18 April, 2016

SECOND EDITION

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

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Boishakh 5, 1423, Rajab 10, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 362

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

Police: Shafik plotted Joy's abduction Amar Desh's Mahmudur also involved in conspiracy, might be shown arrested today n Arifur Rahman Rabbi Shafik Rehman was physically present at a meeting in 2012 in the US where three others including an FBI official allegedly conspired to abduct and kill Sajeeb Wazed Joy, separate investigations by Bangladeshi and US officials have reportedly revealed.

Daily Amar Desh Editor Mahmudur Rahman's involvement in the

alleged plot was also found during the probe, said Monirul Islam, additional commissioner of DMP's Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday, he added that the police now plan to show Mahmudur – who is already behind bars on sedition charges – as arrested in a case filed with the Paltan police station. A prayer would be filed with a Dhaka

court in this regard today, he added.

On January 29, 2012, Shafik Rehman allegedly met with JaSaS vice-president's son Rizve Ahmed Caesar, the then FBI Special Agent Robert Lustyik, and Lustyik's friend Johannes Thaler to plot the abduction and murder of Joy – the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Rizve, Lustyik and Thaler are currently serving jail sentences in the US in connection with a bribery

scheme to dig up confidential information about Joy. When Joy came to know about the matter, he passed on the information to Bangladesh Police. Later in 2015, police first filed a general diary and then filed a case with Paltan police station.

Sources close to the investigation told the Dhaka Tribune that they have received leads from US investigation agencies that suggest

involvement of both Shafik and Mahmudur in the plot.

The entire conspiracy against Joy began in 2011 following instructions from the BNP high command, the sources added.

Rizve, son of Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (JaSaS) Vice-President Mohammad Ullah Mamun, initiated communication with US Federal Bureau of  PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

Govt projects inflation rate drop to 5.8% n Asif Showkat Kallol The government expects average inflation rate to drop by 0.4 percentage points in the next fiscal year, thanks to cheap imports from India and China along with the low price of fuels in the global market.

“We expect that the next fiscal's inflation rate will be 5.8%, the main reason behind which is the

The government initiative for the reduction of fuel oil in the local market will have a positive impact on the future inflation rate

INSIDE

huge reduction in fuel oil prices in the international market,” Senior Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Another reason for the low projection was that local businesses would be getting 80% of its $40 billion imports from China and India at low costs, he said.

The Finance Ministry revealed its projection of the inflation rate for the next fiscal year at the latest fiscal coordination council meeting, presided over by Finance

End political stalemate, ICG to AL The International Crisis Group thinks the ruling AL-led government should resume political dialogue with the opposition.

 PAGE 3

Minister AMA Muhith. It also announced that fiscal year's average inflation rate was 6.2%.

Due to reduction of prices of fuel oil and food in the global market, the local businessmen are importing low price commodities from China and India, Mahbub said.

“Inflation in India and China has also declined because of cheap fuel,” the secretary added.

“I am sure at the end of 2016-17 fiscal year, inflation rate will be below 5.8%.”

“The local industrial sector growth rate is 10%. The service sector is doing good this year as well and we hope it will continue to do so,” he added.

Mahbub said the government's salary raises for public sector employees would create a boost for the economy with an increased domestic demand.

The secretary also said the government was expecting Bangladesh to break away from the 6% growth trap by achieving 7.05% growth.

“But the inflation rate will remain steady, which is a unique situation.”

The latest figures from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics show that the monthly rate of inflation was 5.65% in March while in February it was 5.62%.  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

Fakhrul: BNP will restore democracy

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in an exclusive interview with the DhakaTribune talked about the current political situation and his party’s vision.  PAGE 5

To make a small living, day labourers endure the heat wave caused by blazing summer temperature over the past few days.

The photo was taken in Chittagong’s Majhir Ghat area yesterday RABIN CHOWDHURY

7-murder case APP transferred n Tanvir Hossain, Narayanganj The recent order to transfer an additional public prosecutor of a Narayanganj court engaged in the sensational seven-murder case has created fresh controversy.

The plaintiff of the case, wife of slain panel mayor Nazrul Islam, has also expressed concern over the alleged understanding between the prosecution and the defence law-

yers to save the key accused – expelled Awami League leader Nur Hossain.

Additional public prosecutor KM Fazlur Rahman was transferred on April 13 based on an order issued by the public prosecutor of the court, SM Wazed Ali Khokon, who the plaintiff allege, has good ties with Nur Hossain.

Nazrul’s wife Selina Islam Beauty recently filed a petition to

change the public prosecutor in the case alleging that he had taken benefits from the accused.

Lawyer Fazlur was dealing with some extortion and arms cases filed against Nur Hossain. He has now been transferred to the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court from the Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court.

According to the court sources,

Massive corruption under probe at Mongla port

Earthquake kills 233 in Ecuador

The ACC is looking into allegations of Tk17 crore embezzlement in three projects at the Mongla port.  PAGE 8

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 2

The death toll from Ecuador’s biggest earthquake in decades soared to at least 233 yesterday as rescuers using tractors and bare hands for survivors in shattered coastal towns.  PAGE 32

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Joy: Shafik Rehman turned criminal from journalist n Tribune Desk Shafik Rehman changed his career path from journalism to crime, said Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He also said the BNP ran such “mid-career course” for criminal activities.

“Today our Government arrested a senior ‘journalist’ and opposition BNP leader Shafik Rehman for his involvement in a plot to kidnap and kill me in the US. A US BNP leader’s son, a former FBI agent and another American friend of both are already serving time in the US for this plot,” Joy wrote in a post on his official Facebook page on Saturday.

“The evidence against ‘journalist’ Shafik Rehman comes directly from this case. Note I put the word journalist in quotes because once you’re involved in trying to kidnap and kill someone I believe you have changed your career path from journalist to criminal. The BNP runs a mid-career course for that sort of thing,” he further wrote.

He also posted a link of US Department of Justice’s press statement about the case.

“You can read about that case directly from the US DOJ’s press release. I’m not sure about the ‘prominent’ part but I am the ‘citizen of Bangladesh’ mentioned there,” he wrote.

Joy, also the prime minister’s son, said the plot to abduct and kill him was formulated just because his mother was involved in Bangladesh politics and he helped her occasionally.

“It is also because our opposition party [BNP] is of a particularly violent criminal bent and is allied with the largest fundamentalist party in the country with direct ties to ISIS,” he went on.

Shafik Rehman, former editor of the Jaijaidin, was picked up by detectives in plainclothes from his house in Eskaton, Dhaka on Saturday morning, on charge of plotting to abduct and murder Joy. The case was filed by Detective Branch Inspector Fazlur Rahman with Paltan police station in August last year, who also named BNP’s cultural wing Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (JaSaS) Vice-President Mohammad Ullah Mamun and a number of unidentified BNP leaders as suspects in the case.

A US court sentenced JaSaS leader Mamun’s son Rizve Ahmed Caesar to prison on March 4 last year for his involvement in a bribery scheme to obtain confidential information from a former FBI special agent in New York. l

A police official grabs the throat of a Moulik Bangla activist as police disrupt the activists’ procession in Dhaka University’s TSC area yesterday. Moulik Bangla brought out the procession demanding cancellation of the coal-based power plant in Rampal MEHEDI HASAN

7-murder case APP transferred Fazlur is known as an efficient prosecutor in Narayanganj. The courts gave capital punishment in over 70 cases he had dealt with in the last five years. He was also looking into the two cases filed over bomb attack on an Awami League office that killed 20 persons.

Asked why Fazlur was transferred in a hurry, Wazed said: “We need an efficient lawyer at the chief judicial magistrate court.”

Fazlur thinks that the public prosecutor can transfer any lawyer to any court as per the law.

Several lawyers have also questioned the appointment of 94 assistant prosecutors to the Narayanganj court in November last year.

Selina’s lawyer Shakhawat Hossain said: “We have long been demanding a fair trial in the case since the accused including Nur Hossain are very influential and the ruling party-backed people are trying to save the accused.

“But as the government has appointed 94 assistant public prosecutors against 14 posts and most

of them are not efficient, we think that it will ultimately benefit the accused. We will observe the trial proceedings few more days and then decide our next course of action.”

Earlier, the trial proceedings came under criticisms for not conducting further investigation, as demanded by the plaintiff, as the police had filed the charge sheet before the arrest of Nur Hossain.

Police also did not seek remand of the former Awami League leader.

Moreover, the media persons have been kept out of the court during the proceedings while Nur Hossain and other accused recently threatened the prosecution witnesses in open court.

Petition for PP’s withdrawal Plaintiff of the case Selina filed a petition with the superintendent of police and the district’s deputy commissioner on March 22 urging that the public prosecutor be relieved from the seven-murder case.

The letter says that Wazed Ali is a close friend of Nur Hossain. “He misguided me during my deposi-

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tion in the court on several occasions after taking bribes from Nur Hossain and sacked RAB officer Tarek Sayeed Mahmud. He also forbade me not to disclose the name of Nur Hossain.

“On March 21, he [Wazed] influenced the depositions of witnesses Abul Kalam Azad, Jahangir Alam Tipu and Fakhrul Islam to save several accused. He has developed good ties with the defence lawyers and often gossips with the accused in open court.”

On the other hand, in another letter written to the home secretary, Selina termed Wazed Ali unskilled and inefficient. “He has been financially benefited from seven-murder case accused Nur Hossain and Tarek Sayeed. He has been creating confusion among the prosecution witnesses so that their statements benefit the accused.”

Wazed, however, has refuted the allegations as baseless. “The plaintiff is spreading propaganda against me for some other reasons,” he claimed. l

Govt projects A Sonali Bank official, Sadrul Hasan, said the inflation rate has dropped in the last couple of months but it has had no impact on price level and renting houses.

Economist AB Mirza Azizul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune it was rational for the average inflation rate to be 5.8% for the next fiscal year as there is no possibility of price increases of fuel oil and food in the international market.

“The government initiative for the reduction of fuel oil in the local market will have a positive impact on the future inflation rate,” he said.

According to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, the Bangladesh government last revised the price of oil three years ago, when a barrel of crude oil cost nearly three times greater than the current price at around $35 a barrel. The average import price of crude oil was a little over $75 a barrel in fiscal 201415, down from nearly $110 a barrel in the previous year. The average price this year dropped to $52 a barrel. l

Police: Shafik plotted Joy’s abduction Investigation official Lustyik through their common acquaintance Thaler.

Using Thaler as the medium, the men met on several occasions. At one of those meetings on January 29, 2012, Shafik Rehman was allegedly present to plot Joy’s death.

Rizve then reportedly sent emails containing documents that described Joy’s day-to-day movement to Milton Bhuiyan, a BNP leader living in New York’s Brooklyn.

Milton then mailed the documents to Mahmudur, according to investigation sources.

Milton also maintained regular

communication with Shafik, which led the police to suspect that Shafik might also have received those documents.

As part of the ongoing probe into the conspiracy, Bangladesh Police arrested Shafik on Saturday and is now planning to show Mahmudur arrested in the case as well.

Asked why the case was filed with Paltan police when the murder plot had taken place in the US, Monirul said Rizve’s father Mamun visited Dhaka in 2011 for JaSaS council programme and had several meetings in JaSaS Paltan office.

Police now suspect that the murder plot might have been hatched dur-

ing the meetings in the JaSaS Paltan office; for this reason Mamun and other unidentified BNP members have also been accused in the case filed with Paltan police.

Former Jaijaidin editor Shafik Rehman was arrested based on evidence, he added.

“We are now questioning him in connection with the case as his involvement was found during investigation by US authorities as well,” the DMP additional commissioner said.

Investigation officials might also travel to the US to dig deeper into the case, he added.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu told reporters

at the secretariat yesterday that Shafik Rehman was arrested not for his journalistic works, but because the police had specific information in connection with the former Jaijaidin editor’s involvement with the crime.

At a separate event in the capital, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said they had information that at least three Bangladeshi individuals were involved in the plot to kill Joy. Hinting that Shafik and Mahmudur were two of those suspects, the minister however said the identity of the other individual would be disclosed in due time. l

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CUSTODIAL DEATH OF JONY

Charges framed against 3 policemen n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against three police officials and two informants in a case filed on charges of torturing Istiaq Ahmed Jony, a member of the Bihari community, to death in police custody in 2014.

Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge Md Kamrul Hossain Molla said: “It is a sensible case; so there is no scope to discharge the accused in the case.”

Charges were framed against Pallabi police station’s the then sub-inspector Jahidur Rahman Khan, assistant sub-inspectors Kamruzzaman

and Rashedul Haque, and informants Md Russell and Md Sumon.

ASI Kamruzzaman, and ASI Rashedul are now out on bail from High Court and Russell has been shown as a fugitive in the case.

The court framed the charges after rejecting a discharge petition filed by the defence counsels under section 15 of Torture and Custodial Death (Protection) Act 2013.

The court fixed May 16 for recording testimonies from prosecution witnesses.

The prosecution yesterday read out the charges, to which the accused claimed their innocence.

According to the case statement,

informant Sumon and Jony got into an altercation over the teasing of girls at a wedding party in Pallabi’s Irani Camp on February 9, 2014.

After Jony slapped Sumon, he threatened Jony with dire consequences. Half an hour later, a team of 25-26 policemen, including SI Jahid, swooped on the ceremony and vandalised the stage.

They also picked up Jony, his brother Rocky and some other people from the ceremony and took them to the Pallabi police station.

The detainees were allegedly tortured in police custody, with SI Jahid reportedly jumping on the chest of Jony and spitting into his

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Later, Jony was taken to National Heart Foundation in a critical condition but doctors declared him dead.

The police, however, claimed that Jony had been killed in a clash between the residents of Irani camp and Rahamat camp in Pallabi.

On August 7, 2014, the court ordered to conduct a judicial enquiry into the custodial death of Jony after his brother Imtiaz Hossain Rocky filed a murder case.

On February 17 last year, Metropolitan Magistrate Maruf Hossain submitted the probe report of a judicial inquiry before the court against the five accused in the case. l

Lutfa Begum, mother of slain Government Titumir College student Farzana Yasmin Eeti, breaks down in tears at a human chain to demand exemplary punishment for her daughter’s killer yesterday. Following the human chain in front of National Press Club in the capital, Lutfa held a press conference where she claimed that Eeti’s husband Ali Azgar killed her on April 4 because of Eeti’s refusal to meet his dowry demands. ‘He force-fed poison to my daughter and tried to hide it by taking her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where the doctors pronounced her dead,’ she said, adding that Ali Azgar was arrested by police. ‘My daughter was a brilliant student, a third-year honours student at Titumir College,’ Lutfa said. ‘I demand justice for my daughter and urge the prime minister, the law minister, the health minister and the home minister to ensure that her case does not get forgotten like other cases.’

SYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN

BNP: Shafik Rehman's remand inhumane n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla The BNP has said that noted journalist Shafik Rehman's arrest and then remand in police custody is “inhumane.”

“The government is arresting the dissident voices. Shafik Reman's arrest is part of that,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the party, told journalists yesterday.

“Shafik Reman's remand after arresting is inhumane and is not acceptable at all,” said the party secretary general.

Fakhrul along with BNP leaders Abdullah Al Noman and Abdul Awal Mintoo visited Shafik Rehman's residence to meet his wife Taleya Rehman.

BNP leader and secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also demanded immediate and unconditional release of Shafik Rehman from jail, withdrawal of the case against him and stopping of the remand in police custody.

Pro-BNP organisation Bangladesh Shommilito Peshajibi Parishad formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club demanding immediate and unconditional release of the 81-year-old veteran journalist Shafik Rehman.

Noted journalist and former editor of the Bangla Daily Jai Jai Din Shafik Rehman was arrested and put on a five-day remand on Saturday to be interrogated over his alleged involvement in the plot to abduct and kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. l

End destabilising political stalemate, ICG urges AL n Tribune Desk The International Crisis Group thinks the ruling Awami Leagueled government should resume political dialogue with the opposition without delay to end the destabilising political stalemate.

To demonstrate sincerity and as the first step, the Brussels-based organisation says, the government should end use of the rule of law institutions to target opponents and silence critics.

“Accepting legitimate avenues of participation and dissent would also help regain some lost legitimacy and the trust of citizens in the state’s provision of both justice and security,” the ICG says in its latest report “Political Conflict, Extremism and Criminal Justice in Bangladesh.”

“The BNP and its Jamaat-e-Isla-

mi ally marked the anniversary of the disputed 2014 elections with indiscriminately violent strikes and traffic blockades, which were matched brutally by the state.

The BNP now appears less willing to resort to violence to unseat the government; its decision to re-enter the political mainstream gives the government an opportunity it should exploit by urgently resuming dialogue with the opposition.”

On the other hand, the ICG urged the BNP to commit to peaceful opposition, including by preventing party activists from using violence to subvert the political order; and sever ties with political allies who use violence to destabilise the government.

It suggests that the international community including the US, the EU and India urge the Awami

League to allow the opposition legitimate political expression and participation. “There is no time to lose. If mainstream dissent remains closed, more and more government opponents may come to view violence and violent groups as their only recourse.”

The ICG observes that the political conflict between the Awami League and the BNP has resulted in high levels of violence and a brutal state response. The government’s excesses against political opponents and critics include enforced disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings.

“The permissive legal environment, however, is creating opportunities for extremist outfits to regroup, manifested in the killings of secular bloggers and foreigners and attacks on sectarian and religious

minorities in 2015.”

The government’s reaction to rising extremism, including arrest and prosecution of several suspects without due process and transparency, is fuelling alienation that these groups can further exploit, the report mentions.

So long as there is “no independent court system to arbitrate disputes fairly,” the parties are likely to continue taking those disputes to the streets. But a neutral judiciary could help defuse tensions by upholding fundamental principles and preventing executive excesses, the ICG says.

To ensure due process and end political interference in the justice system, the Brussels-based watchdog suggests that the government enforce the constitutional requirement for an independent judiciary

by establishing a more transparent, consultative appointment process, including consultations with the bar councils and parliamentary endorsement.

The report says the government should avoid statements alleging the identity of those responsible for crimes while investigations are ongoing; and end the practice of presenting suspects to the media, rather than in court, as required by the constitution.

Moreover, the judiciary should develop consistent judicial doctrine/interpretation upholding the right to a fair trial and restraining the executive branch from undermining fundamental constitutional rights and principles, including actions against civil society institutions that undermine their ability to function freely. l

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Bangladesh-India to sign LPG MoU today

Taleya: British High Commission looking into Rehman’s arrest

n Aminur Rahman Rasel

n Mohammad Al-Masum Molla

Bangladesh and India will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to set up a Liquefied Petroleum Gas bottling plant in the Chittagong region today.

Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan arrived in the capital yesterday on a three-day visit to Bangladesh to attend bilateral meetings with his counterpart and other dignitaries.

“Indian Oil Corporation Limited, a state owned company in India, wants to build an LPG bottling plant jointly with Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation,” Mosleh Uddin, BPC director for operations and planning, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“After meeting domestic demand, the rest of the produced gas will be exported to the Indian state of Tripura,” he added.

He also said IOCL will conduct studies to assess the feasibility of setting up the plant at their own cost.

Pradhan is expected to attend the MoU singing ceremony at a city hotel along with Bangladesh’s State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid.

A BPC official said that private firms were importing 150,000 tonnes of LPG while the government produced 20,000 tonnes a year, against an annual demand of 350,000 tonnes.

The Indian company would require to lay around 250 kilometres

Death anniversary of MA Qadir observed n Tribune Desk The 45th death anniversary of Lt Col Muhammad Abdul Qadir, who embraced martyrdom on April 17 during the Liberation War, was observed yesterday.

Qadir was commissioned in the Engineering Corps in 1949.

The Qadirabad Cantonment in Natore was named after him in recognition of his role in Bangladesh’s independence. The government has also issued a postal stamp of him as one of the martyred intellectuals.

His grave was found in 2007 and he was reburied with full state and military honours in 2011 at Qadirabad

Cantonment.

A milad mahfil was held yesterday at the Qadirabad cantonment and wreaths were laid on the martyr’s grave.

He is the father of journalist Nadeem Qadir, the minister (press) at the Bangladesh High Commission in London. l

Lt Gen Sabbir Ahmed, chief of general staff of the armed forces, gives away certificates among students at the Military Institute of Science and Technology in the capital’s Mirpur yesterday ISPR

of pipelines to supply LPG from Chittagong to Tripura through the Feni river. The firm already has a 2,500-kilometre LPG pipeline in India, a BPC official said.

On the other hand, BPC will sign Indian firm Engineers India Limited as a consultant for the second unit of Eastern Refinery Limited in Chittagong tomorrow.

EIL is expected to be given the contract at Tk111 crore under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) (Amendment) act, 2015.

Meanwhile, the French firm Technip, which had set up the fist unit of Eastern Refinery Limited, has already expressed its interest to be the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the ERL-2 project. l

Noted journalist Shafik Rehman’s wife Taleya Rehman met two officials from the British High Commission in Dhaka yesterday, seeking justice for her arrested husband.

“As Shafik is a British citizen, I requested them [the high commission] to look after the issue, it is their responsibility,” Taleya told the Dhaka Tribune after returning home after a two-hour-long meeting with two political section officials at the British High Commission in Dhaka’s Baridhara.

The 81-year-old was arrested from his residence on Saturday morning over his alleged involvement in a plot to abduct and

kill Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He was later put on a five-day remand.

Taleya said the British High Commission officials told her that they were informed about the situation and now looking into the issue.

“They asked me details about his arrest and remand,” she said, adding that they also wanted to know what she thought was the reason for his arrest.

The UK officials also told Taleya that they would look into the issue with due importance as Rehman is a senior citizen and physically ill.

The British High Commission in Bangladesh has so far not issued any official comment on the arrest of Rehman, a former editor of Daily Jaijaidin. l

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Mirza Fakhrul: BNP will restore democracy Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir became the secretary general of the BNP on March 30, nearly five years after serving as the acting secretary general. He is the seventh secretary general of the party that was founded on September 1, 1978. In an exclusive interview with the DhakaTribune’s Mohammad Al-Masum Molla, the senior politician recently talked about the current political situation and his party’s vision from power. We have been in the movement for seven years and we will succeed.

Q: Now you are the secretary general of the party and there is a largely new corps of office holders in BNP. What are your plans for future?

Q: Is there any possibility of an election soon?

Mirza Fakhrul: Our first priority is to reorganise the party. The process has begun through the national council. Now we are focusing on preparing the party and its leaders and activists for the movement to restore democracy in the country and return people’s fundamental rights, which were snatched away by the January 5 elections. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia made a statesmanship speech in the council where she gave all directives for positive politics.

Fakhrul: I cannot say anything about this. I think a free, fair, credible and inclusive election should be held immediately for the sake of the country’s democracy and its people.

Q: Jamaat is labelled as a party of war criminals after the International Crimes Tribunal verdicts. On the other hand, the BNP claims that they are proliberation and have many freedom fighters as its leaders. Then what is the chemistry of an alliance between the two?

Q: What do you mean by positive politics?

Fakhrul: Madam [Khaleda Zia] has announced introduction of politics of mutual understanding and mutual respect. She said there is no space for politics of vengeance.

The BNP has stepped forward and now it is the government’s turn to respond to positive politics.

Q: Will the BNP do things differently?

Fakhrul: If you take a look at our programmes in the last one year, you will see we observed programmes like meetings, processions and discussions. The party has a Standing Committee and other policymaking bodies; they will chalk out some peaceful and systematic programmes. It is tough to say anything in advance about future programmes and plans. Everything depends on the situation. In politics, you cannot fix any programme in advance. It is time that will dictate you what to do.

Q: Will Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman remain the real power in BNP?

Fakhrul: It is specifically said in the party charter that the senior vice-chairman will act as the chairperson in the absence of the chairperson. As he is the senior

RAJIB DHAR

Fakhrul: Tarique Rahman is already acceptable in the party.

He was elected as the senior vice-chairman of the party in the council.

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Fakhrul: The BNP is a moderate, liberal and democratic party. If you consider the BNP’s programmes in recent times, you will see how tolerant the BNP is as a party.

We have been participating in all elections despite vote rigging and the Election Commission’s biased role. Don’t you think that these are the indicators of a moderate, democratic and liberal political party?

Fakhrul: We are already staging protests. We are participating in all elections as part of our ongoing movement. This is a non-violent movement.

Q: What is the failure of BNP?

Fakhrul: In any democratic movement, there are successes and failures. If a government is autocratic and repressive, then the result of a movement will not come overnight. If you look back at history, you will see it took 12 years to oust Ayub Khan from the government and nine years to oust autocratic ruler HM Ershad

Q: What is the party’s ultimate demand? How will you compel the government to meet your demand?

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Q: Why don’t you go for nonviolent protests, for example, silent marches?

Q: Why doesn’t the BNP re-brand itself as a moderate party?

Fakhrul: It is not a fact that Tarique Rahman is not acceptable to the international community. It is a campaign of the government to malign him locally and internationally. The fact is that Tarique Rahman is a very popular leader in Bangladesh, especially among the young generation.

When he started grassroots campaign across the country, he gained huge popularity. For this, the current government is afraid of him and started negative campaign. Recently, Interpol withdrew the red notice warrant against him. He was also relieved from a money laundering Dhaka

Fakhrul: We are organising the people and mobilising mass opinion for their democratic rights. People of the country will compel the present government to hold a neutral, free and fair election under a neutral Election Commission and election-time government.

Q: What can the party do to make him acceptable?

Q: Do you think Tarique Rahman is acceptable to the international community?

TEMPERATURE FOREC AST FOR TODAY

MONDAY, APRIL 18

case. The fact is that people of Bangladesh love him.

vice-chairman, he can give his opinion in the party’s highest policymaking body, the Standing Committee, on various issues.

The council has elected him as the senior vice-chairman and given him the power mentioned in the party charter.

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Barisal

YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:34AM

36.8ºC Jessore

19.8ºC Rangpur

Source: Accuweather/UNB

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PRAYER TIMES

Fakhrul: I will not make any comment about the court’s observation. The BNP-led 20-party combine is not an ideological alliance; rather it is a strategic one.

We are in a democratic movement.

Madam [Khaleda Zia] has called upon other political parties several times to come under a single platform to intensify the movement. The BNP’s door is open for all for the ongoing movement of restoring democracy.

Q: What is the stance of the BNP about militancy?

Fakhrul: We are against of all sorts of terrorist and militant activities. The BNP believes that terrorist activities create problems for the common people. We are equally alert about the recent happenings in Bangladesh. Our leader [Khaleda Zia] has urged for a national consensus on this issue and asked the government to take the initiative. Unfortunately, the government has not taken any initiative. On the other hand, it tried to blame the BNP for militancy which indirectly is an attempt to divert the people’s attention to other issues from the real problems.

We believe that extremism may rise because democratic space in Bangladesh is being squeezed by the present government. It will help the extremists become stronger. l Sylhet

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Fajr: 4:14am | Zohr: 11:58pm Asr: 3:26pm | Magrib: 6:24pm Esha: 7:51pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

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News

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Abduction, killing of tourists on the rise in Bandarban n S Basu Das, Bandarban Tourists who travel through the Thanchi-Alikadom road remain in panic as incidents of kidnap and murder have increased alarmingly nowadays.

Local sources said several numbers of terrorist groups are involved in the killing and abduction of tourists as well as local people, much to create tension among the personnel of law enforcing agencies.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Thanchi-Alikadam Road, the highest road of the country, on July 14, last year.

As the road is about 2,500 feet above from sea level, the Mro National Party and the Parbatya Chottogram Jonosonghoti Samity have

have increased its criminal activities on the road.

On Saturday night, a group of terrorists kidnapped three people – Sahabuddin, Abu Bakkar and Absar Ali – while they were going to a cattle market. They were yet to be rescued till filing of the report yesterday night. Police arrested a youth namely John Tripura in this connection.

Officer-in-Charge of Thanci police station told the Dhaka Tribune that they had come to know that a Tripura-based terrorist group abducted them.

On December 31, last year, police recovered the bodies of two people who belonged to a terrorist group. Then, police said they were killed during a gun battle with a rival group.

On January 2, police recovered the body of a labourer who was kidnapped by the members of the Mro Natinalist Party.

The following day, police recovered the body of a member of Mro Nationalist Party. Police said he was killed over internal feud.

Sing Yong Mro, a member of Parbattya Zila Parishad, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had been aware of increasing criminal activities centring the road, but did not know which group were involved in the activities.

Alamgir Hossain who went to Bandarban yesterday said: “I wanted to see the road as it is the highest road in the country, but now I am feeling unsecured to go there with my family.”

With inauguration of the road, a new horizon has been opened up for the people of South-Eastern region in the country’s hill area as it reduced around 40 kilometre road connection between Bandarban and Cox’sBaza and Tanci-Alikadam-Cox’sBazar, but the recent criminal activities centring the road has put the tourists plus local people in a grave anxiety.

According to sources, Road and Highway Department started the construction work of the road in 1991 with a cost of Tk80 crore.

Later, the construction work was handed over to Engineers Construction Battalion of Bangladesh Army. They started work with full speed but it stopped in 2006 due to fund crisis. In 2010, the army

started the work again with a cost of Tk120 crore.

The panoramic views surrounding the road could be a great tourists’ attraction, but the recent killings and abductions in the area are discouraging travelers to visit the spot.

Dilip Kumar, deputy commissioner, told the Dhaka Tribune that the incidents of kidnapping was separate, but law enforcers are still in vigilance, so there was no problem for tourists and they could visit the place without any fear.

At least 79 members of two separatist militant groups Mro National Defensive Party and Mro National Party surrendered their arms on November 6, last year after 18 years of signing the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Treaty. l

Minister: Master Plan for Tejgaon on the cards n Abu Hayat Mahmud

The government has set out a master plan for Tejgaon Industrial Area as part of its modernisation move in the capital.

The master plan, namely Industrial cum Commercial and Residential Area, covers industries, commercial and residential establishments.

Housing and Public Works Minister Eng Mosharraf Hossain disclosed it after an inter-ministerial meeting of the review committee on the plan in the Secretariat yesterday.

The minister presided over the meeting.

Mosharraf said the plan would be followed strictly in erecting any new establishments in the area.

“Own parking space is a must for every building. Besides, separate parking will be ensured in the area for the visitors. There will have apartments for the public servants

on the land of the Public Works Department,” the minister also said.

The minister continued that the land lords or plot owners will have to install waste recycling system at their own initiative if they want to establish industry, commercial outlets, hotels, hospitals etc.

There was vast discussion over the master plan in the meeting and its report would be submitted to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has recently cleared occupied roads used as truck terminal in the area’s Saatrasta.

DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq said Kawranbazar kitchen market would be shifted to Gabtali, Sayedabad and Mohakhali in the future.

Besides, the city corporation will construct modern shopping hubs in its locality

by December. l

Creative Challenge contest kicks off April 28 n Tribune Desk The four-day long business idea competition titled ‘Creative Challenge-2016’ is going to kick off in the auditorium of Chittagong University’s Bachelor of Business Administration from April 28.

A total number of 120 participants from 40 public and

private universities will take part in the programme with the slogan “Building Chittagong, Branding Bangladesh”, said organisers.

The Finance and Banking Debating Association (FBDA) is organising event for the third.

National English daily Dhaka Tribune is the media partner of the programme. l

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News

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Massive corruption under probe at Mongla port n Hedait Hossain, Khulna The Anti-Corruption Commission is looking into allegations of Tk17 crore embezzlement in three projects at the Mongla port.

The projects are, a purchase of Tk23 crore worth of navigational equipment, a dredger purchased for Tk37 crore and the purchase of a pilot boat and a dispatch boat for Tk23 crore. Allegations are that altogether around Tk17 crore has been embezzled from these projects.

ACC Deputy Director Abdul Hai told the Dhaka Tribune the commission was looking into a number of port projects after an allegation of corruption was raised.

“We have already been collecting information from concerned officials,” he said.

Mongla Port Authority Chief En-

gineer (marine) Altaf Hussain, the director of all three projects, said the allegations were a conspiracy against him.

“All equipment were duly purchased following the instructions in the bidding documents. ACC has sought information from me on these projects and has been supplied with them,” he said.

A government audit at the port in mid-2015 found the irregularities at the projects and recommended action against the director.

The ACC inquiry began in March this year after several port employees filed a complaint against Altaf Hussain.

In 2011 the port purchased a dredger worth Tk37 crore. The project manager allegedly purchased a very low quality dredger and embezzled Tk7 crore. The dredging engine, boat engine and other

equipment were of low quality. As a result, it only worked 8-10 hours since the purchase and went out of order in a year. It was recently repaired at the Khulna Shipyard for Tk40 lakh, but still remains inoperable.

The audit team reported that the dredger was out of order and recommended actions against the director and others responsible for the project.

In 2013, port authority decided to purchase equipment worth Tk23 Crore to keep the channel open 24 hours. It bought 52 navigation mooring buoys, of which 31 were placed in the inner channel and and 21 at the outer channel.

The GRP and steel buoys were very low in quality and 20 bouys in the inner channel have already gone out of order. Allegations have been raised that around Tk5 crore

was embezzled through corruption in their purchase. The audit team has recommended necessary departmental action against the project manager.

The dispatch boat and the pilot boat, worth Tk23 crore, were bought in 2013. Allegations are that the project manager colluded with contractors and installed a low quality engine in the pilot boat and through irregularities in the purchase of goods embezzled almost Tk5 Crore. The audit team has raised allegations of installing a low quality engine, changing the engine’s nameplate and purchasing goods outside the work order and recommended that the funds be recovered from the project director.

Shipping minister’s signature forged Sohel Rana, an inland engineer (ship) at the port was promoted to

the rank of assistant engineer (marine) 1st class last year, allegedly in exchange for Tk10 lakh bribe money. He was also assigned to three posts at the same time, assistant engineer marine-power, sub-assistant engineer marine-machinery and superviser for the port’s oil storage ship.

A 3-member probe committee formed to look into the matter in November last year found the promotions to be irregular.

Rana then submitted a recommendation letter signed by the Shipping Minister to the chairman of the port authority seeking to keep his promotion.

However, when the port authority contacted the ministry, it was told by the minister’s private secretary that the signature was forged.

The port suspended Rana after this and launched an investigation. l

Female student raped by Jubo League man Islam Swapan, n Saiful Lakshmipur

Residents of Adarshanagar, Moddhya Badda in Dhaka are seen colleting water from a Wasa pumping station since they have been facing severe water crisis for the last cpuple of weeks MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

A 9th-grade female student was raped allegedly by a union-level Jubo League leader in Dasherhat Bazar area under Sadar upazila on Saturday night.

The victim was undergoing treatment at Lakshmipur Sadar Hospital, said Azizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Chandraganj police station.

Police said Jamaluddin, Jubo League man of Charsha union council, took the student to his home forcefully around 8pm while she was going to a nearby stationery shop to buy some books.

Jamal confined the girl at his house and raped her. He also threatened her not to expose the incident.

When locals sensed the matter, they informed the police.

The police rescued the girl in a critical condition and sent to the hospital, said the OC. l

Classes under the open sky for three years n Anwar Hossain, C’nawabganj Students of Chamusha Government Primary School in Chapainawabganj's Bholahat upazila have been attending classes under the open sky for the last three years, but the authorities are nonchalant about constructing a new school building.

More than 200 students are enrolled in the school.

The school had three buildings constructed in 1993-94, but they

soon developed cracks as lowgrade materials were used in construction.

Three years ago, the then Bholahat upazila nirbahi officer declared the buildings abandoned after identifying those as risky structures. Some students were then accommodated in three makeshift rooms fenced with bamboo on the school premises while others were compelled to study under the open sky, but fence of two rooms has recently been damaged.

A number of parents and President of the school's management committee Imran Ali said the number of students was gradually declining as new buildings had not been erected.

“The situation gets worse during the monsoon as students get wet when it rains,” said Imran.

Obaidul Haque, an assistant teacher, said students cannot even get pure drinking water as there is no tube well in the school.

“Then there is the shortage of

furniture such as benches, chairs and tables. The number of teachers is not adequate either,” he said.

Acting head teacher of the school Mosharraf Hossain said the authorities concerned had been asked several times to construct new school buildings but no initiative had yet been taken.

“Parents are now increasingly disinterested in enrolling their children in the school. Some 30 pupils left the school this year,” he said.

The district primary education

officer in Chapainawabganj, Dilruba Begum, said new school buildings would be erected soon but did not give any specific date.

Chapainawabganj Deputy Commissioner Zahidul Islam said it is a matter of pity that students have been attending lectures under the open sky for such a long time because of lack of school buildings.

“We prioritise education of young people and will take necessary measures to construct new school buildings,” he added. l

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DT

Education

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

tips

How extra-curricular activities can spice up your application

IELTS

dates and locations

Venue: Banani Test date: May 7, 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: April 30, 2016 Test date: May 19 , 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: May 12, 2016 Test date: May 19 , 2016 Module type: IELTS General Training Registration deadline: May 12, 2016 Test date: May 28 , 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: May 21, 2016 Venue: Dhanmondi

PHOTO: BIGSTOCK

n SM Tahmid Any student who is considering studying abroad is very familiar with the need for extracurricular activities. It is what makes you stand out from the crowd, perhaps not by much but there is no denying that they are actually important. But, how exactly does universities evaluate them, and what criteria do you need to fill up this part stating your achievements?

This is a question that ignites different schools of thought, one in particular being that the institutions are looking for the jacks of all trades, for which they go off to cover as many activities as possible, thinking they shall be evaluated on how well they can carry out each of these activities.

Typically exploring different talented activities are seen as extracurricular activities, such as art, music, dance, sports etc. But most of the admission experts will assert that competitions and

winning in different events are more important. But which, if any, is vital?

The answer is actually very simple. All institutions are looking to know the person behind the application which, is not truly reflected by your grades alone. This is what extracurricular activities reflect – your unique talents, passion, and drive. The jack of all trades is the worst approach here in that standard, as it shows that you lack the passion and drive altogether, and that you are just trying things out, or fulfilling a criteria. The other two approaches are more or less on the spot.

According to various admission committees, the things they are looking for are leadership, passion to achieve, recognition, and the drive to make something new. So if you are the founder or an active member of a club, have been volunteering for an organisation or charity on a regular basis, or

Hence: • If it is the arts you are pursuing, try to take part in competitions.

• Be a part of societies, and actively take part in them. If you founded one, even better – but make sure it gets recognised, perhaps featured in the media for the efforts.

• Volunteer for good causes, and not just that one time. Be at the call for any emergencies.

• Do not try to get involved in too many things. It just shows, and causes, you to lose focus and not achieve anything.

have been awarded for talent in the arts or science, these things will help the committee see that you are the kind of person who is not just a student buried in books, but have gone out there and proven yourself.

That being said, there are no shortcuts to this or any checklists to fulfill. Just find your passion, look for opportunities, and capitalise on them; not because it will improve your image or your chances, but because it will help you become a better

person. But as always, having recognition is important if you are going to include anything in your application.

It is not guaranteed that following this will get you the bulletproof application – no such thing exists! However, it will lend credibility to your actions and enrich your life significantly.

Remember that being an all rounder brings the different sides of the coin, but a master of none. l Content has been reprinted from www.grad-insights.com

Test date: April 30, 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: April 23, 2016 Test date: April 30, 2016 Module type: IELTS General Training Registration deadline: April 23, 2016 Test date: May 7, 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: April 30, 2016 Venue: Bashundhara, Baridhara Test date: April 30, 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: April 23, 2016 Test date: April 30, 2016 Module type: IELTS General Training Registration deadline: April 23, 2016 Test date: May 7, 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: April 30, 2016 Venue: Uttara Test date: May 7, 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: April 30, 2016 Test date: May 28, 2016 Module type: IELTS Academic Registration deadline: May 21, 2016 l

DT

10

Health

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Too hot to handle n Rad Sharar Bin Kamal With temperatures tingling around 40°C in the past week, it’s much too hot to take the chances of a heatstroke lightly. Often confused with heat exhaustion, it happens when your body can’t keep itself cool. Here’s the science behind it: when it’s hot, your body evaporates sweat to balance the temperature. When it’s humid, there’s already so much moisture in the air that your sweat can’t evaporate as quickly as it normally would, and your body can’t cool you down fast enough. Before you know it, you’re passing out.

The two conditions, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, are slightly different but complementary. If you‘re suffering from the former, the latter is just waiting to hit you harder.

Symptoms of heat exhaustion This happens when your body feels too hot to handle, quite literally. Accelerated by physical exercise or prolonged hours in scorching heat, the symptoms of heat exhaustion include: • Confusion • Dark-coloured urine (it’s a sign of dehydration) • Dizziness • Fatigue • Headache • Muscle or abdominal cramps • Nausea • Pale skin • Profuse sweating • Rapid heartbeat When you feel that you have heat exhaustion, first and foremost, get out of the heat! The best methods to cool down includes taking a

cold shower and drinking plenty of water to help your body sweat the heat out.

The worst thing you can do at this moment is drink a cool glass of alcoholic beverage or soda (Coke, Pepsi, Sprite etc). Such liquids make the condition even worse.

If you’re not feeling cool within 30 minutes, head to a doctor. If heat exhaustion is not treated, it will almost always lead to a heatstroke, if not worse.

How is heatstroke different?

To be completely accurate, a heatstroke occurs when your body taps the temperature of 104°F. Hence, heat exhaustion is simply foreplay before you become hot enough to pass out of a heatstroke.

With numerous survivors, many tend to not take this seriously. Heatstrokes have

The worst thing you can do at this moment is drink a cool glass of alcoholic beverages or soda (Coke, Pepsi, Sprite etc). Such liquids make the condition even worse enough juice to permanently damage your organs and brain.

And of course, putting it lightly, kills you.

The symptoms of this include:

• • • •

• • • •

If you are under certain medication which falls under the following list, beware as your chances of having a heatstroke is more. Why? These alter the way your body reacts to heat.

• • • •

High fever (104°F or higher) Severe headache Dizziness A flushed or red appearance to the skin Lack of sweating Muscle weakness or cramps Nausea Fast heartbeat

Fast breathing Confusion Anxiousness Seizures

Which medicines affect you?

• Allergy medication (or antihistamines) • Blood pressure and heart medication (beta-blockers and vasoconstrictors) • Diet pills and illegal drugs (amphetamines) • Laxatives • Antidepressants (and antipsychotics) • Seizure medication (anticonvulsants) • Water pills (diuretics)

What to do after all is said and done It is normal to be more sensitive to hot conditions after you have experienced a heatstroke. This usually prolongs for a week or so, at which time it is highly advised to love shade a little more than sunshine.

Repetition

In order to avoid having such a fun ride, the advised courses of action have always been the same.

Following them will only help you be stronger throughout the day, and make sure you survive no matter what the sun throws at you.

Wear light-coloured clothes, drink plenty of water, use sunscreen and stay indoors. l

PHOTO: BIGSTOCK

DT

Editorial 11

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

INSIDE

All that was wrong this Pohela Boishakh Thousands of people with their families usually have joined the event over the last several years. Does this year’s cancelation signal a deathblow to this fine evening of poetry, song, dance, and merriment?

PAGE 12

The irrepressible myth of the Islamic Caliphate We are very enamoured with our Ummah. Never mind that there is no such thing. That between a Moroccan, a Saudi, and an Indonesian, they only have as much in common as a Scottish Presbyterian would have in common with an Ethiopian Copt PAGE 13

Bringing history to life

T

By the drop of a needle Interestingly, most of the new collectors of albums, especially those who were born in the 90s and did not get the full thrust of the vinyl culture, are said to be the masterminds behind reviving the recorded discs 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.

he inauguration of new jail facilities at Keraniganj paves the way for the expansion and development of museum and recreation facilities at Dhaka Central Jail.

Being located at a former Mughal fort, the move will also help to preserve older heritage and open up much needed public space in a congested part of Old Dhaka.

It is fitting the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum and National Four Leaders Memorial Museum on the site will now gain the space to feature more exhibits.

Bangladesh needs better museums.

Well-designed and properly managed museums do more than just help educate people about our past.

Good museums provide a focus for research and scholarship which can help to shape a better future by increasing appreciation and insight of the heritage and legacies that have shaped our society.

The best museums are living spaces, which go beyond merely building a monument to the past. They bring history to life by both engaging well with academics and attracting newcomers to become interested in heritage.

It is welcome then that this year’s remembrance of Mujibnagar day brought an announcement that the long-planned museum complex on the site will be completed in the coming year.

As the place where Bangladesh’s first government in exile was formed, at the Baidyanathtala mango grove in Meherpur in 1971, it is of historic importance.

The experience of the Liberation War Museum, which is now constructing a new building at Agargaon, is instructive. It has successfully managed to build a program of engagement with international bodies, while at the same time attracting huge interest from ordinary members of the public through its outreach work and education tours.

Bangladesh has much to gain in its public life and scholarship by supporting initiatives to develop better, more accessible museums.

Good museums bring history to life by providing a focus for research and inspiring future generations

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DT

Opinion

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

All that was wrong this Pohela Boishakh Are we now Muslims first and Bangalis second?

n SM Shahrukh

P

ohela Boishakh was celebrated with due fanfare and not many reports on molestation of women were made. However, these are early days yet: News of untoward incidents may still crop up from the rest of the country.

There has already been a report of a cop “misbehaving” with a female student of Dhaka University in the campus. Goes to show that cops are still men first, and men in Bangladesh have an inherent tendency to think of all women as fair game. Not that the case is much better around the world.

However, in this case, one or more constables apologised to the female student, a member of the leftist student organisation of DU, and things did not escalate into a major incident.

The government’s measures towards extra security and restricting all outdoor soirees within five in the afternoon all but fell on its face, especially on account of this incident of supposed sexual harassment.

The people who ensured that they would spread a blanket of security (many layers, apparently) proved to be the perpetrators. It may be mentioned here that Dhaka University students kept extra vigil to stop any untoward incidents from taking place.

It was with utter dismay that Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu, a freedom fighter and cultural activist, mourned that the authorities declined to grant permission for the traditional soiree at the Rabindra Sorobor at the Dhanmondi lakeside -- it has been a tradition to hold such an event starting late afternoon and running into late night.

Thousands of people with their families usually have joined the event over the last several years.

Does this year’s cancelation signal a deathblow to this fine evening of poetry, song, dance, and merriment? Pity. What next?

I was also dismayed by the tone with which our Prime Minister made her New Year speech at the Gonobhobon.

It’s fine that she emphasised that observing Pohela Boishakh has no conflict with religion and that people should not hurt the “feelings” of others. It would have been fine if it ended there. But calling free-thinking bloggers, en masse, “dirty and people with convoluted mentalities” wasn’t exactly tactful.

Restricting people’s enjoyment does not equate to providing security I concede that there are many blogs which only serve to titillate hatred among people, but it would be foolish to think that all blog posts are made with similar intentions.

She then went onto emphasise that her life is ruled by Islamic teachings and that she herself gets hurt when someone criticises her religion, that it is to be expected in case of any religious individual, but she then suggested something that will surely end up giving zest to your average machetewielding mullah: If any “untoward incidents” occur as a result of these free-thinking writings, can anyone blame the government?

Yes, the blame can be put on the government, for its failure to provide security to its own citizens. What our PM should have done is ask the aggrieved to take their complaints to the courts and seek rulings on defamation or libel; instead, she asked people to seek divine justice … in the afterlife, I presume. Later in her speech, she discouraged people to take the law into their own hands, but the damage had already been done.

“Secularism” has, sadly,

RAJIB DHAR

Thousands of people with their families usually have joined the event over the last several years. Does this year’s cancelation signal a deathblow to this fine evening of poetry, song, dance, and merriment?

become mere lip-service in today’s Bangladesh. Bangalis who fought to remain Bangali and retain their culture have become Muslims first and Bangalis second.

I consider myself a Bangali and will do so till my last breath, but a Bangladeshi? I am not that sure anymore.

Hunter S Thompson once wrote: “The only difference between the sane and the insane is that the sane have the power to lock up the insane.”

Considering all the draconian measures which were taken by the police to water down Pohela Boishakh celebrations, one is forced to think if the people who want to spend Pohela Boishakh with unbridled joy and fanfare are too insane.

And as such the sane ones, ie the police, need to shoo away or even lock up the insane revelers after 5:00pm.

No matter that they failed abysmally in nabbing and punishing the hoodlums who sexually harassed women last year at Suhrawardy Udyan, a stone’s throw from where the police were stationed, and even later when evidence was published. In turn, they decided to take action against the social media site that highlighted those pictures.

I guess the police thought that the hoodlums were acting from a certain level of “sanity.”

They, however, have been looking for the twentysomething woman who lost all her clothes to the rampaging hands of sanity

-- what bloody insane behaviour for a woman to go to a crowded place in the evening! Kudos to the defenders of the law for pinpointing where the problem lies: It’s the bloody women with their “alluring” physical attributes that are too distracting for the criminally sane.

The nation is surely slip-sliding to a puritanical hell, and after a certain point, there is no turning back. Let’s quote Thompson again: “The edge ... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.”

This country is standing at the edge of the precipice and is itching to jump into the abyss. l SM Shahrukh is a freelance contributor.

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DT

Opinion

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

The irrepressible myth of the Islamic Caliphate Muslims today are still trapped in a fantasy past

Can there be only one type of Muslim?

n Azeem Ibrahim

T

oday, we suffer of entirely too many generalisations about Muslims. There are many reasons why this is the case, and our position in the global conversation since 9/11 has no doubt contributed to it. But I believe there is much more to it.

If you consider any national group, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Americans -- one and all have the exact same tendency. Each finds that, within their own group, no generalisation based on nationality can really be made.

Of the tens of millions of their co-nationals, they will have nothing in common with most of them. But that does not stop them from painting the others with the broad brush of “national character.”

To others, the Englishmen are pompous, the Frenchmen are rude, and the Americans are arrogant. To themselves, such generalisations are quite obviously silly, and sometimes even quite insulting.

Muslims suffer from being painted like this as outsider “others” every day. Everyone seems to know what Muslims are like.

But unlike Englishmen, Frenchmen, and the others, we do not seem to mind being categorised and reduced to “essential character.”

What is quite remarkable about Muslims, I believe, is that we generalise about ourselves almost as much as they generalise about us.

Of course, we do not

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

generalise in the same ways.

But fundamentally, there is no difference of mindset. The only thing we object to is the accuracy of the generalisation. Otherwise, we will not hesitate to tell every Muslim or non-Muslim what Muslims do, what they are like, and especially what is expected of them. We never tire of telling each other how Muslims should behave.

them to believe.

And then there will be others who will stand up and point out just how much of a ridiculous generalisation that is.

But what do Muslims, and especially Muslim leaders, do?

They go on TV and start some lecture or sermon about the “Muslim community” and its role in society. Notice the singular

Peninsula, Islam was a social revolution against the brutal, violent tribalism of Arabian culture. It established a new community based not on blood ties, but on shared faith in one God, and a shared moral outlook on the world.

But that was a community of a few thousand within a much larger social context. A few

We are very enamoured with our Ummah. Never mind that there is no such thing. That between a Moroccan, a Saudi, and an Indonesian, they only have as much in common as a Scottish Presbyterian would have in common with an Ethiopian Copt. We talk about ourselves as one monolithic thing. And then we are surprised when non-Muslims fail to notice our differences and our individuality

Obviously, this is hugely problematic -- not least because it is completely divorced from fact. But it has much more serious consequences. And we ourselves are largely responsible for those consequences.

Talking about ‘Muslims’

Take, for example, just the way in which the wider society talks about “Muslims.” Some will make profoundly offensive and inflammatory generalisations: The kind that some of our more impressionable youth have taken as evidence that the West is at war with Islam, just like ISIS would like

“community.” We are very enamoured with our Ummah.

Never mind that there is no such thing.

That between a Moroccan, a Saudi, and an Indonesian, they only have as much in common as a Scottish Presbyterian would have in common with an Ethiopian Copt.

We talk about ourselves as one monolithic thing. And then we are surprised when non-Muslims fail to notice our differences and our individuality.

And this is deeply-rooted in the essential character of Islam.

When it emerged in the Arabian

thousand people who self-select to join together in a new group with a new group identity can reasonably be described by that group identity. 1.5 billion people, who were born into the religion, in different places around the world, and in vastly different cultures, will have next to nothing in common beyond their shared humanity.

There is exactly no reason to expect that a Moroccan will have more in common with a Pakistani than he would with a Spaniard, just because they happen to have been born in a culture which calls God by a same name, and

worships him in a vaguely similar way.

And yet, here we are, most of us pretending that all 1.5 billion of us are a community.

This self-delusion may seem benign. Indeed, it is easy to see why we find it so charming. But let us not ignore its dark side. It is a profoundly totalitarian thought.

That all 1.5 billion us are not just the same, but that we should be the same. This is what sectarian wars are fought over.

And if we are all the same, of course we should all want to be one body politic -- a Caliphate, like in the Islamic Golden Age. Never mind that the Golden Age was one bloody sectarian bloodbath after another, typically fought over the dynastic aspirations of petty tyrants and not the high ideals of Islam.

Yet, still we yearn with foggy eyes over an Ummah that has not existed since the 7th century CE, and still we lust over holy Caliphates that never were all that holy. The rest of the world is looking forward. And they are moving forward.

That is the one thing that the historical Muslim caliphates did: They moved forward. Muslims today, not so much. We are still trapped in a fantasy past, when, we think, we were a community, just as we keep fighting with each other today. l Azeem Ibrahim is an RAI Fellow at Mansfield College, University of Oxford and Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College.

He tweets @AzeemIbrahim. This article previously appeared in Al Arabiya.

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By the drop of a needle The urban culture of the 80s was defined by vinyl records

n Towheed Feroze

A

re we increasingly finding solace in the fads of the past? I bet I am not the only one who wants to drift away to the days when everything did not happen at the press of a button.

It seems that, despite latest gadgets where a mind-boggling number of songs can be stored and played in seconds, music lovers are finding the time and patience to head for the section in music stores selling records.

Yes, that means vinyl discs.

In the last few days, news of the re-birth of this forgotten culture has been featured in almost all major international news channels, and, people like us, who still have vinyl records at home, possibly found time to fondly pick up an album to go back to the times when an album release not only meant music but also the revelation of art work on their cover flaps.

Interestingly, most of the new collectors of albums, especially those who were born in the 90s and did not get the full thrust of the vinyl culture, are said to be the masterminds behind reviving the recorded discs

My initiation to music was pure vinyl, left by my uncles with the collection featuring Dylan, Cat Stevens, The Yardbirds, and Cliff Richards. Memories of humid afternoons are vivid, with numbers like “Young Ones,” “Travellin’ Light,” “Lady D’Arbanville,” “Do You Wanna Dance?,” “Devil Woman,” and “The Evil Hearted You.” Today, most listeners do not know or possibly care about the album cover design because most times they do not buy the music available on CD, downloading songs straight from the Internet.

Convenience this may be, but for instant gratification, a whole

Listening to music used to be a more ritualistic experience unique experience of living the essence of a song or a music album is lost.

For people like us, who are in their mid-40s, the culture of listening to music instantly brings back images of rows of vinyl albums stacked inside record shops in the 80s, such as Rainbow, Soor Bichitra, and Rhythm.

In fact, in the early 80s, Dhaka’s urban middle-class youth had certain spots where they gathered in the afternoon, with “Elephant Road Coffee House-er goli” (Coffee House alley) being the hottest of spots. The shops I mentioned were located here, making this area the gathering place for all noted musicians plus Western rock, pop, and heavy metal music fans.

One would not be exaggerating in stating that the Dhaka urban culture of the 80s was defined by these shops, where vinyl records assiduously fed the modern music culture. These shops and the recording services they provided resonated with the band phenomenon that proliferated back then, giving us iconic Bangla music groups like LRB, Feelings, Sudden, Winning, Different Touch, Souls, Nova, Rock Strata, and Warfaze.

Vinyl meant velvet evenings sitting on the verandah with the record player. And, maybe, planning to start one’s own group.

Believe me, many actually started this way. The most coveted record player was the one styled in the design of a briefcase. Outwardly, it looked like an official case, but

once opened, it revealed a record player with speakers.

Almost all families had a gramophone player -- a large radio which also had a record player placed to one side. In the 80s, the newest Western music came to Dhaka at least six months after its original release, simply because no system for direct immediate shipment existed. Twice every year, owners of the recording centres, Waseem bhai, Murad bhai, or Tipu bhai, went to Singapore or Bangkok to get the latest releases.

What was latest in Dhaka was half a year or a full year old in London. Therefore, Duran Duran’s Seven and A Ragged Tiger album hit the top spot here in late 1984 though it was released in 1983.

Michael Jackson’s Thriller reached the top chart in late 1984 (actual release 1983), staying popular all throughout 1985.

As I mentioned earlier, vinyl releases were not just music; the album covers projected the theme of the songs plus the band’s ideology -- and that’ actually a mild way of saying it.

Staring transfixed at Ozzy Osbourne’s albums (Bark at the Moon, Blizzard of Oz, Diary of a Madman) it became clear that Ozzy stood for eccentricity taken to its limits, while the songs glorified all things forbidden: Satanism, an attraction to the underworld, and demonic forces.

In fact, the notion that heavy metal music invokes its power from all things linked to the Devil

BIGSTOCK

was established by vinyl records and their transgressive covers.

Black Sabbath album covers always hinted at the triumph of the underworld and reports of on-stage devil worshipping by the band or biting off a dead bat’s head. This only went on to have their albums being labelled as unorthodox yet appealing.

No wonder, in the UK, devout Christians went and smashed Sabbath albums, preaching openly against their songs.

As for Iron Maiden -- who created its own beast called Eddie -- albums were not burned but broken with hammers because it was believed that smoke from burning the albums would poison innocent minds.

How wickedly exciting!

You don’t get real life events like those anymore: No vinyl, no controversial album covers, and no mouth-watering events. I still remember Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet took some time to be digested, creating some blushes.

Of the three recording shops, Rainbow still survives, in the same area, just not on the same spot.

Soor Bichitra closed shop more than a decade ago, and one of my childhood friends, Tusher, who is also a famed radio jockey, took over Rhythm and all its albums.

Imti (photographer Imtiaz Alam Beg), another friend, bought Rainbow’s albums when they were sold and has an enviable personal collection ranging from Thin Lizzy to Rory Gallagher.

“I hardly play them, but love to look at the album covers, the lyrics written on the inside flap and the photos,” said Imti. “At times, on a rainy afternoon, I clean my record player, put on a vinyl, light a cigarette, and enjoy a precious moment which transports me to the past.”

Interestingly, most of the new collectors of albums, especially those who were born in the 90s and did not get the full thrust of the vinyl culture, are said to be the masterminds behind reviving the recorded discs because, opposed to hurried listening to music with immaculate sound, they have developed a penchant for a ritualistic music session involving cleaning a vinyl disc patiently, putting it on a player, creating an atmosphere of surreal serenity, and then savouring that soft purr of the vinyl at the beginning.

Well, if you want to join in the resurgence of vinyl and buy a few, try the old recording shops on the road leading to Gawsia Market from the Elephant Road Bata signal; they still have plenty and while rummaging you may just find a gem that will re-ignite some memories of lost days.

As for me, I found a short play vinyl of the Bengali movie, Loraku, featuring the famous 80s song “Bukey Achhe Mon, Money Achhe Asha.”

Happy vinyl hunting! l Towheed Feroze is a journalist currently working in the development sector.

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

INSIDE bkash clients to receive remittance to cellphones bKash clients will now be able to receive remittance from abroad through their mobile phones sitting at home. PAGE 16

ILO mission enquires about workers’ rights, registration of trade unions A high-level mission of International Labour Organization has enquired about the current state of workers’ right in forming trade unions in Bangladesh and questioned about the slow growth of trade union registration in the readymade garment sector, said a top official at the labour ministry. PAGE 17

Capital market snapshot: Sunday DSE Broad Index

4,393.3

-0.3% ▼

Index

1,064.3

-0.2% ▼

30 Index

1,673.2

-0.6% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

3,163.2 -18.9% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol

83.4

-8.7% ▼

All Share Index 13,534.5

-0.3% ▼

30 Index

12,429.0

-0.4% ▼

8,224.6

-0.3% ▼

CSE

Selected Index Turnover in Mn Tk

188.5 -22.8% ▼

Turnover in Mn Vol

6.5 -18.1% ▼

CPD: Focus on quality budget to retain economic growth n Kayes Sohel A quality budget is a must for sustaining the economic growth of the country, said Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) yesterday.

“The government GDP growth projection of 7.05% for this fiscal year is led by public investment, putting its sustainability at risk in future,” observed CPD at a press conference held at CIRDAP auditoriam in the city.

The upcoming national budget should focus on quality budget and employment generation-led growth for retaining over 7% growth, the think-tank told the press conference organised to present its budget recommendations for the fiscal year 2016-17.

“For a long time, we continue to talk about the quality budget. A gap between budgetary projection and implementation is increasingly growing, which has reached its peak this fiscal year, and because of this, budget loses its credibility,” said Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of CPD. He continued: “Projection should be on revised budget but not on original budget to make it realistic.” According to the CPD, of the additional GDP growth projection, the government salary hike accounted for 80% and industry and agriculture 20%.

Presenting a keynote paper, CPD research fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan said: “The driving force

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) holds a press conference on next budget recommendations at CIRDAP auditoriam in the city yesterday MEHEDI HASAN of GDP growth projection is the public servant’s salary and allowance hike, weakening sustainability of economic growth.”

Actual revenue growth repeatedly missed its target due to lax implementation of rules, lack of tax compliance and weak governance, observed Khan.

He also stated that many planned reforms had fallen behind schedule due to negligence, inertia and failure to recognise the urgency of reforms.

Rejuvenation of private investment has again remained elusive while public investment performance was the weakest in recent years, he said.

“In view of the discussion above, the upcoming budget will need to raise the quality of budg-

etary and fiscal planning and put emphasis on the needed reforms,” said Khan.

He said current economic growth projections should be reviewed in view of composition of incremental GDP, which is unlikely to lead to high job creation.

According to the keynote paper, if the growth rates of FY2015 (6.55%) and FY2016 (7.05%) are compared, of the extra growth of 0.5 percentage points, 0.4 percentage points is expected to be contributed by the national pay scale revision. “This then draws attention to issues of both quality and sustainability of the GDP growth.”

“Pace of new employment generation also was unlikely to gain momentum in the backdrop of slowdown in private investment,”

reads the key-note paper.

In a recent media report that during the last two years, between 2013 and 2015 (July-September), only 6 lakh jobs were added to the Bangladesh economy (annual average being only 3 lakh).

This is a drastic drop from the 13.8 lakh jobs that were created annually (on average) between 2003 and 2013, said the paper.

The nature of recent acceleration of GDP growth suggests that it is largely driven by rise in public salaries, it said.

“It is highly likely that such boost will last for one more year when the second adjustment is made in view of the newly approved government pay scale (allowances). It is crucial that such acceleration in economic growth is accompanied by enhanced private investment and more quality jobs for the large young labour force of the country,” said the paper.

CPD Executive Director Professor Mustafizur Rahman said: “Employment generation is important for quality growth, which will increase people living standard.”

He recommended the government for strengthening national statistical department for data revolution required for implementing SDGs. CPD Additional Research Director Khondaker Golam Moazzem said private investment was not picking up in line with the rising public investment. l

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

bkash clients to receive remittance through cellphones at home n Jebun Nesa Alo bKash clients will now be able to receive remittance from abroad through their mobile phones sitting at home.

Western Union and MasterCard will play a vital role in the new international service platform introduced yesterday at a function in the capital.

The leading mobile financial service provider – bKash – will facilitate receiving money home simply, safely and conveniently.

To get the service, an expatriate will have to go to the Western Union to take a secret number which will be used for dispatching money.

Western Union will remit to bKash through the secured network of MasterCard.

MasterCard, Western Union, bKash and BRAC Bank jointly launched the international remittance service platform in Bangladesh yesterday.

Shahriar Alam, state minister for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the event as the chief guest.

Remittance will come directly to mobile account holders, but bKash will not handle foreign currency, said bKash Chief Executive Officer Kamal Quadir.

He said Western Union will send foreign currency to BRAC Bank, and later, the bank will send converted money to mobile wallets.

With reference to their own survey, Quadir claims that a person spends Tk128 stepping in and out

MasterCard, Western Union, bKash and BRAC Bank jointly launches International Remittance Service Platform at a city hotel yesterday. Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs, attended the event as the chief guest MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU of a bank. The service will reduce such expenses as well as allow people living in remote areas to get money in real time.

“We have experienced some technological hazards in payment network in recent time and also in the past,” said Shahriar Alam.

As the service is based on technology, he suggested all four parties involved in the platform to ensure secured transactions.

It is the first time that foreign remittance will be credited to bKash

account in real time, said Selim RF Hussain, managing director and chief executive officer of BRAC Bank.

Matthew Driver, group executive of Global Products and Solutions, MasterCard, and Jean Claude Farah, Western Union EVP and president for Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe and CIS, also spoke at the function.

According to bKash, customers will simply enter Western Union reference number (MTCN), amount

and PIN while their requests will be processed using MasterCard’s secure payment technology and funds credited to their bKash accounts.

Once transfer is completed, funds will be accessed instantly.

Customers can then either cash out their money via bKash agents or utilise their account balance to make person-to-person fund transfer. They can also store their money in their bKash accounts and earn interest on savings. l

Stocks open week on back foot n Tribune Desk

Stock markets opened the week yesterday with a negative mood as both stock prices and volume of trade declined.

The market began with red in the morning and profit booking sell-off mainly on low cap issues continued at close.

The benchmark index DSEX lost 15 points or 0.4% to close at 4,393, after ending flat in previous two sessions.

The Shariah index, DSES, inched over 1 point to 1,064. The blue chip comprising index, DS30, moved down over 10 points to 1,673.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index, CSCX, ended at 8,224, gaining 22 points.

Trading activities dived as the DSE turnover stood at Tk316 crore, sharply down 19% over the previous session’s value.

Large cap sectors remained almost flat while low cap sector lost ground.

Non-banking financial institution sector was the highest gainer with a rally of 1.5% while engineering sector was the worst loser declining 1.3%.

Almost all other sectors, including textile, insurers, pharmaceuticals, power, banks, foods and allied, and telecommunication closed flat.

Power sector continued to dominate the trading activities, accounting for 25% of the total turnover.

Shares of 316 companies were traded on the day. Of these, 91 companies closed positive, 146 negative while 46 remained unchanged. l

NBR keen to introduce Halkhata culture in realising due revenues n Syed Samiul Basher Anik The National Board of Revenue (NBR) wants to utilise the spirit of Halkhata, a part of occasion of Bengali New Year, to realise due revenues.

“The Halkhata system was introduced in the era of Mughal Emperor Akbar to collect due tax of the state exchequer. The NBR took initiative to introduce the culture to collect due revenue from traders,” NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman said yesterday.

Once introduced, NBR will organise the programmes in the offices of the commissioners of all income tax, customs and Value Added Tax (VAT) where businesses and taxpayers can pay their due revenues with a festive mood, Nojibur said yesterday at a pre-budget meeting with leading trade bodies of the country.

He also called upon the traders to submit the increased amount of VAT that they collect from their clients in

Boishakh season to the government exchequer at due time.

The NBR chairman revealed the plan while addressing three separate pre-budget discussions with Dhaka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Metropolitan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), and Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) at its headquarters.

Addressing the meeting, DCCI directors welcomed the plan, however, stressed expansion of the tax base instead of putting more burden on taxpayers. Currently, 11 lakh people are paying tax regularly although around 3 crore people are capable enough to pay tax.

The chamber has asked the NBR to take support from fresh university graduates for expansion of the tax base in rural areas as the NBR alone does not have logistics to utilise the potentiality.

DCCI Director Salim Akhter Khan demanded withdrawal of stamp duty and registration fees

in the secondary market of flats to boost sales. Currently, there is a 14% tax on registration of any apartment, no matter whether it is new or a used one.

In response, NBR Chief Nojibur said he would take political guidance to move forward with the issue.

For the individual taxpayers, the chamber has recommended fixing the tax-free income limit to Tk3.50lakh from existing Tk2.50 lakh, finalise the limit for women and elderly persons to Tk4 lakh from existing Tk3 lakh and for physically disabled persons to Tk4.25 lakh from existing Tk3.75 lakh.

It has also proposed to reduce the corporate tax rate for the merchant banks from existing 37.5% to 35% and for brokerage operations at 30% from the existing 35%.

The chamber has also demanded that NBR continue package VAT for micro, small and medium enterprises until 2021 with a 10% annual hike.

It, however, has proposed to

increase the package VAT rate at Tk15,000 for traders in Dhaka and Chittagong city corporations, Tk12,000 for those in other city corporations, Tk8,000 for municipalities and Tk4,000 for traders in other areas.

At a separate meeting, Bangladesh Chamber of Industries delegation, led by its Vice-President M Shamsur Rahman, requested the revenue authorities to take necessary measures to stop misuse of bonded warehouse facility and misdeclaration of products during import stage.

Around 600 shops on Urdu road in old town are selling raw materials for plastic, although all of these products are imported from abroad, they said.

Traders in Nayabazar sells imported papers and paper cards, and traders in Islampur sells imported fabrics brought under bonded warehouse facility, they alleged demanding NBR attention on the matter.

In response, NBR Chief Nojibur

Rahman said they have kept an eye on many areas, including the Urdu road in old town to prevent such abuse. NBR is working on identifying the importers, who misuse such facilities as they are enemies of the state, NBR boss said, adding that the next budget will have preventive indication on the issue.

With its budget proposals, the BCI has stressed NBR’s attention to enacting a clear policy and ensuring strict surveillance in providing bonded warehouse facilities. It has also proposed for establishing scanner machines in all ports to stop under invoicing and misdeclaration.

Meanwhile, the MCCI delegation, led by its Tariff and Taxation Sub-Committee Chairman Adeeb H Khan, has recommended the NBR for reducing the highest income tax rate for individual taxpayers at 25% from existing 30% and make the Bhomra Land Port operational to ease congestion from Benapole Land Port and Chittagong port. l

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

ILO mission enquires about workers’ rights, registration of trade unions n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi A high-level mission of International Labour Organization has enquired about the current state of workers’ right in forming trade unions in Bangladesh and questioned about the slow growth of trade union registration in the readymade garment sector, said a top official at the labour ministry.

The topics were raised as the mission held a meeting with the Ministry of Labour and Employment yesterday.

The visiting ILO delegation that arrived yesterday for a three-day tour also held a meeting with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed who had appraised it that the government was able to ensure workers’ rights, especially in apparel industry, and create a workers-friendly environment in factories.

The five-member “high-level tripartite mission freedom of association and collective bargaining” is led by Elizabeth Onuko, and other members include Sonia Regenbogen, Marc Leemans, Karen Curtis and Veronika Vajdova.

The visit aims to learn the status of Bangladesh’s workers, their freedom of association, collective bargaining and safety standards, especially in the RMG industry.

“Discussions focused on improvement of safety standards in factories, and workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights,” Mikail Shipar, senior labour secretary, told the Dhaka Tribune.

“ILO mission wanted to know about a sudden fall in growth of trade union registration. But there are significant improvements as nearly 400 trade unions have

Dhaka Tribune

been registered over the last three years,” he said.

According to the labour ministry, a total of 326 trade unions have been registered with Directorate of Labour after the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse that claimed hundreds of workers’ lives.

The number of trade unions in the country’s garment industry has increased to 486 in 2015 from 138 in 2012. In 2013 a total of 83 trade unions were registered and in 2014 the number rose to 185. Some 80 trade unions got registered as of August in 2015.

“I informed the mission that the government has taken all necessary measures to ensure workers’ rights to have trade unions registered,” said Mikail Shipar.

“The number of employees has increased, and the authorities concerned to provide all necessary co-

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operation to the workers in trade union registration.”

He said: “We have urged the mission to convey a message to the ILO to take initiatives to train up workers’ leaders so that they can properly apply for registration of trade unions.”

About the slow growth of trade union registration, a high official at the ministry asking not be named said: “As per the rules, the application for trade union registration is required to have 30% representation of workers. But many came without required number of workers’ representation. This is a major reason the growth of registration becomes slow.”

He said in some cases workers’ leaders back-tracked from registration after submission of application due to alleged mutual understanding with the owners. l

Economic slump worries as IMF, World Bank pledge action n AFP, Washington World finance ministers pledged to boost growth at IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings tainted by lingering worries about the dragging global economy and hints of discord.

Pounding home the message that each country needs to take action to ramp up growth, and following another week of relative calm in financial markets, the IMF leadership said they were “positive” about the outlook, even as they warned of high risks.

Yet with a rising number of developing countries approaching the two powerful institutions for support to deal with the plunge in commodity markets and tighter credit, there was no clear response to calls to organize an international backup plan if growth begins to stall again. l

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China and India reform hopes are on hold n Rahul Jacob

Reform hopes in China and India have been placed on hold. When Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge of their respective countries they were seen as both more decisive and more powerful than their predecessors. Early actions raised expectations that China might be able to overcome its addiction to investment while India might finally take steps to get its cumbersome laws out of the way of employers. Yet in the three and a half years since Xi’s elevation, and two years after Modi’s landslide election victory, not enough has changed.

With growth slowing, Beijing has returned to doing what it knows best: ramping up investment. The official goal is to boost total lending by 13% in nominal terms this year. That’s double the target rate for economic expansion,

and implies that avoiding a sharper slowdown, not cutting China’s already-high levels of debt, is the priority. First-quarter data released on April 15 showed GDP growing 6.7% year on year but fixed-asset investment rising by 10.7%.

Additional stimulus in a country dotted with overcapacity seems certain to lead to more bad debts. Any restructuring is limited: though the government said in February that it will lay off 1.8 million coal and steel workers, there is no clear timetable. On April 14, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the IMF was “concerned” about China following through on revamping struggling state-owned enterprises.

New Delhi’s politicians are equally shy about privatising public enterprises or laying off employees.

Under Modi, the government has continued the weak-kneed practice

of setting targets for selling small stakes in government-owned companies – and then failing to hit them.

Modi has made a start tackling the problem of state-owned banks, the main source of a bad debt problem. Credit Suisse estimates that total problem loans account for as much as 17.8% of overall loans. But a long-term fix requires independent management of public sector banks, which seems as distant a prospect as under Modi’s predecessors. Meanwhile, the government has directed banks to extend loans to startups and to provide a backstop for a poorly designed crop insurance scheme.

Leading and decisive roles

Neither regime has been totally inactive. Beijing deserves credit for letting foreign investors buy into the Shanghai stock market and for widening the trading band for the renminbi – even if that move

Oil producers mull output freeze in Doha, Iran stays home n AFP, Doha Major oil producers gathered in Qatar yesterday for crucial talks on capping production to boost prices, despite Iran’s refusal to take part.

Top energy officials from some 15 countries including Saudi Arabia and Russia were at the Doha talks, amid reports a draft agreement was in the works to freeze output at January levels until at least October.

Major producers both inside and outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are anxious to stem a market nosedive that has cost exporters billions in lost revenue.

From above $100 in mid-2014, oil prices dropped to 13-year lows of around $27 in February due to a supply glut, though they have since rebounded to about $40.

Officials held “consultations” in the morning and delayed the official start of the meeting from 0600 GMT to the afternoon, a member of the Ecuadorian delegation told reporters, declining to provide details.

Other officials confirmed the delay.

Ecuadoran Hydrocarbons Minister Carlos Pareja told reporters that his country would support a plan to freeze output until at least October.

He said proposals under discussion also call for “setting up a committee to monitor the freeze,” but provided no further details.

Pareja warned that if no action were taken “there will be huge damage to the oil industry.”

Russia’s RIA Novosti news agen-

cy also quoted Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev as saying the draft included the output freeze at January levels until October.

The meeting in Doha is a follow-up to talks in February between OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela plus Russia in which they first mooted the output freeze.

without Tehran’s cooperation.

But Kuwaiti oil expert Kamel al-Harami said a freeze agreement was still possible even without Iran.

“Iran is unable to add more than 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to its production by the end of the year,” Harami told AFP in Doha.

“I believe this will not greatly impact the meeting,” he said.

Iran won’t ‘give up’ production

‘Atmosphere of optimism’

Saudi Arabia has insisted that all major producers must be on board for the freeze to work, including fellow OPEC member and regional rival Iran.

But Tehran, which has boosted production following the lifting of sanctions under its nuclear deal with world powers, has rejected any talk of a freeze.

Iran had initially said its OPEC representative would participate in the talks but on Sunday Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh announced Tehran would send no delegation at all.

“The Doha meeting is for people who want to participate in the production freeze plan... but since Iran isn’t expected to sign up to the plan the presence of an Iranian representative isn’t necessary,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by the Shana news agency.

“Iran will in no way give up its historic production quota,” Zanganeh said.

Influential Saudi deputy crown prince Mohamed bin Salman reiterated in an interview with Bloomberg published on Saturday that the kingdom would not accept a freeze

OPEC said on Wednesday that Iranian oil production in March was 3.3 million bpd, up from 2.9 million in January, but still short of its pre-embargo level of around 4 million.

OPEC said its members pumped 32.25 million bpd in March - with Saudi Arabia accounting for nearly a third - up from an average of 31.85 million bpd in 2015.

Saudi Arabia has refused to cut production despite the price fall, as it seeks to drive less-competitive players, especially US shale producers, out of the market.

But pressure has been building as falling oil revenues hit state coffers, with Riyadh posting a record budget deficit last year.

Host country Qatar said “an atmosphere of optimism” spread on the eve of the meeting.

Kuwait’s acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh told reporters on arrival in Doha that “he was optimistic” about the success of the conference, which took place as thousands of oil workers in his country began an open-ended strike Sunday to protest against a government proposal to cut their wages. l

was clumsily handled. New Delhi attracted record foreign direct investment in January and the government is once again pushing to get its overdue goods and services tax through parliament.

Even so, these moves have fallen far short of initial hopes. Investors fixated on the Chinese leadership’s 2013 promise of a “decisive role” for markets, while paying less attention to the accompanying pledge of a continued “leading role of the state-owned economy”. In practice, the state leads every time, as shown by its efforts to prop up the stock market last summer.

Modi’s previous leadership of the intrinsically entrepreneurial Indian province of Gujarat, meanwhile, was the reason for optimists to cast him as an Indian version of Margaret Thatcher. But this ignored that, as chief minister, he was content with making stateowned enterprises more efficient,

but not privatising them.

These days, China’s Communist Party and India’s Bharatiya Janata Party rally around nationalism rather than privatisation. Under Xi, China has rattled neighbours in the South China Sea by claiming nearly all of it.

Meanwhile Modi’s party is growing increasing intolerant of dissent, and now says criticising India is unacceptable. This seems a long way off from Modi’s winning campaign two years ago. That promised jobs and economic development and was a hit in a country which produces 12 million new job-seekers each year and far too few factory jobs. In India, as in China, politics is once again trumping economics. l Rahul Jacob is Asia columnist for Reuters Breakingviews, with a focus on macroeconomics and monetary policy.

The article was initially published at Reuters.

CORPORATE NEWS

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has recently signed an agreement with Ria Money Transfer in order to provide remittance payout services in Bangladesh, said a press release. The bank’s managing director, Mohammad Abdul Mannan and Suhail Shamsi, business development director for Ria in South Asia were present at the signing ceremony

Samsung Mobile Bangladesh has recently announced winners of its contest named, Play & Win Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, said a press release. Lead activations, digital and public relations at Samsung Mobile Bangladesh, Mahzabin Ferdous handed over S7 handsets to seven lucky winners

Partex Furniture Industries Limited has recently appointed EMKAY Enterprises Limited as a sales agent for Partex Fire Door, said a press release. Aziz Al Kaiser, vice chairperson of Partex Star Group and Muntasir Kareem, managing director of EMKAY Enterprises Ltd signed the agreement

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Boishabi Uthshab Bijhu has its own form of entertainment, where dance and musical performances regale the audience, and instruments like Hengrong and Dhudhuk (varieties of flute) are played.

The festival also has its own special dish, Pazon, which is prepared using thirty different vegetables, and offered to the guests. The significance of this food item is that it is believed to ward off diseases in the upcoming year.

n Nusaira A Hassan The indigenous people of Bangladesh, specifically the ones in Chittagong Hill Tracts, have their own festivities that coincide with Pohela Boishakh. However, the intriguing part is that there is no single way of celebrating the New Year. In fact, of the thirteen tribal groups located there, each has its own way of welcoming the upcoming year. Let’s look back at the more renowned ones.

Tribal groups

The largest tribal group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Chakmas, along with the Marmas and Tripuras, celebrate Boishabi.

As a matter of fact, the name itself, Boishabi, is derived from the names of the three major festivals celebrated by the aforementioned tribal groups.

Every year, from April 12 to 14, Boishabi is celebrated with pomp and grandeur by the people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, namely the regions of Bandarban, Khagrachori and Rangamati.

However, Boishabi is more than just an act of celebration for the ethnic community. It is a quest for spirituality as the tribal people bid farewell to the miseries of the previous year and usher in the New Year amidst joy and anticipation. Each indigenous group has its own distinct way of enjoying the festivities with a few overlapping rituals or traditions.

released from captivity and fed.

The Chakmas then gather around a temple and chant the name of Buddha, before entering the holy place (known as Kyangs) to hand over their offerings and light candles. Finally on the third day of the festival, “Goijja-Poijja,” fowls and pigs are slaughtered for a massive feast, where the whole family takes part. Soon afterwards, the Chakmas observe a period of rest, after days of taking part in meticulous celebrations.

Tripuras

The Tripuras wake up from slumber at the crack of dawn to decorate their houses with floral arrangements. The animals, including livestock like cows and goats, are adorned with flowers as well. Rice grains are scattered all over the ground as food to the birds. On the first day of the New Year, known as “Harboishu,” the Tripuras carry out ceremonies to pay respects to flora and fauna, as well as animals including insects and birds to appease their deity,

The festival also has its own special dish, Pazon, which is prepared using thirty different vegetables, and offered to the guests

“Goriaya.”

In the next ceremony, the elderly people are bathed and gifted with clothes. This ritual is believed to bring luck for the next year. The youngsters on the other hand rejoice by holding traditional dance performances and travel from village to village, entrancing people with their perfectly synchronised moves.

Marmas

The Marmas begin their celebrations with prayers by offering “Jolpuja,” which roughly translates into “worship of water,” as water is considered to be a holy symbol synonymous with respect, future prosperity and blessings from the deity. This is followed by the popular water game, “Shangraine,” where young girls and boys splash each other with water. This is performed to wash away the miseries of the past year, and cleanse oneself in anticipation of the New Year. Apart from that, this ceremony is also used as a platform for young boys and girls to express their love interest.

In the culinary aspect, Marmas spare no expenses as they prepare a feast fit for royalty, in a menu ranging from savory to sweet dishes, including cookies.

The different ethnic groups also arrange for wrestling matches,

known as “Bolikhela,” which is a form of martial art traditionally played in Chittagong. “Boli” is a Bengali word that refers to a powerful person and “khela” simply translates to game.

Apart from that, other types of games known as “GhilaKhela” are also organised by different communities, where people from all age groups and communities take part.

The tribal groups also look forward to the alcoholic drinks on offer this time of the year, which includes beverages such as “dochoani,” “jogorah,” and “kanji” specially made for the Boishabi festival.

Certain communities also bring out processions before the ceremonies begin, where people of all ages and from all walks of life take part.

Though each community has its own distinct rituals, the shared joy is evident everywhere. The Boishabi festival is highly inclusive and encourages people from every creed, race and social standing to join in the celebrations, and take part in the enjoyment. l Content was printed with the permission of Tiger Tours Limited

Chakmas

Beginning on the last day of the Bengali month of Chaitra, Bijhu is a holy festival of the Chakmas, and is celebrated over the span of three days.

On the first day, young girls clean out their houses, and collect flowers, leaves and roots of different plants from the forest as part of a ritual known as “FulBijhu.” The second day is known as “MulBijhu,” when the domesticated animals are

PHOTOS: COURTESY

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Downtime

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Festivity (4) 5 Useful thing (5) 8 Talisman (6) 9 Ship’s bed (4) 10 Lyric poem (3) 12 Minister (6) 13 Eats into (6) 15 Raised platforms (6) 18 Becomes void (6) 20 Monkey (3) 21 Location (4) 23 Stringed instrument (6) 24 Multitude (5) 25 Curved (4)

DOWN 1 Apologue (5) 2 Flightless bird (3) 3 Garment (5) 4 Large deer (3) 5 Bears witness to (7) 6 Black deposit (4) 7 Rank (4) 11 Bird (4) 12 Reticence (7) 14 Snare (4) 16 Cunning (5) 17 Perfume (5) 18 Scourge (4) 19 Fruit (4) 21 Weep convulsively (3) 22 Metal (3)

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 17 represents S so fill S every time the figure 17 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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World 21

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

INSIDE #PANAMAPAPERS LEAK

The Clinton connection n Tribune International Desk Heat wave: India’s third deadliest natural killer Heat waves are the third biggest cause of death in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, heat strokes caused 16,000 deaths between 2000 and 2014. Just in 2015, an abnormally long heat wave caused over 2,241 deaths in the country.

PAGE 22

Countries look to draw expatriate cash with diaspora bonds A growing roster of developing states are turning to their compatriots abroad to raise cash by marketing “diaspora bonds”, a funding strategy successfully pioneered

by India and Israel but sometimes tricky to imitate.

PAGE 23

Obama immigration action goes before US Supreme Court The US Supreme Court will hear a case on Monday that tests the boundaries of presidential powers, confronting the question of whether President Barack Obama exceeded his authority with unilateral action to spare millions of people in the country illegally from deportation.

PAGE 24

US Democratic presidential race front-runner Hillary Clinton recently blasted the hidden financial dealings exposed in the Panama Papers, but a recent revealtion depicts she and her husband have multiple connections with people who have used the besieged law firm Mossack Fonseca to establish offshore entities.

Among them are Gabrielle Fialkoff, finance director for Hillary Clinton’s first campaign for the US Senate; Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate who has traveled the globe with Bill Clinton; the Chagoury family, which pledged $1bn in projects to the Clinton Global Initiative; and Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who was at the center of a Democratic fund-raising scandal when Bill Clinton was president. Also using the Panamanian law firm was the company founded by the late billionaire investor Marc Rich, an international fugitive when Bill Clinton pardoned him in the final hours of his presidency.

However, the Clintons themselves do not appear to be in Mossack Fonseca’s database, nor does it appear that their daughter, Chelsea, or her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, who co-founded a hedge fund, are listed, McClatchy, the California-based newspaper that broke the story, reports. The ties are both recent and decades old, not surprising for the Democratic presidential front-runner and her husband, who have been in public life since the 1970s.

Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon declined to answer specific questions about her connections but referred to Clinton’s earlier comments that criticised the behaviour last week. Bill Clinton’s office and the Clinton Foundation declined to comment on the matter.

The appearance of several shady businessmen with Clinton connections comes as Clinton’s formidable opponent in the White House race Bernie Sanders has criticised Hillary Clinton for pushing for the passage of the Panama Free Trade Agreement as secretary of state.

The Vermont senator, who opposed the trade pact, has said that the agreement made it easier for corporations to utilise tax shelters set up in Panama. The 74-year-old democratic socialist has also asserted that Clinton opposed the trade agreement when she was in

The Clintons at a fundraising gala in New York in 2014 the Senate but flip-flopped after taking over the State Department.

The ties have also shed lights on the shady relationships the Clintons have developed over the years.

One such link stems all the way back to the Clintons’ Arkansas days. As governor, Bill Clinton met twice with Jean-Raymond Boulle, a diamond miner born in Mauritius. After the meetings Clinton granted Boulle mining rights in a state park near Hope, Clinton’s hometown.

According to McClatchy, Boulle was listed as director of two firms listed in the Panama Papers: Auk Limited, which was listed in the British Virgin Islands, and Gridco Limited, which was registered to the Bahamas.

According to Peter Schweizer, the author of last year’s “Clinton Cash,” Boulle was invited to Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration. At a party after the inauguration, thenFirst Lady Hillary Clinton donned a 3.5-carat diamond culled from one of Boulle’s mines, according to Schweizer.

Another mining company appears in the Panama Papers.

Giustra’s UrAsia Energy was registered in the British Virgin Island in May 2005, according to McClatchy. That September, Bill Clinton flew with Giustra on his private jet to Kazakhstan, where

The Clintons themselves do not appear in Mossack Fonseca’s documents, nor does their daughter, Chelsea, or her husband, Marc Mezvinsky the Canadian hoped to secure a $500m deal for uranium mining rights in the Central Asian nation.

Clinton and Giustra met with Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Before leaving the country, Clinton publicly praised Nazarbayev, who was up for re-election.

The mining deal was awarded to UrAsia. Months later, Giustra made a $30m contribution to the Clinton Foundation. The pair later formed the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership.

A Russian businessman who was reportedly involved in setting up Clinton’s trip with Giustra is also linked to companies named in the Mossack Fonseca records.

Sergei Kurzin is tied to several oil companies listed in the papers, according to McClatchy. The mysterious financier — who reportedly

WIKIMEDIA

pledged $1m to the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative and gave at least $50,000 directly to the Clinton Foundation — has several connections to players in the Clinton world. Besides dealings with Giustra, he also helped Marc Rich develop business relationships in Russia.

On his last day in the White House, Bill Clinton pardoned Rich, who had been indicted by the US government in the 1980s for tax evasion. The controversial move came after Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, contributed $1m to the Democratic party, $100,000 to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign, and $450,000 to Clinton’s library.

Rich’s Industrial Petrolium Limited appears in the Panama Papers. The company was registered in the Bahamas in 1992.

Ng Lap Seng also used Mossack Fonseca’s services. According to McClatchy, he’s listed as a shareholder of two companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Ng is the Chinese billionaire who in 1996 was accused of funneling $1.1m to the Democratic National Committee through a restaurant owner in Little Rock. The restaurant owner pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations. Ng, who visited the White House nearly a dozen times in the mid-1990s, faced no charges. He was charged last year with bribing a UN official. l

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INSIGHT

Heat wave: one of India’s deadliest natural killers great help for the agencies involved.

Heat hot spots in India 3,931

States take the lead

(Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha)

5,607

(Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra)

2,277 (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana)

*Map shows cumulative heat stroke deaths during 2000-2014. Only states with an average of more than 20 deaths per year have been considered

n Tribune International Desk For the first time in its 140 year history, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) this year has issued temperature advisories for heat waves from April to June. The advisories include an early warning, akin to the ones issued for heavy rains and cyclones.

The forecast is for 15 days at a time, with updates every fifth day.

It also includes specific temperature forecasts and alerts for up to 100 cities and towns across the country.

While state governments and researchers have focussed on the changes in monsoon patterns due to climate change, efforts to counter the impacts of heat waves had been virtually non-existent.

The Indian National Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Indian National Policy on Disaster Management, 2009, do not consider them to be a natural calamity. The government, therefore, does not devote financial and infrastructure resources to the problem.

This despite the fact that heat waves are the third biggest cause of death in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, heat strokes caused 16,000 deaths between 2000 and 2014. Just in 2015, an abnormally long heat wave caused over 2,241 deaths in the country.

With El Niño expected to be on the wane this year, the heat during summers in India (and in large parts of Asia, Australia and southern Africa) is likely to be severe.

With researchers predicting that heat waves will become increasingly severe and frequent, government agencies at federal, state and local levels have begun to take note of the problem.

India’s natural killers Despite being one of the top three killers in the country, heat waves are not considered a natural calamity by the government

32,743

Deaths according to causes (2000-2014)

14,593

13,548

12,258

11,695 5,056

Lightening Earthquake

Heat stroke

Flood

Cold & Exposure

4,207

Landslide Cyclone/ Tornado

772 Avalanche

Sources: Indian National Crime Records Bureau, Indian Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

“We now have the capacity to issue city-specific forecasts, alerts and warnings and plan to roll out an expansion to several cities in the near future. While the advisories can help improve vital services in agriculture, processed foods, water and energy, the biggest benefit would be the support they will provide to healthcare professionals and the public health system during heat waves,” says Sivananda Pai, head of the Long Range Forecasting division at IMD. Since heat waves are often caused by a combination of local and large-scale climaticfactors and are captured more accurately with localised forecasts, city-specific advisories are likely to be a

Initiatives to deal with heat waves have mostly come from state governments. For instance, following the devastating heat wave of 1998, which claimed over 2,000 lives in Odisha, the state put in place district-level disaster management centres. Similarly, after the 2010 heat wave that caused 1,344 deaths in Gujarat’s Ahmadabad, a City Heat Action Plan was launched in 2013 to improve public awareness and promote inter-agency coordination. In mid-March this year, Maharashtra’s Nagpur and Odisha’s Bhubaneshwar also launched their own city-level plans.

“The experience with Ahmedabad has been very positive.

Local authorities are increasingly realising the requirement of a plan. City-specific data from IMD will immensely help in generating warnings and predicting heat waves because it allows better use of vital local factors such as humidity. In coming years, there are several new cities that we will assist in making such a plan,” says Anjali Jaiswal, director of the India Initiative at New York-based non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council. The non-profit has been a consulting partner in all the three action plans (Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar) that have been devised so far in the country. l

[This is an excerpt of a Downtoearth.org.in article, which can be found at http://bit.ly/1TcFLdn]

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Countries look to draw expatriate cash with diaspora bonds n Reuters, London A growing roster of developing states are turning to their compatriots abroad to raise cash by marketing “diaspora bonds”, a funding strategy successfully pioneered by India and Israel but sometimes tricky to imitate.

Some 250m people, around 3% of the world population, live outside their native countries, according to World Bank data from 2013. They are an important source of funding for their homelands: last year they sent home around $440bn- three times more than global development aid.

Cash raised by governments directly by marketing securities to their overseas citizens represents just a tiny fraction of that, but looks set to grow, judging by a number of recent announcements.

Egypt has announced debt certificates denominated in dollars and euros to ease hard currency shortages. Kosovo, which estimates a third of people of Kosovan descent live abroad, proposed issuing bonds for expatriates last month. Sri Lanka discussed such bonds last year, and Nigeria has tried to revive plans for a diaspora issue after naming Goldman Sachs and Stanbic as advisers on a proposal in 2014.

But not all such efforts succeed.

Many countries overestimate the generosity of their natives abroad.

One high-profile example was Greece, which proved unable to raise a hoped-for $3bn from the million-strong Greek community in the US at the height of its debt crisis in 2011.

Ethiopia’s 2009 bond to fund a hydro-electric dam failed chiefly because it could not convince investors it would repay the debt.

Some also objected to the project on environmental grounds.

In 2009 and 2010, Nepal raised a fraction of its target when it offered yields below 10% over five years on rupiah bonds - well below local rates at the time. Moldova also decided not to issue diaspora bonds, concluding that Moldovans abroad who were willing to invest in its currency would probably prefer local bank accounts that pay 25% interest.

Tapping the pool

The lure of a diaspora as an investment pool is clear.

Investors with a personal link to a country are often happier than other outsiders to take risks in the local currency, and at lower yields, says Dilip Ratha, manager of the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Unit, who advices governments on diaspora funding.

They can also be more willing stick around in a crisis than the big funds that dominate emerging market debt, he added.

Governments dreaming of

TOP 10 REMITTANCE EARNERS IN 2015 COUNTRY

IN BILLIONS ($)

1.

India

68.91

2.

China

63.938

3.

Philippines

28.483

4.

Mexico

24.792

5.

France

22.982

6.

Nigeria

20.658

7.

Egypt

19.71

8.

Pakistan

19.255

9.

Bangladesh

15.359

10.

Germany

15.088 SOURCE: WORLD BANK

cheap funds from loyal expatriates in hard times can look to the example of India. Diaspora funds bailed it out from a 1991 balance of payments crisis and raised $4.2bn in 1998 to offset international sanctions imposed after nuclear tests, double the amount initially sought.

Israel, which has raised more than $40bn via diaspora bonds since 1951, saw uptake soar during its 1967 war.

Some countries have gone to great lengths to forge lasting emotional ties that could translate into investments one day, said Liesl

Riddle, a George Washington University professor, who has studied diaspora financing., highlighting Georgia, which has established a ministry of diaspora affairs and organises regular get-togethers in the capital Tbilisi for overseas Georgians visiting the homeland.

Homestrings, a platform created to put potential diaspora investors in touch with opportunities, has raised funds for infrastructure projects in Kenya, and offers USbased Macedonians the chance to invest in small businesses back home. l

INSIGHT

The Syrian Muslim refugees taken in by Pope Francis following his visit to the Greek island of Lesbos have hailed the pontiff as a “saviour” for offering them a new life.

In a hugely symbolic move seen as a lesson in solidarity for Europe, Francis, who is himself the son of Italian migrants in Argentina, on Saturday took 12 Syrians from three families -- all Muslims -- home with him from Lesbos to the Vatican.

“All refugees are children of God,” the 79-year-old pope said on the flight back to Rome referring to their religion, adding that though his gesture was “a drop in the ocean” he hoped “the ocean will never be the same again”.

In an interview with Italian daily La Stampa, the families, who spent their first night in Rome at a Catholic charity, expressed their gratitude to the pontiff for his

“gesture of hope”.

“We saw friends and relatives die in the rubble, we fled Syria because we no longer had any hope,” said Hasan, an engineer from Damascus, who arrived in Italy with his wife Nour and two-year-old son.

“In Lesbos, we understood that we were stuck in a place that we could not leave, (we were) in a trap, a prison”, he said describing the pope as “our saviour” for whisking them off the island, where thousands of migrants risk being sent back to Turkey under a new EU-Turkey deportation deal.

“We are grateful to the pope, we will prove ourselves worthy of this opportunity and the gift he gave us,” Ramy, a 51-year-old teacher from the Dae’sh-occupied city of Deir Ezzor, told La Stampa.

Ramy fled the war-torn country with his wife Suhila and three children -- sons Rashid, 18 and Abdelmajid, 16, and seven-year-

SOUTH ASIA

Heavy fighting continues in Afghan city Kunduz Afghan forces fought back a renewed series of attacks on Kunduz, killing dozens of Taliban fighters, officials said as insurgent forces stepped up to retake the northern city that they captured briefly last year. The attack on Kunduz, involving hundreds of insurgent fighters, has intensified just days after the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive.

-REUTERS

INDIA

Curfew imposed in Gujarat’s Mehsana Patidar protesters demanding the release of their leader, Hardik Patel, clashed with police in Gujarat’s Mehsana on Sunday, injuring scores, setting a bus on fire and ransacking a minister’s office. Authorities clamped a curfew in the district and blocked mobile internet services, while Patidars called a state-wide bandh on Monday. Violence broke out after police denied permission to protesters for a rally demanding the release of their leader.

-HT

CHINA

China launches upgraded drills for S China Sea fleets China’s South China Sea fleets have conducted training drills with upgraded methods that resemble actual combat conditions to increase the fleets’ combat effectiveness. Begun on April 7, the drills include new methods such as training within an electromagnetic environment.

Previously, the fleets have also conducted all-weather drills and high-speed exercises to hammer their pilots into shape.

-REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

‘Francis gave us a new life’ n AFP, Rome

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World

Philippine presidential candidate condemned over rape joke Leading Philippine presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte was angrily condemned on Sunday after a video surfaced of him joking about a murdered Australian rape victim.

Duterte appears in a video uploaded on YouTube making the joke about a female Australian missionary, who was ministering in a prison in Philippines, was raped and killed during a riot by inmates in 1989.

-AFP

MIDDLE EAST

Israel affirms its hold on Golan Heights Pope Francis welcomes a group of Syrian refugees after landing at Ciampino airport in Rome following a visit at the Moria refugee camp in the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday REUTERS old daughter Al Quds.

The three families, who had initially set their sights on reaching Germany or another European country, are now expected to seek

asylum in Italy.

Their arrival brings to around 20 the number of refugees living in the Vatican, which has under 1,000 inhabitants. l

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Sunday that Israel would never relinquish the Golan Heights, in a signal to Russia and the US that the strategic plateau should be excluded from any deal on Syria’s future. Israel captured Golan from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed in 1981, in a move that has not won international recognition. -REUTERS

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USA

THE QUAKE THAT ROCKED ECUADOR

Republican Ted Cruz scoops up 14 more delegates in Wyoming Republican Ted Cruz picked up more delegates in the race for the White House Saturday, winning all 14 that were up for grabs at his party’s state convention in Wyoming. The sweep comes as the Texas senator is attempting to chip away at rival Donald Trump’s lead in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.

-AFP

THE AMERICAS

5 more Canadian Attawapiskat children attempt suicide 5 children tried to take their own lives on Friday evening in a Canadian aboriginal community of 2,000 that has declared a state of emergency over repeated suicide attempts, its chief said. Chief Bruce Shisheesh of the Attawapiskat First Nation in the province of Ontario confirmed the news on Saturday.

-THE GUARDIAN

UK

UK faces shortfall of 10,000 primary school places UK faces a looming crisis over primary school numbers as official figures point to a shortfall of 10,000 places across the country within 4 years.

The latest government’s own data reveals councils across the southeast, the Midlands and the north of England will have more pupils than places by 2019-20.

-THE GUARDIAN

EUROPE

Poll: Most Germans oppose Merkel on prosecution of comedian Two thirds of Germans oppose Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to allow prosecutors to pursue a case against a German comedian who mocked Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, a poll published on Sunday showed. Merkel announced her decision on Friday after Erdogan demanded that Germany press charges against Jan Boehmermann after he recited a sexually crude satirical poem about the Turkish leader.

-REUTERS

AFRICA

Ethiopia: South Sudan gunmen kill 140 in raid Ethnic Murle armed men from South Sudan have killed around 140 people and kidnapped a number of others in a cross-border raid into Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government said Sunday. The Murle, a tribe from South Sudan based in the eastern Jonglei region, often stage raids to steal cattle. They attacked the Nuer tribe, one of the two main ethnic groups in South Sudan, but who also live across the border in Ethiopia.

-AFP

People walk near a damaged house after an earthquake struck off the Pacific coast in Manta, Ecuador on Saturday REUTERS

Obama immigration action goes before US Supreme Court n

Reuters, Washington, DC

The US Supreme Court will hear a case on Monday that tests the boundaries of presidential powers, confronting the question of whether President Barack Obama exceeded his authority with unilateral action to spare millions of people in the country illegally from deportation.

The case, one of the most consequential of the court’s current term that ends in June, pits Obama against 26 states led by Texas that filed suit to block his 2014 immigration plan.

The highest court of the US soil is evenly divided with four liberal justices and four conservatives following the February death of conservative Antonin Scalia. That raises the possibility of a 4-4 split that would leave in place a 2015 lower-court ruling that threw out the president’s executive action that bypassed the Republican-led Congress.

The arguments in the case come at a time when immigration is a divisive issue in the US presidential campaign, with top Republican contenders advocating deporting all of the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.

Obama took the action after Republicans in the House of Representatives killed bipartisan legislation, billed as the biggest overhaul of US immigration laws in decades and providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, that was passed by the Senate in 2013.

Obama’s plan was tailored to let roughly 4m people - those who have lived illegally in the US at least since 2010, have no criminal record and have children who are US citizens or lawful permanent residents - get into a programme that shields them from deportation and supplies work permits.

Obama’s programme was called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).

Shortly before the plan was to go into effect last year, a federal judge in Texas blocked it after the Republican-governed states filed suit against the Democratic president’s executive action. The New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in November.

The Supreme Court’s ruling is due by the end of June.

Obama’s action arose from frustration within the White House and the immigrant community about a lack of action in politically polarised Washington to address the status of people, mostly Hispanics, living in the United States illegally.

Obama has drawn Republican ire with his use of executive action to get around Congress on immigration policy and other matters including gun control and healthcare. On the immigration action, the states contend Obama exceeded the powers granted to him by the Constitution by intruding upon the authority of Congress. l

People stand on the debris of a Manta building after the earthquake struck on Saturday REUTERS

FACTBOX

Legal questions to be addressed in the immigration case When the US Supreme Court on Monday takes up a challenge brought by Texas and other states to President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration, the eight justices face a series of legal questions beginning with whether Texas and the other state challengers even have grounds to bring the case.

Here is a look at some of the key legal questions in the case--

Legal standing To bring a case, challengers must first demonstrate that they have legal “standing,” arising from some injury or negative consequences. In this case, that means the states need to show that they would be hurt by the Obama administration’s deferral of deportation for immigrant parents and children with deep ties to the US but who are in the country illegally. The state of Texas has taken the lead in the lawsuit against the Obama administration to block the president’s actions. Texas asserts that it has standing largely because of the expected financial cost to the state of processing temporary driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants with new authorisation to live in the US. Texas subsidises the cost of processing driver’s licenses and contends Obama’s actions would cost it millions of dollars. The Obama administration rejects that basis for standing to file suit, asserting that any such costs are “incidental” and could be avoided by the state. Obama administration lawyers say Texas could eliminate the subsidies for these driver’s licenses and eliminate the harm claimed by the state. If a majority of the justices finds that Texas lacked a sufficient injury to sue, the case of United States vs Texas ends there and the Obama

administration wins.

Rule-making requirements If the justices agree that Texas has standing to bring the case, they then would consider whether deferred-deportation policies that were part of Obama’s actions violated rule-making requirements in a federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act. Under that law, US federal agencies typically must issue a general notice of a proposed rule and give interested parties a chance to comment.

Obama administration lawyers say the deferred deportation practices are not binding rules subject to the Administrative Procedure Act. Rather, they characterise these policies as an outgrowth of the US Department of Homeland Security’s discretion in determining deportation priorities.

The administration contends that the homeland security secretary should be able to focus his department’s limited resources on deporting serious criminals and securing the border.

‘Take care’ A final possible question for the justices is whether the deferred deportation violates a dictate of the US Constitution that presidents must “take care” to “faithfully execute” the nation’s laws. Texas and the other states that brought the lawsuit say Obama, in taking executive action that bypassed Congress, crossed that line because Congress is in charge of deciding who is a lawful or unlawful immigrant. The Obama administration says it was faithfully executing the authority to determine priorities under immigration law. l

Source: REUTERS

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Sport 25

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Mashrafe hoping to silence doubters

INSIDE

n Minhaz Uddin Khan

Abahani rope in Croatian manager

The recently held Players by Choice system of the Dhaka Premier League season 2015-16 came in as a surprise to many as the veteran paceman had to wait till the 11th and penultimate call to get a team.

Kalabagan Krira Chakra eventually recruited the right-arm pacer.

This has not surprised Mashrafe one bit. Rather, the Bangladesh limited-over captain informed that such incidents inspire him to bring out his best.

Having tried their luck with Austro-Hungarian coach George Kottan last season, Abahani Limited this time around have brought in Serbia-born Croatian manager Drago Mamic as the new head coach of the club. The 62-year old tactician arrived in the capital yesterday. PAGE 26

I never get annoyed.

Instead, I get determined to go out on the field and prove myself

Inzamam quits as Afghan coach Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is set to be appointed as the country’s chief selector after he was released from his role as Afghanistan’s head coach. The 46-year-old guided Afghanistan to the Super 10 stage of the recent World Twenty20 in India. PAGE 27

10-man Foxes earn hard-fought draw Leicester City stumbled on their march towards the English Premier League title when they drew 2-2 with West Ham United and had goalscorer Jamie Vardy sent off at the King Power Stadium yesterday. PAGE 28

Rosberg romps to treble in China Nico Rosberg stormed to victory in a chaotic Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. The German’s Mercedes was jumped at the start by Daniel Ricciardo but after avoiding the first-corner mayhem unfolding behind the front two, he quickly caught the Red Bull. PAGE 29

Bangladesh Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim (L) gets ready for training while Mahmudullah (R) and Saqlain Sajib share a light moment in Mirpur yesterday COURTESY

8 DPL clubs squeeze into Mirpur facility n Minhaz Uddin Khan The National Cricket Academy ground in Mirpur over the last week has hosted at least eight clubs out of the twelve taking part in this season’s Dhaka Premier League. This, despite some of these clubs having their own grounds in different parts of the capital.

Big name clubs like Abahani Limited, Mohammedan Sporting Club, Brothers Union, Kalabagan Krira Chakra and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club have held practice sessions at the small training ground. Though it has some of the best facilities in the country, the whole picture is of chaos as teams end up, quite literally, stepping on each other’s toes.

Abahani and Mohammedan have their own facilities in Dhanmondi and Motijheel respectively but both are having constructions so the grounds

aren’t available to the cricket teams. Brothers Union also have a ground in Gopibagh while Sheikh Jamal have their own facility in Dhanmondi. The two Kalabagan clubs and Cricket Coaching School are all based in Kalabagan.

The only clubs who are not training in Mirpur are Gazi Group Cricketers who have camped in Rajshahi while Prime Doleshwar Club and Legends of Rupganj have settled in Fatullah. Prime Bank Cricket Club have trained in the northern part of Dhaka and also in the Academy ground.

“The clubs request the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis for using the BCB-owned facilities. The request gets relayed to the BCB Grounds and Facilities who allocates the facilities accordingly,” Syed Abdul Baten, BCB’s grounds manager informed Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Jalal Younus, the BCB media and communication chairman and Abahani Limited vice-

president, said it is sad that the culture of having own infrastructure has not developed over the last several years. He said the club grounds are also not up to the mark in terms of facilities that a modern cricketer needs.

“We have been trying to find out a field and renovate it so that the Premier League clubs can practice but there is hardly an empty spot in Dhaka. There is this TNT ground that we have been in talks with. And those who have got the fields are not up to the mark so they need to go to Mirpur anyways. Financial factor is a big reason behind slow development,” Jalal explained.

“I would always like to have an exclusive practice session for my team but we cannot have that due to limitations. There are efforts from the board to encourage the clubs to have their own infrastructure. I believe things will change, soon,” the BCB director added. l

“This had happened in the last Dhaka League too. Mohammedan took me at the last moment. But by the grace of the Almighty, I have performed well for almost all the teams. We had a bad run in Mohammedan but we did win four matches at a stretch and qualified for the Super League,” Mashrafe told the media at Mirpur’s Sher-eBangla National Stadium yesterday.

“Even in the last BPL (Bangladesh Premier League) season, there were some talks after Comilla Victorians chose me from the players’ draft. But I never get annoyed.

Instead, I get determined to go out on the field and prove myself,” said Mashrafe.

Mashrafe’s side, Kalabagan KC have not been a top-ranked outfit in the last couple of seasons. Even this time around, they aren’t highly ambitious of attaining success.

With a mediocre team in their disposal, Kalabagan’s first aim will be to improve on their 10th place finish last season.

Going by the team’s theme, Mashrafe too refrained from stating that Kalabagan will harbour hopes of becoming champions but hinted possibilities of fetching good results.

“I will never declare that this team will be the champions this year but to be honest, I do have the desire. There will be many who will not like to play for this team but I believe it is possible to get some results. If our opponent team needs two players to perform, we will need four and this is not an impossible task. There are a few senior members in the team,” Mashrafe explained. l

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

BFF election hots up

Abahani rope in Croatian manager n

n Tribune Report

Current Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin yesterday announced his 21-member panel for the upcoming election of football’s governing body in the country, scheduled to be held on April 30.

The 21-member panel collected the nomination papers on the deadline day of the distribution of forms yesterday.

Although Salahuddin and current senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy will fight for the same posts as before, there are two changes in the race for the vice president’s posts.

Kazi Nabil Ahmed and Badal Roy will vie for their previous posts while Shamsul Haq Chowdhury and Mahiuddin Ahmed Mahi are the new candidates in place of Tabith Awal and Arif Khan Joy. Tabith is also battling it out for the vice president’s post as an independent candidate.

The opposition alliance, under the banner “Bachao Football”, also

Tribune Report

Having tried their luck with Austro-Hungarian coach George Kottan last season, Abahani this time around have brought in Serbia-born Croatian manager Drago Mamic as the new head coach of the club.

The 62-year old tactician arrived in the capital yesterday morning and watched Abahani’s KFC Independence Cup match against Arambagh at Bangabandhu National Stadium in the afternoon.

Mamic, an Uefa Pro License holder, has the experience of coaching in Asia for around 16 years. He previously performed his duties as the head coach of the Myanmar and Maldives national teams.

“I had some information that Abahani club are playing a lot of national team footballers. I’m working in Asia for a long time now and have experience with some top clubs here. I will try to adapt very fast in Bangladesh football,” said Mamic while closely observing the Abahani game from the stand.

Regarding Mamic’s appointment, Abahani coach Satyajit Das Rupu said, “He has a good knowledge and experience about Asia and South Asia football. We hope he will bring in the mentality of a champion to the team and deliver beautiful football on the pitch.”

Mamic also coached Indian Super League side Churchill Brothers in the 2010-11 season but his last club assignment with Indonesian Super League outfit Persib Bandungs ended in a bitter fashion after only six months. Before his coaching career, Mamic played in the Croatian first division for NK Orijent. l

An action of the KFC Independence Cup match between Abahani Limited (R) and Arambagh at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Mohammedan thump Ctg Abahani n Tribune Report

Mohammedan Sporting Club produced a superb display handing new powerhouse Chittagong Abahani a 5-1 thrashing in their Independence Cup Group A match at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

Ismael Bangoura netted twice, in the either side of each half, while

Masuk Miah Jony, Biplu Ahmed and Yusuf Sifat were also on the score-sheet as the port city outfit tasted their first defeat of the competition.

Meanwhile in the day’s other match at the same venue, 10-man Abahani Limited were held to a goalless draw by Arambagh Krira Sangha in a Group B encounter. l

President’s post candidates (1) Combined panel: Kazi Salahuddin Bachao football panel: Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton Independent: Golam Rabbani Helal and Nurul Islam Nuru Senior VP’s post candidates (1) Combined panel: Abdus Salam Murshedy Bachao football panel: Manjur Kader, Dewan Shafiul Arefin Tutul, Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan Vice-president’s posts candidates (4) Combined panel: Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Badal Roy, Mahiuddin Ahmed Mahi, Shamsul Haque Chowdhury Bachao football panel: Ashrafuddin Ahmed Chunnu, Lokman Hossain

revealed the final list of its panel with Narsingdi-2 MP Kamrul Ashraf Khan Poton and Sheikh Jamal DC president Manjur Kader vying for the president and vice president’s posts respectively.

Meanwhile in the opposite panel, three Bangladesh Cricket Board directors and a former director collected nomination forms for different posts yesterday. Apart from Kader, Mohammedan director-in-charge Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan bought two forms for the senior vice president’s post and vice president’s post.

BCB director Nozib Ahmed also bought a nomination form for the vice president’s post while two more forms for the senior vice president’s post and vice president’s post were purchased by former board director Dewan Shafiul Arefin Tutul.

Welcoming all the guests, Salahuddin yesterday said, “One thing that makes me happy is that the BFF has reached such a standard that a lot of people showed interest to come here. Best wishes to everyone and may the best man win.” l Bhuiyan, Nozib Ahmed, Dewan Shafiul Arefin Tutul Members’ posts candidates (15) Combined panel: Harunur Rashid, Amirul Islam Babu, Satyajit Das Rupu, Fazlur Rahman Babul, Elias Hossain, Saleh Zaman Selim, Showkat Ali Khan Jahangir, Mahfuza Akter Kiron, Mahiuddin Ahmed Selim, Towfiqul Islam Tofa, Arif Hossain Moon, Azmal Ahmed Tapan, Amit Khan Shuvra, Abdur Rahim and Alamgir Khan Alo Bachao football panel: Kaiser Hamid, Rumman bin Wali Sabbir, Nowsheruzzaman, Abu Hossain Chowdhury Prince, Kamrunnahar Dana, Abdul Gaffar, Sheikh Mohammad Aslam

DHAKA PREMIER LEAGUE 2015-16 PREVIEW PRIME DOLESHWAR SPORTING CLUB One of the most competitive and professional clubs in the DPL for the past few years, Prime Doleshwar have set a good standard in the domestic cricket arena. Runners up in the previous season, Doleshwar will be eager to maintain their consistency in the forthcoming edition.

Following a lot of ups and downs in the national side in recent times, Nasir Hossain will be looking to utilise the opportunity in the prestigious 50-over competition, along with opening batsman Rony Talukdar and experienced campaigner Farhad Reza.

English cricketer Dawid Malan was instrumental for Doleshwar in the previous season so the club would do well to retain the services of the left-handed batsman.

RESULTS (Last Three Seasons)

2014-15 (runners-up), 2013-14 (third), 2011-12

GAZI GROUP CRICKETERS

Nasir Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Farhad Reza, Ziaur Rahman

The newest inclusion in the 2015-16 season, Gazi Group Cricketers, who were promoted from the First Division League under the title Magnum Cricketers, will be the team to watch out for this season.

Head coach Mohammad Salahuddin, under whose stewardship Comilla Victorians won the third edition of the Bangladesh Premier League recently, will have a great influence on the side.

He previously worked as the fielding coach of Bangladesh.

Gazi’s squad is a mixture of youth and experience. With that said, established domestic cricketers like Alok Kapali, Shamsur Rahman and Anamul Haque will have to lead from the front.

SQUAD (so far)

RESULTS

(seventh)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nasir Hossain, Farhad Reza, Rakibul Hasan Jr, Al Amin Hossain, Rahatul Ferdous, Imtiaz Hossain Tanna, Sahagir Hossain Pavel, Ziaur Rahman, Zakaria Masud, Rony Talukdar, Sanjamul Islam

They will be making their maiden appearance in the upcoming edition

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Alok Kapali, Shamsur Rahman, Anamul Haque, Mohammad Sharif

SQUAD (so far) Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Mohammad Sharif, Farhad Hossain, Delwar Hossain, Mohammad Forkan, Abu Sayem Chowdhury, Nasir Uddin Faruk, Sajedul Islam, Imamul Mustakin Russel, Alok Kapali, Md Elias -MAZHAR UDDIN

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Rangers beat Celtic in shoot-out n AFP, Glasgow

QUICK BYTES Vettel slams Kyvat’s ‘suicidal’ China drive Sebastian Vettel labelled Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat “a madman” after a first-corner clash between them and Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. Kyvat’s aggressive charge into turn one where the Ferraris were already wheel-to-wheel forced Vettel to take evasive action, the German hitting Raikkonen, who had to pit to repair damage to his car.

–AFP

Middlesbrough lead charge towards EPL Middlesbrough opened up a twopoint gap at the top of the Championship when they beat relegated Bolton Wanderers 2-1 on Saturday while Burnley won by the same scoreline at Birmingham City to go second. Boro had started the day a point ahead of Brighton, who beat Fulham 5-0 on Friday but dropped to third after Burnley’s win at St Andrews.

–REUTERS

Fatherhood not form Murray’s priority Andy Murray has rejected suggestions fatherhood is behind his recent form slump, although he stressed being a good parent to his daughter was now took priority over his tennis. Some observers have suggested there is a link between the fact that British star Murray has won just twice on the ATP World Tour since reaching the Australian Open final in January and the birth of his daughter, Sophia, in February.

–AFP

Zidane won’t settle for Champions League win Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane claimed he wouldn’t settle for just winning the Champions League this season after moving to within a point of Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a 5-1 thrashing of Getafe.

“Today I wouldn’t sign for that,” said Zidane when asked if he would settle for winning Madrid’s 11th Champions League at the expense of La Liga.

–AFP

DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL STAR SPORTS 1 1:00AM

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Stoke City v Tottenham Hotspur

CRICKET SONY SIX, SONY ESPN 8:30PM Indian Premier League Hyderabad v Mumbai

Rangers goalkeeper Wes Foderingham makes a save at the feet of Celtic's Leigh Griffiths (R) during the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park, Glasgow yesterday AP

Rangers booked a place in the Scottish Cup final after a dramatic penalty shoot-out yesterday in an action-packed semi-final against Old Firm rivals Celtic that ended 2-2 after extra-time at Hampden.

Australian international Tom Rogic blasted the decisive spotkick over the bar to hand Rangers a 5-4 victory after Callum McGregor and Scott Brown had also missed.

Rangers could now end their four-year exile from Europe if they can defeat Hibernian in May’s final.

The match at Hampden was just the second time in four years that the Glasgow giants have clashed since Rangers were forced to start life again in the country’s bottom tier following an amazing fall from grace that resulted in liquidation in June 2012. l

Sri Lanka warns Malinga against IPL matches n AFP, Colombo

Sri Lanka cricket authorities yesterday warned injured fast bowler Lasith Malinga against playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League without clearance from them.

Malinga, suffering a knee injury that forced him out of the World Twenty20, is in India where he has signed with the Mumbai Indians, although the veteran did not play in the franchise’s first two outings.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said Malinga needed its clearance to play in any IPL matches and must return to Colombo for a fitness assessment this Wednesday before any IPL appearances.

“We have no problem with Malinga travelling to Mumbai to be with his IPL team,” the spokeswoman for SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala told AFP. “But in order to play, he must get a NOC (no objection certificate) from SLC.”

Inzamam quits as Afghan coach, set to take Pakistan job n Reuters, Karachi

Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is set to be appointed as the country’s chief selector after he was released from his role as Afghanistan’s head coach.

The 46-year-old Inzamam guided Afghanistan to the Super 10 stage of the recent World Twenty20 in India, during which they defeated eventual champions West Indies. He had a contract with the Afghan board (ACB) until the end of the year.

ACB chief Shafiq Stanikzai said he had received a request from his Pakistan Cricket Board counterpart Shaharyar Khan to release the former batting great from his contract.

“Today Shaharyar Khan called me and asked a favour to release Inzamam-ul-Haq as they are keen to hire him,” Stanikzai told reporters.

“Malinga has not informed Sri Lanka Cricket of his travel to India nor his intention to play in the IPL,” she said.

After Wednesday’s fitness assessment, “the board will decide what course of action should be taken”.

Malinga was dropped as Sri Lanka captain on the eve of the World T20 in India in March and April because of his injury and after presiding over Sri Lanka’s dismal show-

Sri Lanka’s Herath retires from short formats n Reuters, Colombo Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath has retired from 50-over and Twenty20 internationals in order to carry on playing Test matches, the country’s cricket board said yesterday.

The 38-year-old took 74 wickets in 71 one-day internationals and another 18 in 17 T20 matches for the island nation, shouldered the burden of the spin attack following the

RANGANA HERATH Limited-over career Competition Pakistan exited the World T20 after losing three of their four games in the Super 10 stage prompting head coach Waqar Younis to resign.

Inzamam played 378 one-day internationals and 120 Tests for Pakistan and also served as the team’s batting consultant for a brief period in 2012. l

ing in the Asia Cup. The paceman has a long history of injury problems and gave up Test cricket in 2010, saying he was unable to withstand the rigour of five-day matches.

But Malinga is the IPL’s alltime highest wicket taker. And the 32-year-old is considered an invaluable member of the Sri Lankan team, with teammate Thisara Perera describing him during the World T20 as irreplaceable. l

Matches

ODIs

T20Is

71

14

Runs scored

140

2

Balls bowled

3,242

293

Wickets

74

17

Averages

31.91

17.52

5wkts/in Best bowlings Catches

0

1

4/20

5/3

14

0

retirement of Muttiah Muralidaran.

“Every cricketer has to stop at the right time, I feel it’s time to make room for fresh talent to be groomed with the 2019 World Cup in view,” Herath was quoted as saying in a statement from Sri Lanka Cricket.

“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes Herath nothing but the best as he continues to play cricket in his chosen discipline, and in all future endeavours,” the board said. l

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

LVG accepts United must be more ‘entertaining’ n AFP, Manchester

Louis van Gaal admitted Manchester United’s latest contribution to the race for the Champions League was not enough to get Old Trafford excited.

Yet the United manager believes his side’s stodgy 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday - a result that confirmed the Birmingham club’s relegation from the Premier League - was enough to send out a message to Manchester City and West Ham. The three clubs are set to battle it out for the final place on offer to English teams in next season’s Champions League via fourth spot in the Premier League.

While a laboured display against Villa will not have frightened their rivals, United manager Van Gaal said a 1-0 win that came courtesy of Marcus Rashford’s latest goal will have made the Hammers and City sit up and take notice.

“It was a marvellous goal,” said Van Gaal of 18-year-old Rashford’s seventh goal in 12 first-team appearances.

“I agree that we have to give more entertainment for the fans but the most important thing was to win the game,” the Dutchman added.

“We have to look at Manchester City and also West Ham and Southampton and we have made it very clear today that we want to win. But of course it was not the best match of Manchester United this season.”

Rashford again provided the spark in an otherwise underwhelming United display, yet the teenager can prepare himself for a rest at some stage after van Gaal revealed he considered leaving out the 18-year-old against Villa. l

Leonardo Ulloa celebrates scoring the second goal for Leicester from the penalty spot against West Ham United at King Power Stadium yesterday

REUTERS

10-man Foxes earn hard-fought draw n Reuters Leicester City stumbled on their march towards the Premier League title when they drew 2-2 with West Ham United and had goalscorer Jamie Vardy sent off at the King Power Stadium yesterday.

Vardy put Leicester ahead after a lightning counter-attack in the 18th minute with a left-foot shot into the corner of the net before picking up his first booking for a late challenge on Cheikhou Kouyate.

He picked up his second yellow card for a dive early in the second

EPL RESULTS

Bournemouth King 90+3

1-2

Liverpool

Firmino 41, Sturridge 45

2-2

West Ham

Vardy 18, Ulloa 90+5-P

Carroll 84-P, Cresswell 86

Leicester

half and West Ham gradually came back into the game against Leicester’s 10 men, equalising through an 84th-minute Andy Carroll penalty after Wes Morgan hauled down Winston Reid.

Two minutes later Aaron Cresswell scored a stunning goal for the

Hammers with a fierce shot from the edge of the box which flew past keeper Kasper Schmeichel, but Leicester equalised with virtually the last kick of the game when Leonardo Ulloa scored from the spot after Carroll fouled Jeffrey Schlupp.

Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp made 10 changes from the team that beat Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League and watched his experimental side overcome Bournemouth 2-1 in a low-key game in the south coast sunshine on Sunday.

Both Liverpool goals came at the

Lescott slammed for relegation remark n Reuters Former Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore has lashed out at Jolean Lescott after the defender said their relegation from the Premier League was a “weight off the shoulders.”

Villa, European Cup winners in the 1981/82 season, lost 1-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday to confirm demotion following a disastrous campaign in which they have won just three matches and employed the same number of managers.

Lescott has endured a tough time since signing from West Bromwich Albion in September but the 33-year-old said he wanted to stay on with the seven-times Eng-

lish champions.

“We showed a level of pride that there’s probably not been enough of throughout the season,” the central defender told the BBC after Saturday’s loss.

“It’s about results so regardless of how we played in patches today we are relegated ... but now it’s confirmed maybe it’s a weight off the shoulders and we can give these fans what they deserve, some performances.

“Throughout the season we have given reasons for people to jump on us. It’s part of football, we have to take that on the chin. It’s a tough time at the minute. But at the back of our minds is next season to get promoted. I’m here for as

long as Aston Villa want me.”

Lescott had angered Villa fans by posting a picture of a sports car on Twitter after a 6-0 home loss to Liverpool in February which he later said was published accidentally from his pocket while he was driving.

Collymore, who spent three years at Villa now works as a commentator and presenter on radio station TalkSPORT, said relegation should not be regarded as a relief and that people would lose their jobs at the club.

“Today this is a senior international footballer in the modern era, now confirmed ‘maybe it’s a weight off the shoulders.’ Why is it a weight off the shoulders Joleon?” Collymore said on a radio programme. l

end of the first half, Roberto Firmino ending a superb move with a close range tap-in after 41 minutes before Daniel Sturridge made it 2-0 with a header from a Jordan Ibe free kick.

Bournemouth replied in stoppage time when Josh King half-volleyed in from the edge of the box.

Before the kickoff flowers were laid on the pitch in memory of the Liverpool 96 fans who died at Hillsborough in April 1989 with the club’s anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” played as the short ceremony took place. l

Hodgson plays down Carroll’s Euro chances n Reuters, London England manager Roy Hodgson has played down West Ham United striker Andy Carroll’s chances of being picked for this year’s European Championship.

The injury-plagued 27-year-old scored a Premier League hat-trick against Arsenal last week, prompting calls for Hodgson to include him in the squad for the tournament in France, which starts in June.

“Every time someone scores a goal and he’s English it is ‘why is he not playing for England?’,” the 68-year-old told reporters. l

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Rosberg romps to treble in China n AFP, Shanghai Nico Rosberg stormed to victory in a chaotic Chinese Grand Prix yesterday, methodically completing a hattrick of wins to extend his perfect start to the 2016 Formula One season.

The German’s Mercedes was jumped at the start by Daniel Ricciardo but after avoiding the first-corner mayhem unfolding behind the front two, he quickly caught the Red Bull and romped home to win by a whopping 38 seconds from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton began from the back of the Shanghai grid after a mechanical failure on his Mercedes sabotaged qualifying for the Briton on Saturday but he roared back to take seventh, despite pitting early to replace a damaged front wing.

“It’s too early to make any premature conclusions,” insisted Rosberg after stretching his championship lead to 36 points. “Lewis is not many points behind - 30 points is not much, it’s a race and a bit and he will never give up.”

Ferrari’s wretched fortune continued after Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen collided at the first turn, allowing Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull to slip past into third, which is where the Russian finished. l

Inter dent Napoli scudetto hopes n AFP, Milan Goals by Mauro Icardi and Marcelo Brozovic earned Inter Milan a Champions League lifeline on the way to virtually ending Napoli’s hopes of a first Serie A title in 26 years with a dramatic 2-0 win on Saturday.

Napoli travelled to the San Siro hoping they could make light of 30-goal Gonzalo Higuain’s threematch ban following his dramatic meltdown in a 3-1 defeat at Udinese two weeks ago.

But Maurizio Sarri’s men were stunned in the fourth minute when an apparently offside Icardi ran behind the Napoli defence to lob Pepe Reina.

Inter then soaked up a lengthy spell of Napoli pressure to hit their second on the stroke of half-time to leave the visitors with a mountain to climb.

Napoli remain in second place at six points behind Juventus but could be nine points in arrears if the champions and leaders had accounted for Palermo in Turin yesterday, after which there will be five matches remaining in the season.

Inter remain in fourth place but Roberto Mancini’s men are now just three points behind Roma,

Inter Milan's Gary Medel (L) fights for the ball with Napoli's Lorenzo Insigne during their Italian Serie A match at San Siro Stadium in Milan on Saturday AFP who occupy the third and last Champions League qualifying spot ahead of their potentially difficult trip to Atalanta.

Amid an ongoing Napoli media boycott, Mancini was left alone to speak post-match.

The Italian praised the Ner-

Bayern close on German title as Lewandowski strikes n Reuters, Berlin Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski scored twice in a 3-0 victory over Schalke 04 on Saturday that edged them closer to a record fourth consecutive league title.

The Bundesliga’s leading scorer took his tally to 27 goals after a fine turn and shot in the 54th minute and a well-timed header 11 minutes later before Arturo Vidal sealed the win.

Bayern, eyeing a second treble-winning season after 2013 and facing Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final, are on 78 points, 10 clear at the top.

Second-placed Borussia Dortmund could

RESULTS Leverkusen

3-0

Frankfurt

Kampl 40, Brandt 76, Bellarabi 90

Augsburg

1-0

Stuttgart

Finnbogason 36

Werder Bremen

3-2

Pizarro 32-P, Bartels 65, Yatabaré 83

Hoffenheim

2-1

Schaer 33, Uth 85

Darmstadt

Wolfsburg Guilavogui 36, Dost 87

H Berlin Stark 27

2-0

Ingolstadt

Rausch 51, Wagner 85

Bayern Munich

3-0

Lewandowski 54, 65, Vidal 73

Schalke

have cut the lead down to seven when they took on Hamburg SV yesterday.

“I got some rest this week because I did not play in the Champions League,” Lewandowski told reporters. “We were a bit too slow in the first half but we did much better after the break with the three goals.

“It’s important for us to play well in the league because only then can we play well in the Champions League.”

Bayern were in control from the start, dominating possession against a two-line defence in the first half. Vidal’s left-foot effort scraped the post seven minutes after the restart with the Bavarians again pressing for a goal. l

azzurri defence, but remained coy on Inter’s Champions League chances.

“In defence we were really strong,” said Mancini. “When they had the ball we didn’t concede anything to Napoli and that means the whole team played well.” l

RESULTS Bologna

0-1

Torino Belotti 93-P

Carpi

4-1

Di Gaudio 45+4, Lollo 45+5, Pasciuti 49, Sabelli 86

Inter Milan

2-0

Icardi 4, Brozovic 44

Genoa Pavoletti 34

Napoli

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Award called off for plagiarism

n Rumpa Farzana Zaman The National Award for Brihonnola has been rejected. Brihonnola, a movie directed by Murad Pavez, won in three categories in the National Film Award 2014: best film, best story and best dialogue.

After the announcement, the director of Brihonnala, was alleged for plagiarism. The allegation came under spotlight when Times of India published a report quoting Syed Mustafa Siraj’s elder son Abhijit Siraj.

In the report published in September last year, Siraj claimed that Murad Parvez’s Brihonnola

was an adaptation of “Gaachhta Bolechhilo,” a short story written by his father. Unfortunately, Murad did not give any credit to the original writer.

The government had earlier sent a notice to its director, Murad Parvez, asking for his explanation on the allegation that the source of Brihonnola is Syed Mustafa Siraj’s short story “Gachhta Bolechhilo.”

The information secretary said that Parvez had responded to the ministry’s call for an explanation.

However, he did not disclose the names of other members of the investigation panel.

West Bengal-based authors

‘Krishnopokkho’ screened at Geneva International Film Festival n Rumpa Farzana Zaman Krishnopokkho, a film adaptation of a novel by the late legendary writer Humayun Ahmed, was screened at the closing ceremony of Geneva International Film Festival, which took place in Switzerland yesterday.

It is the first film directed by Meher Afroz Shaon, wife of late Humayun Ahmed, and produced

by Impress Telefilm Ltd. The film was screened at the Grotholi Cinema Hall at 4pm (local time). Krishnopokkho stars Riaz and Mahiya Mahi in the leading roles.

The festival started on April 11 and commenced till yesterday.

80 full-length films and 30 documentaries from 30 different countries were screened in four cinema halls during the festival.

This year, the managing director of Impress Telefilm, Faridur Reza Sagar; his wife Kona Reza; and Channel i director of sales and marketing, Ibne Hasan Khan took part in the 11th edition of the Geneva Festival.

M Shameem Ahsan, ambassador of Bangladesh mission in Geneva and deputy ambassador M Nazrul Islam were invited at the screening of the film. l

Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay and Debesh Roy have written to Information Minister, Hasanul Haq Inu, asking the government to pay Rs1,50,000 to the family of Siraj as royalty. Syed Hasmat Jalal, the secretary to Syed Mustafa Siraj Academy, had also written to Inu regarding the matter.

Finally, after two months of continuous allegations, Brihonnola got rejected by the National Award authority in all three of the categories. Murad has always been saying that Brihonnola was his brain child. He told Dhaka Tribune earlier that, “there

is no valid ground behind the allegations. Two stories may have characteristic similarities. This is not unusual.”

The film Brihonnola, also funded by the government, starrs

Sohana Saba and Ferdous. After a long marital relationship, Sohana Saba and Murad Parvez got divorced recently for reasons that are unknown to all. l

Scarlett Jo’s new role incites backlash

n Hasan Mansoor Chatak The first-look of the manga sci-fi thriller Ghost in the Shell, featuring Scarlett Johansson as the Japanese character Major Motoko Kusanagi, was recently released. As a result, another Hollywood “whitewashing” row just broke out.

Based on the Japanese comic

of the same title, the futuristic movie is currently being filmed in Wellington, New Zealand as a joint production between Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks, with Weta Workshop stepping up for special effects.

However, a debate has erupted on social media over whether an Asian actor should have been cast for Johansson’s role, with an

On-screen chemistry

online petition attracting 66,000 signatories till date.

Julie Rodriguez, the author of the petition, said: “The original film is set in Japan, and the major cast members are Japanese. So why would the American remake star a white actress?”

“The industry is already unfriendly to Asian actors without roles in major films being changed

Nikhil Chinapa in Dhaka n Showtime Desk

n Rumpa Farzana Zaman Adil Hossain Nobel and Sadia Islam Mou, are a very popular duo of the Bangladeshi advertising industry, is back after 15 years with an upcoming TVC for a telecom. The concept of the TVC is the “perks of coming back” and the duo fit

the concept perfectly. Recently, they showcased their on screen chemistry while shooting for Robi’s “win back” offer.

They said that if the story and concepts are good enough, they will not say no because the only thing that can attract the audience is quality work. l

to exclude them. One recent survey found that in 2013, Asian characters made up only 4.4 percent of speaking roles in topgrossing Hollywood films,” she added.

Mulan star Ming Na-Wen also joined the critics, accusing filmmakers of “whitewashing” the remake of the Japanese manga.

“Nothing against Scarlett Johansson,” she tweeted. “In fact, I’m a big fan. But everything against this whitewashing of Asian roles.”

Another critic, using the Twitter handle Peri Menopausal, adds: “Srsly?? (Seriously) So many grt (great) Asian actresses out there: #LucyLiu would slay this, obviously, but also @MingNa, Arden Cho, Maggie Q, Zhang Ziyi.”

Johansson will play a humancyborg hybrid who leads an elite taskforce called Section 9, which is charged with wiping out dangerous criminals. Directed by Snow White and the Huntsman’s Rupert Sanders, Ghost in the Shell is expected to release next April.

Aloha, a romantic comedy by Cameron Crowe from last year, also came under fire for casting Emma Stone as a character who is of Hawaiian and Chinese descent. l

Nikhil Chinapa, the popular video, radio jockey and TV presenter from India, is coming to Bangladesh for the first time.

During his visit, Nikhil will be participating in a musical event called Pulse.

Chinapa is the co-founder and former festival director of the Sunburn Festival, Asia’s premier music festival in Goa. He is the current festival curator and partner of Vh1 Supersonic – Goa’s brand new beach music festival.

Chinapa and his electronic dance music company Submerge Music are better known for being instrumental in bringing the most prominent DJs to India such as Above & Beyond, Swedish House Mafia, Alesso, Deniz Koyu, Armin Van Buuren, Zedd, Hardwell and Tiesto.

Nikhil has hosted shows regularly on MTV India for a long time now and has been part of almost

every show the channel has aired, including MTV Select, India’s Got Talent, Fame X, MTV Roadies, Rock On and MTV Mashups. He has also acted in various Hindi films. He also runs an exclusive clothing line for men in collaboration with Indian online fashion brand Koovs.com. l Registrations for the musical event are open at www. hitthepulse. com

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

WHAT TO WATCH

The Prestige HBO Hits, 4:28pm Robert and Alfred are friends who are also upcoming magicians. They start presenting magic shows together but part ways due to an unfortunate incident that makes them rivals. Thus begins the competition as they try to outdo each other. Things turn ugly when Robert finds out that Alfred has invented a new trick.

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, David Bowie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Star Movies, 9:30pm A whole year after conquering the White Witch, the Pevensie siblings - Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan - return to Narnia.

They find out that more than 1,300 years have gone by in Narnia time and The Golden Age is well past.

Narnia has been conquered by humans and the evil King Miraz is in charge.

Determined to never give up his power, Miraz has driven all the magical creatures into exile. He is also plotting to kill his nephew, Prince Caspian who is the rightful heir to the throne.

Cast: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell Wild Wild West WB, 9:30pm Jim West is a former civil war hero and Artemus Gordon is a US marshal who is an expert at disguise.

Arliss Loveless is a mad man threatening the country.

President Ulysses Grant orders Jim and Artemus to team up against the villain and have him arrested.

Watch the film as Jim and Artemus use their combined skills to outsmart Arliss during a train journey from Washington to Utah.

Cast: Will Smith, Kevin Kline, Salma Hayek, Kenneth Branagh, Ted Levine

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MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Back Page

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Earthquake kills 233 in Ecuador n Reuters The death toll from Ecuador’s biggest earthquake in decades soared to at least 233 on Sunday as rescuers using tractors and bare hands hunted desperately for survivors in shattered coastal towns.

The 7.8 magnitude quake struck off the Pacific coast on Saturday and was felt around the Andean nation of 16m people, causing panic as far away as the highland capital Quito and collapsing buildings and roads in a swathe of western towns.

President Rafael Correa, who was rushing home from a trip to

Italy, said the confirmed number of fatalities rose on Sunday to 233.

“The immediate priority is to rescue people in the rubble,” he said via Tiwtter.

More than 1,500 people were injured, authorities said.

“There are people trapped in various places and we are starting rescue operations,” Vice President Jorge Glas said on Sunday morning before boarding a plane to the area.

A state of emergency was declared in six provinces.

In Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, rubble lay in the streets and a bridge fell on top of a car.

“It was terrifying, we were all

scared and we’re still out in the streets because we’re worried about aftershocks,” said Guayaquil security guard Fernando Garcia.

About 13,500 security force personnel were mobilised to keep order around Ecuador, and $600 million in credit from multilateral lenders was immediately activated for the emergency, the government said.

Parts of the highland capital Quito were without power or phone service for several hours but the city government said those services had been restored and there were no reports of casualties in the city.

The government called it the

worst quake in the country since 1979. In that disaster, 600 people were killed and 20,000 injured, according to the US Geological Survey.

Among international aid, Venezuela and Mexico were sending personnel and supplies, the Correa government said.

A tsunami warning was lifted on Saturday night but coastal residents were urged to seek higher ground in case tides rise.

The OPEC member said oil production was not affected, but closed its main refinery of Esmeraldas, located near the epicenter, as a precautionary measure.

The Ecuadorean quake followed

two large and deadly quakes that struck Japan since Thursday. Both countries are located on the seismically active “Ring of Fire” that circles the Pacific, but according to the US Geological Survey large quakes separated by such long distances would probably not be related.

“Even the earth’s rocky crust is not rigid enough to transfer stress efficiently over thousands of miles,” it said on its web site.

Quakes can cause other big quakes within a range of hundreds of miles, but can cause only small, brief quakes at a distance of thousands of miles, it said. l

CAAB lifts ban on visitors’ entry to Dhaka airport n Ishtiaq Husain

Mother of slain Safia, 23, falls to the feet of a police official, begging to see her daughter for one last time at Shamakhdum in Rajshahi city yesterday. Safia was slaughtered by her husband Ainal Haque, 30, in broad daylight over a trivial matter. Ainal’s sister-in-law Shoma was also injured when she went to stop Ainal and was stabbed in the process. Ainal was later arrested by police AZAHAR UDDIN

The Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) has lifted its ban on visitors’ access to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

Rezaul Karim, public relations officer of CAAB, confirmed the matter to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

“The embargo on visitors’ entry at the terminal in departure and arrival areas at the airport has been lifted today (yesterday),” he said.

Earlier, the CAAB authorities imposed the embargo on visitors’ entry at the airport at the end of last

year following a militant threat.

Immediately after CAAB’s decision to lift the ban was made public on Facebook, people responded positively on the Facebook page of Magistrates, All Airports of Bangladesh.

“This is the best news of the day,” commented Mehrab Ali, one of the page’s followers. He also asked about the entry fee.

Welcoming CAAB’s decision, another follower named Kazol Bepari said when the ban was in place, his mother could not see off two of his brothers at the departure terminal when they went abroad. l

MP: Criminals, not police, killed Banshkhali protesters n Anwar Hussain, Chittagong

It was criminals, not the police, who shot and killed coal plant protesters in Banshkhali, the local lawmaker has alleged.

“It was not the police firing; rather it was the firing of criminals that left four people dead at Gondamara union of Chittagong’s Banshkhali upazila,” said Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury, the Awami League MP from Banshkhali constituency.

He made the comment yesterday while speaking as the chief guest at a view-exchange programme on the construction of a coal-fired power

plant. It was jointly organised by Banshkhali upazila administration and Power Division.

The shooting took place on April 4 when the locals protested against the move to set up a Chinese-funded coal-based power plant by local business conglomerate S Alam Group.

“I promise that the innocent locals will not be harassed in this connection. I will take steps to bring them out on bail. However, the people involved with the incident must face legal consequences,” said Mostafizur.

Taking a swipe at the people who are opposing the plant, the lawmak-

er remarked that evil politics was going on over the setting up of the plant. “They [protesters] are now provoking the villagers of Banshkhali for gaining undue financial advantage from S Alam Group.”

He added that there would have been more bloodshed if a ban on rally had not been imposed on that day.

“The prime minister does not undertake any development project that will prove harmful for citizens. Sheikh Hasina adopted the plan to install the coal-based power plant as she loves the residents of Banshkhali,” the MP said.

Dr Ahmad Kaikaus, additional

secretary of the Power Division, also gave a powerpoint presentation to assure locals that the proposed power plant would not cause any damage to the locals or the environment.

“It is not plausible that a project of the incumbent government will cause environmental hazard when our prime minister has been awarded with Champions of the Earth [award]. An amount of Tk3035 crore will be spent annually for the development of the locality and the money will be sourced from the proceeds of the power plant,” Kaikaus said.

Mohammad Hossain, director

General of Power Division’s Power Cell, said: “There is no possibility of environmental degradation if a coal-fired power plant is set up in the area. The proposed plant will be constructed adopting modern methods. Although the plant will be installed by a private company, the government will monitor it.”

Banshkhali upazila chairman Jahirul Islam said: “A section of seasonal politicians are spreading propaganda and misguiding people for making some quick money.

However, we are not brokering for anybody’s interest. We are for the development of the area.” l

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