April 10, 2016

SECOND EDITION

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

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Chaitra 27, 1422, Rajab 2, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 355

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

Banshkhali protests postponed Hussain and Adil n Anwar Sakhawat, from Banshkhali

People from all walks of life gathered on the local Rahmania Senior Madrasa premises protesting the killing of four people on Monday demanding cancellation of the coal-fired power plant in Banshkhali. The photo was taken on April 4 DHAKA TRIBUNE

Sweet promises turned bitter Sakhawat, from n Adil Banshkhali

INSIDE

In 2013, the inhabitants of Gondamara Union in Banshkhali coastal area were asked to sell their land to S Alam Group for a manufacturing plant, with the assurance that they would get jobs there.

The firm started procuring land the same year and has so far bought around 600 acres – but to implement the construction of a 1,224MW coal-based power plant in the area which is home to some 45,000 people, mostly salt and shrimp farmers.

The plant authorities have built boundary walls and put signboards to mark the project area. They have brought machinery for land filling

and dredging work, and are now working to build a helipad.

S Alam Group joined hands with SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation of China in December 2013 to construct the power plant.

}

But in February this year they came to know that S Alam Group was actually planning to build a power plant. The former union parishad chairman, Liakat Ali, at a religious event, showed the locals a video describing the possible im-

The plant authorities are working in the project area and acquired land without getting the EIA report approved by the Department of Environment

The locals who sold their land for the manufacturing plant thought that the firm would build a garment factory in the area.

pacts of a coal-fired power plant on the surrounding area.

For the villagers, it came as a bolt from the blue.

On February 16, the government signed power purchase agreements with two private joint ventures led

by S Alam Group to buy electricity from the proposed power plant, which is set to commence in November 2019. The project will require an investment of $2.4 billion of which $1.75 billion will come from Chinese lenders.

Villagers and local administration officials said that the plant authorities had not taken any measures in the past three years to convince them about the power plant. There was a hush up tendency.

Locals and environment experts have questioned the project alleging that the plant authorities are working on the project and

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 4

Police got no clue to Nazim murder

When a child’s only home is police station

Moyna’s manual on clean cooking

Three days have passed but police are still clueless about the murder of Nazimuddin Samad.

Eleven-year-old Anis lived with his grandmother in Chittagong after his parents divorced and got remarried. They did not want to keep him.  PAGE 5

For city people, who enjoy undisturbed gas by merely turning the knob of kitchen burners, it is hard to fathom the pain that rural people endure.  PAGE 32

 PAGE 3

The agitating locals of Banshkhali in Chittagong have postponed for 15 days their scheduled programmes opposing the construction of the proposed 1,224MW coalfired power plant in the area.

Liakat Ali, convener of the Households and Graveyard Protection Committee, made the announcement in the afternoon after a local ruling party leader had assured that the government would take a decision on the matter within two weeks.

Awami League leader Abdullah Kabir Liton, who was sent on behalf of the prime minister, at a programme told the locals that a foreign experts’ team would visit the site within the next 15 days to assess the installation of the power plant.

Later, the government would decide whether the power plant would be built in Banshkhali or somewhere else.

“I hope that the all the demands of the agitating villagers will be fulfilled within the next 15 days.

We will decide our next course of action if the demands are not met,” said Liakat, the former chairman of Gondamara Union.

“I assure you that all the cases filed against the villagers will be withdrawn and the people detained after the violence will be released.

Those who sustained injuries will receive medical expenses while the family members of the deceased will be compensated,” Liton told the rally held on Madhyam Hadirpara Primary School premises.

On Thursday, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid hinted that the government would not have any objection rather would cooperate if S Alam Group wanted to shift the power plant to any other location.

The same day, Banshkhali lawmaker Mostafizur Rahman blamed local BNP leader Liakat for the clashes and deaths on Monday. He, however, declared Tk10 lakh compensation for each of the victims.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Sweet promises turned bitter acquired land without getting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report approved by the Department of Environment (DoE).

S Alam Group has secured approval only for the Terms of Reference, which too was done without the consultation of local DoE officials.

The government officials first sat with the locals on February 24.

A peace rally was held at Gondamara Bazar on March 23 in presence of the UNO, ASP and OC, and attended by around 30,000 people of the area. They asked the government to exclude the crowded areas while implementing the power plant project.

Even the local Awami League lawmaker, Mostafizur Rahman, on March 25 assured the locals that he would raise their demands in the parliament. But he later told the Banshkhali locals that the coal plant must be built in Gondamara.

On March 28, the Banshkhali UNO along with the law enforcers sat in a meeting with the people of Gondamara to discuss the power plant issue. At the meeting, the UNO invited Chittagong University teachers Professor Mohammed Mahfuzur Rahman and Dr SM Rafiqul Alam to make them understand the positive aspects of the power plant.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Prof Mahfuz expressed his doubts about whether S Alam Group would be able to maintain minimum emission of toxic gases, fly ash and smoke.

“The concept of massive coalbased power plants is completely new in Bangladesh. It will emit a huge amount of fly ash, radiate heat and use a lot of water. Moreover, the gas emitted from the power plant will affect the people, crops and fishes in the surrounding area,” he said.

The nearby Kutubdia Channel is a breeding ground for hilsha fish.

“Mitigating the emission is a big challenge. The plant will not be harmful if they can refine the fly ash and use it in their cement factory.

Moreover, to control the emission of carbon dioxide, there must be enough trees and water.”

Prof Mafiz said that he was not convinced of the capacity of the plant authority in dealing with the technical issues. It is also not clear in their proposal how they will manage accidents.

He wondered how the company initiated the project without conducting any assessment.

“Moreover, the firm and the government needed to start discussing the project with the locals much earlier,” he said.

“Whereas developed countries like Japan, Germany, USA and China are closing down their coal-based projects, why are we going to start such plants?” he asked.

On April 7, the Dhaka Tribune contacted Mujibul Huq of the Centre for Environmental and Geographical Information Services (CEGIS), a public trust under the Water Resources Ministry that prepared the EIA for

the power plant project.

He said that the EIA would cover counter arguments of the locals, displacement and related issues. Then the technical committee of the DoE would approve the EIA after tight scrutiny.

However, Md Makbul Hossain, a DoE director of Chittagong Division, said that the head office had approved the ToR in 2014 without consulting the Chittagong office whereas the project authorities are yet to get a site clearance.

Coal-based power plants are considered a red category industry.

The plant authorities will have to ensure that the project will not harm the locals and the environment to get a environment clearance.

“So you should talk to the DoE head office as they are dealing with the project,” Makbul told the Dhaka Tribune.

Under environmental laws it is mandatory to get the EIA approved and secure a site clearance before starting the construction work.

Sweet pledges

Back in 2013, officials of S Alam Group visited the area and informed locals that they were planning to set up a manufacturing plant and a jetty.

They lured the people into selling their land saying that the project would create huge employment opportunities for them.

Mohammad Islam, who has already sold nine kani (360 decimals) of land to S Alam, said: “During that time, they assured us of jobs at the manufacturing plant and bought our land at Tk8 lakh per kani which is higher than the market price.

“But later we refused to leave our land after learning that they will build a coal-fired plant which will harm the livelihood of the people.”

He said that the plant authorities had deployed some middlemen to buy the lands from the villagers, many of whom alleged that they were not given the pledged amount.

Some land owners said that the brokers had taken away the land deeds and were yet to pay the money.

Mohammed Khasen, who has sold 7.5 kani land, said that the plant authorities were yet to pay him Tk2.5 lakh. “Everyone wants development in the area but if it destroys our fishing projects we obviously will protest against the coal power plant.”

Zafar Ahmed, a physically challenged villager, said that he had given his land deeds to a middleman named Hazi Naksa Miya to sell 3 kani of his land. But the broker neither paid him the money nor returned him the documents.

The local union parishad office says there are around 14,000 salt farmers and 10,000 fishermen living in the project area.

Some fishermen and salt farmers said that they were worried about losing their livelihoods. Earlier they were told that no one would lose their professions while many others

would get jobs at the manufacturing plant.

Locals said more than 1,000 families live within a two-kilometre periphery of the proposed project site.

S Alam Group, however, claims that there are only 150 families living in the adjacent areas.

Assistant Manager of the project Abdul Hannan said that they would build the plant using modern technologies so that the environment is not affected. To mitigate the emission of smoke, the project will build a 90-storey chimney system.

At the project office, the Dhaka Tribune reporter found two locals who had sold their land for the project. They had been brought there to talk to journalists in favour of the project.

One of them, Jahirul Islam, said: “No environmental hazard will take place if the power plant is built here.

We the local people will get employment opportunities.”

When contacted, S Alam’s Chief Finance Officer Subrata Kumar Bhowmick said that they could not sit with the locals who are opposing the plant. “But as the government has sought 15 days to reach a decision on the matter, we will try to reach all the locals and address their concerns.

“If we fail, we will relocate the plant to Chokoria, the previous location of the project,” the official said.

On Thursday, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid hinted that the government would not have any objection and would rather cooperate if S Alam Group wanted to shift the power plant to any other location.

At least four protesters were killed and 30 others sustained injuries on Monday afternoon when law enforcers obstructed several thousand locals from holding a rally at Gondamara and supporters of S Alam Group allegedly launched an attack with firearms on the agitators. l

Banshkhali protests postponed Private firm S Alam Group is implementing the project in association with a Chinese company. The government on February 16 signed an agreement with the joint venture firm to buy electricity from the plant.

The people opposing the plant on Friday issued an ultimatum giving the government 24 hours to scrape the project. Or else, they were set to lay siege to the UNO office this morning wearing burial clothes.

The deadline was given following the death of at least four protesters and injuries of over 30 people on Monday afternoon in bullets sprayed allegedly by the police and supporters of the plant authorities when they were set to hold a rally at Gondamara of Banshkhali. They also demanded that the police withdraw the false and fabricated cases filed against the villagers after Monday’s incident.

The locals opposing the plant allege that the authorities were acquiring land in a densely-popu-

lated area where there are around 7,000 households, educational institutions, graveyard, and salt and shrimp farms. Moreover, the local administration and the plant authorities had not consulted the locals before taking up the project.

Meanwhile, the home minister has said that the law enforcers would identify the people responsible for the deaths of four people on Monday.

“I have come to know that some locals are favouring the project while others are opposing it. The issue has now become complicated,” the minister said in response to a query over the death of four protesters before inaugurating a Fire Station at Boalkhali.

“I do not want to talk about the matter. The minister concerned will take the decision. Besides, the prime minister may say something, if she has anything to say,” Kamal said at the residence of local lawmaker Mayeenuddin Khan Badal. l

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Police still in dark about Nazimuddin Samad's murder n Arifur Rahman Rabbi

Three days have passed but police are still clueless about the murder of Nazimuddin Samad, a law student of Jagannath University.

They are yet to know the cause of the murder and to identify the killers, but they suspect that the killers targeted Nazimuddin from Sylhet.

Police sources said the case might be transferred to the Detective Branch or the Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime unit shortly.

Meanwhile, Ansar al-Islam, Bangladesh chapter of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), has claimed responsibility for the killing of Nazimuddin but law enforcers said that no such organisation exists.

Police said they do not have any

proof that Nazimuddin was a blogger. They said he used to campaign for secularism on Facebook and was also critical of radical Islamists.

The investigating officer found a diary at Nazimuddin's house.

“In the diary, he has criticised as well as praised the work of the government,” said Investigating Officer Inspector Samir Chandra Sutradhar.

He told the Dhaka Tribune that police were investigating the case taking into account all possible aspects.

“We are still looking into it but are yet to make any breakthrough.”

Shadow investigator of the case Mahbub Alam, who is a Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner, told the Dhaka Tribune that examining the appearance of the assailants

and their attacking style, it was primarily suspected that Nazimuddin might have been killed in a planned manner by members of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team.

“In this organisation, the killing squad members work like sleeper cells, where they do not know each other. They hit their targets by sleeper cells and it takes time to identify them.

“We are considering all these in our investigation. The technical aspect of the investigation has also begun,” he said.

Mahbub said: “Not only Nazimuddin's murder but some other murders had been announced as acts of international militants by the SITE Intelligence Group. In the past, we did not find the existence

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of any international militant group or its branch for the murders.”

Meanwhile, demanding the arrest of the killers of Nazimuddin, students of Jagannath University and some other student organisations observed a strike yesterday, as announced earlier.

The protesting students said they would continue to observe strikes and also declared different kinds of programmes until the arrest of the murderers.

“Different student organisations and general students will have the support of the strike. After that we will declare new programmes,” one of the protesters said.

Nazimuddin was killed by suspected Islamist militants in Old Dhaka's Sutrapur area on Wednesday night. l

Two crushed under train in Banani n Tribune Report Two people were crushed under the wheels of a train in the city's Banani level crossing area yesterday.

Of the two, one was identified as tea stall owner Mizan, 50. The other, aged around 45, could not be identified till the filing of this report yesterday evening.

Confirming the incident, Kamlapur Railway Police Officer-incharge Abdul Majid said a Chittagong-bound train – Mohanogar Provati – hit the two around 8:15am.

He said it is being suspected that the one who could not be identified was visually impaired and was trying to cross the level-crossing when the train hit him. Mizan tried to save him but the train hit them both and were left spot dead, he added. l

SC to hold review of Nizami's plea today n Tribune Report The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is all set to start holding hearing on the review plea filed by convicted war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami today.

On March 29, Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Nizami filed the petition mentioning 46 grounds in a 70-page appeal praying to acquit him of all charges on which he was found guilty and awarded the death penalty.

The SC on March 3 fixed this week to hold the hearing on the petition by the 71-year-old war criminal.

On four charges of war crimes committed during the nation's liberation war, including murdering intellectuals, Nizami was awarded the death penalty by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 on October 29, 2014. He was awarded life imprisonment on four other charges.

For committing crimes against humanity in 1971, the SC upheld his death sentences on three charges and life term imprisonment on two other charges on January 6, 2016.

The ICT has already issued his death warrant on March 15 after the SC released it's full verdict.

The following day, the jail authorities read out the judgment before the convict.

This review petition will be the last legal battle for the war criminal. If rejected, Nizami will have the chance to seek presidential pardon. If he does not receive it or opts to not seek clemency, the government will carry out the death sentence. l

Completely disregarding traffic rules, several vehicles take the wrong side of the road and create unnecessary trouble for weekend commuters on Mayor Hanif flyover in the capital yesterday morning MEHEDI HASAN

BNP gets new committee members n Tribune Report

BNP has announced the names of the party's new joint secretary generals and organising secretaries about a month after its national council.

The party announced 15 more names - seven joint secretary generals and eight organising secretaries-

for its national executive committee.

BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi made the announcement at party's Nayapaltan headquarters yesterday.

The joint secretary generals include Mahbubuddin Khokon, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, Mojibur Rahman Sarwar, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Habib-un-Nabi Khan So-

hel, Harun-ur-Rashid and Aslam Chowdhury.

The organising secretaries are Fazlul Huq Milon for Dhaka division, Shahadat Hossain for Chittagong division, Nazrul Islam Monju for Khulna division, Asadul Habib Dulu for Rajshahi division, Bilkis Shirin for Barisal division, Ruhul Quddus Talukdar Dulu for

Rangpur division, Syed Emran Saleh Prince for Mymensingh and Shama Obayed for Faridpur.

On March 30, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was made the new BNP secretary general and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi the senior joint secretary general. Mizanur Rahman Sinha was appointed the party's treasurer. l

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Hashem Khan: There should be no exams at schools n Tribune Report

Exams should be removed to make school delightful for children, children’s author and artist Hashem Khan has said.

Speaking at a publication ceremony for children’s literature, the artist said, “The government should reduce half of of the textbooks from the education system and add enjoyable lessons for proper psychological development.”

“Children are running after GPA 5. As a result they do not get to read literature books,” he said.

He was addressing an annual publication event by

Chandrabati Academy at Bangla Academy yesterday.

The academy has been releasing annual publications for children for five years now and the latest editions were released yesterday. The publications are titled - “‘Kothar Jhapi”’ (basket of word), ‘’Satsokal’’ (Early morning), ‘’Aj Chutibar’’ (Holiday).

The publications were edited by Zazabar Mintu, Subal Kumar Banik, Sajjad Arefin and Rahim Shah. Mahfuzur Rahman was the chief editor of the editions.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith attended the publication ceremony as chief guest. Bangla Academy Di-

rector General Shamsuzzaman Khan, painter and author Rafiqun Nabi and Chandrabati Academy Executive Director Kamruzzaman Kajol were present among others. Professor Anisuzzaman presided over the function.

Hashem Khan urged the education minister to leave out exams for children for the first five years of their education.

Chandrabati Academy is planning to celebrate 200 years of literature publication for children with events through 2016 to 2018, said Kamruzzaman Kajol.

“We will publish 200 books on children’s literature in the next two years,” he said. l

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

When a child’s only home is police station n Bipul Sarker Sunny, Dinajpur Eleven-year-old Anis lived with his grandmother in Chittagong after his parents divorced and got remarried.

They did not want to keep him. One day he got on a bus and travelled to Dinajpur, where he ended up living at the police station.

Local union parishad member Aktaruzzaman found Anis loitering at Panchbari on the night of February 27 and took him to police. His parents flatly refused to take him in when police contacted them.

Orphanages too declined to accept him as his parents were alive.

‘I lived with my grandmother after my parents forsook me. Poverty was our constant companion.

So, I left the house and went to a local market and lived with a security guard there‘ The local police contacted various government institutes and NGOs to arrange accommodation for the boy.

But after their efforts bore no fruits, officials at Dinajpur police station decided to keep him in their custody considering his safety.

Policemen brought him sports equipment, books and stationery.

They have been providing him with food and tutoring him. Anis says he does not want to leave the

Eleven-year-old Anis listens carefully as a police official explains a lesson during one of their tutoring sessions. Abandoned by both his parents, Anis found refuge in a police station in Dinajpur DHAKA TRIBUNE

The Awami League is scheduled to announce new committees for its Dhaka north and Dhaka south units today.

“There was a single committee for Awami League’s Dhaka city unit but we have divided it into two units - Dhaka north and Dhaka south. We will announce the names of presidents and general secretaries of the new committees tomorrow [today],” Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Sources said AKM Rahmat Ullah

TEMPERATURE FOREC AST FOR TODAY

PARTLY CLOUDY SUNDAY, APRIL 10

and Abul Hasnat had been finalised for the posts of presidents of the north and south units respectively.

Also, Sadek Khan has been chosen as the general secretary for the north unit, and Shah-e Alam Murad for south.

Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina tasked Abdur Razzak and Mohammad Faruk Khan with overhauling the party’s Dhaka city units.

On December 27, 2012, the Awami League held the last council of the city unit at Suhrawardy Udyan but no changes to the leadership positions were made. l Dhaka

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Chittagong

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n UNB

Min Sandhani – in the Perak River of Malaysia and gave permission to set sail for Bangladesh through seaway by the end of April, said a PID handout yesterday.

The survey vessel is being imported under a project, titled ‘marine fisheries capacity building project’, being implemented at a cost of over Tk165 crore with support from the Islamic Development Bank and the Malaysian government.

The government said Bangladesh, through the survey ship, will be able to conduct sea researches and survey on marine resources for the next 20-

Bangladesh will get its ocean research and survey ship, built in Malaysia, by the end of the current month which is expected to help assess fish stock and other marine resources in the Bay of Bengal.

A seven-member Bangladesh delegation, led by Fisheries and Livestock Minister Muhammed Sayedul Hoque, visited the Malaysian seaport where the ship was built at a cost of Tk65.5 crore to inspect the vessel.

The delegation made a brief trial tour with the survey vessel – RV 27

Rajshahi

DHAKA TODAY SUN SETS 6:18PM

Anis said he studied up to grade II when he was with his parents.

“After they separated, I barely had anything to eat let alone continuing studies. Here at this police station, I have received everything.

Everyone loves me.”

His life’s goal now is to become a policeman, like those who have been taking care of him. “I’ll become a policeman when I grow up,” he said in a jovial tone. l

Ocean survey vessel arriving to help assess Bay fish stock

AL to announce Dhaka city committees today n Abu Hayat Mahmud

take custody of the child as nobody took him in. “We brought necessary stuff for Anis with our own money.

He sleeps in the duty officer’s room.”

He said they want Anis to be brought up properly, be it in an adopted family or in government custody. “He may wound up being a criminal if he is left alone. The country will be benefited by such children if we take care of them,” the OC added.

to Dinajpur,” he said.

The police station’s children affairs official Sub-Inspector Nazmul Alam said they were trying their best to send the child to a secure place.

He noted that there was no separate allotment for rearing children who were not criminals. “There should be funds for taking care of such children in every district.”

Officer-in-Charge AKM Khalequzzaman said they had no choice but to

place and that his dream is to become a policeman.

During a visit to there, Anis was seen studying and policemen were teaching him whenever they were free.

“I lived with my grandmother after my parents forsook me. Poverty was our constant companion.

So, I left the house and went to a local market and lived with a security guard there. Then one day I came

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Rangpur

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Khulna

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Barisal

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:42AM

39.2ºC Chuadanga

18.6ºC Sylhet

Source: Accuweather/UNB

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PRAYER TIMES

25 years uninterruptedly.

It will play a role in managing the marine resources well and improving the lifestyle of around 500,000 people in the costal areas who depend on fishing, the government said.

The high-tech vessel is a 37.8-metre-long multipurpose research vessel, equipped with the latest technology for fisheries and other oceanographic research.

It will primarily be used to carry out a survey to find out fish varieties, distribution of fish species and major fishing grounds in the Bay of Bengal. l Sylhet

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Cox’s Bazar

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Fajr: 4:21am | Zohr: 12:00pm Asr: 3:28pm | Magrib: 6:22pm Esha: 7:48pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Menon: Cuts in aircrafts surcharge, landing charge n Tribune Report, Chittagong Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon has assured that his ministry would consider reducing surcharge and landing charge for aircrafts.

Addressing a flight inauguration ceremony at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday, he said, “Despite all the constraints, the private aviation sector is doing a good business. We will consider reducing the surcharge and landing charge.”

Private airlines Regent Airways launched flight operations from Dhaka and Chittagong to Muscat, Oman at that event.

The government has recently announced that it will reduce fuel oil prices in view of the global slump in fuel prices.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon inaugurates DhakaChittagong-Muscat flight of Regent Airways at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Thursday night DHAKA TRIBUNE

Fake DB men make off with Tk7 lakh n Tribune Report A gang of muggers, introducing themselves as Detective Branch police, made off with Tk7 lakh from a businessman on Saturday afternoon from the capital’s Chankarpool area.

Confirming the incident, Maruf Hossain Sardar, deputy commissioner (Media) of

Dhaka Metropolitan Police said the criminals had intercepted businessman Azam Mia near Shahidullah hall of Dhaka University posing as DB men around 1:00pm.

They searched Azam’s bag alleging that there were firearms in it and found the money. The muggers then took the money and left on two motorbikes parked near-

by, said the police official.

Azam, who runs Hamza Fashion Limited in Uttar Badda of Dhaka, was heading to Narayanganj along with his friend Sangit Pal to buy clothing materials.

A case has been filed with the Shahbagh police station. Police will attempt to apprehend the muggers, he added. l

Menon said he was hopeful that jet fuel prices would be cut as well.

The minister said the rise of worldwide extremism had also hit the aviation sector.

“The security measure is the prime concern in world’s airports today.”

Thanking Regent Airways, Menon said that the flights between Oman and Bangladesh would help accelerate communication between the two countries.

With Yasin Ali, Chairman of Regent Airways in the chair, the inaugural ceremony was attended by Civil Aviation Secretary SM Golam Faruque, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh Chairman Air Vice-Marshal Ehsanul Gani Chowdhury, Ambassador Omar bin Mohamed bin Ramdhan Al Balushi of Oman and

Mashruf Habib, Managing Director of the Airways.

Yasin Ali said airlines could buy the same amount of fuel from outside the country for half the price of the fuel in Dhaka.

“Landing charge for any country’s local airlines is one tenth of the amount charged to foreign carriers, but in Bangladesh the landing charges are the same for local and international carriers,” Ali said.

Regent MD Mashruf Habib said they had plans to launch more flights to other Middle Eastern countries as well as some other countries soon.

The newly added aircraft Boeing 737-800 with 183 seats will fly on the Muscat route, the fifth international route of Regent. Initially, the flight will operate four days a week on Dhaka-Chittagong-Muscat route. l

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Rawhide traders passing critical time n Kamal Mridha, Natore The rawhide traders of Natore town, the second largest market of rawhide in the country, are passing a tough situation as the sale of their goods has decreased due to reduction in purchase of the product by the tannery owners of Hazaribag in Dhaka after the government ordered the owners to shift their business.

Shibnath, a rawhide trader of Chawk Baidyanath area of Natore town said: “Every year at this time, 12 to 15 trucks loaded with the goods are sent to Hazaribag, Dhaka. But due to the recent an-

nouncement of the government related to Hazaribag tannery industries, the traders of Natore rawhide market have become frustrate.”

“The industry may be destroyed if the situation is going on,” he added.

Lutfar Rahman, vice-president of Rawhide Merchants’ Association, said: “The country earns a big amount of foreign currency by exporting hide every year.”

The concerned authorities should take effective steps to save the business, he hoped.

“The traders here bought huge quantity of skin during the last Eid-ul-Azha. Besides that, they

also bought more hide in different times. All the hides are now stored at the godown. If these are not sold in time, these will become damaged,” he added.

“At least 300 labourers work at different hide factories here. But now, they are the worst sufferers.

They are facing setback in maintaining their families,” he added.

Shariful Islam Sharif, president of the Association said, “Natore is the second largest market of rawhide in the country. 50 per cent of the hide against the total demand of the country is supplied from here. But the government’s recent announcement about transferring

the tannery industry from Hazaribag has caused problem.”

“We are neither buying nor selling rawhide for this reason. The traders have become helpless as raw hides worth crores of taka are lying unsold in the godown,” he added.

He requested the concerned authority to solve the problem immediately.

Rezaul, an official of the association, said they would go on a massive movement on April 11 to save the industry.

Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation recently served legal notices on the 28 er-

rant tanners directing them to relocate their tanneries from the city’s Hazaribagh.

The notice said that BSCIC would force the tanners to evict them by snapping gas, power and water connections to their industries and cancel the allotment of land given to them to run tannery business in Savar industrial belt if they fail to relocate within the deadline.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu warned that tanneries would lose their licences if they do not shift by Wednesday from Dhaka’s Hazaribagh to Savar’s tannery estate. l

Shahjahan for raising protest against river encroachment n Tribune Report

Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan yesterday urged mass people to raise strong voice against the river pollution and encroachment terming it as an act like that of Rajakars who committed crimes against humanity during 1971 Liberation War. “Rajakars had killed people and raped women in 1971 . . . the vested quarters involved in killing rivers are also guilty like Rajakars,” he said while speaking at a roundtable conference at VIP Lounge of Jatiya Press Club in the capital, reports BSS. The minister said the government is working to free some 46 canals of Dhaka from all sorts of illegal encroachers.

Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), a forum of environmentalists, and Buriganga Riverkeeper jointly organized the roundtable on future of the Buriganga river. Buriganga Riverkeeper and BAPA Joint Secretary Sharif Jamil presented the keynote paper.

“We must stop the sources of toxic and wastewater of tanneries, mills and factories that mixes in natural water and pollute about 60 percent rivers of the country,” the minister mentioned. He also underscored the need for changing mindset to protect river water.

Expressing his grave concern over building infrastructures on the riverbank he called upon the people to resist it. Additional Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Rakibul Islam, eminent writer and researcher Syed Abul Maksud, former president of the Institute of Architects Bangladesh Mobasser Hossain and Chief Executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Syeda Rizwana Hasan, among others, took part in the discussion. l

Protesters form a human chain around Raju Bhashkarja in Dhaka University yesterday protesting the abduction and murder of Drik official and photographer Md Irfanul Islam. The event was jointly organised by Drik Picture Library Ltd and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute MEHEDI HASAN

Tank-lorry workers begin Amu for preventing drug strike in Sirajganj abuse to ensure health n Our Correspondent, Sirajganj An indefinite strike called by the Northern Tank-lorry Workers Union began in Sirajganj’s Baghabari yesterday, demanding the arrest of assailants who killed two transport workers.

Transportation of fuel from Padma, Meghna and Jamuna oil depots in Baghabari was suspended because of the strike.

It is feared that an artificial crisis will emerge as the suspension affected fuel transportation to 16

northern districts.

Shahjahan Siraj, president of the union, said the strike was observed in protest at the killing of trucker Kuraish and his assistant Ramjan Ali at Tajhaat on Kurigram-Rangpur Highway on the night of March 21.

Abdul Karim, elder brother of Kuraish, filed two cases with Rangpur Sadar police station in this connection the following day.

He said police seized the truck but could not arrest any of the attackers. l

n BSS Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu yesterday said drug abuse must be prevented to ensure a sound and safe health of the students and young generation in the greater interest of the country.

“The problem of drug abuse specially addiction to yaba tablets has taken an epidemic form at present that is destroying a section of university and college students and young generation,” he said while speaking as the chief guest

at a view-exchange-meeting at the conference room of Jhalokati Deputy Commissioners’ office here.

Amu, also Awami League central leader, observed that the irresponsibility and unconsciousness of parents and guardians are the rootcause of this addiction to health hazardous contraband items.

Speed Trust, a Non-Government Organization (NGO) and Ganoskhkharota Avijan (Mass-Signature Campaign) organized the view-exchange meeting with Jhalokati ADC Jakir Hossain in the chair. l

DT

8

News

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

No bridge in 45 years in Bogra n Our Correspondent, Bogra More than 7,500 people in several villages in Shimultala under Bogra’s Gabtoli upazila use a makeshift bamboo bridge to cross the Isamoti River while many more wade through an-

kle-deep water to their destinations.

The government did not construct any bridge at Shimultala since independence although the public representatives promised to build bridge before every election.

In the past people used boats to

cross the river but it has lost navigability over the years. The people joined forces to construct a bamboo bridge last January as their repeated pleas for a bridge fell on deaf ears.

Residents of various villages including Sildahbri, Panchkawni,

Comilla Cantt Board CEO gives statement over Tonu murder n Tribune Report

second year history student of Comilla Victoria College and a member of Victoria College Theatre, went missing on March 20, hours after she had gone out of her house at Comilla Mainamati Cantonment for private tuition.

Later, Tonu’s father Yaar Hossain found his daughter lying senseless with severe injuries in her body in a bush adjacent to their house.

She was then whisked off to Combined Military Hospital where doctors declared her dead. l

Twenty days after the killing of Comilla Victoria College student Sohagi Jahan Tonu, Chief Executive Officer of Comilla Cantonment Board M Manirul Islam yesterday gave a written statement over the murder.

He gave the statement while he was being quizzed by members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at his office in the cantonment area.

But, it could not be known

what the Cantonment Board CEO has said in his written statement over the murder that triggered countrywide outcry.

Two more army officers are scheduled to be quizzed in the evening in connection with the incident, said sources at the CID. On the other hand, CID have quizzed slain Comilla Victoria Government College student Sohagi Jahan Tonu’s father’s colleagues in the afternoon.

Sohagi Jahan Tonu, 19, a

8 arrested with drugs

Woman beaten to death in Panchagarh, 2 arrested

Correspondent, n Our Natore

Rahman n Sazzadur Sazzad, Panchagarh

Police in raids arrested eight persons including a couple with 70 yaba tablets, 500 grams of hemp and six packets of heroin from Singra Pourashava areas yesterday.

The arrested were Alauddin, 50, and his wife Aklima Khatun, 38, of Pat Singra area, Masum,35, son of late Ismail Hossain of Gainpara, Janab Ali, 50, son of Hasan Mondol and Nazma Begum, 38, wife of Lokman Ali of Nenguin, Vadu Chandra, 50, son of late Meghna Chandra of Uttar Damdama, Shamsul Haque, 40, son of Mojahar Ali of Chalk Gopal, Raisuddin, 30, son of Azith Akond of Uttar Damdama under Singra Pourashava.

On information a team of Singra Thana Police conducted raids in the area and arrested them with drugs.

Officer- in- Charge (OC) of Singra Thana Nasiruddin Mondol said the arrested male and female were involved in drug business for long.

Separate cases were filed against them with Singra Thana in this connection. l

The body of a 21-year-old woman, allegedly beaten and strangled to death, was recovered from her house at Gofapara village in Panchagarh Sadar upazila yesterday.

The victim was identified as Maleka Akhter Mala, a housewife, said police sources.

Police primarily suspect that Mala was first beaten and then strangled until she died. Her body was sent to Panchagarh Sadar Modern Hospital for a postmortem examination.

Mala’s in-laws allegedly tried to pass her death as suicide and poured poison in her mouth, sources said.

Police arrested Mala’s husband Dulal, 30, a rickshaw van puller, and mother-inlaw Hawa Begum, 50, in connection with her death.

Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, locals said Dulal and Hawa brutally tortured beat Mala on Friday night.

Neighbours rescued her in a severe condition and took her to Panchagarh Sadar Modern Hospital. As her condition deteriorated, she

was transferred to Rangpur Medical College Hospital, but Mala succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital.

The neighbours then brought her body back to her husband’s house.

Mala’s family claimed Dulal and his family had been trying to make Mala’s murder look like suicide. Both Mala’s family and locals claimed that police did not respond immediately when they were informed about the incident and went to the spot around 13 hours later.

Dulal has a six-year-old daughter with Nargis who lived with him and Mala. He also had a seven-month-old son with Mala.

Dulal’s daugther said: “My grandmother pressed her hand over my stepmother’s mouth while my father beat her with a stick. Then they took her to the hospital.”

Md Giasuddin Ahmed, Superintendent of Police in Panchagarh, said: “The victim’s husband and motherin-law have been detained for the allegation of killing her. Appropriate action will be taken when a case in this regard in filed with police.” l

Betuarkandi, Kalaihata, Sonamua use the makeshift bridge. They have to use alternative routes and spend more on transporting goods as the bridge is not strong enough.

Many farmers fail to take their goods to other markets for want of

a bridge and end up selling them to local traders at lower prices.

Locals say they are having a hard time in the absence of a bridge connecting the two sides of the river. A bridge would boost the area’s trade and development, they argued. l

9

DT

Career

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

| success stories |

Bangladeshi entrepreneurs who have made it big What does it take to build a company from scratch? Why do people start things, build things?

What motivates entrepreneurs to do things they do? The profiles of these four Bangladeshi entrepreneurs try to explore that.

Fahim Mashroor of bdjobs.com Fahim Mashroor is the cofounder and CEO of bdjobs. com - the largest job portal in the country. Fahim is a rare kind of entrepreneur who can see far beyond the horizon and act on foresight. He started the company in 2000, back when Internet was not a household component; but he could see the future. His dynamic leadership and courage has made bdjobs.com one of the most successful online ventures of Bangladesh to date. In 2008, Fahim was awarded the “Best Innovative Entrepreneur” award

by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also served as president of BASIS in the year of 2012 and 2013.

“We started bdjobs.com in my house, taking a single room only with two to three people. I had just graduated from university then and money was not one of my strengths. We started with very little investment by

borrowing three computers from my family members,” said Fahim Mashroor.

Samantha Morshed of Hathay Bunano Samantha has a brilliant history of taking initiative and making ideas into reality. She started her first venture at the age of 8; making rag dolls for sale.

However, her interest in social enterprise bloomed in 2004 when she sought an answer to a basic question: “How can I create sustainable employment without micro-finance debt or economic migration for rural women?.” To solve that question, Samantha founded Hathay Bunano with a personal initial investment of only $500. Now, a decade later, Hathay Bunano has evolved into a thriving social enterprise, with a non-profit organisation in Bangladesh and three more limited companies in Bangladesh, UK and Malaysia.

They have created employment for more than 6000 artisans in more than 60 rural production centers throughout Bangladesh, and funnily enough, are now also exporting handmade toys around the world.

“I’ve always been an entrepreneur! My first ‘business’

BIBI RUSSEL

IRAJ ISLAM

started when I was eight when I made rag dolls and then asked my aunts to sell them where they worked. I still have the first doll I made from the first batch!” laughed Samantha Morshed.

Iraj Islam of NewsCred Iraj Islam is an entrepreneur, and likes to consider himself as a curious creator. There is a rare kind of entrepreneur who attempts to make something happen only because they love what they do. This man is one of them.

Iraj is the co-founder and CTO of NewsCred, a news wire with a vision to disrupt the news industry in order to save it.

“The notion of being able to change the world around you, as opposed to simply living in it, is a very inspiring idea to me.

It’s a very simple idea, but when you realise that your own ideas and actions can shape the world around you, you become very motivated to reach out to the world, and change it,” said Irad Islam.

SAMANTHA MORSHED

FAHIM MASHROOR

Bibi Russell of Bibi Productions Bibi Russell is the founder of Bibi Productions - a world renowned

fashion house working with craftspeople of Bangladesh. She was born in Chittagong, grew up in Dhaka and studied in Kamrunnessa Govt Girls’ High School and Home Economics College. Her life began to change when she went to London and earned a graduate degree in fashion from London College of Fashion, and in the subsequent years, began working as a fashion model with different prestigious organisations and talented communities.

In 1994, Bibi returned to Bangladesh and opened Bibi Productions, a fashion house fusing indigenous Bengali cultural elements, in 1995. With this, she first claimed the much cited slogan of “Fashion for Development.”

Bibi continued working with craftspeople with a vision to save the art form and revive their dreams ever since. l

The content has been reprinted with the permission of futurestartup.com

DT

10

Feature

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

5 kinds of deshis you’ll meet during your vacation away So you thought your troubles ended once the plane landed? Think again

n Sabrina Fatma Ahmad It’s vacation season! Or so Facebook tells us, judging by the rise in check-ins at Hazrat Shahjalal Airport. Last week, we talked about the kinds of deshis we see on flights. This week, we focus on deshi tourists you’ll meet while on your trip abroad.

Check-in Chappu/Chondona A shout-out from the airport is fairly common, but these checkinators (you heard it here first, folks) will treat their whole trip like a Crystal Maze mission.

Landed at the hotel? Check-in.

First look at the fresh bathroom?

Check-in. First meal? Check-in. If you’re friends with one of these

people, you will be able to narrate the itinerary of their entire trip as well as they can, simply by reading off their Facebook posts.

to Bashundhara, every bridge she lands on to Hatirjheel, and shaking her head at how we too, could have been like “this.” If only!

Political Pappu/Poornima What better place to air your invaluable insight on “desher obostha” with impunity? Why, bidesh, of course! The moment Political Pappu finds another Bangla-speaking brown person in the vicinity, you can be sure he’ll pounce, ready with his theories about what’s wrong with Bangladesh, and how he alone has been talking about the correct solution. The Political Poornima, on the other hand, takes a different approach. She will be comparing every mall she sees

Bhaat-e-maach e Bhuiyaan The major point of travelling is to experience a new culture, and therefore new cuisines, right? Wrong. This group plans their entire schedule around the prospect of having at least one deshi bhaat meal. Deny them this, and you’ll need to buy earplugs to deal with the caterwauling. Interestingly enough, if you find yourselves on a packaged tour where the food is exclusively deshi-style bhaatdaal, you’ll find the same people raising an equal amount of stink

about the lack of variety.

Shutterbug Shajlee Because a selfie on your phone/ tablet/phablet is way too mainstream for these folks. Nope.

After having exhausted all the poverty porn, extreme close up of bugs, glam shots of hot friends and the mandatory mirror shot options in Dhaka, these folks have to get the most out of that DSLR they broke the bank to buy. Thus every corner, every funky lightshade, every sunset, becomes a grand photoshoot. Bonus points for some tripod action.

Sticky-fingered Sunny Let’s be honest. We’ve all brought home the soaps and shampoo

provided by the hotel, to the extent that this has become the norm. The Sunnies, of both sexes, take it just a tad further.

From pillows to towels to robes, anything they can smuggle into their bags, they will. If there are sweets in the reception area, you can bet your bottom dollar that fistfuls will end up in their pockets. Those mall folks handing out free samples? They’ll take the lot. You get the idea.

At the end of the day, whether you find these quirks annoying or charming, when you’re alone in a foreign land or making your way through unfamiliar territory, coming across another brown face speaking your language makes it feel just a little bit like home. l

DT

Editorial 11

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

INSIDE

Dear UNESCO, do you have a Plan B? Your spectacular inability to meet the dissident voices bears testimony to the fact that the mission has become a farce.

It highlights either your lack of concern, or your lack of competence PAGE 12

Delhi pollutes, everyone else pays While one should laud judicial concern about the environment, it must also be remembered that like Delhi, all states surrounding Delhi also have environments PAGE 13

BIGSTOCK

Not helping

A is.

Bangladesh feels the Bern Under a Sanders presidency, the US will only trade with countries with wages and environmental standards comparable to the US itself. What does that mean for Bangladesh? That means zero trade with Bangladesh, nada PAGE 14

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

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

sked about the murder of Jagannath University Masters student Nazimuddin Samad, the home minister told BBC Bangla: “We need to see whether he used to write objectionable things on blogs.”

No, no, no.

It is almost impossible to quantify how wrong-headed and self-defeating this approach

The point is not what Nazim may or may not have written. The point is that he has been slaughtered in public in cold blood.

This is a law and order issue. The government cannot have assassins roaming the streets meting out medieval justice to whoever they think deserves it.

It is as simple as that.

Who made them judge, jury, and executioner? How dare they arrogate the right to take the law into their own hands and tell the Bangladeshi public what it can and cannot read and write?

The correct and only acceptable government response is unqualified outrage and a genuine and unflagging commitment to hunting down the killers.

Neither of the above is in evidence, if the home minister’s disgraceful statement is anything to go by.

The minister’s unwise and ill-judged comment, by implying the victim may in some way have been responsible for his fate, only gives comfort to the perpetrators and raise doubts about how serious the government is in trying to catch those behind the series of targeted killings that has blighted the face of the nation.

For the minister to further claim that law enforcers have solved all the previous murders and say “the masterminds have been arrested or identified” -- in stark contradiction to the facts -- reduces his credibility to zero.

His remarks are worse than complacent.

Not only do they divert attention from the over-riding need to catch and punish the killers, they also feed into the mind-set that such a crime can be justified and that people need to watch what they say or write or suffer the consequences.

It bears repetition: It does not matter what anyone says or writes. It is never acceptable to kill someone for his or her words.

The home minister would do well to understand and internalise this basic truth, and act accordingly.

His regrettable statements suggest that this elementary premise of both human rights and of law enforcement is beyond him, calling into question his fitness for the office he holds.

Words don’t kill. Killers do. And it is the government’s job to police and bring to justice the latter, not the former.

To focus on the contents of Nazim’s blog is profoundly unhelpful and misguided, and the sooner the government understands this, the better it will be able to do its job, which is to protect the public from murder, not blame the victim.

Words don’t kill.

Killers do

12

DT

Opinion

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Dear UNESCO, do you have a Plan B? We don’t have a Forest B

Don’t let the forest die

n Maha Mirza

D

ear UNESCO team (Dr Fanny Douvere, Mizuki Murai, Naomi Clare Doak), Hello from Dhaka. So, how was your trip to Bangladesh?

Let us not get into the debate over whether a “super critical” “third-generation” coal plant pollutes or not. Let us also not discuss how planet Earth is headed for 3.7 degrees Celsius of warming.

Let us talk instead about the mission you just completed in Bangladesh. Especially the way the government carefully scripted your schedule: Where to go, whom to talk to, what to see, and what not to see.

As your schedule shows, it was obviously a well-formulated mission which was supposed to give you a true picture of the effect of Rampal plant.

Really! Rather, how did you not notice that it was well-organised to hide those who could actually give you the true picture?

You were carefully steered to meet a good number of people with a mindset that remains wedded to a superficial notion of “development.” The ones who look at development merely through the lenses of flyovers and

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

power grids, who deeply believe that coal plants are the best things that can happen to a nation, and who think “the environment” is mere communist propaganda.

Yes, of course, you have got to meet an “independent expert” in your mission. By the way, wasn’t he also a paid member of the 11-member government team that accompanied you throughout the journey? Is that not clear conflict of interest? Wait now, let’s go deeper, wasn’t he the same “expert” who once told the UN assessment committee that the oil spill was no big deal?

While independent scientists spent months to study the deadly effect of the spill on the forest, didn’t the same “independent” guy tell us not to worry about the Sundarbans, as it was strong enough to survive a spill?

So, this time, what did you get to hear? Fly ashes are good for Phytoplanktons? The people of the Sundarbans are resistant to SO2?

Mercury chips are the favourite meal of mangrove species?

So, have you got to meet the local people? I mean, not the ones you were scheduled to meet.

Not the ones who told you how wonderful it would have been to have drowned in some 7.5 lakh tons of fly ash for a few hundred jobs. We are talking about the real

Passur River since early morning, March 26? Could you possibly meet the press? Meet the National Committee members? The members of NCSS? Any critical development experts? Any opposition to the plant?

The ones who were trying to reach you by email (which is publicly available on UNESCO and IUCN website) and phone?

Anyone who could have possibly told you about the range of environmental, social, and economic disorders that is about to be delivered by Rampal and Orion?

What are we supposed to make of it? Your lack of understanding of the ground politics? Your faith in “super critical” technology? The Memorandum of Understanding that you had to sign up for? A play-safe strategy? A disregard for reaching out to the dissident ones in advance of the mission?

If you’re allowed to talk to the people as long as they are selected by the government, then, honestly, what were you even doing here? Is that how you work?

Meet the ones who work for the government, don’t bother to meet those who fight for the people,

Your spectacular inability to meet the dissident voices bears testimony to the fact that the mission has become a farce. It highlights either your lack of concern, or your lack of competence

people who lost their only piece of land. The ones who grow Aman paddy on the other side of the river.

Did you meet Mr Susanto Das? The co-ordinator of Krishi Jomi Rokkha Songram Committee, a local platform that has long battled to save local land and fisheries?

No, looks like he was not on the state-sponsored itinerary.

Have you got to meet our scientists? Who know the wind, the landmass, the fish, and the vegetation of the Sundarbans?

The algebra of tidal waves and the life cycle of the sediments and the seeds? The ones who know the chemistry, the ecology, the morphology, and the communities of the forest?

Who have been studying the effect of SO2s and NO2s? We know that you have not. In that case, you probably got to hear more nonsense, and less natural science.

Yes, of course, you met the Upazila chairperson, an active ruling party member. Who surely told you how happy the “Rampalese” are to get a 1320MW humongous power plant right in their backyard?

Oh yes, you met the members of the Union Council, the apparently democratically elected “local representatives.” However, have you not done your homework?

No meaningful UP elections have been held in Rampal upazila for years. The “locals” you got to meet happened to be the state mouthpieces, according to the real locals.

We wonder, could you possibly have reshaped the design of the mission? Could you possibly have skipped that highly orchestrated “journey by boat,” and instead make an effort to meet those local journalists/activists who were lining up on the bank of

and then go home and write your report? The assignment violated every conceivable moral ground for a UNESCO mission.

Your spectacular inability to meet the dissident voices bears testimony to the fact that the mission has become a farce. It highlights either your lack of concern, or your lack of competence.

If you are still convinced that you met the right people during your Bangladesh trip, then we must agree that the government is a marketing genius.

A good mission should not confuse people with circus, facts with fictions, and taking positions without meeting the right people.

Would you keep this in mind while writing your report? l Maha Mirza is a PhD researcher and activist with the movement to stop the Rampal plant near the Sundarbans.

13

DT

Long Form

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Delhi pollutes, everyone else pays The elites pollute, the rest of India suffers. This is the first part of a two-part long form

Burn as much fuel as you like, just not in Delhi, says the new policy

While one should laud judicial concern about the environment, it must also be remembered that like Delhi, all states surrounding Delhi also have environments

n Garga Chatterjee

O

n January 5, 2016, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India issued a directive expanding the number of entry points through which non-Delhi bound heavy commercial vehicles cannot pass.

It read: “We direct that no heavy commercial vehicles, except those which are bound for Delhi, shall be allowed to enter through entry points at National Highway 2, 10, 58, and State Highway 57.”

On December 16, 2015, the Supreme Court had restricted entry of heavy commercial

vehicles into Delhi through the vital National Highway 1 and 8 routes. This effectively means that if a heavy truck has no business in Delhi, the court is making it very difficult for it to use entry-points into Delhi as their route.

This would invariably mean that the trucks will have to use a longer route to go to their destination, and hence they will burn more fuel and cause more pollution. But they will not be allowed to pollute Delhi, even at the possibility of causing more pollution outside Delhi.

The Supreme Court of India’s three-judge bench comprising of TS Thakur, AK Sikri, and R

Banumathi, wrote in their order that “we are not concerned with any other aspect. We are only concerned with the environment.”

While one should laud judicial concern about the environment, it must also be remembered that like Delhi, all states surrounding Delhi also have environments.

Pollution being a zero-sum game, without decreasing the net amount of pollution from these trucks entering Delhi from Haryana or Uttar Pradesh, any directive restricting entry to trucks into Delhi will result in higher pollution in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

This order in no way restricts

BIGSTOCK

Delhi residents with heavypolluting, luxury diesel-run vehicles to go on recreational long drives into Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and pollute those areas and come back to Delhi.

The highly polluting lifestyle of the middle class and upper-middle class residents of Delhi or their right to spread their pollution to areas beyond Delhi is apparently non-negotiable. Notwithstanding the fact that Delhi has the highest amount of greenhouse gas footprint in the Indian Union among urban areas, in varying degrees this is characteristic of the lifestyle of other metropolitan elites in the Indian Union.

With the rapid rise in the sales of personal cars and airconditioners in cities (again, the usual suspect leading the pack), it is important to ask what greater common good is served by expanding energy production in the Indian Union at huge cost to India’s overall environment, if the consumption is disproportionately dominated by the Euro-American consumer lifestyle of the relatively

well-off, in short, a miniscule proportion of the Indian Union population. In short, the powerful pollute and the powerless suffer.

The Indian Union is a union of states. Given that the Government of India presents a united front about its per capita carbon footprint in international forums and negotiations, the huge inequalities that exist within the union in terms of per capita carbon footprint are never highlighted.

Huge centralisation of policy and funds disbursement in favour of certain regions, which are, not surprisingly, largely high polluters since policy-makers and their kith and kin and interest networks live there, without any heed to these huge inequalities, actually ends up rewarding the greater polluters.

This domestic situation stands in stark contrast to India’s stance at international fora. For example, if we review estimates of state level per capita CO2 emissions for a 20 year period (State Level Carbon Dioxide Emissions of India: 1980-2000), we shall see that the per capita CO2 emission of Delhi is double that of West Bengal and seven times that of Kerala.

Has the greater polluting style of Delhi resulted in Government of India policy that penalises Delhi or rewards West Bengal or Kerala?

The answer is no.

When the Government of India jockeys at the international level for concessions from historically high per capita polluters, and also wants that these per-capita pollution giants give funds to bear various costs of “greening” energy production modes in the Indian Union and elsewhere in the southern world, did the Union Government ever spell out, how will it distribute the funds or other benefits if such a deal is reached?

We know how that will play out. The meagre advantages that might be received out of any international deal by Indian Union playing victim will be distributed in exactly the reverse way within the Indian Union, with existing high per capita polluters not getting penalised, and cornering disproportionately high advantages.

The cynical games of the Delhi elite and its network of transregional agents are a curse on the sub-continent’s environment. l The concluding part of this long form will be published tomorrow.

Garga Chatterjee is a political and cultural commentator. He can be followed on twitter @gargac.

14

DT

Opinion

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Bangladesh feels the Bern What would a Sanders presidency mean for Bangladesh?

n Shafiqur Rahman

B

ernie Sanders is hugely popular in Bangladesh.

Liberals, leftists, rightists, religious conservatives, atheists, Bangladeshis of all political stripes, like the independent senator from Vermont, strongly wish to see him in the White House.

Admittedly, I reached this conclusion just from cursory browsing of social media and Bangladeshi print media, but I think I am not too far off the mark.

Why is this bald, septuagenarian man so popular in Bangladesh?

More importantly, what is the implication for Bangladesh if Senator Sanders manages to defy all expert predictions and win the presidency in November?

There is no doubt that all Bangladeshis would like a less “imperial” US administration, but there are also differences in motives of different ideological groups. Bangladeshi pseudoliberals, I say “pseudo” because there is no significant presence of genuine liberals in Bangladesh -they love Bernie Sanders because supporting him enables them to enjoy their liberal pretensions by proxy.

Bangladeshi pseudo-liberals are very pro-nationalist, they love populist, charismatic leaders, they like a strong authoritarian government that protects them from the great unwashed. They are very much against freedom of speech and they want all those who don’t share their political views to leave the country. In short: They are the ideal voters of a Bangladeshi Trump.

But they love supporting genuine liberals in politics of all other countries because, by this second-hand support, they can console themselves of their liberal credential. The explanation for Bangladeshi leftists is superfluous, in these end-times when their ideology is most critically endangered, an American president-hopeful who proudly adheres to the “socialist” label is like a messiah for them.

The case for Bangladeshi rightists is also simple -- rightwingers love conservatives at home because they equate conservatism with strength, and they like liberals to be at the helm of power in all the countries with whom there are transactional relationships. Right-wingers believe liberals are weak and dupes, so they prefer a liberal on the other side of the bargaining.

Lastly, the case for Bangladeshi religious fundamentalists is also not complex. They prefer the most liberal faction to be in power in Western countries, because it is the liberals who strongly defend the freedom under which intolerance of religious fundamentalism can spread most easily -- the very freedoms that fundamentalists also openly vow to destroy eventually.

As for the question on implication for Bangladesh of a Sanders presidency, let me don the roles of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to try to answer that question. First, I will be the hideous Mr Hyde and get all the un-pleasantries out of the way. Bernie Sanders’ platform is primarily economic, and in the matters of economy, a Sanders presidency will be disastrous for Bangladesh if he sticks to his campaign promises.

That is because, just like Mr Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders is a vehemently anti-free trade candidate -- a serious candidate the likes of which were not seen in some decades. It is wellknown that Mr Sanders has been consistently opposing free-trade agreements like US strategic partners, and neighbours like NAFTA, CAFTA, for many years, and currently has been a bitter foe of the TPP. So, what is the overriding philosophy of Mr Sanders regarding trade? Just a few days ago, he articulated his views in an interview with a New York newspaper: “I do believe in trade.

But it has to be based on principles that are fair. So, if you are in Vietnam, where the minimum wage is 65 cents an hour, or you’re in Malaysia, where many of the workers are indentured servants because their passports are taken away when they come into this country and are working in slave-like conditions, no, I’m not going to have American workers competing against you under those conditions. So, you have to have standards. And what fair trade means to say that it is fair. It is roughly equivalent to the wages and environmental standards in the US.” The main thing is that, under a Sanders presidency, the US will only trade with countries with wages and environmental standards comparable to the US itself. What does that mean for Bangladesh? That means zero trade with Bangladesh, nada.

If international political economists were asked to make a ranking list of countries that have

benefitted the most from trade liberalisation in the last three decades, Bangladesh would be one of the top countries, if not the top-most. The garments export industry has been leading the Bangladeshi economy since the latter years of the 1980s and is now in the absolute dominant position.

It has delivered macroeconomic stability, alleviated poverty, reduced dependence on marginal agriculture, fostered structural change in society, etc. All these happened because rich Western countries decided that buying cheap clothes from poor countries is preferable to saving costly indigenous textile industries.

The theory of “comparative advantage,” which is the foundational theory of free trade, is regarded by economists as the most elegant and effective theory in the whole economics subject; free trade’s ability to raise overall productivity is undeniable. But it is also undeniable that free trade also inevitably produces winners and losers. Sometimes the number of direct winners, like many millions of garments workers, is much higher than

Under a Sanders presidency, the US will only trade with countries with wages and environmental standards comparable to the US itself. What does that mean for Bangladesh? That means zero trade with Bangladesh, nada

number of losers, like several hundred thousand textile jobs in the West. Where automation and high-tech matters, the number of direct losers may far outweigh the number of winners.

But for what matters here, Bangladesh has been an overwhelming winner in the global free trade economy because of its abundant, dirt-cheap, unorganised labour and a laxity of standards.

Bangladeshis like Bernie Sanders. But why?

What Mr Sanders is proposing could not be more directly against our interests. Moreover, his policy impacts will not be confined to US trade relations only. The post-war international free trade regime has been sustained by the leadership of the US, a dramatic U-turn will hurl trade relations everywhere in disarray. Countries everywhere may turn protectionist, and while that will harm everyone economically, small countries will be hurt disproportionately.

I am very much sympathetic to Mr Sanders’ arguments.

Undoubtedly, free trade has been instrumental in the rapidly growing income gap in the US between the top 1% or 2% and the rest. It is entirely right for Mr Sanders to try to protect the middle and working class from pessimistic economic prospects.

Most political scientists agree that perversely skewed wealth distribution has been a most important causal factor in all the great socio-political upheavals and revolutions.

The wealth gap issue is perhaps the second most important global issue now, only after global warming. If electability was not weighing on the minds of Democrats in the US so heavily, Mr Sanders would have been miles ahead of Hillary Clinton by now.

REUTERS

But I am not taking the perspective of a US voter here, I am arguing about the purely selfish interests of Bangladesh, and in that, Mr Sanders’ proposed trade policies will be unalloyed bad.

Now for the role of nice Dr Jekyll: Actually, there is not much to say. Mr Sanders would be much less interventionist and democracy-promoting than Mrs Clinton; that will please some quarters in Bangladesh and disappoint others. Mr Sanders may become much less confrontational to counter radical Islamist extremism, again the probable fallout of that policy for Bangladesh is indeterminate.

Mr Sanders will probably promote aid and support for the poorest countries more vigourously. But that will be like bandaging a man’s wounds after deliberately cutting off his legs.

Compared to free trade, the contribution of foreign aid in development of Bangladesh has been disproportionately small.

Bangladeshis cheering for the anti-free trade Bernie Sanders to become the next president of the US is like salarymen cheering the new executive who has come to the office to give them all pink slips. l Shafiqur Rahman is a political scientist.

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Unresolved issues remain a challenge for new VAT law The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has a number of challenges towards implementation of the new value-added tax law that will come into effect from July this year. PAGE 16

Markets happy to play, if not believe, idea of G20 dollar accord Even if there was no secret deal to weaken the dollar and stabilise world markets at a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs in Shanghai six weeks ago, currency and stock markets seem happy to play as if there was. PAGE 17

British brands eye growing Muslim consumer market From young start-ups to business giants, British entrepreneurs are eyeing a rapidly expanding global market for Muslim consumers with a range of brands from clothes to greetings cards to online gym courses. PAGE 18

Capital market snapshot: Past Weeky DSE Broad Index

4,443.1

2.0% ▼

Index

1,075.9

2.3% ▼

30 Index

1,686.2

2.3% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

20,433.2

21.8% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol

609.8

20.9% ▼

All Share Index 13,674.3

2.0% ▼

30 Index

2.8% ▼

CSE 12,375.5

Selected Index

8,304.8

2.0% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

1,638.6

41.8% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol

55.8

37.5% ▼

Foreign aid to rise 22% in FY17 n Asif Showkat Kallol The government plans to receive Tk30,700 crore as foreign assistance in the next fiscal year with a 22% growth from that in the current fiscal’s revised budget, Economic Relations Division sources said.

The budget deficit in the fiscal year 2016-17 is likely to be 4.7% of the gross domestic product.

The foreign assistance target for the next fiscal year will be finalised today at the budget management meeting at Finance Division auditorium. Finance Minister AMA Muhith will preside over the meeting.

Senior Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed said next fiscal year budget deficit would be less than

5% of the GDP despite the plan of bigger annual development programme (ADP) and budget outlay.

The budget deficit in the fiscal year 2016-17 is likely to be 4.7% of the gross domestic product “We, however, want a full utilisation of the foreign assistance disbursement in the budget,” he said.

This fiscal year the pledges of foreign assistance amount to Tk30,134 crore, but it will be revised down to Tk25,167 crore,

slashing Tk4,957 crore. ERD says the projected foreign assistance will increase to 21.99% from the revised amount.

The revised budget outlay will be Tk2,64,565 crore, cutting Tk30,635 crore from Tk2,95,100 crore actual budget, according to the Finance Division sources.

The disbursement of the foreign assistance has been increased despite the development partners imposed tough conditions in implementation of development projects.

ERD expects the disbursement of foreign assistance is going to be $3.3-3.4 billion this fiscal year.

The average disbursement was $1.85 billion in seven years until FY2007-08.

ERD officials said the foreign as-

sistance disbursement increased to $3 billion in the FY2013-14 for the first time since the Independence.

Finance Division estimates that the GDP will be Tk19,50,000 crore in the FY2016-17 with a 13.6% growth on the basis of current price. The GDP is estimated Tk17,16,700 crore this fiscal year.

The government has increased the disbursement capacity of foreign assistance fund last couple years despite maintaining proper utilisation, official sources said.

Recently, Bangladesh singed an agreement to take $2 billion Indian credit. A foreign assistance of $1.2 billion agreement was signed with Japan while another $1.2 billion contract with Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank and IDB is likely this fiscal year. l

ADP implementation slowest in seven years n Kayes Sohel The pace of government spending on development for improving living standards of the mass people has become a permanent problem despite efforts of the government.

Poor performance in ADP seemingly knows no end as only 41% or Tk41,888 crore out of total annual outlay Tk97,000 crore has been implemented in nine months until March, according to the planning ministry data.

The implementation rate is lowest in seven years and 2% lower than the corresponding period of the last fiscal year when it was 43%.

Taking poor performance rate into consideration like every year, the government has revised downward this year’s ADP allocation by over Tk6,000 crore to Tk91,000 crore, excluding self-financed projects.

In the next three months, the government will have to spend over Tk51,000 crore, which is 59% of the revised ADP. “This is nothing new as it happens every year,” said ABM Mirza Azizul Islam, former finance adviser to the caretaker government.

To improve development spending, he suggested arranging incentives like reward for competent people and punishment for incompetent one. For long, donor agencies like World Bank, IMF and experts raised concerns over the sluggish ADP implementation.

The agencies said the slow rate of ADP implementation also caused economic slowdown and low revenue earnings.

They identified the weakness in institutional capacity in imple-

ADP IMPLEMENTATION RATE (JULY-MARCH) 50

49%

47.6%

45%

43%

45.1%

41%

43%

40

41%

36% 30

2007-08

Source: IMED

INSIDE

2008-09

2009-10 2010-11

menting development projects as the reason behind slow progress in ADP spending.

They said ultimately the mass people suffered as delay in development spending reduces beneficial impacts of projects.

According to them, private investment is also affected by the ADP sluggishness.

Back in 2009, the Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue identified poor implementation of ADP as the prime cause of the country’s present economic slowdown.

It has become a tradition that the ministries and public agencies spend less in the first half or so of the fiscal year and speed up spending in the last two months.

Experts said as a result the probability of wastage of resources was high and quality of works remained questionable.

2011-12

2012-13

For bringing dynamism in ADP implementation, the planning commission had taken several steps like formulating a unified system of project director (PD) appointment on the basis of project-related experience, frequent

2013-14

2014-15

2015-16

interaction with different ministries and divisions, stopping PD transferring for a single project more than once last year.

However, the measures have fallen flat as no little progress was made in ADP implementation. l

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Unresolved issues remain a challenge for new VAT law

NBR sets July 1 as new date to start issuing e-Bin

n Syed Samiul Basher Anik

n Tribune Report

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has a number of challenges towards implementation of the new value-added tax law that will come into effect from July this year.

Officials said implementation of 15% uniform VAT rate from the all the traders still remained a major challenge as the businessmen are strongly opposing this provision.

The VAT and Supplementary Duty Act will introduce online VAT payment and a uniform VAT rate of 15% for all the business.

However, there will be no provisions for package VAT or truncated value-based VAT system.

Officials said: “The uniform VAT rate might increase the cost of doing business in the initial years, ultimately affecting the consumers’ spending with the increased prices of goods.”

Besides, withdrawal of package or truncated value-based VAT system, cancellation of tax exemption benefit and withdrawal of supple-

MAJOR CHALLENGES Package VAT and truncated value base VAT system to be withdrawn Uniform 15% VAT rate to be introduced which business fears to increase cost of doing business Exemptions will be withdrawn from long list of beneficiaries Supplementary duty on 1,600 products will be reduced to 170 products creating net loss of Tk3,000 crore. mentary duty will also be challenging jobs for the tax authorities in the days ahead.

“As the new VAT law will hit every single economic activity and expand tax areas, the NBR fears more difficulties in the implementation of the law,” said Jahangir Hossain, a member of NBR. He said the exemption facility would be very limited in the new law and such benefit could only be available in case of emergency situation like natural calamities.

Official said: “Collection of supplementary duty on import of

different products would sharply decline as the number of products having supplementary duty would also be reduced to only 170 from the exiting number of nearly 1,600.”

“During the last fiscal, the government had earned Tk17,000 crore from supplementary duty, but withdrawal of it, will lead to a net revenue loss of Tk3,000 crore,” said an official.

The withdrawal of the package VAT, which small traders and shops annually pay on the basis of their shops’ locations and sizes, would also be a major concern, officials said.

Currently, there are multiple VAT rates considering the strength and weakness of different sectors and there is a truncated value-based VAT system in 32 sectors.

FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad said: “The NBR should consider whether it would be able to bring such a huge change in the VAT structure, particularly for small and new traders as the coun-

try’s overall tax system is still very complicated.”

But, NBR officials said the government might not wait further for an ideal situation as all the laws in the country, including the existing VAT law, started implementation on trial and error basis before they got a shape gradually.

“We are ready from our side.

But, the authorities should train the stakeholders, particularly banks and other business on the new VAT law as lack of orientation will hamper the radical shift in the system,” a top NBR official told the Dhaka Tribune last week on condition of anonymity.

Professor Wahiduddin Mahmood, an economist, also suggested the NBR to be “very careful by keeping a balance between reality and ideal practices” in the implementation of the new law.

According to NBR estimates, the revised VAT contribution, as a share of gross domestic product, will increase to 4.7% from 3.7% in the first year of reforms under the law. l

‘Seamless policy change needed to boost MICE tourism in Bangladesh’ n Tribune Report Speakers have underscored the need for bringing seamless policy changes in line with tourists demand to boost Meeting, Incentives, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) tourism in Bangladesh.

They were addressing a seminar titled “MICE tourism in Bangladesh” held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in the city yesterday.

Fortnightly tourism magazine – The Bangladesh Monitor – organised the seminar on the sidelines of a four-day-long NOVOAIR Dhaka Travel Mart 2016.

Raquib Siddiqui, chief editor of the magazine, presented his keynote speech while Abdul Matlub Ahmed, president of FBCCI, was present as the chief guest at the seminar.

The Bangladesh Monitor Editor Kazi Wahidul Alam conducted the seminar.

Raquib Siddiqui said: “There are experienced and efficient event organisers in Bangladesh who are capable of handling events of any kind.”

“Developing countries are in an excellent position to compete for more of the global tourism market.

This is especially true for Bangladesh because of its growing trade

Speakers at a roundtable on promoting MICE tourism in Bangladesh, held at a city hotel yesterday activity and diversity in tourist attractions,” said Siddiqui.

Abdul Matlub Ahmed said: “We could not achieve our expected target in the last 25 years which was very unfortunate for tourism industry. Now we will have to move forward with a target so that we can materialise our plan.”

Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury, former managing director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and CEO of Tiger Tours said: “Visa is one of the major obstacles to flourish MICE tourism in Bangladesh. To get quick feedback in MICE tourism, Bangladesh government also needs to ease the visa system.”

COURTESY

Hanif Zakaria, general manager of Etihad Airways, said: “It is hight time we got to establish specialised institutions in aviation and tourism sector.”

Tour Operator Golam Quader said travelling to Bangladesh is costly compared to neighbouring countries. l

The National Board of Revenue has set a new date to start issuing electronic business identification number (e-BIN) to businesspeople under new value-added tax law.

The date has been changed to July 1 from the previous April 1.

Once in effect, the e-BIN would facilitate online submission of VAT returns under the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act which will come into effect from July 1.

The law will introduce electronic system for VAT payment. All business individuals will have to register for a nine-digit BIN instead of the current 11-digit numbers.

‘The dedicated website required for the process is not yet ready. We are expecting it to be ready by mid-June’ In 2012, the law was passed in the Parliament to automate the country’s VAT administration and boost revenue collection. In the following year, the revenue board undertook the VAT online project to introduce a client-friendly and a service-oriented automated system.

The new automated system is expected to encourage voluntary compliance, ensure paperless and online VAT system and higher revenue yield.

To obtain the new e-BIN, taxpayers will have to enter the dedicated website of the VAT online process.

“The dedicated website required for the process is not yet ready. We are expecting it to be ready by midJune,” a high official said.

The website will be launched publicly for traders from July next for issuance of the e-BIN, he added.

Traders have to register for a user-identification number and password to ensure submission of VAT returns online.

The VAT online project is currently working on the website which will have provisions of all VAT-related procedures including VAT registration, submission of returns, online payment etc.

Of 840,000 BIN holders, only around 32,000 businessmen submit their VAT returns regularly, according to the NBR. The online system is expected to substantially increase revenue collection as it will help the NBR identify VAT evasions in a more efficient way. l

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Markets happy to play, if not believe, idea of G20 dollar accord n Reuters, London Even if there was no secret deal to weaken the dollar and stabilise world markets at a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs in Shanghai six weeks ago, currency and stock markets seem happy to play as if there was.

Few if any major investment houses believe – as conspiracy theorists and speculative writers have posited – that there was a formal accord, agreed quietly by US and other central bank chiefs on February 27.

Reuters reporting around and since the meeting backs that up.

But as the same players prepare to reconvene in the United States next week, many investors see the policy leanings and price moves of the past month as the logical outcome of discussions in Shanghai on a traumatic start to 2016.

In the weeks since, the three big headaches of the past year - China’s yuan, falling oil prices and the threat of a stronger dollar and higher US interest rates - have eased.

Fed chief Janet Yellen promised caution last week on any further rises in rates, and the resulting selloff has left the dollar down 5% on the year against the euro and 10% against the yen.

In response, emerging markets have steadied, stocks and oil are not falling as fast and China’s currency reserves, the cause of a huge global sell-off in early January, are rising again.

It looks almost as if someone planned it.

“I absolutely do not think there was an agreed accord,” says Simon Derrick, Head of Global Market Research at Bank of New York Mellon

A mural that reads “Slave of the dollar” is seen in Caracas in London.

“But as a tactical play all of this makes perfect sense. The US had a huge interest in stabilising China.

They have done so and if there is collateral damage in the hit the Europeans and the Japanese have taken (in currency appreciation), they can deal with that later.”

Equally, say others, there seems to be greater consensus among policymakers on what they can and cannot do within an increasingly complicated international financial system.

“These recent moves are consistent with a rising understanding of international spill-overs and spill-backs, as well as with a new

assessment of which policies are more akin to beggar-thy-neighbour policies than others,” says Martin Enlund, head of currency strategy at Swedish bank Nordea.

Intervention

As China faced a flurry of attacks on the yuan before the Shanghai meetings, some analysts raised the prospect of a grand public bargain in the style of the 1980s Plaza Accord to weaken the dollar.

In the event the only official message was familiar: competitive devaluations are bad and we will refrain from them - a commitment that hasn’t stopped central banks running ultra-loose policies that

REUTERS

weaken currencies since 2008.

“It’s unthinkable (there was a deal on the dollar),” said one senior G7 official who attended the meeting.

China’s vice finance minister last month also denied the existence of a secret agreement with Washington.

“The more conspiracy oriented sides of this are fairly unlikely,” former US Treasury chief Larry Summers told an event in Washington this week. “It is just not the way that they (central banks) work.”

Yet even if no such deal was done, events since have largely played in Beijing and Washington’s favour.

By weakening the dollar and calming global markets, the Fed

hopes to lay the ground for it to raise rates. It also avoids another hit to US companies from a currency which a year ago had gained a quarter in value in just over six months.

In turn, pressure on the Chinese yuan’s de facto dollar peg has eased.

The big question mark, then, is Europe and Japan.

By printing money and slashing interest rates into negative territory, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank hoped to get prices and exports rising and deflect the threat of deflation. That should founder if the euro and yen gain.

“This idea that we’ve had a hiatus in central bank action probably won’t stand the test of what’s going on in Japan and Europe,” said Michael Metcalfe, head of macro strategy at State Street Global Markets.

But if, as he and others argue, the BOJ and ECB are both likely to act again, why are the yen and euro so strong?

For ECB chief Mario Draghi, it may be that markets no longer believe he can weaken the currency through policy.

Many say Japan, by far the most pro-active on currency markets historically, will not be so shy. But they also say Tokyo will find it hard to do so in the midst of G20 and G7 gatherings over the next month.

“My guess is the Europeans and the Japanese may not want to participate in this fight unless we see further moves,” said Athanasios Vamvakidis, Head G10 FX Strategy for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Europe.

“But that may change if we see dollar-yen at 100 and the euro above $1.15.” l

Donations to Suchona Foundation made tax-free Walton makes Boishakhi n Tribune Report offer for LED TV The revenue authority has conditionally exempted the individual taxpayers and companies from paying income taxes on donations to the non-profit organisation named Suchona Foundation, which has been created for the welfare of the autistic people in the country.

To this effect, income tax wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has recently issued a gazette notification signed by its Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman.

The NBR has allowed tax exemption on donations to Suchona Foundation under the relevant provision of the income tax ordinance.

This provision gives tax break on donations to only government ap-

proved philanthropic and educational institutions.

Shuchona Foundation is a non-profit, advocacy, research and capacity-building organisation specialised in neuro-developmental disorders (NDDs) and mental health.

Both the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of the Foundation are chaired by Saima Wazed Hossain, daughter of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She is also the Chairperson of the Bangladesh National Advisory Committee on Autism & NDDs. However, the taxpayers or companies have to comply with a set of conditions to avail the benefit. The taxpayer or company must have any income or the taxpaying company must have profits if it wants

to avail the benefit.

“The donations from taxpayers or the companies must have to be transferred through crossed cheques or bank transfers,” it added.

The taxpayers will have to attach income audit reports along with their tax returns to enjoy the benefit, reads the gazette notification.

The revenue authorities have taken up the move in line with a decision taken in a recent meeting held in March. During the meeting, the NBR have decided to allow tax rebate for individuals and business, who will donate to the organisations working for autism people, officials said.

The meeting also decided to allow tax exemption for other organisations working with autism issue in Bangladesh, they added. l

n Tribune Business Desk

Walton – a local manufacturer of electronic products – has slashed prices of various models of LED televisions on the occasion of Pohela Boishakh.

As per the latest move of Walton Group, it has reduced product prices ranging from Tk300 to Tk3,000, said a press release recently.

The price cut aims at giving a cushion to Walton consumers, especially for low- and middle-income people so that they can buy products.

As per its new offer, the 19-inch LED TV is now sold at Tk11,600 instead of the previous price of Tk11,900. The price of 24-inch LED TV is now fixed at 13,900 after re-

ducing the earlier price by Tk1,000.

The customers can now buy a Walton brand 28-inch LED TV for Tk19,900 while they had to pay Tk20,900 earlier.

After slashing the previous price of 32-inch LED TV by Tk1,000, the new price is set at Tk21,900.

The price of 40-inch LED TV came down to Tk33,900 from Tk34,800. Walton also reduced the price of its 43, 49 and 55-inch televisions by Tk1,000 to 3,000.

The price of 43-inch LED TV was reduced to Tk42,900 from Tk43,900.

After the reduction of prices of 49 and 55-inch LED televisions by Tk2,000 and Tk3,000 respectively, the new prices are now Tk57,900 and Tk70,900. l

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

China to cut steel capacity to 1.13 billion tonnes by 2020 n Reuters, Beijing China’s plans to shut steel mills over the next five years would cut total capacity to an estimated 1.13 billion tonnes by 2020, still far in excess of the country’s needs, a government official said yesterday.

In February China announced plans to shut 100 million to 150 million tonnes of crude steel capacity in the next five years, as it tackles a price-sapping glut that has caused turmoil in the industry.

But more would need to close to achieve significant improvements, Luo Tiejun, the vice head of the raw materials department at the Ministry of Industry and Informa-

tion Technology (MIIT), told a conference.

Luo said domestic steel consumption was forecast to stay between 630 million and 700 million tonnes in the coming five years, and if exports remained at 100 million tonnes, production levels would stay at around 800 million tonnes.

Restoring the sector to health would require taking out still more capacity, however.

“If production stays at 800 million tonnes, then we need to cut 200 million tonnes for the situation to become acceptable,” he said.

Luo, who was discussing China’s five-year plan until 2020 for

‘If production stays at 800 million tonnes, then we need to cut 200 million tonnes for the situation to become acceptable’ the stricken sector, said “some dead capacity” would still remain by then. Capacity is now estimated at 1.2 billion tonnes, about 400 million tonnes over actual production in 2015.

British brands eye growing Muslim consumer market

Britain’s approach to offering products for Muslim consumers has been more business-minded and encouraged while it has been fiercely debated in France AFP

n AFP, London From young start-ups to business giants, British entrepreneurs are eyeing a rapidly expanding global market for Muslim consumers with a range of brands from clothes to greetings cards to online gym courses.

In contrast to France, where there has been an angry debate about Muslim-specific consumer products, the approach in Britain seems more business-minded.

“Halal doesn’t only apply to food but also to business ethics, dress etcetera,” said Rauf Mirza, director of The Muslim Lifestyle Expo (MLE), which organises trade fairs on Muslim consumer trends.

The MLE this week organised a networking event bringing together 150 business leaders, experts and young entrepreneurs in central London to trade tips on the best way to profit from an expanding sector.

Famous names like the Marks & Spencer department store chain now offer Islamic fashion products - in line with other world brands in-

cluding Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana or Japan’s Uniqlo.

In a debate about Dolce & Gabbana’s business move, French women’s rights minister Laurence Rossignol compared women who wear the Muslim headscarf to “negroes who supported slavery” sparking a furious row that has put her under pressure to resign.

“Crossing the Channel, there is more pragmatism on these issues, which are seen only through an economic prism. It’s seen as a business opportunity,” said French businessman Ali Djedid, whose company Zeynara is based in Paris.

“In France instead we immediately politicise the debate,” said Djedid, a former financial analyst.

“There is no doubt that there is a market, that it is growing and that we also need to adapt to modern consumer trends,” he said.

‘Big gap in the market’

At the MLE event, Faaezah Qureshi from Yorkshire in northern England said she set up her Muslim greetings cards company Elaara af-

ter finding too many contained unsuitable images such as champagne glasses and churches.

Zahra Pedersen said she launched her online fitness course “The Healthy Hijab” for women who wear the veil and are embarrassed going to the gym with men.

“There was a big gap in the market,” Pedersen, who was not wearing a hijab, told AFP. Shelina Janmohamed, vice president at advertising company Ogilvy Noor, started off the London networking event with a talk on how British companies could “tap into the global Muslim lifestyle sector”.

She estimated Muslim consumer lifestyle spending at $2.6tn (2.3tn euros) a year and pointed to the potential in the youth market in particular, with official data showing 14% of the world’s population was Muslim and under 30 in 2010.

Janmohamed pointed to European countries with large Muslim minorities such as Russia (12%), France (7.5%), Netherlands (5.5%), Britain (5%) and Germany (5%).

It is not just Muslim entrepeneurs who are being drawn to the business opportunities.

Canadian David Horne co-founded Alchemiya, a “Netflix for Muslims” with subscribers in 39 countries and offers programmes including documentaries on skateboarding in Kabul or Turkish muezzins.

Established names too are becoming more interested in marketing directly to Muslim consumers, including British supermarket chain Tesco which launched a Ramadan advertising campaign last year.

“If you’re a global brand, how can you ignore 1.6 billion people?”

Mirza said. l

Besides ordering closures, the February plan also banned new steel projects, but the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) had warned of a further rise in capacity this year.

China’s steel firms have blunted some of the impact of overcapacity by selling their surpluses abroad, taking exports to a record 112 million tonnes in 2015.

But the flood of cheap Chinese steel on foreign markets has sparked protests and anti-dumping complaints, and Luo warned that China could not expect to scale up exports further to remedy overcapacity.

China will focus on boosting in-

dustry efficiency in the next five years, aiming to raise utilisation rates closer to 80 percent, from a CISA-estimated average of 67 percent last year.

CISA secretary general Liu Zhenjiang said the flood of cheap exports posed a threat to China’s attempts to secure market economy status.

The rebound in Chinese steel prices this year had created a “vicious circle”, Liu said, spurring mills to ramp up output again, even though underlying demand remained weak.

“Cutting steel capacity is important, but controlling steel output is more important,” he added. l

CORPORATE NEWS

EXIM Bank has recently held a quarterly business development conference for its Comilla region. The bank’s MD and CEO, Dr Mohammed Haider Ali Miah was present at the conference, said a press release

Butterfly Marketing Ltd has recently launched LG Inverter Mosquito Away Air Conditioner in Bangladesh. Chairperson and MD of Butterfly Marketing Ltd, MA Mannan was present at the launching ceremony, said a press release

Gazi Group has recently appointed Top of Mind as its media AOR (agency of record) solutions provider, said a press release. Deputy managing director of Gazi Group, Gazi Golam Murtoza, and CEO of Top of Mind, Ziauddin Adil were present at the signing ceremony

| meet n’ greet |

Independence celebrations

Bangladesh Insurance Forum (BIF) recently organised a program headlined “National Independence Day 2016” at the Institute of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh in Kakrail.

A discussion session and

| offer |

Sabroso’s invite Sabroso has made special arrangements from April 14 to 17 to celebrate the Bengali New Year.

Customers can enjoy a special menu which includes veggies with grilled chicken, herb chicken, Jamaican jerk chicken, cajun cuisine, chicken fajitas pita, healthy grilled chicken, fish zinger and numerous other items. Rabindra, Folk and Baul songs will also be performed for the occasion.

cultural program took place during the event, where the minister of Health and Family Welfare, Md Nasim, was present as chief guest. The Insurance Development and Control Authority chairman, M Shefak

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

| food |

Boishakh deal at TDR

Ahmed, took part as the guest of honour, while Bangladesh Insurance Forum president and Popular Life Insurance Company CEO, BM Yousuf Ali, presided over the ceremony. l The Dining Room (TDR) at Calcutta Club is offering a special buffet brunch featuring traditional buffet items. The offer is valid from 9:30am to 5:00pm on April 14, at the price of Tk1,423. l

| meals |

Sweet deals from Chewy Junior

Address: Level 7, House 67 (New), Navana GH Height, Satmasjid Road, Dhanmondi, Dhaka Hotline: +8801708031363 l Chewy Junior is a chain of international restaurants which started back in 2007. It opened its first franchise in Bangladesh earlier this year. Its signature item is a distinctive type of doughnut with various fillings and toppings.

A huge variety of drinks including smoothies (Chewycino

blended beverages), “chewy refreshers,” espresso beverages and bubble teas are also available.

Recently, they have launched three different combo meals at a discounted price and in each combo, you can choose any one doughnut of your choice. Their branch is located in Gulshan 1. l

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Downtime

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Buccaneer (6) 5 Respectful fear (3) 7 Bustle (3) 8 Affectedly modest (6) 11 Vegetable (3) 12 Letting contract (5) 14 Table-shaped hill (4) 16 Concise (5) 18 Angry (5) 20 Disguise (4) 21 Enthusiasm (5) 23 Briny (3) 24 Pleasant place (6) 27 Zodiac sign (3) 28 Ignited (3) 29 Book of accounts (6)

DOWN 1 School of whales (3) 2 Male sheep (3) 3 Flatter servilely (7) 4 Lacerated (4) 5 Electrical unit (6) 6 Coating on teeth (6) 9 Water pitcher (4) 10 Consume (3) 13 Cut off (7) 14 Mass book (6) 15 Learned person (6) 17 Weak glue (4) 19 Work unit (3) 22 Farewell! (4) 25 Domestic animal (3) 26 And not (3)

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 20 represents H so fill H every time the figure 20 appears.

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

Some letters of the alphabet may not be used.

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

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

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

PEANUTS

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS CODE-CRACKER

CROSSWORD

DILBERT

SUDOKU

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

INSIDE #PANAMAPAPERS LEAK

How Panama became a tax haven n Tribune International Desk Poll: Blocking Trump could hurt Republicans in election A third of Republican voters who support Donald Trump could turn their backs on their party in November’s presidential election if he is denied the nomination in a contested convention, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

PAGE 22

Tax scandal weakens Cameron ahead of EU referendum The scandal over his tax dealings and a steel sector crisis have badly bruised Prime Minister David Cameron just three months ahead of a crucial referendum on Britain’s EU membership, experts said.

PAGE 23

How Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen made alQaeda stronger, richer Once driven to near irrelevance by the rise of Dae’sh abroad and security crackdowns at home, al-Qaeda in Yemen now openly rules a mini-state with a war chest swollen by an estimated $100 million in looted bank deposits and revenue from running the country’s third largest port.

PAGE 24

Anyone familiar with Panama’s economic history isn’t surprised by revelations of shell companies and hidden assets created by a law firm based in the small nation.

“I’ve been screaming about it for decades,” said Jack Blum, an attorney and former US Senate staff who focused on international tax evasion.

In fact, Panama has been a widely-used tax haven for nearly a century, a practice that goes all the way back to US industrialist John D Rockefeller that has evolved into a complex relationship between the country’s banking, legal and financing sectors.

That long, secretive history came crashing out this week with the release of the Panama Papers, which revealed exactly how Panama has created conditions for foreigners to hide their assets through corporations there.

The influx of foreign cash to take advantage of that system is so big that Panama’s financing sector accounts for 7% of the country’s entire GDP. “You can walk into a bank there with a stack of US money and they just say, ‘Fine,’” Blum said. “This has been going on for so long, and is so obvious and problematic, that the question is, ‘How come nothing was done about it before?’”

Several other countries allow foreigners to hide their assets, but few are as well-positioned to do so as Panama.

The Central American country took its first step into that shady world nearly 100 years ago, when the government first allowed foreign companies to register foreign ships, according to a report from the Norwegian Center for Taxation. That move was designed to help Rockefeller’s Standard Oil avoid taxes in the US, and set the stage for a 1927 law that allowed foreigners to establish tax-free, anonymous corporations with few questions asked, according to the report.

In 1948, the country then created a free trade zone that has become the largest and most used in the Americas. People looking to launder their illegally-obtained goods can buy and sell products in the Colón Free Trade Zone with minimal oversight.

In the 1970s, the country moved into the world of offshore accounts that added an extra layer of protection for foreigners trying to avoid prying eyes. In the 1980s,

The most popular tax havens

Most of the companies cited in the Panama Papers were incorporated in the British Virgin Islands

The tax havens that attract the largest number of companies:

113,648 British Virgin Islands

48,360 Panama

15,915

15,182

Bahamas Seychelles

9,611

5,307

Niue

Samoa

3,253

1,260

452

148

British Nevada Hong United Anguilla Kong Kingdom United Kingdom

Nevada Bahamas British Virgin Islands British Anguilla

Hong Kong

Panama Samoa

Seychelles

Niue Source: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)

that meant drug cartels funneling their profits through Panamanian-created corporations. In the 1990s, world leaders, wealthy investors and others joined in.

That combination helped create an elaborate, government-supported system that drew in clients from around the globe.

“It’s not like it’s a single firm,” said Joseph Ganitsky, director of the University of Miami’s Center for International Business, Education and Research. “It’s the industry, it’s the culture. They have said very clearly: ‘If you stole the money, if you cheated elsewhere, it’s not our problem.’”

Critics in the US are also pointing to the 2011 Free Trade Agreement, first negotiated by President George W Bush and ultimately signed by President Obama.

The White House has defended the agreement, saying it helped force Panama to sign on to a separate tax information exchange treaty, which has improved transparency into deals that take place in Panama. But Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said the free-trade agreement’s fundamental problem was that it gave Panama a “US stamp of approval.”

In recent years, the Panamanian government has tried to crack down on criminal activity. The government passed more stringent laws to monitor and sanction banks and businesses engaged in illicit activity. And in February, the Financial Action Task Force, an international body that sets

standards for anti-money laundering rules, removed Panama from its “blacklist” of countries that were not complying.

But plenty of questions remain.

The International Monetary Fund conducted an investigation into Panama’s regulations and found gaping holes still exist. The country’s anti-money laundering law, for example, is designed to regulate banks and other financial institutions. But the IMF found that the law didn’t cover lawyers, accountants, insurance companies, notaries, real estate agents or dealers of precious metals and stones.

“Because Panama is an important international financial and corporate services center...this lack of coverage is a key systemic deficiency,” the report found.

The disclosure of the Panama Papers could lead to changes. The 11.5 million documents hacked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed how world leaders, their relatives and their associates keep business dealings and vast sums of money hidden in off-shore accounts. So far, the revelations have brought down the prime minister of Iceland, the CEO of an Austrian bank and prompted investigations around the world.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has said the country has been unfairly blamed for the global corruption exposed by the leak. He says his country’s reputation has been damaged and worries that foreign investors will look elsewhere.

But experts say Panama has plenty of other economic foundations to fall back on.

“The Panama Papers are going to have an impact, but I don’t think we should blow it out of proportion because the canal is still there,” said Mauro Guillén, a professor of international management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

He’s referring to the Panama Canal, built by the US, handed over to Panama in 1999 and now among the busiest shipping channels in the world.

Guillén said Panama has a long list of perfectly legitimate industries that will insulate the country from any short-term blowback to the Panama Papers.

It’s airport is now the busiest in Central America, its highways, hospitals and public sector buildings have been improved, Panama City now has the first subway in Central America and the tourism and real estate industries remain strong.

“The good thing that they have is they really have no competition in the region,” said Guillén, director of The Lauder Institute at Wharton. “It’s English-speaking, it’s easy to get there, they have relatively good infrastructure, and they have the canal. As long as they have all of those advantages, I think they’re going to be in good shape.” l

[This is an excerpt of a USA Today article, which can be found at http:// usat.ly/1oLpvoK]

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Poll: Blocking Trump could hurt Republicans in election A third of Republican voters who support Donald Trump could turn their backs on their party in November’s presidential election if he is denied the nomination in a contested convention, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The results are bad news for Trump’s rivals as well as party elites opposed to the real estate billionaire, suggesting that an alternative Republican nominee for the November 8 presidential race would have a tougher road against the Democrats.

“If it’s a close election, this is devastating news” for the Republicans, said Donald Green, an expert on election turnout at Columbia University.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted March 30 to April 8 asked Trump’s Republican supporters two questions: if Trump wins the most delegates in the primaries but loses the nomination, what would they do on Election Day, and how would it impact their relationship with the Republican Party?

66% said they would vote for the candidate who eventually wins the nomination, while the remaining third were split between a number of alternatives such as not voting, supporting a third-party candidate, and switching parties and voting for the Democratic nominee.

Meanwhile, 58% said they would remain with the Republican Party. Another 16% said they would leave it, and 26% said they did not know what they would do with their registration. The online poll of 468 Republican Trump supporters has a credibility interval of 5.3% points.

Trump has topped the national polls throughout most of the race for the Republican nomination, and has won more delegates than any other Republican so far. A Reuters/Ipsos online poll from April 4-8 showed that 42% of Republicans support Trump, compared with 32% for US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and 20% for Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Cruz and Kasich have both said their paths to victory rely on winning at least enough votes to block an outright win for Trump and force a decision at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

‘I’ll be fed up’

But Trump, whose supporters have remained loyal even as he rankled women, Hispanics, Muslims, veterans and others with his fiery rhetoric on the campaign trail, predicted last month there would be riots outside the convention if he was blocked.

“If they broker him out, I’ll be fed up with the Republicans,” said Chuck Thompson, 66, a Trump supporter from Concord, North Carolina, who took the poll.

Thompson, a lifelong Republican, said he admires Trump’s independence from big campaign donors and takes that as a sign that the front-runner will be able to think for himself if he were to become president.

If Trump loses the nomination, Thompson said he would quit the party. “The people want Donald Trump. If they (Republicans) can’t deal with that, I don’t need them,” he said.

Green said the departure of even a small number of Republicans would make it tough for the party to prevent the Democrats from winning the White House, especially if the election is again decided by razor-thin margins in a handful of battleground states.

In 2012, President Barack Obama won Florida by less than 1 percentage point and Ohio and Virginia by less than 4% points. “The Republicans don’t really have any margin of error,” Green said.

Trump and Cruz both trail Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton among likely general election voters in a hypothetical general election matchup, but not by much, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos polls.

Generally, a convention battle is a bad sign for the health of a political party, said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of the book, “Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System.”

“When a party gets to a point when it has a contested convention, it almost always hurts them,” Kamarck said. “It’s a confirmation of some really deep fissures within the party that were unable to be dealt with during the primary season.”

Trump supporter Elizabeth Oerther, 40, of Louisville, Kentucky, said she would switch parties and vote for the Democratic nominee if the Republicans denied Trump the nomination. l

Potential fallout from a brokered convention

If Donald Trump wins the most delegates from state primaries and caucuses but loses the GOP nomination in a contested convention, how- if at all- will this impact your relationship with the Republican Party?

REMAIN IN PARTY

58%

16% LEAVE PARTY

If Donald Trump were to win the most Republican delegates but lose the overall nomination, what would you do?

Vote Republican

66%

Support third party

11% 11%

Don’t know

6%

I will not vote

4%

Vote Democratic

2%

Other

0

20

40

60

Sources: Reuters;Ipsos

n Reuters

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

INSIGHT

SOUTH ASIA

Tax scandal weakens Cameron ahead of EU referendum n AFP, London The scandal over his tax dealings and a steel sector crisis have badly bruised Prime Minister David Cameron just three months ahead of a crucial referendum on Britain’s EU membership, experts said.

Cameron and his Downing Street office issued four comments regarding the Panama Papers before the British leader on Thursday finally admitted he had held shares in his late father’s Bahamas-based offshore investment fund.

Cameron’s popularity has slipped in recent weeks, with only 34% of respondents saying they thought he was doing well and 58% that he was doing badly, according to a YouGov poll released on Friday.

His previous popularity rating in a similar poll in February was 39% and 53%.

Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn instead has seen his popularity rise from 25 to 30%, while those who think he is doing badly fell from 59 to 52%.

Labour has accused Cameron of “hypocrisy”, pointing to his crusading stance on tax evasion and avoidance and his promise of enacting change at an anti-corruption conference in London next month.

“The prime minister has lost the trust of the British people,” Corbyn said.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined the criticism, say-

Panama Papers: Britain’s Cameron link Ian Cameron, father of David Cameron, was director of an offshore investment fund

British Prime Minister David Cameron Admitted he held a £30,000 ($42,000) stake in an offshore fund set up by his late father Sold his stake in 2010, says he paid income tax on dividends

Died 2010

1982 Ian Cameron helped set up investment fund Blairmore Holdings Inc. in Panama

Details emerged after documents leaked from Mossack Fonseca 1989 Listed as a director

Source : ICIJ

ing the scandal “leaves his credibility in tatters and completely betrays public trust”.

Ian Bond from the Centre for European Reform think tank said: “His ability to lecture the others at the anti-corruption summit is going to be damaged.”

But he added: “Most of these political scandals pass quickly.”

“It’s not great news for him but we are weeks away from the referendum so he still has the chance to get back,” he said.

Euroscepticism rising

There was more bad news this

Panama 1998 Fund valued at nearly $20 million week when the Dutch voted against an EU-Ukraine trade deal - a referendum seen as reflecting eurosceptic sentiment.

Brexit supporters cheered the result and said it was a good sign for their own campaign for Britons to vote to leave the European Union in a referendum on June 23, while Cameron played down the significance.

Bond said the Dutch vote would likely have “no direct impact on the Brexit vote” but was the result of “euroscepticism rising across Europe.”

Cameron has staked his polit-

The arrest of Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini in raids linked to the Brussels airport and metro bombings on Saturday highlighted the ties between jihadists involved in Belgium and France’s worst terror outrages.

Abrini’s arrest on Friday, along with five other suspects, marks an important step in the investigations into the November 13 Paris attacks, which killed 130, and the March 22 assault on Brussels which left 32 dead.

The Belgian authorities have faced intense criticism over their handling of the attacks as it emerged many of the suspects were known to police for a long time.

Critics say the government has not done enough to prevent radicalisation of Muslim youth in areas such as Molenbeek, with Belgium proportionately the biggest source in the European Union of

foreign fighters going to join IS in Syria.

The man in the hat

There has been intense speculation Abrini is the third, hat-wearing suspect seen alongside two suicide bombers in security footage at Brussels airport.

His disappearance triggered a huge manhunt, with the federal prosecutor’s office confirming that investigators were “verifying whether Abrini can be positively identified as... the so-called ‘man with the hat’.”

Belgian police on Thursday released a video showing a man wearing a hat and light-coloured jacket who was seen with the two suicide bombers in the departure hall.

Anderlecht arrest

Abrini was arrested in the Brussels neighbourhood of Anderlecht, the prosecutor’s spokesman said

Mohamed Abrini

AFP

on Friday. Two others were also picked up with him but there were no immediate details on their identities.

Local television stations aired footage purportedly of Abrini’s arrest, showing a man pinned to the

Myanmar drops charges against political activists Myanmar authorities have dropped charges against nearly 200 political activists since Suu Kyi pledged to fight for their freedom, a senior police officer said. The cases were dismissed Friday following Suu Kyi’s announcement the day before that she was working with her new civilian-led administration to secure the release of scores of political prisoners languishing in Myanmar’s jails. -AFP

INDIA

Mamata calls BJP ‘Bhayanak Jaali Party’

Marketing material relating to the fund stated it “will not be subject to United Kingdom corporation tax or income tax on its profits.” ical future on the EU referendum and the latest polling shows the “Leave” and “Remain” camps neck and neck.

The British leader holds weekly public events to try to win over sceptical Britons but is on the defensive in the campaign too over a taxpayer-funded pro-EU leaflet to be sent to all British households.

Brexit campaigners cried foul over the government mailshot costing £9.3m and an online petition calling for the government to stop campaigning with public money has gained more than 100,000 signatures. l

Abrini arrest highlights Paris, Brussels attacks links n AFP, Brussels

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ground by several armed plainclothed police who then bundled him into an unmarked car.

Abrini, a Belgian of Moroccan origin and the last known Paris suspect still at large, was seen at a petrol station north of Paris two days before the attacks with Salah Abdeslam who is now awaiting extradition to France.

The prosecutor’s spokesman identified two other suspects arrested on Friday as Osama K., who went by the alias of Naim Al Ahmed, and Herve B M Three others, including one whose arrest was confirmed Saturday, were unnamed.

He said investigators were trying to determine if Osama K was the man seen with Khalid El Bakraoui moments before the Maalbeek blast.

The same man was also filmed at a Brussels’ shopping mall buying the bags used in the airport attacks. l

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a no-holds-barred attack on her, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said his comments do not behove the office he holds and termed his BJP ‘Bhayanak Jaali Party (Dangerously Fraud Party)’ while daring him to arrest her. Regretting that Modi made personal attacks on her whenever he came to the state, Banerjee said one needed to be more restrained in his public utterances.

-HT

CHINA

China, Pakistan launch joint air forces exercise China’s air force on Saturday began joint training exercises with that of Pakistan, China’s defence ministry said, as the two nations’ militaries strengthen operational ties. China’s Air Force hopes to widen the scope of cooperation and dialogue with all countries and regions.

The exercise, called “Shaheen V,” would run until April 30. -REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

N Korea successfully tested ballistic missile engine North Korea said Saturday it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile that would guarantee an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland. It was the latest in a series of claims by Pyongyang of significant breakthroughs in both its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. According to the North’s official KCNA news agency, the ground engine test was ordered and personally monitored by leader Kim Jong-Un. -AFP

MIDDLE EAST

Al-Qaeda execute 17 Yemeni govt soldiers Suspected al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen seized and executed 17 soldiers loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Saturday, local officials said. The soldiers were detained while travelling from the southern port of Aden to al-Mahra province in eastern Yemen via Ahwar, a city in Abyan province under al-Qaeda control.

-REUTERS

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USA

US deploys B-52 bombers for fight against Dae’sh The US Air Force deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar on Saturday to join the fight against Dae’sh in Iraq and Syria, the first time they have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. US Air Forces Central Command said it last flew the long-range bombers operationally in the region in May 2006 as part of the war in Afghanistan, and during a US-led military exercise in Jordan in May 2015.

-REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

LatAm energy ministers huddle ahead of oil price meet Ministers from five Latin American oil producers gathered Friday in Ecuador to hash out a regional strategy ahead of a highly anticipated meeting in Doha aimed at stabilising collapsed prices. The Doha meeting will bring together both OPEC and non-OPEC members to discuss how to raise prices that have fallen from $115 a barrel in June 2014 to $40 today.

-AFP

UK

Cameron: Mishandled Panama Papers tax scrutiny Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday he should have handled scrutiny of his family’s tax arrangements better. After four days and four different statements over his late father’s inclusion in the “Panama Papers”, Cameron said on Thursday he once had a stake in his father’s offshore trust and had profited from it. -REUTERS

EUROPE

Russia won’t halt arms sales to Armenia and Azerbaijan Russia will continue its arms sales to both Azerbaijan and Armenia despite the latest flare-up of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview broadcast on Saturday. Medvedev, who traveled to both Armenia and Azerbaijan this week said Russia had no intention to halt its arms sales to any side of the conflict.

-REUTERS

AFRICA

Darfur votes in referendum boycotted by rebels Sudan’s conflict-hit Darfur region starts voting Monday on whether to unify its five states, a long-standing demand of rebels seeking greater autonomy, but ongoing instability means insurgents are boycotting the referendum. The ethnic minority insurgents who rebelled against the Arab-dominated government in 2003 said the vote cannot be fair because of ongoing fighting. -AFP

How Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen made al-Qaeda stronger, richer One unintended consequence of the war in Yemen: Al-Qaeda now runs its own ministate, flush with funds from raiding the local central bank and levying taxes at the local port. It is the first one of a two-part investigative report. The second part will be published tomorrow.

n Reuters, Dubai/Cairo Once driven to near irrelevance by the rise of Dae’sh abroad and security crackdowns at home, al-Qaeda in Yemen now openly rules a mini-state with a war chest swollen by an estimated $100 million in looted bank deposits and revenue from running the country’s third largest port.

If Dae’sh capital is the Syrian city of Raqqa, then al-Qaeda’s is Mukalla, a southeastern Yemeni port city of 500,000 people.

Al-Qaeda fighters there have abolished taxes for local residents, operate speedboats manned by RPG-wielding fighters who impose fees on ship traffic, and make propaganda videos in which they boast about paving local roads and stocking hospitals.

The economic empire was described by more than a dozen diplomats, Yemeni security officials, tribal leaders and residents of Mukalla. Its emergence is the most striking unintended consequence of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. The campaign, backed by the United States, has helped al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to become stronger than at any time since it first emerged almost 20 years ago.

Yemeni government officials and local traders estimated the group, as well as seizing the bank deposits, has extorted $1.4m from the national oil company and earns up to $2m every day in taxes on goods and fuel coming into the port.

AQAP boasts 1,000 fighters in Mukalla alone, controls 600km of coastline and is ingratiating itself with southern Yemenis, who have felt marginalised by the country’s northern elite for years.

By adopting many of the tactics Dae’sh uses to control its territory in Syria and Iraq, AQAP has expanded its own fiefdom. The danger is that the group, which organised the Charlie Hebdo magazine attack in Paris last year and has repeatedly tried to down US airliners, may slowly indoctrinate the local population with its hardline ideology.

“I prefer that al-Qaeda stay here, not for Al Mukalla to be liberated,” said one 47-year-old resident. “The situation is stable, more than any ‘free’ part of Yemen. The alternative to al-Qaeda is much worse.”

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is struggling to extricate itself from

Al-Qaeda in Yemen Sanaa

Houthis seized control in February 2015

YEMEN Azzan

Taiz Jaar Aden

Shaqra

Mukalla

Ash Shihr

Belhaf

Zinjibar

Saudi-backed government driven from Sanaa the Yemeni quagmire a year after intervening in the country’s civil war. Riyadh is determined to deny bitter rival Iran sway over another Arab capital. It has focused on attacking the Houthis who have seized parts of northern Yemen and who are allied to Iran.

But despite thousands of aerial bombings, the Saudis and their Gulf allies have failed to push the Houthis from the capital Sanaa.

An estimated 6,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed. A temporary ceasefire between the internationally recognised government, which is backed by the Saudis, and the Houthis is due to begin on April 10.

In a recent statement issued by the Saudi embassy in Washington, Saudi officials said that their campaign had “denied terrorists a safe haven in Yemen.”

And yet, AQAP’s strength is growing.

A US counter-terrorism official said AQAP remained one of al-Qaeda’s “most potent affiliates.” The United States launched its deadliest air strike yet on the group on March 22nd, killing around 50 of its fighters at a military base outside Mukalla.

“The group’s bomb-making expertise and long-standing ambitions to carry out attacks using novel or complex tactics underscore (the) threat,” the official said.

A senior Yemeni government official said the war against the Houthis “provided a suitable environment for the … expansion of al-Qaeda.” The withdrawal of government army units from their bases in the south, allowed

al-Qaeda to acquire “very large quantities of sophisticated and advanced weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles and armed vehicles.”

As well, the coalition’s preoccupation with fighting the Houthis “made it easier for al-Qaeda elements to expand in more than one area,” he said. “And this is why al-Qaeda has today become stronger and more dangerous and we are working with the coalition now to go after elements of the group … and will continue until they are destroyed.”

Anatomy of an economic empire

Barely a week after Saudi Arabia launched “Operation Decisive Storm” against the Houthis in March last year, Yemeni army forces vanished from Mukalla’s streets and moved westward to combat zones, security officials and residents said.

The city’s residents were left defenceless, allowing a few dozen AQAP fighters to seize government buildings and free 150 of their comrades from the central jail. The freed included Khaled Batarfi, a senior al-Qaeda leader. Pictures appeared online of Batarfi sitting inside the local presidential palace, looking happy and in control as he held a telephone to his ear.

Tribal leaders in neighbouring provinces told Reuters that, in the security vacuum, army bases were looted and Yemen’s south became awash with advanced weaponry.

C4 explosive and even anti-aircraft missiles were available to the highest bidder.

And just as Dea’sh seized the

50 miles 50km

Areas influenced by al-Qaeda Towns controlled by al-Qaeda Oil/gas pipelines and fields

Sources: Reuters; World Energy Atlas central bank in Mosul in northern Iraq, AQAP looted Mukalla’s central bank branch, netting an estimated $100m, according to two senior Yemeni security officials.

“That represents their biggest financial gain to date,” one of the officials said. “That’s enough to fund them at the level they had been operating for at least another 10 years.”

In a sign that AQAP not only wants to get rich but also seeks official recognition as a quasi-state, it unsuccessfully sought permission from the Yemeni government to export crude oil in October and collect a share of the profits, according to a tribal leader and two senior officials.

Yemen’s government refused, fearing the deal would give de facto recognition to the internationally blacklisted group.

“Al-Qaeda sent a mediator to the government to get them agree to listen to this deal,” the tribal leader, who is in southern Yemen, told Reuters.

“Their offer was they need the official documents from the government to sell crude oil, and they would get 25%of the profit, and 75% for the government.”

The government rejected the offer, said both the tribal leader and Badr Basalmah, a former transport minister in Yemen’s government.

“Yes, that happened,” Basalmah said, speaking by telephone from the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

“The government refused completely to have anything to do with this deal because it would give authority and legitimacy to al-Qaeda.” l

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

INSIDE

Five foreign players to watch out for The most awaited T20 league, the IPL began yesterday. There have been some surprise picks in this year’s auction. Bangladesh pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman features in the list following a stellar start to his international career. PAGE 26

Abahani rout BJMC, Sk Jamal eke out win Senegalese forward Camara Sarba and Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba netted a brace apiece as Abahani Limited handed Team BJMC a 5-0 thrashing in their KFC Independence Cup match at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday. PAGE 27

It’s because of a fence that I play as an overseas player: Shakib When in the City of Joy, Shakib al Hasan can’t choose between mishti doi and rosogolla. Given a chance, he prefers luchi (puri) and doesn’t miss an opportunity to watch the latest Bollywood movies. “Apart from Shah Rukh Khan, I like Aamir Khan. Among actresses I like Kajol, Katrina Kaif and recently Deepika Padukone. I loved watching Piku,” he said. In a freewheeling chat with Hindustan Times, one of the best all-rounders spoke about that Bangalore match and chuckled over the fact how it takes him less time to fly from Dhaka to Kolkata than his Indian teammates.

It was a disappointing World Twenty20 but what have you learnt?

You learn every match. I won’t say it was disappointing. Yes, you can say that we didn’t achieve the results we wanted. But other than that we played good cricket.

If we could have won one or two matches, the team would have looked different. Crucial situations happen more frequently in T20 matches and you get to learn a lot from them.

received a lot of support from my wife, parents and friends. If I hadn’t got that, I couldn’t have come here. They told me that I could regain my position and that mattered.

What makes the KKR team special for you?

The biggest thing is that it feels

like home. After the national team this is the only other team where I have played so long. We speak the same language, share similar cultures and weather. Even the flight’s just under 30 minutes! The players coming from other states in India take longer to reach Kolkata. It’s only because of a fence that I have to play as an overseas

West Ham striker Andy Carroll scored an eight-minute hat-trick, but Laurent Koscielny snatched a point for Arsenal in a memorable 3-3 draw yesterday. Goals from Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez had Arsenal cruising. PAGE 28

Waqar criticises Afridi’s temperament Former coach Waqar Younis says Shahid Afridi’s temperament was his major drawback as a captain as Pakistan look to move forward following their exit at the WT20.

The 44-year-old was disappointed that his recommendations were not implemented. PAGE 29

We know expectation will increase as we get better. It shouldn’t be taken in a negative way. Instead, we should think on the lines that ‘since they expect so much from us maybe we have that ability’. We take it positively.

A lot has been said about pitches.

Do you think the Eden Gardens pitch will be slower?

The good thing is that the pitch will get a huge gap here after the April 13 game (because of elections). Otherwise, I don’t think it will be bad. We played a practice match here, it was a good pitch, good for batsmen, and the ball was turning a bit too.

I think it’s more off the field. On the field, both teams know that the better on that day will win.

Both teams try to play their best cricket and I don’t feel they think beyond that. You could say that because of the crowd or hype created by the media.

Now that Narine has been cleared, how confident is the team?

I speak to him all the time, especially when we are sitting in the dugout and talking about the team situation. His contribution in both our title wins has been immense.

His presence boosts the team. He is probably the best spinner in the shorter format so that’s an advantage for us.

Could you share what was going through your mind in the last few minutes of the Bangalore game (against India)?

When Mushfiq bhai (Mushfiqur Rahim) was out after hitting those two boundaries, the first thing that went through my head was that Riyad bhai (Mahmudullah) had to get a single at any cost. If he had got that, they would have had to bring up the field for the last delivery. The worst case scenario was if we didn’t get a run then we could have at least tied the game.

Such is cricket.

It took a lot of mental strength to come out of that situation. I

We don’t have the superstars but everyone is a team man. That’s our strength. Every one gives his 100 % and that is what we expect from each of us.

I’m happy batting wherever the team needs me to. I always try to contribute as much as possible.

But it’s also not as if I come in at No 7 all the matches. There have been situations when I was sent to bat at No 4 as well. But I don’t think about it.

The expectation at home has increased after the team’s display in 2015. How do you deal with it?

Two years back, you had a tiff with your board and you almost threatened to quit. How did you come out of that situation?

KKR is a team that isn’t about superstars. Do you think this formula will still work?

Are you happy batting at No.7?

The rivalry with India is peaking, on and off the field. What’s your take?

Carroll treble skewers Arsenal

player. If I go out people treat me like I’m one of them. The warmth you get here is amazing.

Who are your closest buddies in this team?

Narine and Andre Russell. I am friends with all but if you ask me to pick then I would say I interact maybe a little more with these two.

Are West Indies cricketers very popular with Bangladesh players?

Sporting the new Kolkata Knight Riders jersey, Bangladesh cricketer Shakib al Hasan bats during training ahead of their opening Indian Premier League Twenty20 match against Delhi Daredevils today

It’s their friendliness. If I don’t go to them, they will come to me. That itself can start a great rapport. l

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FIVE FOREIGN PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR The most awaited Twenty20 league, the Indian Premier League began yesterday. There have been some surprise picks in this year’s auction. Bangladesh pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman features in the list following a stellar start to his international career. After an intense bidding battle against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad eventually roped in the Satkhira youngster. Here’s a look at five foreign players to watch out for:

1) MUSTAFIZUR RAHMAN

Becoming a part of IPL for the first time, the Bangladesh “hyped” bowler will play for Sunrisers. A base price of 50 lakhs rose up to 1.4 crores for the youngster. The left-arm bowler would now be expected to deliver for his franchise. Besides Mustafizur, the franchise boast a host of left-arm pacers, Trent Boult and Ashish Nehra to name but a few.

2) JOS BUTTLER

Picked up by a star-studded Mumbai Indians side for an amount of 3.8 crores after a base price of 1.5 crores, the English wicket-keeper batsman has every ability to destruct the opponent bowling attack. He has been scoring runs in a quite efficient manner. He will be confident heading into IPL 9 as he impressed in the recently concluded World T20.

3) ADAM ZAMPA

Another new found from Australia, Zampa’s temperament while bowling is a boon to the team he would relate to. Sold to a brand new team Gujarat Lions for his base price of 30 lakhs, Zampa is a perfect spinner for the format. His ability to grab a wicket in spite of being smashed for maximums is what gives him a distinguished role to play.

4) CARLOS BRATHWAITE

Carlos Brathwaite played a fascinating knock against England to register a last-over win for his team in the World T20 final. This is the first time that Barbados all-rounder will be a part of the IPL as he will be seen in Delhi Daredevils squad. With a base price of 30 lakhs, Brathwaite was picked up by Delhi for an amount of 4.2 crores and the kind of form he is having, the Daredevils team would be looking to rely upon this Caribbean player for better results this season.

5) SAMUEL BADREE

Grabbing two scalps and bowling a scintillating spell in the all-important final, Badree emerged as one of the most brilliant West Indian players who helped his team lift the World T20 this year. He was sold to Bangalore for his base price Rs 50 lakhs. The leg-spinner would like to continue with his form.

Bangladesh cricketer Tamim Iqbal and his wife Aysha Siddiqa Iqbal during the naming ceremony of their son, Arham

Mustafizur seeking to enjoy IPL stint n Agencies Bangladesh pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman will be playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2016 VIVO IPL. The young seamer is not setting himself a specific target but is not worried about his participation in the lucrative Twenty20 tournament.

He just wants to perform well and pick up a wider range of skills.

He is taking this as an opportunity to get the exposure of playing franchise cricket which will only make him a better bowler in near future.

Mustafizur will be playing for the Sunrisers who face the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening match this Tuesday. “What is there to think about? I really don’t think much about anything. Just go, play and bowl – that’s it,” Mustafizur said last Wednesday.

Bangladesh crashed to four successive defeats in the Super 10s of the World T20 last month. Mustafizur, who joined the team in the second match of the round after recovering from an injury, shone bright with nine wickets in three matches.

Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman saw the youngster in action when he burst onto the scene in the oneday international series against India last June. The former India batsman had his eyes on Mustafizur since then as the Sunrisers managed to sign him up in the auction by outbidding the Bangalore franchise earlier this year.

Laxman, also a professional commentator, has always praised Mustafizur from the commentary box. He and Mustafizur, however, did not cross paths during the showcase event in India.

“I am not really good in either English or Hindi, maybe that’s why we did not meet up,” Mustafizur said. Linguistic problems is another issue that he has to know how to handle but with senior players in the side this should not be a problem.

He foxed the New Zealand batsmen in their last match, picking up 5/22. That was the best bowling figures in a match in the just concluded World T20. The Sunrisers’ fast bowling unit also includes Kiwi speedster Trent Boult, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Australia’s Ben Cutting. So Mustafizur has to really bowl well for a place in the playing eleven.

But despite the obvious challenge, the southpaw also sees an opportunity to learn from these world class bowlers, “Definitely looking to learn with so many leftarm pacers in the pack”, he said.l

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DPL Players’ Draft today

QUICK BYTES Injury hits Henderson’s Euro 2016 hopes

n Tribune Report

Liverpool’s England midfielder Jordan Henderson will be sidelined for six to eight weeks with a knee ligament injury, ruling him out for the rest of the Premier League season and possibly the Euro 2016 campaign. “A scan on the knee injury Jordan Henderson sustained during Liverpool’s clash with Borussia Dortmund on Thursday night has shown isolated damage to his lateral collateral ligament,” the club said on their website (www.liverpoolfc.com).

–REUTERS

Kerber eases into SF in Charleston Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber eased past nemesis Irina-Camelia Begu with a 6-2 6-3 victory on Friday that put her into the semi-finals of the Volvo Car Open clay court event in South Carolina. Defending champion Kerber will next face seventhseeded American Sloane Stephens, who battled past 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina, the 14th seed, 6-1 5-7 7-5 in two hours 24 minutes.

–REUTERS

Torres’ Atletico future unclear despite Simeone backing Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone underlined his faith in Fernando Torres on Friday in spite of his midweek sending-off but stopped short of saying the striker had a future at the club.

The 32-year-old Torres rejoined boyhood club Atletico in January 2015 on loan from AC Milan and is out of contract at the end of this season. The former Chelsea and Liverpool forward is banned for the Champions League quarter-final return at home to Barcelona on Wednesday.

–REUTERS

Rooney returns to training after layoff Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has returned to training as he recovers from a knee injury and will play for the under-21s against Middlesbrough tomorrow, said manager Louis van Gaal. The England forward damaged his knee in February but is on course to return to first-team action in time to get fit to play at this year’s European Championship in France.

United visit title-chasing “He scored a goal - he made a fantastic shot, a chip over the goalkeeper. It was his first training session,” Van Gaal said on Friday.

–REUTERS

Abahani Limited’s new English recruit Lee Tuck (L) drifts past a Team BJMC defender during their KFC Independence Cup match at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

The Dhaka Premier League players’ draft, also referred to as the players by choice system, will be held today in the capital’s Le Meridien Hotel, informed the chief of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, Gazi Golam Mortuza.

The draft will be conducted by Bangladesh Cricket Board senior vice president Mahbub Anam.

The first 13 rounds in the ceremony will see the 12 participating clubs bidding it out for the local cricketers divided in Grades A, B+, B, C, D and E. Later, the clubs will get to chose the players of their choice grouped in Grade A+ and the Icon category.

The cricketers will receive their payments in three segments – 30 percent before the start of the tournament, 30 percent by the middle stage of the competition and the final 40 percent within six weeks of the tournament’s conclusion.

With regards to the players’ payment, Mahbub said, “For the sake of the cricketers, each club will present a cheque to the BCB. Even if a club do not complete any payment, the BCB will take up the responsibility.”

Each club will be entitled to field a foreign cricketer in their starting line-up and can register up to 10 foreigners.l

Abahani rout BJMC, Sheikh Jamal eke out win n Shishir Hoque

Senegalese forward Camara Sarba and Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba netted a brace apiece as Abahani Limited handed Team BJMC a 5-0 thrashing in their KFC Independence Cup match at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The Sky Blues enjoyed one of their finest performances since the start of the season, thanks to clinical displays from their star foreign trio. Abahani’s new English signing Lee Tuck grabbed the opening goal and assisted another to inspire his side to their first victory of the season after being held to a draw against unfancied Feni Soccer Club last week.

Abahani deservedly went ahead in the 23rd minute. A Waly Faisal free-kick fell onto a goalmouth scramble and although Camara had a poor first touch, Tuck smashed home, making up for the profligacy of his team mate.

Just four minutes later, BJMC goalkeeper Arifuzzaman Hemel tipped away a powerful Emon Babu strike from 20 yards for a corner that eventually paved the way for the second goal. Tuck found an unmarked Camara who made no mistake heading from close range.

BJMC were then reduced to 10 men six minutes after resumption when Nigerian midfielder Samson Iliasu received his marching orders for a comical dive inside the oppo-

sition’s penalty area.

Camara duly made it 3-0 in the 68th minute, heading home into an empty net after Sunday’s shot was blocked by Hemel.

Then it was Sunday’s turn to get his name on the scoresheet as he bagged two goals in the space of only five minutes to complete BJMC’s misery.

Earlier yesterday at the same venue, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi set one foot in the semi-finals following their third consecutive victory, this time against newly-promoted Uttar Baridhara Club.

The 1-0 win though was not quite straightforward for the reigning premier league champions by any stretch of the imagination. The

Dhanmondi-based outfit smashed seven goals in their first two matches against Mohammedan and Brothers Union but had to settle for just one against Uttar Baridhara, that too from an own goal.

The absence of the influential Landing Darboe was keenly felt throughout the game. Sheikh Jamal therefore, were rightly relieved when Uttar Baridhara defender Monir Alam put through his own net in the 20th minute from a Mohammad Linkon cross.

Haitian winger Wedson Anselme, who blasted a hattrick in the last game, came agonisingly close to doubling the lead in the 44th minute only to see the woodwork come between his way. l

2nd National Surfing starts April 21 Khan Menon will distribute prizn Tribune Report es among the winners as the chief The three-day long Brac Chicken 2nd National Surfing Competition, organised by the Bangladesh Surfing Association, will begin later this month on April 21 at popular tourist destination Cox’s Bazar’s Laboni Point. The event will be inaugurated by Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu. Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Rashed

guest in the presentation ceremony on April 23.

The surface water sport has seen a sudden rise in participants, with 150 surfers scheduled to take part in the upcoming edition, double the amount last year.

Ahead of the event, the training programme will get underway this Tuesday. l

Organisers and some participants of the upcoming Brac Chicken 2nd National Surfing Competition pose for a photograph in a press conference

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Nervous Bayern edge past Stuttgart to stay on title course n Reuters, Berlin Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich were made to work extremely hard for a 3-1 victory at VfB Stuttgart on Saturday that sent them eight points clear at the top of the table with five games left.

Treble-chasing Bayern, who take on Benfica in the Champions League quarter-final return leg next week, are on 75 points. Second-placed Borussia Dortmund, on 67, travel to Schalke 04 on Sunday.

Franck Ribery created Bayern’s opening goal against the run of play with Stuttgart’s Georg Niedermeier sliding in to clear the Frenchman’s cutback only to send it into his own goal in the 31st minute.

Stuttgart appeared to be playing with more confidence than Bayern, who are eyeing a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title, during the first half.

The visitors settled some nerves when David Alaba controlled the ball before firing into the near post with a fine left-footed effort seven minutes after the restart.l

BUNDESLIGA Hamburg

1-2

Holtby 90

VfB Stuttgart

1-3

Didavi 83

Werder Bremen

Bayern Munich Niedermeier 31-og, Alaba 52, Costa 89

1-2

Grillitsch 43

Frankfurt

Darmstadt Sulu 38, Gondorf 54

Augsburg Finnbogason 53, Hong 87

0-2

Hoffenheim Amiri 62, Uth 89

Ingolstadt

1-0

M’gladbach

Hartmann 87

West Ham United striker Andy Carroll (C) shoots to score his team's second goal during their English Premier League match against Arsenal at The Boleyn Ground in Upton Park, east London yesterday AFP

Carroll treble skewers Arsenal’s title hopes n AFP, London Hapless bottom club Aston Villa avoided relegation from the Premier League by the skin of their teeth yesterday despite a 2-1 loss at home to Bournemouth.

Goals from Steve Cook and Josh King gave Bournemouth victory at Villa Park, but Norwich City’s 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace kept Villa hanging by a mathematical thread.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s title hopes took a hit in a 3-3 draw at West Ham United, with Laurent Koscielny’s strike earning a point for the visitors after Andy Carroll’s hat-trick saw West Ham come from 2-0 down to lead.

The result left Arsenal 10 points below leaders Leicester City, who visit third-bottom Sunderland on Sunday, and three points behind second-place Tottenham Hotspur, who entertain Manchester United later the same day.

Second-bottom Newcastle United appear increasingly doomed after a wretched 3-1 defeat at Southampton left Rafael Benitez’s side six points from safety with six games to play.

West Ham and Arsenal played out a gripping but mutually damaging six-goal thriller at Upton Park that did little for either the former’s Champions League hopes or the

latter’s fading title aspirations.

Neatly taken goals by Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez put Arsenal 2-0 up, only for Carroll to net twice in 160 seconds at the end of the first half.

The towering striker headed in Michail Antonio’s cross to complete an eight-minute hat-trick early in the second half, but Arsenal rescued a point when Koscielny hooked in a 70th-minute equaliser.

Swansea City effectively secured their safety by beating Chelsea 1-0 courtesy of a 25th-minute volley from Gylfi Sigurdsson, whose strike ended interim Blues manager Guus Hiddink’s 15-game unbeaten run.l

4-star Real bounce back in style n AFP, Madrid

Real Madrid's James Rodriguez celebrates a goal against Eibar at Santiago Bernabeu yesterday REUTERS

Real Madrid bounced back from their Champions League embarrassment against Wolfsburg in midweek to close to within four points of Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a 4-0 win over Eibar on Saturday.

Cristiano Ronaldo was one of only three players retained in coach Zinedine Zidane’s starting line-up from the 2-0 defeat in Germany and the Portuguese shone with a goal and two assists as Madrid stormed into a 4-0 half-time lead with James Rodriguez, Lucas Vazquez and Jese also on the scoresheet.

Victory also moves Real above local rivals Atletico Madrid into second, but Diego Simeone’s men can move back into second spot and within three points of Barca

when they visit Espanyol later on Saturday.

Barca are also in action later as they look to win away to Real Sociedad for the first time in seven games stretching back to 2007.

LA LIGA Real Madrid

4-0

Eibar

Rodriguez 5, Vazquez 18, Ronaldo 20, Jese 39

Victory away to Barcelona last weekend had revived Real’s title hopes before they came crashing back down to earth in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Zidane showed his priority remains turning around their quarter-final tie when Wolfsburg visit the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday as Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and

Marcelo were left on the bench, whilst Keylor Navas and Luka Modric was rested from the squad.

Despite the changes, the hosts were always comfortable against the Basque minnows, who now haven’t won in eight games, from the moment Rodriguez smashed home a sumptuous free-kick after just five minutes.

Ronaldo showed he was in a generous mood on 18 minutes when he unselfishly squared for Vazquez to turn home the second.

A typically clinical Madrid counter-attack followed just two minutes later as Jese bore down on goal before teeing up Ronaldo to smash home his 30th La Liga goal of the season and extend his lead to four over Barcelona’s Luis Suarez in the battle to be the league’s top scorer.l

PREMIER LEAGUE Aston Villa

1-2

Ayew 85

Crystal Palace

Bournemouth Cook 45+2, King 74

1-0

Norwich

Puncheon 68

Southampton

3-1

Long 4, Pelle 38, Wanyama 55

Swansea

Newcastle Townsend 65

1-0

Chelsea

Sigurdsson 25

Watford

1-1

Holebas 45+3

West Ham

Everton McCarthy 45+1

3-3

Carroll 44, 45+2, 52

Arsenal Ozil 18, Sanchez 35, Koscielny 70

50th Serie A goal for Inter's Icardi

n AFP, Milan Mauro Icardi struck his 50th goal in 100 Serie A appearances as Inter Milan kept their outside Champions League hopes alive with a cagey but welcome 1-0 win over 10man Frosinone on Saturday.

Inter are one of several teams in contention for the league’s third and last Champions League qualifying spot and their 17th win of the season moved them up to fourth.

They sit five points behind thirdplaced Roma ahead of the remaining weekend fixtures.

With Inter collecting only three points from their last six away games, relegation-haunted Frosinone had plenty of reason to believe they could cause an upset.l

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DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL TEN 2 7:35PM I-League 2016 Bengaluru v Kingfisher East Bengal 12:50AM French Ligue 1 Olympic Marseille v Bordeaux

TEN 3 6:00PM French Ligue 1 Lille SA v AS Monaco

Waqar criticises Afridi’s temperament n Cricket Australia Former coach Waqar Younis says Shahid Afridi’s temperament was his major drawback as a captain as Pakistan look to move forward following their early exit at the ICC World T20.

The 44-year-old was left disappointed that his recommendations to the PCB, included in a report he submitted following the WT20, were not implemented and also leaked to the media.

“Shahid Afridi’s drawbacks as a captain are for everyone to see,” he said.

“He’s got a temperament issue.

He cannot sit for too long to highlight things or absorb things and then go and implement them. I’ve said this in my report.

“I have been very clear that the report was not for the media but for the board. Unfortunately it was leaked and my relationship with Afridi has been spoilt.

“Afridi was very junior to me

when I was finishing with playing cricket, so there was never an issue with him, like an ego clash or something.

“All I wanted was to have a good relationship and coordination to achieve one goal - which is to win.

“Everybody has a unique character, but as long as the goal and the target are the same and are good for the team, I am okay with that.”

It was announced on Tuesday that Sarfraz Ahmed would take

9:00PM Nice v Stade Rennais

SONY SIX 4:30PM Italian Serie A Empoli v Fiorentina

STAR SPORTS 1 9:00PM English Premier League Liverpool v Stoke City

STAR SPORTS 2 English Premier League 6:20PM Sunderland v Leicester City 8:50PM Tottenham v Manchester United

STAR SPORTS 4 German Bundesliga 7:16PM FC Schalke 04 v Dortmund 8:45PM FC Koln v Bayer Leverkusen

STAR SPORTS 1 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2:00PM Japan v New Zealand 4:00PM Australia v Pakistan 6:30PM Canada v India

CRICKET SONY SIX, SONY ESPN 8:30PM Kolkata v Delhi

TENNIS TEN 3 11:00PM WTA: Family Circle Cup - Final 1:00AM ATP: Houston Open - Final

MOTO GP TEN 1 9:00PM Grand Prix of the Americas: Race

over the T20 captaincy from Afridi while Azhar Ali (ODIs) and Misbahul-Haq (Tests) would continue to lead their respective sides.

Sarfraz named new T20 captain

Younis said Sarfraz and Ali, who was appointed ODI skipper following the 2015 World Cup, should be given time to adjust to their new role as they seek the same success Misbah has enjoyed in the five-day game.

“Azhar is a very young captain.

You have to give him some time,” Younis said.

“When we lost to Bangladesh (a 3-0 series defeat last April) we started becoming sceptical about him as captain, which shouldn’t be the case. He is getting better.

“Misbah, on the other hand, is a more settled person. He absorbs things, makes plans and executes them - this is what you do as captain.

“Now Pakistan have named Sarfraz Ahmed as captain for T20s.

Don’t expect that he will come and perform miracles. Captaincy adds a lot of pressure. We need to allow him time to settle.”

The PCB have enlisted former Test captains Wasim Akram and Ramiz Raja to help select a replacement for Younis as coach while they have also promised an army-style boot camp after it was deemed the players were unfit when they assembled for the Asia Cup in February.l

Neymar gets Barca go-ahead for Rio, not Copa n AFP, Rio de Janeiro Brazilian superstar Neymar was Friday given the go-ahead to play at the Olympics by his club Barcelona but was ordered not to take part in the Copa America, local media reported.

Brazil coach Dunga had been hoping to have the influential striker at both tournaments - the Copa

in the United States from June 3-26 and the Rio Olympics football tournament which runs from August 4-20.

But in a letter sent to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), and seen by Globoesporte and Mundo Deportivo, European champions Barcelona insist that Neymar needs to have adequate rest over the summer before the

start of the next domestic season.

The CBF refused to confirm to AFP that they had received such a request from the Spanish giants.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Neymar has proposed a solution to the impasse - he will sit out the group phase at the Copa and only play from the quarter-finals stages before heading to the Olympics.

Evra to keep the ball rolling n AFP, Paris Fiery Juventus and France defender Patrice Evra is determined to play to the age of 40 and scoffs at the idea of international retirement after Euro 2016.

“I will leave ‘Les Bleus’ when they have no more need of me,” the 34-year-old former Manchester United left back vowed in an interview published in yesterday’s L’Equipe.

The tireless defender has played 71 times for France, notably as captain in the 2010 World Cup and also at Brazil in 2014, and a succession of national handlers have banked

on his massive commitment.

“So long as I’m still playing football, I want to play for France too.

I want to remain at the top level,” he said.

“My models are (Javier) Zanetti, (Ryan) Giggs and (Paolo) Maldini.

They all stopped at 40. So long as I have the legs, I’ll keep running,” he promised.

Although out of contract with Juventus in June, Evra will be a first choice left-back for France at Euro 2016 and should the Turin club fail to offer him an extension he will have a long list of suitors.

The one blemish on Evra’s re-

port card is the player strike at the 2010 World Cup, which was caused by a dressing room leak that led to Nicolas Anelka being sent home.

Evra was captain of the side and insists he persuaded the team not to effect a strike during a match, but many in France have never forgiven him for his leading role in their shambolic first-round exit that followed a training ground strike at their Knysna camp.

“I’m not looking for affection,” says the player who describes himself as the most consistent leftback in the world over the past 10 years. “Critics cannot hurt me.” l

FIFA regulations demand that clubs release players for tournaments on the the international calendar A-list which includes the Copa but not the Olympics which does not figure on the global body’s international schedule.

Neymar, who is 24, would be one of the three players over the age of 23 who are allowed to feature in an Olympic football squad. l

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Bengal Foundation marks the new year with Boishakh Utshob n Promiti Prova Chowdhury Bengal Foundation has arranged a five-day “Boishakh Utshob” in the capital yesterday, with a unique way to raise awareness.

Consciousness spreads effectively through songs, poems, and discussions. With that in mind, the festival aims to promote the realisation of people’s actions through Bengali songs, dances and instruments.

As heritage, culture and lifestyle are highly influenced by the Bengali New Year, Bengal Foundation spared no effort to spread the message of humanity and consciousness. Open to all, the festival shall continue till April 13, and is being hosted at the Bengal Shilpalay in Dhanmondi.

Performances are scheduled to begin at 7pm every day.

The program features songs of Tagore, Nazrul, the “Tin Kobi” (Atulprasad, Rajanikanta Sen and Dwijendralal Ray), as well as folk music and classical numbers by the country’s leading singers.

Today’s segment, termed “Rabindrashondhya,” will feature Shama Rahman, Fahim Hossain Chowdhury, Mohiuzzaman Chowdhury, and Rezwana Choudhury Bannya along with few other artists.

Tomorrow’s shall uplift “Shangeetshondhya” as the main highlight, which will feature

songs of the “Tin Kobi” as well as classical tracks. Jhuma Khandaker, Tanvir Alam Sajib, Subir Nandi and Iffat Ara Dewan are all scheduled to perform.

The final two days of the fest shall emphasise on folk songs, instrumentals, and classical music, with the likes of Chandana Majumdar and Kiran Chandra Roy. The show kicked-off with chorus performances. Famous tracks of Rajanikanta Sen, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dwijendra Lal Roy and Rabindranath Tagore, including Esho Pran E Bhorano, Aji Nutan Rotone, Ami Bhai Khepa Baul, Rekho Maa Dashi Re Mone, Mayer Dewa Mota Kapor and Ei Kotha ta Dhore Rakhish, were performed on stage.

A group of child artistes from Sylhet Geetobitan Bangladesh ended the opening session with recitals of well-known rhymes like Openti Biscope, Aam Pata Jora Jora, and Aikom Baikom Taratari.

Moreover, students of Maple Leaf International School welcomed the new year with dance performances and chorus songs including Alo Amar Alo, Ei Bangla Robi Thakurer, Dhin Dhin Tak Dhina Dhin, Aji Dhaner Khete Roudro Chhayay, and Holud Gadar Ful. That’s not all. A puppet show by the Bangladesh Putul Natya Gobeshona O Unnoyon Kendra, an affiliate of the department

of drama and dramatics of Jahangirnagar University, also took part to illustrate their talents.

Children in the audience were mesmerised by the play Kupokat, written by Munier Chowdhury, Tonatuni by Jasimuddin and Nakkata Rajar by Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, all of which were directed by Dr Harun Rashid.

Champa Bonik, Shahid Kabir Polash, Lotifun Julio, Bijon Chandra Mistri, Mohammad Shoyeb, Sharmin Shathi Islam, Nasima Shahin, Yakub Ali Khan and Khairul Anam Shakil performed Nazrul songs in the evening session, moderated by Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury. l

WHAT TO WATCH

Rush Hour HBO 5:20pm A Chinese consul’s eleven-yearold daughter is kidnapped in Los Angeles. The consul requests detective inspector Lee to handle the case as he is known to him.

But the FBI wants their man to take part in the investigation and to keep an eye on Lee. They assign Carter for the same. To begin with, Carter and Lee are unable to get along. But soon, they bury their differences and kick some butt.

Cast: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Ken Leung, Tom Wilkinson, Chris Penn

Taken 2 Star Movies 3:00pm Bryan Mills is the retired CIA agent who will stop at nothing to save his abducted daughter in taken. When he is targeted by a vengeance-seeking crimelord, Bryan must employ his particular set of skills to protect his family against an army who’s out to kill them.

Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser, Jon Gries

Rumble in the Bronx WB 11:20pm Keung from Hong Kong goes on a visit to New York for his uncle’s wedding. While the married uncle is away on his honeymoon, it falls upon Keung to run his market in the Bronx. When some local goons create trouble, Keung beats them up. This leads to more thugs coming into the open to fight the new man in the Bronx. Watch Keung take over the protection of the Bronx when the lazy cops fail to do so.

Cast: Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Françoise Yip, Marc Akerstream

Rise of the Guardians Zee Studio 5:45pm The immortal Guardians must join forces to protect the hopes, beliefs, and imaginations of children all over the world when an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world.

Cast: Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Isla Fisher, Hugh Jackman

Valentine’s Day WB 7:10pm A school teacher falls in love unknowingly with a married man. The local TV station deputes a Sports Reporter to cover “Valentines Day,” and the owner of an Indian Restaurant has her hands full with a Punjabi wedding ceremony, and a private “I Hate Valentine’s Day” party. Their worlds collide as the day expires.

Cast: Julia Roberts, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Kathy Bates, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane l

Clarkson can’t ‘gear’ n Tahsin momin Jeremy Clarkson revealed on Friday that he is still looking for a name for his new Amazon car show after BBC banned him from using the word “gear” for it.

The new Amazon Prime motoring show was deprived of this opportunity due to reported “legal reasons,” according to Jeremy Clarkson.

The former Top Gear presenter recently featured a trailer for his yet-to-be-named show, which is set to air this autumn.

In it, he, along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May, suggested

titles for the show which included “tripod” and “auto-mates.”

All of the ideas, including Clarkson’s “Selling England by the

Pound” and “Watcher of the Skies,” which are album and song titles by the rock band Genesis, were shot down.

Clarkson then posted on Twitter, saying the show couldn’t have the word “gear” in it.

“Thank you for your suggestions, but be aware. For legal reasons, we cannot use a name with the word ‘gear’ in it,” he tweeted.

Fans even suggested their own show title suggestions, which included “Three Guys, A Car and a Pizza Place” and “2 Men and a Hamster.”

For weeks,

speculation suggested that the program would be called “Gear Knobs.” Oh well. l Source: Daily Mail

Katrina attracts attention n Tahsin Momin Katrina Kaif seems to have had a spicy makeover recently. While the lady always knew how to shake it like Shakira, what stood out and caught some eye were her washboard abs at a recent dance outing.

It not only took the internet by storm but also grabbed the attention of Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh and West-Indies cricketer Darren Bravo.

While inviting Katrina on stage during the opening ceremony of a cricket tournament, Ranveer introduced Katrina to the crowd while requesting a round of applause for her abs.

Bravo, on the other hand, seemed to be impressed

by Katrina’s moves as she grooved the stage with her performance. l Source: Times of India

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Showtime

SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

Prosenjit Chatterjee arrives in Dhaka on April 12

n Showtime Desk Prosenjit Chatterjee, one of the most prominent superstars of Tollywood, will arrive in Dhaka on April 12 for the premier of Shonkhochil.

Directed by Goutam Ghosh, Shonkhochil, a joint production of Bangladesh and India, was awarded as the Best Bangla Film in the 63rd National Film Awards of India even before it was released!

The film also stars Bangladeshi actresses Kusum Sikder and

Sanjhbati, who will be present during the premier at Star Cineplex on the same day.

The film will be released in Dhaka and Kolkata on April 14.

Shonkhochil has been produced

by Impress Telefilms and Ashirbad Cholochhitro from Bangladesh and Prosenjit’s production house, N Ideas Ltd, from India.

The movie sheds light on how the 1947 Partition of India affected the people living in the border areas. l

Hrithik Roshan spills release date

n Tahsin Momin The countdown to Hrithik Roshan’s much-awaited flick Mohenjo Daro starts ticking as the actor confirmed the conclusion of the big-budget project. The Ashutosh Gowariker film is set to reach theatres on August 12, 2016.

Starring South Indian actress and Miss Universe India 2010 finalist Pooja Hedge, the flick is a vengeful love story with Kabir

Bedi playing as an antagonist.

Hritik, who has been consistent in making news headlines with regard to a legal battle with actress Kangana Ranaut, announced the release date of the film on Twitter.

“Journeys that test strength of character are ones you should be most proud of! Its a wrap!” he tweeted. l Source: The Times of India

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SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 2016

FOREIGN AID TO RISE 22% IN FY17 PAGE 15

MUSTAFIZUR SEEKING TO ENJOY IPL STINT PAGE 26

BENGAL FOUNDATION HOLDS BOISHAKH UTSHOB PAGE 31

Moyna’s manual on clean cooking n Abu Bakar Siddique For city people, who enjoy undisturbed gas by merely turning the knob of kitchen burners, it is hard to fathom the pain that rural people endure to just light up their earthen stoves.

A few hundred taka every month might not sound too much to an urbanite. But for a poor family who live in a remote sleepy village, this money means the difference between a new sari for the lady or much needed stationery for the primary school-goer kid.

Let alone the physical labour that the members of these families, starting from the toddler to the veteran, have to put in to carry the load of enough wood for cooking the day’s big meal.

“Starting from working in the paddy fields to working as domestic aide in rich people’s households, I have done every kind of work in my life, especially after getting married,” said Moyna Rani Mondol, a 55-year-old woman from the south-western Satkhira district in Bangladesh.

“There was a time when I had to live in a constant fear – would I be able to get the fuel-wood for the day? That fear drove me to think otherwise – find a permanent solution to the fuel crisis,” said Moyna while talking to the Dhaka Tribune recently.

A woman with almost no education, Moyna won the Joyeeta Award this year for inventing an energy-efficient earthen stove for village households that has cut fuel consumption by more than half for an entire village.

Moyna does not know what is going on around the world. She has absolutely no idea that hundreds and thousands of experts are spending billions of dollars every year on just to find ways to tame the raging apocalypse – the global climate change.

Jargon like low-carbon technology and energy-efficiency do not ring any bell in her mind. But what she has done – with pure local knowledge – is bound to make all those highly-educated experts jealous.

There is no magic in the stove she has invented – just the chamber where the fuel burns has an energy-efficient design, which makes sure that most of the heat generated remains inside the chamber instead of escaping. And that significantly cuts the amount of fu-

Moyna Rani Mondol is at work in her courtyard, making her fuel-efficient earthen stoves that won her the Joyeeta Award from the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs this year DHAKA TRIBNE

‘There was a time when I had to live in a constant fear – would I be able to get the fuel-wood for the day? That fear drove me to think otherwise – find a permanent solution to the fuel crisis’ el-wood needed for cooking.

Joyeeta – the Bangla word for a “victorious woman” – is an initiative of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of Bangladesh with an overarching objective of empowering women to promote gender equality.

In rural Bangladesh, which constitutes more than 80% of the country’s total area, people are usually dependent on organic fuel like wood, straw and cow-dung for cooking.

But there has been an excessive use of fuel wood and a resultant destruction of trees for a number of decades, understandably because of the growing pressure of population.

In the 1980s, from a similar concern, Bangladesh Council of Science and Industrial Research (BCSIR) invented a low-carbon stove for village people. It was called Bondhu Chula – the friendly stove – which several development agencies promoted in rural Bangladesh.

But none of these development agencies have ever come to Moyna.

Neither does she know anything about the structural design of that friendly stove.

What she has invented was purely driven by a strong urge to reduce the amount of money and energy that she and her family have over the years spent on just to ensure the fuel for daily cooking.

“It is amazing how an illiterate

housewife from a sleepy village can think like an expert. All over the world, scientists are spending billions of dollars on finding a sustainable solution to energy-efficiency. And here, this woman, has done exactly that,” said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the Ramon Magsaysay award-winning environmental activist from Bangladesh.

“Just make the chamber energy-efficient. It is that simple,” said Rizwana, who is also the chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA).

Moyna, who won a divisional environment award of the government last year, now works as a trainer with a number of renowned non-governmental organisations in the

south-western parts of Bangladesh, to promote her low-carbon cooking stove among village women.

She makes several kinds of stoves – starting from those with one chamber to eight chambers – and they all consume less than 50% fuel than conventional stoves.

Initially, she used to make these stoves for herself, but soon her neighbours got interested and now around 6,000 families and more than 100 restaurants in the Satkhira district use her stoves.

She makes these stoves with cement pipes, iron rods and clay – and they cost just Tk400 to Tk500.

“It is ironic that such wonderful application of local knowledge is happening in a country that is among the least responsible for the global climate change,” said Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, panel scientist of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“Time has come for us to take these local heroes and their superb works to the global arena. This is resilience in the true sense of the world,” said Ahsan, who is one of the reviewers of the IPCC’s 4th and 5th Assessment Report.

He said this technology should be spread across the country. l

Editor: Zafar Sobhan, Published and Printed by Kazi Anis Ahmed on behalf of 2A Media Limited at Dainik Shakaler Khabar Publications Limited, 153/7, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208. Editorial, News & Commercial Office: FR Tower, 8/C Panthapath, Shukrabad, Dhaka 1207. Phone: 9132093-94, Advertising: 9132155, Circulation: 9132282, Fax: News-9132192, e-mail: news@dhakatribune.com, info@dhakatribune.com, Website: www.dhakatribune.com