24 March, 2016

SECOND EDITION

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

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Chaitra 10, 1422, Jamadius Sani 14, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 338

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

India edge Bangladesh in nail-biter Uddin Khan from n Minhaz Bangalore Three dismissals in the very last over saw Bangladesh suffer heartbreak after putting up an impressive all-round show in their Super 10 game against hosts India at M Chinnaswamy Stadium yesterday. In the process, the morale-shattering one-run loss confirmed the Tigers’ exit from the 2016 World Twenty20.

In what turned out to be a nail-biting affair, the Tigers required 11 runs in the last over with Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim in the middle.

Seamer Hardik Pandya was given the responsibility to guide his side to a much-needed win.

Mahmudullah got a single off the first delivery before Mushfiq slammed successive boundaries, first through the extra cover region  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

India batsman Virat Kohli, left, and  Bangladesh wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim look on as Kohli is bowled out for 24 runs during the World T20 match between India and Bangladesh at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday AFP

Turnout in UP polls 73.82% n Adil Sakhawat

INSIDE

The Election Commission has announced the results for 502 of the 712 Union Parishads in the first phase of the UP election held on March 22.

Within the results obtained so far, 73.82% of the voters cast their vote for the chairman posts, EC Seceretary Sirajul Islam told reporters at the EC secretariat yesterday.

Up till yesterday afternoon the commission had finalised the results from 502 UPs, of which ruling Awami League candidates got 387 chairman posts, independent candidates won 68 and in BNP candidates won 26.

Jatiya Party candidates won 3, Workers Party 2 and JSD, Jatiya Party (JP) and Islamic Andolon Bangladesh won one chairman post each.

“Among the announced UP results, Awami League got 33% of the votes and BNP got 10%,” Secretary Islam said.

In the last municipality elections, voter turnout was 74% and Awami League candidates got 52% and BNP candidates 28% of the votes.

Elections have been held in 712 unions in the first phase. Of these, 54 were won by Awami League candidates uncontested and the EC suspended voting in 65 centres due to disorder or irregularities.

EC's election management and coordination branch officials said that among the 81,29,009 voters, 60,00,826 voters cast their vote and 1,06,465 votes were cancelled.

Awami League got about 34 lakh votes and BNP around 10 lakh.

The 68 independent candidates got 14,44,781 votes in their favour, about 13.82% of the total.

Action against law enforcement agencies Violence during the first phase of the UP elections have resulted in eight deaths and suspension of polling in 65 centres.

EC Secretary Islam also announced that the commission has  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

100MW supply from Tripura starts

Shela River permanently off-limits to vessels

The PMs of Bangladesh and India yesterday inaugurated supply of 100MW electricity from Tripura to Comilla.  PAGE 3

The Shipping Ministry yesterday permanently banned the Shela River route in the Sundarbans, meaning no vessel will be allowed to ply it.  PAGE 32

Zoha turns up safe, no clue on missing days n Arifur Rahman Rabbi A week after he went missing, IT specialist Tanvir Hassan Zoha turned up near Dhaka airport in the early hours of yesterday – alive and unharmed but in a disoriented state.

However, there was still no information about where he had been during the past week or who had picked him up on March 16.

Around 1:30am yesterday, law enforcers found a disoriented Zoha walking near the Airport Railway Station. After confirming his identi-

ty, plainclothes detectives dropped him off at his home around 2am, said Zoha's uncle Mahbubul Alam.

“When he returned, Zoha was in a totally messy condition and his mental condition was not well. But there was no visible injury on his body. Now we are providing him the necessary treatment and medical support,” the uncle said.

Asked about the whereabouts of his nephew in the past week, Mahbub told the Dhaka Tribune that the family had not spoken to Zoha about the details of the past days  PAGE 2 COLUMN 3

2nd Round

Sport Page-28

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

BB HEIST

Sri Lanka court bars 6 nationals from leaving country n Tribune Desk A Sri Lankan court has banned foreign travel by six people whose foundation allegedly received some of the money stolen in a $101m hacking from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, reports Associated Press.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya ordered the Immigration Department chief to prevent six Sri Lankan directors of the Shalika Foundation from leaving the country after the police informed courts that the foundation had been remitted a portion of the stolen money, Lakshan Zoysa, a spokesperson for the department said.

The Directive was issued on Monday based on a police investigation of a complaint made by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Sri Lanka’s central bank.

AP, however, did not reveal the

identities of the alleged perpetrators.

The police reported to the court that the foundation received $19,999,977.50 on February 4. A private bank where the foundation had an account alerted the Bangladesh Bank about the remittance and returned the money.

Police said the foundation was set up to help low-income families.

The address of its office appears to be a closed-up house in Colombo, and the foundation has no other known contact information.

In addition to the stolen funds remitted to Sri Lanka, $81m was transferred to the Philippines. Bangladesh authorities have said they were considering suing the Reserve Bank over the loss of the funds.

However, the Feds said it found no evidence its own systems were compromised, and attention increasingly has focused on suspected vulnerabilities in Bangladesh bank’s cybersecurity. l

BB appoints lawyer over $101m heist n Tribune Report Bangladesh Bank is considering to file a case against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York over the digital heist of $101 million from its foreign reserve account.

Senior lawyer Ajmalul Hossain QC has been appointed to take necessary initiative in this regard, a senior executive of the central bank said yesterday.

“Ajmalul has been appointed to review the legal aspects,” said Subhankar Saha, executive director of Bangladesh Bank, adding that they were yet to decide on filing of the case.

“They [New York Fed] cannot avoid responsibility for the largest digital heist in Bangladesh Bank’s

history,” said another senior executive of the central bank.

On February 4, hackers stole $101m from Bangladesh Bank’s account with the New York Fed and wired it to a number of bank accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

After the matter came into light earlier this month, Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman resigned while the government also reshuffled key posts of the bank.

The central bank filed a case against unnamed persons on March 15 under section 4 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012 (amended 2015), section 54 of the Information Technology Act 2006 and section 379 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. l

Turnout in UP polls 73.82% decided to summon the Superintendent of Police of Satkhira district Chowdhury Monjurul Kabir to explain the failure to prevent the incidents the night before the polls there.

Also, the commission has decided to suspend police officials assigned to 11 polling centres in four

upazillas of Satkhira and file cases against the candidates of those unions, he added.

The Election Commission has already sent letters to Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Satkhira to file cases against the candidates, the secretary said. l

Safety seems to be the last thing on people’s minds as both men and women crawl under a rail gate and stand dangerously close to a running train while several children also stand on top of the train’s roof SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Zoha turns up safe, no clue on missing days and was now focusing more on ensuring his well-being.

Maruf Hossain Sarder, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the Dhaka Tribune that policemen were first notified about a distressed person walking randomly near the Airport Railway Station. After a Detective Branch

team went there and found that that the man was actually the missing IT specialist, they safely transported Zoha back to his home, Maruf said.

On March 16, Zoha, who was reportedly involved in the investigation into the Bangladesh Bank digital heist, went missing from Kachukhet area of the capital while

he was returning home from an intelligence agency office.

Before going missing, Zoha told some media outlets that he had angered a group by disclosing actual information about the digital heist to media. A conspiracy was on to remove him from the investigation, Zoha had claimed at the time. l

India edge Bangladesh in nail-biter and then past wicketkeeper and captain MS Dhoni. To make history, the Tigers needed two off the last three balls but disaster struck then and there.

Mushfiq got himself caught at mid-wicket off the fourth delivery while in the fifth, Mahmudullah departed in a similar fashion to give back the momentum to India. Off the final delivery of their innings, Bangladesh needed two to win but all-rounder Shuvagata Hom failed to connect the ball. Mustafizur Rahman, on the non-striking end, ran desperately for a single but was unable to reach the crease in time as Dhoni joyfully shattered the stumps, sparking wild celebrations in the stands.

The target was a gettable one and Bangladesh had in-form opening batsman Tamim Iqbal back in the playing XI. Fellow opener Mohammad Mithun pushed Soumya Sarkar down the order. Mithun however, failed to shine as he scored only one run before spinner Ravichandran Ashwin removed him in the third over.

Tamim and Sabbir Rahman have stitched together many a partnership in recent times and they did the same yesterday as the duo fetched a blazing 44 runs in 5.2

overs. Tamim had just returned after recovering from a troubled stomach but was impressive on the day, scoring a 32-ball 35 before Dhoni stumped him; Bangladesh reeling on 55 for two. Fourteen runs later, Sabbir departed, bringing in captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza.

Mashrafe joined Shakib al Hasan in the middle but the strategic promotion did not work much as the duo posted 18 runs in 1.5 overs.

When Mashrafe departed in the first ball of the 12th over, Bangladesh needed another 60 runs in 53 balls. With Shakib in the middle alongside Soumya and another three batsmen intact in the dugout, Bangladesh looked well on track for their maiden win against India in India. But a careless approach from thereon in was the prime reason behind the dramatic defeat.

Earlier, a disciplined bowling performance by Bangladesh restricted India to a moderate total.

Asked to bat first, India ended up scoring 146 runs in 20 overs for the loss of seven wickets.

For the first time in the last seven matches, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe won a toss, and decided to bowl first. The veteran pacer had surely taken note from the last match. The track at M Chinnas-

wamy Stadium offers help to the batsmen and has often witnessed high-scoring matches but Bangladesh made the gamble and were spot on, restricting the hosts to a chaseable total.

Mashrafe had opened the innings with the ball, a job used to be taken care of by pacer Taskin Ahmed, who is serving a suspension due to illegal bowling action.

Mashrafe started strong giving away only five runs in the first over which the others picked up. This saw Mashrafe hand over the ball to four different bowlers – Shuvagata, Al Amin Hossain, Mustafizur and Shakib – in the next four overs. This had denied the two India openers, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, from settling down.

And following the departures of the two Indian openers, two new batsmen arrived in the middle - Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina. Bangladesh bowlers however, sustained the momentum and they had done a brilliant job restricting the opponents to just 59 runs in the first 10 overs.

In the following overs India lost two more vital wickets, that of Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja. An unbeaten 13 by skipper Dhoni saw India eventually end on 146/7. l

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

Modi, Hasina open 100MW supply from Tripura n UNB The Bangladesh-India cooperation has advanced another step forward as the prime ministers of both the countries yesterday inaugurated supply of 100 MW electricity from Tripura of India to Comilla of Bangladesh and leasing of 10 GBPS internet bandwidth from Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar) to India (Agartala).

The two leaders jointly inaugurated the supply of 100 MW electricity and leasing of 10 GBPS internet by pressing buttons through video conferencing.

Sheikh Hasina joined the video conference from her official residence Ganabhaban while Narendra Modi joined it from his office in New Delhi.

Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar also joined the video conference from Agartala.

Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Tripura Chief Minister Shri Manik Sircar spoke on the occasion.

Noting that the Bangladesh-India relations have reached a new height in terms of bilateral cooperation, Hasina said regional interconnectivity will further expand the potentials of regional cooperation.

“I do believe regional interconnectivity will further expand the potentials of regional cooperation,” she said.

“Today is yet another important and happy occasion in Bangladesh-India relations with the setting of another milestone. The import of electricity will assist us in fulfilling our energy demand.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly launch the bandwidth export and power import programme through a videoconference yesterday BSS On the other hand, sharing of our bandwidth will enhance digital connectivity of Tripura and India’s northeast and facilitate their socioeconomic development and greater integration. So, this is a fine display of mutuality of our relationship,” she added.

Expressing New Delhi’s interest to provide support to Dhaka in the space sector, Modi said India and Bangladesh is a ‘classic case’ of showcasing to the world how two neighbouring countries can cooperate with each other for mutual gains.

“The two countries have set an example (before the world) how to maintain relations with neighbours and which could be a path for the implementation of the inter-dependent world,” he said.

The Indian prime minister also said the two countries should work

together also in space. “It’s our sincere wish to work with Bangladesh in (launching) Bangabandhu Satellite,” he added.

The supply of power from Tripura is in accordance with the decision of the 7th Joint Steering Committee/Joint Working Group on Power (Dhaka, April 2014) to explore the possibility of supply of 100 MW of power from Tripura following the goodwill gesture of the government of Bangladesh in allowing the transport of over-dimensional cargo during the construction of the Palatana power plant in Tripura in 2011.

Discussions on the pricing were finalised at the joint technical committee meeting held during the visit of the power minister of Tripura to Dhaka on January 9,2015.

PGCIL has erected 400 KV d/c line from Suryamaninagar(Agarta-

la) to the Indian border while the Bangladesh side of the transmission line from the India-Bangladesh border to Comilla has been built by Powergrid Corporation of Bangladesh Ltd. An agreement between Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL)for leasing of international bandwidth for internet at Akhaura was signed in June 2015 during the visit of the Prime Minister of India to Bangladesh.

BSCCL has laid the optical fibre cable for the 30 km distance from Brahmanbaria to Akhaura, which adjoins Agartala, while BSNL has set up international long distance (ILD) gateway at Agartala along with associated equipment.

India is already supplying 500 MW of power to Bangladesh through the Bahrampur-

Bheramara inter-connection.

The supply of another 500 MW through the same interconnection was also announced during the visit of PM Modi to Dhaka last year.

In addition, NTPC of India and BPDB of Bangladesh has entered into a joint venture (BIFPCL) for commissioning of the 1320 MW Rampal power project for which BHEL of India has been recently identified as EPC contractor.

Sub-regional cooperation in the power, energy and other sectors between India and Bangladesh has intensified significantly in the recent years with many private and public sector initiatives for cooperation also on the anvil.

Bangladesh and Tripura have historically shared a special relationship.

Both these projects add value to this special relationship and are symbolic of a win-win partnership for the two countries.

The power connectivity adds another successful chapter to the existing bilateral cooperation in the power sector by addressing power shortages in the southeastern part of Bangladesh.

The internet bandwidth export will enable reliable and fast internet connectivity for the people of Tripura as well as the north eastern region of India.

Prime Minister’s Advisers HT Imam, Dr Moshiur Rahman, Dr Tawfique e Elahi Chowdhury, and Dr Gowher Rizvi, State Ministers Nasul Hamid Bipu, M Shahriar Alam, Advocate Tarana Halim, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, PM’s Principal Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad and secretaries concerned were present at Ganabhaban. l

HC summons non-compliant tannery owners

Supreme Court seals death for JMB member

n Ashif Islam Shaon

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the death penalty of banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh activist Asaduzzaman Chowdhury alias Panir for killing eight people in a bomb attack in Netrakona in 2005.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed an appeal filed by the convict.

Panir had filed the appeal challenging a High Court verdict that had upheld his death sentence awarded by a trial court in 2008 for the attacks on Udichi and Shatadal Shilpi Goshthi offices.

After yesterday’s verdict, Deputy Attorney General Shashanka Shekhar Sarker told reporters that Panir, who is now at the Dhaka Central Jail, would be able to seek

The High Court has summoned owners of ten tanneries for not complying with its previous order of relocating hazardous tanneries to Savar.

The tannery owners will have to appear before the court on April 10 by 10:30am to explain why they did not comply with the order of shifting factories from Hazaribagh in the capital.

The High Court bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice AKM Shahidul Huq came up with the order being moved by a petition yesterday.

The owners who have been asked to appear are: Rana Leather Industries’ Managing Director Arefin Shamsul Alamin, Juliet Enter-

prise’s owner Sayedul Haque Master, Pubali Tanneries’ Mahbubur Rahman, Rumi Leader Industries’ Gias Uddin Ahmed Pathan, Salam Tanneries’ Abdus Salam, Karim Leader Unit 2 owner Rezaul Karim Ansari, Mahin Tanneries’ Abdul Owdud Mia, Nabipur Tanneries’ Abdul Wahab, Asia Tanneries’ Mofiz Mia and Paramount tanneries’ Md Akbar Hossain.

Lawyer Manzil Morshed stood for the petitioner, who said the High Court in 2001 had asked for relocating the tanneries from Hazaribagh. On June 23, 2009, the court again fixed February 24, 2010 as the deadline for relocation.

The state prayed the court several time to extend time while the last deadline expired on April 30, 2011. As the order was not followed

by the owners, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh - a rights organisation - lodged a contempt of court petition.

After the owners failed several times to comply with court orders, a contempt of court ruling was finally issued by the court on August 11, 2015, asking why punitive actions should not be taken against the ten owners.

Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh lodged a fresh petition seeking appearance of the ten owners before the court, which was heard by the High Court bench yesterday.

“Government asked the owners to shift by last December. The ten owners did not respond to it, which made the court to issue summon order,” said the lawyer. l

n Ashif Islam Shaon

review of the verdict. “Otherwise, the jail authorities will take steps for executing the death sentence after receiving the full text of verdict,” he added.

According to the case, JMB men carried out the attacks on December 8, 2005, leaving eight people dead and 40 others injured. The victims are Khawja Haider, Sudipta Paul Shelly, Rani Begum, Joynal, Raisuddin, Yadev Das, Jahanara and Shawkat. One Arid alias Kafi made the explosives.

On February 17, 2008, Dhaka’s Speedy Trial Tribunal 2 sentenced to death three JMB activists – Panir, Salahuddin alias Salehin and Yunus Ali – for the deaths. Another accused Fahima alias Farzana alias Rokeya was acquitted. Salehin and Yunus are on the run.

The High Court earlier rejected an appeal by Panir in 2014. l

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Fire erupts at Motaleb Plaza n Tribune Report A fire broke out at Motaleb Plaza on the capital’s Paribag road yesterday.

Though no casualty was reported from the blaze, locals in the area panicked.

Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters Deputy Director (Dhaka) Mozammel Hoque confirmed as much to Dhaka Tribune, and said the fire could have been triggered by an electric short circuit at 9:40 am in a shop on the third floor of the plaza and spread soon after.

A total of 12 firefighting units doused the fire around 11:50am, the official said, adding that earlier three mobile accessories shops were gutted in the blaze. l

City plans five colour codes for buses n Shohel Mamun The Dhaka North City Corporation is planning to colour code the buses based on the routes they take.

The capital’s bus routes will clustered into five sections and there will be a colour identifying the buses in each cluster, DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq said yesterday at the eighth board meeting of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA).

The decision will come into effect within one and a half years, he said.

“A total of 3,000 buses will be replaced and 4,500 old buses will be removed from the city during this time,” the mayor added.

Currently almost 4,500 buses operate in the city’s 194 routes, creating an indisciplined situation,

Mayor Huq said.

“Though the bus owners have a large syndicate, they have agreed to operate the buses under a system. If we properly launch the system, illegal competition might be removed. The drivers will also drive carefully, which will help reduce accident,” he added.

Mouchak flyover will open on March 30 Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, who presided over the meeting, said, “A part of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover will open on March 30.”

Even though the construction work on the project remains incomplete, the 2.11 kilometre stretch from Satrasta intersection to Ramna police station – a fifth of the total length of the flyover – will be

Firefighters put out a fire that broke out on the third floor of Motaleb Plaza in the capital’s Hatirpool yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Women Police Award introduced n Mohammad Jamil Khan The police department has launched the Women Police Award for the first time in the country to recognise exemplary achievement of female police officers.

AKM Shahidul Haque, inspector general of police, introduced the award, and this year the accolade will go to 33 policewomen in six categories. The prize includes a crest, a certificate and a cash reward of Tk 10,000.

The six categories are Bangladesh Police Women Leadership Award, Excellence in Action, Medal of Courage, Community Service, Peace-keeping Mission Special Honour Award and Entrepreneur Women Organiser of the Year Award.

Mili Biswas, deputy inspector general of police headquarters and president of Bangla-

desh Women Police Network, made the announcement of the award at a press conference in her office yesterday.

The names of the awardees, however, are yet to be released.

The awards will be presented at a programme at Bashundhara Convention Centre on March 31. House Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury is expected to attend the event as the chief guest, while the home minister and the state minister for women and children affairs are the special guests.

There are a total of 8,824 female police officers in the country, according to official statistics.

The recruitment of female officers in the police department began in 1974, and six female constables were appointed to the Detective Branch in that year. Female officers were appointed to

other sections later on.

“At present, female officers hold various positions in the force, from additional inspector general to constable,” DIG Mili told yesterday’s briefing.

Female police officers from the country also join United Nations missions. The first group of female officers were sent to East Timor in 2000, while a full contingent was sent in 2010.

“Female officers now play a key role in the force. Elija Sarmin led a parade of officers at Sardah Police Academy while Shamsunnahar, superintendent of police of Chandpur, led the guard of honour parade during this year’s Police Week,” Mili said.

Nazrul Islam, additional deputy inspector general of police headquarters, and female officials of different wings of the force were present at the briefing among others. l

opened for transportation, he said.

The flyover has seen a number of delays and cost overruns.

It was estimated to cost Tk343.70 crore when the Executive Committee of the National Eco-

A total of 3,000 buses will be replaced and 4,500 old buses will be removed nomic Council approved it in 2011.

The cost then more than doubled to Tk772.77 crore and then skyrocketed to Tk1,218.89 crore.

Although the flyover was expected to be complete by July 2014,

it is now scheduled to be ready by December 2016.

Quader said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would inaugurate the flyover.

“The total length of the flyover is about 10km and it will be completed by December. But the part from Satrasta to Ramna will be opened first to reduce public suffering,” he said.

Rajuk to build new flyover

The DTCA has approved the construction of a new flyover which will connect Dhaka’s Motijheel with Keraniganj.

The road transport minister said, “Rajuk will construct the flyover from Arambagh (Notre Dame College) to Kadamtali intersection in Keraniganj.” l

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6,000 TB deaths reported in 2015 n Abid Azad As many as 6,000 people died from tuberculosis in Bangladesh last year with another 2,06,919 people diagnosed with the disease in the same period, National Tuberculosis Control Programme’s (NTCP) adviser Dr Abdul Hamid Salim said.

The information was unveiled at a media briefing yesterday in Dhaka ahead of the World Tuberculosis Day on March 24. This year’s global theme is “Unite to end Tuberculosis”.

NTCP Senior Manager Dr Kazi Al Mamun Siddique said: “Those diagnosed with TB last year had received treatment. Among them, 8,103 are children, mostly under the age of 15.”

Altogether 1,97,000 TB cases were recorded in Bangladesh in 2014.

According to the study, 227 people in every 100,000 are infected with TB every year across the globe. Forty-one percent of the patients are from South Asia.

The WHO last year ranked TB alongside HIV as the world’s most deadly infectious disease with the former accounting for 1.1 million deaths in 2014. l

Students of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University celebrate the Holi, a festival of colours, yesterday

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Report: 13 indigenous people killed extra-judicially in 2015 n Abid Azad

Rights activists have expressed serious concerns over the persistent violation of human rights of the indigenous peoples living in the CHT and the plains for the last two decades.

They alleged that the subsequent governments were not sincere in improving the situation of the indigenous people, who, at times are treated as enemies of the state.

The views came at a programme arranged to present the Human Rights Report 2015 on the indigenous peoples at the capital's The Daily Star Centre yesterday. Kapaeeng Foundation published the report with support from Oxfam Bangladesh.

The speakers also strongly criticised the negative mindset of the government and alleged that the law enforcers and the security personnel had been behind most of the attacks on the indigenous peo-

TEMPERATURE FOREC AST FOR TODAY

THUNDERSHOWER WITH RAIN THURSDAY, MARCH 24

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DHAKA TODAY SUN SETS 6:11PM

11 physical assaults, 16 cases of attempted rape, five cases of abduction, six cases of sexual harassment and two cases of trafficking in the CHT. Of the 69 cases of violence against indigenous women and girls, 38 were reported from and documented in the CHT. The victims were aged between four and 50, the report says, adding that 78% of the perpetrators were non-indigenous and 15% indigenous. Some 6% of the violators could not be identified, while the law enforcers and security personnel were accused in 1% the offences.

The programme was presided over by Kapaeeng Foundation Chairman Rabindranath Soren.

Bangladesh Adivasi Forum Secretary Sanjeeb Drong, Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad General Secretary Rana Dasgupta and Bangladesh Mahila Parishad President Ayesha Khanam were also present among others. l

134 indigenous peoples – 101 from the CHT and 33 from the plains – were tortured by influential Bangali non-state actors, and in many instances, members of the security forces and the law enforcement agencies played either supportive or passive roles in the commitment of such crimes, said Pallab.

Moreover, at least 84 houses belonging to the indigenous peoples in the plains were vandalised and looted while 35 houses in the plains and the CHT were set on fire and burnt to ashes by the land grabbers.

The report says that at least 85 indigenous women and girls fell victim to sexual and physical violence last year. Among them, 44 victims are from the CHT. Since 2007, a total of 434 indigenous women and girls were made victims of multiple forms of human rights violation.

In 2015, Kapaeeng Foundation documented at least 26 cases of rape and gang-rape, three killings,

ples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and the plains.

“The indigenous peoples have been made marginalised by the state machinery. The state should take necessary actions to ensure human rights of all the people including the indigenous peoples of the country,” said Ain o Salish Kendra Executive Director Sultana Kamal, who was present as the chief guest.

“Democracy prevails when security is ensured for all the citizens, regardless gender, lifestyle or expressions,” she added.

The grim picture Kapaeeng Foundation Executive Director Pallab Chakma presenting the annual report said that 13 indigenous peoples were killed extra-judicially in the CHT and the plains last year. Besides, at least 74 people including women and schoolgirls were arrested and false cases were lodged against 117 others.

During the same period, at least

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YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:58AM

35.7ºC Faridpur

Tejgaon OC, 2 SIs sued for torture n UNB

14.0ºC Rangpur

Source: Accuweather/UNB

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PRAYER TIMES

A case was filed with a court here yesterday against 11 people, including the officer-in-charge of Tejgaon police station and two sub-inspectors, on charge of mentally torturing a businessman.

Victim Badal Hawladar, 42, a decoration businessman, filed the case with the Metropolitan Session’s Judge Court.

Judge Quamrul Hossain Mollah asked the plaintiff to undergo a medical check-up at DMCH and submit the report before the court.

The accused in the case are OC Abdur Rashid, SIs Abul Kalam Azad and Jahangir Hossain, Dhaka North City Corporation councillor Shafiullah Shafi, Mashiur Rahman, Minhazur Rahman, Hossain Khan, Faruk Ahmed, Nurunnabi and Mainuddin.

However, the accused in collusion with each other threatened Badal to remove his establishment from the place. The shop owner lodged a complaint against the accused with Dhaka Executive Magistrate Court on February 1. l Sylhet

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Fajr: 4:40am | Zohr: 12:05am Asr: 3:31pm | Magrib: 6:14pm Esha: 7:41pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

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BNP’s Bulu, 16 others facing arrest warrant n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday issued warrant for the arrest of 17 leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act. Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md

Kamrul Hossain Molla issued the arrest warrants after accepting the charges levelled against 31 BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists including BNP’s Joint Secretary General Barkatullah Bulu and central leader Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu in the case.

The court issued the arrest warrants

Education Ministry criticises Saifur’s advertisement n Tribune Report

The Education Ministry has decided to take legal action against the coaching centre Saifur’s for publishing an objectionable advertisement recently.

The advertisement claimed that the hackers could not take Bangladesh Bank’s Tk160 crore because of a mistake in spelling Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid told reporters during a briefing at the Secretariat yesterday. The ministry held a meeting ahead of this year’s HSC examinations as part of the government’s preparation.

In its advertisement, Saifur’s addressed students saying that “if you want to learn hacking you will have to know English as well.”

The advertisement also claimed that the hackers could not take Bangladesh

Bank’s Tk160 crore because of a mistake in spelling. It said when the hackers were transferring money to Sri Lanka, they wrote fandation instead of foundation.

Nahid said: “A coaching centre named Saifur’s published an advertisement where it mentioned that if you don’t know English well, you will not be able to perform well in education, and also you can’t be a good hacker due to the lack of knowledge in English language.”

Education minister said they are confusing and misleading people by publishing such an advertisement. “They are trying influence hackers.”

He said such advertisements which can mislead the young generation will not be tolerated.

Regarding HSC exams, the minister hoped that it would be held peacefully.

The exams are scheduled to start on April 3.

He said law enforcement agencies are on alert to stop any attempt on question leakage. “We will not spare anyone who will be found involved with question leakage,” he added. l

17th IUB convocation to be held today n Tribune Report The 17th convocation of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) will be held today on the IUB campus at Bashundhara in Dhaka.

A total of 1,388 students from various degree programmes of the university, will graduate. Of these students, 954 are undergraduates and 434 are graduate students.

Education Minister Nurul

Islam Nahid will confer the degree certificates on the graduating students.

Adviser to the Prime Minister for Energy, Power and Mineral Resources Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury will present as the convocation speaker.

Chairman of University Grants Commission of Bangladesh Professor Abdul Mannan will attend the convocation as the Special Guest. l

against the 17 accused as they did not appear before it during the hearing.

The court also directed the officer-incharge of Mohammadpur police station to submit reports by May 11 on the execution of arrest warrants.

BNP leaders Aman Ullah Aman, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, Ishak

Sarkar, Monir Hossain and 20 others secured bail from the court in the case.

According to the charge sheet, some miscreants torched a bus with a petrol bomb in Mohammadpur Beribadh area on January 22 last year amid a countrywide blockade programme sponsored by the BNP-led 20-party

alliance. Bus helper Md Shohag was critically injured in the incident.

Later Sub-Inspector Mezbah Uddin of Mohammadpur police filed a case against the accused. SI Noor Islam Sikder, also investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet on August 23 last year. l

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No progress in Sohagi killing case n Tribune Report Police have failed to make any progress in their investigation into the murder of Comilla Victoria College student Sohagi Jahan Tonu, three days after she was found dead.

Comilla University students and teachers took part in a human chain protest on the campus yesterday demanding justice for the second year history student.

Protesters from the college blocked a stretch of the DhakaChittagong Highway in Nandan area for about an hour in the afternoon.

Sohagi was sexually abused and murdered in the Comilla cantonment area on Sunday night when she was returning from a tuition. Her half naked body with smashed head was recovered later that night from inside the cantonment.

Her father filed a case with Kotwali Model police station. The incident has created a huge uproar around the country.

“My parents cannot still believe that their only daughter is dead.

We demand justice for her,” the victim’s brother Anowar Hossain said.

Sohagi was a theatre activist.

Victoria College theatre’s former president Al-Amin said they would block the road and railway today.

Kotwali model police’s OC Abdur Rob said they were yet to make arrests.

“We are trying to find out the motive behind the murder,” he added.

The Sammilita Sangskritik Jote brings out a procession on Dhaka University campus yesterday protesting the killing of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a student of Comilla Victoria College. Sohagi was murdered after rape on Monday in the cantonment area, Comilla MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Protest across the country continues

Several socio-cultural organisations yesterday staged demonastration across the country protesting the killing.

In the capital, Ganajagaran Mancha and the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote brought a procession at Shahbagh demanding punishment to the killers of Sohagi.

Emran H Sarkar, spokesman of Ganajagaran Mancha, said Tonu was killed in a restricted area.

“How the criminals flee from the area from the area? It is shocking.”

On Jahangirnagar University campus, the Combined Cultural Alliance demanded immediate punishment of the killers of Comilla Victoria College student and cultural activist Shahagi Jahan Tonu.

Students of the university, along with leaders and activists of the organisation, formed a human chain in front of the New Arts Building on campus and raised their voices, demanding the arrest of the criminals, a source said.

The protestors, under the banner of the Combined Cultural Alliance, brought out a rally from the Social Science Faculty around

11am and marched through the campus main streets to the New Arts Faculty Building.

Earlier on Sunday, Shohagi Jahan Tonu was reportedly raped and murdered by miscreants in Alipur area of Mainamati Cantonment.

She was a second-year student of the History department at Comilla Victoria College and also a cultural activist. l

Container vessel service between Noor Hossain denied Bangladesh and India starts bail in extortion case MV Harbour leaves Ctg port for India loading containers was torn. n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong forSirajur Rahman, chief executive At long last MV Harbour 1, which was scheduled to set sail for Krishnapatnam Port of Chennai, India from Chittagong Port on March 17, left for India yesterday morning.

The Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan inaugurated container vessel service between the two countries at New Mooring Container Terminal at Chittagong Port on March 15.

The feeder vessel could not leave Chittagong Port on March 17 as the desired numbers of empty containers were not booked. Later, the vessel was scheduled again for March 21.

However, the voyage was again got delayed as the crane rope used

officer of Neepa Paribahan Ltd, said : “The vessel will reach Krishnapatnam Port of Chennai, India on March 27 and set sail for Bangladesh on March 28,” said the CEO of Neepa Paribahan Ltd, a family firm of ruling party lawmaker Noor-EAlam Chowdhury.

The MV Harbour 1 is a multipurpose container vessel built by Western Marine Shipyard Ltd. The 82-metre long vessel is the first vessel which obtained permission from departments of shipping of Bangladesh and India to operate under the Coastal Shipping Agreement.

Under the agreement, the vessel will call at coastal ports of Kol-

kata, Haldia, Pradip, Vishakhapatnam, Kakinada, Krishnapatnam and Chennai in India while ports of call in Bangladesh are Chittagong, Pangaon ICT, Narayanganj, Ashuganj, Paira, Khulna and Mongla.

Bangladesh usually imports onion, rice, lentils, cotton, industrial raw materials and machinery from India.

While addressing as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony on March 15, the minister had expressed his optimism that the newly launched bilateral coastal shipping service would boost trade between the two neigbouring countries by reducing freight time and cost and easing immense pressure on land ports. l

Correspondent, n Our Narayanganj A court in Naraynganj yesterday cancelled the bail petition filed by Noor Hossain in two extortion cases, the prime accused in the sensational seven-murder case.

According to court sources Noor Hossain filed the petition seeking bail through his lawyer Khokan Saha to the court of the Judge Kamrunnahar.

Khokan said the court cancelled the bail after a hearing.

The sources said two persons named Shamsul Haque and Akram Hossain filed the two cases with Siddirganj police station in 2014 and 2015 against the controversial politician in Naraynganj.

On April 27, 2014, Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Naz-

rul Islam and six others were abducted.

Later, their bodies were recovered from the Shitalaykha River on April 30.

Nazrul’s wife filed an abduction case against Nur Hossain and several others on April 28.

On June 15, 2014, the West Bengal police arrested Nur with some of his accomplices from Kolkata.

He had been in Indian custody since then.

He was handed over to BGB 26 Battalion Deputy Commander Maj Liakat Ali on November 12 last year.

Later, Nur Hossain was shown arrested in 11 cases including the seven-murder and three extortion cases. Lawyer of plaintiff Shakhwat was threatened to death on Tuesday by Khokon Shah, lawyer of Noor Hossain. l

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UP POLL VIOLENCE

Death toll stands at 11 n Tribune Report The death toll in Tuesday’s election-related violence reached 11, with the demise of an Awami League (AL) leader in Bogra and two people in Pirojpur yesterday.

Jabed Ali Bhuiyan, 40, an AL leader in Bogra, died yesterday while undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

According to local sources, Jabed Ali Bhuiyan and 10 others people were critically injured as supporters of BNP-backed candidate Abdul Majid attacked supporters of the AL-nominated candidate Golam Mustafa Tuku. Abdul Majid

won the poll.

Jabed was taken to Jamalpur Sadar Hospital from where he was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the Cox’s Bazar poll-related violence stands at three.

The deceased are Abdul Gafur, 38, Monir Ahmed, 30, and Shafiul Alam, 30.

A gunfight between supporters of the AL candidate and the rival aspirant left Shafiul Alam, 25, dead. Locals said the skirmish broke out when votes were being counted at Majherpara polling station at Shahfarid Dwip under Teknaf’s Shaparan union.

Shafik and 15 others were shot. He died while being taken to the hospital. Of the injured, Monir Ahmed and Shafiul Alam died at Cox’s Bazar Hospital yesterday morning.

In Sirajganj, a woman was killed in a clash between supporters of two UP candidates at Dhangara UP. She was the mother-in-law of Nawab Ali, who won the poll.

In Jhalakathi, a clash between rival candidates at the Sadar upazila’s Nabagram UP killed Abul Kashem Sikdar, 60, the brother of member candidate Chunnu Sikdar.

In Pirojpur, at least five were killed when Border Guard Bangladesh members opened fire on a group of

OC among four sued Mizanur Rahaman, n FM Chittagong A case was filed yesterday against four persons including the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sadarghat police station in the district.

Sources said Abdur Rahim Zillu, former deputy secretary of Bangladseh Chhatra League filed the case accusing the OC Mainul Islam Bhu-

iyan and Sub-Inspector (SI) Malek and two other unidentified persons with the court of metropolitan Magistrate Farid Uddin.

Zillu told the Dhaka Tribune: “I filed the case against the four under the section 15 of Torture and Custodial Death 2013.”

On March 19, police detained Zillu along with his wife from a private hotel in

the city.

During the detention, police allegedly harassed the BCL leader.

Zillu is the follower of Awami League leader ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury and the plaintiff of a case filed against parliament member MA Laif in connection with distorting the photo of Father of Nation Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. l

Listed criminal hacked to death in Chittagong n Tribune Report

A gang of miscreants hacked a man, who is accused in several criminal cases, to death at Sitakunda upazila, Chittagong on Tuesday night.

Local sources said Riaz Uddin Nayon, 28, son of Saleh Ahmed of Boro Darogarhat area of Sitakunda was involved with Jubo League’s politics, but police could not confirm

his any political identity.

Riaj was a local goon in Sitakunda area and accused of six cases filed in connection with murder and extortion with Sitakunda police station, said Officer-in-Charge of the police station Iftekhar Hasan.

A group of miscreants swopped on Riaj with sharp weapons in front of Molla Market and hacked him indiscriminately around 8pm,

leaving him critically injured, said the OC. He was first taken to upazila health complex from where he was shifted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH). Later, he died.

OC Iftekhar said Riaj had a long standing rivalry with another local terrorist “Harun group”. He also suspected that he might have been killed over previous rivalry. l

Suspended Khulna mayor sent to jail n Tribune Report A court yesterday sent suspended Khulna City Corporation (KCC) mayor Mohammad Moniruzzaman, who is also the general secretary of Khulna metropolitan unit BNP, to jail in two cases for attacking police and vandalising vehicles.

Metropolitan Sessions Judge Arup Kumar Goshwami gave the order as the accused appeared before the court and lodged a bail petition.

On June 11, 2015, police pressed charges against 52 leaders and activists of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, including the suspended KCC mayor, in the two cases.

On November 2 of the year, the Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry issued a notice suspending the BNP-backed mayor in this connection.

The court accepted the charge sheet of the case on November 22 and issued arrest warrant against 16 of the accused. l

people trying to snatch ballot boxes in the district’s Mathbaria upazila.

District Superintendent of Police Walid Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune: “The incident took place after a group of people swooped on the BGB men while law enforcers were carrying the ballot boxes from the Safa Degree College polling centre at Dhonisafa union.

“In retaliation, the BGB members opened fire on the miscreants as per the directive given by Executive Magistrate Kazi Ziaul, leaving at least three people dead on the spot and several others injured.”

Later, two people died on the way to Barisal Medical College Hos-

pital, said Mathbaria police station OC Khandaker Mostafizur Rahman.

Probe body formed over BGB firing in Pirojpur

A four-member probe body was formed yesterday to investigate into the killing of five people in the firing by Border Guard Bangladesh personnel at a Pirojpur polling centre on Tuesday.

The body led by Additional Deputy Commissioner (general) Md Manik Rahman. Other members of the committee are Additional Police Super Md Abu Ashraf, Election Officer of Mothbaria upazila and Presiding Officer at Safa Degree College. l

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Feature

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

Architecture Now!Next

P

n Mahmood Sadi ut some architects inside a room, they will talk about buildings and their designs. The text of their discourse is usually technical.

Put some great architects inside a room, they will take it to another level and talk about the very philosophy behind the construction of buildings and design. Their talk doesn’t just remain confined within the technical aspects rather reaches to a philosophical and poetic depth.

This is what happened during the recently finished Bengal Architecture Symposium where architects like Adele Santos, Peter Stuchbury, Suha Ozcan, Peter Buchanan, Byoung Soo Cho, Alberto Kalach and Kazi Khaleed Ashraf got together under the roof KIB auditorium in Dhaka for three summer days.

They talked about architecture-a technically demanding discipline-yet it was an audio-visual treat for even a commoner with no knowledge about the subject.

“That’s the purpose,” said Kazi Khaleed Ashraf, a Bangladeshi Architecture professor in University of Hawaii, “Taking architecture to the people; making them realise that it’s not about

fancy design, rather it’s about human habitation in coherence with nature and modern amenities.”

Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements which organized the international architecture symposium under the banner “Architecture Now! Next”- was also established by the Bengal Foundation with same mindsettalking architecture to the people.

Understanding through past Aside from taking architecture to the people, the purpose of the symposium was to understand new directions in architecture and city building, along with the kind of work that should be recognised as exemplary and instructive.

“The best way to understand the present architecture and the future of it is to look at the past,” said Suha Ozcan, an award winning architect from Turkey.

Tracing a brief history from Vitruvius up to the work of Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid, Ozkan asserted the changing relationship between architectural dictums and practice. Architecture, he contended, has never had a singular authoritative theory.

Rather, innovation has emerged from the introduction and establishment of new certainties.

The bulk of Ozkan’s talk was

“Architecture is successful if it blends with the nature. It comes with the least number of ingredients and the most amount of thinking”

oriented around lesser-known practices from around the world.

As he passed through a litany of examples, he touched on the ways in which each seemed to introduce a new imperative into architectural thinking.

While many of his examples were from the last century, each seemed to fit within the parameters of “the architectural agenda” of the twenty-first century that he had previously laid out – namely, they involved a persistent concern with ecological and social issues.

In balance with nature Peter Stuchbury, the great architect from Australia also said that the building’s purpose should be persistent with ecological and social issues of the surroundings.

“Architecture is successful if it blends with the nature. It comes with the least number of ingredients and the most amount of thinking.”

In 34 years of practice, Stutchbury has mastered the art of creating architecture that speaks of the place it inhabits – buildings that are environmentally sustainable, culturally specific and locally embedded.

He however believes that a building or structure should have beauty and it should be a pleasantry to the eyes. “A building can evoke the same feelings inside a person that a good painting can.

I always say it’s never architecture unless it’s beautiful.”

Alberto Kalach, the postmodernist architect from

“I am interested in the garden from a sensorial point of view: to me, what it provokes is fundamental”

Mexico talked about the beauty of landscape architecture. He believed that the presence of green and garden could blend the structure with nature and ensure the ecological balance.

“I am interested in the garden from a sensorial point of view: to me, what it provokes is fundamental,” he said. He said that if we consider the garden as a part of the architecture, we can say that it is the most sublime part, because its only function is to please, to refresh.

“If you build a parking lot, the cars must fit, turn, circulate. If you make a building, the structure has to sustain it. But the garden is about paths, sensations, odors, freshness. Imagine designing only for that purpose. That part of the garden is what interests me most,” he said.

Kalach said that the green areas around most city buildings are terrible, but this speaks to a certain correlation: in those cities where gardens and trees and streets are taken care of, people are more civilized; they are happier.

Quoting Master Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, he said, “There is

no architectural work so bad that could not be improved with a garden.”

Criticising modernity Peter Buchanan, the Malawi born architect who is better known as a critic than an architect criticises the modern and post-modern architecture in his talks. He said that the origins of architectural modernism are closely affiliated with the progressive goals of the early Twentieth Century.

“Modern architecture is thus an energy-profligate, petrochemical architecture, only possible when fossil fuels are abundant and affordable”, he said. “Like the sprawling cities it spawned, it belongs to that waning era historians are already calling ‘the oil interval’.”

Buchanan said that the desire to increase sustainability actually results in its opposite. “One needs only to walk around a city to see traces of modernism, even in the design of condominiums. How many structures only put on the facade of being sustainable, using symbolic design features to fool even its architects?”l

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

Comic

Superheroes in Bangladesh

What if Marvel and DC Comics both came to Bangladesh? Syed Rashad Imam Tanmoy decided to make the twist and bring superheroes from both universes here in the streets of Dhaka. The series will be featured soon in Dhaka Tribune. Till then keep your eyes on www.facebook.com/tanmoycartoons for further updates

If cats were superheroes

We love super heroes. We love cats! Why not combine the two? Lingvistov decided to imagine what it would be like if cats were super heroes

Source: www.boredpanda.com

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Editorial 11

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

INSIDE

Be clean, be safe It is time that we take some responsibility and start implementing those changes we would like to see in this world. But complaining and suggesting ideas cannot build an ideal world. We have to begin somewhere PAGE 12

Project of mass destruction Now the mere existence of the Sundarbans has been threatened by an attempt to build 1,320MW coalfired power plant in Rampal, the larger Sundarbans area. This proposed Rampal Coal Power Project is a joint venture project by the Indian NTPC and Bangladesh state-owned PDB PAGE 13

How far we have come We still have a long fight, but we must fight with honour, dignity, and compassion. Understand that we are entitled to the same rights that men have taken for granted PAGE 14

Be heard Write to Dhaka Tribune FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka-1207 Send us your Op-Ed articles: opinion.dt@dhakatribune.com www.dhakatribune.com Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/ DhakaTribune.

The views expressed in Opinion articles are those of the authors alone. They do not purport to be the official view of Dhaka Tribune or its publisher.

BIGSTOCK

Carbon taxes are the responsible way forward

T

he World Bank has recently written to the government recommending a carbon tax as a “fiscally prudent measure.”

It is a welcome sign of growing consensus about the need for taxes on fuels that generate greenhouse gas emissions.

Such a move would fit in with national polices and international agreements to promote renewable energy, and would also help protect government revenue and promote price stability.

Although Bangladesh’s per capita carbon emissions are historically negligible and not barriers to efforts to industrialise our economy, it is imperative we try to do so sustainably.

This is vital both to prevent the negative consequences of climate change becoming even worse and to add further moral authority to demand better from the rest of the world in fighting climate change.

It is welcome to see signs of the government moving away from a policy of heavily subsidising fossil fuels, such as the prime minister’s statement in February that there would be no reduction in the prices of fuel oil until the all loans of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation were repaid.

The government should bring in carbon taxes as well as cutting costly fossil fuel subsidies. Discouraging fossil fuel is essential to cut emissions and reduce dependence on a finite resource which can only get costlier to import in the long run.

It is also vital to stimulate more investment in renewable energy.

Bangladesh has already seen multiple social and economic benefits from the millions of solar home systems set up by organisations like IDCOL, which have brought cheap renewable electricity to rural households while limiting pressures on the grid.

A carbon tax will attract more new investment to help scale up renewable generation on a nationwide scale. It is an essential policy to help bring about the sustainable energy future that Bangladesh and the world needs.

Carbon taxes are essential to incentivise investment in a sustainable energy future

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Opinion

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

Be clean, be safe Teaching poor children about personal hygiene is a big step towards improving lives

Did you wash your hands today?

DHAKA TRIBUNE

It is time that we take some responsibility and start implementing those changes we would like to see in this world. But complaining and suggesting ideas cannot build an ideal world. We have to begin somewhere

n Mehdi Hasan Abdullah

P

earl S Buck once said: “The test of a civilisation is in the way that it cares for its helpless members.”

Can we truly say that we live in a civilised nation, where there is chaos everywhere and no one can step outside in peace?

What about all the helpless people we see every day in the streets of Dhaka city? Does anyone care for them? I, personally, think that question answers itself.

Recently, The Green Channel Foundation went on a journey to Rampura, Hajipara to teach a batch of underprivileged students

how to maintain proper hygiene, educate them on how certain diseases affect us, and how we can fight them off.

As we carried our props to the school, we had a certain plan, but we were all nervous. As we entered through that steel gate, we could see the nervousness etched on each of the children’s faces as well.

We did not know exactly how to begin, so our president, Navin Apu, started with some warm up conversations and we followed her lead.

While we were introducing ourselves, she saw a karate poster behind us, and took the

opportunity to break the ice with a fun karate lesson.

Our members, Saeema and Sadia, were trained in karate, and they decided to put on a small show for the kids and show them a few basic karate moves.

Gradually, we could see how interested the children were. They followed Sadia and Saeema’s lead very easily, and we even called a few of them to see if they could recreate the moves. This exercise warmed them up and made them open up to us.

Afterwards, Hanin and I showed them the “seven steps on how to rinse your hands properly,” which was followed by a short skit

that focused on three major types of diseases (typhoid, jaundice, and diarrhoea) that are caused if hygiene is not maintained properly. We explained how these diseases affect us and how to fend them off.

The day progressed as we showed them cartoons and held an art competition, which the children took very seriously.

It was fairly obvious that they loved to draw, but the funny thing was that almost all of them drew the clichéd village scenery with the lake nearby and the sun shining in the background, which we all drew in our art classes growing up.

That moment taught us that, even though we were from different walks of life, we were not that different.

The activity that truly opened my eyes was when I had to interview a few of those children.

Hearing their stories and how they lived their lives instantly made my own problems feel almost nonexistent.

I felt very fulfilled when I heard

each of them say that they had learnt a lot because of us.

Abdullah, who was a victim of jaundice told me that when he was suffering from the disease, his parents could not even identify how the disease happened, and now he knows exactly why it happened, and thanked us for teaching him how to avoid certain diseases like this and he vowed to pass on this knowledge onto his other friends who are likely to make such mistakes.

During the end of the day, our head of projects, Zahra Alam showed the students a basic filtration system, which Green Channel started working on.

The basis of the project is to find an economically viable option of acquiring water and after showing this to them, they all wanted to learn how to make it.

When I interviewed Afsana, a student of that institute, as to why she thought this idea of a filtration system would be ideal for a country like Bangladesh, she responded by saying: “Having pure, clean water to drink is not a privilege the majority of the people in this country have, especially during the monsoon season when there are countless flooding incidents in the village.

“How are the people there supposed to survive, when they do not have clean water to drink?

This rainwater harvesting system would create an efficient way of collecting pure, clean water, which would aid those in need, and I strongly believe that this idea should be implemented all over the country.”

Talking with these children, playing with them, and teaching them about personal hygiene over the hours made each of us here at Green Channel see the world through their eyes, and it is not the kind of world any of us would like to live in.

It is time that we take some responsibility and start implementing those changes we would like to see in this world.

JBut complaining and suggesting ideas cannot build an ideal world. We have to begin somewhere. We have to believe first and then start working towards our goals, together.

The road ahead may be long, but it is more than worth it. We hope you, too, join us in our endeavour to create a better world, a better Bangladesh. l Mehdi Hasan Abdullah is a member of Green Channel, a youth-led environmental organisation.

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Opinion

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

Project of mass destruction We are about to destroy something that is vital to our existence. This is the first of a two-part long form, and the last article in a series about the Rampal power plant says Philip Gain in Stolen Forests.

With the rise of the extent of primitive accumulation, the Sundarbans also suffered like other forests, rivers, and open spaces in Bangladesh.

Rampal power plant: The final blow

We would do well to listen to these protesters

n Anu Muhammad

T

housands of people, young and old, women and men, prepared for more than a 400km fiveday-long march from Dhaka, the capital city, to Digraj, a place in Rampal -- the extended Sundarbans area, in southwest Bangladesh, beginning from September 2013.

Organised by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral, Resources, Port, and Power, the main demand for this long march was to cancel the Rampal coal-fired power plant, and stop all activities that would destroy the Sundarbans. Why have people around the country become so sensitive, and why are they coming forward to resist this?

How the Sundarbans is vital for our existence

The name “Sundarbans” is a combination of two Bangla words, meaning the beautiful forests.

Yes, it is. Not only is it beautiful in every sense of the word, it is extraordinarily rich in bio-diversity and it is the single largest mangrove forest in the world.

UNESCO declared it as a world heritage site. The Sundarbans has also been a huge safeguard against frequent cyclones, storms, and other natural disasters in the country. Sidr, Aila, and Mohasen were some of the recent ones. Our living memory shows that, in every natural disaster, the Sundarbans save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, their properties, and other animals.

About 200 years ago, the Sundarbans were much larger -- measured and found to be about 16,700 square kilometres. The size of the present Sundarbans is one third

of that, covering a total land area of 4,143sq-km and a water area of 1,874sq-km, consisting of rivers, small streams, and canals.

“Rivers in the Sundarbans are meeting places of saltwater and freshwater. It is a region of transition between the freshwater of the rivers, originating from the Ganges and the saline water of the Bay of Bengal.”

The Sundarbans are spread over two countries, Bangladesh and India, but “freshwater reaching the mangroves has been considerably reduced since the 1970s due to diversion of freshwater in the upstream area by India through the use of the Farakka Barrage, bordering Rajshahi in Bangladesh,” says Wahid, Alam, and Rahman in “Mathematical river modelling to support ecological monitoring of the largest mangrove forest of the world -- the Sundarbans.”

Despite many activities of grabbing, looting, and eco-unfriendly activities, about 60% of the Sundarbans is still surviving in Bangladesh. It is a unique mangrove forest because of its history, size, productivity, and significance in balancing the local eco-system.

“It is the largest mangrove patch in the world; the second largest is only one-tenth of its size in Malaysia. The Sundarbans are unprecedented in biological diversity and wildlife resources too. The renowned Bengal Tiger (Panthera Tigris) is synonymous with the Sundarbans which is the largest remaining natural habitat of the man-eating wild cat. Despite official land reclamation programs and continued exploitation of produces from these swamp forests, they still survive with multiple threats originating from the modern world.” (Bangladesh Environment Facing the 21st Century,

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Now the mere existence of the Sundarbans has been threatened by an attempt to build a 1,320MW coal-fired power plant in Rampal, the larger Sundarbans area. This proposed Rampal Coal Power Project is a joint venture project by the Indian state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Bangladesh state-

Now the mere existence of the Sundarbans has been threatened by an attempt to build 1,320MW coal-fired power plant in Rampal, the larger Sundarbans area. This proposed Rampal Coal Power Project is a joint venture project by the Indian NTPC and Bangladesh state-owned PDB Sehd, 2007).

The forest has been playing uncontested protective and productive functions. In addition to its role as a natural safeguard, it is also the single largest source of forest produce in the country. The Sundarbans also play an important role in creating economic value in the national economy and employment, creating opportunities for the millions. It now covers more than 60% of the total reserved forest of Bangladesh, contributes to about 50% of total forest revenue.

Forest-cover in Bangladesh is far less than adequate, and also the health of the remaining forests is extremely poor. An overview of forests in Bangladesh correctly observed that this poor health of forests has not been caused by natural process -- rather the human greed and corporate aggressive encroachment destroyed the natural process of growth and expansion of the forests which also put human existence in danger.

Ineffective and land grabber-friendly policies, harmful investment and commercialisation, and destructive investment made all this happen. In fact, “most of the forests were stolen” by the process of profit-making ventures,

owned Power Development Board (PDB). We have identified three serious problems with this project.

The contract is non-transparent and unequal

First, the whole process of conceiving the project, selection of the area, and the terms and conditions of the project are non-transparent, irrational, and biased against Bangladesh’s interest.

Project of mass destruction

Secondly, different independent studies suggest that this project would not allow the Sundarbans to survive and to reproduce. We have two reports from detailed studies on the Sundarbans.

These studies were directed by two independent experts of environment and engineering. The experts are Dr Abdullah Harun Chowdhury of Khulna University (“Environmental Impact of coalbased power plant of Rampal on the Sundarbans and Surrounding Areas,” 2012) and Dr MA Sattar of Bangladesh Agricultural University (“Impact of Coal-Fired Power Plant on Air Pollution Climate Changes and Environmental Degradation including Disaster on Sundarban,” 2011). They investigated the possible and inevitable impact of

the power plant on the Sundarbans, in construction phase and in production phase. Conclusions of these two independent studies are similar. They found the proposed coal-fired power plant as the destroyer of the largest forest in Bangladesh.

In order to understand the extent of concerns by the independent experts of the country, let me quote from Dr Abdullah Harun’s study conclusion: “Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of physical, biological, social, and economic environment indicate that most of the impacts of coal-fired power plant are negative and irreversible which can’t be mitigated in any way. It is indicating that climate, topography, land-use pattern, air and water (surface and ground, both) quality, wetlands, floral and faunal diversity, capture fisheries, and tourism will be affected permanently due to proposed coalfired power plant.

“Increasing of water-logging conditions, river erosion, noise pollution, health hazards, decreasing of ground water table, loss of culture fisheries, social forestry, and major destruction of agriculture will be caused due to the coalfired power plant. The benefits/ facilities of the proposed coal-fire power plant of Rampal are very poor compared to the negative and irreversible impacts. So economically, socially, physically, and environmentally, the selected area is not suitable to establish any type of coal based power plant.”

However, many of these concerns were echoed in the EIA authorised by the PDB, only to mention that everything will be done to mitigate the damages.

Engineer Kallol Mustafa pointed out some vital twists, lies, deception, and unsubstantiated promises in that EIA document, which include dealing on the issue of Possur River, zero discharge policy, mentioning the Sundarbans as a residential area and village rather than “environmentally sensitive area,” millions of tons of fly ash and bottom ash issues, dangerous waste management policy, coal transportation, etc. l A version of this article previously appeared on anumuhammad.net and bdnews24.com.

Anu Muhammad is Member-Secretary, National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Port.

He is also a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.

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Opinion

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

How far we have come We owe a debt to the many brave women throughout history who paved the way towards equality

n Ayesha Taasin Khan

T

he struggles, the silence, the helplessness, and the defeat faced by women throughout the centuries speak to all women through time.

Women’s Day every March is celebrated for all those women who were unable to overcome the socio-religious authority of men and culture.

It was so hard, indeed, for a mother-in-law not to behave badly with the daughter-in-law, because that was the only place she could show some liberation and power.

The day is for all those women who took abuse from fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, and had to conform and behave according to social norms. The day is for all who did not get an opportunity to study, follow their dreams, or raise their voices against oppression.

To enable Women’s Day to happen, many sacrifices by both women and men were made.

Change-making starts from an absence of something from one’s life. The women’s suffrage movement was the struggle for the right of women to vote and run for office, and this was a part of the overall women’s rights movement.

In the mid-19th century, women in several countries formed organisations to start this movement.

In all cultures, barring matriarchal societies, women have culturally played a subservient role, and had resigned to this “role playing.” In the context of the subcontinent, it became extremely complex with old established religions like Hinduism and Islam deeply entrenched, and yet influencing each other in rituals and behaviour.

The colonisation by the British, albeit with an imperialist attitude, had taken great steps in removing some age old practices like the “sati” and allowing the remarriage of widows. But we are speaking of a movement and we need to revisit history to understand what prompted change and at what point women felt we needed to gather and bring change.

It did not happen over one day, but was the culmination of centuries. Indicators are a great insight to change, but the suffragette movement and the industrial revolution were great contributors to this.

Both these events helped channel women to understand that they could step out of their centuries-old paradigm and tell

society of their wishes and desires be attended to and addressed, that they too were worthy of respect, dignity, and freedom of choice.

We still have a long fight, but we must fight with honour, dignity, and compassion.

Understand that we are entitled to the same rights that men have taken for granted from time immemorial.

But the burden on us is a great one, because we are in charge of creating a new species, of empowering them, and giving them voice Women deserve the same rights so many men take for granted But realisations, promises, and guarantees made during the pre-independence era and during the writing of the constitution remained unfulfilled. Policies made for women were formulated, but implementation remained ineffective and discrimination against women continued.

In 1917, women started to demand education, social benefits, health facilities, and equal franchise rights to vote.

The British-Chelmsford proposal advised that, at this stage, it would not be advisable to widen the electorate, and informally said that if English women did not have votes, then there was no reason to give Indian women the franchise.

Imagine that.

Several roundtable conferences were held to repeat demands for rights of all Indian women, regardless of caste and creed.

Then, in 1946, two Muslim women were elected to the Central Constituent Assembly, Jahanara Shahnawaz and Shaista Ikramullah, daughter of Hassan Suhrawardy. In Bengal, the revolutionary movement started in the beginning of the 20th century.

Bengal’s earliest revolutionary

group, “Anushilan Samiti,” saw its birth in 1902.

Another revolutionary movement was the “Suhrid Samity,” which was based out of Mymensingh. Around this time, various secret societies started getting together for the freedom movement.

The Chittagong armoury raid, with its leader Surya Sen, better known as “Mastarda,” would always encourage young girls to join the movement and had as his lieutenant, Kalpana Datta and Pritilata Waddedar. Parul Mukherjee, a Comilla girl, was in charge of a house at Titagarh, where some revolutionary fugitives had taken shelter.

We too can be brave. The India Freedom movement did truly allow us women to prove ourselves as courageous, selfreliant individuals.

There are a few names without which our pride and our movement would fall short of its true recognition. Begum Rokeya -- she worked ceaselessly for the emancipation of women’s education. She was a leading feminist social worker of the early 20th century. She gave us courage,

direction, and raised all kinds of social issues that eventually brought us here today.

Sufia Kamal, politically active as a woman, gave hope to women who wanted to be part of politics.

During her childhood, women’s education was not conceived as an option open to girls.

She was greatly involved in the 1950s nationalist movement and a tower for dialogue of women in civil society activism. And Jahanara Imam, a mother, writer, and political activist, who acts as a beacon of light -- we salute all of you and those who have not been mentioned but we owe a debt to.

What was the agenda of these movements? Women wanted to have independent thinking, access to education, rights to inheritance, improved status when widowed, removal of caste prejudice, increased participation, freedom from British occupation, and participation in the “Swadesh” and “Satyagraha” movements. These all challenged the conventional values and the fight had just begun.

I write about the history because current statistics about the inequality and pay difference

BIGSTOCK

is a Google search away. I write to celebrate those brave women and men who in scary and isolated times helped us, through baby steps and great difficulty, paving the way for us to tap into our potential.

We still have a long fight, but we must fight with honour, dignity, and compassion.

Understand that we are entitled to the same rights that men have taken for granted from time immemorial. But the burden on us is a great one, because we are in charge of creating a new species, of empowering them, and giving them voice. Let us please be careful of what we create amongst us. I say we can do what a man can do, and we deserve, therefore, to get the same recognition, the same protections, the same access to all society has to offer us.

We are a workforce, an intellectual force, a force that mends. So stand up and take us seriously … once unleashed we can only add value, not take it away. l Ayesha Taasin Khan is Director, Legal, Compliance, Head of Good Governance, Friendship.

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Business 15

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

INSIDE

DCCI: BB reserves fiasco might multiply economic impacts

In era of cheap oil, Saudi loses shine for foreign workers Mobarak Musa, a mobile telephone salesman from Syria, has spent 10 years working in Saudi Arabia, sending part of his wages back home to support his parents and three brothers. A shift in Saudi labor policy means he won’t be able to do so for much longer. PAGE 17

Capital market snapshot: Wednesday DSE Broad Index Index 30 Index

4,381.2 1,060.8 1,658.1

-0.7% ▼ -0.7% ▼ -0.9% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

4,141.6

28.0% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

127.9

30.8% ▲

CSE All Share Index 13,475.5 30 Index 12,129.9 Selected Index 8,184.3 Turnover in Mn Tk 284.1 Turnover in Mn Vol 12.5

-0.7% -0.6% -0.7% 39.9% 59.6%

▼ ▼ ▼ ▲ ▲

Stocks decline further on sell-off n Tribune Report Stocks continued to decline for the second straight session yesterday on a massive sell-off of heavyweight issues.

After being in green zone briefly in the morning session, the market lost the steam as the trading went on.

The benchmark index DSEX fell 29 points or 0.7% to close at 4,381, extending its losing streak after four months low. The Shariah index DSES shed 7 points or 0.7% to 1,060. The blue chip comprising index DS30 was down about 16 points or 1% to 1,658.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX ended at 8,184, dropping 59 points.

The DSE total turnover stood at Tk414 crore, up more than 28% over the previous session’s value due to debut of Dragon Sweater and Spinning Limited that accounted for 18% of the total trade value.

The company, in its first trading day, jumped 88% to Tk18.8 on its offer value of Tk10 a share.

Share prices of majority stocks eroded as out of 315 companies traded on the day, 68 companies closed positive, 200 negative while 47 remained unchanged. l

n Tribune Report Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) has expressed deep concern over the recent central bank’s foreign exchange reserves scam in Federal Reserve, USA, according to a statement issued yesterday.

The country’s largest business body feared that the scam might bring multiplier economic impacts such as hitting the balance of payment, repayment of external borrowing, downgrade the credit rating of Bangladesh above all weakening the currency exchange rate with the decline of purchase power of taka and macro-economic slowdown.

“In the wake of this recent scam, DCCI would like all con-

POSSIBLE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF BB HEIST Foreign exchange reserves are likely to fall Currency devaluation Negative balance of payment Downgrading credit rating of Bangladesh Macro-economic slowdown Putting a lid on FDI flow cerned authorities to take into account our economic transformation process to progress relentlessly towards 2021 and 2030 with utmost priority,” said the statement.

It said the foreign exchange re-

serves are likely to fall, resulting in currency devaluation and spending hike in import trade leading to a wider negative balance of trade.

The import-led export growth trend will continue to decline having the higher cost of doing business, it said, adding that on the other hand, the central bank led the range of dollar to denominate investment schemes including EDF (Export Development Fund) in local market and higher local private sector lending target of monetary policy may be hampered above all plunging remittance inflow.

It said the overall credit rating of Bangladesh may face further slump sliding down the FDI inflow potential and business competitiveness to harness the incremental indus-

try intensive and export growth trajectory envisioned in economic graduation of Bangladesh.

Against this reserves fiasco, DCCI hopes that stern and high powered investigation will be carried out to get the fund reimbursed and restore the credence on Bangladesh Bank-led financial sector in no time.

“Since the central bank has been predominantly the economic policy leader, regulator and custodian of the robust financial sector of Bangladesh, consistent regularity, well-shielded monetary security policy reform, and strapping IT devised security system implementations are inevitable to retain financial sanctity and continue economic acceleration in the days to come.” l

Muhith: Insurance firms lack morality n Tribune Report Finance Minister AMA Muhith criticised the country’s insurance companies as having no professional morality.

He was addressing the inauguration of a three-day insurance fair yesterday at the capital’s Bangabandhu International Conference Center.

Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) has organised the event, first of its kind in Bangladesh.

Muhith said there was lax control over the growth of insurance sector in the country. However, the situation started changing positively after the enactment of insurance law in 2010, he claimed.

IDRA Chairman M Shefaq Ahmed presided over the session, also attended by State Minister of Finance and Planning M A Mannan and Finance Secretary Yunusur Rahman.

Shefaq Ahmed blamed management spending beyond limit for making the companies unable to return premiums to their clients after maturity of policies.

“Though there is a ceiling for management spending, the life insurance companies are not following that, which makes them unable to pay profit to the policy holders,” he said.

IDRA chairman said this was denting the confidence of people on the insurance firms. The insurance companies were issued

Finance Minister AMA Muhith warning against the breach of spending rule, he added emphasising compliance to restore discipline in the sector.

He said IDRA was planning to form a research and development cell, and urged the insurance companies to open such cells.

A number of 50 insurance companies are participating in the fair which remains open from 10am to 8pm every day and will wrap up tomorrow.

Cultural functions, raffle draw and cheque handover to insurance claimers feature the fair to attract visitors. l

DHAKA TRIBUNE

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DhakaTribune

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

DhakaTribune

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

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Business

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

In era of cheap oil, Saudi loses shine for foreign workers

A Syrian technician repairs a mobile in a shop in Dammam, Saudi Arabia REUTERS

n Reuters, Riyadh Mobarak Musa, a mobile telephone salesman from Syria, has spent 10 years working in Saudi Arabia, sending part of his wages back home to support his parents and three brothers. A shift in Saudi labor policy means he won’t be able to do so for much longer.

In early March, the Ministry of Labour announced that within six months foreigners would be banned from selling and maintaining mobile phones and accessories for them, in an effort to keep open more jobs for Saudi citizens.

So Musa became one of hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia who may lose their jobs and be sent back to their home countries this year, as low oil prices slow the kingdom’s economy and prompt the government to restrict employment opportunities for expatriates.

“I don’t know where else can I go - I don’t know any other job to do,” Musa, in his 30s, said in his small shop at a mobile phone market in downtown Riyadh.

Millions of foreigners from south Asia, southeast Asia and elsewhere flocked to work in Saudi Arabia during the economic boom of the past decade, filling relatively low-paid posts in the oil industry, construction and services as well as many middle-management and professional positions.

Foreigners accounted for 10.1 million of the total population of 30.8 million in 2014, according to the latest official data. The money they sent home was important for their home countries; they remitted $9.1 billion out of Saudi Arabia in the third quarter of 2015, central bank data shows.

The inflow of people may now go into reverse. Saudi economic growth is slowing as low oil pric-

es produce a state budget deficit that totaled nearly $100 billion last year, forcing the government into spending cuts.

Many analysts expect gross domestic product growth, which averaged over 5 percent annually between 2006 and 2015, to fall well below 2 percent this year. Partly because labor rules make it hard and costly to fire Saudi citizens, layoffs in the early stages of a downturn tend to hit foreigners almost exclusively.

Meanwhile the government, lacking the cash to create public sector jobs for Saudis as freely as before, and worried that the official unemployment rate of 11.5 percent among them could rise, is intervening more heavily in the labor market to push Saudis into jobs previously held by foreigners.

A top executive at a major Saudi company told Reuters in January that he wouldn’t be surprised if one million foreigners had to leave the kingdom by the end of this year.

“The economic changes have started to pressure the labor market, and this has triggered the start of the migration of a large segment of foreign workers,” said prominent Saudi economist Fadl al-Boainain.

“Declining corporate profitability has made the foreign workforce a target for managements seeking to cut fixed financial obligations.”

Construction

So far, layoffs have been concentrated in the construction sector, which analysts estimate employs around 45 percent of foreigners.

Hit by shrinking state contracts and delays in payments owed to them by the government, construction firms have been laying off tens of thousands of people since last year.

“After 12 years in a stable job with a big company, I have started to update my CV and send it to other employers,” said Abu Fadi, a Pal-

estinian-Lebanese engineer at a big construction company in Riyadh which is facing a liquidity crunch and hasn’t paid salaries to its staff since September.

Abu Fadi, who has delayed his marriage plans until his future is clearer, said some of his colleagues who had brought their families to the kingdom were now unable to pay the rent. Some 5,000 technical workers at his company have left, he said.

Job losses among foreigners look likely to spread to other sectors, partly because of government policy. Labor ministry spokesman Khaled Abalkhail said the ban on mobile phone sellers would affect about 20,000 workers, and that similar action would eventually be taken in other industries.

“The labor ministry targets aim to create jobs for around 1.3 million Saudis...There are plans for gradual nationalization of other sectors such as taxis, travel and tourism, real estate, jewelry and vegetable markets,” he told Reuters.

Abalkhail said displaced foreign workers could try to find jobs in other sectors. But it will be hard for many do so in a slowing economy, and many lack training for skilled jobs. If they cannot find a company to sponsor a work visa for them, they will have to leave the country within about 90 days.

Even some highly paid foreign professionals are considering leaving the kingdom because they see fewer opportunities as the flow of oil money shrinks.

After more than nine years in Saudi Arabia, a British petrochemical consultant in the oil-producing Eastern Province said he was considering returning home as projects in the industry were postponed and budget approvals were delayed.

“Last year was mostly fine, but the end of last year and this year are the worst I have seen,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the economic prospects of his firm.

A year ago, there were long waiting lists for foreigners seeking to move into residential compounds for well-off expatriates in Riyadh and oil-producing Eastern Province. The waiting lists have now shrunk or disappeared, and more villas in the compounds are vacant, residents say.

“Saudi Arabia continues to decline as a top destination for expatriates...given the country’s higher dependence on oil revenues and the extent of planned austerity measures,” Gulf Talent, an online recruitment portal for professionals, said in a report this month. l

Moody’s: ASEAN economies facing disparate growth outlook n Reuters, Hong Kong The growth outlook for ASEAN economies is likely to be mixed in the next two years, with domestically focused economies such as Indonesia and the Philippines on relatively better footing than their more trade-reliant neighbors, Moody’s Investor Service said on Tuesday.

The cautious view from the ratings agency is a warning sign for global policymakers who are relying on emerging economies, particularly in Asia, to drive global growth in the coming years.

With a prolonged slump in global trade showing no signs of abating, the outlook is darker for Asia’s export-oriented economies, Moody’s said.

“The growth prospects of ASEAN’s major export-orientated

economies - Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - will remain weaker than those of more domestic demand-driven economies, Indonesia and the Philippines, in 2016 and 2017,” said Rahul Ghosh, a senior research analyst at the ratings agency.

Total trade - the sum of exports and imports - is the highest for Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, making them more vulnerable to slowdowns via both the export channel and weaker investment, the ratings agency said.

Those three economies also face high levels of household debt.

Asian central banks have leaned towards an easing bias this year faced with slowing growth.

Last week, Indonesia’s central bank on Thursday cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.75%, its third straight reduction of that size this year. l

CORPORATE NEWS

Central Shariah Board for Islamic Banks of Bangladesh has recently organised a three-day long training course on Islamic Banking and Finance at the training institute of Social Islami Bank Limited, said a press release. Chairperson of SIBL, Major Dr Md Rezaul Haque (retd) inaugurated the training course as chief guest

Excel Telecom Ltd (a sister concern of Labib Group) and Samsung Bangladesh Ltd have recently organised a daylong workshop titled, Q2 Sales Planning and Strategy. Chairperson of Labib Group, Salahuddin Alamgir and Seungwon Youn, managing director of Samsung Bangladesh Ltd attended the workshop, said a press release

Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh along with Manab Mukti Sangstha (MMS) has recently launched Comprehensive Education and Health programme at Sirajganj Char area, said a press release. CLP (Char Livelihoods Programme) Bangladesh supported MMS and Standard Chartered Bangladesh to initiate this project. The bank’s country head of corporate affairs, Bitopi Das Chowdhury, director of MMS, Md Habibullah Bahar and team leader of CLP, Matthew Pritchard were present at the signing ceremony of the project

19

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Biz Info

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

| contest |

| food|

Final call

Tastebud’s new addition

Good news for Nutella lovers! Tastebud introduces their very new Chocolate Nutella Cake. Slathered in chocolate and Nutella, this cake comes in two convenient sizes - 1kg and 500gm and are available at their restaurant at House 52, Block H, Road 12A, Dhaka. l

Who hasn’t been addicted to the popular reality cooking show MasterChef Australia? Their world-famous judge, food critic and food journalist Matt Preston is coming to Bangladesh to take part in “Meet Matt” competition hosted by Bangladesh’s prestigious cookie brand, Rivoli.

If you can’t wait to meet your favourite food critic from MasterChef Australia, submit a 50 word story describing your experience with Rivoli and email it to rivolicontestdt@gmail.com.

Your story should begin with “I just opened up a new packet of Rivoli biscuits just when I got

a phone call from...,” or “I was running late for work when I spotted the last packet of Rivoli biscuits...,” or “I was just about to bite into a Rivoli cookie when the doorbell rang...”

The story submission deadline is tomorrow so send in those write ups before time runs out! l

| meals |

Authentic Thai

| event |

International Conference on Language Acquisition, Impairment, and Intervention

The Department of English and Humanities, BRAC University invites you to an International Conference of Language Acquisition, Impairment,

and Intervention. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the conference aims to gather a fairly comprehensive representation of the current research and services

with regard to development and difficulties of the first language acquisition in Bangla speaking children. l

Thai Bistro, located at Uttara newly opened their restaurant at Sector 5. They are providing authentic Thai food items. Their two signature dishes are Tom-Yum Fried Rice and Chicken Basil Leaf Curry.

Tom-Yum Fried Rice is an authentic Thai dish. The chef uses Tom-Yum Sauce and the rice has a lemon flavour in it.

They also have set menus and platters on offer. For more info or reservation contact: 01610118090 l

DT

20

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Sailor (6) 5 Sweet potato (3) 7 Mannequin (5) 8 Gain (6) 10 Mineral spring (3) 12 Agreeable (4) 13 Day before (3) 14 Preservative (4) 16 Assumed attitude (4) 17 Drunkard (3) 18 Closed (4) 20 Hawaiian dish (3) 23 Natural gift (6) 24 Wood nymph (5) 25 Sheltered side (3) 26 Clergyman (6)

DOWN 1 Undermines (4) 2 Make amends (6) 3 Vestment (5) 4 Musical sound (4) 5 Acceptance (3) 6 High mountain (3) 9 Numeral (4) 11 Liable (3) 14 Innermost being (4) 15 Bear witness to (6) 16 Mild explosion (3) 17 Shelter from sun (5) 18 Main actor (4) 19 Agitate (4) 21 Lyric poem (3) 22 Choler (3)

Downtime CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 1 represents I so fill I every time the figure 1 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

A B C DE FG H I JK L MN O P Q RST UVWXYZ

CALVIN AND HOBBES

SUDOKU How to solve: Fill in the blank spaces with the numbers 1 – 9. Every row, column and 3 x 3 box must contain all nine digits with no number repeating.

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

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World 21

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

INSIDE ANALYSIS

Brussels attacks another reminder of Belgian security’s weak link Meet the wonder teen who survived Boston, Paris, Brussels attacks Surviving a major bombing is the extraordinary — and repeated — situation that one Utah teen can live to tell about.

PAGE 22

From poetry-lover to genocide suspect, Karadzic faces verdict Radovan Karadzic saw himself as locked in a David and Goliath struggle to save the Serbs even as their forces were reducing the besieged city of Sarajevo to rubble.

PAGE 23

SE Asia countries take fresh steps against human-smuggling A forum of mainly Asian countries agreed Wednesday on new contingency measures to better respond to refugee crises, and vowed to review the region’s much-criticised handling of a major migrant influx last year.

PAGE 24

n Reuters, Brussels The Belgian government warned at the weekend that there might be an attack after the security services captured their most wanted man. It came swiftly.

Tuesday’s explosions, which killed at least 30 people at the main Brussels airport and an underground rail station, came just days after Belgium’s security services caught the last surviving suspect in November’s attacks on Paris.

Belgium has announced €400m of extra spending to upgrade its security capabilities since it emerged that the country of 11m people served as the base for the Paris attackers who killed 130 people. But Tuesday’s bombings at home show how much further it still has to go.

Security experts say squabbling layers of government, under-funded spy services, an openness to fundamentalist preachers and a thriving black market in weapons all make Belgium among the most vulnerable countries in Europe to militant attacks.

Catching Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam on Friday was a coup for Belgium’s security services. But his four months apparently hiding and moving about the capital were also proof of how difficult the task of securing Belgium is likely to be.

It is still too early to say whether Tuesday’s attacks were directly linked to Abdeslam’s capture. US officials believe they may have been already in the works before his arrest, and was not highly sophisticated or the type of attack that required a huge amount of ingenuity.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Charles Michel, who had locked down the capital for days in November after the Paris attacks, warned on Sunday of “a real threat”.

US government sources said that, while the United States and Belgium had believed that another attack after Paris was highly likely, they did not have hard intelligence about where or when such an attack would occur.

Reviving arguments over Belgian policies in the wake of the Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed in an operation apparently organised from Brussels, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin spoke of “naivete” on the part of “certain leaders” in holding

Police man a security checkpoint outside the Midi train station following bomb attacks in Brussels on Tuesday back from security crackdowns on Muslim communities.

A lawmaker from Michel’s party, Didier Ducarme, hit back on French television. He said comments like Sapin’s “are starting to seriously irritate me” and noted that it was a France-based gunman who killed four at Brussels’ Jewish Museum in 2014.

Beneath the radar

Catching up after years of neglect was always going to be a problem for Belgium’s intelligence agency, which has just 600 staff, a third as many as in the neighbouring Netherlands, a country not much larger and with fewer home-grown jihadists fighting in Syria or Iraq.

Belgium has supplied the highest per capita number of fighters to Syria of any European nation, and the crowded Brussels borough of Molenbeek has been described as a “Jihadist air base” because of the number of militant suspects believed to be living there.

To follow a single suspect around 24 hours a day without being detected, security agencies need crews of as many as 36 officers, US and European officials estimate, meaning even wellstaffed agencies such as Britain’s MI5 can only closely follow a limited number of suspects at any particular time.

According to Alain Winants, head of the Belgian intelligence service from 2006 until 2014, Belgium was one of the last places in Europe to obtain modern

REUTERS

Jihadist bombers and suspects On the run

Dead

Age: 24

Unnamed*

Najim Laachraoui

One of 3 people suspects in the Brussels airport bombings

(alias Soufiane Kayal)

Suspected of being a bomb-maker, organiser of the Nov 13 Paris attacks

27

Khalid El Bakraoui Suicide bomber

Brussels metro station Source: Belgian prosecutors office

31

Mohamed Abrini Petty criminal radicalised in Molenbeek. Suspected of having helped prepare the Nov 13 Paris attacks

29

Ibrahim El Bakraoui

Khalid’s brother

Unnamed*

Identified as suicide bombers

Brussels airport *Closed-circuit video image

techniques to gather information, such as telephone taps. On one occasion, police had to deny they let Abdeslam slip due to a law banning house raids at night.

Michel has already said he accepts more is needed. It is impossible for any country to completely secure “soft targets” like busy railway stations and airports. But Belgium also has unique challenges.

The patchwork country divided between French- and Dutch-speakers has a bureaucracy that hinders the sharing of information, with six parliaments for its regions and

linguistic communities, 193 local police forces and, in Brussels, 19 autonomous mayors.

That allows militants to hide below the radar in a way they cannot in the much more centralised Netherlands, as well as slowing the passing of new laws to rein in the preaching of hate in mosques and a roaring trade in illegal weapons.

Nearly 6,000 firearms are seized every year in Belgium, more than in all of France, police data shows, often sold by Balkan crime networks to home-grown Belgian jihadists. l

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

This undated photo shows Mormon missionaries Mason Wells, left, and Joseph Empey AP

Meet the wonder teen who survived Boston, Paris, Brussels attacks n Tribune Desk Surviving a major bombing is the extraordinary — and repeated — situation that one Utah teen can live to tell about.

Mason Wells, a 19-year-old from Sandy, Utah, is expected to make a full recovery from the bombing attack at the Brussels airport Tuesday, which left him with a surgery scar, severed Achilles tendon, head gash, shrapnel injuries and severe burns.

Wells had once again found himself at the centre of a major attack — standing within feet of a bomb that exploded at the Belgian airport. The blasts in the Belgian capital killed at least 34 people and wounded dozens at the airport and a subway train.

Three years ago, Wells and his father felt the ground shake and narrowly escaped death from an April 2013 attack in the US, when a pressure-cooker bomb exploded a block away from where they were watching his mother run the Boston Marathon.

Wells was also in Paris at the time of the attacks in November, but was in a different part of the city and was not injured.

“Hopefully he’s run his lifelong odds and we’re done,” said Chad Wells about the oldest of their five children. “I think it will make him a stronger person ... Maybe the Boston experience was there to help him get through this experience.”

The former high school football and lacrosse player had four months left on his two-year Mormon mission, and was planning to major in engineering at the University of Utah next fall. He also wanted to reapply to the Naval Academy after barely missing the cut after high school, his father said.

His father said he woke up to the latest news on the TV before calling his son’s mission president in France and found out his son was injured but alive. More than eight hours later, they finally spoke to their son, who was groggy and exhausted after surgery. The teen is in good spirits but his family is still figuring out when they’ll get to see him, and if he’ll finish his mission.

“I’m completely shocked by the news. It’s the kind of thing as a parent you never, ever want to wake up to,” Chad Wells said.

“We’re just grateful that’s he lived through this experience.”

Thousands of Utah Mormons have served proselytising missions around the world. Church members account for as many as two-thirds of the state’s population.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints instructed others in the France Paris Mission to stay in their homes, though mission President Frederic J Babin said the missionaries will still continuing working in their mission to preach the gospel.

As for Wells, family friend Chris Lambson said he thinks divine interventions have helped the young man survive in the face of such extraordinary, if not repeated, circumstances. “He’s doing extremely well,” Lambson said. “His biggest concern right now is about housing at U of U.” l

World

23

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

PORTRAYAL

SOUTH ASIA

From poetry-lover to genocide suspect, Karadzic faces verdict n Reuters, Sarajevo Radovan Karadzic saw himself as locked in a David and Goliath struggle to save the Serbs even as their forces were reducing the besieged city of Sarajevo to rubble.

On Thursday, 21 years after he was first indicted, the UN war crimes tribunal delivers its verdict on the man many Bosnians feared as the “master of life and death” during the war of 1992-95.

The former Bosnian Serb leader has been on trial in The Hague since 2009, charged with war crimes and genocide against Bosnian Muslims and Croats. He could be jailed for life.

A man who liked to recite his own poetry and hold court in a ski resort near Sarajevo, Karadzic was president of the self- styled Bosnian Serb Republic and supreme commander of its armed forces until he lost power in 1996.

The next year he went into hiding, disappearing until his arrest 11 years later in Belgrade, where he lived disguised as a New Age healer.

He became one of the world’s most wanted men, swapping his trademark bouffant hairstyle for a long white beard and adopting a false name. The US government offered a $5m reward for information.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia charged him with 11 counts of genocide and crimes against humanity and violations of the customs of war, including the Sarajevo siege and the Srebrenica massacre, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II. After shaving off the beard and putting on a suit, Karadzic regained the look of a persuasive demagogue, denying any wrongdoing and saying he should be praised for promoting peace, not accused of murdering thousands.

“I have a clear conscience but a heavy heart because the war was not according to my taste,” he said during his trial.

Just as he manipulated Western envoys who visited him in Pale, his wartime stronghold in mountains near Sarajevo, Karadzic, a trained psychiatrist, tried to drag out his trial, refusing to attend sessions and asking to defend himself.

For 497 days in court, he became a familiar sight with his silver mane, peering through steelrimmed spectacles at some of the three million pages of evidence that prosecutors entered in the mammoth case.

DT

World

The Srebrenica massacre CROATIA

Srebrenica

Kozluk

BOSNIA

Cerska

SARAJEVO

Zvornik

ADRIATIC

SERBIA MONT.

Nova Kasaba

Radovan Karadzic 5 km

Mass graves SERBIA

Glogov

WHO urges India to implement larger health warnings on cigarette

BOSNIA Pilica

Potocari July 11, 1995: Serb soldiers seize UN-protected town

Srebrenica’s Muslim civilians flee to Potocari but Dutch UN peacekeepers there fail to protect them

His aim was to pin blame on his wartime ally, Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who is also in trial for genocide, and to try to prove that some atrocities blamed on Serb forces were carried out

by Bosnian Muslims against their own people.

He sought to portray himself as a Serb champion. “The entire Serb people stands accused,” he said in October 2014 in his closing statement at the trial.

During the war, he predicted the West would tear itself apart over the Serbs. It would be like the biblical fight between David and Goliath, he said: “You will know that David survived.”

His trial included testimony from 586 witnesses and the UN tribunal’s chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, complimented him on how he conducted his defence: “There are professional lawyers who have done a less good job than he did.”

At 70, Karadzic remains in robust health, reading widely, writing and playing football.

Born in Montenegro in 1945 into a family of Serb nationalists, Karadzic studied psychiatry and medicine at the University of Sarajevo in the 1960s and took courses in psychiatry and poetry at Columbia University in the US from 1974 to 1975.

He worked as a psychiatrist in Sarajevo. He specialised in neuroses and depression and wrote poetry.

Born June 19, 1945 1960 Moves to ethnically mixed city of Sarajevo to study 1970 Graduates in medicine.

Later qualifies as psychiatrist 1990 After collapse of communist bloc, founds nationalist Serb Democratic Party (SDS) 1992 Declares Republika Srpska, Serb breakaway from Bosnia, and assumes the presidency

Serb forces separate Muslim men from women. Over the next 4 days, they execute 8,000 Muslim men and boys Wartime ally

At least 40 people, mostly from Pakistan’s minority Hindu community, have died and dozens were taken to hospital after drinking tainted liquor days ahead of Holi festival, police said on Wednesday. Most of the victims were from the Hindu Kohli community who had been drinking on Monday ahead of Thursday’s Holi festival, which marks the beginning of spring.

-REUTERS

INDIA

a

Bratunac

Srebrenica

Tainted liquor kills 40 in Pakistan

He surprised many when he emerged as the leader of the nationalist Serb Democratic Party, which helped arm Bosnian Serbs and set up autonomous regions with help from the Yugoslav army and police.

As multi-ethnic Yugoslavia began to crack in the late 1980s after Tito’s death, Slobodan Milosevic was whipping up nationalist fervour among Serbs and his proteges among the academics and writers who spoke of creating a Greater Serbia chose Karadzic as their man in Bosnia.

On the eve of war in 1992, Karadzic warned against plans to declare Bosnia a sovereign state.

It would lead the country into hell and perhaps “make the Muslim people disappear, because the Muslims cannot defend themselves if there is war”, he said.

War came and Bosnian Serb forces backed by Yugoslavia seized two-thirds of Bosnia, which paid for independence with 100,000 lives.

The Hague tribunal first indicted Karadzic in July 1995 for the shooting of unarmed civilians in Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

He was indicted again four months later for orchestrating the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys after Serb forces seized the UN’s Srebrenica “safe area” in eastern Bosnia.

Karadzic dismissed the tribunal as a “political court” but went

1995 International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicts him for warcrimes, crimes against humanity genocide, issues international arrest warrant 1996 Goes into hiding after US pressure forces him from office 2008 Finally arrested in Belgrade ‘hiding in plain’ sight as an alternative medicine practitioner 2009 Refuses to enter plea at start of his trial at the ICTY tribunal March 24, 2016 Judgment will be delivered Source: ICTY, AFP

underground in 1997, seen by loyalists as a hero hounded by foreign powers.

He was arrested on a Belgrade bus in July 2008 using the false name of Dragan Dabic, with his hair now tied in a knot.

Milosevic, who died in The Hague in 2006 before judges delivered a verdict in his trial for genocide, masterminded the war in Bosnia using Karadzic as a frontman.

But in December 1995, Milosevic signed the US-brokered Dayton peace settlement, sidelining Karadzic, who defied demands to leave office until international pressure forced him out in July 1996.

Behind the scenes, he tried to sabotage the accord. But when Nato began rounding up war crimes suspects in 1997, Karadzic could no longer live openly, even with armed guards.

He is said to have spent years in eastern Bosnia where hardline Serbs held sway. Reports, never confirmed, spoke of Orthodox priest disguises and remote monastery hideouts. l

India must implement rules on printing larger health warnings on cigarette and other tobacco packs, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, days after a parliamentary panel called for reduction in the proposed warnings size to protect the industry.

Henk Bekedam, the WHO’s India representative, said the current debate on reducing the size of tobacco health warnings in India was worrisome.

-REUTERS

CHINA

China vaccine scandal sees 37 detained At least 37 suspects have been detained and 13 wholesalers put under investigation over a vaccine scandal that has raised deep concern about safety, Chinese media said Wednesday. The incident is the latest health and safety scandal to emerge in China, where 300,000 children fell ill, six of them dying, in a notorious 2008 case involving milk powder contaminated with melamine. -AFP

ASIA PACIFIC

Taiwan president invites Philippines, tribunal officials to disputed isle Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Wednesday invited Philippine government representatives and members of an international arbitration tribunal to a disputed South China Sea island for a visit.

The Philippines has challenged the legality of claims by China, that mirror those of Taiwan, to most of the South China Sea, presenting its case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in November. -REUTERS

MIDDLE EAST

US strike on Yemen camp killed 40 Qaeda militants A US air strike on an al-Qaeda training camp in south-eastern Yemen killed at least 40 militants, a provincial official and a tribal source said on Wednesday. Another 25 militants were wounded in the Tuesday strike on the camp in Hajr, west of the Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla.

-AFP

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24

World

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

USA

Jeb Bush endorses Ted Cruz Former candidate Jeb Bush endorsed Ted Cruz for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday, saying the US senator from Texas represents the party’s best chance of winning the White House. In a statement, the former Florida governor called Cruz a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated an ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests.

-REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Brazil homicides hit record in 2014 Brazil registered 163 homicides a day in 2014, the highest number in the world and the South American country’s most murderous year on record, a study said Tuesday. The figure - 59,627 for the year - was up 3.8% from the year before, continuing a decade-long rise in the number of homicides, according to the study conducted by Brazilian Forum for Public Security.

-AFP

UK

London mayor accused of exaggerating arguments for Brexit London Mayor Boris Johnson was rebuked by lawmakers on Wednesday for putting forward what they described as exaggerated and misleading arguments for why Britain should leave the EU. Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee quizzed Johnson over his claims of EU interference in everything from the recycling of tea-bags to preventing children under eight from blowing up balloons. -REUTERS

EUROPE

More aid agencies pull out of Greek camps More aid agencies working to alleviate conditions of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece said they were joining a boycott of detention centres on Wednesday, angered at an EU deal they say runs roughshod over human rights. Aid agencies said cooperating with the Greeks at detention centres would make them complicit to a practice which was unfair and inhumane.

-REUTERS

AFRICA

Mali arrests 21 after attack on EU military training base Authorities in Mali have arrested 21 people in connection with an attack on the headquarters of an EU military training operation there, a senior police official said on Wednesday. In the foiled gun attack on Bamako’s Nord-Sud Hotel on Monday, one assailant was killed and two others arrested.

There were no reports of casualties at the hotel, where the EU Training Mission-Mali is based.

-REUTERS

SE Asia countries take fresh steps against human-smuggling n AFP, Nusa Dua A forum of mainly Asian countries agreed Wednesday on new contingency measures to better respond to refugee crises, and vowed to review the region’s much-criticised handling of a major migrant influx last year.

The announcement at a conference on Indonesia’s Bali island on people smuggling and illegal migration was welcomed by the UN refugee agency, which declared it the first agreement of its kind in the 14year history of the regional forum.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop -- who co-chaired the meeting of the forum, which has 45 member states -- said regional officials could now convene emergency meetings and fast-track an “agile and timely” response in the event of an unfolding migrant crisis.

Officials also agreed to review the response to the Southeast Asian refugee emergency in May last year, when thousands of asylum seekers in rickety boats were stranded at sea in the biggest regional migrant crisis since the end of the Vietnam War. A Thai crackdown on the lucrative smuggling industry prompted traffickers to abandon their human cargo at sea, sparking a crisis that saw more than 3,500 Bangladeshi economic migrants and stateless Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar land in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Malaysia and Indonesia trig-

Rohingya refugees wave as they are transported by a boat to a temporary shelter in Indonesia’s Aceh Beasar in 2013 gered international outrage by initially turning away boatloads of the desperate migrants, but eventually relented under heavy international pressure.

Bishop, who chaired the ministerial-level meeting alongside her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi, said there were concerns that during the crisis, no mechanism existed to galvanise the region “in a timely fashion”.

“We believe that this will give us that opportunity to do so,” she said of the new arrangement.

The UN refugee agency said

arrangements that shared responsibility were “the only way” forward, adding no country was immune from such crises at a time when tens of millions have been displaced around the world.

Indonesia, which hosts more than 13,000 refugees, had been stressing the need for all countries in the region to share the burden in the lead up to this year’s conference.

The issue of asylum seekers has long been a flashpoint between the co-hosts of the human-smuggling forum, which is known as

REUTERS

the Bali Process and began in 2002 to address the flow of illegal migrants around the region.

A large number of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia have ended up stranded in Indonesia.

This was exacerbated after Canberra introduced in 2013 a tough policy of turning back boats when it is safe to do so, an approach opposed by Indonesia.

The Bali Process mainly consists of Asian nations, including China and India, but also includes Middle Eastern countries, such as Iran and Syria. l

US lawmakers term NSA plan to expand sharing data unconstitutional n Reuters, Washington, DC A Democratic and a Republican congressmen have asked the National Security Agency to halt a reported plan to share more raw intelligence data with other federal agencies, warning the policy shift would be “unconstitutional and dangerous,” according to a letter.

US Representatives Ted Lieu and Blake Farenthold, who sit on the House Oversight Committee, said in a letter dated March 21 to NSA Director Michael Rogers that the proposal would violate US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment privacy protections because the collected data would not require a warrant before being searched for domestic law enforcement purposes.

“If media accounts are true, this radical policy shift by the NSA would be unconstitutional, and dangerous,” Lieu, a California Democrat, and Farenthold, a Texas Republican, wrote.

The New York Times reported last month that the proposal would allow the NSA to share intercepted private communications with other US intelligence agencies before applying any privacy protections to the data.

Bob Litt, general counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told the Times the Obama administration was finalising a 21-page draft of the new permissible procedures. The draft has not been made public.

Civil liberties advocates have interpreted the change as poten-

tially allowing NSA foreign intelligence data, which sometimes can include collection of communications to, from or about Americans, to be used for domestic policing purposes.

The NSA has said its analysts scrub out certain personal information before handing any communications data over to other agencies.

“Our country has always drawn a line between our military and intelligence services, and domestic policing and spying,” the lawmakers wrote. “We do not - and should not - use U.S. Army Apache helicopters to quell domestic riots; Navy Seal teams to take down counterfeiting rings; or the NSA to conduct surveillance on domestic street gangs.”

The executive branch is able to change its rules for some surveillance programs without congressional approval. Without a law from Congress, the government relies on executive order 12333, which was signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and later modified by President George W Bush.

Critics have said the order is overly broad and vague.

The NSA did not respond to a request for comment about the letter.

Congress last year passed a law curtailing certain aspects of the NSA’s surveillance authority, most notably ending its bulk collection of domestic phone records exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013. l

DT

T20 World Cup 25

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

BAN v IND

INSIDE

INDIA R R. Sharma c Sabbir b Mustafizur 18 S. Dhawan lbw b Al Hasan 23 V. Kohli b Hom 24 S. Raina c Rahman b Hossain 30 H. Pandya c Sarkar b Hossain 15 M.S. Dhoni not out 13 Y. Singh c Hossain b Mahmudullah 3 R. Jadeja b Rahman 12 R. Ashwin not out 5 Extras (lb 2, w 1) 3

ICC upholds Taskin suspension

Total (7 wickets, 20 overs)

ICC through a media release upheld its decision of suspending Tigers pacer Taskin Ahmed due to an illegal bowling action. There were slight hopes that the pacer might return in the 2016 World T20 owing to efforts made by the Bangladesh Cricket Board. PAGE 26

Bowling Mortaza 4-0-22-0, Hom 3-0-24-1, Hossain 4-0-37-2, Rahman 4-0-34-2, Al Hasan 4-0-23-1, Mahmudullah 1-0-4-1

Former champions England survived a dramatic batting collapse to beat Afghanistan by 15 runs in a World Twenty20 Group One match yesterday and boost their semi-final hopes with a second successive victory. Eoin Morgan’s team were in dire straits at 57-6. PAGE 27 Bangladesh batsman Shakib al Hasan plays a shot as India wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni looks on during their World T20 match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday AP

Barcelona team-mates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez will make a long-awaited return to World Cup duty this week when South America’s marathon qualifying competition for the 2018 finals in Russia resumes. PAGE 28

Schweinsteiger suffers new injury Manchester United’s Bastian Schweinsteiger has suffered a fresh knee injury while on duty with Germany and will miss their forthcoming friendlies against England and Italy, the German FA confirmed. The 31-year-old picked up the injury in training. PAGE 29

146

Fall of wickets 1-42 (Sharma), 2-45 (Dhawan), 3-95 (Kohli), 4-112 (Raina), 5-112 (Pandya), 6-117 (Yuvraj), 7-137 (Jadeja)

England sink spirited Afghanistan

Messi, Suarez return for WC qualifiers

B 16 22 24 23 7 12 6 8 2

We have to move forward from this, says Mashrafe Uddin Khan from n Minhaz Bangalore According to Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, the onerun defeat to India in the Super 10 game of the ICC World Twenty20 2016 yesterday is one the most painful defeats that the country will ever remember. Mashrafe did not compare but majority believes this defeat should be more painful than losing the final of the Asia Cup 2012 to Pakistan by just two runs.

The game against India yesterday was totally in the Tigers’ hand before Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim saw disaster strike in the last over. The Tigers needed 11 runs off the 20th over but Mahmudullah and Mushfiq gifted their wickets away in similar fashion.

Mashrafe might also be think-

SUPER 10 GROUP 2 Teams

M

W

L

T

Pts

NZ

3

3

0

0

6

India

3

2

1

0

4

Pakistan

3

1

2

0

2

Australia

2

1

1

0

2

Bangladesh

3

0

3

0

0

ing the same but for the record he refrained himself from putting the blame on individuals.

“I am not blaming anyone, the game could have come to us. Not only me but the whole dressing room is disappointed. We needed two runs in the last three balls and we had two set batsmen in the middle and another in line. Losing three wickets from that point will make any team lose a game,” said Mashrafe following the game in Bangalore yesterday.

“Except for the last three balls we played the game really well I believe. We did everything that we needed to win this game. We played every ball according to its merit so it was just the last three balls of the game that made the difference,” the Bangladesh captain added.

Bangladesh’s ambition of playing the semi-final of the flagship event ended with the defeat. But Mashrafe believes this is not the end of the world.

“We have been playing good cricket (in limited-overs) for some time now and [yesterday] was one of those days when you do everything right but end up losing because of a few mistakes. We need to come back in the game as Bangladesh cricket cannot stop here. We will have to move forward from this point,” Mashrafe explained. l

BANGLADESH T. Iqbal st Dhoni b Jadeja M. Mithun c Pandya b Ashwin S. Rahman st Dhoni b Raina S. Al Hasan c Raina b Ashwin M. Mortaza b Jadeja S. Sarkar c Kohli b Nehra Mahmudullah c Jadeja b Pandya M. Rahim c Dhawan b Pandya S. Hom not out M. Rahman run out (Dhoni) Extras (lb 4, w 1)

R B 35 32 1 3 26 15 22 15 6 5 21 22 18 21 11 6 0 1 0 0 5

Total (for 9 wickets, 20 overs)

145

Fall of wickets 1-11 (Mithun), 2-55 (Iqbal), 3-69 (Rahman), 4-87 (Mortaza), 5-95 (Al Hasan), 6-126 (Sarkar), 7-145 (Rahim), 8-145 (Mahmudullah), 9-145 (Rahman) Bowling Nehra 4-0-29-1, Bumrah 4-0-32-0, Ashwin 4-0-20-2, Jadeja 4-0-22-2, Pandya 3-029-2, Raina 1-0-9-1 Result: India won by one run MoM: R Ashwin (India)

WHAT DHONI SAID “Often it does, at times you look to finish it with the big shot. And if you think you have wickets in hand, you think others can finish it.

And when you are batting well, you go for your shots. Its a learning for Mahmudullah. That’s what cricket is all about, If that had gone for a six, it was a great shot. Great courage. That’s what cricket is. I feel before you play the shot, that’s when he has to decide. Bumrah bowled really well, the second over that he bowled, he was under pressure, with the field restrictions. It was a reflection of his misfield and the dropped catch, but he had to forget about what happened and that’s what we told. I feel he is somebody who is very good with the yorkers and he did very well. There were quite a few stuff we were discussing before Pandya's last ball , one thing was for sure we don’t want to bowl a yorker, it had to be back of a length, but how back of a length, that was the question. You don’t want to bowl a wide. We were deciding out field and I think he executed really well.” l

DT

26

Sport

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

ICC upholds Taskin suspension

TALKING POINTS India V Bangladesh

MASHRAFE’S BRILLIANT CAPTAINCY Bangladesh limited-over skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza encountered a lot of criticism over some of his decision making in their Super 10 game against Australia. Yesterday though Mashrafe provided the perfect riposte to his critics, courtesy some fine field placings and bowling changes. Thanks to the leadership skills of the “Narail Express”, the Indian batsmen were quiet almost throughout their entire innings. Mashrafe read the pitch very well and rotated his bowlers every once in a while, restricting the world-class Indian batting line-up to a rather below-par total.

Uddin Khan n Minhaz from Bangalore

SOUMYA, TIGERS’ WORLD-CLASS FIELDING In recent times, the Tigers have been magnificent on the field but the standard somewhat dropped against the Aussies. A few dropped catches and misfieldings eventually proved to be costly as Australia registered a nervy three-wicket win. However, it all came back yesterday as the Bangladesh fielders exhibited a quality display, taking some outstanding catches. The standout performance was undoubtedly the scintillating catch of Soumya Sarkar at deep mid-wicket.

Soumya dived full-length to his left and grasped a stunner to dismiss Hardik Pandya. It was almost too good to be true!

INDIA PREVAIL IN BATTLE OF NERVES Right till the last over of their innings, Bangladesh had the game in their hands. But the Tigers failed to keep their nerves as Pandya successfully defended 11 runs in the final over; India posting the narrowest of victories by just one run. However, the Tigers had themselves to blame as they had two set batsmen in the middle – Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim – in the 20th over.

Mushfiq nearly guided the Tigers home, blasting two delightful boundaries, but his dismissal, coupled with that of Mahmudullah’s, enabled the home side to reach their destination. l –MAZHAR UDDIN From Bangalore

Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal plays a shot against India in Bangalore

REUTERS

ICC yesterday through a media release upheld its decision of suspending Bangladesh fast bowler Taskin Ahmed due to an illegal bowling action. There were slight hopes that the rightarm paceman might return in the World T20 owing to efforts made by the BCB. However, following a review hearing conducted by a Judicial Commissioner through teleconference that lasted for several hours, the ICC decision remained intact.

Taskin was reported by the match officials after Bangladesh’s first round opener against the Netherlands in Dharamsala on March 9. Later on March 15, the Tigers tearaway underwent an independent test at the ICC-accredited laboratory in Chennai.

The independent assessment found out that some of Taskin’s standard deliveries exceeded the permissible level of elbow extension and, as such, his bowling action was deemed to be illegal.

In accordance with the ICC’s rules and regulations, Taskin can now apply for a re-assessment of his bowling action at any time following appropriate remedial work.

First ever BGMEA Cup resumes n Tribune Report The BGMEA Cup, the first-ever inter-garments seven-a-side football tournament, organised CUP

by Bangladesh 2016 Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) with support from Leo Entertainment, resumes today at International Turkish Hope

School in Uttara.

Following the group stage, the top two teams from each group will progress to the semi-finals while the third- and fourth-placed teams will make it to the last four of the Plate category.

Earlier last week, BGMEA president Siddiqur Rahman chaired the official press conference while vice presidents Mohammad Nasir and Ferdous Parvez Bivon, director Ashiqur Rahman Tuhin, former presidents Abdus Salam Murshedy, Safiul Islam Mohiuddin and

Anwarul Alam Chowdhury Parvez and other members inaugurated the football tournament.

12 reputed garments – Ananta Garments Ltd, Apparel Industry Ltd, Bando Design Ltd, Comfit Composite Knit Ltd, Envoy Group, Epyllion Group, Interstoff Group, Rayon Tex Group, Tamanna Apparels Group, Sterling Group, Versatile Group and Torque Fashions Ltd – will participate across two groups in the tournament.

Islami Bank, Exim Bank, Sailor,

Amaze Power, Rising Group, CBL Munchee, Porcelanosa by Nupami Trading and BBS Cables are associated as tournament partners.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed will be the chief guest in the grand finale on April 1. l

In the event of such re-assessment concluding that Taskin has remedied his bowling action and that his elbow extension is within the permissible level on all of his standard deliveries, his suspension shall be lifted and he shall be permitted to resume bowling in international cricket.

According to team sources, Taskin was desperate to attend the re-test and had requested the team management to make him fly to Chennai at the earliest. But, the team think tank did not rush things and has decided to wait for the conclusion of the World T20.

Following the World T20 that concludes on April 3, the Tigers have no international assignments scheduled in the next couple of months.

Their next assignments are slated for October-November when they will play an away Test against India and England are scheduled to tour Bangladesh. This means Taskin will get a seven-eight month window to work on his action. Since the 20-year old spearhead will play no more part in the World T20, he will be sent home in a few days.

On the other hand, left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny, who was also suspended due to an illegal bowling action, left Bangalore yesterday evening. l

FIXTURES

5:00pm Versatile v Comfit 5:45pm Bando v Sterling 6:30pm Rayon Tex v Tamanna 7:15pm Epyllion v Torque 8:00pm Interstoff v Ananta 8:45pm Envoy v Apparel

BGMEA president Siddiqur Rahman (5R) hands over the Man of the Match award to Epyllion Group’s Saiful Islam (2R) COURTESY

27

DT

Sport

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

GROUP 1

QUICK BYTES BJMC clinch Junior Women’s Handball BJMC emerged as the champions of the Lotto 3rd National Junior Women’s (Under-19) Handball Championship beating Naogaon district 19-11 in the final at Shaheed M Mansur Ali National Handball Stadium yesterday. The victors led the first half 11-7. Rekha and Fatema scored five goals each while Pinky netted four for the champions.

Shahanaz and Nurjahan bagged four and three goals respectively for Naogaon. BJMC’s Parvin and Naogaon’s newcomer Nurjahan were adjudged the best players of the tournament. Meanwhile in the third-place decider, Panchagarh district defeated Faridpur district 8-6. Hazrita notched five goals for the winning side.

Bayern Munich will face Real Madrid and Italian heavyweights Inter and AC Milan on their tour of the United States starting in July as part of their pre-season preparations, the German champions said on Tuesday.

Bayern, who have also opened an office in the United States and played pre-season matches there in 2014, will play three matches as part of the International Champions Cup. They will take on AC Milan on July 27 in Chicago and three days later meet Inter in Charlotte. Their last game is against Real Madrid in New York on Aug. 3. “Since we set up our office in New York we know first hand that the Americans’ love for soccer is growing,” Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a statement.

–REUTERS

Injured Duminy ruled out against WI match South Africa allrounder JP Duminy has been ruled out of the WT20 match against the West Indies tomorrow due to hamstring injury.

Duminy was injured while fielding against Afghanistan on Sunday. Scans confirmed the injury, team manager Mohammed Moosajee said. They hope Duminy will be fot before their last Group 1 match on Sunday against Sri Lanka. Duminy has 83 runs in two matches without being dismissed, and also took 1-31 in the loss to England. In Duminy’s absence, South Africa will include Aaron Phangiso to supplement the legspin of Imran Tahir with the wicket in Nagpur likely to suit spinners. South Africa also knows the conditions well after it lost the test against India there inside three days this year.

–AP

M W

L Pts

West Indies

2

2

0

4 +0.893

NRR

England

3

2

1

4

+0.018

South Africa

2

1

1

2

+0.816

Sri Lanka

2

1

1

2

-0.171

Afghanistan

3

0

3

0

-1.067

SCORECARD ENGLAND J. Roy b Hamza J. Vince c & b Nabi J. Root run out E. Morgan by Nabi B. Stokes b Khan J. Buttler c Nabi b Shenwari M. Ali not out C. Jordan c & b Khan D. Willey not out Extras (lb 6, w 8)

R 5 22 12 0 7 6 41 15 20 14

Total (for 7 wickets, 20 overs)

142

B 7 18 8 1 8 10 33 18 17

Fall of wickets 1-16 (Roy), 2-42 (Vince), 3-42 (Morgan), 4-42 (Root), 5-50 (Buttler), 6-57 (Stokes), 7-85 (Jordan)

–TRIBUNE REPORT

Bayern to face Real on pre-season US tour

TEAM

England batsman Moeen Ali smacks over mid-wicket as Afghanistan wicket-keeper Mohammad Shahzad watches on during their Group 1 match of the World Twenty20 in New Delhi, India yesterday REUTERS

England survive collapse to sink spirited Afghanistan n Reuters, New Delhi Former champions England survived a dramatic batting collapse to beat Afghanistan by 15 runs in a World Twenty20 Group One match yesterday and boost their semi-final hopes with a second successive victory.

In a potential banana-skin match against the Afghans, Eoin Morgan’s team were in dire straits at 57-6 halfway through their innings before a half-century stand between Moeen Ali (41 not out) and David Willey (20 not out) lifted them to a 142-7.

The 2010 winners looked more convincing with the ball, however, restricting Afghanistan to 127-9 to consign the associate team to their third consecutive defeat in the tournament.

With their second win in three group matches, England are second in the standings behind West Indies, who have won both their opening matches and enjoy a superior net run-rate. Moeen, who also claimed a wicket, was adjudged man-of-the-match.

Nabi (2-17) effected three dismissals in one over and held a brilliant catch to completely unhinge

England’s vaunted batting order which had chased down a massive 230 to win a thriller against South Africa in their last game.

The 31-year-old caught James Vince (22) off his own bowling and castled Morgan for a golden duck.

Afghanistan made a poor start with the bat when Willey’s double strike reduced them to 13-3 inside three overs. In between regularly tumbling wickets, the Afghan batsmen struck a few boundaries and Shafiqullah Shafaq blasted a belligerent 35 not but his team could get only eight of the 24 runs they needed from the final over bowled by Stokes. l

Bowling Shapoor Zadran 4-0-34-0, Hamza 4-0-451, Nabi 4-0-17-2, Khan 4-0-17-2, Shenwari 4-0-23-1 AFGHANISTAN M. Shahzad lbw b Willey Noor Ali Zadran c Morgan b Ali A. Stanikzai c Root b Jordan G. Naib c Stokes b Willey R. Khan c Morgan b Ali M. Nabi c Jordan b Rashid S. Shenwari c Root by Stokes Najibullah Zadran run out Shafiqullah not out A. Hamza run out Shapoor Zadran not out Extras (lb 2, w 4)

R 4 17 1 0 15 12 22 14 35 1 0 6

Total (for 9 wickets, 20 overs)

127

B 3 19 4 5 20 10 27 10 20 2 0

Fall of wickets 1-4 (Shahzad), 2-12 (Stanikzai), 3-13 (Naib), 4-35 (Khan), 5-39 (Noor Ali Zadran) 6-64 (Nabi), 85-7 (Najibullah Zadran), 8-94 (Shenwari) Bowling Willey 4-0-23-2, Jordan 4-0-27-1, Plunkett 4-1-12-0, Ali 2-0-17-1, Rashid 3-0-18-2, Stokes 3-0-28-1 Result: England won by 15 runs MoM: MM Ali (England)

Bengal Tigers face high-flying Jordan today n Tribune Report Bangladesh will take on Jordan today in their final Group B match of the 2018 Fifa World Cup second round qualifiers at Amman International Stadium. The match kicks off at 6:30pm (Bangladesh standard time).

The Bengal Tigers, who have already been eliminated from the race to qualify for the third round, did not enjoy the best of experiences against Jordan at home on September 8 last year where the men in red and green conceded a 4-0 loss. It was the first time Bangladesh faced the Arab nation.

Bangladesh, currently guided by temporary Spanish coach Gonzalo Sanchez Moreno, will be without captain Mamunul Islam and wing-

er Zahid Hossain who were recently banned due to disciplinary reasons.

Moreno’s charges reached the Jordanian capital Amman last Monday after a four-day stay in Dubai where they contested a Fifa

international friendly against the United Arab Emirates at Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Jordan, known as “The Chivalrous”, are competing for a place in the next round along with Asian champions Australia. In their bid to

Spaniard Gonzalo Sanchez Moreno (2R), Bangladesh’s interim football coach, addresses a press conference in Amman, Jordan yesterday COURTESY

qualify for the third round, the Jordanians received a boost a few days ago when former Tottenham Hotspur, QPR and Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp took charge for their last two matches of the second round qualifiers.

The Socceroos are currently at the summit of Group B with 15 points from six matches while Jordan are second with 13 points so the Bangladesh tie is a must-win game for The Chivalrous. Australia will also face Tajikistan today at Adelaide Oval.

The Bengal Tigers, meanwhile, are at the bottom of the group with only one point from seven matches. Their solitary point came at home against Tajikistan in a 1-1 draw at Bangabandhu National Stadium on June 16 last year. l

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

Messi, Suarez return for South American qualifiers n AFP, Montevideo Barcelona team-mates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez will make a long-awaited return to World Cup duty this week when South America’s marathon qualifying competition for the 2018 finals in Russia resumes.

Suarez has not kicked a ball for Uruguay since he was slapped with a global ban after chomping on the shoulder of Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

Messi meanwhile missed the opening four matches of Argentina’s 2018 qualifying campaign earlier this season after suffering a knee injury while on club duty for Barcelona in September.

The five-time FIFA World Player of the Year could not be returning at a better time for Argentina, who face a demanding trip to Santiago today to face reigning champions Chile in a rematch of the Copa America final.

Argentina made a shaky start to qualifying, suffering a shock home defeat against Ecuador in October, before draws against Paraguay and Brazil. Messi’s return however has been offset by a wave of injuries that has deprived Argentina coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino of a slew of foreign-based stars, most notably Juventus’s in-form striker Paulo Dybala, Paris Saint-Germain’s Javier Pastore and Benfica’s Nicolas Gaitan.

With Carlos Tevez dropped,

Martino has turned to unheralded Argentina-based forward Lanus to bolster his attacking options for today’s clash.

Argentina will face a Chile side more or less at full strength, with Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal (suspension) the only significant absentee.

Uruguay striker Suarez meanwhile is relishing the prospect of being reunited with his international team-mates for the first time in nearly two years when La Celeste travel to Recife to take on Brazil tomorrow.

“Obviously after a long time without seeing them (Uruguay team mates and staff ) it will be a strange feeling, but there is also the

pleasure of seeing them all again. I haven’t seen them for nearly two years,” Suarez told.

“There is pleasure and satisfaction that (the ban) is all over and now I can enjoy being with them again,” added the 29-year-old, who has scored 37 goals in all competitions for Barcelona this season.

In other matches this week, Ecuador will be looking to maintain their 100 percent start with victory over Paraguay in Quito today while Colombia travel to the thin air of La Paz aiming to bounce back from the disappointment of defeat to Argentina in their last outing.

Peru meanwhile will be chasing their second win when they host Venezuela in Lima. l

Terms & Conditions:

Prizes: (Second Round)

The lucky winners among all the participants who have answered correctly will be selected in an official lottery and will have their picture published in the newspaper. v Answers must be sent in only the coupon (photocopy will not be accepted). v Quiz coupon should be submitted in the Dhaka Tribune newspaper address. v No one affiliated with Dhaka Tribune and Walton will be able to participate. v Coupon submission deadline April 4, 2016. v A person can send as many coupons as he/she wants. v Walton-Dhaka Tribune T20 World Cup should be written on top of the envelope.

1st prize 2nd prize 3rd prize 4th prize 5th prize

v

01: Who scored the first T20I century for Bangladesh?

Ans: Tamim Mashrafe Taskin 02:Who won the first World T20 in 2007?

Ans: India Zimbabwe Afghanistan 03:In which year did Bangladesh host the World T20?

Ans: 2014 2004 2015

Name...................................................................................................

Father's Name.....................................................................................

Address...............................................................................................

Phone/Cell...........................................................Age.........................

Dhaka Tribune, F.R.Tower, 8/C, Panthapath, Sukrabad, Dhaka – 1207.

FIXTURES PLAYING TODAY At La Paz Bolivia v Colombia At Quito Ecuador v Paraguay At Santiago Chile v Argentina At Lima Peru v Venezuela PLAYING TOMORROW At Recife, Brazil Brazil v Uruguay

: Walton LED Television 40” 01pcs : Walton Refrigerator (11.5 CFT) 01pcs : Walton LED Television 24” 01pcs : Walton Blender 03pcs : Walton Rice Cooker 05pcs

29

DT

Sport

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

Schweinsteiger suffers new knee injury on Germany duty n AFP, Berlin

Uefa working on Euro 2016 ‘contingency plans’ n AFP, Nyon

Manchester United’s Bastian Schweinsteiger has suffered a fresh knee injury while on duty with Germany and will miss their forthcoming friendlies against England and Italy, the German FA confirmed yesterday.

The 31-year-old midfielder picked up the injury training in Berlin on Tuesday and will undergo an MRI scan in Munich with the German team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt.

Germany’s captain had been working his way back to fitness after suffering a tear in the same knee in United’s FA Cup third-round win over Sheffield Wednesday at the start of the year.

Schweinsteiger is out of Germany’s home friendly against England at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on Saturday, then against Italy four days later at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

It is not known how many United games he will now miss or whether Schweinsteiger will be fit for June’s European championships.

“It’s the medial ligament again,” Germany coach Joachim Loew confirmed in yesterday’s press conference.

“It happened at the end of the training session and he’s currently in Munich being examined. I am not able to give an exact time scale as to how long he will be out, but it doesn’t look very positive and it could be that there is a tear in the ligament.” l

UEFA is not considering staging the European Championships in France behind closed doors but is working on “contingency plans” because of security fears after the Brussels attacks, a UEFA spokesman told AFP yesterday.

“We are confident that all security measures will be in place for a safe and festive Euro and therefore there are no plans to play matches behind closed-doors,” spokesman Pedro Pinto said.

“Nevertheless we are working on contingency plans and on multiple scenarios around crisis situations since we take the security of all participants very seriously,” he told AFP. His comments came after an Italian UEFA vice president said Europe’s governing body could not rule out holding games without fans for the tournament which starts June 10.

The bomb attacks in Brussels, and the Islamic State operation in Paris in November, have put an intense security spotlight on the month-long tournament in France.

Designated fan-zones which could attract hundreds of thousands of supporters from across Europe have caused particular concern.

Giancarlo Abete, a UEFA vice president, told Italian media on Tuesday that while games behind closed doors could not be ruled out it was not yet being considered. l

DAY’S WATCH CRICKET

STAR SPORTS 2 3:30 PM ICC Women’s World T20 Australia v Sri Lanka 7:30 PM Pakistan v Bangladesh

FOOTBALL SONY SIX 3:00 AM FIFA World Cup Qualifier Ecuador v Paraguay

SONY ESPN HD 2:00 AM FIFA World Cup Qualifier Bolivia v Colombia 6:00 AM (Friday) Chile v Argentina

TENNIS SONY SIX HD 9:00 PM ATP 1000 Masters 2016 Miami Open Day 2

Brazil football icon Neymar (L) vies for the ball with Alex Sandro during a training session in Teresopolis on Tuesday. Brazil will face Uruguay tomorrow in the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 South American qualifiers AFP

Djokovic backs off money remarks after Serena, Murray fire back n AFP, Miami World number one Novak Djokovic backed off comments that men’s tennis players should make more than women on Tuesday as Serena Williams and Andy Murray led a stinging chorus of criticism at the remarks.

A furious row over the gender pay gap in tennis erupted at the weekend, when Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore said women should get “on their knees” to thank male players for money in the sport.

Moore was forced to apologize before resigning late on Monday.

Djokovic fueled the controversy however after stating that he believed the pay gap was justified, adding that women go through “hormones and different stuff.”

Williams, who has won 21 Grand Slam singles crowns to 11 for Djokovic, condemned the Serbian star’s remarks on Tuesday.

“It has been, I would say disappointing,” Williams said. “I wouldn’t say my son deserved more money than my daughter because he’s a man. It would be shocking.”

Djokovic has a 17-month-old son, Stefan, but Williams openly wondered how he would explain himself to a future daughter.

“He’s entitled to his opinion,” Williams said. “If he had a daughter, he has a son right now, he should talk to his daughter and say, ‘Your brother deserves more money than you.’

“I would never use sex to compare. We have so many great players, men and women, who have brought so much vision to the

sport. Every athlete works extremely hard.

“If I had a son and a daughter I would never tell them one deserves more because of their sex.”

Britain’s Murray even noted Djokovic’s notion that men should receive less than women if their matches were less well attended, citing an example of how many would show up to watch who if Williams and Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovski each had a match in a ticketed session.

“I think there should be equal pay 100 percent,” Murray said.

“The whole thing doesn’t stand up. It depends on the matches day by day. The men’s game has had some great rivalries for the past few years. The whole of tennis should strengthen from that, not just the men’s game.”

Djokovic later issued a statement

on Facebook, offering a qualified apology for his comments, which he said had been made while he was affected by the “euphoria and adrenalin” of his win at Indian Wells.

“I’ve made some comments that are not the best articulation of my view, and I would like to clarify them,” Djokovic said.

“We all have to fight for what we deserve. This was never meant to be made into a fight between genders and differences in pay, but in the way all players are rewarded for their play and effort. This was my view all along and I want to apologize to anyone who has taken this the wrong way.”

Murray meanwhile said he was baffled to hear of Moore’s outburst ahead of Sunday’s final, where Williams lost 6-4, 6-4 to Victoria Azarenka. l

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Showtime

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

Batman v Superman

Dawn of Justice: Let the rivalry begin!

n Ashfaq Nafi With Star Wars and Deadpool off the list, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is undoubtedly the most

anticipated movie of the year. And it’s up to Warner Bros. to not disappoint the hundreds of millions of fans eagerly awaiting the movie. This movie will have arguably, the greatest

fantasy match up of two of the greatest heroes of the DC Universe.

Here are ten fun facts you might not have known about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Arrest order issued against Ishana Actor-Producer Maruf Khan filed the Tk10 million defamation case at the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s court on February.

According to the case statement, Ishana posted defamatory words against him on Facebook.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Meher Nigar Suchana issued the arrest order against Ishana, as the

accused failed to appear before the court in compliance with its earlier order, said M Tofazzal, process server of the court.

Ishana, however, claimed that she did not receive a summon from the court.

The court fixed June 27 as the next hearing date for the case. l

The reason for Batman taking on Superman is because Bruce Wayne is concerned of what will happen if Superman decides to use his powers for evil, after the events of Man of Steel (2013) where a Wayne Financial building is destroyed.

In this movie, Batman will fight Superman before the League is even formed, whereas in the comic book series, they fight after Justice League is disassembled.

The story is based on a famous comic book, written by Frank Miller, who also wrote the story for The Dark Knight Returns animated movies, and also worked on Batman Begins and 300.

This film will be in 3D and will feature not only Batman, but Wonder Woman, Cyborg, for the first time together.

After a rough cut of the film was shown to the executives at Warner Bros, they were apparently so impressed that they not only gave the film a standing ovation but also began negotiating a deal with Affleck to have him make three solo Batman movies rather than the original plan to make only one.

Ben Affleck wanted to keep the Batsuit after the filming

A court in Dhaka issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday against model-actress Mounita Khan Ishana in a defamation case which accused her of making derogatory comments about a producer while shooting for a play titled Shohojatri.

The much awaited movie will be released in Bangladesh along with the rest of the world on Friday, March 25, 2016 in Bashundhara City Star Cineplex. l

First look: Akshay Kumar in 2.0

n Showtime desk n Showtime Desk

was complete, as he said in an interview. And although the producers agreed, they would only sell it at $100,000. Hearing this, Ben changed his mind to only taking a photo with the suit on.

We still need to wait to find out whether the film takes place in Gotham City or Metropolis. For now, we can confirm that it was shot primarily in Detroit, Michigan.

It’ll be Wonder Woman’s debut film. Despite being on soap operas and TV commercials, Wonder Woman has never appeared in a movie before.

Its been a few years since Marvel has combined a number of its characters and movies and opened up to the Marvel Universe, with this movie, DC will be opening up to it’s own universe.

This movie will contain a teaser for upcoming DC movies, Justice League – Part 1 & 2 and will feature Aquaman, Wonder Woman, including Batman and Superman.

Akshay Kumar is back in a new avatar which is absolutely scary and unrecognisable.

Replacing Hollywood’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, Akshay is playing the role of the antagonist in Rajinikanth’s 2.0 which is a sequel to Enthiran from 2010.

Oscar winner, A R Rahman is also part of the project. Amy

Jackson is said to have replaced Aishwarya for the lead female role in 2.0.

The leaked photograph, taken while the crew was shooting crucial action scenes in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, shows Akshay Kumar playing the character of Dr Richard, a scientist who turns into a crow.

His long eye bushes, grey hair and feathered leather jacket serve his experimental look. l

‘Kaalratri’ to be staged tomorrow n Showtime Desk Commemorating the martyrs who were killed on the horrific night of March 25, 1971 in a planned massacre carried out by the Pakistani Army, Padatik Natya Sangsad has arranged a special staging of the troupe’s latest play on the Liberation War, Kaalratri, tomorrow at the Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University at 7:30pm in the evening.

The play has been adapted by Tanvir Ahmed Sidney, based on Lamisa Shirin Hossain’s story Lone Survivor. Wahidul Islam directed the play, while Sanjib Kumar Dey and Atiqul Islam Joy designed the stage and lights respectively.

The 38th production of the troupe, Kaalratri delves into the underbelly of the Liberation War showing how Pakistani forces clamped down on civilians during 1971. It begins with an inquisitive girl asking her grandfather, a teacher of Dhaka University in 1971, about the war. Her curiosity is further intensified after an encounter with a wounded man, who happens to be a former student of her grandfather and

a freedom fighter – the “lone survivor” of the original story.

Both the grandfather and his student then recall their experiences of the war. A student of Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University, the unnamed freedom fighter recounts how students and

Bangla song on Better Call Saul

the people were forced to take up arms after the massacre on the night of March 25.

A realistic set design coupled with vivid imagery, and an audiovisual in the background is designed to give the audience a glimpse of what really happened in 1971

Chloe Moretz turned down Swift’s squad invitation n Showtime Desk

n Showtime Desk As if you needed another reason to check out Breaking Bad’s brilliant spin-off, Better Call Saul. Episode 6 (“Bali Ha’i”) of the second season of the AMC show closed with a Bengali song “Henna Henna” by The Bombay Royale.

The Bombay Royale is an 11-piece Australian band fronted by singers Parvyn Kaur Singh and Shourov Bhattacharya and led

by Andy Williamson. The band

composes and performs music inspired by the soundtracks of 1960s and 1970s Bollywood movies. The track in question is taken off their album The Island of Dr Electrico.

For the uninitiated, Better Call Saul is an American crime-drama series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. It is intended as a prequel to the hugely popular Breaking Bad, and follows the merry misadventures of bent lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). l

The play casts the likes of Sakhawat Hossain Shimul, Sanjida Parveen, Mohammad Imran Khan, Ikramul Islam, Jinia Azad, Tasmi Chowdhury, Syeda Shamsi Ara Sayeka and Farhad Sumon among others. l

Chloe Grace Moretz seems to be one of the few girls in Hollywood who has no interest in being part of Taylor Swift’s famous squad.

The Kick-Ass star, who featured on Complex magazine’s April/May cover, said that she was asked to join the Bad Blood singer’s squad which she termed as “appropriate exclusivity.”

The 19-year-old actress did not reveal exactly why she turned down Swift’s invitation to be part of one of the most sought-after celebrity circles. However, she did say a few words about the star-studded girl gang, which includes Moretz’s close friend Selena Gomez, Karlie Kloss, Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevingne. Chloe perceives the group as nothing more than cliques.

Squad or not, Moretz told the magazine she’s not much of a party girl anyway. “I’d rather have 15 people come over to my house and have fun, than go to a party and have some kid vomit in the corner,” the actress explained.

“Nothing makes me want to do that at all.” l

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

WHAT TO WATCH Chronicle Star Movies 9:30pm While attending a party, three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery underground.

Soon, they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their dark sides.

Cast: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B Jordan, Michael Kelly, Ashley Hinshaw, Bo Petersen Jackie Chan’s First Strike HBO 11:43pm Inspector Chan Ka Kui is out to catch an international spy ring. He takes part in a sting operation that rounds up most of them.

But Jackson Tsui gets away.

Chan gets his orders to catch the spy and he starts in Australia where Tsui’s sister Annie lives.

Cast: Jackie Chan, Jackson Liu, Annie Wu, Bill Tung, Yuri Petrov, Nonna Grishaeva Toy Story 2 Zee Studio 5:50pm Andy is away at a summer camp when Woody is taken away by Al McWiggin. Al is a collector who is greedy to boot. Buzz, along with Mr Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Rex and Hamm, sets out to rescue Woody before he winds up in a museum.

Voices: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Jim Varney Despicable Me 2 Movies Now 7:30pm When Gru, the world’s most super-bad turned superdad is recruited by a team of officials to stop lethal muscle and a host of Gru’s own, he has to fight back with new gadgetry, cars, and more minion madness.

Voices: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Ken Jeong Sex and the City Warner Bros 7:02pm A New York writer on sex and love is finally getting married to her Mr Big. But her best girlfriends must console her after one of them inadvertently leads Mr Big to leave her.

Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Candice Bergen l

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2016

MUHITH: INSURANCE FIRMS LACK MORALITY PAGE 15

ICC UPHOLDS TASKIN SUSPENSION PAGE 26

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: LET THE RIVALRY BEGIN! PAGE 30

Brussels bomber brothers identified n Reuters, Brussels Belgium’s chief prosecutor named two brothers on Wednesday as Dae’sh suicide bombers who killed at least 31 people in the most deadly attacks in Brussels’ history but said another key suspect was on the run.

The federal prosecutor told a news conference that Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, one of two men who blew themselves up at Brussels airport on Tuesday, had left a will on a computer dumped in a rubbish bin near the militants’ hideout.

In it, he described himself as “always on the run, not knowing what to do anymore, being hunted everywhere, not being safe any longer and that if he hangs around, he risks ending up next to the person in a cell” - a reference to suspected Paris bomber Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested last week.

His brother Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, detonated a bomb an hour later on a crowded rush-hour metro train near the European Commission headquarters, prosecutor

Khalid El Bakraoui

Ibrahim El Bakraoui

Frederic Van Leeuw said.

Both men, born in Belgium, had criminal records for armed robbery but were not previously linked by investigators to extremist militants.

At least 31 people were killed and about 271 wounded in the attacks, the prosecutor said. That toll could increase further because some of the bomb victims at Maelbeek metro station were blown to pieces and victims are hard to identify. Several survivors were still in

Najim Laachraoui

critical condition.

The Bakraoui brothers were identified by their fingerprints and on security cameras, the prosecutor said. The second suicide bomber at the airport had yet to be identified and a third man, whom he did not name, had left the biggest bomb and run out of the terminal before the explosions.

Belgian media named that man as Najim Laachraoui, 25, a suspected Dae’sh recruiter and bomb-maker whose DNA was found on two

explosives belts used in last November’s Paris attacks and at a Brussels safe house used by Abdeslam before his arrest last Friday.

Khalid El Bakraoui had rented under a false name the apartment in the city’s Forest borough, where police hunting Abdeslam killed a gunman in a raid last week. He is also believed to have rented a safe house in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi used to mount the Paris attacks.

‘Black days’

The Syrian-based jihadist group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attacks, warning of “black days” for those fighting it in Syria and Iraq. . A minute’s silence was observed across Belgium at noon.

Prime Minister Charles Michel cancelled a trip to China and reviewed security measures with his inner cabinet before attending a memorial event at European Commission headquarters with King Philippe, Commission President JeanClaude Juncker and French Prime

Minister Manuel Valls.

More than 1,000 people gathered around an improvised shrine with candles and street paintings outside the Brussels bourse.

Belgium’s crisis coordination centre kept the level of security alert at the maximum as the man hunt continued. Some buses and trains were running but the metro and the airport were closed, along with key road tunnels in Brussels.

After a tip-off from a taxi driver who unknowingly drove the bombers to the airport, police searched an apartment in the Brussels borough of Schaerbeek late into the night, finding another bomb, a Dae’sh flag and bomb-making chemicals.

An unused explosive device was later found at the airport.

Brussels airport seemed likely to remain shut for several days over the busy Easter holiday weekend, since the departure hall was still being combed as a crime scene on Wednesday and repairs can only begin once investigators are finished. l

‘Heroes of 71’ sequel to come out on March 26 n Tribune Report

This file photo shows cargo vessels plying the Shela River in the Sundarbans. The Shipping Ministry yesterday closed the river route in the wake of a coal-laden vessel that sank in the river on Saturday SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

Shela River permanently off-limits to vessels Correspondent, n Our Bagerhat

The Shipping Ministry yesterday permanently banned the Shela River route in the Sundarbans, meaning no vessel will be allowed to ply it.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan announced the ban after a

meeting with a river protection task force at the Secretariat.

The ban came four days after a coal-laden cargo vessel sank in the river in Harintana area.

Shajahan told reporters after yesterday’s meeting that an oil tanker and a coal-laden vessel had sunk in the Shela River which led to some

environmental threats. “This has made the whole nation concerned.”

Meanwhile, the committee formed by the Forest Department to probe why the coal-laden vessel capsized submitted its report yesterday.

The report was submitted to Md Saidul Islam, divisional forest officer of the Forest Department

(Sundarbans east), said probe committee chief Kamal Uddin Ahmed, also the assistant conservator of forest.

He said the committee had made three recommendations in the report, including banning all kinds of vessels from plying the Shela River. l

The country’s Liberation War-based video game “Heroes of 71” is set to launch its second instalment “Heroes of 71: Retaliation” on March 26.

State Minister for ICT division Zunaid Ahmed Palak made the disclosure in a press conference in the city yesterday.

Funded by the ICT division, the first instalment of the game was launched on December 16 last year and is available for free download from Google Play Store. The game was created in respect of the heroes who had fought for the liberation of this country.

The state minister said the market for video games around the world is $100bn. “Considering this market, we have taken initiatives to train one million youths on ICT and these youths will develop new games to grab this huge opportunity.”

Shafayat Latif, managing director of game developer PortBliss, said the game will be available on other mobile platforms and on Windows operating system very soon. l

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