May 14, 2015

SECOND EDITION

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

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Boishakh 31, 1422, Rajab 24, 1436

LAWMEN BLAMED FOR BLOGGERS’ MURDER PAGE 3

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 31

3 BAF OFFICIALS INJURED IN COPTER CRASH PAGE 5

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

45 DAYS OF TORTURE, STARVATION AT SEA PAGE 32

Double murder over business dispute n Kamrul Hasan The woman and her uncle-in-law, who were brutally hacked to death in Dhaka’s Mirpur yesterday, might have been victims of dispute over business partnership.

However, the police said men from the gang of top-listed criminals Bikash and Prakash, might also have reasons to kill them in connection with an un-entertained extortion demand.

Around 2pm yesterday, two unidentified men entered the Pallabi house of Sweety Khatun, 24, a businesswoman, and hacked her and her husband’s maternal uncle Aminul Islam, 44, to death.

According to Abdul Khaleq, security guard of the seven-storey building in the extended residential area in Mirpur’s Pallabi, two young men of 25-30 years came on a motorbike around 1:30pm and started climbing the stairs.

When Khaleq asked them who they were, the young men replied that they were relatives of Sweety, who lived on the fifth floor with her husband Jahidul Islam.

Uncle Aminul, partially paralysed, had

A team of Criminal Investigation Department collects evidence at the Pallabi residence of Sweety Khatun – seen with her son in a family photo on left – where she and her uncle-in-law Aminul Islam were brutally hacked to death by unidentified criminals yesterday afternoon DHAKA TRIBUNE come to visit their place a few days ago, said Jahidul’s brother Jewel, who introduced himself as a local leader of ruling Awami League’s student front Chhatra League.

Around 2:10pm, the two young men came down in a hurry and quickly went away on their motorbike, Khaleq said.

Sweety’s husband Jahidul, a deputy as-

sistant engineer of Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco), came back home for lunch around 2:50pm. Sweety was the chairman  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Pay hike review body leaves Proposed electricity law keeps out timescale, selection grade export, import provisions n Tribune Report The secretarial committee reviewing pay hike proposals for government employees has not included provisions such as timescale and selection grade in its recommendations.

This was revealed by Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday when he was talking to reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.

He said that no decision on the recommendations of the review committee can be made before June 4 because everyone will be busy with the placing of the budget in parliament for the upcoming fiscal.

In December last year, the National Pay and Services Commission (NPSC) recommended that the lowest pay for public servants should be Tk8,200 and the highest Tk1 lakh.

But the review committee, who, according to the minister, has already submitted its report, said the lowest grade should be Tk8,250 and the highest Tk90,000. Muhith however yesterday said that he had still not got the  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

PAGE 3 Sweden slammed for denying visa to murdered blogger

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

GRADEWISE BASIC PAY RECOMMENDATIONS Review Committee Basic Pay (out of 20 grades) BDT

Pay Commission Basic Pay (out of 16 grades) BDT

Cabinet Secretary

90,000

1,00,000

Senior Secretary

84,000

88,000

Secretary

78,000

84,000

75,000

80,000

Grade

Special Grade

Regular Grade 1st 2nd, 3rd, 4th 6th

N/A

N/A

36,000

37,000

7th

N/A

N/A

8th

22,000

25,000

9th

15,000

17,000

10th – 18th

N/A

N/A

19th

8,500

8,200

20th

8,250

8,200

PAGE 4 Khaleda for political coexistence

The government is going to enact Electricity Act 2015 with a provision of exporting power.

It will replace the 105-year-old Electricity Act 1910 also to incorporate a provision of import of electricity. Both the import and export would be conducted by using the country’s transmission system now being upgraded.

The new law, however, does not clarify how many days the authorities would take to provide electricity connection to consumers after submission of applications.

Considering the sensitivity, essential and public security, the law will remain beyond the jurisdiction of the Labour Act 2006.

The final draft of the proposed law has been forwarded to all ministries for their opinion, Power Division Joint Secretary Mohammad Alauddin told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

It was also uploaded on the Power Division website to garner opinions from stakeholders.

The proposed law is expected to be placed before the cabinet in two months

PAGE 5 Wife: Salahuddin’s return not possble without govt help

for approval, before going to parliament.

The Power Ministry will hold a meeting soon before placing it at an inter-ministerial meeting, the joint secretary said.

“The country is not capable of exporting electricity. The export option [in the proposed law] is highly ambitious,” said Professor Samsul Alam, adviser to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh.

“Consumers’ rights have been ignored in the draft as there is no clause for giving connection. I think this law is a mockery of the consumers’ rights,” he said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is in charge of the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, has directed the officials on several occasions to take measures so the power sector would be kept out of the purview of labour law, an official of Power Division said.

Under the law, the government will form an independent system operator to operate a unified power system across the country.

The law would keep an option of using

PAGE 9 EU for taking 20K migrants, UK opposes

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

PAGE 32 Bangladeshi migrants adrift at sea for 36hrs

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THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Bangla Tribune steps into second year n Tribune Report Bangla Tribune, one of the leading online news portals of the country, celebrated its first anniversary yesterday.

Guests arrived at an elaborate star-studded gala event in the capital’s Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, where a mobile app for the Bangla Tribune was also launched.

The guests included Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu, DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq, DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokon, Bangla Tribune Publisher Dr Kazi Anis Ahmed, Bangla Tribune Board of Directors member Kazi Inam Ahmed, the news portal’s Executive Editor Zulfiqer Russel and Dhaka Tribune Editor Zafar Sobhan.

Addressing the event, the information minister said the country was now moving forward by getting rid of its wasteful past.

Lawmaker Kazi Nabil Ahmed, also a member of the Bangla Tribune Board of Directors, congratulated the online news portal for being able to maintain its own identity and stand out from the many other news portals that exist in the country. l

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Dhaka North Mayor Annisul Huq, Bangla Tribune Publisher Kazi Anis Ahmed, and lawmaker Kazi Nabil Ahmed cut a cake to celebrate the first anniversary of online news portal Bangla Tribune at the capital’s Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel yesterday NASHIRUL ISLAM

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Pay hike review body leaves out timescale, selection grade time to have a close look at the review committee’s report.

The minister also said that the government wanted to reduce the number of pay grades to 16 from the 20 grades recommended by the NPSC. “But we have decided to keep it at 20 because the matter is complicated.”

Asked whether the pay hike for public servants will put inflationary pressure on the economy, the minister replied in the negative.

“No, no. I do not agree with the statement.

There was no commodity inflation when the last

pay scale was implemented in 2009,” he said.

According to sources, the government is mostly likely to allocated Tk15,000 crore in the upcoming FY2015-16 budget to finance pay hikes for public servants. This amount will be spent only to pay the salaries of the government employees. But there is still no word on whether the government will make additional allocations in the budget for covering the NPSC’s allowance hike recommendations.

The secretarial review committee was asked to find out whether it would be possible

to implement the new pay scale on July 1.

However, Finance Minister Muhith yesterday said that the new pay scale is likely to be implemented in two phases and the announcement in this regard might come sometime between June and August.

Pohela Boishakh bonus

The review committee has recommended a bonus on the occasion of the Pohela Boishakh, the Bangla New Year.

Just like what is given before religious festi-

vals such as the two Eids and Durga Puja, if this recommendation is implemented, the government employees will get half of their basis salary as bonus during this secular cultural festival.

Apart from this, the other eight allowances proposed by the pay commission have been kept the same by the review committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan. The review committee has also recommended scrapping the existing provision for allowing army personnel to come and work on deputation in public offices. l

Proposed electricity law keeps export, import provisions waste heat recovery and co-generation system.

In the waste heat system, heat emission from any factory could be used as electricity by following systems of recycling. In co-generation system two or more energies, including power, can be generated together.

The law will also allow introducing smart

grid system and smart meter. According to the proposed law, the government, to establish an open market, will create power market and single buyer system.

The government will also be allowed to take project under public private partnership initiative to encourage investment in the power sector. A national electricity policy

would also be introduced under the law.

To stop stealing electricity, the law will have a provision of awarding three years of imprisonment or highest Tk50,000 fine or both if anyone steals the highest 10KW of electricity.

Above 10KW, the punishment will be five years of imprisonment and a fine of Tk1,00,000.

The international lending agencies like

the World Bank suggests decentralisation, popularly known as unbundling of the power sector, which drew severe criticism from a section of experts, saying that it was a part of privatisation of the sector.

The government in 2013 took the initiative to enact the new law, aiming to remove anomalies in generation, transmission and distribution. l

report comes tomorrow [today] to know exactly how they were killed,” the SI said.

Relatives said that after autopsy, the deceased will be buried at their village home in Gandail village under Kazipur upazila in Sirajganj.

some kind of a business partnership dispute with Shahin.

Moreover, one and a half months ago, Jahidul filed a general diary with the Pallabi police station saying some people had demanded Tk3 lakh as extortion from their family, DC Arif said.

Jahidul earlier told reporters that Shahin had a quarrel with Sweety and Jahidul a few days ago over business matters. They had a meeting on Tuesday but that never happened because of some reasons.

He also said that in the last week of March, a man named Zishan who introduced himself as an associated of top criminals Prakash and Bikash, called them up and demanded Tk3 lakh as extortion. However, they never called up after the GD was filed. l

Double murder over business dispute of an electrical appliances supply business named Independent Power Limited.

“I rang the doorbell as usual but nobody answered. So, I opened the door with my spare key, stepped in and found that my wife and uncle were lying dead in a pool of blood,” Jahidul told reporters.

“I found my five-year-old son Saad locked from the outside in one of the bathrooms of our flat. He had an injury mark on his right eyebrow,” he said.

Police said Sweety’s body was found on the bed in the master bedroom and Aminul’s body on the floor in the adjacent guest room.

They found the two rooms turned upside down and a lot of blood on the floor of the guest room.

Their neigbour Jahangir Alam, who lived

on the floor above, told the Dhaka Tribune that he only came to know that something had gone wrong after Jahidul raised a hue and cry. By the time he went downstairs, many people had already gathered at crime scene.

He also informed that Jahidul had bought the flat for Tk48 lakh a little over a year ago and started living there.

Kamal Hossain, a sub-inspector of the Pallabi police station who took the bodies to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told our correspondent that Sweety’s body had just one stab mark and Aminul’s body had as many as seven.

He also said that the killers might have suffocated Sweety by pressing a pillow over her face.

“But we will have to wait until the autopsy

Motives

Police yesterday detained a man named Shahin from the Pallabi area hours after the murders.

Nisarul Arif, deputy commissioner of police’s Pallabi Zone, told reporters in a briefing at the crime scene that Shahin is a partner at Independent Power Limited.

The DC said there could be family and business disputes behind the murders. Quoting Jahidul, he said Sweety might have had

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THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Lawmen blamed for secular activists’ murder n Mohammad Jamil Khan Failure of the law enforcers in arresting suspected accused, delay in investigation and lengthy trial procedure to punish the religious extremists are behind the repeated murders of advocates of secularism, allege experts and activists.

They blame the law enforcement agencies for negligence while some think that religious fanatics have their own men in the security forces and the government’s crucial positions.

Otherwise, they think, the government could be able to uproot militancy and the murders would not have taken place.

“It seems that the killings have been taking place as the criminals see they can evade arrest and punishment. Moreover, no specialised system has been adopted by the government to track and arrest the militants,” Prof Shah Ehsan Habib of criminology department of Dhaka University told the Dhaka Tribune.

“Failure of the law enforcers in taking prompt and effective steps after every incident and the pending trials in previous cases work as inspiration for the criminals.”

He thinks if the law enforcers act responsibly and the government executes sentences against the militants, such killings will come down in the future.

“Since the killers belong to some radical Islamist groups, it is a political fight for the government,” Prof Habib added.

Yesterday, family of the latest victim, Ananta Bijoy Das, filed a case against four unnamed persons over the murder that took place at Subidbazar of Sylhet on Tuesday. The law enforcers are in the dark about the killers and their affiliation.

Three other secular activists were killed recently – Rajshahi University teacher Prof AKM Shafiul Islam, science writer Avijit Roy and activist Oyasiqur Rahman Babu – in the hands of radical groups.

But the Detective Branch of police and US investigating agency FBI could not make any breakthrough as yet.

Detectives suspect that members of militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team were behind the killings. Recently emerged group Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)

Gonojagoron Moncho brought out a torch procession at Shahbagh in Dhaka last evening protesting the murder of blogger and science writer Ananta Bijoy Das and demanding punishment to the killers DHAKA TRIBUNE has claimed responsibility for the four killings.

According to media reports, the five banned extremist groups including JMB and Hizb ut-Tahrir have revived their activities recently whereas the law enforcers have traced a number of new outfits. It is also learnt that the major groups have been working together since late last year aiming at establishing Shariah law in the country.

The Awami League-led government in 2011 reinstated secularism in the constitution.

However, it recognises Islam as the state religion and allows religion-based politics.

“The law enforcers always say ‘investigation is under way’ only to hide their failure in unearthing the mystery behind the militant acts,” Imran H Sarker, spokesperson of Gonojagoron Moncho, said.

Some people within the government are working as insiders for the militants. “Other-

wise, the extremists could not kill the secular bloggers one by one,” he claimed.

DB Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam hopes that they will be able to bring the killers to book soon. “We are performing our duties properly. We are monitoring activities of the criminals.”

He claimed that the recent killings were committed by members of Ansarullah Bangla Team under the supervision of its operations wing leader Redwanul Azad Rana. “He may have fled the country. But we are working to trace him.”

Asked about providing security to the other secular activists, he said: “Police are responsible for ensuring security of all the people and we are doing it professionally.”

State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday termed the killing of Bijoy a stray incident. He also hinted that it might be an act of Ansarullah members.

Police recently submitted a proposal to the Home Ministry to form a specialised unit under the force to combat militancy. Elite force Rapid Action Battalion too work on militancy.

A high-power government task force, having representatives from different ministries, security forces and related institutions, is also working to uproot militancy from the country.

Nur Khan, director of investigation at human rights watchdog Ain O Salish Kendra, thinks that delay in investigation, lengthy trial procedure and not bringing up the whole picture of the incidents are causing recurrence of attacks on bloggers.

Apart from conducting the investigations properly, the law enforcers also need to create awareness among the commoners who fall prey to the religious fanatics easily. “The law enforcers cannot stop their activities along.

They need the support of the people.” l

Sweden slammed for denying Police: Attack on protesters visa to murdered blogger was unwanted n AFP

A free speech group launched a blistering attack on Sweden yesterday for denying a visa to Bangladeshi blogger Ananta Bijoy Das who was hacked to death by suspected Islamists.

Swedish PEN, which defends freedom of expression, slammed the refusal as “horrific” and said it would demand an explanation from the authorities.

“We want to know where the directive came from,” Swedish PEN official Elnaz Baghlanian told AFP. A masked gang wielding machetes hacked Ananta, 33, to death Tuesday in broad daylight in Sylhet.

Bangladeshi police would not comment on the motive for the killing, but fellow writers said he had been on a hitlist drawn up by militants.

Swedish PEN had invited Ananta to Stockholm to speak on May 3, the World Press Freedom Day, about the deteriorating situation in Bangladesh for journalists and writers.

But the Swedish Embassy in Dhaka refused him a travel visa, according to PEN. “You belong to a category of applicants where there is always a risk involved when granting a visa that you will not leave Schengen area ... Furthermore, the purpose of your trip is not urgent enough to grant you visa,” read an excerpt of his rejection letter from the Swedish Embassy in Dhaka.

“It’s horrific that the embassy is more concerned that he will stay in the country than that he will be murdered,” Baghlanian said.

“He would have been alive if he had been here, he was supposed to be here for two weeks,” she said. l

n Mohammad Jamil Khan The probe bodies formed over Sunday’s police attack on Bangladesh Chhatra Union activists and Dhaka University students, started investigating the incident yesterday.

“We have already visited the spot and issued notices to a number of police officers to talk to them about the incident,” Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, chief of an investigation committee, said.

The deputy inspector general (operation) of the Police Headquarters also said: “We are still in the primary stage of the investigation and should not say anything more right now.”

Two probe committees, one by the DMP Headquarters and the other by Police Headquarters, were formed after Sunday’s incident.

Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DMP, termed the police action unwanted. “Sometimes, some police officials do not act professionally. Whenever such incidents happen, we warn others by ensuring punishment to those responsible.”

At least 34 youths were injured in police action when the students, mostly affiliated with Chhatra Union, tried to lay siege to the DMP Headquarters Sunday noon. They were protesting the police’s inaction in investigating the incidents of sexual assaults of women and children during the Pohela Boishakh celebrations on Dhaka University campus.

Police chief AKM Shahidul Hoque said they would take stern action if anyone was found to have done anything excess during Sunday’s demonstrations. l

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THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Khaleda for political coexistence JU students blockade VC n office, demand punishment of sexual assaulters Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Khaleda Zia yesterday said the ruling party men were now rejoicing over the fact that it had been able to suppress BNP’s anti-government campaign.

Awami League leaders are relishing each and every move of the government – repression, filing cases and ruthless oppression of BNP men.

“None could draw any benefit by shunning democratic political process earlier. I am urging the ruling party to take lesson from the history,” she said. She asked the Awami League to return to the ambience of political coexistence and fair competitiveness.

Issuing a press release signed by her Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan, Khaleda demanded immediate release of BNP senior leaders as most of them are indisposed in jail.

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee members Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin

Chowdhury and Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi are now languishing in jails.

Just because of political vengeance and to repress the opposition the Awami League has detained many leaders for a long time in cases filed by ACC which is subservient to the government, she alleged.

Many of those leaders, aged and ailing, are being tortured both physical and mentally in the name of remand.

Khaleda alleged that BNP leader Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu died due to lack of proper treatment, Mirza Fakhrul was sent back to jail without proper treatment and Khandakar Mosharraf was also denied treatment.

“We along with their family members are concerned about their health.”

Khaleda demanded withdrawal of all false and politically motived cases filed against opposition leaders and activists. She also alleged that detained leaders and activists were also denied bail and treatment abroad. l

German envoy meets foreign minister n Tribune Report

The first time after taking over, new German envoy in Dhaka Thomas Prinz met Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali at the latter’s ministry office on Tuesday. The ambassador also met junior foreign minister Md Shahriar Alam.

Minister Mahmood Ali and German Ambassador Prinz emphasised the long history of friendship between the two countries.

“Germany has been among the first countries to recognise Bangladesh’s independence after 1971. Since then, our two countries have had close political and economic relations. Given that Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali has served as Ambassador in Germany, I am particularly looking forward to further strengthening our bond,” Ambassador Prinz announced after the meeting.

Ambassador Prinz also emphasised that both western buyers and local producers have a responsibility to work towards achieving ambitious business goals. l

Reproductive health knowledge platform launches today at BracU n Tribune Report

The Centre for Gender, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (CGSRHR) of James P Grant School of Public Health at Brac University will launch the first comprehensive knowledge platform on sexual reproductive health and rights - Share-Net Bangladesh – today.

It will be launched in partnership with RedOrange Media and Communications at Brac Centre auditorium at 9:30am, said a press release.

Martine van Hoogstraten, deputy head of mission and head of development cooperation at the embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, will be the guest of honour at the event.

Barrister Sara Hossain, director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, will also attend as the special guest. l

Nirmul Committee condemns blogger Ananta’s murder n Tribune Report

Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee has strongly condemned the brutal murder of secular blogger Ananta Bijoy Das. In a statement, the organisation said this last killing is nothing but a continuation of the process that started with the murder of Prof Humayun Azad in 2004. The committee said the country would not have had to see the subsequent murders of free thinkers if the previous militant acts had not gone unpunished. l

n JU Correspondent The students of Jahangirnagar University yesterday blockaded the Vice Chancellor’s office demanding immediate punishment of those who sexually assaulted an indigenous female student on the night of Pohela Boishakh (April 14).

Sources said the agitating students organised the blockade around 11am under the banner of “Nipironer Biruddhe Jahangirnagar” while JU VC Prof Farzana Islam and other administrative personnel were cordoned off at their office.

The students however withdrew the blockade after VC Farzana Islam met them around 12pm and assured of finishing the probe on the upcoming syndicate meeting of the uni-

versity on May 23.

JU VC said the authorities were working on the matter and necessary action would be taken following the probe report.

On Tuesday night, the students under the same banner brought out a torch procession demanding the punishment of the assaulters, sources said.

Some five JU unit Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders and activists sexually assaulted a botany department female indigenous student and snatched her money and valuables.

The authorities have already suspended the five accused BCL leaders and activists while JU unit BCL also expelled the accused temporarily. l

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THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Wife: Salahuddin’s return not possible without govt’s cooperation n Tribune Report BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed’s wife Hasina Ahmed has sought government’s help in bringing her husband back from India where he was found on Monday, two months after going missing from Dhaka.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Home Affairs Asauduzzaman Khan has claimed that the resurfacing of Salahuddin has proved that nobody had kidnapped him and he had been hiding in India.

“Nothing is possible without the government’s cooperation. We submitted visa application this morning. Our folks are maintaining regular contact with the Indian High Commission. I will start for Shillong soon after getting visa,” Hasina Ahmed said in a press briefing at her Gulshan residence yesterday.

On Tuesday afternoon, she announced at a press conference that her husband had telephoned her in the morning from a hospital in Shillong in the Indian state of Meghalaya.

Salahuddin, a former state minister of a BNP government, went missing from Dhaka on March 10. His family had since been alleging that he had been abducted by lawmen, who have always denied the claim. When the BNP leader went missing, he was acting as the spokesperson of the party from underground.

Asked whether she had talked to her husband yesterday, Hasina Ahmed, a former lawmaker herself, said that she could not because Salahuddin is now staying at a different hospital.

Local police in Shillong took the BNP leader to a mental hospital because he was acting weirdly when they had found him on Monday morning in the city. Later, he was transferred to a civil hospital as she showed signs of improvement.

However, Asaduzzaman Ripon, BNP’s current spokesperson, told reporters at a briefing at their Nayapaltan office that the party would not say anything in this regard because Salahuddin’s wife had been talking to media.

The BNP has also been alleging since the

beginning that law enforcers in plainclothes had picked up Salahuddin. The BNP leader yesterday also told Indian media that he was kidnapped by people he did not know and had no idea how he ended up in Shillong, an Indian hill station on the Bangladesh border.

Junior home minister Kamal yesterday said at a programme in Dhaka that Kamal had been changing his location continuously over the last few months.

“We are yet to get any formal documents.

So far we have got only word-of-mouth information. Once our Foreign Ministry gets documents, we will start the process of bringing him back... There are also legal issues with the Indian government,” Kamal said.

Meanwhile, ruling Awami League’s advisory council member Suranjit Sengupta said in a programme in Dhaka yesterday: “BNP chief Khaleda Zia wanted to carry out large-scale firebomb attacks using the issue of Salahuddin’s disappearance when it was she herself who sent her into hiding.” l

Rajshahi aircraft crash victim dies n Our correspondent, Rajshahi Lt Col (retd) Shahed Kamal, 50, trainer of the Bangladesh Flying Academy and General Aviation Limited aircraft that crashed on the runway of Shah Makhdum Airport in Rajshahi on April 1, died yesterday at a Singapore hospital.

He sustained 80% burns as the aircraft, a Cessna D152, caught fire after the crash, which killed trainee pilot Tamanna Rahman, 22.

Shahed had been undergoing treatment at Singapore General Hospital for three weeks.

He was referred to the hospital but he died about 1:40am, his friend Rejwan said.

The accident was caused by some technical faults in the Cessna killing Tamanna in the cockpit, but Shahed managed to survive.

The airport authorities rushed him to the Combined Military Hospital in Rajshahi, but then he was moved to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka via air ambulance on the same day.

Later, he was referred to Singapore General Hospital. A Narail native, Shahed was a trainer at the flying academy, a government-run training institution, for a long time. l

Three BAF officials injured in copter crash at Ctg airport n Tarek Mahmud, Chittagong

At least three officials of Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) were injured when an air force helicopter crash-landed and caught fire at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong yesterday morning.

The helicopter, which was being used for training, crash-landed near a runway around 11am and caught fire immediately, said Mohammad Quamruzzaman, assistant commissioner (immigration) at Chittagong Metropolitan Police who was stationed at the airport.

“On information, all kinds of flight operations were halted and the air force’s fire brigade rushed to the spot and doused the fire,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.

Chittagong airport Manager Wing Commander Nur-E-Alam said the flight operations were halted for an hour following the accident, resuming around 12:15pm.

The injured officials were identified as Squadron Leader Shafayet, Pilot Officer Fuad and Flight Engineer Sergeant Ferdous, said a press release issued by the Inter Service Public Relation Directorate.

Quamruzzaman said the victims were rushed to a hospital at the nearby Bangladesh Navy base.

An Air Force official trying to keep bystanders away from the site where a training helicopter crashlanded and caught fire at Chittagong airport yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE Among the injured, Shafayet and Ferdous, who were the helicopter trainers, were critically injured; Shafayet sustained 70% burn injuries, said a BAF high official seeking anonymity.

They were later transferred to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka for better treatment, sources at the BAF Zahurul Haq base told the Dhaka Tribune.

But Fuad received only minor injuries as he managed to get out of the aircraft before it caught fire, according to witnesses. The other two had to be rescued by the fire fighters.

Fuad is currently under treatment at the navy hospital and is out of risk.

Sources at the BAF base said the pilot noticed some technical faults in the helicopter, a Russian-made MI-17 Hip multi-purpose helicopter, right after taking off around 10:35am and informed the control room immediately.

After flying for 40 minutes, the pilot lost control of the aircraft and contacted the control room right away. The airport authorities suspended all flight operations immediately, and the helicopter crash-landed beside a runway.

An internal probe body has been formed to investigate the incident, BAF sources said.

Earlier on April 7, another BAF training aircraft crash-landed on the runway at Dhaka airport, but no one was injured in that incident.

Before, on April 1, a training aircraft of Bangladesh Flying Academy and General Aviation Limited crashed during take-off at Rajshahi domestic airport killing trainee pilot Tamanna Rahman and injuring trainer Shahed Kamal, who succumbed to his injuries in a Singapore hospital yesterday. l

Tribunal: Form committee to find war crimes accused, convicts n Tribune Report A war crimes tribunal yesterday ordered the government to form a monitoring committee to secure arrest of the fugitive convicts and accused.

The home secretary and the inspector general of police have been asked to form the committee within 15 days.

The committee must include representatives from the Detective Branch of police, Special Branch and Rapid Action Battalion, and the investigation agency of the tribunal.

An official, not below the rank of deputy in-

spector general of police, will lead the committee.

The International Crimes Tribunal 1, led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim, passed the order after it found that the law enforcement agencies failed to arrest the accused in four war crimes cases.

The tribunal ordered the authorities concerned to ensure that the committee submits a report before it on its activities every 40 days, once it is formed as per the order.

The government on February 16 last year formed a high-power task force, led by Law Minister Anisul Haque to bring back fugitive

Bangladeshi nationals – convicted or accused in cases – from abroad for trial or executing the sentences.

Apart from a number of accused in war crimes cases, several convicts including Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar are currently staying abroad.

The same tribunal yesterday accepted seven charges in a case filed against five war crimes suspects of Kishoreganj.

The accused are Gazi Abdul Mannan, 88, commander of Karimganj razakar camp in 1971, and razakar members Nasiruddin Ahmed, 62, his brother Shamsuddin

Ahmed, 60, Hafiz Uddin, 66, and Azharul Islam, 60. Only Shamsuddin is now in jail.

After taking the charges into cognisance, the tribunal also issued arrest warrants against the four fugitives. The court also asked the inspector general of police to submit a report before it by May 31 on the execution of the order.

The charges include mass killing, murder, confinement, torture, arson and looting committed in Karimganj upazila of the district between August 25 and November 13 during the Liberation War. l

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6 NEWS

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Local train passengers harassed, mugged in darkness n Our Correspondent, Jamalpur Passengers of the local and mail trains travelling at night are being subjected to mugging and harrassment as there are no lights on those trains.

According to Bangladesh Railway sources, Mymensingh Express 37, Bhawal Express 55, Local trains 251, 255 and 253, and Dhaleshwari Express 75 travels during the night. Without lighting systems, most of the bogies remain in darkness and are taken over by criminals.

Most of the time the passengers of these trains lose all their belongings to thieves, pickpockets, and muggers. Many female passengers also get sexually harassed by these miscreants on the moving trains.

Recently one such passenger Rafiqul Islam of Jamalpur, travelling from Chittagong to Jamalpur on the Mymensing Express 37, fell victim to “ogyan party” (a group of muggers who make their prey unconscious). He said: “I did not even realise when they made me unconscious and took all my belongings because it was so dark.” He was found unconscious by other passengers who got Rafiqul off the train at Jamalpur.

Like Rafiqul, Shahjahan Miya of Dewanganj, Jamal Uddin, Abdul Barek of Jamalpur, Mofazzal Miya and many others lost everything to the ogyan party. They complained that these muggers were able to do so because there are no lights on these trains.

The victims added that there is no security either: each train has only one Railway police and two Ansars but they come to no use because the cars are not connected.

Passengers travelling in the dark, unlit local trains as they have no other choice despite the mishaps that may occur on the journey. The photo was taken at Jamalpur station on Tuesday DHAKA TRIBUNE Passengers Jahangir Alam and Anowar Islam Milon said they use these local and mail trains out of desperation. The number of passengers in these trains are decreasing. People only use these trains if they have no other choice.

Station Master Md Jahurul Islam of Jamalpur station said: “As these trains leave from Chittagong, Dhaka, Mymensingh there is no scope for the Jamalpur station to play effective role regarding the lights on the train.”

Jamalpur Railway Police Station Officer-inCharge Md Abdus Sattar said: “The few members of Railway police and Ansars on these

trains face a lot of difficulty trying to ensure security of the nighttime passengers.”

In this regard railway Sub-Assistant Engineer Md Sirajul Islam in Mymensingh said: “These local trains use age-old alternators to produce electricity. As parts for these alternators have not been supplied for almost three years, there is no electricity in these trains.”

Informing that he contacted the higher authorities multiple times regrading the parts without any result, Engineer Sirajul added that he can do nothing about this matter as the trains leaving from Dhaka and Chittagong are maintained by those respective authorities. l

Quader: Disappearance of Salahuddin mysterious n Our Correspondent, Comilla Communications Minister Obaidul Quader has said the case of disappearance and reappearance of BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed is mysterious and questionable.

He came up with the comment at a press briefing at Padua Bazar in Comilla yesterday after visiting the work of an overpass in the area.

He said the people of the country had known from Salauddin’s wife that he had been found in a mental hospital in India’s

Meghalaya.

According to Meghalaya police sources, Joint Secretary General of Bangladesh Nationalist Party Salauddin Ahmed, who went missing since March 10 this year, had been arrested on Monday and admitted to the Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience where he was undergoing treatment.

The minister commented that his going to India was mysterious and questionable as he did not go there in legal process.

“The people will know the true story of Salahuddin drama soon,” he added.

On March 10, Salahuddin Ahmed was allegedly picked up by law enforcement officials from his relative’s Uttara residence, his family claimed.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque said that Salahuddin had not been whisked away by policemen and that law enforcers were still looking for him.

Since his disappearance, law enforcement agencies including the police, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have claimed ignorance of Salahuddin’s whereabouts. l

2 killed in Kishoreganj n Our Correspondent, Kishoreganj At least two people were killed in separate incidents at Hossainpur and Mithamoin upazilas of the district yesterday.

The deceased were identifed as Jakir Hossain, 18, son of Jasim Uddin of Khurshidmohal area in Mymensingh and Md Nurullah, 40, son of Badshah Mian of Mahisharkandi village in Mithamoin.

Sources said Jakir was killed when two sand laden tractors collided head on in Gulchattar area in Hossainpur headquarters around 8am.

Nannu Molla, Officer-in-Charge of Hossainpur confirmed the incident.

In another incident, Nurullah, a medical representative of Virgo Pharmaceutical Ltd died on the spot when a kerosene drum exploded.

Sub-Inspector Badiuzzaman of Mithamoin police station confirmed the incident. l

Abducted boy rescued n Our Correspondent, Gazipur A 5-year old boy who was abducted from Chandana area of Gazipur on Tuesday was rescued at Atpara in Netrakona yesterday.

Sources said the criminals abducted Merajul Kabir Rifat, son of Anowar Hossain of Aditmara in Lalmonirhat district for ransom.

The father of Rifat filed a case with Joydevpur police station after the incident.

On a tip-off, police conducted a drive in the area and rescued the boy from a house.

The police also arrested a person named Arif in this connection. l

Two smugglers held with gold bars n Our Correspondent, Cox’sBazar Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested two alleged gold smugglers with 12 gold bars and Tk120,000 in Ramur Rubber garden area of the district yesterday.

Sources said on a tip-off, the member of law enforces conducted a drive in the area and arrested gold smugglers Saifulla, 42, son of Mohammad Yunus and Rashid Ahmed,50, son of Tamim Dulal of Nasinarabad in Chittagong with the gold bars and money.

The police also seized a microbes in their possession. Officer-in-Charge of Cox’sBazar DB police Dewan Abul Hossain confirmed the incident. l

600 mills in Magura struggle as imported rice floods markets n Our correspondent, Magura Despite bumper Boro production, at least 600 rice mills in the district have been facing serious problems as rice imported from India flooded the locals markets.

The workers employed by the mill authorities have also been passing jobless time.

Sources at Magura rice mills owners’ association confirmed the aforesaid claim, saying 400 mills of the figure are now inoperative while the rest 200 are on the verge of closure.

According to local Agriculture Extension Department (DAE), the district has experi-

enced a bumper rice production of 14050mt this season as desired.

It was learnt that Boro harvest time is almost end there and the rice milling process was supposed to start at present. But the scenario in this time is wholly different as the local rice traders are not interested in their task due to the Indian rice that led to a decrease in the demand.

One kg Indian rice is being sold for Tk2728 while the local variety is Tk34-35. Owing to the low price, the consumers prefer Indian rice.

Consequently, the traders are reluctant to

start the rice processing from paddy in the mills. Besides, about 700 workers under the mills have become jobless.

When contacted, a rice mill owner named Golam Sarwar in Nanduali area of the district town, said local markets see huge Indian rice hauls and its low price attract the consumers.

“In this situation, we are not eager to start the rice milling process in fear of possible loss.

In line with it, my 18 workers are also now jobless. About 700 workers like them will also fall in a great uncertainty unless the government stops the rice import from Indian,” Golam Sar-

war continued.

Hamida Banu, a rice mill worker from Katakhali village in Sadar upazilla, said echoted the voice of Sarwar, telling that they remained jobless for about one month as they work on daily basis.

When contacted, Magura Zila Banik Samity General Secretary Humayan Kabir Raza said the rice mills there have been facing serious setback because of the low price Indian imported rice.

District rice distributor Md Jakir Hossen admitted consumers prefer Indian rice than the locally-produced variety. l

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NEWS 7

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Gazipur Nagar Bhaban vandalised n Our Correspondent, Gazipur A clash ensued between supporters of two contractors over work order at Gazipur City Corporation yesterday. During the clash, supporters of both groups vandalised several rooms and ransacked documents of the city corporation.

Councillor Azizur Rahman Shishir told the Dhaka Tribune that two contractors – Shahjahan Mia, convenor of district unit Schchasebok League, and Kamruzamman Ripon, district unit general secretary of Bangabandu Sanskritik Kote – were locked into an altercation over the work order of two zones under Gazipur City Corporations. Being informed, Ali Hossain, brother of Ripon who is also a leader of the ruling party, with their supporters rushed to the spot and assaulted contractor Shahjahan.

As the news of Shahjahan’s assault spread, supporters of him rushed to the spot and both the groups were locked into a clash. During the clash, several rooms, including Executive Engineer Akbar Hossain’s room, were vandalised. Eight people, including the two contractors, were injured in the clash. On receiving information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. l

WEATHER THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN

THURSDAY, MAY 14 DHAKA TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:32PM

SUN RISES 5:17AM

FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

35

28

Chittagong

34

28

Rajshahi

37

28

Rangpur

33

28

Khulna

33

27

Barisal

35

27

Sylhet

31

23

Cox’s Bazar

34

27

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

18.5ºC

Mongla

Suhrawardy hospital compounds in the grips of hawkers n Udisa Islam

TODAY

36.5ºC

The picture taken in front of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in the capital yesterday shows a vendor operates business occupying the hospital compound NASHIRUL ISLAM

Tangail Source: Accuweather/UNB

Many of the state-owned hospital compounds in the capital have become the ideal place where vendors operate makeshift stalls to sell a variety of mostly household products.

Illegal drug trade is also very common inside as well as outside hospital compounds where relatives of patients have been victims of mugging and theft on many occasions.

More often than not, rickshaw vans kept in rows on both sides of the entrance to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital prevent ambulances from easily entering the facility. In such cases, emergency patients are the worst sufferers for whom every second counts until they are inside the operation theatre.

Products sold in the vans include clothes, bangles, hair ties and sandals, and vendors say they have to pay weekly to do business.

Fajr

3:55am

Sunrise

5:18am

Zohr

11:55am

Asr

4:33pm

Magrib

6:32pm

Esha

7:55pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

But hospital officials refused to talk about how small traders and vendors had turned the compounds into business hotspots.

They said they had not noticed any such trade inside the compounds, adding that there might be vans outside the hospitals.

Police said stopping van trades is difficult as the punishment is lighter than the degree of offence of doing business this way.

RAB recently detained 16 middlemen from outside the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and it was found that they operated with the help of four hospital workers.

The detainees were sentenced by the mobile court of RAB Executive Magistrate Md Al Amin but the hospital workers who functioned as accomplices were handed over to the hospital authority. l

Mugging incidents unabated in Sylhet city n Mohammad Serajul Islam, Sylhet

PRAYER TIMES

They refused to disclose who they pay for occupying the space, only saying that a portion of the money goes to hospital workers.

Sohel, who sells women’s clothes in Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital compound, said he usually sells to patients’ relatives and visitors. “I can do business for a day upon paying Tk200-500.”

A young girl who was choosing bangles to buy said yesterday the products look nice and she often buys different stuff sold in vans when she leaves the hospital after visiting a patient, who was admitted there two weeks ago.

There are also shops and shanties built around the hospitals illegally and local influential groups control those with the connivance of third and fourth grade workers of the healthcare centres.

Although Sylhet City Corporation has taken various measures to curb snatchings in and around the city, muggings and robbery continue unabated.

Within a span of six hours, two muggings took place in the Kotwali Model police station area yesterday, creating panic among the residents of the locality.

A gang of five robbers took away a tab, laptop, mobile phone set and Tk40,000 in cash from Rumana Chowdhury, vice-principal of Scholars’ Home Preparatory School, South Surma Campus, while she was headed to her

school at around 7:30pm.

Hearing her screams, locals rushed to the spot and caught the driver of a private car who was identified as Sunil Das. But the rest of his accomplices managed to flee.

Meanwhile, a gang of snatchers riding motorbikes snatched Tk6 lakh from a businessman in the Razargoli area.

Sondip Das, the victim, said: “When I was going to Bagbari to withdraw money from AB Bank, at the Surma Market branch at around 1:30pm, a gang of robbers waylaid me and snatched my money.”

In the wake of increasing muggings, Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) has taken a massive

drive against snatchers in the city on Thursday, but the culprits are at large, said Kawsar Chowdhury, a resident of the city’s Razargoli area. Sohel Ahmed, officer in-charge of the Kotwali Model police station, said they were continuing their drives against the snatchers.

Sohel said, after the two robberies, five alleged muggers were arrested so far.

“Some stray incidents have taken place.

But, we are aware of the matter and are trying to curb these criminal activities,” he added.

At the end of last year, muggings and robberies had risen sharply in and around Sylhet city as a number of listed criminals had gotten bail then. l

DT

8 WORLD

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

EU for taking in 20,000 migrants, UK opposes n Agencies The European Union’s executive yesterday proposed taking in 20,000 refugees over two years and distributing them across Europe but giving Britain, Ireland and Denmark the option not to accept any.

Shocked by the deaths of migrants from North Africa trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean, the European Union is trying to put in place a fairer way to resettle asylum-seekers at a time when anti-immigrant parties are on the rise, reported Reuters.

Italy and other southern European countries are clamouring for EU help to deal with the influx but, while Italy, Germany and Austria back a quota system, some EU states are opposed.

“No country should be left alone to address huge migratory pressures,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on his Twitter account after the proposals were published.

Under a quota scheme based on country size, economic output and other measures, Germany would take the most migrants followed by France and Italy, assuming Britain opts out.

Meanwhile, hours before the plans were unveiled, British interior minister, Theresa May, criticised the EU’s approach, saying that by not sending economic migrants back, the bloc was encouraging them to come.

Home Secretary Theresa May in an article in The Times newspaper, said a proposal for EU states to accept a binding quota of refugees would only encourage more to make the dangerous sea crossing, reported AFP. “The EU should work to establish safe landing sites in North Africa, underpinned by an active programme of returns,” she wrote.

She added: “I disagree with the suggestion by the EU’s high representative, Federica Mogherini, that ‘no migrants’ intercepted at sea should be ‘sent back against their will’.

“Such an approach would only act as an increased pull factor across the Mediterranean and encourage more people to put their lives at risk.”

Britain last year refused to contribute to an EU search and rescue mission in the Mediter-

Migrants disembark from an inflatable craft, collected by the British Royal Navy who are continuing their Safety of Life at Sea Mission, aboard HMS Bulwark in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and North Africa, yesterday CARL OSMOND / BRITISH ROYAL NAVY VIA AP ranean, arguing they would only encourage more migrants.

However, a Royal Navy ship has been helping rescue efforts for the past fortnight and yesterday it rescued 445 people from four inflatable boats, according to the defence ministry.

The ministry released photographs and video footage of sailors from HMS Bulwark throwing life-jackets to the occupants of the packed boats before pulling them onto one of the ship’s landing craft. The migrants will be taken to Italy.

In a BBC interview, May said the priority should be to deal with the people traffickers who brought the migrants across the Mediterranean.

“Europe is not going to be able to accom-

modate the several million people who have been disrupted from Syria, many of whom actually want to be able to stay in the region and to be able at some stage to go home,” she said.

“The best way to help those is what we as a government are doing – £800 million, helping in those refugee camps.”

However, Juncker in a video to accompany the Commission’s proposal said Europe needed immigrants as its workforce will dwindle by 2060, reported Reuters.

His right-hand-man, Frans Timmermans, told a news conference that returning some migrants was still part of the EU’s policy and that Britain’s May “can rest assured” that not

Rescuers battle to reach survivors of new Nepal quake; US Marine helicopter still missing n AFP, Kathmandu Rescuers yesterday battled to reach survivors of a deadly new earthquake in Nepal that triggered landslides and brought down buildings.

Thousands of traumatised survivors spent the night outdoors, afraid to return to their houses after Tuesday’s 7.3-magnitude quake hit.

Dozens of people were killed in the latest disaster, bringing the overall death toll to more than 8,200 and compounding the difficulty of reaching far-flung mountain communities in desperate need of shelter, food and clean water.

The United Nations said it faced a “monumental challenge” to bring relief to victims, many of whom live in areas accessible only on foot or by helicopter, before the monsoon rains began.

UN resident coordinator Jamie McGoldrick said Tuesday’s quake had exacerbated an already desperate situation as he delivered an

urgent call for more funding.

“Damaged houses will be further damaged.

Houses and schools and buildings that were spared in the first one were probably affected yesterday. Roads, we know, have been damaged,” he said. “It is extremely urgent that the donors realise that we are running against the monsoon that is coming,” he added.

Missing helicopter

The Nepal army mounted a huge ground and air search for a US Marine Corps helicopter that went missing on Tuesday during a disaster relief operation in the eastern district of Dolakha, near where the latest quake hit.

Spokesman Jagdish Pokharel said the army would keep searching until it found the chopper, which was carrying six US Marines and two Nepal army soldiers when it disappeared in a remote mountainous area.

“We have been searching for the missing helicopter since early morning but have not

found it yet,” he said.

“They came to help us here... (and) we will continue to search for them.”

Police said 76 people had been confirmed dead and more than 2,000 injured in the new quake, which was centred 76 kilometres (47 miles) east of Kathmandu, and also killed 17 people in northern India.

“We had been focusing on relief distribution, but from yesterday our resources were deployed for rescue operations again,” said Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, spokesman for the Nepal home ministry.

Tuesday’s quake was felt as far away as New Delhi, and caused buildings to collapse in Tibet in neighbouring China, killing at least one person there. A second tremor and more aftershocks also followed.

Scientists said Tuesday’s quake was part of a chain reaction set off by the larger one that struck on April 25 in Lamjung district west of Kathmandu. l

all refugees will be granted asylum.

Britain, Denmark and Ireland have exemptions on matters concerning asylum, immigration, visas and external border controls based on protocols agreed in the EU’s Lisbon treaty.

With only 25 countries of the EU’s 28 member countries likely to take part, Germany will take 18.42 percent of refugees, followed by 14.17 percent in France, and 11.84 percent in Italy. Spain will take just less than 10 percent.

Sweden, which after Germany received the most asylum applications in Europe in 2014, will take about 3 percent. The Commission’s formal proposal to EU governments will come at the end of the month. l

US calls for regional response to SE Asia migrant crisis

n AFP, Bangkok

The United States yesterday voiced fears for the lives of hundreds of migrants abandoned by traffickers at sea, calling on Southeast Asian nations to co-operate to address the crisis.

So far South East Asian nations have shown little appetite to provide sanctuary for migrants abandoned on boats or launch a co-ordinated search and rescue effort to locate them.

Yesterday Malaysia joined Indonesia in vowing to turn back any vessels that approached their shores unless lives were in imminent danger. The Indonesian navy has already turned away at least one vessel packed with hundreds of abandoned migrants.

Thailand has yet to declare what its policy is towards stranded vessels, although in the past it has ‘helped on’ boats towards their intended destination, which is often Malaysia.

The International Organisation for Migration has called for search-and-rescue operations to find stricken migrant boats. l

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WORLD 9

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Netanyahu government says it wants peace with Palestinians n AFP, Jerusalem Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition stressed its desire yesterday to achieve peace with the Palestinians and other Arab states as he prepared to present his new government.

“The Jewish people have the undisputable right to a sovereign state in the Land of Israel, its national and historic homeland,” read the coalition guidelines presented to parliament.

“The government will advance the diplomatic process and strive to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians and all our neighbours, while maintaining Israel’s security, historical and national interests,” they read.

Any such agreement would be submitted to parliament, known as the Knesset, for approval “and if necessary by law, to a referendum.”

Netanyahu’s new government is set to include ministers intent on expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, an issue that has repeatedly derailed peace talks.

During campaigning for the March 17 election, Netanyahu ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state if reelected.

Netanyahu has since sought to backtrack on those remarks and issued a public apology for warning on election day that Arab Israelis were going to the polls “in droves.”

The rest of the government policy outline deals with issues such as reducing the cost of

India moves to toughen child labour laws

n AFP, New Delhi India’s government yesterday moved to toughen child labour laws in a country where millions of youngsters work long hours, often in poor conditions, but activists slammed the steps as inadequate.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet approved a ban on all children under the age of 14 from working, except if employed in family businesses or in the sports and entertainment industry.

The current law prohibits children under 14 from working only in hazardous jobs, although even this is not properly implemented, according to activists.

The government defended the decision to allow some forms of labour after school hours or during vacations saying some children needed to learn traditional skills.

“In a large number of families, children help their parents in their occupations...and while helping parents, children also learn the basics,” the government said in a statement.

The cabinet also needed to “keep in mind the country’s social fabric and socio-economic conditions.”

Cabinet also approved higher fines of between 20,000 rupees ($300) and 50,000 rupees and jail terms of between six months and two years for employers hiring children under 14. The approved amendments still need to be approved by both houses of parliament. l

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) gestures as he speaks to incoming minister Aryeh Deri, party leader of the Ultra-Orthodox Shas party, in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem yesterday REUTERS living, improving competition in the Israeli economy, boosting education and protecting the environment.

The guidelines are not inherently different to those published by Netanyahu for his two previous governments, formed in 2009 and 2013.

They were released as parliament was preparing to vote on legislation that would effectively enlarge the cabinet.

Netanyahu, who commands a razor-thin majority of just 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, would then allocate ministerial and parliamentary positions to members of his Likud party, before presenting his government to parliament for approval.

Commentators expected the vote on the new government to take place on Thursday or Monday. l

S Korea says North defence chief executed with anti-aircraft fire

China expresses anger over US military “plans” in disputed waters

n AFP, Beijing Beijing expressed anger yesterday after reports that the United States was considering ramping up its military presence in disputed South China Sea waters and confronting Chinese territorial claims with ships and aircraft.

Defence Secretary Ash Carter asked staff to explore sending Navy surveillance aircraft and vessels to islands which Washington believes have been rapidly built up by China in recent months, the Wall Street Journal said Tuesday, citing officials.

“We are severely concerned by relevant remarks made by the American side,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular briefing in Beijing.

“Freedom of navigation does not mean that the military vessels or aircraft of a foreign country can wilfully enter the territorial waters or airspace of another country.”

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters approaching the coasts of its Asian neighbours.

United States officials last week accused China of building up to 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of artificial islands in the Spratlys, an archipelago of more than a hundred islands, reefs and atolls between Vietnam and the Philippines.

China could construct airfields, surveillance systems and harbours that would jeopardise regional stability, they said.

The US has so far not sent ships and aircraft within 12 nautical miles of the reclaimed reefs – the standard zone for territorial waters around natural land – in order to avoid escalating tensions, the WSJ said. l

n AFP, Seoul

Saudi king doubles Yemen aid pledge to $540 mn n AFP, Riyadh

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un had his defence minister executed with anti-aircraft fire for insubordination and dozing off during a formal military rally, South Korean intelligence said yesterday, hinting at possible instability in the Pyongyang leadership.

If confirmed, it marks another demonstration of Kim’s ruthlessness in dealing with even the most senior officials suspected of disloyalty, following the execution of his uncle and onetime political mentor Jang Song-Thaek in 2013.

It also points to possible power struggles within the top leadership, following Kim Jong-Un’s decision to cancel a scheduled visit to Moscow last week in order to deal with “internal issues.” Late last month, the South’s National Intelligence Agency (NIS) reported that Kim had ordered the execution of 15 senior officials so far this year, including two vice ministers, for questioning his authority.

In a briefing yesterday to a parliamentary committee, Han Ki-Beom, the deputy director of NIS, said hundreds of people witnessed the execution of defence minister Hyon YongChol, which was believed to have been carried out around April 30 at a military academy in northern Pyongyang.

Han told lawmakers that intelligence sources suggested Han was shot to pieces using an

King Salman doubled Saudi Arabia’s Yemen aid commitment to $540 million yesterday, the first day of a humanitarian pause in a bombing campaign it has led against neighbouring rebels.

“We announce that we are setting aside one billion riyals ($266 million) for aid and humanitarian operations... in addition to more than one billion riyals ($274 million) we had already pledged,” the official Saudi Press Agency quoted the king as saying.

On April 18, the kingdom announced it would fund the entire $274 million sought by the United Nations in an appeal for emergency assistance to help victims of the war in Yemen.

The UN said the money would “meet the life-saving and protection needs of 7.5 million people affected” by a deepening humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

UN agencies have prepared for a massive aid operation during the five-day humanitarian pause. Distribution of fuel began yesterday whose scarcity had halted aid deliveries, officials said.

Salman made the pledge while symbolically laying the foundation stone of a facility in Riyadh which he said “will be a leading international centre to help relieve communities that suffer from disasters.” l

This undated file photo released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 26, 2014 shows North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong-Chol AFP anti-aircraft gun firing 14.5mm calibre rounds.

Such a violent method of execution has been cited in various unconfirmed reports as being reserved for senior officials who the leadership wishes to make examples of.

Last month, the US-based Committee for Human Rights in Korea published an October-dated satellite image of the same academy that analysts said showed a shooting range with anti-aircraft guns lined up in what appeared to be preparation for an execution. l

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10 WORLD

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Policeman who shot dead black teen in Wisconsin not charged

n AFP, Washington A white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed 19-yearold African American man in Wisconsin used justifiable force and will not face criminal charges, authorities said Tuesday.

The fatal March 6 shooting of Tony Robinson by officer Matt Kenny in the Midwestern university city of Madison touched off days of protest.

It was one of a series of recent police shootings of unarmed black men that sparked a national outcry over how officers treat minorities, especially young black men.

“I conclude that this tragic and unfortunate death was the result of a lawful use of deadly police force and that no charges should be brought,” Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne told a press conference.

“My decision will not bring Tony Robinson Jr back. My decision will not end the racial disparities that exist in the justice system,” Ozanne said.

Robinson’s family quickly criticised the decision.

His mother, Andrea Irwin, said police did not use accurate facts in their account of her son’s death.

Dozens of young people marched in Madison after Ozanne’s announcement, carrying banners that read “Black Lives Matter.” Some chanted, “No justice, no peace, no racist police. l

DT

EDITORIAL 11

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Reassure the public

I

t is welcome news that Salahuddin Ahmed, the joint secretary general of BNP, has been found safe and apparently well in India, after being missing for over two months.

We hope he will be able to see his wife and family soon, and return to Bangladesh in good health.

Nevertheless, questions remain regarding his disappearance, and they need to be answered to the satisfaction of the public.

Right now there are conflicting stories about whether or not he was kidnapped or in hiding.

Furthermore, the circumstances in which he was found are not very clear. It is, for example, not clear why he claims to have no reliable memory of what happened in the last two months.

It is important that the government and law enforcement authorities get to the bottom of all these questions.

The public and Salahuddin’s family deserve a full explanation. This is vital to reassure the public that the government is taking the issue of forced abductions seriously.

Since 2007, there have been over 300 cases of forced abductions. The government must ensure these are all openly investigated, and any and all criminal perpetrators are brought before the law.

Addressing the unanswered questions about Salahuddin’s disappearance will do a lot to assure people that the right thing is being done.

Government must ensure all questions are openly investigated

Cable link vital for Digital Bangladesh plans

W

e welcome confirmation of funding for a second undersea communication cable link.

The new connection to the 20,000km-long SEA-ME-WE-5 submarine cable between Europe and Singapore will now be implemented by Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited by June next year.

It will provide high speed uninterrupted internet services at a cheaper cost than the country’s existing cable.

Around half its Tk660cr cost will be supported by project assistance from the Islamic Development Bank and the remainder from public funds. Once established, the country will receive an additional 1,300Gbps (billions of bits per second) bandwidth, enabling much faster and more secure data transmission services for international calls and internet links.

By providing more back up and overcoming bottlenecks that slow down the internet, the project adds vital infrastructure that will help the whole economy. It will also help attract new investment for jobs in outsourcing, call centres, and software firms.

In the past week, we have seen Telenor and Facebook make important commitments to support government moves to increase access to internet services in Bangladesh. The past year has also seen a rapid take up in the growth of mobile banking services, and plans by a Chinese company to invest in a major data centre in Gazipur.

It is encouraging to see the new cable link add valuable capacity to support the increasing progress that is being made to support plans for a Digital Bangladesh.

The government should encourage further improvements by being nimble in regulation and creating further incentives for entrepreneurs to invest in ICT.

Be nimble and create incentives for more investment in ICT

Be heard

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Shahbagh SI withdrawn over DU sexual assault April 19

Rasel People ask me why I never show any love for my own country.

Well, this is one of many incidents why we Bangladeshis living abroad don’t wish to come back to Bangladesh. Think about yourself, what if your own family member was in that situation?

Understand that it’s the worst feeling in the world -- to be in public like that, how terrified they must’ve felt.

DispassionateObserver Not good enough. This is a band-aid solution aiming at assuaging public outrage.

Police inaction is a symptom of the breakdown of law and order, not the cause.

The cardinal cause is political interference for police in doing their jobs -- that’s why there is so much apathy from their side.

Avijit was murdered when police were nearby; they heard, they saw, and they looked the other way. As they always do.

If Sheikh Hasina is serious about the welfare of our people -- and in this case, our womenfolk -- a few things should be done immediately to douse the the public ire: Apprehend the bastards without delay; fire the home minister, the IGP, and the DMP Commissioner; unshackle the home ministry from political interference, and reform our police force.

The govt cannot bask in the glory of containing BNP’s destructive politics. The abysmal state of law and order is a more serious threat to the government’s grip on power.

As the saying goes: A small hole can sink a big ship. So, dear PM, please act. Show your critics you mean business.

DT Police downplay sexual assaults April 20

Dev Saha Done by golden boys? Of course the crime is going to be downplayed by law-enforcement people. I do not expect anything different. What can be the motive from the victim’s side be?

Bangladeshi rescued from Mediterranean boat April 20

Dev Saha Please take legal routes to migrate to a foreign country. Is life worth less than an uncertain life in the EU?

DT

12 OPINION

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

The LBA: An excellent opportunity n Farooq Sobhan

T

he ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement of 1974 on May 7 was warmly welcomed across the political divide both in India and in Bangladesh. The Lok Sabha showed rare unanimity in passing the 119th Amendment to the Indian Constitution Bill to settle its 41-year-old border dispute with Bangladesh.

The implementation of the LBA will enable the two countries to exchange control of land in each other’s territory, known as enclaves or Chitmahal. The bill will also help in resolving the long-standing problem of the land in adverse possession.

Bangladesh and India share a 4,096km international border, which is the fifth-longest land border in the world. From 1947 to the present day, the unresolved problem of enclaves and adverse possession has been a source of constant friction.

It was hoped that the Indira-Mujib LBA in 1974 would settle both these problems, but for a variety of reasons, it has taken four decades to resolve all the pending issues and for the Indian parliament to finally ratify the LBA. There is certainly a sense of hope, optimism, and belief in Bangladesh today that the ratification of the LBA will open up a new era in Bangladesh-India relations. The people of Bangladesh are now looking forward to not only the visit of the Indian cricket team to Bangladesh in June, but also to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The implementation of the LBA is expected to help in improving the quality of life of 51,549 people who have been living in misery in the enclaves, deprived of their basic human rights.

For all practical purposes they have been stateless people, living a hand to mouth existence; denied access to schools and hospitals and other basic services. There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves inside India. All the inhabitants can now look forward to a national identity and enjoying the same benefits and services as their neighbours living outside the enclaves.

One of the major irritants in the bilateral relations between the two countries has been the problem of border management.

Notwithstanding the presence of a sizeable border security force on both sides, as well as over 3,000 kilometers of barbed wire fencing on the Indian side, the number of persons killed on the border -- for the most part Bangladeshis -- is amongst the highest in the world.

The Indo-Bangladesh border is also notorious for the billions of dollars of goods smuggled across the border, as well as trafficking in arms, drugs, and people. It is now the expectation of people on both sides of the border that one very important outcome of the LBA will be improved border management based on co-operation, increased border trade, and the transformation of the border into a peaceful one, free of any border killings.

The ratification of the LBA and the

AP

There is certainly a sense of hope, optimism, and belief in Bangladesh today that the ratification of the LBA will open up a new era in Bangladesh-India relations

likelihood of a visit by Mr Modi in the very near future provides an opportunity for both countries to widen and strengthen their co-operation across the board.

During the past six years, the security cooperation between the two countries can be described as excellent. But there is room for further improvement. Equally impressive has been the wide-ranging cooperation in the energy sector. Trade has expanded, as have Indian investments in Bangladesh. Bangladesh today enjoys duty-free access to the Indian market.

However, in order to see a meaningful expansion in Bangladesh’s exports to India, some non-tariff barriers need to be removed.

Both countries need to give special attention to improving road, rail, and river connectivity in the entire sub-region.

In particular, there is a need to improve the physical infrastructure in Bangladesh and initiate action in the construction of a deep sea port. This deep sea port could be of immense benefit to the Indian north-east, Nepal, Bhutan and, of course, Bangladesh.

Perhaps the most difficult problem in the bilateral relationship is the issue of the sharing of the waters of the 54 rivers that the two countries share. It is important for Mr Modi to implement the framework agreement signed during the visit of the then Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to Bangladesh in September, 2011, for co-operation between India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. One key feature of this cooperation should be in the field of joint-harnessing of the water resources shared by these four countries.

India and Bangladesh both suffer from a “perception problem.” In Bangladesh, India is viewed with suspicion because of its geostrategic interests, its overwhelming economic and military strength, its apparent reluctance to resolve longstanding problems like the LBA, and the sharing of the waters of the Teesta.

Indians, on the other hand, tend to view Bangladesh as a country where extremist groups are gaining in strength, where there is widespread poverty triggering illegal immigration into India.

There is little awareness in India of the enormous progress and rapid growth that has taken place in Bangladesh; of the excellent social indicators or that Bangladesh has achieved self-sufficiency in food.

Nor is there either awareness or recog-

nition of the fact that Bangladesh today directly and indirectly contributes annually well over $20bn to the Indian economy. The implementation of the LBA between India and Bangladesh is expected to lessen this gap in perception and remove some of the widespread scepticism that exists in the mind of the public about a durable long-term relationship.

Although it has taken a year, the ratification of the LBA can now be viewed as a testament to Mr Modi’s “neighborhood first” policy. But it is important to understand that the development of a meaningful relationship built on mutual trust and benefit will require serious and prolonged interaction at all levels between the two countries.

There is a need for regular summit-level meetings to review implementation of projects and agreements; there is a need for greater people-to-people contact, this means removing the multiple headaches faced by Bangladeshis in obtaining an Indian visa; there is a need for a vastly expanded public diplomacy and cultural exchange programs on both sides; an effective communication strategy is essential; improving connectivity, expanding trade, and investment can take Bangladesh from its current 6% growth rate to 8-10% in the next two to four years.

The LBA provides an excellent opportunity to take Indo-Bangladesh relations to a new level. l Farooq Sobhan is the President, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute and a former Foreign Secretary.

This article was first published in The Indian Express.

DT

OPINION 13

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Heroes behind the scene n Mamun Rashid

I

would like to offer my kind felicitations to our prime minister for her success with the recent ratification of the land boundary agreement signed between Sheikh Mujib and Indira Gandhi way back in 1974.

In the immediate past Indian high commissioner, Rajeet Mitter, told me several times that subsequent to the visit of Dr Manmohan Singh in September 2011, Sheikh Hasina was adamant on this ratification. On the other hand, Dr Manmohan Singh was equally, if not more, embarrassed to see how the ratification of the agreement was taking so much time, especially with, reportedly, serious resistance from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and from the now ruling BJP. What was the resistance about? Not much.

It is the issue of exchanging a total of 162 enclaves between India and Bangladesh. 51 Bangladeshi enclaves within Indian territory and 111 Indian enclaves within Bangladeshi territory.

According to a 2007 joint survey, 14,215 Bangladeshis live in the enclaves now occupied by India, and 37,334 Indian live in the Indian enclaves occupied by Bangladesh.

Once the exercise comes into action, Bangladesh will receive 971 hectares of land and India 1,124 hectares. Due to the transfers, West Bengal will lose 792 hectares of land, Meghalaya 17 hectares, and Assam 108 hectares. On the other hand, West Bengal will

gain 970 hectares, Meghalaya 97 hectares, and Tripura 56 hectares. On first glance, it may look like India has gained more than Bangladesh.

Most Bangladeshis tend to think that Congress is a very good friend to our nation.

But when was the water-sharing agreement signed? During Morarji Desai’s time in 1977.

When was the Ganges River Treaty signed?

During Deve Gowda’s time in 1996. When has the LBA been ratified?

Manmohan Singh was equally, if not more, embarrassed to see how the ratification of the agreement was taking so much time

When the BJP is in power. Yes, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister, and now President, Pranab Mukherjee, were all eager to see an early resolution of Indo-Bangla disputes, especially the ratification of the LBA

and a resolution to the Teesta water-sharing deal.

What Congress was unable to do over a long period, BJP did within a much shorter time, while giving signals to Mamata Banerjee saying: “Either behave, or you will be forced into the corner.” Mamata is trying to survive through the election coming in two years, courting controversy in her own domain.

She obviously didn’t want to keep too many doors open, and cleverly decided to change her laundry list with the “centre.”

With a widening fiscal deficit in West Bengal, she has asked for Rs3,008cr from the centre for the rehabilitation of Indians migrating from the Bangladesh-owned Indian enclaves.

I doubt it though -- very few people will try to migrate after years of settlement. The centre is happy that Mamata is seemingly more than consoled now with the LBA being ratified. The centre had to deal with Assam the same way, though they are known to be more of a friend to the BJP. I am more appreciative of the diplomatic moves driven by our concerned ministries, especially the foreign ministry. Kudos to our foreign minister, a career diplomat and a silent worker, his able lieutenant, the foreign secretary, a man with military training and disciplined thinking, with his very good South Asia desk being both previously and presently manned by brilliant diplomats.

I would be a miser with my praises if, at this point in time, I don’t remember Ambassador Ahmad Tariq Karim,

the immediate past Bangladesh high commissioner to India. The gentleman did his homework on the history of the LBA -what went wrong over the years and where the show was pinching.

His networking with the South Block worked well in this regard. Credit goes to Indian Ambassador Rajeet Mitter and his successor Pankaj Saran and his team at the Indian High Commission, Dhaka. They were quite driven to walk the talk between Dr Singh and our PM. I will also give credit to Dr Moshiur Rahman, the economic adviser to our PM, who, even at the cost of getting some dirt on his name, continued to iron out the differences between India and Bangladesh.

My heartiest congratulations to Professor Gowher Rizvi, the foreign affairs adviser at the PMO. Delhi seniors, including Congress stalwarts, reminded me of Dr Rizvi’s network with the Indian seniors and many of those who matter most holding him in high regard.

Professor Rizvi’s extremely amiable but focused nature gained for us a lot in other areas too, and helped him gain tremendous trust with the highest offices of the republic.

Altogether, the ratification of the LBA is an example of many stakeholders working together. Narendra Modi’s “neigbours first” approach, for the first time, meant a lot for Bangladesh. Let us hope for an early resolution to the Teesta dispute as well. l Mamun Rashid is a business professor and financial sector entrepreneur.

DT

14 OPINION

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Of Jews, zoology, and big nephews n Naira Khan

I

remember when my mother was a teacher at Holy Cross there was an American Sister visiting the school. Naturally, she was interested in exploring Dhaka and sightseeing. One bewildering day, she asked Amma: “Mushni, have you had a chance to meet the famous Jew that lives in Dhaka?”

My mother was obviously puzzled by this question, and she pointed out that even after decades of having lived in Dhaka, she’d never heard of such a person.

The Sister then added: “But everyone in Dhaka seems to know him, and they even know where he lives. Whenever I talk about sightseeing, everyone keeps telling me I should visit the Mirpur Jew.” Needless to say, my mother was in fits of laughter. The poor Sister who had not caught on to our Bengali pronunciations was talking about the Mirpur Zoo.

meaning. So, for native speakers of Bangla, z and j are perceived as interchangeable sounds, and this perception can be carried over to their English.

For language geeks, this phenomenon is called first language interference. As a result, many Bangalis use z and j interchangeably in English without realising the repercussions it has to the meaning.

Now, the case where the two sounds are consistently flipped is a more interesting one.

It appears as though the speakers know how to pronounce the sounds but they’re choosing to use the wrong ones and they do so consistently. The reality is, they are pronouncing the exact same sound for both z and j. Acoustically, that sound is not exactly a z or a j but lies somewhere in between. If you think of z and j as two ends of a spectrum, people who flip their zs and js are actually pronouncing the same single sound that exists somewhere midway on that spectrum.

The reality is, they are pronouncing the exact same sound for both z and j. Acoustically, that sound is not exactly a z or a j but lies somewhere in between

More often than not, people have asked me why it is that Bengalis who speak English as a second language seem to have an issue with the pronunciation of “z”s and “j”s. The problem manifests in various ways: Either all zs are pronounced as js, eg “joo,” “jebra;” or conversely all js are pronounced as zs, eg “zoke,” “zym ” -- and the most interesting case, where they are consistently flipped, eg “joolozy” for zoology.

The “z” and “j” issue is something characteristic of Bangla speakers rather than speakers of other languages. It is primarily due to how Bangla categorises z and j in its own sound system. In standard Bangla, there is no z, only j.

Bangla does have z in borrowed words, but often they are converted to j eg “azan” becomes “ajan.” How you perceive sounds in another language depends largely on your own native language.

Another important factor is whether your language sees the two sounds as separate or interchangeable, and this depends on whether the sounds can be used interchangeably.

For instance, in English, if you switch z for j, it changes the meaning of the word completely, eg “zest” and “jest,” two words which have two completely different meanings.

But in Bangla, if you say “zoutuk” (dowry) instead of “joutuk,” or “zomi” (land) instead of “jomi,” it makes no difference in the meaning.

In Bangla, every word that contains a j can be swapped out for a z without changing the

So, when they pronounce “zoology” they are using that single sound for both the z and g (j). But, because it’s midway, it’s not z enough for us to categorise it as a z and sounds more like a j, and conversely, it’s not j enough so we hear more of a z. As a result, it always sounds flipped.

The flipping phenomenon can be found cross-linguistically with various pairs of sounds. Japanese speakers flip “l” and “r” in English. Korean speakers have the z and j flipping just like we do. Hindi speakers tend to flip “v”s and “w”s for exactly the same reasons, ie v and w are interchangeable in Hindi.

Speaking of “v”s, another interesting issue that Bangla speakers have is the confusion between “v” and “bh.” Bangla is completely devoid of the v sound and so speakers fill the void with bh, and interestingly, this has a bearing on their perception of v in writing.

When Bangla speakers who don’t differentiate between v and bh write Bangla in the Roman alphabet, often in social media, they tend to use v to represent bh. So “bhai” becomes “vai” and “bhabi” becomes “vabi.”

But sometimes, such usage can precipitate in some very interesting transliterations. For instance, one time my friend’s aunt posted a comment under her nephew’s photo with the intention of saying “my nephew has grown up,” but what she wrote was “amar vaginata koto boro hoye gese.” Isn’t language fun? l Naira Khan is Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Dhaka.

BIGSTOCK

16

Verizon buys faded Internet pioneer AOL for $4.4bn

17

Uncertainty over UK role in EU could choke Asian investment

19

Stocks inch up with volatility

20

DT

Business

15

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Denim expo ends with pledges to earn $7bn by 2021

Conditions eased for NRBs to avail CIP card, quota raised

Muhith: Oil prices won’t be reduced right now

n Tribune Report

n Tribune Report

The government has relaxed rules for Non-resident Bangladeshis to avail themselves of the Commercially Important Person card while it has increased the quota for the number of CIP card holders to attract more foreign remittance.

On May 7, Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry published its CIP (NRB) Selection Policy 2015 where the government made the changes.

According to the new policy, the government can now recognise contribution of maximum 90 Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRB) through awarding them with CIP (NRB) card under three separate categories for their contribution to the economy through remitting foreign currencies.

Now, the government can select 20 NRBs for making direct investment in industries in Bangladesh, 50 for sending highest remittance to Bangladesh through legal channels and another 20 for importing products from Bangladesh, according to the new policy.

Earlier, the number was maximum 10 under the first two categories and five for the third category.

According to the new policy, a Non-resident Bangladeshi can avail the CIP (NRB) card if they invest minimum $3 lakh in Bangladesh while staying abroad. Earlier, it was $5 lakh in the policy.

A Bangladeshi residing abroad can now be selected as CIP if they import goods valued minimum $3 lakh into their countries of residence from Bangladesh, which was $5lakh in the last policy.

However, the CIP (NRB) under the remittance sender category now have to send at least $2 lakh in a fiscal year, which was earlier $1.5lakh.

In the last policy that was enacted in 2006, a committee by the ministry can finalise lists of CIP (NRB), but the Non-resident Bangladeshis will now have to pass through a greater scrutiny as the five-member committee under the ministry can now only finalise the primary list.

After the primary scrutiny, a nine-member committee consisting of representatives from ministries of home, commerce and foreign affairs, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue will approve the final list for CIP (NRB) card.

The government has awarded 13 expatriate

Bangladeshis for the year of 2010 while nine were awarded in 2011 and 11 in 2012.

The CIP (NRB) cardholders will enjoy a number of facilities for the next one year from the day of issuance of the gazette that includes a card to be used for entering secretariat, while they will get reserved seats in government air, rail, road and waterways for business related visits.

The CIPs, their spouses and children will get priority in getting cabin facilities in government hospitals for medical treatment. The CIP cardholders will be allowed to use VIP lounge ‘Chameli’ and get special luggage handling facilities at the airport.

The government can include their names as members while formulation of related policies and they will get special treatment while meeting high officials at home and abroad.

The NRB CIPs will also receive similar benefits that the foreign investors get while making investment in Bangladesh.

Currently, over 80 lakh Bangladeshis are living in many countries across the world representing over 5% of the total population of the country.

Bangladesh is the second largest remittance receiver in South Asia. l

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the government would not reduce prices of fuel oil right at the moment despite the sharp fall in international market.

“We won’t cut fuel oil prices right now,” he told journalists yesterday after a per-budget meeting with 29 senior secretaries at the Secretariat.

Finance minister’s announcement came when Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation stands above profit margin amid declining global oil prices.

He also argued in favour of the government’s stance that if reduced there are fears of smuggling fuel oil to neighbouring India due to a huge gap in prices.

Crude oil is now being sold at $60 a barrel in the international market.

AMA Muhith said they would rationalise the subsidy amount meant for the BPC in the next fiscal year.

Besides, in reply to another question, finance minister said there was no problem to bring more people under the electricity supply network as the power generation capacity is just to cross 11,000MW. l

S&P affirms Bangladesh’s rating ‘stable’ for sixth straight year n Tribune Report Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed its BB- long-term and B short-term sovereign credit ratings for Bangladesh with “stable outlook” for the sixth consecutive year.

“We are affirming our ‘BB-/B’ foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Bangladesh,” the top credit rating agency said in its research update yesterday.

The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Bangladesh’s steady growth path and strong donor support will endure to raise average income and sustain the country’s external profile over the next 12 months.

These factors are balanced against lingering governance and fiscal weaknesses, infrastructure deficiencies, and inflation risks.

Although the rating agency assesses Bangladesh’s external liquidity as strong, the country faces the vulnerabilities of a low-income economy, fiscal constraints, and heavy development needs, it said.

The S&P also said the stable outlook balances healthy growth prospects and an improving external profile against fiscal weaknesses and development needs.

The global rating agency may raise the ratings if measures aimed at expanding the rev-

enue base and boosting collection efficiency materially improve fiscal performance, it adds.

The S&P may raise the ratings if measures aimed at expanding the revenue base and boosting collection efficiency materially improve fiscal performance and if the government materially reduces energy, infrastructure, and administrative bottlenecks and boosts investment, leading to a durable increase in trend growth for real per capita GDP, it added.

Bangladesh’s fractious domestic political conditions distract from stable policy making, in particular, widespread strikes and blockades have caused substantial economic disruption and combined with a weak institutional setting and infrastructure deficiencies, Bangladesh’s foreign direct investment have remained persistently low, the rating agency said.

It also put emphasis on monetary flexibil-

ity strength, evident in well-controlled inflation over a sustained period and deeper capital markets with market-based tools.

Low economic development, as represented by per capita GDP of $1,250 for 2015, and volatile political setting combined with administrative and institutional weaknesses are Bangladesh’s main rating constraint.

Despite numerous structural impediments to growth, in particular the shortage of electricity, the economy has a record of steady growth with minimal fluctuation, it added.

Notably, opposition party-led strikes since the 2014 elections have significantly hurt GDP growth for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015.

“We forecast the change in general government debt to average 3.4% of GDP annually over fiscal 2015-2018, the global rater said adding that many basic social and infrastructure needs remain unmet, which implies the need for higher outlays over the longer term.”

Although the government’s debt burden is low, with net general government debt at our pro-

jection of 26% of GDP as of the end of fiscal 2015, its high interest expense at 18% of revenues limits fiscal flexibility, it added.

Bangladesh’s low external borrowings support the ratings. Remittance inflows averaging 9.1% of GDP over the past three years and an internationally competitive garment export sector generally ensure current account surpluses, it said.

Noting that foreign exchange reserves as of end March stood at $23.1bn, equivalent to an estimated six months of imports, it cautioned that the reserves would fall due to lower remittance inflows and stronger imports. l

DT

16 BUSINESS

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Greenpeace: Renewable energy vital for Internet lifestyles n AFP, San Francisco

An advertisement for Verizon is seen at Times Square in New York

Verizon buys faded Internet pioneer AOL for $4.4bn n AFP, Washington US telecom giant Verizon announced plans Tuesday to buy faded Internet pioneer AOL for $4.4bn and hopefully corner a bigger share of the online advertising market.

The deal was described as a way to help Verizon - one of the largest US mobile carriers and a major broadband provider - build its offerings in video and other digital content, especially for wireless.

“Verizon’s vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network platform,” said Verizon chairman and chief executive Lowell McAdam.

Once the leading provider of Internet access, AOL has reorganized primarily as a digital media company with a portfolio of wellknown news sites such as The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget.

It also produces its own video content, operates its own advertising platform and continues to serve a small number of dial-up Internet customers.

Dumb pipes’

Analysts said the deal gives Verizon a more diverse array of offerings as consumers look to online platforms like Netflix and Amazon instead of traditional television.

“The issue for all the telecom companies is they don’t want to be turned into dumb pipes,” said Roger Kay at Endpoint Technologies Associates.

“We don’t know what their plans are but they need differentiated content to get people to come to their platform.”

Rebecca Lieb, an analyst who follows digital media for Altimeter Group, said the primary motivator for this deal is video.

“Verizon has the pipes, AOL the ability to monetize streaming video with advertising,” she said.

“In that respect, the alliance makes a great deal of sense for both players as digital video continues to gain traction and viewers, and as cord-cutting accelerates as a trend.”

Sarah Kahn at IbisWorld Research said the deal was motivated by AOL’s experience in advertising and the growing importance of

REUTERS

mobile Internet.

AOL, Kahn said, “offers a range of advertising technology products and services to advertisers, publishers and other technology companies individually or on a bundled basis.”

“Ultimately, the purchase will help Verizon - which owns about a third of the wireless market - to expand its mobile-video offerings, retain customers and attract new ones from its competitors.”

Jan Dawson at Jackdaw Research said, despite AOL’s struggles, it is “one of only a handful of companies that reaches over half the US online population with its content each month.”

Dawson said AOL via Huffington Post and TechCrunch “is a much more powerful content player than Verizon on a national and especially international basis than Verizon.”

The online news site Re/code reported that, as part of the deal, AOL may spin off the Huffington Post for as much as $1bn and that talks had been held with German publisher Axel Springer. l

Skype opens door to real-time translation feature n AFP, San Francisco Microsoft-owned Skype on Tuesday cleared the way for anyone to use a new feature that translates video chats or instant messages in real time.

People no longer need to sign-up to use a preview version of Skype Translator, which handles spoken English, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin.

The number of languages translated jumps to 50 for written instant messages, with missives written in one language arriving converted into a preferred language, according to Skype. l

Dutch Bangla Bank has recently launched its Titanium MasterCard credit card at an event held in Dhaka.

Executive director of MasterCard, Vikas Varma and the company’s country manager for Bangladesh, Syed Mohammad Kamal were present at the launching ceremony along with the bank’s managing director, KS Tabrez

A Greenpeace report released on Tuesday charged utilities with hampering efforts to use renewable energy to power data centers needed for services hosted in the cloud.

Greenpeace praised moves made by Apple, Google and other Internet titans to fill a skyrocketing demand for electricity with solar, wind or other environmentally-friendly sources but lamented expansion of data center capacity in places where utilities reliant on carbon-spewing coal fuel dominate markets.

“A growing number of companies have begun to create a corner of the internet that is renewably powered and coal free,” the report said in an executive summary.

Internet companies that have committed to being completely powered by renewable energy sources include Apple, Facebook, and Google, according to Greenpeace.

Those commitments have driven growth of renewable power in several key markets, and caused some utilities to invest more heavily in that kind of electricity generation to meet demand, the report stated.

However, some locations that have attracted data center investments are in markets ruled by utilities with generation powered mostly by coal, gases from which are a culprit in climate change.

Examples listed included Duke Energy in North Carolina, Dominion Resources in Virginia, and Taiwan Power Company in Taiwan.

“These utilities represent the biggest obstacles to building a green internet, and will require collaborative pressure from data center operators and other electricity customers to secure the policy changes needed to open the market up to competitors that offer meaningful options for renewable energy,” Greenpeace said.

Apple leads the charge

Apple continued to “lead the charge” in using clean energy to power Internet operations even as the California-based company rapidly expanded, according to the report.

Apple on Sunday announced broadened renewable energy and environmental protection initiatives in China, including a project with the World Wildlife Fund to promote responsible forest management.

The forestland project aims to protect up to a million acres of working forests used for fiber for paper and wood products, according to Apple.

The project is expected to generate as much as 80 million kilowatt hours annually of clean electricity, enough to power about 61,000 Chinese homes.

About 87% of Apple’s global operations run on renewable energy, and the Sichuan Province solar farms will move the company closer to 100%, according to the maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, Macintosh Computers, and Apple Watch.

Google is also pushing to rely on renewable energy, but its progress is under threat by monopolies held by coal-using utilities in some data center locations such as Georgia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Carolinas, according to Greenpeace. l

DT

BUSINESS 17

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Uncertainty over UK role in EU could choke Asian investment

The Union Flag flies next to the European Flag outside the European Commission building in central REUTERS

n AFP, Tokyo Uncertainty over Britain’s future in Europe is unsettling Asian investors, analysts say, warning if voters opt in a referendum to leave the EU, the United Kingdom would lose a major drawcard for attracting foreign money.

The United Kingdom - a gateway to the lucrative European market, with an educated workforce and business-friendly laws - has long been an attractive destination for Asian businesses looking to spread their wings.

Japan alone has around 900 companies with operations there - including car giant Nissan - worth $8bn a year and accounting for a third of all Tokyo’s European investment, according to government figures.

But after the surprise victory of the Conservative Party in last week’s general election, Britain is now headed, by 2017, for a simple “in-out” vote on remaining part of the European Union, fulfilling a pre-election pledge Prime Minister David Cameron made as he looked to out-flank his Euro-sceptic rivals.

While Downing Street has signalled it will look to bring the vote forwards, a possibly lengthy debate will worry any company planning on spending money there, commentators say.

“We have two years of uncertainty on in-

vestment climate in Britain, and uncertainty is the last thing business wants,” Joerg Wuttke, President of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, told AFP in Beijing.

Between 2008 and 2014, Chinese investment in the UK surged from $800m to $12bn with Britain ranking as one of the Asian giant’s top investment destinations, according to the China-Britain Business Council.

Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore, said Asian business managers will pay close attention to political events in Britain over the coming months, with Cameron’s progress on renegotiating thorny aspects of EU membership - particularly around immigration - front and foremost.

“If these negotiations proceed well...(the) UK is likely to vote to stay in the EU, which will substantially ease jitters,” said Aw.

‘Attraction would disappear’

But if Cameron is unable to squeeze sufficient concessions from his European partners, and his testy electorate votes to leave, Britain would lose one of its chief attractions for Asian investors, warned Kazuyo Yamazaki, senior economist at the Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo.

“If Britain exits the EU, it would cause businesses to think again” about making fresh

investments there, she said. “A major reason for investors to choose Britain was that it is within the EU. If Britain leaves that, the attraction would disappear.”

Analysts and opinion formers in Asia are largely united in the view that Britain -- and Europe -- would be the poorer for a split.

Japan’s leading Nikkei business daily used a weekend editorial to urge Cameron to draw closer to his continental partners, while finding a way to pour balm on the burning nationalism of parts of England, and the Scottish pull towards independence.

A split - the so-called “Brexit” - would “shake Britain’s status as a European business and financial hub, and could choke investments from Asia and the US,” the paper intoned.

The reputation of London as - along with New York - the city of choice for the financial sector, would take a hit if Britain chooses to step into the political unknown, said Wuttke of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

Dubai of Europe

“I think that London will always remain special because it has a global language, it has an established financial system, so to replace London is going to be, in the medium to long term, very difficult,” he said.

“But (foreign investors will) possibly wait until the decision in 2017 with big money decisions because they want to have some certainty - is England going to remain in Europe or are they going to decide to turn into a financial Dubai of Europe.”

Any move to jump into the abyss and go it alone would not automatically cause a sudden capital flight from Britain, said Daiwa Institute’s Yamazaki.

As the home of the international lingua franca and a place that has a foot in both the mega markets of Europe and the United States, an EU-less Britain would doubtless continue to have its draws.

But longer-term trends could be exacerbated if Britain turns in on itself, she said.

“Western Europe has had a long history of attracting investment, including from Japan.

But we are seeing a tide of money going into Eastern Europe, where the labour is cheap and there are good tax incentives.” l

Asia hit hard as Australia slashes foreign aid budget

n AFP, Canberra

Australia has slashed its foreign aid budget by almost Aus$1bn (US$800m) with Asian and African countries bearing the brunt, according to budget papers released Tuesday.

The aid budget will fall by Aus$980.2m to Aus$4.1bn in 2015-16. Asia is among the hardest hit, with humanitarian support for the region - not including East Timor, Cambodia and Nepal - cut by Aus$522.5m.

Indonesia, the largest single beneficiary, will see its allocation plunge by Aus$542.5m to Aus$323m for 2015-16, although officials denied it was related to Jakarta’s execution of two Australians last month.

Sub-Saharan Africa aid was reduced by about 70% to Aus$31.8m.

In contrast, aid for Pacific nations such as Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu would fall by Aus$43.3m to Aus$911.3m.

Five new overseas missions in Qatar, PNG, Indonesia, Mongolia and Thailand will be opened at a cost of Aus$98.3m, the government added.

Canberra has sought to rein in its budget deficit amid falling revenue as commodity prices plunge and as wages growth remain weak.

The papers stated that forecast tax receipts had fallen by Aus$52bn over the four years to 2017-18 since last year’s budget.

Treasurer Joe Hockey said no country was specifically targeted by the massive cuts, which were first flagged last year.

“There wasn’t any specific targeting of any single country at all,” he said, adding that Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had also taken into account recipients’ economic growth and where they were located.

“There has been a formula that has been applied by the minister.”

There were concerns ahead of the budget announcement that Indonesia might link aid cuts to its execution of two Australian drug smugglers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, in late April, which soured ties.

“Not at all,” Hockey said when asked if Indonesia had been singled out.

He added that Bishop had also factored in the countries’ own aid donations.

“She considered whether those countries themselves were giving foreign aid. A number of countries that we were giving foreign aid to were actually going and giving foreign aid away themselves,” he said. l

OPEC raises demand forecast, oversupply still dogging market n AFP, Vienna The OPEC oil cartel on Tuesday raised slightly its world oil demand forecast for 2015, while acknowledging that there remains a supply glut on the market.

In its monthly oil report, the cartel, which pumps out just under a third of the world’s crude, raised global oil demand by 60,000 barrels a day for 2015.

The change would only have a marginal impact on the global demand volume, which is expected to reach 92.5 million barrels a day.

Production by non-OPEC countries is meanwhile expected to remain unchanged at 29.32 million barrels a day.

Ministers from the 12-nation cartel are due

to meet on June 5.

OPEC has set its production at 30 million barrels a day, refusing to turn down the taps despite an oversupply that has brought prices down.

Oil prices extended gains in Asia yesterday

Oil prices extended gains in Asia yesterday on a weaker dollar and amid expectations the latest US crude-oil inventories report will show a decline, easing a global supply glut, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery gained 46 cents to $61.21 while Brent crude for June rose 20 cents to $67.06 in mid-morning trade.

WTI surged $1.50 in New York while Brent closed up $1.95 in London, gaining support from

a weaker US dollar. The greenback bought 119.78 yen in Asia on Wednesday, down from 119.90 in New York on Tuesday and 120.11 on Monday.

A weaker greenback makes dollar-priced oil cheaper for buyers using weaker currencies, boosting demand and pushing global prices higher.

Daniel Ang, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said prices are also supported by expectations of a “further drop in US stockpiles this week”.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) will release its crude stockpiles report for the week to May 8 later Wednesday.

Last week the DoE unexpectedly reported the first decline in commercial crude-oil stockpiles in 16 weeks, but still stockpiles, at

487 million barrels, remained at their highest level on record for that time of year.

Analysts are expecting another decline in Wednesday’s report, with the consensus estimate of a fall of 250,000 barrels in the week ending May 8, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

Ang said dealers will also be monitoring total US production figures released in the DoE report. Last week’s report showed production slipped marginally, by 4,000 barrels to 9.4 million barrels a day.

Dealers have been hoping that a slowdown in US shale output could help ease the build up of global crude reserves, which was a key reason for the collapse in prices of more than 50% between June and January. l

DT

18 BUSINESS

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

News, analysis and recent disclosures

Number of Contract

Premier Cement-A MeghnaCement -A Khulna Printing-N Argon Denims Limited-A Aftab Auto.-A Rahima Food -Z Paramount Textile Ltd.-A Khan Brothers-N BD Building Systems -A Shurwid Ind. -N

Closing (% Change) 9.98 9.96 9.94 9.92 9.91 9.85 9.83 9.82 9.36 9.36

CSE GAINER Company LR Global BD MF1-A ICB Sonali Bank 1 MF-A Anwar Galvanizing-B Khulna Printing-N Paramount Textile Ltd.-A Khan Brothers-N Rahima Food -Z Aftab Auto.-A Argon Denims Limited-A MeghnaCement -A

Closing (% Change) 10.00 10.00 9.97 9.94 9.88 9.87 9.85 9.84 9.84 9.65

DSE LOSER Company Active Fine Chem.-A FAS Fin. & Inv. Ltd-B Samata LeatheR -Z Phoenix Fin. 1st MF-A Reliance1 M.F.-A NCCBL Mutual Fund-1-A ICB AMCL3rd NRB MF-A Imam Button -Z PHP 1st M. F.-A Apex Footwear-A

Closing (% Change) -12.56 -9.72 -9.55 -8.33 -7.25 -6.82 -6.52 -6.32 -6.25 -6.19

CSE LOSER Company Active Fine Chem.-A Kay & Que (BD) -Z AB Bank 1st Mutual Fund-A DBH 1st MF-A Anlima Yarn -A AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A Apex Footwear-A Janata Insur -A EBL First M F-A Peoples Insur -A

Closing (% Change) -12.23 -9.48 -8.62 -8.51 -8.38 -8.33 -8.29 -8.05 -7.69 -7.30

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

DSE key features May 13, 2015

Turnover (Volume)

Company

RUPALIBANK: 15% stock , AGM: 31.05.2015, Record date: 14.05.2015.

UNIQUEHRL: 20% cash dividend, AGM: 25.06.2015, Record Date: 24.05.2015.

WATACHEM: 5% cash and 25% stock dividend, AGM: 11.06.2015, Record Date: 14.05.2015.

CMCKAMAL: 12.50% stock dividend, AGM: 31.05.2015, Record Date: 17.05.2015.

ARAMITCEM: 10% cash dividend, AGM: 13.06.2015, Record Date: 13.05.2015.

GOLDENSON: 12.50% cash dividend, AGM: 27.06.2015, Record Date: 14.05.2015.

GQBALLPEN: 10% cash dividend, AGM: 25.06.2015, Record Date: 14.05.2015.

SUMITPOWER: 10% cash and 5% stock dividend, AGM: 28.06.2014, Record Date: 17.05.2015.

SPPCL: 25% cash dividend, AGM: 28.06.2015. Record Date: 17.05.2015.

TAKAFULINS: 12% stock dividend, AGM: 25.07.2015, Record Date: 21.05.2015.

PRAGATIINS: 10% cash dividend, AGM: 25.06.2015, Record Date: 20.05.2015.

PLFSL: 10% stock dividend, AGM: 25.06.2015, Record Date: 17.05.2015.

BSRMLTD: 10% cash dividend, AGM: 15.06.2015, Record Date: 13.05.2015.

ZAHEENSPIN: 15% stock dividend, AGM: 23.06.2015, Record Date: 21.05.2015.

BAYLEASING: 15% cash dividend, AGM: 08.06.2015, Record Date: 13.05.2015.

RENATA: 80% cash and 20% stock dividend, AGM: 20.06.2015, Record Date: 13.05.2015.

ORIONPHARM: 15% cash dividend, AGM: 28.06.2015, Record Date: 21.05.2015. EPS of Tk. 4.25, NAV per share of Tk. 67.50.

Financials: [Company: (Quarter): Current EPS/Previous EPS in taka] DHAKABANK: (Q1): 0.47 (restated 0.42)/0.50 (0.45).

SOUTHEASTB: (Q1): 0.84/0.76.

EBL: (Q1): 1.04/1.17.

PHENIXINS: (Q1): 0.78/0.76.

CITYGENINS: (Q1): 0.47 (restated 0.43)/0.46(0.42). APEXFOOT: (Q1): -9.45/-2.86.

MERCINS: (Q1): 0.59/0.60.

ASIAPACINS: (Q1): 0.58/0.62.

CONTININS: (Q1): 0.71/0.75.

ATCSLGF: (Q3): 1.28 (basic) and Tk. 0.45 (diluted).

IPO Subscription: Aman Feed Limited Subscription 25.05.2015 TO 04.06.2015. Offer Price per share Tk. 36.00, Market Lot (Shares) 200.

Dividend/AGM ISNLTD: No dividend, AGM: 28.06.2015, Record date: 16.06.2015.

PURABIGEN: 15% stock dividend, AGM: 30.07.2015, Record date: 07.06.2015.

JANATAINS: 10% stock dividend, AGM: 25.07.2015, Record Date: 21.05.2015.

AMBEEPHA: 28% cash dividend, AGM: 14.06.2015, Record Date: 25.05.2015.

ISLAMIINS: 5% cash and 10% stock, AGM: 13.06.2015, Record Date: 19.05.2015.

NCCBANK: 10% stock dividend, AGM: 24.06.2015, Record Date: 18.05.2015.

PEOPLESINS: 13% cash dividend, AGM: 09.06.2015, Record Date: 18.05.2015.

LEGACYFOOT: 5% stock, AGM: 13.06.2015, Record Date: 14.05.2015.

Turnover (Million Taka)

DSE GAINER

Sector

6,379.06 187,893,235 151,082

Traded Issues

309

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

161

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

145

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

3

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,457.39

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

29.79

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 610.11 246.99 50.75 1158.64 121.30 1413.33 2.39 647.11 549.64 23.48 318.04 38.94 163.28 92.79 152.50 36.67 39.47 321.57 100.23 291.71 0.12

% change 9.56 3.87 0.80 18.16 1.90 22.16 0.04 10.14 8.62 0.37 4.99 0.61 2.56 1.45 2.39 0.57 0.62 5.04 1.57 4.57 0.00

Million Taka 88.83 27.46 2.55 87.55 7.36 98.43 56.14 38.02 3.33 24.38 0.84 6.60 9.69 8.15 24.01 2.79 51.29 18.85 32.15 0.02

Average (% Change) 7.11 8.79 6.58 6.37 13.66 9.85 9.55 7.58 7.50 6.39

Average (% Change) 8.75 10.00 7.62 6.63 10.10 8.74 9.85 13.08 8.64 8.33

Average (% Change) -11.90 -7.61 -9.55 -6.82 -7.35 -2.75 -4.20 -6.46 -5.61 -7.57

Average (% Change) -12.11 -9.48 -10.91 -5.77 -8.43 -7.95 -8.27 -7.92 -5.57 -5.17

CSE

ClosingAvg. 59.06 106.06 17.34 25.90 59.42 29.00 18.82 24.12 43.88 18.32

ClosingAvg. 4.35 6.60 38.85 17.20 18.75 24.25 29.00 60.07 26.40 107.91

ClosingAvg. 55.91 12.99 18.00 4.51 6.43 4.24 4.33 8.83 4.54 307.06

ClosingAvg.

% change 15.10 4.67 0.43 14.88 1.25 16.73 0.00 9.54 6.46 0.57 4.14 0.14 1.12 1.65 1.38 4.08 0.47 8.72 3.20 5.46 0.00

56.02 10.50 5.31 4.41 17.49 4.40 314.33 13.72 4.92 16.50

Closing

DHIGH

59.50 107.10 17.70 26.60 59.90 29.00 19.00 24.60 44.40 18.70

Closing 4.40 6.60 39.70 17.70 18.90 24.50 29.00 60.30 26.80 107.90

Closing 55.70 13.00 18.00 4.40 6.40 4.10 4.30 8.90 4.50 310.90

Closing 56.00 10.50 5.30 4.30 17.50 4.40 314.30 13.70 4.80 16.50

Million Taka 698.94 274.45 53.30 1246.19 128.66 1511.76 2.39 703.26 587.65 26.81 342.43 39.79 169.88 102.49 160.64 60.68 42.26 372.86 119.08 323.86 0.14

DLOW

59.50 107.10 17.70 26.60 59.90 29.00 19.00 24.60 44.60 18.80

DHIGH

53.60 98.00 16.50 24.20 55.80 29.00 17.50 22.50 41.20 17.40

DLOW

4.40 6.60 39.70 17.70 18.90 24.50 29.00 60.30 26.80 108.20

DHIGH

4.30 6.50 38.00 16.50 17.40 22.90 29.00 56.00 24.90 105.00

DLOW

57.00 13.10 18.00 4.70 6.70 4.50 4.50 9.30 4.70 325.00

DHIGH

54.30 13.00 18.00 4.40 6.40 4.10 4.20 8.70 4.50 302.50

DLOW

57.80 10.50 5.80 4.60 18.40 4.40 315.00 13.80 5.10 16.50

Total

53.00 10.50 5.30 4.30 17.30 4.40 313.00 13.70 4.80 16.50

% change 10.03 3.94 0.76 17.89 1.85 21.70 0.03 10.09 8.43 0.38 4.91 0.57 2.44 1.47 2.31 0.87 0.61 5.35 1.71 4.65 0.00

Prepared exclusively for Dhaka Tribune by Business Information Automation Service Line (BIASL), on the basis of information collected from daily stock quotations and audited reports of the listed companies. High level of caution has been taken to collect and present the above information and data. The publisher will not take any responsibility if any body uses this information and data for his/her investment decision. For any query please email to biasl@bol-online.com or call 01552153562 or go to www.biasl.net

Turnover in Million

Latest EPS

1.179 20.905 23.303 60.073 37.307 0.272 23.697 33.045 97.813 11.167

Turnover in Million

1.55 8.52 1.71 2.89 2.42 -0.47 1.81 1.52 2.72 0.53

Latest EPS

0.009 0.034 0.136 3.282 2.513 2.920 0.053 10.139 3.688 0.935

Turnover in Million

38.1 12.4 10.1 9.0 24.6 -ve 10.4 15.9 16.1 34.6

Latest PE

-0.70 0.97 0.68 1.71 1.81 1.52 -0.47 2.42 2.89 8.52

Latest EPS

41.155 0.278 0.000 1.090 0.367 2.738 0.959 0.102 1.037 21.330

Turnover in Million

Latest PE

-ve 6.8 57.1 10.1 10.4 16.0 -ve 24.8 9.1 12.7

Latest PE

3.55 -0.32 -0.05 0.65 0.62 -2.12 0.48 -1.21 0.71 -37.80

Latest EPS

3.314 0.011 0.054 0.067 0.045 0.028 0.094 0.043 0.086 0.001

15.7 -ve -ve 6.9 10.4 -ve 9.0 -ve 6.4 -ve

Latest PE

3.55 -0.66 0.76 -0.47 0.83 0.11 -37.80 0.16 0.69 2.09

15.8 -ve 7.0 -ve 21.1 40.0 -ve 85.8 7.1 7.9

CSE key features May 13, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume) Number of Contract

588.45 21,463,634 25,042

Traded Issues

249

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

144

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

104

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

1

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,382.75

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

28.88

DT

BUSINESS 19

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Stocks inch up with volatility n Tribune Report

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company United Power-N WesternMarine -N National Bank - A MJL BD Ltd.-A Khulna Power-A BD Submarine Cable-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A Ifad Autos -N SAIF Powertec-N RAK Ceramics-A

Shahjibazar Power-N Shasha Denims -N Grameenphone-A BD Building Systems -A BD. Thai Alum -B

VolumeShares 1,920,962 5,432,247 21,222,690 2,003,802 3,483,970 1,555,765 6,330,630 2,056,283 2,320,061 2,263,914

Value in Million 392.39 278.32 269.80 244.85 226.43 220.68 207.14 197.51 173.90 152.51

% of TotalTurnover 6.15 4.36 4.23 3.84 3.55 3.46 3.25 3.10 2.73 2.39

VolumeShares

Value in Million

% of TotalTurnover

791,006 2,970,597 310,436 2,229,258 2,251,461

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company National Bank - A BD Submarine Cable-A United Power-N WesternMarine -N BEXIMCO Ltd. -A GreenDeltaInsu -A MJL BD Ltd.-A SAIF Powertec-N Mozaffar H.Spinning-A UNITED AIR-A

Intl. Leasing-B Aftab Auto.-A Ifad Autos -N Khulna Power-A Grameenphone-A

4,694,363 297,943 204,880 564,083 728,420 392,292 143,310 181,909 349,010 1,711,701

685,215 168,805 102,979 152,616 28,429

146.17 117.84 100.90 97.81 97.53

59.56 42.04 41.83 29.09 23.69 22.75 17.58 13.64 13.27 13.08

10.40 10.14 9.95 9.92 9.25

2.29 1.85 1.58 1.53 1.53

10.12 7.14 7.11 4.94 4.03 3.87 2.99 2.32 2.26 2.22

1.77 1.72 1.69 1.69 1.57

ClosingP 203.10 50.80 11.80 121.40 64.00 136.30 33.00 98.20 74.40 66.40

181.10 40.90 323.40 44.40 42.40

ClosingP

Change % 0.05 4.53 0.00 -2.41 -2.44 1.56 5.77 4.69 3.77 -1.19

-5.48 8.49 -1.04 9.36 -3.42

Change %

11.90 136.00 202.30 51.00 32.80 53.10 121.70 74.30 38.60 7.60

15.40 60.30 97.90 64.30 323.50

0.85 1.49 0.05 4.72 5.47 -2.03 -2.17 3.48 2.12 2.70

5.48 9.84 5.27 -1.98 -1.61

ClosingY 203.00 48.60 11.80 124.40 65.60 134.20 31.20 93.80 71.70 67.20

191.60 37.70 326.80 40.60 43.90

ClosingY

11.80 134.00 202.20 48.70 31.10 54.20 124.40 71.80 37.80 7.40

14.60 54.90 93.00 65.60 328.80

DHIGH 209.90 52.50 12.90 125.30 67.00 147.60 33.10 99.70 76.50 69.70

192.40 41.40 328.90 44.60 44.80

DLOW 198.00 49.00 11.50 119.90 63.60 134.70 31.70 93.30 72.50 65.80

178.60 37.30 323.00 41.20 42.00

DHIGH

DLOW

12.90 147.00 209.00 53.10 33.10 58.00 125.00 76.50 38.80 7.70

11.10 134.70 198.00 49.80 31.80 53.00 121.00 73.30 35.00 7.50

15.90 60.30 99.00 67.00 330.00

14.60 56.00 93.10 64.00 323.00

AvgPrice 204.27 51.24 12.71 122.19 64.99 141.84 32.72 96.05 74.96 67.37

184.79 39.67 325.01 43.88 43.32

AvgPrice

12.69 141.11 204.17 51.57 32.53 57.98 122.65 74.97 38.03 7.64

15.17 60.07 96.64 65.01 325.42

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

4342.66238

(+) 0.37%

1635.67005

(+) 0.81%

13402.18750

(+) 0.28%

10771.69960

(+) 0.55%

8178.05350

(+) 0.32%

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

Stocks closed marginally higher amid volatility yesterday with improved trading activities.

The market opened higher but swung between positive and negative throughout the session, as investors played both sides of fence.

The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, settled at 4,342, rising 16 points or 0.4%, after profit-taking fall in the previous session. The index hit lowest at 4,338 in the early trading and highest 4,362 before mid-session.

The Shariah Index DSES was down 9 points to 1,048.

The comprising blue chips DS30 was up over 13 points or 1% to 1,635.

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) Selective Categories Index, CSCX, ended at 8,178, gaining 41 points.

Trading at the Dhaka Stock Exchange was vibrant in the session with turnover hitting six months highest.

The total turnover crossed Tk600-crore and stood at Tk640 crore, up more than 15% over the previous session.

Among the well-performing sectors, ceramics and

textiles continued to gain surging 5.3% and 2% respectively.

Large cap sectors showed mixed performance with pharmaceuticals gaining highest 1.5% and cement 0.8%.

Small caps were in the buying radar as paper and printing, travel and leisure and engineering sectors showed robust performance with more than 8%, 7% and 4% increase in their market capitalisation.

All other major sectors closed lower. In the financial sector, after rising in the previous session, banks, non-banking financial institutions, telecommunications, food and allied and power went down.

A total of 307 issues traded on the day. Of which, 159 closed in green, 125 in red and 23 remained unchanged.

United Power Generation and Distribution Company Limited topped the liquidity chart with a turnover of almost Tk40 crore. It was Western Marine Shipyard, National Bank Limited, Mobil Jamuna Bangladesh Limited, Khulna Power Company Limited and Bangladesh submarine Cable Company Limited. l

ANALYST

In the financial sector, after rising in the previous session, banks, non-banking financial institutions, telecommunications, food and allied and power went down

DT

20 BUSINESS

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Bangladesh-India JSC meeting today n Aminur Rahman Rasel

Buyers examine the quality of goods at the Bangladesh Denim Expo in Dhaka yesterday

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Denim expo ends with pledges to earn $7bn by 2021 n Tribune Report Bangladesh Denim Expo ended here yesterday with pledges of making the country’s denim industry sustainable for sourcing and earning US$7bn by 2021.

“Bangladesh denim producers will be able to increase Bangladesh market share of denim products to $7bn from the existing $3.5bn by 2021,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told the concluding session of the expo in the city.

“Bangladesh’s RMG sector will be able to cross the $50bn mark by 2021 while denim will play a vital role to reach the target.”

Speaking as chief guest, the minister also hoped that the RMG sector would play a significant role in converting Bangladesh to a middle-income country.

Lauding the organizer of the expo, Alam observed that this type of single expo on

denim and jeans products would help to gain more shares in the global market.

“We are mulling to set up offices in Bangladesh to expedite operations smoothly as it is the second largest sourcing country and a major supplier of denim products,” said Levent Cayli, managing director of the Denimco, a Turkish denim producers.

Mostafiz Uddin, managing director of Denim Expert Limited and CEO of the Bangladesh Denim Expo, said, “As we’ve got overwhelming response from the global brands and retailers, we are going to organise another show on November 11 and 12 in Dhaka with an aim to make Bangladesh Denim industry a sustainable one.”

A two-day Bangladesh Denim Expo was held in Dhaka from Monday in the capital to attract global buyers through displaying new fashion trends and products.

The expo was aimed at fetching $7bn by

exporting denim products, which would help the RMG sector to achieve a $50bn export target by 2021.

Currently, there are 27 denim factories in the country in the RMG sector with an investment of $900m,while about 10 factories are poised to come into operation soon.

Local denim factories produce around 30 million yards of fabrics a month, meeting half of the local consumption.

Among the global players in the $60bn denim market, Bangladesh lags behind China, the US, Italy and some Latin American countries.

Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, Ambassador of Australia to Bangladesh Greg Wilcock, Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Christian Martin Fotsch, BGMEA President Atiqul Islam and BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim attended the concluding ceremony. l

At least seven major issues, including the one related to the possibility of power generation project in India, a joint venture between Bangladesh and India, are likely to dominate the upcoming 9th Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow in Dhaka.

The Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) of Bangladesh and India on power sector cooperation will also hold a meeting at the same place today.

“The JSC will discuss the import of additional 500MW of electricity by Bangladesh through Bheramara-Baharampur grid and review the progress of importing 30MW-50MW of electricity through energy exchange of India,” Power Cell Director General Mohammad Hossain, also a member of JSC, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The meeting will also discuss progress of the proposal as regards 800 KV DC High Capacity Multi-terminal HVDC bipole line interconnecting north and north-eastern region of India and Bangladesh.

The meeting would also review the progress of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Ltd in developing 1,320MW Moitree Super Thermal Power Project in Rampal of Bagerhat.

“We would focus on sharing hydroelectricity with Nepal and Bhutan through the Indian corridor,” Mohammad said.

In 8th JSC meeting held in November last year in New Delhi, an understanding was reached that such meetings will be held every six month alternately in Dhaka and New Delhi. l

Dhaka Bank declares 14% cash and 10% stock dividend n UNB Dhaka Bank Limited declared 14% Cash and 10% stock dividend for the year 2014.

The announcement was given from its 20th Annual General Meeting held at Bashundhara Convention Center 2 in the city on Wednesday, says a press release.

Chairman of the bank Abdul Hai Sarker presided over the meeting. Among others, former chairmen of the bank-- Reshadur Rahman and A T M Hayatuzzaman Khan, its former vice-chairperson and Sponsor Shareholder Afroza Abbas, Directors-- Altaf Hossain Sarker, Mohammed Hanif, Md. Amirullah, Abdullah Al Ahsan were also present. l

Speakers: Financing key to Post-2015 development n Tribune Report Speakers at a dialogue yesterday emphasised on the importance of financing for Post-2015 Development agenda that is being put forward by the United Nations to its member states.

“As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ended in 2015, the United Nations undertakes to formulate a new development framework that will be adopted in September

2015 through its General Assembly,’’ the dialogue titled “Financing for Development in Post 2015” was told.

Journalists and civil society members attended the dialogue jointly organised by VOICE and Beyond 2015 with eminent economist Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad in the chair.

Presenting the keynote paper, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE said: “Financing for development explicitly

recognises human rights as a basis to promote the inter-linkages among the three pillars of sustainable development such as social, environmental and economic issues.”

He also proposed to ensure coordination through cross-ministerial commissions, and integration of targets into national and local sustainable development plans, and also integration of targets into national and local budgetary processes.

Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed noted that

developed countries must set binding timetables through national legislation to meet their outstanding 0.7% Gross National Income and ODA commitment, and meet their commitments to direct 0.15% - 0.20% of aid to Least Developed Countries within five years.

“These flows must support democratic ownership, transparency, accountability, inclusiveness and maximise poverty eradication impacts.” l

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Photo: Maisha Aniqa

T-JUNCTION

Schooling prejudice

INSIDE

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Hot Topic

A very thin line to cross

NEWS

Zeil’s new outlet

Zeil’s Shop, a shoe brand, recently opened a new outlet in Mirpur Shewrapara, Rokeya Sarani in the capital. The managing director of Dhaka Bank, Niaz Habib formally inaugurated this outlet. Deputy managing director of Dhaka Bank, Emranul Huq and managing director of Zeil’s Shop Ltd, Jashim Md Al-Amin were also present in the opening ceremony.

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With strings attached

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The dividing line Restructuring our curriculum to help eradicate gender stereotyping

n Zubaida Rana Rahman What is sexism? Sexism is a word that is too often thrown around thus eroding its actual meaning. Sexism is discrimination based on gender. It’s as simple as that. It’s not about extreme feminists, or males who think you “can’t take a joke”; it’s simply about prejudice. Unfortunately, it’s a broad and practiced concept amongst teenagers today.

School is supposed to be somewhere you learn; not just about academics, but ethics and morals too. But how is one expected to learn when sexism floats around in the air, unnoticed and ignored? Take teachers in our society for example. Many teachers in co-ed schools discriminate against the sexes; they tend to discourage any kind of inter-gender interaction and with that being said, what’s the point of the co-ed system? In school buses, boys and girls are forced to sit separately and are more often than not told not to as much as bat an eye at each other. Many a time, a girl’s school football team was not formed because football is “not a girl’s sport,” according to teachers and coaches. Is this the kind of society we want to grow up in? Growing up believing that gender-roles must be satisfied?

What schools have to say: “Scholastica creates a very comfortable environment for both boys and girls to socialise in a healthy manner from a very young age, knowing well their limits of course. The teachers and Student Affairs Unit are always present for common issues and made it their habit beyond their line of duty to help students face social and personal issues. Moreover, our student counsellor Irfana Samia aids both parents and students on external or unorthodox issues which arise to make the full educational experience a complete one. Over time, issues such as sexist perspectives are eliminated before they even reach higher grades and their views are polished on how to respect their peers, indifferent of gender.”

Nurun Nahar Gias, Supervisor, Scholastica

Shifting the blame on to the teenagers themselves, one’s peers and friends can succumb to sexism quite easily and quickly.

A lot has been said about how the boys objectify girls and see them as prizes to be won. It isn’t uncommon for a girl to be called degrading names and seen to accept it. If a boy is promiscuous, he’s put up on a pedestal, while a girl in the same situation is looked down upon. Girls are frequently criticised for their attire (eg jeans and a T-shirt) and are linked to “indecency” while boys are never scolded for their T-shirts being too tight. Girls are expected to check the boxes in society’s appearance list – which is primarily fueled by men’s unrealistic idealisations. Girls are also customarily told that there are certain things they are incapable of simply because a mentality has been created that one gender is more superior to the other.

Don’t get us wrong; boys are subject to sexism wildly as well. From a young age, we are taught that masculinity comes with strengths and power. If a boy is seen to be emotional or be sentimental he is associated with effeminacy by being told not to “act like a girl.” Here, sexism hits both genders – men are told not to be weak while simultaneously women are implied as being weak. If a boy is raped, it is highly possible that he will be

told to “be a man” and dismiss it. There are many deep-rooted conflicts with sexism such as chivalry. Why is a man expected to hold the door open for a woman? Why is it always “ladies first?” If equality is what’s being fought for, why is it not being practiced? Girls often objectify boys as well when making sexually suggestive comments yet it is almost never met with disapproval and somehow boys are not allowed to feel offended. As Ayman Mannan said, “On social media, you have girls publicly drooling over poster boys and that does create unrealistic and body image issues in a lot of boys.”

Sexism is alive and feeding off of the minds even today. Sexism is the jokes people make about a woman’s role in the kitchen and a man’s role in providing for his family; it is catcalling on the street and saying, “she’s too pretty to be smart;” it is society making wardrobe choices for the sexes; it is the gap between being “manly” and “unmanly;” it is inequality. While many are just playing around with friendly banter, therein stems a palpable social acceptance of doing so and thus said acceptance of the patriarchal oppression is suddenly promoted. That being said, sexism instigates a platform for gender equality and thus we, as the growing generation, should fight for mutual respect. l

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International School Dhaka operates within a strong philosophy of inclusion, which aims to promote a celebration of diversity, not only across culture and learning abilities, but also gender differences.

As an IB World School, our curriculum provides students with a framework that allows them to question and challenge the traditional attitudes towards gender inequality through pretend play in The Early Years right through to analytical, research-driven studies of literature, the arts, social sciences and many other fields of education within the PYP, MYP and DP Programmes.

Many students choose to take action on this knowledge, with one of our high school students recently hosting a community event exploring the opportunities of empowering women here in Bangladesh.

Jacob Humes, International School Dhaka

Photos: Bigstock

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Ticket

Some strings

attached Diving into an ocean of melody

n Subah Nasim The problem There comes a point in everyone’s life when they become wildly fascinated by a particular activity. Most of us would label it as no more than a passive inclination, but for some it may turn out to be the first step towards truly mastering an art form.

The cause However, some perceived obstacle usually stops them from delving further into the subject. Most often than not, the obstacle is lack of information, or the availability of necessary resources and the consequent uncertainty that follows.

The way out I remember back when I was first enchanted by classical music, I wanted to understand everything about it, from what was going through the artiste’s mind during the performance to what they might have been feeling while composing each verse. That was when I decided to pick up the violin. I was just as unsure as many of you may be when thinking of diving into something new and formidable. But with the right attitude, anything is possible.

The key to achieving your goals is staying motivated, determined and willing to spend hours and days perfecting your trade.

The path We all have to start somewhere. For me, that was purchasing a violin. Now, if you don’t know whether or not you’re going to play for a long time, you may not want to spend too much and opt for a cheap violin while compromising on quality. However, you can get your hands on a perfectly affordable violin while still maintaining adequate quality, subsequently ensuring that the violin is perfect for you. Equipped with the right tool for the art, your entire mindset is bound to change.

If practised diligently while maintaining correct direction, an instrument becomes an extension of oneself. But it is crucial that we first become comfortable with it.

For an acoustic instrument such as the violin, the strings are just as important as the quality of the wood that it is carved out of. This is precisely because the wood will reverberate with the vibrations of the strings, thus producing the sound we would hear. The ideal wood is one that is light, resonant and strong enough to withstand the tension, a couple of examples are spruce and maple.

The right tool Beginner violins are always the best to start with as they will endure the generally unavoidable rough handling. These vary in prices from a thrifty Tk5,000 to a whopping Tk62,000. Buying the violin, bow and case together or separately will cost roughly the same. When starting out, it’s always better to buy a cheaper violin and getting some expensive strings separately. The length of the instrument is also important; in general ages 12 onwards require a 4/4 or a full size violin. But to be more specific, it depends on the size of the potential practitioner in question and appropriate measurements should be looked up.

Local shops may not have the violin you want or even if they do, it’s highly likely that you’ll get ripped off. As a beginner, it’s better to buy a violin online after reading reviews and deciding on what suits you best; in this trade preference varies widely from person to person. I started out with a Borg MCV41 and not only was it elegant with a smooth sound, it was also budgetfriendly and included a bow and case; the stand has to be purchased separately. You are free to spend hours searching for a site, where you can buy the violin you want. Or you could go to backpackbang.com which is a revolutionary site that seems to have been made for people like us, people who would never settle for second best. You can receive your order in a week or two which is amazing. Each order in Backpack is personalised for the customer and payment can be made via bKash, credit card, PayPal or bank deposit.

Now that you know how to go about selecting and purchasing the right violin for you to practice with, what’s next?

Impressing everyone with a cover of the Game of Thrones theme song, of course! l

New United boy Memphis Depay posted a picture of himself sitting on the steps of the private plane with the caption: ‘Big day today, off to England for the new Under Armour football boots launch.’

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WHEN 30 IS JUST A NUMBER

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ANGRY KP JOKES ABOUT ENGLAND COACHING JOB

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MESSI IS THE BEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME: PEP

Barca book final berth to Enrique’s delight n AFP, Munich Barcelona remain on course to win the treble after reaching the Champions League final by surviving a second-half, second-leg fight-back at Bayern Munich, to the delight

of coach Luis Enrique.

Neymar struck twice as Barcelona reached the Berlin final by beating Bayern 5-3 on aggregate in their semi-final despite losing Tuesday’s second-leg 3-2 at the Allianz Arena having won 3-0 in Spain.

Barca are on the verge of the Spanish league title, face Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Cup final on May 30 and will now face either Juventus or bitter rivals Real Madrid in the Champions League final on June 6.

“I’m happy with the performance of the players. They should be congratulated,” beamed Enrique.

“It’s a great achievement to reach the final.

“We’re one win away from winning each of the three competitions. This is our mission.”

Bayern were facing what looked like an impossible task after going down 3-0 in last week’s first leg at the Camp Nou, but they were given an early glimmer of hope in the return when the unmarked Medhi Benatia headed home on seven minutes.

Bayern produced a rousing second-half performance and goals from Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller allowed them to win the game on the night, but Barcelona advance to their eighth European Cup final.

“With such a good result from the first leg, we knew they had to give more,” said Enrique.

“The second-half was different, because they attacked us more, but we are now in the final and can win the title in each competition we are in.

“This is what it means to be part of Barca.”

Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta said Neymar’s early goals had calmed any early nerves, but it was disappointing not to beat Bayern for the first time in Munich.

“We knew they would push from the off and we got the two goals that calmed us down,” said Iniesta.

“In the second-half they pushed forward, but we need to celebrate being in another final. We need to finish what we have started.

“I think we are where we want to be every year, we are one step away from everything and we need to take this step. We can’t stop or settle for less. It would be incredible for all the fans and the players. Every year is different, this year we have to enjoy it, we have overcome very strong opponents. We are very close and we need to take the next step.”l

3-2

3-5 ON AGGREGATE Barcelona’s Brazilian sensation Neymar (R) celebrates scoring his side’s opening goal against Bayern Munich during their Uefa Champions League semi-final second leg at Allianz Arena in Munich on Tuesday REUTERS

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When 30 is just a number The number 30 is not a magical one for a footballer, especially a striker. More often than not, it is usually the age when a striker’s sellby date is fast approaching.

Bangladesh and Muktijoddha striker Enamul Haque, however, is a rare exception.

Shunned from the national limelight for the best part of four years, Enamul’s recent purple patch in domestic football saw him called up to the national side again for the forthcoming Fifa international friendlies against Singapore and Afghanistan on May 30 and June 2 respectively.

The soon-to-be 32-year old, who made his international bow in 2008, has been in terrific form for top-flight club Muktijoddha. The 2014-15 domestic season might be in its infancy but Enamul has already bagged 12 goals – seven in the Manyavar Bangladesh Premier League and five in the season’s curtain-raiser, the Federation Cup. Shishir Hoque of Dhaka Tribune managed to talk with Enamul yesterday. The veteran striker was expectedly elated and shared his views on his recent form, his national call-up and the uncertain days that preceded the ongoing golden period. Here are the excerpts:

Enamul Haque Age 31

Hometown Naogaon

International debut Merdeka Cup in Malaysia, 2008

Club career T&T Club, 2nd division (1998), Fakirapool Youngs Club, 1st division (1999), Muktijoddha, top-flight (2003-06), Farashganj (2007-08), Abahani (2008-09), Sheikh Jamal (201011), Abahani (201113), Muktijoddha (2013-present)

MI MANIK

When did you last don the national jersey and how does it feel to get called up again?

It feels really great to represent Bangladesh again. The last time I played for the national side was back in 2010-11 against Chinese Taipei in the Asian Games. We had lost that match. Since then, I have been waiting for this day to arrive.

How did you cope as a national discard?

I was with Abahani in 2011 but was unable to

play any game due to injury. Following my recovery though, I warmed the bench regularly.

I knew I would never return to the national side if I kept on featuring as a substitute so I moved to Muktijoddha to play on a regular basis as a starter.

Despite being a striker, you used to play as a defensive or attacking midfielder during your initial days as a Muktijoddha player.

Why was that?

I wanted to continue playing in the starting XI. But, in order for me to do that, I had to play as a defensive or attacking midfielder as the frontline did not feature me. After being able to play out of position, I was more confident as I came to know that I could perform multiple roles. Having said that, I missed being a striker for a while.

Do you reckon this season to be the best in your entire career?

This is one of the most important seasons in my career but I was in better form with Abahani in the 2009-10 season when I scored 24 goals. I netted 14 with Farashganj in the previous season.

How confident were you of a national call-up?

I always had faith that if I perform well, I will be called up into the national side.

I believed that if I can score goals for whichever team I play for, I would return to the national side. [Coach Saiful Bari] Titu bhai advised me to take the best preparation. On top of that, I tried to perform better and better and get back to scoring form. Now, my target is to continue this goalscoring form.l

Boycotting hockey clubs counting on Joy intervention n Shishir Hoque There is finally some light at the end of the tunnel as far as the country’s hockey arena is concerned. And it is Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Arif Khan Joy, who has come forward to resolve the ongoing dispute among the clubs.

Mohammedan Sporting, Mariner Youngs, Bangladesh Sporting and Wari Club did not take part in the previous edition of the premier league and the trio have continued their previous stance to boycott all kinds of hockey activities under the existing committee. Recently, Wanderers also joined the three clubs in boycotting the domestic hockey circuit.

Joy, however, following a meeting with the Bangladesh Hockey Federation officials and representatives of the four boycotting clubs, informed yesterday that he is hopeful over a solution.

“We will hold a closed-door meeting in the coming days with the presence of four-five senior personalities. Hopefully, we will get a solution from this,” said Joy.

Mariner Youngs general secretary Hasan Ullah Khan Rana though confirmed yesterday that their status quo still remained the same.

“We remained at our previous stance. If they (BHF) do not form an ad-hoc committee

We will hold a closed-door meeting in the coming days with the presence of fourfive senior personalities.

Hopefully, we will get a solution from this we will not take part in the inter-club players’ transfer,” said Rana.

BHF general secretary Khaja Rahmatullah on the other hand said, “The ball is in the Deputy Minister’s court. We will accept whatever the ministry decides in the end. We also want every club to take part in the league.”l

Mushfiqur Rahim takes a selfie alongside wife Jannatul Khifayet Mondi during a much-needed vacation in the Maldives yesterday COURTESY

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QUICK BYTES Adriano mulls Shakhtar and Ukraine situation Shakhtar Donetsk’s Brazilian marksman Luiz Adriano said Wednesday he may seek Ukrainian citizenship if his contract with the Donetsk club is extended in December. “I intend to apply for Ukrainian citizenship,” Adriano said. “But my final decision will depend on the situation in Ukraine. If things get back to normal I’ll be happy to take up a Ukrainian passport.”

–AFP

Barca sent to trial over Neymar signing

A Spanish judge Wednesday ordered Barcelona football club to stand trial over alleged tax fraud linked to the signing of Brazilian star striker Neymar.

The National Court in Madrid ordered the trial of Barca’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu, his predecessor Sandro Rosell and the club as a defendant in its own right. They have always said they paid 57 million euros ($65 million) to sign the Brazilian star from his home club Santos in 2013.

–AFP

Hiddink laments Robben loss against Latvia

The Netherlands will be a much weaker force without an injured Arjen Robben when they play Latvia in a key UEFA 2016 qualifier next month, conceded coach Guus Hiddink. Robben recently recovered from an abdominal muscle injury only to suffer a calf tear, which has ended his season. He was missing for Bayern over the two legs of their Champions League semi-final loss to Barcelona over the last seven days.

–Reuters

Rodriguez extends Southampton stay

Jay Rodriguez has ended speculation about his future by signing a new contract with Southampton that will keep him at the Premier League side until 2019, the south coast club said Tuesday.

A ruptured cruciate ligament has kept the 25-year-old striker on the sidelines for more than a year but several of Saints’ top-flight rivals had been linked with a move for Rodriguez, whose current contract only had a year to run.

–AFP

Roma blow as Gervinho suffers hamstring strain

Roma’s battle to secure Serie A’s second automatic Champions League spot looks to have suffered a blow after Gervinho was sidelined with a “minor hamstring strain”. A statement from the club said: “Gervinho underwent tests this morning which revealed he has a minor strain to his hamstring. The Ivorian has already begun treatment.” Roma did not say for how long the Ivorian striker would be sidelined.

–AFP

Mumbai Indians players Parthiv Patel (L), Harbhajan Singh (2L) and Lendl Simmons (2R) pose during a promotional event in Mumbai yesterday

Angry KP jokes about England coaching job n AFP, London Kevin Pietersen joked on Twitter that he had applied for the England coaching job on Wednesday, a day after being sidelined by new director of cricket Andrew Strauss.

“Morning all, after a pretty bad day yesterday I’ve given it a lot of thought overnight,” Pietersen wrote to his 2.56 million followers. “I’m applying for the coaching job! #StraussLogic” Strauss revealed on Tuesday that Pietersen, 34, will not be selected for England in the immediate future, citing a “massive trust issue” between him and the South Africa-born batsman.

England are currently without a coach following the dismissal of Peter Moores last weekend.

Pietersen, England’s leading all-time run-scorer across all formats, was axed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) last year following a 5-0 Ashes whitewash defeat in Australia.

But after new ECB chairman Colin Graves opened the door to a recall by suggesting that he could force his way back into the team by playing county cricket, Pietersen signed for his former team Surrey.

He completed an innings of 355 not out for Surrey against Leicestershire on Monday, his maiden first-class triple century, only to be told later that day by Strauss that he was not part of England’s plans.

In his column for the Daily Telegraph pub-

lished on Wednesday, Pietersen wrote: “I am absolutely devastated that it looks like my hopes of an England recall have been brought to a close, especially given everything that has been said and asked of me.

“They have used the word ‘trust’ to justify not selecting me, well, trust is a two-way thing. I couldn’t believe just half an hour after I had my meeting, the result of it was on the internet and on the BBC airwaves.

“Now I certainly didn’t tell anybody, so who did? They say they don’t trust me, but how can anybody trust them?”

Pietersen also revealed that Strauss, his former England team-mate, had offered him a role as an advisor on one-day cricket, which he rejected.

Pietersen is due to fly to India on Friday to join up with his Indian Premier League team Sunrisers Hyderabad. l

AP

England a ‘laughing stock’ n AFP, London Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith was among several pundits who slammed Andrew Strauss’s decision to maintain Kevin Pietersen’s international exile, saying it had made English cricket a “laughing stock”.

Strauss, whose final months as England captain in 2012 were clouded by “provocative” texts sent by Pietersen to Proteas players, said a “massive trust issue” lay at the heart of his decision.

Yet Tuesday also saw Strauss announce that he’d offered Pietersen a role as an advisor to the one-day side which the star batsman had turned down.

“I see the head boy is making English cricket the laughing stock again! #StraussLogic”, tweeted Smith.

Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who played in the same 2005 Ashes-winning side as Pietersen, said players became more mature as they got older.

“I have no agenda in this,” Flintoff tweeted.

“I thought If @KP24 (Pietersen) was to play again he should fight his way back in which he has, as for personality he can be high maintenance then again so was I, but you do grow up and change .

“I wish I had the chance to play in my mid 30’s reckon I’d have been better!,” added Flintoff, whose international career was cut short by injury.

Meanwhile several former England captains criticised the way in which Pietersen had been given the incentive of a recall only to have it taken away.l

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‘Messi is the best player of all time’

Bayern, Guardiola at crossroads after CL exit n Reuters, Munich

n Reuters, Munich Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is the best player ever, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday after the Spanish side eliminated the Bavarians 5-3 on aggregate to reach next month’s Champions League final.

“He is the best player of all time,” Guardiola said. “I compare him with Pele. I am so happy to see this football.”

Messi, who is enjoying a sensational season and has scored 10 goals in Europe’s elite competition alone, destroyed Bayern in Barca’s 3-0 first-leg win after scoring twice last week.

The diminutive Argentine was again instrumental as Barcelona eased into the European Cup final for an eighth time.

“He is back, he is there where I had the privilege to train him,” Guardiola, who twice won the Champions League with the 27-yearold in his four years at Barca between 20082012, told reporters. “He is definitely back at his best.”

Messi, who last made the final under Guardiola in 2011 when they Barca won it, has also scored 40 goals in La Liga this season as the Spanish side chase a treble of titles.

Messi’s role on Tuesday was less of an executioner and more of an orchestrator as he fell deeper allowing Neymar and Luis Suarez to receive his pin-point passes.

“When Barca have the ball they are extremely strong. I hope in Berlin they can win the fifth European Cup,” said former Barcelona player Guardiola, who has failed to reach the final with Bayern in his two seasons in charge.

“We tried everything. But we had a lot of problems (with injuries) and when you play with so many problems for two months and the players keep charging forward then the team deserves a big compliment.”

Bayern were without wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery plus defenders David Alaba and Holger Badstuber but, despite a 2-1 deficit in the first half, they dug deep to score twice and avoid a first home loss in the competition this season.l

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (L) shakes hands with Bayern Munich head coach Pep Guardiola during their Uefa Champions League semi final second leg on Tuesday AFP

Bayern Munich and Pep Guardiola have reached a crossroads after Tuesday’s Champions League exit to Barcelona, with the team in need of renewal and the Spanish coach under growing pressure to deliver European silverware.

Guardiola’s arrival two years ago was supposed to herald another great European era for the Bavarians after their 2013 treble. They had reached the Champions League final in 2010, 2012 and 2013 before signing him.

The 44-year-old has so far failed to take the side beyond the semi-final stage in his two seasons in charge, Tuesday’s 3-2 win not enough to give them a place in next month’s final.

And while Bayern won the domestic double last season and the league this time around it was to capture a sixth elite European trophy that he was brought to the club.

Bayern’s ambitious bosses wanted European glory and they wanted it fast, and who better to bring it than the most sought after football coach in the world?

Guardiola has received the full backing of the Bayern board from the very start.

He was even described as an exceptional coach after they lost to Leverkusen in the league, crashed out of the German Cup, went down 3-0 to Barcelona and were beaten by Augsburg in the league last week to round off their first four-game losing streak since 1991.

Guardiola won 14 titles in four seasons at Barcelona, including two Champions Leagues, but Bayern’s 5-3 loss on aggregate to the Spaniards has proved to everyone in Munich that he is no magician.

“We won the league, now we will rest, we will go on holidays and come back next season stronger,” Guardiola said. “I am not bothered about how critics view my work. I am not there for them. I am there for the club.”

Critics may not be an issue for him but with one year left on his contract and no talks yet on an extension Guardiola will need to review his options. l

Barca’s ‘MSN’ attacking trio in unstoppable form RESULT Bayern Munich (GER)

3-2

n Reuters, Madrid Barcelona (ESP)

Benatia 7, Mueller 74, Neymar 15, 29 Lewandowski 59 Barcelona win 5-3 on aggregate

UCL TOP SCORERS 10

Messi (Barcelona)

9

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Luiz Adriano (Shakhtar), Neymar (Barcelona)

7

Martinez (Porto), Mueller (Bayern), Tevez (Juventus)

6

Agüero (Man City), Benzema (Real Madrid), Cavani (Paris SG), Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Suarez (Barcelona)

5

Brahimi (Porto), Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Mandzukic (Atletico Madrid)

Messi to Suarez to Neymar, goal. Messi to Suarez to Neymar, goal.

That devastating and increasingly familiar combination served up by Barcelona’s attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar fired the Catalan giants past Bayern Munich into the Champions League final on Tuesday.

Although Barca lost the semi-final, second leg at the Allianz Arena 3-2, last week’s 3-0 victory in the first leg at the Nou Camp, with two goals from Messi and one from Neymar, meant they progressed comfortably through to the June 6 showpiece in Berlin 5-3 on aggregate.

Tuesday’s match was the latest masterclass from the South American trio, known in Spain as ‘MSN’, whose goals have put Barca on the brink of repeating 2009’s treble of Champions League and Spanish league and

Cup triumphs, the only time a La Liga club have achieved the feat.

After Bayern took an early lead, MSN, who are playing together for the first time this season following the arrival of Suarez from Liverpool, made their decisive contribution in the space of less than 15 minutes.

Argentina captain Messi sent a pinpoint pass behind the defence for Uruguay striker Suarez, who glanced up to his left and laid the ball across for Neymar of Brazil to sidefoot past stranded goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Barca went 2-1 ahead when Messi flicked the ball into space for Suarez with his head, who again picked out Neymar to his left, before the Brazilian controlled with his chest and clipped a shot just inside the post.

It took Neymar’s Champions League tally for the season to nine, one behind top scorer Messi, while Suarez has six.

They have a club-record 114 goals between them in all competitions, while Messi has also

provided a jaw-dropping 27 assists, with Suarez making 16 and Neymar six.

Barca have surely assembled one of the most fearsome forward lines in history and with Suarez the oldest at 28, Messi aged 27 and Neymar 23 they could be rattling in more than 100 goals a season for several years to come.

“We don’t need to talk about the trio’s qualities,” Barca coach Luis Enrique, whose side will play holders Real Madrid or Juventus in the final, told a news conference. l

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THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

Djoker survives Almagro scare, Serena through in Rome n Reuters Holder Novak Djokovic scraped over his first hurdle at the Rome Masters with a 6-1 6-7(5) 6-3 victory over Spanish claycourt specialist Nicolas Almagro on Tuesday.

The world number one, given a bye into the second round, was in total control as he swept through the opening set at the Foro Italico, but the aggressive Almagro settled down to his task and made the Serb work hard for an 18th consecutive Tour victory.

Djokovic looked poised for victory when he built a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak but Almagro fought back and when Djokovic netted a tame forehand at 5-5 Almagro seized his chance, clinching the second set with a powerful first serve.

Almagro, who missed the second half of last year after foot surgery and has slipped to 174th in the rankings, continued to worry Djokovic with his power at the start of the third set.

Djokovic kept his nose in front on serve though and broke in the eighth game after

winning a long baseline exchange.

Former Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka also reached the third round but was stretched before overcoming Argentina’s Juan Monaco 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Ninth seed Marin Cilic was the highest-ranked casualty, losing in straight sets to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, but there was no hiccup for seventh seeded Spaniard David Ferrer who came through 6-4 7-5 against France’s Richard Gasquet.

In the women’s event, top seed and defending champion Serena Williams crushed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-3 in her first match since Petra Kvitova ended the American’s 27-match unbeaten run in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open last week.

Williams needed 62 minutes to dismiss the former world number 13 in straight sets, smashing 25 winners and converting five of seven break points in a one-sided encounter.

Maria Sharapova also wasted little energy as she moved into the third round. The Russian, seeded three, was 6-2 3-1 ahead when Australian opponent Jarmila Gajdosova retired. l

Hold your tongue, Real coach Ancelotti tells Bale agent n Reuters, Madrid Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has hit back at Gareth Bale’s agent for suggesting the Wales winger’s team mates do not pass to him enough, telling Jonathan Barnett it would have been better to keep quiet.

The 25-year-old has been whistled by disgruntled fans at the Bernabeu, a startling turnaround for a player who scored in the finals of the Champions League and the King’s Cup last term, but has a chance to redeem himself when Real host Juve for the return leg.

“This is a world in which a lot of people talk and sometimes they talk too much,” Ancelotti said.

“Bale’s agent spoke who has never been to one of our training sessions, who doesn’t know the atmosphere we have, who spoke from outside,” added the Italian.

“Bale has never had problems with his team mates and his team mates have never had problems with Bale. So too many words and it would have been better to stay quiet.

We are happy with Bale’s season.”l

Pakistan blame game in full flow after debacle n AFP, Karachi Pakistan’s cricket chiefs face a battle to address the reasons behind their disastrous tour to Bangladesh as they gear up for their first home series against Test opposition in six years.

Pakistan slumped to ninth in the ICC oneday international table -- their lowest since rankings were introduced in 2002 -- after losing the ODI series to minnows Bangladesh 3-0, threatening their participation in the 2017 Champions Trophy in England where only top eight teams will feature.

The tourists also suffered their first ever Twenty20 defeat against Bangladesh. Although they managed to win the two-Test

series 1-0 with victory in the second Test last week, the national pastime of inquisition and blame game is back in full flow.

Legendary paceman and 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan termed the Bangladesh one-day series defeat as “unimaginable” while former captain Ramiz Raja described it as “the lowest point in country’s cricket history”.

As a bewildering number of former players and captains line up to have their say, those who currently govern the game are pointing their fingers towards the system over which they preside.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan promised a “serious review” and labelled the first-class system as “com-

pletely flawed” and fitness of the players as “worst in the world.”

A procession of players withdrew with injuries from the Bangladesh tour, highlighting the lack of a fitness regime and the mistakes made in allowing players to come back to the rigours of international cricket without proper match practice.

The post-mortem comes as Pakistan prepare to face Zimbabwe in a mini-series of Twenty20s and three one-day internationals -- the formats where the team has fared worst of late -- with the African side keen to upset the hosts.

No Test-playing team has toured Pakistan since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009, leaving

Woods writes letter to bullied boy who stutters n AFP, Los Angeles

DAY’S WATCH Channel 9 Bangladesh Premier League 4:45PM Sheikh Jamal v Abahani

Sony six 8:30PM Indian Premier League Mumbai v Kolkata

Star Sports 2 11:00AM Badminton: Sudirman Cup 2015 Chinese Taipei v Australia

Ten Action 12:00AM UEFA Europa League SF, Leg 2: Fiorentina v Sevilla

Ten Sports 12:00AM UEFA Europa League 2014/15 SF, Leg 2: Dnipro v Napoli

eight people dead and seven visiting players injured.Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who retired from one-day cricket after World Cup in March, called for a united effort to arrest the decline.

For decades Imran has blamed a flawed first-class system as being detrimental to the national side, but analysts counter that it produced players in the past of the calibre of Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Inzamam-ul-Haq. That argument doesn’t wash with former Test captain Inzamam. “Look, with the passage of time our first-class system didn’t get better,” he told AFP. “The lack of ‘A’ team tours hurt us badly, because that is the stage where we can mature our fringe players.” l

An actor wearing a costume of Super Victor, the mascot for the Euro 2016 championships holds the Coupe Henri Delaunay, the trophy of the UEFA European Football Championship on Tuesday AFP

Tiger Woods wrote a personal letter of support to a schoolboy who contemplated suicide because of a stutter, saying “I know what it’s like to be different and not fit in”.

In the letter, published by Golf Digest magazine Tuesday, Woods revealed he too had suffered with a speech impediment and gave the boy encouragement to overcome bullying.

Gustafson shared the letter, which also mentioned that Dillon was a fan of Woods, with Golf Digest who printed it last week.

Gustafson then tweeted on Sunday, just days after the article appeared: “Thanks so much @TigerWoods for sending my friend Dillon a letter. He got so happy! It’s being framed and hanged. #class.” Woods told Dillon he had to deal with many barriers as a child, such as being the only black player in the field.l

DT

30 DOWNTIME

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Large (3) 3 Small domestic foul (6) 8 Den (4) 9 Choler (3) 10 Flexible (6) 11 Place of worship (6) 14 Regretful (5) 17 Garment (5) 20 Assert without proof (6) 24 Call for repeat (6) 26 Be sorry for (3) 27 Extremities (4) 28 Emphasise (6) 29 Attempt (3)

DOWN 1 Finest quality (4) 2 Gloomily sullen (4) 3 Beak (4) 4 Zodiac sign (5) 5 Rome’s river (5) 6 Land measure (3) 7 Full of cheer (5) 12 Flightless bird (3) 13 Hawaiian dish (3) 15 Lubricant (3) 17 Layers (5) 18 More agreeable (5) 19 Is concerned (5) 21 Camera part (4) 22 Direction (4) 23 Desire with rivalry (4) 25 Fastener (3)

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 16 represents I so fill I every time the figure 16 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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

DT

SHOWTIME 31

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015

CELEBS ON SOCIAL

Arjun Kapoor @arjunk26 What a playa !!! U know ur related when ur eyes shut together while laughing @ AnilKapoor @ sonamakapoor @ RheaKapoor James Franco @JamesFrancoTV I think this is my favorite role/movie I’ve ever done. The Long Home

Photos: Courtesy

Chris Rock @chrisrock Good friends good times

First dance theatre in Bangladesh n Showtime Desk Bangladeshi filmmaker Khijir Hayat The first ever dance theatre production in Bangladesh, Waterness will be held at the Jatio Nattayshala of the Shilpakala Academy today. Pooja Sengupta is responsible for the concept design, choreography and directing the production, which is scripted

by Dheeman Bhattyacharyya and music by Suman Sarkar.

The theatre production is brought to life

by Turongomi- Repertory Dance Theatre.

The dance theatre production is even more significant this month because it marks Tagore’s birthday, as it tries to capture the creative journey of the Noble Laureate from 1890-1941. The production will attempt to display a relationship between woman and water. The story will deal with how the poet juggled with various responsibilities during the post “manashi” period.

The production will also try to capture the influence of Padma in making him realise the insignificance of human ego. In addition to this, it will shed light on how Tagore

Parsons as God Best known for his outstanding performances on CBS’s The Big Bang Theory as the know-it-all physicist Sheldon Cooper, Jim Parsons is often regarded as the reason behind the success of the show. The Emmy and Golden Globes winning actor started his career working in Off-Broadway shows in New York.

Despite his noteworthy performances, Jim made his debut on Broadway rather recently in 2011. He played the role of Tommy Boatwright in The Normal Heart.

Later on, he portrayed the same character in the film adaptation of the play for which he received his seventh Emmy nomination.

The actor has returned to Broadway as God in a new played named An Act of God. The show's opening night is May 28th, and it will run until August 2nd.l

explored multiple arenas of abstraction through his paintings.

Waterness will make use of classical Indian dance, contemporary dance, Classical Jazz, Tagore School of Dance(TSD), poems, prose, paintings, letters by Rabindranath to capture the magical journey of the poet.

Performers involved with the dance theatre include: Pooja Sengupta, Atik Rahman, A Ahmed Nyeem, Nobonita Deb, Yasna rahman, Lopa susmita, Anika Haque Ridita, Sreyoshee Troyi, Naiz Badhon and Md Daudul Islam. l

WHAT TO WATCH

Ride Along C+ Star Movies 4:00pm Security guard Ben must prove himself to his girlfriend’s brother, top cop James. He rides along James on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta.

Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers A WB 8:30pm While Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron’s new ally, Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard.

Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen The Conjuring A HBO 9:30pm Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston