16 Feb, 2015

Falgun 4, 1421 Rabius Sani 26, 1436 Regd No DA 6238 Vol 2, No 312

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015 | www.dhakatribune.com | SECOND EDITION

20 pages | Price: Tk12

B1 | BUSINESS

7 | CAREER

11 | OP-ED

12 | SPORT

CANADA ENVOY CALLS FOR EFFORTS TO END

GLOBAL WARMING MAY RESULT IN ‘CLIMATE WARS’

LET’S FIX THIS, MADAM PRIME MINISTER

HATHURUSINGHA EXPECTS UNDER PRESSURE PLAYERS TO DELIVER

Mob justice is no justice at all Children beaten by mob cleared of wrong-doing, vendors at the Suhrawardy Udyan now claim they saw nothing n Tribune Report Police have determined that three minors, beaten up yesterday by a mob of adults at Suhrawardy Udyan on suspicion of “hurling crude bombs,” are innocent.

Commentators have come down hard on the culture of violence that allowed the victimisation of the three young boys to happen.

Hossain, Manik and Ripon – all around 12 years old – were freed by the police after being quizzed and interrogated, Shahbagh police station Officerin-Charge (OC) Shirajul Islam said.

Professor Rounaq Jahan, an eminent political scientist, said children had become the victims of political violence, which she called a “very alarming” development.

“Why does the mob take responsibility into its own hands? Because of the sense that law enforcement agencies will not deliver justice,” she said.

“This sort of behaviour is also a violation of human rights, in particular, children’s rights. In many countries when there is escalating violence, children get caught up in it and are sometimes used to carry out acts of violence.

We must take precautions to see to it that our children do not get used by different party activists,” Rounaq said.

The crowd had handed the minors over to police on Saturday afternoon after two people, one of the boys and street vendor Selim, were injured in a blast at the park.

Following the explosion, some

PM: BNP will be stopped from harming SSC candidates n Muhammad Zahidul Islam Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government would take all necessary measures to tackle the ongoing political unrest and stop the 20-party alliance from harming the SSC candidates.

“She [BNP chief Khaleda Zia] never thinks about the safety of 1.5 million students who are facing major obstacles during the ongoing exams; that is why we cannot put our children through this...We need to tackle this situation and ensure all protective measures to make them [the BNP alliance] stop,” Hasina told parliament yesterday.

She was speaking during an hourlong discussion on a public importance notice regarding the SSC exams placed

by Pirojpur lawmaker Rustum Ali Faraji.

In his notice, Faraji said there was no country that called any political programme during public examinations.

The prime minister told the House: “We cannot leave the fate of the students to the whims of a woman like Khaleda Zia – the chairperson of the BNP – who has a twisted mind.

“They [the 20-party alliance] are playing with the lives of the general people of the country; people’s lives are not so easy and we cannot let them toy with people’s lives.”

On recent calls for a dialogue, Hasina said: “You want us to sit in a dialogue, but going near her [Khaleda] I fear I will get the burnt smell of innocent people now fighting in the burn unit for their lives.

High Court orders government to stop the violence n Tribune Report

Ripon, one of three street kids badly beaten by a mob on suspicion of hurling a crude bomb and later cleared by police, gesticulates as he tries to explain to the crowd of angry adults that he and his friends were not behind the attack on Saturday FILE PHOTO youths who were playing cricket nearby saw the three boys running and noticed that Hossain’s hand was smeared with blood.

“They assumed the boys had blasted the bombs and that Hossain had injured his hand in the process,” the OC said.

Wahida Banu, executive director of Oporajeyo Bangladesh, a non government organisation working with distressed children said: “Every existing law regarding the rights of children has clearly said a child cannot be tortured under any circumstance.

“If a child commits a crime without knowing the consequences or under the influence of adults, society has to correct them and convince them not to do it again.”

“In this incident, these poor  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

The High Court has ordered the government to take effective steps to stop the violence that has been going on across the country in the name of blockade and hartal.

The court also asked the government to ensure holding of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations in a safe environment and take stern actions against those who have been creating obstruction to the SSC and equivalent exams.

The HC bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Mohammad Saifur Rahman passed the order after hearing two petitions.

One of the petitions was filed by Shafqul Azam Khan Borko, president of the managing committee of the Ispahani High School in Keraniganj near Dhaka. The other was filed by Md Sahenur Islam Saheen, a businessman.

Passing the two interim orders, the bench issued separate and almost identical rules asking the respondents, including the government, to explain why violence, anarchy and subversive activities during hartal and blockade should not be declared illegal.

The secretaries to the Ministries of Home and Law, inspector general of police, directors general of Border Guard Bangladesh and Rapid Action Battalion, all police commissioners, deputy commissioners of all districts and all superintendents of police were made respondents to the order.

AG: Saving people’s lives is more important than preserving democratic rights When contacted, Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The High Court issued a similar rule two years ago, but the government never responded.”

He also said: “Some time ago, the Indian supreme court ordered that hartal could not be banned, but anybody creating mayhem in the name of such action programmes could be brought under law.”

He claimed that the BNP always calls peaceful hartals but some people with  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Kohli makes the difference UN experts find no visible impact of

oil spill on Sundarbans forest floor

n Raihan Mahmood

Virat Kohli was accorded the loudest cheer by a predominantly Indian crowd in Adelaide before their crucial match against archrivals Pakistan yesterday. As expected, the 26-year-old batsman, who arrived at the centre following the departure of Rohit Sharma in the eighth over, dominated proceedings with relentless stroke-making and orchestrated India’s sixth win in a trot against Pakistan in the World Cup. Kohli reached his 22nd ODI century with a punch off Shahid Afridi towards long-on, allowing the packed gathering at the Adelaide Oval to stand on their feet and applaud the poster boy of Indian cricket. During his 126-ball knock, the right-handed batsman made 107 with the help of eight boundaries. Dropped

by Yasir Shah off Afridi on seven and again by wicketkeeper Umar Akmal on 76, Kohli otherwise played within himself and gave few chances in his inning.

Undoubtedly the star player for India, Kohli did not have a great start to 2015.

The Delhi lad, however, put behind his recent disappointments and hit the ground running in the very first match.

He played aggressively, barely showed his emotions but retained his ever-growing maturity. He once again proved himself as a big-match player, a match-winner and a complete batsman who can adapt to different kinds of situations.

With the century, Kohli saw his

n Abu Bakar Siddique

The grand and glittering strokes were sprayed all over the ground in a fascinating cocktail of graceful dominance and silken brutality name written beside Saeed Anwar, the former Pakistan opener. Anwar was the only player to have scored a century in an India-Pakistan World Cup match.

His knock of 101 came in Centurion in 2003. However, his ton went in vain as Pakistan lost that match by six wickets.

Sachin Tendulkar’s 75-ball 98 runs in the same match was India’s previous best individual score against Pakistan in a World Cup game.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

UN-GOVERNMENT FINDINGS

The Sundarbans oil spill did not have any visible impact in the forest floor and long-term monitoring is needed to know the actual extent of damage, an assessment report jointly prepared by the United Nations and the Bangladesh government has concluded.

However, the report said oil contamination in the aquatic ecosystem may hamper physiological activities including breeding of aquatic organisms and disrupt food chain or the food web.

Yesterday, the Dhaka Tribune got a copy of the report, which was published last month.

A 25-member joint team comprising experts from various offices of the UN and the government of Bangladesh conducted a study over a six-day period in the last week of December.

They used site observations, interviews, aerial photography, sampling and other assessment techniques to evaluate the situation and develop recommendations.

The mission’s objective was to strengthen the government’s efforts in containing and cleaning up the oil spillage and provide support to assessing the situation and developing an action plan for a phased response and recovery.

According to the report, loss of breeding capacity, injury to cardiovascular and respiratory organs, and damage to dermis and underlying tissues may occur in longer oil exposure of aquatic organisms.

Inter-tidal zones, shallow creeks, canals and rivers are the ideal places for breeding, nursing and feeding for commercially important fishes, shrimps and

crabs as well as dolphins and crocodiles.

Eggs, larvae and fingerling of these species can be impacted due to oil contamination. Moreover, intake of oil into the food chain can influence bio-accumulation and bio-magnification to higher tropic levels, which may be of concerns to food security, community health, livelihood and export earnings.

The report recommended controlled navigation through the Sela river and taking appropriate safeguards and mitigation measures to avoid further disaster in the forest immediately to protect the forest from further oil spill incident.

14 | Sport

15 | Entertainment

No visible impact in forest floor The tidal system limited the impact Furnace oil believed to be less toxic to mangroves Longer exposure to oil may cause organic damages Controlled navigation through Sela recommended Visible residue on vegetation require no direct removal action Long-term monitoring needed to know actual damage

INSIDE 5 | News

At least four activists of Chittagong University unit Chhatra League were injured yesterday in clashes between two BCL factions on campus over who would occupy a student dormitory.

6 | Nation

Judicial activities of Chandpur District and Sessions Judges’ Court and Chief Judicial Magistrate Court are being hampered to a great extent due to the shortage of judges and inadequate infrastructure.

Supreme Court lawyer Abdul Matin Khasru moved both the public interest litigations.

Today is the 42nd day of the BNPled alliance’s non-stop blockade and first day of the third phase of the hartal enforced by the alliance.

More than 70 people have so far been killed and hundreds injured in across the country in violence staged by the supporters of the BNP-led alliance.

More than half of those killed in the violence died of burn injuries that they had sustained in arson on vehicles.

4 | News

Nutrition specialists at a seminar yesterday said the Bangladeshis consume 26 grams less chicken than the daily intake recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

9 | World

Around a dozen ethnic rebels have been killed in a firefight with Myanmar troops and a further eight captured after renewed clashes in northern Myanmar near the Chinese border.

Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan insists Lasith Malinga will be a factor at the World Cup despite the sling-arm fast bowler enduring a nightmare return to action after 6 months out.

Actress and model Maria Nur is once again to host GTV’s ekhanei.com Cricket Extra for the ICC World Cup 2015. The first episode of the show was aired on Saturday.

Terming the mangrove ecosystems as the one of the most productive systems in the world, the report said the extent of oil residues observed on the vegetation was not sufficient to require any directed removal action.

It said the action itself and the disturbance associated with bringing personnel into the forest were determined to likely cause more adverse impact than the potential impacts of the oil itself.

The extent and degree of heavy oiling declined dramatically since the first days of the spill and was expected to continue to diminish with time.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

2

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Monday, February 16, 2015

BNP to welcome dialogue move n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla BNP yesterday said it would welcome any initiative to hold a dialogue, build consensus or formulate a national charter for holding free and fair general elections.

The party, however, did not specifically clarify how such initiative could be taken.

A few days back the ruling party leaders had trashed such a call of a civil society platform, saying that the mastermind of the army-backed caretaker government became active once again.

The platform, Oikya Prokria, sent letters to President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to hold talks to resolve the prevailing political crisis.

The BNP, however, did not say anything officially but yesterday at a press release its Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed said: “The BNP will welcome any initiative to hold a dialogue, forge consensus or formulate a national charter for holding an inclusive election.”

The BNP leader mentioned that the ongoing movement of the BNP-led 20-party alliance is aimed at restoration of democratic system.

The party also welcomed the note of caution issued by business leaders, especially those in the garment sector,

that they would suspend paying tariff for water, gas, power and other utilities to the government.

“It is obvious that there is no rationale for paying tax to a government which is not legitimate and which is undemocratic,” Salauddin said, blaming “government agents” for bomb blasts across the country during blockade and hartals.

“We harshly condemn such incidents,” he said.

Meanwhile, BNP Vice-Chairman Selima Rahman said party Chairperson Khaleda Zia was not having food in protest against the government move not to allow food in the party’s Gulshan office for her personal staff and some senior leaders.

“The state minister for home and the IGP denied the allegation but the reality is food meant for Khaleda Zia’s staff and others are barred from being delivered,” she said.

“Khaleda Zia has abstained from eating to express her sympathy to her colleagues and staff as they were not getting food,” an angry Selima said at the gate of the BNP Gulshan office as a food-carrying vehicle was prevented by police from entering the office.

“Is it a jail? Even death-row convicts are not deprived of food!” Selima shouted expressing her grievance against the government. l

Relatives of those caught in connection with arson and petrol bomb attacks during BNP-enforced hartal and blockade programme throng the gate of Dhaka Central Jail yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Draft Road Transport Act sounds tougher, but most penalties unchanged n Shohel Mamun

It is a case of either driving with caution or having one’s driving license permanently confiscated with the new draft law that the government has unveiled expected to come down hard on reckless drivers.

With added compensation clauses and a point cut system, the draft Road Transport Act has already been posted on the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority’s (BRTA) web site.

The draft law lays out a point-scoring system that penalises offenders with each recorded offence. When a licence holder’s points are drawn down to zero, the license will be permanently confiscated.

According to the draft legislation, licensees must compensate each accident victim if damages are claimed.

Punishments for road traffic offences will remain the same as they are in the current Motor Vehicles Act, 1983.

Since 2010, the government has taken the initiative to upgrade the act be-

Kohli makes the difference  PAGE 1 COLUMN 3

Kohli’s 183-run knock in the 2012 Asia Cup is the best effort by an Indian batsman against their archrivals in ODIs. With a technique and temperament to succeed in every condition and format, Kohli cutting loose is one of the most beautiful sights of the modern game.

Yesterday it was the Pakistan bowlers’ turn to watch helplessly. The Pakistan bowlers had very little to offer against a rampant Kohli.

The grand and glittering strokes were sprayed all over the ground in a fascinating cocktail of graceful dominance and silken brutality. Virat Kohli rose to the occasion and with some perfection indeed. l

cause the existing laws have not been able to bring discipline to the road transport sector.

Although a draft was ready in 2011, it was cancelled under pressure from transport owners and workers.

Four years later, the draft law on road transportation has been completed by the Road Transport and Highways Division.

The BRTA has publicised the act on its website to get public feedback. After collecting public opinion, the draft law will be submitted to cabinet and then a bill will be put in parliament.

According to the draft act, drivers causing a death in a motor vehicle accident will be sentenced to 3 to 7 years in prison. They will also be fined between Tk15,000 and Tk150,000.

The punishment under the new law is the same as it is now.

The draft law adds a provision for compensatory payment in the event of a death resulting from a road accident and a debit from the proposed point system, as well as three years’ suspen-

sion of the licence.

In the event of an injury arising from a motor vehicle accident, the offending driver can be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and Tk75,000 in fines.

These provisions are unchanged from the old law.

A Tk1 lakh compensation clause, three years’ licence suspension and a debit from the licence point system have been added.

BRTA Secretary Shawkat Ali told the Dhaka Tribune: “The draft law is on the website to garner public opinion. After taking public responses and the suggestions of stake holders, cabinet will approve the act.”

He said: “The draft may be changed.

If there are strong suggestions to change punishments, those can be accommodated.”

According to the BRTA, The Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1983 is almost the same as the Motor Act, 1939.

But these laws have no provision for the country’s transport sector prob-

Mob justice is no justice at all  PAGE 1 COLUMN 4

children were the victims of circumstance. I think if they were not street children, those who assaulted them would think twice before beating them up. Street children have no guardian around to protest,” Wahida said.

She said: “This incident will haunt them throughout their lives. They will not easily believe their elders. This incident may even make them vindictive and violent in the future.”

“Every child lives in a world of dreams. This incident could make them think like criminals. Their guardians should take them to see a psychiatrist as soon as possible. But I do not know whether that will be possible for their parents,” she said.

She said people were losing a sense of morality, adding: “The ongoing polit-

ical unrest has made people feel vulnerable. The political culture must change.”

The mob gave them a harsh beating and handed them over to police.

Police sent Hossain to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where he received primary treatment.

Hossain, whose hand was injured, said: “A man threw the bomb and it did not burst, so I thought it was a ball and threw it, but then it went off.”

The OC said the incident was a misunderstanding: “Actually, the children come to the park to collect plastic waste to sell. We handed them over to their parents.”

The youths and bystanders who beat up the minors were not found at Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday.

Vendors operating in the vicinity of the incident claimed not to know any-

lems. Donor groups have pressured the government to change the act and the World Bank has financed the work that produced the draft Road Transport Act. In 2011, the draft Road Transport and Movement Act was readied, but transport owners did not accept the law.

After decreasing the severity of punishments, the new draft is ready. The 2011 draft had 25 paragraphs and 372 clauses, the current draft has just 15 paragraphs and 242 clauses.

The new draft says driving without a license is not allowed, but there is no change in the punishment.

Punishments have been listed for driving while using cell phones, head phones, in a drunken state, without a seat belt, for breaking the speed limit, highway codes, signs or signals.

The draft allows government to fix the amount of vehicles moving in a district, city or any selected area. As well government also right to fix the number of cars for organisation, offices, family units and individuals. l

thing about the mob beating.

Eminent rights activist Sultana Kamal said: “We very often have seen the beating of child pickpockets. But this culture has intensified. People have become desperate and a culture of taking the law into one’s own hands has become prominent.”

People, she said, feel insecure and are fearful.

The culture of justice is not well established in the country, the rights activist explained.

The rights activist said mob violence was a projection of the desperate and confrontational political culture of society.

“Intolerance has become so prominent that political parties have also become violent. Violence has become the character of this society,” she said. l

PM: BNP will be stopped from harming SSC candidates  PAGE 1 COLUMN 1

“They are carrying out criminal activities; if we sit with them, it will only encourage them.

“And even after all of these, if we offer to sit with them, will they accept it?

I can say they will not,” Hasina said.

She pointed out that the BNP had misbehaved with her when she had proposed a discussion ahead of the 10th general elections.

The prime minister also claimed that Khaleda’s only concern was to avoid her cases on money laundering and other charges.

During the discussion, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu said: “They [the 20-party alliance] are trying to do what has been happening every day in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Hinting at the BNP chief, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said: “She has declared war against the nation’s progress and the education system as well.

“This is nothing but an act of terrorism. She has made the future of 1.5 mil-

lion students uncertain; but she ensured that her two granddaughters were sent to Malaysia, even before 40 days of her son Arafat Rahman Koko’s death, as they have examinations scheduled soon.”

Senior lawmaker Suranjit Sengupta termed the BNP chairperson an “extra-constitutional leader of the opposition,” adding: “Democracy and terrorism cannot run simultaneously; so we need to be strict against this.”

Slamming the BNP-alliance for attacking students’ future, Suranjit said such an aggression was similar to the attacks on students by terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda, Taliban and the IS. He said the BNP had now made the students their own opponents.

His views were echoed by Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, who said the BNP had turned students into opponents after failing in the political race.

“There is no solution to the delays in the SSC exams. We need to continue the exams and ensure security for the stu-

dents,” said Menon, also the president for the Workers Party of Bangladesh.

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury said: “We need to ensure democracy and be as tough as possible to achieve that end.”

Awami League lawmaker Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim demanded that Khaleda Zia be arrested and her party banned for carrying out criminal activities.

“She [Khaleda] is trying to turn Bangladesh into a failed country by declaring a war against the general people. What the rest of the world does to punish terrorism, we would also do the same here.”

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal MP Moinuddin Khan Badal said this was a fight between those in support of the Liberation War and those against it. He also claimed that the BNP chief was representing the enemies of Bangladesh’s independence.

“If the United States can take actions against the al-Qaeda and the IS anywhere in the world, then why are we not

taking any action against those who are against our independence,” Badal said.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak said: “Khaleda Zia never likes to see anyone pass SSC examination as she could not pass it and none of her family members could get admitted to a university; that is why the BNP called hartal during the time of the examination.”

Independent lawmaker Haji Mohammad Selim said: “If the court can play its role against illegal agitation and hartals, why can we not as lawmakers enact a law against these unlawful activities?”

Other ruling party lawmakers including Abdul Mannan, Md Abdur Rahman, Dr Md Enamur Rahaman, opposition party lawmaker Pir Fazlur Rahman and Mahajabeen Morshed also took part in the discussion.

Newly appointed US Ambassador in Dhaka, Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat was present in parliament, observing the proceedings. l

14 party’s nationwide mass rally on Feb 20 n Abu Hayat Mahmud The Awami League-led 14-party alliance will hold a nationwide mass rally on February 20 to protest violence, terrorism and militancy allegedly committed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.

In the capital, the procession is scheduled to begin at 4pm from Awami League’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue and end at Shika Chirantan, the eternal flame, in the Suhrawardy Udyan.

Awami League Presidium member Mohammad Nasim, who is also the spokesperson of the alliance made the announcement yesterday at a press briefing at party chief Sheikh Hasina’s political office in Dhanmondi.

Nasim said the rally would be held to unite people against the anarchy created by the BNP-Jamaat alliance.

“No dialogue will be held with BNP-Jamaat,” he said, adding that the killers of 1971 and 1975 must be tried.

The main objective of the BNP is to protect Jamaat-e-Islami, Nasim, also the health minister, said at the briefing after a meeting of the 14 parties, presided over

by Awami League Presidium Member Tofail Ahmed.

In reply to a question, Tofail said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had declared jihad along with Jammat against the country’s development and people.

“Pakistan is giving all sorts of cooperation in this regard, which has been published in mass media,” he said.

Tofail further claimed that not only the European Union or the United States is concerned over the militant activities centring the BNP-Jammat blockade and hartal, but the 14-party alliance is anxious as well.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal chief and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said no democratic party could hold dialogue with BNP-Jamaat because of their terrorist activities around the country.

“The BNP-Jamaat militants and saboteurs are demons and enemies of humanity. Talks can be held only after resisting them,” he said.

The meeting was also attended by Samyabadi Dal General Secretary Dilip Barua and Communist Kendra Convener Wazedul Islam Khan among others. l

High Court orders government  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

the government’s backing create unrest during these programmes.

“The manpower of the law enforcement agencies has been increased in recent times with the idea that they would be able to tame these miscreants. But for some mysterious reasons, they have not been able to do that,” Mahbub said.

Regarding the public interest litigations, the pro-BNP lawyer said: “There are chances that these litigations will

be scrapped after hearing at the Supreme Court because the apex court does not step out of the scope of the constitution.”

When contacted, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said yesterday: “The people of the country have been pushed back to the wall. Saving people’s lives is more important than preserving democratic rights. That is why I think the ruling could not be more time befitting.” l

UN experts find no visible impact  PAGE 1 COLUMN 6

The spilled heavy fuel is believed to be less acutely toxic to mangroves, but may be more persistent in the environment over the long-term than a lighter oil, the assessment report said.

It also said impact was limited because of the tidal system which causes the rivers to experience high and low tide twice daily.

The Sela river located inside the Sundarbans was been used as a navigation route illegally since 2011 as the legal route Mongla-Ghosiakhali got unusable because of siltation, encroachment and riverbank cultivation.

Oil tanker Southern Star 7, carrying more than 350,000 litres of furnace oil, sank in the river at Mrigmari area after being hit by a cargo vessel on December 9.

The joint report said that the local people had collected around 68,000 liters of the spilled oil from the river manually, after getting confirmation of receiving cash payment by Padma Oil Company, owner of the oil.

Later, in response to a request from the government, the UN sent an international team of experts to support the ground work.

On Januray 6, the Sela route was reopened despite environmental concerns.

The government made the route off limits for heavy vessels since two days after

the spill.

The UN experts suggested that the government should adopt special training, equipment and experience to improve response to environmental emergencies.

The report said that the oil had spread at least 20km upstream to Mongla and at least 20km downstream to Horintana in the main shoreline.

However, this differs with the findings of another study conducted by the Environmental Science Department of the Khulna University which said the oil had spread over a nearly 500 sq-km area of the forest.

The Khulna University study also found very limited presence of primary food producers like phytoplankton and zooplankton in the contaminated water and concluded that it was alarming for the flora and fauna of the mangrove forest.

Regrading that report, the UN-government team said Dr Abdullah Harun Chowdhury of Khulna University performed a visual evaluation of the spill region from December 11 to 25 at 15 locations near the spill site and documented 27 oiled animals with species distributions similar in nature to this rapid assessment.

The UN experts said data and photo-documentation from that study was not available during the UN rapid assessment and therefore they could not confirm or reconcile the cases for their report. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

3

Monday, February 16, 2015

Rosatom mulls Rooppur cooling tower options n Aminur Rahman Rasel Atomproekt, a sister concern of Russia’s Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, are examining the technical and economic aspects of natural draft and ventilation cooling towers to select the optimum option for Rooppur nuclear power plant.

Atomproekt designers and engineers are designing ventilation cooling towers for the emergency raw cooling water system of the Rooppur plant, which will allow for a considerable reduction in the area covered by cooling equipment and an increase in water cooling efficiency.

Spray ponds are traditionally used in the emergency raw cooling water system.

Ventilation cooling towers are an alternative to natural draft wet cooling towers which have traditionally been used at nuclear plants.

This type of cooling tower has not been used earlier in nuclear power plant turbine condenser cooling systems because more cooling towers with ventilation need to be installed.

This means that more money must be spent on providing energy for fan motors.

But given the conditions in Bangla-

desh, including high temperatures and humidity levels, the use of this type of cooling tower may be justified.

A cooling tower is an important part of a nuclear power plant’s infrastructure used for cooling water in the plant’s water circulation systems.

Modern natural draft cooling towers are up to 180 meters high and are able to cool up to 170,000 cubic metres of water per hour, according to a Rosatom press release yesterday.

Bangladesh has considered beginning a nuclear power programme for over five decades, and Rooppur, about 200km north of Dhaka, was earmarked for the country’s first plant as long ago as 1963.

Rosatom will build, operate and provide fuel to the plant and take its waste back to Russia regularly.

The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, under the Science and Technology Ministry, will implement the project.

Atomproekt has designed more than 100 cooling towers for power plants in Russia and abroad.

At the moment, their designs are being used in constructing cooling towers at Leningrad 2 nuclear power plant 2 in Russia and at Astravets plant in Belarus. l

Shibir activists catch a policeman off guard and assault him in the Sheikh Ghat area in Sylhet yesterday morning. The activists of Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing have, in recent years, made a habit out of attacking police personnel during political action programmes such as hartals and blockade. The greater Sylhet region has come to be known as a stronghold of Jamaat, accused of committing crimes against humanity as an organisation during the Liberation War COURTESY

Ershad directs RMCH to improve medicare services n BSS

Probe ordered for publishing Hizb ut-Tahrir poster

Eastern Refinery invites EoI to expand capacity

n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

Special Envoy to the Prime Minster, former President and Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman Alhaj Hussein Muhammad Ershad yesterday directed authorities of Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) for improving quality of Medicare services. He also paid patient hearing to the problems prevailing in RMCH and assured of taking necessary steps for resolving those to improve health and Medicare services in the biggest government hospital in the region.

Ershad said this while presiding over a monthly meeting of the RMCH Management Committee at the auditorium of the hospital.

Director of the RMCH Dr Abdul Baten, Principal of Rangpur Medical College Professor Dr Zakir Hossain, Acting DIG for Rangpur Range Humayun Kabir, District Muktijoddha Commander Mosaddek Hossain Bablu, JP leader Azmal Hossain Lebu, Heads of different departments of RMCH, its physicians and officials were present. l

A Dhaka court yesterday asked police to launch an inquiry against The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam and two of his colleagues for publishing the photograph of a poster on February 11, released by banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir, calling upon the armed forces to topple the ruling government.

Metropolitan Magistrate Muhammad Anwar Sadat passed the order in response to a complaint filed yesterday by lawyer Shahjalal Kibria.

The plaintiff alleged that the photograph of the “provocative statement” published by the newspaper had hampered the peaceful situation in Bangladesh.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has chapters in many countries around the globe, started its activities in Bangladesh in 2000. The Awami League-led government banned the Islamist outfit on October 22, 2009.

The complainant brought charge under sections 505 and 34 of the Penal

Code against the newspaper’s Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam, Chief News Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque and Chief Photographer Sheikh Enamul Haque for “statements conducing to public mischief.”

Section 505 carries highest seven years’ imprisonment with nominal fine.

The magistrate asked the officer-in-charge of Kotwali police to launch the inquiry after taking the case into cognisance.

The English daily published the photograph on page 3 with the caption stating: “Taking advantage of the current political crisis in the country accompanied by wanton violence, banned extremist Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir published and pasted posters in the capital in an attempt to foment unrest within the armed forces.

This poster was found pasted on a wall in an alleyway near Bangla Motor intersection yesterday.”

Kazi Najib Ullah Hiru, who took part in the hearing on behalf of the plaintiff, said this type of news carried anti-gov-

ernment sentiment and could deteriorate law and order.

Section 505 states: “Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report, (a) with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, any officer, soldier, sailor or airman in the Army, Navy or Air Force of Bangladesh to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty as such; or (b) with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the state or against the public tranquility; or (c) with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community; or (d) with intent to create or promote, or which is likely to create or promote, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different communities, classes or sections of people shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.” l

With an aim to set up its second unit

by June next year, state-owned Eastern Refinery Limited has invited expression of interest from reputed international engineering consultancy firms.

“We have invited consultancy firms to indicate their interest in providing consultancy services as project management consultant (PMC) for construction of the 3m-tonne-capacity petroleum refinery at North Potenga in Chittagong,” its Managing Director GMA Afzal told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

In order to move ahead with the project, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also in-charge of the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, gave her consent last year under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act 2015.

Once set up, the new unit would have the capacity to refine 4.5m tonnes of crude oil annually – more than double the existing one.

Speakers: No dialogue with criminals n Tribune Report

Packets of biriyani and water bottles lie on the footpath in front of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s office in Gulshan yesterday after the rickshaw-puller carrying them left them in the wake of alleged protest by police DHAKA TRIBUNE

HC: Compensate Jihad’s family n Tribune Report

The High Court yesterday sought explanation from the government as to why the latter should not be directed to give the family of Jihad, who died after falling into an abandoned well in the capital in December, Tk30 lakh in compensation.

The bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Mohammad Ejarul Haque Akondo came up with the ruling in response to a writ petition filed by Children’s Charity Bangladesh Foundation.

Home secretary, railway secretary,

director general of fire service and civil defence, director general of railway, director of fire service and civil defence (operation and maintenance), Wasa chairman, administrator of South City Corporation, DMP commissioner, deputy commissioner of Motijheel zone police and operation-in-charge of Shahjahanpur police station were asked to respond to the rule within four weeks.

The four-year-old boy was killed after falling into an unprotected pipe hole dug by railway authorities at Shahjahanpur Railway Colony on December 26 last year.

The rights organisation submitted the petition on December 28 seeking the court’s directives on providing the victim’s family Tk30 lakh as compensation.

The court yesterday also asked the government to explain in four weeks why the negligence of the government, Wasa, fire service, railway and the Dhaka City Corporation in rescuing Jihad should not be declared illegal.

Moreover, the court directed the fire service authorities to submit a list of uncared pipes, wells, tube-wells, sewerage pipe holes and water tanks across the country by May 15. l

There should be no dialogue held with criminals, speakers at a roundtable said yesterday, also urging the government to go for immediate stern steps instead against the BNP-led alliance’s acts of terror across the country.

Claiming that there was no end in sight to the violence that had been taking place since the blockade began on January 6, they also demanded all culprits be brought to justice as soon as possible.

Addressing the roundtable in the capital’s National Museum auditorium, Human Rights Commission Chairman Dr Mizanur Rahman said: “We were in a good situation. Now why do we have to face this situation? The answer is simple and clear: either you are for Bangladesh, or you are against it.

“If militancy is not uprooted the situation will be more devastating... If election is the only issue in question, then why is it being demanded a year later [after the national polls]?” Mizanur told the roundtable titled “Terrorism, Violence and National Security.”

Also speaking there, economist Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said law enforcement agencies should be stern and the people should take to the streets to protest the violence.

“Those who talk about a dialogue are enemies to the people of Bangladesh,” said Dr Mohammad Farashuddin, former governor of Bangladesh Bank.

Prof Mesbah Kamal, a professor at Dhaka University, said: “We should

not forget that the second phase of the Liberation War is now going on. They [BNP-Jamaat] are trying to turn Bangladesh into Pakistan. Their militant financing base should be uprooted as soon as possible.”

Speaking at the roundtable, former vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University Dr Anwar Hossain said: “Why should the government hold dialogue

‘Those who talk about a dialogue are enemies to the people of Bangladesh’ with those who are directly involved in massacre?” He also urged the government to set a deadline to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for withdrawing the blockade and hartals.

Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee acting president Shahriar Kabir told the programme that he suspects that the violent activities might be directed by forces outside the country.

War crimes prosecutor Turin Afrose also expressed her views against any talk with the 20-party alliance, saying: “There is no option in the world to hold talks with criminals. Talks should be held with the mass people, not with criminals.”

Organised by the Sector Commanders Forum, the roundtable was conducted by the forum’s Secretary General M Hamid. l

Afzal said through the EoI, they would prepare a short list of PMC firms having required eligibility and experience of executing works of similar nature in line with the scope of work.

A separate request for proposal would later be issued to the short-listed consulting firms, he added.

The last date of submitting the EoIs is March 15.

After getting the premier’s permission, the Energy Division formed a seven-member Project Processing Committee (PPC) incorporating officials of the finance and law ministries to negotiate with different foreign companies.

The committee will invite short-listed consulting firms to execute the project. A 30-acre piece of land near the Eastern Refinery has already been acquired for the expansion project.

Located in Chittagong, Eastern Refinery currently refines around 1.3m tonnes of crude oil per year against its capacity of 1.5m tonnes. The existing unit is able to meet only 10% of the country’s demand. l

Rafiqul asks for dialogue and no violence n Tribune Report

Dialogue is the only way to resolve the ongoing political impasse, but the ongoing criminal activities should come to a halt first, says Barrister Rafiqul Haque.

The counselor made the remark yesterday while talking to reporters at his Supreme Court office.

Rafiqul Haque said: “I think dialogue is indispensable – not only for now, but also for all times. All problems in the world have been solved through dialogues.

“Now, even the United Nations is tense about the ongoing situation. They are sending Taranko to instigate dialogue.

“Criminal activities can never lead to a resolution, and should be stopped first. Without stopping these activities no solution can be found. Dialogue is the only way of solution.

However, even any possible dialogue may not bear fruit unless civil-society members are privy to it.

“It won’t work if only the two leader’s (Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia) had the dialogue. Members of the civil society –former election commissioner and others who took the initiative for dialogue and formed a committee – should also be included,” Rafiq added.

In reply to a question about who should make the first move, Rofiqul Haque said the government has to take the initiative.

In reply to another question he said, “If the supply of Khaleda’s meals has been impeded, then it’s wrong. How is she (Khaleda) supposed to survive if she has no food? I do not know why she is staying at her office.” l

4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

Monday, February 16, 2015

Poultry industry growth stressed for regular animal protein supply n Munir Momtaj Nutrition specialists at a seminar yesterday said the Bangladeshis consume 26 grams less chicken than the daily intake recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation, describing it as the main obstacle to overcome the problem of physical unfitness.

They also said the deficiency in the daily intake of egg was 23 grams, stressing the need for a rapid growth of the country’s poultry industry which will ensure regular supply of animal protein, and will eventually help build a healthier and brighter nation.

Bangladesh branch of World’s Poultry Science Association organised the seminar titled “Safe food and nutrition for future generation: Role of poultry industry in Bangladesh” at National Press Club.

Dr Nazma Shahin, a professor of nutrition and food science at Dhaka University, said in her keynote address that the poor consume a very low amount of egg and chicken in the country.

She said she had found in her research that 26% of the children are born underweight, and 51% suffer from anemia after six months.

“Besides, 38.7% of the children aged between less than a month and 59 months become undersized. It is imperative that we expand the poultry sector in the country if we want to ful-

World’s Poultry Science Association holds a seminar at the National Press Club yesterday to discuss the role of poultry farming in ensuring safe and nutritious food for the upcoming generations, DHAKA TRIBUNE fill the required amount of the animal protein as per the recommendations of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation,” said the academic.

“Carbohydrate is the main source of nutrition in Bangladesh which is why it is required to change the food habit of the people.”

According to the FAO, a person needs to consume at least 104 eggs every year, but the Bangladeshis eat only

45 to 55 on an average. The Japanese consume 600 eggs a year.

The Bangladeshis eat only 3.63kg chicken annually while people in America consume 50.10kg.

Dr MA Sattar Mandol, former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University and senior consultant of the FAO, said the poultry industry was growing in the face of several challenges in the country.

“Meat production is being empha-

sised at all level at present,” he added.

Moshiur Rahman, president of Bangladesh branch of World’s Poultry Science Association, said the government and the entrepreneurs should work together in order to ensure safe and nutritious food for the future generation.

He said the 9th International Poultry Show and Seminar 2015 would be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre from February 19 to 21.

“Some 147 local and international

n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

Hefazat-e-Islam yesterday demanded that Rodela Publication be banned and one of its publications, Nabi Muhammader 23 Bochhor, released at this year’s book fair be seized for its blasphemous content against Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Hefazat Secretary General Junayed Babunagari and Organising Secretary Azizul Haque Islamabadi made the demand in a joint statement, according to a press release signed by its Central Publicity Secretary Abu Raihan.

In the statement, the Hefazat leaders said an atheist patronised Rodela Publication to publish the book with the aim of hurting the religious sentiments of the Muslims as the book contains some false, confusing and derogatory sentences about the Prophet’s life.

They described the author of the book, Ali Dosti, as a notorious atheist.

“The writer said the holy Quran is an artificial creation of the Prophet’s brain and it did not come from Allah. He also said Shab-e-Meraj and other events in the history of Islam as well as the Prophet’s life are false and baseless,” they said in the statement.

The top Hefazat leaders called on the government to take exemplary action against the publisher and seize the book.

They also warned of stern street protests if no action was taken by the authorities. l

Foreign minister to visit Portugal

Truck helper burnt in petrol bomb attack in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong A truck helper sustained burn injuries as the blockaders hurled petrol bomb on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Baroiarhat area in Mirsarai upazila yesterday morning.

The victim, Mohammad Nazrul, 22, who had been moving towards Chittagong from Comilla in a goods-laden truck, was admitted into Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Burn and Plastic Surgery unit in a critical condition, said the CMCH police outpost incharge SI Jahirul Islam. He went on that some blockaders threw petrol bombs at the running truck around 9am.

However, the trucker managed to come out from the vehicle soon after the attack, but Nazrul got stuck inside it.

Being informed, police rushed to the spot and sent the injured to the CMCH. Fire fighters from local station doused the blaze. l

organisations will participate in the show and 47 papers will be presented there,” said Moshiur.

He said the show would play a crucial role in facilitating the country’s mission of reaching the chicken and egg intake requirements by 2020.

Among others, FAO’s National Consultant Dr Nitish Debnath and Dr M Gias Uddin, chief of the animal health department at Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, were present at the seminar. l

Hefazat demands publisher ban for blasphemous book

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman

Grief-stricken relatives stand by the coffin of freedom fighter and journalist Aminul Haque Badshah on the Central Shaheed Minar premises yesterday.

MEHEDI HASAN

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will travel to Portugal next week at the invitation of his Portuguese counterpart Rui Machete, so as to improve bilateral relations with the European country.

“This is the first time official talks are being held at such a level,” said a foreign ministry senior official.

Trade, investment, and migration are expected to be the major areas of discussion between the two ministers, the official said.

Meanwhile, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Beneditto Della Vedova will arrive in the capital on February 18 for a three-day trip.

Official talks between State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and Vedova will be held this Thursday.

“Italy is important to us, as nearly

200,000 Bangladeshis currently reside in the European nation,” said another foreign ministry official.

‘This is the first time official talks are being held at such a level’ Trade, investment, migration and expatriate welfare will dominate the official talks, he said.

“We expect Italy will also seek Bangladesh’s support in becoming a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council,” he added.

Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands want to become non-permanent members of UNSC for the 2017-18 term, and seek support from Bangladesh. l

EU parliamentary team Road mishaps kill three people in the capital to visit Dhaka to observe n human rights situation Tribune Report

n Sheikh Shahariar Zaman A three-member European Union Parliamentary delegation will arrive in the capital tomorrow to observe the human rights situation in Bangladesh amid the ongoing violence around the country.

“They wanted to visit Dhaka, and we facilitated the official engagement as far as possible,” said a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sent by the human rights sub-committee of the EU parliament, the delegation will visit from tomorrow until Friday, he said. This is the first time the sub-committee is dispatching a team to Bangladesh.

The team will be led by Cristian Dan Preda, vice president of the sub-committee, and other members are Josef Weidenholzer and Karol Karasky.

They will meet Jatiya Sangsad

Speaker Shirin Sharmin CHowdhury, Law Minister Anisul Huq and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, the official said.

The team will submit a report to the subcommittee after going back to Brussels They will discuss the overall human rights situation including labour rights, RMG sector, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Rohingya and other issues.

The EU embassy in Dhaka has also arranged meetings with civil society, media and think tanks for them, the official said.

The team will submit a report to the sub-committee after going back to Brussels. l

Three people, including a woman, were killed in separate road accidents in the capital’s Badda, Mugda and Mirpur area yesterday.

Moharani Sarkar, 40, died after being hit by a CNG-run autorickshaw around 9:30am at Badda. Her husband Narendra Sarkar said she was standing on the side of the road when the vehicle hit her from behind all of a sudden.

As she fell on the ground, her head received serious injury and started bleeding profusely. She was rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) emergency unit where the on duty doctor declared her dead.

At Mugda, an oil-laden truck ran over Md Jasim Uddin, 36, a newspaper hawker at Titipara slum area near the Kamalapur Stadium around 5am, said Sub-Inspector Sirajuddoula of Mugda police station. The victim was riding

One arrested with 12 gold bars in Chittagong n FM Mizanur Rahaman Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested a person with 12 gold bars from Chittagong railway station yesterday evening.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Yaar Ali of GRP’s railway station police outpost said the arrestee was identified as Aninath Dhar, 40, from Harihar village of Rangunia upazila.

“Acting on a tip off, police arrested the person while he was boarding Chandpur-bound Meghna Express at around 6pm,” SI said.

“Later police recovered 12 gold bars weighing more than one kilogramme worth about Tk84 lakh from his possession.

The bars were kept hidden inside his belt.” A case was filed in this regard, said SI Yaar Ali. l

Quader: Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane upgrade project to be completed by June n Tribune Report Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader hoped the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway upgrading project would be completed by June this year.

The minister expressed this hope while inaugurating 10

bridges in Chittagong Hill Tracks (CHT) and the Dhaka-Chittagong highway yesterday, through a video conferencing system from Tejgaon Sarak Bhaban in the capital.

Quader said: “The 192km DhakaChittagong four-lane upgrade is expected to be completed by June; then it will take no more than four-

and-a-half hours to five hours to travel to Chittagong from Dhaka.”

Road Transport and Highway Division Secretary MAN Siddique and Roads and Highway Department Chief Engineer M Firoj Ikbal, senior ministry officers, among others, were in attendance.

The minister added: “As

part of widening the 192km Dhaka-Chittagong highway, the carpeting of 115km of the road has already been completed, and the rest of the work will be done by next June.”

“Though, three rail overpasses and a flyover will take some more time to complete,” he added. l

a bicycle to deliver newspapers to the subscribers. He died on the spot.

“We have arrested the driver and his helper. A case has been filed,” the SI said.

At Mirpur’s Senpara Parbata area Bazlu, 25, a truck driver died a tragic death after being hit by his own truck near Dhaka Filling Station around 6am, said SI Mizanur Rahman of Mirpur Model police station.

“He was going to Diabari to collect

sand. When he came near the filling station, he hit a rickshaw van. Thinking that the van puller got smashed by the truck, he jumped from the truck to flee but unfortunately hit the road divider instead and went under the rear wheels of his own truck,” the SI said.

“Bazlu died on the spot. The rickshaw-van puller however sustained minor injuries,” he said adding that the body had been sent to DMC morgue for autopsy. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

News

5

Monday, February 16, 2015

CU nearly paralysed in BCL factional clashes The administrative building, proctor’s office, campus main gate under lock and key Mahmud and FM Mizanur n Tarek Rahaman, Chittagong At least four activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) of the Chittagong University (CU) unit were injured yesterday in clashes between two BCL factions on campus over who would occupy a student dormitory.

The injured – Md Rasel and Kawsar of the History department, Shohel of the English department, and Md Niaz of the Education Research Training Institute – were admitted to CU Medical Center, police said.

Police had raided Shah Jalal Hall in the afternoon, and detained 45 members of the CU’s shuttle train-based Varsity Express (VX) group in possession of two sacks of brick chips, some machetes, knives and iron rods, said Chittagong’s Additional Superintendent of Police (North) Mostafizur Rahman.

Due to the clashes, vandalism, and unrest, the administrative building, proctor’s office, and campus main gate being put under lock and key and shuttle trains suspended, the campus has been left nearly paralysed with tension, said campus sources.

Eyewitnesses said the tension mounted when 30-40 VX members entered Shah Jalal Hall at around 6am, took over the hall, and locked the dormitory gate.

Distressed at the move, members of rival faction Choose Friend with Care (CFC), another CU shuttle train-based BCL faction, from the adjoining Shah Amanat Hall armed themselves and rushed to Shah Jalal Hall, while the VX members pelted stones at them from upstairs, leaving CFC members Rubel and Niaz injured, they said.

Both groups – patronised by Chittagong city unit Awami League (AL) President ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury

– have clashed several times in the area, while CFC members have vandalished two shops near the dormitories, eyewitnesses added.

Upon receiving information of the clash, police rushed to the scene and took the situation under control, firing several rounds of rubber bullets and tear shells, said Hatahazri Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Ismail Hossain.

Additionally, some CFC members beat VX members Shohel and Kawsar at Kata Pahar at around 12:30pm. Police rescued the two and detained them on the charge of having an alleged connection with the Tapos murder on December 14 last year.

OC Ismail said they would be taken to the police station and their connection verified after treatment.

The CFC members locked the campus’s main gate, administration building, and proctor office at around 9am

for three and a half hours, demanding to conduct a drive at Shah Jalal Hall to nab the illegally-occupying VX members, and accusing them of being behind the Tapos murder, said proctor office’s security guards and staff.

They also stopped two university-bound shuttle trains at Sholoshahar Railway Station, and threatened the trains’ loco masters, following which Bangladesh Railway (BR) suspended all CU-bound train services, said Station Master Sahabuddin.

Subsequently, most students could not come to campus, and teachers’ buses were not running in the city and on campus routes due to the hartal, resulting in the disruption of administrative and academic activities, said CU Proctor Siraz-ud-Dowla.

The Additional Police Super said they conducted a raid at Shah Jalal Hall from 4pm to 4:30pm and nabbed 45,

whom they then took to Hathazari Police Station for verification.

Police had also raided Shah Amanat Hall from 6pm to 6:30pm and detained six outside students, suspecting their alleged connection with the clashes, said Chittagong’s Assistant Superintendent of Police (Hathazari circle) AHM Nizam Uddin. Additional force was deployed at the campus to evade any untoward situations.

No VX leaders were reached over mobile phones after repeated attempts, while CFC leader CU BCL former Joint Secretary Sumon Mamun said they had entered the campus to create anarchy.

VX members were kept out of campus from December 14, after killing CFC member Tapos Sarkar, a first-year student of the Sangskrit department, at Shah Amanat Hall, in a gunfight between the factions, as it was alleged VX members had shot the student. l

Education UK Exhibition 2015 held in Chittagong n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

WEATHER

DRY WEATHER MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16 DHAKA TODAY TOMORROW SUN SETS 5:54PM 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

5:15am 6:31am 12:13am 4:17pm 5:54pm 7:10pm

SourceL IslamicFinder.org

n Our correspondent, Bogra Three Shibir activists were arrested with 10 petrol bombs, huge quantity of explosive materials and Zihadi books in the district yesterday.

Sources said a special team of police, RAB and BGB raided at a Shibir controlled hostel at Hamsayapur under Sherpur upazila and arrested Shibir activists Masud Rana, Shukur Ali and Wazed Hossain and recovered the petrol bombs, explosive materials and Zihadi books.

RAB-12, BGB and Police conducted the operation at Abdur Rahim Hostel at Hamsayapur under Shahbondegi union of the upazila.

Ali Ahemed Hashmi, officer-incharge of Sherpur police station said, the hostel is being used by the Chattra Shibir for a long time. l

One gets life term for killing step-mother Correspondent, n Our Chapainawabganj

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Students, teachers, Human Resource professionals and training managers got the opportunity to seek advice on undergraduate and postgraduate studies, scholarships and livelihood opportunities in the UK at the day-long Education UK Exhibition 2015 held in Chittagong yesterday.

Chittagong City Corporation Mayor M Manjur Alam inaugurated the fair as the chief guest at 10:30am at the Zinta Hall of the Peninsula Hotel.

Thanking British Council for organising the fair regularly, Alam said: “This fair is a one-stop point for students to get detailed information on higher study opportunities abroad and the subjects of their choices.”

He urged to make the UK visa application process easier and higher study cost lesser in the UK. Representatives of renowned UK universities catered advice on undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses, scholarship and livelihood opportunities in the UK. M Jahir Uddin, project manager for British Council Services for International Education Marketing, moderated the programme where British Council Assistant Director Programmes Tomas Doherty and British Council Chittagong Manager Nahid Khan spoke among others.

The fair also catered information on UK visa application process, courses offered by the British Council including IELTS. University of Bradford, City University, Coventry University, De Montfort University, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Greenwich, London Metropolitan University, London School of Business and Management, Manchester Metropolitan University, Middlesex University, Nottingham Trent University, University of South Wales and University of West of England-Bristol joined the fair.

Education UK Exhibition 2015 will be held in Rose View Hotel in Sylhet on February 18. l

Three Shibir activists arrested with bombs

Students of different schools take position in front of BNP’s office in the capital’s Gulshan area protesting the ongoing anarchy and terrorism in the name of blockade and hartals

A court yesterday sentenced one person to imprisonment for life for killing his step-mother at Jamadarpara under Sadar upazila on May 27, 2013.

The court also fined him Tk20,000 in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for six months more.

District and session judge Kabita Khanam pronounced the judgment in the crowded courtroom.

The convicted person is Suruj Ali, 22, son of Shah Alam of Jamadarpara under Baroghoria union of Sadar upazila.

The prosecution story, in brief, is that Suruj hit his step- mother Minara Begum, 38, with a cricket stamp following a quarrel, leaving her dead on the spot.

Sayeda Khatun, daughter of the victim, filed a murder case with Sadar Thana next day.

Police, after investigation the case, submitted charge sheet before the court against the convicted persons on July 3, 2013.

Later, the Judge, after examining the witnesses and evidence, found him guilty and handed down the punishment. l

Prospects of dragon fruit farming bright in Rajshahi region n Tribue Report

Prospects of Dragon, a delicious but non-conventional fruit in Bangladesh, is very bright in the region as it has started gaining popularity among both farmers and consumers level for its high commercial and nutritional values.

The number of commercial growers is gradually increasing as they are getting lucrative price of their produce in both local and outside markets. In Rajshahi markets, the high valued fruit is being sold at Tk500 to 600 per kilogram while in posh markets of capital Dhaka it is being sold at Tk700 to 800. But, the price is beyond purchasing capacity of the commoners.

More than 100 demonstration plots of the cash crop were established in Rajshahi, Natore, Pabna and Bogra districts and the national figure is more than 1000 making the enthusiastic farmers

more courageous towards the farming.

Integrated Quality Horticulture Development Project (IQHDP) belongs to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) is imparting necessary training to the farmers on how they make their dragon farming more profitable and sustainable.

SM Quamruzzaman, Project Director of IQHDP said there are tremendous prospects of growing dragon fruit in different districts of the country as its topography and environment is suitable for the farming, reports BSS. He informed that 43 horticulture centres in 35 districts are extending technical know-how to the farmers and supervising the demonstration plots regularly as the cultivation of dragon fruit is easier than many other crops.

Emphasis is being given on promoting it in the homestead gardening sub-

stantially. If it’s possible, no doubt, the price will come down to Taka 250 to 300 per kilogram in near future.

“We have some foreign fruits successfully produced in Bangladesh.

Dragon fruit is one of them,” said Quamruzzaman. Very recently it has been imported in Bangladesh by Germplasm Centre of Bangladesh Agricultural University in Mymensingh and profitably cultivated in some districts.

The plant is nothing but an evergreen cactus reaches up to 1.5 to 2.5 meters high with leafless thin vine-like branches. It needs support to hold the vine upward.

It reproduces from seeds and from branches (cuttings). But preferable to grow from branches because growth of dragon plant from seed germination is found to be comparatively slower. Compost in loamy soil is favourable for growing.

Over-watering should be avoided as it may cause fruit-splitting, flower-dropping, yellowing of the plants, and slow shoot development. Regular mulching around the plants is also important along with providing dynamic lifter and dolomite every alternate month (100 g per plant).

The plant blooms only at night, which can affect the process of pollination. In such a case, its growth may be encouraged with the hand pollination technique.

Narrating its salient features Quamruzzaman said dragon fruit is suitable for everyone to eat. Flesh and seeds are edible parts and they are eaten altogether. It supplies fiber which is digestive and helpful for healthy liver.

The rest portion of the fruit includes carbohydrate and water. A fresh fruit keeps a person fresh and well fit for a long time. Dragon fruit is also used in

beverage, making juice and wine and as a flavoring agent in various foods and drinks.

It contains a lot of vitamin C, minerals and other nutrients. Dragon fruit contains more than 3 times the amount of vitamin C found in carrots.

The fruit has a leathery and leafy skin with a flesh that is creamy textured and studded with lots of tiny, black and crunchy seeds throughout.

It is mildly sweet tasting and especially low in calories. The seeds are digested only if chewed.

The flavonoids in dragon fruit lower the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. It also reduces oxidative stress and artery stiffness as found in animal studies and therefore is thought to prevent complications associated with diabetes. The high antioxidant levels lower the risk of many types of cancer. l

FFs demand for stopping violence, killing and anarchy

Regular water quality testing stressed

n BSS

n BSS

Freedoms fighters (FFs) at a human chain arranged at Panchagarh district town yesterday termed the blockade and hartal of the BNP-Jamaat-led 20 party alliance as non-ethical and demanded for stopping violence, killing and anarchy.

They also demanded for establishing peace through immediately stopping terrorism, militancy, torching vehicles and killing of innocent people by hurling petrol bombs and hindering SSC examinations in the name of democratic political movement.

Panchagarh Sadar upazila unit of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangshad (BMS) organised the human chain in front of the Shaheed Minar after bringing out protest procession in the sub-Himalayan town demanding for withdrawal of blockade, hartal and shunning voice.

Commander of Panchagarh district unit of BMS Mirja Abul Kalam presided over the human chain participated

by hundreds of freedom fighters, socio-cultural and political leaders and activists, professionals, civil society members and local elite.

Former Commander of Panchagarh district unit of BMS SM Liyakat Ali, President of Sadar upazila Awami League (AL) Amirul Islam, district JSD President and valiant freedom fighter Abdul Mazid Babul, President of Muktijoddha Sanghati Abdul Kader, addressed.

Commander of Panchagarh Sadar upazila unit of BMS Ismail Hossain, AL leader Rabi Mahmud, Panchagarh Sadar upazila chairman Anwar Sadat Samrat and valiant freedom fighter Abul Hossain also addressed the programme.

The speakers strongly condemned the illogical blockade and hartal of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, violence, killing of innocent people, hurling patrol bombs, uprooting rail lines, hindering SSC examinations, destroying economy and subversive activities.

They said the BNP-Jamaat-Shibir

terrorists have been trying to destabilise the country and playing with the lives and properties of the common people and time has come for uprooting roots of the terrorists once for all involving the common people.

They called upon the pro-liberation forces and common people for thwarting the terrorism, militancy, anarchy, violence and killing of innocent citizens through hurling petrol bombs and destructions to ensure peace.

The speakers called for taking necessary stern actions against terrorists and militants who have been creating anarchy and killing innocent people by hurling petrol bombs and subversive activities in the name of political movements.

They urged the government to further intensify the anti-terrorism and anti-militancy drives involving the common people to ensure safety and security of every citizen and bring back peace and normalcy in every sector to save the national economy. l

Public health experts in a discussion in the capital yesterday underlined the need for bringing water quality testing facility to doorsteps of the mass people for combating bacterial contamination of drinking water.

The discussion observed that bacterial contamination is still found to be present in around 40 percent of tube well water while 19 percent of the tested water contains very high level of bacterial presence.

This is an area where the water sector is still confronting and challenges are increasing as the

count faces a projection of 50 percent population to be residing in urban areas by 2030, the water experts said.

They emphasized on promoting such easy accessible water quality testing services countrywide to ensure people can maintain water quality throughout its collection to consumption cycle. l

6

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Nation

Monday, February 16, 2015

Shortage of judges, infrastructure hampering trials n Our Correspondent, Chandpur Judicial activities of Chandpur District and Sessions Judges’ Court and Chief Judicial Magistrate Court are being hampered to a great extent due to the shortage of judges and inadequate infrastructure.

This has hindered access to justice and caused a huge backlog of cases for the district residents, especially the poor. Many people have been waiting for years to get their cases settled.

According to court sources, there are at least 14 thousand cases pending at the district and session judges’ court, 10 thousand at the chief judicial magistrate court and 1500 cases at the Nari o Shishu. Nirjaton Domon Tribunal.

Chandpur was announced a district in 1984 and the district court was established during the British period.

Since then there has not been any ma-

‘We have written to the government to fill up the empty posts. Also, creation of new courts, such as the land survey court, has added to the misery’ jor development in the infrastructure of the system. Space constraint, mostly for court rooms, is a major deterrent to an effective judiciary.

Compared to the requirement of 22 judges, there are now 14 judges serving at the district and session court and the court of chief judicial magistrate.

Moreover, additional district judge and chief judicial magistrate were recently transferred after promotion.

But no one has been appointed in those posts yet leading to the increase of case backlog.

The post of Joint District Judge – 1 has been vacant for about two years now. And the number of cases at this court is now almost 7000.

Abdul Gani of Shahrasti upazila said: “I have been fighting a case since 2001.

But even after all these years, I am yet to get a verdict. I am an innocent man. I pull a rickshaw to earn my livelihood. It has become very difficult for me to bear the legal expense for such a long time. I

am getting tired of it.”

Another applicant Anwar Hossain of Sadar upazila said his case was almost settled and now he was waiting for the verdict. “But its been more than a month and I am yet to get the verdict.

It’s ironical because this was supposed to be a speedy trial tribunal.”

He added that many courts did not have judges. And most of the times the judges are not present in the Hajiganj or Kochua courts.

Kabir Hossain Pradhania of Hajiganj shared his experience: “The court gives dates one after another. But there is never a judge on that date. This has been going on for the last six months.

This is draining my money as well as my energy. I am really worried.”

The lawyers, however, said despite their utmost efforts and will, delivering cases has been stuck due to shortage of judges, court rooms, witness problem, transfer of employees and other legal complications.

Prosecutor of Chandpur court Md Ruhul Amin Sarkar said: “We have already urged the government to construct a building for the chief judicial magistrate and expand the district court building. The government has allotted a land for the building of chief judicial magistrate. But the construction work could not begin due to funding problem. Also, efforts are also made to finish the construction work of the second floor of the district court.”

Asked the about the judges’ shortage, Md Ruhul Amin said the issue was a temporary one. “We have written to the government to fill up the empty posts. Also, creation of new courts, such as the land survey court, has added to the misery.”

Meanwhile, parliament member of Chandpur – 2 constituency and Minister of Disaster Management and Relief, Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya, has assured of resolving all the crisis facing the judiciary of the district.

At the meeting with the newly elected executive members of the Chandpur District Bar Association, Maya said he was unaware of the situation.

“Now that I know, I will try my best to resolve them as soon as possible. I will request the law minister to visit Chandpur, if needed. Also, I will try to set up an appointment with the Prime Minister for the new bar council body.” l

Locals collect tomatoes spread around the train tracks at Baharampur level crossing in Rajshahi city yesterday morning. The tomatoes spilt on the road when the truck carrying them tried to go around the crossing barrier and got rammed by a Chapainawabganj-bound train on late Saturday night AZAHAR UDDIN

Four drug addicts jailed in Gaibandha n

Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

A mobile court in the district yesterday sentenced four drug addicts to 15 days of imprisonment each on charge of taking hemp.

Sources said on a tip off, a team of police from Bamondanga outpost conducted raid at Talkuk Sarbananda village in the afternoon and arrested Matiar Rahman, son of Meheraz Ali, Moksed Ali, son of Tasar Ali, Rafiqul Islam, son of Nasu Sheikh, and Ful Miah, son of Gias Uddin of Talkuk Sarbananda village of Sundarganj upazila while they were taking hemp.

Later, the arrested were produced before the court of executive magistrate and acting UNO AKM Rashedul Haque Prodhan who handed down the verdict after examining the witnesses.

M Mojammel Haque, officer-incharge of Sundarganj police station said the convicts were sent to jail. l

Tongi hospital rife with irregularities n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

A section of employees at Tongi Government Hospital are allegedly involved in massive financial irregularities, pocketing lakhs of taka every day.

The irregularities at the 50-bed hospital involve exaggerating the daily amount of patient foods and selling medicines supplied by the government at no cost outside the facility.

Apart from medicines, syrup, tablets, injections, liquid saline, contraceptive pills, bandage, surgical suture and blood test kits are also sold in markets outside the hospital.

Requesting anonymity, a grade III employee of the hospital claimed that the resident medical officer, emergency medical officer, head clerk, head nurse, storekeeper and several grade IV workers are involved in all the anomalies.

On Saturday, the supplier was asked to supply lunch for 44 old patients admitted to the hospital but only 22 of

Two killed in road accident in Munshiganj n Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

Two army men and a police constable were injured in a blast while defusing bombs in the district yesterday.

SP Anisur Rahman said the explosion took place at Kotwali police station around 12:30pm.

The injured were identified as Sergeant Babar of the army’s engineering core, soldier Korban and police constable Zafar.

They were admitted to the Combined Military Hospital in Jessore cantonment, Kotwali police Officer-inCharge Enamul Haque said.

Sub-Inspector Solaiman said an army team came to defuse bombs recovered during police raids.

The lower parts of the bodies of the three were perforated with splinters in the blast, he added. l

The local administration awarded four ansar members with Tk5,000 each yesterday for detaining a saboteur red handed while unplugging fish plates from the Dhaka-Rajshahi rail tracks in Kaliakoir upazila.

The awardees are Ahsan Habib, Jamal Uddin, Rois Uddin and Khalilur Rahman.

Kaliakoir Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Habibur Rahman gave away the prize, which declared by the local deputy commissioner, to the four on its premises in the morning.

Ansar and VDP Gazipur Commandant Mir Alamgir Hossain said the ansar members detained a saboteur red handed while he along with 5-6 others was plucking out fish plates from rail tracks in Matikata area around 7:30pm.

Kaliakoir police station SI Masud Alam said a case was launched against the saboteur under terrorism act. l

NEWS IN BRIEF 2 arrested with firearm, ammo Rapid Action Battalion in a drive arrested two alleged terrorists and recovered a foreign made revolver and 26 bullets from Chanpara Bzar area under Panchbibi upazila of the district early yesterday. The arrested were Rakibul, 36, son of Rafikul of Sutrapur area and Mehebubur Litu, 39, son of late Khaibur Ali of Fuldighi area in Bogra district. On a tip-off, a team of the elite force conducted the drive in the area at about 2.45 am and arrested the duo with the arm and bullets while they were coming from Gaibandha, said Abdur Rahim, Joypurhat camp commander of RAB. A case was filed in this connection.

– Our Correspondent, Joypurhat

Two people including a cop were killed and three others injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a private car on the Dhaka-Mawa Highway in Sreenagar upazila yesterday.

The deceased were identified as car passenger Abdur Razzque, 42, a constable of Ramna police station in the capital, and driver Abdus Salam, 40.

Sergeant Monir Hossain of Hashara Highway police outpost said the accident had taken place when a Dhaka-bound bus of Sundarban Paribahan collided head on with a private car bound for Mawa in Kamarkhola area, killing the two on the spot.

Abdur Razzaque alongwith his family members was going to village home on information of his mother’s death news, he added. l

Three injured while defusing bombs in Jessore n Our Correspondent, Jessore

them were provided with food at noon.

A fake voucher was prepared showing the cost of food for the remaining 22 patients while the money was pocketed by the supplier, Shahjahan, and the dishonest members of the hospital staff.

Patients have also alleged that they are given stale and sub-standard foods.

But the resident medical officer of the hospital, Mahbubur Rahman Chowdhury, strenuously denied the allegation, claiming that all 44 patients were provided with lunch.

“Some of them have been discharged but others are in their beds.

Besides, patients may raise numerous allegations but there is no point in believing all those,” he added.

Civil Surgeon in Gazipur, Anisur Rahman, told the Dhaka Tribune he had heard the allegations before and would soon carry out an investigation.

“Actions will certainly be taken if anyone is found guilty,” he added. l

Four Ansars awarded for catching saboteur n Our Correspondent, Gazipur

197 bottles of Indian wine recovered Members of Border Guard Bangladesh recovered 197 bottles of Indian wine from Laksmibazar area in Jakiganj upazila early yesterday. BGB sources said on a tip-off, a patrol team of the border force conducted a drive in the area and recovered the 197 bottles of Indian wine at about 2:30 am. However, no one was arrested in this connection.

-Our Correspondent, Sylhet

AL leader’s house looted Robbers looted valuables from the house of an Awami League leader at Sultanpur in the district early yesterday. SI Sakhawat Hossain of Sadar police station said a gang of armed robbers, numbering 10-12, stormed the house of former district AL joint general secretary Sheikh Sayeed Uddin around 3am by breaking open the door and held the house inmates hostage at gunpoint. They bagged 12 tolas of gold ornaments, Tk1 lakh and other valuables from the house.

– Our Correspondent, Satkhira

Members of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad’s Panchagarh unit hold a human chain and a rally near the district Shaheed Minar yesterday demanding immediate withdrawal of the non-stop blockade and hartal programmes to stop political violence and hampering exam schedule DHAKA TRIBUNE

Hospital vandalised over patient’s death in Narsingdi n

Our Correspondent, Narsingdi

Family members of a woman, who died after giving birth a baby through undergoing a surgery operation, vandalised a private hospital in Basail area of the district town yesterday blaming negligence in treatment.

The untoward incident took place at Dastogir Medical Centre and Hospital around 10am.

The victim’s husband Rasel Sheikh said he got admitted his wife Rausnara Joly, 30, to the hospital with la-

bour pain on Saturday afternoon and around 6pm its two physicians, namely Saiful Islam and Helena Halim, run a surgery operation to give birth a female baby.

After some time, Joly started vomiting blood and in the evening she was shifted to Shuhrauardy Heart Disease Institute as her condition deteriorated, where she died around 4am on the following day.

Being infuriated by the incident, kith and kins of Joly run vandalism in the hospital. Being informed, police

rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

However, none from the hospital authorities could be reached despite repeated attempts for any remarks in this regard.

When asked, Sadar police station SI Tutul confirmed the incident, saying they visited the spot where a necessary number of policemen were also deployed to fend off any untoward incident further.

However, he could not state the reason behind the patient’s death. l

One held with Indian currency Border Guard Bangladesh arrested a young man along with 2.27 lakh Indian currency from Sonamasjid frontier area in Shibganj upazila yesterday. BGB-9 battalion director Abu Zafar Sheikh Mohammad Bazlul Haque said a patrol team of the border force, led by Subedar Shamsur Rahman, arrested Rabiul Rabiul Islam, 26, son of Forman Ali, a resident of Chandipur village in Chatrajitpur union around 4pm in possession of 2,27 Indian rupees.

– Our Correspondent, Chapainawabganj

Juba League activist receives bullet injuries in Natore A Juba League activist received bullet injuries in Mollikhati area of the district yesterday.

The injured was identified as Sajib Hossain, son of Bulbul Koshai. Witnesses said a group of miscreants entered the house of Sajib and shot him around 2:30pm, leaving him critically injured. He was sent to Sadar Hospital. Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sadar thana, said we have got information about the attackers.

– Our Correspondent, Natore

1 killed in Magura clash A mna was killed and five others were injured in a clash between two rival groups of Bhatra village under Mohammadpur upazila of the district yesterday. The victim was Azad Sheikh, 35, son of Majed Sheikh, hailed from Palla village. The clash ensued centering the annual sports of Nagripara Madrasha of Dhiga union. None was arrested in this connection.

– Our Correspondent, Magura

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Climate Change

Communicating climate change solutions

A

n Saleemul Huq

‘It is therefore time for the media in Bangladesh to up their game in terms of not just covering the climate change problem, but also the myriad solutions being developed by different actors around Bangladesh’

wareness of the climate change problem is now at an all time high all over the world. In Bangladesh, the level of awareness of climate change is relatively higher than in many other countries. This awareness now needs to be translated into knowledge and actions on the solutions of the problem. The government, as well as different non-governmental actors, in Bangladesh are all engaged in tackling different aspects of the climate change problem from their respective positions. Thus, the different sectoral ministries such as agriculture, water, health, energy, etc, are all now implementing actions to tackle climate change. Similarly, the major ministries such as Planning and Finance are also now beginning to mainstream climate change planning and finance.

At the same time, the research community is very active and has formed a collective initiative called Gobeshona (Bangla for “research”) and have a web portal – www.gobeshona.net – as well as a monthly seminar series and annual conference every January.

The NGOs have also been very active in developing a consortium of fif-

teen major NGOs around a common program called Action Research on Climate Adaptation in Bangladesh (www. arcab.net ) and will be holding the 10th International Conference on Community Based Adaptation (CBA10) in Bangladesh early next year.

Even the private sector has become involved in tackling aspects of the climate change problem related to insurance and salt and drought-tolerant seeds distribution. The media, both electronic as well a print, in English as well as Bangla, is also very good at covering climate change issues in Bangladesh with the Bangladesh Television program called “Amrai Pari” ( we can do it ourselves) prepared by BBC Media Action as a flagship program seen by many millions of people. It is therefore time for the media in Bangladesh to up their game in terms of not just covering the climate change problem, but also the myriad solutions being developed by different actors around Bangladesh.

It is therefore, with great pride that the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) along with the Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), and the International Institute for Environment and development (IIED) based in the United

Kingdom are entering into an agreement with the Dhaka Tribune to help them publish a fortnightly climate change page as well as occasional features in their weekend magazine. These feature length articles and information will be published each fortnight and talk about various themes and sectors affected by climate change including community-based-adaptation, adaptation technology, renewable energy, health, and many others. In addition to being published in the daily newspaper, the articles will also remain in their website where, over time, they should become a valuable repository of articles of interest to people.

Finally, while we will be curating the page on behalf of Dhaka Tribune we do not wish to monopolise the articles that we provide to them, so we welcome submissions of proposals for articles to us, which we would be happy to provide guidance on how to turn into publishable articles.

We hope readers of Dhaka Tribune and visitors to their website will find these articles on the solutions to climate change useful as well as interesting. l Saleemul Huq is Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (www.icccad.net ) at the Independent University, Bangladesh.

7

Monday, February 16, 2015

B

Knowledge into action

angladesh has been on the front lines of climate change for a long time. It is good to see the many steps we have taken so far to address this dire challenge.

The Dhaka Tribune, then, is pleased to launch its fortnightly climate change page to better serve our readers, and bring more attention to one of the most pressing issues of the current century.

We are thrilled to have the International Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University, Bangladesh as partner, and to be able to bring out this page in collaboration with them.

This page is just one instance of our partnership with ICCCAD in our commitment to bring this burning issue to our readers. We hope that increased knowledge and awareness about climate change will translate into the kind of action that helps us combat this problem while we still can.

Zafar Sobhan Editor

What does the IPCC report say about climate change in Bangladesh? n Dr Helena Wright The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessment of climate change. In the most recent report, Bangladesh was identified as being at particular risk from climate change as it is in a low-lying coastal region with regular cyclones. Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute to the reports, and last year I had the opportunity to contribute to one chapter.

Overall, the report covers the impacts of climate change but also includes many examples of solutions.

By 2050, Bangladesh’s population at risk of sea level rise is predicted to rise to 27 million. Under a scenario with high emissions, global mean sea levels could be almost a metre higher by the end of the century. Climate change also poses risks for food security. The report says under a scenario of low crop productivity, Bangladesh could experience a net increase of poverty of 15% by 2030. In terms of heat stress for rice crops, current temperatures are already approaching critical levels during susceptible stages of the rice plant during March-June.

Vulnerability to cyclones is expected to increase, but there are opportunities to adapt. Together, Bangladesh and India have the rarest and most severe tropical storms categories in the world. In the report, it is estimated that Bangladesh lost an estimated 5.9% of its GDP to storms from 1998 to 2009.

Climate change impacts also pose a threat to health. Diseases like cholera and diarrhoea have been linked to high temperatures. A study in Dhaka reported increased rates of hospital due to dengue with both high and low river levels. Climate disasters also affect mental health, causing stress and tension.

The particular vulnerability of women to climate change was highlighted. For instance, often women do not learn to swim

and so are more vulnerable to flood risks.

In coastal areas, an increase in hypertension (blood pressure) has been identified in pregnant women. This can be linked to the intrusion of salty water which could worsen in future.

The report also featured many examples from Bangladesh of coping strategies to deal with climate disasters like flooding.

A study in Korail, one of Dhaka’s largest informal settlements, showed a range of household responses to flooding, including placing barriers across door fronts and using portable cookers, as well as creepers growing on roofs to keep down temperatures.

The study also included featured examples of community-based adaptation in Bangladesh. Community-based adaptation is a bottom-up approach to adapting to climate change which involves local communities. Measures in Bangladesh included salt-tolerant crop cultivation, crab fattening, and flood early warning systems, to name a few.

Bangladesh’s early warning system is world-renowned. In the Chapter on Asia, the IPCC report noted that cyclone Sidr led to around 3,400 deaths in Bangladesh in 2007. This has been compared to the situation in neighbouring Myanmar in 2008 after cyclone Nargis, which despite being of similar strength to Sidr, caused over 138,000 fatalities. The lower number of fatalities in Bangladesh compared to Myanmar can be linked to Bangladesh’s effective early warning system, as well the coastal volunteer network and reforestation of mangroves. Therefore, there may be various lessons that other countries can learn from the experience of Bangladesh. l Dr Helena Wright is based at Imperial College London and has been a visiting researcher at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Dhaka. She contributed to Chapter 14 of Working Group II of the IPCC Report.

A locked rainwater harvesting tank in a village by the Sundarbans. The area has high salinity A man leaving his crab fattening gher in a village in Munishgonj. The high salinity in the even in its groundwater reserves, so rainwater is stored in these tanks and its distribution is area makes crab and shrimp cultivation the only suitable livelihood option regulated by local authorities SYED TASFIQ MAHMOOD SYED TASFIQ MAHMOOD

Global warming may result in ‘Climate Wars’ n Zeeshan Hasan One possible location for conflict identified

by Dyer is South Asia.

Due to global warming, the overall climate of the region is likely to become more dry and arid. This could spark increasing tension between India and Pakistan over the water in their shared rivers

“Climate Wars: The Fight For Survival As The World Heats Up” by Gwynne Dyer investigates the worst case scenarios of global warming, via studies done by and interviews of risk-assessment professionals at the Pentagon and defense-related think tanks. Unfortunately, it does not make for reassuring reading. As the world heats up, the tropical and sub-tropical regions of Asia, Africa, Central America and South America are likely to become hotter and more arid; this is likely to decrease agricultural productivity and food production in these densely populated regions. The outcome could be a new age of warfare.

One possible location for conflict identified by Dyer is South Asia. Many of Pakistan’s rivers are reliant on sources in the Indian Himalayas. Due to global warming, the overall climate of the region is likely to become more dry and arid. This could spark increasing tension between India and Pakistan over the water in their shared rivers, possi-

bly ultimately resulting in warfare between these two nuclear-armed states.

This analysis also holds true for India and Bangladesh; however, since Bangladesh is not a nuclear power, the prospect of meaningful warfare between these two countries is not seen as a realistic or large threat by Pentagon planners, and not discussed in Dyer’s book.

As frightening as the possibility of an India-Pakistan war is the possibility of a Russia-China war. China is likely to become hotter and drier as global warming progresses. This is likely to affect water availability and agriculture, a major concern for a country of over a billion people. This may fuel expansionism on the part of China with the goal of controlling more land for food production. Any such expansionism might result in warfare with Russia, the dominant power among the ex-Soviet republics in the region.

These concerns seem remote in today’s world, where the worst case scenario for a bad crop in any country is increased food imports. However, the worst case scenarios of global warming

inevitably involve a hotter, drier globe with less productive agriculture closer to the equator. In this scenario, it is not clear where the required shortfall in food will be produced, and whether there will be enough to go around. It seems that we may be living in an age of plenty which will be cut short by climate change. Life on a warmed globe means an age of scarcity, and increased risks of conflict.

By far the best outcome for everyone would be if governments around the world prevented global warming by real measures to cut carbon dioxide emissions. This requires taxes on fossil fuel use, and reinvesting the tax proceeds in renewable energy such as solar and wind power. Unfortunately, the governments of the world are still dragging their feet rather than taking real action.

Further delay could well doom us to a future of climate warfare. l Zeeshan Hasan holds a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and is author of the website www. goodbyebangladesh.blogspot.com

The importance of climate change knowledge n Casey Williams

Climate change is perhaps the most complex problem human beings have ever faced. It unfolds over long periods of time and large stretches of earth. It involves ecological processes that scientists do not fully grasp. It alters not just the earth’s climate, but also social and political systems. To understand it, we have to become detectives and clairvoyants. We have to learn how to study the past and predict the future. Despite its complexity, climate change is a problem that we must try to understand. Without a nuanced sense of how climate change works, we cannot take actions to limit, prepare for and adapt to its effects.

In general, knowledge allows people to make more informed decisions about how to prepare for and respond to change. When we have a more complete picture of a problem, we are better able to determine which actions

are likely to solve that problem most effectively. Importantly, understanding a problem like climate change does not lead us to any predetermined solutions. Rather, improving our climate change knowledge allows us to make better decisions about how to respond to change in ways that will be good for us and our communities.

Having a robust understanding of climate change allows us to identify root causes, predict changes that are likely to occur in the future, and come up with effective strategies for dealing with climate-related problems. Knowledge also enables the poor and vulnerable to communicate their needs and vulnerabilities to those with more decision-making power. Improving access to knowledge can, in this way, give people traditionally denied political power a voice in global conversations about climate change.

But what do we mean when we talk about “knowledge”? Climate change in-

volves a huge number of different processes, and drawing a boundary around a certain body of knowledge inevitably excludes useful pieces of information.

We believe, however, that people – especially people in positions of political or social authority – ought to understand the basic science behind climate change.

Without this kind of elemental scientific knowledge, developing long-term solutions can be difficult. But climate change is more than carbon and coral bleaching.

It involves complex interactions between natural and human systems, and understanding the human dimension of climate change is perhaps as important as understanding its environmental features.

As climate change researchers, we have always believed that the knowledge we produce can help people to deal with the problems that climate change creates. We now want to know if that belief is justified. To that end, we are undertaking a study to examine the relationship

between how much someone knows about climate change and his or her ability to adapt. We hope that, at the end of the research, we will be able to rank individuals, communities, organizations and even nations on a “knowledge scale.”

Doing so will allow us to identify gaps in knowledge and discover ways to help people and groups improve their understanding of the problems they face. We have already begun the research, and our preliminary paper will appear in “Nature Climate Change” in February.

Climate change is a complicated issue. But it is something we have to wrap our heads around if we hope to deal with its effects in a way that preserves wellbeing, protects dignity, and ensures justice. l Casey Williams is a Visiting Researcher at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development and a graduate of Duke University.

This page has been developed in collaboration with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and its partners Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

This page represents the views and experiences of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Dhaka Tribune or ICCCAD or its partners.

8

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

Monday, February 16, 2015

Copenhagen police believe killed ‘gunman’ after two attacks

Huthis refuse to cede Yemen power in the face of ‘threats’ n AFP, Sanaa

Investigative personnel work at the scene of a cafe shooting in Oesterbro, Copenhagen yesteday. Danish police shot and killed the man in Copenhagen yesterday they believe was responsible for two deadly attacks at an event promoting freedom of speech and on a synagogue REUTERS

n AFP, Copenhagen Copenhagen police said yesterday they believe a man shot dead by officers was responsible for two fatal attacks that shocked the normally peaceful Danish capital.

The killings, coming little more than a month after bloody Islamist attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead, were described by Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt as “a cynical act of terror.”

The man believed to be behind the assaults was shot dead after he opened fire on police officers near a rail station, a spokesman said, without giving details about his identity.

It came after a 55-year-old man was killed at a panel discussion about Islam and free speech on Saturday attended by the Swedish cartoonist behind controversial caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

In the second attack, a young Jewish man was killed outside Copenhagen’s main synagogue early yesterday.

Five police officers were wounded in the two attacks.

“We believe the same man was behind both shootings and we also believe that the perpetrator who was shot by the police action force at Noerrebro station is the person behind the two attacks,” senior police official Torben Moelgaard Jensen told a press conference.

The first lethal attacks on Danish soil in decades were branded “deplorable” by the United States and triggered condemnation around the world.

‘Day of sorrow’

“We have tried the ugly taste of fear and powerlessness which terror hopes to create,” Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt told a briefing, saying Denmark was experiencing “a day of sorrow.”

“We will defend our democracy and we will defend Denmark at any time,” she said.

Lars Vilks, whose controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed sparked worldwide protests in 2007, had been among the speakers at the Krudttoenden cultural centre when a man opened fire Saturday.

The killing of the suspected perpetrator capped a massive police manhunt launched after the gunman fled the scene following both shootings.

The shootout took place shortly before dawn in the neighbourhood of Noerrebro, where police had been keeping an address under observation.

Police said video surveillance had led them to believe that the man killed by armed police was behind both attacks, but that they were still investigating whether he was acting alone.

Night of fear

The shooting came at the end of a night of fear that had gripped the city of about one million, which had been spared major attacks in recent years.

The central area of Copenhagen that is home to both the synagogue and Noerreport station, the country’s busiest rail hub, was cordoned off by police carrying machine guns.

Netanyahu urges Jews to move to Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday urged European Jews to move to Israel after a Jewish man was killed in an attack outside Copenhagen’s main synagogue, reports AFP. “Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe,” Netanyahu said in a statement, repeating a similar call made after bloody attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris last month that killed 17 people, including four Jews.

Swedish security services told AFP they were on alert for any attempt by a suspect to cross the bridge linking Denmark with Sweden.

Increased controls introduced at the border with Germany were relaxed after the killing of the suspected perpetrator, Denmark’s TV2 reported.

Michael Gelvan, chairman of the Nordic Jewish Security Council, told AFP the victim at the synagogue was a young Jewish man who had been providing security for a ceremony.

Danish police had released a photo of the suspect in the cultural centre attack, wearing a black puffer jacket and a maroon balaclava and carrying a black bag.

Spectre of Charlie Hebdo attack

The windows of the cultural centre were pockmarked by bullet holes, and the BBC released chilling audio of the moment a speaker at the event was in-

terrupted by a volley of gunshots.

France’s ambassador to Denmark, Francois Zimeray, who was present at the debate but was unhurt, told AFP the shooting was an attempt to replicate the January 7 attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris.

“They shot from the outside (and) had the same intention as Charlie Hebdo, only they didn’t manage to get in,” he said.

“Intuitively I would say there were at least 50 gunshots, and the police here are saying 200,” he said.

“Bullets went through the doors and everyone threw themselves to the floor.”

Charlie Hebdo has, like Vilks, angered Islamist extremists by publishing cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed and frequently satirises Islam.

‘We’re all Danish tonight’

Police initially said two suspects had fled the cultural centre in a Volkswagen Polo. The car was found abandoned around two hours after the attack.

Before the presumed attacker was shot dead, the Danish premier said: “Everything leads us to believe that the shooting was a political attack and therefore a terrorist act.”

The shootings come at a time of heightened security and rising fears of Islamist violence in Europe.

Dozens of suspected jihadists have been arrested across Europe since mid-January and stocks of weapons and explosives have been uncovered.

Vilks has been living under police protection after his controversial cartoons prompted death threats. l

The Shiite militia that seized power in Sanaa said yesterday it will not cave in to “threats” after Yemen’s Gulf neighbours urged the UN to act forcefully against its takeover.

“The Yemeni people won’t cede power in the face of threats,” spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said, quoted by the official Saba news agency, which the Shiite Huthi militia now controls.

Abdulsalam insisted that Yemenis were “engaged in a process of self-determination free of any (foreign) tutelage.”

Yemen’s Gulf neighbours on Saturday urged the international community to act forcefully over the deteriorating security situation in the Arabian Peninsula country, including possible military intervention.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to adopt a resolution yesterday urging the Huthis to step aside, release government officials and begin UN-brokered negotiations, diplomats said.

Calling for the Huthis to act “immediately and unconditionally,” the draft resolution demands they “withdraw their forces from government institutions... and relinquish government and security institutions.”

The Huthis seized Sanaa in September before tightening their grip and prompting Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to tender his resignation.

They dissolved parliament and installed a “presidential council” to run Yemen on February 6, sparking security concerns that saw several Arab and Western countries close their embassies and evacuate diplomats.

Yesterday the militia spokesman denounced as “provocative blackmail” demands for the Huthis to relinquish power.

The withdrawal of ambassadors “reflects the panic that has hit some political forces which aren’t betting on the people ... and their dignity, but on foreign” countries, said Abdulsalam.

“These embassies are here to oversee the interests of their own countries and not those of the (Yemeni) people,” he added.

Among the countries that have closed their embassies and pulled out their staff are Britain, France, Germany and the United States. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have taken similar action.

Yemen is home to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, regarded by the United States as the network’s deadliest branch and which claimed a January 7 attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 12 people were killed.

The country has seen a rise in unrest since an Arab Spring-inspired uprising forced former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down in February 2012.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that Yemen is falling apart and called for Hadi to be reinstated. l

Patriot London mayor Johnson plans to ditch American passport n AFP, London London’s flamboyant mayor Boris Johnson plans to renounce his US citizenship to prove his “commitment to Britain,” the yesterday Times reported, although he denied suggestions he wanted to become prime minister during last week’s visit to the US. The mop-haired Johnson, who was born in New York in 1964, holds British and US passports.

He recently settled a capital gains tax bill sent by the US after he sold his house in north London, calling the demand “absolutely outrageous.”

All US citizens have to pay tax to Washington, even if they live outside the country.

But Johnson told the newspaper that his intention to renounce his US passport was due to patriotic reasons, although admitted the process may not be straightforward.

He said his US passport was “an accident of birth” and that he had to “find a way of sorting it out” with US ambassador Matthew Barzun.

“The reason I’m thinking I probably will want to make a change is that my commitment is, and always has been, to Britain,” he added.

“They (the Americans) don’t make it easy for you.”

Johnson hopes to make a return to British national politics in May’s general election, standing for a seat in the London suburbs, opening the way for a push for the top job.

Although not an insurmountable obstacle, constitutional experts warn that dual citizenship could throw up difficulties in any bid to become prime minister.

During his recent six-day visit to Boston, New York and Washington – officially billed as a trip to strengthen US ties with London, but seen as many as a chance to raise his international profile – Johnson insisted he had “no ambition” to replace David Cameron as Conservative leader and prime minister.

“It may be that some babe unborn will take over from Prime Minister Cameron, but it isn’t going to be me,” he told reporters in Washington. l

Ukraine rebels disavow ceasefire at encircled town

Erdogan sparks fears for Turkish economy with unorthodox views

n Reuters, Donetsk/Artemivsk

n AFP, Istanbul

Ukraine’s rebels disavowed a new truce yesterday hours after it took effect, saying it did not apply to the town where most fighting has taken place in recent weeks.

Guns fell abruptly silent at midnight across much of eastern Ukraine in line with the ceasefire agreement, reached after a week of marathon diplomacy led by France and Germany.

But pro-Russian rebels announced they would not observe the truce at Debaltseve, where Ukraine army forces have been encircled.

“Of course we can open fire (on Debaltseve). It is our territory,” Eduard Basurin, a senior rebel commander, told Reuters.

“The territory is internal: ours. And internal is internal. But along the line of confrontation there is no shooting.”

It was unclear what impact that disavowal would have across the battle zone, where the emphasis was mostly on ensuring the truce would stick. Both sides said their forces had stopped shooting and blamed what firing there was on the enemy.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the truce must be implemented “unconditionally” as agreed on Thursday, but made no mention of whether

Moscow believes the ceasefire applies to Debaltseve. He declined to comment on Basurin’s remarks.

Reuters journalists in nearby towns heard volleys of artillery from the direction of Debaltseve in the morning after a night that had been mostly quiet.

Ukrainian forces have for weeks been holding out in the town, which sits astride a railway junction in a pocket between the two main rebel strongholds.

Rebels say they have completed the encirclement of the town, leaving it effectively in their hands. But Ukraine says its forces are still inside and have kept open a road to resupply it in the face of a Russian-backed onslaught.

“In the past 24 hours, a mobile group of pro-Russian fighters under the support of artillery fire continuously tried to encircle Debaltseve,” Kiev military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. Ukrainian forces foiled their plans, he said.

Washington says Russia’s regular military, armed with tanks and missile launchers, carried out an operation in the days before the truce to encircle Debaltseve.

Reuters journalists operating on the rebel side have seen armoured columns of troops without insignia arriving in the area in recent days.

Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine the ceasefire was met by abrupt silence at midnight. Reuters journalists in Donetsk, the main rebel stronghold, said artillery bombardment halted and they heard no firing overnight, after intense final hours before the ceasefire when shells had exploded every few seconds.

A Reuters photographer in government-held territory also said constant bombardment had halted overnight, although he heard a volley of artillery around 7 a.m. from the direction of Debaltseve.

The Ukrainian military said yesterday morning that the ceasefire was being “generally observed”. Its forces had been shelled 10 times since the truce took effect in “localised” incidents. Nine of its soldiers were killed on Saturday but none since the truce took effect, a spokesman said yesterday morning.

Hennadiy Moskal, the head of the Kiev-controlled administration for Luhansk, one of the rebellious provinces, said most hot spots had been quiet but a complete ceasefire had not come into effect.

A Ukrainian staff officer stationed near Debaltseve said: “The general level (of attacks) has decreased, although there are violations.” l

Concerns are growing over the health of the Turkish economy, long seen as a star performer among emerging markets, partly due to unorthodox statements by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on economic policy that have rattled investors.

Turkey’s economic success of the past decade has been one of the pillars of the undefeated electoral success of Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), with robust foreign investment and solid growth rates.

But economists now fear Turkey could be heading for an era of much lower sub-three percent growth as the AKP loses its reformist zeal ahead of June legislative elections, and Erdogan concentrates powers around the presidency after moving from the job of prime minister to head of state in August.

Moreover, Erdogan has become embroiled in a sometimes farcical row with the central bank, repeatedly telling the nominally independent institution in ever more heated terms to aggressively cut interest rates despite plus seven percent inflation.

His comments unnerved markets and Turkey’s already embattled lira this week, for the first time, fell in val-

ue to the 2.50 lira against the dollar.

“At the moment, it’s not clear whether this is posturing ahead of the election or more serious. But it does raise more general concerns about institutional independence in Turkey,” William Jackson, senior economist at the Capital Economics consultancy in London, told AFP.

‘Undermining the future’

Erdogan has in particular raised eyebrows by suggesting that high interest rates lead to high inflation, a suggestion that flies in the face of all economic orthodoxy which assumes that lowering interest rates increases inflation by raising consumer demand.

“Interest rate is a cause and inflation the result. But some of our friends think it is vice versa. What is the logic behind this?” Erdogan said before leaving on a trip to Latin America this week.

Central Bank governor Erdem Basci, who has stood defiant in the row with Erdogan, pointedly noted that high inflation is detrimental to growth and “the best contribution to growth from a central bank would be to maintain price stability.”

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, one of the few top AKP figures with the full respect of markets, meanwhile

warned about making exchange rate policies the “subject of daily political polemics.”

Erdal Saglam, economics commentator for the Hurriyet daily, said that Erdogan’s approach was “undermining Turkey’s economic and political future” by risking scaring away the foreign investment that is key to its economic success.

In a sign of the tensions, the Taraf daily said Babacan had threatened to resign over the growing influence of Erdogan’s advisor Yigit Bulut but was talked out of it by colleagues.

The whole issue is coming to a head as Turkey presides over the G20 group of top economies for the first time, with Babacan this week in Istanbul chairing the first meetings of finance ministers and central bank chiefs.

‘Miracle over’

Turkey under Erdogan was long seen as a poster child for economic emerging market success, but these days the country is lumped into the so-called “fragile five” emerging markets along with Brazil, India, South Africa and Indonesia, which have become overly dependent on foreign investment.

“It’s fair to say that the ‘economic miracle’ seen during the 2000s has come to an end,” said Jackson. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

World

9

Monday, February 16, 2015

Myanmar army kills a dozen ethnic rebels in firefight n AFP, Yangon

Around a dozen ethnic rebels have been killed in a firefight with Myanmar troops and a further eight captured after renewed clashes in northern Myanmar near the Chinese border, state media said yesterday.

Myanmar’s military has for several days carried out airstrikes and ground assaults on rebel positions in retaliation for an attack last week on a key army headquarters in the Kokang region.

That assault, on the main city of Laukkai, left dozens of soldiers dead in some of the heaviest recent clashes between government forces and rebel groups anywhere in a nation riddled with ethnic insurgencies.

On Saturday morning government troops clashed with Kokang “renegade groups” who had “infiltrated” Laukkai, state-run the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

After fighting ended in the evening the military seized nearly 100 “small weapons ... and 13 bodies of the armed group,” the report said, adding a further eight seriously wounded rebels were detained.

Authorities said unrest flared in Kokang, Shan State, on February 9 shattering nearly six years of relative calm, in a serious blow to the quasi-civilian

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

Clear accounts of a week of conflict in the mountainous, remote Kokang area bordering China are hard to ascertain.

An unknown number of people have fled the Kokang unrest, with those of ethnic Chinese origin crossing the border into China, while some have made their way to the northern Shan city of Lashio.

Between 300-400 Burmese refugees from the fighting were expected later yesterday in Lashio, an unnamed official at the Information Ministry told AFP, joining around 500 who have arrived since Friday.

The Kokang rebels have been joined by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)and the powerful Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which have both continued to battle the government’s forces in other areas of Shan and nearby Kachin states.

It is unclear what provoked the latest round of violence, which coincided with the country’s celebrations of its symbolic Union Day Thursday.

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. l

People who fled from conflict areas near the Myanmar and Chinese border arrive on a truck at a temporary refugee camp at a monastery in Lashio, northern Myanmar yesterday AFP

Pakistan frees 172 Indian fishermen

Australians sickened, PM warns Indonesia of tough response to executions

n AFP, Karachi

n AFP, Sydney

Pakistan yesterday released 172 Indian fishermen who had been held for violating territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, officials said.

“As a goodwell gesture, we released 172 Indian fishermen today,” Muhammad Hassan Sehto, superintendent of Malir district jail in Karachi, where the fishermen were held, told AFP. The release coincided with a cricket blockbuster World Cup match between nuclear-armed arch-rivals Pakistan and India in Adelaide, Australia.

Sehto said 349 Indian inmates were still in custody, however.

Such arrests are frequently carried out by both countries as the maritime border in the Arabian Sea is poorly

defined, and many fishing boats lack the technology needed to be certain of their precise location.

The fishermen often languish in jail even after serving their terms due to poor diplomatic ties between the arch-rivals.

Sehto said the freed fishermen will travel by train to the eastern city of Lahore, from where they will be handed over to Indian authorities at Wagah, the only active border crossing between the neighbours.

Another government official in Karachi confirmed the number and release of the fishermen. It was unclear how long they had been held prior to their release.

Last month, Pakistani marine forces arrested 38 Indian fishermen after they strayed into Pakistani waters. l

Millions of Australians are “sickened” by the imminent execution of two of its citizens by Indonesia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday, warning of a tough diplomatic response.

His comments came as the families of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran made emotional last-gasp pleas to Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

“I beg him (Widodo) again and again to please forgive them and give them, both of them, a second chance,” Sukumaran’s tearful grandmother Edith Visvanathan told reporters.

A statement from the Chan family said Andrew Chan “continues to pray.”

“While there is life, there is hope.

Let them live,” it said.

No date has been set for their killing,

but Indonesia has said governments with citizens on death row have been invited to talks at the foreign ministry on Monday.

Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33, are facing execution by firing squad as early as this week as ring leaders of the so-called Bali Nine group trafficking heroin from Indonesia’s island of Bali into Australia.

While all hope appears to be lost, Abbott put pressure on Jakarta for the second day in a row.

“Millions of Australians are feeling sickened by what might be about to happen in Indonesia,” he told Channel Ten. “If these executions go ahead, and I hope they don’t, we will certainly be finding ways to make out displeasure felt.”

Brazil and The Netherlands recalled their ambassadors in protest at exe-

cutions of their citizens in January.

Abbott has not said what Canberra’s response would be.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop last week warned Jakarta that Australians could boycott Indonesia, including the island of Bali, a popular holiday spot for its travellers.

Abbott also stepped up criticism of Indonesia for trying to save its own citizens on death row in other countries for drug trafficking while rejecting pleas from Australia.

“What we are asking of Indonesia is what Indonesia asks of other countries when its citizens are on death row,” he said.

“If it’s right for Indonesia to ask and expect some kind of clemency, it’s surely right for us to ask and expect some kind of clemency.”

There are 360 Indonesians on death row around the world, including in Malaysia, Singapore, China and Saudi Arabia, Australian media reported. Of that, 230 are on drug charges.

As time runs out for Chan and Sukumaran, attorneys-general from across each of Australia’s states and territory have sent a joint letter to Indonesia’s government asking they be spared, broadcaster ABC reported.

Their families were presented yesterday with a petition signed by more than 150,000 people urging clemency.

Chan and Sukumaran, who have been on death row since 2006, claim they have been rehabilitated but lost their appeals to Widodo, who has vowed a tough approach to ending what he has called Indonesia’s “drug emergency.” l

India’s Modi says energy pledge not based on foreign pressure n AFP, New Delhi

Rescuers use machinery to remove the debris after a building that was under construction collapsed overnight, in the town of Mughalsarai, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of Uttar Pradesh’s state capital of Lucknow, India yesterday. The accident killed 13 members of a family of weavers who were sleeping on the ground floor, police said yesterday AP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday his commitment to ramping up India’s renewable energy supplies is not aimed at “impressing the world” following international pressure to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Modi, who stormed to power at May elections pledging to reform the economy, said he was determined to meet the energy needs of India, which suffers regular blackouts and is heavily reliant on polluting coal to produce electricity.

“Our stress on renewable energy is not aimed at impressing the world, but to meet the energy requirements of our people,” Modi said, as he opened a conference on renewable energy aimed at attracting foreign investment.

While India has committed to hugely expanding its solar and wind sec-

tors, it has long resisted pressure to commit to any emissions targets on the grounds that it could hamper its economy and hurt the poor.

During a visit to India last month, US President Barack Obama said the world does not “stand a chance against climate change” unless developing countries such as India reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.

But Modi has denied he is under pressure from other countries, after China and the United States announced a pact in November in the build-up to a UN climate change conference in Paris late this year.

Currently about 60% of India’s electricity comes through coal, while some 300 million people do not have access to electricity at all.

The government says it needs to attract $100 billion of investment to help achieve its ambitious goal of boosting

solar energy capacity to 100,000 megawatts by 2020.

The conference yesterday, attended by representatives from 41 countries, saw 293 local and foreign companies commit to invest in producing 266 gigawatts of renewable energy over five years.

Modi also urged Indians themselves to help save the country’s resources, including by changing their lifestyles, in a nod to a rising middle class.

“We don’t realise that we are eating into our future generations’ share of resources. We don’t realise that we our slowly destroying our natural assets.

“If there is any nation that can show ways of protecting humankind from global warming to world, it is India.

“Loving nature and living in harmony with nature is a part of India’s DNA.” l

China’s latest cyberwar: The battle for New Year train tickets n AFP, Beijing

As hundreds of millions in China flock home to celebrate the Year of the Sheep, the world’s biggest human migration places extraordinary pressure on roads and railways – but technology is offering new ways to find a route home.

Chinese tradition requires people to gather at their family home before the Lunar New Year begins – on February 19 this year – with authorities expecting more than 2.8 billion trips to be taken over the festive period.

Rail is one of the favoured ways to travel and while historically there have been endless queues at the ticket windows, China’s official train booking

website 12306.cn is helping to relieve congestion in stations and kiosks.

But with such huge demand users say it can be still be an exercise in hair-tearing frustration. Posters on social media say the booking website is “more difficult to access than the Diaoyu Islands” – the uninhabited East China Sea archipelago disputed between Beijing and Tokyo, which calls them the Senkakus.

There are, however, new tactics in the battle.

Kelly Gan, a 27-year-old accountant, explained: “I was using a program that refreshes the page every five seconds to grab a spot as soon as it was available on 12306.cn. I basically did it all day long, from when I

woke up until I slept.”

She finally managed to get her ticket from Shanghai to Chengdu, a journey of more than 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) and 39 hours. It cost her 450 yuan ($72) for a “hard sleeper” – a bed and mattress that are a far more comfortable option than the firm bench most passengers will have to endure.

1,000 tickets a second Chinese train tickets can only be bought a maximum of 60 days before departure, triggering a scramble.

All tickets are sold in the first few minutes after they become available, and purchases for this year’s festivities peaked on December 19, with 12306. cn at one point selling 1,032 tickets every second.

The next best opportunity to buy is 15 days before departure, the last date that people can secure a full refund for tickets if they are unable to use them.

Vast numbers of people initially buy tickets that are not exactly what they want, in order to have some way to get home, and then seek better alternatives.

At Shanghai railway station, more than 7,000 tickets were being returned each day, reports said in late January.

The program Gan used to secure a returned ticket was an open-source one made available for free by a lone independent developer, but major Chinese internet firms have also waded into the fray.

Chinese search giant Baidu devel-

oped software to speed up the booking process and avoid losing a ticket between booking and payment, one of the most frustrating user experiences.

The company says 18 million people have installed it, and bought 28 million tickets between them.

Web browser LieBao offers a pre-booking function, allowing users to select a ticket beforehand and sending an automatic request as soon as booking officially opens.

Digital divide

Equality of the people may be a founding principle of communism, but it does not exist in the rat race of Lunar New Year ticket purchases.

Instead runners come in two di-

visions: the Internet users who have ways to handle the booking rush, and the technologically illiterate, often poor migrant workers.

A maid in Beijing, Guo Dengxiu is one of the hundreds of millions of migrant workers who have left the countryside during China’s economic rise to seek work in the cities.

But she does not know how to use online tools, and failed to secure the ticket to return to her home in the Anhui province, 1,000 kilometres south of the capital.

“My son bought me a standing ticket. If I do not find anything else, I’ll do the 15-hour trip without a seat or on a folding stool,” she told AFP. “I have to be home for the New Year!” l

10

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Editorial

Monday, February 16, 2015

CODE-CRACKER

Join up action on climate change

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

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limate change is the biggest long-term challenge faced by Bangladesh’s economy and people.

There is growing evidence that coming decades will see it bring more extreme weather events and rising water levels. Tens of millions of people in our nation risk being displaced.

Improving resilience and the ability of people to adapt to the negative consequences of climate change has to be put at the heart of public policy. Fighting poverty and growing the economy are as vital a part of this for Bangladesh as the imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions around the world.

Bangladesh Bank’s initiative to facilitate $500m of funding to finance environmental improvements in the textile industry is a useful step in the right direction. Some of its measures could be improved, as we believe it is more effective to create incentives and set targets, rather than mandate banks to make particular types of loan.

However, the policy goal is the right one. With RMG central to driving our economy, we need to help grow it in a more environmentally sustainable manner to both reduce negative environmental impacts and to help raise more people from poverty.

Projects to green textile production by reducing water and energy inputs can deliver multiple dividends by cutting costs and reducing negative environmental impacts.

More such joined up approaches are needed to help Bangladesh better adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The government needs to do more to harmonise policies so they work together to help cut global greenhouse emissions and increase investment in renewable energy. It should cut subsidies on fossil fuels and support global carbon taxes to help the world move towards more sustainable energy policies.

Whose job is it anyway?

February 1 myself, and thereafter give the law the finger … because hey, I was asked to do this!

Cut subsidies on fossil fuels and support global carbon taxes

Barely Legal Alien Loving that photo!

Raihan Hadi I second you! Once my government gives me the power to act against vigilantes with vigilance I might feel free to carry my own firearms, and maybe I won’t hesitate committing a few murders

Evil People Politics Having personally dealt with Bangladesh’s law enforcement, it’s of little surprise to hear of people doling out street justice. That is not to say that I condone such behaviour, the situation can be easily remedied by introducing even just a drop of integrity in our police force.

Karl Hungus Little can be done to improve a law enforcement agency that is enamoured by “the take” and is practically a group of armed thugs in itself.

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.

Shahjahan: Withdraw blockade, else face confinement

Power, internet, mobile network cut off at Khaleda’s office

January 30 Babul Sarwar Please, behave like a member of the government!

January 31 rose Why should blockades and hartals be legal in this country? Stern action ought to be taken against political violence.

Increase R&D to grow pharmaceutical exports eximco Pharma is setting up a new R&D unit as part of its Tk700cr expansion program over the next two years.

It is encouraging to see more Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies begin to invest in research and development.

We need to see more such initiatives to enable Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical sector to build on its strong domestic base and to keep growing exports. This will become even more important if the TRIPS waiver for LDC countries to produce patented drugs is not extended when it becomes due to expire in December.

Locally-owned companies have already shown their ability to reach beyond markets in Asia, to a position where competitive prices and high quality are helping it to sell medicines to 79 different countries, including Brazil, Kenya, and the UK. Much more can be achieved if the sector is enabled to increase efficiency and add more value locally.

For instance, developing accredited testing facilities in the country would cut the costs involved in getting product approval for exports to more developed nations. Similarly, infrastructure investments to increase the sector’s ability to produce bulk ingredients and conduct more of its own testing and research would both hugely lower production costs and attract more inward investment.

This is a vital knowledge-based industry, where the country has both a track record of success and huge opportunity to expand much further. The government can also help by encouraging industry collaboration with university research departments and by increasing the capacity of testing laboratories to speed up clearances for exports.

BNP calls 72-hour hartal from Sunday

Increase sector’s capacity to build on its strong domestic base

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Dreampie I’ll do it … if the pay is right.

Dr Ahsan Habib How can some parties get to hold rallies in Dhaka while BNP or Nagorik Oikko do not? Also, by uttering these illegal commands, has Shahjahan Khan disqualified himself from being a minister? Will Hasina or AL leaders look into it?

B

How to solve: Each number in our CODE-CRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 22 represents G so fill G every time the figure 22 appears.

You have one letter in the control grid to start you off. Enter it 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.

January 30 Mohdud Ul Huq “My Sonar Bangladesh” – what has been happening since 1952?

Mir Ahmed Siddiquee Honorable leaders, patients are dying on their way to the hospital, students are missing out on education because of the on-going unrest. I urge both madams, please try and understand the grievances of the public, and come up with tangible solutions to alleviate them.

Mutasim Billah Seriously?! How do they call themselves leaders?

No mobile network around BNP’s Gulshan office January 31 Nirob Sikder Now the govt has lost their capacity.

Golam Rabbi Wireless network can be stopped by using jammers.

Fortune Shamim Hail stupidity, hail. Country-wide stupidity, on the part of both political alliances, knows no bounds.

Ruhel It’s the only way to flush the rats out.

Khaleda stunned January 31 People She is waiting for people’s sympathy, so shameless.

She doesn’t realise that people are hating her more and more due to the suffering she is creating.

Breadbitten I don’t think it’s official until she’s redrawn her brows to that of a stunned expression …

Greece fights back January 31 Bangladeshian Fantastic! Greece has proven itself a true maverick with this election.

Praman Good analysis. Lets believe Troika does not let go of this achievement.

City planning needs to be accountable

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Correct (5) 5 Commotion (4) 8 Family members (6) 9 Sky coloured (5) 10 Musical instrument (4) 11 Live coal (5) 12 Strange (3) 15 Becomes firm (4) 18 Naming words (5) 21 Fish eggs (3) 22 Building cover (4) 24 Encounter (4) 25 Burdened (5) 28 Governing body (6) 29 Untidy state (4) 30 time in grammar (5)

DOWN 1 Sanity (6) 2 Wildebeest (3) 3 Employ (4) 4 Swarm (4) 5 Festive occasions (5) 6 Taker of excessive interest (6) 7 Briny (3) 13 Accomplish (2) 14 Constraint (6) 16 In the direction of (2) 17 Spiritualists’ meeting (6) 19 Musical sounds (5) 20 Accordingly (2) 23 Level (4) 24 Silence (3) 26 Consumed (3) 27 Lair (3)

February 2 Rashed This is an indication of how poorly Dhaka’s City Corporations are run that they lack the expertise and skill to make a plan themselves. Had this not been the case, there would be no need for consultants in the manner in which they are being engaged.

Williams wins sixth Australian Open

CALVIN AND HOBBES

January 31

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

PEANUTS

RichyT Such a great story this is. Serena and her sister Venus have dominated women’s tennis for so long now that it’s hard to imagine that there was once a large crowd of naysayers that refused to believe that these two ladies, girls then, would ever have much of an impact on tennis. The analysis coming from the pundits, former players and coaches, was damning. In their minds it was inconceivable that two kids from the inner city (Compton, LA), taught the game by their father (who had never played or coached prior to his involvement with both girls), could be world beaters. Throw in the fact that they didn’t play the obligatory junior tennis circuit and just didn’t compete much at all at the early stages and you could possibly agree with this analysis.

But yet here we are, and yes, the experts were so wrong and that would be acceptable, maybe, if it were only in once case, but for them to get it so wrong in both cases, well, maybe, just maybe, they should all pick up the telephone and tell Richard Williams “sorry for doubting you, man”. You are truly THE MAN! Well done Richard Williams ... really well done Serena and Venus!

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Op-Ed

11

Monday, February 16, 2015

Let’s fix this, Madam Prime Minister

E

n Bobby Hajjaj ven Tiresias the blind was not as handicapped by his loss of vision as we politicians seem to be today in this proud nation of ours.

The goddess Athena, overcome by pity or remorse, gave the hapless Tiresias the gift of augury, but we have had no such luck; our blindness has been further exacerbated by rage and envy.

Many of us, especially my brothers and counterparts in the Awami League and the BNP, have so entrenched themselves in a state of internecine war that they’ve lost sight of the actual goal of serving the polity.

We need to start creating the basis of a lasting institutional democracy

There seems to be no way out of the impasse, and all of this is due to the intransigence of just two leaders. The practice of democratic politics, or the political process that is acceptable in a democracy, has come to an end; what reigns in its stead is war in the guise of politics. All stakeholders seem to be confounded with the nation’s plight. The rush to appeal to the two leaders has reached a fever pitch, but the response from the prime minister remains cold and severe.

In a democracy, the political process is based on dialogue, but in the absence of such, how can we expect to

pull ourselves out of this mire?

The prime minister is adamant that no dialogue can start with people associated with “terrorist” activities.

Notwithstanding the accuracy of the label, should the nation be held hostage just because two people cannot see eye to eye? Is the problem really as intractable as it seems?

From where I stand, I don’t see the problem as intractable at all. Of course we have two sets of problems, one short-term – the current hartals and concomitant violence; the other longterm – political accountability.

In the scamper for dialogue, we seem to have forgotten that the BNP actually wants an election, so any dialogue will be dialogue about an election. However, the election has to come under a non-partisan government, vis-à-vis a free and fair election.

When the next election is to be held is of no consequence, what matters is the system under which it will be held and for it to be fair. Give them that and there should be no more commotion, and more importantly, give them that and there is no moral legitimacy left in their movement, and as history has taught us, no movement can or will continue without an iota of moral legitimacy.

We can argue then, that instilling confidence in an electoral system and ensuring free and fair elections in general will go a long way in dispelling this current crisis.

We need to stop treating our national politics as a zero-sum game of electoral spoils between two factions (parties) and start creating the basis of a lasting institutional democracy. We can only achieve that through ensuring transparency and accountability for all, and therein comes the need to uphold the sanctity of institutions.

I take a two-pronged approach to this: Constitutional amendments and institutional independence. While we

all swear by our constitution, we care little to accommodate the realities of our age in that sacred document.

A two-third majority is required to amend the constitution, and with Article 70, which prohibits any MP from refraining from voting or voting against party lines, any party holding a two-third majority can change that most sacred political document willy-nilly.

All accountability of individual MPs is simply eroded and the citizenry can’t truly hold their chosen candidate culpable when laws are passed that make a mockery of governance and justice.

There are more constitutional issues that need attention, including closer scrutiny of the powers of the president and the prime minister and creating a definitive space and thwarting interdependence between the two.

Separating political parties from their parliamentary counterparts is also something that needs further attention. These are all important issues that need more discussion and expert analysis to resolve.

On the other end, the institutions that ensure accountability and stable governance are many, but the ones that need immediate attention for our polity could be identified as (a) election commission, (b) the judiciary, and (c) law enforcement. The election commission has the onus of holding free and fair elections, and hence is responsible for establishing accountability in the electoral process – that which the BNP, and for that matter every other political party, demands.

An independent and empowered election commission is a minimum requirement for credible elections, and examples abound on the success of independent commissions the world over. But even after a credible election, the conduct of every player in the political process needs overseeing,

Time to mend our political vision and the judiciary is the institution that provides the rules of the game and, as one of the three pillars of democracy, holds the executive and the parliament in check. It isn’t the parliament that ensures the sanctity of the constitution, it is the judiciary.

Last in this list, but by no means the least, is law enforcement. Starting from police to RAB and all in between, these institutions are empowered to uphold the rules of the game and thus ensure accountability. Faith in the actions of these institutions has to be absolute in order for any polity to function smoothly.

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So, how do we make these institutions more robust? We separate them completely from the political process.

We give these institutions independence from political interference and give them the finances and the necessary powers to fulfil their statutory obligations. Of course, even these things are a little more complex than how they appear on paper, and there’s much more minutiae than meets the eye, but they are not only possible, but indispensable if we are to have a stable polity for the foreseeable future.

In conclusion, I appeal to the current government and our honourable

prime minister to take the initiative and give this land the democracy that we deserve. The Jatiya Party has vowed to give this country just that kind of good governance, and if the current government fails the people, then the Jatiya Party will not. But we do not want the people to suffer an instant longer than they must, and I pray that the prime minister will not let us down. l Bobby Hajjaj is Special Advisor to H M Ershad and Election Coordinator of the Jatiya Party.

He can be reached at bobby.hajjaj@hotmail. com.

I don’t like cricket, but …

Bite of the underdogs

n Towheed Feroze

n Samrat Choudhury

Y

es, it’s true; I am not a big fan of cricket. In fact, have never even stood in long lines to buy tickets! To be honest, during the World Cup in Bangladesh, I handed out my tickets to others without a second thought.

Let me see, there are three to four cricket matches (one-day) which I saw from start to finish and, for good reason, in all of them Bangladesh was playing. Yet, as the 2015 cricket world cup begins, I can’t help but recall a whole lot of intriguing episodes in my life that had to do either with cricket or with cricket players.

I am not sure where I had heard this, but there is a saying that goes something like: Things which you are not enamoured with somehow find a way into your life, with some purpose.

Let me go back to 1998, when the Mini World Cup tournament was being held in Bangladesh. Playing squash at the Sonargaon court one day, while the tournament was on, I heard a knock on the door and upon opening it, found Wasim Akram and Mushtaq Ahmed standing with rackets.

With a benign smile, Akram asked if he could take 15 minutes from my slot to warm up. “Sure,” I said, and gave them the court. After some time, they came outside sweating, and Akram sporting the smile of a victor.

It’s standard rule for team members to play squash from time to time to test their reflexes, he said. I nodded in agreement: Squash is known to be the most intense sport. The players went away but it never dawned on me to go and ask for an autograph.

More interesting stuff was to come.

Inside the gym, a lot of players were stretching while a certain group

was sharing (flirtatious) jokes with a dazzlingly beautiful woman looking resplendent on the work out bike.

There was an air of camaraderie and goodwill all around. The woman, the gym instructor told me, was Sangeeta Bijlani, the Bollywood actress married at that time to the Indian team captain Mohammad Azharduddin.

Interestingly, Azharuddin was outside, relaxing by the pool, while the players who were chatting away with the actress were from the Pakistani team.

In a week when Pakistan is facing India in what is being touted as the most watched World Cup match in the history of the game, the off-the-field bon-homie was proof that outside the game, human interaction is usually very cordial (with a little mischief thrown in).

Possibly that same year, the editor of The Independent called me one day and said: Imran Khan is in town, staying at the Sheraton, go and get a story.

So there I was with Imran Khan, with a wave of juicy stuff written about the cricketer’s personal life flooding the mind.

Just to share with the readers, way back in the mid-80s, a Pakistani team called the Omar Qureshi Eleven came to Bangladesh and Khan was staying here for a brief period. A tabloid spread a gossip that a famous local film actress was seen loitering in the lounge of the hotel, way after midnight to meet the man. What happened in the end we don’t know, but the logic is: If flowers go over to the bee, can the bee say no?

Anyway, Khan smiled courteously but stated firmly: Please don’t ask any questions on cricket. In 1998, he was a fledgling politician who wanted to make his political mark. So, the ques-

BIGSTOCK

tions were a bit drab, but in the end, sensing my restlessness, he smiled, saying: “OK, let’s talk cricket!”

After all, readers at that time wanted Khan to talk about the game.

Bangladesh had already become the ICC champions, and Khan was full of praise for the team, hoping for a glorious future.

So many years later, playing as a regular at the World Cup, his expectations ring out with prescience – success for our team in the current World Cup will be coming back with several victories and not just a one-off miracle.

While working for the British High Commission as press officer, the duty to take the England team to the Acid Survivors Foundation and other places, as part of the team’s social responsibility role, fell on me, and this time I got a glimpse of sports personalities not only sharing moments with people who have had traumatic experiences, but also making an effort to be a part of their rehabilitation.

If memory serves me correctly, Alastair Cook, the England team captain at the time, and also a patron of several charities, talked to the authorities to look into opportunities for providing support to victims at the centre.

The same task fell on me when New Zealand came, because without an official envoy their responsibility fell on the British. During that tour, the Kiwis lost all the matches against Bangladesh, and looking at the giant-like figures of the players, I realised one thing: In sports, physical structure is not the most important factor.

Right, I mentioned at the beginning that I saw a few cricket matches from start to finish and the last World Cup match between Bangladesh and England will forever be etched in mind.

The game was held in Chittagong, and fans, both Bangladeshi and British, were headed for the port city the day before. One Englishman, an avid cricket fan, looked at me and said: “I am going to Chittagong to burn Bangladesh.” “Really!?”

I asked back with a smile, then looked up to the heavens and said: “Never prayed for the cricket team, but from this moment on till the end of the match, I just want one thing and you know what it is.”

God granted my wish, the Tigers had the last laugh and I knew who was burning … definitely not Bangladesh! l Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

Y

ogendra Yadav is among the top leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). For many years before that, this former professor of political science could be seen on television at election time, holding forth sagely in his calm, measured style on the factors and prospects that would determine the electoral fortunes of parties.

An organisation he worked for, the Centre for Study of Developing Societies in Delhi, would partner with media organisations to produce election forecasts. He would read the tea leaves in the turbulent cup of Indian democracy, and predict numbers.

This time, Professor Yadav got it badly wrong. After having a survey conducted, he predicted 51 seats for his own party, AAP, in the Delhi state assembly just days before polling.

They won 67 out of 70, reducing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a paltry three, and the Congress of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi to non-existent zero.

The results prompted BJP’s official ally Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray (note: They’re not really friends), son of the infamous Bal Thackeray, to remark that the people of Delhi had shown that a tsunami is bigger than a wave.

He made no bones of the fact that the wave he was referring to was the “Modi wave,” which had swept the BJP to power at the national level in May 2014 and also saw them finish first in a series of state elections after, including one in the Shiv Sena’s home state of Maharashtra.

No one saw the Delhi AAP tsunami coming. So what just happened?

Everyone and their cats now have an opinion about the outcome, so I’ll just stick to the numbers. A survey conducted by CSDS (the Delhi think tank Yadav used to work for) after the elections published in The Indian Express reported that 66% of the poor who live in slums had voted for AAP, against 22% for BJP. Another 57% of the lower classes had voted for AAP, versus 29% for BJP. The gap narrowed as income levels rose, reducing to 4743 in AAP’s favour among the upper classes.

The National Sample Survey Organisation data for 2011-12 reported that 81% of Delhi’s households had a monthly income of Rs13,500 or less. I am not sure if this maps perfectly with the CSDS definitions of the poor and lower class, since I don’t have access to

their data, but it is likely that there is a large overlap.

In this day and age, when a cup of coffee in any of the smart chain coffee shops that have mushroomed all over Delhi costs over Rs100, it is quite clear that the vast majority of Delhiites have barely enough to survive.

If they ever enter those coffee shops, it is as waiters and cleaners. This majority has voted overwhelmingly for AAP. The result is the tally of three for BJP and zero for Congress.

The AAP in Delhi has taken the baton from Congress, casteist parties, and even Modi

For decades, the Congress, which, under Indira Gandhi, had amended the preamble of India’s constitution to include the words “socialist” and “secular,” was the carrier of the hopes of the poor and the marginalised.

Then, after Indira Gandhi passed away and the country’s politics started to change, they faced a challenge for those votes from regional parties that promised to look after the interests of specific castes.

Thus, the Yadav chieftains, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad, and Dalit leader Mayawati, became prominent in India’s electoral heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

With everyone else playing different versions of the politics of minority, it was left to the BJP to play the politics of majority. The BJP started to rise, and the Congress began its decline, punctuated by a surprise victory in the 2004 national elections. In those elections, the BJP ran a campaign under the slogan “India Shining.” The BJP campaign was all about being smart and savvy.

Touring in Lucknow, Amethi, and Rae Bareli (the constituencies, respectively, of Vajpayee, Rahul Gandhi, and Sonia Gandhi), I was struck by the near absence of BJP workers on the ground.

I asked a party worker about this at the BJP office in Lucknow, and

was told that they were relying on unsolicited, automated phone calls in the recorded voice of Vajpayee to win them the seat.

Vajpayee didn’t need even those phone calls to win his seat, such was his stature. However, that mixture of arrogance and complacency arguably cost the BJP the elections. Although the Congress won only 145 seats in the house of 543, it finished ahead of the BJP’s 138, and was able to form an alliance government at the centre, with support from the regional caste parties and the left.

This government had two terms. In Delhi, the Congress state-government of Sheila Dikshit had three terms.

However, they have come to be associated with corruption, nepotism, and the rule of old elites who are cut off from the masses. They are the party of sons and daughters of prime ministers and maharajas.

The BJP, which played on religious sentiments, has also reached the profitable limits of that brand of politics. In the national elections of 2014 under Modi, they won on a slogan of “sabka saath, sabka vikas,” meaning “with everyone, for the development of all.”

The image of Modi as a man who had risen from being an impoverished chai wallah’s son to a prime ministerial candidate, helped.

The AAP in Delhi has taken the baton from Congress, casteist parties, and even Modi. It took away the bulk of the Congress voters with its simple promises of cheap electricity, free water, schools, colleges, affordable healthcare, and freedom from extortion by police and municipal authorities.

BJP’s vote share remained largely unaffected, falling from 33% in the previous Delhi polls in 2013 to 32.1% now. However, Modi is now seen on TV hobnobbing with Barack Obama in expensive suits. Kejriwal is the common man who’s been hobnobbing with the chaiwallahs and autowallahs.

As prime minister, Modi has a job to do and protocols to follow.

His popularity is still largely undiminished. Kejriwal and the AAP have shown though, that the BJP cannot count on Modi’s popularity to win elections if they forget that the fortunes of a vast majority of Indians are still not shining.

With AAP, class is decisively back as a factor in Indian elections. l Samrat Choudhury is an editor and author.

He can be found on Twitter as mrsamratx.

12

DHAKA TRIBUNE Monday, February 16, 2015

UPCOMING MATCHES

TODAY Ireland v West Indies, 4am TOMORROW New Zealand v Scotland, 4am

13 Chigumbura sees

positives in South Africa defeat

14 Don’t write off

Malinga, says Muralitharan

India extend WC hold over Pakistan n AFP, Adelaide India’s bowlers backed-up a landmark century by Virat Kohli as the defending champions continued their World Cup domination of Pakistan with a 76-run win at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

Kohli hit 107, the first century by an Indian in World Cup matches against their arch-rivals, to lift his team to an imposing 300 for seven after they elected to bat on an even-paced pitch in their World Cup opener.

Mohammad Shami picked up four wickets and Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma two each as Pakistan were shot out for 224 with three overs to spare as they suffered their sixth consecutive World Cup defeat by India dating back to 1992.

Skipper Misbah-ul Haq played a lone hand with a valiant 76 off 84 balls that ensured Pakistan did not surpass their heaviest World Cup defeat, a 112-run reverse against England in Cape Town in 2003.

Kohli showed why he is one of the most feared batsmen in modern cricket as he survived two dropped catches to notch up his 22nd one-day international century in his 151st match at this level.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan made 73 and fellow left-hander Suresh Raina smashed 74 off 56 balls in front of a sell-out crowd of over 47,000 in a Pool B game that was beamed to an estimated 2.5 billion viewers across the world.

Kohli surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s

98 at Centurion in 2003 to become the only Indian to score a century against Pakistan in the World Cup. The Indian vice-captain put on 129 for the second wicket with Dhawan and 110 for the third with Raina to leave Pakistan chasing a target of six runs an over under lights and overcast conditions.

Pakistan, whose most successful World Cup chase was 262 against New Zealand in 1992, sent Younis Khan to open the batting but the gamble backfired as the veteran was dismissed for six.

Ahmed Shehzad (47) and Haris Sohail (36) put on 68 for the second wicket, but the fall of four quick wickets reduced Pakistan to 103 for five in the 25th over.

After off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had Haris caught in the slips, seamer Umesh Yadav removed Shehzad and Sohaib Maqsood in three balls through catches at point and slips.

Umar Akmal failed to score as India earned a favourable review by the third umpire for a thin edge caught by captain and wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind off Ravindra Jadeja.

Pakistan’s most experienced pair of Misbah and Shahid Afridi revived their team’s hopes by adding 46 for the sixth wicket, but the recovery came too late.

Seamer Mohammad Shami dismissed Afridi (22), caught off a full toss

by Kohli, running back in the covers, and four balls later had Wahab Riaz edging to Dhoni. l

Sport

‘Century one of my greatest moments’ n AFP, Adelaide Virat Kohli, the man regarded as the natural heir to Sachin Tendulkar, blasted India past Pakistan at the World Cup on Sunday and described it as one of his greatest moments.

Kohli became the first Indian to make a hundred against arch-rivals Pakistan in the World Cup, with his 107 the cornerstone of the defending champions’ 300 for seven from their 50 overs. In reply, Pakistan were bowled out for 224 as India claim a 76-run win in what was an opening Pool B match for both the Asian giants.

“It’s one of the biggest wins of my career. It’s amazing to start like this,” said Kohli after his 22nd one-day international century came on the same Adelaide Oval ground where he made two hundreds in a Test match against Australia in December.

“Expectations of me will rise but I just look to stand up to it. I hate losing.

I love to win and play for my country.

My role is to play a long innings so that the power hitters can play with freedom.”

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the performance was based on a good start and a patient approach.

“It’s necessary to put runs on the board and give the bowlers the cushion of that extra 20 or 30 runs.

Over here the first 10 overs aren’t that easy as the ball varies in pace and bounce,” explained Dhoni.l

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha (R) imparts some tips to opener Tamim Iqbal during a practice session in Canberra yesterday BCB

Defeats in the warm-ups during the build up to the World Cup have piled up pressure on the players, admitted Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha yesterday.

The Tigers are amongst a few who arrived in Australia with some time in hand and plans in mind. The plan was to get the players habituated with the conditions which would help in their mission of winning at least three games in Group A. However, the chalked out ideas did not fall in place and instead backfired horribly as the entire Bangladesh contingent in Australia has been shaken by the defeats in all four of their warmups.

Bangladesh begin their campaign against Afghanistan this Wednesday in Canberra and Hathurusingha believes

Excited Sohail impresses for Pakistan in comeback match n

Pakistan bowler Sohail Khan celebrates dismissing India’s Rohit Sharma (not in picture) during their World Cup match in Adelaide yesterday AFP

Reuters, Adelaide

Opening the bowling for Pakistan in a World Cup match with India is enough to get any paceman excited. For Sohail Khan, playing his first international since September 2011, that excitement briefly got the better of him on Sunday.

Charging in to bowl in front of a full crowd at Adelaide Oval and an estimated television audience of a billion people, 10 times more than the Super Bowl, Sohail thought he had struck gold with his first delivery.

He appealed for a leg before against India opener Shikhar Dhawan. When it was turned down, he instinctively asked for a review, before his captain Misbah-ul-Haq ran in and cancelled the appeal, telling his over-excited paceman the ball had hit Dhawan’s bat.

Sohail calmed himself down and proved a thorn in India’s side for the rest of the innings, finishing with career-best figures of 5-55.

Pakistan only took seven wickets and with one coming from a run out, Wahab Riaz was the only bowler apart from Sohail to claim a wicket.

Sohail made the initial breakthrough when he dismissed India dangerman Rohit Sharma for 15 in the eighth over.

India regained control after Dhawan

(73), Virat Kohli (107) and Suresh Raina (74) lifted the total to 273-2 with five overs remaining.

With eight wickets in hand, India looked set to get past a total well above 300 but were restricted to 300-7 after Sohail was reintroduced and succeeded in stalling India’s push.

The 30-year-old got rid of Kohli in the 46th over and then Raina in the 48th over and also dismissed Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahana in successive balls in the final over.

He was inches away from getting a hat-trick when he beat Mohammed Shami with a yorker that just missed the off stump but his heroics had given his team an outside chance of winning.

It never happened as Pakistan could only manage 224 in reply but for Sohail it was an impressive comeback to the international arena after making just five ODI appearances between 2008 and 2011.

“I think bowlers did very well in the last session. Especially the last 10, 15 overs they bowled really well,” Misbah said.

“It was looking that they were going to score 340, 350, but then I think they pulled them really back. 300 was pretty much chaseable, the kind of pitch it was.” l

David Miller has an ODI average of 65 when batting at number 5 compared to 32.1 when batting elsewhere in the order

INDvPAK India R. Sharma c Misbah b Sohail S. Dhawan run out (Misbah) V. Kohli c Akmal b Sohail S. Raina c Haris b Sohail M. Dhoni c Misbah b Sohail R. Jadeja b Riaz A. Rahane b Sohail R. Ashwin not out Mohammad Shami not out Extras: (lb2, w3, nb1)

R

B

15 73 107 74 18 3 0 1 3 6

20 76 126 56 13 5 1 1 3

Total (for 7 wkts, 50 overs)

300

Fall of wickets 1-34, 2-163, 3-273, 4-284, 5-296, 6-296, 7-296 Bowling Irfan 10-0-58-0, Sohail 10-0-55-5, Afridi 8-0-50-0, Riaz 10-0-49-1, Yasir 8-0-60-0, Haris 4-0-26-0 Pakistan Ahmed Shehzad c Jadeja b Yadav Younis Khan c Dhoni b Shami Haris Sohail c Raina b Ashwin Misbah-ul Haq c Rahane b Shami Sohaib Maqsood c Raina b Yadav Umar Akmal c Dhoni b Jadeja Shahid Afridi c Kohli b Shami Wahab Riaz c Dhoni b Shami Yasir Shah c Yadav b Mohit Sohail Khan c Yadav b Mohit Mohammad Irfan not out Extras: (lb1, w10, nb1)

R

B

47 6 36 76 0 0 22 4 13 7 1 12

73 10 48 84 2 4 22 2 23 10 5

Total (all out, 47 overs)

224

Fall of wickets 1-11, 2-79, 3-102, 4-102, 5-103, 6-149, 7-154, 8-203, 9-220, 10-224 Bowling Yadav 10-0-50-2, Shami 9-1-35-4, Mohit 9-0-35-2, Raina 1-0-6-0, Ashwin 8-3-41-1, Jadeja 10-0-56-1

India’s Virat Kohli celebrates reaching his 100 against Pakistan during their Pool B 2015 World Cup match at the Adelaide Oval yesterday AFP

Hathurusingha expects under pressure players to deliver n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Did you know?

his charges, who are demoralised at the moment, will rise to the occasion.

“Losing warm-up games create pressure on the players. Losing warmup matches are never an ideal start as it puts doubt in your own mind. We have to find a few things which needs to be done right,” said Hathurusingha.

“We know our combination and pretty much what we need to do,” said the 46-year-old. “I am happy with the preparation. The facilities that we got in Brisbane during the warm-ups were good. I am happy with what we have got so far,” he added.

While it is a wide known fact that seniors like Mashrafe bin Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim must perform in order to win matches, Hathurusingha emphasised on the young guns in the squad and said, “There is no doubt that we have some world-class play-

ers in the team. We have the number one all-rounder (Shakib) in all formats.

However, I am also looking forward to the young players and waiting to see how they perform in the big stage. For most of them, this is their first World Cup so I am looking forward to having a great tournament.”

The former Sri Lankan cricketer expects Shakib, the side’s most experienced cricketer, to lead form the front.

Shakib is the only Bangladesh member to have played in Australia recently as the all-rounder featured for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash Twenty20 2014-15 last month.

“I am expecting him (Shakib) to perform and play a lead role. I want him to lead from the front. You saw how he played for Melbourne Renegades. He can be explosive and he can control the game. And he is a very clever bowler,” said Hathurusingha. l

27th Fed Cup starts today n Raihan Mahmood The 27th edition of the Federation Cup begins at Bangabandhu National Stadium with Mohammedan facing Rahmatganj in the opening match at 4pm today. In the other match of the inaugural day, defending champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club will take on Feni Soccer Club at 6:15pm.

The ongoing political crisis is not likely to hamper the tournament as the Bangladesh Football Federation has already ensured top-level secutiry in and around the venue.

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader will inaugurate the event as the

chief guest.

The prices of the tickets have been fixed at Tk30 for the galleries and Tk80 for the VIP stands.

In the pre-match presser yesterday, Sheikh Jamal skipper Nasir Uddin Chowdhury said they are all set to defend their title. His counterpart Akbar Hossain Ridon, captain of Feni, said they have nothing to lose and will take the field full of confidence.

Mohammedan skipper Arup Baidya pinned his team’s hopes upon the youngsters and vowed to fight for the title.

Rahmatganj captain Jahidul Hasan Dalim on the other hand said they want to revive their tag of giant-killers. l

(L-R) The captains of Sheikh Jamal DC, Muktijoddha, Abahani and Mohammedan pose for a photo at BFF House yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Result: India won by 76 runs Man of the Match: Virat Kohli (India)

Euphoric Indian fans hail win over foes Pakistan n AFP, New Delhi Jubilant fans spilled out onto India’s streets and let off firecrackers after the national team defeated bitter rivals Pakistan in their opening World Cup match in Adelaide on Sunday.

In bars, restaurants and homes nationwide, millions watched Virat Kohli score a majestic 107 before the side cruised to an emphatic 76-run win at the jam-packed Adelaide Oval.

Scores of euphoric university students gathered in the heart of the capital New Delhi as soon as the last Pakistan wicket fell, dancing and waving the saffron and green Indian flag.

“I love you, Virat Kohli, it’s the best gift that you could give India,” said Shreya Sharma, 21, planting a kiss on a blow-up poster of the Indian vice-captain.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had called his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to wish him luck before the match, took to Twitter to congratulate the team.

“Congrats Team India. Well played.

We are all very proud of you,” he tweeted.

For legions of supporters in both India and Pakistan, a win over the old enemy is almost as important as winning the tournament.

“The pressure is now off India, now they can relax for the rest of the tournament,” S. Shriram, a software professional, told AFP. “For me, India has won the World Cup today!”

Earlier in the day a photo trending on Twitter showed guests at a wedding craning their necks to watch the match live on a giant screen.

On Saturday special prayers were held at a famous temple in Mumbai where fans chanted hymns in front of a replica of the World Cup Trophy - kept beside Ganesha, the Hindu god of luck and fortune.

However, some Indian fans were left seething after their Air India flight to Sydney was delayed by eight hours - meaning they missed the game altogether - according to local newspaper reports.

Enraged fans held heated arguments and engaged in “fisticuffs” with besieged airline staff who blamed the delay on a shortage of cabin crew, the Times of India reported.

“AI (Air India) has killed the World Cup for us. We had a connecting flight to Adelaide. We won’t get to see it even on TV now,” one passenger told the Hindustan Times. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

13

Monday, February 16, 2015

Di Matteo’s Schalke lose Real warm-up in Frankfurt n AFP, Berlin

QUICK BYTES

Morgan hits out at Boycott criticism Skipper Eoin Morgan has taken a swipe at Test great Geoff Boycott over his trenchant criticism of him and the England team at the World Cup in Australia. Boycott believes England’s one-day captain is not good enough against the world’s best bowlers and described England’s 111run loss to Australia in their tournament opener as “bloody stupid” and “brainless”. Morgan, who was dismissed for his his fourth duck in his last seven one-day international innings against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, was asked about Boycott’s criticism at his post-match media conference. “Geoffrey tends to be critical 24/7, and I actually don’t know if people ... well, certainly people within the team, it falls on deaf ears,” Morgan said. Senior fast bowler James Anderson also hit out at Boycott before the game over his criticism of Morgan’s batting. “It’s rich coming from him,” Anderson said.

–AFP

AFP

Schalke 04 suffered a 1-0 Bundesliga defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt as they look to avoid another record Champions League defeat at the hands of Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Real hammered Schalke 6-1 in Gelsenkirchen in the last 16 last season on their way to the title with Schalke set to play hosts to the Spaniards again at the same stage of the competition in mid-week.

But Roberto di Matteo’s Schalke struggled in their final warm-up match at Frankfurt on Saturday as Eintracht’s Brazilian midfielder Lucas Piazon headed home unmarked from a corner with 65 minutes gone. Last season’s defeat at home to Real was Schalke’s heaviest European defeat as Real went onto win the title.

The Royal Blues were also routed 5-0 at home by Di Matteo’s former side Chelsea, who he steered to the 2012 Champions League title, in November’s group stages.

“We have to use our chances and create goals, we have to concentrate on our next game, we know the areas we have to work on and what needs to be done,” said Di Matteo.

The Frankfurt defeat sees Schalke drop to fourth in the German league. l

the pressure mounted, and it finally told on 23 minutes when Isco collected Alvaro Arbeloa’s cross and curled the ball inside the far post for his fifth goal of the season.

Ronaldo’s frustration in front of goal continued when he headed over from another purposeful Bale run and cross just before the break.

However, Ancelotti’s men were very fortunate not to be pegged back at the start of the second period when Costa Rican international Celso Borges volleyed off the post and Casillas came to his side’s rescue again moments later to parry Oriol Riera’s header to safety.

Brazilian midfielder Lucas Silva made his Madrid debut when he replaced Asier Illarramendi 20 minutes

from time as Ancelotti looked to make the game safe.

And the Italian could finally relax three minutes later when Ronaldo poked the ball through for Benzema to chip past the onrushing Fabricio.

Earlier, Sevilla leapfrogged Valencia to move into fourth with a comfortable 3-0 win over Cordoba.

Grzegorz Krychowiak and Carlos Bacca put the hosts in the driving seat in the first-half before both sides were reduced to 10 men as firstly Patrick Ekeng and then Krychowiak were shown straight red cards.

Vicente Iborra rounded off the scoring to move the Andalusians a point ahead of Valencia, who host Getafe on Sunday. l

Pep pleased by Bayern’s record rout Pep Guardiola admitted he was impressed as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich inflicted a record 8-0 rout on Hamburg to warm-up for facing Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. This was Hamburg’s heaviest ever Bundesliga defeat while Bayern enjoyed their biggest league win since romping to a 9-0 win over Kickers Offenbach back in 1984.

Stars Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller and Mario Goetze all netted twice as Bayern ran riot at Munich’s Allianz Arena ahead of Tuesday’s last-16, first-leg, clash against Shakhtar in Lviv. Despite previously insisting Bayern would have “problems defending the Bundesliga title and no chance of winning the Champions League” unless they improved on recent performances, Guardiola was happy. “We played well. Our build-up play was quicker than last time and our usual game is back. Now we’re focused on the Champions League,” said Bayern’s Spanish coach after another record win over Hamburg.

–AFP

West Indies slam door on talk of controversy The West Indies have shut the door on talk about ructions within the side saying it is time to move on after the fallout from last year’s disastrous tour of India.

Recently appointed captain Jason Holder claimed he had the support of the senior players and they were looking ahead to a positive result from their World Cup opener against Ireland at Nelson’s Saxton Oval on Monday. The West Indies are without Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard who were dropped from the World Cup squad after last year’s abandoned India tour in a move which saw senior batsman Chris Gayle accuse the selectors of victimisation. Even Holder has acknowledged the absence of the seasoned all-rounders was a “huge loss” but said the issue was now behind them. “Everything is done and dusted in my opinion,” he said in Nelson Sunday. “We have moved on from it. It’s beyond our control so we’ll just put it behind us and we’re ready to go.”

–AFP

Glory cling to A-League lead Perth Glory hold a point lead at the top of Australia’s A-League after a come from behind 1-1 draw at Adelaide United on Sunday. Glory claimed a point following a stunning equaliser from Nebojsa Marinkovic eight minutes into the second half after Spaniard Pablo Sanchez had put the home side ahead on 11 minutes.

Melbourne Victory lie second following a controversial 3-3 away draw with Sydney FC on Saturday that left Victory coach Kevin Muscat fuming. Muscat was angry with referee Strebre Delovski’s controversial decision to award Sydney a second-half penalty, which allowed the hosts back into the game. Muscat said the decision left him feeling totally ‘disillusioned” with the standard of refereeing in the Australian league.

–AFP

Real down Deportivo to ease pain Real Madrid players celebrate a goal during their Spanish league match against RC Deportivo de la Coruna at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday

n AFP, Madrid Real Madrid bounced back from their 4-0 derby humiliation by Atletico Madrid last weekend with a 2-0 victory over Deportivo la Coruna to move four points clear at the top of La Liga on Saturday.

The hosts started nervously but could have been well in front at the break as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale both struck the bar before Isco’s curling effort opened the scoring.

Deportivo had their chances to level early in the second-half with Celso Borges hitting the post, but Karim Benzema put the result beyond any doubt with Madrid’s second 17 minutes from time.

Barcelona can move back to within a point of the leaders when they host Levante on Sunday.

With the European champions still plagued by injuries, Ancelotti made just three changes to the side that started against Atletico.

However, Real made another slow start as Iker Casillas blocked a shot from Isaac Cuenca before the former Barcelona winger fired just over after he had been gifted possession by Bale.

Madrid slowly began to take control as the first-half wore on and Ronaldo nearly answered his critics, for hosting his 30th birthday party hours after the Atletico defeat, in style with a dipping effort that struck the underside of the bar.

RESULTS

3-0

Cordoba

2-0

Deportivo

Granada

0-0

Athletic Bilbao

Malaga

0-2

Sevilla

Krychowiak 38, Bacca 44, Iborra 76

Real Madrid Isco 23, Benzema 73

Espanyol Gonzalez 41, Sergio Garcia 90+3

Liverpool end Palace jinx n AFP, London Liverpool claimed a first victory at Selhurst Park in seven attempts to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, coming from behind to win 2-1 against Crystal Palace.

Liverpool’s Premier League title challenge ran aground in a 3-3 draw at Palace last season and they lost 3-1 there in November, so they had reason to fear when Fraizer Campbell netted a 15th-minute opener.

But the half-time introduction of Mario Balotelli tipped the tie in the visitors’ favour and after Daniel Sturridge equalised, Adam Lallana scored in the 58th-minute to give Liverpool a first win at Palace since 1997.

Rodgers brought Lallana and Joe Allen into his starting XI. Palace manager Alan Pardew scored a famous semi-final winner against Liverpool as a player in 1990 and he had another goal against the seven-time winners to celebrate when Campbell broke the deadlock.

Martin Skrtel failed to clear Joe Ledley’s lofted pass and although Dwight Gayle’s brave header was blocked by outrushing Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, Campbell found the net

FA CUP Blackburn

4-1

King 36, 50, 55, Gestede 45+7

Crystal Palace Campbell 15

Derby

1-2

Liverpool

Sturridge 49, Lallana 58

1-2

Bent 61

West Brom

Stoke Crouch 10

Reading Robson-Kanu 53, Yakubu 82

4-0

West Ham

Ideye 20, 57, Morrison 42, Berahino 72

with a tidy volley.

Liverpool piled forward and a flurry of chances saw Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni thwart Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson, while Allen and Lazar Markovic shot narrowly off-target.

At the other end, Mignolet had to produce a smart save to deny Gayle in a one-on-one, but after Balotelli was sent on in place of Markovic to join Sturridge up front, Liverpool took control.

Sturridge equalised in the 49th minute, slamming a back-post volley between Speroni’s legs from Henderson’s clever pass, before Lallana scored the winner after Speroni could only parry Balotelli’s fierce free-kick.

Earlier, Norway striker Josh King scored a hat-trick as second-tier Blackburn Rovers reached the last eight by coming from behind to beat 10-man Stoke City 4-1 at Ewood Park.

Brown Ideye continued his fine recent form by scoring twice as West Bromwich Albion beat a woeful West Ham United 4-0 at The Hawthorns to also reach the quarter-finals.

Reading also booked a sixth-round berth with a 2-1 win at fellow Championship side Derby County, which came courtesy of a late strike by former Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Everton striker Yakubu. l

Liverpool’s English midfielder Adam Lallana celebrates after scoring during their English FA Cup fifth round match against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday AFP

Higuain slinks off as Palermo punish Napoli n AFP, Milan

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 1

ICC World Cup 4:00AM West Indies v Ireland 4:00AM ( Tuesday) New Zealand v Scotland

Star Sports 2 1:45AM Spanish La Liga Eibar v Elche

Ten Sports 11:30PM ATP World Tour Rio Open Round 1

Bale then did likewise as his thunderous strike on his favoured left foot also came back off the woodwork with Fabricio in the Depor goal beaten.

Benzema saw a deflected effort from Bale’s clever cut-back fly just wide as

Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia (R) and Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia pose with their trophies after Hantuchova won their final of the WTA Pattaya Open yesterday AFP

Gonzalo Higuain was whistled off the park by Palermo fans as the Sicilians put the brakes on Napoli’s quest for Champions League football next season with a crushing 3-1 defeat on Saturday.

Napoli travelled to the Stadio Barbera wary after being held to a 3-3 draw

by Giuseppe Iachini’s men at the San Paolo last September.

And those fears proved warranted as Achraf Lazaar, Franco Vazquez and Luca Rigoni hit a goal apiece to put Palermo firmly in the driving seat by 65 minutes.

Manolo Gabbiadini, who replaced Marek Hamsik on 54 minutes, hit a late consolation for Napoli only minutes after Palermo fans had given Higuain a rousing send-off, in somewhat mocking fashion, when he was replaced by Duvan Zapata on 74 minutes.

It was only Palermo’s ninth win over Napoli in 42 meetings and moved Iachini’s men up to seventh place in Serie A, nine points behind Napoli, who sit in third in the final Champions League qualifying place.

RESULTS Sassuolo

1-3

Berardi 67

Palermo

Fiorentina Salah 30, Babacar 32, 62

3-1

Lazaar 14, Vazquez 36, Rigoni 65

Napoli Gabbiadini 82

Iachini played down his team’s chances of qualifying for Europe, but was quick to praise his side for adapting to a new formation to curb Napoli’s usually potent 4-3-3.

Napoli had won their last four games on the trot to tighten their grip on third place, while their promising run of late had also fired a warning shot to title challengers Roma. l

Wawrinka, Berdych to meet for Rotterdam title n AFP, Rotterdam Stan Wawrinka nullified the serving attack of second seed Milos Raonic 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (9-7) on Saturday to set up a final with Tomas Berdych at the ATP Rotterdam World Tennis event.

The Swiss fourth seed fired 10 aces of his own while holding second seeded Raonic to 13 in a semi-final win lasting 98 minutes. Wawrinka now stands 4-0 over the Canadian.

Holder Berdych followed his game plan to the letter and reached his second consecutive final in Rotterdam with a crushing 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Gilles Simon. The rout lasted just 56 minutes.

Wawrinka will be playing for his second title of the season after winning Chennai and then reaching the Australian Open semi-finals.

The world number eight kept Raonic in check throughout their semi-final, with Wawrinka sealing victory on his second match point.l

14

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

Monday, February 16, 2015

Miller, Duminy sink Zimbabwe n Reuters David Miller and JP Duminy both scored centuries as South Africa overcame a real challenge from Zimbabwe to record a 62-run victory in their opening World Cup Pool B game in Hamilton on Sunday.

Miller (138 not out) and Duminy (115

SAvZIM South Africa R B De Kock c Ervine b Chatara 7 16 Amla b Panyangara 11 26 Du Plessis cTaylor b Chigumbura 24 32 De Villiers c Ervine b Kamungozi 25 36 Miller not out 138 92 115 100 Duminy not out Extras: (lb 1, w 16, nb 2) 19 Total: (4 wickets; 50 overs)

339

Fall of wickets 1-10, 2-21, 3-67, 4-83 Bowling Panyangara 10-2-73-1, Chatara 10-1-71-1, Mire 6-0-61-0, Chigumbura 4-0-30-1, Williams 8-0-44-0, Kamungozi 8-0-34-1, Raza 3-0-19-0, Masakadza 1-0-6-0

R

B

Zimbabwe Chibhabha c Duminy b Tahir Raza b Philander Masakadza c Amla b Tahir Taylor c Philander b Morkel Williams c De Kock b Duminy Ervine c De Villiers b Steyn Chigumbura run out (De Villiers) Mire c De Villiers b Philander Panyangara c De Villiers b Tahir Chatara c & b Morkel Kamungozi not out Extras: (lb 13, w 9)

64 82 5 13 80 74 40 40 8 13 13 21 8 7 27 25 4 4 6 11 0 0 22

Total: (all out; 48.2 overs)

277

Fall of wickets 1-32, 2-137, 3-191, 4-214, 5-218, 6-236, 7-240, 8-245, 9-272, 10-277 Bowling Philander 8-0-30-2, Morkel 8.2-1-49-2, Steyn 9-0-64-1, Behardien 5-0-40-0, Duminy 8-0-45-1, Tahir 10-0-36-3 Result: South Africa won by 62 runs Man of the Match: David Miller (SA)

not out) rescued the Proteas’ innings after they had been in trouble at 83 for four, as they put on a world record fifth-wicket stand of 256 to guide their side to 339 for four.

Elton Chigumbura’s side, however, also showed that they would be a dangerous opponent for many sides with opener Chamu Chibhabha (64), Hamilton Masakadza (80) and Brendan Taylor (40) showing they were all highly competent international batsmen.

They had been on 214 for three and well set to push on for the final 15 overs before Taylor’s dismissal effectively ended their resistance and they were bowled out for 277 in 48.2 overs.

“I’m happy with the result but credit must go to Elton and his boys, they really put us under pressure,” South Africa captain AB de Villiers said.

“They also batted very well and probably just lost their way midway through their innings.”

Zimbabwe had earlier exploited the slow nature of the pitch to put the World Cup favourites under pressure, but in reality they lost the game in the final 10 overs of South Africa’s innings when they conceded a staggering 146 runs.

The 25-year-old Miller moved from 50 to 100 in 28 balls and after he had brought up his second one-day international century he attacked Solomon Mire in the 48th over, smashing 30 runs.

He finished on 138 and the nine sixes in his 92-ball knock were also a World Cup record.

South Africa’s vaunted pace bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel failed to really trouble Zimbabwe’s batsmen when they began their innings.

Steyn did not even open the bowling and his first five overs cost 38 runs for no wickets as he bowled too short while the wicket nullified a lot of his pace. He finished with 1-64 from nine overs.

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir was a constant threat and he took the wickets of both Chibhabha and Masakadza before he finished with figures of 3-36 from 10 overs. l

Zim will cause upsets: De Villiers n AFP, Hamilton

South Africa’s David Miller (L) and Jean Paul Duminy shake hands after their demolition act against Zimbabwe in a Pool B World Cup match at Seddon Park in Hamilton yesterday AFP

Relieved South African captain AB de Villiers forecast Zimbabwe will cause upsets in the World Cup after his team upstaged their African rivals in a nervy start to the tournament on Sunday.

South Africa were indebted to a brilliant career best 138 not out by David Miller and JP Duminy’s unbeaten 115 for a commanding total of 339 for four before restricting Zimbabwe to 277 all out in a 62-run win at Hamilton’s Seddon Park.

Miller and Duminy lifted the Proteas from a nervous 83 for four during a new one-day international record stand for the fifth wicket of 256 .

“I am very happy at the performance, we had a really good game today,” said de Villiers as South Africa, bidding for a maiden World Cup title, made a winning start to their Pool B campaign.

But de Villiers warned Zimbabwe could upset one of the more fancied sides before the end of the tournament.

“They (Zimbabwe) played some excellent cricket and I will not be surprised if they upset a couple of teams in this World Cup,” the Proteas captain instead.

Reflecting on Sunday’s match, de Villiers said Zimbabwe had made the most of winning the toss.

“There is no doubt that played a good part in getting them ahead early on as it was a really difficult wicket to bat on in the first 15 to 20 overs.

“It got easier and luckily David and JP made full use of that and played exceptionally well in that great partnership that won us the game today.

“We have seen David demolish the attacks like that and he is capable of that,” said de Villiers, himself one of the most feared ball-strikers in world cricket.

“To see at this high level and in this biggest tournament is great and it shows where this guy is going in his career.”

De Villiers paid tribute to Duminy as well by saying: “JP also showed good form, he was a bit out of touch with his injuries but seeing him bat like that is very pleasing.” l

Chigumbura sees positives in South Africa defeat Don’t write off Malinga, n says Muralitharan AFP, Hamilton

Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura believed his team could take some positives from a 62-run defeat by a formidable South Africa in their World Cup opener, where a costly final five overs in the field proved crucial.

His attack conceded a whopping 96 runs in the last five overs with Solomon Mire going for 30 in the 47th over as David Miller (138 not out) and JP Duminy (115 not out) lifted South Africa from a struggling 83 to a total of 339 for after they were sent into bat at Hamilton’s Seddon Park on Sunday.

Miller and Duminy shared a new one-day international record stand for the fifth wicket of 256.

“The way we played there were a lot of positives,” said Chigumbura.

“I thought we were in the game for a long time, maybe we lost it the last five overs of the game, maybe batting and bowling, especially bowling. I think, the 47th over, that’s where we gave away too many runs that went away.”

Zimbabwe were making good progress at 191 for two, with Hamilton Masakadza (80) and Chamu Chibhabha (64) adding 105, before they lost their last eight wickets for just 86 runs.

“I think the way we started we were going on well,” said Chigumbura. “We didn’t lose too many wickets.

“The partnership between Masakadza and Chibhabha put us in the game.

“And it’s unfortunate they went out

the wrong times. We had wickets in hand the last 15 overs, but obviously we ended up losing two wickets in the powerplay. Then from there on, the pressure was on us.”

Chigumbura admitted South Africa were the better side on the day.

“We wanted to be positive. But whether bowling, batting, even in our fielding, overall everyone was afraid, and obvious, like I said yesterday, that the team that plays good cricket on the day wins the game, and I thought South Africa at the end of the day played better cricket than us.”

But Chigumbura said Zimbabwe had solid grounds for optimism heading into their next game, against the West Indies in Canberra on February 24.l

Ireland, West Indies promise run-fest n AFP, Nelson Traditional giant-killers Ireland and under-pressure West Indies possess all the ingredients for a high-scoring clash in their opening World Cup match in Nelson on Monday.

Both sides feature quality batsmen but relatively inexperienced bowling line-ups for a match they have each targeted as ripe for getting immediate points on the board.

The West Indies and Ireland are leading contenders to fill the fourth quarter final spot along with South Africa, India and Pakistan from Pool B which also includes Zimbabwe and

United Arab Emirates Ireland are no strangers to knocking over teams from cricket’s elite top eight. At the 2011 World Cup they pulled off an historic win over England and four years before that they stunned Pakistan.

In the lead up to this tournament they beat ninth-placed Bangladesh who sit just one spot behind the West Indies in the International Cricket Council’s one-day international rankings.

New ball bowlers John Mooney and Max Sorensen snared three wickets each and Andy Balbirnie chimed in with an unbeaten 63 in the four-wicket win.

The West Indies meanwhile suffered

a morale damaging nine-wicket loss to England last week when they were all out for 122 in 29.3 overs, and just managed to beat Scotland with three balls to spare.

The West Indies, winners of the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979, have a reputation for being able to play sublime cricket.

However, their glory days were some years ago and in recent times the quality performances have been few and far between.

They have only won two of their past 10 ODI series, beating Ireland in a one-off match and sweeping a threematch contest against Bangladesh

Irish cricketers Kevin O’Brien (L) and John Mooney play table tennis during a break from training

COURTESY

In Chris Gayle, playing in his fourth World Cup, they have a batsman who can turn a game in an over and along with Marlon Samuels, and Darren Sammy don’t lack for muscle nor depth in the batting department.

But there is a lack of experience among their bowlers not helped by the absence of spinner Sunil Narine.

Led by recently appointed skipper, the 23-year-old Jason Holder, the West Indies’ last full series was a 4-1 loss to South Africa during which Proteas’ captain AB de Villiers exposed the bowling deficiencies with a world-record century off 31 balls.

Holder became the youngest-ever West Indies captain when he took over from Dwayne Bravo who along with Kieron Pollard was dropped after the players’ strike during their India tour last year.

“Not having them would be a huge loss to any side. But it’s beyond our control and we have to accept it and move on,” Holder said, putting an optimistic spin on the Caribbean side’s chances.

“We’ve been inconsistent and not played to the best of our abilities but we have some world-beaters in our team.

It’s all about putting it all together.”

“Obviously, the bigger picture is for the team to do well in this World Cup and starting the World Cup well and carrying the momentum through.”

Ireland will be banking on Kevin O’Brien to anchor their innings, recalling his World Cup record century off 50 deliveries in their shock win over England four years ago.l

n AFP, Christchurch Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan insists Lasith Malinga will still be a factor at the World Cup despite the slingarm fast bowler enduring a nightmare return to action after six months out.

Malinga was smashed to all parts of the Hagley Oval on Saturday in his team’s 98-run loss to New Zealand, ending with figures of none for 84 off his 10 overs as the Black Caps piled up 331 for six. It was the 31-year-old’s first international match since undergoing ankle surgery in September.

But Muralitharan, who retired in

2011 after taking 534 ODI and 800 Test wickets, believes Malinga will have benefitted from his brutal treatment.

“Although Lasith Malinga’s figures look like a horror show with none for 84 from his 10 overs, he will have benefited from the outing,” Muralitharan told.

“We have to be realistic about him, after all. He is coming into the tournament off the back of no cricket since his ankle surgery last September and it will take time for him to get back to his best.

“And the chance to get more overs under his belt against Afghanistan and Bangladesh (in their next two games) will be good news for him and for Sri Lanka.” l

WORLD CUP HEAD-TO-HEAD

IRELAND

WEST INDIES

2 0 231

Matches Wins Highest totals

2 2 275

183/8

Lowest totals

190/2

OVERALL

5 0

Matches Wins

Ed Joyce (84) Ed Joyce (84)

Most runs Highest score

5 4

BATTING

Chanderpaul (137) Devon Smith (107)

BOWLING

Kevin O’Brien (4) Kevin O’Brien (4/71)

Most wickets Best bowling

Sulieman Benn (4) Sulieman Benn (4/53)

PROBABLE XI William Porterfield (C), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O’Brien (WK), Gary Wilson, Andy Balbirnie, Kevin O’Brien, John Mooney, George Dockrell, Max Sorensen, Craig Young

Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin (WK), Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Jason Holder (C), Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach

PLAYER TO WATCH

Dockrell is one of the most promising young left-arm spinners in the world right now. His ability to consistently bowl a tight line and length separates him from the other left-arm spinners. Has a bright future ahead of him DOCKRELL

SAMMY

Relieved of his captaincy duties recently, Sammy will now bat, bowl and field with freedom. A hitter down the order and a good fielder, Sammy’s medium-pacers can also be an useful option to have for captain Holder

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Entertainment

15

Monday, February 16, 2015

WHAT TO WATCH

Debut album of INSIDE U out in the market

TELEVISION

n Entertainment Desk Band Inside U has launched their solo debut album “14 Sec” in the capital. The band, formed eight years ago, has been performing in numerous concerts across the country.

The album consists of 10 songs, penned by Shuvo and sung by the band’s lead vocalist Ratan.

The album, which is a product of their year-long labour, has a combination of both rock and melodious tunes.

Along with the title track, the songs includes “Elo Melo,” “Onurodh,” “Metho Poth,” “Adharer Jibon,” “Nodi Dheu O Mon,” “Sporsho Kator,” “Bhabnar Shohor” “Chhuti,” and “Mrittu Eligi.”

The present line-up of the band is: Ratan (vocal), Muhin (drum), Zeeshan (keyboard), Tomal (bass), and Shuvo (lyricist and vocal). l

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB HBO Defined, 6:45pm Cast: McConaughey, Garner, Jared Leto In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is himself diagnosed with the disease.

MARIA to host ICC World Cup discussion

JACK THE GIANT SLAYER HBO, 2:15pm Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Stanley Tucci The ancient war between humans and a race of giants is reignited when Jack, a farmhand fighting for a kingdom and the love of a princess.

n Entertainment Desk Actress and model Maria Nur is once again to host GTV’s ekhanei.com Cricket Extra for the ICC World Cup 2015. The first episode of the show was aired on Saturday. A total of 36 episodes will be aired during the World Cup ending on March 29.

Each episode is divided into three segments where famous cricketers and sports personalities along with the who’s who of the entertainment or corporate world will be present to discuss the match with Maria.

Maria Nur posted on her Facebook page yesterday: “Ekhanei.com Presents Cricket Extra on GTV with my favourite ex-cricketer Khaled Masud Pilot. He is awesome.”

A sport enthusiast, Maria has interest in both football and cricket. The actress has a penchant for hosting more than for acting. When asked, Maria said: “Acting takes up a lot of time.

As I have shows for television and radios, I cannot make time for acting. I also feel that the acting is not for me. I am fine being a host.” l

THEATRE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE I ROMEO V/S JULIET I SEVENTH SON 3D I JESSABELLE @ Star Cineplex SEVENTH SON 3D I ROMEO V/S JULIET I EXODUS 3D I INTERSTELLAR I NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB I THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES I THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR 3D I ZERO DEGREE @ Blockbuster Cinemas Band Joler Gaan perform at Matir Mela, a 3-day fair on sustainable living choices, on its concluding day, also Valentine’s Day, at Jatra, Banani

ANUSHKA SHARMA talks about VIRAT KOHLI n Entertainment Desk

Much-in-love couple Anushka Sharma-Virat Kohli has recently admitted to being in a relationship, the but duo refuses to let out more information on their equation.

Talking to Absolute India, the “PK” actress said she came out in the open about her bonding with the sports star but that was the only news she wants people to know.

“I never spoke about anything and I will never speak about anything. I have just not denied being in a relationship with Virat because, well, that is something I wouldn’t do. I am in a relationship with him and I have respect for my relationship,” she said.

“It is pretty clear in my head about what I do and don’t do. The reason I don’t talk about it is because it takes away from my work,” she added. l

JACQUELINE: I would love to play Mother Teresa n Entertainment Desk If Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez had her way, she’d star in a biopic on Mother Teresa, the Nobel prize winner who devoted her life to the old, the abandoned and the ailing.

At an event to promote her recently released film “Roy”, when Jacqueline was asked about doing a biopic, she said: “If I have to do a biopic then I would love to play Mother Teresa.”

“It would be very interesting because I’ll get to learn a lot about her and I do think that she was a very important figure in Indian history,” she added. l

CUMBERBATCH marries SOPHIE in a private ceremony n Entertainment Desk Actor Benedict Cumberbatch and his pregnant fiancee Sophie Hunter secretly married in the presence of close friends and family.

Benedict, 38, and Sophie walked down the aisle at the 12th-century St Peter and St Paul Church near Brighstone on Saturday, reported telegraph.co.uk.

The couple, who announced their engagement in November last year, were keen to exchange vows before Sophie delivers their baby.

Among the guests was Benedict’s Sherlock co-star Andrew Scott.

Sophie was shielded from cameras and onlookers by umbrellas as she entered the church. About 40 minutes later, the couple emerged to cheers and left in a vintage Jaguar. l

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL honoured at WGA Awards n Entertainment Desk “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scriptwriter Wes Anderson won the Writers Guild of America (WGA) 2015 award for original screenplay, while Graham Moore’s script for historical thriller “The Imitation Game” won for adapted screenplay.

The awards were announced in simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York Saturday.

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” won over the scripts for “Boyhood,” “Foxcatcher,” “Nightcrawler” and “Whiplash.”

“The Imitation Game” won over

screenplays for “American Sniper,” “Gone Girl,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and “Wild.”

“True Detective” and “Louie” dominated the TV trophies where the former won the drama series award and new series award with both trophies going to its creator and writer Nic Pizzolatto.

“Louie” took the comedy series and the comedy episode awards.

Legal and political drama “The Good Wife” won the first award for drama series episode for the script for “The Last Call”, written by Robert King and Michelle King. l

SADMAN and FARDIN plan for short-film franchise n Hasan Mansoor Chatak Youngsters are becoming increasingly adept at making films, as evidenced by the rise of children’s film festivals everywhere.

The short film, “Feeling of a Mother,” selected at the 8th International Children’s Film Festival which recently ended in the capital, was made by Sadman Ahmed and Fardin Ishtiaq.

The budding film-makers are both higher secondary students with a love for film-making.

The eight-minute short depicts a mother’s passion for her children no matter how problematic they can be.

The film captures the disrespect children show their parents and the anxiety the family must endure because of the pressure of studies children are subjected to.

The duo said they were working on a “Feeling of a Mother” short-film franchise to further explore the theme. l

16

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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Monday, February 16, 2015

CHT Commission: Cancel Home Ministry directives n Abid Azad The International Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission (CHTC) has expressed deep concern over the Home Ministry directives issued last month including the one barring free talks with the indigenous people and demanded that the 11-point order be revoked immediately.

In a statement issued yesterday, the organisation described the orders as “unconstitutional, discriminatory and contradictory with the 1997 accord,” widely dubbed as CHT peace accord.

It also criticised one of the orders that says the CHTC would have to replace “commission” in its name with any other word.

The statement was signed by three co-chairs of the commission – Lord Eric Avebury, Elsa Stamatapoulou and Sultana Kamal.

‘Such a decision will undoubtedly create mistrust among the indigenous people again’ The 11-point decisions, made on January 7 during a discussion at the Home Ministry, were finalised based on a report prepared by the Border Guard Bangladesh.

The issue came in media last week.

The CHTC claims that the directives are “extreme” and will create huge impact on the implementation of the peace accord.

The decisions include ensuring presence of a member of the local administration or BGB or army when a Bangladeshi or foreigner speaks to an indigenous person, making the check-posts at entry points of the CHT more active and transferring former members of Shanti Bahini, now PCJSS – other party of the accord, in police and Ansar from the CHT. Moreover, the law enforcement agencies have been asked to ensure law and order in the CHT in collaboration with the army’s 24 Infantry Division.

Over a directive of conducting land

acquisition after maintaining friendly relationship with the local people, the CHTC alleges that the BGB is acquiring land to establish its sector headquarters, battalion and BOP only with permission of the deputy commissioner while bypassing the Hill District Council, which is mandatory as per the peace accord.

“Although the BGB has been instructed to acquire land from the forest area, actually they are acquiring land of the indigenous people...” the statement adds.

The CHTC alleges that even though there are a number of check-posts in the CHT area, most of the communal attacks and torture incidents took place near those spots.

“Therefore, previous experience shows that instead of ensuring security for the indigenous people, [security personnel at] the check-post are doing harm to them,” the statement says.

The CHTC terms the order of transferring the indigenous people from the region to other places contradictory with the accord. “Such a decision will undoubtedly create mistrust among the indigenous people again.”

Regarding the order upon the UNDP to submit their reports for the $160m development project, carried out for 10 years in the CHT, the statement says: “The UNDP has been working around the country including the CHT area. So evaluating their work only in the CHT will raise questions.”

On the order to change name of the CHTC, the statement says: “The directive does not clearly mention under which regulation the word ‘commission’ cannot be included.” Mentioning about two other organisations having the same word, the CHTC says the government did not take similar step in those cases.

“By imposing such decisions in the name of improving law and order, there is huge possibilities that the situation of the CHT area will become more complicated while such decisions will also attack the freedom of speech of all the citizens of the country including the indigenous people,” the statement adds. l

People of different ages gather round popular writer Muhammed Zafar Iqbal for signed books in the Elushey Boi Mela yesterday

MEHEDI HASAN

Sudden rain puts a damper on Boi Mela n Nure Alam Durjoy The third week of Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2015 had a little rocky start due to the sudden AMAR EKUSHEY bout of rain in BOOK FAIR 2015 the early hours of yesterday morning. Visitors found the fair ground muddy and slippery, with many book stalls closed for the day.

Attendants at the stalls of Anya Prakash, Swarbritto and Palak publication houses were seen scooping out rain water from the stall roofs, while attendants at Bangla Prakash, Gyan Kosh and Adi Prakash were seen cov-

ering their books with plastic sheets to protect them from rainwater seeping through the roof.

“We were anticipating rain this year as it had happened last year too, so we prepared accordingly and our stalls were okay,” said Osman Gani, owner of Agamee Prakashani and president of Gyan O Srijansheel Prakashak Samity.

“But many stalls remained closed today [yesterday] as their books were soaked due to the rain,” he added.

Rabiul Hossain, attendant at Ahmad Publishing House, said at least 150 books in their stall had been destroyed by the rain.

New release hits 2,000

Yesterday marked the 15th day of this

instalment of Boi Mela and saw release of 71 new titles. Of them, 15 were poetry books, 11 were novels and 7 were short stories.

Including ye s te rd ay ’s release, the number of new publications this year stands at 2,000, of them 453 poetry books, 394 novels and 326 short stories.

The massive number of new releases in just two weeks is the highest in three years, according to the Boi Mela sources. The number was 1,686 in

2013 and 1,380 in 2014.

Robin Ahsan, owner of Sraban Prakashan, said the number of new arrivals in the two previous fairs was lower because of political turmoil.

“But this year, a good number of new books hit the stalls in the first two weeks because we assumed that the situation would be peaceful,” he said.

However, the sales are on the opposite side of the spectrum. According to Boi Mela sources, the sales have yet to reach the publishers’ expectations due to the ongoing blockade and hartal programmes.

Poetry titles are least sold books this year, having the highest number of releases, said several stall attendants. l

New Zealand rescuers refloat 60 stranded whales n Tribune Desk

Mobile number portability to wait another year

The 60 pilot whales stranded off New Zealand’s South Island have been refloated and “it’s looking quite good,” rescuers say.

About 200 whales stranded on Farewell Spit in Golden Bay on Friday and about 140 died and the rest had been refloated.

But 60 restranded and Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and 400 volunteers worked to keep them alive on Saturday until they could be refloated at high tide in the early evening.

Lead whales were taken out on pontoons and other whales were moved to follow them, says DOC conservation services manager for Golden Bay, Andrew Lamason.

The whales were monitored overnight on Saturday.

This is the biggest stranding in 15 years, according to locals. l

Mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh will have to wait another year to enjoy mobile number portability (MNP) – a service that allows customers to change operators without changing any digit of their phone numbers.

The decision is in accordance with a government roadmap on telecom sector, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, who is also responsible for the Telecom Ministry in parliament.

In a question-answer session in parliament yesterday, Obaidul said the government has taken the initiative to formulate the telecom roadmap – focusing on 15 points – to develop the telecom, information and communication sector.

According to the roadmap, 3G subscribers will enjoy interconnection with different operators by March this year, which will allow callers to enjoy services like inter-operator video calls.

In 2008, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) prepared a guideline to introduce MNP services; but the mobile phone operators did not respond to the efforts at the time.

The process regained momentum in 2012 when the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Telecommunication Ministry recommended setting up MNP services by that year. Recently the BTRC also arranged a public hearing about the MNP services.

According to the roadmap, a directive on Quality of Service – or the overall performance of a telephony network – has already been issued, while a com-

n Muhammad Zahidul Islam

Mango trees are in full bloom as Spring begins. The photo was taken yesterday at Panamnagar, Sonargaon

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Malaysia PM under fire, even from his own party n AFP

Trouble with a badly managed development fund, questions over family assets and concerns over crack downs on opponents has put Malaysia’s premier under mounting scrutiny, even among conservatives in his own party.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, 61, took the helm of the multi-ethnic country’s long-ruling regime in 2009, pledging to soothe racial tensions and bolster democracy.

He is under fire from progressives for abandoning these promises and from ruling-party hard-liners over 1MDB – a development vehicle he launched that is believed to be in a precarious state.

Malaysia also drew international criticism after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was jailed for five years last week on a sodomy conviction widely believed to be politically motivated.

1MDB has repeatedly missed deadlines to pay down billions of dollars in debts. The company said a $560m loan

payment was made last week, after a Malaysian tycoon was reportedly drafted in to stump up the cash.

Also last week, a New York Times report detailed multi-million-dollar purchases of luxury US real estate by a close Najib family associate, financier Low Taek Jho, who is also reportedly linked to 1MDB. It said documents showed millions of dollars in jewellery purchases for Rosmah Mansor, Najib’s wife, who is widely ridiculed in Malaysia for her luxurious tastes.

In a statement to AFP, Najib’s office said: “The prime minister does not have, nor has he ever had, a financial interest in, or any sort of agreement related to, the properties mentioned in the article.”

It added: “no purchases by the prime minister or his family involved funds from 1MDB.” In a separate statement, 1MDB denied ever missing any debt payments and said it had no links with Low.

‘Something rotten’ in Malaysia But Malaysia’s opposition and other government critics have called for Najib to detail the sources of his wealth and for an independent audit of 1MDB. The government is yet to respond to such calls.

Leading criticism of 1MDB is Mahathir Mohamad, who was premier from 1981-2003 and, at 89, still casts a long shadow over the country he helped build.

That is potentially worrisome for Najib – Mahathir engineered the ouster of his own chosen successor, installing Najib.

Mahathir wrote on his widely read blog last week that “there is something rotten” in Malaysia, and on Thursday suggested Najib should resign.

A history of scandal The UMNO is increasingly being rejected by voters, who are fed up with corruption and authoritarianism.

Najib’s government has responded by hurling sedition and other charges

at dozens of critics, mainly opposition politicians.

A British-educated Anglophile known for his high-priced suits, Najib has proven his ability to survive scandal, with the help of the UMNO’s 58year grip on power.

These include alleged multi-million-dollar kickbacks to officials in the 2002 purchase of French-made submarines while Najib was defence minister.

The government has long resisted a full inquiry into the affair.

Meanwhile, Najib has tolerated divisive racial and religious rhetoric by Islamists, which analysts view as a bid by UMNO to sow sectarian fears to justify its crackdown.

Observers said Najib had intended to introduce reforms but misjudged resistance in UMNO and was now in full retreat from conservatives.

They warned that Malay chauvinism could “generate a vicious cycle” of racial enmity, scaring off foreign investment and sending Malaysian money abroad. l

plete guideline would be made by June next year, the minister said.

Replying to a question from ruling party lawmaker M Abdul Latif, Obaidul informed the House that the government would launch the Bangabandhu Satellite by 2017.

Replying to another question from independent lawmaker Haji Mohammad Selim, Obaidul Quader said the state-owned telecom company, Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL), has more than Tk59.25

In 2008, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) prepared a guideline to introduce MNP services crore in outstanding telephone bills to different ministries and organisations.

Out of the outstanding amount, the Establishment Ministry owes the BTCL the most – Tk10.91 crore.

The Home Ministry owes Tk8.32 crore in unpaid phone bills, Health Ministry owes Tk5.86 crore, and the Law Ministry’s outstanding bills stand at Tk5.18 crore.

On a separate note, Obaidul told parliament that the government has established 3,172 computer labs between 2009 and 2012, as well as setting up 372 virtual desktop computing network labs as a pilot project in different districts of Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Rangpur divisions. l

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B4 Insurers prove laggards in technology race

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015 www.dhakatribune.com/business

Deposit rate falls faster than lending rate to widen spread Central bank analysis finds foreign banks mainly responsible for pushing up the gap

n Jebun Nesa Alo The banking sector has witnessed a higher spread as the deposit rate is falling faster than the lending rates.

The average interest rate on deposits has dropped by 1.14% during last one year while lending rate declined by 0.99%, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

The lending rate stood at 12.46% on December last year compared to 13.45% in the same period of previous year while deposit rate came down to 7.25% from 8.39%.

The gap between lending and deposit rates increased to 5.21% on December last year compared to 5.06% in the same period of the previous year.

Mainly foreign banks have been blamed for the widening the gap between average deposit and lending rates as they maintain low cost deposit compared to the market average rate but the lending rate remains within market average rate, according to an analysis of Bangladesh Bank.

As a result, the interest rate spread of these banks ranged between 6% and 10%, which put pressure on average spread of the banking sector, said the analysis.

The average deposit rate of foreign banks was 3.62% on December against the lending rate of 11.46%.

Of the foreign banks, Standard Chartered maintained highest spread of 10.17% during the month with deposit rate of 2.79% against lending rate of 12.96%.

The deposit rate of Citibank N.A was 1.27% against lending rate of 9.98% followed by Commercial bank of Ceylon 4.66% against 11.55% and HSBC 3.6%

against 10.28%.

Of the local banks, The City Bank, IFIC, Dutch-Bangla Bank, One Bank and BRAC Bank maintain the spread beyond the expected level of 5%.

The spread of these banks is higher as they maintain low cost deposit but lend at a higher interest rate.

According to the central bank observation, despite lower deposit rate of 5%, people prefer Dutch-Bangla Bank more due to its technology facilities.

The bank maintained highest number of ATM booths both in rural and urban areas. As a result, the bank does not need to offer high deposit rate.

Despite low cost deposit, the bank lend at the market average interest rate, which resulted in higher spread.

At the end of December the spread of Dutch-Bangla Bank was 7.48%.

Of the local private banks, BRAC Bank always maintains highest spread of above 10% due to high lending rate.

The bank mainly involves in SME lending in the rural area, which requires high supervision. The bank charge high interest rate to absorb risk as most of the SME loans are without collateral. In this backdrop, the spread of the bank is higher, which also put pressure on overall spread.

Earlier in January 2012, Bangladesh Bank had advised the banks to limit spread within lower single digit in different sectors other than high risk consumer credit and SME loans to rationalise the deposit and lending rate.

The advice came in the backdrop of aggressive lending of banks at high interest rate as well as collect deposit at high cost during that year. The interest

rate on deposit and advances was the highest ever of 8.26% and 13.77% respectively in the year 2012.

Bangladesh Bank allowed foreign loans for private sector to put pressure on lending rate of local banks so the spread come to the expected level.

Though the spread increased, the central bank is not worried about it as the lending rate is in downward trend, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

The existing gap between lending and deposit rate is not abnormal comparing the other South Asian countries, observed the central bank.

According to a World Bank report released recently on global financial development, 2014, the spread of China was 3.1%, Vietnam 2.4%, Indonesia 5.6%, Malaysia 2.5%, Pakistan 6% and Thailand 4.8%. l

Individual tax payers cross 1.45m n Tribune Business Desk

Canadian High Commissioner in Dhaka Benoît-Pierre Laramée addresses a press meet yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Canada envoy calls for efforts to end violence n Tribune Report Canadian High Commissioner in Dhaka Benoît-Pierre Laramée yesterday said efforts must be taken to end the ongoing political violence as it impacts Bangladesh economy and the country’s image.

“It is truly unacceptable, “There must be an end to this situation because this will eventually have an impact on the image of Bangladesh.” Laramée told reporters at a press conference.

I am also very saddened and distressed when I see the sufferings of the victims. These victims are certainly the most vulnerable people. There must be an end to violence and there must be a creation of peaceful political space, said Laramée.

He said democracy, human rights, good governance and peace are the foundation of economic and social developments.

“As we move forward, I believe that the next step is to increase Canadian investment in Bangladesh,” said Laramée.

The press conference was organised to inform about the outcome of the “Showcase Canada 2015”, Canada’s flagship trade show in Bangladesh.

The two-day event was held on February 14 and 15 in the city’s Sonargoan

Hotel.

The Canada-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CanCham), in association with the High Commission of Canada in Bangladesh, organised the show.

“Canada is working in partnership with the people and government of Bangladesh to secure prosperity for both of our nations, as Bangladesh moves towards middle-income status,” said the envoy.

Replying to a question, Laramée said they have interest in blue economy of Bangladesh as it can add lots of value with their experience in the sector.

Information technology and readymade garment are the potential sectors to received Canadian investment, he added.

The North American country offers duty-free access to almost all products from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has become the second largest source of Canadian merchandise imports from South Asia, after India.

Canada also offers opportunities to the private sector through the Trade Facilitation Office, which is a mandate to increase the capacity of exporters in developing countries.

“With duty-free access being offered

to Bangladeshi exporters, there are tremendous opportunities to increase bilateral trade between our countries,” said Laramée.

Bilateral trades between the two countries remain in Bangladesh’s favour, with Bangladesh exporting over Can $1.2bn, while Canadian merchandise exports to Bangladesh in 2014 were Can $708m, according to the High Commission’s press release.

At present, in Bangladesh, Canada focuses on three sectors: sustainable economic growth, health, and education, said the Canadian high commissioner.

In the sustainable economic growth sector, Canada is working to increase and improve skills training, and to improve working conditions in the garment sector, he said.

In health and education, the country is providing support to expand the access and quality of healthcare and education available throughout the country, the high commissioner said.

In 40 years of partnership, Canada has provided over $4bn as development assistance to Bangladesh.

Laramée stated: “Canada’s core goal in Bangladesh is to build the underlying conditions necessary for the mutual prosperity of both our countries.” l

The number of individual tax payers of the country crossed 1.45m.

Till January of this year, country’s total individual tax payers number stood at 14,54,079, Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith told parliament, replying to a question by lawmaker Nizam Uddin Hazari of Feni-2 constituency at the question answer tabled yesterday, reports BSS. As the government has launched 12-digit electronic tax identification number (E-TIN) from July 1, 2013 instead of previous 10-digit tax identification number (TIN) under E-TIN registration and database cleansing programme run by National Board of Revenue (NBR), said the minister.

The launch of new electronic TIN identification number would simply help increase the number of individual tax payers.

About the number of district-wise tax payers, the finance minister said the number of district level tax payers is being collected in circle office of the specific district in the country. l

Khulna International Trade Fair 2015 begins

n Tribune Desk A month-long Khulna International Trade Fair-2015 (KITF) began at the Circuit House Maidan in Khulna on Saturday evening.

Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and Chameli Traders, a business organisation, jointly organised the fair.

A total of 140 stalls and six pavilions were set up at the fair premises by different business enterprises of home and abroad, including India, China, and Pakistan, said KCCI vice-president Saiful Islam.

The fair will remain open from 10 am to 10pm every day.

Advisor to the Prime Minister Moshiur Rahman addressed and inaugurated the fair by releasing balloons and cutting ribbon as chief guest.

KCCI President Kazi Aminul Haque presided over the inaugural ceremony. l

Kamal asks project directors to utilise foreign assistance n Tribune Business Desk Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal yesterday directed the project directors concerned of the development schemes to put in their all-out efforts for utilising the entire foreign aid part of the projects.

He also instructed the project directors to return by this March the funds that they would not be able to spend within this fiscal year allocated against their respective projects, reports UNB. The Planning Minister gave the directives during two separate meetings with some 700 project directors held at the NEC conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

The Planning Minister presided over the meeting which was basically aimed at completing the development projects within the stipulated time maintaining the due qualitative standard.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mustafa Kamal said project cost witnesses a fall with the shortening of its implementation period.

In this connection, he said the government would provide necessary funds to those projects which are expected to be completed by this year.

The minister, however, noted that the project directors often feel discomfort in utilising foreign aid part of the development projects although they feel much comfort in utilising local funds. “This can never be expected, and we’ll soon undertake an effective strategy taking with the Economic Relations Division (ERD).”

Giving a directive towards the project directors on how to complete project implementation during the stipulated time, the Planning Minister

stressed undertaking necessary procurement-related formalities at the very beginning of the fiscal year so that those could be completed within the first three months.

Besides, if the overall working strategy is analyzed at the beginning of a Fiscal Year, then it would be easy to identify where the actual challenges in project implementation lies, he said.

Project directors have been directed to return

by March the funds that they will not be able to spend within the fiscal year Mustafa Kamal also gave directive to the ministry officials concerned not to frequently change the project directors.

About project selection, the meeting also stressed undertaking a project after ensuring what would be its contribution towards economic activity, employment generation and increasing institutional efficiency.

State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan and the secretaries concerned attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Planning Minister will hold the 2nd meeting with the Project Directors on February 19 as part of his effort to hold meetings with all of the Project Directors of some 1,287 projects. l

Garment exports to Japan likely to decline as consumer incomes drop n Asif Showkat Kallol Bangladesh embassy in Tokyo has expressed feared that Bangladesh’s garment export to Japan is likely to decline in the coming days as net income of the Japanese people has fallen.

Trade councilor Hasan Arif at Bangladesh embassy in Tokyo expressed the fear recently in a letter to commerce ministry in Dhaka.

It is not easy to reach a big export target for Japanese market as consumers there use mainly high-end products

Japan government has decided to impose a 10% consumer tax on its people, which also has cast an impact on consumer spending, he added.

The ministry officials cited volatility of US dollar against Japanese yen as another reason behind such fear of export fall.

But the Bangladeshi exporters have obtained duty-free facility into the Japanese market, which could raise hope however, according to officials.

As per the trade councilor letter, Bangladeshi exports to Japan during JulyOctober period this fiscal is less 0.81% or $2.40m than the strategic

target which was $296.45m.

The net income of Japanese people fell by 16% in April in 2014 while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s decision on whether to proceed with the next proposed sales tax hike in October 2015, to 10% from 8%, the letter reads.

It said the Japanese consumer spending is 60% of Gross Domestic Product of the country.

The embassy advised the Bangladeshi exporters to attend different trade fairs and conferences in Japan to boost exports to the Asian economic giant.

Letter further revealed the time frame of garment fair and economic conferences in Tokyo and around Japan in next two months.

Meanwhile, Export Promotion Bureau’s recent data showed at end of FY2013-14, Bangladesh’s exports to Japan amounted to $540m. In 2012-13 year it was $519m.

Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told Dhaka Tribune that it was not easy to reach a big export target to Japanese market as the consumers in the market use mainly high-end products.

He said manufacturing high-end products for the Japanese market will involve a lot of investments.

The secretary said it would be a difficult work for Bangladeshi exporters to grab $13bn Chinese export share in the Japanese market. l

B2

Stock

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Profit booking ends rally amid choppy trading

DSE key features February 15, 2015

n Tribune Report

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,597.44

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

31.48

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index : DSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A H.R. Textile -A Maksons Spinning-A Quasem Drycells -A Progressive Life-A 5th ICB M F-A GSP Finance-A BD. Autocars -Z Bata Shoe Ltd. -A Agni Systems -A

-5.77 -4.25 -3.88 -3.45 -3.40 -3.31 -2.91 -2.80 -2.77 -2.71

CSE LOSER Company

Closing (% Change)

Pragati Gen. I -A NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A Padma Islami Life*-N Bangladesh Lamps -A Samata LeatheR -Z Maksons Spinning-A National Life I -A Samorita Hospital -A Usmania Glass -A GreenDeltaInsu -A

-9.09 -5.66 -4.50 -4.11 -4.04 -3.85 -3.81 -3.66 -3.38 -3.12

4831.17847

(-) 0.22%

1804.89988

(-) 0.41%

14802.28590

(-) 0.15%

12030.18980

(-) 0.58%

8964.14350

(-) 0.22%

Average (% Change) -5.69 -3.59 -2.64 -1.38 -2.82 -3.31 0.59 -2.21 -0.52 -2.15 Average (% Change) -9.09 -5.61 -2.58 -5.04 -4.04 -2.32 -3.81 -4.13 -3.81 -3.11

ANALYST

ClosingAvg. 4.97 25.00 12.55 62.24 71.43 184.00 16.96 20.81 1367.34 32.81

ClosingAvg. 34.00 5.05 38.88 108.56 19.00 12.63 227.00 79.00 102.88 65.22

Closing 4.90 24.80 12.40 61.50 71.00 184.00 16.70 20.80 1348.90 32.30

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 231.44 162.76 47.38 357.35 125.63 328.02 1.74 308.59 233.09 34.93 74.46 19.31 53.05 67.13 158.86 36.88 38.46 113.66 48.78 205.10 0.01

2,646.65 76,948,799

DHIGH 5.10 25.20 13.10 63.70 71.10 184.00 17.50 21.00 1424.00 33.60

DHIGH 34.00 5.40 39.00 110.00 19.00 13.00 227.00 79.00 104.00 65.30

82,424

Traded Issues

311

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

192

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

112

CSE key features February 15, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka)

263.38

Turnover (Volume)

9,035,138

Number of Contract

14,688

Traded Issues

243

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

139

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

97

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,518.37

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.53

Turnover in Million

DLOW 4.90 24.50 12.30 60.90 71.00 184.00 16.50 20.60 1340.00 32.00

13.273 2.499 28.793 14.671 0.001 0.037 12.701 0.129 6.406 70.226

Turnover in Million

DLOW 34.00 4.90 38.20 107.00 19.00 12.50 227.00 79.00 102.50 65.20

0.004 0.937 0.025 0.038 0.005 5.283 0.001 0.004 0.123 0.015

% change 8.74 6.15 1.79 13.50 4.75 12.39 0.07 11.66 8.81 1.32 2.81 0.73 2.00 2.54 6.00 1.39 1.45 4.29 1.84 7.75 0.00

Million Taka 14.16 12.58 3.78 37.60 9.89 21.30 36.36 16.86 3.62 7.19 0.50 7.57 6.61 9.74 1.20 0.75 22.56 12.47 38.63 0.01

CSE

% change 5.38 4.78 1.44 14.28 3.75 8.09 0.00 13.81 6.40 1.38 2.73 0.19 2.87 2.51 3.70 0.46 0.28 8.57 4.74 14.67 0.00

Million Taka 245.60 175.34 51.16 394.95 135.52 349.32 1.74 344.95 249.95 38.55 81.65 19.81 60.62 73.74 168.60 38.08 39.21 136.23 61.25 243.73 0.02

National Feed-N Shahjibazar Power-N ISN Ltd. -Z Imam Button -Z Desh Garments -A Republic Insu.-A Prime Insur -A The Peninsula CTG.-N C & A Textile -N Shurwid Ind. -N

Closing (% Change) 10.14 10.02 10.00 9.92 8.47 8.17 8.09 7.39 6.70 6.40

CSE GAINER

Latest EPS 0.32 1.36 0.73 2.16 2.30 16.18 1.02 0.14 52.96 1.36

Latest EPS 2.47 0.32 1.10 1.13 -0.46 0.73 12.46 2.18 -0.88 1.68

Latest PE 15.5 18.4 17.2 28.8 31.1 11.4 16.6 148.6 25.8 24.1

Company ISN Ltd. -Z National Feed-N CVO PetroChem RL-A Imam Button -Z Prime Insur -A Republic Insu.-A Shahjibazar Power-N C & A Textile -N City G Insu.-A The Peninsula CTG.-N

10.00 9.82 9.74 9.45 9.25 9.22 8.22 7.25 7.19 6.96

Average (% Change) 9.55 6.52 3.81 9.45 9.13 7.33 8.97 3.91 7.01 6.10

ClosingAvg. 29.60 168.76 13.14 13.30 80.83 22.00 18.26 24.29 20.29 26.02

ClosingAvg. 13.19 29.39 489.44 13.90 18.88 22.11 173.20 20.18 17.87 24.18

Closing 30.40 174.60 13.20 13.30 83.20 22.50 18.70 24.70 20.70 26.60

Closing 13.20 30.20 174.70 13.90 18.90 22.50 169.90 20.70 17.90 24.60

DHIGH 30.40 174.60 13.20 13.30 84.40 22.60 18.90 24.80 21.00 26.90

DHIGH 13.20 30.20 175.00 13.90 18.90 22.60 175.00 20.90 17.90 24.70

DLOW 27.80 157.80 12.30 13.30 76.00 21.20 17.50 23.10 19.50 25.20

DLOW 12.90 27.60 159.50 13.90 18.00 21.70 159.50 19.30 17.70 23.20

Turnover in Million 56.616 21.671 0.862 0.660 5.079 2.830 3.504 20.744 36.649 15.304

Turnover in Million 0.122 14.379 7.550 0.150 0.010 0.143 1.442 8.566 0.011 2.892

Latest EPS

Latest PE

1.37 8.68 0.13 -1.48 1.82 2.56 1.81 1.46 2.01 0.72

Latest EPS

21.6 19.4 101.1 -ve 44.4 8.6 10.1 16.6 10.1 36.1

Latest PE

0.13 1.37 8.56 -1.48 1.81 2.56 8.68 2.01 1.89 1.46

101.5 21.5 57.2 -ve 10.4 8.6 20.0 10.0 9.5 16.6

News, analysis and recent disclosures NCCBLMF1: The Trustee Committee of the Fund has declared 3% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Record date: 24.02.2015. The Fund has reported net profit of Tk. 35.06 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 0.32 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Tejgaon-Gulsan Link Road, Dhaka-1208.

ALLTEX: The Company has informed that Barrister Imtiaz Uddin Amad Asif has been appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

MAKSONSPIN: The Board of Directors has recommended 5% stock dividend for the year ended on September 30, 2014. Date of AGM: 07.04.2015, Time: 9:30 AM, Venue: Maksons Group Conference Hall, Factory Premises of the Company, Gouripur, Ashulia, Savar, Dhaka (Subject to approval of BSEC).

Record date: 26.02.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 0.73, NAV per share of Tk. 19.78 and NOCFPS of Tk. 0.92 for the year ended on September 30, 2014.

ISLAMICFIN: The Company has informed that the Board of Directors has decided to purchase space measuring 13,565 square feet (approx.) at a cost of Tk. 17,40,62,500.00 (excluding registration cost) at Impetus Center (3rd floor), 242/B,

IPO Subscription: Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited subscription date 01 to 05 Febuary 2015, NRB upto 14 Febuary 2015. @ taka 35, face value taka 10 and market lot 200.

Dividend/AGM FAREASTFIN: 10% cash and 2.5% stock, AGM: 25.03.2015, Record date: 26.02.2015.

CNATEX: 11% stock, AGM: 15.03.2015, Record Date: 18.02.2015.

RAKCERAMIC: 25% cash, EGM and AGM: 25.03.2015, Record date: 17.02.2015.

GSPFINANCE: 55% stock, AGM: 23.02.2015, Record Date: 05.02.2015.

HRTEX:12.50% cash, AGM: 31.03.2015, Record date: 12.02.2015.

MARICO: 225% interim cash, Record date for entitlement of interim cash dividend: 29.01.2015.

ECABLES: 10% cash, AGM: 26.02.2015, Record Date: 05.01.2015.

GP: 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), AGM: 21.04.2015, Record date: 18.02.2015.

SAPORTL: 10% cash and 5% stock, AGM: 14.03.2015, Record Date: 18.02.2015.

JAMUNAOIL: 90% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 07.02.2015, Record date: 11.12.2014.

PADMAOIL: 100% cash, AGM: 14.02.2015.

SPCL: 25% cash and 5% stock dividend, AGM: 29.01.2015, Record Date: 27.11.2014.

SAVAREFR: No dividend, AGM: 24.01.2015, Record Date: 23.12.2014.

13.8 15.8 35.3 96.1 -ve 17.3 18.2 36.2 -ve 38.8

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company

Total

Closing (% Change)

Average (% Change) 6.90 6.86 9.59 9.92 6.51 6.43 6.97 6.40 4.32 4.50

Latest PE

Breaking last eight sessions’ gaining trend, profit booking in some mid cap stocks pushed the market in red

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY Sector

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

34.00 5.00 38.20 109.60 19.00 12.50 227.00 79.00 102.90 65.20

Company

Number of Contract

registering a rise of 2.3%, followed by textile 1% and cement 0.6%.

Power closed flat with no significant movement. The other large cap sectors ended in red. Banks, non-banking financial institutions, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, food & allied and life insurance edged lower.

Lanka Bangla Securities said market lost some as bull had a pause for breath after rallying around 185 points in last eight trading sessions.

“Persistent concern about the loss in business due to political unrest and economic outlook might have prevented stocks from rallying further.”

However, drop in stocks can be attributed to profit booking by investors, it said.

IDLC Investments said breaking last eight sessions’ gaining trend, profit booking in some mid cap stocks pushed the market in red.

“However, investors preferred micro cap scrips to grab return from daily volatility. Overall, investors remain concerned over the country’s macro-economic landscape, degrading day by day over ongoing political unrest.”

Beximco Limited topped the liquidity chart with turnover worth Tk11 crore changing hands, followed

by IFAD Autos, CVO Petrochemical Refinery, Grameenphone and Agni System. l

Stocks moved marginally down amid choppy trading yesterday, breaking eight-day rally, as investors cashed in on the available margins in the wake of rolling political unrest.

The market swung between red and green, as investors played both sides of fence. The volume of trade sharply declined slipping below Tk300-crore mark again, indicating that participation in trading was still poor.

The benchmark index DSEX lost 10 points or 0.4% to settle at 4,831, hitting lowest 4820 in the open and highest 4851 in the mid session.

The Shariah index DSES inched 3 points or 0.3% down to 1,147. The comprising blue chips DS30 closed at 1,804, rising over 7 points or 0.5%.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, declined 12 points to 8,967.

Total turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange stood at Tk260 crore, which was 19% lower over the previous session. Engineering, fuel & power and textile accounted for 37.5% of the day’s total trade value.

However, the market breadth remained negative as out of 304 issues traded, 130 gained, 136 declined and 44 remained unchanged.

Almost all the sectors closed flat.

Among the gaining sectors, non-life insurance was the biggest gainer

DSE GAINER

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Monday, February 16, 2015

% change 8.44 6.03 1.76 13.57 4.66 12.00 0.06 11.85 8.59 1.32 2.81 0.68 2.08 2.53 5.79 1.31 1.35 4.68 2.10 8.38 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Brac Bank -A Ifad Autos -N CVO PetroChem RL-A Grameenphone-A Agni Systems -A aamra technologies-A National Feed-N Beximco Pharma -A MJL BD Ltd.-A

RAK Ceramics-A Emerald Oil Ind. -A LafargeS Cement-Z DESCO Ltd. -A Square Pharma -A BD Submarine Cable-A CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company BEXIMCO Ltd. -A National Feed-N Grameenphone-A Ifad Autos -N BD Submarine Cable-A WesternMarine -N UNITED AIR-A C & A Textile -N CVO PetroChem RL-A RAK Ceramics-A

Maksons Spinning-A LafargeS Cement-Z Hamid Fabrics -N Rangpur Dairy-N SAIF Powertec-N

VolumeShares 3,142,987 2,667,183 1,533,934 156,109 207,339 2,140,371 1,461,749 1,912,991 884,403 405,934

Value in Million 112.46 105.02 96.68 76.26 72.44 70.23 59.08 56.62 53.83 49.92

% of TotalTurnover 4.25 3.97 3.65 2.88 2.74 2.65 2.23 2.14 2.03 1.89

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

809,527 1,175,419 363,533 665,605 165,583 348,083

546,118 489,178 38,171 175,173 77,148 186,231 1,006,612 424,466 15,425 115,465

418,111 38,954 157,647 203,398 63,128

48.15 47.72 46.58 45.99 42.68 41.23

19.55 14.38 13.36 11.05 9.20 9.13 9.08 8.57 7.55 6.87

5.28 4.98 4.58 4.18 4.17

1.82 1.80 1.76 1.74 1.61 1.56

7.42 5.46 5.07 4.19 3.49 3.47 3.45 3.25 2.87 2.61

2.01 1.89 1.74 1.59 1.58

ClosingP 35.60 39.00 62.40 494.70 349.00 32.30 40.20 30.40 60.50 122.80

60.10 40.90 127.90 68.50 257.20 117.40

ClosingP

35.50 30.20 349.30 62.40 117.20 48.80 8.90 20.70 174.70 59.90

12.50 128.00 29.50 20.60 65.80

Change % 0.28 0.78 -1.11 4.15 -0.17 -2.71 -1.71 10.14 -0.66 -1.37

2.91 -0.24 0.08 -1.86 -0.19 -2.41

Change %

0.00 9.82 -0.14 -1.42 -2.17 1.24 -2.20 7.25 9.74 2.92

-3.85 0.47 5.36 0.49 -0.15

ClosingY 35.50 38.70 63.10 475.00 349.60 33.20 40.90 27.60 60.90 124.50

58.40 41.00 127.80 69.80 257.70 120.30

ClosingY

35.50 27.50 349.80 63.30 119.80 48.20 9.10 19.30 159.20 58.20

13.00 127.40 28.00 20.50 65.90

DHIGH 36.50 39.50 64.00 497.00 351.10 33.60 41.20 30.40 61.80 125.00

60.60 42.00 129.00 70.00 260.30 121.90

DHIGH

36.50 30.20 351.50 64.00 122.00 49.60 9.30 20.90 175.00 60.00

13.00 129.00 29.80 20.70 66.80

DLOW 35.10 38.60 61.70 477.50 348.00 32.00 40.00 27.80 60.10 122.00

58.50 40.40 127.50 68.10 256.20 116.50

DLOW

35.20 27.60 348.00 61.90 116.00 48.30 8.80 19.30 159.50 58.00

12.50 127.00 28.20 20.30 65.00

AvgPrice 35.78 39.37 63.02 488.52 349.37 32.81 40.42 29.60 60.87 122.98

59.48 40.60 128.12 69.10 257.75 118.44

AvgPrice

35.80 29.39 350.08 63.05 119.26 49.05 9.02 20.18 489.44 59.50

12.63 127.76 29.04 20.56 66.03

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Business

B3

Monday, February 16, 2015

Apple studies self-driving car n Reuters, Frankfurt Technology giant Apple is looking beyond mobile devices to learn how to make a self-driving electric car, and is talking to experts at carmakers and automotive suppliers, a senior auto industry source familiar with the discussions said on Saturday.

The Cupertino, California-based maker of phones, computers and, soon, watches is exploring how to make an entire vehicle, not just designing automotive software or individual components, the auto industry source said.

“They don’t appear to want a lot of help from carmakers,” said the source, who declined to be named.

Apple is gathering advice on parts and production methods, focusing on electric and connected-car technologies, while studying the potential for automated driving, the source said.

“Fully automated driving is an evolution. Carmakers will slowly build the market for autonomous cars by first releasing connected and partially automated cars,” the auto industry source said. “Apple is interested in all the potential ways you can evolve the car; that includes autonomous driving.”

Whether it will build and release an electric car or a more evolved autonomous vehicle remains to be seen, the source said.

But clearly Apple has sharply raised its ambitions in automotive technology. Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies ranging from Google Inc, which has built a prototype self-driving car, to electric car-maker Tesla Motors Inc. An Apple spokesman in London on Saturday declined to comment on “rumors or speculation”.

Trying to build an actual car would mark a dramatic shift for the maker of the iPhone and iPad. Apple often re-

Workers prepare for the opening of an Apple store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province searches projects which are then discarded, but has so far mainly stuck to its core expertise in mobile and electronic devices.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple had set up a secret lab working on the creation of an Apple-branded electric car, citing people familiar with the matter. The lab was set up late last year, soon after Apple revealed its forthcoming smart watch and latest iPhones, the Financial Times said.

The Journal said that the Apple project, code-named “Titan”, employed several hundred people working a few miles from Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.

Apple executives met with contract manufacturers including Magna Steyr in Austria, a unit of Magna International, the Journal said. A Magna spokeswoman declined to comment.

The path to self-driving cars

Autonomous driving is likely to emerge progressively as driver assistance systems become more sophisticated.

Already, carmakers such as Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen’s Audi have revealed cars that can travel long distances without human intervention.

Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas have said they see a $25bn market for au-

REUTERS

tomated driving technology by 2020, with vehicle intelligence becoming “the key differentiating factor”. But the brokerage does not expect fully automated cars to hit the road until 2025 or 2030, in part due to regulatory hurdles.

Short of building entire cars, there is money to be made from the software to run a self-driving vehicle, as well as the services associated with autonomous driving, such as mapping, car-sharing and car recharging services, the auto source said.

“It’s a software game. It’s all about autonomous driving,” the industry source said.

Apple may be pursuing mainly auto industry expertise rather than fullscale partnerships with established car companies.

With its soon-to-be-launched Apple Watch, the company had held limited discussions with Swiss watchmakers, but no broad-based alliance emerged from the talks.

Instead of partnerships, Apple pursued a go-it-alone strategy and turned to poaching talent from top watch brands.

Two different sources have told Reuters that Apple has tried to recruit auto industry experts in areas such as robotics. l

GE to use new India manufacturing facility as export hub n Reuters, Chakan General Electric Co will use its new manufacturing facility in India, which was formally inaugurated on Saturday, as an export hub, with plans to send half of its output to the conglomerate’s global factories.

The 67-acre plant in Chakan, near the western city of Pune, is GE’s first multi-purpose manufacturing facility in India, which will produce a range of products that will include aviation, rail and diesel engines.

It will also be a major part of GE’s plan to win increased domestic orders, the US company said at inauguration, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The GE plant dovetails with the government’s push to turn the country into a manufacturing hub with its “Make in India” initiative.

GE Vice Chairman John Rice told Reuters in an interview that the US conglomerate had spent a total of $200m on the facility but declined to give other specifics, including how much it will produce.

Rice said GE was keen to expand further in India, and was eyeing opportunities in the government’s planned railway modernization program. He also noted that the country’s renewable energy sector was beginning to become attractive.

“From an orders and revenue perspective, I still think we’re playing below our weight,” Rice told Reuters, regarding its India business.

Turning to GE’s global businesses, Rice reiterated that the oil and gas division’s forecast that revenues would stay flat or fall up to 5% this year as the steep drop in crude oil prices forces customers to cut back on spending, especially in work associated with fracking. l

‘Land, finance key to India renewables drive’ n Reuters, New Delhi ndia will struggle to hit its “hugely ambitious” renewable energy target if it fails to make more land available for plants and ensure utilities have the means to buy in clean energy, the head of US-based First Solar said yesterday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made renewable energy a priority for his government, as he looks to leverage the falling cost of solar power - expected to reach parity with conventional energy by 2017 - and address India’s chronic power shortages.

First Solar Chief Executive Jim

Hughes said he welcomed the government’s commitment to develop 100,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power by 2022 - a 33-fold rise from today’s level - but that in some Indian states there were question marks over the financial viability of solar schemes.

“It makes it difficult to develop projects in these circumstances,” Hughes told Reuters in an interview in New Delhi.

First Solar, based in Tempe, Arizona, makes solar panels and also builds solar power plants, many of which it sells to power producers. Opening India’s first major renewable energy conference on Sunday, Modi said clean energy was an

CORPORATE NEWS

“article of faith” for him.

Analysts have said Modi’s targets will be difficult to reach given the poor financial health of mostly state-run electricity distribution companies that would buy solar energy, and the slow pace at which land for plants is made available.

First Solar said on Sunday it planned to develop 5,000 MW of solar in India by 2019, while U.S. rival SunEdison announced plans to build 15,200 MW of solar and wind power by 2022.

Hughes said First Solar needed to secure land, agree financing and reach power purchase agreements with buyers before building the capacity. l

US consumer sentiment pulls off 11-year high n Reuters, Washington

Mutual Trust Bank Limited has recently signed an agreement with Bengal Group of Industries for online bill collections. The bank’s DMD. Syed Rafiqul Haq and director of Bengal Group, Humayun Kabir have signed the agreement

AK Khan Telecom Limited (AKTL), a concern of AK Khan & Co Ltd has announced to launch a new product, IP PBX solution in Bangladesh. AKTL has recently held a product briefing session in this regard. The company’s managing director attended the session along with chief guest, Masud Rahman, president of Canada Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Jamuna Bank Limited has recently held its 260th board meeting. The meeting was presided over by the bank’s chairperson, Shaheen Mahmud

US consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell in February from an 11-year high amid worries over slowing economic growth, suggesting a recent weakness in spending might last for a while.

The ebb in sentiment came despite strong job gains over the last three months, signs of an acceleration in wage growth as well as cheaper gasoline prices, factors that economists had expected would buoy consumer spending in the months ahead.

“As it stands, the pullback in confidence, along with the early-year decline in retail sales, hints of slower consumer spending growth in the first quarter,” said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.

The University of Michigan said on Friday its consumer sentiment index slipped to 93.6 in early February from a reading of 98.1 in January. The drop could reflect an uptick in gasoline prices early this month.

Still, the index was at the second highest level since January 2007. Economists had expected the sentiment index to hold steady.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the data.

Households were in early February less upbeat about current economic conditions as well as the outlook over the next six months.

The survey also showed a fairly big fall in household intentions to purchase long-lasting manufactured goods, while plans to buy automobiles were little changed.

There was also some softening in income expectations. A special question in the survey showed a greater propensity to save, which could explain the recent weakness in retail sales. l

A Greek flag flutters next to a statue of ancient Goddess Athena in central Athens

Eyes of the world on Greece n Reuters, London The coming week will go a long way to dictating whether Greece remains in the euro zone.

A meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday is tasked with producing a deal that will keep Greece solvent and which is acceptable to both sides.

A similar meeting last week, marking Greek finance chief Yanis Varoufakis’ debut, got nowhere over seven hours of talks.

Some of this is down to semantics – the Greeks will not accept an extension of the hated bailout program while bridging financing sounds fine – but there are serious issues of substance too and there is a gulf to overcome.

The new government’s plan to renegotiate Greece’s debt pile and end debt-cutting will not fly given the amount of money Athens owes to European institutions and governments.

There is economic logic in easing up on austerity to galvanize growth and increase the tax take. The euro zone could move a little in that direction but Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is likely to have to move considerably further from where he is now.

Tsipras says he has a strong democratic mandate to pursue a new deal. The euro zone says Greece owes them a fortune.

Both are right. Something must give.

The European Central Bank has kept the pressure on and could possibly pull the plug on emergency support for Greek banks, without which they will collapse, if there is no progress toward a deal.

Last week, the ECB made available a

further 5bn euros of Emergency Lending Assistance (ELA). Banking sources told Reuters it did so because deposit outflows have picked up and also to ensure sufficient liquidity while the standoff persists.

That money will only last until Wednesday when the ECB Governing Council meets to review the situation.

It could stop the lifeline for Greek banks if Greece was clearly not in a bailout program and/or if it judged its banks to be insolvent. That would push Athens a big step closer to the edge.

“A continuation of the deadlock on Monday will immediately shift focus to Wednesday’s bi-weekly ECB review of the ELA limits of Greek banks,” said Deutsche Bank strategist George Saravelos.

“In the event of failure, we would expect the ECB to become more explicit on the timing of when ELA funding would be withdrawn or capped.”

The odds are still on some sort of extension to the bailout, even if it is called something else, to allow time for more substantive negotiations. But it is far from guaranteed.

The Dutch finance minister who will chair Monday’s meeting of the Eurogroup played down the chances of a breakthrough.

“I’m really still very pessimistic about that now,” Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Friday.

Economists polled by Reuters estimated a one-in-four chance of Greece leaving the 19-nation single currency area this year the highest reading since the start of the Greek debt crisis in late 2009.

REUTERS

“Ultimately, the alternative of ELA withdrawal and eventual capital controls for Greece is worse for all sides involved.

But whether progress can be achieved under very pressing deadlines and large differences of opinion on the underlying policy path between the two sides remains to be seen,” Saravelos said.

Any other business Greece will cast a long shadow this week but there are other key events besides.

Top of the list is the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting.

The central bank world has been upended by cheap oil and the prospect of the European Central Bank creating more than 1 trillion euros over the next 18 months.

Interest rates have been cut from Australia to India to Canada. Denmark and Sweden now boast negative official rates and the latter has started printing money.

In stark contrast, the Fed is expected to raise rates at some point this year. At its last meeting, it said it would remain patient about a first policy tightening but said the U.S. economy was expanding “at a solid pace” with strong job gains.

The Bank of Japan delivers its latest policy decision on Wednesday.

In April 2013, the BOJ pledged to push inflation up to 2% in “about two years” by printing money at an unprecedented rate to end two decades of deflation.

With inflation running at just 0.5%, more stimulus is expected but not yet. Of 16 analysts polled by Reuters, five each said more BOJ easing would come at either its July or Oct 30 meeting. l

B4

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Back Page

Monday, February 16, 2015

Insurers prove laggards in technology race n Reuters, London At a time the financial sector is racing to embrace digital technology to boost sales and drive profits, the traditionally staid insurance industry is in danger of falling behind.

Some insurers are using developments such as telematics, or social media sources, to increase the amount of information they have about customers to reduce claims and theoretically make insurance cheaper for all.

Telematics uses aircraft-style “black boxes” that have been in Formula One racing cars for years to collect data about how policyholders drive their cars, so they can be rewarded with lower insurance premiums if they adopt a cautious style.

But an industry that has long relied on personal contacts, the Lloyd’s of London insurance market started in a coffee house in the 17th century, has not been quick to embrace new technology or mine vast new data sets, known as “Big Data”.

The reluctance to roll out technology with the same enthusiasm as banks and some investment managers is partly cultural, partly financial.

“Compared to many other industries, (insurers) are still playing catchup. The sector has a very traditional culture.” said Catherine Barton, partner at EY. Staff at Lloyd’s, home to more than 90 trading syndicates in London’s financial district, still trundle suitcases of claim forms for complex insurance transactions.

Function rooms in its flagship building are furnished with antiques, while besuited underwriters swap ideas in local pubs and restaurants when the market closes for lunch.

Status quo

Lloyd’s Chief Executive Inga Beale has said the industry needs to take technology on board to maintain its role in global business. The firm recently appointed a Chief Data Officer and Beale said the sector needs to attract new, tech-savvy talent.

Insurers already carry plenty of data

mains low. Britain, Italy and the United States are among the most developed markets, but penetration is 3.5% in Italy, 2.5% in Britain and just 1% worldwide.

The black boxes are expensive for the insurer to fit into cars, only making it worthwhile for young or inexperienced drivers, whose policies are more expensive. Some insurers are waiting for the cost of the boxes to fall, or for alternatives such as mobile phone apps or Internet-connected cars.

Too expensive

At a time the financial sector is racing to embrace digital technology to boost sales and drive profits, the traditionally staid insurance industry is in danger of falling behind about policyholders, and have started mining sources such as Facebook, to cut fraud or better estimate customers’ claims.

But a mass of different systems, often the legacy of firms being swallowed up by bigger insurers, makes it hard to streamline technology. Some firms have chosen the status quo.

“I have a very jaundiced view of the generation behind me, they are too reliant on technology,” one broker told Reuters. “I don’t believe this (face-toface approach) will disappear.”

Even if firms want to harness technology, they may be unwilling to commit cash. Insurers are struggling to balance their books, with bond yields at record lows and slashing the returns they make on investing premiums.

Trendsetters

A report from Morgan Stanley and Boston Consulting Group says the first movers will reap bigger spoils.

They say a full transformation to becoming a digital company could cut an insurer’s combined ratio by 21 percent-

Despite the decline, Russians were still the third-biggest foreign buyers of homes in Spain last year, after the British and French REUTERS

Ruble tumble busts Russian buying boom in Spain n AFP, Madrid Spain was counting on rich Russians to help revive its stricken property market by buying homes on its sunny coasts - until the ruble collapsed on falling oil prices and the Ukraine crisis.

The sharp fall of the Russian currency, driven by slumping oil prices and sanctions over Moscow’s backing for separatists in Ukraine, knocked some Spanish estate agents back down just as they were staggering to their feet.

“Russians are not buying right now,” said Ramon Riera, president of FIABCI Espana, a grouping of 120 property specialists.

“What’s more, some Russians are actually getting rid of their properties here in Spain. There were some deals that were about to go through but the Russians have disappeared.”

Purchases of properties in Spain by Russians were already declining steadily last year, according to the College of Registrars.

They fell from 8.8% of the total in the first quarter of 2014 to 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its latest figures.

And that was before the sharpest plunge in the ruble in mid-December.

Overall, the ruble lost 40% of its value against the euro and 45% against the dollar in 2014.

Russia’s government forecasts its

economy will shrink by three percent in the first quarter of 2015 after growing just 0.6% overall last year.

Riera also fears that amid the crisis, Russian authorities are encouraging their compatriots to stay in the country and buy holiday homes on the Black Sea.

‘The Russians landed’ After Spain’s construction sector collapsed in 2008, “lots of people were looking to work the Russian market, because it was the strong market,” said Riera.

Russians above all went for relatively cheap properties near the Mediterranean beaches of Spain’s sunny eastern coast.

In 2013 they bought more than 2,000 properties in the eastern Valencia region and 989 in Catalonia in the northeast, according to the General Council of Notaries.

Hundreds also bought in the hot southern region of Andalucia.

At the same time, Spain saw a surge in Russian tourists visiting.

“In the past five or six years it was like the Russians suddenly landed,” said Federico Alvargonzalez, sales director of La Gavina, a luxury hotel on Catalonia’s Costa Brava coast.

“The Russians are a bit more profitable than other clients. They order more expensive rooms and spend more on dining and wine,” he said.

“That may have made some people get

carried away.”

But the tide turned last year as tensions rose in Ukraine - where over 5,400 people have died in fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.

The number of Russian tourists to Spain fell to 1.4 million in 2014, down 10 percent compared to the previous year, according to figures from Spain’s tourism ministry.

Hotel manager Iker Llano fears the impact of the recent turbulence will continue this summer.

At his Piramide Salou hotel on the coast south of Barcelona, Russians account for 70 percent of revenues.

He fears Russia’s problems will have an impact “not just on the number of tourists who come here, but that those who do come will have much less spending power”.

Russians selling to Russians Some in Spain still have hope in the Russian market, however. Despite the decline, Russians were still the third-biggest foreign buyers of homes in Spain last year, after the British and French.

“There will still be business with them,” said Kristina Szekely, owner of the luxury real estate agency Sotheby’s International Realty based in the southern Spanish resort of Marbella.

“Maybe some Russians are having to sell now because of the economic situation. But that will interest other Russian buyers.” l

age points, in other words making the firm more profitable. Expenses could fall by 10% of premiums and claims by 8 percent.

Germany’s Allianz is highlighted in the report as a good example of a traditional insurer working to enhance its digital capabilities and transform its business model.

It is investing 400-500m euros a year in digital initiatives such as setting up an innovation lab to work with young companies on Big Data, mobile, social media and sponsorship, the report said.

REUTERS

Others are focusing on telematics, one of the industry’s brightest innovations. Britain’s RSA has a telematics product and underwrites business for specialist telematics insurer Ingenie.

Direct Line also does telematics.

Belgian insurer Ageas, which has a British division and writes insurance for firms such as Tesco Bank, also underwrites Ingenie’s telematics car insurance, while Progressive is a frontrunner in the United States.

Still, the benefits sometimes seem unclear and the use of telematics re-

British insurer Aviva was one of the first to introduce telematics. Policyholders had 30% fewer accidents and premiums fell by the same amount.

Aviva has since pulled out because it was costing too much to buy and install the boxes, but it now offers discounts to drivers using mobile apps to monitor their driving habits.

The technology has also not yet arrived for telematics to be used in markets beyond motor insurance.

New uses for telematics could include an oven that tells your house insurer it has been left on, or a smartwatch that tells your health insurer if your blood pressure is too high.

“In the next few years, we’ll see a lot of change in (the way) technology will impact pricing,” said Rudi Van Delm, director for pricing and underwriting at Direct Line.

But until that technology becomes more cost-effective, insurers focused on retail consumers may invest more in their online presence and use of price comparison sites.

Even with the prospect of technological advances, insurers say there is still a need for human interaction.

Inside the “Walkie-Talkie” building, one of London’s newest skyscrapers, RSA offers its telematics-based insurance but also provides a meeting room where brokers can mingle and do business the old-fashioned way.

“More complex and more large-scale products are always reliant on some form of relationship management and negotiation,” said Tim Skates, RSA’s chief technology officer. l

Gold’s lustre lures Turkish savers

‘World needs more German spending’ n Reuters, London

n AFP, Istanbul

The latest European growth data underline the case for Germany to spend and invest more both at home and abroad, a senior economic advisor to President Obama told a public discussion in London on Friday.

Caroline Atkinson, Deputy Assistant to President Obama and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, also said European governments that have twice bailedout Greece should compromise further on a deal to keep it in the euro zone.

Speaking at London’s Chatham House institute, Atkinson said it was important that the new Greek government presented a credible plan for more reform.

But she added: “It is also important for creditors to take into account the fact that Greece has had a very sharp drop in incomes, real wages and output as well as a big rise in unemployment.”

Atkinson described Europe’s recovery so far as “tepid”, saying it was too slow to bring down record unemployment and noting inconsistent performances across different economies.

“Certainly what I believe and what we believe is that more spending on investment ... and maybe some support for consumption would be helpful in trying to reduce Germany’s own large imbalance on its trade and would help to support demand elsewhere,” she said.

Germany is under international pressure to spend some of its budget surplus to bolster economic growth in Europe although Berlin has so far resisted such calls.

“The German export machine is very impressive and they should continue with that but it is also important to have the other side of that,” she added.

In the debate over fiscal austerity in Europe, Atkinson said governments needed to do more to support efforts by central banks to boost demand. l

From the outside, it looks like any other automatic bank machine on the streets of Istanbul. But rather than notes, this one distributes small pieces of gold.

Gold is hugely prized in Turkey not just for ornamentation or investment by banks but as a secure way for private individuals to hold their savings.

Many people in Turkey - which has one of the lowest private savings rates among major economies - keep gold as security for a “rainy day” rather than products offered by banks.

According to estimates, Turks hold some 3,500 tonnes of gold. Banks have sought to capitalise on the tradition by offering accounts denominated in gold.

“We were thinking about putting all that gold back into the financial system somehow, so we decided to create gold accounts for our clients,” said Seda Yilmaz, marketing manager of the Kuveyt Turk Bank, the first to do so, in 2007.

“So we bought one kilo of gold, and the demand on the first day was three kilos. It was a very good decision, so we decided to move ahead.”

Eight years on, Kuveyt Turk manages 200,000 gold accounts with different products allowing sales by cheque, bank transfer or mobile phone.

Now with the introduction of the first ATMs that issue gold as well as the usual banknotes, consumers can withdraw pieces of gold weighing 1 or 1.5 grammes.

The success of the ATMs started a trend, with many other Turkish banks latching on. The volume of gold in their reserves has gone from two tonnes in 2007 to 250 tonnes.

The government has also tried to join the bandwagon with the central bank allowing commercial businesses to hold some of their reserves in gold and opening this up to private investors.

“Thanks to this measure, our sales jumped 85% last year,” said Aysen Esen, head of a leading gold refinery in the country.

“Over the last two years, banks have taken in some 40 tonnes of gold that people had stashed under their beds.

And it’s just a small proportion of the reserves.”

‘Huge opportunity’

Turkey, where the mythical Phrygian King Midas turned everything to gold

and Trojan King Priam was said to amass his gold hoard, has historically been a centre for gold mining.

The first gold was mined in Anatolia several millennia before the birth of Christ but until recent years there had been a long break in extraction.

This changed in the 1980s with new legislation facilitating foreign investments, resulting in the discovery of new gold deposits at home.

The extraction of gold has since risen exponentially, from two tonnes mined in 2002 to 33.5 tonnes in 2013.

A bright future is assured, with underground reserves estimated at 6,500 tonnes.

“The main reason for this boom is that we still don’t have any tax on gross gold transactions, we only pay VAT (value added tax) on finished products,” said Ali Bulut chief executive of Turkey’s number one gold retailer Altinbas.

“I’m very optimistic in the long run about domestic demand, not only for fashion and jewellery but also for savings.”

Even if exchange rate variations have an effect on activity and profits, Turks are the number four global consumers of gold and number two exporters.

“In 2013, recycling, fabrication and consumption (of gold) boosted the Turkish economy by at least $3.8 billion,” said Alistair Hewitt, author of a recent report published by the World Gold Council.

“The opportunity is huge. We are only at the early stages here, there is a huge potential.

“It’s looking very, very exciting... all that infrastructure allows Turkey to become a gold trading hub within the region.”

Made a little jealous by the successes of banks in a market that they once had to themselves, Turkish gold jewellers staked their interest in joining the gold investment industry. l

DILBERT