15 feb, 2015

Falgun 3, 1421 Rabius Sani 25, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 311

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

20 pages | Price: Tk12

B4 | BUSINESS

7 | CAREER

US BUSINESSES BRACE FOR OIL INVESTMENT DOWNTURN

AVOIDING COVER LETTER NIGHTMARES

11 | OP-ED

14 | SPORT

OUR WALL OF SHAME

AUSTRALIA TORTURE ENGLAND ON VALENTINE’S DAY

Where do we go from here?

Death toll rising, economy taking a severe jolt, a culture of violence beginning to take root n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla As innocent people continue to be maimed and killed, children burned, vehicles torched and the country’s economy battered, the question on everyone’s lips is: What is the way out of this costly and bitter impasse?

Political analysts agree that neither the Awami League nor the BNP have made appreciable gains in the bitter row that has held the country hostage since the new year.

Analysts also agree that the two parties, in common, have successfully

PM asked lawmen to get tough with blockade enforcers whom she described as ‘monsters’ alienated the public, who are increasingly unhappy with having to suffer the consequences of a feud that is narrowly focused on the power of the political elite.

The Dhaka Tribune has tried to discover what the exit strategy is for the country’s clashing political behemoths and for the people of the country.

Since January 5 — the one-year anniversary of the general elections — at least 72 people have been killed and 60 are currently being treated for violence-related burn injuries.

The fatalities are mainly the result of arson attacks on buses, trucks,  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

One shot dead, 4 held in Ctg ‘gunfight’ n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong One blockader was gunned down and four sustained bullet injuries in a reported gunfight with police in Nunachhara area of Sitakunda upazila of the district yesterday.

The deceased was identified as Arif, 24, from Shekherhat village in the upazila, while the injured were are CNGrun authorickshaw driver Rubel, 20, Sohel, 22, Nur Hadis, 22, and Parvez, 18.

When contacted, Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police outpost in-charge SI Jahirul Islam acknowledged the death to the Dhaka Tribune around 11:50pm, saying Arif and the four are blockaders.

Sitakunda model police station Assistant Superintendent of Police

A mob thrashes 10-year-old Manik on suspicion that he exploded a crude bomb inside Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital yesterday. He is one of several children believed to have detonated a crude bomb in the crowded park where the Boi Mela is going on. The children claim they picked up the device while playing. More photos on Page 3 RAJIB DHAR

n Minhaz Uddin Khan Bangladesh cricket team traveled to Australia with the mission of making it to the second round – quarterfinals – of the 2015 ICC World Cup. The side’s head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, on several occasions, reiterated their desire of winning at least four Pool A matches in order to progress to the quarters.

This means the Tigers will have to win both their matches against Associates Afghanistan and Scotland besides winning two of their four matches against the established orders – co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, England and Sri Lanka.

Both England and Sri Lanka lost their openers against Australia and New Zealand respectively on the opening day of the mega event. While England were crushed by 111 runs in Melbourne, the Lankans also lost convincingly by 98

runs in Christchurch.

Should the results encourage Bangladesh, given the fact that both the England and Sri Lanka matches are potentially winnable ones for the Tigers?

According to team sources though, the Bangladesh cricketers do not know whether to feel happy or otherwise.

The simple reason is that a lot of runs were scored in these two matches.

The 14 official warm-ups hinted that the wickets in both Australia and  PAGE 2 COLUMN 6

Today’s SSC exams shifted to Feb 20 n Tribune Report

Tiger skipper Mashrafe Mortaza stands in solemn respect before a Shaheed Minar (monument to martyrs) at the residence of the Bangladesh high commissioner to Australia BCB

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

state control today n Asif Showkat Kallol With the expiry of tenure of the nine elected female board members today, Nobel winning micro-credit organisation Grameen Bank would run by government-appointed people.

However, the female representative directors, who has since the beginning been opposing the amended Grameen Bank Act 2013, said they will continue to go to the board meetings even if they are not invited, until a new full-fleged board is elected and made functional.

Sources said a four-member quorum for the board has already been created and they will run the bank under the amended act. An internal election commission will hold fresh elections to elect nine new female board members within a year.

M Aslam Alam, secretary of the Bank and Financial Institutions Division, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that they are still looking for a retired district judge who will be appointed as the election commissioner for conducting the election of new members.

Banking Division sources said Finance Minister AMA Muhith has personally contacted several retired district judges but none of them were interested in becoming the commissioner to conduct the election.

The three people appointed by the government for running the Grameen Bank (GB) are: Khondaker Muzammel Huq, chairman of the GB board of directors; Suraiya Begum, secretary of the Statistics and Informatics Division; and Shah Alam Sarwar, managing director of the IFIC Bank Ltd. The fourth member of the quorum is acting managing director SM Mohiuddin, who is not a board member but

INSIDE 3 | News

The Awami League-led 14-party leaders yesterday strongly criticised BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia as the 20-party alliance she leads has called 72-hour hartal from today.

4 | News

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged all the Muslims, including Islamic scholars, to resist the evil politics of BNP-Jamaat as they are undermining Islam through their heinous acts of burning people to death.

Demanding resignation of the government and election under a non-partisan interim administration, the BNPled 20-party alliance yesterday called another spell of 72 hours’ countrywide shutdown from toady.

BNP Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed made the announcement through a press release on behalf of the alliance.

The statement said the alliance members would enforce the hartal alongside the ongoing non-stop transport blockade, began on January 6.

“We have called hartal again as there is no sign that the government will quit power and announce to hold a free and fair election under a non-party administration accepting the people’s demands,” the statement said.

The hartal that ends at 6am on Wednesday has also been called to protest against what the alliance calls killing of many opposition activists in crossfire, mass arrests of its supporters and common people, interference on judiciary, control over media, torture of journalists and “plot to kill BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia” by stopping food supplies to her office.

Salahuddin earlier threatened to enforce all-out hartal programme and other tougher programmes if the government did not accept their demands by yesterday.

So far, nearly 90 people have been killed, mostly in firebomb attacks carried out allegedly by the anti-government activists.

The law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 10,000 people on suspicion of carrying out the attacks and aiding the attackers. l

Time for batsmen to show their mettle GB goes under full

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

The government shifted today’s SSC and equivalent examinations for February 20 after the BNP-led 20-party alliance called a fresh spree of 72-hour hartal.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid announced the new schedule at an emergency press conference at his residence in the capital yesterday.

“To us, life of the examinees is more important than the exam. Considering their security, we have shifted Sunday’s [today’s] exams to February 20 [Friday]. We hope that hartal will not be called for that day,” he said.

The BNP-led alliance yesterday called 72-hour hartal starting 6am today and ending 6am Wednesday.

Another 3-day hartal called n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

5 | News

Environmentalists urged government to observe Sundarbans Day nationally to raise awareness about the importance of protecting the forest.

8 | World

Death did not part them. Archaeologists in southern Greece have discovered the grave of a man and woman buried as they died some 5,800 years ago — still tightly embracing.

9 | World

The captain of a Hong Kong commuter ferry that collided with another boat in 2012, killing 39 people, was found guilty of manslaughter yesterday, local media reported.

15 | Entertainment

Social activist Monica Jahan Bose will screen her short film and speak about the ongoing “Storytelling With Sarees project,” 7pm at Bengal Cafe, Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts today.

generally attends board meetings.

Tahasina Khatun, GB director representative from Mymensingh and a proYunus borrower, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “If the representatives of poor female borrowers lose their position in the board, it will have a negative impact on the bank’s activities.”

She also said: “Since October, there has been no meeting of the board of directors. Now the authorities are not calling meetings because of the hartals and blockade enforced by the BNP-led alliance.”

Tahasina said election of directors under the new act will pave way for political influence on the bank.

“We hope that the government will direct the authorities to make sure that the existing female board members continue to hold their positions until their successors take over,” she said.

Finance Minister Muhith has said in the past that the board of directors has not been functioning properly because the pro-Yunus members would oppose any decision taken at board meetings.

The other outgoing female directors are Mosammat Sultana from Sylhet, Sajada from Chittagong, Rehana Akter from Comilla, Saleha Khatun from Gazipur, Parum Begum from Dinajpur, Marina from Bogra, Shahida from Jessore and Momana Begum from Patuakhali.

They represented a total of 8.4 million borrowers from 2,500 branches of the bank across the country.

The bank was formed in 1983 under a military ordinance during the regime of HM Ershad. Muhammad Yunus was its founding managing director from the beginning.

In 2011, Bangladesh Bank removed Yunus on the ground that he had  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, February 15, 2015

‘Make Sundarbans oil spill probe report public’ n Tribune Report Citizens’ groups yesterday demanded that the probe reports on the Sundarbans oil spills be made public immediately to let the people know about the actual damage occurred to the world’s single largest mangrove forest and the rivers.

From two separate programmes in the capital, the activists also alleged that the government was trying to save the culprits responsible for the oil spill incident that has damaged the ecosystem of the forest.

Oil tanker Southern Star 7 carrying around 3.58 lakh litres of furnace oil sank in the Sela River in Mrigmari area under East Zone of the Sundarbans after being hit by a cargo vessel, Total Cargo, around 6am on December 9.

Both of the vessels were operating with fitness certificate despite having serious faults. “It has happened as a result of corruption of the officers concerned. The government is taking time to publish the probe reports with a view to protecting the culprits,” Ashish Ku-

mar Dey, convenor of the National committee to Protect Shipping, Road and Railway, said in a written statement.

Two separate probe bodies were formed after the incident. Of those, the seven-member committee is led

by Nur-ur-Rahman, joint secretary of the Shipping Ministry, while the other four-strong committee is led by Captain Gias Uddin, nautical surveyor of the Department of Marine Traffic.

“None of the committees has submitted report until now which is unacceptable,” Ashish said at a joint press briefing in the city. Citizens Rights Movement is the other organiser of the event.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Bapa) asked the government to remove all infrastructures from in and around the mangrove forest to save it from further destruction.

“The Sundarbans is the natural shield for the country. We have to save the forest to save the country,” Dr Abdul Matin, general secretary of the organisation, said at a human chain in front of the National Press Club. l

Ershad asks party men to be ready for next polls n BSS

Jatiya Party (JaPa) Chairman Hussein Muhammad Ershad yesterday asked his party activists to take quick preparations for the next general elections.

He said the common people now want to see JaPa in power for peace as violence, anarchy, terrorism, subversive activities and killing of innocent citizens by hurling petrol bombs have made their life miserable.

Ershad continued that he would start district wise political tours from March next to further enhancing mor-

al strength of his grassroots level party activists for building a solid base for success in the next general elections.

The JaPa chief said this while addressing a divisional level meeting with his party leaders and workers at the conference room of Rangpur Circuit House in the city as the chief guest.

“There is no time to sit idle for the workers of Jatiya Party as countrymen now want to see my party in power to resolve the present crisis,” Ershad said, asking his party-men for strengthening the party to take part in the next general elections. l

Today’s SSC exams shifted to Feb 20  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

Previously, the exams of February 2, 4, 8 and 10 had to be recheduled and February 12 exams postponed because of hartal. This year, around 1.5 million students are taking the SSC and equivalent exams. The government and the guardians

of examinees have called upon the BNP and its partners to call hartal excepting the exam days; but that call has never been heeded. Examinees have also been repeatedly saying that their preparations get all messed up when exams are rescheduled. l

Where do we go from here?  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

cars and CNG-run auto-rickshaws, but also include crude bomb blasts and “shoot outs” with law enforcers.

Over 1,000 vehicles have been smashed or torched, 11 trains have been derailed and much of the country’s transportation system has been severely hampered.

Some 14 people have been killed in “shoot outs” with law enforcement personnel and more than 7,000 people have been arrested in several weeks of political unrest.

Supporters of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who boycotted the 2014 general elections, demand that the government resign and hold new elections immediately, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says her government will remain in office until her term ends in 2019.

The hostilities follow a year of relative calm and have raised fears it may escalate as it did in 2013, when political violence left nearly 300 people dead.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimates the country has already sustained losses in all sectors of over Tk75,000cr during the previous month.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said losses in the apparel sector had reached nearly Tk21,700cr.

Most tellingly, Bangladesh Bank has revised the country’s GDP growth forecast from the government’s original estimate of 7.3% down to 6.5% – 6.8%, according to the country’s central bank.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have taken an even more cautious view, estimating GDP growth at 6.2%. The Asian Development Bank, taking a middle view, has forecast 6.4% GDP growth. But all agree that GDP growth was hit hard by prolonged instability.

Restoring law and order

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked law enforcers to get tough with blockade enforcers whom she has described as “monsters.”

“As the premier, I am giving you the liberty to take any action, wherever and whenever necessary, against the

arsonists,” she said while addressing senior officials of Bangladesh Police to mark Police Week 2015 at her Tejgaon office on January 28.

The government temporarily blocked Viber, WhatsApp and other messaging applications in many parts of the country though access was later restored.

But BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office, where she is temporarily residing, has been subject to a landline telephone, fax and internet blackout since January 31 which remains in effect.

Mobile telephony and wireless services were also blocked for about a week and then later re-enabled.

The power supply to the office was disconnected for nineteen hours overnight from January 31 to the following day, but then restored.

Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin, Awami League presidium member, claimed the BNP was carrying out criminal activities in the name of the movement and killing innocent people.

He said that this was not democratic practice.

“The BNP is trying to force the government to step down from office. The government is not concerned by this. But if the violence continues, the government will not remain a silent spectator.

“The government will get tougher.

Remember: Government is responsible for ensuring people’s security. The way people are being killed, government is concerned about that. The BNP is basically provoking the government to become tougher,” he said.

Movement to continue

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia recently said in a press statement: “The movement...will continue to its logical conclusion.”

Claiming that government and AL forces had killed at least 33 BNP alliance men under the guise of “gun fights” and other means since January 6, she said the government had taken over the media and was disseminating propaganda “against her party and its democratic movement.”

Khaleda claimed that she was confined to her Gulshan office since Janu-

Nagorik Oikya holds a rally in Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital yesterday calling for a dialogue between all political parties to resolve the political stalemate

RAJIB DHAR

Dr Kamal reiterates need for dialogue to end violent politics n Tribune Report Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain has opined that national dialogue placed by “Concerned Citizens” is essential to end the ongoing confrontational politics.

The eminent lawyer added the word “reformist” had been termed bad during the army-backed caretaker government in 2007 and now the word “dialogue” has been treated in the same way.

“Is dialogue a bad word? We need

reform in certain areas to resolve confrontational politics peacefully and that is why national dialogue is a must.

People is the source of power, but today they are ignored,” he went on.

Dr Kamal made the statement while addressing a sit-in programme titled ‘No more terrorism and violence, establish peace and democracy, and there’s no alternative to national dialogue,” hosted by Nagorik Oikkya at Suharawardy Udyan in the capital yesterday.

In the programme, Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal President ASM Abdur Rob

GB goes under full state control  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

crossed the permissible age for the post of the bank’s chief. The position has since remained vacant.

In December 2010, a documentary aired on a Norwegian television alleged that Yunus had transferred foreign money, given to Grameen Bank, from one account to another. It heaved a wave of controversy both at home and abroad.

It is claimed that since inception, the bank has cycled over $10bn through poor households in rural Bangladesh as credit that has been paid back nearly to the fullest.

Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Grameen Bank, for their efforts to create economic and social development.

The government now owns around 25% share in GB; before August 2013, the government had 3.25% stake.

Economist AB Mirza Azizul Islam, also adviser to a former caretaker government, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The trend is towards diluting the role of the board of directors and concentrating power in the hands of government appointees.”

He said: “With these unnecessary changes, the government is tinkering with a system that has allowed Grameen to prosper while many staterun banks are embroiled in scandals.”

He also said: “The basic structure of Grameen is changed through amendment of the law. The worry is that the poor women who are the rightful owners of the bank will be disenfranchised.” l

said very bad consequence awaits unless the talks held. “Free and fair election should be held immediately. There is no alternative of it,” Rob continued.

Nagorik Oikkya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna said: “We are against sabotage acts but want peace and that is why there is no alternative to dialogue.”

Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal President Khalequzzaman said AL and BNP have been fighting for power.

Former AL leader Sultan Mohammad Monsur termed the incumbent

parliament “Zoo” where autocrat HM Ershad is a lawmaker.

DU law department teacher Ashif Nazrul said: “Dialogue occurred between Israel-Palestine and Japan-United States. Then what happened between Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina that they can not hold talks. Please save us from civil war.”

Gano Forum Presidium Member Advocate Subrata Chowdhury, its General Secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu, CPB General Secretary Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed were present among others. l

One shot dead, 4 held in Ctg ‘gunfight’  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

Saiful Islam said the arrestees are activists of BNP-led 20-party alliance.

The ASP added that some 10-12 miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a police vehicle patrolling in the area around 9:15pm. However, none was left injured in the attack.

In retaliation, police immediately conducted a special drive in the area to arrest the criminals and finally managed to chase them.

At one stage, the blockaders started firing at the police team, creating a fierce shootout be-

tween both sides there, the ASP went on.

After the gunfight, police arrested five including Arif along with ten crude bombs, two petrol bombs, one lighter gun, and three rounds of bullet from the scene, the official said. ‘’The injured at first were admitted to Sitakunda Upazila Health Complex and then they were referred to the CMCH as their condition deteriorated, where doctors Arif dead,’’ said on-duty physician of the health complex Muhammad Nur. l

Time for batsmen ary 3 and announced a non-stop transportation blockade after failing to leave her office to join a rally on January 5.

Although the police barricades that had been placed in front of her office were removed on January 19, she has remained there and said the blockade would continue.

But she distanced herself and her 20-party alliance from the deadly violence, mostly arson and firebombing, that has rocked the country.

“We strongly condemn these horrible attacks on innocent people. We also express deep sympathy and condolences to those who have been injured or killed.

“We have urged earlier that saboteurs be identified and that exemplary punishment is meted out. I am repeating this demand again today,” Khaleda said.

The BNP chief has hinted that that her party was being framed for the violence by ruling party supporters: “No one has been caught red-handed for the attacks. In some places, ruling party men have been caught by police with bombs, bullets and firearms but were then let go.

“Without any evidence or investigation, the police have filed cases according to the directives of high-ups against national and local leaders of the opposition alliance.”

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, who heads a government committee on law and order, said security forces had detained over 7,000 people in recent weeks.

The BNP claims the true number is higher.

Amu said the government was offering up to Tk100,000 bounties for information leading to the arrest of those behind the arson.

International concern

Western diplomats, the United States, the EU and the United Nations have urged all sides to shun violence and peacefully resolve the political dispute.

British High Commissioner Robert Gibson has called on all sides to work together to break the cycle of violence in which “innocent people are paying the

ultimate price for the ongoing situation.”

US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf called on the government to provide the necessary space for peaceful political activity, and for all parties to instruct their members to refrain from violence, in a press statement.

Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Iftekhar Zaman said that the violence: “is not only undermining prospects of democracy and governance, but also causing extreme forms of damage to democratic institutions.”

“Having locked themselves in a zero-sum game of power, our political parties and leaders are not only exposing their political bankruptcy, but also increasing on a daily basis their distance from the people and public interest,” he said.

Amnesty International, in a statement, called on both the government and opposition parties to uphold the letter and the spirit of international humanitarian law and norms.

It said the government risked making the country’s situation worse by giving police “carte blanche to use excessive force” in response to petrol bomb attacks.

It also said: “International human rights law protects the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and peaceful protest, but the manner in which the BNPled protests are being carried out clearly shows a repeated pattern of violence being used for a political purpose.”

What next?

Communist Party of Bangladesh President Mujahidul Islam Selim has opined that uncertainty was the only certain element in Bangladeshi politics.

He told the Dhaka Tribune that the market value of the two major political parties seemed to depend on which was more repressive than the other.

He said both major parties must shoulder the responsibility for the situation the country is in.

“The Awami League has been saying everything will be normal – which shows a lack of responsibility – and the BNP has to shoulder the responsibility

for the deaths of the common people.

“News reports have said that ruling party men were involved in some incidents but that leaders had them released claiming they were innocent,” he said.

Former president of Bangladesh and Bikalpadhara Bangladesh President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury yesterday expressed fears that Bangladesh could be plunged into civil war if the two bickering sides do not hold talks.

There is a growing sense among political observers that neither side is likely to back down.

Political Analyst Afsan Chowdhury told the Dhaka Tribune: “Neither party practises real politics because neither is truly accountable to the people. The parties have achieved nothing but the alienation of the people.”

Afsan said neither party could be said to be practising real politics because both were involved solely in power politics—a narrow struggle to assume power.

“The BNP is conducting a movement not for the people but to compel the Awami League to hold an election.

So the people do not expect much from them,” he said.

Imtiaz Ahmed, professor of International Relations at Dhaka University, said: “The situation will continue until the January 5 election issue is settled – the level of violence and sabotage will rise at times and fall at others. Both parties believe that their position is correct.”

Imtiaz said the victimisation of the public is nothing new in Bangladesh.

He said neither party cares much for the common person.

With the two sides implacably at odds with the other, the answer to the question of how this crisis can be brought to an end seems elusive.

Both sides say the only way out is if their demands are met. Neither offers much scope for compromise.

For the public that probably means that they must expect more of the same and watch helplessly as a culture of violence takes root in the country.

The question will then be: Who will the public hold responsible for that? l

 PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

New Zealand will be a batsman’s delight. Of the 14 warm-ups, seven innings saw 300+ scores while 10 innings crossed the 250-run mark. In those 14 warm-ups, nine centuries were scored with Indian opener Rohit Sharma leading the way with an 150-odd. As many as 32 half-centuries were scored in the warm-ups.

And as far as the tournament proper is concerned, seven half-centuries were scored along with a century, blasted by Australian opener Aaron Finch.

All these innings indicate one common phenomenon – stick to the basics, survive fifty overs and hope to score 300 or above. The Kiwis perfected this as three of their batters – Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson and Corey Anderson – struck fifties while opener Martin Guptill fell one short of a well-deserved fifty.

And while defending the target, the bowling has to be sharp.

It is therefore no surprise that Bangladesh’s batting approach in their four practice matches came into question.

The batsmen were restless and none of them posted a big score. Most of the batsmen who did get going departed after crafting starts. That the Tigers were dismissed inside 50 overs in all of their practice matches shows that the batsmen were unable to apply themselves in the middle.

The inconsistent performances have, as expected, drawn the ire of Bangladesh captain Mashrafe as well as the millions of cricket-crazy fans back home. Mashrafe, also a veteran cricketer of the side, even went on to question some of the players’ commitment in the practice matches.

However, the practice matches are in the past now.

The Tigers will begin their World Cup campaign this Wednesday against Afghanistan in Canberra. Millions of Bangladesh fans will be praying that their beloved cricketers will overcome the technical glitches and start the flagship event in the best manner possible – a win. For that to happen, the batsmen must put their hands up and be counted, starting from their opening game. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Sunday, February 15, 2015

B Chy: PM must make move to end crisis n UNB

Three minor boys handed over to police for hurling crude bombs n Tribune Report A crowd in the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday handed over three minor boys for allegedly hurling crude bombs yesterday.

Around 2pm two people got injured in the blast including one of the three boys and a street vendor named Selim.

The three – Hossain, Manik and Ripon – all aged around 12 said they were just playing inside the Udyan when the bomb blasted.

Hossain who sustained injuries on his hand said: “A man threw the bomb and it did not burst, so I thought it was a ball and threw it, then it blasted.”

Ariful Islam Khan Tushar, a witness, said: “We were playing on the field and suddenly heard the sound of a blast and saw the three minor boys running.

One of them had blood on his hand and he was crying and saying that they did not do anything.”

Shahbagh police station Officer-in-Charge said no case was filed in this connection yet, however, three of the boys were taken to custody. l

(Clockwise from top left) Mob manhandles minors at Suhrawardy Udyan over suspicions that they exploded an incendiary device. One child points to another as they attempt to establish their innocence, The three tearful minors, one with injuries to his hand, are hauled away by lawmen. The photos were taken yesterday RAJIB DHAR

Expressing grave concern over the country’s current political situation, President of Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB) AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury yesterday said the prime minister must take initiatives to end the crisis.

“Bangladesh is now burning… in this critical situation, the prime minister has the greater responsibility. She must take initiatives first to resolve the crisis. The chief of the 20-party alliance will have to talk as well,” he said while speaking at the six-hour token-hunger strike programme organised by BDB at its Kuril office in the city.

Pointing at the chiefs of the two major political parties (AL and BNP), Badruddoza Chowdhury said it is the demand of the country’s 18 crore people that they must sit in dialogue to end the crisis.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resolved the crisis in BDR and Chittagong Hill Tracts successfully through dialogues…now where’s the problem to hold a dialogue with three-times elected Prime Minister (Khaleda Zia)?” he questioned.

Badruddoza Chowdhury, also a former president, said it will be a matter of shame if a dialogue is held with the mediation of foreign power.

Earlier at a press conference on January 25, B Chowdhury announced to observe the hunger strike together with people from different professions if the two top leaders of the country do not sit in talks by seven days to break the political deadlock.

On February 2, the BDB chief again requested the chiefs of Awami League and BNP to engage in dialogue.

As his call for the talks went unheeded, B Chowdhury urged the leaders and activists of patriotic political parties and organisations to join the progarmme.

The token-hunger strike programme continued from 11am to 5pm.

BDB Joint Secretary General Mahi B Chowdhury, National Labour Party (NLP) Chairman Abdullah Zia, BNP leader Dr Rafiq Chowdhury, other BDB leaders including Hafizur Rahman Jhantu, Shah Ahmed Badal, Mahfuzur Rahman, Obayed Mridha, Asaduzzaman Bacchu were also participated on the hunger strike. l

Awami League: BNP staging drama over Khaleda’s food

Muhith: Khaleda should be charged with sedition

n Abu Hayat Mahmud

BNP chief Khaleda Zia should be charged with sedition, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday, terming the BNP alliance’s country-wide transport blockade and hartals anti-state.

“Burning and killing people during the blockade and shut downs are beyond the pale of politics. This movement is anti-people and is against the country – it is against the national and popular interest,” the finance minister said at a seminar at Dhaka University.

Journey, an education forum, arranged the seminar on the “Degradation of the Education System in Recent Violence,” at Dhaka University’s Nawab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building.

“Khaleda Zia has proven herself to be injudicious by not participating in the 10th parliamentary elections. Violence and burning cannot correct her mistakes. She should step down from politics,” Muhith said.

At the seminar, the Prime Minister’s Political Affairs Adviser H T Imam said it is not possible to hold talks with terrorist groups.

“First, the BNP has to accept responsibility for the violence and killings, and then a dialogue will be ar-

The Awami League-led 14-party leaders yesterday strongly criticised BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia as the 20-party alliance she leads has called 72-hour hartal from today.

Meanwhile, ruling party Publicity Secretary Hasan Mahmud claimed that the law enforcers had not barred BNP men from carrying food inside Khaleda’s office. He alleged that the BNP leaders were making false statements this.

“Food is being cooked regularly in her [Khaleda’s] office. Besides this, huge amount of food is being taken to the office by her party men. The police never created any barrier. It is a drama staged by the BNP and partial news published by some particular media to create confusion among people,” he told reporters at the party president’s Dhanmondi office yesterday.

The former minister also questioned why Khaleda’s office needed foods for 50-60 persons every day. “Is it a shelter of terrorists?”

The 20-party alliance yesterday called 72-hour fresh shutdown amid indefinite blockade demanding resignation of the government and

announcement of midterm election.

For this, the government rescheduled today’s SSC exams for February 20.

Hasan Mahmud at another programme yesterday asked Khaleda, a three-time former premier, to resign as BNP chief admitting failure to gain public support in favour of the ongoing anti-government movement.

‘Dialogue can be held on the basis of international initiatives only if they [BNP-Jamaat alliance] admit their immorality’ He also said Khaleda should shoulder responsibility for the deaths and injuries, and destruction of property during the agitation programmes in force since January 6.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said the BNP chairperson should be sued on charge of sedition for carrying out anti-state movement in the name of blockade and hartals.

“Khaleda Zia has made a mistake by

staying aside from January 5 election last year. I think she should give up politics as a penalty,” Muhith said while addressing a programme at Dhaka University.

At the same event, Prime Minister’s Political Affairs Adviser HT Imam said there was no scope of compromise with the “terrorists” and that no dialogue would be held. “Dialogue can be held on the basis of international initiatives only if they [BNP-Jamaat alliance] admit their immorality.”

Primary and Mass Education Minister Mustafizar Rahman Fizar alleged that the petrol bomb attacks were carried out with the money financed by [war crimes convict] Chowdhury Mueen Uddin.”

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said nobody and no conspiracy would be able to stop the progress of Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh’s future is very bright.

It will surely turn into a middle-income country,” he told a programme at Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.

The senior Awami League leader said the country’s businesspeople were suffering for the violent attacks perpetrated in the name of blockade and hartal enforced by BNP chief

Khaleda Zia. “She has declared war against the country in the name of movement,” he added.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said Khaleda was working to destroy the country’s education system disregarding the sufferings of the SSC examinees.

“They have again called hartal for committing destruction even after staging agitation programmes without any obstruction across the country.

Dialogue cannot be held in a situation like this,” Menon, also president of Workers Party, told a human chain on Bailey Road of the capital yesterday.

Food Minister Quamrul Islam was also present at the programme. He warned against the persons who were giving provocative speech involving the armed forces.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon the Islamic scholars to build public opinion against those who kill and torture people while preaching the essence of Islam.

The primer made the call while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the International Sufi Conference 2015 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital yesterday. l

n DU Correspondent

Jubo League man IGP: Law and order situation in murdered in Chittagong country almost normal n FM Mizanur Rahaman A Jubo League man was beaten to death by unidentified miscreants in Rangunia upazila of Chittagong yesterday.

Md Jasim, 32, son of Awami League Rangunia upazila unit General Secretary Baby Chowdhury, came under attack of 5/6 men in Burir Dokan area in Shantirhat in the upazila, said Nayek Jahangir Alam of Chittagong Medical College Hospital Police Outpost, quoting Baby Chowdhury.

He said the miscreants beat up Jasim and thrashed his face with heavy metal weapons around 6pm while he was

taking tea at a tea stall on the road.

Leaving Jasim critically injured, the miscreants fled the spot, said the Nayek.

Md Osman, vice-president of Bangladesh Chhatra League Pomra union unit and uncle of Jasim, told the Dhaka Tribune that miscreants swooped on Jasim at a spot 5km away from his house in the Burir Dokan area.

Locals took him to CMCH where he died around 7:30am.

Osman claimed that the attack was led following political rivalry.

Rangunia police station Officer-inCharge Humayun Kabir said they were investigating the matter. l

n

UNB

Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque has declared that the law and order situation of the country has become almost normal.

“Law and order situation in the country has become almost normal.

Life in Dhaka city becomes almost normal…… It is tough to say is there any hartal or blockade seeing the vehicular movement on the streets,” he said.

The police chief said this while addressing a function held at the Police Headquarter in the city yesterday, in which 25 police members were awarded for arresting saboteurs during ongoing hartal and blockade programme by

risking their lives.

The IGP said some secret attacks have been taking place, and that a list of saboteurs has been made. And police has been arresting persons as per the list.

People who have been arrested for the bomb attacks are loyal to Chattra Dal, Juba Dal, Shibir or hired by the organisations He also said that the people who have been arrested in connection with bomb attacks are loyal to Chattra Dal,

Juba Dal, Shibir or hired by the organisations. They also gave confessional statement in the court.

In reply of a question, Shahidul Hoque said that the supply of food to Khaleda Zia’s office is normal. Nobody is creating hindrance in this regard. She (Khaleda) has been getting food and she is physically well.

About allegations of ‘arrest-trade’ in the police, the chief of the law enforcement agency said that they didn’t get any specific allegation in this regard.

They will investigate allegations as Detective Branch of police is working on it.

The IGP said they awarded 25 police to inspire other members of the force into such good works. l

ranged on the basis of the international effort,” he said.

University Grants Commission Chairman Professor AK Azad Chowdhury said students’ intellectual progress was being inhibited by the violence.

“This is an attempt to annihilate progressive-minded people and the inspiration of the Liberation War,” he said.

Referring to Nagorik Samaj, a committee of civil society members who are calling for dialogue, National University Professor Harun Or Rashid said: “They have their own political identities and that is why they are emphasising dialogue and forgetting about the killing of innocents with petrol bombs.”

Former Dhaka University Central Students’ Union vice-president Mahfuza Khanom said: “Bangladesh has experienced several movements before but it has not seen such an anti-people movement before.”

She criticised Nagorik Samaj, labelling them supporters of violence.

Among others, Minister for Primary and Mass Education Mostafizur Rahman, former DU vice-chancellor Professor SMA Faiz and Secretary of Education Ministry Nazrul Islam Khan spoke at the seminar. l

Journos’ human chain condemns violence

n BSS

Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) yesterday organised a human chain in front of the National Press Club to condemn the violence and terror unleashed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-Jamaat led alliance in the name of hartals and blockades.

Journalists’ unions of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazaar, Narayanganj, Mymensingh and Bogra among others also organised similar programmes yesterday.

The meeting was presided by the acting chairman of BFUJ executive committee, Kazi Rafiq, while former general secretary of the National Press Club, Shafiqur Rahman, was the main speaker.

The speakers said that people were being killed by petrol bombs in the name of political programmes. l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, February 15, 2015

PM calls upon all Muslims to resist BNP-Jamaat’s evil politics n UNB Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged all the Muslims, including Islamic scholars, to resist the evil politics of BNP-Jamaat as they are undermining Islam through their heinous acts of burning people to death.

She also called upon the Muslims, including pir, mashayekh and alems, to come forward to play a strong role in bringing back those to the true path who are doing politics in the name of Islam, misguided by the BNP-Jamaat.

The prime minister made the call while addressing the inaugural function of the daylong International Sufi Conference 2015 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC).

‘Several hundred people have got maimed and have been languishing in hospital beds with severe pains and agonies’

Islamic scholars from home and abroad, including India, Germany, England and Russia, are participating in the conference organised by Bangladesh Tarikat Federation.

Referring to the vandalism, killing and setting fire to vehicles by BNP-Jamaat clique before the last general election, the prime minister said they are again out there on the streets to kill people hurling petrol bombs and burning innocent citizens to death in the name of politics.

She also said BNP-Jamaat always uses Islam for their political gains but show little respect to the religion of peace. “They’ve no respect for Islam … that’s why they enforced agitation programmes during even Biswa Ijtema and on holy Eid-e-Miladunnabi.”

Hasina said Biswa Ijtema is the second largest Muslim cogeneration as hundreds of thousands of Muslims from across the world assemble on the bank of the Turag Rive.

The prime minister said the BNP-Jamaat nexus did not even spare holy Miladunnabi, the anniversary of birth and demise of Great Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SM), from their agitation programmes.

“Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared Miladunnabi as the public holiday, but BNP-Jamaat imposed blockade and hartal on that day. BNP-Jamaat didn’t show minimum respect to our beloved

2-year old’s body found inside pipe in capital n Tribune Report Police yesterday recovered the body of a two-year-old girl from inside a pipe in the capital’s Suhrawardy Uddyan.

The girl, Sharmeen Akhter, had been missing since Friday night and was found around 12pm by police who had been informed by a passerby.

Police suspected Sharmeen has been killed, and detained her stepfather Saiful Islam in this connection.

Md Sohel Rana, Sub-Inspector (SI) of Shahbagh Police Station said Nazimuddin, a passer-by, noticed the body inside a sanitary pipe near the PWD Quarter inside of the field, and soon informed the police. They recovered the body around 1:30pm and sent it to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.

“The pipe was four-five feet above ground, which is higher than Sharmeen’s height. There was nothing near the pipe to suggest that she climbed in and fell inside,” said the SI. “Someone killed her and dumped the body inside,” he added.

He also said the girl had injury marks on her neck. Police through primary investigation has come to know that Sharmeen’s mother Shahida is a homeless woman who lived with her daughter inside the park. But she has also been missing since Friday, police said. l

Prophet (Pbuh) and they killed people on that day, too. What do they actually want?”

She called upon the country’s pir, mashayekh and Islamic scholars to come forward to create public opinion against burning people to death and reach the essence of holy religion Islam to the general public.

Terming Islam as a religion of peace and progress, Sheikh Hasina said, there is no place of terrorism and destructive activities in this holy religion.

Chairman of Tarikat Federation Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizbhandari, MP presided over the function while its secretary general MA Awal, MP and Dean of Diplomatic Corps and Ambassador of Palestine Shaer Mohammad spoke on the occasion.

When the country’s people were living a peaceful life and the country’s economy was marching forward recouping the losses due to their destructive acts, the Prime Minister said, the BNP-Jamaat nexus is again engaged in destructive activities and killing spree.

About 100 people have so far been killed in their violent acts, Sheikh Hasina said adding the air of the burn units of various hospitals has turned heavy with the foul smell of the burnt people.

“Besides, several hundred people have got maimed and have been languishing in hospital beds with severe pains and agonies.”

She said the BNP-Jamaat’s another target is to save the war criminals as the government is taking the trial process ahead against those who committed crimes against humanity in 1971.

The prime minister said the BNP chief’s (Khaleda Zia’s) destructive activities are also meant for protecting herself from the trial being held for misappropriating orphanage fund.

“Khaleda Zia was certainly involved in the corruption, or else, she would have faced the court.”

Describing various measures taken

by Awami League government for the welfare of Islam, the prime minister said Father of the Nation established the Islamic Foundation and Madrasa Board while her government implemented massive programmes over the last six years for expanding Islamic education and ideals.

She said her government has taken steps to set up at least one model mosque in every upazila and will recruit one teacher on religious affairs in every school as character building is not possible without religious education.

Afzal Hossain Sayedi, on behalf of the President of Minhazul Quran International, UK charter and Nazim Ali Nizami of Dargah-e Nizamuddin Foundation, Delhi, India and Secretary General of Khawza Moinuddin Chishti Foundation Khawza Wahid Hossain Chishti also spoke at the function. l

Orientation spring held at ULAB n Tribune Report English and Humanities department of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) arranged Orientation Spring 2015 on Wednesday in its auditorium of Campus A, says a media release.

Faculty members, fresher as well as other students spontaneously joined the programme where Dr Kaiser Huq, Head of the department, welcomed the newcomers and suggested them to be creative in their approach in studies and in other activities as well.

Dr Shamsad Mortuza, Academic Advisor introduced the faculties to the new members of the DEH family. Professor Golam Sarwar Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion. A presentation on course coordination was given by Shayeekh-Us-Saleheen, the coordinator of the department.

A cultural show comprising music, dance performance and a literature ramp followed the event. l

NSU wins intervarsity contest n Tribune Report The team from North South University (NSU) named ‘Sinobis’ won the championship of “SUB Inter-University Programming Contest 2015” held on February 07, says a media release.

The contest was hosted by State University of Bangladesh (SUB), where 91 teams from different renowned public and public universities of the country participated.

Besides, teams, namelyJefrin from SUST and Mue from BUET won the second and the third position respectively.

A team of fifteen members led by the Professor Dr Mohammad Kaykobad, computer science and engineering department of BUET, were the panel of judges in the race.

Later, Dr AM Shamim, president of board of trustees of SUB, distributed prizes to the winners at the closing ceremony as the chief guest. l

Malnourished pregnant women halves Students of Charukola (Institute of Fine Arts under Dhaka University) take part in a street painting campaign protesting violence against women under the banner of ‘Uddome uttorone shotokotir bishwo,’ in front of the Charukola yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Abdur Rashid Miah’s Qulkhani today

n Tribune Report The Qulkhani of Abdur Rashid Miah, father of Dhaka Tribune’s Advertising Credit Officer Md Al-amin Miah, is going to held in his residence on 104 Power House Road in Uttar Shimrailkandi of Brahmanbaria today.

The programme will be held after Zohr prayers and his well-wishers were requested by the family members to attend it, says a media release.

Abdur Rashid, professionally businessman, passed away on February 12, this year at the age of 75 and later he was buried in his village home. l

Bobby’s 21st death anniversary today n Tribune Report Today is the 21st death anniversary of late Anwarul Islam Bobby, says a media release.

On this day 21 years ago, he passed away in Dubai while he was being flown to London for treatment of leukaemia.

It may be mentioned that he was the youngest and first Bengali to hold the post of secretary-general of APNS (All Pakistan Newspapers Society) while representing the now defunct The Bangladesh Observer before the war of Independence.

Online activists for end to violence n Munir Momtaj When the whole city was celebrating Valentine’s Day, yesterday, a group of youths gathered at Central Shaheed Minar to go on a hunger strike against the mindless killing of innocent people in political violence.

Abdus Sattar Khan Babu, a social and online activist, sent out the call for hunger strike through Facebook and blogs. Though many people

expressed solidarity online, only a few showed up at the actual event, which was held from 10am to 5pm.

The group had no banner, placard or any publicity for their activity.

They also had no support from any civil society or political platform. All they had was a conscience of uniting against killing innocent people.

“We have decided to observe hunger strike at several places of the country to protest against burning and killing people in the

name of politics,” he said.

“Our next programme will be held at Central Shaheed Minar again on February 27, on March 1 in Chittagong, March 2 in Cox’s Bazaar and March 5 in Comilla,” he added.

Earlier on February 12, Sattar and some of his fellows brought out a procession from Elenga Gyankunja Pathagar of Tangail to Maulana Bhasani’s graveyard protesting the killings. Many general people also joined the procession. l

Muslim Aid to close Rohingya project n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman Muslim Aid, a UK-based non-government organisation, is going to close down its Rohingya project in Teknaf in phases as European Union has stopped funding it.

“The NGO has dubious operation in Teknaf and the government has requested the EU not to fund it,” said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry.

When contacted, the European Union embassy in Dhaka through an email confirmed that from February this year, their contract with Muslim Aid expired.

The government in 2008 allowed Muslim Aid to manage a make-shift camp for undocumented Rohingyas

in Teknaf. The government scrapped its permission in 2012 but did not force the NGO to get out from Teknaf.

Taking advantage of the administration’s lax grip, the NGO is still managing the camp where over 15,000 undocumented Rohingyas are residing.

Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, a convicted war criminal for killing Bangali intellectuals in collaboration with the Pakistan Army in 1971, was a former chairman of Muslim Aid. “We do not want them to operate in Teknaf as the government has no knowledge where and how they spend their fund,” said another Foreign Ministry official.

Last year, the EU alone provided 2.857 million euro to the Muslim

Aid. The NGO also gets fund from other donors. The government has signed an agreement with International Organisation for Migration to train and equip local NGOs to provide humanitarian services to the undocumented Rohingyas.

About 30,000 Rohingya refugees are residing in two camps in Cox’s Bazar whereas about three to five lakhs undocumented Rohingyas, whom the government does not recongnise as refugees, are residing in Cox’s Bazar, Teknaf, Chittagong and other adjacent districts.

These undocumented Rohingyas pose serious security, economy and environment threats to Bangladesh, according to National Strategy on Undocumented Rohingya. l

After independence, he went on to help late Sheikh Fazlul Haq Moni in founding The Bangladesh Times and also Banglar Bani. And later founded the first English language regional daily newspaper from Chittagong called The Daily Life and a medical weekly called The Pulse.

And finally the now defunct The Morning Sun. He was called a newspaper wizard by everyone who knew him.

His family requests all his friends, family and well-wishers to pray for his departed soul. l

n Tribune Report A report titled “State of Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh: 2013” launched on yesterday at BRAC centre, Mohakhali the capital claimed that the proportion of severely malnourished pregnant women has halved between 2012 and 2013.

The report was launched by National Food Security Nutritional Surveillance Project funded by the European Union and implemented jointly by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Ministry of Planning, James P Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University and Helen Keller International.

EU First Secretary Gonzalo Sewana was the guest of honour.

The event was chaired by Director General of BBS Golam Mostafa where M A Mannan MP, State Minister of Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning was present as the chief guest. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Sunday, February 15, 2015

5

COUNTRYWIDE BLOCKADE

25 cops awarded for arresting arsonists redhanded n Mohammad Jamil Khan Bangladesh Police has awarded its 25 officials for their bravery in arresting miscreants red-handed while the latter were reportedly preparing for arson attacks during the recent countrywide blockade enforced by BNP-led 20-party alliance.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque handed over Tk5.50 lakh to the officials from Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Narayanganj district at a function in the conference room of the Police Headquarter in the capital yesterday.

“We are awarding the officials from DMP and Narayanganj district for their bravery so that other officials across the country are encouraged to do so,” Shahidul Haque said.

Police officials are doing their duties for 24 hours a day in risky situations due to petrol bomb and crude bomb attacks in the last 40 days, he said.

An official was killed and many officials were injured in such attacks, the IGP said.

The police chief said the arsonists, who were caught red-handed by the police, are either leaders and activists of BNP’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, its youth wing Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal; and Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir or people hired by them.

The arrestees have confessed to their involvements and revealed their political identities during investigations, he said.

Responding to a question regarding allegation of bribery by police officials by using the turmoil political situation, Shahidul Haque said: “Our intelligence agencies are scrutinising the allegations. If any official is found guilty, we

will take action against them.”

The IGP also lauded the bravery a female cop named Farida Khanam who alone caught two alleged pickets with petrol bombs from Fatullah in Narayanganj on Wednesday night last.

The officials from DMP who were given award are: Ramna police station Inspector (investigation) Mohammad Ali Hossain, Constables Siddiqur Rahman and Sonahor Ali; Bangshal police station Sub-Inspectors Moktar Hossain, Jahid Ali, and Assistant Sub-Inspectors Ijarot Hossain and Milon Mollah; Badda police station Sub-Inspector Akhtaruzzaman Sarker, Constables M Kamal Uddin, M Arju Miah, and M Lutfor Rahman; Wari police station Sub-Inspector M Jalal Uddin; Jatrabari police station Sub-Inspector Rasel Hossain, DMP Traffic (south) Sargent Tanumoy, Detective Branch (East) Senior Assistant Commissioner Mainul Islam, Detective Branch (south) Senior Assistant Commissioner Hasan Arafat.

Meanwhile, officials from Narayanganj district police are: Fatulla police station Assistant-Sub Inspector Farida Khanam Tagar, Narayanganj district police Assistant Sub-Inspector Al Amin, Constables Shariful, Nure Alam, Abul Hossain, Mabud, Senior Assistant Superintendent Azim-ul-Ahsan, Detective Branch Sub Inspector M Mazharul Islam and Assistant Sub Inspector M Shawkat Imran.

Additional IGP (admin) Mokhlesur Rahman, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah and high official of DMP and Police Headquarters were also present on the occasion.

At least 72 people have been killed in the recent political violence during the blockade and hartals across the country since January 6. l

Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (SUJAN), an NGO that advocates good governance, forms a human chain yesterday in the capital demanding restoration of peace and harmony, and working towards a compromise for resolving the current political standoff SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Sujan: Shun violence, work towards compromise n UNB Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (SUJAN), an NGO that advocates good governance, yesterday arranged a human chain in the city demanding restoration of peace and harmony, and working towards a compromise for resolving the current political standoff.

“Solution to this crisis is not possible without dialogue. Political parties resolve their problems politically,” SUJAN President M Hafizuddin Khan said addressing the human chain formed in front of National Museum in Shahbagh.

Hafizuddin Khan demanded an immediate initiative to arrange a national dialogue and preparing a national charter for sustainable solution to the

political crisis.

SUJAN Secretary Dr Badiul Alam Majumder said already 90 innocent persons were killed in the ongoing violence, and demanded immediate ending of violence and subversive activities in the name of movement, exemplary punishment to criminals and curbing terrorist activities with iron hand.

He also demanded an end to extra-judicial killings. Dr Majumder urged the prime minister to resolve the ongoing political stalemate.

He also called on the president to take initiative for dialogue if the prime minister does not take it.

Speaking at the function, former election commissioner Brig Gen (Retd)

n FM Mizanur Rahaman

“Education UK Exhibition 2015” kicks off in the Zinia Hall of the Peninsula Chittagong Hotel in Chittagong today.

Chittagong City Corporation Mayor Manjur Alam will inaugurate the fair around 10am oranised for the 11th time by the British Council in the port city.

Visitors will have the opportunity to seek suggestions on graduation and post-graduation degree courses, scholarship opportunities in different universities in the United Kingdom. They will also get an idea on overall livelihood opportunities alongside studying in the UK. Students and guardians will also be provided with information on visa processing and different courses offered by the British Council. l

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

WEATHER Marking the Sundarbans Day-2015, National committee to save Sundarban holds a rally in front of National Press Club yesterday for raising awareness among people about the importance of protecting the world’s largest mangrove forest SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15 DHAKA

TODAY SUN SETS 5:54PM

TOMORROW SUN RISES 6:31AM

FORECAST FOR TODAY 26 27 25 25 27 27 26 28

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

16 17 14 13 15 16 13 17

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

29.7ºC Cox's Bazar

09.4ºC Srimangal

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Zohr Asr Magrib Esha

5:17am 6:33am 12:13am 4:16pm 5:52pm 7:09pm

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exports Association (BGMEA) on Saturday observed a hunger strike in Chittagong, demanding immediate halt to the ongoing political unrest which has pushed the country’s economy into uncertainty.

Members of BGMEA staged the demonstration before Chittagong BGMEA office in the city’s Khulshi area around 11a, to press home their demand.

Speakers at the rally said the country’s economy is going into ruins alongside the burning of people and lives due to the blockades and hartals enforced by the BNP-led 20 party alliance. l

Terrorism in disguise of political programmes, says Ctg human chain

Education UK Exhibition 2015 starts

DRY WEATHER

M Shakhawat Hossain said the common people who are not involved in politics are the worst victims of the blockade and violence.

“The political situation is going out of control of politicians, which may be seriously harmful for the country and the nation,” he said.

Politician Ruhin Hossain Prince and SUJAN executive committee member Dr Hamida Banu, among others, took part in the human chain.

SUJAN also demanded expediting the trial process of war criminals and quick implementation of the court’s judgement, banning religion-based politics and upholding democratic rights ending political harassment, said a press release. l

BGMEA observes hunger strike in Ctg against political violence n FM Mizanur Rahaman

Govt urged to observe Sundarbans Day nationally n UNB Speakers at a discussion marking the Sundarbans Day in Bagerhat yesterday urged the government to observe it nationally for raising awareness among people about the importance of protecting the world’s largest mangrove forest.

They said although the people of different coastal districts adjacent to the Sundarbans, including Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira, have been observing Sundarbans Day on the day since 2002 their demand to observe it nationally remained unheeded for the last 14 years.

The speakers renewed their demand this time at the discussion organised by Bagerhat Press Club.

The event was presided over by President of Bagerhat Press Club Advocate Mohammad Shah Alam Tuku while MP Advocate Mir Shawkat Ali Badshah of Bagerhat-2 constituency was present as the chief guest.

Acting deputy commissioner of Bagerhat Mohammad Shah Alam Sar-

dar, Advocate Ramkrishna Basu, Advocate Parveen Ahmed and Secretary of Bagerhat Press Club Mafizur Rahman Mahfuz were present on the occasion, among others.

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Khokon, director of Rupantor, a Khulna-based non-government organisation, said the decision of observing the Sundarbans Day was taken at the first Sundarbans conference, organised by Rupantar, Khulna University and Bapa, in Khulna on February 14, 2001 where they had also urged the government to observed the day at the national level.

Although different press clubs, Sundarbans Academy and other organisations in the coastal districts have been observing the day since 2002 but their demand for observing the day nationally remained unheeded for the last 14 years, he said.

Bagerhat Press Club President advocate Mohammad Shah Alam Tuku said the Sundarbans is protecting people from natural disasters and this mangrove forest needs to be saved at any cost.

Prof Dr Mahmud Hossain of Khulna University Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline said if the government takes an initiative to observe the Sundarbans Day nationally then people will get a chance to know more about the Sundarbans and also it will create interest among them about the forest.

As in previous years, the Sundarbans Day was observed yesterday in a befitting manner in all the districts adjacent to the Sundarbans.

Several organisations have chalked out various programmes, including discussions and rallies, in Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira districts to mark the day.

Rupantar submitted a memorandum to the Khulna deputy commissioner to press home their several demands, including observation of Sundarbans Day nationally.

The Sundarbans is the country’s only natural tiger habitat with a range of 6,017 square kilometers. The Sundarbans is also a popular tourism spot due to its beautiful landscape while a huge number of tourists visit the forest each year. l

Speakers at a human chain before Chittagong Press Club yesterday opined that BNP-Jamaat activists have been running criminal activities across the country under the guise of political activities.

Protesting the countrywide sabotage acts and violence, a human chain and a protest rally organised by Chittagong Union of Journalists (CUJ) were held, where Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) President Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul was present as the chief guest.

“Innocent people got killed by petrol bombs in the dark of nights. Human rights are being violated in the name of their (political parties) voting rights.

We cannot accept this as a professional

and conscious citizen of the country,” said Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul.

He also said: “We are not against the politics. But the parties who are conducting violence in the name of their political programme have to take the responsibilities of the violence. We have to tear out the ugly politics.”

The other speakers said the countrymen were taking streets protesting the ill political motive of BNP-Jamaat.

The speakers suggested that the political parties should practise political activities in systematic way.

CUJ President presided over the programme where BFUJ Vice-President Abu Taher Mohammad, Joint Secretary General Asif Siraz, CUJ Vice-President Ratan Kanti Debashish and General Secretary Hasan Ferdous spoke among other journalist leaders. l

Canada: Better governance, infrastructure needed for BD’s further development n UNB Canadian High Commissioner in Dhaka Benoit Pierre Laramee yesterday said Bangladesh needs to improve governance, infrastructure and energy supply to achieve its desired middle-income status by 2021.

“It’s clear that achieving middle-income status soon is a goal shared by nearly all Bangladeshis. However, to do this almost everyone agrees infrastructure, energy and governance need to be improved,” he said sharing his experience of discussion with leaders from across the political spectrum.

The diplomat made the remark while addressing a seminar, titled “Canada Bangladesh Bilateral Trade: Opportunities and Challenges,” at Sonargaon Hotel in the city.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed spoke at the seminar as the chief.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the

current satiation, he hoped that this situation will not continue for an indefinite period.

Tofail gave credit to businesspeople for the country’s economic progress and assured them of government’s continuous support.

FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, DCCI President Hossain Khaled, CCCI President Mahbubul Alam, CPD Additional Research Director Dr Khondakar Glamorgan Moazzem, former CEO of BFTI Dr Mozibur Rahman, Project Manager Asia TFO Canada Zaki Munshi and CanCham President Masud Rahman also spoke at the seminar.

The Canadian High Commissioner said Bangladesh’s growth needs to be accelerated to reach the middle-income status by the middle of the next decade. “I sincerely hope Bangladesh can resolve these challenges and move from a least developed country to a middle-income one by 2021.” l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Illegal logging takes toll on Habiganj forests n Our Correspondent, Habiganj Illegal loggers are chopping down trees worth lakhs of taka in Habiganj forests almost every day allegedly with the connivance of local forest officials.

Some 15 men, who were cutting down trees in a forest last week, said they regularly pay local forest officers and police to obtain permission for felling trees.

One of the men, Shafiq, claimed a forest officer was given Tk10,000 before he and others began cutting down trees.

In addition to police and forest officials, some local influential leaders are also allegedly given money every

month, who will then allow the illegal logging to continue.

Satchhari Forest Officer Monirur Islam claimed that no villager is involved in the act.

“Some illegal loggers have already been detained. We will take action against any forest official if his involvement in illegal logging is proved,” he added.

Officer-in-Charge of Chunarughat police station Amulya Kumar Chowdhury strenuously denied the involvement of police in the sale of trees chopped down illegally.

“We regularly capture illegal loggers and subject them to legal proceedings.

Some of them have already been sent to prison,” he added. l

Couple found dead in Gazipur n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

Dry fish traders incurring huge losses due to blockade and hartals

The hanging bodies of a man and his wife were recovered from their rented house in Monipur Maddhyapara area of Gazipur on Friday night.

The deceased are Monirul Islam,40, and his wife Moyna Begum, 30.

Hailing from Chuadanga, the couple used to work at a garment factory in the area.

Rafikul Islam, officer in-charge of Hotapara police outpost under Joydebpur police station, said they recovered the bodies from the room of the deceased round 9:30pm.

Quoting locals, he said the couple used to lock into altercations over their family feud.

The bodies were sent to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsies, he added.

Police suspect that Monirul might have committed suicide after killing his wife. l

NEWS IN BRIEF Drug worth Tk1 crore seized Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) seized Indian drugs worth of around Tk1 crore in Katakhali Bazar area of Magura early yesterday. Lt Col SM Monirujjaman, director of Chuadanga 6 BGB, said on a secret information they conducted a drive in the area around 4:00am. They intercepted a covered van and seized the smuggled drugs from the vehicle, he said. The drugs are worth of Tk 98.83 lakh, he added.

– Our Correspondent, Magura

16 cocktails recovered Police in a drive seized 16 cocktails from a bottle gourd field at Char Palash village in Pakundia upazila yesterday. On a tipoff, a team of police conducted the drive in the area around 3pm and recovered 16 bombs, each consisting of a bottle filled with petrol with a piece of cloth in the end, in an abandoned condition, said Jakir Rabbani, officer-in-charge of Pakundia police station. However, no one was arrested in this connection.

Meanwhile, miscreants set fire to a microbus at Chilakara village in the upazila, the 40th day of the blockade enforced

by BNP-led 20-party alliance.

– Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj

n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj Dry fish business in Kuliarchar of Kishoreganj district is facing a crisis as traders cannot market them due to the on going indefinite blockade and intermittent hartals.

Given the rampant petrol bomb attacks on vehicles across the country, it has been very difficult to find transport to distribute the fishes. As a result they are being eaten up by insects and losing quality day by day.

Reputed for its fishes, Kuliarchar has about 20-25 thousand people who rely on the fish business for their livelihood.

In more than 300 households dried fish business is the main earning source.

Kishoreganj, being a district of a number of various water bodies, produce a lot of fresh water fishes, majority of which are dried and sold. There is a huge demand for dried fishes of Kishoreganj given its quality and taste.

The fishermen and traders use the traditional method of drying fish since there is no modern technical support

Students of Rajshahi College perform at a cultural event to celebrate Pahela Falgun on the campus yesterday

from the government or private sector.

The business which is usually a profitable one, has now turned into a headache for those who are involved with it.

‘We are also not being able to go to other districts. We do not know how to survive if this situation continues’ Traders claimed that dried fishes are getting piled up everyday as they are not being able to distribute them.

Moreover, since there is no storage facility, the fishes are left out in the open collecting dust and being vulnerable to insect attacks. Many traders are using harmful chemicals to save the dried fishes from insects. This is also putting consumers at risk.

Rahela Khatun and Faruk Mia, workers of a dry fish factory, said many people make a living out of the busi-

Four killed in road accidents in 3 districts n Tribune Report

At least four people were killed in road accidents in Jamalpur, Narayanganj and Gopalganj districts yesterday.

Jamalpur correspondent said a man was killed and another injured in an accident on the Jamalpur-Tangail Road in Sadar upazila.

Police said Arfan Hossain, 35, son of Helal Uddin of Charjotharthapur village died on the spot when a Madhupur-bound truck hit a battery run easy-bike in Beltia Madrasa Intersection area, outskirt of the town.

Besides, Sagor, 20, son of Tajul Islam of Kulurchar village in the upazila and also driver of the easy-bike critically injured. He was rushed to Jamalpur general hospital, and later shifted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.

Police detained the truck, but its driver managed to flee the spot.

In Narayanganj, two people were killed and four others were injured

when a truck rammed into a three wheeler in Rupganj upazila.

The deceased were identified as-Kabir Hossain, 28, son of Abdul Hamid and Ismail Hossain, 24, son of Abdul Karim.

Bhulta police outpost SI Rabiul Islam said, a truck rammed into a Bhulta-bound three wheeler, locally known as Nasimon, at Golakandail area around 11:30am, leaving two Nasimon passengers dead on the spot and four others injured.

Police arrested the truck driver and its helper with the help of locals.

Gopalganj correspondent said a bus helper was killed on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway in the district.

Gopalganj police station Officer-inCharge Md Zakir Hossain said Akram Khan,22, the helper of Rupshi Paribahan became critically injured when a truck coming from the opposition direction rammed into the bus. Later, he was sent to local hospital where on duty doctor declared him dead. l

The Gaibandha chapter of Udichi Shilpi Goshthi holds a drawing, handwriting and spelling contest yesterday, the first day of its 3-day celebration of the International Mother Language Day. The photo was taken at the Shaheed Minar of Gaibandha town DHAKA TRIBUNE

ness in the dry seasons, especially from the month of November to April. “With the earning of these five months, we try to survive the rest of the year. But now because of the blockade, our earning is being hampered.”

Dry fish trader Kamal Uddin and Abdul Quddus said: “The business is profitable, but it is difficult to sustain with the loan from local people. If we could get bank loan, it would have been easier.” He also urged the political parties to end blockade and hartals.

General Secretary of the dry fish traders’ association, Sudin Das said they were not getting customers from other districts due to the blockade.

“We are also not being able to go to other districts. We do not know how to survive if this situation continues,” he added.

Konok Kumar Paal, fisheries officer of Kuliarchar upazila said the dry fishes produced in the area was of high quality. They are also exported to other countries. He also urged for political stability to save the sector. l

AZAHAR UDDIN

Robbers’ gang leader shot dead n Our Correspondent, Barguna

A ringleader of a robbers’ gang was killed in a ‘shootout’ with police in Amtali area of Barguna early yesterday.

Five police men were also injured in the incident, police said adding that six members of the gang were held with some locally made weapons and crude bombs. The deceased is Sardar Mojjammel Haque, a resident of Tikikata village in Amtali upazila. While the arrestees are Jahirul, Ansar, Nasir, Masum, Hanif and Bachchu of the same upazi-

la. Sukurmar Roy, officer-in-charge of Amtali Police Station, said on a secret information a team of police conducted a drive at Gulishakhali village when a gang of robbers were taking preparation for robbery around 2:10am.

Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the robbers opened fire first and police retaliated, he said adding that later Mojjammel was fund dead on the spot.

The injured police officers are Sub-Inspector Jahirul, Mojammel, Inspector Sheikh Abdullah, Constables A Bari and Tariqul Islam, he said. l

Man killed over land in Naogaon n Our Correspondent, Naogaon A man was beaten to death allegedly by his stepbrother over land dispute at Tilon village in Mohadevpur upazila yesterday.

SI Iqbal Pasha of Mohadevpur police station, said Abu Taher, 65, son of late Khadem Ali of the village and his stepbrother Hayder Ali had long been at loggerheads over the ownership of a piece of land.

As a sequel to the enmity, an altercation ensued between them over the

issue in the evening.

At one stage, Hayder along with his four sons hit Taher with bamboo stick, leaving him critically injured. Emran Hossain, son of Taher, was also injured as he attempted to save his father.

Later, Taher was rushed to Mohadevpur Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared him dead.

Police sent the body to Sadar hospital morgue for an autopsy.

A case was filed accusing seven people with Mahadebpur police station. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Career

7

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Too many candidates want their cover letter readers to know how well they were in their previous job. But that is not exactly how reviewers see things.

While it is important that candidates excel at what they do, no one will ever claim that they were dissatisfied with their previous job and hence want to switch to better ones. Hence it is always better not to mention your previous job description, and even if you do so, do it fleetingly. Exceptions, however, exist. If your previous jobs were project-based and you feel the need to give your reviewer an insight into the things you have worked on before, it is important and in most cases mandatory that you highlight your previous job descriptions.

Writing down a huge essay

Your cover letter or statement of purpose isn’t exactly an essay. It is more of an account about your abilities and experiences, and a short insight into how much appropriate your individual characteristics are for the job. It is highly important that you grapple the reader’s attention and turn them towards your favor. And if you are going to write a three-paragraph essay, best of luck doing that.

Understand, the readers are human beings too and as such they feel the need to have interesting paragraphs and diverse language thrown at them in order to retain their interest. Use the basic literary techniques of breaking down your writing into paragraphs, each of which details a different characteristic, ability, experience or interest.

BIGSTOCK

Avoiding cover letter nightmares Five things to remember while crafting your cover letter It is always better not to mention your previous job description, and even if you do so, do it fleetingly

Journalistic jargon

n Career Desk

BIZ VOCAB

Angle: The emphasis chosen for a story, or the perspective from which a story is written.

Back bench: Senior production journalists on

a newspaper.

Body: The main part of a story.

Blockline: A caption for a photograph or image.

Bulldog: An early edition of a newspaper.

Breakout (also known as a sidebar): A secondary news story that supports or amplifies a major story.

Byline: A journalist’s name at the beginning of a story.

Camo: A TV cameraman/woman.

Column: A regular feature often on a specific topic, written by the same person who is known as a columnist.

Copy: Main text of a story.

Coverline, or strapline: Captions on a magazine cover or newspaper front page.

Clippings: A journalist’s collection of published print work. Also known as cuttings and sometimes presented as a portfolio.

Cut-away: A technique in television editing to break up a lengthy shot on one subject. In long interviews, the camera may ‘cut away’ to a shot of the interviewer.

Dead air: An extended unwanted silence on radio, often caused by technical or operating errors.

Door-stop: When a reporter or group of reporters interview someone as they leave a building, often unexpectedly.

Drop in: Late news added after the edition has already started printing.

Dummy: A preliminary layout of a newspaper page, showing the placement of stories, headlines, pictures and advertisements.

Dump button: The button that a radio host hits to instantly delete objectionable comments or expletives when there’s a seven second delay.

Five Ws and H: Who? What? Where?

When? Why? and How? The six most important questions journalists should ask and news stories should answer.

Filler: This would be content that is used to fill holes.

n Nakibul Hoq

J

ob applications often require a cover letter highlighting a candidate’s personal and professional skills. People reviewing these applications use the cover letter to measure a candidate’s appropriateness for the position and to get a grasp of how much interest the applicant has in the company.

Unfortunately, as we found out as part of our widely popular cover letter preparation and editing services at GradConnect, candidates always miss

out on the most important and specific details in a statement of purpose. In fact, almost every candidate seems to make the same sorts of mistakes. Some of these are given below.

Words forced out of the Oxford Dictionary

Using words like ‘conundrum’ and ‘reminiscence’ do help you to paint a picture of intellect, emotional maturity and mental strength. But problems arise when you use these words at places where a simpler version would work better.

The truth is, no matter how much you try, unless and until you are wellread the proper use of intellectual words will baffle you and make you sound overblown. This is why it is a very good idea to express yourself in the simplest of words used correctly and to employ your vocabulary in a way that makes sense.

Telling the reader that you are ‘special’, ‘skilled’, ‘extraordinary’ and ‘extroverted’

Clichés are nightmares for application reviewers. Every single candidate

thinks that he or she is special, extraordinary, skilled and extroverted while little realizing that it is impossible to validate the aforementioned virtues through a cover letter and a resume.

Therefore it is imperative to avoid these words and such abstract adjectives which you can’t prove. Rather, you should use your valuable time and resources to emphasis on why you are a better fit for the job than the rest of the applicants out there.

Writing down your previous job description

Grammatical errors

Grammatical errors come with a cost, even if they are absolutely minor. If the reviewer is a grammar Nazi—chances are he or she will be one—the smallest of errors will ire the person reading the application.

While it is given that most non-native speakers of English will make grammatical mistakes, the ubiquitous use of the English language in the subcontinent means that you must be highly proficient in this mode of communication. And let us also face the crude fact: it is imperative to be able to speak, write and understand the proper usage of the English language to survive in this age. Thus while you must be fully proficient in Bangla, you must not fall behind in English too. l From the GradConnect Research Desk. The author can be reached at nakib@gradconnect.com. More articles from the author and the team can be found at www.gradinsights.com.

Dropping the anchor in deep waters for career success n Career Desk

S

ome people know exactly what they want with their career – how they would like to close the quarter, and where they would like to be in five years. For the vast majority of people, however, their idea of what they want out of their career is a vague idea at best.

University programmes follow standard curriculum for all and organisations manage their employees’ careers according to what is best for the organisation. This is why one must become self-reliant when it comes to career management and do it on their terms.

Understanding career anchors may help us understand what we are best suited for and where we should be heading.

Career anchors represent one’s unique combination of perceived career competence, motives and values.

According to Edgar Schein, a former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, a career anchor is “that one element in a person’s self concept that he or she will not give up, even in the face of difficult choices.”

Personality, motivation and values affect career choices and preferences, through the metaphor of an anchor pulling people towards particular roles that they are ideally suited for. Career anchors become apparent to us gradually; the early years of anyone’s career is a time for learning – about the job and about the self.

More often than not, it is during the first few years of our careers that we come to challenge our idea of ourselves.

This happens when we find out that what we thought we were good at and the nature of the work that we thought we would do all throughout university is inconsistent with the actual day-today work experience. This forces us to confront ourselves about what we are good at, and what we really want to do.

As one’s job experience accumulates, strengths and weaknesses and preferences become clearer. Having made difficult choices and decisions, we are better equipped to know what we really want with our life.

In “Career Anchors: Discovering Your Real Values,” Edgar Schein, a former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Man-

agement, identifies eight different anchor types. One or more of these types may match your interests and preferences, as identified through your work experience so far. Your type will become clearer the further along your career you go. People don’t fall neatly into any one category and therefore you are most likely a combination of two or three.

helping others, improving people’s safety, curing diseases through new products and so on.

People under this anchor pursue such opportunities even if it means changing organisations, and they do not accept transfers or promotions that would take them out of work that fulfils those values.

Technical/Functional

Pure challenge

Those with an anchor placed strongly in some technical or functional area never give up the opportunity to apply their skills in that area and to continue to develop those skills to an every higher level. They derive their sense of identity from the exercise of their skills and are most happy when their work challenges them in those areas. They may be willing to manage others in their technical or functional area, but are not interested in management for its own sake and would avoid general management because that would mean having to leave their area of expertise.

General managerial

People with a key career anchor in general managerial strive to climb to a level high enough in an organisation to enable them to integrate the efforts of others across functions and to be responsible for the output of a particular unit of the organisation. They want to be responsible and accountable for total results; they identify their own work with the success of the organisation for which they work. If you are presently in a technical or functional area but your anchor is general managerial, you view that as a necessary learning experience; however, your ambition is far wider.

Just being at a high managerial level in a function does not interest you.

Autonomy/Independence

People with the autonomy/independence anchor like to define their own work in their own way. If you are in an organisation, you want to remain in jobs that allow you flexibility regarding when and how to work. If you cannot stand organisational rules and restrictions, you seek occupations in which you will have the freedom you seek, such as teaching or consulting.

BIGSTOCK

These people routinely turn down opportunities for advancement in order to retain autonomy. They may even seek to have a business of their own in order to achieve a sense of autonomy; however, this motive is markedly different from the entrepreneurial creativity described later.

Security/Stability

Those with an anchor of security/stability seek employment security or tenure in a job or organisation. Their main concern is to achieve a sense of having succeeded so that they can settle down.

The value is illustrated by a concern for financial security (such as pension and retirement plans) or employment security. Such stability may involve trading loyalty and willingness to do whatever the employer wants from you for some promise of job tenure.

If this is your anchor, you are less concerned with the content of your work and the rank you achieve in the organisation, although you may achieve a high level through dedication and consistency alone. As with autonomy, everyone has certain needs for security and stability, especially at times of financial stress or when one is

facing retirement. People biased in this way are so concerned with these issues that they build their entire self-images around the management of security and stability.

Entrepreneurial creativity

People who have entrepreneurial creativity strive to create an organisation or enterprise of their own, built on their own abilities and their willingness to take risks and to overcome obstacles.

They want to prove to the world that they can create an enterprise that is the result of their own effort. They may be working for others in an organisation while learning and assessing future opportunities, and go out on their own as soon as they feel they are ready. Commonly they want their enterprise to be financially successful as proof of their abilities more than for profit.

Service

If your key anchor is service and dedication to a cause, you would not give up the opportunity to pursue work that achieves something of value, such as making the world a better place to live in, solving environmental problems, improving harmony among people,

People with an anchor of pure challenge love the opportunity to work on solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems, to succeed over tough opponents, or to overcome difficult obstacles. For them, the only meaningful reason for pursuing a job or career is that it permits them to succeed in the face of the impossible. Some people find such pure challenge in intellectual kinds of work such as engineering, while others find the challenge in complex, multi-faceted situations, such as strategy consultancy; most think of it as an interpersonal competition. Novelty, variety and difficulty are what these people look for, and easy is another word for boring.

Lifestyle

People under the lifestyle anchor seek a situation that permits them to balance and integrate their personal needs, their family needs, and the requirements of their career. They want to make all the major aspects of their life work together toward an integrated whole and therefore need a career that provides enough flexibility to achieve such integration.

If this is your anchor, you may have to sacrifice some aspects of the career.

However, you define success in terms broader than just career success. You feel that your identity is more tied up with your life, where you live and how your family situation is than with any particular job or organisation.

Understanding the eight career anchors identified by Schein may help you assess how well suited you are for your current job and what your organisation’s plans for you are, as opposed to your plans for yourself. You are either in what is the ideal role for yourself, or you need to make a change to succeed along your desired career path. l

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Rebels fighting for more territory ahead of Ukraine ceasefire n Reuters Fighting intensified in eastern Ukraine yesterday as separatist rebels tried to seize more territory before a ceasefire takes effect at midnight, the Ukrainian military said.

The truce envisages the creation of a neutral “buffer zone” and withdrawal of heavy weapons responsible for many of the 5,000 casualties in a conflict that began almost a year ago and gave rise to the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cold War a generation ago.

“Ahead of midnight, rebels are trying to complete tactically important plans to enlarge the territory under their control, primarily in the direction of Debaltseve,” spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a daily televised briefing in Kiev.

Debaltseve, a strategic transport hub northeast of the rebel-controlled stronghold city of Donetsk, has been the focus of some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks.

Heavy shelling could be heard at a rebel checkpoint 10 km (six miles) from the Debaltseve, a Reuters witness said, reporting outgoing artillery rounds almost every minute.

A column of new military vehicles and artillery passed through the checkpoint in the direction of Debaltseve.

The checkpoint was manned by several dozen, professional-looking combatants. Tanks and armored vehicles could also be seen.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a rebel at the checkpoint said local fighters were being supported by

“guests from Russia.”

Spokesman Lysenko said separatist forces continued to be reinforced by fighters and military equipment crossing Ukraine’s eastern border from Russia over the past 24 hours. Moscow denies bolstering the separatists with armor and troops although Western officials cite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

The rebels have advanced far past the line of an earlier ceasefire deal, agreed in September, and the new accord appears to envisage them withdrawing their guns around 75 km, to take them back behind it, while Ukrainian guns would move 25 km back.

Thursday’s four-power accord also prescribed constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine, where many Russian speakers live, more autonomy.

Kiev has made clear it rejects independence for the “People’s Republics” the rebels have declared.

Tatyana Demchenko, deputy commander of the rebel unit in the town of Horlivka, said she had little faith the ceasefire would hold. “They’ll shoot at us and we have to remain silent? Militias may receive the order not to open fire, but what - we sit and die in shelling? If they don’t shoot, we won’t,” she said, holding two grenades in her hands.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the country had reached an important crossroads between war and peace.

“Either the enemy stops shooting and embarks on de-escalation ...or the enemy escalates the conflict for us and for Europe and the whole world,” he said at a ceremony for border guards shown on television. l

US Coast Guard the Austrailian fishing vessel the Antarctic Chieftain is seen from the the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star as the cutter begins breaking up the ice around the vessel Friday February 13. Rescuers yesterday reached a fishing boat with 26 people aboard trapped in ice near Antarctica and plan to use an unmanned underwater vehicle to assess the damage to it. The US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star traveled several hundred nautical miles through heavy ice to reach the Antarctic Chieftan AP

Fierce fighting as Islamists attack northeast Nigeria city of Gombe

ISIL seizes Iraqi town near US forces

n Reuters

n Agencies

Heavily armed Boko Haram militants attacked the northeastern Nigerian city of Gombe yesterday, fleeing residents and a security source said.

Explosions and gunfire could be heard after the fighters overwhelmed a checkpoint at the edge of the city, which has been bombed before but has never had the insurgents attempt to take it over.

Witness Abdul Hassan said soldiers ran away after the checkpoint was overwhelmed. The militants then burned down a police station on the outskirts of town, he said.

“I crossed a river and ran into the hills,” he said. “I’m still there and I can hear the fighting.”

Others were staying in doors. Witness Hussaina Maji said she was unable to leave her house for fear of being caught in cross fire.

The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boko Haram’s struggle for an Islamic state has become the gravest security threat to Africa’s biggest economy and top oil producer, killing thousands, kidnapping hundreds and increasingly threatening neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Niger – all of which are now also battling the insurgents.

Nigeria has postponed a presidential election that had been due yesterday, for six weeks, citing the security threat from Boko Haram.

“There are gun shot sounds everywhere and heavy artillery fire.

People are running down the streets from the area which under attack, The whole town is in a state of panic,” resident Godfret Obeate told Reuters by telephone.

Boko Haram attacked a village in Chad on Friday, the first known lethal attack in that country by the Nigerian militant group, which killed several people including a local chief according to residents and security forces. l

Fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have captured the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, putting them within striking distance of an airbase where US troops are training Iraqi forces, the US military said.

The fall of the town, which the Pentagon played down as a minor setback, came as ISIL launched an unsuccessful assault involving suicide bombers on the nearby al-Asad airbase.

“We do assess that right now they have control of Al-Baghdadi,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told a news conference, adding ISIL took hold of the town “in the past several days.”

The town is located in Anbar province, about 8km from the al-Asad air base, where about 320 US Marines are stationed to assist Iraqi government troops.

The chairman of Anbar’s provincial council, Sabah Karhout, said “more than 1,000 ISIL fighters” had overrun the town of al-Baghdadi.”

Karhout said that “there is a regional plot that wants the base to fall under ISIL because of its strategic significance,” adding that the US-led coalition air strikes that targeted the vicinity of the base did not hit their targets.

Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi described what happened in the city of al-Baghdadi as “a failure.”

The minister made the comments after a meeting with the parliamentary

security committee.

He said his ministry was planning to deploy more forces to address the situation.

Kirby said that “at no time were US troops anywhere near the fighting,” which was about two miles away from where the Americans were working at the sprawling complex.

“This is arguably the first in at least a couple of months, if not more, where they (ISIL) have had any success at all at taking any new ground,” Kirby said.

“So this is an enemy that we still assess to be in a defensive posture,” he said, adding: “It’s one town. It’s not all of Anbar. It’s not all of Iraq. We need to keep it in perspective.”

Al-Baghdadi had been under growing pressure for months and was one of the few towns that had remained under the Iraqi government’s control in the predominantly Sunni province.

Meanwhile, 12 people - including a Sunni tribal leader and two sons of an Iraqi MP -were killed in Baghdad on Friday hours after they were kidnapped by a Shia armed group.

Parliamentary sources told Al Jazeera the tribal leader, Qassim Sueidan Al-Janabai, belonged to the al-Janabat clan.

The victims were seized when a convoy of Zaid Swidan al-Janabi, a Sunni MP, was stopped by militiamen in alDorah, a neighbourhood in al-Rashid administrative district in southern Baghdad. l

Khamenei ‘sent secret letter to Obama’ n Reuters, Washington

In this undated handout photo released by the Greek Culture Ministry on Friday, February 13 shows the remains of a man and woman in their early twenties, buried as they died nearly 6,000 years ago - locked in a tight embrace in Diros, southern Greece AP

Greek archaeologists find couple locked in millennia-old hug n AP, Athens Death did not part them.

Archaeologists in southern Greece have discovered the grave of a man and woman buried as they died some 5,800 years ago — still tightly embracing.

A senior member of the excavation

team, Anastassia Papathanassiou, says the discovery — made in 2013 and publicised this week after DNA testing determined each skeleton’s sex — is the oldest of its kind in Greece. She says the couple most likely died holding each other.

Papathanassiou told The Associated

Press on Friday that the remains of the couple, estimated to be in their 20s, were found near the Alepotrypa Cave, an important prehistoric site.

It’s unclear how they died and whether they were related, but Papathanassiou says further DNA testing should answer the latter question. l

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has responded to overtures from US President Barack Obama amid nuclear talks by sending him a secret letter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Citing an Iranian diplomat, the paper said the Iranian cleric had written to Obama in recent weeks in response to a presidential letter sent in October.

Obama’s letter suggested the possibility of US-Iranian cooperation in fighting Islamic State if a nuclear deal was secured, the paper said, quoting the diplomat.

Khamenei’s letter was “respectful” but noncommittal, it quoted the diplomat as saying.

Both the White House and the Iranian mission at the United Nations declined to comment on the report.

Khamenei said this week he could

accept a compromise in the nuclear talks and gave his strongest defense yet of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s decision to negotiate with the West, a policy opposed by powerful hardliners at home.

The nuclear talks with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are aimed at clinching an accord that would ease Western concerns that Tehran could pursue a covert nuclear weapons program, in return for the lifting of sanctions that have ravaged the Iranian economy.

Negotiators have set a June 30 final deadline for an accord, and Western officials have said they aim to agree on the substance of such a deal by March.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to address the US Congress on Iran on March 3 - to the annoyance of the Obama administration - has vowed “to foil this bad and dangerous agreement.” l

At least 16 dead in Mexico bus-train collision n AP, Monterrey A passenger bus and a freight train collided at a grade crossing in northern Mexico, killing at least 16 people and injuring 22, a Mexican official said.

The official said the accident occurred Friday in the town of Anahuac, which is Tamaulipas state near the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas. The official was not authorised to be quoted by name.

The train’s operator, Kansas City Southern de Mexico, issued a statement confirming there had been “a lamentable accident” between one of its trains and a passenger bus at about 5:25 p.m. The company said its employees reported “an undetermined number of dead and injured at the scene.”

Kansas City Southern did not give a cause for the crash. The Mexican official said investigators were looking into whether the bus driver tried to beat the train to the crossing.

The train was operated by the Transporte Frontera line on a route from Nuevo Laredo to the neighboring state of Coahuila. l

Houthi fighters fire on protesters after clashes kill 26 n Reuters, Sanaa Tens of thousands of Yemenis demonstrated in several cities yesterday against the rule of a Shi’ite Muslim fighters whose gunmen fired on protesters in the central town of Ibb and wounded four, medics said.

It was the second day of nationwide demonstrations against the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in less then a week after its dissolution of parliament this month unraveled security and sent Western and Arab embassies packing.

Activists said they were enraged by the death yesterday of Saleh al-Bashiri, who they say was detained by gunmen as they broke up an anti-Houthi protest in Sanaa two weeks ago and was released to a hospital with signs of torture on his body on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.

Yemen’s upheaval has drawn international concern as it shares a long border with top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia, and the country is also fighting one of the most formidable branches of al Qaeda with the help of US drone strikes.

Heavy clashes between Houthi fighters and Sunni Muslim tribesmen fighting alongside Al Qaeda militants in the southern mountainous province of al-Bayda yesterday killed 16 Houthi rebels along with 10 Sunni tribesmen and militants, security officials and tribal sources told Reuters. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Newly-appointed Delhi CM Kejriwal not to keep any portfolio n Agencies Arvind Kejriwal promised to make Delhi India’s first corruption-free city and end what he called its “VIP culture” as he was sworn in as chief minister yesterday in front of a huge crowd of cheering supporters at the Ramlila Maidan.

The veteran anti-corruption campaigner also pledged to stick out his five-year term and said he would not succumb to arrogance after his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won one of the biggest election victories Delhi has ever seen.

Kejriwal’s first term as chief minister lasted just 49 days and ended in chaos a year ago, sparking accusations he was fleeing the tough job of administration.

The veteran anticorruption campaigner also pledged to stick out his five-year term and said he would not succumb to arrogance after his Aam Aadmi Party Despite that, his party took all but three of the 70 assembly seats in election held last yesterday after pledges to tackle entrenched corruption and lower utility bills won over legions of working-class voters willing to give him a second chance. It was a remark-

able turnaround for the 46-year-old former civil servant, who most pundits had written off after his AAP party won just four seats in last year’s general elections.

Others who took oath as ministers yesterday were Manish Sisodia, Asim Ahmed Khan, Sandeep Kumar, Satyendra Jain, Gopal Rai and Jitendra Tomar.

“I have been asked to work as the deputy CM of Delhi,” Sisodia said at a press conference after the swearing-in ceremony. “Kejriwal will not be keeping any portfolios with him,” Sisodia added.

Sisodia will be heading the finance and planning, education, urban development, revenue, land and building, vigilance and any other unallocated portfolios.

Rai will be in charge of transport, development, labour, general administration department and employment, Sisodia said.

“Satyendar Jain will head the power, health, industries, public works and IFC,” the deputy CM said. Tomar will get law and justice, home, tourism and art and culture.

Khan will look after the food and civil supply, environment and forest, and election departments. Kumar will take care of the ministry of women and child social welfare, language and SC/ST. Kejriwal will connect with the people, Sisodia said. “He will meet people to know what their problems are. He will also oversee the MLAs.” “He will oversee all ministries through modern technology. He will try to bring systemic changes.” l

140 whales die after getting stranded on New Zealand beach n AP, Wellington

A Buddhist monk plays with a tiger at the Wat Pa Luang Ta Bua, otherwise known as Tiger Temple, in Kanchanaburi province February 12.

Thai officials last week raided the Buddhist temple that is home to more than 100 tigers and are currently conducting an investigation into suspected links to wildlife trafficking. Authorities from Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation on Thursday checked 143 Bengal tigers living at the temple, and found them to be in good health REUTERS

Myanmar in fresh airstrikes against rebels n AFP, Mandalay Myanmar rebels yesterday said the national army had launched fresh air strikes following the government’s rare admission that dozens of its soldiers had died in a dramatic resurgence of conflict in a remote region bordering China.

Unrest in Kokang, Shan State, which erupted on February 9 after six years of relative calm, continued on Friday with severe clashes between fighters from several ethnic groups and the Myanmar army, according to Captain Tar Parn La, a spokesman for the Ta’ang

Oregon man admits helping people linked to Pakistan suicide bombing

Jordan to get more US weapons to fight ISIS

n

n

Reuters

An Oregon man pleaded guilty on Friday to being an accessory after the fact for helping people linked to a suicide bomb attack on the headquarters of Pakistan’s intelligence service in 2009 that killed about 30 people, court records showed.

Reaz Qadir Khan, a naturalised US citizen living in Portland, admitted in a plea entered in US District Court that he provided advice and financial aid to the suicide bomber’s Maldives-based wives following the attack, knowing that such assistance would hinder and prevent their capture.

Khan, a 51-year-old wastewater treatment plant operator and married father-of-three originally from Pakistan, was arrested in 2013 on an indictment which accused him of using email and intermediaries to consult with and provide financial support to the Maldivian bomber, Ali Jaleel, and his family.

The indictment said the conspiracy began in 2005 and continued on through the May 27, 2009, attack on Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence headquarters in Lahore and into the following month. The attack also wounded some 300 people.

Pakistan’s government said at the time that the attack, believed to have been carried out by Jaleel and two other people, was in apparent revenge for an army offensive against Taliban militants. l

Reuters

The United States is readying plans to resupply Jordan with munitions in the coming weeks, possibly including precision-guided arms, expediting support for the kingdom as it expands its role in airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS), officials say.

The State Department and Pentagon declined comment on any future moves to assist Jordan with requests for weapons. But several US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that planning was well underway to help replenish Jordan’s supplies of ordnance.

US efforts to expedite delivery of munitions and other weapons follow a vocal appeal from Jordan’s King Abdullah to American lawmakers last week for greater US support.

A source close to the Jordanian government told Reuters the kingdom believed its supplies of bombs are being stretched too thin as it expands its role in strikes following the Islamic State’s grisly execution of a Jordanian pilot.

Islamic State’s release of a video early this month showing pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh burnt alive in a cage has triggered a public backlash in Jordan and sharpened the focus of Arab allies contributing to the war effort.

Jordan is among a group of Arab countries, which includes Saudi Ara-

9

Sunday, February 15, 2015

bia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, that have joined US air strikes on IS, which controls large swathes of Iraq and Syria. The UAE this week said it had resumed its airstrikes on IS. The Pentagon estimated that Jordan dropped 72 bombs in the first wave of its revenge strikes in Syria last week.

The kingdom renewed its bombing raids on Thursday.

Jordanian military experts say the kingdom could struggle to sustain the intensity of the air strikes, even as Abdullah has ordered his commanders to prepare for a bigger military role in the international coalition fighting Islamic State.

He met with US lawmakers in Washington last week, saying he sought precision munitions along with aircraft parts and additional night vision equipment, and noted delays in working through normal US channels.

That prompted a letter from the Senate Armed Services Committee, led by Republican Senator John McCain, urging the Obama administration to process Jordan’s requests “with a sense of urgency reflecting the pace of events.”

“If the (Obama) administration does not up its game with Jordan in terms of equipment for their military, help on refugees, there will be strong pushback from Congress,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican committee member, told Reuters. l

National Liberation Army (TNLA).

“There were gunships, two jets and two helicopters yesterday,” he told AFP, adding that he had not yet received reports of fighting yesterday.

Myanmar state media on Friday reported that ethnic minority fighters armed with heavy weapons had attempted to capture the Kokang’s main city earlier in the week in a series of assaults that have left at least 50 soldiers dead and dozens more wounded.

It said the army had used airstrikes to repel the attacks, which have come as a blow to the quasi-civilian regime

as it looks to ink a historic nationwide ceasefire to end the country’s myriad ethnic minority conflicts.

Myanmar’s information minister Ye Htut has blamed local Kokang rebel leader Phone Kya Shin for the fighting and called on Beijing to reign in any local officials who might be helping the group on their side of the border.

An unknown number of people have fled the Kokang unrest, with most crossing the border into China, while some have made their way to the northern Shan city of Lashio, according to Tar Parn La. l

About 140 pilot whales that stranded themselves on a remote stretch of New Zealand beach have died, but conservation workers and volunteers are hoping the remaining 60 or so will survive after they managed to get them refloated, an official said yesterday.

The geography of Farewell Spit on the South Island seems to work against whales, which regularly become stranded there. The stranding of 198 whales on Friday was one of the largest in recent years and prompted 80 workers and volunteers to help out.

By late yesterday, 140 of the whales had died, said Department of Conservation area manager Andrew Lamason.

He said the workers and volunteers worked throughout the day to keep the surviving whales watered and covered before refloating them during yesterday night’s high tide.

“We’ve had a really good crew of volunteers, and people have been wanting to come from all over the country,” Lamason said.

He said the surviving whales had moved to deeper water. But he cautioned that while hopes for their survival were high, whales had been refloated in the past only to return and get stranded again. Lamason said the scale of the stranding has been tough on the helpers, both physically and emotionally.

“It’s very sad, they’re very intelligent animals,” he said. “The pragmatic view is that it’s part of nature.”

The focus will now turn to the dead whales, and the enormous task of dealing with the carcasses, Lamason said, adding that while in the past helpers have typically buried them in the sand, he’s not sure what the approach will be this time. l

FBI’s most wanted cyber criminal arrested in Karachi n Agencies The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cyber crime wing of Karachi yesterday arrested a high profile cyber criminal wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and counted amongst the top 10 most wanted cyber criminals by the US. According to the FBI website, Noor Aziz Uddin — who has a bounty of $50,000 on his capture — allegedly compromised computer systems and defrauded victims of amounts in excess of $50m in November 2008 and April 2012.

The international scheme involved members of a criminal organisation that extended into Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Spain, Singapore, Italy, and Malaysia, among other nations.

On June 29, 2012, US authorities issued a federal arrest warrant for Noor Aziz Uddin in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, after he was indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud; conspiracy to gain unauthorised access to computers and identity theft.

Noor Aziz Uddin allegedly ran an illegal international telecommunica-

tions scheme that defrauded unsuspecting individuals, companies, and government entities, to include large telecom companies, in both the United States and abroad.

Along with accomplice Farhan Arshad, Noor also gained unauthorised access to business telephone systems and used them to initiate long-distance telephone calls to premium rate numbers through a scheme known as international revenue share fraud.

The conspiracy caused the owners of the compromised telephone systems to be billed for services they did not order. l

Japan killjoys protest Valentine’s ‘love capitalists’

Rare anti-coup protest in Thailand n AFP, Bangkok

n AFP

Dozens of anti-coup activists held a demonstration in central Bangkok yesterday, handing out roses and copies of George Orwell’s “1984” – a rare expression of public dissent in a nation still under strict martial law. The demonstrators, a collection of pro-democracy groups including students, made no secret of their Valentine’s Day protest plans, advertising them on Facebook.

In response the authorities put up a series of barriers to stop demonstrators accessing a plaza opposite a mall in the city’s downtown Siam shopping district. l

As Japan celebrated Valentine’s Day yesterday a group of killjoys marched through Tokyo protesting what it called the “passion-based capitalism” of the annual celebration of romance.

Members of ‘Kakuhido’, which translates as the Revolutionary Alliance of Men that Women find Unattractive and claims on its website that “public smooching is terrorism,” walked through the busy Shibuya district waving banners with buzz-

kill slogans demanding an end to Valentine’s Day. However, the spoil-sport group was met by bemused looks from passers-by as the grumpy comrades, numbering just 10 in total, chanted: “Don’t be duped by the conspiracy of chocolate makers!”

“In Japan, women give men chocolate (on Valentine’s Day) to show their affection,” Kakuhido chairman Mark Waters told AFP. “Society is addicted to capitalism. People are profiting from it and we are here today to demonstrate our resistance to the love capitalists.”l

Hong Kong ferry captain convicted in deadly 2012 collision n AP, Hong Kong The captain of a Hong Kong commuter ferry that collided with another boat in 2012, killing 39 people, was found guilty of manslaughter yesterday, local media reported.

A nine-member jury also found Lai Sai-ming guilty of endangering the safety of others at sea, in what was Hong Kong’s biggest maritime tragedy in decades, the South China Morning Post newspaper and Radio Television Hong Kong said.

The same jury found the captain of the other, smaller boat, Chow Chi-wai, innocent of manslaughter but guilty of endangering the safety of others at sea. All of those killed, including eight children, and most of the nearly 100 injured in the collision were aboard his boat.

The two captains had blamed each other for the Oct. 1, 2012, collision,

which left this highly organised and overwhelmingly safe southern Chinese city traumatised.

The manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison The verdicts came down after a 60-day trial and four days of deliberations.

The manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, while endangering safety at sea carries a maximum of four years and a fine of 200,000 Hong Kong dollars ($25,000).

The verdicts were not posted on-

line and Hong Kong High Court clerks could not immediately be reached for comment.

The ferry was heading from Hong Kong Island to the outlying island of Lamma when the collision occurred.

The smaller boat, owned by the Hong Kong Electric Co., was taking employees of the company on a harbor excursion to watch the Chinese National Day fireworks display.

Fleets of ferries form the backbone of the city’s transportation network, running frequently to outlying islands, the Chinese mainland and the gambling enclave of Macau.

The South China Morning Post quoted the judge in the case, Andrew Bruce, as saying that both captains had been “grossly negligent” in failing to keep a proper lookout and not responding effectively to avoid the collision. l

October 2, 2012 file photo, rescuers check on a half submerged boat after it collided near Lamma Island, off the southwestern coast of Hong Kong AP

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DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Sunday, February 15, 2015

CODE-CRACKER

Prosecute violencerelated cases properly

I

t is completely unacceptable that not one trial has been held for any of the nearly 13,000 people arrested in 1,500 cases filed for preelection political violence towards the end of 2013.

Most of the people arrested in those violence-related cases secured bail because of reasons such as delays in filing charge-sheets and failure to produce witnesses.

With some 7,000 people now arrested in the 644 recent cases brought for blockade and hartal related violence in the month from January 3 this year, urgent attention must be paid to rectifying the factors delaying cases being heard.

One factor making this problem worse is that police time is wasted by pressures on them to arrest opposition leaders in arson cases, even in the absence of tangible evidence that they perpetrated the acts, While we lack sympathy for political leaders of any stripe who inflame an atmosphere that causes violence, it is unconscionable that the justice system should be clogged up by cases that cannot be progressed. This is particularly so at a time when it is apparent police have not been promptly progressing cases against people who were actually caught or identified in acts of violence.

All accused persons have a right to timely and impartial justice.

Resources must be directed to overcome delays caused by officers being moved around and witnesses failing to be found in the cases where perpetrators have actually been caught in the act. This is the only way to deter street violence and ensure justice.

Overcome delays to deter violence and ensure timely justice

Change mindset to enhance freedom

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angladesh’s score in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters without Borders is now lower than Afghanistan and Myanmar.

Since the index was first published in 2002, Bangladesh has always fallen in the lowest quartile for press freedoms so this is not a new concern. However, the trend is worsening as the country is now ranked 146th lowest out of 180, its worst ever position.

While Bangladesh still has cases of unpunished acts of violence against journalists, its worsening score can largely be attributed to the failure of successive governments to encourage media pluralism and independence, and the worrying escalation of laws seeking to control freedom of expression.

One well-known example arises from the serious impediments to freedom of speech posed by draconian provisions contained in the Information and Communications Technology Act first brought in by the BNP in 2006 and enhanced by the AL government in 2013. These have allowed people to be arrested and imprisoned for disseminating or even merely reading material disapproving of the government.

There is no place for such restrictions in a democracy.

Unfortunately, we have repeatedly seen spurious justifications of national security and social cohesion being used to escalate the state’s powers over citizens freedoms of thought and expression.

Lawmakers and their advisers need to change their mindset from seeing media as something to be controlled to one that prioritises their duty to uphold constitutional rights to free expression.

A free media not only plays the crucial role of informing the electorate and ensuring accountability, but is a public good to be promoted.

Freedom of expression is a public good to be promoted

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

Is there anybody out there?

January 30 the election he denied that he was ever married.

So he started the campaign with a fat lie. After that, I have not paid attention to this man who loves to be photographed! About carrying on with the dynasties, let Brits get rid of the monarchy first and the rest of the world will follow. They are the ones who are keeping this romantic notion alive, and the British subjects are suckers for it. So the former colonies try to imitate them. How can new leaders emerge if they are not allowed to? That is the question. rahat I would’ve liked to see Professor Yunus (or some Zero-Agenda other educated outside party) getting involved in The sad part is, even if there was someone new politics, but the losses he had to endure serve as a brave enough to wade through the sludgy swamp warning sign for anyone who wishes to even think that is Bangladeshi politics, there is a high probaof standing up to the people in power. I feel the bility that he/she would eventually become just as most likely situation is simply that the senior most wayward. member of each party takes the helm with the Begums’ support.

Ehsan Abdullah NEW LEADERS surely will emerge, that’s natural, Karl Hungus but anyone aspiring to lead our nation must be Perfect! The space for a new contender is most able to clearly distinguish between right and definitely there, but it would take an individual/ wrong, between white and black, between legal collective of iron-hard constitution to go up and illegal, between Hasina and Khaleda! Lets not against the Goliaths (as aging and delusional as ponder about future aspirations, its our duty to they may be) that are currently trying their darnddeal with the current situation at hand, distinguish est to keep it an exclusive club of sorts. clearly between Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia ...

Kishuari Bashir Haque Must say, an enthralling article. Love Modi or hate It’s ridiculous how the nation has managed Modi? The answer is simple for me because he ruto come so far despite only two major (albeit ined a young woman’s life, stayed with a young girl stagnating) political entities duking it out over for three years after marriage and then divorced governance. her. What was that for? Then why did he marry?

Because of him that woman had to go through life Abellard the Greek-Lover alone and never had a home life where perhaps Bashir Haque: True, true - it only goes to show she would have been happy with children. Behow desperately we need more possible leadercause of “custom” she didn’t dare to remarry. He ship candidates. deprived her from living a normal life. Then during

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

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

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.

CROSSWORD Govt appoints consultant firms to prepare fresh DAP for Dhaka

January 29 Nizam Ahmad Must have greased govt palms. Infrastructure projects such as these should be awarded and monitored by independent bodies not govt bureaucracies.

‘Bangladesh 2nd in GDP growth by 2019’ January 29 Jitu Sheikh Jinat Mahmid Believe it or not!

Saudi cabinet shakeup: 2 sons of late king fired January 30 Shammi Huda You mean “sheikh-up”? Or perhaps given context “sheikh-down”?

Extension of 9-storey building, road sink in Bashundhara January 30 Abdullah Al Galib Saw this first-hand just after it happened.

In this deadly algebra, the loser will be Bangladesh January 30 Slip cover afficionado As godawful as Paul WS Anderson’s 2004 movie “Alien Vs. Predator” was, at least it gave us this disturbingly fitting tagline: “Whoever wins...we lose” Barely Legal Alien Slip cover afficionado: It’s obvious who the Predator is and who the Xenomorph is in our current political scenario ...

Breadbitten Barely Legal Alien: There’s barely any purity to be found in our local Xenomorph though.

Foxymophandlemama Barely Legal Alien: Relevant username.

ACROSS 1 Break suddenly (4) 4 Cut with blows (5) 8 Longing (6) 9 Mineral springs (4) 11 Giver (5) 12 Astonished (4) 14 Neckwear (3) 15 Laid bare (6) 19 Interior (6) 21 Drink (3) 22 Small children (4) 24 Is adjacent to (5) 27 Song for two (4) 29 Vendor (6) 30 Very hard mineral (5) 31 Ooze (4)

DOWN 1 Distress call (3) 2 Old sayings (6) 3 Mexican dollar (4) 4 Concealed (3) 5 Wear away (5) 6 Lump on the skin (3) 7 Mock (6) 10 Suffering (4) 13 Deity (3) 14 Long angry speech (6) 16 Favourite (3) 17 Cosmos (6) 18 Otherwise (4) 20 Bury (5) 23 Lyric poems (4) 25 Employ (3) 26 Arch (3) 28 Light blow (3)

kabdullah Same person with different username making comments and replying to comments!

Dreampie kabdullah: What?! Where? Lets go kick his/her hiney and make them realise the error of their ways!

Rizvi arrested

CALVIN AND HOBBES

January 31 People Such good news. Kaleda Zia lost her son in a natural way and she had to be sedated to keep herself from the immense pain of losing one’s love one. Unfortunately, she did not feel the pain of those innocent people who lost their dearest and loved ones.

Rizvi seems to be of Khaleda type. I think our security forces should do an experiment involving Rizvi. Tie him up and put him inside a bus, and then put some petrol bombs in the bus. I doubt even this way would not make him realise the pain the innocent people are going through.

PEANUTS

Iman Ali People: Is it not known to many people now who Rizvi is? He was grievously injured by Shibir atrocities while he was a student in RU. Now he claims to have been injured during 1991 pro-democracy movement. This man is the genetic descendant of Herr Goebbles. If someone deserves the Nobel in persistent lies, I am sure Rizvi will be the right choice.

Amnesty: Excessive force not the answer

January 31 Babul Sarwar If the government and it’s machineries fail to contain the violence then shouldn’t the ruling party invite the real opposition to a dialogue? It’s common sense, and the most pragmatic way for the ruling party.

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Fearing boundaries n Ibtisam Ahmed

T

BIGSTOCK

Our wall of shame

T

n Abak Hussain his is a new low for us.

As if the government didn’t have enough of a stranglehold over the indigenous population in the Chittagong Hill Tracts area, now we have a policy that is clearly and plainly – there’s just no other way to put it – racist.

People and organisations – either local or foreign – are no longer allowed to talk to or meet with indigenous people in the hill area unsupervised.

Those wishing to do so are required to have military, BGB, or local administration personnel present. Talking to people, apparently, is just that dangerous.

The fact that this kind of directive can even be suggested, let alone pushed through, goes to show what a marginalised and powerless position the indigenous community has been forced into over the years. This should never fly – not with our constitution.

The mere mention of a policy like this should have been laughed off as so embarrassingly retrograde that it couldn’t possibly be up for serious consideration. At least the move has been criticised by anyone with a semblance of a progressive spirit.

Sadly, there does not seem to have been enough outrage in the corridors of political power. The Home Ministry was able to go through with the policy, and forces on the ground are already carrying out the ministry’s orders.

But just think about it for a minute – a person who happens to be of a different ethnicity from you could be your neighbour, best friend, significant other, in-law, or therapist. Now, there are terms and conditions over where and how you can be seen talking to each other.

Regrettably, it is not so easy in Bangladesh to speak against something that is so clearly wrong. The objections can be anticipated in advance: Oh, but the indigenous people engaged in an armed struggle with the Bangalis, it is they who made the whole situation so dangerous. We wanted to give them a chance, but they wouldn’t listen, etc.

every step. Law enforcement has, at best, turned a blind eye, and at worst, been complicit in the crimes committed against them. Indigenous women are subject to a shockingly high amount of sexual abuse, and almost never get justice. Bangali settlers have gobbled up their land, and have tried to bully the community into complete silence.

And yet, whenever the Pahari community tries to fight back for what is essentially our nation’s failure to treat all its citizens as equals, many Bangalis turn around and play victim, accusing the indigenous people of using terror tactics. What is truly terrifying is that cherry-picking the facts – and many

If you stop people from talking to each other, tensions in the CHT area will only go up, not down

The fact is, we have failed badly in properly implementing the CHT peace accord. Time and again, mainstream Bangalis have victimised the indigenous community and choked the life out of them. Hill tracts people have been backed into a corner and denied a voice.

Their rights have been violated at

facts about the situation in the CHT are not so clear – to suit the argument can make any side look like the villain.

Once that happens, our fundamental human values fly out the window.

Right now, some mumbo jumbo rhetoric of security is being used to justify what is basically an unconstitutional move. We can’t have one set

of laws for “us” and one set of laws for them “them.” You can militarise certain areas all you want, but it’s all Bangladesh. Nothing changes that fact that laws and the constitution apply to everyone the same, regardless of what you look like, or where your hometown is.

It’s embarrassing that something so obvious even needs to be said. And yet, here we are. Many in Bangladesh like to rage against the injustice against, say, Palestine committed by a bullish Israel. The Israel-Palestine conflict shows quite clearly that we have no problems in siding with the underdog and hating the bully when it suits us.

But hypocritical as ever, we’ve successfully implemented our very own policy of apartheid. We’ve managed to take away the rights of a minority group, blamed them for their own suffering. We’ve also started an insidious verbal war to paint them as something less than full Bangladeshis.

This ban won’t solve anything. If you stop people from talking to each other, tensions in the CHT area will only go up, not down. There are too many secrets, there is too much mistrust surrounding the whole situation at the CHT, and it needs to be busted open.

The division between the Bangali and the Pahari people has become our own wall of shame. We have to tear it down. l Abak Hussain is Op-Ed Editor, Dhaka Tribune.

he upcoming UK general election brings with it the usual slew of new promises, public criticisms of opponents across the aisle, and a ramping up of electoral rhetoric.

In a country that is growing increasingly apathetic with its political system – the average voter turnout having fallen to the lower 60 percentage points compared to the low 80s and high 70s of the previous century – politicians are increasingly aware that every vote is vital for their party’s survival.

With the three major parties also becoming similar in their approaches to the main policy areas, despite their protestations, it also means that any area of contention is ripe for the picking. Immigration, a hot button topic five years ago, has therefore become one of the more evident battlefields for May 2015.

Parties on the right side of the spectrum are pursuing strong antiimmigration goals, while those on the left are promising greater protections for immigrant and minority communities.

This very noticeable divide is also seen in the debates regarding the economy and healthcare, but there is one key difference between these areas. Unlike issues such as unemployment or privatising the National Health Service, immigration is actually not a top priority for the average British voter.

National surveys by leading polling companies YouGov and Ipsos MORI indicate that more than half of the voting population think immigration has been given too much priority. On a national average, it does not even register as one of the top five issues.

Which then leads to a genuine consideration of why it is one of the three major areas of contention between the parties, and such a visible one at that. On one hand, perceptions of immigration are more contentious and easily skewed than other areas. A different Ipsos MORI poll found that most Britons think close to a quarter of the population consists of immigrants, with the popular image of a migrant being either South Asian or African.

They also believe that being from a non-EU country is more likely to make a citizen draw from the benefits programs and contribute less to the economy.

The reality, however, is that migrants only make up 9.4% of the British population. While India and Pakistan are among the top nations who contribute to UK immigration, Ireland actually has the highest number of immigrants in the UK, with Germany and the USA also in the top five, making the average migrant just as likely to be Caucasian as not.

Also, contrary to popular belief, immigrants are 45% less likely to draw benefits and 3% less likely to live in

free council housing than the average Briton. Additionally, they contribute more taxes and are more likely to hold a university degree than a native citizen.

Parties are happy to exploit these misconceptions. UKIP and the conservatives are constantly framing their foreign policies with a narrative of the “imminent immigrant invasion,” though the latter are slightly more subtle about it.

Immigration is actually not a top priority for the average British voter

Even Labour, who are tackling the negative economic impacts of immigration without resorting to fear-mongering, are not dispelling the myths surrounding it. By feeding off these irrational fears and targeting communities that are historically easy to make scapegoats of, the parties hope to get the crucial swing support of undecided voters.

These are the people who are less likely to be aware of the real statistics and, in an election that is far too close to call, they could prove the difference between government and opposition.

At the same time, the immigrant vote is also becoming more important. Of the current registered voters, 10% are not naturalised UK citizens. 70 of the 650 constituencies have enough immigrant voters to decisively determine the final result.

Furthermore, there is now a new pilot scheme to allow eligible voters based in specific countries (including Bangladesh) to cast absentee ballots.

This means that immigration policies, while not a high priority across the nation, are likely to be a key issue for a substantial section of the electorate.

The immigration debate has come a long way from its early days. With the UK more multi-cultural than it has ever been before – despite the delusions regarding the actual extent – it is likely to remain one of the bigger topics of political discussion for several years, if not decades.

As far as the general election is concerned, it could make or break the parties’ successes.

Given the UK’s position as a world power, regardless of popularity, that still draws large numbers of immigrants from across the world, it is vital to see how voters respond to the rhetoric and how it will shape up after May. l Ibtisam Ahmed is a freelance contributor.

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed n William Milam

O

ur worst fears regarding the political crisis in Bangladesh appear to be realised. The nightmares that rode upon our sleep regarding the ultimate outcome of the political crisis that was locked into place by the January 5, 2014 election are becoming reality. The extremists – by that I mean the extremists in the two major parties – have taken over.

The rest will be very bloody, no matter how it ends.

Predictions a year ago to this effect were dismissed by authorities everywhere, neighboring India, Western donors, and the international organisations. Even in Bangladesh itself, denial dominated – by the Awami League one-party government, whose determined actions to destroy the main opposition party, the BNP did much to create and sustain the crisis; and by an opposition which has become more feckless and desperate as the pressure on it mounted.

Perhaps all involved should have remembered the celebrated words of the great Irish poet, WB Yeats, who wrote the words quoted in the title of this piece in anticipation of another political crisis, of more monumental proportions, in another century. When the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, he

wrote: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

The current situation in Bangladesh can only be described as incipient anarchy. The leaders of both major parties appear to have lost control of the passionately intense segments of their parties, those segments willing and able to use extreme measures, to take down their opponents, and to do so in the absence of any direction from their leaders.

In other words, the extremists in both parties are taking over control of the action on the streets, in the jails, and elsewhere, and the common core is violence and death.

This is apparent in the increasing reportage of killings, fire-bombings, and other violent street actions by those elements of the BNP able to undertake and carry out street actions to disrupt life in the country and, they hope, bring about a public backlash against the government.

These elements claim to be fighting back against the government’s campaign to destroy the BNP. In a sense, they tell it like it is as the government’s plan to decimate the opposition has been clear since the election of 13 months ago.

Since the government controls most media channels, this growing

list of atrocities is widely known and, in some quarters, bringing increased opprobrium on the party itself. While the BNP leaders still speak publicly of hartals (general strikes) and movements to force the government at least to talks on a new and fair election, it is very doubtful that they are directing the violence in the streets.

In fact, the government’s tactics of cutting off BNP leaders’ communication with party faithful has reduced their ability to communicate with their own followers. Among other things, the government has imprisoned them in their offices or houses, or arrested them, or driven them into hiding by the threat of arrest. Logic tells us that the BNP street tactics are now pretty much directed by the party extremists in the streets on an ad hoc basis.

What is less well known is the exponential increase in extra-judicial killings by the government’s police and paramilitary units, who are supposed to be the forces of law and order, but seem more truly to be only the forces of lawlessness and disorder.

The evidence of these crimes is, perforce, more anecdotal, given the government’s control of media and communication channels, but it is convincing. Many include grisly photos, which I don’t recommend unless

readers have a taste for the macabre.

Extra-judicial killings have been increasing for many months now, but have increased exponentially in the past few weeks. These killings are explained in a number of ways –“caught in a crossfire,” “shot trying to escape,” “run over by a truck” (meaning either death under torture or really getting run over by a truck, which I am told is a new form of extrajudicial killing), and others equally disgusting.

preserve their own positions, and to ensure that the other side won’t win and retaliate.

Ali Riaz, perhaps the preeminent US expert on Bangladesh, warned about this possible outcome almost a year ago in an article in the April edition of current history. I echoed this concern in an article in another Pakistan English language journal at about the same time.

I wrote the following: “The AL came to power (and was supported by

The current situation in Bangladesh can only be described as incipient anarchy. The leaders of both major parties appear to have lost control

Though it may seem naïve on my part, I think it unlikely that this increase in extra-judicial killings is orchestrated from the top of the AL. Again, it seems to me to be a case of the troops going far beyond their leaders’ intentions.

As in the case of the BNP, these intensely passionate defenders of the faith are willing to stop at nothing to

India) on its platform of ridding the country of extremism. But Riaz (along many other observers) believes that the government’s clearly authoritarian mindset and increasingly authoritarian actions, will ‘encourage the extremists.’ He is right, and I know he meant ‘extremists’ in a broader sense than we use that term these days. Yes

there remain some Islamist extremists (militants) in Bangladesh, and the government’s actions will surely stir them up and add to their recruiting message.

But there are extremists that are not Islamists and not militants, and they are not just more numerous but they are more dangerous. These are the extremists in the political parties – both major parties – who will drive their leaders to more extreme measures (or take such measures themselves) in order to keep the government in power (the AL extremists) or to bring the government down.”

Where will it all end? The Economist magazine believes that the logic of the situation will ultimately draw the army in, and that some sort of intervention is likely. It notes, however, that the army is not keen on intervening, its top ranks having been cleaned out of general officers who might have been more inclined to do so by the AL government, its desire to safeguard its own business interests in the country, and by a fear of losing its UN peacekeeping preeminence. l William B Milam is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, DC, and former US Ambassador to Pakistan and Bangladesh. This article was previously published in The Friday Times.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Sunday, February 15, 2015

Sport

UPCOMING MATCHES

TODAY South Africa v Zimbabwe, 7am India v Pakistan, 9:30am TOMORROW Ireland v West Indies, 4am

13 ‘Proteas will

take Zimbabwe seriously’

14 Australia torture

England on Valentine’s Day

Did you know?

Kenya’s Maurice Odumbe is the only player to have been hit wicket on two occasions in World Cups, during the 1996 and 2003 editions, both times against West Indies

WORLD CUP HEAD-TO-HEAD

INDIA

PAKISTAN

5 5 287/8

Matches Wins Highest totals

5 0 273/7

227/6

Lowest totals

173

OVERALL

126 50

Matches Wins

Sachin Tendulkar (313) Sachin Tendulkar (98)

Most runs Highest score

126 72

BATTING

Saeed Anwar (185) Saeed Anwar (101)

BOWLING

Venkatesh Prasad (8) Most wickets Venkatesh Prasad (5/27) Best bowling

Wahab Riaz (5) Wahab Riaz (5/46)

PROBABLE XI Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav

India captain MS Dhoni (L) speaks with coach Duncan Fletcher during a training session in Adelaide last Friday ahead of their opener against Pakistan today AFP

Dhoni primed for ‘prized game’ n AFP, Adelaide

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday urged his team to forget their losing streak in Australia as they prepared for a World Cup opener against arch-rivals Pakistan.

The defending champions have endured a miserable three months on tour in Australia where they were beaten 2-0 in the Tests and did not win a match in the subsequent tri-series.

But Dhoni said that Sunday’s high-voltage clash against Pakistan, which he described as a “prized game” on the cricket calendar, was an opportunity for players to transform themselves from zeroes to heroes.

“There is of course more intensity when we play Pakistan because the game is followed by so many fans,” the Indian captain said. “But I see it as a good platform for the team to perform.

“We need to forget the past and try not to make the same mistakes. It’s been a long summer but the positive thing is that we have got used to the conditions. The boys are looking good.

“I can also proudly announce that all 15 are fit and available for selection - unless something happens between now and tomorrow.”

Dhoni said he did not need to calm nerves ahead of the key encounter, explaining his players were used to appearing before huge crowds.l

Kohli has really come off age in the past few years, always enhancing his reputation as one of the most dependable batsmen in world cricket in any formats of the game.

India need him to fire from all cylinders if they are to go far

PLAYER TO WATCH

KOHLI

Talking Point

IRFAN

Facing a 7-feet 1-inch fast bowler in Irfan can be a daunting prospect for any side let alone India. Irfan though has not quite had the impact that he would have liked to owing to several injuries

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq (R) speaks with coach Waqar Younis during their training session in Adelaide yesterday AFP

Whose tank has more gas?

Can Pakistan stay the course and win for the first time? n Yousuf Rahman (Babu) The first time Pakistan played India in a World Cup encounter was in 1992 and lost. While it must have devastated the Pakistan fans, Imran Khan and his followers redeemed themselves by turning their screws tight and ended up winning the World Cup. That result must have been a hard one for the Indians to digest. Four times more did the two archrivals meet in subsequent World Cup matches and Pakistan has yet to win one. This includes the loss in 2003 when, after scoring 273, the combination of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhter and Waqar Younis, easily rated as the three best in the business, failed to contain Sachin Tendulkar and his fellow countrymen.

After their competitive Test series against Australia, India suddenly took a nose dive in the tri-nation ODI series in which they were comprehensively beaten by both Australia and England.

In the pre-World Cup warm up matches, their performance has been nothing to rave about. Pakistan on the other hand suddenly seems to have come out of hibernation and after couple of disappointing ODI series against Australia and New Zealand in the UAE (its home

series), and a 2-match losing series in New Zealand, is starting to show some positive signs of gelling into a winning combination, though they are still far from achieving it.

Knowing their strengths and weaknesses, and more importantly, knowing the culture and expectation of their fan base, both teams will have a cautious approach. The match will be played in Adelaide, where we have seen Nathan Lyon destroy India with his off-spin. Traditionally, the Adelaide wicket assist the spinners to some extent but this is a World Cup ODI so I have a feeling it will be a wicket where runs will be produced. This is a headon clash and the team that maintains it composure will take the day.

India, and the world will agree with me, has a better batting line up with some high-scoring batters in their top five. Give Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli the chance and they will annihilate any bowling attack. Against Pakistan, the Indians invariably find their best touch.

Even Suresh Raina in the middle is quite capable of accelerating the run rate at an impressive pace. India will need to score big if they are to control the match and ensure victory. With their bowling quality, scores of 260-270 may not guarantee a

World Cup openers – hype justified The two hottest teams have sent a clear message to the rest of the world that they mean business.

The results of both matches are somewhat similar.

Both Australia and New Zealand got to bat first, YOUSUF RAHMAN both scored (BABU) massive totals through a combination of players and both team’s bowlers lived up to the task with devastating efficiency.

As predicted, the New Zealand batting was set up by Brendan McCullum to be followed by Kane Williamson and the others. That the best of the lot has World Cup jitters was proven by Williamson’s start, which was edgy and scratchy. The first ball chance, a diffi-

Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Misbah-ul Haq (C), Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal (WK), Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Irfan

cult catch behind, may have hurt the Sri Lankans. Once he settled down, we saw the effortless quality of his batting.

The Black Caps scorecard turned out to be one that all teams dream of. Without a hundred on the sheet, they put up 331 for 6 wickets. Just shows how each player understood and executed their roles effectively.

Sri Lanka was never in the hunt and after Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene fell in quick succession, the final outcome was crystal clear.

Point to note: Spinners from both teams came out pretty good in the match. Rangana Herath and Jeevan Mendis managed to control the powerful batters in the middle overs, while Daniel Vettori was exemplary. So let us not rule the spinning factor out. They will still play a role in this World Cup. Statistics show that when James Anderson gets 2 wickets or more in an ODI, England’s chances of a win is nearly 70%. Aaron Finch was dropped

off Anderson second ball when a simple chance went through Chris Woakes, a catch that would be taken 9 times out 10. Finch went on to get 135, which established the middle order after an initial jolt when the score was 70 for 3. England came into the match with their bodies but left their boots at home. They bowled, fielded and batted in shambles. Steven Finn’s hat-trick during the slog overs, barring a notation in the record books, had no impact in the match.

If one Mitch does not get you, another will. Nine wickets were taken by the bowlers, while one (Anderson) was shambolically run out (the rule book needs to be looked into). The Mitch trio (Johnson, Starc and Marsh) collected all nine.

While both Sri Lanka and England will be licking their wounds, Australia and New Zealand are pumped up for the rest of the competition.

Catch of the match: Sri Lankan fan taking a one-handed scorcher in the stands. l

win. On the Adelaide pitch, Stuart Binny will be an important factor with his medium pace.

Son of a famous father (Roger Binny, member of India’s 1983 World Cup winning team), Stuart is a utility player.

He plays and performs within his limits but produces 100% and this makes him somewhat dangerous, especially batsmen that can become complacent seeing his size and pace. Ravichandran Ashwin is the second bowler that can bother the Pakistani run rate as his accuracy can stop the run flow.

Pakistan, with the ageing but confident Misbah-ul Haq leading from the front, will go into this match with a winner’s frame of mind. Their wins in the warm-ups will have lifted their spirits.

To Pakistan this is the most significant match in the entire competition. Even if they lose all their matches going forward, their fans will pardon them if they win the India match. Pakistan’s hopes are on Shahid Afridi’s wildly spectacular exhibitionism of a perfect all round game. Pakistan will need to get some help from their 7-foot giant, Mohammed Irfan, to make initial inroads into the Indian batting line up. The player to watch is Yasir Shah. He is a genuine leg-spinner and is very similar to the

legendary Abdul Qadir. One person who will watch this match with the greatest of enthusiasm will be Shane Warne.

Warney is dying to find a leggie that can win matches. In my judgement, Yasir could turn out that man.

Pakistan needs to streamline their batting line up. With Mohammed Hafeez gone, they need find someone that will pair well with Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed is not the one. Pakistan also needs to find another in place of Younis Khan who is pathetically out of touch with the ODI format. Herein lies Pakistan’s dilemma.

Can the selectors have the courage to drop Younis?

Regardless of the line ups, this is going to be a battle of grit and determination. For both teams the outcome of this match will set the tone for the entire tournament. On their day, both teams can come big with their explosive batting line ups.

Question is which team has enough gas in the tank to make sure they can drive the distance. l Yousuf Rahman (Babu), former national cricketer, vice captain and first centurion writes from New York for Bangladesh fans all across the globe.

FINN GETS HATTRICK ON OPENING DAY

Keep emotions in check: Misbah n Reuters, Adelaide

Pakistan need to keep control of their emotions in Sunday’s high-octane clash with India if they are to put an end to a string of World Cup defeats against their arch-rivals, captain Misbah-ul-Haq said on Saturday.

Much to the dismay of their supporters, Pakistan have never won a match against their bitter neighbours at the World Cup, suffering five defeats dating back to 1992. That despite winning 72 of the other 121 One Day Internationals played against their old foes.

Adding to the pressure of the onfield rivalry will be the buzz around the game, with a 47,000-strong crowd presence at the Adelaide Oval Stadium and an expected television audience of over one billion.

“India-Pakistan is always all about pressure,” the 40-year-old Misbah, who was part of the team that lost the 2011 World Cup semi-final to India, told reporters.

“The best thing we can do is just enjoy the game, enjoy the atmosphere, go there, play your game, be positive, and that’s the way how it is. I think if you could just go there and play your natural game, that’s how you can handle the pressure well, and that’s my advice to the team.”

Misbah said his team mates should also try and forget the hype of the occasion back home.l

WC HATTRICKS

1987: CHETAN SHARMA (IND) New Zealand (Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith, Ewen Chatfield)

1999: SAQLAIN MUSHTAQ (PAK) Zimbabwe (Henry Olonga, Adam Huckle, Pommie Mbangwa)

2003: CHAMINDA VAAS (SL) Bangladesh (Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful, Ehsanul Haque)

2003: BRETT LEE (AUS) Kenya (Kennedy Otieno, Brijal Patel, David Obuya)

2007: LASITH MALINGA (SL) South Africa (Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini)*

2011: KEMAR ROACH (WI) Netherlands (Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots, Berend Westdijk)

2011: LASITH MALINGA (SL) Kenya (Tanmay Mishra, Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche)

2015: STEVEN FINN (ENG) England’s Steven Finn (C) is the toast of his teammates after grabbing a hat-trick against Australia in a Pool A game at the MCG yesterday AFP

Australia (Brad Haddin, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson) * Malinga got four wickets in four balls

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

13

Sunday, February 15, 2015

QUICK BYTES

NZvSL

Federer and Wawrinka out of Davis Cup squad

New Zealand R B M Guptill c Sangakkara b Lakma 49 62 B McCullum c Mendis b Herath 65 49 K Williamson c Karunaratne b Mendis 57 65 R Taylor st Sangakkara b Mendis 14 28 G Elliott c Thirimanne b Lakmal 29 34 C Anderson c Lakmal b Kulasekara 75 46 L Ronchi not out 29 19 Extras (lb2, w8, nb3) 13

Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, who led Switzerland to last year’s Davis Cup, have both turned their back on the squad for this year’s first round tie against Belgium next month. A Swiss Tennis Federation statement late on Friday confirmed the pair “have decided to not make themselves available” for the tie in Liege from March 6-8. Federation president Rene Stammbach had hinted last month during the Australian Open that the chances of seeing the pair in first round action were slim. “I’m the first to understand that priorities change in the year after a Davis Cup victory and that it isn’t that easy to get back into the fray,” Stammbach said. From Rotterdam, where hs is competing in the ATP event, Wawrinka said after reaching the semi-finals: “After long weeks of reflection, I have unfortunately decided not to play in this match.

–AFP

Total (for 6 wickets, 50)

Fall of wickets 1-111, 2-136, 3-193, 4-193, 5-258, 6-331 Bowling Kulasekara 8-0-78-1 (3w), Malinga 100-84-0 (3w, 3nb), Mathews 6-0-28-0, Herath 9-0-37-1 (1w), Dilshan 5-0-35-0 (1w), Lakmal 10-0-62-2, Mendis 2-0-5-2

’Betting cheats’ nabbed at opener New Zealand police say they evicted several “betting cheats” from Saturday’s Cricket World Cup opener between New Zealand and Sri Lanka as part of an international crackdown on corruption. The spectators were accused of “court-siding”, the practice of relaying information from the ground to people overseas, taking advantage of broadcasting time delays to manipulate betting.

“We know what to look for,” World Cup policing commander Sandy Manderson said without detailing how many people were caught. “We’re aware that people are attempting to operate at venues and they will be detected, evicted and trespassed from all venues.” Courtsiding is not illegal in New Zealand, but it is a breach of the terms and conditions of ICC Cricket World Cup tickets.

–AFP

Pakistan veteran Younis rejoins Yorkshire Pakistan veteran Younis Khan will return to Yorkshire for the opening weeks of the 2015 season, the English county side announced on Saturday. The 37-year-old first played for Yorkshire in 2007 and will return to Headingley after representing Pakistan in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. “It is a great honour to be returning to Headingley and playing for Yorkshire. This is one of the finest cricket clubs in the world,” said Younus in a statement released by Yorkshire. “I hope my experiences in the first-class game will help them maintain their position at the top of the County Championship. The County Championship is regarded as one of the best domestic competitions in the world and to test myself in English conditions can only enhance my game.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 1

ICC Cricket World Cup 9:30AM India v Pakistan 4:00AM (Monday) West Indies v Ireland

Star Sports 2 7:00AM ICC Cricket World Cup South Africa v Zimbabwe 7:30PM Hockey India League Delhi Waveriders v Kalinga Lancers Spanish La Liga 10:00PM FC Barcelona v Levante 12:00PM Rayo Vallecano v Villarreal

R

B

Sri Lanka L Thirimanne b Boult T Dilshan c & b Vettori K Sangakkara lbw b Boult M Jayawardene c Ronchi b Vettori D Karunaratne b Milne A Mathews c Vettori b Southee J Mendis c Ronchi b Milne N Kulasekara c Elliott b Anderson R Herath c Milne b Anderson L Malinga c Ronchi b Southee S Lakmal not out Extras (w10, nb1)

65 60 24 41 39 38 0 4 14 21 46 52 4 4 10 21 13 19 0 1 7 17 11

Total (10 wickets, 46.1 overs)

233

Fall of wickets 1-67, 2-124, 3-125, 4-129, 5-163, 6-168, 7-196, 8-216, 9-217, 10-233 Bowling Southee 10-1-43-2 (2w), Boult 10-0-64-2, Milne 10-0-57-2 (3w, 1nb), Vettori 10-034-2 (2w), Elliott 2-0-11-0, Williamson 1-0-7-0, Anderson 3.1-0-18-2 (2w) Result: New Zealand won by 98 runs Man of the match: Corey Anderson (NZ)

Kiwis trounce Sri Lanka in opener New Zealand bowler Daniel Vettori (L) collides with Sri Lankan batter Lahiru Thirimanne during their Pool A World Cup match at Hagley Oval in Christchurch yesterday

n AFP, Christchurch New Zealand made the perfect start to the World Cup when a swashbuckling Brendon McCullum led his side to a 98-run win over Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval in Christchurch Saturday.

McCullum’s quickfire 65 set New Zealand up for an imposing 331-6, with Kane Williamson adding 57 in the middle of the innings and Corey Anderson blasting 75 off 46 at the tail.

Sri Lanka made a steady start in reply and were 124-1 in the 22nd over, setting themselves up for a big finish.

But on a grey Christchurch day, where the temperature hovered around 13 degrees Celsius, they were soon to

feel the heat as New Zealand mounted a triple strike and they were all out for 233 with nearly four overs remaining.

In the space of 12 balls Trent Boult and Daniel Vettori combined to take three wickets for five runs to reduce Sri Lanka to 129-4.

Premier batsmen Lahiru Thirimanne (65), Kumar Sangakkara (39) and Mahela Jayawardene (0) were back in the hutch as the batting collapse, a familiar part of Sri Lanka’s pre World Cup performances, reappeared.

Sangakkara had the consolation of passing former Australian captain Ricky Ponting as the second highest run-maker in one-day international history.

Adam Milne then removed Dimuth Karunaratne (14) and Jeevan Mendis

(4) to have Sri Lanka at 168-6, facing a run rate of nearly 10, and New Zealand firmly in command.

New Zealand’s dominance underscored their rising status as serious contenders in a tournament where they have never previously gone further than the semi-finals.

In heavily overcast conditions and with a little drizzle in the air that delayed the start by a few minutes, Sri Lanka won the toss and put New Zealand into bat in conditions ripe for swing bowling.

But it was the New Zealand batsmen who took control with McCullum setting the tournament alight in a 111-run opening partnership off 95 deliveries with Martin Guptill.

McCullum, at his destructive best in

AFP

a 49-ball stay, smacked one six and 10 fours, including three boundaries off the first four balls he faced, to the delight of the partisan New Zealand crowd.

He was particularly harsh on Sri Lanka’s bowling ace Lasith Malinga who was quickly removed from the attack when McCullum peppered the boundary for a lusty 22 off his fourth over.

McCullum, Guptill (49) and Williamson led New Zealand to 1832 in the 34th over when Mendis dismissed Williamson and Ross Taylor in consecutive balls.

But any hopes Sri Lanka had that the tide was turning were quickly dashed with the arrival of Anderson at the crease and the former holder of the fastest ODI century record mercilessly launched into the bowling.

His partnerships with Grant Elliott and then Luke Ronchi produced 102 runs in the last 10 overs. Mendis took two wickets for five for Sri Lanka, but only bowled two overs while Suranga Lakmal took two for 62 off 10.

Tillakaratne Dilshan and Thirimanne put on 67 for the first wicket in Sri Lanka’s reply before being parted by Vettori.

The 36-year-old, who relies more on guile than spin, baffled Dilshan on 24 with a subtle change of pace and was rewarded with a simple return catch.

Thirimanne and Sangakkara added 57 for the second wicket before the innings fell apart.

For New Zealand, Vettori, Southee, Boult, Milne and Anderson took two wickets each. l

Fans gear up for Indo-Pak clash n AFP, Islamabad Big screens are going up, TV sales are booming and even the Taliban are getting their transistor radios ready for the biggest grudge match in cricket: Pakistan against India.

From the beaches of Kerala to the snowy Himalayas, from the deserts of Baluchistan to the tea plantations of Assam, hundreds of millions of fans will be glued to the action as the two sides clash in the World Cup on Sunday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on Friday to wish his team luck in their opening match at the Adelaide Oval.

The time difference with Australia means the match will start around breakfast time in the subcontinent, but that is unlikely to deter legions of supporters for whom a win over the old enemy is almost as important as winning the tournament.

In the northwestern Pakistani city

of Peshawar, big screen TVs are selling fast, with many restaurants installing the latest LED screens to lure in punters on Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of people are living in temporary accommodation around northwest Pakistan after being forced to flee the restive tribal areas on the Afghan border by a major anti-Taliban military operation.

Many of the displaced are hoping their big-hitting hero Shahid Afridi, who hails from Khyber tribal district, will bring them some cheer on Sunday.

Ajab Khan, 60, was forced to abandon his his flatscreen TV when he fled North Waziristan, but said he had used government aid to get a replacement.

“We saved from our relief package money and bought a 17 inch television for the World Cup,” Khan told AFP. “We want Afridi to score sixes against India as it is most thrilling and entertaining part of any match.”

The ongoing military operation has also disrupted the Taliban’s plans to

2:00AM Celta Vigo v Atletico Madrid

watch the match, but the militants said they would still try to tune in.

“In the past commanders used to watch the Pakistan-India match together and we used to slaughter sheep and socialise with each other, but now things are different and there will be no such meetings over cricket,” one commander told AFP. “However, we will listen to commentary on radio.”

In Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, big screens are going up in posh malls to keep shoppers up to date with the match. Across the border in India, Mumbai police have launched a crackdown on illegal bookmakers who are set to take a windfall from thousands of gambling-mad punters.

Although gambling is mostly banned in India, betting on cricket matches thrives through networks of underground bookies.

Restaurants are also gearing up for the event, hosting cricket-themed breakfasts and lunches. l

Youngsters get ready for the India-Pakistan match in Ranchi yesterday

Iniesta doubtful for Levante game at home

Star Sports 4 10:00PM English FA Cup Arsenal v Middlesbrough

n Reuters, Barcelona

Ten Action 12:00PM Australian-League Adelaide United v Perth Glory 7:30PM Indian-League Kingfisher East Bengal v Kalyani Bharat French Ligue 1 09:30PM De Metz v Guingamp 2:00AM 56 Lorient v Olympic Lyon

Ten Sports 2:00PM Asian Tour Thailand Classic Day 4 08:30PM AMRO Tennis Tournament Finals

331

Brazilian former soccer star Zico (C) from the Aguia de Ouro Samba School takes part in a carnival at Anhembi Sambadrome in Sao Paulo yesterday REUTERS

Barcelona may be without midfielder Andres Iniesta for Sunday’s La Liga game at home to Levante (1600 GMT) after the Spain international missed training on Saturday due to a bout of flu.

“The FC Barcelona first team trained on Saturday morning after having the day off on Friday,” Barca said on their website (www.fcbarcelona.es). “(Coach) Luis Enrique had his full squad at his disposal apart from Andres Iniesta, who has the flu,” they added.

Second-placed Barca are a point behind Real Madrid ahead of the leaders’ game at home to Deportivo La Coruna later on Saturday (1700).

Real are looking to bounce back after last weekend’s 4-0 drubbing at champions Atletico Madrid, who are three points behind Barca in third and play at

Celta Vigo on Sunday (2000).

Luis Enrique told a news conference on Saturday he was wary of a Levante side who are struggling down in 18th place.

“We are playing a Levante team who

FIXTURES Valencia Barcelona Rayo Vallecano Celta Vigo

v v v v

Getafe Levante Villarreal Atletico Madrid

are fighting to maintain their place in the top flight,” added the former Spain and Barca midfielder. “I don’t take teams who are in a difficult situation lightly and it could be a banana skin.

“It’s going to be tough against a team which closes ranks at the back and works well in defence.”l

AP

WC glory beckons, arise ‘Sir’ Jadeja n Reuters, New Delhi In his sprawling farmhouse at Jamnagar in the west Indian state of Gujarat, Ravindra Jadeja is often seen riding one of his four horses without even a saddle.

The 26-year-old all-rounder brings the same insouciance into the cricket field - whether he is bowling, batting or running backwards chasing a skier.

He wears it like an amulet, a protective shield against a condescending world that laughed at his achievements, almost resenting them.

Though classified as an all-rounder, the Saurashtra southpaw is no Garfield Sobers. At best, he is a utility player with skills tailor-made for limited over cricket but inadequate for sustained success at test level.

Jadeja has also proved he can take the gentle ribbing.l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Australia subject England to Valentine’s Day torture n Reuters, Melbourne

Australia batman Aaron Finch leaps into the air as he celebrates a century with Steve Smith (R) during their Pool A 2015 Cricket World Cup match against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday AFP

Australia skipper George Bailey praised match-winning centurion Aaron Finch and five-wicket star Mitchell Marsh after the World Cup co-hosts crushed England by 111 runs in their opening game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Finch, playing in front of his home crowd which swelled to almost 85,000 people, smashed 135 after being dropped on nought as Australia piled up 342-9 in their 50 overs.

Marsh then claimed five for 33 as England slumped to a dispiriting loss despite James Taylor hitting an impressive 98 not out.

“We were very happy to bat first.

There was a lot of anticipation, a big build-up, but we felt like we have a strong batting line-up and it was nice to get out there and use that track first,” said Bailey.

“Aaron Finch rose to the occasion.

That’s what we’re after from our top order. We want great innings and to turn them into match-winning knocks and that’s definitely what we got today.

“Mitchell Marsh was outstanding, he broke the game open for us.”l

n Reuters A meticulous planner, the South African captain AB de Villiers has prepared himself for everything at the World Cup. Like every South African, de Villiers needs no reminding that the Proteas have never won the World Cup and carry the label of chokers courtesy of their previous near misses.

South Africa will open their latest World Cup campaign against Zimbabwe at Hamilton on Saturday.

On the eve of the match, de Villiers attended the mandatory pre-match news conference and was prepared for when the inevitable question came up about his country’s World Cup record.

“Those past happenings and the chokers and all of that, that’s still very much part of our system,” he told reporters.

“There’s no doubt about it. We’re going to have to win to take that away, and we know that.

“But like I said before, it’s a great opportunity for all of us. The guys being here can make history, and just want

WORLD CUP HEAD-TO-HEAD

to slow things down. That’s the main message for this tournament.”

South Africa have been among the favourites to win every World Cup they’ve contested since 1992 but have come up short each time, losing in the semi-finals in 1992, 1999 and 2007 and

Those past happenings and the chokers and all of that, that’s still very much part of our system.

We’re going to have to win to take that away, and we know that the quarter-finals in 1996 and 2011.

While de Villiers conceded that the only thing way South Africa could shed their chokers’ tag is by winning the World Cup, he also said it was important they don’t get too fixated on the title.

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves, we’re not thinking about the

SOUTH AFRICA

ZIMBABWE

2 1 185

Matches Wins Highest totals

2 1 233/6

164/3

Lowest totals

163

OVERALL

37 34

Matches Wins

Kepler Wessels (146) Kepler Wessels (70)

Most runs Highest score

37 2

BATTING

Neil Johnson (76) Neil Johnson (76)

BOWLING

Most wickets Best bowling

Neil Johnson (3) Neil Johnson (3/27)

PROBABLE XI Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (WK), Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers (C), JP Duminy, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir

Sikandar Raza, Chamu Chibhabha, H Masakadza, Brendan Taylor (WK), Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Elton Chigumbura (C), Solomon Mire, Tawanda Mupariwa, Tinashe Panyangara, Tendai Chatara

PLAYER TO WATCH Zimbabwe will be heavily reliant on Taylor and his services. The right-hander can be a real handful for the opposition on his day

DE VILLIERS

TAYLOR

trophy at the moment,” he said.

“We know we can win, there’s no doubt about it, but we know there are lots of obstacles along the way that we’re going to have to overcome.”

South Africa are again one of the favourites to win the World Cup and for good reason. They have a strong bowling attack and a powerful batting lineup, led but de Villiers, who is ranked as the world’s best One Day International batsman.

Zimbabwe are one of the tournament longshots, though an improving team capable of testing anyone on their day, and de Villiers was sticking to the sportsman’s mantra of talking up his opponents.

“They beat Australia not long ago.

They’re a dangerous side,” he said.

“They’ve come a long way and think they’re under good leadership at the moment from the captain and the coach, so definitely a side to be reckoned with.

“We’ve got our plans in place, but we know we’ll have to take them up seriously tomorrow. It’s a big start for both teams.” l

Total (9 wkts, 50 overs)

342

Fall of wickets 1-57, 2-57, 3-70, 4-216, 5-228, 6-281, 7-342, 8-342, 9-342 Bowling Anderson 10-0-67-0 (1w); Broad 10-0-662 (1w); Woakes 10-0-65-1; Finn 10-0-71-5 (1w); Ali 9-0-60-0; Root 1-0-11-0

R

B

England M Ali c Bailey b Starc I Bell c Starc b Marsh G Ballance c Finch b Marsh J Root c Haddin b Marsh E Morgan c Haddin b Marsh J Taylor not out J Buttler c Smith b Marsh C Woakes c Smith b Johnson S Broad b Starc S Finn c and b Johnson J Anderson run out (Maxwell) Extras (lb5, w11)

10 13 36 45 10 13 5 12 0 6 98 90 10 12 37 42 0 1 1 6 8 11 16

Total (all out, 41.5 overs)

231

Fall of wickets 1-25, 2-49, 3-66, 4-66, 5-73, 6-92, 7-184, 8-194, 9-195, 10-231 Bowling Starc 9-1-47-2, Hazlewood 6.5-0-45-0 (3w), Johnson 8-0-36-2 (7w), Marsh 9-033-5, Watson 3-0-13-0, Maxwell 4-0-33-0 (1w), Smith 2-0-19-0 Result: Australia won by 111 runs Man of the match: Aaron Finch (AUS)

A pitch invader is carried off the field by security during the Cricket World Cup Pool A match between Australia and England in Melbourne yesterday AP

‘Proteas will take Zim seriously’ n AFP, Hamilton

Countless articles and pieces have been written describing the genius that is Abraham Benjamin de Villiers. The majestic batsman will be looking for a great start to the tournament

Australia R B D Warner b Broad 22 18 135 128 A Finch run out (Morgan) S Watson c Buttler b Broad 0 1 S Smith b Woakes 5 9 G Bailey b Finn 55 69 G Maxwell c Root b Finn 66 40 M Marsh c Root b Finn 23 20 B Haddin c Broad b Finn 31 14 M Johnson c Anderson b Finn 0 1 M Starc not out 0 0 Extras (lb2, w3) 5

Only World Cup win will end South Africa’s tag as chokers

Bailey salutes match-winners Finch and Marsh n AFP, Melbourne

Allan Donald (4) Brian McMillan (3/30)

Aaron Finch smashed a sparkling century as Australia dealt England a 111-run humiliation in their World Cup opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.

Dropped on the second ball he faced, opening batsman Finch blasted 135 at his home ground to lay the platform for victory as the co-hosts piled on 342-9, two runs shy of the venue’s one-day international record.

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh then took a career-best 5-33 as Australia put on a ruthless Valentine Day’s display in the field that amplified the abysmal nature of their opponents’ earlier efforts.

Having reprieved bulky opener Finch, England let a string of chances go begging, dropping catches and missing run-out opportunities to set a miserable tone for the start of their campaign.

They had reduced Australia to 70-3 but released the pressure and Australia’s formidable batting lineup duly went into punishment mode.

After stand-in skipper George Bailey (55) teamed with Finch for a 146-run partnership, pugnacious all-rounder Glenn Maxwell smacked 66 off 40 balls.

Ironically, Steven Finn, who like his colleagues had been thrashed to all corners of the ground, became the first England bowler to take a World Cup hat-trick by dismissing Brad Haddin,

Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson in the last three balls of Australia’s innings.

He finished with a hugely expensive 5-71 and seemed embarrassed by his achievement.

It was to be a brief moment of celebration for the English, who were all but beaten by the 18th over of their chase, when captain Eoin Morgan flailed at a slower ball and was wellcaught by wicketkeeper Haddin.

Morgan’s sixth-ball duck was his fourth in five innings, including the last warmup against Pakistan, and left England reeling at 73-5.

Marsh, who had earlier dismissed opener Ian Bell (36), Joe Root (5) and Gary Balance (10), then completed his five-wicket haul when Steven Smith took an extraordinary catch at short cover to dismiss wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

Diving low and to his left, Smith showed marvelous anticipation to snaffle a full-blooded slog, a high point in a sparkling effort in the field for the hosts.

Marsh was also the third bowler of the match to take wickets in consecutive balls, with Broad also missing a hat-trick after bowling opener David Warner for 22 and having Shane Watson caught behind for a golden duck.

James Taylor (98) and Chris Woakes (37), who spilled a simple, head-high chance at midwicket to reprieve Finch in the first over, dug in for a 92-run partnership to flatter England’s scoreline. l

AUSvENG

South Africa skipper AB de Villiers promised his team will take Zimbabwe seriously in their opening World Cup match in Hamilton on Sunday, declaring his players are keen to make history and ditch their tag as chokers.

South Africa are top contenders this time after failing to go beyond the semi-final stages in all six World Cups they have featured since their readmission to international cricket in 1991.

But their recent good form makes them one of the favourites for the title and, despite admitting his team is amongst the best, De Villiers wants to focus on a dangerous Zimbabwe.

“We know of Zimbabwe’s capability, it’s not long ago they beat Australia,” said De Villiers of their opponents who defeated Australia on their home turf in August last year.

“They are a dangerous side and have come a long way. They are under a good coach (Dav Whatmore) so we know we will have to take them seriously and it’s a big start for both teams.”

Zimbabwe raised their not-so-high hopes with a seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka in a warm-up game on Wednesday.

Under Whatmore, Zimbabwe have shown signs of progress, notably in their bowling which restricted New Zealand to 157-7 in their rained-off first warm-up game on Monday.

De Villiers said he didn’t want to look beyond the first game and worry about other opponents.

“To be honest to watch other games and to follow other games tires me. I don’t really care for other games, I watched 10 overs of the Sri Lanka-New Zealand game (on Saturday) and got tired.

“I just want to focus on what we need to do to win the game tomorrow, that’s the most important thing.

“We are going to play some world class teams in this World Cup and if we are lucky enough to be in the quarters we are going to play three incredible games against three very very tough opponents.”

De Villiers admitted his team was keen to shrug off the “chokers” tag

associated with them since their tied semi-final against Australia in the 1999 World Cup in England.

They also flopped in the group stages of the 2003 World Cup held at home and then fell in the semi-final of the 2007 event in the West Indies.

They then lost in the quarter-finals in 2011 held in the sub-continent despite being title favourites.

“It is a fresh tournament for all of us, the ‘chokers’ is very much part of our system, there’s no doubt about it and we have to take that away. It’s a great opportunity and the guys are here to make history.” l

South Africa’s AB de Villiers (Bottom) and David Miller train at Seddon Park, Hamilton yesterday AFP

Chigumbura hopes Zimbabwe can maintain form n AFP, Hamilton Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura is optimistic his team can carry the good form they showed during the warm-up matches into their opening World Cup Pool B tie against South Africa in Hamilton on Sunday.

The 28-year-old said good showings in the rained-off first warm-up game against New Zealand - where they reduced the co-hosts to 157 for seven - and then a shock seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka had bolstered Zimbabwe’s morale.

“It (the warm-up performances) gives us a lot of confidence,” said Chigumbura on Saturday. “It gives us a lot of the belief that we do need as a team, that it’s possible to beat a big team, and obvious, looking at the guys who performed, our main batters, which is a good sign.”

Zimbabwe’s two key batsmen were both in the runs against Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions and losing finalists at the last two World Cups, with Hamilton Masakadza hitting a brilliant unbeaten hundred and Brendon Taylor making 63.

“We’re looking forward to the main games now, and hopefully the guys who performed well will carry on with their form and hopefully finish on the better side tomorrow,” Chigumbura added.

Zimbabwe were crushed 5-0 in Bangladesh in November last year, a defeat which led them to hire World Cup-winning coach Dav Whatmore. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

15

Sunday, February 15, 2015

NIGHTCRAWLER: When it pays more than crime itself

WHAT TO WATCH TELEVISION

n Mosabber Rahman

JAMES and KONA perform in Kathmandu n Entertainment Desk Rock icon James and singer Kona are set to perform at the Friendship Concert which takes place today in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.

In addition, Reshmi of talent-hunt show Power Voice fame and Arif, a star of Bangladesh Idol, will accompany the main act. Nusrat Faria will emcee the show.

The concert is being staged to celebrate the forty-third anniversary of bilateral relations between Nepal and Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi singers and Nepalese bands such as The Uglies and Cine Gourang, as well as Indian singer, Faruq Mahfuz Anam, will be performing.

Kona, meanwhile, is also working on her fourth solo album set to be released in time for Pahela Baishakh. l

This is the best depiction of today’s news-hungry media I have seen in many years- it left me stunned. What an amazing way to articulate the zombieland of the rotting mainstream media, the CNNs, the BBCs, the Foxes.

It took the theme of loneliness from “Taxi Driver” (1976) and the psychedelic genre created by “Drive” (2011) (this film is produced by the same team) and gave us an acidic amalgamation of horror.

This film works mainly for Jake Gyllenhaal and I must admit I didn’t think much of him before, but here he nailed it like Heath Ledger nailed the Joker in “The Dark Knight” (2008). Rene Russo is quite good too as the epitome of the news-boss, and Bill Paxton is the symbol of the mercenary-reporter.

Gyllenhaal is a petty thief desperate to make ends meet and then he stumbles upon a guy who shoots crimescenes and sells it to the media. As he gets good at it we realise there is no difference between the people who commit the crime and the people who record the crime, apart from the fact that crime-news pays more than crime itself.

Paddy Chayefsky and Sydney Lumet (who made “Network” in 1976) would be proud of this one. The satire is so sharp-edged that it would make “Broadcast News” (1987) look like a cartoon show. While crime rates fall (as Steven Pinker proved in his book “Better Angels of Our Nature”) more thrilling news is demanded- crimes are like gold coins, the bloodier the better.

The film reminded me of Hunter S Thompson’s great observation: “The TV business is uglier than most things.

MISS CONGENIALITY HBO Defined, 3:50pm Cast: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine An FBI agent must go undercover in the Miss United States beauty pageant to prevent a group from bombing the event.

It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.”

The nightcrawler in the film is not like Travis Bickle of “Taxi Driver,” he is more like Dracula, he is a creature of the night, a blood-thirsty monster. Written and Directed by Dan Gilroy - great job! I will be eagerly waiting for his next film. l

Storytelling with Sarees by MONICA JAHAN BOSE n Entertainment Desk

Anusheh and Arnob along with other musicans perform at a sustainability fair titled Matir Mela on February 12 at Jatra’s Banani outlet

Social activist Monica Jahan Bose will screen her short film and speak about the ongoing “Storytelling With Sarees project,” 7pm at Bengal Cafe, Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts today.

A multi-layered collaborative art and advocacy project that uses woodblock prints on saris, writing, performance, and video to address women’s empowerment in the face of climate change in a remote Bangladeshi island linked to the artist’s heritage.

Monica Jahan Bose is a Bangladeshi-American artist, lawyer, and activist based in Washington, DC and Bangladesh. Her work includes

OCEAN’S TWELVE WB, 1:10pm Cast: Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts Daniel Ocean recruits one more team member so he can pull off three major European heists.

ONLY GOD FORGIVES HBO Hits, 5:30pm Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas Julian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok’s criminal underworld, sees his life get even more complicated.

THEATRE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE I ROMEO V/S JULIET I SEVENTH SON 3D I JESSABELLE @ Star Cineplex

painting, printmaking, video, installation, and performance, as well as advocacy on women’s issues and the environment. l

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

HUMA QURESHI questions absence of woman in Delhi cabinet

TABU to play cop in Drishyam remake

n Entertainment Desk

n Entertainment Desk

Actress Huma Qureshi has high hopes from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal but has one issue with his cabinet—the lack of women.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal on Saturday took oath as Delhi’s chief minister at the Ramlila

Maidan here along with six ministers, all of whom are men. Hence, the actress questioned the absence of female representation.

“More power to change @ArvindKejriwal Looking at better governance and safety for women in Delhi. But no female representation in the cabinet,” she tweeted.

Kejriwal’s close aide Manish Si-

LIV TYLER welcomes baby boy

sodia, who will be the deputy chief minister, was also sworn in along with ministers Satyendra Jain, Gopal Rai, Asim Mohammed Khan, Sandeep Kumar and Jitendra Singh Tomar.

Celebrity photographer Atul Kasbekar also noted: “No women in the Kejriwal cabinet could well be its Achilles heel or its pin striped suit...

Disappointing.” l

Tabu is talked to play a very vital character in remake of the Malayalam film “Drishyam,” to be directed by National Award winning director Nishikant Kamat.

Talking about the cast, Kamat says that he chose Ajay Devgn to play the male lead because, “The hero is intense and intelligent, and

Ajay fitted the bill. He also suited the character’s age. Tabu plays a cop who is pivotal to the story, but the leading lady is yet to be finalised.”

The yet-to-be-titled drama-thriller will go on floors in Goa in the last week of February, in a start-to-finish schedule.

The film will be produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Kumar Mangat Pathak and Abhishek Pathak. l

n Entertainment Desk Liv Tyler welcomed a baby boy into the world on Wednesday, and her father and sister were right by her side for the big event. Steven Tyler and Mia Tyler shared a sweet photo two days later, which showed the actress rubbing her stomach while in her hospital bed and wearing a gown. Beaming Liv, 37, looks gorgeous with no make-up on, and her Aerosmith frontman dad and sister, a fellow actress, stand beside her with huge grins on their faces.

“Love is love is love reflected ANOTHER @LivTyler MOMENT (GOD WINKED AGAIN)...so proud of my Alpha Pup,” Steven tweeted.

Mia, 36, who a day earlier referred to her baby nephew as “handsome,” shared: “Proud to be there to welcome the new pup into the pack.

What a family we are.”

On Instagram, she added: “There is nothing more special than helping to bring a life into this world with the most important people in your life. So proud to be a part of it. And so very excited to have a new pup in our wolf pack. So much love in this pic.”

Liv’s representative confirmed to People that she welcomed a son on Wednesday in New York City. The father is her boyfriend, sports manager and agent David Gardner. l

EMILE HIRSCH hit with assault charges, checks into rehab n Entertainment Desk Emile Hirsch was charged with third degree felony assault for allegedly putting a movie executive in a chokehold at the Sundance Film Festival, authorities said. The actor’s representative Thursday revealed that the 29-year-old “Milk” star has been in rehab for alcohol abuse since a few days after the January 25 incident, for which he could face up to five years in prison.

“Emile consumed an enormous

amount of alcohol on the evening in question and he has no memory of what happened,” his lawyer Robert Offer said in a statement.

“A few days after the incident, Emile sought help and checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation facility, where he remains today, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

The alleged assault took place around 3:52am at Tao Nightclub in Park City, Utah, at a boozy bash following the third day of the festival. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Subsidy remains unused as global oil prices fall n Asif Showkat Kallol A large amount of subsidy earmarked for petroleum fuel oil may remain unused because of sharp decline in global oil prices, officials have said.

Besides, the month-long political unrest has also reduced consumption as the indefinite blockade and the intermittent hartals continue to disrupt vehicular movements.

In the last seven months, only Tk600 crore have been used from a total of Tk2,400 crore subsidy allocated for the sector. During the same period last fiscal year, the amount of subsidy given on fuel oil was Tk2,478 crore.

According to the latest data from the Finance Division, the amount of power subsidy paid during the first seven months is Tk3,804cr On the contrary, power subsidy is rapidly running out as 70% of the total allocation has already been used up during the first seven months of the ongoing fiscal year.

Such quick spending of subsidy has become an issue of concern at the Finance Division.

“We are worried about the spending of power subsidy. The Power Division has failed to raise electricity prices to the expected level,” said an official.

Earlier this month, the technical evaluation committee of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission rejected power price hike proposals from two state-run entities on the ground that both have been making profits.

The official said: “Given the rate of spending, it will not be possible to keep the power subsidy within the limit of

Bomb explodes near BGMEA hunger strike programme n Tribune Report Some unidentified miscreants yesterday exploded a cocktail before the headquarters of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) where businessmen, mostly garment manufacturers, were observing a hunger strike demanding immediate end to the ongoing political unrest.

None was reported hurt in the blast.

Around 12:30pm, a crude bomb went off near the stage where the businessmen were siting and delivering speeches, witnesses said.

Earlier around 12:25pm, a group of garment workers joined the strike.

Soon after their arrival, the cocktail exploded and the workers instantly brought procession around the stage with slogan, they said.

Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporter Association (BKMEA) Acting President Aslam Sunny was delivering speech when the bomb exploded.

In his immediate reaction, BGMEA President Atiqul Islam said: “No one can achieve anything by hurling bombs. We will not bow to bombers.”

He urged the political parties to shun the path of violent political programme that hurts business and lives of people.

The BGMEA, BKMEA and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) jointly organised the day-long token hunger strike to place home their demands that include restoration of business friendly atmosphere in the country.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry ((FBCCI) and Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) in separate statements immediately after the incident condemned the attack and expressed deep concern.

The DCCI said the businessmen are now coming out on the streets only to raise their voice to save their industry.

“If this situation continues, our economy will be hit hardly. In order to come out of this deadlock all concerned should come forward to find a way out,” it said. l

Tk7,000 crore for this fiscal year.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked the government to keep it within Tk7,000 crore.

This is one of the major conditions set by the global lender for releasing the Extended Credit Facility tranches.

Former Adviser to Caretaker Government AB Mirza Azizul Islam told Dhaka Tribune yesterday that the government should redirect subsidy funds to the more deserving sectors.

He also said more allocation should be given to the export sector instead of the import of petroleum from international market.

Meanwhile, the fifth review mission of IMF is likely to visit between February 25 and March 10 before releasing the last two tranches of the ECF. According to the latest data from the Finance Division, the amount of power subsidy paid during the first seven months is Tk3,804 crore.

As per the data, from the total allocation of Tk2,850 crore, Tk2,626 crore worth of incentives had been given to export and jute goods during the July-January period.

Of the amount, export got Tk2,213 crore while jute goods sector received Tk413 crore.

From the total allocation of Tk9,000 crore meant for fertiliser traders and farmers, the Agricultural Ministry received Tk2,804 crore subsidy during the seven months.

In the July-January period, around Tk9,834 crore of subsidies and incentives was spent for the sectors including oil, agriculture, power, jute goods and export.

The total budget allocation for subsidy is Tk26,453 crore in the fiscal year, compared to Tk32,354 crore in the previous fiscal year.

In a memorandum of understanding signed with the IMF for the ECF fund, the government pledged to continue with its efforts to contain energy subsidy. l

Couples in clad in colourful attires dominated thecrowd at the Ekushey Boi Mela yesterday

MEHEDI HASAN

Sales low despite festive weekend n Nure Alam Durjoy Despite the weekend falling on two special days – Pohela Falgun on Friday and AMAR EKUSHEY Valentine’s Day BOOK FAIR 2015 on Saturday – the overall sale of books at the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela did not reach the expectatin of publication houses.

The 14th day of the book fair saw 147 new arrivals, putting the number of newly-published books at 1,929.

Among the others, poetry collec-

tions, novels and short stories top the chart.

Razia Rahman Joly, an attendant at Jagriti Prokashony, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Overall sale is not that good. It’s not up to our general expectation. The readers’ presenece in the fair is fewer than in the past.”

Generally, weekends are expected to attract more visitors to the fair.

This past weekend was especially expected to draw more visitors with Pohela Falgun, a festival that welcomes spring as per the Bengali calender, and Valentine’s Day, a worldwide celebration of love, falling on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Masud Rana, managing director at Oboshor Prokashon, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Fewer readers can come to the fair, and those who reside outside the capital couldn’t come at all.”

“Non-stop blockade and hartal caused the low turnout of visitors, although there was a huge crowd yesterday because of no violent activities out there,” said Rana.

The blockades and hartals, enforced by BNP-led 20 party alliance, have been ongoing since January 6, severely hampering sales at the book fair.

Although sales on Saturday evening were a bit higher than on Fri-

day, the overall sale was below average, said Joly.

Attendants at the stall at Bornanyon Prokashoni, Pearl Publication, and Biddya Prokash shared the similar experiences about overall and average sale of books.

However, some stalls differ in their opinions. Two publication houses, Anya Prakash and Somoy Prakashan, have told the Dhaka Tribune their sales are going well since the very beginning.

Yesterday, the fair marked the end of its Shishu Prohor, with many children attending with their parents and purchasing books. l

Day 40 of blockade sees derailment ‘Militant groups likely to unite’ n Tribune Report

In another act of railway sabotage, miscreants removed two fishplates from railway tracks in Rajshahi’s Godagari, causing a coach and the engine of a train to derail yesterday, also the 40th day of the indefinite blockade imposed by the BNP. Rail communications on Rajshahi-Chapainawabganj route were suspended after the derailment took place near Lalitnagar Railway Station a little after 12 at night. The train was travelling to Ishwardi from Chapainawabganj.

Abdul Karim, superintendent of Rajshahi Railway Station, said train services resumed around 3pm after a rescue train arrived on the scene and the fishplates were repaired.

But no passenger was injured in the accident, he added.

In the capital, three people sustained injuries when crude bombs were thrown at a moving bus near Mohammadpur Beribadh in the morning.

The victims - Mozammel Haque, Hira Mia, and Nurul Islam - were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital

where they were given first aid.

Inspector Mozammel, in-charge of the hospital’s police camp, said the bus was bound for Gabtoli from Babubazar when it came under attack around 6am.

A BNP activist, Sujon, was detained from Rampura on charge of setting off a crude bomb in the morning.

Police detained him around 8am when he was fleeing the scene after blasting the bomb in front of Hazipara petrol pump.

Another crude bomb exploded near the BGMEA building in Karwan Bazar when garment owners were on a token hunger strike since morning.

None was injured in the blast but additional police were deployed there to avert any possible untoward situation.

Police detained 30 activists of the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Chhatra Shibir from different parts of the capital in 24 hours till yesterday morning. Of them,15 were activists of the BNP and the rest were that of Jamaat and Shibir.

According to a text message from Dhaka Metropolitan Police, they all were held for their suspected involvement in plotting subversion.

Yesterday’s blockade in the capital was mostly peaceful, with a large number of city dwellers using public and private transports to reach their destinations. Private offices and businesses were also open.

Train and water transport services were normal but no long-haul bus left the capital after evening.

In Kishoreganj, arsonists hurled a petrol bomb at a microbus in Chilakara area of Pakundia upazila in the late hours of Friday night but the driver saved his life by jumping out of the window. Locals later put the fire out.

Meanwhile, another 72-hour strike is underway across the country since 6am today amid the blockade.

BNP Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed announced the strike in a statement yesterday noon.

More than 70 people have died, and scores have been injured, in violence in different parts of the country since the indefinite blockade came into effect on January 6.

Besides, more than a thousand vehicles, including freight transports, have been damaged in the violence. l

n Mohammad Jamil Khan

Banned militant outfits and anti-government groups might be trying to unite to carry out attacks in the backdrop of the ongoing political unrest, according to an intelligence report.

The report, recently submitted to the Home Ministry, said intelligence officials had noticed similarities among the patterns of the ongoing attacks with attacks carried out by the banned groups.

It said militant groups from the southwestern part of the country might unite with the outlawed groups during the ongoing blockade to make attacks.

In addition to RAB and police, the report has recommended all intelligence agencies to remain alert to avoid any untoward situation.

Security experts said in the report that they had found striking similarities between militant actions and the ongoing criminal acts which demanded more intelligence surveillance.

In the last one month, police and RAB have arrested over 100 activists of banned militant outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir and the arrestees confessed that they

were fighting for establishing Khelafat rules in Bangladesh.

Police sources said criminals are carrying out petrol bomb attacks across the country during the BNP blockade and there is intelligence information that the instigators of the arson attacks are trying to get members of the banned militant outfits, including Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (Huji), to escalate attacks.

A top intelligence official said the instigators had begun financing actions to make this happen by uniting them.

But such attempts could not succeed because of the constant surveillance by police and intelligence agencies, he said.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of police, said the ongoing violence bore similarities to militant acts.

“But we are always on alert so that no militant group can unite in the backdrop of the ongoing unrest. We are constantly watching out for this,” he said.

Police sources said the DB police had already received information about this and were digging deep into that. l

COMING SOON

CLIMATE CHANGE PAGE Starting February 16, 2015, Dhaka Tribune in collaboration with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) will publish a bi-weekly page on climate change.

The page will be published every second and fourth Monday of the month.

Our climate is changing from increased emissions and human activity and is an issue that effects all aspects of life, economy and development.

Our page will feature articles from national and international experts who are active in researching and tackling the impacts of climate change.

A crude bomb blast leaves the BGMEA members panicked who were demonstrating in front of the BGMEA complex in the capital yesterday, protesting the ongoing hartals and blockade programme featured with anarchy DHAKA TRIBUNE

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 Eurozone economy grows as cheap oil takes hold

B4 US businesses brace for

oil investment downturn

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015 www.dhakatribune.com/business

BB to launch $550m fund for green business n Tribune Report Entrepreneurs can now apply for funds to help meet the cost of implementation of energy efficiency measures, as the central bank plans to launch green business financing.

“Fund worth $500m will be dedicated to the green textile,” said Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman at a seminar in the city yesterday.

“This will be an incremental fund like Export Development Fund (EDF), which now stands at $1.5bn,” he said.

In 1989 Bangladesh Bank launched the EDF with an initial fund of over $31m to promote exports, with cheaper rates of interest.

The announcement of launching of green fund came in response to recommendations given by experts and entrepreneurs at the seminar titled Access to Finance—Environmental Sustainability in the Textiles Sector, jointly organised by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) and International Finance Corporation.

PRI executive director Ahsan H Mansur chaired the seminar, attended by experts, entrepreneurs, lenders and government officials.

The central bank chief put emphasis on branding of textile industry and other industries, saying the timing of the launch of the fund is critical right now as the global demand for environment-friendly goods are on the rise.

To popularise the environment-friendly technology adoption, he said similar kinds of steps like setting up apps for woman entrepreneurs will be taken so that information related to green financing can be available.

Describing different measures already taken by the central bank, Atiur said Bangladesh Bank has so far identified 47 green products under the refinance scheme with addition of three new products, including garment sector.

All financial institutions have also been directed to allocate at least 5% of their loan to green finance by 2016, he added.

BB governor urged the government to allocate fund in the next national budget for green financing so that the central bank can lend at lower interest rates.

The central bank has been working

with many development partners and some regulatory bodies in green financing area, he said.

He suggested the stock market be used for another source of green financing.

“I think the securities regulator may allow some of small companies to go public for raising fund from the stock market for green financing.”

Professor Mustafizur Rahman said some fiscal measures can be taken to encourage environmentally products and to discourage harmful products.

“For example, India is coming up in the big way in the ready-made garment sector. If you look at their budget in the fiscal year that began in April last year, there was conscious policy to project India as environmental friendly readymade garment producer,” Atiur noted.

He said: “We have enough institutional mechanism and financial resources but I think we need to calibrate the policies in order to help this particular sector.”

He said energy efficiency leading to higher productivity and higher productivity leading to higher profits. “If this circle is ensured, then obviously it will be sustainable.”

Former BGMEA vice president Faruque Hassan said import of machinery, to be used in environmental-friendly initiatives, should be taxfree.

CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Abrar A Anwar said financing will not be available unless entrepreneurs are not responsible in green financing project.

According to the keynote paper presented by Ahsan H Mansur, the textile sector in Dhaka currently consumes 1,500bn litres of groundwater annually to produce 5m tonnes of fabric (300 litres per kg fabric). The global standards is well below 100 litres per kg of fabric.

Entrepreneurs and textile experts also suggested cleaner production is a preventive, company-specific initiative intended to minimise the use of inputs such as energy, water, raw materials; reduce waste and emission and maximise outputs.

Barriers like lack of awareness and mindset were also identified against using green technology in apparel industries for green products at the seminar. l

Garment owners and exporters association BGMEA stages a token hunger strike in the capital yesterday protesting the political violence

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

RMG makers threaten to launch tougher movement n Tribune Report Strongly protesting the ongoing political unrest, RMG manufacturers have threatened to launch tougher movement if the crisis is not resolved for the sake of restoring a business friendly environment in the country.

They issued the warning at a day-long joint hunger strike held in front of BGMEA head quarters in the city yesterday to put pressure on the political parties to end the ongoing political unrest that already took heavy toll on the sector.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) jointly organised the hunger strike as per their previously announced programme.

Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, vice chancellor of Dhaka University

broke the token hunger strike in the evening by offering them water and juice. The businessmen started their token hunger strike at 11 am with national anthem.

“Buyers have already started searching for alternative outsourcing countries for importing RMG products due to our political unrest,” said BGMEA President Atiqul Islam.

Blaming the major political parties for ongoing the unrest, he urged them not to compel the sector people to take to the street, which will worsen the country’s situation further.

“As we want to get rid of this kind of political crisis, please stop violences to ensure business friendly climate for doing business,” said Islam.

BGMEA President said, “No one can achieve anything by hurling bombs and we will never bow down to the bombers.”

“Worried global buyers are calling

the apparel makers to know when they will get delivery of their products. They also want to know what the manufacturers are doing here to end the crises,” said AK Azad, former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).

Threatening to launch a greater movement Azad said: “If the crises are not resolved soon, we will begin greater movement with the voices from all the business communities to protect our own business.’’

“Please, don’t force us to come down to the street with the workers to protest ongoing political, which is destroying the economy of the country,’’ he added.

Former BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy said, “The ongoing crises is a political one and it should be resolved politically. He also urged the BGMEA to announce non-stop programmes in protest against the ongo-

ing political unrest.

Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) President Tapan Choudhury said: “We hate those people, who are playing with people’s life and economy.

Those day are not far away while the people will stand against all the miss deeds and the anarchies, he added.

Transport sector is the most affected sector, which suffered the biggest losses due to the political unrest, said Bangladesh Truck and Covered-Van Owners association General Secretary Rustom Ali Khan.

“Drivers and helpers are not willing to run the vehicles in the back drop of the arson and petrol bombs attacks,” he said.

Global buyers have no faith on the Bangladeshi manufacturers for placing their orders, fearing delay in the shipment due to the political unrest, said Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) President Jasim Uddin. l

MCCI for slashing FY15 GDP growth target n Tribune Report

Typists sit idle in the city’s Motijheel area as the numbers of customers have dropped largely due to the current political unrest. Normally, the typists in the capital’s business hub remain extremely busy. The photo was taken yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

New insurers spend more than earnings n Jebun Nesa Alo The country’s newly established life insurance companies spent more than that of their earnings in the year 2014.

The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) unveiled the grim picture of the new companies at separate hearings on annual performances held recently.

Some life insurance companies were also found guilty for their alleged involvement in financial corruption, just showing fake insurance policies,

according to IDRA sources.

The companies spent aggressively in buying expensive cars and also in office decoration. Some insurance companies rented their respective office spaces at the building of the companies’ directors at a high cost.

IDRA, had, earlier advised the companies to bring balance between income and expense by reducing any sort of absurd costs. It also warned them of financial penalties if they did not follow the instruction.

According to the IDRA data, 11 new

insurance companies spent a total of around Tk90 crore against the total profit worth Tk70 crore.

The new life insurance companies are Best Life Insurance, Protective Islami Life, Sonali Life, Zenith Life, Chartered Life, ALPHA Islami Life, Guardian Life Insurance, Mercantile Islami Life, NRB Global Life, Swadesh LIFE and Jamuna Life Insurance.

All these companies excepting Sonali Life spent more than their income during the last year.  B3 COLUMN 5

The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has suggested the government to cut GDP (gross domestic product) growth target for the current fiscal year.

“Considering the impact of political instability on economic activity, the government may decide to revise down its growth target of 7.3% for the current fiscal year,” said the country’s oldest trade body in its latest review on second quarter (October-December) of fiscal year 2014-15 economic situation in Bangladesh released yesterday.

In the Monetary Policy Statement for H2 of FY15, Bangladesh Bank forecasts growth rate between 6.5% and 6.8% in this fiscal if political stability prevails. The donor agencies – the IMF, World Bank and ADB – also forecast that the economy would grow between 6.2% and 6.4% in FY15.

To pick up the growth, the MCCI said entrepreneurs, whether local or foreign, are not as interested in economic incentives as they are in sound economic policies, a favourable business environment and a stable political climate. “These are also some of the essential preconditions for accelerating the country’s economic growth.”

It said the economy witnessed a peaceful environment in the quarter under review, but there were threats by opposition political parties of impending blockades and hartals starting from the beginning of January 2015.

“In that case, the political unrest will create a lot of uncertainties for the future. There might be serious declines in the growth of export income, remittances, foreign aid, investment, and fiscal revenues.”

During the period, the overall economic condition was positive as indicated by steady improvements in the major economic indicators, it said.

“Although the progress made is below potential, the country experienced stable growth, inflation was under control, the exchange rate remained stable, and foreign exchange reserves rose and remained at comfortable level.”

The MCCI said the agriculture sector is believed to have performed well while infrastructure deficits and power sector problems were undermining the performance of the manufacturing sector.

Government will therefore need to adopt suitable measures to remove bottlenecks in physical infrastructure and crisis in power and energy supplies in support of agriculture and industry sectors, it suggested.

It said services sectors are doing well but these will need adequate government support to enable them recoup the losses they suffered during the political crisis before January 5, 2014 elections.

In order to achieve the government’s growth and inflation targets, and the medium term goal of achieving a middle-income country status, the political stability should be maintained, it noted.

It said rate of inflation can be expected to decline further because of the de-

cline in commodity and fuel prices in the global markets.

Again, without developing new infrastructures and improving the existing ones, Bangladesh may not become a middle income country within the targeted time period, it said.

Priority should be given to completing the ongoing road development projects, including the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways, the double tracking of the Dhaka-Chittagong railway, the Padma Bridge, the Dhaka metro rail and the two Bibiyana gas field based power plants.

Moreover, besides the provision of adequate infrastructure and energy supplies, attention should be given to the creation of skilled manpower, the restoration of political stability, and achieving an investment-friendly climate, which are the key factors for higher economic growth.

Most importantly, major challenges now facing the country are to restore the confidence of the country’s business and investor community, boost private investment, and bring momentum in economic activities. l

B2

Stock market ends 4-week losses amid political upheaval DSEX recovers 174 points n Tribune Report

The best performing sector of the week was miscellaneous comprising low cap companies moved up 8.5%.

Cement sector came second that registered the gain of over 5.7%, followed by tannery 4.9%, heavyweight telecommunication 3.5% and power 3.8%.

Pharmaceuticals also advanced 2.3%, non-banking financial institution 1.32% and banks 0.6%. Food &allied was the only sector that closed negative in the past week.

Lanak Bangla Securities said the benchmark index experienced a full week of green session in the past week after experiencing continuous sluggishness in previous few weeks.

It said though political uncertainty still prevails in the country, nevertheless, investors came out of sideline increasing the average daily market turnover.

“Some of the companies were trading at lucrative valuation which acted as the major catalyst for this upward movement in the market.”

IDLC Investments said despite the stalemate in the political front, the benchmark index DSEX gained due to fresh fund injection.

It said most of the corporates disclosed their quarterly or annual earnings and investors tried to gather hope despite gloomy future. l

The stock market broke its four weeks of losing streak despite continued political turmoil as injection of fresh funds Mainly low cap companies led the rally in the past week, making the market volatile throughout the past week that ended Thursday.

During the week, the benchmark index DSEX jumped 156 points or 3.34% to settle at 4,841, recouping losses of 260 points in the previous four weeks.

Among all the sessions, third session of the past week saw aggressive buying from the investors, pushing the DSEX sharply higher 74 points.

The blue-chip index DS30 was up 79 points or 4.57% to 1,812.35. The shariah index DSES rose 40 points or 3.58% to 1,150.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Categories Index, CSCX, gained 272 points or 3% to 8,979.

However, investors participation in trading still remained limited despite improvement in the volume of trade. The week’s average daily turnover value stood at Tk290-crore, an increase of more than 36% over the previous week.

Last two sessions of the past saw strong turnover when it crossed Tk300 crore after 18 sessions.

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSERS Company GSP Finance-A C & A Textile -N PrimeFin. 1st MF-A GeminiSeaFood-B Ifad Autos -N Shahjibazar Power-N AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A Kay & Que (BD) -Z Reliance Insur -A

Closing (% change) -33.85 -10.60 -9.49 -8.75 -6.79 -6.09 -5.88 -5.45 -4.14 -3.30

CSE LOSERS Company GSP Finance-A C & A Textile -N Reckitt Benckiser -A PrimeFin. 1st MF-A Kay & Que (BD) -Z Prime Bank-A Aziz PipesZ AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A Shahjibazar Power-N Alltex Industries -Z

Closing (% change) -34.23 -10.65 -8.09 -7.74 -7.28 -5.64 -4.04 -3.92 -3.74 -3.51

4841.72102

(+) 3.34%

1812.35018

(+) 4.57%

14824.5436

(+) 3.22%

12100.9542

(+) 3.15%

8983.8741

(+) 3.10%

Average (% change) -35.48 -9.66 -7.39 -7.77 -0.43 -3.28 -3.34 -3.13 -0.98 -3.47 Average (% change) -35.34 -9.46 -7.37 -8.39 -7.10 -3.11 -4.66 -17.51 -4.35 -4.50

ANALYST

Closing average 16.86 19.45 14.41 187.34 63.00 157.93 4.92 5.27 14.15 52.61

Closing average 16.87 19.42 1,065.19 14.19 14.00 18.41 21.26 4.90 158.94 27.15

Weekly 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 1167.82 781.22 250.90 2426.10 555.98 1999.09 6.85 1177.59 2030.79 79.12 485.58 117.47 256.49 538.37 813.96 141.96 240.46 670.87 175.89 691.30 1.21

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ Weekly high

17.20 19.40 14.30 185.60 63.10 158.70 4.80 5.20 13.90 52.70

Weekly closing 17.10 19.30 1,057.00 14.30 14.00 18.40 21.40 4.90 157.00 27.50

17.50 21.80 14.90 205.10 75.90 171.90 5.40 5.60 14.90 56.00

Weekly high 17.90 21.80 1,150.00 15.30 14.00 19.10 21.40 4.90 171.00 28.80

DSE key features February 8-12, 2015

DSE GAINERS

Turnover (Million Taka)

Imam Button -Z BEXIMCO Ltd. -A BD Submarine Cable-A Meghna Con. Milk -B UNITED AIR-A BDCOM Online-A People`s Leasing-A Beximco Syn.-Z Safko Spinning-A National Tubes -A

Company

14,609.00

Turnover (Volume)

380,602,566

Number of Contract

430,005

Traded Issues

308

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

254

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

57 7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,599.75

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.51

CSE key features February 8-12, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka)

1,384.64

Turnover (Volume)

41,416,196

Number of Contract

72,464

Traded Issues

272

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

219

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

46

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,518.69

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.53

Turnover in million

15.00 19.00 14.00 180.00 55.00 151.10 4.50 5.10 13.70 51.50

Weekly low 15.30 19.00 1,051.10 14.00 14.00 18.00 20.00 4.80 153.00 26.20

Latest EPS

74.997 176.452 10.078 4.528 837.870 86.255 1.356 54.857 0.081 1.913

Turnover in million 8.689 44.284 0.532 0.309 0.001 0.233 0.136 0.024 2.679 19.435

Closing (% change) 55.13 24.13 16.68 15.71 15.00 14.29 14.06 13.59 13.36 12.88

CSE GAINERS

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

Weekly low

Sunday, February 15, 2015

1.02 2.01 1.13 -6.36 1.92 8.68 0.11 0.43 -1.41 3.79

Latest EPS 1.02 2.01 42.33 1.13 -1.41 1.87 -0.37 0.11 8.68 2.02

Latest PE 16.5 9.7 12.8 -ve 32.8 18.2 44.7 12.3 -ve 13.9

Latest PE

Company Imam Button -Z BEXIMCO Ltd. -A BD Submarine Cable-A Usmania Glass -A Hakkani P& Paper -B People`s Leasing-A UNITED AIR-A Bangladesh Lamps -A Shinepukur Cera-Z Legacy Footwear -A

Closing (% change) 42.70 24.13 16.09 15.38 14.47 14.06 13.75 13.73 13.22 12.50

Average (% change) 56.53 21.29 15.00 14.77 14.18 14.76 13.32 12.73 11.23 13.79 Average (% change) 44.65 21.11 14.69 15.86 11.36 11.37 13.77 13.75 13.39 11.06

Closing average 12.10 34.64 118.67 8.08 9.18 27.44 21.27 11.51 24.17 105.12

Closing average 12.70 34.60 118.58 106.96 25.39 21.16 9.17 114.32 13.72 25.70

Weekly closing 12.10 35.50 120.30 8.10 9.20 27.20 21.90 11.70 24.60 104.30

Weekly closing 12.70 35.50 119.80 106.50 26.10 21.90 9.10 114.30 13.70 26.10

Weekly high 12.10 36.00 122.50 8.10 9.40 28.30 22.00 11.90 24.60 107.80

Weekly high 12.70 35.90 122.20 109.00 26.30 22.00 9.40 115.90 14.00 27.00

Weekly low 7.90 28.40 101.80 7.00 7.90 23.60 18.90 10.30 21.10 92.00

Weekly low 8.80 28.30 101.60 93.00 23.60 19.00 7.90 100.50 11.20 23.50

Turnover in million 5.296 442.706 190.985 1.040 124.206 57.082 81.591 5.215 35.564 13.147

Turnover in million 1.904 84.782 39.246 0.391 0.265 10.475 37.643 0.225 0.629 2.037

Latest EPS -1.48 1.01 0.76 -4.42 0.86 1.68 0.97 0.08 1.24 -1.36

Latest EPS -1.48 1.01 0.76 -0.88 0.42 0.97 0.86 1.13 0.39 0.28

Latest PE -ve 34.3 156.1 -ve 10.7 16.3 21.9 143.9 19.5 -ve

Latest PE -ve 34.3 156.0 -ve 60.5 21.8 10.7 101.2 35.2 91.8

News, analysis and recent disclosures CNATEX: The Board of Directors has recommended 11% stock dividend for the year ended on June 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 15.03.2015, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Chittagong Boat Club, Gate-14, Near Old Airport, Patenga, Chittagong. Record Date: 18.02.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 2.01, NAV per share of Tk. 19.31 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.35 for the year ended on June 30, 2014.

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. FAREASTFIN: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 2.5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 25.03.2015, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Bashundhara Convention Center-2, Block-C, Umme Kulsum Road, Bashundhara Residential Area, Baridhara, Dhaka-1219. Record date: 26.02.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 1.93, NAV per share of Tk. 13.00 and NOCFPS of Tk. (1.22) for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Fixed Assets/Right/Investment: CVOPRL: The company has informed that in pursuance of buy/sell agreement signed between Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation and CVO Petrochemical Refinery Ltd. on 15 September 2014, the inaugural ceremony for 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.

AFCAGRO: The Company has informed that it will sign an agreement with Department of Microbiology, University of Dhaka on February 12, 2015 at 12:00 noon at Conference Room of University of Dhaka for Commercial Production of Industrial Enzymes for which it will pay 4% Royalty to Dhaka University on the invoice price of Industrial Enzymes.

Audited/unaudited Financial Reports: WMSHIPYARD: (H/Y Un-audited): Profit after tax from July14 to Dec14 was Tk. 106.04 million with EPS of Tk. 0.88 as against Tk. 75.52 million and Tk. 1.00 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas profit after tax from Oct14 to Dec14 was Tk. 52.50 million with EPS of Tk. 0.44 as against Tk. 42.77 million and Tk. 0.57 (restated) respectively for the same period of the previous year.

DACCADYE: (H/Y Un-audited): Net Profit after tax from July14 to Dec14 was Tk. 35.48 million with EPS of Tk. 0.45 as against Tk. 65.49 million and Tk. 0.83 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Whereas profit after tax from Oct14 to Dec14 was Tk. 14.39 million with EPS of Tk. 0.18 as against Tk. 45.27 million and Tk. 0.57 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

IFADAUTOS: (H/Y Un-audited): Net Profit after tax from July14 to Dec14 was Tk. 91.37 million with EPS of Tk. 0.97 as against Tk. 148.58 million and Tk. 1.58 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

16.5 9.7 25.2 12.6 -ve 9.8 -ve 44.5 18.3 13.4

Despite the stalemate in the political front, the benchmark index DSEX gained due to fresh fund injection

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS

% change 7.99 5.35 1.72 16.61 3.81 13.68 0.05 8.06 13.90 0.54 3.32 0.80 1.76 3.69 5.57 0.97 1.65 4.59 1.20 4.73 0.01

Million Taka 74.01 61.62 17.21 250.50 144.98 112.33 0.00 151.19 96.79 9.38 52.43 4.30 24.90 47.52 59.26 3.60 7.25 83.46 43.12 140.75 0.07

CSE

% change 5.35 4.45 1.24 18.09 10.47 8.11 0.00 10.92 6.99 0.68 3.79 0.31 1.80 3.43 4.28 0.26 0.52 6.03 3.11 10.17 0.00

Million Taka 1241.82 842.84 268.12 2676.59 700.96 2111.41 6.85 1328.78 2127.58 88.50 538.00 121.77 281.38 585.89 873.21 145.56 247.70 754.33 219.00 832.06 1.28

Total

% change 7.76 5.27 1.68 16.74 4.38 13.20 0.04 8.31 13.30 0.55 3.36 0.76 1.76 3.66 5.46 0.91 1.55 4.72 1.37 5.20 0.01

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

Company Ifad Autos -N MJL BD Ltd.-A Grameenphone-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A LafargeS Cement-Z Square Pharma -A aamra technologies-A Beximco Pharma -A Agni Systems -A ACI Limited- A

SummitAlliancePort.-A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

Ifad Autos -N Olympic Ind. -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A C & A Textile -N Grameenphone-A National Feed-N MJL BD Ltd.-A BD Submarine Cable-A WesternMarine -N UNITED AIR-A

LafargeS Cement-Z

Volume shares 13,093,886 4,133,276 1,382,508 13,508,297 3,503,321 1,684,752 10,394,335 5,616,683 10,313,801 795,460

4,465,181

Volume shares 1,834,915 508,777 2,610,480 2,229,003 127,626 1,477,660 319,587 350,597 823,759 4,304,077

298,542

Value in million 837.87 505.70 479.89 442.71 440.28 434.43 412.42 333.56 330.91 304.87

271.76

Value in million 118.18 113.11 84.78 44.28 44.21 41.03 39.26 39.25 38.88 37.64

37.42

% of total turnover 5.74 3.46 3.28 3.03 3.01 2.97 2.82 2.28 2.27 2.09

1.86

% of total turnover 8.54 8.17 6.12 3.20 3.19 2.96 2.84 2.83 2.81 2.72

2.70

Weekly closing 63.10 124.50 349.60 35.50 127.80 257.70 40.90 60.90 33.20 389.90

63.70

Weekly closing 63.30 227.70 35.50 19.30 349.80 27.50 124.60 119.80 48.20 9.10

127.40

Price change -6.79 7.42 3.01 24.13 7.76 0.70 4.60 8.56 8.14 7.26

Weekly opening 67.70 115.90 339.40 28.60 118.60 255.90 39.10 56.10 30.70 363.50

Weekly high 75.90 127.50 355.50 36.00 130.60 261.30 41.80 61.70 34.20 394.20

Weekly low 55.00 114.30 336.10 28.40 118.80 253.00 37.90 55.50 30.40 360.00

Weekly average 63.00 124.33 351.49 34.64 127.77 258.16 41.01 60.32 33.53 389.36

Price change -5.38 4.93 24.13 -10.65 3.09 0.36 6.31 16.09 4.78 13.75

Weekly opening 66.90 217.00 28.60 21.60 339.30 27.40 117.20 103.20 46.00 8.00

Weekly high 75.20 233.00 35.90 21.80 356.60 28.60 127.90 122.20 48.70 9.40

Weekly low 55.20 220.00 28.30 19.00 305.00 26.90 113.70 101.60 45.20 7.90

Weekly average 63.22 227.10 34.60 19.42 352.51 27.59 124.51 118.58 48.23 9.17

12.15

6.61

56.80

119.50

66.80

129.70

53.80

118.70

63.91

127.70

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Eurozone economy grows as cheap oil takes hold n AFP, Brussels Economic activity in the eurozone picked up slightly in fourth quarter, official EU data showed Friday, in a sign that the benefits of cheap oil and stimulus by the European Central Bank are taking effect.

The official Eurostat agency said eurozone economy expanded by 0.3% in the fourth quarter and 0.9 for all of 2014, slightly better than expected but too weak to convincingly signal a fullblown recovery.

The data was higher than a forecast of 0.8% made by the European Commission last week.

The data comes as renewed fears over the plight of heavily indebted Greece, where growth stalled as the leftists government faces dangerous default if its massive bailout is not extended by the end of the month.

“Such an increase, while modest by international standards, would be the sharpest since the first quarter of 2011,” said Jennifer McKeown, senior European economist at Capital Economist.

“This will add to hopes that the effects of the crisis in Greece have so far been offset by the benefits of falls in the oil price and the euro exchange rate,” she said.

The growth data also lands a month after the European Central Bank announced an unprecedented bond-buying programme to avert deflation in the eurozone.

The ECB’s version of so-called quantitative easing has already decreased government borrowing prices across most of the currency bloc and weakened the euro, which should help to boost exports in Europe.

“For the first time in two years, we can say that the region is going for solid growth,” Anna Maria Grimaldi, an economist at Intesa Sanpaolo SpA in Milan, told Bloomberg News.

“The euro area is supported by the very strong tailwinds of the fall of the euro, the fall of oil prices and the fall of

India inflation quickens, industrial output growth slows n AFP, New Delhi

A pump jack is seen at sunrise near Bakersfield, California interest rates sparked by ECB QE.” Growth was driven by an unexpectedly strong expansion in Germany and Spain.

The German economy, Europe’s biggest, expanded surprisingly a strongly 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2014, driven primarily by robust consumer spending, bringing full-year growth to 1.6 percent.

Spain also grew a robust 0.7% in the

fourth quarter, raising hopes that the alarming levels of unemployment may continue to fall from the current 24%.

“The recovery is likely to gather some pace over the coming quarters and a combination of positive shocks should sustain activity throughout the year,” Clemente De Lucia of BNP Paribas said in a note.

Alarmingly however, Greece’s recovery stalled in the final quarter of last

REUTERS

year as the economy contracted by 0.2%, even if growth hit 0.8% for the year.

Italy, the third biggest economy in the eurozone, was also a source of concern.

Output was unchanged from the previous quarter when it dropped 0.1 percent, though this was slightly better than a Bloomberg News survey of analysts that expected another 0.1% contraction.

From a year earlier, GDP fell 0.3%, but analysts said the recession in Italy was likely over.

France’s economy meanwhile expanded by a mere 0.4% last year as investment slumped.

“It’s obviously still too weak but conditions are met to allow a more definite upturn in activity in 2015,” French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told reporters. l

India’s consumer inflation rose slightly last month while industrial production growth slowed in December, according to new figures released Thursday, days after the country sharply raised its annual growth forecast.

India on Monday predicted its economy would grow by 7.4% this financial year up to March, a marked improvement on earlier estimates issued under a revised formula for calculating gross domestic product.

Analysts however said Thursday’s figures indicated Indian industry was struggling to regain momentum after a long economic slowdown.

Production by India’s factories, mines and utilities grew by 1.7% in December, just less than half the 3.8% growth recorded in November.

The dip in output was a dampener for the right-wing government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came to power last May promising to reignite flagging growth and create much-needed jobs.

Earlier in the day, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Asia’s thirdlargest economy had recovered from past challenges and was now “positioned to take off at a much faster pace”.

But Modi has struggled to push key economic reforms through parliament, and his party this week suffered its first major electoral setback in Delhi state polls.

Despite the continued slump in global crude oil prices, consumer inflation rose to 5.11% year-on-year in January, up slightly from 5% in December.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry put the onus on the Reserve Bank of India, saying “further lowering of interest rates

by RBI is needed to boost consumer and investment sentiments”. l

Oil tops $60 for first time in 2015; oversupply persists

Apple $1tn stock market value could be years away

n Reuters, New York

n Reuters, San Francisco

Oil closed up for a second straight week on Friday after another drop in the US rig count, and Brent crude hit a 2015 high above $60 a barrel, but market skeptics cautioned the rally could fade because supplies keep coming.

Many traders and analysts believe there is a global oversupply of nearly two million barrels per day of crude oil.

They say little has changed fundamentally to explain the price rebound of the past two weeks.

The number of oil drilling rigs in the United States fell this week to its lowest since August 2011, data showed on Friday. But the market’s reaction was relatively tepid compared with the past two weeks when prices spiked on declining rig counts.

“I think people are starting to understand to a certain point that, even if rig

counts go down, it’s not going to affect production in the short term. It’s going to take a few months for that to happen,” said Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital Advisors in Laurel Hollow in New York.

Many traders and analysts believe there is a global oversupply of nearly two million barrels per day of crude oil U.S. crude inventories have swelled to record highs of nearly 418 million barrels, government data showed last week.

Brent settled the session up $2.24, or nearly 4%, at $61.52 a barrel. It rose a 6% on the week and 15 percent monthto-date. Brent’s gains increased this week after its front-month contract

switched on Thursday at a premium.

US crude CLc1 finished $1.57, or 3%, higher at $52.78 a barrel.

Oil prices more than halved between June and January as a global glut pushed Brent from a summer peak above $115 to a near six-year low under $46.

“Naturally, when prices fall that much within that short a time, you’re likely to have a severe rebound as well, though speculators are possibly adding more fuel on the way up now,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Some traders attributed Friday’s strength to an unexpected acceleration in euro zone economic growth in the final quarter of 2014. The bloc’s largest member, Germany, grew at more than twice the expected rate.

Market bulls were also betting that cuts in exploration budgets will help mop up some of the excess supply. l

Activist Investor Carl Icahn thinks Apple Inc is already worth over $1tn but others on Wall St think it will take a few more years for the iPhone maker’s stock value to get there.

With Apple’s stock market value ballooning this week beyond $700bn, larger than Switzerland’s gross domestic product, activist investor Icahn said the technology company’s shares should be trading at $216 apiece, equivalent to a market capitalization of about $1.26tn.

Icahn’s opinion implies an increase of about 70% from Thursday’s closing price of Apple’s stock. And that’s on top of a 65% surge in Apple’s shares over the past 12 months, which dwarfed the S&P 500’s 15% return.

“It wouldn’t be outlandish for them to be at a $1tn market cap now,” said Mark Mulholland, a portfolio manager

CORPORATE NEWS

whose Matthew 25 fund is among the best performing large-cap funds over the last five years.

But like other portfolio managers consulted by Reuters, Mulholland believes it will more likely take two or three years to reach that level.

Fortunes wax and wane in the technology industry seemingly overnight; Apple teetered on the edge of financial ruin in the late 1990s and more recently it was partly to blame for the rapid demise of once-storied brands like Nokia and BlackBerry.

Maintaining its spot at the top of the global technology market and growing its now-record market value hinges in part on Chief Executive Tim Cook’s ability to keep up the stream of gamechanging consumer products launched by cofounder Steve Jobs.

Still, Wall Street appears sanguine in the short term.

S&P 500 closes at new record high; Dow above 18,000 n AFP, New York

Future Carbon Ltd, an environmental consultancy firm in Bangladesh has recently signed an agreement with Institute of Energy, University of Dhaka in order to establish mutual collaboration for consultancy services like product development, R&D, etc. Raden Siddiqui and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Admin) have signed the agreement on behalf of their organisation

Modhumoti Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden for allowing discount on room rent and other services of the hotel to the bank’s priority clients. The bank’s MD & CEO, Md Mizanur Rahman and the hotel’s general manager, Christoph Voegeli have signed the agreement

The S&P 500 Friday closed at a fresh record high, while the Dow ended above 18,000 for the first time in 2015 following good economic data out of Germany.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 8.51 points (0.41%) at 2,096.99, almost 6.5 points above the prior record set December 29.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46.97 (0.26%) to 18,019.35, while the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced

36.22 (0.75%) to 4,893.84.

In the period from October to December, gross domestic product in Germany expanded by a better-than-expected 0.7%, bringing full-year growth to 1.6%, the German federal statistics office said.

The strong data helped push the German DAX above 11,000 intraday, with the index finishing up 0.40% at 10,963.40 points. Other European equity markets also rose as Greece appeared closer to a possible overhaul of its multibillion euro international bailout. l

New insurances spend  B1 COLUMN 3

Kamruzzaman from Tongi has recently won an air ticket to Australia against purchasing an LED TV from Singer Plus Shop at Tongi. Sales director of Singer Bangladesh Limited, Mokbulla Huda Chowdhury handed over the ticket recently at corporate office of Singer in Dhaka

After Apple trampled Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly earnings in January with record iPhone sales, stock market analysts increased their 12-month stock price targets. Their median average target price is now $134, which is a mere 6 percent higher than Thursday’s price and much less than what Icahn says it should be.

Icahn, one of Apple’s ten largest shareholders, said in his letter to Twitter followers on Wednesday that investors significantly undervalued the company and that he hoped the board would increase its share buybacks.

Apple’s stock closed 1.26% higher at $126.46 on Thursday, bringing its market capitalization to a dizzying $736.6bn.

“The iPhone still has legs, but they have to keep innovating. There have to be new product categories,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York. l

Super Star Group (SSG), an electrical & electronics conglomerate in Bangladesh has recently taken part in 25th Tripura International Industry and Trade Fair at Agortola.

President of Tripura Chamber of Commerce and Industries, ML Devnath inaugurated the conference as chief guest at the presence of SSG’s vice chairperson, Md Mohiuddin

Best life insurance spent Tk13.36 crore in the last year against it business of Tk9 crore followed by Protective Tk10 crore against Tk6.17 crore, Swadesh around Tk3 crore against Tk92 lakh, Zenith around Tk13 crore against around Tk10 crore, Jamuna around Tk13 crore against Tk10 crore, Guardian Tk3.70 crore against Tk3.34 crore, Mercantile Islami Life around Tk5 crore against Tk4.26 crore, NRB Global Tk11 crore against Tk8 crore, Alpha Tk5.28 crore agaisnt around Tk2 crore while Sonali Life Tk6.65 crore against Tk15 crore.

According to the IDRA law, insurance companies are allowed to spent highest 15% of their group policies.

But, the management cost of the new

insurance companies exceeded the certain limit in the year 2014.

Insurance companies faced challenge in making profit since the beginning of their business in the middle of the year 2013, said a senior executive of a new insurance company.

He said, all the life insurance started their business with only Tk18 crore, which was very poor to compete with the existing established companies.

Moreover, they could not even invest their paid up capital amid sluggish business climate, which also badly affected their earnings.

He also admitted that some insurance companies had spent their major shares of the capital in the purpose of setting up offices and buying expensive cars for the directors. l

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Sunday, February 15, 2015

US businesses brace for oil investment downturn n John Kemp Oil and gas production is fundamental to the US economy. The sharp downturn in prices will have a negative impact on business investment in the short term before the positive impact on consumer spending takes over further down the line.

Oil and gas producers accounted for almost $1 in every $8 of new business investment in the US economy in 2013, according to new data published by the Census Bureau.

Businesses engaged in oil and gas extraction invested $159bn in wells, structures and equipment in 2013, according to the Annual Capital Expenditures Survey, the latest edition of which was published on Feb 5 Companies engaged in oil and gas production support activities invested a further $20bn, taking the oil and gas sector’s share of economy-wide new investment to almost 13.5%.

Back in 2003, oil and gas extraction and support activities accounted for just 5.3% of whole-economy business capital expenditures.

Capital investment in oil and gas in 2013 was almost as large as the next three biggest sectors combined: electricity ($86bn), hospitals ($51bn) and wired telecoms, broadband and cable suppliers ($49bn).

The figures for 2014 are likely to have been similar, at least until oil prices plummeted in the second half of the year.

Investment in oil and gas is often under-rated by economists and policymakers because it is associated with climate change and pollution and has none of the favourable connotations of fashionable sectors like clean energy, computers and the film industry.

Oil and gas production is also concentrated in parts of the country like Texas and North Dakota that are a long way geographically and culturally from the universities in California, the Northeast and Chicago where most prominent macroeconomists are employed.

But the oil and gas industry, and its associated supply chain, support an unusually large number of wellpaid jobs and the sudden slowdown in spending as a result of the collapse in

prices will have a measurable negative effect on the economy.

Outsized contribution

Oil and gas producing industries directly employ fewer than 500,000 individuals out of a total nonfarm workforce of 140 million, less than half of one percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Yet direct investment by the oil and gas industry dwarfed capital expenditures by the more iconic industries beloved by economists and policymakers such as motor manufacturing ($27bn), aerospace ($7bn) and computer systems design ($10bn).

Oil and gas jobs are, moreover, among the best-paid in the economy for highly skilled and semi-skilled workers as well as casual labour.

Average wages in the oil and gas extraction sector, at nearly $160,000 in 2013, were almost three-times the private sector average, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Even in the support sector, average wages and salaries were more than 50% higher than average.

Extensive supply chain

Raw payroll statistics understate the industry’s importance to the whole economy in supporting a multitude of other jobs in sectors ranging from steelmaking (oil country tubular goods) and heavy engineering (rig and pressure pump construction) to transportation (railroads, trucks and aviation) and construction (pipelines and roads).

For example, North Dakota’s tiny Sloulin Field International Airport in Williston, right at the heart of the Bakken shale oil play, boarded almost 100,000 passengers in 2013, up from 40,000 in 2012, and just 12,000 in 2008, making it one of the fastest-growing airports in the country.

Sloulin Field, which uses the code ISN for reservations, ticketing and baggage handling, has plans for a big construction upgrade to handle the increased numbers.

An oil derrick operates near Williston, North Dakota

REUTERS

contractors and are now rippling all the way through the supply chain, to the makers of drill pipe and suppliers of fracking sand.

Ultimately, lower oil prices should provide a net stimulus for the US economy, since the country remains a net oil importer by around 5 million barrels per day.

Lower oil prices mean cheaper gasoline for consumers, diesel for trucking firms and railroads, and jet fuel for airlines. In time that should encourage increased spending and investment on other items. But the economic benefit from cheaper energy will take time to filter through fully.

In the meantime, the negative impact from an abrupt slowdown in oil and gas investment and employment will be immediate.

“Oil companies are receiving such a painful setback that they are cutting back on current spending immediately as well as reducing future spending plans,” according to a thoughtful note published by the famous fund manager Jeremy Grantham.

In contrast, the beneficiaries from lower oil prices may or may not increase their spending on other items, and in any case spending increases may take time (“Jeremy Grantham Divines Oil Industry’s Future” Feb 5).

Can Ferrari really cut it in luxury beyond supercars?

India overtakes China to become top global gold consumer

Euro dips despite better eurozone growth data

n Reuters, Milan

n AFP, London

n AFP, New York

Ferrari faces a battle to persuade investors that it should be priced as a high-flying luxury goods stock, given a carmaker’s margins and the heavy investment required to make its prancing horse logo a big attraction on other exclusive lines.

Few would question the business acumen of Sergio Marchionne, redoubtable chief executive of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, but his strategy for squeezing every last drop of value from the listing of the group’s illustrious Italian sports car brand has certainly raised a few eyebrows.

“Ferrari is capable of being a fullyfledged luxury brand,” Marchionne declared last month, setting his stall out to target the kind of high-end valuation multiples enjoyed by the likes of LVMH and Richemont.

The 62-year-old said Ferrari is worth up to 10bn euros ($11.3bn), eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) slated for the first half of this year and hoping for a chunky windfall to boost FCA’s own ambitious five-year investment plan.

But for all Ferrari’s Formula One racing pedigree, exclusivity exemplified by the LaFerrari supercar’s 1 million euro price tag and a production cap that maintains a healthy customer waiting list, the company has its work cut out if it is to join a sector that trades at about 20 times future earnings. That’s more than double the average for carmakers.

It has to be acknowledged that Ferrari is no laggard in the money-making stakes, with profit nearly tripling over the past decade and its margins of 14% unmatched by any carmaker bar Porsche.

But those margins are well below Prada’s 26% and have been under pressure from rising costs.

Revenue growth has been more gentle than that of most European luxury stocks and its capital expenditure and research and development requirements are more than double, depressing its return on capital.

China lost its place to India as the world’s biggest gold consumer in 2014, sector data showed Thursday, hit by collapsing jewellery demand after one year in the top spot.

Indian gold demand sank 14% to 842.7 tonnes last year from 2013, but Chinese demand slumped 38% to 814 tonnes, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a report.

Overall gold demand meanwhile dropped four percent last year to 3,924 tonnes compared with a record amount in 2013, pushed lower as Chinese jewellery demand tumbled by a third.

That marked the lowest overall level in five years and was also the third successive annual decline for the precious metal, whose two main drivers are jewellery and investment buying.

World jewellery demand sank 10% to 2,153 tonnes last year, while China registered a 33% slump to 814 tonnes, according to the council representing leading gold producers.

However, India experienced an exceptional year for jewellery.

“India ... had its strongest year for jewellery demand since the WGC’s records began in 1995, up 8% on a year ago to 662 tonnes,” the organisation added.

“This was driven by wedding and festival buying despite the presence of government restrictions on gold imports for most of the year.”

India had imposed gold import curbs in 2013 in order to avert a trade deficit crisis that pushed the rupee to record lows. However, it eased those restrictions last November.

“2014 was a year of stabilisation and innovation in the gold market, with annual gold demand down by just 4% after the record-breaking level of buying seen in 2013,” added Marcus Grubb, the group’s managing director of investment strategy.

“It was a standout year for Indian jewellery, despite government restrictions on gold imports, reinforcing the nation’s affinity with gold.

“Meanwhile Chinese gold demand returned to those last seen in 2011/2012 as consumers and investors took time to digest the substantial volumes accumulated in 2013.” l

The euro dipped against other major currencies Friday despite improved growth numbers in the ailing eurozone, as the market worries about Greece’s debt crisis.

“The euro is mildly softer despite slightly better-than-expected data, and with comments from Greek and German officials signaling willingness to compromise with respect to Greece’s reform, budget and debt plans,” said Eric Viloria, currency strategist at Wells Fargo Securities.

Official data released Friday showed economic activity in the eurozone was up slightly in the fourth quarter, expanding by a better-than-expected 0.3% after a 0.2% rise in the third quarter.

The currency bloc’s fourth-quarter

Short on detail While the multiples investors will pay depend on Ferrari’s ability to grow, it is hard to see what the company has beyond its cars that would fit the luxury mold.

Ferrari has the capacity to raise annual production to 10,000 vehicles a year from

Investment slowdown

With oil prices down by around 50% since the middle of 2014, all oil and gas producing companies have announced deep cuts to their capital budgets for 2015.

The number of rigs drilling for oil has fallen by almost 30% in less than four months, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

Continental Resources, one of the biggest drillers in the Bakken, announced late last year it would cut the number of rigs it uses from around 50 at the end of 2014 to 34 by the end of March and to an average of just 31 in 2015.

If these cuts are mirrored across the industry, rig counts and oil field employment could fall by around 35-40% in 2015 compared with 2014.

Mass layoffs have already been announced by many exploration and production companies as well as rig

The new LaFerrari hybrid car is pictured on the Ferrari stand during the first media day of the 83rd Geneva Car Show at the Palexpo Arena in Geneva REUTERS 7,000, but Marchionne has made clear that output will be kept below demand to protect the brand’s exclusivity and told analysts in a post-results conference call last month that further detail on his strategy would not be forthcoming until nearer the IPO. Ferrari’s merchandising division might seem an obvious starting point, but Marchionne has denied this. In any case, the elevated prices of T-shirts, bags and shoes bearing the prancing horse are well below those commanded by luxury goods.

Its theme park in Abu Dhabi is also accessible to anyone willing to fork out 250 dirham ($70) for a one-day pass.

“If you’re already available to everyone, then making your way back up to the luxury level is nearly impossible,” said Manfred Abraham at brand-building consultancy BrandCap. “They would have to stop doing a lot of things and start again, which is a massive investment ... how attractive is that to shareholders?”

Investors have also been left scratching their heads over Marchionne’s statement that carmaking, which accounts for the bulk of sales and profit, is “incidental” to Ferrari.

As shown by Porsche Design, tire maker Pirelli’s (PECI.MI) PZero and Bugatti’s move into apparel, previous attempts by automotive groups to stretch beyond their core products have not provided a major revenue boost.

Then there’s the Ferrari logo and colors, which analysts have said make it a difficult sell in the fashion and design world.

Luxury alliance?

There was talk of a luxury alliance with other opulent Italian brands to rival conglomerates such as Kering, but the concept has been dismissed by two bankers close to the company.

Analysts, meanwhile, have pointed to the potential for exclusive clubs and hotels for the super-rich or Ferrari moving into high-value motorcycles and boats.

However, Bernstein analyst Max Warburton remains skeptical, suggesting that the Ferrari brand could be extended at a luxury premium only to watches, perfumes and eyewear.

“A sports car maker has little competitive advantage when it comes to producing and selling personal luxury goods,” he said.

Regardless of its prospects as a true luxury goods business, the spinning off of Ferrari is far from a car crash.

The divorce will unlock the value of a business that made 12 percent of FCA’s profit last year. It could also pave the way for FCA to attempt a tie-up with another carmaker, perhaps focusing on the Asian market, bankers have said.

Yet how investors interpret Marchionne’s bold statements remains unclear, with analysts’ estimates for Ferrari’s worth ranging anywhere between 5bn euros and 10bn euros. l

In terms of comparative statics, the U.S. economy will eventually be better off as a result of the plunge in oil and gas prices. But in dynamic terms, the transition from oil and gas-led investment to other forms of consumer spending and investment is likely to be painful.

The same argument can be scaled up to the global level. The oil and gas sector has been one of the biggest investors in the global economy over the last five years and its sudden slowdown is bound to cause a short-term hit even if it has benefits in the long term. l John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The article was initially published at Reuters.

growth was led by a 0.7% gain in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, that also beat estimates.

The euro slipped to $1.1393 around 2200 GMT, from $1.1406 late Thursday.

“The euro really didn’t benefit from these good growth numbers because the market knows they will change nothing in the European Central Bank’s monetary policy,” said Vassili Serebriakov of BNP Paribas.

Beginning next month, the ECB will launch an unprecedented trillion-euro bond-buying program through September 2016 in a bid to ward off deflation and boost the flagging eurozone economy.

Traders were also watching Greece’s negotiations with its creditors Friday as hopes rose that a make-or-break meeting with eurozone financial ministers Monday could reach a new debt deal. l

Google, Mattel bring virtual reality to iconic toy n AFP, New York Google and toy giant Mattel said Friday they were teaming up to revamp the classic View-Master device, injecting it with digital-age virtual reality.

The upgraded View-Master - a device unveiled in 1939 to allow people to view slides to simulate a three-dimensional experience - will become “an immersive digital experience for kids,” a statement from the two companies said.

The new device will be available later this year at a price of around $30 for US consumers.

A sample reel allows users to experience a journey into space with a tour inside a space shuttle, and a chance to

DILBERT

explore destinations in 360 degrees. Additional reel packs will be sold separately.

The new View-Master will incorporate the Google Cardboard platform - an inexpensive system which uses a smartphone enveloped in the folds of cardboard for a simplified virtual reality experience.

It will be paired with a smartphone and app to provide “an imaginative and interactive learning environment,” the statement said.

“The View-Master was first introduced at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, giving consumers access to spectacular 3D worlds by simply selecting a reel and looking through a device,” said Mattel vice president Doug Wadleigh. l