26 April, 2016

SECOND EDITION

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

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Boishakh 13, 1423, Rajab 18, 1437

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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 4, No 5

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

LGBT magazine Roopbaan editor among two hacked to death LGBT community feels threatened n Adil Sakhawat

Police officials bring out the bodies of LGBT activists Xulhaz Mannan, above, and his friend Mahbub Tonoy, who were hacked to death by unidentified assailants in Dhaka’s Kalabagan yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Jamil Khan n Mohammad and Karmul Hasan Two persons including the editor of Roopbaan, Bangladesh’s first ever LGBT magazine, were hacked to death in their flat at Kalabagan, Dhaka yesterday.

Assailants identifying themselves as courier service deliverymen entered the flat and hacked Xulhaz Mannan, 35, and his friend

Mahbub Tonoy, 25.

Witnesses said the attackers used machetes to attack but fired blank shots on their way out chanting Allahu Akbar.

Xulhaz was a cousin of former foreign minister Dipu Moni, said Abdul Baten, deputy commissioner of Ramna division police. He was also an official of the USAID and a former protocol officer of the US Embassy.

Tonoy was an LGBT and theatre activist.

“The incident took place on the second floor of the six-storey building around 5:30pm yesterday,” a witness said. Xulhaz had been living in the flat for the last seven years.

Parvez Mollah, 18, a security guard of the building, told the Dhaka Tribune that six youths aged between 25 and 30, came with two

BB hackers compromised SWIFT software, warning issued n Reuters

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

Number 5 or 7?

Confusion surrounding Bangladesh’s ICC ODI ranking “I saw the rankings before I n Mazhar Uddin went to the [ICC] meeting [in Du-

3,000 financial institutions, confirmed to Reuters that it was aware of malware targeting its client software. Its spokeswoman Natasha Deteran said SWIFT yesterday released a software update to thwart the malware, along with a special warning for financial institutions to scrutinize their security procedures.

The new developments now

coming to light in the unprecedented cyber-heist suggest that an essential lynchpin of the global financial system could be more vulnerable than previously understood to hacking attacks, due to the vulnerabilities that enabled attackers to modify SWIFT's client software.

Deteran on Sunday said the body was issuing the software update

Taleya: Shafik met Lustyik

Hospital tries to hide girl’s death

Cruz, Kasich reach stop-Trump deal

‘Good films’ too good for audience?

Shafik Rehman knew about the alleged secret deal with Robert Lustyik and he also met the former FBI special agent in the US, his wife has said.  PAGE 3

The Padma General Hospital in Dhaka was fined after finding irregularities including an attempt by hospital officials to conceal the news of a girl’s death from her own family.  PAGE 6

Republican rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced a deal to stay out of each other’s way in upcoming state primaries in hopes of blocking front-runner Donald Trump.  PAGE 24

Hall owners say critically acclaimed films do not attract people as they did in the past and rued film-makers for degrading quality and advocated screening foreign films as a solution.  PAGE 32

The attackers who stole $81m from the Bangladesh central bank “probably” hacked into software from the SWIFT financial platform that is at the heart of the global financial system, said security researchers at British defence contractor BAE Systems.

SWIFT, a cooperative owned by

INSIDE

packets and asked which flat Xulhaz lived in. They wearing blue and mint green coloured T-shirts and black trousers and all of them were carrying side bags.

One of the youths told Parvez that they were from a courier service and that they had a parcel for Xulhaz.

Parvez told the youths that he needed permission from Xulhaz

 PAGE 2 COLUMN 1

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists in Bangladesh fear for their lives and have begun to go into hiding following the murder of Xulhaz Mannan, editor of Bangladesh’s first LGBT magazine.

Several members of the community refused to speak to the Dhaka Tribune when contacted saying they were too shocked to react.

Some said they would soon move from their present locations as they the feel same thing might happen to them.

But many activists reaffirmed their commitment to their cause, saying they would continue their activism even if under a different name and from a different location.

Sharif Hasan Bappy, who identified himself as a friend of Xulhaz, said: “They will destroy or kill everyone who is an LGBT activist. Roopbaan’s activities may face instability for a while but it will not stop.”

Bappy said publication of Roopbaan’s third edition might be delayed after the incident. l

Much like the cricket fans of the country, even Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan found himself in disbelief when he first saw the updated International Cricket Council ODI team rankings where the Tigers jumped from seventh to fifth position.

bai]. I thought they had made a mistake. I thought they were No 7, when did they become No 5? I checked Cricinfo and even there Bangladesh were No 7. I was in a lot of tension after seeing the rankings so I was waiting for it to come up in  PAGE 2 COLUMN 5

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

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LGBT magazine Roopbaan editor among two hacked to death first and went to the second floor to talk to Xulhaz. But three youths followed him.

When Parvez told Xulhaz about the courier delivery, Xulhaz said he was not expecting any parcel and tried to shut the door.

Parvez asked the three to step aside, but it was already too late.

The three youths brought out machetes from their bags and one of them hit Parvez on the head.

The three then forcefully entered the house and hit Xulhaz and Tonoy on the head and kneck, Parvez told the Dhaka Tribune.

Xulhaz’s mother and a housemaid were in other rooms of the flat at that time. When they arrived at the scene the youths were already on their way out firing several shots and chanting “Allahu Akbar.”

The bodies of the deceased were taken to the Dhaka Medical College morgue around 11:30pm.

Parvez was undergoing treatment at the DMCH yesterday evening for a severe injury on the eye and head.

Dr Md Rabiul Alam of DMCH eye department said Parvez needed to be sent to the neurosurgery department for check-up.

The three other youths had been at the main gate of the building the whole time. As the three killers

joined them, all of them left the spot running in a uniform rhythm – just like a disciplined force.

The security guards of other buildings tried to chase the killers but one of the assailants fired a shot and fled the scene. Hearing the shot an assistant sub-inspector of police – Mamtaz, who was on duty in front of the Square Hospital – confronted the youths in the alley.

“But the killers shot the ASI with a pistol,” Shibly Noman, senior assistant commissioner of DMP Ramna division, told the Dhaka Tribune.

A little far from the spot, the killers stopped and two of them changed their T-shirts and wore white T-shirts, a resident of the area told the Dhaka Tribune.

A neighbour of Xulhaz, requesting not to be named, told the Dhaka Tribune that she went to the flat and found Xulhaz’s body lying on the floor of the drawing room and that of Tonoy in another room.

“Xulhaz’s mother, who was in another room at the time of attack, shouted for help saying that her son was still alive,” the neighbour said.

The crime scene units of the Criminal Investigation Department and Police Bureau of Investigation visited the spot and were working as of 10:30pm.

About the nature of the incident, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Khan, who visited the spot, said: “The incident has just happened, we cannot yet say anything right now. We are investigating the incident and checking his [Xulhaz’s] status – if he had previous enmi-

ty, his relationship with others at workplace etc.”

Asked about Xulhaz’s involvement with Roopbaan, the DMP boss said: “We have learned about it and we are checking everything about this. It is not the right time to comment over the issue.”

Asaduzzaman also said the kill-

Who were Xulhaz and Tonoy?

Xulhaz Mannan had been a longtime LGBT rights activist. He was the founder of Roopbaan, Bangladesh’s first magazine to talk for the rights of LGBT persons.

Before joining the US Embassy as the protocol officer, he worked for a non-profit organisation and organised various social events for the LGBT community.

He also actively contributed to the work of Boys of Bangladesh, another LGBT organisation.

Xulhaz appeared on various social platforms to talk about LGBT rights.

A few days ago before the Rainbow Rally was supposed to be held on Pohela Boishakh, a Facebook page named Voice of Bangladesh opened up an event page to begin a campaign against Roopbaan and the LGBT community in

Bangladesh.

They openly threatened to kill LGBT individuals quoting verses from the Quran and Hadith.

Following the threat and police intervention, Roopbaan eventually cancelled the Rainbow Rally on April 14, the same day four LGBT activists were detained by police.

Mahbub Tonoy, 25, the other victim, was also an LGBT rights activist. He worked with Roopbaan for the last one year.

Before that he worked with Boys of Bangladesh. He was also a theatre actor.

Tonoy had also been receiving death threats over the past few days.

A few other prominent LGBT activists went into hiding after they were threatened. l

BB hackers compromised SWIFT software, warning issued “to assist customers in enhancing their security and to spot inconsistencies in their local database records.” She said “the malware has no impact on SWIFT’s network or core messaging services.”

The software update and warning from Brussels-based SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, come after researchers at BAE, which has a large cyber-security business, confirmed that they believe they discovered malware that the Bangladesh Bank attackers used to manipulate SWIFT client software known as Alliance Access.

BAE published its findings yesterday in a blog post on malware that it said thieves used to cover their tracks and delay discovery of the heist.

The cyber criminals tried to make fraudulent transfers totalling $951m from the Bangladesh central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February.

Most of the payments were blocked, but $81m was routed to accounts in the Philippines and diverted to casinos there. Most of those funds remain missing.

Investigators probing the heist had previously said the still-unidentified hackers had broken into Bangladesh Bank computers and taken control of credentials that were used to log into the SWIFT system. But the BAE research shows that the SWIFT software on

the bank computers was probably compromised in order to erase records of illicit transfers.

The SWIFT messaging platform is used by 11,000 banks and other institutions around the world, though only some use the Alliance Access software, Deteran said.

SWIFT may release additional updates as it learns more about the attack in Bangladesh and other potential threats, Deteran said.

It is also reiterating a warning to banks that they should review internal security.

“Whilst we keep all our interface products under continual review and recommend that other vendors do the same, the key defence against such attack scenarios is that users implement appropriate security measures in their local environments to safeguard systems,” Deteran said.

Adrian Nish, BAE’s head of threat intelligence, said he had never seen such an elaborate scheme from criminal hackers.

A BB spokesman declined comment on BAE’s findings.

A senior official with the Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department said that investigators had not found the specific malware described by BAE, but that forensics experts had not finished their probe.

Bangladesh investigators said last week that the bank’s computer security measures were seriously deficient, lacking even basic precautions

like firewalls and relying on used, $10 switches in its local networks.

Still, police investigators said both the bank and SWIFT should take the blame for the problems.

“It was their responsibility to point it out but we haven’t found any evidence that they advised before the heist,” said Mohammad Shah Alam, head of the Forensic Training Institute of the Bangladesh police’s criminal investigation department, referring to SWIFT.

Thwarting future attacks

Yesterday’s alert from BAE includes some technical indicators that the firm said it hopes banks could use to thwart similar attacks. Those indicators include the IP address of a server in Egypt the attackers used to monitor use of the SWIFT system by Bangladesh Bank staff.

The malware, named evtdiag. exe, was designed to hide the hacker’s tracks by changing information on a SWIFT database at Bangladesh Bank that tracks information about transfer requests, according to BAE. BAE said that evtdiag.exe was likely part of a broader attack toolkit that was installed after the attackers obtained administrator credentials.

Nish said that BAE found evtdiag.exe on a malware repository and had not directly analysed the infected servers. Such repositories collect millions of new samples a

day from researchers, businesses, government agencies and members of the public who upload files to see if they are recognised as malicious and help thwart future attacks.

Nish said he was highly confident the malware was used in the attack because it was compiled close to the date of the heist, contained detailed information about the bank’s operations and was uploaded from Bangladesh.

While that malware was specifically written to attack Bangladesh Bank, “the general tools, techniques and procedures used in the attack may allow the gang to strike again,” according to a draft of the BAE warning.

The malware was designed to make a slight change to code of the Access Alliance software installed at Bangladesh Bank, giving attackers the ability to modify a database that logged the bank’s activity over the SWIFT network, Nish said.

Once it had established a foothold, the malware could delete records of outgoing transfer requests altogether from the database and also intercept incoming messages confirming transfers ordered by the hackers, Nish said.

It was able to then manipulate account balances on logs to prevent the heist from being discovered until after the funds had been laundered.

It also manipulated a printer that produced hard copies of transfer requests so that the bank would

ing was a targeted one.

Monirul Islam, chief of counter-terrorism and trans-national crime unit, said they have just started the investigation into the case and it was not possible to say if militancy was involved right now.

“Our bomb disposal team has opened the parcel left by the assailants but nothing significant was found inside it,” he said.

There was no CCTV camera installed in the building.

Benzir Ahmed, director general of RAB, said his force was conducting a shadow probe into the incident.

Former foreign minister Dipu Moni visited the spot, but refused to make any comments.

US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat in a statement yesterday said she was devastated by the brutal murder of US mission employee Xulhaz Mannan.

“We abhor this senseless act of violence and urge the Government of Bangladesh in the strongest terms to apprehend the criminals behind these murders,” she said.

“Xulhaz was more than a colleague to those of us fortunate to work with him at the US Embassy.

He was a dear friend. Our prayers are with Xulhaz, the other victim, and those injured in the attack,” said Bernicat’s statement.l

not identify the attack through those printouts, he said. l

Number 5 or 7? the meeting. I was the sole Bangladesh representative so you can imagine how I felt,” he said.

However, soon after his announcement, there was confusion over whether Bangladesh would really rise to fifth position.

Dhaka Tribune has learned thereafter that the Tigers would have been fifth if results of the last two years were only taken into account.

The ODI rankings are calculated in accordance with a three-year cycle, as opposed to two years. As such, when the ICC releases the annual ODI rankings on May 1 this year, Bangladesh would retain their seventh position.

Under the same three-year calculation method, direct qualification for the 2019 World Cup will be decided and England, along with the seven next highest-ranked sides will progress. The series which will be used for calculation purposes will be 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17, with results of 201415 and 2015-16 to be weighted at 50 per cent and results of 2016-17 to be weighted at 100 per cent.

If one will only considers series results from 2014-15 and 2015-16 (as no matches in the 2016-17 season have been played as yet), then Bangladesh have a ranking of fifth. l

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Taleya: Shafik met Lustyik n Arifur Rahman Rabbi Shafik Rehman knew about the alleged secret deal with Robert Lustyik and he also met the former FBI special agent in the US, the arrested journalist’s wife Taleya Rahman has said.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, she also admitted that the police have seized documents from their Eskaton home.

“As an investigative journalist, Shafik Rehman collects information to write an article. For the same reason, he went to the United States to meet with FBI agent Lustyik,” said Taleya, the chief of NGO Democracywatch.

Talking to reporters at her own home, she said Shafik kept all

Mahmudur put on remand n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday placed Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of the Bangla daily Amar Desh, on a five-day remand rejecting bail petition in a case filed on charges of plotting to abduct and kill Prime Minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Metropolitan Magistrate Md Golam Nabi passed the order after DB Assistant Commissioner Hassan Arafat, also the investigation officer of the case, produced him before the court with a 10-day remand petition for interrogation.

The court also directed the investigation officer to follow the directives of the High Court Division during the interrogation of the accused.

Opposing the remand plea, defense counsel Md Sanaullah Miah filed a bail petition before the court for Mahmudur Rahman. The court rejected the bail petition after the hearing.

Earlier, on April 18, the Detective Branch (DB) of police appealed to a Dhaka court to show Mahmudur Rahman arrested in the case.

IO Hassan Arafat also sought the 10-day remand for interrogating him in the case. Following the pleas, the court fixed April 25 for hearing on the petitions.

The Amar Desh acting editor, also a pro-BNP journalist and a former energy adviser, has been in jail in connection with other cases, since he was arrested from his Karwan Bazar office on April 11, 2013.

On April 16, in the same case, DB police arrested senior journalist Shafik Rehman, former editor of the Bangla daily Jaijaidin from his Eskaton house in connection with the case.

He is now on a five-day remand in the DB custody. l

information regarding his investigative articles organised. “It is true that documents were found,” Taleya said, adding that information regarding Lustyik was also in Shafik’s collection and was handed over to the police by the former Jaijaidin editor.

On April 16, Shafik was arrested from his residence in Dhaka. Following his arrest, police claimed that the BNP-leaning journalist met with three people in the US on January 29, 2012, to plot the abduction and murder of Joy. Replying to a question about financial transaction with Lustyik, Rehman’s wife said: “He [Shafik] did not give any money, but he knew the news of the transaction.”

Explaining the activities of her

husband, Taleya said: “The information exchanged was about a special person. He [Shafik] must have gone to America because he knew.

I found about it later.”

The meeting between Shafik and Lustyik probably took place in 2012, she said.

“Information has been provided [by Shafik to detectives]. Those information did not contain anything about murder or abduction. He [Shafik] gave information on the data passed on by Lustyik. I do not know anything more,” Taleya said.

Claiming that her husband always collects evidence before reporting any story, she said: “He did not write a story in this case. It means there was not enough information to write [a story].”

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Such activities were “defaming” Shafiq Rehman and “influencing” the investigation, Taleya said.

She also expressed concern that Shafik might be tortured and coerced into giving a false confession in remand.

Taleya also read out the written verdict by a US court in this connection, saying that court had dismissed charges of murder-kidnapping in a bribery case.

JaSaS vice-president’s son Rizve Ahmed Caesar, Lustyik and his friend Thaler are currently serving jail sentences in the US in connection with the bribery scheme to dig up confidential information about Joy. l

Kashimpur Jail guard killed n Raihanul Islam Akand, Gazipur A retired guard of Kashimpur Central Women’s Jail was gunned down by miscreants in front of the jail gate yesterday morning.

Rustom Ali, 60, was a former sergeant instructor of the jail who retired in November last year.

Rustom was shot around 11:15am in front of a drug store about 200 yards from the main gate of the jail, Jail Superintendent Subrata Kumar Bala said.

Three men riding a motorcycle fired several rounds before fleeing, eyewitnesses said. Rustom was taken to Shahid Tajuddin Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead. Doctors said Rustom had bullet wounds on his face, chest and left arm. l

Climate adaptation conference begins n Tribune Desk

With the focus on the value of local knowledge in building urban resilience, the 10th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA10) began in Dhaka yesterday.

More than 300 practitioners, experts, academicians and policy makers on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, both from home and abroad, are participating in the conference.

The four-day conference is taking place at Independent University, Bangladesh in the city, hosted jointly by the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), the IUB and Bangladesh government.

The opening session was addressed by BCAS Executive Director Atiq Rahman, IUB Vice-Chancellor M Omar Rahman, Ruby Haddad from the Homeless People’s Federation in the Philippines, IIED Director Andrew Norton, and

Speakers discuss community-based climate adaptation at a panel session on the first day of 10th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation in Dhaka yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU United Nations Environment Programmes’ (Unep) Director (Programme) Barney Dickson, among others, while ICCCAD Director Dr Saleemul Huq chaired the session.

At the opening session, speakers put emphasis on the role of communities in successful adaptation process because communities are where adaptation really takes place.

They also stressed the necessity of climate funds to reach remote areas.

A panel discussion on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation took place on the first day of the conference where speakers talked about the importance of infrastructure development in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

They also said accountability was essential for infrastructure projects and political accountability was required for the funding and action in climate adaptation.

The session was addressed by Terry Cannon from the Institute of Development Studies, Thinh Nguyen Anh from ADRA Vietnam, Lars Bernd from Unicef, Shakil Akther from BUET, and Brooke Ackerly from Vanderbilt University, among others, while Stu Solomon, programme manager at the Global Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction, facilitated the session.

The speakers addressed how the disaster risk reduction sector still struggles to incorporate climate concerns into practice, and how the communities have developed their own approaches to adapt to climate change, rather than building upon the existing knowledge of disaster risk reduction.

Now communities perceive and address climate change and disasters and poverty issues in a holistic way and do not approach the threats they face through fragmented approach, they said.

Sessions on community participation in urban areas, building adaptive capacity and learning from failure also took place yesterday. l

JUSTICE FOR TONU

Leftist student bodies observe hartal n Tribune Desk Left-leaning students’ organisations in Bangladesh observed a nationwide half-day hartal yesterday demanding justice for Sohagi Jahan Tonu, who was found dead inside Comilla cantonment over a month ago.

In Dhaka, hundreds of leftist student activists from Progressive Students’ Alliance and Anti-Imperialist Students’ Union put up a

blockade at Shahbagh intersection since 7:30 in the morning.

Their movement caused severe traffic disruption in the area and did not get back to its normal state until noon, when the protesters lifted the blockade.

The protesters also demanded an end to the recent trend of abduction and murder in the country.

Faisal Mahmud, coordinator of Anti-Imperialist Students’ Union, said the hartal earned support from

all around Bangladesh.

There have been reports of protesters getting attacked and arrested around the country, he said.

“We received news that 15 pro-hartal activists were arrested at Jahangirnagar University. Hartal supporters have been attacked in Bogra, Joypurhat and Gazipur.

Some of our activists have been detained there as well,” Faisal said.

“The government has to come out of this culture of impunity.

Those who killed Tonu should be arrested and brought to justice,” said Liton Modi, former president of Bangladesh Chhatra Union’s Dhaka University unit.

He also said a countrywide protest would be observed today against yesterday’s arrests across the country.

Tonu, a second-year student of Comilla Victoria College and a cultural activist, was found dead in Comilla cantonment on March 20. l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Speakers: Create task force to implement domestic workers policy n Abid Azad The government should create a national task force to implement the Domestics Workers' Protection and Welfare Policy 2015, speakers said yesterday.

The discussion, organised

by Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), was held at CIRDAP auditorium.

They also suggested that the task force be comprised of rights-based NGOs, national trade unions, employers' associations and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The adoption of the policy, which was approved by the Cabinet on December 21 last year, marks the end of a decade-long demand from the Domestic Workers Rights Network (DWRN).

The speakers further said the policy, if implemented properly, would bring positive changes in the lives of more than two million people, mostly women and children, who have migrated from the rural areas to the urban areas and adopted domestic work as a livelihood opportunity.

“We should bring this policy to the best possible way of implementation. This will help both the domestic workers at home and the migrant domestic workers with their rights,” said Israfil Alam, member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Labour and Employment and also the chief guest at the event.

But it is not just the state's responsibility to put the policy into effect, he said. “Awareness in this regard should be raised and practiced in our own families.”

He further said it was worrisome that the labour organisations in Bangladesh were becoming ineffective in fighting for labours' rights every day while the owners' and employers' organisations were becoming more powerful. “This is why it is becoming more difficult for labour organisations to implement the labour act.”

A research paper relevant to the topic of discussion was presented by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) from Dhaka University, which suggested legal reform and ratification of International Labour Organisation Convention 189, abolition of child labour, and dissemination of awareness and follow-up on court cases filed against employers for physical, mental and sexual abuse committed against domestic workers.

Presided over by RMMRU Chairman Tasneem Siddiqui, the discussion was also attended by BILS Executive Director Syed Sultan Ahmed, Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers' Association's Executive Director Salma Ali, Dhaka University's Prof CR Abrar and Bangladesh Trade Union Centre President Dr Wazedul Islam, among others. l

Service fair arranged for underprivileged children n Tribune Desk A service fair for underprivileged children was arranged by various development organisations under the Children Development Network in Dhaka’s Rayerbazar area on April 21.

The objective of the fair was to promote the importance of education among the locals of Rayerbazar slum area and ensure education for all.

The organisations – APON Foundation, SPREEHA Foundation, NARI Moitree, UCEP Bangladesh, Brac, Light of Hope, JAAGO Foundation and Manabik Shahajya Sangstha

supported by Save the Children – who jointly arranged the fair with CDN, mainly work for the development of children in different capacities such as early childhood care and development, basic education, health, etc.

The fair was inaugurated by representatives of the organisations following which honourable guests, visitors and guardians started visiting stalls to gather information about the activities of the organisations and the facilities they provide for the children.

A cultural programme was also organised at the fair where local children performed. l

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Court asks Khaleda to appear on May 5

n Md Sanaul Islam Tipu A Dhaka court yesterday again asked BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to appear before the court on May 5 to give her statement in Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

The court also directed Khaleda’s lawyers to ensure her appearance before the court on the next date of the case.

Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar of the Dhaka Special Judges Court 3 passed the order after adjourning the trial proceedings until May 5 following a time petition filed by Khaleda’s lawyer Md Sanaullah Miah.

However, Khaleda did not appear before the court due to illness.

Her lawyer filed a non-appearance petition seeking time, mentioning health grounds.

The ACC filed the case in 2011 accusing four, including Khaleda, of abusing power to collect Tk6.19cr for the Zia Charitable Trust. l

Students at Rajshahi University form a human chain on the campus protesting the murder of English department’s Prof Rezaul Karim Siddique

AZAHAR UDDIN

How govt is taking control of Islami Bank n Golam Mowla In 2014, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited had five independent directors, of whom four have been dismissed in the last few months.

These men are: NRM Borhan Uddin, AKM Sadrul Islam, Md Belayet Hossain and Md Abdus Salam. The bank’s board of directors refrained from renewing the tenures of these four because of directives from the government’s top brass.

Banking industry analysts believe the government’s directive is part of its plan to appoint four directors of its own choice. They believe the government is taking control of Islami Bank through several major changes including the board of directors.

Former chairman Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher was also forced out of his position, sources said. While Humayun Bokhteyar remains as an independent director, he may be removed soon as well.

Last week IBBL board of directors approved four new independent directors. The government and the central bank also issued a statement backing the top level changes at the bank. Freedom fighter engineer Mostafa Anwar replaced Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher as the chairman.

The Anticorruption Commission in February filed a case against

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Director and audit committee chief NRM Borhan Uddin, charging him of suspicious transaction and laundering illegal income in local and foreign currencies. After the case was filed Borhan Uddin was sacked from the bank.

Over the past few years, allegations were raised that the bank was involved in terrorist financing and funding political violence. Many quarters have called for ousting Jamaat-leaning personnel and the nationalisation of the bank. Gonojagoron Mancha and other progressive groups and parties as well as some Islamic parties have been demanding that the government take control of the bank. An intelligence agency working under the Prime Minister’s Office was assigned to investigate the issues.

Last December, Bangladesh Bank imposed special control over Islami Bank to protect the public interest and the depositors. The control means that the central bank now signs off on any appointment at the level of executive deputy managing director. Since the move, Bangladesh Bank has also cancelled the contractual appointment of DMD Nurul Islam on grounds of rules violation.

IBBL is the largest Sharia-based bank in Bangladesh. Since its inception its board has been populated with people associated with the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-IsDhaka

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dinary people who have money in that bank will suffer,” he said.

Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Subhankar Saha said he was not aware of any instructions from the central bank to change IBBL’s board of directors. The central bank would take proper action if Islami Bank raised objections about any new director, he added.

Dr Abul Barkat, an economics professor at Dhaka University, said the government’s move was not what he ahd advocated for.

“I’ve heard that some people are being sent to the bank. Whether they are independent directors or shareholders, this is not an acceptable move,” he said.

The professor said his first priority would be to nationalise Islami Bank, and failing that, change its management.

Anwarul Haque, a senior researcher at Inter Press Network, said the government’s strong attention on Islami Bank indicated that it wanted to take control over the bank.

“But whatever the case, clients must not lose their trust in the bank. We must remember what a big bank it is,” he said.

Anwarul warned against taking steps that might harm the clients’ interests.

Sources said Islamic Foundation Director General Shamim Mohammad Afzal would be appointed as a

lami. Policymakers such as chairman and vice-chairman would be appointed from among party members or sympathisers. Executives and lower level employees are also from that political spectrum.

Therefore the bank was heavily influenced by the party’s ideology.

The bank has therefore not been on good terms with the government.

The finance minister and many policymakers have been known to issue statements against IBBL. Sources said former IBBL chairman Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher has been on the run.

Another former chairman, Mir Quasem, was hanged for his war crimes in 1971. The other directors are Iskander Ali, Abdul Hamid Fuad Al Khatib, Md Abul Hossain, Naser Ahmed Al Khondkar, AHG Mohiuddin and Arif Solaiman.

Former Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Khandker Ibrahim Khaled said, “We don’t want the Islami Bank to be run by a political party or in the interests of any political group. We want the bank to work in public interest.”

He refused to comment on the changes being made to the bank’s board before any names were announced.

“We will welcome it if they are joining the bank to do banking.

But if they work for the interest of Jamaat or any other party, the or43

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YESTERDAY’S HIGH AND LOW

TOMORROW SUN RISES 5:27AM

40.2ºC Jessore

17.0ºC Rangpur

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PRAYER TIMES

director to the bank.

Asked about this, he told the Bangla Tribune over the phone that he had only heard some rumours.

“I have not received any official communication on this matter,” he said.

Asked for comment, Islami Bank Managing Director Mohammad Abdul Mannan said, “A process is currently ongoing, but there is nothing to say yet.”

Sources at the bank said the all the directors had been picked from the top level of the government.

The four directors were picked from a list of 20-25 people.

Foreign investors at Islami Bank are Islamic Development Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Jordan Islamic Bank, Bahrain Islamic Bank, Islami Banking System International Holding, Al Razi Company, Sheikh Ahmed Saleh Jamnun of Jeddah, Fuad Abdul Hamid Al Khatib, Dubai Islami Bank, Public Institution for Social Security, Kuwait Ministry of Awqaf and Ministry of Justice’s Department of Minor Affairs. Directors representing these shareholders are also in the board.

At the end of 2014, Dubai Islamic Bank sold 7 million shares and earlier that year Bahrain Islamic Bank sold 465,000 shares.

Islami Bank began in 1983 as the first Islami bank in South and Southeast Asia. l Sylhet

31

22

Cox’s Bazar

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Fajr: 4:05am | Zohr: 11:56pm Asr: 3:23pm | Magrib: 6:29pm Esha: 7:55pm Source: IslamicFinder.org

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6

News

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Hospital fined after an attempt to hide the death of a girl n Kamrul Hasan

The Padma General Hospital in Dhaka was fined yesterday when RAB unearthed various irregularities there, including an attempt by hospital officials to conceal the news of a girl’s death from her own family.

The eight-year-old girl, Jannat Nilufa, was lying dead on an NICU bed at the hospital in Sonargaon Road, when the elite force members conducted a raid yesterday afternoon; Nilufa’s family were not informed of the child’s death at the time.

Following the raid, the mobile

court of Executive Magistrate Helal Uddin fined six people including the hospital’s Chairman Delwar Hossain Tk10 lakh for the irregularities and negligence.

Health directorate’s Assistant Director Monjur Ahmed, who was with the mobile court during the raid by RAB 2, said they found the lifeless girl when they were inspecting the NICU on the first floor.

After examining her, they were confirmed that the girl had died half an hour ago.

Bringing allegations of sheer negligence, the girl’s father Mujibur

Ershad accuses Raushan of dividing JaPa n UNB Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad yesterday alleged that his wife and party senior presidium member Raushan Ershad has belittled the party by making some statements out of her jurisdiction.

In a statement, he also turned down Raushan’s request for revising the party’s national council date in consultation with party senior leaders.

On Sunday, Raushan, also the leader of the opposition in parliament, at a press conference urged party Chairman Ershad to take decisions in a democratic manner as Jatiya Party is not the company of any individual.

Reacting to her remarks, Ershad said Raushan has to keep it in mind that she is only the chief of the party’s one unit – the parliamentary party.

“The duty of this unit is to carry out parliamentary activities following the party policy. The presidium is its only forum for taking any policy decision, and discussing and evaluating any decision.

So, what Raushan said at the press conference as the chief of the parliament party was out of purview of her jurisdiction.”

The Jatiya Party chief also said: “She also disparaged the party with her remark and the party is neither anybody’s personal property nor a company.”

As Raushan demanded that article 39 of the party charter be dropped to make it demo-

cratic, Ershad said the article was democratically included in the charter through the party council.

“If anyone has any objection to the article, he or she can raise it at the national council, and it can give any verdict for dropping or keeping the article,” he said.

He recalled that Raushan was taken back to the party exercising the power of this article. “Those who had been out of the party for 15-16 years taken back to it and made its presidium members using this article. Of the current 39 presidium members, 35 were inducted into the body exercising the power of the article.”

He said no one should have such a mentality that article 39 is important when it goes in his or her favour and it is undemocratic when its goes against his or her interest.

Ershad said the date of the party’s council was not announced through a unilateral decision as it was finalised at the party’s presidium meeting. “Now there’s no scope for rescheduling the council date.”

In the statement, Ershad also asked Raushan to spell out clearly which democracy the party should follow for taking right decisions.

“Is dividing the party or creating a B Team of the party falls under the purview of party democracy? She has to say which decision has so far been taken against the party democracy,” the Jatiya Party chief said. l

told the Dhaka Tribune that the doctors did not even inform what was the condition of his daughter or what had happened to her.

However, Padma General Hospital’s chairman Delwar denied allegations of hiding the death.

“We may have some deficiencies in our equipments but we are never negligent. Normally we wait for some time before announcing deaths to see if there is any hope.

Sometimes the pulse cannot be felt, sometimes it restarts, so we do not announce [a death] before confirmation,” Delwar said.

Meanwhile, RAB also found that the hospital had no proper legal documents, as it had not renewed its licence from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) after an earlier change of ownership.

RAB 2 CO Lt Col Mohiuddin Ahmed said: “Besides lack of equipments, the hospital did not have the mandatory number of trained staff.”

DGHS Assistant Director Mohammad Shahjahan told the Dhaka Tribune that the hospital was found to be collecting blood even though it had no blood bank permission.

He also said the Padma Genral Hospital was found to have 121 beds even though it had permission for only 21 beds.

As per hospital regulations, a medical facility with 120 beds must have at least 11 doctors and 22 nurses for each shift.

But Executive Magistrate Helal Uddin said they found that only five doctors and 14 nurses were present during every shift. The hospital also had no paediatric specialist doctor, while only one nurse was found to be certified by the nurses council. l

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News

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Charge sheet of Habiganj murder case rejected n Md Nur Uddin, Habiganj

Activists of left student organisations take position at Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka for four hours yesterday, demanding justice for Sohagi Jahan Tonu who was found dead at Comilla cantonment on March 28 MEHEDI HASAN

Nur Hossain threatens witnesses at courtroom Nine testify in Narayanganj seven-murder cases sheet submitted by the detectives lawyer alleged n Tanveer Hossain, Narayanganj thatTheNurcomplainant’s dropping the names of five accused. was seen having a converShakhawat Hossain, former president of Naraynganj District Lawyers Association and now the complainant’s lawyer in sensational seven murder-case, alleged that Nur Hossain, the prime accused of the case, threatened some witnesses during proceedings yesterday.

According to sources, a Narayanganj court recorded deposition from nine witnesses, including a police officer in presence of the 23 arrested suspects in two cases filed in connection with the sensational seven-murder case.

Public Prosecutor Wazed Ali Khokon said the court recorded witnesses’ depositions from Abdus Salam, brother of the deceased ward counsillor Nazrul Islam, Yousuf, brother of slain Ibrahim, SI Abu Taleb and six others.

Meanwhile, the complainant’s lawyers alleged that Nur Hossain, the prime accused, threatened some witnesses and asked them shut their mouths over the cases.

He said major Arif, former RAB officer and an accused of the murder-case, had also hurled abusive words at him during the deposition.

sation with the public prosecutor and at one point they also laughed.

Advocate Shakhawat pleaded to change the public prosecutor (PP).

The PP denied the allegation, saying he did his duty with “honesty and promptness”.

Abdus Salam said Nur Hossain threatened repeatedly by raising his finger to us. The court fixed May 2 for the next hearing.

On April 27, 2014, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam, three of his aides and driver, and senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar and his driver were kidnapped from the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road.

Three days later, six bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya.

The seventh body was recovered from the river the next day.

Selina Islam Beauty, the wife of Nazrul, filed a case with Fatullah Model police station naming Nur Hossain as the prime accused; while Chandan Sarker’s son-in-law Bijoy Kumar Pal filed a separate case with Fatullah police station for the killing of Chandan and his driver Ibrahim.

A court later fixed to pass an order on the petition filed against a charge

Selina Islam filed the petition with the court of Senior Judicial Magistrate HM Shafikul Islam in Narayanganj on May 11.

After hearing the petition, Judge HM Shafikul fixed the date for passing an order on the petition.

According to the petition, the charge sheet in Narayanganj seven murder was submitted by the detectives dropping names of five people mentioned in the complaint. Many other names were also dropped although their involvement was found with the killings during the investigations, Nazrul’s wife claimed.

On April 8, detectives submitted the charge sheet of the seven-murder case against 35 naming local Awami League leader Nur Hossain as the prime accused.

The 35 include 25 members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) including ex-top officials Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, Arif Hossain and SM Masud Rana.

Nazrul’s father-in-law Shahidul Islam alleged that RAB personnel abducted and killed Nazrul in exchange for Tk6 crore from a local ward councillor Nur Hossain.l

A Habiganj court yesterday rejected the charge sheet of four-child murder case due to absence of main documents.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Samsad Begum refused the charge sheet after a hearing. The court also fixed May 5 for the next hearing and asked investigation officer of the case Abdul Muktadir to submit the charge sheet with main documents.

On April 16, nine were indicted in connection with the killing case.

Abdul Muktadir, officer-incharge of detective branch of police, submitted the charge sheet before the court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Kausar Alam.

On February 17, police recovered the bodies of four schoolboys from a ditch at Shundratiki village under Bahubal upazila. Four Of the accused have already given confessional statements before the court under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.l

Hindus fall prey to post-polls violence n CM Tanjil Hasan, Mushiganj

Hindu people living in Khidirpara union parishad under Louhojong upazila in Munshiganj have been passing days with anxiety since Saturday’s union parishad election as supporters of an Awami League supported chairman candidate vandalised over 15 houses and threatening them with dire consequences.

Many people of the community have already left their dwelling houses and are living at their relatives’ houses located at neighbouring places.

Local sources said Khidirpara union parishad was a Hindu-populated area where at least 558 Hindu families live. Normally, people of the area are come under attack by local influential quarters after every election.

In Saturday’s election, Awami League nominated candidate Shahnewaz Mridha was defeated and an independent candidate won. After that, supporters of Shahnewaz Mridha and member candidate Mamun Sheikh has vandalised at least 15 houses and assaulted many people, including women and children.

Subash Chandra Sarkar said: “As soon as the results of the election was announced, they swooped on us. They are vandalising our houses and looting valuables from there.

“They have already stabbed a number of people. Of them, some are undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.”

The condition of Krishna Poddar, Tapos Poddar, Ripon Mollick, Gonesh Roy, Mohadev Sarkar, Sadhona Rani Sarkar, Gobindo Roy and Khogen Mollick are critical.

Sudeb Dhali, another resident of the area, said: “They [supporters of chairman candidate] are patrolling the area with sharp weapons. They are threatening us with dire consequence if we would no leave the country.”

“Bangladesh is also our homeland, why should we leave the country?,” he asked.

Din Bondhu said after every election every political party made them scapegoat. He asked what was their fault.

General Secretary of Lauhojong upazila unit Awami League told the Dhaka Tribune that they were aware of the matter. People who were involved in the attack had already been suspended from the party.

Officer-in-Charge of Lauhojong police station Mollah Jakir Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that they were looking into the matter. Now, the situation was normal. Makeshift camps had been set in the area to avoid any untoward incident. l

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8

News

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Two killed, scores injured in post-polls violence n Tribune Desk Two people were killed and scores injured in post-poll violence in several districts of the country yesterday.

In Gazipur, a trader was killed at Gosanga village, Sripur upazila in the morning.

Deceased Ali Sardar, 55, was a bamboo trader at Gosanga Bazar.

Asad Ali Sardar, brother of the deceased, told the Dhaka Tribune that an altercation took place between Ali Sardar and supporters of an independent chairman candidate who was defeated in the union parishad election that held on Saturday. Ali Sardar was a supporter of an Awami League supported candidate Shahjahan Sarkar and he

won the election.

At one stage, supporters of the independent candidate assaulted him, leaving him critically injured.

He was taken to Sripur Upazila Health Complex where on duty doctor declared him dead.

In Magura, a man was killed in a clash that took place over results of the third phase of union parishad election at Char Chowka village of Sreepur upazila in the morning.

The deceased was identified as Babul Sheikh, 45, son of Abdul Kader Sheikh, a resident of the village.

Moniruzzaman, officer-incharge of Sreepur police station, said a clash had taken place between the supporters Abdul Alim who won in Saturday’s poll and de-

A clash takes place between supporters of Awami League backed chairman candidate and an independent candidate over holding a rally at Raipura Bazar in Narsingdi yesterday DHAKA TRIBUNE

Ruling party candidates allegedly violating electoral code Ripon, n Asaduzzaman Narsingdi A number of ruling party backed candidates allegedly have continued violation of electoral code and conduct in upcoming fourth phase UP election of 23 union councils under Raipura upazila of the district.

Sources said the candidates were found violating the electoral code of conduct, even allegedly distributing money among the voters.

BNP and independent candidates alleged that the Election Commission is yet to take any actions regarding the large number of allegations of electoral code violation that have reportedly been submitted to the EC.

They added that the ruling party men threatened them they would complete casting votes by 10am on May 7, the election day.

Abdul Momen, independent chairman candidate of Hairmara union council, alleged that the ruling party men were showing down with log-gi-boitha (logs and oars) creating panic in the area under the nose of the administration but the EC did not take any steps against them.

When contacted, the Election Commissioner Rafiqul Islam said if he got written allegation, he would take steps against the miscreants.

A total of 92 candidates are vying in chairman posts, 616 in member posts and 219 in reserved seats. l

feated chairman candidate Yusuf Hossain.

At least 30 people were injured in post-poll violence at Losmonpur union parishad in Gaibandha At one stage, Babul has been hit with a sharp weapon that left him dead on the spot. At least 20 people were injured in the clash.

On receiving information, police recovered the body. A case was filed in this connection.

In Gaibandha, at least seven people were killed in a clash between the supporters of winning chairman candidate and defeated candidate at Rupar Bazar under Gagoa union parishad.

In Bogra, supporters of a defeated chairman candidate at Gosaibari union parishad vandalised office of upazila nirbahi officer over Saturday’s election’s results.

In Sherpur, at least 30 people were injured in post-poll violence at Losmonpur union parishad.

In the 3nd phase of UP polls, Awami League-nominated chairman candidates won in 83 union parishads (UPs) while BNP-supported contesters came out victorious.

At least 18 Awami League can-

didates were elected unofficially in Comilla, 10 in Munshiganj, seven in Laxmipur and Natore each, six in Sylhet, five in Sunamganj and Pabna each, four in Joypurhat, Thakurgaon and Kurigram each, three in Meherpur, Kishoreganj and Manikganj each and two in Gaibandha and Sherpur each.

On the other hand, 10 BNP candidates were elected unofficially in Sunamganj, six in Manikganj, three in Sylhet, two in Joypurhat and one in Kishoreganj, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Meherpur and Thakurgaon each.

Besides, 43 other chairman candidates won the elections in Joypurhat, Sunamganj, Gaibandha, Thakurgaon, Kishoreganj, Sherpur, Manikganj, Kurigram and Sylhet. l

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DT

Tech

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

On the surface

Here’s what to expect from the new Microsoft Surface Pro 5

IMAGES OF SURFACE PRO 4

n Mahmood Hossain

has in store for consumers.

People still wonder if there ever will be an affordable device that can replace a legitimate laptop.

There are robust tablets now that can actually substitute for a laptop. The most recent Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (2015) was an indicator that a company could actually take this one-ofa-kind path. The success of the Pro 4 led way for iPad Pro and Google’s Pixel C to borrow a few elements of the Surface Pro. Now, we look into what the new model

The specs While the actual release date of the device has yet to be confirmed, we can only make an educated guess that will be available early 2017. What we can also expect is the obvious upgrades under the hood. The Surface Pro 4 has the latest sixth-generation Skylake Intel processor (Core m3, Core i5 or Core i7). Skylake’s successor Kaby Lake won’t hit the market until later this year, so you can

expect the new upgrade to be available with the new Surface Pro 5.

It may not be wishful thinking either if Microsoft puts in some improvements on the Pro’s keyboard cover. Traditionally, the keyboards are sold separately for $129. The keyboard is an integral part of the entire Surface Pro experience so we can only hope there is more bang for your buck for the new and improved keyboards. What will be wishful thinking is if the company decides to add the

keyboard within the same box as the Surface Pro. It’s not an impossible idea, but don’t hold your breath either.

The touchscreen stylus, which is standard with every Surface device, will possibly have a nice upgrade itself. We might even see the new USB C ports, which might team up with the microSD card slot, Mini DisplayPort and the audio jack.

Price Alright, here’s the hard part.

These devices, robust travellers

they are, will cost a pretty penny.

In other words, these suckers are not cheap. The entry level for the Surface Pro 4, at the moment, is $899.

This model offers the Intel Core M3 CPU, 128GB SSD storage and 4GB of RAM, along with the touchscreen stylus. $999 is for the 256GB SSD with 8GB of RAM. Recent reports say the intro-level will remain at $899, and the $999 model will have the Intel Core i7.

Phew. Only time will tell all the official stats of the new Pro 5. l

Trip to the opera Opera is now providing you what Google Chrome and Firefox Mozilla won’t n Mahmood Hossain Opera has recently added its very own VPN to its browsers for anonymous internet browsing, and it’s completely free. We’re already aware of the various options given to you by third party apps that offer you the privacy for a certain price. And for those that are free, simply limit your browsing, which can make your Internet use a pain in the back side. Ridiculous enough, there are VPNs out there that have hidden costs after you’ve installed them.

Now with Opera, you’ll be able to enjoy a free and unlimited VPN with the browser. This might come as a shocker for many to be given a VPN with no extra charge

and smooth browsing. The reason for the surprise is that not many of us actually have the need to use a VPN. Most developers and

avid users of the Internet might find it convenient now. However, Opera isn’t as big as Chrome, Firefox or Safari. This makes us

wonder if Opera is aiming to haul in more web clients to download their own brand of browser that now allows users to surf the web

safely.

For those who are drawing a blank, a VPN is a browser extension that makes it more difficult for governments and hackers to monitor your web traffic. Now that you’ve understood that clearly, perhaps there will be more downloads of Opera after all. In most cases, desktops and laptops usually have more than one browser installed into the hard drives. While one is used as the main hub or used the most, the secondary (or even a third) is always there has a solid backup. We can never be too safe when it comes to the Internet just as in life, so taking the new Opera for a spin might not be a waste and definitely worth the try. l

DT

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Feature

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Waste-to-Energy: Our saviour?

Success of the projects would mean that the country would enjoy two-fold benefit – reduction of waste and waste-related environmental and health hazards, and greater electricity to meet the rising national demand

n Sifat M Bhuiyan Bangladesh is facing a serious waste management problem.

Unplanned urbanisation and lack of awareness among people have left our country increasingly overburdened with Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). In 2012, waste generation in Bangladesh amounted to around 22.4 million tons per year according to Waste Atlas, which means that an average person in Bangladesh disposed of 150kg of waste in that year.

Presently the waste management system in Bangladesh is far from being efficient. Streets are often seen with over-filled dustbins, which is harmful for the environment as well as for health. Naturally, with a surging population coupled with aggressively expanding and unplanned urbanisation with no efficient waste disposal system, the problem is intensifying with the progression of time.

Sweden, in this case, has come up with an exemplary solution.

The country has touched a remarkable landmark by being able to recycle more than 99% of its waste, a significant portion of which is converted into energy.

In fact, Sweden has touched such

heights of efficiency that the country now has to import waste from its European neighbours such as the UK, Italy, Norway and Ireland to feed the country’s 32 Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants, according to the Huffington Post. Other developed European countries such as the UK have also shown considerable success in using municipal solid waste to produce energy.

Bangladesh, coupled with the problem of inefficient municipal waste management, is also struggling to keep up with a rising demand for electricity. As of January 2016, 24% of the people in Bangladesh do not have access to electricity according to the Power Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

The method of Waste-to-Energy (WTE) has worked wonders in the field of waste management by using MSW to generate electricity in many countries. It is high time the relevant authorities in Bangladesh gave a significant amount of time and thought to it. It would aid in solving two pressing issues that has been plaguing our country.

Japan is the largest user in thermal treatment of MSW in the world with 40 million tons while in China, there are around 50

Waste-to-Energy plants. Although the incineration process, whereby waste is processed by means of combustion to generate energy is the most widely practised method of WTE, several private and public companies worldwide use thermal and non-thermal processes like gasification, thermal DE polymerisation, anaerobic digestion etc to generate valuable

electricity from MSW. Bangladesh has shown impressive economic growth rate in recent years. As if to complement the process, technological advancement in the country has been seeing brighter rays of light every day. Many Bangladeshi companies have initiated projects to efficiently convert MSW to electricity.

Success of the projects would mean that the country would enjoy two-fold benefit – reduction of waste and waste-related environmental and health hazards, and greater electricity to meet the rising national demand.

An efficient waste disposal system is essential for the environment and healthy living of citizens. Access to electricity for families and industries is also imperative for economic growth and development. Bangladesh is struggling to bring about an effective solution to both issues individually. However, WTE can provide a solution to both.

Therefore, it is time for the responsible authorities to step up and adopt this system. Knowledge and expertise are available both on an international and local level.

The opportunity must be taken at the soonest to ensure greater prosperity and development for the people and economy of Bangladesh. l

PHOTOS: MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

DT

Editorial 11

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

INSIDE

Requiem for a dream This is a requiem for the pen. For, against the sword, despite the placards denoting the triumph of peace over violence, the pen is not as mighty as it once seemed PAGE 12

Giving all children in Bangladesh a fair start in life Save the Children’s launch of its three year global campaign, ‘Every Last Child,’ aims to galvanise actions ensuring equal opportunities for every child to survive and thrive

PAGE 13

RAJIB DHAR

Transforming rural health workers’ jobs through digitisation The initial data gathered by rural health workers is called the routine health information system (RHIS) and the data they contain are the workhorses of health information-gathering 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.

Government must play its part to make factories safer

A

s the third anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse passes, we should stop to think, what steps should our government take to make factories safer?

Many well-meaning people have taken the position that unionisation of factory owners is key to solving the complex problem of factory safety.

This argument misses the point that the government is the only party with the legal authority and institutional capacity to inspect industrial establishments and force them to maintain standards of safety.

Unions have historically proven most effective at negotiating for higher wages and more attractive benefits for workers. There is no reason to expect that they will be able to fulfill the critical function of ensuring factory safety.

Factory safety is the responsibility of the government; it must fulfill its duty by ensuring factory inspectorates and agencies have sufficient resources and expertise to do this job properly.

No one realistically expects unions to appoint engineers to inspect cracks in factory buildings to establish whether or not the buildings are unsafe; no one really expects unions to appoint inspectors to supervise fire drills and implement safe procedures for building evacuations. This is the prime responsibility of government and employers.

This is not to say representative trade unions cannot help by voicing workers concerns to make sure standards are upheld and improved. But it is still up to the government to set and enforce minimum standards in the first place.

The government must also recognise the truth that many older multi-storey factory buildings in Bangladesh cannot easily be made safe; these factories must be made to move to shorter buildings, which can be evacuated more quickly in case of a fire or earthquake. It is still vital then for the government to facilitate greater investment in new factories by freeing up underused state owned land for the development of EPZs and industrial parks.

It is still up to the government to set and enforce minimum standards in the first place

12

DT

Opinion

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Requiem for a dream Those of us who favour freedom are stuck in an abusive relationship with those who oppose it

Writing can still cost you your life

n SN Rasul

S

ometimes, you just have to let things go.

After the countless times that something has been written about the insurgence of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh (myself included, of course), and of, further still, the numerous times people have rejected its influx as being either a) a reality or b) a bad thing, one must learn to take defeat with one’s head held high.

Before the meta-detectives come forth from the darkness to point out the futility of writing a piece that is de facto a statement of defeat, allow me this: A requiem.

A requiem for what? For the great nation we once had? For the secular values that we boasted?

For the unity amongst the people, the dirge of passion that injustice would once ignite?

For the black-and-white stained photographs of more violent yet simple but also somehow better times that our naval-gazing history is so adamant about beating its own chest about?

I think not. For times like those are as much a product of the present as they are of the past.

Surely, the past has brought us here, but present has altered the past to suit the needs of the day.

What glorious history? What unforgettable past? These are all stories that have been told, happenstances created with the

BIGSTOCK

breath of purpose and agenda. As much as it is now.

When Rajshahi University Profesor Razaul Karim was, yet again, hacked to death by so-called Islamists, with this being the fourth teacher to be murdered in such a manner, it brought it with it a death of trial, of error, of hope, and of a struggle to change what we must realise we cannot change.

defeated. This is the life we live now. This is what it has come to, and what our country has become.

How does one know this?

One knows this, perhaps, from realising that it doesn’t really matter. That the people in this country are either a) apathetic or b) too used to these killings. This isn’t news and this isn’t new. This is the era in which we come to the

may demand justice, they do so knowing that none will ever come. They write these words because they have, as much as I have, and I am doing so now, and will continue to until they fizzle out. They will hang on the plaques of our memories until those memories too, once again, are changed, eradicated, mollified, and altered to suit the emperor of

This is a requiem for the pen. For, against the sword, despite the sayings and the placards denoting the triumph of peace over violence, the pen is not as mighty as it once seemed

I have oftentimes written about how as these attacks continue, and the government succeeds in being either a) incompetent or b) unwilling to stamp out the root causes behind these attacks, or at least provide us with a definitive answer as to the purpose as well as the perpetrators, that we are slowly headed to some sort of final straw. A denouement after which the victors and the fallen will be made clear.

But life isn’t kind enough to provide us with a climax. Life is a series of anti-climaxes which eventually lead to the revelation that oh yes, we have already been

conclusion that the tables have turned; if only we had realised sooner, no?

This is, in effect, a requiem for the countless words that have been written and said, which have struggled to claw out of the throats of naysayers and pariahs, for one can see the decrease and eventual demise of their persistence.

Already now I know, that as these freedom fighters continue to pen their thoughts against the encroaching Islamism imported and home-grown from slightly further west, these thoughts are hollow, their purpose unrealised.

They know that though they

the time.

And the cycle will repeat itself.

This is a requiem for the believers, both who fight against religion and those who fight for it. The former, who are on a list, are being taken down one by one, right in front of our eyes. But the latter: There are the radicals, who are, with the glint of their machetes and their cries towards God, are stealing the religion away from those who want to live and let live, even if it is with the spice of judgement.

They may make excuses for the radicals, they may not understand why there are those who continue

to “offend,” despite it being detrimental to their continued existence, but they were, at least, not riding motorbikes on the streets and hunting down liberal apostates.

This is a requiem for the pen.

For, against the sword, despite the sayings and the placards denoting the triumph of peace over violence, the pen is not as mighty as it once seemed. We are going back, or moving forward as we always do: Reacting against the status quo till the end of time.

A few decades of freedom struggles has brought us full circle to the point where we are actively fighting against it. See, freedom is tricky business, because you can’t take away the freedom of those who choose to not be free.

And us “liberals,” if I’m allowed the freedom to call ourselves that, are in an abusive relationship with those who stand against us.

We cannot fight against them the way they do against us. They can scare us in a way that we can’t scare them. They can kill us.

This is a requiem for the end of the cycle. We are beginning a new one, and those of us who wish to survive, must either adapt, or die with it. The dream we once had, which was once, perhaps, real, must a dream remain. We can either remain fast asleep, or change the dream to suit the zeitgeist. l SN Rasul is a sub-editor at the Dhaka Tribune. Follow him @snrasul.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Giving all children in Bangladesh a fair start in life The ‘Every Last Child’ campaign works towards removing barriers that hold back children from achieving their full potential that leave a disproportionate number of children from surviving and thriving to achieve full potential.

Indeed, Bangladesh has been a success story in terms of progress made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals over the past two decades.

We have witnessed significant reduction in poverty incidence, and more children surviving through their fifth birthdays. We have also seen more children than ever before starting their primary school education, and girls catching up with, even exceeding, the boys in getting themselves into the classroom with the aspiration to shine and prosper.

However, we have also witnessed the stark faces of exclusion and deprivation -- stories of children like Rani masked underneath the tale of Bangladesh’s success. Countless children have been denied access into the development mainstream, reinforced by poverty, sex, ethnicity, religion, and others.

The multifaceted phenomenon of child deprivation in the country goes further to include one often overlooked yet powerful reason for exclusion -- the geographic location of the child.

primary education is 77% in urban areas as a whole, but only 62% in urban slums. Urban under-5 mortality rate is 37 in every 1,000 live births, but as high as 57 in the slums.

If we want to sustain progress towards the 2030 development goals “leaving no one behind” adopted at the United Nations last September, an aspiration reiterated in the seventh Five Year Plan of the country, we are going to need bold steps now towards inclusiveness, and reach out to the most excluded children so that we can create a Bangladesh where “every last child” is healthy, educated, and safe.

Save the Children’s launch of its three-year global campaign, “Every Last Child,” aims to galvanise actions ensuring equal opportunities for every child to survive and thrive, regardless of where they live or where they were born.

The campaign is a call to the decision-makers at the household, local, and national level to ensure fair financing, equal treatment, and adequate investment in children in Bangladesh.

These are guarantees that need to be universal, for every last child. But the true test of

Save the Children’s launch of its three year global campaign, ‘Every Last Child,’ aims to galvanise actions ensuring equal opportunities for every child to survive and thrive, regardless of where they live or where they were born Make her life a little better

n William Lynch

R

ani is 14 years old, and currently in the ninth grade at Abader Hat Girls High School. She lives with her father, mother, and one of her elder sisters in a small village named Gadaghata in Shibpur Union, Satkhira district.

Coming from a very poor family in a small village, one of her older sisters’ luck has already run out.

DHAKA TRIBUNE

She is already married and living in a different village away from Rani and her family.

Rani dreams of being a teacher.

By teaching, she believes, she would extend her knowledge to all the other poor and disadvantaged children who, like herself, have been left behind. Rani fears that one day her luck will run out too.

Her battle against the odds -- that her father will continue to be able to feed her and her family,

as well as bear her education expenses -- is poor. Knowingly, Rani begins to consider that she will soon have to look for informal jobs at an early age to afford her studies and support her family.

It is the situation of children like Rani, repeated every day countless times around the world, which has driven Save the Children to launch its new global campaign, Every Last Child -- with the goal of removing the barriers

Glaring differences in development outcomes are evident between locations -- urban slums and hardto-reach rural areas being two of the worst illustrations of such exclusion.

Evidently, a child’s chances of being educated, maintaining health, and remaining safe are far less if he or she is from urban slums or from hard-to-reach rural areas.

For instance, attendance rate in

their success will be whether they achieve real change in the lives of those children who’ve been disproportionately left behind.

Rising to this challenge and delivering this agenda is an investment not just in their futures, but in our collective future. l William Lynch is Interim Country Director, Save the Children in Bangladesh.

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Opinion

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Transforming rural health workers’ jobs through digitisation Digitising health data could change the face of health care

Upgrade the system, save more lives

BIGSTOCK

The initial data gathered by rural health workers, and also in health facilities, is called the routine health information system (RHIS) and the data they contain are the workhorses of health information-gathering

n Abul Kalam Azad

I

n Dhaka, effective use of digital information and communication technologies is poised now to change the way rural health workers work and to offer them an increased level of efficiency. In Bangladesh, a pilot program has begun transforming the rural health workers’ jobs and the accuracy of the data they gather.

The program employs digital tablets to gather the data that tell the story of individuals, their health issues and concerns, and the services delivered to them. It begins with a registration of the

population. A household with four to five members can be registered by a rural health worker in about 10 to 12 minutes, enabling health workers to collect data from about 50 to 60 people each day, with each person identifiable by a health identification number.

The speed and accuracy possible through digitisation matter greatly for the health information system in Bangladesh, where, as in most countries, the granular data gathered at the household level is the basis for aggregated data on health issues, services needed, and service gaps across the country.

The initial data gathered by

rural health workers, and also in health facilities, is called the routine health information system (RHIS) and the data they contain are the workhorses of health information-gathering.

They offer a health care provider the most granular data about a patient, and are fed upward through the system to provide data on health issues and trends to decision makers at the top. Think of it as a long supply chain.

That kind of information is important as the world is focused on increasing its use of evidence to underpin decisions made about health: Emerging diseases and sudden virulent outbreaks, service

delivery, health commodity supply, equity in access to services and services rendered, achieving an AIDS-free generation, and ending preventable child, maternal, non-communicable disease-related, and other deaths.

To achieve these goals, the world needs data. And to get data, the world will need to rely upon those workhorses: Routine health information systems. This need is the genesis for efforts across the globe and in Bangladesh to improve RHIS, to make the data it collects more robust, and to ensure that the data are useful and are used for decision-making.

A population registration system (PRS) is considered to be the foundation of the RHIS and as Bangladesh digitises this process, it is moving strongly toward a complete PRS through the new pilot program, called RHIS Initiative.

The RHIS Initiatives has four implementing partners working under USAID in the two districts of Tangail and Habiganj: MEASURE

Evaluation, icddr,b, MaMoni HSS, and SIAPS. Two departments under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Bangladesh government provide health care at this level: The Directorate General of Health Services and the Directorate General of Family Planning, whose community workers provide health services chiefly through home visits.

Once fully implemented, PRS will contribute to full civil registration and vital statistics coverage, which records events such as births, deaths, and cause of deaths, and is essential for sound health care planning, for which the Government of Bangladesh has undertaken a comprehensive approach by engaging multiple ministries and agencies.

The digitised PRS also changes the amount and quality of evidence available at the top.

The system validates initial data and also collects background metadata, such as geographic coordinates and administrative data that are useful for decision-makers and are available in near-real time for improved decision-making.

Real-time information, redundancies to enable work offline when connectivity is down, hand-held platforms that are portable for rural health workers are converging in Bangladesh with RHIS Initiatives to increase and improve data that, in turn, can help to improve lives.

The RHIS Initiatives is one of several health data and eHealth programs of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Bangladesh which can be viewed at www. dghs.gov.bd.

For more information

A new video, to be premiered at the Health Data Collective meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh in April 2016, tells the story of the RHIS Initiatives’ introduction of mobile data collection for population registries conducted in rural areas. l See the USAID-supported MEASURE Evaluation website at www.measureevaluation.org or the project’s video page at https:// vimeo.com/158974120.

Professor Abul Kalam Azad is the Additional Director General (Admin) and Director, Management Information System (MIS), Directorate General of Health Services.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

INSIDE

Bangladesh looks for AIIB funds for power projects

‘Denim products in constant evolution’ Denim fabrics and products in Bangladesh have embodied constant evolution over the years with the blessings of latest technology and innovative designs, industry people said. PAGE 16

IMF urges Gulf states to adapt to lower oil prices The International Monetary Fund forecast yesterday economic growth in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council will be 1.8% this year, down from 3.3% in 2015, and urged spending cutbacks. PAGE 17

Capital market snapshot: Monday DSE Broad Index

4,321.6

-0.4% ▼

Index

1,053.6

-0.4% ▼

30 Index

1,658.5

-0.3% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

3,312.9

7.7% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

71.1 -16.1% ▼

CSE All Share Index 13,294.5

-0.3% ▼

30 Index

12,225.7

-0.3% ▼

Selected Index

8,077.3

-0.3% ▼

Turnover in Mn Tk

198.2

1.7% ▲

Turnover in Mn Vol

6.4

1.0% ▲

n Kayes Sohel With the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) operating for over three months, Bangladesh is looking to the new lending institution for funding some of its power projects.

The government has asked its top officials to approach the AIIB for loans for some of its power projects, which is much needed for Bangladesh as it plans to supply uninterrupted electricity to residences by 2021, sources said.

The Ministry of Finance has accordingly asked the Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Planning and Power Division to prepare proposals to seek loans from the new lender.

Among the other existing lenders like AIIB, Bangladesh receives the largest amounts of loans from the US-led World Bank and Japan-led Asian Development Bank.

The move comes after the parliament in February ratified the AIIB Bill 2016, paving the way for the bank membership.

“The project evaluation committee has recently asked the Power Division to provide details about the power project proposals expected to be funded by the AIIB,” said a source at the ERD. The Power Division is likely to seek a total of Tk1,289 crore for its three power projects from the AIIB, he said.

The Rural Electrification Board

Investments needed to develop power projects under the Power Division proposed to borrow AIIB fund of Tk772 crore out of the total project cost of Tk1,232 crore to add 25 lakh new subscribers of the country.

The Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (DESCO) proposed to convert the overhead power transmission lines to underground lines by taking AIIB credit of nearly Tk359 crore out of the total project cost of Tk570 crore and to upgrade the existing distribution system at Uttara and Bashundhara by taking AIIB loan of Tk158 crore out of the total cost of Tk251 crore for the project.

At present, the government is assessing the economic and financial returns from the AIIB loan as it is costlier than the loans from other multilateral lenders like WB and ADB, officials said.

Interest rate of the AIIB loans might be less than 2% with a

DHAKA TRIBUNE

grace period of 8-9 years, quite comparable to credit from World Bank and International Monetary Fund, according to Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

Currently, the World Bank lends for the development projects at 0.75% interest rate with 50 years of repayment period, including a 10-year grace period.

The ADB lends at less than 2% rate with 22-30 years of repayment period with 5-10 years of grace period.

Bangladesh is going to be a founding member of the AIIB, which has its headquarters in Beijing and opened for business on January 16 with a capital of $100 billion.

Bangladesh has already applied for AIIB membership after parliament ratification. In January, the country failed to get membership in absence of the parliament ratification. l

FICCI: Cut corporate tax to woo foreign investors n Syed Samiul Basher Anik Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday urged the government to reduce corporate tax in the next fiscal year’s budget to attract more foreign investment into the country.

A delegation of FICCI, led by its president Rupali Chowdhury, placed their budgetary proposals at a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue in the city yesterday.

The corporate tax for the non-listed companies should be reduced by 10% to 15% to minimise the gaps between marginal tax rate and effective tax rate, according to the FICCI proposal.

Currently, the corporate tax rate for the non-listed firms is 35% in the country. The effective tax rate becomes 45% to 50% for the companies because of high dis-allowances on royalty fee and excess perquisites, it argued.

“The corporate tax rate is very high compared to the other countries including India where the rate is 25%,” said Rupali Chowdhury.

She urged the NBR to consider the FICCI’s overall budget proposals for the sake of investment in the country saying that no new investment was made in the country over the last two to three years, except some expansion.

“No job will be generated and tax collection will not be increased without new investment,” she said.  PAGE 18 COLUMN 5

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

‘Denim products in constant evolution’ n Ibrahim Hossain Ovi Denim fabrics and products in Bangladesh have embodied constant evolution over the years with the blessings of latest technology and innovative designs, industry people said.

They made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a two-day Bangladesh Denim Expo in the capital yesterday. Denim Experts Limited is hosting the event.

“We believe that denim fabrics and denim products are under constant evolution because of strong technological influence and the new generation’s choice to change denim look,” Denim Experts Limited CEO and managing director Mostafiz Uddin said.

“We have a specially designed trend zone with the latest evolution and innovative trend that will rule the denim world for the next seasons.”

According to sector people, Bangladesh export over 180m pieces of jeans worth $3.5bn to the European and the US markets.

“This is really a great job done by the Bangladesh Denim Expo to brand denim products. Bangladesh produces best products in the world,” the Netherlands Ambassador to Bangladesh, Leoni Margaretha Cuelenaere, who were visiting the expo, told the Dhaka Tribune on the sidelines.

Bangladeshi factories are meeting sustainable manufacturing

Bangladesh Denim Expo began in Dhaka yesterday conditions and not using much water, electricity and other natural resources, she said.

Meanwhile, the sector people and the exhibitors said the exposition on a specific product helps add value to apparel industry as it brings people from across the globe

COURTESY

under one umbrella.

“BATEXPO was a big platform for the sector people to get together, but Bangladesh Denim Expo is only for an item that focuses on ins and outs of denim,” BGMEA Vice-President Faruq Hassan said.

The expo helps manufacturers add value, he said, adding that different types of manufactures, who produce higher-end products, join the event.

“Currently, Bangladesh is producing basic to mid-high fabrics.

We are installing high technolo-

gy that would be able to produce standard fabrics,” said Kazi Obaidur Rahman, AGM (marketing and R&D) of Shasha Denim.

The sector witnesses new innovation and evolution every day as the sector people have a lot of investment in technology and research, he said.

The aim of the expo is to improve the country’s reputation as a denim manufacturer, said Mostafiz.

He noted that the expo was successfully doing this, and it has already become a much-awaited event in the international denim calendar.

Bangladesh Denim Expo has seen a great success in terms of participation of global buyers and brands, manufacturers and researchers, he said.

“I am pleased to declare that we are going to organise the first edition of Bangladesh Green Apparel and Textile Expo 2017 to support the green momentum in the apparel industry.”

Knowledge and easier access to energy efficient technology may further facilitate the green process, Mostafiz said.

He hopes that this expo will bring environmentally friendly technology and solutions.

Currently, there are 28 green factories in the RMG sector certified by the US Green Building Council while 120 were registered for setting up apparel units. l

Stocks decline for 3 straight days n Kayes Sohel Stocks continued to decline for the third consecutive sessions yesterday amid continued poor participation in trade.

The benchmark index DSEX was down over by 16 points or 0.4% to 4,321.

The Shariah index DSES edged nearly 4 points lower to 1,053. The blue chip comprising index DS30 fell 5 points or 0.3% to 1,658.

The Chittagong Stock Exchange Selective Category Index CSCX ended at 8,077, losing 25 points.

Rally in Grameenphone and three state-owned oil companies-Padma Oil, Jamuna Oil and Meghna Petroleum-has saved the market from falling further.

Power sector dominated the trading of the day, making up almost 30% of the DSE total turnover and gained 1.2%, led by the oil companies.

Padma rose over 5%, Ja-

‘DSE equities traded mostly to the downside, though oil issues ticked higher muna oil 4.4% and Meghna Petroleum 4% on the news of upward re-fixation of the companies’ margin by the government.

Lanka Bangla Securities said: “The DSE equities traded mostly to the downside, though oil issues ticked higher on a hike in oil distribution commission.”

While all the major stocks followed the negative trend in market, oil distributing companies posted significant move to the upside supporting the market to limit the day’s losses, it said.

“As earnings season ramped up investors remained watchful about the

market trend which is reflected by the low level of market turnover.”

All other sectors, excepting power and telecommunications, showed negative performances. Engineering posted the highest loss tumbling over 3%, followed by pharmaceuticals 1%, banks 0.4% and non-banking financial institutions 0.3%.

Trade volume improved a bit but still remained in poor territory as the DSE turnover stood at Tk331 crore, up 7.7% over the previous session’s value.

Out of the total 311 scrips traded, 81 closed positive, 184 negative while 46 remained unchanged.

Mobil Jamuna Limited Bangladesh was the most traded stocks for the third session in a row with shares about Tk20 crore changing hands.

It was followed by Jamuna Oil, BSRM Limited, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, ACI and Doreen Power. l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Bank of Japan’s boldness risks diminishing returns n Quentin Webb The Bank of Japan’s push into ever-bolder monetary policy risks diminishing returns. With inflation and growth moribund despite epic bond-buying and subzero interest rates, the central bank is reaching for increasingly radical policy tools. Buying up far more equities in the form of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could be one way to give markets a fresh boost.

Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has

made it clear that buying more stock funds could be on the menu at the BOJ’s next meeting, which begins on April 26. With interest rates already so low, the central bank has to find direct ways to lower the cost of funding for risky endeavours. Last week Kuroda told parliament the bank wasn’t too big in ETFs, and there were still plenty of reasons to target risk premiums.

The first part is right. The BOJ has been buying ETFs since 2010 and already owns a large chunk of the

market. But ETF specialists can easily create more of them. HSBC economists think the central bank could up its spending by 10tn yen ($90bn) a year, from 3.3tn yen at the moment.

That would be a significant sum even for Tokyo’s 517tn yen main board. A rally would in turn lift animal spirits, and thus consumption. Even though direct ownership of stocks is limited, Japanese consumer confidence tends to rise and fall with the market.

But there are problems. Some fret that buying stocks further

IMF urges Gulf states to adapt to lower oil prices Phased adjustments

The Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, Masood Ahmed AFP

n AFP, Dubai The International Monetary Fund forecast yesterday economic growth in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council will be 1.8% this year, down from 3.3% in 2015, and urged spending cutbacks.

In an interview with AFP, IMF regional chief Masood Ahmed also said the oil-exporting Gulf states should press forwards with diversifying their revenue base faced with persistent low crude prices.

OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia is expected Monday to announce reforms aimed at diversifying its almost total economic reliance on crumbling oil prices.

This year will see “a continuation of a low oil-price environment, so we are going to see further - maybe $100 billion or so, in terms of lower revenues from oil exports” Ahmed said of the GCC which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“This is now beginning to affect not just the financing (of governments) but also the economies in terms of their

economic activities,” he said in Dubai, where he launched the IMF’s regional economic outlook update.

Oil prices have shed some 70% from their mid-2014 peak value to $40 per barrel.

The IMF said markets expect prices to recover modestly to $50 by the end of this decade.

The largest Arab economy, Saudi Arabia, is now expected to grow by 1.2% this year, compared with 3.4 percent in 2015. Economic growth in the UAE will also drop from 3.9% last year to 2.4% in 2016.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman will become “significant debtors” between 2016 and 2021, the IMF report said, with financing needs exceeding their reserves.

The plunge in revenues has forced the Gulf monarchies to make unprecedented fuel and energy subsidy cuts and plan to introduce indirect taxation. They have also scaled back spending on large projects.

“They need to pursue the measures they have started on cutting back and adjusting their spending, and to put in place revenue like the VAT (value-added tax),” Ahmed said.

VAT would add another 1.5% to gross domestic product “once it has come into place hopefully by 2018”, he said.

But such measures will take years to implement, and authorities should ensure “implementing them in a sustained way, and building the institutional capacity to be able to do this is going to be important”.

Many Gulf countries can introduce phased adjustments thanks to the “comfortable financial surplus” amassed over years of high oil revenues, he said.

In addition to balancing their budgets, Gulf countries face a major challenge ensuring that the private sector grows in a way that provides employment, Ahmed said.

The private sector is currently slowing “because partly they used to sell many of their products to the government” which is curbing spending.

“The big challenge is to revitalise the private sector, and that is really a transformation of the economies going forward,” Ahmed said.

Another priority is to create incentives for nationals to seek private sector instead of public sector jobs.

“Diversification of economies that depend on a single commodity like oil is not an easy task, and experience around the world shows that this is something that requires sustained effort, learning by doing and learning from each other, so I see this as an ongoing challenge over the coming years,” Ahmed said.

Oil revenues constitute the bulk of GDP for most Gulf countries. l

undermines the central bank’s independence from government.

Compared with bonds, an eventual exit strategy is even harder to envisage, since shares never have to be repaid. Buying ETFs rather than actual stocks prevents the BOJ from getting directly involved in the governance of Japanese companies.

But even targeting funds that favour particular types of firms drags the central bank into small-scale decisions about resource allocation.

The bigger objection is that

while higher stock prices lower the cost of equity financing, debt is dirt-cheap, and cash is plentiful.

Japanese bosses are probably not putting off big decisions for want of slightly cheaper equity. So what looks like a radical move may be partly just about demonstrating that the central bank is not out of ammunition. l Quentin Webb is an Associate Editor at Reuters Breakingviews. The article was initially published at Reuters.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

BOJ likely to debate easing, policy decision a close call n Reuters, Tokyo Japan’s central bank is likely to cut its price forecasts on Thursday and debate whether a strong yen, weak global demand and soft consumption have hurt inflation expectations enough to warrant another blow of stimulus.

The policy decision will be a close call. While many in the Bank of Japan are worried about the gloomy economic prospects, they are equally wary of using their diminishing policy tools having just introduced the negative rate policy in January.

Any monetary easing would likely focus on boosting purchases of stock trust funds, though BOJ officials have said they can combine other steps like more government bond buying or even another cut in interest rates.

“The economy will remain weak and even if the government compiles a stimulus package in May, actual implementation will be some time away,” said Mari Iwashita, chief market economist at SMBC Friend Securities.

“If so, the BOJ should act early rather than being behind the curve,” she said.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has defended the central bank’s past policy decisions, blaming falling oil costs for keeping price growth flat and stressing that a steady economic recovery will accelerate inflation toward its 2% target.

But the gloomy global outlook has hurt household and corpo-

General view of Bank of Japan (BOJ) quarterly branch manager’s meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo rate inflation expectations. This month’s deadly earthquake in southern Japan has disrupted supply chains, casting doubt on the BOJ’s view that growth will pick up in the current quarter.

With yen gains weighing on exports and prices of imported goods, the BOJ is set to cut its growth and price forecasts for the current and next fiscal years at a quarterly review on Thursday, sources have told Reuters.

Not so soon?

More importantly, weak consumption has prompted firms like Fast Retailing Co Ltd to cut prices of its clothing brand Uniqlo, suggesting

that companies are reverting to the kind of deflationary mindset the BOJ is trying to eradicate.

The BOJ could ease again if such risks exceed levels it attempted to forestall with January’s stimulus, say officials familiar with the bank’s thinking.

“What’s important is how various headwinds affect companies’ price-setting behaviour,” one of the officials said.

Despite such headwinds to growth, the BOJ is wavering on whether to act now and analysts’ bets are divided.

Deploying more stimulus now may draw global criticism that Japan is waging a currency devalua-

REUTERS

tion war, something premier Shinzo Abe may not want ahead of a G7 summit he chairs in May. Any attempts to push down already low yields may anger financial institutions still struggling to adjust to January’s negative rate decision.

Cutting the rate on excess reserves from the current minus 0.1% or providing funds to banks at a negative rate may thus prove difficult, some analysts say.

Easing now could also create an impression that the BOJ is responding to market pressure for action, and that Kuroda is reverting to the incremental approach for which he criticised his predecessor, they say. l

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

FICCI: Cut corporate tax to woo foreign investors The FICCI also proposed an increase in tax-free income ceiling for individual to Tk3 lakh from the existing Tk2.5 lakh. “The current tax free income ceiling for individual taxpayers was very low considering the high inflation, price hike and worldwide recession. The threshold is needed to be increased to improve disposable income and support lower income groups.”

The FICCI also wanted the highest slab of individual tax to 25% from 30% and reduction of advance income tax on import of raw materials to 1% from the current 5%.

It also urged the revenue board for following actual transaction value of imported goods for customs valuation instead of average price of last three months and sought protection for some local industries including tea, ceramic, leather and ICT in the backdrop of withdrawal of supplementary duty in import of those products under the new Value-Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act-2012.

Speaking at the meeting, India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) representative AK Azad Chowdhury requested the NBR for breaking the unholy alliance of corrupt taxmen and businessmen to maximise revenue collection.

IBCCI also demanded for exempting the new enterprises from paying minimum tax at the rate of 0.5% on total turnover irrespective of profit or loss for first five years of industrial undertaking. l

CORPORATE NEWS

Samsung brings Night View Monitor to Bangladesh

n Tribune Business Desk Samsung Electronics has launched its new product “Night View Monitor” in Bangladesh, particularly designed for those who study at night.

The use of this monitor will neither be annoying for others sleeping nearby, nor be harmful for the

user’s eyes too, said a press release.

Samsung is presenting this new monitor with multiple distinctive features including that enabling users to work smoothly with optimal viewing in the dark.

The eye rest mode feature reduces the amount of blue light to prevent eye strain, Samsung said.

This monitor also features keyboard light which consist LED light in the bottom frame illuminating the keyboard and the desk.

Users can feel comfort in their eyes with the night view mode where the brightness reduction button reduces screen brightness.

This is now available at Tk9,800 with 3-year warranty at the authorised outlets across the country. l

Rangs Electronics Limited has recently opened its 7th Sony Center at Shimanto Square in Dhanmondi, said a press release.

General manager (marketing and sales) of Rangs Electronics Ltd, Tanvir Hossain along with delegate from Sony South-East Asia, Jeremy Heng Choon Guan inaugurated the launching ceremony

19

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

| workshop |

Career Camp 2016: Two years and beyond

| commencement |

Graduation ceremony at SJW

PHOTO: FARZANA TISHA Don Sumdany Facilitation and Consultancy in association with EMK center conducted a career camp for the second consecutive year. Sponsored by Bombay Sweets Co. Ltd, the event was a day long workshop designed to facilitate the youth about building their career in a constructive way.

The workshop covered various

essentials required for a 360 degree job preparation. Overview of the current job market, corporate grooming, practical real life experience sharing of top corporate executives were part of the module.

G M Kamrul Hassan, CEO, Igloo Ice Cream Bangladesh Ltd, Mehedi Muhammad Hassan, CEO, Omicon

Group, Solaiman Shukhon, head of marketing, AAmra Networks Limited and life coach at Inspirit, Savina Shah graced the session with their real life experience and career guidelines for the participants. Dhaka Tribune and Colours FM were media partners for the workshop. The participants received a glazed surprise from

Krispy Kreme Bangladesh as they treated everyone with tasty donuts.

The workshop concluded with an ending note and certificate giving ceremony led by Shahriar Amin, head of marketing, Philip Morris International. l

Sir John Wilson (SJW) school organised a graduation ceremony to bid farewell to 11th batch of IGCSE and 4th batch of A-level graduates of 2015-16 at Lamda Hall, Gulshan Club on April 24.

Professor Dr Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, vice chancellor of University of Asia Pacific, was present as the chief guest while Anisuzzaman Chowdhury FCA, chairman, Social Services and Management Trust (SSMT), presided over the ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by trustees, principal Brig Gen Mirza TH Beg (retd), teaching and administrative staffs of the school.

34 O-level and 12 A-level graduates were awarded certificates. The ceremony was followed by a short cultural program. l

| contest |

GS F-commerce Award 2016 kicks off As we all understand, economic development for a country like Bangladesh requires innovative ideas and approaches in business.

Bangladesh, having 70% of its population under the age of 35, is poised for a double digit growth trajectory. Economic development of Bangladesh is thus largely dependent on this young population’s innovation and creativity in generating value for the economy.

In line with this hypothesis, hundreds of young entrepreneurs from across the country have come up with a very interesting and innovative approach of entrepreneurship - they have literally turned the mighty social media site Facebook into a very effective online marketplace for several categories of high-end goods. Due to their creativity, Facebook is no more only a social networking site. It is much more.

For this reason, after a heavily successful episode in 2015,

National F-commerce (Facebook commerce) Summit is back with a bang for a second season. This year, entrepreneurs, policymakers, industry insiders, media, domain experts will again be brought under one roof to discuss and create a unified voice for these businesses for the ultimate goal of economic prosperity of our beloved motherland Bangladesh.

20 businesses will be showcasing their products and services and along with this, to inspire and motivate entrepreneurs who are doing business in Facebook, National F-commerce summit will host the “GS F-commerce Award 2016.” F-commerce businesses can nominate their business for this award by simply visiting www.fsummit.geekysocial.com/ award-2016/ To select the best five F-commerce business of this year, five categories shall be taken into account, including product/

service quality, pages to answer that question in the activity of customer (responsiveness), product/service delivery quality (delivery responsiveness), branding and post-sale service.

Winner will be determined through the votes of two categories - public voting and jury voting.

Public voting will be counted in this categories by multiplying the “total number of votes” and “points” on the basis of product.

For instance, if the average rating is 4.5 and total number of vote is 100, then total number of point will be 450. Public voting will be open till May 5.

Jury voting will be scored on the basis of our respected panel of juries score. Judges will score on the basis of same five public categories.

40% public voting and 60% jury voting will be made with a net score to select winners.

To register F-commerce

businesses of your own or known, you need to click “list your business.”

About the organiser GEEKY Social Limited is a 360-degree social and digital media marketing company helping brands maximise their marketing ROI. GEEKY Social organises this

summit every year as part of its commitment towards giving back to the society and contributing to the economic growth of Bangladesh. l

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Downtime

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Snake (5) 4 Farm animal (3) 6 American state (4) 8 Unbending (5) 9 Cricket team (4) 11 Tear (4) 12 Echo sounder (5) 15 Girl’s name (5) 18 Wise man (4) 20 Tribe (4) 21 Divine messenger (5) 22 Agitate (4) 23 Sharp blow (3) 24 Useless remains (5)

DOWN 1 Parts of speech (5) 2 Heathen (5) 3 Added clause (5) 4 Grotto (4) 5 Hospital room (4) 7 Less well (5) 10 Desire with rivalry (4) 13 Elliptical (4) 14 Representative (5) 15 Hirsute growth (5) 16 Scoundrel (5) 17 Soothes (5) 18 Cicatrix (4) 19 Catch the breath (4)

CODE-CRACKER How to solve: Each number in our CODECRACKER grid represents a different letter of the alphabet. For example, today 19 represents G so fill G every time the figure 19 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

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

INSIDE INSIGHT

US set to release some classified pages of 9/11 report by June India scrambles to get water to 330m people India is scrambling to get water to drought-hit parts of the country as a sweltering heatwave adds to the misery.

PAGE 23

Apparently frustrated Afghan president opts for ending Taliban peace talks Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday pulled the plug on his failing effort to start peace talks with the Taliban and issued a direct challenge to Pakistan to battle the insurgents who he said originate from its territory, news agencies reported on Monday.

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Saudi unveils sweeping plans for socioeconomic reform The powerful young prince overseeing Saudi Arabia’s economy unveiled ambitious plans on Monday aimed at ending the kingdom’s “addiction” to oil and transforming it into a global investment power.

PAGE 24

n Tribune International Desk The US government appears set to release at least part of a 28-page classified chapter from the 9/11 report that may point the finger of Saudi collusion into the attacks that struck New York and capital Washington, DC, reports The Independent.

The former head of a bi-partisan committee that investigated the attacks that left more than 3,000 people dead and published its findings, said he believed the Obama administration would make a decision on the issue by June.

The unreleased documents, kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol building in Washington DC, contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into “specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers while they were in the US”.

Graham, a former Democratic senator, said a government official told him that intelligence officials will decide in the next several weeks whether to release at least parts of the documents.

The disclosure would come at a time of strained US relations with Saudi Arabia, a long-time American ally.

“I hope that decision is to honour the American people and make it available,” Graham told NBC on Sunday. “The most important unanswered question of 9/11 is, did these 19 people conduct this very sophisticated plot alone, or were they supported?”

Tim Roemer, who was a member of both the joint congressional inquiry as well as the 9/11 Commission and has read the secret chapter three times, described the 28 pages as a “preliminary police report.”

“There were clues. There were allegations. There were witness reports. There was evidence about the hijackers, about people they met with — all kinds of different things that the 9/11 Commission was then tasked with reviewing and investigating,” said the former Democratic congressman, according to the Associated Press.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government has always denied supporting the attackers, something supported by the findings of the US official report. Ironically, the Saudis have long said that they would welcome declas-

New York City firefighters work near the area known as Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 in New York City BIGSTOCK

THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT AND THE SECRET PAGES Ü In late 2002, congressional legislation signed into law by President George W Bush created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, more commonly known as the 9/11 Commission. The independent, bipartisan commission was charged with preparing a complete report of the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, including US preparedness and immediate response, and with providing recommendations to guard against future attacks. Ü The 9/11 Commission began its first hearings in New York City in the spring of 2003 and presented its findings in a public report released in July 2004. Ü The report outlined the failings of numerous government agencies, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pentagon and the National Security Council, in acting on existing intelligence in order to protect and defend the nation from such threats. Ü Among a long list of recommendations designed to guard against future attacks, the 9/11 Commission advocated a comprehensive restructuring of US intelligence agencies and an increased emphasis on diplomacy between the United States and the Islamic world. Ü The so-called “28 pages” are locked away in a secure basement room at the Capitol and although they can be read by members of Congress, the pages remain classified.

Sources: 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT, NBC, DAILYMAIL sification of the 28 pages because it would “allow us to respond to any allegations in a clear and credible manner”.

However, the potential release of the papers comes at a time of no small tension between the US and Saudi Arabia. The Wahabi kingdom believes the US has not sufficient pushed back at Iranian expansion in the Middle East, especially in Syria where it is leading the fight against Dae’sh.

It is also deeply concerned about legislation passing through the US Senate that would open the way for the relatives of those who died in 9/11 to use US courts to target Saudi officials, banks and charities. Yet these efforts have been largely blocked because of a 1976 law that gives foreign nations some immunity from such lawsuits.

The Senate bill was introduced

to make clear that the immunity given to foreign nations under the law should not apply in cases where nations are found culpable for terror attacks that kill Americans on US soil.

Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said President Obama had asked National Intelligence Director James Clapper to review the 28 papers for possible declassification.

Roemer said many questions remain about the roles of Fahad al Thumairy, an official at the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles who allegedly helped two of the hijackers find housing and transportation after they arrived in Southern California.

Al Thumairy was later denied entry into the US in May 2003 after the State Department alleged that he might be involved in terrorist activity. Roemer also wants

to know more about Omar al Bayoumi, who was strongly suspected of being a Saudi spy and was alleged to have been helpful to the hijackers. But he added: “We certainly did not exonerate the Saudis. ... Saudi was a fertile ground for fundraising for al-Qaeda. Some of these issues continue to be problems today. That’s why we need to continue to get to the bottom of this.”

That 47-page document lists several pages of individuals of interest and suggests questions that could be pursued.

A CIA inspector-general report in June 2015 said people in the CIA’s Near East Division and Counter-terrorism Centre “speculated that dissident sympathisers within the government may have aided al-Qaeda.’ The rest of the chapter, titled “Issues Related to Saudi Arabia,” is redacted. l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

US judge allows CIA interrogation lawsuit to move ahead n Reuters, Seattle A US judge on Friday refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the former military psychologists who developed the CIA’s interrogation programme during George W Bush’s presidency, handing a major victory to a group of men who alleged they were tortured in secret prisons abroad.

US District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush’s decision to allow the case to proceed was a step forward in the campaign to hold individuals accountable for a programme that the American Civil Liberties Union said resulted in the torture of at least 119 men from 2002 until it was ended in 2008.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit last October on behalf of Suleiman Abdullah Salim, a Tanzanian abducted by the CIA and Kenyan security forces in Somalia in 2003, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, a Libyan captured in a US-Pakistani raid the same year, and Gul Rahman, an Afghan national who died in 2002 in CIA custody from hypothermia caused by dehydration and exposure.

The civil liberties group argued that former US Air Force psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen encouraged the CIA “to adopt torture as official policy” and made millions of dollars in the process.

It added that the programme used such methods as starvation, beating, sleep deprivation, forced nudity and water dousing to break the will of prisoners.

The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $75,000 for the men, who were all held in CIA “black sites” in Afghanistan.

Siding with the former prisoners following

a two-hour hearing in the state of Washington, the judge gave the parties 30 days to draw up a plan for the discovery process in collaboration with the Justice Department, which the ACLU said was “a first in a lawsuit concerning CIA torture.”

Although it was not named in the lawsuit, the Justice Department had asked the court to consider “the interests of the US” in relation to classified information that may emerge during the evidence-gathering phase.

The US government has blocked similar cases by arguing that national security could be jeopardised if the proceedings were allowed to continue, the ACLU said.

Attorneys for Mitchell and Jessen had pushed for a dismissal, arguing in court filings that the prisoners were asking the court to “second-guess real-time decisions by the Executive Branch in the theater of war almost 15 years ago.”

They said the men are immune from its claims because they were contractors performing work for the government.

ACLU attorney Dror Ladin said the fact that other decision-makers were involved “does nothing to exonerate the defendants. They were the ones who decided to profit from torture.”

Ladin said the lawsuit is the only one filed after a 2014 US Senate report stated the CIA paid $80m to a company run by two former US Air Force psychologists without experience in interrogation or counter-terrorism.

US intelligence sources later identified the psychologists as Mitchell and Jessen. The company was Mitchell Jessen & Associates of Spokane. l

Sporadic violence marks 4th phase of West Bengal polls n Tribune International Desk Amidst unprecedented security to preempt any violence, polling for the fourth phase of West Bengal Assembly polls which will seal the fate of a number of Trinamool Congress (TMC) ministers, took place on Monday.

Voting was held for 49 seats in North 24 Parganas, Bidhannagar and Howrah districts in about 2,500 polling stations. Voters had 345 candidates, including a number of TMC ministers like Amit Mitra, Purnendu Basu, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Bratya Basu, Jyotipriyo Mullick and Aroop Roy to choose from.

The polling was more or less peaceful although isolated cases of violence were reported, with allegations mainly against TMC. Main opposition CPI (M) candidate from North Dumdum constituency Tanmoy Bhattacharya’s car was attacked and he was injured. 4 people have been arrested in the incident.

In another incident, FIR was filed against BJP candidate from north Howrah constituency Rupa Ganguly for hitting a TMC worker in front of a polling station. The video of the incident went viral on social media, creating large cry by the netizens for her arrest.

Following reports of violence in the third phase of polling which left at least one CPI(M) worker dead, the Election Commission made unprecedented security arrangements for this phase.

Post poll violence saw death of three opposition party leaders.

TMC won 43 out of the 49 seats in 2011, and has only increased its strength in the last 5 years. The party is expected to win majority of the seats in this phase although the opposition will hope that the recent spate of negative news will hamper chances of Mamata’s outfit. l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

INSIGHT

SOUTH ASIA

23 dead in Pakistan after eating poisoned sweets

India scrambles to get water to 330 million people n Tribune International Desk

India is scrambling to get water to drought-hit parts of the country as a sweltering heatwave adds to the misery.

Some 330m people in 256 of the nation’s 664 districts have been affected, the government told the Indian Supreme Court last week.

So far, 10 of India’s 29 states have declared themselves in a state of drought, after two years of below-average monsoon rains.

Water trains are running daily to deliver water to parts of Maharashtra, while Odisha state has extended summer vacations for schools and deployed more than 1,000 tankers to supply water.

In the southern state of Telangana, the government has promised to continue supplying drinking water to affected households until the monsoon rains in June.

“The drinking water supply is the biggest concern... because there is no rain, the water table has come down, and we are losing tube wells,” said Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, the special relief commissioner for Odisha, where temperatures shot past 45°C this month.

“We haven’t had any rains for seven months, which is unusual for Odisha, which is a coastal state.”

Boys cool off under a water fountain on a hot summer evening in New Delhi REUTERS

In many areas, the drought has been aggravated by soaring temperatures, even before the peak summer months arrive, leaving more than 200 people dead and triggering concerns that already-low reservoir waters will be depleted further.

According to Central Water Commission data released last week, storage levels in India’s 91 reservoirs, which also provide water for hydro-power, have dipped to 22% of total capacity, down from 27% last month.

The water crisis has intensified this year because of two poor monsoons in a row. The monsoons usually move from south to north

and then east, slowly covering the country before withdrawing in September. The rains recharge water bodies and groundwater.

The poor monsoons have been attributed partly to the El Nino effect, which involves the warming of Pacific waters and has always affected the rains in India.

The India Meteorological Department in its monsoon update for this year predicted above-average rainfall. Even so, some experts believe it will take time for water tables to be recharged.

Parineeta Dandekar, an associate coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, said the lowest water lev-

els are expected in Maharashtra state. And the situation is expected to extend to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states, which are all strongly dependent on groundwater, she said.

Sugar cane production in Maharashtra is expected to drop.

Meanwhile, in the south of the country, there are concerns that cultivation of rice and cotton could be affected as well if the upcoming monsoon rains are poor.

Reports in the Indian media said small farmers in southern Telangana were migrating elsewhere in search of employment.

The governments in at least two states - Rajasthan and Maharashtra - are facing flak for hosting cricket matches as part of next month’s Indian Premier League.

Public anger has also been directed at politicians amid questions over India’s handling of its water resources.

Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti was criticised for saying it was “pointless to plan in advance” for drought.

The crisis, farmers have warned, could affect the country’s agriculture economy. l

[This is an excerpt of a Straits Times article, which can be found at http:// bit.ly/230Udbc]

Apparently frustrated Afghan president opts for ending Taliban peace talks n Tribune International Desk Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday pulled the plug on his failing effort to start peace talks with the Taliban and issued a direct challenge to Pakistan to battle the insurgents who he said originate from its territory, news agencies reported on Monday.

In an address to parliament, Ghani said he would no longer pursue the negotiations that have been a centerpiece of his foreign policy since taking office more than 18 months ago. Instead, Ghani said, Afghan security forces would take on the Taliban and other armed opposition groups directly.

Ghani called on Pakistan to act as a “responsible government” and launch military operations against the Taliban and its allies who are widely believed to be based in Pa-

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kistan’s tribal belt. He said that if Pakistan didn’t do so, Afghanistan was willing to bring the issue to the UN Security Council.

“We do not expect Pakistan to deliver the Taliban for negotiations,” Ghani said, adding that Pakistan should instead keep promises it has made to carry out military operations against insurgents on its soil.

Ghani also referred to the Taliban as “terrorists,” a departure for the Afghan leader, who has previously spoken of the insurgents in more conciliatory tones.

His remarks came nearly a week after a truck bombing killed 64 people and wounded more than 347 others in Kabul, one of the deadliest attacks in the Afghan capital in years. An initial investigation by Afghan intelligence attributed to the attack to the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied

At least 23 people have died and dozens of others fell ill in central Pakistan after eating sweets which police suspect were tainted with pesticides. Umar Hayat, a resident of the Karor Lal Esan area in Punjab province, bought the baked confectionery on April 17 to distribute among friends and family after the birth of his grandson.

-AFP

INDIA

India cancels visa for Chinese Uighur activist India has cancelled a visa it gave to an exiled Uighur dissident, an official said Monday, after China protested and described him as a terrorist wanted by Interpol.

Dolkun Isa, a Germany-based activist from China’s Xinjiang region, was due to attend a conference on democracy next week in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile and home of the Dalai Lama.

-AFP

CHINA

China’s Communist Youth League to stamp out corruption China’s Communist Youth League Central Committee will carry out reforms including stamping out corruption and adhering to strict political discipline. The youth league is widely seen as a training ground for elite positions within the party. But it has come under fire from state media in recent months over corruption scandals and inefficiency.

-REUTERS

ASIA PACIFIC

Indonesia to set up crisis centre to handle security Indonesia will set up a crisis centre, headed by President Joko Widodo, to handle security situations involving its citizens overseas following recent abductions of Indonesian sailors in Philippine waters. The centre will include senior ministers and military and police chiefs and will be designed to respond quickly to situations that could have a strategic impact, chief security minister Luhut Pandjaitan told reporters.

-REUTERS

MIDDLE EAST

A 2015 file picture shows Afghan Taliban fighters at a rally group based in Pakistan.

Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of Afghanistan’s unity government, had previously spoken out against Pakistan, particularly following a truck bombing in August that wounded nearly 400 people. But in the ensuing months, both leaders tempered their stance against Islamabad after Pakistan joined Afghanistan,

AFP

China and the United States in a four-nation effort to start peace talks with the Taliban.

That effort has faltered as the main Taliban leadership has shown little inclination to negotiate while instead continuing offensives that have challenged the government’s control over parts of northern and southern Afghanistan. l

Iran threatens US over frozen funds ruling Iran threatened Monday to take legal action in the International Court of Justice against the US if $2bn in frozen funds are “diverted” to compensate victims of attacks.

On Thursday, Tehran said the US Supreme Court’s decision to deduct $2bn from its frozen assets to compensate American victims of terror attacks amounted to theft.

-AFP

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

USA

Senate pushes Obama to boost Israel aid More than four-fifths of the US Senate have signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to quickly reach an agreement on a new defense aid package for Israel worth more than the current $3bn per year. 83 of the 100 senators signed the letter. Senator Ted Cruz, a 2016 presidential candidate, was one of the 51 Republicans on board. Democratic White House hopeful, Bernie Sanders, was not among the 32 Democrats.

-REUTERS

THE AMERICAS

Mexican police tortured suspects in students’ case There is strong evidence that Mexican police tortured some of the key suspects arrested in the disappearance of 43 students. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expert group says that a study of 17 of the approximately 123 suspects arrested in the case showed signs of beatings, including, in some cases, dozens of bruises, cuts and scrapes.

-AP

UK

‘UK must leave European convention on human rights’ Britain should withdraw from the European convention on human rights regardless of the EU referendum result, Theresa May has claimed in comments Labour has condemned as appalling. The home secretary’s remarks on Monday triggered an immediate response from the shadow justice secretary, Charles Falconer, who described the intervention as so ignorant, so illiberal, so misguided. -THE GUARDIAN

EUROPE

Pro-EU party wins in Serbia, eurosceptics in Austria Serbia’s pro-European Union prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, has won a landslide victory in general elections, the country’s electoral commission confirmed Monday.

While, Austria’s far right eurosceptics Freedom Party won more than a third of the vote in the presidential election on Sunday and will face an independent in next month’s run-off.

-THE GUARDIAN

AFRICA

Amnesty urges Nigeria to come clean over Shia killings Satellite images and witness accounts offer damning new evidence that Nigeria’s military killed hundreds of minority Shia Muslims late last year, Amnesty International said in a report Friday. The rights group urged Nigeria to come clean over the December 12-14 massacre in the northern town of Zaria, which is currently the subject of a government inquiry.

-AP

Saudi unveils sweeping plans for socio-economic reform n Reuters, Riyadh The powerful young prince overseeing Saudi Arabia’s economy unveiled ambitious plans on Monday aimed at ending the kingdom’s “addiction” to oil and transforming it into a global investment power.

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during a televised speech, said Riyadh would raise the capital of its public investment fund to $2tn from $160bn and would sell up to 5% of shares in state oil giant Aramco.

The plans announced by Prince Mohammed also included changes that would alter the social structure of the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom by pushing for women to have a bigger economic role and by offering an improved status to resident expatriates.

Even before oil prices started to plunge in 2014, economists and political analysts had long regarded Saudi Arabia’s fiscal policy and economic structure as being unsustainable, but reduced income from energy sales has made reform more urgent.

At the centre of the “Vision 2030” reforms is the restructuring of its Public Investment Fund (PIF), which Prince Mohammed said would become a hub for Saudi investment abroad, partly by raising money through selling shares in Aramco.

The part privatisation of Aramco was also central to the plans, and Prince Mohammed said it would be transformed into an energy company that he valued at more than $2tn, and that up to 5% of it would be listed on the stock market.

So big is the state oil company because of its rights to the kingdom’s crude reserves, that selling

SAUDI’S VISION 2030 REFORM PLAN Ü Saudi Arabia’s cabinet has agreed a broad-based economic reform plan, known as Vision 2030, revealing how the oil-reliant state plans to diversify its economy over the next 14 years. Ü The vision is set to prepare the kingdom for an era in which it does not rely heavily on oil, as well as including a highly-anticipated National Transformation Plan (NTP). Ü Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is spearheading the roadmap, has previously said that NTP will include asset sales, tax increases, spending cuts, changes to the way the state manages its financial reserves, an efficiency drive, and a much bigger role for the private sector. Ü The project, which includes plans to float a stake in the world’s largest oil company and set up one of the world’s largest government investment funds, is meant to provide a blueprint for sweeping reforms to steer the OPEC kingpin sharply away from its decades-long reliance on cheap-to-produce oil. Ü Saudi is to sell less than 5%of oil giant Aramco in IPO Ü The Aramco shares would be listed on the Saudi stock exchange, known as the Tadawul, and on an international exchange, possibly in the United States. Ü Pans to set up a $2tn sovereign wealth fund that would be managed by an outside board of directors. It will include cash generated from the Aramco IPO, an existing $600bn in reserves, and state-owned real estate and industrial areas estimated to be worth $1tn. The fund’s revenues would go into developing the kingdom’s cities Ü A “green card” system will be introduced within five years to allow resident expatriates in the kingdom to have more rights in order to improve its investment climate. Sweeping reforms, of which the proposed green card is one, will be implemented even if oil prices rise back above $70 a barrel. Ü Plans for a military industries holding company fully owned by government at first and offered in IPO by end of 2017 Sources: WSJ, NYT, THE NATIONAL, ALARABIA even 1% of its value would create the biggest initial public offering (IPO) on earth, he said.

Ambitious targets

Since the prince was appointed to oversee Saudi long-term planning through the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, Riyadh’s focus on reform has grown far more urgent and far more acute.

The government ran a deficit of $98bn or 15% of gross domestic product in 2015, officials said, and

this year’s budget plan aimed to cut that to $87bn.

His economic team has already announced efforts to curb wasteful government spending, to diversify revenue streams by introducing sales tax and privatising state assets, and to make reforms in the education sector.

But ambitious targets, such as raising the private sector share in the economy to 60% from 40%, reducing unemployment to 7.6% from 11% and growing non-oil income to $267bn from $44bn were

not explained further.

Social reform plans

The plan also envisaged increasing women’s participation in the workforce, something that has already been growing quickly over the past five years, to 30% from 22%.

A green card system would also be launched within five years to enable expatriate Arabs and Muslims to live and work long-term in the country, Prince Mohammed said, in a major shift for the insular kingdom. l

Republican rivals Cruz, Kasich reach stop-Trump deal n Reuters, Washington, DC Republican White House rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced a deal on Sunday to stay out of each other’s way in some upcoming state primaries in hopes of blocking front-runner Donald Trump from winning the party’s presidential nomination.

Cruz’s campaign said in a statement he would focus on the Indiana and give Kasich a clearer shot in Oregon and New Mexico, states

John Kasich, left, Donald Trump, centre, and Ted Cruz where the Ohio governor expects to do well. Kasich, in turn, agreed to shift resources west and away from Indiana. The Indiana primary is on May 3, Oregon’s is May 17 and New Mexico’s June 7.

AFP

Trump has won the most state nominating contests, but he has a tough path to earn the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

The Cruz and Kasich campaigns believe their agreement to cede states

where the other candidate appears strong could help limit Trump’s ability to win more delegates.

Late Sunday, Trump tweeted his reaction to the deal: “Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!” Trump has frequently complained that the Republican Party’s nominating process is “rigged” against him because establishment party members oppose him. Party officials argue that the delegate selection rules have been known for some time. l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Goals aplenty on Club Cup opening day

INSIDE

n Tribune Report Magical Mahrez wins PFA award Leicester City’s Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez on Sunday became the first African player to be named English football’s Player of the Year, as voted for by his fellow professionals.The 25-year-old received the trophy at a lavish awards ceremony in London. PAGE 26

Rooney hopes to emulate Scholes Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney hopes to emulate the successful transition of former club team mate Paul Scholes from an attack-oriented player to a creative midfielder. Rooney has acknowledged he may have to drop deeper into midfield. PAGE 27

City need leap of faith against Real Until this season Manchester City’s progression in the Champions League could be measured in baby steps but today they can make a huge leap forward when they host Real Madrid in UCL semis. PAGE 28

Hiddink plays down speculation of Hazard Manager Guus Hiddink has dismissed speculation that Eden Hazard will leave Chelsea, insisting that the winger was content to stay at Stamford Bridge. The Belgium international’s 14 goals helped Chelsea become English champions for the fifth time last season. PAGE 29

An action from the Club Cup Hockey Tournament match between Abahani Limited (R) and Sonali Bank at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday MAINOOR ISLAM MANIK

Local giant Mohammedan Sporting Club began their Club Cup Hockey Tournament with a comfortable 4-0 win over Bangladesh Sporting in the inaugural match at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

The traditional Black and Whites returned to the field after a gap of nearly three years due to a dispute between the club officials and the Bangladesh Hockey Federation committee members.

The long absence duly took its toll on the likes of Russel Mahmud Jimmy and the other national stars as they were struggling to impose their authority on the game.

Mostafizur Rahman Lalon put Mohammedan ahead in the fourth minute with a soft touch from a Kamruzzaman Rana flick. Iqbal Nadir Prince equalised the margin in the 39th minute but national star Jimmy gave Mohammedan the lead again just two minutes later.

Rubel Hossain made it 3-1 in the 48th minute after Jimmy’s initial effort was blocked. And just six minutes later, Rubel bagged his second of the evening from a Jimmy assist. Belal netted in the 64th minute from a goal-mouth scramble in what turned out to be nothing but a mere consolation.

Meanwhile in the day’s other match at the same venue, Abahani Limited came back from a two-goal deficit to salvage a 2-2 draw against Sonali Bank Recreation Club.

Sonali Bank took a surprising 2-0 lead, courtesy goals from Tahel Ali and Helal in the 15th and 28th minute respectively, but Khorshedur Rahman and Maksudul Alam Habul ensured the Sky Blues would walk away with a creditable point. l

Tri-nation series in October a possibility: BCB chief ICC to increase Bangladesh’s revenue sharing n Mazhar Uddin The Tigers are expected to contest a tri-nation series, according to Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan. He said he received a number of proposals regarding this during the International Cricket Council meeting in Dubai this week.

Nazmul added that the tour of India, which was scheduled for this August, will be finalised within the next 10-15 days.

“After October, there will be some interesting things happening as we have received some proposals for matches. At the very least, there could be a tri-nation tournament.

We talked about the India series but I do not want to comment on it just yet,” said Nazmul to the media.

“I will only disclose all the details in the next 10-15 days once everything is confirmed. We might end up playing against the top four teams,” he informed.

After October, there will be some interesting things happening as we have received some proposals for matches Nazmul also stated that the ICC has decided to increase its revenue sharing with Bangladesh, thanks to the Tigers’ brilliant performances in limited-over cricket in the last couple of years.

Meanwhile, the BCB boss said the finer details of the bowling action review committee are yet to be finalised.

He also hinted of a few changes in the national selection panel.

“We are planning to expand the entire selection process and make sure the accountability factor. So, we are thinking of adding a board director to the selection process who will be involved with both the coach and the captain,” the BCB chief explained.

Meanwhile, the contract renewal of Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is well on track, said Nazmul.

Nazmul concluded by heaping praise on young pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman, who is enjoying a great run with the leather in the ongoing ninth edition of the Indian Premier League.

He said light-heartedly, “The president of Cricket Australia asked me, ‘From where did you get this boy?’ He said this while we were having a chat about Mustafizur’s brilliant bowling performance.” l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Magical Mahrez wins PFA award n AFP, London Leicester City’s Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez on Sunday became the first African player to be named English football’s Player of the Year, as voted for by his fellow professionals.

The 25-year-old French-born Algerian international, outstanding in Leicester’s incredible charge towards the Premier League title, received the trophy at a lavish awards ceremony in London.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli was named Young Player of the Year at the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) awards.

Paying tribute to his teammates, Mahrez, who succeeds Chelsea’s Eden Hazard as the winner of the prize, told the ceremony: “All the credit is for them, seriously.

“And for my manager (Claudio Ranieri) and the staff. Without them I wouldn’t receive this award and I wouldn’t score. It’s the team spirit, and I want to dedicate it to them.

“I’m very grateful to receive this award, it’s a pleasure. It’s extra special because if the players vote for me it’s because they’ve seen I’ve been great this year so I’m happy.

“But it’s more team things.

Without my team-mates I wouldn’t

get this award.”

Mahrez is the first African to win the award and just the second non-European, after Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, then of Liverpool, in 2014.

A £400,000 ($580,000, 514,000 euro) signing from French Ligue 2 side Le Havre in January 2014, Mahrez has contributed 17 goals and 11 assists to help put Leicester on the brink of becoming English

helicopter to the ceremony as he pipped club colleagues Jamie Vardy and N’Golo Kante as well as West Ham United’s Dimitri Payet, Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil to the award.

Alli, 20, held off competition from Kane, Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland, Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho and Everton duo Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley to take the young player gong.

PFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES Goals Assists Minutes Riyad Mahrez

17

11

2795

Harry Kane Jamie Vardy

24

1

3008

22

6

2959

Dimitri Payet

9

9

2311

Mesut Ozil

6

18

2869

N’Golo Kante

1

4

2750

champions for the first time.

He had scored the opener in the Foxes’ 4-0 thrashing of Swansea City earlier in the day at the King Power Stadium, which left Claudio Ranieri’s side eight points clear of second-placed Tottenham with three games left to play.

Giggs award

Mahrez was then flown by

Alli, who won Football League Young Player of the Year 12 months ago, joined Tottenham from thirdtier Milton Keyes Dons in 2015 and was expected to be used sparingly in his first season at White Hart Lane.

However, he has been outstanding in midfield for Spurs and has already won six caps for England, scoring once.

He was not there to pick up his award in person as Tottenham played West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League yesterday, but recorded a video message.

“Sorry I can’t be there tonight, but we have a big game tomorrow.

Thank you for to everyone who voted for me,” Alli said.

“I feel honoured to win such a prestigious award and thank you to my friends, family and all the staff at Tottenham.”

Manchester United great Ryan Giggs, now the assistant to manager Louis van Gaal, followed in the footsteps of his former manager Alex Ferguson by winning the PFA Merit Award.

Manchester City midfielder Izzy Christiansen won the PFA Women’s Player of the Year award, with Sunderland forward Beth Mead taking home the young player equivalent. l

Sheikh Jamal DC eye redemption n Tribune Report

A Tampines Rovers footballer takes aim at goal during training at Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday

MI MANIK

A wounded Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club will be looking to salvage some lost pride when they take on Singapore League’s Tampines Rovers in their fifth Group E match of the AFC Cup today. The battle between Bangladesh’s premier league champions and Singapore’s runners-up side will kick off at 6:30pm at Bangabandhu National Stadium.

Sheikh Jamal are mired at the foot of the four-team group, having failed to earn a single point from their four games so far. They lost the corresponding fixture against Tampines 4-0.

On the other hand, Tampines, also known as the Stags, are second with seven points, one less than leaders Philippines outfit Ceres.

The visitors’ task might appear to be a straightforward one but Tampines head coach V Sundramoorthy guarded against complacency.

Sundramoorthy said, “When they were in Singapore, it was very early in the season for them. They were not well prepared. But after a

couple of weeks, I think they have done much better.

“I watched their last two games against [Malaysian side] Selangor.

They (Sheikh Jamal) were unlucky.

It was tough for Selangor to get the points. And I think it will be tough for us [today] to get the points.

“This is a very important match for us. We will try to go out and win this game in order to put us in a good position before the Selangor game.”

Although the odds are stacked heavily against Sheikh Jamal, newly-appointed head coach Shafiqul Islam Manik said, “I am hoping for something good. We tried to do well in Malaysia and will do the same [today].”

In their pursuit of a good result at home, Sheikh Jamal will be without the services of centre-back Yeasin Khan and defensive midfielder Jamal Bhuiyan due to suspension.

Monayem Khan Raju is likely to come in place of Jamal at the heart of midfield.

The home side’s main strength lies with their foreign attacking trio but two of them – Haitian Wedson Anselme and Nigerian Emeka Darlington – have slight knocks. l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Nadal close to fourth in world rankings n AFP, Paris

QUICK BYTES Gillespie denies Australia approach Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie insisted Monday he was committed to the reigning English county champions after being linked with a role as Australia’s bowling coach.

The former Australia fast bowler has forged a fine reputation as a coach during four years in charge of Yorkshire, helping the Headingley club return to the First Division and then overseeing their back-to-back County Championship titles that have left the White Rose bidding for three in a row this season.

Rafael Nadal’s tournament win in Barcelona on Sunday has helped him close the gap on Stan Wawrinka in fourth place in the world rankings.

It was the Spaniard’s second title triumph in two weeks on the back of Monte Carlo as he prepares for a tilt at an unprecedented 10th French Open title.

He started last week in fifth place, 1,415 points behind reigning French Open champion Wawrinka and he ended it just 545 points adrift.

The only positional change in the top 10 saw Tomas Berdych move ahead of David Ferrer into eignth place with Novak Djokovic still in top spot by a huge margin over Andy Murray.

AFP

Verdasco wins Romanian Open title Spain’s Fernando Verdasco won his first ATP title in more than two years in Bucharest on Monday when he defeated Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Romanian Open. It was the seventh top-level tour title of his career -- the last of these coming in Houston in April, 2014 -- and the fifth on claycourts. Pouille, at 22 10 years younger than his opponent, was playing in his first ATP tour final, but he never looked like troubling the tough Spaniard, a former top tenner who has slumped to 60th in the world rankings.

AFP

Neymar to lead Brazil’s Operation Olympic Football superstar Neymar will lead Brazil’s charge for gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics as the country seeks to forget its political and economic blues. The country of 200 million people faces a nervous 100-day countdown to the start of the Games. That would put it in the top 10 sporting powers for the first Olympics to be held in South America. The Olympic torch set off Thursday from Athens on a circuitous tour through Greece, eventually winding through scores of Brazilian cities before arriving at Rio’s Maracana Stadium for the August 5 opening ceremony.

AFP

Boca held River in ‘Superclasico’ Boca Juniors hung on for a 0-0 draw with bitter rivals River Plate on Sunday after playing Argentina’s “Superclasico” with 10 men for almost 75 minutes at La Bombonera.

In a typically tense clash between the Argentine giants, played against a backdrop of non-stop chanting and drum beating, Boca were reduced to 10 men after 13 minutes when Pablo Perez was sent off for kicking River defender Eder Alvarez Balanta.

REUTERS

ATP TOP 20

Rafael Nadal of Spain bites the Barcelona Open trophy after defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan in Barcelona on Sunday

REUTERS

Resurgent Nadal reclaims Barcelona crown n Reuters Rafael Nadal maintained his ominous claycourt form by seizing back the Barcelona Open title from Kei Nishikori with a 6-4 7-5 victory on Sunday, matching Guillermo Vilas’s record title haul on the surface.

A week after reclaiming the Monte Carlo crown, the 29-yearold Spaniard returned to another of his favourite hunting grounds

to end Nishikori’s two-year hold on the trophy and take his tally in the Catalan capital to nine.

Playing with the kind of authority that once made him almost unplayable on European clay, Nadal looked poised for a comfortable victory until Nishikori broke back in the second set to make Nadal dig deep.

He would not be denied, though, sealing victory after two hours

when Nishikori slapped a forehand into the net.

Nadal, who will target a 10th French Open title next month, had not won back-to-back titles since 2013.

He and former Argentine great Vilas have both won 49 claycourt titles and Nadal will be confident of edging ahead when he moves on to Madrid and Rome before Roland Garros. l

Rooney hopes to emulate Scholes in United midfield role n Reuters Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney hopes to emulate the successful transition of former club team mate Paul Scholes from an attack-oriented player to a creative midfielder.

With younger and faster talents coming through, including the likes of strike duo Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, Rooney has acknowledged he may have to drop deeper into midfield from his preferred centre forward position.

Manager Louis van Gaal deployed the 30-year-old England captain in a midfield role to good affect in the FA Cup semi-final victory over Everton on Saturday and Rooney was confident he had the ability to cope with the change.

“I’ve known for a few years.

I have played there a few times throughout my career and I can play that position. I have played and watched Paul Scholes play that role for years,” Rooney told British media after the 2-1 win.

“I always knew that one day that is where I would play, so I have tried to learn and watch what he did. It is still early days, but hopefully, if I keep playing there, I can develop and get better,” he added.

“We have got a lot of pace in the team now and I think I can read the game quite well... whether to go forward or stay deeper and leave the space for the other lads.”

Champions League-berth chasing United, who are fifth in the standings and five points off the final qualifying spot, host leaders Leicester City at Old Trafford on Sunday. l

Players 1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 2. Andy Murray (GBR) 3. Roger Federer (SUI) 4. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 5. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 6. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 8. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 9. David Ferrer (ESP) 10. Richard Gasquet (FRA) 11. Milos Raonic (CAN) 12. Marin Cilic (CRO) 13. David Goffin (BEL) 14. Gaël Monfils (FRA) 15. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 16. John Isner (USA) 17. Roberto Bautista (ESP) 18. Gilles Simon (FRA) 19. Kevin Anderson (RSA) 20. Nick Kyrgios (AUS)

Points 15,550 8,175 7,785 6,640 5,915 4,290 3,400 3,120 (+1) 3,010 (-1) 2,840 2,740 2,680 2,605 2,460 2,420 2,235 2,015 1,900 1,840 1,765

India’s sports stars dismayed at Salman move n AFP, New Delhi India’s sports stars reacted with dismay on Sunday after Bollywood’s Salman Khan was appointed goodwill ambassador for India’s Olympic team in the Rio Games later this year.

Khan, who was cleared last year of killing a homeless man in a hitand-run crash, was named by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Saturday to boost public support for the team. But Olympic wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt questioned how a film star was qualified to promote the country’s athletes.

“Everybody has the right to promote movies in India, but Olympics is not a place to promote films,” Dutt said on Twitter. “Can anyone tell me what is the role of good will ambassador? Why are you fooling the public?” he said. l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Ronaldo v City Aguero v Real The UEFA Champions League semi-finals have stirred up memories for Manchester City and Real Madrid’s star strikers, both of whom know their last-four rivals very well indeed. With Manchester United, Ronaldo played City in 11 derby matches, while Sergio Agüero represented Atlético in 11 such games with Real Madrid.

Manchester City players jog during training at Manchester City Football Academy yesterday ahead of their Champions League semifinal against Real Madrid today REUTERS

Ronaldo’s English meetings P11 W7 D1 L3, goals: 4

Key highlights

• Ronaldo scored his first cup com-

City need leap of faith against Real

•

n Reuters

•

Until this season Manchester City’s progression in the Champions League could be measured in baby steps but on Tuesday they can make a huge leap forward when they host Real Madrid in their first European semi-final for 45 years.

The Abu Dhabi-backed English club have already broken new ground this season, moving past the last 16 stage that proved their limit for the past two seasons having failed even to survive the group stage prior to that.

In seeing off PSG, who have similar financial muscle, in the quarter

they delivered a powerful statement of intent to reach their first semi-final since a European Cup Winners’ Cup defeat by Chelsea in 1971.

They also kept alive the intriguing possibility of a Milan final against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, whose manager Pep Guardiola will take over the Manchester City hot seat from former Real Madrid manager Manuel Pellegrini next season.

First, however, City’s defence must find a way of keeping Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema quiet at their Etihad Stadium so as to arrive at their opponents’ Bernabeu fortress with something tangible to hang on to.

Ronaldo has scored 47 times this season, including 16 in just 10 Champions League appearances, but Pellegrini says he knows how to stop the Portuguese goal machine.

While City’s recent form has been on the rise, if a little late to stop the Premier League’s fairytale title hunters Leicester, Real have been almost unstoppable of late as they try and chase down Barcelona in La Liga.

Aguero never finished on the winning side against Real while he was at Atletico Madrid and he will be itching to put the record straight against the 10-times European champions.

Wales forward Bale has, howev-

petition goal – and only his second in all competitions for United – against City in a 4-2 FA Cup home win on Valentine’s Day 2004.

Ronaldo notched his first EPL goal against City in a 3-1 home success in December that year.

United beat City in every meeting in which Ronaldo scored.

Aguero’s Spanish meetings P11 W0 D3 L8, goals: 3

Key highlights

• Atletico lost to Real Madrid in Real players pose for a photo during their flight to Manchester yesterday er, warned City that Real, who are appearing in their 27th European Cup semi-final, will seek to inflict some damage before finishing the job next week. l

• •

every encounter in which Aguero scored.

Aguero hit the opening goal of the 2007/08 Liga campaign as he nodded home inside the first minute at the Bernabeu.

Aguero started nine of the 11 games in which he participated against Real Madrid.

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Villarreal edge towards Champions League return n AFP, Madrid

SEREI A Atalanta

2-2

Bologna

Susaeta 88, San Jose 90+1

Real Betis

Gameiro 67, Coke 80

2-2

Getafe

Valencia

Medran 59, Scepovic 68

Parejo 48, Alcacer 84

0-0

Villarreal

Real Sociedad

TOP FIVE P W D L GD Pts Barcelona

35 26 4 5 71

82

Atletico Madrid35 26 4 5 43

82

Real Madrid

35 25 6 4 72

81

Villarreal

35 17 10 8 11

61

Athletic Bilbao 35 16 7 12 10

55

DAY’S WATCH FOOTBALL TEN 2 12:45PM UEFA Champions League SF: Manchester City v Real Madrid

CRICKET SONY SIX 8:30PM Indian Premier League Hyderabad v Pune

Chievo

2-0

Genoa

Giaccherini 12, Floccari 63

Athletic Bilbao

2-0

Sevilla

1-0

Borriello 55

LA LIGA Casadesus 13, Etxeita 67-og

Palermo

Gilardino 56, Trajkovski 90+2

Villarreal moved a point closer to sealing their return to the Champions League after a four-year absence as they warmed up for their Europa League semi-final against Liverpool with a 0-0 draw with Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Captain Bruno came closest to opening the scoring for Villarreal when his free-kick rattled the crossbar midway through the first half.

However, Vela also missed a great opportunity for Real early in the second half when his attempted chip was beaten away by Asenjo. Villarreal continue to lead Athletic by six points with just three games remaining despite a dramatic fightback by the Basques to seal a point in a 2-2 draw at bottom-placed Levante.

Victor Casadesus’s early opener and Borja Etxeita’s own goal had Levante on course for a huge win in their battle to beat the drop. However, Athletic struck twice in the final two minutes through Markel Susaeta and Mikel San Jose to leave Levante still four points off safety.

Athletic, Sevilla and Celta Vigo are all at least heading for Europa League football next season after Valencia’s fine run under new boss Pako Ayestaran was stalled by a 2-2 draw at Getafe. l

Levante

0-2

Frosinone

2-1

Lazio

Fernando 20, Diakite 78

Djordjevic 3

1-3

Sassuolo

Sampdoria Torino Peres 7

Sansone 2, Peluso 75, Trotta 94

1-2

Fiorentina Kalinic 81

Juventus

Mandzukic 39, Morata 83

TOP FIVE P W D L GD Pts Juventus

35 27 4 4 49

85

Napoli

34 22 7 5 43

73

Roma

34 19 11 4 35

68

Inter Milan

35 19 7 9 15

64

Fiorentina

35 17 8 10 16

59

Juventus' goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (C) save a penalty kick during their Italian Serie A match against Fiorentina at Artemio Franchi stadium in Florence on Sunday AFP

Buffon the hero as Juve put one hand on title n AFP, Milan

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved a last-gasp penalty from Nikola Kalinic as leaders Juventus put one hand on a record-equalling fifth consecutive Serie A title with a dramatic 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Sunday.

Juventus will claim a fifth straight title in Italy’s top flight if second-placed Napoli fail to beat Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Monday.

But judging by the jubilant postmatch scenes in Florence, where Allegri was thrown in the air by his players, it is now only a matter of

time before Juve are crowned champions for the fifth year running.

Yet it was a rollercoaster game at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, Alvaro Morata scrambling in what turned out to be the winner on 83 minutes just after Kalinic had cancelled out Mario Mandzukic’s 39th-minute opener only two minutes earlier.

Buffon then stopped the Croatian’s spot-kick at the death after he had been hauled down by Juan Cuadrado. Davide Astori spurned a great chance in injury time, the Italian’s header from a tight angle coming off post and crossbar as Buffon scrambled to get the ball to safety.

Juve’s 27th win in 35 games leaves the Turin giants on 85 points, 12 ahead of Napoli ahead of their visit to the Stadio Olimpico on Monday when 30-goal striker Gonzalo Higuain will make his return from a three-match ban for the visitors.

Fiorentina remain fifth and firmly in contention for a Europa League place, but Paulo Sousa’s men are now in danger of seeing their sixpoint lead on AC Milan reduced if the Rossoneri beat Carpi on Monday.

Fiorentina had reason to be furious at the half-time interval after a well-worked move that saw Josip Ilicic send Federico Bernardeschi

through to beat Buffon on the half hour. It was ruled offside, although replays suggested the goal was perfectly valid.

Among earlier games, Sassuolo maintained their surprise bid for a place in the Europa League with a shock 3-1 away win at Torino.

Sampdoria are as good as safe after defeating Lazio 2-1 and Bologna beat Genoa 2-0 to all but end their own relegation fears.

Atalanta defeated Chievo 1-0 while Palermo claimed a crucial three points in their fight for survival as they won 2-0 at fellow strugglers Frosinone. l

Hiddink plays down speculation of transfer for Chelsea’s Hazard

Gladbach stay in hunt n AFP, Berlin

n Reuters

Borussia Moechengladbach remain in the hunt for a return to the Champions League next season after their convincing 3-1 win over Hoffenheim on Sunday.

Gladbach bowed out of this season’s Champions League having finished bottom of their group, but the win over Hoffenheim boosts their hopes for next season. l

Manager Guus Hiddink has dismissed speculation that Eden Hazard will leave Premier League champions Chelsea, insisting that the winger was content to stay at Stamford Bridge.

The Belgium international’s 14 goals helped Chelsea become English champions for the fifth time last season, besides earning him England’s Footballer of the Year and the Players’ Player of the Year awards.

Hiddink told British media said Hazard was a “talented, high-quality player” who was suffering a frustratingly poor season because of injuries that have limited him to four

goals in all competitions this year.

“When he is there fully fit physically and mentally, then he is one of the best. I noticed that I saw him moving more, very light, very fresh (on Saturday),” Hiddink said.

“He was playing free with no doubt in his mind and any frustrations, so this was a good sign for me.”

Hiddink said Hazard had several more years to go on his contract and “what I know (is), he is very happy with everything in Chelsea and around Chelsea. He is very important and if he is fit as he is today, (it is) showing.”

Ninth-placed Chelsea will host title-chasing London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on May 2. l

BUNDESLIGA M'gladbach

3-1

Toljan 7-og, Dahoud 45,Hahn 61

Eintracht Russ 28, Bell 84-og

Hoffenheim Kramaric 54

2-1

Mainz Brosinski 18

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Hrithik becomes Kaabil

n Rupkotha Chowdhury For a change, this time Hrithik Roshan is not making headlines

because of Kangana! The extremely popular actor recently shared a rather heartwarming photograph where “Duggu”

is seen alongside his parents Rakesh and Pinky as they celebrate their wedding anniversary. As it so happens, the 42-year-old star’s uncle and veteran music director Rajesh Roshan too, can be seen in the photo.

While sharing the post with his fans, Hrithik stated that he truly enjoyed spending some quality time with his loved ones. “When love is a commitment, the commitment can create more love.45years! #laughterBestwithFamily thank you all 4 your wishes,” he added.

On a similar note, Hrithik looked quite dashing in the photo and was seen sporting a slightly different getup. As expected, this created a buzz among fans as they began speculating if this was the look he would don in Kaabil.

We must say this is an exciting turn of events indeed!

As far as Kaabil is concerned, it is touted to be a romanticdrama and also features Yami Gautam in the lead. l

The prestigious Joop Swart Masterclass 2016

Pathshala Alumnus and Bangladeshi photographer Samsul Alam Helal have been selected for the prestigious international platform for young photographers, Joop Swart Masterclass 2016. Organised

by World Press Photo, this program announced the 12 young photographers of 11 different nationalities in its 23rd edition.

World Press Photo’s nominating committee selected 167 young photographers this year, who were invited to submit their portfolios. Only 12 young photographers were selected and the selection committee reflected on this year’s candidate portfolios.

Samsul Alam Helal is a documentary photographer based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

He completed his Professional Program on photography from

Pathshala South Asian Media Institute. Many of his works were exhibited at Dhaka Art Summit (2016), The Bronx Museum of the Arts (2015) New York, Noortherlicht Photo festival (2015) Netherlands, Encounter Da imagem (2015) Portugal, Eye on Bangladesh (2014) New York, and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (2013) Sunderland, Chobi Mela International Photography Festival (2013) Bangladesh and Festival of Promenades Photographiques (2013) France.

Founded in 1994, the Joop Swart Masterclass has brought together some of the finest young photographers from around world, as well as leading professionals in the fields of documentary photography and photojournalism. The six Pathshala Alumni who got selected for this prestigious program are GMB Akash (2002), Munem Wasif (2007), Andrew Biraj (2008), Saiful Huq Omi (2010) and Sarker Protick (2014).

Pathshala is the early school of Photography started in 1998 where the institution provides photography

Arshad Ron’s photography exhibition at Drik

n Showtime Desk A five-day photo exhibition of Arshad Ron was inaugurated at Drik Gallery in the capital’s Dhanmondi area on April 22.

Arshad is the winner of National Photographic Competition and Exhibition organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and Bangladesh Photographic Society. His works have been published in many international books, magazines, periodicals including World Press Photo News letter, and Swiss Red Cross report on climate change.

education throughout the year.

Since then, the institution has slowly grown to become a fullfledged photo resource centre based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The department of photography of Pathshala is recognised as an institution offering the highest quality education in photography. l

Showcase, a publication agency in Bangladesh, arranged the exhibition.

Asiatic Marketing Communications Limited (Asiatic 3 Sixty) Chairman and prominent actor, Aly Zaker was present as a special guest at the ceremony.

Showcase Chairman, Rounak Alam stressed on promoting the heritage, art and culture of

Bangladesh both at home and abroad, and said the exhibition was an attempt in continuation to that process.

Arshad has worked as a professional photographer for more then 25 years. His works have been exhibited in many countries like Japan, Malaysia, Romania, India, and UK. The exhibition is open from 3-8pm and ends tomorrow. l

Sunny: Critics don’t buy movie tickets. They watch for free n Showtime Desk What matters the most to her — critics’ review or fans’ love? ”Critics don’t buy movie tickets.

They watch for free. But it’s the fans who buy the tickets. They are the people who matter the most to me. Besides, I never expect to get any awards. I only crave my fans’ love. I only hope for my fans’ support,” Sunny expressed during an interview.

Sunny added, as an actress, that is what she always looks for. But, having said that, she believes content-driven films depend on each person’s perspective.

She believes in choosing the films which have strong content.

Indo-Canadian adult-film star turned Bollywood actress Sunny Leone says she doesn’t expect to receive an award although she craves for her fans’ love.

Sunny Leone’s next film looks promising. Called One Night Stand,

it is going to be a thriller. It stars Tanuj Virwani as the male lead.

Other than movies, Sunny has now also ventured into the field of writing and has written an erotic novel called Sweet Dreams which will hit bookstores soon.

Sunny began her stint in Bollywood

in 2012 with Jism 2, after which she went on to do films like Jackpot, Ragini MMS 2 and recently Mastizaade in January. Surprisingly, for an actress who has done such few films, she is insanely popular among the Indian audience. l Source: Pink Villa

He left an everlasting impression in the fields of theatre and literature, till this day his greatness is inescapable. An immortal genius indeed, and people around the world paid tribute to Shakespeare on his 400th death Anniversary.

A two day event took place in British Council, Dhaka. The theatre department of Dhaka University,

adapted seven Shakespearean plays, each were 10 minutes long.

And all of them were performed simultaneously. The seven plays were Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, Othello, A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, and As You like It. The plays were performed in the auditorium, the library, a special room, and the garden. As You Like it was performed once

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Tumi Elita, ami Kishore n Showtime Report Music arranger and singer Kishore has just completed new album Tumi ar ami. A duet album, Kishore will be singing along with Elita. The album is full of romantic numbers.

Popular lyricist Kabir Bokul and Shomeshywar Ali have also written two songs for this album while the music has been arranged by Kishore himself.

“Based on Bengali taste, this

in the garden, the others were performed three times each. This routine was followed throughout the two days. The crowd was big compared to the venue; the plays had different regional dialects of Bangladesh. The performances had its own charm, and the production quality was an eye candy, it was cheap yet good.

The efforts were praiseworthy; especially the ones of As You like It, the crowd laughed their hearts out, and the actors were memorable. Altogether, the event was enjoyable; it was nothing groundbreaking but it was solid and shrewd. They tried to make the audience move from one place to another to watch the plays, and kept it short so people could simply stand and watch. This kept the interaction between the audience and the performers alive and great. The organisers made the event fast-paced instead of the usually long hours of sitting. It was an occasional sprint through Shakespearean theatre, not a thorough marathon of his complex thoughts. Yes, of course the Bard of Avon lives. #ShakespeareLives l

album will touch the heart of audience,” informs Elita. Elita adds, “Kishore has done justice to the lyrics and composition.

Hopefully it is going to be a great album.”

Tumi ar Ami is going to release from CMV banner very soon. Shahed Ali, chairman, informed, “We are very proud to work with such talented singers like Kishore and Elita. We will publish this album digitally on a suitable day soon.” l

‘Oggyatonama’ to premier in Cannes’ Marché du Film n Hasan Mansoor Chatak

Shakespeare Shoptok

n Rayan Quddus

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Showtime

Oggyatonama, a directorial venture of Tauqir Ahmed, is going to premiere at Marche du Film, the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival and one of the largest film markets in the world.

Produced by Impress Telefilm Ltd, the film will be screened at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, the venue for the Cannes Film Festival, on May 17, at 6pm. This year, Marché will be held from May 11 to 20, while the 69th Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to be held from May 11 to 22.

Producers, directors, actors and journalists from all over the world who are invited to

the 69th Cannes Film Festival, would be able to watch the film.

Faridur Reza Sagor, the managing director of Impress Telefilm Ltd (ITL), Ibne Hasan Khan, the director of marketing and sales of ITL, and Tauqir Ahmed have confirmed to attend the Marché du Film.

The fourth directorial venture of Tauqir Ahmed chronicles the life of expatriates in Middle East, which casts Mosharraf Karim, Nipun, Shahiduzzaman Selim, Shatabdi Wadud and Fazlur Rahman Babu in the leads.

According to Impress Telefilm Ltd, there’s already few renowned world film distributors including Warner Bros, Eros and MK2, who have expressed their interest in the film. l

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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

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‘Good films’ too good for audience?

Cinemas, once a popular place for entertainment, have gradually lost appeal. Dhaka Tribune’s Promiti Prova Chowdhury explores the sector’s decline in the second story of a two-part series had been in the business for over n Promiti Prova Chowdhury 30 years. It is hard for them switch The blame-game continues between film-makers and cinema owners for audience decline.

Many former and current hall owners say critically acclaimed films do not attract people as they did in the past and rued film-makers for degrading quality and advocated screening foreign films as a solution.

Film-makers, on the other hand, say they can do little with meagre budgets and blasted the hall owners for failing to understand the pulse of their local audience.

Bangladesh Motion Pictures Exhibitors Association (BMPEA) Vice-President Sudipta Kumar Das said directors like Morshedul Islam and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki made films for awards.

“Regular cinema goers are not interested in those. The urban educated class prefer multiplexes like the Bashundhara Star Cineplex or other air-conditioned halls like Modhumita and Balaka,” he said.

“The films that win international awards have little or no appeal to viewers outside Dhaka. They are a bit slow compared to the commercial ones. Ordinary viewers go for movies with lots of masala like songs, dance and action sequences.”

Acclaimed film-maker Morshedul Islam, known for Chaka, Dipu Number Two and Amar Bond-

MEHEDI HASAN

hu Rashed among others, rejected the claim, saying it was the socalled commercial films that were losing appeal.

“We do not make films for awards, we make them for our satisfaction. I have made Anil Bagchir Ekdin with Tk1.20 crore and my films are usually not slow,” the director said.

Another reason for the audience decline, according to him, is films shot with digital cameras that are “more like TV plays and cannot be considered films”.

“Directors like Animesh Aich,

Redwan Rony and Farooki are trying to merge art with commerce.

They are making films in modern format laced with entertainment,” he added.

Protectionism: owner of halls vs directors In the 2013 Import Policy, the government included a clause according to which foreign films can be imported from any country under South Asian Free Trade Area if the same number of Bangladeshi films is exported and projected there.

Following the clause, Sal-

man Khan starrer “Wanted” was screened in Bangladesh in January last year in the face of protests by local actors and directors.

Sudipta said before independence, cinemas used to screen Hindi films, Indian Bangla films and Urdu films. “Still our local directors were successful. If Bangladeshi directors were capable to draw audience in the face of such odds, why can’t they now?”

“What is the result of protectionism? About 60,000 people who worked in the 914 halls that have closed down, lost their jobs. They

now,” the BMPEA leader added.

Bangladesh Film Directors Association (BFDA) Vice-President Sohanur Rahman Sohan said he was strictly against screening foreign commercial films but appeared frustrated at the lack of budget.

“Why would we allow Hindi films in the country? … And how can we compete with a film made with a budget of Tk50 crore whereas our budget is merely Tk50 lakh?”

“Hindi films cannot be the solution. Preventing piracy is, strengthening our own culture is,” he said.

Director Farooki blamed hall owners, saying they do not understand their local audience. He recalled that Chittagong’s Almas Cinema Hall asked for a hefty amount from his distributor when he wanted to screen his film Piprabidya there.

“They said such films do not run in their hall. I rejected their proposal and moved to Chittagong Theatre Institute auditorium and earned Tk4.45 crore in a week by screening my film there,” he said.

“These hall owners do not understand the pulse of the youth.

They are not aware that the choice of youth has changed a lot even in small cities where my films are popular. If they want to profit, they must catch the pulse of their local audience and improve projection system.” l

Draft law to impeach SC judges gets cabinet nod n Shohel Mamun

The cabinet yesterday gave the nod in principle to a draft of the Supreme Court Judges (Investigation) Act 2016 empowering parliament to impeach the top court judges for breaching code of conduct.

The approval came at the regular cabinet meeting presided over

by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“The draft has a provision for honourable exit of a judge of the Appellate Division and the High Court Division of the Supreme Court for misconduct,” Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam told reporters yesterday afternoon.

“The alleged judge will get opportunity to defend himself at all

stages,” he said, adding that the act will fulfil constitutional obligation.

Shafiul drew examples from the USA, the UK and some other countries that have laws to investigate allegations against judges.

The cabinet secretary said: “Anyone can file a complaint against a Supreme Court judge to the speaker, who will investigate the allegation.

“But making a false claim will invite a punishment of a two-year jail term and Tk5 lakh in fine.”

After receiving complaints, the speaker will form a 10-member committee comprising MPs to investigate the allegations against a judge. The committee will act to determine whether the allegations are true or false and will file a re-

port within seven working days.

“If the allegation is found baseless, the speaker will inform parliament about it and end the matter there,” the cabinet secretary said.

If the claim is found to be true, the speaker will form a four-member committee to further investigate it.

The members will include a former chief justice, a retired Appellate Division judge, a former attorney general aged below 67 and a prominent citizen or a jurist.

“They will submit a report to the speaker if they find the allegation true. The speaker will then place it in parliament and take opinions from the lawmakers before forwarding it to the president,” said Shafiul.

After the cabinet meeting, Law Minister Anisul Huq said: “We sought opinions from the chief justice on the draft but he did not give his opinion as a case was ongoing in the court.

“As the draft was given the nod in principle, there are still chances of getting opinions from the justices of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.”

The lawmakers were empowered to impeach judges as per Bangladesh’s constitution, drafted in 1972.

But the power was vested with the president after the Fourth Amendment in 1975.

The Fourth Amendment was cancelled after Bangabandhu

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated.

After Ziaur Rahman came to power he formed a Supreme Judicial Council for impeaching judges in 1977.

In 2012, a ruling by then speaker Md Abdul Hamid, who is now the president, prompted several lawmakers to demand impeachment of a top court judge paving the way for the demand to reinstate the power of impeachment to parliament.

The cabinet approved the 16th amendment to the constitution on August 18, 2014 and the then Awami League government passed it on September 17, 2014.

Yesterday the cabinet approved the draft to this end. l

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