17 July, 2015

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

| Shraban 2, 1422, Ramadan 29, 1436 |

FORKAN TO DIE FOR 1971 WAR CRIMES PAGE 3 Eid-ul-Fitr tomorrow if Shawwal moon sighted today  Tribune Desk Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of Muslims which also marks the end of Ramadan fasting, will be celebrated in the country tomorrow if the moon of the month of Shawwal is sighted in Bangladesh sky today.

The National Moon Sighting Committee will meet today at 7:30pm to take decision in this regard after reviewing the information of the moon sighting. The meeting will be chaired by Religious Affairs Minister Matior Rahaman, who is also the president of the committee.

If the moon is not sighted today, Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on Sunday.

The Islamic Foundation has requested the people of the country to call the Moon Sighting Committee at 9559493, 9559643, 9555947, 9556407 or 9558337, or send a fax at 9563397 in case the new moon is sighted anywhere in the country tonight.

President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have greeted the nation

Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 95

|

www.dhakatribune.com

SOUMYA RISES TO 15 OF ODI BATSMAN RANKING PAGE 25

| 32 pages plus 24-page Weekend |

WHERE HAVE ALL THE MISSING PEOPLE GONE?

Holidaymakers leave Dhaka at steady pace Jamil Khan, Shohel Mamun  Mohammad and Nure Alam Durjoy

With yesterday being the last working day before Eid, the rush of outbound people finally started to gather pace at different transport terminals of the capital.

The Sadarghat terminal experienced the greatest pressure as thousands chose launches to travel to their homes in southern districts. Trains were also a popular choice as most locomotives arrived and left on time this year. Buses saw reduced number of pas-

sengers in the morning, but the number increased as the day progressed.

The overall outbound transport situation steadily gained momentum throughout the day, and the rush is expected to be greater today as Eid-ul-Fitr will be observed tomorrow or on Sunday, based on the sighting of the Shawwal moon.

Risky journeys in jam-packed launches Despite recent heavy rainfall and forecast of further PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

While millions leave Dhaka to spend Eid with family and friends, these street kids neither have anywhere to go nor the means to happiness. But it does not take much to make them happy. Two college students Jony and Al Amin, not in the picture, have raised funds to arrange new clothes and good diet to light up the faces of these underprivileged children on the Jatiya Sangsad premises in Dhaka yesterday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Ashraf gets Public Administration Ministry

The Dhaka Tribune wishes all its readers, advertisers, hawkers and well-wishers a very happy Eid-ul-Fitr

 Tribune Report

NOTICE All offices of the Dhaka Tribune will remain closed for three days from today for Eid. Therefore, there will be no issue of the daily on July 18, 19 and 20. If Eid vacation extends, Tribune will not come out on July 21 too. However, our online service will be on to keep readers updated.

PAGE 3 Three killed in RAB ‘gunfight’in Dhaka, Rangpur

Just a week into his removal from the LGRD Ministry, Syed Ashraful Islam was made Public Administration Minister yesterday.

A gazette notification was issued yesterday for the immediate effect of his appointment.

At present State Minister for the Public Administration Ministry Ismat Ara Sadek is looking after the ministry.

Ashraf was given the charge of the ministry a day

PAGE 4 Recreational places in Dhaka ready for Eid

after he cancelled his trip to London at Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina’s request on Tuesday night.

Ashraf could not be reached over phone for comments.

However, his Personal Secretary Tofajjal Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that they were yet to receive any letter from the Cabinet Division.

Syed Ashraful Islam, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League, was scheduled to leave for London on Thursday to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with his family.

PAGE 7 Stealing of newborn exposes sorry state of CMCH security

PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

PAGE 9 Europe to restore funding for Greece after bailout vote

Price: Tk10

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2 NEWS

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Country goes under security blanket Eid-ul-Fitr tomorrow if Shawwal moon sighted today  Mohammad Jamil Khan

A multi-tier security blanket has been thrown over the country to ensure safety and security of people after and before Eid-ul-Fitr.

A large number of people visit their village homes leaving the cities almost empty during the Eid vacation when criminals find it easier to rob people of their belongings.

During this time, the three-tier security blanket will be in place to save people’s lives and property in cities, said police and RAB officials.

Sources in police said Dhaka Metropolitan Police Headquarters has already been given instructions to take all necessary steps.

As per the order, the DMP has instructed its eight crime divisions to ensure law and order in their areas. The DCs too have already issued letters to the OCs of 49 police stations.

8,000 police personnel along with RAB men will be on duty in eight crime divisions.

10 temporary camps have been set up in the capital to monitor security systems.

Along with this, some 3,000 community police personnels will remain on patrol in residential areas. 

and the Muslims across the world on this occasion.

In separate messages, they wished peace, progress and prosperity for all.

Eid preparation in full swing Thousands of people have already left the capital to celebrate the largest religious festival in the country with their families in different parts of the country; many more are expected to leave today.

The three-day public holiday begins today, and it will be extended for a day if the Eid falls on Sunday.

All preparations have been completed across the country for smooth holding of Eid congregations.

The largest Eid congregation will be held at Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj district at 10am, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims will offer special prayers on the occasion.

In the capital, the main Eid congregation will be held at the National Eidgah near the High Court at 8:30am, which will be attended

by President Abdul Hamid.

However, the venue of the main congregation will be shifted to the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in case the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Besides, five congregations will be held at 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am and 10:45am at the National Mosque.

Arrangements will be there at the National Eidgah and the National Mosque for women to take part in the Eid prayers alongside their male counterparts. including agencies, enforcement Law Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police, will ensure security in and around the main Eid congregation.

Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations will arrange 379 more Eid congregations between 7 am and 11 am in the city.

Two Eid congregations will be held at Dhaka University Central Mosque and one at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban at 8am.

Divisional, district and upazila adminis-

trations and local government bodies have taken preparations in their respective areas to observe Eid-ul-Fitr.

The law enforcers have taken tight security measures across the country for the festival.

The government has chalked out elaborate programmes to celebrate Eid with due respect and in a smooth manner.

National flags will be hoisted at government, autonomous and non-government offices and other important establishments.

National flags and flags inscribed with “Eid Mubarak” will be installed at important traffic islands and light posts in Dhaka city.

Besides, designated government offices and other establishments would be illuminated on the night following the Eid day.

Bangladesh Television, Bangladesh Betar and private television stations will air special programmes. Special meals will be served in hospitals, jails and orphanages.

The day will be observed in Bangladesh missions abroad in a befitting manner as well.

Powerful committee Holidaymakers leave Dhaka at steady pace to vet new industrial gas connections  Aminur Rahman Rasel After a 6-year moratorium, the government has decided to approve new gas connections to industrial consumers on a limited scale after Eid. Around 2,300 applications have been pending with the four state-run gas utility companies since July 2009. Energy and Mineral Resources Division Secretary Abu Bakar Siddique said that initially, 450 applications would be approved. “No new captive power plants would get gas connections,” he said.

The new connections will require an extra 120 mmcfd gas. The decision comes with Bibiyana production set to increase by 300mmcfd.

The government engaged intelligence agencies to look into applicants. A high-level committee led by the PM’s adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, will vet the applications. 

Ashraf However, he cancelled his London tour following Hasina’s request.

The premier held a one-on-one meeting with Ashraf for around two hours at her official residence Gono Bhaban on Wednesday evening.

Before the publication of gazette notification yesterday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith met Syed Ashraf at his residence.

Ashraf was made a minister without portfolio on July 9 after he was removed from the LGRD Ministry. He had been serving the ministry since the Awami League came to power in 2009.

After three days of rumours centring his removal, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain finally replaced him.

Syed Ashraful Islam, son of Bangladesh’s first acting president Syed Nazrul Islam in 1971, was appointed as LGRD minister twice in 2009 and 2014. 

thunderstorms in the next couple of days, thousands have chosen the waterways as their preferred mode of travel this Eid. The travellers also continue to gamble with their own lives as the launches – like every other year – are picking up passengers exceeding their capacity.

Around 6pm yesterday, the Dhaka Tribune found that the entire Sadarghat launch terminal and its surrounding areas were packed to the brink with people looking to secure a seat in launches bound for their homes.

Taking advantage of the high demand, most of the 60 launches that left the docks between noon and evening hours reportedly picked up passengers that numbered more than double their capacity.

Staying at the docks between these hours, the Dhaka Tribune found launch operators were flouting existing rules and ignoring the shipping minister’s recent directives.

Talking to reporters yesterday, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan reiterated that no launch would be allowed to leave the terminal with extra passengers.

Authorities at the terminal, however, blamed passengers for ignoring warnings about the risks of overfilled launches.

“The passengers are not listening to us.

They just want to go home and we have almost nothing to do about it,” said Mokhlesur Rahman, additional police superintendent of River Police.

Even though it was decided ahead of Eid that launches would leave the docks as soon as they were packed to capacity, the Dhaka Tribune found that the directive was being ignored by almost all the launches.

Asked about it, Joynal Abedin, joint director of traffic and security at the BIWTA, denied the allegation. He instead blamed passengers for hiring small boats to later climb into the launches. “We are doing our best to provide the best possible service to the homegoers,” added Joynal.

Passengers also claimed that the launch operators were charging them Tk100 to Tk150 extra for tickets.

However, Vashkar Chowdhury, secretary of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), told the Dhaka Tribune that the rates charged during Eid festivals were the actual rates, while lowered rates were charged throughout the year to attract more passengers.

Meanwhile, our Munshiganj correspondent reports that two ferries were rescued after getting stuck in a hidden shoal on the Shimulia-Kewrakandi route yesterday.

Shimulia BIWTC Manager Abdul Alim said a ferry named Shah Paran was initially stuck in the shoal with over a thousand passengers and over 70 vehicles in the afternoon, while another ferry named Ruhul Amin – carrying 32 vehicles – also got stuck at the same site just hours later.

The Ruhul Amin was rescued by two vessels at 4pm, while the former was rescued at 7pm.

Punctual rail service The rail service, which has frequently been subject to harsh criticism for unpunctual schedules, has turned around to become a relatively reliable mode of travel this year.

Most of the trains departed Kamalapur Railway Station on time yesterday, with the exception of trains bound for Rangpur, Dinajpur, Lalmonirhat and Khulna – which saw delays of one to four hours.

However, some passengers at Kamalapur said this was only a short delay compared to their experiences in the previous years.

Yesterday, the scheduled Rangpur Express and Chittagong-bound Mohanogor Probhati were delayed more than an hour at Kamalapur, said Station Master Nripen Chandra Saha.

Express Dewanganj-bound Teesta The also saw a delay of four hours, Khulna-bound Sundarban Express three hours, and Sylhet-bound Parabat Express saw a one hour delay.

The railway authorities were already expecting schedule collapse for trains bound for the western zone, because most of the trains there are run with unfit locomotives.

Amzad Hossain, director general of Bang-

ladesh Railway, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have arranged two more reserved locomotives to carry passengers from Rangpur and Dinajpur station. That may remove sufferings during this Eid season.

“This problem will not persist next year as the government is going to get 150 locomotives from Indonesia and India,” he added.

Each day, an estimated 50,000 holidaymakers leave the capital from Kamalapur ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. Around 67 trains depart from Kamalapur Railway Station every day, among which 28 are inter-city trains.

Less crowded bus terminals Road transport has also suffered fewer setbacks so far this year, while the passengers have also experienced less hassle at the terminals.

Visiting Gabtoli around 10am yesterday, the Dhaka Tribune found that there was no pressure of crowd, allowing the long-distance buses to operate without any difficulties.

However, a few buses – mostly bound for Manikganj, Tangail and Gazipur – were seen carrying extra passengers on the roof.

Nurul Basar, a supervisor of Dinajpur-bound bus of Nabil Paribahan, said: “Even though the pressure is comparatively low, there is a bit of traffic jam on the highways.”

Md Habib, who was found waiting to leave the city for his Eid vacation, said: “The presence of passengers is not so high. Entire Gabtoli is not as crowded as I had seen before.”

However, as the day progressed, more and more people slowly started arriving at the terminal.

With the day progressing, bus terminals at Mohakhali and Sayedabad also saw increase of passengers.

While inspecting the Mohakhali terminal in the afternoon, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader told journalists: “There are 506 BRTC buses on the road to ensure that people have a safe journey home.

Fifty-five more BRTC buses will be added if necessary.

“The situation is better than before.” 

DT

NEWS 3

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Forkan to die for 1971 war crimes  Tribune Report

kept for verdict on June 14.

He was arrested on June 25 last year from Rupatali Bus Stand area in Barisal following a warrant issued against him by the tribunal.

According to the third charge, Forkan and his accomplices held Golapi Rani Saha, the unmarried daughter of Ram Krishna Saha, from their house at Subidkhali on August 17, 1971 and raped her at a place named Jugibari.

The razakars then abandoned the woman in unconscious condition near her house. She died the following day.

Charge five says Forkan shot dead Hatem Ali at Kakarbunia and detained his daughter Aleya Begum on August 22. Mass rape was committed upon her at Patuakhali Circuit House. The convict along with his accomplices and the Pakistani Army personnel also killed Sanad Kumar Halder and Elemuddin at the same village.

The tribunal sentenced Forkan to death on these two charges.

According to the fourth charge, in which the razakar leader was sentenced to imprisonment until date, Shova Rani and Sushama Rani were picked up around 10am on August 20, 1971 from the house of Lalit Karmakar at village Subidkhali Bazar under Mirzaganj.

They were taken to the razakar camp set up at old hospital building. After committing recurrent rape upon them, they were left abandoned in front of their house. Afterwards they along with their family deported to India, being feared.

The judges observed that rape or sexual violence, either in war time or in peace time, is a “revolting act of robbery that takes the thing that cannot be given back. Mass rape is graver than murder.”

The goal of “committing such mass rape especially on defenceless Hindu women was not to ravish extreme wealth of a woman and to kill her, but to cripple the socio-political order and cultural integrity,” the judgement says. 

A war crimes tribunal yesterday sentenced Convention Muslim League activist Forkan Mallik to death for murder, rape and deportation as crimes against humanity in Patuakhali during the 1971 Liberation War. He was given capital punishment on two charges – gang rape and murder of Golapi Rani Saha in Subidkhali Bazar of Mirzaganj upazila, and killing of three civilians and rape upon Aleya Begum in Kakrabunia. Aleya herself testified at the tribunal.

“Her testimony depicts horrific narration of killing her father and her forcible capture followed by untold and barbaric physical invasion caused to her for three days in captivity,” the judges said in the verdict.

Forkan, 63, was sentenced to imprisonment for life until death on another charge that involves rape of two women – Shova Rani and Sushama Rani, and forceful deportation of their family to India. They never returned.

This sentence will be merged with the death penalty, the judgement says.

“The nation today pays humble reverence to those women who laid highest sacrifice for the cause of our independence. Golapi Rani, Shova Rani, Sushama Rani and Aleya Begum shall ever remain alive in the nation’s history as ‘bravest women,’” reads the verdict.

Forkan was a willing participant in all the brutal attacks that resulted in mass rape and murder of civilians as narrated in the charges, the judges said.

He was acquitted from two other charges – killing of four people at Subidkhali Bazar and forced conversion of three Hindus to Islam – as the prosecution could not prove his complicity with the incidents.

The three-member tribunal headed by its Chairman Justice Obaidul Hassan delivered the verdict yesterday morning in presence of the convict. The other members are Justice

Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Shahinur Islam.

The tribunal said the prosecution failed to prove that Forkan had been a member of the local razakar force. But such failure does not make him a low-level offender. It says Forkan was a close and notorious associate of the local razakars and accompanied them in carrying out

DB takes over Rajon murder probe

Three killed in RAB encounter

War criminal Forkan Mallik being taken to the tribunal from Dhaka Central Jail yesterday

 Our Correspondent, Sylhet

 Kamrul Hasan

The Detective Branch of police has started investigating the murder of Rajon, the 13-yearold who was brutally beaten to death in Sylhet on July 8 by a group of men who falsely accused him of stealing a van.

DB Inspector Suranjit Talukdar, the new investigation officer in the case, collected the case documents from Jalalabad police yesterday, OC Akhtar Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune.

Meanwhile, a Sylhet court yesterday granted a seven-day remand against two accused – Nur Mia, who recorded the video of the torture and was later apprehended by locals on Wednesday night, and Dulal Hossain, one of the three brothers who have been accused of beating up Rajon.

Metropolitan Magistrate Anwarul Haque granted the remand after Inspector Suranjit placed the duo before the court.

The police, on the other hand, also seized the mobile phone that was used to record and upload the video.

Locals also continued demonstrations in the area demanding that the killers be given exemplary punishment. 

Members of the police’s elite force, Rapid Action Battalion, killed three alleged criminals including two siblings during “gunfights” in the capital and Rangpur early yesterday.

RAB and police claimed that the victims had been charged with murder and other offences, and that they opened fire in self-defence only.

However, family members of one of the victims Yasin Sarker Rajon alleged that the RAB personnel had picked him up on July 12.

The two others are Manik, 32, and Sumon, 27, sons of Ameer Ali of Rangpur.

Rajon, 25, was injured in a gunfight between a patrol team of RAB 2 and some muggers in Taltola area of Agargaon around 2am.

He succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 4am.

In a statement, RAB confirmed death of an unidentified criminal during the gunfight.

They also claimed to have recovered two foreign-made pistols and seven bullets from the spot.

The elite force has been criticised since its formation in 2004 for extrajudicial killings

DHAKA TRIBUNE

the attacks despite knowing the consequence.

In the verdict, the judges described razakars – an auxiliary force of the Pakistani occupation forces – as a “pack of beasts.”

Forkan was indicted on December 18 last year. Fourteen prosecution witnesses testified at the tribunal while four gave depositions in favour of the accused. The case was

and giving the same version before the media after every incident of the so-called gunfight or crossfire.

Rajon’s family came to know about the murder from the media and his brothers-inlaw Ujjal Miah and Panna Miah identified him at the morgue yesterday afternoon.

The elite force has been criticised since its formation in 2004 for extrajudicial killings and giving the same version before the media after every incident of the so-called gunfight or crossfire They claimed that Rajon, a contractor by profession, had been picked up by RAB 2 members around 10pm on July 12. His seven month pregnant wife Shammi Akhter said Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police had filed two false cases against him recently.

Denying the forcer’s having any involvement in abducting Rajon, RAB 2 Commanding Officer Lt Col SM Masud Rana said the area was not under their jurisdiction.

When contacted, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police chief GG Biswas said the deceased had four cases against him. Rajon was charged in one case recently.

In another incident, two brothers were killed in a gunfight with the RAB members near Desh Hospital and the cantonment check post in Rangpur around 3am yesterday.

Some miscreants attacked a RAB 13 patrol team with sharp weapons when the elite force members challenged the brothers, Deputy Commander Maj Ashraf Ali said.

“The brothers were killed when the RAB members fired in self-defence,” he claimed adding that Sub-Inspector Saiful Islam and Lt Imran had suffered injuries inflicted by sharp weapons.

Two pistols, bullets and sharp weapons were recovered from the spot, RAB says.

Kotwali police OC Abdul Kader Zilani said Manik and Sumon were accused in several criminal cases, including for the murder of Limon on July 12. 

DT

4 NEWS

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Recreational places in Dhaka ready for Eid  Abu Hayat Mahmud The recreational facilities in the capital – amusement parks, museums, gardens and other places of interest – are ready to welcome the holiday crowd as the city-dwellers celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr this year.

A huge chunk of Dhaka’s population is leaving the city to celebrate Eid with their families in different parts of the country, but a good number of local residents will celebrate the festival by visiting the recreational places, like every year.

Keeping that in mind, the city authorities are taking additional preparations to accommodate the holiday visitors, especially children – the parks and museums have been cleaned up, repaired and decorated, and security around the premises has been tightened.

Officials at Dhaka South City Corporation told the Dhaka Tribune that the decoration of Shaheed Zia Shishu Park at Shahbagh is complete and it will remain open from 9am to 9pm on Eid day.

The Hatirjheel-Begunbari Lake area has also been cleaned for the occasion, and it is one of

the most attractive places in the capital, officials of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha said.

Authorities of the National Zoo at Mirpur has taken extensive preparations to entertain children this Eid; they think the animals likely to attract children the most tigers, peacocks, hippopotamus and giraffe calves.

Fantasy Kingdom and Nandan Water Park, the two amusement parks in the capital, are ready for the holiday visitors as well.

Nandan Park is offering seven new attractions on the occasion. Water Kingdom, of Fantasy Kingdom, is opening an aquarium

tunnel that connects Fantasy Kingdom and Water Kingdom. Water Kingdom authorities said the amusement park would be open from 9am to 9pm on Eid day, and special programmes would be held throughout the day.

Other places such as Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Planetarium, Shyamoli Shishu Mela, National Museum, Ahsan Manzil Museum, Lalbagh Fort and Baldha Garden, the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad, Chandrima Udyan, Suhrawardy Udyan, Dhanmondi Lake and Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake have also been prepared for the Eid crowd as well. 

New Japanese ambassador presents credentials  Tribune Report

Workers of Swan Garments hopelessly sit in front of the National Press Club yesterday. With only one day left before Eid-ul-Fitr, the workers gathered there demanding their due wages and Eid bonus MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

College teachers involved in HSC question paper leak  Kamrul Hasan Teachers at a Demra college were involved in leaking HSC question papers through Facebook, investigators have found interrogating six members of a gang arrested on Wednesday night.

Members of the Detective Branch of police arrested Raihan Chowdhury alias Dan Brown, Rahul Miah, Raihan Miah, Arefin Rabbi, Ovi Abdullah and Abdul Majid.

Majid is a member of the managing committee of Golam Mostafa Model College in Demra and also an assistant director of the college’s board of directors.

They also recovered two CPUs, two tabs, two laptops, nine mobile phone sets and four diaries used as register notes for bKash accounts and Facebook accounts.

Police said Raihan first sent Facebook messages to HSC candidates offering question papers in exchange for money. The ring took Tk10,000 to Tk20,000 for each question paper.

Later, when the candidates did not receive the leaked question papers they contacted Raihan. This time Raihan said he would increase the candidates’ marks in the results. At this, the candidates became suspicious and informed the DB police about it.

DB spokesman Muntasirul Islam at a press briefing yesterday said their cyber crimes unit first arrested Raihan and then, based on his confession, arrested the others. He said they had proof that these people had received money from students.

He, however, did not clarify whether the arrested were involved in leaking of question papers from this year’s HSC exams, or that of the previous year. Some teachers of the college are under watch for their involvement in leaking the question papers. 

Newly-appointed Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh Masato Watanabe yesterday presented his credentials to President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban.

Ambassador Watanabe joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1980 and most recently served as Consul-General of Japan in San Francisco. Prior to that assignment, he was the Vice-President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

Watanabe, in a written statement, said it was a great pleasure and a badge of honour for him to serve as the ambassador to Bangladesh. He said Bangladesh had tremendous potential given its geographical advantage and cultural diversity.

He reiterated his intention to make an all-out effort to further develop the existing friendship between Japan and Bangladesh. 

DT

NEWS 5

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Minister: Combating human trafficking first priority  Adil Sakhawat and Expatriates’ Welfare Newly-appointed Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam yesterday said that combating human trafficking would be a challenge for him.

“As the minister, it is my first priority to stop illegal trafficking. But it will not be possible without everyone’s cooperation,” he told

reporters after exchanging views with the ministry officials on the first day at work.

The technocrat minister also warned the officials not to misguide him on any issue and ordered them to attend office in time.

“If any official or employee does not maintain the official timing responsibly, I personally will mark their attendance with red colour.

I have vast knowledge about this ministry,

so do not try to misguide me on any matter,” he said.

Nurul also said his ministry would take steps to send female workers to Saudi Arabia and increase manpower exports to Malaysia while giving importance to building skilled manpower and creating more overseas jobs.

The ministry officials informed the minister about the visit of a Malaysian delegation

on July 29 for signing a memorandum of understanding to take Bangladeshi labourers to Malaysia under Business to Business (B2B) method. Currently only the government can send labourers to Malaysia.

In response, Nurul said he would consider the matter with top priority after the Eid-ulFitr, Secretary Khandker Md Iftekhar Haider told the Dhaka Tribune. 

DT

6 NEWS

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

No bridge on Haraboti River in 42 years  Our Correspondent, Joypurhat Despite repeated electoral pledges in the last 42 years from the local parliament members, a bridge on the Haraboti River of Pachbibi upazila of Joypurhat is yet to be materialised.

Thousands of people of the upazila are literally cut off from the rest of the country during the monsoon in the absence of a bridge.

Local farmers also face difficulties to market their products.

Hafizar Rahman, retired employee of the Water Development Board of the upazila, said people of the 12 villages of Kusumba and Aolai union would be benefited a lot if the bridge is built.

According to locals, the bridge has been used as an electoral bet for the last 42 years.

Many parliament members sought votes on the promise of constructing the bridge but after being elected, they never did so.

Abdul Khalek, a businessman of Sirotti Bazar, said the BNP’s former minister Abdul Alim had been an MP of Joypurhat for a long time. “He was elected three times before he died. During every election he promised to build the bridge but in reality no initiative was taken,” he said.

He, however, added that the current MP from Awami League Shamsul Alam Dudu had been trying to manage fund for the bridge.

Husband kills wife for dowry Correspondent,  Our Naogaon

A housewife, also a mother of a child, was allegedly killed yesterday by her husband for dowry at Raninagar upazila in the district.

The deceased was identified as Jannatun Nayem, 22, wife of Alamgir Hossain of Chakadin village.

Abdulla-Al-Masud, officerin-charge of Raninagar police station said Nayem, daughter of Taleb Ali had been married off with Alamgir two years back.

After the marriage, Alamgir

used to torture Nayem for dowry.

The father of the deceased said that he had already given Tk1.5 lakh to Alamgir as dowry.

But he demanded more money.

On the day, the couple got locked into altercation over the issue. At one stage, Alamgir beat up Nayem mercilessly, leaving her to death.

Later, he hanged the body from a tree and declared that she had committed suicide.

On information, police went to the spot and recovered the body. Alamgir and his family members went into hide after the incident. 

Companiganj UNO assaulted Correspondent,  Our Noakhali

Some local youths, supporters of ruling party, at Chaprashir Bazar assaulted the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Companiganj in the district yesterday.

Sajidur Rahaman Sajid, officer-in-charge of Companiganj police station, said UNO Md Ashraful Alam along with upazila food officer was going to Char Fakira Union Parishad Office around 11.45 am to

visit the distribution of VGF rice among the locals. During crossing the bazar area, they found that some construction workers of Hanif Sukani were making a building at the government place.

Later, he stopped the work and broke the pillars.

Within a few minutes, a group of youths reached the spot and started to beat the UNO in favour of the building owner.

Locals rescued him and admitted to Companiganj Hospital in critical condition. 

Youth stabbed to death in Chittagong  Tribune Report

A youth was stabbed to death in Chittagong city’s Mansurabad area yesterday afternoon.

Sub-Inspector Jahirul Islam of Chittagong Medical College Hospital police outpost said deceased Md Solaiman, 27, son of Nasir Ahmed, hailing from Bhola, was the owner of a tailor shop ‘ Sumaiya Tailors’ located at Miabari of Mansurabad area.

Police detained one Nur

Hossain in this connection, the SI added.

Solaiman’s younger brother Mahbub said an altercation had ensued between Nur Hossain and his brother as Solaiman slapped Nur’s son for pelting stone at his shop.

At one stage, Nur Hossain hit Solaiman’s chest with a scissor, leaving him critically injured, said Mahbub.

He was taken to the CMCH where on duty doctors declared him dead. 

Sirotti Bazar area residents Gobinda Chandra, Habiba Begum and Anjali Rani said they had been facing immense sufferings during the monsoon.

People of Bashkhur, Kuwatpur, Boropukuria, Salaipur, Sonakul, Kusumba, Chikonmatia, Kashra, Gobindapur, Bharahut, Gorna, Chatkhur and Haripur villages are literally stranded during the rainy season. Though a bamboo-bridge was made by the locals, it did not last long.

Moreover, farmers have to take a detour and count extra expense to take their products to Sirotti Bazar.

Nur Alam, a farmer of Kashra-Gobindopur

village said: “We are having to spend extra to transport rice and potatoes to nearby bazar.

If there was a bridge on the Haraboti River, it would have been easy for us.”

Acknowledging the need for the bridge, Aolai union parishad Chairman Ekramul Haq Chowdhury said it was not possible to build such a long bridge by the union parishad alone. Shamsul Alam Dudu, MP of Joypurhat and Pachbibi, said: “The previous MPs of BNP and Jatiya Party were not sincere to build the bridge. That is why this area has been neglected for long. I am aware of the situation and the much needed bridge will be built within the tenure of this government.” 

DT

NEWS 7

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

8 die in road accidents  Tribune Report At least eight people were killed in road accidents in Brahmanbaria,Sirajganj and Gazipur districts yesterday.

Our Brahmanbaria correpondent reports: Three people were killed as a CNG-run auto-rickshaw plunged into a canal after colliding with a microbus at Narayanpur under Akhaura upazila. The identities of the deceased could not be known.

Akhaura police station Officer-in-Charge Mofiz Uddin said: “The auto-rickshaw collided head-on with the microbus on Dhaka-Agartala highway and plunged into the canal at noon. Three of them died on the spot.”

He said three passengers of the auto-rickshaw went missing in the incident.

In Sirajganj, three people of a family were killed as a bus rammed their motorcycle on the link road of Bangabandhu Bridge west side in Sadar upazila at afternoon.

Two of the deceased were identified as Babul Hossain 40 and his wife Mahfuza,32.

Quoting locals, officer-in-charge of Bangabandhu West police station Helal Uddin Locals said the Dhaka-bound bus of ‘Pabna Express’ hit the motorbike around 5:30 pm, leaving the three riders of the bike dead on the spot.

In Gazipur, two female workers were killed when a passenger bus run over them nearby Pandora Garments Factory in Sreepur upazila of the district. 

Stealing of newborn exposes sorry state of CMCH security  FM Mizanur Rahaman, Chittagong A 14-day old newborn baby boy was stolen from Postnatal Ward of Chittagong Medical College Hospital on Wednesday, exposing the sorry state of security system of state-owned hospital.

Although the incident took place on Wednesday evening, it came to light yesterday morning after CMCH police and hospital authorities failed to rescue the missing infant after frantic efforts.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion, however, arrested a couple for their alleged involvement with the stealing.

Hospital sources said Jesmin Akhtar, 30, wife of Md Safiul, of Kadolpur of Raojan upazila in Chittagong got admitted to the hospital on July 2. Later, she gave birth to a baby boy. As Jesmin has some gynecological com-

plications, she was undergoing treatment at the hospital. The couple has another boy who is two and half years old.

On Wednesday, elder son of the couple walked out of the ward during the lunch hour.

The baby was stolen from the bed around 3:15 when Jesmin with her attendant went to bring back the child from the outside of the ward, said Sub-Inspector Jahirul Islam of the CMCH police outpost.

Safiul told the Dhaka Tribune that he was standing in the corridor of the ward during the incident, but saw nothing.

“Hearing my wife’s hue and cry I rushed to the bed and later informed police in this regard”, said he adding that to take the baby away from the ward within a minute is impossible without hospital’s workers’ assistance”.

The couple which was arrested identified as Rina Dey, 30, and her husband Sujon Dut-

ta, 32, said Major Jahargir Alam, Camp Commander of RAB 7 Chandgaon Camp.

Sujon is a cleaner of the CMCH while Rina is an agent of private diagnostic centre, said the RAB official.

“Seeing CCTV footage the duo were identified. Later, they were arrested from Chawakbazar area in the evening”, he added.

During primary interrogation, Rina acknowledged that she was involved with the stealing incident. But she could not tell whereabouts of the baby. RAB personnel are trying to rescue the baby, he further added.

Hospital sources said CCTV of the Postnatal Ward has remained dysfunctional. The hospital has 57 cameras while most of them remain out of order, encouraging criminals to do criminal activities. Incident of newborn babies from government hospital becomes a common phenomenon. 

WEATHER RAIN OR THUNDERSHOWERS

FRIDAY, JULY 17 DHAKA TODAY

TOMORROW

SUN SETS 6:49PM

SUN RISES 5:21AM

FORECAST FOR TODAY Dhaka

33

26

Chittagong

32

26

Rajshahi

31

26

Rangpur

30

25

Khulna

31

27

Barisal

33

27

Sylhet

28

24

31

27

Cox’s Bazar

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

24.2ºC

33.4ºC

Patuakhali

Satkhira

Source: Accuweather/UNB

PRAYER TIMES Fajr Sunrise Jumma Asr Magrib Esha

3:56am 5:21am 12:05am 4:46pm 6:49pm 8:14pm SourceL IslamicFinder.org

With the end of the last working day before Eid, the rush of people and vehicles crowd a street of Gulistan in the capital yesterday

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Many Cox’s Bazar traffickers roaming scot-free  Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar More than 50 human traffickers who have operated in different areas of Cox’s Bazar are still at large, with local sources saying the criminals have reached a compromise with police to avoid arrest.

Rezia Akhter Revi, one of the highly notorious traffickers in Ukhia, her husband Nurul Kabir, Syed Alam of Sonaichhari village, and Abul Kalam of Chhepatkhali village are among the traffickers who have not yet been arrested.

Their names appear on the list of traffickers drawn up by the Home Ministry.

The traffickers remained in hiding for long in different areas but they are recently roaming around freely, causing worry among locals.

Locals claimed a secret deal was reached between the traffickers and police at a recent meeting, under which the criminals had been allowed to move freely without being arrested until Eid-ul-Fitr in exchange for bribes amounting to Tk50,000-100,000.

They said the meeting was attended by Ukhia police station Officer-in-Charge Zahirul Islam Khan, Inani police outpost in-charge Sub-Inspector Premananda, a former union parishad chairman, and three traffickers Revi’s husband Nurul Kabir, Syed Alam and Rustam Ali. But SI Premananda denied any such rendezvous, saying there can be no compromise with traffickers.

“We are regularly carrying out operations to detain traffickers. We will arrest anyone in-

volved in trafficking if we are tipped off,” he said.

OC Zahirul echoed SI Premananda, saying the allegation of a secret compromise between police and traffickers is a conspiracy.

He also said he was unaware of traffickers coming out of hiding.

The extent of human trafficking was in the media spotlight after mass graves of trafficking victims were discovered in Thailand and Malaysia in April.

The police were then ordered to crack down on traffickers, mostly operating in Cox’s Bazar. Six traffickers, including Dhalu Hossain who was the top trafficker in Cox’s Bazar, were killed in gunfights with police soon after the crackdown was initiated.

Some 300 traffickers went into hiding in the wake of the crackdown. 

DT

8 WORLD

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Ukraine takes first step toward giving rebels self-rule  AFP, Kiev

George and Angela Dyczynski sit on a piece of wreckage of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 during their visit to the crash site near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), in Donetsk region in this July 26, 2014 file photo. MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014 with 298 passengers on board REUTERS

On anniversary of MH17 downing, Putin calls tribunal counterproductive  AFP, Moscow Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday told Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that establishing an international tribunal to prosecute those behind the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine would be counterproductive.

“Vladimir Putin in detail explained the Russian position regarding the premature and counterproductive nature of an initiative by a number of countries, including the Netherlands, to establish an international tribunal to criminally prosecute individuals responsible for the destruction of the Malaysian airliner,” the Kremlin said following a phone call between Putin and Rutte.

The Netherlands – whose citizens made up the majority of the 298 people killed when the plane was downed a year ago over rebel-held eastern Ukraine – is working with Malaysia,

Australia, Belgium, and Ukraine on setting up an international tribunal.

A draft UN resolution, obtained by AFP, calls for establishing the tribunal under Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which means that the court’s efforts to prosecute those responsible could be enforced by sanctions.

Investigators from the Netherlands are leading an international probe into the downing of the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight on July 17, 2014, and are expected to release a final report in early October.

Ukraine and many in the West have accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down the plane, saying they may have used a surface-to-air missile supplied

by Russia.

Russia – which wields a UN veto – and the rebels deny any responsibility and have instead pointed the finger at Ukraine’s military.

In his conversation with Rutte, Putin in-

sisted that all investigations into the disaster should be completed before any decision can be taken on how to try the culprits.

Putin also lashed out at reported leaks from the Dutch investigation as “clearly politicised,” after US channel CNN cited unnamed sources as saying that the final report found the rebels responsible.

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the crash, Russian state media have criticised the West for alleging Russian involvement before the investigation is complete.

The rebels in east Ukraine boast the heavy weaponry of a regular army but Russia denies that it supplies the hardware across the separatist-controlled border.

The West and Russia are locked in their worst standoff since the Cold War over the Ukraine conflict, with the US and EU hitting Moscow with sanctions over its alleged meddling. 

Loyalists secure Aden for return of exiled regime  AFP, Aden Loyalist forces battled to oust Iran-backed rebels from their remaining positions in Yemen’s second city Aden yesterday as exiled ministers prepared to return to assess the damage from four months of fighting.

The planned visit by the three ministers would be the first since the Houthi rebels and their allies entered the southern port city in March forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and his government into exile in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

With the rebels in retreat, the exiled government announced plans late on Wednesday for Interior Minister Abdo al-Houdaithi,

Transport Minister Badr Baslama, and deputy health minister Nasser Baoum to head to Aden.

Since the launch of Operation Golden Arrow on Tuesday, Hadi’s loyalists have recaptured Aden airport and much of the surrounding Khormaksar diplomatic district, as well as the provincial government headquarters, in their biggest counteroffensive so far.

Southern militiamen of the Popular Resistance, backed by reinforcements freshly trained and equipped in Saudi Arabia, have also gained ground in the Crater and Mualla districts of the city.

The rebels attempted to bring in reinforcements from the central province of Baida

overnight but they were bombed by a Saudi-led coalition which has been waging an air campaign against them since March.

Coalition warplanes also bombed rebel positions on Aden’s northern and eastern outskirts and in other districts of the city, military sources and witnesses said.

The loyalists overwhelmed rebels who had been holed up in the Chinese consulate in Khormaksar and freed 22 of their comrades who had been held captive, Popular Resistance spokesman Ali al-Ahmadi told AFP. The retreating rebels again pounded Aden oil refinery, which has 1.2 million tonnes of crude in storage, with Katyusha rocket launchers, an oil official said. 

Ukraine’s parliament took the first step yesterday toward granting temporary self-rule to pro-Russian rebels under a change to the constitution the West hopes can end one of Europe’s deadliest wars in recent years.

The divisive issue came to the floor on the day lawmakers also vote on belt-tightening measures needed for the quick release of a $5-billion (4.6-billion-euro) IMF payment that could spare cash-strapped Kiev from slipping into default.

The idea of granting autonomous status to rebel-run parts of Ukraine’s east for the coming three years has struck a note of disquiet among many lawmakers and much of the Kiev media.

But it was inscribed in a truce agreement that Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on under strong pressure from the leaders of Germany and France in February.

The sudden flurry of activity led visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to call yesterday “yet another historic day” in a war-torn country that has seen 6,500 people killed since the overthrow of its Russian-backed leadership in February 2014.

Nuland will meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko later yesterday to reassure him of Washington’s backing and continued focus on the government’s 15-month fight against separatists in the shattered industrial east.

Lawmakers yesterday voted by a commanding 288-57 majority to ask Ukraine’s constitutional court to rule whether such changes to the basic law were legal.

The court must weigh in on the issue before any formal vote is held in the weeks or months to come.

Both Washington and its EU allies believe that partial self-rule could satisfy the insurgents and remove any arguments Russia may have for arming and funding them – support Moscow firmly denies ever giving. 

Police: Pachauri obstructing sex claims probe  AFP, New Delhi

Indian police yesterday accused former UN climate panel head Rajendra Pachauri of obstructing their investigation into sexual harassment claims against him, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency and a lawyer said.

Police told the Delhi high court that Pachauri had been evasive during interrogations, and that it supported the alleged victim’s application to have his bail cancelled.

Pachauri, a leading voice on the dangers of global warming, was forced to step down as the chairman of the Nobel Prize-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) earlier this year after a female colleague said he harassed her.

Police last month questioned the 74-yearold based on the evidence provided by the 29-year-old woman, who accused him of sexually harassing her through repeated inappropriate emails, text and WhatsApp messages. 

DT

WORLD 9

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Europe moves to restore funding to Greece after bailout vote  Reuters, Athens Europe moved to re-open funding to Greece’s stricken economy yesterday, hours after a fractious Greek parliament approved a tough bailout programme in a vote that left the government without a majority and looking to new elections within months.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras won the backing of parliament in the early hours of yesterday for the stringent reform measures demanded by Greece’s creditors led by Germany, but was left weakened by a revolt in his left-wing Syriza party.

Tsipras won the vote thanks to the support of the centre-right New Democracy, centre-left Pasok and centrist To Potami opposition parties.

His Interior Minister, Nikos Voutsis, said that a snap election could be held in September or October, “depending on developments.”

However his position as head of government faces no serious internal challenge and he is expected to reshuffle his cabinet to remove dissident leftists.

He has ruled out early elections and said this week the captain does not leave the ship in a storm.

The move by the Greek parliament was enough to persuade the European Central Bank to re-open vital funds for the Greek banking system under its Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) programme, after euro zone finance ministers signalled they would unlock 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in bridge loans.

ECB President Mario Draghi said the ECB

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reacts during a parliamentary session in Athens, Greece yesterday.

The Greek parliament passed a sweeping package of austerity measures demanded by European partners as the price for opening talks on a multi-billion euro bailout package needed to keep the nearbankrupt country in the euro zone REUTERS would increase ELA funding by 900 million euros. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble underlined the risks still surrounding the negotiations that will need to be conducted over the next few weeks, saying a temporary Greek “timeout” from the euro may still be a better option.

After a warning from the International

Monetary Fund this week that Greece’s massive public debt could not be managed without a significant writedown, Schaeuble said that a debt “haircut” was incompatible with euro membership and would mean Greece would have to leave the euro, at least temporarily.

Greek banks have been closed for a third week, with capital restrictions in place and

Japan lawmakers pass security bills despite public anger  AFP, Tokyo Controversial security bills that opponents say will undermine 70 years of pacifism and could see Japanese troops fighting abroad for the first time since World War II passed through the powerful lower house of parliament yesterday.

The vote marks a victory for nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other right-wingers, who have ignored popular anger in a bid to break what they see as the shackles of the US-imposed constitution.

They say restrictive clauses preventing Japan from having a fully-fledged military serve as a straightjacket that stops Tokyo from doing what it must to protect its citizens, allies and friends.

Abe’s ruling coalition was left alone to vote after all main opposition parties walked out of the chamber in protest, a move intended to reflect widespread public fury over the legislation.

“The security situation surrounding Japan is increasingly severe,” Abe told reporters after the vote, in an apparent reference to the rise of China.

“These bills are necessary to protect Japanese people’s lives and prevent a war before

it breaks out.”

The vote came a day after as many as 60,000 people took part in a rally outside parliament, after the bills – which will give Japan’s tightly-restricted military greater scope to act – were pushed through a key lower house panel.

There were scuffles as police pushed protestors back, and two men in their 60s were arrested on suspicion of assaulting officers, local media said.

Demonstrations in Japan are usually small and very orderly, but the issue has galvanised opposition across a wide swathe of the population.

The bills – a hotchpotch of updates to existing provisions that will allow, amongst other things, Japan’s military to take part in non-United Nations peacekeeping missions – now go to the upper chamber.

Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner have a majority in that house, but commentators say it is possible the chamber could reject, or amend the bills.

However, the lower house could overturn those changes with a two-thirds majority – well within the scope of what Abe controls.

The legislation is expected to be enacted by the autumn.

The prime minister, a robust nationalist, wants what he calls a normalisation of Japan’s military posture, which has been constrained by a constitution written by US occupiers after World War II. Unable to muster support to amend clauses enshrining pacifism, Abe opted instead to re-interpret the document for the purpose of his bills, ignoring warnings from scholars and lawyers that his bills are unconstitutional.

While yesterday’s vote was a win for Abe, there are growing signs that the campaign has taken a political toll – opinion polls show the vast majority of the public is against the bills, and Abe’s once-sky-high approval rating is dropping.

Chief among the changes that the legislation will enable is the option for the military to go into battle to protect allies – so called “collective defence” – even if there is no direct threat to Japan or its people, something successive governments have ruled out.

Protesters, which include a large number of middle-aged and elderly people, say that provision will mean Japan gets dragged into American wars in far-flung parts of the globe.

But supporters say the bar for involvement in any conflict will remain much higher than for many other nations. 

cash rationed from automatic teller machines, and they will not be able to re-open until the ECB re-opens emergency funding.

European finance ministers held a conference call yesterday morning to agree on a plan for the 7 billion euros in bridging funds to enable Greece to meet its immediate debt service needs and avoid defaulting on a repayment to the ECB next Monday.

In a statement, they agreed “in principle” to start talks with Greece on a new, 3-year bailout and also called on Athens to adopt a second set of reforms by Wednesday, July 22.

All 28 EU countries are expected to contribute, despite the reluctance of non-euro members such as Britain and the Czech Republic.

The Greek parliament comfortably approved the agreement that Tsipras struck on Monday with the euro zone. But 32 of the 149 lawmakers from Tsipras’s radical left Syriza party voted against the plan while six effectively abstained and one was absent.

Among the dissenters were four members of the government, one of whom resigned.

The dissidents also included the speaker of parliament and ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who compared the Brussels deal with the 1919 Versailles Treaty that imposed unpayable reparations on a defeated Germany after World War One. Tsipras told lawmakers he had accepted a package he did not believe in and which would harm Greece, but the alternative was a disorderly bankruptcy that would be more catastrophic. 

Thwarted Indian couple in Taj Mahal ‘suicide pact’  AFP, Agra

An Indian couple forbidden to marry because of their different backgrounds are in hospital after slitting their own throats in an apparent suicide pact at India’s famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal.

Police said the pair – named in the Times of India as Rajveer Singh and Shabnam Ali – were stable after they were discovered in a pool of blood in the grounds of the Taj Mahal on Wednesday afternoon.

“This couple, one of whom is a Hindu and the other a Muslim, tried to commit suicide at the Taj,” said police deputy superintendent Aseem Chaudhary. “The girl cut her throat first followed by the boy.”

Marriage outside caste or religion still attracts strong censure in parts of India and can even lead to so-called honour killings, carried out to protect what is seen as family pride.

“Both Shabnam and I tried hard to convince our parents that they should allow us to get married, but the boundaries of religion remained the biggest hurdle,” the Times of India quoted Singh as saying.

The Taj – India’s top tourist attraction – was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth in 1631. 

DT

EDITORIAL 11

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

INSIDE

A man in full Syed Humayun Kabir became one of those rare men who truly walked the walk. He did not just profess a commitment to social welfare and social justice, he embodied it

PAGE 12

Pinocchio’s nose Is it a coincidence that immediately after India and Pakistan were invited to join SCO, Mr Modi visited Turkmenistan and gave his swift benediction to TAPI? PAGE 13 BIGSTOCK

Solidarity is not only for Eid A time to stand shoulder to shoulder Let us remember the little boy during the festivities, and take a moment and look deep within ourselves, make an allout search for the humanity that seems to have lost its way in the rat race of life and our demons of avarice

PAGE 12

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F

or Muslims all around the world, Eid-ul-Fitr is the most auspicious occasion in the Islamic calendar.

The forthcoming holiday is a time to recall the lessons of Ramadan as people mark its passing with special prayers and get-togethers.

It is also a cultural landmark for all people in Bangladesh, as it is the year’s biggest family holiday and brings out the best of people’s innate spirit of giving and generosity.

We hope all Bangladeshis will share in the spirit of community and solidarity that Eid-ul-Fitr represents.

As we celebrate with family and friends, it is important we take time out to think of the many people suffering around the world.

Ramadan teaches believers to practice self-restraint and recall the less fortunate for whom fulfilling basic needs of sustenance is always a daily struggle.

It is tragic, as the holy month asks people to remember the importance of charity, that over 27 people were killed last week in the stampede at Mymensingh during the handing out of Zakat donations.

This is a sad reminder of how far Bangladesh has to go before everybody in the nation can share in the benefits of a growing economy.

Everyone should resolve to strive better in the year ahead, to find more effective ways to improve social welfare, and help more people work their way out of poverty.

We hope everybody can benefit from the welcome break in routine and take the opportunity to revitalise our energies for the year ahead.

May everyone in Bangladesh enjoy a safe and fulfilling holiday.

We wish all our valued readers a heartfelt Eid Mubarak.

Everyone should resolve to strive better in the year ahead, to find more effective ways to improve social welfare, and help more people work their way out of poverty

DT

12 OPINION

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

A man in full when we speak of this country.

We inherited a war-torn, impoverished, devastated country in December 1971, and it is nothing short of a miracle that in 44 short years we have come as far as we have in terms of human development.

In area after area, from infant mortality to life expectancy to poverty rates to immunisation to education to empowerment of women, the list of our achievements is a long one that can stand comparison with anywhere else on the planet.

Of course, there is much left to do and a long way to go, but we should never lose sight of what it is we have achieved so far, and how and why it is that we have been able to accomplish what we have done. And it is to men such as Syed Humayun Kabir and his vision and creativity that we owe where we have come to as a nation.

His story is an extraordinary one in that any one of his achievements would have been sufficient to earn him a place of respect on the list of notable Bangladeshis of his era, but that he was able to fit so many accomplishments into one lifetime almost beggars belief.

Let us start by lauding him as a businessman, who was widely respected by his peers, both inside the country and outside, as the chairman and managing director of Pfizer Ltd in Bangladesh for over two decades and then of Renata, its successor.

His probity and integrity as a businessman are legendary, as was his acumen and ability.

His business career alone provided a model for how business could be conducted in this country, and his integrity has served as a beacon to two generations of business leaders and executives in Bangladesh.

Like Yunus and Abed, Kabir created a template for others to follow

His long association with BRAC alone would itself serve as a mark of his commitment to social welfare and social justice.

Sir Abed would be the first to point to his seminal contribution as chairman of the board in helping to bring BRAC to its current eminence.

But it was in the final chapter of his career that Mr Kabir came into his own and left a legacy behind that will serve as a lesson and an inspiration for all of us who want to make a difference and to contribute to the common good.

His achievements as a business leader or as the chairman of BRAC alone (or indeed as a founding member of Transparency International Bangladesh) would have been sufficient to cement his legacy, but he did not stop there.

And it was with the founding of the SAJIDA Foundation in 1993, a 25th wedding anniversary gift to his wife, Sajida Humayun Kabir, that he not only created his most enduring legacy, but also laid down a template for philanthropy for the future, which combined his commitment with his creativity in a unique way.

Mr Kabir had always held that business should and could be a force for the common good and ran his businesses with this philosophy in mind. But what was so remarkable about the founding of SAJIDA Foundation in 1993, which was funded by a majority shareholding in Renata, was the explicit joining of a private enterprise (Renata) to a public purpose (the funding of the work of SAJIDA).

In doing so, Syed Humayun Kabir became one of those rare men who truly walked the walk. He did not just profess a commitment to social welfare and social justice, he

Syed Humayun Kabir became one of those rare men who truly walked the walk. He did not just profess a commitment to social welfare and social justice, he embodied it

 Zafar Sobhan

W

e have all heard of Prof Muhammad Yunus and Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, and both these gentlemen deserve all the praise and plaudits that they have received over the years.

But when the history of Bangladesh’s development is written, there is another name that deserves to be mentioned alongside theirs, and that is of Syed Humayun Kabir, who passed away on July 7 at the age of 83 after a long and distinguished career in business and philanthropy.

Mr Kabir’s contribution to social welfare and social justice in Bangladesh was every bit as remarkable as that of his better-known compatriots and brothers-in-arms, and will in the long-run, I am confident, be seen to be every bit as significant.

In fact, it is in this field that Bangladesh can truly be said to lead the world and it is this sector that we should be most proud of

It was in recognition of his moral and intellectual authority that he was elevated by his peers to the presidency of the MCCI and FICCI, among a host of other leadership positions in industry, to say nothing of his many other board directorships, both of businesses as well as non-profits. His peers in the business community saw him as the obvious choice of leader and spokesman for the sector, a role he filled with aplomb.

In a country where business is seen by many as a by-word for corruption and criminality, he stood out as a shining example of what a businessman could be and what the sector could do for the country.

It was this reputation for probity and ability, combined with his commitment to the common good, which led to his invitation to join the board of BRAC, which he subsequently chaired for over two decades.

embodied it. That alone should be enough to elevate him to the pantheon of great Bangladeshis.

But equally important, in the tradition of Yunus and Abed, he has created a template that others who wish to devote themselves to the common good may follow.

It is his creativity as much as his commitment that makes his contribution so noteworthy and serves as an example of the genius we have for innovative ways in which to serve our fellow men and women, in which Bangladesh truly leads the world.

We have lost a true inspiration, but we can be proud that one such as he lived among us.

It is to men such as Syed Humayun Kabir that we owe it to build this country into a better place for all.  Zafar Sobhan is the Editor, Dhaka Tribune.

DT

OPINION 13

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Pinocchio’s nose  FS Aijazuddin

T

he Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI) is like Pinocchio’s nose. The more participating governments lie about it, the longer its implementation schedule grows.

TAPI has been under consideration for over 20 years. No pipeline in the history of hydro-carbon transmission has taken so long to reach a terminal of indecision.

As pipeline projects go, TAPI is not the longest. Its 1,650km length is eclipsed by the Rockies Express (1,680km), which runs from Colorado to Eastern Ohio. It is dwarfed by the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline system (4,100km) crossing from Russia, over Belarus and Poland, and into Germany.

And it shrinks into insignificance compared to the Chinese West-East Gas Pipeline Project (WEPP), whose first two phases -- WEPP I (4,000km) and WEPP II (8,700km) -- are already functioning. Two more phases are being planned -- WEPP III (7,300km) and WEPP IV. All these gas pipelines travel unimpeded over natural obstacles such as mountains, rivers and deserts, and across international boundaries. On paper, the TAPI project seems simple enough. It envisages transporting 28 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Daulatabad in Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan, across Pakistan, to Fazilka in Indian Punjab.

It too has to overcome formidable obstacles, except that in TAPI’s case, they are all man-made. Friction between its sponsor nations has ensured that if the project ever does leave the drawing board, it will go from somewhere to nowhere.

It has already been 13 years since Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan signed a deal to establish TAPI, 10 years since the Asian Development Bank (ADB) prepared its

The TAPI pipeline still has a long, arduous road ahead of it

Is it a coincidence that immediately after India and Pakistan were invited to join SCO, Mr Modi visited Turkmenistan and gave his swift benediction to TAPI?

feasibility report on TAPI, five years since the Intergovernmental Agreement on Implementing the Gas Pipeline was signed by the participating states, four years since the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreements were signed in New Delhi, and two years since each country identified its executing agency.

During all this time, while the sponsoring nations dithered, TAPI’s cost (according to the ADB) has escalated from its original $7.6bn to $10bn, recoverable from consumers.

It is to be expected that international busy-bodies would have a proprietary interest in such a show-piece project. The ADB,

appointed as transaction advisor in 2013, sees through cataracts that TAPI will become “a tangible sign of transformational co-operation among the parties that presages the enhanced energy security, business prospects, and overall peace and stability in the region promised by the pipeline.”

Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan fret about their security, as TAPI will pass through areas where they are deployed. The Israelis welcome India’s participation as its presence will ensure that “Central Asia will not become subject to some form of Sino-Russian hegemony.” NATO would like to train the security personnel needed to patrol

the length of the pipeline.

Lawyers will haggle over issues like the energy charter, security of TAPI’s assets, transit rights, environmental hazards, supply/offtake enforceability, and the bane of Indo-Pak relations -- dispute resolution.

International contractors salivate at the prospect of $10bn worth of business. After US giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil pulled out, the French company TOTAL threw its beret into the ring. Current expectations are that TOTAL, jointly with the Turkmenistan government, will be responsible for upstream operations, while the Russian company ROSTEC and the China National Petroleum Company will be part of a consortium led by TOTAL to construct the pipeline. (Member countries have yet to approve this configuration.)

The only countries that have a real stake in TAPI are Turkmenistan, which owns the gas, and its customers -- Afghanistan (3 billion cubic metres), and Pakistan and India, who propose to take 12.5 billion cubic metres each.

And yet, these are the very countries that are acting like marionettes, responding to strings being jerked by practised puppeteers.

Is it a coincidence that immediately after India and Pakistan were invited to join SCO,

REUTERS

Mr Modi visited Turkmenistan and gave his swift benediction to TAPI? Could Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping be reprising the avuncular roles Kosygin played in Tashkent in 1965 and Zhou Enlai in 1971?

If there is a pressure anywhere, it is not in Turkmenistan’s Daulatabad gas field. It is from the millions of underfed gas consumers in India and Pakistan. They need a dependable supply of hydro-carbons, freeing India from its reliance on coal, and Pakistan from Sui gas and imported substitutes.

And yet, it is precisely these domestic constituencies that are not being taken into confidence by either government, or told the truth about TAPI. We have been arguing over Jammu & Kashmir for almost 70 years. We have been squabbling over the Indus Waters Treaty for 50 years. We have been sniping over Siachen.

We have been hurling legal barbs at each other over Mumbai. It is time to be honest: TAPI is not a Pinocchio puppet for bored governments to play with, and then put away.

FS Aijazuddin lives in Lahore and is a columnist for Dawn, Pakistan’s main English-language newspaper. This article was first published in Dawn.

DT

14 OPINION

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

A time to stand shoulder to shoulder  SM Shahrukh

T

he monsters of Sylhet still haunt us -- the crying, pleading, dying face of Rajon is all over social media.

Talk shows are already decrying the tattered moral fabric of the country. For once, such an incident, which is not very rare in Bangladesh, has not been swept under the rug. Life is cheap in this country of teeming millions, and the lives of the poor, cheaper still.

Even though corporal punishment in schools had been declared illegal by the Honourable High Court in 2011, where the court observed that “such punishment is a clear violation of children’s fundamental rights to life and liberty,” it has not gone totally out of practice, especially in madrasas and orphanages.

Medieval practices of torture are still quite rampant in these institutions. A video of two little girls being abused is now circulating in social media. The incident happened in an orphanage in Barisal -- the girls were not even 10 years old.

In the meantime, our political culture continues in the same vein with allegations and counter-allegations, verbal thrusts and parries continue, even during the rather solemn occasions of an iftar party. Iftar parties, in the month of Ramadan, have become the dais for political rhetoric up until the azaan sounds, and then you’ll find some participants take a break to gorge themselves.

After a month surviving the rigours of fasting, a big portion of city-dwellers are headed home, availing any mode of transportation on offer. People living in cities still refer to the remote village from whence they hail from as “home” and will do so forever.

This homeward journey is fraught with many hassles and tribulations and one is always on tenterhooks as to possible road accidents or riverine disasters, leading to more untimely deaths.

With such a huge population on the move and with transportation systems unable to accommodate and cope, such fears are not unfounded.

However, we can only hope that a disaster like the Pinak 6 capsize last year, and the subsequent loss of lives, would somehow be averted this time. I wait and scan the papers with trepidation.

Eid after the month of Ramadan is the biggest festival for Muslims. It is a time for fanfare, a time to be close to ones near and dear, a time for catching up since the last Eid. People stand shoulder to shoulder in the early morning of the day in prayer and hug each other at the end. People try to eat “better” on the day, but many poor people have to depend on hand-outs from the welloff for a good meal.

Children in colourful clothes in the streets, children holding their parents’ hands or holding on to friends, flying balloons, enjoying ice-cream sticks with a skip in their steps, are a joy to watch. The day’s festivities belong

Let us remember the little boy during the festivities, and take a moment and look deep within ourselves, make an allout search for the humanity that seems to have lost its way in the rat race of life and our demons of avarice

mostly to them.

Not for Rajon though. He fell into the grips of some beasts and his constant cries for help fell on deaf ears, and all he heard was the laughter of hyenas. Let us remember the little boy during the festivities, and take a moment and look deep within ourselves, make an all-out search for the humanity that seems to have lost its way in the rat race of life and our demons of avarice.

We have to deal with these demons in our minds, and as Carl Jung put it: “Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us.”

Have a happy Eid everyone -- Eid Mubarak!  SM Shahrukh is a freelance contributor.

NASHIRUL ISLAM

Ramadan is also the month when the rich of the society donate a part of their wealth (the size of the donation dictated by religion) to the poor. And we have had disasters in that area too. 27 poverty-stricken people (23 women and four children) died in a stampede as Zakat clothes were being distributed in Mymensingh.

“Why did these people of a lower middle-income country become so desperate for some cheap saris and lungis?” has been asked. Well, it is true that the country has come a long way from the dire poverty of the 70s and the 80s and the country is now wealthier than before; people have more purchasing power and the villagers also have better standards of living. But the number of poor is still substantial, and they are not yet able to say: “We don’t want any donations.”

As we approach Eid and celebrate, we shouldn’t forget the problems that still plague us

16

In shadow of Chinese rout, India fights illegal ‘dabba’ market

17

Asia Inc looks to postsanctions Iran for demand spurt

19

Multinational, power stocks shine past week just before Eid

Eid sales slump this year  Tribune Report Retail sales registered a 20-30% decline in sales ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr when traders usually witness brisk business during the month of Ramadan, retailers said yesterday.

The city’s shopping centers are usually packed two weeks before Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival for the Muslims, but this year they might have seen far less foot traffic.

However, according to city shopkeepers, the sale was not as usual this year as rising prices of some commodities, particularity non-food items in the last one year, which cut spending capacity of the people.

Though annual food inflation fell slightly, but non-food inflation spiked in the just concluded fiscal year both in urban and rural areas. Non-food inflation rose to 5.99% in FY15 from 5.55% in FY14, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data showed.

“Every year, we have a steady inflow of customers ... both men and women come to us to shop for clothes on the occasion. This is the only period when we can raise the prices of our goods marginally knowing that customers will shop, not giving a second thought,” Rezaul Kabir Kishore, a retailer at city’s Malibag area, said.

“But this year, our business has gone down by almost 20%, in spite of us giving discounts on our clothing.”

Mamun Hossain, a salesman at a Zhumak shop at the Jamuna Future Park, said people have probably started giving more importance to their basic necessities rather than splurging on Eid shopping, which they used

20

DT

Business

15

FRIDAY, JULY 17,

Bangladesh brighten South Asia’s growth forecast for 2015

VAT cut for small flats unlikely to help buyers  Syed Samiul Basher Anik

Traders report lacklustre sale during this Eid shopping season as some blame increased non-food inflation boosted consumer spending, limiting their purchase capacity RAJIB DHAR to until this year.

Aslam Parvez, head of salesman at East West, a clothing retailer shop at the new market area, said: “I used to get more than 100 customers daily during these days but now it has dropped to 75-80, which shows the lack of interest.”

“Garments worth Tk2.7m I bought for Eid season. But I have sold only of Tk1.5m so far,” he said. Sajid Khoshru, a tailor, was not busy this occasion as he usually remains during the Eid festivals. “I have received fewer orders to stitch new clothes for Eid. I used to close booking on the 12th of Ramadan due to so many or-

ders, but this year I closed it on the 18th. I got at least 30% lesser bookings,” he said.

“Sales were very slow,” said Shoeib Rahman, a salesman at a shop named Richman at a city shopping mall.

“You see huge rush of buyers but it does not reflect a true picture of the sales as they are more window shoppers,” he said.

Abdul Samad, a store manager at an electronic outlet, said: “Usually two weeks before the Eid, market remains open till late night, but this year we shut our shops by 11pm because of security reasons.” 

The Value Added Tax (VAT) reduction small-size flats is unlikely to help mid-inc people, who prefer to buy small- and m um-size flats, particularly the small ones dustry insiders said.

They said the government has halved VAT rate by 50% for flats below 1,100 sq feet, but most realtors do not construct small flats, and so these will not help the ers, nor the people in the sector.

With the budget for fiscal year 2015-16 government has introduced three slabs of on apartment purchase instead of previous rate of 3% irrespective of sizes. The Nat Board of Revenue (NBR) on Monday publi an official order to effect the new rates as ised in the budget for the current fiscal.

According to the new order, people willin buy flats up to 1,100 square feet will have to 1.5% VAT on the purchased value while the will be 2.5% for flats sized between 1101square feet and 4.5% above 1600 square feet.

The NBR charges the VAT at source on total amount of purchase value or the tra value from sales of any apartment.

The building construction firm collects VAT and deposits it to the national exchequer.

Although many buyers willing to buy flats earlier consider it a good news, but the nario is unlikely to match their assumptions.

The sector people said the budg measures will only help the buyers of size apartment, not others. 

Guideline for Tower Sharing Licence awaits PMO nod  Ishtiaq Husain

The guideline for Tower Sharing Licence, which has already been drafted by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), now waits for the consent from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Soon after the consent from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the regulatory body will go for an auction without any delay, said an official of BTRC. A committee has made the draft guideline of the Tower Sharing Licence.

Meanwhile, BTRC sent the draft to the PMO for approval.

The government is going to introduce the Tower Sharing Licence as part of its plan to carry out the maintenance of mobile phone base stations (BTS) through two of separate companies.

But, opposing the government’s decision, some mobile phone operators said, “Around

GUIDELINE Number of Licensee - 2 Auction base price would be Tk3 crore  BTRC to get 5.5% share of revenue after 1 year  Performance bank guaranty Tk3 crore  Yearly licence fee Tk 50 lakh,  Licence application form fee Tk1 lakh,  Tenure of licence 15 years  

2,500 engineers will lose their jobs if the plan is implemented and the move also goes against the 3G licencing regulations.”

According to article 2 of the drafted guideline, only tower operators will get the tower sharing licenses while auction base price would be Tk3 crore as per article 12 of the guideline.

Applicants have to pay Tk3 crore as performance bank guarantee while yearly license fee would be Tk50 lakh.

License application form fee would be

fixed at Tk1 lakh and the tenure of the license would be 15 years while the BTRC will get the revenue share of 5.5% after a year.

According to the guideline under article 19, the tenure of all the roll out obligations will be five yearsfor setting up towers across the country while the towers at the Upazilla level would be completed in the last year.

As of now,the six mobile operators have around 3,000 engineers. Of them, some 700 engineers are working for GP, 600 for Banglalink, 500 for Robi and 1,000 for Teletalk, Citycell and Airtel, according to sources.

“If BTRC finally implement its plan, we will probably lose our jobs and we are spending our time now amid uncertainty,” said an engineer of a leading mobile phone operator on condition of anonymity.

Since 2010, around 7,500 towers were up by six operators across the country which 5,500 have already been shared.

According to article 5.1 of the guideline, prietorship, partnership, and companies tered under the companies act, 1994 are eli to apply for the Tower Sharing License. 

DT

16 BUSINESS

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

BGMEA says all but two factories have paid due wages

 Tribune Report

Clients stand in long queues to do transaction at Sonali Bank head office in the city’s Motijheel on the last working day before Eid-ul-fitr

RAJIB DHAR

In shadow of Chinese rout, India fights illegal ‘dabba’ market  Reuters, Mumbai A crack team of regulators and specially trained police are spearheading India’s efforts to stamp out the country’s “shadow” market in shares and commodities, turning up the heat on backstreet traders who threaten the broader financial system.

So-called “dabba” trading has been a headache for regulators for years, but a government push to crack down on the black economy and clean up the Indian market for retail investors has given a fresh boost to efforts to stamp out the multi-billion-dollar parallel system, which bypasses market rules and taxes.

Though brushing off comparisons, regulators and brokers acknowledge China’s dramatic stock market rout of recent weeks has also served as a stark reminder of the risks -- even if troubles across the border were exacerbated by China’s far higher proportion of retail investment and margin lending.

“Dabba trading and any other unlawful trading practices do present a risk in the market and need to be curbed,” said Nirmal Jain, chairman of domestic brokerage and financial services firm IIFL. “It’s not good for anybody.”

There is no reliable estimate of the size of India’s dabba markets, but the practice is widespread and brokers estimate share volumes are likely to add up to at least several hundred million dollars daily, compared to an average of 175.25bn rupees ($2.76bn) on formal exchanges.

In commodity markets, estimates put trade at multiples of legitimate business. A senior official at leading commodity bourse MCX said earlier this year that the dabba market could be eight to 10 times the regulated derivatives market.

Commodity derivatives worth $265.54bn were traded on India’s exchanges in the first six months of the year, less than a third of the volumes two years ago before a new transac-

tion tax was introduced. Market participants and traders estimate a bulk of the those trades has moved to the dabba markets.

Officials at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) say they are worried about contagion if markets turn volatile, particularly if dabba traders are using both on-market and off-market trades to hedge their exposures.

Though there is rarely proof, brokers say they sometimes see instances of dabba causing unusual market moves. In early 2013, brokers attributed a sell-off in mid and small-cap stocks over several days in part to a major Calcutta investor liquidating actual shareholdings after losing heavily in the dabba market.

“There is a significant risk of spillover in the financial system,” said a senior regulator at SEBI. SEBI, which will be overseeing commodities after a planned merger with the Forward Markets Commission, has set up a three-member team to revise its dabba policy, SEBI officials said. 

Fed sees growth across US economy: Beige Book  AFP, Washington The US economy grew during May and June, keeping up momentum after the first quarter’s stall, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book survey said Wednesday.

All 12 of the central bank’s districts indicated that economic activity expanded, with growth characterized as “modest” or “moderate,” according to the report, which will serve as a framework for the Fed’s monetary policy meeting at the end of July.

Consumer spending, the driver that accounts for about two-thirds of US economic

activity, revealed a mixed picture.

For some districts, low energy prices had helped boost spending. But in districts such as Minneapolis and Dallas, bordering Canada and Mexico, respectively, weaker spending was tied to the rising dollar, the report said.

Automobile sales increased in almost all districts, as did tourism, except for a further slowdown in New York, especially in New York City.

In the generally upbeat survey, people in Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Kansas City and Dallas were “optimistic about future growth.”

The report signaled some weaknesses, such as the stronger dollar that was curbing US exports.

The manufacturing sector had “uneven” activity in part due to the strong dollar and the slowdown in the oil and gas industry.

Employment increased or held steady in most sectors and wage pressures were described as “modest” in most districts.

At a Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen indicated the central bank saw the economy was strong enough to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 later this year. 

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association yesterday said all its member factories except two had paid wages for the month of June while all but six paid festival bonus.

But the union leaders disagreed with the number and said over 30 factories were yet to pay any bonus before Eid-ul-fitr. However, they are satisfied with the progress being made in wage payment culture in the country’s biggest industry.

BGMEA president Atiqul Islam addressed a press conference in Dhaka yesterday updating wage and bonus payment situation of the member factories.

There was a close monitoring by the top RMG sector body over factories, especially small and medium ones, to see wage and bonus payment situation before Eid-ul-fitr.

BGMEA had brought 1,489 small and medium size factories under monitoring on the basis of intelligence report as they were in the risk of missing wage and bonus payments to workers before Eid. Atiqul Islam said: “After monitoring we have found that 1,487 or 99% of the factories have paid wages for the month of June, while 95% or 1,483 paid festival allowance.”

He said the remaining two factories were in the process of paying the dues. Islam added another 315 factories paid wage of 7-10 days of the current month in addition to that of June.

While BGMEA chief presented a very good picture of wage and bonus payments, industrial police disclosed that around 40 factories across the country paid neither wage nor bonus though only two days are to go before Eid. About 30 factories that didn’t pay bonus yet, Sirajul Islam Rony, president of Bangladesh National Garment Workers Employees League, told Dhaka Tribune that they had received such complains from 30 factories located in Savar, Ashulia, Gazipur, and Narayanganj.

He said the factories “are very small and work on contract basis.”

“We are satisfied with the initiatives taken by government and BGMEA this year. Almost all owners have paid due wages and bonus,” Rony said.

Nazma Akter, president of Bangladesh Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation said: “As of Wednesday I know in the capital only a factory has not paid wages and bonus. But I am not agreed with the BGMEA number for whole country.”

About wage payment in Swan Garments Limited, Atiqul Islam said it was a different issue and the ministry of labour was looking into the matter.

“We have talked to workers leaders and owners. It is a pending case and to be setlled in court,” he said.

The workers of the factory fell into uncertainty following the death of the factory owner Ming Yuen Hon (Toby) in April.

Earlier On July 2 State Minister for Labour and Employment Md Mujibul Haque Chunnu asked the RMG manufacturers to pay wages for the month of June by July 10 and festival bonus by July 14. 

DT

BUSINESS 17

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Asia Inc looks to post-sanctions Iran for demand spurt

Oil sinks on outlook for more Iran crude exports  AFP, New York

 Reuters, Seoul From steelmakers to construction firms, industrial companies in Asia hope an end to sanctions in Iran can provide a new source of sorely-needed demand.

South Korean steelmaker POSCO has been in touch with Iranian firms seeking to do business with it once sanctions are lifted, and Indian industrial conglomerate Larsen & Toubro is eyeing opportunities in oil and gas extraction projects following Tuesday’s nuclear deal.

Lifting sanctions could keep a check on oil prices, to the benefit of big Asian energy importers China, Japan, India and South Korea, while a stronger Iranian economy, with a population of some 80 million, would provide a new engine of demand for Asian-made goods - from smartphones and TVs to cars.

For South Korean builders such as GS Engineering & Construction Corp, a deal would give a lift for a sector buffeted by sluggish demand in the Middle East, the industry’s biggest market.

Shares in GS E&C, which walked away from a $1.2bn project in Iran five years ago as sanctions escalated, gained nearly 5% on Wednesday, and South Korea’s construction index ended nearly 3% higher on hopes the Iran deal will generate new business.

“When the Iranian nuclear agreement is reached and sanctions are lifted, we plan to actively re-enter Iran’s construction market,” said Huh Tai-youll, a GS E&C spokesman.

Even though companies such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have continued to sell products in Iran, South Korean exports to the country fell to $4.16bn last year from $6.26bn in 2012, according to the Korea International Trade Association.

Kwon Oh-joon, CEO of POSCO, which has been battered by sluggish global demand,

An Iranian man fills up his car in Tehran

said Iran was once a significant market for its steel products.

“A few steel companies in Iran already contacted us if we can provide steel production technology,” he said after the company reported quarterly results on Wednesday.

“We are looking for ways to improve POSCO’s financial structure while playing a role in reviving the Iranian steel industry.”

Power, port projects India’s Tata Power and Adani Enterprises, respectively eyeing a power project and a port project, sent officials to Iran last month to meet with industrialists and officials, said a senior Indian embassy official in Tehran.

REUTERS

Adani declined comment and Tata Power did not respond to requests for comment.

Shares in India’s Aban Offshore, which earns a third of its revenue from Iran, jumped more than 16% on Tuesday and another 2% on Wednesday, while National Aluminium Co gained 2% on Wednesday after media reports said it planned a $3bn smelter complex in Iran.

Mumbai-based Larsen & Toubro set up a task force ahead of the expected lifting of sanctions to scout for opportunities. The group will visit Iran and report back, Chief Financial Officer R Shankar Raman told Reuters.

He said there were still geopolitical risks to getting involved in Iran. “It’s not going to be an easy decision.” 

Oil prices sank yesterday as traders priced in the impact on global oversupply from Iran’s historic nuclear deal with major powers.

The market was also pushed lower by the rebounding dollar, given a boost by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s remarks indicating the US central bank’s first interest rate hike since 2006 was still seen this year.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August tumbled $1.63 to $51.41 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in August, the global benchmark, dropped to $56.86 a barrel, down $1.65 from Tuesday’s settlement.

“The world is still trying to grips with what the nuclear deal with Iran means, and when the crude will come in the market,” said James Williams of WTRG Economics. “The reality of this is setting in. “ On Tuesday, Iran and six major world powers reached a deal to monitor Tehran’s nuclear program that will lead to a lifting of sanctions which have restricted the country’s oil exports.

According to energy data provider Platts, Iran is exporting about 1 million barrels per day of crude, down from 2.2-2.3 million barrels a day before the sanctions were imposed in mid-2012.

“Further assessment of the Iranian nuclear deal... is quickly reaching a fairly strong consensus that the added supply will increase and prolong the current surplus, even though the recovery in Iranian production may be slower and less dramatic than had been widely appreciated,” said Tim Evans of Citi Futures.

Meanwhile, Fawad Razaqzada at trading site Forex.com noted that crude prices were “held back by a rallying US dollar after Janet Yellen’s hawkish remarks increased the possibility of a 2015 hike.”

A stronger US unit makes dollar-priced crude more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies. 

Greeks spend their locked-away euros  AFP, Athens Use it or lose it: that’s the plan for many Greeks, who have been going on a credit cardfuelled spending spree as the economy has tanked out of fears their cash could be confiscated or devalued.

Wary of the experience in fellow eurozone member Cyprus two years ago, when deposits were seized to recapitalise banks, Greeks are opting to drain their accounts by electronically paying taxes and bills - or buying luxury goods.

“Up to last weekend, people bought a lot of things to protect their money,” confirmed Andreas Triantaphylidis, vice president of the Association of Athens Merchants.

Between June 27, when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a referendum that made his eurozone creditors boil, and July 10, when speculation peaked that Greece could crash out of the euro in a so-called “Grexit”, luxury products have been flying off the shelves.

Sales of expensive goods such as watches and jewellery and electronic items like smartphones and computers leapt 30 percent

compared to the same period last year, Triantaphylidis said.

The unexpected wave of spending was spurred by the rationing of cash from ATMs - withdrawals have been limited to 60 euros ($67) per day for over two weeks - spurring the much wider use of credit cards and electronic cash transfers than ever before in Greece.

Some 500,000 credit cards were delivered in the past few days, helping push card transactions up 130 percent, according to the Association of Greek Banks.

“Last week, we had a lot of clients. They wanted to buy all they could, for fear of losing half of their savings,” said Stephanie, a saleswoman in a family-owned jewellery store in the capital’s upmarket Kolonaki neighbourhood.

Jewellery made of gold, a traditional safe-haven metal, and luxury watches, some of which cost up to 6,000 euros, were snatched up by “not especially rich” customers aged 30 to 50, said the 28-year-old employee.

“Greeks: I don’t understand them. Me, I’d never spend my money in these times,” Stephanie added.

Rumours quashed Since Athens struck a deal with its eurozone partners on Monday that assuaged the immediate prospect of a “Grexit” or a “bail-in”, where bank deposits are seized, the Greek customers have been replaced by the usual tourist clientele.

‘Last week, we had a lot of clients. They wanted to buy all they could, for fear of losing half of their savings’ And the rush of “protective spending”, covering high-margin expense items, hasn’t turned around Greece’s economic fortunes.

According to the National Confederation of Greek Business, retail sales fell 70% between June 27 and July 10, compared to the same period a year earlier. Only purchases of fuel and food increased, seen as proof the country is well and truly in crisis.

The government on Tuesday went out of its way to quash speculation and rumours

that fuelled public panic, saying the bailout agreement “guaranteed deposits” and averted any need for a bail-in.

It added that parliament had until next week to transpose an EU directive into law, adopted after Cyprus’s 2013 crisis, that guaranteed deposits up to 100,000 euros.

The calming words came after another unexpected side-effect of Greek’s fears their savings could be seized: people are paying their taxes.

Some one billion euros flowed into state coffers between June 27 and July 10 as citizens looked to settle what they owed before any deposit “haircut” - nearly as much as the tax system usually receives in a month.

The payments, made despite the decision by tax authorities to push back the deadline for income tax payments to the end of July, ironically come after Athens pledged to crack down on Greece’s rampant tax evasion under its new reform plan.

“For the first time in my life, I’m on time with my taxes,” said Giorgos, a 35-year-old running a small family-owned publishing firm. “I owe nothing to the government.” 

DT

18 BUSINESS

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

DSE GAINER

News, analysis and recent disclosures

MBL 1st M. F.-A EXIM Bank 1 MF-A AramitCementA Shahjibazar Power-N Saiham Cotton-A EBL NRB M.F.-A Popular Life 1st M.F.-A AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A ICB AMCL 2nd NRB -A Bangladesh Welding -B

interest) from Jan’15-June’15 was Tk. 1,563.43 m. with Consolidated EPS of Tk. 2.02 as against Tk. 1,203.95 m. and Tk. 1.67 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas Consolidated Profit after tax (excluding non controlling interest) from April’15-June’15 was Tk. 868.87 m. with Consolidated EPS of Tk. 1.12 as against Tk. 696.99 m. and Tk. 0.97 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

SPPCL: (H/Y Un-audited): Profit after tax from Jan’15-June’15 was Tk. 430.17 million with EPS of Tk. 2.83 as against Tk. 344.23 million and Tk. 2.26 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

Whereas Profit after tax from April’15-June’15 was Tk. 203.18 million with EPS of Tk. 1.34 as against Tk. 183.90 million and Tk. 1.21 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

BSRMLTD: (H/Y Un-audited): Net Profit after tax from Jan’15June’15 was Tk. 185.19 million with EPS of Tk. 1.08 as against Tk. 31.87 million and Tk. 0.20 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Whereas Net Profit/(Loss) after tax from April’15-June’15 was Tk. 155.73 million with EPS of Tk. 0.88 as against Tk. (8.70) million and Tk. (0.05) respectively for the same period of the previous year.

BSRMSTEEL: (H/Y Un-audited): Consolidated Net Profit after tax (excluding non controlling interest) from Jan’15-June’15 was Tk. 1,054.43 m. with Consolidated EPS of Tk. 3.09 as against Tk. 817.53 m. and Tk. 2.39 respectively for the same period of the previous year.

AGM/Dividend MEGHNALIFE: The Board of Directors has recommended 13% cash dividend and 20% stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2014.

Date of AGM: 27.08.2015, Time: 10:30 AM, Venue: Muktijoddha Smrity Auditorium, Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh 160/A, Kakrail VIP Road, Dhaka.

Record Date: 30.07.2015.

Audited/unaudited Financial Reports: ACI: (H/Y Un-audited): Consolidated Profit after tax (excluding non controlling interest) from Jan’15-June’15 was Tk. 2,398.78 m. with Consolidated basic EPS (total) of Tk. 60.28 as against Tk. 158.31 m. and Tk. 4.01 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Moreover basic EPS without one-off gain for the same period is of Tk. 7.04 and Tk. 4.01 respectively. Whereas Consolidated Profit after tax (excluding non controlling interest) from April’15-June’15 was Tk. 2,319.96 m. with Consolidated basic EPS (total) of Tk. 58.30 as against Tk. 113.03 m. and Tk. 2.86 respectively for the same period of the previous year. Moreover basic EPS without one-off gain for the same period is of Tk. 5.06 and Tk. 2.86 respectively.

MBL1STMF: (Q1 Un-audited): Net Profit/(loss) from April’15 to June’15 was Tk. 126.92 million with earnings per unit of Tk. 1.27 as against Tk. (8.79) million and Tk. (0.09) respectively for the same period of the previous year.

SUMITPOWER: (H/Y Un-audited): Consolidated Profit after tax (excluding non controlling

MBL 1st M. F.-A Popular Life 1st M.F.-A AramitCementA Shahjibazar Power-N Saiham Cotton-A AIBL 1st Is. M. F.-A NLI 1st M F-A Bangladesh Welding -B Aziz PipesZ BGIC -A

Company Golden Harvest Agro-N BD Fixed Income MF-A Rupali Life Insur.-B Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A Jute SpinnersA Samata LeatheR -Z Standard Ceramic -A Hakkani P& Paper -B Olympic Accessories -N ACI Formulations-A

Number of Contract

329,330

Traded Issues

325

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

184

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

137

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

4

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,646.36

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

32.08

4.79 6.14 38.08 168.65 21.90 4.85 5.24 5.03 7.92 22.80

Weekly closing

Weekly high

4.80 6.10 36.50 169.80 22.10 4.90 5.30 4.90 8.00 22.00

Weekly low

5.10 6.20 41.50 173.50 22.80 5.00 5.40 5.30 8.00 23.70

4.00 5.70 34.50 147.00 19.50 4.40 4.70 4.80 7.40 18.50

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

21.975 0.263 52.561 199.892 126.175 0.227 22.945 15.392 14.357 83.576

Latest PE

5.08 0.56 0.72 8.44 1.43 0.61 0.63 4.76 0.87 -0.40

0.9 11.0 52.9 20.0 15.3 8.0 8.3 1.1 9.1 -ve

23.08 17.39 17.20 16.35 15.71 11.36 10.59 10.05 9.47 9.21

Average (% change) 24.29 17.94 20.43 15.98 14.35 14.22 9.53 15.96 9.68 7.73

Closing average 4.81 5.39 37.73 170.08 21.76 5.06 9.31 22.89 20.84 16.30

Weekly closing

Weekly high

4.80 5.40 36.80 171.50 22.10 4.90 9.40 21.90 20.80 16.60

Weekly low

5.00 5.50 39.50 174.00 22.80 5.20 9.40 23.90 20.90 16.70

4.20 4.60 34.50 147.50 19.50 4.80 9.00 19.50 20.80 15.20

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

0.823 0.901 18.974 11.850 6.007 0.870 0.326 10.341 0.005 0.619

Latest PE

5.08 0.63 0.72 8.44 1.43 4.76 1.83 -0.40 -2.64 3.48

0.9 8.6 52.4 20.2 15.2 1.1 5.1 -ve -ve 4.7

Closing (% change) -12.11 -11.84 -10.58 -10.46 -10.10 -10.09 -9.29 -9.07 -8.69 -8.48

Average (% change) -10.86 -13.14 -10.55 -9.94 -7.43 -8.72 -10.17 -8.28 -9.26 -9.59

Closing average 28.72 6.61 32.13 13.68 48.00 30.35 42.50 48.77 57.21 210.99

Weekly closing

Weekly high

28.30 6.70 32.10 13.70 46.30 30.30 42.00 48.10 57.80 211.60

Weekly low

32.50 8.00 33.00 14.40 48.00 33.50 47.50 53.70 65.80 226.90

27.80 6.50 31.00 13.60 46.00 30.00 41.50 47.40 55.00 205.10

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

83.616 0.762 6.709 126.663 0.017 2.023 9.179 18.845 371.242 398.232

Latest PE

1.32 0.51 5.33 2.92 -31.68 -0.05 0.49 0.29 1.41 6.80

21.8 13.0 6.0 4.7 -ve -ve 86.7 168.2 40.6 31.0

CSE LOSER Company Midas Financing-Z Samata LeatheR -Z Golden Harvest Agro-N Familytex (BD) Ltd.-A Paramount Insur-A Rupali Life Insur.-B PragatiLife Insu. -Z Prime Insur -A ACI Formulations-A Standard Ceramic -A

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

358,171,755

Closing average

DSE LOSER

Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume)

Closing (% change)

Company

SECTORAL TURNOVER SUMMARY

15,687.41

20.00 17.31 16.24 16.06 15.10 13.95 12.77 11.36 11.11 10.55

Average (% change) 21.88 18.08 21.31 16.25 14.48 12.79 11.25 15.10 10.00 14.17

CSE GAINER

DSE key features July 12-14, 2015

Sector

Closing (% change)

Company

Closing (% change) -15.11 -14.29 -10.94 -10.46 -9.93 -9.58 -9.49 -9.03 -8.65 -8.55

DSE Million Taka 547.83 463.90 263.32 2236.36 383.16 2569.70 8.66 956.61 4336.37 55.45 237.23 38.97 346.52 988.58 84.48 58.65 163.88 728.15 408.23 809.89 1.47

Average (% change) -15.41 -12.96 -9.99 -9.93 -10.19 -6.69 -7.10 -11.37 -9.42 -8.17

Closing average 11.75 27.34 28.84 13.70 12.69 33.22 74.40 13.10 211.62 42.16

Weekly closing 11.80 27.00 28.50 13.70 12.70 32.10 72.50 13.10 211.10 41.70

CSE % change 3.49 2.96 1.68 14.26 2.44 16.38 0.06 6.10 27.64 0.35 1.51 0.25 2.21 6.30 0.54 0.37 1.04 4.64 2.60 5.16 0.01

Million Taka 30.26 40.08 11.94 226.27 17.83 217.47 0.00 80.86 226.30 9.03 19.83 2.45 17.67 123.50 10.90 2.71 8.21 63.09 58.23 86.43 0.03

Weekly high

Weekly low

13.00 34.20 32.00 14.70 13.00 34.30 75.00 13.10 230.00 47.50

11.70 27.00 28.30 13.60 12.60 31.20 72.50 13.10 206.50 41.50

Total % change 2.41 3.20 0.95 18.06 1.42 17.35 0.00 6.45 18.06 0.72 1.58 0.20 1.41 9.86 0.87 0.22 0.66 5.04 4.65 6.90 0.00

Million Taka 578.09 503.98 275.26 2462.64 400.99 2787.18 8.66 1037.47 4562.67 64.48 257.06 41.42 364.19 1112.08 95.37 61.36 172.10 791.25 466.46 896.32 1.50

% change 3.41 2.98 1.62 14.54 2.37 16.45 0.05 6.12 26.93 0.38 1.52 0.24 2.15 6.56 0.56 0.36 1.02 4.67 2.75 5.29 0.01

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

Turnover in million

Latest EPS

0.059 0.069 2.377 18.689 0.035 1.674 0.049 0.001 25.347 0.419

Latest PE

-1.55 -0.05 1.32 2.92 1.32 5.33 2.38 1.12 6.80 0.49

-ve -ve 21.8 4.7 9.6 6.2 31.3 11.7 31.1 86.0

CSE key features July 12-14, 2015 Turnover (Million Taka) Turnover (Volume) Number of Contract

1,253.11 33,484,752 47,667

Traded Issues

273

Issue Gain (Avg. Price Basis)

156

Issue Loss (Avg. Price Basis)

110

Unchanged Issue (Avg. Price Basis)

7

Market Capital Equity (Billion. Tk.)

2,553.09

Market Capital Equity (Billion US$)

30.95

DT

BUSINESS 19

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Multinational, power stocks shine past week just before Eid vacation  Tribune Report

DSE TURNOVER LEADERS ACI Limited- A Grameenphone-A LafargeS Cement-A Khulna Power-A Beximco Pharma -A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A ACI Formulations-A Ifad Autos -N Olympic Accessories -N UNITED AIR-A

Volume shares 2,946,239 1,885,106 5,704,369 7,030,833 7,617,100 12,568,681 1,845,752 3,832,438 6,215,193 31,712,328

Active Fine Chem.-A United Power-N RAK Ceramics-A Square Pharma -A AFC AgroBiotech-A Ifad Autos -N

Value in million 1826.22 649.40 642.04 536.40 508.49 431.68 398.23 388.62 371.24 343.35

% of total turnover 11.64 4.14 4.09 3.42 3.24 2.75 2.54 2.48 2.37 2.19

5,191,925 2,020,936 4,046,891 1,151,076 4,122,431 5,696,805

Weekly closing 581.40 342.20 114.50 77.90 66.50 34.00 211.60 104.80 57.80 10.80

319.93 319.81 310.32 297.44 271.17 669.83

Price change -2.68 0.88 0.17 5.70 2.78 0.00 -8.48 3.56 -8.69 -2.70

2.04 2.04 1.98 1.90 1.73 1.79

Weekly opening 597.40 339.20 114.30 73.70 64.70 34.00 231.20 101.20 63.30 11.10

62.80 161.90 76.40 258.20 66.10 114.30

Weekly high 665.00 349.80 117.00 79.10 68.00 35.10 226.90 106.20 65.80 11.40

6.08 3.92 3.66 -0.23 -0.45 1.06

Weekly low 574.50 338.10 110.10 73.80 65.00 33.70 205.10 97.70 55.00 10.50

59.20 155.80 73.70 258.80 66.40 113.10

Weekly average 585.37 343.81 114.25 77.84 66.78 33.97 210.99 103.60 57.21 10.67

63.50 164.00 78.60 261.00 67.30 124.50

59.40 151.90 73.70 257.20 65.00 110.10

62.58 161.65 76.84 258.26 65.88 116.84

Volume shares 858,310 1,156,263 108,958 750,851 1,653,364 4,829,774 316,333 666,047 141,844 469,457

Value in million 97.11 68.89 68.08 58.00 56.67 52.24 49.86 49.66 48.76 31.40

% of total turnover 7.75 5.50 5.43 4.63 4.52 4.17 3.98 3.96 3.89 2.51

628,317 116,186 86,016 937,032 181,719

Weekly closing 114.40 58.20 583.90 78.20 34.00 10.70 161.70 77.20 342.40 66.60

25.82 25.35 22.24 19.79 19.73

Price change 0.09 -8.06 -2.89 6.39 0.00 -3.60 3.19 7.52 0.94 2.46

2.06 2.02 1.77 1.58 1.57

Weekly opening 114.30 63.30 601.30 73.50 34.00 11.10 156.70 71.80 339.20 65.00

41.40 211.10 258.20 21.10 109.90

Weekly high 116.00 65.00 679.00 79.50 35.00 11.30 163.90 77.20 349.50 68.00

3.76 -8.65 -0.42 -1.40 2.33

Weekly low 110.20 55.20 572.70 73.90 33.60 10.50 152.00 69.60 338.90 65.00

39.90 231.10 259.30 21.40 107.40

Weekly average 114.57 57.56 586.82 79.04 33.95 10.69 161.45 75.67 343.91 66.68

41.90 230.00 261.00 21.80 112.00

40.00 206.50 257.50 20.80 106.00

41.49 211.62 258.42 21.05 110.19

Company

CSE TURNOVER LEADERS Company LafargeS Cement-A Olympic Accessories -N ACI Limited- A Khulna Power-A BEXIMCO Ltd. -A UNITED AIR-A United Power-N BSRM Ltd. -N Grameenphone-A Beximco Pharma -A

Summit Power -A ACI Formulations-A Square Pharma -A Appollo Ispat CL -N MJL BD Ltd.-A

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

4656.13859

(+) 1.22%

1820.88044

(+) 1.43%

14312.7650

(+) 0.98%

11728.0361

(+) 1.23%

8713.7224

(+) 1.01%

s s s s s

Stock markets performed well in the past week that ended after three sessions of trading as the bourses went into week long Eid vacation.

Multinational and power companies dominated the trading throughout the past week ahead of their corporate decelerations.

During the week that ended Tuesday, the benchmark index DSEX rose over 56 points or 27% to settle at almost 4,656.

The blue-chip comprising index DS30 was up over 25 points or 1.5% to 1,820. The DSE Shariah Index gained 13 points or 1.2% to end at 1,147.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Categories Index, CSCX, surged 87 points or 1% to end at 8,713.

In the past week, investors concentrated on pharmaceuticals, fuel and power and engineering sectors, accounting for 27.6%, 16.4% and 14.3% respectively of the week’s total turnover.

The daily average turnover at the DSE in the week was Tk520 crore, up more than 11% compared to the previous week despite short trading session.

Turnover heavily cen-

tered on ACI Limited that made up 11.6%, Lafarge Surma Cement 4.1%, following the former’s impressive half yearly corporate decelerations and the latter’s completion of global merger with Holcim.

All the major sectors gained in the past week. The major gaining sectors were fuel and power that soared 4.48%, followed by ceramic 3.3%, mutual fund 2.4% and bank 2%.

The losing sectors were tannery that was down almost 1%, followed by IT 0.2%.

Lanka Bangla Securities said the market remained buoyant in the past week backed by the multi-national firms and power stocks.

IDLC Investments said the market passed a positive week extending the pre-eid gaining streak.

It said the gaining momentum was powered by multiple factors, notably expectations on corporate declarations of the companies with accounting year ending in June, scrip-wise stories, ease in political frontier and expected macro-economic turnaround.

The stock exchanges will resume trading on July 21 after a six-day Eid vacation. 

ANALYST

The market passed a positive week extending the pre-eid gaining streak

DT

20 BUSINESS

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Bangladesh brightens South Asia’s growth forecast for 2015  Tribune Report

plement said.

It said muted hikes in rural wages and minimum support prices and a healthy monsoon would help rein in food inflation, while low crude oil prices globally bode well for fuel inflation as diesel and gasoline prices have both been deregulated.

Growth projections for developing Asia are revised down from those published in Asian Development Outlook 2015 in March, as slower-than-expected recovery in the United States and moderating growth in China, the bank said.

It said developing Asia is now expected to grow 6.1% and 6.2% this year and in 2016 against the ADB’s March forecast of 6.3% for both years.

By sub-region, growth projections are revised down for East and Southeast Asia for both years, unchanged for Central Asia and the Pacific for 2015 but for 2016, slightly downgraded for Central Asia and upgraded for the Pacific, the bank said.

Growth in East Asia is still seen as subdued with lower-than-forecast output across the region. China’s growth is seen moderating to 7% this year and 6.8% in 2016 compared to March estimates of 7.2% and 7%, it said.

The growth outlook in Southeast Asia is trimmed to 4.6% in 2015 because outcomes in the first half of the year in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand disappointed expectations. Sub-regional growth will likely accelerate next year to 5.1%, the ADB said. 

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has slightly raised its 2015 economic growth forecast for South Asia, driven by Bangladesh’s stronger than expected growth.

South Asia will grow by 7.3% in 2015, as a strong out-turn in Bangladesh outweighs a disaster-induced slowdown in Nepal, and by 7.6% in 2016, the bank said in its 2015 outlook supplement released yesterday.

The latest official estimates for economic growth in Bangladesh in FY2015 see growth coming in at 6.5% for the year, outperforming the 6.1% recorded in FY2014, it said.

“These developments in Bangladesh come on the back of stronger performance by industries serving the domestic market, supported in turn by healthy remittance inflows.

Investment growth also contributed, with public investment rising strongly.”

In March this year, ADB in its forecast had said the GDP (gross domestic product) growth for FY2015 would be 6.1%, which is lower than the growth of official estimation.

For other countries in the region, the ADB’s supplement said developments in other South Asian economies have been mixed.

India’s growth forecasts remain at 7.8% for this fiscal year and 8.2% for next, supported by a healthy monsoon and new investment – and assuming concrete progress on reform, it said.

Forecasts for Afghanistan, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are retained as each economy stays its course, the bank said.

In Nepal, it said, the catastrophic earthquake in April caused widespread destruction in the capital and to other infrastructure, severely disrupting economic activity and substantially hobbling growth prospects.

The bank said inflationary pressures in

Shipbuilders demand more cash incentives

National VAT Week concludes amid festivity

 Asif Showkat Kallol

VAT rate at 15%.

“The significant progress of the event is The week-long National VAT Week organised that leading chambers, including the Federfor the fifth consecutive year by the National ation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce Board of Revenue (NBR) ended up yesterday and Industry has shown their keen interest to amid festivity across the country. be partner of these week-long event,” the NBR Through different activities and cam- member added. paigns, the tax authority was able to draw a As part of the week-long programme, the huge response from VAT payers, mostly from NBR organised a central discussion and award the district levels, officials said. giving ceremony in Dhaka while separate The week-long programme has created functions were organised in seven divisional awareness among people and businesses headquarters – Chittagong, Sylhet, Comilla, about paying VAT. Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna and Jessore.

“We have made people aware of the necesCurrently, only 60,000 business firms subsity of paying VAT and they responded very mit their VAT returns although the number of positively,” NBR member (VAT implementa- eligible companies is at least 3-6 lakh, accordtion and IT) Enayet Hossain told the Dhaka ing to NBR. Tribune.

To make VAT payers more compliant, NBR The field-level officials went door to door observed National VAT Day on June 10 and to make people aware of the new VAT law and National VAT Week from July 10 to 16. taxpayers have visited the commissionerate As part of the programme, A total of 119 concerned to know about the process which companies across the country were awarded is very positive, he said. for their contribution to the government exThe government is set to implement the chequer in financial year 2013-14 . new Vat and Supplementary Duty Act 2012 Nine companies received awards at nationfrom July 1, 2016 that will have no provisions al level and 110 at district levels in three catefor package VAT or truncated value-based gories– production, service and business.

VAT system.

The NBR is assigned to collect Tk176,370 With the introduction of the law, all level crore revenue in the current fiscal including of business have to pay a unique and a single the highest Tk64,262 crore from Vat. 

The government has provided Tk100 crore as loan to Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation to disburse among its 26 jute mills for raw jute procurement from cultivators across the country.

The corporation, however, sought Tk700 crore to buy the golden fibre during the July-August peak season.

Finance Division has promised to disburse another Tk100 crore from the government exchequer after Eid-ul-fitr holidays, according to official sources.

Textiles and jute ministry officials said the biggest problem the state-owned companies had been facing for years was that it could not buy raw jute in time.

The peak season to buy raw jute is July-August and purchase after the season sees a 50% rise in price.

Finance Division officials said the jute ministry had sought fund just two days before Eid holidays began for immediate use like payment of workers’ wages to avert agitation.

Earlier, BJMC chairman Humayun Khaled said the state-owned jute mills would not be able to procure any of raw jute from market due to fund shortage whereas the private mills were piling it on.

“We are running our mills at half of their 700 tonnes-a-day capacity for want of raw jute,” he said. 



Tribune report

Local Shipbuilders have demanded 15% cash incentive, a long-term re-financing scheme of Tk2,000 crore, plus a single digit bank credit for the development of the country’s shipbuilding sector.

Leaders of Association of Export-Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh (AEOSIB) made the demands at a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith at his secretariat yesterday.

General Secretary of AEOSIB Md Sakhawat Hossain led a four-member team that attended the meeting.

Muhith said: “We will think about the increase of cash incentive and the long-term re-financing scheme, but the government will not take any decision on the bank interest which is determined by the market forces.

AEOSIB general secretary said the political turmoil affected the ship builders while several ship export orders had been canceled over the last two years.

In his address, he asked the government to increase cash incentives to 15% from existing 5% and keep the provision for the next five years.

“Ship building is an expensive task,” he said, adding that a ship building cost ranges between Tk20crore and 25crore. 

Customers are seen buying essentials at a super store in Dhaka yesterday. While ADB makes brighter growth forecast for Bangladesh, industries serving domestic market are also making significant contribution to the steady economic expansion RAJIB DHAR



Tribune Report

South Asia, including Bangladesh, remain subdued as economic slack and low global food and commodity prices contain price pressures except in Nepal, where disrupted economic output and goods supply force up inflation forecasts.

In India, inflation remains low, suggesting that the recent uptick in activity has not yet been enough to take up the slack persisting in the Indian economy for many years, the sup-

BJMC gets Tk100cr to procure raw jute

DT

21

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

T-JUNCTION

Let the festivities begin Photo: Courtesy

INSIDE

22

22

preview

The month in review We take another go around the city and revisit the best iftar offers.

8 iftar offers that deserve to be revisited

24

listology

Eid Junkies

event

Capturing the vanishing box

DT

22 T-JUNCTION

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Tantalise

review

8 iftar offers that deserve to be revisited

A quick recap into the iftar offers that made it

 N Anita Amreen Izumi Izumi tops our list for being that restaurant that really gives you the finest dining experience, at least as far as quality and price is concerned. There’s something about their bento boxes that leave you feeling like you’ve just had a meal that was filling, delicious and totally worth it, despite the Tk1,500 price tag. Although their bento box’s are subject to weekly menu changes, Izumi’s iftar offer attracts a regular line of customers. Priced at Tk1,500 the bento box includes six assorted sushis/maki, assorted

fried items (mixed seafood), a salad, a mini main such as chicken teriyaki, one fish item, miso soup, lemonade and mineral water. Each item on the bento box can be considered a standalone, especially the melt-in-your-mouth stewed snowfish and the delectable chicken teriyaki. Even their salads are so surprisingly delicious, you’ll be left wondering why you never gave salads a thought before. We may be spoilt for choice when it comes to iftar dining options, but if you want to go for one that you know will never be able to disappoint, Izumi is the way to go.

Le Meridian Despite being in business for barely over a couple of months, Le Meridian’s iftar buffet has been cooking up quite a storm lately. Priced at an astronomical Tk3,600++ (for weekdays) and Tk4,400++ (for weekends), they offer everything from an assorted bread roll section, extensive salad bar (tuna and green bean salad, sweet corn salad, mango salad, cajun chicken salad, etc) roasted rib eye, lamb BBQ, live BBQ station, Arabic sweets, assorted canapes, Thai style squid, selection of cold cut meat, selection of cheese, assorted kababs, biryani, multiple fried items, butter fish, Irish stew and a dessert section to die for. The menu is endless, the wait hours are long and they’re usually sold out on most days. Don’t let the Tk3,600 tag put you off from trying out their buffet because it seems like they’ve really made an effort to make sure they can justify

The Westin A staple in the dining world, Westin’s iftar turn dinner cannot help but make it to the list. They’ve undoubtedly hit the jackpot with some of their tried and tested items. Take, for instance, their all-you-can-eat sushi deal. Or their offering of exquisite Italian dishes with lasagna and beautifully flavoured spaghetti, being all part of the lineup. Then there’s the Indian station with mouthwatering kebabs, a Chinese station with dumplings and momos, a live BBQ station where you can choose your choice of meat and BBQ sauce. There’s

their pricing as far as possible. American Express users can even avail a buy one get one free offer. However, despite the rave reviews there have been complaints that they are more about offering a variety rather than focusing on quality.

barely anything that they don’t have. There are soups, sushi, salads, Indian, Chinese, Italian and a dessert station that makes everything else on their menu seem undesirable. From bakhlava’s to Tiramisu, they’ve got it all and more. Priced at Tk5,000(net), they are certainly on the more expensive end of the price spectrum. However, if you manage to avail their buy one get one free offer through different bank associations or a GP platinum subscription, it’s easier on both the wallet and your stomachs.

T-JUNCTION 23

DT

Tantalise

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Coentro/Cilantro

Tokyo Express A not so surprising addition to our best Ramadan offers list, Tokyo Express really hit the ball out of the park with their allinclusive bento box. Anyone who has tried Tokyo, can’t stop raving about their chicken nanban or their perfectly fried jumbo prawn tempura. Their bento box combines the delicious goodness of some Tokyo Express favourites. There’s two pieces of the to-die-

Wallet-friendly winners When you come to lowbudget options that are quick to satisfy, Rice and Noodle clearly makes it to the top of the list. There extensive menu includes soups, Korean wings, fries, pasta salad, maki rolls, Thai fried rice, veg chowmein, chicken in garlic sauce, beef in oyster sauce, fish black pepper and a deliciously moist shahi tukra and jilapi. Priced at Tk700+ it is a safe, easily chosen option for those of us who want the most bang for buck.

for chicken nanban that you can mop up with the sticky rice. For those of you who need your fried food fix, there’s four pieces of tempura (two prawn and two vegetable).

If that doesn’t float your boat, you’ve got an assortment of sushi and maki rolls along with beef teriyaki, Osaka spicy chicken and carrot salad. All priced at a fair Tk890. This deal is one that is hard to miss.

Other eateries that deserve special mention include Sbarro for beating the all you can eat pizza competition, Thai Emerald for giving Thai enthusiasts a quality deal, Food Republic for their affordable iftar package and Firehouse for keeping things simple by offering 20% off their entire regular menu. Mad Chef too, had our attention, while Indian favourites included Tarka, Handi and Lucknow. 

Both Coentro and Cilantro have continued to impress ever since they’ve introduced their mixed platter for two priced at Tk1,495.

For Ramadan this includes a delicate Peruvian chicken, a well cut grilled sirloin steak, grilled chicken skewers, batter fried fish fillet, sauteed vegetables, herb rice, Spanish rice and a pitcher of lemonade or iced lemon tea. The beauty of this platter is that almost everything on the platter tastes great, especially the fish fillet and the Peruvian chicken. The seafood platter for Tk995 is another killer offer that includes fried fish skewers, batter fried prawn skewers, calamari frittos, chicken wings, thick cut fries, garlic mayo, house sauce and a pitcher of lemonade or iced lemon tea.

The fried goodies are perfectly cooked and come in brilliant portions, making it an easy target for groups of two, if not three. All these come with complimentary dessert and starters such as chola, dates, halim, jilapi and beguni.

Before you scoff at that last bit of info, let us just tell you that these items will

leave you pleasantly surprised. After all, you’d imagine they wouldn’t really care about their less interesting starters when they’ve got such a perfect spread in their platters. You couldn’t be more wrong.

Everything that leaves their kitchen has been paid careful attention to and that is probably one reason why their food is always consistent. From their halim to the Peruvian chicken to the Spanish rice, everything is delightfully brilliant.

Hakka Dhaka There’s no other eatery that serves you top-notch Hakka Chinese as well as Hakka Dhaka. They’ve sneakily made it to our list, without all the customary fanfare that comes with other eateries. Theirs is a no-nonsense platter of true blue Hakka Chinese. The Hakka chicken wings will have you smacking

your lips in satisfaction, while the dry chilli beef will have you question all your other beef choices you’ve ever made. Add to that the wrapped prawns and you’ve got a recipe for satisfaction. This place isn’t about the ambience, it’s all about feel good food that is delicious to the last bite.

DT

24 T-JUNCTION

RIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

News

event

istology

Eid Junkies

Capturing the vanishing box

he festivities bring out the best in us...but sometimes lso the worst

Adila Haque

most of us, Eid is a blessed occasion. cked out in new clothes, binge-eating to best of our abilities, and a sudden leap monetary income all coupled with the t that it comes after the tough month Ramadan are only a few delights to the asion.

However, there are a few types of people encounter during this time that almost ke us wish it didn’t exist in the first place. those of you who know what we’re ing about, you know for a fact this isn’t exaggeration.

‘Kolakoli’ Bro very family re’s that one son who just ’t resist the -hug. He’ll g everyone he ets starting m the time r morning yer, and his tement is ough the roof. me on bro, not ryone likes s.

mi Snatchers ve all been there. Touching the elders’ to ask for a handful of notes – that’s erstandable. However, if the snatchers ittle children who think it’s okay to use r cute little eyes and toothy smiles to uade their older cousins – no, that isn’t nice!

Gossip Girl wakes up early in the morning to make family only the creamiest payesh. She es away in the kitchen for hours making

Longitude Latitude 6 features the work of photographer Safder, who continued his work in box photography despite changes in the trend

 Tribune Desk all kinds of dishes for her near and dear ones.

She doesn’t have a single moment to relax and take a break – until late afternoon, when she’s going to visit her cousins or friends to talk about X’s cheating husband and Y’s V-neck dress that apparently leaves very little to her colorful imagination. Boys and girls, the Gossip Girl no longer hides behind a screen.

Droopy Eyes Eid is supposed to be a happy celebration – one that brings us closer to our family and friends. Nevertheless, because of the shopping craze going on in the country and everywhere else in the world in this time, many of us lose sight of that. You’ve all known someone who chose not to participate in the Eid hype just because their dresses weren’t nice, or their shoes weren’t new.

Pucker up, there are 364 better days in the year to sit around and complain.

Warm Welcome This is a social event. We usually visit our close relatives and friends’ places, and for once, it’s not just for the food. Everywhere we’ll find aunties stuffing our mouth with food. “Ma, have some more. I spent so much time with it; you must try it!” It’s difficult to say no to them when they’re such amazing hosts and have worked hours to make delicious meals for us guests. But come on, our stomachs are not THAT elastic. Gag yourself and puke before your next dawat. 

Art has travelled over time and adapted to various technologies in the past decades.

Photography, although so readily available today as a hobby, passion or form of art to so many, did not use to be this easy or simple. And it is in this celebration of what is becoming obsolete – box photography – that Longitude Latitude 6 is exhibiting the works of box photographer Safder, at their exhibition: “Safder: The Man Behind The Box Camera.”

Photographs taken by Safder, who specialises in box camera photography – from an era that predates even film photography – span over six decades.

Safder has been taking photos since 1952 with his grand old box camera, using paper negatives.

“Safder has been working from 1952 and has seen the transition of many generations and technologies, but he stuck to his craft: paper negatives,” Shehzad Chowdhury, curator of the event, told the Dhaka Tribune, adding that Safder has photographed migrants and refugees who were fleeing or moving following the 1947 partition.

“This kind of box camera is becoming obsolete – no one uses it anymore,” said Shehzad. “But the quality of his photographs are hauntingly beautiful. The negatives have a ghostly feel to them.”

Given that this form of art is soon going to be obsolete, Shehzad and his team decided it is important for the work to be featured.

“This a celebration of the medium itself. It is before film, before digital,” he added.

The exhibition features Safder’s work – mainly portraits, as well as a limited edition of his Still Life Studies that were made especially for the Longitude Latitude 6 customers. These are signed by him.

The exhibition will also include sessions where participants can come and have their photographs taken on the box camera by Safder.

The event is taking place at Bay’s Bellavista, Plot 96, Road 11, Block C, Banani and is open daily from 2pm to 9pm. The Dhaka Tribune is a media partner at the event. 

news

KFC brings back Tom Yum… A taste of Thailand!

KFC is a globally renowned international restaurant chain run by the franchisee Transcom Foods Limited in Bangladesh.

KFC has been making continuous efforts to bring the best quality food with added value to serve the customers better since their journey. Variety and variation in the menu to keep their customers coming back has also been extremely important.

This Eid, KFC brings back the taste of Thailand for valued customers. The Tom Yum flavor is back by popular demand at the stores for a limited time. The hot, lemony and spicy Tom Yum flavor will be available

in both fried chicken and in burgers.

This 16th July, the hot and spicy crunch of Tom Yum was re-launched in the presence of the familiar faces, the renowned celebrities Bonnya Mirza, Sharmin Lucky, Munmun, Topu and Tushti. Mr. Akku Chowdhury (Managing Director and CEO) and Asna Haque (Manager-Marketing) of Transcom Foods Ltd made the announcement of the re-launch to the media present at an event at the Gulshan KFC. The Tom Yum flavor will be now available at all KFC stores in Dhaka, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazaar. 

Manchester United will sell goalkeeper Victor Valdes after the Spaniard refused to play in the reserves, manager Louis van Gaal said on Wednesday

ON TOP OF THE WORLD

26

5 REASONS WHY TRIUMPH OVER SA IS MORE SPECIAL

27

EXPAT FOOTBALLERS TO UNDERGO TRIALS

28

25

DT

Sport

FOR SALE!

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

ROBINHO JOINS SCOLARI AT CHINA CLUB GUANGZHOU

Amid the backdrop of the MA Aziz Stadium, majestic Bangladesh opener Soumya Sarkar relaxes at the rooftop of their team hotel in Chittagong yesterday.

Besides the series win against South Africa, Soumya had double cause for joy as he jumped 35 places from 50th to 15th in the International Cricket Council’s rankings for ODI batsmen MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Tigers rise in ODI players’ rankings  Mazhar Uddin Bangladesh’s brilliant run recently not only cemented their place in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy but also closed down their gap with sixth-placed England. The 2-1 series success against South Africa took the seventh-ranked Tigers’ rating points tally to 96, two less than England.

Mashrafe bin Mortaza and his side are now eight points ahead of both the West Indies and Pakistan, who are ranked eighth and ninth respectively.

The historic series triumph over the Proteas also saw an improvement in the Bangladesh players’ rankings. Opener Soumya

Sarkar, who registered impressive scores of 27, 88 not out and 90 in the just-concluded three ODIs against the South Africans, rose to as high as 15th in the International Cricket Council’s batsmen’s rankings with 671 rating points. The elegant southpaw from Satkhira was 50th prior to his exploits against the Proteas.

Champion all-rounder Shakib al Hasan, who scalped three dismissals in the third ODI against South Africa to become the second Bangladeshi after Abdur Razzak to join the 200-wicket club, jumped to seventh place in the bowlers’ rankings with 690 rating points. Shakib is now just three points behind Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson,

who is sixth.

ODI and Twenty20 skipper Mashrafe, who also joined Razzak and Shakib in the 200-club during the third match against South Africa, improved his ranking by two places.

The “Narail Express” is now 26th in the bowlers’ rankings while Rubel Hossain also saw an improvement in his ranking. Rubel jumped from 55th place to 40th position.

Young tearaway Mustafizur Rahman, who continued to exhibit brilliant displays with the leather, jumped to 69th place from his previous position of 88th after taking five wickets in the three South Africa ODIs. 

TOP 5 BOWLERS IN ODIs Pos 7 26 39 40 57

+/+1 +2 +15 -

Rat 690 560 513 511 474

Name Shakib al Hasan Mashrafe bin Mortaza Abdur Razzak Rubel Hossain Arafat Sunny

TOP 5 BATSMEN IN ODIs Pos 15 21 29 31 37

+/+35 -1 +1

Rat 671 649 610 606 570

Name Soumya Sarkar Mushfiqur Rahim Tamim Iqbal Shakib al Hasan Nasir Hossain

DT

26 Sport

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

(L-R) Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mohammad Shahid, Mahmudullah, Liton Kumar Das and Nasir Hossain enjoy some football during training in Chittagong yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

FIVE REASONS WHY BANGLADESH’S TRIUMPH OVER SOUTH AFRICA IS MORE SPECIAL  Reazur Rahman Rohan Wednesday marked another sad day for a visiting cricket team in Bangladesh. Following Asian heavyweights Pakistan and India, South Africa were probably left to ponder what went wrong. The 2-1 series win over the Proteas is a priceless gift to the nation from the Tigers. Beating the world’s No 4 ranked South Africa brought unparalleled joy to this cricket-mad nation. Here are five reasons, among plenty, that makes the result so special.

Fall once, get up twice as harder Bangladesh had beaten India 2-1 and Pakistan 3-0, but the South Africans were rated higher as an opponent in terms of strength.

The way the visitors began the tour – with comprehensive wins in the two T20Is and the first one-dayer – was just an acknowledgment of the sentiment, it seemed. The series against India and Pakistan were sealed inside the first two games, but the Tigers were facing a different situation here.

At least several Asian cricket pundits like Indian Aakash Chopra and Pakistani Rameez Raja were looking forward to seeing the Tigers wall crack open while, if not the world, millions of Tigers fan across the globe were eager to see their favourite team respond.

The fans won as the Tigers got back stronger and made an incredible comeback to win the next two matches by eight and nine wickets respectively to seal their fourth successive home ODI series.

away from reaching 200 ODI wickets. World No 1 all-rounder in all three formats, Shakib remained wicket-less in the first two games as Mashrafe reduced his target by two.

Their milestones were reached in Chittagong and it was truly a pleasant moment to see the two frontman of Bangladesh cricket embracing the moment. Mashrafe and Shakib’s service to the Bangladesh team cannot be justified with just 200 wickets beside their names.

37th fifty of his career, most by any Bangladeshi. Tamim and Soumya’s 154-run stand at the top, their third in 10 innings, ensured Bangladesh’s series triumph.

The southpaw’s contribution to some extent is under-rated and if Tamim’s statistics is compared to New Zealand captain and enterprising opening batsman Brendon McCullum, I personally will keep the Bangladeshi ahead.

ODIs Runs HS AVG 100s 50s Tamim 150 4581 154 31.37 6 31 McCullum 254 5909 166 30.30 5 31

Troll him as much as you want, but Tamim is irreplaceable

Elites Mashrafe, Shakib in deserving places Prior to the series, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza and his deputy Shakib al Hasan were three and two wickets

No matter how much Tamim Iqbal is trolled across social media for his inconsistency, in the back of your mind you know he will rise to the occasion. His bat was silent in the 2015 ICC World Cup, but don’t forget his 100-ball 95 in the win against Scotland where Bangladesh were chasing 319 to win in Nelson, New Zealand. He answered the critics through the Pakistan series with scores of 132, 116* and 64 and made 60 in the first game against India. He went silent again with scores of 13, 5, 0 and 5 in the next four outings. On Wednesday, his 61* was the

Tigers sustain pressure of back-to-back big series’ Bangladesh have never played so much cricket in a year. Starting from the World Cup in February, the Tigers have played 15 ODIs and that too against some big names of the cricketing world. There were huge doubts as to whether Bangladesh would be able to cope up with the pressure of playing continuously. After each triumph, the doubts reshaped over whether Bangladesh can hold on to the successful momentum.

Bangladesh faced Afghanistan, Sri Lanka,

Scotland, England, New Zealand and India (the game against Australia was washed out) in the World Cup before hosting bilateral series’ against Pakistan, India and South Africa. Yep, Bangladesh sustained the pressure or rather they enjoyed the game.

On Wednesday, after securing their series success over the Proteas, Mashrafe rightfully said, “We used to dream of beating big teams. Now we are beating them.”

Soumya excels and so does his ‘Periscope shot’ The left-handed opening batsman is a part of the new era of Bangladesh cricket. The fearless 22-year old brings aggression and agility to the Tigers’ batting to complement his safe pair of hands in the field. Often been compared to the Prince of Kolkata – former India captain Sourav Ganguly – for similar batting styles, Soumya’s dominance over the opponents is increasing by each game.

Soumya expressed dissatisfaction and worries over not being able to continue the good starts with the bat, but in the last two ODIs it was his progress that made the wins easier than expected. The unbeaten 88 in Dhaka in the second ODI injected a big amount of assurance in him as he batted more freely and made the shots in his 90-run knock look effortless. Soumya is finding his feet and so is his signature the ‘periscope shot’. It can be compared to the popular MS Dhoni’s ‘helicopter shot’ and Tillakaratne Dilshan’s ‘Dilscoop’ as Soumya’s innovation was even acknowledged by the ICC in its official facebook page. 

DT

Sport 27

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Rogers gets Australia going in second Ashes Test

QUICK BYTES Cuba reaches quarters, Trinidad draws Mexico Cuba defied the odds and booked a berth in the Gold Cup quarter-finals against regional powerhouse United States with a 1-0 win over Guatemala in their final game of group stage on Wednesday. In a thrilling night match, Yohance Marshall scored in the final seconds of injury time as Trinidad and Tobago rallied from a pair of second-half deficits to earn a 4-4 draw with Mexico in one of the wildest matches in tournament history.

–AFP

 AFP, London Chris Rogers rode his luck as Australia made an excellent start in the second Ashes Test against England at Lord’s on Thursday.

Australia were 191 for one at Tea on the first day, with David Warner the only batsman dismissed, as they looked to level the five-match series at 1-1 after their 169-run defeat in the first Test in Cardiff last week.

Rogers was 81 not out, on a ground he knows well from his time with Lord’s-based county side Middlesex, and Steven Smith 62 not out.

Australia captain Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked another typically good pitch at the ‘home of cricket’.

Initially overcast skies offered a hint of swing movement.

The first over saw Rogers fortunate to survive when he edged an intended drive off James Anderson just over the top of the slip cordon for four.

Warner is known as the more aggressive of Australia’s two left-handed openers.

But it took him 25 balls to score his first four on Thursday, pulling first-change Mark Wood.

Rogers did not look secure and repeatedly played and missed By contrast, Warner started to find his touch with five fours, all off fast bowler Wood, in 13 balls.

England captain Alastair Cook brought on Moeen Ali after drinks. 

McCarthy not for sale, says Everton’s Martinez Everton manager Roberto Martinez has insisted that James McCarthy is not for sale following reports that Manchester City were preparing to make a bid for the Republic of Ireland international midfielder. McCarthy was linked with the former Premier League champions after their failure to sign Aston Villa’s Fabian Delph. However Martinez, who worked with the player at Wigan Athletic before they both joined Everton two years ago, is determined to hold on to the young talent in his squad.

–AFP

Middlesbrough agree to sign Uruguay hitman Stuani English second tier outfit Middlesbrough have agreed a deal in principle to sign Uruguay international striker Christian Stuani from Spanish side Espanyol. The north-east club have agreed to pay the La Liga side around 4 million euros (£2.8m; $4.4m dollars) for the 29-year-old, who has 17 caps for Uruguay.

–AFP

DAY 1, AT TEA

Southampton sign Clasie as Schneiderlin replacement

Australia 191 for 1 (Rodgers 81*, Smith 62* M Ali 1-35)

Southampton have completed a deal for Feyenoord midfielder Jordy Clasie after moving quickly to fill the void left by Morgan Schneiderlin’s departure to Manchester United. Clasie, who has 11 caps for the Netherlands, has signed a five-year contract, the Premier League club said on Wednesday. British media reports indicated the fee was in the region of 7 million pounds.

–Reuters

South Africa’s Test arrival Dale Steyn bowls in the nets in Chittagong yesterday

Sunderland sign Dutch Lens on 4-year deal

Abahani bid its head coach George Kottan a joyful farewell by thrashing Sheikh Russel 5-0 in the Manyavar Bangladesh Premier League at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The Sky Blues continued their winning streak to move to second in the standings with 30 points from 15 outings and trail defending champions Sheikh Jamal by six points. Sheikh Russel on the other hand dropped down a place to third with 29 points from 14 matches.

Abahani’s Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba led the way with a fine hattrick while national defender Nasirul Islam Nasir and midfielder Shahedul Alam Shahed were also on the scoresheet.

Meanwhile in the day’s other match, Muktijoddha continued their travails in the second phase as Brothers Union twice came from behind to eke out a dramatic 3-2 win.

Muktis are yet to record a win ever since the second phase of the top flight got underway and are now sixth in the standings with

Sunderland have bolstered their attacking ranks by signing Netherlands forward Jeremain Lens from Dynamo Kiev on a four-year deal, the Premier League club said on Wednesday. The 27-year-old, who has worked with Sunderland coach Dick Advocaat at his previous clubs PSV Eindhoven and AZ Alkmaar, has signed for an undisclosed fee, which media reports have estimated to be in the region of 8 million pounds.

–Reuters

Younis won’t retire before winning in Australia, Eng Pakistan veteran Younis Khan has vowed to hold off retiring until he has guided his team to Test series victories in England and Australia to cap off a remarkable career.

–AFP

MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Abahani thrash Sk Russel, Brothers go fourth  Shishir Hoque

21 points from 15 matches. Brothers on the other hand jumped to fourth with 28 points from 15 matches.

Senegalese striker Camara Sarba netted twice in the opening half for the All Reds but his exploits were overshadowed by Kester Akon, who also bagged a brace and assisted the Oranges’ winner.

It took Muktis only 13 minutes to break the deadlock as Sarba headed home.

The delight however, did not last long.

Brothers captain Akon cancelled out the lead just five minutes later, flicking over goalkeeper Anisur Rahman.

Muktijoddha took the lead again in the 34th minute as Sarba notched his second.

Akon though stunned Muktis by bringing parity in the 83rd minute. The Brothers skipper fired home the rebound after Anisur saved Shafiqul Islam’s shot.

And in the final moments of the game, the Brothers fans were jumping for joy when substitute forward Mohammad Roni sealed the three points from an Akon cross. 

Expat footballers to undergo trials  Shishir Hoque Two expatriate footballers, who ply their trade with Welsh football club Dinas Powys FC, showed their interest to play for Bangladesh and are likely to visit their motherland soon for trial.

Rizwan Ahmed and Mohammad Ali Akmal, both 19, are full-backs but play on opposite flanks. Rizwan, a left-back, mentioned in his curriculum vitae, “My father used to play football in Bangladesh before moving to the UK. I would like the opportunity to represent Bangladesh as it would be an honour to be a part of something my father has supported for so long.”

Akmal is a right-back and plays for Dinas Powys seniors, the side that strut their stuff in the Welsh Football League Division Two based in south Wales.

Local agent Zulfikar Haider is bridging the link between the players and the Bangladesh Football Federation. The Welsh duo will travel to Bangladesh once Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif returns to the capital. 

DT

28 Sport

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

‘Strugling’ Di Maria’s Man United future still uncertain  Reuters

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has done little to dampen speculation that Argentine winger Angel Di Maria could leave the club, a year after moving to Old Trafford for a British record transfer fee.

British media have reported that Di Maria, who joined United for 59.7 million pounds ($93.35 million) last year, is a target for French club Paris Saint Germain and that his wife is unhappy living in the northwest of England.

Van Gaal, while keen to keep the 27-yearold, was unsure if he would stay.

“We shall see,” the Dutchman told reporters in Seattle when asked whether he expected Di Maria to be with the club for the next English Premier League season.

“In football it’s a process and I have said that many times. It’s not clear in one day. It’s a process for Di Maria, for United and we shall see.

“For now he’s still a member of United and he has told me he shall come on 25 July.”

Di Maria played for Argentina in the recently completed Copa America and was given permission to join the club’s pre-season tour of North America later this month. 

Kaka (L) of Orlando City SC and James Morrison (C) of West Bromwich Albion vie for the ball during an International friendly at the Orlando Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday. Orlando won the match 3-1 AFP

Real top Forbes’ most valuable teams list  Reuters

Spanish soccer club Real Madrid retained top spot on a list of the world’s 50 most valuable sports teams, according to a Forbes poll released on Wednesday that was made up mostly of National Football League franchises.

The value of the 10-times European champions fell five percent from last year to $3.26 billion due to a drop in the euro versus the U.S. dollar, but revenue of $746 million, the highest of any team, kept them top, Forbes said in a statement.

The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, up three spots from last year, and Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees, up from fourth place in 2014, were tied for second with a value of $3.20 billion.

Global soccer powers Barcelona ($3.16 billion) and Manchester United ($3.10) rounded out the top five.

The NFL led all sports with 20 franchises in the top-50, followed by MLB (12), the National Basketball Association (10) and soccer (7).

Formula One’s Ferrari (1.35 billion) were ranked 32nd while the Toronto Maple Leafs ($1.3 billion), tied in 37th, were the only National Hockey League team on the list.

According to Forbes, which began valuing sports franchises in 1998, the world’s 50 most valuable teams are worth an average $1.75 billion, up 31 percent from 2014.

Forbes also said the minimum valuation to make the cut rose to $1.15 billion, up from $856 million a year ago, due largely to the soaring worth of NBA and MLB teams. 

THE 10 MOST VALUABLE TEAMS (IN BILLIONS) 1. Real Madrid (Soccer)

$3.26

2. Dallas Cowboys (NFL)

$3.20

2. New York Yankees (Baseball)

$3.20

4. Barcelona (Soccer)

$3.16

5. Manchester United (Soccer)

$3.10

6. Los Angeles Lakers (NBA)

$2.60

6. New England Patriots (NFL)

$2.60

8. New York Knicks (NBA)

$2.50

9. Los Angeles Dodgers (Baseball)

$2.40

9. Washington Redskins (NFL)

$2.40

Robinho joins Scolari at China club Guangzhou  Reuters Brazil forward Robinho has joined former Selecao coach Luiz Felipe Scolari at Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande on a sixmonth deal, the club said on Thursday.

The former Real Madrid, Manchester City and AC Milan attacker, known for his elaborate stepovers, was also heavily linked with Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira after the 31-year-old ended his third spell at Santos recently.

Robinho was part of the Brazil side that exited the recent Copa America tournament following a quarter-final penalty shootout defeat

by Paraguay. He will join the four-times reigning Chinese champions, who appointed 2002 World Cup winning coach Scolari last month. 

Earn your place, van Gaal warns United new boys  AFP, Seattle

Manchester United introduces three new signings: Morgan Schneiderlin (L-R), Bastian Schweinsteiger , and Matteo Darmian, at a news conference in Bellevue, Washington on Wednesday REUTERS

Louis van Gaal on Wednesday warned his raft of new signings they would have to fight for their Manchester United places as the Premier League giants prepared to kick-off their pre-season tour of the United States.

United arrived in Seattle in buoyant mood after bolstering their squad with a slew of high-calibre new arrivals led by Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and France international Morgan Schneiderlin.

With highly rated Dutch international Memphis Depay and Italy defender Matteo Darmian also joining in the close season, van

Gaal is confident he can build a team to re-establish United as title challengers.

But the veteran Dutchman warned that all of the new signings would need to prove they deserved a place in United’s starting line-up.

“I have to say to the players, you have to fight for your position,” van Gaal said.

“Never is it secure in top sport -- even my position is not secure. But also the players, the players have to fight. Morgan Schneiderlin has to fight with Schweinsteiger, Michael Carrick, Daley Blind -- these are the players who can play in the centre of midfield.

“Darmian has to fight with (Antonio) Valencia, he knows that but Valencia knows that also.”

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Sport 29

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Armstrong embarks on controversial Tour stage  AFP, Muret For the first time since he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong on Thursday rode a stage of the famous race for charity.

Armstrong was riding a 198-kilometre (123-mile) stage of the race a day ahead of the competing riders for a leukaemia charity but

Lance Armstrong rides as he joins former England footballer Geoff Thomas and his team for two stages of the ‘Le Tour-One Day Ahead’ in Le Muret, south-eastern France on Thursday AP

cycling officials have branded the exercise “disrespectful”.

The 43-year-old American, who himself is a cancer survivor, stressed he was riding for a “great cause” and it was something he was committed to “regardless of what people think”.

The charity, the brainchild of former England football international Geoff Thomas who beat leukaemia, aims to raise “around £1 million” (1.4 million euros, $1.5million) mainly via sponsorship garnered by the 10 other amateur cyclists riding the route.

Armstrong was surrounded by reporters but no members of the public were out on the course to welcome him as he set off.

The trip has sparked further controversy on a Tour de France that has been marred by a doping-related scandal surrounding the tainted Astana team of Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali and questions over the performance of race leader Chris Froome.

But Armstrong batted off the accusation that his presence was a distraction.

“It’s one thing if I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to go to the race and I want to stand around at the start.’ I’m not asking that, you know. I understand there is sensitivity around that, but here helping a group of people in a great cause, I’m going to do that forever,” insisted the former champion. The participation of Armstrong, who admitted in a stunning TV interview in 2013 that he had doped his way through the Tour de France throughout his career, has already sparked controversy.

However, Armstrong declined to be drawn on Froome and the numerous questions about doping levelled at him.

Retired Czech and American tennis player Martina Navratilova (L), Indian tennis player Sania Mirza (2R) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Asia-Pacific Vice President Melissa Pine (L) coach students during a WTC Future Stars clinic at the Sania Mirza Tennis Academy in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The event is part of a broader WTA Asia-Pacific programme of tennis masterclasses AFP

DAY’S WATCH FRIDAY

SATURDAY Star Sports 1 4:00PM Australia Tour of England 2nd Test, Day 3 12:00AM Natwest T20 Blast 2015 Essex v Middlesex

Pakistan Tour of Sri Lanka 3rd ODI 7:30PM Tour de France: Day 14

Sony Six 6:00AM Caribbean Premier League T20 Guyana Amazon Warriors v St Lucia Zouks

SUNDAY

Star Sports 2

Star Sports 1 4:00PM Australia Tour of England 2nd Test, Day 2

Star Sports 4 ICC World T20 Qualifier 2015 2:30PM Nepal v Papua New Guinea 6:45PM Ireland v Hong Kong

Ten Action 8:00PM Tour de France: Day 13

Ten Cricket 5:00PM India Tour of Zimbabwe 1st T20

09:30AM Chinese Taipei Open GP Semifinal 3:00PM International Champions Cup Real Madrid v AS Roma

Ten Action 1:00PM Manchester City v Melbourne City 3:00PM

6:30AM International Champions Cups PSG v Benfica ICC World T20 Qualifier 2:30PM Ireland v Jersey 6:45PM Papua New Guinea v USA

Star Sports 1

Ten Cricket

4:00PM Australia Tour of England 2nd Test, Day 4

Sony Six

5:00PM India Tour of Zimbabwe; 2nd T20 2:00AM Caribbean Premier League Guyana Warriors v Barbados Tridents

Star Sports 4 9:00AM International Champions Cup Club America v Man Utd 2:30PM ICC World T20 Qualifier Nepal v Jersey 6:45PM Papua New Guinea v Namibia

Star Sports 4

MONDAY Star Sports 1 4:00PM Australia Tour of England 2nd Test, Day 5

Star Sports 4 7:35PM Tour de France: Day 15

Star Sports 2 09:30AM Chinese Taipei Open: Final

11:30PM Eni FIM Superbike World Championship

Sony Six 2:00AM Caribbean Premier League T&T Red Steel v Jamaica Tallawahs

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30 SHOWTIME

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Drama Akasher Thikanay NTV 8:10pm, 2nd Day of Eid While conventional TV drama depictions can make your eyes sore, this exclusive drama’s nature oriented presentation could bring a soothing treatment for your viewing

pleasure. Written and directed by Jakaria Showkhin, the drama entirely was shot in Bandarban’s wild landscape.

Here Tisha has donned a character of depression-drowned lonely girl who survived in this state for quite some time and thanks to a strange individual, played

by Afran Nisho, she finally lets go of her boring life and finds a new vivid world around her.

Abar o Devdas SATV 3:00pm, 5 th Day of Eid This is a TV adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s most illustrious romantic work. Set in a contemporary milieu, the telefilm’s three major characters’ name, Devdas, Parvati and Chandramukhi, have changed to Dip,

Parul and Chandni respectively, seems to do justice to a contemporary adaptation.

Directed by Imraul Rafat, the cast includes Afran Nisho, Mithila and Jannatul Ferdous Peya as leads. The director has changed a few things in the original story, catering to the contemporary audience.

Cry Baby Cry Banglavision 8:00pm, 5th Day of Eid Jon Kabir and Mithila paired up again to appear in a Television drama titled Cry Baby Cry just one year after the duo shared screen space for the first time.

Written and directed by Mabrur Rashid Bannah, the drama depicts Jon, the former front man of the alternative rock band Black and currently a member of Indalo, as a melodramatic man who is friends with

Tv programe Cine Celebs GTV 10:30pm, 2 nd and 3 rd day of Eid This time film stars will have a great time together on screen with leading anchor Samia Afrin.

In these two special episodes of Cine Celebs, leading film stars including Ananta Jalil, Borsa, Bappi Chowdhury and Mahiya Mahi will grace the show. Produced by HAM Rajon, the programme will feature some popular songs, mostly selected by the presented guests.

Music

Celebrity Cricket Festival GTV 3:00pm, Eid day to Day 3rd This Eid will not just be about dramas and films for entertainment. Celebrated actors and actresses, models and directors will play along with current and ex-national team players for the first time in the Celebrity Cricket Festival. Thanks

Special Tritiyo Mattra Channel i 1:00am, Eid day to 7th day Presented and directed by Zillur Rahaman, in these special episodes of a popular talkshow, there will be few distinguished guests including former secretary Mohammad Asafudoullah, LGRD state minister Md Moshiur Rahman Ranga, Chairman of Summit Group Muhammad Aziz Khan, the Chief Editor of Daily Manabjamin, and Editor Mahbuba Chowdhury.

In addition, former law-maker Md Golam Maola Rony, sports commentator Chowdhury Jafarullah Sharafat, actress Anjana and former cricketer Javed Omar Belim will be present in another episode.

Eid releases

Rag Kore Rangamati Channel I, 6:10pm, Day before Eid to 7th Childrens writer, Faridur Reza Sagar’s popular series Chotokaku has been dramatised to Raag Kore Rangamati. It is a series of 8 episodes. This has been adapted for the screen by Afzal Hussain. It stars Afzal Hussain, Simanto, Orsha, Probal, Binoya, and Samiya along with few others.

Girlfriend SATV, 8:50pm, on Eid day A single episode TV drama, Girlfriend has been adapted for the screen. Written and directed by Sakal Ahmed, starring Iresh Zaker and Tisha in leads. 

been centred around the love story between a landlord and a courtesan from a hundred years ago. In this film, Mim takes on the role of Fulesshori, who is a court-dancer and Emon plays the role of the Jamidar. The entire film was shot on location on a hill at Bandarban.

to The Braver Celebrity Cricket Festival Powered by Banglalink, the alternative sports show will air during the seven days of the Eid holiday.

Viking live concert Desh TV 9:45pm, Eid Day RTV 12:00am, 2nd day of Eid Radio Shadhin 11:00pm, 3rd day Channeli 2:00am, 4th day Dhaka FM 11:00pm, 5th day The popular rock act from the 90s will appear in several live TV and Radio shows on Eid. For the first time in the band’s history, they will be performing live on air.

Mithila’s character. Ishika Khan, model and actress, was also cast in a vital role for the drama. Made under the banner of Underground Creative Factory (UCF), the production is currently in progress.

Silver Screen Eid This Eid will see only three releases on the big screens: Agnee-2, Padma Patar Jol and Love Marriage.

Padma Patar Jol The sizzling Bidya Sinha Mim’s sixth big screen venture Padma Patar Jol. This is a historical romantic drama, written by Latiful Islam and directed by Tanmoy Tansen.

Emon, the rising star, will play the lead role, alongside Mim as co-stars. The plot has

Proticchobi by Miles This is the latest project of the popular band, deciding to release their album as digital media rather than a physical CD. Grameenphone’s latest initiative GP Music holds the digital release.

Launched on July 7, the album includes eight tracks, five of which are brand new.

The songs are written by Shafin Ahmed, Latiful Islam Shibli, Shafiq Tuhin, Topu, and Torun Munshi while Shafin Ahmed, Manam Ahmed, Hamin Ahmed and Jewel have composed the music for the tracks.

Majhrate Chad by Obscure After a long sabbatical, the popular 90s

Agnee 2 The second installment of Mahiya Mahi’s action flick, Agnee 2, creates much anticipation with its Eid release. Jazz Multimedia plans to reach a wider audience by exclusively releasing in at least eight countries after the Eid release.

Although the film was originally scripted keeping the previous cast in mind, the film stalled for a while as the lead actor Arifin Shuvo pulled out of the film due to professional differences and scheduling issues. Apparently, Mahi is the only actor from the previous franchise to carry her legacy, while Raja Goswami Om and Ashish Vidyarthi will be playing pivotal roles this time around.

Two other films, Nodijon and Ami O Icecreamwala, produced by Impress Ttelefilms Ltd, will see alternative premières on Channel i screen parallel to their screening at the Blockbuster Cinemas. 

band delivered an album release this Eid. The title song of this album, “Majhrate Chad” has been making waves. 10 songs have made it into the album. The band’s current line up has Tipu on vocals, Raju on bass, Shanto and Rubaiyat on guitars, Shaown on keys and Rinku on percussions.

This album has been dedicated to the guitarist Sumon. 

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SHOWTIME 31

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

Hamlet around the Globe

CELEBS ON SOCIAL

 Hasan Mansoor Chatak In a press conference, prior to the staging of Hamlet by Shakespeare’s Globe in Dhaka, Tom Lawrence, one of the actors of the company said, “Text and performance by the actors is core acting that Globe is trying to transmit all over the world.”

Tom, the only cast member of Globe has also appeared in both the 2011 and 2012 tours of this production, playing seven different roles, went on to say, “I think Globe’s philosophy as theatre is very much the play as it is. They don’t use huge sets, lights or sound effects. It’s a live experience and live music. Taking all the traditions of Elizabethan theatre, we are actually continuing it.”

Only four members of the company, Tom Lawrence, Phoebe Fildes, Ladi Emeruwa and Keith Bartlett, came before the journalists to take part in a short but lively Q&A session.

Phoebe Fildes sometimes dons the role of Ophelia or Horatio in Hamlet, but the company skipped her in Dhaka and placed Amanda Wilkin in Ophelia’s role. Phoebe admits that she is really excited to be in a country which took part in the London Olympics 2012’s theatre festival with a subtle production of The Tempest.

It seems Shakespeare’s Globe has adopted a policy of selecting an ethnically diverse cast in the world tour and ground behind the action reflects on Ladi Emeruwa’s

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words. “It is our intention to select coloured actors for the play. When a young actor from Bangladesh sees that Hamlet looks similar to him, this could inspire him to aspire to that role.” Ladi shares his own story, “When I first saw a Nigerian Romeo at Globe my mind came to this conclusion that I am able to be part of this thing.”

Currently in a world tour with Shakespeare’s most powerful and

All aboard

 Mahmood Hossain Zoya Akhtar has become one of the best directors in the industry. Which really isn’t a surprise, she comes from a very talented family. Her second exotic project, which she co-wrote, Dil Dhadakne Do is another example of her genius.

As expected, it’s aesthetically stunning.

From the actors to the on-location shoots, this film has a similar blueprint that

of Zoya’s 2011 film, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. She’s developed a knack for those colourful, lush scenes without sacrificing the many shades of her actors. It’s a brilliant relationship she’s developed with her cinematography department. Apart from the pretty parade, she’s given us a smart family film for a mature audience. No matter, if some critics have labelled this as a soap opera on celluloid.

The film revolves around the Mehra

influential tragedy in English literature, the troupe performed Hamlet in Dhaka as the 120th country, and by April 23, 2016 it will complete the world tour marking Shakespeare’s 400th death anniversary.

Shakespeare’s Globe visited Singapore before staging a performance in Dhaka on July 15 and the following day, headed back home to take a short sabbatical from this two-years-long journey. 

family, specifically the siblings, Ayesha and Kabir. Both Ayesha (Priyanka Chopra) and Kabir (Ranveer Singh) join their parents on a lavish cruise to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. While on this short trip, both siblings are dealt with the familial impact on their romantic lives. The chemistry between Ranveer and Priyanka as siblings is wonderful, much more convincing than their failed romantic affair on Gunday. These two put on a fantastic performance, only to be enhanced

by Anil Kapoor (who plays their father).

And let’s just say Mr Kapoor put on a fine performance, keeping himself a step ahead from the rest.

While the brief showing of Anushka Sharma (Farah Ali), Farhan Akhtar (Sunny Gill) and Rahul Bose (Manav, Ayesha’s husband) neither helped nor harmed the film, the surprise voice of Aamir Khan as Pluto (the family dog) was pleasantly embraced by the audience. The narration was to the “t”. It would have been nicer to see a bit more involvement from Anushka and Farhan. However, it’s understandable who the focus characters were in the story.

Final verdict: Will it go down as a classic? Not really. Is it worth watching more than once? You bet. Ultimately, it’s an entertainer, which won’t leave too many people disappointed. The same would go for its soundtrack. There are some head bopping numbers, but nothing so annoying to get stuck in your head for months to come. 

WHAT TO WATCH

Kick-Ass 2 Star Movies 7:00 pm The costumed high-school hero KickAss joins with a group of normal citizens who have been inspired to fight crime in costume. Meanwhile, the Red Mist plots an act of revenge that will affect everyone Kick-Ass knows.

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse Chloë Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey, Clark Duke, Augustus Prew

Step Up 2:The Streets HBO 5:20 pm Romantic sparks occur between two dance students from different backgrounds at the Maryland School of the Arts.

Cast: Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman, Adam G. Sevani, Cassie Ventura, Will Kemp Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King WB 8:00pm Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron’s army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

Cast: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen and Ian McKellen

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32 BACK PAGE

FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015

EID SALES SLUMP THIS YEAR PAGE 15

FIVE REASONS WHY THE WIN OVER SA IS SPECIAL PAGE 26

HAMLET AROUND THE GLOBE PAGE 31

Traffic constables beat up commuter in Dhaka  Adil Shakhawat and Kamrul Hasan

Eid is just a couple of days away but this is not a scene from a busy shopping mall. In fact, this is the rooftop of a crowded commercial ferry travelling along the Buriganga River. Scores die during the Eid rush almost every year when one or more of these overloaded ferries capsize MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Where have all the missing people gone?

HUMAN TRAFFICKING  Abid Azad back from Cox’s Bazar On one night nearly three years ago, Yusuf went to the Dargar Chhora ghat in the Bay with his elder brother Yunus, who was about to embark a ship headed for Malaysia seeking migration illegally.

Yusuf, who could see the risks, did not quite support his brother but could not stop him either because he was the younger of the two.

“It was around 3am when he [Yunus] boarded a small fishing boat and set off on an uncertain journey. I had no idea that it was going to be the last time I was seeing my brother. We have not heard from him since, nor do we know his whereabouts,” Yusuf said while talking to this correspondent recently.

“He hugged me and told me to take care of our parents and not to worry. I begged him not to go, but he did not listen to me,” Yusuf recol-

lected the last memories with his brother.

A resident of Lengur Beel village of Sadar union in Teknaf upazila, Yunus left behind his wife and two daughters. He was not the only one from the locality to have embarked on that perilous journey.

This reporter has found that at least 57 others from the area set off for Malaysia on that night; and nobody knows anything about any of them.

Yusuf, the only witness, said: “There were three brokers – Mahmud Ali from Mitha Panir Chhora, Jiabul from Dargah Chhora, and Ezahar Mia from Jaliya Para. They passed on my brother and other to three other people whom I did not know.”

Talking to the families of some of those missing victims, this reporter came to know about a person named Moulavi Nazir, who was said to be the local ring leader of human smugglers.

Mahmud, Jiabul and Ezahar used to work for Nazir who lived in Jaliya Para but in now in Malaysia.

The unusual thing about all these people

going missing is that none of their families have ever got any call for ransom.

Yusuf said: “We learned from sources that the smugglers will ask for ransom when the migrants reach Thailand. So, we arranged a large amount of money. We are still waiting but nobody has called in these two and a half years.”

Nurul Haq, father of a 14-year-old missing victim named Abdullah, told this correspondent that he had paid broker Jiabul Tk68,000.

“Jiabul first asked for Tk68,000 and said he would take my son to Malaysia if I gave him the money. I gave him the amount. A few days later, he demanded another Tk70,000. I could not pay that. Around 20-25 days later, he went to Malaysia and never came back. The two other brokers also do not live in this area anymore,” Nurul said.

The families of some of the victims filed two cases with the Moheshkhali police station in May this year. Police arrested three people in connection with the cases but there is still no news of the people who went missing on that night. 

A group of traffic policemen beat up a rickshaw passenger in the capital’s Panthapath yesterday afternoon.

The passenger is called Md Mahiful Islam, 21, originally a resident of Jamalpur who works at a carpet shop in Dhaka’s New Elephant Road.

Around 2:15pm, Mahiful was on his way to the Farmgate area to deliver carpets to some clients.

After remaining static for a long time at the traffic signal at the Panthapath intersection near the Basundhara shopping mall, he requested an on-duty traffic constable named Kalam to let his rickshaw go.

But in reply, the constable started calling him names. When Mahiful protested, the constable pulled him down from the rickshaw and started beating him severely.

Three other constables on-duty in the same area soon came to the scene, took Mahiful inside the nearby police box and joined in the beating.

At one point, around a hundred pedestrians protested the incident, rescued Mahiful and took him to the Green Life Hospital on Green Road where he was given first aid.

The angry mob also tried to vandalise the police box. But Dhanmondi police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Iqbal and Sub-Inspector (SI) Atik came to the spot after hearing about the skirmish and tried to calmed the situation.

The OC requested the mob to calm down but when they refused to go away, he also lost temper and order his troops to charge batons on the crowd. Some 10-12 people including Md Motahar, chef of the Health and Hope Hospital, was injured in the police beating.

In the meantime, Mahiful was brought back to the police box and he alleged that he had lost his purse and cash money when he was being beaten by the police constable.

He was then taken to the Kalabagan police station. However, when Dhaka Tribune contacted them, they said Mahiful had been released.

Dhanmondi OC Iqbal told reporters that he had ordered for the baton charge because the unruly crowd was creating a nuisance.

Police Sergeant Liakat, who was on duty during the incident, said that Mahiful had attacked one of the constables.

This is not the first time that policemen have beaten up a civilian in this area. A few days ago, three traffic constables beat up the driver of a CNG-run autorickshaw. After that incident too, police said the autorickshaw driver had attacked one of the constables.

When contacted, DMP Joint Commissioner Banaj Kumar said that they had identified the offenders and the process of taking action against them was under way. 

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com