05 April, 2015

SECOND EDITION

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

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Chaitra 22, 1421, Jamadius Sani 15, 1436

SPECIAL STEPS TO STOP POLLS-TIME OFFENCE IN CHITTAGONG PAGE 3

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 2, No 360

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www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10

LAWYERS MEET KAMARUZZAMAN IN JAIL

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BNP exploring alternatives The decision on the party’s choice for the north likely to come today Al-Masum Molla, n Mohammad Rajib Bhowmick and Munir Momtaj With Abdul Awal Mintoo out of the mayoral race for Dhaka north city polls, the BNP is now exploring alternative avenues for putting up a good fight.

The BNP said it would make its decision public today and there are at least two streams of thought regarding what the next course of action should be.

One idea is to extend support to Mintoo’s son Tabith M Awal who was included as a back-up option at the eleventh hour before the deadline for submitting nomination papers expired on March 29.

On April 1, the Election Commission (EC) cancelled the mayoral bid of Mintoo, a business tycoon and an adviser to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, for violating nomination procedure. The commission yesterday also turned down Mintoo’s appeal against the cancellation of his nomination.

The other strategy could be backing more experienced Mahi B Chowdhury, joint secretary general of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh and son of former President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury. The EC has accepted Mahi’s bid for the mayoral race in the Dhaka North City Corporation polls.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

BNP standing committee members meet Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman to appeal against the decision of the returning officer to cancel the nominations of BNP leaders Abdul Awal Mintoo and Nasir Uddin Ahmed Pintu MEHEDI HASAN

Simply a matter of law n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Abdul Awal Mintoo’s candidacy was cancelled for valid reasons, say election insiders. Although there are some gray areas in the law which may be subject to interpretation, election officials point out that the BNP-backed mayoral aspirant for Dhaka north was disqualified for a very basic violation.

Business magnate Mintoo was said to have harboured ambitions of becoming Dhaka Mayor from even before the turn of the century.

Being an advisor to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, also leader of the main political opposition, the former FBCCI president was endorsed by the party to run for mayor of Dhaka north this time.

His candidacy was cancelled by the Election Commission on April Fool’s Day, the first day of scrutiny. Mintoo’s appeal against that

PAGE 5 Detective Branch to probe college teacher Kaberi murder

decision was rejected yesterday.

Former election chief ATM Shamsul Huda said he had fallen victim to a duality of the city corporation.

Referring to news reports he said Mintoo’s seconder hailed from Harirampur Union, on the fringes of Dhaka north — an area where people pay taxes to the city and enjoy its services although they do not fall within the city corporation.

Hence he is not a voter of Dhaka city, pointed out Huda. If I were the returning officer, I would have cancelled his nomination too.”

Another senior election official with substantial experience, refused to go on record, also echoed Huda’s take on the matter.

The former chief election commissioner wondered why Mintoo had chosen his  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

PAGE 9 Looking into the world of autism

BNP’s central office unlocked after three months n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla BNP men broke the three-month lock to enter their Nayapaltan office last evening as the tight security around the place was almost fully relaxed.

Around 50 BNP leaders and activists including some minor office bearers cut the lock around 7pm and entered the office which they had not been able to do since January 3.

Insiders said party chief Khaleda Zia might go to the office today if she attends a scheduled appearance before a Dhaka court.

The party has been urging the government to open the office over the last months but that call has never been heeded. Recently, a

PAGE 10 Hundreds protest Islamic law in Australia

BNP delegation met the chief election commissioner and urged the Election Commission to unlock the office.

Last evening, the BNP men could be seen cleaning thick layers of dust that have deposited on furniture during the last three months that the office had been kept under lock and key. They were also seen clearing small mounds of papers and documents.

Asadul Karim Sahin, assistant office secretary of the party, was accompanied to the office by around 50 supporters.

The office had remained unattended since plainclothesmen picked up BNP’s Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvy from there  PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

PAGE 31 Manoel de Oliveira dead at 106

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Khaleda likely to appear before court today n Ashif Islam Shaon

Khaleda Zia, the chief of BNP and 20-party alliance which have been observing back-to-back hartals and blockades since January 6, is set to appear before a Dhaka court today apparently violating her own agitation programmes.

She will seek bail from the court of Dhaka’s Third Special Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar in Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust corruption cases.

Khaleda will start for the court at 9am. She might go back to her home after the court proceeding was over, a senior leader said.

The court issued arrest warrants against her on February 25 for repeated absence during the proceedings. On March 4, the court set today for trial rejecting a defence plea to withdraw the arrest warrant against Khaleda, the prime accused in both cases. However, the arrest warrant is yet to reach the Gulshan police station.

Until yesterday evening, it was not clear

whether she would return to her Gulshan office from the court today or go to her residence.

“There is a possibility that she may appear before the court, but it depends on the situation,” Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan told reporters yesterday.

One of her counsels Sanaullah Mia said: “She wants to attend the hearings and she will.

But everything depends on the current situation; especially, her security is a major concern. “[If everything is favourable] she will reach the court around 11:30am.”

The three-time former prime minister has been staying at her Gulshan office since January 3. Since then, senior party leaders have been saying that she will not leave the place until the ongoing movement demanding fresh polls gets a rational achievement.

Her chief counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain on Thursday demanded “assurance of security” as a condition for her appearance at court. l

European team in town to assist burn victims n Tribune Report A joint medical team comprising plastic surgeons from Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands arrived in Dhaka yesterday to treat burn victims at Dhaka Medical College Hospital for free.

‘So far, 183 people took treatment at the burn institute since the recent spate of violence begun in early January’ They started treating patients at DMCH’s burn and plastic surgery institute in the evening.

Most of the patients here were injured during the recent political violence.

“The team will mainly focus on patients who were injured in attacks during street violence. They may treat 100-150 patients during

their seven-day stay in Bangladesh,” Prof Dr Abul Kalam Azad, project director of the institute, told reporters in the city.

The 10-member team is expert in plastic surgery. They came to Bangladesh under the banner of “Interplast Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands.”

A volunteer group, For Bangladesh, has organised the treatment facilities.

For Bangladesh President Hasnat Mia said they felt that they needed to do something about the patients who have been suffering in the hospital. Most of the team members visited Bangladesh earlier too.

Prof Azad said the team would also share their experience with the physicians in Bangladesh.

“So far, 183 people took treatment at the burn institute since the recent spate of violence begun in early January. Of them, 22 died and currently 22 others are under treatment,” Prof Dr Samanta Lal Sen, an adviser of the institute, said. l

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Simply a matter of law seconder from such a remote area. “Was there no one else in Dhaka?”

He said, “Usually in such sensitive cases, candidates file more than one nomination just as back up. Why did he submit just one?

It was foolish.”

Mintoo’s seconder Abdur Razzaque, was a voter of Uttara Sector 13, which falls under Harirampur Union Council and not within the limits of Dhaka north.

But Shamsul Huda’s colleague in the same commission, Shakhawat Hossain, told Dhaka Tribune that there were some gray areas in the law. “It is a matter of interpretation. When we were in the office, we gave candidates the opportunity to correct minor errors and guided the returning officers accordingly.”

Huda differed though. “The point is whether you have adhered to the rules.” He said it was a question of respecting the laws.

According to the City Corporation Election Rules, the returning officer may disqualify a mayoral aspirant for a number of reasons.

Section 14 of the rules, that deals with the issue, spells out the reasons.

A candidature may be cancelled if the returning officer deems that person ineligible, or if the aspirant has not duly submitted the affidavit or if there has been a violation in the process of nominating the candidate. Two of those points explicitly deal with the eligibility of the ‘proposer’ and the ‘seconder.’

The rules say that the returning officer may cancel a candidature if the ‘proposer’ and ‘seconder’ are not eligible (Section 14.3.b) or, if their signatures are not deemed valid (Section 14.3.d).

The rules state that any voter may propose and another voter may second the proposal for candidacy.

BNP exploring alternatives According to insiders, one group is saying that Tabith may not have strong political credentials but his father’s charisma should be good enough to make him a force to reckon with in the north of the capital.

The other group says now that Mintoo is not in the contention anymore, BNP should make use of the relatively clean political image of Mahi, who has been a BNP lawmaker during the course of his more than two-decade-old career.

Moreover, Bikalpadhara now has good ties with the BNP now although Badruddoza Chowdhury formed the party after stepping down as the country’s president and breaking away from BNP in 2004.

Mahi was elected a lawmaker with BNP ticket in 2002 in a seat that that fell vacant with his father becoming the president. He left BNP and joined his father in 2004 and has since been engaging the country’s youth on various social issues.

Earlier yesterday, Dhaka’s Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman turned down the appeals of BNP leaders Mintoo and Nasiruddin

Ahmed Pintu, who had bid for the mayoral post in the south, against the cancellation of their nominations.

Mintoo’s attorney Mahbub Uddin Khokon told reporters that his client had not got justice and would appeal to a higher court.

“If Mintoo had the Awami League’s blessings, he might not have faced this problem,” Khokon said.

Mintoo was disqualified because the seconder of his nomination is not a voter of the Dhaka North City Corporation.

During the second part of yesterday’s hearing at his Shegunbagicha office, the divisional commissioner was informed that a company named K&Q, owned by Tabith, had a Tk2crore loan with the Sonali Bank and Mintoo was the guarantor.

The Bangladesh Bank had earlier informed the EC that Tabith is a loan defaulter; but his candidature was accepted.

Meanwhile, after meeting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office last evening, Prof Emajuddin Ahamad, convener of pro-BNP professionals’ platform Shoto Na-

A proviso adds that the returning officer may, however, allow an aspirant to correct minor omissions.

The returning officer had asked, with Mintoo’s nomination papers in hand, if the candidate, proposer and seconder were all present.

He then pointed out that Abdur Razzak who had seconded the candidature, was not a voter of Dhaka north.

Soon after the announcement, a BNP delegation met Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad and requested him to allow Mintoo to correct the anomaly.

Unlike Dhaka south where several mayoral aspirants affiliated with BNP have submitted their nomination papers besides the party backed Mirza Abbas, Dhaka north did not see any such redundancy except perhaps Mintoo’s son Tabith Awal. l

gorik (one hundred citizens), told reporters that no decision had yet been made on who they would support in the north. “A decision in this regard will be conveyed tomorrow [Sunday].”

He also confirmed that BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas will run for the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation under the banner of Adarsha Dhaka Gorar Andolan (the movement to build an ideal Dhaka).

However, the situation in the south is much more comfortable for the BNP. Both its main contender Mirza Abbas and back up option Abdus Salam have got the clearance for contesting the city polls. Third choice Asaduzzaman Ripon, BNP’s international affairs secretary, has also got clearance.

Insiders said now that Abbas’s nomination has been accepted by the EC, Salam and Ripon will withdraw their bid by April 9.

However, Abbas’s position is speculative because he is facing several cases and there are fears that the former Dhaka mayor might get arrested if he comes out in the open before the elections.

BNP’s central office unlocked after three months and drove out the 4-5 office staff on January 3.

It came two days before the BNP and its partners were going to observe the anniversary of the January 5, 2014 elections, terming it “democracy killing day.”

Law enforcers, including female security personnel, have since been maintaining a right cordon in front of the office. No BNP leader or activist has been reported to have tried to enter the office after that.

BNP supporters wanted to gather in front of the Nayapaltan office – one of the party’s top venues for political programmes – for the funeral prayer of Khaleda’s youngest son Arafat Rahman Koko in January, but they could not. l

Another BNP leader Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu, whose nomination got scrapped as well, had earlier submitted his papers without the party’s consent.

Yesterday, after his appeal against the cancellation was turned down, Pintu’s lawyer Aminul Islam alleged that the divisional commissioner had not paid any heed to their cause and said they would move to a higher court.

Pintu, a former BNP lawmaker, is now serving life-term in jail in the BDR carnage case.

Nominations of five mayoral and 203 councilor aspirants were cancelled during scrutiny on April 1 and 2 on different grounds. Of them, all five mayoral aspirants and 163 councillor aspirants challenged the EC decision.

Zillar Rahman said he had disposed of appeals from three mayoral and 20 councillor aspirants yesterday; of them, the appeals from two mayoral and five councillor aspirants were rejected.

The nomination of the other mayoral aspirant for the north, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, was declared valid yesterday. l

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EC takes special measures to stop polls-time offence n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

The Election Commission, along with law enforcers and administration, has taken a set of measures to curb polls-time offences such as voting for money, breach of code of conduct and scaring voters.

Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) will set up 24-hour check posts at the city’s entry points – City Gate, Shah Amanat Third Kanranphuli Bridge, Kalurghat, Oxygen and Patenga – to stop arms peddling, passage of black money and restricting entry of outsiders, sources said.

Law enforcers will conduct spot-specific drives in the city’s crime-prone and densely populated areas.

The Chittagong City Corporation (CCC)

Election Returning Office has formed 14 teams to keep watch over the 41 wards in the city to prevent harassment of voters, misconduct by candidates, exchange of money and crime.

CCC elections Retuning Officer Abdul Baten told the Dhaka Tribune: “Our officers, led by magistrates, are roaming around the city and checking everything. Based on previous records and current scenarios, we are shortlisting the risky areas...Not just voters and the candidates, attitudes of the law enforcement agencies and authorities are also under watch.”

He also said: “We will intensify vigilance 10-14 days before the election.”

CMP Commissioner Abdul Jalil Mandal said: “We have already sought 6,000 additional security personnel to strengthen vigilance.”

Delwar Hossain Majumder, president of

Concerned Citizen’s Committee (CCC-TIB) Chittagong, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The situation in the port city is better than that of any other place in the country for holding fair and risk-free election. But still, the EC must deploy at least two security personnel in every ward to ensure effective monitoring.”

He also said: “The authorities concerned will also have to play effective roles during the pre- and post-election periods to ensure voters’ security.”

In the port city, 12 people are running for the mayor post, 257 for ward councillor and 61 for reserved female councillor posts in the April 28 polls.

More than 18 lakh people will be able to practice their voting rights in 719 voting centres in the port city. l

Teen-aged girl among three detained for cyber fraud RAB also recovered four laptops from the detainees

n Abid Azad RAB yesterday arrested three persons, including a girl, for their involvement in what was described as cyber fraud.

Afsana, 19, Tanvir Hossain, 23, and Rana Raihan, 36, were detained from the capital’s Mohammadpur, Elephant Road and Green Road areas.

Their arrests came after Sohel Chowdhury Prince, a computer engineering student, put up an ad online to sell his laptop but had the female buyer, Afsana, fleeing with it without paying money after the two met for the trade on March 10.

“She convinced me to go to her office in the capital’s Panthapath area to sell my laptop. I went there and came to understand that she was not involved with the office in any way but it was too late and she took away the laptop without paying for it,” Sohel recalled at the RAB 2 office in Agargaon yesterday.

“The two men were her accomplices. The employees of the office did not know either of the three,” he added. `Addressing a press briefing at the Agargaon office at noon, RAB 2 Commanding Officer Lt Col SM Masud Rana said the detainees had been deceiving people this way for 10-12 months.

He said it was not certain how many groups are involved in such deceptive measures.

“They contact sellers who advertise products on the internet and ask them to come to a specific location. The places usually include offices, shopping malls and even law chambers.

“When the seller arrives, they deceive him and the office staff at the same time before fleeing with the product without paying money,” added Masud. l

Around 10-20 BNP leaders and activists break the lock of the BNP’s Nayapaltan office yesterday as the law enforcers posted there were withdrawn. Story on Front Page DHAKA TRIBUNE

Khokon, Saifuddin show-caused for breaching polls code n Abu Hayat Mahmud The Election Commission (EC) yesterday show-caused two mayoral candidates, Awami League-backed Sayeed Khokon and parliamentary opposition Jatiya Party-backed Saifuddin Milon, for violating the election code of conduct.

The show cause notices were signed by Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) polls Returning Officer Mihir Sarowar Murshed.

The two candidates have been asked to respond by 3pm today.

AL-backed Khokon was show-caused for meeting about the election with party leaders on Friday. Saifuddin was asked to explain why his campaign had put up posters before the permitted campaign period.

Candidates may seek votes after April 7 according to the city polls code of conduct.

They may formally start canvassing after the allocation of symbols on April 10.

When contacted about the show cause notice, Sayeed Khokon told the Dhaka Tribune: “I have heard about it, but have not received a copy of the letter from the EC yet.”

“After I receive the notice, I will give an appropriate reply,” he added.

On Friday, Khokon offered Jumah prayers at Chawkbazar Shahi Masjid in old Dhaka before having lunch at the home of Dhaka city unit AL Joint General Secretary Haji Mohammad Salim, who had also intended to contest the DSCC mayoral race.

Salim was reportedly forced to relinquish his bid and extend his support for Khokon, the party-backed DSCC mayoral candidate, under pressure from the party’s high command.

After the prayers, Khokon told journalists: “Salim Bhai invited me over to offer Jumah prayers and to have lunch with him.”

Several Awami League leaders – Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Shamsul Haque Tuku, Abdur Razzak, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and MA Aziz – were present.

Responding to journalists’ questions about the meeting with party leaders over the city polls, Khokon claimed the gathering did not violate the election code.

“Our party leaders came here at the invitation of Salim Bhai and some others also showed up,” Khokon said. l

Police: Oyasiqur killers were trained militants n Shohel Mamun Zikrullah and Ariful Islam, detained for killing liberal online activist Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, have been involved with banned Islamist outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh since 2008.

They were given military training at a madrasa, in a remote area of Kacharikanthi in Raipura upazila of Narsingdi, Special Branch officials said in a confidential report submitted to the Police Headquarters recently.

Zikrullah’s three maternal uncles – Osman, Bhurhan and Sultan – also work at the madrasa as trainers. They used to recruit poor people for the JMB and train them at the madrasa.

A student of Miftahul Ulum madrasa was killed in infighting on July 31, 2012. Later the police raided the madrasa and arrested 12 teachers and students including Zikrullah and Arif. The duo was named in the case filed in this connection by Raipura police on August 1, 2012.

But all the arrestees got bail and have remained absconding since then.

Zikrullah’s friend Arif hails from Munshiganj.

However, the Detective Branch officials earlier said only Arif had been involved with the JMB. The DB also said Zikrullah was a current student of Chittagong’s Hathazari Madrasa run by Hefazat-e-Islam while Arif joined Mir-

pur Darul Ulum Madrasa after completing studies at the Hathazari Madrasa.

Narsingdi police suspect that since the trained cohorts of Zikrullah are absconding, they may launch attack on targets any time.

The probe body found that the militants had been given special training at the madrasa. They were even trained to climb down from trees upside down, swimming with bricks tied to their hands and launching an assault while riding a horse in full gallop.

“We have forwarded the report to the Police Headquarters for better investigation of Oyasiqur murder case,” Narsingdi Police Superintendent Amena Begum told the Dhaka tribune yesterday. l

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Lawyers meet Kamaruzzaman in jail n Tribune Report The lawyers of condemned war criminal Mohammad Kamaruzzaman met him in Dhaka Central Jail yesterday afternoon.

The meeting took place a day ahead the hearing on a petition filed by Jamaat-e-Islami leader, seeking review of the top court’s verdict that upheld his death sentence given by a war crimes tribunal, reported BSS. The lawyers are—Advocate Shishir Mohammad Manir, Barrister Ehsan-e-Siddique, Advocate Moshiul Alam, Advocate Motiur Rahman Akand, and Advocate Mujahidul Islam Shahin.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Shishir Mohammad Manir, counsel for the death-row convict, said: “We met him for discussing leagal issues.”

Earlier on Wednesday, responding to a time plea, a four-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, fixed April 5 for hearing the petition.

On Tuesday, Kamaruzzaman’s lawyers submitted the time plea saying that Khandker Mahbub, also an adviser to the BNP chief, was physically ill and had been advised by his doctor to take rest.

Kamaruzzaman’s lawyers filed the petition on March 5 seeking review of the death penalty upheld by the Appellate Division on November 3 last year.

The full text of the Appellate Division judgement was released on February 18 and the International Crimes Tribunal the following day issued a warrant to execute the death sentence.

Cabin crew held with gold at Dhaka airport n Kamrul Hasan Customs officials detained an airline staffer with 500 grams of gold and ornaments at Shahjalal International Airport yesterday.

Aslam Omar Belim, 45, a cabin crew of Kuwait Airlines was held with four gold biscuits and some ornaments worth Tk25 lakh.

Deputy Director of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) Mustafizur Rahman said Aslam landed from Kuwait by a flight of KU-283 around 6am.

“Acting on a tip-off, the customs intelligence officials searched his body and recovered four gold bars weighing 448grams and some ornaments weighing 82grams from his possession,” he said adding that legal actions were being taken against Aslam Omar Belim.

On January 17, CIID arrested a Biman employee and two others while attempting to smuggle gold.

Moinul Khan, DG of CIID said they arrested 115 people, including 8 to 10 Biman officials, in last three months and brought allegations against some 35 Biman officials for being allegedly involved in smuggling.

A probe body led by Mustafizur Rahman found involvement of five Biman staffers in the smuggling of 60kg gold on February 2.

According to November 19, 2014 CIID data, more than 4,000 people were arrested for gold smuggling at the Dhaka airport in the last 36 months. Apart from passengers, they include 89 airline employees, 396 CAAB officials, 34 customs officials and 240 Ansar personnel. l

Pro-AL teachers sweep CUTA poll n CU Correspondent

After meeting the death row convict war criminal Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, his lawyers talk to reporters in front of Dhaka Central Jail yesterday a day ahead of the hearing on a petition to review the top court’s verdict RAJIB DHAR Earlier on February 28, the last meeting between the death row war criminal and his family members and lawyers took place. Before that, they also met on January 29.

On February 19, prison authorities read out the death warrant to Kamaruzzaman immediately after International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued it.

On February 18, the Supreme Court released the full text of the verdict against the

war criminal.

On November 3, 2014, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld the tribunal verdict that had awarded death sentence to the Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general for committing crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.

M Kamaruzzaman was shifted to Dhaka Central Jail from Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur after the SC upheld his death penalty. l

Social charter needed between political parties and people n Tribune Report A social charter is needed between political parties and people to ensure stability in politics.

Political scientists and activists opined that such a social charter should be followed by all political parties for upholding accountability and democracy.

The comments came at the launching ceremony of ‘Political Parties in Bangladesh: Challenges and Democratisation’, a research book by renowned political scientist professor Rounaq Jahan, at Bengal Gallery in the capital yesterday.

The ceremony was addressed by Gowher Rizvi, international affairs advisor to prime minister, Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, Khaleda Zia’s advisor, GM Quader, presidium member of Jatiya Party, Dhaka University professor Imtiaj Ahmed and Jahangirnagar University professor Al Masud Hasanuzzaman.

“If one party is defeated in an election, a Tsunami takes over the country. We need a social charter to stop this violence”, professor Imtiaj Ahmed said while delivering his comments.

“The Constitution does not define political

parties clearly. So, in the social charter, it must be well defined”, he added.

In his speech Gowher Rizvi said despite the parties not living up to their promises, they were still able to mobilise people since there was something meaningful about them.

“Sustainable development can only take place in a democratic country”, he said.

GM Quader said: “The challenge is that there is no implementation of credible commitment and no democratic practice within the party.”

Inam Ahmed Chowdhury added to the discussion saying that political parties were becoming authoritarian.

Explaining the characteristics of Bangladeshi politics and parties, the book “provides a historical overview of the development of political parties since independence highlighting their growing organisational weakness and the emergence of undemocratic tendencies”.

At the end of the programme, author professor Rounaq Jahan discussed the book with Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman leading the session.

The book is published by Prothoma Prokashani and is available at Tk550. l

The pro-Awami League and left-leaning teachers’ body of Chittagong University won Chittagong University Teachers Association (CUTA) election yesterday.

The “Bangali Jatiyatabadi O Muktijuddher Chetonai Udbuddho” yellow panel secured all the CUTA posts defeating its rival, white panel.

A total of 22 candidates from both panels vied for 11 posts in the election.

Professor Dr Abul Mansur and Professor Kazi SM Khasrul Alam Kuddushi of the yellow panel were elected as the president and general secretary respectively.

They beat the white panel candidates Professor Md Showkatul Meher of the Marketing Department and Professor Dr Saiful Islam of Economics Department, said Chief Election Commissioner Professor Dr Mohiuddin.

He announced the names of the winners around 8pm after votes were counted at the auditorium of Social Science Faculty.

Professor Mansur bagged 453 votes in the election while his rival, Professor Showkatul, got 242.

Professor Kuddushi won 463 votes against his rival, Professor Saiful, who bagged 215.

Voting took place at the auditorium from 9am to 1:30pm and a total of 726 voters cast votes, said Dr Mohidduin.

Besides, Professor Saymol Ranjan Chawkraborty of physics, Associate Professor Ohidul Alam of marine science and Associate Professor Hanif Siddique of computer science were elected as the vice-president, joint secretary and treasurer respectively.

Other elected members are Professor Supti Kona Majumdar of Sanskrit Department, Professor Kamrul Huda of botany, Professor Dr Farid Uddin Ahmed of anthropology, Professor Sahidur Rahman of management, Sajib Kumar Ghosh of marketing and Arup Barua of Pali Department. l

Buriganga trawler capsize: Death toll reaches 16 n Kamrul Hasan Five more bodies including one of a boy have been recovered on the third day of a trawler capsize in the Buriganga River. With the recovery the death toll now stands at 16.

The recovered bodies were identified as Habib, 12, Abdus Samad, 35, Kajol, 25, Jhontu, 25, and Jalil Miah,55. All were from Lalbagh of the capital.

Officer-in-Charge of South Keraniganj police station Jamal Uddin Mir said the divers’ team of fire service recovered the five bodies from the river between 7am and 9am yesterday.

Earlier, eight people drowned when a trawler on the Buriganga river sank with 50 to 60 passengers on board after colliding with a cargo vessel near West Pangaon in Keraniganj on Thursday at noon. Later on Friday last three more bodies were recovered by the rescue team.

The victims were returning home after attending an Urs – a religious gathering – of Hazrat Solaiman Shah (R) at Beltoli in Matlab of Chandpur. l

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Detective Branch to probe college teacher Kaberi murder n Kamrul Hasan The Detective Branch of police will investigate the murder of college teacher Krishna Kaberi Bishwas, wife of a BRTA deputy director, who was killed on March 30 at their flat in Mohammadpur.

The case was transferred to the DB police from Mohammadpur police yesterday, Wahidul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of Tejgaon division, said.

In the night of March 30, the killer entered the flat of BRTA Deputy Director Sitangshu Shekhar Bishwas to greet the latter on his belated birthday. But drugging him with contaminated juice, Jahirul hit his head with a hammer.

As Kaberi, 36, wanted to save her husband, the killer hacked her with a kitchen sickle and later set her on fire. She died the following day. Their two daughters were also injured in the attack.

Sitangshu’s brother Sudhangshu Shekhar Biswas filed the murder case with Mohammadpur police on Tuesday, naming KM Jahirul Islam Palash as the lone accused.

Investigators suspect that share market investment might be behind the attack.

According to the police, Jahirul – who works as manager of Gulshan branch at Hazi Ahmed Brothers Securities’ – was known to the family. Investigators suspect that share market investment might be behind the attack.

On Wednesday, Investigation Officer of the case Sub-Inspector Mahbubur Rahman of Mohammadpur police said they could not trace Jahirul as the accused and his family mem-

bers had kept their mobile phones off.

Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Azizul Haque also said there was no progress in the case.

Krishna’s family members yesterday said the official phone number of Jahirul had been found switched on. But despite repeated attempts, he did not pick up the phone.

His personal number, provided by the family of the victim, was found switched off.

Asked whether they were tracking the phones of Jahirul, SI Mahbubur said the phone had been diverted to another number.

He said the food items Jahirul had taken to the flat were to sent to the Criminal Investigation Department for forensic tests.

The injured, now undergoing treatment at Metropolitan Medical Centre in the capital, were told about the death of Kaberi on Friday night. She was cremated yesterday at Sitangshu’s village home in Baliakandi of Rajbari. l

Three dead in road accidents in Dhaka n Kamrul Hasan At least three people died in separate road accidents in the capital yesterday.

The dead were Majedul Islam, 19, his younger brother Asadul Islam, 18, and Jahangir Alam, 50.

Majhedul and Asadul were construction workers of Cimplex-Navana JV working in the Moghbazar flyover project.

They were taking a break when a Banasree Paribahan bus hit them yesterday morning, said the foreman of the company, Mahfuzur Rahman. Another worker of the company, Monju, 35, was severely injured in the accident.

The injured workers were taken to DMCH immediately where on duty doctors declared Majhedul and Asadul dead. When contacted Ramna police station OC Moshiur Rahman said: “The bus rammed the three workers as its driver lost control of the vehicle around 10am.

The two siblings died on the way to DMCH.” Meanwhile, 50-year-old Jahangir died yesterday evening when a bus hit him near Ahad box of Gulistan. Two pedestrians took him to DMCH where doctors declared him dead. l

Foreign labour unions write PM seeking justice for Aminul n Tribune Report Nine international labour organisations, including the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO), on Friday requested Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to have the murder of labour leader Aminul Islam reinvestigated.

Aminul was abducted in Savar on April 4, 2012 and found dead on the roadside in Ghatail, Tangail, the following day. The post-mortem report said he was tortured to death.

His family and co-workers arranged a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity yesterday where they alleged that Aminul’s true killers had not been identified.

In a written statement, Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation President Babul Akhter and Executive Director Kalpona Akhter, claimed that former officials of the NSI, one of the country’s main intelligence agencies, were responsible for the murder.

Kalpana said the NSI’s then additional director Aminul Islam, field officer Lutfur Rahman and assistant director Mamunur Rashid plotted the murder.

Aminul’s body was found about 100km from where he was last seen on April 4, 2012.

The CID, after a long investigation, submitted a charge sheet against the lone accused, Mustafizur Rahman, an employee in the Savar EPZ. The court accepted the charge sheet in January 2014.

Kalpona said nine labour organisations had sent letters to the prime minister’s office on Friday. They are requesting the PM to have the case reinvestigated, she said.

The US trades union federation, AFL-CIO, in its letter, said the Bangladeshi government had not demonstrated a commitment to justice for Aminul and called for the case to be reinvestigated. The slain leader’s widow, Husne Ara Fahima, said she was frustrated with the probe and trial process.

She said she feared reprisals by the killers. l

Customs Intelligence, with the help of RAB, seize a Mercedes Benz from the capital’s Dhanmondi area yesterday for evading import tax

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Customs to check expensive cars for tax evasion n Kamrul Hasan Customs Intelligence will scrutinise all expensive cars that have been imported in Bangladesh in the last two years for tax evasion.

Director General of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate Moinul Khan said this while briefing the media about the seizure of a Mercedes Benz from the capital’s Dhanmondi area for evading import tax. The car was imported in 2009 using false documents. No one was arrested in this connection.

Customs intelligence also requested Bangladesh Road Transport Authority to provide

them with necessary documents of the cars.

DG Moinul said: “The intelligence team not only deals with smuggled gold but also any product that are imported into the country.”

The intelligence filed 277 cases against various steel product consignments that resulted in recovery of Tk432 crore. The team also recovered 25,000 cartons of cigarettes in the last three months, he added.

When asked DG Moinul said his team can only surveil the tax issue of a product. How the importer took the car out of the terminal also remains unknown.

The car seized from a house on Dhanmondi road 5 with the help of Rab 5 early yesterday

was imported in the name of one Padma Oil Company Ltd Chittagong. It was shown as part of a consignment of high speed diesel oil.

The current value of the car is Tk 7 crore and this forgery caused a loss of Tk3 crore for the country. The documents used for registering the car were also found to be fake.

As none of the owner’s family members were present during the seizure, customs did not arrest anyone. According to the documents provided to the BRTA, the car belongs to a Babul Hossain who is now staying abroad.

Owner Babul paid his annual taxes regularly in time and renewed its registration every year since 2009. l

DT

6 NEWS

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

IGP: Community policing to reduce people-cops gap n

Tribune Report

Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque yesterday said the community policing would reduce the gap between the cops and people.

“The activities of community policing will strengthen more in coming days. Police have become the friend of people, none is afraid of police right now,” he said while speaking at a conference of community police at Martyred SP Shamsul Haque auditorium.

Sahidul said: “We must build a bridge between people and police in a bid to combat crimes in the society and then peace would be restored.”

According to BSS report he underscored the need for building mass awareness among

the mass people to identify the root-cause of all criminal activities instigating terrorism and unrest in the society.

The police boss asked police personnel to know about their duties and responsibilities, and not to compromise with any sort of crimes.

He also directed police to perform their respective duties staying above all the controversy.

District Police Super (SP) Noor-e-Alam Mina presided over the conference.

Mahmud Us Samad Chowdhury, DIG of Sylhet Range Mizanur Rahman, Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Quamrul Ahsan, Deputy Commissioner Md. Shahidul Islam and Awami League Organizing Secretary Advocate Misbah Uddin Siraj, among others, attended. l

Distinguished speakers including law practitioners and human rights activists take part in a seminar on current political violence and its effect on the burn victims at the National Press Club yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

NSU organises event to Police killed in Ctg foster cultural diversity road accident n Tribune Report n FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong North South University (NSU), on April 1, organised an evening with its international students to foster cultural diversity and promote a cosmopolitan worldview.

The event, the first of this kind, is a reflection of NSU’s spread internationally in terms of both student composition as well as faculty membership.

There are hundreds of students from over 13 countries – Cameron, China, Ethiopia, Italy, Iran, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, USA – speaking as many languages at NSU. This “International Evening 2015” was participated by NSU’s Nepali, Somalian, Sri Lankan, Chinese and Bangladeshi students.

Cultural Minister Asaduzzaman Noor and Md. Helal Uddin, additional secretary of the Ministry of Education were present in the event as the chief guest and the special guest respectively.

Muqeed Majumdar Babu, director, Channel i and Benajir Ahmed, chairman, BOT graced the program as special guests while Professor Amin Sarkar, VC was the Chair of the event.

Professor Mizan R. Khan, director, External Affairs welcomed the foreign students, faculty members and other dignitaries. l

An on-duty policeman was killed in a road mishap on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Bhatiyari area in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong early yesterday.

The dead was identified as assistant sub-inspector, Janey Alam, 45, son of Shah Alam from Khandokia village of Hathazari upazila, said police sources.

Bar Awlia Highway police outpost Officerin-Charge Mohammed Yasin said the incident took place in front of BM Highway School at Imam Nagar area of Bhatiya around 4:50am when the ASI was on highway duty.

“A Dhaka-bound empty truck lost control and hit Janey Alam,” he added.

He said Janey Alam served in Industrial Police of Chittagong as ASI and he was also working in Sitakunda police station in deputation.

Upon receiving information, police rushed to the spot and recovered the body, the OC said. Later the body was sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, he added.

Police seized the truck but the driver managed to escape from the scene.

A case was lodged in this connection, said Sitakunda police sources. l

Two held with 1,600 yaba pills n FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong Police in a drive yesterday morning arrested two persons in possession of 1,600 contraband yaba pills from Patenga area in Chittagong city.

The arrestees were Mahmudul Haque, 50 and Eyar Mahmud, 45, said Patenga police station sources.

Patenga police station Officer-in-Charge Mohammed Jangir said police raided Jelepara of Muslimabad area of Patenga around 5am following a tip-off and held the duo.

Later, police found the yaba pills searching their body, said the OC adding that a case was filed with Patenga police station in this connection. l

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NEWS 7

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

8 Myanmar nationals, broker held n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong Police nabbed eight Myanmar nationals and a Bangladeshi broker on charges of illegal entry from the Shah Amanat Third Karnaphuli Bridge area in Chittagong yesterday.

The broker, Hossain Mohammad Jasim, 22, who is from Cox’s Bazar, brought the Myanmar people into the country with promises of jobs in exchange for money, said Bakalia Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammad Mohsin.

The OC added that the Myanmar people Suraiya Khatun, 40, Anwara Khatun, 40, Mohammad Ayes, 18, Md Tofa, 18, Md Ershad, 16, Md Yunus, 14, Majibur Rahman, 16, and Mohammad Hashim, 13 and the broker were charged in a case lodged with Bakalia Police Station.

He said: “Jasim brought the eight from Myanmar to Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar crossing the Naf River on Thursday night. When they arrived at the port city’s entry point in a passenger bus yesterday at around 5am, the police stopped them on suspicion and found that they had illegally entered the country.”

The arrested foreigners however claimed before the media that they came to Bangladesh for medical treatment but the police said they did not have any legal documents.

The OC informed that Myanmar people are fleeing from their country because of the unrest and illegally entering Bangladesh; some organised gangs are taking advantage of these illegal migrants. l

WEATHER THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

SUNDAY, APRIL 5 DHAKA TODAY SUN SETS 6:15PM

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:46AM

FORECAST FOR TODAY 30 31 32 29 33 30 28 31

Dhaka Chittagong Rajshahi Rangpur Khulna Barisal Sylhet Cox’s Bazar

22 24 22 21 22 24 20 25

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

38.2ºC Rajshahi

19.5ºC Sylhet Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr

4:30am

Sunrise

5:46am

Zohr

12:01am

Asr

4:30pm

Magrib

6:16pm

Esha

7:33pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina takes a group photo with all the winners of the National Film Award – 2013 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday FOCUS BANGLA

PM: Make films to save society from bad elements

PM distributes National Film Award

n UNB

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday distributed the National Film Award-2013 among artistes and film professionals in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the country’s film industry.

The awards were distributed at a colourful ceremony at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the afternoon.

Noted actress and former Awami League MP Sarah Begum Kabari received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the function while Best film award went to “Mrittika Maya” produced by Gazi Rakayet and Faridur Reza Sagor and Best documentary film award to “Shunte Ki Pao” produced by Sara Afrin.

Titas Zia received the best actor award for his role in “Mrittika Maya” while Shormi Mala and Mousumi jointly bagged the best actress award for the film “Mrittika Maya” and “Devdas” respectively.

The other awardees are best director Gazi Rakayet, best side actor Raisul Islam Asad, best side actress Arpana, best villain Mamunur Rashid, best child actress Swachchha, best child actress (special award) Syeda Ahida Sabrina, best music director AK Azad, best singer (male) Chandan Sinha, best singers (female) Runa Laila and Sabina Yasmin, best songwriter Kabir Bakul, best lyricist Koushik Hossain Tapas, best storywriter, best dialogue and best playwright Gazi Rakayet, best editor Shariful Islam Rasel, best art director Uttam Guha, best photographer Saiful Islam Badal, best sounder Kazi Selim, best costume and decoration Wahida Mallik Joly and best makeup man Ali Babul. l

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked the filmmakers to produce movies that will save the country and society from militancy, terrorism, hatred and confrontation by portraying the images of the bad elements.

“The country and society have to be saved from militancy, terrorism, hatred and confrontation. The bad impacts of these have to be placed before the society and the people have to get constructive messages through cinema,” she said.

The PM said this while addressing the National Film Award-2013 after handing over the awards among film artistes and technicians in 25 categories for their extraordinary performances in the industry.

Ministry of Information organized the function with its Minister Hasanul Huq Inu in the chair at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC).

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Ministry AKM Rahmatullah MP was present as special guest while Information Secretary Martuza Ahmed delivered the welcome speech.

The prime minister asked the people related with the film industry to be more sincere to bring the society-reforming incidents in front of the audiences through their works.

Talking about various steps of the government to make the people visit cinema halls, she said that the government has decided to install modern technology in the cinema halls across the country.

“The government has pointed out 300 cinema halls across the country to transform them into digital halls gradually, and a committee has been formed in this connection,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina mentioned that tax rebate has been given for setting up Cineplexes to spread modern technology across the country and to attract more and more people towards cinema halls.

“We have also withdrawn 35 percent supplementary tax on cinema screening to flourish this industry,” she said.

Terming the present time as the period of free flow of information and information technology, the prime minister asked the film makers and other related people of this industry to prepare themselves to compete with the world through information technology more and more.

“We have to improve our quality more to compete with the world, we have to include

information technology in our cinemas. The government will provide all out support in this connection,” she said.

The prime minister said the supreme sacrifice and the greatest achievement of the nation through the great liberation war have to be reflected in the films.

She said that the National Film Awards would encourage creative, talented and patriotic film makers, singers and artists to come forward in making healthy films in the country.

In this regard, she called upon film makers to produce life-oriented movies and cinemas saying producers will have to make films which will flourish human quality and build peace in the society.

Terming films as a very powerful mass medium, the prime minister said art, culture, history and tradition are reflected in films which sharpen sense and thinking, as well as give mental peace through entertainment and recreation.

Sheikh Hasina put emphasis on improving the standard of the cinema halls and film industries side by side with making quality films which will attract audiences towards halls.

In this connection, she also stressed the need for projecting hopes and aspirations, true and beautiful picture of life and immortal story of traditional Bangla in films.

Laying emphasis on making films on social reforms, she said the film-makers will have to give special attention so that their productions could not derail our young generation.

She said her government undertook massive development programmes to modernise the activities of the FDC and many of them have already been implemented to introduce digital technology in making films.

Hasina mentioned that modern technological equipments are being provided to FDC for modernisation of its activities, while most digital technologies have been introduced for making and preservation of films.

Talking about archiving, the prime minister said a modern archive building is being constructed at a cost of Tk75 crore as film archiving plays a very important role in making good and healthy films through preservation, research and exhibition of aristocratic films both home and abroad.

She expressed her firm optimism that Bangladeshi films would be well-established before the world community and thereby Bangladesh and its film industry would advance ahead brightening its image in the international arena. l

n UNB

Truck uproots tree killing child n Our Correspondent, Joypurhat A child was smashed to death by a tree in Joypurhat district yesterday morning. Shakib, 8, son of Babu Mondal was the victim of the mishap that took place on Akkelpur-Santahar road’s Shimultali area.

Abul Kalam Azad, Akkelpur said that a truck lost control while siding for another vehicle and smashed a road side; the tree uprooted instantly and crushed Shakib standing nearby to death.

Abul Kalam Azad, Akkelpur thana officer confirming the matter told the reporters that the truck managed to escape the scene. l

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8 NEWS

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

AL men allegedly take over tender orders n Our Correspondent, Khulna A syndicate of contractors backed by local Awami League (AL) allegedly took control of tender submission of three government institutions in Khulna.

Many contractors who collected tender papers alleged that they could not submit due to obstruction from Awami League men. The last date for tender submission was April 2.

According to local government sources, Public Works Department – 1 of Khulna called for tender submissions to construct staff quarters for Abu Nasr Specialised Hospital at a cost of Tk4.25 crores.

Khulna Education Engineers’ Department floated a Tk5 crore tender for repairing various school and college buildings and for providing necessary furniture.

The other tender was from Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) for

upgrading five culverts at Bhandarkot area of Batiaghata upazila costing Tk67 lakh 77,000.

On the last day of tender submission, April 2, six tenders were submitted for building the two two-storey staff quarters in two packages under Khulna Public Works Department.

Among them, Brothers’ Enterprise came out as the lowest bidder for one package. They offered to build the 1500 square feet two-storey building for Tk1 crore 94 lakh.

For the other package, AK Travels submitted the lowest quotation for an 1800 square feet two-storey building for Tk2 crore 18 lakh.

Alok Kumar Sarkar, official of Khulna Public Works, however could not say how many tenders were sold for these two packages.

Engineer Md Abdullah Al Masum said tenders were sold from four offices but were submitted only at the public works office and police super’s office.

Executive Engineer Kazi Wasik Ahmed

said: ‘’For each of the packages, three tenders were submitted. There was high security in the offices and I did not get any information on creating obstruction.”

However, some contractors, who were not part of the syndicate, said on promise of annonymity that they were barred from submitting tenders. They alleged that some members of Jubo League and other associate organisations of the ruling Awami League took position around the tender submission venues and prevented them.

Organisational Secretary of Khulna metropolitan Shwecchasebok League said the allegations were baseless. ‘’I did not even go near the public works office on Thursday. Some people are trynig to tarnish my image.”

Meanwhile, the tender proposal of Khulna Education Engineer Department was distributed among the AL men at a meeting held before the submission deadline.

Sources said local Awami League and Jubo League leaders finalised the contractors through lottery.

They also promised to get the bidders the tender works demanding 20 percent of the profit.

Assistant Engineer of the department said he did not get any complaint about tender submission and there was high security at the venue.

For the Khulna LGED works, 17 tenders were sold but only four were submitted.

Many contractors alleged that a syndicate was formed to take control of the tenders. They only allowed contractors who would agree to give them a percentage from the tender allocation.

Assistant Engineer of LGED Tariqul Hasan said there was no tension during the tender submission. ‘’There was enough security at the premise.” l

Perching method gains popularity n Our Correspondent, Narsingdi Perching method for killing insects in crop fields is becoming popular among farmers in Shibpur upazila as they have already got satisfactory results by implementing it in Boro fields.

The method involves erecting tree branches and bamboo poles on crop fields to let birds perch on those. The birds eat pests, thus protecting crops and making the use of pesticides redundant.

Perching method has been used in 9,000 hectares of Boro land out of a total of 10,154 hectares in the upazila, according to local agriculture office sources.

A team of sub-assistant agriculture officers led by Upazila Agriculture Officer Hanif Sikder are working to ensure that the method becomes a widely-used one in the upazila.

They have arranged view-exchange meetings and training programmes to educate farmers about the method’s implementation steps.

Farmers have implemented the method while sowing Boro seeds by placing seven to eight bamboo poles and tree branches in every one bigha of land.

Nasir Uddin, a farmer of Saludia village, said applying the method has really been fruitful.

“Birds that perch on the poles in my rice field eat insects and thus protect the crop.

What is most interesting is that I do not have to spend anything to implement the method.

“Now I do not use insecticides to kill pests and this has enabled me to slash production costs as well,” he said.

Another farmer of Dulalpur village, Harris Mia, said applying perching method in vegetable fields is equally advantageous.

“As the use of insecticides can be entirely avoided if the method is implemented, we can now produce chemical-free vegetables.

This also makes the method completely environment-friendly,” added Harris.

The upazila agriculture officer said the method is increasingly gaining ground among local farmers.

“They have been able to reduce production costs and their fields are safeguarded against harmful insects. A single bird can kill over two lakh insects in a rice field,” added Hanif. l

Sunamganj haor residents form a human chain demanding compensation for farmers hit hard by nor’wester and to protect the crop saving embankments in the district. The photo was taken yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

BEWS IN BRIEF One killed in clash over land Gaibandha: A man was killed and five others were injured during a clash between two groups villagers at Fulher village in Gabindaganj upazila on Saturday over land dispute. The deceased was identified as--Hatem Ali, 42. Gabindaganj Police Station OC ABM Jahidul Islam said, Hatem Ali had long been at loggerheads with Nurunnabi over a piece of land. As a sequel to that incident, the supporters of both groups locked into a clash, leaving one dead and five injured. The injured were rushed to Upazila Health Complex.

– Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

Accused escapes from police custody An accused, who was arrested along with Phensidyl, escaped from police custody at Lauhajang police station early yesterday. The accused, Faruk Morol, 27, son of Jamal Morol of Mosodgoan village of the upazila, was arrested on Friday afternoon along with 20 bottles of Phensidyl. Police said Faruk fled away from the thana hajat breaking

the grill of the window around 5am, Rejaul Haque, officer-in-charge of Lauhajong police station said.

Later, a case was filed against him under the Narcotics Control Act and he was sent to jail.

– Our Correspondent, Munshiganj

4 fishermen jailed A mobile court in the district yesterday sentenced to four fishermen to one year jail each for catching banned Ilish fry the Meghna River. Fisheries department sources said Executive Magistrate Azizur Rahman, also UNO of Sadar upazila, awarded the punishment to the fishermen Abdul Malek, 35, son of Abdul Alim, Amir Hossain,18, son of Fazlul Hoque,Mohammad Saddam Hossain, 23, son of Joynal Abdin, and Abdul Gani, 30, son of Ali Ahammed, of Komalnagar Upazila. A joint team of fisheries officials and coastguard personnel of the district, led by Fisheries Official Mohammad Alikuzzaman, arrested the four fishermen with 15,000 meters of current nets during a daylong drive from different spots of the river.

– Our Correspondent, Lakshmipur

3 of a family burnt in fire n Our Correspondent, Sylhet Three members of a family, including a woman and her son and daughter, sustained burn injuries when a fire broke out at a house in Mirer Maidan area of the city yesterday.

The victims were identified as Monwara Begum, 45, wife of late Jakir Hossain, her daughter Jahida Akter, 20, and son Jahir Hossain, 14.

Jabed Hossain Tarek, station officer of Sylhet Fire Service, said the fire suddenly broke out at the toilet of the house around 11:30 pm when Monowara entered it with a candle light as there was no electricity at that time, leaving three house inmates, including her, injured with burns.

Toxic gas from septic tank caused the fire, he said. The injured were sent to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital.

Of the injured, Monwara and Jahida received burns to 60 percent of their bodies.

The fire gutted valuables and furniture of the house. l

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LONG FORM 9

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Looking into the world of autism Parents and professionals help us understand autism better by letting us into their world

n Leedy Hoque

questions and commands will probably do no favour to the child if he or she is a visual learner. Such a child will probably do better by the parent uttering a keyword accompanied by a picture.

D

uring the years between 1996 to 2000, I was running an intensive home-based educational and therapeutic program for my autistic son Aadil, with the help of the Oxfordshire Local Education Authority and Social Services in Oxford, UK. During this time, I had the unique opportunity of attending lectures and workshops given by a number of high profile autistic individuals as well as meeting them -- in addition to reading their autobiographies. Three of these individuals have profoundly inspired and influenced me, and I would like to share with others what I have learned from them.

Tito Mukhopadhyay

Dr Temple Grandin

At one such conference organised by Future Horizons, Dr Temple Grandin, a professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University and bestselling author of Emergence-Labelled Autistic, Thinking in Pictures, The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Aspergers, spoke about the auditory hypersensitivity from which she suffered and which is a common condition amongst autistic individuals.

She said the sound of a school bell was as painful to her as a dentist drilling a tooth without anaesthetic.

Her mother, Eustacia Cutler, at the same conference discussed Temple’s upbringing.

With steadfast determination to help Temple, she had the foresight to provide a structured routine at home with the help of a nanny.

Gradually the non-communicative child with disruptive behaviour settled, and over the years her academic pursuits were monitored and nurtured by one of her high school teachers.

During her formative years, while on holiday at her aunt’s farm, Temple observed the calming effect of pressure on cattle when they were led through an animal chute. She went on to apply her observations on cattle in designing a pressure machine which helped to calm herself whenever she felt anxious. Eventually, this led to the development of weighted vests which are still commercially available to calm hyperactive children.

Temple also suffers from tactile sensitivity. She cannot tolerate the sensation of tags and seams against her skin and so she prefers to wear her undergarments inside out. On a personal note, I shall remain indebted to Temple, for she most emphatically encouraged me to work on Aadil’s strengths and interests rather than just focus on his weaknesses.

Donna Williams

Donna Williams the author of a series of autobiographical accounts including Nobody Nowhere, Somebody Somewhere, and Like Colour to the Blind, spoke at length at a meeting of the Berkshire Autistic Society about how any lapse in her gluten (wheat) and casein (milk) free diet or failure to take her daily mineral supplement would inevitably lead to drastic adverse effects on her behaviour.

At another lecture organised by the Oxfordshire Autistic Society Donna explained

why like so many other autistic children and adults, she from time to time taps the walls with her fingers. For the same reason, namely, visual perception problems where in this case, flat surfaces appear undulating, some autistic children feel more secure walking on their toes. (Hence doctors or therapists who, at the request of parents, feel they can rectify the odd stance and gait of a child that walks on tiptoes either by severing tendons of the feet or by painful manipulation are making a grave mistake of depriving the child of an essential coping mechanism. I am aware of cases where these measures have actually been performed).

Through her lectures and autobiography, Donna has shared with us the consequences of sensory processing problems. She can sense a discomfort in her lower abdomen (due to a full bladder) but not work out that going to the bathroom to pass urine would give immediate relief. She employed a visual support namely a fluorescent yellow tape secured to the floor leading from her bed to the bathroom to remind herself where to go if she experiences the same sensation in the middle of the night.

So, when doctors are approached by anxious parents regarding their child’s delay in mastering toilet skills, urinary frequency or incontinence they should not automatically assume that an infection or an anatomical anomaly is the root cause of this problem.

Likewise, disturbances in bowel patterns are all too common in autistic children in particular holding back leading to severe

constipation or passing frequent but small quantity of stools. Another example of processing problems in Donna’s case: She describes the excruciating discomfort that she has to tolerate due to intense hunger pangs, but she cannot figure out that if she ate some food the sensation would abate.

Any doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist could easily label such a child as being of low intelligence with poor attention and no motivation

Donna has also elucidated her difficulty in dealing with “multichannel‘’ stimuli, ie processing information from different sensory modes simultaneously. Like many other autistic people, she is “monochannel,” preferring one sensory mode over another.

This explains why the majority of autistic children and adults are “visual learners” ie they process information more readily with visual cues. Hence a doctor advising the parents of an autistic child “speak continuously with your child” or parents and teachers who continuously bombard the child with

In contrast to the visual learners, there are a few autistic individuals who are auditory learners who process sounds more readily than signs and symbols. One such person is Tito Mukhopadhyay, a Bengali poet and writer. Tito, who is nonverbal, was raised singlehandedly by his mother Soma.

Armed with an alphabet board, Soma taught Tito to read and write. At the tender age of 11, Tito composed his first book of poems. Through his writing, he takes us deep into the world of autism. He demonstrates how difficult it is for the autistic child or adult to express their emotion: His mother once purchased a shiny red tricycle for his birthday.

Tito was absolutely ecstatic but his response was not appreciated by others due to the lack of any facial expression. To express his gratitude and convey his thanks, he calmly arranged three toy soldiers alongside his tricycle.

How was anyone to decipher his message?

Any doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist could easily label such a child as being of low intelligence with poor attention and no motivation. Yet this very child has shared with us his innermost thoughts in his collection of poems entitled The Mind Tree.

A few quotations are given here: ”Men and women are puzzled by everything I do/ Doctors use different terminologies to describe me…/ Every move I make shows how trapped I feel…” In another poem he writes: “When you are trying to think blue / And end up thinking black / You can sure to be frustrated / Time and again it happens to me / And I get quite helpless/ Otherwise why should I get up and spin myself/ Spinning my body/ Brings some sort of harmony to my thoughts/ So that I can centrifuge away all the black thoughts …”

I offer my gratitude and heartfelt thanks to Temple, Donna, and Tito. They have directly touched my life as that of Aadil’s. Had it not been for Donna, Aadil would not be on a gluten and casein-free diet, or on mineral supplements.

Supporting his artistic endeavours certainly received a boost with Temple’s words of encouragement. I would not have been able to appreciate the magnitude of Aadil’s sensory problems had I not read the autobiographies of each of these extraordinary individuals.

By allowing us into their world, they have empowered us -- parents and professionals -- to understand and make the world a better place for our autistic children. l Leedy Hoque, PhD, is an autism specialist. She counsels parents, and assesses and treats autistic children in her advisory service (AUA). She is the mother of Aadil, who is autistic and an awardwinning artist. For further information, see www. leedyhoque.com.

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10 WORLD

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Hundreds protest Islamic law in Australia n AfP Protesters waving Australian flags and carrying signs such as “Yes Australia. No Sharia” rallied around the country yesterday in events organisers said were against Islamic extremism.

The “Reclaim Australia” events drew hundreds of supporters but also triggered counter-rallies from other groups who criticised them as racist and called for greater tolerance.

“We are pro-Australian values and anti-extreme Islam, but we’re not anti-Muslim,” Reclaim Australia spokeswoman Catherine Brennan told AFP, adding there was no racism behind the rallies, which she said had attracted people from diverse backgrounds.

“Since when is it being racist to love your country and to love the values and culture that you’ve been brought up with?”

Reclaim Australia’s John Oliver told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the group was “not against any particular race or any particular religion.”

“We’re against the extremists of one particular religion,” he said.

“I know in Sydney and Melbourne they’ve got Muslims already signed on to attend because they can see what’s happening and they don’t like what’s happening.”

In Sydney, hundreds braved the rain to rally in Martin Place, near the site of a deadly siege in which a lone gunman inspired by the Islamic State group took customers and staff hostage in a cafe in December. Two people, and the gunman, were killed in that incident.

“We have an extreme ideology called Islam which is starting to gain a foothold in our societies,” one speaker told the event, in which one person held a home-made sign reading “No Islam. No Sharia. No Halal.”

In Melbourne, tensions between competing protesters led to scuffles, with police on horseback forced to form a barrier between

Seven officers suspended from San Francisco force over racist texts

n Reuters

Seven San Francisco police officers linked to a scandal over racist and homophobic text messages were suspended with the recommendation they be fired, Chief Greg Suhr said on Friday.

In all, a department investigation revealed wrongdoing by 14 members of the police department - who may be disciplined in various ways from suspension without pay to termination, the chief said.

“There is also no place in the SFPD for any officer capable of the thinking expressed in these hateful text messages,” Suhr said in a statement.

“The officers responsible for the reprehensible texts should be separated from the SFPD as soon as practical. The fine, right-minded men and women of the SFPD that are of the impeccable character required of a Guardian (police officer) expect no less,” he said.

The offensive texts came to light during an FBI investigation of corruption involving Ian Furminger, a former San Francisco police sergeant. l

Protesters attend a ‘Reclaim Australia’ rally to oppose religious extremism in Sydney yesterday

AFP

website Reclaim Australia said were against sharia law and the burqa and in support of gender equality.

“We have people here today who stand against racism. So do I,” Hanson said.

However, rival protesters called the Reclaim Australia rallies anti-Muslim.

“Events like theirs incite racism and vio-

lence against Muslims,” Clare Fester, who organised the counter-protest in Sydney, said in statement.

“Their attacks on Islam imply that anyone who is a Muslim is violent, supports terrorism and is anti-woman. This in an attempt to target all Muslims with classic racist stereotypes.” l

Alabama man freed after nearly 30 years on death row

Chinese police take away, detain 50 after protests in Beijing, Guangdong

the groups, and paramedics treating several people for injuries.

Police arrested three people in Melbourne, while a man in Hobart was arrested for assault and two women were removed for breaching the peace at the Sydney rally.

In Queensland, former politician Pauline Hanson defended the rallies, which on its

n AP A man who spent nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row was freed Friday after a decades-long fight to prove his innocence.

Ray Hinton, 58, was released in the morning from the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham. He hugged tearful family members as he walked out and was embraced by his sister, Darlene Gardner, who said “Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus” as she hugged him.

“I shouldn’t have sat on death row for 30 years,” Hinton told reporters. “All they had to do was test the gun.”

Hinton was convicted of the 1985 murders of two Birmingham fast-food restaurant managers. Crime scene bullets were the only evidence that linked Hinton to the crime. However, prosecutors said this week that modern forensic methods did not show the fatal bullets came from a revolver in Hinton’s home, or even from the same gun.

Hinton said he would continue to pray for the victims’ families, as this was a miscarriage of justice for them as well.

“They had every intention of executing me

Anthony Ray Hinton talks with the media after walking out of the Jefferson County jail AP for something I didn’t do,” Hinton said.

The US Supreme Court ruled last year that Hinton had inadequate counsel and sent the case back for a second trial. l

n Reuters, Beijing

Police in China’s capital and in southern Guangdong have detained or taken away more than 50 people after two separate protests, police and state news agency Xinhua said.

Guangdong police arrested 22 people after demonstrators forced their way into a highspeed rail station in a protest about land and housing issues, Xinhua reported late on Friday.

In a separate incident in Beijing yesterday, police took more than 30 people to hospital after they consumed pesticide during a “lie-in” protest on a shopping street near the center of the capital, city police said in a statement.

The statement said the protesters were taxi drivers from the far northern province of Heilongjiang.

Similar incidents have happened before in China, with protesters drinking pesticide or fertiliser in public areas in the hope of drawing attention to a grievance.

About 90,000 “mass incidents” - a euphemism for protests - occur each year in China, triggered by corruption, pollution, illegal land grabs and other grievances. l

DT

WORLD 11

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Kenya holds five over university massacre, Shebab issues new threat n AFP Kenya said yesterday it has arrested five men in connection with the massacre by Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab militants of nearly 150 people at a northeastern university.

The militants meanwhile warned of “another bloodbath” and a “long, gruesome war” unless Kenya withdrew its troops from Somalia.

Thursday’s attack on Garissa University, situated near the border with Somalia, left 148 dead, including 142 students, three police officers and three soldiers. It was Kenya’s deadliest attack since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, and the bloodiest ever assault by the Shebab militants.

Kenyan interior ministry spokesman, Mwenda Njoka, said five arrests had already been made.

“Three were the coordinators who were arrested while trying to flee to Somalia, two were arrested within the precincts of Garissa University,” he told AFP, noting that the four gunmen in the university were killed on Thursday.

The name of the three suspected organisers were not given, but Njoka said the two arrested on campus included a security guard at the university, and a Tanzanian named as Rashid Charles Mberesero.

Mberesero was reportedly arrested on the

campus on Friday, found hiding as people carried out the grim work of clearing the piles of bodies that the gunmen had killed.

“He was hiding in the ceiling of the university and had grenades,” Njoka said, while the guard, a Kenyan of ethnic Somali origin, was named as Osman Ali Dagane.

He is suspected of helping the gunmen, and was found “in possession of jihadist materials,” Njoka added.

A $215,000 (200,000 euro) bounty has also been offered for alleged Shebab commander Mohamed Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher believed to now be in Somalia and said to be the mastermind behind the Garissa attack.

Shebab threat

Hurling grenades and firing automatic rifles, the gunmen stormed the university at dawn on Thursday as students were sleeping, shooting dead dozens before setting Muslims free and holding Christians and others hostage.

Just before darkness fell, Kenyan troops moved in on the dormitory where the gunmen were holed up, apparently determined to prevent a drawn-out siege like that seen in the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in September 2013, also carried out by Shebab fighters.

The militants vowed more attacks against Kenya, which invaded southern Somalia in

People cover their noses as they arrive to view the bodies of the suspected attackers on a university at the Garissa mortuary in the northeastern town of Garissa yesterday AFP 2011 and is now fighting alongside the African Union force battling the Shebab.

“We will... stop at nothing to avenge the deaths of our Muslim brothers until your government ceases its oppression and until all Muslim lands are liberated from Kenyan

occupation,” the Shebab said in a statement released yesterday.

“Until then, Kenyan cities will run red with blood... this will be a long, gruesome war of which you, the Kenyan public, are its first casualties.” l

Islamic State takes 90% of Damascus refugee camp

At least 185 dead in battle for Yemen’s Aden

Top WHO official in Thailand denies maid slavery claims

Islamic State has taken control of 90% of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts where 18,000 civilians have suffered years of bombing, army siege and militia control, a monitoring group said yesterday.

The hardline group’s offensive in Yarmouk gives it a major presence in the capital. Islamic State, the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, is now only a few kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power.

The United Nations has said it is extremely concerned about the safety and protection of Syrians and Palestinians in the camp. Civilians trapped there have long suffered a government siege that has led to starvation and disease.

“The situation in Yarmouk is an affront to the humanity of all of us, a source of universal shame,” UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said.

“Yarmouk is a test, a challenge for the international community. We must not fail. The credibility of the international system itself is at stake,” he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain, said Syrian air force jet bombed the camp yesterday.

The IS on Wednesday launched an attack on other groups of fighters in Yarmouk, in particular Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, an anti-Assad militia of Syrians and Palestinians from the camp.

Islamic State supporters posted photos on social media of the severed heads of two men they said had been beheaded after fighting for Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis. l

n AFP, Aden

The World Health Organisation’s top official in Thailand yesterday denied beating his Ethiopian domestic helper and treating her like a modern day slave.

The 25-year-old unnamed maid filed a complaint with police last month accusing Dr Yonas Tegegn, the WHO’s representative in Thailand, and his wife of abusing her and forcing her to work without pay for nearly two years.

Police on Wednesday said they would investigate the allegations and question the couple, who are also Ethiopian nationals.

In a statement released yesterday, Tegegn denied the claims.

“These accusations made against me and my family are baseless. We deny any wrongdoing,” he said in a statement emailed to AFP. Tegegn added that he hoped both the media and Thailand’s legal system would “give us a fair chance to clear our name.”

The unnamed maid’s lawyer Surapong Kongchantuk from the Lawyers Council of Thailand told AFP earlier in the week that she had worked for the family between July 2013 and March this year.

He alleged that she had not received a proper salary during that time, had to sleep in a room with the family’s dog, was physically abused and was only fed rice.

He said the maid escaped her employers when she was rescued by passers-by after a suicide attempt and is being helped by a local NGO to pursue a case against her employers. l

n Reuters

Fierce fighting for control of Yemen’s main southern city Aden has left at least 185 people dead and more than 1,200 wounded, including many civilians, a medical official said yesterday.

The port city, a last foothold of supporters of absent President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, has been shaken by more than a week of clashes between Shiite rebels and loyalist militia backed by Saudi-led air strikes.

At least 185 dead and 1,282 wounded from the fighting have been counted in hospitals in Aden since March 26, the city’s health depart-

ment director Al-Kheder Lassouar said.

Three-quarters were civilians, he added.

The toll does not include victims among the Huthi Shiite rebels and their allies who do not take their casualties to public hospitals, he said.

It also excludes victims of Saudi-led air raids that have been pounding rebel positions around the country since March 26 to try to prevent the fall of Hadi, who has fled to Riyadh, he added.

Lassouar called on international organisations and Arab states participating in the coalition to provide emergency medical assistance to hospitals in Aden. l

Iraqi PM orders crackdown on looting in Tikrit n Agencies Iraq’s prime minister has called on security forces to arrest anyone breaking the law in Tikrit as Sunni politicians reported that looting had taken place in the city after it was retaken from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group this week.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi’s office issued a statement on Friday calling “on the

forces in Tikrit to arrest any person” breaking the law there “and to preserve the belongings and facilities in Salahuddin province.”

Local Sunni officials claimed rogue security force elements and members of the Shia paramilitary groups burned homes and stole goods within hours of the Iraqi government declaring on Wednesday that forces had retaken the Sunni Muslim city, which ISIL captured in June. l

n AFP

DT

12 EDITORIAL

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Police should stick to policing

W

e are disturbed by the announcement by a Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional deputy commissioner for public and media relations that media houses should now seek prior permission from police authorities before portraying police in film and television dramas.

It goes against common sense to bring forth such a requirement.

Dramatists and filmmakers should not be restricted in portraying police how they like. Police authorities should only become involved in media production issues where the makers have sought their help and co-operation.

The DMP has claimed the directive is needed because they fear negative and comic representations of police in the media may send the “wrong message” to the public.

This is far from a real problem as any quick survey of Bangladeshi film and television will prove. Police officers are in general portrayed as competent and upstanding professionals. If officers are shown as corrupt, immoral, or incompetent. it is invariably made clear that such policemen are an exception rather than the rule.

It is preposterous for DMP to think fictional portrayals of policemen could in any way undermine their authority. Even if a film-maker or dramatist did decide to show police officers in an unflattering light, there is no justification for impinging upon this basic artistic license.

There is no reason for the police to get involved in how television dramatists and cinema directors wish to depict police officers. Entertainment media are not the enemy of police. Viewers should be trusted to tell the difference between fictional portrayals and reality.

No need to require filmmakers to seek permission to portray police

Berkeley centre reaches the world

W

e welcome the establishment of the Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at the University of California in Berkeley.

This is an excellent initiative supported by a generous gift from the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Foundation. The new department, the first of its kind in the US, will promote research and help to build ties between the University of California and Bangladeshi institutions.

It provides a great opportunity to help the promotion of Bangladeshi arts, culture and history in the United States and foster stronger relationships between our two countries.

As the founders themselves point out, the building of a Bangladesh focused department at such a high profile prestigious university, is a step forward for raising our nation’s profile and footprint in global academic circles. To date, the vast bulk of existing research on Bangladesh in the West focuses on a few specialist niches relating to development topics and climate change, which can often reinforce negative perceptions of Bangladeshis as passive victims of forces beyond their control, rather than as citizens of the world’s eighth most populous nation with a growing influence and reputation in world affairs., By creating this new department, which will also provide scholarships to students, Subir Chowdhury has not only created opportunities for students and researchers, but set an example of ways in which philanthropists can promote new interest and build world class knowledge and research into issues relating to Bangladesh and the world.

A great opportunity to help the promotion of Bangladeshi arts, culture and history

Be heard

Writeto toDhaka DhakaTribune Tribune Write Tower,8/C 8/CPanthapath, Panthapath, Sukrabad, Shukrabad,Dhaka-1207 Dhaka-1207 FRFRTower, Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com Email letters.dt@dhakatribune.com Sendususyour yourOp-Ed Op-Edarticles: articles: Send opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/DhakaTribune

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Colonialism finds its way and is rooted in international cricket March 23

Saleque Sufi India hardly plays fair in anything, not regarding cricket only. Even Indian ex cricketers like VVS Laxman strongly felt that Raina and Rohit got the favour of umpires to get going. Most of the ball was pitched within stumps in case of Raina.

He got the benefit of the doubt, agreed.

But there was no doubt at all in case of Rohit. That ball was well below the waist.

When Indians got the benefit of the doubt, why didn’t Bangladesh get it in case of Mahmudullah? India is unnecessarily trying to muscle ICC and squeezing out undue benefits.

A convicted Indian criminal is heading ICC as the chairman. India advanced to the semi-finals unfairly. I’m not saying India cannot win playing fair. But the incidents at MCG created a bad reputation.

Indians must learn to take criticism sportingly, otherwise their cricket will soon hit an all-time low.

Come on India, do not try to bully your neighbours. Very few will like this. India must come out of its “Dadagiri” soon, or they can never achieve their dream of becoming an economic superpower.

Ram Just insane. Umpiring decisions favoured the Bangladesh team in the previous matches. That is part of the game, but it is pure conspiracy when they are against you. Don’t spoil the sport, please grow up.

P I least expected Bangladeshi fans and supporters to cry foul, it surely sounds like a case of sour grapes. Grow up and accept the fact that you lost. We all saw the bad decisions go against Bangladesh in Rohit’s

case, but to think that this was the cause for your defeat … come on Bangladesh, you’ve got to be kidding me.

Anon P: It’s not so much about whether it was the reason Bangladesh lost as much as playing fair. It’s not okay for some teams to think they are above the rules of the game.

IAF101 Bangladesh, despite its impressive performance, was out-played in every element of the game as any cricket fan would clearly acknowledge. The idea that there is a “conspiracy” to enable India and the “big 3” to win is absurd, given England’s sorry rout in the World Cup. This episode has exposed why the “Test status” was prematurely given to Bangladesh.

Guest IAF101: The Test status was given to Bangladesh because it has consistently improved it’s game. I’d expect someone who watches cricket to know that these statuses are given according to how the team plays the game, and doesn’t have anything to do with their personalities.

You yourself mentioned Bangladesh’s impressive performance. To suggest that a team that made it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup doesn’t deserve Test status is just plain dumb.

Sam Never go full retard Bangladesh Tdot Good article. Bangladesh played well, and they deserved to be treated fairly.

DT

OPINION 13

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

How to kill an idea n Dwitiya Jawher Neethi

P

eople travel all over the world to bungee jump, to go white-water rafting, to climb mountains, or to skydive. To get some thrill, to get that that rush of excitement. But what is the most dangerous thing for a Bangladeshi to do?

Writing a blog.

Blogging about religious views has become the most risky thing to do here. Rajib fell. Avijit too. And now Oyasiqur. All hacked to death.

Fear has become a daily part of our lives.

Systematic intimidation is taking place and we are not taking it very seriously. Either that, or they have succeeded in intimidating us. For the reaction to these events is not strong enough and is confined to certain groups only. And judging by the way people reacted after the India vs Bangladesh World Cup quarter-final, we now know that Bangladeshis do react when they are upset.

A person can be hurt in many ways. The kill can be quick or slow. There can be torture or just a bullet. It can be done privately or out in the open -- depends on the purpose. Here, the problem was not a person, but what he was writing about. Silver lining being that these butchers sure know the value of words.

Their writings seemed so dangerous, so attractive -- as if it could open Pandora’s Box. They were so scared of what the bloggers were writing about, they figured they had to get rid of the hands that wrote them. They thought that other eyes and minds must not be exposed to these dangerous ideas.

The hack is meant for them -- for those who might find the bloggers’ writings appealing. It

is for them to watch and learn. The message being that if you step out of line, their line, you too shall be made a spectacle of warm blood and raw meat for the world to see; people might write about you after your death, but this life shall end in a pool of blood in a familiar neighbourhood.

Should they be called butchers? Or plain murderers?

Butchers chop up meat that we find camouflaged with spices and fancy crockery at our dinner tables. Most of us find it to be quite acceptable. Completely acceptable, in fact. Because we have identified a difference.

Cows, goats, chicken -- they are not our kind.

Most of us do not empathise with them -- we rarely think about how the cow might be dreaming of visiting distant lands to go on wild grazing adventures or how the goat is stressed from the increased demands of his clique.

A lack of understanding of the other’s condition is necessary before the hack. They had identified the bloggers to be a different kind from their own. A kind that deserved no empathy.

An understanding of these murderers is needed if we are to comprehend these murders. For murder is not an easy job. If it were, then too many would have their urges realised.

People can strongly believe in whatever they please. But how strong does your belief have to be, if you are to kill for it? Kill because something you hold dear has been maligned or questioned. Or is it similar to what the Nazis did -- act upon command? Nazis or rioters or soldiers or anyone else who killed and tortured when ordered to do so -- after

BIGSTOCK

all, one must be fair in assigning blame!

Or, is it from perceived danger? Almost an act of self defence -- because they thought that the bloggers’ writings could kill their beliefs?

What is it that drives them?

This puzzle needs to be cracked. Simplistic rationalisations will not do because locking up the murderers is not enough. These murders cannot be investigated like other homicides where the motives are personal or financial. This is a trend, a much bigger threat than what it looks like. It is not just three people out of a country of 160 million that have been killed. Generations will face the consequences of this fatal threat. And we know that their support is large and maybe

there is one machete for each blog.

This danger is real. It must be recognised that a group of people are trying to control what you write and therefore, what you are allowed to think about. Ideas and conversations and debates are in danger. The human mind, or the Bangladeshi mind, is in danger.

And policing is not enough. An attack on the mind cannot be defeated by an attack on the body. Necessary insight on the mind of the enemy, or fellow deranged citizen, is needed.

Clever strategists know that one must keep their friends close, but their enemies closer. l Dwitiya Jawher Neethi works at the Dhaka Tribune.

When the sun goes down n Swatil Binte Mahmud

W

hat happens after 8pm? Do monsters with big claws come out of the closet and vampires with sharp teeth out of their hideaway? What are we all so afraid of when the sun goes down and the streetlights turn on? Is it the shadow following us, or the ominous sound coming from the dark passage?

Fortunately, we do not live in a world filled with monsters and blood sucking vampires.

Which brings me to the point of what exactly are we afraid of. We are afraid of ourselves -- us humans. But why is that? Why are we scared of that man that follows us around whistling tunes of romantic songs? Why do we get so scared when two men on a bike slow down to get a better view of us?

Being a human, I am scared of many simple things like cockroaches or the giant spider sitting on the bathroom wall. But as a woman, I am afraid of other things. I am scared of walking alone in a dark alley, coming home by myself at night, and sometimes when I see a group of men staring at me.

Growing up I was unaware of the fact that I had to have this fear built inside me before

stepping out of the house after dark. Most of us, us women, are taught to look at every man as a threat.

So, when we go out for work or pleasure after 8pm, we have to have our guard up and keep an eye open for prospective monsters disguised as men. I have to protect my phone, my laptop, and my body. After dark, my body is looked upon as raw meat by a hungry pack of hyenas. The continuous calls from my loved ones after dark are a constant reminder of the terrifying things that can

We should not have to hide ourselves inside our homes or cover ourselves with extra shawls when it is dark outside

happen to a woman.

To some, all this might sound far-fetched or made up. But trust me when I say this: None of this is made up. I am scared; we are all scared of the ugly and horrible things that can happen to any woman at any time of the day.

Now let’s look at this from another angle.

Do you think a man will be scared of the same things as a woman when he goes out to meet his friends after work? Why is his phone the only valuable thing that he has to protect? How can he roam around in dark streets and not feel an inch of fear of the horrible things that can happen to his body?

How come he does not need a male friend accompanying him to his house?

The answer is simple: They do not feel threatened, nor, should I say, is there anyone to threaten them. His mother never gave him the lecture on how men can take advantage of someone walking by themselves after 10pm. That way, most boys grow up having a wonderful childhood with no fear of monsters trying to attack them. That is why a man can just walk out of his house, wearing his shorts in the middle of the night without anyone’s objection.

A man feels no fear of rape while a woman

is constantly living in that fear all her life. But this is not about rape, this is about freedom -- my freedom and yours. If a man can walk around the streets with his legs bare after dark, so should a woman be able to. If a man can get out and have a cup of tea in the streets, so should a woman is she pleases. If a man has the freedom to live his life, so must a woman.

No one is asking men to not go out after dark just because most women cannot. We are asking men to make it a safer place so a woman can also enjoy her freedom without living in a cloud of fear. The sun comes up and the sun goes down, but we should not have to hide ourselves inside our homes or cover ourselves with extra shawls when it is dark outside.

Over the years I learned that freedom does not come for free and neither will people hand it to you, it has to be earned. So, every time I get out of my house with the light of lamp posts guiding me, I am earning my freedom. Instead of giving in to the fear that has been embedded in us since we were young, we need to put on our heels and lipstick and fight the fear instead. l Swatil Binte Mahmud is a freelance contributor.

DT

14 OPINION

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

REUTERS

Time for cricket to go global n Raihan Hadi

E

ver since that unforgettable Thursday of March 19 this year, and the consequent comment made by former ICC president, Mr Mustafa Kamal, regarding the actual “very unfortunate” game of biased umpiring in the quarter-finals of Bangladesh versus Dar, Gould, and the Indian cricket team, us Bangladeshi cricket lovers have been raging with only one question: Why, India?

The media calls you one of the three wise men of world cricket, your team of mostly misbehaving and arrogant cricketers even managed to win the last World Cup, some of them scored brilliant double centuries in one-day internationals, and your team finally grew some new fingers in the bowling area as well. We fail to understand the need for such politics at this point from you in such a lovely game played by gentlemen. Was it really necessary?

I believe that every single fan of the sacred game watched with utmost disgust and disbelief about how the Indian media started and ended their World Cup campaign with ridiculous “Mauka” (chance) advertisements and the infamous (and now failed) hash tag “#Wewontgiveitback.” Whether you believe it or not, a tsunami of hatred and curses from all these viewers fell heavy on your cricket board and team all throughout this tournament. Was being hated really necessary?

Towards the end of the tournament, a lot of renowned cricket commentators went as far as to tell the media that they could not be in the tournament to give commentaries because BCCI (and in some cases Star Sports as well) made things really hard for them with

all their preposterous conditions regarding commenting on the Indian players only. Is BCCI controlling international cricket commentators as well now? How is that possible?

The now former president of ICC, who is a Bangladeshi, went to the length of resigning from his post because BCCI hit ICC too hard with its spiteful corruption. So what was the clear reason behind that resignation?

Only three countries having total control over a game can really narrow down prospects for a lot of other countries

It is indeed the president of ICC who is always expected to hand over the World Cup to the winning team, but the chairman of ICC (who happens to be the former president of BCCI) and his chief executive (bought and paid for, of course) bullied their way into the podium and made sure that no Bangladeshi would ever touch that trophy.

And so, with a few lame excuses, they tried suspending the president from his position. On the day of the final match, the former president was not even allowed to be on the stage for the presentation ceremony

and in his stead, the chairman handed the cup over. This was not just an act of discrimination, but a sign to show the whole world how corruption has trickled into the world of cricket.

Right, after the recent spat between the president and the chairman (and his CEO) of ICC, another news that followed was that the Test status of Bangladesh might be seized pretty soon as well. Such an extreme reaction comes as a shock given how the Bangladeshi Tigers performed in this World Cup and in the past five years. It is strange to think that the ICC perhaps now sees Bangladesh as a big a threat in the international cricket arena.

I am sure a lot of people would agree with me when I say that during a world event such as the World Cup, only three countries having total control over a game can really narrow down prospects for a lot of other countries.

While they might lean towards certain countries, they might not be in favour of many others who love to play the game and be part of its international scenario just as much.

For your information, there are more than 120 million players who play the game right now, with a total of 38 cricketing nations who are associate members and 57 affiliate members in the world at the moment, who do not qualify to be full members yet because of certain standards and requisites that they need to fulfill at first. Of course, when a game is this big, it needs to be controlled in several ways, the main way being through a continental confederation.

Having so many nations playing cricket already, along with the ones that already have test, ODI and T20 status, as opposed to what the scenario looks like with the ICC right now, I believe all these nations can

actually make a huddle and go for making the game global, ergo, form a Global Cricket Council.

Since it is no one’s hereditary right to own the game (yet), it is very much possible to form something like this with a new, unbiased board that will consist of members from various countries, including neutral ones, so that if corruption takes its head out of the earth again, it can be dealt with easier than before.

And it shouldn’t just stop there! The current Test and ODI nations should make regular visits to these countries and promote cricket in other nations too. Of course, a lot of money is involved when nations play tournaments, but is it not an opportunity for companies from the respective nations to sponsor those tournaments and promote their businesses at the same time? After all, in international games as popular as cricket, money rolls, money goes, and money comes back in multiple doses.

Bangladesh has come a long way since achieving that test status, and I am sure all other cricketing nations have the same potential to do so, without one or two cricket boards constantly politicising the game for them. It would be very sad to see this beautiful game get spoiled because of politics; the game deserves much better than that, and so do the many nations who love the game so passionately.

It is time for that brainstorming session to take place between these nations; it is time for cricket to go global. l Raihan Hadi is Founder, Ideas for Bangladesh, and Deputy Secretary, Korea-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

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New rules on global banks’ interest-rate risks face delays

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ECB: Contested QE programme already boosting recovery

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Stock investors remain unsettled as political crisis still goes on

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DT

Business

15

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Producers want Vat, duty exemption on import of anti-cancer drug materials

Survey: Over half of Rana Plaza survivors still unemployed n Tribune Report

Two years into the deadlist ever industrial accident in Bangladesh, the surviving workers still struggle to earn their livelihood

NASHIRUL ISLAM

Self-employed Rana Plaza survivors now face fund crunch n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi The Rana Plaza survivors are now faced with fund crunch while running small business they initiated with their compensation.

A recent visit to some survivors’ residents at Savar revealed the fact.

The Dhaka Tribune found that some survivors turned out to be small entrepreneurs instead of going to join the RMG factory again following the traumatic event of Rana Plaza collapse.

Talking to several victims, it was revealed that the RMG workers started business with the fund they got from several sources, but now are facing fund shortage.

A total of 50 Rana Plaza survivors including 44 female and 6 male received training on small business and entrepreneurship development conducted by the ActionAid Bangladesh.

So far, 40 participants engaged themselves in self-employment, 30 of which received advanced skill training course on dress-making and tailoring, boutique, ti-die and screen-print.

“The dream of educating my daughter was shattered when Rana Plaza building collapsed, leaving me in dark about the future,” Kohinoor Begum, a survivor of Rana Plaza disaster, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“But after starting my small shop with the entrepreneurship training from the Action

Aid, I have got back confidence and begun to dream about the future of my daughter,” said Kohinoor, who already established a small shop with Tk60,000.

Kohinoor said if she had a refrigerator in her shop she could sell cold drink, pasteurised milk, ice cream and other frozen items.

She wishes the government or the micro-credit lenders came forward with collateral free loans to help expand her business.

Another entrepreneur Maleka echoed the same as Kohinoor.

She said: “I have received training on block and boutiques and started working. I have revived an order of 500 scarfs but cannot buy raw materials due to fund shortage.”

She called upon the government and the global buyers to come up with some sort of monetary support so that they could flourish their own business to beat poverty and hunger.

Naisr Uddin, quality inspector of New Weave Garment housed in Rana Plaza, started small garment with eight machines and work for local market., He employed his fellow victims and needed more funds to add more machines to boost productivity.

All the victims, who talked to the Dhaka Tribune are unwilling to do work under the roof of any factory as they feel unsafe. What they want now is to be self- employed, but are

facing trouble in getting loans.

According a survey conducted by the ActionAid Bangladesh, 59% survivors of the Rana Plaza disaster are intent on starting small business on their own with the support from others.

Among the respondents, over 35% have plan to open small grocery shop and 9.8% are planning to open boutique business. The rest 2.2% are planing to find out suitable jobs and 11.6% want to find suitable jobs other than RMG factory. The survey was conducted over 2,297 workers of Rana Plaza.

On 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building, collapsed in Savar, outskirt of the capital, killing 1,135 workers and injuring over 2,500 people. l

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More than half the Rana Plaza factory collapse survivors still have no job even after two years into the country’s deadliest industrial accident which killed 1,135 workers and injured over 2,500.

Lack of availability of suitable jobs, the workers’ physical weakness, mental trauma after the horror and employers’ unwillingness to recruit have caused the surviving workers to stay without jobs, finds a study by ActionAid Bangladesh.

It said though an upward trend of employment was found, the preliminary findings of second year survey showed still 55% of the survivors were unemployed.

ActionAid disclosed the findings yesterday. The non-government organisation has been implementing a project titled “Socio-economic reintegration and rehabilitation for survivors with disabilities of Rana Plaza disaster” with support from International Labour Organization (ILO).

Meanwhile, the survivors who received training to be self-employed face several challenges including limited skills and courage to start a new initiatives and limited ability to take risk.

Uncertainty over income security, lack of business orientation and limited knowledge on market, bank finance and value chain, inappropriate location of business outlet or production capacity are also among challenges, the survey report stated.

On the other hand, challenges for wage employment include employers’ concerns over fitness, psychical health and production capability, problems with psychological adjustment in enclosed factory settings and skill limits.

“We will provide all out cooperation to ensure jobs for them as per their psychical conditions and capacity,” said Mohammad Hatem Ali, ex-first vice president of BKMEA. BGMEA Additional Secretary Jaglul Haider said if all the stakeholders and NGOs cooperated, not a single workers would remain without job. l

DT

16 BUSINESS

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

RBI chief: Banks too exposed to infrastructure

n Reuters, Mumbai

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief said on Thursday the country’s push to build infrastructure should not come at the expense of financial stability, adding banks already had too much exposure to the sector.

Instead, Governor Raghuram Rajan said, India needed to find new sources of funding for infrastructure so that debt levels remained “moderate”.

The comments, at a financial event organised by the RBI that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, come as the government says it wants $1tn invested in infrastructure in the five years to 2017, with half of the funding coming from private companies.

Painted monetary symbols are seen on a wall in Dublin city centre

REUTERS

New rules on global banks’ interest-rate risks face delays n Reuters, Tokyo

Efforts to protect the world’s banks from interest-rate risks are bogged down, with an agreement on new rules likely to be delayed by at least several months, people involved in the discussions said.

Basel Committee negotiators have reached an impasse on the rate-risk requirements, two people involved in the process told Reuters, with Britain and Germany seeking requirements for banks to increase their capital, whereas the United States and Japan argue that the issue should continue to be left to local regulators.

“As the discussions are going now, reaching an agreement looks difficult,” one source said of the talks in the Swiss financial centre.

As part of the response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the Basel Committee of banking supervisors has been toughening rules such as requirements for stronger capital buffers to

prevent or combat future crises.

They are also planning rules to ensure banks can withstand sharp moves in interest rates, which are at historic lows around the world.

The issue takes on particular significance as the Federal Reserve is expected to raise U.S. interest rates in coming months, with potential ripple effects for banks and markets worldwide.

But as the banking crisis fades in memory, only to be replaced by a lingering economic slowdown, governments are losing interest in financial reform and focusing on economic growth, despite warnings that dangers still lurk.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England and chairman of the Financial Stability Board global regulator body, expressed concern in February about “reform fatigue,” urging the Group of 20 big economies to mount a “big push” to complete rules requiring big lenders to issue bonds to provide further capital buffers.

Chinese Premier pledges support for firms to charge out into the world n Reuters, Shanghai China plans to cut red tape and reduce costs for Chinese firms looking to spread their reach overseas to help boost growth and stave off a wider economic slowdown, according to a statement from the ruling State Council.

“This will help us withstand the downward economic pressure, and push China’s development into new spaces,” the statement, released late on Friday, quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying at a meeting with officials and business leaders.

Li said China should boost financial mechanisms to support companies investing out-

side China’s borders and streamline approval processes to help companies set up facilities overseas. Some sectors would still require stricter approvals, he said.

“We should clear up or remove unreasonable restrictions or costs holding back investment overseas to allow our industries to charge out into the world unfettered and rise up through facing competition on the global stage,” he added.”

Chinese companies in sectors from consumer goods to railways and nuclear energy are increasingly looking to tap overseas markets as growth at home slows, as well as to gain valuable technical knowledge through tie-ups with international firms. l

There is also a growing spat between banks and regulators that ever increasing capital requirements are leading to illiquidity in some markets.

On the rate-risk rules, a “consultation document” was to have been agreed this month, but negotiators are now working to reach consensus in time for a June Basel Committee meeting, the sources said.

Basel Committee press officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

A compromise proposal would require additional capital only from “outlier banks” that have rate risk exceeding 20% of their capital, but it is possible that the document will list both positions without resolving the differences, the sources said.

Japanese banks face rate risks as they have pumped great amounts of money into longterm project finance and have huge holdings of Japanese government bonds, which now have infinitesimally low yields. l

The nation has enormous financing needs in infrastructure, and far too many of our banks already have too much exposure “The nation has enormous financing needs in infrastructure, and far too many of our banks already have too much exposure,” Rajan said.

“Big corporate infrastructure players have also taken too much debt. The required national push to finance infrastructure should not override financial stability, which is key to national security.”

Funding for infrastructure is expected to pose a challenge to India, whose banks, especially state-owned lenders, continue to struggle with non-performing loans.

The gross bad loans ratio at banks could rise as high as 5.7% by March 2016 from 4.5% last December, rating agency ICRA estimates.

Last year the central bank launched infrastructure bonds, allowing banks to raise debt and use the proceeds to help fund the government’s plan to provide affordable housing for all by 2022. But issuance has been slower than expected due to low trading volumes in secondary markets.

Still, the government is pushing ahead with its ambitious infrastructure initiatives, which it sees as vital for economic growth. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled a budget in February that promised higher investment in the country’s decrepit roads and railways. l

CORPORATE NEWS

Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Ltd (BSRM) recently held a daylong gathering in Chittagong for its top dealers. The company’s managing director Aameir Alihussain was present on the occasion, among other high officials

DT

BUSINESS 17

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

ECB: Contested QE programme already boosting recovery

Nissan pledges self-driving cars in Japan in 2016 n AFP, Tokyo

n AFP, Frankfurt The European Central Bank said Thursday it is increasingly confident that its controversial bond purchase programme is helping boost the eurozone’s economic recovery, even as a top official expressed doubts about its effectiveness.

In the minutes of the governing council’s meeting on March 4 and 5 released on Thursday, the ECB said that “members generally shared the assessment that significant positive effects ... could already be seen” from the new bond purchase programme known as quantitative easing (QE).

And that was leading to “prudent optimism” about the recovery outlook, showed the minutes, which are published with a fourweek delay.

On January 22, the ECB announced it would embark on a QE policy, used by other central banks, and make sovereign bond purchases to boost the worryingly low level of inflation in the 19 countries that share the euro.

Under the programme, the ECB aims to buy 1.14tn euros ($1.tn ) worth of bonds between now and September 2016 at a rate of 60bn euros per month. And the latest data showed it had bought a total 41.02bn euros worth of bonds by March 27.

However, some prominent ECB members notably the head of the German central bank or Bundesbank Jens Weidmann and ECB executive board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger - have repeatedly expressed doubts about the need and impact of such a programme.

Lautenschlaeger told a German magazine on Thursday that she had “doubts whether the economic effects of the purchase programme will reach the desired magnitude.”

And she warned that the current very low level of interest rates could lead to the formation of asset price bubbles.

Before joining the ECB’s executive board, Lautenschlaeger was vice president of the German central bank and she shares the same scepticism as Weidmann.

Nevertheless, at the governing council’s last policy meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, in March, there appeared to be agreement that QE was indeed helping to ease financial mar-

Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, during a press conference in Frankfurt ket conditions and the cost of external finance for companies, the minutes showed.

Coupled with recent positive economic data and signs of a turnaround in inflation, “this provided grounds for ‘prudent optimism’ regarding the scenario of a gradual recovery and a return of inflation rates to levels closer to 2%,” the minutes stated.

At the same time, there was “no room for complacency,” the governing council members agreed.

There were still downside risks, most importantly geopolitical and political risks “inside and outside the euro area.” And insufficient progress on structural reforms was one of them, the minutes said.

“Determined policy action was needed in other policy areas. A strong message to governments (is) warranted to seize the opportunity for a renewed impetus for structural reforms to boost potential growth,” the minutes said.

‘Upbeat start to QE’

Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz said the key message of the minutes was the “upbeat assessment of the start of quantitative easing and sharp warnings against governments’ complacency.”

“We should not expect any policy chang-

AFP

es from the ECB between now and mid-2016, unless severe downside or upside risks to the economic trajectory materialise,” Schulz said.

“If the recovery gets stronger than the ECB currently projects, some particularly hawkish members may start a discussion about tapering the purchases early,” he added.

But Capital Economics economist Jonathan Loynes disagreed.

“The ECB still has a lot more work to do.

And for now at least, it appears to recognise that,” he said.

The ECB only started publishing its minutes this year in a bid to make the thinking behind its monetary policy decisions more transparent.

In doing so, the ECB is following the example of the likes of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.

But unlike the US Fed, the minutes do not reveal which central bank governor voted for or against a particular policy decision. The ECB said this was necessary to prevent the central bank chiefs being put under political pressure in their home countries.

The ECB is fiercely independent and its governing council members take a vow to act in the interests of the eurozone as a whole rather than their individual countries. l

The boss of Nissan wants to put self-driving cars on Japan’s roads next year, and says they will be able to navigate busy urban environments on their own by 2020.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive, said formidable technological and legal challenges remain but that the direction of travel was plain.

“There will be a Nissan product in Japan, which will carry autonomous drive,” he told reporters on Thursday at the New York International Auto Show. “Obviously when you have this kind of technology, you want also the Japanese market to enjoy it as soon as possible.”

A five-year tie up with NASA on the technology would see the initial roll out by December 2016, with cars that can drive on highways without anyone at the wheel.

In 2018, models should have the ability to avoid hazards and to change lanes, and by 2020, vehicles should be able to autonomously manoeuver through crowded city roads.

“It’s going to happen step by step, because we need to make sure that the regulators in the different countries feel comfortable,” Ghosn said, according to Kyodo News.

“To persuade the regulators that you can take your hands off the wheel or your eyes from the road is going to take a lot of demonstration.”

Nissan, Japan’s second biggest automaker, is also looking at working with domestic rivals Toyota and Honda on the technology.

Reports in February said the three are planning to team up with electronics giants and the government in a bid to propel the country into the front ranks of self-driving cars.

The move is part of a government initiative to support domestic industries as competition in the field intensifies globally, with Google testing its own car and Apple also reported to be working on such a vehicle.

The Japanese government has set up a panel to look at the legal issues surrounding autonomous cars, which under current laws are not allowed on public roads.

One of the key factors is that of who bears responsibility in the event of an accident when a car is driving itself. l

Foreign investors cry foul over Indian tax surprise n Reuters, Hong Kong

US and European investor groups have called for the Indian government to urgently clarify its tax regime for foreigners, following surprise attempts by tax inspectors to claw back money they say is owed on years of previously untaxed gains.

International funds and banks could face a bill of as much as $8bn, said tax experts, just as many foreign investors are poised to pour money into India following the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has pledged to create a more business-friendly environment.

“This development has caught everyone by surprise and is extremely worrying for foreign investors,” said Patrick Pang, a managing director at the Asia Securities Industry

& Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) in Hong Kong. “It suggests that the Indian government can come out at any time and re-clarify what was believed to be an established tax policy on foreign investments.”

ASIFMA is one of several business groups, including London-headquartered ICI Global, the European Fund and Asset Management Association, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, to have raised the alarm over attempts by the Indian tax department to levy minimum alternative tax (MAT) on foreign investors’ profits, according to sources and letters seen by Reuters.

In many jurisdictions governments use a form of MAT to ensure that tax breaks don’t pull domestic companies’ effective tax rate below a minimum threshold. Foreigners without local operations are not typically covered

by such provisions.

In India, foreign investors have hitherto paid 15% on short-term listed equity gains, 5% on gains from bonds, and nothing on longterm gains, but from late last year many firms received notices from tax inspectors requiring them to pay MAT, potentially bringing overall tax on these gains to as much as 20%.

The following month Finance Minister Arun Jaitley intervened via the 2015 budget bill to state that capital gains made by foreign investors as of April 2015 were exempt from MAT, but that did not resolve the issue.

“The government’s clarification in February, though right in intent, has created unwanted confusion, and the view the tax office is taking is that, by implication, the past years’ gains can be subject to MAT,” said Keyur Shah, a partner in the India tax practice at EY.

A senior official from the tax department who declined to be identified confirmed that the tax office believed the exemption from MAT does not apply retroactively.

“There is nothing (in the budget) to suggest that it (the exemption) would apply to old cases,” this person told Reuters.

He added that a 2012 decision by India’s Authority for Advance Rulings, a body that mostly non-residents can apply to for tax rulings to avoid legal disputes, had set a precedent for levying MAT on foreign companies, and that the tax department was enforcing the ruling.

In recent weeks, many foreign investors have duly received notices requesting their MAT calculations for financial year 2011-2012.

The tax office has said it would also apply the tax to previous years. l

DT

18 BUSINESS

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

News, analysis and recent disclosures APEXFOOT: The Board of Directors has recommended 55% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Date of AGM: 30.04.2015, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Dhaka Ladies Club, 36 Eskaton Garden Road, Dhaka-1000. Record date: 09.04.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 18.05, NAV per share of Tk. 234.43 and NOCFPS of Tk. 9.60 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

ISLAMICFIN: The Board of Directors has recommended 8% cash dividend and 4% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 14.05.2015, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB), 160/A, Kakrail, Dhaka-1000.

Record Date: 09.04.2015. The Company has also reported Net Profit of Tk. 193.16 million, EPS of Tk. 1.66, NAV per share of Tk. 12.98 and NOCFPS of Tk. 2.70 for the year ended on December 31, 2014 as against Tk. 86.03 million, Tk. 0.74 (restated), Tk. 11.90 (restated) and Tk. 0.95 (restated) respectively for the year ended on December 31, 2013.

UNITEDINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Date of AGM: 26.04.2015, Time: 10:00 AM, Venue: Dhaka Ladies Club, 36, Eskaton Garden Road, Dhaka-1000. Record date: 09.04.2015. The Company has also reported profit after tax including unrealized share of profit of associate (Tk. 66.83 million) of Tk. 116.64 million, EPS of Tk. 2.92, NAV per share of Tk.

25.76 and NOCFPS of Tk. (0.72) for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

EASTLAND: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 10% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 31.05.2015, Time: 3:30 PM, Venue: Spectra Convention Centre Limited, House 19, Road 7, Gulshan - 1, Dhaka-1212. Record Date: 08.04.2015. The Company has also reported net profit after tax of Tk. 157.98 million, EPS of Tk. 2.92, NAV per share of Tk. 21.55 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.51 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

RUPALIINS: The Board of Directors has recommended 10% cash dividend and 5% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014. Date of AGM: 27.04.2015, Time: 11:00 AM, Venue: Officers Club, 26 Baily Road, Ramna, Dhaka. Record Date: 08.04.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 1.88, NAV per share of Tk. 23.18 and NOCFPS of Tk. 1.39 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

PHOENIXFIN: The Board of Directors has recommended 20% cash dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Date of AGM: 21.05.2015, Time: 11:30 AM, Venue: Muktijuddho Smrity Milonayaton (1st floor), Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh, 160/A, Kakrail, VIP Road, Dhaka-1000. Record Date: 13.04.2015. The Company has also reported EPS of Tk. 1.64, NAV per share of Tk. 20.59 and NOCFPS of Tk. 3.81 for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Turnover (Volume) Number of Contract

Closing (% change)

Company Samata LeatheR -Z Reckitt Benckiser -A 7th ICB M F-A Khulna Power-A Ifad Autos -N Shasha Denims -N LR Global BD MF1-A Jamuna Bank -A Nitol Insurance -A IDLC Finance -A

16.67 15.80 10.57 9.95 8.06 7.53 7.50 7.38 7.29 7.19

CSE GAINER Closing (% change)

Company Popular Life Insu. -A Brac B.C. Bond-A Monno Ceramic -B Khulna Power-A Shasha Denims -N Reckitt Benckiser -A Mozaffar H.Spinning-A National Tea -A Ifad Autos -N BDCOM Online-A

26.39 13.16 11.25 10.16 8.66 8.41 7.87 7.50 7.24 6.84

DSE LOSER Company One Bank -A Zaheen Spinning -N Unique Hotel RL - A Uttara Bank - A Midas Financing-Z Bangladesh Welding -Z Ambee Pharma -A United Insur -A First Finance- A Social Islami. B-A

Closing (% change) -21.79 -12.76 -12.48 -11.16 -10.92 -10.78 -10.75 -10.70 -9.68 -8.97

CSE LOSER Company One Bank -A Prime Islami Life -A Zaheen Spinning -N Midas Financing-Z Unique Hotel RL - A Takaful Islami Insu-A Social Islami. B-A Ambee Pharma -A Shinepukur Cera-Z Uttara Bank - A

Closing (% change) -20.65 -16.94 -13.58 -12.21 -11.81 -11.76 -11.64 -11.19 -11.02 -10.48

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

DSE key features Mar 29-Apr 2, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka)

DSE GAINER

Sector

17,950.65 352,810,418 469,143

Traded Issues

319

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

125

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

189

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

5

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,494.40

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.24

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 1206.88 452.31 134.42 1918.29 579.20 3547.39 23.98 1685.38 3700.41 37.01 492.92 122.04 69.32 891.52 580.98 92.26 373.18 1352.12 164.27 523.84 2.95

% change 6.72 2.52 0.75 10.69 3.23 19.76 0.13 9.39 20.61 0.21 2.75 0.68 0.39 4.97 3.24 0.51 2.08 7.53 0.92 2.92 0.02

Million Taka 83.43 161.31 8.51 183.24 23.27 221.81 0.00 207.20 163.02 4.01 34.07 7.45 6.85 84.77 35.22 3.45 8.50 96.49 35.86 79.10 0.14

Average (% change) 14.80 16.51 10.50 10.61 5.60 9.37 6.78 5.77 5.34 6.08

Average (% change) 26.39 13.16 11.08 10.81 9.43 8.41 7.38 7.50 5.76 6.97

Average (% change) -21.30 -13.52 -9.17 -9.80 -9.63 -9.84 -7.78 -11.03 -7.88 -9.05

Average (% change) -20.49 -16.90 -14.26 -11.98 -9.98 -10.95 -11.13 -8.39 -8.50 -10.48

CSE

Closing average 17.22 1,714.63 90.00 63.05 65.09 41.56 4.25 13.02 26.23 49.37

Closing average 171.00 1075.00 26.66 63.12 41.41 1576.41 32.72 752.50 64.86 25.01

Closing average 12.27 21.62 47.13 20.71 10.70 15.03 326.73 24.12 11.46 13.07

Closing average

% change 5.76 11.14 0.59 12.66 1.61 15.32 0.00 14.31 11.26 0.28 2.35 0.51 0.47 5.86 2.43 0.24 0.59 6.66 2.48 5.46 0.01

12.34 51.53 21.40 11.53 47.06 19.69 12.93 326.65 11.30 20.50

Weekly closing 17.50 1,720.60 90.00 63.00 65.70 41.40 4.30 13.10 26.50 49.20

Weekly closing 171.00 1075.00 26.70 62.90 41.40 1576.40 32.90 752.50 65.20 25.00

Weekly closing 12.20 21.20 46.30 20.70 10.60 14.90 322.20 24.20 11.20 13.20

Weekly closing 12.30 51.50 21.00 11.50 46.30 19.50 12.90 323.10 11.30 20.50

Million Taka 1290.31 613.62 142.93 2101.53 602.48 3769.19 23.98 1892.58 3863.43 41.02 526.98 129.49 76.17 976.29 616.21 95.72 381.68 1448.61 200.13 602.94 3.08

Weekly high 17.60 1,737.90 90.00 65.50 66.20 43.70 4.30 13.30 29.00 53.40

Weekly high 171.00 1075.00 27.00 65.50 43.10 1750.00 33.00 752.50 66.90 25.90

Weekly high

Weekly low 16.00 1,502.10 81.50 57.90 60.20 38.60 3.80 12.00 24.30 46.60

Weekly low 171.00 1012.00 26.40 58.00 37.90 1511.00 30.10 752.50 60.70 23.80

Weekly low

13.50 25.30 54.50 24.00 12.90 17.50 362.20 26.10 12.80 14.90

Weekly high

12.10 21.00 45.80 20.70 10.50 14.80 320.00 23.50 11.20 12.80

Weekly low

13.10 55.90 25.00 11.90 53.80 20.20 14.60 360.00 12.30 23.80

Total

12.20 50.00 20.80 11.50 46.00 19.50 12.60 322.10 11.00 20.50

% change 6.65 3.16 0.74 10.83 3.11 19.43 0.12 9.76 19.92 0.21 2.72 0.67 0.39 5.03 3.18 0.49 1.97 7.47 1.03 3.11 0.02

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

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

0.066 52.501 0.212 617.821 551.841 712.765 5.540 15.923 4.370 138.116

Turnover in million

-0.46 42.33 12.76 6.36 1.92 1.31 0.08 2.62 2.79 4.95

Latest EPS

0.257 0.042 0.061 31.358 109.539 1.457 3.038 0.001 30.338 1.445

Turnover in million

4.13 0.00 0.20 6.36 1.31 42.33 2.82 -6.49 1.92 1.68

Latest EPS

72.475 122.048 72.979 46.876 1.478 7.290 47.381 1.126 6.074 62.940

Turnover in million

2.77 1.32 3.05 3.51 -3.24 0.44 4.68 2.92 0.63 2.74

Latest EPS

4.650 0.089 31.437 0.023 4.741 0.058 3.018 1.192 0.272 4.277

2.77 4.95 1.32 -3.24 3.05 1.43 2.74 4.68 0.39 3.51

Latest PE -ve 40.5 7.1 9.9 33.9 31.7 53.1 5.0 9.4 10.0

Latest PE 41.4 133.3 9.9 31.6 37.2 11.6 -ve 33.8 14.9

Latest PE 4.4 16.4 15.5 5.9 -ve 34.2 69.8 8.3 18.2 4.8

Latest PE 4.5 10.4 16.2 -ve 15.4 13.8 4.7 69.8 29.0 5.8

CSE key features Mar 29-Apr 2, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume) Number of Contract

1,447.71 45,466,036 68,685

Traded Issues

274

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

105

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

165

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,405.71

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.16

DT

BUSINESS 19

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Stock investors remain unsettled as political crisis still goes on n Tribune Report

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Grameenphone-A MJL BD Ltd.-A ACI Limited- A LafargeS Cement-Z Shasha Denims -N Square Pharma -A Khulna Power-A Ifad Autos -N ACI Formulations-A Brac Bank -A

Shahjibazar Power-N Pharma Aids A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Agni Systems -A WesternMarine -N

Volume shares 3,385,899 9,147,420 1,905,883 6,849,649 17,378,192 2,535,414 9,852,370 8,596,031 2,640,825 11,769,065

2,093,521 1,306,576 11,308,743 11,644,845 6,915,334

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company Intl. Leasing-B Shasha Denims -N MJL BD Ltd.-A LafargeS Cement-Z BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Grameenphone-A ACI Limited- A WesternMarine -N BD Submarine Cable-A Shahjibazar Power-N

Square Pharma -A Zaheen Spinning -N Khulna Power-A GPH Ispat Ltd-A Ifad Autos -N

Volume shares 11,067,550 2,692,996 689,640 620,760 1,847,017 167,647 94,383 1,054,938 302,412 173,047

123,296 1,375,996 502,450 760,412 468,271

Value in million 1198.67 1198.33 1001.90 782.58 712.77 666.23 617.82 551.84 411.23 410.82

396.49 393.14 370.38 368.85 301.75

Value in million 131.72 109.54 90.54 70.81 60.36 59.41 49.71 45.93 37.07 32.46

32.45 31.44 31.36 31.25 30.34

% of total turnover 6.68 6.68 5.58 4.36 3.97 3.71 3.44 3.07 2.29 2.29

2.21 2.19 2.06 2.05 1.68

% of total turnover 9.10 7.57 6.25 4.89 4.17 4.10 3.43 3.17 2.56 2.24

2.24 2.17 2.17 2.16 2.10

Weekly closing 348.50 128.80 516.20 112.30 41.40 261.80 63.00 65.70 149.00 35.50

183.10 304.20 32.50 31.20 43.00

Weekly closing 11.80 41.40 128.80 112.20 32.30 347.90 516.20 43.00 120.20 184.00

261.40 21.00 62.90 42.00 65.20

Price change 1.10 4.12 0.92 -6.26 7.53 1.67 9.95 8.06 -7.11 -1.39

Weekly opening 344.70 123.70 511.50 119.80 38.50 257.50 57.30 60.80 160.40 36.00

Weekly high 361.00 136.10 547.00 120.70 43.70 268.50 65.50 66.20 163.00 36.40

Price change -2.48 8.66 4.12 -5.71 0.94 0.90 0.29 4.88 -2.44 -1.60

Weekly opening 12.10 38.10 123.70 119.00 32.00 344.80 514.70 41.00 123.20 187.00

Weekly high 12.30 43.10 136.50 121.00 33.50 360.50 550.00 45.30 125.40 202.00

-5.91 4.82 1.88 2.63 4.62

1.55 -13.58 10.16 1.45 7.24

194.60 290.20 31.90 30.40 41.10

257.40 24.30 57.10 41.40 60.80

203.00 324.00 33.60 32.70 45.60

267.80 25.00 65.50 43.50 66.90

Weekly low 347.10 125.00 506.70 110.80 38.60 258.10 57.90 60.20 148.00 32.50

181.50 276.20 31.90 30.70 41.40

Weekly low 11.40 37.90 125.00 110.80 31.60 347.50 505.20 41.70 119.10 181.00

258.70 20.80 58.00 41.00 60.70

Weekly average 349.12 130.43 517.77 112.31 41.56 262.31 63.05 65.09 150.61 35.10

183.03 312.18 32.57 31.15 43.19

Weekly average 11.68 41.41 130.39 112.48 32.48 349.00 517.95 43.12 120.66 181.92

262.37 21.40 63.12 42.01 64.86

Weekly capital market highlights DSE Broad Index : DSE - 30 Index : CSE All Share Index: CSE - 30 Index : CSE Selected Index :

4472.13767

(-) 0.82%

1703.06378

(-) 0.63%

13696.2467

(-) 0.44%

11330.8309

(+) 0.27%

8335.9706

(-) 0.06%

▼ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▼

The stocks returned to the red during the past week after a moderate rise in previous week with political crisis continued to keep the investors unsettled.

During the last week that ended Thursday, the benchmark index DSEX dipped below the psychological threshold of 4,500-mark again and ended at 4,472, losing 37 points or 0.9%.

The blue-chip index DS30 fell nearly 11 points or 0.7% to 1,703. The shariah index DSES was down 8 points or 0.8% to 1,088.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Categories Index, CSCX dropped 14 points or 0.2% to 8,324.

The week’s daily average turnover stood at Tk359 crore, registering an increase of 20.79% over the previous week.

Pharmaceutical along with fuel and power was the week’s most dominated sector. The both sectors together accounted for 20% of the week’s total turnover.

“As the first quarter of 2015 ended in political turmoil, investors’ expectations for Q1 earnings turned negative with a fearful con-

cern on the overall performance of the economy,” said IDLC Investments.

Some investors tried to reverse the downtrend by taking positions in the large caps, it said. “However, the enthusiasm was short lived as profit booking pressure wiped out the gains.”

LankaBangla Securities said: “The last week started with positive momentum with a hope of improvement in political situation. However, index dragged sharply in last couple of days of the week after announcement of renewed countrywide strikes.”

Amid cautious trading in the capital market, some value stocks still gave returns to the investors, it said.

Cement witnessed heavy correction of 4.6%. Banks and food and allied also went down reckoning a hefty loss of 2% and 1.6% respectively.

Among the large-cap sectors, power registered the highest gain of almost 2%, followed by non-banking financial institutions 1.5%.

Telecommunications and pharmaceuticals also advanced by 1% and 0.7% respectively. l

ANALYST The last week started with positive momentum with a hope of improvement in political situation. However, index dragged sharply in last couple of days of the week after announcement of renewed countrywide strikes

DT

20 BUSINESS

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Producers want Vat, duty exemption on import of anti-cancer drug materials n Tribune Report

Drug manufacturers have urged withdrawal of customs duties and Value Added Tax (VAT) on import of raw materials used in manufacturing anti-cancer medicines.

They made the demand to create a level playing field for the local manufacturers as the import of anti-cancer medicines are currently enjoying VAT and duty benefits.

Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceuticals Industries (BAPI) urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to withdraw the duties and VAT at a pre-budget meeting, chaired

by NBR Chairman Md. Nojibur Rahman at the NBR headquarters in Shegunbagicha on Thursday.

BAPI representative Abdul Malek Chowdhury said hundred percent of the anti-cancer medicines were imported few years back, but

Currently, 25% customs duty, 5% regulatory duty and 20% supplementary duty are imposed on rack used for pharmaceutical industries now all such medicines are now being manufactured in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh now manufacture 98% of medicines and also exports those to over 50

countries, he said, adding the government should provide special attention to the sector.

Placing their demands for the budget for fiscal year 2015-16, Malek stressed on reduction of customs duties on import of specialised racks used in preservation of medicines and pharmaceutical laboratory furniture to ensure international standard quality.

Currently, 25% customs duty, 5% regulatory duty and 20% supplementary duty are imposed on rack used for pharmaceutical industries.

Abdul Malek demanded that the board should fully exempt the supplementary duty and regulatory duty from the product, while it should set customs duties at 5% from the existing 25%.

They also demanded to follow the same structure for the pharmaceutical laboratory furniture, which they use for quality control in product development laboratories.

The association also said withdrawal of customs duties is needed for import of azithromycin test mask, which is used for child patients. Currently, there is 10% customs duty imposed on the product.

The other demands from BAPI includes imposition of customs duties at 10% from the existing 25% on empty hard gelatin capsules, and allow the drug manufacturers to send samples of at least 5% based on the invoice, without paying any VAT. Currently, the manufacturers can spend Tk30,000 annually for providing samples. l

United Power makes debut at bourses today n Tribune Report Share trading of United Power Generation and Distribution Company begins on the country’s twine stock exchanges today.

The company’s initial public offering was oversubscribed by 5.87 times to Tk837 crore against its public offer of Tk237.6 crore. The IPO proceeds will be used for its long-term debts and meet the demand for working capital.

It is the 18th firm to be listed in the fuel and power sector that makes up around 12% of the Dhaka Stock Exchange’s total market capitalisation.

The company’s net profit after tax was around Tk177.5 crore in 2013, Tk202 crore in 2012 and Tk106.3 crore in 2011 It issued 3.3 crore ordinary shares of Tk10 each at an offer price of Tk72, which was set in line with the book building method – an IPO price discovery method that resumed after more than two years with the allowing of United Power to go public last year.

Amid wide criticism from every corner for its flaws, the securities regulator in January 2011 temporarily suspended the method that was largely blamed for the market debacle in late 2010 and, later in September 2011 modified it taking views and opinions from stakeholders.

In nine-month (July-September) period of the current fiscal year, the power generation company’s net profit stood around at Tk1,75.8 crore, up 30.7% from around Tk134.5 crore in the same period a year earlier.

According to prospectus, the company’s net profit after tax was around Tk177.5 crore in 2013, Tk202 crore in 2012 and Tk106.3 crore in 2011. l

Speakers at a seminar on ‘The rise of International Arbitration in Asia’ in the capital yesterday

DHAKA TRIBUNE

Anisul: Commercial disputes should be out of court’s purview n Tribune Report Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq yesterday said commercial disputes should be kept out of the purview of courts wherever it is possible.

The minister came up with the comment at a seminar on “The Rise of International Arbitration in Asia” jointly orgainsed by Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre (BIAC) and Rajah and Tann Singapore LLP at a city hotel yesterday.

Mahbubur Rahman, Chairman BIAC Council moderated the function.

Addressing the programme as the chief guest, Anisul narrated the initiatives taken up by the government in promoting settlement of disputes out of court through the use of ADR methods and thanked the BIAC for providing alternative option to the court system for businesses.

“Asia is becoming the hub for global economic activity. Research and Development (R&D), Foreign Direct investment (FDI) as well as in trade, Asia is leading the world,” said Toufiq Ali, BIAC chief executive.

For investment and business in Asia, ar-

bitration will gain its importance, he said, adding that the BIAC is the country’s first and only ADR service providing institution, providing not only arbitration and mediation facilities, but also generating awareness and training in these areas.

Francis Xavier, regional head of Dispute Practices of Rajah and Tann, stressed a sound arbitration platform to draw FDI in his keynote speech.

Another speaker V. Bala of Rajah and Tann spoke on shaping of a successful arbitration jurisdiction while Barrister Sameer Sattar on benefits of arbitration over litigation. l

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21

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

T-JUNCTION

Cotton Concoction Photo: Sabiha Akond Rupa

INSIDE Candy Crush We’ve got desserts on our mind this summer as the new fashion season kicks off with sweet candy colours for Pohela Boishakh

Pastel party Beat the heat this summer in breathable fabrics and soft shades, in fun patterns that remind you of Christmas

22

Boishakhee steals and deals

24

in fashion

Smell like a man

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22 T-JUNCTION

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Cat’s Eye introduce their line for this Pohela Boishakh

White, red and cool summer colours are how Cat’s Eye’s new line celebrates the festivities of the Bengali New Year. The designers incorporated tradition with contemporary fashion, using natural fibre fabrics and edgy silhouettes Check out festive menswear at their Bashundhara City, Gulshan and Jamuna Future Park outlets.

Stay updated through www. facebook.com/CatsEyeLtd l

News

#MatterOfHeart The local fashion Brand Styline has gone beyond selling unique hijabs, and it has called for a unified and modest protest throughout the country. People of all classes including all hijabis are joining the event “Shout for Matter of Heart” on Facebook. The event is taking place on April 3, 2015 and will continue until April 7, and the goal is to stop people from misinterpreting the Hijab. People from every corner of Bangladesh will update a status with a picture and with the hashtag - “#MatterOfHeart.”

It doesn’t only end here, one can support the cause by tagging three friends on facebook and nominate them to do the same. Let the people feel it really matters when one wears a hijab. l

Karukar brings special jewellery for Pohela Boishakh

Borsho Boron O Mehedi Utshab at Hotel Sarina On this Pahela Boishakh, Hotel Sarina comes up with “Borsho Boron O Mehedi Utshab.” The day-long event will be entertained by activities like face painting, flute music, candy floss, mehedi painting for females among others. All of these can be availed as complimentary if anyone comes to have a buffet lunch or dinner at Hotel Sarina. The buffet will be enriched with traditional Bengali food. Additionally, people can buy traditional jamdani sari for their beloved ones from the Jamdani Sharee Stall at Hotel Sarina. The exclusive attraction of the event is the raffle draw; the lucky winner of which can enjoy Khulna-SundarbanKhulna trip for two people. For more details: +88 01982 700700. l

Karukar brings beautiful and attractive jewelry for upcoming Pohela Boishakh. In their Boishakhi collection they bring different kinds of traditional necklace sets, earrings, bangles, clutch bags, payals, finger rings, hand bags and show pieces. Karukar also presents collection of bronze, copper, oxidized, glass bits, wood jewelry sets, earrings, hand bangles and rings etc. Most of the products are hand made, and some imported. At affordable prices, the products are worth a look! l

Contact details

109, 211, Bailey Fiesta, 12 New Bailey Road For wholesale purchases: 208, 214, 215, 216 New Super Market (South), Block A (Ground Floor), Dhaka Phone: 01715151225 Web: www. karukar.com

T-JUNCTION 23

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Trending

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

The Pohela Boishakh look book

Kay Kraft Kombos

Colours ablaze for Pohela Boishakh Pohela Boishakh is not only significant as a cultural event in these parts of the world; the date kicks off the summer fashion season here in the desh. This year, two big name fashion houses have brought out their brightest colours to celebrate.

Cats Eye Casuals

Let's not forget the sari, the 6 yards of glory that women prefer the most on the Bengali New Year.

Kay Kraft has a great collection of saris that are just right for the occasion. Orange does seem to be the new black this year indeed.

The colourful details and piping on this orange kameez is what really makes it pop. The contrasting palazzo pants are the perfect accompaniment for this traditional, trendy outfit.

This Saffron hued tunic with minimal beading on the neckline perfectly highlights the plain white leggings. Get your beau an ensemble while you're out shopping at one of their many outlets. A simple white kurta with a red high collar, set off with buttons in an eye-catching scheme is sure to set him apart during the festivities.

If you find yourself wanting to just chill out on the big day in casual clothing, it doesn’t get any better than throwing on this easy, breezy, graphic number with black rope detailing. Don’t miss the opportunity to check out the amazing accessories while at Cats Eye.

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24 T-JUNCTION

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Tailored

infashion

The art of fragrance Here’s your own step by step buying guide to cologne

n Mahmood Hossain 1.

While it’s considered to have a second opinion on certain things, it’s best to head out alone when trying to search for your signature scent. Ultimately, your opinion matters most; what you find attractive in a scent is the important thing. It’s all about feeling comfortable.

2. It’s hotter out there now, and deodorant is vital if you don’t want to stink of the place. But be sure to skip on the deodorant or at least apply one that doesn’t have a strong scent. You want your nose absent from other overpowering smells. And please take a proper shower beforehand.

3. Here’s where the work begins. Whoever is behind the counter, ask him/her what is his or her favourite scent is. If they reach for the closest bottle, it means they’re pushing the brand a little too hard. Keep things moving. You want the employee to actually give some thought to this question. You’ll be able to tell, by their reason, whether or not the answer is genuine and thoughtful.

4. Just like at the barber shop, you and the person behind the counter have to

work together. Don’t let him/her charge you around or be pushy. Tell them what you want or don’t want. “I don’t want to smell too sweet,” or, “I’d like a fresh spring scent,” are some ways to get a proper reply. And if you’re completely lost, always ask to smell a few new fragrances for the new season.

5. You might have seen countless people spraying their desired scents on their skin to test them out. This, gentlemen, is not the way to do it. Legitimate perfume counters will always have a container of coffee and stacks of spray scent strips.

Wave the strip a few times and take a whiff.

6. Some employees will throw plenty of strips in front of you and it’s perfectly fine to say, “No.” You can turn down as many as you want, and it’s nothing against the person behind the counter, they are just doing their jobs. Remember, you want to keep testing until you’ve found the one.

7. It’s never about the labels. Don’t be a snob. It’s the same with your wardrobe.

Just because there’s a $2,000 Armani suit that looks good on a celeb, won’t necessarily look good on you. And a

$4,000 Prada suit is something you may not be able to afford, but their new Prada cologne is. Give it a shot.

8. However, it’s okay to be a little stuck up about a bottle’s design. There are, for lack of a better word, very risque designs out there that are better off on the counter than in your drawer.

9. Don’t rush the process of coming down to your final choice. After you’ve gone through the smelling process, take a short walk outside the store. Clear your head and nose, and make a second trip to the store and decide on what you

want.

10. The final step is about the final decision.

Think about which scent will stay with you throughout the day. More importantly, which scent you want to stay with you in your outings. l Cologne tips: It’s okay to have more than one scent in your drawers, just make sure they are being used on a regular basis and sprayed evenly. And the only way people should be able to smell your scent is if you’ve tip-toed around their personal space. A foot is the right amount of distance.

wardrobecheck

Kay Kraft’s Boishakh Style Sheet

The rich primary colour has always been an important part of our culture and the embroidery on printed red doesn’t fail to reflect the festivities at hand. The jaunty detailing is perfect if you want to party down in the Old Town. l

n Baizid Haque Joarder White and red may well be the traditional colours to don on Pohela Boishakh, but the age-old combination might only get you lost in a sea of white and red. Kay Kraft has decided to colour outside the lines and pull some more crayons out of their box as they introduce their festive line for the upcoming Bengali New Year.

Patterns of joy The bright patterns remind one of a trendy Christmas sweater but is summer-ready in cool cotton when teamed up with a light shade of yellow. Soothing to the eye, especially on a hot, sunny day.

Model: Raaz Mania Photos: Kay Kraft

Festive in red

Black and blue, or white and gold As controversial as The Dress may be on the web, the minimal gold embroidery on bright white, this panjabi would surely make you reek of elegance.

Cricketer Suresh Raina tied the nuptial knot on Friday night with childhood friend Priyanka Chaudhary in a private ceremony

Sport 26

RAIN LOOMS OVER FIRST EVER BCL ONE-DAYERS

27

STAYING AWAY FROM CRICKET WAS TORTURE: AJMAL

29

(L-R) Prime Bank South Zone cricketers Sohag Gazi, Al Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Tushar Imran laugh off an inside joke during practice in Mirpur yesterday

Who will fill the vacuum?

25

DT

NEW INNINGS

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

DJOKOVIC, MURRAY TO MEET AGAIN IN MIAMI FINAL

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Team sponsor, nomination for ICC chief likely to be decided in today’s board meeting

n Minhaz Uddin Khan Telecom giants Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink are likely to bid for the Bangladesh cricket team sponsorship effective for the home series against Pakistan starting on April 17. Earlier on Friday, Bangladesh Cricket Board revealed that it has terminated the contract with Aamby Valley, an affiliate of Sahara India Parivar, 15 months before it was scheduled to end.

In a board meeting today, BCB will be look-

ing forward to fill the vacuum of team sponsor while it is also likely that the board will nominate a name for the ICC president’s post which was left empty after former BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal resigned last week.

BCB chief Nazmul Hasan, who clearly denied any interest in taking up the “ceremonial” post for the remaining three months of the tenure, is yet to reveal a name but it can be assured that the candidate won’t be from the existing panel of board directors.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see

which of the three – Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink – will bag the sponsorship deal for the upcoming home series. Competitors in the telecom sector, all three leading companies have endorsed several national cricketers to promote their product for the past two-three years and after Bangladesh’s big success in the World Cup 2015, it is needless to say that they want to grab the opportunity with both hands.

Grameenphone, who had sponsored the Bangladesh team for eight years from 2004-

2012, will be keen to retain the opportunity and will also be alert so that they don’t fall behind like 2012 when Sahara had outbid Grameenphone. It bid approximately $9.4m, substantially more than the $3.4m from Grameenphone. Sahara had also won branding rights for the national team and the national academy, and title sponsorship and in-stadia sponsorship for 2012-13.

The BCB will also confirm dates of the felicitation programme for the national cricketers for their performance in the ICC World Cup 2015.l

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26 Sport

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Rain looms over first ever BCL one-dayers n Minhaz Uddin Khan The Bangladesh Cricket League one-dayers is all set to begin today. The Bangladesh Cricket Board introduced the tournament with four BCL franchises in order to facilitate the national side’s preparations for the forthcoming bilateral home series against Pakistan.

In the opener at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Prime Bank South Zone will lock horns with Islami Bank East Zone while BCB North Zone will encounter Walton Central Zone at Fatullah. Both the matches will begin at 1:30pm.

Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who will lead Prime Bank South Zone, believes the week-long tournament will provide the national cricketers valuable match-practice ahead of the Pakistan ODIs. “There is nothing better than match-practice. All the players will get to play at least three matches so I believe they will make the best use of it,” said Mashrafe at the pre-tournament media conference yesterday.

It has been widely assumed that the twoweek break leading upto the BCL one-dayers will do the cricketers more harm than good but Mashrafe thinks otherwise.

“I think the 10 or 12-day break gave the players sufficient recovery time. Actually, you have nothing else to do. The series against Pa-

(L-R) Captains of their respective BCL teams Mashrafe bin Mortaza, Nasir Hossain, Mominul Haque and Mahmudullah pose for a group photo DHAKA TRIBUNE kistan is only a couple of weeks away so the sooner we start preparing, the better,” said the 31-year old cricketer.

The Narail Express believes Bangladesh will be able to hold onto the brilliant form that they had exhibited in the 2015 ICC World

Cup and added that the BCL one-dayers will help the cricketers to overcome their glitches before meeting Pakistan in their first home series this year.

The Tigers gave a great account of themselves in the recently concluded World Cup

and despite initial concerns, the Bangladesh cricketers performed admirably in fast and batting-friendly wickets. When queried if the BCB should adopt a similar approach as far as preparing sporting wickets is concerned, Mashrafe said, “Yes, we should play more on sporting wickets as there is no doubt that it will help us in away matches. But, one also has to consider the home advantage. Our team, especially at home, rely on spin. Playing on sporting wickets is not a bad idea but before we introduce them in international series’ at home, I think we need to work more.”

Skippers of the other three BCL teams were also present in the presser yesterday.

Back-to-back World Cup centurion Mahmudullah will lead Walton Central Zone while BCB North Zone will be captained by middle-order batsman Nasir Hossain.

Left-handed batsman Mominul Haque will skipper Islami Bank East Zone.

Nasir will lead BCB North Zone in place of Bangladesh’s Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who asked to be rested from his captaincy duties while Mominul will only captain Islami Bank East Zone in their opening match.

Opener Tamim Iqbal will take over captaincy duties in the second match.

The only cricketer missing from the roster of the BCL one-dayers is ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan, who is currently in India to participate in the first two matches of the Indian Premier League’s eighth edition.l

BCB to reimburse PCB for canceled tours n Minhaz Uddin Khan Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan informed that the board will have to compensate Pakistan Cricket Board for postponing two Bangladesh tours to Pakistan in 2012. The BCB boss revealed this while talking to the media at his residence last Friday. The information came as a surprise to many following a three-month stalemate between the BCB and the PCB. The BCB though finally accepted the conditions put forward by the PCB.

ICC has a rule for teams that don’t tour a country after agreeing to it.

I asked them to let us know how much we are supposed to pay for that tour. It could be between $100,000 to $300,000.

Whether they use it for plane fare or not, is their concern. We will make the one-time payment for missing that tour Nazmul informed that they are looking to end the tension between the two boards and this can only be done by paying the dues to Pakistan for missing the two tours three years ago.

The BCB chief also said the amount could be between $100,000 and $300,000.

“We have no more conditions with them

[PCB] after this. They first demanded 50% revenue and then said this is their home series. I told them this is our home series. They kept repeating that we [Bangladesh] didn’t tour Pakistan. I replied that I don’t like listening to this in every meeting,” said Nazmul.

“ICC has a rule for teams that don’t tour a country after agreeing to it. I asked them to let us know how much we are supposed to pay for that tour. It could be between $100,000 to $300,000. Whether they use it for plane fare or not, is their concern. We will make the onetime payment for missing that tour,” Nazmul added.

BCB is yet to set the compensation amount with the PCB. The board’s CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury informed it will be done in the next few days.

“We agreed to pay the compensation and the amount will be decided in a day or two.

The upcoming series will be our home series and standard practice will be maintained for it,” said the BCB CEO last Friday.

It all began in January when Pakistan showed reluctance to tour Bangladesh this year. Following discussions, the PCB agreed to tour the country but demanded 50% of the tour revenue in addition to tours by the Under-19 and A teams. The two boards had made claims and counter-claims on whether the tour would be a home series for Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Following the PCB’s demands, the BCB president said the conditions were “not realistic” but later agreed to pay PCB the tour expenses. l

South Africa U-19 team staff (R) feels the Dhaka heat as he covers his face with a bandana while Wiaan Mulder bowls in the nets at BCB Academy ground yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

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Sport 27

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

2009: Reported and cleared

Back in 2009, before Ajmal had made his Test debut, he was reported during the Pakistan-Australia series in the Middle East. His doosras had come under the scanner and it took a month for him to be cleared.

2012: Inadvertent comments fuelling a storm

In 2012, he spun Pakistan to a memorable rout of England in the UAE. Ajmal claimed that the ICC had given him a special concession of 23.5 degrees. He claimed that the bend in his arm was caused due to an accident and that it is a deformity.

2014: Stuart Broad’s comments and the call in Sri Lanka

In the year 2014, Ajmal’s action came under some criticism from England all-rounder Stuart Broad. Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, had tweeted a photo of Ajmal bowling, to which Broad replied by saying, “This has to be a fake photo?! Bowlers can bowl very differently in a lab while being tested compared to needing wickets in the middle.” Ajmal cried foul and Broad was warned over his comments. After the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle, he was reported again by the officials.

September 9, 2014: Saeed Ajmal suspended by ICC

After evaluation of Ajmal’s bowling by the independent analysis constituted by the ICC it was deemed that all his deliveries exceeded the permitted 15 degrees limit and was suspended from international cricket. At the time of his suspension, Ajmal had topped the ICC ODI rankings.

‘Staying away from cricket was torture’

n AFP, Karachi

Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal yesterday said he was delighted his eight-month “torture” which saw him suspended for an illegal bowling action was finally over after being recalled to the national side.

The 37-year-old was named in the squad for all three formats of the game for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of Bangladesh, eight months after his action was reported as suspect in Sri Lanka.

“It was torture living without cricket,” Ajmal told AFP from his hometown Faisalabad via telephone.

“I have endured eight months of pain and it was the most difficult time of my life.”

Ajmal underwent remedial work on his action with the help of former Pakistan great Saqlain Mushtaq before being cleared following a reassessment test in February.

He was unable, however, to join the national team for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where Pakistan made it to the quarterfinals before being ousted by eventual champions Australia.

“I watched the World Cup on television and for 45 days I wanted to enter the television and play alongside my teammates and do my part,” he said. “I felt they were missing me as I was always effective in the batting power-plays when I used to pick up wickets and that was missing from our game.”

“I was in regular touch with skipper Mis-

bah-ul Haq and was always trying to pump him and the other players up through my good wishes, but it was tough to be away from the team,” said Ajmal.

Ajmal credited his family and friends for helping him through the ordeal, and voiced hope he would return to the form that made him the linchpin of the Pakistani bowling attack.

“I did my rehab and remedial work with the support of my family, friends and the Pakistan Cricket Board and now I am quite hopeful that I will be able to bowl as effectively as I used to before the suspension,” he said.“I see no problems with my remodelled action as I have done enough work on it.”

Before his suspension in August, Ajmal was ranked the number one bowler in the world in oneday cricket, and has 178 Test, 183 one-day and 85 Twenty20 wickets to his name.l

Navy, Army face off in Gold Cup hockey semis n Raihan Mahmood A star-studded Bangladesh Navy will take on Bangladesh Army in the first semi-final of the ATN Bangla Gold Cup National Hockey at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium at 1pm tomorrow.

The gold cup was provided by sponsors ATN Bangla and it consists of around 10 ounc-

Diver inaugurates Canary Wharf academy in Sylhet n Raihan Mahmood British football coach Garry Diver, who trains youngsters at Milwall Park, arrived in Sylhet yesterday to inspect the Canary Wharf UK Football Academy, Bangladesh.

The coach was accompanied by Zakir Khan, the head of community affairs, Canary Wharf UK. The local coordinator of the academy, Fazlur Rahman Babul, coaches Zahid Ahmed, Khaled Ahmad and Mohammed Sadek were also present as Diver demonstrated different skills to the trainees.l

es of gold. ATN Bangla has signed a five-year agreement to sponsor the tournament.

Navy will be led by national stars Russel Mahmud Jimmy, Mamunur Rahman Chayan and Krishna Kumar while Army have two national stars of their own – Sabbir Rana and Milon. Navy have stormed through to the last four courtesy several facile victories but Army, with their hard-working effort, will be

looking to end the Navy juggernaut.

In the second semi-final, traditional rivals Dhaka and Faridpur will face each other at the same venue tomorrow. The champions will receive a replica of the trophy and Tk50,000 while the runners-up side will pocket Tk30,000.

In a press conference held at the hockey stadium yesterday, acting Bangladesh Hockey Federation general secretary Kazi Moinuz-

zaman said the tournament will contribute towards the development of the sport. “With the sponsors assured for the next four seasons, we hope the tournament will produce new players,” said Moinuzzaman.

ATN Bangla adviser Nawajish Ali Khan, tournament secretary Zafrul Ahsan and federation executive committee member Abu Jafar Tapan were also present on the occasion.l

Guptill earns Test recall for New Zealand n Reuters Martin Guptill has been recalled to the New Zealand Test squad for the two-match tour of England after the top-order batsman finished top scorer at the recent 50-over cricket World Cup. Guptill, whose last Test was also in England two years ago, scored 547 runs in nine matches at the event co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia, earning him a place in the squad announced by selectors on Saturday.

Paceman Matt Henry is the only player in line to make his Test debut on the tour, the right-armer called up to replace injured all-rounder Jimmy Neesham after also impressing at the World Cup as a late replacement.l

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28 Sport

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Gladbach crush Hoffenheim to stay on European course n Reuters, Berlin

MAN UTD 3-1 VILLA Manchester United’s English striker Wayne Rooney (R) scores their second goal during the English Premier League match against Aston Villa at Old Trafford in Manchester, north-west England yesterday AFP

Borussia Moenchengladbach scored three times in 10 minutes to come from a goal down and demolish hosts Hoffenheim 4-1 on Saturday to tighten their hold on a Champions League spot.

Goals from Max Kruse, Patrick Herrmann and Raffael in a scintillating spell in the first half turned the game for Gladbach after Sven Schipplock put the hosts ahead in the 17th minute.

Wolfsburg are in second place, seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich, and have all but secured a top-four finish with seven matches left to play.

Bayer Leverkusen also took a big step towards a top-four finish, crushing relegation-threatened Hamburg SV 4-0 with two goals from Gonzalo Castro to stay in fourth on 48 points, nine ahead of Schalke 05, in fifth, who are in action at Augsburg on Sunday.

Former European champions Hamburg, who were defeated in interim coach Peter Knaebel’s debut, are now in 16th place on the relegation playoff spot. l

Arsenal, Man Utd keep up chase of leaders Chelsea EPL

Arsenal

n Reuters, London Arsenal thumped Liverpool 4-1 to close to within four points of Premier League leaders Chelsea and Manchester United also retained their slim title hopes by beating Aston Villa yesterday.

With Chelsea in action later against Stoke City, Arsenal applied a little pressure to Jose Mourinho’s side by sweeping away Liverpool before halftime at The Emirates where Hector Bellerin, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez were all on target.

Olivier Giroud sealed victory in the final minute after a Jordan Henderson penalty had raised the hopes of fifth-placed Liverpool,

SERIE A Roma

Quagliarella 20, Glik 39

1-3

Berardi 23-P

Lazio Klose 31, Biglia 60-P, Parolo 90+2

1-1

Udinese Thereau 68

3-3

Cesena Carbonero 70, Brienza 77, Succi 81

1-1

Parma Lila 44

1-2

Dybala 72-P

Sassuolo

West Ham

Man United

Kouyate 32

3-1

Herrera 43, 90+2, Rooney 79

Swansea

Benteke 80

3-1

Ki 18, Gomis 37, 90+1

West Brom Anichebe 58

Aston Villa

Hull McShane 50

1-4

QPR Vargas 15, Austin 37, Zamora 43, Barton 90+5

n AFP, Milan

Guarin 25

Palermo

2-1

Cambiasso 12, King 86

Torino

Toni 3, 62, Gomez 30

Inter Milan

Leicester

1-2

De Maio 19

Verona

Southampton

Klose on target as Lazio keep tabs on Roma

Mauricio 49-og

Genoa

1-0

Jagielka 16

Napoli

Pinilla 74

Cagliari

Everton

Liverpool

Henderson 76-P

1-0

Pjanic 25

Atalanta

who also had Emre Can sent off late in the game.

Ander Herrera scored twice and Wayne Rooney once with a spectacular strike as Manchester United moved above champions Manchester City into third place with a 3-1 home win over Aston Villa.Chelsea, who host Stoke City, have 67 points from 29 games with Arsenal on 63 and United 62, both from 31 matches. Liverpool are drifting away on 54 points.

It was a good day for teams striving to avoid relegation with bottom club Leicester City 2-1 home winners over West Ham United and QPR crushing West Bromwich Albion 4-1 for a rare away win. l

4-1

Bellerin 37, Ozil 40, Sanchez 45, Giroud 90+1

AC Milan Cerci 37, Menez 83

1-0

Chievo

Miroslav Klose opened the scoring as Lazio secured a precious 3-1 away win at Cagliari to keep the pressure on city rivals Roma on Saturday as they battle for Serie A’s second automatic Champions League qualifying spot.

Roma had earlier ended a four-month wait for victory at the Stadio Olimpico when Miralem Pjanic struck in the 25th minute to seal a 1-0 win for Rudi Garcia’s men over Napoli in the ‘Derby del Sole’.

The win closed the gap on leaders Juventus to 11 points but while it stretched their lead to four points over Lazio, Stefano Pioli’s men soon brought it back to a point with their seventh victory on the trot.

Lazio broke the deadlock on the half hour after some great work by Felipe Anderson allowed an unmarked Klose to tap in at the

back post.

Cagliari pulled level after the restart when Marco Sau fired a deflected half-volley over ‘keeper Federico Marchetti.

Keita Balde came off the bench for Lazio and his first touch earned a penalty, with Lucas Biglia stepping up to beat Zeljko Brkic.

Keita won another penalty when he was brought down by Modibo Diakite, who saw red for the foul, but this time Biglia ballooned over.

Marco Parolo made sure of the points with a piledriver of a free kick in extra-time that left Brkic rooted to the spot.

Elsewhere, AC Milan kept in the Europa League qualifying hunt with a precious 2-1 win at Palermo thanks to a fine late winner from French forward Jeremy Menez.

Paulo Dybala levelled Alessio Cerci’s scrappy opener, the Italian’s first goal for the club, from the spot but Menez ran half the length of the

park and held off several players before chipping Stefano Sorrentino in the 87th minute.

Milan remain eighth but are now six points off fifth-placed Napoli in the second and last league spot for the Europa League.

City rivals Inter Milan, meanwhile, remain winless after five games.

Coach Roberto Mancini and Inter were booed by an unhappy San Siro crowd following a disappointing 1-1 draw with crisis-hit Parma, who had Andi Lila to thank for levelling Fredy Guarin’s deflected 25th minute strike.

Inter sit in 10th place, three points behind Milan, with nine games remaining this season.

Cesena, meanwhile, boosted their bid to stave off relegation by securing a point in a stunning 3-3 draw at Verona after the hosts had raced to a three-goal lead. l

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SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

‘Van Persie not ready for Manchester derby’ n Reuters Manchester United forward Robin van Persie is unlikely to be fit for the Premier League derby match against Manchester City later this month, manager Louis van Gaal said on Friday.

The 31-year-old has missed the last five games with an ankle problem suffered in the 2-1 defeat at Swansea City on Feb. 21.

The Dutchman has already been ruled out of this Saturday’s league game at home to Aston Villa and asked if he would be fit to face City on April 12, Van Gaal said: “I don’t think so.

“The process has to give me signals he is ready for that but I know that from my experience it is not like that.”

Van Gaal earlier told MUTV that Van Persie was recovering along with left back Luke Shaw, who has been out with a hamstring injury. l

DAY’S WATCH Star Sports 2 11:00 AM Maybank Malaysia Open Badminton Finals 6:20 PM English Premier League Burnley v Tottenham Hotspur 8:50 PM Sunderland v Newcastle United 12:55 AM Spanish La Liga Celta de Vigo v FC Barcelona

Star Sports 4 3:55 PM Real Madrid CF v Granada CF 8:55 PM Valencia CF v Villarreal CF 11:00 PM ATP 1000 Masters Miami Open Final

Ten Action 1:00 PM A-League Wellington Phoenix v Melbourne Victory 6:00 PM French Ligue 1 Bordeaux v Lens 1:00 AM Olympique Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain

Ten HD French Ligue 1 Nantes v Caen

Neo Prime 4:30 PM Dutch League AZ Alkmaar v Feyenoord 7:30 PM Bundesliga FC Augsburg v FC Schalke 04 9:30 PM Hertha Berlin v SC Paderborn 07

Neo Sports 4:30 PM Dutch League FC Utrecht v AFC Ajax

PSG aim to strike blow in ‘Classique’ tie with rival Marseille n AFP, Paris

Andy Murray celebrates after his match against Tomas Berdych (not pictured) in their men’s singles semi-final of the Miami Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on Friday REUTERS

Djokovic and Murray to meet again in Miami final n Reuters, Miami World number one Novak Djokovic will face Britain’s Andy Murray in the final of the Miami Open for a third time on Sunday after the pair triumphed in their semi-finals.

The pair have one win each against each other at Miami but Djokovic will be looking for a repeat of his Australian Open win over the Scot and to improve his 17-8 career record against him.

Third seed Murray delivered a controlled and precise performance to beat Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4 while Djokovic faced greater resistance in the form of big-serving American John Isner but still won 7-6(3) 6-2.

The first set was on-serve throughout but the Serb emerged victorious from the tiebreak and never looked back.

The four-times Miami champion broke twice early in the second to open up a 4-1 lead and from then on the match was out of Isner’s reach.

The big-serving American was unable to create a single break point in the game but the 29-year-old, ranked 24th in the world, will be encouraged by his run to the last four.

“It is always tough to play someone who serves that well, at times it is frustrating,” said Djokovic.

Earlier, in bright sunlight and Floridian heat, Murray broke Berdych early in both sets and looked in charge throughout, winning 80 percent of first-serve points while registering four service breaks. Berdych made a break in each set himself but with Murray’s defence strong and the Scot making few errors, the Czech was unable to overtake him.

The Scot feels comfortable at Miami where he won in 2009 and 2013 and lost to Djokovic in the 2012 final.

Murray spends his off-season practice time on the stadium court at the Crandon Park Tennis Center and has clearly acclimatised to the heat and humidity.l

James back for Real, Messi fit for Celta trip n Reuters, Madrid James Rodriguez will return to Real Madrid’s starting lineup for Sunday’s La Liga game at home to Granada after being out for two months with a broken bone in his foot, coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Saturday.

LA LIGA FIXTURES Real Madrid Valencia Getafe Celta Vigo

v v v v

Granada Villarreal Deportivo Barcelona

The Colombia midfielder, who has had a fine debut season since joining from Monaco in July, sustained the injury in the league game against Sevilla in early February and will come back into the side in place of the

suspended Isco.

“James is fine and will start the match tomorrow,” Ancelotti told a news conference before adding that midfielder Sami Khedira and full back Dani Carvajal would be rested.

The return of James is a welcome boost for the European champions who have lost three of their last four matches in all competitions.

Meanwhile, Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is fit for Sunday’s trip to Celta Vigo in La Liga after a scare over a possible foot injury, coach Luis Enrique said on Saturday.

Messi, the top scorer in Spain’s top flight with 32 goals, did not feature in either of Argentina’s friendlies during the international break after sustaining a blow to his right foot which caused swelling and inflammation.

“He is perfectly fine, in perfect condition from what we have seen during training,” Luis Enrique told a news conference.l

Paris Saint-Germain can strike a major blow in the Ligue 1 title race by continuing their impressive recent record against Marseille when the bitter rivals meet at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday.

The defending champions have spent most of the season playing catch-up at the top but finally reached the summit after beating Lorient 3-1 in their last outing a fortnight ago, leading Lyon by one point and Marseille in third by two points.

Laurent Blanc’s side have dominated the fixture known as “Le Classique” in recent years, with their 2-0 win at the Parc des Princes in November their sixth in a row against OM.

LIGUE 1 Bordeaux Nantes Marseille

v Lens v Caen v PSG

Indeed, they have won seven and drawn one of the last eight match-ups since going down 3-0 at the Velodrome in November 2011, when Andre Ayew was among Marseille’s scorers.

Marseille have climbed right back into contention after taking seven points from a possible nine in March having previously gone four games without a win.

And Marcelo Bielsa’s side will look to make the most of having home advantage, with a record crowd of around 64,000 expected at the renovated Velodrome, where the atmosphere can be among the most raucous in Europe.

Marseille coach Bielsa has a decision to make in attack, where Andre-Pierre Gignac has been the first choice this season but Michy Batshuayi is the man in form.

Batshuayi came off the bench to score twice in the 4-0 win against Lens last time out and the Belgian, who made his full international debut last weekend, has scored six goals in his last five games. l

DT

30 DOWNTIME

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Circle of light (4) 5 Bird of prey (5) 8 Oozes out (6) 9 Give for temporary use (4) 10 Female swan (3) 12 Venerate Country (6) 15 Place of learning (6) 18 Tempt (6) 20 Golfing aid (3) 21 Capital of Peru (4) 23 Made level (6) 24 Stops (5) 25 Lairs (4)

DOWN 1 Assists (5) 2 Tool (3) 3 Fencing thrust (5) 4 Strange (3) 5 Perfume (7) 6 Stare openmouthed (4) 7 Sea eagle (4) 11 Therefore (4) 12 Saves (7) 14 Decline in power (4) 16 Sheeplike (5) 17 Burdens (5) 18 Eat into (4) 19 Small duck (4) 21 Was ahead (3) 22 Adults (3)

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 9 represents B so fill B every time the figure 9 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

A B C D E FG H I J K L M N O P Q RST UVWXYZ

SUDOKU

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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.

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

DT

SHOWTIME 31

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

Manoel de Oliveira dead at 106 nAbak Hussain Portuguese film director Manoel de Oliveira has died after a run lasting over 80 years. It is no surprise that the centenarian director was known more for his age than for his films, and mentions of him have almost always been prefaced “world’s oldest working director” in recent years.

Oliveira was born in 1908 in Porto, Portugal. The son and son-in-law of well-off businessmen, Oliveira took care of his family businesses as a day job. Film, always his passion, took a backseat. He debuted in 1931 with the documentary Labour on the Douro River. His first feature film was Aniki-Bobo, released in 1942. A couple of decades went by until he made his next legitimate feature film. It wasn’t until the nineties, when Oliveira was an octogenarian already, that he

CELEBS ON SOCIAL

really hit his stride.

With the repressive Salazar regime, and his mundane business operations out of the way, he was finally about to focus on film.

He averaged a film a year for the next two decades, in the most stunning display of late-blooming productivity ever seen in a film-maker.

The old master’s films are slow and contemplative, there is almost never a hurry to tell a story or to thrill audiences.

Because of his age, Oliveira had the luxury of making films without worrying about critical or commercial reception. The results, though not for every taste, are unique and fascinating.

Hugh Jackman @RealHughJackman I love this woman. #TheDebs @Deborra_lee

Ryan Seacrest @ RyanSeacrest was cracking up all morning w/ this guy @ FluffyGuy

Recommendations for the cinephile: Abraham’s Valley (1993), Belle Toujours (2006), The Strange Case of Angelica (2010) l

Tupac Biopic on hold

Azmi Shabana @AzmiShabana And D day is here!

PCJ presents Mijwan The Legacy by Manish Malhotra for the empowerment of the girlchild #Mijwan Welfare Society

WHAT TO WATCH TELEVISION

Star movies Fast and the Furious marathon!

A series of action films, comprising of illegal street racing, heists and nail-biting adventures. Enjoy the series so far all in a single day, before the latest release of Furious 7.

Main cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson and Lucas Black.

07:15AM The Fast and the Furious

nShowtime Desk Fans of rap legend Tupac Shakur will just have to wait a little longer for the long-anticipated biopic. The movie, which had been slated to begin production in June has now been put on hold. Director John Singleton, known for his projects Boyz N the Hood and Poetic Justice (which starred Shakur himself), has recently pressed the

pause button on his involvement in the film.

“You just want to get it right,” Singleton said in an interview with XXL Magazine, adding that he has casting choices in mind but would not disclose them. “So we’re not going to pull the trigger on that until it’s right,” he continued. “If somebody else wants to do something different then they can do something different. But if it’s going

to be right, it’s going to be right. It’s going to be something that potentially adorns ‘Pac’s legacy.”

While Singleton’s biopic project seems to be off the books for now, ‘Pac fans still have plenty to look forward to. The rapper’s estate has plans for releasing more previously unreleased songs by the deceased rap artist. l

09:21AM 2 Fast 2 Furious 11:35AM The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift 01:40PM Fast & Furious 03:46PM Fast Five 06:23PM Fast and Furious 6

DT

32 BACK PAGE

SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 2015

SELF-EMPLOYED RANA PLAZA SURVIVORS IN FUND CRISIS PAGE 15

BANK RATE RULES DELAYED PAGE 16

WHO WILL FILL THE VACUUM? PAGE 25

Nor’wester kills 11 across the country n Tribune Report At least 11 people were killed and many injured as nor’wester lashed several districts across the country yesterday evening.

Of the dead, five people were killed in Bogra, four in Rajshahi, one in Pabna and one in Naogaon, report our correspondents.

In Bogra, five people, including a child and two women, were killed and many others injured as a nor’wester swept through the district.

Four of the deceased were identified as Sujan, 30, a tea seller in profession, hailing from Hatfulbari in Sariakandi upazila, Sanna Miah, 32, Rabeya Khatun, 60, of Shahjahanpur, and Hasiran, 36, of Baubazar in the district town. The child, aged around eight, could not be identified.

In Rajshahi four people were killed and 10 others injured as a nor’wester lashed several upazilas.

The deceased were identified as Jahanara Begum, 60, of Pakuria village in Bagha upazila, and Emajuddin, 47, of Kishorepur upazila in the same upazila, and Monwara Begum, 65, of Char Asariadah village in Godagari upazila.

Witnesses said Jahanara died on the spot as a wall of earthen house collapsed on her at Pakuria village as the storm swept the village in the evening.

On the other hand, the storm lashed several villages of Godagari upazila and damaged several houses, leaving Monwara dead on the spot and several people injured.

Besides, Emajuddin went to the shore of Padma river when the nor’ wester also lashed Kishorepur village at the same time.

A mudslide of the river collapsed on him as he tried to recover his boat during the storm, leaving him dead on the spot.

Vehicles and pedestrians make their ways through the storm that swept over the capital and many other parts of the country yesterday, accompanied by thunder, hail and gusty wind. The photo was taken from Panthapath, Dhaka RAJIB DHAR The storm destroyed over 50 houses, and uprooted a number of trees, local people said.

Of the injured, 10 people were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

In Naogaon, a woman died in wall collapse.

The deceased is identified as Shahnaj Pervin, 35, wife of Bazlur Rahman hailed from Manda Mohanagar village.

In Pabna, a shopkeeper died at Chadmari area of district town. The deceased is identified as Jamuddin Baksh.

In Dhaka, many areas in the capital plunged into darkness as the power supply and distribution system was heavily disrupted due to a nor’wester that lashed many parts of the city.

Two rickshaw-pullers suffered injuries as at least three billboards collapsed at Shahbagh during the storm.

A youth was injured as a tin sheet fell on him amid the storm in Nilkhet.

At Dholaipar, some bricks fell on CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver Abul Hossain, 50, during the storm, leaving him injured. l

Dilemma on making next budget bigger than Tk3tn n Asif Showkat Kallol The government is reportedly in a dilemma about making the next fiscal year’s budget larger than Tk3 trillion, as there are concerns that there might be a shortfall of revenue, a source inside the Finance Division has said.

The government is yet to calculate the financial toll of the recent hartals and blockade by the BNP-led 20-party alliance or assess the damage the political programmes had caused to the country’s reputation among global investors. The extent of losses may have a lingering negative impact on next fiscal year’s budget deficit, the source said.

Seeking anonymity, an official of the Finance Division said the next budget may exceed the Tk3 trillion mark – more than the initial estimate of Tk2.91 trillion – if the Annual Development Programme (ADP) is raised above Tk900 billion from the existing revised Tk750 billion.

The expected GDP growth rate for the next fiscal year is 6.6%, he said. It would be a big

challenge to achieve the targets for revenue and garment export for the next budget, as well as upholding the country’s positive image to foreign lenders, the official said.

He added that Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has recommended using the money that has been lying idle in banks to meet the budget deficit for the next fiscal year, even if the deficit reached the 10% mark against GDP. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had earlier set conditions for the next budget that included limiting the budget deficit within 5% of the total GDP and also limiting the country’s debt limit; but the bargaining value of those IMF conditions has reportedly lost its weight as the global lender’s Extended Credit Facility programme was nearing its end.

According to the Finance Division, the government’s payment of interest for the next fiscal year will also increase to Tk360bn from the current fiscal year’s Tk310bn; during the first seven months of the ongoing fiscal year, payment for interest of saving instruments

amounted to Tk180bn.

A meeting of the Fiscal Coordination Council and the Finance Ministry’s budget management committee – chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith – is scheduled to be held on Sunday to discuss details about the next fiscal year’s budget outlay and GDP, inflation, private credit growth and borrowing from banking system.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Finance MA Mannan told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that the recent incidents of arson attacks would not have any negative impact on foreign assistance for the next budget.

Foreign investment and assistance will continue to pour in as the country has been maintaining a moderate growth rate of above 6% for the last couple of years, the state minister expressed hopes.

Mannan said the country’s revenue growth rate was still normal despite hartals and blockade, adding that there should be no problem to overcome the budget deficit for next fiscal year if the situation continues to stay normal.

Recently, the Planning Ministry trimmed down the country’s economic growth target to 6.6% for the next fiscal year from an estimated 8.3%, considering the volatile political situation.

Finance Division’s existing plan for the 2015-16 fiscal year budget projects a record spending of Tk2.91 trillion, up 16.4% from the 2014-15 budget.

However, the government revenues are projected to drop to $1.25 trillion from Tk1.49 trillion this fiscal year – leaving more than Tk650 billion in deficit. The next fiscal year’s revenue earnings are estimated to be Tk1.76 trillion crore.

The country’s political turmoil-affected sectors like BGMEA and BTMEA also seek financial assistance from the next fiscal year budget.

Besides, the Finance Division is supposed to set aside Tk1,300 crore to implement the national payscale for the government staff from July 1 this year, according to the Finance Division Finance Minister AMA Muhith is likely to place his budget in parliament on June 4 this year. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com