi when she attempted to save two kids from accident on the Rajshahi-Chapainawabganj highway, leaving her dead on the spot.

The injured in the incident got admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and a case was filed with Godagari police station in this connection, the OC went on.

In Satkhira, a motorcyclist namely Ansar Ali, 60, was killed when a but his vehicle from behind on Shaymna-

NEWS IN BRIEF Man kills his wife in Brahmanbaria A man allegedly hacked his wife to death in Kalikapur area of Kosba of Brahmanbaria yesterday. The victim was Beauty Akater, 27, wife of Mohsin Mia, police said. Quoting locals, Kosba police station Officer-in-Charge (investigation) Md Moeen Uddin said the body of Beauty lying in her room with bloodshed around 11am. Mohsin was absconding after the incident. The body was sent to Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital morgue for an autopsy.

– Our Correspondent, Brahmanbaria

One held with firearm, ammo Police arrested a man yesterday at Dhamorhat upazila in Naogaon district with a foreign made pistol and four bullets. Mirza Abdus Salam, officer-in-charge of Dhamorhat police station said on a tip-off, police raided the house of Aminur Rahman in Dakshin Chalkjadu villlage and arrested him with a 9 mm pistol, four bullets and some local weapons. There had been seven cases including murder and robbery against Aminur with the police station, said the OC. – Our Correspondent, Naogaon

Robber ring leader held Police arrested the ringleader of a robber gang in Super Market area of the town yesterday. ASP Imdad Hossain of Munshiganj police station said on a tip-off, the police raided the house of Khasru alias Lengra Khashru in the area and arrested him with a firearm and five bullets. Superintend of Police Biplab Bijoy Talukder said Khashru was an illegal arms trader.

– Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

gar-Munshiganj road in Phultola area in Shaymnagar upazila.

Being injured by the hit, he was whisked off to the local hospital where duty doctors declared him dead.

Shaymnagar police station OC Aminul Islam Biplob said they recovered the body and sent it to the hospital morgue for autopsy.

Later, police managed to seize the killer vehicle, but its driver and helper fled the scene, the OC went on.

In Khagrachhari, a school boy named Dolipro Marma, 6, was killed as a battery-run authorickshaw run over her in Mohalchhara area in Sadar upazila while she was on the way of her house from school.

However, details of the deceased could not be known immediately.

The fateful incident took place around noon and the driver went into hiding after the incident, said Khagrachhari Sadar police station OC Md Mizanur Rahman. l

One gets life term for murder in Netrakona

n Our Correspondent, Netrakona A local court yesterday sentenced a man life term in jail for killing a woman about eight years ago.

The convict is Jamal Miah, son of Anwar Hossain, from Katli village in the district town.

Besides, the court of Netrakona Additional District and Session Judge Md Abdul Hamid fined Jamal Tk50,000 in the case and in case of default, he will have to suffer more five years rigorous imprisonment.

According to case statement, a romantic relation had developed between Jamal and one Abdus Sattar’s daughter, a resident of the village.

However, Jamal on June 17, 2006, killed his lover’s mother namely Rabeya Begum by stabbing on the spot as she denied to accept the relationship.

Later a case was launched against him by Rabeya’s son Manik Miah with the Sadar police station in the incident, in which the court pronounced the verdict after examining all evidence and witness. l

Tyre explosion kills truck owner n Our Correspondent, Tangail

Journalists hold a human chain in Khulna city yesterday with a call to expedite trial process of Sagar-Runi, a journalist couple who were killed at their Raza Bazaz residence in the capital on February 11, 2012 DHAKA TRIBUNE

A truck owner was killed and another injured in a tyre explosion incident under Mirzapur upazila in Tangail district yesterday morning.

Nazmul Haque Bhuiyan, officer-incharge of Mirzapur police station said Abdul Latif,45, son of Helal Uddin of Beltoil village and transport worker Zahid Hossain,14,were working at the garage in Kaitola Bazar. At one stage, the tier of the truck exploded with a big bang leaving the duo critically injured.

On information, locals went to the spot and rescued them.

Later, they were sent to Kumudini Hospital where on duty doctor declared Latif dead. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Juris

Legal status of employment bonds

I

n Saida Sharmin Esha

n the utmost competition, it is getting harder day by day to get a job in any profession even after having a set of degrees or top qualifications. After passing every stage, ie a written examination and couple of interviews, a person is offered a job with a bundle of terms and conditions. Now a days one of the terms is signing an employment bond for a specific period. Finding no alternative, a person accepts the job with all the terms and conditions.

Many companies, including banks and multi-nationals, make their employees sign an employment bond for a specific period so that employees cannot quit the organisation and join some other organisations before completing that specific period, otherwise s/he will have to refund the amount specified as bond value.

Under the current circumstances, although employees sign employment bonds but every employee has a question on their mind whether such bond is reasonable, justifiable and enforceable by the law.

According to the labour law of Bangladesh, a permanent employee can terminate his/her employment by giving a two months’ notice or payment in lieu of notice and for contractual employees the notice period can be one month or payment in lieu. Therefore, if this is the legal requirement to terminate any employment on the part of the employee, on what basis the employment bond can be enforceable by the employer under which an employee cannot terminate his/her job unless the period stipulated in the bond is not completed.

Considering the employment agreement between the employer and the employee a contract, the contractual clauses in employment agreement will be governed by the Contract Act of 1872. Therefore, while incorporating contractual clauses it is necessary to keep in mind that the contractual clauses have to be reasonable in order to be enforceable by the law.

According to the contract law, the employment bond will be valid and enforceable if it fulfils the following conditions: l The parties agree to sign the contract with their free consent, ie without force, undue influence, misrepresentation, or mistake l The conditions must be reasonable, and l The conditions imposed on the employee must be proved to be necessary to safeguard the interests of the employer

7

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Juridical excellence through conferences n Mohammad Nayeem Firoz

T

he all-embracing criminal code as titled Criminal Rules and Orders (CrRO) in addition to Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) prescribes the necessary rules for smooth functioning of criminal justice administration in the subordinate judiciary in Bangladesh.

It also stipulates package of strategies to be adopted for thriving judicial excellence. Apart from strategies to be adopted in the court procedures, some out-of-court strategies are also prescribed therein. The judicial conference and police- magistracy conferences are instances of such strategies as enunciated in rules 480, 481 and 482 of the CrRO.

Judicial conference

BIGSTOCK

Furthermore, consideration on part of the employer is necessary, ie the employer will spend money on the employee for his training.

Therefore, it is reasonable for employers to incorporate employment bonds in the employment agreements and accordingly take bonds when they hire employees for a particular project or for a job for which the employer will spend money on employees’ training, otherwise if employees leave the employment without serving the employers for the agreed period, the employers will suffer losses.

Moreover, in order to be enforceable by the law, the employment bond has to be drafted with reasonable terms and conditions including the compulsory employment period and amount of penalty in case of breach of such terms. The penalty amount should be based upon the actual loss incurred by the employer and not beyond it.

In other words, the conditions stipulated in the bond should justify that it is necessary to safeguard the interest of the employer and to compensate the loss if the employee leaves the company before completion of the period specified in the employment bond and the penalty should not be exorbitant.

However, in reality, most of the companies want a five-year bond from the employees and the penalty in case of breach of such employment bonds is that the employees will

have to return one year’s salary to the employers. Even some of the companies also mention that the provident fund is subject to completion of a five-year service, otherwise the employees will not be entitled to receive benefits of provident funds.

Such conditions seem to be unreasonable. In worst scenario, employers do not issue the release letters when employees want to resign or terminate their employment before completion of the compulsory period stipulated in the employment bond. Without release letters from the previous employers employees become unable to join any other company and therefore suffer a lot.

Such kind of act on the part of an employer, eg retaining the original educational certificates, or creating any kind of impediments for the employees to join another job should be considered as illegal.

Although employees are reluctant to raise questions on any exorbitant term but employers should be aware that any exorbitant term can be challenged on the basis of the provisions enshrined in the Constitution of Bangladesh and under other relevant laws ie, labour law, contract law, etc.

Article 34 of Constitution of Bangladesh provides that “All forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance

with law.” In addition, Article 40 of the Constitution of Bangladesh ensures freedom of profession or occupation which is lawful.

The enforceability of an employment bond can also be challenged on the ground that it restrains the lawful exercise of a profession, trade or business. Section 27 of Contract Act 1872 provides that every agreement by which any one is restrained from exercising a lawful profession, trade or business of any kind, is to that extent void.

To take up any lawful profession or occupation is a fundamental right.

Therefore, any term and condition of the employment agreement which directly or indirectly either compels employees to serve employers or restrict them from joining other employers is violation of the fundamental rights and thus are not tenable in the eyes of law. An employee by signing a contract of employment does not sign a bond of slavery.

In view of the aforesaid discussions, an employment bond will be considered to be reasonable if it is necessary to protect the interests of the employer, and the employment bond is drafted with appropriate compulsory period and reasonable amount of penalty. Otherwise, the validity of the such employment bonds may be questioned. l Saida Sharmin Esha is Barrister-at-Law and an Advocate.

The sessions judge, metropolitan sessions judge, chief judicial magistrate or chief metropolitan magistrate, as the case may be, may convene a judicial conference at the headquarters of all judicial offices of the district four times each year. In such conferences, the president and secretary of the local bar association and public prosecutor/ law officer may also be invited. Each conference should not last longer than one day and should ordinarily be held during holidays.

Such a conference should afford special facilities to the sessions judge, metropolitan sessions judge, chief judicial magistrate or chief metropolitan magistrate, as the case may be, for securing a personal knowledge of the officers under him and addressing their doubts and difficulties through discussion. A session judge, metropolitan sessions judge, chief judicial magistrate or chief metropolitan magistrate, as the case may be, can make such a conference a forum for discussing the affairs of each court with the judge concerned, for examining the state of his files and for ascertaining the progress of his work, his need for assistance and allied matters.

To facilitate consultation, each judge should bring with him and submit to the sessions judge, metropolitan sessions judge, chief judicial magistrate or chief metropolitan magistrate, as the case may be, a report of inspection of his office and the departments in his charge unless an inspection has already been held by him within the preceding twelve months.

The code also stipulates that a copy of the judicial conference report should be sent to the High Court Division.

The police-magistracy conference

At the instance of the chief judicial

magistrate or the chief metropolitan magistrate, as the case may be, there shall be a police-magistracy conference once a month to be attended by the district magistrate and the superintendent of police or the police commissioner or their representatives.

The conference shall also be attended by all the judicial magistrates, officers-in-charge of the police stations concerned, police officers/law officers representing prosecution and other officials. the conference shall deal with the following matters: l Removal of bottlenecks, if any, in the service and execution of pending processes l Ensuring the attendance of witnesses in courts l Security of witnesses while coming to and returning from the courts l Removal of snags in inquiries and investigation l Timely production of under-trial prisoners in courts from custody l Expeditious service of writs of proclamations and attachments l Security measures in court premises, security for the judicial magistrates and other concerned officials l Timely production of alamats from malkhana l Coordination and cooperation between the police and the magistracy in the matter of smooth dispensation of criminal justice l Measures to be taken for prompt disposal of cases l Any other matter of importance

Conference with the police at the sessions judgeship

The sessions judge or the metropolitan sessions judge, as the case may be, may also convene such conference half-yearly to be attended by the concerned district magistrate, police commissioner/superintendent of police, civil surgeon, executive engineer (PWD), public prosecutor, president/secretary of the district bar association and all concerned including judges and judicial magistrates serving in that station.

To meet the expenses for arranging such conference, the sessions judge or chief judicial magistrate or chief metropolitan magistrate may request the government to make adequate budget allocation at their disposal.

These conferences have the effective impact on the reduction of case-backlog and other problems existing in the subordinate judiciary of Bangladesh. l Mohammad Nayeem Firoz is a Senior Assistant Judge, Chittagong.

DEPARTMENT OF LAW, DAFFODIL INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

A new horizon in legal education n Farhana Helal Mehtab

RIO SHUVO

F

JURIS QUOTE Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.

Jean de la Bruyere

French Philosopher, 1645 – 1696

Send us queries for

Consult your counsel

and also your articles on any legal issues at: law@dhakatribune.com

Dhaka Tribune Visit our website at: www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

ounded in 2007, the Department of Law, Daffodil International University is one of the fastest growing law schools in the county with accomplished faculty members and state-of-the-art facilities featuring classrooms, a moot court room and a rich library equipped with the latest technology. DIU Law Department fosters close interactions among students and faculty, creating a lively intellectual community.

We offer courses suitable for students interested in following a career in law. DIU Law Department offers four years LLB (Hon’s) and LLM programs for students to equip them with extensive knowledge on various substantive and procedural aspects of law. Our faculty members are experts in their respective areas of law and dynamic teachers in the classroom. We also offer a rigorous curriculum attuned to the needs of the legal profession.

Law degrees offered by the department are carefully designed to maintain global standards of legal education. We follow a syllabus that contains both theoretical and practical issues of law and legal profession so that our graduates become well-prepared to take up careers as lawyers, judges, law teachers, legal officers, legal researchers, etc.

Our LLB students get the practical knowledge of legal profession through the courses offered in the final semester that include “Moot Court and Debating,” “Trial and Advocacy Training,” “Legal Research Methodology and Effective Writing” and “Legal Drafting and Professional Ethics.” A good number of alumni of DIU Law Department have become advocates enrolled in Bangladesh Bar Council.

COURTESY

DIU Law Department is comprised of dedicated full-time and adjunct faculty members, who are committed to provide quality teaching DIU Law Department hosts Daffodil Moot Court Society (DMCS) which is a student run organisation that arranges and participates in various moot court competitions on a regular basis. DMCS has successfully participated in Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Competition organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and National Moot Court Competition organised by Empowerment through Law of the Common People (ELCOP).

Our students have also participated in the Human Rights Summer School (HRSS) and proved their mettle among the students from other top ranked law

schools. DIU Law Department always encourages its students in all kinds of games and sports. Our students have own numerous trophies in football, cricket, volleyball, and other sports.

The department regularly organises seminars and workshops to keep the students updated about the current issues in the legal field.

During Fall 2014, the department organised a seminar on “Literature and the discourse of Human Rights: After William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Professor Dr Salimullah Khan, a renowned columnist and author, was the keynote speaker at the seminar. In Spring 2013, a seminar on “International Human Rights Instruments on Indigenous Peoples’’ was organised by the department.

Professor Dr Mizanur Rahman, Chairman, National Human Rights Commission was present at that seminar as the chief guest.

The department has also organised a seminar in collaboration with Change Makers and EMK Centre

entitled “Importance of Election in Democracy: Role of Youth and Students” during Spring 2014.

Former Election Commissioner Mr Muhammed Sohul Hussain attended that seminar as the keynote speaker.

DIU Law Department is comprised of dedicated full-time and adjunct faculty members, who are committed to provide quality teaching. Faculty members are also engaged in research projects, conference paper presentations, and research article writing. Articles written by the faculty members of Department of Law have been published in the renowned national and international journals.

Among the renowned adjunct faculty members, DIU is proud to have Professor Dr Mizanur Rahman, Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, Dr Sarkar Ali Akkas, Dean, Department of Law, Jagannath University, Matiur Rahman, Deputy Inspector General of Bangladesh Police, Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka, Quazi MH Supan, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka, Abu Zayed Mohammed, Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and AM Jufiker Hayet, Joint District Judge and Senior Research Officer, Law Commission of Bangladesh. DIU Law Department is headed by Associate Professor Ms Farhana Helal Mehtab.

In a short period of time the Law Department of Daffodil International University has become one of the leading law schools for students aiming to have a forward-looking approach to legal education. Currently we have students from home and abroad. l Farhana Helal Mehtab is Head, Department Law, Daffodil International University.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Thursday, February 12, 2015

US: 20,000 foreign fighters head to Syria n AFP, Washington Foreign fighters are flocking to Syria at an “unprecedented” rate, with more than 20,000 volunteers from around the world joining the Islamic State or other extremist groups, US intelligence officials said.

The foreign fighters have traveled to Syria from more than 90 countries, including at least 3,400 from Western states and more than 150 Americans, according to the latest estimate from the National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC).

A majority of the foreign volunteers who arrived recently have joined forces with the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, it said.

The estimate of the total number of foreign fighters flocking to Syria was up from a previous estimate in January of roughly 19,000, according to NCTC. No precise numbers are available “but the trend lines are clear and concerning,” Nicholas Rasmussen, NCTC director, said in prepared remarks for a congressional hearing yesterday.

“The rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is unprecedented. It exceeds the rate of travelers who went to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, or Somalia at any point in the last 20 years,” he said.

The volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and “do not fit any one stereotype,” Rasmussen said.

“The battlefields in Iraq and Syria provide foreign fighters with combat experience, weapons and explosives training, and access to terrorist networks that may be planning attacks which target the West,” he said.

Western governments have voiced increasing alarm over the flow of foreign volunteers heading to the Syrian conflict, particularly in the aftermath of

jihadist attacks in Paris that left 17 dead.

In the months-long battle for the Syrian town of Kobane near the Turkish border, large numbers of foreign fighters were among the jihadists killed, according to US officials.

Kurdish forces, backed up by USled air strikes, eventually succeeded in fending off an attempt by the IS group to seize Kobane.

The IS militants are able to recruit new volunteers partly because of their savvy use of propaganda on social media, producing videos and appeals in a range of languages, Rasmussen said.

Apart from grisly images of murders of hostages and battlefield executions, the group also tries to reach alienated youth by promoting images of a welcoming, “bucolic” life in their self-declared caliphate, he said.

Catering to a younger, thrill-seeking audience, the IS jihadists employ references to Western brands and popular video games, he said.

“They have also coined pithy ‘memes’ such as, ‘YODO: You Only Die Once. Why not make it martyrdom?’”

Al-Qaeda and its branches in the Middle East and Africa have never displayed such an acumen with propaganda, he added.

The NCTC director’s prepared testimony for the House Homeland Security Committee, which holds a hearing yesterday, was released to AFP on Tuesday.

There was no single route the foreign fighters travel to reach Syria, but most eventually pass through Turkey “because of its geographic proximity to the Syrian border areas,” he said.

The recruits have taken advantage of Turkey’s visa-free travel arrangements with about 69 governments, including with European Union states, the director said. l

Members of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) investigate the scene after a bus station was hit during a recent shelling between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian government forces in Donetsk, Ukraine yesterday AP

SHELLING IN EASTERN UKRAINE

A fierce battle for survival n AP, Donetsk At the Trudovskoi bus station in Donetsk, the gossip these days focuses on whose house has been hit by shelling and where you can get food handouts.

Day and night, mortars and rockets rain down on the rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine — mainly in the city’s outlying districts, where the poorest people live.

“One shell fell, then another, and then yet another. One hit the Azerbaijani family’s house, remember?” 64-yearold Nikolai Skripko told his 38-year-old

neighbor, Sveta Banina, counting the damaged houses on his fingers.

Death bulletins have become almost daily fare since last spring, when Russian-backed rebels took up arms, trying to break two eastern regions away from Ukraine. The United Nations estimates that more than 5,300 people have been killed and nearly a million forced from their homes by the fighting.

The economic ruin caused by the violence has yet to be calculated — but it’s vast. Joblessness is rife in the rebellious regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Businesses have closed, entrepreneurs have fled and cash is running dry.

Able-bodied people have no work and retirees have no pensions, since the government in Kiev has stopped paying pensions in rebel-held areas.

A flurry of European diplomacy this week aims to halt the hostilities.

But hope for the future is faint in Trudovskoi, a neighborhood where livelihoods revolve around a coal mine forced to shut down by the war.

Ending the fighting will be only the beginning of a long, hard slog back to normal life. l

Three Muslim students killed in US shooting Netanyahu admits

‘profound disagreement’ with Obama

n AFP Police have arrested a gunman in the killing of three Muslim students – including a husband and wife – in the university town of Chapel Hill in North Carolina, US news reports said yesterday.

The shooter, identified as Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was being held in Durham County Jail on three counts of first-degree murder, the Chapel Hill News and Observer newspaper and other news outlets said.

The victims were identified as Chapel Hill residents Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh.

Hicks turned himself in after the shooting Tuesday in Chapel Hill, just outside the campus of the University of North Carolina.

Reports said Barakat was a second-year student in dentistry there while his wife was planning to begin her dental studies in the fall.

Razan Abu-Salha was a student at North Carolina State University, according to the UNC university newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel.

A Facebook community –- Our

n AFP, Jerusalem

Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha INTERNET Three Winners – has been set up for posts about the three students.

“Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha have returned to their Lord,” the community’s creators state. “They have set an example in life and in death.”

The site features a photo of the

three smiling at what appears to be graduation ceremony. The women wear Muslim headscarfs, one of them also in a blue graduation cap.

Police in Chapel Hill have not disclosed a possible motive for the attack. They were not immediately available for comment. l

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Tuesday he has a “profound disagreement” with President Barack Obama over efforts by the US and world powers to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue.

However, he said he is still trying to minimise the impact of the dispute on his country’s relations with the United States.

“We do have today a profound disagreement with the United States administration and the rest of the P5+1 over the offer that has been made to Iran,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him as saying.

Iran and Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany have been seeking a comprehensive accord that would prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb in return for an easing of economic sanctions.

In his statement, Netanyahu said what the P5+1 was offering in the negotiations “would enable Iran to threaten Israel’s survival.”

“This is a regime, Iran, that is openly committed to Israel’s destruction,” he said.

“It would be able, under this deal, to break out to a nuclear weapon in a short time, and within a few years, to have the industrial capability to produce many nuclear bombs for the goal of our destruction.”

Obama has refused to meet Netanyahu during his trip to Washington next month, saying diplomatic protocol forbade him from doing so, as the Israeli leader is fighting for re-election on March 17.

“This is not a personal disagreement between President Obama and me. I deeply appreciate all that he has done for Israel in many fields,” said Netanyahu. l

Top Turkish judge issues final anti-Erdogan broadside n AFP, Istanbul The outgoing head of Turkey’s top court launched a final broadside against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, warning that the judiciary was being turned into an “instrument of revenge” by politicians.

Constitutional Court chairman Hasim Kilic, who announced he was retiring a month early, said the government’s “extraordinary interest” in the court’s affairs was undermining judicial independence.

“Everybody knows the politi-

cal views of judges and prosecutors, even in the remotest villages of the country. We cannot move forward with such a judiciary,” Kilic said.

“The judiciary is not an instrument of revenge, it is not anyone’s tool to achieve their aims,” he told a news conference in Ankara.

The constitutional court is seen as the last bastion of checks and balances in Turkey.

Under Turkish law Kilic is not allowed to run again for the court’s chairman job because he has served the maximum term, which

is two four-year mandates. He was to retire next month.

The court has elected Zuhtu Arslan – who is said to be supported

by Erdogan – as its new leader. He was to take power on March 13.

Erdogan claims Turkey’s judiciary is under the sway of his ally-turned-rival Fethullah Gulen, an influential Muslim cleric based in the United States.

He accuses Gulen and his followers of being behind a sweeping corruption investigation that rocked then-prime minister Erdogan’s government in December 2013. l

Rouhani: No end to Middle East strife without Iran n AFP, Tehran President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday the world needs Iran to help stabilise the troubled Middle East, in remarks pointing to the wider ramifications of a deal over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.

In a live televised speech to mark the anniversary of 1979’s Is-

lamic revolution, Rouhani implicitly linked ongoing nuclear talks with world powers to resolving bloody conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

“If there is going to be peace and stability in the region, and terrorism is to be uprooted, there is no other way than with the presence of the Islamic republic of Iran,” Rouhani said.

Huge crowds assembled at Azadi (Freedom) Square in Tehran to hear Rouhani speak and commemorate the tumultuous ouster of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi 36 years ago.

The fall of the Shah was followed months later by the storming of the US embassy in Tehran by Islamist students, culminating in American diplomats being held prisoner. l

Minister: Britain ‘reserves right’ to arm Ukraine n AFP, London Britain reserves the right to arm Ukraine and will not allow the Ukrainian army to collapse, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told parliament on Tuesday.

“It’s a national decision for each country in the Nato alliance to decide whether to supply lethal aid to Ukraine,” he said in a statement to MPs. “The UK is not planning to do so but we reserve the right to keep this position under review,” he said.

Hammond said Russia had “aggravated the effects of its initial incursion” by providing military support to “proxies” fighting in war-torn eastern Ukraine.

Britain and its Nato allies “share a clear understanding that, while there is no military solution to this conflict, we could not allow the Ukrainian armed forces to collapse,” he said.

The statement follows US President Barack Obama’s announcement on Monday that he would hold off making a controversial decision on sending arms to Ukraine until efforts led by France and Germany to broker a ceasefire with Russia were given a chance.

The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany meet in Minsk yesterday in a bid to hammer out a peace deal in a 10-month war that has killed over 5,400 people.

Hammond said Russia had sent hundreds of heavy weapons and hundreds of soldiers, including special forces, into eastern Ukraine.

“The recent escalation in fighting would not have been possible without the military support and strategic direction that Russia provides,” he said. l

No room for Palestinians in Israeli election n AP, Jerusalem Judging by Israel’s election race, the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians is not an important issue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers to focus on Iran, and moderate opponents prefer to attack the right-wing government on Netanyahu’s management of the economy.

The lack of campaign-trail focus on making peace with Israel’s enemies seems to bode poorly for negotiating prospects after the March 17 election.

Palestinian leaders say they expect tough times ahead.

“Neglecting relations with the Palestinians is dangerous. It indicates what will happen after the election, especially if we have a right-wing coalition,” said Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister. “This means that the coming period will be very difficult.”

Many Israelis do agree with the international community that resolving the conflict with the Palestinians is essential to the country’s future.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians claim all three areas for a future state. Most demographers believe that without land concessions from Israel and the establishment of an independent Palestine, Arabs living under Israeli control could soon outnumber Jews. That would force Israel to make a difficult choice between preserving its Jewish and democratic characteristics.

Upon taking office in 2009, Netanyahu announced his conditional support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Pakistan may have shared bin Laden location with US n Agencies

Former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani has said that Pakistan had ‘most likely’ revealed the position of former al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden to the US, a report published on the al-Jazeera website said.

In an interview on al-Jazeera’s Head to Head show, the former ISI chief cast doubts over the intelligence agency’s official line that it was unaware of the al-Qaeda chief’s whereabouts prior to his killing.

“I cannot say exactly what happened but my assessment […] was it is quite possible that they [the ISI] did not know but it was more probable that they did. And the idea was that at the right time, his location would be revealed. And the right time would have been, when you can get the necessary quid pro quo — if you have someone like Osama bin Laden, you are not going to simply hand him over to the United States,” the former head of Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency told the host of the show.

Durrani was of the view that Osama Bin Laden’s position was revealed to the Americans in exchange for an agreement on “how to bring the Afghan problem to an end.”

Responding to a question whether the Abbottabad compound, raided by the US in May 2011, was an ISI safehouse or not, the former ISI chief said: “If ISI was doing that, then I would say they were doing a good job. And if they revealed his location, they again probably did what was required to be done.”

Durrani added that the comments were only his opinion and that he did “not know what had happened.”

He also told the host of the show, “The admission of incompetence was probably done on political reasons…

As far as the people of Pakistan were concerned, it was going to be very uncomfortable for them that their government, you know, is in cahoots now with the United States and gets hold of Osama bin Laden,” and added that Bin Laden “was an admired figure in Pakistan.” l

Afghan security personnel present four suspected Taliban fighters to the media at the Afghan National Army headquarters in Jalalabad, recently

AFP

Russia’s tactics could inspire China, Iran Afghanistan could become haven for IS n AFP, London Russia’s alleged tactics in the Ukraine conflict including covert military action and social media campaigns could inspire other nations such as China and Iran, a top defence think-tank warned yesterday.

Most armies around the world are ill-prepared for this new type of “hybrid warfare,” the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in its annual Military Balance report covering 171 countries.

It said Nato should act with “urgency” to develop responses to such threats, which had the potential to “rapidly destabilise” Western states.

The study said Moscow had waged “limited war for limited objectives” in Ukraine while maintaining a “deniability” which had confused the West’s response.

Russia denies supplying troops and

Anna Hazare won’t attend Kejriwal’s swearing in n Agencies Anna Hazare would not be there at the Ramlila Ground when Arvind Kejriwal will be sworn in as the Delhi chief minister on February 14, Times Now reported.

The ground, which served as the battleground for the 46-year-old anti-graft crusader during the Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption movement, is getting decked up to host Kejriwal for his second oath-taking ceremony.

The news comes after it was learnt that the Aam Aadmi Party was all set to extend the invite to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier, AAP’s Manish Sisodia along with Kejriwal met home minister Rajnath Singh and invited him for the ceremony.

It was also reported that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi will not be invited for the swearing-in ceremony.

Meanwhile, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Public Works Department (PWD) were seen working overtime to make the venue ready for the occasion.l

weapons to rebels in Ukraine.

As the United States considers whether to send arms to Ukraine, it also detailed how Kiev’s armed forces had been “hollowed out” by low investment and were largely reliant on Soviet-era equipment.

By contrast, Russia’s defence budget is set to rise from 2.1 trillion rubles ($31.6 billion dollars, 27.9 billion euros) in 2013 to 3.29 trillion rubles this year, the IISS said.

As well as Ukraine, the report, released in London, turned the spotlight on the Islamic State group and North Korea’s plans to develop an inter-continental ballistic missile.

The report said Russia was waging a form of war in Ukraine which combined low-level conventional and special operations with campaigns on social media to shape public opinion.

Such tactics represent a “grave threat to Nato’s collective securi-

ty” because they operate “in grey areas that exploit seams in the alliance,” it said.

Their effect could also spread further than Ukraine.

“Policymakers may anticipate that some current or potential state or nonstate adversaries, possibly including states such as China and Iran, will learn from Russia’s recent deployment of hybrid warfare,” the report said.

“These lessons might not necessarily be applied in conflicts with Western states but their potential to rapidly destabilise the existing order could, if applied in other zones of political and military competition, mean they have global ramifications.”

Some of the media tactics employed by IS jihadists in Iraq and Syria, including using social media to recruit fighters, had “thematic similarities” with those used in Ukraine, the study said. l

Kejriwal refuses security cover, presses for Delhi’s statehood n Agencies Delhi chief minister-designate Arvind Kejriwal yesterday refused to take security cover, said a party source.

“Through newspapers, we came to know that he (Kejriwal) will be given Z-plus security. But, he is a man of the masses and doesn’t need any security,” a party source said after Kejriwal met Union home minister Rajnath Singh.

AAP leader Kumar Vishwas also told NDTV that the Z security was not police security but they were informers.

“Even the personnel who have been placed on security duty for Arvind Kejriwal are saying it is meant to track his movements,” he said.

A day after leading AAP to a landslide victory in Delhi assembly polls, Arvind Kejriwal yesterday met Union home minister Rajnath Singh and discussed various issues with him.

“We have invited home minister for the oath-taking ceremony and request-

ed his support for Delhi’s complete statehood rights,” said AAP leader Manish Sisodia who accompanied Kejriwal to the meeting.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal met Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu and requested for the Centre’s assistance for development of Delhi.

“We have discussed four big issues with the minister. Firstly, the issues of the poor such as compensation for them, we will need central government’s help in that. Secondly, the issue of unauthorised colonies on which the Centre recently passed a resolution. So in order to take it forward help will be needed from MCD, DDA and the Centre,” Sisodia told reporters after the meeting.

“We told him that for more schools, colleges, hospitals and parking, a lot of land will be needed so whatever land is available with DDA, we have requested for it. l

Big Bang may have never happened n Agencies

The Big Bang never happened and our universe may have no beginning and no end, suggests a new theory by physicists, including one of Indian-origin.

The theory applies quantum correction terms to complement Einstein’s theory of general relativity and may also account for dark matter and dark energy.

The widely accepted age of the universe, as estimated by general relativity, is 13.8 billion years. In the beginning, everything in existence is thought to have occupied a single infinitely dense point, or singularity.

Only after this point began to expand in a “Big Bang” did the universe officially begin.

Although the Big Bang singularity arises directly and unavoidably from

the mathematics of general relativity, some scientists see it as problematic because the math can explain only what happened immediately after - not at or before - the singularity, ‘Phys.org’ reported.

Ahmed Farag Ali at Benha University and the Zewail City of Science and Technology, in Egypt and coauthor Saurya Das at the University of Lethbridge in Canada, have shown that the Big Bang singularity can be resolved by their new model in which the universe has no beginning and no end.

Their work, published in the journal Physics Letters B, is based on ideas by theoretical physicist David Bohm in the 1950s, who explored replacing classical geodesics (the shortest path between two points on a curved surface) with quantum trajectories.

Researchers applied these Bohmian trajectories to an equation developed in the 1950s by physicist Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri at Presidency University in Kolkata.

In addition to not predicting a Big Bang singularity, the new model does not predict a “big crunch” singularity, either.

The model avoids singularities because of a key difference between classical geodesics and Bohmian trajectories, researchers said.

Researchers explain that the quantum corrections can be thought of as a cosmological constant term (without the need for dark energy) and a radiation term.

These terms keep the universe at a finite size, and therefore give it an infinite age. l

n AFP, Washington Afghanistan is in danger of turning into a sanctuary once again for Islamist extremists as the West withdraws troops and shifts its attention elsewhere, a former senior CIA official warned.

The country could even become a refuge for Islamic State jihadists now waging war in Syria and Iraq, said Robert Grenier, the former Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Islamabad and author of a new book.

His memoir, “88 Days to Kandahar,” recounts his harrowing experience helping to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001 after the September 11 attacks “I would say if anything the future threat of an Afghan safe haven is maybe even greater than it was back before 9/11,” Grenier said at an event organised by the New America think tank.

The Afghan Taliban would not be

ready to rebuff its allies in the Pakistani Taliban or other extremists – such as the Islamic State – if they asked for sanctuary, he said.

“There are groups within Pakistan that are dedicated to attacking the regime in Islamabad. They’re not going to go away,” he said.

According to Grenier, the Taliban tend to see things in black-and-white terms, looking at decisions through the question: “Is it dictated by Islam or is it not?”

“And they won’t turn their back on people who are ideologically allied with them across the border.

“Nor do I believe will they turn their backs on international terrorists, if once again they come back to the region in any significant numbers, as I fear they will if their fortunes take a bad turn,” he said.

Grenier’s book describes how US aircraft missed taking out Taliban leader Mullah Omar by “30 minutes” in 2001 and how Hamid Karzai was near-

ly killed inadvertently in American bombing raids.

He also described a last-ditch bid to negotiate a deal with the Taliban’s number two leader in the days after 9/11, in which Grenier tried to persuade his counterpart in a hotel in Pakistan to break with Omar and stage a coup. The attempt failed.

The former CIA officer said he was skeptical that attempts to broker peace talks with the Taliban would succeed, as the insurgents still believe they can topple the government and take back power in Kabul. He also said the group was not suited to political rule or taking part in parliamentary politics.

Grenier, who rose to other senior posts in the CIA before leaving in 2006, said his book tells the story of how America quickly won what he calls “the first American-Afghan war” in 2001, and “how we lost, or at least certainly didn’t win, the second American-Afghan war.” l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Thursday, February 12, 2015

CODE-CRACKER

The real test for our hospitals

W

e hope the official inquiry into the unusual deaths of 32 people, including 10 children and newborns, within a 24-hour period at Sylhet’s MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital will provide lessons that lead to major improvements in the state of the nation’s hospitals.

If any of these deaths are found to be attributable to negligence, this must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Even if alternative factors are identified, it is clear anyway that the general standard of hospitals in the country needs to be raised.

Hygiene and post-operative care are known areas of weakness for many hospitals, both public and private.

Lessons must be learned so we can raise the standards of all the nation’s hospitals. The real test of when this will be accomplished is when we start to see fewer affluent and influential people automatically flock abroad when they need medical treatment.

Patients and families need assurance that more concrete efforts will be undertaken to bring all Bangladeshi hospitals up to world standards.

Since the vast majority of Bangladesh cannot afford to fly abroad for treatment, we must strive to help our hospitals be seen as the preferred option for medical care.

Until this changes, facilities in Thailand, Singapore, India, and even the US will continue to profit from well-off patients, even though they cost many times the amount of local private hospitals providing the same treatment.

Bring all Bangladeshi hospitals up to world standards

Free campuses from intimidation

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

BT brinjal: Myths and facts February 9 Indian scientific community. Instead, the political Your February 8 news article “Release of five more motivations of one minister, Jairam Ramesh, Bt brinjal varieties expected this year” was quite overrode good science in this case. intriguing, written on a fairly controversial issue in Thankfully, the new government in India is Bangladesh. starting to undo the damage. Similarly, in the It is not quite true though that all the Bt brinjal Philippines, no credible evidence of health varieties released to 20 farmers last year suffered hazards was ever provided to the courts by NGOs, from poor yield. Yes, seven out of 20 fields faced including Greenpeace, who oppose all GMO crops problems from bad weather and associated irrespective of their merits. bacterial wilt, but this had nothing to do with the It is very strange that these anti-GMO groups new Bt gene – which is intended only to prevent never consider the real impact of the ongoing pesattacks by the fruit and shoot borer insects that ticide use on the health of people in this country, are the main pests in brinjal cultivation in this and on our environment. country.

Those that oppose Bt brinjal deployment must Please remember that for control of fruit and be aiming to protect the markets of pesticides shoot borer, many farmers are currently forced companies – because none of their other arguto spray 80-100 times with pesticides during ments have any scientific validity. They trade in the growing season. This is why BARI DG Rafiqul myths and scare stories, but it is the job of good Islam Mondal talked of Bt brinjal being labelled as journalists to study the facts of the case and “poison-free,” because it does not require massive inform the people. toxic pesticide doses to grow, unlike the conRegards, ventional brinjal sold all over shops and markets Md Arif Hossain today. The aim of Bt brinjal is to reduce pesticide Lead, Bangladesh Alliance for Science & Visiting use in agriculture and to reduce risk to farmers Fellow and consumers’ health.

Cornell University, 251 Emerson Hall, Ithaca, NY The Indian moratorium was imposed despite 14853 overwhelming support for Bt brinjal from the

AL supporters bring out antihartal mortocycle rally January 27

T

he verdict and sentences given to 11 BCL members found complicit in the murder of Jahangirnagar University student Zubair Ahmed should be used to set an example that impunity for political thuggery on campuses will no longer be tolerated.

Our public universities are blighted by the institutionalisation of a culture of intimidation and lawlessness by student political organisations. Successive governments of all shades share the blame for this through their indulgence of criminal acts by their student supporters. This culture has to change.

In over 40 years since independence, not one person has been imprisoned for the murders of 64 students killed on Dhaka University campus in incidents involving student political organisations.

This impunity for murder arises out of the impunity for lesser crimes given to criminals who run amok in our public universities under the guise of championing student politics. Impunity has to end so that we can reinvigorate our nation’s universities as leading centres for education.

Compromising education can never be justified. The nation needs to put an end to the acceptance of gross abuses in the name of student politics.

To flourish in a global knowledge-based economy, we need to revive the reputation of our nation’s public universities in global rankings. Lifting the shadow cast by the thuggish activities of student politicians can go some way to proving the government will help change this by putting education and the public interest first.

End impunity for lawless student politicians to revive our universities

“Defying a government ban on pillion riding, ruling party supporters bring out an anti-hartal motorcycle rally - with each vehicle carrying more than one passenger - in the capital’s Farmgate area on Sunday” Yaseer Arafat Kakon Haha! Is this a joke?

Jitu Sheikh Jinat Mahmid The rules are not equal for all!

Koko buried January 27

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 6 represents N so fill N every time the figure 6 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.

14-party to hold Gayebana Janaza tomorrow January 29

zia A passenger vessel sank with more than 200 passengers on-board near Munshiganj’s Lauhajong Upazila on the River Padma on August 8, and on May 15, a passenger vessel sank at Munshiganj’s Doulatpur area in Meghna, which claimed 58 lives and so on. Lots of disasters happened in the last one year due to a lack of government accountability – why didn’t the government organise a gayebana janaza for those people? Why not even for the Tazreen or Rana Plaza victims, where 112 and 1,129, respectively, died due to government negligence?

Please stop doing this sort of dirty politics. People are not as stupid as you think.

‘Gunfight’ with police kills college teacher and ‘robber’ January 29

MS Congratulations to our police force! They are becoming active. These miscreants who are killing us, burning us, and damaging our properties must be shot at sight. We have had enough.

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Move as a baby (5) 4 Lubricant (3) 6 Minute particle (4) 8 Exclusive story (50 9 Passport endorsement (4) 11 Article (4) 12 Undressed kid (5) 15 Insignificant (5) 18 Direction (4) 20 Footwear (4) 21 Cavalry weapon (5) 22 Norwegian capital (4) 23 Japanese monetary unit (3) 24 Weary (5)

DOWN 1 Barrels (5) 2 Sund-dried brick (5) 3 Slight error (5) 4 Leave out (4) 5 Loose soil (4) 7 Sheeplike (5) 10 Cult (4) 13 American state (4) 14 Fruit (5) 15 Airman (5) 16 Singer (5) 17 Surrender (5) 18 Catch sight of (4) 19 Anon (4)

Khaleda skips graft cases hearing again January 29

Syeed Ahamed This picture of KZ holding the face of her son breaks my heart. After all, a mother is a mother is a mother ... and so are all the mothers who are holding the burned bodies of their sons and daughters.

CALVIN AND HOBBES

M Sirajullah Thanks to the PM for finally understanding the situation. Congratulations to our police force for starting to take action and saving us from burning.

I urge the people to come to the streets in order to resist these hooligans and arsonists. Do not get burned for nothing, resist them boldly and save the country.

The death of an illicit whisperer January 29

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

shottikar bangalee Gobindo Haldar’s songs shaped our national consciousness to an inestimable degree.

I would put him right up there with Rabindranath. It is sad that his name was so obscure among non-aficionados.

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD

Evil People Politics The ever ponderous Garga Chatterjee is at it again! Fantastic op-ed.

Karl Hungus This article deserves a standing ovation.

Gobindo Haldar’s work was pivotal to Bangladesh winning over its oppressors, and it is nothing short of heartening to see a nonBangladeshi acknowledge the man’s greatness.

Indian foreign secretary sacked January 29 Mamun Rashid She had gone way too overboard. Read my Tribune piece “How to behave in someone else’s country.” Regards, MR.

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Nationwide cyanide n Rubaiyat Kabir

L

BIGSTOCK

T

H

I

R

D

E

Y

E

Local CEOs, global corporations

I

n Mamun Rashid

was only 40, too young to become CEO of a global company here in Bangladesh, that too in a bank. According to the Bank Company Act, one has to have at least 15 years worth of relevant experience to become the CEO of a banking company in Bangladesh. Credit goes to my seniors in South Asia at Citigroup – they wanted a local to be at the helm of affairs in the local franchise and drive growth.

I have reasons to be grateful to persons such as Nazrul Huda, deputy governor at Bangladesh Bank, and most importantly Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, the Bangladesh Bank governor, who not only approved my appointment in little time, but also wanted me to migrate the best practices from the advanced Citi franchises to the Bangladesh financial market.

To be frank, I didn’t have a clue about what to do and what not to do as the head of the franchise in an emerging market like Bangladesh. Client booking, client relationship management, and trade finance or project finance were not much of a problem, but maintaining global standards, compliance standards, world class management style, and more importantly, to be able to stay away from controversies – those were difficult.

My risk senior in London, who also interviewed me, himself being a country manager in one of the Southeast Asian countries, whispered into my ears: “As a local CEO in a global corporation, you should first stay away from

any recruitment, and let HR and the functional heads do their jobs; second, stay away from recommending any clients for credit facilities, despite knowing them; and third, stay away from making any procurement decisions or recommending any supply vendors.”

Through all of my eight years, I remembered those words, and by the grace of the Almighty, was able to stay away from anything odious. Many seniors in the South Asian office, as well as the Asian headquarters, literally coached me and taught me “the Citi way” of doing things.

I am very proud of Abrar Anwar too, my longtime colleague and comrade, for taking over the command at Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh.

My friend Kamran Bakr thought of leaving the job when he was not made the chairman of Unilever Bangladesh.

I thought it was only a matter of time once he completed an overseas stint, the job would very much be his. Now, we have Rupali Chowdhury, possibly the first woman CEO of a regional multinational in Bangladesh.

We had Nasreen Sattar running Standard Chartered Bank, Afghani-

The Bangladesh market has been very tough for locally-grown CEOs. Hostility from peers can drive one crazy

I also received a lot of guidance from my peers and a few other local CEOs in European pharmaceuticals and one or two FMCG giants. They were, of course, few in number. We didn’t have many to consult or follow.

I am much happier today, seeing British American Tobacco hire their first local CEO in the 100 years they’ve been in Bangladesh. I gave a few lectures to their classes at IBA. I am told that this gentleman, Shehzad Munim, has broken past all their records.

stan, a tough assignment by all definitions. Our own Ata Safdar built a very good track record at Reckitt-Benckiser Bangladesh, who is now playing his second innings as their regional boss.

We have a few more notables, and according to reports, there are many others who have begun flexing their muscles.

The Bangladesh market has been very tough for locally-grown CEOs. Pressure from the government, hostility from peers, inefficiency of

juniors, managing upwards, managing downwards, all sorts of challenges that can drive one crazy.

The regional office would doubt you, HR would suspect you of recruiting your friends and kin, finance would doubt you for nepotism, the regional office would curse you for failing to implement the “foreign corrupt practice act.”

The local market even seems to be ready to accept an O level or highschool graduate European CEO over a blue chip North American businessschool graduate from Bangladesh.

Most of your bosses may apprehend how a local CEO may “succumb to undue pressures” from the local authority.

There are challenges, and you can rest assured that there will be even more once this market becomes more attractive and less of a trouble to govern or commute. Yet, our men and women will be occupying larger, increasingly seniors roles, both locally and regionally, if not globally.

For that, they have to be groomed well, speak the global language, and accept the best global practices as their way of life and embed them in their day-to-day practices.

Our future looks bright. Brighter than the past. Most growing companies have been able to go ahead with hiring North American or European graduate Bangladeshis to run their local franchise, if growth matters to them. l

ook, there’s something I need you to do. There’s very little time to explain! Just listen to me! Go home (if you aren’t there already), bolt your doors shut, chuck your phone(s) out the window, sever your Internet connection (keep your television set though), and confine yourself.

Don’t worry about shopping for staples, this isn’t “preparation for nuclear winter 101” or anything, this is about taking back the one last thing that we as citizens of a nation have left: Control over our lives.

These are times of war, ladies and gentlemen – both the government and their immediate rivals are heavily invested in conducting some form of twisted experiment to see how much further they can push the envelope with us. There wasn’t much we could’ve done though.

The enemy was well-placed and funded well enough to have swept the rug right from under us without us even noticing. And so, there’s very little reason to fight for survival anymore. But there is one last thing we can do, which brings me back to the plan at hand.

Confine yourself to your homes, cut yourself off from the rest of the world, and just … do nothing. Do absolutely nothing. Rid yourself of worries about your (or your child’s) education, making money, yada yada yada, they matter little in death. Yes, death. Do nothing until you die. That’s the plan. I know this sounds stupendously stupid and more than a little crazy, but just go with me on this one.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not the opposition to our incumbent rulers who are the cornered rats. That title belongs to us, the average citizens. The combined forces of our current and would-be uneasy heads are hell-bent on suffocating us out of our holes and cleansing us in fire. I’m not using the word “genocide,” not yet, but it sure as

Mamun Rashid is a business professor and financial sector entrepreneur.

hell feels like the next worst thing.

Why would they do this to their own countrymen? Could it be misanthropy taken to its extremes? Severe frustration at the very top of each respective hierarchy? I wish I had some answer to offer, but all I have are these loose theories. What I do know for certain is that this has been going on for years, decades in fact.

Confine yourself to your homes, cut yourself off from the rest of the world

Also, that a disruption caused in the traditional game of political leapfrog indulged in by our two resident warring dynasties would ultimately damage the people, was expected … and yet they allowed it to happen. What does that tell us?

That we are acceptable casualties in someone else’s war? No. We are active participants in this melee, and right now we are staring down the barrel of their muskets.

So, do the honorable thing: Confine yourself to a space of your choice – one that isolates you from another living soul – exhaust what little life-preserving resource you have left while watching the nation implode on your television screens (in 4K HD, for some of you lucky folks!), and waste away until you die. Let’s not give the enemy the satisfaction of landing the killing blow on us, and pull the trigger ourselves. l Rubaiyat Kabir works at the Dhaka Tribune.

BIGSTOCK

You recognise petrol bombs, but you don’t recognise people n Aminul Sarwar

O

n the one hand, the BNP is saying that they are not lighting cars on fire and killing people in arson attacks. On the other hand, in an attempt to justify their ongoing blockade they are citing examples of the Awami League setting fire to a bus and burning people, in 2004, in front of Hotel Sheraton. Here, they are saying:

A victim without a face?

BNP does not set fire, the government does!

If that logic holds true, then for the 2004 attack, the AL should not be held responsible, but the onus should lie with the then BNP government. The current government may be constitutionally correct, but they came to power through an election that was ethically incorrect.

The soul of democracy is its

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

elections – if those aren’t fair, then democracy suffers. The democracy in our country is in the sick bed! Even if elections are sound, democracy has been suffering from the very beginning. In a democracy, accountability is as important as an election. We never found accountability; one only hopes, but to no avail.

The ruling party happens to be the biggest political party also. Their hold on the three main components of the government is quite strong. While the people are not confident with the government’s integrity and morality, they do not rely on the opposition party’s political prowess either.

Even if an election does take place – hypothetically speaking – people may vote the opposition party to power.

But that voting will not result from a hope for change, but rather to teach the ruling party a lesson.

Up until the current circumstances, BNP was not able to exert the necessary pressure for the coalition government to resign. The sacrificial lamb of their arson attacks is the common people and the economy. They don’t need me to point this out for them; which means, these brutal attacks are informed, deliberate attacks.

By these attacks, they are trying to intimidate people into joining

the movement against the government – either you join us, or we burn some more! By imposing the moral responsibility of these killings on the government, BNP is calling for creating pressure from the so-called domestic third power. There is also a simultaneous attempt to internationally highlight the plight of the country’s internal political situation.

full with the Middle East and Ukraine!

Pakistani intelligence agencies, kept on their toes by their domestic terrorist threats, cannot spare time for India-Bangladesh relations.

The BNP is not likely to get in the good-books of India if they keep their ties with Jamaat. Since historically, BNP has been known for campaigning against the AL for the latter’s pro-India

They are trying to intimidate people into joining the movement against the government – either you join us, or we burn some more

But is there any space for moral pressure, given our political culture? I believe there is no such space, and there never was. Post 1/11, the so-called third power became quite infamous in such an attempt – and it is unlikely for that history to repeat itself.

There isn’t much chance of any international endeavour either. Especially, when the US has got its hands

policies, there is no strong argument why India should suddenly push aside the AL and embrace BNP. The only path that remains for BNP is to initiate a mass movement. By bringing millions of party workers and supporters to the streets, they have to disregard government instructions and shut down roads, offices, and businesses. Only by gathering a lot of

people can the BNP startle the police, RAB, and BGB, and scare off the AL party workers.

The government will have no choice but to step down. The BNP needs to take to the streets with the moral resolve of self-sacrifice, if need be. The government will collapse, there will be no need to set people on fire. Win the battle to take the throne.

The votes will follow. You can wipe off the Liberation War itself – taking with it the process of the trials of war criminals. Instead of pillars, build a second Padma bridge. Not only can you fly the flag on the car of a collaborator, you can also make him president, who will receive Independence Day salutes – we will endure that also, but please, just don’t burn us anymore.

Can you do that, madam? Please do so, if you can. Otherwise, please go home and sleep. Wake up each afternoon and call meetings of your central committee every midnight, followed by press releases the next morning – please go back to doing that. Please don’t burn us. l Aminul Sarwar is a former government employee, and presently runs his own business. This article was translated for AlalODulal by Tahasina Rafa. This article first appeared on AlalODulal.org.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Thursday, February 12, 2015

13 Invincible Dhaka

sink port city in NCL

14 Warner consults

psychologist over ‘brain snaps

AYS 3D 2 O GO T

Sport

Did you know?

2 The ICC has named Sachin Tendulkar as the ambassador of the World Cup for the second time

Tigers play in a match situation in Sydney yesterday with paceman Rubel Hossain (2R) bowling to Mushfiqur Rahim as Shakib al Hasan (L) and pace-bowling coach Heath Streak look on (2L)

Bangladesh eye Ireland scalp n

Bangladesh will target nothing less than a victory when they face Ireland today in their second and final warm-up with just two days left before the 11th edition of the ICC World Cup gets underway Down Under.

The Tigers’ final warm-up will take place at Blacktown Olympic Park Oval in Sydney. The match will begin at 5pm.

So far, Bangladesh have played a total of three practice matches, including two unofficial games against Cricket Australia XI. Besides losing both the

Fed Cup from Feb 16 n The football season is set to kick off with the Federation Cup from February 16 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. The draw of the tournament will take place today afternoon. 12 teams – 11 Bangladesh Premier League outfits and one Bangladesh Championship League side – will participate in the tournament which was deferred from its original time November-December due to the Bangabandhu Gold Cup. “Finally the Federation Cup will start and it will take 18 to 19 days to end. We will make sure the professional league will begin after this,” said BFF chairman Abdus Salam Murshedy yesterday. He also informed of sitting with the team management to find a time slot for the Bangladesh U-23 players’ training camp. l

Hawk Eye

unofficial games, Bangladesh also lost their first warm-up against Pakistan by three wickets last Monday in Sydney.

After three straight defeats, the Tigers will be looking to register their first win on the tour before starting their World Cup campaign against Afghanistan this Wednesday in Canberra.

During the practice matches, some of the Bangladesh batsmen were unable to capitalise on starts while the spin department – the Tigers’ strong point - has also been a worry as the spinners failed to express themselves.

There were also a few positives in the practice matches. Bangladesh ran Pakistan close before conceding a close defeat. Opener Tamim Iqbal, making his return from injury, and Mahmud-

ullah, shone against Pakistan scoring 80-odd each and were also involved in a 168-run stand for the third wicket. At one stage Bangladesh were 184/2 and if the batsmen are in a similar situation during the World Cup, then one or two good knocks from thereon in will help guide the Tigers to a competitive total.

Tamim’s return has bolstered the Tigers’ batting line-up. The opening partnership was causing a few worries during the southpaw’s absence but now that he is match-fit, their fears have been allayed with Anamul Haque expected to partner Tamim in the World Cup. Bangladesh’s pacemen are also easing their way in slowly but surely. Pakistan were 8/2 at one point while the Bangladesh quickies caused enough

trouble during the innings. The conditions in Australia and New Zealand will be conducive for fast bowling so the fact that the Bangladesh pacers picked up five of the seven Pakistan wickets to tall will please the team management.

Ireland on the other hand are also dealing with a similar kind of scenario.

Expected to thrash Scotland, the Irish, instead, suffered a crashing 179-run loss.

In the last couple of World Cups, the two teams have faced each other often. In 2011, co-host Bangladesh got the better of Ireland in the group stage while four years earlier, it was Ireland’s turn to savour victory, this time in the Super Eights.

The two teams have played each other seven times with Bangladesh winning five and losing two. l

Nasir happy with preparation n

Enough is never enough. In a brief period no matter how much practice one performs it will never be enough to get accustomed to foreign conditions, but their purpose of landing early in Australia has been fulfilled, said Bangladesh cricketer Nasir Hossain yesterday.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board had sent the Bangladesh squad to Australia early in order to get the players adjusted to the conditions. The Tigers trained in Brisbane for couple of weeks and also played two unofficial warm-up games against an Australian XI side before moving to Sydney for the two official warm-up games of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

“No matter how much we practice,

we can’t understand the entire scenario in just seven to 10 days,” said Nasir from Sydney yesterday when quarried how well the cricketers are dealing with the Australian condition. “But I believe we have completely utilised the amount of time that we had here. We achieved everything we wanted form practising here. We did well. Hopefully we can do well in the main event,” he added.

Bangladesh started their official warm-up against Pakistan with a narrow three-wicket defeat defending a sub-par total of 246 on Monday. The Tigers will be keen to win against Ireland in their last preparation game today.

“All the matches here were important and after the Ireland game there is no other practice match prior to the

World Cup. So this game (against Ireland) is really important for us and the last opportunity to set things right. This game will be the place to take the positives from and boost the confidence for the main event – let it be a batsman or a bowler,” said Nasir.

Bangladesh in their opening game will face ICC Associate member Afghanistan who have already set their eye on beating the Tigers like they did in their first Asia Cup campaign back in February 2014.

However, Bangladesh players are not hung up on the memory as Nasir said, “The first match, let it be a series or a tournament, is always important.

Winning the game against them (Afghanistan) will make our journey easy.

So we are looking forward to a win.” l

BCB

European University of Bangladesh lift Fair Play Cup n

European University of Bangladesh emerged as champions in the 8th ULAB Fair Play Cup beating State University of Bangladesh by five wickets at the ULAB Ground, Mohammadpur, yesterday.

SUB batted first and posted 150 for five, a target that was easily achieved

by EUB with five wiskets to spare. EUB’s Nahid Newaz Noyon was adjudged as the man of the final while Ashraful Zahid was named the best batsman.

ULAB’s Anujm Ahmed Jassy was named as player of the tournament

while Izal Ahmed became the best fielder. The best bowler award was bagged by Nur-e-Alam Jannet of State University of Bangladesh.

Former cricketer and renowned commentator Ather Ali Khan distributed prizes as the chief guest while Kazi Inam Ahmed, director, Bangladesh Cricket Board and ULAB Board of Trustees Member, Professor Imran Rahman, ULAB Vice Chancellor and Juditha Ohlmacher, ULAB Board of Trustees Member and Adviser, Communications and Student Affairs of ULAB were also present. l

Captain of European University of Bangladesh lifts the ULAB Fair Play Cup trophy at the ULAB playground yesterday COURTESY

ICC WORLD CUP 2015

Moment of deliverence – The impact players

Every global event that brings several nations together revolves around the performance of a few individuals that leave their mark on the event.

YOUSUF RAHMAN (BABU) This mark not only represents the quality of the individual and the flag that he represents but it also enhances the quality of the event.

The ICC World Cup 2015 will also have this elite group of individuals who are to be considered as impact players. The success of their team will depend on how these players perform. I have picked a few players that are, in my mind, going to be the horsepower that will drive the engine forward.

To start off, I will pick the players from selected teams and briefly explain why the player or players are to be considered as the ones that will have the most impact for their team’s overall performance.

Australia: The one player that automatically comes to mind is David Warner. He is a pack of TNT ready to explode every time he goes to bat and at the moment there is no bowler that can dictate and dominate him. Against a good world class attack, he mixes caution with aggression and gets

good scores. Against a mediocre attack, his batting is ruthlessly effective.

Australian progress will depend on his success because with Warner on the loose, one can easily expect an Australian score of 300 plus. True, there are other Australian players like Steve Smith and Glen Maxwell that are in striking form but it is Warner who must set the tone.

The other player that will be a force to reckon with is Mitchell Johnson. He is one of the most aggressive strike bowlers in world cricket and is expected to play a major role in ensuring the Australian progress.

India: Picking this player is a no-brainer.

Virat Kohli must come up big in this tournament for India to have any chance and I am confident he will. Kohli is one of those players who can set the tone of the innings very early on whether the team is batting first or chasing. He has won several matches for India chasing totals beyond 300. His ability to judge the situation and pace his innings is remarkable. He had a tremendous Test series against Australia recently and even though he failed in the Tri-Nation ODI series, he will come back strong in the World Cup. England: While Johnson, Dale Steyn and Trent Boult are for pace and bounce, James Anderson is for genuine swing and accuracy with the new ball. And that makes James

Anderson the most dangerous new ball bowler in the World Cup. Anderson is one bowler that can get wickets on any type of pitch be it on dry sun baked surface in India, the UAE or on grassy wickets of England and Australia. When the ball gets older, he reverses it better than many.

Along with Anderson, if I were to pick another it would have to be Ian Bell for his batting class and experience. This England team is young and Bell’s batting is crucial for the team to do well and I am confident that he will find the conditions on Australian wickets conducive to his style of batting.

South Africa: The two that automatically come to mind are AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla. Both of them make two of the best batsmen in the world today. While Amla is more sedate and calculated in his approach, De Villiers is ruthlessly effective. To better describe their style we can state that Amla is a surgeon while De Villiers is the butcher; however, both of them in their own unique styles get the job done.

With these two, the player that will create an impact will be Morne Morkel because of the extraordinary bounce he generates by fully utilising his height. These three must strike on a fairly consistent basis for South Africa to progress far into the tournament.

New Zealand: Like Hashim Amla, Kane Williamson seems to be the most composed

batsman in the Black Caps’ tent. He has been in tremendous form and is easily the most dependable player in the side as far as batting is concerned. He comes in at a position when the team may ask of him to play with caution to build the innings and with composed aggression to maintain the run rate, both of which he so eloquently displays. Added to his batting skills is his ability to bowl genuine off spinner that can trouble the best in the business. Watch out for this giant killer with the skills of an assassin.

Another player to watch that is likely to create an impact is Brendon McCullum. He is an explosive player and can take any match away from the opposition right from the start, something that is similar to Warner.

Pakistan: “Boom Boom” are the two familiar words that Pakistanis and international cricket commentators alike cry out whenever Pakistan is on the field. Shahid Afridi can win a match single-handedly on any given day. Sad part is that he is a terrific bowler but a part time batsman. But he is the only game changer in the Pakistan squad. Even though Pakistan’s rating is nothing to rave about and that not many I spoke with are giving them a chance to go beyond the quarters, they can storm through provided Afridi strikes it big this time. Needless to mention, he will need to come up with one of the most consistent

all-round performances of the tournament if Pakistani fans want to see their green and white progress in the tournament. Perhaps, to many eyebrow raised cricket followers, I wish to add Yasir Shah’s name here. He is a genuine leg spinner who reminds me of the great Abdul Qadir, who is a turner with a wrong one. If he gets to bowl in the right areas, he can be a dangerous prospect on the bouncy Australian wickets. Watch out for this fellow!

Sri Lanka: The “three musketeers “of Sri Lankan cricket have now become the “three aged musketeers.” Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene have held their batting together for years with world class performances. Sangakkara is the key to give Sri Lanka the scores that the Lankans would be looking for. He is a skilled craftsman who not only has the finesse but also the power. If the other two get going then Sri Lanka’s search for glory may turn into a reality.

In addition to the batting veterans, Lasith Malinga can be a major factor with his experience and consistent yorker length deliveries in the death overs.

West Indies: I had counted on Sunil Narine as one of their major impact player but he has pulled out of the tournament. So the attention now turns to someone like Chris Gayle. If Gayle can keep his lid on and play

with some caution, his natural ability to disperse the ball to all corners of the park will take the Caribbean team smoothly into the quarter final stage and perhaps beyond.

Bangladesh: Only one name qualifies here and that is of Shakib al Hasan. He has been and, will be for the foreseeable future, the only impact player for Bangladesh. Not much of a turner, he relies on smart bowling rather actual spin. He will step up for Bangladesh and his performance will be crucial in the matches that Bangladesh must win (Afghanistan and Scotland). Bangladesh’s match against England will be played in Adelaide which is one of the few surfaces where spinners may have a significant role.

Shakib needs to produce a gem of a game aided by additional support from the others to give Bangladesh the chance creating of a major upset.

Others: The others that may be considered to have an impact are Brendan Taylor for Zimbabwe, the O’Neill brothers of Ireland, and Mohammed Nabi of Afghanistan. All of them are pugnacious performers and their sole performance can turns half-chances into a full chance.

Let us keep this list handy and follow as each game unfolds in front of our eyes. We shall all look forward to the final day and find which player has created the most impact for its team. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

13

Thursday, February 12, 2015

QUICK BYTES

BRIEF SCORES, DAY 4 Dhaka v Chittagong

Wenger frets over Sanchez, Ramsey injuries

Chittagong 155 allout & 287 allout in 99 overs Sabbir 4/44, Mosharraf 3/86 Dhaka 616/5 dec Dhaka won by an innings and 174 runs

Arsene Wenger said he was concerned about the fitness of Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey after the Arsenal stars suffered injuries in his side’s 2-1 win over Leicester. Wenger lamented what looks like a third hamstring injury of the season for Ramsey as the Welsh midfielder went off just nine minutes after coming on as a second half substitute. He was also critical of heavy Leicester tackling that saw Chile winger Sanchez taken off with a knock following a clash with Matthew Upson at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. “I don’t know (the extent of the injury) but it is not good news,” Wenger said of Ramsey. “He’s had a recurrence now of a few injuries. “Sanchez had a knock with his knee and I don’t think he was himself. From the moment he got his knock, he was never comfortable. I don’t know how long he’ll be out.

–AFP

Striker Osvaldo set to sign for Boca Hot-headed Italy striker Daniel Osvaldo arrived in Buenos Aires on Wednesday and is set to make Boca Juniors, where he hopes to sign a loan deal from Southampton, his fourth club in 13 months. If the Argentine-born Osvaldo, who has ended a loan spell at Inter Milan after falling out with coach Roberto Mancini, passes a medical later on Wednesday, the team he supported as a kid will become his 11th club. The 29-year-old left Buenos Aires side Huracan in 2005 for a long period in Europe that also took in Italian sides AS Roma and Juventus and spells in Spain and England. Osvaldo was disciplined by the English FA and Southampton last season and Inter last month over incidents on and off the pitch. “It’s the biggest dream of my life,” Osvaldo told reporters of his imminent move to Boca. “I’m very happy, very nervous about all this ... I haven’t signed yet so I’m not saying anything for now,” he added at Ezeiza international airport. “I know full well what it means to wear the Boca shirt. I have faith that everything will work out well.” Osvaldo, who left Saints in January 2014 to play for Juve and then scored five goals in 12 Serie A appearances for Inter this season, will be on loan for six months with an option to extend the deal if Boca advance in South America’s Libertadores Cup. –Reuters

Fernandes hints at new QPR manager choice Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes has hinted at a surprise choice to replace the departed Harry Redknapp as manager of the struggling Premier League club. “Think I have got my dream manager,” the Malaysian told his 943,000 followers on Twitter on Tuesday. “Not what anyone thinks.

Take a while. Still a bit to go but I’m very happy. Press all wrong.” Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood is the bookmakers’ favourite for the job at Loftus Road, where caretaker coach Chris Ramsey has been in charge since Redknapp resigned last week. However some media reports have indicated that negotiations with the 46-year-old were stalling over financial terms. QPR, who have failed to score a point away from home this season, are 19th in the table and facing an immediate return to the Championship (second tier).

–Reuters

Multi-million bonuses for victorious Ivorians Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara has splashed out over €3 million ($3.4m) in bonuses to reward the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations winners, the Sports Ministry announced on Tuesday. The west African nation pipped Ghana 9-8 on penalties after a goalless draw following extra time in Equatorial Guinea to lift their second title after 1992. Coach Herve Renard was invited to the presidential palace on Tuesday with the Frenchman receiving a bonus of more then €114,000 ($129.000). His 23-man squad were each given a house worth €46,000 ($52,000) as well as the same amount “in cash”, according to Sports Minister Alain Lobognon.

–AFP

Barton booked for record seventh successive game

QPR midfielder Joey Barton was booked for a Premier League record seventh successive match in his side’s clash at Sunderland on Tuesday. The notoriously feisty former Manchester City and Newcastle star was shown the yellow card in the 75th minute after fouling Sunderland winger Adam Johnson. The 32-year-old had previously been booked against Crystal Palace, Swansea, Burnley, Manchester United, Stoke and Southampton.

–AFP

Khulna v Rangpur Rangpur 310 allout & 259/8 dec in 105 overs Mostafizur 4/46 Khulna 213 allout & 163 allout in 51 overs Nurul 60; Mahmudul 4/71, Sanjit 2/22, Shuvashish 2/29 Rangpur won by 193 runs Rajshahi v Sylhet Rajshahi 482 allout Sylhet 324 allout & 335/3 in 93 overs Rahatul 106*, Imtiaz 79, Sayem 67, Rajin 67; Saqlain 2/81 Match drawn Dhaka Metro v Barisal Dhaka Metro 400 allout & 247/8 in 52.4 overs Shadman 89, Mehrab Jr 51*; Kamrul 3/55 Barisal 261 allout & 267/2 in 69 overs Fazle 100*, Shahriar 78, Shajib 58*; Asif 2/41 Match drawn Rangpur cricketers are ecstatic after their 193-run win over Khulna on the fourth day of their third round NCL match in Mirpur yesterday COURTESY

Invincible Dhaka sink port city n Mazhar Uddin Dhaka division maintained their winning spree in the National Cricket League as they beat Chittagong by an innings and 174 runs yesterday. Rangpur also clinched a thumping 193 runs win over Khulna while the other two matches of the third round ended in a draw.

Dhaka division v Chittagong, BKSP 3

It was only a matter of time for Dhaka wrap up the proceedings as Chittagong could add just 42 runs before getting all out in their second innings. Earlier

the port city side made 155 in the first innings after Dhaka declared on 616 for five.

Rony Talukder, who smashed his second consecutive double hundred, was rightly adjudged as man of the match.

Dhaka now lead the league table with 75 points while it was Chittagong’s third staright defeat.

Khulna v Rangpur, SBNS

Rangpur managed to pull off a brilliant win having posted a target of 357 and dismissing Khulna for just 163 on the

last day. Resuming on 218/8, Rangpur were earlier all out on 259.

Off spinner Mahmudul Hasan bagged four wickets while Subashis Roy and Sanjit Saha picked a couple each for Rangpur to register their second win.

Barisal v Dhaka Metro, Fatullah

An unbeaten hundred from Fazle Rabbi was not enough for Barisal who had to remain content with a draw chasing Dhaka Metro’s 387. Rabbi’s 100 saw Barisal placed at 267 for two when the match was called off for a draw. National discarded Shahriar Nafees also con-

tributed 78.

Rajshahi v Sylhet, BKSP 2

Rahatul Ferdous’ unbeaten 106 off 169 deliveries, clubbing 14 fours and three sixes, saw Sylhet end the match with 335 for three on the scorecard.

Openers Sayem Islam (67), Imtiaz Hossain (79) and middle order Rajin Saleh (67) along with Rahatul ensured Sylhet encounter any more batting debacle and they at least have a point from the match.

Earlier, Rajshahi posted 482 on the back of Maisuqur Rahman’s 158 and Junaed Siddique’s 112. l

Clarke makes safe return as Australia rout UAE n Reuters, Michael Clarke struck a half-century in an encouraging return from injury as Australia routed United Arab Emirates by 188 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday in their last warmup before the World Cup. Leading the team after a long lay-off from hamstring surgery, Clarke promoted himself up the batting order to open with Aaron Finch and top-scored for the hosts with 64 from 62 balls after winning the toss on a sweltering day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Finch (61) and Steven Smith (59) also scored half-centuries as Australia put 304-8 on the board before bowling the Middle Eastern minnows out for 116 with nearly 20 overs to spare.

Clarke’s knock would have lasted only 20 minutes and two runs had Amjad Ali not put down a diving chance at cover point and the 33-year-old also survived a shout for leg before in a streaky start to his innings.

After finding his range he took to UAE’s bowlers with gusto and though his running between the wickets was never explosive, it appeared comfortable enough to please coach Darren Lehmann.

“He played really well, which is nice

to see after coming back from the hamstring,” Lehmann told host broadcaster Fox Sports.

Selectors gave Clarke a deadline to be fit by the second group match against Bangladesh on Feb. 21 and the captain appears in no danger to miss it.

Lehmann was cagey as to whether Clarke might even be ready to pad up against England for Australia’s World Cup opener at the MCG on Saturday.

“We’ll sum it up tomorrow, really, (on) how he pulls up more than anything,” said Lehmann.

UAE, coached by former Pakistan bowler Aaqib Javed who won a World Cup with the team in 1992, were not disgraced in the field and briefly threatened to bowl Australia out with three quick wickets late in the innings.

Clarke raised warm cheers from the crowd of 3,000 by taking the ball in the 17th over to send down a few deliveries of his left-arm spin. He bowled two wicketless overs for five runs.

Fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins took two top-order wickets each to continue their battle for a spot in Australia’s pace attack, while middle-order batsman Swapnil Patil top-scored for UAE with 31.

Krishna Chandran was the pick of UAE’s bowlers with 3-50. l

Bubka backs Germany’s planned Olympic bid n AFP, Pole-vault legend Sergey Bubka has backed Germany’s planned bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games with Hamburg and Berlin both vying to be chosen as the host city.

“The country is famous for it’s love of sport and is one of the most successful countries in the Olympic Games,” Bubka, an executive member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told German magazine Sport-Bild.

“An Olympics would surely have a positive effect on sports in Germany.”

The 51-year-old Ukrainian is a sixtime world champion and is Sebastian Coe’s rival for the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

In March, Germany’s Olympic Committee will decide whether Hamburg or Berlin will be chosen as their host city candidate to bid for the 2024 or 2028 Olympic Games, should the earlier bid fail.

A referendum must then take place in the respective city so the local population can approve a possible bid. l

Hewitt offered one last hurrah on grasscourts n Reuters,

Australia’s Michael Clarke bats against the United Arab Emirates during their ODI World Cup warm-up match in Melbourne yesterday AFP

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt will begin his preparations for his final bow at Wimbledon this year at the Aegon Championships after organisers of the Queen’s Club grasscourt event guaranteed the Australian a wildcard.

The unusual move to hand out a wildcard before the entry list is known is reward for the 33-year-old former world number one who has won the Wimbledon warm-up event four times.

Hewitt, who will retire after next year’s Australian Open, is winding down his career and will only play two tournaments this year, Queen’s and Wimbledon as well as the Davis Cup. “It took us roughly two seconds to decide to guarantee Lleyton a wild card!” said tournament director Stephen Farrow. l

Bolt eager to re-establish ICC have idea on who fixers are: chief executive sprint supremacy n Reuters, Real Madrid suffer Bernabeu revamp setback n AFP, Real Madrid’s plans for a multi-million euro redevelopment of their Santiago Bernabeu stadium have suffered a setback after an agreement with the city council was quashed by a Madrid court.

The European champions have ambitious plans for the iconic venue but Madrid’s High Court has put the renovation on hold with the club under investigation over a related land deal.

Real Madrid announced plans just over a year ago to make the Bernabeu “the best stadium in the world” with an estimated 400 million euro ($453 million, £297 million) development. l

Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt is eager to reassert his supremacy following an injury-plagued season in which American Justin Gatlin took over as the number one ranked sprinter.

“I felt like I’d retired, the way people were talking about Justin Gatlin,” Bolt said with a laugh on Tuesday at the launch of Puma’s Ignite line of running shoes. “I found it to be funny. Like wow, I’m one season out and it’s like I retired.”

Bolt proclaimed himself fit for the new season, which peaks at the Aug. 22-30 world championships in Beijing on the way to the 2016 Rio Olympics, and said he hoped to resume his record-setting ways.

A relaxed Bolt, who has ruled the 100 and 200 meters in the Olympics since 2008 and holds both world records, said Gatlin just kept his seat warm.

“Justin Gatlin did well, he kept the sport exciting,” the Jamaican said. “He kept people wanting to see us compete.

For me it’s OK, and I’m always looking forward to competition.”

Bolt, 28, is scheduled to open his 2015 campaign with a 400 meters in Jamaica at Saturday’s Camperdown Classic, but did not sound keen.

“I’m trying to get out of it,” said Bolt, who finds the 400 to be a chore to run.

Bolt wants to focus on the 100 and 200.

“One of my biggest goals is to go sub-19,” Bolt said about the 200 meters and his world record of 19.19 seconds.

“That’s one thing I want to accomplish before I retire so I’m pushing myself.

I’m working hard and we’ll see what happens.”

Bolt, who also added relay gold to his 100 and 200 Olympic sweeps in Beijing and London, is aiming for a mind-boggling triple Olympic triple.

“Just adding to my accolades,” he said. “That’s the key thing. You can only keep making yourself greater by adding great moments.”

Bolt would not venture to rank himself among the greatest athletes over the decades including Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps. l

n Reuters, The International Cricket Council had a “far better idea” of the people involved in match-fixing and would do everything in their power to ensure the “sickness” of corruption did not affect the World Cup, Chief Executive Dave Richardson said on Wednesday.

The sport has been blighted by reports of match-fixing in recent years, though Richardson said the governing body’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) had been working with local authorities to ensure it did not influence the Feb. 14-March 29 event in New Zealand and Australia.

“I think the preparations the anti-corruption unit have put into this tournament, far exceed previous tournaments,” Richardson told a media conference in Christchurch, also attended by local organising committee head Therese Walsh and New Zealand Cricket Chief Executive David White.

“They have a far better idea who these people are that travel the world and try to influence players, umpires

and curators to get some sort of benefit on the betting side.”

The ACSU’s head Ronnie Flanagan said last week that fans would be able to watch the tournament “with confidence” it would be free of corruption.

Richardson, who said the ACSU had been working with law enforcement in both Australia and New Zealand for about three years, added that security around teams and officials would make it very hard for them to be approached by fixers.

“I think we are in the best place ever in terms of fixing,” the former South Africa wicketkeeper added. “We have made it very difficult for them to approach players.”

The ICC had also noticed a change in attitude from players over the last 12 months, Richardson added, with even innocuous contact being reported to the anti-corruption unit.

“The players have been tremendous over the last couple of years, indeed the last 12 months, in acknowledging their responsibility in fighting the sickness in the game,” he said. l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Misbah leads Pakistan to victory over England n Reuters, Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq scored a majestic 91 not out to lead Pakistan to a thrilling four-wicket victory over England in their final World Cup warmup at Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old notched up five fours and two sixes in his 99-ball knock, turning the match in a fourth-wicket partnership of 133 with Umar Akmal.

Akmal fell for 65 to leave Sohaib Maqsood (20) and then Shahid Afridi to help their captain guide the 1992 world champions past England’s total of 250 for eight with seven balls to spare.

Afridi (eight not out) scored the winning runs with successive fours but rode his luck with the decisive second, which was almost caught at mid-off.

Pakistan’s batting had been far from convincing in their win over Bangladesh on Monday and they will now head to Adelaide to face reigning champions India in their tournament opener on Sunday with renewed confidence.

England’s bowling spearheads James Anderson and Stuart Broad took a couple of wickets apiece to keep the contest alive until the last few overs but the English were punished for anything loose.

Misbah brought up his half century with a thumping six into the noisy band of Pakistan fans packed into the members’ stand and Akmal reached the milestone in the same manner 10 overs later.

Ehsan Adil had earlier set the tone for a fine Pakistan bowling performance in an opening over which accounted for Moeen Ali (4).

Gary Ballance came in at number three with a point to prove in his first game since September after recovering from a fractured finger, however, and he steadied the ship with a well-crafted 57.

It was only after he had departed with an ill-executed slog sweep and out-of-sorts skipper Eoin Morgan fell for a duck attempting a lap sweep to a full toss, however, that England really got a grip on their innings.

Joe Root provided the adhesive with a sparkling 85 off 89 balls and combined with Chris Jordan (31 not out) to steer his side towards a competitive tally.

England rested Ian Bell, Chris Woakes, James Taylor and Steve Finn but all should return when they open their World Cup campaign against cohosts Australia on Saturday. l

Pakistan batsman Misbah-ul Haq reverse sweeps as England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler attempts to block during their ODI World Cup warm-up match at the SCG yesterday

Kiwis thrash South Africa, Zimbabwe stun Sri Lanka n

AFP,

New Zealand hammered home their status as World Cup dark horses with an emphatic 134-run warm-up win over South Africa on Wednesday while whipping boys Zimbabwe stunned Sri Lanka by seven wickets.

Just three days out from the start of the marathon six-week event, both South Africa -- who rested match-winners Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn -and Sri Lanka looked lacklustre.

In Christchurch, Kane Williamson top-scored with a 53-ball 66, dotted with nine fours. Skipper Brendan McCullum smashed a typically muscular 59 off 45 balls with seven fours and a six.

Their efforts lifted the home side to an impressive 331-8 in 50 overs.

Seamers Vernon Philander, Wayne Parnell and Kyle Abbott all took two wickets each but strike bowler Morne

Morkel went wicketless, conceding 31 runs off seven overs.

New Zealand pace bowler Trent Boult showed the vaunted Proteas attack how to make the most of the conditions at the Hagley Oval with the 22-year-old returning 5-51 off 9.2 overs.

It could have been more embarrassing for South Africa but JP Duminy (80 not out) and Philander (57) lifted their side from 62-6 with a 121-run seventh-wicket stand, which put a little gloss on the gloomy picture.

Come Sunday, when South Africa face Zimbabwe in their first pool match at Hamilton, “we will be ready to go -we won’t read too much into this”, he insisted.

Boult said the game helped his chances of selection for a starting spot on Saturday when New Zealand open their World Cup campaign at home to 1996 champions Sri Lanka.

Zimbabwe warmed up for Sunday’s clash against South Africa with a shock seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka at Lincoln.

Sri Lanka, who were also World Cup runners-up in 2007 and 2011, posted a challenging 279-8 in 50 overs with Dimuth Karunaratne top-scoring on 58 and Jeevan Mendis making 51. Slow left-arm bowler Sean Williams helped apply the brakes with 3-35 in 10 overs.

In reply, Hamilton Masakadza smashed 117 not out at almost a run-aball with eight fours and three sixes.

He and skipper Brendan Taylor (63) put on 127 for the third wicket before Masakadza and Williams (51 not out) added an undefeated 119 for the fourth.

Sri Lanka used nine bowlers but could still not make significant inroads.

Zimbabwe’s run chase was so easy that there were still 28 balls left when they hit the winning runs. l

WARM-UP BRIEF SCORES At Christchurch New Zealand 331-8 in 50 overs (Kane Williamson 66, Brendon McCullum 59) v South Africa 197 all out in 44.2 overs (JP Duminy 80, Vernon Philander 57; Trent Boult 5-51) New Zealand won by 134 runs At Lincoln Sri Lanka 279-8 in 50 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 58, Jeevan Mendis 51) v Zimbabwe 281-3 in 45.2 overs (Hamilton Masakadza 117 not out, Brendan Taylor 63, Sean Williams 51 not out) Zimbabwe won by 7 wickets At Melbourne Australia 304-8 in 50 overs (Michael Clarke 64, Aaron Finch 61, Steve Smith 59) v United Arab Emirates 116 all out in 30.1 overs Australia won by 188 runs At Sydney England 250-8 in 50 overs (Joe Root 85, Gary Ballance 57) v Pakistan 252-6 in 48.5 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 91, Umar Akmal 65) Pakistan won by four wickets

Warner consults psychologist over ‘brain snaps’ n AFP, Daredevil Australian opener David Warner said Wednesday he has consulted with a psychologist to prevent the “brain snaps” that have erupted through his playing career.

Warner said he has worked hard to eliminate rash strokes and impulsive decision-making ahead of his first-ever World Cup, starting this weekend in Australia and New Zealand.

“I’ve actually spoken to my psychologist about it,” Warner told Melbourne radio station 3AW. “There are thoughts that go into your head ... you try and premeditate, but those thought processes in your head, you’ve got to try and think ‘How do I nut that out?’ You’ve got to try and work out when you’re out there in the heat of the moment to actually be relaxed, clear your mind and say ‘Right, just get off strike now’.

“That’s the process that I have to think through now in my head.”

Mourinho accuses FA of double standards n AFP, Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, has accused the Football Association of double standards having not taken action against Robin van Persie for an elbow on James Tomkins.

The Blues boss remains without main striker Diego Costa for the final game of his three-match suspension against Everton on Wednesday.

Mourinho, who did not mention van Persie by name, raised the inconsistency of the governing body’s decision on Tuesday after the Manchester United forward did not receive a violent conduct charge for what West Ham defender Tomkins described as a ‘malicious’ act.

Mourinho, who made an elbow gesture while he emphasised his point, said: “I need a little bit more time to forget why my player was suspended, to understand why some people are punished and others aren’t. I need a little bit more time to process that.

“The same people (the FA) who suspended my player didn’t want to suspend a player this weekend, and a player could have been suspended this weekend and he wasn’t.” l

AFP

Warner scored 163 runs at 54.33 during the recently completed one-day tri-series against England and India, including his third limited overs century in the series opener. He continued that form with a blistering 104 from 83 deliveries in a practice game against India at the Adelaide Oval this week.

“I think I’ve had to learn how to play (one-dayers) just like Test match cricket, place it, try and hit the gaps,” he said.

“I can get myself off to a good start, I don’t really need to take it to them. I’ve just started to learn that and I’ve found my way now. If the ball is still going to be there and I want to hit it over the top, by all means I’ll do that.

“But still in my mind I’m saying to myself, ‘I can still score at a strike rate of 100, even if I bat properly’. I’ve now got that in my head and now I can play the way I want to play.” Warner credited the influence of Australia’s team psychologist Michael Lloyd in improving the mental side of his game. l

Van Gaal denies FA charge over ref rant n AFP,

Leicester City’s Matthew Upson (2R) challenges Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez during their English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London on Tuesday

REUTERS

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has denied a charge of misconduct following his criticism of referee Chris Foy. Van Gaal was charged for his comments about Foy after United’s 0-0 FA Cup fourth round draw with fourth tier minnows Cambridge United last month.

After the stalemate at the Abbey Stadium, the Dutchman said “every aspect of the match” had been “against” his team.

“You have seen the referee. It’s always the same. Everywhere I have coached these games - and I have coached them also with other clubs it’s always the same,” he said.

The Football Association charged van Gaal last week, saying that his comments “allege and/or imply bias on the part of the match referee and/or bring the game into disrepute”.

Van Gaal had already said he would contest the charge before the FA’s announcement on Tuesday.

“Louis Van Gaal denies FA misconduct charge in relation to media comments and requests personal hearing, date to be confirmed,” said the FA on Twitter. l

Arsenal into top four as Spurs lose at Liverpool Newcastle’s De Diarra deal ed in fifth who host lowly Burnley on before the France goalkeeper made a one the Premier League’s most feared Jong has surgery n Reuters, stunning, instinctive save to keep out forwards, restored parity for the visiWednesday. n AFP, tors in the 26th minute with a neat turn Queens Park Rangers claimed their his rasping drive minutes later.

Mario Balotelli’s first league goal for for collapsed lung Liverpool sealed a topsy-turvy game at first points away from home this seaand low finish.

West Ham United manager Sam AlEPL Sturridge could have given Liver- lardyce said on Tuesday that he was Anfield that they twice led through La- son with a 2-0 victory at Sunderland n Reuters pool the halftime lead but his auda- hopeful of signing Lassana Diarra after zar Markovic and a Steven Gerrard pen- thanks to goals from Leroy Fer and Arsenal 2-1 Leicester Newcastle United’s Netherlands midfielder Siem de Jong has had surgery after suffering a collapsed lung and will be sidelined for eight weeks, the Premier League club said on Tuesday. The condition is similar to a complaint he had in 2013 when he was at Ajax Amsterdam.

The 26-year-old had been out of action with a torn thigh muscle but was nearing a return to first-team duty.

“After four months of hard work getting back to full fitness it is such bad luck to suffer another setback,” De Jong said on the club’s website. l

West Ham consider

alty before being pegged back by the inform Harry Kane and Mousa Dembele.

Arsenal, with a revitalised Mesut Ozil in a central role, led 2-0 through Laurent Koscielny and Theo Walcott before basement side Leicester’s record signing Andrej Kramaric got his first goal for the club as they dominated the second half.

Fourth-placed Arsenal have 45 points from 25 games -- two clear of sixth-placed Spurs and three ahead of Liverpool in seventh -- though they could be displaced by Manchester Unit-

Bobby Zamora.

Hull City climbed out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 victory at home to free-falling Aston Villa - courtesy of goals from Nikica Jelavic and Dame N’Doye - subjecting the Midlands side to a fifth successive league defeat in the process.

At Anfield, striker Daniel Sturridge, on his first Premier League start after a long-term injury, was one of Liverpool’s liveliest players and could have scored twice inside 13 minutes.

First the England international’s tame shot was saved by Hugo Lloris

Koscielny 27, Walcott 41

Hull

Kramaric 61

2-0

Aston Villa

3-2

Tottenham

Jelavic 22, N’Doye 74

Liverpool

Markovic 15, Gerrard 53-P, Balotelli 83

Sunderland

0-2

Kane 26, Dembele 61

QPR Fer 17, Zamora 45

Liverpool were not to be denied in the 15th minute though when Markovic’s low shot squirmed past Lloris.

Tottenham’s Kane, fast becoming

cious backheel clipped the post after an unfortunate mix-up between two Spurs defenders.

The second period was only eight minutes old when Liverpool regained the lead through captain Gerrard who converted a penalty won by Sturridge’s mazy run.

Tottenham responded and moments later Dembele bundled home Kane’s scuffed cross and, as both sides pushed for a late winner, it was Liverpool and the much-maligned Balotelli who pounced with a close-range finish. l

revealing that the former Real Madrid midfielder is training with the club.

France international Diarra, 29, has been without a club since leaving Lokomotiv Moscow in August, but could be added to West Ham’s squad.

“He is training with us,” Allardyce told a press conference. “I’m not so sure whether we have finalised a deal yet, but he is doing a little bit of training with us. The deal is very close to being finalised and, once we have him fit he will be a very good addition based on his previous record as a footballer.” l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

KUSUM penned book on poetry

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Chitkar’s debut album released

Lux superstar and actress Kusum Sikder launched her first poetry book titled, “Neel Kyafer Kobi” (Poet of the Blue Cafe) on Tuesday in Ekushey Book Fair.

About the book from Annesha Publication, the authoress, Kusum Sikder shared, “When I was a student of class 9 in Mohammadpur Preparatory School, I wrote my first poem. My second written poem ‘Bikiron’ has got an inclusion in this book. The readers will get about the spirit of life in this book which is written from the memorable pages in the diary. Different incidents of my life inspired me to write these poems. I hope, the booklovers will enjoy the book. There are 34 poems in this book.

Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu was present there as a chief guest. He recited one of the poems, titled Bibostro Shadhinota in presence of Kusum and audience.

On the other hand, the shooting of Goutom Ghosh directed film “Shongkhochill” will be starting at the end of this month. In this film, for the first time, Kushum is going to act with Indian actor Prosenjit Chatterjee. l

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Live music band Chitkar officially launched their self-titled debut album at the Swoparjito Shadhinota premises on the Dhaka University campus in the capital on Tuesday evening.

The band’s followers are in for a different experience, as the album packs tracks with melodious rock and political satire influences alongside the band’s usual rock fare. Poddo, the vocalist of the band, has written and composed all the nine tracks.

The band’s prime philosophy is to perform live in front of an audience. Doing that for more than 10 years, it is the audience’s plea that has push them into bringing out an album. “We have been doing music for a long time on principle of enthralling live audience. But our fans insisted that we make an album,” Poddo said.

The launch ceremony saw a number of musicians and bands in attendance supporting Chitkar’s venture. Kafil Ahmed, Shohojia, Onnoshwar and Shoptosindhu performed at the event, while Maqsoodul Haque, Kazi Krishnokoli Islam, Topu, and bands such as Chirkut, Leela, Lalon and Joler Gaan were also present at to show their support.

Chitakr’s line-up features Poddo on vocals and mandira, Fazle Rabbee on guitar, Shazib on guitar, Atanu on guitar, Shuvo on bass and Sadequr Tuhin on drums. The band recorded the album at Butter Communication Studio, its sound and music produced by Pavel Areen. Brought to the market by G Series, the album is available on iTunes. l

15

WHAT TO WATCH TELEVISION

HER ALIBI HBO Hits, 3:10pm Cast: Tom Selleck, Paulina Porizkova A writer of BAD detective novels is in full writers’ block. He pretends to be the alibi of a beautiful woman who was arrested for murder at first thinking her innocent, but as she shows more interesting abilities.

MAGNOLIA HBO Defined, 3:50pm Cast: Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore The film begins with a narrator telling us three separate stories based on the theme of coincidence. From there, we meet 9 characters whose lives are all connected in one way or another.

THEATRE

Artiste Sudeshna Swayamprabha, Amit Chowdhury and Arna Kamalika perform a group classical piece at the Understanding Classical Dance in the capital on Tuesday. Arranged by Bengal Foundation, the programme is a monthly series of lecture and demonstration curated and presented by Sharmila Banerjee

PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE I ROMEO V/S JULIET I SEVENTH SON 3D I JESSABELLE @ Star Cineplex SEVENTH SON 3D I ROMEO V/S JULIET I EXODUS 3D I INTERSTELLAR I NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB I THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES I THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE @ Blockbuster Cinemas

VARUN avoided socialising for Badlapur role

Exhibition

Taste of Light and Darkness Time: 6pm – 9pm Alliance Française de Dhaka Road 3, Dhanmondi Light, Dark, Space

By MD Tokon Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Art Lounge, 60 Avenue, Gulshan 1

n Entertainment Desk After playing romantic roles in his first three films, Varun Dhawan is foraying into the dark realm with Sriram Raghavan’s “Badlapur.” Said to be a special film for the actor, the revenge drama sees him play the intense and angst-ridden Raghu. The trailer of the Dinesh Vijan-produced movie has become a talking point.

Varun, whose character ages up to 40 in the course of the film, had apparently become so involved in his part that it influenced his equation with his family and friends in the industry. At a press conference, his mother revealed that she had noticed the transformation in him and used to be scared of him.

We also heard that while shooting for this movie, Varun had cut down on socialising. More often than not, he’d keep to himself and it was on the rarest of occasions that he ventured out to meet his friends. “Badlapur,” presented by Eros International and produced by Maddock Films, releases February 20. l

Sustainability Fair Time: 10am – 10pm Jatra, 60 Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Banani The Paradoxical Now Time: 12pm – 8pm Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts Road 16, Dhanmondi

Theatre

Naam-Gotrohin Manto’r Meyera Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm Studio Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Shegun Bagicha

ANDREW GARFIELD dropped from Spider-Man franchise n Entertainment Desk Spider-Man is coming back to the Marvel Universe in a deal with Sony, but Andrew Garfield won’t be playing the superhero.

Instead, reports suggest that Sony is looking for a younger actor than 31-year-old Garfield to take on the role of high school student Peter Parker.

Marvel has all but confirmed the film will follow Parker, rather than black-Hispanic character Miles Morales, who takes over from Parker in the Marvel comic books following his death.

The announcement was first made by Linda Ge, a reporter for film magazine The Wrap, who took to Twitter to post: “Confirmed: Andrew Garfield is no longer Spider-Man. Someone new will be cast. First appearance in MCU, then solo film.”

The new Spider-Man will make his first appearance in May next year in the eagerly anticipated crossover Civil War, which see’s him take the side of Iron Man against Captain America in a war over whether superheros should have to register their powers with the government.

Then on July 28, 2017 the new Spider-man will get his own rebooted film franchise - and speculation is rife over who will done the iconic costume: Garfield will be 34 and considered way too old to play the teenage Peter Parker. Many fans are calling for the next Spider-Man to be black teenager Miles Morales, who succeeds Parker in the comics.

New York Daily News was among the first to propose a list of viable replacements, including Ansel Elgort, Jack O’Connell, Dylan O’Brien, and Logan Lerman. l

RAVEENA did Bombay Velvet for its story and music n Entertainment Desk The “will she” or “won’t she” questions on Raveena Tandon’s appearance in “Bombay Velvet” have for long been around. Setting the record straight, the actress says she is a part of the film.

The actress took to micro-blogging site Twitter to clear the air around her appearance in Anurag Kashyap’s film, lauding its storyline and music.

She tweeted: “Too much hype around my appearance in the film.

I have done it for fun and only because I love the film and the music of ‘Bombay Velvet.’”

The actress also said that she never denied being a part of the movie, but was unclear whether she will appear after film’s editing.

“When asked all the time about it, all I said was ‘I don’t know if I will be there also or no in the final edit as film is in the editing stage’.”

“Bombay Velvet” is jointly produced by Phantom Films and Fox Star India, and is a large screen adaptation of Gyan Prakash’s “Mumbai Fables.” It stars Ranbir Kapoor, Karan Johar and Anushka Sharma. l

NATALIE PORTMAN wasn’t given a script for Knight of Cups n Entertainment Desk Natalie Portman’s “Knight of Cups” premiered at the Berlin Film festival. The young Academy Award winning actress wowed people on the red carpet there and dished on what it was like to work with the legendary director Terrance Malik.

The 33-year-old actress chatted about how the film was unusual in that there was no set script.

“It was

quite a lot of discussion, considering how little I worked on the film,” Natalie told Vulture. “We’d receive like 30 pages a day with suggested ideas for dialogue.” In total, Natalie only shot for 4 or 5 days.

“I never had any lines to learn, but I would see other people coming [to set] and they’d have pages,” her co-star Christian Bale added. “I would try to look over their shoulders to see what I was going to be being told that day, because I never knew at all.”

“Knight of Cups” tells the story of a screenwriter living in Los Angeles who tries to make sense of the strange events occurring around him. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Aspiring migrants throng expat office in Dhaka

Back Page

Thursday, February 12, 2015

No drive against violation of rule at book fair

Most applicants do not know that forms can be collected from district offices the queues, this Dhaka Tribune corren Shohel Mamun spondent found that many of them do Thousands of migration seekers have been congregating at Probashi Kallyan Bhaban in Dhaka’s Eskaton everyday since the government announced that Saudi Arabia will recruit workers free of cost.

Every morning, job seekers wait in long queues for getting registration, hoping that they will get enlisted.

Sometimes they would even push others to stay in the queue.

‘I did not know about the facility. Some people told me to rush to Dhaka to grab the chance to go to Saudi Arabia’ Although the authorities keep on cautioning job seekers in loudspeakers to avoid getting lured in brokers nets, some candidates can still be seen paying money to these middlemen for getting their papers through “in the shortest possible time without any hassle.”

The Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry said the Saudi Arabia will primarily recruit only female workers as domestic helps. But very few women can be seen in the long lines outside the Probashi Kallyan Bhaban.

“Job seekers can register their names from any district-level office. But we have seen that those in the queues have mostly come from the districts,” said Mohammad Ali, assistant director of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment.

“Moreover, many of them have already got their names registered when Malaysia announced recruiting workers,” he said.

Talking to the people standing in

not know that they can get registered at the district offices.

“I did not know about the facility.

Some acquaintances told me to rush to the capital to grab the chance to go to Saudi Arabia,” said Mostafizur Rahman who came from Noakhali.

He gave Tk10 to a broker to get a photocopy of the registration form which can be availabled from the office at free of cost. “He [the broker] showed me how to fill up the form for Tk50,” Mostafiz said.

Sirajul Islam, who works at a restaurant in Nilkhet in the city, thinks he can change his life for good by migrating to Saudi Arabia at free of cost. “I will change my profession. I am ready to do any kind of work in Saudi Arabia,” he said.

On Tuesday, job seekers vandalised a pavilion of the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry at the ongoing Digital World Fair after authorities suspended distributing forms because of overcrowding.

Most of the registration seekers are not aware that they could have easily collected the forms from the district offices.

According to an official, the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment office in Dhaka has so far registered 6,500 names until Tuesday.

More than 7,000 names were registered yesterday alone. Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia signed a deal on Tuesday under which the oil rich Middle Eastern country will resume importing manpower from Bangladesh gradually.

At present, most of Bangladesh’s remittance comes from Saudi Arabia where over 1.5 million Bangladeshis live. On February 1, following a six-year ban centring anomalies in recruitment processing, the Saudi government announced that it would hire workers from Bangladesh again. l

The world outside may be burning but the boi mela premises is still one of the few safe places where children can be themselves

n Nure Alam Durjoy Unlike in previous years, Amar Ekushey Book Fair authorities have not yet taken AMAR EKUSHEY steps to curb BOOK FAIR 2015 rule violations as of the 11th day of the fair.

The last few years saw the fair committee conduct a drive against stalls that breached regulations by selling books published abroad and selling titles published by other publishers at their stalls.

The Dhaka Tribune learned last week many stalls had been selling books published by foreign publishers, as well as pirated books and titles

sold by other publishers from the start of the month-long fair.

We are in a worse position, as the fair committee has grown lax in monitoring it, said a publisher and fair committee member.

According to Article 6.1 of the Fair Regulations 2015, participating institutions can sell books printed and published in Bangladesh, while according to Article 6.5, no participating institutions and bodies are allowed to sell books of other publishing houses.

Fair committee Member Secretary Dr Jalal Ahmed said they were planning to hold a drive against errant organisations at the earliest possible.

“We will launch a drive very soon,” he said.

Manjurur Rahman, chief of the

Tk5 crore lost as 4,500 cars stuck at Mongla port n Our Correspondent, Khulna

People seeking migration to Saudi Arabia gather in thousands at the office of the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment in the capital’s Eskaton area yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Day 4 of hartal passes with minor incidents n Tribune Report The fourth day of the ongoing BNP-led 20-party alliance hartal was relatively peaceful yesterday, without any major incidents in the capital, or elsewhere.

Vehicular movement inside Dhaka was routine, but only a few buses left the terminals for intercity and inter-regional travel.

There were a few attacks outside the capital and a few were injured, but none in Dhaka.

Police detained three people - Abdul Kuddus Fakir said the detainees are Farukh, 30, Mamun, 17, and Kawsar, 17, from different areas in Bangshal with five petrol bombs.

At least 12 BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists were held from Dhaka for 24 hours till the morning for involvement in or for plotting criminal activities in the capital, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in a message released to the media yesterday.

Additionally, RAB-1 detained two from Gulshan 1 with 10 petrol bombs

around 7pm yesterday.

Our Shariatpur correspondent reports, three were injured in a crude bomb blast at Nalashan village in the district yesterday. Police alleged the blast occurred while the bomb was being made on the floor of Mohammad Ali’s abandoned poultry farm.

The blast injured Siraj Chowkidar, Masum Munshi, and Rafik Chawkidar who quickly left the scene. Police filed a General Diary about this incident.

In Bhola, police recovered five crude bombs in a raid in Western Para in Bhola Sadar around 12:30am, said Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ramanand Sarkar.

Police arrested four people for allegedly hurling petrol bombs at a truck in Netrokona.

Meanwhile, two criminals were injured but managed to flee the scene after their own cocktail bombs exploded at Nischintopur village in Halsa union of Sadar upazila in Netrokona yesterday afternoon. RAB personnel recovered explosives of cocktail and petrol bombs,

along with a foreign-made pistol.

According to our Moulvibazar correspondent, locals caught an Islami Chhatra Shibir activist and set alight a motorcycle, while the five Shibir activists were trying to barricade the Kulaura-Juri road in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar on Wednesday around 1.15 pm.

Four crude bombs were blasted at different places in Rajshahi University from 11am to 12pm.

Borguna correspondent reports that police recovered 11 abandoned petrol bombs from Itbaria village.

Elsewhere in Feni, miscreants hurled petrol bombs yesterday at three buses, setting them ablaze.

Meanwhile, in a separate development in Dhaka, the police reportedly stopped the delivery of food for Khaleda Zia’s associates who had been staying with the BNP chief at her Gulshan office since January 5. Shamsuddin Didar, BNP chairperson’s press wing official, claimed law enforcers barred meals from being delivered at around 8pm yesterday. l

Car importers say they incurred a loss of around Tk5 crore in the last one month for not unloading cars at Mongla port because of the ongoing blockade and frequent general strikes.

Some 4,500 reconditioned cars are waiting to be unloaded at the port as the importers fear that the vehicles might be damaged in blockade violence while being taken to showrooms.

However, they had to bear miscellaneous expenses for keeping the cars at the port.

According to the customs duty rules, reconditioned cars imported from abroad have to be unloaded within 45 days as the failure to do so will authorise port officials to sell the vehicles at auction.

This has worried importers as the large number of cars, each priced at Tk20 lakh to Tk1.5 crore, still to be unloaded might be put up for auction. Around 200 importers have imported the cars.

Abdul Haque, owner of Haque Bay and the former president of Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association, said he had as many as 1,000 imported cars stuck at the port and not a single one had yet been offloaded.

“Unloading the cars means I need to worry about having those damaged in possible street violence,” he said.

Assistant Traffic Manager of the port Mostafa Kamal said the rate of unloading vehicles had dropped by 35% amid the ongoing political turbulence.

Kamal also said the ship expected to reach the port today with 500 cars.

Captain Md Rafiqul Islam, owner of Sinhua Automobiles, said the loss for the failure to offload cars and take those to showrooms amounted to around Tk7,000 crore.

“On average, 100 cars could have been unloaded every day if the political situation was stable,” he said.

Director (traffic) of Mongla port Kazi Golam Moktader said the port authorities had nothing to do if importers did not have their cars unloaded.

He also said operations at the port were not affected by the strike or blockade. l

copyright task force, said they would look into whether the stalls were selling pirated books.

Publishers and fair committee members said at least 50 stalls were selling books of foreign publishers, especially from India, and pirated books and titles published by others.

“We demand putting an end to these errant stalls,” said Osman Gani, president of Academic and Creative Publishers Association of Bangladesh.

Dr Ahmed, however, said the fair committee had visited several stalls on February 3 and warned several stalls for breaching guidelines.

On February 3, they found Holy Publishers, Shishu Prakash, Shishu Ghar, Phoolki, Rangin Phool, Boipoka, Reza Publishers, Gyan Bitoroni, Brataman Samay, Muktadesh, Magnum

MEHEDI HASAN

Opus, Ilma Publications, Trinolata Prakash, Purba Prakashani, Shila Prakashan, Shamim Publishers, Shaily Prakashan, Aguntok, Oikya, Alpona Prakashani, Gana Prakashani and others were selling pirated books and books published by others.

The fair committee cautioned 25 stalls to stop selling pirated books and books of other publications immediately; otherwise their stall would be closed down, said fair officials.

With 107 new titles joining the fair, the total number of new books stands at 1,371.

Despite these issues, the book fair continued to be an exciting place for book lovers on day 11. The excitement is expected to continue with the start of Falgun tomorrow and Valentine’s Day after. l

Five JMB militants get death penalty n Our Correspondent, Barisal A trial court in Jhalakathi has sentenced to death five militants of banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for killing district public prosecutor Haider Hossain eight years ago.

Muhammad Abdul Halim, the additional district and sessions judge of Jhalakathi, handed down the verdict yesterday in presence of three JMB men. Two other convicts are on the run.

The convicts are Billal Hossain (absconding) and Abu Shahadat Md Tanvir alias Mehedi Hasan alias Mushfique of Barguna; Murad Hossain of Khulna; and Sagir Hossain Bhuiyan (absconding) and Amirul Islam alias Amir alias Halkhat alias Hiron alias Milad of Dhaka.

Haider was shot dead in the night of April 11, 2007 near his house while returning home after offering prayers at the adjacent graveyard mosque – 13 days after the execution of six top JMB leaders including its chief Shayakh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqur Rahman alias Bangla Bhai.

Haider had led the prosecution in the trial against seven topmost JMB leaders for the killing of two district judges – Jagonnath Parey and Shahid Sohel Ahmed – on November 14, 2005.

Of the seven, six were executed on March 29, 2007 in four prisons of the country – Kashimpur, Comilla, Mymensingh and Pabna – under tight security and secrecy. The five others are Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal Molla alias Omar alias Shakil Ahmed, Amjad Hossain alias Khalid Saifullah, Iftekhar Hassan Al Mamun and absconding Asadul Islam alias Arif

After the executions, the JMB militants threatened to kill Haider within one month.

Tarek Ibne Haider, the only son of prosecutor Haider, filed the murder case on April 12, 2007 with the Jhalakathi sadar police against unknown persons.

CID inspector Mosharraf Hossain, the fifth investigation officer, submitted charge sheet against the five JMB men on January 17, 2010 – around 39 months after the killing. The charge sheet was prepared based on the confessional statement of one of the convicts Murad and other evidence.

None of the family members of the victim was present in the court during pronouncement of the verdict yesterday.

Contacted over the phone, Tarek said they were happy with the verdict.

He demanded quick execution of the verdict and erecting a memorial at the spot where his father had been killed.

M Alam Khan Kamal, additional public prosecutor of Jhalakathi, pleaded for the state. Lutfar Rahman represented the three convicts now under custody while Manjur Rahman stood for the two fugitives as state defence counsel.

Kamal said after the indictment, the case was sent to Barisal Speedy Trial Tribunal on November 30, 2010 which recorded the testimonies of 55 out of 57 witnesses. It was sent to the Jhalakathi District Judge’s Court on June 26, 2011 since the 135-day timeframe of the tribunal ended by then.

The Jhalakathi First Additional District Judge’s Court resumed the trial on July 12, 2011 and recorded statement of another witness before delivery of the verdict. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207.

Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com

B3 Trick or treat? India’s

strong GDP figures mask economic reality

B4 Finance chiefs vow

action to bolster growth at G20 meet

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Sonali Bank writes off Hallmark’s loans of Tk1,700cr The bank’s board approves writing off total loans of Tk2,086 crore provided to a total of its 23 clients n Jebun Nesa Alo The state-owned Sonali Bank has written off the loans embezzled by the Hallmark’s group as there is no hope of getting the money back.

The executive committee of the Sonali Bank recently approved Tk2,086 crore loan write off proposal in favour of a total of 23 clients, including the scam-hit Hallmark.

Apart from Hallmark, the committee also written off the bad loans of 13 other clients from various branches of the bank. Of the amount, around Tk1,700 crore written off against the loans of Hallmark group from Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch while 13 other clients from other branches.

‘Sonali Bank has written off loans of Hallmark group as the bank becomes totally hopeless in recovering the loans’ The approval came at the 35th EC meeting of Sonali Bank. The board made the decision at a time while the bank is running with capital shortfall of Tk394 crore.

Expressing concern over the huge amount of loan write off, Bangladesh Bank has undertaken a move to check whether the required provisions were followed before writing off the loans.

“Sonali Bank has written off loans of Hallmark group as the bank becomes totally hopeless in recovering the loans,” said Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Mohammad Naushad Ali Chowdhury.

He said the bank can write off any loan after the board approval following the required provisions.

“We’ve instructed the department concerned to check whether the proper procedures were followed in case of writing off the loans against the Hallmark group,” he added.

The BB investigation had earlier found that Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch lent Hallmark Group and five other companies Tk3,547 crore in between 2010 and 2012 on fake documents. Of the total amount of Tk3,547 crore, Hallmark Group alone swindled Tk2,686.14 crore.

Later on, Sonali bank filed cases against Hallmark Group as it failed to get buyers for the mortgaged assets of the company.

The bank fell into capital shortfall while the huge amount of loans, taken through irregularities, turn into default. Then, the government had injected around Tk2,000 crore in the year 2013 and Tk710 crore in the year 2014 for the survival of the bank.

However, despite huge amount of loan writing off, the bank showed high profit in the year 2014. The bank bagged operating profit of Tk855 crore and net profit of Tk492 crore.

The actual profit scenario of the bank could be ascertained just after the visit of Bangladesh Bank investigation team, said a BB review report on Sonali Bank.

The bank also showed that capital shortfall was reduced to Tk394 crore in the last year, after recapitalisation of huge amount by government, from Tk895 crore in 2013, but this figure might be higher than the bank’s claim after the investigation by the central bank, said the BB report.

Sonali Bank has a total written off loans worth Tk2,946 crore during the last year and rescheduled loans of total Tk2,756 crore in the year 2013 and 2014.

The rate of default loan of the bank has come down to 28.54% in December last due to the rescheduling and writing off of huge amount of loan. It could have crossed even 40% had there been no rescheduling and writing off, said Bangladesh Bank in its review report.

The position of the state-owned bank slipped to five from its previous marginal level four in its CAMELS rating during the last year as the bank’s financial health was considered “unsatisfactory” l

Habibur Rahman, a rawhide trader in old part of Dhaka, waits for customers during hartal yesterday, but sees a very few. The current political unrest has taken a heavy toll on the businesses of many like him as the political crisis seems have no end soon. Now the traders wonder when the deadlock will end MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

RMG losses stand at Tk22,000cr in blockade n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi

The country’s readymade garment sector has incurred a loss of Tk21,711 crore in the last 35 days due to cancellation of orders, extra-burden of air freights, delays in shipments, discounts and vandalism in the wake of the non-stop political unrest beginning from January 6.

Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) came up with the disclosure while explaining the impact of the ongoing political unrest over US$25bn RMG sector at a joint meeting held in the capital yesterday.

He was addressing an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) jointly organised by the BGMEA, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) to figure ways to tackle the current political situation, which took heavy toll on the

country’s business.

According to the BGMEA estimate, the apparel sector faced the order cancellations worth Tk10,000 crore while it had to spend additional money of over Tk918 crore for air shipments.

It also said the RMG sector had to pay Tk5,000 crore extra as it failed to ship the products on time.

During the blockades, vandalism costs the exporters Tk4,395 crore while Tk750 crore for planning disruption.

The sector also had to pay Tk84 crore extra as transport fees.

The sector also has lost 25% to 30% orders due to the ongoing political unrest, which would cast negative impact on the sector to achieve the export target, said Islam.

He also feared that the RMG sector people would be forced to cut jobs in their factories due to order shortage in the upcoming days.

The prevailing political disturbance made the global buyers worried about the supply of raw materials, and safe-

Hopes for Valentine’s-Falgun business shattered n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Gift item vendors said they had seen substantial fall in sales due to political unrest even though this is usually a peak season as Valentine’s Day and Pahela Falgun are ahead.

“In my shop, sales have dropped by around 65% this time compared to the same time last year,” Toufiqur Rahman Sathi, a sales executive of Archies Gallery at the New Market, told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

He said they had stockpiled new gift items targeting the Valentine’s Day and first day of Bengali month Falgun which welcomes the season of Spring.

On these two occasions, people offer gifts to their loved and dear ones, but the ongoing political violence keeps them from visiting shops.

“Customers are very few. The situation is so worrying that we may become bankrupt,” Toufiqur Rahman said.

Mobarak Hossain, branch in-charge of Nipun Craft Limited at the Bashundhara City in Dhaka, said they had designed over 50 items including salwar kameez, sari, fatua and punjabi.

“But sales have declined over 50% as the political unrest continues,” he said.

“Our investment targeting the two occasions is at stake. I fear if the situation worsens further we won’t be able to realise even 50% of the invested money,” said Hossain.

He added people’s incomes have also been affected by the turmoil, which may be discouraging them to buy gifts. Besides, high-income people do not come to buy presents risking attacks in the violence, he said.

Biswajit Malakar, branch in-charge of Anjons at Bashundhara City, said the sale of dresses for the occasions usual-

ty of their staffs in liaison offices and that is why, the buyers cannot travel to Bangladesh for business meeting and

Apparel makers to stage token hunger strike Saturday n Tribune Report

A girl touches a gift item at a shop in the city as Valentine’s Day nears. But the few numbers of customers in hartals and blockade have worried the vendors MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU ly begins in the first week of February, but the customers are visiting in few numbers since the beginning of the non-stop blockade called by BNP-led alliance from January 6.

“The number of customers only increase now only on Fridays and Saturdays (weekly holidays). But business on two days only (in a week) is not enough to get returns (of investment),” Biswajit said.

He feared 60% of the collections would remain unsold.

Halmark owner Harun Ar Rashid

had not sees such a dull business before in his 48 years of involvement.

“I never saw such dull days before like this year’s.”

Harun said he already needed to cut jobs and borrow money to pay salaries of the remaining workforce.

Md Parvez, a sales executive of gift items shop Showcase at the Bashundhara City, also lamented that the sales had suffered drastic fall.

Tahmina Akter, a housewife residing in the city’s Mirpur, said she wanted to buy dresses for herself and her

husband to celebrate Pahela Falgun, but the political situation hadn’t permit her to go out.

“We are concerned of our security and not in a mood of celebrations,” she said.

Arif Ahmed (pseudonym), a firstyear student at the Dhaka University, said this would be his first Valentine’s Day after he fell in love.

“But I cannot buy any gift for my girl friend according to her choice as she is not allowed to come out during the blockade,” he said. l

placing orders, said Islam.

On the other hand, the buyers are taking a cautious step and not confirming more than 30%-50% of the regular orders and in some cases, buyers are calculating risk premium at the time of order negotiation and reducing cutting and making (CM) price, he added.

The remediation process of the inspected factories by National Action Plan (NAP), Accord and Alliance is also being hampered due to political unrest as they are not being able to go to factories for inspection, said Islam.

Bangladesh has to export products worth Tk18,000 crore per month to reach $27bn export target set for the current fiscal, which would not be possible if the political unrest continue further, said the RMG apex trade body boss.

The supply chain of the clothing industry at risk with an investment of Tk1,27,000 crore, already invested in the RMG sector including spinning, knitting, weaving, dying, finishing, accessories, packaging and washing. l

The country’s RMG manufacturers and exporters will observe a day-long token hunger strike on Saturday, demanding immediate end of the ongoing political unrest that already took heavy toll on the sector.

It will be held from 11 am to evening in front of the BGMEA Bhaban at Karwan Bazaar in the capital.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Atiqul Islam made the announcement at a views exchange meeting held at its headquarters yesterday.

The trade body convened an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) along with Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and other related associations to seek views from the factory owners to devise ways forward to tackle the political situation to save the business.

Most of factory owners, who participated at the meeting, put pressure on leaders of BGMEA, BKMEA, BTMA to go for tougher movement, including hunger strike, le-

gal action to stop hartal and blockade.

They also suggested launching massive programme with the participation of workers.

Abdus Salam Murshedy President of Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) urged the BGMEA to sent letter to the finance ministry, commerce ministry and Bangladesh Bank warning that they would not repay loans unless the political unrest is resolved to mount pressure on the government to ensure safety and to end crises through consensus.

“We should stage hunger strike and must show the strength of the business community to put pressure on the political parties to end crises,” said Asif Ibrahim, former president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

He also blamed business leaders who are linked with the political parties for not becoming successful in the programme and urged to be united to protect the business interest. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Stocks extend rally with volatility

DSE key features February 11, 2015

n Tribune Report

declarations put an upbeat vibe in overall market sentiment,” said IDLC Investments.

Besides, last six sessions’ straight gain added some fresh confidence amid investors, it said.

IT sector gained almost 4%, followed by telecommunication and miscellaneous 2% each. Among other major sectors, banks and cement ended marginally higher while pharmaceuticals, chemicals, non-banking financial institutions and food & allied declined marginally.

The market breadth also remained positive as out of 309 issues traded, 153 advanced, 107 declined and 49 remained unchanged.

Lanka Bangla Securities said after rallying more than 150 points in the last six trading sessions, market passed a zigzag trading day but managed to close in green territory.

Beximco was the top turnover leader with shares worth Tk16.7 crore changing hands, followed by IFAD Autos, Aamra Technologies, Grameenphone, Agni System, Beximco Pharma and Lafarge Surma Cement.

Beximco was also the biggest gainer posting a rise of 9.9%, followed by PF First Mutual Fund, Intech, BD Computer, United Airways and ICB AMCL Second Mutual Fund.

The worst losers include First Prime Mutual Fund, Samata Leather, Bangladesh Autocars and Meghna Condensed Milk. l

Stocks extended rally for the seventh session in a row amid volatile trade yesterday, with the benchmark index hitting three-week high, despite continued political turbulence.

The market opened on positive note but went in red on profit booking before closing marginally higher at the final session.

The benchmark index DSEX rose 24 points or 0.5% to 4,810, pulled up by mainly telecommunication sector that rose 2.2% and its highest since January 20 last.

With the gain, DSEX recovered 192 points in the last seven sessions.

The Shariah index DSES moved up marginally 4 points or 0.5% to 1,145. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,804, gaining 16 points or 1%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, was up 34 points to 8,924.

Surprisingly, volume of trade increased significantly, as some investors put fresh funds despite continued political conflict.

The turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange stood at Tk346 crore, up 15.6% over the previous session and crossing Tk300 crore after 16 sessions.

“Defying political deadlock, lucrative prices as well as expectation on upcoming year-end corporate

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

PrimeFin. 1st MF-A Samata LeatheR -Z BD. Autocars -Z Meghna Con. Milk -B ACI Formulations-A 7th ICB M F-A Alltex Industries -Z Provati Insur.-A Eastern InsurA National Bank - A

-9.49 -4.52 -4.13 -3.90 -3.52 -3.07 -2.95 -2.91 -2.52 -2.42

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

Paramount Insur-A Kay & Que (BD) -Z Islami Ins.BD-A PrimeFin. 1st MF-A Rupali InsurA Rahima Food -Z Asia Insur. Ltd.-A Aziz PipesZ LR Global BD MF1-A ACI Formulations-A

-8.28 -7.28 -7.00 -6.54 -5.80 -5.76 -4.88 -4.76 -4.26 -4.18

4810.53560

(+) 0.50%

1804.90357

(+) 0.93%

14735.26190

(+) 0.37%

12039.50110

(+) 0.11%

8927.51190

(+) 0.40%

Average (% Change) -8.29 -4.71 -3.83 -3.48 -2.04 -3.07 -1.48 -1.86 -1.52 -0.49 Average (% Change) -8.18 -7.10 -7.00 -7.01 -5.59 -8.10 -4.88 -4.71 -3.85 -2.52

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 14.27 19.00 20.83 7.48 133.19 85.30 26.66 16.87 31.14 12.19

ClosingAvg. 15.50 14.00 18.60 14.19 21.11 31.08 19.50 20.01 4.50 132.55

Closing

Bank NBFI Investment Engineering Food & Allied Fuel & Power Jute Textile Pharma & Chemical Paper & Packaging Service Leather Ceramic Cement Information Technology General Insurance Life Insurance Telecom Travel & Leisure Miscellaneous Debenture

DSE Million Taka 258.29 154.57 67.55 535.21 114.88 475.72 1.09 245.00 427.92 21.05 98.21 26.79 42.02 130.85 285.69 27.45 73.02 187.71 58.73 229.21 0.05

DHIGH

14.30 19.00 20.90 7.40 131.40 85.30 26.30 16.70 30.90 12.10

Closing

14.60 19.00 21.90 7.70 137.70 85.30 27.50 17.50 31.70 12.40

DHIGH

15.50 14.00 18.60 14.30 21.10 31.10 19.50 20.00 4.50 130.80

15.50 14.00 18.60 14.50 21.40 35.70 19.50 20.10 4.50 137.00

Company

3,460.98 92,300,669

Number of Contract

96,086

Traded Issues

310

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

184

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

123

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,592.45

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.42

CSE key features February 11, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka)

413.35

Turnover (Volume)

10,537,716

Number of Contract

16,357

Traded Issues

233

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

117

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

107

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

9

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,511.59

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.44

Turnover in Million

DLOW 14.00 19.00 20.50 7.20 130.50 85.30 26.20 16.60 30.50 12.00

15.50 14.00 18.60 14.00 21.10 30.80 19.50 20.00 4.50 130.00

Latest EPS

6.747 0.009 0.019 0.214 36.539 0.002 34.472 0.894 0.034 27.345

Turnover in Million

DLOW

% change 7.46 4.47 1.95 15.46 3.32 13.75 0.03 7.08 12.36 0.61 2.84 0.77 1.21 3.78 8.25 0.79 2.11 5.42 1.70 6.62 0.00

Million Taka 18.88 9.99 3.79 46.96 117.04 32.02 27.65 19.79 1.78 13.69 1.00 3.73 7.56 23.97 0.89 1.81 19.35 17.19 46.26 0.01

CSE

% change 4.57 2.42 0.92 11.36 28.31 7.75 0.00 6.69 4.79 0.43 3.31 0.24 0.90 1.83 5.80 0.21 0.44 4.68 4.16 11.19 0.00

1.13 -0.46 0.14 -4.42 3.27 12.76 2.02 1.97 2.31 1.13

Latest EPS

0.017 0.001 0.026 0.191 0.063 0.044 0.002 0.108 0.001 2.681

Million Taka 277.17 164.56 71.33 582.17 231.92 507.73 1.09 272.65 447.70 22.83 111.90 27.78 45.75 138.41 309.66 28.34 74.83 207.06 75.92 275.47 0.05

Imam Button -Z BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A In Tech Online -A BDCOM Online-A UNITED AIR-A AMCL 2nd MF-A GeminiSeaFood-B Meghna PET Ind. -Z Rangpur Dairy-N

Closing (% Change) 10.00 9.78 8.16 7.63 7.38 7.14 6.38 6.14 5.66 5.26

CSE GAINER

1.13 -1.41 1.48 1.13 2.52 -0.42 2.17 -0.37 0.08 3.27

Latest PE 12.6 -ve 148.8 -ve 40.7 6.7 13.2 8.6 13.5 10.8

Company

Closing (% Change)

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Imam Button -Z UNITED AIR-A In Tech Online -A Prime Insur -A IFIL Islamic M.F.1-A BDCOM Online-A Agni Systems -A Monno Ceramic -B Meghna Life Ins. -A

9.81 9.43 7.14 6.87 6.79 6.78 6.58 5.38 5.26 5.05

Average (% Change) 8.74 9.43 6.37 4.49 6.79 5.40 5.71 5.26 3.19 5.80

ClosingAvg. 11.00 33.68 5.25 13.84 25.71 8.79 4.97 190.43 5.60 19.58

ClosingAvg. 33.46 11.60 8.85 13.72 17.30 6.25 25.75 32.84 29.41 81.68

Closing 11.00 34.80 5.30 14.10 26.20 9.00 5.00 193.50 5.60 20.00

Closing 34.70 11.60 9.00 14.00 17.30 6.30 25.90 33.30 30.00 81.10

DHIGH 11.00 34.90 5.30 14.30 26.50 9.00 5.10 196.00 5.60 20.20

DHIGH 34.70 11.60 9.10 14.30 17.30 6.30 26.70 33.70 30.00 81.90

DLOW 10.80 32.00 5.00 13.10 24.70 8.40 4.70 182.60 5.60 18.90

DLOW 32.30 11.60 8.40 12.90 17.30 6.10 24.40 31.80 29.00 77.50

Turnover in Million 1.864 166.539 1.379 3.335 18.597 46.234 0.279 0.541 0.020 8.023

Turnover in Million 32.099 0.245 15.478 0.401 0.017 0.655 0.594 10.383 0.094 0.084

Latest EPS -1.48 1.01 0.66 -0.88 1.68 0.86 0.84 -6.36 -0.44 1.11

Latest EPS 1.01 -1.48 0.86 -0.88 1.81 1.04 1.68 1.36 0.20 6.45

Latest PE -ve 33.3 8.0 -ve 15.3 10.2 5.9 -ve -ve 17.6

Latest PE 33.1 -ve 10.3 -ve 9.6 6.0 15.3 24.1 147.1 12.7

News, analysis and recent disclosures HRTEX: (Q1 Un-audited): Net Profit after tax from Oct14 to Dec14 was Tk. 8.58 million with EPS of Tk. 0.34 as against Tk. 9.91 million and Tk. 0.39 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

BDCOM: Emerging Credit Rating Limited (ECRL) has assigned Corporate Debt credit rating of the Company as A+ in the long term and ECRL-2 in the short term along with a stable outlook to the Company based on audited financial statements up to June 30, 2014, unaudited financial statements up to September 30, 2014 and other available quantitative and qualitative information up to the date of rating.

BDWELDING: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors of the company has approved the appointment of the valuation firm Commodity Inspection Services (BD) Ltd. for the revaluation of the fixed Assets of the Company and also provide a valuation report.

IPO Subscription: Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 01 to 05 Febuary 2015, NRB upto 14 Febuary 2015. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGM GP: The Board of Directors has recommended 65% final cash dividend (i.e. total 160% cash dividend for the year 2014 inclusive of 95% Interim cash dividend which has already been paid) for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 21.04.2015, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Center-2, Block-C, Bashundhara R/A, Baridhara, Dhaka-1219. Record date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported net profit after tax of Tk. 19,803.28 million, EPS of Tk. 14.67, NAV per share of Tk. 23.23 and NOCFPS of Tk. 23.15 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

SAPORTL: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. The Board has also decided to issue Rights shares at the rate of 1R:5 (i.e. one Rights share for five shares held) at an issue price of Tk. 25.00 each including premium of Tk. 15.00 per share subject to approval of shareholders and regulatory authorities. Date of AGM: 14.03.2015, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Police Convention Hall,

Eskaton Garden Road, Ramna, Dhaka-1000.

Record Date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 0.82, NAV per share of Tk. 42.29 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.91 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Another record date for entitlement of the proposed rights shares to be notified later after obtaining approval from BSEC. CNATEX: 11% stock, AGM: 15.03.2015, Record Date: 18.02.2015.

RAKCERAMIC: 25% cash, EGM and AGM: 25.03.2015, Record date: 17.02.2015.

GSPFINANCE: 55% stock, AGM: 23.02.2015, Record Date: 05.02.2015.

HRTEX:12.50% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record date: 12.02.2015.

MARICO: 225% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 29.01.2015.

ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 26.02.2015, Record Date: 05.01.2015.

JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.

PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015, Record date: 22.12.2014.

SPCL: 25% cash and 5% stock dividend, AGM: 29.01.2015, Record Date: 27.11.2014.

13.7 -ve 12.6 12.6 8.4 -ve 9.0 -ve 56.3 40.5

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

Total

Average (% Change) 10.44 8.93 3.75 6.30 4.38 6.42 5.74 3.97 11.78 3.43

Latest PE

After rallying more than 150 points in the last six trading sessions, market passed a zigzag trading day but managed to close in green territory

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

DSE GAINER

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Thursday, February 12, 2015

% change 7.15 4.25 1.84 15.03 5.99 13.11 0.03 7.04 11.56 0.59 2.89 0.72 1.18 3.57 7.99 0.73 1.93 5.34 1.96 7.11 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Ifad Autos -N aamra technologies-A Grameenphone-A Agni Systems -A Beximco Pharma -A LafargeS Cement-Z MJL BD Ltd.-A Square Pharma -A Barakatullah E. D.-A

BD Submarine Cable-A CVO PetroChem RL-A DESCO Ltd. -A WesternMarine -N WesternMarine -N CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Olympic Ind. -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Ifad Autos -N UNITED AIR-A MJL BD Ltd.-A aamra technologies-A Agni Systems -A BD Submarine Cable-A National Feed-N Grameenphone-A

WesternMarine -N C & A Textile -N SAIF Powertec-N SummitAlliancePort.-A Beximco Pharma -A

VolumeShares 4,944,562 2,416,923 3,424,986 374,607 3,915,380 2,027,329 863,687 851,311 320,662 1,635,838

Value in Million 166.54 152.78 134.66 132.03 128.38 122.21 111.23 106.41 82.55 55.84

% of TotalTurnover 4.81 4.41 3.89 3.81 3.71 3.53 3.21 3.07 2.39 1.61

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

501,910 117,051 754,575 1,074,820 972,597

501,480 959,270 291,481 1,748,063 116,621 319,223 316,167 91,704 337,825 26,147

172,099 404,250 105,620 101,800 99,583

55.68 54.34 52.06 51.66 45.97

111.48 32.10 18.34 15.48 14.69 12.55 10.38 10.14 9.44 9.21

8.26 8.00 6.94 6.65 5.99

1.61 1.57 1.50 1.49 1.53

26.97 7.77 4.44 3.74 3.55 3.04 2.51 2.45 2.28 2.23

2.00 1.94 1.68 1.61 1.45

ClosingP 34.80 61.50 39.50 353.30 33.20 60.90 127.60 124.60 256.70 34.30

112.50 463.20 69.70 48.10 47.80

ClosingP

225.40 34.70 61.20 9.00 124.60 39.30 33.30 112.20 27.50 352.90

48.00 19.50 65.80 64.60 60.90

Change % 9.78 -1.60 1.80 2.11 5.06 2.70 0.24 -0.95 -0.70 1.48

5.14 -0.11 2.95 0.63 3.91

Change %

1.35 9.81 -1.13 7.14 -0.48 1.55 5.38 4.66 0.00 1.82

0.42 -2.01 0.61 1.10 2.35

ClosingY 31.70 62.50 38.80 346.00 31.60 59.30 127.30 125.80 258.50 33.80

107.00 463.70 67.70 47.80 46.00

ClosingY

222.40 31.60 61.90 8.40 125.20 38.70 31.60 107.20 27.50 346.60

47.80 19.90 65.40 63.90 59.50

DHIGH 34.90 65.10 40.40 354.90 33.90 61.70 130.60 127.50 260.00 34.50

114.00 470.00 69.90 48.70 48.10

DLOW 32.00 60.40 38.40 347.90 31.90 58.60 126.60 122.50 255.50 33.70

107.00 461.60 67.90 47.20 46.00

DHIGH

DLOW

228.00 34.70 65.00 9.10 127.90 40.40 33.70 114.00 28.40 355.00

225.00 32.30 60.00 8.40 123.00 38.50 31.80 108.00 27.30 349.20

48.70 20.10 66.50 67.00 62.00

47.10 19.30 64.80 64.30 58.60

AvgPrice 33.68 63.21 39.32 352.44 32.79 60.28 128.79 125.00 257.45 34.14

110.94 464.27 68.99 48.06 47.26

AvgPrice

222.31 33.46 62.92 8.85 125.97 39.30 32.84 110.60 27.93 352.20

48.01 19.79 65.69 65.28 60.14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

Trick or treat? India’s strong GDP figures mask economic reality

A farmer works in a bottle gourd field in Kolkata

n Reuters, New Delhi For business, the government and the Reserve Bank of India, data revisions that have transformed India’s $2.1tn economy into one of the world’s fastest growing are too good to be true.

Now, the search is on for reliable indicators of underlying activity, vital for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as he draws up his annual budget and for RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan as he weighs whether to cut interest rates again.

“Let’s not get carried away – the ground reality is very different,” one senior finance ministry official told Reuters after figures on Monday showed that India’s economy outgrew China’s in the three months to December.

Based on a new calculation method, the statistics department said the Indian economy grew 7.5% year-on-year in the last quarter and is on track to expand 7.4% in the year through March 31.

It was quite a turnaround for Asia’s

third-largest economy, which based on the old calculations was struggling to recover from the longest spell of subpar growth in a generation.

Yet far from vindicating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stewardship of the economy, the revised growth numbers are at odds with evidence on the ground.

Stalled projects and stretched capacity in the power, infrastructure and housing sectors are having knock-on effects down the supply chain to smalland medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said Anil Bhardwaj, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises.

“This is a bit perplexing. The feedback we are getting on the ground is not as positive. SMEs are not getting the orders,” Bhardwaj told Reuters.

“There is an improvement in business sentiment, in the environment, but unfortunately there is no movement on the ground.”

Larsen & Toubro, an industrial

CORPORATE NEWS

Modhumoti Bank has recently been awarded first prize for reserved mini pavilion category of 20th Dhaka International Trade Fair 2015. The bank’s additional managing director, Md Shafiul Azam received the prize from Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, president of FBCCI

REUTERS

This is a bit perplexing.

The feedback we are getting on the ground is not as positive. SMEs are not getting the orders group regarded as a bellwether for the wider economy, lowered its order book estimates on Monday and said a recovery in its domestic business was at least a year away.

“India Inc, while it continues to be aspiring, is still on the wait and watch mode,” Chief Financial Officer R. Shankar Raman told reporters.

weak revenues, weak demand

The 2015/16 budget that Jaitley will unveil on Feb 28 will be based on an expectation that the economy would

Travelers’ foreign currency quota raised n Tribune Report The authorised dealer banks have been allowed to issue cash up to US$5,000 per head traveling abroad, according to a circular Bangladesh Bank issued yesterday.

Earlier, foreign currency of more than US$3,000 was not allowed.

In January last year, the central bank has relaxed personal travel quota rules allowing a Bangladeshi national spend up to $12,000 per year.

Traveling to SAARC member countries, the amount will not exceed $5,000 while for Myanmar it will be $7,000. l

SBARRO, a pizza chain in American has recently opened its outlet at Gulshan in Dhaka.

KB Foods Limited, a sister concern of Khan Bahadur Group, has brought the franchise of the SBARRO. Mahmudul Islam chowdhury, chairperson of Khan Bahadur Group along with the company’s MD, Mayeen Uddin Chowdhury and COO, Golam Masum attended the opening ceremony

grow at the roaring pace of 8% or more, one source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Yet revenues will lag.

“Everyone is happy that India’s GDP growth has picked up, but we are worried over slower growth in tax collections,” the source said.

Indirect tax receipts, which include customs and factory gate duties as well as levies on services, have risen by just 6.7% so far in this fiscal year against a budget estimate of 26% for the full year.

A weak tax take also points to fragile consumer demand. Although a plunge in global oil prices has cooled inflation, that has yet to encourage Indian consumers to buy TVs, cars or appliances.

Households are still not confident of any quick turnaround in their fortunes, according to a monthly survey by ZyFin Research. Weak demand has hobbled New Delhi’s efforts to revive sluggish auto sales with tax breaks, leading car makers to scale back sales forecasts.

Govind Shrikhande, managing director at Indian retailer Shoppers Stop, is puzzled by the latest GDP estimates.

“Is it a trick or a treat?” he asked. “I haven’t understood how they are calculating it, but we are not seeing it reflected in business as yet.”

Falling merchandise exports and sluggish non-oil, non-gold imports suggest demand remains weak in domestic and overseas markets. Exports fell 2.3% month-on-month in December, while imports of goods other than oil and gold fell 7.1%.

Statisticians defend the jump in their growth estimates, attributing it to better measurements of improved business efficiency that has boosted profits even as sales stagnate.

The statistical fog, meanwhile, makes it unclear how much room Rajan will have to stimulate investment and consumer demand without fuelling inflation after cutting interest rates last month.

Financial markets expect Rajan to make three more quarter-point cuts by December in the RBI’s main policy rate, now at 7.75%.

“The faster pace of growth puts Mr Rajan in an awkward position,” UBS economists Edward Teather and Alice Fulwood said in a note, adding that even if the RBI revises up its own GDP estimates there is still room for policy rates to fall. l

BANGLALINK'S YEARLY SUBSCRIBER GROWTH 3.5 2.93

3.0 2.38

2.5

Goldman Sachs Group Inc is trying to convince investors that its business model does not need to change.

On Tuesday morning, Goldman Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein gave a presentation at a financial services conference that painted the bank as one that earns steadier profits than its peers, and delivers them through sundry business lines.

Those ideas run contrary to a common narrative on Wall Street about Goldman: It is good at earning money by trading and investing its own capital, but little else.

“Most people will tell you Goldman makes almost all its money on trading - I hear it all the time,” said Rick Scott, who trades in Goldman shares as chief investment officer at L&S Advisors, an investment firm with $500m in assets under management. “I like that they’re focused on doing one thing very well, but the more diversified your business, the less there’s a chance one area will take a big bite out of your earnings when it’s disrupted.”

Goldman executives say the view that the bank is a one-trick pony is misguided, and Blankfein’s presenta-

3.09

2.59

1.93

2.0 1.39

1.5

1.03 .71

1.0 0.5 0.0

.12 2005

.32

2006

2007

2008

2009 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Banglalink celebrates 10 years of 'successful jouney' today n Muhammad Zahidul Islam Banglalink is set to celebrate today 10 years of its launching as the fastest growing mobile phone operator in Bangladesh.

The years have been successful for the Banglalik Digital Communications Ltd, a sister concern of Russian VimpleCom, said officials.

As of December 2014, the operator has a base of over 30m active subscribers with an average 8,500 active subscribers being connected everyday.

It was February in 2005, Banglalink ventured into a nascent market offering a call rate, which was half of that offered by others.

Such an offer helped it rapidly rise to be the country’s second largest operator in the number of active subscribers.

Egypt-based Orascom Telecoms acquired all the shares of Sheba Telecom.

It was re-branded and launched under the “Banglalink” brand on February 10, 2015 with a base of nearly 50,000 users.

Banglalink Digital Communications Limited (previously Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Limited) is fully owned by Telecom Ventures Ltd. Telecom Ventures is a fully owned subsidiary of Global Telecom Holding.

Under a business combination, Vimpelcom owns 51.92% shares of Global Telecom Holding.

When Banglalink started its journey in 2005, there already had been three more operators – Grameenphone, City-

cell and Aktel.

“Since Banglalink’s launch, its impact was felt immediately: overnight mobile telephony became an affordable option for customers across a wide range of market segments,” the operator said.

According to it, its initial success was based on a simple mission: “bringing mobile telephony to the masses” which was the cornerstone of its strategy.

In less than two years of launching, the number of Banglalink users exceeded 7.1m. In August, 2008, the operator got past the 10m landmark of subscriber base.

As of April 2014, the number stands at 29.45m, representing a market share of 25.47%.

Banglalink’s 15-year 2G licence expired in November, 2011 and got it renewed for another 15 years.

The operator was awarded 3G spectrum in an auction last year and has already expanded 3G network across the country.

More than half a million users now subscribe to Banglalink’s 3G services.

Besides, the operator became the first-ever issuer in the country to tap the international bond market with its inaugural $300m.

Despite the fastest growth, Banglalink is yet to see any profit. But the company expects making profit this year, a senior official told Dhaka Tribune recently. l

Euro edges up ahead of key Greece talks n AFP, Singapore The euro rose in Asia yesterday, with investors awaiting talks between Greece and its creditors over renegotiating a bailout deal, while the dollar firmed against the yen on expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates.

The euro bought $1.1318 and 135.31 yen in afternoon Singapore trade, against $1.1315 and 135.15 yen in New York late Tuesday, while the greenback rose to 119.55 yen from 119.44 yen.

Japanese financial markets were closed yesterday for a public holiday.

On Wednesday Greece’s new leadership will seek a cash lifeline at an emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers, presenting a plan aimed

at rewriting some of the terms of its 240bn euro ($270bn) bailout.

But in a sign of the tense negotiations ahead, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told parliament he would not bow to German demands that the country first complete a pending bailout loan agreement. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had said earlier in the day that “it’s over” if Greece does not accept the final tranche of the aid programme, according to Bloomberg News.

“There is no clear conviction that Greece would reach a compromise with its creditors over its bailout programme ahead of today’s emergency meeting in Brussels,” Singapore’s DBS Bank said.

It said however that “there is no panic” over the risks of Greece exiting

‘Goldman is jack-of-all-trades, not master of one’ n Reuters, New York

NCC Bank Ltd has recently signed an agreement with Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd for collection of electric bills through online. The bank’s MD, Golam Hafiz Ahmed and secretary of DPDC, Muhammad Munir Chowdhury have signed the agreement

B3

Thursday, February 12, 2015

tion on Tuesday was sprinkled with factoids that run contrary to market perceptions.

It emphasized that more than onehalf of its revenues comes from businesses other than trading, and that trading itself is more diverse than it may seem.

One slide at the presentation divided Goldman’s trading unit into eight components, each of which contributed 8% to 19% of revenue, on average, since 2010. Another showed that Goldman has squeezed more revenue out of businesses it kept than revenue it lost exiting others due to new regulations.

Blankfein stressed that Goldman’s investment management business has plenty of room to grow, since it is just a fraction of the size of leading rivals.

“We’re ‘breadthy’ in capital markets. On the other hand, we’re very focused,” Blankfein said. “We’re breadthy in the context of the set of businesses we choose to be in.”

He added that Goldman is “unabashedly an investment bank” and that he sees no need to change its business model.

Yet Goldman’s biggest revenue contributor, bond trading, is in the midst of a decline that is crimping profits across

Wall Street, raising questions about how Blankfein will make up for that waning line item.

Last year Goldman reported $8.5bn in revenue from bond trading, down 2% from 2013, and down 61% from its peak of $21.9bn in 2009.

As that business has shrunk and capital requirements have gone up, Goldman’s return-on-equity has dropped to 11.2%, less than one-third of its peak performance before the crisis. That metric is important to shareholders because it shows how much profit a bank can earn from their capital.

Blankfein and his deputies have refused to offer a return-on-equity target, arguing that regulations are still too unclear. Analysts who spoke to Reuters on Monday said some of their investor clients want Goldman management to outline a specific plan for how the bank will make up for falling bond revenue and drive returns higher.

“Goldman is saying, we have the right business model, but we’re not really sure what the business model’s going to look like when all is said and done,” said CLSA analyst Mike Mayo. “You’re going to lose investors with that pitch.”

Goldman stock was up 0.2% to $182.58. l

the currency union as the eurozone is “less vulnerable” now compared with 2010, when the region’s debt crisis was at its height. Banks have less exposure to Greece and the European Central Bank has moved to boost growth by easing monetary conditions and rolling out a stimulus package.

There will nevertheless be high political drama at the talks in Brussels, brokerage firm Phillip Futures said, adding: “We think that a deal would eventually be reached, but there will be bumps and bruises along the way.”

The dollar resumed its upward trend, with analysts saying the Federal Reserve would likely raise interest rates by middle of the year as the world’s top economy continues to recover. l

Oil prices rebound in Asia after heavy selloff n AFP, Singapore Oil prices rebounded in Asia yesterday following a sharp decline in the previous session, analysts said, as investors await a weekly US stockpiles report later in the day.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for March delivery rose 44 cents to $50.46 a barrel while Brent crude for March rose 16 cents to $56.59 in afternoon trade. Nicholas Teo, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, said the downbeat market outlook from the International Energy Agency had pushed both contracts down between three and five percent in the previous session.

The IEA report points to a “persistent global supply glut” for crude, Teo said.

The agency said in its five-year forecast that prices will recover slightly from current levels by 2020 but remain considerably below the $100-plus per barrel seen in June.

The US Department of Energy’s weekly petroleum report, due Wednesday, is also expected to show a 3.6 million barrel increase in stockpiles, according to a Bloomberg News poll.

Rising stockpiles indicate weaker demand in the world’s biggest economy and top oil consuming nation. l

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Finance chiefs vow action to bolster growth at G20 meet n Reuters, Istanbul Finance officials from the Group of 20 leading economies sketched an uncertain outlook for global growth on Tuesday and vowed to use monetary and fiscal policy if needed to stem any risk of stagnation.

The United States urged nations at the G20 meeting not to resort to currency devaluations to boost exports, an indication Washington is starting to feel wary of its allies manipulating their exchange rates to support growth.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew signalled that Germany and others in Europe should engage in deficit spending, saying it would not be a “good ride” for the global economy if only the United States was strong.

“In Europe, there’s a need for more fiscal policy. There’s a demand shortfall. Different countries have different amount of fiscal space. With the fiscal space, they need to use it to grow demand,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.

“I’ve used the metaphor of a car that has one tyre fully inflated, and the other three not so much. It’s not going to be a good ride for the global economy if the one strong wheel is the United States.”

The meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Istanbul comes at a difficult time, with major economies running at different speeds, monetary policies diverging and Greece casting a new shadow over Europe.

Germany, which boasts a record current account surplus, has been unbending in the face of G20 calls to spend more and boost demand. The final G20 communique also pledged to put debt as a share of output on a sustainable path.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble nonetheless gave a more upbeat view of the European outlook, saying forecasts for global growth were improving, and not just because of a strengthening in activity in the United States.

A by-product of that is the dollar being driven higher. There has generally been an acceptance in Washington that a weaker euro and yen is an inevitable consequence of actions to revive moribund economies, something the United States has consistently called for.

ECB Governing Council member Christian Noyer said he saw no sign of a currency war building and that the meeting had shown a common understanding of the need for monetary policy easing. In the past there were suspicions of competitive devaluations but those suspicions were gone, Noyer, who is also governor of the Bank of France, told reporters.

“There is clear agreement by all of the G20 countries that monetary policies are taken for domestic reasons to try to meet price targets that are set for the central bank,” he said.

There was no criticism of Japan’s policy of aggressive monetary easing at the meeting, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters.

Greek shadow

(From 3rd L, Front Row) US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, Turkey's Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Finance Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, China's viceminister of Finance Zhu Guangyao and Deputy Governor of the Peopleís Bank of China Yi Gang pose for a group photo during the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting, on February 10, 2015 in Istanbul. Turkey is hosting the G20 finance ministers gathering for the first time as it holds the rotating presidency of the elite global club AFP “In parallel we have a certain strengthening of the growth forecasts also in Europe,” he said. “In summary, we are on a course which is not bad.”

The communique noted slow growth in the euro area and Japan and said some emerging market economies were slowing down. It said the European Central Bank’s quantitative eas-

ing, which has raised German concern, would further support recovery in the euro area. A sharp decline in oil prices would also give some boost to global growth, it said.

The G20 officials appeared to reject a Turkish proposal to set countries specific investment targets to spur demand.

IEA: US oil output ‘party’ to last to 2020

Pump jacks drill for oil in the Monterey Shale, California

n Reuters, London The United States will remain the world’s top source of oil supply growth up to 2020, even after the recent collapse in prices, the International Energy Agency said, defying expectations of a more dramatic slowdown in shale growth.

The agency also said in its Medium Term Oil Market report that oil prices LCOc1, which slid from $115 a barrel in June to a near six-year low close to $45 in January, would likely stabilize at levels substantially below the highs of the last three years.

Oil prices deepened their decline after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in November shifted strategy and declined to cut its own output, choosing to retain market share that has been eroded by rival supply sources such as US shale oil.

But IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven, launching the report in London, said while OPEC may win back some customers while prices are low, it would not regain the market share it held before the 2008 financial crisis.

“This unusual response to lower prices is just one more example of how shale oil has changed the market,” she said in a statement. “OPEC’s move to let the market rebalance itself is a reflection of that fact.”

The report said supply growth of US light, tight oil (LTO) will initially slow to a trickle but regain momentum later, bring-

ing its production to 5.2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020.

Total U.S. supply increases by 2.2 million bpd to 14 million bpd in 2020, with most of the expansion due to LTO. “The price correction will cause the North American supply ‘party’ to mark a pause; it will not bring it to an end,” said the IEA, which advises industrialized countries on energy policy.

TOP LOSER? The outlook for output in Russia, one of the world’s top producers, is less optimistic.

“Russia, facing a perfect storm of collapsing prices, international sanctions and currency depreciation, will likely emerge as the industry’s top loser,” it said, forecasting production looked set to contract by 560,000 bpd to 10.4 million bpd from 2014 to 2020.

Partly as a result of lower non-OPEC output, the IEA predicted global demand for OPEC crude will rise in 2016 to 29.90 million bpd, after holding at 29.4 million bpd this year.

Reflecting the rise of shale and slowing demand in the West, OPEC’s market share has fallen to less than 30% this year from more than 40% in 2008, the IEA said.

Other forecasters see lower prices and investment cuts to have a larger impact on non-OPEC supply. OPEC itself, in a monthly report on Monday, forecast demand for its oil this year would be higher than expected as its strategy to not prop up prices hits

REUTERS

other producers.

The IEA’s latest report contrasts with its previous medium-term outlook published in June, which had higher oil demand forecasts and highlighted risks to supply such as from violence Iraq.

Now, the IEA expects global growth in oil demand to accelerate to 1.13 million bpd in 2016 from 910,000 bpd in 2015. Still, it saw the price decline as having a marginal impact on demand growth for the rest of the decade.

“Expectations of global economic growth have been repeatedly revised downwards in the last six months despite steeply falling prices, slashing prior forecasts of oil demand growth for the rest of the decade by about 1.1 million bpd,” the report said.

Low prices, slowing demand and abundant supply have boosted the volumes of oil held in storage, weighing on prices.

The IEA sees this build-up halting as early as mid-2015 and the market starting to tighten afterwards.

But oil could face further weakness before that happens, the agency said in a separate monthly report also issued on Tuesday which forecast stocks in OECD nations may by mid-year come close to revisiting the record high reached in 1998.

“Despite expectations of tightening balances by end-2015, downward market pressures may not have run their course just yet,” the monthly report said. l

The communique also called for coordinated action to clampdown on financing of terror groups, calling for “guidelines to enhance transparency of payment systems, in order to mitigate the risk of being abused for financing for terrorism and money laundering purposes”.

The final communique made no specific mention of Greece, but its efforts to strike a new debt agreement with the euro zone dominated the agenda in bilateral meetings and other groupings on the sidelines, officials said.

In an interview with Reuters, the chief of Germany’s Bundesbank Jens Weidmann pressed Greece to make a credible effort to get back on its feet with tighter public finances and economic reforms, showing no willingness to bend in a standoff with Athens.

Canada’s Finance Minister Joe Oliver said regulatory and financial reforms had helped diminish the risk Greece may pose to the euro zone, with Athens seeking a new debt arrangement and demanding a reversal of austerity. l

Currency skirmish?

ensuring that U.S. workers and firms play on a level playing field and no country should use their exchange rate to increase exports,” the official said.

The U.S. Federal Reserve looks set to raise interest rates this year, a stark contrast to huge money printing programmes by the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan.

Moody’s: Low oil prices won’t spur world growth n AFP, Paris

Most US firms feel ‘targeted’ by China

Low oil prices normally help grease the wheels of business and spur global economic growth, but Moody’s said yesterday it would not revise its forecasts for the G20, citing a variety of offsets to the expected windfalls.

“For the G20 economies, we expect GDP growth of just under 3% each year in 2015 and 2016, unchanged from 2014 and from our November 2014 Global Macro Outlook,” the credit ratings agency said in its latest outlook report.

“In the euro area, Japan and Brazil, and some other net oil importers in the G20, the fall in oil prices takes place in an unfavourable economic environment,” said Marie Diron, Moody’s senior vice president for credit policy.

She pointed to high unemployment and new political uncertainty in some eurozone countries, and to Brazil’s tightened monetary and fiscal policy.

“In this context, a large part of the income gains from lower oil prices is likely to be saved rather than spent,” Diron wrote.

The Group of 20 includes the leading industrialised and developing nations.

Moody’s forecasts GDP growth of under 1% in 2015 in the eurozone and Japan.

The United States and India “are among the main beneficiaries (among G20 nations) from cheaper oil as consumers and companies spend part of the gains in real income,” Moody’s said.

The US-based agency forecasts US GDP growth of 3.2% in 2015 and 2.8 percent in 2016, while it expects India’s economy to grow by nearly 7% in 2016.

As for oil-producing G20 economies, the price slump will hit Russia hard, worsening the effects of “a pre-existing downward trend in the economy’s potential and the geopolitical crisis” surrounding Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis, Diron said, predicting a “sharp recession” lasting until 2017.

“In Saudi Arabia, higher fiscal spending will mitigate the negative effects of lower oil prices and help to maintain positive growth,” she said.

The forecasts are based on an assumption that oil prices will stay at an average of $55 a barrel for Brent in 2015.

Moody’s conclusions followed a warning on Tuesday by the International Energy Agency, which said that the net impact of low oil prices “will be more modest than might be expected” because of a lingering hangover from the global economic crisis in 2008 and weak investment. l

Most US firms in China feel “targeted” by authorities, a survey said yesterday, as the government embarks on a series of high-profile investigations into foreign businesses.

An American Chamber of Commerce survey found 57% of respondents believed foreign firms are being singled out in China’s pricing, anti-monopoly and anti-corruption campaigns under President Xi Jinping.

Of those who said foreign firms were being targeted, 65% said they fear such campaigns will have a negative impact on them.

The results were part of the 17th annual business climate survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in the People’s Republic of China (AmCham China), which had responses from 477 of the organisation’s 1,012 company members.

“All of us are concerned, because we’re on the sidelines for the most part watching and monitoring the campaigns by Xi Jinping and the leadership,” AmCham China chairman James Zimmerman said at a news conference announcing the results.

“We don’t know if it’s going to slow down, or who is going to be targeted next,” he said. “All we can do is set an example and do the right thing -- exercise zero tolerance when it comes to these issues, put in place compliance programmes and cooperate with the government when these things come up.”

Nearly half of US firms in China – 47% - say they feel “less welcome” in the country than before, up from 44% last year.

The survey’s release comes after Chinese authorities stepped up scrutiny of foreign firms, launching sweeping investigations into alleged malpractice in sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals to baby formula over the past two years.

This week US mobile chip titan Qualcomm said it will modify its business practices in China and pay 6.088bn yuan (around $975m) to end a long-

In his meetings in Istanbul, Lew underlined the need to stick to existing commitments on exchange rate policy, a Treasury official said, pledges which include refraining from competitive exchange rate devaluations.

“Secretary Lew strongly emphasised ... that we are highly focused on

n AFP, Beijing

DILBERT

running antitrust probe in the country, in perhaps the biggest fine ever levied

by Beijing in such a case.

Other businesses such as Apple and Starbucks have sometimes received unfavourable coverage in state media over issues regarding service and pricing.

The moves have prompted fears from investors that overseas companies are being especially targeted.

China maintains that its anti-monopoly law does not discriminate between domestic and foreign firms.

Air pollution, Internet woes

The AmCham survey highlighted a number of other areas of growing concern for US companies doing business in China, including the country’s choking air pollution, its slowing growth and the ruling party’s ever-tighter grip on the Internet.

For the first time, a majority of respondents – 53% - said air quality issues had made it difficult for their organisation to hire senior talent to work in China.

The figure is up from 48% in 2014 and 34% in 2013.

China’s cities are often hit by heavy pollution, blamed on coal-burning by power stations and industry, as well as vehicle use, and it has become a major source of discontent with the Communist Party.

Retired senior officials have acknowledged that it may kill as many as half a million people a year.

In addition, China’s economic growth is losing steam and more than 30 percent of companies surveyed said they had no investment expansion planned in 2015, the highest rate since 2009.

As authorities’ online control tightens, the vast majority of respondents – 83% - said Internet censorship in China either negatively or somewhat negatively impacts their ability to conduct business in the country.

In recent months, authorities have cracked down on the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) commonly used to scale the vast censorship apparatus known as the Great Firewall. l