02 April, 2016 by DhakaTribune

SECOND EDITION

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Chaitra 19, 1422, Jamadius Sani 23, 1437

Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 347

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

Unique phone ID scheme a shambles Jamil Khan n Mohammad and Ishtiaq Husain Mobile phones have become a ubiquitous part of our daily life. But little do we know that the phone we use every day might share the same unique ID as the phone being used by a terrorist. The IMEI, or International Mobile Equipment Identity, is a 15- or 17-digit code that uniquely identifies a mobile phone set. The phone code – which is supposed to be unique to each individual device – lets law enforcers identify and track criminals. The IMEI code also enables mobile networks to prevent a misplaced or stolen phone from initiating calls. But in Bangladesh, IMEI codes are being duplicated – either to mask illegally imported and stolen phones or to hide the identity and location of a phone’s owner. According to an alarming finding from Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association (BMPIA), a single IMEI number was found to be assigned to over 7,000 mobile phones. The Detective Branch of police says duplicated IMEI has made it difficult for them to trace the whereabouts of criminals and terrorists. The situation has been made worse because it now takes as little

Used, stolen or illegally imported mobile phones often end up in the hands of criminals. To make the phones hard to be traced by the police, they duplicate IMEI numbers of the devices with help from unscrupulous phone technicians in the capital for as little as Tk300 MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK as Tk300 to change the IMEI code of a phone, the Dhaka Tribune has learned from its own investigation. While visiting mobile phone stores at Gulistan underpass market recently, a Dhaka Tribune reporter was told by a shopkeeper that it would cost only Tk1,000 to

unlock an illegally imported iPhone and an additional Tk2,000 to change the IMEI of the handset. Asked whether customers were often seeking to change their phone’s IMEIs, the shopkeeper, who requested to stay unnamed, said owners of second-hand

phones mostly seek the service to avoid any trouble with the law. A Chinese software is used to change the IMEI code, he said. Sources told the Dhaka Tribune that phone stores in Gulistan, Eastern Plaza and Motaleb Plaza offer to illegally change IMEI codes. The

cost for changing the IMEI of highend phones are between Tk2,000 and Tk3,000, while for low-end phones it costs only Tk300 to Tk1,000. Law enforcers say many criminals are using illegal services from these stores to hide their identity and location. Asked about the situation, DMP Deputy Commissioner Maruf Hossain Sarder said they were keeping an eye on such activities and action would be taken after gathering proof. But in the meantime, more and more tech-savvy criminals are going incognito to evade the eyes of lawmen. During a recent drive, detectives found over 80 mobile phones with the same IMEI number, said Saiful Islam, additional deputy commissioner of DB police. Pointing out that neighbouring India has its individual registration process for IMEIs, Saiful said: “Once such a system is introduced in Bangladesh, it will help us trace criminals in a short time and stop the use of technology in criminal offences.”

IMEI registration on the cards

Sources at the Posts and Telecommunication Division said the process of registering mobile devices  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

‘More Bangladeshi women being Death toll rises to 23, trafficked to Mumbai brothels’ homicide case filed n KOLKATA FLYOVER COLLAPSE

n Reuters, Kolkata

INSIDE

Indian police on Friday opened a case of culpable homicide against the company that had been building a flyover which collapsed in Kolkata, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens. Rescuers with cranes and jackhammers struggled on Friday to clear shattered concrete slabs and twisted girders from the 100-metre \length of the flyover that on

Thursday crashed down on pedestrians and vehicles in a road below. Over 100 people have been rescued, many with serious injuries, but chances of finding more survivors dwindled after authorities removed crushed cars and a bus from the rubble in a teeming commercial district near the city’s Girish Park. “It is being ensured that there are no more dead bodies under the debris,” SS Guleria, deputy inspector  PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Lax security for persons under militant threat

Police stop rawhide from entering Hazaribagh

More noted personalities have received death threats from militants over past years.  PAGE 3

The government yesterday deployed police to stop supply of rawhide from entering the Hazaribagh tannery.  PAGE 5

Thomson Reuters Foundation, Mumbai

The number of women being trafficked from Bangladesh into Mumbai brothels is rising as part of greater migration from the latter, and police and social groups need to do more to rescue and repatriate them, a charity said on Thursday. The number of Bengali-speaking commercial sex workers in the city’s main red-light district of Kamathipura is at a record high, according to data compiled by Pre-

rana, a non-profit focused on trafficking and sex workers. The total includes some women from India’s West Bengal. “The increased numbers dovetail with increased migration from Bangladesh, and migrants are particularly vulnerable to traffickers,” said Priti Patkar, co-founder of Prerana. “They’re so desperate, they are easily lured by the promise of a job or a better life,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Of the 213 children of sex workers enrolled at Prerana’s night care

centre in Kamathipura from 201015, 128 had a Bengali-speaking mother, the data showed. Similar increases have been seen in other parts of the city, Patkar said. There were about a dozen each from the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. There are more than 3m people of Bangladeshi origin in India, according to official data. Hundreds arrive undocumented every day, often crossing the 4,000km border  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Ebadullah, the 'Tk10 doctor' to the poor Patients of low-income households struggle financially to pay for treatment in the face of rising healthcare costs.  PAGE 32

2nd Round

Sport Page-28

News

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Speaker for more opportunities for women n UNB Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury has underscored the need for creating more opportunities for women so that they can contribute to the country’s development. “If more chances are created to facilitate women’s development, national progress will be accelerated further,” she said while addressing a function marking the distribution of Bangladesh Women Police Award 2016 at Bashundhara Convention City on

Thursday night. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, some 32 female members of police were given the award under five categories, said a Parliament Secretariat release issued yesterday. Besides, Police Nari Kalyan Samity was given the award under entrepreneur category. Dr Shirin Sharmin, also CPA chairperson, said it is more challenging for women to choose to join police force as a profession with courage and mental stamina braving the social barriers. l

Members of Tazreen Fashions Fire Accident Victims’ Rights Network form a human chain in front of the National Press Club yesterday demanding appropriate compensation for the victims of Tazreen fire, instead of mere donations MEHEDI HASAN

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Unique phone ID scheme a shambles would start soon after the completion of the ongoing biometric SIM registration initiative. State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim told the Dhaka Tribune recently that necessary steps for mobile phone registration have already been taken.

But verifying the large number of mobile phones being sold each year is expected to be a colossal task. According to BMPIA statistics, around 26 million mobile phones were imported legally in Bangladesh last year; but a further 3.6 million illegal devices were estimated

to have been smuggled in as well. Rezwanul Haque, general secretary of the BMPIA, told the Dhaka Tribune that a system needs to be in place so that no mobile phone can be opened without a legally authorised IMEI number given by the Bangladesh Telecommunication

More Bangladeshi Regularity Commission. Such a system would not only reduce the use of duplicate IMEI numbers but also bring down incidents of mobile phone theft, Rezwanul said, adding that the number of crimes using duplicate IMEIs would also go down. l

Death toll rises to 23, homicide case filed general of the National Disaster Response Force, said. Television channels broadcast images of autorickshaws and a crowd of people suddenly obliterated by a mass of falling concrete. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose centre-left party is seeking re-election soon in the state of West Bengal, said those responsible would not be spared and blamed the previous state government, which awarded the flyover contract in 2007. But she herself faces questions about the project. The Telegraph newspaper reported in November that Banerjee had wanted the flyover - already five years overdue - to be completed by February. Project engineers expressed concerns over whether this would be possible, the Telegraph said at the time. The disaster could play a role in the election in West Bengal, whose capital is Kolkata. It is one of five approaching polls that will give an interim verdict on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nearly two years in power. Indian company IVRCL had been building the 2km Vivekananda Road flyover, according to its website. Police detained seven employees of the company, interviewed bosses at its headquarters in the southern city of Hyderabad and sealed its offices, police said. ‘Act of God’ A senior IVRCL manager drew

Indian soldiers and rescue workers work on a partially collapsed overpass in Kolkata, India on Thursday national condemnation for calling the disaster “an act of God”. “We did not use any inferior quality material and we will cooperate with the investigators,” the company’s director of operations AGK. Murthy told reporters on Thursday. “We are in a state of shock.” Years of delays may have led to corrosion to metal elements of the flyover, according to rescuers. Locals said concrete had been poured

on the stretch that collapsed the night before the disaster. Crowds of residents tried to help trapped people. Three cranes worked overnight to clear wreckage and gain access to vehicles in which people were believed to be trapped. Harrowing news images showed the limbs of a dead man protruding from under a steel girder. Ambulances struggled to reach the scene, hemmed in by buildings.

“Every night, hundreds of labourers would build the flyover and they would cook and sleep near the site by day,” said Ravindra Kumar Gupta, a grocer who pulled out six bodies, together with his friends. “The government wanted to complete the flyover before the elections and the labourers were working on a tight deadline. Maybe the hasty construction led to the collapse.” l

with a trafficker or “agent” who preys on poor, rural communities with promises of good jobs and a better life. Rising migration within Asia is putting growing numbers of migrants at risk of being trafficked and abused by human smuggling networks, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report last year on the criminal trade, which is worth $2bn a year in Asia. South Asia is the fastest-growing region for human trafficking and the second-largest after Southeast Asia, according to the UNODC. More than 150,000 people are known to be trafficked within South Asia every year, but the trade is underground and the real number is likely to be much higher. The numbers are expected to rise as migration within Asia grows. Trafficked Bangladeshi women in Mumbai are often too afraid and ignorant of their rights to seek help, Patkar said. They are also reluctant to bring charges against their traffickers after being rescued from the brothels. India signed an agreement with Bangladesh last year to strengthen cooperation and information sharing and ensure speedier investigations and prosecutions of traffickers. The agreement has made it easier to rescue and repatriate victims of trafficking, some of whom were previously treated as illegal immigrants. “Now, there is a clear process: we take their deposition, then hand them over to an NGO there, which takes responsibility for their rehabilitation,” a Mumbai police spokesman said. “This is a better outcome for the women.” This week, for the first time, a Bangladeshi trafficker was convicted on the strength of the victim’s testimony given over a video link from Dhaka, where she had been repatriated after her rescue from a brothel in Mumbai. Activists and lawyers say such depositions could help curb trafficking. l

News

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Lax security for persons under militant threat Jamil Khan n Mohammad and Kamrul Hasan

There has been more and more incidents of noted personalities receiving death threats from different Islamist militant groups in the last couple of years. However, whenever these people at risk have sought special security from the police, all they have received – apart from a handful of cases – are some additional patrolling on the streets near their residences. According to Dhaka Tribune findings, at least 114 people – many of them intellectuals – have received death threats since May last year. Most of these threats were made under the name of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team. Muntassir Mamoon, the convener of Ekattorer Ghatok Dalal Nirmul Committee, filed a general diary with the police last November following repeated threats from militant outfits through social media sites like Facebook. Since then, all he had seen were some police personnel gathering in front of his house, the Dhaka University history professor said, adding that law enforcers should strengthen protection for those under threat. Cultural personalities Syed Hasan Imam and Nasiruddin Yousuff Bachchu, who have both been named as targets by militants, made similar observations about the lax police protection. Police, however, say their round-the-clock patrol teams have been instructed to pay additional attention to ensure security of the residences of the noted personalities under threat. Maruf Hossain Sarder, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the Dhaka Tribune that they have given special instruction to police officials to take care of the persons at risk and to maintain a close contact with them. Shahbagh police OC Abu Bakar Siddique, who provides security on the DU campus, said his officials

pay routine visits to those who have received threats – even when law enforcers of the station are busy with issues like Amar Ekushey Boi Mela and protests at Shahbagh intersection. “They also maintain continuous contact with the university authorities so that they feel secure in the area. Besides, the patrol teams have especially been instructed to stay alert to prevent any attack,” he added. Nure Azam Miah, officer-incharge at Dhanmondi police station, also said they were providing special security to all the vulnerable personalities living in the area, with special instructions given to the night-time patrol teams to keep an eye on those people’s residences. However, in some cases, the police do go an extra mile. Dr Anisuzzaman, a professor emeritus of DU who received a death threat on his mobile phone on November 11 last year, said a police guard has been providing round-the-clock protection to him since he filed a GD in this regard. But not every one gets the same level of support. DU Prof Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque, whose son publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was brutally murdered by militants last year, said the Detective Branch maintained good communications with him when Dipan was killed. But as months have passed, Prof Fazlul says now he hardly sees a police patrol team near his residence. There has also been little progress in identifying the people who had been issuing the threats. Detectives have so far been able to arrest only one person named Abdul Haque, reportedly a Jamaat supporter, who the DB says is the one sending threats to different people under the assumed name of Ansarullah or the so-called Islamic State. Police’s success, however, has been in foiling different militant plans of attacking noted personalities, said DMP Additional Commissioner Monirul Islam. l

An artist writes ‘Shame on the rapist, not the raped’ and draws images on the back of a rickshaw yesterday at an event to protest the sexual harassment of several women at Dhaka University on Pohela Boishakh last year. Taking part in the event titled ‘Rongbaji: Ricksha Rangai Praner Kothay,” many female artists drew images and wrote messages on rickshaws to raise awareness on sexual harassment in Dhaka’s Nimtoli Gate area. The event was organised by an online community named Meye MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

CID visits Tonu murder scene n Our Corespondent, Comilla

A team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police yesterday visited the spot from where the body of slain Comilla Victoria Government College student Sohagi Jahan Tonu was recovered. The team led by CID Inspector Gazi Md Ibrahim, also the investigating officer of Tonu killing case, visited the scene inside Comilla Cantonment around 10am. Mozammel Haque, CID’s assistant superintendent of police, said: “We are investigating how and in what condition the body was found.” He also said that it was too early to comment on the progress of the case. Tonu, a second-year history student and a cultural activist, was found dead near her home inside the cantonment on March 20. Her father Yaar Hossain filed a case the next day without naming any accused. Investigators are yet to make a breakthrough. The case was handed over to

the Detective Branch of police on March 25 but the CID was put in charge of the case a day later. The murder caused outrage in different parts of the country, with people from all walks of life calling for the arrest and punishment of the culprits.

Protests continue

Meanwhile, Gonojagoron Moncho yesterday arranged a rally on Dhaka University premises to protest the killing of Tonu and demand punishment of the killers. Speakers addressing the rally expressed concern, saying that the culprits might get away with the crime because of the inactivity of the government and the law enforcement agencies. Among others, Dhaka University Students’ Centre Union former general secretary Dr Mustak Ahmed and Bangladesh Chhatra Union General Secretary JM Jilani Shuvo spoke at the rally. Spokesperson of Gonojagoron Moncho Imran H Sarker said a mass

76% vote in 2nd phase UP polls n Adil Sakhawat

The Election Commission has announced that in the 584 Union Parishad elections where unofficial results have been released, the voter turnout was 76%. Polls were held in 639 unions in the second phase of the election on Thursday. The ruling Awami League got 54% of the votes from those 584 unions, BNP got

17% and independent candidates got 28%. Of these 584 unions the EC received full results from 551 till 5pm yesterday. Awami League had won 372 of the chairman positions, BNP 58, Jatiya Party three, Jatiya Party (JP) two, independent candidates 105 and others 11. In other 33 parishads Awami League chairman candidates became uncontested winners. The commission said 73,41,896 vot-

ers out of 96,43,682 registered turned out at these 551 unions, making the turnout 76.13%. It also said that 1,50,301 votes were cancelled. In this phase of the UP elections the commission suspended voting in 33 polling centres due to irregularities. The next phases of the UP elections will be held on April 23, May 7, May 28 and June 4. l

signature collection programme had been initiated and the document would be submitted to the speaker of the parliament. He also said a powerful group might have been behind the murder, and urged the government to take immediate steps for finding the killers. Also, Brahmanbaria District Chhatra Union formed a human chain on Comilla-Sylhet Highway yesterday, demanding justice for Tonu. Students and teachers of local educational institutions, and politicians joined the protest held at 11am. Brahmanbaria District Chhatra Union Convener Ali Hossain Jihad led the protest, which was addressed by Shahriar Mohammad Firoz, president of Brahmanbaria district unit of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, and General Secretary Sajidul Islam among others. The speakers said the government cannot avoid the responsibility for Tonu killing, and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice. l

News

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Bangladesh to observe World Autism Awareness Day today n BSS The 9th World Autism Awareness Day will be observed in the country as elsewhere in the globe today with a renewed pledge to bring the people suffering from autism and other physical disabilities into the mainstream of development. Different public organisations including the Ministry of Social Welfare, Social Welfare Department, National Disability Development Foundation, National Disability Forum, socio-cultural bodies and non-government organisations have drawn up elaborate programmes to observe the Day. The main theme of the day is “Autism shachetonota bridhdhite amra sobai [We all for increasing awareness about autism].” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the programmes for the day in the morning at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the city. The United Nations General Assembly declared April 2 as the World Autism Awareness Day to highlight the needs for enhanced initiatives of all to improve the lives of children and adults who suffer from the disorder. On the eve of the day, President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued statements urging all, including the local and foreign organisations, to extend their hands to supplement government initiatives for the welfare of the disabled persons. In his message, the president said proper care, nursing, education and environment are very much needed to explore latent talents of the children with disabilities as they have unlimited prospects and strength to win over any sorts of difficulties. He underlined the need for making concerted efforts to uphold the right of the autistic children along with ensuring their health and education so they could contribute

a lot to society. In her message, the prime minister greeted all adults, children and adolescents suffering from autism and other physical disabilities in the country as elsewhere across the world on the occasion. She said the present government is pledge-bound to include the people suffering from autism and other physical disorders into the mainstream of development. She said her government has adopted Neuro Developmental Disabilities Act 2013, Disabled Persons Right and Security Act 2013, an education policy integrating disability affairs and policy for disability supports and services centre 2011 in a bid to ensure the rights and welfare of the autistic persons. The prime minister urged all local and foreign organisations, civil society and affluent people of society to come forward for the welfare of the disabled people. Sheikh Hasina hoped that a positive attitude would be developed in society about the autistic and disabled children with the observance of the day. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon gave a message on the World Autism Awareness Day calling for advancing the rights of individuals with autism and ensuring their full participation and inclusion as valued members of our diverse human family who can contribute to a future of dignity and opportunity for all. “The equal participation and active involvement of persons with autism will be essential for achieving the inclusive societies envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals,” the UN chief’s statement read. Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first three years of life, and affects the brain’s normal development of social and communication skills. It is an uncommon disease, occurring in schoolage children while boys are more affected with it than girls. l

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Police stop rawhide from entering Hazaribagh

‘Environment court a failure’ n Abu Bakar Siddique

n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi The government yesterday deployed police to stop supply of rawhide from entering the city’s Hazaribagh area since the tannery owners have failed to relocate their factories to the newly-built Savar Industrial Park within the stipulated deadline, ended on Thursday. The Industries Ministry earlier extended the deadline several times, but decided to go tough against the errant tanners recently considering environmental damage. “As per the instruction of the Industries Ministry, we have set up check posts at four entry points of Hazaribagh so that no one can bring rawhides to the tannery,” Mir Alimuzzaman, officer-in-charge of Hazaribagh police, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. “We sent back two trucks carrying rawhide as they were trying to enter Hazaribagh area through the Beribandh entry point near Gabtoli,” he added. The surveillance would continue until further instruction from the government, the OC said. “Not a single rawhide will be allowed to enter Hazaribagh. But the factory owners can transport the finished goods and other products,” he said. However, the tanners have expressed dismay over the decision. “The government has taken the decision without consulting us. As of today, no factory is ready to

Blocked by police from entering Hazaribagh tannery area in the capital, rawhide traders stock their goods in a warehouse at Posta in Old Dhaka yesterday. Police have set up vigilance teams in Hazaribagh to prevent traders from supplying rawhides to the tanneries which still have not relocated to the designated zone in Savar MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU transfer the tanneries from Hazaribagh amid pressure from local and international rights groups and environmental activists, and buyers because of their hazardous effects on public health and environment. It has allocated plots to 155 tannery owners through Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industry Corporation (Bscic) at the industrial park established on a 200-acre land in Savar. l

“We have got assurance about electricity connection, but the matter of gas connection is still undecided,” he said, adding that the construction of the Central Effluent Treatment plant (CETP) was not ready yet. Shakhawat said that they would sit with the government to resolve the issue once the association president returns from abroad. The government decided to

go into production. Stopping the supply of raw materials will hit the sector badly,” Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) General Secretary Md Shakhawat Ullah told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. “The relocation process will take time. About 50-60 units will be able to start production at the industrial park by June this year as over 70% works have been completed,” he said.

‘United States now agrees Jamaat is terrorist’ n Tribune Desk State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam has said that the United States has come to accept Jamaat-e-Islami as a terrorist organisation. Following a meeting with a delegation of US diplomats on Thursday evening, Shahriar told reporters: “The US now understands that Jamaat-e-Islami is a terrorist organisation, even though they were slow on the uptake.” The delegation was led by US State Department Undersecretary Sarah Sewall and Chief Diplomatic Officer of the Department of Homeland Security Alan Bersin. “We have to be cautious about

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satisfied with the Home Ministry’s counter-terrorism unit. The US is ready to provide support for this unit if the ministry wants,” he said. Shahriar quoted Alan Bersin as saying that Bangladesh’s effort to strengthen airport security measures was a difficult task and would take time. Asked about the kidnapping of two senior Brac officials in Afghanistan, the state minister said the government was constantly communicating with Kabul on the matter. “The Afghan foreign ministry has told us they are trying their best to locate the kidnapped Bangladeshis. The Afghan foreign secretary is personally supervising the matter,” he said. l

bol, which is ultimately linked to the national election,” he said. He said the US had asked for Bangladesh’s cooperation in the UN Secretary General’s Leaders’ Summit on Countering Violent Extremism. The delegates had discussed with the home minister the measures taken in Bangladesh to combat militancy and airport security with the civil aviation minister, the state minister said. He said the two sides at the meeting had discussed combat against terrorism, militancy and violent extremism. He said the US was prepared to help if Bangladesh asked for renewed support. “In particular they were very

parties and organisations that are still backing terrorism and militancy,” the minister said. “But they should not think that we are restraining political parties or their activities,” he added. “When there is terrorism and militancy in the democratic space, and terrorism and militancy under the guise of politics, the government has to work by drawing a thin line,” he said. “This is not only challenging for Bangladesh but for every country in the world.” Shahriar said he had told the delegation that the government was ensuring political space for all parties. “The BNP is taking part in the local elections with their own sym-

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15.8ºC Rangpur

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PRAYER TIMES

The Environment Court has failed to protect the environment as well as serve the people’s interest due to its limitations, discussants at a workshop have said. The workshop, titled Functioning of Environment Courts: The Regional Experience, was held at the city’s Brac Center Inn auditorium on Thursday. “The Environment Court cannot perform properly under the current law because it limits the court’s jurisdiction and stipulates that only the Department of Environment (DoE) may act as the plaintiff,” said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (Bela), who presented the keynote paper. In addition, the court only can handle cases mentioned in the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act which is not adequate to protect the environment, she said. Hasan also said that many environmental issues including forest conservation, water management and brick kiln control are not being taken to the Environment Court as those are absent in the Environment Conservation Act. Echoing her views, Law Minister Anisul Huq said that the act should be amended soon to make the court functional. DoE Director (Law) Jafar Siddique said after the 2010 amendment of the Environment Court Act, the court was in fact invalid as it was formed under the 2000 version of the act. “Ironically, we could not issue any circular about the amended version of the law and its relevance to the court,” he said. Only three courts have been established since 2003, one each in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet, even though the law requires a court in each district. Rizwana Hasan said the rate of compensation under the current act has a ceiling of Tk10 lakh for environmental degradation offenses which was completely inappropriate. “The National Green Tribunal in India which is considered one of the best environmental courts in the region has the option to penalise based on the gravity of the damage,” she added. Sharing the experience of NGT, Ritwick Dutta, an advocate of Supreme Court of India, said the NGT runs on the principle that ‘polluters pay’ and there is no limit on compensation or penalty. l Sylhet

Cox’s Bazar

Fajr: 4:30am | Zohr: 12:02pm Asr: 3:30pm | Magrib: 6:19pm Esha: 7:45pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

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SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Syed Ashraf: Unite to protect minorities n Tribune Report Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam has urged all to forge a unity to protect the ethnic minorities in the country. “The survival of the ethnic groups is vital for the existence of the nation,” he said at the biennial conference of Bangladesh Puja Celebration Council in the capital’s Dhakeswari Temple yesterday, reported BSS.

not sit idle.” Speaking on the occasion, former Railways minister and Awami League Advisory Council member Suranjit Sengupta said a vested quarter tried to destroy the spirit of Liberation War by killing Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, but failed to do so ultimately. “Subsequently, Awami League re-established a secular Bangladesh,” he added.

‘If anyone is tortured anywhere, Sheikh Hasina’s government will not sit idle’ The minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would not keep mum if minority people were tortured or harassed. The government is trying to ensure full safety for the minorities all over the country in many ways, he added. Referring to arson attacks on the minorities, he categorically said: “If anyone is tortured anywhere, Sheikh Hasina’s government will

Puja Celebration Committee President Kajal Debnath chaired the programme, while State Minister for Youth and Sports Dr Biren Sikder, State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Narayan Chandra Chanda, Swechchhasebak League General Secretary Pankaj Debnath and General Secretary of Puja Celebration Committee Joyanta Kumar Deb were present, among others. l

Members of Cycle Lane Implementation Council organise a cycle rally in Central Shaheed Minar area yesterday demanding a separate lane for cycles in Dhaka streets MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

Chief justice: Evening courts could be introduced to clear backlog n Tribune Report

Expressing concerns regarding the huge judicial backlog, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday said evening courts will be introduced in the country for quick dispensation of justice if the government responds to their call in this regard. There are currently 1,500 judges in the country and the number is

inadequate to deal with the workload, the chief justice said while addressing the inaugural session of a two-day workshop at Khagan Brac Centre in Savar, reports UNB. “173 judges have to perform their duties in rotation for lack of courtrooms and this is how the number of unsettled cases have increased to 3 million across the country,” the chief justice added.

He said: “If the government responds to our call, then evening courts will be introduced soon to free the judiciary from the case backlog.” The Supreme Court organised the workshop in association with USAID. About 40 officials of the judicial department took part in the workshop. US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat was present on the occasion as a special guest. l

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Ctg govt school for the deaf and blind plagued with problems n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong The lone government school for the blind and deaf in Muradpur area of Chittagong city is plagued with problems, including an acute accommodation crisis, water congestion, prolonged employee shortage, lack of reading materials and lax security. At present, 80 students attend the school which provides dining and residential facilities free of cost. Of them, 20 are blind girls, 30 are blind boys and 30 are deaf boys. The school should have four separate dormitories for students. Instead, all now reside huddled together in a three-storied dormitory due to an accommodation crisis. The school teachers said 50 deaf female students could not avail the residential facilities due to an infrastructural crisis. The students said they have to wade through knee-deep to waistdeep water during the rainy sea-

son, and in heavy downpour, academic activities can be suspended for two to three days. They added they were also facing a reading material shortage, and have to share the reading materials with their classmates. Built over 2.66 acres of land, the 54-year old school is a combination of two schools – one for the visually impaired and one for the hearing and speech-impaired. During a recent visit, this correspondent found the boundary wall to be something of a misnomer. All four buildings of the school are crumbling, and have already outlived their utility. Academic activities take place in one of the ramshackle buildings, while two others have utterly fallen into disuse. “We face immense suffering as the school remains water-logged during monsoon. Sometimes, academic activities remain suspended for two to three consecutive days,” said Abdur Rahman, a visually-im-

paired class eight student. “Although three months have passed, we are yet to receive six Braille textbooks from the school,” said Asmaul Husna, a blind class six student Taslima Akhter, a blind class seven student, echoed these sentiments, and said she had not received six Braille textbooks as was expected. “We have to share reading materials with our classmates. We have to live in the dormitory crammed like sardines,” said Taslima. “The school faces manifold problems. Now there is no cook for the dormitory. Moreover, outsiders can easily enter and disturb students since there is no security guard,” said Jahirul Islam, a teacher for the blind students. “Teachers for the visually impaired have to travel far to come to the school since accommodation facilities are so poor,” added the teacher. “The school facilities are very poor. Fans, bulbs and other things

News

are stolen sometimes from the dormitories. Anybody can easily access the school due to the low boundary wall and absence of security personnel,” said Nurunnesa Begum, a parent of a speech-impaired student. When talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Abdus Samad, headmaster of the school for the blind, said the two schools are now headed by acting headmasters. “The school does not have an office assistant, and so we have to grapple with giving classes and other clerical works,” added the head teacher. When contacted, Bandana Das, deputy director, district Social Service Office, Chittagong said a plan to construct a building for the school at a cost of Tk38 crore was underway. “With the construction of the new multi-storied building, the other problems like staff crisis will be solved in phases,” added Das. l

Reaz president, M Ali secretary of CUJ n Tribune Report

Reaz Hayder and Mohammad Ali were elected as president and general secretary respectively of Chittagong Union of Journalists (CUJ). The biennial election was held at Chittagong Press Club on Thursday where 325 voters casted their votes, said CUJ election conducting committee’s Chairman Moyazzemul Haque. The election started at 10am and continued till 8pm. Reaz Hayder Chowdhury, Chittagong office Bureau chief of Bangladesh Pratidin, was elected as president bagging 181 votes while his nearest contestant Ezaz Yusufi of Daily Purbakone bagged 59 votes. Daily Purbakone’s senior reporter Mohammad Ali was elected as general secretary bagging 189 votes. Other members of the committee are Nirupom Dasgupta as vice-president, Sarup Bhattachariya as joint secretary, Ujjal Kanti Dhar as treasurer, Sabur Suvo as organising secretary and Aolokmay Tolapatra as publicity and publication affairs secretary. l

2 held with petrol bombs, hand bombs

n Our Correspondent, Gazipur Police have detained two persons in possession of three petrol bombs and 20 hand bombs from a house at Bhora in Gazipur. The detainees are Md Farid Uddin, the owner of the house, and caretaker Md Sohel Rana. Joydebpur police station OC Khandakar Rezaul Hasan Reza said: “Acting on a tipoff, police raided the house of Farid Uddin around 11am on Friday and recovered the bombs from a room.” A bomb disposal team was sent to the spot to defuse the bombs, said the OC. l

Even though the surface of Mayor Hanif flyover in the capital’s Jatrabari appears clean, wastes dumped under the structure have turned the area filthy

MEHEDI HASAN

Boro growers being cheated in weigh of fertiliser n Our Correspondent, Dinajpur

Farmers who are now involved in Boro cultivation in Dinajpur are very much disappointed since they being cheated in measurement of fertiliser by dealers. They also alleged that a large quantity of sub-standard fertiliser was being supplied to them from the godown of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, no measure has been taken yet by the authorities concerned. Local sources said it was Irri-Boro season and farmers badly needed Urea fertiliser to continue

their cultivation process, but they had to spend extra money while buying the agri-input as dealers were supplying less quantity of fertiliser in each sack. Dealers told the Dhaka Tribune that the government had fixed price for per sack of fertiliser containing 50 kilograms at Tk770-800. But farmers said they had to buy per sack fertiliser at Tk850. Moreover, dealers were giving two to there kilograms less fertiliser in per sack of the input. Delwar Hossain, a farmer of Ramchandrapur village under Kaharol village, said: “We have been

getting two to three kilograms less fertiliser in each sack of fertiliser for the last seven months.” Selim Reza, a farmer of Boltoir village under Dinajpur Sadar upazila, said: “When we buy fertiliser in sack we get less agri input, but when we buy ferliser regarding kilogram we have to give extra prices. We have to count losses everywhere.” Retailers are saying that they got less quantity of fertiliser in each sack of fertiliser from dealers’ end. As they get fewer quantity of the agri input they have to sell those at higer price to recoup loss. Rajjob Ali, a retailer, said: “It

is not our fault, we are also being cheated by dealers. But farmers are blaming us for cheating in weigh.” Monowar Hossain, an agent of dealers, said there was no question of cheating in measurement. According to Dinajpur Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, it had already supplied over 37,000 tonnes of fertiliser among dealers in the current fiscal. The BCIC supplies 4,100 tonnes fertiliser every month to dealers of the district. Sources at BCIC office in Dinajpur, a section of officials with collaboration of local agents sometimes directly sell fertilisers to

dealers instead of storing those in godown of BCIC after those come from fertiliser factory. Consequently, old fertiliser are remained stocked at warehouse year after year. Abdul Sattar, vice-president of Dinajpur Fertiliser Association, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were interested to buy newly produced fertiliser as fertliers which had been kept at BCIC godown were sub-standard. Masud Rana, a storekeeper of BCIC, said they provided fertiliser to dealers with accurate measurement. Dealers yet to complain them about the matter. l

News

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Projects to ease citizen services in Khulna stuck in limbo n Our Correspondent, Khulna Khulna district administration adopted a number of innovative ideas so that people can get lowcost, quick and hassle-free government services. Since the beginning of last year, only 11 such innovative pilot projects had been implemented. Ten more are stuck in the limbo as concerned officials in most offices have been transferred. Khulna Innovation Officer and Additional Deputy Commissioner (education and ICT) Md Moniruzzaman said they had taken up 36 innovative ideas for the metropolitan and nine upazilas at the government’s order. “We started pilot projects with 30 of them. Eleven have been implemented and progress reports of four others submitted. However, 10 projects are stuck following transfer of concerned officials at seven govern-

ment offices,” he said. Successful projects include training farmers, using multimedia in classrooms, training unemployed youth and giving them loans. Farmer Sanowar Hossain said before the pilot project, they were trained during office time, hampering their work. However, the new projects allowed farmers to choose the time for training. “It meant, we could take care of our work and receive training at leisure and benefit from them. This year, the production rose by 17.5mt in our area’s 350-hectre block,” he added. Daulatpur Metropolitan Agriculture Officer Jakia Sultana credited the farmers with the success. “We basically took ideas from them and trained them the way they preferred. The bumper production is the result of training and application of what they learned.” BRTA’s Khulna circle Assistant Director (engineering) ASM Kamrul

Hasan said they could provide services like fitness test, tax, ownership transfer, route permit, learner’s licence in a single day. “It would take several days previously. We started providing smartcards from February 1 last year. Also, the office is being monitored with CCTV cameras, allowing us to take swift actions if there is any issues. We have pasted a list of services provided by each office in front of the room,” he said, adding that manpower crisis was hindering providing better and faster services. Khulna regional information office’s Senior Information Officer M Javed Iqbal said the divisional office was working on a project to showcase development works at 73 government offices in the district in one place. Deputy Commissioner Najmul Ahsan said the district’s government offices were working with innovative ideas as directed by the government to build a digital Bangladesh. l

Residents of Dharkhar union in Akhaura upazila, Brahmanbaria form a human chain at Dharkhar bus stand demanding justice for Tonu DHAKA TRIBUNE

One dies in Satkhira clash n Tribune report

A farmer was stabbed to death and four people were injured in a clash over a land-related dispute at Deyara village in Kolaroa upazila on Thursday night. The deceased was identified as Moslem Uddin Sana, 50, a resident of the village.

Additional Police Super Mir Modasser Hossain said there had been a longstanding dispute between Moslem and his two bother Idris Sana and Golam Mostafa. They locked into an altercation on Thursday night over building roof of a house. At one stage, they attacked each other.

Moslem’s nephew Golam Sarwer hit him with a stick and stabbed him indiscriminately, leaving him critically injured. He died on the way to hospital. The clash also left four people – Jashim Uddin Sana, Nazim Uddin Sana, Idris Sana and Manjuara, wife of Golam Sarwer – injured. l

Understaffed Naogaon govt primary schools limp along n UNB Academic activities at a considerable number of government primary schools in Naogaon district are being seriously hampered due to an acute shortage of teachers. The crisis is affecting normal functioning of the schools as the vacancy keeps deepening. The rate at which teachers’ recruitment is done every year is very poor compared to the posts vacant. That is why; the authorities are not getting way out of the crisis, which is rather getting worse. Several schools in the district are also continuing academic activities with only 2/3 teachers. Consequently, guardians are forced to enroll their children in English and Bangla medium kindergartens. District Primary Education Office sources said some 642 posts of teacher, including 109 of headmaster, have remained vacant for long in the government primary schools in nine upazilas of the district, which is increasing every year. Of the head teacher posts, 10 are lying vacant in Atrai upazila, four in Dhamairhat upazila, 14 in sadar

upazila, 12 in Niyamatpur upazila, 11 in Patnitola upazila, five in Porsha upazila, nine in Badalgachhi upazila, 18 in Mohadebpur upazila, six in Manda upazila, 14 in Raninagar upazila and six in Sapahar upazila. In some of the schools, assistant teachers are performing duties of the headmasters. Nineteen posts of assistant teacher are lying vacant in Atrai upazila, 24 in Dhamairhat upazila, 23 in Sadar upazila, 33 in Niyamatpur upazila, 26 in Patnitola upazila, 31 in Porsha upazila, 22 in Badalgachhi upazila, 24 in Mohadebpur upazila, 12 in Manda upazila, 22 in Raninagar upazila and 17 in Sapahar upazila. In addition, the schools which have been recently nationalised are also facing the problem of teacher crisis. There are 25 posts of teacher lying vacant in the newly nationalised schools of Atrai upazila, 53 posts in those of Dhamairhat upazila, 33 in Naogaon upazila, 52 in Niyamatpur upazila, 62 in Patnitola upazila, 68 in Porsha upazila, 66 in Badalgachhi upazila, 62 in Mohadebpur upazila, 30 in Manda upazila, 43 in Raninagar upazila and 59 in Sapahar upazila. l

Learn English

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Pre-reading task Make a list of all the renewable energy sources you can think of. Now, read the article and check how many you can find in the article.

1c Exercise 1

8d 7c 6b

Exercise 2

Exercise 1 Vocabulary: Matching. Choose the correct words to fill the gaps in the sentences: a b c d e f g 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. a b c d

The ideas factory

biofuels electricity renewable energy marine ecosystem wind turbines efficient marine current turbines The search for ........ is nothing new. ........ should be located at sea to minimise visual impact. The Gulf Stream is a good source of energy but the sea is too deep for today’s ........ Tidal barrages can be bad for the ........ Great potential for ........ but can production be scaled up to meet demand? Today’s photovoltaic cells aren’t very ........ The microgeneration of ........ is a possibility for developing countries.

Exercise 2 Vocabulary: Matching. Match each word/ phrase in the first column (1 to 10) with its definition in the second column (a to j):

Answers

Want to find more learning activities? Visit www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish

Alternat_ve Generat_d Converting Kin_tic Ene_gy Mate_ials Expl_it R_newable Fu_ls T_dal

10 f

See if you can find these words in the grid. They can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal and backwards.

Word search

Wind turbines: these are now a common site in several European countries. Some people say the turbines are ugly and cause ‘visual pollution’. To minimise their visual impact they can be located out at sea (as

Tidal barrages: these can be built in coastal areas where there is a large variation in the levels of high and low tides. Tidal barrages are dams that fill with sea water when the tide comes in; when the tide goes out the water is released. As it escapes it generates electricity. Unfortunately, the number of locations where tidal barrages can be built

Micro generation: for the last 100 years the main concept in electricity generation has been to ‘think big’ and build large power stations. Now we are beginning to see a new trend: small-scale, local generation of power using renewable biofuels. In the developing world where funds are scarce experts predict micro-generation is the way forward. With time these separate micro-generators can be joined up to form a larger power grid. l

Energy experts predict that by the end of this century, just 250 years after the start of the Industrial Revolution, we will have burnt all the world’s coal and gas reserves – reserves that took 200 million years to develop. With fossil fuel reserves running down, the search is on for alternative sources of energy. The need for renewable sources is greater than ever. The use of renewable energy is nothing new: in 1086 there were 5,600 watermills in England each generating two kw of energy. With the advent of cheap coal these watermills went into disuse. Here are some of the renewable fuel sources that are making a comeback:

Solar power: for their power supply isolated farms in Australia can choose between traditional diesel generators or stand-alone solar power systems using photovoltaic cells. A large amount of capital is required to set up a solar power system. At the moment photovoltaic cells are not very efficient at converting solar power to electricity. It takes five to six years for such a system to become cost-efficient. If these cells could be made more efficient experts have calculated that four per cent of the earth’s desert areas could supply all of the world’s energy needs.

n Graham Bradford

long as the sea is not too deep). Obviously, when there’s no wind, no electricity is generated. Tidal flow schemes: an example of tidal flow is the Gulf Stream, which flows from Florida to the north west of Scotland at speeds of 1.5 metres per second. There are problems, however, converting this kinetic energy into electricity. Today’s marine current turbines (an underwater version of a wind turbine) operate best in shallow water where they can be fixed to the sea bed. At the moment they are not able to exploit the energy present in tidal flows such as the Gulf Stream where the sea is very deep.

BIGSTOCK

Biofuels: these fuels come from a wide range of materials from wood to plant waste and waste materials from animals. Firewood is a good source of energy but the wood does have to be cut, transported and trees replanted. Methane gas can be produced from plant and animal waste materials but production rates are slow. Bio-diesel can be produced in several ways, for example from maize or from the by-products of wheat production. The potential for biofuel production is great. At the moment, however, there are problems around the issue of scalability as current production levels fall far short of the levels required to substitute fossil fuels.

Renewable fuel sources

is limited and they can have a considerable impact on the local marine ecosystem.

e f g h i j

fossil fuel reserves renewable energy to make a comeback a marine current turbine high and low tides marine ecosystem scalability photovoltaic cells be cost efficient kinetic energy the movement of sea levels caused by the moon sea life the possibility of increasing or decreasing the size of something panels that make electricity from sunshine cost less than the alternative system energy from something that moves such as the wind or sea currents amounts of coal, oil and natural gas power from the wind, the sun, the sea or plants to become popular again a machine that produces electricity from the sea

Feature

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Locations to cleanse your soul n Karishma Fatiha Bangladesh is abundant in scenic locations to visit and thrust yourself into, but here are a few spots you can, undoubtedly, add to your checklist: Ratargul Swamp Forest The only swamp in Bangladesh, Ratargul is about 26 kilometers away from Sylhet. It is a stunning sight to behold during the monsoon when the whole forest is afloat on 10 to 20 feet of water. The trees appear to be trunkless; their branches, starting right off the water, entangle themselves beautifully in one another’s embraces. Some roots have even grown above the soil and can be seen peeking over the water. Progressing through the swamp, the constant twists and turns shall make you feel that you’re part of a maze; a mystery yet to be discovered. You can hear snakes hissing, birds chiming and chirping throughout your joyous jaunt. At times, the entire forest seems to suddenly mute itself, with only the noise of the boatman rowing in the midst of overpowering silence. If you need to take life decisions, this should be the place. Be awed at how simply the lush of pure greenery, at a stretch, cannot bore you. Lalon Fakir-er Akhra As a legendary symbol that speaks for the dissolution of caste and creed, Lalon Fakir-er Akhra stands out with pride. The last abode (or Akhra) of world-renowned Bengali baul, Lalon Fakir, is situated in Cheuriya, about two kilometers from the Kushtia railway station. Visitors and tourists swarm in twice a year: once on the birthday and again on the death anniversary of Lalon Fakir. Fairs and musical events take place in the honour of the late singer. With the ektara

RATARGUL SWAMP FOREST, SYLHET

INANI BEACH, COX'S BAZAAR

(one-string musical instrument) and duggi (drum) playing, the bauls let their voices free and dance swinging from one point to another attracting people for hours. What makes Lalon’s songs so famous till date is its stance on intolerance towards hypocritical notions in social norms, customs and traditions. By far, these tunes have always been overwhelmingly melodious with deep meaningful lyrics. Tagging along with these baul singers, you’d often have an innate discovery of how difficult people choose to make their lives, and how easy it really is in reality. If spiritual peace is sought for, this should be your destination. Bandarban Known as one of the best travel destinations in Bangladesh, this is the place where you go to reinvent yourself. The three highest peaks of Bangladesh - Tahjindong (1280 meters), Mowdok Mual (1052 meters), and Keokradong (883 meters) - are all located in the

same district. The entire region is engulfed by mountains, hills and lakes. As far as the local lore goes, myriad monkeys had Bandarban as their habitat. They would come near the falls to eat salt. Initially, Bandarban was named and recognised as “Maokshi Chara,” Maok meaning monkey and Chara meaning dam. Bandarban is famous for diversity in terms of people and places. It homes people of 11 ethnicities and has a population of over three hundred thousand alone, along with natural spots of various kinds. For instance, it contains the Boga Lake, which is the deepest natural lake in Bangladesh with crystal clear water and massive mountains surrounded it. It holds the Golden Temple, whose beautiful interior along with striking sculptures of the Buddha, all made in the pure colour of gold, would leave you in a thirst for more architectural adventures. Nilgiri, its trump card, is the most visited site of Bandarban.

The highest touring spot, this apex lies only 45 kilometers away from the center of Bandarban. With its crisscross hilltops, tourists fall in love when trekking amidst soaring birds and floating clouds. These are simply short excerpts on a very few locations that Bandarban possesses. When there, you might as well stay with the local crowd, such as the Mongs, Marmas, Khasias and Chakmas, rather than checking into a hotel. The local culture may be one of the best things you’d like to experience. Cox’s Bazar Recognised as Panowa or Palongkee, Cox’s Bazar is an uninterrupted sandy sea beach of a 125 kilometers, the longest ever. We know sea beaches are everywhere, but a trip to the longest beach in the world would surely be an experience worthy of your office vacation. A sunset in the evening and a sunrise at dawn are the two things people are never tired of. All you leave with from Cox’s is a feeling of boundless

freedom, instilling in you a sense of compelling desire to stick around longer. Lala Khal Lala Khal lake can be named as one of the most beautiful, yet one of the most underrated, tourist spots of Bangladesh. Anyone who loves boat rides should absolutely visit, the lake being only 45 minutes away from the Sari River in Sylhet. You get to see different ranges of mountains and tea gardens at a single glance. Local women can be spotted afar on the lake’s edges, which with children scurrying at its bottom. The mud from the haors may make the water grimy at certain points nowadays, but the deeper you go to the center of the lake, the bluer it becomes. Blue above, blue below, with green on the right and green on the left, Lala Khal will show you how nature can still entice you, and cleanse every nerve in your body. l The content was published with the permission of Tiger Tours Limited.

NILGIRI, BANDARBAN

Editorial 11

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

INSIDE

Wake up, you fools PAGE 12

Naked outrage PAGE 13

BIGSTOCK

Climate change PAGE 14

The Ganges Delta and the foundations of empire PAGE 19

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EC must fulfill promise to punish perpetrators of poll violence

t is shameful that seven people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed in violence during the second phase of union parishad elections on Thursday. Shubho Kazi Srabon, a fourth-grader at Madhurchar Government Primary School was tragically killed in a shooting after being taken by his uncle to watch the polling process. Around 130 other people were injured including two television journalists, amid widespread instances of violent clashes and blatant attempts to stuff ballot boxes and take control of polling stations. The Election Commission was well aware of the risk of election violence following the deadly clashes which occurred during the first phase of the UP elections two weeks ago. It had already ordered police officials to launch cases within 15 days against people involved in those irregularities, and called for extra security after a number of pre-polling day clashes. That violence and attempts to rig votes still took place despite such preparations makes it even more important for the EC and police to uphold the law. The chief election commissioner is right to say irregularities have marred the political process. The country can ill afford to risk the benefits of relative political calm being thrown away by candidates and supporters of whatever party, getting away with ballot rigging and violence. Impunity for poll irregularities and violence must be brought to a swift end. The government and all political parties must ensure action against every individual and group involved in cases of intimidation and attempts to occupy polling stations. The integrity of elections demands the EC and law enforcers be supported in efforts to catch and punish all perpetrators. It is vital that the EC is able and seen to be able to fully uphold the law.

Impunity for poll irregularities and violence must end

Opinion

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Wake up, you fools Our indifference is destroying us

Maybe this tiger has something important to say

BIGSTOCK

n Rushiba Ahmad

hen we were children, there were these essays we’d write. My favourites were the ones in which I got to brag about Bangladesh: “Bangladesh has the world’s longest sea beach and largest mangrove forest.” I can’t help but wonder whether my children, 10 years from now, will still get to write that -- with the huge possibility that the largest mangrove forest will not exist then. Are we really okay with the Sundarbans ceasing to exist? At what point do we stop being indifferent? If the Bangladeshis of 1952 were “courageous,” and if the 1971 generation was “spirited,” our generation is definitely the “not bothered enough” generation. Or maybe we’re just the “helpless” generation. We all feel bad when something happens, or so say all the Facebook posts. We just don’t feel bad enough to do something substantial about it. The type of protests a country’s citizens engage in speaks a lot about the kind of people they are. Recently, there was a road blockade in Dhaka by some students protesting against their exam seats being located in a particular college where rules are rumoured to be strict. Then there are all the political rallies with people fighting for their prospective political parties. If these people loved Bangladesh as much as they seem to love the Awami League or BNP, would we be in such a state today? Do we not love our country

Maybe it’s only the students who can fight for what’s right. History says that students have always been the ones to lead a march towards change in our nation

like those who loved her back in 1952 or 1971? Why is it then that we don’t defend what makes Bangladesh special like the Sundarbans? Why is it that we can hold mega rallies and protests for political causes, but can’t stand together against our government building the Rampal plant? Is it because our voices are more or less ignored? Maybe so. The only way you can get someone to listen to your opinion in this country is if you’re politically wellconnected, or by being on popular talk-shows; but, even then, your opinions might not be paid any heed. Is the “power of the people” once and for all dead in Bangladesh? If people staged united protests against Rampal on a large scale such as the Gonojagoron Moncho, would the government still be able to not blink an eye? Where are the new generation “leaders” now? Or are leaders like Imran H Sarkar only assigned to lead the people in one or two particular issues and remain indifferent in everything else? A true leader with the country’s best interest at heart would

come forward to lead the people in protests against the Rampal project. Because this is not a political issue, it’s a patriotic one. If we don’t fight for a thing of pride like the natural habitat of the Sundarbans, maybe we don’t deserve to have it in our jurisdiction. Ever since the Bangladesh government announced their plans of the Rampal project, many eminent scholars like Abdullah Abu Sayeed have spoken up against it. Environmental activists have urged the government to rethink the construction of the Rampal plant. Besides the inhabitants of the area being directly affected, statistics show that the Rampal plant poses great environmental threat. There’s a good chance that our eco-system will be severely hampered from emission of the poisonous substances that will be used to run the plant. Local people in and around Khulna have been holding protests against the Sundarbans being destroyed. They need and deserve the support of the rest of us from around the country. This is not their fight alone, it should be ours

too. It’s really frustrating that it has come to this point. But somehow I’m unable to lose hope entirely. That’s because more than often there’s someone somewhere trying really hard. For example, amidst all failures, there were the “No VAT on education” protests by private university students. They spoke up and made a difference. Maybe it’s only the students who can fight for what’s right. History says that students have always been the ones to lead a march towards change in our nation. It doesn’t matter whether it's public or private -- it’s time we stop letting that divide us. It’s time we realise that we, united, can be an incredible voice that can’t be ignored. So, I urge the student population to step up to save the Sundarbans. It’s ours to save. I’d rather save our Royal Bengal Tigers from extinction than demand justice after the Rampal plant is built. And to our government -- don’t turn away from the voice of the people. This isn’t the Game of Thrones, so kindly stop being the Lannisters. Listen to us, and do

what’s right. Maybe we should reset our mindset as a nation. Maybe we’re following the wrong examples. Why not follow the example of Bhutan who has proved to be exceptional in its non-commercialisation of the environment? In Bhutan, they just celebrated the birth of their new prince by planting more than one million trees. If something of similar splendour happens in Bangladesh, we’ll probably do the opposite and cut down trees to construct a monument or something. We don’t need so many development projects, so much technology -- not at the cost of a natural galore like the Sundarbans! We don’t need to be “Digital Bangladesh” now, rather we need to try and sustain “beautiful and green Bangladesh.” I’m not a leader; I was born to follow. So I wish someone somewhere would start a revolutionary protest against destroying the Sundarbans. It’s sad in the first place that we have to fight for saving a heritage like the Sundarbans. I’m confounded by why the government fails to comprehend the fact that there are alternate options to produce electricity, but only one Sundarban. I wish the government would wake up, before it’s too late. Until then, what can I do? Perhaps I’ll change my profile picture to a “Save the Sundarbans” photo, not that that will make a difference. But what else can I do? l Rushiba Ahmad is a freelance contributor.

Opinion

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Naked outrage The practice of forced stripping shows a deep social sickness

n Garga Chatterjee

ast week, in Mumbai's Malwani area, two teachers of a children's tutorial class allegedly forced two children of Class II and III to strip and stand naked outside class. The two children had not completed their homework and that was the “reason” for this perverted act. The fact that we have adults in our midst who think that they have the power to forcibly get children to strip reveals the naked power that is used on the vulnerable. The person who ran the tutorial has claimed that the parents of the children were present and that the stripping was done on their insistence. This is not an one-off incident. Some parents are known to inflict sadist, perverted, and dehumanising “punishments” on their children, under the feeling that children are an extension of their selves and essentially can be treated or mistreated at will, like private property. Such parents probably nurture deep sicknesses of their own -- the hapless and vulnerable children being victims of their parents’

Children cannot be mistreated at will

DHAKA TRIBUNE

What is amazing is that nakedness per se does not evoke the same kind of outrage of suggestions of criminality. I am not talking about the voluntary nakedness of well-off individuals. I am talking about the near-nakedness nakedness of the very poor -- children and adults -nakedness that implicates the rest in being complicit in their stripping of human dignity of which nakedness is one of the signs. That has been normalised. They are seen as less-humans or non-humans

failure to come to terms with their own psychological problems. Stripping also has social sanction. In the sub-continent, almost every day, many, many people (who are often not of the male gender) are forcibly stripped and made naked, by superior or collective force or threat. A very small minority of these cases probably makes it to the so-called public domain. At that point, based on mood, sometimes there is outrage. It is also true that many of those who may be outraged at one

case of stripping may be found cheerleading stripping or sadist sexual violence on other people in other circumstances, based on their conceptions of “innocence” and “crookedness.” The latter, they believe, deserve to be dehumanised. There are those with rage issues and then there is outrage at injustice. Many have learned to couch the former in the language of the latter. The Malwani case has been brought to light because a passerby had filmed the abused children standing naked and then

shared it on social media. The “good intention” behind this sharing shows the kind of values a society has normalised. It points to the depths of sickness of a society that requires the social sharing of a video clip of naked children, thus, surely providing consumption material to respectable closet paedophiles, to be awakened into response. The social sharing of the video did not prompt any citizen to file a complaint. Mumbai police filed a complaint by itself -- some of whose members were and are

involved in dealing with “underage” boys and girls in ways that are sickening. Unfortunate are the people who have to rely on saviours like the Mumbai police. The fact that there have not been any arrests shows how lightly a society takes sadist perversion and promotes it by inaction. All of this is truly part of Indian values -- something that no respectable person should have anything to do with. What is amazing is that nakedness per se does not evoke the same kind of outrage of suggestions of criminality. I am not talking about the voluntary nakedness of well-off individuals. I am talking about the nearnakedness nakedness of the very poor -- children and adults -- nakedness that implicates the rest in being complicit in their stripping of human dignity of which nakedness is one of the signs. That has been normalised. They are seen as less-humans or non-humans. That is when avante-garde urban radicals organise “Kiss öf Love” public kissing gatherings in Kollkata as a public spectacle, ostensibly to reclaim the freedom in public space. We forget that lakhs have always kissed on Kolkata's streets, in the “open.” Indeed they have

made love there, had children there, fought and died there. They exist beyond the solidarity of the urbane social radicals or the moral outrage of the values-mafia. A few weeks ago in Kolkata, Adhiraj, a lawyer friend, invited me to an event that wanted to “take back the night.” Women's safety in streets after dark was the noble goal. When we reached, the assembly had already left the meeting point. We asked someone who actually lived on the street about the missing group. We were told that a group had assembled, shouted a few slogans, joked amongst themselves, and then gone away. I don’t know whether this was our missing group. What I do know is that we know nothing about what the women who live on the streets after dark think of those who want to take back the streets at night. Those who want to take back the night and folks like me who are in sympathy with such causes may not like what we hear about what they think of us, our spectacles, our taking backs. Ignorance is safe. It can even be empowering. l Garga Chatterjee is a political and cultural commentator. He can be followed on twitter @gargac.

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Climate Change

MASROORA HAQUE

Eco-systems help cope with climate change

Natural resources such as wetlands and haor basins are a complex eco-system which, when managed properly, can help communities tackle climate change

n Dr Hannah Reid

ood management of natural resources such as forests and wetlands is particularly important for poor, vulnerable communities most at risk from the impacts of climate change such as increasing floods and droughts. They are reliant on the natural resources to earn a living and feed their families. Many eco-systems embodied in these natural resources and the services they provide are central to many successful adaptation strategies. Natural resources increase subsistence and livelihood options available to the community and hence a community’s ability to adapt to the impact of climate change, research findings from Chanda Beel wetland, and Balukhali Village in the Chittagong Hill Tracts show. These two sites were studied as part of a three-year project titled Action Research for Community Adaptation in Bangladesh (ARCAB) which concluded in 2014. The use of bio-diversity and eco-system services to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change is known as ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). Project experience to date suggests that EbA holds great potential, but is currently poorly addressed in national and international policy processes. In Bangladesh, for example, just six out of 15 priority projects in the National Adaptation Program of Action have a significant natural resources component. Government responses to climate change instead tend to focus on hard infrastructural solutions. For example, twothirds of funding allocated from

the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund has been designated for water infrastructure projects in coastal areas. In some instances, this overemphasis on infrastructure can do more harm than good, for example, when sea walls affect the migration of mangroves as sea levels rise, and dykes and dams disrupt the annual flooding of floodplains. Such projects also tend to benefit those at the top of the income ladder while ignoring poor communities most at risk. In Chanda Beel, road, culvert, bridge, and sluice gate construction has changed the Beel’s physical features, reducing and controlling water flow for irrigation purposes, increasing siltation, and causing the Beel bed to rise. Waterlogging caused by siltation and decomposing water hyacinth has reduced water flow through the Beel even further. The result is that most Beel wetlands have now been converted to agricultural land. Sluice gates have also inhibited fish migration, and intensive use of agricultural chemicals has degraded water quality. The gains in agricultural productivity that have emerged from these wetland modifications, however, come at a cost and could be short-lived if climate change is not considered. Heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers have damaged land fertility, degraded wetland resources, and reduced biodiversity. The flooding and water-logging predicted by climate change models for the area could also dramatically affect production. Local communities are already reporting that the river water

tastes salty, particularly in April and May. This can occur when seawater comes up the river due to sea-level increases or reduced water flows from upstream. Water management for irrigation in places like Chanda Beel has increased irrigated areas, stabilised farmers’ income, and fostered economic development. However, it has also increased the potential for large-scale disasters, such as crop failure due to drought, and extreme floods when embankments are breached. Such disasters are likely to increase with climate change. People in Chanda Beel have already reported that cyclones and increasingly erratic rainfall and temperature changes are hampering crop production and other livelihood activities. Poor women and marginalised sectors of society suffer most. Research at these ARCAB sites and elsewhere suggests that more attention should be paid to EbA as an important response to climate change. This, however, comes with several challenges. Firstly, good decision making requires good evidence of what works and what doesn’t work. To make better choices about how to design and implement emerging climate change responses such as National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), policy makers and planners need to understand when EbA can be an effective response to climate change. Scientists therefore need to help policy-makers understand the conditions under which EbA works, and the benefits, costs and limitations EbA entails compared to other adaptation options such as hard infrastructural approaches. Secondly, the capacity of institutions to implement EbA

It is known that well-managed, stable, diverse ecosystems can make a significant contribution to local efforts to adapt to climate change

needs improving. This is as true at the local level as it is for higher levels of management and planning. In Chanda Beel, for example, local policies and institutions are weak, and there is no wetland resource management plan so the Beel faces overexploitation and loss of important resources. The system established by the Ministry of Land leaves local communities with little power to manage the resources on which they rely and little ability to earn a living as water-bodies are leased out to powerful and often corrupt intermediaries. This reinforces the marginalisation and vulnerability of fishers in particular. Thirdly, good EbA requires multi-sectoral approaches

involving ministries and local government agencies dealing with agriculture, water, coastal zone management, disaster risk reduction, development, and climate change. Collaboration and co-ordination between the many different sectors and actors required to make EbA a success is difficult for government agencies that are used to operating within their particular area of focus. Lastly, EbA needs to operate at many levels to be effective. As with its sister, Community-Based Adaptation (CBA), EbA is based on local priorities, needs, and knowledge, and fully integrates local people into planning at all stages in the implementation of any project. But it also needs to operate at other scales. Working at the level of the watershed is important in Chanda Beel, for example, where water flow may be affected by changes outside the local area. Likewise, EbA needs to go beyond small project-level initiatives to be mainstreamed into government processes, such as those relating to national adaptation planning. Working at these higher ecological and political/ management scales can be difficult to reconcile with the need for communities to remain central to planning and action. It is known that well-managed, stable, diverse eco-systems can make a significant contribution to local efforts to adapt to climate change. EbA can be combined with, or even used as a substitute for engineered infrastructure or other technological approaches. It is now time for governments to recognise this and do more to implement EbA. In Bangladesh in particular, little attention has historically been given to eco-system-based flood management measures, and in the face of growing climate change challenges in the years ahead, this needs to change. l Dr Hannah Reid is a Research Associate at the International Institute for Environment and Development. This page has been developed in collaboration with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and its partners, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). This page represents the views and experiences of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Dhaka Tribune or ICCCAD or its partners.

Arts & Letters

JAMINI ROY

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE

amini Roy was drawing his free-spirited deer while Tagore was writing his lyrical poems and plays about an uplift into a realm where knowledge unites people rather than dividing them. It was still an undivided India under British rule. Roy decolonised his art by abandoning western forms and rejuvenating indigenous motifs. More outraged voices such as Nazrul loudly demanded freedom without resorting to symbols and allegories. But Tagore envisioned a deeper reality where freedom of the mind would be pursued more diligently than administrative freedom. Otherwise, he knew, the shadow of the British administrators would continue to haunt us like a ghost. Almost seven decades after the British had left, that ghost has become more real in our life, making its presence ever so strong. Our

INSIDE

Tagore envisioned a deeper reality where freedom of the mind would be pursued more diligently than administrative freedom education system, which produces and disseminates knowledge, retains the colonial structures initiated by the colonisers for their own financial and cultural gain. This issue of Arts & Letters explores different aspects of this legacy through an interview of an intellectual whose work and activism make us hopeful about an alternative platform where the mind can be freed of a colonial past.

16-17

Where the mind is valiant Rabindranath Tagore Where the mind is valiant and the head held high Where knowledge flows; where walls of homes Won’t create fences and split the world into enclaves, Confining people to cubicles in their backyards; Where words stream from the depths of the heart Where currents reach their channels naturally Where in realm after realm, here and everywhere, Incessant endeavour leads to attainment of goals— Where the sand dunes of petty rituals Won’t block paths of justice permanently And split one’s manhood into smithereens; Where you always guide thought and action And lead all into the realm of happiness;

Interview with Azfar Hussain

O Lord, striking fiercely with your hand— Let India wake up to such a heavenly land! Translated by Fakrul Alam

Fakrul Alam is professor of English at Dhaka University. He is an eminent translator, writer, literary critic and researcher. He is the editor of The Essential Tagore (Havard Univeristy Press, 2011). His translation of Jibanananda Das’s poems was brought out by University Press Limited (1999). At present, he is translating Tagore’s Gitanjali.

Book Review

Send your submissions to: anl@dhakatribune.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Arts & Letters

INTER

Alternative education for trans n Rifat Munim

So in the US, if you want to get an education you have to be in debt. The burden of student loans in the US is massive; it’s a nightmare for students. So, we thought we should start something that will run counter to the ways education has been commodified. We consider this resistance education; like resistance literature this is resistance education. We have so far offered many courses at both undergraduate and graduate level, some of which were offered free and some at the minimum cost so students from all over the world could enrol. There are different kinds of lectures and seminars that GCAS organises. All of these lectures and seminars are on topics that actually matter to students and that bring out the question of oppression and resistance. But the most interesting aspect of this organisation is that it is a movement. All the seminars and lectures and other activities that GCAS organises are part of the movement against an unjust society; it’s a radical research organisation and a coalition of writers, activists, philosophers and theologians who are on the left and who believe in the possibilities of transforming the world. Activism is the key to our organisation.

Azfar Hussain is a prominent Bangladeshi theorist, critic, poet, translator and activist who writes in both Bangla and English. He is vice president of the Global Center for Advanced Studies (GCAS) and GCAS Professor of English, World Literature and Interdisciplinary Studies. He is also associate professor of Liberal Studies/Interdisciplinary Studies at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA. He has published hundreds of academic and creative pieces, including translations from several non-western languages. He has written on a wide range of topics in such areas as “third world” Marxisms, critical theory, cultural politics, political economy and theories and practices of interdisciplinarity.

This is also an era of unprecedented crisis of capitalism. Dialectically speaking, capitalism is not having a very easy time either

In a recent interview, he talked at some length about why an alternative platform for education, such as GCAS, is of utmost importance to challenging the capitalist system which, in the United States, has turned education into a commodity. As the talk shifted to Bangladesh, with a focus on the colonial practices still ingrained in the country’s education system, he put the scene in perspective and called for a critical engagement with the way English as a language and English studies as academic subjects are used and taught. Excerpts:

How did you get involved with GCAS and why do you think it is an important platform for alternative education?

It was while working on a book about education that I heard of the

One aspect of global capitalism is to reinforce the colonial agenda through the education system. Pedagogies in the countries with a colonial past retain the colonial structures initiated by the colonisers. What is your take on this?

GCAS. I came to know that it was not just a school but also a movement. I learnt that its aim was to oppose the commodification of education and offer the kind of education that would enable students to think critically about the world we live in and how to change it. So the philosophy and the mission of the school attracted me. At that time I was teaching at the University of Michigan and got involved with education-oriented activism against racism and capitalism. So at one point I was invited to serve as a faculty member of GCAS and later on, as its vice president. I should also point out that this organisation is relatively new, experimental and still evolving. By now it has been able to attract quite a number of students who are com-

mitted to the cause of justice and the rights of the oppressed in the US and also outside of the US.

In an era when capitalism is extending its grip more and more every day, do you think an organisation like GCAS can survive and evolve?

This is certainly an era of unprecedented expansion of capitalism as also of unprecedented commercialisation of education. At the same time, however, this is also an era of unprecedented crisis of capitalism. Dialectically speaking, capitalism is not having a very easy time either. There have been resistance, movements, riots and uprisings against capitalism throughout the world in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008.

We at GCAS believe it was not only a financial crisis but also a crisis of capitalism as a system. The history of capitalism is not only a history of its expansion but also a history of its crisis. So, we are living in a time when capitalism is afflicted and ridden with crises, and one of the fundamental crises is the crisis of education. Now it’s very clear that education in the advanced zone of capital, namely the US, is becoming very expensive. Just look at the budget cuts the US has been experiencing continuously over the past 20 years. Education has been commercialised to the point that it is no longer a right but a privilege. One of my former students wrote a brilliant article whose title was “To be an American is to be in debt”.

Without addressing the core structure of oppression and domination, such as capitalism, imperialism/ colonialism, racism and patriarchy -- which are profoundly interconnected -- we cannot have a meaningful and transformative education that aims at bringing about changes in the world. Colonialism has a history and that history has not stood still. We nonetheless think that one cannot talk about colonialism without talking about its relationship to other structures of domination like capitalism etc. In the United States, the commercialised model of education is, in one way or another, directly or indirectly, colonialist. There is always this idea that the US is superior. Although there is this thing called multiculturalism, it basically underlies an assimilationist approach that others will assimilate into their official cultur-

Arts & Letters

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

RVIEW

sforming the world al paradigm. We have challenged this idea of multiculturalism. Although multiculturalism emphasises the need for bringing together and respecting all cultures, it does so not by addressing but by erasing the existing, unequal power relations which are already obtaining among different cultures. If you do not really address these unequal power relations, then you are basically reinforcing the status quo and we challenge the status quo. So basically, colonialism and racism inform and inflect the current educational practices in the US and for that matter in “the first world”. As far as decolonisation is concerned, I personally take Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s work very seriously. As for the other GCAS members, each in their different ways is alive to the issues of colonialism and how it affects the education system. Furthermore, GCAS organised a very significant lecture by Ngugi; it also sponsored a lecture by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak who is one of the GCAS members.

Now I’d like to shift the focus on Bangladesh. You are familiar with the cultural, social and political dimensions of this country where education has been commodified in much the same way as the US. The colonial practices, ingrained as they are in the education system, are more visible here. How would you assess the Bangladesh situation?

There is no doubt that Bangladesh has been fully integrated into the world capitalist system. But then, we should not overlook the fact that capitalism has not evenly developed all over the world. So despite its unprecedented and aggressive expansion, capitalism has remained unevenly developed across the world and to speak of Bangladesh is to speak of this uneven development of capitalism. In Bangladesh, the war-ravaged economy got further devastated by the ruling class’s continuous plunder of people’s resources. In other words, our economy has not so much been production-oriented as it has been pillage-oriented. This is a result of the unevenly developed capitalism that I’m trying to call attention to. Now if we look at the education system, what we see is a system fraught with division. We have three streams of education -- the English medium, the Bangla medium public education and the madrasa system, and there

are unequal power relations and exchanges among them. Taken together, they produce and legitimize and intensify this already class-divided society. In the context of Bangladesh the question of education is a class question as people have asymmetrical access to education and lots of poor children have no access to education at all. Another crucial aspect of our education is its colonialist nature. It is possible there are some oppositional currents as colonialism is not absolute. But our education system is predominantly colonialist in nature and so are our bureaucracy, army, police system and judiciary. So colonialism remains to be a fundamental question economically, politically and pedagogically. The history of colonialism has not come to an end, you can call it neo-colonialism, but it is colonialism all the same. Just mark the ways in which we approach history. There is tokenism in the way school textbooks approach history. When it comes to the Liberation War, students learn about some middle-class individuals and heroes. This is precisely the colonialist way of talking about history; colonialism celebrates the heroes at the expense of common people. Students hardly learn about the women and the working class people who had contributed to the war. Thus history itself is incomplete and distorted. There have been frequent interventions in the writing of history. So I don’t think that our children have access to the kind of education that will make them well versed in our history.

This is an interesting critique of the mainstream, Bangla medium education. But in English medium schools and madrasas, the curricula do not include anything about our ancient or modern history or the Liberation Struggle.

Indeed. In our English medium institutions and madrasas, students do not learn anything about native history. They know more about others than they know about themselves. I think this is extremely dangerous. This is the typical colonialist approach -erase native history. If you want to cripple and paralyse a nation, then make them forget their history. To quote Frantz Fanon, this is the perverted logic of colonialism -- empty the natives of their brain. So this emptying process is visible in these two mediums. This is a

GCAS AT A GLANCE

I’m not against learning the English language. I believe we need to learn English. But at the same time, I believe, we need to be critically aware of the politics it entails. To say that English is an international language is not enough

serious problem. As far as English medium schools or studies of English in colleges and universities are concerned, English is emphasised to the point that other languages are ignored. Hardly any teacher in English medium schools, barring a few exceptions perhaps, knows or is aware of how English continues to be the language of the powerful, the language of money, the language of capital. Now this is a very serious issue surrounding language and before going any further, I must clarify my position that I’m not against learning the English language. I believe we need to learn English. But at the same time, I believe, we need to be critically aware of the politics it entails. To say that English is an international language is not enough. We already know that English is an international language and hence, we should learn this language. But I’m also interested to know what this international language does in Bangladesh. It creates and intensifies the divide among our people. So we have to be critically aware of English in order to be able to use it significantly.

So, do you think a restructuring of English vis-a-vis our education system is necessary?

It is absolutely necessary and it is possible too. Ngugi Wa Thiong’o provides us with some directions in this regard. In his article “Teach me to be me” he says we can reorient ourselves towards English. We should not start with “English national literature” and then come to native culture and literature; we should rather start from our literature and then relate our literature to the outside world. I personally think comparative literature can substantially help us in restructuring English stud-

ies in Bangladesh. While we teach British authors, we should always discuss their work in relation to our land and literature so that students can relate their works with ours. For instance, while teaching Wole Soyinka, I find it more relevant to compare his poems with Kazi Nazrul Islam’s. So I think a politically engaged comparative literature can help us. We have become used to a Eurocentric mode of comparing our writers to the European ones. For example, we cannot talk about Nazrul unless he is compared to Byron, among others. In so doing, we overlook how our own cultural resources are misappropriated. So I think we should politicise comparative literature, not by following the Eurocentric method but by initiating a new method that will continuously call attention to the unequal exchanges that are there between “the first world” and “the third world” literary productions. In other words, this is a move in the direction of decolonising comparative literature. We also need to decolonise English Literature and indeed, the English language itself. l [Azfar Hussain’s books include The Wor(l)d in Question: Essays in Political Economy and Cultural Politics (Dhaka: Samhati Publications, 2008) and The Politics of Sites, Subjects, and Scenes: Micronarratives and Essays (forthcoming). He is currently working on several books that include Towards a Political Economy of Land, Labor, Language and the Body; Decolonizing Comparative Literature. His forthcoming Bengali books include Samrajjobad o Sanskritik Rajniti (Imperialism and Cultural Politics); Pothon: Shobdo o Noishobder Rajniti (Readings: The Politics of Sounds and Silences); and Chinho Bhashey Obosheshey (Signs Float At Last)]

he Global Center for Advanced Studies (GCAS) is a fully licensed, non-profit and privately funded institute of higher education in the State of Michigan. Located in Wyoming, Michigan, it is governed by a board of directors consisting of the founder/director, a vice president, a treasurer, a researchers’ union representative and a director of student affairs. It was founded in 2013 by Creston C Davis (currently professor of philosophy and psychoanalysis at GCAS) as an institute of higher learning based on critical theory and the concept of a “debt free education grounded in the principles of democracy and the commons”. In 2014–15, Alain Badiou took up the role of honorary president at GCAS. Azfar Hussain joined GCAS as its vice president in 2013 and is still working in that capacity. On July 16–19, 2015, a GCAS conference called “Democracy Rising World Conference 2015” took place in Athens. In autumn 2015, GCAS partnered with two institutions of higher education in Europe -- the Alma Mater Europaea and Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis (ISH). The GCAS has already opened a number of institutes: Critical Philosophy; Critical Media and Cultural Studies; Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Policy Studies; Critical Theology; Psychoanalysis; Global Studies; Political Economy; and Critical Pedagogy. The GCAS academic structure consists of both online and in-residence courses. The faculty features some of the most prominent academic professors in the world including Joan Copjec, Simon Critchley, Enrique Dussel, Arif Dirlik, Henry Giroux, Richard Kearney, Antonio Negri, Jean-Luc Nancy, Avital Ronell, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Gianni Vattimo. Former faculty members include Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek, among others. Link to GCAS organizing body: https://globalcenterforadvancedstudies.org/administration/ Link to GCAS faculty list: https://web.archive.org/ web/20150415191255/https://globalcenterforadvancedstudies.org/faculty/ Link to the Democracy Rising World Conference 2015: http://www. transform-network.net/calendar/ calendar-2015/news/detail/Calendar/-5ba2dfc47f.html Link to Creston Davis interview: http://www.critical-theory.com/ inside-the-global-center-for-advanced-studies-a-chat-with-crestondavis/ Official website: https://globalcenterforadvancedstudies.org

Arts & Letters

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

BOOK REVIEW LETTER FROM LONDON

Poems of Impropriety n Ahsan Akbar

BIGSTOCK

When The New Yorker wanted to interview Gil Scott-Heron just a year before his death, he reluctantly agreed. He treated the interview with his usual irreverence, openly smoking crack in his Harlem apartment, and making incendiary remarks about the music industry. He lived up to his reputation. What, perhaps, came as a shock to the readers of the piece was his complete dismissal at labeling his seminal work The Revolution Will Not Be Televised as a militant message against mass media and the consumerist culture. Scott-Heron reminded us he was only interested in satire and he went about stating the irony, mocking the State’s corrupt practices and quite simply, letting the audience laugh. Thumbing through the pages of The Bangladesh Poet Of Impropriety, a collection of poems by Maqsoodul Haque, one could hardly miss some resemblance to Scott-Heron’s works. Haque, too, is interested in satire and much more: it is no surprise Scott-Heron is cited as an inspiration in the book. The socio-political messages are elevated by Haque’s gift for clear-eyed, stimulating poetry. More importantly, in a country ruled by the bourgeoisie, his willingness to ‘name and shame’ with no sugarcoating or euphemistic masking, is refreshing. This makes the collection not only ‘improper’ but also exceptionally bold. Pulling no punches, right from the opening number in the collection, Haque chooses to unzip both our political and popular culture. “Limits of Our Limitations: A Failed Foreword” does not fail to expose certain unsavoury truths about the degradation of nature and the other overlooked (and rather, condoned) ugliness: exorbitant rates of interest associated with micro-finance, the lending

only poem in English that speaks of the strange fetish we developed for decorating our homes and cities with aluminium, which was preceded by bathroom tiles, and which – as pointed out in the poem – was a pathetic step-up from plastic! In other poems, Haque refers Dhaka as the “concrete urban jungle”, and does not spare the culprits behind the “beautification” of our capital. In Dear Daisy, a satirical homage to the wife of our former dictator HM Ershad, he hits the nail on the head:

as also rubbished Poet wannabes like me, down to that idiot writing Daily Star Commentary, I wonder why there is a dire necessity in this country for such a wasteful luxury – the toilet-paper industry! Guys – save some water, save some trees, save the Butterflies and the Bees’ or self destruct to make Ecology like Poverty: History or is it going to be a Free Masonic Nobel Prize – so Hail Usury?

scheme whose practitioners purport to “make poverty history”. The poem, as evident throughout the collection, comes infused with a dose of self-deprecating wit: ‘sponsored’ and bonded ‘free thinkers’ to unholy nit-pickers,

Haque is perhaps not known first and foremost as a poet, though earlier signposts were either missed or ignored by us. He is a celebrated musician who fronted popular bands such as Feedback and Maqsood O dHAKA; he is also known for his radical columns and blogs, and for being the founder of the Bangladesh Musical Band Association (BAMBA). He wrote some of the best lyrics in Bangla band music since the 1970s. In 1994 when Haque penned the first two parts of Gitikobita(Musical Ballad), he

staked a claim in the pantheon of contemporary Bangla poetry. In the late 1960s, when second-wave feminism in the United States was rallying for the much-overdue reforms, student movements used “The personal is political’” as a slogan that soon became inseparable from pop culture. It is no surprise that for Haque, a male-feminist, much of the personal has always been political. Beyond the usual framework of friends and family, Haque’s poems extend to celebrate his relationship with Dhaka: Love it, Live it or LEAVE IT, Dhaka has a subtle romance attached to its very ‘being’ – one of a continuous flirtation where romances are about sodium light filled nights, cloned high rises and condominiums, that has just the right mix of marbles, bathroom tiles and your guess is as good as mine… ALUMINIUM. The above quoted from “Dhaka: Ode to Aluminum” is perhaps the

A tribute to real world heroes n Anne Marte Roas Pettersson A cold winter morning I found a book on my table with a small note from a very good friend. Later that evening my reading journey began; a journey into a book filled up with small glimpses of everyday life in Bangladesh. It is also a travel in mind to places and situations that made me think and rethink, questioning and searching for answers. Whether it is for describing a woman’s work day in the countryside or for some snippets of world famous

microfinance -- it is done in a precise language and from the perspective of lower class people who, in the author’s eyes, are the real world heroes. The stories or chapters often end with a rhetorical question or a statement, perfectly formulated for feeding your mind to consider and reconsider (in) human behavior. In the book you will meet Hamid, a blind tailor, working in a ‘not-so-fair’ factory. The photos in this book complement the texts as they reflect the real life of people.

The book I found on my table that day is called Bangladesh -- flooded by change, published by Agamee Prakashanee in the Ekushey Book Fair 2016. It is written by Bosse Kramsjö, a young Swedish backpacker who first went to Bangladesh in 1972. He has since involved himself in development works with several organisations, and the photos in it are taken by Tuhin Islam who spent a good deal of his life in villages of Bangladesh for a better understanding of countryside life. Both are magicians in expression and

presentation, by words and photos, for the heart as well as for the brain. I wish you a pleasant reading journey! l The writer is guest teacher, Boras University, Sweden.

Bangladesh—flooded by change Publisher: Agamee Prakashani Page: 227 Published: 2016 Price: Tk 500

K.Z. Islam and his Nirman contractors, big ugly road and Islamic arches and dividers, the embankment of Metropolitan Dhaka, to save the city from floods, There is of course the personal in every one of us that is not, and will never be, political. About half of the book, aside from the socio-political messages challenging the status quo, is intensely focused on one’s relationship with god, with nature, finding solace in solitude. There is a recurrent theme articulating the joys (and pains) of growing up and growing older. This review has focused on the other half, because Haque got it right when he writes about the personal poems,“This book could do best without a review”. In my opinion, they are best left for readers to interpret and any amount of dissection by any reviewer would be a disservice to their emotions and sensitivity. The Bangladesh Poet of Impropiety by Maqsoodul Haque (RodelaProkashoni, 2010), and 2nd edition e-book by Smartmux Limited (2015). Illustrations by Harold Rasheed. l Ahsan Akbar is the author of The Devil’s Thumbprint, a collection of poems published by Bengal Lights Books in 2013. www.ahsanakbar.com

Heritage

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

The Ganges Delta and the foundation of empires The cultural and commercial development of our land was shaped by the great river delta

n Tim Steel

ost of the world’s great river delta systems developed, early in the history of civilisation, as centres and crossroads of trade -- and social, cultural, and economic evolution. Whether Nile, Rhone, Rhine, or Amazon deltas, amongst the greatest of them, the rivers that reach far into the continental masses, and offer oceanic access to markets by sea -- the reason for such development is clear. It can come, therefore, to no great surprise to anyone, that the largest such delta saw one of the greatest such centres. And, from that grew the foundations of empires.

The ‘Ganges Basin’ civilisation, reputed to have developed between migrants from the Harappan Civilisation of the Indus Valley and the Aryans from central Asia, is said to have been the earliest industrialised civilisation in the world, with urban development evolving from an early agricultural heritage

The three great rivers that flow into the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean, through the “Ganges Delta,” the Ganges itself, the Brahmaputra, and the Meghna -- all reach deep into both South Asia, and the Asian continental landmass itself. And, through one of the greatest of these, the holy Brahmaputra River, the northern Lohit River tributary reaches deep into the vast lands of China, but also into proximity to Yangtze and Yellow rivers, with direct access downstream to the eastern and coastal treasure houses of ancient China.

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The entire Ganges Basin and most of north India can still be reached along the Ganges itself. And, reaching deep into the tributaries of the great rivers themselves, such empires as those of India, Tibet, as well as China, with such ancient societies as Nepal and Bhutan also -- all compounding into one of the world’s earliest, and most vibrant masses of social and economic development. Sources of valuable commodities across those great territories, as well as the increasingly processed product of natural treasures, could be accessed by the evolving centres of civilisation in the Middle East, Africa, Mediterranean, and Far East, to both supply, and source. It is, perhaps, small wonder that these lands which, today, lie at the very heart of Bangladesh, became a thriving international centre of such social, cultural, and economic development. Such cultural developments as writing in the form of Sanskrit, was, perhaps, the result of the need to record economic transactions of trade, once it moved beyond barter -- to which early last millennium BCE “coins” were recovered from such sites of ancient cities at Wari Bateshwar and Mahasthangarh, mark the beginnings of economic evolution. Although so many artefacts of craft have not survived the humidity of climate, such skills as metal casting and sculpture reveal themselves, with a history of thousands of years, in the sites, museums, and craft centres across the economic landscape of modern Bangladesh. Sadly, for the casual online enquirer, the online information about the Ganges Delta, almost certainly uploaded by Indian

sources, says nothing about the rich heritage of the delta: The love/ hate relationship between today’s India and its neighbour seems incapable of securing co-operation in matters of mutual interest, such as environment and heritage, so invaluable in the development of tourism. Unsurprisingly, the famous the Sundarbans mangrove forest features a Wikipedia entry for that environmental treasure which would leave any visitor assuming it lies within today’s India, until, towards the end of the piece, the reality of only about 20% lying within our neighbour’s lands is admitted. Since archaeologists believe that, prior to the period of its evident foundation in the middle of the last millennium BCE, the lands upon which Mahasthangarh was founded were beneath the saline waters of the delta, it is, of course, clear that the delta, with its already flourishing centres of trade, frequented by earliest traders and the lands around inhabited by indigenous peoples, was different in shape to that with which we are familiar today. There is, however, little doubt that the ridges of sedimentary rock, probably raised at the time of the great Austro-Indian continental collision, upon which early sites such as Wari Bateshwar stand, and from which have been recovered evidence of Stone Age occupation, advanced into the waters of the Bay, and that the sea has receded in the last few thousand years in the face of the alluvial deposits of annual flooding. There is, of course, little doubt that, as communities developed along the banks of the Ganges, perhaps as early as three millennia before the Common Era,

manufacturing slowly supplanted agriculture as a considerable occupation. The “Ganges Basin” civilisation, reputed to have developed between migrants from the Harappan Civilisation of the Indus Valley and the Aryans from central Asia, is said to have been the earliest industrialised civilisation in the world, with urban development evolving from an early agricultural heritage. Traces of the advanced nature of such cultural manifestation is, very slowly, emerging from the alluvium of the, annually flooded soils. No doubt the fertility of the alluvial soils of the Ganges banks and lands around was so great that trading in the produce became desirable from very early times. Indeed, it may well be wondered if the evidence, from the Yangtze region of China of the domestication of rice around 10,000 BCE, which pre-dated that of the Ganges two thousand years later, was entirely coincidental. And when early trade between communities developed, and eventually, traders from afar, and even, probably, first the banks of the other great rivers, especially the Brahmaputra, and then from coastal communities from even further afield, there is no doubt that the lands of the delta became an ever increasingly busy hub. Written records from both China and the great Mediterranean Empires, dating back to the middle of the last millennium BCE, confirms evidence of advanced cultures, and trade. But empirical and circumstantial evidence points, maybe, to development far, far earlier. Thus far, Bangladesh, which is the nation at the heart of which lies these vast deltaic lands,

is limited in its resources for archaeology. However, we can be sure of dating material that reaches as far back as the Bronze Age, late in the second millennium BCE. However, when we consider the very evident development of coastal lines in the past two thousand years, we may begin to appreciate the great depths within the rich soils of the deltaic lands at which such tangible evidence may lie, today. Nevertheless, there remains tangible evidence if the rich heritage, and the history, that marks much of all the social, cultural, and economic developments. From the artefacts of Stone and Bronze ages, to the sites of Bronze Age homes, through such as universities and monasteries of the great, early, Buddhist era, pre-dated, of course, by Hindu and Jain evolution, no doubt fuelled by the wealth and cultural exchanges of trade, and the evidence of cities, fortifications, palaces, temples, and, even, mosques, as well as roads and bridges -- mark some of the world’s most remarkable empires that either occupied, or even grew out of the societies of the delta and its surrounding lands. Amongst them, Bangladesh can still show architectural traces of such great empires and cultural developments, clearly, at least in part, financed by the “wealth and trade” of the lands. Much neglected, there is, in fact, significant circumstantial, empirical, documentary, and tangible, visible, evidence of a remarkable history and heritage, of worldwide significance, that is, uniquely, that of Bangladesh. l Tim Steel is a communications, marketing and tourism consultant.

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World 21

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

INSIDE PORTRAYALS

Politics and war crimes: Key figures in Balkan wars The nine lives of Donald Trump Is this week’s Donald Trump controversy the one that will finally derail the bombastic real estate developer’s foray into presidential politics? PAGE 22

Myanmar’s upper house of parliament approved a bill on Friday that gives Aung San Suu Kyi a powerful government role, despite opposition from the military on the second day of her party’s new administration. PAGE 23

Radovan Karadzic

Ratko Mladic

Vojislav Seselj

Franjo Tudjman

Biljana Plavsic

Ante Gotovina

Ramush Haradinaj

PHOTOS: WIKIMEDIA/REUTERS/ICTY

Myanmar’s ruling party, military clash over Suu Kyi role

Slobodan Milosevic

Radical Serb leader Vojislav Seselj was acquitted Thursday on all charges arising from the 1990s Balkan conflicts in the latest verdict handed down by the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The court has indicted 161 people, convicting 80 and acquitting 19 including Seselj while four are still on trial. Here is a rundown of the fate of some other key players in the wars--

Slobodan Milosevic

Brazil’s Rousseff gets relief from Supreme Court, supporters Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to take a corruption investigation into former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva away from a crusading federal judge, as pro-government protests across the country eased pressure on President Dilma Rousseff. PAGE 24

Known as the “Butcher of the Balkans”, Milosevic fuelled ethnic conflict and mass murder in the former Yugoslavia during his 13 years of iron rule, defying international sanctions and Nato bombs. He was elected president of Serbia -- a constituent republic of the Yugoslav federation -- in 1990. A year later the break-up of Yugoslavia began with declarations of independence by Croatia and Slovenia. Milosevic played a key role in supporting Serb rebels during the 199195 Croatian war and the 1992-95 war in Bosnia. In 1998-99 he oversaw a bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. He was found dead in his cell in 2006 at the age of 64 while still awaiting the verdict on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Radovan Karadzic

The former Bosnian Serb political leader was found guilty on March 24, 2016 of genocide and nine other charges including extermination, deportations and hostage-taking and sentenced to 40 years in jail. He was convicted of genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in which almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered, the worst bloodshed on European soil since World War II. Karadzic, 70, is the most high-profile figure convicted over the wars that tore Yugoslavia apart. He managed to evade arrest for 13 years until 2008 when he was arrested on a Belgrade bus, masquerading behind a bushy beard as a New Age healer.

Ratko Mladic

The notorious military leader of Serb rebels in Bosnia is accused of presiding over the bloody 44-month siege of Sarajevo from 1992-1996 and the Srebrenica massacre. After almost 16 years in hiding Mladic, 73, was arrested in Serbia in 2011 and is on trial on multiple charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court is expected to deliver its verdict next year against Mladic, the last highranking Bosnian Serb to face judgement.

Vojislav Seselj

Seselj, 61, a Milosevic ally and hardline leader of the Serbian Radical Party, was accused by prosecutors of being behind the murder of many Croat, Muslim and other non-Serb civilians, as well as the forced deportation of “tens of thousands” from large areas of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia. However, the ICTY acquitted him in a surprise verdict branded “shameful” by Croatia. The judges found that although crimes were committed, Seselj had not had “hierarchial” responsibility for his paramilitary forces after they came under Serbian army control and could not be held responsible for their crimes. The verdict clears the way for him to stand unencumbered in April’s election in Serbia.

Franjo Tudjman

Tudjman was a fervent nationalist elected in 1990 to lead the Croatian republic, which he took out of the Yugoslav federation the following year. The ensuing four-year war between Croatian government forces and Serb secessionists left some 20,000 people dead. A year after Tudjman died in 1999 at the age of 77, the ICTY said he would have been indicted for war crimes had he lived.

Biljana Plavsic

The former Bosnian Serb president -- the first woman to be convicted by the ICTY -- pleaded guilty to crimes against humanity and was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2003. She was found to have played a leading role in a campaign of persecution against Croats and Muslims during Bosnia’s war. Now 85, she was granted an early release in 2009.

Ante Gotovina

An army general considered a war hero by many Croatians for his role in the military offensive that effectively ended the war, Gotovina, 60, was indicted in 2001 for war crimes. He went into hiding but was arrested in Spain in 2005 and sentenced six years later to 24 years in jail. He was acquitted on appeal in 2012.

Ramush Haradinaj

Haradinaj, a wartime rebel chief of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and a former Kosovo prime minister, was charged with war crimes against Serb civilians during the 1998-1999 conflict in Kosovo. The ICTY acquitted Haradinaj, 47, in 2012 but the case was marred by accusations the court had failed to protect witnesses. l

Source: AFP

World

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

INSIGHT

The nine lives of Donald Trump n AFP, Washington, DC Is this week’s Donald Trump controversy the one that will finally derail the bombastic real estate developer’s foray into presidential politics? Opponents are hoping that unlike previous flaps, the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination won’t be able to recover from his statement that women who have illegal abortions should be punished. Next Tuesday’s primary in the American heartland state of Wisconsin will be an indicator of whether The Donald has finally crossed the line with his supporters, who until now have stood by their man despite controversies that would have torpedoed the political aspirations of most traditional candidates. A poll conducted by Marquette University Law School showed Texas Senator Ted Cruz in the lead in Wisconsin, with 40% support among likely voters, 10% ahead of Trump. Ohio Governor John Kasich, the third candidate in the Republican race, had 21% in the poll, which

A supporter of US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in De Pere, Wisconsin on Wednesday REUTERS

had a margin of error of 5.8-percentage points. The survey was conducted after a week dominated by highly personal attacks between Trump and Cruz, whose wives were dragged into the mudslinging. In a race where Trump makes headlines seemingly every day, on Tuesday this week his campaign manager was charged with battery for allegedly grabbing a reporter at a news conference. Rather than heed calls to fire Corey Lewandowski, Trump has unequivocally backed his top staffer and instead questioned reporter Michelle Fields’s version of events, even suggesting she threatened him by approaching him after the event. Then on Wednesday, Trump said during an interview with MSNBC that he thought abortion should be banned and women who get the procedure under such a ban should be punished. After an outcry from all corners of the political spectrum, the reality TV star quickly backpedaled and issued a statement saying the woman should be considered as a victim. In the US, abortion is a hot-button topic that defines political candidacies and not an issue where a presidential hopeful can afford a gaffe.

‘Mental’

Not only were Democrats predictably outraged, Trump even managed to antagonise anti-abortion conservatives who say only doctors who perform the procedure should be punished. “Once again Donald Trump has demonstrated that he hasn’t seriously thought through the issues, and he’ll say anything just to get attention,” the ultraconservative Cruz said. He’s even testing the patience of his most ardent public supporters. “Do you realise our candidate is mental? It’s like constantly having to bail out your 16-year-old son from prison,” conservative commentator and until now steadfast supporter Ann Coulter said after Trump tweeted an unflattering photo of Cruz’s wife next to a photo of his own wife, a former model. The long road to the GOP national convention in July is already littered with controversies over women, Islam and immigrants. It’s not known how much of a factor they played in Trump’s 12 defeats so far. Although his popularity seems ironclad among the relatively small segment of Republican primary voters, a new survey shows Trump

with a 67% unfavorability rating among Americans overall -- the most disliked major-party candidate in the 32-year history of the Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The Teflon candidate?

But in the last two months, Trump has repeatedly defied political correctness and remained atop the Republican race thanks to supporters who say they admire his business acumen and “refreshing” lack of restraint. In one week in early February, Trump took positions unimaginable for a major Republican candidate: accusing George W Bush of negligence before the September 11, 2001 attacks, promising to be “neutral” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, publicly clashing with Pope Francis and professing that he liked the principle underpinning President Barack Obama’s health care reform legislation. He went on to roll to a win in South Carolina’s primary on February 20. Three days later, Trump said he himself would like to hit a protester. That night, he finished on top in the Nevada caucus. The following week, Trump pretended not to know the for-

mer leader of the racist Ku Klux Klan movement, who pledged his support to the billionaire, before disavowing the white supremacist leader in the face of an outcry. He then took most of the contests on the March 1 “Super Tuesday.” Seemingly unstoppable, the businessman plunged the tone of the presidential race to new depths when he alluded to the size of his penis in a debate watched by 17m viewers. Wins in two southern states followed. Violence between Trump supporters and protesters marred his campaign rallies in March, but the candidate refused to condemn it or call for calm. On March 15, he won three major states. And with each new outburst and scandal, Trump monopolises not only the political debate, but also the airwaves. When he isn’t hosting rallies or issuing punchy Twitter posts, he’s in the public eye with interviews on news programmes. According to an analysis by Mediaquant published in the New York Times, Trump had racked up the equivalent of $1.9bn in free media coverage by the end of February -more than twice that of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. l

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Myanmar’s ruling party, military clash over Suu Kyi role n Reuters, Naypyitaw/Yangon Myanmar’s upper house of parliament approved a bill on Friday that gives Aung San Suu Kyi a powerful government role, despite opposition from the military on the second day of her party’s new administration. The bill creates the post of state counsellor and would allow the Nobel laureate to coordinate ministers and influence the executive. It would help Suu Kyi circumvent a constitution written under the former junta that prevents her leading the country because her two sons are not Myanmar citizens. Suu Kyi, who spent years under house arrest because of her push for democracy, has described those constitutional provisions as “silly” and said she would rule regardless after she led her National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide election victory in November. Members of parliament from the military - who under the constitution hold a quarter of seats opposed the NLD bill, describing it as unconstitutional. They said the state counsellor position concentrated too much power in the hands of one person and lacked checks and balances. “The provisions in the bill are tantamount to meaning the state counsellor is equal to the president, which is contrary to the constitution,” said Colonel Myint Swe, a military member of the upper house.

Myanmar’s NLD party leader Aung San Suu Kyi smiles with army members during the handover ceremony of outgoing President Thein Sein and new President Htin Kyaw at the presidential palace in Naypyitaw on Wednesday REUTERS Some lawmakers suggested the Constitutional Tribunal should decide on the bill. Despite military resistance, the bill passed and moved to the lower house for debate on Monday. The NLD has a majority in both houses so does not need military approval to pass bills. Suu Kyi’s party would need military approval to change the constitution: amendments require support of more than 75% of lawmakers.

‘Confrontations’

The constitution is the main bone of contention between Suu Kyi and the military, whose commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, on

Sunday stressed the need for the armed forces to remain a force in politics and warned against amending the charter quickly. Some NLD lawmakers said the tussle over the state counsellor post would be the first of many between the military members of parliament and the government that took office on Wednesday. “There will be confrontations between the NLD and military MPs in future,” said Thiri Yadana, an upper house NLD lawmaker. “They have to agree to amend the constitution.” The role of state counsellor will add to the list of Suu Kyi’s jobs - she is already foreign minister, education minister, energy minister, and

minister of the president’s office and has renewed questions about her willingness to delegate power. She has a thin bench of experienced politicians. Her party fought for democracy for more than quarter of a century, but its members are novices in government. NLD official Win Htein said Suu Kyi’s roles would not be a burden and the counsellor position would allow her to “work more effectively”. The energy portfolio gives Suu Kyi oversight of oil and gas production, as well as responsibility for a decision on the $3.6bn Myitsone Dam project, suspended in 2011. China has invested heavily in it and is keen to see it proceed. l

the nearby Yamuna river and extra storeys being added illegally to the structure.

April 2013 An illegal, partially built apartment block collapses on the outskirts of Mumbai, killing 74, many of them children.

June 2001

September 2006 Some 50 coal miners die after a mine operated by state-run Bharat Coking

Pakistan has asked Iran to investigate the case of a suspected Indian spy who Pakistani authorities say has confessed to spying against Pakistan from Iran, according to an Interior Ministry letter to Iran. Last month, Pakistan said it had detained the suspected RAW spy, Kulbhushan Jadhav, in Baluchistan after he had illegally entered the country from Iran. -REUTERS

According to the India TV-CVoter opinion polls for West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) is going to retain power in the state. The TMC is projected to get 40% of the popular votes while the Left, led by the CPM, will get 31%. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which campaigned aggressively in the state to make a dent, is expected to get 4 seats with a vote share of 11%. -TOI

CHINA

China defends move to block UN ban on JeM chief China on Friday said its decision not to back India’s appeal to the UN to ban Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar, the alleged mastermind of the January 2 terror attack on Pathankot airbase, was based on “facts” and “procedure”. According to reports, 14 of the 15 countries on the UN Security Council were willing to designate Azhar a terrorist, but China used its veto power to block the move. -HT

ASIA PACIFIC

The collapse of a flyover in eastern India, which killed at least 25 people, is one of many deadly accidents of its kind to occur in recent years, with poor construction often to blame. Here is a list of significant construction-related accidents in the South Asian nation--

An explosion thought to be caused by a compressor-boiler system destroys a building housing a small factory in western Gujarat state, killing 43.

Pakistan asks Iran to investigate Indian spy’s Iran links

INDIA

India’s deadly history of construction accidents

August 2003

SOUTH ASIA

Poll: Trinamool to retain majority in West Bengal assembly

CHRONICLE

A 120-year-old bridge gives way, causing a train to fall into the Kadalundi river in the southern state of Kerala, leading to 59 deaths.

World

School children pray inside their classroom for the victims of Kolkata’s collapsed under-construction flyover, in Agartala on Friday REUTERS Coal collapses in eastern Jharkhand state, following an explosion.

December 2006 An arch of a 140-year-old bridge falls onto an inter-city passenger train in Bhagalpur in India’s Bihar state, killing 34 people.

September 2009 A giant chimney at a power plant in

central India crashes down in bad weather, killing 41 people. It was being built by a Chinese firm for Balco, part of London-listed resources giant Vedanta.

November 2010 A residential block collapses in New Delhi, killing 69. Blame centres on poor construction, waterlogging from

September 2013 Some 60 people are crushed to death when a five-storey building listed as needing urgent repairs collapses in India’s financial hub Mumbai.

June 2014 An 11-storey apartment tower under construction on the outskirts of the southern city of Chennai crashes down following heavy rains. The accident kills 61 people, mainly labourers. l

Source: AFP

US sailor charged for Okinawa rape An US sailor was indicted in Japan Friday for allegedly raping a Japanese woman on Okinawa, according to reports, in a case that could further increase tensions over the American military presence on the fortified island. Okinawa was the site of a brutal World War II battle between Japan and the US but is now considered a strategic linchpin supporting the two countries’ decades-long security alliance. -AFP

MIDDLE EAST

Hamas slams Twitter for closing its accounts The Palestinian militant group Hamas lashed out at Twitter on Friday, after the social media giant allegedly closed a number of its accounts. The party’s military wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said its English and Arabic-language accounts had been closed for the third time in two weeks. -AFP

World

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

USA

Trump meets with GOP leadership Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump made a surprise closed-door visit to the Republican National Committee on Thursday after a tumultuous 2 days on the campaign trail that included a reversal of his pledge to support the party’s nominee. Trump said afterward he had a nice meeting with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. -REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Colombia extends peace talks to 2nd big rebel force Colombia’s government launched peace negotiations Thursday with the country’s second-biggest guerrilla group. Bogota hopes the talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) will bring it on board alongside Colombia’s biggest rebel force, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in a bid to end what is seen as the last major armed confrontation in the West. -AFP

Poll: Britain’s ‘in’ and ‘out’ EU campaigns level The rival campaigns for Britain to stay in or leave the European Union are tied, an online poll by TNS showed on Friday, less than three months before the country’s historic referendum. The ‘in’ and ‘out’ camps both had support from 35% of respondents in the poll with 30% still undecided. -REUTERS

EUROPE

Belgium largest source of EU fighters in Syria per head French, Germans and Britons make up the highest number of foreign fighters in the Syrian rebel ranks from European countries, but Belgium is the largest contributor in proportion to its population, a Dutch study shows. The study, prepared by the Hague-based International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, said EU countries should not be complacent about their citizens leaving to fight in the Middle East, even those that have seen little such movement. -REUTERS

AFRICA

HRW: Boko Haram abducted 300 kids in 2nd 2014 school attack Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of children from a remote town in northeast Nigeria in late 2014 but initial calls to report the abduction were ignored with locals fearful of the government’s response, residents said Wednesday. A local government administrator, a local chief, another elder all said some 300 children were among the 500 girls, boys and women taken from Damasak on November 24 that year. -AFP

INSIGHT

Russia, despite draw down, shipping more to Syria than removing n Reuters, Moscow When Vladimir Putin announced the withdrawal of most of Russia’s military contingent from Syria there was an expectation that the Yauza, a Russian naval icebreaker and one of the mission’s main supply vessels, would return home to its Arctic Ocean port. Instead, three days after Putin’s March 14 declaration, the Yauza, part of the “Syrian Express”, the nickname given to the ships that have kept Russian forces supplied, left the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk for Tartous, Russia’s naval facility in Syria. Whatever it was carrying was heavy; it sat so low in the water that its load line was barely visible. Its movements and those of other Russian ships in the two weeks since Putin’s announcement of a partial withdrawal suggest Moscow has in fact shipped more equipment and supplies to Syria than it has brought back in the same period, an analysis shows. It is not known what the ships were carrying or how much equip-

to be well protected. Moscow has not revealed the size of its force in Syria, nor has it given details of its partial withdrawal.

Naval firepower

Russian soldiers ride an armoured vehicle near the ancient Palmyra city on Thursday AFP ment has been flown out in giant cargo planes accompanying returning war planes. But the movements - while only a partial snapshot - suggest Russia is working intensively to maintain its military infrastructure in Syria and to supply the Syrian army so that it can scale up again swiftly if need be. Putin has not detailed what

would prompt such a move, but any perceived threat to Russia’s bases in Syria or any sign that President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow’s closest Middle East ally, was in peril would be likely to trigger a powerful return. Russia operates an air base in Hmeymim and a naval facility at Tartous. Putin has said Russia will keep both and that they will need

But an examination of shipping data, official information, tips from maritime security sources and photographs from bloggers of Russian ships passing the Bosphorus strait en route from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, shows no signs that the “Syrian Express” is being wound down. An analysis of the same data shows Russia is also likely to have reinforced its naval force in the Mediterranean and now appears to have more war ships near the Syrian coast than at the time of Putin’s declaration. Their role is to protect cargo ships. Their presence also gives Moscow the option of firing cruise missiles from the sea. The Russian defence ministry did not reply to questions about what the Russian navy was doing in the Mediterranean or whether there were plans to reduce its presence. l

Brazil’s Rousseff gets relief from Supreme Court, supporters n Reuters, Brasilia Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to take a corruption investigation into former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva away from a crusading federal judge, as pro-government protests across the country eased pressure on President Dilma Rousseff. Local television showed tens of thousands of supporters clad in red marching for Rousseff, who has faced growing calls for her impeachment since anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro released a wiretapped conversation of her and Lula this month. Thursday’s 8-2 Supreme Court decision grants Lula and Rousseff a breather from Moro by putting Lula’s case temporarily in the hands of the top court, all but 3 of whose members have been named since the ruling Workers’ Party took office in 2003. Lula, Rousseff ’s predecessor and mentor, is under investigation for allegedly benefiting, in the form of payments and a luxury apartment, from a massive graft scheme uncovered at staterun oil company Petrobras. Rousseff is fighting impeach-

A demonstrator wears a mask depicting Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff during a protest against impeachment proceedings, in Porto Alegre on Thursday REUTERS ment over unrelated charges of irregularities in the government budget designed to favor her reelection in 2014. She could lose power as soon as May if she does not gain more support in Congress. On Thursday, Rousseff held a rally with artists and movie stars who support her and said opponents trying to impeach her were merely trying to “give a democratic tint to a coup.” Aides said her government had had some success in drawing

lawmakers from smaller political parties into her government’s alliance, which was shattered by the departure this month of Brazil’s largest political party the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). In a sign of a potential split among the PMDB, Senate leader Renan Calheiros said his party’s decision to leave the government was “foolish” and “premature.” The lower house of Congress is due to vote in mid-April on whether Rousseff should stand

trial in the Senate for manipulating government accounts. She is not being investigated for corruption. Her woes deepened, however, when she tried to appoint Lula to her Cabinet, which would give him some immunity from prosecution because ministers and elected officials can only be tried by the Supreme Court in Brazil. Hours after he was named, Moro released a recording of them discussing the appointment. A Supreme Court justice suspended Lula’s appointment arguing that it was aimed at illegally shielding him. On Thursday, the Supreme Court overruled Moro’s decision to release the recording of his call with Rousseff and said it was the only court authorised to wiretap a conversation involving the president. Several justices said the conversation should not be accepted as valid evidence when the court eventually makes a decision on whether Lula can join the cabinet. Moro could still take some parts of the Lula investigation, depending on future Supreme Court rulings and whether Lula is ultimately allowed to become a minister. l

Sport 25

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

INSIDE

TWEETS ON WI WIN “Awesome display by this group men with no brains, imagine if we had some #finalist#WT20#CWC2016#onemorestep.” - West Indies coach Phil Simmons “We have a lot of #Champions not a 1 #Champion.” - West Indies star opener Chris Gayle

Football world braces for El Clasico

“Great great great!!! Well done Windies!!! #silence #wankhede#WestindiesvsEngland#ICCWT20#finals proud to be West Indian.” - West Indies legend Brian Lara

Barcelona will honour legendary former player and coach Johan Cruyff as they look to inflict more misery upon eternal rivals Real Madrid in the Clasico today. The most watched game in world football is Barca’s first since Cruyff passed away last week. PAGE 26

“What a game!! I’ve never seen anything like it. @WI will need next 2 days to get over celebrations tonight #WT20” - Former Aussie bowler Glenn McGrath “U19 WC winners and now both Men and Women’s teams in the #WT20 finals...how good is that @westindies Awesome 2016 !!! - Ex-Sri Lanka int'l Russel Arnold

Manager calls Afridi a clueless captain Pakistan cricket team manager Intikhab Alam criticized Shahid Afridi following the side’s early exit at the World T20, saying the captain had no idea what he was doing. Pakistan was knocked out after losing three of its four group matches, including a loss to rival India. PAGE 27

Infantino has ‘no magic formula’ FIFA president Gianni Infantino insisted that he has “no magic formula” to overcome the damage caused by the corruption crisis which has rocked football’s world governing body. Infantino succeeded Sepp Blatter. PAGE 28

West Indies players celebrate after winning against India during the World Twenty20 semi-final in Mumbai

Calypso men, the true entertainers n Mazhar Uddin Last Thursday’s blockbuster semi-final clash in the 2016 World Twenty20 once again showed the cricket world what the West Indies are capable of. However, more than the victory itself, it was magnificent to watch the colourful celebrations of the Windies cricketers following their seven-wicket win over hosts India at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Captain Darren Sammy, along with the other members of the team, reminded the cricket world that they too can celebrate, much like their predecessors Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.

A year after he created what has been considered New Zealand’s most memorable cricketing moment, all-rounder Grant Elliott has retired from one-day international cricket. The 37-yearold had propeled New Zealand to their first World Cup final. PAGE 29

none other than Bravo, who likes to be referred as DJ Bravo. It goes on to show Sammy and Bravo having a good time even when they came out of their team bus and entered the hotel. The dancing duo continued singing upon entering the lift while the big-man Gayle later joined in the celebration, much to the amusement of the onlooking hotel staff. All that remains now of the World T20 is the grand finale between England and the West Indies. Even if the Windies are not able to win the final, cricket lovers around the world would consider the Caribbeans as the true champion for their spirit, love and passion for the game.l

“What a #T20WorldCup this has been! Edge of the seat games all the way through great for the fans.” - England seamer Stuart Broad “Tough luck boys. It was a good match and well fought! Best wishes to West Indies and England for the finals.” - Sachin Tendulkar “Why is everybody surprised the windies won when eng chased down 225?” - Former SA batsman Herschelle Gibbs “@imVkohli didn’t deserve that finish, a great player with a spirit to match who nearly won the game on his own.” - Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff “Another top game in Mumbai, good wicket always produces high quality contest. Congratulations @westindies a real show of resilience #wt20.” - Ex-Australian Test star Tom Moody “Once again the hosts don’t win the ICC World T20 #jinxed #WT20.” - Former Eng player Simon Hughes “Really enjoying this Lendl Simmons Benefit match.” - Former Eng captain Michael Vaughan

Dhoni laughs off retirement talk after T20 exit n AFP, Mumbai

Elliott calls time on ODIs

Ever since cricket’s inception, the Caribbeans’ way of celebrations, coupled with their funny gestures both on and off the field, have been one of the bright highlights of the game. In the recent and distant past, many West Indian cricketers have shown the funnier side of their character. And it seems the likes of Sammy, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo have well and truly kept the tradition alive. The video of their celebration right after the game went viral on social media. The video depicts Sammy, Bravo and Gayle dancing to the track titled “Champion”, which was recently recorded by

REUTERS

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni laughed off talk of retirement as he put a brave face on the devastating World Twenty20 semi-final loss to the West Indies. Dhoni then asked the somewhat stunned Sam Ferris of the cricket. com.au website onto the dais, put his arm around him, and turned the tables by becoming the interviewer. “Do you want me to retire?” he said. “Do you think I am unfit, looking at my running? Do you

think I can survive until the 2019 World Cup?” When Ferris replied that Dhoni indeed looked more than capable of staying in shape until the next 50-over World Cup, a laughing Dhoni then responded: “Then you have answered the question.” “I wished it was an Indian media guy because I would have asked him if he had a son old enough, and a wicketkeeper, to play!” he said. The light-hearted exchange came at the end of a painful loss for India. l

El Clasico

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Barca honour Cruyff, Madrid seek redemption in Clasico MATCH FACTS Barcelona have lost just one of their last seven league games at home against Real Madrid (W5 D1), 1-2 in April 2012. Barcelona have won four of their last six games against Real Madrid in all competitions (L2). Barcelona have never won a league game against Real when they have led the competition and been 10 or more points ahead of Madrid (D1 L2).

Barcelona fan’s point of view Norma Hilton

Barcelona have had a superb season so far with an unbeaten run of 39 games and 141 goals scored. With the famous, fearsome frontline MSN tearing through opposition teams and breaking records, the only cause for concern is a few slip-ups in the team’s defence. Otherwise, the team as a whole are ready and absolutely determined to replicate the historic 4-0 thrashing of their rivals at the start of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu. With all of Luis Enrique’s usual starting XI on international duty, Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Neymar have already picked up minor injuries. But for the current campaign to end with trophies, it is imperative that the Asturian focuses especially on the physical fitness of the players as much as on tactics and strategy. It is natural that Barca’s fans have the highest hopes for this Clasico. It is highly likely that one or more of the trident will score. l

Luis Enrique’s side have gone 22 league games in a row at Camp Nou without defeat (W20 D2). They scored at least once in each game. Real Madrid have won four league games in a row, their best run with Zidane in charge. Los Blancos have scored the first goal of the game more times than any other side in La Liga this season (24). Barca have won the most points after having conceded first (15). The last four red cards in games in all competitions between these two sides were all shown to Real players.

n AFP, Madrid Barcelona will honour legendary former player and coach Johan Cruyff as they look to inflict more misery upon eternal rivals Real Madrid in the Clasico today. The most watched game in world football is Barca’s first since Cruyff passed away at the age of 68 after a short battle with cancer last week. A pre-match display involving over 90,000 fans will read “thank you Johan” with the same message carried on the Barca players’ shirts. “In what is a special match, it is without doubt extra motivation for us to try and win the game,” said Barca captain Andres Iniesta. Indeed, the emotion surrounding the occasion supersedes its importance in the title race in La Liga with Barca 10 points clear of third-placed Madrid with just eight games remaining. A 4-0 thrashing of Real when the sides last met in November put Barca well on course to retain the title. However, with Madrid now un-

der new management since Zinedine Zidane replaced Rafael Benitez in January and with the front three of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema fit and in scoring form, Iniesta expects a much tougher task today. Bale in particular will be well-rested as he was given time off by Wales boss Chris Coleman during the two-week international break preceding the game. And he is confident that Madrid could drag themselves back into the title race if they can snap Barca’s 39-game unbeaten run stretching back to October. “They are playing very well at the moment so we have to take the game to them,” said Bale. Five-time World Player of the Year Messi could also register his 500th career goal having taken his tally to 499 with his 50th goal for Argentina in a 2-0 win over Bolivia on Tuesday. “It would be nice to score my 500th goal against Real Madrid in the Clasico, but it would be even nicer to win the game,” said Messi. l

Barcelona have won 16 penalties in La Liga 2015/16, the most for any side in a single season since 2005/06. Leo Messi has scored in his last six appearances at Camp Nou in all competitions. He scored eight goals in total. Keylor Navas has saved the jointmost penalties in the Top 5 European Leagues this season alongside Marco Sportiello (three apiece).

Real Madrid fan’s point of view Rushaed Ahsan

Real Madrid are facing one of their worst seasons yet and must feel as if winning the upcoming tie against their rivals is the only way to end the season on a positive note. After the appointment of Zinedine Zidane, however, the team look more composed. Considering he took up the job when the Madrid ship was on the verge of sinking, he has steadied it, with the Los Blancos demolishing teams like Celta Vigo recently. It seems as if talisman Cristiano Ronaldo is the only one likely to score in the Clascio, due to, in his own words “his teammates’ poor physical form.” The likes of Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Marcelo have been injured or haven’t put out the same performances since returning. It is important for Zidane to get the midfield selection right, as this is where the balance of the team lie. If Benzema is not fit enough, it is upto Ronaldo and/or Bale to silence the crowd at Camp Nou. l

MESSI, RONALDO AND CO BATTLE TO BE LA LIGA’S TOP DOG

Cristiano Ronaldo (28 goals)

Much criticised for not reaching his usual heights this season, Ronaldo is still La Liga’s top scorer thanks in large part to having played every minute of the league season so far. Ronaldo hasn’t scored against in four games against opponents in La Liga’s top four, but has looked back close to his best in recent weeks and is tied with Raul as the third highest scorer in Clasico history with 15 against Barca.

Luis Suarez (26 goals)

Finally free from suspension and controversy to play a full season, Suarez has become Barca’s top scorer this season with 43 in 43 games in all competitions, 26 of which in La Liga. Such is the ease with which Barca have been winning, suspicions in Madrid have arisen that Messi’s decision to pass a penalty into Suarez’s path against Celta Vigo were with the intention of aiding his challenge to Ronaldo to top the scoring charts.

Lionel Messi (22 goals)

Despite missing two-months of the season due to knee ligament damage and playing a greater role as creator since Suarez’s arrival last season, a surge of 24 goals since the turn of the year, 16 in La Liga, have Messi in the hunt for a fourth Pichichi. The five-time World Player of the Year is also tantalisingly close to another significant milestone as he needs just one more to reach 500 career goals.

Neymar (21 goals)

After a brief mid-season dip the Brazilian has come back into goalscoring form with four in three games before the recent international break. His best run came in Messi’s absence earlier in the campaign with nine in six La Liga games in October and November, culminating in a sensational performance as Barca inflicted a humiliating 4-0 thrashing on Madrid.

Karim Benzema (20 goals)

The French forward Karim Benzema has significantly the best minutes per goal ratio in La Liga with one every 78 minutes he’s on the pitch. Staying there has been Benzema’s trouble in a season disrupted by injury and off-field scandals, but he is already just one off his best ever tally in a Liga campaign.

Gareth Bale (15 goals)

Injuries have also ravaged Bale’s season, but the Welshman’s impressive strike rate of 15 in just 16 league starts also has him on course for his best goalscoring season since arriving in Spain three years ago. Bale has just one El Clasico goal to his name, but it was his most spectacular one in a Madrid shirt as he ran half the length of the field before slotting home to win the Copa del Rey final in 2014.

Sport

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

QUICK BYTES Siddikur, Sujjan brace for final day showdown

Drama ends as Sk Jamal return n Tribune Report

A fascinating Bangladesh-India contest is set to unfold in the final round of the BTI Open today at Kurmitola Golf Club in Dhaka. Ace Bangladesh golfer Siddikur Rahman and India’s Sujjan Singh are wellplaced for the final day showdown as the two golfers ended round three yesterday as joint leaders at 14-under-202. Udayan Mane (12-under-204) and Deepinder Singh Kullar (10-under-206) occupied third and fourth place respectively and ensured a strong Indian presence at the top. –TRIBUNE REPORT

Dnipro handed oneyear European ban Last season’s Europa League runners-up Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine were handed a oneyear European ban by UEFA on Thursday for breaching financial regulations. Dnipro will sit out a season for any European tournament for which they may qualify in the next three years. Romania’s Targu Mures and Inter Baku of Azerbaijan were also handed similar sanctions. All three clubs had been ordered to clear up “late payments” by January 31. –AFP

Doukara handed eightgame biting ban Leeds United striker Souleymane Doukara has been banned for eight matches for biting an opponent, the English second-tier club and the Football Association said on Thursday. The 24-year-old forward was was found guilty of biting Fulham defender Fernando Amorebieta in their 1-1 draw on Feb. 23. Amorebieta was booked for his reaction to the bite. The FA said in a statement that the incident “was considered a non-standard case given the seriousness and both unusual and violent nature of the misconduct”. –REUTERS

Team BJMC’s Nigerian striker Eleta Kingsley (C) evades the challenge of a Rahmatganj defender during their KFC Independence Cup opener at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Kingsley steers BJMC to nervy win n Tribune Report A solitary strike by Eleta Kingsley propelled Team BJMC to a winning start in the KFC Independence Cup as they edged past Rahmatganj MFS 1-0 in the tournament opener at Bangabandhu National Stadium. Yesterday’s game ushered in the country’s professional football season 2015-16 and it was Nigerian striker Kingsley who attracted all the headlines with a goal and a penalty miss in the either side of each half. BJMC initiated the tie’s first notable attack in the 19th minute when Jakir Hossain Ziku’s close-

range volley deflected off a Rahmatganj defender for a corner. Rahmatganj themselves came close to breaking the deadlock 10 minutes from the first half whistle when BJMC goalkeeper Arifuzzaman Himel denied forward Nurul Absar’s strike with a decent save. BJMC however, made no mistake just four minutes later when Kingsley, wearing the captain’s armband, unleashed a free-kick against the wall and into the net. Formerly at Sheikh Russel KC, Kingsley continued to threaten the opposition after resumption. In the opening stages of the sec-

ond half, Kingsley tried his luck from 20 yards out with a powerful curved effort that was punched away for a corner by Rahmatganj custodian Al Amin. Rahmatganj defender Sumon Dey gifted BJMC a penalty in the 69th minute when he accidentally grasped the ball. Al Amin though produced a magnificent save to thwart Kingsley. Meanwhile, yesterday’s evening encounter between Brothers Union and newly-promoted Uttar Baridhara Club was postponed. The rescheduled match will take place today at the big bowl at 6pm. l

The drama involving Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club and Bangladesh Football Federation took an unexpected turn yesterday as the premier league champions finally changed their mind at the eleventh hour and decided to participate in the season-opening KFC Independence Cup as the 12th team. The decision came just two hours before the kick-off of the curtain-raiser. Sheikh Jamal, who earlier provided the BFF the condition that they would only take part in the tournament if they get their eight former footballers back, altered their stance dramatically and decided to play without the players in question. The BFF’s professional football league committee sat for an urgent meeting yesterday where they accepted Sheikh Jamal’s final-minute request and placed the top-flight champions in Group A alongside Mohammedan, Chittagong Abahani, Brothers Union, Muktijoddha and Uttar Baridhara. “They (Sheikh Jamal) agreed to play without the eight players and will also accept the verdict of the High Court,” said BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy yesterday. l

Manager calls Afridi a clueless captain n AP, Mumbai Pakistan cricket team manager Intikhab Alam criticized Shahid Afridi following the side’s early exit at the World Twenty20, saying the captain had no idea what he was doing. Pakistan was knocked out of the tournament after losing three of its four group matches, including a loss to rival India. “A captain in his farewell event

after a career spanning nearly 20 years, yet absolutely clueless in terms of on-field tactics and off-field leadership,” Alam said in his tour report, a copy of which was obtained yesterday by The Associated Press. “The captain failed to optimally utilize the talent at his disposal ... his bowling changes and field placement, too, left a lot to be desired.” Pakistan coach Waqar Younis offered to step down while apologizing to the nation on his re-

turn home. Alam, who was the manager of the team when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup, also questioned the team selection, mental alertness of the players and lack of physical fitness during the tournament. “To cap it all, the tournament was being held in India, where the team was under multiple scanners at the same time, pushing the stress and anxiety levels very

high,” Alam said. Alam said Afridi went out of the way in his news conference and should have “stuck to the detailed briefing” given by the team management. “Umar Akmal again stealing the limelight in an unseemly manner by seeking Imran Khan’s intervention to fix his batting position at three, when he had done little to inspire confidence at number 4,” Alam wrote.l

Vettel blasts ‘ice cream’ bosses Formula One chiefs will hold further crisis talks to try and resolve the problems with the panned "progressive elimination" qualifying format with former world champion Sebastian Vettel comparing bosses to ice cream salesmen. The new system, which ended in fiasco without a car on the track at the season opening Australian Grand Prix, was widely slammed again on Thursday. –AFP

State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikder (C) poses for a photograph alongside the winners of the Independence Day Cycling Competition 2016 in the capital’s Gulistan yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sport

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Bayern feel Dortmund’s pressure n AFP, Berlin

Infantino has ‘no magic formula’ to solve Fifa misery n AFP, Cochabamba

Bayern Munich midfielder Sebastian Rode says Pep Guardiola’s side can ill afford any slip-ups in the Bundesliga title race against his former club Eintracht Frankfurt today. Bayern host relegation-threatened Frankfurt and Rode insists the Bavarians have not given a second’s thought to playing Benfica at home four days later in the Champions League quarter-final, first leg. Bayern are five points ahead of Borussia Dortmund with seven games left, but second-from-bottom Frankfurt are desperate for points. “We have Dortmund breathing down our necks and there has not been one second to think about Benfica,” said Rode, who joined Bayern from Frankfurt in 2014. “First of all we have to take care of things against Frankfurt.” Bayern have not conceded against Frankfurt in their last seven meetings. No Bundesliga team have ever gone eight straight games without conceding to the same opponents. Thomas Tuchel’s Dortmund are unbeaten in their 15 competitive games in 2016, winning 13 and drawing two. Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has not scored in his last three league outings, but did score three goals over the two legs of the Europa League last-16 clash with Tottenham Hotspur.l

FIFA president Gianni Infantino insisted Thursday that he has “no magic formula” to overcome the damage caused by the corruption crisis which has rocked football’s world governing body. Swiss-Italian lawyer Infantino succeeded the suspended Sepp Blatter in February at the head of Fifa. “There is no magic formula. The formula is work, passion and joy,” Infantino said. “That is what we have to do - work in a very transparent manner, very open, very serious and very professional.” Infantino is on a tour of South America, taking in Uruguay, Paraguay and Colombia. On Thursday, he played in a friendly game between a team representing Bolivian President Evo Morales and another featuring retired stars Cafu of Brazil and Spain’s Fernando Hierro. “We must show to the world that we are here to take care of the health of football,” said the Fifa chief. l

BUNDESLIGA Bayern Munich Hanover 96 Mainz Ingolstadt Darmstadt Dortmund

v v v v v v

Frankfurt Hamburg Augsburg Schalke Stuttgart Werder Bremen

Fifa president Gianni Infantino takes a penalty against Bolivia's presidential team during a friendly football match in Cochabamba, Bolivia on Thursday REUTERS

Ferguson salutes Leicester as EPL resumes n AFP, London

Leicester City continue their once unlikely quest to win the Premier League title tomorrow with Alex Ferguson among those backing them to be crowned champions. This weekend sees the Premier League resume after the international break, with Leicester currently five points clear of second-placed Tottenham Hotspur. Claudio Ranieri’s men, 5,000/1 title shots before the season started, are next at home to Southampton. For weeks now pundits have been asking when Leicester will slip-up but the long forecast collapse has yet to come and, with seven matches remaining, former

Manchester United manager Ferguson does not expect the Foxes to falter. “Leicester have got the bit between their teeth, they’ve been the best team without question throughout the season and they deserve to win it,” Ferguson, who won 13 English championships during his trophy-laden reign at Old Trafford, told Sky Sports. “You would think their inexperience would count, but Leicester have unbelievable energy and togetherness that suggests they’re going to see it through. “For instance, they’ve won their last few games 1-0. I had a season at United where we had eight 1-0 victories and that won us the league.”

Ferguson also praised the contribution of Italian manager Ranieri. Spurs can cut the gap to two points before Leicester play if they win away to Liverpool today. This will be the last time Spurs will kick-off before their title rivals and Argentinian manager Pochettino said: “We cannot guess whether it is better to play before or after. Third-placed Arsenal, currently 11 points adrift of Leicester, are still just about in the title race but Arsene Wenger’s men face Watford today knowing that any more dropped points are likely to spell the end of their hopes. West Ham will continue their push for a top-four place at home to Crystal Palace today while Man-

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

EPL Arsenal Aston Villa Bournemouth Liverpool Norwich Stoke Sunderland West Ham

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01: Who scored the first T20I century for Bangladesh? Ans: Tamim Mashrafe Taskin

chester United. Manchester City, clinging on to fourth place, travel to Bournemouth today. At the other end of the table, basement club Aston Villa welcome Chelsea to Villa Park in their first match since sacking French manager Remi Garde.l

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Sport

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Jordan, Beckham are richest retirees in sport n AFP, New York

DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL STAR SPORTS 1 7:50 PM Barclays Premier League Bournemouth v Manchester City

STAR SPORTS 2

5:35 PM Barclays Premier League Aston Villa v Chelsea 7:50 PM Arsenal v Watford 10:20 PM Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur

STAR SPORTS 4

10:16 PM Bundesliga 2015/16 Dortmund v SV Werder Bremen

TEN 1

5:30 PM Sky Bet Championship Brighton & Hove Albion v Burnley 7:30 PM I-League 2016 Bengaluru FC v Mumbai FC 11:25 PM French Ligue 1 Stade Rennais FC v Stade De Reims

TEN 1 HD

2:30 PM

A-League 2015/16 Sydney FC v Adelaide United

TEN 2

4:30 PM

I-League 2016 East Bengal v Mohun Bagan

TEN 3

8:50 PM

French Ligue 1 PSG v Nice Cote D Azur

SONY SIX

10:00 PM

Serie A TIM 2015/16 Carpi v Sassuolo

SONY ESPN 5:00 PM

Scottish Premiership Celtic v Hearts 8:00 PM Liga Bbva 2015/16 Atletico Madrid v Real Betis 10:30 PM Las Palmas v Valencia 12:25 AM FC Barcelona v Real Madrid

TENNIS TEN 3

11:00 PM WTA Tour 2016 Miami Open: Final

FORMULA 1 STAR SPORTS 1

5:55 PM FIA F1 World Championship 2016 Practice Sessions 3: Bahrain

MOTO GP TEN 1 HD

9:30 PM Moto GP 2016 Qualifying: Argentina

Kei Nishikori of Japan returns a shot to Gael Monfils of France during the Miami Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center in Key Biscayne, Florida on Thursday AFP

Nishikori fends off Monfils, Kyrgios stuns Raonic n Reuters Kei Nishikori withstood a blistering early assault and saved five match points before battling past Frenchman Gael Monfils 4-6 6-3 7-6(3) in a bruising quarter-final at the Miami Open on Thursday. The Japanese number one will face 24th seed Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals after the Australian upset 12th seeded Canadian Milos Raonic 6-4 7-6(4). Sixth seed Nishikori appeared to have his match in control when leading 4-2 in the

final set but his usually reliable forehand repeatedly let him down as he fell behind 4-5 0-40 on serve before mounting a gutsy fightback. He saved four match points in that 10th game, and a fifth in the 12th, before racing into a 6-3 lead in the tiebreak as Monfils made a string of unforced errors, Nishikori finally sealing the win with a forehand crosscourt winner. Nishikori, who also reached the last four in Miami two years ago, was left reeling in the opening set as the 16th-seeded Monfils played

high-risk, aggressive tennis right from the start, highlighted by an explosive service game. Kyrgios took down his more fancied opponent in two sets to reach the last four for the first time in a ATP Masters 1000 event, riding a break in the first game of the match all the way to victory. “I knew it would be a tough match. Milos has played great the last couple of weeks and the only person he’s lost to is Djokovic so I knew it would be a tough task,” Kyrgios said.l

NBA legend Michael Jordan and English football superstar David Beckham are the world’s richest retired sports stars, according to a Forbes magazine study. Jordan, a six-time NBA champion in the 1990s with the Chicago Bulls who now owns the league’s Charlotte Hornets, made $110 million (96.5 million euros) last year to top the magazine’s list. He retired in 2003. With his Nike brand still a top money-spinner and endorsement deals, Jordan, 53, is worth $1.1 billion and will make at least $30 million more than any other athlete in the world this year, active or retired, the magazine estimated. Beckham, leading an investment group in the early stages of launching a Major League Soccer expansion team in Miami, ranked second at $65 million. Major endorsement deals in Britain and China helped boost the 40-year-old’s position. Golf legend Arnold Palmer, 86, ranked third at $40 million. His Bay Hill resort hosts a PGA Tour event and his iced tea-lemonade drink is a top-selling US brand. Topping the women’s charts in 14th was China’s tennis star Li Na, 34, at $14 million.l

HIGHEST-PAID RETIRED ATHLETES IN 2015

Athlete

Sport

Michael Jordan

Earnings

Basketball $110 million

David Beckham

Football

$65 million

Arnold Palmer

Golf

$40 million

Junior Bridgeman Basketball $32 million Jerry Richardson

Football

$30 million

Golf

$26 million

Jack Nicklaus Shaquille O’Neal

Basketball $22 million

Roger Penske

Car Racing $20 million

Gary Player Magic Johnson

Golf

$19 million

Basketball

$18 million

Elliott calls time on ODIs n Reuters, Auckland A year after he created what has been considered New Zealand’s most memorable cricketing moment, all-rounder Grant Elliott has retired from one-day international cricket. The 37-year-old Elliott hit a six from the penultimate ball off South Africa’s Dale Steyn in the World Cup semi-final last year to propel New Zealand to their first World Cup final. “I have played my last one day game,” Elliott told Newshub at Auckland Airport yesterday after the New Zealand team returned home from the World Twenty20

tournament in India following a semi-final exit. “But there is three formats. I won’t be considered for test cricket, I haven’t seen my Test clothing for a few years. There’s still T20 cricket and my body feels good. “I’m going to reassess and let the dust settle. As long as I’m enjoying my cricket, I haven’t made a call on anything yet. So I’ll just get home and assess it.” Originally from South Africa, Elliott moved to New Zealand to play international cricket, making his Test debut against England in 2008 but only competed in five matches in almost two years.l

ODI STATISTICS ODIs

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

1976

115

34.06

BOWLING AVERAGES ODIs

Mat

Wkts

BBM

Ave

Econ

4/31

30.23

5.43

33.3

Showtime

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

5 must watch 80’s films

Movie lover or not, these 5 movies from the 80s will steal your young heart n Rupkotha Chowdhury Do the Right Thing (1989)

Raging Bull (1980)

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

The Shining (1980)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Director: Stanley Kubrick Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson, Philip Stone, Joe Turkel

Director: John Hughes Stars: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara

The recent documentary Room 237 has reignited interest in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s haunted-house masterpiece The Shining. The doc spins increasingly wild theories about the complexity of Kubrick’s film, turning the work into a maze for the viewer to get lost in, much like Jack Nicholson’s character in the film itself. It’s great that Room 237 exists to bring more people to The Shining, but truly, the film doesn’t need it. After all, there’s no better place to get lost than in the long corridors of Kubrick’s only horror movie.

No ‘80s film could inspire youth to its extreme more than Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It’s the perfect amalgam of everything one can fantasise about while stuck in home room. If a joy ride in a Ferrari with your best friend and beautiful girlfriend was not already a mind-blowing idea to audience, toss in a downtown parade where “Twist and Shout,” was performed, a free lunch at a fancy restaurant, and the image of crusty, pornstached principal getting chewed out by the dog. Bliss was rarely represented this accurately in movies.

Director: Spike Lee Stars: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito, John Turturro 1989 was a very good year for the American independent film movement. Channeling the political awareness of the New Hollywood directors of the 1970s, Spike Lee and his late ‘80s brethren (Steven Soderbergh, Michael Moore, and Jim Jarmusch among them) heralded the arrival of a new kind of film-making. Like most of Lee’s films, Do the Right Thing - the story of racial tensions erupting into violence on the hottest day of the summer - was mired in controversy upon its release. Close-minded cultural pundits speculated that the film was likely to spark a series of similar riotous acts. No violence came off the film though, but it did ignite a dialogue, one which continues today about the still-simmering tensions that exist but are often denied or covered up. The film has stood the test of time; it’s just as prescient and relevant a film today as it was 24 years ago. Not bad for a script that took Spike two weeks to write.

Director: Steven Spielberg Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, C. Thomas Howell Director: Martin Scorsese Stars: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent Raging Bull is about the inherent ugliness of masculinity as it has been conceived of for generations. Being a man in Raging Bull means being warped by jealousy, inferiority and self-loathing. No wonder the Academy gave the 1980 Best Picture award to Ordinary People - a living room drama. The truth wasn’t pretty enough.

Kona on ‘Late Night Coffee’ n Showtime Desk Popular singer Kona will be appearing as the guest on tonight’s show of Late Night Coffee, a celebrity show on RTV. Celebrities converse about various aspects of urban life in the show and take interactive phone calls and emails from the audiences. Kona will perform songs on request by the audience along with a few of her own favourites. Hosted by Maria Nur and Tousif, and produced by Sohel Rana Bidyut, Late Night Coffee will air at one minute past midnight. l

No filmmaker in cinema history has worked this angle better than Steven Spielberg, and few movies have bottled the feeling of preteen magic better than E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Spielberg hit a sentimental grand slam with the title character, who is a lovable space invader who befriends a young boy named Elliot (Henry Thomas) and becomes the best friend a kid could ever ask for. The relationship between Elliot and ET is the glue that binds Spielberg’s flick. It’s impossible to watch this film and not wish that a cuddly little alien would land on your own backyard.

Amber taking emojis to the next level n Showtime Desk Amber Rose’s range of personalised emojis, which allow users to channel the former stripper’s sassy personality, have reportedly already netted her $4 million. Much to everyone’s surprise, she only released her MuvaMoji app on Wednesday. According to TMZ, the star received a large fee from the app’s developer for signing onto the project, as well as a portion of the $2 million the app made

on its opening day. There are several small digital images in the pack including getting legs waxed and armpits lasered, but one of the most eyeopening was a cartoon of her dressed as a nurse putting on a rubber glove. The new app boasts that there are over 900 emojis curated by Amber that can’t be found anywhere else.l Source: http://www.dailymail. co.uk

Showtime

SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

Beyond borders n Nazia Lopa The border situation between the two countries might be very intense, however, it is only love which prevails among their artists, specially in Bollywood. Over the years, audiences have seen an influx of Pakistani actors and actresses trying their luck in Bollywood, among which, the likes of Fawad Khan, Ali Zafar, Salma Agha and Mawra Hocane have been successful in securing a place. The newest addition to the list is Mahira Khan, who is set to debut alongside King Khan in Raees. Mawra Hocane, the new girl from the song “Khich meri photo,” made her debut in Bollywood with Vinay Sapru and Radhika Rao’s Sanam Teri Kasam. Mawra was romancing Harshvardhan Rane in the film. She became an overnight sensation in India when Bollywood heartthrob, Ranbir Kapoor, sent her a video message via Instagram. Long before he made his Bollywood debut, Fawad Khan

managed to conquer the hearts of many Indian fans with his outstanding performance in TV series Zindagi Gulzar Hai. Fawad made his grand entry in Bollywood with Khoobsurat opposite Bollywood’s fashionista Sonam Kapoor. He bagged the award for Best Male Debutant that year too. The actor is now heating things up with his new movie Kapoor & Sons, acting alongside Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra. Ali Zafar, the rockstar from Lahore, made his B-town acting debut in the 2010 satirical film Tere Bin Laden. The film earned him a nomination for Filmfare’s Best Male Debut Award. Ali has also appeared in many Bollywood films such as Luv Ka The End, Love Mein Ghum, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, London, Paris and New York and Kill Dil. Pakistani actor Imran Abbas, who is known for his acting in TV series Dil-e-Muztar, made his Bollywood debut opposite the steaming Bipasha Basu in Vikram Bhatt’s Creature 3D.Unfortunately, the movie was

not well-received by the critics. Although Atif Aslam is yet to appear on-screen in a Bollywood flick, he was applauded for his performance as an actor in a Pakistani film named Bol. He has managed to establish his position as a playback singer in India with hits like “Tere Bin” from Bas Ek Pal, “Pehli Nazar” from Race, “Jeena Jeena” from Badlapur and many more. Atif recently revealed that he has received several offers to work in Bollywood films, but he hasn’t tried his luck yet. l

WHAT TO WATCH

Is Jon Snow dead? n Showtime Desk Since the airing of season 5 finale last year, the leading question that resonated in the air for the longest time was: “Is Jon Snow dead?” So far, the Game of Thrones (GoT) writers, cast and crew members have been mum about the matter, leaving GoT fans reduced to emotional dilemma. One can get an idea from Hodor’s (a character in GoT played by Kristian Nairn) response when people wished to know the answer from him: “If I had one dollar for every time I’d been asked that question in the last year,” sighs Kristian Nairn, “I would be a very rich person.” As we all know by now, The Night’s Watch lord commander played by Kit Harington was betrayed and killed in the season 5 finale, and appeared as a corpse in the new season. Entertainment Weekly has made an exclusive video of members of the GoT cast talking about media, family, friends, and fans who have been asking them about Snow. Their responses were: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime

Lannister): “I say, he’s dead. It’s not hard — because he’s dead.” Maisie Williams (Arya Stark): “Yeah, he’s dead… It makes me laugh when people feel so sure that they know the answers, because I’m thinking: You’re asking me the questions and I’m the one who has all the scripts, so if you’re going to listen to anyone it should probably be me.” Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen): “It’s frustrating. People want him to be alive so much that you could just exhale and they’ll find a way to say, ‘That

means Jon Snow’s alive.’” Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister): “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” Conleth Hill (Varys): “You saw him die, so why you asking me?” Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth): “I only read my bits in the script, so I wouldn’t know.” Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth): “I say, ‘Yeah, he’s dead, he’s dead.’ And people get angry about it!” Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy): “He lives on — not physically.” l

Shaolin Soccer HBO 9:30pm Sing is a Shaolin monk who is a master of martial arts. But there being no need for his skills in modern times, Sing along with other monks, earns his living by doing menial jobs. Cast: Stephen Chow, Man Tat Ng, Wei Zhao, Yin Tse, Hui Li

when he learns the Sultan is preparing for battle and needs to form an army of 1,000 boys, including Vlad’s son, he vows to find a way to protect his family. Vlad turns to dark forces in order to get the power to destroy his enemies. Cast: Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper, Art Parkinson, Charles Dance

Supernatural AXN 10:30pm Dean’s deal to bring Sam back from the dead means he faces hell. What’s worse is that the Demon says maybe he’s not the Sam Dean perceives him to be. Can Dean trust his brother? And can Sam save Dean from his bargain? Cast: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Jim Beaver, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan

Bride By Design TLC 11:00pm Designer Heidi Elnora wants every bride to feel unique on her wedding day. At Heidi’s Alabama boutique, cookiecutter gowns are nowhere to be found as brides clamor for Heidi’s custom designs and her very own Build A Bride collection. Each week, Heidi and her dedicated staff will turn their personalised attention and Southern charm to the task of creating wedding gowns as unique as the brides wearing them.

Dracula Untold Star Movies 9:30pm Vlad Tepes is a great hero, but

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SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 2016

ECO-SYSTEMS HELP COPE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE PAGE 14

CALYPSO MEN, THE TRUE ENTERTAINERS PAGE 25

IS JON SNOW DEAD? PAGE 31

30 people killed by lightning in 10 days Precautions can save lives during lightning On May 6, 2013, at least 24 n Probir K Sarker deaths by lighting were reported

Ebadullah, an altruistic doctor in Satkhira who only charges Tk10 in fee, writes a prescription for a patient at his clinic. The photo was taken recently DHAKA TRIBUNE

Ebadullah, the 'Tk10 doctor' to the poor n Md Asaduzzaman, Satkhira

Patients of low-income households struggle financially to pay for treatment in the face of rising healthcare costs. But not those of Dr Md Ebadullah, who only charges Tk10 irrespective of the financial condition of his patients. “I am a rickshaw puller and I do not earn much. It is not possible for me to pay Tk400-500 in fee to see a doctor. So for me and other patients whose financial condition is weak, Dr Ebadullah is our last resort,” said Shibpad Das, who is in his fifties. “All my family members, including me, have been receiving treatment from Dr Ebadullah for the last 30 years. He only charges Tk10, as opposed to more than Tk500 which is charged by MBBS doctors in Satkhira and other nearby towns. In other words, he dispenses treatment free of charge,” he added. Ebadullah, a former civil surgeon of Satkhira who was born in a middle-class family, said he was inspired to become a doctor with the sole objective of helping people by his grandfather Nawab Ali. “My grandfather advised me not

to become a doctor just for making money. He said I have to become a physician to help people,” he said humbly. After earning his MBBS degree from Rajshahi Medical College back in 1977, Ebadullah joined the medical college as the assistant surgeon. Three years later, he began training village doctors at Kaliganj Health Complex in Satkhira. He later became the civil surgeon of Satkhira before retiring in 2010. Ebadullah, who asserts that he is not greedy for money, has been charging patients only Tk5 for nearly 40 years. “I was inspired by my grandfather to set this negligible fee. I also named my clinic, Nawab Clinic, after him.” The former civil surgeon said his conscience prevents him from charging poor patients a lot. “Serving people is my key motto. I work as a doctor in a way that will enable people from all social strata to come to me for treatment.” The practitioner lately increased his fee to Tk10. Explaining the reason why the fee was doubled, he said he had no way but to do this in order to pay his many staff who work at the clinic.

“Even though the fee was hiked, many patients still pay Tk5 and I have no problem with that. I only want people to pray for me. When my patients see me outside the clinic, they respect me and that is my greatest achievement.” Dr Utpal Kumar Debnath, incumbent civil surgeon of Satkhira, said Ebadullah is a glaring example of how to dispense healthcare services. After Bangla Tribune, an online news portal, recently published a feature on Ebadullah, the doctor said he had received countless messages of appreciation from both home and abroad. “Many of my well-wishers called me and said they were ready to offer their assistance. I never thought I would be admired this way. I do not know how to express my gratitude to Bangla Tribune,” he said in an ecstatic voice. “I am now more motivated to continue to do what I have been doing for long. During this long professional journey, I was slammed by many but I did not stop moving forward. I never ran after money. I just wanted to provide treatment for people who live a financially distressful life.” l

At least 30 people mostly farmers were struck and killed by lightning in the last 10 days at different parts of the country as nor'westers started to hit since last month. The frequency of the storms (Kalboishakhi) usually rises in April and May, and the deaths from lightning could go up significantly if precautions are not taken properly. This seasonal storm is typically accompanied by lightning. The maximum 13 people were killed by lightning on Thursday in seven districts. Most of the victims were farmers working on the field. Of them, three teenagers were killed in Munshiganj and two each

from different districts. In 2011, a total of 179 people were killed by lightning – 58 getting killed in the month of May alone. During April and May the following year, lightning killed a staggering 152 people. In the wake of rise in lightning strikes, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) has started awareness campaign on social media, especially Facebook, to bring down the number of deaths and injuries from lightning. Urging not to panic during a storm accompanied by lighting, the BDRCS suggests that people stay away from tall trees, electric

WHAT TO DO DURING LIGHTNING? t

Take shelter under a concrete ceiling t Stay away from tinmade ceiling t Stay away from tall trees t Avoid ponds, rivers

If stuck in car, don't touch metal body t Don't use electronic items t Don’t get close to electric pillars, towers

in Faridpur, Kishoreganj, Bagerhat and Manikganj districts. Earlier, two people were killed on March 30 and five on March 28 during nor'westers at different parts of the country. Six others, killed on March 27, include three schoolboys of Netrakona. Reports say three farmers were struck by lightning and killed while working on a salt field at Moheshkhali of Cox's Bazar. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department broadcasts early warning of the impending thunderbolt.

pillars and towers, and take shelter under a concrete ceiling. Touching corrugated iron sheets (tin) or metals during lighting may claim lives. People stuck in cars due to storms can also avoid casualty by not touching its metal body. Being near water bodies including ponds and rivers can be fatal during a lightning, the BDRCS says. It asks people to not use or switch off electronic items including phones, laptops, WiFi, cordless phones and landphones when lighting strikes frequently. l

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